The Captain's Lounge
Oliver Wood knows something is wrong the second he walks into the Quidditch Captain's Lounge.
It's one of the nicest chambers he's ever seen, that lounge, but to tell the truth Oliver dreads visiting it. Admittance to the Captain's Lounge comes with prestige, with honor, with an automatic broom polisher and a fancy bathroom—but it also comes with the other three Quidditch captains, and Oliver's interactions with Davies, Flint, and Diggory almost always end with hexes flying.
"Wood," Davies says with a nod when Oliver comes through the door. "About time."
Oliver narrows his eyes as he takes the seat between Flint and Diggory. "Gentlemen."
Davies is playing with a toy Snitch. "You're late," he says, turning the toy over in his hands.
Oliver knows he isn't, but he doesn't bother trying to defend himself. Arguments with Davies take all day. "Sorry. I just got out of practice, and. . . ."
He lets his voice trail off.
This is the first time in his memory that Davies hasn't interrupted him to give a lecture about making excuses.
Something is definitely wrong here.
"Everything okay, Wood?" Flint asks, flashing his yellow teeth in a grin.
"Fine." Oliver shifts uncomfortably. "Can we get to the meeting, then?"
"Yes." Davies puts down the toy Snitch and stands. "As you all know, next month is our annual Valentine's charity game. This year the money we raise will be going toward the research center at St. Mungo's."
Diggory raises his hand. "Who's playing?"
"About that—I've decided to organize things a bit differently than last year," Davies says.
"Who put you in charge?" Oliver asks.
Davies, uncharacteristically, ignores him.
"We're going to do it tournament-style," Davies says. "Three back-to-back matches. Winners of the first two games go head-to-head in the finals. I'm thinking . . . Gryffindor versus Slytherin, followed by Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff."
"Scared to face us, Davies?" asks Flint, and Davies smirks.
"No, Marcus, I put you against the Gryffindors so you'll actually have a fighting chance," he says, and he's talking to Flint but he's looking directly at Oliver.
"Fighting chance," Oliver scoffs. "We're first in the Hogwarts League, in case you've forgotten."
"Oh, we know," Davies says.
Diggory chortles, and Oliver snaps.
"What's going on with you lot today?" he asks, shoving his chair back from the table and getting to his feet. "Why're you all acting so strangely?"
Davies raises his eyebrows, but his mouth is arranged in a smirk. "What are you talking about?"
"You all look like you're in on a secret." Oliver eyes each of them distrustfully. "You two" (he points at Davies and Flint) "are wearing the same expression as the time we stashed Diggory's wand in the girl's bathroom. And Diggory looks like he's going to pee himself from guilt."
Diggory opens his mouth to let out another chortle, but it comes out high-pitched and squeaky.
"What are you hiding from me?" Oliver asks.
The other three Captains exchange a glance. "Wood," Davies says finally, beckoning the Gryffindor over to the large window that overlooks the Quidditch pitch. "I want you to look out there."
Being careful not to stand too close in case Davies tries to shove him out the window, Oliver obeys.
"What do you see?"
"The goalposts," Oliver says. "The stands. The changing rooms."
"Indeed." Davies steps up next to him. "And what about if you look directly . . . down?"
Oliver looks. "A rose bush? I dunno what you're—"
He cuts himself off as he realizes what's going on here.
"That bush looks familiar, doesn't it, Wood?" Flint says, coming up on Oliver's other side. "Weren't you standing in it about fifteen minutes ago?"
Oliver turns bright red.
"I believe he was, Flint," Davies says quietly. Oliver doesn't look up, but he can hear the grin in the Ravenclaw Captain's tone. "And I don't believe he was alone, either."
"Who was he with, Davies?" Flint asks with a grin that suggests he already knows the answer.
"Well, if my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, he was with a Gryffindor Chaser. Katie Bell, wasn't it?"
Oliver closes his eyes. "Look, I—"
"And Diggory?" Davies asks over him. "What was Wood doing with Miss Katie Bell in that rose bush directly under our window?"
Diggory doesn't say anything for a moment. "Kissing," he says finally.
"Kissing." Davies clasps his hands behind his back and walks back to the table. "Oliver Wood, what is the Hogwarts policy on Quidditch Captains dating members of their own teams?"
