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WHAT HE LEFT IN ME - harry j. potter

summary: As Voldemort's influence drives Harry into isolation, Harry grows distant, angry and cruel - pushing away the only girl he's ever loved.

This story contains: angst, Voldemort is alive, sirius lives, harry is distant and rude, fluff at the end so happy ending.

taglist: @ronhazmione @roseidol @h0gw4rtssturn @aouoo

[This fic is LONG!! it contains loads of build up though so i salute to you if you can read this through]

Before everything started to fall apart, Harry had been the kind of boyfriend who held your hand like it grounded him. Like maybe if he let go, he’d float away. He wasn’t always good with words - often fumbling or red-faced when trying to say how he felt, but he didn’t have to say much.

his actions spoke.

He’d sit beside you in the common room with his thigh pressed lightly against yours, fingers brushing, eyes flicking over occasionally like he couldn’t quite believe you were real. He’d shower you in gifts and often you would come back to your dorm with him casually sitting on your bed with fresh picked flowers. The flowers he knew you loved.

He laughed more, back then. Not often - not loud, but just enough to make your heart melt. You’d catch it moments like a wizard chess game against Ron going hilariously wrong or a whispered joke behind Snape’s back, and your personal favorite- when you stole his jumpers and would simply claim it as your own.

Overall, he loved quietly.

He didn’t shout it from the rooftops or have over the top gestures - there was no need to.

You saw it in the way he showed up to your special events, the way he actually listened to you instead of it going in one ear and out the other - which goes with how he remembers every little detail of you down to the bone.

He remembers your favorite books to read in the library in your free time, exactly how you took your tea, even how your eyebrows always furrow and you twiddled your quill on your test lightly when McGonagall gave lectures in words only Hermione could comprehend.

He’d wait for you outside of class even when he pretended he “just happened to be passing by.” His hand would find yours in the corridors, unsure at first, but firmer over time, like he was getting used to the idea of someone choosing to stand beside him.

When you were alone, he was different.

He wasn’t “The Chosen One,” not the Boy Who Lived, Just Harry. Funny, dry, a little awkward sometimes.

Just Harry.

YOUR Harry.

The Harry who would hold you as you both steal kisses under bedsheets and whisper sweet nothings. The Harry who was vulnerable with you, telling you about his dreams to live with Sirius or how his childhood was. Even his fears for the future. He told you things he hadn’t even truly mentioned to Hermione or Ron.

He wasn’t perfect. He could be stubborn and reckless. But with you, he tried. He tried to be better, to be present. And even if he didn’t always have the words, his actions told you everything-

You were safe.

You were Loved.

You truly had a purpose and could be loved.

But that was before.

Before Voldemort’s presence crept under his skin and far deeper in his head - not just in dreams anymore, but in his emotions. The anger wasn’t his, but it settled itself deep into his chest like that’s exactly where it was born and raised. He grew colder without meaning to.

He was always distant. Distracted. Like there was more than just a war going on inside his mind.

The worst part about it?

He stopped trying to protect what he had with you. Because deep down, he didn’t think he could keep it.

It didn’t fall apart all at once.

It unraveled in quiet, small moments where something felt off, but you convinced yourself it was nothing.

The first time he snapped was on a normal Tuesday afternoon in the common room. Hermione was out with Ron at Hogsmeade while you stayed with Harry. You had both arranged to meet there just to enjoy one another’s presence, hoping to find a moment of normalcy. Something where you both can share a smile again.

As soon as you arrived, you noticed him on one of the sofas. His figure slumped over and his eyes focused on the fire burning infront of him. You could feel a knot form in your stomach and a slight ping at your heart from the sight.

“Hey,” you said gently, sliding into the seat beside him.

Harry glanced up, his brows furrowed slightly. “Oh, hey.”

You offered a small smile. “I thought we could study together while we have some time alone to.”

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess. Sorry, I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”

You nodded as you placed your charm books on the table in front of you two gently, trying to ease the tension. “Want to talk about it?”

For a long moment, he just stared at the table, lost in thought. Then finally muttered, “It’s… nothing. Just tired.”

you frowned to yourself. You knew bloody well that wasn’t the case at all, but he was already on edge. You reached your hand out to his, but he snatched it away. Your eyebrows furrowed and your mouth opened slightly as your eyes make their way to his face - confused.

“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly, voice low. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

You blinked. “Snap? What do you mean?”

He looked at you, running a hand through his hair. “I guess… I’ve just been on edge. I don’t want to drag you into it.”

You squeezed his hand. “You’re not dragging me anywhere. I’m here.”

He gave you a small, almost sad smile. Not the smile you were hoping would come out of this. “I know. And I’m sorry. It’s just… sometimes it feels like Voldemort’s closer than ever, and I don’t know how to fight it without breaking everything around me.”

You intertwined your fingers with his and placed a kiss to the top of his head. His eyes met yours and you gave him a smile. you didn’t have to say what words were behind them - he knew.

“im here. you wont break me. i’ll always be here”

It didn’t last though.

The little things began to fall apart.

He stopped waiting for you after class. He didn’t meet your eyes as much when you spoke. When you laughed, he barely reacted — like he hadn’t even heard you. And when he did speak, there was something sharper under his words. Not always. Just enough to make you second-guess yourself.

One morning, you reached for his hand in the corridor between lessons. He let you, but his fingers stayed limp in yours. His grip used to be so sure — like he needed the contact. Now, it felt like he barely noticed. Like you were just there. Like you weren’t holding him steady.

You found him later that night pacing in the common room, eyes bloodshot, fists clenched. He didn’t even notice you at first. And when he did, all he said was, “Don’t start.”

You didn’t even say a word.

It stung the way his guard shot up like a wall between you. And even though he apologized again and again, always just enough to make you stay, something inside you started to ache in a deeper way.

He was slipping away farther and farther and neither you or both of you two closest friends could either.

Its been days, maybe even weeks since then and everything has gone down hill since. Umbridge remained nothing but trouble with her torment towards the students - even staff. You often found dinner to be just Hermione, Ron and you.

You missed Harry. Your Harry. The Harry that would hold you and refuse to let you go. The Harry who would stay up all night if he could just to hear your voice. Now it was like he was invisible.

“I can’t do this anymore. I’m gonna go talk to him” You told Hermione and Ron as you stood up from where you sat.

“Don’t be to pushy - he shouted at me earlier im sure Godric Gryffindor could hear” Ron muttered, going right back into his food.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and spun around to give you a friendly smile.

“I hope it goes well. I’ll be in the common room if you need to talk after”

You gave her a smile and nod as you made your way out the great hall walking your way to the Gryffindor common room.

You looked around for any signs of Harry, nothing.

You sighed and made your way up to the boys dormitory finding Harry and Ron’s shared room.

You raised your fist up to knock, breath shaky as your arm froze. You let out another sigh and knocked on the door. Two knocks.

“Not in the mood for company.”

“Harry, please - Its me.”

Silence.

After what felt like ages, you had enough. You opened his door and watched him as he sat on his bed in his signature blue shirt and some jeans your sure he’s been wearing almost all week.

You stood a few feet away, keeping space.

He didn’t even look at you when you walked in.

“You’ve barely looked at me all week. Let alone speak to me.” You started off slow, your eyes glued to his figure.

“Maybe I didn’t have anything worth saying.”

ouch.

Your face scrunched up in disbelief as you watched him. Cold and lifeless. Eyes glued to his feet as he twiddled them on the floor.

“Harry, something is wrong. And not just Umbridge, or the Ministry, or — or everything. You’re different. You’re not the Harry I know.”

Harry turned to you finally. You were met with eyes that you were sure didn’t belong to him.

cold. lifeless. dark.

“Maybe I’ve changed”

“I didn’t say that was a bad thing. I said something’s wrong.”

“Well, sorry if I’m not chipper enough for you lately.”

Your breath hitched. You were starting to get pissed off and your voice raised slightly higher than it was earlier.

“That’s not fair. I’ve been patient. I’ve been here. Hell - Hermione and Ron don’t even know what to say to you anymore, especially after you lost your mind on Ron. You keep shutting not only me out but our friends from first year and pretending like you don’t care, like nothing matters.”

Harry gave you a look. a dirty one. One that said so many things you couldn’t even explain.

“Maybe nothing does matter”

You felt like you just got a slap to the face. Your fist balled up in anger and pain as you made your way even closer to him, which he returns with a scoff.

“Do you even hear yourself? You sound like—like someone I don’t even recognize.”

He stood up. voice low and cold as he stared at you. An angry expression all over his face. Your heart broke as you looked at him. This was not the Harry you know and love.

“Good. Maybe if you don’t recognize me, you’ll finally stop pretending I’m someone worth fixing.”

You pushed a finger on his chest and gave him a stern look.

“I wasn’t trying to fix you. I just wanted to be here for you. But you keep pushing me away like I’m the enemy.”

Harry grabbed your wrist and shot you a look. You hissed and looked into a pair of unrecognizable eyes.

“Because maybe I don’t want anyone near me! Maybe it’s easier that way! I’ve got enough people to lose without adding you to the list!

His fists clenched around your arm, words sharp and bitter.

“Voldemort’s out there, and he’s looking for me — always. Every time I close my eyes, it feels like he’s closer, like he’s in my blood, and I wake up furious, like his anger is mine. So forgive me if I’m not in the mood to hold your hand and cry about it like some sad little love story.”

Your eyes narrowed as tears threaten to pour out. You yank your wrist away from his grip and shoot him a deadly grin in return.

“You think that’s what this is about? A sad little love story? I’ve been standing here, trying to fight for you, and you’re acting like I’m just some needy extra in the tragedy of your life!”

“You are if you wont stop always getting in my fucking way! Y’ know what? I’m done. This is over. I don’t need to carry you around when you can’t even function properly without me holding your hand. I don’t need this - I don’t need you.”

Harry practically yelled right in your face with his last sentence. The tears no longer threatened to pour, they simply did. You stopped breathing - only for a moment. You searched in his eyes for something - something to let you know he didn’t mean it. He would apologize. Something that screamed “I’m still your Harry!”

You didn’t find it.

“Is that really what you think of me?” your voice shook as you spoke.

Harry remained silent, the stern look on his face not washing away.

Was he serious? This was how things ended? The boy you’ve loved since your second year, the boy who held you like someone would pry you away, the boy who made you truly believe love was made for you and him, had just ending things like that?

“right. got it.” you muttered as you head straight for the door. As soon as it was swung open, you were gone. You ran down the stairs with tears falling down with what it seems like every step you took. As you ran, you barley even noticed how you completely ran past Ronald.

He didn’t even have to ask what happened to know. He felt bloody bad for you - You were both his mates. While Harry was obviously his best, he really felt horrible for you.

When Ron made his way up to his shared dorm, he was met with harry shaking, jaw clenched as he tossed his robes into his trunk. not even bothering to fold them.

Ron walked to his side, sitting on his bed as he just watched Harry for a moment.

Ron took a breath before he spoke..

“That bad?”

Harry paused for a moment, glared at Ron, then went back to tossing things in his suitcase before he spoke.

“It’s fine. We broke up”

“yeah.. assumed that..” Ron coughed, awkward as always.

He didn’t know what to say. He liked Y/N — really liked them. Not just because they made Harry happier, which they did, but because they were one of the few people who treated Ron like Ron, not just “Harry’s mate.” They laughed at his jokes, teamed up with him to roast Malfoy, helped him with homework when he pretended not to care. He’d gotten used to them being around.

And now it felt wrong not to say anything. But it also felt wrong to say anything.

“She really cared about you, mate.”

“Yeah, well. Doesn’t matter now.”

Ron was baffled at Harry’s response. He knew Harry didn’t actually think it didn’t matter. He saw the two of you everyday and was well aware of how much Harry adored you.

“You don’t actually believe that. You’re just mad. At everything.”

Harry spun around, shooting daggers at Ron.

“You don’t know what it’s like, Ron. You don’t know what it feels like to have him in your head. To feel like you’re turning into something dangerous.”

“Your right, I don’t. What I do know is exactly how it looks when someone’s hurting and pushing every one they care about because they’re scared. I don’t care about how you snapped at me earlier and yelled like bloody murder. But the light of your life is crying her eyes out because of you. I care about that. Pushing not only me and Hermione away, but the girl you would talk about a future with to me won’t solve anything with Voldemort. It’s only hurting you worse.”

Harry’s gaze on Ron softened. His shoulders were now more tense.

‘The light of your life is crying her eyes out because of you.’

The words hit like a punch to the chest — not because they weren’t true, but because they were. Harry sank down on the edge of his bed, his fists clenched in the blanket, jaw tight. He could feel it — the rage crawling just beneath his skin, the familiar cold weight that came with it. Voldemort’s presence, faint but constant, like a shadow just out of sight.

But that wasn’t the part that shook him the most.

It was you.

Crying.

Because of him.

He pictured your face — the way you smiled when he made stupid jokes, the way your fingers found his under the table without thinking. How your voice softened when you said his name like it meant something sacred. How you looked the last time you spoke — blinking fast, voice cracking, like you were trying not to fall apart right in front of him.

He’d done that.

He’d let himself become something that hurt you.

And Ron was right — he’d pushed you away because he was scared. Terrified. Voldemort was always out there, always watching, always closer. And Harry kept thinking that if he distanced himself from everyone he loved, Voldemort wouldn’t have anything to take.

But he never stopped to think about what he was losing in the process.

He thought of what Ron said again:

‘The girl you would talk about a future with.’

He had. On quiet nights. On walks back from Hogsmeade. In the gaps between danger and duty, you were always the person he imagined beside him when the war ended. A future with peace. A future with you.

He’d torn it apart with sharp words and silence and the twisted belief that pushing you away was the same as protecting you.

But it wasn’t.

It was cowardice wrapped in good intentions.

Hermione found you sitting on the floor between your bed and the wall, knees tucked to your chest, face buried in your arms. She didn’t say anything at first. She sat at your side, cross-legged, her hand resting lightly over yours. She hadn’t left since you came back upstairs. She didn’t ask questions at first. She just stayed — offering tissues, brushing hair from your face, letting you breathe.

You didn’t try to speak - you simply just sobbed, the kind of quiet sobs that came from too much held in for too long.

“Im so sorry” Hermione whispered as she rubbed your back trying to sooth you. “Nobody has the right to say things like that no matter whats going on in their lives. None of this is your fault”

Your breath hitched as you tried to somewhat collect yourself so you don’t throw up from all the tears you’ve shed.

“He’s not… He’s not the same. And I don’t know if he’s coming back. I know its not my fault, but I feel like maybe if I’d have done something differently or- or maybe if i hadn’t just said anything at all.. maybe-”

Hermione cut you off with her own sentence.

“If you said nothing, you’d still be crying over this. You did exactly what you should’ve and I’m so glad you did what was right. With Harry..” Hermione’s voice cut off as she collected herself some as well trying to stand strong in this situation. You two were her closest friends and to her, seeing this go down was worse than what Voldemort could’ve done.

“I think he’s scared. Of what he’s feeling. Of what he could become. But that doesn’t mean it’s your job to carry that weight.”

You leaned into her with a shaky breath as you wiped more tears that fell. You wanted to stop them from pouring but you couldn’t control it.

“I just didn’t want him to feel alone.” you whispered out, voice fading in and out from your earlier cries.

Hermione leaned back into you and spoke up again.

“He knows. Even if he’s too angry to show it right now. He knows.”

You were truthfully so blessed for Hermione. As she brushed the hair from your face and spoke with that quiet, unwavering certainty only she seemed to have, something inside you settled, just a little. The ache didn’t vanish, but it no longer felt like you were drowning alone in it.

They sat there for a long time — no more words, just shared silence. Shared heartbreak.

It’s been weeks since everything with Harry and you went down.

Harry was asleep, but it didn’t feel like it.

He was awake - painfully. His body remained stiff beneath his blankets in the boys’ dormitory. What pulled him under this time wasn’t rest.

It was rage. Hunger.

He could feel the stone floor beneath his coils. He could see through slitted, reptilian eyes. He was gliding through the corridors of the Ministry, low to the ground, every movement silent and precise. He could feel the pounding of a heart, but not his own.

There it was: a man with thinning red hair, dozing in a chair beneath the soft golden glow of a flickering light. Arthur Weasley. Alone. Vulnerable.

“Strike now.”

Without hesitation, he lunged.

Harry felt the impact. Felt the fangs tear through flesh and muscle, tasted blood. There was a weak cry - and Arthur fell sideways, clutching his ribs, blood already spilling across the polished floor. Again, he struck. Again.

And then—

“NO!”

Harry shot up in bed, gasping for air, drenched in sweat. His scream had ripped through the dormitory, waking Ron instantly. The curtains around his bed were yanked open. Ron’s voice was frantic.

Harry - what? What is it?”

Harry was trembling, clutching the sheets. “Arthur… your dad. He’s been attacked.”

“What?!”

“I saw it. I was the snake… I was inside it. I bit him - he’s in the Department of Mysteries. He’s bleeding, he’s dying - Ron, we have to tell someone! Now!”

Ron didn’t hesitate.

——————————————————————————

The guilt didn’t settle. It grew. Even after Dumbledore confirmed that Arthur had been found alive, but just barley - Harry couldn’t shake the feeling crawling under his skin.

He wasn’t just seeing Voldemort anymore. He was connected to him. He had been the thing that tried to kill someone he loved.

The worst part? he enjoyed it.

He kept his distance even more after that.

From Ron. From Hermione.

Especially from you.

Because if Voldemort could use him to hurt Mr. Weasley… what would stop him from using Harry to hurt you? It was no longer a fear. It was a possibility.He told himself that he was right all along, and that he did the right thing by pushing you away from him.

But then he remembered the way you looked at him in the firelight. The way you cried the night he let go. The way Hermione said you weren’t just hurting — you were breaking.

And Harry knew then that Voldemort wasn’t the only one doing damage.

He was too.

Grimmauld place was colder than usual, even with the fire lit crackling infront of Harry. He’d been sitting with the weight of it all — the vision, the blood, the connection. The echo of Arthur Weasley’s cries still rang in his ears.

“your thinking to loud again”

Harry startled slightly. He looked up. Sirius stood in the doorway, his coat draped over one arm, looking every bit the shadowed version of the man he used to be — but there was warmth in his eyes. Concern. Familiarity.

