Sitting in Potions next to Oliver was quieter than usual. He was scribbling circles in his textbook, that seemed to be representative of different quidditch playing positions. His short hair looked slightly ruffled up, and I could see the light blush always dusting his fair cheeks.
"Hey there Woody," I whispered, letting out a small giggle.
"What do you want Stone?" Oliver said coldly, not even looking at me.
"Who so tense?" I furrowed my brows, putting on my best pouty face, "I'm just trying to say hi."
"Hi." Oliver forced out a smile and finally turned to look at me.
I smiled back, propping my head upon my arms. He too began smiling more freely, his clenched jaw relaxing.
"I'm going on a date again." I said cheerily, "This time voluntarily."
"So I heard," Oliver responded dryly. "Vincent Ford asked you out in front of a huge crowd."
"He seems like a good guy don't you think?" I jokingly pestered Oliver, trying to annoy him with my girly crush.
"Listen if you want relationship advice go ask Snape," Oliver said, rolling his eyes.
"Awh come on Woody, don't be so cranky." I grinned, biting my lower lip.
"I'm not being cranky." Oliver scowled.
"Oh you definitely are." I grinned harder.
"Am not." He said, biting back a smile.
"I prefer you not open your large mouth during work time, Mr. Wood," Snape growled in our direction from his desk. "Five points from Gryffindor."
"Yes sir," Oliver mumbled, his smile vanishing.
I waited for another moment, and prodded Oliver again, with the tip of my quill.
"Trying to get me in trouble again are we Stone?" Oliver grumbled, not looking at me.
"I was going to ask if you wanted to hold a joint practice again." I chuckled, giving his elbow another poke.
"If I say yes, will you stop pestering me?" Oliver sighed, pinching his temples.
"Name a time and place princess." I grinned back, ceasing my poking at his arm.
"Fine," Oliver smiled, jotting down the time on a piece of ripped parchment paper.
~~~
Walking alongside a large group of sixth years, I watched breath clouds roll out in front of me. Hogsmeade was already in my sight up ahead, and I could see the smoke billowing out of chimneys. Frosty air nipped at my cheeks, and I had to wipe my nose multiple times, which was slightly runny. Fresh snow peppered the ground as far as I could look, and it's white sparkles felt nearly blinding at times. My heartbeat quickened with every step that I got closer to the Hogs Head, where Vincent was patiently waiting for me.
I pushed open the oak door of the pub with a loud creak.
I was met with a stuffy atmosphere, feeling almost suffocating compared to the crisp outside air.
It was dimly lit, and cobwebs hung from old wooden support beams, some of which looked dangerously crooked. The old barman wore a threadbare vest that most likely used to be of a rich brown, but had greyed over the years. He was wiping down glasses with a rag so grimy, it looked to be dirtying them more than it was cleaning them. It wasn't overly crowded, but the majority of the customers were all gathered around one area.
As expected, I saw Vincent in the middle of it, casually chatting up some starstruck seventh-year boy, who was too enamoured to do anything other than nod and blink. His eyes almost immediately met my own, and he smiled the sort of smile girls go weak at their knees for.
"Y/n!" He grinned, standing up and politely excusing him from his new acquaintance. "Oh, you look lovely today!"
"You're not so bad yourself." I chuckled as he pulled me into a short hug.
Vincent was wearing a long brown overcoat with a thick turtleneck sweater underneath. His frame was much broader than mine, and I felt myself blush furiously at the thoughts that made me think.
"You think so?" He laughed, brushing a hand through his neat curls. "Can I buy you a drink?"
"Don't mind if you do." I giggled like a little girl, making me cringe the very second those noises left my mouth.
"Two butter beers please!" Vincent yelled at the barman, as we took a seat at the bar.
I wasn't sure if I liked Vincent for his personality, but he was without a doubt one of the most attractive men I have ever set my eyes on. Much to my dismay, the group of six girls sitting next to us thought the same thing, as they seemed to almost be drooling at the mere sight of him.
"I love butterbeer, but I rarely get to actually drink it." Sighed Vincent as he grabbed the mug of butterbeer slid across the counter to him.
"How come?" I asked, feeling the warmth of the beverage through the walls of the thick mug.
"I don't really get the chance to, you know?" He chuckled, taking a swig. "Our practices are so long, and then with dietary restrictions we can't have these things all the time anyway."
"Oh, I see." I nodded in sympathy. "Well, what's it like being a pro quidditch star anyway?"
"Oh it's good fun," Vincent grinned, obviously happy to talk about the topic, "Challenging of course, but fun. I met a lot of cool blokes, and it makes up for the hard work."
We chatted about his quidditch career, and how he got to where he was until finally both of us finished every last drop of butterbeer in our mugs.
Vincent tipped the barman and stood up, motioning me to take his hand.
"I'm thinking we go get something from Honeydukes, and then take a stroll." He said with an enticing grin.
"Sounds good," I snickered, putting my palm into his.
