Just a heads up: more swearing than usual for my fics. High school is affecting my innocence. XD
Fred Weasley was on cloud nine as he ran through the corridors back up to Gryffindor tower. He had just gathered all of his courage and asked the girl he had fancied for years to sneak off Hogsmeade with him in two hours, to his total shock and joy, she had accepted. Fred couldn't stop the goofy grin from breaking out across his face. She had said yes! He couldn't believe his luck.
Finally, he was standing, panting slightly from his run, in front of the portrait hole.
"Password?" the Fat Lady asked disinterestedly, twirling a curl between her fingers.
"Centaur tails," Fred replied, bouncing on his toes as he waited for the portrait to swing open. The Fat Lady yawned and nodded, creaking slowly open. In a flash, Fred had leaped forward through the opening and was sprinting through the common room.
"George! George!" he yelled, bursting into their dormitory. "She said yes!"
George looked up from the wizard chess pieces he had been modifying. "She did?" he asked, a smile breaking out across his face as he tossed the chess set aside and stood up.
"Yep!" Fred confirmed, grinning uncontrollably.
"Good job, Gred my boy!" George congratulated him, clapping a hand to Fred's shoulder. "Well, I knew she would say yes considering you're almost as handsome as me, but good on you anyway!"
"Why thank you Forge," Fred replied, clasping a dramatic hand to his heart. "I think she had the good presence of mind to see past my unfortunate resemblance to you and accept my offer considering my own personal brilliance and charm."
The twins laughed and bantered their way down to the common room, both in high spirits now that Fred had finally gotten his girl. "So where are you taking her in Hogsmeade anyway?" George asked as they settled into two armchairs by the fireplace. "Madame Puddifoot's?" he teased.
Fred shuddered. "Anywhere but there," he declared. "That place should be illegal. It's too… ugh. I'm thinking about Three Broomsticks and just walking around a bit to see if anything strikes our fancy. She's a good sort, would think it was funny if I had no clue what we were doing," Fred reflected.
George nodded in agreement. "You've got a good point there," he replied. "You're lucky there, mate. Angelina would get annoyed and hex me if I just pulled her around willy nilly."
"That's all too true," a familiar voice agreed from behind the twins. "I probably would, George. It's good that you recognize that."
George twisted in his chair to flash an unfazed smile at his girlfriend. She stood there, rolling her eyes as her fellow chasers giggled beside her. "Of course, Angie," he replied in an exaggeratedly patient voice. "I know not to mess with you all the time- just sometimes."
Angelina just gave her boyfriend a look. She looked ready to retort something back at him when Katie cut in impatiently. "Wood sent us to tell you that he's scheduled an extra practice at five," Katie informed the twins. "He stole the pitch from Slytherin right under their noses, and he wants to rub it in their faces by practicing until nine. It's mandatory- no excuses."
Fred's mouth dropped open, all humor draining from him and a look of horror crashing onto his face. "What?!" he screeched, leaping out of his chair. "But I have a date in two hours!"
Alicia shrugged. "Try telling that to Oliver," she suggested dryly. "It might be entertaining to watch him beat you to death with his broom."
"How dare you prioritize dates over quidditch, Weasley?" Angelina added, trying to imitate Oliver's accent.
"Angie, that's more Irish than Scottish sounding," Katie critiqued, momentarily distracted. Katie mustered up her non-existent Scottish roots to demonstrate a proper accent. "Scottish is more like this, you see?" she explained, her voice suddenly almost scarily similar to Oliver's.
Katie's friends stared at her incredulously, briefly shocked into silence. Katie stared back, uncomfortable with the strange expressions on their faces. She dropped the Scottish accent and asked, "Why are you all staring at me like that?"
The surprised silence abruptly broke, and all of Katie's friends started talking at once.
"That was a terrifyingly accurate imitation of his accent Katie," Angelina admitted, ever the first to speak. "I would have sworn you were a born and bred Scot for a second there. And people would have believed me."
"Someone's been spending too much time with Wood," Alicia observed, grinning suggestively.
"Is a side effect of snogging him getting a Scottish lilt, Katie?" George demanded, a wicked glint in his eyes.
"Katie, why didn't you tell us you were snogging Wood? How long has this gone on for?" Fred asked dramatically, momentarily forgetting his own problems. "You rascal, you! Snogging the captain behind our backs!"
"Scandalous!" George agreed emphatically.
Katie stamped her foot like a toddler, annoyed by the twins' gleeful accusations. "I'm not snogging Wood!" she snapped.
"Oh yeah?" Fred challenged.
