The Keeper

Chapter 46

I listened to The Kill (Bury Me) by Thirty Seconds To Mars, Troublemaker by Olly Murs and 26 by Paramore.

I went to a Paramore concert with @hgbanana27 and it was fantastic. I queued for seven hours oops.

Please vote and comment <3

*

I had assumed that life without Gillian would be drastically different. Thankfully, I was wrong. Hogwarts chugged steadily on without her within its walls. This included the final Hogsmeade trip of the year. 

Oliver had decided, in all of his cheesy glory, to ask me during the Gryffindor quidditch practice. I was sitting in the stands with Sasha and Felix behind me, the three of us laughing at Oliver barking orders at his teammates. I was actually watching Harry Potter more than I was watching Oliver. I had only seen him during mealtimes and had played against him once.

I became so distracted by watching the young seeker that I didn't realise a quaffle being hurled at me. Sasha, however, called my name at the last second. This snapped me out of my staring just in time. I caught the quaffle a few centimetres away from my face.

"Who threw this?" I yelled. 

The usual suspects for any trouble, I eyed the Weasley twins suspiciously, but they were preoccupied with beating the bludgers at each other. In fact, the only person who seemed to notice my outburst was none other than Oliver.

With the cheekiest grin on his face.

When we made eye contact, I held the quaffle out and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged in response, breaking eye contact for a second to dodge a stray bludger. Rolling my eyes one last time, I stood up, planning to hurl the quaffle back to Oliver. But when I did, he raised his hand, telling me to stop. He flew over to me.

"Don't throw that back just yet," Oliver said. "Read it."

I scoffed. "Read the quaffle? What do you mean?"

Landing in the row in front of me, Oliver gently took the quaffle from my hands. He turned it over and that's when I saw it. Taped onto the other side of the quaffle was a note. I laughed inwardly at the concept of reading yet another note from somebody. I took the note off the quaffle and read it aloud.

" 'Y/N,' " I read. " 'Now this catastrophe has finally blown over, there's one last opportunity for us to go out together. Come to Hogsmeade with me? Love, Oliver.' "

I put the note in my lap and beamed up at Oliver, his slightly blushing face looking back at me.

"So?" he asked. "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Giggling at the sheer cheesiness of it all, I stood up and took his face in my hands. I pressed a quick kiss to his lips, ignoring the wolf whistles from the Weasleys and Sasha and Felix.

"Of course, you idiot," I said, laughing again.

"Good."

*

I stood outside the castle, tapping my foot as I waited for Oliver to hand in his consent form.

"Sorry for the wait," he said, taking my hand and leading me away. "Filch was being more annoying than usual."

"No matter," I dismissed. Trying to change the subject, I asked, "Do you have anywhere in mind for our date?"

Interestingly, my question elicited a little blush on his cheeks. I nudged him when he didn't reply, curious to see what his answer would be.

"Actually, I did have something planned."

My eyes widened. "Care to expand?"

He chuckled. "Not really," he said. And he kept me in suspense until we reached Hogsmeade.

I was about to walk into the village when a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. Then, they covered my eyes.

"I want our last date of the year to be a surprise for you," Oliver explained.

He was standing right behind me and gently pushed me forward with his torso. I took a few tentative steps before feeling a little safer and walking properly. I wasn't too familiar with the topography of Hogsmeade, so wouldn't be able to judge where we were going. Occasionally, Oliver would guide me to the left or right and I was scared I'd trip or knock into something.

As if he sensed my worries, he put his mouth near my ear and whispered, "I've got you. Keep calm."

His words calmed me enough to last until he stopped me.

"We're here," he said and he removed his hands from my face.

My first reaction was to blink and the sudden influx of light. Then, I read the sign of the shop in front of me. I whipped around to look at Oliver, my eyebrows raised. His choice of location surprised me.

"Madam Puddifoot's?" I asked, my jaw slack.

"Even if we didn't consider it a date at the time, it was where we started, right?" Oliver said, placing his hand on the small of my back and taking me inside. "I thought it would be fitting if this is where we finished. "

I smiled to myself, amused by how thoughtful he had been, and let Oliver pull out my chair for me. Like on our first 'date' to Madam Puddifoot's, the small room was almost full of other couples who were clearly also making the most of the last Hogsmeade trip.

"I'll order some pumpkin pie, for old times' sake," Oliver said. I was about to protest that it wasn't autumn, so pumpkin pie wouldn't be available. But, sensing this, he put a finger up to stop me. "I asked in advance. They have the ingredients ready for us."

I couldn't say anything, I was so genuinely touched. Instead, I sat there, gobsmacked, while Oliver went to order two slices of pumpkin pie.

The date went perfectly. We chatted about our plans for the summer, plans for Hogwarts and plans beyond. To be honest, the realisation that I wouldn't see Oliver for nearly two months made me a little sad. But that mindset would get me nowhere - I focused on enjoying the time I had with him.

When we finished our pumpkin pie, Oliver insisted on paying, no matter how hard I tried to argue.

"You really should let me pay for once," I complained once we left. "I want to."

"No."

"Come on," I continued, squeezing his hand for emphasis.

"No."

We kept bickering during the entire walk back to the castle. I only relented when we reached the point that we had to part.

"I didn't want the night to end," I said quietly, lacing my arms around his neck.

Smirking, Oliver wrapped his arms around my waist. "With all you complaining, I thought it never would."

I narrowed my eyes and playfully swatted his cheek. "Keep that up and you won't get a goodnight kiss."

"That's terrible," he replied. He shuffled a little closer to me and pressed his forehead to mine. Waiting only a moment to make eye contact, Oliver kissed me firmly.

It lasted a few seconds and we only separated for air.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Y/N," he said, kissing me one last time.