Everything- Oliver Wood

𝟚𝟡. 𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕠𝕝𝕪

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Rumors buzz around the Great Hall. 

Last night, two people fell victim to the attacks- a Hufflepuff second year named Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Gryffindor house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. 

How the attacker managed to petrify a ghost is lost to me and everyone I talk to. All we know is that whatever is attacking people is powerful enough to harm something that is already dead. 

Whoever hasn't signed up to go home for the holidays is scrambling to talk to their heads of houses right now; nobody wants to stay here for Christmas. 

I can't wait to leave. 

On the outside, I'm as stoic as ever. I've got to appear unfazed, mostly for Joyce's sake. If I start acting worried, she'll be much more panicky than she already is. 

On the inside, I really am scared. No matter how much I tell myself differently, muggleborns are being attacked. I'm being attacked. 

But, I don't really feel like talking about it, so I just shove all my fear to the back of my mind. 

Finally, a week after the double attack, I'm on the train home and I feel like I can finally breathe. 

My mum is taking Joyce to Scunthorpe for the holidays, so I'm going to see her at the train station and then go to Candace's house. 

I'm glad that Joyce is getting a chance to get away from all of this; she's been really stressed out lately. It's not hard to imagine why. 

At the train station, I give my mum and Joyce big hugs before going off the platform with Candace and our little group of 6th years. Most of us are Ravenclaws, but Ambria, Percy, and Oliver are coming, too. 

Candace's house is rather impressive. The first time I went there in 2nd year I could barely fathom it. I'm still quite overwhelmed by the sheer size of it compared to my tiny home. 

There's a bit of a fuss over deciding who gets to sleep where before we all just decide to sleep in the cozy and open basement.  

We all move the furniture towards the edges of the room and make a pile of pillows and blankets in the middle for us to sit on and play board games. 

"My father just got this one a few months ago," Candace says, pulling out a game of Monopoly from one of the shelves. "He loves muggle games." 

We all team up because there aren't enough pieces for all of us to play individually. Despite our complete lack of compatibility, I'm put with Oliver. 

Candace gives us a brief explanation of how to play, then we choose our pieces. 

"I want the shoe," Oliver says. 

"No; I always use the iron," I say, slapping his hand away. 

"Oh- look at that- Clancy and Dougal have got the iron already," he sighs, shrugging in mock disappointment. 

I roll my eyes at him and grab the shoe, defeatedly placing it on the starting square. 

Crowding around the board is pretty difficult when there's 12 of us, but we manage. I end up squished in between Candace and Oliver. 

Candace seems to be shoving me closer to Oliver than necessary; by the time we're halfway through the game I'm practically in his lap. 

Around this time, Jacob and Eleanor go bankrupt. There's a scramble to buy all their property and continue. 

I don't know whose idea it was to put the two most competitive people in the room on a team together, but it definitely wasn't a good one; Oliver and I are taking this extremely seriously. 

3 hours in, Candace and Ambria have also dropped out. Oliver and I have 3 hotels and 8 houses on our property. 

"Alright, how about we give you all of our pinks for Park Lane?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at Dougal and Clancy. 

There's an uproar from the other teams; "Don't do that!" "Are you fucking stupid!?" "I swear to God-" 

"How about all the pinks and two 500s?" Clancy asks, tapping his chin. 

I glance at Oliver. "Deal," he says. There's a louder uproar from everyone else.

"We're fucked," Patty groans, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

"Why the hell would you do that?!" Penny asks. 

"C'mon, guys, we don't even have money left to buy houses and hotels on these; we're practically no threat at all," Oliver shakes his head, smiling. 

"That's bullshit!" Benjamin shakes his head. 

I grin and turn behind me to give Oliver a fistbump. I'm in between his legs now, but I think both of us are pretending not to notice. 

We play a couple more rounds and, soon enough, Oliver and I have enough money to buy houses on both of our dark blue properties. 

The next turn, Percy and Penny land on it, sending them into bankruptcy. Percy has to leave the room for a few minutes to cool down. 

Oliver and I use the money from our recently bankrupted friends to put hotels on our property, as well as buying all of their old properties and putting houses on those as well. 

We own almost half of the board now. 

Half an hour later, we've bankrupted the other two teams and won the game. Oliver and I get more excited than we should, but we've just spent almost 5 hours playing this game, so we're happy for it to finally end in our favour. 

"God, that was fun," I grin.

"I agree," Oliver nods. 

"Fuck you," Penny mumbles, leaning back against one of the couches. 

I yawn and lean back into Oliver's chest a bit, resting my head on him. 

"Jesus; it's nearly 2 am," Ambria laughs. 

"Yeah, I'm about ready to pass out," Benjamin says, yawning. 

Oliver suddenly shoves me forward, breaking me out of my tired state. 

"Piss off!" I shout, getting up to chase after him as he starts to run away. I grab a pillow and sock him in the chest with it. 

He laughs and grabs the pillow, ripping it from my arms. All my mobility is taken away when he wraps his arms tightly around me, constricting me from fighting back in any way. 

"Someone help me!" I yell, almost unable to breathe from the amount of laughing I'm doing. 

"Get a room," Clancy mumbles. 

"Ah! He's not letting me go!"  

"Yeah, 'cause you're trying to murder me with a pillow," he laughs. 

"I would never," I grin, wiggling around in his arms. Eventually, I manage to get out and dart away, running through the maze of pillows on the floor. 

Oliver chases after me, but I stop and place both of my hands on his shoulders. 

"Oliver, you're being a disturbance," I whisper. 

"So are you," he grins, trying to wallop me with a pillow. 

"Ow! Go to bed!" I laugh, running away yet again. 

"Have you two sorted it out yet?" Candace asks lazily, sitting on the floor across the room. 

"I'm ready to go to bed, but I don't know about Oliver," I say, tutting. 

He grins. "Laurie's the one being-" 

"I'm sleeping; I can't hear you," I say as I collapse onto a couch and pull a blanket over myself. 

I hear a muffled, "Goodnight," from Ambria. 

Everyone responds with a "G'night", or "Sweet dreams" or some other version of a goodnight pleasantry. 

I bury my head in my pillow and grin, just feeling completely, perfectly, and incandescently happy. 

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