"Then prove it," George finished instantly. Katie groaned. She was sensing a new running joke in the making here- no doubt Angie, Alicia, Fred and George would forever remind Katie how she had been snogging Oliver in her fourth year and consequently became Scottish.
"Fine," Katie gritted out. "Do you want me to go search for Oliver and have him assure you we aren't snogging?"
"That shouldn't be necessary," Alicia remarked, pointing towards the portrait hole. "Here comes our beloved captain now."
The chasers all turned around to face the entrance to the common room, while the twins simply peered over the backs of their armchairs. Oliver was just stepping through the portrait hole, a look of smug triumph on his face and his wand in hand. As soon as Fred spotted him, he instantly flopped back down in his chair and started messing with his hair. The rest of the group stared at him questioningly as he proceeded to slump down in his seat, tug his hair down over his eyes, and look as ill as he possibly could.
Katie wondered briefly if Fred had finally cracked and gone mad. She'd always had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't quite sane to begin with-
"Quick, do I look sick enough to miss practice?" Fred whispered, coughing slightly for effect.
"Wow, Fred," Angelina scoffed. "That's just about the oldest trick in the book to get out of something."
"Shush, he's coming over," Fred hissed, draping his arm across his forehead and peeking out at Wood from underneath.
Oliver quickly spotted his chasers standing around the armchairs, and rushed towards them with an oddly satisfied look on his face. "Girls, any Slytherin threat has been dealt with," he informed them, an uncharacteristically mischievous grin sliding onto his lips. Alicia and Angelina took an involuntary step back- usually that grin only appeared when Oliver wanted an insane amount of exercise to be completed before they could stagger off to a late dinner and bed.
Katie simply raised her eyebrow, unruffled by Oliver's unusual mirth. "What do you mean by that, Oliver?" she asked warily. "Did you hex the whole team and stuff them in a broom closet somewhere?"
"Well, I hexed them and Harry hid them," Oliver replied casually. "But you're on the right track, Kates."
"Oh." Katie went silent for a moment, before suddenly realizing the implications of Oliver's nonchalant answer. "YOU DID WHAT?" she screeched, drawing the attention of the common room to her for a moment. "I can't believe you, Oliver! That was a bloody stupid thing to do!" she snapped. "Honestly, who had the bright idea of giving you a wand?" Katie didn't spare any of them a glance, simply shaking her head angrily at Oliver and marching out of the common room.
Everyone went quiet, watching as the portrait slammed shut behind Katie. "What was that about?" Oliver asked, cocking his head in confusion as he stared after Katie.
"I think she's pissed at you," Angelina supplied helpfully.
Oliver gave her a look. "I've gathered that," he replied dryly. "Why?"
The team shrugged, giving each other blank looks. "Maybe it's that time of the month," George suggested.
Angelina and Alicia automatically reached out and smacked him in the arm.
"Ow!" he whined, rubbing the appendage after the double blow. "I'm just throwing ideas out there!"
"Well, I guess I should go find out," Oliver decided finally, ignoring his beater. "We play Ravenclaw in three days, and Katie needs to be in top condition and not sulking about like a toddler. Remember, practice at five!" And Oliver started off out of the common room.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me! Oliver!" George called after the captain, springing up out of his chair. Oliver turned, an impatient look on his face as he raised an eyebrow towards his beater.
"Yes?" Oliver prompted, twirling his wand in his fingers as he waited for George to speak.
"Fred's sick," George informed Oliver, gesturing towards his brother in the armchair. "I don't think he can make it to practice tonight."
Oliver didn't even glance at Fred to check the story. "Fred isn't sick," he replied easily, not skipping a beat as he turned back around. "He just has a date and wants to skip practice to sneak off to Hogsmeade with her. The answer is no! Nobody gets out of practice tonight!" And with that, Oliver strode out of the room to chase down his ruffled team mate.
Fred's jaw dropped as he stared at the spot where Oliver had been moments before. "How does he do that?" he demanded, looking incredulous. "He can always tell when I'm faking it! And how did he know I have a date anyway? I only told you guys!"
Alicia gave Fred a knowing look. "It's because Oliver Wood is secretly Santa Claus, and he sees you when you're sleeping," she explained, her face completely straight.
This prompted a laugh from Angelina, causing the twins to look questioningly at her. "It wasn't that funny, Angie," George coughed, earning another smack from Alicia.
"I was just thinking that Oliver would love to see Katie when she's sleeping," Angelina explained, grinning mischievously. "The girl sleeps in a sports bra and running shorts."
"I did not need to know that in any way, shape, or form," a new voice behind them remarked, sounding pained. "I used to be innocent before I joined this team." Angelina, Alicia, and the twins all twisted to look at the newcomer, only to find Harry standing there with a resigned look on his face.
