Here are some basics:
I hate creating new characters in other people's works (though I love creating my own original characters in my own original stories) so everything is going to be canon.
This story is going to take place during Harry's second year, therefore, the subplot is going to be that of Chamber of Secrets. I plan on using direct quotes.
I'm not too fond of people changing ages around, but I am hypocritically going to make Katie Bell a fourth year in this story because if I stay canon with her age, she'd only be thirteen. And thirteen year olds don't have serious relationships (not that fourteen year old do either, but I don't want to change anyone else's age). Therefore, she will be two years younger than Oliver, who is a sixth year. Everyone else, just like Oliver, will be the same age as they are in the books.
Let's see how creative I can get =]
Oh, and just in case I ever forget in the future, all credit goes to the bloody fantastic J.K. Rowling where credit is due.
It was nine-thirty on a cool September morning, the first day of the month. In just an hour and a half's time, Platform nine and three-quarters would be filled with young and old witches and wizards alike but for now, only tattered Daily Prophets and Licorice Wand wrappers littered the empty platform as an impatient Katie Bell slumped against the wall, willing for time to pass more swiftly.
It's not that Katie was anxious to escape her home. In fact, she loved her family and the house they lived in together. But she could simply wait no longer to return to Hogwarts, a place so magical, so wonderful, that nearly every student came to regard it as a second home. So excited was she, that Katie had actually packed her trunk a month in advance. Too excited, she had pulled an all-nighter the previous night, and begged her parents to take her to Kings Cross as soon as the sun had broken over the horizon. And now, here she sat, alone on a deserted platform, waiting for the train that wouldn't come for over an hour while her parents conversed with other Muggles on the other side of the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
Katie was a Muggle-born. Her mother and father had never known magic, and consequently, she lived in the suburban town of Darlington, north of Leeds. She knew of no magical people in the immediate area and therefore returned every summer to a life average for even the most common-place Muggles. It was because of this limitation that she was forced to leave her one true passion behind in Hogwarts at the end of every term: Quidditch.
Yes, Katie was anxious to return to spells and the feasts in the Great Hall and her heavenly bed in Gryffindor Tower. And yes, Katie could hardly wait to reunite with her friends. But above all else, Katie Bell longed for the feel of the wind in her hair as she soared through the air on her broom and the the thrill of victory as she hurled the Quaffle through a goal post.
For Katie Bell, time could not pass quick enough.
Purely out of boredom, she began braiding and unbraiding her long dark blonde hair, until she fell asleep. What seemed like only minutes later, Katie was finally startled awake by a pair of hands shaking her shoulders. She ignored the impatient hands and groggily groaned, when she heard an all too familiar voice.
"Bell! Wake up! The train's about to leave in five minutes!" crowed the voice of Angelina Johnson, her fellow chaser.
"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bac-ey," chimed the voice of Fred Weasley, who then affectionately tapped her on the head.
Katie made no move to wake, the sleep deprivation had finally caught up with her. But her friends had other ideas.
"Bell, either you get off your arse straight away or we're going to do it for you," Alicia Spinnet threatened. Katie still showed no hint of waking. "You asked for it. George, get her head. Fred, get her feet. Oliver, keep an eye on them to make sure they don't drop her on the train tracks. We'll get her trunk." Katie heard footsteps wander off.
Much to her aversion, Katie suddenly felt her body leave the ground. Her eyes popped wide open to the smiling faces and flaming red hair of the Weasley twins beaming down at her.
"Ahh, Sleeping Beauty has awoken," Fred assessed.
"Good morning, sunshine,"George added, as he began to swing her body back and forth with his twin.
"I think Bell's quite capable of walking on her own two feet, boys," Oliver Wood chimed in, smirking down at Katie from the side.
"Yes, thank you, Oliver," Katie commended as the Weasleys placed her upright. Almost immediately she stumbled, nearly knocking into a child she could only presume to be a first-year.
"I only told them to put you down for the satisfaction of seeing you hobble through this crowd," he gestured with his hand, "and I do believe it was worth it," Oliver chuckled. Fred and George were quick to join in.
"You go ahead and poke your fun now," Katie chastised, "but just wait until we get back to Hogwarts. I'll get my revenge."
"Have you forgotten who we are?" both Fred and George questioned at the same time with identical appalled looks on their faces. Katie rolled her eyes.
"Unfortunately, no. Now come on, let's just get on the train."
"I have to agree with Bell," Oliver said. "Besides, the faster we get on the train, the faster we get to the school. And the faster we get to the school, the faster we can practice. Let's go!" Katie, Fred, and George all groaned. Oliver Wood, no doubt, had spent his entire summer thinking of nothing but Quidditch. Though Katie was passionate, Quidditch did not consume her life, she was not obsessed. Oliver was.
The four teammates hurriedly made their way through the crowd of children hugging and kissing their parents goodbye and finally clambered on to the Hogwarts Express, three of them dreading what plans their captain had devised in the months apart.