Chapter 1: I Wonder
"Does he ever think of anything besides Quidditch?" I asked my two best friends Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson.
"Probably not." Alicia answered without looking up from her homework.
At the moment I was taking a break from my much dreaded Potions essay to contemplate my ever-obsessed Quidditch captain Oliver Wood. As per usual, he was hunched over his beloved play book in front of the Gryffindor fire, completely oblivious to the dozens of other students milling around the common room.
"It's a waste that what it is." I said, slamming my book shut.
"What?!" apparently the slam had finally gotten Angelina's attention.
"What's a shame?" queried Alicia.
"Oliver. He's so cute and he can be really nice when he doesn't have his head in his plays." I answered.
"True." Both sympathetically agreed in unison. They both knew of my
long-suffering crush on Oliver that had ended last year when I finally realized that it was never going to happen. It had taken a week and a pound of chocolate to lift me out of my depression. That and helping Fred and George pull off a few marvelous tricks on the Slytherins.
"I wonder," Alicia whispered leaning in, "what do you think Oliver would do if some girl made it obvious that she was interested in him?"
"Probably run for the hills, or at least the forest." giggled Angelina.
"Yeah, if it isn't connected to a quaffle or a snitch it may as well be a foreign language as far as he's concerned." Do I sound bitter?
"Ooh-sour grapes Katie?" teased Alicia.
"Not a bit." Yeah, that sounded convincing.
"Don't tell me you aren't still sore about what happened last year." said Alicia.
I reopened my book. Taking the hint, they too returned to their work. I may be convincing when I need to be but this was one subject that was just too emotional for me to pull it off. My mind drifted back to The Incident that Alicia had been talking about. At the end of practice one day last year I had taken my time changing, just so I could talk to Oliver. I was finally going to ask him out after five years of attempted shameless flirting on my part. Attempted because he never seemed to realize what I was doing.
Upon his exit from the boys changing room I walked over and asked him who he was going to Hogsmeade with that weekend. "Probably the guys" was the response. When I hinted that there were a lot of girls that were going to be disappointed, he didn't seem to understand me. Instead he started prattling on about Huffelpuffs new beater all the way up to the castle. I tried several other tactics to try to get the point across but he just kept changing the subject.
I still get angry when I think about. Was the boy daft? There I was practically telling him to invite me and he wanted to talk quidditch? Unbelievable. And I would deny it to anyone, but it really hurt. A lot.
So that was the end of my crush on the hot but hopeless Mr. Wood. There was just no chance with a guy that oblivious. Better to focus my attentions on the boys in my own year that didn't seem as immune to my charms. As for Oliver, well I really didn't see the need to spend anymore time with him than was absolutely necessary. But still…he was cute.
Alicia's comment about a girl showing Oliver that she liked him was… intriguing to say the least. How would he react? Knowing Oliver he would panic and then hide from her. Basically, the boy was clueless about anything female. Unless she was on a broom.
As I climbed into bed that night an idea began to form in my head. Call it a desire for revenge. Call it spending too much time with the Weasley's. Call it whatever you want, but at that moment I decided to test out my theory.
Oh…this was going to be fun.