GHOST (Oliver Wood Fanfiction)

chapter four

COMMON ROOMS

The issue with Oliver Wood is that he could never quite understand how to calm down; for the boy had been pacing 36 minutes and not once did his lurid stare relent from the pinewood floorboards of the Gryffindor common room. Not once did his lips relieve themselves from their tightly sealed scowl, and not once did he even consider to stop and breathe.

"Lovegood" He spat with a hiss, "She's a bloody Lovegood".

George and Fred sat comfortably across from the frantic existential crisis in wonder. They watched as Oliver's cheeks turn red and broom-blistered hands twisted. They watched his robe-clad chest violently rattle his ribcage back and forth. They watched his eyebrows bury themselves together into the furrowed wrinkle above his nose, and how his voice... poisonous with putrid disgust. 

"Merlin's beard... He's gone mad" one chimed.

"Completely and utterly mental" the other replied.

Oliver stopped and turned abruptly. "I heard that" he pointedly accused, suspiciously thinning his eyes at the two boys. They sank further into the burgundy sofa. Oliver stared at them now, but his mind was somewhere else as he crossed his arms defensively and shifted his weight from one foot to another. See, In his mind, he was perfectly rational to be upset. It was perfectly rational to be furious with himself for spending a whole summer thinking about the mysterious girl at the quidditch final, thinking about her white hair, her bright blue eyes... all for disappointment to come crashing down on him like a rogue bludger.

"A Lovegood" He exhaled, quieter this time, defeated by the notion that, however many times he wished it wouldn't be true, the one girl he's ever shown interest in turned out to be Louis Lovegood's sister. Nothing good will come from that. Fred sat forward, tilting his head to the side as his pale hand ran through his hair. He thought for a moment before asking something he hoped he wouldn't regret.

"Oliver... is it possible that maybe... just maybe... you're overreacting just a teeny-weeny bit?"

Oliver looked at Fred. Fred looked at Oliver. Fred decided that he definitely regretted asking.

George sensed the heavy lull that began to strangle the room as Oliver looked like he was about to explode at his twin brother. Clearing his throat, he captures the Scots attention. "Okay, so let me get this straight. You two are standing there, you ask her name and she gives it. What happened next?"

Silence. Oliver sat down. George asked again.

"I don't want to say" Oliver stubbornly put, watching how his index finger grazed nervously over the half-moon-shaped scar in his palm he acquired from a Quidditch incident when he was very young.

George and Fred look at each other knowingly. They leaned forward with mischievous smiles, sensing Oliver's embarrassment and thriving in the idea of weeding it out of him until he snapped and finally admitted what he did to the poor Lovegood after she confessed her name. They just needed to figure out how.

:::

"He just... ran away?" Kieran asked, mouth hanging open in shock. Larissa nodded slowly, exhausted after explaining the story three times each time she got interrupted by Ella's hysterical laughter, who was now holding her nose to keep in a chuckle and turning bright pink.

"I mean what did I do wrong?" Larissa huffed, turning to the boy on her left. "Do I smell? Smell me"

Kieran shook his head, "rather not".

Larissa huffed and crossed her arms stubbornly, "you're not a real friend"

Ella bore a wide smile on her face but swallowed her laughter as she sighed and thought for a moment. She shrugged coolly, surmising that the Gryffindor's Quidditch team Captain probably has an issue with Larissa because of her relation to Louis. Keiran considered this, nodding with a fair expression. The white-haired girl looked at them both and offered a shrug. Larissa loathed the feeling of confusion more than anything, obsessed with the urge to know each and every detail about anything and everything she turns her attention to. Her mother would call it endearing, however, Larissa would admit that others may not be as kind or patient as her mother. Despite this, she pushed away whatever feelings she had towards him, towards the boy that her brother made her swear she'd never talk to, the boy she didn't - shouldn't - care about, the boy who she'd thought about all summer. Oliver Wood.

She told herself she wouldn't waste any more time investing herself into discovering his opinion of her. Not even a single droplet of energy. She hoped that would be true... Ella senses Larissa's mood shift and quickly changes the subject with an optimistic fluttering tone. Smoothing her hand across her best friend's shoulder.

"What did Mcgonnagall want?" the curly-haired girl asks inquisitively, lifting the burden from the room.

Larissa glanced at her and smiled lightly, silently thanking Ella for the change in topic.

"She's asked me to be a tutor this year. I think I'm going to go for it, it will really help me with going over topics from past years I've probably forgotten all about. It might turn out to be quite fun" She admits.

"Nerd" Kieran sniggers before letting out a sharp yelp as Larissa pinched his arm, "Ouch!"

"Shush your mouth"She uttered before continuing light-heartedly "and it will give me something to do that's actually productive and not just listening to you guys argue all the time"

"Hey!" Ella interrupts, offended, looking between Kieran and Larissa.

Kieran rolls his eyes, "Oh come on, you know it's true"

Ella slumps, "OK, yeah that is true"

:::

Larissa lay stoic in her bronze-sheeted bed surrounded by four ceremonious dark wood posts and shadowed with velvet blue curtains embroidered with glowing stars that sparkled as they hit the moonlight that spilt in from the window frame. She stares upward, unable to sleep and unable to think of anything else but one thing, one person. Oliver Wood.

:::

In the brisk air of the Gryffindor bed chambers, dark eyes burned into the stone ceiling above his bed, unable to lull themselves into sleep and successfully avoid the problem playing on his mind. The one issue, the one problem. Larissa Lovegood. For Oliver, there was only one way to solve this issue, avoid it, ignore it, pretend it's never even there, and focus on more important things. Like Quidditch. And he meant that, he really did. Or so he'd convinced himself.

But what Oliver Wood was yet to discover was that he was failing potions class, an essential class if he were to pass the school year.

Larissa Lovegood just so happened to be the best at potions in the whole of Hogwarts.

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On a brighter note, who's your favourite Harry Potter Male character?

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