Okay, this one might start with hate, but you'll love me at the end, I think. It's one of those cute chapters.

And yes, this chapter is named after the Sugarcult song 'She's the Blade,' because it's pretty much Aly's theme song. Have you guys noticed all these chapters are named after song titles? I'm clever like that.

Clearing my throat and ignoring the suddenly tight feeling in my chest, akin to when I'm using a broom, I scooted forward and fell backward to lay my head on the log that Wood was still sitting on. A few seconds later, he joined me in the sand, moving imperceptibly closer to me in the process.

I bit my lip, ultimately hating the silence and the chance to analyze, "So, what's keeping you awake?"

Wood shook his head, "I was asleep until I heard the fish."

"So why can't you go to sleep now?"

Wood shrugged, picking at a tuft of grass shooting out of the sand on his other side and mumbling, "'s nothing."

Oh come on, that's just an invitation to be nosy. "Come on, you can tell me."

"Just a bad dream," Wood responded, continuing to pick at the grass for a few minutes before giving up and laying his hands on his abs.

I nudged him with my elbow, surprising both of us with my sudden physical, bare-skin contact, "What about." There should've been a question mark there, but it wasn't a question.

Wood looked down at my elbow before taking a deep breath, "I'm not sure it would be a proper topi-"

"Wood," I cut him off, "Do you know how nosy you are about my life? Really, it's only fair that you tell me something that I can't find in a magazine interview."

Wood smirked, "You're really hung up on that whole star-aspect of my life."

"Actually, I'm hung up on this dream. Come on, you can tell me, strictly off record. I can even analyze it for you." Wait, let's back this up. "Or not."

Wood glanced up at me, raising an eyebrow, "I can analyze my own dreams, thank you. I took Divination, just like you did. "

"But I love analyzing dreams. I think it's really interesting. And it's just not very good teaching to deprive me of something educational that I love to do," I replied, quite aware of the sexual insinuations of what I was saying. But no one's awake to hear them, so what's the harm?

Wood sighed, "Fine. Only because of-" His face broke into a foretelling grin, "Of my duties to you as your teacher, under promise that you not repeat this to anyone."

I raised my two fingers, "Scout's honor."

Wood looked at me as if I'd suddenly grown a head, "What?"

"Nothing, just tell me."

"Well," Wood said, obviously still not comfortable with the whole idea as he scooted closer to me so he could whisper. I couldn't help but notice how our bare arms were pushed against each other as he started, "It starts out normally enough - I'm flying along over this beautiful forest when this pecky little falcon starts to attack me, and forces me to land. I try to get back on the broom every now and then, but the falcon just appears out of nowhere and starts to attack me. So instead I try to make my way on foot, and I come into the valley. And in the valley, I see..."

He trailed off, obviously having trouble how to word the next part. Wanting to comfort him, I reached out to take his hand, "Go on."

Wood stared at my hand for a few moments before he went on, "My friend. Only she's not my friend anymore, she's a fairy. And she keeps telling me that I need to get back on my broom and make peace with the falcon, and so I do. But the falcon just won't leave me alone, and then I faint, and then I wake up."

My thumb rubbed Wood's in the most comforting way I knew how , "Is that all? Anything else that sticks out?"

"Nope."

"Well," I said, biting my lip, "The flying could mean anything for you, because you're you-" Wood rolled his eyes, "But it typically means having an open mind. The falcon represents a strong-willed person, so it's possible that you feel like a particularly strong-willed person is trying to make you give up your open mind, or something else you love." Wood's hand tightened around mine, and I tried to continue as carefully as I could. It hadn't occurred to me before that I was entering dangerous territory by interpreting my teacher's dream, "When you see someone as a fairy, it means you need help concerning this person or from this person, probably something to do with the falcon. Fainting just shows that you have an inability dealing with the falcon, or person that the falcon represents."

Wood snorted, but I didn't get the feeling it was a laughing sort-of snort, "Well, alright then."

I reached my free hand up to my hair for a moment before sliding as close to him as I dared, my hand still tucked away in his, "Wood, do you need to talk?"

Wood snorted, this time mocking, "The dream meant nothing, Darling. I just let you do that for your own amusement. Remember? I only did it as your teacher." He stood up, brushing the sand off his pants and starting towards his tent.

"Oh," I replied sarcastically, standing to follow him, "But you give me social advice just for the hell of it? Or do I let you do that so you can have your fun as a teacher?"

"That," Wood turned on me, trying to decide what to say, "That's just different, alright?"

"How? God, remind me to just always hate you, cause the moment I give a damn at all, you just turn into a royal asshole."

"Watch your mouth," Wood said, starting to walk away before turning back and questioning, slightly livid, "Who says you need to give a damn about me and all? I'm the teacher, I should be the one worrying about you."

"Cause you're obviously the picture-perfect stable-man. Can you sustain any real relationship that isn't with a ball and a broom?" Oh, where are my friends to make a joke out of that? Cause it'd be just wrong for me to make a gay-joke in the middle of this argument, but it definitely needs to be made.
"That doesn't affect anything, Darling. All that matters is you need to keep your abnormally small nose out of my business. It isn't appropriate."

Wood was in his already in his tent by the time I could swallow my anger enough to hiss a response, "Well, then you can just keep your abnormally small-in-number social experiences to yourself next time I'm in a fight with my friend!" God, he's infuriating. That wasn't even a decent come-back. I'm off my game, again. It's all his fault.