“Sirius..” Harry muttered, “I didn’t hear you come in”

Didn’t need to,” Sirius said, stepping in and sinking into the armchair across from him. “You’ve been looking like that for hours.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re blaming yourself for Arthur being attacked. “I know that look. I wore it for years after Azkaban. And my father, well- he’d have worn it his whole life, if he’d had a heart to break.”

Harry didn’t say a word, just looked at Sirius while he spoke.

Sirius leaned forward, eyes softer now. “You think you’re becoming him, don’t you? Voldemort?”

Harry’s silence finally broke.

“I felt it, What he left in me,” Harry finally whispered. “Through the snake. I saw it happen, Sirius, I was it. And it… it didn’t even feel wrong at first. I felt powerful. I felt… hungry. What if there’s something in me? What if I’m like him?”

Sirius was quiet for a moment. Then, firmly..

“You’re not a bad person, Harry. You’re a very good person who bad things have happened to.”

“We’ve all got both light and dark inside us,” Sirius continued. “What matters is the part we choose to act on. That’s who we really are.”

Harry’s face softened completely before he spoke again, “What if he takes over again and I don’t know it? What if the next time it’s Ron, or Hermione, or…” He couldn’t say your name.

Sirius’s voice softened, but it didn’t waver. “Then you fight harder. And you trust the people who love you to help pull you back.”

He gave Harry a long, meaningful look.

“Including her.”

Harry looked up at Sirius, his eyes glistening with regret.

“I broke her Sirius. She was trying so hard to reach me.. to help me. I pushed her away and treated her like she wasn’t anything to me. But she means so much to me.”

“Then tell her before its far too late.” Sirius stood up and placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder, giving it a pat before he walked away.

You heard it all

You didn’t mean to stop outside the door to be fair.

You were just coming downstairs for tea. A simple excuse to escape the suffocating quiet of the girls’ room, where your thoughts kept swallowing you whole.

then you heard his voice.

Harry, the harry who once was yours.

His voice was muffled , low. Fragile in a way you hadn’t heard it in weeks.

Your hand gripped the banister. The flickering light from the hallway sconce spilled just enough through the cracked door that you could make out Harry’s silhouette inside — curled in a chair across from Sirius.

“What if he takes over again and I don’t know it? What if the next time it’s Ron, or Hermione, or…”

or who? you? your breath hitched with the sudden cutoff. You wanted to pry your hands away and go back to your room, you wanted to ignore it and act like Harry still wasn’t your everything while you felt sure you meant nothing anymore. but your body wouldn’t let you. Your hands remained glued to the banister as you continued to listen.

“Then you fight harder,” Sirius said gently. “And you trust the people who love you to help pull you back. Including her.”

You froze.

Her.

Your heart pounded in your chest, pressing up into your throat.

“I broke her,” Harry murmured. “She was trying so hard to reach me. And I shoved her away like she didn’t mean a thing. But she did. She does.”

You blinked hard. Your throat ached.

There it was. The thing you had begged to hear the night he shut down. When his eyes went cold and his words came out cruel, and you left because it hurt more to stay.

But now — alone in that room with Sirius, Harry was saying it aloud.

He still loved you.

He never stopped.

But your knew deep down it wouldn’t be that simple to let him back in. No matter how many times you believed you would let him walk straight back in. His words still stung. Maybe he was still in there — the boy who used to wait for you outside class, tuck letters in your books, kiss you like he thought you hung the moon.

And maybe he’d have a damn good enough apology.

You made your way back upstairs and closed the door softly behind you, leaning against it like it was the only thing holding you upright. The air in the room felt heavier than before, but in a different way. Not suffocating. Just… full.

Hermione looked up from the edge of her bed, where she’d been reading in the golden glow of a low-burning lamp. She sat up straighter the moment she saw your face.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently, putting her book aside.

You nodded too quickly. Then shook your head.

Hermione was up in an instant, crossing the room to you. “What happened?”

“I… I heard him,” you said, voice barely above a whisper. “Downstairs. With Sirius.”

Hermione’s expression softened. “Harry?”

You nodded again, arms crossing tightly over your chest. “He was talking about the attack. About the way Voldemort… felt through him. He was scared. So scared.”

you and Hermione shared a sympathetic look.

“And he mentioned me,” you added quietly, staring at the floor. “He said he broke me. That I tried to reach him and he shoved me away. But that I mattered. That I still matter.”

The words cracked in your throat while it felt like the words hit you even harder this time. Your breath was short and you were sure you were on the verge of tears.

Hermione ran to you and embraced you in her arms. You wrapped yours around her as your breath became slightly unsteady as a single tear fell.

“I never stopped hoping he’d come back,” you whispered. “Even when I hated him for hurting me. I still… I still loved him.”

Hermione pulled back just enough to look you in the eye. “He’s coming back now. Piece by piece. And he’s going to need you — not because he’s broken, but because you’re the one who reminds him who he really is.”

you both pulled away and shared a smile. Though yours faded once again.

“I don’t even know what to say to him when i see him..” you groaned as you smacked your head into your hands.

Hermione let out a little giggle at your actions, pulling your hands away from your face so she can look at you.

“You don’t have to know,” Hermione said. “Just listen to your heart. It’s always known him better than anyone.”

——————————————————————————

The next morning, sunlight streamed faintly through the tall, dusty windows of the corridor, casting a soft golden glow over the creaky wooden floor. The quiet of early morning held the house in a kind of hush, the kind that settles right before something important.

Harry stood outside your door.

He’d barely slept. After Sirius’s words and Ron’s pointed honesty, after Hermione’s quiet look when she passed him late in the hallway - he’d stayed up, thinking. Feeling. Regretting.

really regretting.

Harry knocked on your door. Two knocks.

He heard a quiet shuffle inside. Then the door cracked open, and there you were, hair a little messy from sleep, jumper slipping off one should.

his jumper.

Your heart skipped a beat when your eyes met harry’s. His hair was messier than usual. His eyes were tired - not just from lack of sleep, but from the weight he’d been carrying. Still, when he looked at you, something in his expression shifted. Lighter. Softer. Like seeing you was the first deep breath he’d taken in days.

“I was hoping you’d be up,” he said quietly.

You held the door, unsure whether to lean into it or close it again. “I figured you’d come.”

You didn’t mean it to sound bitter — it didn’t, really. Just honest.

“Can we talk? Somewhere quiet?”

You stared at him for a moment. Part of you wanted to close the door and guard whatever was left of your heart. But the rest of you, the bigger part - remembered the sound of his voice the night before, cracked and vulnerable through the door. Remembered Hermione’s words. Remembered love.

“The kitchen’s probably empty,” you murmured.

He didn’t move immediately. Just looked at you like he was surprised you still had space in your heart for him.

Then he followed behind you.

It wasn’t forgiveness. not yet.

The kitchen was quiet when you entered — dimly lit by the weak morning sun peeking through the grimy windows, and empty.

You sat across from Harry at the long table. The space between you wasn’t far, but it felt like it carried weeks’ worth of words left unsaid.

He didn’t speak at first.

Just looked down at his hands. Twisted his fingers together. You noticed the faint tremble in them.

“I, um…” His voice cracked a little, and he cleared his throat. “I don’t really know where to start.”

You waited.

“I’ve been a right mess,” he said finally. “I was angry. At everything. At Voldemort. At Dumbledore. At the prophecy. At myself.”

You looked at him, and for the first time in a long while, he met your gaze.

“And instead of dealing with it, I took it out on the one person I trusted not to leave.”

Your heart twisted.

“I pushed you because I was scared,” he continued.

“Because Voldemort is looking for me. Because I feel him inside my head some days and it makes me question who I even am. And I thought… if I kept everyone at arm’s length, I couldn’t lose them.”

“But I lost you anyway,”

“I didn’t mean a single bit of the things I said,” he went on. “I only said it all to make you leave. To hurt you before I could hurt you worse. So maybe, you would realize how I don’t want to wake up one morning to you dead because of me. Because of him. What he left in me, i took out on you.”

“I know sorry doesn’t fix everything. But I am sorry. For all of it.”

You sat still, breathing through the knot in your chest.

“You don’t have to forgive me,” Harry said, quieter now. “But I need you to know you never stopped mattering to me. You still do.”

You took a fair look at him, you saw the pain in his eyes and how his soul had seemed to be almost entirely sucked out. But beneath it all, you saw him.

Your harry.

The boy who once waited for you outside Potions. The one who snuck you Honeydukes sweets when he knew you were upset. The one who held your hand under the table during DA meetings, because your nerves were louder than your wand.

he was still there. Barely, just barely.. but you saw your boy.

And for the first time in weeks, you let yourself speak without a wall between you.

“I missed you,” you said softly. “Even when I hated you.”

Harry’s breath caught.

“I hated how much I still loved you.”

He blinked hard, and you saw his shoulders shake just slightly as he nodded. “Me too”

You watched him. Not the Boy Who Lived. Not the weapon Dumbledore needed. Just him.

And still, part of you wanted to reach out.

But part of you didn’t trust your own hands yet. So you stayed still. Let the quiet speak for you. Let him see how much it had cost to be hurt by someone you trusted with everything.

“I know I don’t get to ask this,” he said eventually, “but… do you think you’ll ever be able to look at me the same way again?”

you didn’t answer immediately. You took a deep breath before you answered his question.

“I don’t know,” You answered truthfully. “I want to. Its like a part of me does and always will, but you hurt me in ways i’ve never been hurt. And that takes time.”

Harry nodded. He was looking at you. Really looking at you. Like he used to. his face spread with guilt and shame.

“thats fair”

“I’m not asking you to forget it,” he added, voice a little hoarse. “Just… let me earn your trust again. However long that takes.”

The words sat with you. You didn’t move closer to reach for his hand. You didn’t pull back either. That was enough for you.

So you nodded. Small, but real.

——————————————————————————-

The library was tucked away behind thick, creaky doors, the kind that groaned every time someone opened them. so naturally, you chose it.

You weren’t sure if you came to find them or just stumbled in out of instinct, but there they were: Ron slouched sideways in an armchair by the fireplace, chewing on the end of a Sugar Quill, and Hermione curled up with her knees to her chest, a book resting forgotten in her lap.

They both looked up the second you stepped in.

“You talked to him,” Hermione said softly.

It wasn’t a question.

You sank down into the space between their chairs, curling your arms around your knees.

“I did.”

Ron sat forward slightly, watching you with careful eyes. “How’d it go?”

You breathed out a shaky little laugh. “It was… hard. He apologized. Really apologized. But it doesn’t fix everything.”

“No,” Hermione murmured. “It wouldn’t.”

“But I didn’t shut the door on him,” you added. “And I wanted to. But i looked at him - really looked at him. He’s still Harry.”

Ron scratched the back of his neck. “He’s been different these past few weeks. All that anger. It’s not him, not really. But when he talked about you… it was like that part of him came back.”

Hermione leaned over and took your hand gently in hers.

“You don’t owe him instant forgiveness,” she said, her voice strong but kind. “But you also don’t have to keep punishing yourself by pretending you don’t care.”

Ron gave a half-smile. “For what it’s worth… I think he’s finally learning not to run. That’s got to count for something.”

You nodded slowly ans gave them both a smile, leaning your head against Hermione’s shoulder.

The train ride back had been quieter than usual. No sweets from the trolley. No laughter from younger years. Just the four of you — you, Harry, Ron, and Hermione — pressed into one compartment, bundled in scarves and unsaid things.

It wasn’t the same as it used to be. But that didn’t mean it was broken.

Something between the four of you had shifted — tightened, maybe. Like surviving the weight of December had quietly stitched your threads back together. There were fewer outbursts now. More shared glances, longer silences that didn’t feel uncomfortable, and the occasional smile that felt like a promise that things might be okay again someday.

You and Harry didn’t sit as close as you used to. But you talked. You shared smiles here and there. Things started suddenly looking up.

Strangely enough, there was something comforting about the DA meetings.

Despite everything - the tension in the halls, the fear in the headlines, the ache that still settled in your chest when you looked at Harry too long, even Umbridge.. the evenings in the Room of Requirements brought back hope. Like you had some stability.

And Harry was still a fantastic teacher.

Tonight’s meeting had gone exceptionally well - spells flying, laughter bubbling as Neville accidentally disarmed himself, a round of light applause when Ginny nailed a perfect Reducto. It felt normal. Just for a little while. Like everything you yearned for was finally back.

But when everyone started to pack up, laughing and shaking out their arms, you hesitated. You told yourself you were just reorganizing the spellbooks. But your hands weren’t really moving.

And when you looked up — he was still there.

Harry stood near the back wall, wand loosely in hand, watching the last of the group file out. You told yourself you should just leave and tell him goodnight, but you stayed.

He didn’t say anything right away. He locked eyes with you and just took a slow step closer, the distance between you still careful. Still heavy.

“You’re getting good with Expelliarmus,” he said quietly.

You gave a faint smile, not looking at him. “Well, I’ve had a pretty consistent example.”

He huffed a small laugh through his nose. “Yeah, it’s kind of my thing.”

When you finally turned to face him fully, you saw it — that flicker in his eyes. Longing. Regret. All the things he hadn’t been able to say when the world was falling apart and he was pushing you away with it.

“You’ve been doing better,” you said. “In here, I mean.”

His jaw shifted slightly. “This room’s the only place I feel like I still know who I am.”

You nodded once. “That makes two of us.”

Harry looked at you and smiled. “you’ve always been really talented with spells, you still are”

You arched an eyebrow. “Are you complimenting me, Potter?”

“maybe im finally starting to remember how.”

You smirked. “You know, I still remember the first time you tried to teach me Expelliarmus. You were so serious like you were prepping for a NEWT exam and not just trying to show off.”

Harry let out a laugh - a genuine laugh. The laugh that makes your stomach turn in so many ways. The laugh you’d yearned for and missed more than anything.

The laughter faded into quiet smiles, but neither of you looked away. And in that pause, something else started to fill the room, a kind of warmth that had been missing for far too long. The kind that lived in old memories and late-night talks and the way your eyes lingered on each other now, just a second too long.

“You remember that night after the Yule Ball?” Harry asked suddenly, voice lower.

You tilted your head, curious. “When we snuck up to the Astronomy Tower and you nearly got us caught?”

He laughed again.

“Yeah. That one. You told me you’d hex me right after.’”

“right before you kissed me to shut me up”

“exactly.”

Your heart skipped a beat and your sure his did as well. You both help eye contact, shit. It was just like how it used to be. Harry was never angry anymore. He obviously had his moments, but he hadn’t lashed out. never on you. never came close.

“I didn’t know what I was doing back then,” he admitted, stepping a little closer.

“I don’t think either of us did,” you said, voice softening. “But it still felt easy… back then. With you.”

Harry’s eyes locked with yours. “It could be again. I want it to be.”

You didn’t move. You didn’t breathe. You weren’t ready to trust that so easily — but gods, you wanted to. The space between you had vanished without either of you realizing. His hand brushed against yours, tentative, like testing the weight of the moment.

And you didn’t pull away.

“I’m still mad at you,” you murmured.

“I know.”

“And I still don’t forgive everything.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

“But…” you stepped closer, your voice barely audible, “I still love you, Harry.”

His breath caught, and the look in his eyes nearly undid you.

“I never stopped,” he said.

Then — slowly, carefully — his hand came up to cup your cheek. You leaned into it before you could think twice.

And when he kissed you, it wasn’t rushed. It wasn’t perfect. It was trembling and quiet and real. All the broken pieces trying to fit back together, not because they were forced — but because they wanted to.

When you finally pulled away, both of you were breathless, smiling like fools.

You leaned your forehead against his. “Still an idiot.”

Harry grinned. “Yours though?”

You nodded.

“Mine.”

Spring had finally started to sneak into Hogwarts, soft and quiet. The sun was warmer on your face, the air smelled like blooming grass, and for the first time in what felt like months — you could breathe. Things slowly reverted to how they were. This was how it used to be. But stronger now. Wiser. Braver.

You and Harry lay side by side on the slope near the Black Lake, his hand laced with yours, thumb tracing circles against your skin. His other arm was slung lazily behind his head, eyes half-closed, the wind tousling his hair in that ridiculous, untamable way you’d grown to love again.

Ron and Hermione were a few feet away, bickering over some spellwork, though Ron’s grin betrayed that he was only trying to get a rise out of her. Hermione rolled her eyes and pretended not to smile.

“Feels like the world’s still spinning,” Harry murmured beside you, breaking the silence.

You turned to him. “It always was. You just forgot how to feel it.”

He looked at you then — really looked — and smiled like he used to. The one that reached his eyes, made everything feel steady.

“I don’t think I would’ve remembered without you.”

You squeezed his hand. “That’s what we do, remember? You fall apart, I put you back together. I fall apart, you do the same. It’s teamwork.”

Harry chuckled. “So what you’re saying is… I can’t ever break up with you again or I’ll be tragically incomplete.”

“Exactly,” you said, deadpan. “And I’ll hex you if you try.”

“Romantic,” he grinned, and leaned over to kiss you softly.

You let it linger. Not because it was new, or uncertain — but because it wasn’t. Because it felt like home.

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aamircoeur · 2 days ago

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hues of pink ー miromabby, kpdh.

wherein the pink-haired throuple sees just how much they love the color pink, especially on each other.

CWs: suggestive content! proceed with caution

a/n: HEAVILY inspired by trunks' tweet on x! full credit for the art too (i couldn't find a gif for the three :-( ) @prismismz 🤍

the deep laugh of mira echoed throughout their dimly-lit room, warm lighting casting on one side of their faces from the opened lamp on the table near them. "such good boys," she said, long nails slightly scratching the boys' necks.

abby and romance looked up at the woman's deeply flushed face as they sat on their knees in between her widely opened legs, their toned torsos exposed from the lack of upper body clothing which was disregarded to a corner of the room they couldn't care about at the moment.

their necks were colored various hues of blue and red made by scratches and lipstick marks from their woman, hickeys and love bites from each other, or whichever, really. their routine of foreplay wasn't anything new to be surprised about.

abby bit his lip as he smirked, his large hand enveloping nearly half of mira's thigh as it crawled up further.

seeing an amused look on their woman, romance leaned in to leave an open-mouthed kiss to her knee as his hands held and lightly massaged her ankles. "mira," he said lowly, eyes closed in concentration at the feeling of her skin against his lips. "oh, mira."

the woman grinned widely, satisfaction blooming from her chest. "up, boys," she said, making the boys halt their movements. mira stood up, followed by abby and romance as they rose to their feet as well, giving them a full view of her stretched, long legs as she walked towards the bed. mira turned to face the two and sat at the edge, looking back at her boys with a grin. "come." says she.

without hesitation, both boys took their usual spots when sandwiching the woman: abby on the right, and romance on the left. abby held her waist with a firm hold as he hovered over her slim shoulder which smelled beautifully from her perfume, while romance held her hand and arm so delicately to show appreciation to her soft skin.

