Strategy { Oliver Wood}

Chapter Ten

"Anderson!"

"McGregor!"

"I need to talk to you," Ace said walking over to Melanie where she sat in the common room and sat down beside her.

"Talk away Ace, I'm all ears," Melanie invited him, setting her book down on the table in front of her.

"Alright, well, I already spoke with most of the team besides Brandon, but now that I found you..."

"Where is this conversation going, Ace?"

"The Gryffindor Team has a new seeker."

Melanie smiled. "Oh really? Who?"

"Harry Potter."

"What? He's a first year," Melanie said.

"I'm aware of that and the other teams are questioning it too, but he is their new seeker as of today."

"So what's the big deal? He's a first year seeker with no experience...why do you look worried?"

"Because he's Harry Potter," Ace said.

"Merlin, you sound like Carter now. He's a little boy. He's younger than Carter and you're not intimidated by him."

"He's the boy who lived though."

"I don't see how defeating he-who-must-not-be-name correlates with quidditch skills, Ace. I think you're worrying too much."

"I heard he has some natural talent."

"Right, but he's one person. One person cannot change the entire Gryffindor team."

"It can certainly help."

"Goodness, this kid has you all kinds of worked up," she laughed.

"Look, I want to win this year," Ace said. "It's my final year as Captain and well...it would mean a lot if Ravenclaw took home the cup this year under my reign."

"Ace, I think we stand a pretty good chance this year. We have a strong team and you leading the strong team. I don't think Gryffindor is the team to focus on though. I think we should be paying attention to Slytherin."

"I agree, but I'm not counting out Gryffindor yet."

"That's the spirit, Ace. Stay paranoid!"

Ace leaned back with a chuckle. "I see you've been getting quite the head start on Oliver this year."

"I thought it was impossible, but he got even cuter over the summer. Praise Merlin!" she held her hands up.

Ace shook his head at her. "You have a weird way of showing affection to people, Mel."

"She's just weird in general," Andy said coming down from the girl's dorm and sitting down beside Melanie on the arm of the sofa. "And that's why we love her so much."

"Aww thanks, Andy! I love you too."

Melanie was walking down the corridor on her way to the Great Hall with Andy walking along next to her talking about Potions when she stopped and grabbed Andy by the back of her robes.

"What?"

"Look," Melanie said nodding her head in a direction.

Andy peeked out and saw Oliver walking, but to her surprise with Carter next to her.

"Is that Carter with Oliver?"

"No, it's Dumbledore with McGonagall. Yes it's Carter with Oliver," Melanie said as they stood around the corner.

"What are they doing together?"

"I don't know. I'm not a Seer," Melanie shrugged. "But something is going on..."

They looked around again to see both boys stop outside the Great Hall, Carter walked in first while Oliver waited a few moments before walking in himself.

"Those sly mothers...," Melanie smirked.

"What?" Andy asked.

"Carter is working against me," Melanie sniffed. "I'm so proud of him."

"How can you tell he's working against you?"

"And you call yourself a Ravenclaw. Andy...think!"

Andy thought for a moment. "Ooooh because he's hanging out with Oliver..."

Melanie nodded. "Look at Oliver thinking he's slick...working with my brother. Ugh, as if he couldn't get any more precious. I love that man."

"So what are you going to do? Call them out on it?"

"Oh no," Melanie shook her head. "I'm not going to do that. I'm going to let them think they are so sneaky. I want to see how this plays out."

Carter was eating some corn before looking up and seeing his sister coming in and sitting at the Ravenclaw table with Andy.

She glanced over at him, and smiled with a wave. For some reason, the smile and wave made Carter uneasy as if she knew something he didn't.

She whispered something to Andy that made the girl laugh and Carter knew in that moment, that Melanie was up to something.

"So I think my sister knows what's up between us," Carter said to Oliver in the common room after dinner.

Several Gryffindors looked over in their direction.

"Please don't ever say that out loud again," Oliver sighed.

"Ooops...sorry.'

"Now what do you mean, she knows? Did you say something?"

"No. But it's Mel..."

"That doesn't mean she knows."

"She knows. Trust me, she knows."

"There's no way she could know."

"You really underestimate my sister. Look, there is a reason she's in Ravenclaw and we're not."

"Hey!"

"Sorry but it's true."

"I don't believe this.."

Carter sighed. "My sister knows how to play people...she knows all about mind games. She could convince a person they were probably half-troll by the end of a discussion even if they weren't even talking about trolls. It's what she does. She's good at it. "

"So now what?"

"You're not going to like this," Carter told him.

"What?"

"We're going to have to kill my sister," Carter said.

"WHAT?!"

"I'm just kidding," Carter laughed. "We'll figure something out."

Oliver stood in shock as Carter left to the boy's dorm.

"Yeah they are definitely related."