Disclaimer: Lots of people own Harry Potter but sadly I'm not one of them.
A/N: Thanks for all the sweet reviews! Keep them coming because they spur me on to write. Knights are coming first now! *Dances around in a circle* Bye bye Bulldogs! *Hands Meenal a tissue* I write more when I'm happy so lets all pray the Knights keep winning.
As promised, here's the Halloween chapter! I also included the first Quidditch game so the chapter is longer.
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Chapter 19
Alicia, Angelina and Katie entered the Great Hall for the Halloween Feast. The hall had been elaborately decorated, as it was every Halloween.
Alicia grimaced as she peered up at the bats swooping above her head. "Evil little buggers."
"Don't like bats?" Katie guessed.
"As a rule I don't like anything smaller than a cat."
"Girls!"
The Chasers turned around to see Matt waving frantically. They noticed Oliver following along distractedly behind him. In fact, the Gryffindor captain had been walking around in a daze since Harry had joined the team.
"Good evening, boys," Katie greeted them.
"What's so good about it?" Matt snapped.
"What's up with you?" Angelina eyed him curiously.
"I swear, if I hear one more word about Wronski Feints, Porskoff Ploys or anything to do with Quidditch in general, I think my head will explode," he groaned.
The girls giggled and turned to Oliver. It appeared he hadn't even heard his friend complaining about him, he was staring up at the circling bats and mumbling about aerodynamics and such.
"Give him a break. It can't be that bad," Alicia reasoned.
"You really think so? You sit next to him then!" Matt grabbed her upper arm and pushed her into Oliver.
"Hey!" Oliver tore his eyes away from the ceiling/sky as someone bumped into him.
"Sorry," Alicia apologised quickly.
"Oh, it's only you." He turned his attention back up.
She folded her arms. Perhaps Matt was right. "Nice to see you as well."
"Hi," he added belatedly.
"Come on, space cadet, you're blocking the way." She grabbed his arm with a sigh and pulled him towards the Gryffindor table.
Alicia took her seat between Matt and Oliver. Angelina was on the other side of Matt and they'd struck up a conversation about the weather. It wasn't really the most interesting topic but it had nothing to do with Quidditch and Matt was grateful for that.
"Have you ever noticed the way bats fly?" Oliver asked Alicia seriously.
"Uh.no, should I have?"
He finally turned his eyes back to her and flashed her a grin. He shook his head and watched as food filled the golden plates in front of them.
"I've been doing some thinking..."
"Want me to get Madam Pomfrey?" Alicia teased as she piled her plate with salad.
"Cute. Real cute. But seriously have you ever heard of the Parkin's Pincer move?"
She said, "I think I remember briefly hearing the name but I'm not familiar with the actual move."
"I'll show you then." Oliver pierced a roast potato and put it in the middle of his plate. "There's the opposing Chaser."
"The opposing Chaser is a potato?" she asked, barely hiding a smile.
Oliver gave her an impatient look. "In this case, yes."
"Ok, sorry. Continue." Alicia waved her hand and he cleared his throat importantly.
"Then we have Katie coming from the left." Oliver placed a brussel sprout on his plate to represent her.
"I don't think Katie would like the idea of being a sprout," Alicia said with a giggle.
"Well, Katie doesn't have a say in this. Ok, then we have you converging from the right." He pinched a bit of tomato from her plate.
"Hey! I'm not a tomato!"
"It's a hair thing," he said simply.
"My hair is auburn, not bright red!" she said indignantly.
"Tomatoes are my favourite" He smiled that patented smile that radiated innocence.
Alicia, like any female on the planet, relented. "Well, in that case you may continue."
"Right. Now, Angelina comes through the middle, straight at the pota - I mean opposing Chaser," Oliver placed a licorice strand on the plate to represent his last Chaser then studied his masterpiece. "Hopefully the Chaser will be intimidated and drop the Quaffle into your waiting arms."
"I like it." Alicia nodded then cocked her head and looked closely at his plate. "Say, I think that potato looks a lot like Flint."
Their laughter was sharply interrupted when Professor Quirrell burst into the hall. He looked utterly terrified. Which wasn't really an unusual thing for him. Everyone fell silent as they watched the alarmed man reach Professor Dumbledore and manage to gasp, "Troll - in the dungeons - thought you ought to know."
Then he simply fainted. The students gasped and began to scramble to their feet. Oliver and Alicia exchanged a glance. They'd learnt enough about trolls in Defence Against the Dark Arts to know that they weren't exactly the friendliest creatures around.
Oliver grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet roughly. "Come on!"
