Oliver Wood and the Heritage Curse

That night Oliver panicked when he realized how little time the team had before their game with Slytherin. Oliver pushed the team even harder than usual, and didn't allow them a second of spare time. During meals he even forced the team to sit together so he could coach them on strategy while they ate. Oliver only took time off for Emma's flying lessons, and, when Emma could convince him to sit still, to do his homework.

In the chaos of preparation for the quidditch match, the mystery of Emma's broom was put aside. Emma was relieved, not sure that she wanted to figure out the truth. During the day she was so busy with flying lessons, Ravenclaw team practice, and classes that she rarely thought about the broom. At night, however, she could think of nothing else, and often got out of bed to pace in front of the fire as she tried to determine who would want to curse her. It kept coming down to Davies whose behavior remained strange - he fluctuated between moods so rapidly that Emma often felt like she was still feeling the after-effects of Professor Lupin's potion. As Emma monitored Davies' behavior she slowly allowed herself to see that he was a generally nice guy. Although distant and awkward, he treated the rest of the team well and seemed to genuinely care about them. However, aside from her initial reasons for thinking that he disliked her she couldn't see any reason why he would want her off the team.

Just a few days before the match Oliver received some news that caused Emma to forget even about Davies - Gryffindor would be playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin. Oliver more than panicked at the last minute change and it took every bit of effort from both Emma and Katie to keep him from physically hurting himself. The day of the match the weather was almost as foul as the day of Emma's accident, and at breakfast Oliver looked even paler than when he'd first heard about her terrible crash.

"I don't think he's going to make it," Emma said to Penelope as they walked outside into the pouring rain. Emma was wrapped up in a magical blanket that absorbed water and she carried a huge umbrella. Madam Pomfrey hadn't wanted her to go outside to watch the match, fearing that the "deadly cold" would return. Emma insisted that a cold, no matter how long it lasted, would not kill her, but still accepted several doses of potion and the blanket from the concerned nurse.

"He always overreacts," Percy answered for Penelope, bravely shielding her under a ratty umbrella. "Oliver didn't sleep all last night but I just let him be. It's better to just leave him to worry, I should know after so much time . . ."

Penelope rolled her eyes at Emma who couldn't conceal a snorting laugh.

"Are you girls laughing at me!" Percy exclaimed. "Really now, there's no reason for that. Just because I'm a sensitive chap doesn't mean you have to make fun of me . . ." Penelope consoled Percy while Emma smiled to herself.

The three of them slowly made there way to the stands - it was hard to move among all the people being tossed about by the ruthless wind and rain. Finally though, they were seated. Emma watched Penelope snuggle under Percy's arm to keep warm and felt a little sad. It would have been nice to have Oliver there - not to cuddle with of course, but to hold the umbrella and block the wind and . . . well, maybe to cuddle with. Emma pushed the thought to the back of her mind and focused on the field.

It was impossible to follow the action of the game. Emma knew that Gryffindor was ahead only because she could occasionally catch a few words from Lee Jordan over the roar of the rain. At some point though there was an obvious hush in the stands and Emma strained to see what was going on. Two distant blurry figures sped towards the ground - Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory chasing the snitch! Emma held her breath, willing Harry to catch it. Suddenly, one of the figures tumbled towards the ground even faster, obviously no longer in control of his broom. Emma heard gasps all around her and realized that her own mouth was hanging open and her heart pounding wildly. Who had fallen? Was he alright?

In moments she was caught up in a wild mob as everyone tried to get down to the field. For several moments she was shoved and stepped on, crushed by bodies from all sides. Finally she emerged on the field. Emma looked around wildly - a few feet away she saw the Gryffindor team huddled around a frail-looking figure: Harry Potter. Emma squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the pain she had woken up to after her accident. That poor boy, she thought. When she opened her eyes the crowd had dispersed - everyone was trudging back to Hogwarts. She saw the three chasers and the Weasley twins dejectedly following a cot bearing their star seeker. But where was Oliver?

Singing almost drunkenly to himself, Oliver let the scalding water poor over his face and drain down his weak and aching limbs. Steam billowed upwards, forming dense clouds that invaded Oliver's lungs. Finally, unable to stand the intense heat and choking steam, he slammed his hand against the shower handle and fell against the wall, gasping for breath.

How can I face anyone after this? he wondered. Ever since he'd seen Harry plunge from his broom he had only been able to register two thoughts - "we've lost" and "I've caused another one of my friends to get hurt." They would likely loose the Cup now. It was his final year, his final hope, and he wanted to win more than anything. But first Emma almost got killed and now Harry, the star of the team. What would be worse - loosing the Cup or witnessing more injuries?

