It's alright.

I understand.

I forgive you.

Those words were plastered all over the reply that Oliver received from Jessica, a whole day after he sent his excuse for missing their date. It should have relieved him, but for some reason, it only made him feel guiltier than he already was.

It was already weeks after the incident, and Oliver was still beating himself up over it. He had made an effort to be more consistent with his letters ever since then, and Jessica would reply and tell him about everything on her end — she told him about her Head Girl duties, Apparation classes, and even that she submitted her applications for a Curse-Breaker job. Still, it didn't feel like they had completely resolved things. What made it worse was that he couldn't even tell if he was just overthinking because he couldn't see and hear from her in person, which would've helped in confirming whether or not she was still upset. Even during trainings, Oliver would think about it.

Is she secretly still upset? he wondered while throwing the Quaffle back to his teammates. Are we okay, or is she just tolerating me? he questioned, dodging a Bludger that zoomed by his ear. How could I have done things differently? I couldn't have ditched the schedules lined up for Puddlemere, so it's not entirely my fault, right? No, it still is... I could've informed her earlier and —

Thump!

"Argh!" Oliver groaned, clutching his forehead. It took a moment for it to dawn on him — he had gotten hit on the head by a Quaffle.

"Oh!" Thornton, the reserve Chaser who had thrown the Quaffle, zoomed towards Oliver. "Sorry, Wood."

"What the hell was that?" Merryweather flew their way, wondering why they had stopped playing. "Is anyone injured?"

"Yes —" Thornton began.

"No, no, I'm good," Oliver waved it off, trying to fight off the redness on his cheeks from embarrassment. Of all things to get injured by, it was a mere Quaffle, and he was supposed to be a Keeper, for Merlin's sake. "It'll probably just bruise."

"What happened?" asked Merryweather.

"Er... I got hit by the Quaffle."

"Seriously? I don't know if I should scold you or laugh at you for such a rookie injury."

Oliver smiled apologetically, saying, "Sorry. It won't happen again."

"Is everyone okay?" Williams practically had to yell from high above. It seemed that he had caught the Golden Snitch already and only realized the mini commotion going on below him.

"Yes, yes," Merryweather reassured him. "You've caught the Snitch already, so the match is over, anyway. Let's take a quick break, and then I'll call the coaches for our conditioning and cool down, alright?"

The pitch was filled with murmurs and faint shouts of agreement, and almost all at once, all brooms were tilting downwards to descend and head to the locker rooms for their break.

Oliver followed suit, pointing his broomstick away from the goalposts and down to make it back on the even ground. He heaved a big sigh once he landed on the soft grass, quite disappointed in himself for his performance at training that day and with how things had been with Jessica recently. He couldn't even get one of them right.

"What's up with you?"

Oliver looked to his right to find that Charles Hawthorne had fallen into step next to him, in the process of unstrapping his gloves.

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"You seem distracted. It's pretty obvious — no offense."

"Really?"

"Only because you're usually one of the most energetic players on a regular training day, so take it as a compliment instead," Charles said, patting Oliver on the back.

"Oh, thanks?"

The older boy chuckled at that and pressed on, "So, care to explain? What, did you have a lover's quarrel with my little cousin?"

When Oliver fell silent, Charles gasped dramatically.

"Did you really?"

"Yes and no, I suppose," Oliver said sheepishly. "I, uh, I forgot we had a date so I missed it."

Charles let out a low whistle at that, and then he raised an arm in front of Oliver to block him from walking into the locker room.

"Not cool, mate."

"I know," Oliver grumbled, not liking that comment but also not wanting to take his frustration out on one of his idols-turned-teammate.

"What did you do after that? And what did Jess say?"

"I felt awful so I apologized and tried to explain right away, of course, and she replied and said she forgives me..."

"That's a good thing! So, why are you still down?" Charles questioned.

"Well, I want to make it up to her. I think she's still upset."

"Do it, then! Jess is an actions over words kind of girl — if you just show up and be there for her, she'd love it already."

"But Hogwarts doesn't have any more Hogsmeade trips left this year," Oliver said defeatedly. "And it's only April, so I probably won't get to see her until her term is over."

Charles placed his hands on his hips, seemingly deep in thought. And then, he looked at Oliver with a determined gaze.

"Who cares if you'll only see her then? You just have to make sure that when you do finally meet up, she'll have no choice but to really forgive you."

★ ★ ★

The sounds of quills scribbling onto parchment, the flipping of the pages of old books, and the occasional sighs filled the quiet atmosphere of the Hogwarts Library.

Unsurprisingly, Jessica was one among the many students contributing to all of that. Seated comfortably in her favorite corner of the library, she was deeply engrossed in her work. Pieces of parchment were scattered before her, as well as some borrowed copies of Advanced Rune Translation and Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms, which she needed as reference for her Ancient Runes homework. She enjoyed the subject and considered herself to be quite proficient at it, but it was still difficult to remember practically an entire other language.

Jessica leaned back in her seat and scanned her supposedly finished work. She paused when she noticed a line that didn't make sense. And then, she groaned frustratedly when she realized she mistranslated what was supposed to be a basic set of words.

