When Fire Meets Gasoline | Wizarding World

chapter twenty-five | the final hours

It was the last day of June when Oliver felt like something wasn't right.

The feeling began when he woke up that morning with an unsettling turn in his stomach that came out of nowhere. It took him a while to get ready for the day, unable to shake the idea that today was already an off day for him. He hoped it would get better, but the more he thought about it, the more worried he got.

When he got to the Great Hall, the rest of his friends were there, with their plates full and smiles on their faces. That was something he liked to see, especially now. When he took a seat next to Jacob, everyone's eyes fell on him and his gloomy expression.

"What's with you, Ollie?" Jacob asked. "It's only morning and you already look like someone just died."

"It's just..." Oliver trailed off, shaking his head. "Does today feel a bit different to you lot?"

The others looked at each other, puzzled by his question.

"What do you mean?" Violet asked.

He shrugged in response. "I don't know, today just feels off."

Jacob sighed. "We all have those days. Maybe just take it easy, try not to think about whatever's making the day weird to you."

Oliver wished it was that easy to take Jacob's advice. This was something Oliver couldn't put his finger on, something that continued to gnaw at him, and he was longing to know what it was.

It was when Mary Fowler walked past him that the feeling inside of him grew worse.

He did his best to not stare at her, but it became difficult for him to tear his eyes away. After the incident in the bathroom, he thought about her more than he wanted to admit. It took a while for Mary to drift away from his mind, focusing on everything else he needed to get done before the term ended, now that exams were no longer something he had to worry about.

But when the term was over, as in, officially over, he was sure that she would come back to his thoughts again.

"Hey," Andrew snapped Oliver back into reality. "You good?"

Oliver quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

Andrew threw some toast at him. "Well, hurry up, then. We're planning on taking a walk."

Being put off guard by the toast, he fumbled with it before eating the bread in bits and pieces. Andrew, Jacob, and Violet all stood up, heading out of the Great Hall, while Eliza remained seated with Oliver, where she eyed him in a concerned way.

"What?" he asked once he took notice of her staring.

She shrugged in response. "Nothing. I just don't want you to be worried for the entire day, that's all. I mean, it won't be long before we're packed up to go back home for the summer."

"Yeah," was all he could say. It was more things he had to think about, things like his parents moving back to Scotland was something he still needed to tell his friends. However, there were more pressing matters during that time.

"Are you sure you're okay, Ollie?" she asked him, taking his hand.

Almost taken aback from the sudden touch, he reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Liza."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know."

She gave him a small smile, tugging at his hand a little. "Okay. Come on, let's go join the others before they start to get impatient."

So Oliver quickly scarfed down more breakfast before getting up with Eliza. While seeing Mary didn't help with the eerie feeling he had about today, he hoped that being with his best friends would help get his mind off of it.