Disclaimer: well, you should, hopefully, know by now that I don't own Oliver Wood...or Sean Biggerstaff...but yeah, I only own Marina...cuz she's me...and Krystal owns Krystal...despite the fact that I stole her soul!!! Mwua ha ha ha hah!!!

Author's Note: Yeah, I've really been looking forward to this chapter and I'm praying that it won't take nearly as long as the others have been and will be a lot longer. And considering that I'm gonna try and fit both Marina and Oliver's first Quidditch practice thinger and their school shopping into this one chapter, it'd better be long! lol. And now, for the new chapter!!!

~*~ Three Rules to Falling in Love ~*~

~*~ Chapter Four ~*~

I woke late in the afternoon, at ten till one, and saw that Krystal was on the computer in the corner of my room and Hermione was sitting on a beanbag chair reading. I slowly got out of my bed, directing Hermione's attention, before walking out of my room toward the bathroom for a shower.

Almost half an hour later I casually strolled back into my room wrapped in my towel, where I found Krystal and Hermione laying on my bed reading something.

"You really shouldn't leave things like these just lying around." Krystal said, waving one of Wood's letters from last night at me.

"You know I would have let you read them anyway." I said, walking toward my dresser and pulling out some fresh clothes. Then I walked behind the black bamboo screen I had in the corner and started dressing.

"That's exactly why we read them. Save you the trouble of having to give us permission verbally." Krystal said from the other side of the screen on the bed. Hermione just laughed.

When I was done changing I threw my towel over the top of the screen to dry; then Hermione, Krystal and I went down stairs for some VERY late breakfast.

"So what time are you supposed to meet Wood?" Hermione asked me as we all began digging through the cupboards looking for food.

I poked my head out of the cupboard I had been ransacking and said, "You know, I don't really know. He just said that he'd see me tomorrow...which is today...hmm." I frowned in concentration. What time was I going to see him? And why hadn't I thought of asking him that last night? "Yet again, why can't boys be more specific?"

I had begun looking through the pantry when I heard a rustling sound behind me. I turned around and saw Orin, Wood's regal barn owl, standing on the kitchen table looking quite pleased with himself.

I took the small bit of parchment from his leg and he flew off threw the window. I opened the small letter and all that Oliver had written was:

'Marina,
meet me at the Leaky Cauldron in an hour, okay?

Wood.'

"Hmm. He must have been in a rush." Said Hermione.

"Yeah, but why is it that every time you say that, Marina, his owl shows up?" Krystal asked, looking suspiciously at the open kitchen window.

"I don't know, but it's kind of creepy. I should probably hurry and find something to eat though." I said, diving into the pantry and emerging with a loaf of bread.

"And what are you planning on doing with that?" Krystal asked me, slightly intrigued.

"Oh, it's a lovely thing called sandwiches. You should try it sometime, mind blowing. I tell you." I said as I took some lunchmeat, mayonnaise, and cheese from the refrigerator.

We all made ourselves a sandwich and I ate mine as quickly as humanly possible for me. Then I ran upstairs, brushed my hair and teeth, put on a thin line of black eyeliner, and ran into my room to get my Quidditch stuff.

I decided on putting it all in my duffel bag, seeing as my broom wouldn't exactly fit inside my backpack. I soon had my dragon hide gloves, practice Quaffle, and Nimbus 2001 packed away inside the bag. I pulled on my Sketchers and was out the front door with Krystal yelling after me, "Have fun, lover!" I just laughed and flipped her off.

Fifteen minutes later I stepped inside the stifling heat of the Leaky Cauldron. Wood was sitting at a table in the middle of the room with what looked like a guitar case on the floor next to him.

"Joining a band are we?" I said as I sat down across from Wood. He just glared at me sarcastically.

"Unlike you, I don't have any bags large enough to carry my broom in. At least, nothing that wouldn't attract a lot of attention while walking down the street." I did have to give him some credit. I certainly wouldn't have thought of using a guitar case.

"So, where exactly is this secret place of yours?" I asked.

Wood grinned at me and then said, "Follow me and I'll show you." He held out his hand to help me up and I took it, picked up my bag and followed him out the front door of the Leaky Cauldron.

We walked about five blocks down before turning right and walking a few more and then turning left. Ten minutes later, Wood and I were standing outside what looked like a broken down, condemned sports stadium. It was located on an empty back road and was surrounded by trash, dead trees, and cars that had been stripped of any valuable parts. Every single window and door was boarded up and there wasn't even so much as a crack in a wall to squeeze through.

