The morning of the Quidditch final was full of nerves and tension, even in those who weren't even playing. Olive was nervous for Gryffindor- a team who hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in years.
Obviously she was supporting them.
"What are you even wearing to this thing?" Nat asked, tying her blonde locks into a ponytail in their dorm. Olive was tying her tennis shoes, her curly locks braided back for the windy day.
"I don't have anything red or gold." She shrugged, "I'm just there to support the team."
"Why don't you ask the twins?" Cho asked, wagging her eyebrows at Olive as she exited the bathroom, "After all, why else would you support Gryffindor?"
"Because everyone on the Slytherin team are a bunch of cheating pricks." Olive declared, "What team are you supporting?"
"Gryffindor. Obviously. I'm not stupid." Cho shrugged, "But you know... I was just curious."
Olive hid the tinge of pink on her cheeks as she grabbed her bag from the foot of her bed, "There's nothing to be curious about." She shrugged, "The only reason I've been talking to them is because of how they helped me out with the whole Ingrid situation."
Before Nat could open her mouth to say something about either of the twins, Olive sent the blonde a look.
"Let's just go to breakfast, okay?" Cho offered, sensing the friendly tension between the friends. Olive nodded, fiddling with the hem of her jumper as they exited the dormitories as a group.
Ollie was glad to be back with her friends exactly how it used to be. She hated avoiding them, and hated herself even more for doing it. Natalie and Cho both understood Olive- they've known her their entire time at Hogwarts. They understood her social anxiety almost as much as Missy did.
Almost all the students at Hogwarts were filled with excitement, nerves, and tension due to the Quidditch Final. Even teachers chattered amongst themselves, siding with either McGonagall or Snape at the teacher's table at breakfast. (Though, more people wished Professor McGonagall good luck more than Snape).
As she ate breakfast quietly, listening to the rapid chatter of Natalie and Cho with an amused expression, she couldn't help but let her gaze wander towards the end of the Gryffindor table. The Quidditch team sat together, away from everyone else, clad in their Quidditch robes. She couldn't help but notice they all looked so nervous.
Then, casually, she glanced over to the Slytherin table, where their Quidditch team sat, and her jaw went slack.
Flint had replaced almost every Quidditch player, save for Draco Malfoy and Ingrid, with the biggest and most brutal Slytherins he could find. Olive wasn't even sure if any of them had even played Quidditch before!
"I'll be right back." Olive said quickly, getting up from the Ravenclaw table to make her way over to her red and gold clad friends. That whole side of the table was silent, save for quiet chatter or the scraping of forks as they moved around untouched plates of food in nervous circles.
Shyly, Olive approached the table, taking a seat on the end. Fred was nowhere to be seen, which was quite unusual for him. George, however, sat by himself, looking down at his plate deep in thought.
"Staring at your breakfast won't make it disappear." She said, quiet enough so only he could hear. George perked his head up, a small smile twitching the ends of his lips upwards as he saw Olive across from her.
"I vaguely remember saying that to you once." He smirked, "I now understand how annoying it was."
"You look nervous." She observed.
"I'm contemplating jumping off the Astronomy Tower right about now." George mumbled, "Flint knows how to effectively scare the other team."
"Hey." Olive started, "You love Quidditch. Don't let Flint's choice in muscle make you forget that."
"He's sure doing a good job."
"And I bet not one of them has played Quidditch before." Olive noted, "And your whole team has been playing together for years."
Looking back down at his plate, George put down his fork with a defeated sigh.
"How is it you're suddenly the best motivational speaker on the planet, Ollie?" He asked. Ollie chuckled, glancing at her watch as the time neared for everyone to head towards the pitch.
"I've been on the receiving end of it recently." She smirked, fidgeting her hands in her lap as she gave George a final look.
"Don't be nervous, George. You'll do fantastic, I know it. Now, where's your other half?"
"With Lee-"
"Find him, finish your breakfast, and get your head in the game!" She smiled, getting to her feet. George watched her for a moment, that mischievous twinkle replacing the nervous look in his eyes. He wondered where that sudden spark of confidence and pep came from in Ollie. She's never been so nice to him... or even care so much about anything that had to remotely do with him.
But he couldn't be stuck thinking on where her advice came from, but rather focus on the confidence it gave him.
