A/n: Hello my fellow Witches and Wizards! I have absolutely no excuse why this update got so late, but I poured my heart in this chapter, I really hope you like it. I've made a new Pinterest board to give a current/newer face to all the major characters(if you don't like the casting, please please don't stop following my story) . 'll keep adding characters to it, but if you have any suggestions/vision for ANY character, I'm only a PM/Review away. I want to inform that Samridhi Sharma will not have a face, because I want every reader to have their own version of her. Alright, this has gone too long, but if you want to check out the board, I'll link it in my author's bio!

Percy Weasley had no problem with getting out of the 'love triangle'. Penelope Clearwater, of house Ravenclaw and Percy's girlfriend, had paid no heed to the rumors, simply because she knew two of the three parties involved - Samridhi and Percy personally. Others, Percy didn't really care about.

Things were, however, not really looking particularly bright for the other two parties. Although both Sharma and Oliver had tried to ignore the rumors, it was affecting both of them on some level, mostly due to the fact that things were almost opposite to the rumors spreading around.

Oliver was particularly bugged because the rumors had taken a weird sort of twist. Alicia had told Fred, who had told Angelina, who had told him that the whole school thought that he had a thing for Sharma but Sharma had a thing for Weasley and Weasley just viewed Sharma as a friend. And he DID NOT have a thing for Sharma. Sure they had become civil as she'd started tutoring him, but it would be pushing it to call their arrangement even friendly, let alone romantic.

Sharma, on the other hand, understood why the rumors were coming around. Ever since Lockhart's dreadful class that day people had started paying more attention to her, quietly whispering among themselves as she went by. While observing her day to day activities, they probably had, she theorized, seen her with Wood when she was tutoring him. And that was the sole reason why even after three weeks, the rumors hadn't died down, neither had people's (mostly young girls) keen attention towards her.

Speaking of Wood, she was really impressed with his work ethic. He was always on time, did his homework as per her guidelines and was really making terrific progress. He had no problems in understanding the intricacy of wrist movements and vowel intensities of Charms, his weakest subject, it was just the practice he lacked, along with the poor habit of not taking detailed notes.

...

Samridhi made her way after her potions class to meet Wood for that day's session. She was in a hurry, since Snape had held the class back for a few minutes to give them an essay to write over the weekend on wolfsbane potion and its properties and nature.

She was mentally mapping her essay out when, yet again, she collided into someone, causing the few books that were in her hand to fall.

She bent down to pick them up as she opened her mouth to apologize but the other person beat her to it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize where I was going," the voice spoke up.

Samridhi finally lifted her head to take her share of the responsibility when she realized who she had collided with - Marcus Flint, Chaser and Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team.

She finally came to her senses and realized that she had been sort of staring him and quickly babbled, "Oh no, I wasn't paying attention either. Equally at fault."

She give him a final smile and rushed towards the lake, thinking how late she was and how Wood would definitely make some snide remark on that.

…..

"Alright, you're all done for today Wood, just practice the wrist movements, we'll try the Engorgement Charm on this book tomorrow. And again, sorry for being a little late today" Samridhi concluded, apologetically.

"That's alright, I'm only rigidly concerned about punctuality on the Quidditch ground, it matters much more to me than any subject or class." Wood replied, idly tossing his book back in his bag.

"Then why were you willing to give it up for the same subjects and classes?" Samridhi blurted out and, as soon as she'd spoken those words, immediately regretted it. She and Wood weren't that close, heck, they weren't even friends, she had no right to ask such a personal question.

She knew she had made a mistake when Wood suddenly became very serious and rigid, his eyes focused on a tiny dandelion that stood alone amongst a bunch of other wild flowers.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. It's a private matter."

"My dad's a Muggle," he started, much to her astonishment, "and in the Muggle World when an athlete gets seriously injured, they're usually out of the game or it leaves a lasting impact on their health because Muggles know no healing charms."

"When I started showing interest in Quidditch, my mother had explained to my father what it all entailed and at that time had jokingly said that although a few people disappear, no one had died playing the game. Since then, he's had an apprehension towards it, and it started growing more and more as I became older and started getting injured in games. My mother and I have tried to explain so many times that medicine and health of muggles are far behind ours. He got fed up after my results last year and asked me to drop Quidditch, because one injury could ruin my entire life and career."

Oliver felt as if the weight was lifted off his shoulder, he had no idea why he told her out of all the people he knew, but it felt good that someone finally knew the truth, other than him and his family.

He guessed it was because he was under the impression that she didn't care, and because he knew she hated his guts enough not to show him any pity. And that's exactly the only thing he didn't want - pity and sympathy.

"Did you ever wonder," she whispered quietly, "how and why did I join Hogwarts, in the middle of school education? My dad got a job at the British Ministry of Magic, as a representative of India, but my mom had her career that she didn't want to leave, and so they decided that she'll stay there and my father and I, we'll go to England. I found out about it when my mother barged into my room one day and started packing up my stuff to move. Now, I only see her on Christmas and after the term ends. Even then it's only for a few days. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and they love each other, but they've sacrificed a lot for their careers, including having a real functional family." She sighed.

Oliver knew the instant she'd stopped speaking why she'd told him something so personal. She wanted him to feel secure about his secret, that it'll stay safe with her, as she was expecting and hoping he'll do too. She had silently given her trust in exchange for a hope, that he'll give his to her.

And for the first time in his life, Oliver Wood truly looked at Samridhi Sharma, as a friend, but at the same time something else entirely, something that made her different than all others, something he couldn't really point a finger at. Someone…a little bit different than a friend.

As they sat by the end of the lake quietly, and comfortably, in the company of each other, still comprehending their thoughts andfeelings about what had just happened, none of them realized that they'd both missed their Defense Against The Dark Arts class.

A/n: As Muggles say, "Please Rate and Review!"