Chapter 1: Smoke the Future Away
"Let's go people, c'mon, let's go!" Oliver Wood bellowed as the players landed around him, dismounting their brooms.
"Come on, Middleton, I'm not waiting for you!" He looked up at a one person that was still circling around on her broomstick. She rolled her eyes, for a moment thinking about what would happen if she just flew right into him and knocked him on the ground, but she gave up that idea, before landing with a loud thump on the grass.
"Okay, everyone, go back to your dormitories, get a good night sleep and meet me tomorrow at 4.30 right here." The rain was slowly started to drizzle, and Julianne cursed under her breath. It was probably going to rain tomorrow too, she thought as she carried her broom towards the locker rooms, feeling the tiny droplets of rain hit her skin. And he will probably make them run like crazy and practice when raining. Of course, that was completely normal for Wood. He was so obsessed with Quidditch that nothing could stop him from playing. She was okay with that, as long as he didn't make them do it too. But he did.
Deciding she didn't want to go under the shower yet, she changed the direction, heading for the bleachers. As she reached her destination, she fiddled with something in the left pocket of her robes, before triumphantly pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit up one, deeply inhaling the smoke mixed with fresh, chilly air and enjoying the feeling of the smoke in her lungs after what turned out to be extremely hard practice. Her legs and arms ached, but she just laid on the bench, smoking, letting the rain clear her head and her thoughts. That was her secret, her addiction, the only outlet she had from all of her troubles.
Soon her hair was dripping wet from the rain, but she felt at peace, forgetting all of her worries, even piles and piles of homework from Transfiguration and Potions that was lying on her bed right now, waiting to be done. She was tired, but satisfied, like every time after a Quidditch practice. She lit up another one of her fags and smiled at the cloudy sky. It was beautiful, and for the first time in the few exhausting months, she felt good.
At least until she heard a familiar deep voice behind her.
"Middleton! What are you doing here?"
"Noth--" She jumped into a sitting position, startled, a half-burnt cigarette still in her hand.
"Smoking? You are smoking?? The game against Slytherins is just a month away, and I come here to find you laying on a sodding bench and smoking?!? You have gone completely mental!!"
Oliver Wood, drenched in rain was standing beside her and shouting. His eyes were lit up with rage, but Julianne just took another puff from her cigarette.
"Okay, calm down. Here, I will put it out." She threw the cigarette bud on the ground, and it landed in a puddle of water that was slowly expanding now that the rain was falling harder.
"That's it, Middleton. You will come tomorrow at 3.30 in the morning, and do some extra work for this. Consider this a mild punishment. If I see you smoking one more time, you're out of the team. Good night, Middleton."
For a moment, she just sat there, petrified, staring at his back as he walked away. Three-sodding-thirty in the morning? That means, she thought as she glanced at her watch quickly, that she had only three hours left for sleep. Picking up her broom angrily, she headed for the castle, cursing Oliver Wood under her breath. That bloody bastard, how could he do something like that to her, all because of one cigarette? And threaten with throwing her out of the team? Her feet stomped madly through the mud as she approached the castle.
She dried herself up with a hot air from her wand, and headed for the Gryffindor tower. As soon as she entered the empty common room, she threw herself carelessly into a big fluffy armchair closest to the fireplace. Taken off by the warmth of the fire, she slowly fell asleep.
"Oi! Rise and shine, Middleton! You've got some work to do..."
Julianne just shifted uncomfortably, trying to ignore the annoyingly familiar voice in her dream.
"Don't say I didn't warn you!" The voice repeated, and she landed on a floor with a loud thump, waking up suddenly. She rubbed her eyes and looked up, facing a grinning Oliver Wood who was standing over her.
"Sod off, Wood! Bloody hell, I was sleeping! What do you want from me?" She arose from the floor, yawning, sleepy and confused from sudden awakening.
"First, I want to see what you've got in your pockets." He was standing in front of her, a cold and cruel look on his face.
"No. I've got some... Er... Private stuff there. Nothing for you to see."
