It was cold outside. Freezing, actually. Yet Katie wasn't sure what she was doing outside in beginning of February. She needed to get away from her dorm, Leanne and the other girls were doing their nails and the fumes from the varnish were giving her a headache. Plus, she wasn't much in the mood for gossip.
"We're not supposed to be outside," a voice said from behind her. Katie jumped.
"Oh, Wood it's just you," Katie said, her heart accelerating. It was more than 'just Wood' to her. Just being around him made her stomach nervous, that was when they weren't playing Quidditch.
"And what are you doin' out here so late?" Wood asked, raising an eyebrow. "You can't be sick, game's in two days."
"I just wanted to get out in the fresh air," Katie said, nervously.
"It's not really safe with the Dementors and Sirius Black mucking about," Wood said, taking her arm and leading her back towards the castle.
"Oh…right," Katie said. "I kind of, um, forgot."
"…how did you forget?" Wood asked, looking at her incredulously.
"You know with schoolwork and exams and Quidditch practices at five in the morning…"
"Aye, I do," Wood said. "It's NEWT year for me."
"Oh right," Katie said. "Oh wait, what are i you /i doing out here?"
"Alicia and Angelina saw you head out with your cloak and told me that you needed a good thumpin'," Wood said, with a grin. "Or at least a babysitter."
"They would," Katie replied, smiling back at Wood.
"They just wanted me to check up on you. Being a strong man, you know," Wood replied.
"And you just want to win the Cup," Katie told him as they reentered the castle.
"It's my last year," Wood replied. "And I want to play professionally. Quidditch is what I'm good at. It'll be hard to win the Cup after that loss to Hufflepuff." He sighed. "We'll have to beat Ravenclaw by quite a bit and Slytherin too. And bloody Marcus Flint is about as daft as a doorknob and somehow managed to fail all his NEWTs, so he's still Captain for Slytherin."
"Diggory tried to stop the game."
"Hufflepuff won fairly, Diggory's just a good bloke," Wood told her, looking somewhat dejected.
"We can still win the Cup," Katie assured him. "Even though…"
"It'll be difficult."
"We're a good team though," Katie said, patting Wood on the shoulder. He gave her a grateful look.
"Aye, that we are. Best team in the bloody school at that," Wood said.
"Exactly," Katie said, grinning.
"Oh good, she's not dead." Katie looked up to see Alicia and Angelina grinning at her from the top of the steps.
"We were getting ready to send Fred and George after you two," Angelina said, giving Katie a sly wink. Katie felt herself turn bright red and hoped Wood wasn't looking at her.
"A fate worse than death, surely," Katie finally mumbled.
"Aye, well I gave her a stern lecture about safety and not dyin' before our match against Ravenclaw," Wood said.
"Good, she's pretty thickheaded," Angelina said. "Takes after her Captain."
"Watch it or you'll be doing laps, Johnson," Wood said. "Can you believe the cheek?"
"I can," Alicia answered. "I've lived with her for four, wait no, five years."
"Poor thing," Katie teased.
"Oi!" Angelina argued.
"If she accidentally hits either of us in the head with the Quaffle, during the match, I'm blaming you," Katie said.
"No one had better throw the Quaffle anywhere but to each other or threw the goal posts," Wood told them. "Or you'll regret it, aye?"
"Fine," Angelina mumbled, pretending to pout.
"No before I have to go savin' anyone else's behind, the three of you to your dorms and a decent night's sleep," Wood said.
The three Chasers groaned.
"This early?" Angelina asked. "Oliver, it's barely even 8 o'clock!"
"And you need to be ready for the game!" Wood said, sounding much like himself again.
"The game isn't for two days!" Angelina argued back.
"And one day you'll understand what it's like to be Captain, so until that day, off to your dorm at least!"
Katie shrugged and headed up the stairs, she could hear Oliver behind her.
"Oh come on, don't be a pushover," Angelina teased Katie, pushing her lightly.
"Did you see that Wood?" Katie asked. "CHASER ABUSE!"
"You three settle down or I'll let Fred and George use you for Beater practice," Wood told them.
"You wouldn't," Angelina replied. "We're a major part of the team and we might get hurt."
"I didn't say when either," Wood said. "I could let them wait till the end of the season when we have the Cup and you're on your own."
"No way," Alicia said. "You want Gryffindor to win the Cup next year, too. Just so you have a reason to come back and you can brag and say that you put the best team that Hogwarts has ever seen together."
"You know me too well," Wood said cheekily, while Katie silently wondered how well Alicia knew Oliver Wood and then scolded herself for being jealous. They were just teammates after all.