"She's seizing again!" a healer called to another, running down the hall, pushing past Oliver without a second glace at him.

"Hey!" he cried with surprise as he toppled over.

"You okay?" a third healer asked, helping him up.

"Fine, now" Oliver said, annoyed. "Where are they in such a hurry to get to?"

"Aw, don't be too hard on them," the young healer replied. "There's a girl down at the end of the hall, practically died last month. She hasn't woken up yet and she's been battling for her life ever since."

"Really?" Oliver asked, suddenly interested. "What happened to her?"

The healer just shrugged. "Only real experienced healers are in on that one. Heard it had something to do with some real dark magic though."

Oliver nodded. "Must've been bad," he mused.

"Probably," the healer agreed. "But you should get back to your room now. You look a bit pale."

Oliver groaned as he was lead back to his room, once again remembering that he wouldn't be playing Quidditch for at least the rest of this season, possibly the next, and after that he'd be lucky to get signed onto Puddlemere again. And luck was just not with him.

When he thought that, however, his thoughts drifted back to the girl at the end of the hall, fighting for her life. Who was he to worry about Quidditch when she might die? He wondered what had happened to her. Did she get in a duel, involve herself in something she shouldn't have? Or was luck just not on her side either?

"Oliver?"

Oliver groaned. He must have hit his head harder than he thought. He was hearing the Weasley twins.

"Ollie, it is you!"

Oliver groaned again. He hoped he was hearing voices. Because if he wasn't, it meant that they really were there.

"Oliver, we know you're not sleeping," one of them said--Oliver hadn't seen them in so long he couldn't tell them apart--and stole his pillow.

"What are you guys doing here?" Oliver asked. "Especially at…three in the morning? How did you know I was here?"

"We didn't," the twin who had stolen his pillow answered.

"We came to visit Katie," finished the other.

"Katie?" Oliver asked, the name not registering. "Katie Bell?"

"That's the one," the Weasley on the right said gravely.

"Why is she here?" Oliver asked. But he had a horrible feeling in his gut as he remembered the panic in the voice of the healer who had knocked him down yesterday.

"She was cursed," one of the twins said solemnly, and it was one of the few times Oliver had ever seen either of them so serious. "Hasn't woken up."

"If she hasn't woken up," Oliver asked dumbly. "Why are you visiting her?"

"Because," the twin on the right explained. "The healers think that family might help Katie wake up. And we're the closest thing she's got."

It took a moment for his words to sink. In in all the years he'd known Katie, Oliver had never really asked her about her life. They were friends, sure, but mostly they talk about Quidditch, and school, and Oliver's life. But now that he thought of it, Katie had always purposely dodged questions about her home life…

"I have an older sister," Oliver told her one day at breakfast, in answer to one of her many questions. "What about your family?"

Katie shrugged nonchalantly. "Do you have any pets?"

"We have a dog," Oliver replied. "And an old cat."

"I wish I had a cat," Katie would muse.

"You don't have any pets?" Oliver asked.

"What about your parents, what're they like?"

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked the twins, jerking his thoughts back to the present.

"Well, her parents died when she was a baby," on of the twins explained. "Her older brother was 17, and he went off. Katie lived with her aunt until about three years ago, when she died too. Her brother's in America, and a muggle. They don't talk much. Katie's been on her own since she was fourteen."

"Fourteen?" Oliver asked incredulously. But Oliver had known her when she was fourteen! She hadn't seemed like someone who lived alone and took care of herself.

"We didn't know either," one of the twins admitted. "Until McGonagall owled us saying we should come down here. She told us about Katie's family. It made sense really, when we thought about it."

Oliver nodded. It did make sense. He still remembered when she was fourteen. That was the last year they were in school together, before Oliver joined Puddlemere. He could remember the way Alicia, her best friend, always stood next to her. Oliver had always thought Alicia was just conceited, always speaking for Katie, standing slightly in front of her. She would pull Katie away from anything even remotely sad. Now Oliver knew why. Alicia was protecting Katie. Or trying to, anyway.

Of course, they had written letters since Hogwarts. Katie was an amazing person. He'd even fancied her at one time. But things change, and it had been months since Oliver had last had contact with Katie.

"Alicia's been here as often as possible," one of the twins told Oliver, breaking him away from his thoughts. "But there's only so much time she can take off work. She got a job working at Flourish and Blott's. It's a pretty good job as a starting point," the twin mused.

"What about Angelina?" Oliver asked, suddenly concerned for all of his old team. He hadn't even known Katie was in the hospital, much less actually dying. He didn't want that to happen again.

Obviously sensing his distress, the other twin put a hand on Oliver's shoulder. "It's alright," he said. "Ange's fine. Well, something along the lines of fine. A little off her rocker if you ask me. She went to Greece to study theater."

Oliver laughed. "She never seemed like the theatrical type," he said, thinking aloud.

"Oh she isn't," the twins laughed. "She just thinks it'll be a new experience. Of course she hasn't any money, so she's balancing 'studying' with being a waitress." The twin rolled his eyes.

Looking at the clock, the twin who hadn't been talking tapped the other on the shoulder and said, "We should go see Katie now." The other twin nodded, and they waved as they made their way out the door.

