Chapter 28

At the beginning of year feast, Dumbledore announced that Hogwarts would be playing host to the Dementors of Azkaban, as they were keeping the school safe from Sirius Black. When Tiannah heard his name, she said to Oliver in an undertone, "I still have no idea why I put a picture of him on my shirt."

Fred Weasley heard this and shot a questioning look at Tiannah.

"I was drunk," she mouthed to him, as though that statement explained everything.

When the feast was over, Tiannah and Oliver made their way back to the Common Room. Tiannah was lost in thought, about both Flint and Diggory. Something didn't add up, she mused. But what it was, she wasn't sure. Oliver noticed the faraway look in her eyes and nudged her lightly. Tiannah snapped out of it and smiled at Oliver.

"Sorry. Just thinking," she explained.

"About what?"

Tiannah knew that Oliver would be a little annoyed if he knew that she was thinking about two people that she shouldn't have been, but if there was anyone who would listen, it was Oliver.

"I think that there is a chance that Diggory was telling the truth about how we broke up. At least, how he saw it."

"What do you mean?"

Tiannah stretched her legs out on Oliver's lap. "Look, I don't know how, but it just seemed so out of character for Cedric to be so... Flint-like."

Oliver shoved Tiannah's legs off him. "So he's Cedric now, is he?"

"Hey! No need to feel threatened!" Tiannah snapped.

"Sorry, Tia. Just instinct, y'know?"

Tiannah rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

As Tiannah and Hestia made their way to potions the next day, they were rudely blocked by Marcus Flint.

"Hello, ladies," he said, leering at the two girls.

"What do you want?" Tiannah snapped.

"Just to say hello."

"In which you have done so," Hestia began, "so kindly move on and don't grace us with your presence anymore."

Tiannah's hand twitched to her pocket, where her wand was concealed. Flint shrugged and moved on.

"God, I loathe that guy," Tiannah spat.

"You ain't the only one," Hestia agreed.

Snape was in a particularly foul mood during potions. Most students wouldn't dare talk behind his back, back chat him or annoy him in any way or form, but Tiannah and Hestia were different.

"Maybe he looked in the mirror and realised that he isn't as handsome as his Mummy told him," Tiannah whispered to Hestia.

Unfortunately, Snape was walking by just as Tiannah said it.

"Would you care to share your discussion with the rest of the class, Miss Summers?" he said coldly.

Tiannah, who was not intimidated by Snape in the slightest, answered him.

"I was just telling my friend that there seems to be something particularly large up your ass this morning. We were discussing what it may be."

The whole class dissolved into poorly stifled laughter.

Snape's face turned an unsightly puce colour. "That's a week's worth of detentions, Miss Summers."

Tiannah shrugged and made a rude hand gesture at Snape when his back was turned.

Oliver winked at Tiannah from across the classroom and she smirked.

After her detention that evening, which involved cleaning cauldrons without magic, Tiannah went back to the common room and sat next to Oliver.

"What are you still doing up?" she asked him. It was midnight, after all.

"Waiting for you."

To Tiannah's embarrassment, she blushed slightly. Oliver smirked as he saw her bright pink cheeks. She stretched her legs out on Oliver's lap.

"You didn't have to."

Oliver rubbed her leg. "No, but I wanted to."

His hand was slowly slipping up her leg and up Tiannah's school skirt.

"Oliver," Tiannah warned, but her resolve was weakening very quickly. His fingers played with the edge of her knickers, and Tiannah very reluctantly pushed his hand away.

"Not here. Anyone could walk in on us."

Oliver looked very disappointed. Tiannah kissed him softly and pulled away, smiling.

"I should go to bed, Ollie."

"Night, beautiful," Oliver said, as he walked up to his own dorms.

As October approached, Oliver held a Quidditch meeting on Thursday evening to discuss tactics.

The Quidditch team sat in the chilly change rooms as Oliver addressed his team, with a quiet sort of desperation in his voice.

"This is our last chance – my last chance – to win the Quidditch Cup. I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it.
Gryffindor haven't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world – injuries – then the tournament getting called off last year ..." Oliver swallowed, as though the memory still brought a lump to his throat. "But we also know that we've got the best – ruddy –team – in –the – school," he said, punching a fist into his other hand, the manic glint that Tiannah had come to know and love back in his eyes.

"We've got three superb Chasers," Oliver said, motioning towards Tiannah, Angelina and Katie. Tiannah blew a kiss at him and grinned.

"We've got two unbeatable Beaters."

"Stop it Oliver, you're embarrassing us," said Fred, and he and George pretended to blush.

"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" Oliver rumbled, glaring at Harry with a kind of furious pride. "And me," he added as an afterthought.

Tiannah grinned. One of the traits that Tiannah loved most about Oliver was how humble he was.

"We think you're very good too, Oliver," said George.

"Cracking Keeper," said Fred.

"The point is," Oliver continued, resuming his pacing, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought that the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on that thing..."

Tiannah looked at him sympathetically. His tone of voice sounded so dejected. I'll make him feel better later, Tiannah thought, grinning at the prospect.

"Oliver, this is our year," said Tiannah, her blue eyes glinting at him.

"We'll do it, Oliver!" said Angelina.

