Disclaimer: I won nothing.
AN: This is a sequel to ancient Runes. I highly suggest you read Ancient Runes first. It's slightly AU, considering I brought Fred back from the dead. The only thing I would ever change with the series is Fred's death.
The Idea
"Celestina! Great to see you!"
The door to the Wood household opened in front of Celestina. Inside stood a middle-aged woman with brown hair that fell around her shoulders. She had warm brown eyes, and was fairly short.
"Mary! It'd been too long."
Celestina hugged the woman, or Mary. Looking over Mary's shoulder, she saw a taller man, also with brown hair, walking towards the pair.
"Evan! How are you?" Celestina asked.
Evan smiled. "Fantastic! But, who wouldn't be? I mean, now that Voldemort's gone for good!"
Celestina raised an eyebrow. "Wood, that was three years ago. Haven't you gotten over it?"
For a second, all the warmth vanished in Mary's eyes. "We still haven't gotten over the fact that the three of us are the only people in our group of eleven friends who survived to this day. Oh, well, twelve if you count Bilius."
"You had twelve friends? Wow. I didn't think you were that popular," said a voice from the hallway. Turning, Celestina saw a tall young man with brown hair (really, no surprise) a toned Quidditch body.
Celestina made her way to hug him, squealing, "Oliver! How's my little birthday boy?"
Oliver raised an eyebrow. "I'm turning 24 today. Do I have to be called the birthday boy?"
"I called your father the birthday boy for as long as I've known him," Mary smiled.
"And I like it. It's very-"
"Don't want to know!" Oliver exclaimed, slapping hands to his ears. Mary and Evan shrugged, and walked down the hallway to no doubt get dinner ready.
Rolling her eyes, Celestina asked, "Would you prefer, how's my little godson?"
"I'd prefer we stayed away from any sentence with the word little."
"Aw…. You take the fun out of anything."
"Yep. And that's what my team in Gryffindor told me when I was captain. But did I listen? No…"
"And that is why your universally disliked."
"What! No fair! You're supposed to be my godmother, Celestina!"
"So?"
"You're not supposed to make fun of me!"
"Then should I do this?" Celestina grasped Oliver's cheek, and pinched it very hard.
"Ow! Stop it! Please!"
Celestina reluctantly let go of his cheek, and glanced at a nearby picture. There were seven people, all in the Gryffindor Quidditch robes. It was obviously a picture of Oliver's Quidditch team. Oliver was in the center of the back row. Celestina could easily pick him out, being the tallest, and the oldest. On either side of him were two identical boys, with flaming red hair. Celestina smiled at the sight. They must be Fred and George, the twins who were so like Bilius, as Remus had told her. The middle row held three girls. One had a light mocha colored skin, brown hair, and blue eyes. The girl next to her had deep brown colored skin, and black hair. The third girl had pale skin, pale green eyes and honey blond hair. She was smiling, and it was a very pretty smile, which engulfed her whole face, it looked as if she was laughing. Which she probably was, considering the twins were bunny earring the girl next to her. Celestina could have sworn that in the photo, Oliver was glancing down at her every few seconds. Cute. The last person was at the bottom. He had messy black hair, and vivid green eyes. Harry. Celestina might have to visit him some time…
"Seriously, where in hell did you learn this?"
"Oliver!"
"Sorry. But, really, where did you get this stuff?"
Mary took that point to walk in, and clap her hands together. "Dinner is ready!"
The pair walked down the hallway to the right, to a round mahogany table, at which Evan and Mary were already seated.
"Looks delicious, Mary," Celestina said, glancing at the pork chops, rolls, steak, mash potatoes, peas, green beans, carrots, and on. "You never do have limits when it comes to your son, do you?"
Mary beamed. "Not on his birthday!"
"So I take it that John and Leanne aren't coming?"
"Unfortunately, no. They would, but they're currently in Venice, and aren't getting back until next week."
"Too bad. But, Venice is a magical city."
