Oliver's Girl

Oliver's Girl (09)

Soon enough, Oliver returned to Hogwarts. They practiced Quidditch together the very moment he was back. After practice, they went for a stroll around the frozen lake and sat together on a rock near the water's edge. They relaxed and Oliver talked about his vacation and what happened. To Serenity's happiness, he was wearing the shirt she had given him.

"So mum forgot all about the ham in the oven and we all had to eat turkey instead!"

Serenity smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. He grinned and looked down at her. She was fingering the locket with her gloved hand.

"I meant to tell you why that locket's so special."

She looked up at him with curiosity and said, "Oh? I already know it's special."

"Do you now?"

"Yes. It came from you. So of course it's special."

He grinned. "It's also special for another reason."

"Why?"

He hesitated. "Well... uh..."

"HEY SERENITY!"

It was Fred and George. Oliver was grateful, for once, for their interruption.

George stopped a few feet away. "Are we..." he smiled, "intruding?"

Oliver sighed. "No. We were just getting through."

Fred helped Serenity up to her feet. "Well in that case... you two want to head up to the Common Room for some hot chocolate?"

"Sure. You in, Oliver?"

"Why not."

In the Common Room, everyone shared their vacation stories. They were all comfy around the warm fire, hot chocolates in hand.

"Of course, Percy started squealing like a girl... oh no offense Ren... and so mum came out and demanded that Charlie take it away and get him untied."

Fred and George had tied their elder brother Percy to a tree and poured some kind of dragon-mating substance around him to attract a Horntail that was nearby. The twins had been observing the spectacle in a close tree with their omnioculars.

Serenity glanced down at her watch. 1:08.

"Guys? We forgot about lunch."

Fred smiled. "Well, we can just head down to the kitchen."

They all walked down together and had sandwiches with pumpkin juice. The house elves were more than happy to serve them, so they had some sweets too.

All of a sudden, Serenity said, "Oh shoot! I forgot that I was going to spend the day with Cho! You guys don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," George said.

She looked at Fred and he shrugged. "I don't care."

She turned to her boyfriend. "Do you, Oliver?"

"Um... no. I need to unpack anyways."

"Alright then. See you later?"

"Yeah."

They looked at each other hesitantly. Fred and George were smiling. "You know, we honestly don't care if you kiss in front of us," said a grinning George. A few of the house elves stopped what they were doing and looked at them.

Serenity hesitated. "Uh... see you tonight then."

She turned and walked out the door, trying to ignore the hurt look on Oliver's face. She loved him, really, but she just didn't feel comfortable in that situation. She could deal with the house elves, but Fred and George were different...

She spent the rest of the day talking with Cho. They arrived at dinner together, which is where their conversation ended.

Cho glanced at her friends at the Ravenclaw table. "Well, let me know how it goes with Oliver. You two are great together."

Serenity smiled. "Thanks. You and Cedric are too. So... talk to you later then?"

"Yeah." Cho gave her a hug and they went their separate ways.

During the next week, things were very hectic. Serenity had to think about a dress that she could wear to the Yule Ball, and then she had her grades to worry about since the teachers were piling up their homework. She was constantly fretting about little things. Yule Ball. Quidditch. Yule Ball. Grades. Yule Ball. Oliver. Yule Ball. The rest of the girls in her year had already gotten their dresses and even knew how they were going to wear their hair! She had Quiditch practice every day and always had some kind of homework to do, so it kept her mind off of the Ball for a little while. Finally on Thursday she figured out what she was going to do.

She and Oliver were at lunch and had been talking about what her dress should look like and what color it should be.

"Why don't you wear dark blue?"

"Everyone's going to be wearing that. It's too simple."

"What about green?"

She scrunched up her nose.

"Not like green-green, but hunter green."

She sighed. They had been over this one before. "I know it matches my eyes, but it makes me look pale."

He groaned. "No it doesn't. Your skin tone is perfect. Alright? Perfect. Why do girls have to be so picky anyway?"

"Because we want to look our best."

"But you already do! You'll look great in anything. I promise."

