Strategy { Oliver Wood}

Chapter Twenty Four

"A pretty girl tells you she likes you, that she thinks you're cute, comes up with nicknames for you and what does Oliver do, ladies and gentlemen...he calls her rubbish."

Todd  buried his face into his hands. "Rubbish, Oliver? Did you forget the definition of the word? Because if you did...here's a reminder...girls don't like being called rubbish!"

"I told you it just came out, I didn't mean to call her rubbish! Do you think I wanted her to get upset and hit me with a book?"

"Well, you deserved it. I would have done the same thing."

"You're not helping me feel any better about this, Todd."

"Good. I don't want you to feel good. I want you to feel bad, because you screwed up, Dingus. You had the perfect opportunity. None of her friends were around and even Carter left you two alone. It was as if the Gods were looking down upon you and offering some mercy on your ignorant soul. How do you repay them? You insult the girl you like. Even I don't know how you're going to make a comeback from this one, because once she tells her friends...well you're done for."

"Maybe she won't tell them."

"He called you rubbish?!" Andy repeated from where she sat in one of the chairs in the common room. "How dare he-"

"Wait," Ace held up his hands after trying to figure out the entire story. "He literally asked to sit with you..just so he could call you rubbish? Wow. And here I thought I was bad at flirting."

"I give up." Melanie threw her hands into the air and let them fall back to her side. "I honestly give up with the boy, I don't care how bloody cute he is. I don't care how cute his face gets when he scrunches it up, or how red his cheeks get when he blushes...his soft hair and-"

"Melanie focus." Ace snapped his fingers in her face.

"Right. Where was I?"

"You give up." Andy reminded her.

"Yes, I do. I'm done." she said before pushing herself up and leaving to the girl's dorm.

"I wish I would believe that was true." Andy sighed, " but the minute that doofus even smiles her way, she'll fall right back in love with him."

Ace frowned for a moment. "Well...maybe we should help the situation then instead of making it worse."

Andy looked up at him. "What?"

"Rather than just agreeing with her that Oliver is an idiot maybe we should help the boy out."

"Help me out? I'm sorry, but have you completely lost your mind, Ace?"

"No, it's obvious that Melanie really like Oliver, she always has and even though he fumbles and screws things up...quite often, it's him she wants to be with."

"But Ace, you..and her..."

Ace shook his head. "It's Melanie and Oliver not Melanie and Ace. Come on...we need to see if we can find the stupid lion."

Melanie didn't want to eat her typical dinner as she found an apple pie on her plate that evening.

"You're not even going to eat some of the potatoes? They're so good." Jenna told her.

"I'm perfectly content with my pie, thank you."

"Well I'm glad I didn't want any!" Brandon said.

"There's like twelve other pies on the table you git, go get your own!"

"What if I wanted that pie?"

"Touch this pie and I'll stab you with a spoon."

"How are you going to stab with a spoon?" Brandon asked staring at Melanie.

"Do you want a demonstration?"

Brandon pulled his hand away. "No. Someone in a bad mood."

"You would be too if you were me today."

"Oliver troubles?" Jenna asked.

"As usual."

"Why don't you just forget about him? " Brandon suggested. "There are plenty of other guys in Hogwarts? What about Ace? He's a good guy."

"Why don't you date him then?" Melanie responded.

"Okay, now you're just being rude." Brandon pouted at her.

"I'm sorry Brandon, I'm just a little frustrated that's all. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I just want to eat this apple pie...okay?"

"Alright."

Oliver rounded the corner after a final quidditch practice with the team before the weather became too cold, only to find Andy and Ace waited for him. All by himself, he had no choice but to stop and attempt to make small talk with them.

"If this is about reserving the pitch-" he began talking to Ace but the older boy shook his head. 

"No this isn't about reserving the pitch, Wood. This is about you and Mel."

"I'm guessing she told you about that then..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "Look, I really didn't mean to call her that, it slipped out during the heat of the moment-"

"We don't care Wood." Andy sighed. "But we do care about Mel, so we're trying to help you not screw this up any further. So hush up and listen."

"Okay."

"I said hush!"

"But-"

"What part did you not understand?!"

Oliver pressed his lips together and remained silent.

"Good, we're finally getting somewhere." Andy smiled at Ace.