A/N - For anyone who's interested, the title comes from the Cole Porter song "Blow, Gabriel, Blow". This is for Ember Nickel, because they asked for it!
And Now I'm All Ready to Fly
(Twenty True Facts about Oliver Alexander Wood)
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20. Growing up, Oliver was absolutely certain that he would be placed in Ravenclaw. The only child of a Potions researcher and a concert cellist, he practically cut his teeth on books and information, and has an intrinsic love of knowledge that, had he been less socially adept, would have been relegated him to the confines of hopeless loserdom.
No one was more surprised than he was when the Sorting Hat called out "Gryffindor".
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19. He always liked Fred Weasley. He was a damn good Beater, good for a laugh, and he even saw a bit of himself in Fred's leadership abilities. But the one thing he disagreed with him on was on his so-called "pranking".
Some of the stuff Fred and George did was outright hurtful, and a lot of it more than a little dangerous. He was always a little surprised that neither Dumbledore nor McGonagall ever called them on it.
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18. Before the summer he turned five, Oliver had never been on a broomstick. Samantha Selwyn-Wood had been girlhood friends of Narcissa Black-Malfoy, and Oliver and his parents were always invited to visit the Malfoy's enormous Wiltshire manor. He loved those visits, not just because Narcissa Malfoy treated him so nicely, or because their House-Elves made the greatest desserts ever, or even because their indoor greenhouse was as big as his father's laboratory and nearly twice as interesting. No, what he really loved about those visits was that Lucius Malfoy, who believed that to be a "real wizard" one had to learn how to fly at an early age (something Oliver's father had expressly forbidden), would take him out into the Manor's endless gardens and give him turns on a broomstick – and a real one, at that…not one of those cheap, tiny ones the Nimbus Broom Company manufactured for kids.
In a way, Oliver owes his love of flying to Lucius Malfoy.
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17. Oliver once had a one night stand with the captain of the Holyhead Harpies, Gwenog Jones. He'd spotted her in a pub after his first session training with Puddlemere, and after a few glasses of firewhiskey he'd felt that he had enough courage to buy her a drink. Jones gave him the once-over, drank her shot, and then brought him back to her place.
It was good, and it was fun, but Oliver never really wanted a repeat. Gwenog was scary, and not just on the Quidditch pitch.
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16. He loses his left arm to a Blasting Curse cast by Augustus Rookwood in the second part of the Final Battle, just as he's pushing Angelina Johnson out of the way of a Killing Curse sent by Bellatrix Lestrange. He remembers lying there on the cold stone of the Great Hall, blood pouring out of his arm and hoping that Angelina didn't get hit in the crossfire.
The next thing he knows, he's waking up in a lumpy bed in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey hovering over him. He's weak and he's woozy and he's just so damn happy to just be alive that he pulls the old witch into a one-armed hug and kisses her.
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15. He always thought that the day he signed with Puddlemere was the best day of his life. The day he first kissed Katie replaced it, only for that day to be replaced by the day they were married, and then the day Madam Hooch retired and he was offered her job at Hogwarts teaching the Broom Flight course.
The first time he saw his newborn son, though…that blew everything else away.
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14. His father was a cold, distant man who worked towards inventing cures for Magical diseases with the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers. His mother, while warm and lovely, was often touring with the London Philharmonic and more often than not locked away in her practice room when she was home. He was left to his own devices, most days, and as long as he did not disturb either of his parents while they were working he was allowed to do as he wished. He grows up with his parent's vast library and his cat, Louis, for company, and until he goes to Hogwarts he believes that his life is completely normal.
It isn't until he spends a week with the Weasleys the summer before his third year that he realizes that not all families are like his.
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13. He doesn't have muscles because of Quidditch – that's ridiculous. He's physically fit because he works at it; running and weight-training every other morning. Sure, Quidditch takes a lot of endurance, but you can't build that kind of strength on a broomstick alone.
The first time he hears a girl talking about his "Quidditch-toned physique", he nearly collapses in a laughing fit.
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12. At Alicia's funeral, he sits in-between Katie and Angelina in numb shock. He never thought that anyone he knew would actually die in the war, least of all Alicia – who was so sweet and funny and who could fly like the devil was right behind her, and not just the Ravenclaw Beaters.
Katie takes his hand and squeezes and for the first time, he realizes that he's not alone.
