Chasing the Keeper (The Quidditch Pitch Sequel) - Oliver Wood Love Story

Back at it

Serena Carrow was sitting on a bench in Purcell Park near her home on a hot evening in July. Anyone who knows Serena knows that she can most likely be found with her head in her notebook scribbling down Quidditch strategies for the Slytherin team. She was to be Captain again in her seventh and final year at Hogwarts and she was determined to win the Quidditch Cup and beat Gryffindor House once again. Her efforts were wasted last year as the Inter-House Quidditch Cup was cancelled due to attacks at the school. Serena was more desperate to win than ever.

Serena shut her book and stood up as the sun was beginning to set over the trees. She threw her bag over her shoulder and lost grip of her notebook as it fell to the ground and a picture of her boyfriend Oliver Wood slipped out. She reached down and smiled as she picked up the photo. She watched as Oliver moved around the picture making cute faces at her. She placed the photo into her pocket as she headed towards her house.

Her parents didn’t know about Oliver. She already knew what they would say about him if she told them.

“He is not a Slytherin?! He cannot possibly provide a suitable life for you! You are not to see him!”  Her father would shout as a vein in his forehead popped out in anger.

“But, father, he’s a pure blood!” Serena would say.

“It doesn’t matter! He is from a poor woodcutters’ family! He is a nobody who will amount to nothing!”

She would then turn to her mother for support.

“Honey, what about Terence? He was so sweet to you…”

No, Serena thought, she could never tell her parents. They would never approve of Oliver. They believed that if you weren’t Slytherin then you’re basically the scum of the earth.

Serena sometimes wished that her parents were more like her best friend Maggie’s parents. Her father was in Ravenclaw and her mother was in Slytherin. They had found a way to make it work and they weren’t prejudiced about what House you were sorted in at Hogwarts.

Serena shook her head trying not to think about it. There would be no convincing her parents. The Carrow family had been in Slytherin for centuries. Now that she thought about it, she wondered what Oliver’s parents would think of her. They’d probably think she was another stuck-up Slytherin who practiced the Dark Arts. It’s such a terrible stereotype.

Oliver was also the only person besides her parents that knew she had a special power. She could control the elements with her mind, although to keep her secret from others her parents told her to never use them. Serena had a little too much to drink one night and showed Oliver her powers, but deep down she knew that he would always keep her secret. Last year, her and Oliver had an argument over them. He wants her to talk to Dumbledore about them, but she wants to listen to her parents and keep it a secret. Oliver thinks that if she talks to Dumbledore about them then she’ll be able to learn more about them. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to take that step yet.

The Carrow house was on the corner of Salazar Street in Wittshire, England. It was much larger than the other homes on her street. It was a little too big for Serena’s taste. Especially because her parents were never home and she was alone most of the time. Her parents worked at the Ministry of Magic as Unspeakables. She wished she knew what that meant.

Serena’s room was one of the largest rooms in the house, but now as she’s gotten older, she has found that she doesn’t need all of the space and would be much happier with something smaller. It was too large and lonely. It was filled with a bunch of Quidditch supplies. Her Nimbus 2001 was sitting outside of her new case that Maggie had bought her for Christmas last year in the corner next to her Tutshill Tornados poster. Alongside that was a bunch of merchandise that Oliver had bought her at the Tornados game a month ago. She told him not to spend anything on her, but he insisted and bought her a sweatshirt, a scarf and a pair of ominoculars.