Olive allowed herself to smile once she turned away, pink flushing her cheeks as she sat back down at the Ravenclaw table. She was able to hide it from her friends, but was still faced with questions.
"What were you doing at the Gryffindor table?"
"Wishing George good luck." Ollie shrugged, "He is a friend, after all."
"WHO IS READY FOR SOME QUIDDITCH?!" Lee Jordan yelled, his voice booming with excitement over the loudspeaker. The crowd cheered loudly as the players took the field. There were some boos for Gryffindor, and a lot more boos for Slytherin, but that was hushed by the tentative silence before the start of the match.
"I want a clean game!" Madame Hooch instructed, "Fair Quidditch is good Quidditch."
With that, she blew her whistle, and the game began.
Olive wasn't one to understand sports. Quidditch was hard to follow mostly because there were three things going on at once- but with Cho and Cedric near her basically explaining everything- she was able to follow along.
The game was extremely violent. Slytherin's only asset was the fact that they were big and good at pushing Gryffindor around. Fouls were called left and right- Gryffindor scrambling to use those fouls to their advantage.
"They need to be up by at least fifty points before Harry can catch the snitch." Cedric explained, "Or else Slytherin will win."
"Why?"
"Slytherin has more Quidditch points than Gryffindor."
"Oh." Olive nodded, her gaze trained on the game as she secretly rooted for the Gryffindor team. In addition to hoping that red and gold will come on top, Ollie wondered if Sirius was watching the game. There wasn't much for Harry to do yet- since they weren't up by much- she wondered if he was happy simply watching the game. Sirius was beginning to feel like family to her, like a hidden brotherly connection that was uncovered after twelve years.
Gryffindor scored a few more points, using their swift and agile brooms and bodies to maneuver past Slytherin bulk. There were some bludgers and elbows to the face- especially where the beaters were concerned- but the game was getting close. Gryffindor was up by forty, and were doing their best to avoid serious injury.
The Slytherins were putting in such brute force Olive wondered how that was even allowed. A lot of the Gryffindor team looked pretty fed up with the blatant elbows and physicality when they were nowhere near the action of the game.
Angelina Johnson was sandwiched by two Slytherins, using their size and force to knock her balance off kilter. She dropped the quaffle, her broom spinning towards the ground as she tried to gain her balance and awareness back.
"Hey! How is that not a foul!" Cho yelled, grabbing tufts of hair with her fingers as she watched the game with raised brows, "They didn't even get the quaffle in the end!"
Fred and George were passing the bludger back and forth, gaining momentum to knock the quaffle from its course down by the Gryffindor Hoops. As soon as Fred was about to hit it, a Slytherin beater tackled him forcefully, hitting the bludger with his own bat directly at George.
Fred spun sideways, stopping to catch his breath once all the wind was knocked out of him. George- too off guard to react in time- took a bludger to the stomach, the motion causing him to whack himself in the face with his bat.
Olive watched with wide eyes as he nearly fell off the broom, clutching a hurt side as he managed to gain his composure. Madame Hooch blew her whistle, calling another foul against Slytherin.
Then, an opportunity arose.
Gryffindor scored ten more points, putting them ahead of Slytherin by exactly fifty points. Harry nose dived for the snitch, weaving through Quidditch players, bludgers, quaffles, and even the stands of spectators. Olive, and the rest of the Hogwarts population, were on the edge of their seats, the whole place silent as they watched the seekers compete for the golden snitch.
"I can't watch." Cho buried her face into Nat's shoulder, covering her eyes with her hands. Olive covered her mouth with tense hands, holding her breath as she watched Sirius's godson reach out for the game-winning Quidditch equipment.
Then, he caught it.
The stands erupted into cheers as Harry tumbled onto the pitch's grass with the golden snitch in hand. Olive clapped, jumping up and down with excitement as she watched the Gryffindor team tackle the third year to the ground with excitement. They hoisted him up into the air, carrying him around the pitch as they screamed and cheered.
"GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!" Lee Jordan yells, not even hiding his bias as he went on and on about how great the Gryffindor team's skills were.
Olive searched around the base of the stands, searching for a particular person she knew who would never miss this game.
Sure enough, a shaggy black dog a little ways away from the stands was howling and wagging its tail in excitement.