Angelina could barely keep her eyes open but she had to. It was way too early for any human being to be awake. The sun was just coming up; she could see the glow through the tiny window in the Gryffindor Quidditch team changing room. Fred and George were falling asleep on each other's shoulders, Katie and Alicia were leaning their heads back against the wall and even Harry kept occasionally dozing off before jolting awake again.
Yes, it was way too early to be awake, yet Oliver Wood was standing in front of the team, waving his arms wildly as he excitedly went over his game plan to win the Quidditch finals in a week.
"Then, if Angelina, Katie and Alicia just focus on making goals, and Fred and George," Oliver walked over and hit the sleeping twins on the heads with the rolled up papers in his hand. "If Fred and George," he continued as the twins jolted awake, "concentrate on keeping the other team away from us, we should be okay. And Harry, we need you to Catch the Snitch."
"Relax, Wood," Fred mumbled, rubbing his eyes. "Harry's the best Seeker we've had in a few years. "We'll be fine."
"We still need to plan and we still need to practice!" Oliver said, hitting his rolled up papers against his hand. "It's my last year and my last chance to win the Quidditch cup."
"We won't let you down, Oliver," George said. "Don't worry."
Oliver blinked and half smiled. "Well, let's get out there and practice."
As the team slowly headed for the door, everyone still almost too tired to keep their eyes open, Oliver grabbed Angelina's arm and stopped her.
"Thanks," he said in a low voice.
"For what?" Angelina blinked at him a few times.
"For keeping your eyes open." Oliver flashed her a small smile. "I'm pretty sure you were the only one."
"Oh," she laughed. "Yeah, I guess I'm too excited to play Quidditch to fall asleep."
Oliver smiled before heading out after the team. Angelina closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was excited to play. It wasn't a lie, but she had had to stay awake.
She had liked Oliver for the past few months. Why else would she force herself to stay awake through his lectures and game plans? Why else would she take in every word as if it were gold, but at the same time not fully listen? Oliver thought she had been focused on his game plan but instead she was more focused on him.
"Oi, Angelina, get out here!" yelled Fred's voice. "You're holding us up!"
Angelina sighed before heading out into the slightly chilly air.
"Alright, now remember what I said inside," Oliver reminded them. He looked around and sighed. "Does anyone rememberwhat I said inside? Angelina?"
"Er," she said, frantically trying to remember a line from one of Oliver's previous speeches. He gave almost the same one every year. "You want us to stay focused," she finally said.
"Well, yeah," Oliver said. "Essentially, that is what we need to do."
Angelina smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. It was good luck, really, that she had gotten herself out of that one. She had listened to Oliver's speech the first few times but then it had gotten boring, she had started to like him, and she spent the time he was talking to daydream.
"Okay, so let's begin, shall we?" Oliver mounted his broom and flew off towards one set of goalposts.
"So, when are you going to tell him?" Fred asked Angelina in a hushed tone as the rest of them climbed onto their brooms.
"Tell who what?" Angelina asked innocently.
"Come on, Ange," Fred said, rolling his eyes and smirking. "I can tell you pulled the answer to his question out of thin air. You weren't really paying attention to his speech. It's impossible to listen to him. Yet, you didn't fall asleep. That can only mean one thing."
"Yeah, and what's that?" Angelina asked, kicking off the ground and hovering in the air. After a second, Fred joined her.
"You like Oliver," he said. "If you didn't, why would you force yourself to stay awake during his lectures? I mean, his game plan got boring after the fifth time he went over it. Or maybe it was the fourth. Better yet, after the first time."
"So what would I do if I hypothetically liked him?"
"Well, hypothetically, you would just tell him."
"How? And when?"
"How you do it is completely up to you. As for when…" Fred glanced out across the Quidditch pitch. "I'd say preferably before he has heart failure."
They both turned to look at Oliver, who was glaring at them impatiently. "If you two are finished with your social get together, we can start practice. We're all waiting for you."
"Sorry, Oliver." Angelina felt herself blushing.
During the entire practice, Angelina tried her best to fully concentrate on what she was doing, but that was difficult to do with Fred's words bouncing around in her head. She did like Oliver, there was no use denying it. But she couldn't just tell him that. The idea was terrifying. She knew for a fact that Oliver hadn't had a girlfriend in nearly two years due to the fact that he was so focused on Quidditch. And the girlfriend he had had previously hasn't lasted very long for the same reason. Basically, Quidditch was Oliver's girlfriend. It was a little sad, maybe, but it only made Angelina want to change it more than she had ever wanted to change anything before.
