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booksmarts and broomsticks
act iii , turning tables
chapter forty-four , knight in soggy nylon

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➖DRIA LOCKABY ➖
november 1993

       JACKIE HAD BEEN right in her assessment that sleeping in the Great Hall would be a comfortable experience for no one. However, Dria had to give it to her, she definitely found a way of making it interesting.

       Soon after the Hufflepuff had been made aware of the situation regarding her hair wrap, she had devised — what she had called — an elaborate plan to rectify the situation.

       Dria wasn't sure what was so elaborate about finding an excuse to go to the toilets to rinse it out but she would never rain on her parade.

      They'd managed to summon over Penny just as the lights went out and, with a disgruntled sigh, she'd agreed to escort the three of them to the first floor toilets.

         "I hope they didn't see me sneak you out." The Ravenclaw whispered as the four of them snuck their way along the first floor corridor. "If we get caught and our excuse is Jackie's hair care, I'm so getting demoted."

       "It's an emergency!"

       "Jackie's about fifteen minutes away from turning into a plum."

       "Why am I friends with you, again?"

       Nonetheless, they found the bathroom completely empty, and after ten minutes or so of rinsing the purple dye out of the ends of her hair, which were now stained a brilliant indigo, they made their way back towards the Hall.

       "You could have at least tried to the hot water tap."

        How they managed to sneak back into the Great Hall undetected, Dria did not know. However, if they could do it, it seemed quite an easy task for a mass murderer to achieve.

       "They really need to reconsider this castle's security." The blonde whispered as she, Jackie and Tess sunk back into their sleeping bags.

       "You don't say."

        The next morning they had been reassured that the castle was clear and there was no sign of Black — if he had been there, he had made a swift exit during the night.

       While others seemed relieved, Dria was still disgruntled. She'd have much rather chanced an encounter with Black by staying in her own bed than sleep in the Great Hall.

      As the week wore, the weather transformed from the crisp autumn sun into sullen, overcast grey clouds. This, coupled with Sir Cadogan replacing the Fat Lady as the guardian of Gryffindor Common Room, and subsequently changing the password five times a day, had not helped her bad mood.

        Her friends had concluded that they'd never known Dria to be more irritable.

      "So, what? He's dropped off the face of the earth?"

       Another revelation that had dawned upon Dria on Thursday evening, as she sat in front of the common room fire, was the absence of Professor Lupin from that day's classes. 

       "I heard he's unwell." Tess muttered, as she lifted her head upon from her Defence Against the Dark Arts essay.

      "I've not seen any sign of him in the Hospital Wing." Dria shrugged, looking back at the third person in their party who had raised the query at to the professor's absence — Heidi Wood.

      "Bit of double standards really, isn't it?" The fifth year hummed, as she kicked her up on the small table across from the sofa. "Teachers get leave if they miss a lesson, yet my attendance score gets bashed to bits."

      "I just hope he gets better soon." The blonde sighed, closing her textbook in her lap. "I'm sick of having Snape for two classes."

      "I thought you liked Snape." Tess turned to her with an arched brow.

       "I don't like anyone anymore."

        Tess gave a light hum of understanding before looking to Heidi who was also regarding the blonde with a skeptical gaze.

      "Your brother broke my best friend." The Robbins girl told her with a tight-lipped smile.

       "She broke him too, don't worry." Heidi chuckled in response at Tess nudged the blonde to her right.

       "See, Dria. You're even."

        Dria didn't even bother looking up from the reopened pages of her text book as she spoke in a low voice.

       "Not a chance in hell."

        The blonde's jaw was clenched tight as she forced herself to read over the chapter on werewolves which Snape had set as part of their homework — despite it totally disregarding the rest of their syllabus. However, her attention was captured at the sound of a frustrated shout on the other side of the Portait Hole, followed by a series of deep thuds against the wall.

       "Cadogan's being a bitch again." Heidi mused, as Dria let out a frustrated sigh and rose to her feet.

        "The Fat Lady needs to get her shit together and come back." She seethed as she brushed down her legs before heading towards the entrance. "I am sick of this!"

       "I've never seen this side of her." Heidi mumbled, turning Tess with an amused smile playing at her lips.

       "It's terrifying."

