A/N: I haven't been able to update once a week like I originally planned, so here's a longer-than-usual (kinda?) chapter to make up for that 😅
As January faded into February, a lot happened within the walls of Hogwarts. It all began with the teachers dumping loads of requirements onto the students, which was a drastic change from their homework-free holidays. For the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. level students, this was especially stressful for them. It only made it harder for those who played Quidditch — the added training sessions and upcoming matches took up a whole lot of their time as well. Jessica's late-night shifts as prefect also ate up the only few hours of free time she had left, so she found herself lacking sleep. Then again, she wasn't going to let that stop her — she did want to win the Quidditch Cup along with her teammates, perhaps almost as much as Oliver did.
Harry fortunately managed to get his Firebolt back from Professor McGonagall. Needless to say, the team gushed over his brand new broomstick. Their last practice on Friday evening before the match was possibly the best they had in a while. Harry was flying extraordinarily on that Firebolt, and everyone else seemed to have gotten inspired by it so much to the point that even they all performed well, too. Oliver also brought up the fact that the Ravenclaws only used Cleansweep Sevens and Comet 260s — despite that, he didn't forget to remind his team to not get complacent because a lot was on the line.
On the fifth of February, it was finally the day of the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match. Slytherin had already beaten Ravenclaw previously, so if the Gryffindors won this one, they would be advancing to the final round.
The Gryffindor Quidditch Team walked into the Great Hall for breakfast that morning in high spirits. Unsurprisingly, all heads turned when they spotted Harry Potter with his Firebolt. Everyone rushed towards him before he even got the chance to sit down at his house table. Meanwhile, his teammates managed to get seats nearby, eager to eat their meal before the big game.
"We're lucky McGonagall gave it back to Harry on time," Katie commented as she and the rest of the team looked at the boy in unison. He literally had no space because everyone was crowding around him to get a good look at his broom.
"We're more lucky she didn't curse Oliver after what he told her," Jessica pointed out. As promised, Oliver sought Professor McGonagall out shortly after their conversation with Harry that night they returned from the break. He tried to persuade her to return the Firebolt to him, but the woman was not exactly happy with the Scottish boy's choice of words.
"What? I just said I didn't care if it threw Harry off as long as he caught the Snitch first with that Firebolt!" said Oliver indignantly. The others merely laughed; he proved their point precisely with that one sentence, but he didn't seem to notice. "Honestly, the way she yelled at me, though..."
"Right? You'd think you said something terrible," Jessica said sarcastically.
"Exactly. Like, the death of our youngest teammate, perhaps?" said Fred, pretending to be in deep thought.
"You really do need to sort out your priorities, Ollie," George teased.
"I do have them sorted out! The Quidditch Cup is on the top of that list," Oliver said. The others exchanged amused glances at his answer.
"Just let it go," Angelina whispered to the twins before they could continue making fun of their captain.
"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" said a cold, drawling voice. The team stopped teasing Oliver and turned to the sound of that voice. Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle had neared the Gryffindor table and were glaring at Harry and his Firebolt.
"Yeah, reckon so," Harry replied casually.
"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it? Shame it doesn't come with a parachute — in case you get too near a dementor," Malfoy went on while Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the Snitch for you," Harry retorted. The Gryffindor team burst into laughter, clearly caught off guard and impressed by Harry. Malfoy narrowed his eyes and walked away with a scoff.
Just before the clock struck eleven o'clock, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team made their way to the pitch. The weather was perfect for playing, with clear skies and a gentle, cool breeze — a stark contrast to how it was in their match against Hufflepuff. They headed straight for the locker rooms, got changed into their uniforms and gear, and waited for Oliver to give his pre-game speech. Today, it was shorter than usual, and Jessica assumed it was because of two things: they already knew what to do after their countless practices, and they were feeling extra confident due to Harry's Firebolt and the good weather.
"You know what we've got to do," Oliver said determinedly. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just — just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!"
The seven of them walked out into the field to deafening cheers and applause. The Ravenclaw team was already standing in the middle of it, waiting for them.