Oliver wasn't quite sure why he stayed in bed. He was sure he should have followed them. But he couldn't. He was scared of what he might see. What if she was horribly scarred? What if she died and instead of remembering her as a bubbly fourteen-year-old, he remembered her as a dying, horribly scarred seventeen-year-old. So, stupidly and selfishly, he stayed where he was.

When Oliver woke up the next morning, he found that his roommate had dropped off a package. It had a note attached to it:

Ollie,

These fell out of your closet when I was looking for my jacket. Thought you might like them while you're in the hospital.

Oliver, curious, tore open the brown paper carefully, and found a stack of letters. They seemed familiar, but he wasn't quite sure…Yes! They were the letters Katie'd written him since Hogwarts.

Dear Oliver,

I can't believe school's over for you and I have three more stinking years. I want to get out and see the world! I want to be a brilliant healer or a famous Quidditch player. Or a dragon tamer! Anything to just get out of these boring classrooms day after dreary day.

But enough of that. I want to hear all about Puddlemere. What are your teammates like? Is the training hard? What's it like living on your own! Please tell me, for I fear I shall simply DIE of boredom around here.

-Katie

P.S. This Tri-Wizard thingie sounds interesting. Still, Hogwarts isn't all that exciting.

Oliver laughed. Leave it to Katie to think her life was boring, even after the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, Quidditch, and even the tournament. That was Katie for you.

Dear Oliver,

It's unbelievable how busy we both are. It's been ages since I wrote you that first letter, and even longer since I received your reply. Yet somehow I haven't found time to write another. I'm sorry.

I'm worried about Harry. The third task is coming up, and I have this sense of impending doom. It's scary. I hope he'll be okay.

But enough with the sadness! Why should anyone wasn't time being upset? Nothing in the world is worth losing faith over.

I must be off now, for I have a heap of homework to do.

Love, Katie.

Nothing in the world, she said. She refused to be sad. Oliver knew he hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but now it meant so much.

Thinking fast, Oliver flipped to the last letter she had written him. It was over three months ago. That was when he'd been right in the middle of practices. He knew he wouldn't have written then.

So that was it then. It was his fault. Katie had written him, and he had been the one to break contact. Way to go, Oliver.

Suddenly, he felt very tired.

When Oliver woke up, he had a horrible feeling in his stomach. He knew what he had to do.

What if Katie died, before he even got a chance to see her again? He couldn't let that happen. So he pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt he thought might be clean, and he dragged himself down the hall to where two healers were having a whispered conversation.

"She's not going to make it," the woman said. "The poor dear."

"You're probably right," the man said somberly. "I'd give her 'til the end of next week, but what then? She doesn't have any family. We can't just keep her here forever if she's not going to wake up. But who says whether or not we, as they say, 'pull the plug'?"

Oliver felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. He rushed past them and into Katie's room.

"Katie?" he asked once he was next to her bed. Nothing. "Katie?" he repeated.

Absolutely nothing. Of course. What exactly had he been expecting?

"Okay then," he said, not sure of what to do. "How about a story?"

And so he told her the story a Gryffindor quidditch captain who met a beautiful Chaser. He told her about how the captain wasn't sure how to deal with the crazy young blonde, and so he would yell at her, push her to her limit during practice, and then feel bad about it for days afterward.

Oliver told her about how the captain had held the chaser in his arms when she was a third year, afraid of the Chamber of Secrets. He told her about how the young chaser constantly tested his nerves. And he told how the captain had, suddenly and inexplicably, fallen in love with the chaser.

You may be under the impression that this is the part of the story where Katie waked up and tells Oliver she could hear him the entire time. Then they kissed and lived happily ever after, right?

I regret to inform you that this is not what happened. Instead, after Oliver finished his long story, the female healer, who had apparently been listening the entire time, sniffled, and told Oliver he needed to get back to his own room.

That isn't the end of our story either, however, and Oliver's visit to Katie became a daily ritual. He would go in at the same time every day, tell her the same story over again, though of course he made it more detailed every time he remembered something, and then he would leave.

Oliver would always end his story the exact same way however.

"Then, one day, the captain was stupid enough to stop writing. He was very busy you see, but that is no excuse for him to forget about his little chaser. So he stopped writing, and by this time he was seeing other people, his love for the little chaser forgotten. He barely even remembered her name when the two redheaded beaters told him she was in danger. But he immediately hopped off his lazy arse, and he went to save the beautiful chaser, and they lived happily ever after."

One day after breakfast, when Oliver was on his way to visit Katie, something was different.

It was a big, obvious difference, but still Oliver had trouble wrapping his mind around the simple fact that when he walked into Katie's room, her bed was empty.

"Mr. Wood!" a tiny, blonde healer, probably about nineteen, squeaked. "There you are! I must ask you to-"

"Where is she?" he asked, his voice low and deadly. The little healer gulped and lifted a manicured hand, pointing to a sign next to the elevator that read, "Psyche Ward, 3rd Floor."

The next few moments were a blur to Oliver. All he knew was that he'd managed to get to Katie's wing (though he had no idea how), and couldn't find her room.

