Later that Month:
It was surprising what all could happen in a month around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The students were adjusting to their schedules and almost all, except the Slytherins, would easily admit that Potions was the most despised class on their schedule. But, unfortunately it was a mandatory class.
When it was a Potions day, Oliver and Jon were stuck with Snape at the next to the last class of the day; catching Snape at his worst. To add to that, they had Potions with the Seventh Year Slytherins, and neither Gryffindor seemed to be able to decided who they hated the most, each other or Marcus Flint and his gang of clone like baffoons that he called friends.
The rest of the Sixth Year Gryffindors had Potions with the Ravenclaws, a House that consisted of pretty agreeable and neutral people. None of the Gryffindors had any close friends among the Ravenclaws, save Lee who was surprisingly approaching his four month anniversary with Paige Reynolds, much to the shock of his friends. They had declared it had to be a record for the self proclaimed Ladies Man and Fred was even organising a party, something George didn't like being left out of, but Fred and George were oddly not speaking nor hanging out as much as they usually did.
Oliver and Katie hadn't made up, no one envolved in the situation had made up with Oliver in all reality. Even though Oliver and Emily hadn't broken up, their relationship had become strained due to various rumors circulating around the school about both of their infidelities, none had been proven true. Alicia, George, Fred, Lee, and Iris didn't even know where to begin with the situation. Whether it was at Quidditch practice, in the Common Room, or anywhere else in the castle, everyone was left feeling awkward when Oliver was in the room with them. Even poor Harry had been dragged into it at several Quidditch practices.
And now, despite the tension amongst them, even more pairings in the Gryffindor House had occurred. To the shock of no one, Alicia and George were now an item. It had taken locking the two into a faulty secret passageway that the twins had discovered (Fred and Iris's idea) to get them together, but it had worked. When they finally released them they couldn't get the two off of each other, so they had left them in there for a good hour until they were begging to get out. "Probably to move things to a more comfortable setting." Lee quipped.
Now with Alicia and George together, all that was left to do was to get Angelina and Fred together, since the chemistry was obvious between them. They decided to give it a week or so before attempting to get them two together, so that they wouldn't expect it with the recent "coupling" of Alicia and George.
Oliver was already into obsessive Quidditch maniac mode and had the team up at 5 in the morning before classes, and until 11 in the evening after classes. At this sudden lack of time, the sixth years had worked out a system. One or two would be doing their homework in a class, while the others took notes for their next assignment. Thankfully two of them were always in the same class, so one would always be taking notes and the other working. Of course, whenever they had an extra fifteen minutes, they would swap and when doing homework, they were faced with the task of rewording the other's homework and making it sound like their own. Something none of them particularly enjoyed.
Lee and Iris, the non Quidditch playing Sixth Years, were almost as frustrated with this system as Fred, George, Katie, Alicia, and Angelina were. Lee hated doing his own work, much less helping the others with their own. Iris didn't mind, but she was getting a bit annoyed with the fact that Oliver didn't give the team a break to get caught up and was on the verge of showing him what a real Irish person was like when frustrated.
"If one of you don't talk to him soon . . .!" Iris let the sentence hang as she vented to Katie, Alicia, and Angelina as they sat in a group in the common room at nearly 12 on a Friday night. All of them working on an excrutionatingly long essay for Charms.
"I don't think I can write another word." Alicia yawned before leaning her head onto Katie's shoulder. "He can shove that broom of his, and everyone else's up his . . ."
"Uh ah uh. More work less griping you two." Angelina chastised. Herself working on her last paragraph.
"Easy for you to say. I can't make sense of Lee's notes." Katie held up the parchment that had what looked like scribble on it. "I know he is a guy and all, but . . . this is a mess!" She groaned before leaning her own head back against Alicia's.
At that moment a very tired Percy came through the portrait hole. "What are you four doing up so late?" He queried, addressing them in Head Boy mode.
"Percy. We have lessons, you know. This is just about the only time we get to do them, thanks to some maniac who insists on transforming into a slave driver." Alicia snapped grumpily. She still had a page left to write, and she was drawing a blank on how to stretch it out to make it longer.
"I did study that last year. All you have to do is ask for help." Percy told the group nonchalantly.
"Help is much appreciated. Although, since when have you been willing to help your brothers' friends?" Angelina replied more collectively.
"Classes are something that should be taken very seriously. I wish to deprive no one of their studies. And Oliver needs a good talking to about that." He lazily strolled over to them and sat on the floor between Iris and Alicia.
