We sat down at the Ravenclaw table and Grant slammed his hand down, "What were you doing with Wood of all people?"

I crossed my arms and directed a half-hearted stank eye at him, "We were walking to dinner together and actually having a pretty nice conversation, that is until you barged in like a maniac."

"Wait, what? I thought he was-," Grant stuck his arm out in confusion as if he was trying to help himself process what he just heard, "didn't he try to pick a fight with you yesterday? That's what Jeremy had told me."

Ugh, I was going to have to stitch Jeremy's little ratty mouth up and then go murder Caleb, who was most likely the one that let that little episode slip.

"Well you're not wrong," I said and loosened up from my previously agitated state, "But you're not right either. Oliver and I kind of, uh, made up." If that was the correct word to use in this situation, it's not like we had a relationship prior to this whole ordeal.

"Oh…" Grant's eyes became downcast and he pinched the bridge of his nose, "I may have overreacted a tad."

"Maybe a little."

He laid his arm out on the table and looked up at me apologetically, "I'm sorry Ken, I was just worried about you."

I felt a small pang in my chest. He was being so signature Grant and I found myself reaching out for his hand. It's true when they say that old habits die hard.

"I know you were. I know that," I squeezed and he smiled back at me gently, "But you can't worry about me like that anymore, Grant."

He frowned and tightened his hold, "But I…"

I moved my hand away and crossed my arms again, "You can't," I shook my head.

"Yeah, fine, I get it," Grant huffed as he pushed himself off the table.

I sighed and placed my head between my arms, resting my cheek against the cold wooden surface. He seemed to have originally accepted our breakup, but that whole spew of words we exchanged the night we talked appeared to have backtracked completely. Somewhere in his muffled mind he probably saw Oliver as some weird threat, which was absolutely absurd. I wasn't sure if I should've just wholly denounced him or let his feelings die out on its own. Whatever the case, Grant needed to figure something out himself.

I heard someone flop down on the bench to my right, but I didn't bother bringing my head up.

"Li Li, is your current posture any indication on why Grant was acting like such a tetchy git whilst leaving the Great Hall?" Caleb said in a slightly pompous tone. I inwardly groaned and turned up to face him.

"Maybe your whale-sized mouth is what made him so tetchy?" I snapped.

He got a hold of my braid and wiggled it, "Maybe Grant isn't the only one acting like a git right now," he said closing into my face.

I pushed him away, "You told Jeremy about mine and Oliver's spat in the library didn't you?"

"I might've mentioned it in passing," he admitted.

I knew he said something, though I wasn't as mad about it as I should've been. Caleb was a talker, but when it actually mattered he kept his mouth shut.

"Well Grant found out and acted all ballistic after he saw Oliver and I walking here from detention."

"Really," he grabbed a cup in front of him and took a sip, "but I thought that you two were no longer together."

"We're not," I said deflating back onto the table.

Caleb rubbed his chin, "I see the problem."

I nodded into my arm.

"But what I am curious about, is you and Wood walking together. Enemies become friends, hmm?" He nudged my shoulder.

I nudged him back, "We were never enemies… exactly. And stop acting all aloof, he spilled fairly quickly."

He snickered, "You're no fun, but neither was he really. Though he was a particularly hard nut to crack. Stubborn one, he is."

I laughed at him. I still felt a little annoyed that Caleb and Spencer had taken this situation out of my hands, but I was grateful at the same time. Oliver really was hard to get through to, though I was glad to know now that is wasn't impossible. After all I was going to spend a significant amount of time with him this and the next week.


"So, was that your boyfriend?"

"Shit," my head abruptly hit the table we were kneeling under. Today Madame Pince had us cleaning and polishing the tables and chairs in the library. The task wasn't very difficult except for the immense amount of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum stuck underneath so many of the surfaces. Were there no garbage bins in all of Hogwart's?

I rubbed the area that had been impacted, "Sorry, what was that?"

Oliver's lips twitched slightly at my fumbling, "Page, are the two of you dating?"

"No," I shook my head, "No, no. We're not, dating that is. Definitely not. Why?"

He shrugged it off, but it made me think. Why would Oliver think that Grant and I were dating, but then why wouldn't he think we were? For crying out loud Grant had acted so freaking protective and I'm pretty sure Oliver had even seen us kiss all those nights ago.

"Oh, right," my face warmed and I hoped that there was no color change in addition, "You saw us kiss… didn't you?"

"Y-yeah," he stammered, "sorry I assumed, just forget I asked."

