One. Last. Time. {Oliver Wood}

New beginnings

May 25, 1991

Valerie was walking to the Great Hall for lunch with an Arithmancy textbook in her hands, closely reading it.

It had been about two weeks since Valerie Santos and Oliver Wood became each other's.

She was walking past a boy's lavatory on the third floor, when a pale hand reached out from that same bathroom and grabbed her waist tightly. The hand twirled Valerie around in a full 360 motion, until her lips crashed into somebody else's when she was thrown into the room.

At first, she was startled and would've let out shriek but recognized the sweet and familiar taste of the lips she was so fond of attaching her own to. Oliver Wood's.

They pulled apart after a moment or two and Oliver's face beamed as he held Valerie tightly in his embrace, "Nice of you to drop by, gorgeous." He said smoothly.

"It is nice of me, isn't it?" she replied, dropping her book to the ground, and wrapping both of her arms around the boy's neck.

Oliver pulled Valerie in closer and planted a swift kiss on her pink lips. It was a bit difficult getting used to all the kissing and affection she received from Oliver, but she didn't complain; even if it was hard, she loved every moment of it.

The trickier part of their relationship was how they had to keep it a secret. It was mostly Valerie's idea, but Oliver still complied. They only ever acted like a couple in private, hence Oliver practically abducting her. Valerie knew that if word got out a Santos was dating a Gryffindor, they were both bound to get murdered, quite literally.

"Hmmm." Valerie hummed.

Oliver quite abruptly let go of Valerie and stepped back an inch. He had a skeptical look drawn on his face.

"What's wrong?" Valerie asked, getting a bit worried.

"Nothing, I just- why do we have to keep this a secret?" He inquired.

She sighed, "I just don't want to see either of us get hurt, Oliver."

"No one is going to use the Cruciatus Curse on a couple of fourteen-year old's if they see them snogging."

"You don't know that." Valerie rubbed her eyes and leaned her head against the cool tile of the bathroom wall.

Oliver grabbed a hold of one of Valerie's hands and rubbed it with his thumb. It didn't matter how old that motion got, or how comfortable they were with each other, it always brought Valerie butterflies in her stomach. "Maybe I don't know that, but I do know that if anyone dared to lay a finger on you, I'd beat them senseless with my broomstick." He joked, looking slightly serious.

Valerie let out a chuckle and didn't want to fight the urge she had in her anymore. "Fine. At lunch, you can sit with me." Oliver had a smile on his face, and she added, "At the Ravenclaw table." That erased the smile from his face.

"Oh, come on. They hate me, the lot of them!" Oliver whined. He was referring to the upcoming Quidditch match Ravenclaw had against Gryffindor, tensions were always high towards the last match of term.

"They don't hate you..." all Ravenclaws did in fact hate all Gryffindors at the moment, "they just don't particularly like you."

Oliver scoffed. "Why can't we sit at my table."

"Because I sit with you there all the time, we only look like friends sitting there. If you were to sit at my table, it'll look different."

"That makes no sense."

"That's because you're a boy who only cares about Quidditch." Valerie teased, with a smile on her face.

"Hey! I care about you too." He said indignantly.