“They’re soooo frustrating!”

“I know! Look at them, they’re perfect for each other, they make each other so happy, but they just won’t admit it.”

“What are you girls talking about?”

Alicia, Angelina and Katie looked behind them at the three questioning boys, Fred, George and Lee. All three boys had soot on their faces and clothes and the girls vaguely wondered what they had been up to before deciding they didn’t want to know for when the teacher came around with questions.

“Those two!” Katie said speaking for the first time in the boys presents. She pointed over to a lounge partly in the shadows.

The boys followed Katie's direction and tried to hold back grins when they saw what the girls had been talking about. On the comfortable red lounge sat two laughing seventh-years. One was a British-Australian with soft blonde hair, steel blue eyes, freckles and an accent that was called ‘mingled’, meaning it was a British accent with an Australian slang. The boy’s accent was also thick, but was neither British nor Australian, it was Scottish. His hair was short, choppy and brown, his jaw was strong and his eyes a warm brown. The two seventeen-year-olds were sitting to close together to just be friendly and were laughing themselves horse at something.

“Like I said, they’re so frustrating! They clearly like each other, if not love, but they won’t say anything!” Angelina groaned in annoyance, making Fred put his hand on her shoulder to calm her.

Alicia giggled at her friend. “Come on, you only want Oliver to admit he’s in love with Nettie because you think he’ll stop making us work so hard in Quidditch practice!”

Antoinette Bradley, Oliver and Percy had been friends since first year when they met on the train, but over the years, Antoinette and Oliver had started to see each other differently, except they refused to say anything out of fear of ruining their friendship. To ignore the feelings, Oliver threw himself into Quidditch and Antoinette threw herself into her Prefects duties then her Head Girl duties.

Although the three younger girls didn’t really know Antoinette well, they were greatly interested in the little romance of their captain and his best friend. They had seen how that whenever Antoinette went into the stands during Quidditch practice to watch as she did homework, like a good friend, Oliver would fumble the saves, to busy paying more attention to her then the practice. That’s when the Quidditch girls had started paying close attention to the two of them.

Oliver had denied that there was anything more than friendship towards her but eventually the nagging girls wore him down and after the game in Oliver’s fifth year, in which they were pummelled by Slytherin, he admitted that he had fell for her the year before. He had worked it out at his parent’s New Year’s party.

From then on, the girls, with the grudging help from the three Gryffindor boys, had been trying to figure out the older blonde’s feelings towards the Quidditch obsessed boy. It had been Hermione that had given them the answer.

Antoinette had befriended Hermione in her first year when everyone her own age was ignoring her. The lonely first year had admitted to the fifteen-year-old that she was isolated and everyone thought that she was a know-it-all, which she was. Antoinette had kindly told her about her friend, Percy, that was a know-it-all but she still loved him. Hermione had thought she meant loved as in, more than friendly, but when she asked, the blonde had chuckled and said she only loved him as a friend, almost a brother. When Oliver came up to them and talked to her for a moment, the only thing Hermione could say to a blushing Antoinette was, “The same for him?”

Antoinette had simply put a finger to her lips, silently telling Hermione not to say a word to Oliver.

When Hermione had heard Angelina, Katie and Alicia discussing Antoinette and Oliver, she couldn’t help but tell them that the feelings between the two were mutual. The year and a half that had passed since then had proven that. Almost the whole school could see that they liked each other but neither of them saw it.

“Yeah, Percy was whining about it during the holidays. Apparently they’ve admitted to him that they like each other and he wishes they hadn’t, it’s annoying him,” Fred told them, sitting down at one of the spare arm chairs around the table the girls were at. “So we pulled pranks on him to shut him up. He swore he would get us back, but he can’t prank us.

“Wood thinks that winning the cup will make his year, but he doesn’t realize that once it’s over, he’ll have nothing to distract him from Nettie. He’s going to be miserable,” Lee reasoned wisely.

“Anty Nettie!”

“George, I’m not calling her Anty Nettie!”

“But it annoys her,” George whined.

“And she’s not here at the moment to annoy so mnnn.” Lee stuck out his tongue childishly.

“Perhaps we should help them,” Katie thought out loud. “I think Percy might even let us break some miner rules if it helps his two best friends be happy and stop bothering him.”

At that moment, the rule abiding Weasley walked into the Common Room and over to his two best friends. Whatever Percy said made Antoinette cup her mouth as though she was going to whisper something to Percy, although, the distance she was from him meant that Oliver would hear anyway. What she said could not be heard by the group but it made Oliver laugh harder and Percy pick up a pillow and playfully go to hit Antoinette for it. She ducked her head and cuddled into Oliver as Oliver brought a hand across to cushion the blow for the blonde girl.

Percy dropped the pillow into Oliver’s lap and sat in the chair near the two. He didn’t get to stay seated for long though.

“Percy,” George yelled across the Common Room to his brother, drawing the attention of more than just the older red head.

“Can we talk for a minute...?” Fred carried on as Percy looked at them in confusion.

“Or two?” George finished.

Percy shrugged and got up. As he walked over, Antoinette threw the pillow that Percy had left with Oliver, at Percy’s back. The Head Boy caught it behind him and looked over his shoulder with a smile before turning back to his brothers and their friends.