"No, it's okay," I interrupted, I didn't want him to think I was some loose girl who went up and made out with whoever, whenever I wanted, "Yeah, we're not together, not that I go around with any guy though, I don't… do that. And he's not like an exception or anything, we did date for a while. Not anymore, of course, it was kind of like a final gesture you know, even if he didn't take it as final," I muttered the last part under my breath, "Do you… understand?"

"I think I do," Oliver nodded looking pretty amused at my silly little spew, "Then are you and Wilder?"

I giggled at the thought, but felt a little guilty at doing so. Caleb was a great guy, my best friend really, but I never had seriously considered dating him, "No, we're not either. Jeez Oliver give me some credit would you? Are you going to ask if I'm dating Spencer next?"

He laughed back at me, "No, I'm not, but you are making me wonder a bit now."

"Oh shush," I said turning back my attention to the piece of gum I working on, I really wanted to steer the conversation into a different direction, but I wasn't sure what topic to bring up. It hit me like a bucket of bludgers, it was so obvious, "So how's the team doing?"

Oliver's eyes instantly lit up and he immediately went on a long drawl about their next match. As far as he was concerned, Gryffindor had it in the bag. Of course as long as the team did as well as he knew they could, Slytherin would have no idea what had hit them. He got particularly animated and started to wave his hands around motioning different positions when he started to talk about the upcoming strategy meeting. Oliver was so excited he had apparently forgotten where we were, because as he mentioned a new defensive tactic he got a little too pumped and banged his head against the table much like I did earlier.

He winced and grabbed at the back of his head, "Sorry about that, most people would've cut me off by now." That bump in the head seemed to make him realize exactly how long he had been talking.

"No that's fine, I'm just surprised is all," I answered. I really was. This Oliver had completely 180'd from the first time we actually talked to each other, which was more of a yelling match than an actual conversation.

He tilted his chin my way, "How so?"

"It seems that you don't remember that you had accused me of being a spy for the Ravenclaw team not long before, where did that hyper vigilant Oliver go?" I pointed at him with the rag in my hand. It's not like I wanted him to turn back into that guy, but as a rationally thinking person, I couldn't help but wonder.

The tips of his ears reddened and he rubbed his neck absent mindedly, "When I get set on an idea or anything it takes a lot to remove myself from it, I usually get really worked up on it in my head. After that," he coughed, "encounter with your mates, I finally 'got it,' if you could say. Should I be worried?"

He was surprisingly self-aware, though it seemed so when it helped himself the least. But I understood it, sometimes people get so wrapped up in their own thoughts they can't see anything outside of it. My mom was that way a whole lot, she usually buried herself in her study during final exam week. It took a shit ton of coaxing from dad and I to get her out of her own mind. Oliver seemed to to share that quality with her, a middle-aged Asian woman. I snickered mentally.

"You shouldn't be worried and I wasn't going to cut you off either, it was interesting," going back to our original topic.

His eyebrows raised, "Really? You like quidditch?" he looked genuinely excited, most likely because we were about to delve even further into his favorite conversation piece. What was funny was that he had already went on that long speech and he wasn't even aware if I remotely enjoyed the sport or not.

"Well, don't act so surprised now."

Oliver lifted his hands up in defense.

"Yeah I like it, I can get a little crazy about it too, but evidently not as much as you," I grinned. He shook his head and smiled in return.

"My family's really into it too," I looked up at the table and squinted, "Well my dad the most, he can go on for a week about one match." I left out the part where it was matches he coached that he talked about the most. My dad was pretty famous in the world of quidditch and right now I didn't want to bring it up to the broom toting captain in front of me.

"What's your team?" he asked, eyes bright.

"The Fitchburg Finches. I'm originally from Boston so it's partially hometown pride." I've been a fan since birth, but it helped that my older brother was currently on their roster.

I crawled out from under the table and into the next one over. Oliver followed behind me and we both started to wipe down another chair.

"Ahh, Boston. So that explains that accent. You're a yankee then," he said tauntingly.

"Well more like a red sox," I joked. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I chuckled at my out of place quip. Well at least I could appreciate my own humor, "It's a baseball team."

"Baseball?"

"It's an American muggle sport… nevermind," I waved it away and wiped the leftovers of a sugar quill that had stuck on a chair leg. Too funny, this guy was going to kill me.

He shook off his questioning look, "Well what about the British and Irish League then?"

"Oliver Wood, are you testing me?"

He smirked like I hit the jackpot. "Just seeing if you are who you say you are."

"Well, Captain," I stressed the title, "It happens to be the Montrose Magpies and before you ask anymore, I'm a big Lennox Campbell supporter. Can't wait to see how he shapes up for pre-season after his rookie year." But I knew that already. Dad had said in his last letter that Campbell needed to fix a tick of his of leaning too far into the left when diving. He had been trying to correct it by adding some weights onto Campbell's right waist, but there hasn't been any significant change yet, though of course his 'tick' wasn't even that notable.