"Come on, you know you dig Kates, Harry," Alicia teased. "How could you not?"
"Easily," Harry replied frankly. "Oliver would bash my head in, then send me onto the pitch and still be screaming at me to catch the snitch within five minutes."
"Why would Oliver bash your head in?" Angelina asked curiously, closely examining her fellow team mate.
Harry grinned suddenly, an uncharacteristically wicked glint lighting up his eyes behind his glasses. "You older kids have been hit with too many bludgers," he sighed dramatically. "It makes you oblivious. Please tell me you're aware that Oliver fancies Katie."
George laughed. "Of course he does! That's why he's snogging her," he joked, "and that's why she has a Scottish accent now!"
Now Harry looked confused. "What?" he asked warily.
"Don't worry about it," Angelina advised. "Inside joke."
Harry nodded, raising his eyebrows slightly before continuing. "I doubt Oliver even knows that he likes her- he's too oblivious about anything that isn't a quaffle," Harry remarked. Alicia and Angelina nodded vigorously in agreement at this statement. "But he does anyway," Harry added, a knowing smile sneaking onto the corner of his mouth. "Oliver fancies Katie."
George stopped grinning suddenly, and started staring at Harry. "Wait, you're being serious?" he asked incredulously. "I thought you were joking!"
"No, I'm not," Harry replied, looking a little bemused by George's behavior. "Oliver likes Katie."
"Let me get this straight," Fred cut in, waving his arms about to assure he had all of their attention before beginning to speak in a slow talking-to-primary-school-children voice. "Oliver actually noticed something human and female for something other than her worth as a quidditch player?"
"Well, I'm pretty sure her being an excellent chaser is part of the appeal for him, but basically, yes," Harry confirmed, smirking as he gossiped. This was a different side of the famous Harry Potter than most people were exposed to.
"How are you so sure about this, Harry?" Angelina asked, confused by Harry's firm belief that Oliver fancied Katie. "We've always joked about it, but we never really thought he did like her. It was just something to mess with them about."
Harry nodded. "He likes her," he assured Angelina. "Did you hear about what he did to the Slytherin quidditch team ten minutes ago?"
"Well, we heard that he hexed them all," Alicia explained, "but we don't know what he did or why."
"He made me hide the evidence," Harry muttered, looking slightly pained at the memory. "Oliver hit them all with a few hexes each and knocked them out. I'm guessing he probably used Furnunculus and Engorgio- it was disgusting, frankly. You could barely tell who was who when he was done." Harry shuddered. "Remind me never to piss off Wood. Ever."
"Flitwick always did say he would be one of the top wizards in his year if he wasn't so obsessed with quidditch," Alicia remarked. "He's actually quite good at spellwork."
Harry nodded vigorously, still lost in the unpleasant memory of Wood's dealings with the Slytherin quidditch team. "My point is, he did that for Katie," Harry explained. "I was heading up to the common room after a meeting with McGonagall, and I see him pocketing his wand and standing over a heap of unconscious blokes covered in giant boils. He just looks at me, says 'be a good man and shove this rubbish in a closet for me, right Harry?' and walked away."
The older kids gaped at Harry in disbelief. "What do you mean he did that for Katie?" George demanded.
Harry grinned. "After I levitated the Slytherins into a broom cupboard and locked the door, I ran after Oliver to find out what happened. He just said something like, 'those gits won't talk like that about my chaser again'. And then he went off on a rant insulting Marcus Flint."
"How do you know he wasn't talking about Angie or Alicia?" George demanded, looking unconvinced. The thought that Oliver might be exhibiting an actual human, teenage male response to a girl was monumental, and he was having trouble grasping it.
Harry simply smiled wickedly. "You figure it out," he replied.
Angelina's eyes widened, and she stared at Harry with dawning realization in her eyes. "Wait, you said Oliver was insulting Flint?" she asked slowly.
Harry nodded, waiting for her to connect the dots.
Now it was Alicia's turn for an epiphany. She gasped out loud, her mouth dropping open in amazement. "Merlin Harry, you're right!" she realized. "Oliver fancies Katie!"
"What does Flint have anything to do with Oliver fancying Katie?" Fred demanded. Both he and his twin were looking thoroughly confused, identical expressions of puzzlement contorting their faces.
"Because Flint has been eyeing Katie for weeks now!" Angelina exclaimed. "He bloody asked her to Hogsmeade! Four times!"
"And she very forcefully declined," Alicia added emphatically, "Four times."