"may i?" asked abby, his right hand holding her cheek to turn her towards him.

mira nodded lightly, feeling ticklish at the feathered kisses on her forearm being left by romance on her other side.

abby quicky leaned in and locked his lips with hers, tasting the strawberry-flavored gloss mira had as the minty sensation of it was passed from her lips to his. abby groaned into the kiss, feeling mira's long nails scratch at his collarbones before finding themselves wrapped around his neck with a slight squeeze.

he turned his head to deepen their kiss, turning it into a make-out session as romance's kisses made their way to color mira's necks with purples and reds.

romance nipped and licked at mira's sensitive spots, smirking to himself slightly as he felt her legs press against each other for friction. licking at mira's shoulder, romance's hand found itself fondling the seams of her shirt before tucking it under, his rings cold at the touch against her stomach as it climbed up, his fingernails scratching at the material of her bra.

mira's eyebrows furrowed as she whined, the stimulation of her tongue against abby's and the anticipation from romance's kisses and touches being nearly too much to bear.

"so," abby pulled from their kiss to speak before leaning back in, then pulling away again, "which shade of pink's your favourite, sweetheart?" he asked, leaving her no time to respond as he pressed his lips against her once more.

"light pink," romance said against mira's neck before opening his mouth to bite, making her pull away from abby to let out a moan.

she turned to look at romance whose eyes bored into hers immediately, with his face flushed into a deep shade of pink before being held by the cheeks again to face abby once more. "or hot pink?"

abby had a coy smile that made the apples of his pink-colored cheeks rise against his dark eyes. "pick your poison, mira."

stream soda pop & free :-P !!

#fanfiction #miromabby #mira kpop demon hunters #romance kpop demon hunters #abby kpop demon hunters #kpop demon hunters #kpdh #netflix

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aamircoeur · 4 days ago

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CAN HE FUCK ME ALREADY

hi baby i absolutely adore your works 🥹 what do you think of oliver wood with a begging knk..... wink wink....

Your the sweetest!! and i absolutely adore this idea, thank you for the request love❤️

BEGGING KINK W/ OLIVER WOOD

The fire crackled low, throwing warm golden light over the worn couch cushions. Most of the common room had emptied hours ago, but neither of you had moved—too caught up in the quiet tension crackling between you. You sat with your knees tucked under you, heartbeat still racing from the match… or maybe just from the way Oliver was looking at you.

“You know,” he said, voice low, like a secret, “you really shouldn’t toy with me like that.”

You tilted your head. “Like what?”

He gave you that lopsided smirk—the one he only wore when he was barely holding himself back. “Wearing that bloody jumper like you didn’t know what it’d do to me. Whispering in my ear like that before the match.”

You blinked, feigning innocence. “Oh, that? I was just wishing my captain good luck.”

Oliver leaned in, elbows on his knees, so close now you could feel the heat of him. His voice dropped another octave. “I don’t need luck. I need you.”

Your breath hitched. The tension between you had always been there, unspoken, simmering under every glance, every brush of fingers when he handed you your broom. But tonight—tonight it was like the air had shifted.

He reached out and toyed with the edge of your sleeve, eyes flicking between your lips and your eyes. “Tell me you want this,” he murmured. “I need to hear it. Don’t make me beg.”

The corner of your mouth curled into a smirk. “Why not?”

His jaw tensed, and for a moment, pride battled desire behind those storm-dark eyes.

You leaned in just enough to brush your lips near his ear. “Say it, Wood.”

His breath came out in a low groan. “Please,” he said, barely more than a whisper. “I want you. I’ve wanted you for so long, I can’t think straight. Say you want me back.”

The pleading in his voice sent heat rushing through your chest. You pulled back just enough to meet his eyes. “I want you. But I could get used to hearing you ask like that.”

Something wild and hungry flashed in his gaze. “You have no idea what that does to me,” he said, voice rough now, hands sliding to your waist. “Say it again.”

You grinned against his mouth just before he kissed you—desperate, deep, and all-consuming, like he’d been holding it in for far too long.

#harry potter #oliver wood #coeurthoughts

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aamircoeur · 4 days ago

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OPERATION: Mischief in Progress ー peek!

a peek into my favourite scene of my various harry potter book on wattpad :-) @/lovedbynoir

lorenzo berkshire x reader ! chapter 3: nosey

"Alright, enough chatter!" Professor Binns strolled in, adjusting his glasses upon reaching his desk. "We've got a lot of work to cover today, so you lot best listen up."

Straightening your postures, the class hushed up as they pulled their textbooks out once instructed by the professor. Lazily opening your bag, your eyebrows knit at the lack of sights on your textbook. "Well, shit," you said to yourself.

Lorenzo glanced at you and saw your back slumping against the wooden chair tiredly. He then called your name, making you turn your head towards him as he placed his textbook in front of him. "We could share mine, if you'd like," he said, his voice low. Lorenzo's lips turning up into a small smile upon seeing how your face lit up.

"Really? Thanks!" You exclaimed softly, tucking your hair behind your ears. Lorenzo looked at you, warmth creeping up to his ear at the sight of your face uncovered by stray hair.

"Yeah," he replied shortly, blinking away whatever made his eyes look at you as if you were glowing. "C'mere," he whispered, his hand hooking under the chair you sat on before pulling it towards him with ease.

ー

pls pls pls consider checking it out i'm in need of interactions 😞

#fanfiction #coeurthoughts #harry potter #lorenzo berkshire #draco malfoy #cho chang #blaise zabini #cedric diggory #fred weasley #george weasley #x reader #harry potter x reader #various harry potter #harry potter various #wattpad #oliver wood

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aamircoeur · 4 days ago

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dating an athlete is actually so draining 😵

#coeurthoughts

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aamircoeur · 6 days ago

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Good Luck | Oliver Wood x fem!reader

Summary: You wish Oliver good luck, even though you’re playing for the opposing team.

Words: 0,2k

Warnings: None, just pure fluff.

A/n: h/c is house colour

—

“Good luck today, Harry,” you said as you walked past him. He noticed that wore your h/c Quidditch robes and that you held a new broom over your shoulder.

“Thanks. Good luck to you too,” he replied. Your back was turned when Oliver walked over to stand beside Harry. “Don’t wish her luck, Harry.” He said as you walked away, “We’re playing against her team. You do want us to win, right?”

You were unaware of what Oliver had said, but turned around at the sound of his voice.

“Oliver,” you called out. “Good luck.”

The Gryffindor Quidditch captain felt his face heat up. “Thank you, lass. Good luck to you too.”

You walked away, smiling. Oliver noticed that Harry was grinning at him. The taller of the two frowned, “What?”

“Don’t wish her luck, Wood.” Harry replied, “We’re playing against her team. You do want us to win, right?”

—

Edit, 7 July: Heyy!! I’ve recently written an Oliver x Reader fic. It’s 1,8k words. Click below to read it!

Losing | Oliver x Reader

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aamircoeur · 9 days ago

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“i wouldn’t do that” “i wouldn’t say that” “i wouldn’t wear that” “i wouldn’t kiss them” too bad you pedantic dorks, you’re not the one in control here.

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aamircoeur · 10 days ago

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the hate game (1)

oliver wood x female!reader

wc: 13.3k

warnings: enemies to lovers, so damn much pining, set in poa, timeline is a bit wonky, limited use of y/n, super grumpy!oliver, oliver's scottish accent (it's a warning in itself), alcohol consumption, super! duper! cheesy! (sorry not sorry)

an: just survived the worst two weeks of my life, but the fic is finally here! this fic was originally a full 50 chapter fic i had planned for wattpad like three years ago but i found my draft for it recently and decided it needed a revival. so enjoy it, and don't forget to comment and repost to support your favourite writers :)

summary: the only thing more grating than Oliver's foul moods and his permanent scowl, has to be the fact that he's so damn pretty. you fucking hate him for it.

part two/final part

Movies, as is their premise, glamourise plenty of things - high school, politics, tiny Greek islands - but none more than the classic sucker-punch.

The teeth-crunching, blood-spitting moment where skin meets skin in a satisfying thump that sends an unsuspecting victim to the floor. Music plays and the hero grins, grabbing the girl round the waist: dipping low to kiss her.

What’s consistently (conveniently) left out is how bloody painful it is to be on the sending end of that fist.

The first, and only, time you’d ever punched someone was in second year.

It had seemed like a great idea in the moment, quickly succeeded by the mind-numbing pain that shot up your arm where knuckle met face.

You’d aimed for his jaw, but as it turns out: in addition to painful, punching someone wasn’t a particularly accurate sport for a beginner and your slippery skin found a round-tipped nose instead.

A collective gasp and a month’s worth of detention waited for you on the other side of your act of rage.

And sure, while afternoons in Snape’s classroom every Friday sucked: it was all worth it.

Every purple knuckle that throbbed with the slightest brush, the points lost to Hufflepuff, the pages and pages of Hogwarts Does Not Condon Physical Violence you’d been forced to write was worth seeing the trickle of blood running down from Oliver Wood’s nose.

To see that smug fucking look wiped clean from his face. To watch how he doubled over in pain, grappling onto his friend for balance.

“Tyler fancying you? Any bloke would rather snog a goblin.”

His little comment had earned him a broken nose.

It had been the start of a five year long feud.

It’s the reason - now - why the ground is racing up to meet you, the nose of your broomstick pressed down towards it and wind whipping so hard against your face it draws tears. You knock into the ground, catching yourself on wobbly legs. A few feet away, Oliver Wood has done the same.

He’s marching towards you with the same ferocity that’s curdling in your chest:

“Tha’s blatching and you know it!” His accent is ringing, thick and blistering with heat like it always is when he talks to you. At you, rather.

The accusation is crystal clear, and loud despite the echoing din of the quidditch stands above. From the field where you're parked, you can hear the chatter and the cheers and the boos all conglomerating into a fuzzy uproar.

There’s still twelve brooms floating in the air, spewing irritated shouts from players in both yellow and red:

Just let it go, Wood!

Come on, Cap, can we just finish the match please!

You promptly ignore them. Oliver follows suit.

“What?” You scoff, face hot as a kettle on a lit stove. “As if Laurel and Hardy haven’t been elbowing my girls all game!”

It goes without saying that you’re referring to Gryffindor’s red-head twin-set of beaters.

“Bullshit.” He seethes, it’s purposefully quiet enough that McGonagall’s approaching figure doesn’t pick it up.

She, unlike yourself, is less patient and knobby vein-webbed hands come out to knock you both against your chests: widening the gap to a safe enough distance between the opposing captains.

“You two are exhausting.” And she sounds it too. Her glasses tremble at the edge of her nose, sun shining down on her aged face. "If one more match this season is interrupted because you two can't control your tempers, you will both be stripped of captainship and you will not fly until you graduate. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

But Oliver isn't looking at her. His eyes are focused on yours over her cloaked shoulder.

He's taking the predictable route of not replying first.

"Crystal clear, Professor." You resign to speaking first, skewing a grin at his anger-sewn face.

It’s another long boring moment before he cuts his gaze from yours, kicks up a patch of grass and grits through his teeth.

“Yes, professor.”

As can be imagined, things between you and Oliver Wood have been tense since the day he’d hobbled up to the hospital wing with a palm over his face and blood dripping down over his already red tie.

But with age, came ferocity, and what started as passing glares in the corridor melted into anger-drowned faces and sharp words flung with intent to scar.

Things got infinitely worse when you were elected captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team in the same year Oliver was made captain for Gryffindor. It stoked the already sizzling embers that made moments around him warm and stuffy and hard to breathe.

The murky history swirled with what should be friendly competition, instead frothing into a bubbling pot of annoyed teammates and exasperated teachers and more sessions of detention than you would have ever had if you'd never met the son of a bitch that is Oliver Wood.

It's what puts you in situations like the ones you find yourself in the middle of before you even know how you got yourself there.

"You two," Professor Burbage had never held you in particularly high favour. It was just your luck that Oliver received the same courtesy. "One more word out of either of you and I will be seeing both of you this afternoon for detention in my classroom."

It was even unluckier that she'd sat you two barely three wizards away from one another and one fly-away comment had blown out into another heat-filled exchange. It always does.

"But professor--" you try.

"Right then. I'll see you both at five o' clock."

Oliver sighs, hands running up over his head between chestnut locks: "Fucking perfect. Thanks, big-mouth."

"Would you like to make it two days, Mr Wood?"

He huffs like an angry dog, tightening the grip on his writing-feather but says nothing else.

The end of the lesson doesn't come soon enough and when it does, Oliver is first out of his seat. You're grateful for it.

Cherry bumps you in the shoulder where she throws her bag over it. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

You grin, despite the sunken feeling hollowing your chest with the acknowledgment that you're gonna be spending yet another afternoon at the mercy of an under-paid staff member alongside the hothead that was the Gryffindor captain.

"Come on, that wasn't my fault and you know it."

Her tight red curls dance when she shakes her head. They match her blood red tie. "Somehow it never is."

To your dismay, but not surprise, Enzo shares Cherry's views when he waltzes into step beside you in the corridor between Muggle Studies and Divination. His arm drapes over your shoulders and his tall frame shakes when he laughs.

"You know," his voice is thick and gravelly. "You two are gonna have to fuck it out eventually."

You roll your eyes, shoving him off you with a chuckle. The sentiment isn't anything new. "Oh, shut up."

The day folds blurrily between classes and lunch and greenhouse visits that by the time you look up it's just about five o clock.

Burbage's office door stares down at you.

The corridor is ghostly all the way behind you and it's emptiness means it's easy to make out Oliver's heavy footsteps down the stone floor. They're not slow, in an arrogant strut, neither quick like he has somewhere to be.

He trudges. Like the weight of the world is strapping him to invisible pins in the floor. It's easy to figure that your existence doesn't lighten his load any.

You don't turn. He simply falls into place beside you, keeping a good foot distance between your tightened shoulders.

The door opens.

Charity Burbage is insufferable in the way that she forces you and Oliver to sit almost on top of each other behind a scratched up desk where she can watch you under the curtain of her ratty blond hair.

You inch the chair dramatically away from Oliver's.

She's set a stack of pages by him and a wet stamp. "Stamp these and sign the date."

Additionally, she's dropped a stack of envelopes under your nose. "Tuck and seal. When you're done, you can leave."

You eye the papers. There must be hundreds.

To Whom It May Concern,

Hogwarts would like to remind all parents and guardians that the third-years will require prior permission before being allowed to visit the nearby village of Hogsmeade--

You jump when Oliver's elbow knocks yours (more violently than what was really necessary). He holds the first page out to you silently, face dripping with impatience.

When you take the page, his thumb brushes yours.

The paper is delicate in your fingers where you fold it. You tuck and seal, and by the time you've set it aside Oliver is offering the next page to you again.

His thumb brushes yours for a second time.

You find that it does for every letter that's passed on.

It's hard not to watch him out the corner of your eye. Oliver has this dark brown, nearly black, hair that's thick and almost too long and untamed all over. It's matched by bushy eyebrows and speckled freckles over the bridge of his nose.

If you didn't hate him as much as you did, you might think he was pretty. You might think that anyway.

Time stretches until the sun is setting the classroom afire with golden light and it's boredom that causes it, or possibly a desire to hear his voice at such tight quarters, but you speak.

"You know," it's soft enough that Burbage doesn't look up from her Witch Weekly magazine. "Even if - in some act of God - Scotland qualifies for the semi-finals, Luxembourg is gonna flatten them. I mean, think about it unemotionally, Wood: they have Luca Schmit as seeker. It's really a no brainer--"

"Are y’really just stupid or are you purposefully trynna start another argument?" His gaze flickers up to eye Burbage's desk warily, she still doesn't react.

Maybe it's both. After all, the subject of the Quidditch World Cup had been what put you both there in the first place.

You shrug, unfazed by his scathing remark.

"I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Well don't."

His hand brushes yours again.

Every second Friday, generally at the tail-end of lunch, Hooch's grey barn owl swoops low over your head and drops a smaller-than-average white envelope right into your mashed potatoes. Cherry yelps in surprise every time.

Then you watch the bird drop the same over the Gryffindor, Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables.

Good afternoon,

Reminder of Captain's meeting this afternoon in my office. Six o' clock, don't be late.

Regards,

Madam Hooch.

The letter says the same thing it has since you became captain and it's a wonder you still take the effort to break the seal on the envelope.

But come six o' clock, you're traipsing towards the west end of the castle. Lavender streaks caress the sky under the last impression of sunlight through the ornate stone arch of the corridor windows and an autumn chill creeps up your arms where your sweater isn't thick enough.

Hooch's office is in a quiet alcove, nearly impossible to find if you didn't know where to look, and the lamps are lit. Beyond the door, you can hear voices: you grin.

The door creaks noisily where you push it open. Inside it's cramped and cluttered with shelves of quidditch equipment - broken brooms, punctured quaffles and loose kits draping every open surface - but it's warm and smells like leather and is maybe your favourite little room in the whole castle.

The quidditch legend herself, Rolanda Hooch, has her legs kicked up on her desk and the boys are standing ahead of it locked in animated chatter.

She's laughing at something they said, and smiles when you enter.

"Sorry I'm late, coach."

It's nothing new and she waves you in with a smile. "Come in, poppet."

"Merlin," Marcus' shoulder finds yours and the force of the bump nearly sends you off your feet. "You'd be late to your own funeral hey, Puffers?"

You laugh, shoving him back with as much force as you can muster against the giant brute that is Slytherin captain Marcus Flint. It barely nudges him but he barks out a laugh, rough like tractor tires over crumbly concrete.

"I'm worth the wait." You quip back, leaning around Marcus to wink at Roger Davies. "Isn't that right, Rodger?"

He flirts back, "Always, sweetheart."

Roger is the antithesis of Marcus: all pale skin, blue eyes and short blonde hair. Easy on the eyes.

