Finder's Keeper || Oliver Wood [1]

Chapter 15: Kickoff

A/N: It's my birthday today so just for fun, can you guys guess how old I am? Idk if this counts as a hint but: I feel really old because I've been in Wattpad for seven years now WOW. I'm pretty sure a lot of my A/N's give away how old I might be as well haha :>

Jessica's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry arrived in the blink of an eye. She was back at Kings Cross Station in no time, crossing to Platform 9 3/4 and hopping on to the Hogwarts Express with Bethany and Alista. As usual, they had the start-of-year feast at the Great Hall and before she knew it, she was officially beginning her first day of classes. After such an exciting end to her previous school year, she was feeling good about this one — coupled with the fact that their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, was insanely handsome and she just couldn't deny it, it truly felt like this year was going to be great.

"Blimey, your summer was pretty interesting," Alista commented as she and Bethany listened to Jessica retell what happened over the break — specifically, the day she bumped into Oliver in Diagon Alley, which led to his family having lunch in her home and Charles playing Quidditch with them.

"Right? The only interesting thing that happened to me were visiting the Browns, but I've known them since I was a kid so even that was boring," Bethany sighed.

"Meanwhile, Jessica here was getting all chummy with Wood and his family."

"Chummy?" Jessica repeated, making a face at her odd choice of words.

"I told you they're a good fit," Bethany said shamelessly.

"Hey," Alista said. "Don't forget about Higgs. He's still a contender."

"There are no contenders," Jessica interrupted them exasperatedly, flustered at how it sounded like they were in a competition. "Can we talk about one of you guys instead?"

"Okay, my turn!" Alista beamed. "I met a really hot and mysterious muggle boy just before the break ended."

And so, the conversation shifted to Alista's story time of how she met the muggle boy, and the two Gryffindors obediently listened to her (with a few side comments) as they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. They chose their seats in the third row, admittedly wanting a good look of their new professor but not wanting to be seated right in front of him either.

It was around this time that students usually arrived all at once, so Jessica watched in passing as her Gryffindor and Slytherin classmates filed into the room, chatting amongst one another. Nothing was quite out of the ordinary, except for the fact that Terence Higgs slid into the seat next to her.

She had to confess that they did eventually become friends over the summer. Though she didn't write letters to him in the same frequency and enthusiasm as her best friends and even Oliver, she did get to know him a bit better and vice versa. Still, it surprised her that he chose the seat next to her, and she knew Alista and Bethany were taken aback as well based on the fact that she could hear them murmuring obnoxiously with one another. She braced herself for the teasing she'd have to endure from them once class was over.

"Morning, Hawthorne," Terence greeted, a playful smile on his lips.

"Er, hi, Higgs," Jessica replied. She elbowed Alista when the blonde girl had started giggling a bit too loudly at that very small and meaningless interaction.

Eventually, Professor Lockhart entered the classroom. A hush fell across the room, but there were a few giddy whispers here and there. Jessica leaned back in her seat, knowing full well that this school year would certainly be more eventful than the last.