        Letting out a huff, Dria pulled at the Portrait Hole from the inside causing it to swing open, much to the audible complaint of Sir Cadogan. However, whatever calming sensation Dria thought she would feel upon silencing the knight's antics quickly dissipated upon her seeing just who she had enabled to enter the common room.

       Standing in front of her was Oliver Wood, with the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, positively drenched from head to foot, the hems of their robes soaked in mud and their faces fixed in resolutely glum expressions.

        Oliver's eyes softened. His anger from shouting at Cadogan leaving him, upon seeing the blonde before him. His mouth opened a little as if he made to speak. However, before a word could be said, Dria could feel her nostrils begin to flare and turned sharply on her heel away from the group and back towards her place beside the fire.

       "You couldn't make it up." Dria muttered to herself, as she sat back down on the floor and opened her textbook once more.

       "Oh, shit!"

        The sudden exclamation from the Scottish girl on the sofa caught Dria's attention as she watched her sink down to the floor and promptly shuffle herself underneath the sofa, obscuring herself from sight.

        "Heidi!" Tess shouted in surprise, however was quickly silenced by a loud shush coming from the girl's hiding place.

       Tess raised an eyebrow at her blonde's friend who could only offer a slightly amused shrug — oh, the lengths people would go to avoid one another.

       While Dria tried to keep her focus on her book, she couldn't help but notice the Gryffindor team trail in through the Portrait Hole and congregate for a final talk with Oliver. All of them, she noticed, still looked pretty forlorn even as he made his way towards the boys dormitories and they ambled their way over to the fire, drying and cleaning themselves up in the process.

       "Good practice?" Tess asked the remaining six players who sank into various seats around the fireplace with tired sighs.

       "Wood's a dick." Alita huffed from where she had plonked herself down beside Dria.

        "Amen." The blonde muttered in agreement.

        "We blame you."

        Dria looked up from her book to face Alicia who had spoken, to see her curled up on an armchair with Angelina perching on the arm, nodding in agreement.

       "What?"

        "Well, you guys fell out." Angelina explained, as Dria looked around at the rest of the team with a disbelieving look. "He misses you and he's angry so now we're the ones suffering."

       Murmurs of agreement rose from Alita and Alicia, as well as from the three boys who had slumped themselves on the sofa, and had yet to say a word.

       "He said I had to catch the snitch twenty times before we could finish practice." Harry grumbled, taking his glasses off the bridge of his nose to clean. "And he slagged off my broomstick."

       "But it's a Nimbus 2000!" Dria found herself inadvertently arguing to her own surprise.

        "Exactly!"

        "I can't feel my arms." Alicia moaned as she slumped further in her chair.

        "Dria, hold me." Alita whined before promptly falling in blonde's lap, who offered her a sympathetic pat on the head.

        A silence fell over their group as Tess and Dria exchanged concerned glances at the state of apparently defeated Quidditch team.

      "So, are you feeling good about the match?" Tess tried to open up the conversation once more.

       "I'm shitting it." Alita spoke up from Dria's lap.

       "You'll be fine." The blonde assured the Chaser with a soft smile. 

       "In this weather?"

        "They'll surely call it off, if the weather's not improved by Saturday, right?" Dria regretted the question the second it left her lips, at the sound of the cackling of the Weasley twins in response.

       "Oh, Dria." George addressed her, his chuckle still shaking through him as he looked at his twin.

       "Sweet—"

       "Naïve—"

       "Innocent Dria." Fred finished, as the two of them began to get to their feet.

       "If only you knew the trials and tribulations of Quidditch." George mused as he clapped Harry on the shoulder, causing the third year to also get to his feet.

       "They'll send us out in any conditions." Fred added with a derisive chuckle as the three boys made their way towards the dormitory stairs.

      "We'll see you in the Hospital Wing after, yeah?" George called with a wicked grin before the three of them disappeared out of sight.

       The other three players had remained and were also chuckling a little at Dria's naïve question, however their laughter soon ceased as a loud groan echoed out and a figure rolled out from under the sofa.

       "Phew, that was a close one." Heidi sighed, as she rose to her feet and stretched out her neck.

       "Where in the fuck did you come from?" Alita exclaimed, her head lifting from Dria's lap as she spoke.

      Heidi only replied with a knowing grin, as Dria pursed her lip and arched a brow at the girl.

       "What were you doing exactly?" The blonde asked.

       "Avoiding my feelings."

