Chapter 53
Oliver sighed heavily as he followed Hermione at a distance, and it wasn't long before Lee and the twins noticed that he was lagging behind and fell back to walk with him.
"What's wrong, Ollie?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, Ollie," George said.
"Tell us, maybe we can help," Lee added.
"I doubt it, but thank you," Oliver replied.
"How do you know," George asked.
"If you don't tell us," Fred finished.
"It's more than just one thing," Oliver said.
"Come on Ollie," Lee said. "We're your friends, we'd like to at leasttryand help."
Oliver looked at them and saw the twins nod in agreement.
"Well, first of all," Oliver said. "I've heard from my parents, they've been keeping me up to date on the Quidditch World Cup semi finals. Wales will be facing Uganda, Scotland is to play Luxembourg, Transylvania against England, and we can't forget about Ireland and Peru. Bulgaria is looking strong and has a shot at the finals. My dad got tickets, and I'd like to ask Hermione to go, but..." he paused and shook his head.
"But?" George asked.
"Our Ollie's still shy, isn't he?" Fred asked in a teasing sing-song.
"Come on guys, we said we wanted to help him, not tease him," Lee said.
"O-kay," they said together.
"Thank you," Oliver said, directing his response toward Lee.
"So, what seems to be the problem?" Lee asked, patting Oliver on the shoulder.
"Well, it's just..." Oliver began and looked up to make sure Hermione wasn't close enough to overhear the conversation. "She doesn't like flying - I'm not sure she really likes Quidditch, and it would be rather embarrassing to invite her to something that she's not really going to enjoy, you know?"
"She's always at the Quidditch games here," George said.
"Especially when Gryffindor plays," Fred added.
"Unless she's studying, or... you know..." Lee began.
"Petrified," George said.
"Or a cat," Fred said with a grin.
They stifled laughter as Oliver winced at the memories.
"Okay, okay," Oliver said. "Enough."
"Take it easy, Ollie," Fred said.
"Yeah," George added as he reached out and tussled Oliver's hair, causing Oliver to make a face and squirm away. "We're just joshing ya."
"That still doesn't help me, you know?" Oliver said and reached up, running his fingers through his hair to straighten it after escaping George's assault.
"Maybe you should just ask her," Lee suggested.
"Well," George said thoughtfully. "Didn't we hear that Dad's trying to get tickets also, Freddie?"
"That we did, Georgie," Fred answered. "Enough for the whole family to go."
"Except for mom, of course," George added. "She's not really one for crowds."
"Except last year," Fred replied. "You remember... she couldn'twaitto stand in line in Flourish and Blotts to get Lockhart's autograph."
"Too bad he got hurt at the end of last year," George said. "Wonder if he's still in St. Mungo's."
"Does this story have a point?" Oliver asked, ignoring Lee's comment.
"Just that we know that dad's going to try and get tickets for all of us to go, and that Ron is pushing to get Harry to go, since he's never been. Maybe we can get an extra ticket-" George said.
"If dad can even get them," Fred added.
"And make sure Hermione gets to come along, too," they finished together.
"And what if he can't get tickets?" Oliver asked. "They sell out rather quickly."
"Then you'll just have to suck it up and ask her yourself," Lee said.
Oliver looked up to see that Hermione had nearly reached the castle, and they had lagged far behind. He gave a sigh of frustration, and shook his head. "Alright," he said. "But how will I know if your dad succeeds?"
"We'll keep in touch over the summer - just like you keep in touch with Hermione," George said with a knowing look.
"We'll owl you with updates," Fred said.
"So what was the other problem?" Lee asked.
Oliver opened the door, stepping into the entrance hall and looked up to see that Hermione had already mounted several flights of stairs.
"That I'm going to miss her," he said wistfully.
"Sorry mate," George said, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Can't help you with that," Fred added.
"But perhaps we can keep an eye out for her while we're still here," Lee said.
"And there's still a week left before we leave," George said.
"So there's plenty of time yet till we leave Hogwarts," Fred added.
"Yeah," Oliver replied, his voice rather melancholy. "Maybe..."
Hermione headed up to Professor McGonagall's office and returned the Time-Turner to her care, when she left, she met up with Harry, and they headed to the infirmary to check on Ron.
"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked when she met him in the hall and saw his countenance was sad.
"I went to visit Professor Lupin," Harry replied.
"How is he?" Hermione asked, genuinely concerned after his assault by Buckbeak the night before when the Hippogriff protected them from him when he'd been in werewolf form.
"He's alright," Harry answered. "Physically at least."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"Well, he said that he's looked worse," Harry answered. "Whatever that means, but..." He paused and sighed heavily, shrugging as he shuffled his feet. "He resigned."
