Note: A bit of Canon Divergence, light mentions of Perciver


Oliver slowly opened his eyes, a soft groan passing his lips. The last thing Oliver remembered before his world turned black was the remnants of his potion coming his way.

He recognized that he was in the Hospital Wing and that someone was standing there beside him. The lean figure of his teammate and friend, Angelina was looking at him with an amused expression on her face.

"What happened?" he asked, trying to run his hand through his hair, only to find that his arm was wrapped.

"Towler put the wrong thing in your potion," she explained, fighting a giggle. "And you were hit with the brunt of the blast when you pushed him out of the way."

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Angelina. She was not telling him the whole story. "And…?"

"And...well…" Angelina covered her mouth to suppress another laugh. "Your knee broke when you hit the ground and cauldron pieces slashed in your arm with some side effects, so you won't be able to play or practice Quidditch for a week or two. Madame Pomphrey gave you the proper potions tonight, so you'll probably fall asleep again soon."

He knew his face was contorted into a horrendous expression, his mind zoning in on only one of Angelina's statements. "I can't play?" he repeated. "But we were just getting to the good strategy I had planned!"

Angelina brought a finger to his lips, grinning. "Shh. You don't want Pomphrey kicking me out, do ya?"

Oliver grunted, not feeling her amusement at the moment. The strategy he had planned was going to get Gryffindor right to the top in Quidditch, and now he had an injured knee and damaged arm. What was he going to do?

"Does Percy know?" he asked.

"Mhm," Angelina replied. "He's got rounds tonight, couldn't miss those, but he'll be around first thing in the morning." She reached into her pocket, a slight grin on her face. "He left you a note as well."

She held the note out for Oliver to read.

Oliver,

I apologize that I'm not there at your side, but you know as Head Boy I have to take my job seriously. Merlin knows I'll be thinking of you as I do rounds tonight. I'll be there in the morning, and give Angelina my thanks for being at your side.

Percy~

P.S. you will always look like the guy I adore, remember that.

Oliver frowned in confusion at the last statement as he set the note aside. He had no clue what Percy was referring to. The passing thought of something else Angelina said came to his mind.

"Ang," Oliver said slowly.

Angelina sported a look of innocence. "Yes?" she responded, drawing out the word as she shifted from her toes to her heels.

"What were the side effects to the cuts on my arm?"

She cleared her throat, twirling a piece of her hair. "Well, Towler added the wrong kind of worm, a worm that adds colour in fact," she started.

Oliver gave her a firm look. "Come on, Angelina, what is it?" From the colour comment, he has a small fear that he would know another kind of injury he'd received, but he had to get confirmation.

"The pieces of the cauldron that hit your arm had some of the potion on it and...well…" Angelina couldn't hold in her laughter. "You'll have to see for yourself, Oliver."

She grabbed a mirror from behind her, one that Oliver guessed she had ready for this exact moment and held it in front of Oliver like she had the note.

If Oliver thought his face resembled a horrendous expression before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now.

He was bloody red! Not like blushing or angry (not that he could tell when he would anyway under this circumstance) but a deep, scarlet red. His skin completely contrasted with his blonde hair. It was like Gryffindor barfed its scarlet colour on his skin.

He looked to Angelina, who was holding her stomach with one arm and laughing silently. He scowled as he passed the mirror back.

"This is not funny, Ang," he said. "I'm the Quidditch Captain, not its bloody mascot!"

She tried to stop her giggling. "We tried to make sure that no one else found out about your erm, recent skin job," she said. "Even though it's only your face, Percy and I thought that you might like it if you had limited guests."

Oliver was slightly relieved on that. Everything else was still a disaster.

"But we can't stop anyone else from entering the Hospital Wing, obviously," she continued.

Oh, this was absolutely dreadful.

"That just means we'll keep your curtains nice and closed when that happens," Angelina finished as she placed her hand on Oliver's shoulders. "We got your back, buddy."

He wasn't entirely comforted by the fact that he was injured and scarlet in the Hospital Wing, but at least he had Percy and Angelina.

Angelina stifled another giggle.

The thought of giving her extra laps when he returned to practice came to mind, but the small smile on his lips as he laughed at his own predicament let him know that he wouldn't go through with it.


A/N: Written for HSWW (Challenges and Assignments) and The Houses Competition

(THC) House: Gryffindor; Year/Position: Year 5 (Standing In); Category: Standard; Prompt: [Pairing] Oliver Wood/Angelina Johnson

(HSWW) Assignment #6 Herbology Task 2: write about being injured

Word Count: 872