        Dria could feel her smile widen ever so slightly, before she looked back down to her textbook.

        "Good girl."

***

       "I AM GOING TO KILL A BITCH!"

        The dulcet tones of Jackie O'Hare echoed all the way along the Entrance Hall, that Saturday morning.

Dria furrowed her eyebrows as she, Tess and Penny halted in their tracks to see Jackie leading the entire Hufflepuff team in their direction, fury evidently written across her face.

"What's happening?" The blonde asked as Jackie came to a halt in front of them, with Nate at her side looking just as furious.

"We've been subbed in." The Chaser told the three of them with a clenched jaw.

"What?"

"Slytherin have decided that the weather is too rough for their precious little Malfoy and they can't possibly play!" Jackie explained, her eyes narrowing menacingly as she slipped her gloves onto her hands.

"It's bullshit." Nate agreed.

"We weren't supposed to have a match for a fortnight." Jackie continued to ramble on. "We've been training to play Ravenclaw for shit's sake, not Potter with his fancy boy broomstick!"

"Diggory's going to die."

"I'm right here."

"Sorry, Ced." Nate apologised with a meek smile, as Jackie let out a sharp exhale.

"If I see Marcus Flint, I will beat him to death with Fletcher's bat." She turned to her team, with an arched brow. "Are there any objections?"

Dria, Tess and Penny stood awestruck opposite the furious team who all murmured in agreement with Jackie's statement.

"Well then, go team!" She cried and promptly led the team out of the Entrance Hall and into the raging storm that lay beyond its doors.

"Huh. Who knows? With that drive? They might just win the game." Tess chuckled as Dria let out a light groan, pulling her hood up over her head.

"I honestly can't think of a worse way to spend my afternoon." The blonde grumbled as Penny linked her arm through hers, and the three of them stepped out of the doors and braved the storm themselves.

"Oh, lighten up, will you?" Tess cried over the sound of the howling wind, as she grabbed Dria's other arm in her own grasp. "I can't deal with all this negativity from everyone."

"It's very inconsiderate if everyone else to be in the same bad mood I'm in. It's taking all the fun out of it." Dria barked back, squinting her eyes to try and see through the aggressive rain.

"Mind that puddle."

The blonde let out another groan as she swayed to the side in attempt to avoid the gigantic puddle, Penny warned her of.

"Happy thoughts, Dria, happy thoughts." Tess said loudly in a sing song tone, patting her arm gently.

"Think of all the injuries!" Penny chipped in.

"Injuries?"

"Broken noses! Maybe a dislocated shoulder?" Tess added, jumping on Penny's idea. "Won't that be nice?"

Dria let out a gentle sigh with a small smile emerging across her lips at the thought.

"Yeah, that'd be fun."

"Okay, just think of that, and in the mean time let's go support Gryffindor." Tess told her, lifting her hand to shield her eyes from the rain.

"Uh no, I'm supporting Hufflepuff today."

"Dria, just because Wood's on the team doesn't mean you have to betray your whole house." Penny tried to reason with the blonde.

"Yes, it does."

Just as she finished speaking, a bright flash caught her attention accompanied by a loud cacophony of shrieks from surrounding students as a flash of lightning struck the ground not to far from them.

Dria let out an unimpressed huff.

"This is going to be hell."

        And hell it was.

        From the second they took their seats, the weather only seemed to worsen. So much so that within the first fifteen minutes of gameplay, a timeout had been called. However, after that brief recess the game quickly resumed. Although, the only way Dria was able to tell was by the intermittent flashes of red and yellow she could spot amidst the rain.

       "Do you even know what the score is?!" Dria shouted at Tess who was stood just at her side, her eyes squinting as she tried to make out the players.

       "Not a fucking clue!"

        Dria narrowed her own eyes as she looked out onto the blurry pitch, her eyes widening upon seeing the Gryffindor robes with the number four on the back who was frantically flying out in attempt to extinguish the back end of her broom which was currently alight.

       "Holy shit, Angelina's on fire!"

       "Yeah, she's a great player, isn't she?!" Tess responded, her gaze elsewhere before Dria jabbed her in the side.

        "No! She's been struck by lightning and now she's on fucking fire!"

        "Dria!"

        The blonde had a cry from behind her, adrenaline still coursing through her veins as she turned on her heel. 

       "What?!"

