It was the early morning of the match against Slytherin. I heard about how hard Marcus Flint had been bragging about their upcoming win. This was making me angry enough as is.

What made things exponentially worse, however, was the paper published the day before with my picture at the forefront.

"Y/n Stone, Seductress finds new victim?

Written by: Rita Skeeter
It is well known amongst' Stone's peers that she has a certain sweet tooth for quidditch players. She was many times seen going out with the quidditch captains at her school and tossing them aside as soon as a better captain came along, and her most recent venture had been quite a catch compared to the rest! Vincent Ford, a pro quidditch player in Puddlemere United was known to have dated Y/n Stone for the past year. You read that right, dated! Stone had broken off their relationship seemingly out of nowhere right before Christmas. Mr.Ford tried to let her off easy by saying "It was better for the both of us if that's how she really felt," but we know simple girls like her never leave someone with that high of status unless they can't help it. That raises a good question, who is Y/n's next target. Many speculations are going on, and some even predict it to be the Head of the Department for Broom Sports! Either way, we'll just have to wait and see, and watch closely."

When June woke me up with this great piece of media my jaw dropped. What have I possibly done to provoke such scrutiny from Rita Skeeter? And why the hell were people believing her.

"Is it true?" Oliver prodded me during our charms class right before the end of it. He pointed at the article.

"Which part?" I sighed.

"You broke up right before Christmas," Oliver said, "I can tell the rest of it is bullshit."

"Wow, good job, want a cookie?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"So is it?"

"Yeah." I slipped my parchment into my binder.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Oliver asked, his voice almost sounding like it was excited and hurt at the same time.

"Because," I turned away and closed my bag.

I knew I liked Oliver, but something about his smugness overwhelmed me with a burning rage.

"This is why you don't date pr-" Oliver started to puff out his chest.

"And who are you to tell me who I do and don't date?" I asked, my voice seeping with venom, "It's none of your business."

"Cmon Stone, don't be like that," Oliver said in a condescending tone, or perhaps it was a tone of being taken aback...

Either way in my blind aggression I could not see the difference.

"This is why I didn't tell you, because I knew you were going to be a condescending pig about it, Wood." I hissed.

"Stone-"

The bell rang and I quickly leaped out of my seat and practically ran out of the class.

~~~

It was because of this occurrence I was even more upset the morning of the game when I saw Oliver sitting in the library when I got there. Of course, deep down I knew I wanted him there, but at that moment it took all of my strength to plot in front of him.

"Before you say anything," Oliver waved his hands in front of him as to motion for him to speak. "I brought coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls."

He slid a mug and a paper bag, smiling bashfully. I stared at him blankly and my heart fluttered. More than anything I wanted to forgive him, but my pride needed to hear that apology.

"Oh cmon Stone don't be like that," Oliver grinned lopsidedly.

"Like what?" I pursed my lips, preventing a smile from trying to creep over my face.

"You know I'm trying to apologize," Oliver pushed the cinnamon rolls and coffee closer to me.

"Fine," I averted my eyes and smiled, grabbing the food.

We sat in silence for another moment, and I opened the bag to find two perfectly baked fresh cinnamon rolls. My stomach gave an approving growl before I took one in my hand.

"Are you ready to lose the match today?" Oliver joked.

"You wish," I scoffed, "Nothing is standing in between me and the cup this year."

"You sound so confident it's almost convincing enough to make me think you're any good at quidditch." Oliver snickered.

"Here," I pulled a cinnamon roll out of the bag and handed it to him, "Or do you still claim to hate cinnamon?"

"I don't like cinnamon," Oliver responded, "But cinnamon rolls aren't that bad."

He snatched it out of my hand and I laughed, "What's with you and pretending you hate cinnamon? You smelled it in your amortentia last year, and you know that means you love it."

"I used to hate cinnamon," Oliver shrugged.

"What changed?"

"Dunno," he smiled.

~~~

We walked onto the pitch. The sun shone brightly above, and I could hear the chattering from the stands above. I saw the Slytherin team look exceptionally smug, and it was clear something was off. Despite the warm weather and cool breeze that felt nice against my quidditch uniform, the air felt thick and heavy.

"BROOMS AT THE READY!" Madam Hooch signalled.

"LIFT OFF!"

The whistle was blown and we zoomed up. The quaffle followed shortly and to my luck, landed almost directly into my lap. I didn't take the time to process this and flung myself in the direction of the enemy goal posts. I heard a furious whizzing behind me and I sped up my pace. I turned to look for a split second and saw a bludger trailing me. Liane was flying directly at it as well, in an attempt to bat it away. The crowd was roaring, and I could hear my heart pounding out of my chest.

I pressed my whole weight into the front of the broom, pushing the limits of speed. My surroundings becoming blurred by speed, I could only see the goalposts in front of me and the Slytherin keeper. He was lined up next to the centre posts, waiting for my arrival. I quickly tried to look back, the wind slapping my face, only to find Liane and Jason behind me, furiously hitting away bludgers as the two Slytherin batters were hitting them back.