"Alright," Oliver called at the end of practice. "Good job everyone. That's enough for today. Let's go back inside and I'll see you all tomorrow."
"So tired," Katie muttered to Angelina as they landed back on the ground. "Hungry, too."
"Same here," Angelina answered.
"Angelina, can I talk to you for a moment?" Oliver asked, jogging up beside her.
"Uh, sure," she answered slowly. She shared a confused look with Katie before her friend shrugged and continued walking back to the changing rooms. "Did I do something wrong?" Angelina asked. "Sorry I was a bit distracted today. There was a lot on my mind."
"Yeah, I noticed actually. Is everything alright? You seemed a lot less focused than usual."
"Yeah, just a lot to think about right now."
"You weren't really paying attention to my game plan lecture earlier were you?" Oliver asked.
"Why would you think that?" Angelina looked at the ground and casually scratched the back of her head.
"I saw your face when I asked you what I said. It was a look that's crossed my face plenty of times in Transfiguration when I'm not paying attention and McGonagall calls on me." Oliver gave her a knowing smile.
"What are you thinking about instead?" Angelina teased. "Quidditch?"
"Usually, yes, but lately…" Oliver sighed. "Lately it's been a girl."
Angelina did her best to hide her shock. "A girl? Really? I didn't think you had time for girls. Usually you're too busy with Quidditch."
"Yeah, but this time the girl is on the team. It might be different and I really want to give it a try."
Angelina smiled. Was it possible that Oliver was talking about her? Yes, but he could also mean Katie or Alicia. She decided it was best not to get her hopes up.
"Right, and Katie and Alicia are both wonderful players…"
"Yeah," Oliver said vaguely, "but you know, I was really impressed with how you managed to make that one catch at the start of practice even though you weren't focused at all."
"I was hoping you'd notice," she blurted before clapping a hand to her mouth. "I mean, I don't care if you noticed or not."
"Well I did," Oliver whispered, gently pulling her hand away from her mouth. "I've always noticed what a fantastic player you are, but recently I've been noticing you as a little bit more."
"You have?" Angelina's voice came out a squeak. She was hardly daring to believe him.
"Yeah, Ange, I like you. I had no idea how to tell you. I don't have too much experience with that sort of thing, so I apologize for not telling you in some kind of romantic, perfect setting."
"This is perfect," Angelina whispered.
Oliver smiled before tilting his head to one side. "Did you really think I was talking about Katie or Alicia?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to believe it was true that you liked me until I knew for sure. I've liked you for so long, Oliver…"
"What about Fred?"
"What about him? He's my best friend. He actually gave me advice on how to tell you I like you. Why? Jealous?" She smirked.
"No," Oliver said quickly, looking down.
"Sure," she snorted, nudging him.
"Getting an attitude now that you know I like you, huh?" Oliver joked. "That won't help you during practices. I can't have my players getting bigheaded."
Angelina shot him a look and he laughed before interlacing her fingers with his and using his free hand to cup her cheek. He leaned forward and as their lips met, Angelina's stomach did a victory dance.
"Don't think this changes anything," Oliver whispered against her lips. "You won't be getting any special treatment now."
"Really? That was my motive the whole time, you know," she teased.
"In fact," Oliver said, pulling away, "maybe now you can get your head out of the clouds and, I don't know, focus."
"Maybe, but I still won't listen to your game plans," she answered.
"You should. If you and the others would just listen, then-,"
"You and Quidditch," Angelina sighed. She smiled and then burst into laughter as she jumped on her broom and flew into the air. "How about you try to catch me?" she giggled.
"Angelina! I was talking to you!" Oliver called, laughing as well. He jumped onto his broom and followed her. "You have to focus!"
"I'm always focused!" she yelled over her shoulder. "I have no idea what you're talking about! Maybe if you stay focused you'll be able to catch me!" With that, she threw a wink his way and flew faster.
A/N: So, I decided to try and write an Angelina/Oliver story after I put them together as a side couple for one of my other stories and discovered I actually kind of like them together. I hope everyone likes it!
Thanks for reading and reviews would be greatly appreciated! :)