"So if Oliver was mad at Flint for what he said about one of his chasers…" Angelina continued, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
"Then that chaser was most likely the girl he's been getting rejected by over and over!" Alicia finished, looking excited.
Fred's confusion dissipated instantly, his mouth dropping open in a wide 'O'. "Bloody hell, Oliver fancies Katie!" he exclaimed, a little late and somewhat redundantly.
George still looked slightly confused, though. "But if Oliver likes Katie, then why would he hex the Slytherins when he knew she would blow up at him for it?" he asked. "Katie hates it when he does risky stuff like that. Oliver went one on seven with those guys in a deserted corridor. Who knew what could have happened?"
Harry nodded, his smile widening further. "And why does Katie hate it when Oliver pulls stunts like that?" he prompted.
Four mouths dropped open yet again. "Bloody hell!" Fred repeated vehemently.
"Katie fancies Oliver!" George added, his eyes wide with shock.
"How did we miss this before?" Angelina demanded. Harry only shrugged, smirking triumphantly now that he had finally convinced his team mates he was right.
"This is big news!" Alicia practically screeched. "What the hell are we going to do about it?"
"We have to do something," Angelina agreed. "Merlin only knows they would never get together by themselves."
"Speaking of getting together…" Fred said, his expression turning distracted. "We still need to work on finding out how to get Oliver to cancel practice for my date, George."
"You'd have to force him at wand point," Harry snorted. "I can't imagine Wood canceling practice for anything less than a Death Eater invasion. Maybe not even that." Absentmindedly, Harry reached up and touched his scar.
"Force him at wand point?…" George repeated thoughtfully. His eyes lit up suddenly, and he looked excited. "That's brilliant, Harry!"
"Uh oh," Angelina said instantly, eyeing her boyfriend . She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "You're not going to hex Oliver into canceling practice, are you?"
"Hex? No. Wand point? Yes," George replied mysteriously. "I'll explain later. C'mon Fred! We have work to do!" And with that, George pulled his twin away from the circle, dragging him hurriedly up the staircase to the boys' dormitories.
"Hopefully nobody will end up in the hospital wing by the end of the day," Alicia sighed, falling backwards into an armchair. "So what are we supposed to do for two hours until practice?"
Harry shrugged. "You two have fun. I'm going to go talk to Hermione. She's been acting kind of odd lately," he decided. "See you on the pitch." And the decidedly gossipy Boy Who Lived walked off into the depths of the common room.
Angelina yawned, staring into the fireplace. "Why do I get the feeling that Fred is going to do anything he can to get out of practice and keep his date?" she asked lazily.
Alicia shrugged. "Probably because he will," she replied comfortably. "Let's just hope we get good seats when Oliver bashes him to a pulp."
"If I had a butterbeer, I would drink to that."
-
Katie stormed down an empty corridor, fuming uselessly as she walked. Why did Oliver always do such reckless things? It was as if he enjoyed testing her nerves. He knew that if he got detention on a game day their team would be severely jeopardized without him as their keeper. Yet still he went cavorting about hexing entire quidditch teams of their rival house! What on earth was the matter with him? That boy had been struck by one too many bludgers…
"Katie! Katie, wait!"
Katie's heart jumped somewhat uncomfortably at the sound of that voice she liked so much. She would not let that bloody amazing accent affect her! She was angry with him, damn it!
"Katie Bell!"
Katie quickened her stride further, hoping that Oliver just happened to be calling out to some other girl named Katie Bell. Perhaps there was one in fifth year. Yes, that could be it.
A firm hand came down on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks and dashing her silly hopes that there was a Katie Bell in fifth year. And as she was spun around to stare up at those worried brown eyes, she knew that she was secretly glad there wasn't.
"Katie, you heard me the first time," Oliver stated, his forehead crinkling slightly in confusion. "What's wrong?"
Oh yeah, she was mad at him. Katie rolled her eyes, shrugging her shoulder out of Oliver's grip. "You know I hate it when you do stupid things," Katie snapped. "Why did you decide to hex the whole bloody Slytherin quidditch team? Was stealing the pitch from them for extra practice tonight not good enough? Snape will be out for your blood!" Katie fumed, clenching her fists in frustration.
Oliver was completely unapologetic. "They deserved it," he insisted. "Flint was—"
"I've never cared about Flint, and I'm not going to start now," Katie interrupted, glaring up at her captain. "And it would do you good to ignore whatever that troll says too, Mr. Hex Happy!" She jabbed a finger sharply into his chest to emphasize her point.
Oliver gritted his teeth. "Katie, he was—" he tried to say.
