Chapter 9 - You sure about that, Wood?

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Erin had made a huge to-do list and slowly worked her way through it on Thursday, in between classes. She needed to write her mum back, finalise her strategy for their first match against Gryffindor, build up a new training schedule, prepare the upcoming training sessions, reserve the pitch, talk to her team and study for both Charms and Herbology.

She had just finished writing the letter to her mum, planning to go to the Owlery later. She had told Erin that she had been saving up for Benji's broom for a while, so a Nimbus 2000 was possible, which was terrific news. Her mum had ordered it and it would arrive in a couple of days. Erin wrote her about becoming captain too, which had finally sunken in completely. She was the captain of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, one of the four captains out of the entire school.

She had just started on completing her training schedule when Cedric walked in. He looked at Erin for a while and then made his way over to her.

"Can I sit?" he asked, to which Erin nodded.

"Congratulations on becoming team captain, you deserve it", he said, a little forced, extending his hand. Erin gladly took it, relieved that he wasn't angry at her.

"Thank you, that means a lot, I know how much you wanted it too."

"No, Madame Hooch was right. It wasn't right to play the match without you. Plus, you're good at it, you'll do great." Cedric was a great guy and one of the people on the team Erin got along with the best.

"Well, I could still use some help if you're up for it. What do you think? I was thinking about three practices a week, two of them training skills, one of them on game strategy."

Cedric took the seat besides her and looked at her notes. They discussed their training strategy, their game plan against Gryffindor and new moves to try this year. Tomorrow would be their first practice and Erin would lead it.

"Hey Erin, I'm heading out for Transfiguration, don't you have that class?" Anthony Rickett, one of the Hufflepuff's beaters, asked. Erin looked at her watch, completely lost in time.

"Oh bloody hell, you're right. I have to go Cedric, see you!" She grabbed her notebooks, ran up to her dorm to grab her stuff, quickly combed her hair and ran down the stairs again. Anthony was still waiting for her. They had three classes together, but for some reason they never walked to class together. Maybe she could make that a habit.

"Thanks for that, I completely lost track of time", she said, leaving the Hufflepuff common room.

"No problem, busy with quidditch already?" Anthony asked.

"You bet. I plan to kick some Gryffindor ass", she grinned. It'd be weird to play against Oliver as they had been working alongside each other for the past month.

"I think you'll do great, you have my full dedication, captain", he grinned. Anthony wasn't exactly Erin's type look-wise, but personality-wise he definitely was. For some reason she didn't feel much when she was around him though. He had a darker skin tone, with dark curls that were shorter on the sides and longer on top. He had light brown eyes and defined abs, which is something Erin had definitely noticed during practice sometimes.

"Here you go", he said and held open the door of the Transfiguration classroom for her.

"Well thank you, kind sir", Erin bowed dramatically and entered. He'd be a very good friend though.

Transfiguration was never Erin's favourite class, but she was rather good at it. They were working on Human Transfiguration, which was pretty exciting. Professor McGonagall also quite liked her, as she was always attentive during class. She was a lot less fan of Beatrice, which is why the girl didn't get a high enough grade to choose Transfiguration as a N.E.W.T class. The class was always three hours long though, so Erin was happy when they were dismissed and it was almost time for supper.

"How do you stay awake in that class?" Anthony asked her, who looked like he had been run over by a bus.

Erin chuckled. "The more you pay attention in class, the less you have to study, the more time you have for-"

"Quidditch", Anthony completed her sentence. "Fair point."

"Did someone say quidditch?" Oliver walked past Erin, sporting a smirk.

"Yeah, just discussing how to beat the Gryffindor team. Should be a breeze", Erin flashed a cheeky smile.

"In your dreams, Evans, you don't stand a chance."

"You sure about that, Wood?" Erin winked. It was very easy to get into Oliver's head and it had become Erin's new favourite pastime.

"Yes, I'm sure about that. We're doubling training soon", he said, slightly less playful, which made Erin chuckle. She had succeeded after one sentence.

"Hope you're prepared for our brand new move then." Erin shrugged and took the exit to the Great Hall, leaving Oliver behind.

"We have a new move?" Anthony whispered.

"No, not really, but let him think we do."

"What's the deal with you and Wood anyway? He seems to like you", Anthony asked.

"Oh no, the only thing Wood likes is quidditch. It's just nice to talk to someone who gets the obsession." Erin smiled when she thought of yesterday's conversation with Oliver. It was something she'd never told anyone, but it all flowed so naturally around him. He was a good listener and Erin knew that she could trust him.

"And the other way around?" Anthony asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You mean if I like Wood?" Anthony nodded. Of course she liked him, much more than she liked to admit, but there was no point in telling him that if it had no potential whatsoever.

"He's nice, but it's really not like that", Erin said with a slight blush. Anthony didn't quite know what to make of that. The thing was that he had been crushing on her for probably three years now. She was actually the reason he joined the quidditch team. He always liked quidditch, but never thought he was good enough to make the team. But when he saw Erin play her first match in their third year, he was sold. He wanted to get to know her, so he needed to be on the team.

And he did. This would be his second year on the team, but although he practiced with her three times a week, he never had the courage to actually talk to her. He wasn't really a shy person, he just didn't know what to talk about. They talked when they hung out with the entire team and had exchanged some conversations, but they were way too superficial to really get to know each other. Anthony desperately wanted to change that, but then suddenly Wood was in the picture.

But Erin said it wasn't like that, so he had a shot, right?

"Anthony, honestly!" Erin's voice shook him from his daydream.

"What?" he mumbled dazed, to which she chuckled.

"You were very far away. Everything okay?" Anthony noticed that supper had appeared on the table.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking." She smiled.

"Can you play Wizard's Chess?" he asked suddenly, already facepalming himself. Who would want to play Wizard's Chess on a September evening?

"I love Wizard's Chess! You want to play?" she surprised him.

"I'd love to", he said, trying not to show the excitement that he was feeling within. Beatrice joined them for supper and ranted about the annoying Ravenclaw she was paired with in Potions. She really regretted taking that class. She had now gotten herself detention after supper for yelling at her partner because he kept on taking her supplies, telling her that she was doing it wrong. Her mood could not have gotten any worse.

"Well, have fun tonight. I'm going to try not to scratch Snape's eyes out", Beatrice said, still extremely pissed off.

"Good luck, B. I'll get hot chocolate when you get back", Erin said.

"Oh, you're great, thank you, E." She stood up and left for what was for sure going to be an interesting night.

"You ready to get absolutely murdered in Wizard's Chess?" Erin asked.

Anthony got his chess set from the common room and they made their way to the Courtyard, where the sun was setting.

"Black or white?" Anthony asked, setting up the game.

"Black", Erin said.

"So determined, that's dark", Anthony joked.

"Black's a Hufflepuff colour!" she protested. They were just about to start when her attention was pulled towards a couple of red robes. The Gryffindor quidditch team walked by, on their way to practice probably.

She shortly waved at Oliver, who was walking in front. He just looked at her weirdly and walked on.

"Well, that was nice", Erin mumbled.

"Is he ever really nice?" Anthony asked. Yes he was. He voluntarily helped Erin become captain, then recommended her to Madame Hooch and he promised not to tell Erin's new Chaser move to the rest of his team. Oliver was extremely nice.

Erin shrugged and moved her first pawn, ready to crush Anthony's chess dreams.

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