Alicia had always pictured trolls living under bridges like they did in Muggle fairy tales. Just like that one that that refused to let those goats cross the bridge. But then she quickly reminded herself that this wasn't a fairy tale.
"Oliver! You're hurting me!" She tried to wriggle out of his grasp but he had a firm hold on her.
"Come on! Granted, I didn't pay much attention in class but I know trolls aren't exactly something you'd like to run into!" Oliver gave her arm a tug and pulled her into the flow of panicked students trying to exit the Great Hall.
The stream of students abruptly came to a halt when Dumbledore shot some loud, purple firecrackers from the end of his wand.
"Prefects," he called out across the hall, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
"You heard the man. Let's go." Oliver continued to pull her along behind him, a little gentler than last time though.
They had just reached the marble staircase when someone grabbed Alicia's other hand and tugged. Her arm was very nearly dislocated from the awkwardness of being pulled in two different directions. She turned her head to find George urgently trying to pull her to a stop.
"What on earth are you stopping for?" Oliver demanded as he felt Alicia resisting. He turned around to see George pulling on her other hand.
"What the bloody hell are you two trying to do? Pull my arms out the sockets?" she shrieked and wrenched both of her hands out of their grasps.
"Sorry, Leesh. I just wanted to make sure you're all right," George said apologetically.
She softened slightly at his show of concern. "I'm fine."
"Good. Well, come on. The others are waiting for you. We're going to take a few shortcuts to get back quicker."
"I'll make my way back with Oliver. It's all right. You go back to the others. I'll see you in the common room."
George looked confused for a second. "But our way is quicker."
"Look, I'm going with Oliver and you better get to the others before they leave without you."
"But what if the troll comes out of the dungeons?" George looked extremely worried.
"Then we'll run really fast. See you soon," Alicia called out to George as hoards of students jostled between them.
Oliver seized her hand again and dragged her up the wide marble staircase. He kept looking back at her and smiling strangely.
"He's too overprotective if you ask me."
"Who? George? He's not overprotective," she insisted.
"Are you blind? He looked like he was going to throw you over his shoulder and run away with you." Oliver failed to hide a smile as he spoke. "Knight in shining armour, I tell ya."
Alicia scowled, feeling the need to defend George."Oh, leave him alone."
Oliver turned to her and raised his eyebrows. Alicia stumbled on the stairs because she was looking at him and not watching where she was going.
"What was that look for?" she demanded and tried to keep the nasty edge out of her voice.
"What look?" he asked innocently.
"You know damn well what look I'm talking about! The one you just did! The one that means you know something that I don't!"
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about. I think you're hallucinating due to lack of food," he dismissed quickly.
"Stop squeezing my hand! You're going to break my fingers!" she protested as they reached the top of the stairs.
"Harry!" Oliver ignored her and stopped walking with everyone else.
"What about him?" Alicia bumped into his back and was shoved as everyone else surged around them.
"I have to find him and make sure he's all right!"
"Oliver Wood! He'll be fine! We have to get to the common room! NOW!"
"You can go the rest of the way by yourself. I can't lose a Seeker I just got!"
Alicia poked him in the shoulder and pointed. "Well, look, there's Percy and the first years!"
Oliver stood on his toes to get a look at them. Harry was nowhere to be seen though.
"He's not with them!" Oliver said, panic rising in his voice.
"Neither is Ron," Alicia realised. If those too had gone off in search of the troll in the hopes of killing it.
"Where the hell is he?" Oliver demanded.
"He could already be back at Gryffindor Tower or maybe he's taking an alternate route," Alicia suggested.
"Yeah, maybe. He could also be in danger though."
They stood at the top of the stairs by themselves now. Everyone was long gone. They were just lucky that all the teachers were occupied down in the dungeons.
"He's the Boy Who Lived, he'll be fine."
"I just want to make sure he doesn't become the Boy Who Lived But Was Then Eaten By A Troll Because He Had Delusions Of Grandeur." With that, Oliver jogged off down a deserted corridor.
"Should have gone with George," Alicia sighed and chased after him.
***************
"What's taking them so long?" George demanded for the tenth time in as many minutes. Everyone else was happily finishing the feast but he wasn't hungry.
"Alicia's fine. She's with Oliver," Katie reassured him again.
"It shouldn't take them this long to get back."
"Stop stressing, it's only Alicia," Fred said testily
"Shut up," Katie and Angelina said at the same time.
George simply ignored his twin's comment. "I don't even know why she went with Oliver at all."
"Jealous of the handsome Quidditch captain?" Angelina teased.
