The Keeper's Curse

Note: Chapter 3 is a pretty pivotal chapter, which is why I have some doubts in it and I've revised it so many times. I think Oliver fans would like this chapter, since you see a lot more of him, and a lot more is revealed...

Chapter Three

The Truth About Oliver

This was already an incredibly long day for everyone at Hogwarts. From Madame Hooch’s announcement at lunch to the evening when students proceeded to their common rooms, Penelope and Percy’s relationship had been driving around in circles.

With the summer nearing, the students were all very occupied. Fred and George were busier than ever, trying to balance Quidditch practice with their need to annoy Percy, this desire reached its peak since he was quite distressed already. Hermione had been pestering Professor Flitwick about whether it was necessary to memorize the spells in Chapter 34 for the exams. Ron spent the entire day writing his “Why are Nigerian anaconda tails crucial in Endurance-boosting potions?” essay for Professor Snape, he was forced to redo it since his first was 3 inches too short. And Harry was busy practicing Quidditch with the rest of the team, as usual.

The Gryffindor Team had just won the Quidditch Cup, but Wood made it a point to have his whole team move on to bigger and better things, such as the first-ever Wizarding Schools’ Summer Quidditch Tournament. This would be Wood’s final chance to play Quidditch for Hogwarts and he was determined to do so.

He paced down along the bench where his team was sitting, “Okay team, Angelina you have great aim but work a little on your defense. Katie, you’re making good assists but I think you should put a little more force into your penalty shots. Alicia, watch for bludgers a little more closely, remember to steer away instead of ducking, that way you don’t become off-balance. Harry I want you to practice diving for the snitch a little faster just remember to pick yourself up after, we don’t want you to slam into the ground, you know. Fred—I mean George, try to knock the bludger to your left, that will make it pick up more speed. And Fred keep your eye on the seeker who will be flying about 20 feet above you.”

“Oh yuck… Wood, are you done spitting all over our faces now?” interjected Fred.

“NO! I mean—yes… No wait I mean… ugh, practice is over for today.”

The team was relieved; they picked up their equipment and left for the locker room.

“Are you coming, Wood?” asked George.

“Nah, I’m going to practice for a while.”

Oliver jumped up and soared across the pitch. The dim gray sky now turned to a deep ebony. Then a patch of clouds broke loose, and it began to drizzle. However, he kept on flying; he loved the smell of the fresh spring rain on birch wood twigs. But amidst the beating of the raindrops, something interrupted him.

“WOOD! IS THAT YOU?”

A fuzzy silhouette was visible, standing by the gate. Oliver swerved down to the damp grass, to see who it was.

“I thought you would be here, Wood,” the voice continued, “I just wanted to apologize for everything that’s happened today.” It was Penelope who came to see him, her long curly brown hair was now wet and a bit frizzy.

“Penelope?”

“Yes, it’s me, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about everything that happened with Percy, it wasn’t your fault, and he had no right to get you involved. I just wanted to talk to you about that.” She was talking quite quickly. They were both shouting over the sound of the rain. Her teeth were chattering in the chilly air, as raindrops rested on her eyelashes, causing her to blink feverishly.

“Penelope Clearwater…” he smiled as raindrops rolled off his cheekbones, “I was wondering when I’d get to see you again.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“We haven’t really talked to each other since our 1^st year.” He chuckled. “It’s been 7 years Piggy.”

“Piggy?” she repeated softly in a puzzled expression. Her eyes suddenly lighted up, “Oh, I remember! Fuzzy!” Without thinking she wrapped her arms around Oliver’s neck. When sense returned to her she quickly released him. “I’m sorry.” She blushed.

“That’s okay,” he quickly replied in a cheerful tone, the rain began pouring over Hogwarts, beating relentlessly on their heads. The raindrops fell, and fell, and fell until impact of the rain on the ground made a static-like rhythm.

“Come here,” He motioned for Penelope to come closer, “We should get out of this downpour. How about we—”

She looked down at the broom he was holding, “Oh no, I can’t.” She backed away.

“Come on, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“No, wait—no, wait—umm…okay, but just this once.” She cautiously mounted on the broom. Oliver sat behind her holding on to the handle in front. He kicked off.

