When Fire Meets Gasoline | Wizarding World

chapter seventeen | holiday surprises

Over the next few weeks, things were quiet for Oliver. For one thing, Mary had been avoiding him ever since their argument in the library. She always looked away whenever she passed him in the corridor, turning her nose in the other direction. According to Andrew, that was "true Slytherin behavior." Oliver couldn't disagree with that. Overall, he was okay with things being peaceful for once.

But one evening, Oliver and his friends were shocked when Hermione Granger came up to him while they were leaving the library. "Hi," she said to Oliver.

"Hi," he repeated, his body still, unsure of what to do now.

"Do you want to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?" she asked, or more like practically blurted out to him.

Oliver let the question echo in his mind over and over. Do you want to go to Slughorn's Christmas party with me?

"Answer her, mate," Andrew whispered, nudging him.

The boy shook his head, snapping back into reality, and cleared his throat, staring at Hermione. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

Hermione nodded, looking pleased. "Okay, I'll talk to you more about it once the date gets closer." With that, the girl walked past them and disappeared behind the shelves.

The sound of snickering and giggles came from Oliver's friends as they left the library and walked down the corridor. "Guys, will you relax?" Oliver asked, smiling a little.

"How can we? Your dream of going out with Hermione Granger finally came true!" Jacob exclaimed. "Although, we were all hoping that you'd be the one to ask her out and not the other way around..."

"Who cares?" Violet spoke up. "Oliver's finally going on a date!"

Eliza was next to give her friend a smile. "It's about time, too, Ollie."

Oliver felt his face get flushed as his friends continued to joke with him about him and Hermione. He didn't think he'd hear the end of it for a really long time. In fact, until the five had to part ways, that was all they could talk about. While the others had their fun at teasing their friend, Oliver began to get overwhelmed at the idea of being Hermione Granger's date to the party. At the age of sixteen, this would be his first date, and he was already beginning to get nervous.

Once it was time for the others to turn in for the night, Oliver and Violet walked back to the Ravenclaw Tower, his nerves still high. "I don't know anything about dates, Vi," he admitted to her.

Violet shook her head, letting out a soft laugh. "Don't worry. We'll help you."

He nodded, feeling a bit better, though not as much as he'd like. Nevertheless, Violet's reassurance eased his mind, knowing that he would not be alone in figuring things out.

For the rest of the night, he thought about the party, thinking of the many ways the night could go right and wrong.

*******

"I look stupid," Oliver stated, groaning and slouching in front of his friend.

"No, you don't," Violet said, touching up his hair. "You look lovely. Now, stand up straight so I can fix you up a bit."

It took a week before the party for Hermione to tell Oliver to meet her on the sixth-floor corridor the evening of the party. Now, on the twentieth of December, he and Violet were in the Ravenclaw Common Room, making sure they looked presentable for the occasion. While Violet looked nice and elegant in her blue dress with a poof at the bottom, Oliver had to settle for a black dress with a pale pink tie to match Hermione's dress. After all, he wanted to make an impression for her (also for Slughorn, but he wasn't as important as Hermione Granger was, of course).