Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Kaaa-aate..
Happy Birthday to you!
This story is dedicated to Lady Catriona-Arre,
with much love and best wishes.
Butterflies.
your blue eyes, your heart-ache smile,
your crazy gypsy hair,
all but memories now soon fading
away with the summer air.
You caught me once, I'll catch you again
when loves it comes our way,
what are we but young butterflies
flitting through the sunset of the day.
'But I want to play Quidditch!'
Storming away from his mother, nine year-old Oliver Wood trumped down the stairs of their humongous family manor in a rage, muttering and huffing under his breath in a miniature Scottish accent. As he stomped through the endless corridor towards his bedroom – not watching where he was going – he ran headlong into something roughly his height which squeaked rather resentfully as he impacted upon it.
Looking up and shaking his shaggy brown hair from his dark eyes, Oliver scowled as he saw what he'd run into – a girl… ew.
'Watch where you're going, you great oaf!' scolded the girl, her blue eyes flashing with anger.
'Why don't you watch where you're going?!' shouted Oliver in return, feeling somewhat put-off and extremely cranky, 'You're just a great ugly girl!'
'Better than being a great ugly boy!' retorted the feisty little brunette angrily.
Spluttering indignantly, Oliver scowled at her with a dark brow, wishing that she were a boy so he could hit her and be done with it. Unperturbed by his intimidating behaviour, the girl pursed her lips and walked past him with an impatient hiss in his ear. 'I-I… well, you… argh, girls!'
Unable to believe he'd been bested by a girl – and a younger girl at that – that he didn't even know, he stood there somewhat gob-smacked for a minute or so before remembering he was in the midst of a storm-off and continued his huffing and puffing down the remnants of the corridor and into his bedroom, where he slammed the door with an earth shattering bang.
Walking in the other direction, hoping to run into someone interesting that she could spend her time with whilst she was being forced to stay at the Wood Manor, the girl rolled her eyes when the echoing slam of a bedroom door reverberated through the ancient building.
'Pfft. Stupid boy.' She murmured under her breath, tossing her dark bangs off her face.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
'Oliver!'
Raising his head slightly from the bed on which he was currently sprawled angrily upon; Oliver scowled as he heard his mother calling him.
'Oliver!'
Resolutely ignoring her, he rolled over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow, loudly reciting the five basic saving techniques of a Keeper.
'Oliver? Oliver honey, can you come out please?'
His mother was at the door now, but like hell was going to come out.
'Oliver…'
He moved onto the eight legal ways to defend oneself from a bludger attack, his voice growing obnoxiously loud now as he heard his mother sigh tiredly outside.
'Oliver if you don't come out now I'll take your broom back to the store.'
Oh, that was low.
Gritting his teeth, he rose slowly from the bed, yawned and shuffled over the door. He could have sworn he could hear her laughing, but when he opened the rosewood door she was merely smiling pleasantly down at him, her dark curls bouncing merrily around her face.
'I wouldn't have disturbed you but there are some people I'd like you to meet.' She said gently, her musical voice light with suppressed amusement and unbound affection for her only son.
Suddenly recalling the feisty little girl he'd encountered earlier, Oliver scowled slightly. 'Ma, I don't want to.'
His mother smiled warmly.
'Oh come now, I'm sure you'll love them.'
Oliver gave a disbelieving sniff but said nothing more, sufficing himself to be led out to the garden.
'Oh my goodness, you look a right mess.' Mrs. Wood said suddenly as they walked out into the garden, a few metres away from their guests.
Getting down onto her knees, she tucked his shirt in smartly, ignoring his weak protests and slight grumbling. Licking her thumb she gently rubbed away a dirt-spot from his earlier endeavours in the garden, and then jumping to her feet she gave his dark head of hair a quick ruffle before taking his hand and leading him over to the small tea garden behind the manor.
Peering around the high hedge that separated the tea garden from the rest of the property, Oliver hissed quietly as he laid eyes on the dark-haired girl he'd run into earlier. Meeting his gaze the girl coolly surveyed him for a minute before poking her tongue out at him obnoxiously.
Aghast, Oliver reared angrily but was unable to do nothing when his mother – who hadn't seen anything – turned around and tugged him into the enclosure.
