Mountain Fold (Oliver Wood)

Chapter Twenty-Five

It wasn't long before Alicia joined them in the compartment, by the time she got there Anna felt like she was going to explode from curiosity. But Zinnia had been clear that she wanted to wait for Alicia. She had also said that she wanted Darian to be there, but she wasn't able to find him on the platform.

"You better tell me what's going on Zinnia," Anna sounded concerned. Alicia had finally arrived, and Anna was done waiting.

"Yeah yeah, of course..." Zinnia trailed off nervously, Alicia encouraged her softly, "Well, Alicia and I are dating."

Anna was shocked for a second before an indescribable but excited noise came out of her, which surprised Zinnia and Alicia.

"Is... Is she okay?" Alicia whispered.

"I think that was a happy sound, or I hope it was," Zinnia replied.

"Of course I'm happy, I'm ecstatic," Anna told them giddily, which they seemed to be relieved about.

"Well at least you didn't scream like I thought you would," Zinnia joked.

"Don't tempt me. Darian might when you tell him."

Zinnia let out a groan which was interrupted by a yelp of surprise from Alicia. Zinnia and Anna turned to see Alicia staring at a large toad, they all looked at the toad in shock for a few seconds.

"Maybe it snuck in here?" Zinnia suggested.

"I guess. It probably belongs to someone, they should come looking for it eventually," Alicia reassured.

They let the toad relax with them, it didn't seem like it was going anywhere any time soon. While they all chatted, Anna decided to use the toad for inspiration and make one out of paper. She found a green piece of paper, as close as she could get it to match the toad colour, and started her creation, Zinnia and Alicia were so used to her hobby that they didn't even react.

"Hey, you should come watch the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts again! I'll get more then reserve this time," Alicia told them excitedly.

"Of course I'll come!" Zinnia replied enthusiastically, then they both turned to Anna.

"That didn't go so well for me last time," Anna said having flash backs to hitting Oliver Wood in the face with a paper plane.

"Oh yeah, that was hilarious," Alicia giggled.

"It was humiliating."

"Well it won't happen this time, won't you consider it?" Zinnia gave her best puppy eyes.

"Maybe..." Anna still sounded doubtful.

She was saved from Zinnia's pleading when the compartment doors opened to reveal a nervous looking boy. His attention was drawn to the chill toad and his eyes lit up.

"Trevor!"

The word triggered a response in the toad as it went from chill to energetic real fast, immediately getting up and trying slip past the boy. Luckily, they had a reserve Gryffindor chaser in the compartment with them who was able to catch the toad before he made his grand escape. Alicia carefully handed the toad back to the boy, who Anna thought was probably a first year.

"Thank you," he told them gratefully.

"That's okay, what's your name?" Alicia asked.

"Neville Longbottom."

They introduced themselves to Neville, who still seemed to be a bit nervous.

"Is this your first year at Hogwarts?" Zinnia asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm sure you'll love it," Anna reassured then decided to offer the paper toad she had made to Neville, who seemed surprised but took it gratefully. He reminded Anna a bit of herself when she was first started at Hogwarts, she had been terrified. But looking back she had no reason to be nervous, everything had turned out okay. She wondered what house Neville would get into.

Thank you," he smiled.

They said goodbye to Neville who seemed a little less nervous than before. Just as he closed the compartment door the girls heard him shout out to Trevor who seemed to have made his escape.

"That toad could probably escape from Azkaban if it tried," Alicia joked.

"Hey Alicia, guess what Anna's gonna do this year?" Zinnia asked excitedly.

"Ooooo what?" Alicia seemed interested.

"Nothing!" Anna panicked and jumped in.

They both looked at her confused. It wasn't something that she wanted everyone to know yet.

"Come on Anna, you can trust me," reassured Alicia.

"I know, you'll find out soon."

AN: Sorry for not updating in forever, I exams in November and after that I felt very burnt out and unmotivated, which is why this chapter is so short. Hopefully I'll be able to get my motivation back and update a little more regularly. Thanks for getting over 12k views! I get so excited everytime I see us passing a milestone.