A/N: Hey, I'm back again! The whole two chapters in one 'weekend' thing was because I was sick on Thursday, Friday, and today so I had lots of time to write. I'm currently supposed to be doing my To Kill A Mockingbird homework but I thought I'd write some more (shh! Don't tell my mum!). Anyways, you probably don't care, so on with the story! Don't forget to REVIEW!

This chapter is for TheFredWeasleyMonster and LilyLunafan622. You have no idea how much it means to me that you like the story and reviewed not only once, but twice. (Lets just say that i don't get that many reviews, so thanks!) You can also thank them for this speedy update.

Disclaimer: is JKRowling worried about failing a final in pre-AP biology? I don't think so!

Chapter 4: Coward

After sneaking through back corridors, hiding in three broom closets (you know, ones that weren't occupied. I've made that mistake before... *shudder* never again), and a stunning a prefect, I finally made it back to my room. Was I happy about stunning the prefect? No, but he was a Slytherin, so it wasn't that bad.

Angelina and Alicia were with their boyfriends right now, so I didn't have them to hang out with. Leanne wasn't here either. I sighed. I suppose I should explain why Angelina and Alicia stay with us, because after all, they are a year older than us. Leanne is the only Gryffindor girl my year that I can stand, so of course we bonded over mutual hatred of our stuck up roommates. We found out we had lots in common, and although she doesn't play, she is a fan of Quidditch and attends all the matches. Angelina and Alicia had similar problems with their roommates, so we did the logical thing- we all switched roommates. And that explains it.

Anyways, with none of them there, I couldn't talk about how Wood was almost nice to me. Usually we would all spend hours trying to analyze Wood, but that always ends with 'oh, Katie! You're perfect for each other!' theory and I always got mad and stormed off to the pitch. Then they would say that I was going there in hopes that he would be there when really I just go flying. I know they're joking of course, but that doesn't mean it doesn't annoy the crap out of me.

I looked at my shoulder again, and upon seeing that it just looked black and blue, I rolled my shoulder. It was a little stiff, and ached a little bit, but it was bearable. I slipped a shirt on and laid down on my bed.

"Hey, um... I was wondering-"

"Yeah?" I asked him. He shook his head.

I couldn't help but wonder what he was going to say. Was it 'I was wondering why you were in the boys' locker room?' or 'I was wondering if you would help me lead practice?'. I scoffed, that would be stupid. Amazing, yes, but stupid nonetheless. If the girls were here, of course their answer would be 'I was wondering if you would go out with me.' As if!

"Hey, Kates!"

"What?"

"Yeah, it was!"

What was that supposed to mean? What was 'it'? The only thing that I could think of that 'it' could be was... Pride?

"You're a tough girl, Bell. Most girls would have been screaming from the second they got hit until they were done regrowing that bone."

"Awww... Is it just me, or do I hear a hint of pride there, Oliver?"

"In your dreams, Kates."

"You're right, I totally dream about doing everything humanly possible to make you proud of me."

I sighed, probably way over thinking things. I reflected on that last line I had said to him. I always did the best I could to get that house cup. And admittedly, it was 'for him' I guess, so he wouldn't be beating himself up about it. It's pretty scary when he does that. We're pretty sure he almost killed himself one time. I always was trying to find new tricks to try to impress him. I guess I did want him to be proud of me, proud of his chaser. And everyone knows that the Quidditch Nazi is very hard to impress.

I heard feet pounding on the stairs, and sat up immediately. That would be the girls. Strange though, their footsteps sounded heavier, more uneven than usual. I walked over and opened the door. I almost peed myself laughing at the sight before me.

"Come on ladies!"

"Just a couple more steps!" The twins said while smiling. The girls groaned and looked about ready to collapse. Yes, the twins were riding piggy back on their respective girlfriend in order to make it to our room.

"See look! Katie was nice enough to open the door for you!" George said, smiling. I rolled my eyes.

"Is there a reason that you're abusing your girlfriends?" I asked them as Angelina and Alicia collapsed on the floor just inside our door. They laughed.

"Of course! We wanted to invite you to lunch with us!" Fred said.

"And Leanne too if she was here." George added. I looked at him in disbelief.

"You tortured your girlfriends... Just to see if their best friends wanted to come eat lunch with you?" The girls on the floor nodded.

"Yeah."

"Pretty much." The twins answered. I stared at them for a minute.

"What happened to oh, I dunno, just letting Ang and Leesh come up here and ask? Or how bout the good old yelling up the stairs?" I asked them. The girls looked like they agreed by the murderous looks they were giving the twins.

"Don't worry, we already tried that, Katie." Ang said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but they said 'no! We have the right to ask her in person too!'" Alicia said. I looked at all of them and then sighed.

"Okay, so the moral if the story is: we all meet in the Great Hall for lunch. Okay with everyone?" I asked. They all nodded.

"Hey, when were we- oh." Leanne said as she walked in the door.

"LEANNE!" The boys yelled while running over to hug her. She half hugged them back with eyes as wide as saucers.

"Would you like to come to lunch with us?" I asked her, smiling. She opened her mouth and then closed it.

"... Sure." She finally replied in a weak voice.

"Overview of what happened: Angelina and Alicia were subjected to domestic violence by Fred and George so that they could ask us to come to lunch with them." I explained.

