Warnings: Alcohol use, teenage games, angst (with a happy ending).
It all started with one drink. One drink turned into two. And a half. And maybe another half, but at that point I wasn’t counting. I was having fun and relaxing.
One thing you could always count on was the Weasley twins snagging some type of strong alcohol for the little private quidditch team get-togethers we had ages after the younger students had gone to bed, including Harry who was far too young for inclusion with the oldest students on the team.
It was George’s idea to host them in the Room of Requirement after a few Hufflepuffs caught us in the kitchen one night making biscuits and laughing our heads off after one too many spiked butterbeers. They promised not to tell, but none of us fancied getting caught again.
That led to tonight when Katie had made the horrible suggestion of playing spin the bottle with an empty firewhiskey bottle she’d polished off just minutes before. Of course the twins, and Lee Jordan, naturally, had hooted and hollered and gotten very excited at the prospect of getting a good snog. Oliver had laughed and called it ‘good fun’ which I hadn’t quite expected. Even Angelina smiled shyly and agreed with her eyes darting to Fred more often than not.
As we gathered in a circle on the ground on a pile of pillows that had magically appeared in whoever’s interpretation of the room we were in tonight, I glanced at Oliver.
He didn’t know I’d had a crush on him for nigh on three years now, my best friend. We made quidditch strategies and practiced together, visited each other on breaks to talk quidditch, and even bought our new brooms together in Diagon Alley just a few months prior. But if he liked me, he never let on. Quidditch was the only thing on his mind usually, and I knew that better than anyone.
Angelina spun first and landed on Lee, landing a large smack on his lips that lasted all of two seconds before laughing at his pouting expression.
“That wasn’t a kiss, you cheat.” He muttered, but Fred clapped him on the back and told him to cheer up before spinning the bottle himself. It landed on George, so a re-spin occurred causing him to land on Lee. He laughed goodnaturedly and kissed his cheek so wetly that Lee complained loudly and wiped it off in disgust. Fred grinned and Katie spun the bottle next.
She landed on George who shyly leaned over to kiss her. She sighed into it and held him tightly, none of us being able to look away before Fred yanked his brother back and told him to knock it off. Katie blushed, but had the nerve to flip Fred off in retaliation. I laughed at his incredulous expression. Angelina spun next and landed on Katie who dramatically kissed her hand in response then it was Katie’s turn again and she landed on Lee.
Lee wasn’t going to miss his chance and quickly scooted over to Katie who had the audacity to laugh at his serious expression. But he made everyone cheer and laugh when he dipped her backwards and kissed the life out of her. When they finally surfaced for air, Katie sat up and brushed her braid back and gave him a thumbs up which made Lee beam in happiness.
But then it was Oliver’s turn. Dare I hope it lands on me? It spun for what seemed like ages before finally stopping with the neck pointed in my direction. An intake of breath went around the whole group as everyone realized what had happened. Had I known that Fred and George had hundreds in bets on this very moment, I might not have been so willing to kiss him.
“Well, c’mere then, lass.” Oliver grinned, taking a swig of his own bottle of firewhiskey and beckoning me over. I gulped, but shuffled closer to him. He seemed so confident and relaxed, a look that I found highly attractive and magnetic despite the situation.
And then I squeaked as he pulled me onto his lap and slipped his left hand behind my head to hold me steady, his lips descending on mine and his right hand loosely holding my waist.
I melted into it and it seemed like he did too because neither of us wanted to come up for air. He deepened the kiss with a slip of his tongue into my mouth and I welcomed it with a short whine of contentedness, the heat of his mouth and the firewhiskey he’d been drinking warming me from the inside out. He smiled as he finally pulled away and looked into my eyes.
“Long time coming, aye lass?”
I didn’t reply, pulling him in for another kiss to the hoots and hollers of the others. If this was the only time I’d ever get to kiss Oliver Wood, damn sure I’d get my kiss before we either forgot it or regretted it in the morning.
I finally separated from him and settled back in my spot between him and George, leaving Oliver a bit glassy-eyed.