“OH MY GOSH! OH NO! WE'RE GONNA CRASH! WE'RE GONNA CRASH!” she shrieked with her hands placed tightly over her face. They were soaring up into the sky. They shot up straight into the sky almost vertically. Penelope felt the sensation of her lungs trying to kick out of her throat, and her stomach sinking into her hips. A few seconds later, the broom came to a complete halt. Thankfully, Penelope was now right-side up and blood rushed back to her feet.

“Hey… the rain stopped,” Penelope remarked with her eyes still covered.

“No, not quite,” he laughed, “Open your eyes.”

She looked from the left to the right; it was calm. She looked up, thousands of stars twinkled above her, in a brilliant mosaic and the full moon shined with a soft glowing halo surrounding it. She looked down, “OH MY G-GOD! WHERE ARE WE?” She grabbed the front of Oliver’s robes. All she saw below her was puffy gray clouds. The broom was actually floating right on top of the clouds.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll be okay.” He gently pulled her tight grip from off of his robes. “The view is quite awe-inspiring, I admit. I used to just sit up here by myself in the evenings, just thinking to myself, Piggy. By the way do you remember why I used to call you Piggy?”

She giggled stupidly. “I remember, it was in our 1^st year, because I wore pigtails to class everyday. You thought I looked stupid. And I used to call you Fuzzy because of that time when your hair got shaved off after the accident in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Your head was such a fuzz ball when it started to grow back.”

“I used to hate that name, but I think I used to give you worse nicknames. I can’t even mention any of them without using any profanity,” said Oliver.

They both chuckled. They sat on the broom sidesaddle as if it were a bench. It was a great feeling just to relieve the worries of the hectic world below while drifting in the clouds above. ‘Piggy’ and ‘Fuzzy’ reminisced about their childhood throughout the evening.

“We were best friends in our first year, weren’t we? What happened to us? Why didn’t we ever talk to each other again?” she remarked sorrowfully.

“We just drifted apart after— After, Herbology once,” he explained, “remember when we worked together on the Azulpyraflor project? It was the plant that grows only in blue fire. You were really sick that winter, so when I visited you in the hospital wing you told me to take care of the plant for you. I promised that I would take care of it. I promised that nothing would ever happen to it, I wanted you to trust me. But I became too irresponsible. And then—”

“Oh, I remember that now… When Professor Sprout checked on it, she said it was the only plant in class that didn’t bloom yet; in fact ours shriveled up into the bottom of the flame. I remember that I became quite frustrated at you. I said I would never trust you again. I couldn’t fathom the idea of a bad mark in class. And then we stopped talking to each other from that point. Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t have overreacted; it was just a project. I’m so sorry,” she said regretfully.

“No, I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at myself, actually. I knew I shouldn’t have broken my promise. So, I tried to make it up to you.”

He reached into the collar of his robes and pulled out a tiny jar on a silver chain that was hung around his neck. Penelope saw it was filled with iridescent flower petals that were constantly radiating different colors. The jar glowed so brightly she had to have a closer look to see the color-changing petals inside. The flowers of the Azulpyraflor plant are very rare; the essence of the blue fire empowers them to twinkle, enlightening those who feel their energy.

“I keep it for good luck, I never won a Quidditch match without it.” He sighed. “I told Professor Sprout it was my fault and that I would still take care of it just to make it up to you. I still have the Azulpyraflor I’ve kept it ever since. It’s in my dormitory. I just never had a chance to show it to you.” He looked downtrodden at Penelope.

“Ohh… You really didn’t have to… It was my fault. I shouldn’t have done that to you, my best friend, yet I became friends with Percy and the overachievers, I left you out of my life. And when I forgave you already, you changed a lot too; you were friends with the athletes. You became a Quidditch fanatic. We were so alike in our 1^st year, practically twins. But now—now we’re two completely different people. It’ll never be the same again, between us.” Tears silently dripped down Penelope’s cheeks.

