Name: Oliver Wood.
Age: Look, I'm almost 18 okay? I was just born late in the year.
Hair: Sexily windswept in the way all those other guys who don't play Quidditch try to copy with their hair gels and potions. Suckers.
Current Mood: Euphoric. Boy is Bell going to get the surprise of her life when I wake her up.
Current location: 80 feet in the air, halfway between the castle grounds and the Gryffindor wing of the castle.
Angelina and Alicia could have woken her up, but I volunteered. I was going to scare the bejeebers out of her; I made so many plans and ideas as I flew over to Gryffindor tower. I loved teasing that girl. I don't know why.
Or course, I knew the stairs wouldn't let me in (been there, tried that), but I knew every way into the ladies wings of the tower. (Don't ask; you don't want to know. I wouldn't mind telling you, but you wouldn't want to hear.) But once I saw her, all curled up in her doona, I didn't want to wake her. I tried to shake her softly, but she threw her arm in front of her face, almost slugging me in the nose. At five o'clock in the morning, Katie Bell is anything but soft, quiet and gentle. Okay, plan B.
"BELL!" I yelled. "Katie!" Nothing. I prodded her several times with the end of my broomstick, standing a few safe feet away. "Oi! Bell!"
"Where's the fire?" She muttered. Today was obviously not her day. Little did I know, soon today also wouldn't be my best day either.
Practise was horrible. I hadn't slept at all the night before; I had been devising new strategies and game plans over and over. And the annoying thing was I don't think the rest of the team cared. I mean, I know it was early, but… And then Bell got all defensive, and I just let my nerves get the better of me. I never expected her to follow through, but we locked horns, and I just couldn't back down and before I knew it I have given her 300 push-ups. Well technically she asked for 200 of them. I decided I better work through this tension and just start flying; it always calms me down. Not today.
Today was…beyond words…Bowtruckle droppings. I was yelling at Spinnet and Bell for throwing the Quaffle like girls, but they either couldn't hear me or chose to ignore it.
"Johnson, as a small secret just between you and me, unless you sprout wings in the next few minutes, you're going to need that broom to help you fly. So stop falling off it. Bell, you throw like a girl! And I don't care if you are one, it doesn't mean you don't have to throw like one. Spinnet, you couldn't catch Dragon Pox if you spent all day with Bill Weasley! Weasely, get a haircut! Both of you. And Harry! Potter, where the hell are you, you worthless bludger! You should probably get a decent hair cut too. Bloody hell." And so it went. Until I eventually rounded on the weather, the real cause for the reason I was being such a prick. "And you! Don't even get me started on you!" And then what I think may have been Fred or George's Beater's bat hit me square in the face. I don't know if they threw it at me or the wind had snatched it off them. But that was it. I snapped. I threw it back at the wind. The bat flew right past me again. I wrestled off a glove and threw that. And then the other. And then my shoe. And then other. Anything I could get my hands on. "GAHHHHHH."
One hour later my voice died. And with it so did my spirit. I looked around me. I couldn't see any of my team. I glanced down at the ground. I could see a patch of scarlet, so I decided to end practise. It was almost time for classes to start, and I don't think the rest of my team was here anyway. Pikers. I was shocked when I landed to see Bell. She was doing push-ups. Proper push-ups. Bell always slacks on push-ups, that's why I thought she wasn't serious during our little argument before practise began.
"You don't have to do them," I croaked. I could feel the back of my throat closing up in pain. But she kept on. And when I left the locker rooms, she was still going. And I waited and watched where she couldn't see me. She did all of them. All 300. And she never once slacked off. She'll be feeling that tomorrow.