"Literally," added Evan. "Apparently, it was completely habituated by wizards, which is how it can float on water and everything, until around the early 1200s, when muggles started exploring the world in more depth."
Oliver turned to Celestina. "Seriously! Where did you learn to be so… vivacious, I guess?"
"Why, thank you. And, as for your question, it was probably first year."
Mary snorted. "Yeah, all of us seventh years probably corrupted your poor mind."
"Wait, what's going on?"
"You never really heard about our Hogwarts years, did you?"
"Nope. Never."
"Well, it's high time you learned a lesson," Evan laughed.
"Um… sure, I guess."
Celestina begun, "Well, in the beginning of my first year, I made friends with a group of ten seventh years."
A low whistle came from Oliver's mouth. "Sweet, that's near impossible."
"Well, in the seventh years, your mum and dad were two of them."
"I never knew that you were six years younger than them."
"But, I am. There was also Remus Lupin."
"Hey! Wasn't he my defense against the dark arts professor in my seventh year?"
"Yes. He was a very good friend of mine, and it's unfortunate he died in the final battle. I also knew Marlene McKinnon, she's dead now."
"You were really close to those two, weren't you?" Mary asked quietly.
"Yeah, them along with Alice. We knew Alice and Frank Longbottom. They're still alive, but tortured to insanity. They might as well be dead."
"Sorry," Oliver said quietly.
"It's fine. It's been awhile. Let's see… There was Bilius Weasley. He wasn't as close to the whole group, but he was in my year, and we dated. He died a only a few years back. Then, there were the marauders. There was Remus, as I already mentioned, Peter Pettigrew, but Pettigrew was a rat and betrayed us. He went to Voldemort's side."
"And he's dead," Evan growled. "Good riddance."
"Well, there was Sirius Black, who died about five years back, by Bellatrix Lestrange. He was a hilarious person."
"Wait, wasn't Sirius Black a murderer?"
"Nope/ He's innocent. Pettigrew framed him."
"So, that's ten, including you, Celestina. Who are the last two?"
"James Potter and Lily Evans. Well, she's Potter now."
"You knew Harry's parents?"
Celestina smiled. "Yep. They were heads together. And I actually helped get them together."
"Sweet."
"Speaking of Harry, he was on your old school team, right?"
Oliver nodded, looking a bit confused.
"Well, I was looking at the team's picture. I know who you, Harry, and the twins are, but not the girls. The chasers, tight?"
"Oh, yeah. Um… the brunette, with blue eyes, that's Alicia. She's really nice, and sweet and everything. I think she's married to George, actually. George Weasley. The girl in the middle should be Angelina Johnson. She's the black girl. In real life, she's quite tall, and a perfectionist. Great chaser, probably the best on the team."
"And the last girl?"
At this, Oliver blushed a little. "That's Katie Bell. She's a good chaser too. I don't really know her all that well, she was about three years below me."
Celestina raised an eyebrow at Oliver. He just seemed very sensitive about her. Ooooh…. Ollie has a little crush! She couldn't help but tease Oliver, even if it was in her mind. Seriously, though. This Katie girl seems perfect for Oliver. Celestina made a split second decision to get the pair together.
Suddenly, she had an idea. I need to talk to Percy!
It had simply been too long since she had last shoved someone in a broom closet.
"So, Oliver how's Carly?" Mary asked, sounding a bit bitter.
"Oh, she's fine," Oliver replied.
"Who's Carly?"
"My girlfriend."
Damn. This might be harder than I thought.
AN: Yes, this is a Katie/Oliver fic. There'll be a lot of other ships, though. Alicia/George (as I already mentioned they were married), Angelina/Fred (who is coming back from the dead for this fic), Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, and some others, maybe. This takes place three years after the seventh book. If you need any questions answered, just ask them in a review, and I will do my best to answer. I'll take any ideas at all. Don't worry, the plot will be clear in several chapters. Just review overall, though!