"Inside"
Author's Note: This fic is going to be a little darker than my usual writing so it's more of a challenge for me. It also features a new character, thanks to Faith, named Kali. Please don't think that this is a Mary-Sue, as I'm sure that's how your initial thoughts may wander, Kali is a 100% fictional piece and definitely nothing like myself. Please be patient with this fic, I am not sure whether I am going to be able to write chapters as fast I have done previously. I am really looking forward to your comments, thank you.
Chapter One...
A week away in Hogsmeade was the ideal dream for any student at Hogwarts. Unfortunately for some, it was an opportunity given only to those in their seventh and final year of schooling and something that had to be earnt and deserved, which immediately cancelled some people's name off the list.
Oliver Wood sat in the corner of the Gryffindor common room, prodding little figures around a miniature sized Quidditch pitch.
"Hello?" he could hear somebody faintly calling in the distance.
Trying to shut the noise out, he concentrated harder on his tactics and a slightly frown appeared on his face.
"Hello! Earth to Oliver!" It was no use. Whoever it was was being very persistant. He put down his wand and looked up.
"Merlin's beard Wood, are you deaf or something?" said Professor McGonagall, a look of frustration on her face.
Oliver gulped. He hadn't known it was her...
"Sorry Professor," he said. "I was concentrating rather hard."
"Yes, I could see that," she replied. "Do you have a moment please?"
It was not often that Professor McGonagall asked for a moment, rather she just demanded it. That meant she must have been in a good mood and Oliver nodded eagerly, not wanting to upset his chances of the Hogsmeade week away.
"Wood, one of your Quidditch players was beaten up last night," she said in a hushed voice, keeping it low so nobody around could hear.
Oliver's felt his face turn beet red. Steam was surely coming out of his ears. "Who?"
"Katie Bell."
He felt his jaw drop. For some reason he had expected it to have been one of the boys, certainly not a girl and certainly not Katie. She wasn't exactly the fighting sort of type.
"By who?" he gasped in horror.
"A Slytherin."
Oliver gritted his teeth as hard as he could without breaking them. Slytherin. Naturally. Oliver had never got along with the Slytherin house and the thought of one of their oversized, muscles instead of brains, hot tempered boys bashing up one of the best Chasers he had ever seen was more than he could bear.
"Calm down Oliver," Professor McGonagall said, sensing his anger. "Katie is fine, she has a few bruises but she will be fine for training tomorrow morning."
He froze. What did she mean 'she will be fine for training tomorrow'? Is that how everyone perceived him? That the only thing he cared about was whether Katie'd show for training? Did people think he didn't care about his team's wellbeing?
"Good to hear," he said slowly. "Which Slytherin was it?" he asked, many names and faces running through his head starting with Marcus Flint, their Quidditch Captain. He knew for a fact that Flint hated Katie because she had scored twenty goals in their last match. He also knew Flint would do anything to prevent Katie playing again. Including beating her up.
It made Oliver particularly mad that a boy would hit a girl. But he was wrong. Totally wrong.
"Her name is Kali Ravenell. She's a seventh year like you," said Professor McGonagall.
"What? A girl?" Oliver spat out.
"Yes," she answered, sounding surprised at Oliver's surprise. She saw the look on his face and could practically read his mind. "Now don't go doing anything stupid Wood," she warned. "If I hear of you causing any disturbance to the Slytherins then I will have no choice but to remove the privelages of the Hogsmeade week."
"But... but.... how could they get away with something like that, the animal?" he said.
"Kali has not 'got away' with anything. She has been punished and has been dealt with the proper way. I just thought that as Captain you should have been made aware of this situation."
As Captain? What about as friend? Oliver sighed but said nothing. If Professor McGonagall didn't want him to have a good talking to Kali than why would she have bothered telling him? And nobody would get away with harming a fellow Gryffindor, especially not a slimy Slytherin.
* * * * *
The Slytherin common room wasn't hard to find considering Oliver had been out the front of it many times. He stood in front of the painting of a large talking sea serpent and waited for one of the Slytherins to either walk in or walk out.
"Ahh... a Gryffindor... " hissed the serpent. "What are you doing around thissss part of Hogwartsss?"
"Looking for somebody," Oliver replied, trying not to show his uncomfortableness at being around this thing.
"Oi, coming to seek out the opposition eh?" said a voice from behind Wood. He turned around to find one of the younger Slytherin's standing behind him, accompanied by two rather stupid looking friends.
"Malfoy," nodded Wood.
"Wood," nodded Malfoy.
Draco had been scared of Oliver ever since he had nearly broken his nose with his broomstick a couple of years earlier. He was over the initial fear but didn't like to push his luck. So instead of throwing the insults at him, Draco was polite.
"I'm looking for a Slytherin girl," stated Oliver, knowing he had the upper hand.
"Yeah who?" Draco narrowed his eyes.
"A girl called Kali Ravenell, know her?" Oliver asked. He caught the quick change of expression on Draco's face before he hardened up again.
"Yeah, I've seen her around. Why do you need her?"
"I need to talk to her about something."
"I see. Well, she's got really long black hair and dark eyes. She's kind of pretty if you're into that kind of... hey, there she is now!" Draco pointed at a girl who was emerging from the painting hole.
"Hey you!" shouted Oliver, pointing directly at Kali.
Draco decided there and then was the perfect time to make a get away so he dragged his dopey friends away with him, leaving Oliver alone with this Kali girl.
"Who are you?" she asked, stepping closer towards him.
Oliver couldn't help but be surprised at how, dainty, this girl was. He had been expecting her to be as big and rough looking as most of the other Slytherins but she was different. She was shorter than he had expected, rather thing, her hair was very shiny and longer than he'd imagined and well, she was quite pretty.
But that did not excuse the fact she'd hit Katie.
He grabbed her arm and pulled her into a corner of the hallway.
"Hey!" she yelped, almost desperately. "Let go of me!" she pleaded but Oliver was very strong.
"How dare you!" he said right in her face, his voice low but cold and very threatening.
Kali was breathing heavily and her pale face was getting flushed. "Is this about that Katie girl?" she asked, her voice strong but scared.
"Why did you do it?" Oliver demanded, ignoring her question.
"Because she deserved it," was Kali's response.
Oliver pushed her harder against the stone wall, showing temper he never realised he had. Kali began to whimper slightly and Oliver relaxed his grip a bit and pulled her away from the wall. What was he? A monster? He was the one who had gone nuts when he thought a boy had hit Katie and now he was the one hurting Kali.
"She didn't deserve it, Katie is a magnificent girl and would never do anything to deserve being hit," he hissed in her ear.
Kali took a deep breath, swallowed and regained her composure. "Then you obviously don't know her as well as you thought you did. Now please, I have to get going."
With that, she grabbed the sleeve of her black robes out of Oliver's grasp and started to walk away from him, feeling very frightened and very hurt but not letting any of it show.
"What did she do?" she heard Oliver call from behind but she pretended she hadn't heard him.
It wasn't until she was a good two hundred metres away that she let herself burst into a full speed sprint into the closest toilets where she locked herself in a cubicle and let the tears she'd been fighting back escape.