       The volume of her voice startled both her and the person who'd called her name, who Dria had identified as Vix after lifting her hand up to shield her gaze from the rain.

       "Oh, sorry Vix! This is very intense!"

       "Pomfrey wants us up in the Hospital Wing, now!" The Heron girl shouted in response.

       "You mean I can leave?!"

       "Yep!"

        "Oh, thank Merlin!"

Without so much as saying a goodbye to Tess and Penny, Dria followed Vix hastily along the stands and down the stairs of the tower.

The brief respite they had when descending the stairs allowed for Vix to explain to the blonde that she'd gone to see Alita and the rest of the team during the timeout and Madam Pomfrey had been there and had told her to find the Lockaby girl and head up to the Hospital Wing in preparation for after the match, while she stayed at the pitch side.

The blonde found her spirits incredibly lifted by this information, knowing she was getting to escape the awful weather and practice healing a wide variety of injuries in the aftermath.

The two girls clung to each other as they made their way back up to the castle, the ascending steps were soaking wet and covered in mud, making their climb just about as easy as wading through a landslide.

However, after a good ten minutes of travelling, they finally found themselves in the shelter of the Entrance Hall. The two of them heaved exhausted sighs as they peeled their soaked coats from their bodies and began casting charms to dry themselves off, as they briskly walked in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

"So what do we do?" Vix asked as Dria flourished her wand and casted the doors of the Hospital Wing open.

"I guess clear as many beds as possible?" The blonde suggested, throwing her coat upon a nearby chair and rolling her sleeves up. "Can you grab all the towels out of that cupboard? I'll start making some Pepper-Up Potion."

"Yes, ma'am!"

         With another wave of her wand, Dria had charmed the beds to start making themselves up for patients before she stowed away into the storage cupboard and began collecting the ingredients for the cold remedy.

        Dria guessed that she and Vix were there for about half an hour before a loud commotion from beyond the Hospital Wing doors told them that their services were soon going to be put to work.

       "Miss Byrnes has a fractured collar bone, if you wouldn't mind starting there, Miss Lockaby." Madam Pomfrey cried, as the doors burst open revealing her as well as about twenty students following in tow. "Miss Heron, you can start administering the Pepper Up Potion."

       The blonde gave an affirmative nod before making her way over to Alita who was being supported by Alicia and Angelina — who seemed to have escaped the game with lesser injuries than the Byrnes girl — and guided them over to a nearby bed.

       Alita's face was scrunched up in discomfort as she pressed her hand against her collar bone while Alicia and Angelina lowered her into a sitting up position on the bed.

        "Sorry Lita." Dria winced as she helped the girl shrug off her robes.

       "It's going to hurt, isn't it?" Alita asked, her eyes opening a fraction to look at the blonde who gave her a wry smile.

      "Well, it's not going to be fun, I won't lie."

       Dria removed Alita's hand from her collar bone as gently ran her fingers along the bruised skin, in attempt to identify the break. Once she was happy, she'd identified the break, she lingered her fingers above it, holding the area steady as she reached for wand.

       "Brackium emendo."

       Dria expected Alita to cry out in a curse upon her casting the spell, however she only let out a muffled squeak. The blonde's eyes widened in a slight panic, thinking she may have miscast the spell, however running her hand along the bone, she could feel it was perfectly intact.

       "Was that okay?" Dria asked her fellow Gryffindor, who answered with a quick nod as she let out an exhale.

       "I thought it was gonna be way worse." Alita replied, as Dria removed her hand from the injury. "It just felt like a hard pinch, that's all."

        The blonde tried her best to suppress her smile at the girl's words — knowing that description of the charm's effects to be associated with an almost perfect casting.

       "Okay, I'll be back in a second with some pain relief, but I'll wrap it up for now." She explained as she twiddled her wand in grip, before focusing in on her collar bone once more. "Ferula."

       The spell cast bandages to wrap around Alita's arm in a sling to help support her mended collar bone.

       Dria rose back up from where she had sat by Alita only to narrowly avoid being barged into by someone in red and gold robes. She was about to get the person — who happened to be one of the Weasley twins — a piece of her mind, when her gaze landed upon the bed that he and his brother had circled around.

       "Oh my God. Is he unconscious?" The blonde asked, her eyes landing of the limp figure of Harry Potter who lay upon the bed that wad next to Alita.