"Oh...kaaay?" Leanne said. I smiled and shook my head. I started walking to the door. Leanne followed and then the others I was probably down about five stairs when I realized something.

"No!" I yelled, turning around, but it was too late. Fred and George had just stepped onto the top stair. I stared at them with wide eyes as I lost my footing. The stairs had turned into a slide, just as they would any other time a guy stepped on them. We slid on our butts all the way to the bottom. I stood up and turned to them, ignoring the laughter of everyone in the common room. Leanne was currently glaring daggers at the twins and the saying 'if looks could kill' ran through my head. Angelina was slapping George on the arm and Angelina punched Fred on the arm.

"What are you doing?" I said while laughing. They all looked confused.

"That was so fun!" I said, explaining myself. I was giggling hysterically and the others started laughing too.

"Bell?" Asked someone behind me. I turned, but was still laughing albeit silently because I had no air left. Wood looked at me with concern.

"You okay?" All of us were still laughing, and so I guess I would have to explain.

"Twins... Fault... Slide... Lunch... Abuse..." I said incoherently as I was laughing in between. He just nodded slowly.

"Well I'm going to run upstairs and go to lunch after that." He said, eyeing the staircase. I half waved and took a deep breath, calming myself down. I looked at the others. We all came to a silent agreement and headed out the portrait hole.

After finally making it down the the Great Hall, I was about to collapse in my claimed seat -the one right by the door- when I realized that someone else was sitting there. I was about to yell at them for taking my seat when I realized it was my Quidditch Captain. I looked at the others, shrugged my shoulders, and was about to yell at him anyways -after all, it was just Wood- when Fred grabbed my arm. He shook his head and pointed to the seat across from him. I was about to argue when he said,

"No Quidditch, remember? You need to be on his halfway good side." I rolled my eyes. I really hate it when he's right. With a sigh, I sat down across from Wood and the others followed.

"So Bell, I expect Weasley took you to the Hospital Wing?" Wood asked.

"Aye aye Capitae! You know I do occasionally do what you tell me to." Fred said giving Wood a pointed glare. Wood raised his eyebrows and Fred just started eating.

"Wait, Hospital Wing? What happened?" Asked Leanne in a worried voice.

"Well we were doing extreme bludger dodging at practice-" Leanne groaned.

"Again, Oliver?" She asked. Last time, he ended up unconscious seventy five feet in the air. He just ignored her.

"And Weasley here decided to hit one at Bell. She avoided it by rolling over her broom and it was epicly amazing." My eyes widened and I smiled.

"But at the exact same moment, the other Weasley decided to hit the other bludger at her as well." Leanne gasped and the others were listening intently. I almost laughed because Wood was quite the story teller. He made me sound like I was escaping death, not a bloody Quidditch ball.

"Well she looked like she was slightly disoriented and didn't have enough time to react." The others winced.

"Except to turn and take the hit to the shoulder instead of the head. A very brave move, saying it could have cost her that arm. She's one tough girl! She didn't even scream." The others were nodding and I looked at Fred. He jerked his head at Wood, saying 'tell him!' and I gave him my signature 'have you gone mad?' look.

"Um... Wood?" Fred said. I frantically shook my head at him. Nononononono! Wood can't know!

"Yeah?" He asked. Curse you Fred!

"Katie has something she wants to tell you!" He said really fast. I held back the urge to scream and throttle him when Wood asked,

"Well what is it then?" I sighed.

"Um, well when we went to the Hospital Wing... You see, my injury was pretty bad." I said. He slowly nodded.

"How bad?" He asked. Crap.

"Well... " I trailed off.

"How bad, Bell?" He said, grabbing my arm as I stood up. I sighed and sat back down.

"Shattered scapula, major bruising... Two broken rib bones." I said in a rush. He just looked at me.

"What are you going on about? That's not that bad! It's not like you're going to die." He said reasonably.

"She still might." Fred said under his breath. Thank you so much for boosting my self esteem.

"What?" Wood said, turning to him.

"Nothing!" He said quickly and then started to drink his pumpkin juice. Coward.

"So it's better now and you can still come to the pick up game tonight." Wood said.

"Pick up game?" I asked. Just my luck.

"Yeah, got a bunch of Gryffindors together, we're gonna play a couple games. The actual team against the others." The others smiled and were nodding. I could just hear them thinking 'oh, it's going to be so fun!'

"We're going to meet tonight beforehand to discuss strategies. Okay? In the locker rooms at 6:00." Wood said, and then he stood up and walked out the doors.

"Isn't this great guys?" Angelina said. I shrugged and started shoveling food in my mouth. Fred was staring at me, but I was ignoring him as best as I could. They started talking about who all they thought would be on the other team and I stood up.

"Hey, I'm going back to the room." I said, grabbing my stuff.

"Here, I'll come with you." Leanne said. I smiled uneasily. We were walking in silence and she turned to me.

"Don't worry, I'll be in the stands tonight." She said with a smile.

"Thanks." I looked at my watch. 1:12. Now I had less than five hours to break it to Wood that I couldn't play. I sighed, barely registering the fact that we had made it back to the room. I flopped down on my bed. I have just dug myself into a deep, deep hole.

You're such a coward! How could you not tell him? You're so stupid! You can't play! You could seriously injure your arm!

Your arm's already injured. You have people counting on you. You didn't tell him when you had the chance- take the consequences.

What am I going to do?