Author's Note: This is a little one-shot I've had in mind for a long time, maybe more than a year. It was supposed to be a part of a long fiction I'm writing (in Italian, so I haven't posted it here...yet), but then I realized it didn't fit very well. Still, the idea didn't left my mind, so I decided to write it anyway. Hope you like it :)
It's my second attempt at writing in English, so be merciless, I really need your criticism!
Disclaimer: having erotic dreams about Oliver Wood doesn't give me any right over him or anything else related to the Harry Potter saga.
I couldn't believe it.
I mean, I've always known that the Weasley twins were capable of anything, of course. They would play Exploding Snap during a team meeting; they would throw dugbombs to the Slytherin team players on the Hogwarts Express, and spend the rest of the journey running away from them down the corridor; they would blow flood powder in Flitwick's face, so that they could get detention and be excused from those insane practices at that insane hour; and, of course, they would always find a way to distract the entire team, just to drive me insane.
I surely didn't expect them to follow any of the rules I made; I've never been so naïve as to think they would listen to me, or worry about eating too little and lose strenght before a match, or being stuck in detention and not being able to attend a practice, or take good care of their brooms as every good Quidditch player should do.
They were the Weasley twins, and they did what they found amusing, not what I (or anyone else, for that matter) considered wise.
So I never thought they would take in great consideration even the rule number 5, "never date a teammate". Besides, I didn't worry too much, because I knew I could rely on Alicia and Angelina, they were far more sensible than Fred and George, and surely they were smart enough to understand that dating someone on the team could lead to great problems (you know, in case of a fight or a cheating or a break up or a crime of passion).
They would have never put the team in such a danger, because they were devoted players and proud Gryffindors.
I was safe, right? Because who else could the Weasley twins find attractive? No one.
The only other girl on the team was Katie, and Katie was only a child, right? She was way too young to be romantically involved with anyone, let alone someone as old as the Weasley twins, right?
No, I was not right.
Apparently, neither she nor that Weasley twin – because I couldn't tell them apart when I could look them in the eye, how could I possibly be able to when all I could see were that ginger hair and those hands that were touching things that really should not be touched, never be touched, especially when they were part of a little girl's body – thought her so young.
And she definitely didn't look innocent.
How the hell did that happen?
Katie was ten years old, or something like that.
Well, maybe thirteen.
Oh, wait, no. She was thirteen when she started playing on the team, wasn't she?
So that means that now she was...fifteen?
Was she really fifteen? She must have been.
Why didn't I notice?
Well, she did look way younger than that.
She was not much taller than when she had entered the team. And she surely never acted like a mature and sensible girl. More like a silly child who liked to play tricks and laugh out loud every time she had the opportunity.
Why should a boy be interested in her as a potential girlfriend?
Why should anyone feel the need to kiss her like that Weasley twin was?
Katie was the person who would cheer you up when you felt sad, finding the funny side of every situation. She was the one who would drag you out of the shower when you tried to suicide, after losing the Quidditch Cup. She was the one who would NEVER listen to you during a meeting, because reading the last TeenWitch Today was waymore interesting than those boring schemes of yours. She was the one who would call you a "stupid cow", because no one with a working brain would ever spend a beautiful, sunny day inside, glaring at Cedric Diggory, just because of a lost match.
I mean, she's the funny, bright, witty, nice, cute little friend you love to spend time with, and you're able to talk about everything with...surely not the one you would ever want to kiss, or hold tight, or touch that way...
Well, yes, except when she looked at you with that guilty smile, her eyes brightened by the amusement, her red lips slightly parted...
All right, well, maybe she was attractive enough.
But she was not a good potential girlfriend!
She was a troublesome girl. She was incredibly pettish – like that one time when I had told her that it was useless for her to try and copy those models on TeenWitch, because there was no way she could ever look like them, so it would be wiser for her to pay attention to what I was saying, and she hadn't spoke to me for the next three weeks. And she had only forgiven me (even if there was absolutely nothing to forgive – I had only stated the truth) after I had been hit on the head by a bludger and been unconscious in the hospital wings for two days. And she was so loud, one couldn't be in the same room with her for too long without feeling stunned. Oh, and she was always late. Who would ever want a girlfriend who was not even able to make it at a date in time?
Dating Katie Bell was surely nothing more than the prelude to breaking up with Katie Bell.
And breaking up with a teammate was nothing more than the prelude to destroying the stability of the team.
You understand how I had to do something.
"BELL! WEASLEY!"
"Oh, for Merlin's sake Wood, leave them be! They're so cute together!"
Wait, what? What did Angelina just say?