Oliver clenches his jaw and says nothing.
"It's forbidden," Flint says.
"So turn me in," Oliver says. "Go on. Tell McGonagall. Get us both kicked off the team."
"Is that really what you want?" Davies asks
"Of course not."
"Well." Davies resumes his seat and picks up his toy Snitch again. "Then I think we can find a way to work something out."
Oliver goes back to the table and sits across from the Ravenclaw Captain. "I'm listening."
"Throw the match."
Oliver blinks. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"You want me to intentionally lose the charity match?"
"Yes."
"The one that has absolutely no effect on our House Cup standings?"
Davies opens his mouth, but no words come out.
"On second thought," Flint whispers loudly from the window, "this may not have been the best plan."
"Shut up, Marcus," Davies says, suddenly very interested in his Snitch. He pulls out his wand and casts a camouflage charm on the toy; it turns from gold to dark brown, blending in with the table beneath it. "The way I see it, you have two choices," Davies says, releasing the Snitch and letting it buzz around the room like a flying chameleon. (Over by the window, Diggory's Seeker instincts kick in, and he crashes into the automatic broom polisher as he lunges for the ball.)
"Choice one," Davies says, ignoring Diggory's howls of pain. "You break things off with your Chaser friend."
Oliver clenches his jaw. "And choice two?"
"You fall off your broom and find yourself too injured to finish the match—and the season."
"Or I don't do either of those things, and I turn you in to Dumbledore for blackmailing me."
Davies smirks and shakes his head. "Then I turn you in for kissing Bell, and you get kicked off the team permanently. And all four of us know that's not a choice you're going to make, Wood."
Oliver reaches out with one hand and snatches the chameleon Snitch out of the air. "We'll see, Davies," he says quietly as the toy shifts to the color of his skin. "Meeting adjourned."
"Are you sure you're okay, Oliver?" Katie Bell asks him at breakfast on Valentine's Day. "You look terrified."
Oliver stabs into his eggs with a fork. "I'm fine."
It's been a month since the incident in the Captain's Lounge, but he hasn't had the heart to tell her.
"Well," she says when it becomes clear he isn't going to say anything more, "I'm going down to the changing rooms to get ready a bit early. Maybe you can meet me, and I can help you get over some of those nerves?"
He finds it in him to grin. "How?" he asks.
She bites her lip. "Come down to the changing rooms and see," she says, getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. "It is Valentine's, after all." She throws him a wink and saunters out of the Great Hall like she knows he's watching her leave.
(He still hasn't decided whether he's going to break up with her or break his leg.)
"Well, well, well," says Davies, sliding into Katie's empty chair. "Still awfully close to your Chaser friend. I assume you've decided to fall off your broom, then?"
"Shove off, Davies."
"To think Oliver Wood, of all people, would choose love over duty." Davies shakes his head. "She must be incredible."
"I said shove off."
"Fitting that we're playing to raise money for the hospital, isn't it?" Davies says. "Seeing as you'll be needing a nurse."
Oliver pushes his plate away and stands up. "See you on the pitch," he says darkly as he heads for the changing rooms.
"Bit early, don't you think?" Davies calls after him, but Oliver pretends he can't hear.
"Took you long enough," Katie says when he makes it into their changing room. "I thought you weren't coming." She rises up on tiptoe to press a kiss against his lips. "Happy Valentine's Day," she murmurs, winding her arms around his neck.
He doesn't say anything, just brushes her off and sinks into a sitting position on the floor.
"Ollie?" She sits next to him. "Everything okay?"
He shakes his head and takes her hand. "I made a mistake," he says without looking at her.
"Oh?" She lets him lock their fingers together. "What happened?"
"Katie, we can't be together anymore."
A beat. "Why not?"
"It's not working."
She pulls her hand away. "You waited until Valentine's Day to tell me that? Hell, you waited until two hours before the match to tell me that?"
"I'm sorry."
"What mistake did you make?" she demands. "Did you cheat?"
"No, I — "
"Did you realize you're gay? Because if you did, that's fine. Honestly I've been prepared for that outcome ever since we started this whole — "
"What?" Oliver looks up at her, eyes squinted. "Why would you think — no, I'm not gay."
"Oh." Katie bites her lip. "Then what is it?"
"Davies saw us together."
