I groaned as Oliver blew the whistle. The other team members were suddenly in the air. My muscles aches and I was reluctant to join them. Oliver yelled at me to hurry up and, "get with the program". Hmm... maybe he thought that if he was hard on me, I'd tell him about the Cedric thing. Fat chance and no way.

I rose from the ground slowly, eyeing the rest of my team. I didn't see Alicia. Damn. George saw that I noticed and grinned at me.

"What color towel do you think? Green or blue?"

I rolled my eyes skyward and Oliver tried to hide his smirk, the tension lightening.

Oliver clapped his hands, reminding everyone that we were still at practice. I looked around for the quaffle, hearing Oliver yell to someone on the ground. I looked down. It was Alicia, late. Oliver was still yelling at her when she yelled back, something she almost never did to Oliver.

"Oh, shut up, Wood! I'm here aren't I?!"

It was clear she was not in a good mood. Oliver was taken aback; obviously someone didn't take his captainship seriously. That annoyed him. Alicia was scowling when she joined us.

"Harry! Watch out!!!"

No one paid any attention to the person who gave the warning, I knew it was Angelina, but all eyes flew to Harry.

As my gaze found him, he was dodging something, something no one had seen.

"Harry?" Oliver asked, worriedly, "You alright?"

Harry nodded breathlessly. "What," Oliver screamed to the rest of us, "was that?"

It was silent for a moment, but only one moment before someone spoke up.

"Bludger," Fred said quietly and yet seriously. Everyone looked at him and just as Oliver opened his mouth to yell something about how we should try not to kill our young seeker, he noticed Fred's gaze. Fred stared at the ground solemnly. The Slytherin Quidditch Team.

They stood there in one large group, all in green, Draco Malfoy's bleach blonde hair prominent. Oliver quickly spotted the captain and shouted down at him.

"Hooch gave us practice time today! You have no business here-"

"But of course we do!" the captain shouted back quickly, "This is the place where we'll squash you!"

I had no doubt who had sent that Bludger after Harry, A) Snape, B) Dementors, C) Slytherin Team, D) Individuals on the Slytherin Team, E) Some crazy psycho passing by. Obviously, I had out ruled most of the competitors, I wasn't stupid, but those were the usual culprits I had to sort through.

So, with this situation, A) not possible (he's with a class right now), B) why would Dementors send Bludgers after Harry when they could just suck the soul out of him? It's faster, cleaner, and easier, right? Also, since when do Dementors know how to play Quidditch?? C) One Bludger from the entire team? Nah, those single individuals want their own Bludgers to throw at Harry (Slytherins weren't mighty team players when it came to trying to kill Harry), D) Most likely, E) The only crazy psychos passing by at the moment were those on the Slytherin Team.

I lost track of the argument between Oliver and the Slytherin captain. They were still arguing as the Slytherins left the field. Strange, considering we usually were the ones to flee. Woo hooo Oliver!

Back to practice. Harry missed all signs of the Golden Snitch. Fred and George kept sending the Bludger towards us. All in all, it was a pretty crappy practice.

Oliver was unwilling to let us go for the night, but he did so anyways.

"Potter, I'd like to see you afterwards," Oliver said, Harry nodding, I turned back towards the castle, "You, too, Bell." He had said the last part very quietly; I doubted anyone else heard him. Strange.

I knew why Harry was being held back, Oliver had to make sure he wasn't going to go psycho at the next match or something else. I didn't know why I was.

Ah, yes, now I get it. He's going to bug me about the Cedric thing again.

'Damn.'

Hopefully Oliver didn't like Cho so she would be free for Cedric. There, I hope I had it all worked out. I thought I did.

thanks for all the great reviews!!