Chapter 107
"Oi!" Benjy said excitedly when he saw Oliver reading a letter. "Is that from Hermione?"
"Yes," Oliver said with a sigh and moved his arm as Benjy tried to reach for it, but the man was as agile off the pitch as he was on, and when Oliver reversed course when Zachariah tried to grab it from the other side, Benjy leapt and snagged it from his hand. "Hey!" Oliver protested, but the team seeker bounced away with the letter in hand.
"Hey guys, Hermione wrote back to us!" he shouted.
"Me!" Oliver replied loudly.
"Well," Wilda called briskly from the women's side of the locker room. "What's it say, Williams. Don't keep us waiting, and speak up!"
"25 December, 1994 aw, she wrote it yesterday, and she dates them too, how cute," Benjy said.
"Benjy!" Wilda, Ella, Freya and Maggie shouted from the women's side.
"All right, all right," Benjy said with a laugh and continued reading. "Dear Oliver, Merry Christmas. I hope that you and your teammates have a good Christmas and that you are doing well. Thank you for the time I needed to think. I really appreciated it. As I am sure Viktor has already told you, he and I went to the ball last night. I have to say, before anything else, that yes, I had a good time going with him.
That said, he probably told you what happened between Ron and I..." at this, Benjy looked up at Oliver, trailing off.
Oliver sighed.
"I got a letter from Viktor as well as the twins and their sister, Ginny," he said. "They both said pretty much the same thing."
"Which was?" Maggie asked from the women's side of the room.
"That Ron had gotten into a row with Hermione over her going with Viktor," Oliver replied. "Not counting the fact that Viktor had asked her first."
"Okay, Benjy," Wilda said. "Keep reading."
"All right," Benjy said and hesitated, skimming the letter quickly to find his place. "He - that is to say, Viktor - talked with me about why I was so upset about everything, and he made a good point. He asked if I forgave him, and that was why I was going with him to the ball. When I said yes, he asked if I had talked with you yet. Then, when I said no, he pointed out that it must be harder to forgive you over everything because I knew you longer, I trusted you, and I didn't quite feel the same about him."
"Wait," Freya said. "So how exactly does she feel about our Woody?"
"Would you stop that?" Oliver asked, scowling in her direction.
"What," Freya asked, sticking her head up over the lockers and grinning. "Calling you Woody?"
"Yes, that," Oliver replied.
"I don't know," Benjy continued, flipping the parchment over and then back. "Doesn't say."
"Well, that's a bummer," Ella said.
"Tell me about it," Maggie said. "After all we put into that letter."
"Guys!" Oliver said. "She's in fourth year!"
"Yeah, now," Greene said. "She won't be forever."
"Finish it, Benjy," Wilda called.
"Oh, right," Benjy said and quickly found his place again. "No, I don't mind that you share the letters with the team as that's where they are being delivered most times, I would guess. Let them know I said hello."
"Hello!" shouts were heard around the room and Oliver rolled his eyes.
"Thanks for letting me know what I could expect from Ron about this, I keep telling Ginny he behaves more like a girl than either of us. He tried telling me that I was fraternising with the enemy - Viktor being from Durmstrang - when he has a doll that looks like him in his dorm and has been fawning over him every time he walks by - well, at least before last night - and wanting his autograph," Benjy read.
"Sounds like it," Wilda said with a snort.
"Anyway, write to you soon, Hermione," Benjy said. "PS. I hope you have a good time at the party with your teammates," he finished and handed the letter back to Oliver.
"You told her about the party tonight?" Wilda asked.
Oliver blinked at the looks on his teammates faces, and swallowed as they ranged from annoyance and concern to anger and unease, and he gave a slow nod.
"Only that you were taking me to some party and that it was better than being alone in my flat since I can't be with my folks for the holidays," he explained, a little confused by their expressions. "Did I do something wrong? Wasn't I supposed to tell her?"
"Oi, did you see the Prophet this morning?" Lucas asked breaking the tension and trying to interrupt before a fight broke out. "Yer Hogwart's is in the paper again..."
"No, I haven't," Oliver replied. "Why, what's it say now?"
He reached out and caught the paper as Lucas tossed it to him. Oliver opened it and found the headline that Lucas was referring to and groaned before skimming through it.
"What is it?" Freya asked.
"Just more prejudice," Oliver said with a scowl. "Now the nit is going after Dumbledore for allowing Hagrid to teach Care of Magical Creatures, or even allowing him to stay on the grounds as gamekeeper."
"What? Why?" Ella asked.
"According to this, because he's a half-giant," Oliver said. "I mean, I always wondered what his lineage was, but it didn'a bother me either way, he was a nice enough fellow, even if he did like dangerous creatures more than most others, and he couldn't really keep a secret to save his life," Oliver said. "Probably trying to get information outta him on Harry, and maybe he didn't tell her so she made up something or found out something he didn't want anyone to know. Hermione said she was doing that kinda thing, remember?"
"We should write her back while you still got that hawk here," Benjy said, nodding toward the waiting bird that was resting on the perch by Hercules.
"You mean I should write her back," Oliver said.
"Oh, come on, Woody," Freya said. "It'll be fun!"
"I said stop calling me that!" Oliver said and lobbed a towel over at her over the lockers.