Katie waits, but he says nothing more. "So?" she says.
"So there's a rule against Quidditch Captains dating people on the team. He's been trying to blackmail — "
"That's not a rule," Katie says.
Oliver blinks. "It's not?"
She shakes her head. "I don't think so. Because Cedric Diggory is the Hufflepuff Captain, isn't he? And he's dating Heidi Macavoy, who's a Hufflepuff Chaser."
Oliver furrows his brow. "He is?"
"Yeah. And I know Flint is seeing Olivia Sharlow, who's the Slytherin's reserve Beater."
"He is?"
"And Cho Chang and I are partners in Potions, and back in September when Davies wouldn't stop asking her out she finally just told him there was a rule against Captains dating—oh, Oliver," Katie says, rolling her eyes. "Davies only thinks that's a rule because Cho told him it was a rule."
"And Davies mentioned it at the beginning of the year, in the Captain's Lounge," Oliver says, eyes widening. "Now that I think about it, I've never heard anyone reference that rule besides him!"
Katie pats his shoulder and stands up. "So is there still a problem? Or can I have my Valentine's kiss?"
Oliver grins and lets her pull him to his feet. "I'm lucky you're so smart," he says as he leans down to kiss her.
"Mmm," she agrees, letting her eyes slip shut. "Ollie?"
"Hm?"
She pulls away. "Is that why you kept insisting on us hiding in the bushes to make out?"
He feels his face turn red. "Shh," he says, pulling her in for another kiss. "Doesn't matter anymore."
"He's done it!" Lee Jordan screams into the mic. "Harry Potter has caught the Snitch in an astounding second win of the day for Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor section of the stands is going wild while the Ravenclaws boo at the field. From his place at the goalposts, Oliver catches Katie's eye and winks.
"I saw that!" cries a voice at Oliver's ear. He turns in midair to see a furious Davies. "We had a deal, Wood! You break up with her or you fall off your damn broom!"
"Didn't do either one," Oliver says with a grin. "Go on, Davies. Turn me in for dating a Chaser."
Davies narrows his eyes. "Don't think I won't, Wood." He spins his broom until it's aimed at Lee Jordan's commentator box and zooms away toward Dumbledore's seat.
"Ollie!" Katie cries, flying over to him. "We did it!"
"Gryffindor wins the charity match," Lee Jordan is saying from his box. "Captain Oliver Wood has led his team to an incredible—hey, Davies, watch it!"
The sound of Davies' voice rings over the stands as he shouts into Lee's microphone: "OLIVER WOOD IS CHEATING!"
Oliver raises an eyebrow. "Am I, though?" he asks quietly. Beside him, Katie smirks.
"HE'S BREAKING THE RULES," Davies booms. "HE'S BEEN DATING HIS CHASER, WHICH IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN."
Cho Chang, who is still on her broom congratulating Angelina Johnson, looks up sharply at those words.
"Is it, Davies?" Oliver asks with a smirk.
"Davies," Oliver hears McGonagall say, and then he watches Davies' face turn beet-red as she explains. Head hanging, he hands her the microphone and zooms down to the ground without making eye contact with the Gryffindors.
"I would like to clarify that no rules have been broken," McGonagall says into the microphone. "There is nothing, as far as I'm aware, that prohibits teammates being romantically involved with each other. Mr. Wood is free to continue dating Miss Bell for as long as they both feel necessary—as long as everything stays appropriate. Don't let me find the two of you in a broom cupboard."
"We promise, Professor!" shouts Katie with a grin and a thumbs-up.
"Good." McGonagall is too far away for Oliver to see her expression, but he imagines she's giving them a terse smile. "Happy Valentine's Day, students, and congratulations to the Gryffindors. Keep the celebrating to a minimum, classes will resume as usual tomorrow morning and I won't have any of you missing Transfiguration over a Quidditch match."
"Celebrating," Katie says over the cheering students as McGonagall puts down the mic. "Think we can do some of that? Now that you're not afraid of people knowing we're together?"
Oliver grins and pulls her in for a careful mid-air kiss. "Have you ever wanted to see the Captain's Lounge?"
[Pirate Ship Battles: Valentine's Day, Katie Bell/Oliver Wood. Prompts: (1)Bush (2)Toy (3)Leg (5)Nurse (7)Chameleon]