A/N: It's my birthday today so just for fun, can you guys guess how old I am? Idk if this counts as a hint but: I feel really old because I've been in Wattpad for seven years now WOW. I'm pretty sure a lot of my A/N's give away how old I might be as well haha :>
Jessica's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived in the blink of an eye. She was back at Kings Cross Station in no time, crossing to Platform 9 3/4 and hopping on to the Hogwarts Express with Bethany and Alista. As usual, they had the start-of-year feast at the Great Hall and before she knew it, she was officially beginning her first day of classes. After such an exciting end to her previous school year, she was feeling good about this one — coupled with the fact that their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, was insanely handsome and she just couldn't deny it, it truly felt like this year was going to be great.
"Blimey, your summer was pretty interesting," Alista commented as she and Bethany listened to Jessica retell what happened over the break — specifically, the day she bumped into Oliver in Diagon Alley, which led to his family having lunch in her home and Charles playing Quidditch with them.
"Right? The only interesting thing that happened to me were visiting the Browns, but I've known them since I was a kid so even that was boring," Bethany sighed.
"Meanwhile, Jessica here was getting all chummy with Wood and his family."
"Chummy?" Jessica repeated, making a face at her odd choice of words.
"I told you they're a good fit," Bethany said shamelessly.
"Hey," Alista said. "Don't forget about Higgs. He's still a contender."
"There are no contenders," Jessica interrupted them exasperatedly, flustered at how it sounded like they were in a competition. "Can we talk about one of you guys instead?"
"Okay, my turn!" Alista beamed. "I met a really hot and mysterious muggle boy just before the break ended."
And so, the conversation shifted to Alista's story time of how she met the muggle boy, and the two Gryffindors obediently listened to her (with a few side comments) as they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They chose their seats in the third row, admittedly wanting a good look of their new professor but not wanting to be seated right in front of him either.
It was around this time that students usually arrived all at once, so Jessica watched in passing as her Gryffindor and Slytherin classmates filed into the room, chatting amongst one another. Nothing was quite out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Terence Higgs slid into the seat next to her.
She had to confess that they did eventually become friends over the summer. Though she didn't write letters to him in the same frequency and enthusiasm as her best friends and even Oliver, she did get to know him a bit better and vice versa. Still, it surprised her that he chose the seat next to her, and she knew Alista and Bethany were taken aback as well based on the fact that she could hear them murmuring obnoxiously with one another. She braced herself for the teasing she'd have to endure from them once class was over.
"Morning, Hawthorne," Terence greeted, a playful smile on his lips.
"Er, hi, Higgs," Jessica replied. She elbowed Alista when the blonde girl had started giggling a bit too loudly at that very small and meaningless interaction.
Eventually, Professor Lockhart entered the classroom. A hush fell across the room, but there were a few giddy whispers here and there. Jessica leaned back in her seat, knowing full well that this school year would certainly be more eventful than the last.
★ ★ ★
It was only the first day back at school and Oliver was geared up and ready to go, once again aiming to win the Quidditch Cup this year. He had just posted the Quidditch Team sign-ups ay the Gryffindor Common Room, but he couldn't find Jessica there even though most students' classes had ended an hour ago. Knowing how studious that girl was, he assumed she was in the library.
His suspicions were proven to be correct and his efforts did not go to waste when he saw the black-haired girl sitting at one of the tables by the corner of Hogwarts' massive library. It looked like she was already in the middle of studying, a book and parchment laid out before her and her quill and ink bottle ready to be used for her notes.
"There you are."
Jessica had just finished reading a chapter in one of her Herbology textbooks when someone had called her attention. It was none other than Oliver Wood.
"What do you want?" she said knowingly.
"How do you know I want something?"
"There's this urgent tone you have in your voice whenever you need something."
Oliver huffed but sat in the seat across her anyway.
"Fine, you win. I came here to tell you that I posted the Quidditch Team sign-ups already."
"And?"
The Scottish boy narrowed his eyes.
"Don't play daft, Hawthorne. You know I've been telling you to tryout, and you know you want to as well."
"Shhh!" Madam Pince hissed from somewhere in that library. Merlin, it was as if that woman could hear every spoken word within those walls.
"You're being noisy, Wood," Jessica scolded, looking back down at her book. Oliver merely scoffed.
"I won't stop until I'm sure you'll sign up."
"I'm busy studying right now."
"It's the first day. What could you possibly be studying for?"
"I'm reading in advance." She waved the book for emphasis. "I have O.W.L.s this year, remember?"
"O.W.L.s were a breeze," Oliver said casually.
"You're only saying that because you already know what you want to do after you graduate. I, on the other hand, have no idea what I'll be doing once I'm out of Hogwarts, so I need to make sure that my grades are more or less good enough for different careers. And now, my biggest concern is that I have no idea what a Wartizome is and why they're so ugly compared to regular muggle plants and flowers."
