Sorry everything took me forever and a day to do my kiddies, but everything is so HECTIC and out of control and stressful that I haven't been able to do anything but eat breath and sleep. (toilet too but that's TMI) Cuz you know.. SAT's ACT's college scholarships.. basketball practice.. marching band competitions… doing this modeling things.. (don't ask) got some funky "Do you want to play basketball in Austrailia and possibly get an academic credit?" do-hicky thing in the mail and everything is just totally out of balance and out of whack. I hope you guys enjoyed, and I hope I still have some reviewers left after such a long time. -.-' Ok well.. lemme know if you hate me, and I just wanted all to know that YES I am alive.

--Chapter Seventeen--

"Ten point will be taken away from Gryffindor for attempting to harm another student." Snape's eyes narrowed on the Weasley twins. "Though I knew you both lacked brains, I didn't know you lack common sense as well, but fear not, I shall not overestimate you anymore."

Fred and George exchanged shocked glances. Had Snape just called them stupid? The two boys looked at Snape who was smirking cruelly as he turned away from them, then their shocked expressions found each other once more. Oh yes, Snape had definitely called the twins stupid.

"Well I'll show that stinking—"George began, rolling up the right sleeve of his robes up above his elbow.

Fred continued, rolling up his left sleeve, "---slimey greasey haired git---"

"---two faced---"

"---evil little---"

"You're both full of fluff," Katie snorted, bumping shoulders with George as she took down her notes. "Enough with your threatening name calling, and get to work. Remember, our fifth year is our most important year."

Angelina shook her head and sighed, that's all she would be hearing from Katie for a while now. Blah blah, study, blah blah, O.W.Ls, blah blah blah. "Actually, I found their menacing voices quite relaxing. It helps me to picture Snape boiling in a cauldron filled with something absolutely vile."

The twins sniggered with their heads ducked low, hoping Snape wouldn't hear them, only to deduct more points from Gryffindor house.

Katie smiled and looked over at her friend, "That's all fine, Angelina, but at least take down some of your notes, so that when I give you mine to copy, I won't have the weight of guilt on me."

"You have to feel guilty, Katie," Alicia said, not looking up from the book she was reading. "Angelina's already snagged mine. She's copying them down as we—" She fell silent as she sensed Snape looming over her. Her eyes shot up from the book to look at her potions master. "Oh my."

"Oh my indeed, Miss Spinnet." He reached over his young student and gently took the book from Alicia's grasp. "And what have we here?" With small smirk playing at his thin lips, Snape flipped through the pages of the book, reading over certain passages here and there. He came across one he found to be amusing, and took a breath to read it aloud.

Alicia sunk in her seat, blushing furiously as he began to read.

"Chapter Eight," he began dryly. "His eyes swept over her form slowly, taking in every detail of the girl he had known as only his worst enemy. Her dark hair, usually pulled back in some way or other, now flowed freely over her pale shoulders. Her lips, from which spilled insults, and taunts to him, had also been attended to. They shimmered from the gloss she wore over that pale pink lipstick." Once the dialogue had started up, Snape adopted a voice for each character, and made terrible fun of Alicia for reading such dribble.

Once he was half way through the chapter, he tossed the book into Angelina's simmering cauldron. "Another ten points will be taken away from Gryffindor, as they seem to be above my rules. Now all of you, get to work."

Alicia; however, didn't move. Her eyes, wide and horror-filled, were fixed on Angelina's cauldron, where her book met its slow, torturing and terrible end. She shook her head slightly and sighed, looking down at the table. "I wasn't even finished! That prat! That evil—"

"—twisted—" Fred offered.

"—bigoted—" George also put in his bit.

"—evil—" Angelina added without hesitation.

There was silence as they looked over to the silent Katie and even more silent Lee, who were working on their notes. When Fred cleared his throat the two looked up at him. "This is the part where you add another adjective to describe the git."

"Oh," they replied together, putting their quills down thoughtfully.

Katie was first to think of something, "Evil?"

Angelina shook her head, "We already used that one. Try again."

"Twisted!" Lee said grinning, but that small victory was short lived when George informed him that 'evil' had already been used as well. "Heartless?"

Alicia opened her mouth to say they had used that one as well, but stopped herself and grinned, "That'll work." They all looked at Katie. "Well?"

"Well, he's a stark-raving mad lunatic," Katie replied confidently after a moment's thought. They applauded her use of insults.

-------------

School had been going great, and before they knew it, Quidditch season was upon them, and the promised match against Slyhtherin came up.

It was Professor McGonagall who broke the news to wood. Because Slytherin's seeker was still out, due to injury, they would instead be playing Ravenclaw.

How quaint.

"And what will everyone do on my signal?" Oliver quizzed his team as they lined up for their match against Ravenclaw. "Because if you don't think you can follow these simple instructions, I won't make you guys do this. You know I don't—"

"Wood!" Angelina said, eyes nearly closed with annoyance. "We know how everything goes, we know the plays, we know our positions, and we know that we will win by a certain amount."

Oliver nodded, but opened his mouth to speak anyway, "Yes I know Angelina, and that's great, but I just want to make sure that—"

"We know how to play the game, Oh captain my captain. Now let's just go before Madam Hooch starts up the game without us!" George growled through gritted teeth. He swung his broom over his shoulder, shifting from foot to foot with anticipation.

Oliver nodded his head and held up a hand to calm his players down, "Yes, yes, I know you all are as anxious to beat Ravenclaw as I am—"

"Truth is Oliver, we aren't so caught up in the—" Alicia began, but Oliver simply continued speaking.

