Knock on wood | Oliver Wood (COMPLETE)

14.

Christmas break was only a week away and Delilah was beyond relieved to be going home. She hadn't had enough communication with her family in the past four months and missed them dearly.

She sat in the library alone. Her friends were all at the quidditch match. Clarissa had gone with the team to 'observe' the other team. Jesse and Connor just liked watching quidditch and James was playing against Slytherin.

She wanted to go and support James but she couldn't. Quidditch was not her thing and people at Hogwarts talked. The burden of homework was only an excuse for not going. She didn't like to watch Quidditch especially with Oliver Wood around.

"Hello Delilah" the girl looked up from her parchment to see Percy standing before her.
"Hey Perce! Here to do homework?" She asked with a smile.
"I'm done with that. I was just bored"
"So...you came to the library..?"
"Yes. Why not?" The redhead sat down in front of her and Delilah shrugged, going back to her work.

It was a few seconds later that Delilah realized that Percy was just sitting there doing nothing.
"Aren't you going to get a book for yourself?" She asked him.
"Oh! Right" He hastily stood up and grabbed the first book that came into his hand and opened to a random page. Delilah looked at Percy with narrowed eyes but went back to her work anyways.

After his constant fiddling around with the pages, Delilah lost it. "Why are you here Percy?"
"I told you-"
"Did Oliver send you to spy on me? If that is it, tell him that I have no intent of going to the Quidditch pitch" Delilah said angrily. But before Percy could reply, Madame Pince interrupted them. "You both keep your voice down or go outside and talk" She told them.
"Sorry.." Delilah ducked her head.
The woman lingered around for a while and so Delilah packed her things up and started walking out of the library. Percy followed her.

"I'll hex you Percy"
"Okay, fine. Yes Oliver sent me to you tail you till the match was over but he isn't doing it to irritate you, you know..."
"Then why is he doing it?"
"He's worried about you. I promise you that he will never admit it but he knows why you hate quidditch so much and he knows that you haven't been in touch with your parents and he has too many doubts on James so he wanted me to stay here since I don't go to Quidditch matches"
"That's ridiculously stupid. I'm not a piece of glass! Yes I have a lot on my mind but I'm not going to break down. And since when is Oliver Wood nice to me? Stop making things up" The girl walked into her common room and dashed up to her dorm.

Oliver did send Percy to follow Delilah around, more like begged, but his reasons were good. The same day, a little while ago, Oliver had seen James flirting with another girl like the typical James he was. He knew this would happen eventually but no one heard him when he was against the idea of James dating her.

The three Gryffindor boys were already skeptical of the Ravenclaw and they had also formed a bond with Clarissa, Connor, Jesse and Delilah. Though they didn't call out James, they were sure he would do it again and so kept an eye on the couple whenever they could.

James was disappointed that Delilah didn't attend his match and Oliver was over the top! Not because James was sad but because Slytherin had lost the match by one goal. That meant that Gryffindor had the lead.

"I guess our next match will be fun, Wood. We beat Slytherin. Gryffindor is nothing in front of them" James smirked.
"Oh we will see about that. My team had the best players" Oliver was being over confident.
"You and best players!?" James scoffed.
"Ofcourse! I've got Clarissa here!" Oliver might have said it to make sure James had no comeback because Clarissa was his girlfriend's best mate but he truly believed that she was a great player and an asset to his team.

James opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. "Delilah is my girlfriend. You're just using her best friend as bate"
"No, I believe she is a great player" There were no lies there.
"As if" James turned around to leave and Oliver felt a sense of victory wash over him, "Oh and Oliver, stay away from my girlfriend. I know you fancy her. I also know Jesse fancies her. Keep him away too" He said.

Oliver did NOT fancy Delilah Rose. She might be a friend at most but that too was questionable. He made a sour face at the statement but his ego was boosted high and he didn't want to come down, "oh really? Where is she then? Not here to support you on your first match of the season? Because last I checked, she was here when Jesse's house was playing against my team even though she hated Quidditch!"The boy knew it was stupid of him to do this but in that moment he felt over confident.

The other reason Oliver didn't like James was because he was the one who hit the bludger towards his stomach on his first Quidditch match and then proceeded to take the attention from everybody about how good he was as a beater.

For a whole year, Oliver was called weak for not being able to handle the sport, for not being good enough. Oliver was also terrified of bludgers in his first year. He was shaken for weeks after his recovery, too scared to play the game.

James hated Oliver because he was jealous. Jealous that Oliver was better. Jealous that he became captain, Jealous that James was never mentioned number one when Oliver was around.

"She's just focusing on school! Unlike someone, I won't ever force her to do something she doesn't want to"
"That's lovely!" Oliver said in sickeningly sweet voice, "Focusing on school, my foot. I bet you that she is pretending to do homework she doesn't even have." Wood knew himself that he was an idiot and so he decided that that was the last thing he'd say to taunt James.

Delilah sat with her best friend in the three Broomsticks. It was two days before winter break and the duo had stepped out to spend some time with each other.

"I think James is a bit Jealous of you" The girl said.
"What!? That's stupid!" Jesse scoffed.

Delilah and Jesse's relationship was strictly platonic and James knew that but he still acted weird around Jesse.

"Did you tell him we are like brother and sister?"
"I did! He'll get over it" She took a sip of her butterbeer.
"Tell him I like someone else and he will drop it"
"He didn't say anything in the first place but he acts quite stiff when you're around. Also, maybe you should tell that person yourself first before I go around telling other people"
"That's never happening, we're good friends and it will completely divide our group if we break up"
"You haven't even started dating, who knows if you'll ever break up! Think about what you like about her and why you fancy her"
"She's smart, beautiful, completely understands our platonic relationship, knows me well and is amazing over all!"
"There you go! Hundred reasons why you should confess to Clare"
"But what if she ends up hating me?"
"Clarissa could never hate you!"
"I don't know"

Just then, Connor walked into the three broomsticks.
"Lil! McGonagall's looking for you." He informed.
"Sorry Jes, I have to go. I'll see you back at the dorm"
"Free butterbeer for me!"

"Ms. Rose! Good thing you're here. I contacted your parents and you will not be going home for Christmas. They are still in Paris and couldn't find the time to write you a letter" Lies. Minerva was lying to her face. Delilah could tell she was.
"But professor-"
"I'm sorry Delilah but this was the final ultimatum. You may stay over at a friend's house or stay back at Hogwarts" McGonagall's eyes were soft. She was clearly sad about breaking this news to Delilah.
"Okay.."
"I would like it if you let me know who's house you will be staying at if not at Hogwarts before leaving"

Delilah reluctantly stood up from the chair and nodded at the professor before sprinting out of the office.
How could her parents do this to her? Was something wrong? Were they hurt? There was no reason Delilah could think of, no explanation that came to her mind. Only questions. Did they finally decide to disown her?