They met in her 2nd year and his 5th. She was a Chaser and he was the Captain. It was her first year on the team and damn she was good. He had never seen a better Chaser. She had the highest record of goals, a total of 7 out of 10. When playing against the legendary Oliver Wood you're lucky if you can even get 5.
It wasn't until she was older that Oliver started to see her as more than just a team-mate and a friend.
She had changed between the summer of her 3rd and 4th year and Oliver definitely wasn't the only one who noticed.
Her dark hair had grown and now it reached just below her shoulders, her blue eyes were as bright as ever, but they weren't the changes that attracted his attention.
"Hey Oliver." She said. "Good summer?"
For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He took in her newly acquired curves, usually hidden by her Quidditch robes. He must've taken a moment too long to respond because she looked at him curiously. He cleared his throat and before he could stop himself he spoke, awestruck.
"Katie, you're a girl." He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid.
She raised an eyebrow. "You justnoticed?" she asked incredulously.
He blushed. Since when did little Katie Bell make Oliver Wood, the legendary Keeper, nervous?
"No! I mean I always knew you were a girl, but now you're...a girl."
"Is there a difference between a girl and a girl?" She was clearly trying hard not laugh as she bit her lip and listened to him stammering out responses, digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.
"Well last year you didn't have..." He vaguely gestured to her chest.
"Breasts?" Her face flushed a scarlet red.
"Er, yeah. Or..." He made the 'S' shape with his hands.
"Hips?" She bit her lip harder, and he could've sworn that she was enjoying the fact that it was her making him nervous.
If this was any other girl, Oliver would've sworn she was flirting as she grinned cheekily, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. But this wasn't any girl, this was Katie Bell. The girl he suddenly realized he liked. She could never like him back, he was certain of that.
He planned to ask her to the school ball that was being thrown that year, and so that was exactly what he did. To his surprise she said yes. That was the beginning of their love story.
He loved the way she smiled and how one smile could light up the whole room, he loved the way she wasn't afraid to challenge his captain abilities when she knew the plan would never work. He loved the way she understood him. Other girls he dated could never get past his Quidditch obsession, but she could. Not only that but she accepted it, because she felt that way too. In his eyes, she was perfection.
But something changed. He graduated and was going to play Keeper for Puddlemere United, so he would have no time for her. He thought she deserved better, and she thought that he was being utterly ridiculous. She yelled and screamed and cried, begging for him to stay. He pretended not to care any more, and he made the biggest mistake of his life. He let her go.
They say you never get over your first love, and he was no exception.
Years later they met up again. She too had graduated and was trying out as a reserve Chaser for the same team.
She was beautiful in all of her 19 year old glory. She was still the same Katie that slapped him back to his senses when he tried to drown himself in the shower after loosing a game, still the same Katie who was the only Chaser to ever get more that five goals with him as keeper, the same Katie with her cheeky grin and sparkling eyes that he had fallen in love with so long ago.
The only problem was that she was no longer his. She no longer stood by his side, but by the side of a stranger that Oliver didn't know who was quietly reassuring her that she would make it onto the team. He was overcome with jealousy. It should've been him reassuring Katie. Not some git who he had never heard of before.
He made eye contact with her for the first time in almost 3 years. The connection between them was still there, and she only looked away when her boyfriend took her arm and spoke something in her ear and they started walking away. She turned her head around and met his unwavering gaze once more before ducking her head and looking away, but not before he noticed her faint blush.
He shook his head to clear all thoughts of his ex-lover from his mind and headed home to get some rest for tomorrow's practice and for a proper confrontation with Katie, now that she had made the team.
They fell into a familiar pattern over the next few weeks as she began her training as the reserve Puddlemere Chaser, and he began to feel nostalgic as he was reminded of old times when they used to practice one on one at Hogwarts.
He got on his broom and flew towards the goals, preparing for practice.
He was off in a daydream about how best to make this mysterious boyfriend disappear when the Quaffle sailed straight past him and into the left hoop.
"Not loosing your touch are you Wood?" The familiar voice jolted him back to reality and he looked up into the laughing blue eyes of Katie Bell.
He scowled at her teasing. "Not likely Bell."
Nothing had changed.
He couldn't resist interrogating her about her new 'boyfriend.'
"Who's my replacement Katie?"
Her face sobered and she flinched at his wording.
"You broke up with me, Oliver, not the other way around. Remember that." Her tone was hurt.
"You still didn't answer my question. Who is he? Does he even play Quidditch? Does he know you as well as I do? Huh? Does he?" He was aware that sounding jealous was not good.
"Stop making this sound like it's my fault. His name is Michael and no, he doesn't play Quidditch and he doesn't like it either." She never answered his last question.
Oliver gasped. "And you're actually happy with him?"
She refused to meet his eyes as she answered with a hesitant 'Yes' that might have sounded more convincing had she not stuttered and tripped over the word.
It was her hesitation that ignited what little hope was left in him, what gave him a fighting chance at winning her back. Now all he needed was to make her realize how perfect he was for her.
He didn't tell her that though, instead he smiled and pretended to let the subject drop, choosing instead to talk about other things such as how she had been, her NEWTS and general chatter. Just like old times, he thought to himself. The realization made him smile and he was glad things between them weren't awkward.
He would get her back if it was the last thing he did.