"When did I become so sensitive anyway?" Oliver wondered out loud, pulling a towel from over the shower door and beginning to roughly dry his throbbing body. But he knew the answer - since he'd met Emma. "Is that bad?" he asked, stepping out from the sauna-like shower into the frigid air of the locker room. For six years he had sacrificed friendships, classwork, and fun for quidditch and he had thought that it made him happy. He loved quidditch and would never give it up, but suddenly he was experiencing all kinds of things that he had been missing as well as realizing just how damaging his obsession with the sport could be.

Now fully clothed, Oliver sank onto a bench and rested his head against the lockers behind him. He didn't even know which thought to deal with first - Emma, her broom, how to win the Quidditch Cup, Harry's injury . . .

"Wood? Are you in here?" Emma coughed and pushed open the door to the locker room a little further.

Oliver looked up to see her smiling with relief, her short hair dripping and her face glittering with streaks of rain. "I've been looking everywhere for you," she explained, pulling her blanket more tightly around her body and shuffling towards Oliver. "The whole team went back to Hogwarts, what are you doing still here?"

Oliver almost couldn't look into her frantic, imploring eyes, but she sat down next to him, forcing him to. "I don't know what to say to them," Oliver said quietly.

"It doesn't matter what you say to them, just that you're there. You're the captain after all!" Even Emma noticed how similar her words were to the reprimanding words Oliver had once said about Davies refusing to help Emma with her flying.

Oliver winced and shook his head. "Quidditch captains are human too, you know."

Emma touched his shoulder and bent her head so she could look at him straight on. "I know. I'm sorry."

Without fully realizing what he was doing, Oliver pulled away from her touch. Emma sank back, sighing. "What are you afraid of?" Emma asked.

Oliver looked up at her, biting his bottom lip. "Myself," he replied, quietly. "Look at what my obsession with winning is doing to my teammates and my friends! But that's not even the worst part - the worst part is that I still want to win!"

Emma, startled by his outburst, suddenly wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Inside the magical blanket she was dry and warm and Oliver relaxed more completely than he had in six years. "I don't blame you for my accident," Emma said soothingly. "And I doubt Harry blames you for his. He lost control in the storm and got hit by a bludger. There's nothing you could have done to stop it. You know that these things happen during quidditch games. And it's okay that you still want to win, you should want to win. You may be obsessed but you're a good captain. The team knows that and they're used to it. So don't worry."

Oliver was too overwhelmed by her closeness and openness to respond. They sat in silence for a moment until Emma said, "Oliver you are freezing. Isn't there a blanket or something in here that you could wrap up in?" Her voice was tentative, confused. They both knew it was the first time she had ever called him by his first name instead of the more distancing "Wood."

"I looked, there's nothing that's dry," Oliver told her. "But it's okay, you're warm."

"Oliver, I . . ." Emma broke off, pulling away and peering into his eyes. She sat frozen, her mouth still slightly open. Oliver tucked his hand behind her neck and slowly leaned forward. He kissed her lightly, but lingered until Emma pulled away.

"What was that?" Emma asked, her eyes wide with the beginnings of panic.

"I don't really know," Oliver replied, his mind still hazy and strangely calm.

"Well, I think I'd better go now." Emma hastily got up and gathered her blanket around herself. As she ran towards the door Oliver called out, "Emma, I'm sorry!"

"We'll talk later!" she answered, just as the door slammed behind her.

Oliver shook his head. Just one more thing to think about - that was the last thing they needed.

Emma spent an almost sleepless night coughing and tossing restlessly, her cold flaring up just like her confused thoughts had the moment Oliver kissed her. At some point Penelope appeared at the side of her bed with a glass of water which Emma accepted gratefully. She later suspected that Penelope mixed a sleeping potion with the water but, knowing that she wouldn't have taken it if she'd known, decided that Penelope made a good choice in giving it to her.

In the morning Emma's head felt cleared but her cold was still a degree worse than the day before. "Madam Pomfrey will tar and feather me," Emma grumbled, blowing her nose.

"You were out too long looking for Oliver," Penelope said, taking the dirty tissue from Emma and throwing it away.

"I know." Emma sighed and then looked at Penelope. "I can't believe you touched that tissue."

Penelope laughed. "Motherly instincts. Are you ready for breakfast?"

"I guess." Emma didn't feel ready for anything, especially for facing Oliver, but she followed Penelope to the Great Hall anyway. As soon as she saw him, sitting at the Gryffindor table all by himself, she felt her stomach churning and had to take a deep breath to keep from throwing up. How could I have just left him like that yesterday, she asked herself, desperately trying to control the shame that continued to disrupt her insides. I have to talk to him, but first . . .

Emma dodged Penelope who was now preoccupied with Percy and approached Katie. Luckily Katie was sitting at the opposite end of the table from Oliver, although Emma was still nervous about Angelina and Alicia who sat on either side of Katie like undersized bodyguards.

