Acquaintance - Oliver Wood/OC

Chapter 6: Hogsmeade

I jumped into PJ's bed to wake her up. "It's Hogsmeade day!" I yelled enthusiastically. She made a sound and I kept talking so to not let her fall over asleep. "Can you believe it? Three weeks has already passed since last time! Can you believe it?" When I didn't get a reply I kept saying, "Can you? ... Can you?" Over and over until she let out an angry "Yes, I can believe it!" and sat up. I always woke up first, which meant that I was the designated waker-upper of the remaining company.

"Come on guys," I moved on to Bianca, whom I'd just climbed over annoyingly, that would usually suffice for her to wake. "Get up or I'm going to start singing, and you all know what that's like." I made my way to Wright's bed and sat on her, lifting her wrists and shaking them. "I'm feeling extra loud this morning as well."

Feeling that my work was already done as they were all making strange noises in the act of getting out of bed, I went and lay on my bed instead. I had already gotten dressed and brushed my teeth, so I just floated some stuff on my nightstand with my wand as I waited for them excitedly.

Last Hogsmeade date I hadn't been able to go because of homework, this week I had made sure to get it all done in time. A feat I had barely managed and also meant I had to stay up an hour longer than everyone else to plan the Quidditch practises for that week and my eyes now felt a little too itchy. I tried to pretend like I was my normal self, but had it not been for Hogsmeade I'm not sure I would have been able to get up.

I listened to Wright's singing. In contrast to me, she genuinely had a lovely voice. This took me off guard as she rarely ever sang. I didn't recognize the song. It was probably one of those punk-esque songs she always listened to. Wright was one of those people who you'll think you know, and then the next day, she'll do something in direct contrast to what you previously thought about her. It's what made her special. She was like an advent calendar; once in a while she would open a new box and let you in on a new surprise.

"So we were thinking, Willow..." Bianca slurred with her toothbrush in her mouth while leaning out of the bathroom door. I paid half of my attention on her and the other half to my levitation spell. "...That maybe you could ask your Gryffindor friends to join us. Angelina and the others, you know." She retrieved into the bathroom again.

"Yeah sure." I said a tad louder.

Moments later she emerged again and walked up to where I was laying. I could feel her hesitating before she spoke, "And maybe you could make sure Wood joins as well." She said with almost laughably fake nonchalance. I noticed that the room was unusually quiet.

"Why?" I asked. My levitation charm had stopped and I was sitting up.

"We know you don't particularly like him, Willow..." She trembled pleadingly, "But he's kind of cute and we thought it might be fun to have him around."

I deliberated whether the word cute and Oliver went together. "He's a bit stiff though, isn't he? Don't you think he'll just ruin the mood?" I reasoned.

"Well, we thought about that, but then we thought..." Bianca had a hard time getting the next words out and she looked around at the others, "We thought maybe he's only stiff when he's talking with you..." The volume of her voice went down a ramp throughout the sentence, stopping at barely vocal.

"You think so?" When she saw the look of dread on my face she realised her poor choice of words.

"Oh, shit, sorry! I didn't mean for it to come out like that!" She grabbed my shoulder fervently.

"Good job Bianca." Came PJ with a pat on Bianca's shoulder. "Look Will, we thought it might be fun if he joined us, but if you are uncomfortable, you don't have to ask." PJ said.