Alicia slowly sat up straight and Percy immediately started giving pointers to her on what wording to use and how to lengthen her conclusion. Angelina finished with glee and turned to help Katie, who just needed to figure out a way to wrap up her conclusions about how the use of Charms for simple everyday tasks were not necessary. Angelina pretty much re-phrased her ending and Katie didn't object to a word that came out of Angelina's mouth. She finished just as Iris closed her textbook and Percy was telling Alicia how to end her essay.
"I am sleeping in tomorrow, you can pass that onto Wood." Katie announced. "I refuse to practice. It is Saturday and we need a break. Or I'm going on strike."
"Yep." Angelina agreed. "I will kill you him if he wakes me up. And I mean it, too. He's already on my shit list. And it will be a slow, painful death for him too."
Alicia was silent until she finished her essay. "Yes. I agree."
"Fine. I'll talk to him about no morning practice tomorrow. Perhaps even getting the evening practice shortened, I guess. Just don't get used to it. I don't have as much authority as I would like on the matter." Percy said, showing a faint sign of niceness, which he usually reserved for the teachers and his girlfriend.
"I'm going to start on my Ancient Runes essay tomorrow." Katie muttered as she got to her feet and extended a hand to Alicia and pulled her up. "I guess I'll have to get together with Cedric."
Percy looked disapprovingly at her. "It isn't like there aren't other, females to study with?" He said basically to himself, since Katie had already began talking over him.
"That is after I sleep for half the day." Katie finished with a laugh as she headed to the girl's stairs. "I call first shower."
"Me too!" Angelina called before Iris or Alicia could beat her to it. Angelina and Katie then proceeded to bolt up the stairs before Iris or Alicia could override their call.
"Damn." Alicia swore as the other girls got into the dorms.
Just as they heard the Sixth Year girl's dormitory door slam, the portrait hole opened to reveal a very tired looking Oliver.
"And where have you been so late, Mr. Wood?" Percy asked, literally puffing up like a big bird as he used his authoritive voice.
"In the Library making up some plays, Percy. And doing some school work." He ignored Alicia and Iris's presence. "Which is more I can say for you," He continued his statement directed at Percy, "For I believe I saw a certain Head Boy snogging a certain Head Girl not thirty minutes ago."
Percy looked horrified and opened and closed his mouth several times before his cheeks burned bright red. "Wood! I'm--I'm gonna -- I'm --"
"Going to finish your sentence?" Alicia offered with a half laugh.
"Ach!" Percy turned and his robes billowed behind him like some kind of cheesy superhero. He gave an infuriated sigh and stormed up the boy's stairs.
"Uh, hi Oliver?" Iris meant for the statement to come out like a greeting, but it came out more like she was questioning her words.
"Iris, Alicia." He greeted cordially. "How have you been?"
"Been driven insane, thank you very much." Alicia told him, not quite making it a mean statement, though she could have easily done that.
"Yeah, pretty much the same." Iris nodded in agreement as some of her red hair fell out of the loose knot she had it done in to keep it out of her face.
"I guess this is when I ask the ever so polite, 'How have you been'. So, with that said, how have you been?" Alicia asked as she sunk down into the couch she had chosen to sit on.
"Fine I guess. I mean, aside from feeling like an outcast in my own House, I've been doing just great." Oliver said sarcastically. "But, that has nothing to do with you two, so I'll leave it at that."
"Yeah, eh, it's kind of a lose/lose situation everyone is in at the moment." Iris agreed. "I mean, everyone has divided loyalties. It's unfair, but that's how it turned out."
"Yeah. I mean, you obviously see things from Jon's point of view --" Oliver began only to be interrupted.
"Just because I'm his girlfriend, don't automatically assume I have the same views as him, Oliver. We aren't one person, him and I. But, I don't exactly agree with you on the situation, either." She added to dispell any idea of her taking his side in the matter. "To add to that, Katie and Angelina are very good friends of mine. It's not just about Jon."
"I get that. Really, I do." Oliver nodded, not exactly sounding as assuring as he wanted to be. "And, Alicia, you're just kind of in the middle of it in all kinds of ways."
"True. But that doesn't mean that some of us can't get along. For instance, Fred and George have been on the outs with each other because of all of this. It's divided us all. Fred feels like we should just chose to ignore the fact that you are going out with Emily, while George feels like you should be jinxed and thrown into Azkaban." Alicia admitted openly.
"I know how you two feel, really I do. And I'm not trying to play the innocent one in all this, either. Everyone envolved is to blame, I'll own up to that." Oliver chose a seat as close to the fire as possible and leaned his head back against the headrest.
"Good to know." Alicia shrugged. "Maybe this will all pan out in the coming weeks. Who knows what could happen around here. Seriously, since when has Hogwarts ceased to hold some sort of surprise?" She rhetorically asked as she ended her response.