Oliver lingers just behind him, the tallest of the captains. You catch his eye, face slipping into something more serious, and nod. "Hey, Wood."

He nods in return, curt like how a ministry wizard's might be.

"Right," Hooch sits up straight in her high-back chair. "There are just a couple things we need to get through tonight, we won't be long."

The dynamic between the captains would be easy, if not for Oliver.

You're the only girl and that made for tough beginnings. Marcus is naturally brash and brutish, but - as you found - easy to impress with a couple showy tricks on the broom. A single promise to show him how to pull off a Woollongong Shimmy had him eating out your hand: the favour of a couple Slytherins was generally hard to buy and invaluable to a plushy Hufflepuff such as yourself.

Roger popped out the womb with a wink at the nurse. Impeccably charming and impossibly negotiable. Beyond being slightly dim, it was hard to say a bad thing about the Ravenclaw captain

On the other hand, Oliver was … well, Oliver.

Hooch tapped the sharp end of a writing feather rhythmically at a spot on her desk, eyes roving her clipboard.

"Next week we're doing a clean up of the supply room down by the pitch. I've set you each up on days, the whole team needs to be down to help unless they're excused by a teacher: I want a written letter."

She offers a piece of parchment without looking up.

"As you all know, it's the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw game next week."

You bump your elbow to Marcus'. He looks down and grins a mouthful of crooked teeth before turning to Roger. "Ready, pretty boy?"

Roger rolls crystal blue eyes, but he's smiling too. "Bring it on, tough-shit."

"Oy," Hooch interrupts them with a cool sigh, "The last thing, you all submitted your autumn practice requests for the pitch: Roger, Marcus, you have the days you want--"

They nod. Your shoulders stiffen.

"--Oliver, Y/n. You both want Wednesday afternoons. Monday afternoon is open, I'll let you two decide between each other who is gonna move their practice. I want a decision before tomorrow night."

Marcus is sniggering under his breath. The edges of your mouth sink into a frown, of course he wants the same day as me.

You can feel the heat of Oliver's eyes on the side of your face. You don't indulge him, keeping your gaze settled on Hooch's face.

"We'll figure it out, coach."

"Unlikely." Roger's quip is barely a whisper but you catch it.

"Alright." Hooch doesn't. "You're dismissed, go get some dinner kids."

The office door bounces back off the stone wall where Marcus tosses it carelessly open, echoing all the way down the empty corridor.

Frosty air chases over your face and the boys start down towards the Great Hall. Roger is complaining about a potions essay he hasn't started and Marcus is shrugging him off with a suggestion that includes something along the vein of blackmailing a sixth year into doing it for him but you can't focus long enough to follow.

"Oliver." Irritation is prickling at the surface of your skin. It flares into an almost rash when he stops walking, glancing over his shoulder with an unconcerned expression. "Who's giving Wednesday up?"

His arms fold against his chest. You're working extremely hard not to look down where his biceps stretch the seams on his Hogwarts jumper. "Well, you obviously."

Marcus barks another laugh, he calls down the corridor: "We'll see you kids at dinner."

"Yeah, don't kill each other! It's only practice!"

You huff in disbelief, unconcerned with the running commentary.

"Uh," you mirror Oliver by folding your own arms. "no it's not. Come on, we can negotiate like civil people can't we?"

Thick caterpillar eyebrows disappear beyond the overgrowth hiding his forehead. "Negotiate? I'm the one who wasted three hours of my life in detention last week thanks to your big fat mouth. Wednesday is mine."

"That was a joint effort, twat." You can feel where your throat is flush with rising anger. It wires your jaw tight. "Are you really so bloody difficult that we can't even come to a simple agreement?"

"Difficult?" His arms have shifted from his chest to perch against his hips. "Just because I'm not giving you what you want? Cry me a fucking river, darling. Sorry Puffers, but I'm not your precious Marcus or Roger. I'm not gonna fold just cause you bat yer pretty little eyelashes at me."

Pretty?

You blink in surprise. It's brushed quickly aside for more pressing matters. Your hands scrunch into fists at your side:

"Well. I'm not giving it up. I want Wednesday."

"Neither am I."

"Fuck you."

"In your dreams."

Oliver collapses loudly into the open spot at the Gryffindor dining table. His callousness knocks Archie's goblet of pumpkin juice across the shiny wooden surface between dishes of sausages and peas and roast potatoes.

"Bloody hell, what's got you in a mood?" He's patting down the table with a serviette, transforming it into a orange lump under his palm.

Shaking his head, as if it would joggle the thought of you loose, Oliver stabs a chicken drumstick from the top of a nearby pile with his fork. He doesn't respond.

"Wait, let me guess." Archie presses the elbows of his red jumper into the still wet surface beside his plate. "Something to do with your little Hufflepuff sweetheart?"

Oliver grunted around a mouthful, looking annoyed. "Not mine and not a sweetheart. A fucking brat."

Archie seems to find something funny, leaning back on the bench with a haughty laugh. "Right. What she do this time?"

"Wants the pitch the same day as me for practice." He's mumbling around a mouthful of chicken, tipping forward to shove a spoon teetering with peas alongside it. "Refuses to give in, despite the fact that she put me in detention last week with Burbage."

Shifting to the edge of his seat, Archie leans around Oliver's frame to find your figure across the Hall at the yellow-lined table. He nods, seemingly finding you. "Yeah, she don't look too happy either."

"I don't care."

Oliver is trying very hard not to give into the itch to look back.

"Whatever," Archie's gaze finds his again. "in better news ... I spoke to the twins just before dinner. They're still on for tomorrow."

He's twitching in his seat, eyebrows dancing and grinning around his words like a kid who's found a matchbox.

Right. The twins.

Specifically, Daisy and Delilah Dawson: two Ravenclaw sisters a year below Oliver.

They're peng, Archie had reasoned, you need a little fling to get your mind off quidditch. You're too strung up, mate.

And sure, they were, but Oliver had more important things to do than gallivant across Hogsmeade attached to the hip of some sixth year who just wants to earn her I Kissed The Quidditch Captain! badge.

He'd groaned and whined and glowered at the prospect. Was it petulant? Naturally, but spending five sickles on subpar hot chocolate and making false conversation with some Ravenclaw was a waste of precious time in Oliver's humble opinion.

His priorities are, as they've always been, crystal clear in his mind.

1. Win Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup 2. Refer to point (1)

There was little wiggle room for the introduction of girls into any spot on that list.

You're the only one who came almost close to the tight list. Only because if there had to be a third priority, "shove winning the cup in Hufflepuff's face" might just crack it. He thought about you significantly more than any other girl in the castle and maybe that might mean something if he thought about too long about it, but fortunately, he refused to.

Regardless, Archie was adamant and more than a little pathetic when he mentioned that Daisy only agreed to see him if he had a date for Delilah. It was all settled very quickly.

And it's in this show of loyalty to his dearest friend that Oliver finds himself walking the cobblestone path down into Hogsmeade on a crisp Saturday morning.

The little village is bustling with students - it normally is - and the crowd has him knocking shoulders with Delilah who's walking in step beside him.

He's uncomfortable to find that she's staring dreamily up at the underside of his jaw.

On Oliver's other side: Archie is talking Daisy's ear off, making another pitiful attempt at holding her hand. He doesn't quite manage it and Oliver can't tell whether it's because she genuinely doesn't notice or she just can't be arsed.

"So," Delilah's voice is light and sweet. Delicate. "You mentioned that you take Arithmancy? I've heard it's tough."

Oliver nods airily. "Yeah ... yeah, it's difficult."

He tightens his jacket closer over his frame. The wind is whipping between their bodies and he thinks that maybe she didn't hear him over it's howling if her confused expression is anything to go by. He finds he's not bothered enough to repeat it.

The entrance of Madam Puddifoot's comes into view at the end of the walkway.

Oliver’s relieved. It's freezing out here and maybe he'll be more in the mood for flirtatious conversation once he's gotten some food in his stomach (Archie had insisted they skip breakfast: we have to order something to eat, so we can sit longer).

There's a jingle of a bell overhead when Archie pushes the door open, standing awkwardly aside to let the ladies in first.

Inside the shop, it's more than busy: powdery blue walls barely visible beyond the sea of Hogwarts couples crammed around tiny circle tables and waiters in red uniform knocking the back of their chairs with wobbling trays.

There's music coming from ... somewhere, it sounds like The Weird Sisters and at the sound, Oliver can't imagine how this morning could possibly go any worse.

Oh wait, yes he can.

You could be sitting at a table right by the door across a too-small-table knocking knees with some Slytherin prick. Like you are right there right now.

Delilah tugs on his wrist, it's gentle and he almost doesn't feel where he's being lead between tables towards an open booth across the room. He falls unceremoniously down against the torn leather, eyes never leaving your table.

You haven't noticed his presence, he knows because your lips are stretching around a giggle he can't hear but can already imagine. You don't smile around him, that's for sure.

Oliver's stomach is frothing and bubbling and he's trying really hard to tune back in where Archie's knocking a menu into his hand.

Of course you're there. To ruin his mood and his day, because you're just bloody perfect at it.

"So, am I seeing you girls at the Quidditch match on Saturday?" Archie's voice carries somewhere over his head.

Delilah laughs. Or maybe it's Daisy, Oliver doesn't look.

"Maybe," she says, "Depends if Oliver's gonna be there. You're gonna be there, right?"

He feels a hand nudge at his forearm. Definitely Delilah.

His gaze floats back over the table to offer a fraction of eye contact, he nods. "Oh, uh ... yeah. Sure, definitely."

Archie saves him by speaking again and your table finds Oliver's attention just in time for him to watch the boy sitting across from you swipe away a smudge of hot chocolate over your cheek. You smile, looking bashful and a little bit flushed.

A suffocating, searing heat rushes from the soles of Oliver's feet up between his every organ and over every tendril of hair on his head. His jaw tightens.

Of course he recognises the pratt across you.

Ryo Yoshida.

Every girl in the castle's wet dream, if the rumours he's heard are anything to go by. With his fucking sleek black hair and his Japanese accent that had witches flocking to him in the dozens.

He doesn't wonder why you're here with him.

Oliver is a proud man, but even he could admit that you're beautiful. Albeit reluctantly.

With your wide wet eyes that make him a little sick in a way that turns his stomach warm and the way you do your hair and those fucking dangly earrings that clink when you loose your cool on him.

That's without even mentioning the sound of your laugh - the one he only ever overhears - and your legs in the school uniform skirt and the way you look when you're diving on your broom under the light of a sunny day.

Alright, maybe he couldn't admit to all of it ... but you were okay.

Okay enough to crack a date with Ryo Yoshida or any other schmuck in the castle if you wanted.

"Anything good to eat here, Oliver?"

He pretends he doesn't hear her at first, but the kick at his shin under the table is harder to ignore.

Archie is glaring at him across the table. Dude, don't fuck this up for me.

Oliver's eyes find Delilah. She's scooted up close under his elbow and, to be fair to the poor girl, she was pretty too. Red lipstick smeared across her smiling lips, painted nails edging closer to his arm and perfectly styled hair sitting over her shoulder.

He nods, reaching for the menu: "Yeah. Actually, last time I had the Merlin Meal and it was pretty good."

She perks up, cherry red smile widening at his reply. "Oh, I thought that looked good!"

Training his eyes on the menu, Oliver wills himself not to look back at you. You're already souring his mood and you haven't even said a bloody word.

It's just what you do. What you do to him: infuriating him with the threat of an argument around any and every corner.

The waiter comes by and Oliver finds himself generous enough to gift Delilah with an arm draped over the back of her seat. She giggles and he pretends he doesn't notice when she mouths something that looked suspiciously like 'he's so hot' to her sister across the table.

Archie seems pleased too. Daisy has granted him, finally, her hand and his arm bends at an awkward angle to maintain the grip in hers under the table. He's positively beaming.

But despite Oliver’s best efforts to stay engaged, he still catches himself - only when it's too late - and his eyes are already glued to watching the way your jeans are hugging your thighs where you shift in your seat.

Your table is sat by the door. The chime of the bell calls for his gaze every time it tolls and every time he finds you let off a violent shiver in your seat as the autumn crisp rolls over your shoulders.

The door shuts again and you still.

Oliver can feel where the tips of his ears are burning red and his bones are itching: Ryo’s black suede coat is hanging over the back of his chair.

You’re still talking - hands rubbing together, fighting for warmth - he’s leaned over with his chin in palm to listen and his jacket sits unused behind his shoulders while you fucking shiver in the breeze.

It’s pathetic, really. He’s not sure whether he’s referring to himself or you: but Oliver is still looking and you’re still shaking like a leaf and he’s halfway to flipping tables to get to you and just give you his own fucking coat so you’ll stop shaking and stop annoying him—

“Oliver was just telling me about wanting to join the Hogwarts Choir.” He turns again to find Archie waiting with an expectant face, it's laced in a little bit of smugness: caught you. "Weren't you, mate?"

When he looks back you’re gone.

There's a short pile of sickles abandoned on the table and he hopes that Ryo at least had the good sense to pay for your drink after forcing you to sit in the freezing cold.

He shakes the thought off. Who cares.

In fact, he hopes you catch a cold.

The day passes like swimming through molasses: slow and sticky and exhausting.

It's nearly seven when Oliver presses a sympathy kiss into Delilah's cheek - Daisy allows for no such thing from Archie - and the two sisters skip off down the west wing corridor with a wiggle of their fingers over their shoulders at the boys.

"I think that went well." Archie's grinning, hands on his hip and glasses edging down his brown nose.

It's the first thing that genuinely brings a jolt of life out of Oliver all day. He teeters back on his heels, hands gripping his stomach where he laughs. Laughs like a madman.

"I think you need to get yer fucking head checked, mate."

The tail end of his outburst is simmering down, now barely a breathy chuckle, when a voice washes over him from down the other end of the corridor. "Wood!"

He'd recognise that voice anywhere. From the dead of sleep or the depth of the ocean.

He's slow when he turns on his heel, the remnants of his smile dripping all the way off the edge of his jaw until he's nearly frowning.

You're jogging, scarf bouncing at your shoulder with the movement, and coming to a stop right under his chin.

"What?"

There's a sharp edge to his tone - there always is - but he really hopes you haven't noticed how the syllable wobbled at the end. Now that you're right beneath his frame and not across the room, it's harder to ignore the lashes kissing at the corner of your eyes. You're wearing lip gloss and he knows it's for Ryo.

His stomach is churning and your face is twisting into something he is struggling to recognise.

"I--" your hands wring, eyes flickering behind to where Archie's watching curiously (you wave awkwardly). "You ... you can have Wednesday."

It's not what Oliver is anticipating. He almost takes a full step back in surprise.

"Why?"

Your eyes roll in a comfortably familiar way, "Because Hooch wants an answer tonight and one of us had to be the bigger person."

His brow tightens, eyes roving down the stitching of your sweater. It's cute. He's quiet.

"You not gonna argue?" You throw your words quickly, snatching them back before he can answer: "Perfect. I'll send her an owl before bed."

You're marching back down the corridor before he has chance to say anything else and he's watching your retreating figure with the hope - that he’s not gonna address - you’re not going to cozy up somewhere in the Slytherin dorm room.

“Well.” Archie’s running a hand over his thick black curls. “That was unexpected.”

Oliver huffs. “It’s been a weird day.”

An uneasy air has settled over Hogwarts.

It came in like a storm front, drifting in on the wind that dropped the article at the door of the castle.

The same copy of The Daily Prophet has been doing the rounds between dormitories and class rooms all week: Sirius Black, Azkaban’s most infamous prisoner and recent escapee, has been sighted in Dufftown by an astute Muggle, The Daily Prophet reports.

Dufftown. A barely twenty minute ride by carriage from Hogwarts bridge.

It’s got the castle on edge, it’s got you on edge. Creeping around the castle like Sirius Black is gonna jump out from around any corner.

Dumbledore stationing dementors at the edges of the castle was the tipping point for the cold drip of trickling fear in your chest that's become easy to ignore in daylight - when Cherry and Enzo are flittering around you between classes - but in moments like these, like now, when you’re on the tail end of a quidditch practice, grow like a poisonous black vine up around every nerve in your body. A Monday night, the team’s kit weighing heavy in your arms - broomstick tucked precariously in the bend of one elbow - and following the siren call of the dormitory showers.

You’d promised the team you’d get them to the house elves before the upcoming match on Saturday. The match against Gryffindor.

But for tonight, they’re gonna live in a pile at the end of your bed.

You’re exhausted: calves burning, sweat sticking loose hairs to your forehead and probably smelling like wet socks and broomstick polish.

The touch of night is suffocating the flicker of the corridor lamps. It’s long past the recently set curfew and you know that if McGonagall finds you out you’re likely in deep enough trouble to get you off Saturday’s match roster.

Despite the prospect, you don’t dwell on it. You find you’re more worried about escaped Azkaban convicts: the echo of your own footsteps setting you further on edge.

You’ve craned your neck over your shoulder enough times to form a knot there. Each time you’re relieved to find that Sirius Black hasn’t crept up behind you.

Suddenly, the squeak of your boots against the stone floor are un-alone.

Someone is marching and right in your direction. Your heart bangs wildly on the inside of your ribcage - blood turning to an icy slurry in your veins, but you don’t move.

The corner is sharp when the figure turns into the corridor you stand and the scream is halfway out your throat when your eyes find his face.

Absent is the matted black hair and sunken eyes you’re anticipating. Instead, warm brown rings reflect the fire of the lit torches.

Your broomstick clutters to the floor, warm relief flooding down to your fingertips. “Fucking hell, Wood.”

He looks just as surprised as you. Only for a moment, though, before his gaze is tightening in annoyance again.

“I thought you were Sirius Black.“

“Well that’s stupid isn’t it.”

You huff, shifting the weight of the team’s robes precariously between your arms: squatting to try scoop up your broomstick off the floor again. You’re halfway successful when it clatters loudly back against the stone floor.

“What are you even doin’ out here so late? You know curfew is passed, don’t you?” His voice curls with something that might be mistaken for concern if you didn’t know who you were talking to.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

You’re reaching down again. A robe on the top of the pile slips off, landing beside the broomstick.

“Aye right. Whatever, goodnight.”

He’s brushing past you.

In a movement neither of you anticipated, driven by the fear shooting up your spine again, your hand finds his wrist. “Wait—“

Oliver freezes: eyes dropping to where you’re connected. You rip your hand back, as if scalded.

