Chapter Text
Felicity looks up at the sound of the compartment door opening.
There are two boys on the hallway of the train, clearly first years too, just like her. One of them has dark hair and bright blue eyes, a smirk on his face, and the other one has lighter hair and a clearly anxious expression.
‘Do you mind if we sit with you?’, the darker haired boy asks. ‘Everywhere else is packed.’
‘Of course’, Felicity nods, and the two boys come into the compartment, and sit in front of her.
‘I’m Tommy Merlyn’, the darker haired boy says. ‘And this’, he points to the other boy, ‘is Oliver Queen.’
‘Felicity Smoak’, she shyly shakes their hands.
‘We first years should stick together’, Tommy winks at her, and Felicity manages to smile.
She tunes them out soon after. Tommy is clearly doing most of the talking, but Felicity doesn’t listen. She looks out the window, at the mountains and valleys unfolding in front of her eyes, at the train she catches glimpses of when there’s a curve on the rails.
‘Felicity!’, Tommy’s voice breaks through, startling her.
‘What?’
Both of the boys are looking expectedly at her, and she realizes they must have asked her something.
‘Sorry’, she shakes her head. ‘What?’
‘I was asking’, Tommy smirks, ‘what house do you think you’re going to get in to.’
‘Oh, I don’t know’, Felicity frowns.
‘I’m probably going to be a Slytherin’, Tommy says. ‘All my family is a Slytherin, but I don’t feel like a Slytherin, you know?’
‘What’s a Slytherin?’, Oliver asks, and Felicity answers on instinct.
‘One of the houses. There are four houses, that students get sorted into. Gryffindoor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Every evil wizard was a Slytherin.’
‘But not all Slytherins are evil’, Tommy says, rather pointedly.
‘Of course’, Felicity nods, ashamed. ‘They’re smart, though, if not the smartest. And they’re cunning but they’re also ambitious and resourceful.’
He seems placated by that, so Felicity sighs in relief. She really didn’t want to make enemies on her first day.
‘Come on, Oliver’, Tommy says next. ‘What about you, what about your parents?’
Oliver winces, looking away, but he does answer.
‘Both of my parents died when I was a baby, I was raised by my uncle. He passed away a year ago. He never told me anything about magic, so I don’t know much about this world.’
‘It’s okay’, Felicity says as softly as she can, when it’s clear that Tommy is speechless. ‘My parents are both dentists. They didn’t even believe it when I got the letter. But there was a teacher, who came and explained everything.’
‘Same for me’, Oliver nodded.
‘I’m sorry for asking’, Tommy says, somewhat sheepishly.
‘It’s okay’, Oliver smiles at him.
They’re silent for a couple of more minutes, until Oliver breaks it, still looking out the window.
‘I have a picture of my parents’, he says. ‘They’re both wearing scarves, gold and dark red.’
‘Gryffindor’, Felicity smiles. ‘They were in Gryffindor. They’re the bravest house.’
‘How do you know that’, Tommy asks her, ‘if your parents are muggles?’
‘I… don’t know that word.’, Felicity frowns.
‘Sorry’, Tommy flinches, ‘it’s just a word we use for non-magic folk, the ones who don’t know about it.’
Felicity nods, unperturbed. ‘Well, I read Hogwarts - a history.’
‘You’re a nerd then?’, Tommy asks, but he’s smiling as he’s saying it.
‘Yeah’, Felicity smiles back.
‘I’ll need to keep you close then’, Tommy grins. ‘Cause I hate studying.’
Felicity blushes at that, and out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Oliver frown at Tommy. They’re all silent after that.
≈Ϟ≈
Felicity is completely overwhelmed, as soon as they get off the Hogwarts Express.
The castle, the forest around it, the carriages that aren’t pulled by anything, the giant who organizes them around, all the other students she doesn’t know around her.
Then, they’re in the castle, and there are ghosts floating around, and a teacher is guiding them to the Great Hall, and it’s filled with students, and every one of them is staring at the little first years and Felicity’s heart is beating rapidly.
‘It’s okay’, Oliver whispers to her, and it’s only then when she realizes that Tommy and him are still by her side. ‘Everything’s going to be okay.’
Felicity smiles at him.
≈Ϟ≈
Tommy Merlyn gets sorted into Gryffindor. Nobody cheers, at first, everybody in the hall seems shocked, even Tommy himself. But then, he grins, and woops out loud, and everybody at the Gryffindor table is clapping and cheering, then, welcoming him onto their fold. The Slytherins are all glaring, and Felicity absently deduces that Tommy’s family bust be well known in the magic world.
Oliver is on the chair for hive minutes. Even the teachers look concerned by that point. He doesn’t seem fazed, though. He seems calm and bored, and Felicity would have believed it, if she didn’t see the way his right fist was clenched around his robes. But in the end, the Sorting Hat yells Gryffindor, and he, also, makes his way to the table in cheers.
When Felicity’s turn comes, she sits on the stool and closes her eyes as the teacher places the Sorting Hat on her head.
‘What do we have here?’, she hears a voice, and she knows it’s the Hat, and that she is the only one who can hear it.
‘Hello’, she thinks, making the Hat puff.
‘We’re not here for pleasantries, child. We’re here for Sorting. Now tell me what you want.’
‘I don’t know which house I want in’, Felicity shakes her head.
‘That is not what I asked. What do you want?’