"Nice, but how do we get in?" I asked.

Again, Wood just smiled and began walking around towards the back of the building. We reached a rickety door that probably would have fallen clean off its hinges if it hadn't been brutally nailed down with a dozen boards.

Just as I was about to open my mouth and ask Wood another question, he pulled out his wand and tapped it on the door. It slowly swung open revealing nothing but a pitch-black hallway. He led me inside and sealed the door behind him, then lit his wand with the lumos charm.

We saw a door at the end of the hallway and, going through it, found a flight of steps on the other side and carefully went down them. At the bottom was another door, but I could see light shining from the crack underneath it. We went through the door and emerged in a dimly lit area.

Wood and I were standing at the edge of a huge grassy lawn that was surrounded by fifteen foot walls and then had hundreds and hundreds of rows of seats going as high as I could see. Then, directly above us, was a glass dome ceiling, but many of the pains of glass had been busted out or had simply fallen out of their own accord. It was warm and somewhat dusty, and the sounds of distant cars and birds could be heard.

"It's not anything compared to the actual Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts, but it works well enough to just practice in. We've even got some makeshift goals to use." Wood pointed to the far end of the stadium. About fifty feet off the ground, there were three large metal hoops that had apparently been hung from the rafters. They looked proportional to the real goals, though I'd never seen them up close.

"It's wonderful, Wood," I said looking around awestruck. "When do we start practicing?"

"Now." He said. I got out my Dragon hide gloves and strapped them on, then I got out my broom and the Quaffle that I'd got the other day.

"We should probably start by just throwing your Quaffle back and forth while on the ground so we can both get used to the weight. Sound okay?"

I nodded and so we started throwing the Quaffle to each other; first over the head, then to the side, then straight from the chest, and so on.

"Okay, could you help me hook a few things up to the ceiling right quick?" Wood asked me. I looked at him questioningly before saying yes.

Turns out we were hanging random objects like tires and wooden crates from the ceiling that had already been attached to really long ropes. We grabbed the ends of the ropes, flew up to the ceiling and tied the ends to rafters or bars that had once held glass windows in place. When we'd finished it looked like we'd tried to make a model of a solar system using only junk.

"Okay, Marina, go down to that end of the field with the Quaffle and when I say, fly down here toward the goals; I'll be guarding them. *grin* Also, I'm gonna put a motion charm on all the stuff we just hung up, so when you're flying down to my end, you need to weave in between things and dodge some things. I figure that'll be pretty good preparation for being on the field with other Chasers, Beaters, and then Bludgers." When Oliver had finished talking he had a flat smile on his face that was even cuter than his grins.

"You really thought this out didn't you?" I said, looking kind of surprised at how planned out this was.

"Well, that's what I've been doing this summer to work on my reflexes and agility and such. So I don't slow down, you know." I just laughed and said yeah, then began walking down to the other end of the field.

When I got down there, I mounted my broom with the Quaffle in my right arm. Then I pushed off the ground and flew into the air. I hadn't flown all summer, and finally being in the air made me miss Hogwarts even more. I saw Wood at the other end of the field as he flew into the air and then as he pointed his wand at the hanging tires and crates. They began to sway as if a non-existent wind had just swept across the empty stadium.

A few seconds later I heard Wood yell "go" and I zoomed off toward him. I darted left and right between the many dangling objects, and was almost hit upside the head with a few tires. As I drew closer to the goals I raised the Quaffle in my right hand and then I threw it as hard as I could at the left goal. Wood dove in front of the goal, catching the Quaffle with the very tips of his fingers.

"Not bad, Marina, I nearly missed that one. If I'm not careful, you may end up being able to get passed me. We wouldn't want that now would we?" Wood said as he flew towards me.

"Oh, no. I'd never dream of beating you, Wood." I said, letting the sarcasm shine clearly. Wood laughed and then passed me the Quaffle.

We ran through that about twenty times before we decided to call it a day. Then Wood took the charm off of the tires and crates so we could take them all down. Next, we packed our things away, and left the old stadium, Wood sealing the door behind us.

"That wasn't too bad for a first practice. How long have you been wanting to play Quidditch?" Wood asked me.

"Oh, ever since my first year at Hogwarts. On nice days, when there wasn't any practices going on, I'd take out one of the school brooms and just fly around the pitch. Krystal would come sometimes and fly with me a little, but she didn't really fancy playing with me. But she does like flying."

Wood and I couldn't stop talking all the way to the Leaky Cauldron, where we stopped to have a couple of butterbeers. At length, we parted ways and I began my journey home.