“I …” the words mash and wrestle at the back of your throat. “Could …”

You glance down the darkened corridor awaiting you in the journey back to your dorm before meeting his face again. It’s unreadable.

His brow scrunches. “Yes?"

"Could you want me to walk my common room?”

Embarrassment sears at your cheeks. On a normal day, you’d sooner go dancing naked under the Whomping Willow before asking Oliver Wood a favour but that was before the image of Sirius Black swum behind your eyes everywhere you looked.

Oliver would be fairly useless if faced with the criminal, naturally, but at least you wouldn’t die alone.

“Please?” Your voice is quiet and you think it’s the gentlest word you’ve ever said to him.

There’s a long stretch of quiet. His eyes flicker between your face and the broomstick on the floor. It’s quickly stretching past the blurring boundaries of an appropriate time for consideration.

You’re practically melting in embarrassment now, electing to make the decision for him.

“Never mind.” You squat again, successful this time in sticking the broomstick back under your arm. The dropped robe is more difficult but you manage to replace it. “Forget I asked.”

Oliver’s moving before you’re stood straight up again. He’s reaching for your broomstick, you instinctively yank it back but he sticks you with a firm look and his thumb is unexpectedly soft where it caresses over your knuckle wrapped around the handle.

Your grip loosens and he perches the broomstick over his shoulder with ease. He surprises you again by taking half the load of laundry in your arms into his own.

“C’mon, before someone catches us out here. I’m not doing any more detention because of you.”

He’s already three feet ahead when blood rushes down to your legs, prompting them to chase after his figure. The movement is easier, lightened by Oliver’s surprise act of kindness.

You fall into step beside him, half-tempted to comment on his willingness to share your burden, but knowing him, one wrong word and he’d dump it all back into your arms.

It’s quiet.

You don’t make a move to talk and Oliver doesn’t look your way. It dawns on you that Gryffindor dormitory is in the other direction and you’re still deciding whether to feel guilty or flattered over the fact when Oliver speaks.

“Why’re you out here alone?”

You look, met with the side of his face: it’s still like he hadn’t said anything at all. There’s a tugging instinct to snap at him.

Why do you care?

But his tone is perceptibly gentle enough that you think maybe, just this once, it won’t end in an argument. You test the tepid waters.

“Uh …” your head knocks sideways, tilted as you speak. “I let the team come up early while I sorted the quaffles in the sports closet by the pitch. Didn’t want them walking up in the dark.”

You’re tempted to mention that it was his team last week that left it in such a mess. You don’t.

"And now you’re walking in the dark yourself? Smart move, princess."

Your breath hitches.

It’s not the first time he’s called you that. Princess. A couple times over the years, usually in the heat of a spiraling argument, but never so benign. While still ungentle, the tone is soft enough that it rings in your ears.

You choose not to succumb to the antagonization of his reply. Humming, you shrug. "Rather me than them."

His eyes flicker, almost barely, to the high apple of your cheek. You notice in the corner of your eye how his jaw twitches, like he wants to say something.

He seemingly decides otherwise because he focuses his eyes ahead of him and stays silent.

The overhanging ceiling art is sloping down, air going sticky with the scents of the kitchen the further you go: it’s the trademark of the approaching Hufflepuff common room.

Another two turns and it will be the end of your little journey with Oliver Wood.

"‘M surprised Ryo didn’t walk you up."

You're more surprised than you've been since finding him, eyes widening in confusion. He grants you another look out the side of his eye.

"How do you know about that?"

Oliver shrugs, shifting your broomstick to the other shoulder.

"The whole world saw your little date down at Madam Puddifoot's the other day."

Of course. Word travels faster through seventh year than a new Firebolt.

"Yeah. Well." You hum. "That's not gonna be happening again anytime soon.”

It had all been good and well. The rush of having Ryo Yoshida, Hogwart's most eligible bachelor, ask you out and - to be fair - the date had been fine. Ryo was funny and made good conversation but nothing near thrilling enough to daydream over and you'd allowed yourself to brush over a couple red flags because of it, until Cherry came bursting into your dormitory less than a day after your date relaying how he'd caught her between classes to ask her out to the same spot.

"Why's that?"

You're confused now, why Oliver cares or how he'd become curious enough to actually ask. You're even more confused as to why you decide to answer him. You shrug, "He asked Cherry out the very next day. She said no, obviously, but that was enough to let the whole thing go."

You expect him to say something malicious, quip something spiteful about What you did you think would happen? You're nowhere near in his league.

He doesn't.

"He's an idiot."

Not for the first time in the last five minutes, you're not sure what to say. You think this is the longest a conversation has gone without an argument. You sigh, "Yeah."

The stack-up of barrels comes into view. You dig into you the deep pocket on the inside of your robe, emerging with your wand.

Oliver stops, eyes flickering between the barrels and his shining black boots.

You step ahead, tapping the barrels in the rhythm that's become second-nature and the entryway opens.

Turning to him, you offer out an arm and he sets the robes back into your hands. The awkwardness is stifling. He leans forward, tucking the broomstick under your arm, hand wavering to make sure it doesn't fall again. The gesture makes the hold in your knees wobbly.

He nods. "Right. Goodnight."

You nod back, so quickly that you hear your earrings jingle. "Yeah, g'night."

Oliver turns, marching back the way you came and you watch him: biting your bottom lip so hard you're half expecting to draw blood.

"Thank you!" It leaps from your mouth before you have you moment to let it marinate on your tongue. You wince immediately.

He pauses, turning halfway on his heel. He smiles, it's not wide enough for teeth, but definitely wide enough to have your heart falling through your stomach. He nods again and then he's gone.

Saturday arrives gloomy and dripping.

It makes for good quidditch conditions, but the chill in the air is still hard to ignore when you step out into mushy grass under stadium lights. The roar of the crowd nearly deafens you, but it'll only take a couple minutes in the air for it to burn down to a soft hum.

In the middle of the stadium floor: Hooch is standing with a whistle to her lips, her figure blurred by the drizzle. Oliver stands beside her, and behind you, your team is clambering onto their brooms and rising into the air with the freshly washed kit over their backs.

You go to walk, but the icy glance Oliver is sending your way convinces you into a jog. He's always impatient before a game, itchy, antsy.

"On time as usual." Hooch hums when you land beside her.

"Got the whole bloody school waiting on her." Oliver mutters but Hooch shrugs him off, pulling the game coin out from inside her robes.

"Perfect." She positions it so we can see, "Gryffindor?"

Oliver straightens out, chest swelling: "Heads."

Hooch nods and before you can suck in another breath, the coin is in the air. She catches it with a skilled hand, flipping and revealing it to the set of captains.

"Hufflepuff, first ball!" She shouts loud enough that the floating players can hear. They nod, some groaning.

The coach turns back on the captains, "I want a fair game kids, no fighting."

"Me and Ollie? Fight?" You smile, "Never, coach."

Oliver rolls his eyes. "Yes, coach."

Suddenly you're above the pitch, sucking in breaths of wet air and struck with that familiar feeling like you could conquer the world on just your broomstick.

The quaffle flies and you stoop to catch it, twisting around Alicia Spinnet to snatch the ball before she's even noticed you're there.

Rain pelts on heads and the game goes on.

Oliver is shouting like a madman from his place in front of the goals behind you - you’ve long learnt to drown it out. He does it half to annoy his own team and half to distract yours.

You're spinning, flying, swooping and - as you predicted - the crowd has become a distant call, a blurring sight of yellow and red.

An hour passes and the game is already halfway into the next when there's a rise in the crowd. It's not the normal yells and whoops and hollers, but you still don't look up: you're calling over to Jane and Wyatt, your beaters.

“Get between the twins, and stay there!”

Below, Harry Potter and your own seeker, Cedric Diggory, are flying in circles around each other. The call of Cedric's name is on the tip of your tongue when there’s another ripple of sound off the crowd and this one draws your eyes. It’s there for a second before you find the army of figures descending on the pitch.

Your breath catches in your throat, freezing solid so you can’t swallow.

The dementors are even more ghostly this close. You'd never seen so many.

A darkness is permeating the air, the sight of the supporters in the stand dissipating into black. They’re floating in from every corner, drifting at a pace that’s too fast for you to make a move in any direction.

There’s a scream and your gaze finds the body falling through the sky: it’s Harry.

The ground is racing up to meet him and adrenaline drives your hand to tip your broom, to chase after his quickly disappearing shape when a blurry figure blocks your way.

Someone yells your name but you don’t hear it.

You’d never imagined examining a dementor, much less this up close, but even if you had: nothing your imagination could conjure up would ever come close to the harrowing darkness of its empty eye-sockets.

Its silhouette spreads over every corner of your vision, black like night and blocking the view of the sky. Your nose is so close you could tip forward and meet it's silken cloak.

A cold washes over your body like you've never felt, like you're freezing over: ice creeping up your fingertips, shoulders and face.

Your brain looses all grip on thought, replaced with a seeping dread. It barely acknowledges where a scabbed, decomposing hand is reaching out to you.

Charcoal fingertips brush your cheek when you're tugged back, all the way off your broomstick.

There's not even a last coherent thought to panic when you're engulfed in a warm chest, a hand stabilising around your waist onto a new broomstick. It dips and the green grass is reaching up to you.

The new heat engulfs you through to your bones. You grasp blindly for the expanse of a thick veined neck, wrapping yourself around him.

Digging your face into his shoulder, it takes one glance at the scarlet robes to know who it is. Oliver's panting, one hand holding you against him while the other steers the broomstick down to the floor.

You're trembling, no thought occupying any space beyond Oliver, Oliver, Oliver, Oliver--

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

The voice is distant, said against your temple but echoing as if from the end of a long corridor. You don't register where hot tears are wetting your cheeks, erupting over your face without being called.

His words prompt you closer: a tight arm furling over his shoulders and wrapping around him like a vine around an old tree.

"O-Oliver ..."

The hand over your waist tightens. "Sh ... it's fine. You're fine."

The broomstick lands shakily, Oliver's boots squelching into muddy grass. You barely realise you're back on ground when another hand is tugging you off, but you cling tighter to the sweaty red neck: shaking your wet face against his well-pressed robes.

"C'mon, princess ..." His calloused hands pry you from him, gently like you're a piece of china sitting on the very edge of a high shelf. "It's Pomfrey, she's gonna look after you."

You think you feel a kiss press into your hairline before you're being scooped up into a new set of arms. Madam Pomfrey is warm too, smelling like antiseptic and maple syrup.

There's another swell of noise erupting from the supporters above and you're being lead away.

Oliver watches your figure, slumped against the school nurse until you've disappeared into the medical tent.

His heart is going wild, slamming against the walls of his ribcage. Beside him his hands are shaking and he's sucking in thick gulps of air, he finds it still isn't enough oxygen.

There's another splatter where Angelina has landed a few feet behind him. She's panting too, tugging on the edge of his robes and pointing up into the sky.

"Wood!" She's frantic, "They won, Cedric caught the snitch!"

His mouth is dry when he swallows. Rain catches in his eye when he looks up, half the Hufflepuff team is no longer in the sky and the Gryffindors are all on their way down.

"I ..." feeling is returning to his fingertips, "is ... where's Harry?"

Angelina points in the direction of the medical tent. Above, the pitch is engulfed in a bright white light and Oliver catches the wispy end of a shining phoenix chasing between disappearing Dementors. It's a patronus. Dumbledore's, Oliver figures somewhere in his muddy brain.

"Is everyone else okay?"

Angelina nods. Her eyes flicker to the medical tent then back at him. "Is she?"

The image returns to him: the mass of darkness engulfing your figure in the sky. The terror that ripped through him like he was being torn apart from the inside, the whistle of the wind that stung over his ears and how it blocked out his mutterings of please, please, please--

He shakes his head. "She's too tough for her own good. She'll ... she'll be fine."

But it comes out like he's trying to convince himself more than Angelina.

Oliver doesn't see you for a few days.

Two, to be exact, and his skin itches the entire time. A deep itch, like it's coming from his bones.

It's only on Monday evening at dinner, with the Hufflepuff table whooping, that you come strolling back into the light of his eyes.

Your head is down, flushed with all the attention, and when you sit, kids are rising from their seats to tackle you into side hugs. He can tell you're embarrassed but he can't gather himself enough to care: the warm rush of relief flooding his stomach so much so that if he dared open his mouth it would all come rushing out.

You look fine. All limbs attached and smiling, it settles him.

He doesn't snap at Archie when he knocks his shoulder with a "you're staring" and his dinner suddenly looks more appetising when he peels his eyes off your figure down to his plate. He finds that he doesn't care as much as he usually does where Enzo's lanky arm is strung over your shoulder.

The week passes in a flurry.

While you share several classes, Oliver doesn't share a single word with you. It's hard not to notice that you're working very hard not to interact with him.

In Muggle Studies, you arrive late and keep your nose tucked deep into the pages of a textbook he knows you couldn't care less about. You're up and out of the classroom before he's even zipped up his bag. It's the same in Potions and Arithmacy.

While going days without talking to each other is not unusual, this time he can tell it’s on purpose. He pretends that he doesn't care.

The rain has cleared and when Friday arrives the sunset is red and orange and purple, granting Oliver with a rare enchanting view out his bedroom window where it's setting behind the East tower.

It's in this quiet, peaceful moment that Archie comes bouncing in with some news of a party happening in the Ravenclaw dormitory.

He's indifferent but Archie is nothing if not convincing.

"Come on, dude. You're literally a hermit crab." He sighs, falling back against his own poster bed across Oliver's. "There will be girls."

"There's girls everywhere, Arch."

His eyebrows wiggle, "And alcohol."

It takes a bit more pestering and the Weasley twins rushing in after him with the same news (and a far less patient approach) to get him up off his bed.

He digs in his cupboard for the last pair of clean jeans and a somewhat suitable purple jumper, tugging them on with a grumble, before he's being dragged by both arms - a twin on each side - across the castle to the West tower wherein resides the Ravenclaw population.

The common room is bustling with seventh years, he recognises them from all houses, and a table set up to the side with some trays of food. He's barely made himself comfortable when Katie Bell is shoving a red solo cup into his hand:

"It's Angelina's brew." She informs him.

He can believe that. The liquid is strong, burning down his throat followed by the barely there after-taste of pumpkin juice. Oliver downs the whole thing in one go.

The music swells louder and he's three cups of Angelina's concoction deep when you come tumbling through the entrance portal.

You're drunk yourself, he can tell by the way you're giggling and half leaning on Cherry Stretton. Bumping through people, not passing without leaning back to apologise to them tipsily, you head straight into the arms of Angelina and Alicia Spinnet. They smile in surprise, engulfing you in their arms.

Despite his and your long-held rivalry, it had done nothing to stop the rest of his team from sweetening up to you. The twins called you their favourite yellow tie at regular intervals and the girls found you nothing less than endearing. Oliver could lie and say he hated it.

Instead, he wrestles his way to where Katie is situated with more to drink, filling his cup and downing it.

The room is twisting in a flurry of colours and faces and it's the lightest you've felt in almost a week. You giggle against Enzo, his dreads tucked safely back in a bun while Cedric sets a Dragon-Barrel Brandy shot on fire and hands it carefully over.

Enzo's head knocks back, slipping the burning liquid down his throat with a wince. There's a cheer at his accomplishment, and suddenly Cedric's knocking your elbow: "you're next, Cap!"

After the match-gone-wrong, Madam Pomfrey had held you down in the infirmary until Monday morning. You were fed copious amounts of chocolate - in the form of bars and drinks and cakes and ice creams. By Saturday night you were - surely a couple kilograms heavier - and feeling fine, but Pomfrey was nothing if not paranoid:

"That was no light ordeal you went through, dear. I'm not letting you out of my sight until I'm happy with you."

In all honesty, you'd prefer if the whole school forgot it ever happened.

If Pomfrey didn't fret and your friends didn't come by every meal time and your team stopped sending you get better! letters and nobody mentioned it ever again.

More than anyone, you wished Oliver would forget. The ordeal, or maybe just you as a person.

You'd made a stupid decision under the heat of stadium lights and the influence of racing adrenaline, trying to chase for Harry, and he'd made a stupider decision coming to save you from yourself.

When it got quiet in the infirmary past dusk and Harry's shadowy figure was long since snoring in the bed across yours, you could feel Oliver's touch. Could feel it's strong hold wrapped around your waist and the voice against you the back of your neck and the lips at your temple.

You never reminisced long: for with his touch came the writhing, scalding fear burrowing a hole in your chest.

He could tease you, he will tease you.

Oliver had saved you from the clutches of a dementor moments from your soul being sucked out your body and you'd cried in his chest the whole time, refused to let him go in front of the whole school. It was a mortification you would never live down. And if Oliver decided he was going to use it against you, even once, you were sure you'd melt into the floor in shame.

It's what's made the Firewhiskey and Lemon squash concoction Cherry had handed you back in her room so easy to toss back. It stung and steam rose out your mouth where you'd panted for air. There was another ... and another, they went down the same.

The walk across the castle to reach the Ravenclaw Tower had been wobbly and you'd laughed with your friends loud enough to wake up the whole castle you're sure, but it dissolved the fear that clung to your bones. The fear that he was here, lingering between the people in the crowded blue common room.

Now the liquor is fading. Numbing to a dull buzz and you decline Cedric's offer at a burning shot, thinking about how proud you'll be of yourself when you wake up tomorrow morning in bed rather than wrapped around a toilet seat and hauling up guts into the bowl.

The party, not unlike yourself, is dimming.

Students are crawling away into all corners, each with their own excuse. I have a potions essay to do or No, dude, I'm too drunk for this or Flint wants us down at the pitch for drills at eight tomorrow morning, I gotta head to bed.

The crowd, though thinning, is beginning to clump into respective circles across the room. You glance annoyed at the fireplace where the flames crack merrily. Even with your short skirt and thin satin top, the heat of the common room is stifling.

Enzo is on his fourth burning shot, it's lost it's appeal to the crowd but he seems undeterred, knocking Cedric in the shoulder with the empty shot glass motioning: another! You yawn, playing mindlessly with the ruffled sleeve of your shirt.

"Oh no," A harsh tug at your hand draws you from the lure of sleep that's fogging your mind. "The night is young, no yawning!"

Cherry has your wrist in her grip, Enzo's in the other. He blinks blearily down at his friends.

"Huh?"