“What have you gotten yourself into now?” Percy asked sceptically, seeing as the twins tended to deny that they were related to Percy.

“We wanted to talk to you about Wood and Nettie,” Angelina told the boy. He simply raised an eyebrow, silently telling her to go on. “It’s beyond obvious that they like each other. They seem to be the only ones that don’t know! Anyway, we were thinking: can you help us get them together? We don’t have any ideas about how just yet, but if it involves breaking minor rules like being out a little passed curfew, will you let us get away with it?”

Percy gave it serious thought before opening his mouth. “You have to be careful because of Sirius Black, and you can only use the privileges I am giving you to help my friends, nothing else,” he said the last part for Fred and George's benefit.

The fifth-years and lone fourth-year agreed readily, although Fred and George did it a little glumly.

“You have to tell me all ideas before doing them,” Percy continued. “And they have to be well thought out. I want you to work very hard on your ideas.”

“Hey,” Katie suddenly said, getting an idea. “Does Nettie know what Wood’s handwriting looks like?”

“I guess, yeah, we always send each other letters in the holidays so she’d probably know the different between our handwriting, therefore she would more than likely be able to recognize it. Why?”

“Well, if you have a sample of his writing, then I have an idea.” Katie grinned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Antoinette walked into her dormitory happily. There were only three Gryffindor girls in her year, including her, so it wasn’t surprising to find the room empty. Joy would be out with her boyfriend and Nikki was probably trying to get a new boyfriend.

What did surprise her was the bouquet of narcissus flowers, sitting on her bed with a note attached. There were only a small number of people that knew narcissus was her favourite flower and seeing as all but two of those people were Muggle like both her parents, it could only be one of her best friends.

Curious, Antoinette walked over to her bed and picked up the note sitting next to the flowers, neatly folded. She lightly ran her finger over one of the soft petals of the flower, marvelling in how much like silk it felt before turning back to the note. Unfolding the letter, the girl was surprised to see she recognised the handwriting well. It was Oliver’s. It wasn’t as neat and fancy as Percy’s was, since Oliver’s had a manly flourish to his writing and it was slightly messy in comparison to Percy’s.

Dear Sweet Antoinette,

I hope you like the flowers, I know they are your favourite and I can see why. They are soft and delicate, just like you and beautiful beyond description. I could never say this to your face but I only pay so much attention to Quidditch out of fear that concentrating too much on you will make me speak my feelings. You are a great distraction from Quidditch but one I love.

Lovingly,

Your friend.

Antoinette read the letter through twice before snorting with disgusted and scrunching it up, throwing it into the dustbin. She picked up the flowers and smelt them before conjuring a vase, filling it halfway with water and putting the flowers in it. The girl sat the vase on her nightstand and grabbed the book she had come up to get before heading back out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So do you think it will work?” Alicia asked when they saw Antoinette disappear up the stairs.

“Well I made the letter look just like Wood’s handwriting, so it should, and Percy got the flowers for us,” Katie assured. “And we worked for ages trying to find that forgeining spell and learning to perform it properly.”

“Yeah, how did you know they were her favourite anyway?” Lee questioned with curiosity.

“In sixth year Nettie helped me cope with Ginny being ‘dead’ for those few hours I was kicking myself for not looking after her better and she helped Oliver in Potions through the whole year. He was going to fail his test until she stepped in and taught him the stuff he couldn’t get.” It was a true testament to how close Percy and Antoinette were, seeing as he used her nickname and not her full name like he did for even his own family members. “When it came around to her birthday, Oliver and I wanted to get her something that would mean a lot to her but I didn’t have much money and Oliver didn’t have much time to shop. We ended up owling her mother. She told us that Nettie was always writing poems and having no place to put them and she likes narcissus flowers. I bought her a book...”

“A book?” Fred and George asked in shock.

“To write her poems in!” Percy finished, getting an ‘oh’ off his twin, younger brothers. “And Oliver owled a flouriest; having four dozen narcissus flowers delivered, they were long lasting too.”

The girls awed at the end of Percy’s explanation as to how he knew his friend’s favourite flower.

“And that was when he liked her too. How sweet,” Angelina gushed, just as Antoinette jogged down the stairs.

“What’s that you’ve got?” George asked, hoping to start a conversation with her that would lead to the flowers up stairs.

“It’s the book Percy bought me for my birthday last year,” Antoinette replied, showing the cover that was hand scrapbooked with little rhymes, photo’s of the three and other things. Percy took it out of her hands as she sat on the arm of his chair. “So, what are you lot up to?’’

Percy didn’t say anything, but snorted at something inside the book. Along with poems Antoinette had made up, she had also put pictures and random quotes in. One such photo was by a Muggle camera out the front of the Sydney Opera House in Australia. It depicted Oliver and Antoinette. Antoinette was eating an ice-cream cone as she sat on the knee of a laughing Oliver. She looked like a local with her tan, tank-top (which she kept calling a singlet), jeans, flip-flops (known in Australia as thongs) and a bikini under her clothes, not to mention sunglasses. Oliver looked like a Muggle but had decided to wear a shirt with the British flag on it just to show he was a tourist, and married this with a pair of denim shorts. He was laughing because Antoinette had just put some ice-cream on his nose and was acting like nothing had happened. Underneath and around the photo, it said things like “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice-cream”, and “Oliver missed his mouth!”