The weight of the situation finally hit me. I had kissed my best friend. He had kissed me. But surely it didn’t mean anything to him, right? He just saw it as a stupid game that was “good fun.” Tears welled in my eyes as I grasped the gravity of the situation. Tears I wasn’t about to let Oliver see.
I let a few more turns happen, Lee kissing someone and someone else kissing Fred and Angie finally kissing Fred and so on. When Katie landed on Oliver and he smiled before kissing her, but not quite so well as he kissed me, I yawned and called it an early night.
It wasn’t the first time I’d left early—the last time we played truth or dare, I’d chickened out when Lee had dared me to drink veritaserum and confess who I loved. Obviously, I wasn’t going to say it was Oliver. I would never admit it. And the few times before that, well, I’d left early and no one complained.
No one really made a complaint when I left the room tonight too, and the tears silently slid down my cheeks as I made my way to the Gryffindor common room and up to my bedroom. Even the Fat Lady had the good sense not to ask what was wrong with me when I slipped inside behind her. The common room was empty aside from a few older students studying late into the night, but they barely even looked up from their parchments when I came in so I wasn’t worried about them.
I was more than thankful for my room with my roommate sleeping in her own respective bed and collapsed under the sheets once I’d changed, hoping tomorrow would be a better day. I didn’t know if I could face Oliver after what we’d done, no matter how harmless the action seemed.
I awoke to light streaming in my eyes and the realization that I’d forgotten it was Saturday, so I didn’t really have to get up if I didn’t want to with the slight headache I now had from drinking so much the night before. I snuggled deeper into my covers with a smile when my roommate flopped on top of me and groaned my name.
“You have a visitor down in the common room who would like a word with you. He’s been pestering me since I went down for breakfast two hours ago. Very persistent, that one.” She complained, but thankfully rolled off my ribcage so I could breathe normally again.
“Who is it?” I muttered, already having the suspicion that it was Oliver before she’d even confirmed it. I sighed, rolling towards the edge of the bed to look at the alarm clock I had perched on the side table. “Tell him I’m coming, but tell him I need breakfast too. He can’t see me if he doesn’t have breakfast as he knows quite well.”
“Believe me, he already has some waiting for you as well as a cup of tea. He keeps hitting them with warming spells so they won’t get cold as he waits for you.” And then with a grin, she left the room, leaving me alone to my thoughts.
Oliver was downstairs waiting for me. Him having food for me wasn’t a surprise as he’d been prone to do the same thing when we’d spent time at each other's houses over summer holidays and even during Christmas break when I’d been over at his house last. His mother had been so kind and wonderful and—I was getting off track. Oliver was waiting for me and likely had been for the better part of three hours, considering the ungodly hours he woke at. I couldn’t keep him waiting much longer before he flew his broom up to my window and started knocking at it to get me out.
When I was finally presentable and clad in my Quidditch jumper Oliver had gotten me the Christmas before and a pair of comfortable pants and my slippers, I made my way downstairs and nearly tripped on Oliver’s feet. Turns out I would be facing him sooner than I thought.
“Godric, Oliver!” I gasped as he looked up at me with a lopsided grin.
“Morning, sleeping beauty. You couldna’ have woken up earlier?”
“Unlike some people, I value my sleep, thank you.” I sniffed, taking a seat beside him on the floor. “What have you brought me?”
He showed me the things he’d snagged in a napkin from the Great Hall and handed me a teacup filled with my favorite tea.
I started sipping it immediately, the warm beverage easing my headache almost immediately. As I took the napkin full of pumpkin pasties and a few mini quiches, Oliver hesitantly looked at me.
“Can we go somewhere else? Somewhere we can talk?” He asked almost nervously. I nodded and swallowed another gulp of tea.
“Is Percy out for the day with Penelope?” I asked before shoving another little quiche in my mouth. Oliver smiled despite his obvious nervousness and nodded in response to my question. “Then lead the way, good sir.”
