One. Last. Time. {Oliver Wood}

You're special

December 7, 1990

Valerie laid in her bed the morning after her encounter with Oliver for hours. There were so many thoughts floating through her head, she didn't have the energy to get ready for the day. The biggest concern that stayed put in her head was, 'What if I see Oliver again?' 'What if he does that thing with his eyes again?' 'What if I'm crazy, and I'm just making this up in my head?' She was spiraling. She had to do something other than lay in bed and wallow.

And to top off her bad mood, her owl, Charles still hadn't been back from sending a letter to her father, Remus. All she wanted to do was tell her dad everything about her boy drama. She needed to vent.

"Oh, come on Valerie! Get up! Let's go down for lunch." Angelica shouted as she peeled back the curtains of her four-poster bed, allowing the afternoon sunlight creep in.

"Why? I'm fine here!" Valerie shouted back. She didn't want to see Oliver in the Great Hall.

"No, you're not, you're probably starving." Angelica said coolly. She was right Valerie was starving, she wasn't going to admit it to her though. "I know you Val, you're just lying here cause your avoiding him!"

She really did know Valerie. "Fine!" Valerie exclaimed as she got up from her bed, picked out her clothes, walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. She was a little overdramatic at times.

Valerie took a quick shower, changed into a pair of black jeans and a white sweater and walked out of the bathroom to see Angelica sitting on her bed, waiting for her. "Finally!" she said as she spotted Valerie. Valerie only rolled her eyes and left the dormitory.

The girls walked down the spiral staircase and into the common room to see Ace sitting on one of the sofas, studying.

"Okay, can one of you tell me what the hell happened yesterday?" Ace asked as he saw them sit down on the couch opposite him. Valerie hadn't thought of Ace, or how he would react to her sudden crush. She didn't know how he would react to Valerie fancying their fiercest competitor. Angelica seemed to be thinking the same thing as Valerie as she shrugged her shoulders and lied, "Girl stuff. Nothing important." Valerie was glad Angelica didn't spill her secrets without asking her first.

"Fine. Shall we go down to lunch? I'm sick of reviewing moons!" Ace asked as he threw his astronomy homework into his bag.

The trio made there way down to the Great Hall conversing mildly. As they walked into the Great Hall, Valerie didn't even look over at the Gryffindor table. She didn't want to risk catching Oliver's perfect dark brown eyes. Instead of looking at the Gryffindor table she kept her eyes on the Slytherin table, which was on the other side of the Great Hall.

Ace and Angelica took seats across from Valerie and began serving themselves while arguing over Quidditch teams. They were always arguing over Quidditch teams. Now that Valerie had thought about it, Ace and Angelica would make an exceptionally good couple. Yet she didn't express these thoughts because Angelica would just deny it like she did with all her feelings, and Ace would only blush like crazy.

What she did do was smile at them, she realized her best friends liked each other. She just knew. She wished she were able to actually talk to Oliver without blushing all the time. She wished she could talk to him and be herself like Angelica was with Ace.

By the end of lunch Valerie had a plan. The next time she saw Oliver she was going to have an actual conversation with him. Maybe her and Oliver would be able to become friends. She wanted what Ace and Angelica had with Oliver. Badly.

***

December 8, 1990

Valerie was sitting in Transfiguration on Monday morning, trying to transfigure the toad in front of her into a pocket watch. On her third try the toad formed into a shiny, silver pocket watch, right before her eyes. Professor McGonagall had said in Valerie's first year that reading about the spell, and then doing the spell itself was most efficient. Considering Valerie loved reading, she listened to her and was top of her class in Transfiguration her first and second year at Hogwarts.