‘I want… friends.’, she finally thinks. ‘I don’t want to be alone. I want to learn all that I can, I want to be a good witch, and I want someone by my side.’
‘Someone in particular?’, the Hat asks.
Felicity doesn’t answer, but her eyes open and they instinctively move to where Oliver and Tommy are sitting. Of course, they’re already looking at her. Tommy is grinning, sitting half up in his seat, ready to jump out of it at a moment’s notice, with his hands in front of his body, ready to clap. Oliver is calmer, seemingly, but his hands are both clenched into fists, on top of the table. He’s smiling at her, and when their eyes meet, he winks and mouths ‘It’s gonna be okay’. It’s the second time he said it to her, and once again, it makes her smile.
‘Gryffindoor!’, the Hat yells then, startling Felicity. She stumbles out of the chair, and is shocked as she makes her way toward the table, towards where Oliver and Tommy are clapping and yelling like maniacs.
For her.
Felicity grins.
≈Ϟ≈
It’s two weeks later, and Felicity is sitting between Oliver and Tommy at breakfast. Oliver keeps topping up her pumpkin juice, and when Tommy puts a vegetable he doesn’t like on Felicity’s plate, she wordlessly passes it on to Oliver's.
‘So, when you said you were a nerd…’, Tommy starts. ‘I never thought you’d be the biggest nerd.’
‘Am I the biggest nerd?’, Felicity asks, seemingly unperturbed, even though she knows the answer.
‘You’ve been here a week, you’re a muggle born, and teachers are already saying you’re the best.’
Felicity blushes, but all she manages to do is shrug.
‘It’s not a bad thing’, Oliver says, kindly, freakishly reading her mind. ‘We’re just jealous, to be honest. I still haven’t managed to do my Charms homework.’
‘I can help’, Felicity says without hesitation.
‘This is what I’m talking about’, Tommy grins. ‘Having a nerd by our side is going to be very beneficial.’
‘I said I’m going to help’, Felicity levels him with a look. ‘Not do your homework for you.’
Tommy pouts. ‘Spoilsport.’
Oliver reaches around Felicity to slap the back of Tommy’s head.
‘Thank you’, Oliver says, and Felicity smiles at him.
≈Ϟ≈
It’s the third week of school, and Felicity is the only one in class who manages to make her feather levitate, on the first try.
That’s when the whispers start. Mostly coming from Slytherins, and it hurts her. Whenever she hears them calling her a stupid muggle, accusing her of cheating and calling her a know it all, Felicity is hurt.
She tries to detached herself from the Slytherins, and it’s not hard, considering she spends most of her time with Tommy and Oliver. When she’s not with them, she’s alone in the common room, or in the library.
It’s not like anybody else talks to her. Not even her room mates make an effort. But they don’t talk about her like the Sytherins do, making sure she hears it.
≈Ϟ≈
Time flies by Felicity, and before she knows it, it’s 4 am, Tommy and Oliver are by her side, and they’re studying for exams.
Felicity is wearing pajamas, her hair is piled on top of her head, she can’t see without her glasses, but she can barely see with them, and there are a lot of empty cups of black tea by her side.
The boys look equally disheveled, Tommy more than Oliver, and they’re all yawning every other minute.
That’s how their house Prefect finds them, a very large older student called John call-me-Digg Diggle.
‘For fuck’s sake’, he groans, ‘go to bed. I’m not studying this much for my OWLs, seriously kids, go to sleep.’
Tommy and Oliver are looking expectedly at her, so Felicity nods and they go to bed.
≈Ϟ≈
The next night, Digg joins them. He studies silently by their side, not minding the fact that Felicity, Oliver and Tommy keep quizzing each other over thing he learned 4 years ago.
Digg brings them tea, at one point, and all but forces them to bed at 1 am.
Soon, it’s a routine, Digg joining them in the evening to study together, a routine that keeps going on even after their exams.
Digg is a nice guy, a bit harsh, but he’s also kind, he answers their questions, no matter how stupid they are. He matches Tommy’s sarcasm at every step, and he’s never mean. He jokes and teases, but it’s never hurtful. Felicity likes him.
≈Ϟ≈
They boys do well in their exams, and they’re relieved to be done with them. Felicity, however, does perfectly at every exam.
She might have imagined it, but she thinks Headmaster Lance winked at her after the results came in.
Felicity sits together with Tommy and Oliver on the train, and she gets hugs from both of them before they part ways. She also gets a kiss on the forehead from Digg, and as her parents drag her away, she has a grin on her face.
≈Ϟ≈
During the summer, she exchanges letters with both Oliver and Tommy.
Tommy keeps sending them wizarding world snacks and candy, and Felicity sends him muggle snacks right back. He seems to like Reese’s the most, and caramel popcorn.
Oliver calls her, sometimes. Felicity can hear it in his voice, he doesn’t like staying at the orphanage, but she can’t really do much about it.
By the time September comes again, Felicity is very excited to get back to school.
≈Ϟ≈
On the first week of their second year, a troll gets loose in the castle.
Somehow, Felicity is the one that stumbles upon it. She runs away, as fast as she can, and that’s how Tommy and Oliver find her. They don’t hesitate, in running after her, and before she realizes what’s happening, they’re all trapped in the Potions classroom, with the troll looming over them.
They don’t know any proper fighting spells, just some charms, but they all pull out their wands and fight.
