Sirius Black. Sirius black was all anyone could talk about. Well, everyone except Percy and Oliver which Delilah was thankful for.
"I'm Head Boy!! Look! Shiny badge! New owl!" The smile from Percy's face could not be wiped even if they tried.
"We're proud of you, mate" Jesse grinned and then turned to Delilah, "Okay how much longer is this going to go on?" He muttered.
Delilah playfully hit his arm, "look how happy he is, let him have his moment"
Percy danced around in their compartment for sometime before him and Jesse left for the prefects compartment.
Clarissa left behind them to talk to Jesse. They still hadn't quite figured their whole situation out.
"If we don't win this year, I'm going to jump off of the Astronomy tower" Oliver stated.
"Permission to push you off instead?" Alexander sniggered.
"Permission Given. Write it down, if we lose, Alex can push me off the tower" He said in a completely serious tone. Connor and Delilah shared a look before Connor spoke up, "Alex, Murder is never the solution to anything"
"You're right" Alexander said solemnly.
"Murder is the question" Delilah added.
"And the answer is always yes!" Alexander and Delilah high-fived each other.
"Did you both practice this!?" Oliver asked, baffled.
"Yeah, in our limited free time we practice random dialogues from books and plays because we are so free!" Alexander said sarcastically and Oliver shook his head.
"That's exactly what we did" Delilah whispered to Connor and the three shared a laugh.
NEWTs, what a way to start the first day of school.
Every single teacher reminding them how they're all going to face a painful death because of the education system.
"If you fail your NEWTs, you might as well repeat the whole year. It's extremely important examination" Professor McGonagall explained to them. Why did Delilah take transfiguration again?
Oh yeah, because she had no idea what she wanted to do in life and she took her safest bet by choosing classes to become an auror.
"Today we're learning the Patronus Charm. Luckily your batch will have a lot practice for this one with all the Dementors around" Professor Lupin chuckled.
Oliver, Delilah and Jesse were in the same Defense against the dark arts class.
"Can anyone tell me what a patronus charm does?" He asked.
"Protects you from dementors" Jesse said out loud and Lupin smiled.
After explaining more in theory about the charm, it was their turn to try it.
"Don't be disheartened if you don't get it today or tomorrow or even in a week. This is an extremely difficult spell and it will take a while. Now, think of your happiest memory and start."
Oliver tried once, thinking about his first broom. A silvery mist appeared at the tip of his wand for a second before it faded away.
"Very good Mr. Wood, you might want to think of a stronger memory though" Lupin told him and he nodded. Delilah thought of her family, her mum, her brother, her childhood but not even the smallest mist came out. Was she so detached to her family now?
Jesse on the other hand got it on the first try. It wasn't a full fledged Patronus but it was something. Everyone applauded for him because he was the first to get close to it and he turned red with all the attention. Delilah smiled and nudged him in the shoulder, "What did you think of?" she asked. He bit his lip and looked to the floor and Delilah's eyes widened, "No way!" She said with a big smile. Jesse nodded silently.
"Wait, am I missing something here?" Oliver asked.
"Jesse thought of Clare and they kissed again!" Delilah told him excitedly.
"How did you even know that from one look?"
"He's my best friend! I know what he's thinking" Delilah shrugged like it was a normal thing but it confused Oliver a lot.
After multiple attempts and the class coming to an end, Delilah gave up on trying to produce a Patronus and sat down in the corner of the class, "Maybe you should try your memories with Oliver" Jesse suggested. Delilah had tried that and nothing had worked. Did she not try hard enough? Was the memory not enough?
"I already did" Delilah grumbled.
"Which memory did you think of?"Jesse asked.
"Our first kiss"
"Wasn't that in the common room when you were drunk?" He frowned.
"Not that one, the sober one"
"It may be your most cherished memory but it might not be your happiest."
"What do you mean?" Delilah asked as her gaze went to Oliver still trying to produce a patronus.
"What moment made you think, 'wow he's the one'" Jesse asked and Delilah's eyes widened. A sudden realization hit her and she propped up to her feet.
"Expecto Patronum!" Memories of them flying on the broom together, memories of when they sat in the Quidditch pitch and memories of him visiting her everyday in the hospital wing. His smile when he saw her for the first time after she had been un-petrified, his face when she first caught the snitch. His smile when she first caught the snitch. That warm hug when she first caught the snitch. That excitement he had, the fact that he believed in her when she didn't.
A corporeal patronus. A fully formed black mare ran across the room as professor Lupin laughed in excitement.
"I can't believe I'm your happiest memory" Oliver grinned widely.
"I can't believe you're happiest memory" Delilah rolled her eyes not wanting to admit it and boost the boy's ego.
"You love me too much!" Oliver teased as Jesse laughed.
"I do!" Delilah blurted. Did she mean to say it to him? Probably not. Did she mean what she said? Maybe.
Oliver stopped in his steps. He opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Jesse looked between the two and with a large sigh, "I'm out of this" he walked away.
