I sighed as I sat in Wood's office, wondering how long he planned on keeping me here. He's having me help him write the schedule for the Quidditch season, and apparently nothing is right with it.

Because, well, you can't have the same team playing twice in a month, because the captains need time to practice all the things that went wrong in the last game, and you can't have a match two weeks in a row, because then they aren't so exciting.

And, in case any of you were wondering, I just don't really care about this. "How about we put the Hufflepuff Slytherin game on the twentieth of February?"

"No, no, you can't have a game on Fridays! Captains need time to prepare before the game, mentally," Wood insisted, physically shooing the idea out of his head with his hand.

I might kill him. "Then make it the twenty-first."

"No, no, that interferes with the Slytherin match versus Ravenclaw in March."

"Well, move that one, then."

"We can't, it's the only time the Ravenclaw team can play." Really, is putting together this schedule that hard? I mean, it's... what, five-ish games? Plus two or three for the Cup. This schedule should not be this intense.

"Why is that?"

"Their captain has a wedding; she's requested to return home that next weekend, and after that we have to schedule the teams for the Cup matches."

"Of course," I responded, rolling my eyes.

Wood smirked, "Feeling properly punished, Darling?"

"Shut up," I responded, "Move the Ravenclaw Slytherin game to just after Christmas break, that first weekend back."

Wood shrugged as he flicked his wand, the piece of paper floating up towards the new date and pinning itself in. "I guess that works."

"Of course it works, now can I please leave?" I started to stand, praying that I could be out the door before he said no.

"Not until the schedule is finished," Wood responded.

I groaned, "Wood, there are two games left."

"Yes, the most important ones - Slytherin versus Gryffindor and Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff!"

"Those aren't that important," I responded, falling back into my seat.

Wood's jaw dropped, "Have you ever been to a Quidditch match in your life?"

I scoffed, "Yes. How else would I know I hate the sport?"

Wood pursed his lips at me, "Just concentrate, Darling. You're a Ravenclaw, you should be great at puzzles."

I let my jaw unhinge, "That is so prejudice!"

"How is that prejudice?"
"Just because I'm a Ravenclaw I'm good at putting together puzzles?" If I play this right, I could get out of here!

"Well, you're supposed to be smart, so why not good at puzzles?"
"Good at puzzles and having some form of intelligence is very di-"

I would've broke into a long, angry rant about Wood's assumptions and how false they were, but I was cut off with a loud bang. My neck snapped as I turned to look out the window, green sparks showering down from the sky.

I hurried to the window, Wood following me and pressing himself against my back almost uncomfortably as he leaned his neck out to see what had made the sound. We gasped simultaneously at the shape the sparks had taken - the Dark Mark.

Almost immediately, Wood flinched, hissing and whispering to me, "Darling, get to your room and lock the door."

I turned, my brow furrowing as Wood fell away from me, turning towards the fireplace, "Wood, are you al-"

"Get out of here, Darling. McGonagall will want to talk to you," Wood said, only barely turning to talk to me.

"Are you hurt?"

"Go," Wood barked, and I nodded.

"Alright, Wood."

I hurried from the room, glad that he and I were in his castle office, as opposed to his one at the Quidditch Pitch. I only had to turn and run up some steps to get to my dorm, where I found an owl already waiting for me from McGonagall.

I picked up it's note, stroking it on the head carefully before sitting on my bed and opening the letter.

Miss Darling,

Please report to my office immediately.

McGonagall

The handwriting, while normally carefully and elegantly curved, was quickly scribbled and nearly illegible. She had five other letters to write, as quickly as possible, and I could only dully note that it made sense as I emerged from my dorm, my timing exactly matching Tom's.

We glanced at each other as we met in our Common Room, but we just kept on towards McGonagall's office, the gargoyle already moved aside as we caught sight of Flitwick hurrying up the stairs. By the time Tom and I were there, so were two of the four Heads of Houses - mine and Hagrid.

I sighed in relief at seeing my Head of House, kneeling next to him, "Professor Flitwick, what's going on?"

Flitwick looked very shocked at the entire situation, "I don't know, Darling. I just don't know."

I gulped - Professor Flitwick was one of the few teachers I had complete faith in. He and I had always just gotten along. He thought I was funny, and I thought he was, if nothing else, one of the most respectable teachers at Hogwarts. It resulted in a surprisingly comfortable, strong bond between the two of us.

Wiggins arrived quickly, followed by Sprout. Last to arrive was McGonagall, who emerged from the door at the back of her office, "Good evening. I trust you all saw our little reminder of the war outside?"

Everyone else wordlessly nodded, but Flitwick flittered to her side, "What was it, Minerva?"

McGonagall looked down at her Deputy Headmaster, "Besides the Dark Mark, Fillius? I don't know."

"Was one of the students hurt," Tom questioned, standing dutifully next to Wiggins.

"We don't know yet, Mr. Worthington," McGonagall responded quickly, obviously in short tempers. "I want all Head of Houses to return to their Common Rooms and take roll. Worthington, Darling, go patrol the halls, and if you see any Death Eaters, you are not to confront them; you are to escape and report to me. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded, leaving to hurry towards their respective posts. I thought about asking if we should go outside, but thought better of it. Besides, I should probably be concentrating on keeping my eyes open for Death Eaters.

"I'll take the dungeons and the first four floors; you take from floor six and up," Tom instructed, and I nodded. Now wasn't the time for fighting.

As Tom and I arrived at the staircase, where many students were standing around, looking scared, we counted to three silently before shouting, "ALL STUDENTS TO YOUR COMMON ROOMS!"