"No! I'm just concerned about her as a friend."
"I doubt you'd be this concerned if it was me instead of her," Lee said earnestly.
"I'm too tired to argue with you lot. When Alicia gets back tell her I'm in my room," George said wearily. He turned and trudged upstairs.
"I think George likes Alicia a little more than he's letting on," Katie said, once he was out of earshot.
"I hope you're wrong," Fred said solemnly.
"Why? I think they'd make a good couple," Angelina said thoughtfully.
"It's bad enough that they're best friends. They already spend way too much time together as it is."
"Alicia doesn't want to come between you and George. Anyway, it's really unfair if you're allowed to have a girlfriend but he isn't."
Before Fred could reply to Katie, the portrait opened and Oliver and Alicia stepped into the common room.
"Where have you two been?" Percy demanded.
"Snogging in an empty classroom," Oliver answered promptly.
Percy nearly had a heart attack. He gaped openly at them and began to stutter.
"He's kidding," Alicia told Percy as she brushed past him.
"I knew that," Percy said unconvincingly.
"You took your time," Lee said as Alicia approached them.
"I know. Hey - where's George?"
"Up in his room," Angelina answered.
"Ok. Thanks. I'll talk to you guys later," she called over her shoulder as she headed for the staircase while Percy was busy telling Oliver off.
"Snogging in an empty classroom.that's not such a bad idea." Lee winked suggestively at Katie.
"Not a chance, Jordan."
He shrugged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."
***************
"George?" a voice called softly from the doorway.
George sat up so quickly that his head began to spin.
"Relax! I'm fine." Alicia stepped into the room and gave him a worried look.
He rubbed his face in frustration then stretched out on his back again. The bed shifted slightly as Alicia sat down. "What took you so long?" he asked finally.
"Oliver decided to take a little detour," she answered casually.
"What? There's a troll loose in the castle and he takes you on a detour?" George yelled. He was finding it hard to hide his anger anymore. His head throbbed painfully.
"He didn't 'take' me anywhere. I follow him of my own free will. He wanted me to come back actually but I chased after him." She sat cross-legged beside him, looking calm. Too calm for someone who could have just been eaten by a troll. "Look, I appreciate your concern, really I do, but I'm a big girl. I can look after myself."
George nodded slightly, finding that too much movement caused his head to pound in protest.
"Headache?"
Another small nod.
"Get some sleep and you'll feel better in the morning" Alicia leant across him and kissed him lightly on the temple.
The soft contact gave him goosebumps. She smiled then left, closing the door behind herself. George lay there wide-awake. There was no way he'd be able to sleep now.
Alicia had never kissed him like that before. So intimately and gently. He stared at the closed door for a few minutes, his emotions in turmoil, then rolled over and closed his eyes.
***************
Much to Oliver's relief, Harry wasn't hurt and as the first Quidditch game of the season neared the castle had a familiar buzz about it.
The morning of the game Alicia was feeling decidedly sick. Her stomach was doing somersaults. She sat in front of the fire as everyone headed out to breakfast.
"You all right?"
Alicia looked up at Oliver and offered a weak smile. "I'm a little nervous to tell you the truth."
"A few butterflies in your stomach?"
She giggled softly and realised that it felt good to relax. "More than a few actually. I think I have a whole butterfly farm in my belly."
"You'll do fine. Come on, let's get down to breakfast."
Little more than an hour later, the Gryffindor team left the change room Alicia was feeling admittedly queasy. As they marched towards the pitch she stumbled over her uncooperative feet several times. George had to steady her so she didn't end up base over apex.
"I think I'm going to throw up. Or faint. Maybe both. Probably at the same time," Alicia said, her voice wavering.
Harry gave her a startled look. George just smiled calmly.
"She's fine."
"No, I'm not!"
"She's fine, trust me."
Harry, still looking extremely perturbed, hurried to catch up with Oliver and put some distance between himself and Alicia.
"Calm down. You're scaring the hell out of Harry," George whispered to her.
"I can't remember anything Oliver told me. I don't think I even remember how to fly!" Alicia's eyes widened in alarm.
"I felt the same way before my first game," he said with a reassuring smile.
"Oh man, here we go," she moaned slightly as they crossed the pitch to the tumultuous cheers of three-quarters of the crowd. The booing from the Slytherins was drowned out completely.
The two teams faced each other. Every eye on the Slytherin team was on the new Gryffindor Seeker. Then slowly all eyes turned to Alicia. Her opposing Chaser, Adrian Pucey, snarled and Alicia gave him her most disdainful look. It was going to take more than a nasty Slytherin to intimidate her. Something more like hundreds of screaming students.
