Hey again everyone.

I know the Rating is R and its only been about PG so far, but in the upcoming chapters it gets deeper.

I hope you enjoy the story.

Keep reading and REVIEWING!

Enjoy!

Maegen

Disclaimer: The wonderful world of Harry Potter does not belong to me, I'm sorry to say. It's all the creation of J. K. Rowling.

Since Percy had Potions while Oliver and I had Charms, we were again alone in class together. Our seats were off to the side, out of the way of everyone else, Oliver, again near the wall, with me on his other side.

Snape was rather distraught all throughout class. Even more than he normally was. His face, if possible, was contorted to make him look even angrier than the usual, and was nastier than all my years at Hogwarts.

"Someone had a bad summer." Oliver whispered as Snape whipped around at a student who had coughed while he was talking, leaving only inches between their faces.

Through a sneer and gritted teeth, Snape spat at the terrified student, "You will do well to hold you disruptive bodily functions till your body walks through that doorframe on the way out at the end of class. Understood?" The poor student, eyes wide and cowering on his stool only nodded and winced. Snape spun on his heel to again pace the classroom during his lecture.

Either Snape had a broomstick stuck in a very unpleasant place, or something occurring this year was definitely making him furious. Whatever the reason, I hoped it would go away before he hexed a student for sneezing.

He immediately gave us a potion to complete before the end of class for grading. It was surprisingly complicated for a first-day-back-potion. Still, too afraid, no student let out a single groan.

Oliver hunched over on his stool, he leaned over the table writing notes, his potion bubbling beside him. I admired how serious and intent he looked. His potion looked perfect. As he wrote, his arm wrapped around the top of his parchment and his hair just barley brushed the page. The chamber was so dark, he had to lean in closely to read his own handwriting.

As I admired him, I continued to drop in the ingredients. Lifting a beaker of phoenix blood, my arm swung to the cauldron, my eyes stayed on him. Just as I began to tilt the beaker to pour out its contents, the bottom hit the edge of the cauldron and tipped out of my hand. Quickly, I jumped back, but Snape was at the front of our table in an instant. Oliver's head snapped up and examined what had just happened. His eyes narrowed at Snape.

Snape barred his teeth and glared at me, his voice was venomous. "You stupid girl! Look what you've done!" A hole had burned straight through the table. Oliver began to straighten in his chair, not taking his eyes off Snape. All I could do was stare back at Snape wide eyed and frightened. I opened my mouth but no sound came out. He had never looked more terrifying to me. "You're supposed to be Head Girl. I had no idea you were such a NIT-WIT! 20 points from Ravenclaw!" His eyes burned into mine, as Oliver's burned into the side of his head. Snape didn't notice Oliver starting to slowly rise from his chair.

All eyes in the class were on us. Hands stopped in mid-air, jaws dropped, and not a single breath was let out. Quickly, although still terrified, I regained some of my sense. I reached into my robe and pulled out my wand.

"I'm sorry Professor, it-it was an accident. I'll-I'll fix it right now." My wand pointed at the hole and the spell was at the tip of my tongue when Snape smacked my hand away rather roughly and raised his forefinger to point at my face. It actually stung and felt like someone had just pierced my skin with an icicle.

Instantly however, Oliver grabbed his wrist and squeezed it tightly. I saw Snape wince but his eyes turned harsh immediately and his head snapped to Oliver's direction. Oliver's eyes were just as harsh and glaring at Snape threateningly.

"Don't you EVER touch her. Not EVER." Oliver spoke slowly and softly through gritted teeth. Although he spoke low, I'm sure the entire class heard his threat. Snape opened his mouth but Oliver gripped his wrist harder and began to twist it slightly. Snapping his mouth shut, all Snape could do was glare back. My heart pounded. I wasn't so afraid of what Snape would do to Oliver, but more of what Oliver would do to Snape.

After about another 30 second of glaring at each other, Oliver threw down Snape's hand, but kept his cold expression. His wrist was red and looked sore. Snape looked menacing, but an ugly sneer made its way across his face.

"Wait till the Headmaster hears about this." He threatened Oliver, but Oliver looked unfazed. Instead, he held himself even higher and seemed like he was gazing down at Snape.

He shot back, "Yes, I'll be pleased to tell him all about how you had the audacity to hit a student, and the school's Head Girl no less."

Snape's sneer faltered, but he straightened and snapped his head around to me again.

"Clean up this mess, Ms. Clearwater. And for your clumsiness..." He turned to look at Oliver and smirked. Then, with a whip of his wand, my potion disappeared. "I'm making you start from scratch. Hurry up, I'm grading these." He threw Oliver a self-satisfied smirk and walked away.

Before I could stutter out any objection, he was at his desk. I was not about to follow him. I looked helplessly at Oliver. He just nodded at me and turned back to his work. The eyes, one pair at a time began to fall back to their own potions. I was left standing there completely helpless.

It had taken me almost 45 minutes to get to the point I was at with my potion, and now, with 10 minutes left of class, there was no way I would be able to finish. As Head Girl, getting a bad mark on my very first potion grade was not going to be good at all. It would be one thing to my grades, but surely Percy would find out and it would never be lived down. I couldn't stand the thought of his bickering about how I shouldn't be so careless. And of course, there was no way to explain that I was too busy watching Oliver to pay closer attention to the potion.