"—and I'm not going to deny you guys the opportunity to beat them, but we have to beat them this way or else Gryffindor will not have a prayer in winning the house cup this year. We've been lucky before, and our luck might run out. So we have to depend on raw skill, and this team has plenty of it." His grip tightened around his broom as he continued to speak. Hope or something like it shimmered in his eyes. "We're gonna go undefeated this year I know it!"

"Wait," Alicia began shyly. "Doesn't Ravenclaw have a new captain this year? What's his name? The cute one?"

George made a face of disgust as he looked over Alicia, "What? Diggory?"

"That's his name!" Katie said suddenly, speaking for the first time, snapping out of her pre-Quidditch daze. "Cedric Diggory. He's a real dreamboat."

Harry blinked a few times, before wiping out his ears. "Dreamboat?"

"I don't know about dreamboat," Angelina said thoughtfully, "but he's definitely easy on the eyes." The three girls giggled much to the disgust and utter disappointment to the four boys.

After Oliver scolded them for spacing out and acting like girls, he went on to explain that the enemy could not be classified as a 'dreamboat' as they had so plainly stated. Harry, Fred and George backed him up by repeating his every other word, or by nodding their heads nonstop.

"Now," Oliver cleared hi throat, going back to his victory/strategy speech, "I say, we go out there, and we win ourselves a match!"

For once, the Gryffindor Quidditch team shared his enthusiasm, though probably for many different reasons. They were going to go rack up a victory for Gryffindor.

-------------

They had lost.

They didn't just lose, they seriously lost.

Not just the game, but their seeker's broom as well. That beautiful Nimbus 2000 was now the prize of the vicious Whomping Willow.

How could they have lost? Was the only thought that echoed through Oliver's mind as his team hurried off to the Hospital Wing to see to Harry. Oliver; however, had intended to drown himself in the showers.

Katie had been the last to leave him, asking if he was alright, as well as if he needed to talk to someone. Oliver had simply waved her off. Before Katie left, she touched Oliver's left shoulder, "If you need someone to talk to, I've two good ears that need to be put to better use than listening to Angelina and Alicia talk about absolutely nothing. Well," she patted him awkwardly on the shoulder before slowly walking away. "I suppose I'll see you around, and if you do decided to drown yourself in the shower, think of how many people would miss you. I sure would."

Before Oliver could turn around to reply to her, she was gone. With a sigh, Oliver looked back down, the warm water from the shower's faucet raining down warm water onto his fully dressed person as he turned the water on. "Goodbye, cruel world."

-------------

"That silly git is sick," Lee informed everyone as he sat down for breakfast for the next day. "McGonagall found him in the showers, still in his Quidditch robes and everything. The water had been running for a while, and Wood was soaked to the bone."

George snorted into his goblet of pumpkin juice at this bit of news, and quickly replaced it to the wooden table. "Are you serious?"

"Sure am," Lee reported, cutting into his sausage. "She gave him a good peace of her mind too, making sure he heard every word of it before and after Madam Pomfrey treated him. But you have to admit, that game yesterday—"

"Please," Katie sat down in front of Lee with a somber expression, "I would prefer it if you didn't mention the game yesterday. It was simply horrid."

Fred and George nodded as they began to stuff themselves with breakfast. Angelina soon seated herself and instantly began to speak, "You heard about Wood and how McGonagall found him half dead in the showers?"

Oh how rumours spread like wildfire.

"Guys!" Alicia exclaimed as she quickly seated herself between the Weasley twins, "Did you hear? McGonagall saved Wood from slitting his own throat!"

Katie rolled her eyes and focused on her breakfast. "You guys listen to too much gossip. There was no knife and McGonagall didn't find him half dead."

But her words didn't make much of a different. Some second year students heard the tail end of what she had said, and word quickly spread throughout the school. Professor McGonagall was the hero of Oliver Wood.

-------------

Miss Lady Padfoot – Oh man were all those Hurricanes WHACK!! Seriously! There were trees lying in the streets, we had no electricity for every single one of them, and people are STILL recovering from all the damage. A friend of mine who lives down south lost everything except for one room in her house. It was TERRIBLE! But now, things around my area is pretty good, so… YEAH!! Thanks for the review! huggles

kawaii&crazy – Well.. I still love you too, so here is your update! And sorry it took so long. I feel terrible. -.-'

CrystalViolinist – I've always hated that game for the same reasons I loved it. Truth or Dare can be either a mighty and destructive weapon, or a very functional tool.

febgirl – I guess I would be wrong if you thought this was me posting ASAP, huh? Sorry about that. Heh.

Johnson – The kiddie thing just works! I love it! It's either that or.. uhm.. something that doesn't sound as cute!

killertofu416 - blushes Aw, stop it, you're making me blush.

Lia06 – Your three weeks compared to my what… 50 billion years? Lol Sorry it took forever and a day for me to finally post.

Kathy – I think Angelina has to be the tough guy of the girls. You know what? I think, given enough time, she could make every guy in this fic squeal like a pig. Hmm.. getting an idea

Linda19 – Mystery is my middle name, my friend. And if there isn't enough Oliver in this chapter, there will be in the future and if not in this fic, then in the sequel! BWAHAHAHA!! Yeah, and incase you're wondering, I actually have the entire plot drawn out so all I have to do is finish this one up and start on the Sequel. Beams

Love always!

-Richi Sama-