Oliver chuckled in amusement.
"Don't judge the appearance of a warti-whatever."
"It's seriously hideous, though. I wouldn't mind reading and memorizing this stuff if magical plants were as pretty and fragrant as my favorite flowers or something."
"And those are?"
Jessica paused, thinking over it for a moment.
"Probably chrysanthemums. Anyway, if you're going to stay here, you might as well study, too."
Oliver folded his arms over his chest, wishing she wouldn't keep avoiding the topic. She seemed to have a habit of brushing away a subject if she didn't want to talk about it.
"You're quite literally the most hardworking student I've met. Stop stressing over academics for once and do something fun — like Quidditch."
Jessica rolled her eyes.
"Fine."
"I'm serious. You should just put down that book and — wait, what?"
"I said 'fine.'"
"That's a yes, right?"
"Are you sure you're not the one playing daft right now?" Jessica said, but Oliver chose to ignore her words and instead smirked triumphantly.
"I'll be expecting to see your name on that sign-up sheet by the end of today."
"Whatever you say, Wood. Seriously, though, if you're going to stay here, quit bugging me."
He shrugged and leaned back in his seat, indicating that he wasn't leaving anytime soon.
"Don't worry, I won't disturb you. I'll just stay here until you go back to the common room so I can personally see you write down your name on the sign-up sheet."
"Oh, Merlin," Jessica sighed, both entertained and slightly annoyed at his stubbornness. Having enough of the boring Herbology textbook, she stood up from her seat to retrieve another, hopefully more interesting one. Though she was more or less doing well in all her subjects, Herbology seemed to always border on an 'A' because she just couldn't find it in her to memorize such scientific names and properties. While it didn't seem like a big deal because it was still a passing grade, she had to take it seriously because it was a N.E.W.T. subject that many wizarding careers required proficiency in.
Around an hour or two later, Jessica and Oliver finally left the confines of the Hogwarts library and found themselves in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Wattlebird," Oliver said, eager to enter. The portrait swung open and he hurriedly pushed Jessica inside, the girl almost tripping in the process. She made sounds of protest but the boy wouldn't stop until they were right in front of the bulletin board where he had placed the sign-up sheet for Quidditch tryouts.
"Go on, Hawthorne. We don't have all day," Oliver urged.
Jessica rolled her eyes at him yet again.
"The audacity of this boy," she muttered under her breath, picking up the quill and dipping it in the bottle of ink. Doing as he asked, she wrote down her name under four other Gryffindors. Although she acted like it wasn't a big deal, deep inside, she was both nervous and excited. After years of telling herself that playing in a Quidditch team would only make her second to Charles, she finally had the courage to overcome that ridiculous thought. Perhaps it would more or less fully go away if she got accepted.
"Tryouts are next week," Oliver told her, a satisfied smile on his face.
"You better get me in after all the fuss you made me go through just to sign up," Jessica said with a hint of humor, walking towards one of the empty seats.
"No promises, lass, but I think you know more than anyone that I wouldn't convince you to go for it if you were horrible at Quidditch."
"Uh, excuse me?" a small voice said from behind. While Oliver plopped down one the armchair, Jessica halted in her steps and found a first year Gryffindor girl standing behind her.
"Yes?" she asked.
"You're Jessica Hawthorne, right?"
"Oh, yeah. Do you need anything?"
"Someone asked me to call you," the girl explained, pointing to the exit. "A Slytherin."
"It's probably Alista," Jessica commented, sending Oliver a knowing glance.
"I-It's actually a boy," said the first year. Both of the older Gryffindors raised their eyebrows. A boy? Jessica thought confusedly.
"Oh, alright, then. Thank you," she told the young girl who smiled shyly before scurrying away.
Oliver watched curiously as Jessica made her way out of the Gryffindor Common Room, and he couldn't help but wonder who had asked for her. The first person that came to mind was Terence Higgs, and he had a bad feeling that he was actually right.
A minute passed, and then another, and then a few more. Oliver was still in the same spot at the common room, waiting for Jessica to return. He didn't know exactly why, but he was feeling on edge.
Finally, the black-haired girl returned. Nothing looked unusual about her, but Oliver couldn't help but want to know what she did and who was out there.
"Who was it?" he asked straightforwardly.
"Terence Higgs."
Oliver was right.
"Huh. What did he want?"
"Oh, he..." she trailed off awkwardly, her cheeks turning pink. Her sudden change in demeanor piqued Oliver's interest. "He said the the first Hogsmeade trip this year is pretty early and he asked me to go with him."
Something bubbled inside of Oliver and it frustrated him that he couldn't define what that was. He cleared his throat, suddenly not trusting his voice.
"What did you say?"
"Er... I said yes."