"Come on," Cherry's brown eyes roll far back in her head. "Fred says they're starting Seven Minutes In Heaven. Let's go join--"

"Seven minutes--?" you laugh between words, "Cher, are you mad?"

She whines, pouting like a kicked dog. "It'll be fun. Besides, when last did you have a good fucking snog? Too long, I say!"

Somehow, you're not only convinced across the room into a spot onto the floor in a circle of a couple others, but a drink has ended up in your hand and its contents quickly down your gullet.

For the nerves, you assure yourself.

Before you know it, Angelina - who's conveniently settled beside you - is topping up your plastic cup with a nearly empty bottle of Daisyroot Draught. "This is the good stuff. Katie stashed it in, her sister works at a brewery."

You smile nervously, nod, and take a tentative sip. The pre-existing buzz in your head convinces you it's not so bad.

In the circle is a couple Gryffindors you recognise, some giggling Slytherin girls, a Ravenclaw you can't name and three members of your quidditch team. There's an open spot on the side you don't take note of.

That is until Archie Kumar is steering a grumpy, visibly drunk Oliver Wood into the open place and collapsing beside him.

Your breath catches in your throat, heart sinking into your stomach like a stone. You're halfway off the floor, suddenly desperate for the loo, when Cherry - on your left side - drags you back down to the floor.

Maybe it's Katie's sister's brew, but you tumble too easily back onto your bum.

"Relax. Just don't look at him, okay?"

You suck in another breath, eyes trained on the white moon outline sewn into the rug. "Yeah ... okay."

It doesn't hold long and when you find the Gryffindor captain again, his gaze is trained on your face. It's stone cold. You gasp quietly and look away.

"Right!" George Weasley is on his feet, setting an empty Firewhisky bottle into the centre. "Who's first?"

Alicia shuffles forward on her knees, the first of the group to move, and the bottle goes spinning. It lands on the Ravenclaw boy. He grins and she does too: Fred wolf-whistles when they stand.

The "heaven" in question is a tall oak cabinet leaning against the back wall of the common room. The pair disappear into its depths and conversation rises again as the circle waits.

You sip your drink in large gulps, trying to hold conversation with Angelina against Oliver's hot gaze that's burning a hole through the side of your face. It's difficult: the Gryffindor girl is so drunk that she's talking with her eyes closed.

Seven minutes later, there's a chorus of "time's up!", Alicia and the boy emerge another ten seconds later. They're rearranging their clothes and Alicia is as scarlet as her quidditch robes. The boy is grinning like the cat who caught the canary. You're suddenly struck with the violent urge to throw up.

The game goes on like that, round after round. Lee Jordan and Jane Emmet (your beater), Katie and Wyatt (your other beater), Cherry and a pretty Slytherin girl you don't know - she's especially chuffed when she returns, red lipstick smeared over her chin.

You're working very hard not to look at Oliver, much less think about him, but it's proving difficult. Every time the bottle takes its spin, your stomach churns.

It had occurred to you during the time that Alicia and that boy were in the closet that there was a very real chance that Oliver could be called up when one of those pretty Slytherins take their turn at the bottle. The thought had made you down the last of your drink and immediately want to vomit it all back up into your cup.

The image of their slender arms curling around his criminally wide-set shoulders, Oliver pushing them back against the inside wall of the grand closet. Would he make noise? Would he sigh or groan against their lips or whisper something about how beautiful they looked tonight in their ears--

"Ollie, you're up mate."

You can't remember who said it, but the words stripped your gaze off Angelina and straight into the pooling brown eyes you'd been avoiding all week long.

He sighed, grumbling under his breath and only with a less-than-gentle nudge from Archie, did he lean up on thighs that flexed unfairly -- bloody hell, stop it! -- and wrap his hand over the neck of the bottle: it went spinning.

The only sound you could hear was the twist of the glass against the woven rug and the hum of your own blood rushing past your ears. It stopped.

"No fucking ways." Enzo cracked from two people down.

A hand landed on your shoulder, shaking you half off your arse: Angelina. "You're up, babe! Go!"

The bottle was pointing irrefutably at your little spot in the circle.

Oliver's face was as white as you'd ever seen it when you dared look up.

"I-I'm not going in with him--" It was the first thing that came to your mind and went spluttering out your mouth.

George was laughing so hard that he'd fallen all the way onto his back. The roar of the group was ear-splitting.

"There's no ways I'm going in with her!"

"Let's end this feud once and for all," Katie bellowed over their heads. "Captain versus captain!"

You're being knocked from all sides, hands crawling under your arms and lifting you off the floor. Across the circle, Oliver is experiencing the same and before you know it: the wooden doors of the cabinet are creaking open.

"Go on!" Lee's finger is piercing your side.

Oliver is beside you but you won't look. You take one last look over your shoulder at Cherry back on the floor, she does nothing but offer a sympathetic shrug and mouths "sorry, dear".

Your hand reaches before Oliver's, flinging the door open with maybe a little too much force. It bangs against the wall behind it.

"Let's get this over with." You mumble, only half concerned that he heard you.

You slouch climbing in, the top is low and the space is even more cramped than what you assumed. To your surprise, Oliver is stepping in after you. He takes his turn at slamming the door, shutting it this time.

It's dark inside, but not enough that you can't see. Light is peaking in through the cracks and he's leaned back against the opposite wall to you.

In the narrow space, your legs are twisting around each other to stand: his one knee situated between yours. In the dimness, he folds his arms and you notice for the first time the jumper he's wearing. The purple one, you recognise it as the one he's had for years. Time has taken its toll where the jumper is clinging to life around his frame, Oliver having grown at least three times wider while the jumper has remained the same size.

"Go on, Wood, give her a kiss!"

The voice is unrecognisable but it knocks your tongue back into your mouth where you'd been ogling at his torso.

His arms are folded, proffering you with a glare that could cut through steel. He makes no visible sign that he'd heard the shout at all. You mirror him, folding your own arms.

"I'm not kissing you."

His head cocks. "Oh, so you're talking to me now?"

You suck in a sharp breath. It's not the response you're anticipating. "What?"

"So we're playing dumb?" He leans just a fraction closer. You can smell the linger of alcohol on his breath, but it doesn't work hard enough to drown out the smell of peppermint that follows him around. "Doesn't suit you, princess."

"I'm not playing anything. I don't know what you're talking about." You double down. It's probably not sustainable but the heat of his body almost against yours and the thrum of liquor in your blood makes the decision for you.

"Y've been avoiding me all week."

"I haven't"

"You're a bad liar."

You swallow hard. Embarrassment is rising again, making your head spin. Oliver's chest is puffed up in anger, you can tell because you've had five years to learn the look like the back of your hand. Except, now - as it has been for a longer time than you care to admit - it's harder to focus on the waves of fury reflecting off of him when his face is just so ... beautiful. Nose scrunched and lips pulled tight into a grimace.

It's what makes you change tactics, you think.

"So what if I was? Why does it matter?"

His arms unfold, eyes rolling so far that his head knocks back against the wood of the cupboard.

"Why?" you press, "Did you miss me, Wood?"

"Maybe I did."

He's looking at you again. For what feels like the hundredth time just tonight, your breath escapes you in a rush and your lungs struggle to grasp back at it. Your face softens without meaning to.

You blink at him.

"You did?" It's a whisper.

His arms are still folded but something clement passes like a shadow over his features.

"No."

His face betrays his words, eyes soft and lip daring to curl up at the edge.

The air in the tight space goes cold. Or maybe it's your blood. It's more likely the look on Oliver's face: like he hasn't just turned your organs to slush. You're all the way sober now.

"I'm not kissing you." You repeat dumbly, but it's gentle.

Merlin, you want to kiss him so fucking badly.

"You mentioned." He's almost, almost, smiling. It's gentle too.

The space between you falls quiet. You're suddenly overly focused on the brush of his knee between yours. His swirling brown eyes catch on the split of light creeping in past the hinge on the door.

It stays like that until your voice creeps nervously out. "I was embarrassed. Am, I am embarrassed."

A thick brow tightens in confusion. "Why?"

You huff, almost annoyed. Your eyes train on a dark spot by your intertwined feet. "Come on, Wood."

"What, about the match?" The alcohol thickens his accent.

Your silence seems to answer his question. The apples of your cheeks are warming again.

"What was I supposed to do, leave you to have you bloody soul sucked out yer body?" His voice is rising, "No, princess, I'm not apologising for that."

It's an outpour that you're not expecting. Oliver's clearly in the mood to shock and surprise tonight.

Your lips tighten around the words that are all fighting for the spot at the tip of your tongue. Silence reigns while they argue, he's still watching you with exasperation set into the lines of his face.

"Princess." You settle.

His expression twists again. "What?"

"You always call me that. Why?" It's a question that you buried long ago. But his proximity, in conjunction with the night you've had, unearths it.

It's his turn to look surprised. He grumbles some indiscernable Scottish blabber before-- "It's because y'are a princess. Spoilt and bratty. Always gets her way."

There's no malice to his response, you find. It draws a chuckle from the depths of your chest.

"Aye, right." You mimic his accent and his quip, one he's used many times at you.

He laughs. It's not a sound you hear often and it's setting your whole nervous system alight like a tangled bunch of christmas lights. His whole body's shaking with it, head resting back against the wood again, and you really do think you might grab him and kiss him -- when the door flies open again: seeping his whole body in yellow light.

Alicia's standing at the opening, grin wide as night is wide and clearly expectant on catching you with your tongues down each other's throats.

If she'd given you another three seconds she just might have.

"Oh." She slumps in disappointment, looking back over her shoulder and shaking her head to the expectant crowd. They groan collectively. "Well, love birds, your time is up."

You'd almost forgotten where you were. Oliver clears his throat, the ghost of his laugh impossible to find on his face, and clambers over your legs out into the common room again. He doesn't pass without brushing his hand over yours.

It's nearly three in the morning when Enzo finally lets up.

His long legs are sprawled across the midnight blue couch in the middle of the common room. Fiona, a lovely Ravenclaw girl you'd met just tonight, shrugs at you: "Don't stress it. He can crash here tonight."

The party is long since dead. Seven Minutes In Heaven had looped another three rounds before everyone had gotten their chance in the dusty cupboard and began to grumble in boredom.

You'd avoided Oliver's eyes the whole time again, sure that if you looked he'd be able to read the fondness on your face.

It wasn't long after that the last of the students dissolved in the direction of their respective bedrooms. With your dear friend in good hands with the Ravenclaws, you loop your arm with Cherry - knocking against her side towards the portal.

You've barely pushed it ajar when she breaks off you, "Hold on, I need to get my Transfig notes from Jacob!"

"Cher, it's three in the morning?"

Alcohol is directing her legs in the opposite direction clumsily, "I'll wake him. If I fail another quiz, Mcgee's gonna have my arse."

She's gone before she catches your call: "I'll find you outside!"

The portal creaks where you shove it open again. The corridor is dimly lit and colder than the common room and a shiver chases up your exposed legs.

"Bloody hell." You run a hand over your forearms.

It's quiet too, and empty besides the Gryffindor captain leaning against the stone wall closest to the entrance you've just emerged from.

"Merlin," your eyes find his. "Not you again."

The flush over your cheeks is warding off the chill.

Oliver shrugs. "Me again."

An awkward silence permeates. Against better judgement, you shuffle forward, leaning against the wall beside him. He doesn't react, arms folded and staring into the inky abyss of the corridor leading out to the rest of the castle.

"Why're you out here?" You ask, tucking your hands between your back and the wall.

"Archie." He huffs out, voice wrapped in annoyance. "He's in there with Penelope. I gave him ten minutes."

Ah, Penelope Clearwater. She'd joined the game in the last round. A good thing too because Oliver's friend was looking more crestfallen as the bottle spun again and again, surpassing him each time. Penelope had taken the last turn, ending up with her hair in every direction and Archie's spectacles leaning half off his face when they emerged from the cupboard.

"You?"

The eddy of average conversation is strange, but you find you like it.

"Cherry." You hum. "Something about quiz notes."

He drops his head back against the wall.

"That what they calling it now?"

It startles you, head tilting to stare up at the side of his face with a grin: "oh, Wood’s got jokes now? I didn’t know it was possible for you to make a joke."

His eyes flutter shut, a twinkle of laughter bubbling out of his frame. Tucking his head down to his chest, he shrugs against his own light chuckle. "I have them. I just don’t share them with you."

You giggle back at him. "Right. Well then you better stop smiling there, someone might walk past and think we’re friends."

He shakes his head, the sound of his snicker fading but leaving behind the imprint of a smile. "Nobody’s gonna think that."

You lean back again, eyes drifting over the low ceiling. Quiet falls again - not uncomfortable - and you let it linger for a moment. A thought tugs on a loose string in your mind, not a new one, but one you’ve carefully buried over time.

It comes falling out your mouth. "You ever think about how it might be ... if things were different?"

The question grants you a look out the side of his eye. "Different?"

"Y’know," you shrug, the very last remains of alcohol are ebbing and unsureness is replacing where it stood. "If we … we had—"

"If you hadn’t suckered me in the bloody nose?" His words are unexpectedly fond.

You laugh at him, "If you hadn’t deserved to be suckered in the bloody nose."

He draws in a long breath, not answering. It prompts you.

"We could have been friends." You whisper, more to your chest than to him really.

But he hears it. "We would never be friends."

It stings sharper than it should. Your shoulders go stiff and the corners of your eyes sting inexplicably, turning the corridor blurry. A dying fire revives in your chest, blistering the cave, reminding you why Oliver Wood has been nothing but a stake in your side since you were thirteen years old.

"Of course. How stupid of me, for a minute I forgot what an absolute arsehole you are." You push off the wall, intent in going to dig out Cherry from the depths of the Ravenclaw dormitory. "Goodnight, Wood."

An arm wraps around your waist, not unlike it'd done a week ago in the air of the quidditch pitch, lurching you into him until you're pressed back against the cool stone of the corridor wall.

Oliver looms over you, crouched so that your nose bumps against his. "Don't sulk, princess."

It all happens at once: his hands grab onto the fat of your hips, digging in there like he really does hate you, and lips crash against yours like maybe he doesn't at all.

He stays there, unmoving for a second that feels a year long.

Where the inside of your brain had been buzzing with runaway threads of thought, ribbons streaking out in all directions: they disappear in a sizzling light. Oliver Wood is kissing me.

You melt against him, tipping up onto your toes and latch onto muscled shoulders. He seemingly takes that as his cue, pressing you closer against his body with his arm - lifting you half off the wall.

He tastes like the remnants of Firewhisky and pumpkin juice, the flavour setting every nerve ending in your body on fire. Lips soft but persistent while his hands grip onto you like you'd dissolve into dust if he didn't.

It's aggressive, but familiar in that way. Oliver is nothing if not hot-blooded and his touch, darting between your hips and your face is turning you tipsy again.

"If you want a friend," It's muffled when he speaks, punctuating his words with hot wet kisses, "go be friends with Ryo."

It's only in this moment, with his desperation mirroring in the glimpses of sugar brown irises you catch where he's fluttering his eyes over your face, that it dawns on you.

"Jealous much?"

He growls lowly and it makes you giggle against him, your hands slithering up into the hairs at the base of his neck. Oliver shakes his head against you, still huffing in disbelief.

"Shut up." It's accent-heavy and bleeds a hole through the bottom of your stomach. "You're such a fucking brat."

"And you're a fucking prick."

He huffs lowly, you press harder to him: solidifying the sentiment. Somehow the bickering makes it all sweeter, like you're dissolving cotton candy against your tongue where his swoops over it.

You'd just about forgotten where you were when a creak echoes down the corridor. Halfway to ignoring it in favour of Oliver's touch, your situation dawns on you in the same moment it does him.

Like you'd both licked the end of a live wire, you and Oliver jolt back a foot, hands diving to your respective sides.

Cherry is standing against the light of the common room behind her, a lanky Archie parked beside her. Their eyes are wide and Cherry's hand is against her jaw in shock.

"Oh my god." She mumbles against it.

Blood is rushing to your face and out the corner of your eye, Oliver is running a hand over the hair that's sticking in all directions from the influence of your fingers.

Cherry is laughing breathily, eyes still wide and white in surprise. "Oh my god."

Archie's eyes are flickering between you and Oliver.

"Sorry to interrupt." He says, a smirk curling onto his features.

It jumpstarts your entire system. You step forward, grabbing Cherry by the arm.

"Well," you nod at Archie and at Oliver, not daring to meet his eyes, "goodnight then."

You march with fervour, half-dragging her in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room until your figure disappears behind the next corridor.

Oliver stands with his hands hanging at his side dumbly. He swipes a finger of his bottom lip, still tasting the strawberry lip gloss you'd left there.

"Can't say I didn't see this coming, mate." A hand claps over his shoulder.

He groans, running both hands over his face, and Archie shakes him lightly.

"So ... how was it?"

With another groan, Oliver shoves Archie's hand off of him. "Bloody hell, Arch."

Archie throws his head of curly black hair back, laughing so loud it bounces off the wall. "That good, huh?"

(part two/final part)

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aamircoeur · 10 days ago

Text

all's fair in love and war (2)

oliver wood x female!reader

wc: 7.87k

warnings: enemies to lovers, still so damn much pining, set in poa, timeline is a bit wonky, limited use of y/n, archie being my fav oc, cheese fest

an: literally fell asleep on my laptop last night editing this, i was so exhausted from school so i’m sorry it’s late !!! but i had the most fun in the world writing this and i hope everyone enjoys :)) don't forget to comment and repost your favourite writers

summary: Oliver is still impossibly miserable, maybe more uncooperative than before, except now when you look at him: you can't think of much else beyond how sweet his lips tasted.

part one

You can’t sleep.

You're not sure you'll find sleep ever again.

“I knew it, I knew it—“ Cherry had bounced the whole way to your dormitory, howling into your ear. “I knew it!”

The image of Oliver’s fluttering eyes swum around your brain as you blinked into the darkness of the poster bed. The taste of his tongue and his words still right against your lips.

It was a riddle of a calibre that you can’t seem to detangle. More than anything, you try to remember how strong has he tasted of Firewhisky - was he so drunk to really dismiss it to nothing at all?

You lingered on it all weekend.

Cherry didn’t help at all — he’s been in love with you forever, that’s literally so obvious — and Enzo even less so once he’d been filled in: Oliver doesn’t seem a bloke who let’s alcohol make his decisions for him, something about Scottish genetics I think.

