Strategy { Oliver Wood}

Chapter Five

Before Carter headed off with all the Gryffindors, Melanie broke away from her fellow Ravenclaws and walked over to him.

"Congratulations, you're a lion," she said after grabbing his attention.

"And you're cool about that?" Carter said.

"Of course," she grinned before leaning into him to whisper. "Between you and I, the Hat mentioned placing me in Gryffindor before he decided on Ravenclaw."

"Really?" Carter asked.

"No," Melanie chuckled. "The hat was placed on my head and screamed Ravenclaw in like two seconds."

Carter made a face at her.

"Oh stop it, you're going to be fine. It's good that you're in a different house. "

"But you, Mum, Nana, Papa....you were all placed in Ravenclaw," Carter frowned.

"So, you should see it as an honor. You became the rebel of the family without trying. You know how long I've been trying to get that title?" she smiled. "You're going to be just fine and if anyone gives you any problems, just let me know and I'll handle it."

"What? No! I don't need you doing that...you're my sister and that would be embarrassing."

"Well fine," Melanie shrugged. "I won't come to your defense then. But don't come crying to me...,"she said before going to leave when she felt her robes being tugged on. She turned around to face her brother.

He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching and quickly hugged her for a few seconds.

He let go and smoothed out his clothes before looking back to the other Gryffindor students.

"Good luck," she told him. "Oh and Carter, do me a favor while you're in the Gryffindor house..."

"What's that?" Carter asked.

"Tell Oliver I said sweet dreams."

"You know that's me sabotaging my own house's quidditch team right?"  Carter grinned.

"Yeah well it's not quidditch season just yet," she winked as she left to where Andy was waiting for her leaving Carter to leave with the Gryffindor prefects.

Carter glanced around as he followed the other students, unfortunately, all the friends he had made on the train had been sorted into other houses leaving him alone in Gryffindor. He had fought against the idea of being in the same house as his sister, but as he found himself  walking along silently, he secretly wished he was in her company.

He looked at a few other students before he made eye contact with someone he really didn't want to make eye contact with. Oliver Wood did not seem at all pleased that Carter had been sorted into the house and Carter was well aware why. He didn't really know Oliver, but he knew of Oliver from Melanie's stories of incidents that took place out on the quidditch pitch. He knew very well that Oliver was not Melanie's biggest fan. With the look that Oliver gave him, there was no way Carter was going to tell him sweet dreams.

"You think Oliver is going to take his hatred for you out on Carter?" Andy pondered as she and Melanie headed to the Ravenclaw.

"He better not. He might be precious with a cute accent, but no one bothers Carter...except for me. No matter how cute they are. It's my right as the first born to bother and protect the youngest."

Fortunately, with the prefects at the head of the line of first years, Andy and Melanie were spared the riddle of the Eagle Knocker that evening.

Melanie remembered the first time she had been given the riddle, they were not easy ones to answer as they weren't straight forward answers, but one certainly had to think outside the box to provide an answer that the eagle knocker would accept.

It was all about using wit and creativity.

Upon entering the Ravenclaw Common Room, the girls were welcomed by the blue and bronze house colors that decorated the room from the carpet to the drapes that fell over the arched windows. The prefects led the first years to the dorms, leading them passed the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw. In the middle of the circular room were sets of furniture such as tables and chairs, and along the walls were several bookshelves. The common room definitely resembled a cozier version of the library.

They also had the best view of the school grounds from the Ravenclaw tower. Glancing out one of the windows, one could see the Black Lake, the Forbidden Forest, the Herbology gardens and the surrounding landscape.

Most Ravenclaw students would agree that the best thing to do was collect a chair and a book and sit by one of the windows while reading.

To avoid the chaos that was probably taking place in the girl's dorms, Melanie and Andy stayed downstairs in the common room until things settled down for a bit. Melanie stretched out in one of the chairs when Ace walked over to her on his way to the boy's dorm.

"Quidditch meeting tomorrow," he told her.

"What?!" Melanie sat up. "Already?"

"Yes already, we have some new people joining the team, so I want to make sure everyone is on the same page. Sleep well," Ace said before leaving.

"Yeah, yeah," Melanie said. "Great, just great, he's become Oliver now with holding early quidditch meetings."

"Two Oliver Woods doesn't sound like a bad thing...sounds like a fantasy of yours," Andy laughed.

"Shut up, Andy."