Amelia Merlin

Part Forty One: Oliver gets a haircut

Amelia clutched Cedric's hand a little tighter as she turned away from the beast on the edge of the forest. He smiled down at her, which she returned.

"I can't wait until next year."

"Whys that?" Amelia bounced a little as she walked.

His hand left hers and wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him. The air had a distinct chill to it, and Amelia was grateful for the proximity.

"Because," Cedric grinned. "I would love to take you to Hogsmeade, and show you everything! Take you on a proper date, buy you flowers and take stupid pictures."

As much as Amelia tried to act like all that girly stuff didn't appeal, she secretly loved the idea. She wanted to dress up, and go on dates, and get flowers and chocolate. She adored the thought of a knight in shining armour who opened doors for her and gave her his jacket when it was cold out.

And none of these things made her any less tough, doing girly things didn't make her weak.

Because it is badass to love flowers.

"I can't wait to go to Hogsmeade with you either!" She stood on her tippy toes and kissed his cheek.

Cedric's face always lit up whenever she did things like that. As though her presence made the sun rise and set in the sky.

His friends were in the entrance hall, so Amelia let him go and went to the library, where she knew Oliver and Neville would be studying.

"Hey there lover girl!" Oliver called when he saw her walk in, making Madame Pince smack him on the back of the head, throwing his curls in his eyes.

"Please let me cut this!" She laughed as she pushed his hair back.

Oliver sighed heavily. "Fine!"

"Alright! Let's go find an empty bathroom and do this thing!" Amelia  leapt out of her seat.

"You know, taken out of context, that could sound very strange." Oliver said knowingly, and Neville snorted loudly.

She rolled her eyes, "Very mature boys."

They left Neville (who insisted he couldn't leave or he'd fail everything) and went to find a bathroom. The only empty one was Moaning Myrtle's.

When she entered, Amelia had a vivid flash of tunnel, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

"Do we have to?" He hissed quietly.

Amelia grinned and nodded. She sort of liked Myrtle, and wanted to talk with her.

"Myrtle, darling!" She burst into the bathroom, dragging Oliver behind her.

"Oh." The ghost appeared by the sinks, "It's you again."

"Miss me?"

"No." Myrtle sounded on the verge of tears.

"Oh, breaking my heart, you are!" Amelia feigned offence then laughed. "I'm joking Mrytle, don't look so serious!"

"What are you doing here with that boy?" Myrtle sneered.

Amelia just winked and waggled her eyebrows, which made Myrtle shriek and head down a toilet.

"Why'd you do that? Now she's gonna think-" Oliver started.

"Because everyone cares so much what Moaning Myrtle thinks!" She laughed and sat Oliver down on a stool in the corner and stood behind him.

"I've changed my mind, Amelia. I don't want you touching my hair!" A slight panic rose in his voice.

Amelia laughed. "Trust me, darling." She whispered in his ear.

"Fine." He rolled his head back to look at her and she poked his nose. "Ow!"

"Get over it!" She teased and tugged his curls. "I'm going to start cutting it now. So hold still."

"I swear to god, Amelia. If you mess up my beautiful hair-"

She threw back her head in laughter. "Stop whining! What do you want me to do with it?"

"I want to be bald."

"Why's that?"

"So I can run faster."Oliver grimaced and twitched through the entire event. After what felt like an eternity, she was done.

"There it's all over!" Amelia clapped her hands together. "Take a look in the mirror!"

He stood up slowly and gazed at his reflection. Oliver tugged at his hair and ran his fingers through it.

"It looks-" he searched for the word. "Really good! I look sexy as hell!"

"Yeah you do!" Amelia high-fived him and after some time, had to drag him away from the mirror.

"I mean, normally I don't care what I look like, but holy shit. Thanks girl." Oliver Rivers walked a little taller that day. "Oh and here, I got you this." He handed her a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.

"What is this?"

Oliver smiled. "You told me once you like classic literature, and um, I saw this and I was thinking of a good time to give it to you and this seemed reasonable." She tore a part the wrapping and held in her hand a copy of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. It was bound in dark red leather and the pages were yellowed from time.

"Oliver," she gaped at him. "This is-"

"Don't worry about it." he grinned and patted her on the shoulder as he strode out of the bathroom.

..........

The big Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor was today and  Amelia couldn't be more excited. She and Cedric walked out to the pitch together and only had to wait a moment before the game began.

The entire Slytherin team was on Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones, but Gryffindor had better players and everyone knew that. The match started off very average but soon took a dark turn.

There was a bludger that was following Harry around, trying to kill him.

"Someone's tampered with it!" Cedric yelled over the crowds shouting. "It's not leaving him alone!"

"Come on Fred!" She whispered under her breath. As a beater, he might be able to stop it.

But it looked like their talents were no use against the rogue bludger.

Amelia could barely watch, but it was even harder to tear her eyes away. She winced every time the cannon got close to Harry. When the seeker saw the snitch, her heart nearly galloped out of her chest.

Harry dove towards the golden ball and just as his hand closed around it, the bludger got the better of him.

It hit him so hard he fell off his broom. Ditching Cedric, Amelia rushed to the field.

"Is he alright?" The crowd was so thick she couldn't see what was going on at all.

It wasn't until the after party in the common room, she found out Lockhart had accidentally removed all of the bones from Harry's arm.

She had a really hard time not laughing about that.

Because it wasn't funny.

At all.

................

Through the haze of euphoria, Amelia spotted Fred. He had one arm around Alicia and was laughing loudly. She strode up to him and pulled the red haired boy aside.

"Can we be friends again?" It was strange how hard she had to try, not to break down into tears. "Because I miss my friend." Amelia blinked furiously "So much."

Fred pulled her into a hug. "And here I was, thinking you were gonna confess your love for me."

She could feel him grinning, and normally she would have smacked him, but Amelia was just glad to be in his arms again.

"I missed you, Amy." His voice vibrated through her mousy hair.

"I missed you too, Fred."