The interaction plagued you: digging a wide hole in the base of your stomach. You mourned the thought that you may never have the opportunity to kiss those soft lips again, more than anything: preparing yourself for the feud between yourselves to worsen.

There’s barely enough time to make sense of your situation before you’re racing down over the grassy hills of the grounds, bag swinging violently over your shoulder and extraordinarily late for your Herbology lesson in the greenhouse.

Your morning alarm had rung right into one ear and out the other, a product of the tossing and turning you’d been doing for the last two nights.

When you swing the greenhouse door open, panting and face flush from the beating sun, the whole room turns to you. Sprout pauses where her hands are flailing in explanation.

“Sorry I’m late professor,” you wheeze, readjusting your strap over your shoulder.

Cherry is smirking at you from her bench, sidled up with Jane Emmet.

It hadn’t escaped you that you’d be sharing the lesson with the Gryffindors, but you’d precious little time to worry about it in the five minutes you had to pull a robe over your head and stick a toothbrush into your mouth.

Your eyes are purposeful in not looking over the room. Scared to catch the wrong eyes.

“Not a problem peach, we’re just repotting some Fire-Seed Bushes.” She brings a stubby hand to her chin, “uhm … well, Mr Kumar there in the corner doesn’t have a partner. Go join him by his pots.”

Archie has a lopsided smile on his face when you approach, a thick black curl drooping over his left eye.

“Hey.” He nudges gently.

You set your bag down and grab a pair of gloves, chuckling. “Hey Archie.”

The soil is warm when you stick your fingers into the dirt, shifting it gently enough not to mess over the edge of the bucket. There’s a Fire-Seed Bush sitting tentatively at the end of the bench, spitting sparks and emitting smoke.

“So …” Archie speaks first, the back of his hand bumping yours between the black soil. “How was your weekend?”

It’s a veiled question, a poorly veiled one at that. The question draws a laugh from the base of your stomach.

You shrug, adamant on missing the point. “It was alright, I guess. How about yours?”

He shrugs right back. “Wasn’t the greatest. Penelope Clearwater rejected me for Percy Weasley.”

You don't mean to, you really don't, but it draws another bout of laughter out of you - you clap your hand over your mouth. “I’m sorry—“

“No, I get it. Percy bloody Weasley?” His brow is creased, dirt-stained hands rising messily from the soil to swipe at a fallen piece of hair in his face. “Dead sure that bloke's own mother can't say he’s handsome. I’m better looking than him, surely?”

There’s the hanging insinuation that it was rhetorical, but you reply anyways: “you’re definitely more handsome than Percy Weasley, Archie.”

His head cocks down at you, stained paws finding his waist and pressing black fingerprints into the red jumper. “You really think so?”

“Without a doubt.”

Archie smiles, bumping your side against his. You think he might be blushing. “You’re very charming. I understand what Oliver sees in you.”

You jolt involuntarily, spilling some black soil over the edge of the pot.

Swiping at the mess lazily, you play the comment off with another crumbly chuckle: hoping it convinces him more than it does yourself. “Oliver sees in me what a bull sees in a red cape.”

Archie’s reaching timidly for the Fire-Seed Bush, lifting it off the counter and holding the dangerous botanical at arm’s length. “Not true. The boy’s half in love with you.”

This conversation is getting awfully uncomfortable awfully quickly. It picks at your curiosity nonetheless.

“He said that?”

He’s quick to shake off the question, eyes still trained on setting the roots of the bush into the gap in the soil. “Oliver doesn’t have to say anything. He spends practically every fucking mealtime mooning over at your table, and he talks about you way more than necessary—“

“That’s just because I work on his nerves. Oliver doesn’t love me, he barely tolerates me.”

The boy turns on you, confusion set in his brow. “Why is this news? Last I saw you, your tongue was halfway into his stomach.”

Zachariah Smith and his Gryffindor partner look up at that. Your face goes hot all over - Archie doesn’t seem to notice.

“We were drunk.” You say softly, eyes stuck on a loose leaf crackling against the wooden counter.

There’s a special kind of fear that's crawling into your heart where you stand. The fear of putting too much faith into the words of Archie Kumar.

That it’s an elaborate ruse. A set-up, canons of confetti and a banner screaming “you’ve been fooled!” if you were to indulge his words. The danger of allowing your mind to drift too far off into the possibilities of a world wherein Oliver Wood doesn’t hate you - at least not as much as he lets on.

Archie looks at you out the side of his eye, you can feel it, but says nothing. He hands you a miniature yellow-handled spade.

Instead you fill the space. "I heard Isla Flynn has a crush on you."

He perks: "really?"

Across the room, Oliver is bumping elbows with Poppy Davis.

"Ow!"

A loose spark has evidently landed on her exposed arm. The sparks that Oliver was supposed to be watching for, the ones that he is intent on ignoring with the constant glancing back over his shoulder to where you and his best mate are in the corner of the room fucking giggling at each other like toddlers with a box of matches.

“Oliver — can you just focus for five seconds!” Poppy isn’t impressed.

Oliver isn’t either, with the situation as a whole. The pads of his fingers are blistered from the repotting of the bush and Poppy’s careless bumps and his general indifference to the task at hand.

It eats at his brain. What are you guys talking about? Is it about him?

You laugh again and it’s loud enough that it draws his shoulders all the way taut. There’s another snap of a spark and Oliver feels where it lands at his wrist, but he doesn’t react.

“Just pass me the bloody spade.” He grumbles.

The lesson passes more slowly than Oliver could swim shoulder-deep through molasses.

It feels like years later when he tosses his gloves into the box with the rest, when the class shuffles to return tools and begin slinging half-open bags over their shoulders.

Oliver doesn’t think he’s ever packed up faster - Poppy is still scowling at him, he doesn’t care - before he’s knocking through yellow and red tied students to find Archie’s head of curly black hair.

“Hey!” He catches him by the wrist, tugging on it like a dog with a bone. Archie jumps, eyes winding down to find his friend. “What did she say?”

You’re far ahead, Oliver can make out the back of your head: hips bumping with Cherry’s up the hill towards the castle.

Archie grins. “She said Isla Flynn has a crush on me.”

Oliver groans, “Not about that, you prat. About— wait, really?”

"Yeah!" He hikes his bag higher on his shoulder. "Can you believe it? She's got that hot Irish accent and everything."

Oliver nods, "Yeah ... yeah. Good on you, mate."

He's trying desperately not to steal this moment from his best friend, but he's fucking itching to know what else you and Archie had been giggling about.

"Did she ... say anything else?" He presses, more gently than his character usually allows. "Like about me?"

Archie shrugs without looking down. "I asked her, but she seemed tense about the whole thing."

"Tense?"

"Yeah, she said something about a bull and a cape, and went like all quiet when I told her you like her--"

At that, Oliver's stomach leaps up into his throat. He grabs his best friend by the arm, jolting him to a short stop. Some Hufflepuff bumps into their halted figures, grumbling before shuffling around them.

"You told her what?" His eyes flare erratically.

Archie shrugs, an innocuously confused look painting his features. "Well I said Oliver's half in love with you, or something like that and she looked all confused about it--"

Oliver's grip on his friend's wrist tightened to a degree that a ring was sure to form on his dark skin. "You fucking pinhead! You told her I liked her?"

Pulling his arm violently from his grip, Archie has the nerve to look affronted. "You don't?"

The morning sun shining over Oliver's head feels like it's growing hotter by the second, there's a dribble of sweat running down his spine.

"That's -- that's not the point. Even if I do, which I'm not saying is the case, she doesn't need to know that."

"Were you two obliviated in your sleep last night?" Archie's eyebrows are pressed down against his eyes, slouching down to meet his friend's face. "I caught you two making out like the world was ending less than three days ago! Surely she has to figure that you feeling something for her, she's not stupid."

Oliver struggles between his thoughts, worse around his words. "That was ... we'd been drinking. For all I know, she only kissed me back cause she was trollied off Dragon-Barrell--"

"She said that, too."

Eyeing him, Oliver's hands find his hips. "Said what, exactly?"

"That you were drunk, I mentioned the kiss and she said we were drunk."

A sensation he can only identify as closest to guilt seeps up into Oliver's chest from his stomach. "She thinks I kissed her just cause I was drunk?"

Archie's hand finds Oliver's shoulder. "You should probably talk to her, mate."

He sighs, eyes drifting over the silhouette of the castle in the distance. He shakes his head like it'll rattle the plaguing thoughts loose. "We're gonna be late for Transfig."

"I mean, Archie is his best friend." Cherry is trying to rationalise the whole story. "I don't see why he'd lie about it?"

You shake your head, knocking shoulders with a Ravenclaw girl trying to pass through the corridor. "I'm not entertaining it, Cherry."

"Come on," she sighs, practically skipping to keep up with the furious pace you've set. "Would it be so terrible if he likes you?"

"Yes." You don't look at her.

The redhead's eye-roll is practically audible, "Let me rephrase, would it be so terrible if he likes you back?"

You meet her eyes for the first time since you'd entered the corridor.

She sighs, "we're gonna see him in Muggle Studies in five minutes. I think you should say something."

"Forget I said anything, Cherry." Heat flares at your neck again, prompted by the embarrassment of even imagining how such a conversation might go.

The rest of the walk is quiet, but you feel Cherry's gaze warming the side of your face.

Burbage's classroom is over-populated with Gryffindors by the time you drop your bag against the marbled floor beside your desk. In the corner of your eye, your brain has already fixated on Oliver's silhouette leaned against the edge of his own desk. You flush hot all over again, as if your thoughts were transcribing into subtitles and floating above your head for the whole class to read.

The click of Burbage's heels prompt the lingering students to find their seats, "Please take out your copies of Muggle Wars: Cause and Effect. We left off on page eighty-seven--"

You suddenly regret snapping at Cherry. Wishing for the comfort of her presence, your eyes glazing over where she's perched in the first row of desks closest to the chalkboard.

Unusually, the class trickles on without disruption. There's a few glances over at your direction, like everyone is waiting for another outburst from the grade's most volatile duo. They're sure to be let down, you're adamant to not even breathe in the direction of Wood.

Burbage comments on it, too, nearly ten minutes from the bell.

"It's suspiciously quiet in your corner today, captains." she looks down through her fingerprint-smudged frames, brushing over you and then Wood three seats away. "Something the matter?"

You shrug, refusing to acknowledge the boy. He seems to be doing the same: completely unfairly, the thought that he wouldn't look at you made the hair on your arms stand straight. "We can start up if you'd like, professor?"

Her face contorts into that irritated look that you'd grown accustomed to when Professor Burbage addresses you. "You're flirting dangerously with another session of detention, miss."

"She's just answering your question, professor."

Nobody in the class seemed more surprised than Burbage, although that in itself was a feat. The two Gryffindor boys in the row ahead of you swivel all the way around in their seats to look at Oliver, who'd just spoken.

You fight the twitching urge to look at him.

"Detention for two, it seems. I'll be seeing you both Friday afternoon."

A calm air settles again over the class, as if order had been restored. You and Wood had lost the interest of the room and students shift back to the board where WHAT IS A PRIME MINISTER? is sprawled across it in chicken-scratch handwriting.

Sighing, your eyes find the clock against the wall. Eight minutes left.

You pick at the end of your quill irritably: electing to dip it into the ink at the edge of the desk and entertain yourself quietly by drawing a miniature snowman at the corner of your page, trying not to think about another Friday afternoon in too close of a proximity to Oliver Wood. There's a soft whir, barely audible if you weren't so focused on outlining pebble eyes, and a tiny paper-airplane whizzes quietly from under your desk: landing squarely on the nose-less head of your snowman.

Fear prickles at you. You don't look up for the source, lest a suspicious sideways glance earns you another weekend with the party-animal Charity Burbage.

Instead, you carefully undo the intricately folded wings of the plane. It's barely big enough to fit into your palm once open, the top of the little note marked in black ink.

It was the same handwriting that marked the sign-out sheet for equipment in the Quidditch storage rooms down at the pitch.

'Thanks for that one, smart-mouth.'

Your eyes flicker up to Burbage, who's back is turned, before you dip your quill into the ink and scribble out a response. In your peripheral, Oliver is leaned back in his stool: biceps folded over each other. There's an unexplainably airy-fairy, fuzzy feeling warming your rib cavity.

'Believe this one was your fault, dickhead.'

You quietly refold the creased edges, before tapping it lightly with the end of your wand: then watch how it takes off the airstrip of your page and zips quietly under the cover of desks to land back in front of the sender.

There's a long pause - enough for Burbage to draw out a whole flow diagram of something called "parliament" - before the edge of the paper wing grazes at your calf again. It lands quietly again.

'Maybe.

We good?'

There's a gentleness to the sentence. Like you can hear it from Oliver's mouth, like he's avoiding your gaze when he whispers it.

You hunch over the note again.

Oliver's knuckles are turning white, twisting his wand in his hands under the table. He shouldn't have said anything. He's regretting the whole fucking idea of the stupid paper-plane now.

He's trying not to watch you write, not to notice how long you stared at his writing before you picked up your own quill. He does anyways.

When the airplane flutters down into his palm, Burbage is already excusing the class. Stools are scraping against cold tile, the clutter of textbooks being crammed back into bags.

'Never :)'

His eyes run over the word once, twice, three times over. A smile is tugging at the edge of his lip, he forces it taut - but his eyes are still shining unusually brightly when Archie knocks his shoulder to his.

"What you looking so damn happy about?"

Oliver tucks the note into the pocket of his robes. "Don’t know what yer talking about."

"But professor, why can't Hufflepuff take Saturday?"

"Well, Hufflepuff already gave up our practice days for Gryff--!"

Hooch sighed so deeply she almost melted back into her armchair. "The decision is made, Oliver. The pitch is being cleaned out on Wednesday, your team can take Saturday for any extra training."

He could practically hear the smile creeping onto your face, the smug crossed-arm look he'll no doubt find when he turns to you.

Irritation bubbles up in his throat, a familiar companion in your presence, and just as he prophesied: you are grinning.

In the weeks that followed that day in Burbage's class, it seemed that both parties decided that the topic of their shared kiss outside the Ravenclaw common room was best left undiscussed.

The arrangement is working. At least Oliver thinks so.

You still bait him and he still snaps, rising to your taunts. He still finds himself in detention more Fridays than he spends free, and his body ripples with anger when you roll your eyes at him.

But it was in moments, like this now, where your little self-satisfied grin doesn't quite vex him to the degree it once did. It's now harder to find a retort, to snap at you with a sharp-edged comment. Not when amusement crinkles at the corners of your eyes where your black lashes kiss so prettily.

Hooch swivels in her chair to find a document between one of her cluttered drawers, you take the opportunity to stick the tip of your tongue out childishly at him.

Oliver draws a tight breath, he hopes his face is still taut in annoyance, because his heart has slipped like a stone down into his stomach. That's the other issue, the tiny little obstacle in these recent weeks: he can't stop looking at your mouth. It's distracting, disarming - paralysing at the best of times.

He strips his gaze away, before he can be outed by anyone in the room. "Whatever." He mumbles.

You seem disappointed in his lack of a real response, but it passes quickly - like a shadow - over your face.

"Thanks professor." You grab up your roster from her desk and turn to the door, practically skipping out into the corridor.

He huffs.

Somehow, you and Archie have become fast friends. Mornings around Fire-Seed Bushes and Venomous Tentaculas in the heat of Greenhouse Three seems to do wonders for a friendship.

It prickles at Oliver's nerves when you pass in the corridors, when you perk up with a high "hey Arch!" and he grins down from his towering height right back at you: "hey Y/n!"

You don't look at Oliver. He's notably sour the rest of the walk.

Alright, maybe the whole arrangement wasn't really working. You were a distraction to him before, no doubt, but somehow your powers of beguilement had tripled. Especially since you seem to be behaving perfectly normal: like you hadn't given Oliver the best snog of his life outside the Ravenclaw common room that night.

Maybe it was just alcohol, maybe he is the only one plagued by the knowledge of the other's taste.

The castle has turned impossibly colder, the bitter bite of winter stinging at the loose cuffs of his robes on walkthroughs of the corridors. He can't imagine how cold the air above the pitch is going to be on Sunday when Hufflepuff faces off Slytherin for a spot in the finals.

It's all Hooch has been going on about for the last two weeks.

Oliver's had to shift around at least four practices - Roger almost twice as much, he's a pushover - to allow for you and Marcus to have more time on the pitch. His complaints fell on deaf ears, Hooch dismissed him with a wave of her bony hand and a "your time is coming, Wood."

You prance into dinner late most evenings, hair in every direction and face flush with sweat: sticking it out like a bumblebee in those awful yellow quidditch robes.

Oliver only notices because, annoyingly, he's found that he is frequenting the bench at the Gryffindor table that faces over to the Hufflepuff's. His eyes drift over the yellow-tied heads to where you clump up with Enzo and Cherry, watches you talk around mouthfuls of toast lazily, giggle behind your napkin: head rolling back to showcase that smooth neck, how it runs down to the soft slopes of your shoulders: disappearing down into your button-up.

Archie has noticed, he's sure, but hasn't done more but allude to it with teasing glances or suggestive comments.

"The Hufflepuffs up to something particularly interesting over there, Ollie?"

The speed with which Oliver's eyes snap to his peas is almost comical. He shrugs and mumbles like a child. "Don't know."

On Sunday morning, you don't go to breakfast.

There's an uncomfortable gurgling in your midriff, like a snake is slithering between your organs and you're sure even just the smell of eggs on toast would bring up your dinner.

Instead you find yourself at the pitch a whole hour before the game is set to start. Marcus is running laps around the grass, something he's done since you've known him.

He offers a curt wave, face set like cold stone.

It reminds you of Oliver a little bit, the distraction in his eyes.

Oliver is never all the way there, wherever he is, you think. His eyes mist over like he's halfway between this world and another. You know it's Quidditch: he dreams it, eats it, sleeps it.

But lately he's foggier than usual.

You think it's your imagination, brush off the idea as you have all the millions of others you'd had in the preceding weeks about the surly brute that was Oliver Wood. He plagues you.

Just the vibrato of his unimpressed huff when you get your way, when you quip something purposely annoying at him. It's addictive, the feel of his sugar-brown eyes glaring a hole through you.