Over the rest of the week Wood and I had daily practices, our school shopping growing ever closer. After our third practice together I'd gotten a few goals past Wood, but by the end of the week I had a total of almost 15 goals that Wood missed.

"You've gotten a lot better over the week, Marina. I think these practices are really going to help when try-outs come up." Wood said at the end of our practice on Friday.

"Well, it's really thanks to you if I make it on the team." I say as we start walking back to my house.

"Well, if you do make it on the team then Gryffindor will have to be careful." said Wood, and I laughed.

When we made it to my house, Wood said goodbye and we agreed that we'd see each other tomorrow for our school things. Before leaving he gave me a hug and I felt a funny shiver run up my spine.

I closed the door behind me after Wood left, sighing with relief. I hadn't hugged him since our first time hanging out in Diagon Alley. And even then, he'd given everyone else a hug, except for the boys. But even though there wasn't anyone else with us this time, it felt different. 'Let's just agree that I'm a freak that gets overly excited at any sign of affection,' I thought. Then, nodding my head in agreement to my thoughts, I went upstairs to talk to Krystal.

"Hey, have our school lists arrived yet?" I asked Krystal as I flopped onto her bed, sending both Simon and Bunny flying from her room.

Krystal was sitting at the computer on the other side of her room, next to her window, and was completely absorbed in another clever fan fiction about Billy and Orlando.

When it had been about thirty seconds and she didn't answer, I asked, "Whatcha reading?"

"Billy's Best...it's so great. Him and Orlando are on a date...and it's raining." She said.

Sounded some what interesting. I waited a bit longer before saying, "So, how about those school lists...crazy, I tell you."

"Oh, those came when you were out. I was wondering when you were gonna ask. Here," Krystal said, handing me a clean parchment envelope with the Hogwarts Seal on it.

I tore it open and found the usual book list:

Standard Book of Spells (Grade 6), by Miranda Goshawk
Advanced Spells for Advanced Spell-casting, by Atticus Accrivor Ancient Magical Civilizations, by Matilda Morrison 100 Greatest Magical Creatures: Myths or Man-eaters?, by Quintin Fangston 1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi: An Extended Herbal Encyclopedia, by Phyllida
Spore II
Abstruse Libations and Other Concoctions, by Poissillia Chrokenstein
The Dark Side: When Good Wizards Go Bad, by Ortho Sinistrum
Spells, Hexes, and Jinxes: A Defensive Guide, by Fenten Trimble

"Hey, Krystal, the book list is a bit short, isn't it?" I said reading through the list again.

"Oh, I forgot about this. Here, read it," she said and handed me an envelope that had already been opened with the letter half-hazardly stuffed back inside.

It was from Dumbledore and it said:

'As you two may have noticed, your book lists are extremely short considering the many courses that the two of you take each year. But I have written this to inform you that I believe that you already posses several of the books that you will find are required of you for your more advanced classes. They are the following: Ancient Star Charts and Planetary Studies, by Sarah Constella; Advanced Numerology: A Further Study, by Stuart Destrynol; and Ancient Runes and Their Meanings, by Lisa Languideph. I know that the two of you share an extensive range of books, and assuming that you'd like to save money during your school shopping, I took the liberty to send you this letter along with your book lists. I hope to see you back at Hogwarts very soon, and perhaps you could indulge in a few new books for yourselves with the extra money you will have.

Best of wishes and best of health,
Albus Dumbledore'

"Well, that would explain it." I say, laughing slightly.

Krystal nodded and continued with her newly found Billy story and I left her room, heading down stairs.

I came to the lounge and began searching the bookshelves and when I found the three books that Dumbledore mentioned in the letter, I took them from their spots on the cramped shelves and took them up to my room. I walked over to my trunk and kicked it open, dropping them inside and shutting it again.

I walked over to my bed and collapsed onto it. Looking at the clock I see that it's getting pretty late. I throw on my pajamas and slowly crawl into bed, completely exhausted from today's practice. Even though every inch of my body was screaming for sleep, the excitement of my upcoming return to Hogwarts kept me awake for about an hour before I finally fell into a quiet sleep.

I felt a deep warmth that spread over my face as the sun leaked in through my curtains. I shielded my eyes before opening them, seeing small streams of light shattering the darkness of my room. Then I heard a knock at my bedroom door.

Krystal stepped inside and said, "Wake up, now! You've got less than twenty minutes to get ready, so I sure hope you're a morning person."