"Emma!" Katie greeted her with a broad smile. "How are you doing?" She shifted so that Emma could squeeze onto the bench between her and Angelina but Emma shook her head and remained standing. Angelina glared at Emma and blatantly moved back into the space that Katie had cleared.

"I'm okay, except for this bloody cold," Emma replied. "I was hoping that you and I could talk later. Maybe before you have practice tonight."

Katie's telltale features showed that she was confused and unsure about this suggestion but also that she was sympathetic. "Sure. I'll meet you by the lake after dinner."

"Okay, great." Emma turned and walked towards the opposite end of the Ravenclaw table. Behind her she heard Angelina say "Why are you going? You don't know what she wants."

Emma walked more quickly so she wouldn't have to hear any more of the conversation. The day passed slowly as she tried to avoid Oliver in the hallways and coughed and sneezed her way through classes. Professor Snape banished her to a corner during Potions, claiming that she would contaminate the class' work. Professor Lupin, however, offered her another draught of his potion, and although Emma was certain he had said it was for balancing her emotions he told her that day that it would help fight bacteria.

Finally dinner was over and she hurried outside for her meeting with Katie. It was another dismal day although it had stopped raining and Emma pulled her cloak tightly around herself to keep out the angry wind. Katie already stood by the lake, watching the giant squid skate lazily across the water.

"Thanks for coming," Emma said.

Katie turned to face her, a hesitant expression on her face. "What's going on?"

Emma paused, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to phrase what she wanted to say. "I'm not very good at this kind of thing - I don't have a lot of friends and I guess I'm not really used to talking openly with people. But you've been really good to me through all of this and I want to be honest with you."

Katie nodded, her facial features softening. Emma, relieved, continued. "I should have said something about this before but I didn't know what would happen. I heard you that day you were visiting me in the hospital wing. What you said about Oliver - how you thought he fancied me and how you really fancied him and how you wished none of it would come out into the open. When I heard you explain it all I thought that you were right, it would be best if everything stayed hidden. So I pretended I had still been unconscious. Katie, I'm sorry."

Katie laughed and Emma thought it was a very strange response. "Is that all?" Katie asked. "I thought, well I don't know what I thought, that you were going to tell me something pretty horrible. . ."

"Katie, wait. It's worse than you think." Emma squeezed her eyes shut, struggling to push the words from her mind out into the open. "Oliver kissed me yesterday." She winced, afraid of Katie's response.

Katie's face was strangely blank - Emma could interpret no emotions from it. "What does that mean?" Katie asked, her voice monotone.

"I don't know." Emma shifted her feet in embarrassment, wishing she had more to offer.

"That's the worst part. I have no idea what it means."

Katie's eyes were now squeezed tightly shut as she tried to keep her feelings from erupting in streams on her face. "Well I hope you figure it out soon," she said, in a frighteningly bitter voice.

"I want this to work out for both of us! That's why I wanted to talk to you!" Emma explained.

"Well, it can't," Katie shot back. "I'm not going to let him do this to me anymore."

Emma felt weak and defeated as she watched Katie walk away. There really is no way to work all of this out, she decided, tiredly trudging back to Hogwarts.

Freezing but sweaty and caked with mud, Katie stumbled back from quidditch practice with Angelina and Alicia.

"I swear Wood was out for blood tonight," Angelina grumbled.

"He couldn't even skip practice while Harry is in hospital!" Alicia added.

"He was right though," Katie replied and they approached Gryffindor. "Owl post," she said to the Fat Lady and the picture swung backwards. "We do have to keep practicing despite Harry's injury, especially so that we're more prepared to deal with this weather." Angelina and Alicia made murmuring noises that indicated they didn't agree but were too tired to respond further. Alicia left Katie and Angelina for the fourth year dormitory and the two fifth year chasers tromped up the stairs to their dormitory.

"Katie, I know something is bothering you - you wouldn't look at or talk to Wood all night and you were playing ever harder than usual." Angelina kicked off her disgusting shoes - the quidditch field was a muddy wasteland after all the rain - and propped her broom up in a corner.

Katie didn't at all feel like talking about Oliver. The news from Emma of three hours before still pounded in her head to the rhythm of her accelerated pulse rate. She had only made it through practice with the help of a forbidden charm. Intoxicating Charms were dangerous and unpredictable and therefore prohibited at Hogwarts. Katie, however, so far simply felt giddy and light-headed and was enjoying those mild initial effects of the charm.

"Nothing is bothering me," Katie said, her voice escalating and falling as she spoke. "Oliver can do whatever he wants and that's just fine with me."

Angelina narrowed her eyes at Katie. "If you say so . . ."

"Oh I do." Katie smiled calmly and finished changing her clothes. Her thick hair had half-fallen out of its long, tight braid and was damp and muddy, but she didn't try to fix it.

