Rogue: Oliver Wood | Short Story

Bad Decisions

OLIVER WOOD WAS STRETCHING HIS ARMS to feel more awake while he walked, since a yawn had taken over him less than a minute ago. He was listening to Tobi Burton talk about how he thought they should spend their day-off from training duties.

Tobi had been a great and possibly one of the closest mates of Oliver's for three years now. Tobi was two years older and he had been in Hufflepuff whilst his time at Hogwarts. Tobi was Beater and quite an excellent one on Oliver's opinion. In the British and Irish league, Tobi had been one of the top Beaters to protect his teammates from getting injured by a Bludger the previous season. However, the twenty-three year old still remained very modest when people complimented him. Currently, Tobi was playing for Tutshill Tornadoes.

"Come on, mate. Let's go to London in the evening to have dinner and then have a few drinks after in a pub. I'll tell Joe and Connor to come and join us, although they would probably be in the center anyway." Tobi smiled, seeming excited of the idea.

"Yeah, mate. Sounds good, alright." Oliver said with a chuckle.

"Brilliant." Tobi said approvingly. He then questioned casually, "By the way, how was your solo training sessions yesterday evening?"

"It was quite good actually." Oliver stated, ruffling his hair. "Have you ever heard of Angelus-Peel-Toe-Technique?"

Oliver had tried the technique Amia Powers had recommended when two came across each other on the pitch, and it had turned out to be a good advice. He thought it was kind of ironic: he was supposed to train her and there she was, giving him advice. A few things had left Oliver thinking about his encounter with Amia. He thought she had seemed a little upset when she had turned to leave the pitch and he couldn't quite understand why: she had been the one to inform she should make her way back to the tent area, even though Oliver thought they had had a nice conversation. Then Oliver realized, perhaps he had made her uncomfortable by coming across too friendly when he was supposed to be her trainer.

"No, what's that?"

Oliver proceeded to explain what the technique was.

"Interesting. How'd you hear about it?"

"A camper told me."

"Which one?" Tobi asked, furrowing his brows.

"Amia Powers." Oliver replied, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, she's the Canadian one?" Tobi realized, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

"Yeah. You know her?"

"Nah, I've just heard of her. The scout who was in the Ilvermony school watching them play is an old Tutshill Tornadoes manager or something, so at some meet we got to talking and when he found out I was going to be a trainer at the camp he told me he had been scouting her. He called her a Quidditch prodigy and said he can see she is going to be once in a generation kind of player... Imagine, you will be telling people you were her trainer when she was younger in like twenty years." Tobi said, sounding amused.

"She's really intelligent." Oliver stated, giving a nod.

The delicious smell of food in the Dining Tent air made Oliver feel even more hungry. The Tent was filled with excited chatter and genuinely a quite happy atmosphere when Oliver and Tobi arrived. It hadn't been this busy at breakfast on any of the other days before. Oliver figured people were more energetic after getting to sleep in and wake up without an alarm.

Oliver and Tobi helped themselves to some breakfast and sat around the trainers table to eat it. There were several different conversations formed between the trainers throughout the table, and the two joined the one where people were talking of the upcoming season of the British and Irish League.