One. Last. Time. {Oliver Wood}

The problem with wanting

September 20, 1991

She tried to clear her mind as she finished off her letter with the words, I love you more than you could ever know.

Valerie always wrote to her father the night before the full moon. It wasn't much but she tried to make him feel like she was there with him, because she always will be.

She could feel her thoughts drifting out of reality and into sadness and curiosity. It was a constant nag if she was being honest with herself. Valerie hated how easily her emotions could change if she thought on her father. Because if she thought of her father she would think about her mother, and if she thought about her mother, she thought of Lucius Malfoy. And if she thought of Lucius Malfoy, she thought of his son, Draco Malfoy and if she thought of Draco Malfoy she thought of Harry. And Harry was just a completely different level of sadness she just couldn't-

"Valerie! Valerie! You will not believe this!" shouted a voice, forcing Valerie back into reality. She remembered she was sitting in the library with a letter out in front of her and her lips pulled into a frown.

Oliver came running up to her, still shouting and receiving annoyed looks from other students. Valerie hastily tucked her letter under one of her textbooks and she saw Oliver's smile diminish.

"Merlin Oliver, could you yell any louder? I'm fairly sure the entire library would enjoy murdering you right about now." Valerie said.

Oliver's brows furrowed and his eyes darted to Valerie's letter stashed under her textbook. "Who are you writing to?" He asked, sounding strangely keen to know who.

Peculiarly enough, Valerie felt panic wash over her and said, "Oh, just-just my dad." She was in no mood to make an excuse for her father's wolfish tendencies to Oliver in that moment.

He raised an eyebrow before letting that perfectly imperfect smile of his split across his face. "Okay ready?"

"Yes! Tell me, Gryffindork." Valerie replied.

"Okay, McGonagall made me Quidditch captain!" Oliver replied, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

Valerie's jaw hung open in shock, "Seriously?! But you're a fourth year, and isn't there already a quidditch captain for Gryffindor?"

Oliver sighed impatiently, "I'm getting to that. McGonagall said Weasley didn't leave anyone as captain so she had to pick and she didn't know who, which I think is completely heinous, I mean how could they not know who to pick when I'm standing right before them?"

Valerie let out a snort and Oliver shot her a glare. "I mean, how could they? The disrespect!" She added quickly.

"I know," Oliver agreed, "so anyways, McGonagall didn't know who to chose until... are you really ready?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes Oliver, get on with it."

"She chose me because...Harry Potter got put on the team as Seeker!" Oliver blurted out, pure happiness radiating from him.

Valerie on the other hand, was feeling many things, but happiness was not one of them. She could feel herself being pushed into her world of sadness created in her head and was fighting hard to resist it. Just the mention of him along with the fact that he was to be on the Quidditch team just like his father brought her sadness to an extreme level. Her breath was beginning to quicken, and Oliver's smile vanished again.

"What is it?" He asked, moving closer to the table Valerie was sitting at.

Valerie plastered a fake smile onto her face and said, "Nothing, nothing. That's brilliant! How did it happen?"