"Well I'm going down to the common room," Angelina announced, still eying Katie suspiciously. Katie knew that Angelina must have an overwhelming amount of homework since she was letting Katie go without fully explaining her strange behavior.

"Okay, I think I'll stay up here," Katie sang.

"Maybe you should get some sleep," Angelina told her. "I think you're losing your mind."

Although Katie was jumping around in circles singing "Lost my mind, lost my mind," Angelina left. A few minutes later Katie snuck through the common room and escaped back through the portrait hole. For the first time ever, Katie was searching for Davies.

Katie sprinted up and down hallways, dodging into classrooms and peering behind statues. She was propelled by a store of magical energy until the Intoxicating Charm began to wear off. "Where are you!" she exclaimed, just as her legs gave out and she crumbled to the floor. "How is it that you always find me but I can't find you?"

"I'm right here," Davies replied. "All you had to do was turn around."

Katie pushed herself to her knees and weakly turned around. Davies stood over her, a concerned expression reflected in his eyes. "Roger," she said faintly, pulling her legs forward and sinking back against the wall.

"You look terrible," Davies replied, sitting down beside her. "What did that idiot do to you?"

"It's not so much what he did to me as what I did to myself. I used an Intoxicating Charm and now my head is throbbing." Katie pressed her hands to her head trying to relieve some of the jarring pain. It felt like a crack had begun on one side of her skull and was slowly growing.

"It's wearing off. You ran so much that you used it up. But that's good. The pain will be gone in a minute."

"Got a lot of experience with them?" Katie asked, her head now burrowed between her legs.

"Once was enough," Davies replied, his voice quiet and sympathetic.

Katie groaned as a last burst of pain exploded in her forehead. For a full minute she thought she would never be able to lift her head again, but finally the pain passed. "I'm never using an Intoxicating Charm again. That hurt like - I don't know what, but worse than getting hit in the head with a bludger."

Davies smiled at her mildly. "Well the effects aren't totally gone yet -- just the pain. Now tell me what he did that made you use the charm."

A new pain began in Katie's head as she remembered Emma and Oliver. "He kissed Emma," she explained, beating her abused head against her knees.

Davies sighed and let his head thud against the wall. "You knew this would happen sooner or later."

Katie looked up at him. "In my head I did. But my heart still hoped things might work out differently." Even in the dark Katie could see his sympathetic expression clearly. But there was something else in his eyes as well that she couldn't figure out. They sat very close together, almost touching, but to Katie the tiny space between them felt like a huge canyon. She physically ached to cross that gap and to feel the comfort that she somehow knew would come from his touch.

"You and your heart." Davies shook his head. "It finally betrayed you."

"I tried so hard, but I just couldn't fix things. Now look at me." Katie's eyes met Davies' eyes and suddenly she felt a rush of feeling in her numbed muscles. Davies' chisled facial features were softened by a tenderness that frightened her.

"I am looking at you and all I see is that you did the best you could."

Before she fully knew what she was doing Katie tangled her fingers in his wild hair and kissed him. Davies remained almost frozen as she had when he kissed her, but he gasped slightly. She felt him falter, his fingertips resting on her neck, and waited eagerly for him to return her kiss. But suddenly he pulled away.

"Katie I can't let you do this!" he exclaimed. Katie sat half way on his lap, one hand still knotted in his hair, the other clutching his shoulder. "You are just reacting to the charm. Tomorrow you're going to wake up and wonder why you were kissing me and realize that you still like Oliver - that is if you even remember which you probably won't because of the charm. And you're using me, which just isn't fair," Davies said, pulling her hands away from him and shifting her back to the floor.

Katie stared at him, breathing heavily in her anger. She wanted to hurt him, to see his handsome face bleed and his caring eyes marked by bruises. Darn his ability to control himself. Darn him for being right. "You bloody hypocrite! Using you! It's okay for you to kiss me twice for no reason at all but when I kiss you suddenly you're all concerned about me getting hurt? This has always been about you -- you never cared about me. My heart is shattered and whether or not you are here I am going to curl up and bleed out the broken remains of my heart. But I am asking you to please help me just this once."

Davies had never looked so stricken. "Come here," he told her, pulling her completely into his lap and cradling her head against his chest. Katie wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his cleanliness and warmth. "Although I am on record as saying that I think this is a bad idea," he added.

"Whatever you want, Roger." Katie knew he was right but lacked the strength or will to stop herself from committing such a pleasant and comforting error.

"Do you remember the first time I kissed you?" Davies asked, stroking her hair. The mud in her hair and on her face left a strange imprint on his impeccable appearance.

"Vaguely," Katie replied although it was one of her clearest memories.

"You were only a third year. You were so upset about Oliver after the first day of quidditch practice. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to fix everything so I kissed you."

Katie laughed. "And I was so startled that I hit you. Sorry about that."

"That's okay, I deserved it." Suddenly Katie was sprinkling little kisses across his face with tempting confidence.

