A/N: Hey! It's me again! So, this would be my second fanfic for KBOW. I wrote this a while ago and never got around to posting it...it's pretty rough around the edges so be nice please!

Disclaimer: so a few days ago I got my grade nine math test back, and I failed it...okay so I asian failed it...the last I checked, J.K. Rowling was definitely not taking grade nine math...you figure it out from there.

Oliver's P.O.V.

Well, it's a good thing I like mashed potatoes, because otherwise…I'd be in a bigger dilemma than I already am…

I had just woken up that morning and prepared myself for the worst; double potions!

After continuous screaming at my mates for taking so bloody long in the shower, I finally got my turn. Honestly! I thought guys were supposed to be fast when it comes to getting ready. Anyways, after my ten minute shower, in comparison to my roommates' half an hour ones, I pulled my robes on and headed down to the common room.

"Hey mate! What did you do with your tie?! And dress appropriately!" Weasley hollered from across the room.

I looked down and realized that I hadn't buttoned up my shirt and I had forgotten me tie upstairs.

"Damn!" the day just started and it was already a bad one…

Buttoning up my shirt properly, I headed towards the stairs that led to my dorm. Bounding up them two at a time, I sprinted up the stairs. I retrieved my tie from my bedside and headed back down. After only about a minute or two, miraculously, there was a massive crowd of Gryffindors all gathered around the notice board. I saw two identical redheads hopping up and down in the front.

As expected, along with the two hopping heads, came two identical shouts of happiness and excitement. With a mad dash through the crowd around them, the Weasley twins took my confused, dazed look as an invitation to openly jump on my back and celebrate. Yes, the both of them…not light those two you know. Anyways, riding on me like a cowboy, George, no sorry, Fred, no wait maybe not…? Oh whatever! So, 'Weasley' decided to actually command me to 'giddy up gal'! (A/N: Get it? In honour of one of my favourite authors! But I think she changed her name…oh well! I guess you could say this chapter is dedicated to her, because she inspired me to write)! Me, Oliver Andrew Wood, Quidditch captain of Gryffindor, most honoured keeper in all eternity of Hogwarts' history to 'giddy up'!? The nerve of that-that thing! Honestly…

Well, after dumping Weasley off my back, I took the liberty to take a look for myself at what all the fuss and commotion was about. Pushing past a pack of twerps, I looked up at the board. In HUGE letter on a pretty fancy looking poster, were the words Masquerade: in honour of Professor Ketttleburn's retirement. In shock, I stared…for a long time. A masquerade? What the hell is that?! So I stood there for a while, confused. It must have shown on my face because the next thing I knew, Bell, Spinnet, and Johnson were standing before me looking slightly amused.

"Hey Wood, lookin' a little bewildered there!" Johnson said with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, what word don't you get this time?" Spinnet joined in looking equally amused.

Wait, wow what? Firstly what the hell does the word bewildered mean, and secondly how on the earth does she know that I don't know what masquerade means?

"Ahhh…so you don't know what the word masquerade means?" said Johnson.

"…or bewildered!" Spinnet said with a snicker.

Damn! I really have to stop doing that, you know, saying my thoughts out loud.

"Yeah, you really do Wood," piped up Bell.

"Merlin, I'm going nuts!"

They all nodded in agreement. And suddenly, they burst out into fits of laughter.

"What the he…?"

"Don't bother Wood, they're always this crazy," said Fred, appearing behind him.

"Hey!" Katie said with a look of offense.

But with just one quick glance at each other, their fits of laughter just began all over again. Finally, after a matter of seconds, the laughter ceased.

"So, did you guys hear about the dancy thingy?" George asked after a bit of an awkward silence.

"George…we're standing right in front of the poster. The thing is so damn big there's no way we could have missed it! Of course we know about it! Gosh!" Alicia took the liberty of answering for all of us, which was followed by a small twack on the head.

"Okay, well we should probably be heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Only twenty minutes left before class starts," she proceeded to suggest.

With mumbles of agreement, we willingly all headed out of the portrait whole. Once arriving at the Great Hall, We immediately took our usual seats. Situated, believe it or not, as far away from the Slytherin table as possible, we sat down. Not being shy at all, we all helped ourselves to the platters of never ending delicious food. You know, the whole bit; bacon, all the different ways to cook an egg imaginable. I always thought there were only two ways; scrambled and fried, apparently not. I now know that there are about seven or more different ways to cook an egg.

Okay, yeah, I know, totally random and off topic. So…back on topic…

Yeah, so while eating, everything was completely silent. All you could hear was the clinking and clanging of forks on plates. Our mouths too full to talk, we just didn't even bother trying. So I sat there carefully chewing my food, making sure not to choke on a chunk too big. Man, I sound like a baby! Oh well…and that's when it started…

I looked up to see Potter and his two sidekicks walk through into the Great Hall.

"Ah! Potter! There you are. Come here," I said with a smirk on my face.

Like a dog, he obediently came and sat across from me.

"Okay team-" I began.

"Oh shite! Hell no!" I heard someone mutter.

"I have to go to the loo!" Alicia exclaimed, while getting up so fast she almost flipped half of her meal over.

"I do too!" Angelina cried out, getting out of there even faster than Alicia.

I had to blink a couple of times before I realized that the Weasleys had escaped as well.

That left Potter, Katie, and I.

And then another couple of seconds later, I realized that Katie was being dragged away by Angelina and Alicia who had apparently come back to get her. Guess they didn't really have to go pee that badly then.

"Wai- what's going on?!" she cried.