By the time the teachers find them, the troll in laying unconscious on the floor, with a pile of desks on top of him.
Professor Longbottom, who teaches Herbology with a smile on his face, and his gray hair always askew, he starts laughing, somewhat hysterically. He doesn’t explain, though, he just rushes them out of the classroom.
He takes them to the Headmaster’s office, even if the three of them look like a mess, their clothes torn and dirt on their faces.
But Headmaster Lance smiles at them, congratulates them on their bravery and wit. He even gives them candy and 50 points each for Gryffindoor.
They leave his office with grins on their faces, that immediately disappear. Because as they make their ways to their dormitories, every other student is talking about them.
Whispers, as always, but one of the Slytherin boys, a second year called Blood, he actually stops them.
‘Does it feel good? Doing something so shitty and insignificant but being praised for it? I assume that was your plan all along. You must have come up with it’, he sneers at Felicity. ‘You’re the brains of this operation.’
‘Shut up’, Oliver tells the Slytherin, oddly calm.
‘Mind your own business’, Tommy adds, as he all but drags Felicity and Oliver away.
The whispers never really stop after that. It’s hurtful, but having Oliver and Tommy by her side helps Felicity. She focuses on school, pushes every limit she has to become the best witch of her generation, and she makes time to hang out with Tommy and Oliver, to help them with homework or just explore the castle and its surroundings.
Digg still joins them every evening as they do their homework, and he ignores the fact that people start whispering about him too.
≈Ϟ≈
Two weeks before the Christmas holiday, it’s way past sundown when Felicity is making her way from the Greenhouse, professor Longbottom having giving her the key.
Felicity finds a Centaur, bleeding onto the snow. He’s whimpering, and the sound of it makes her start crying instantly. She wants to leave and get help, but the Centaur grabs her hand. So she stays.
Felicity covers him with her jacket, and she takes off her jumper, pushing it to the wound on his torso. It looks like claws, but he doesn’t seem to be able to speak, no matter how much Felicity asks him to.
So Felicity talks to him, gulping back sobs. She talks about The Grand Canyon, and the time she went swimming with dolphins. She talks about the flowers her mother grows in the garden, and about the river that runs a couple of miles outside of her town.
She doesn’t know how Oliver finds her, but he does. He puts his jacket around her shoulders, before running back to the castle, getting help.
The Centaur dies before he comes back.
Felicity wouldn’t have known it, if it wasn’t for the loud cry she heard from the Forbidden Forrest. The other Centaurs mourned their dead, and the sound of it pierced straight to Felicity’s heart.
Next thing she knows, Oliver is picking her up, holding her close to his chest. They go to the infirmary, and only then Felicity realizes she’s shaking. Not just because of the shock of what she’s seen, but because of the cold, too.
Felicity doesn’t stop crying, as the nurse brings warmth back into her body. Oliver doesn’t let go of her hand, and Tommy is there too, anxiously biting his fingers in the background.
When Principal Lance comes to her, he tells her that there isn’t anything she could’ve done, and that the rest of the Centaurs thank her for the kindness she has shown. Then he gives her a cup of hot chocolate, and urges her to go to bed.
She doesn’t listen to him, not really. She changes into pajamas and sits in the common room, sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace. Oliver finds her again a minute later, and he wordlessly sits down beside her, wrapping her up in one of his sweaters. It’s dark green, and fluffy and warm.
Oliver lets her cry on his shoulder, without saying anything, and she must fall asleep at some point, because she wakes up to Tommy bringing them breakfast.
Felicity doesn’t think she will ever forget that night. And the way Oliver’s touch reminded her to breathe.
≈Ϟ≈
She invites him to spend Christmas with her and her parents.
Oliver is shocked, clearly, but all it takes is a small nudge from Tommy to make him accept.
So they spend their holidays together. Her parents are weary of Oliver, at first, but he’s polite, and he always offers to wash the dishes, he helps her mother cook and helps her father clean the attic. Of course they end up linking him.
On Christmas morning, they wake up with Tommy yelling at them from the porch, and they exchange gifts while stuffing themselves with hot chocolate and various muffins.
Felicity has never seen Oliver look as happy as he looks then, and really, she can’t remember a time she was this happy.
She has friends. Good friends, who take care of her, who hold her when she needs it and who push away bullies, friends who get her chocolate in the middle of the day, why carry her up to her bed when she’s too tired to move, who just pop up on her door for Christmas, giving her expensive teas and bringing wizarding world mead for her father, friends who help her mother cook the turkey and who gift her three different fluffy sweaters, in hopes she won’t steal his anymore.
If she sheds a happy tear, Felicity’s mother is the only one who notices it.
≈Ϟ≈
Their third year starts off bad before becoming worse.
On the train ride to Hogwarts they learn what a Dementor is, the hard way. Oliver passes out, and Felicity freaks out, until the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher finds her and calmly explains what happened to him.
‘He must have known a lot of death’, the teacher whispers, clearly pitying Oliver.
It’s Tommy that snaps, before Felicity gets a chance to.
‘That’s not really any of your business, is it, sir?’
‘What he means’, Felicity tries to placate the teacher, ‘is that yes, Oliver has known a lot of death, but he doesn’t like talking about, because of the way everybody looks at him with pity. Just like you’re looking at him now.’
The teacher leaves them, not before telling them to give Oliver chocolate when he wakes up.