"Katie," Davies managed to say, holding her head still with both of his hands. "I never should have kissed you those times and I'm sorry. As much as I would like to let you kiss me now I'm not going to be able to resist you much longer. If we kiss it should be under better circumstances than this. Now I think I should get you back to Gryffindor."

Katie sighed and nuzzled her face against his chest, her fantasy solution to the hurt caused by Oliver and Emma crushed by reality. "You're right. Thank you. But I'll go back to Gryffindor by myself," she said, not wanting at all to move from his lap but knowing the moment of escape was over.

"You have no idea where you are right now," Davies replied, briefly resting his face against her head. "There's no way you can get back to Gryffindor."

Katie laughed. "You're right, I'm completely lost."

Davies effortlessly stood up with Katie in his arms. When he set her feet back on the ground her arms were still wrapped around his neck and they stood for a moment, hugging tightly. "C'mon," Davies whispered, releasing her hesitantly. "I'll walk you back."

Late that night Davies examined his reflection in a large mirror in the bathroom that he and his fellow seventh year Ravenclaws had taken over two years before. The other Ravenclaws in his year claimed that they had rights to the bathroom because Davies spent so much time in it. They badgered Davies constantly - buying him personal mirrors and hair spray, pasting pictures of him all over the bathroom, and frequently telling him that he looked fine even though he rarely asked if he did. Davies had given up on defending himself after third year and good-naturedly tolerated their teasing. The truth was that he was mildly obsessive-compulsive and the disorder manifested itself most obviously in his attention to his appearance.

Despite this obsession he still had not washed off the dirt streaked on his sweater and face after his encounter with Katie. After dropping a clingy Katie off at Gryffindor he wandered around Hogwarts for two hours, eventually finding his way back to "his" bathroom. Davies suffered from terrible insomnia as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder and spent many hours of the night exploring the halls of Hogwarts. His roommates were more surprised to find him asleep in the dormitory in the morning than to find his bed empty. He slept anywhere he could actually manage to sleep - in empty classrooms, the floor of the Great Hall, the Ravenclaw common room, the stairs to his dormitory, and even occasionally in his own bed. After his fifth time being caught in the halls after curfew, Dumbledore had given Davies special permission to be outside of his house at night. Davies took full advantage of this privilege, eventually learning to pass through the halls completely unnoticed by Mrs. Norris, Filch, Peeves, or any professor that might happen to be around. He could follow someone for hours, anticipate where they were going, and plant himself in a location to surprise them - although he rarely used this trick on anyone except Katie.

He thought about Katie now as he turned on the water in a sink and let it warm his freezing hands. He glanced up at the mirror above the sink plastered with pictures of himself all grooming themselves. He determined that the smudges of mud on his face probably came from Katie's nose and cheeks brushing his face as she kissed him. Time to wash the feeling of her lips away, he decided, scrubbing his face with the warm water. But it did very little good - Katie was still in his lap, nuzzling her face against his chest and begging to be kissed.

"C'mon, Davies," he said quietly, leaving the bathroom and walking back to Ravenclaw. "You know full well that she didn't know what she was doing. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal and she's going to want Wood again. You need to think about Emma and getting her off the team." He entered Ravenclaw and slowly ascended the stairs to his dormitory, feeling strangely tired. As he climbed into his own bed for only the third night that month he started to think about plans to get Emma off the team once and for all.

At exactly 3:07 A.M. the Intoxicating Charm wore off completely and Katie jolted awake. Did I kiss Davies tonight? she wondered, her heart pounding and her body sweaty. She turned over to stare at the magical stars covering her dormitory ceiling. They were like real stars, tiny and distant, and even forming real constellations.

I must have been dreaming, she decided. Why would I have kissed him - I don't like him, I like Oliver. But then she remembered Emma and the meeting by the lake and the Intoxicating Charm. That's why I can't remember exactly what happened, she realized. That stupid charm! What was I thinking!

Katie pulled her blanket over her head trying to remember the evening's events. It was no use, the charm had completely blocked out her memory of everything that happened since she first cast it on herself. She knew that sometimes the memories were triggered later but in the meantime there was nothing she could do.

How am I going to be able to face him? I have no idea what happened and I can't just walk up and say "By the way, did I kiss you last night?" And Oliver and Emma - what am I going to do about them?

Despite her natural calm level-headedness, Katie felt overwhelmed and lost. It took her two hours to fall back asleep and when she finally did she felt no closer to finding any solutions to the mess of problems waiting for her in the morning.

Emma fell asleep around the time that Katie woke up. She had been sitting in the Gryffindor common room in front of the fire, sorting through the events of the past few days. For awhile, Emma felt like giving up. She was out of patience, willpower, and goodnaturedness, although she didn't have much of those qualities to begin with.

