Chapter Two...
Oliver expected to see Kali around the corridors of Hogwarts that afternoon however she managed to escape his eye no matter where he went. For awhile he was quite baffled at her mysterious disappearing act but then he realised that if he'd never noticed her before, what would make him notice her now?
Kali on the other hand spent her afternoon trying to avoid Oliver's attention. She saw him wandering down a busy hallway at one stage but quickly leapt up onto the nearest stair case so he wouldn't see her. Oliver had scared her, he really had. She's seen him play in all the great Quidditch games and he was quite spectacular yet from what she'd seen of his personality, well, that was less than desirable.
What Katie had said to Kali had really hurt her. As she reached the safety of the Slytherin common room she reflected on her own behaviour and tried to justify in her head, why she'd acted the way she had.
"She threatened to tell everyone... oh goodness, what would I have done... no, she deserved everything she got..." she muttered outloud as she tried to sort through a whole stack of papers on one of the coffee tables in hope she would find her Potions homework amongst the rest of the rubbish.
"Is this that Katie Bell you're talking about?" said a familiar voice at her side.
"Draco!" Kali cried happily, giving him a quick hug. "How are you?"
"Yeah all right, Oliver Wood was looking for you before," he replied, his usual mood of selfishness and ungratefulness quickly fading, as it always did whenever he was around Kali.
"Yes, he did approach me..." said Kali, remembering how threatening he had been.
"What was the problem?" continued Draco, beginning to help her sort through the papers. The Slytherins were so messy and it was times like these that Kali wished she were a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff, after all, she'd snuck in their common rooms before and there wasn't a mess in sight. She dismissed the thought quickly though, remembering that she was a Slytherin and that she ought to be proud to be one too!
"Uh, he wanted to talk to me about Katie that's all."
Draco already knew about Katie. He had been witness to the fight and knew Kali well enough to sense she didn't want to talk about it.
"What do you know about Wood?" Kali asked.
Draco paused. He didn't really know that much about him at all. Nothing un-Quidditch related. "He's the Gryffindor Captain, he's a Keeper, quite good too though I'd never let him know I thought that..."
"No, no," Kali interrupted. "I know all that, I have eyes too you know, but I mean is he... dangerous?" she nearly whispered.
Draco started laughing. "Ha, ha," he panted between breaths. "Wood? Dangerous?"
Kali began to feel relieved.
"Oh, except there was that one time when he nearly broke my nose with a broomstick."
Kali's face fell.
"But don't let that worry you. I'm telling you Kali, he wouldn't hurt a fly. He's one big old softie. Behind all that big macho Quidditch expert, he's totally harmless."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Somehow that didn't make her feel much better.
* * * * *
Oliver returned to the common room later after dinner that night, having given up hope of 'accidently' running into Kali again. As he ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitory, two by two, he bumped into Percy Weasley, one of his good friends.
"Where you been?" asked Percy, who looked rather short of breath after also jogging up the steps.
"Just out and about," said Oliver shortly.
"Oh... fair enough. Want to study with me? I need someone to quiz me for my Muggle Studies test tomorrow morning."
Oliver procrastinated but the softer side got the better of him. "Sure I will," he replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
"Excellent!" cried Percy, looking genuinely ecstatic. "I'll go get my books and we can study up here!"
It wasn't often that Oliver made time to help his friends with things like studying because well, he always had Quidditch on his mind. He did reflect on this often and he did feel guilty but like most guilt-ridden things, he just couldn't help it. He began to have second thoughts as to helping Percy study as he could think of about ten thousand things that would have been more fun (including watching flobberworms eat) but there were some things that a friend just had to do. And perhaps it could be fun... maybe.
"What chapter are you doing?" Oliver asked as they made themselves comfortable on the floor.
"Ah eleven and twelve. Just working on muggle transportation. My father would be very interested in all this."
Wish I was, Oliver thought to himself but bit his tongue. After opening up Percy's book and finding a page on buses, he looked up to see whether Percy was ready for the questions.
Sure enough he was, with a newly sharpened pencil, eager look of excitement on his face, anticipation in his eyes and a parchment perched ready in his lap.
"Ahh..." Oliver was a little put off by his enthusiasm. "How do muggles locate buses?"
Percy furiously scribbled down an answer before smiling, ready for the next question.
"Buses can travel over water, true or false?"
Percy was writing down his next answer when Oliver interrupted. "This is boring Perce!" he said, as he put down the book.
Percy, looking absolutely devastated, stopped writing. "Well you're the one who volunteered to quiz me. Hey, if it's out of the question just say so and I'll go get Penelope or something."
"No, no I'm sorry Perce, really I am, it's just I have other things on my mind," apologised Oliver.
"Other things such as Quidditch?" Percy rolled his eyes.
"No, actually, it's got nothing to do with Quidditch!" snapped Oliver, really beginning to get fed up with everybody associating him purely with Quidditch and Quidditch only.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Has it got anything to do with a member of the female species?"
"Perhaps..."
Percy threw down his book too. "Well? Out with it? Who do you fancy?"
"I don't fancy anybody!"
"Really?"
"And truly. But what do you know about Kali Ravenell, she's a Slytherin."
"A Slytherin eh?"
"Percy, I don't fancy her, I just want to know what she's like. Temperament and all."
"Well, I actually have Muggle Studies with her. That's all," Percy answered, pondering.
"What's she like?" Oliver asked.
"I don't speak to her much, after all she's a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor." Even whilst sitting down, Percy somehow managed to puff his chest out a little bit when he said the word 'Gryffindor'. "Ah she can be quite a distraction to the class though. Always mucking around and making jokes about Professor Thudgepin. Can be quite irritating."
"Does she ever seem... violent?" asked Oliver.
"Oliver, where is this leading?" Percy replied.
"Oh, I'm just curious." He was a bad liar and the look Percy gave him showed he wasn't convinced in the slightest. "Ok, promise me you won't tell anyone this?"
"Of course."
"Kali beat up one of my chasers last night, Katie Bell."
"So it did have something to do with Quidditch after all!" Percy exploded.
"No, no, no!" protested Oliver. "I was asking merely because I was concerned about Katie's health! Great Wizards Percy, Katie as a person is more important to me than Katie as a chaser!"
"Hmm? Really?" Percy sighed.
"Really!"
"Uh-huh," he still didn't sound convinced but continued never the less. "Well, I honestly don't know much about this Kali girl except that she seems to get quite a few detentions for her misbehaviour and I don't approve of her distracting the class all the time with her... sarcastic comments and... stuff."
"Ok well then, thanks for your help Perce. I'm going to go... fly or something. Sorry I couldn't help you more with your homework, I'm sure you'll do really well anyway!" Oliver stood up and reached under his own bed for his broomstick, a beautiful and expensive new Flameblazer.
"That's all right," replied Percy, gathering up his books. "Don't do anything stupid now Oliver."
What was with everyone? Did they all think Oliver was about to go and beat up Kali or something? He wasn't violent! Not in the slightest! But the more he thought about it as he rode through the starry sky, the more he began to scare himself. He had wanted to hit Kali so badly. He remembered nearly breaking Malfoy's nose, regardless of the fact he deserved it. He remembered shouting out things to his team like 'This isn't the time to be a gentleman Harry! Knock her off her broomstick if you have to!'
It was time Oliver began to care more about people and their wellbeing and he swore to himself there and then that from that moment on, he would.