A/N: Hello my fellow witches and wizards!! I know it's been too long but i just wanted to take my time and give it my best shot. I promise the next chapter will not take this long. Hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

As always, thank you Maria, you're an angel for rectifying my countless mistakes!

To Oliver's surprise, Sharma's terms were quite easy to agree with. She only demanded that the time and place of the meetings should be made based of her schedule, and that he must be respectful towards her at all times. In exchange, Oliver asked her to leave him alone for a week before any Quidditch match they had to play.

They both left McGonagall's office at around six in the evening, quietly walking back to the common room in the company of each other.

After a while, Sharma spoke up.

"Could you please make me a copy of your time table after we reach the common room? I'd like to have it so that I can work out a time that suits both of us."

"Yeah, alright."

"Also, let me know when you make your Quidditch practice schedule. I'll alter our time according to it."

"Okay."

This was new. Was Sharma always this considerate and polite? She was working it out according to his schedule too and not giving him any bullshit. This was… pleasant. Oliver wanted to thank her but he just couldn't find the words in him. Her agreeing to tutor him was the main reason he would be able to play Quidditch again.

They reached the Gryffindor entrance and, as soon as Sharma was about to enter the common room, Oliver grabbed her hand and gave it a tug, forcing her to take a few steps back.

She looked up, her brown eyes growing wider by the second. She hadn't expected that at all.

"I...just wanted to say thank you, ehh.. for doing this." Oliver stammered, looking directly into her eyes, his breathing became a bit heavier and a weird flutter started arising in his chest.

She gently but quickly pulled back her hand.

"I'm not doing this for you." She whispered.

She turned around, walked straight into the common room and continued towards the girls' dormitory, without sparing him a glance.

That weird flutter in his chest went away as quickly as it came, and was now replaced by growing irritation.

Girls.

……

Fred Weasley definitely wasn't one of the people who got surprised easily. Being best friends with Lee Jordon and one half of probably the most notorious duo Hogwarts had ever seen, he liked to think that he'd seen his fair share of weird and/or surprising things.

Today, however, he was thoroughly shocked.

He usually got up early. He blamed that habit on his mother and having a big family. But he had realized that it almost always played to his advantage: picking the best breakfast dishes, ample of time for doing homework and things like that, and today was no different.

Fred had gone to the Great Hall for breakfast when he saw two familiar faces in an unfamiliar setting. Oliver and Samridhi were sitting together having breakfast, occasionally chatting. From what he knew about Wood, and he liked to think he knew a lot ('five years worth of experiences' a lot), he knew Wood held grudges. That's why it was really shocking to see Wood talking to Sharma. Fred decided to have a bit of fun with it.

He approached the Gryffindor table and sat next to Sharma, who had not noticed him at all, being occupied with whispering to Wood.

"So, Sharma," she jumped a little after hearing his voice and he sniggered," why had McGonagall called you to her office yesterday?"

Wood, who was sitting on the other side of Sharma suddenly became interested in his spoon and tried not to show any interest in their conversation.

"Oh nothing, she just wanted to talk to me about my interest in teaching, that's all." She replied smoothly.

Fred wanted to have fun, but he knew this was the most he could push her. Another contributing factor that stopped him from annoying her was the fact that he thought she was kind of…wicked; and he had no idea why she was friends with his brother.

Wood, on the other hand, didn't know why he felt relieved. He knew for a fact that he wasn't ashamed of needing tutoring, but he appreciated the fact that Sharma kept it to herself.

He tried to imagine what would've happened if Percy Weasley was the one tutoring him, he probably would've shown off to anyone who could hear.

……..

Sharma and Wood decided to meet after Potions, since none of them had Divination which meant that they had a free period in between classes.

Sharma had concluded that Black Lake would be the quietest place they could study, since it was summer time and not many students would be out in the sun on a hot afternoon. They sat underneath a tree on the side of the lake.

"We won't start today. I just want you to mark all the subjects according to how difficult you think they are for you, one being the most difficult or the weakest subject you have and six being your strongest subject. We'll work on your weak subjects first."

It was the easiest one hour Wood had ever spent studying, if you could even call it that. Sharma spent majority of the time sketching out a rough schedule, occasionally asking for Oliver's inputs.

Sharma had all the subjects Wood had taken except for Muggle Studies, which happened to be Wood's strongest subject - a great benefit of growing up in a Muggle area.

"We'll have to study in the morning on alternate days when there's no Divination. I think it will be better than studying in the evenings. It will be much quieter and you will have the evenings free for Quidditch." Sharma said in the end, as they got up to leave for Defense Against The Dark Arts.

"Yeah, I think it's for the best. Our first lecture starts at 8, right? So how about 7?" Oliver suggested, as they walked through the corridor to Professor Gilderoy's class.

"Seven works for me. But not at the lake, somewhere inside the castle. Mornings here are a little too chilly for me. How about the common room?"

"No, it'll be too crowded. Most of my friends complete their homework at that time while discussing the Daily Prophet. How about the library?" Oliver recommended as they took the final turn for the class.

"Oh no, I don't think Madam Pince would allow that much talking. How about this, I'll ask Professor McGonagall to give us permission to use an empty cla-"

Samridhi had unknowingly crashed into someone. That someone was now looking at her with a very judgemental look, and that someone was none other than Percy Weasley.

Percy looked at her, then looked at Wood, who quickly drew back the hand that he instinctively put around her shoulder to stabilize her, and then back at her.

Before Percy could say anything, Samridhi heard something that was going to haunt her forever…

"Oh, a love triangle… How very youthful!" Professor Lockhart exclaimed from the top the stairs of his office.

The entire class went quiet. Everyone was now staring at the trio, some trying to hold back their smile while others, especially the Slytherins, had broad grins on their faces, clearly enjoying their embarrassment.

Samridhi didn't hear a word Lockhart said after that.

Gilderoy Lockhart had singlehandedly, with a charming smile on his face, turned her life into a soap in front of the entire Slytherin and Gryffindor house students of sixth year.

Oh this was not going to go away easily.

She grimaced.

A/N: As the Muggles say, 'Please Rate and Review' if you liked this chapter!