"Since when did I become open and friendly and actually have enough interaction with people to have problems?" Emma asked the dying embers in the fireplace.

She knew the answer was since she'd met Oliver and that she was happier now despite all the issues she had to deal with. "Relationships take work!" she exclaimed. But as she pondered Oliver and Katie and the still impending mystery of her broom she decided that she could handle this new dynamic to her life. It would simply require a redirection of her natural stubbornness and take charge attitude.

Emma smiled confidently to herself as she sank into bed. The temporarily wimpy and emotional Emma had lived out her unhelpful existence. A new Emma was born.

Oliver slept through the night peacefully, a pawn in the game about to unfold.

"C'mon Wood, it wasn't a fair game. We really should have a rematch."

"For the last time, Diggory, don't pity me! Bludgers are part of quidditch and when a player gets hit with one the game goes on with or without that player. I don't want a rematch!"

It was after dinner on the following day and Cedric and Oliver had been carrying on for several minutes. Cedric, who was leaning over the Gryffidor table in the Great Hall, resting his head on his arms, now sank down onto the bench opposite Oliver. "Okay, it's your call. How is Emma doing?" he asked quietly, looking strangely conspiratorial.

Oliver, startled by the question and Cedric's friendliness, glanced around as if he expected there to be someone else that the Hufflepuff quidditch captain was talking to. But only the boy's combined fan club stood nearby, dumbstruck by their luck at finding the two handsome quidditch captains together.

"Well, um, that is, she's fine," Oliver replied. He hadn't spoken to Emma since their kiss, however, and really didn't know how she was. He was beginning to think that he had scared her off for good, and not having much experience with these matters, didn't have a clue what to do about it.

Cedric nodded and narrowed his gray eyes thoughtfully. "Fine beater, that one. Saw how much your coaching helped her. Pity she's on Davies' team."

Cedric's face showed a very uncharacteristic shadow of anger and Oliver, in an amazing feat of feminine-like deduction, wondered if Cedric's dislike of Davies had anything to do with the fact that Davies' was so fond of Cho Chang. It seemed that Davies' list of enemies was growing. But after only a moment the anger on Cedric's face melted into a bright smile.

"Oh well. I shouldn't go making judgments of people. Don't know Davies really. Don't suppose anyone does."

Oliver thought that Katie seemed to know Davies quite well, but he wasn't sure why. Feeling surprisingly comfortable talking to Cedric, Oliver made a hasty decision to take advantage of the popular boy's experience with girls. "Um, can I ask you something Diggory?" he said very, very quietly, uncomfortably aware of the giggling girls behind them. Cedric looked surprised but nodded agreeably.

"Well suppose, just suppose that you thought you fancied this girl but you weren't really sure because you'd been friends for awhile, and then one day without really meaning to you kiss her and then she leaves rather quickly and doesn't talk to you for several days. What would you make of that?"

Cedric looked completely baffled and blinked his smoky eyes several times in succession. "Well, hypothetically speaking of course, I would try to talk to the girl and figure out what happened. Repair the friendship, you see, and find out if there's anything more than friendship."

Oliver nodded slowly. "Okay, 'cause I just wanted to know, well, because . . ." Cedric held up his hands indicating than an explanation was not necessary.

"What do we have here?" a low voice suddenly asked. "Quidditch captain conspiracies? I wouldn't think that you would want to associate with this loser, Diggory."

Oliver glared at Davies but Cedric only examined him mildly. The flock of girls hovering near the table suddenly doubled in size.

"It's more than one could hope for," one fourth year whispered in awe. "All three of them at once. I never thought I'd see the day." None of the girls seemed to mind that a fight was brewing between Hogwarts' top three crushes - so long as they were all together they could be hurtling insults at their admirers for all the fan club cared.

"Oliver let it go," Cedric advised as Oliver rose to his feet and pulled out his wand.

"Let it go!" Oliver exclaimed. "This, this miscreant has been pushing me and my friends around all year! I will not let it go until I see him lying flat on his pretty boy face!"

A murmur erupted among the crowd of excited females. It seemed to be a lovely show put on just for them. There were a few gasps, however, from indignant Davies' fans.

Davies had drawn his wand as well, but calmly. He was on Cedric's side of the table but that didn't dwarf the fact that he was far bigger and stronger than Oliver. "I have to push you around!" he said in a controlled but growling voice. "You're too stupid to see what's right in front of your face!"

A few boys were now joining the mass of fidgeting girls, anxious to see if a full-blown duel would break out. Cedric was now on his feet, rapidly surveying the dining hall for professors while trying to calm the furious quidditch captains. "I'm sure there is just some misunderstanding. Both of you should put your wands away and . . ."

Both the captains slammed their wands on the table at the same time, copper-colored sparks shooting out of Davies'. "He's an emotionally challenged imbecile without the decency to look out for those around him!" Davies screamed at Cedric who was too startled by the content of the insult to respond.

