Chapter 2 – Feelings Changing.

Oliver had woken early and was now heading into the empty Great Hall for his breakfast; he sat at the teacher's table and began eating his breakfast slowly. He was really quite worried about the classes today; after all, he'd only even taken part in them as a student before. He swallowed hard and looked at the students who were now entering the hall; he saw that the twins were making their way over to him. He smiled weakly as they stood in front of him.

"Just to say good luck mate!!" George grinned. "You're going to need it!"

"Yeah, Hermione is in your first class and she's terrified of flying" He smirked cheekily. "So if we here screaming, we know it's your class!"

They sniggered and walked away. The colour drained from Oliver's face, he knew it was going to be hard to teach but Fred and George had just made him so nervous that he was feeling nauseous. He pushed his plate away and put his head in his hands, running a hand roughly through his hair. He looked up and saw Hermione walk in, he watched her sit down and his stomach gave a funny jolt; he put it down to the fact that he was worried about teaching her because her fear of flying was so bad. He got up and left the teachers table, heading towards the doors.

Hermione saw him walking down between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, her heart felt as though it had risen to her throat as he stopped next to her, sat down and smiled at her.

"Hermione I want you to know that during my class, I won't let any harm come to you or any of my students." He smiled. "We will get you over your fear of flying and on a broom." He added reassuringly.

She nodded at him and watched him get up, before he walked away he gave her shoulder a light squeeze, he stomach did a summersault and she smiled goofily as he walked off. She blushed madly and tried to concentrate on getting her breakfast in her mouth instead of on the table. Ginny sat opposite her and looked curiously over at Hermione.

"Ok, when Wood smiled at you yesterday you blushed, now he's just touched your shoulder and you're as red as Ron gets when he's angry. So what's with you??" She asked quizzically.

"Ginny, it's nothing….nothing at all…." She tried to sound convincing.

Ginny sighed and shook her head and reached out for a jug of orange juice. Hermione knew that she hadn't sounded convincing at all; it was something and she knew it; the only thing was she couldn't explain it. She'd never, ever felt like she did when she was around Oliver before, but there was nothing that she could do about it, he wouldn't be interested in someone that was nearly four and a half years younger than him. She sighed sadly and looked over at Ginny who smiled at her.

"You don't have to hide it from me," She said. "I know you like Wood." She giggled. "It's so obvious Mione."

"I may like him Gin but I can't do anything can I? So I might as well forget it." She bit her bottom lip and stood up.

She said her goodbyes to Ginny and began walking out The Great Hall towards the courtyard where her first class with Oliver was. She stopped at the top of the stairs that led from the Entrance Hall to the grounds outside and looked up into the cloudy, dull sky, all her worries about Oliver drained away at the prospect of her being in the air in a few minutes. She shuddered and walked down the stairs shaking slightly.

Meanwhile at the far end of the Courtyard, Oliver was laying the last broom down on the dewy grass; he stood up and pulled his jacket around his body tightly as he waited for the students to begin arriving, this class was just a booster lesson for those in the upper school (years 4-7) who wanted to perfect their flying skills a little more; this eased his mind a little because this meant that there would only be a few students present; he smiled slightly then he looked up and saw Hermione walking towards him, she stopped in front of him and smiled weakly, her face pearly white. He looked at her and put his hand on her shoulder again.

"Everything will be fine!...I promise….you're going to be ok." He smiled kindly.

She was about to say thankyou but he stood up straight and moved away because the rest of the class were arriving, Hermione took her place at the side of one of the brooms and waited for Oliver to begin the lesson. He introduced himself to the class and then went over the lesson plan for the term ahead. Next, as Hermione listened carefully he ran over the basics of flying again just to reassess how much they all knew about flying and got to know the students who were there because of their flying fears (Hermione and Hannah Abbott were the only two to raise their hands and they both looked around nervously.)

"It's ok girls, you won't be doing any flying today." He clapped his hands together. "Right those students who can fly confidently, I would like you to practice taking off and landing at different speeds." He turned to Hermione and Hannah. "You two come over here and we will start by training these brooms to you."

Hermione and Hannah both did as Wood had instructed; spending the remainder of the lesson getting used to summoning their brooms to their hands without the brooms trying to smack them in their faces each time they both said "Up!". Wood walked around the seven other students and smiled proudly at them because of the progress they had made. Hermione watched him and took her eyes off the broom that she was using, this, in turn decided it didn't like being ignored and promptly smacked her hard in the mouth. She screamed and covered her mouth as the broom fell back to the floor, Oliver turned quickly and hurried over to her, looking at the blood that was seeping out from between her fingers.