She sighed. "Fine. I'll wear green."

They continued eating in silence. "When am I supposed to get it though?" she asked. "I have practice, and homework... how am I supposed to make time?"

"You can go tomorrow after practice. Then you can finish your homework before the Ball. Or Sunday if you wanted to..."

"And what style? I mean, long, for sure, but sleeves, or what? We're going to be inside, but maybe we'll want to go outside?"

"That's what cloaks are for."

She smiled. "Of course. So I guess no sleeves? Or maybe off the shoulder..."

"Whatever you want."

"But I don't know what I want!" she whimpered.

He grinned. She was so cute when she acted childish. "Then no sleeves I guess."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Hm... well, I guess that makes sense. Then I can wear gloves. You like gloves?"

"Gloves are good."

She smiled, and that was that. She knew what she was going to wear.

Friday night, she went to Hogsmeade and then apparated from there to Diagon Alley. She had asked Cho to go with her because she didn't like going to Diagon Alley alone. It was always busy. She also wanted Cho to tell her what she thought of the dress. They entered Madam Malkin's and stood by the counter, waiting for her to attend to them. She came from the back and noticed them right away.

"Dresses, my dears?"

Cho spoke. "Well, she needs one. I don't," and pointed to Serenity.

Madam Malkin nodded. "Anything in mind?"

"Yes, actually. Long... I want it to cover my feet... and I'm wearing heels."

"Yes, yes..."

"And no sleeves. Probably hunter green."

Madam Malkin nodded again. "Alright then. Come to the back room." She led them to a small space past a doorway. She went to the corner and pulled out a short stool, setting it in the middle of the small room. "Accio tape measurer." The ribbon of tape measure flew to her and she caught it. "Step up." Serenity stood on top of the floor stool and held her arms up horizontally. The tape measurer went crazy. It measured every part of Serenity. Around the stomach. Around her bust. Around her hips. From her shoulder blades down to the floor. From her hips down to the floor. "Alright," Madam Malkin said.

The tape measurer stopped in mid-air and fell to the ground. Serenity looked at it and decided that it was okay to put her arms down.

Madam Malkin headed through the doorway to the entry room. "Hunter green, correct?"

"Yes."

They heard noises coming from the other room she returned with her arms full of dark green material.

It took two hours to finally get it just right. Serenity was very grateful for magic. It would have taken weeks for a Muggle to make her dress. She tried it on and Cho said it looked perfect. They both agreed that she should wear her hair up. She paid for her dress and they left.

They were back at school before curfew with the dress. Madam Malkin had given them a cover for it so no one would see it. Serenity said goodbye to Cho and headed up the many stairs to Gryffindor Tower. She arrived to a Common Room half full of people. Oliver smiled and crossed the room to her.

She grinned. "Now you know you can't peek..."

"I know. I was just coming to tell you goodnight," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Alright. Goodnight."

"'Night." She headed up to her room and laid the dress across a chair.

Saturday

As soon as Oliver got up, he could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was overenthusiastic and couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces. (You could have told them your owl had died and they would have said, "Oh! How wonderful!") He headed straight for breakfast and waited for Serenity to show up. He would have gone straight to the Quidditch pitch, but he wanted her to know where he was. That and he needed food in his stomach. Serenity finally arrived half an hour later, talking anxiously to Cho. She spotted Oliver and they headed his way.

"Do you mind if Cho joins us?"

He hesitated. "Well, I was just going to practice..."

"Oh, alright. See you tonight then? I'm going to be working on my homework for most of the day..."

"Yeah. Tonight," he grinned.

She smiled and headed over to the Ravenclaw table; Oliver leaving the Great Hall.

Later that night

Oliver paced back and forth across the Common Room. "What could be taking so long?"

Fred frowned. "Hey, I'm having to wait too."

Serenity and Angelina were still upstairs. Fred suggested that they sit down, since it would probably be a while. Five minutes later they heard voices coming from up the girls' stairs. The boys turned around anxiously.