'Tobias, Katie, this is Oliver.'
'Well hullo there Oliver,' said Tobias warmly with a huge smile, before adding on the side to Mrs. Wood, 'He certainly is Quidditch material Anne, you and Zachary must be proud.'
Smiling encouragingly at her son, Anne gave him a slightly shove and Oliver had no choice but to go over and shake hands with the burly, smiling man and his precocious little daughter, the latter of which smiled sweetly at him as he grudgingly shook her slender hand.
Running to his father who was sitting on the other side of the spindly white tea-table lighting a cigarette, Oliver clambered into his lap past caring whether it looked childish or not, only wishing to be as far away from the deceptive girl and her frighteningly beautiful smile.
'You're named after this man you know Oliver,' Anne told her son as she sat down beside him and poured Tobias, her husband and herself a cup of tea.
Suddenly remembering his middle name was in fact 'Tobias', Oliver scowled. Brilliant, not only was the girl apparently an angel in his mother's eyes but he was named after her father as well. Just bloody brilliant.
'Why don't you get Oliver to show you around Katie-love?' Tobias suggested, smiling in a friendly way at Oliver who was as completely adverse to this idea as it was possible to be.
Kissing her father on the cheek amidst a fond little laugh from Anne, Katie sprung up from her chair and walked over to Oliver, politely waiting for him to get up.
'If you go and take Katie for a little walk I'll call you when its time for tea,' Anne said before smiling brightly, 'the Weasley family are coming to tea, too, did I mention?'
Oliver brightened considerably. Not only were the Weasleys his favourite family, with six rowdy boys to play with, but they would drastically even up the score – he had doubts even Katie could win whatever they had going on between them if he had six Weasleys on his side.
'Ooh, are Fred and George coming!?' Katie piped up excitedly, her face flushed with happiness.
Anne, Tobias and Zachary laughed.
'Yes they are Kates,' said Tobias, 'and Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron and Ginny too.'
Letting out a shrill cry of pleasure, Katie bounced up and down happily on the balls of her heels before turning around to Oliver. 'Did you know Fred and George are my best-friends?'
This was, in fact, news to Oliver, because as far as he was concerned, Fred and George were his best-friends, even if they were a year or so younger than him. He didn't feel much like sharing this with Katie however, so he merely shrugged.
'Come on then!' she cried, grabbing his hand and tugging it, 'We should build a secret cubby-house before they get here and then we can all be best-friends together!'
Oliver didn't find this anywhere near as fun as Katie obviously did, as he'd just realised that if Fred and George were friends with her as well they probably wouldn't be interested in ganging up on her. And it wasn't even as if it was just those two she was friends with, she sounded fairly close to all of the family, and this didn't suit Oliver's plans at all.
'Come on!' she whined, tugging on his arm harder.
'Oliver, go on now.' Zachary said, a little sterner than usual, shoving him a little.
Sighing, Oliver clambered off his father's lap and allowed himself to be dragged away by the excitable seven-year old, whose light-brown waves were flouncing behind her as she ran.
They had just reached the massive oak tree at the far-end of the property when Katie stopped suddenly, making Oliver topple over with her sudden braking.
Looking up at her from the ground, his dark brow in a frustrated scowl, Oliver was horrified to see the mischievous grin she'd discarded in the presence of the adults creep back onto her face.
'This is perfect.' She stated, gazing up into the long, wide branches of the oak-tree.
'Ha, I'd like to see you climb the old Oak.' Oliver said scathingly with a laugh, 'Ron tried it last time he was here and he got stuck.'
'So? Ron's only just turned six, I'm seven and a half.' Katie replied, puffing out her chest a little.
'So you're a girl,' said Oliver as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, 'girls can't climb trees!'
Katie coughed indignantly.
'Yes they can!'
'No they can't!'
'Yes they can!'
'No they can't!'
'Yes, they CAN!' Katie screamed and turning on her heel, promptly marched over to the tree and began to climb it, the party-dress she was wearing making it a little awkward.
Getting to his feet, Oliver strolled over to the tree looking extremely cynical.
'You're going to find it hard wearing a dress and all.'