"Do I look like I care what Flint said?" she cut in. "That does not even begin to excuse your actio-"
"He was insulting you!" Oliver yelled, effectively shutting Katie up. "He was talking like you were a piece of meat or something, and was relating every one of his gross thoughts about you to his entire team. And they were laughing and cheering him on! What was I supposed to do?"
Well then. Katie fell silent for a moment at Oliver's sudden anger, staring at him wide eyed. He had hexed them for being rude about her? That was… unexpectedly sweet of him.
Katie swallowed thickly, feeling her previous irritation drain swiftly away. "Oliver, that was really nice of you to stand up for me, but you shouldn't have hexed them," she told him softly. "I appreciate that you would do that for me, but—"
"Kates, I would do anything to keep those assholes from talking about you like that," Oliver told her seriously. "That's what I'm here for."
Silence fell between them for a moment. Katie wondered vaguely if she was dreaming of this strangely sweet and protective Oliver. Since when did he care so much about what Flint said about her?
Scratch that. Oliver had always cared. Since day one on his team, Katie had come under Oliver's wing. He always protected his players from anything at any cost. When people tried to harm Harry before big matches, he set him up with personal bodyguards of students. When Angelina's ex-boyfriend wouldn't leave her alone, he received a visit from a very pissed off pair of Gryffindor beaters— on Oliver's orders. And when Flint had suddenly started paying more attention to Katie a little over a month ago, Oliver had turned into her guard dog. He always seemed to be right there when she needed him, and she never had to worry about being caught alone with Flint.
And that was one of the biggest reasons Katie's crush on her captain had swelled alarmingly in the past month. It was nice to know that someone cared, and even nicer to know that the person who cared was Oliver Wood, Nazi Quidditch Captain Extraordinaire, Fearless Leader, Guard Dog, and not to mention a plain old good looking guy…
…and that accent. Yes, the accent was a definite decision maker.
"Thanks Oliver," Katie murmured, looking down at the toes of her scuffed sneakers.
"It's my job to protect my star chaser," he replied, grinning at her.
"What about Angie and Alicia?" Katie asked innocently. "Are you going to take out the whole Ravenclaw team because Tom Clarkson was commenting on Alicia's ass all through her Charms class yesterday?"
Oliver cocked his head slightly, obviously weighing the matter in his mind. Katie had to stifle a laugh at the seriousness of his expression, and tried valiantly to mimic his solemn attitude. "I'll let her boyfriend take care of that," Oliver decided eventually. "I need to focus on making sure Flint stays away from you right now."
Katie smiled, warmth filling her from head to toe at his remark. "Okay," she agreed happily. "I'm fine with that."
Oliver smiled back at her, his hand rising to grip the back of his neck in what Katie recognized as a nervous habit. But why would he be feeling nervous?
"Well, I'll see you at practice then," Oliver said abruptly, dropping his hand and turning as if to go down the hallway. He paused though, and Katie knew he was waiting for a response before he left.
"Yeah, I'll see you on the pitch Oliver," Katie replied. Oliver nodded, setting off quickly down the corridor. He was out of sight within seven seconds, and Katie sighed.
Why did she have to like Oliver so much?
-
"George, I found the spell!"
"Really?" George poked his head out from under his bed, red hair seriously disheveled and sporting festive dust bunny colonies. "Sweet Merlin, just in time! We better go find Oliver quickly!"
"This better work… I refuse to cancel my date with her for lousy quidditch practice that we don't even need!" Fred declared fervently. He clenched his hand around the parchment, looking determinedly at the words scrawled onto it.
"Oh, it'll work, Freddie my boy," George assured him confidently. "It even worked on Charlie once and we got away with it, remember? When he had three tickets to that Falcons game and he didn't want us to go with him? We used it to get him to vow to take us."
Fred smiled at the memory. "Αhhh, good times," he agreed. "Maybe it will work."
"It will," George replied firmly. "Now let's get down to work. First step: find Oliver."
And the two boys grabbed their wands and ran from the dormitory, fully confident in their newest brilliant plan.
Kay… I'm sorry to my School Days readers. I've been so caught up in school, soccer, choir, music, dance, and attempting to get enough sleep that I've barely written anything for School Days since Christmas. Then there's also the fact that I'm pretty much totally done with the MR fandom. I only write School Days for the love of School Days. James Patterson ruined my series, and I'm frankly kinda pissed at him for it.
ANYWAY! I've been writing this story on and off for about six months, but never posted it cuz it was never done! But guess what? NOW IT IS! So I'll update the second part in a few days maybe… if you review? (: it's my first KBOW, and I LOVE THIS PAIRING, so please let me know how I did? (:
~TMI~