≈Ϟ≈
Of course, the whole train is talking about how ‘the Queen asshole fainted’ by the time they reach the castle.
It’s all forgotten, though, when Headmaster Lance tells them that there is a very dangerous wizard on the loose, escaped from Azkaban, and that’s why the castle’s perimeter is going to be crawling with Dementors.
The rules for the students have changed a lot too, all for their safety, Lance explains.
Felicity doesn’t like it.
≈Ϟ≈
They don’t know why, but the Dementors seem to want to catch Oliver.
The only reason that doesn’t happen is because the wards put around the castle by Lance are strong enough to keep them out.
But Oliver is… exhausted. They all are, but it’s worse for him. He doesn’t sleep, he barely eats, it’s hard for him to concentrate on school, and it worries Felicity and Tommy both.
The third time he passes out during class, Felicity all but marches to Lance’s office. He doesn’t tell her much, and he can’t help Oliver in any way.
Felicity is angry.
So when the runaway wizard finds her, Oliver and Tommy in the library, when he knocks them out and kidnaps them, Felicity is very angry.
They wake up somewhere in the Forbidden Forrest, in a clearing. The three of them are roped around trees, unable to move, and they are surrounded by Dementors. The wizard must be controlling them, Felicity absently thinks, because this time, Oliver doesn’t pass out, even if he’s three feet from them.
The evil wizard, whose name is Slade, he doesn’t look too evil, he looks crazy more than anything else. He keeps ranting, about having unfinished business with Oliver’s father, and he keeps insulting him, his father and mother both. Felicity sees that Oliver is angry too, and that only pisses her off more.
She can’t move, she can barely touch her wand with the tip of her fingers and she’s terrified. But that doesn’t stop her, from thinking about the spells she knows.
Felicity thinks about Petrificus Totalus, she keeps saying it in her head, over and over and over again, and it works, Slade falls to the ground. Then, as quickly as she can, she thinks about Expecto Patronum. She can’t create a full Patronus, never ever tried to, but it’s enough to keep the Dementors away.
They must realize that they have been controlled, because they run away soon after, just as Lance and a few other teachers reach the clearing.
‘Why is it, when something happens, it’s always you three?’, Lance sighs.
‘Professor’, Tommy says seriously, ‘I’ve been asking myself the same question.’
‘It’s my fault, this time’, Oliver adds. ‘Well, my fathers’.’
‘On the plus side’, Felicity says, ‘I can do non-verbal spells.’
Lance sighs again.
≈Ϟ≈
The Slytherins get violent after that.
The girls lock Felicity up in the bathroom and pull her hair, and the boys try to throw charms their way any chance they get. And all the while, the rest of the school keeps calling them names and whispering behind their backs, not so secretly hating them.
Oliver and Tommy barely leave Felicity’s side, and they do their best to protect her. Still, most nights, she cries herself to sleep, trying her best to keep quiet, so that her roommates don’t hear.
A week before the end of term, a Slytherin sets fire to Felicity's hair in the girl’s bathroom. She screams, before her brain catches up and she turns on the showers. Then Digg is there, making sure she’s okay and dragging the other girl to the Headmaster’s office, while Felicity is taken to the infirmary by Oliver and Tommy.
More than half of her hair is burned. Felicity doesn’t even care about it, refuses when the nurse offers to do a spell to make it grow faster. Still, she cries through it all, and she can’t stand to be near the fireplace anymore.
Gryffindoor wins the house cups that year, because Lance gives her 500 points, for singlehandedly dealing with Slade Wilson.
The entire Great Hall is silent after his announcement.
‘That’s ridiculous’, one of the Prefects from Slytherin yells. ‘She’s a 13 year old brat who thinks she’s the best, what did she even do? Nobody was there, I’m sure she was just lucky.’
‘I was there’, Oliver says strongly. ‘That madman would have killed me if Felicity wasn’t there.’
‘There’s no such thing as luck in the wizarding world.’, Tommy ads, just as strongly. ‘There’s just skill.’
‘Stop’, Felicity whispers, and they do.
‘Miss Smoak’, Lance says next, making her look at him across the hall. ‘Next time an older Slytherin student tries to throw a charm at you, you have my permission to defend yourself with non-verbal spells.’
‘That’s impossible, she’s 13!’, Blood says from the end of the Slytherin table, and Felicity turns to smirk at him. It’s enough to make him look away.
‘We really won?’, the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team asks, and Lance nods, making all the banners in the Great Hall shine with gold and dark red.
Every Gryffindor starts yelling and clapping then, Digg gets on the table, and Oliver and Tommy hug Felicity tightly, shrieking in her ear.
≈Ϟ≈
In the summer before the 4th year, Oliver spends the first two weeks of it at Felicity’s house.
They go to the local pool each morning, they go to the movies, they help her parents around the house. Sometimes, Tommy’s there as well. Some nights, they set up a tent in the back yard and sleep out there.
‘I love you a lot, you know’, she tells him during one of those nights. ‘You and Tommy both. I never had friends, and I care about you a great deal. I don’t think I would’ve managed to stay in school if you weren’t there.’
Oliver doesn’t really say anything. He just kisses her forehead and lets Felicity fall asleep with her hand in his.
≈Ϟ≈
On the first day of year 4, Felicity, Oliver and Tommy all have a shock.
Oliver and Tommy are shocked because Felicity dyed her hair blonde and because she’s wearing pink lipstick and a bra.
