Author's Note: This is my first Bell/Wood fic, so I'm really excited about it's release. It's book verse-ish, and takes place during PoA. It just goes through the ups and downs of our favorite Gryffindor Quidditch team members, and yes there will be romance. I know Oliver is in his seventh year when this takes place, but I have no clue what year the others are ( though I did extensive book and internet research ) , so I have placed Angelina, Alicia, Katie and the Weasley twins in sixth year. I will go on this for the rest of the story, but if anyone knows the real facts, let me know just in case I decide to do another one. Thanks so much, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: Only the plot, only the plot...
You're So Tactless
Chapter One: Warm Breath, Cold Breath
My eyes were riveted to the back of Oliver Wood's head. Don't ask me why. Okay, you can. I'll admit it. There was something funny about his hair. It was as if I had just noticed it for the first time.
"What, you've never seen hair before?" a warm breath tickled my ear.
I jerked out of my trance just in time to trip over my own feet and go careening into a compartment, landing soundly on my rump.
"Oww..." I moaned, getting up rather ungracefully, yanking on Fred Weasley's sweater.
I blinked a few times.
"Isn't your sweater supposed to have an F on it?" I asked, pointing at the G on Fred's sweater.
"Why Katie Elisabeth Bell, don't tell me you don't recognize our Gred and Forge ploy!" George exclaimed in mock surprise.
"Huh?" I replied, still trying to get focused.
"Yeah. That's what Mum said."
"Oblivious to her own children, she is. Still hasn't cottoned on." Fred said.
"We do it to her every year." George commented.
I grinned at the twins, and sat down in the compartment as they sat down in front of me.
"How'd your summer go?" George asked.
"Fairly well."
"Any flings?" he asked shrewdly.
"You know me George, I couldn't get a guy even if I wanted to!" I said rather irritably.
It was true. I've only had two "boyfriends" in the whole entire course of my life, while people like Angelina have had many. Alicia has always been a tough cookie, so she usually ends up being friends with the guys that she likes, because she doesn't really adapt well to that kind of change. Me? I guess I scare guys off or something.
" Well you're not that ugly Ka-" Fred said innocently, getting cut off by Angelina coming in the compartment and swatting him.
"Stop insulting my friends!" she snapped in a reprimanding voice.
"What crawled up your bum hole and died?" Fred asked sourly, rubbing his forearm.
Angelina glared at him. "Wood is already talking about practice."
"Damn."
We lapsed into silence, content with each other's company. Suddenly, a blonde girl came hurtling into the compartment.
"I thought I'd never get away." Alicia puffed, collapsing next to the window on my left.
"What, Wood cornered you too?" I asked, grinning slightly.
In that instant, Oliver appeared in the doorway and smirked at me, his brown eyes dancing with amusement.
"Feeling left out Bell?" he asked.
"Not at all." I responded.
He stared hard at me.
"Does that get me out of a private chat?" I asked hopefully.
He grinned wickedly. "No, but good try though, I respect that."
I sighed and gave him my best impression at a puppy dog face. It didn't work. I trudged out into the hallway behind him, shooting a miserable glance at George. Once at his predestined area of choice, Oliver whipped right around and began talking my ears off with Quiddtich tactics. Feint this, watch out for Flint that. This boy was getting on my nerves.
" OKAY OLIVER!" I shouted, causing some people to shut their compartment doors.
" Listen Bell, I'm just trying to help so don't take that tone with me!" Oliver returned.
"Trying to help? How? By telling me things I already know? Lord Oliver, give me and the rest of the team a break." I huffed.
"A break? This is the last year I have to win the Cup!" he hissed, the maniac glint in his eyes.
"Yeah, you better be careful or else you'll push us to the breaking point with this obsession of yours." I snapped, turning on my heel and going back into the compartment.
There was a stony silence seven minutes later as the twins came back in from their pep talk. Everyone was glaring at Oliver, who seemed oblivious to us, as he was hiding behind his copy of Quidditch Through the Ages.
"I reckon the cart will come by any second now." Alicia said hopefully.