Michael sat in the stands, watching his girlfriend of 5 months laugh and joke around with that Wood character as they walked back from the changing rooms. He sneered a little at Wood. A Quidditch player! How could anybody choose that as a career? He had already convinced himself that Katie was doing this temporarily, as a hobby. He was sure that Wood had somehow planned Katie making the team just so he could try and steal her back. If Michael was being honest he would say that he was jealous. Observing the easy friendship that Katie and Oliver had he realized that they were getting a little too friendly for his liking. Something would have to be done. She was spending more time with him and even when she spent what little time she did with Michael she would always be talking about Quidditch or 'what a fabulous keeper Oliver is'. This situation was out of hand, he was losing her.
He confronted her one afternoon after training. She walked up to him still laughing from something Wood said and greeted him with a kiss.
"Katie, sweetheart, you know I say this only out of concern for your health, but this 'sport' as you call is depriving you of time that could be spent with sophisticated civilized people, such as myself."
"Are you trying to say that you want me to give of my dreams of being a professional Chaser so I can spend more time with you?" She spoke incredulously.
He winced, he hadn't realized that it was a dream of hers to play professionally, which was incredibly unladylike. No matter, he thought, she'll come around and see his side of things soon enough.
"Well, it's just that you've been spending so much time with Wood... it's not Quidditch that bothers me, it's him. I would just like you to spend a little less time with him and well, more with me." He backed up from the intensity of her glare.
"You want me to spend less time with Oliver?" She sounded equal parts hurt and shocked as she took in what he was saying.
Michael didn't register the underlying anger in her tone, choosing only to bask in the relief that he was finally getting through to her. He smiled happily, blissfully unaware that he was fighting a loosing battle.
"Exactly."
Katie was torn. It had been years since she'd seen Oliver yet somehow the minute she saw him all her old feelings that she was sure she had buried made their way to the surface.
It only took a few short weeks of training with him to realize just how much she had missed him. Then he had asked her if Michael made her happy.
She thought about it. Michael was attractive, with his pale ash blond hair and blue eyes, not to mention he was French. A graduate from Beauxbatons no less. He could be so sweet and caring, and even though he hated Quidditch he still made an effort to see her practice matches with the reserves vs the actual team (as she was only a reserve she wouldn't be playing in the World Cup,) and tried to refrain from complaining.
She didn't want to think badly of Michael but she had to admit he had his faults. He could be incredibly possessive at times and often spoke ill of Quidditch in front of his friends to impress them. How that would impress anybody she had no idea. When she thought about when he kissed her there was never fireworks, but there was something.
And now he was trying to make her choose.
"Katie. It's me or him. You clearly have unresolved feelings for that Wood boy, but you're with me now so I'd be willing to accept that you can play Quidditch as long as you no longer associate with Wood. There is the reserve Keeper if you need to practice that badly. I love you Katie but it's me or him."
Oliver was over on the other side of the pitch. He turned around and met her gaze, he gave her an quick smile causing her to blush. She knew, Oliver had made it clear, that he still had feelings for her.
She turned back to Michael and she let her pride and temper get the better of her.
"I cannot believe that you are asking me to choose." She shook with pent up anger and frustration that she realized had been building up for quite some time as she continued. "That you would order me as if I belong to you! You are a chauvinist Michael, I don't know how I didn't see it before and even though I never said it but I cannot stand people who don't like Quidditch! What's not to like? Just because you're too afraid of breaking a nail and getting a little muddy. Well guess what? I like the danger, I love the thrill I get from playing Quidditch and I adore getting dirty."
"That's okay Katie, I know that Wood has slipped you some sort of potion so you're not quite acting like yourself but we can fix that! Just come with me, we'll make you all better I promise." He talked to her like one would with a small child. His tone was understanding, sympathetic and almost a little patronizing.
That was the last straw.
"Don't you get it? I. Don't. Want. You. You asked me to choose, and I chose. Needless to say it wasn't you. I love Oliver, and I have loved him since my fourth year. He's sweet, and kind and he knows me, He's my best friend and he always has been." She shook her head. "I choose Oliver. I always will. Now get out of my sight before I hex you."
He stared at her with a look of apparent shock on his face. He had never been rejected quite so loudly before. Katie's voice had risen dramatically and everybody and turned to watch the drama unfold.
"So this is it? This is the end? We're really over?" He whispered hoarsely.
She said nothing. The tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.
Her silence was deafening to his ears. She didn't even nod, just looked at him her gentle eyes sad. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't stop the well of hurt that filled him up and he fought back the childish urge to scream and cry.
He blinked back tears, doing his best to retain what little dignity he had left.
The only person Katie had eyes for was Oliver, that much was obvious.
He came up behind Katie and asked quietly "Did you really mean what you said? You really love me?"
His face lit up like a child at Christmas at her nod of confirmation.
He grinned and grabbed her around the waist pulling her to him and pressing his lips to hers.
Michael winced and wrapped his arms around himself, attempting to hold himself together.
The whole team cheered, some of the were ex-Hogwarts students who had known of their past relationship. Finally Oliver had gotten the girl he'd been pining over these last 3 years. He pulled back just enough to smirk at Michael and say in his sexy Scottish accent. "I believe my girlfriend told you to leave."
He watched Katie for any sign of support, hoping for at least a word of kindness. He got nothing. She stayed silent, resting her head on Oliver's chest.
It was then that he noticed every time he'd said 'I love you' to her she would hesitate then smile, saying nothing. She had never actually said those three little words. Her silences had built up, each one a painful empty reminder that he had been fighting for something that was never his to fight for.
They say you never forget your first love, she was no exception.
A/N hope you liked it! Written for the Quotes and Songs competition and the 7 challenges competiton. Please review!
Thank Laux14 -my beta for doing this in record time!