Then I heard someone else swoosh next to me. Whipping my head around, I could see it was none other than that ogre, Marcus Flint. He was flying slightly behind me. I was next to the left goal post now and cornered by Marcus and his keeper. Suddenly I saw Roger fly close to the centre goalpost, which was no longer occupied by the keeper. It was long-distance, but I wasn't left with much of a choice. Without giving it more thought, I chucked the quaffle at Roger with all the strength I could muster.

Time slowed as I watched the quaffle fly through the air. The smug look on both the keeper's and Marcus' faces was quickly replaced by disbelief. No one would ever usually throw that far, and the chances of success on this throw were slim.

Roger caught it and speedily threw it in the center hoops, and I could hear the crowd roar.

"SHE DID IT! SHE ACTUALLY DID IT!" I could hear Lee Jordan cheer loudly through the speakers.

I felt a wave of relief wash over my body, but that was short-lived because right as I was about to relax, another bludger whirred towards me. I dodged out of the way and flew back to starting position. I could see Cho flying in circles high above the pitch.

In the next set, it was Randolph who seized the quaffle after a little struggling with one of the Slytherin chasers for it. It was now Cho who was targeted by the bludgers. Liane and Jason were now flying circles around Cho, hitting bludgers away in every direction.

The air was thick with anticipation and uneasiness. Our beaters were sweating profusely, clearly already wearing out from the bludger after bludger they hit.

For the next few points scored I kept a close eye on these bludgers. No matter how many times our beaters hit them towards the Slytherin seeker, they never seemed to make it within twenty feet of him. In fact, the bludgers didn't seem to really approach any of the Slytherin players aside from the beaters.

Cho looked to be struggling to find the snitch with all of the bludgers flying at her. Despite Liane and Jason's best efforts, she still had to focus on dodging a good few.

I had enough and flew down to Madam Hooch, and requested a quick timeout. Both teams quickly landed next to us.

"Madam Hooch, I believe that the bludgers have been tampered with," I said, eyeing the Slytherin team suspiciously.

"That is a serious accusation," Madam Hooch frowned, "What makes you think so?"

Snape and Flitwick were now also standing next to us.

"The bludgers aren't going anywhere near the Slytherin team, even when our beaters are hitting directly at them."

"Or," Snape drawled calmly, "Could it simply be the fault of your beaters incompetency?"

"I firmly believe that that isn't the case, Professor." I narrowed my eyes.

"It is quite a terrible offence to falsely accuse someone of cheating," Snape's thin lips curled up, challenging me to press onward.

"Now hold on a minute Severus," Flitwick stepped in, "Y/n is an honest player, and in her 3 years of being captain she has never accused another team of cheating. Maybe we should take her words a bit more seriously and check."

"I agree with Flitwick on this one," Madam Hooch nodded, "I find it unlikely that the bludgers are being tampered with, but it isn't hard to check, and if they are not then it would help ease everyone's mind."

Snape frowned but said nothing else. Madam Hooch called back the bludgers and wrestled them back into the case, and I could feel Snape's eyes bore holes in the back of my head. If Snape had his way, I'm sure he would throw me in the dungeons of the school and let Filch use his old methods of discipline that he constantly talked about. I shuddered.

Madam Hooch pulled out her wand and muttered something under her breath, and a small flash of red escaped the wand. Her eyes widened, and she tried again, with the same result. I heard Snape scoff behind me.

"Well I'll be damned, Stone is right!" Hooch slapped her hand to her forehead.

I turned around and looked at my team, they were standing around with the Slytherin team, and everyone there looked tense. They all shot me questioning looks as we came back to where they stood.

"I am beyond disappointed in the way you have conducted yourselves," Madam Hooch began, turning to face the Slytherin team, "I would have never expected any of you to do this. Tampering with bludgers?"

The Slytherin team shuffled uncomfortably.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? Or even the injuries that could've caused?" Madam Hooch began raising her voice, "You have behaved irresponsibly and cowardly, and thus have forfeited your right to the cup."

"But," Marcus tried to protest,

"Furthermore, you are not to play the rest of the season, your team will take the last place, and all of you have detention for an indefinite amount of time until you confess to who in your team was responsible."

"RAVENCLAW TAKES THE WIN DUE TO THE SNAKES CHEAT- Sorry Professor," Lee Jordan yelled, but that's all I could make out of what he said because the rest was drowned out by the thundering of footsteps down the stands and the loud cheering.

Liane ran over and hugged me, "Oh Y/n, sank you!"

We were quickly surrounded by the entirety of the Ravenclaw house which was whooping and celebrating.

The Slytherin house on the other hand walked shamefully back to the dorms, and only a few stayed behind. Most were too embarrassed by their team's actions. I would be too. Their walk of shame was emphasized by the booing they received from everyone else.

June, Sarah, and Lori all ran up to Liane and me and pulled us into a big hug while squealing loudly.

"Thanks, guys but we haven't won the cup yet," I chuckled, patting them all on the back.

Suddenly my eyes locked with Oliver's. He was standing to the side of the crowd, smirking.