       "Well, he fell almost fifty feet. What do you expect?"

       Dria's eyes widened in astonishment at George's words as they searched for Madam Pomfrey, who was now shuffling to the Potter boy's bedside.

       "Madam Pomfrey?"

       "If you'll attend to Mr Squire and Miss O'Hare?" The matron quickly instructed the girl as she attempted to shoo the Weasley twins out of her way.

       With another obedient nod, attempting to shake her concern for the third year away, Dria scanned the room for Jackie and Nate. It didn't take her too long to spot them casually sat upon one of the beds on the other side of the room, in the company of Tess and Penny, as well as Ruby Otters and Florence Russell.

        "What's wrong with you?" The blonde quirked a brow at Jackie, who was looking rather calm for someone paying a visit to the Hospital Wing.

       "Oh, nothing." She shrugged, before pointing a nasty split in her lip, wincing a little as she spoke. "Just a Quaffle to the jaw, no biggie."

       "Still." Dria instructed as she crouched in front of her friend who groaned in objection.

       "Ow."

        A simple charm healed her split lip, leaving it looking no more than a little bruised when Dria her attention to Nate. She took his wrist — which he had been cradling — and quickly identified a sprain, just as a swarm of people made their way in the Hospital Wing with panic stricken looks on their faces.

       Dria's eyebrows furrowed as she looked back towards Tess, Jackie and Nate who seemed in much more somber spirits than normal.

       A light sigh left the blonde's lips as she rolled up Nate's sleeve to get a better look at his wrist.

       "What happened?" She asked, catching their attention — a silent understanding passing between them, knowing she was asking about the match and not Nate's wrist.

        "Dementors swarmed the match." Tess muttered, after a moment.

        Dria looked up once more, her mouth slightly open in awe as she looked across their face for the slightest hint that they might be kidding.

       "You're joking. They left their post?"

        "I think they just fancied a bit of friendly team sports." Jackie tried to ease the mood with a somber smile.

        "Jackie." Tess said in a softer warning tone than normal as Jackie let out a defeated sigh.

        "Dumbledore was furious." Nate muttered with a light wince as Dria began wrapping up his hand.

        "I can imagine." She replied, before arching a brow and sparing a glance up at the co-captains. "So when's the rematch?"

        "There's not."

       "What are you talking about?" Dria's eyebrows knitted together as she looked at Jackie.

        "There's not going to be a rematch." Her friend clarified with another soft sigh.

       "Why not?"

        "Because Diggory caught the Snitch." Nate muttered, attempting to flex his bandaged hand. 

        "We tried to argue for one." Jackie explained, taking a hand through her wet hair. "I mean, the rest of us stopped playing the second we saw the Dementors. But Ced was up in the clouds somewhere and didn't notice."

       "We could try chatting to Hooch again?" Nate tried to suggest but Jackie merely shrugged off his suggestion.

       "What's the point?" She replied, "Hooch said it was in the hands of the other Captain, and Wood wasn't having any of it anyway."

      "What?"

       Dria faltered slightly at the mention of his name in the context of what they were explaining.

       "He said he didn't want a rematch, that Diggory caught the Snitch fair and square."

        The blonde's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she rose to her feet, her eyes darting around the rest of the room, looking for the Gryffindor Keeper that appeared to be missing.

       "Where is he?"

        Jackie craned her neck over her shoulder to cast her across gaze over the room but could only reply with a defeated look.

        "Don't know."

        Dria could feel her jaw clench, as she pressed her lips together and started in the direction of the rest of the Gryffindor team. She reached Harry's bedside and grabbed the robes of Fred Weasley, catching his attention as she pulled him away from his conversation with his brother.

       "Where's Oliver?" She asked, concern beginning to overwhelm her.

       "Still in the showers." Fred replied, his eyebrows furrowing at the worry on her features.

       "We think he's trying to drown himself." George chipped in with a joking smile from the other end of the bed.

        She spared the other Weasley twin a tight-lipped smile, that didn't quite reach her eyes, as she released his brother's robes from her grasp and scanned around the room for someone else that could assist her in locating the Gryffindor Captain.

       So, how lucky she was to see his very sister walk in the doors.

       "Heidi!" The blonde cried upon seeing the girl, who jumped in slight surprise at her name being called. "Have you seen your brother?"

