NOTES:

There are visitors. And there are talks. And the Great Kilted One finds out certain things.

DEDICATION:

Dedicated to Kait, who plays the Great Kilted One in my rpg… w00t for all fun discussions of Quidditch and Quidditch players!

DISCLAIMER:

I don't own Harry Potter. But I DO own a large amount of sharp, pointy objects. Don't sue.

*~*~*~*

Two mornings later, Oliver Wood awoke to the sound of conversation.

"They haven't killed each other yet?" an incredulous male voice sniggered.

"No… give them time. Be patient, my pet…" a sweetly sarcastic female voice answered him. Oliver grunted, and rubbed his eyes. Standing a few feet away from his bed, his arms crossed, and smirking true to form, was Carl Warrington. And by Warrington's side, there was a tallish, limber female with dark hair whom Oliver recognized as Skyler Zabini, one of the Harpies' Beaters. Behind the two, Oliver saw a veritable gang of Quidditch players both male and female.

"Good morning, Oliver," Harry Potter greeted him cordially. Oliver gave Harry a slight smile.

"Morning, all," Oliver stretched slightly and sat up in bed. Both the Puddlemere and the Harpies teams were gathered in the room. Oliver grinned, "None of you got asked for autographs on the way here?"

"Oh, of course we did. And poor Cho over here got proposed to by some random bloke who'd watched the Harpies/Falcons game," Angelina Johnson-Weasley shook her head. Cho Chang, peering from behind the taller Chaser, rolled her eyes slightly.

"I'm engaged... they shouldn't do such things."

"Oh, but you're just so irresistible that they can't help themselves," Skyler Zabini grinned at her captain, "Smart, athletic, pretty... have to beat the blokes off with a ten-foot broomstick, hmm? This should go over well with Roger..."

"Oh dear lord, I don't even want to contemplate that..." Cho shook her head, "That last time that fellow tried to proposition me at the Leaky Cauldron, Roger threw a fit of gargantuan proportions and nearly hexed him from head to foot..."

"Awww, such a protective fiancé," Sarah Fawcett chuckled, "But you know he's always been like that."

"Yes, I know," Cho smiled wryly. Roger was, of course, Roger Davies, who had been Quidditch captain of Ravenclaw House back in the day when they'd all still been in school. He had been a fairly good friend of Cho's, and had been markedly, almost ridiculously protective of her after her Quidditch-related injuries her first time as Seeker, and after he'd gotten out of school, he had joined the Aurors' Guild. Two years later, Cho had followed. Now, Cho was playing Quidditch, while he was working for the Magical Law Enforcement Squad. The two were set to marry sometime within the next year.

"We should probably wake Cass up," Alice Brocklehurst spoke. Many eye-rolls greeted this declaration.

"She's not a morning person," Skyler said flatly, "Will someone please have on hand something caffeinated to inject into her veins when necessary? And hopefully a shield..."

"Eh... I think I've an idea," Warrington smirked at Skyler, then walked up to the lump in the bed that was Cass. Poking her blanket-covered shoulder with a finger, he called out, "Oi, Flint! Catch this reverse pass!"

Then, he jumped back as Cass sat bolt upright, her eyes wide, "What? Where?"

"Splendid! You're awake," Warrington said jovially. Skyler laughed.

"That worked nicely... we'll have to keep this one in mind in the future, hmm?"

Cass glared for a moment, then grinned when she saw her teammates, "Hello everyone."

Various salutations greeted her, and Skyler stepped forward, handing her a basket. "Presents, from all of us. Until you feel better, at any rate."

Cass eagerly dug into the basket, and came up with numerous books on Quidditch, along with a slate on which to scribble and plot down game maneuvers. "That's spiffing of you to do this, girls. Thanks."

"Of course, we brought you presents as well," Warrington cleared his throat and addressed Oliver Wood. The latter raised an eyebrow.

"I would say thank you... but I don't like that look on your face."

Warrington laughed, and exchanged glances with the rest of the Puddlemere team, and then, mouth twitching, took a basket from the hands of Seamus Finnegan, and handed it to Oliver with mock-courtesy.

A ridiculously pink teddy bear in a white Quidditch uniform and several singing get-well cards later, Oliver dubiously thanked his teammates for their... consideration... all the while gazing at the Quidditch books on Cass Flint's nightstand with the eyes of a starving man looking at a feast.

