The Chaser : A Fred Weasley Fan Fic

Three: Practice

The sun was just breaking through the curtains of our dorm as it warmed my face and woke me from my sleep. I leant on one side and peered at the clock on my bedside table. 5 o'clock it read. I couldn't believe I was waking up this early for a Quidditch practice. Oliver was out of his mind.

I rushed on some clothes, realising I didn't have a uniform yet and hurried down to the common room where the rest of the team were already waiting, all dressed in their scarlet and gold robes. Oliver was nowhere to be seen and I immediately felt a little uncomfortable strolling up to the group to join without a familiar face amongst the crowd.

"Where's Oliver?" I whispered, deciding to stand beside Katie, the only member of the team who hadn't seemed to completely shun me. She was talking quietly with Harry and they both snapped their heads round to look at me.

"Oh morning! He's usually down at the pitch waiting for us already" Katie beamed. Harry gave a smile small, nodding his head in agreement with Katie. I'd never been so close to him before.

Of course I knew who he was, I'd heard as soon as I'd arrived to Hogwarts. Being muggle born I didn't grow up learning anything like this and the story was thrilling. Though when he joined two years after me I was surprised to see how unassuming he was. He stood today looking tired with dark unkept hair straggling round his gaunt face.

"Is everyone here? Shall we go down?" Katie called to the others. Fred, George and Angelina halted their loud conversation and nodded their heads, letting Katie lead us out of the Common Room.

We marched through the school down to the pitch. I walked at the front with Katie, as she excitedly explained what practice would be like. She was so enthusiastic and it made me feel at ease about my first time practising with the team.

They were right, Oliver was waiting at the pitch. He looked like he had been out there for hours practicing on his own, but remarkably he looked fresh faced and rearing to go. As he saw us approach, he dropped down to the ground carefully and greeted us, in a manner that was far too cheery for this time of morning.

"Tilly, can I have a word?" he called. I could see he had a bundle of scarlet robes clutched beneath his arm and my heart beat a little faster with excitement.

Oliver lead me to the side of the pitch while the others chatted and began getting out the equipment. A few of them spied on us, making it quite obvious that they were nosing on our conversation.

Oliver looked stressed, as though he had a lot on his mind and I waited with baited breath for what he had to say.

"These are for you" he said, giving me a strained smiled, "and- I need to talk you about- about us"

"Us?" I repeated, raising my eyebrows at him. We'd never spoken about 'us' and it sounded strange coming from his mouth.

"Yes" he said flatly, "We can't- you know, we can't-"

"I get it, Oliver" I interrupted. He was having a hard time getting out the words, but I think I'd got the idea of what he was trying to say.

"I really like you, Tilly" he said, suddenly, "but I care about this too much. It's a conflict of interest and I think it would be better for the team if I was just your captain"

He really liked me? He hadn't shown an ounce that it was anymore than just sleeping together and neither had I. But ultimately, I agreed with him. Nobody knew besides Hermione that I had been sneaking to Oliver's dorm and I would hate for the team to think I was getting special treatment because of it.

"That's a good idea, Oliver" I grinned, taking the robes from his outstretched hand.

"I'm very excited to have you on the team" his broad smile came back and I could see his shoulders ease a little. This had obviously been weighing on his conscience.