Before I could say anything else, I felt his grip around my hand tighten, as he pulled me up and into his arms and quickly letting go with a twist, causing me to end up standing right next to him, as his hand sat comfortably around my waist.
I let out a small squeak followed by a fit of giggles from both myself and Vincent.
"Off we go then?" Vincent asked, looking down at me, his dark eyes twinkling.
"Onwards!" I laughed, pointing towards the door.
We stumbled out of the pub, and I could feel everyone inside staring at us, and particularly Vincent.
The outside air hit us with a much-needed breath of fresh air and we found ourselves taking deep breaths of it as we started towards Honeydukes.
"Oh shit," Vincent mumbled under his breath looking at something ahead of us. "We need to hide."
"What's wrong?" I said, rather befuddled by his suddenly worried expression.
"Look, there's Rita Skeeter, and evidently, she's looking for us." Vincent pointed towards us.
My gaze followed his finger and stopped at a blonde middle-aged witch, with expensive-looking clothing that looked out of place at Hogsmeade. Next to her was a floating note pad and what seemed to be a comically long feather quill.
"Isn't she that one woman who writes for the Daily Prophet?" I snickered. "What are you so scared of a reporter for?"
"You don't understand she's going to twist the truth and she's a notorious-" Vincent got cut off before he could finish his sentence by a shrill eureka cry from Skeeter.
"Oh there you are!" She exclaimed as she ran up to us. "I've been looking all over for you two love birds, say, now that we're here, would you mind answering a few questions for me?"
"Actually-" Vincent tried to interrupt, but to no avail.
"Great," She clapped her hands together, and the quill got in the writing position, by what I think was a non-verbal spell. "Let's get started then, how did you two meet?"
"I was an intern assistant for Puddlemere united over the summer." I forced a smile.
"So a workplace romance?" Rita giggled, rubbing her hands in delight.
"This is our first date so no," Vincent answered curtly, and I could feel his hand gently pull me closer to him.
"I see," She let out another high pitched giggle. "And would you care to talk about how you realized your feelings for each other?"
"Uh," I stuttered and looked over at Vincent for help.
"Take my hand and when I count to three we run in the direction of that small little alley." He whispered in my ear, letting go of my waist, and taking my hand.
"Well you see," I began to say.
"One,"
"We just,"
"Two,"
"Well, we,"
"Three."
And with that, we took off sprinting in the opposite direction of Rita Skeeter and her obnoxious looking quill. I could hear her call something to us, but the loud noise of the snow crunching under our feet, the noise of the bustling people around us, and our own heavy footsteps, drowned out her voice. We quickly rounded the corner of the narrow alleyway, and I slammed my back on the wall, panting heavily.
"I told you we should hide." Vincent snickered, leaning on the brick wall next to me. I grew conscious of how close his hand was to my face, and how fast my heart was racing. "You should've listened, now look where you got us."
I looked at his full lips and back up to his dark eyes.
"Personally, I don't mind," I said, feeling myself blush furiously.
"Oh yeah?" Vincent's cheery expression suddenly darkened as he leaned in, "Then would you mind if I did," He gently pressed his lips against my own, and I felt my hands instinctively wrap around his neck as I kissed back, feeling how surprisingly soft his lips felt against my own. I ran my fingers into his curls as if pulling him into me. He pulled away again, his face only inches from mine, "This?"
"I wouldn't." I smiled, and his lips crashed onto my own once again.
~~~~
I woke up the next morning from June loudly laughing while sitting on the foot of my bed.
"June it's like 2 am, go to sleep." I croaked grumpily, digging my face further into my pillow.
"Look I know you had an eventful day with your boyfriend yesterday, but it's actually ten am and you need to read this." She threw newspaper onto my lap as I groggily sat up, rubbing my eyes open.
True to June's word, it was bright outside, and all of our roommates have cleared out of the dorm rooms. I looked down at my lap, and the header quickly caught my eye.
HOGWARTS STUDENT GETTING COZY WITH A PRO QUIDDITCH ATHLETE!
I quickly flipped open the article and scanned the page.
Y/n Stone is well known around her school for being into quidditch. She is the captain of the Ravenclaw team and has lead her team to victory in her first year as Captain. She has as much a taste for quidditch on the field as she does off it. She's been known to only date other quidditch players, her most recent boyfriend being the Captain of the Slytherin team. "I was never enough for her, she always wanted someone greater, you know?" Said Marcus Flint, Y/n's most recent ex. Y/n, however, couldn't resist upgrading to the real deal athletes and managed to seduce the well-known quidditch player and the youngest team mate on Puddlemere United. They met during her internship as an assistant there, and so sparked an intense workplace romance they had to keep hidden from the public and the press to avoid the compromise of Y/n's position. During our interview, the two love birds ran away from further questioning about the nature of their relationship. Safe to say, for such a young witch, Y/n sure does play a big game.
My eyes widened in surprise as I read further in the article, and June couldn't stop laughing.
"Even your ex Flint had something to say!" She wheezed, clutching her stomach.
"Fuck off." I chuckled, flinging the paper into the trash can next to the bedside table.