AN: I have to admit, some parts involving Quidditch will be taken from what J.K gave us during the 5th book for obvious reasons. I didn't really think about that when I planned the story so I'm kinda working a little in advance – which I'm sure none of you will mind. I forgot that Oliver needed a replacement on the Gryffindor team and in the 5th book Ron took his position. I've moved that forward just for some continuity and I hope that it doesn't upset some of you. As a reminder, I did say that this story was going to be AU.

Before I head off into this chapter I just wanted to leave you with the words from Missy Higgins' song Scar. The song is quite befitting this chapter and it you haven't heard it, I urge you to.

"And doesn't that sound familiar? Doesn't that hit too close to home?

Doesn't that make you shiver; the way things could've gone?

And doesn't it feel peculiar when everyone wants a little more?

And so that I do remember to never go that far,

Could you leave me with a scar?" – Missy Higgins, Scar.

CHAPTER THREE – COULD YOU LEAVE ME WITH A SCAR?

THAT EVENING

Alicia and Angelina stared at me open mouthed and eyes bulging. I felt like I had just grown two heads and my eyes had fallen out onto the table in front of me. Nervously, I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ears and diverted my eyes. "Will you two stop looking at me like that?" I pleaded, watching as Cedric Diggory and his group of Hufflepuff mates entered the Great Hall for dinner.

"We're just a little stunned that's all," Alicia admitted. I heard her fork clatter and decided that she had begun eating.

I suddenly didn't feel so hungry, so I pushed my plate and goblet of pumpkin juice away. Sighing, I turned back to them and to their disapproving faces. I did a mental eye roll. I could never please this pair. Just because they had rock solid 'relationships' with the Weasley twins didn't mean that I was as lucky in love. "Stunned? Why? You set the reunion up."

Angelina grinned. "Yeah, but we didn't expect you to make out with him."

I frowned. "I didn't make out with him," I hissed. "He kissed me. End of story."

Alicia raised her eyebrows. "And did you pull away?" She asked quizzically.

Sighing I shook my head. "No, I didn't."

Angelina grinned again. "So therefore technically you made out."

Frustrated, I glared at her. "How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't make out with him?" I demanded.

"At least a hundred," Fred added, grabbing a seat beside me.

I frowned at him. "Do you even know what I'm talking about?" I asked a little more intense and bitchy that I had intended.

Fred shrugged it off and grinned. "No, but I'm sure you'll fill me in," he said trying to act charmingly and battered his eyelashes at me.

Ange grinned at him from across the table. "Katie kissed Oliver," she said simply, smirking at me.

Fred laughed. "Nice one. Did you hit him with a bludgers bat again?"

I grimaced. "You don't even know why I hit him with one in the first place," I replied matter-of-factly.

"But, I'm sure you'll eventually tell us," Alicia threw in.

I shook my head solidly. "No. I confided in you guys about this kiss and look where that got me. I'm not going to even give you the chance to make fun of the reason I clocked Oliver."

All three of them made no reply, and instead opted to smile. Or rather grin. I sighed again and pouted. "Shut up."

The following Monday, Oliver turned up at Hogwarts (still supporting aluminium crutches) and was introduced, to a rather lagging start of the week breakfast, that he was going to be coordinating the Quidditch season. To no surprise, there was a hearty applause and light excitement from those sitting at Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables. Out of the corner of my eye, I had noticed some 1st year Ravenclaw faint while a gaggle of Hufflepuff 5th year boys cheered loudly. In a matter of months, Oliver Wood had become a celebrity and to tell the truth, I was more than a little jealous. That said, I avoided his eye the entire breakfast and made a quick getaway before he had the chance to catch up with me afterwards. I wasn't entirely sure that he would actually come looking for me but I wasn't about to make that task any easier if he decided too.

Admittedly, I was acting like the overwhelmed childish teenager again and I didn't particular feel like meeting up with Oliver while I was in that state of mind.

On my way to Transfiguration I ran into Cedric in the corridor. I felt my stomach somersault as he locked eyes with me and smiled. The exact moment in time when we had kissed last year flashed through my head. I offered him a lopsided smiled, trying to take things calmly.

"Hey, Cedric." I greeted nervously.

He nodded, his hair bouncing slightly as he did so and eyes filled with the genuine happiness to see me. "Hi, Katie. I haven't had a chance to catch up with you since term started. How are you?"

Twisted? Distorted? Going insane? "Fine," I offered. "And yourself?"

He nodded heavily. "Good."

I had actually noticed that...mmm....oops...I was staring. "That's err.... good?" I said quickly trying to act calm.

He laughed and I had a suspicious feeling that he knew that I had been checking him out. "This is kinda awkward huh?"

I smiled. "Trust me, after last weekend, this is normal."

Cedric's eyes sparkled. "I heard about your weekend. Cho Chang told me you and Oliver had quite the reunion. I didn't even know you guys broke up. How did you keep that secret?"

I chuckled nervously. I was going to kill...everyone I knew.... It had taken them one day to spread everything around the school. "Cho told you?" I asked frowning slightly. "Do you know how she found out?"