"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said as the Gryffindors came to a stop just before their opponents. Oliver and Roger Davies politely shook hands. "Mount your brooms... on my whistle... three — two — one —"
The whistle blew, and Jessica kicked off into the air with all the other players. Harry noticeably flew higher and faster than any other broom. Jessica wished she could watch him fly a bit longer, but she had to focus on her own role in the game.
"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor," Lee Jordan's enthusiastic voice boomed through the enchanted megaphone. "According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship —"
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall, who always sat next to the boy whenever he was commentating.
"Right you are, Professor — just giving a bit of background information — the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and —"
"Jordan!"
"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession now, and they're heading for goal..."
Harry streaked past Jessica in the opposite direction to look for the Golden Snitch. Meanwhile, she hurried towards the tall hoops with the Quaffle tucked under her arm. From her peripherals, she could see Burrow and Stretton — two of the Ravenclaw Chasers — closing in on her. Thankfully, Angelina and Katie raced to stick by her side just as they had practiced. Now protected by her fellow Chasers, Jessica threw the Quaffle into the leftmost hoop, successfully getting it past Page, the opposing team's Keeper.
"And Gryffindor scores, thanks to Hawthorne! Her Nimbus 2000 is still in exquisite condition, I must say, but nothing compared to Potter's Firebolt —"
"Jordan."
"Sorry, Professor," said Lee, but he didn't sound sorry at all. "Davies is now in possession of the Quaffle, and oooh — nearly gets attacked by a Bludger there, but Samuels saves his captain."
Only moments after Katie and Angelina scored some goals of their own, Harry saw the Snitch. It was dangerously close to the ground, flitting nearby one of the barriers. He dove downwards, and Cho Chang — who had been smartly tailing him the entire time — quickly followed. Harry was speeding so fast that the Snitch looked to be only inches away from his reach. Unfortunately, Inglebee — one of the Ravenclaw Beaters — suddenly swung a Bludger in their direction. Harry had no choice but to veer away, and in those couple of seconds, the Snitch vanished from sight.
"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go!" Lee said. "Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn — Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision — balance is really noticeable in these long —"
"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" McGonagall thundered. Some of the audience chuckled at that, and Lee didn't seem fazed in the slightest.
Ravenclaw eventually started catching up, and they now had thirty points on their end. Harry had dropped lower into the field and spotted the Snitch yet again. This time, it was hovering by the right goalpost on Gryffindor's side. Harry sped up, but Cho suddenly appeared and blocked his way.
"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" Oliver roared as Harry swerved to avoid crashing into Cho. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!"
"Don't you dare listen to him, Harry!" Jessica yelled as she zoomed past the two boys, passing the Quaffle to Angelina.
"HARRY! DO AS I SAY!" Oliver said even louder. Jessica shot Oliver a disapproving look, and in return, he had the nerve to smile back cheekily. She forced herself not to get distracted by that. After letting out an amused breath, she dove back into the game with a small smile lingering on her lips.
Things were moving at a good pace for a while — that is, until someone shouted, "Oh!" followed by a few gasps from the crowd. This caught Jessica's attention, and she joined everybody in looking down. She abruptly pulled her broom to a stop when she saw three hooded, black figures moving towards Harry who had flown closer to the ground — dementors.
Jessica didn't even have time to properly react because Harry whipped out his wand and exclaimed, "Expecto patronum!"
A silver-white beam of light shot out from his wand, which eventually took the form of a stag. Jessica's eyes widened — did he seriously just conjure a corporeal Patronus?
And then the whistle sounded again — while Jessica and the rest of the student body was busy gaping at that Patronus, Harry had caught the Snitch. She blinked a few times before it dawned on her — they won.
The stadium erupted in applause, Lee Jordan was practically yelling into the megaphone that Gryffindor won, and all the Quidditch players descended with a mixture of reactions. The Ravenclaw team were understandably bummed out by their loss, but the Gryffindor team was ecstatic. They surrounded Harry, who was triumphantly clutching the Golden Snitch, in the center of the field and shouted and jumped around him.
"That's my Seeker right there!" Oliver kept saying proudly. Jessica, Angelina, and Katie all kissed Harry's cheeks and forehead affectionately. Fred and George then brought Harry into such tight hugs that it looked like the poor boy was struggling to breathe. Some of their housemates and professors from the bleachers had come down to join them in the field, too. Ron, Percy, Seamus, Dean, Hagrid, and even Professor Lupin were some of the people Jessica could recognize, but it was such a blur that she was sure missed out on naming a bunch of them.