"What?" Hermione asked, realising why Harry seemed sad. "Why?"
"He said that it was because someone let slip the nature of his condition..." Harry replied. "He said the owls would start coming in and people wouldn't want someone like him teaching, so he was resigning because Dumbledore already risked enough for him."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said. "I know you really liked him... a lot of us did... I guess the Defence position reallyiscursed. I mean, every year we've had a new teacher, and it seems to have gone on for a while before we got here according to Fred and George."
"It's okay," Harry said and shrugged again. "I mean, I really would have liked having one of my parents friends close, to learn more about them, but now that we know of Sirius' innocence, I have a hunch they might stay close enough to help each other when they need it, and that makes me happy," Harry finished with a smile as they reached the hospital wing.
Back in the common room, Oliver decided to take his friends' advice. Excusing himself from their company, he headed up to the dorm and began a letter to Hermione.
10June 1994
Hermione,
I wanted to apologise for not accompanying you back from the Quidditch pitch. Fred, George, Lee and I fell into conversation and were taking our time coming back. It's kind of embarrassing, but after all these years, there's something I wanted to ask you. I'm not sure I ever asked you about it before or not, so much has happened. I know that I told you I really liked Quidditch, but I don't think I ever asked you if you liked it too. I know you attend the matches here when Gryffindor is playing, and most other matches when you're not studying... or something. But I don't know if you actually enjoy Quidditch.
I know you don't like flying, so I wasn't sure... and I don't think we ever really talked about it. I'd read over our letters, but the truth is, most of them are at home in my room instead of here at school. I left them there because I didn't want anyone like, say, Lee or the twins, to read them.
I also wanted to thank you for taking the time to explain to us what happened last night. I know it took a lot of courage, especially with having to disclose information about someone else... I hope that Professor Lupin is alright. I think it's kinda cool that we've had someone like him — a werewolf — teaching us all this time. I'm really surprised that it never occurred to me what he was, having studied werewolves in class in my third year also.
Well, I better keep this short since I don't want anyone to read this — knowing the twins, they'd try to if they found out I was writing it. Talk to you soon I hope.
Oliver
Oliver tapped the parchment and it folded itself into a cat. "Wait for Hermione Granger to return to the dorm, but keep out of sight of others." The cat nodded its small paper head once, brushed itself around Oliver's fingers and bounded off, out the door as he got up and opened it, heading back to the common room and his friends.
Hermione didn't return to the dorm until later that evening, having spent the day relaxing outside by the lake with a good book. She had parted company with Ron and Harry shortly after Ron was released from the hospital wing. If she were honest with herself, she hadn't really intended to spend the day outside, but it was nice out and the library felt too dark as her thoughts continued to rove over the events of the night before, so she sought the light and warmth of the outdoors instead. That and the fact she was tired of hearing Ron regale everyone in the Great Hall who would listen about how he almost had his leg bitten off when the Grim had attacked him the evening prior. She shook her head marvelling at how similar he was to the Slytherin prat, Draco Malfoy.
"Hello, Hermione."
She gave a start, looking up to see George smiling at her mischievously from the side of the room right by the portrait hole where she'd not seen him as she entered the common room.
"Might we have a word?" Fred asked from her other side, and she felt the odd prickling of dread as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, wondering what the pair was up to now. It sounded like trouble from the tone in their voices.
"About?" she asked, but didn't shrug away. She knew they were harmless - the kind of trouble she suspected of them was more along the lines of mischief that might lead to the loss of house points than anything dangerous.
"Oliver," George answered.
Hermione swallowed reflexively. "What about him?" she asked, beginning to feel uneasy.
"We're throwing him a going away party -" Fred said.
"You know, because he's the captain of the Quidditch team and all," George continued.
"Oh," Hermione said. She'd never really thought about anything like that happening before the end of school.
"Yeah," George said.
"And we wondered if you'd like to come," Fred said.
"Where is it going to be?" she asked.
"Oh, it'll probably be here," George said.
"When?"
"Last night," Fred answered. "After the end of term feast."
"Before we catch the train," George said.
"Oh," Hermione nodded, making a mental note. "Yeah, sure. I'll be here."
"That's good to know," George said with a smile.
Hermione wrinkled her brow in confusion and bit her lip. "Why is that exactly?"
"Because," Fred said as they drew away, and he winked at her. "He's going toreallymiss you..."
Hermione looked after them, perplexed as she stood there trying to figure out just what they meant by that, and it took a couple other people coming into the common room through the portrait hole and bumping into her in the entrance as they moved past her to break her from her thoughts. Shaking her head to clear it, she headed up the stairs to the dorm.