"I'll be the judge of that. Accio!" Julianne cursed loudly as the pack of cigarettes, a lighter and some chewing gum came flying out of her robe pockets, and right into his hand.
"You will not be getting this back." He waved the cigarette pack at her.
"And extra running for not throwing that out last night and telling me to sod off. Now come on."
Grabbing her broomstick, she followed him through the portrait hole and down the stairs, towards the playground. As she assumed, it was raining heavily, and she thought she could just murder him right there, and hide his body under the bleachers.
"Okay. Running- half an hour. And whenever I whistle, you quicken the pace until I say different. Understood?" He shouted, his voice somewhat silenced by rain.
She muttered something that extremely resembled "Sod off, you big Quidditch idiot.", but obviously he didn't hear, so she just started running. After fifteen minutes and seven whistles, she was dripping wet and out of breath, not to mention she was now seriously contemplating killing him, just couldn't think of the way. Poisoning him? Maybe. If she did that ruddy Potions homework, maybe she'd know how to make a decent poison, she thought as she hastened her pace after one more whistle. She could just feel his eyes on her, and see that smirk on his face, and it was making her absolutely furious. If he really thought this was going to stop her from smoking, he needed to think again. She had about fifteen packs more up in her drawer in the girls dormitories, and if she ever runs out, she could always buy more in Hogsmeade.
"You can slow down now!" He shouted, but she ignored his obnoxious deep voice, keeping the same speed, just to defy him. A sharp pain was piercing her lungs now, and she knew that were consequences of smoking, but she didn't want to stop, didn't want to give up, because that would make him right, and he definitely wasn't right punishing her for one cigarette.
"Stop! Oi!" She did stop, not because he said so, but just because she couldn't run more. Her legs ached like hell, and she thought she was going to fall asleep as she approached him.
"On the ground. Fifty push-ups." Wood said in an extremely cold voice. Julianne shot him an evil glare, but quietly obeyed. Twenty push-ups later, mud was all over her robes, hair and face, but she kept on going, until she felt a hard pressure on her back and spread-eagled in the mud. Hissing loudly, she realized that it was Wood's foot that was pushing her down.
"What the-"
"It's lame, Middleton. You can't even make twenty-five decent push-ups. You are lame. I can hear you wheezing, you can't breathe properly. Smoking, eh? A smoker. In my team." A rage started boiling inside her mind, and she immediately knew what to do. She arose swiftly from the ground, making him lose his balance and fall flat on his backside in the mud.
"Sod off! Do you really think you can talk to me this way? Can't you treat me with a little respect? I deserved it! You know what, Oliver Wood, I'm not putting up with this hell anymore. Watch this." She pulled out a cigarette she managed to save from him, and lit it up with a tap of her wand. Inhaling the smoke, she stared straight in his eyes, feeling weird satisfaction as his face turned darker and darker with anger. She blew the smoke right in his face, making him cough, but he grabbed her arm as she brought the cigarette to her lips again.
"You did it yourself, Middleton. You can go now, you're out of the team." His grip on her forearm clenched, and she winced in pain.
"I don't want to see you here ever again." He said.
"Good. I don't want to see you either. And I hope you rot in hell!!!" Throwing the half-burnt fag at him, Julianne picked up her broomstick and mounted it, not sure where she was heading. She wanted to clear up her mind, to arrange her thoughts, but it was impossible. The rain mixed with tears was blurring her vision, and the wind whipping her face, making it hard for her to even concentrate on flying straight. Flying over the Forbidden forest, she thought about Quidditch. She had been in a team since she was in her second year, and it was perfect before Wood became the captain. Eventually, all of them got used to his obsessed leadership, but this year, he was absolutely unbearable. What he did to her was pure humiliation, torture. She was willing to do two hundred push-ups if he ordered it, but she was not willing to let him literally run over her.
She decided to return to the castle, because the rain was turning into a real thunderstorm, and she had enough time to at least try to finish some of her homework now that she didn't have to go to practice. How she was going to live without Quidditch, she still hasn't figured out.