Disclaimer: I own nothing but for an incurable infatuation with the Harry Potter series.

Oliver pulled his broom out from under his bed and raced down the stairs of the boy's dorm. It was Monday night and he was late for practice. Bolting through the common room and diving through the portrait hole, he was threading his arms though the sleeves of his Quidditch robes as he tripped down the stairs to the Entrance Hall. He jumped onto his broom and flew to the pitch, fast.

He touched down, right as the team was exiting the change room.

'Charlie, I'm s-sorry…I was h-h-held up, and…I…' Oliver gasped out an apology.

'Nice of you to join us, Wood' Charlie looked irritated.

'It was Professor Trelawney! I laughed at her glasses and she made me stay to polish the crystal balls!' Oliver gulped when he had regained the use of his lungs.

'Well then, you've obviously had some good practice and now you can polish the school broom's' Charlie, clearly still miffed, shoved a jar of polish and a rag into his hands and pointed to the school broom shed.

Oliver stared at the polish in his hand for a second and then looked up at Charlie. Oliver had never been punished in Quidditch before, and remained the only member of the current team to have not yet committed a foul. And now he was missing practice because of that stupid overgrown Divination bat.

He turned and walked slowly over to the broom shed. Charlie turned to the rest of the team. 'Right, because we don't have our Keeper at the moment, Riverhawk, Keates and Spinnet, you guys are going to work on formation' ordered Charlie sounding like a drill sergeant.

'Yes sir' Isobel gave him a mock salute as he faced away from her to give Angelo and Caleb their orders. Celeste leaned down and scooped the Quaffle from the chest it lived in, mounted her broom and rose up into the air. Isobel and Alicia followed suit.

'Ok' Celeste said when they were level with each other 'we can take turns catching and scoring and time ourselves'

She pulled her wand out of her pocket and waved it twice muttering 'Glassime'

A small hourglass appeared, floating in the air next to her. Celeste nodded to Isobel, who nodded back. Celeste prodded the hourglass with her wand and tossed the Quaffle in Isobel's general direction. As the glass turned and the sand began to filter through, Isobel swooped underneath the Quaffle grabbed it and sped down the length of the pitch, holding the Quaffle tight against her. Alicia's jaw dropped. She had never seen anyone move that fast before. Isobel had reached the goalposts and was leaning back, before hurling the Quaffle into the hoop as hard as she could. It slipped neatly through and Celeste prodded the hourglass again, which disappeared, emitting a puff of smoke and a small piece of parchment. Celeste took it and read it out, as Isobel, retrieved Quaffle under one arm, zoomed back toward them.

'9 seconds'

Isobel swore loudly. '4 seconds above my personal best!'

Alicia felt sick.

Celeste turned to her 'Ok, Alicia, your turn' She gave her a kind smile as she conjured the hourglass again, but Alicia hardly noticed. She was staring at the Quaffle intensely, determined not to miss it. Sure enough, her mind skipped into fast forward as Celeste tossed it to her. She wrapped her arm around it, hugging it close against her, trying to make herself as small as she could. She leant close to the broom handle as she gathered speed. Upon reaching the goalposts, she slowed, pulling her arm back, and, just as she'd seen Isobel do, hurled it at the goalposts, her heart swelling with elation as she watched it sail though the middle hoop.

She looped the air and barrelled toward the fallen Quaffle. She stretched out her arm as she skimmed the grass, collecting it on the way and zoomed up towards the clouds and the two Chasers at the opposite end. Celeste read out the parchment.

'15 seconds' she smiled 'not bad at all for a second year'

Isobel clapped her on the back. Alicia knew she was far from perfect but she still couldn't help feeling almost exhausted with relief that she had started well.

'Well done Spinnet!' Charlie was flying toward them 'I knew you had it in you!'

Alicia felt giddy with adrenaline for the remainder of the practice. The three Chasers continued to trial each other, and Alicia had refined her work to 13 seconds by the end. She was nowhere near as talented as Isobel or Celeste who both had achieved times under 7 seconds, but she couldn't squash the feeling of excitement inside her.

'Great effort today, Spinnet!' Charlie congratulated her as the team walked back toward the change rooms 'Of course, it's very different in a real game when there are other players and a Keeper in your way…' and he was off again, lecturing her good-naturedly. Alicia knew she should listen, but her mind was back in the air, and all the goals she'd made and missed today.

'See ya, Alicia'

'Well done today, second year!'

'See you on Thursday night, Spinnet!'

The content feeling bloomed inside her as the team yelled their goodbyes to each other, and she heard her name included. She basically floated back to Gryffindor Tower, where she found Fred, George and Angelina ready to hear about everything.

