Catching Her Heart Pt. 1

Chapter 8

It was just before lunch that Hermione got to write the letter to Oliver, so instead of charming it, she folded it and put it in her pocket to deliver to him in person.

"Hi, Harry," she said as she walked by his spot at the table.

"Hi," Harry replied as she passed, and she waved at him. "What?" she heard him ask as he turned back to the table, but she never heard the answer to his question as she joined Oliver, the twins and Lee Jordan for lunch.

"Hello," she greeted, taking her spot between Lee and Oliver.

"Hello," the twins said in unison.

"Hi," Lee greeted with a wave.

"Hello, lass," Oliver said. "How were your classes?"

"Good," Hermione replied. "Oh, here," she said and reached in her pocket, handing him the note she'd written. "Open that later."

"Oh, alright," Oliver said, and slipped it in his pocket.

"Excuse us," the twins said, and Hermione looked at them in question as they moved down the table, toward Ron and Harry's spot.

"What is that-?" Hermione began but was cut off by Lee.

"I think they may have heard something...unpleasant," he said when she turned to him.

"Yeah..." Oliver said. "I think they might be having a word with their brother."

Hermione peered down the table around Oliver and saw Ron turning flushed and then scarlet. She winced, as he glared at her then got up, shoving his brothers out of the way and stomped out of the Great Hall.

She sighed and sat back, lowering her gaze to the table as the twins returned. She exhaled and fought tears when she felt Oliver's hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," George said and sighed as he sat down.

"We may have just made it worse," Fred muttered as he joined his twin.

"What happened anyway?" Oliver asked as he rubbed soothing circles on Hermione's back.

"Heard him chewing out Harry," George said.

Hermione blinked and looked up. "For what?" she asked.

"For saying hi to you," Fred said.

"What a little jerk," Lee commented.

"Tell us about it," George muttered.

"We have to live with him," Fred finished.

"Anything else?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, yeah," Fred said.

Hermione groaned, propping her head up with a hand on her forehead, staring at the table. "Alright," she said after a moment, looking up. "Let's have it."

"Well..." Fred said, wincing a bit.

"He's upset that not only did you talk to Harry..." George said.

"But now he thinks that you're stuck up..." Fred continued.

"What?" Hermione said, blinking at them in disbelief.

"Yeah," George said.

"Apparently, you're too important..." Fred said.

"To sit with them and take the abuse," George finished.

"Oh, this is ridiculous," Oliver said and Lee nodded in agreement.

"Welcome to our world," the twins said together.

"And he's jealous," George said.

"Because now we're friends," Fred finished.

"Oi!" Lee said. "What a headache!"

"What a prat!" Oliver said.

"Want us to punch him?" Fred and George asked in unison.

"No," Hermione said. "No, that won't do any good."

"Maybe you should punch him," they said again, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"There it is," Oliver said in singsong. "There's that smile."

Hermione smiled up at him, embarrassed.

"Feel better?" Lee asked.

Hermione nodded.

"Good," George said.

"Let's eat before lunch disappears," Fred finished.

Oliver,

Like I promised, here's a letter detailing what we talked about this morning. Please don't share this information with anyone, like I said, I wasn't even supposed to know.

On the evening of the 12th after our flying lesson, Malfoy came prancing into the Great Hall asking if Harry was eating his last meal — still thinking that he got expelled after Professor McGonagall came and escorted him from the flying lesson.

Well, they decided to have a wizard's duel that night in the trophy room. I followed as Harry and Ron snuck out, trying to stop them, and when I went back to the portrait, I couldn't get back in because the Fat Lady had gone visiting. So, I caught up with them again, and we found out that Malfoy had lied and sent Mr Filch after us.

We ended up in the forbidden corridor without meaning to — just running in a blind panic trying to avoid Mr Filch — we came across a locked door, and I opened it, using Alohomora, and closed it behind us. Well, we found out rather quickly why the door was locked. Inside was a giant three headed dog that was guarding a trap door.

We hurried back to Gryffindor tower after getting back out into the hallway and didn't run into Mr Filch or Mrs Norris. I was so tired from the adrenaline drain when we got back , and so frustrated with them that I went to bed.

Hermione

Oliver sighed and shook his head. He knew it was a dangerous thing that Harry, Ron — and Hermione — had done. He understood why they ran from Filch — no one really wanted detention, well, except maybe the twins — but to go into a room that was locked?

The protective part of him wanted to write back to Hermione and tell her maybe she should just forget about making friends with Harry and Ron, and find some others her age to make friends with. There were the other girls in her dorm to consider, but at the same time, he didn't want to be too overbearing. They weren't actually related after all, and if what she said that morning about Harry not being the type to let things go was true, maybe she did need to hang around with them and try and keep them out of trouble — and alive. He decided to wait a while and think about it before he wrote her back — or talked to her again on the subject.

Not wanting to get into trouble in Potions class, Oliver hurriedly tucked the letter back into his pocket, and pulled out his book, quill, ink and parchment and began madly scribbling notes as Professor Snape walked by. He bit the inside of his cheek, when the professor halted and felt the surly man's steely gaze upon him but exhaled a soft sigh of relief when he continued moving about the room without comment or docking of house points.