French Affair

Chapter Three

They had quickly changed and now Ina and Alicia were waiting in the Gryffindor Common Room. Ina had curled her in an armchair and Alicia sat on a table, her legs tangling. "Oliver!" she called and jumped off the table.

"The Giant Squid is pining after us, now come on!"

"Don't worry girls, your hero is here and will save you from your longing after some fresh flesh!" Oliver appeared on top of the stairs.

"Yes. Of course," Ina said, but got up and the three walked down the Gryffindor tower to meet Angie, Katie and Lee Jordan at the lake.

Ina pulled her yellow dress over her head and jumped into the ice-cold water. Soon Oliver followed, but Alicia wanted to chat with the others so the two were alone. If you can speak of alone in a big lake with Mermen, Grindylows and other strange creatures. Not to mention the Giant Squid.

"Catch me if you can, Oliver!" Ina called and dived. She was surrounded by cool greenish water and no sound of the surface could be heard down there. The girl parted the water in front of her with big strokes of her slender arms and she looked curiously around.

She had conjured a spell on her eyes that let her see clearly under water. The Gryffindor girl swam around, when suddenly someone grasped her right ankle. She turned round and prepared to see a smug-looking Oliver, but got a shock when she saw that a Grindylow hat caught her.

Ina struggled to get free, but two more creatures appeared and started to drag her down into the plants. She wanted to scream, but only bubbles came out of her mouth and her lungs slowly began to fill with water.

The girl's vision became blurry and she felt dizzy. Moving became difficult, her limps felt like they were made of lead. She gave up, letting the underwater devils drag her deeper in their world and everything around her went black.

Ina felt like floating in the air, white mist surrounded her and she felt strangely light. All around her was white light and faint voices were calling her. She turned round and wanted to follow the voices, when someone grabbed her by the arm.

The girl turned to face the someone who had grabbed her and was startled to see Oliver's worried face in front of her, calling, but at the same time not letting out a single sound. "Oliver!" Ina wanted to call, but she couldn't hear herself speaking.

Suddenly everything came into vision and she saw Alicia, Angelina and Katie around her. The tall girl sat up and started coughing and spitting water. The others cheered and tried to hug her all at once.

"What happened?" the brown-haired girl croaked and shook her hair like a dog. "Some Grindylows tried to kidnap you, but Oliver saved you!" Alicia said and grinned at Oliver, like he was Mother Therese in person, but without the dress and all the hungry children in Calcutta.

Oliver looked softly down at her and smiled. "We should better get you in the Hospital Wing, you look very pale." He lifted her up and carried her all the way back to the castle and Ina felt like a princess, saved by her knight in shining armour.

She sighed and leaned her head against Oliver's muscular shoulder. The other three girls accompanied them, still impressed about the spectacular rescue operation and discussed it loudly until they stopped in front of the infirmary.

"I think we should leave you two alone. We will go back to the tower and wait there for you Oliver. Ina, I hope you feel better soon. Bye!" Alicia called and motioned the other girls to follow her upstairs, carrying their clothes.

"What is it?" Madame Pomfrey asked, when she opened the door and looked at the two youth standing in front of her. "Hum, can we first come in?" Oliver asked and the nurse held the door open for them.

The boy placed Ina carefully on one of the beds and sat down next to her. "Ina swam in the lake and some Grindylows wanted to drown her. I was lucky to see her and retrieve her from them. I reanimated her and I think she has not suffered further damage."

"We'll see," Madame Pomfrey murmured and got a bottle with a purple liquid in it. "Drink that!" She poured some of the potion into a glass and Ina drank it with a frown.

But it was not as bad as she had expected it actually had no taste at all and heat spread through her body and she relaxed. "You'll need some rest now," Madame Pomfrey stated and looked at Oliver.

"You had a very exciting day and you'll need some time to recover. You're not on the edge of death every day. This place is reserved for Harry Potter." Madame Pomfrey winked and went to her study. "You have five minutes Mister Wood!"

Oliver took Ina's hand and turned towards her. "She's an angel, isn't she?" he asked and smiled at the girl. "And if it wouldn't have been for her, I couldn't have helped you down at the lake. We had a Mediwizard training last year and we also learned some muggle techniques."

He stroked slowly over the back of her hand and she closed her eyes. For about a few minutes they just sat there, listening to the other's breathing. The Gryffindor Keeper brushed a strand of hair out of Ina's face and she smiled under his touch.

Madame Pomfrey cleared a throat and they looked at her. "I said five minutes, you can visit her tomorrow, if you're so desperate to have her company," the nurse said and they both blushed. "Right."

Oliver got up and smiled at the brown-haired girl lying on the bed. "See you tomorrow then," he whispered and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodbye Madame Pomfrey! Have a wonderful evening!" the boy said with a bow and left the Hospital Wing.

~~

The next day, when Ina was changing into her school robes, Oliver came in. She squeaked and dove behind her bed. "Geez, Wood! Can't you knock?" The boy blushed until his face had a crimson shade and turned round.

