Oliver's Girl

Oliver's Girl (08)

The only reason why Serenity woke up on Christmas day was because Alicia was squealing over her Christmas presents. Ren sat up groggily and rolled out of bed with a thud.

"Morning, Ren!"

Serenity was still tired and didn't say anything. Fortunately, Alicia didn't notice because she was already on to her next parcel.

Serenity sighed and crawled on the floor to the foot of her bed. There was a very tall pile in front of her. 'Wow. Where to start?' she thought. She finally decided that she should open the biggest one in front of her. It was a large, unwrapped cardboard box. It had a post-it note stuck on it. She knew the handwriting as one of the twin's. It was chicken-scratch and barely readable.

'To Ren, from Fred and George. Merry Christmas. Have fun and wreak havoc.' She grinned. That was so like them. She opened the box and found a very large assortment of goodies form Zonko's and Honeyduke's. They even threw in some of their own concoctions. She decided to be organized this year, and grabbed parchment and a quill. She wrote down 'Fred and George: sweets and stash.'

She went through her pile, each time writing down what she had received from whom. She even got an old nightgown from her grandmother. She got one every year. She got a card from her roommates, a bracelet from Cho, and a picture from the whole Weasley family. She laughed at all the redheads crammed into one photograph. When she had reached the bottom of her pile, she saw a very small jewelry box that she hadn't noticed before then. She hesitated before grabbing it.

She looked up to see if Alicia was even paying attention. Fortunately she was gone. Probably taking a shower. She opened up the jewelry box and found a gold locket looking back at her. It was old but still in good condition. On the outside was a rose. She opened it up, assuming there was something inside. She was right. A note fell out the instant it was free. It obviously had been compressed very tightly inside. She picked it up and unfolded it. She swore it was creased about a thousand times. But then again, how else would it have fit in the locket? She read it to herself, mouthing the words silently.

'Serenity. Merry Christmas. I miss you. Hope you like the locket. Don't worry, it didn't cost a lot, it was my grandmother's. Please write. Love, Oliver.' She lightly placed her hand on her chest. She swore her heart just flipped. He gave her a locket and signed the note 'love'. She knew it meant a lot because most guys don't do that. She looked in her hands at the precious gift. She opened it with her finger and saw two pictures. The one on the left was a picture of her, and on the right was a picture of Oliver. She sighed and rested her head on the footboard. She looked up at the ceiling then closed her eyes and smiled. 'I love you too, Oliver.'

* * * * * * * * * *

Serenity didn't go down to breakfast because she was busy writing thank you notes and letters to loved ones. She wrote to her grandmother, Fred and George, and even Cho. It was especially hard for her to write the letter to Cho since they had obviously drifted apart upon her arrival at Hogwarts. As she thought about it, she realized that they hadn't even had one conversation that was longer than five minutes. She decided to make it up to her by writing a nice, long letter and trying to talk to her more often as soon as she got back.

She got to the bottom of her list of people she had to write and scratched off Cho's name. She sighed and pulled out a new piece of parchment. She dipped her quill in the ink and paused, waiting for words.

'Hey Oliver. Having fun at home? I don't like being cooped up in here, but I guess it's better th-' She stopped. There was a tapping on her window. It was a large barn owl with a letter. She sighed and leaned over to open the latch. It swooped in and made a harsh landing on her desk; knocking over the ink bottle onto her letter for Oliver. She would have thrown any item near her at the clumsy creature if it hadn't stretched out its leg towards her.

She angrily snatched the letter and shooed the owl out the window. She saw her name written in Oliver's handwriting on the letter. She absentmindedly closed the window and sat down on the side of her bed.

'Serenity. I hope you are doing well. I miss you a lot and think about you always. Thank you for the tee shirt. I really like it, and my parents do too.' She suddenly felt bad. She had given him a silly tee shirt that said 'My girlfriend Cleansweeped me off my feet' and he and given her a locket! 'I hope you liked my gift. I'll explain about that later. Oh, and we can talk about the Yule Ball when I get back. Love, Oliver.' Serenity sighed and picked up her quill. She replied and sent it off to Oliver with a school owl.

She got back and laid across her bed. She daydreamed about Oliver for hours without even realizing it. Even when Roxy started clawing at her feet for food, she was fingering the locket and looking at their pictures side by side. By the end of the day, she had grown quite attached to it. Only Alicia knew who it was from, but Serenity could've sworn she saw McGonagall eyeing it suspiciously at dinner later on in the evening. She even thought she saw Dumbledore wink at her down the table. 'Darn you wise old geezers.'

The week was going by slowly and all she wanted to do was see Oliver. She rarely came out of her room, being somewhat anti-social, but it made no difference to her. In the meantime, she thought about her and Oliver going to the Yule Ball together. Alicia even tired to strike up a conversation with her, but Serenity simply didn't hear a thing going on around her. The only thing that kept her mind off of Oliver was wondering what color her dress should be.