A/N: I am so, so sorry! I honestly don't know what took me so long in updating this, but a big THANK YOU to all my readers who have nagged me to continue this sucker. I don't know if anyone is actually still reading this, but this chapter goes out to openwindow for, well, flattering me into remembering I wrote this! Ha, ha, shame on me, I know! Even if I don't deserve it, I'd absolutely love a review!

Izobel x

CHAPTER 4 – Out of Hand

Oliver winced, shielding himself as each Quaffle launched by his maniacal Chasers hit its mark somewhere on his body. His efforts to block them had been futile. It occurred to him that he ought to have moved out of the way a long while ago, as well as deliver a lengthy lecture on propriety on the pitch, but he found himself too astonished to do either. Instead, he had settled for freezing and hoping they'd take pity on him or snap out of their weird frenzy. That was a mistake, of course.

Just when he thought they were about to let up, he looked up from the protective shield of his arms to spot none other than Fred and George evilly rubbing their hands together. It happened like slow motion: each twin grabbed a battered Quaffle in his hand and arched his body back to swing the ball right at him. In pure Fred and George fashion, they did the entire motion in perfect synchrony.

At this point, Oliver wasn't entirely sure if he was looking at both his Beaters, or if he was simply so far gone that he was really just cross-eyed and was actually looking at only one twin. His internal question was answered when two Quaffles hit him squarely on each of his pecs – one on the left and the other on the right. Yep, it was the both of them. "Oye!" Oliver winced.

One of them had the cheek to call, "Look out!" a couple of seconds after impact. George, probably.

Oliver couldn't process. "Ex-excuse me?" he asked in disbelief. Had his Beaters just hit him? He began to fume.

"I'm sorry, Wood, our balls go faster than the speed of sound!" Fred bellowed, his and George's brooms rocking from their raucous laughter. "Maybe you should consider finding new Beaters!"

"Yeah," called George. "Hitting you is a lot more fun than thumping a boring old Bludger to each other all day. Girls, you never told us that Chaser training had so many perks!"

Fred and George high-fived each other, chortling while everyone else just perched on their brooms in stunned silence. Oliver was quite obviously teed off, whereas Katie, Angelina and Alicia sat clutching their Quaffles, evidently unsure of what to do next. Katie looked faint as she looked at each of the girls, who nodded. The three just turned their brooms around and descended in the direction of the pit.

"We're taking a water break, Oliver," called Angelina, who was probably the least disoriented of the three.

"Yeah," echoed the other two with dismissive waves of their hands.

"Looks like it's just us, Captain," grinned George as he grabbed another Quaffle. Fred did the same, although as they judged from Oliver's face, he was quite ready to explode. Fred fired his second Quaffle straight for Oliver's chest, but instead, it hit the palm of Oliver's hand as he caught it deftly. The Captain was livid.

"Just what do you two pillocks think you are doing interrupting my practice? Why in Merlin's name aren't you two rallying that Bludger around like I told you to? I THINK YOU BOTH SHOULD REALIZE THAT THIS IS NOT A GAME WE'RE PLAYING HERE –"

"Hate to break it to you, mate," Fred interrupted, "But Quidditch is a game."

Oliver sputtered for a moment before bellowing, "THAT IS BESIDE THE POINT!"

He breathed in and out, and with forced calmness said, "Take a break. Five minutes." The put-out Keeper followed the girls for some water. The twins looked at each other, knowing that it was far from over. George clutched the basket of Quaffles as he and Fred followed Oliver in stealth mode.

"What in Merlin's name just happened there?" Katie stared into space. If there was ever a practice that had gone horribly awry, it was this one. She could distantly hear Oliver yelling at Fred and George and getting cut off.

"I know! One second we were just shooting them into the hoops, then the next we were going at poor Oliver like he was some living bull's eye!" Alicia frowned into her goblet. "Poor Captain, we bullied him! I feel awful. And then Fred and George just came along –"

Angelina interrupted, "Psh, he's a man. He can take a few hits." Katie and Alicia looked at her like she was mad. Angelina didn't look entirely convinced of herself, either.

"I owe him an apology." Katie slouched, peering into her goblet of water as Alicia had done. "Poor, poor Ol. All this is my fault!"

"No, it's ours too. We let it get out of hand. And now I think my darling boyfriend and his brother are out to get him, just for the hell of it. You know how they are," spat Angelina.

"Shush, shush, he's coming!" Katie panicked. She self-consciously tucked her stray hair behind her ears and cleared her throat.

"What the hell was that about, Bell?" thundered Oliver as he stomped off his broom.

That rhymes, Katie thought. Her heart was a-flutter; she noticed that Oliver's brogue really came out when he was mad.

"What was…" she cleared her throat. "Erm, what… was what about, Cap'n?"

Oliver glared at her, and she felt someone poke her in the back. No time for games.

"W-well… you see, Cap'n, what happened was… was uh…" she floundered. She cleared her throat again. Angelina and Alicia had cowered behind her, so she was on her own.

"Well?" asked Oliver testily. "Practice fast shots my arse. What's your brilliant explanation, love?"

Love, she choked in her head. Her eyebrows shot way up. He called me love!

"Answer him!" Angelina hissed, again poking Katie in the back and out of her Oliver-induced haze.

Katie felt her face heat up. "Yes! Um, yes. Yes." She faced her Quidditch Captain squarely and took a deep breath. She felt the sky growing darker, though she didn't know if it was literally growing dark or if the world was melting around her.

"Oliver, I'm so, so sorry. This whole thing just got out of hand and I really just wanted to prove to myself and to these two here that I did… Well, that I didn't –"

"BOMBS AWAY!" hooted two voices from above. The Twins were twenty feet in the air, barely visible over the slow rain of Quaffles falling over everyone's heads (but mostly on Oliver's).

(It would be worth noting that Quaffles are engineered and charmed to fall slowly but heavily. Knowing this, Fred and George had opted to give everyone only a second to react. Such is the diabolical nature of the Weasley Twins.)

Katie stood there, paralyzed. One moment she was poised to confess her very deepest secret, and the next she was saved by a rain of Quaffles overhead. Looking up, she calculated whether it was a blessing or a bad thing. Quaffles were quite heavy, after all, and felt heavy as medicine balls when they were falling. Then she heard Oliver shout, "Kates, watch out!"

He dove over her, knocking them both to the ground. In a split second, they were pelted by a barrage of crimson spheres, and Oliver shielded her closely as the Quaffles bounced off his back.

A/N Well? I hope you like it! In the next Chapter, our dear Kates finds out just how well her failure of an experiment worked with regards to Mr. Wood's smell. :) Review if you're beautiful!