The next day, Deena found herself acting extremely nervous around Oliver. Oliver, on the other hand, seemed quite normal, rambling on about Quidditch as usual. He stopped short though and gave Deena a strange look.
"Are you alright?" he asked, "You haven't touched you're breakfast and you've been acting strange all morning."
The compassion in his eyes could have melted her a hundred times over. *No,* she scolded herself, *This is Oliver, don't think like that-*
"Deena?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Its just... I just..."
"Don't worry about her. She's just excellent," George Weasley said. The twins and Lee
Jordan had just come to the table.
"A bit nervous, perhaps?" Fred added with a wink, as he sat down at the massive table. Deena glared angrily at them.
"What?" Oliver looked around, in confusion.
"Oh, don't mind them," Deena said, finally regaining her composure and shooting one last glance at Fred, "I was just saying, well, you see, it's just that..."
"Well, spit it out, would you?" Oliver said impatiently.
"All you ever talk about is Quidditch and to tell you the truth, its impossible for me to concentrate." Deena could faintly hear Lee and the twins snickering at her blunt admission.
She was to preoccupied with the hurt look that swept over Oliver's features.
He immediately covered the pained expression, however, and said, "Well, what is it you'd rather talk about then?"
Deena's stomach knotted. "Well," she drawled, trying to think of something, anything.
"Who do you fancy?" George interrupted through a mouthful of potatoes.
Deena's jaw fell to the floor. Oliver choked down a mouthful of pumpkin juice. "Wha-What?!" he sputtered. Deena didn't catch the warning glance that Oliver shot at George.
"What?" George swallowed and shrugged. "Didn't mean to get everyone's knickers in a bunch. I was just trying to give you something to talk about... oi..."
Oliver's eyes didn't meet Deena's once in the awkward silence that followed. A few moments later, Oliver spotted Harry Potter and two of his friends across the hall. "Oi! Harry!" he called and ran to catch up.
Lee and the twins broke into a fit of silent giggles as Oliver disappeared from sight.
"What were you thinking?!" Deena cried in a low voice, so not to draw attention to herself.
But she should have known, being friends with the Weasleys all this time, that they attracted attention without even trying. They burst loudly into hysterics, earning the stares of their classmates.
Deena heaved an exasperated sigh. She hastily left the table and stormed out of the Great Hall. Fuming, she looked around for somewhere to go. She muttered angrily, trying as hard as she could to convince herself that she had no feelings whatsoever for Oliver and that she, in fact, hated him. Deena was so caught up in herself, she didn't notice that she was being approached by the last two people - on the planet - that she wanted to see - one of her giggly roommates, Noel, and Noel's fourth year friend, Jysella.
"Deena!"
Just as Noel called her name, Deena spun on her heel pretending not to notice them. But she was caught.
"You're just the person we were looking for!" Jysella squealed.
"Well, you see, I really can't talk right now..." Deena eyes darted quickly through the hall, looking desperately for someone to bail her out, but the halls were barren.
"Oh bother, Deena, you have plenty of time!" Noel exclaimed.
"There's just one thing, er," Jysella began nervously, avoiding Deena's impatient gaze, "We were just wondering, um, just interested in, um, asking you about.."
Deena arched an eyebrow. She knew exactly what Jysella was getting at but Deena was not feeling particularly compassionate at the moment. Besides, she was getting far too much enjoyment from watching Jysella squirm to play along just yet.
"What's he like?" Noel finally blurted.
"What? Who are you talking about again?" Deena asked as if she had just missed something. Watching them fidget uncomfortably, so blatantly embarrassed, was proving to be a huge stress reliever. Deena's bemused expression, however, faded as she noticed Noel and Jysella's stupefied gazes.
Their mouths were opening and closing and they seemed to be focusing on something behind her. Deena was too scared to turn. By the looks on their faces she'd be facing certain death for sure.
"Hi girls!" came a voice from behind her. It wasn't just any voice. It was Oliver Wood's voice.
"Hi!" The girls squeaked together in the same horribly high pitched voice.
Deena didn't turn to face Oliver, she just watched Noel and Jysella scamper down the hall together. She felt a hand on her shoulder and abruptly, she shrugged it off.
"Deena what's wrong, really? I'm worried about you." Oliver moved to stand in front of his friend.
"You're worried about me?" she asked sardonically, "Why?"
That hurt look again - it didn't upset Deena this time, it simply infuriated her. Oliver looked at the floor and then back up again. He seemed almost angry now. "You're acting strange. What's your problem?" he snapped.
"You! You're my problem!"
"You're mad at me?" Oliver asked incredulously. Deena nodded, her expression irritatingly neutral. Her expression dropped, though, when Oliver raised his voice at her. "You... You insult me in front of everyone at breakfast and I come to make sure you're okay and you tell me... you say that you're mad at me?!"
"Insult you?" Deena exploded, "Ever since you became Quidditch captain, the only words out of your mouth not pertaining to that bloody sport are 'Good morning, Deena' 'Goodnight Deena.'"
Oliver was about to speak up, but Deena kept going. "And then Harry Potter comes along, replaces me, (in more ways than one), and you spend every last second of the day with him!"
Before either of them had any idea what was happening, Oliver backed Deena against the wall in a fit of desperate, passionate kisses.
R/R... more to come.