"Oh, shite!" I said rolling out of my bed and falling quite ungracefully onto the floor. Krystal left my room as I began running around trying to find some clothes that are slightly clean. I ended up finding my gray pants and my black tank top. I threw them on and ran into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

Ten minutes later I was vaulting down the staircase and burst into the kitchen.

"Well, good morning speedy." My step mum said. Her and Krystal were sitting down at the small table in the kitchen eating french toast and drinking hot tea. Why weren't they hurrying? We only had...an hour and a half...she will die for this.

"Krystal!!!"

"It's the only way you would've been up and ready in time!" Krystal yelled at me whilst dodging random blunt objects being thrown at her.

Eventually the thrill of throwing things at Krystal's head faded away so I sat down and had some french toast along with them.

"Did you want some tea, Marina?" my step mum asked. I nodded and she began bustling around the kitchen making me a cup.

"I must admit, Krystal, it was pretty shneaky of you."

"Well, I try." She said.

About an hour later Krystal and I made our way towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"So you've got your book list?" Krystal asked me.

"For the last time, YES!" I grumbled and she started laughing at me.

We walked into the small, cramped pub and saw Harry and Hermione sitting at a large table talking. The two of us went over to them and sat down on either side of Hermione.

"Hello everybody." Krystal said.

"Hello." Harry said, smiling.

"I hope you guys have had a good morning." Hermione said to us.

I just turned to Krystal, glaring, and said, "Oh, yeah. My morning was just spiffy." At which point Krystal filled them in on my subtle wake up call.

"It was only a bit of pay back for you scaring me half to death when you woke me up. So I don't see why you're so bitter about it." Krystal said matter-of-factly.

"Well, I figured I'd try and then I'd be over it...and I'm over it!" I said.

A few minutes later, Ron walked inside and sat next to Harry. Then a bit after Ron, Oliver arrived and sat on the other side of Harry, directly across from me.

"Well, what's the plan, Wood?" Ron asked.

Wood cleared his throat in a mock-business man sort and said, "I thought we could do a little shopping now, then eat some lunch some where, then finish up our shopping and hang out the rest of the time. Or what ever, anything's good." He finished hastily.

"Geez, Wood. Why don't you sit down before you hurt yourself?" Ron said, making the three of us girls laugh.

"Yeah, you really try too hard to plan things out. Remember, Wood, the quidditch season hasn't started yet." Harry said.

At length, we all got up and went through the back door of the Leaky Cauldron, then made our way through the secret entrance to Diagon Alley.

"Oh, let's go in here really quick. I need to pick up some film I brought in a few days ago." I say, pointing toward a pictography shop.

We walked inside and Wood and I went up to the front counter while the others wandered around looking at the many moving pictures and posters that plastered the walls.

"Can I help you, young miss?" the owner asked.

"Yes, I brought in some film a while ago to be developed." I said.

"Ah, yes. I have it just here, it'll only be a minute while I get it." And he disappeared through a door behind the counter.

"So," Wood said, turning and looking at me, "what are the pictures of?"

"Oh, nothing much...some are of me and Krystal...some from our practices. Not anything important." I say, smiling innocently.

"You took pictures at our practices? That's actually a really good idea." Wood said.

"How so?" I ask.

"Because then you can have pictures of different moves you were doing so you'll know just how effective they were." Wood answered. *sweat drop* He's still talking about tactics? Well, it's a good cover for the real reason I wanted to take pictures.

"Here you are young miss. That'll be three sickles, please." The owner said.

I gave him the money and said 'thank you' before returning to the others to see what they were looking at.

"Oh my god, Marina! They actually have muggle-band posters here! See they have A Perfect Circle, too! Oh, I love this store!" Krystal said.

Ron and Harry were looking at quidditch posters and Hermione was looking at old photographs from the time of the Goblin revolution. She seemed very absorbed in one in particular. I decided to look in the section that Krystal was looking in...maybe I'll be able to find some bands that I like.

About twenty minutes later we all left the shop with a considerable amount of money missing from our money bags.

"Well, that sure was a short stop, Marina." Ron said.

"Hey, I did what I said I was gonna do. It's not my fault that you guys wouldn't leave the quidditch posters alone." I said.

"Speaking of which, I need to get some more money out from my vault if I plan on getting all my school supplies." Krystal announced.

We all went and refilled our money bags and by the time lunch came around, we were loaded with books, robes, potion ingredients, and things that had nothing to do with our school lists at all.

"And I'm spent." I said as I fell into a chair outside Florean Fortescue's ice cream parlor.

"You've got that right. I think I might be dying." Hermione said.

