Chapter 6 -

November 1991

Oliver was having a bad day.

Just this morning, Gryffindor had a match against Ravenclaw. They won, but only because Harry caught the snitch. If Ravenclaw had scored three more times they would have won without catching the snitch. This did not sit well with Oliver.

This is exactly what Oliver had been trying to explain to his team. None of them seemed to be taking his strategies on board, easily letting the other team score and relying on Harry to catch the snitch. He was not happy with his chasers for letting this situation happen. He knew they could do better but for some reason they didn't try their hardest. Oliver only knew that thy could do better as he had seen them play amazingly over the years.

He had tried scheduling more practices but his team were not happy about it. Every time he tried to talk they rolled their eyes and told him to stop lecturing them.

Angelina had been distracted the whole game, Alicia was glaring at everyone and anything, including her team mates and Katie just looked annoyed at both of them, frustrated that they weren't paying attention. The Gryffindor chasers normally bounced off each other, Oliver wished that they didn't bring personal issues onto the pitch, it affected everyone's game.

Oliver was frustrated at his team and he was going to lock himself in the Gryffindor locker room until he had calmed down enough to face them in the common room later.

He tried to focus on his playbook, flicking through his previous strategies scribbled in ink. However, it just made him more frustrated.

Throwing his playbook at the locker it made an unsatisfying sound.

Standing up and running one hand over his hair in anger, Oliver let out a frustrated shout and slammed his fist into a locker once, then twice. He was met by a much more satisfying bang.

However, his hand tingled painfully as the lockers were charmed not to dent or damage.

Outside, a loud bang could be heard from inside the Gryffindor locker room. Rayna was just coming out of the Slytherin locker door when she heard it.

In concern, she hesitantly knocked on the red and gold door opposite her.

It was quiet on the other side, she couldn't hear any movement. Oliver heard a small knock on the door, he knew it couldn't be any of his team mates as they would have just walked in.

He hesitated before moving to the door. He opened it without looking who was there before walking back into the middle of the room.

"are you okay?" a voice asked. It was the last person he expected it to be. Her voice made his head snap up to meet her eyes.

"i'm fine" he said, voice nearly emotionless.

Standing before him was the girl who had been stressing him out for the past month because of her odd but really effective Quidditch technique's.

"you don't sound or look fine" she spoke walking further into the Gryffindor room. Rayna hadn't spoken to Oliver since Halloween a couple weeks ago. But it didn't feel like that. Just yesterday they caught each other looking at the other across the Great Hall during dinner.

"just stressed" he said not really wanting to tell the Slytherin girl. He didn't think he could trust her, she was a Slytherin and in Oliver's eyes that meant he should be wary. Although she hadn't shown anyone a single reason for being in Slytherin, there must be one that will eventually show.

"why?" she asked curiously.

"Quidditch" he replied.

"Quidditch?" she chuckled a bit. It was odd to her, why would anyone be stressed over Quidditch, it was a fun activity to play. "why are you stressed over Quidditch?" Her eyes scanned over the interior of the locker room. It was the same layout as Slytherin's but the walls were red and the lockers golden compared to green and silver. Her eyes landed on a book that had been thrown to the ground.

Quidditch plays

Property of Oliver Wood

Rayna wanted to laugh a little at the fact he had a book dedicated to Quidditch plays. She didn't realize he took it this seriously.

"you want to know why i'm stressed out because of Quidditch" Oliver laughed almost harshly. "becuase it's what I want to do, I want Gryffindor to win to prove I can run a team, but people like you are making it hard"

"people like me?" Rayna asked confused. She hadn't done anything.

"yes, people like you" He said his voice rising along with his frustration.

"what do you mean people like me?" she asked her voice rising a little aswell.

"I had new strategies worked out around the teams, I spent all summer working on them and then you come along and changed the whole of Slytherin's strategies" he glared at her. Suddenly angry at how he wasted his time.

"why are you blaming me? I'm only on the team to have fun" she defended herself.

"it's competitive, you aren't meant to just have fun, you're meant to be in it to win it" Oliver said shocked at how she thought Quidditch was just a bit of fun. It was his life at the moment and he felt insulted. "you're so infuriating" he stressed.

Rayna didn't like this conversation and wished she never bothered to see if he was okay.

"I thought you were nice" she said frowning, dissapointed that he wasn't what she expected him to be like. He had seemed really nice previously.

This shocked Oliver a little, but it was her next words that left him stunned and regretting what he said.

"thank you" she spoke walking towards the door.

"for what?" Oliver asked following her.

"for saving me from that troll on Halloween" she said "but next time, don't bother" she said not facing him and walking out the the door, letting it shut behind her. Oliver's face fell.

He was left feeling bad that he wasn't very nice to her when she had been nothing but. He watched the door as if she would reappear and he could apologize but he knew she had left. He cursed himself silently for taking his anger out on her, she hadn't really done anything wrong and he didn't know why he called her infuriating.

Oliver was having a terrible day.