“This was just after fifth-year, I had forgotten about that!” Percy stated, looking down at the picture.

“Mhhh,” Antoinette said, nodding her head, before looking at the twins. “So, tell me, what did you bribe Percy with to get him to tell you my favourite flower?”

“What do you mean?” the two boys asked in feigned innocents. They had practiced it to perfection but it still didn’t work on Antoinette who had spent a few summers at the Burrow.

“It may have looked like Oliver’s writing but it bloody didn’t sound like it. He always writes like he talks. Now I don’t know who out of this little group did it but the only thing I have to say is thanks for the flowers but your joke was shit,” Antoinette grabbed her book off of Percy and stormed out of the Common Room with more anger then any of them thought the usually calm girl had in her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Wow, what’s the rush, Nettie?” Oliver asked when his friend turned the corner and ran into him. He automatically grabbed her shoulders and held her at arm’s length to get a better look at her. She was angry, that was sure. “Net, what’s wrong, did someone hurt you?”

Antoinette gave a soft roar of frustration. “Some people are so insensitive, just playing with someone’s feelings for the fun of it! It’s just a joke to them.”

Oliver saw the tears of anger in the girl’s brown eyes just as she must have felt them on the brim of her bottom eyelids because she brought up her thumb knuckle to wipe them away furiously.

She did the soft roar again. “God! I’m such a girl, crying for no reason.”

Oliver chuckled at her and wiped away a stray tear. “Yes you are a girl, but you’re not crying for no reason. You’re not crying over a broken nail.”

“No, not like the girls in your fan club!”

Oliver groans, making Antoinette giggle wetly. “Don’t remind me of them!”

“Why?” Antoinette coerced with a cheeky smile, finally starting to calm down.

He couldn’t deny her request for knowledge when she smiled like that but that didn’t mean he had to give in completely. “Thmmmnnnmnmnmn.”

The blonde leant closer to Oliver with a smile, turning her ear to face him a little. “Say that again at a volume I can hear!”

The Scottish boy blushed and repeated what he said a little louder. “The girls said once I become famous they are going to write their addresses on panties and throw them at me when I fly by.” The girl’s laughter made his face turn further red.

“What did you say back?”

“I said I’d consider it!” Oliver didn’t expect Antoinette to react the way she did to his joke. Her face turned back to looking angry and this time, hurt.

“Some of those girls are only fourteen, Oliver! Fourteen!”

“Calm down, Antoinette, I was joking.” He didn’t know why, but she seemed to always calm down quicker when he spoke her full name instead of nickname.

“Sorry, I’m still ‘bit wired from earlier,” Antoinette apologized with a guilty smile.

“Must have been bad! Do you want me to beat them up?” Oliver asked, putting his arm around his friend’s waist and leading her down the hall, further away from the Common Room a few corridors over.

“Do you want to be down three Chasers and two Beaters for your match with Slytherin?” Antoinette asked back.

“Ahh, no, and I don’t beat up girls,” Oliver confessed.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you wanted to play with only a Keeper and a Seeker.” Antoinette smacked her lips together, making a popping noise. It was a childhood habit she hadn’t lost over the years. “Although, I have to say you’re one heck of a Keeper and Potter’s a natural Seeker, not to mention it helps that he was learning under your skilful captain-ing. You guys might give them a run for their money.”

“Captain-ing? Is that a word?” Oliver chuckled. “And we’re versing Hufflepuff now.”

“It is now! On the plus side of the evil, mean thing that happened to me, I got flowers out of it. Narcissus flowers,” Antoinette said cheerfully with a childish sway of the hips.

“Your favourite,” Oliver acknowledged.

“You remembered!” The girl turned to look at Oliver in shock.

“Of course, I actually bought you some yesterday when I was in Hogsmeade, but they disappeared,” Oliver confessed with a slight blush.

Antoinette smiled sweetly at Oliver and leant over, kissing him on the cheek. “Thank you. I think I already have them.”

“You’re welcome,” Oliver said, his cheek burning from Antoinette's light touch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Percy, it’s a guy!”

At Antoinette's stage whisper, Oliver started laughing.

“Do you think he would have picked up on it quicker if the guy fell over?” Oliver asked the girl.

She just giggled as Percy went red.

“It’s not like I was checking the dancer out, I just couldn’t work out what was so funny,” Percy defended himself.

“Perce, ‘Rent’ is a play about cross dresses. Either that or I didn’t get the story line.” Antoinette laughed.

“Oh. Shut it!” Percy demanded. Whilst in Australia a few weeks after fifth-year the three went to see ‘Rent’. The other two had gotten a kick out of the fact that Percy had to lean over and ask why everyone was laughing at the dancer when he thought they were rather skilled.

“You can’t deny that it was funny,” Oliver stated through a laugh.

“Fine, it was, but do you always have to bring it up?” Percy sighed in frustration.

“Yep,” Oliver and Antoinette answered with amused smiles.

“God, you two are perfect for each other,” Percy mumbled, loud enough for them to hear but pretend they didn’t.

The two blushed and looked in the opposite direction to the other. This made Percy laugh softly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his two brothers and their friends looking at him, silently asking him to come over so they could talk. The seventh-year red-head excused himself from his friends under the pretence of asking his brothers about an incident that happened earlier that day. He quickly made his way over to the group, not wishing to stay there long since he had homework to complete.