It wasn’t odd for me to be going up to the boys’ dorms. In fact, I had always found it odd that boys couldn’t go to the girls’ dorms without being spilled on the floor, but girls could visit the boys’ dorms with no repercussions. Oliver led me up the stairs to the second landing where the sixth and seventh year students lived as I juggled my napkin and nearly empty teacup.
No sooner had I gotten inside his empty dorm had Oliver closed the door and pushed me against it, slotting his right leg between mine and holding me in position as his lips descended on mine and kissed me. I was shocked, unsure of whether or not to kiss back, but I did anyway no matter how bad of a decision my brain kept screaming it was.
His hands roamed my sides and the back of my head as he kissed me harder and more intensely than he had the night before and I found myself wanting to be even closer to him than I already was, my body flush with his heated one. In the process, I dropped my cup and napkin and let my hands wander freely. He broke away from my lips for a moment to breathe and pressed kiss after kiss to my jawline as he caught his breath.
“Oliver,” I breathed, “Oliver!”
“I’m sorry.” He broke away and set me back on the floor, breathing heavily as he turned away from me. “I shouldna’ have done that. Just because we kissed last night—I shouldna’ have done that. I’m sorry.”
“Oliver, I’m not mad at you.” I said, taking his hand in mine. “Let’s talk about this. We talk about everything else, so why not this?” He nodded in consent and flopped down on his bed, facing the ceiling. I sat beside him and angled my body to face him.
“So, why did you kiss me?” I asked carefully.
“Why did you kiss me last night?” He spat back, but not maliciously. His eyes seemingly searched my face for an answer.
“What do you mean? It was spin the bottle, Oli. I’m sure you kissed other people after I left the room last night. It was a game.” I was confused by what he meant when he shook his head.
“No, when we kissed last night, the first kiss was part a’ the game, I admit. But the second kiss. You kissed me.” He spluttered, confusion lacing his features as he got more agitated. “I wasna’ as drunk as you think I was, lass.”
“No, I don’t suppose you were.” I replied carefully, testing the waters to see what was causing him to get so upset. “Oli, is there a reason you’re getting so worked up about this?”
“It may ha’ been just a game to ya’, but it wasna’ just a game to me. I kissed ya’ like I’ve wanted to kiss ya’ for a long time now.” He finally answered with a deep sigh, laying back on his bed with his hand scrubbing his face. “I ken ya’ don’t feel the same, but I canna’ stop thinking ‘bout ya’ all the time.”
“Oliver.” I murmured quietly, but he avoided my gaze. “Oli, look at me.” I repeated when he still hadn’t looked my way and when he finally did, I noticed his eyes were glassy and red-rimmed as if he’d been crying earlier and hadn’t wanted me to know. I gently placed my hand on his cheek and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead where the hair wasn’t covering it.
“Do na’ pity me.” He grumbled and made to turn away again, but I tugged on a piece of his hair to keep him where I wanted him.
“Oliver, you stubborn ass. I’ve liked you for ages now and thought you were just too stupid to ever see it, so I’m thrilled that you’ve liked me for probably the same amount of time, yeah?” I grinned down at him and he looked at me incredulously.
“Ye’ mean it?” He asked cautiously.
“If I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t have said it.” I retorted and flopped down beside him, hand entwining with one of his. He pushed up on his elbow and turned to look at me, his lopsided grin back on his face. I smiled up at him and traced a finger along his shoulder.
“Can I kiss ya’?” Oliver asked suddenly and I laughed, not meaning to, but it bubbled out anyway.
“Now you ask?” I giggled, my smile seemingly permanently glued to my face. He made a goofy face at me before swooping down to kiss me firmly. It was even better than I remembered it, those three times in the last twelve hours. I could feel his smile in the kiss, but I didn’t mind it. He was happy. I was happy. And for just one moment, I thanked the firewhiskey and Katie’s stupid game suggestion for bringing the two of us together.
Echo: I guess we might as well do some homework?
Uriel: Ugh.
Shauna: Oh my god, why does it always have to be you?
Echo: I’m sorry that I’m responsible!
Beejay: You’re a modern woman, baby. You can have it all.
