Into the Stars

The morning went by agonizingly slow. I watched the seconds tick by as if they were hours. All I wanted was for it to be lunch time. I wondered what Oliver had planned. There wasn’t much we could do at Hogwarts, was there? We couldn’t leave the grounds, so it’s not as if we could go out to lunch, to see a movie or anything. It mattered little, though. If I were with Oliver, I would be completely happy with our date taking place in a sewer drain... well maybe not completely happy.
Needless to say, when lunch time came around, I felt as if the butterflies in my stomach would burst out. I made my way to the common room to put my books away. When I entered, I noticed Oliver standing up against the back of the sofa holding his broom and a picnic basket... A picnic basket?

“Is Toto hiding in there?” I asked with a smirk. He lifted one of the side flaps to peek in.

“Oh bugger. He must have escaped! There goes our date...” I rolled my eyes before setting my books on the bottom stair. “Are you ready?” He asked. I grinned and nodded lightly. I hoped that he would not see right through my cool and calm disguise.

After leading me outside the main entrance, he swung the basket over his shoulder and put the broom down at my feet. “Up.” He said quietly. The broom shot up to a hover right in front of me. I looked at him quizzically. I hoped he wasn’t thinking what I thought he was thinking...

“Well get on...”

“Uhh...” I began. I hated heights. I started breathing heavy at the thought. I was not accustomed to flying on brooms. I’d done it only a few times, and it hadn’t been in years.

“It’s alright, Nikki. I’ll be with you the whole time.” I said nothing. I was too busy staring at the broom like it was the gateway to hell. “Nikki,” He snapped in attempt to direct my attention to him. He stepped closer to me. “It’s just a broom. I’ll steer. You don’t have to do anything. It’ll be a short ride.”

“Promise?” I demanded quickly as I turned to look at him. He didn’t look serious at all! He wore an amused expression and he was obviously suppressing a laugh. I scoffed inwardly.

“Promise. Now on you go.” He said sounding satisfied with himself before gripping my shoulders gently from behind and pushing me a step toward it. I hesitantly swung my leg over the broomstick before gripping it with both of my hands as if it were my life support.
Oliver soon followed suite and got on behind me. His body was, in a way, pressed against mine, though I noted that he kept a respectable distance. Well, as respectable a distance as one could possibly keep in a situation like this. Not that I was complaining, mind you. The warmth of his torso against my back was the only comfort I had at the present time. It was the thought of what was coming that kept my body completely tense and my arms pressed into my body to keep from falling apart.

“No,” Oliver said almost impatiently as he reached his arms around either side of me and put his hands on mine. “You need to put your hands further up, near the end.” He instructed, starting to slide my frozen hands farther away from me and to the end of the broomstick. “And don’t squeeze so tight!” My fear suddenly dissipated and my heavy breathing was replaced with loud laughing. He was silent for a moment before he caught on and echoed my hysterics.

“I didn’t mean it like that! Now do as I say!” He said as his laughing slowed to mere chuckles. I finally obeyed him due to forcing myself to focus not on the fact that I was about to fly... in the air... above the ground... but on the fact that his arms were wrapped around me and his hands weren’t moving away from mine. Sadly, I forgot all about this the moment Oliver kicked off of the ground...

The air left my lungs quickly. I struggled to keep my tear-filled eyes opened against the icy wind, but no prevail. The picnic basket’s handle was pushing into my shoulder due to the position of Oliver’s arm, but that was nothing compared to the discomfort between my legs. I didn’t know where we were going, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to feel the floor under my feet again. I felt Oliver tighten his arm muscles around me as he leaned the broomstick slightly downward. Despite my fear of where I was and the discomfort of what I was doing, I welcomed the chills that this caused and secretly wanted to beg him to do it again. It proved a joyful distraction from the present events.