"What did he say after that?" Clarissa asked Delilah. The two sat in their dorm together and Delilah spilled the tea to her best friend.
"Nothing" She replied, "Nothing at all! I swear I scared the fuck out of him!"
"He's a bit slow at processing things, he'll come around, don't worry" Clarissa told her with a snicker and Delilah rolled her eyes, her lips still twitching up slightly.
"What about you and Jes?" She asked suggestively.
"I honestly don't know. We've kissed a couple times but I don't know where it's going.."
"He likes you Clare, a lot, and I know you like him too! Just go for it"
"You can't give me advice, you and Oliver took forever to get together!"
"You didn't say anything!?" Alexander, Percy, Jesse, Connor and Oliver sat in the Hufflepuff common room, with sweet rappers all around them and their homeworks half done.
"I got caught off guard"
"How did you even get a girlfriend?" Percy asked, "even I'm better than this!"
"Well she said it so randomly! I didn't expect it!" Oliver defended himself even though there was nothing for him to defend. His friends were right, he was being an idiot, again.
Some habits never change. A habit, that's what it was, going to the quidditch pitch at night and just being. Their feet led them there like they were sleepwalking.
There was another unsaid rule between Oliver and Delilah, nothing from the morning would be discussed at night. Night time was like a different universe and a different lifetime in its own. They were different at night, like the sky they were filled with stars you couldn't see in the morning, the ones shone brightly. At night they were the rusty stands of the pitch, worn out and completely unstable but still supporting the weight of a hundred people.
So when Oliver and Delilah sat on the pokey grass, they didn't talk about what happened only some hours ago, they talked about everything else.
There were times like these that Delilah found herself comparing James to Oliver. There was never really a comparison to begin with but it just happened. The fact that they didn't need to talk to know each other's thoughts. Oliver never even stopped Delilah from showing her violent side because he understood her, he knew she acted out for a reason and he knew it was valid. They validated each other's feelings, they accepted it when they were on the same page and ever since last year, they hadn't fought much.
The truth was, Delilah never expected Oliver to say those three words back. She never wanted to push him onto something he wasn't ready for. She was okay with it if he wasn't on the same page.
The next few days went by in a blur. No one talked about what had happened and except Delilah and Oliver, everyone had pretty much moved on from it.
When the first hogsmeade trip arrived, Oliver planned everything out.
"A date?" Delilah cocked an eyebrow.
"Yeah, we haven't exactly done an official date, have we?"
"I guess not..." She was rather confused.
"Very well, I'll pick you up from the common room at 12!"
It was 11 and Delilah had just woken up. Saturday mornings were meant for sleeping in and it would've been a calmer morning if Clarissa hadn't been so excited about Delilah's date.
"You have to wear something nice"
"He's see me at 2 am at night! There's nothing worse than that look. I don't need to look good, he knows what I look like!" Delilah replied in frustration. She picked up the jumper she found closest to her and just threw it on with some jeans and added a scarf on top.
"Okay, that scarf doesn't match at all!" Clarissa told her, pulling it out.
"It's not for me, it's for Oliver. He gets cold really easily and well, I give him the scarf because he's stupid and doesn't carry his own" She took it back from Clarissa and put it around her neck.
They walked through hogsmeade with Oliver's arm around her shoulder as she leaned into him ever so slightly.
"I know we aren't doing anything new or special but it's away from the group and I'll be paying for your butterbeer" Oliver told her nervously.
"I always make you pay for my butterbeer"
"Let me rephrase, I'll willingly pay for your butterbeer" He chuckled.
Everything was going perfectly. They planned on going to Honeydukes and then the quidditch store because it's not really a date with Oliver Wood if you're not going to the shop Atleast once.
Honey dukes was full of people and Delilah and Oliver smoothly made their way to the back of the shop to find some Bertie botts beans when some girl rudely pushed past them.
"Excuse me! Look before you step" Delilah said to her in her least rude voice.
"Ooops. You're not going to murder me now, are you?" The girl rolled her eyes. Delilah was ready to jump at her but she didn't. She wanted this day to go well and so she turned to Oliver, who was ready to hex anyone who said another word, and told him that she wasn't worth it.
They walked to the counter and checked out their candy before and walking out.
"I want to kill everyone here" Delilah sighed in frustration. It was hard to control herself and stop herself from hitting that girl right in the jaw.
"You really should," Oliver shook his head, "Although, don't get any blood on you, we still have a date to finish" he winked at her and that was the second time Delilah thought, damn! I really do love this guy.
A/N
Hellooo!! Thanks for reading!!
I hope you like this chapter!
I have so many ideas for what will happen next!! This book might be longer than I thought or planned in the first place.
My life had been so busy!!! I have college applications that I want to submit in like fifteen days and it's stressing me out and so much homework ! Ugh! That is why I didn't post yesterday like I normally would've.
How's your week been? Tomorrow/ today is Friday! So yay! Weekend!
Thanks for reading my book!
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Aisla Wrenn