'If you can wear a kilt and do things you Scottish pansy, then I can climb a tree in a dress,' she retorted acidly, breathing heavily as she scaled the large tree trunk.
It was Oliver's turn to cough indignantly.
'I am not a pansy!'
'I don't see you climbing any tree!'
Bristling, Oliver marched over to the tree and looked up at her, resolutely trying to ignore the bright pink panties she was flashing in his face as she climbed the tree, her dress riding up her thighs. 'I can climb this tree, I do it all the time!'
'Prove it!'
'I would but you and your bright pink panties are currently climbing it,' Oliver shot back without thinking and then flushing a deep crimson.
'Did you just look up my dress!?' Katie shrieked, reaching out and snatching a dead branch from its limb and hurling it down at him, where he was just a millisecond too slow in dodging it and copping it on the forehead.
'Bloody hell!'
Rubbing his sore forehead, Oliver marvelled at her lightning-fast reflexes.
Laughing happily, Katie continued to climb.
'I play quidditch, Dad says my reflexes are really good.'
'You play quidditch?' Oliver echoed, amazed.
'Yeah, don't you?'
'Yes! I play Keeper!'
'Chaser!'
Startled by this revelation, Oliver suddenly yelped with excitement.
'Hey! That means when the Weasleys come tonight we'll have even players! We'll be able to play four-a-side!'
'Won't there be nine of us?'
'Yeah, but Percy never plays – he's too busy listening in on the adult's conversations.'
They both laughed at this, having seen Percy skulk around the dining table trying to catch snatches of the hushed conversations.
'You know, you're not so bad,' Oliver said almost-shyly, 'for a girl and all.'
'I'm the best damn girl you know!' Katie replied over-confidently but good-naturedly with a raucous laugh, 'Except for maybe Ginny Weasley of course!'
Looking up at her sitting on the branch swinging her long legs happily, leaves and twigs stuck in her wavy hair Oliver smiled. 'Maybe even more than Ginny.'
He said this so quietly he barely even heard himself say it, and Katie needless to say, didn't hear it at all. She merely plucked another dead branch from its limb and threw it down at him.
'Come on, your turn now!'
Laughing and shaking his head, Oliver ambled over to the trunk and began to shimmy up it, all the while watching her as she giggled happily, tossing her long, tangled hair out of her face.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
'That's the first memory I have of you, you know, you with your gypsy hair and torn dress, climbing up that tree and sitting on the branch, swinging your legs so much I was scared you'd flip yourself off backwards.'
Laughing, nineteen year-old Katherine Anne Wood rolled over and snuggled up to her new husband's naked chest, placing a kiss on the toned, warm surface affectionately. 'I remember that now… I'd forgotten it, can you believe?'
'It was a long time ago,' Oliver said quietly, pulling her naked body closer to his underneath the silk sheets and burying his face in her now much darker, strawberry-smelling hair, 'you were only seven and a half.'
'Hey, I thought I was all grown-up,' she said, remembering now the way she'd used to strut around bossing Ron and Ginny as if she was one of their five elder siblings.
'You definitely are now,' Oliver said cheekily with a chuckle, kissing her sweetly.
'Careful now or I'll make you prove to me you can still climb a tree,' she threatened good-naturedly, placing a kiss of her own on his lips.
'What're you going to do, make me climb a tree naked at three in the morning?' he said, raising one dark eyebrow with a snort.
One look at her facial expression and he the smarmy grin on his face disappeared. 'I have to remember to stop challenging you to do things.'
'It's only taken you ten years…'
A/N: lyrics/lines in italics at the start are mine. thanks. x
Well, first off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE! i hope you like it..
This story was obviously dedicated to Kate (Lady Catriona-Arre) as not only is it her birthday, but I felt she really deserves a dedication. And this is because as I'm sure most of you know, she is pretty much an amazing writer, and as some of you might not know, she is also a freaking amazing friend. So Kate, here's to you, happy birthday honey!
Love,
Ash x
PS. I forgot to add that I know that the details and settigs of this are a little off.. I know that in everything else I write Oliver and Katie have been friends since birth and Oliver was actually brought up by his grandmother, but I've always wondered what it would be like if they'd met at a later age... so this is what happened. I hope its alright. x