Cedric shrugged uninterested with my change in direction. "Dunno. I think she said that Roger Davies told her."

I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. At this rate, I was going to asphyxiate on lack of oxygen. Why was life at Hogwarts so damn stressful? Because of Oliver.....arrrrhhhh..... "I see. How's Helena?"

I quietly congratulated myself on change of conversation direction. Cedric frowned. "I don't really know. We broke up too."

Smooth, Katie, smooth. Chance direction and bring up a painful wound. I offered him a comfortingly smile. "I'm sorry. You guys were a good couple." Only because when you were with Helena you weren't trying to kiss me....

He shrugged, not as affected as much as I thought. "We didn't have anything in common. I though that would make things interesting, instead it was plain annoying," he said, laughing slightly. "Nice side step," he added smiling, "I guess you're sick of people asking about the Quidditch Hero of the hour."

I chuckled. "He's not your hero," I said.

Cedric nodded. "No. Wood's far too oblivious for my liking."

"I take it your not entirely happy that he's coordinating Quidditch then?"

"Doesn't really bother me," he said earnestly. "As long as he keeps his distance."

I laughed. "I wouldn't count on it."

He smiled, a polite gesture that showed he'd had enough of talking about Coach/Professor/Mr Wood or what ever he was going to be calling himself. "So, there are no plans for you pair to get back together?" he asked coyly.

I shook my head firmly. "No. There aren't." Except for the part where he kissed me....no....don't think about that!

Cedric grinned. "Great! In that case I can ask you what I actually caught up with you for."

I smiled. "And that was?" Gulp.

"I was wondering if you like to go on a date with me next Hogsmeade weekend."

I nodded before I'd even had a chance to comprehend what I was doing. "Sure, I'd love to," I heard myself say. I had a sudden suspicion that my brain had acted before my heart and taken control. Maybe that was a good thing. My heart would have declined and continued to pine.

Cedric grinned in return as the bell rang through the hallway. "Great," He said looking up and down the hallway as students emerged from all directions making the mad rush to first lesson. "I'll talk to you later then huh?" His voice was full of promise.

I nodded and he leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. "Bye Katie." And he was gone.

I nervously watched as he walked away, questioningly myself why I had just agreed. A part of me was happy for the Oliver distraction and the actual thought that I may once again hold someone's interest. Another part of me felt like I was heading back down the spiralling track I had emerged from last year. I had been there, done that and lied about for a while. The actual possibility of Cedric and I dating for real was a rather absurd one. I quickly recollected myself and made my way to Transfiguration. I hoped that somewhere in the school, in a gossip session, the news that I was going on a real date with Cedric Diggory was ringing in many ears and with any luck it would have reached Oliver by lunchtime.

Okay, so I admit it was wicked. But it means that our scores were now equal. Oliver:1, Katie:1. I was still in the game of cat and mouse yet.

THAT EVENING

I kicked off from the pitch letting the smooth wind ripple against my body. My senses filled with the crisp autumn air and I took one deep relaxing breath. I closed my eyes for a moment and stretched my arms out wide, flying around the pitch like a maniac but enjoying every second of it. I let the refreshing mood charge through my veins before opening them again and flying back to the ground. As I landed, I noticed Oliver sitting quietly in the stands, watching me. I made my way up to him, taking the stairs as slowly as I could.

"Hi," he greeted, back turned looking out at the pitch as I climbed the final stair and came out onto the threshold.

I smiled grimly. "Hi."

"Nice flying," he said, still not looking at me. "It helps if you keep your eyes open," he added bluntly.

I frowned, not liking his tone one bit. "Hard day at work?" I asked sarcastically, stepping in front of his line of vision. He looked up at me, his face grim and an angered grimace twisted upon his lips.

"Something like that."

I shrugged. "You are a celebrity now," I said sarcastically.

He laughed sadly. "I'm not a celebrity Katie and I don't pretend to be or for that fact want to be."

I coughed loudly. "International-Quidditch-Dinner's-player-of-the-season," I said quickly.

"Don't start," he warned sounding more like an authority figure than my ex-boyfriend.

I frowned. Talk about a power trip. "Lindsay McLean."

He frowned. I realised I had hit a nerve. There appeared to be a story there. I waited for his baited reply.

"Cedric Diggory."

Ouch. I shook my head. "Not fair."

He sighed. "Welcome to my world."

I felt our direction turn into scarred and bruised territory. "It's an injury not the end of your life," I said defensively.

Oliver looked at me seriously. "Once I'm done with crutches, they down grade me to a cane Katie. That's pretty serious to me. It's going to definitely feel like the end of my life."

"How long before you walk unaided?" I asked quietly, feeling rather mean.

He shrugged. "Can't say," he blinked. "I've damaged something in my spine as well. It's not just about my knee. I hit the pitch hard. Lucky I didn't bloody break my neck."

I eyed him carefully. "I hate to bring this into it, but that's not what everyone in the medias being saying. As far as your coach is concerned, you can play again next season."

Oliver nodded. "And I probably could. If I wanted to risk doing some permanent damage. They invested a lot of money in me Katie and they are not about to let me walk away with an injury after only 4 months."

