An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

I said goodbye to most of my friends at lunch, since I got out of class two hours earlier than the rest of them on Friday. I saved my goodbyes for the Gryffindors until after Care of Magical Creatures, and then I sent them on their way to History of Magic before making a sling portal back to Avengers Tower in New York. Oliver wasn't expecting me and Pietro until tomorrow morning, so I was spending the night hanging out with my family.

We laughed and talked through dinner, but Pietro and I went to bed pretty much as soon as we were done eating. We were meeting Oliver in the late morning his time, which was going to be 6am for Pietro, since he was used to New York time. Going to bed early helped keep me from adjusting, so I wasn't in too much pain when I woke up the next morning.

Pietro, on the other hand, was a different story.

"Alexa. This is hell," he whined, dragging his feet and hanging his head as he came down the stairs to meet me in the living room.

"That's why I said we should try to get to bed early, to minimize the amount of pain you're in right now."

"I wanted to watch Netflix instead."

"Alright, well, I guess you did this to yourself." Pietro glared at me, but I just shrugged. "Come on, I'll make you some coffee before we go and maybe we can take a break for a nap later."

Pietro nodded as I turned to put on some coffee, but mentally I was shaking my head. No way we'd get a gap in training big enough for a nap. Pietro didn't need to know that, though.

Pietro downed almost the entire pot of coffee, and then it was time for us to go meet Oliver. I opened the sling portal (we'd said goodbye to everyone else last night, since almost none of them wanted to be up this early), and Pietro and I stepped out onto an unfamiliar Quidditch pitch.

The grass stretched out in front of us, the sun shining through the empty air. Oliver's teammates had all gone home for Easter, so we didn't have to worry about anyone interrupting us, or freaking out about magical glowing circles of light. Oliver, of course, was staying right through the holiday to train.

"Alexa!" Pietro and I turned to see Oliver walking towards us cheerily, waving with one hand and carrying a sack of Quaffles with the other.

"Oliver! Good to see you!" I started walking towards him and met him halfway, Pietro trailing behind me. He dropped the Quaffles, and I didn't waste a second before wrapping him in a tight hug, which he returned.

"Good to see you too!" He said, actually squeezing so tight he lifted me off the ground. We pulled apart but he kept his hands on my shoulders, looking at me intensely. "Now, I heard you and Krum are champions together. Tell me everything."

I just grinned. Oliver was crazy, but it was the kind of crazy I seriously missed.

"Oliver, he's normal. I know you're never gonna believe me when I say it, but he's like a normal person, who just happens to be really freaking good at Quidditch."

Oliver looked at me for a second, then broke my gaze, smiling again and clapping me hard on the shoulder before dropping his hands back to his sides.

"Ah! You're holding out on me. Fair enough! You can tell me once we're done training. It'll be my incentive."

With that, he picked up the Quaffles and started heading back towards the middle of the field. I just sighed and shook my head; there was nothing I could do about that.

"I assume you're Pietro," he said, talking to Pietro as they walked together.

"That's right."

"I'm Oliver. It's nice to meet you. And thank you for offering to help me train over your holiday."