Chapter 4 - Fleeting glances
October 1991
The next time oliver saw Rayna was during Slytherins Quidditch practice.
He was making his way to the Gryffindor locker room as he found it helped him focus on writing plays in his book. There were no distractions or people trying to talk to him there.
Before he got to the red door that would lead him to his quiet place; flashes of green caught his eye.
In a moment of curiousness, he made his way to the opening that lead to the pitch giving him a view of everything. He knew he shouldn't watch, but he was curious, you can't blame him really.
He stood by the opening, hidden from view. Leaning against the wall he spotted Rayna in they sky laughing at something Pucey had said to her.
He watched her fly for a while, she was a good flyer; it looked natural to her. She had speed and agility and made it look effortless compared to the others. Although Oliver wasn't really watching the others. It was kind of mesmerizing watching her tune everything out and focus on flying while tossing a Quaffle back and forth between her and Pucey.
She caught them effortlessly and her throws were precise every time, landing exactly where she aimed.
Oliver gasped as he watched the scene play out in front of him. A bludger came out of what seemed like no where and was heading straight towards her yet Oliver could see she was unaware, looking the other way laughing at Pucey while catching the Quaffle.
Oliver was about to shout in warning but Pucey beat him to it which was good as he would have been spied and the Slytherins would not take that lightly.
"RAY! watch out!" Adrian shouted diverting her attention away from their previous laughter, his eyes widened as he watched the bludger head straight towards the chaser, his fast reactions from being a chaser weren't kicking in as he was too in shock that a bludger had made it way this quickly towards her without him noticing.
Without looking she moved quickly to the side in shock at Adrian's shout knowing it was a warning of some kind that must not be good.
She didn't move far enough and the bludger collided with her shoulder, the impact making a loud cracking noise and she soon lost control of her broom, not expecting it.
A look of pain resided on her face and Oliver's gut twisted, he knew how much it hurt to get hit by one.
Luckily Pucey's brain kicked into action and he was now close enough to help control her broom holding onto it to pull himself closer and steady her from falling.
Pucey looked around the sky once Rayna was safely on her broom. He glared at the beater who was looking their way with wide eyes, he looked scared as he knew that his mistake would not end in good consequences. The fear written on his face told Adrian that he knew Flint was going to be fuming.
"You fucking idiot" flint shouted loudly and Oliver could hear. Oliver could see how angry Flint was and he would definitely never want to be in that beaters position. Ever.
When Slytherins got angry, they got insane.
Flint flew closer to the beater shoving him roughly before flying down to the ground where Rayna and Pucey had landed.
"I think it's broken. I'm gonna take her to Pomfrey" Adrian said to Flint assessing Rayna's shoulder. She winced as Adrian let go of her shoulder.
Flint nodded patting Rayna's good shoulder. "I'll come and see you as soon as I'm finished here, i'm going to kick the shit out of Bole" he growled.
Adrian and Rayna made their way to the opening where Oliver was standing. He ducked out of the way before they could spot him ad quickly walked into the Gryffindor locker room.
He heard the two Slytherin's outside, stopping just outside of the door.
"i'm just gonna grab our bags, will you be okay out here for a sec?" Pucey asked.
"yeah, i''l be fine" she spoke through gritted teeth as her shoulder was causing her pain.
Oliver decided he would step out of the Gryffindor locker room to see if she was okay. The door squeaked making Rayna jump where she stood watching the Slytherin door for Adrian to come out of.
"Carrow" Oliver greeted as they met eyes.
"Wood" she greeted back giving him a small smile but he could see she was in pain, holding her shoulder.
"are you okay?" he asked knowing she wasn't.
"Bludger hit me, guess the beater had pretty bad aim, but ill be alright" Rayna smiled.
How could she be smiling when her shoulder was broken he thought.
She winced in pain as she moved a little.
"Here I'll help you to the hospital wing" Oliver said when Pucey came out with their bags.
"no need to" Pucey said to him glaring.
"okay, well... hope your shoulder get's better soon, i'm sure Pomfrey will fix it in no time" Oliver spoke
"thanks" Rayna replied before walking after Adrian who was a couple spaces ahead.
She glanced behind her to see Oliver staring at the space she had just been standing, he didn't move. She turned to look ahead again watching the back of Adrian as she followed him.
She missed how Oliver looked up, watching her retreating figure until she was out of sight. He then went back into the locker room, taking out his book and beginning to work.
"I'm going to kill that idiot Bole when I see him" Adrian growled "how could he be so stupid to send a bludger with that much force when we were only warming up" he was bitter and really annoyed. Him and Rayna were planning to practice more tricks that evening.
Once they made it to the hospital wing Madame Pomfrey quickly walked over to them fussing over Rayna.
"Oh my dear" she said rushing her to sit down. "Don't worry I can fix bones in a heart beat" she said running to her supply room.
"I've never broken anything in my life" Rayna spoke frowning. It was true, she had never broken anything.
"There's a first for everything" Adrian spoke. It was silent for a couple minutes as Pomfrey made her drink a funny looking potion.
"So you've never broken anything at all?" Adrian asked , she must have broken a dinner plate or a vase before, surely.
"Nope, never" Rayna said.
"Not even someone's heart?" Adrian asked chuckling while raising his eyebrows.
"Guess there's a first time for everything" she laughed with him.
Flint came running into the hospital wing, Adrian still there keeping her company while Madame Pomfrey fixed her shoulder.
"are you okay?" He asked Rayna straight away not paying attention to anyone else.
"I'm fine, just a broken shoulder" she said as if it was nothing.
"Luckily I can easy fix it and it will be back to normal by the end of today" Madame Pomfrey said. Rayna thanked her repeatedly.
"He's lucky I didn't kick him off the team" Flint was speaking to Adrian but Rayna wasn't really paying attention. "i mean what was he thinking. He can't just hit bludgers in random directions. Maybe I should get a new beater and make flyers to see who wants to try out"
Rayna just laughed quietly not knowing how to respond.
Meanwhile, Oliver was getting frustrated at himself. He couldn't think of anything new to try out at practice. None of his plays and strategies in his book would work in their favour against the Slytherins. Sure he could predict some of their new moves from the chasers but the rest of his team seemed to struggle at the game. It had thrown them off.
The only thing Oliver could say to them is to pay attention and be alert. Anything was possible and he wouldn't let his team assume that certain moves were dangerous and that the Slytherin's wouldn't do them. Because Oliver knew they would, they shouldn't be under estimated.
Fred was right that the Slytherins were out for blood this year.
Gryffindor had a big competitor for the house cup and were in danger of losing it due to the teams attitudes towards them. Oliver felt like he was the only one who really cared this year, no one else was taking it seriously enough. Every time he tried to talk to his team they told him he was being silly and that they won so they shouldn't worry.
But the game was down to luck. It was Harry who won it and he didn't want his team to be comfortable with letting the seeker win it. They needed the chasers to put up a fight and score as many as they could so they could still win even if the seeker didn't catch the snitch.
Oliver couldn't stop thinking about how one girl had changed the whole of Slytherin's strategy so drastically. He wasn't prepared for that and it came as a shock. She was going to make this year a lot more harder for him than he had expected.