"This may never start, we could fall apart
And I'd be your memory
Lost your sense of fear, feelings insincere
Can I be your memory?

I love it.
Listen to Memory by Sugarcult as you read this, preferably the acoustic version.
And then go check out the banner I made especially for this chapter. The link will be in my homepage, because I have enough experience with trying to deal with this editor and links.

Oh, and the last part was inspired by a scene from Smallville. Want to see it? On youtube, search 'Top 50 Clana Moments Part 8.' It's number one, and starts at 4:10.
:)

I sighed dramatically as I pushed the Entrance Hall door open into a chilly wind and early setting sun. Life had not become any less complicated in the past week - Penny and Susan had gotten into one of their blown-out-of-proportion fights, Willow was having a major case of PMS, and all Siren could talk about was her anonymous almost-boyfriend, whom she refuses to give an ultimatum.

"Darling," Scottish-boy-extraordinaire called from behind me, rushing up and smiling downwards as his eyes collided with mine, "I was hoping I'd catch you on your way down. I want to talk to you."

I gulped - in addition to a horrible social week, it'd been a horrible sleeping week. Four times I'd dreamt of him - four times! And worst, it wasn't always a mindless snogging dream I could play off to a hormonal outburst.

No - sometimes they were just sweet relationship dreams. Like last night, an evil hag turned me into a dragon that everyone wanted dead and Wood was the only one to believe I had once been human and was willing to help and protect me. It was like Beauty and the Beast went horribly wrong.

And now he's found out about the completely meaningless dreams and is going to have a talk with me about how inappropriate they are, I figured glumly. But I'm only glum because the Wood/Darling rumors will start up again, somehow. Those are just tiring.

"I think you're ready to take your test," Wood confessed, taking a quarter of the walk to finally spit it out.

My jaw fell open, both from the shock of the news and how different what I'd imagined and reality, "What?"

"Well, really, you've become very adequate, almost talented, at broom control, when I'm not there."

"Huh," I stuttered, something clicking in the back of my mind.

Wood broke into a long-winded discussion of my 'bloody brilliant' technique, but I ignored him completely; wrapped up in my Ravenclaw-esque world of discovery. The symptoms - they only happen when Wood is on the broom with me! I'm over my fear of brooms - I'm just physically repulsed by Wood! My problems are solved!

"So I'll give you the test tonight, and I'm expecting you to pass. It wasn't that hard - you could've passed it ages ago, I'm sure."

I smirked up at Wood, suddenly in a great mood, "Then why didn't you give it to me before?"

Wood smiled back down at me, and I recognized a mischievous glint in his eye, "I need something to do on a Saturday night, don't I?"

"Because you couldn't possibly get a date; not with that ugly thing you call a face."

"Then again, who needs a date when I've got your angry and hateful comments to tide me through to my next fan girl? Blind hatred should always conquer true love." Wood teased, flicking his wand expertly as we stood in the middle of the Quidditch field.

"It's not blind hatred, it's a staggeringly clear disliking," I clarified as Wood handed me the broom he'd summoned.

Wood didn't reply, leaving me to start to tug at my hair as he created a series of rings. Supposedly, I'm going to fly through those rings in some inane order. My stomach squelched - what if I'm not ready? What if Wood is setting me up for failures so he can laugh at me and hold me back for ten more years for more convenient torturing? Oh God, oh God, oh my Merlin's God, p-

I felt a rough hand tangle itself into my hair and still my hand before pulling it down to my side, "Darling, you'll do absolutely fine. I wouldn't let you try this otherwise. You'll pass, I know you will."

A glance into Wood's brown, mischievous-lacking eyes made my stomach plummet and left a distinct pushing against my chest. It's just repulsion, Aly. Keep breathing, and you'll pull through this. In, out, in, out.

Slowly, Wood tore his stare away and my organs returned to their normal functions. See? Physical repulsion. No funny business going on here. It's all very serious - I'm going to pass my test and graduate. My future is riding on this. Heh, and I'm riding a broom. I smell irony and metaphors.

"Alright, to pass the test you just need to fly through ten of the rings."

I waited for a minute, waiting for the rest of the directions, "That's it?"
"I said you'd be able to pass it. It wasn't a particularly hard - you're the only one that failed it."

I shook my head in amazement, "You really don't know when to shut up, do you?"

Wood shook his head, smiling down at me, "You'll do fine, Darling. Are you nervous?"

My hand slowly found it's way back into my hair, "No."

"Do you need a hug?"

"No."

"I think I'm going to hug you," Wood replied.

I sneered up at him, "You're disgusting. Do you even know how to hug?"

"Of course I know how to hug."

"Yeah, well, don't demonstrate, I might throw up," I replied, actually a little serious. Physical repulsion, remember?

"Ouch. Just let me go take a seat at the edge of the field and then you can start," Wood replied, not outwardly concerned with my insults.

I sighed all of five seconds later, swinging my leg over the broom, "I'm going now, Wood!"

"I'm not ready, Darling," Wood called back, using my same tone.

"I'm getting bored, Wood."

"I'm conjuring up my chair, Darling."

"Wood, I'm rising into the air," I called, pushing hard off the ground to float precariously in the air.

"If you fly through the first ring before I say go, I'm allowed to fail you!"

"And then I'm allowed to fly this broom up your-"

"Just start," Wood cut me off, obviously laughing.