-Switch to Oliver-

I sighed as I sat in my tent, listening as the birds twitted and chirped around me, reminding me of the loud-mouthed girls that Darling called her friends. Not that Darling wasn't loud, she obviously was just as loud as them, but she wasn't screaming about nature and no homework all through the hike. Honestly, I'm not sure how Hogwarts hasn't exploded from those girls just being there.

But of course, I can't think of Darling's friends without thinking of Darling, and when I think of Darling everything goes wrong. I'm not at Hogwarts for romance, or even for pleasure in general. I'm here for my duty to my father. Darling shouldn't even be a blip on my radar. She isn't. She's just a student, no more important than any of the first years.

Psh, I firmly spat at myself, immediately followed by a bombardment of images that I'd care not to remember. Like how I saw her at Diagon Alley the month before school had started, while I was broom shopping, and my first thought was that she was familiar, followed by the realization that, even with chocolate-stained lips and teeth, her smile was nothing short of addictive.

Yes, apparently Oliver Wood is a poet in addition to the ex-most promising Quidditch player since Zaney Zabini, the disgusting ancestor of the rather untalented Blaise Zabini. I smirked to myself, remembering the note in Miss Phillips file that she had taken a swing at Zabini after 'mitigating circumstances.'

But then, of course, Miss Phillips led me to think about her brother, which in turn reminded me of the night I'd tried to help Darling out, and then had to talk Wiggins out of giving her a detention. Now that was a dangerous situation. It's one thing to let the students talk; hell, it's fun to hear what they come up with. But when Wiggins talks, I get to explain to my old Head of House that no, I'm not involved sexually with the Head Girl.

Oh, I don't want to follow the path that will take me. At least when I think of her all chocolate-covered, it's cute.

Wait, no, bad thought!

"Professor Wood," A slight-looking Hufflepuff by the name of Melissa Radeau leaned in, her hair tied back with a carefully-crafted bow, "Are you awake?"

"What do you need?"

"I was wondering if Prince and I could go for an early-morning swim."

"Yeah, sure, don't get hurt."

I stood up, looking around the tent. Really, I don't know why these kids wanted to go camping - with these tents, we mine as well be at Hogwarts. What with the fireplace and the comfortable bed. Really, there's no point.

And in case anyone cares, I can turn that into a thought about Darling, but I won't. Because I don't know that her tent is four down from mine, or that she's sharing it with that girl they call Siren, and so I can never remember her real name. And even if I did, Darling is not a blip on my radar. She's blip-less. Sans blip.

Pulling on a shirt and walking passed the divider to my personal student-hosting hall, I pushed the image of Darling shifting there yesterday, teaching me about punishment, instead making my way out of the tent. I caught sight of the foretelling blonde hair sitting alone on the beach, pages spread around her carelessly.

"Darling," I barked at her, mentally berating myself for being so masochistic and putting myself through the endless torture of her presence. "Come and get more firewood with me so I can make breakfast."

She glanced over her shoulder, glaring at me dangerously, "The Head-Boy extraordinaire already got it."

"Well... make me coffee." Oh, that's the worst idea I've ever had...

"Excuse me?!" She got ready to stand and fight me for her rights, but instead I decided to back down. I swear, I don't think I've ever backed down before. Alright, that was a lie, but it always bothers me when I do back down.

"Nothing, nothing," I replied quickly, reaching into the cooler that was kept next to my tent's entrance and pulling out a package of breakfast meats.

The next few minutes were awkward. The only people awake were Darling, the two girls splashing obnoxiously in the lake, and me. All I could do was sit by the fire, hovering a large skillet over it and cooking the food.

Eventually, the smell of sausage pulled people from their beds, but this was of course the moment that Darling stood, sitting a respectable distance away. She leaned in, whispering, "I'm sorry I invaded your privacy last night, or whatever."

I nodded, glancing over my shoulder and trying to look like I wasn't having this conversation. She apparently doesn't like being seen with me, "I won't butt into your life anymore. I don't know whatever came over me."

"Don't worry, Wood, you're naturally stupid," she responded cheekily, before standing and swaying away.

And really, that's what it looked like she was doing. Swaying gently with ever step she took, as if she were flying. Really, most of her movements she does as if she's light as a feather, floating on air. I don't get why she's so scared of flying.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, "Professor Wood? The sausage is burning."

I cursed as I saw the black smoke billowing out of the pan in giant puffs, like some oversized pipe. Using my wand to throw the pan into the lake, I was rewarded with only a loud belch of laughter from Darling and the screams of two girls as the sausage started to float towards their maddened splashing.

"Calm down, calm down, it's just sausage," I yelled as I hurried towards the lake.

"SNAKE! IT'S A SNAKE," one of them screeched, leaving Prince, who may or may not have been the screamer, to jump into the arms of a near-tears Radeau.

"It isn't a snake," I tried to yell over them desperately, wading into the water to try and calm them.

Moments later, a loud boom sounded behind me, shocking the squealing girls into silence, "It's not a snake, guys!"

The two girls looked at their Head Girl in utter amazement, their jaws dropping a little as Darling turned casually, gathering her papers and muttering about how she'll never get her work done.

Smiling nervously, I grabbed the frying pan and left the meat to float aimlessly in the water, "I tried to tell you."

"God, she's been pissy lately," one of the girls muttered, and I glanced back at them, already halfway back to the shore.

Now, what was it that Darling said? Rules broken: erm, harassment, endangering the safe learning environment, yeah, I can say that. Priors? Well, they have a prior in being loud and annoying, so two more. And how it reflects on the school, a ten. That's a total of fourteen, right? And then you have to round up, I'm sure...

"Twenty points from Hufflepuff for gossiping," I responded, smirking to myself. That was very justified. Very, very, very justified. I used the system.