-1A few weeks into term, Gwen was sitting in the common room working on a star chart for Professor Sinistra's astronomy class. She heard the portrait swing open and a very excited Oliver climbed in with his broom. It was nine o'clock and most of the students were in their dorms, but Oliver was flying as late as possible, as usual. He spotted his friend at a study table in the corner near an open window and walked over. "Gwen!" He pulled her up into a hug; nothing unusual for his current mood. "Harry Potter's the new Gryffindor Seeker! He's really good. I'm sure we've got a fair shot at the Cup this year!" Then he did something that was indeed completely unexpected: He kissed her. Not on the cheek like he had done on occasion, but on the lips. Gwen almost closed her eyes and kissed him back, but instead she quickly pulled away. He seemed to realize what just happened because he started stammering through an apology.

"I- should- gotobed," Gwen mumbled, and began stuffing her work into her bag. She stumbled up the stairs, nearly tripping three times. She accidentally entered a dorm shared by three younger girls: Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell. The three Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, one of which was Oliver's girlfriend.

Gwen had gotten to know the three of them over the past couple of years and they were very close friends. She was delighted when Katie and Oliver got together at the end of last year. But just a few minutes ago, Oliver kissed her and she liked it. He was her best friend. She had a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend. It was a good thing Katie and Michael had gone to bed early...

Gwen closed the door louder than she meant to, and a voice called out in the darkness, muffled by curtains. "Gwen, is that you? Is something wrong?" Katie. The last person she wanted to talk to right then.

"I'm fine. Just the twins messing around. Go back to sleep." Quickly slipping out of the room, she dashed up another two flights of stairs. Gwen reasoned that subconscious guilt had driven her into that room. She sat her stuff down and quickly got changed before climbing into bed. She tossed and turned for a few hours, thinking about what happened down in the common room.

The next week was really awkward. Gwen and Oliver avoided each other; they studied at opposite ends of the library or common room, sat as far away as possible in classes and during meals. Michael liked that Gwen was staying away from Oliver because she was spending more time with him. Luckily Oliver had Quidditch practice most nights so she didn't see him much.

A couple of weeks later, things started slowly returning to normal. Neither Gwen nor Oliver mentioned or even hinted at what happened that night. She pushed it to the back of her mind with other things that were too weird or painful to think about. By then, she and Michael had developed regular make out sessions in the common room before bed. When Oliver came in from practice, he went straight up to his dorm without saying anything or even looking at them. He didn't seem to be spending as much time with Katie anymore either. Something was definitely up.

By the third week of October, everything was normal between Gwen and Oliver again. Well, almost. They were buddies again, but something was different about him. He didn't hug her or touch her at all anymore, like he was afraid to do so. And sometimes Gwen felt weird around him, kind of like how she felt around Michael before they started dating. Nervous. Like she wanted to be around him, but then she'd get embarrassed. She started... "noticing" him more. How cute his messy hair was when he got off his broom, or when it was wet. The way he laughed. The twinkle in his eyes when he smiled. Why did she feel like this? Maybe she wanted to be more than just friends with Oliver...

The day was Halloween and classes ended a little early. Gwen was reluctant to leave Charms, where they were reviewing Banishing and Summoning Charms. Making pillows fly across the room was fun. She kept sending them toward Oliver and laughing. She headed back to Gryffindor tower to drop off her bag. When she came back down, she found Michael sitting on a couch and joined him.

"Hey, love," he greeted her, sliding a letter into his robes.

"What's that?" Gwen asked.

"It's nothing..." he said sadly. She decided not to press the matter as Katie and Oliver walked over.

"Halloween! Aren't you excited?" Katie squealed. "I bet the decorations will be better than last year."

"Too bad they don't do a costume ball. That would be so much fun," Gwen said.

"It'd be awesome!" Katie agreed heartily.

The four friends whiled away the time before the feast by playing wizard chess. Well, Gwen and Katie watched as Michael and Oliver played. The competition seemed a little fiercer than usual...

Finally the time came to head down to the Great Hall. Gwen entered to see carved pumpkins on the tables, floating candles, and live bats flying around. They swooped down over the tables, making the lights in the pumpkins flicker. Naturally, she sat next to Michael across from Oliver and Katie, talking, laughing, but mostly eating until Michael grabbed her arm.

"Gwen, I need to tell you something..."

"What is it Michael?" she asked gently, concern showing on her face.

"The letter from my parents..." he began, and she patiently, worriedly waited for him to continue. "I... have to leave at the end of the semester. We're moving to America and I'll be finishing school there," he ended in a rush.

Before Gwen could react to the news, Professor Quirrel burst into the Great Hall and ran to Professor Dumbledore. "Troll- in the dungeon- thought you ought to know," he gasped, then fainted.