"And he's a prejudiced ape who can't even coach his own team members!" Oliver shouted, also at Cedric, who looked like he didn't appreciate being the new target of the fight. The two enraged captains continued to hurtle insults through Cedric until a pair of girls came hurtling across the Great Hall, each one grabbing one of the boys by his arm. "That is enough!" Emma exclaimed just as Katie shouted "Stop it this instant!" Oliver and Davies, both with chests heaving, looked at the two girls, shocked.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Katie said harshly.

"In front of all these people! You're quidditch captains for goodness sake, you should behave better than this," Emma added.

Oliver and Davies sank onto the Gryffindor benches while a relieved Cedric smiled at Katie and Emma. "Well then, I think I'll be going," he said, making a remarkably polite departure. Several girls followed him, and the others, angry about the appearance of the obviously favored Katie and Emma, left huffily. The male spectators also disappeared now that the fight was apparently over.

"Honestly," Emma was saying to Oliver, "What if Professor Snape had seen? You could be kicked off the team." Oliver stared at his hands, unwilling to talk with Davies still present.

Katie dropped Davies' arm, unsure what had possessed her to interfere with the fight in the first place. Why had she grabbed his arm and not Oliver's? She thought she felt the slightest tinge of a memory now as she examined Davies' stubborn face. She felt something soft and peaceful and then a brief tingle in her lips. Katie touched them for a moment before saying harshly, "Go back to Ravenclaw, Davies. You have no right to interfere here."

Davies squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head before giving Katie a biting look and regally leaving the Great Hall. Several first years scampered out of his way like a flock of ducklings. Katie watched him go, feeling ashamed and sick inside.

Emma and Oliver were now talking quietly together so Katie slipped away. But as she left Emma called after her, "Katie, please. We'll talk later!"

"I didn't know what to do," Emma explained. Shortly after the fight she and Oliver were walking around the Hogwarts grounds, both cloakless and shivering. The sky was gray and half-heartedly drizzling on them. Emma had given up on trying to get rid of her cold since nothing seemed to be helping anyway. Perhaps, she thought, if she did things that were supposed to worsen a cold it would confuse the bloody thing and it would go away.

Oliver tightened his arms around his chest, tying to conserve heat. "So that's why you ran way. Not because you were totally disgusted or didn't want to be with me

"No, not at all," Emma assured him as they reached the quidditch field. Two unidentifiable quidditch players zoomed around one set of goals but didn't see Oliver and Emma far below. Despite the rain, they climbed up into the stands and sat on one of the wet bleachers.

"Well, I didn't know what to do either," Oliver confessed, watching one of the players - apparently a keeper - miss a quaffle. "He should have gotten that one," Oliver muttered.

Emma nodded her agreement and then tugged on Oliver's arm. "Pay attention to me for awhile - really pay attention. We need to work this out."

"Sorry," Oliver replied, blushing slightly as he focused his attention on Emma. "You're right, we do need to work this out."

Emma coughed, rolled her eyes about the persistent cold, and said, "I think that whatever happened is not something we're prepared to deal with yet. We have so much going on - the broom mystery, quidditch practice and flying lessons, classes - that I don't think we can handle anything else. I'm willing to wait and see what happens with our relationship later. Right now I just really need you as a friend."

Oliver, mesmerized by Emma's eyes like he had been the first day they met, smiled brilliantly at her. "I can't believe how easy you've made all of this sound. You are one wicked girl."

Temporarily stunned by his smile, Emma pulled herself together and then laughed. Oliver raised his eyebrows, setting off a tingle in Emma's stomach and causing her to giggle again.

"What is so funny?" Oliver demanded, poking Emma's shoulder.

Emma giggled again but managed to say, "Nothing - just that some things never change. I will always go numb when you smile at me."

Oliver grinned shyly. "And I will never be able to think straight when I look in your eyes."

They were quiet for several awkward moments, both watching the two quidditch players who were now chasing each other around the field, dodging around goalposts and diving playfully towards the grass below. Finally Emma said, "So, you never said if you agreed with me about waiting and seeing where our relationship goes."

"Oh!" Oliver exclaimed. "Yes, I think that's the best thing to do, especially with everything we both have to do. And I hope that I can help you any way you need."

"I'm glad you said that!" Emma said so quickly that Oliver felt like he had gotten broomlash - a condition that resulted when a flier flipped forwards on their broom, getting smacked both in the face and behind by their broom.

"By any chance were you waiting for me to say that?" Oliver asked innocently.