Felicity is shocked because Oliver and Tommy both grew up. They’re taller, wider, they both have muscles (Oliver more than Tommy), and they have stubble on their chins.
She tries her best not to stare. But she’s as unsuccessful as they are.
≈Ϟ≈
The entire school is buzzing with excitement when Lance announces the Triwizard Tournament. Oliver and Tommy aren’t allowed to participate, they’re too young, and they’re both bummed about it, but Felicity is secretly glad. They’ll be safe this way.
The other schools arrive in a flourish, with the girls from Beauxbatons dancing their way into the Great Hall, and the boys from Durmstang doing what sounds to Felicity as a war cry.
It’s nice entertainment, and the feast is up to bar.
Over the next week, Felicity does her best to ignore Ray Palmer, one of the boys from Durmstang. He keeps finding her throughout the school, and he’s nice, and he’s flirting, but Felicity really wants to keep her distance, especially after the first time Oliver saw them together. Palmer was trying to convince Felicity to go on a walk with him, and she kept saying no, but he kept insisting. Oliver would have probably given him a black eye, if Felicity hadn’t dragged them out of there.
≈Ϟ≈
Everything goes to hell at the end of the week, when the Goblet of Fire chooses Oliver as the Hogwarts champion. Everybody gasps, Oliver included. Felicity screams.
The teachers take Oliver away quickly after that, and Felicity and Tommy anxiously wait for him outside of Lance’s office.
After three hours, they’re called in.
The office is packed, with a lot of Hogwarts teachers, with the teachers from the other schools, and with the champions.
Oliver, Ray Palmer, and a girl called Laurel Lance.
‘Miss Smoak, Mr. Merlyn’, Lance says, and he has never looked more exhausted, ‘I’m going to need you to be straight with me: did either of you do a spell, and put Oliver’s name in the Goblet?’
‘No’, Tommy is quick to shake his head. ‘Of course not, that’s way above my abilities and you know it.’
Lance looks pointedly to Felicity then.
‘I probably could have done it’, she admits, to the shock of all the strangers, ‘but I didn’t. Why would I willingly send my best friend into dangers unknown, all because of a stupid game?’
Palmer’s teacher starts ranting at that, about how important the Tournament is, about how stupid Felicity is for saying it was stupid. She tunes him out, but when the man finishes ranting, she levels him with a look.
‘If I don’t even know what this tournament is about, what reason would I have had to put Oliver’s name in?’
‘Fair enough’, the man says after a beat, and Felicity sees a small smirk on Lance’s face.
She feels good about her win, but it’s all gone soon enough, when the teachers decide that the Goblet knows best, and that Oliver will be participating.
Felicity doesn’t sleep that night, and she doesn’t let Oliver sleep either. They just sit in the common room, with Tommy by their side, making up scenarios about what will happen during the tournament. They’re all ridiculous, of course, and they don’t ease the dread Felicity is feeling like a dark pit in her stomach, but Oliver is laughing, and that’s good.
≈Ϟ≈
Every student at Hogwarts hates Oliver.
And they hate Felicity, because they think she did the spell on the Goblet.
And they hate Tommy, for taking their sides.
Felicity can’t find time to dwell on that, because she’s too busy feeling anxious and scared for Oliver.
≈Ϟ≈
The whole week before the first trial, Felicity, Oliver and Tommy don’t sleep a lot. They spend their nights in the common room, pouring over books and spells, and anything that might help Oliver.
But it’s hard, because they don’t know what he will be going up against.
During the days, Felicity and Tommy barely leave Oliver’s side. He doesn’t seem to mind.
Two nights before the first trial, Barry Allen, their house Prefect, finds them at 2 am, still in the common room.
‘You need to be rested tomorrow’, he tells Oliver, and he nods, reluctantly.
‘Okay, I’m going to sleep.’ He doesn’t move off the floor, he just pushes the books around and grabs a pillow from the couch. Felicity makes herself comfortable on the couch, as she normally does, and Tommy sprawls out in the nearest armchair.
‘The three of you are ridiculous’, Barry sighs. ‘I don’t get why everybody hates you, you’re adorable.’
Of course, they all stare at him. Barry just sighs and motions for them to follow him.
Barry takes them to the top of the boy’s tower, in an empty room, with four beds.
‘You can sleep here’, he says, turning to Felicity, ‘if you’re alright with that.’
She nods faster than ever, and Barry turns to look at Oliver and Tommy.
‘I know what being a 14 year old boy means, and you’re alone in a room with a very pretty girl, but if either of you hurt her in any way-‘
Felicity blushes furiously when she understands what he’s talking about.
‘It’s not like that’, Oliver tells Barry, quickly.
‘Really no, I love Felicity like a sister.’, Tommy agrees.
‘We’ve always kept each other safe’, Felicity says. ‘And we won’t be able to help Oliver tomorrow.’
‘Fine’, Barry sighs. ‘But if anything happens, just remember this will all blow up on my head, okay?’
‘Nothing’s going to happen’, Oliver assures him, and Barry levels him with a look.
‘Get some rest, and best of luck tomorrow.’
They each take a bed, and Felicity doesn’t close one eye, she just spends the night listening to Tommy’s snores and counting Oliver’s breaths.
≈Ϟ≈
When Felicity sees the dragon, she grabs onto Tommy’s hand and does her best not to scream. It’s torture, to watch Laurel and Ray defeat their dragons, using spells she knows Oliver never even heard of.