"Good luck," Tom added before taking the first staircase down he could find that wasn't moving. He hated moving staircases.

"Yeah," I responded, obviously nowhere nearly as worried about him as he was about me, continuing to instruct students toward their Common Rooms.

-Switch to Oliver's POV-

I groaned as Darling slammed the door, falling to my knees in front of the burning fireplace. "Damn it, why does he make it hurt so much? I'm doing my job, aren't I?!"

"Of course you are, Wood," A voice taunted from my fireplace, and I bit my tongue to hold in the scream. I'm sure it doesn't hurt anyone else this much. The burning, the stinging, was it all necessary?

"Now, Wood, I wish to inquire about how your little mission is going," The face in the fireplace sneered at me.

"It's going fine; I'm working on it."

"Do you have any information for me?"

My face fell, and I took to staring intently at the ground, "No, I don't, my-" I grit my teeth, the word tasting bitter, "My Lord."

"Tsk, tsk, Wood, you should know better. Charm the room, Wood."

I didn't have to ask to know what the Dark Lord meant - this had happened when I first denied the mission. It was meant to be humiliating - accepting the punishment. In addition to torture, the Dark Lord had to remind me that he was the dominant one in the relationship - I was his little bitch.

Grabbing my wand from my desk, I saw that Darling's was resting next to it. That might be dangerous. "My Lord, are you planning a surprise attack on Hogwarts?"

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named chuckled, "If I was; I would've told you, wouldn't I? You'll pay for that question, Wood. You know better than to ask me questions."

I sighed as I locked and silenced the room, kneeling back before the fireplace. At least I knew Darling wouldn't be caught unaware.

"Crucio!"

I groaned as I dragged my feet through the corridors, wanting nothing other than to go and collapse into bed. It was nearly two in the morning, and Tom and I had been running all over the castle, searching for one very stupid student who decided that instead of returning to their Common Room like they should, they would cower in fear in the kitchens.

Because we all know that House Elves are just the thing to scare off an army of Death Eaters, most of whom have their own personal House Elf army.

The Dark Mark proved to be nothing other than an establishment that there is at least one Death Eater, or Death-Eater wanna-be, at Hogwarts. All the students are alive and well, in addition to all the chickens, slugs, and every other creature that can't defend itself. We didn't find any student whose wand had cast the Dark Mark, but I don't think McGonagall could bring herself to search the teachers' wands.

But instead of going to bed, I have to sneak down to Wood's office and steal my wand back before school tomorrow. Admittedly, I have until lunch tomorrow before I have any classes, the result of a very generous McGonagall, but still, I don't think I'll be able to sleep without my wand.

I bit my lip as I turned the door knob carefully, finding it was locked. I closed my eyes, desperately trying to remember everything Flitwick was teaching us about wandless spells. I gripped my hand, trying to pretend that I had my wand to control my magic.

"Alohomora," I whispered, smiling with pride as I heard the lock click open. If I could, I would give myself twenty points right now.

Carefully opening the door, I leaned in to look around. The fire was out, so it was hard to see anything, but I could just make out the form of the furniture. Guess he went back to his room, I decided, slipping and searching blindly around the desk in hopes of finding my wand.

I gasped as I knocked over a jar of something, "Shit." But what was worse was when I heard the pained moan of one Oliver Wood.

I turned, my eyes wide to find him in a lump in front of the doused fireplace. He sleeps on the stone floor in his office? But then he groaned, turning over gripping his stomach. Panicked at being caught, I finally closed my fingers around my wand and whispered a little too loudly, "Occieo"

I reached a hand up to tug at my hair as I looked down, hoping I'd gotten my pronunciation right. But I sighed in relief as I saw nothing. Occieo was a dangerous charm; like a concealment charm, only more intense, and used to make invisibility cloaks work. I'd learned it in Transfiguration earlier in the week, along with its dangers. If I hadn't done it right, I could've somehow accidently made myself magnetic.

But I'm invisible and things aren't flying toward me, so I count this as a job well done.

Wood groaned his he looked down towards his feet before letting his head hit the stone floor painfully. Slow and steady, Aly; maybe he'll think its Peeves opening the door. Just don't make a sound... no matter how un-Peeves-like that is, just don't make a sound.

I gasped as I felt my heel come into loud-contact with the door, banging against it. Wood looked up, and I froze as he eyes somehow caught mine. Impossible; I'm invisible. "Darling?"

My hands immediately found their way into my hair, Guess not. "I just really needed my wand, Wood. I'm sorry for disrupting you, I'll just be-"

I turned to open the door, still trying to figure out what part of me was visible, when Wood pushed the door I was halfway through opening closed, his body close enough for me to feel his heat.

"Darling, stay." My heart skipped a few beats as I turned to look up at him.

"What?" Something told me, though, that I shouldn't be doing this; I should push his arm away, walk out the door, and try to remember how to reverse this damn curse. I really didn't want to know what he meant.

"Stay," Wood said, his hand reaching out and finding my cheek.

His thumb carefully searched for my lips, and I had half a mind to bite the appendage before he replaced his gentle thumb with his rough lips.

I gasped myself awake, my body tensing before realizing it was all a dream. A very, very icky dream, that makes me want to puke a little. Reassuringly, I reached towards my bedside table, where my wand was resting. I'd gone, I'd gotten it from Wood's office, I'd escaped, and I was now visible.

There had been no kissing, a fact I'm suddenly very grateful for. It wasn't even something I paid attention to before, and I know if I start paying attention to it everything will get worse. Cause then I'll be nervous, and that just isn't cool.

Wait, hold on, I care if Wood thinks I'm cool?

Oh my God, am I WOODIE?!