"Wait, wait, wait," Jessica suddenly said to Oliver when a thought hit her.
"What is it?" he said, still beaming from their win.
"What happened to the dementors? Where are they?"
"The — the dementors?" He paused to catch his breath, only now realizing that he had no idea where they had gone as well. He craned his head above the crowd for a few moments, and then paused again after seeing the answer to Jessica's question. "Er, they — well, I don't think they were really dementors, after all."
Jessica frowned and stepped aside with Oliver to get a better look. At the same time, Harry had moved out of the crowd with Professor Lupin. They were all met with the sight of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle in a crumpled heap, cowering in fear. Apparently, those three idiots were the dementors.
"You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright," Lupin was telling Harry, slightly bemused.
But Jessica was not amused at their antics. They had legitimately just dressed up as dementors to ruin their match, for Merlin's sake! And they did it knowing fully well that Harry easily got affected by dementors, especially after he literally fell from the sky in their previous game because of those awful creatures. Jessica was furious; she wanted them to face the consequences right then and there. If she could, she would hex them — she obviously couldn't do that, though, so a good scolding and removal of some points would probably suffice for now.
"Uh, what're you doing?" Oliver questioned in confusion as Jessica began stomping her way to the three Slytherins at the corner.
"I never got to take points from Malfoy last year when he called Granger names, so there's no better time than now to do it after that stunt he tried to pull on us," she said simply as Oliver jogged to catch up with her. "They wanted to ruin our game and hurt Harry!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Oliver grabbed her by the waist when he saw her quickening her pace. He hurriedly pulled her back with both hands before she could reach Malfoy and the others.
"Let me give them what they deserve!" Jessica insisted, and Oliver had to control his mild surprise because she rarely got angry. This was probably only the second time he was seeing her get riled up like that — the first happened the night before she got petrified when they fought about Terence Higgs.
"Calm down, just let McGonagall handle it. She looks even angrier than you right now."
Sure enough, Professor McGonagall had arrived at the scene and now stood angrily over the three Slytherin boys.
"An unworthy trick!" she said. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"
"See? They've got it under control," Oliver grinned at Jessica, who relaxed slightly after seeing the professors make their way to Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. "Don't worry about them. We should be worrying about how we're going to throw our celebratory party at the common room tonight."
"Another party?" Jessica mused. "I don't know whether to be concerned or excited."
"Well, from experience, the last one was very memorable. Wasn't it, lass?" Oliver said playfully, recalling the kiss they shared. "I'd like to repeat it."
"Are you going to chug five cups of firewhisky again for that?"
"I was hoping you'd just ask me this time around," he said, lowering his voice. "I don't think I need to get drunk anymore to get the courage to kiss you."
★ ★ ★
The party at the Gryffindor Common Room went on for practically the entire remainder of the day. Of course, Fred and George had disappeared for a while and returned with armfuls of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets, as well as some more snacks and refreshments from the kitchens. It truly felt as if they had already won the Quidditch Cup — they were so close to actually winning it this year.
Jessica chose not to eat or drink too much despite the festivities. As fun as it was, she desperately wanted to get some sleep — she hadn't rested properly in the past few weeks due to all her responsibilities. Now that they had won such an important match and had only one more to go, she felt like she could at least get a full eight hours of rest.
But when a loud scream echoed throughout the Gryffindor tower in the middle of the night, Jessica woke up completely disoriented and irritated.
"What the bloody hell was that?" she groaned, sitting up and fumbling around the darkness. She drew the curtains around her bed to find her roommates getting up as well.
"Don't tell me they're partying again," Kaitlin grumbled. Just then, a group of boys started yelling, and Jessica was sure they were running down the stairs due to their loud footsteps.
"Why are they so noisy?" said Margaux, covering herself with her blanket in an attempt to shut them out.
"It's probably the twins and Lee," Bethany guessed. Before they could jump to more conclusions, though, they heard a number of doors opening and voices filling the corridors.
