Lost and Found || Oliver Wood [2]

Chapter 10: Omen

Jessica Hawthorne was in a dilemma. Seated at the edge of her four-poster bed, there were two options presented before her. It was difficult to choose, but she was pressured for time and had to make a decision.

She took yet another deep breath, mulling over the pros and cons. The first option was the safe choice while the second one was more daring. But which of them would make her happier and leave her with no regrets in the long run?

"Jess, you have to make a choice," said Alista, who had once again snuck into the Gryffindor common room that day.

"It's not easy, alright?" Jess sighed.

"I hate to break it to you, but you don't have the luxury of time for this."

"I know, but —"

"For Godric's sake, just pick the nude nail polish already!" Bethany interrupted.

Jessica and Alista snapped their heads away from the bottles of nail polish on the side table and towards the girl laying on her bed just across them.

"You make this whole ordeal sound way more dramatic than it actually is," she went on.

"Picking the color and shade of nail polish holds some significant consequences, Beth," Alista said, dead serious. "It should not only complement your skin tone, but you should also take your outfits into account!"

"We wear uniforms everyday except for when we go to Hogsmeade — and those trips are done," Bethany deadpanned. Alista and Jessica shared a look, shrugging when they realized she was right.

"Good point."

"Shall I go with the red, then? The one that's not too vibrant," said Jessica, pointing at it. "I mean, the nude one is nice, but I'm feeling red."

"Red, it is. It goes well with your house colors, too," Alista said.

And so, Alista got down to business — that is, painting her best friend's nails in the shade of red she requested. The blonde girl had insisted on doing this that day, claiming that they all needed to pay more attention to the little details of their appearances. Deep down, though, Jessica knew that this was just an excuse for them to bond more. After all, there were only a couple of weeks left until the end of the term, and with that, the end of their stay at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

As Alista worked on the nails on Jessica's left hand and while Bethany waited for her turn, Jessica was busying herself with something else: rereading Oliver's latest letter, and wondering how to respond to it. After she received the news of her acceptance into the Curse-Breaker training program of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, she told him about it, of course. The only issue was that she didn't say where she would be going, or how long she'd be gone — according to the package that came with the letter, it was a 10-month program.

And so, clutched in her free hand was the roll of parchment filled with Oliver's slightly messy scrawl, waiting to be properly read and answered.

Congratulations!! You deserve it more than anyone. I have to confess, though, that I'm not surprised. With all your academic achievements and extra-curricular activities, there was no way they wouldn't accept you. There would've been something terribly wrong with them if they rejected you.

When does the program begin? Do you have to prepare anything for it? Will you have to travel every once in a while since the nearest Gringotts branch is just the one in Diagon Alley? Let me know, or if you can't say everything now, tell me all about it once your summer break begins. I'm really proud of you, Jess.

Off topic now, but you'll never guess what happened to Zimmerman's interview with Spellbound. He was just talking about his own skills as Beater but that wretched magazine twisted it to sound like he was hating on the American Quidditch teams! I know they're just biased because they're based in USA, but still...