However, fifteen minutes later, the lunch cart didn't come. Fred and George were playing exploding snap with Alicia, and I was talking idly with Angelina about her cousins.
Half an hour later, Lee Jordan came bustling in with a brilliant white smile on his dark face. He whispered something to Fred and George who smirked at each other, nodded, and left the compartment.
"Where's the cart?" Alicia said exasperatedly, getting up to plaster her face into the window of the compartment door.
"I'll go check." I said, getting up and brushing off my jeans. I walked out into the hallway, tucking my brown hair behind my ears.
The train was eerily quiet, and somehow, my shirt didn't feel like enough protection from the onslaught of cold air coming my way. I breath hung in the silence before me, and I wondered if it was me or time that had stopped.
Fred and George came out of nowhere, teeth chattering, arms hugging their figures. They told me I was mad to continue on, and went back to the compartment. I pressed on, hugging myself much in the same fashion, wondering if I really was crazy.
Suddenly, the lights went out, and I heard a great number of scufflings. I was rooted to the spot, and cursed my luck when someone ran into me.
"Ugh, God. Who are you? Get out of my way!" he snapped.
Only one voice in the world could ever sound that snotty.
"Malfoy?"
"So?"
He took it as a insult. What a nut job.
"What's going on?" I asked, my teeth beginning to chatter.
"W-well, there's d-dementors." he gritted.
I felt him shiver against my leg as a sense of dread began to root itself in my stomach. I felt as if life had been drained out of me. A frowned proliferated on my face, and I shut my eyes, completing the dark motif.
I heard someone in the compartment near me scream, and it shocked me out of my trance. I got up and ran down the train, heading for my compartment. Malfoy must've heard it too, because I could hear footsteps coming after me.
I exploded into the compartment, tripping over what I thought to be Oliver's legs.
"Ouch! Who is that?" came Angelina's high pitched squawk.
"It's me, Katie!" I rasped, feeling the cold root itself in my stomach again, the dread and sorrow returning with a vengance.
"Ack!" Malfoy yelped and he too tumbled into the compartment.
"What's up? Why is it so cold?" Fred said.
"Yeah, why's the train stopped?" he whispered.
"D-d-dementors." I wheezed, clutching at someone else's leg, scrabbling to get upright.
"Fred! Hold my hand!" Angelina wailed.
Whether he did so or not I never knew. I could now sort a see in my mind where everyone was. Angelina, Fred and George were on the left side of the compartment, while Alicia was on the right. These legs were to masculine feeling to be Alicia's so...
"Katie, get up of the floor!" Oliver said in concerned tones, grabbing me under my arms, and hauling me up.
Since he couldn't see, he couldn't tell if there was a seat in between Alicia and himself, so he slung me onto his lap, gripping his arms in a protective manner around my waist and back.
"Merlin, your skin is like ice." he murmured into my ear.
George gave an involuntary twitch.
"OW!"
"Who the bloody hell is that?" Alicia hissed.
"It's Malfoy." I muttered.
"What's Malfoy doing in our compartment?" Angelina asked in disgust.
"Probably wet his pants-" George began.
"Cause he's such a bloody git." Fred finished.
"I am not! I did not! Shut up!" Malfoy said, not bothering to hide the fearful frustration in his voice.
No one laughed. Everything was silent, and Oliver's steady breathing began to get cooler by the moment. Our compartment door slid open, and soon, apprehension was battling with the emotions in my stomach, and I was beginning to feel a little sick.
"Oh my God!" Angelina breathed, and I heard a whimper of pain come from Fred.
This is it, I thought, I'm going to freeze to death.
The Dementor made a most unwelcome appearance in the door frame, and I could've sworn that if it had a visible face, it'd be smiling one hell of a twisted smile.
Ten more minutes in the dark, and things started to warm up a bit. The lights came back on and I found Angelina gripping Fred's hand, George with his knees pulled up to his chest, Alicia biting her nails, Malfoy petrified on the floor, and Oliver staring hollowly his hand which was fiddling half heartedly with my belt loop.
As if on cue, we all looked and looked at each other in turn.
"The lights are back on." Fred said feebly, rubbing his thumb over Angelina's fingers.
End Chapter