“Yes?”

“We have no idea what to do!” Alicia admitted with a guilty expression. “We were hoping to have something before the Christmas break but I don’t see us thinking of something in two days.”

“Well, I think that’s a good thing. You really annoyed Nettie last time and Oliver wouldn’t be impressed if you hurt her again, so you’ll have to think of something that doesn’t have such a back fire. Not to mention I highly doubted they would be together before the break, although I hoped they would be together for the New Year’s party Oliver’s family holds every year.” Percy dropped into a chair with a sigh, knowing they would want to talk to him a bit longer.

“Can we use the party to our advantage?” Katie questioned, grabbing at straws for an idea.

Percy shrugged before verbally replying. “Don’t know.”

“How about we just drop hints that the other might like them,” George offered.

“Just don’t make it to obvious because they’ll think it’s just a prank,” Percy warned, staring down his little brothers. “Think it through.”

“Alright,” the two agreed as the three girls and Lee just nodded.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dance?” Oliver asked, extending his hand to Antoinette.

Every year since Antoinette had started attending the parties in fourth year, the two had danced together in the extravagant Ball Room. Oliver had been the one to teach her how to dance, he taught a lot of people, but the only time his aunts had commented on his and his partners dancing whilst his partner was learning, was when Antoinette was learning. The aunts couldn’t help but point out how well the two moved together. They didn’t even seem to think about it, they just danced.

Antoinette smiled and took Oliver's hand, standing up as she did. The two’s out-fits went well together. Antoinette wore a white, spaghetti-strapped dress that went to her knees and sandals whilst Oliver wore a dusk-grey button-up and black slacks, with shiny black shoes. With the girl’s light blonde hair and the boy’s dark brown, it looked like they were Heaven and Hell.

Oliver led his friend to the edge of the dance floor and turned, facing her. The blonde comfortably put her hand on his shoulder as he put his free hand on her lower back. He pulled her a little closer before they started dancing.

“I think the Weasley twins, the Quidditch girls and our ever entertaining commentator are up to something,” Oliver whispered in her ear.

Antoinette shivered as his breath rushed passed her ear. “I got that impression too. They said they were doing ‘homework’ a few days before the holiday cause they were talking in a whisper and writing something. The Weasley twins are Bludgers, they don’t do homework.”

“Bludgers? They rocket around trying to unseat people from their brooms?” Oliver asked, quirking an eyebrow at his dance partner.

She just rolled her eyes. “Well yes, but Bludger means lazy in Australian.”

“Ahh.” The two danced in silence for a few moments before Oliver broke it again. “You look really beautiful tonight.”

“Thank you, you don’t scrub up to badly either.” Antoinette giggled. Oliver spun her and laughed at her ecstatic smile. The girl felt her heart jump at the sound. “I love it when you do that.”

“Spin you?” Oliver asked, spinning her back around.

“That too.”

Antoinette’s statement caused a confused look to appear of Oliver's face before someone tapped him on the shoulder. The Scottish boy looked over his shoulder to find Lee standing there in rather smart-looking clothes.

“Can I cut in?” he questioned.

“Depends, do you want to dance with me or Oliver?” Antoinette teased, letting go of Oliver’s hand and putting it around his neck, hugging him.

“You, of course,” Lee replied with a wink.

Antoinette giggled before looking at Oliver. “Save me another dance?”

“Definitely,” Oliver agreed, kissing Antoinette on the cheek. Oliver took his arms from around Antoinette’s waist and grabbed her hand, holding it out for Lee to take.

Lee, of course, did and couldn’t help but notice that Antoinette watched Oliver walk off. This caused him to smile when the girl looked back at him.

“Having fun?” Lee asked casually, placing his hand on the older girl’s hip. He had to look up at her, seeing as she was at least an inch taller with out heels and at the moment she was in two inch heels.

“Yes, I am. You?” she questioned back, taking the dancing position so they could start.

“Yes, lots, it’s always fun seeing Wood get doe-eyed over his girl,” Lee said with a chuckle.

Antoinette looked shocked and hurt. “Oh, yes, I bet it is,” she agreed in a falsely indifference voice.

Lee smirked as Antoinette dropped her eyes, hoping she was starting to see the signs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Wood,” Alicia greeted as her captain walked out into the fresh air and over to the refreshment table that was outside.

“Hey, Spinnet, how are you?” Oliver replied, raising the Butterbeer to his lips, taking a swig.

“I’m good. Nettie looks beautiful tonight, doesn’t she?” Alicia asked breezily, looking through the large glass windows into the glowing Ball room. Easily viewed through the window was a dancing and laughing Antoinette and Lee.

“Yeah, she looks breathtaking,” Oliver whispered, looking at Antoinette with the glinting look in his eye he got when talking of Quidditch, only this was more intense.

“I think she’s trying to impress someone, don’t you?” When Oliver just grunted, Alicia went on. “I mean, she’s never dressed up so much for any over New Year’s party. I’m a girl and I know that girls like Nettie only dress up because they have someone to dress up for.”

