Raven (Fred x oc)

18. Nerves

Soon after the incident with Snape, Remus and I made up, agreeing to not talk about Sirius and agree to disagree. A week or so later, I was walking back from Herbology when a commotion got my attention. "Have you ever seen anything quite as pathetic?!" Malfoy cackled. "And he's supposed to be our teacher." Hermione, Harry, and Ron moved forward, but Hermione got their first. A loud smack filled the air and Draco staggered back.

Instantly, I darted forward as Hermione raised her hand again. Grabbing onto her wrist, I wheeled around to face her as she fought against me and screamed, "Don't you dare call Hagrid pathetic, you foul, you evil-"

"Hermione!" I interrupted.

"Get off, Val!" she shouted, fighting harder against me.

"Believe me, Granger," I retorted, giving her a stern look. "No one wants to beat Malfoy more than me, but if anyone is going to hit my cousin, it's going to be me."

After a small silence, Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle, muttering, "C'mon."

Once they were gone, I let go of her wrist and asked, "You good, Hermione?" She sent me an angry glare.

Giving Harry and Ron a look, I said, "Make sure she's sane, all right? I've got to get to potions." They both nodded and I left them be. Giving Hermione a half-impressed, half-worried look, I turned from them and walked off. Soon the Easter holidays hit and we were swamped with work. Aside from having to prepare for the Quidditch final the following Saturday, we also had to begin studying for our O.W.L.s which we were taking at the end of this year.

Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Lee, and I spent hours sitting together in the library studying. Quidditch practices has become every single day and Wood was pushing us harder than ever. When school started back up, it was easily noted that tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin had reached a breaking point. Oliver had announced that none of us were to walk to classes alone for our safely. Fred, George, Angelina, and I all stayed together as we had all the same classes, Lee and Alicia staying with us.

The night before the match, I was an anxious bundle of nerves as us girls hung out in our dorm. "I can't relax," I muttered, jumping up and beginning to pace around.

"Val, you'll do fine!" Alicia insisted.

"Yeah, yeah," I replied absentmindedly, not hearing her as I began to chew my fingernails, something I hadn't done since I was young. Eventually, I was the only one awake and I finally got to my feet. Quietly, I whispered, "Hocky?"

With a snap, the house elf appeared in the dark, greeting, "Hello Miss Valerie."

"Hi Hocky," I replied quietly, trying not to wake the others. "Can you bring me a sleeping draft? Just a small one?"

"Of course," she squeaked. With another snap, she disappeared and reappeared again, pressing a small bottle in my palm.

"Thank you," I replied with a smile. "Goodnight, Hocky."

"Goodnight, Miss," she replied and disapeared again. Soon I lay asleep.

What felt only a moment later, I jolted up. With a groan, I flopped back and turned my head, checking my alarm clock. It was four in the morning. After a hour with no more sleep, I got up and dressed. I grabbed my broom and slipped into a jacket before leaving the common room. Cautiously, I slipped out of the castle and went out to the pitch. It was still dark and cold as I mounted my broom and began to zip around the sky, trying to dissipate my nerves.

Around six in the morning, another figure appeared and I easily recognized the burly shoulders and bad haircut. "Hey Ollie," I said, landing next to him.

"What are you doing out here?" he demanded. "You should be sleeping!"

"I couldn't sleep," I defended with a small shrug, trying to ignore the anxiety pit in my abdomen. "Don't worry, I'm not tiring myself out. I'm just flying around."

"I can't sleep either," he admitted. "Thought maybe I'd be able to calm down here."

"Me too," I admitted. After a pause, I said, "I'm going to miss you, Ollie. You just had to go and get old on me." He chuckled, smiling widely as he glanced over at me. "Let's go a few rounds," I suggested. Oliver got the Quaffle and tossed it to me before flying up to the goalposts. I began trying to score as he blocked.

"I never had a better chaser," he admitted, narrowly blocking the Quaffle and tossing it back to me. "The other two are good, but you're better at making you guys work together."

"I couldn't do it without them," I replied, catching it. "I couldn't do it if they weren't so good and the relationship between the three of us is important too."

"You know, as captain this year I get to recommend who the new captain will be," Oliver remarked, slightly gruffly as he swerved to try and block, although he missed. "I still haven't decided."

"Oh?" I replied, so surprised I barely caught the ball he threw me. "Not Fred and George. They couldn't take it seriously and they get detention too much. So maybe Katie or Angelina?"

"Or you," he countered, causing me to pause, still holding onto the ball.

"Me?" I replied with a smile. "Oh come now, Ollie. McGonagall would never let me be captain and besides, I spend too much time in detention with Fred, George, and Lee."

Chuckling, he replied, "Come on, we need to go eat." We put away the Quaffle and headed up to eat. Once we got in the Great Hall, the rest of the team was entering as well. Every table but Slytherin broke into applause, cheering for us as we headed to our table. I smirked as I noticed how pale Draco had become. I sat with Angelina as usual and slipped away with Fred and George to pull a quick prank before going back into the Great Hall.

Once Oliver had forced everyone to eat, we headed out to check the conditions. "Okay, no wind to speak of," Oliver remarked. "Sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it - ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff-" Oliver was pacing as I hugged my waist tightly, my anxiety spiking.

Once everyone began coming out to the pitch, Ollie ordered, "Locker rooms." I fiddled nervously with my robes as I changed. I drew in a shaky breath, closing my eyes to try and calm down. A warm hand gripped mine, causing my eyes to snap open to see who it was. I blushed slightly as I saw Fred beside me.

"You're going to do great," he promised, squeezing my hand slightly.

"Okay, it's time, let's go," Oliver said tensely.