3 A.M. (Oliver Wood) *ON HOLD*

Chapter Four: Seventh Year

The weekend before Halloween had been the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Celeste had begrudgingly stayed with Mattheo at all times, even when she had to stand outside the restrooms when he had to pee. Mattheo had decided to check out a quidditch shop, even though Celeste was no longer allowed to play quidditch. Apparently, he had just wanted the newest quidditch book, but that didn't make Celeste hurt any less.

Celeste was able to get him to stop at a book shop for her though, and she picked up a couple of different books to read. Most of her time was spent reading nowadays, since she wasn't allowed to do much, and she didn't really have many friends. Technically, she only had one friend, Mattheo, but Oliver and his friends considered themselves her friends. Celeste was still unsure about Oliver and his friends, but it was mostly because they were so nice to her, something she really wasn't use to.

Celeste had noticed a black dog a couple of times while walking around Hogsmeade, but she figured it was a stray with how disheveled it looked. The dog wasn't paying much attention to her, and it seemed to be looking for something or someone. She wasn't sure who or what, but she was somewhat curious. Being the nice person she was, she ordered a little extra food when she stopped for a butterbeer, and she placed the food outside for the dog.

After the dog ate, she never did see it again that day. She was kind of disappointed, since she wanted to pet the dog, but there wasn't much she could do. Her aunt and uncle didn't allow pets, so she never really had a dog or anything before. She really didn't get to pet any either, so she wanted to greet the animal, its just the animal didn't seem to want to greet her.

After her poor encounter with the dog, Celeste was a bit more down than she normally was. It didn't really matter though, since later that same night, she recieved an owl from Ethan. Apparently, he wanted them to marry during the Easter holiday, which would be would be near the end of March. Celeste really wasn't happy about that, but she didn't have any other choice.

Walking into DADA that Monday, which was Halloween, Celeste practically threw herself down into her seat. Lupin and Oliver knew something was wrong automatically. Celeste was normally good at covering up her emotions, even when someone asked her if she was upset, but not this time. Oliver noticed that she looked more pale, and Lupin noticed she looked even skinnier than she had Friday when he had walked past her. Knowing she wouldn't speak, Oliver pulled out a spare piece of parchment and wrote her a quick note.

'Are you okay? You don't look so good.'

When she looked down at the note, Oliver seen her lip quiver just a bit. Looking up, he seen that Lupin had noticed it, too.

'I'm okay. I just got news that wasn't too exciting.'

He read the note quickly, and his mind began to go through all the possible things she could've heard.

'Do you want to share? Sometimes talking about it makes it better.'

When he passed the note, he watched her read it and scoff silently. He frowned once again, but he didn't say anything out loud.

'How could talking about my forced marriage make me feel better about it? I'm supposed to marry the oaf after I graduate, but now he wants to move the date to the Easter holiday. That's at the end of March! I don't have much time left as my own person!'

Oliver felt his heart break when he read those words, but he didn't know what to do about it. Instead, he tried to be as helpful to her as possible.

'You turn seventeen before the wedding, right?'

'Yes, I do.'

'Well, then the moment you're seventeen, you can make your own decisions. You always have the choice to run away from it all.'

"I have nowhere to go, and I don't want to leave Draco.'

'You can always stay with me, Mum and Dad already agreed. And about Draco, Celeste, sometimes you have to do what's best for you, even if it doesn't make someone else happy. Besides, you can always go back for him once you've graduated. You never know if he'll want to stay with them later either, so you may have to be away to give him the extra push to leave, too.'

Instead of writing back, Celeste merely smiled a bit at Oliver, as she sat contemplating his words. She could leave, but she was hurting Draco if she did. If she did leave, she believed her aunt and uncle would try to track her down and force her to marry Ethan Rosier anyway. If she was lucky, she'd be able to figure out a way to get out of the marriage.

Biting her lip, she wondered if she could break a rule or two to get out of the marriage. Maybe if she kissed someone else in public, but her uncle would punish her for that. Maybe if she was caught trying to do something more explicit with someone else, especially not a pureblood, she could possibly get out of the marriage. The problem was, she could also be disowned for it.

The ideas kept rolling through her mind, but so did the consequences. She didn't know what could happen, but the more she thought about it, the more her stomach started to turn. She hadn't been able to eat or sleep since she recieved the owl from Ethan. She was terrified of the marriage, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. The fear was eating her alive, especially as each day passed. The sooner March came, the more she was going to become anxious. She was going to be a wreck by the time she was supposed to get married, if she hadn't died from her anxiety by then...