Oliver took an angry sip of his drink before replying, “Yeah.” He then walked back into the house. He only had to take one more look at Antoinette and Lee to know he had had enough and went up stairs, ready to go to bed early.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She saw him disappear up the stairs and quickly said ‘thank you’ to Lee for the dance and followed. When she spotted him in the corridor passing the drawing room, she saw someone else appear. A girl walked out of the drawing room and Antoinette recognized her as one of Oliver's many fans.

Although Antoinette could not see Oliver's face, she could see the girl’s and her actions. The girl ran her hand down the boy’s chest and fluttered her eyelids at him. The older girl didn’t know what Oliver said but he had soon passed the forward girl.

The blonde seventeen-year-old hid in the shadows that the lamps on the walls hadn’t managed to diminish as the younger girl walked passed. When the coast was clear, the girl slipped out of her hiding spot and glided down the hall, her sandals making a soft clicking sound with each step. Oliver's bedroom door was closed and it didn’t take a Ravenclaw to know he was in there.

She wrapped on the wood gentle and opened the door when Oliver said she could enter. She opened it only wide enough for her to slip in and quickly close the door behind her. Antoinette turned away from the door and looked at the boy lying on the bed. Oliver was sprawled out on top of the covers, still fully dressed. He had his hands behind his head and was looking up at the ceiling with an expression of deep thought on his face.

“You still owe me a dance,” Antoinette reminded her friend in a soft, almost timid voice.

Oliver looked over at her in surprise before masking his face into one of indifference. “Yeah, sorry, don’t feel like partying.”

Antoinette nodded, biting her lip mildly. “Didn’t everyone you want show up?”

“No, they all showed up... I was just hoping something would... happen but it seems like nothing’s going to change,” the boy admitted with a sigh, looking back up at the ceiling. “Not yet anyway.”

Antoinette just nodded again, feeling hurt, before walking forward slowly. When she reached the male teenager, she slid onto the bed and rested her head on his chest, sighing when she felt him move his hand from under his head and wrap his arm around her small shoulders. She could hear the rhythmic beat of his heart as it vibrated through his chest.

“Your hair looks good in ringlets,” Oliver stated, looking up at the ceiling and talking in a voice that suggested he was talking about the weather.

Antoinette smiled and leant up, kissing Oliver on the cheek, leaving a mark. She giggled at him and touched the lipstick mark with her index finger. “And you look dashing with ‘Blush Me Pink’ lipstick on your cheek.”

Oliver smiled down at the girl in his arms as the sound of counting could be heard from drunken and sober voices alike down below. It was almost a new year. “Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Kiss my cheek on New Years?” Oliver questioned.

“Oh. It’s a tradition, in my Australian family, to give everyone a kiss on the cheek when it’s a new year. I kiss all our friends, Percy always blushes, but you’re always first,” Antoinette admitted.

“Alright,” Oliver said, and when ‘happy new year’ was shouted by all those still at the party, the boy leant down and closed the gap between the two of them. He kissed her fair on the lips, softly lingering for a moment. He couldn’t help but smile as he drew back. “Happy new year!”

“It definitely will be,” Antoinette agreed, smiling at him before putting her head back on his chest.

That was how Percy found them when he went looking for them to say ‘happy new year’. He just smiled at their sleeping forms and closed the door quietly, choosing not to mention this to the young meddlesome ones as Percy had silently dubbed Alicia, Katie, Angelina, Fred, George and Lee.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sound of soft giggling filled the air, followed by deeper chuckles.

“Never!” Antoinette stated through her giggles.

She, Percy and Oliver were walking down the path to Hogsmeade village. Antoinette was walking backwards so she could look at the two chuckling boys. The air was fresh and almost stung the nose to breathe it in. The smell of pine and wet grass was strong and the sound of animals scurrying about could be heard.

“Tell us,” Percy pressured with a smirk. Unlike the other Weasleys, Percy’s sense of humour was subtle and a smirk was his way of telling people he was joking.

“No!” Antoinette protested with a large smile on her face.

“Come on, we won’t get hurt!” Oliver pouted at the girl before him.

“I’m not telling you who my little cousin said was cute!” Antoinette turned her back on the boys and folded her arms, stopping her walk.

The two boys looked each other before quickly covering the ground between them and their female friend. When they got to her, Oliver grabbed Antoinette around the waist and picked her up, throwing her onto his shoulder.

“Put me down, you...” Antoinette used a swear word that started with W and was commonly used by her, her Australian accent getting stronger as she swore.

“You know, Nettie, I have a great view of your backside from here,” Percy teased.

“For Merlin’s sake, Percy, it’s called an ass!” Antoinette exclaimed, trying to manoeuvre herself so she could roll her eyes at her stuffy friend.

“A very nice one at that,” Oliver added, hitting the said body part.

“Put me down or I’ll kick you in the Wood’s!” Antoinette threatened.

“I’m guessing that means my family jewels,” Oliver said.

“Ya think?”

“Tell us what your cousin said and Oliver will put you down,” Percy promised, although he didn’t know if Oliver actually would put her down.

“Why do you want to know? She’s five,” Antoinette asked, her voice rising, soon to reach a screech if she continued.

“Because she kept blushing when she looked at us and I was laughing at Percy and Percy was laughing at me for making her blush, which one was it?” Oliver explained, moving his shoulder so Antoinette jumped and then landed back on his shoulder with a soft ‘oof’.