"You dolt!" Angelina began, "He was about to talk to us about starting PRACTICES!" she continued.

I saw her face dawn with realization. Then suddenly she tore herself from their grip and dashed backwards to grab food. Her hands full of…whatever, she ran out of there faster than you could say: "wait!" Quickly followed by Angelina and Alicia, they disappeared in a flash. I sat there dazed for a second. Then I turned to look at Potter.

"Okay…no point now, you can go back to whatever you were doing," I said.

Getting up myself, I headed towards the common room to grab my books. Unfortunately, Peeves had set off a bunch of stink pellets causing the shortest route to the common room to smell worse than Flint's breathe even after using mouthwash. Just my luck, I was forced to take the extra long way. Trudging up what seemed to be like a thousand sets of stairs, I made it to the Fat Lady's frame. As usual, she was still sleeping. I had to scream the password multiple times before she finally woke up. I looked down at my wristwatch to check the time.

Great! I had just about five minutes to grab my books, and dash all the way back down half the freaking castle to the dungeons. Not bothering to actually look at which textbooks I had grabbed, I ran out of there as fast as I could. Well, even if I'm not a Seer, I could have predicted that there was no way in the world I was going to make it to class on time. And I was right. I arrived eighteen seconds after the bell sounded signaling the start of class.

"Mr. Wood, I would appreciate it if next time you would find the decency to take your self-absorbed mind out of the topic of Quidditch and focus on getting to my class on time!" the ugly git said.

"Yes sir," I mumbled, avoiding his glare.

"Today we will be studying the art of making a very simple bloating potion. At the end of class, you will have them tested," he said while motioning to a jar full of what seemed to be spiders.

"If all goes well," he continued, "your insect should bloat up to twice the size of a normal one.

"You may begin," he finished.

My first thoughts consisted of 'how the hell am I going to find out how to make a bloating potion?' I looked up to find that the majority of my class was reaching into their bags to retrieve their textbooks. Naturally, I copied them. Reaching into my own bag, searching for my potions textbook, I found that it was not there.

"Oh Merlin!" I muttered.

Glancing around me to see if I could share with anyone, I spotted Percy behind me setting his book onto his desk, opened to a page which clearly read 'Bloating Potion'.

"Psst! Perce!" I whispered hoarsely.

Yes! He looked up!

"What!?" he asked, looking quite annoyed.

"Could I use your textbook?" I asked hopefully.

"Fine, just don't wreck it," he replied, looking at it protectively.

"Thanks," I said quickly before grabbing it from his desktop.

Meanwhile, Snape was doing his usual round around the classroom, picking on a Gryffindor or praising a Slytherin every once in a while. When he finally reached our side of the classroom, he was being especially nasty. Nip picking at the smallest little errors. When he passed by my cauldron without a word I was amazed.

"Mr. Weasley! Where is your textbook? Why do you not have it with you? It is unlike you to be unprepared for a class. That's five points from Gryffindor," he barked.

"Bu-…" Percy began.

"I do not tolerate laziness in my class nor do I accept any excuses for it Mr. Weasley. I will be considering a detention the next time you decide not to take my class seriously. Oh and another five points will be taken for Mr. Wood being late," he interrupted with a smirk.

I grinned apologetically at Percy, hoping that he would not kill me so that I could live to see the light the next day. To my dismay, he was glaring daggers right through me. Honestly! Ever heard the saying 'if looks could kill, I'd be dead ten times over'? Well, if looks could kill I'd be dead at least twenty times over! I quickly turned around avoiding his gaze. Yet I could still feel his eyes piercing me like I was a pin cushion or something. Might I add that it is very difficult to concentrate when a whole is being burned right through your torso by a fellow classmate's gaze? And I'm not all that great at potions to begin with. So on top of having a whole in me my bloating potion seemed to be more pinkish than black; like the book said it was supposed to be. Thus, being doomed from the start, my potion ended in a total disaster. Although it didn't blow up or anything, it still managed to melt and kill the poor spider. Oh well, spiders aren't very friendly anyways.

Anyhow, after the two-hour-long fiasco, I was finally freed, but only to be imprisoned by Professor McGonagall for another hour. After failing my third attempt to turn a desk in to a pig, we were finally let out for lunch. To my delight, the whole team, minus Harry, was seated together.

"Practice, tomorrow morning at seven! I'll fill Potter in later," I announced, sneaking up behind them all.

There were immediate strings of cussing and violent gestures all directed to poor little old me. But not wanting to miss my chance, I ignored all of this and continued on.

"For the next few weeks I want three practices a week. I'll choose what days, and let you know as soon as I decide. When we hit October, I expect at least four practices, maybe even five a week," I said seriously.

"But Oliver! This year's O.W.L.S. for us!" Alicia protested.

"And this year's N.E.W.T.S. for me, your point?" I said raising my eyebrows in question.

She huffed annoyingly.

Satisfied with her response, I continued once more.

"Two dawn practices a week, starting at five-thirty sharp. One will always be on Saturd—," I was quickly cut off by a pile of white mush.

Well, it's a good thing I like mashed potatoes, because otherwise…I'd be in a bigger dilemma than I already am…

I wiped the muck away from my eyes, and looked around to see who the criminal was...

There you have it! The first chapter of Masquerade. Let me know what you think! Review Review Review please! Constructive criticism is appreciated, no flames pretty please! And thanks for reading! If you haven't already, check out my other story: Secret and Hidden Romances. Just go to my profile. And for all those searching for a Beta...I'm currently pointing at myself frantically, I'm hoping you get the picture...

'til next time,

EP