Disclaimer: All characters belong to JK Rowling except Robbie who belongs to my friend Alassë.

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Transfiguration had always been one of Oliver Wood's best subjects, but it was definitely not his favorite. Why would anyone ever need to turn an armadillo into an inflatable inner tube? Well, he and his seat partner, Robert Gillis, sure didn't have the answer. But they had still had to chase the armadillo around the room when it got away in the middle of class, only half-Transfigured. Oliver stumbled out of Transfiguration about five minutes after the bell, hot and sweaty from chasing it.

Putting that lesson behind him, he headed off to the Great Hall and to his friends, who thankfully didn't know that he was struggling with Muggle object transformation. When he arrived at the Gryffindor table, his Chasers were already there. He sat down next to Katie, across from Alicia, and tried to join in their conversation. They seemed to be talking about their nightly schedules.

"What are you going to do after dinner?" Angelina addressed her two friends.

"Go to Quidditch practice," Oliver answered for them.

"But we had a dawn practice this morning!!" whined Alicia.

"What else were you planning to do?" Oliver asked, amused.

"Go shopping," said Katie firmly. "Do you guys know if and where I can buy brown mascara?" she continued, addressing the girls.

What's mascara?? Oliver wondered. Mascara, mascara, mascara… oh! That was the stuff you put on your cheeks to make them pink!

"Maybe at that little shop in Hogsmede," Alicia said, tearing a chunk off her bread and dipping it into her soup.

This overly confused Oliver. Why would someone want brown on their cheeks? And Katie naturally had pink on her cheeks… especially when she came off the Quidditch field. Doesn't every girl want pink cheeks?

"Why brown?" wondered Angelina. "It wouldn't really match your robes."

"For the weekends," Katie replied, rolling her eyes as if it were obvious.

"Why would you want brown cheeks, weekend or not?" Oliver asked. The girls stared at him as if he were a crazy Muggle, immune to the world of women - which, of course, he was; not a muggle, immune to the world of women.

Katie sighed, "Just go talk to Fred and George, Ollie." She patted his arm shortly before turning back to Angelina and Alicia to discuss the rising fascination of brown mascara.

Oliver turned his head to see Fred sit down next to him and George sit down by Alicia. Fred looked diagonally across at Angelina and sighed.

"I would say, 'Just ask her out already' but for the Cup's sake, please wait until the season's over," Oliver pleaded with Fred. Fred just gave him a grumpy look and started eating.

Oliver turned back to Katie, Angelina, and Alicia, but they were still discussing makeup. That was weird. Almost as if Katie didn't want to include him in her conversation. Oh well. He would confront her after Quidditch. He pulled out some of his most recent plays and began perfecting them for the night's practice.

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At six o'clock, he headed down to the Quidditch pitch, his team trailing along in his wake. To his dismay, Katie was still talking animatedly with Angelina and Alicia. She did that sometimes when she needed "girl time" as he called it, but it bothered him more than usual tonight, as if she was actually avoiding him. But now was not the time; it was time for him to focus on quidditch!

"I have some new plays for you!" he announced enthusiastically to his team. They all stared at him. He let his eyes grow bigger to indicate he was expecting an answer.

"You taught us all those this morning…" Harry started, his voice trailing off.

"No, no," Oliver contradicted him, "more new plays, completely different from those this morning. You see, those plays involved the Keeper, both Beaters, and all three Chasers. These moves involve the Keeper, both Beaters, the Seeker, and only two Chasers. You see, it works."

They all just stared at him blankly. Being used to this by now, he pulled out his diagrams and proceeded to move the Xs and Os to demonstrate his point. After about twenty minutes, he led his team in putting the new moves into practice on the field.

Practice went fairly well; Harry was doing well with the Seeker part and the Chasers with their part. The problem was the Beaters. They didn't seem focused enough. It was time to make his speech to focus them.

"This is our last chance - my last chance - to win the Quidditch Cup," he started, striding up and down the isle of the lockers. As Oliver walked, he caught Katie's eye and was surprised to find that the spark usually dancing in her green eyes was absent. However, Oliver continued with his speech, so as not to draw attention to his best friend's lack of interest in her favorite activity.

"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world – injuries - then the tournament getting called off last year…" This was slightly more painful then he had expected. But he couldn't let them know that. He had to get them pumped.

"But we also know we've got the best – ruddy – team – in – the – school," he said, punching his fist into his hand to prove his point. What else could he say to put them in the game winning mind-set … of course! Praise them!

"We've got three superb Chasers." Oliver pointed at the girls.

"We've got two unbeatable Beaters." He pointed in turn to the twins who blushed and said together, "Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us." As usual, their antics were ignored.

"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" He finished Wait…

"And me." He added as an afterthought.

"We think you're very good too, Oliver."

"Spanking good Keeper," said the Weasley Twins in turn. Rubbish. Anyways…

"The point is the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing…"

His act of dejection was definitely working. Even the Weasley Twins were looking sympathetic. They would have to work hard now!! Ha!

"Oliver, this year's our year!" said Fred

"We'll do it, Oliver!" commented Angelina.

"Definitely," added Harry.

They are pumped for perfection. Life is perfect. Except for the small Katie hiccup.

"I'll confront her when we get to the common room," he thought to himself, as the rest of his team got ready for the showers and a night of hard studying.

Author's note: Thank you all who have read this story and/or put me on alert. I appreciate greatly since this is my first fanfic. I won't lie…. I'm disipointed I haven't gotten reviews from anyone except my beta… who doesn't count. Sorry LÚthien. Thank you for editing though! ) And all the rest of you… REVIEW!! Please!!!