"Well, what am I supposed to call you?" she asked with a pout, reaching up in time to catch the towel before it hit her.
"Wood would suffice," Oliver said. "Or Oliver, that is my name after all, you could even call me Ollie if you like."
Freya stuck her tongue out at him, and laughed as another towel came her way.
Hermione met with Harry and Ron at the Entrance Hall after her Ancient Runes class as they were coming from Divination.
"Ready to go?" Harry asked.
"Can't we eat first?" Ron groused. "I'm starving!"
"No," Harry said. "We agreed, we would go down and check on Hagrid after class."
"Come on," Ron whinged.
"I hate to say it, Harry," Hermione said. "But Ron's right."
"See!" Ron said.
"Going to dinner would let us see if he's out and about at least," Hermione explained, rolling her eyes and ignoring Ron's interruption. "Why don't we go after dinner? I mean, unless you really want him to be complaining the whole time."
"All right, fine," Harry said. "But after dinner."
"Agreed," Hermione and Ron said at the same time.
Hermione sighed heavily, knowing that Harry would drag them out of the castle and down to Hagrid's hut immediately when he was done eating, whether they were or not when she looked up at the High Table and didn't see Hagrid sitting there on the end in his usual spot.
True to her expectations, it seemed like she had barely even started when Harry stood up, his plate clean and Hermione wondered if he'd actually eaten at all or just vanished his food with a spell, using his wand under the table or in the sleeve of his robes.
"Come on," Harry said expectantly. "Let's go see Hagrid."
Hermione wasn't the only one frustrated with Harry's expedient meal. As she got to her feet, she caught Ron rolling his eyes and grabbing another chicken leg off the platter in front of him as he got to his feet to follow.
The curtains were still closed when they got there, even though there hadn't been anyone out and about since their class had gone to dinner.
They were met with nothing more than Fang's booming barks when they knocked on the door.
"Hagrid, it's us!" Harry shouted, pounding on the door again. "Open up!"
"Nothing," Ron said forlornly.
"Well, he has to be here," Hermione said. "He wouldn't leave Fang alone for long without someone to look out for him. What's he avoiding us for?" she asked as they finally gave up and headed back to the school in the cold and growing dark. "Surely he doesn't think that we'd care about him being a half-giant?"
Back up at the common room, Hermione excused herself from their company for a time and went up to change into her pyjamas early to be more comfortable, and was met by the same peregrine falcon at the window.
"Oh, you're back already?" she asked, letting the bird in, and it lit on the back of the chair before dropping the note for her. "Thank you," she said, and took the message then reached into her trunk and got him some owl treats. "I still don't have any water available."
She watched for a moment as the bird ate the owl treats and then looked at her. "Oh, are you waiting for a reply again?" Hermione asked, noting the bird hadn't left through the still open window, and she still didn't know where it had come from. "Alright, give me a moment."
She took the note and sat down on her bed, opening it and read:
26 December 1994
Hello Kitty Cat,
It is so good to hear from you again. I am glad that Viktor was able to help you have a good time for a while at least. Everyone here was happy to hear from you again. In fact, Benjy Williams — he's Seeker on the main team — nicked the letter right out of my hand with the help of Zachariah Greene, the main team Keeper that I am understudy for. It just proves that they're just as agile off the field as on. So anyway, I'm glad that you don't mind them knowing about everything since Benjy read your letter aloud after nicking it.
The girls on the teams, are the Chasers; Wilda Griffiths, Ella Adams and Freya Rorik are on the main team and Maggie Holmes is on the Reserve team with me; they all agree that Ron was a jerk to you and that you did the right thing calling him out on it and not letting him get away with it. The rest of the guys, William Craig, and Lucas Murray are the Beaters on the main team, and Dagen Lamius and Peter Marshall are the Chasers on the reserve team, Dillon Shepherd and Samuel Davis are the reserve Beaters, and Felix Riley, the reserve Seeker agree with everyone that he shouldn't have done it either and got what he deserved. I just wanted to let you know that you have people here — besides me — that support and believe in you. Wilda is right, they are becoming my family and even though they josh me a lot, they really do care.
Speaking of caring, Lucas showed me the article in the Prophet about Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid, he was there for me early on when I had a hard time making friends, and he always cheered me on in my Quidditch games. In a way, I've always been jealous of the friendship that you, Harry and Ron have with Hagrid, but then I think that I would have that friendship too if I didn't decide to spend so much time with the new friends I was making. That's not to say you don't have friends, lass, it's just — you're much better at managing your time than I was. Speaking of that, we're being called to practice, so I'd better go.
Oliver
PS. It kind of disappointed Zach, Benjy and the others that went to the party that I wasn't really into it. You know me and parties. They're not really my thing. I doubt they'll ask me to another one any time soon. Said I was a killjoy, ha ha.
Grabbing her quill, some parchment and ink, she began her reply that the falcon was waiting for. "Now I want you to stop and get some food and water at the Owlery if you need it," she said to the bird as she wrote. "I don't want you ill on my account, and rest if you need to also. I don't know who you belong to yet, but I'm grateful that you're willing to carry my messages back and forth."
She smiled as the bird chirped at her and continued her letter before folding it and handing it to the bird who took flight and grasped the letter. "Thank you!" she called as the falcon flew from the window and disappeared into the darkness.