Ch.2

"Emma Natalie Dobbs!" A tall, teenage freak yelled my name as he hurtled through the hallway. I just smiled as he crashed into me full force, knocking us both down.

"Oliver James Wood. How ya doing old chap?" I asked, his body pinning me to the ground.

"McGonagall found us a Seeker! And you'll never guess who, Harry Potter! I know! I couldn't believe it either! I'm so glad we don't have to use you, because no offense, but you suck. Wow, a real Seeker, and apparently he's better than Charlie Weasley, if that's even possible." He rambled on in his usual Quidditch-excited way, not even noticing our, ah-hem, position.

Hehe, hey, if you had an athletic body lying on top of you, wouldn't you be grinning ear to ear? He was oblivious to the stares we were getting as he told me of new plays he was already going over.

"Whadda think? If we have Angelina, Katie, and Alicia as Chasers, the Weasley twins as Beaters, me as Keeper, o'course, and Harry Potter as a Seeker, we have an unbelievable team, if McGonagall is true about him being good and can charm Dumbledore into letting a first year on the team. We can- "

I never found out what we could do, Snape interrupted him.

"Oliver Wood and Emma Dobbs, would you be so kind as to not shag in the middle of the hallway? Untangle yourselves at once and get to class." Leave it to Snape to ruin everything. Oliver realized what he was doing and climbed off of me, much to my own disappointment.

Okay. You caught me. I was your typical oh-woe-is-me-I'm-in-love-with-my-best-friend girl. It wasn't like I'd try anything. He was too into Quidditch to have time for trivial things such as girls. He was such a moron.

"I think it's a brilliant idea Ollie. I'll help you with plays tonight. ("I'm sure you will." Came the sarcastic reply from Snape as he continued on his way.) You better go get your Divination book. I've got Arithmancy and that's all the way across the castle so I gotta go. I'll see ya later?"

"Yeah. I'll see ya." His forehead was still wrinkled in heavy concentration. Then he looked up and gave me an adorable smile that caused my knees to go weak. The same smirk that drives every girl in this school wild. Damn him. He was so oblivious to what his good looks and sexy Scottish accent did to people. It caused girls hearts to flutter and it made guys have a sudden desire to hit something, particularly if it were Oliver's face.

When I got to Arithmancy, the first thing I did was plop down next to Percy and bury my head in his shoulder.

"What, did Oliver smile at you again?" I just nodded miserably.

"Merlin's beard you got it bad. And I thought I liked Penelope a lot."

"How are things going between you two anyways?" I asked, being the good friend.

"I think she still thinks of me as a "prick."' He said, using his fingers to make the quote signs.

"Ouch. I'll talk to her."

"No! Don't!"

"Perce. I understand people. I can manipulate her in ways you can't comprehend. She won't ever hear from my lips that you like her unless you give me express permission. But I can guarantee that she'll like you in less than a year."

"You'll guarantee it?"

"Every single couple in our year had help from me in one way or another. I am the ultimate matchmaker. Except when it comes to myself. Can't figure that one out yet."

"Okay. I will allow you to...m-manipulate her. Just...just don't break my heart. Don't lead me on to thinking she likes me then she shoots me down. Okay?"

"I swear." Class started and I made a mental note to talk to Penelope Clearwater, (Percy's far away crush for about four months now), later at dinner. Plus I had to do my homework, which, since it was the year of the O.W.L.S., had become almost unbearable. And I had signed up for Charms Club, Transfiguration Club, Wizarding Communications Club, and Future Ministry of Magic Student Government Organization.

At this point I had stopped trying to memorize it and got out my handy- dandy planner and started copying it all down. After seeing it in print, I realized I had gotten myself into more than I could handle, but figured it would all work out, as long as I didn't sleep a lot.

At lunch I realized I wouldn't be sleeping at all when I agreed to be the manager for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Oliver asked and I couldn't say no. I never could say no to anyone. As manager, I had to be there and help the captain, basically a personal assistant. Luckily practices didn't intrude on anything but homework time. I didn't really mind though.

Over the next few weeks I was so busy I forgot about being in love with my best friend. Then, one clear and starry Saturday night, I finished my homework and was free for the rest of the weekend. It was such a rarity that I suddenly lost all desire to sleep.

"Hey Ollie." I called as I wondered over to the couch he was sitting on by the fire, reading a book entitled Unbeatable Beater Moves. He looked up and gave me one of those mesmerizing smiles and I crawled into his lap, resting my head on his firm, athletic chest. He brought those long muscular legs up around me and enveloped me into those burly arms, providing a comfortable cocoon around me. Then he returned to his reading, ignorant of the fact I was about to die in his arms.

"Want to get into a bit of mischief?" I asked seductively.

"Hm-hmm." He murmured into my ear, teasing the sensitive skin with his deliciously deep voice.

"Take me for a midnight broom ride like we used to in the old days." I asked innocently.

"Okay." He answered immediately. If it involved flying and breaking the rules, he was into it, not caring if I wanted more from it.