"Definitely," said Harry.

Full of determination, the team started training sessions, three days a week. For Oliver and Tiannah, it was seven days a week. The weather was getting colder and wetter, the nights darker, but no amount of mud, wind or rain was going to tarnish neither Oliver nor Tiannah's vision of winning.

One evening, after a Quidditch training session, Hestia approached the two Quidditch fanatics, smiling.

"You two look like you want to be alone. Follow me."

Confused, Tiannah and Oliver followed Hestia out of the common room and up a staircase. She stopped in front of a wall.

"This is called the Room of Requirement," Hestia said, motioning towards the bare ball.

"Um, Hest? It's just a wall," Tiannah pointed out, worried for her friend's sanity.

Hestia shook her head and paced the wall three times. Suddenly, a black marble door appeared where the wall was.

"The Room of Requirement accommodates to ones needs," Hestia explained. "Say you need... a bathroom. The room will turn into a bathroom."

Tiannah nodded and paced the wall three times.

I want a room that Oliver and I will love to be in together.

Hestia checked the time on her watch and smiled.

"You two have fun," she said, "I'm going to go have some fun of my own, if you catch my drift."

Hestia skipped away, her shoulder-length blond curls bobbing.

Tiannah opened the door and gasped when she saw the room. There were posters of Quidditch players on the walls, an emerald green double bed with a mountain of pillows and a high ceiling, perfect for flying with the broomsticks that were supplied in the corner.

"Wow..." Oliver said, evidently awestruck.

"You are so cute," Tiannah teased, kissing him lightly. He deepened the kiss by putting his hand at the back of her head and biting down on her lower lip. She parted her lips and grabbed the collar of Oliver's shirt, pulling him over to the bed. He fell on top of her and slipped his hands up her shirt, fumbling with the clasp of her bra. Tiannah stopped him at that point, but his hands remained up her shirt. She glared and he removed them, looking slightly sheepish.

"I want to talk to you before you shag me, okay?"

Oliver nodded and asked what she wanted to talk about.

"Okay... I'm not meaning to freak you out... but do you want kids?" Tiannah asked, blushing slightly.

Oliver nodded immediately.

"What about you, Tia?"

"Yeah, I do. But not for a few years. I was just asking because now that we're shagging, I want to know that if we forget to use protection and you knock me up, you won't freak out."

Oliver grinned. "I've always thought that you would be a good mother."

Tiannah cocked her head curiously. "Really?"

"You have such a motherly instinct. I've seen it when you're with Benny."

Tiannah smiled at sat on Oliver's lap, running her fingers through his hair. He truly was a looker, Tiannah gave him that. With his broad shoulders, chocolate brown eyes, the warm smile and the hair that he grew out, so that it reached just passed his ears.

"What about marriage?" Tiannah blurted out, before blushing furiously. What are you thinking! She cursed herself. WAY too soon!

"Of course, love. You are the only person who I want to be with."

Tiannah almost sighed in relief. "Good. The feeling's mutual, Ollie."

Oliver kissed her nose. "I love you, future Mrs Wood."

Tiannah felt her cheeks heat for the second time in less than two minutes. Smiling shyly, she kissed his cheek.

"I don't know if I ever told you, but Hestia sent me a letter with some interesting comments about my last name," Oliver said suddenly.

"Oh, she did a big act about your name once. It was hilarious! I think it went along the lines of 'my Wood gets pretty big when I think about Tiannah Summers'," she said, smiling.

"Smart girl," Oliver teased. Tiannah slapped him lightly.

"She said it when we were twelve. Oh Merlin, I hope you weren't getting horny about me back then!"

Oliver smirked. "No, I wasn't."

Tiannah grinned at Oliver and remembered that day. Hestia had been attempting to cheer her up by pretending to be Oliver. She told him this, to which he smiled.

"This is what she said: Hi, I'm Oliver Wood. This is my broomstick. I would totally marry it, if I didn't have my eye on a certain brunette chaser."

Oliver laughed. "Again, smart girl."

Tiannah snuggled into Oliver's chest, breathing in his scent of broomstick polish, freshly mown grass and a musky cologne that she found appealing.

"I wanna ride your broomstick."

Caught off guard, Oliver exclaimed, "What?"

Tiannah propped herself up on Oliver's chest. "Quidditch innuendos."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Fred and George have been pointing them out ever since they've been on the team."

"I've got a good one," Tiannah said, grinning. "You're my Keeper."

"That was lame, Tia."

Tiannah put on her best mock-offended look.

"I've got a really wrong one," Oliver said.

"Okay."

"I wanna put my Quaffle through your goal."

Tiannah rolled her eyes and grinned. "Let me guess. Fred and George?" Oliver nodded in response.

"Okay, okay. What about... Theo taught me this... damn, are you a beater? 'Cause you sure can hit my bludger."

Oliver smiled at Tiannah. "Okay... this is sort of lame... touch my snitch and I'll give you one hundred and fifty points."

Tiannah wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, that was lame."

As the two of them were drifting off to sleep that night, Oliver kissed her ear and whispered, "I will always be your Keeper."

Disclaimer: This is the twenty- eighth time I have said it: I don't own Harry Potter.