Fifth Year,
Morally Cheating.

His flirty attitude hadn't gone unnoticed, a couple of her friends had noticed the change in his behaviour. Louisa noticed that Ethan's sister Laura had been eyeing the pair up closely. She smiled as the younger Hufflepuff sat down next to her, accompanied by their Seeker Cedric Diggory.

"Can I help you?" she asked

"Don't you think it's strange how Oliver Wood is acting?" she asked.

"Yes, in fact, I do, I think I might call him on it today,"

"Or you could play his game,"

"What?"

"I come from a long line of Slytherins, with that being said, use his friendliness to your advantage,"

"And how do suppose I do that?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" she argued, "My aunt taught me to use anything that will get me what I want, you want to beat Oliver Wood, so make him think you're not a threat, flirt back, take one for the team and go on a date with him,"

"Ew," she said visibly disgusted, "I think you have been hanging around with them Slytherin boys too much"

"Say what you will, you know I'm right," Louisa looked to Cedric as he had remained quiet for the entire conversation.

"I'm on Laura's side, it's not technically cheating, it might be morally cheating but-

"That doesn't matter Wood 'morally' cheats all the time,"

She understood what Laura was saying, she spotted Oliver leaving the hall, she walked after not too rushed to avoid drawing attention. She caught up with him, tapping him on the shoulder, he was surprised to see her seeking him for a change.

"Hey, how are you?" she asked, really how are you, good one Lou.

"What? I'm fine why?"

"What do you mean why? I'm asking how you are, that's not weird that's normal," she defended herself.

"In 5 years, you've literally never asked me how I am before,"

"Bloody hell, I won't do it again then sorry for asking,"

"That's better," he said, smirking, she laughed,

"Sorry, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out,"

"Okay, even you have to admit that's a weird sentence,"

"Never mind, I just thought you liked me," she frowned, turning to walk away, he clenched his jaw.

"Wait, Lou," she smiled to herself, frowning as she turned around to face him, "Where shall we meet up?"

"I was thinking maybe the Quidditch pitch after dark, we'd be alone then," she smiled, looking him up and down, toying with his school tie, "it would be nice to have some 1 on 1 time together," she strutted away, like a model on a catwalk, his gaze fell down her body.

"What in the world was that?"

"Jesus Christ, Ethan you scared the fuck out of me,"

"I'm not apologising you were lost in your own head,"

"What?"

"Please, don't play dumb, you couldn't take your eyes off her,"

"Look, it'd never happen, she's your ex,"

"That doesn't matter, Lou and I broke up, before we went too far," he patted Oliver on his back, "if you want her, take her, I'm not going to stop you,"

"You're telling me you don't feel a thing for her anymore,"

"No, we were probably always better as friends," he laughed, "Seriously, don't reject her because of me, who knows, maybe you'll be top of the league together,"

***

"I'm a stupid person, I'm a stupid person, I'm a stupid person-

"Will you shut up, you're giving me a headache," Laura rubbed her temples, as she helped Louisa pick out something to wear.

"Oh my god, why did I agree to meet him,"

"Remember, we're doing this to beat him," she said, Louisa paced back and forth, repeating the words 'doing this to beat Oliver,'

"Okay," she paused at the dress, "I'm not wearing that,"

"Why not?"

"For one it's September, it's raining and cold, and two, I don't wanna jump into to bed with him,"

"I never said to do that,"

"Yeah, well that dress gives off the wrong idea," she glanced at the time, "oh crap I'm going to be late," she grabbed a random outfit from her clothes, a dark grey jumper and a green plaid skirt.

"Don't come back without a hickey," Laura teased.

"Piss off," Louisa shouted flipping her off as she walked out of the common room. Luckily she didn't have far to travel to the quidditch pitch.

She wouldn't be surprised if he didn't show up. She arrived a couple of minutes late, there was no one around, she waited a little while in case he was also late. She paced a little fiddling with the ring on her finger, she took some deep breaths.

'There is no need to be nervous,'

"Hello Parker," she whirled around, smiling at him, "You look different,"

"Good different,"

"Yeah," he snapped out of his thoughts, "so you got me out here, what do you plan to do now?"

"How was your summer?"

"You dragged me out here, to ask about my summer,"

"Nevermind, I don't even know why I asked you-

"My summer was fine, Ethan and I went camping, how about you?"

"I could lie and say it was great," she sighed looking down at her ring, "but it wouldn't make me feel better,"

"What do you mean?"

"I've had the worst summer, my dad is sick, they don't think he's going to get better, and my sister is hopeful that he will, meanwhile, I've been trying to keep everything together and I- what am I doing you don't want to hear this,"

"No, carry on, sounds like you need to get it out,"

"I feel like I could break at any minute, Jessica graduated last year and she would know what to say, Katherine and Aurora are relying on me to stay strong and I don't think I can handle that pressure," she said, with tears threatening to escape, she quickly brushed them away.

He walked closer to her pulling her in for a hug she looked like she need. She froze, quickly relaxing as she wrapped her arms around him, crying into his shoulder. He let her they might not have been the best of friends, but seeing someone he had known for the last 5 years, break in front of him shattered his ego.

Louisa had always been a confident person, never faltering. No matter what people threw at her, he questioned how long she had been holding on to this. Taking on all this pressure to keep up appearances for her sister and cousin, just to sacrifice her own mental well-being. She pulled away wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry-

"Don't be, no one should hold on to stuff like that. We can do this again, you need to talk then we can meet any time you need,"

"Why would do that?" she asked, genuinely curious as to why he would help.

"Despite our difference, I don't like seeing my greatest rival upset like this," she smiled at him, she leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you,"