We slipped quietly from the common room, the Weasley twins causing enough commotion to conceal our departure. We ran into only one teacher, Quirrill, who bought our unbelievable story about me taking Oliver to McGonagall for discipline reasons. Yeah right, what a fruitcake. A teacher should never buy that story without checking its credibility. Anyways, we slipped out the front door without getting caught and even managed to steal across the shadows to the broom closet, where we grabbed his broom and before long I was flying above the Forbidden Forest, wrapped tightly in Oliver's arms as he protected me from falling off. If he had any ounce of romanticism in him he would have found this highly erotic, but instead he had to be indifferent to sex.

The air blew through my short, dark hair that framed my high forehead rather well. I leaned back and breathed in the Oliver smell. A mix between the fresh air and the muggle Tommy cologne I got him for Christmas that was so intoxicating. God he was sexy.

"If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?" I asked him, falling into our old habit of asking weird questions for the fun of it.

"Let us win the House Quidditch Cup this year. You?"

"True love."

"Always the romantic one. Okay. If you had a million Galleons, what would you buy with it?"

"Magic carpet. Maybe an invisibility coat." I answered.

"A Quidditch team." Typical, I thought. I could have made a fortune if I had betted on it.

"Do you ever plan on settling down and having a family?"

"Don't see the point in it. As long as I can play Quidditch, who wants to mess with kids? I have trouble with the younglings I've got now on the Quidditch team. Unless I had seven. Then I could start my own Quidditch team and wouldn't need the million galleons. Hmm, interesting possibility. I guess I have to give a family thought now."

"Oliver!" I scolded. "Ollie, let's set down somewhere. We need a serious talk." I needed to break this boy down. Turn him into a normal person.

"I hate serious talks." He said, but obeyed me anyways. Once we had settled down in a tree, I turned and faced him.

"Honey," I started, looking into those gorgeous chocolate brown eyes. "I need you to do something very difficult. I need you to not think about Quidditch for two seconds. Do you think you can do that?" He gave me a blank stare.

"What do you mean?" he asked after a moment.

"I want you to think about something else besides Quidditch. Can you do that?"

He stared into space for a second.

"You wanna talk about brooms? The new Nimbus 2000 just came out. Supposed to be fanta-"

"Oliver." I stopped him.

"Yes."

"It can't be anything related to Quidditch. Absolutely nothing associated with the sport."

"I don't get what you're saying."

"For God's sake, Ollie! You eat, sleep, think, and talk about Quidditch nonstop. And while I could deal with it for five years, it's getting old. I want you to think about something else, even for a second."

"I hate Snape." He tried.

I felt like I was talking to a two year old.

"Okay, honey, that's good. We can go from there. You hate Snape...why?"

"He gives us a lot of homework when we have matches."

"Oliver? Is that related to Quidditch?"

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts. Why else do you hate Snape."

"He's an evil git."

I was going nowhere with a one-way ticket.

"Do you think of anything else?"

"I think of you."

Hell yes that's a good answer.

"And what do you think about me?"

"You won't like the answer."

"Try me anyways."

"I wish you could play Quidditch so we could play against each other." I barely refrained myself from slapping my forehead.

"Anything else?"

"I think of you as my best friend. I mean, I know I talk about Quidditch nonstop, and you've always been there to listen to me. I really appreciate that. Most people just ignore me."

My heart dropped. What a sweetheart.

"Well..." I started, not sure where to go with that one. "Maybe we can get you a bit interested in something else, so you have more conversation pieces."

"I love Quidditch though. I'm more than obsessed. What else is out there that is as exciting, or can hold my attention?"

Good question, a fair one at least. I tried my luck.

"What about girls? Most guys our age are obsessed with girls. Any caught your attention?"

"Girls?" he asked, as though the subject was entirely new to him.

"Well, I know you, you're a girl." Maybe we were going somewhere.

"Do you have any desire to kiss or hold me? Any longing to be near me in more than a friend way?" I hadn't just crossed the line, I'd done the long jump over it.

"Not really."

Was that whip lash from stopping so suddenly?

"Then it's not the same. Do any girls do that for you?"

"Not really."

"Well, maybe it's time to look around. Just for a bit of change of scenery from the Quidditch field."

"I could do that. What about you?"

"What?"

What?!? He was turning this around on me?

"Do you, you know, have a crush on anyone at this school?" It was my turn to have the deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Yeah, some sixth year." I mumbled, hoping he wouldn't push more.

He did.

"Who? Maybe I know him. I could hook you up." He winked. It was times like this that I hated him.

"Oh, it doesn't matter anyways, he's got a girlfriend."

"Well, if he's picked her over you then he's an idiot." Okay. I loved him again. "Aw. Well, thank you." He gave me a hug.

"Why don't we get back to the castle. I've thought about something besides Quidditch for almost five minutes and I'm worn out. Besides, I've only got two more chapters in that Unbeatable Beater Moves to read and I want to finish it before practice tomorrow."

"Okay. Let's go." After we got back unnoticed to the common room, we curled up in front of the dying fire. I thought the serious talk had advanced our relationship by years, although short. I fell asleep in his arms more in peace than I had been in a long time.