I frowned. "And how do you feel about that?"

"I have a contract," he smiled sadly. "It doesn't matter how I feel. That piece of parchment makes my decisions for me."

I nodded and sat down beside him, staring out at the pitch. We sat in silence for a few minutes and during that time I contemplated what to say next. "I guess you heard about me and Cedric," I said awkwardly, not really wanting to bring it up, but doing so for lack of conversation.

Oliver didn't move. "Yes, I did as a matter of fact," he said coolly.

"Are you jealous?"

Oliver grinned, reading me like a series of Quidditch novels. "You'd like me to be wouldn't you?"

I shrugged. "Does Lindsay know that you kissed me on Saturday?"

"It's none of Lindsay's business, Katie. She's not my girlfriend," he said bluntly.

Bugger. That information could have been useful at least a day ago. Was there a pattern emerging that this was the season for relationship break-ups? "You didn't deny it on Saturday when I mentioned that she was."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "It wouldn't exactly matter would it? It wouldn't be professional for me to date one of my students."

"I'm not your student." I paused. "Okay so in a way I am but that didn't seem to bother you on Saturday when you kissed me."

Oliver sighed frustrated. "If your dating Cedric, why do you care what the kiss meant?" he asked seriously, eyeing me.

I shrugged. "I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat," he smiled.

I laughed. "How very wise of you."

Laughing he nodded. "I can't believe you thought that I would have cheated on my girlfriend. I thought you knew me better than that."

I smiled. "Considering we starting dating when you were still with Michelle-"

"That doesn't count," he said quickly, grinning. "And you know it doesn't. Have you see her lately?"

I shook my head. "I leave before she gets up and she doesn't come in until after I've gone to bed. If I do see her, she glares at me and hightails it outta there," I said. "I think she still has a grudge."

Oliver shook his head disapprovingly at Michelle behaviour. "It's been what? 10 months? I thought she'd be smarter than that."

I nodded in agreement. "She's a Drama Queen."

"Point very much taken."

The next evening, preparation for the Quidditch season began. Oliver organised a meeting on the pitch for 8 pm. I couldn't think as to why he had called the meeting so late but it didn't faze me. Michelle had called it a day early and I didn't fancy sharing the room with her when either one of us was still awake.

I turned up at the pitch late after stopping off at the library to grab a book for my Transfiguration essay. As I made my way across the pitch I noticed that the numbers had dwindled since the end of last year. Gryfffindor wasn't the only team who needed new players. 5 Hufflepuffs turned up, 6 Slytherins and poor Ravenclaw only had 4 players to call a team. I quickly made my way over and apologised.

"Sorry, I'm late," I said quickly. "I lost track of time. I was in the library."

Oliver dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "It's fine," he said leaning heavily on his crutches. "But I don't want a habit of it. If your committing yourself to his season I want everyone here on time and ready to go."

There was ripple of murmur around the group as we all weighed up a large difference to how Quidditch had been previously run. It wasn't a group thing. The team captain and Head of House ran each team. Madam Hooch had never really done anything more than teach the 1st years to fly and referee games. Oliver was obviously deciding to break Hogwarts out of tradition.

"This year," he continued, "there will be a meeting every Tuesday evening to organise the next weeks game. All teams-"he looked particular at the Slytherins "will have to book their training times through me and will stick to those times. There will be no undermining of others and if any problems arise you will see me ASAP. I, unlike madam Hooch, will not stand to be left out of the loop. If there are any problems, any at all, do not hesitate to come and see me." He gave a wry smile. "After all that's what I am here for."

Everyone gave a nervous laugh and absorbed Oliver words. I didn't know what to think of the new system. To me, the old one had worked fine but I'm guessing the standards of Hogwarts were not quite up to scratch with the expectations of the professional league.

"Now, I understand you all need new players and in some cases reappointments of Captains," he said looking around at the group. "Am I right?"

Everyone nodded. "Usually this is decided by the heads of house and ultimately that will be their decision. I have forwarded my recommendations, on account of my experiences with all of you, and you will be hearing from them at breakfast tomorrow morning. There are still one or two finalisations to be made. I urge you that once you know who will be leading you this year that you follow through and finish recruiting the rest of your team. The season will start in two weeks and by next weeks' meeting I want your new team members fully equip and ready," he said sternly. "Is that clear?"

Out of shock, everyone nodded in unison. Oliver had gone passed obsession – he was crazy. Smiling he gave us all a reassuring glance. "I bid you all good luck with your season and wish those older members all the best for the Captain announcements tomorrow. I'll see you all next week."

We all took that as our cue to leave and began to tread off towards the gate. Oliver called after Angelina. "Angelina? Can I have word?"

Ange nodded, gave me a quick grin and ran off back to Oliver in the centre of the pitch.

I looked to Alicia. "What do you think that's about?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Dunno. I'm guessing we will find out soon enough."

AN: I want you all to know that I am taking time out of doing my Modern Oral to write this! Lol. Tell me what you think. I hope I've left enough suspicion for some speculation. Tell me what you think is going to happen and what you want to happen! The road is a little unclear and I would love some ideas. Ciao.