"I guess it's pretty absurd, don't you?" said Harry to Ron. "I can't believe he actually likes Cho. I mean, he told me at that Quidditch match to knock her off her broom if I had to."

"Well, he IS obsessed with winning. Especially where Quidditch is concerned," grinned Ron..

"Yeah, he is," said Harry, smiling.

Harry thought about the time when he first saw Cho. He had noticed immediately that she was really pretty. He wondered how come Oliver didn't notice it at first sight. Oh well, Oliver WAS obsessed with winning. Maybe he had let that obsession get in the way of seeing things clearly.

Suddenly a nagging question at the back of his head surfaced. Where WAS Hermione?

**

Hermione, it turned out, was in the library. She was looking up some facts for her essay, and had spent the whole morning in the library doing it. She had been there since the library opened at 6am, and surprisingly, her essay was only half-done (half-done to Hermione meant two whole rolls of parchment and still not enough). She frowned and looked at her watch. It was 9am. The boys would be wondering where she was, it was way past breakfast time. Surprisingly, she didn't feel hungry, so she packed up and went off to look for the boys in their common haunts.

She found the boys in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey Hermione," said Ron in an excited whisper. "You wouldn't believe this. Oliver actually likes Cho!"

"Really Ron, you shouldn't keep nosing around people's affairs, you can't even handle yours!" said Hermione.

Ron turned red. "Of course I can handle mine! It's just that I thought YOU might want to know. You know, girls being nosy and all that."

"I don't think I'm half as nosy as you, Ron," said Hermione, grinning cheekily.

"Oh yes you ar--" his rebuttal was cut off by Harry, who said, "Stop quarreling, the both of you. You quarrel every time you see each other. By the way, where WERE you during breakfast?" He turned to Hermione.

"In the library, trying to finish my essay," she said. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Why am I not surprised?" he muttered.

**

On Monday morning, during breakfast in the Great Hall, Professor Dumbledore made a startling announcement.

"I would like everyone to know, that we are organising a trip into the Muggle world, to allow wizards who have never experienced Muggle life to survive a few days on their own. Do not worry, because we will put you in pairs. One in the pair would certainly have, in our opinion, enough Muggle knowledge to help you get through the one week trip. Either the person takes Muggle Studies, or was born in a Muggle family. In addition, you would be put in boy-girl pairs, just to ensure discipline and to cultivate respect between genders as well. And there would be no limitation on houses. After all, Hogwarts is one big family. You'll have to learn to trust one another. You will be randomly picked."

This sounds exciting, thought Wood. He started to imagine a one week trip with him and Cho Chang. He grinned to himself. THAT would never happen.

The picking of names had already started.

"Harry Potter and Hannah Abbot!"

"Ron Weasley and Penelope Clearwater!" "Just what I need," muttered Ron. "Percy's girlfriend!"

"Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger!" "WHAT?" said Hermione. She wasn't the only one. Draco's voice could be heard over the hall. "ME with THAT MUDBLOOD?"

Professor Dumbledore ignored him and continued calling out names.

Finally, it was Oliver's turn.

"Oliver Wood and Cho Chang!" What? Did he hear that wrongly? It was a dream come true! He wanted to leap for joy, but stopped himself in time.

"Yes, yes," Professor Dumbledore added on after everything. "I can see some of you are paired with friends, and some of you are paired with people you do not wish to be paired with. Fear not, I'm sure all of you are going to get along well with each other. Your trip begins tomorrow, so I suggest all of you start to pack today." He raised his glass and toasted everyone in the Great Hall.

After the whole ceremony, Cho walked over to him.

"Hey Oliver, it's great to be paired up with someone I know." She smiled. Oliver felt like melting.

"Yeah, cool," he managed.

"See you tomorrow." She winked and left.

Oliver Wood felt like the happiest boy alive.

.