"Ok, that's the end of the lesson, same place next week" He said quickly before turning back to Hermione.

He tried to pull her hands away from her mouth but she fought against him as tears leaked from her eyes. He got a handkerchief from his pocket; she moved one hand to take it from him and placed it over her lip. He looked at her and wiped her tears with his thumbs.

"Come on….Lets get you cleaned up, I'll take you back to the common room." He placed an arm around her shoulder and began leading her back up to the castle.

They walked across the Entrance Hall and up the staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower; Oliver had kept his arm around her all the way up them, her lip wasn't bleeding as badly now but Oliver's once white hanky was now covered in her blood. She sniffed as they reached the portrait; Oliver muttered the password quietly and stepped inside the common room after Hermione, it was empty as all the students were at their classes just like Hermione should be in Arithmancy right now, but her lip did need seeing too. She sat down in a chair as Oliver knelt in front of her; he waved his wand and conjured a small silver bowl of warm water and a cloth, he put his hand on her bloodied one and pulled it and the hanky away from her lip. He dabbed the cloth on her lip gently and smiled at her.

"It's not too bad, just a little swollen." He dabbed it more. "It'll be ok in a few days."

Hermione smiled but winced as her lip stung as it stretched with the smile, she moved his hand and cloth away from her lip.

"Thanks Oliver." She said and could feel how swollen her lip was. "I'm sorry for ruining the end of the lesson, that broom just didn't like me." She sighed and looked down.

He put a hand softly under her chin and lifted her head so that he looked into her eyes. He smiled at her.

"I'll give you some extra flying lessons." He laughed. "You need them" He smiled. "No, I'm joking, we'll get your confidence up ready for class." He tilted his head. "Meet me at the Quidditch pitch on Sunday morning."

Hermione looked into his eyes and stared for a few seconds before nodding at him. He took his hand off her chin and smiled.

"Good!....that's settled, you stay here until your next lesson and I'll see you later." He smiled and got up; turning and heading back out the portrait.

Hermione watched him go and managed a small smile, she sighed happily. The thought of Wood giving her extra flying lessons gave her a warm feeling in her heart because at least it meant she could spend more time with him. Before heading to her next class, swollen lip and all, she got her diary out of her robes and began writing quickly.

"I've just hurt my lip in my flying class but Oliver brought me back

to the common room to make sure I was ok. I know I shouldn't

feel like I do but I can't help it. I really like him a lot and I think

he may feel something for me too but I honestly don't

know that for sure….."

Hermione was now making her way to The Great Hall for that evenings feast with Harry and Ron. Ron hadn't stopped laughing at her for her swollen lip until Hermione reminded him that the exact same thing had happened to him in his first year; this caused Ron to go in a mood with her as they sat at the table; The meal got underway and Hermione joined in with the various conversations that were going on around her. Wood, however, was sat with one hand on his chin, his plate was full of food in front of him but he was oblivious to the fact it was there; He was plainly staring at Hermione but he didn't care, he hadn't stopped thinking about her all day and even now in the packed hall, he couldn't think of anything but her; he didn't know it but Hermione was feeling the exact same things he was feeling, she too hadn't been able to concentrate on anything but him all day and right now she was looking at him discreetly through the corner of her eyes. Professor McGonagall was watching Oliver with pursed lips; she leant over and cleared her throat.

"Professor Wood, Can you please tell me what at the Gryffindor table is so interesting?" She asked in an irritated voice.

Oliver jumped at the sound of her voice and turned to her, looking vaguely at her.

"Um….No…..it's nothing Professor." He replied distantly.

"May I remind you Mr Wood that Miss Granger is a student and that's the way it stays, you as the professor and she your student….have I made myself clear?" She said sternly.

Oliver looked defiantly at her.

"I understand that professor, but I feel so much for her and I can't help that."

"Mr Wood, if you won't listen to me then perhaps you'll listen to the headmaster." She said trying to stay calm. "I'd like you to go and see him tomorrow after you have finished teaching, maybe he can talk some sense into you." She sighed and turned away from him.

Oliver looked at her as she turned away and sighed allowing his eyes to travel back over to Hermione, this time she was looking at him, she gave him a sweet smile and then turned back to carry on her conversation with Harry. He continued to look at her; whatever Dumbledore would try and say to him tomorrow, he knew that it wouldn't change the feelings he had for Hermione. He liked her an awful lot and nothing anyone said to him would change his mind.