"Maybe we should see what's going on," Jessica sighed. Begrudgingly, her roommates followed her out of their room. Everyone else in the girls dormitory were also leaving their rooms and heading to the common room to investigate. There, they found Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and their third year roommates standing together in a heated discussion. The other boys had also started coming down from their dormitory.
"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" Harry was saying.
"I'm telling you, I saw him!" Ron said frantically.
"What's this all about?" Jessica asked them.
"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed already, remember?" Bethany said pointedly. However, their words were ignored when Fred and George appeared in the room with bright smiles on their faces.
"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred.
"Should we play music and get some drinks again?" George added.
"No, the party's over," Jessica said. The twins slumped their shoulders exaggeratedly as if her words were such a disappointment to them.
"Everyone back upstairs!" Percy ordered, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke. Jessica would've laughed at his actions if she wasn't so sleepy. Shortly after him, Oliver and Carson came down as well.
"Perce — Sirius Black!" Ron said faintly to his older brother. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"
The common room became dead silent.
"Nonsense!" said Percy. "You had too much to eat, Ron — had a nightmare —"
"I'm telling you —"
"Now, really, enough's enough!" said a shrill voice. Everyone turned around to find Professor McGonagall entering through the portrait hole, looking displeased. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"
"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" Percy said indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare —"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron shouted. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
McGonagall stared at him with an unreadable expression.
"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"
"Ask him!" Ron pointed a shaking finger at Sir Cadogan, who had left his portrait outside and moved into one inside the common room. "Ask him if he saw!"
McGonagall narrowed her eyes suspiciously but obliged anyway. She stalked over to the knight, who still looked positively energetic in the middle of the night.
"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" she inquired.
"Certainly, good lady!" Sir Cadogan chortled.
"You — you did?" said McGonagall, stunned. "But — but the password!"
"He had 'em! Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
Professor McGonagall spun on her heel to look at her students. She was white in the face with an expression of utmost fury.
"Which person," she fumed. "Which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
The silence was eventually broken by a small, terrified squeak. Neville Longbottom raised his hand slowly into the air, his entire body shaking in fear and shame.
★ ★ ★
Throughout the next couple of days, there were clear signs of even tighter security measures. Professor Flitwick started teaching the enchanted front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black, Mr. Filch was manually boarding up every crack or hole on the walls that he could find, and Sir Cadogan was fired. The Fat Lady was back, but she was still very nervous — she had only agreed to return with extra protection, so security trolls were hired to patrol the corridors near her spot.
Jessica was starting to feel drained from all the recent events. That last match, Black's second break-in, training sessions, her prefect duties, and her stacks of homework... it was getting overwhelming. Perhaps the only other person that Jessica could see somewhat relating to her was Hermione Granger. For a third year student, she seemed to be taking a lot more classes than she should. Though it was admirable to an extent, Jessica couldn't help but feel a mixture of worry and curiosity towards her.
On one afternoon during free period, Jessica decided to approach Hermione in the library and ask her if she was doing alright. The younger girl insisted that she was fine — but Jessica, who also liked to do more than she could handle just to prove herself, could see that she was struggling.
"Are you sure?" Jessica prodded. "I know it's almost the end of the year, but maybe you should consider dropping a few classes."
"No!" Hermione exclaimed, earning a disapproving look from Madam Pince who passed by. "I like them all, I can't just drop them."
"How many are you even taking?"
"Twelve."
"Twelve?" Jessica said incredulously. "Good Godric, how are you even attending all of them?"
"I — I just am. My schedule's tight, but it works. I can handle it," Hermione said vaguely. Jessica sighed, not seeing a way to convince her.
"Well, if you're sure... but if you need help, I'm here."
"Thank you, Hawthorne, but I swear I'm alright. You should focus on yourself. I'm sure N.E.W.T. subjects are much harder."
She was right about that, though; they were extremely challenging, and the workload seemed to increase with every passing day. Jessica eventually left Hermione to find a table for herself and get to work, too.
Later that day, Oliver made his way to the library right after finishing his last class. He was hoping to find Jessica there and remind her that dinner would be starting soon since she had the tendency to forget whenever she was engrossed in her homework. He also wanted to check on her because she seemed even busier than usual recently; she'd skip some meals, would come to training on the dot after rushing from the library, and just looked constantly preoccupied.
