Captain - An Oliver Wood Fanfiction

Chapter 11 - Excellent air clearness on the pitch

Erin still had to wait a couple of hours before her quidditch practice started and was somehow in the mood to mess with Oliver. She knew they had practice now and ever since their little moment in apparition class, she felt the urge to talk to him all the time. Beatrice had noticed and she was suspicious to say the least.

"Where are you off to?" she asked when Erin started packing her stuff.

"I'm going to spy on Gryffindor. Can I borrow your binoculars?"

"Sure, I guess", she said confused. Beatrice had huge binoculars, gotten from her parents at Christmas last year. Her parents were lovely, but a bit eccentric. They always gave Beatrice the weirdest stuff. It was odd to think those people had produced malicious, cranky Beatrice.

"Thanks, B", Erin said as she came back from their dorm, binoculars in hand.

"Spying on Wood, you mean?" Erin grinned. Definitely.

"Perhaps. I'll see you at lunch!" Erin walked out and made her way to the quidditch pitch. She could hear Oliver shouting at his team from a good distance away. He was an actual maniac when it came to quidditch. Erin stationed herself on the edge of the pitch, clearly visible. She took out the binoculars and tried to find Oliver's face, waiting for his reaction.

"Oi, Wood, I think we have a visitor", Fred called out. Oliver spotted Erin in the grass and Erin couldn't help but smirk at the confused look on Oliver's face. The boy flew down and landed right in front of her. Erin was still gazing through the binoculars, chuckling at the huge image of Wood's nose.

"What exactly are you doing, Evans?" Oliver asked. Erin lowered her binoculars, faking a confused look.

"Oh, didn't see you there, Wood", she joked, sporting her most innocent smile.

"Are you spying on us?"

"Definitely not."

"Then why are you at the edge of the pitch, looking at us through a set of binoculars?" Erin noticed a small smile, tugging on Oliver's lips. He wasn't mad, which Erin hadn't expected. It was a shame, but she didn't exactly mind his smile either.

"I was ... spotting birds. Excellent air clearness on the pitch", Erin said, not being able to hide a smile herself.

"Spotting b-, what are you on about, Evans?" Oliver laughed. "Get the hell away from my quidditch practice, you're interrupting us."

"But what about all those birds I'd be missing?" Erin said, looking up into the sky. There was nothing to be seen, dammit.

"Evans, get your arse out of here."

"Make me." Before she had time to respond, she was swept off her feet as Oliver threw her over his shoulder.

"Wood, put me down!" Erin yelled.

"You challenged me", he sighed, walking away from the pitch

"I hate you", Erin mumbled, still smiling. Oliver put her down about a hundred yards from the quidditch pitch.

"Now don't you dare to come back, or I will get you reported", Oliver smirked. He looked at Erin puzzled, trying to figure out why she was in such a mood. He couldn't say he minded it.

"Ay ay Captain", Erin saluted, before she made her way back to the castle. She had had her fun.

"Just watch your back, Evans!" Oliver shouted before he too returned to practice.

"Wood is crushing on a Hufflepuff", the twins sang as Oliver returned to the pitch.

"Very funny", he said, trying to get rid of the persistent smile on his face.

"Erin Evans and Oliver Wood, doesn't sound half bad", Katie winked as she flew by.

"All of you stop this nonsense or you can all do extra laps", Oliver said and tried to regain his posture. He didn't like Erin like that. They were friends, but that was it. She was the Hufflepuff quidditch captain for Merlin's sake.

Oliver wasn't the most creative person out there, so it took him a couple days to figure out how he could annoy Erin. She had been suspicious, as he had noticed her looking at him quite a few times during supper. It confused him. He was certain that he didn't like her in that way, because she was on an opposing quidditch team. He could never like a competitor like that. But the feelings he got when she laughed or when she smiled at him in the hallways were confusing him. He didn't feel like that when Katie or Angelina smiled at him. Maybe it was just because they were newer friends. Maybe he was just a little uncomfortable around her still.

On Wednesday afternoon, during Hufflepuff quidditch practice, Oliver found himself a little bored. Bored enough to come up with a little plan to annoy Erin just like she did. He strolled to the pitch and hid himself underneath the Gryffindor stand. The fabric that covered the stands was full of holes, so he could easily spot the team practicing. This was an excellent spying spot now he thought of it.

He spotted Erin, speeding in the air, and got out his wand. He knew that he could lose some serious house points for this, but he couldn't let Erin get away with her little spying prank. He stuck his wand through one of the larger holes and targeted Erin's broom.

"Locomotor", he whispered and as Erin's broom came to a full stop, he knew he had succeeded. Erin shrieked as her broom halted, almost throwing her off. What was going on? Her broom stopped listening to her completely, softly swaying from left to right. Why was it doing this? It was perfectly fine a minute ago. Unless someone had tampered with it.

She tried to get down from her broom, but instead it jerked backwards, making Erin almost lose her grip.

"Oi, Erin, what's going on?" Cedric called out for her. Erin had her suspicions, a frown growing on her face. After another jerk to the left, she had enough. She janked at her broom and forced it down, breaking Oliver's spell.

"OLIVER WOOD!" Erin yelled as her feet hit the ground again. Oliver knew that that was his cue to leave, but his sudden escape gave away his location. Before he could leave the stands, a furious Erin was standing in front of him, pricking her finger in his chest.

"What the hell, Oliver!" she yelled. "What do you think you're doing? That was dangerous!"

"Since when are we on first-name-basis?" Oliver smirked, catching Erin off guard.

"What? Why- Urgh, doesn't matter! You could have injured me, you prick", Erin spat, narrowing her eyes. It was a little difficult to stay mad whilst Oliver was smiling down on her, thoroughly enjoying her rant.

"But I didn't, did I?" Erin couldn't help but lose her harsh look when Oliver kept smiling at her. Dammit he had a good smile.

"You're despicable, get out of here!" she said as she held up the tarp. Oliver shrugged and walked out.

"See you around, Erin."

Erin took a minute to process what had just happened and then walked out. All team members were looking at her confused.

"What was Wood doing here?" Cedric asked.

"Just being an annoying git. Don't worry about it, he's gone now", Erin said and mounted her broom. She needed to focus. Stupid Wood, or ... Oliver.

"Come on, the first one who misses a shot at the goal does laps!" she yelled and got back into her quidditch game. Erin only had a month left to prepare for the match against Gryffindor, so she needed to focus.