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11. He is thrown into the world of Quidditch by complete accident, after Marcus Flint threw his ink bottle at him in the hallway second year and he caught it without looking up. McGonagall, who had seen everything, took him to the Charms classroom and introduced him to Charlie Weasley, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain. He was put on the team immediately and although they never won the Cup under Charlie, he learned what it took to make a real player, and how even if you don't win, you can still play a great game.
He never makes Prefect, and he never gets Head Boy, but the day he was named Quidditch Captain made up for all of that.
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10. In the middle of his fourth year, when he was in mortal terror of failing Transfiguration and nearly having a panic attack in the library, one of the Ravenclaws he had Potions with sat down with him. For several hours, she patiently went over spells and theory with him until he finally understood everything, and Oliver is eternally grateful to Penelope Clearwater for saving him from the Wrath of McGonagall.
He had always considered asking her to go with him to Hogsmeade, as a way of saying thank-you, but after seeing how Percy Weasley looked at her, he changed his mind and bought her a nice set of quills, instead.
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9. He took McGonagall's words to heart – "Your House will be like your family throughout your time at Hogwarts." He treated his teammates and his housemates like they were the brothers and sisters he never had and he made sure that he knows every single Gryffindor by name…even the lowly little first years.
He always made a point to call out to everyone he knows when he sees them in the hallways. The Slytherins called him an arrogant show-off, who "boasts about his popularity" the same way some people brag about their test scores. He just thinks that that everybody needs to feel like they have someone who cares.
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8. Whenever he's nervous, he hums Musidora Barkwith's famous symphony, The Wizarding Suite, under his breath.
He blames his mother for this. It was always her favorite piece.
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7. Oliver has not used contractions in speaking since he was eight because his Grandmother Selwyn refused to respond to him when he did, explaining, "I shall not waste my time communicating with anyone in so great a rush. Impatience is a sign of recklessness, child, and recklessness is a dangerous quality."
He still has scars from the last time he used the word "isn't" in front of her.
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6. Oliver has learned to live without the use of his left arm; it's taken him years, but he's finally learned to ride a broomstick one-handed. But sometimes, he still has moments where he is convinced it's all just some terrible dream, and he'll wake up in his old flat and have to rush through breakfast before heading off to the pitch for practice.
He will never tell anyone this, because on the really bad days he wishes it was true.
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5. When she first tells him her idea, Oliver is the one who convinces Katie to go actually through with it. He holds her hand when she sits down into the leather chair and she nearly breaks his fingers when the needles are first brought up to her face. It takes four straight hours before it's complete, and in that time Oliver tells her every fairy tale he's ever heard in an effort to distract her from the pain.
The tattoo artist threads vines and leaves of ivy into where only horribly ugly scars had been before, and when it heals it is one of the most beautiful things Oliver has ever seen.
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4. His father never wanted him to play Quidditch. Never practiced with him over the summers, never took him to matches, never even listened to the few professional games he played in when they were broadcast over the Wireless. He preferred brains over brawn, intelligence over ability, his potions over his son. The last time Oliver tried to get his parents to see him play – it was United vs. The Arrows, and he'd gotten both of them box seats – his father told him to stop bothering them with such "useless rubbish" and locked the Floo.
Oliver just wanted his father to be proud of him.
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3. Oliver's first crush is on Eleanora Diggory, the Hufflepuff's Quidditch captain and their star Seeker when joined the Gryffindor team. She was a seventh-year; tall and blonde, athletic and friendly, and perhaps the only person who spared each of her opposing capatains a jovial "Good luck, mate" and a good-natured grin before a match.
He sent her flowers when Cedric died. He never knew him well, but he flew like his sister.
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2. He teases Katie when he sees her for the first time after the battle in an effort to lift her spirits. She's propped up on pillows in a bed at St. Mungo's with bandages wrapped around her head to cover her left eye. He has what's left of his left arm held up in a sling and he can see the scars that thread across her cheekbone towards her ear, and when she tells him that the Healers are planning on fitting her with a false eye he calls her "Mad-Eye Bell". She laughs and jokes about how now she'll never be able to start a career in modeling.
He tells her that to him, she'll always be beautiful. He's completely serious. Katie bursts into tears.
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1. Edmund Wood dies when Oliver is thirty-six, after suffering a heart attack alone in his basement laboratory. They bury him in the family plot on a Tuesday, right next to Oliver's grandparents.
He cried harder at Alicia Spinnet's funeral than he did at his own father's. He never quite forgives himself for that.