I smiled from my perch in the air, ignoring the physical repulsion that I could feel starting. I threw myself into the first turn, hoping to somehow throw off the nausea that accompanied my nervousness.

One ring down, nine to go, I thought, looking around for an easy ring. There were fifteen or so spread around the ring, at various heights and angles. No two were the same, and I guess Wood made sure of that. Cause he's the devil, and all.

Well, I pondered, wishing I could risk bringing my hand off the broom to tug at my hair; no, this was to risky to steer one handed, I'm not all that sure he's the devil. I mean, except for the dreams, he isn't even that bothersome anymore. Our bantering is kind of… fun.

I choked a little as I flew through the third ring, the second already well behind me. The ring disappeared in a poof of smoke, leading to a further, very non-intensive coughing fit. Wood's panicked scream followed seconds later, "Are you alright, Darling?!"

"I'm fine," I coughed as the smoke around me vanished, vacuumed away into Wood's wand.

"Look, look, you just have seven more. Do you want me to fly next to you?"

I took my first deep breath of clean air, straightening on the broom, "I'm fine, Wood." I looked down, meaning to glare at him, but he just looked so… worried. And instead, completely unintentional words spilled from my mouth, "Thanks, though."

Wood paused, obviously shocked at the words I instantly regretted. They triggered random pieces of my physical repulsion, including the pressure between my ribs. Pieces of random movie and television love scenes flashed before my eyes, mainly ones from the movie I watched with the girls just a week ago.

"Love is there if you want it to be. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of your life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it."

I shook the quote from my head as I concentrated on rising to make it to the fourth ring in time, at the perfect angle. I'm not missing anything with Wood, much less… the 'l' word.

Alright, so I've got some problems with the word love, that's not what this is about!

Another deep breath and I was through rings five, six, and seven. My mind was buzzing, mostly with that quote, but none of that is important. What's important is I just got through ring eight and am heading towards nine and ten, which are the only two on the same height. I just have to dive shallowly and pull back up and I'm home free.

And before I could blink, I'd done it. I'd gone through ten rings. Excitedly, I whooped, followed by a shout from Wood! Wood! I was bordering delirious as I dove for the ground, hitting it running for Wood. He was running straight back at me, and if I didn't know better I'd think we were running at each other so that we could get into another fist fight, like second year.

But as I 'collided' with Wood, he wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me up as I pumped one fist for joy, tucking the other around his neck… for security. Oliver and I continued to yell and scream as my hand finally fall.

And when it fell, I kind of couldn't help but notice how it slid down Oliver's hair, and how his breath hitched slightly and his body tightened at the touch. I gasped as his arm tightened, along with the rest of his body, and the screams of joy died very quickly in our throats as Wood and I realized just what we were doing.

Flexing my foot quickly, I found that I was not within touching distant of the ground. Judging on how much taller I am than Wood all of the sudden, I'm probably around a foot off the ground, held up only by Wood's tight arms and his chest.

The physical repulsion, which I'm starting to suspect isn't actually repulsion, started to take over, and I was scared that I was going to faint from the way my chest was caving in. Oliver just kind of gaped for a second or two, like a fish out of water.

Hold on, Oliver? Since when do I call him Ol-

I didn't get the chance to finish my thought, though. Oliver's two seconds of gaping were up, and he suddenly thought of something much more fun to do with his lips. He pressed them against mine in a hurried, rough frenzy of movement.

Someone else might call it a kiss.

But no, it wasn't a kiss. And even if it were, I only responded for a second or two. Because I lost my head - I called him Oliver. I didn't think he was Wood, I thought he was a kid named Oliver. And that's the kid I kissed back, momentarily spreading my fingers through his hair.

And almost as quickly as it started, it stopped. I was left breathless, staring into Wood's dark brown eyes, alit with excitement and confusion. But what was there to be confused about?

"That was… an excitement kiss."

"Yeah, yeah, that was… a fluke," Wood offered, letting his arms go so I could slide slowly down his body.

I shivered, biting my lip as I ignored the strangely enticing feeling of him against me. Because it wasn't enticing. You all are being ridiculous. "I know what a flute is, Wood, and that was no instrumen-"

"A fluke, Darling," Wood smiled down at me, "You need to learn to listen to me."

And then Wood looked at me, and again he became Oliver. The stare was… well, if his body pressed against me wasn't enticing, then at least the way he was staring at me was. It was… deep. And the damned physical repulsion reared it's ugly head again. And just when it had started to settle after that kiss. I mean flute… er, fluke.

I gulped, trying to swallow passed the vacuum chamber that was my ribcage, "Yeah, well, I can… learn that with someone else. Cause I passed, didn't I?"

Wood sniffed, pulling at the bottom of his sweater as he looked away, "Uh, yeah, yeah, you did."

"So, I don't need the lessons anymore, and you'll tell McGonagall to let me graduate."

"Yeah," Wood wiped at his nose, looking back down at me, "Yeah, you can, um, go."

"Well…" God, this is awkward. "I guess I'd, you know, better be going. My friends won't want to kiss, I mean, miss this. It's a big moment in my life."

"Yeah, right," Wood muttered as I turned on him, scurrying away to die of awkwardness and embarrassment in my room.

And really, dying has other benefits - I don't even have to worry about why I kind of want to kiss him again.