Captain - An Oliver Wood Fanfiction

Chapter 23 - So he did

The next day, Erin was in the library right after lunch to help Oliver out. Not only did she really want him to pass as being quidditch captain meant so incredibly much to him, she also just really enjoyed the excuse to spend more time with him. It was already half-way through January and since Oliver would only be at Hogwarts for 5 more months, she was glad to spend some of that time with him.

"Hi", Oliver said as he dropped his bag next to the chair opposite of Erin.

"Hello, ready for some History of Magic?" Erin said excitedly, dropping the massive book in front of him. Oliver raised his eyebrows and sighed.

"How can you possibly be excited about History of Magic?" he laughed.

"I like history. It's like one big story", Erin said and Oliver couldn't help but think her excited behavior was absolutely adorable.

"By the way, the Astronomy Tower is free on Thursday. I booked it with Professor Sinistra, so you better be there at midnight."

"Midnight on Thursday? I have quidditch practice Friday morning."

"Well you better make it work Captain, or soon you won't have quidditch practices to go to anymore", Erin smirked. Maybe it was a little early to joke about it, but Oliver didn't seem too hurt.

"So, what have you got for me?" he sighed.

Erin had prepared thoroughly, like she always did. She had asked Meredith for the chapters they had gone over in seventh year and quickly looked through it this morning. It was just studying by heart, so she figured it was best to teach Oliver some studying techniques instead of focusing on the content that Erin hadn't even studied herself.

They spent almost three hours in the library before Oliver was completely burned out. He appreciated her though and they had had quite some fun, but three hours of history was simply a little too much.

"Thanks, Erin. That really helped", Oliver said, putting his books away. "You should become a teacher one day, you're really good at it." 

Erin had no idea what she wanted to do after Hogwarts. Maybe she wanted to become a professional quidditch player, or maybe she wanted to start a shop in Diagon Alley, or maybe, like Oliver said, she'd become a teacher.

"No problem, see you on Thursday?" Oliver nodded and he shortly waved when their paths split. Erin felt an entire zoo in her stomach.

And so Erin's schedule got a little more busy in the following weeks. Three quidditch practices a week, five courses and three study sessions with Oliver, one for every subject he was failing. Erin especially liked the nights at the Astronomy tower, which pretty much consisted of looking at the stars, Erin telling stories about all the different constellations that Oliver had to know for his test. She made flash cards for each star, so Oliver had to answer with the location, movement and environment. She had received special permission from Professor McGonagall to be there every Thursday night to help Oliver study. She had even gotten 20 House Points for her efforts.

For Charms, she couldn't practice much outside of class, as Erin didn't know the spells herself and practicing magic out of class was technically forbidden. She did make sure he knew all incantations, movements and effects by heart after a few sessions. Erin really enjoyed it and she felt herself falling more and more in love with the quidditch captain every time.

There was one week where they only had one session planned. For Astronomy, as that was booked every Thursday. On Saturday, Gryffindor would be playing against Ravenclaw, so Oliver spent all his time on quidditch. Ravenclaw had won against Hufflepuff but lost against Slytherin, so Gryffindor needed to beat them.

"So, are you nervous for Saturday?" Erin asked Oliver when they had sat down in the Astronomy Tower.

"Yeah, a little bit", he said, clearly more nervous than "a little bit".

"You'll be fine. They had a heavy loss against Slytherin", Erin tried to help.

"Yeah, I just really want to win this time. We have to win with quite a big margin if we still want a chance at the Quidditch Cup.

"You really want that cup, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. It's my last year as captain, so it's now or never. This is my fourth year as captain and I've never been able to pull it off."

"Then Slytherin is the team to focus on, but we've been studying them all year. That's a big advantage."

"Well they probably have been studying us too."

"Hey, don't be so worried. You've trained really, really hard for this. You're a great captain and you've got a great team. There's nothing more you can do."

Oliver looked at her and smiled gratefully.

"Will you be there at the game?" he asked, really hoping she would be.

"Yeah, of course I will be, and I'll be wearing red." Oliver's smile only widened as he tried not to stare too obviously at Erin's bright blue eyes.

So when Saturday rolled around, she wished him good luck one more time, but he was too nervous to really comprehend anything anyone was saying. She didn't have a Gryffindor scarf, but she did wear a red shirt. She knew he'd appreciate it.

She found herself a seat in the Hufflepuff stands with Beatrice, who was wearing a blue shirt to support Meredith, and Tamsin who stayed neutral in black.

"So, no progress in the Oliver case?" Beatrice asked her quietly as they waited for Madame Hooch to call out the players.

"No, not really, but it's okay. I'm enjoying myself", Erin shrugged.

"I can see that, you seem happy", Beatrice said. Erin nodded. Her and Oliver had gotten a lot closer again and she sometimes thought he was flirting with her, but she took things slow. She'd see where it'd go. Even if it'd stay like this for the rest of the school year, she'd still be fine with it.

Madame Hooch called out the Gryffindor team and Erin cheered for Oliver. He seemed nervous, but Erin knew he'd be an epic team captain again. The Ravenclaw team flew out again, causing Beatrice to cheer for her almost-girlfriend. They had hung out loads in the past month and had kissed a second time. Erin suspected it wouldn't take long before the two would become official.

Erin did a lot of cheering during the match, as Gryffindor was a lot stronger than Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw's seeker Cho Chang seemed promising at first, but Harry showed utmost concentration and she simply couldn't catch up to him on his brand new Firebolt. Erin reminded herself to ask Oliver to check out that broom sometime.

Oliver himself was great too. Even though Ravenclaw didn't get that many opportunities to shoot at the goal, Oliver blocked them nearly every time, which made butterflies erupt in Erin's stomach again. Someone being good at something just made them that much more attractive. Like Marcus Flint. There were many Slytherin girls who fawned over him, even though he was an absolute troll. He was just good at quidditch. Luckily, Oliver was good at quidditch and really, really handsome.

When Harry finally caught the snitch, Oliver felt the most adrenaline and happiness he had felt in weeks. Quidditch truly made him so happy. The team gathered on the pitch and joined in a group hug, Harry still clutching onto the tiny, golden ball. Oliver was so relieved and so happy, it was difficult to describe. They still had a chance at the Quidditch Cup and they had played so well today. And he had been captain. He had led them here. They just needed to win one more match and the Quidditch Cup would be theirs.

Other Gryffindors started to run onto the field, congratulating the team and although she was wearing red, one of them was definitely not a Gryffindor.

"You did it!" Erin shouted from a while away, running up to him. Maybe it was the way she'd been so supportive and how excited she was, even though it meant losing her shot at the Quidditch cup, or maybe it was how beautiful she looked in red with her hair in the wind.

Oliver didn't know what urged him to do it, but when she had reached him, all he wanted to do was kiss her. So he did.