Chapter Three...

So I was nasty. I was mean and what I said to Hermione was completely unacceptable. Not that she didn't deserve it... she had the audacity to come and speak to me, publicly! Well, I hadn't really told her not to but it was for her own good! I only didn't want her to talk to me because she'd end up feeling hurt, like she did then.

I stopped trying to justify my actions. What I'd said was wrong and that was all there was to it. But what really got me was the fact that I had been spending so much time thinking about things other than Quidditch lately. It was now Wednesday, three days after I'd last even been near a broomstick and you know what? I hadn't really felt the need to fly either, which was totally strange for me!

Classes had been classes, not excitement filled nor the most depressing time in my life. My grades had not been improving much to Professor McGonagall's disappointment and one afternoon she pulled me aside.

"Wood, how have your study lessons been going?" she asked, after pulling onto my shoulder rather tightly.

"Uhh..." I looked at the ground. Professor McGonagall was one of those few people who could make me feel extremely inferior.

"Well?" she prodded.

"Umm... Hermione and I had a little... falling out."

"Oh... I see. And let me guess, this was completely her fault?"

"Not completely," I replied honestly.

"Hmm..." she seemed to know the full story without even asking me. "Well I think you should apologise for being so rude and inconsiderate to her feelings even after she'd gone out of her way to be helpful."

"Excuse me?" I blurted out. "How do you know all that?"

"I am merely observant, a skill you should learn, Wood," was her response. Before I could answer back, she turned around and walked away. I opened my mouth to protest but then closed it again. It wasn't worth it. But she had been right. I needed to find Hermione, and find her fast.

* * * * *

It wasn't hard to find Hermione. After knowing her for less than a week I had already pretty much figured out where she was likely to 'hang out'. Those places consisted of either her dormitory or the library. Seeing as I wasn't far from the library I decided to try there first and I was right.

I tried ducking my head as I entered as I had seen a couple of 7th year Hufflepuff boys I knew just enter but then realised that my ducking of head was one of the very reasons that Hermione wasn't talking to me in the first place. So I held it up as high as I could without looking like a snob and proudly walked in.

I could practically hear everyone go 'Oh my goodness, why is Oliver Wood in the library?' as I opened the entrance doors. A few groups of kids looked up at me in astonishment and I could feel my cheeks blushing. I ignored the eyes burning through the back of my head and walked over to where Hermione, surprise, was studying.

She knew I had entered, I could tell from the way she was forcefully scribbling down notes with her quill, pressing so hard into the parchment that she was making holes in it.

"Hermione," I began.

She didn't look up.


"Look at me... please?" I tried.

"Go away Wood," she replied. I noticed she had called me Wood too, not Oliver. Suppose that was a bit 'personal' now.

My first instinct was to yell 'fine!' and storm off but something stopped me. Perhaps it was my sympathetic side finally showing through. So instead of yelling and possibly being banned from the library for life, I just nodded, trying to appear understanding. "Hermione," I said softly. "I'm sorry."

I hoped this would sound sincere and genuine. Apparently not.

"I said, go away," she repeated, still not taking her eyes off the parchment.

"Please?" my patience was really wearing thin now. Finally, as I was about to give up all signs of hope, a miracle occured.

She sighed and put her quill down. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well," I began. Now that I actually did have her attention I wasn't sure what to say. I was feeling rather stupid.

"Yes?" she asked, impatiently.

"Hermione, all I wanted to say was that I'm sorry for speaking to you and about you so rudely. It was selfish and I shouldn't have done it."

"Is that all?"

"Uhh... I guess so."

"Good, can you please leave now? I have a lot of homework to do."

"Oh," I took a step away from the table. "I'll uhh... see you round then yeah?"

"Yeah," she murmured before shutting me out completely.

* * * * *

I didn't sleep that much that night. I couldn't help but still feel immensely guilty about Hermione even though I knew I had done the right thing and apologised. I knew that would be the end of our study sessions, not that they had really been that exciting and work-filled as it was. The only good thing to come of this whole situation was that hopefully, I could just get my life back to the way it had been before the whole Hermione thing. I could go back to hanging out with Noel and Charlotte and Percy and maybe even get the Gryffindor Quidditch team training harder again as they'd been relaxing more since I had been occupied with study.

The only problems with the plan was that:

a) It meant I was back to square one - being too dumb for ESQ and

b) I still felt guilty - damn my guilty conscience.

I tried calming myself by listening to music all morning while I had some free classes. I paced up and down the room, deep in thought until one of the other guys in my dormitory threw his alarm clock at me as I was driving him crazy. But in that time I had been thinking, I had been remembering the 'old days' in my time at Hogwarts.

I remembered classes and exams but of course I remembered Quidditch the most. My Quidditch matches which had always been the highest of priorities for me. After Alex had thrown his alarm clock at me, I was reduced to remembering while sitting on my bed. I must have been so lost in my thoughts that I didn't hear the footsteps approaching my bed.

"Oliver?" someone suddenly said.

"Arrghhhh!" I was so startled that I lifted about five feet off the mattress.

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry!"

I recognised the voice this time. Hermione.

I swung open the curtain that had been draped around the four poster and saw her standing there, fiddling with something in her hands. It looked like a piece of crumpled parchment. Her hair was hanging loosely down her shoulders and I could tell her dress robes were new as they weren't faded or too short. All in all, she didn't look that bad!

"Hermione!" I said, surprised.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," I said.

"Umm..." she looked at her hands. "I just wanted to give you this..." she quickly shoved the piece of parchment in my lap. I glanced down and picked it up and by the time I had looked up again, she was gone and I sighed as I heard the dormitory door close behind her. Curiously, I began unfolding the parchment which had been folded many, many, many times over. As I opened it out, my eyes widened in wonder. What on earth had she done?

Author's Note: Hi everyone, thanks heaps for all your gorgeous reviews, I really appreciate them. I'm sorry if the chapters haven't been coming out as fast as I would have liked lately; my other computer that I usually use for story-typing is dead and school has been killing me recently with all my committments. Anyway, keep reading and writing and reviewing, I hope you like how this story is turning out!