It was only supposed to be a one night stand, nothing more than that. But when he woke up next to her and finally saw her for who she was, it all changed.

The light from his window danced merrily on his face, making him groan as he opened his eyes to the harsh sunlight. A strange source of warmth weighed the left side of his body down uncomfortably.

"Merlin… What happened last night?" Oliver winced at the pounding in his head as everything swarmed before his eyes.

"Wood?" Her voice… It couldn't be… The last time he had seen her was during the Battle…

"Bell?"

She went looking for him after watching the game. If she had learnt anything about Oliver Wood in the years that she had known him it was that he absolutely detested losing.

Katie found him on the bench, his robes crushed angrily on the floor as he sat there clad in his pants.

"Oliver, don't…"

But he didn't care for words. All he wanted was to feel, to have something other than the dull ache of losing that pounded against his skull. So he did something he would later blame on misery.

He kissed her.

So he left school the year after, but the fact remained that when he kissed her, he felt complete. And three years later, he found himself writing to her. The first time he had talked to her after his graduation.

Dear Katie

How are you? Finally graduated into the big world, eh? What are you working as? Are you enjoying it? Have you heard anything about our friends from Hogwarts?

Anyway, we can't really talk like this. There are so many things we haven't caught up on – we haven't met in years. Want to meet up? A few Butterbeers in Hogsmeade? (I haven't been there in years!)

Oliver

He found himself watching her back as she walked out of the bar. Never again, he promised himself, would he ask her out. Because every time she smiled at him, he felt a bit of himself die a little. Because when she blushed at his comments, he felt like taking her in his arms like that day in the common room.

But mostly because every time she moved her hand, he saw that ring.

And he felt his heart breaking.

They met again at Angelina's wedding a few months later, Katie with her fiancé in tow. He sat there for that horrible hour watching them mutter sweet nothings to each other, steal quick kisses when the priest paused. As their friends sealed their marriage with a kiss, he got up and left.

He didn't know why he cared so much anyways. No. He certainly didn't care about her.

Bolts of light shot out in some twisted show, punctuated by heart-wrenching screams as wizards and witches fell into a never-ending sleep. With the terror around him, he had to feel guilty that he did nothing to stop the curses from meeting their mark – but he had to see her. He would never be able to forgive himself if she had died without him doing anything.

He found her administering smoking vials to the wounded, casting quick spells to heal them. There was a long gash down the side of her face, the crown jewel of the open puckers that decorated her body. But he didn't care. She was alright and, really, that was all that mattered.

And somehow he found himself covering her ears when You-Know-Who's voice rang in the Great Hall, trying to protect this innocent flower from being corrupted.

"It's okay… It's okay." As she cried into his shirt, he smiled slightly, hugging her around her waist to support her. In the midst of the despair, he found a ray of sunshine for the ring no longer sat on her finger.

"What happened last night?" She echoes him, her eyes searching his wildly as she sat up in his bed. The duvet falls from around her shoulders, revealing the tiny bruises that decorated her torso. Shaped exactly like his teeth, he notes.

"What should've happened ages ago." He whispers, brushing her hair away from her face to show the hairline scar that ran from her ear to her jaw.

And slowly, his lips found hers, melting the both of them into one.

No, this was no longer a one time thing. It was eternal.