        "Is he not here?" The fifth year asked with furrowed eyebrows as she looked past Dria.

       "They said he was still in the showers?"

       "Oh yeah." Heidi let out an amused cackle. "After that match? He's probably trying to drown himself."

       "Would everyone stop saying that?!" Dria snapped, her gaze hardening a little as she took a step past the Wood girl in the direction of the doors.

       "Where are you going?"

       "To find him." Dria answered her question resolutely.

       "Woah, woah. Hold your Hippogriffs!"

         Dria felt her arm being tugged from behind and stopped in her tracks, turning back around to face Heidi with an urgent expression on her face.

        "What?"

         "Look ... if you go to him now, it means you forgive him, right?" Heidi said after a minute or two, her joking manner now completely missing as she looked at the blonde with anxious eyes.

        Dria faltered for a second, her mouth opening slightly as she tried to find the right words.

        "Well—"

        "No. Dria, you're either mad at him or you're not." Heidi cut her off, at which the blonde narrowed her eyes with a lightly clenched jaw.

       "I can be mad at him and still care about him."

        "I know that. I just—" The fifth year let out an exasperated sigh. "He's been really down this last week, Dria."

        The blonde crossed her arms defiantly, her gaze shifting to the floor as the Wood girl spoke.

       "I've not exactly had a picnic either."

       "He did some stupid things."

        Dria heard herself scoff.

        "You got that right."

        "But he's never been more sorry." Heidi assured the blonde, her eyebrows knitted tightly together as she pleaded her brother's case.

        "Well, why hasn't he just said so?" Dria replied, pulling her gaze up from the floor to look back at Heidi with an expectant look.

       "Because every time he's come within five feet of you, you've looked at him like you wish he'd explode on the spot!" Heidi let out a derisive chuckle. "He made a bad decision, yes, but —"

        "That's an understatement."

         "He made a mistake, Dria." Heidi snapped at the girl, evidently sick of her standoffish behaviour. "I know you're pretty well versed in those too, if you remember Nate's party?"

        The blonde made to argue but instead found words failing her as she let the girl's point sink in.

       "Sorry, that was bitchy of me." The fifth year muttered upon hearing the silence that followed her jab.

       "It's fine." Dria let out a light sigh. "You're not wrong."

       "It's just what he's like." Heidi told her, with a meek smile. "Oliver's never handled his emotions well. He lashes out, do you expect him to bottle it all up?"

       "Look at me, I've bundled up my feelings for eighteen years and I turned out fine." Dria said with a light chuckle, however Heidi's expression told her that she didn't quite believe her words.

        "You terrify me."

         "Thank you?"

         "My point is ... if you go to him now, you have to forgive him for everything else too." Heidi explained, her eyebrows still furrowed. "If you go to him, you can't go back to hating him."

          Dria let out a soft sigh as she stomached Heidi's words and offered her a small nod in response.

        "Look, I don't think he'll make such a colossal mistake like that one again." The fifth year told her with a light chuckle. "He misses you, and he cares about you. That's where this whole mess started in the first place, isn't it?"

Dria mirrored the girl's chuckle, the words she said, melted away her worry and she could the contempt she'd been harbouring for the last week slowly begin to leave her, as she let out a light sigh and placed a hand on Heidi's arm.

"Thanks, Heidi."

"Go on then, go save my brother." Heidi shrugged off her hand, and gave her a light shove in the direction of the door.

"Right." Dria gave her a short nod, as she turned around to face the door, but cast a quick glance behind her at the girl. "Bye."

        Before she could fully comprehend what she was doing, Dria had grabbed her coat and was briskly walking out of the Hospital Wing, hoping that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be too mad that she'd left mid way through treating the Quidditch players.

        The weather had by no means improved in time she'd spent in the Hospital Wing, and when she stepped outside the Entrance Hall, she was nearly knocked off her feet by a powerful gust of wind. Nevertheless, she squared her jaw and braved the elements as she made her way down the hill in the direction of the Gryffindor Quidditch tent.

         The blonde was drenched from head to foot by the time she barged her way into the tent, heaving a deep sigh as she lifted her hood from her head, and shook out her head.

       Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked around her. She had expected to see the Keeper upon entering the tent, but instead found it deserted.

       Dria let out a small sigh, as she made her way over to one of the dividing cloths at the far side of the tent which she knew led into the changing rooms and showers.

