Disclaimer: You know the drill. I don't own much of this stuff. All credit goes to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Explanations Before a Trip Back Home

"What exactly do you think you're doing?" The dry, drawling voice of none other than Professor Snape called as he stormed onto the field, a piece of parchment in his hand.

Color rushed to my face so quickly as I literally rolled off of Oliver. I tried looking away, but the Potions professor was furious so it appeared. Off in the distance, I saw what appeared to be a student cowering behind the tower. I swallowed hard and tried to bottle my anger toward the Slytherin boy.

"Professor, we were just-um-" Oliver tried to explain, but he noticed that both the brooms that had been around had somehow disappeared.

"He was teaching me how to fly properly," I said quickly, despite the missing brooms.

Snape raised a brow," Ah, so that explains the lack of broomsticks…"

We looked around and then at one another…it did look rather suspicious. Honestly, I wanted to know where the broomsticks had gone. For some reason, I had a feeling that the scared Marcus Flint had something to do with that as he cowered behind the tower. Finding that neither of us could come up with an explanation, I started rambling trying to come up with something.

"But, the broomsticks they were-they went from there to here and-it almost crashed but it-" I tried explaining, but Oliver just shook his head and I stopped speaking, but simply looked at Professor Snape.

He scoffed before saying," Get up! Get up!"

Oliver stood up first before offering a hand to me and as we stood, Snape just stared at us for several moments, clearly disgusted before he shoved a parchment into Oliver's hands," You, Mr. Wood, as good as anyone should know that this pitch is not for anyone to come waltzing onto when there's a practice scheduled."

Oliver groaned and looked down at the piece of parchment before rolling it up and handing it back to Snape.

"There wasn't practice scheduled as of last night, Professor," Oliver said boldly.

Snape swallowed as he looked straight at the captain. Gruffly, he grabbed the piece of parchment," Practices can be scheduled at anytime Mr. Wood, as you also know."

"That's absolutely-"

"Say another word and I will be sure to report this to the headmaster," He said sharply and this quickly sent Oliver into silence.

"If it were up to me, then I'd drop you from my class immediately for being such a complete embarrassment to not only your house but your school," He snapped as he tucked the parchment into his robes and turned back to Marcus Flint.

"The field is clear now," He yelled to the lone boy as he walked onto the field.

As Oliver and I followed Professor Snape off of the field, we watched as Marcus strutted onto the field by himself. He smiled widely at me which just prompted in me rolling my eyes.

"There's only one person practicing?" Wood growled as we came off the field.

From behind us, Marcus answered the Gryffindor boy's question," Wood, don't you know by now that captain always gets to practice early?"

With that, he pointed to the rest of the team now strolling onto the field very unhappily. Out loud, Wood groaned as we continued walking off the field. I, too, was upset but I could tell that he was fuming more than I. If there was anyone that hated Flint more than myself, it was probably Oliver Wood.

"Oy, Wood!" Flint called. "Thanks for leaving out the equipment."

I looked back at the box, nearly forgetting it was sitting there. Oliver didn't even look.

Eventually, Oliver and I had broken away from Professor Snape and his lecturing. We had been lucky enough to escape from any severe punishment, but as we walked in silence for awhile…I finally felt that the silence was far too much after all that had just happened.

"Listen, Oliver," I started, stopping in the middle of the abandoned corridor.

"Are you about to tell me-" He started, but I cut him off.

"This needs to slow down quite a bit. That back there…it was nice, but a little-"

"Embarrassing?" He asked, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah," I said looking straight at him, blinking slowly.

He nodded in agreement before saying," Why don't we take some time to get to know one another, aye?"
"I would have to agree with that. I mean, look at how much we've grown to know each other in this amount of time. As of a couple weeks ago, I still didn't know much about you-"

"Correction: you despised me," He said, looking straight at me.

I tried to cover it up," Not necessarily, I mean-"

"Lana," He said firmly.

I sighed before dropping my shoulders and looking at my feet. I looked back up at him and without making eye contact confessed," Alright, you weren't my favorite, but honestly…that doesn't matter now. I'm willing to put it behind me to try this…it's not like I can make any guarantees however."

He nodded," I'm not expecting anything out of you, Lana. Just honesty."

"You may not realize what precisely you're asking for," I answered meekly as he laughed.

"Really, there's nothing worse than covering up the truth," He said sincerely to which I nodded before asking my next question.

"Speaking of the truth, what exactly happened to the broomsticks out there?"

Oliver groaned before running his fingers through his hair," I think Flint tried to jinx them, but you see he's absolutely horrendous at anything magic related other than flying. I put it on him. Probably when he saw the both of us together he ran off to get a practice scheduled for the Slytherin team…when really he was just trying to be a-"

"Intolerable?" I asked, looking at him again.

