Broken Pact

Shutting the bathroom door, Gabi felt completely and utterly embarrassed. Why in the world had she squeaked like that? 'Well, isn't it obvious?' her brain asked her. 'You didn't want him to see you looking like a frizzball in a terry bathrobe!'

Quickly, she pulled a brush through her hair, got into her favorite Rainbow Brite pajamas, and opened the door for a second time. Oliver was standing there, looking at her oddly. She composed herself.

"Sorry 'bout that." She managed to giggle at herself. "You just scared me, is all." She allowed herself a smile, which led to him cracking one as well.

"Quite all right. I should apologize for scaring you. You're Gabi Martin, aren't you?" he asked, remembering. Gabi was amazed he could remember her name.

"That's right," she replied. "You're Oliver Wood, are you not?" she queried in return, her eyes sparkling.

"But of course, milady," he said dramatically, sweeping a deep bow. "Who else could I be?"

"Well, you could be D'Artegnan, from-"

"The Three Musketeers? Are you sure you weren't in Ravenclaw?" he teased, poking her in the side.

"Hey!" she squealed in mock indignation. "How dare you poke me!" She hit him playfully, laughing. Then she realized the other two girls were staring at them.

Oliver turned purple. "Gotta take shower-erm-right," he muttered, speeding into the empty bathroom. When the door was shut, Roxanne wiggled her eyebrows at Gabi.

"What was THAT all about?" she asked, looking at the girl. "I'm Roxanne, by the way."

"Gabi, it's nice to meet you. And what ARE you talking about? We were just teasing each other."

"Yeah, in a very flirtatious kind of way," Jess spat, looking upset.

"Jessi, what's wrong?" she asked, looking at her friend in concern, but actually knowing very well what was wrong with her.

"You know what's wrong! You know I like him, and yet you go and put on your innocent-girl charms and he goes and charms you right back! What were you DOING, Gabi?" she asked, hurt in her eyes.

Gabi bit her lip and looked at the ground.

* * *

Oliver Wood stood in the shower, frowning. He had a very delicate situation in his hands, he could tell. It was kind of obvious that BOTH Jess and Gabi liked him, in their own way. And he also knew, from seeing them around Hogwarts, they were the best of friends as well.

"It's obvious I can't flirt with either one without making the other upset," he told himself. "I'm a man of honor-it's not like I can't be around three gorgeous women without flirting with them. Ah, well-maybe at another time. For now, we can just be friends." And with that, Oliver James Woods turned off the showerhead and reached for a towel.

* * *

"Jess, I don't know what I'm doing, exactly. I mean, he's nice, and he's the first guy who has ever really flirted with me. You know that! I think it's decidedly not fair that you're putting me here. I'm trying so hard to think of your feelings, and I,"- Bugger, this is hard. But it's not like I'm in love with him or anything-I just met him today-"Of course I'll back off. You liked him first, and what am I to get in the way of you and a guy?"

Jess stood up and walked over to Gabi. "Thanks, sweetie. You know I love you. And is Oliver really worth your time?"

Gabi looked at her friend, thinking Do you really want me to answer that? But instead she said, "Of course not, Jessi."

* * *

Jess lay back in her bed a few weeks later, not as sore as she usually was back when training had first begun.

She could, if she wanted to, recite the Quidditch handbook from memory, though there were too many fouls to remember them all just yet. As a chaser, she knew that there was one main focus. The Keeper, and what he kept.

Of course, it helped that the Keeper in question was Oliver Wood. Even after the initial crush of meeting him, she still got flustered just thinking about him.

Which, of course, eventually led to thinking about Gabi. Was the blonde really sincere about letting her have Oliver?

A door suddenly opened to where Jess was seated in the team Common Room. The brunette looked up excitedly, hoping for Oliver. No such luck, it was one of his guy friends. Who, obviously, was nameless to her.

"Uh, hi Jess," the boy, or, rather, man, murmured nervously.

"Er, hello..." She mentally smacked herself as she stood. 'Name, name, name, for Merlin's sake, NAME!' But nothing came to her.

"Um...how are you?" the man asked, not noticing her dilemma. He went to sit down at a couch, running a hand through his messy brown hair.

"I'm good," she sat down once more, feeling stupid for standing in the first place. "Nothing's going on, really."

"Er," the man fidgeted in his place. "A bunch of us were going to Hogsmeade for a break. It is Friday, and all." He seemed relieved that he, at least, knew the day of the week.

* * *

Gabi lay on her back in the middle of the Quidditch field, holding the worn red Quaffle between her hands. Pushing up, she made the ball fly straight above her head before catching it swiftly. She sighed audibly.

She knew Jess suspected her motives in the "giving" of one Oliver Wood. Gabi didn't really blame her-it was quite easy to see that the blonde-braided former Hufflepuff had a massive infatuation with the boy. But what Jess couldn't see was that Gabi would do anything-and she really meant anything-to keep their friendship together. Jess was sometimes the only thing that had kept Gabi going during Hogwarts-she wasn't going to give it up over some Keeper. And a really hot one at that, she thought to herself miserably. The girl sighed again and pushed the ball back into the air.

But it didn't come back. Propping herself up with her hands, she looked around for the ball. "I'm right above you."

Gabi screamed in surprise and tried to stop her racing heartbeat. "Oliver Wood, you gave me a fright." She looked up at him with a malicious glare. "Don't you ever do that again."