“Almost there.” He whispered in my ear. His hot breath made my entire body shiver. He chuckled and tightened his arms again. I forced myself to open my eyes. Thankfully we were only a dozen or so feet above the ground and had begun to float downward.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when my feet were finally able to support my own weight again. However, I found myself unable to move. Oliver casually got off, while I stood frozen and staring at my hands which were still gripping the broomstick. I noted how white my knuckles were.

“Nikki?”

...Apparently I was unable to speak, too.

“Nikki, are you alright?” Oliver set the basket down before padding over to me and placing one hand on my hands, and the other on my forearm. “Let go.” He said softly as tried to pry my fingers apart from the stick. “Please?” He said hopelessly. I looked up at him before coming to my senses and releasing the broom, which fell to the ground with a thud. “Thank you.” He said with a sigh.

Great. It hasn’t even been eight minutes and I’ve already made a fool of myself. I am such a baby.

“Sorry.” I muttered. He ignored me as he made his way to where he put the basket down. It was then that I realized where we were. Oliver had chosen a large, empty patch of grass right next to the lake. It was perfect. Not just the place, but the day was perfect too. The weather was not only warm and clear, but the grass was soft and dark green, and the water was as blue as the sky and it sparkled just like his eyes- oops... I’m getting a little carried away...

“Are you hungry?” He asked as he removed a large, red checkered picnic blanket from the basket. I chuckled. “Yes, I know. I was saving this blanket for a special occasion.” He joked as he unfolded it and spread it out on the grass. I watched thoughtfully as he removed several items of food and placed them on the blanket. It was all snagged from the Great Hall, no doubt. When he finished, he sat down and looked at the food with a smug grin on his face. I sat down next to the sandwiches, naturally. When I think of picnics, I think of sandwiches. I grabbed one nearest to me began inhaling it. “You are hungry, aren’t you?”

Damn me and my nervous habits.

“I suppose.” I said just after swallowing. I put the rest of my sandwich down immediately and leaned back on my hands to keep from embarrassing myself. “So... tell me about yourself.” I said quickly. God, that was lame. Why am I so lame? “Or, how did you get into Quidditch?” There. That’s better. Wait, maybe that was a bad question...

“A family passion.” He answered thoughtfully. “When I was about three years old...” And I was gone. Lost in his intoxicating eyes, I mean. The words that were escaping his mouth were meaningless to me now. All I had to do was nod and chuckle and agree in the seemingly appropriate parts of his story to keep him going. I would blame it on ADD, but I was having no trouble keeping my focus on his gorgeous face... maybe I’m just rude. But I didn’t care. He was happy, and so was I.

It went on for several minutes; him talking, probably still about Quidditch, and me staring dreamily into his eyes. The scene became so familiar, in fact, that my head seemed to become fuzzy. I couldn’t exactly hear him at all anymore. I couldn’t make out the shape of his face anymore either. It was quite strange, but I was still feeling happy. I was as happy as could be, I think.

I just can’t remember what happened after that...

Oliver’s Point of View:
It was strange, watching her as I spoke. She seemed to be hanging on my every word. So I kept going. If she was impressed now, then I couldn’t wait to see her when I tell her what I did when my dad grabbed the quaffle- hold on a minute, her eyes were closing. I guess she wasn’t interested. But she was still smiling... sort of... nope, not anymore. Wait. She was falling over. Falling over? I reached out to catch her before she hit her head on the ground. I caught her just in time. Her eyes were lightly, barely shut while her lips were parted slightly. I almost wanted to run my finger along them, just to see how soft they were... But what happened? Was she sick? Did I bore her to death? She looked fine...