"Gods, I'm terribly sorry! I just wanted to know how you're doing. But now I see that you are fine and I'll offer you my escort to Gryffindor Tower," he said and examined the wooden door closely.

"Thank you, oh my great hero. You can turn round now. If you can take it," Ina said and grinned. She went to him and they exited the room. "So, what do we do now? I think we don't have any classes now, do we?"

Oliver thought about it and then slowly shook his head. "Nope, I don't think so. We could go for a walk, while there's this beautiful weather outside. And how else could we spend our afternoon, if not enjoying our youth and the wonderful person next to each other?"

"Study for our exams?"

"Bugger."

Ina grinned and they walked upstairs to the library. She got all the books she needed to study for her Ancient Runes exam, while Oliver tried to concentrate on his Potions studies.

They studied in silence for two hours until Oliver sighed in exasperation and shut his books. "Argh, I cant take it any more. I need fresh oxygen that stale air in here makes me dizzy.

"Nothing against you Madam Prince! Your library is lovely!" he quickly added to the scowling librarian and lowered his voice.

"Why can't we have a break?" he whispered and leaned closer to Ina. "Because the last time we had a break while studying, I was nearly killed by some dark creatures."

She had definitely a point.

"But I'll suffer a most painful death, if I can't play Quidditch right now! We need to practice we have to win the Quidditch Cup this year! Please!"

"Go then Oliver. Nobody forces you to be here with me, but I'll stay here. I have to study. I don't want to fail. I want to graduate," Ina exclaimed, not turning her eyes of the Transfiguration book she was taking notes from.

"But I need you with me. You bring me luck! And I want you to be with me during the training! Come on!" Oliver looked at her with puppy eyes, but she couldn't see it, because she continued reading.

"I don't see why you need me during the practice. I just sit there and watch you. I don't want to offend you, but watching Quidditch training is not my free time spending of choice!"

"Please! You can take your books with you and study out there in the fresh air. You look a little bit pale."

"What do you expect I was at the edge of death yesterday! I'm sorry, if I don't look proper enough to win the Miss Hogwarts contest, but I'm really exhausted and I already lost a day of studying!" Ina looked up and met Oliver's soft brown eyes with her own.

"I'm sorry," she said with cold eyes and Oliver left disappointed for practice. He wanted so much to spend time with her, but she didn't let him do anything to be near her.

What else can I do? He asked himself and marched towards the Quidditch pitch where the other players waited for him.

~~

"Where's Ina?" Oliver asked when he sat down next to Alicia at the Gryffindor dinner. It was unusual that the tall girl missed dinner. Or any meals at all.

"Still in the library," Alicia mumbled and swallowed her food. "She thinks she's missed a lot yesterday and that she should have started studying earlier. She's been there all afternoon without a break. I couldn't go through that."

Alicia shook her head and turned her attention towards the chicken on her table. "Is she angry with me?" Oliver asked and tried not to look suspicious.

"Hmm? Oh, she murmured something about the Cruciatus Curse and how to use it best on an evil Gryffindor Keeper. But no, I don't think she's angry with you."

Oliver went pale and looked at the girl opposite with wide eyes. "What?" he croaked and he felt slightly panicky.

Alicia looked up. "Jesus Oliver! I was only kidding!" She raised an eyebrow and looked at him with such a piercing glare that Oliver was sure she could see through his bones and read his deepest fantasies. Uh, that would be bad.

"What is it Oliver? Anything you don't tell me?"

The boy looked down at his plate and tried to stab the already dead steak with his fork. "No, not really, I mean-" he looked at Alicia, unsure if he should tell it to her. "We had kinda an argument today and I'm not sure if she took it too bad.

"Has she said anything about it?" he ended and looked at the Gryffindor Chaser with a pleading look in his eyes. "No. But she hasn't said much at all. But I'll try and find something out," she said and smiled an encouraging smile at the desperate boy in front of her.

Oliver smiled at her and winked with his puppy brown eyes. "No! Not now! I haven't finished dinner and I'm really hungry, because the Quidditch training was pretty exhausting because a certain captain wanted to go through all the new tactics!"

"Please. Al. Dearest friend. Best Chaser ever. Nicest and prettiest girl at Hogwarts. Please!" Oliver begged and sent her a charming smile. She sighed and got up.

"Okay. But just because it's you. And take some food with you or I'll eat you. Na, I think I'll leave that to Ina." Alicia winked and made her way to the library.

She nearly collapsed on top of the stairs. The girl had run all the way up and she could feel every bone and muscle in her body, because of the Quidditch training.

The black-haired girl went into the library and called "Ina! Girl, where are you?" She went round a corner to go to the table at which Ina had been sitting the last time she had seen her.

"Ina! Come on you-" she stopped in her motions. Ina wasn't there. But her books were still lying at the same place and ink dripped from her quill on her Transfiguration parchments. And her wand lay on the floor.

"Ina?"