Ehwaz means partnership, while eihwaz means defence, she reprimanded herself, scratching the incorrect definition she had written. Professor Babbling wouldn't mind the scratched-off words there, but the perfectionist in Jessica was tempted to rewrite the entire paper. She probably would have done it if she had the time to, but she thought better of it and decided to move on to her Potions work instead. She shut the two giant books on ancient runes, stacked them on top of the other, and carried them with both her arms as she made her way away from her table and to the section she had gotten the books from.

Jessica turned the corner and walked into the familiar aisle. This time, however, it wasn't empty; Hermione Granger was also there, in the middle of piling multiple books onto her left arm that didn't seem to mind all the weight.

"Hi, Granger," Jessica greeted, lifting her own two books up and letting them levitate back to their places on the shelf.

"Hello," Hermione replied absentmindedly. And then, as if she just recognized who was speaking to her, she said with a start, "Oh, Hawthorne!"

"That's me," Jessica chuckled awkwardly.

"Right, sorry," Hermione said, nearly dropping her stack of books. "It's a good thing I bumped into you here! I almost completely forgot to look for you because I meant to do it after I grabbed the materials I needed for Arithmancy. But then I lost track of time because I found this really intriguing supplementary reading, which was linked to Ancient Runes, by the way, so then I ended up looking for more about this subject matter and —"

"Er, why exactly were you looking for me?" Jessica cut her off, unable to fight her curiosity.

"Oh, yes, hold on." Hermione scurried back to her table at the end of the aisle and fished something out of her back. Seconds later, she came brisk walking back to Jessica, holding out a thick envelope to her. "It's from McGonagall. I consulted with her at her office earlier, and she mentioned that she'd be having classes and meetings all day but wanted to give this to you by today, so she asked me to pass it on. She told me to be extra careful with it, so... here you go."

Jessica took the envelope from her hands, wondering what it was for. Perhaps another set of pamphlets or application forms that McGonagall found for her?

"Thanks for this, Granger," Jessica smiled.

"No problem."

The two girls parted ways, both eager to get back to their work. Jessica was itching to get straight into Potions as she needed to study and memorize a lot of heavier and more complex concoctions: Veritaserum, antidote to Veritaserum, Wolfsbane Potion... the list could go on forever. And for a split second, she was even vaguely reminded of Oliver. It was around this time, last year, that while Oliver was so focused on winning the Quidditch Cup, she had been swamped with her N.E.W.T. classes. She recalled how he found her in the library — right in the same spot she was returning to now — and how he offered to read her Potions notes out loud so that she could somehow rest and study at the same time. Of course, she ended up falling asleep, but she appreciated what he did for her more than she could ever say.

Trying to push away the sense of longing for him, Jessica slid back into her seat and turned the envelope over in her hands. Her eyes widened when she registered the words written there. It was from Gringotts Wizarding Bank.

All thoughts of getting into her Potions homework flew out the window as she tore open the envelope. If this was sent to McGonagall, who had helped her with her application process, then there was no way that this letter from Gringotts was just about some mere bank account concerns. With her heart beating so madly that it felt like her chest was going to burst, Jessica slipped the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it.

Dear Miss Hawthorne,

It is with great pleasure that we inform you of your acceptance into the Curse-Breaker training program of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Your academic track record and extra-curricular activities, along with your other submitted requirements, have proven yourself worthy of being a future employee at our company.

We have enclosed a package containing the pertinent details of the program set in our Egypt base. Kindly familiarize yourself with it and take note of the important dates.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please send an owl back to the address on this envelope and we will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Congratulations and we look forward to having you!

Sincerely,

Nefret Whitlock
Head Curse-Breaker
Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Egypt

Jessica had to read the letter three more times to be sure. She got in. She was accepted. She was going to be a Curse-Breaker. She suppressed the urge to squeal, knowing it would ruin the calmness of the library and that Madam Pince would only end up kicking her out, which she didn't want at all.

After the initial excitement settled in, Jessica realized that this meant that there were a lot of other things worth mulling over, too. She would have to tell her parents about this big news as soon as possible. She needed to share this with Alista and Bethany at lunch in an hour. She had to inform McGonagall as well — that is, if the woman didn't already know. And even if Jessica didn't want to always think about him, especially since she was still a bit upset with him, her thoughts drifted off to Oliver again. Of course, she had to tell him about her acceptance into Gringotts, too. But how and what would she say? How would he react to this? What would they do afterwards?

Jessica didn't know if she was thinking too far ahead, or if it was valid for her to worry about all of these — and what they meant for her relationship with Oliver. It was hard enough not seeing him nowadays. Even if all she had to focus on at the moment was her school work and while he was just beginning his career as a professional Quidditch player, their schedules already clashed frequently. Constantly exchanging letters wasn't the easiest thing to do, and it was hard to plan when to meet up — and when they did have free time, there was always the possibility of one of them forgetting and not showing up. So, how could she drop this dungbomb that she was going to move to Egypt indefinitely just after their little row from the Hogsmeade incident? How could she leave the country right after graduating from Hogwarts, especially after a year without being with one another already? How was she going to handle all the workload and dangers she was bound to face in the risky career she was entering, all while wondering if Oliver was doing well and safe in his job, too?

The black-haired girl set the letter aside, rested her arms on the table, and then dropped her head onto them. She let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes, wishing she could sleep her problems away, or perhaps, to wake up with all the right solutions.