Skyler, catching these longing glances, shook her head at the Puddlemere team, "That's mean... you know that he's going to make all of you do bludger drills now."

"They can share," Warrington said comfortably, "I'm sure that Wood is willing to let Cass borrow Fluffy now and then if she's willing to let him borrow her books."

"I don't want Fluffy," Cass's face, buried behind one of the books, snapped, "Fluffy and Slytherin don't mix."

"True... but it would look so cute," Warrington sniggered, "Little Cassie Flint, with her teddy bear..."

"Carl Warrington, just because I'm stuck in this horrid bed doesn't mean that I can't and won't kick your arse. Shut up or die."

"Temper, temper," Warrington smirked, "You should not be so easily aggravated. Bad for your blood pressure, you know."

"Well... what do you know?" Oliver rolled his eyes, "When he's not annoying me, he goes and annoys other people."

"Please don't tell me that this surprises you somehow," Skyler Zabini chortled, "I barely know the bloke, and even I can see that that's like his pet hobby."

"Not surprised so much as... well... amazed that he's not gotten any death threats yet," Oliver muttered.

"Now, you don't know that," Warrington said smugly, "Death threats are certificates of honor, and I have to have a reason to be so confident, hmm?"

"You're sick and wrong."

"Thank you for the lovely sentiments."

"You're not very welcome," Oliver grumbled. "And all of you had better have been practicing these past few days…"

"Oh, of course," Zachary Turpin said breezily, "I think that you've successfully inculcated into us the inability to function without flying for a set amount of time per day."

"Wonderful to hear that something is going well. I'll be sure to have a long team practice when I get out of this place… the World Cup is coming up in a few months…"

Numerous groans met with this declaration, and Harry spoke up, "Oliver… perhaps you should rest a bit… after all, overly strenuous Quidditch activity is what put you in here in the first place…"

"Oh, I can handle it, I'm sure."

"You're daft…" Seamus Finnegan groaned, "You do realize that, don't you?"

"I'm successful," Oliver said complacently.

"Well, I'm glad that Cho isn't quite as fanatical as you are," Angelina addressed Oliver, "Close, but not quite…well, in the very least, she usually doesn't terrify us…"

"There was that time with the 'Every maneuver ever created, five times each'…" Skyler murmured. Cho blushed slightly, and Oliver smirked.

"I'll have to keep that one in mind."

"Check out that smirk," Angelina raised an eyebrow at her former captain, "I daresay that Cass has been Slytherinating you in these past few days, hmm?" Neither Oliver nor Cass made any comments, but Warrington walked over to the latter's bed and held out a hand to her.

"Congratulations, Cassandra Flint. Excellent job, my dear lady... your efforts are most admirable, and I appreciate you continuing the mission that I have started."

"Sod off," came from behind Quaffle Queens: Famous Female Chasers of the Last 500 Years by Winifred Orson-Kent, "I told you that I would never have anything to do with any 'missions' of yours ever since that time I had to bail you out of trouble for trying to charm Filch's cat blue!"

"Ooh, this I need to hear," Skyler snickered.

Cass gave a brief, disgruntled retelling of the story, much to everyone's amusement. As she finished, Carl Warrington stood up and bowed to the assembled group, and Oliver raised an eyebrow.

"The hair isn't red... but are you sure that you're not related somehow to the Weasley twins?"

"Oh Heaven forbid..." both Carl Warrington and Angelina Johnson-Weasley blanched at that.

Everyone laughed, and visiting hours passed pleasantly and divertingly.

* * *

After a day of relative silence between the tense factions, boredom set in. Sure, there were Quidditch books and such, but neither Cass nor Oliver were silent by nature, and being silent went rather against their grain.

"So... why don't you and your brother get along?"

"I told you that it wasn't any of your business, and that you wouldn't understand," Cass replied, her voice slightly less venomous than before. Oliver frowned and turned her head to look at her.

"Maybe you shouldn't be so judgmental. You don't know me at all... there's no reason for you to believe and say that I 'wouldn't understand'."

"You're a bloke."

"Oh, well-spotted," Oliver replied, "But what precisely does that have to do with anything?"