"Well, anything like that would have done," Emma replied, not showing the slightest embarrassment or remorse about the fact that she had essentially set Oliver up. She charged ahead with her explanation like and unrestrained rhinoceros. "I really want to start solving this mystery about my broom. I don't know who's been cursing it, but first I want to figure out if my family knew about it. I sent an owl to our house elf asking her to send me all my mum and dad's old diaries from school. Even though my mum's a muggle, she and my dad knew each other when he was at Hogwarts - it's a long story. But anyway, I might be able to find something out from the diaries, that is if I can figure out how to read them." Emma paused in her stampede of information and Oliver quickly jumped in before she could start charging again.

"We'll figure it all out, Emma. But don't get too far ahead of yourself," he said. He was feeling a bit used.

"Sorry. I think seeing you fight with Davies got me even more riled up. Even though it was stupid for you to fight with him like that," she paused, glaring at him, "I couldn't help but wish I was in your position. I don't know how to deal with him anymore! And he's probably only going to be worse now." Emma kicked the bleacher in front of them, scowling.

Oliver took her by the shoulders and turned her so she was looking at him. "First we'll solve the mystery. Then, somehow, we'll deal with Davies. There's no use getting frustrated about him again right now."

Emma took a deep breath, suppressed her wild temper, and nodded. "Okay, you're right."

Oliver ruffled her wet hair. "When do you think the diaries will get here?"

Emma examined his hair critically, then began to roughly run her fingers through it, spiking his short brown locks. She smiled to herself as she worked and said, "Hopefully in a week."

"What have you done to my hair?" Oliver asked, trying to sound defiant but obviously quite complacent.

"Spiked it," Emma replied. "I can't resist when a guy's hair is wet - I have to see if it will stick up."

Oliver felt his pointy hair while shaking his head at Emma. She grinned, pleased with his appearance.

"Trying a new hairstyle, are you Oliver?" Oliver looked up to see Cedric and Cho Chang floating in front of him on their brooms. No wonder he kept missing the quaffles, Oliver thought, Cedric is a seeker. But why were two seekers be practicing as a keeper and a chaser?

"I blame Emma for the hair," Oliver replied, and before Emma could protest added, "How did you get out here so fast, Diggory?"

Cedric shrugged. "Needed to cool off after your little row with Davies so I came straight out to the quidditch field. Cho was kind enough to come with me. Cho, oblivious to Emma and Oliver, was beaming at Cedric.

"Well, thanks for stepping in earlier. Sorry you had to be in the middle of things," Oliver said, extending his hand to Cedric.

Cedric goodnaturedly shook Oliver's hand and said, "That's alright. But next time warn me before the row begins."

Oliver laughed and waved as Cedric and Cho sped away on their brooms. Over his shoulder Cedric called, "And I hope you get that other matter sorted out as well!"

"What matter?" Emma demanded of Oliver.

"Oh nothing." Although Emma pestered him for the rest of the evening while they sat in the Great Hall discussing the mystery, Oliver refused to tell her about the other matter.

Emma, determined to solve all of her problems as quickly as possible, followed Katie after breakfast the following morning.

"There's nothing going on between Oliver and me," Emma promised Katie, chasing after the taller and faster girl as she hurried to Transfiguration.

Katie halted abruptly and pulled Emma into a corner. "Okay, you have my attention. Now please don't talk about this in the open. I don't really want the entire school to know that I care about the status of your relationship with Oliver," Katie said tersely. Katie was still hurt but now also felt guilty about her harsh words to Davies the day before. Although before she hadn't cared or noticed how she treated Davies it now mattered for reasons she couldn't understand or explain.

Emma covered her mouth briefly to acknowledge her mistake then whispered, "Sorry, had to get you to listen to me somehow. Seriously though, there is no relationship - we're just friends.

Katie narrowed her eyes. "I believe you. But is this a 'just friends' permanently or a 'just friends' with the possibility of more some day?"

"I don't know, actually. We're waiting to deal with that until later. But Katie, please hang out with us still. You and Oliver have been friends for years and I know that you and I could be good friends. . ."

"Stop!" Katie interrupted. "Okay, okay, okay. I need something to go right these days. But first, tell me your ulterior motive."

Emma pretended to look shocked but when she saw that Katie wasn't buying it she grinned sheepishly. "Katie, I need your help. I know Oliver talked to you before about my broom. He said you were a big help, that you're good at deductive thinking and you know about people at Hogwarts. I'm going to need those kind of skills to crack this case." When Emma wasn't playing baseball with her American cousins she was watching mystery shows with them and it was beginning to show. Katie wasn't sure what "crack this case" meant, but decided to let it go.

"Did Oliver really say all of that?" Katie asked doubtfully.

Emma nodded emphatically. "Well, more or less at least. He didn't use the word deductive, I just like that word. But that is what he said. That's why he asked you for help in the first place."

Katie groaned and dropped her face in her hands. "Nevermind, you shouldn't have told me that. I'm never going to get over him now."

Emma laughed and hooked her arm through Katie's arms. "We'll work on that one. C'mon, you're going to be late for class."