She doesn’t let go of Tommy’s hand.
Oliver goes into the fighting ring looking awfully confused. When his eyes fall on the dragon, Felicity sees him mouth the words holy fuck, and she can’t help the chocked sob that escapes her lips.
But then, Oliver pulls out his wand and Felicity sees him mouth accio bow and accio quiver and she doesn’t understand. Not until Oliver has a large compound bow in his arms, and a quiver on his back, not until he shoots arrow after arrow at the dragon, while he’s running away from it.
Every arrow Oliver shoots hits its target.
Every single one of them, no matter how far or close, or how fast the dragon is.
Oliver’s arrows are always faster.
It takes a while, but the dragon finally falls, and the crowd erupts in cheers, and even though Felicity’s still crying, she breathes a sigh of relief, in complete sync with Tommy.
Oliver explains that in the muggle world, he actually won a couple of archery competition. And he apologizes, for defeating the dragon without using a lot of magic, but it was easier for him this way, he knew he could do this, he didn’t know if any of the spells he could do would have defeated the dragon.
Palmer and Oliver get equal scores.
≈Ϟ≈
When the teachers announce the Yule Ball, Felicity doesn’t even think about it.
Palmer asks her, but she says no. Of course.
But then, Oliver asks her. Stammering and blushing.
‘You’re my best friend’, he says. ‘There’s nobody I’d rather dance to stupid songs with.’
So Felicity goes to the Yule Ball. In a bright pink gown her mother sent, but that Felicity actually liked, with silver shoes and her hair curled down for once. She wears pink lipstick and puts on perfume and Oliver’s jaw drops when he sees her.
He recovers quickly, and takes her hand, and then they’re entering the Great Hall, and dancing while everybody’s eyes are on them.
And then, Tommy’s there, because Laurel Lance apparently asked him, and by the end of the night, Felicity has soles on her feet and a very big smile on her face.
Oliver kisses her cheek before going to bed, and thanks her for being the best date ever, and she can’t help the way she blushes.
≈Ϟ≈
When Professor Longbottom says he needs her help on the evening before the second challenge, Felicity really doesn’t want to go. She wants to stay in the empty bedroom in the Gryffindor tower, with Oliver and Tommy, but before she can say this out loud, Longbottom waves his wand and Felicity sleeps.
≈Ϟ≈
She wakes up wet and cold, confused as hell, with Tommy and Oliver by her side.
Lance explains, slowly, that the trial was for the champions to release their friend from the bottom of the lake, that the dates the champions took to the Yule Ball were taken.
Then, Lance tells Oliver that even though he took longer than the allowed hour, he is the clear winner of this challenge, because he was the only one to manage to save his friend.
Not only that, but he saved the other two people as well, Tommy and Palmer’s date.
≈Ϟ≈
After that, Felicity, Oliver and Tommy move permanently into the empty Gryffindor bedroom.
Lance takes a bit of convincing to agree with it, because it’s against the rules and because they’re 14, but Felicity tells him she has to put a shield charm around her bed every night, because she’s afraid of what her roommates will do to her. It’s a shock, for the Headmaster, but Oliver and Tommy as well.
Professor Longbottom also helps, telling Lance that things would have been a lot different, if mixed bedrooms were an option when he was in school.
So Lance agrees, and Felicity spends her nights falling asleep to Tommy’s snores, and waking up to Oliver’s sleepy frowns.
≈Ϟ≈
The day of the third and final trial, on the Quidditch field, the champions are told that their families were invited to watch them compete.
Felicity doesn’t even have to look at Oliver to know how hurt he feels in that moment, so she doesn’t hesitate in grabbing his hand and plastering their sides together.
And then, Felicity’s parents show up, and she turns to look at him, in shock, but Oliver just grins and says ‘thank god’. Both of them get crushing hugs from her mother and very proud shoulder taps from her father.
≈Ϟ≈
Once again, Felicity grabs a hold of Tommy’s hand, but this time, her mother has a hand around her shoulders too.
It’s still awful, hearing Headmaster Lance explain that the final trial consists of a maze. It sounds easy enough, just to get to the center of the maze, where a portkey will be waiting, but then Lance ominously says that the champions will be faced with different challenges along the way.
Oliver meets her eyes before stepping into the maze, and he winks at her. Felicity does her best to smile.
It’s clear, pretty early on, that all the challenges they have to face in the maze are hallucinations.
Ray fights with monsters that aren’t there, Laurel fights too, even though she’s sobbing, but Oliver doesn’t even bat an eye.
Most of the way, he does point his wand at things unseen, and shoots a few spells, but they’re mostly defensive, and he doesn’t look like the hallucinations are getting to him, not like they’re clearly getting to Ray and Laurel.
In an hour, Oliver hasn’t stopped running once, and he’s the closest to the maze center. Clearly, he has a very good sense of direction, and he doesn’t seem tired either.
But then, he stops, staring at a point in front of him.
‘Well’, he says out loud, ‘this would have been very painful, if I had any memory of my parents.’
Felicity gasps. But Oliver just shrugs, and goes on.
He makes it to the center of the maze, where the portkey is the Goblet of Fire, sitting on a high stand.
But Oliver doesn’t run to it. Instead, he freezes in place, staring at something at the base of the stand.