"I live in Montrose, they're a decent team," Oliver nodded along.

"Ah, so that explains the accent," he rolled his eyes, "decent, huh? So I'm guessing they don't have your undying love?"

"Nope," he shook his head, "Puddlemere, until death does us apart, and probably not even then."

"Really? Never met a Scotsman who wasn't a staunch Montrose supporter, I'm pretty sure Mcgonagall even has a little banner tucked into her desk." I was almost a hundred percent sure I've seen that little black and white flag somewhere in her classroom, she couldn't hide her love from the world or least of all me.

"My Granda's been a bit of an influence on that, I was born into it and I don't regret it all."

"Well you better watch out, Ballycastle seems to be knocking Puddlemere off their high horse next year." I couldn't be absolutely sure of that since the regular season had been cancelled on account of the summer cup, but from the looks of it it seemed to be so.

"What?" Oliver almost yelled out, "No way, they've just acquired Williams two years ago, they're not going anywhere."

I immediately had to disagree and we continued to debate quidditch for the rest of the detention until Madame Pince shushed us out of her, thanks to us, pristine library.

We continued like this for the next couple of detentions unless came the inevitable harsh reminder from Madame Pince to zip our lids. The topics usually revolved around quidditch and at times went off into different tangents, but always went back to the keeper's favorite passtime. I hadn't felt so drained and elated about a sport since my dad first introduced it to me.


Spence and I sat together in the common room on top of my favorite couch which arguably had the best view of the pitch. I could make out the flying figures of the Ravenclaw players as they flew around for practice.

We both stared at the piece of parchment that Flitwick had handed us in the beginning of the day. As with house tradition, we chose a subject to tutor those below us, but pupil and year were not our decision to make. It was optional of course, but the majority of us agreed to the custom that had helped most us in our own early years.

Spencer groaned, leaned over and rested her cheek on my shoulder, "2nd years!? What kind of material do they need tutoring with? It's bloody herbology, not alchemy."

I snorted at her and folded my own parchment in half, "I got O.W.L. year, not exactly a cakewalk. It's tonight too, so that's a great heads up from old Flittie."

"Meh," Spencer switched over to lay on the armrest instead, "I need a distraction, what's going on in your life?"

Happily, nothing really was going on that was noteworthy. Grant and I had had been skillfully avoiding conversation with each other, or more like I avoided most interaction with him, and my sentence to library detention had ended. All was boring and I preferred it that way.

"My mom had a student send her a love note," I said faintly remembering her last letter and knowing that this would capture Spencer's attention.

She shot up in a rush, "Really!? What happened?"

"She was really flattered of course, got a little worked up about it too, wasn't really sure how to handle it. Happened more when she was young, not so much these past couple of years," I looked over at Spencer, whose wide hazel eyes were focused on my every word.

The thought occurred that I should probably milk this the best I could, "She had to confront the guy. Mom's not the kind of person to just let these things go and not respond."

Spencer nodded up and down, "Uh huh… and?"

"She said she felt really nervous when she called the student to stay after class, no idea how he would react, y'know."

I smiled as she leaned in closer, eager to hear the rest of the story, but really, what was she expecting? It's not like my mother was going to go and run off in a passionate affair.

"So she goes to talk to him and he gets amazingly flustered. She said his face basically could've been an advert for a tomato," I paused and giggled at the inward image of my mom in the lecture hall during this amazing situation.

"And…" Spencer urged me to keep going.

"He starts sputtering all these words, making absolute no sense. She couldn't decipher what he was saying for the life of her. After struggling for a little he finally explains that the note was meant for one his classmates. Dad had a good laugh about that one."

"Why you!" Her eyes widened and she hit my arm, "You think you're so clever!"

"I know I'm clever and what did you think was going to happen? S'not like there was a whole ton of different outcomes."

"Erghh," she replied bitterly. As Penelope and Aurelia walked into the room, her eyes instantly lit up again.

"Oi, Clearwater! How's that Weasely treating you!?" She rushed forward and latched onto the unsuspecting blonde all giddy and ready to talk away.

I shook my head and grinned, redirecting my focus back to the pitch which was still filled with blue and bronze players flying around each other.

Aurelia plopped down on the now vacant spot next to me and chuckled, "Fawcett is as active as always."

I nodded humorously and turned to her, "She has good intentions."

She agreed as we looked on at little Penny trying to answer the hoard of questions Spencer sputtered out. Aurelia brought her own piece of parchment in front of her, "Got your assignment?"