“Fine,” Antoinette relented. “You both made her blush. She thinks you both are really tall and handsome. Now can you put me down? ...Gently!” Antoinette added just as Oliver dropped her unceremoniously from his shoulder. The girl ended up sitting on the ground looking up at the two males and she had to silently agree with her little cousin, they were tall from down at her level.

“You didn’t say that soon enough,” Oliver told her with a careless shrug, looking at his nails before smiling down at her.

“Damn, and I can’t even follow through with my threat cause I was told you don’t have any!” Antoinette wounded his ego before jumping up and running down the street, the boys close behind.

Oliver caught her easily, seeing as out of the three friends he did the most exercise. As soon as the girl realized it was a losing battle, she stopped and covered her head with her arms. Oliver was obviously not expecting her to stop because he didn’t have time to stop fully and ran into her. Luckily he had slowed enough that they didn’t go crashing to the ground.

“What did you say?” Oliver dared her to repeat herself, his arms wrapped around her.

“You have no manhood,” Antoinette paraphrased. Being a Gryffindor, she didn’t back down.

“Oh, really?” Oliver asked, turning the girl around in his arms and making her face him. Because of how close he was holding her, there wasn’t much space between them.

“Are you going to curse her or kiss her?”

The two looked over at the voice, only just realizing Percy was standing near them, leaning against a building with his arms folded. At his question the two turned red and broke apart, neither knowing the answer as to what Oliver wanted to do more.

Later that day, the three went to the Three Broomsticks. Antoinette had volunteered to get another round and Percy was heading to the bathroom, so he walked her to the bar.

“The next match, right?” Percy questioned, looking over at the table Oliver sat at alone.

“Next match!” Antoinette repeated with a confident smile.

That was all Percy had to hear. He left his female friend at the packed bar and headed to the bathroom, when he returned to the table a short time later, Antoinette was still not back, so he took the chance to question Oliver. “Next match, right?”

“Next match,” Oliver repeated with a confident smile, seconds before Antoinette returned with three Butterbeers.

Percy sat with his friends, blatantly ignoring the looks he was getting from his younger brothers and their friends. He didn’t want to hear their latest plan, the last one had resulted in Antoinette and Oliver not talking to each other so the person the other liked wouldn’t think they were together. Bless them, they’d rather they be miserable as long as the other was happy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Shouldn’t we ask Percy?” Katie whispered as she and her friends grouped together in an empty hall.

“We tried but he’s ignoring us. Anyway, this one’s going to work,” Fred stated with confidence. “George and I have lost sleep over the planning of this one. I swear, once they’re together, I’m going to sleep for a week to get rid of these unsightly bags under my eyes.”

“Okay, we’ll get Oliver,” George instructed, gesturing to himself, Fred and Lee. “And you girls can get Nettie.”

It took longer for the girls to find Antoinette then it did for the boys to find Oliver. Thankfully, the two weren’t together, Oliver was in the Common Room and Antoinette was in the library. Angelina had had the smart idea of walking in like she was looking for something not someone, she had then asked Antoinette to help them look for Alicia’s cat.

When they had reached a door to an ‘empty’ classroom, they had asked the blonde to have a look whilst they ‘looked’ in other classrooms. The moment Antoinette had opened the door, they pushed her in and locked the door, sealing it with a charm that wouldn’t let it be unlocked until the people inside admitted their deepest secrets.

The moment the door had closed, Antoinette had been plunged into darkness, the only thing she saw was the door glow pink for a moment. She knew what spell was on it, but what as more, she knew that the door was locked, there was no way out. Her breathing turned heavy at this thought and she started banging on the door.

“Angelina, Alicia, Katie, this is not funny, please let me out!”

“Nettie?”

Antoinette gasped and turned when someone spoke. She recognised the voice before they had cast the lumos charm. Standing there, surrounded by darkness was a very bewildered Oliver Wood.

“Nettie, you’re in here too?” he asked before noticing something wasn’t right. “What’s wrong?”

“Can’t... breathe,” Antoinette struggled to say, leaning against the door for support.

“Oh shit, you’re cleisiophobic!” Oliver said, suddenly remembering what happened when he and Percy had locked Antoinette in a broom closet for a joke. Antoinette only nodded as she dropped to the ground. Thankfully, Oliver grabbed her before she landed. “Antoinette, just breath, come on, hopefully the windows are unlocked.”

Oliver led Antoinette over to the window and let her lean against the wall as he tried to open the door. As much as he tried, he couldn’t open it. Thankfully the window opened a bit, enough to give Antoinette fresh air.

The girl had watched him and when she saw it wouldn’t budge, she started to hyperventilate. She grabbed the collar of her top and tried to loosen it even though it was not sitting on her neck to begin with.

“Antoinette, listen to me,” Oliver said in a commanding but calming voice, his hands cupping her face. “Just calm down, and breath. You are going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you!” Oliver promised.

“The-there’s a... Secrets Held Lock on... the door,” Antoinette explained between gasps of air.

At that statement, Oliver paled, stepped away from Antoinette and crossed his arms over his chest protectively. “I don’t have any secrets though,” he lied, knowing Antoinette would see through it.

“Me neither.”

They both saw through each other’s lies but neither of them was willing to bring it up. Instead Antoinette focused on her breathing and Oliver looked for another way out of the room. It wasn’t long before the girl couldn’t stay calm anymore. She started to get dizzy as her breathing became short.