“We did go our separate ways. After our dispersal, I realized that I should never break promises to my friends. I was devoted to that principle. I would never make the mistake I made to you. I remember that Charlie Weasley was in his 7^th year at that time. I really looked up to him; he was a hero to me, standing atop an unreachable pedestal. I didn’t know of any 7^th year who was willing to hang out with a 1^st year like me. I was just a short scrawny kid who could barely run as opposed to fly then but I knew I wanted to be a Quidditch legend, like Charlie. It was silly.”

He dangled his legs under him nervously, “I attended Charlie’s graduation at the end of the year. I stumbled onto the field and showed him my new broom. It was only a Shooting Star, but I thought it was the coolest item I had ever owned. I know it sounds stupid, but it was a dream come true for me. He said to me: ‘I’m glad you’re so interested in Quidditch. I have faith in you Oliver, you will lead Gryffindor to victory after I’m gone, won’t you? Promise me you’ll win the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor.’ And I promised him that I would. I promised him that if he returns to this school years later, he would see a trophy with little Oliver Wood’s name engraved on it standing right next to the trophy with the inscription ‘Charles Weasley.’”

Penelope looked at him and smiled, her eyes were filling with tears. She was overjoyed at finally seeing him. “I want to go back. I wish we could just forget the last 7 years, and start over. If only I wasn’t so ignorant then.”

Oliver rubbed his sleeve against Penelope’s eyelids, wiping her tears. He couldn’t help noticing that she had the brightest gray eyes he’d ever seen. She strained her eyes, and they looked like sparkling silver slivers of the moon. Their eyes were locked in a gaze for a few seconds. Up above the clouds, it became silent and the scene proceeded in slow-motion.

“Oh no, it’s almost midnight! We were up here for such a long time!” Oliver exclaimed; he fumbled to get back in position on the broom. Penelope was startled by his sudden frustration. She knocked herself out of the daze and realized the urgency of his words.

They zoomed down, straight through the cold vapor of the clouds. They broke through the clouds, and were now returning to the dismal surface below. There was still a tremendous downpour back here on earth.

“All the doors are locked by now, how are we going to get back in?” Penelope asked.

Oliver looked up at Hogwarts, thinking, while fat raindrops were dripping off of his chin. “I got it!”

“OH NO YOU'RE GONNA CRASH INTO THE BUILDING! OLIVER!”

He swerved past a tower; it was a near-miss. And he landed quietly atop one of the towers. “This is where the Ravenclaw dormitories are right?”

“Yeah, thanks.” They looked at each other and smiled.

“Well bye…”

“Bye.” They exchanged awkward glances and Penelope started to climb down the stairs to the dormitories without looking back.

“Wait, umm… hold on a second.” He broke the silence. “Umm… You can have— I mean, I’ll give you— No, I mean, uhh…here you go.” He stuttered as he nervously unfastened his chain from around his neck and handed it to Penelope. “Umm… I really don’t need anymore good luck,” he chuckled, “I was meaning to give it to you anyway.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked down.

Her eyes were fixed upon the tiny jar she held in the palm of her hand. She shook it gently, and the small crushed petals, that had settled on the bottom, floated across the glass jar. It was now glowing more profusely than it had before. It changed from a deep blue, to a bright green, to a pale red and it continued changing. She held it tightly in her fist.

“I’ve never seen it shine that brightly before. Azulpyraflors are very picky. They only glow when they are in the presence of a great happiness.” He smiled.

“Penelope, please… I can’t wait another 7 long years to be with you again. I must see you soon… Bye…” he said with a pang of desperation in his throbbing voice.

Penelope chewed on her lower lip and nodded, shaking off the raindrops that settled on her face, she then smiled at him. Staring into his sincere, aching eyes she wanted to bring her face close to his and wash away all the turbulent memories. One kiss, and she could rewind the last 7 years of her life and seal the pact that would reunite them. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it, this was impossible, her plan didn’t have an ounce of practicality to it.

So Oliver who was now soaking wet, jumped off the tower. (On his broom, of course,) and flew to his dormitory at the nearby Gryffindor tower. He flew in the darkness with only the light shining from Penelope’s hand to guide him along the way. The petals were the only thing shining past the dark and gloomy blur of the spring rain.