Alicia had never liked being the centre of attention. Knowing that people were watching her made her uneasy and nervous. She'd always been happy to blend into the background and not catch anyone's eyes. Now she'd been forced into the spotlight and all her mistakes would be highlighted.
Alicia's attention was brought back to the ground when Madam Hooch blew her whistle. She mounted her broom and kicked off a little shakily.
"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor - what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too -"
Professor McGonagall interrupted Lee hastily. Even from this distance Alicia could see the scowl on Angelina's face. Alicia became immersed in the game as she took up position to receive the pass from Angelina.
"And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve."
Alicia couldn't help but smile. Lee had promised to say something encouraging about her. She was beginning to feel more comfortable so she sent a pass to Angelina. But the Quaffle was intercepted by Flint.
"Dammit!" Alicia swore under her breath. Her first mistake. The pass could have been sharper.
Determined to make up for her error, Alicia flew alongside Pucey to make sure Flint had no one to pass to. Angelina tried to steal the Quaffle but was unsuccessful.
"Get lost, red," Pucey growled as they jostled.
"My name is not red!" Alicia said through gritted teeth.
Thankfully, Oliver pulled of a brilliant save and the Quaffle was deflected towards Katie. Immediately on the offensive, the Chaser's turned and sped off in the other direction. Alicia's turn was a little slow so when Katie was hit by a Bludger the Quaffle fell to Pucey.
Grinning wickedly, he shot straight for Alicia. She ducked and he sailed over her head. Katie and Angelina were already in pursuit when Alicia finally gave chase. A Bludger came flying from the left and caused Pucey to drop the Quaffle. A quick glance told her it was sent by Fred.
Angelina snatched up the discarded Quaffle and tucked it tightly under her arm. Alicia stayed level with her and tried to keep Flint occupied. The Slytherin Chaser tailed Alicia closely and ignored Angelina.
Angelina dodged a Bludger like it was nothing then steadied herself for the shot. Bletchley dived and completely missed the red missile.
"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Lee shouted happily.
Alicia smiled to herself at Flint's stupidity. Oliver had always told her that the most important player in the game was the player with the Quaffle in their hands. Flint's decision to mark Alicia and not go after Angelina had allowed her to score.
The team didn't have much time to rejoice though, Slytherin were back in possession. The three Gryffindor Chaser's struggled to retain the Quaffle. They weren't lapsing into defensive play. Wood had insisted that the best type of defense was attack.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the case this time. Pucey passed the Gryffindor players and dodged a couple of Bludgers.
"Was that the Snitch?" Lee said.
Alicia halted in mid air and her head snapped around to watch Harry. He was looking around frantically. Then suddenly he went into a dive. The Slytherin Seeker was right behind him but Harry was much too quick for him.
"Watch it!" George came hurtling towards Alicia and knocked a Bludger away.
"Thanks."
"That's my job. Just because you stop moving doesn't mean the Bludger's do," he said as he hovered beside her.
Harry was beginning to slowly pull away from Higgs when Flint suddenly came out of nowhere. He deliberately blocked the young Seeker and caused him to spin off course.
"Foul!" the whole team shouted as one.
Madam Hooch reprimanded Flint and awarded a penalty to Gryffindor. Angelina took the Quaffle from Madam Hooch and held it out to Katie.
"Give it to Alicia!" Oliver yelled from his spot in front of the goal posts.
"I can't take the shot!" she gasped as the Quaffle was thrown in her direction.
"You're the best penalty taker out of us three," Angelina reasoned.
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes you are, now take the damn penalty!" Katie shrieked.
Alicia gripped the Quaffle tightly. She only had a seventy-percent success rate against Oliver. But Bletchley was nowhere near as good as he was. Sure, she could do this easily.
Alicia was desperately trying to remember what Oliver had told her about Bletchley. He was good at diving right.or was it left. No, it was right. Definitely right.
That meant Alicia have to shoot for the hoop that was on her right. That wasn't an encouraging thought. As a right hander she always found it easier to shoot at the left hoop because of the angle. Gathering her resolve she raised her arm, Quaffle held high. The Keeper watched her intently. Alicia let her eyes travel to the left hoop briefly. Bletchley fell for it and when Alicia finally threw the Quaffle he dove in the opposite direction.
Alicia had managed to put a nice curve on the Quaffle and it sailed through the hoop. The crowd erupted and Alicia let out a breath that she didn't even realise she'd been holding. She'd scored her first ever goal.