Frantically, I began working. There was no time to cut everything again and get all new ingredients, so I just scooped up whatever leftovers I had from the other potion. After about five minutes, I realized that it was all wrong. I was only about a quarter of the way through, and the proportions were completely wrong.

With five minutes left of class, I decided to give up and sulk. I plopped down on my stool, put my elbows on the table, and rested my cheeks against my fists. I absolutely despised Snape.

I felt pressure on my shoulder, and looked up to see Oliver leaning over me to look into my cauldron. My potion was a deep purple color, but it was supposed to be a lime green.

He shook his head and looked down at me. "Tisk, tisk, my dear Penelope."

He was actually going to criticize my work after all that had happened? What was wrong with him?

Then, he pulled out his wand and smiled at me. My jaw dropped and before I could stop him, he made my potion disappear. I knew it was bad, but a bad grade was better than getting a complete zero. I was shocked. A minute ago, he was defending me against one of the most despised wizards in England, and now he was ensuring my failure. Was he bloody insane?

All I could do was stare up at him with my eyes wide and mouth gaping. There were no words to describe what he had just done.

Before I could even begin to express my shock and anger, he did another thing that shocked me. Glancing at Snape, who had his back turned, he turned to his own potion and whispered, "Loannecanto." Then, he flicked his wand to tap my cauldron.

A lime green liquid began to fill my cauldron and started to bubble, filling the cauldron halfway. I stared dumbstruck into the potion. Then, I glanced at Oliver, who was busy again with his own work. I continued to stare at him astonished until he turned and gave me one of his sly smiles. Then, he reached to his palate and scooped up 2 slivers of snake skin. I stared into his cauldron, which was now half-full, as he stirred them into his potion which made it turn a deeper green than the perfect lime green color that was in my own cauldron.

He smiled at me again as he poured his into a glass bottle and inscribed his name with his wand.

"You better hurry up and get that bottled before class is over. You don't want to stay here any later than you have to, do you?" Then he walked up to Snape's desk, gave him a huge smile, and placed his container with the others. I sat in my place, still dumbfounded.

Oliver Wood had just cheated in Professor Snape's class. He cheated, for me. Percy would never even consider doing anything like that.

"Come on, Penelope, do I have to bottle it for you too?" He asked, sliding back onto his seat.

Regaining my thoughts, I quickly shook my head and poured some potion into a small bottle. I stood up to hand it in, but Oliver grabbed my arm.

"You should clear that out in case he gets suspicious. Just to be sure. Tell him you already cleaned up." I nodded and did as he said. He was quite sly. Maybe he had Slytherin blood. But I was sure not even a Slytherin would dare cheat in Professor Snape's class. That's where the Gryffindor bravery comes in.

I grinned to myself as I got to Snape's desk. He looked up at me shocked. Seeing my smile and thinking I was mocking him only fueled the fire in his eyes. Instead of saying anything, I shrugged and walked back to Oliver, who handed me my books as we left the class. We walked out without bothering to repair the hole.

As soon as we were in the dungeons, I let out a long held in breath.

"Oliver, I cannot believe we just did that. Won't he know if we have the same potion?" I couldn't contain my excitement. After all, I had never before cheated in any way, and for me, this was very exciting.

"No, that's why I put in the extra snake skin in mine. It'll be different now. Even is he does suspect it, he can't prove anything." We was very calm and relaxed about the situation, but my thrill amused him and a smile played his lips. "You know, you're great to watch when you're happy. I hardly ever really see you like this."

"Well, Mr. Oliver Wood, maybe you just bring out the best in me." I laughed and smiled at him, skipping ahead a little then turning back at him. Alone in the corridor, I decided to have some fun. I felt giddy and wanted him to join me in my fun. He didn't resist, and ran to catch me. I let out a small scream and ran into a room branching off from the corridor.

We circled the room, him on one side, me on the other. It was a cat and mouse game.

"You know, I hardly ever really see you like this either." I told him as we circled.

"Well, Ms. Penelope Clearwater, maybe you just bring out the best in me." Now he stood in front of the door. I laughed, then dodged to his side to try and get around. He was quick though, and caught me, scooping me up in his arms. We laughed loudly as he swung me around.

He held me above him and pressed my back against the wall. Our laughing slowed as we looked into each others eyes. His face was soft, a small smile still on his lips. I concentrated on the blueness of his eyes and felt as if I were swimming in them.

"I guess I'm too slow for those fast quidditch reflexes, huh?" I asked him, still looking deeper into his eyes.

"I knew they would come in handy someday." He answered softly.

Slowly, he lowered me until my feet touched the ground. His arms still wrapped around me, I stood on the balls of my feet, still staring at his eyes.

My chin lifted, as he arched his neck to lower his lips to mine. My body screamed out for him. There was nothing more I wanted at the moment then to be right in this spot with him.

Suddenly, he jerked away. His mouth opened and closed, making no sounds. Shaking his head, his eyes pleaded with me to tell him to stop. I didn't want to, but guilt quickly began to sweep over me, and I had to look away. He slid his arms out from around me and backed away slowly.

Standing there staring at me, he waited for me to make some sort of movement. I couldn't bring myself to look at him, so with my head down, I turned and walked out of the room. He followed close behind the rest of the way, but still kept a good distance. Although we walked in silence, I felt his eyes on my back.

But the worst thing going through my mind, was the fact that if he hadn't stopped us, I knew that I wouldn't have either.