A/N: The last chappie was a shortie, so you get 2 for the price of 1 this week. Hopefully there are no errors due to the rush in getting this out. (Update: so it turns out there was a typo hiding in here and NO-ONE TOLD ME. I'll just crawl into my little shame-cave now. FML)

Name: Oliver Wood
Age: 18
Hair: this is the hair of a Puddlemere Reserve Player
Current Mood: Introspective
Current Location: Quidditch Pitch.

I should be elated I have a job next year playing on a professional team. I should be partying, but instead I'm in the Change Rooms, wiping all our Quidditch plays off the blackboard, packing my locker up, and clearing everything out ready for the poor bastard who's Captain next year. I know I should be grateful I've been accepted into professional Quidditch straight out of school, but I know I'll miss all this. I already do.

Especially when I keep reliving our last Quidditch Practice. Or more specifically, what went down with Bell afterwards.

When you challenge someone, they can either hold their ground, or back down. With Bell, she'll do everything and the opposite, just to be contrary. There are several ways to do this, and Bell did all of them when I told her I could defend her plays with my eyes closed.

She met my glare with her own.
Held eye contact for several long seconds.
Then took a step forward.
And kissed me.
And it left me completely defenceless.

Sure, girls have kissed me before. And it's been great. But no-one, no-one, had distracted me from a goal. Sure Cally had fucked up my life with all her Veela witchery and drugged ensnarements, but she'd never interfered with my Quidditch the way Bell did.

I'm a Keeper. I block things. I'm good at blocking things I don't want to let in. And over the years I've blocked a lot of feelings concerning Bell. Anger and frustration being the top two, being candidly honest. But I also block out the fear, when she's doing stupid dives. Sometimes I block out the pain, when she's hitting me. And sometimes I have to block out how cute she is, or tone down my appreciation about how amazing a catch was, because I have to be fair to the rest of the team. Because by now I've worked out the team dynamics. The Weasley twins are in it for the fun, Harry enjoys practices because he knows he belongs, and I don't think he had a lot of that before Hogwarts. The girls are on the team because they like to be great at something and have everyone else know it too. Bell is the hardest to plan trainings for because she'll pretend she wants it all to be easy, and when you turn your back she's trialling this incredibly unsafe pass that involves spins and broomstick handles. Because whether she admits it or not, she loves a challenge. Once you get her out there, she'll go hard whether the stadium is packed full of Slytherins or completely empty. But then Bell just went and changed the whole dynamic.

So at the end of practice this evening, when Bell leant in with her hand resting on my shoulder, I did what I'd always done: I closed my eyes to try to block out her presence.

Your Chaser is not leaning in to kiss you, I lectured myself.

Skrewts, I called that one incorrectly.

Every now and then a play backfires, or someone reacts differently to how I predicted and catches me by surprise. But I can't read too much into that kiss – I should just treat it like another one of her phenomenal passes or catches and downplay it. I know how we work together. I play strategy – I set everything up for the long game. Bell plays for the moment – that one fluke when everything just aligns. So that's what the kiss was. A fluke. A once-off. It doesn't mean anything you twat, so stop dwelling. Go and do a few farewell loops of the Pitch, shake it off.

When I emerged from the Change Rooms, Bell was there, shadowy from her Lumos charm. My mind immediately hoped she was there for another replay of that kiss, and I quashed those fantasies before they became too fully fledged. Because of this distraction, I might have been a little short with her when I asked for clarification, snapping,
"What did that on the Quidditch Pitch before mean?" Good Godric, I'd meant to raise that delicate issue sensitively with some tact, in case she was embarrassed about it. Now the poor girl would run off and I'd feel like a bastard and then I'd have to-
Bell crossed her arms over her chest and riposted right back, "It means, I'm still waiting."
Flobberworm mucus, I was not doing a great job predicting my Chaser at the moment.
"Waiting?" I scowled. "For what exactly?" For me to kiss her again?
"For you to admit it."
I set my duffle bag down and leant my broomstick against the time-out bench. "Admit what?" For me to admit it with the best kiss of my life. Because it was. Or apologise for it? Because I won't.
"Admit that I'm a good player and I'm not sloppy." Bell was many things, but she definitely was not sloppy. "That was the terms of the challenge you set this afternoon. And I won."
"Always a competition with you, Bell," I drawled.
"If I recall, it was your idea. You laid down the challenge. Don't be a sore loser because I won."

I think I'd already ruminated that she never was one to back down from a challenge, although she certainly took competitive play to a new level. However... I uncrossed my arms. ...Since she introduced it, not me... I moved over to stand in front of her. Since she changed the rules, so it's fair game... I curled my hand around her wrist, pushing her wand down so the light wasn't shining directly in our faces like a search beam.

"Wood, what are you doing?"

"Seeing if I can do better," I murmured as I closed the gap completely.

A/N: Please feed the hungry author with reviews.
Also, there are only 1 or 2 chapters left, so prepare yourself for the devastation :P Like Wood, I'm feeling a little morose about moving on. Which is why I keep delaying the updates, I freely admit. I apologise for my stupid subconscious not wanting to let go...