“Oliver,” she whimpered, falling to the ground.

Oliver rushed to her side and picked the top half of her body up, resting it on his lap with his arm behind her back. “Antoinette?” Oliver spoke, giving the unconscious girl a little shake. When she didn’t wake, the Keeper started to panic. “Antoinette, open your eyes! Please? Ennervate! Ennervate! REDUCTO!” The last spell was yelled at the door. The plank of wood was blasted to pieces and Oliver was glad that he and Antoinette were on the other side of the room.

The Weasley twins, Lee , who had locked Oliver in the room, Angelina, Alicia and Katie were obviously close by because they came rushing into the room not long after the door had been destroyed.

“Geez, do you really not want to talk about it tha...” George stopped ranting when he saw Antoinette lying unconscious in Oliver’s arms.

“What happened?” Angelina squealed, covering her mouth in fright.

“She’s cleisiophobic, you morons. Lock her in a room and she has a panic attack.” Oliver glared at the younger students as he picked Antoinette off the group and carried her limp form to the Hospital Wing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“What the hell were you lot thinking?” Percy yelled, towering over the guilty teens.

“We didn’t know,” George tried to explain weakly.

“That doesn’t matter; it was a stupid idea in the first place.”

“Well, we tried to tell you our plan but you ignored us!” Fred snapped, getting defensive.

“That is because your other plans have blown up in Antoinette’s and Oliver’s faces’. Like this one!” Percy retorted. “Ten points from Gryffindor, each for endangering a fellow student.” No one said anything against that, all believing they deserved it. “Just wait!”

The group watched as Percy stalked off. They were all wondering if it was a threat or instructions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was the night before the Gryffindor verse Slytherin match and everyone was blowing off steam. The Weasley twins were telling jokes, rather inappropriate jokes, Angelina, Alicia and Katie were watching, Harry was talking to his two friends and Oliver was in the corner going over plays. Antoinette sighed upon seeing this. She had gotten out of the Hospital Wing two days ago and hadn’t spent much time with Oliver since.

“Is it this game?” Percy asked. If anyone else had been around, they would have looked at Percy like he was bonkers, but Antoinette just sighed again, knowing perfectly well what he was talking about.

“Yes! It’s the last game, dingus. I’m doing it tomorrow ’cause we’ll have less time before N.E.W.T.s and I won’t notice him ignoring me as much.”

Percy nodded before looking at Antoinette and rolling his eyes. “Just go!”

Antoinette smiled her thanks before getting up and walking over to Oliver. He didn’t notice her presence till she sat on the arm of his chair and ran her hands over his tense shoulders. He quickly whipped his head around to look at the person behind him. When he saw it was Antoinette, he visible relaxed into her touch.

“Hey,” Oliver said softly, turning back to his planning.

“Oliver, honey,” Antoinette started, leaning forward to whisper in his ear and to look at what he was doing. “The game is tomorrow. If you try to teach your players anything new, you’ll confuse the hell out of them. I know you’re bummed about what happened in the Hufflepuff match, I was the one to drag you out of the shower, thanks for the view by the way, but you are a magnificent captain and you’re going to win the cup, I promise.”

“What if we don’t?” Oliver asked in a desperate voice. “Antoinette, Quidditch is my life, my whole family has worked with a part of Quidditch and if I don’t win the Quidditch Cup this year, I’ll never get a position on Puddlemere United Reserve Team.”

Antoinette knew that although Oliver often expressed his fear of losing Quidditch matches, he’d never let anyone hear him so defeated. His whole family was obsessed with Quidditch and his cousins that went to Durmstrang always asked the same question just to get on Oliver’s nerves, “have you won the Quidditch cup yet? We have! Every year!”

“Hey,” Antoinette said tenderly, massaging the boy’s shoulders. “I know you, that’s why I can say with confidence that any team would be stupid not to have you part of it. You’re passionate, determined and very skilled. You never stop thinking about moves and... and plays and how best to bring out your player’s natural skill. You knew that Potter needed someone to just have confidence in him and give him tips, you knew that Fred and George needed you to just say, ‘aim for the Slytherin’s head’, you knew Katie needed help with her turns before you had even see her have a proper practice. You are going to be fine.”

“How are you so confident?” Oliver looked Antoinette in the eyes.

“Like I said, ‘I know you’.” Antoinette smiled down at him. “Further more, I know your team, and they have high respect for you, they’ll win. For you!”

“And if they don’t?” Oliver questioned with a cheeky smile, wanting to see what the girl would offer.

“I’ll jinx Flint so he serenades Snape in the Great Hall, wearing a frilly pink dress,” Antoinette promised making Oliver laugh. “Come on, you’re going for a walk so you’ll calm down then you and your team are going to head to bed.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the day of the big match, and the three seventh-years were sitting in the Great Hall. Oliver was urging his team to eat, whilst not touching his food what-so-ever. The applause the team had gotten from three quarters of the school didn’t help his nerves or his appetite.

“Oliver, eat something before I shove something down your throat.” Antoinette ordered.

The Scottish boy looked over at the girl who had only gotten out of the infirmary three days ago but was still threatening and obeyed what she had said. He ate only half a slice of toast but before Antoinette could scold him, Percy leant over and whispered in her ear, “At least he won’t have breakfast breath.”