"Yeah, it's tonight actually, with 5th years," I peeked over to the grandfather clock in the corner of the common room, "less than an hour."

Aurelia cheerfully patted my hand and urged me to get up with her as she stood, "Mine starts soon, head to the library with me?"

"Ah, never one without motive is she?" I smirked. As cool and collected Aurelia appeared to others, she never liked going to the library by herself. She had some leftover trauma from 1st year when she spilled some pumpkin juice over a book which resulted in Madame Pince having an enormous fit about the incident.

"Two birds with one stone," she said, pulling me up.

"Someone is studying her idioms!" I mockingly applauded as I grabbed my bag.

"Shut it," she hooked her arm around mine and dragged me out of the common room.

We walked to the library, chatting about not really anything important. The one thing that did stick out was Shea's renewed interest in Jeremy. They had dated in 5th year, but apparently Shea had some plans in mind for the Hogsmeade visit that was coming up at the end of the month.

I would've liked to continue talking to her, but as we walked into the large book ladened room, Aurelia waved me away and met up with her new "eager to learn" disciples.

I sighed and sat in my usual corner table, waiting for my own pupils to show up. With nothing to do and no real urge to start any of the assignments due soon I brought out my own star and moon charts to look over before any of the 5th years showed up. If I was going to be a tutor, I could at least be a useful one.

Not that there was much to review in the first place, I was done in a matter of minutes and was left with nothing again. I pushed myself off the table and decided to wander around the bookshelves to kill some more time. Filtering through the numerous shelves, I had no real objective.

I stopped and stared across the way, encountering a familiar brown haired boy who was hunched over focused on numerous books that was splayed across the table. I uttered a quick and quiet, "Hey," with a wave, not wanting to disturb his studies.

Since detention had ended, I hadn't really talked to Oliver all that much. Besides the occasional greetings and glances we never got the chance to talk for a longer period of time. It seemed like a while especially compared to the intensity of our previous conversations.

I wouldn't say that I missed him outright, but he was fun and new. It was surprising how easily we got along since we never actually talked before we started to serve detention together.

Oliver's head jerked up, his eyes widened in surprise and he waved back. I found the corners of my lips turning up at him. Still not wanting to interrupt, I ducked into the next shelf to try and locate a book to skim through.

I barely made it to the 1st page of the dragon book that caught my attention when Oliver appeared from behind the bookshelf.

"Oh!" I quietly gasped out, I wasn't expecting to see him again, "Hi, Oliver."

"Hey," he smiled, snickering slightly at my reaction.

"You didn't have to come up, saw you studying and everything," I let him know.

He looked at the book I was holding, "Ah, sorry, if you're busy, I can go."

I closed the book and slid it back on the shelf, "You're fine, I'm just wasting time."

Oliver relaxed and leaned against the shelf, "What for?"

"I'm doing a little tutoring, not time for them to show up quite yet."

"Really, what subject?"

"Astronomy, glamorous I know," I said feigning glee.

"I was always rubbish at the subject," Oliver started to shuffle his hands together and guided his gaze elsewhere, "Actually I could use some help with it myself."

I breathed out a laugh and decided to humor him, not knowing what his intentions were.

"Yeah, Sinistra is not making this year an easy one is she?"

"No. She is not," he nodded and agreed along.

"I'm just a little taken aback." I tried hard to stuff some authenticity into my words.

"Why?" His face turned to me and his eyebrows furrowed together. I've noticed there was a little crease that always showed up between them.

"Well Astronomy isn't really a sought after N.E.W.T. so there's only one class," his brows rose and some more creases appeared on his forehead, I had some inclination to tease him about it later, "and you're not in it."

Oliver's ears grew red and he slumped his face into his hands, "You've caught me."

"So smooth Captain, trying to steal some of this Ravenclaw's time, eh?"

He tried to laugh it off, albeit pretty awkwardly, "Um, actually I could use some help with my studies, if you don't mind."

I laughed along with him, trying to save the little amount of pride he had left, "I don't mind."

I ducked my head around the shelf, remembering why I was in the library in the first place. "Sorry," I caught him in the middle of forming another sentence, "I've got to go, the kiddies are showing up."

Oliver closed his mouth and opened it again, "So, soon?"

"Soon," my lips curved up once and I went on to greet the awaiting students.


A/N: Sorry for the wait again and shout out to dearmaggie for urging me along, couldn't do it without you!

I want to thank xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, AneeshaLOTR, xXxCrosaRoo450xXx, and The Weatherwitch for reviewing, I really appreciate it!

Love you all

xo

Vanesky