"That's much nicer than what I was going to say," He added with another chuckle.

"Well, it's really pointless to say aloud something that everybody already knows," I added with a raise of my brow. "I'm sure you heard the rumors that he's not even going to graduate from Hogwarts on time at this rate. It's pitiable really."

He scrutinized my face for several moments before saying," I'd never pity Marcus Flint."

"You should. He's really missing out on quite a bit, actually," I added, even though I personally couldn't stand the boy. "I may not like him, but I do pity him."

"Each to their own," Oliver mumbled as we started walking back to the dormitory.

"Anyways, you and I are not necessarily the biggest fan of Flint…that's one thing we've got in common. I don't like to flaunt it as much as you, but that's simply a difference of personalities," I said, smiling as I did so.

He laughed at this as we walked," Some differences isn't all that terrible."

"In fact, they're desirable. I probably wouldn't be able to stand you if you were exactly like me," I added as he smirked.

"I wouldn't be able to stand me either," He joked as I rolled my eyes.

As we continued walking, talking about all sorts of different "small talk", he stopped and looked at me," So, does this mean that we're…?"

"Dating?" I raised a brow, hardly processing the word before it slipped from my mouth. "But taking it…slow."

The whole conversation was so awkward that I felt color rushing to my cheeks. Looking at Oliver, who too was laughing and blushing. I ran my fingers through my hair before glancing back at him.

"That's fine, but I'm completely alright with not making it totally obvious," He said, we were nearing the common room.

"That means…I'll go in first…just so no one gets the wrong idea," I said softly, stepping in front of the portrait.

Before I could say the word, Oliver grabbed my wrist and pulled me back toward him briefly. I looked at him with a cocked brow, wondering if he hadn't understood a word of what we had just discussed. As I came closer, he whispered," Just trust me."

And with that, he kissed me on the cheek before allowing me to walk back to the common room. I couldn't help but smile. Inside, I was wondering why this was having such an effect upon me…but there was a flutter in my heart that kept me from worrying about it too much.

From that day on, Wood and I were a "couple". We weren't exactly an average couple in the PDA department, but I believe the both of us were comfortable with that. Also, it was quite the shock when I delved the information to the rest of my companions and news got around the school that Oliver Wood actually thought about something other than Quidditch. Sure, it was the subject of jokes, but I was happy. The more time we spent together, the more we learned about one another and didn't try to rush anything too serious. In this time, I also learned more about Quidditch than I ever really wanted to know, but by the time I felt very comfortable with flying…I actually wanted to learn the basics of the sport that seemed to intrigue Oliver so much.

I remember the glares from Marcus Flint, but hardly caring too much for he hated Oliver so much that he stayed away. Honestly, one of the biggest nuisances were the Weasley twins when they discovered our relationship. I remember sitting on the couch just before Christmas break with Oliver as we finished up homework with the fire burning in front of us. All of a sudden, there was a soft laughter muffled from behind us. Nearly immediately after, I felt Oliver tap me. Just as I looked up, he pressed his lips against mine and I nearly died of embarrassment as the others came piling in.

"Oliver, what are you-" I nearly screamed, before he pointed up and shrugged his shoulders.

I looked up to see a mistletoe floating overhead. Immediately, my head shot back to see George, Fred and a group of other Gryffindors gathered around laughing at my reaction. Out of instinct, I picked up the pillow next to me and threw it at the twins as they came closer.

"You are so immature," I rolled my eyes before turning back to my work.

"And you," Fred started.

"Are so…" George continued.

"Boring!" They both yelled on either side of my face as they crept over both my shoulders from behind the couch.

I laughed at this as they dropped the mistletoe from the air and went off to prank some other people around the common room. As they dispersed, I noticed Harry Potter and his two companions walking alongside them. This whole year I hadn't said much to Potter, but knew his story just as well as anyone else and still found him to be intriguing.

In all honesty, it seemed like he and his companions were always doing something. I just never could place my finger on what it was.

With that aside, I actually was returning home for Christmas break that year as Oliver was to stay on campus. We enjoyed our last few days together before it was time for me to pack up and take the train back to London. Unlike when I was younger, my mother actually was waiting for me at the station. It was her turn to keep me this break…my father was busy with something else that he wouldn't tell me.

I remember walking off the train, grabbing my luggage, and walking toward her slowly. I smiled and waved at her, to which she returned the gesture. In fact, my mother looked better than she had looked in years.

Little did I know that looks could be deceiving because when I would come home…my life would change.

A/N: Writing flirting scenes are incredibly awkward for me, but it was necessary so I hope it wasn't overly cheesy and *fingers crossed* you all enjoyed it. Please, let me know! Things are about to get DRAMATIC! :D