PPPPPPP

Oliver was in quite a different mood when the team finished up practice that afternoon. He was the only member of the team who didn't yell goodbye to anyone, the rage in him simmering, ready to boil over at anyone foolish enough to push the buttons. He stalked up the stairs to the Entrance Hall. Oliver wasn't a generally angrily person, and was actually regarded as quite amiable, but tonight, he was almost awed by the unfairness of the past few days. Patrick being kicked off the team, Patrick being replaced by a second year girl, the stupid girl cutting their first practice by 40 minutes because she couldn't keep an eye on the Bludgers, getting detention from Trelawney and finally getting punished by Charlie, who was usually the most reasonable of Quidditch players that Oliver had ever come across.

Oliver pounded up to Gryffindor Tower, spat out the password (Spellotape), and stomped through the portrait hole, colliding painfully with a group of people exiting from the other side.

'Ouch!' Oliver looked up. It was the Spinnet kid and some of her second year friends, including, he noticed, the other girl who he'd caught outside his room. Alicia had fallen straight out of the portrait hole onto the corridor floor. Oliver stood there for a second, momentarily dazed from the collision before he noticed Alicia's friends glaring at him as they helped her up. He blinked.

'Oh, sorry,' he murmured 'let me help…'

He bent down to assist them, but Alicia was already on her feet, the group leading her away toward the Owlery. Alicia looked back for a second, a puzzled look on her face. She didn't look hurt or anything, just politely confused.

PPPPPPPP

The next practice was a few nights later. Oliver made sure he was the first person there, to makeup for his mistake on Monday, and was changed and ready before anyone else even got there. Charlie entered the changing rooms and saw Oliver standing there. He smiled in greeting and went to change, before looking up as though he'd suddenly remembered something.

'Hey…what's this I hear about you pushing Spinnet around?'

Oliver was stunned. 'What?'

'My brother, Fred, he said you pushed Alicia over as she exited the portrait hole'

'No, he didn't' Oliver spun around. Alicia was walking in through the door to the change room. 'Sorry Charlie, that's just Fred being an idiot. I tripped over Oliver when we collided outside the portrait hole'

Charlie stared in mild surprise for a few moments before shrugging. 'Sure, Spinnet, if you say so' he unearthed the key to the broom cupboard from his pocket and exited to get the chest of balls.

Oliver looked at Alicia, who was lacing up her shoes.

'…Thanks' Oliver mumbled in as grateful a tone as he could muster. Alicia's head shot up. She looked slightly afraid, as though him speaking to her graciously frightened her a little.

'For what?' she asked studying her laces intently.

'Telling Charlie'

'Why wouldn't I? It's the truth'

They both fell silent, the atmosphere screaming tension. It dragged out to breaking point, right up until the rest of the team members' had entered, conversing loudly.

They began their practice with the trials they had used the practice before, but this time Oliver was down the other end of the pitch guarding the hoops.

Celeste and Isobel both successfully succeeded in getting three out of their five shots past Oliver and into the hoops. Oliver grew more frustrated by the second, and each time Alicia's turn came around, Oliver would belt the Quaffle away from the goal hoops with such ferocity, he nearly unseated her.

She clambered back onto her broom, which she had rolled in mid air in order to avoid the flying red ball and stared at Oliver. He stared back, and then did something that Alicia seethe. He smiled. Not a genuine smile, not a nervous smile, but a sneaky, conniving very, very small smile like he didn't even realise he was doing it. Seemingly unconsciously, his right eyebrow quirked upward. Alicia was momentarily stunned before narrowing her own to eyes. She wasn't intimidated. She took this as a challenge.

She slowly took her position as Celeste conjured the hourglass, all the while, concentrating fiercely on the Quaffle. As soon as it left Celeste's grip, Alicia caught it with a snap and zipped down the pitch. She reached Oliver's end, and instead of slowing as she usually did, she veered sharply at the last second and sped to the right, making a hurling motion with her right arm. As Oliver turned to follow her, she paused, mid toss, changed direction of her arm and heaved the Quaffle through the middle hoop, now vacant.

A cheer erupted from the team, all except for Oliver, who looked, for a split second, absolutely livid, before smoothing over his features nonchalantly.

'Nice work, Spinnet!' Charlie's voice filled her right ear as he flew past her to collect the falling Quaffle.

''Awesome feinting' Angelo grinned at Alicia. She smiled back at him, her heart singing sweet revenge on Oliver.

After practice, Oliver approached her.

'Very…very clever' he seemed to be trying to force a smile. Alicia smirked at him.

'You don't like losing, do you Wood?' Alicia didn't know what had come over her. What had happened to her shy, polite nature? Oliver appeared to be thinking along the same lines. He looked like he'd been slapped. Alicia tightened her smirk and, ever so slightly raised her right eyebrow as she turned and walked away.

Oliver stood, for a moment, completely still, before shaking his head slightly. She's a bloody second year! How dare she challenge him like that? Not that she'd actually challenged him, but…that smirk conveyed a thousand insults. And she knew it. This meant war.

AN: Hello all, I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while. Again, giant thankyous to all my reviewers, you mean so much to me. Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This chapter is dedicated to Tortured Maz – there you go, Marama, I wrote one for you ;p – and if anyone has stumbled upon this fic and has any comments at all, please review. Thanks!