"Hey, Marina, let me look at those pictures you got." Krystal said.

"You can wait, I haven't even looked at them yet." I retorted, digging inside one of my bags.

"Fine! Then I'm gonna go up and order us some sundaes...how many of us are there now?" Krystal asked, more to herself than anyone in particular. She began pointing at each of us and counting to herself.

"Six!" I yelled.

"I knew that. And I'm away laughing on a fast camel." Krystal said, turning to leave. Just then, however, Ron spoke up.

"I'll come too." He declared, walking after a slightly blushing Krystal.

"Ah hah! I found the little buggers!" I announced to no one in particular and I finally found the package of pictures that had decided to settle at the very bottom of the bag.

Hermione and Harry scooted closer to me so they could look at the pictures and Wood got up and stood behind me, leaning on the back of my chair. I pulled the pictures out of the small package, the first photo of Krystal staring back at me and waving.

"Oh, this is from when she was moving in with me and my mum." I said and Hermione nodded. A few after that there was a picture of Krystal and I sitting on our beds in our dormitory at Hogwarts.

"When was that one taken?" Hermione asked me.

"That was...I think the first night back at Hogwarts last year. Yeah, it was a few hours after the feast."

I continued flipping through them, occasionally answering questions that Hermione would throw out at me. Then I reached one that Krystal had taken of me after I'd been flying around in the quidditch pitch practicing with myself. It had been raining the whole time and there was mud splattered on my robes and face. I was standing on the muddy grass holding my broom and I was laughing in the picture, brushing raindrops out of my eyes.

"That's a nice picture of you." Wood said.

"Yeah, the mud splattered on my face really brings out the color of my eyes." I said sarcastically.

"No, really. Most people wouldn't even play in weather like that, but you go out and practice in it. And having fun, by the looks of it." Wood told me.

"Yeah, well Krystal was making fun of me so I couldn't stop laughing. Then on the way back to our dorm I had to keep using the Scorgify charm on the floor behind me because of all the mud I was trailing." I said, making them laugh.

I flipped through some more pictures until I reached some from me and Wood's practices. There were pictures of me dodging the hanging tires and crates, some of Wood blocking my shots and a few of me trying to fake him out.

Then I reached one of when I got hit really hard up side the head with a tire and fell off of my broom. Wood had shot towards me like a bullet to see if I was alright. It had shocked me at first to see how concerned he was, but then I figured that I'd be freaking out if I saw someone get drilled by a tire and fall off his or her broom. I was frantic when I saw Harry falling from his broom last year.

"Oh my goodness. Did that hurt?" Hermione exclaimed. I felt Wood tighten his grip on the back of my chair.

"It just knocked the wind out of me...and scared me half to death, but we can over look that.

"I so need to show one of these to Katie and Anjelina." He added.

"No way, Potter. That sounded a little too much like black-mail for my liking." Wood said. I could hear the grin in his voice.

Towards the end of the stack of pictures there was one of Krystal, Hermione and I at the Leaky Cauldron, and then there were ones of Simon and Bunny trying to attack their levitating food.

"How come their food is levitating?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I got bored. That's Saturday night entertainment for me." I told him. He and Wood started laughing but then got smacked by Hermione.

"I think it's mean. Simon and Bunny are really sweet cats." Hermione said in their defense. I just rolled my eyes.

Seconds later, Ron and Krystal returned to the table, each carrying three huge sundaes. They set them down on the table and then fell into chairs by one another.

"Here, you can look at them now if you want." I said, throwing the pack of pictures at Krystal. We then all sat in silence and ate our ice cream.

At the end of the day, Krystal and I said goodbye to Hermione, Harry and Ron (Krystal actually gave him a hug) before they vanished through the fireplace via Floo powder. Then Wood said goodbye to Krystal and I in front of the Leaky Cauldron. He gave Krystal a hug then as he hugged me he said, "I'll see you tomorrow on the train."

AN: YAY!!!! I finished it!!! OMG! Never thought it would happen, but here I am. Oh oh oh!!!! I saw Scooby Doo 2 with two of my friends and there was a preview for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!!! It looks soooo kewl! I can't wait to see it! And the dude that plays Malfoy (I can never remember his name) I REALLY hot! But all of you that, like my friend Krystal, love to point out parts of the Harry Potter movies that look like total rip-offs of Lord of the Rings...well, you will like the part where the Dementors come onto the train. Can we say "Nazgul"? ^_^ I'll stop talking now though. R&R please! Next chappy will have the train ride and start of term feast at the very least. Most likely more. Laterz!