"Katie …"

"No, Oliver. Don't …"

"But, I -"

"Don't."

"Tell me what's -"

"Don't."

Oliver looked at Katie Bell helplessly. Her eyes were filled with tears, threatening to fall.

"Please, I -"

He reached out for her.

"Don't! Don't come near me." She backed away from him. He looked up at the twins, Angelina and Alicia who stood on the other side of the Gryffindor Changing Rooms. Katie sat, hunched, hugging her knees to her chest on one of the benches.

"Katie, sweetheart, it isn't Oliver's fault …" Angelina said gently.

"I know whose fault it is," she muttered harshly.

"So why-?"

"Listen, I don't want to talk to anyone right now. So if you'll all kindly fu -"

"I won't leave until you tell me what happened." Oliver sat down on the other side of the bench and looked at her.

Katie glared at him. This made her tears fall. And this made her sob.

"Oh, Katie," Oliver said, moving up the bench and taking her in his arms. He looked up to see the rest leave.

Heart-wrenching sobs wracked through her body, and Oliver felt them too. He hugged her tightly, quietly shushing her. He hugged her tightly. He felt the sobs too.

"Tell me what happened, Kates," he said softly, rocking her slightly.

She drew a shuddering breath. He felt it. She took another. He felt it too.

"I can't," she rasped.

He rocked her more.

He drew back slightly to look at her. "Come on, Bella. You can tell me anything. You know that," he said wiping her tears away and smiling at her. She sniffed, and closed her eyes, frowning.

"He was seeing someone else. Before me. And he carried on going out with her, all through our relationship. Every second of it." Her voice sound pained and heartbroken. Her face scrunched up a little, and tears leaked out from behind her lashes.

Oliver drew her to him again. "Oh, Kates. Come on, he isn't worth it."

"I lost my virginity to him, Oliver!" Another round of sobs burst forth from her body, filling the room with grief. "And for a whole year, he's been sleeping with someone else behind my back!"

Oliver crushed her in his arms, trying to take some of the pain away from her. He'd take it all himself if he could. Anything than to see her like this.

"He isn't worth it," he whispered again. "You're worth so much more than him. Don't cry, Katie," he said, slowly stroking her back.

"He was everything to me. Everything. I have nothing left."

"No, Katie, you have loads left," Oliver said gently. "You've got the team … your family … your friends … and you have me, don't you?" he said with a careful smile.

Katie sobbed again. Oliver pulled her closer to him. "I l-love him, Oliver-r!"

"He didn't deserve a millimetre of your heart."

"He had all of my heart, and he had all of me, and he kn-new­ it! But he still cr-rushed me like an ant! He didn't care! He never d-did!"

Oliver kissed her forehead and rubbed her back.

"I gave him my virginity, Oliver. I'll n-never get that back! He took it and ran!"

"Oh, Katie. I'm so sorry. He didn't deserve you."

"I wasn't good enough."

Her sobbing had slowed as if she'd run out of tears.

"No, Katie. No. You were more than good enough. He just didn't see it."

"And who will? Ever? He was perfect. In every single way! He was too good for me. I should have realised sooner I wasn't good enough for him, or at least consented for his affair so that he'd be better satisfi-"

"No, Katie!" Oliver cut across her, pulling away and holding her at arms length by the shoulders. "No! He was far from perfect. You were far too good for him, and you should realise it right now or I'll have to get Angelina in here to slap some sense into you!"

Katie blinked.

"I can see that you're far too good for any guy you'll ever meet. You are the perfect one, Katie Bell. In every single way possible. You made a mistake consenting to date him. You made a mistake falling in love with him. Please don't make the mistake of letting him break your heart. I just don't want to see it happen. You mean so much to me, Katie. And if I see your heart break, I don't know if mine could cope."

Katie's eyes watered again.

"Please don't cry …"

"No," she said, sounding choked, "no, it isn't that … it's just … that was so sweet, Oliver." She sobbed and threw herself at him, locking him in a fierce hug. "You always know what to say. You make everything better."

Oliver returned the hug. "I look at you, and I always know what to say. I hate to see you unhappy. I'd do anything to make you smile again."

Katie gave a watery laugh and sobbed again. "Thank you so much for being here, Oliver."

"Shhshhshhh," he said softly, rocking her again. "Come on, I want to see that smile on your face again. How will I see it with all these tears?"

She sobbed again. "I'm sorry, Oliver," she moaned through her tears.

"No, don't apologise, Kates. You're okay. You're going to be okay."

"How to you know?" she asked, lifting her head from his chest to look at him.

"I just do. I won't ever let anyone hurt you again, alright?"

Katie smiled and kissed Oliver's cheek. "Thank you Oliver. You really are my knight in shining armour."

"At your service," Oliver grinned. "He really didn't deserve you, Kates."

Katie smiled and nodded. "We should get up to the castle. It's past curfew."

Oliver glanced at his watch and nodded. It was indeed past ten o'clock curfew.

Katie stood up, unwrapping herself from him. She smiled once again and brushed her hair out of her face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. Katie nodded, and Oliver stood up. "Okay then, let's go back to the tower."

Oliver took Katie's hand and gave her a smile. Katie smiled back, and the walked back up to the castle.

---

Oliver sighed as he watched Katie ascend the girl's dormitory staircase, her long blonde-brown hair flowing behind her.

He could never say it. It was as if his body was incapable of producing those three little words he had longed to say for years.

He would never say it. After two years of hiding it, he'd resigned himself to being forever miserable about it.

And yet he knew that how he felt about her would never change.

He sighed again, and headed up to his own dormitory.

He loved her, and it would never change.

---

Heeeello, m'dears. Hope you all had a lovely festive season

This story just kind of … I dunno. I didn't want it to end like that, but I didn't want it to be at all long, so I shortened it, and this is how it turned out. I couldn't exactly make him kiss her when she's just broken up with someone. It's unrealistic, so …

Um, I've actually stopped writing Katie-Oliver stories. Well, this one contradicts that, but other than this one, I've stopped. I've been writing Hermione-Draco. I know, I know, how could I? Well, I don't know what turned my attention to them, but I seem to have a total block on anyone BUT them.

So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this really short story-let. I won't be posting for a little while (I'm determined to get some more Katie-Oliver's out before I totally give up and resign myself to Hermione-Draco's.

See you, my lovelies. xx