I Have Boundaries

August 23, 2000 | London, England

POV Oliver

"Emma, calm down!" Oliver said evenly.

"Calm down? Have you seen how many journalists are in there?" she asked, almost hysterically.

"She's right," Jamie agreed.

Oliver took a deep breath and tried not to let their nerves infect him again. He could understand them. He'd been nervous when they first arrived too. By now, though, that had mostly passed.

Now he was mainly annoyed.

Two days ago, Warner had officially announced who would be playing the three lead roles in Harry Potter, and today was their first public appearance together.

"You're worrying over nothing," Oliver said, looking between them. "We go out there, read off our lines, and that's it."

Emma looked at him as if he'd just told her they were popping out to buy some milk.

For the past two days, their PR people had prepared them for practically every minute of this event. The journalists had been required to submit their questions in advance, problematic topics had been filtered out, and they'd even been given suggested answers to the most obvious questions.

So really, nothing could possibly go wrong.

"Get ready! You're going in any moment!" someone from the PR team called.

Emma and Jamie immediately froze as if they were about to be marched in front of a firing squad.

Oliver looked from one to the other and shook his head. Then he took Emma's hand and put his other arm around Jamie's shoulder.

"Listen, you two. Whatever happens out there, you're not alone. We're in this together—we're a team." He gave them both another serious look. "So take a deep breath. And when we go out there, we'll show them what we've got!"

With that, he pulled the two of them towards the door.

As they entered the room, Oliver heard David Heyman, the producer of Harry Potter, introducing them to the assembled press.

Before they were fully in view of the cameras, Oliver let go of them and gave Jamie a gentle push forward. He gave Emma a small nod to follow him.

He didn't want the first photographs to make it look as though the two of them needed him to lead them to the table.

A few steps later, they emerged into the full glare of the cameras, and Oliver was pleasantly surprised by how quiet the press remained. Journalists filled the seats in front of them, camera crews stood behind them, yet no one shouted questions or tried to drown anyone else out.

All he could hear was the almost constant clicking of cameras.

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Chris, who was sitting at one end of the table, stood to let them take their seats. Oliver sat in the middle, with Jamie to his left and Emma to his right.

He glanced over at Jamie, who no longer showed any sign of his earlier nerves. If he was still nervous, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

Oliver was just about to turn to Emma to make sure she was all right when she reached for his hand beneath the table and squeezed as hard as she could.

Okay. Apparently not.

"Hey, Princess! That hurts!" he whispered.

Emma loosened her grip at least a little just as David Heyman opened the floor to questions.

The first few were about as exciting as Oliver had expected.

How had they found out they'd gotten the roles? Had they read the books? Who were their favourite characters? How did it feel to suddenly be Harry, Ron, and Hermione?

One after another, they answered the questions they'd spent the last two days preparing for, until eventually one came that hadn't been on their list.

"Oliver Bennett, do you think you can relate to Harry particularly well because you also grew up without your parents?" one of the reporters asked.

Oliver wasn't surprised. He came from the year 2026—a year in which the media had proven often enough that rules didn't always mean much to them.

He was prepared.

Which was more than he could say for Chris and the others. Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw Chris already leaning forward to answer for him.

Oliver gave the slightest shake of his head and made a small gesture to let him know it was all right.

Oliver pretended to think about the question.

"Maybe a little," he finally replied. "But I think Harry and I are pretty different in that regard."

Several of the reporters began writing.

"Harry grew up with people who never really made him feel like he belonged. It was different for me." Oliver gave a small shrug.

"I may have lost my parents, but I was never alone. I had Sister Margaret, who's like a grandmother to me, and Beatrice and Helen, who took me into their family and never made me feel like an outsider."

He paused for a moment.

"So I don't know if I understand Harry better just because we both lost our parents." A small smile appeared on his face.

"But maybe I understand why Hogwarts means so much to him."

"Because it's the first place where he finds a family."

***

"That was incredible!" Jamie exclaimed. "Did you see how many pictures they were taking of us?"

"That was so exciting! Hey, Olli, do you think we'll be on TV tonight?" Emma asked, practically bouncing on the spot.

Oliver stared at the two of them.

"You two are killing me!"

Laughing, Oliver shook his head and let them continue debating whether they would be on television that evening. He watched them with amusement and sat down in the armchair they had used earlier for the photoshoot.

"Well done!" Chris said as he sat down beside him.

"What did you expect? I'm Oliver Bennett, the wonder child," he mocked, giving him a provocative look.

"We'll see about that once filming starts," Chris replied with an ominous smile.

Oliver grinned and turned his attention back to Emma and Jamie. They were still discussing whether they would be on television that evening.

She had no idea.

Right now, to her, it was cameras, interviews, and maybe seeing her own face on television that night. Oliver, on the other hand, remembered well enough just how intensely the press would later take an interest in Emma Watson.

But there was a difference between knowing that people wanted to take your picture and understanding what it meant when, one day, they simply wouldn't stop.

"The question about my parents wasn't approved, was it?" he asked, turning back to Chris.

"No," Chris replied, his expression darkening.

"The question didn't bother me," Oliver said calmly. "But where are the boundaries?"

Chris looked at him questioningly.

"They—no, we're children, Chris. You had the questions checked beforehand so that boundaries like that would actually be respected."

Chris remained silent.

"Emma and Jamie aren't prepared for that. And today, neither were any of you." Oliver took another deep breath and looked over at the two of them while Chris searched for an answer.

"Today, you put three children in a room full of journalists and failed to protect them well enough."

Oliver fell silent for a moment. His gaze lingered on Emma and Jamie once more before returning to Chris.

"Because unlike you guys…" Oliver let the words hang between them for a moment.

"I Have Boundaries."