Andy's Second Year—Oliver's Third Year

For as long as anyone can recall, the Carrins have been Quidditch players. In fact, eight of Andy's ten uncles were Quidditch players, and both aunts. Her father played for the Cannons, and her mum for the Harpies. It was just naturally expected that Andy would play too. Which wasn't a problem, as Andy loved Quidditch to begin with.

Still, it didn't help much for her nerves when she got letters from nearly every relative she had asking if she was going to try out for her second year. She was going to, of course, but now that everyone knew, notmaking it on the team was not an option. It would be completely humiliating, and Andy didn't take well to humiliation.

She was going out for Seeker, against another second year, three fourth years, and a sixth year. Andy felt sure none of the them were as good as her, but she also knew that she had a tendency to bollocks things up when she was too confident, or too nervous, and at the moment she was swinging wildly between the two.

Which might explain her response to a third year grabbing her shoulder, and saying, "Oi! Calm down, girly, you look like you're about to have a sprog."

Andy whirled around, slapped the boy in the face, then cried, "I'm fine! Do I look like I'm preggers? I'm going to be Seeker! My mum said I looked fine."

The boy blinked his brown eyes once before laughing. "Merlin, you look more nervous than the other players did when they found out the little second year they're going against was a Carrin."

Andy looked at the other people trying out for Seeker. They didn't seem too nervous to her. "They look fine."

"Trust me, they were worse a few minutes ago," said the boy. He raised an eyebrow. "Personally, I don't see what the big problem is. You're just a second year, and not a very menacing one at that."

Andy snorted; this shrimp of a boy had the nerve to sayshewasn't menacing? What a git. "I'm aSeeker,you idiot. If I was some bulky hulk of a thing, then I wouldn't exactly fit the part, would I?"

He looked taken aback for a moment, before grinning. "I like you. Name's Oliver Wood." He stuck out a hand, which Andy took after a moment. There was a pause. "This is where you introduce yourself."

"I'm Andromeda Carrins, but you can call me Andy," said Andy. She shook her head. "No, actually, youwillcall me Andy. Andromeda is just…" Andy trailed off and made a face.

Oliver laughed. "Awful? Terrible? A name guaranteeing your child will be made fun of?"

"Shut up, it's a family name!" protested Andy, even though she agreed on the inside. Her mother's name was Celia, a perfectly nice name. Heck, even Riddick, her father's name, wasn't so bad.

"D'you think you'll be made Seeker?" asked Oliver. He'd tilted his head to the side a bit, and it highlighted the fact that he had rather large ears; of course, his ridiculously short hair probably didn't help much.

"'Course I will. I'm brilliant, you'll see." Andy placed one hand defiantly on her hips. "That is,ifyou make the team."

"Oi! I've already made the team," said Oliver. His puffed his chest out. "I'm Keeper!"

"You're on the team already?" asked Andy. Had she been so wrapped up in the proceedings that she hadn't even noticed part of the team had already been chosen? Then, she vaguely remembered seeing this boy at the games last year. "How's the captain? I heard he's a total dictator."

"Dictator?" asked Oliver. His face screwed up. "What d'you mean?"

"You know; constantly telling others exactly what they have to do, making up crazy rules because he can, basically being awful."

"Oh…isn't that what a captain is supposed to do?" he asked. He shook his head. "That's how all the captains are, I'm told." He leaned in. "In fact, I heard that the Slytherin captain makes his team run four killers before and after practice, every time. And, he won't let them eat anything but protein shakes before games, because he thinks they'll perform badly otherwise."

Andy's eyes widened; she'd had a protein shake of her mother's once and it had tasted nearly as vile as her father's cooking. "That's awful," she whispered. "No wonder no one wants to be in Slytherin."

Oliver snorted. "I don't think that's the reason, girly."

Andy was about to reply with an utterly brilliant retort, when the Gryffindor captain whistled. "Alright, anyone who is interested in the position of Seeker, come here!"

As Andy straddled her broom and prepared to fly to where the captain was, Oliver called out, "Good luck!"

"Please," Andy replied, "luck is for pansies and Slytherins. I've gottalent."

Then she was off, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Author's Note: Okay, I figured I didn't exactly want to rush the next chapter, as I'm pretty sure it will be fairly long, but I did promise another chapter soon, so here is Andy and Oliver's first meeting. For some reason, I imagine Oliver as a totally goofy looking third year with dumbo ears...a bit strange, yeah?

Edited to add year of flashback.