No time to reflect though, Gryffindor was still in possession. She trailed behind Katie and waited for the back pass that she knew would be coming. Sure enough Katie let the Quaffle go without even bothering to look back. She knew Alicia or Angelina would be there to receive it.
Alicia tucked it securely under her arm and began to weave through the Slytherin team. The Chaser's made swipes at her and she barely managed to avoid Flint but once in the clear she passed to Angelina on her right. She then shaped to pass to Katie but had to stop in mid air to avoid a Bludger.
Flint took the opportunity and seized the Quaffle from Angelina and sped off towards Oliver. Caught off guard, Alicia and Katie missed him and a Bludger sent by George failed to stop him. Flint took a shot and the Quaffle brushed Oliver's fingertips but he was unable to deflect it.
Alicia was silently cursing herself for not reacting quickly enough when the crowd suddenly became quiet. She immediately assumed there had been another Snitch sighting.
"What the bloody hell is he doing?!" Fred demanded.
Alicia followed his gaze to Harry. She gasped when she saw him trying to regain control of his errant Nimbus. He was losing his grip as it bucked wildly beneath him.
"Go help him!" Angelina yelled.
Fred and George approached Harry carefully but every time they got too close the broom would take him higher. Not wanting to push him any further out of reach they floated back underneath him.
"What's wrong with him?" Oliver asked as he joined the girls. He was looking extremely pale.
"It's not Harry. It's his broom. Something's wrong with it," Katie said tensely.
"It's possessed," Alicia said darkly.
Flint had scored five times now but no one really cared. Not while Harry Potter was hanging by a fingernail. It was all happening in slow motion. Harry was being tossed ferociously and the twins were flitting around beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he did fall.
Then all at once the Nimbus stopped trying to unseat its rider and Harry seemed to have control again. He was suddenly hurtling towards the ground. The rest of the school looked on in confusion as Harry slapped his hand over his mouth. He landed on the pitch on all fours then coughed.
"What the."
Alicia squinted. There was no mistaking it. Harry had the Golden Snitch clutched in his fist.
"I've got the Snitch!" he announced proudly and waved the tiny golden ball above his head.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle, signalling the end of the match. The students were all still a little stunned but they began to cheer. The Gryffindor team all landed to join Harry.
"You did it!" Angelina grabbed Harry around the neck.
"Yeah, I guess I did." he looked at the Snitch in his hand, a dazed expression on his face.
"Let him go, Ang, you're suffocating the kid." Fred pried her off the startled Seeker.
"Nice catch, Potter, a little unorthodox but effective all the same." George ruffled his already messy then turned, only to have Alicia jump into his arms.
"We won! And I didn't even fall off my broom!" she squealed as she hugged him tightly.
"You played great. Practically flew rings around Pucey," George whispered into her ear.
"Did you see my penalty? I was so nervous!" She pulled back and stared at him, her eyes large and bright.
He couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, I saw it"
She returned the smile. "Ha! I still can't believe we won!"
George shook his head and laughed at her. Then impulsively she kissed him hard on the mouth. George didn't even have time to kiss back before Alicia abruptly broke the contact.
"Oh! Sorry about that!" She blushed and slapped her hand over her mouth.
"Um.that's.all right?" George stammered. He really had no idea what to say.
"I just got carried away I guess. Oh! There's Oliver!"
George watched as Alicia ran into Oliver's arms. He noticed that she didn't kiss him.
Not that he cared or anything.
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A/N: Sorry if you're confused. George is starting to like Alicia now but he doesn't want to admit it to himself yet. Alicia really has no idea whatsoever of his new feelings. Hence the title of the chapter.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. I tried to make it funnier though I doubt I succeeded. My Quidditch match recount was supposed to be exciting but I think it bordered more on boring. Oh well, can't win them all I suppose.
Loverina: my 200th reviewer!!! I'm sooo glad it was you!!! Luv ya!!!
Tessa: you scared the crap out of me! I thought I'd got the teacher wrong. I really like to get my facts right. I looked through the book again and it is Flitwick. In the movie it's Quirrell. Just another inconsistency. I'm going by the book though. Thanks for keeping me on my toes though!
Oliverwoodschic: The Knights I refer to constantly are the Newcastle Knights. They're an Australian rugby league team. As far as I'm concerned they're the best team in the world. Yes, I am fanatical. Just ask Meenal.
Braiths Gal: Nothing to say to you except. HAHAHA! What are the bulldogs coming now? Oh that's right! Dead last! Go the KNIGHTS!
No idea when the next chapter will be out. If you would like me to email you when it is up then please let me know and leave your email in a review.