‘No’, Oliver whispers. ‘Not her. Please, not her.’
He falls to the ground, crawling on his knees to the stand. He starts crying, and it quickly develops into sobbing, and they all hear him, saying ‘not her’, over and over again.
He says ‘Please not Felicity’, once, and Felicity starts crying then. Tommy holds onto her hand, as her mother rubs circles into her back.
All at once, Oliver stops crying. He freezes, still looking at that same spot. Felicity holds her breath.
‘No’, he says, but this time, it doesn’t sound like a plea, it’s stronger.
‘No’, Oliver says with conviction. ‘I would never do this.’
Then, he closes his eyes and shakes his head, and he pushes himself up on his feet. With his eyes still closed, he fumbles around until he gets his hands on the Goblet, and then, the whole stadium erupts in a cheer.
Felicity breathes again, as Tommy pulls on her hand and they run together to the field.
When they get to Oliver’s side, he still hasn’t opened her eyes. He only does so when Felicity says his name, and Oliver starts crying again when he sees her.
Then Felicity is wrapped up in his arms, and it would be painful, the strength of it, but Oliver is still crying.
‘You’re okay?’, he asks.
‘It wasn’t real’, Felicity nods against his chest. ‘Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real.’
‘Promise’, Oliver whispers, and it breaks Felicity’s heart.
She digs her fingers into his waist, and pushes up on her toes, until she can reach and kiss Oliver’s cheek.
‘I’m okay, I promise’, she says, and it takes a few seconds longer, but Oliver does let go of her.
≈Ϟ≈
Everything is a blur after that. Everybody is cheering, screaming Oliver’s name, and there’s a feast and Oliver sits at the teacher’s table, and the next time Felicity is aware of what is happening, her mother is hugging her goodbye.
‘We’ll talk about you and Oliver later’, she tells her pointedly and Felicity can only shake her head.
Then, Oliver’s there, and he hugs her parents too, making a heartfelt little speech, about how much it meant to him, that they were there. And he promises to stay longer with them this summer.
≈Ϟ≈
Even though Oliver is exhausted and there’s a party in the common room, Tommy sneaks them chocolate and butter beer, and they lock themselves in their room.
Oliver falls asleep with his head on Felicity’s thigh, and she can’t bear to wake him up.
≈Ϟ≈
Oliver spends the first month of summer at Felicity’s house, even though he has to leave every other day to give an interview.
Tommy is there most days too, even though he rarely sleeps over.
On the nights they set up the tent in the back yard, Felicity always wakes up with Oliver’s hands around her.
≈Ϟ≈
Their 5th year passed in a blur of ignoring every student, studying for their OWLs and Tommy snoring.
There were only five memorable events during this year.
Firstly, Tommy started dating. A girl from Slytherin for about a month. Then, a girl from Hufflepuff for about three months and the Gryffindor Prefect for a couple of weeks.
Secondly, the Head Boy from Hufflepuff asked Felicity out. She said no, of course.
Thirdly, when one of the Slytherin boys tried to charm Felicity, she quickly did a non-verbal spell on him, and turned the boy into a cat, so that she could easily take him to the Headmaster’s office.
Fourthly, on a trip to Hogsmeade, Oliver got her a silver pendant, shaped as an arrow.
And lastly, Felicity and Oliver were the only ones who scored perfectly at their Muggle Studies exam. Felicity was the only muggle in their year, but people called Oliver that too, because he grew up not knowing about it. Their teacher congratulated them, but Felicity and Oliver couldn’t really stop laughing.
≈Ϟ≈
They all spent their first month of summer at Tommy’s place.
Which was a mansion. Felicity knew Tommy was rich, but not this rich.
As she suspected, his parents were very high up in the Ministry of Magic, and they weren’t happy with Tommy getting sorted into Gryffindor, not in Slytherin. So they ignored him, most of the time.
They ignored Felicity and Oliver too, and Tommy explained, once, that his parents don’t really like muggles.
Tommy didn’t really seem to care, so Felicity and Oliver didn’t either.
It was the first time Felicity and Oliver spent time in a real wizard house, and that was incredible, for both of them. Tommy found it hilarious, all the questions they asked, but it was hypocritical, considering he still didn’t understand how Felicity’s Krups coffee maker worked.
≈Ϟ≈
Their sixth year is the first year that Hogwarts organizes a Christmas ball.
Tommy scrambles for a date (meaning that he has to choose which girl to ask), while Felicity says no to about 15 different guys, until Oliver finally asks her.
But it’s different, than when he asked her for the Yule Ball. Because now, he very pointed asks her to be his date.
‘A real date’, he adds, when Felicity doesn’t answer.
‘Oh’, she breathes out. ‘Really?’
Oliver smiles. ‘Is it really that surprising?’
‘No’, Felicity doesn’t take long in answering. ‘It’s really not.’
‘So… you’ll be my date?’
She can only grin, and nod.
≈Ϟ≈
This time, she wears a shorter dress. It’s gold, and she braids her hair up, and her shoes are bright pink, as is her lipstick.
Oliver’s jaw doesn’t drop this time. But the look he sends her, the intensity of it, it makes Felicity’s knees go week.
When they dance this time, it’s not slow like the Yule Ball. They only dance on upbeat songs, and while that means she doesn’t have an excuse to be as close to Oliver as she would’ve liked, Felicity does have a good time.