"But it's so much fun," he whined, looking at her with his big brown eyes. "I was coming out to practice with the Quaffle, and here you are in possession of it." Suddenly his face lit up. "Do you want to play?"

She smiled. There's nothing wrong with a friendly game of Quidditch, right? She asked herself sensibly. Then she remembered what Bryce had told her earlier in the day. "Aren't you guys going to Hogsmeade tonight?"

Oliver nodded. "I told them I'd meet them in a bit. They're not starting dinner until seven, and it's only five now. All they're doing is sitting on the fence at the Shrieking Shack."

Gabi tugged on her long, blonde braid. "Then I'd love to."

* * *

Bryce Davis had never been one to showcase his feelings. The sharp intelligence that had made him perfect for Ravenclaw also allowed him to deflect attention away from himself and keep him from his feelings.

But unfortunately, one girl had changed that. She hadn't realized what she'd done, not yet, but she would soon.

"So anyway," Jess said as she wriggled her way onto the fence rail, "We were down forty points, and Ravenclaw was beating us to a pulp. Man, they were good that year! You were on the team, right?" She directed her question directly at Bryce, though she still didn't seem to know his name.

He nodded, a bemused smile on his face. I watched her from afar all those years, he thought to himself, even when she was a measly first year, and I was a third year, I watched her. And she still doesn't even remember my name.

"But we came back!" she continued, nonplussed by his facial expressions. "Our seeker that year was Quinn, and he just launched after that Snitch! It was amazing-I don't think I've ever seen anything like it again! Have you?" she asked him again.

He shook his head. "No," he said distantly. "No, I haven't."

* * *

Two hours later, Jess was still having so much fun. The group she was in didn't include Gabi or Oliver, but she had made new friends all the same. They had finally settled down to a few tables, and the man she accompanied was glancing towards the door every now and then, along with the clock. Like he was expecting someone.

They made small talk, until Roxanne wandered over, her blond hair in braids about her face. "Jessica, Bryce," she grinned at the both of him, also unwittingly letting Jessica know her companion's name. After all this time, she finally had it.

"Oliver sent an owl ahead to let us know he wasn't coming, so we can go ahead and order food." Roxanne patted her stomach and wandered off, calling out and waving her free arm to another friend.

Jessica blinked, for a moment, as this settled in. The only two from the team that weren't here... and one was supposed to be. "She has to be sick, or something," Jess muttered to herself, brushing brown locks out of her face.

Bryce looked at her, concerned. "What was that, Jess?"

"Nothing, Bryce." The name gave her power, and she cheered a bit. Gabi probably wasn't feeling well. That's why she wasn't here... not because of Oliver. They'd made a pact. "Say, Bryce..." She wanted to use it over and over, so she could actually remember it. "Would you go get me some chips and a burger, Bryce? With no tomatoes, please. That okay, Bryce?"

Holding out some Sickles, she flashed the brunette across from her a bright smile, and laughed as he gave an exaggerated sigh.

"Alright," Bryce tried to sound grumpy, but couldn't manage it. "I'll be back."

* * *

Gabi laughed as she spun the Quaffle on her finger, much like a Muggle basketball. "You can't beat me, Oliver," she told him teasingly. "I've got your number."

Oliver and Gabi had been playing for well over two hours by now. She, by some miracle, had beaten him twice at goal scoring-eighteen out of twenty for her, thirteen out of twenty for him. Now, she knew, she had the right to tease him.

He looked at her suddenly, pretending to be baffled. "But how is calling my parents going to help you?" She glared at him maliciously and threw the ball at the hoops, almost scoring yet another goal.

"You know what I meant," she shouted down to him as she rose above the stands of the pitch. "And besides, I now know you are deathly afraid of your mother's wrath. You really shouldn't have told me that." Grinning, she swooped down gracefully, performing a smooth spiral dive toward the ground.

He looked down at her with an odd look on his face. Suddenly she was afraid of Oliver, of what he might do. "Oliver?" she asked. "Are you okay?"

Without warning, he shot straight down towards her, speeding faster and faster as the grass drew nearer and nearer. With an arm extended, he knocked her off her broom.

One thing, however, was not in Oliver Wood's plan: with the force it took to shove her off, he knocked himself off on top of her on the ground. She looked up at him. "Hi," she whispered.

"Hello," he said, greeting her with that sweet smile of his. Suddenly he started to lean down towards her. She knew what he wanted to do, and when he was about a centimeter away-

"Oliver," she said weakly. "You're crushing me." Of course, that was a complete lie, but she had to do it for Jess's sake. He rolled off of her and laid down next to her in the grass.

"No I wasn't, and that was kind of you," he informed her quietly. She bit her lip and looked up at the night sky.

"Look, Oliver-" she was cut off by his lips on hers. Immediately every other thought went out of Gabi's brain. The bliss of his kiss was undeniable: she felt fireworks going off in her brain and butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

Then, without warning, she gained her brain back and pushed him off. "I can't do this," she muttered, getting up to leave.

He grabbed her wrist. "I know you felt what I did," he told her softly. He smiled. "I like you. I like you a lot, and I think you like me too."

That made her explode. "I do, can't you see that? God, Oliver, you don't get it! I swore-I swore to her that I wouldn't make a move on someone she liked. And with God as my witness, I won't. Not to my best friend." She blew out a breath. "Maybe you should find somewhere else to sleep-I can't take this anymore."

And with that, Gabrielle ran back to the room, tears streaming down her cheeks.