"Wood, stop looking like a codfish. There's no reason to. It's Fred and Katie we're talking about, they've always been great friends, there is no painful break-up at the horizon"
Oh, so that was Fred...WAIT, you too, Alicia? I thought you better than that!
"Will you close your mouth, Wood? And maybe you should sit down, your face is of a weird shade of green"
Angelina looked pretty worried.
About my face.
She wasn't worried about the imminent destruction of our perfect team, but she was worried about my face.
"Are you two kidding me? This is a tragedy! You know how insufferable a person Katie can be! He's going to get tired of her! He's going to cheat on her and..."
"Wood, come on, you know Fred would never do such a thing, and to Katie of all people!"
I could hardly breath.
Katie and Fred where now slowly approaching me, Angelina and Alicia from the other corner of the Common Room. While Fred had a huge smile on his odious face, she appeared to be very embarassed. Her cheeks were red, her eyebrows arched and she kept biting her lower lip in an adorable expression of worry...
Yes, well.
"I'm sorry" she whispered.
I just glared at them.
"I am not." said Fred, the smile never leaving his face.
"Never thought you were" I answered, then got up and went straight to my room.
I couldn't understand. Why couldn't they just wait another year, so that Fred would be out of Hogwarts, and there would be no risk for the team? But then again, why should she wait a year for FRED. Really, people, what did she see in him? I mean, yes, he was funny, and confident, and good-looking enough...
But why did she like him so much as to want to date him?
I could now see why he would date her. She was hot. I hadn't notice before, because I had a good head on my shoulders and I dedicated myself to more important things than girls and snogging, but I could not deny that she was very attractive...even if she was so young. She had a lot of flaws, of course, but most boys where interested in good looks more than anything else.
But I thought girls to be different. Didn't they want love, and romanticism, and poetry, and flowers and stuff?
I sincerely doubted Katie could get those things from Fred.
He would have never made her happy.
I startled when someone knocked on the door.
"Ollie, are you there? It's me."
What the hell was she doing there?
She opened the door without waiting for an answer. How typical.
She smiled tentatively, and joined me on the bed.
"I'm sorry, Ollie. I know I should have told you..."
"RULE NUMBER FIVE, BELL!"
"I know, I know, calm down Ollie! I know."
She was looking at the floor now.
"I've been liking him for ages, Ollie" she murmured.
I felt my eyes widening – ages? But she was a child! Why had she been thinking of boys while she was so young?
"Ollie, please, say something!"
"You're too young."
She looked up at me in surprise. What did she expect me to say?
"I'm fifteen, Ollie. Fred is not even my first boyfr..."
"WHAT?"
All right, well, maybe I did say that a bit too loud.
But there was no real reason for her to look so scared, come on!
She calmed down soon enough, though.
"Ollie, I know you see me as a little sister"
Little sister? I would never look at my little sister's bottom like I always did to hers...wait, what?
"You don't have to worry about me, you know Fred! He cares about me a lot. And George has already told him that he would forget they're twins and kill him, if he hurts me." She smiled sweetly at that. Did she like George too? They did look completely identical...
"Why are growling now, Ollie?"
"I'm not growling."
I saw she wanted to add something, but apparently she deemed it unwise.
"Everything will be all right, I promise. Trust us. Please?"
I just nodded, without looking at her.
She smiled, that sweet smile again. Only, this time it was directed at me. Or, at least, I thought so. I felt my cheeks and neck instantly burning.
She rose from the bed and said: "Thank you for caring so much about me, Ollie."
Then she bent down and kissed me on the cheek. Which was absolutely unrelated to my stomach turning wildly, of course. It was just a coincidence.
"You're an amazing friend. I knew you would have understood"
Understood WHAT, exactly? If something, now I liked the idea of them together even less than before.
I didn't say anything, though, just looked at her leaving my bedroom, with a relieved expression on her beautiful face.
Ok, so, I've been shipping Oliver and Katie insanely for years now. At the same time, though, I rationally think that Katie (or, at least, the Katie I always pictured in my mind) and Fred would be a very good couple, at least till she realizes how impossible it is for her to stay away from her crazy captain :)
I know this story is not satisfactory, but it's a one-shot so there will be no more chapters. I suppose I will write something else about Katie and Oliver, and it wouldn't be too much trouble to make it a sequel to this story, but there is nothing planned for now.
I hoped you liked it anyway :) I'm sorry for all the mistakes I surely made, I just started to write in English so it's still difficult for me.
I would be incredibly happy to find your reviews, you know that, don't you? ;)
See you soon
Ly