Especially when the DJ put on a song from the non-magic world.
Of all the songs to choose from, why the DJ chose Blink 182 – All the small things, Felicity has no ideas. But she did have a lot of fun, dancing and singing to it with Oliver and a few other half-muggles who knew it, while the rest of the school just stared in confusion.
≈Ϟ≈
They both stop in front of the door to their bedroom.
‘This is weird’, Oliver is the first to talk. ‘That we share a room.’
‘Is it?’, Felicity frowns, anxious.
But he squeezes her hand and grins.
‘Yes, because I’m going to see you in your pajamas in five minutes.’
Felicity huffs and playfully pushes at his chest. Oliver laughs, but he also wraps his hands around her and brings her into a strong hug.
She sighs, relaxing completely against him. They stay like that for a while, until Oliver moves his hands around her neck, and gently guides her head up.
Felicity closes her eyes before Oliver’s lips connect with hers, but she can’t help but smile.
He doesn’t push for more, smiling when he pulls away.
That night, they fall asleep at the edge of their beds, just so they could hold hands.
≈Ϟ≈
Tommy is ecstatic for them.
And they’re the talk of all of the school.
They stopped caring a lot of time ago.
≈Ϟ≈
Oliver spends his already usual month at Felicity’s house during the summer.
Her parents don’t even bat an eye at their relationship development. To Felicity’s complete shock, they still let them sleep together in the tent, in the back garden.
That time was spent kissing until their lips were sore, and falling asleep wrapped up around one another.
≈Ϟ≈
Their final year at Hogwarts is pretty dull, with makeout sessions sneaked between classes, with hand holding and hickies, and still filled with Tommy’s snores.
Until the last week of school.
Felicity feels a prick on her neck as she’s walking down the hall. She turns around to see a couple of Slytherins grinning at her, Blood right in the center, but then she loses consciousness.
≈Ϟ≈
She wakes up on the floor of the greenhouse, bruised and battered. She’s sitting in a pool of what can only be her blood, cuts and open wounds all over her body.
She can’t move, she can’t yell for help, so she does the only thing she can: non-verbal spells, sending flares in the air until she passes out again, this time from the pain.
≈Ϟ≈
Felicity wakes up in the hospital wing, with Oliver by her side.
‘Who did this?’, is the first thing he says.
‘I need to tell Lance.’, she responds.
Oliver kisses her then, softly, so softly, and apologizes for not being there. Felicity stops him from talking with another kiss.
≈Ϟ≈
Felicity doesn’t hesitate in telling Lance the names of the three Slytherin guys who drugged her and beat her to a pulp.
‘You can’t possibly believe her!’, Blood tells Lance. ‘This is just another one of her tricks, to get fame.’
‘Fame?’, Lance asks, annoyingly calm.
‘Yes’, another boy answers. ‘She and Queen and Merlyn, they’re always doing something for fame, have been since year one.’
Felicity shakes her head. ‘I’m done’, she tells Lance. ‘I stopped caring a long time ago about what everybody said, you know that. But I never stopped being afraid for my safety, and you know that too.’
‘This contradicts everything’, Blood says. ‘She’s always been praised as the best witch of her generation, she stopped Slade Wilson all on her own’, he mocks. ‘And now, what, she can’t stand up to a couple of guys? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘So I did this to myself.’, Felicity says, completely numb. ‘Broken 17 bones in my body and cut myself. I was the one who wrote Mudblood on my wrist.’
‘It got you attention, didn’t it?’, one of the boys smirks.
‘It also almost killed me. You cut my wrist. If they haven’t seen me there, I would have bled out and died.’
‘You’re being overly dramatic’, they all roll their eyes.
‘She’s not’, Lance says then. ‘And you’re lying.’
‘You have no proof!’, Blood raises his voice, and Lance shakes his head.
‘The Centaurs saw you coming out of the greenhouse, laughing and talking about it. You’re lucky they haven’t killed you for you’ve done, considering they still owe Felicity.’
‘I’m so tired’, she says then. ‘I want to go back to Oliver.’
Lance looks at her then, concerned.
‘I’m really tired’, she tells him again. ‘I spent seven years with everyone around me hating me. Hating us. Except for Oliver and Tommy.’
The tears don’t surprise her when they come.
‘I didn’t deserve this, sir’, Felicity shakes her head. ‘I really didn’t.’
‘I’m sorry’, Lance says, and Felicity can’t take it anymore. She wordlessly leaves his office, and all but collapses in Oliver’s arms.
≈Ϟ≈
The three of them don’t attend the graduation ceremonies. Instead, they get drunk in Tommy’s wine cellar.
≈Ϟ≈
Oliver buys an apartment very close to Felicity’s parents’ house.
She only moves in with him officially on her 19th birthday.
≈Ϟ≈
Oliver and Tommy both are set on becoming Aurors, and Felicity hates it, hates the dangers of it. But she also trusts her boys, so when they pass all their exams, she’s proud of them, and happy.
≈Ϟ≈
Felicity returns to Hogwarts ten years after she graduated.
Headmaster Lance has a few new gray hairs, students are allowed to choose who they share a room with and the position for Muggle Studies is open.
Felicity gladly accepts it, thinking it’s going to be awkward in about 8 years, when she will have to teach her daughter.
But then Lance calls her Professor Queen, and really, Felicity is happy to be back. For the first time, Felicity is happy to be at Hogwarts.