“Nikki?” I asked pathetically waving my hand in front of her face and snapping my fingers. Nothing. I shook her lightly in my arms next, but that didn’t work either. I sighed hopelessly before moving to lay her down on the ground. I took extra special care putting her head down. But when my hand grazed the back of her neck, I felt something else. I sat her back up and moved her hair out of the way to look.
Sure enough, a black, arrow-shaped object no larger then my thumb was sticking awkwardly out of her neck. I pulled it out immediately and after laying her down, I examined it. It was like a tiny dart. Written on its length was “W&W”. Mother. Of. God.
I sat there for a moment trying to contain my anger. I stood up after a minute or two and grabbed my broom. I would go to the stadium right now. If they wanted me to show up so badly, then I will do exactly that... they will regret it as soon as I get there. I’d slam both their head’s into the wall for this. This is outrageous. All this talk of helping me get the guts to ask her out. Now this?
I settled on my broom ready to leave everything where it was. I needed to kick some Weasley butt right now... Oh, Nikki. I forgot about her... sort of. I couldn’t just leave her here. My bloody encounter with my “friends” would have to wait. I shoved the dart in my pocket and kneeled back down next to Nikki. I would wait. Yes, I would be patient.
I looked at the lake for a second. Not that interesting. I moved to a full seated position and grabbed a sandwich. I put it down after one bite. I wasn’t hungry anymore. I sighed. I looked at the sky. Boring. I started clicking my tongue to an unwritten tune. I noticed not long after that my knee was shaking. I tried to steady it with my hand, but no prevail. I decided to lie down. The heat from the sun felt good on my face. But damn, was it scorching out! Why in the blazes did I wear long sleeves today? I sat back up. That was a little better. I decided to take out the dart again. My hands fiddled with it for a moment... before remembering how angry I was at Fred and George and at the fact that I can’t to shite about it until Nikki wakes up. I hastily pushed it back into my pocket and sighed again. How long was this going to take? I sighed once more, this time adding a bit of my vocals into it. Maybe it would wake her. I cleared my throat. She didn’t move. I looked at her desperately. Maybe it was serious. No, it couldn’t be. The guys are stupid, but they aren’t cruel. Maybe she wouldn’t wake up until I made it to practice. That’s impossible. They wouldn’t invent a product like that just for me... at least not in a day’s notice. She would wake soon. I leaned back on my hands. Any minute now. I looked at her again.

She was definitely something else. It was amazing how the sun was able to shine off of her light brown hair. Her hair was sprawled around her head almost like satin ribbons. Oh, how I wanted to run my fingers through it.
However, the beauty of her silky-looking hair was nothing in comparison to the delicateness of her face. Her skin was creamy white and the way she looked at the moment, I wanted to run my fingers along her cheeks just to make sure she was real, and not made of porcelain. I let my eyes travel down her body. Her chest rose ever so slightly as she breathed. Her breathing was almost silent... I then made the mistake of once again looking at the mouth from which the breathing came. Her lips were colored light pink, and all I could think about was how badly I wanted to touch them... or taste them. I sighed angrily and looked back at the lake.
Everyone is right, I suppose. I’ve got it bad. I’ve wanted her ever since I first knocked her down on the train. I had never had these feelings before. I’d been interested in girls, yes, but never just one. Not like this. It was all so new to me, and I wasn’t sure how much I liked it. Oliver Wood doesn’t fall for anyone. Ever. What am I getting myself into?

“Oliver?” Said a soft, sleepy voice from beside me. I turned to look and found myself smiling as she tried to sit up, holding her head drowsily.

Nikki’s Point of View:
“About time.” He said smugly. What did he do to me? My head was spinning.

“What happened to me? Why do I feel dizzy?” I asked finally able to sit all the way up.

“Thank the twins. They sent- or shot you a present.” Oliver reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, black dart. I took it and examined it with furrowed brows.

“They wouldn’t...” I said slowly. They would have no reason to knock me out. “Have you spoken to them?”

“No. No one was around when it happened. I’m quite confused, but as soon as we get back, I’m going to punch them both in the bloody gut!” He said angrily. I chuckled and sighed.

“I guess our date’s over.” I said with a shrug.

“Only if you want it to be. We could find something to do in the common room.” He suggested. I smiled.

“On one condition.”

“Hmm? What’s that?”

“We walk back.”