Serenity walked slowly down the stairs; hand on the railing. Oliver held his breath for a moment. She was beautiful. She was wearing the dress she had said she would. Hunter green with no sleeves. There was some kind of thin rope-like material around the waist, giving her some kind of Medieval look. She was wearing silver gloves that came up to her elbows. Her hair was piled on top of her head like some kind of modern Marie Antoinette.

Shocked, he couldn't say anything.

She smiled. "What? No comments?"

"You look beautiful," he whispered.

She grinned and hooked her arm in his. He looked back and saw Fred gawking. He gave him a look that clearly said, "Hands off." They were nearly to the portrait hole when Serenity stopped and turned. "Oh, Fred, Angelina said she'd be down in a few minutes. Don't worry. It's worth the wait." He reluctantly smiled and sat back down in his chair.

The Great Hall was full and everyone was dancing. Even Professor Sprout was doing some sort of 'jig' with Professor Flitwick. The other teachers were merely observing, with Filch in the shadows holding Mrs. Norris and talking to her. Oliver went to get them some punch while Serenity talked with Cho. She had come with Cedric, who was accompanying Oliver at the punch table. Cho was looking very pretty herself, in a traditional red Chinese kimono. Her hair was in a bun with chopsticks holding it up.

She smiled at Serenity. "You look great. I like the hair."

"Same to you." She paused, thinking of something to talk about. "How's Cedric?"

"Good... good. Oliver?"

"Good."

"Good."

They grinned and listened to the music for a moment. It was upbeat, though not too fast. Most of the fourth years were just standing around, their dates on the other side of the room. The older students were dancing and some even pushing the idea of detention... that is, if you could get detention from dancing vulgar. The boys arrived with their drinks.

"Thank you."

"Thanks."

They stood around for a moment, sipping their punch and observing others. Cedric asked Cho for a dance and he swept her off to the middle of the floor.

Serenity glanced up at Oliver, but he looked away. "Um... do you mind going for a walk?"

She took his hand. "Not at all."

They headed to the doors and she threw away her cup on the way out. When they reached the Grand Stairs, he stopped. "Um... wait here. Just a minute. I'll be back." He ran off up the stairs and disappeared. She sighed and leaned against the railing. He was back in about five minutes, panting and out of breath. He had gotten her cloak.

She took it. "Why did you go get my cloak?"

"Because," pant, "we're going," pant, "outside."

She grinned. "I'm flattered that you would run all the way across the school and up seven flights of stairs to get it, but why didn't you just use a charm?"

"Because if I had said 'Accio cloak', Merlin knows whose I would get!" He soon regained his breath and was ready to go. She took his arm and they were off.

They finally stopped when they were outside on the Quidditch pitch. He led her to the bottom of the goal posts and he turned her around to face him. He looked her in the eyes. "I brought you out here to tell you why that locket is so special."

She laughed. "Is that really the reason I'm out here?"

It was lightly snowing and the ground was frozen. She didn't like wearing high heels and her toes were freezing.

"Yes. You need to know."

She smiled, thinking this was silly, but listening nonetheless.

"I was talking to my grandmother not too long ago and you came up in our conversation. I told her... I told her that..." he paused and took her hands in his. "I told her that I had fallen in love. She kept asking questions about you, and I guess she realized that I was really head over heels or something, because she ran upstairs and grabbed her old locket. She handed it to me and told me to give it to you. She told me that first loves were always special and that you seemed like a very special girl. So of course I gave it to you. It's like a token of my love because..." he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Because I love you."

He looked her straight in the eyes and she smiled. "I love you too." He kissed her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "One question though," she said when they had broken apart. "Why outside? On the Quiddicth pitch? It's cold out here and -''

He cut her off with his finger in her lips. "Because this is where it all started. Remember?"

She smiled. "You're so romantic. You know that?"

He grinned and took her by the arm. "Now I think we have a dance to get back to..."

They headed back inside to the Great Hall. They went straight out to the middle of the floor.

While dancing, Serenity heard a fifth year say, "Hey, that's Oliver's girl."

"She's so lucky!" their friend replied.

Serenity continued to dance and thought to herself, "Yeah. I am lucky."