The Quidditch season had began which ment 5am practices. Eilidh Prewitt had been violently woken by her alarm clock that was blaring 4.30am. She pulled the warm blankets over her head and groaned. She closed her eyes.
" El, you know that Oliver will go mental if you don't get your butt down to the pitch, even if its you" her bleary eyed best friend, Ivy said sitting up in her own bed and rubbed the sleep from her chocolate brown eyes.
A tear rolled down her cheek, she was glad that her blanket covered her face so no one could see her cry.
" Sometimes I think he loves the game more than me." she said weakly. Since returning to Hogwarts he had become so distant from her. The summer had been the one of the best of her life, the hot summer days they spent devising new strategies that would hopefully help the team win the cup for the first time in seven years. The nights she had spent cradled in his powerful arms, she had never felt so safe, so happy. Now things had changed and for the first time since they met at the age of five,Oliver didn't want to be around her anymore, he had avoided her as much as possible.
It had began to hurt so much that it was making her sick.
" Don't be stupid, he loves you, whatever is going on in that freaky head of his will pass and things will get better." Ivy had jumped onto her bed, and wrestling the covers from her said " You had better get down there before he sends a search party looking for you."
Eilidh finally found the will to get out of bed, she gave her friend a weary smile grabbed her clothes and most importantly the playbook that had taken a summer to complete, she headed to the bathroom. She felt so weak this morning, maybe lying in a hot bubble bath would help. She stripped down and wrapped a large towel around her cold, naked body. Bending down to the sunken bath tub, she turned on the jeweled taps and jets of turquoise water and large soft pink foam issued from the golden faucets, filling the tub quickly. Letting the towel slip onto the white tiled floor, she got into the tub and let the hot water rush over her pale naked body. The heat of the water seemed to offer her comfort like of that Oliver's arms used to give her. She lay back and close her luminous green eyes, half formed images swam in her mind, she could smell the fresh summer air and felt the cool breeze blowing through her long wavy red hair. His sparkling blue eyes were looking deeply into hers, his large hands were in her hair pulling her so close she could feel his hot breath on her lips just seconds before they closed over hers. His hands ran down over her shoulders and down to her waist. " Oliver" she moaned as his hand gently brushed against her most sensitive area.
" I love you" he whispered in her ear as he lay her back.
" Eilidh."
Her eyes slowly opened and all memory of that summer night faded into the pearl and gold bathroom. She turned around to see Angelina Johnson, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, standing in the doorway.
" Hey Angie, whats up?" she asked pulling her towel around her and reluctantly climbing out of the bath.
" Wood sent me to find you, the team meeting is about to start and he wants you in the locker room ASAP . He's not happy." She rolled her eyes, ignoring the fact that Wood had sent her to fetch Eilidh, looking at her, she realized how ill her friend was. " How are you feeling El?" She came into the bathroom and sat on the white leather bench as Eilidh was dressing behind the privacy partition, she sighed. Since returning back to school and having to deal with Oliver's sudden desertion, her health had become gradually worse. It wasn't until she had collapsed in pain during one grueling Transfiguration class that she finally let Madam Pomfrey give her a check up. Ivy was with her when Madam Pomfrey broke the news to her. Oliver, who had been in the same class, didn't bother to come see how she was, when she collapsed he wouldn't even look at her as she lay bleeding on the classroom floor, instead he turned his back on her and continued to take notes on the proper way to transform a badger into a waste basket.
The events of two days ago still stung her, she didn't understand why he had become so cold towards her, she did notice however how close he and Alicia Spinnet had become since their return to Hogwarts. She emerged a few moments later dressed in a red gypsy dress and ballet pumps, her long hair flowed loosely around she slender shoulders.
" Yeah Angie, I'm fine, just a little tried, nothing to worry about." she smiled " You had better get going, tell Olli... Oliver I'll be down in a few minutes."
She made her way back into the dormitory and picked up her white winter coat and scarf. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, you could feel winter creep into the autumn air. She took her time in crossing the Quidditch pitch and entered the locker room to catch the end of Oliver's speech, where he had overlooked himself as being the great Keeper he was.
" Ever so modest Oliver." she said with a shy smile as she sat down on the bench furthest away from the team. Oliver strode forward and bent down to take the large playbook from Eilidh's hand, his gaze caught hers for a split second and in that moment the warmth had returned to his eyes. Everyone had witnessed the exchange between the two, the warmth in his eyes was replaced by concern. He hadn't seen her up close for a while, she looked breath takingly beautiful her skin glowed, she was radiant and yet so fragile and pale as though his very touch would hurt her.
" A team is only as good as its captain, El. Everyone has their roll to play, even you." he said gently, but a beautiful smirk on his face. He turned back to the team, " OK team warm ups, lets go." The team marched out onto the pitch leaving them alone for a moment. The tension between them became so unbearable that Oliver couldn't take it anymore and made to leave, but she grabbed his hand.
" Oliver, after practice I really need to talk to you, there's something we should talk about." The feel of her soft skin in his hand forced him to look at her beautiful, perfect face. His mind had momentarily went blank as he took her in as though seeing her for the first time. He released her hand and knelt down beside her, he ran her hand through her hair and looked directly into her eyes.
" Go lay down, I'll come find you when practice is over. Get some rest." He kissed her on top of the head as he rose to leave, he stopped suddenly " El, I'm sorry." he smiled at her and swiftly marched out into the now lightening morning sky.
She made her way back to the dormitory, giving the Fat Lady the password she climbed through the portrait hole and went straight up stairs to bed, everyone was in the Great Hall for breakfast, she lay down in her soft warm bed, and soon she was swimming in images of the amazing summer that now felt like a life time ago.