Sorry for the wait, but here it is!!

"He what?" Oliver couldn't move.

"I'm sorry, Wood." Professor McGonagall began, "Harry was involved in a very serious accident and is lucky to be alive. There is no way he'd be able to play today."

Oliver had to muster up all the strength he had to stop himself from simply bursting into tears.

Just then, three bundles of energy burst through the portrait hole. "Hello Wood!" The Weasley twins cried in unison.

"Ready for the big game?" Deena exclaimed. Then the three stopped short as they noticed the somber looks that dominated McGonagall and Wood's features.

"What's wrong?" Deena asked carefully immediately fearing the worst.

Oliver, who hardly had the strength to speak, looked at McGonagall indicating that she should tell the three what was going on.

"Harry Potter has been involved in a serious accident and I'm afraid he will be unable to participate today's Quidditch game."

The Weasleys wore identical stunned expressions and Deena exclaimed, "What?!"

"Is he okay?" George asked.

Oliver mentally scolded himself. He hadn't even asked if the poor bloke would recover.

"He will recuperate, but we aren't quite sure when that will be." She was responded with mournful stares. "Well I need to take care of a few things." She nodded toward Oliver, "Wood," and was off.

"Dee," Oliver began, "You're gonna have to play."

Deena leaned against the wall with a groan. "Why couldn't Potter get hurt before the Hufflepuff match?"

"Did McGonagall tell you what happened?" Fred asked.

Oliver shook his head, "No." There was a short pause before Oliver said, "Well we better hit the field, you haven't been getting much practice."

"Yeah," Deena agreed sullenly.

Without grabbing anything to eat, Oliver and Deena trudged out to the pitch. The Weasleys offered to help but insisted that they would be of no use until they ate a nice hardy breakfast.

Deena reluctantly boarded her broom and pushed off into the air. She zoomed around trying desperately to will the bloody thing to go faster. Her Cleansweep 5 was no match for Harry's Nimbus 2000 - not by a long shot.

They soared around for awhile and Oliver threw a few practice snitches around. Deena caught them fairly quickly - she *did* have a knack for the sport - granted, she wasn't being smothered by Ravenclaw's exceptional team or being attacked by vicious, snarling bludgers. Fred and George arrived shortly and Oliver set the bludgers loose. They practiced for awhile longer before the three chasers arrived. They informed the rest of the team that there wasn't much time before the game and they should could come down.

"We brought some pumpkin pasties!" Angelina sing-songed. At that, Oliver and Deena raced toward the ground

*

Deena sat in the locker room nervously tugging at her robes. The rest of the team was unexpectedly excitable considering the loss of their star seeker.

Before Oliver gave his ritual pep talk, he pulled Deena into a corner.

"What's up?" she asked, trying not to let her discomfiture show. "I just," Oliver seemed unusually jittery himself. "Before the game, I just wanna tell you something." He took a deep breath.

"Well..."

Oliver gently touched Deena's cheek. "I just wanted to let you know, no matter what happens today, you mean more to me than any stupid Quidditch game."

Deena stared at him incredulously. Oliver smiled awkwardly and said, "I... I've never said that to anyone."

"You dork," Deena whispered, pressing her forehead against his.

After a few moments, Oliver realized that the game was due to start soon and abruptly pulled away and hurried back to the team.

"All right, who's ready to kick Ravenclaw's arse?"

Cheers erupted from all the players who weren't Deena and Oliver.

"First off, we need to thank our reserve seeker, Parkes, who stepped in at the last minute."

Deena rolled her eyes at his unnecessary formality and came out of the corner. The team cheered and Fred Weasley put her in a playful headlock and began tousling her hair. Deena wriggled free and glared at him impassively.

"Okay, to my chasers," Oliver flashed the three girls a wide grin, "You've been absolutely wonderful all year and there's no need to stop now. We need all the points you can possibly rack up."

"Of course, Wood," Angelina smiled brightly.

"And the same with you two," Oliver turned toward the Weasleys. "Watch out for Parkes. She may be a little rusty, we don't want any casualties like last time..." An awkward silence followed as Oliver trailed off leaving the rest of the team to think about the last game of last season. "Well that's all, team," Oliver finally said with a clap of his hands. "Its been a great year, lets keep it up!"

"Lets do it for Potter," George said, and was responded with cheers and a tackling of group hugs.

Not too long later, Wood led the team onto the pitch. Deena lagged behind ("Honestly, you'd be much better off without me!") and soon found herself suspended in the air as each Weasley had taken one of her arms and begun to carry her out.

Hesitantly she pushed off into the air with the rest of the players along with Madam Hooch. The whistle blew and the balls were released.

Deena soared upward above the game beginning below. She floated around, hoping the snitch would come soon and end this bloody match. She was concentrating so hard on absolutely nothing in particular, that she almost didn't hear Lee Jordan exclaim over the microphone, "Demetrius Ore, has seen the snitch! Parkes doesn't know it!"

Fortunately, she broke out of her stupor to dive toward Ravenclaw's seeker. On her way down, the snitch sped away and disappeared. Deena slowed down and looked around to get her bearing. Lee was frantically commentating (as he usually did) and the rest of the team was beginning to resume play. Deena soared around the pitch and as she was looking the other way, was pelted in the shoulder by a bludger. A Weasley zoomed by and gave it a good whack.

"Sorry," he offered and flew away.

"Sorry won't cut it, Weasley!" Oliver yelled from a few yards away at the goal posts, "That's my girlfriend you're protecting!"

Deena wove in out of the other players, making her way skyward again. She tried to pull herself together and concentrate on looking for the snitch. She was feeling great pangs of guilt because her heart just wasn't in the game. On her way up, she spotted a Ravenclaw beater smashing a bludger right at her. Instinctively, she juked downward, but George Weasley was already there to ward it off. As he soared away he offered her a large grin. This managed to lift Deena's spirits at least a little. The pure dedication and determination of the other players proved to be very inspiring. Deena continued absent-mindedly flying around, her head in the clouds, (literally) when she spotted the scoreboard - Gryffindor, 20; Ravenclaw, 60. How could she have possibly missed all those goals. Once again, a bludger zoomed past her head. She looked around startled and as Fred chased it down, he called to her, "You deserved that one! Wake up!"

Deena set her jaw, slightly offended. She soared down, closer to the action and searched carefully for the snitch. For a good 6 goals (four scored by Ravenclaw) Deena spotted nothing. She continued scanning the sky and, in a moment, spotted the gold glint of the tiny snitch. She dove down toward the glinting object, but was cut off quickly by Ravenclaw's seeker. Ore had cut so close to her that Deena tumbled off her broom to the ground below. Luckily, the ground below wasn't so far. Deena landed on her backside and,to her dismay, remained conscious. She looked up to see Ravenclaw in a massive group hug congratulating each other on their win; 40 to 250.

With a groan, Deena plopped onto her back in the dirt.

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