It was utter pandemonium, people screaming and yelling, and Dumbledore had to let off several firecrackers to quiet the crowd. He ordered the prefects to lead their Houses to their dormitories, and the first years stuck close behind Percy. In the bustle, Gwen soon became separated from her friends. She started looking around for the three of them to no avail when she felt someone grab her hand. At first she thought it was Michael, but then... she knew that hand... it was sort of rough, very strong...

She turned her head to see Oliver. She was worried for a while, but since he was there she knew that she was safe. He held her hand all the way to Gryffindor tower where they found Michael waiting. Oliver quickly- yet reluctantly- dropped Gwen's hand, and Michael saw nothing.

"Gwen!" he exclaimed, rushing over. "I was worried when we got separated... and what I said... Oh, Oliver, Katie's waiting for you inside." Oliver nodded curtly at the obvious dismissal and climbed into the portrait hole. "I'll understand if you want to... break up... you know..." he continued slowly.

Gwen hugged him and kissed his cheek. "No; not now anyway. I'll stay with you..." This cheered him up quite a bit, and they went inside. Michael gave Oliver and Katie the news. They expressed their regrets, but Gwen could tell Oliver wasn't being entirely sincere.
The twins came down from their dorm, and they were informed of the situation.

"We'll help you go out with a bang," Fred said, winking.

"I'd like that," Michael replied, an odd glint in his eyes.

October turned to November, bringing with it the start of the Quidditch season. Oliver had been training the team even harder in preparation for the first match: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Not everyone knew that Harry Potter was playing Seeker, but those that did were anxious to see him play. Oliver and his team seemed quite confident of his skills, sure they would win the Quidditch Cup that year.

When time for the match rolled around, the whole school flocked out to the stadium, and Gwen pulled Michael into the front row.

"I don't see why we had to come to the match. I would have rather stayed in the common room with you," Michael said, snaking an arm around her waist.

"I never miss any of Oliver's games," Gwen said absent-mindedly, scanning the field below to see if the team had left the rocker room. She adjusted her Gryffindor scarf.

"What's your deal with him?"

"'Deal'?" She whipped her head around to look at Michael. "There's no 'deal'," she snapped. "We've been friends since we were six."

He removed his hand from her waist and shifted to lean to the other side. "Whatever you say, love."

"If you're going to be an ass, don't call me 'love'," she said coldly.

Before he could reply, Lee Jordan announced the arrival of the team. Gwen stood and cheered loudly as seven figures in scarlet marched onto the field. She spotted the tallest one with brown hair and smiled even wider. They continued walking to meet seven figures in green: Slytherin. The game began. Half the time she watched Harry and his Seeking skills, but the other half she had her eye on the Keeper. All too soon the game was over, Gryffindor claiming victory. In her excitement, she forgot that she was mad at Michael and reached over to kiss him. Then she pulled him from his seat and dragged him out onto the field to meet the team before they went into the locker room.

Gwen lost Michael in the throng again, fighting her way to the team. She stumbled, but before she fell she felt someone in front of her grab her arms. She brought her eyes up to meet a chocolate brown pair. Oliver. He stood her up, still holding her arms, and the two just stared at each other. They seemed lost in one another's eyes for several moments until he shook his head vigorously and let her go. Gwen heard Michael calling her name and turned to see where he was, but when she looked back, Oliver was gone.

The first weekend of December meant a Hogsmeade visit and Christmas shopping. Gwen also realized there were only two weeks left until Michael left. She got Fred and George a bunch of stuff from Zonko's, a couple of cute sweaters for Katie, and Oliver would receive a broom servicing kit and a ton of chocolate from Honeyduke's. She didn't buy anything for Michael, but made him a scrapbook of his time at Hogwarts, and especially their last year together. The six met up at The Three Broomsticks when they finished their shopping, where they grabbed a table in the corner to enjoy their Butterbeer. Going around the table, the seating arrangement started with Gwen, then Michael, Katie, Oliver, Fred, and George, so she was between Michael and George and Oliver was across from her.

About halfway through her Butterbeer, Gwen started to feel someone's foot rubbing her own. At first, she thought it might be accidental, but the rubbing continued. She didn't want to just duck under the table and she didn't have anything to drop to steal a look. Fine then. She would just sit there trying to figure it out. She began to look surreptitiously around the table. She thought she could tell which direction the foot was coming from, but everyone looked completely normal. It wasn't directly next to her, so that excluded Michael and George. That left Oliver and Fred. She thought- and hoped- that it was Oliver. She looked around the table again. Nope, nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary about anybody. Everyone chatted happily until Michael noticed Gwen's silence.

"Are you all right, Gwen?" he asked, putting his hand on her leg.

She gave him a puzzled look for a moment then shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Oliver coughed.