Captain - An Oliver Wood Fanfiction

Chapter 7 - I hate you

Oliver found out that Erin was still alive hours after the incident. He had spent those hours having a mental breakdown outside of the Hospital Wing. He had even canceled quidditch practice. He could never coach his team whilst he had maybe killed someone. No one wanted to tell him anything, though. The only person who had come out of the Hospital Wing was Professor Dumbledore and he couldn't tell him anything. He only asked him questions about what had happened, but soon realised that Oliver was in no shape to properly answer those.

By supper it was the talk of the castle. Everywhere he went, people would look at him, some emphatically, some, mostly Hufflepuffs, looking at him with disgust. He couldn't blame them as he felt the exact same. His friends kept asking him if he was okay, but how could he be?

Immediately after supper, he went back to the hospital wing and he would not leave before he had some kind of answer. He was about to knock on the double doors when they swung open, revealing a tired-looking Madame Pomfrey.

"Is she okay?" was all Oliver could ask.

"Okay, no. Alive, yes", she said.

"Will she be okay?" Madame Pomfrey sighed.

"Yes, boy, she will be, I've dealt with this before." A huge weight was lifted off his shoulders. He hadn't killed her. She'd be okay.

"Can I go see her?" Madame Pomfrey was really getting annoyed now.

"She'll be unconscious for a couple of days, she's lost a lot of blood, but go ahead. Now get out of my way so I can pour myself a nice glass of Firewhiskey."

Oliver stepped aside to let the woman through. Now that he finally had his answer, he was scared to walk through the doors. He was scared to see what damage he had done. He took one last deep breath and walked in, scanning the dark room for his friend.

She laid at the very front, covered with a new, white sheet, the moonlight reflecting on her skin. She was incredibly pale, as if she was made of porcelain. If Madame Pomfrey hadn't told him she'd be okay, he'd think she was dead. He took a chair and sat down besides her bed. She had small, white lines all over her neck and arms, probably over the rest of her body too. Scars. Scars that he had caused. He awkwardly took her hand, hoping it would somehow help.

"I'm sorry", he whispered. "I'm so sorry." He couldn't stop the tears from forming. He had never injured someone this badly, especially not one of his friends. Why hadn't he been more careful?

"I think it's best you leave." Oliver looked up to see a furious looking Beatrice at the end of the hall.

"I never meant to-"

"I said: leave. You've done quite enough!" She was almost screaming, waking up half the infirmary. Oliver sighed and stood up. He couldn't argue with that.

"All you do is hurt her", she gritted her teeth as he walked past. Oliver didn't quite know what she meant by that, but it was the least of his worries right now.

Oliver didn't think it could get any worse, but the next day, it definitely did. He was on his way to the quidditch pitch when he crossed the Hufflepuff quidditch team, who were just leaving.

It didn't sink in right away. The Hufflepuff team was long gone before he realised why they were on the pitch. The Captain's match, today was the match that would decide who'd be the next Hufflepuff captain, the match Erin couldn't stop thinking about, and she wasn't there. Not only had he put the girl in the infirmary, he had taken away her dream with it and he didn't quite know how to handle that.

He had to do something. But what could he do? The match had already been played.

Erin woke up about 48 hours later, in the late afternoon on Tuesday. She had no idea what day it was and she felt as if she had been run over by a bus.

"How are you feeling, dear?" Madame Pomfrey asked her, giving her a Pepperup Potion.

"Not great. What happened?" she asked, unsure of where she was and even who she was.

"You got splinched during your apparition lessons, but you're all fine now." Erin drank the liquid, trying to remember. She remembered going to apparition, then talking to Wood. He asked her questions about quidditch, about the Captain's match. Erin's eyes tripled in size, adrenaline spreading through her body.

"Madame? Madame Pomfrey? What day is it?" she asked, the nurse confused at Erin's panicky state.

"Tuesday, why?" she asked.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Erin jumped out of bed, ignoring her sore muscles and ran out of the infirmary. She felt the blood leaving her face, a cold feeling creeping over her, giving her goosebumps. She had no idea where she was going, but she didn't stop running until her feet hit the grass.

She had missed the Captain's match. She had lost her one shot at becoming captain, the only thing that she cared about this year, and now she didn't know what to do. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and she didn't even care. She felt so defeated, so lost.

"Erin?" Just hearing his voice made Erin's blood boil. It was all his fault. He pushed her. He got her splinched. He made her miss the match. She turned around, eyes spitting fire.

"You!" she screamed, her lip trembling. She walked up to the lad and pricked her finger in his chest. "It's all your bloody fault!"

Oliver looked tired and his eyes showed regret, but Erin didn't care in the slightest. She had prepared so well for this game and now she had missed it.

"Erin, I'm so-"

"No!" she shouted between her tears. "You don't get to be sorry! YOU RUINED IT! You ruined everything. I hate you!" There were so many more things she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't breathe properly, as if someone was squeezing her throat shut. So she just pushed him aside and ran again, as far away from him as possible.

Oliver felt something he had never felt before in his life: heartache. He liked Erin. They had become actual friends this past month, probably his only friend out of Gryffindor, and he had hurt her. He couldn't remember the last time he had fought with one of his friends and he didn't know how to fix it. He wanted to, he just had no idea where to start. Maybe he could ask one of his friends for help. Percy wasn't the best with girls either, so maybe he wasn't the best option, but he could ask Katie. He rubbed his face and made his way over to the Gryffindor common room.

Katie had watched everything unfold the last few days, as she was often the most observant out of all of them. She had seen the way Oliver acted around Erin and although she was skeptical at first, he seemed happy and that was all that mattered. She also noticed how devastated he was after the incident. As Oliver entered the common room, she knew the situation hadn't improved.

"Oi, Wood, you okay?" she asked, putting down her newspaper. He sat down and rubbed his eyes. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in days, which was probably reality.

"I'm fine", he said, which obviously was a lie.

"Is Erin awake yet?" He nodded, but didn't say much, which promised little good. A group of second-years entered the common room and went upstairs to the dorms. Katie just decided to wait until he talked.

"She hates me", he sighed. "And I can't even blame her."

"Come on, Wood, you never meant to hurt her", she said, pained by the pain she could see in his eyes.

"Of course not, but she missed the match because of me. It's all she ever wanted, to be captain, and I screwed that up for her." Katie sighed. There was little she could do and it frustrated her. She didn't know Erin at all, so she wasn't quite sure how she would deal with the situation.

"Just let her be for a while. I'm sure she'll forgive you, she just needs some time." Oliver nodded and stood up. He needed a long, hot shower.