The first task had concluded a week ago, and many of Hogwarts' females had been forced to re-assess their first impression of Beauxbatons. Fleur had defeated her dragon, and actually gained support among the other schools. Even the Hogwarts girls had begun to soften in acknowledgement that she was the sole female in the competition, and a fully capable one at that.
Aimee had, it turned out, nearly all of her classes with the Weasley twins, and had happily adjusted to a new place among two like-minded troublesome individuals. Similarly, Dani had become fixated upon the primary of the two Hogwarts champions, Cedric Diggory, and could now be spotted roaming the halls confidently past groups of Hufflepuffs in hopes of sighting him.
With Dani pursuing her newest target and Aimee hatching harebrained schemes she was sure would eventually land them all in hot water, Lynn spent most of her time in the library. Or rather, she spent a great deal of time looking for books, and then a great deal of time finding new places in the library to read them. The Hogwarts students were creatures of habit, and seemed to delight in a new hobby of tailing Fleur and her crowd around the library. As a result, Fleur and co. shifted on an almost daily basis, and Lynn did the same. Away from them.
Unfortunately for her, she found that most of her classes were with Fleur and her associates, so that she was almost constantly in the shadow of the picture perfect blonde and her arrogant assistants. Fleur seemed aware of Lynn's existence, and of Madame's recent campaign against any acknowledgement of her beauty, but seemed to prefer treating her as a faceless underling. Occasionally, she would ask her to pass something at the dinner table, but for the most part their circles did not overlap. Her associates preferred to shun her entirely, a speck they'd been instructed to blot out.
It was among these and a few other Beauxbatons girl that Lynn walked down the hallway the week after the first task. Another unspoken law of Madame's reign was following Fleur when they shared classes with her, and the now Triwizard champion did nothing to oppose it. On the contrary, she encouraged the behavior, and as Lynn had never been one to cause a riot, she followed her classmates without question.
They were just coming from a Charms class, in which the majority of the other girls had been busy flirting with the Hogwarts and Durmstrang boys instead of listening to tiny Professor Flitwick, leaving Lynn and a few others to watch him practically dance about for their attention. Forced to exit the classroom abruptly at Fleur's command, she was still trying to cram books into her bag and failed to see the collision until it happened.
"Oof!"
Her books flew out of her hands, having not been placed properly back in her bag, and she fell to the ground with considerable force. Quickly she scrambled to gather her things so she could catch up with Fleur, who had continued on without pause. She scooped up everything in sight and stuffed it into her bag as quickly as she could, but knew something was missing. She was searching the floor frantically on her hands and knees when a hand appeared just in front of her face holding her Charms book.
"Need this?" A voice asked from above.
Lynn looked up to see the same boy she had encountered in the library. She rose to her feet slowly and took the book from his outstretched hand.
"Thank you," She said, not looking him straight in the eye. Turning on her heel, she prepared to follow in the direction of the others, but the voice held her up.
"Sorry about what I said in the library," The boy said apologetically, "It's just hard for me to imagine not knowing what Quidditch is."
Lynn turned back, part of her itching to catch up with the crowd but another holding her fast.
"Can't have a very extensive imagination then," she said.
He smiled.
"I usually manage."
Red splashed wildly across her cheeks.
"Sorry about running into you," she mumbled.
Her face felt as though lit from below. The girls were off in another corridor already and she'd be lost without the blue to guide her in the sea of black cloaks.
His smile lingered, a flash of white that made her notice how dark his eyes were.
"Oliver Wood." He said, holding a hand out politely.
"Pleasure to meet you," Lynn said, her own name forgotten.
She hurriedly slipped the last book into her bag and glanced toward the corner behind which Fleur had disappeared.
"Again, I'm sorry. I ought to be going though. I'll…see you." She said, before starting off in a newly fueled rush.
Oliver stood rooted to the spot as she ran away. Upon remembering that he himself was late for class, he could only continue through the crowd shaking his head.
"No name..."
But if any Gryffindors had seen Oliver Wood on the walk to McGonagall's Transfiguration lesson, they'd have thought he'd just won a match.