When he arrived, it didn't take him long to spot her. He already knew what section she liked to work in, and it wasn't hard to miss the dark haired girl hogging an entire table to herself with all her books and papers spread out before her. He walked up to her from behind, placed his hands on the table on either side of her, and leaned over the top of head to get a look at what she was writing.
"Hey," he greeted. Jessica tilted her head up ever so slightly and smiled at him. "What's this?"
"This is for Defense..." she stifled a yawn. "Defense Against the Dark Arts. Lupin assigned us this essay on inferi last week and I've only just gotten to it now."
Oliver removed his arms from around Jessica and took a seat next to her. Now getting a clear view of her, he noticed just how stressed and frazzled she seemed.
"How long have you been working?" he asked.
"Just a couple of hours. I need to get these done by today."
"Have you even been getting enough sleep?"
"Is that your way of saying I look terrible?"
"What? N-No," Oliver said quickly, causing Jessica to laugh under her breath. "I'm just saying that you look... tired."
"Well, you're not wrong."
"Er, then don't you think you should take a break?" he said cautiously. "You can work on these later once you've rested."
"Is this really coming from the same guy who insists on training at dawn and after dark almost everyday?" Jessica said teasingly.
"Don't turn this around on me, lass," Oliver chuckled. "Quidditch is different!"
"The sentiment still applies."
"I'm serious."
Jessica sighed and finally answered his question.
"I'd love to, but I can't. I need to finish this essay and then do some revising for a practical test in Potions tomorrow. I haven't even memorized most of the ingredients and you know how Snape can get."
As a seventh year, Oliver knew that N.E.W.T. level subjects were difficult. Unlike Jessica, though, he was only taking four. He couldn't quite relate to her, but he could already tell with his own eyes just how exhausting it must be. For a moment, he felt guilty for pushing her to practice Quidditch so many times a week when she had other things to worry about. Oliver bit his lip in concern, watching as she rubbed her eyes sleepily before picking up her quill once more.
"What if," he began. "You stop writing that essay for a few minutes —"
"But I have to —"
"While I read aloud your notes from Potions?" He picked up her pile of parchment papers filled with drawings, steps, and ingredients of a variety of potions. "That way, you can both take a break and still somehow study for that test."
"I'm pretty sure this is the last thing you want to do right now," said Jessica. She knew all too well that Oliver would much rather be creating Quidditch plays during his free time, or rereading the only book he really liked: Quidditch Through the Ages.
"Shut it before I change my mind, lass," Oliver said with a hint of humor. Jessica rolled her eyes but didn't fight back.
"I suppose we can do this for a few minutes," she gave in a bit hesitantly. She leaned back in her seat and looked at him expectantly.
"Alright, then." Oliver shuffled closer to her so that she could see what he was reading. "The Elixir to Induce Euphoria: this potion induces a sense of inexplicable, irrational happiness upon the drinker. It is sunshine yellow in color. Steps... add shrivelfig and porcupine pills then stir four times anti-clockwise. Add a sprig of peppermint to counteract the side effects. Allow potion to simmer until it turns purple. Add sopophorous beans and let the potion simmer until it turns brown. Add wormwood until the color turns yellow. Stir six times anti-clockwise."
He flipped the page to the backside to continue reading.
"Essence of Insanity: a potion that causes mental instability and irrational decision-making in the drinker. It is green in color. Steps... first, add the —"
Something fell onto Oliver's shoulder. He looked to his side to find that Jessica's head was now resting on him. Her silence and the slow rise and fall of her body made him realize that she had fallen asleep. Their close contact made his stomach do flips, but seeing her finally relaxing somehow calmed him at the same time.
Careful not to wake the girl beside him, Oliver shifted slightly in his seat to get comfortable. He didn't know how long he would have to stay in that position while Jessica caught up on her well-deserved sleep, but he didn't mind it at all.
A/N: Oliver x Jessica fluff is my favorite thing to write ahhh 🥺
Are there any supporting characters in this book that you would like to see have some romance too? 👀 Not sure if I'll really delve into that, but I'm curious if you'd like to see some characters get into relationships, too :>
P.S. Is it true Sean Biggerstaff is anti-semitic 💀 Please tell me it ain't true UGHHH