Title: Spurious Disaffection
Author: Along Came the Spider
Summary: 3) Oliver is oblivious to everything around him with the exception of Quidditch. Frustrated by this, someone decides to show his crush Oliver just what he's missing. (QuidditchPitchLove Valentines Challenge)
Note: According to Merriam-Webster I'm using disaffection wrong in the title. I'm past the point of caring. I like the title, who cares if it's grammatically correct. Also not beta'd.

Chapter One

Oliver groaned as he moved his arm. A keeper wasn't normally in a position to get a sprained wrist but that beater seemed to have had it out for him. There was no other reason that the bludger should have been coming at him when the Quaffle was at the other end of the pitch.

"Really Wood," The Mediwitch said as she wrapped up his wrist and hand. "You need to start making friends. The enemies are getting to be a little too numerous."

"Am I good for the next match?" Oliver asked ignoring her comments.

She snorted but said nothing. Oliver smiled at her as he moved to take his stuff out of his locker. "Thank you," he said as he opened the door.

"Wait." She stood up and crossed to him. "Why don't you thank me in a more substantial manner?"

"How?" Oliver asked.

"Dinner," She smiled. "Tonight, and maybe if we're lucky, a couple more nights as well..."

"Okay," Oliver nodded. "Why don't we meet at the pub?"

"The pub?"

"Yeah," Olive shrugged. "The team normally goes there after a match. I'll buy you a beer, and burger if you want."

"Right..." She shook her head. "How about something a little more intimate?"

"Intimate?" Olive's brow furrowed for a moment.

"Like a nice restaurant, maybe live music," She raised an eyebrow. "Where did you take your last girlfriend?"

"Um..." Oliver blinked and realization crept into his gaze. "You want me to take you on a date?"

"You've got to be kidding me." She gave a short laugh. "You've dated right?"

Oliver shook his head slowly. "Not...that...I remember."

"No woman or men?" She asked incredulously?

"Just Quidditch." Oliver shrugged. "Never had time for much else."

"You are too much." She snorted.

"Do you still want the drink?" He asked.

"If it's all I'm going to get." She sighed, "I'd be stupid not to take it."

"I'll see you at the pub." He called as he walked away.

The pub was packed with witches and wizards; Oliver took a moment to let the murmuring wash over him. The war in Europe had driven many to relocate to Australia. Oliver occasionally felt guilty about leaving his friends and family when Voldemort was poised at their doorsteps, but Quidditch had always been the one thing he felt he did well, and there was no call for Quidditch players in England anymore.

The mix of accents quieted down slightly as a large man sitting at one of the tables got up and started ranting while pointing at Oliver.

"That's the beater," Harvey, one of the chaser's on Oliver's team told him as he pushed his way into the bar.

"He's Romanian right?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, claiming that you stole the glory from him." Harvey smirked. "What'd you do? Sleep with his girlfriend?"

Oliver rolled his eyes as they made their way to the bar, "What is it with everyone being interested in my business recently."

"Well," Harvey shrugged as he watched the Beater's teammates pulling the man out of the bar. "We never see you with anyone, which means that's she's probably married or you're gay."

"Or just not interested." The Mediwitch snorted.

"What hot blooded man wouldn't be interested?" Harvey asked.

"Me." Oliver grumbled.

"If you're not interested," Harvey said clapping him on his back, "then you're not hot blooded."

Oliver shrugged and ordered two beers. He handed the Mediwitch one and headed toward the table where the rest of his team sat.

"So what did you do to the Beater?" Anna, one of the other chasers, asked.

"Nothing that I know of." Oliver sighed again. He wished that everyone would just drop it. The only reason he showed up at these things was so that he could be a cohesive member of the team.

"He went to Durmstrung." The only other English wizard on the team drawled.

"And that explains why he has it out for Oliver?" Harvey asked as he plopped down next to Anna.

"Hogwarts beat Durmstrung in the last TriWizard tournament." The Seeker explained.

"Then he should have it out for you too Malfoy." Anna pointed out.

"Except that Potter was pretty much the champion," Draco rolled his eyes. "My hatred of Potter was..."

"Legendary?" Oliver supplied. "Notorious? Spurious?"

"Why Wood, didn't know you noticed," Draco smiled slightly. "But spurious?"

"I would assume so otherwise you'd be back home fighting against him even now."

"Hey, I did my share of fighting." Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I heard you didn't actually have the guts to kill Dumbledore yourself and Snape ended up doing it for you." Oliver shrugged. "Of course, that was in a frantic letter to me from the Weasley twins who hate you and Snape in equal amounts so that might be the spurious tale."

"Sometimes I hate you Wood." Draco snorted.

"It's not like he cares." The Mediwitch, who was more than a little drunk at this point, sneered. "Mr. Wood's one true love is Quidditch. It wouldn't surprise me to find out that he's a virgin."

The majority of the team looked at Oliver with disbelief. Draco, on the other hand, merely snorted.

"While tales of exploits coming out of Hogwarts might be spurious," Draco nodded slightly. "The rumors about what the Gryffindor Quidditch Captian got up to in the locker room with several of his team mates aren't. We Slytherins would have been a sorry lot if we didn't at least keep some tabs on those going ons."

"Do tell." The Mediwitch said sourly.

"I think not." Draco downed the last of his drink. "I think I'm headed back to my flat for a nights rest before tomorrow's practice. I bid you all good night."

Oliver watched the blond walk out of the bar with out a backward glance. He then looked back to the table and was a little surprised to find Anna's face right in his line of sight.

"Sodding little bastard walked off without actually confirming anything." She complained. "What happened in the Gryffindor locker room!"

"We got dressed and undressed there, as well as making use of the showers after matches and practices." Oliver told her. "It's much the same going ons that happen in our locker room."

"That's not what I meant!" Anna growled. "And you know that!"

"I'm not about to feed your imagination with tales of people you don't even know." Oliver said firmly.

"You're no fun." Anna said.

"That's what I told him." The Mediwitch agreed.

"I think I'm going to do something that many of my former acquaintances would find completely repugnant and follow Malfoy's lead." Oliver disentangled himself from Anna and stood up, "see you all tomorrow."

He quickly exited the bar, he was pulling his wand out to apparate away when he heard a cough behind him. He turned to see Draco Malfoy leaning against a wall out of the light of the pub.

"Spurious," Draco shook his head. "I'm wondering where in the world you came up with that adjective."

"I lived with Percy Weasley during my years at Hogwarts," Oliver smiled. "Did you expect none of that to rub off on me in the slightest?"

"You always seem to portray this completely focused attitude," Draco shrugged. "It's made me wonder quite a bit over the years."

"I doubt that." Oliver shrugged back.

"Why?" Draco asked.

"Because for most of our acquaintance you've been focused far too strongly on one Harry Potter." Oliver said matter of factly.

"I'll give you that one." Draco smirked. "Very little of what you said in there about me was spurious."

"You're not going to let the word go are you." Oliver asked.

"No." Draco's smirk became a small smile. "Though, I do hate Potter. You got your facts wrong there. My inability to kill Dumbledore had more to do with the fact that I was out of my league and less to do with the fact that I didn't actually want to kill him."

"I'll be sure to pass that on." Oliver rolled his eyes.

"I'm opening myself up to you," Draco's smile faded. "The least you could do is not mock me."

Oliver looked at the younger wizard hard for a few minutes. "Not sure what you want out of those confidences, and I'm a little too tired and drunk to care right now. So I think I'm going to go sleep it off."

Oliver pulled out his wand and apparated to his apartment. The conversation with Draco played over and over in his head until he fell asleep.

End Chapter