       "Oliver?" She raised her voice tentatively.

        Her call went unanswered for a moment until she heard the noise of shuffling feet coming from the other end of the changing rooms.

        A figure emerged from around the corner, pulling a Gryffindor jumper over his head, his eyes widening upon seeing the blonde who had called his name.

       "Hi." Dria said, pressing her lips together in a small smile.

        "Hi." Oliver replied, as he pulled down his jumper, before taking a hand through his hair. "What are you — er — what are you doing here?"

        "I-" The blonde faltered slightly, before stifling a slight chuckle. "Well, I heard you were trying to drown yourself. So, I thought I'd show up as your knight in soggy nylon."

        She spared another smile as she motioned towards the soaking wet coat that hung upon her shoulders.

        "I appreciate the thought." The Keeper didn't seem too amused by her efforts, instead sparing her a tight-lipped smile.

       Dria's smile fell as she watched him move to sit down upon one of the nearby benches, his forearms resting on his knees as he slumped forward, avoiding her gaze.

         She studied him for a moment, his hair was still wet — presumably from the shower. He was clenching and unclenching his fists as he looked down at the floor, Dria recognised the habit from their study sessions as a sign of bubbling stress.

       She pressed her lips together as she tried to think of something else to say, however her concentration faltered as her gaze focused in on his face.

       "Your— er, your eyebrow."

       The Keeper looked up at her and raised a hand to his right eyebrow, where an irritated looking gash ran.

       "Yeah, I'm not really sure how that happened."

        "Can I have a look?" The blonde asked hesitantly, at which the Keeper averted his gaze once more.

        "Yeah, I guess so."

         Dria pressed her lips together once more as shrugged off her coat, and moved towards him. She held her wand at the ready as she crouched by him, delicately reaching out to move a few strands of his wet hair out of the way, before muttering the incantation and watching the wound begin to heal itself up.

       "Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?" She asked tentatively, lowering his wand as she slid down to sit beside him.

        "No, no I'm good."

        "I'm sorry about the match." The blonde said in a low voice.

       "It's fine." Oliver cleared his throat, still not looking at her. "Hufflepuff won fair and square."

       "Even Jackie wanted a rematch and you know what she's like." The blonde objected, trying to warm up to him with a meagre smile.

        "Is that why you're here?" Oliver arched an eyebrow, finally turning to face her. "To convince me to agree to a rematch?"

        The blonde gave a light sigh, as she looked at the Keeper, her gaze softening.

       "I wanted to check you were okay."

        From the look of it, Dria wasn't sure that Oliver had expected that response from her.

        "I thought you hated me."

         The blonde let out a disbelieving chuckle as she turned to face him, her eyebrows knitting together in earnest.

       "I could never hate you." She assured him in a soft voice. "Strongly dislike for hot minute? Yeah. But I couldn't hate you."

        Oliver looked back at her and let out a small sigh, his gaze softening instantly.

        "I'm sorry about how I acted, and everything I said, I—"

        "I know. I'm sorry, too." She replied, "If I just had the balls to be honest with you from the beginning, all of this could have been avoided."

         Oliver heaved a large sigh of relief.

        "So, are we okay, again?"

         "Yeah." Dria replied with soft smile.

         A brief silence settled between them, as their shared ill feeling disappeared.

         "And about the whole 'you're everything' malarkey, I— I did mean it." Oliver told her, speaking out into the silence.

        Dria spared him a gentle look, tilting her head and wincing a little as she exhaled.

        "Can you give me some time?" She asked with a half smile, her eyes sympathetic as his smile fell ever so slightly.

       "Yeah." He mustered after a moment, clearing his throat. "Yeah, I can do that."

       She shot him a grateful look before reaching out to him and wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her in a tight hug.

Dria heard the Keeper let out a light sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxing under her touch as he wrapped his own arms around her waist, returning the hug.

"I missed you." He whispered.

A slight chuckle escaped her lips at his words.

"I missed you too, you pillock." She mumbled in response, her words muffled as she nuzzled into his neck.

She inhaled deeply and despite there being a clear scent of his freshly washed hair, Dria couldn't help but detect the faintest smell of broomstick varnish that always seemed to follow Oliver Wood wherever he went.

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖆 𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖆𝖐𝖘!
a birthday present
from me to you x

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