One. Last. Time. {Oliver Wood}

Santos

November 9, 1990

"And so, this is why we have to throw our Quaffles 90 degrees south- Valerie are you listening?" asked Ace while pointing to a diagram of the Quidditch pitch.

Ace had had the smart idea to have a 5:00 a.m. Quidditch practice on Friday morning, or at least it was smart to him. To Valerie, and the rest of the team it was painful and unnecessarily early. They were currently going over new tactics in the locker room.

"Of course, I'm not listening Ace! Why do we need to be awake at 5:00 for bloody Quidditch practice?! Valerie shouted.

Ace only smiled and said, "Because no one in their right mind would get up at 5:00 to practice Quidditch. So, no one from Gryffindor can find out our amazing hidden talents!" After he said this, he peered out of the locker room in case anyone was lurking.

"Wait let me get this straight," Angelica piped up from the back of the room, "Did you just admit your not in your right mind? Because I called it first!" The entire team sniggered as Ace's cheeks turned pink at Angelica's words.

"Oh, shut up, let's just go out and practice." Ace replied, clearly annoyed.

***

Ace, Angelica and Valerie were all sitting in the Great Hall eating breakfast, Valerie's brown barn owl, Charles swept in and sat in front of Valerie's bowl of porridge. He stuck out his scaly leg to show it had a letter attached to it.

"Ooh! My dad answered me back!" Valerie said. She loved receiving letters from her dad. After the whole incident with Marcus Flint her father had been keen to ask her if anything new had happened with her and other Slytherins.

Dear Val,

How are you? Me and Tally have been having a fun time reading some old muggle books we found in the attic. Has anything new happened with Marcus or any other Slytherins? Please tell me the truth, I worry about you sweetheart. Good luck on your first Quidditch game of the season! You are going to absolutely thrash Gryffindor this weekend! How are your studies?

Have a good weekend, I love you very much.

Love, Dad.

Valerie sighed deeply when she read about him worrying about her. Her father already had enough stress in his life, she didn't want to add to it. No matter how much Valerie had loved writing to her dad, she always felt guilty for leaving him alone. One thing that did lift her spirits was the upcoming Quidditch match she had against Gryffindor. Ace had been on the entire team about practicing non-stop to ensure that they beat them. Ace was quite Quidditch obsessed, to say the least. Valerie quietly pocketed the letter and planned to reply to her father later.

"Hey, what's with sighing?" Ace had asked her.

"It's nothing, just my dad." Valerie replied while feeding Charlies a bit of her toast before he flew off.

"Well, if it's nothing then snap out of it, we need to be ready for Quidditch tomorrow! So-" Ace said before Angelica cut him off.

"Yes Ace, we know," Angelica then continued in an overly dramatic voice that sounded vaguely like Ace's, "Play hard. Keep your eyes on the prize. Don't let them fool you!"

Valerie and Angelica both started laughing at this while Ace sat next to them looking offended.

"Make fun of me all you want, but my words are what motivates the team!" He then picked up his bag and walked out of the Great Hall without looking back at the sniggering girls.

"Poor Ace, maybe we shouldn't have made fun of him like that." Valerie said.

Angelica only waved a hand and said, "Don't worry, Ace knows we tease. Come on, we have Charms soon."