Then he heard it. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it before, even in his adrenaline rush, but there it was now. A loud, shrieking noise, high pitched and deadly, like nails down a chalk-board. Oliver followed it.

Throwing open a door he instinctively knew had to be hers, he was met with a horrifying sight.

Katie--at least, Oliver thought it was Katie--was on a bed, thrashing and screaming. Her body was covered in what appeared to be claw marks, and with a sudden wave of nausea, Oliver realized that she had caused them herself in her craze.

The worst by far, however, was her eyes. For as long as he lived, Oliver would never forget the look in Katie's eyes. Sheer terror. He had never seen anyone look as scared as Katie Bell did in that moment, nor had he even imagined it possible.

"Katie." Oliver tried to call out to her, but his throat had gone suddenly dry. He tried to move--whether he was going to run to her or as far from her as he could, he wasn't sure--but his feet were cemented to the floor.

It was all he could do not to throw up from the sight of someone who had become so dear to him in that state.

"Katie," Oliver tried again, and this time it came out louder. He rushed to her side, ignoring the cries of healers for him to stay away, and grabbed her arm. He felt her unrelenting nails scratch at the skin on his arms, but he paid it no attention.

"Once upon a time there was a beautiful chaser," Oliver nearly had to yell at her to be heard over his own screams. "And her captain didn't know what to do with her because she was flighty and annoying and always laughed at his sweaters."

The healers looked on as if he must have been the craziest lunatic alive, but it didn't escape Oliver's notice that not one of them made any move to stop him.

"But one day, after a big game, all the captain wanted to do was hug the little Chaser and tell her what a fantastic job she'd done. He didn't know why, mind you, but he knew it was important.

"When he found her, however, she was snogging the captain of a rival team! Yeah! He went out of his mind with anger that he couldn't explain to himself, before he finally realized what it was."

Oliver noticed, as did the healers, that Katie's thrashing had stopped, but her screams continued at top volume.

"And you know what it was Katie? I think you know this one. It's so ridiculous really, you'd probably laugh. You see, the captain was in love with his Chaser!"

Oliver laughed nervously as Katie's screams died down, slowly but surely, and he continued steadfastly.

"Yes, it's true. That clueless bloke managed to fall in love with that Chaser, but then he did something really stupid. He stopped writing her. And it was probably the worst mistake of his life."

Oliver didn't know what he was hoping for. A miracle, he guessed. Never before had Oliver believed in miracles, but on this day it was imperative that he be sure they happened.

Unfortunately, one didn't happen.

As Oliver left, every heart in the room felt heavy. No one breathed for a moment, praying that the sleeping Chaser would stir, but this as I told you before, this is not one of those types of stories. This is a real story, a story of facts. This is the story of Katie Bell, and it is a story that both ends and begins at this precise moment.

Because this precise moment is the one that Oliver heard what he instantly knew was the only sound he ever wanted to hear again.

Because at that precise moment, Katie Bell twitched her head to the side and said, loud enough for all to hear, "Did I kill him?"

"Mr. Wood?"

There was a kind faced healer standing over Oliver. Groaning, and feeling a bit stupid, he realized he had fainted at the sound of Katie's voice.

"Well, did I?" the same voice demanded frantically in the background. "Did I kill him?"

"Kill who dear?" a healer was asking, attempting to calm her down, although she was fairly scared herself.

"Dumbledore!" Katie shrieked. "Did I kill him? I did, didn't I? Oh god. I didn't mean to! I didn't! He made me! I was cursed!"

"Who cursed you, dear?"

"I…" Katie paused. "I don't know," she whispered, her voice pained. "I don't remember."

Oliver stood up slowly. Katie's eyes turned toward him, fearfully. "Who are you?" she demanded shakily. "And why do you look familiar?"

"I'm Oliver," he told her carefully.

"Yes," she said dreamily, her eyes burning holes in his own. "I-I think you were in a dream I had…a long time ago. But…no, no that doesn't make sense…"

And Oliver didn't try to explain it. He knew now wasn't the time.

Katie Bell moved in with Oliver Wood.

I wish I could tell you that they got together. That they were married on a lovely summer day and proceeded to have three beautiful children and a dog. I wish I could tell you that they grew old together and lived to see their children have children, and then died in each other's arms at an old age.

I cannot tell you this, because I do not know.

I don't know what will happen to Katie and Oliver. What I do know is that right now, at this very moment, they are eating breakfast. I know that Katie is having a cinnamon roll and coffee with cream, while Oliver, nervous about an upcoming job interview, will opt only for coffee, black. I know that in an hour Katie's pinky will randomly start to twitch, and then her toes will turn blue, and then she will start to feel dizzy. She may even faint.

I know this because this is what happens to Katherine E. Bell, St. Mungo's Terminal Patient. The one who wouldn't make it. I know this, because this is what I have been told. But as I said before, I do not know what will happen to Katie and Oliver, any more than I know what will happen to you and I.

AN: Hope you liked it enough to review! I don't think I'll make a sequel to this, because I want to leave their future up to your imaginations, but I do so love those reviews!

Disclaimer: this is one.