"Very true." Iris agreed. "But, I have one request."
"Which is?" Oliver asked in a lazy tone, feeling like he could fall asleep on the spot if given the chance.
"Let up on the Quidditch practices." The non-Quidditch player requested.
Suddenly, Alicia came to life. "I second that one! I really, really, really second that one!" She nearly jumped off the edge of her seat at the prospect of lessening the Quidditch practice time.
With a giggle she couldn't with hold at Alicia's reaction, Iris continued, "For the sanity of us all. Plus, how in the world are the other teams able to practice if you're booking the pitch constantly?"
"My logic exactly." Oliver teased. "No, they have some free periods whenever the Gryffindors and other Houses are having classes. That's when they practice."
"So, you will let up?" Alicia pressed, getting back to the matter that was most important to her.
"Fine. Morning practice tomorrow will be cancelled. Only for you to catch up on assignments. I might cut down on evening practice. No promises, though."
"That news just makes my night!" Alicia suddenly had a burst of energy. "Iris, lets party!"
"Right . . . and you went insane around when exactly?" The redhead looked at the darker haired Chaser.
"Don't know yet, whenever I find out you will be one of the firsts to know, I promise." Alicia nodded her head profusely. "I'm going to go tell George!"
"He's asleep!" Iris pointed out as Alicia shot up from her seated position.
"I don't care!" Alicia was already at the stairs. "He would want to hear this!"
"Don't get caught by Percy up there!" Iris called as she realized it was now just her and Oliver left in the room.
"Awkward much?" Iris attempted to lighten the mood with her blunt statement.
"Talking about the fact that it's just me and my fomer best mate's girlfriend left in the Common Room?" He sighed. "No, not awkward at all." He replied sarcastically.
"At least you can be sarcastic." Iris pointed out.
"True." Oliver agreed. "How long do you think this mess will last?"
"It depends." Iris confessed vaguely.
"On?" The Quidditch Captain queried.
"Quite a few factors." Iris began to elaborate, using her hands to express andstresswhat came out vocally. "The first being how long this romance between you and Emily lasts. I mean, I have no idea where you two stand, butI know the longer you chose to ignore your former friends' warnings and ideas about your girlfriend, the longer they'll hold it against you. Another factor being what kind of mood Jon, Angelina, and Katie are in whenever and if a break up should occur." She paused. "On the flipside, if Katie, Angelina, or Jon out of some whacked up personality change decide to apologize, then it depends on whether or not you wish to hold their beliefs against them."
"Real simple, huh?" Oliver used sarcasm again as he let out another deep sigh.
"Oh yeah. I wouldn't wish the situation on anybody." The redhead gazed into the fire for a long moment. "It just all depends, Oliver. Hell, sometimes even the bloody weather affects a person's mood and their perspective on things. It's always the little details that make or break you."
"I agree one hundred percent." Oliver murmured. "A detail such as sleep could play a major part in it too. So, if you don't mind, I am going to retire now and think some things over. Thanks for actually speaking to me. It seems now I can only count the people who actually do that on one hand now." He stood up and gave a nod to Iris in a way of saying good night.
"Don't mention it." Iris nodded as Oliver turned and walked to the stairs. Her green eyes lit up as she called out to him one last time. "Hey, Oliver. Seriously, don't mention it. I could be in deep water with Jon."
"I wouldn't think of saying such." He said in a true gentlemanly tone and exited up the stairs and left Iris with a whole different view on the situation as she sat in the Common Room waiting for a free shower.
Everyone isn't pissed at Oliver, at least! But . . . what effect will half the team being on the outs with Oliver have on House Quidditch games? Dun dun dun! Haha.
Hippielover459: You should start seeing what the direction the plot is going in with the next few chapters.
Spexy: Loved your review! I'm very glad you like Katie's behavior AND the story. Emily and Oliver will most likely break up sometime. I can't say if it will be soon, or later on in the story. And you haven't beena bitch for not reviewing! I would never think such! Just continue reviewing and I'll be happy :)
TheBrassPotato: You reviewed Chapter Four, but I'm going to put you in this thank you area since I've already posted Chapter Five. And I'm definitely going to try and blend the light with the more dramatic!
QHLuver: I can't say when everyone will patch everything up. Honestly, I haven't even written that far ahead yet. But, there will be more clashing amongst the team!
Eruphadriel: I'm glad you liked the chapter and the fight. I was kind of unsure when writing it!
Thanks to everyone reading the story! I'm attempting to spread my updates out some more, but everytime I log onto Yahoo! and see I have a review, it makes me want to update even more! Hehe.
Until next time . . . -PiscesWeb25-