Lately, his reactions have been closer to underwhelming. Allowing for only a moment of eye contact: gone are the quick-witted retorts, the Scottish-laced "princess" usually attached. The thought makes you wince in embarrassment, knowing that you've been pressing him harder lately: like a seven-year old jabbing at a claw machine, outwardly desperate for that brown plushy on the top of the pile.

Maybe he's over it. So deathly mortified of your shared kiss that he doesn't want to know you anymore, much less take the effort to hate you. Your chest pinches tightly.

You dress into your match robes slowly, taking your time with the loops of your shoelaces and the buttons down the sweater you're wearing underneath everything. Oliver Wood should be at the bottom of your list of priorities, normally, but now more than ever.

The team filters into the change-room, exhibiting varying degrees of nervousness. Cedric is practically green, but Herbert looks like he's about to go down a water-slide he's waited over an hour in line for. Beyond the swinging doors, you can hear the crowd shuffling loudly into their seats.

Before your wits are completely about you, Hooch is rapping on those same doors. "Onto the pitch, Hufflepuffs!"

You muster up your best excuse for a captain's speech for what might be the last match you ever play as one. The team seem satisfied, you figure it's easy to find solace before a game when you know it's not your last. As the only seventh year, comfort doesn't come so easily to you.

The crowd is deafening when yellow robes take to the sky: Marcus looks over, offering another nod, not unlike the one he'd given you earlier. You can tell he's feeling the dread of finality too.

There's a whistle blow and the quaffle flies past your face with a speed that nearly evacuates your nose from your face. Lee is announcing in the distance and the rumble of adrenaline forces your fingers over the handle. It tilts and you dip, disappearing into the sky of players.

The winter air at Hogwarts was biting enough roaming the corridors, but thirty metres off the ground is something wholly unnatural. Your face was burning crisp from the icy wind, the feeling in your cheeks and nose lost to the Scottish cold.

Foggy white clouds puff out with each heavy breath. Cedric zooms past and Jane loops around his moving figure to knock a stray bludger in the opposite direction.

Your eyes flash between them and the fast approaching Malcolm, he tosses the quaffle at you with a grunt and you catch it at the tips of slippery, ice-frozen fingertips.

Shooting forward again, you duck under Marcus who is hurtling through the sky at you: gone is the look of friendly fondness from his eyes, replaced with a hunger for the leather-bound ball in your grasp.

Just missing the grasp of his meaty hand, the ball passes onto Heidi.

"Another ten points to Hufflepuff," Lee's voice echoes as if from heaven. "That brings the score to ninety for Hufflepuff and eighty for Slytherin!"

It's been nearly ninety-five minutes of sitting on your broom growing colder, and you're not alone.

Around you, the team is descending into frost-induced exhaustion: Jane's nose is as bright red as a Christmas ornament and Cedric has been peeping over the top of his thick woollen-scarf for at least the last half - barely enough to catch a glance of the whizzing canary and emerald robes, much less of a tiny golden snitch.

You sigh out another white breath, letting your eyes drift over the stands. It's saturated with moving heads of faces you can't make out and yellow and green swaying banners. Your gaze lingers on the top left, in the corner facing the castle. It's where Cherry and Enzo park themselves during every match, where you know they're screaming in support, clenching their teeth at every quaffle handover. You can feel them, even when their faces blur into the crowd.

Unintentionally, you think about how Oliver's mixed in there too. Somewhere between your peers. If you had been granted another moment, if the quaffle wasn't mid-air between two Slytherins just under your nose and you'd not taken the opportunity to snatch it from them, you would have meandered into the trap of hoping that deep down in his chest - even if it was core of the earth deep - he was rooting for you, too. That he seethed at a missed goal or clenched a tight fist at his side in celebration when a Hufflepuff makes a beautiful play.

Meanwhile in the stands, Oliver has decided that the desire to play his allegiances in secret has since disappeared from his heart.

He'd played it light in the first few minutes. Mumbling under his breath at a fumbled pass or a slimy move from the Slytherins, but by the forty-fifth minute he'd found himself on his feet.

"Diggory!" His hands waved in front of him, "it was right there you fucking git--"

A Hufflepuff third year a row ahead looked at him askew, but he paid her no mind.

Archie had taken the hint early. As soon as Oliver was out of his seat, so was he. Despite being Oliver Wood's best friend, Archie had somewhat limited knowledge of the game himself and eyed Oliver's reactions to find the appropriate moments to whoop and cheer. Oliver didn't say anything, but he appreciated it more than he could verbalise.

His eyes tracked you more than anything, when you were flying between players or just floating in place: eyes like a hawk, watching over the game. His heart swelled and his pride fell to the wayside.

Just short of the two hour mark, there was a rise in the crowd.

"The seekers have caught sight of the snitch!"

Oliver's stomach rose into his throat.

"They're diving for it, Malfoy and Diggory head to head-- and Slytherin grabs the snitch, winning by 140 points!"

It sank back into place, like a stone to the bottom of the river. He watched how you froze, how you twisted over your shoulder to find Diggory's figure lingering at the bottom of the field. You shoulders sagged, hanging in the air as the others dropped to the ground.

"Slytherin have made it into the finals against Gryffindor for the quidditch cup, back here at the pitch next month!"

After a long moment, the last in the sky, you followed them down.

The raucous cheers from the Slytherins were hard to drown out, he wasn't even sure Archie heard him toss a "i'll find you at the castle" before he found himself pushing through the masses of people.

He fought against the wave moving to find the stairs, eager to return to the warmth of their dormitories, but Oliver was markedly more motivated than the majority. He stomped on some toes and nearly tossed a first year off the stands to race down the stairs.

Only once his feet had found the mushy grass of the pitch, did he pause to consider that he wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say. What was the rush for? To comfort you, tease you for your loss?

The latter option was definitely what he could do, what he could say. What was expected of him, if he was being honest. Recently, however, he's found it harder and harder to come up with remarks to hurt your feelings. Found that he quite prefers that little smile that tucks into the corner of your mouth when he says something unexpectedly fond. How your eyes practically gleam.

There's shoving from all sides of him -- get out the way, bloody hell -- and the teams pass ahead of him. Leading the march, despite it being nothing more than a slow trudge, is your figure: squashed between those of who he recognises to be Cherry Stretton and Enzo Musa's.

Their arms wrapped over your shoulders, talking animatedly into your ear on each side. Enzo tips his head to meet yours, a small touch of comfort.

Oliver sighs. He has nothing to say and no comfort to offer, wondering for a moment what he could possibly bare to hear in his own final moments as captain. He thinks that anything from your mouth would work.

So he waits, parks himself beside the stairs and waits for Archie: watching the six-legged figure disappear up over the hill.

You're not at dinner.

He knows because he's been watching the door for the better half of an hour. Archie pushes his plate at him, "Eat something there, Ollie."

Begrudgingly, Oliver brings his drumstick up to his mouth. "She's not eaten a thing since breakfast, it's almost eight."

Archie passes a sympathetic look over him. "Her friends are here, I'm sure she'll be by soon. There's no use you joining her on a hunger-strike."

He's right. Cherry and Enzo and some others that frequent your circle are talking around the table, around the spot that you usually fill. But dinner goes on and students leak steadily out towards bed without your return.

Eventually Oliver huffs, like an irritated bulldog, and grabs for the nearest napkin: unfolding it out in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Archie asks thickly, spitting bits of rice at him.

Oliver reaches for two chicken skewers, placing them neatly on the white square: alongside a dinner roll and a pumpkin pasty.

He wraps them over, double wraps it with another napkin too.

"What does it look like, Arch."

Placing it carefully into the deep pocket of his robe, Oliver goes to stand - lacking the patience it takes for Archie to answer, or for his inevitable teasing. "I'll find you back in our room."

He's halfway out the hall when Archie's voice calls out to him, "You don't even know where she is!"

Oliver shakes his head, brandishing a dismissive hand over his shoulder. "I know where she is." He mumbles for only himself to hear.

You’d watched close to twenty-one quidditch matches from the stands at the pitch on Hogwarts grounds: played in almost half of them.

The seat is still slightly too small, just uncomfortable enough to make a person shuffle. Beyond the rim over the other end of the pitch you can see the orange sun dipping behind the horizon, drawing to darkness over your moment alone.

By now you're sure the party in the common room has long since found momentum. The one you'd been promised by the team, "it's your last game, cap, we need to celebrate!". You're sure someone somewhere is looking for you, bracing a plastic cup of Firewhisky with your name on it, but you can't find it within yourself to face it all just yet.

The silence of the evening is enough, you only wish you'd been fast enough to retrieve your broomstick that's somewhere off with Enzo. Just for one last lap.

The serenity of your loneliness doesn't persevere, however. You can hear shuffling up the steps, you're tempted to look but the sunset is slipping so quickly out of your hands that it's not worth the time wasted.

It's only when the footfalls draw closer, stopping when a body slumps into the seat beside you. The seats are so cramped that his knee brushes yours, the figure long since identified from the corner of your eye.

"Come to gloat?" You ask, eyes never leaving the sky.

He shrugs. "Not today."

You nod. His smell drifts on the breeze under your nose, like peppermint and soap and Oliver.

There's a long silence. Your robes crease against the fist sitting in your lap, you've yet to change out of your quidditch uniform, you know it will be the last time.

"You missed dinner."

"Does it matter?"

Despite your avoidant gaze, Oliver's is warming the side of your face. The evening air cools the same spot.

There's a shuffling that finally draws your eyes. Oliver is still in his robes too, and his hand emerges from a deep pocket with a folded napkin square. "Figured you'd be hungry."

He places it onto your lap with a gentleness you're coming to find more of in him. Something frighteningly warm erupts in your chest and your hands come up to it, pulling apart the napkin to find picky bits inside.

You're fighting between smiling and starting to cry. You do neither.

"You carried this in your pocket the whole way from the hall?"

His eyes flicker between the food and your face before he shrugs. "Yeah."

By now, you were fighting a losing battle and the smile pulled up at the ends of your mouth so tightly that your cheeks started to hurt. "Gross."

You pick up a chicken skewer regardless, biting into it and facing the sky again. You offer him the other one and he looks for a moment like he's going to argue but takes it quietly in the end.

The chicken is tender and only after you'd swallowed the first bit did you realise how hungry you'd actually been. You finish it without a word, going to tear the pasty in half and offering a piece to your companion.

You're picking at the roll now, tearing tiny bits off and feeding it piece by piece to yourself like a bird. "Last game."

He nods. "I know."

"What could someone say to you after your last game, Wood?" You pick at him, eyes flittering between him and the now nearly black sky. "You know, to make you feel better?"

Oliver shakes his head, leaning back and rolling his shoulders: as if the thought itself unsettled him.

"Nothing, probably. I'd probably just walk into the Black Lake and drown myself."

You think he's joking, but with Oliver Wood that was hardly a sure thing.

"You wouldn't."

"What's there left to live for?" He says it with an airy chuckle.

Shrugging, your head falls against your shoulder. "You'd have to figure it out, because I'd go marching in right after you. Carry you out if I had to."

Oliver stills, eyes wide and blinking at you. Your chest goes tight, the ghost of a smile pressing at your face.

"Bridal style and everything ..." You add quietly, stifling your chuckle.

He seems to come back to himself, nodding. "We should get back. Been a long day."

The napkin crumples in your hand, shoved down into the depths of your own pocket. You walk ahead, the pathway to the steps is only narrow enough for one person at a time, and he trails behind.

By the time you've hit the steps, Oliver moving down beside you, you're brewing around an apology. A way to thin the air, to ease where your chest is tight: swirling around well done, now you've made things awkward you git. It's halfway up to your tongue when skin brushes against the back of your hand.

Warm fingers explore your knuckles to find your cool ones, slipping to knot between them.

You work not to look down, because Oliver's skittish like that. From the corner of your eye, you can see he's concentrating his gaze ahead.

His hand tightens against yours, palm callous from years wrapped around the wooden handle of his broomstick. It's a little sweaty and sticky but you're smiling so hard you're about to be sick.

You dare to look at him, Oliver's smiling too.

Oliver hasn't been sleeping.

His last few days of seventh year are slipping like water through his calloused hands and he can feel it. Every hour that passes, shadowy and fleeting.

Classes feel shorter than before, the terrible jokes Archie bombards him with over dinner sound funnier than he ever remembers them being and the glimpses he catches of you in the corridor never feel long enough. The ceiling of his poster bed flashes with moments of the day that's passed, feeling like a dream you'll be jolted out of as soon as it gets good.

Even over all his hours of broody contemplation, none of it makes the final whistle any easier to swallow. It hits him like he's been smacked with a bludger in the chest.

"Gryffindor has won the quidditch cup, two-hundred and thirty points to twenty!"

He can hear the crowd's roar, the whoops of the twins floating somewhere below him. Harry's standing on the grass of the pitch holding up his tiny golden trophy. The pitch is red all over: Oliver won.

He won.

Every moment building up over the last seven years culminated into the final blow of the whistle. The wind is whipping at the hair over his forehead: Oliver thinks this might be the happiest moment of his life, but he's not entirely sure.

He never realised that it would all be so fucking soaked in sadness.

It's over. He's leaving the castle empty handed. His engraving will live on the Quidditch Cup in a dusty cupboard for years to come, yes, and he might have a frame up in his future apartment somewhere, reminiscing on the old days. That's all.

He's struck with the devastating fear that in a few short years, nobody will remember him. More than anything, he can't believe he hadn't come to this overwhelming conclusion before right now. Before Angelina is yelling to him, waving a frantic hand and sporting the biggest grin in all of Scotland, before he was seconds from taking the prize he's held in his mind for so many years into his very hands.

Will you forget him?

It nearly knocks him off his broom. He finds that it scares him the most, more than the thought of the dust-caked trophy or the lonely corner at the back of his cupboard where his Hogwarts robes will no doubt live until eternity.

He won't forget you, he thinks. He knows.

You're just so damn annoying. And beautiful, fucking whip-clever and hilarious sometimes--

The handle of his broom is tilting down to the earth now, the crowd zooming into a blur on either side of him. He hits a shaky landing, broomstick abandoned on the grass behind him as he's pulled into the arms of his team and well-wishers.

A golden trophy passes over the heads of the twins and it's shoved into his sweating hands. It's cool to the touch and so much heavier than he thought it ever could be, but he can't seem to keep his mind on the situation long enough to realise any of that. His mind is racing around the castle wondering where you might be and what's the fastest way to get there.

His eyes are racing over the heads of the roving crowd. "Wood, Wood! Speech!"

Shadowing over everyone is Archie's tall figure standing at the back, grinning down at him. The team watches expectantly.

This is it. The moment for the speech he's been practicing in his bathroom mirror since he was seven.

"I--" he looks down at the cup for the first time, his face reflecting up at him in glimmering gold. He finds he can't remember any of the words. "I need to go find someone."

There's a buzz of confusion, but Oliver doesn't linger: shoving the Quidditch Cup into Harry's arms.

"That's the shortest speech Wood has ever given." He hears Angelina quip, but he can't be arsed to turn. He's already flying, moving through the crowd at such a pace he might just have been on his broom.

The sea of students had long since started moving up to the castle, particularly the non-gryffindors: trying to beat the stampede of scarlet that is no doubt to come. Oliver's legs carry him over the smooth green hill up towards Hogwarts, head craning over students to find your side profile somewhere in the mass.

He catches few oy, watch it!'s and congrats, Wood!'s but he doesn't turn, doesn't stop running. Students bespeckle the grass like ants lining up for crumbs, and he's all the way up into the stone corridor leading to the Great Hall when he spots Cherry's velvet red curls over the crowd, and sure enough, he finds you're knocking her shoulder with your own.

It only takes one shout of your name and you turn to peek curiously back, by which time he's taken both your shoulders into his hands and steered you to the wall of the corridor.

"Wood! What are you do--"

His hands squeeze around the plush at your upper arms. "Oliver. My name is Oliver."

Your eyes are wide in surprise, the window behind you showcases the gardens and the pitch in the distance. Sunlight forms a halo over the crown of your head.

With a head tilted in confusion, you nod slowly. "Alright ... what are you doing, Oliver?"

He can feel the eyes of Cherry and Enzo burning a hole through the side of his head, but doesn't bother with it. You're blinking up at him, gentle and benign in your features. He wonders when it became like this, when you'd lost the tight brow and the frown every time you looked at him.

"I won the Quidditch Cup." He says blankly.

You nod, a small smile tucked into the corner of your lip. "I saw. Congratulations."

Oliver only nods back at you. "I wanted to tell you. I wanted to come shove it in your face."

He's shuffling closer to your figure, and he's more than pleased to discover that you aren't cowering from it.

"Of course you did, because you're a prat." But you're smiling so hard now that it's impossible to take your jab to heart. "Is that all, Oliver?"

A warm sensation is spilling into his rib cavity and his fingertips are buzzing with electricity when they come to find either side of your face.

"No." His forehead is nearly touching yours and your hands have wrapped around his wrists. "I came to ask you out on a date. A sappy, disgustingly romantic date where I bring you flowers and pay for your hot chocolate. You'd hate it."

"That truly sounds horrible." Your smile is so wide he can barely see the whites of your eyes and it pumps more adrenaline through Oliver than any argument you'd ever shared over the last seven years.

"So, is that a yes?"

You're bouncing on your toes a little bit, bumping your nose against Oliver's clumsily. The babble of passing students and gawking onlookers has practically fallen mute to him.

"Depends, are you going to kiss me goodnight after?" You whisper it, like it's a secret between just you and him.

He nods slowly, "pretty desperate to kiss you right now, if I'm being honest princess--"

You don't wait for him to finish, thank Merlin you don't wait for him to finish, and push up onto your toes: crashing against his mouth. You're kiss is as dizzying as he remembers, but softer this time. You kiss like you know he's not running away, hands pressing softly over his neck.

It's nothing like your kiss outside the Ravenclaw common room: where that one was desperate and hot and angry, this time it's born from longing and tenderness and acceptance.

It leaves him just as fucking breathless as the first time.

Somewhere behind him, he hears wolf-whistling (he's sure it's Cherry) and when you pull your lips off his, your face is flush with embarrassment.

"I will go on a date with you, Oliver."

He takes your hand into his, curling his fingers between your own. You lean up to peck him softly and bat your eyelashes at him, grinning innocuously when you whisper: "If you treat me like you did with Delilah, I'm throwing your broomstick into the fireplace."

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