The Decision | Oliver Wood

Chapter eight

OKAY, I got detention. But Professor Sprout was actually really polite with my punishment, considering what I did. I still cannot believe that I did that in front of everyone. It was pretty cool honestly; before meeting Wood I would've never done it, but he rays with this incredible confidence, that it infects me.

I'm sitting in professor Lockhart's office, helping him respond to fanmail or something. It's so typical that out of ALL the detention I can get I get the worst: 3 hours with Lockhard, two days; 3 hours cleaning in the hallways with Filch, three days. It was so worth it though because someone had to put that Malfoy kid in his place. 

"Professor?", I say in a small voice. There's been dead silence between us for the past 2 1/2 hours because he's been writing and so have I. He looks up at me and smiles big.

"Yes, dear?". I cringe at the way he calls me 'dear'. I make an awkward laugh and put a stray of hair behind my ear whilst talking.

"I was just wondering, this kid here says he highly doubts that you defeated a Nundu all by yourself since there's only been one time in history where 100 wizards TOGETHER managed to capture and kill th-". He interrupts me.

"Oh no. No no, that's not true. I did capture it, I was fast as lightning not getting caught in that horrible breath of it's", he smiles. My mouth is still formed from him interrupting me. I look at him.

"But-", I begin.

"Just reply", he interrupts again, "that he shall not doubt my achievement as I am Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Forc-", he doesn't finish his sentence because the door smashes open into his wall. He makes a small, girly scream and I look at him weird and then back to the door. I can hear multiple students mumbling through the halls. We look at each other and both get up. We run through the halls, towards the voices. When we get there, there's completely crowded with students and teachers, and I have to mash my way through the crowd to see what's going on. Three second-year students are looking at a wall, in the middle of the circle. I follow their eyes to see Filch's cat presumably dead. On the wall there's written:

'The chamber of secrets has been opened' with, what looks like, blood. I freeze and gasp. What is the chamber of secrets? I can feel my heart pounding. I thought that Hogwarts was the safest place of all, and this terrifies me to my very core. I'm almost too scared to even move.

I look up to see Malfoy across the crowd looking at me. When our eyes meet a very uncomfortable chill run through my entire body. Our eyes lock. And he does not look happy.

-=*=-

"That was so climactic", I say to George, as we sit in our common room. He's chomping on a cookie.

"You don't say", he mumbles, with cookie crumbs coming out of his mouth. I giggle. We got sent to our dorms because of what happened earlier. "How was detention by the way?", he says and swallows his bite.

"Incredibly boring. I think he's lying about some of his tasks actually. There's no way he's done all of that", I say and put my knees to my chest. I wrap my arms around them and put my hands to my elbows, as I rest my chin on my knees. 

"Yeah, what a surprise", George says and rolls his eyes. He puts the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and I turn my head towards the fireplace. I watch the fire dance and imagine small people dancing around it, like a bonfire. 

We sit like this for a while, not saying anything, just appreciating our surroundings. I breathe in through my nose, to smell the nice, warm feeling of the fire. I can feel George looking at me. I look back at him and he quickly looks away.

"Well... God look how late it is", he says and makes an over-the-top yawn and stretches his arms so his shirt slides up a little. "I'm gonna go to bed. Good night", he says, get's up and kisses my forehead. George and I have always been close like this, and I know the kiss doesn't mean anything but friendship.

I can hear him walking away, up his stairs and his dorm door closing. I close my eyes for just a second and then get up. I turn around and see a figure. My heart skips a beat and I put my hand to my chest from the shock. Because in my common room, HUFFLEPUFF'S common room, is none other than Oliver Wood standing with a crooked smile upon his gorgeous face.