"Do you even know how many blokes think disparagingly of girls, especially on the Quidditch pitch?"

Oliver pursed his lip thoughtfully, "Well... that does happen sometime... but that's not good. I mean, when I was in Hogwarts and captaining the Gryffindor team, my three Chasers were all girls. And they were damn good. Among the best ruddy Quidditch players in school."

"It's not fair, hmm?"

"What?"

"Oh, sure, Gryffindor girls get to try out for Quidditch whenever they bloody well wish. But Slytherin... do you know, Marcus changed the rules the year that Pucey quit the team and there was an open Chaser position. He changed the rules so that no girls would be allowed to play on the team!"

"WHAT?! Why?!"

And here, Cass gave a bitter sigh, "Because I was going to try out. He kicked Karen off the team, replaced her with Nott as Keeper, and Warrington got the Chaser position."

Oliver Wood was speechless. "But... why? I mean, sure, Flint... er, your brother, that is... can be sexist... but wouldn't he want to give you a chance if you were good? I mean, wouldn't that benefit his team?'

"That wasn't the point."

"That makes no sense though!"

"Look, Wood... you don't have the foggiest idea..." Cass glowered at him, her dark head turned to face him, "Marcus, he's somewhat of the belief that I shouldn't be out there killing myself on the Quidditch pitch."

"So, he's being protective. All the stuff about girls not playing Quidditch for Slytherin was him being protective..." Somehow, this was rather hard to believe. From what Oliver knew of Marcus Flint, the man didn't seem capable of any such caring sentiments.

"Overbearing is more like it," Cass said bitterly, "Him and my parents... nooo, Cassandra should not do something so dangerous and unladylike as to play that sport. How boorish, for a young woman to be cavorting about on a broomstick! It's utter bullshit!"

Oliver blinked and frowned slightly, "So they wanted you to be a lady..." The idea was somehow laughable. Just the image of her in pastel dress robes serving tea.... was incongruous. He blurted the first thing that came to his mind at that farcical mental picture, "That's absurd. That's not you."

"I'd take offense at your presumption for thinking that you 'know' me or something," Cass said tonelessly, "But that would be going off on a tangent. They had no right to decide what was best for me! And to limit me in that way!" Her voice became sarcastically resentful, "Oh sure, Marcus can arse about on a broomstick and take bludgers to the head and be as 'uncouth' as he pleases, but I have to stay at home and sit and look pretty! What sort of nonsense is that?! Honestly..."

Oliver nodded silently, "Rotten of them. Er... how did you practice and such, then?"

"Oh, that... Well, Warrington was in my year. We were always friends... he felt bad when he got accepted into the new Chaser position and they didn't even give me a chance. So he'd risk Marcus' wrath and let me borrow his broomstick to fly. And we'd discuss Quidditch strategy together time to time. Well... it was like that. After Marcus came up with that rule and such... him, Karen and I sometimes went to play each other... we'd borrow Quidditch equipment and broomsticks from the broom shed, and that way, Karen and I both got extra practice in. And so, that's how both of us made it into Professionals. So, believe it or not, Warrington, the swarthy git... I'm actually somewhat indebted to him."

"I was wondering why it seemed that you knew him so well and you'd never killed him yet," Oliver muttered. And for the first time, Cass gave him an impish grin.

"Oh, the temptation has arisen more than once, let me assure you," she smirked, "I truly feel sorry for you, having to put up with him on such a regular basis."

"I feel sorry for myself," Oliver grumbled. "Smarmy bastard... but... I still think it's bizarre that they did that to you. I mean, playing Quidditch doesn't mean that a girl becomes a savage... it just doesn't compute, their supposed reasoning. Although I guess that they could have been trying to prevent you from getting hurt..."

"Is it any business of them to do that? Isn't it my choice?" Cass snapped at him.

Oliver shrugged, "I guess so... I mean, what you do with your life is... up to you. Although you have to admit, you do take rather insane risks, I've noticed.... not that that's a bad thing, by any means..."

"Of course it's not! I mean, look at that game, Appleby Arrows against the Montrose Magpies, 1843, when the Seeker did that dangerous Feint..."

And so, the conversation shifted to other, slightly less sensitive things. And the venom in their exchanges had decreased slightly from before.

*~*~*~*

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