The chirping of the three birds flying above her bed woke Angelina. She groaned, but opened the curtains of her bed and got up. How much she hated early morning quidditch practice. Unfortunately, their captain Oliver Wood was too stubborn to agree to practicing on a field that was shared with one of the other teams. So they got stuck with getting up before the sun dawned.

15 minutes later everyone was assembled in the common room. Angelina looked around. Everyone but Katie Bell. That girl was such a sleepyhead! Angelina would have woken her, if they were in the same dormitory. Unfortunately, they were not because Katie was a year younger than herself.

Oliver had not noticed her absence yet, but she was sure that he would in just a few more seconds.

Angelina was curious what he would do this time.
Katie sleeping through the noises of the birds that Oliver charmed to get them up was nothing new. He had switched to cat noises for some time which had worked about two weeks. After that he added a book to the whole process, which lightly pounced on Katie's head.

She hadn't liked that at all and shouted at Oliver the whole practice. Admitting to himself that that method had been disrupting his practice, he had turned to charming other things. Like a bucket of water that dumped itself on Katie's head. It had worked quite well until Katie had built a defense mechanism against being soaked every morning.

Lately, he had been going up to the girl's dormitory to wake Katie. Angelina had no idea how he was able to do that and what on earth he was doing up there.

Katie's POV

I was actually curious about what he would do next. This morning I got so excited I woke up on my own and pretended to be asleep. Stupid, right? It's not like I need Oliver Wood waking me up to make my day a little more interesting.

Although I appreciate the effort. Yesterday, he played on bagpipes! Isn't that insane? It definitely sounded insane. Still, it was funny to watch him try.

I honestly have a bad feeling about today. I saw him talking to Leanne yesterday, which is dangerous because she knows me so well. I could imagine her telling him something to wake me up for sure, just to stop the nonsense that is going on in our dormitory almost every morning. I certainly woke her up over a dozen times in this school year. AND it just started like 3 and a half weeks ago.

The door makes a little sound as Oliver opens it. Oh, I hope this is going to be fun.

"Bell, are you up yet?" Oliver asks in a hushed tone to not wake anyone else. Obviously, I do not respond to his question. I want to know what he has planned.

He places a silencing charm on my part of the dormitory, to not wake anyone else. Leanne will be eternally thankful for that.

I wait. Nothing happens. What is he doing?

I'm still peacefully lying in my bed when my body jolts. My still sleepy brain slowly processes what is happening. Oliver freaking Wood is tickling my feet! How dare did Leanne tell him that I'm awfully ticklish!?

I shoot up and my head bumps into something. I hear a sound of pain and open my eyes just to stare into Oliver's face. I must have shot up too fast for him to get away. How can a quidditch keeper have such bad reflexes?

He has to sit down on the ground. I kind of feel sorry for him.
Although this clearly is entirely his fault. This should teach him a lesson to NEVER tickle me EVER again.

Still, I feel the urge to slide down and sit next to him. He is lying on the floor now. His eyes closed and his left hand on his head.

"Hey Wood, are you okay?" I hate to admit this to myself, but my voice does sound a little bit worried.

"I would be perfectly okay, if all my chasers were ready for practice."

I smile. He is just the most stubborn person I know…

"You do realize that I should take you to Madam Pomfrey right now to check on you? She would probably not allow you to play quidditch and I could go back to sleep instead of going to your early morning practice?"

"Bell, don't you dare."

"Why shouldn't I? It sounds like the perfect plan to me. I wonder why I haven't come up with it earlier!"

"Admit it. You like early morning practice."

"I do not."

"You said something different to Leanne in the library a couple days ago."

"I did WHAT?"

He groans. Probably his head hurts from my screaming. Treats him right, no one should ever listen to private conversations I have with Leanne. I know that my quidditch obsessed captain would do anything to find out how to motivate the team even further, but spying on me!? That crosses a line.

"Relax. I was just studying and couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Leanne. You talked so loud; I wonder why Madam Pince didn't kick you out of her library."

This got worse with every second. I think I do remember what I told Leanne that day. That Wood put in a lot of effort to wake me up. I certainly do remember what she replied. She insisted that I had a crush on him. My cheeks flush. It's not like I actually have a crush on him. Except maybe I do.

"What exactly did you hear?" my traitorous voice is pretty close to cracking. What if he kicks me off the team for this? Or worse, what if he just laughs at my stupid feelings?

Oliver looks confused now. He opens his eyes.

"Katie? Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I shoot back, more a defense mechanism than an actual answer.

He sits back up. Looking, no staring at me. His voice suddenly grows quieter. "Do you really have a crush on me?"

I get up. No, I jump. "I should go and get ready for practice. I bet everyone is waiting for me to be ready." I almost escape to the bathroom. I was so close to avoiding this. Merlin, couldn't that guy just let go of my hand?

"Katie?" Oliver seems confused.

"What?" I snap at him. "Shouldn't I get ready for practice?"

"Practice is not important right now."

If someone had told me that Oliver Wood, the most quidditch obsessed person in the world, would ever say this. I would have laughed at them. But there he was, sitting in my dormitory, struggling to get up and saying this.

After a short silence, he adds, even quieter: "Because I might have a crush on you."

I must be dreaming. This is the only reasonable explanation for this. Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life. Especially not to me. It must be those early morning practices driving me crazy. That must be it. I can only handle this being a dream. And for it being not real I could make the best of this.

Oliver eventually got up and is now standing next to me.

"Katie, please say something."

I don't. I just get on the tip of my toes and lean towards him. He gets what I'm trying to do, another sure sign for this being a dream, and looks at me in wonder. As my face gets closer to his, he places his hand on my cheek and his lips on mine.

Fireworks are erupting in my stomach. Don't get me wrong, I have already kissed a couple guys. But none of the kisses were as tender and full of emotion as this one.

Meaning…
this can't be a dream.