Finder's Keeper || Oliver Wood [1]

Chapter 4: The Match

On the week before the Quidditch match of Gryffindor versus Slytherin, Jessica was doing some light reading in the library. Books of different sizes were scattered across the table before her, taking up all of the space even though she was the only one sitting there. It was a Saturday, quite early in the morning, but she had already eaten her breakfast.

Oliver Wood was, quite frankly, extremely stressed. Being in his fifth year, the professors gave much more heavy workload for the students in preparation for their O.W.L.s. However, he was also the Quidditch Captain of a brand new team with their first game next week. It was to be expected that he'd be struggling.

With a History of Magic essay that he hadn't even started on and an incomplete group project for Potions due on Monday, Oliver had no choice but to head to the library that Saturday morning. He would much rather play Quidditch at this time because of the good weather (he made a mental note to push for morning practices next school year), but he had to keep up his academics in order to pass. Because his group mates were certainly not awake at this time on a weekend, he chose to start his History of Magic homework.

Oliver headed to the History section of the library, searching for the right books. He was to write an essay regarding the Giant Wars, but as he walked down the aisle and scanned the books contents, he realized that what he was looking for were not in any of them. However, there were many empty spaces on the shelves, so he assumed other students had taken the good books. Signing in frustration, he turned to walk down the next aisle, finding himself in front of a girl with countless books spread in front of her.

"Hawthorne?" he questioned. He seemed to always be finding her in odd situations.

Because she was so into the book, Jessica was slightly startled when her name was called. Looking up from her book, which was all about nonverbal magic, she found herself staring back at Oliver Wood.

"Oh, hello Wood," she said nonchalantly.

She didn't seem interested in continuing the conversation, but Oliver asked anyway, "Were you reading all that?"

Only now realizing how many books she had taken off the shelves, Jessica smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. I guess."

"By any chance, did you take some of the history books from there?"

Jessica set her book down and scanned the covers on the table. "Yeah, I did. Sorry about that. Do you need them?"

She was already stacking all the history books to give to the boy, which were a lot. Oliver was only planning on getting one book and basing his entire essay off of that.

"Um, just one, I suppose. I have to write an essay on the Giant Wars."

"Then you can use these two. This one covers the entire Giant Wars, but it's pretty summarized. This, on the other hand, is way more detailed, but it only covers the first half of the war. I haven't read up on the second half yet, unfortunately."

Oliver gaped at the girl, wondering how she knew all about the Giant Wars and what books contained what information. She was younger than him, so Oliver felt incredibly stupid even with a topic as simple as the Giant Wars. He supposed she knew way more about other subjects as well than needed.

"How do you know so much?"

Jessica blushed. "Oh, I don't know. I... read."

"Huh." Oliver took the books that she offered, smiling gratefully. He then gestured to the seat on the other end of the table she was in. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Er, no." With a swoosh of her wand, the books piled themselves on top of one another to give space for Oliver. The two worked in a comfortable silence.