Antoinette had chosen to hit Percy when Oliver wasn’t looking instead of forcing the athletic boy to eat. Soon after, Oliver was leading his team out of the hall to much applause. The girl stayed rooted to the spot before Percy gave her a slight nudge, making her get up and run after her friend.

“Oliver, wait,” Antoinette shouted, running down the front steps. Instead of only the brunette stopping, the whole team did and turned to look at her. “Wow, I didn’t know there were so many Oliver’s at the school. Oliver Wood, please tell your team to piss off!”

The Quidditch team took the hint and told Oliver they would be checking out conditions of the field and such. Once they were out of ear shot, Oliver turned expectantly to Antoinette, who was looking peaky and seemed to be regretting following Oliver out of the castle.

“What is it?” Oliver questioned, wanting to get to the Quidditch pitch to talk with his team.

“We’re friends, right?” Antoinette started in an uncertain voice.

“Right,” Oliver agreed, utterly baffled.

“And, nothing can ruin our friendship, right?”

“Right, nothing,” Oliver yet again agreed, starting to look grateful, as though he was happy Antoinette and he had the same view of their friendship.

“Good, s…so.” Antoinette smiled jokingly before it quickly disappeared to fright. “So, when I say I find myself stupidly falling for you and it’s stupid cause you are my best friend and you could only see me as a best friend and simply telling you how I feel could jeopardise our relationship, you won’t hold it against me?” The whole time the blonde had been rambling, she had been looking at the ground, when she was done, however, and she looked up to find a speechless Oliver.

The front doors opened and the sound of students heading their way could be heard.

“I can see you feel the same as I expected so I’m going to head up to the stands. Good luck.”

She ran off before Oliver had a chance to even process what she had told him. Numbly, he walked onto the field and over to his team. He couldn’t see Antoinette in the stands because she was probably climbing the stairs.

“OK ... no wind to speak of ... sun’s a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it ... ground’s fairly hard, good, that’ll give us a fast kick-off...” he noted quickly before making his team go into the changing room.

The whole time he was changing, Antoinette's words rang through his mind. When he got out onto the field however, he pushed it to the back of his mind after thinking that that was the exact reason Antoinette had told him before the match, so he wouldn’t have much time to dwell on the knowledge she had given him.

The game was brutal. It was the most underhanded game Oliver had ever witnessed. When Bole and Derrick started hitting him repeatedly with bludgers, Oliver could have sworn he heard Antoinette squeal in fright, even though he knew if she had made such a noise, there was no way he could have heard it. When he finally regained his balance on his broom, he looked over at the Gryffindor stands and used the Weasley red hair to find Percy and next to him, Antoinette, who had a hand covering her mouth and a look of horror on her face. She was looking straight at Oliver and when she saw he was alright, she visible relaxed.

Harry’s ‘YES!’ rang through the pitch over to Oliver, causing the Keeper to sit there, suspended in air by his broom for a moment before whooping and pelting down to his team as fast as his broom allowed. Tears blurred his vision as he hugged Harry in gratitude. When they landed, Oliver looked around, still having something to do, something he promised himself and Percy that he would do right after the match, no matter what.

As he scanned the sea of scarlet that surrounded them, he saw two people standing off to the side. When Antoinette shyly looked at him, he smiled, giving her the encouragement to walk over to him whilst Percy just hung back and watched.

“Hey,” Oliver greeted with his most charming smile. He stepped forward and gathered Antoinette in his arms, giving her a strong hug, lifting her off her feet.

She giggled at him. “Oliver, put he down.”

Oliver did as he was told and as he did, the muscles on his stomach gave a brutal twitch of pain. “Ow.”

“Are you alright?” Antoinette asked, putting a hand on Oliver's ribs.

“Yeah, just a little ‘battered’ as you would say,” Oliver assured before taking Antoinette’s hand away, holding it in his. “Antoinette, about what you said earlier...”

The girl’s face fell. “Oliver, you said our friendship...”

“I know how you feel,” Oliver cut in quickly, halting his friend’s words. “I know how you feel.”

The two didn’t notice the six people listening into their conversation with interest, if they did, Oliver may have hesitated before going on. “For about three years now I’ve kept my mouth shut because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. In the holidays before this year I told Percy I was going to tell you what I felt after the last game of the year. I don’t know why I choose to tell you today, but I figured if we won, I wouldn’t get overly down about you rejecting me and if we lost, I was already down, so I couldn’t get worse.”

Antoinette just laughed at him. “I told Percy on the holidays that I was going to tell you before the last match of the year. My reason was if you won, you’d be too happy to hold it against me and if you lost; you’d want a friend that didn’t think Quidditch was useless like Percy does.”

Oliver smiled at his friend before kissing her, ignoring the cat-calls they received from the people that noticed what they were doing.

The six that had been listening were not whistling at their captain and his girlfriend, instead they were looking gobsmacked.

“They were always planning on telling each other, even before we decided to help,” Katie exclaimed in shock, looking at the two seventh-years.

“All that hard work, thinking of ideas,” Lee mumbled.

“But Percy...” Fred started, looking over at his older brother who was smirking at the shocked group.

“Percy pranked us!” George finished in disgust.