Katie Bell was a very excitable person. Even the simplest things could get her excited; a new book, a new spell, even her favourite meal for lunch.

She was, also, what one could consider a hopeless romantic. Chocolate, flowers, Muggle films and novels, you name it. Although she was a girl who loved romantic gestures, she was also a girl of substance, too.

Oliver Wood had never been good with romance. However, for Katie Bell, he figured, he could try.

They had met when she was a tiny first year and he a fourth year, in line to become captain of the Quidditch team. She was enchanted by the way the team flew in the air, spinning around the posts, diving and dodging Bludgers.

It was magic, real magic.

The next year, she hadn't grown much, but she tried out for the Quidditch team.

He saw something in her. She was tiny, built for speed. She had a wonderful left-handed throw, a remarkable one, one that was completely her own. Unique, nothing he'd ever seen on anyone before.

So, tiny Katie Bell had became the new progeny of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as well as the legendary Harry Potter. Oliver Wood always swore until his fifth year up and down no one could best the legendary Great Charlie Weasley, but Harry Potter managed to do that.

For the next years, known as the legendary seven of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, they were remarkable, each in their own way. Katie always managed to stay attentive and alert during the much-too-early morning practices when Oliver would drone on about what the team needed to know. The Weasley twins always managed to keep everyone from taking everything too seriously - because quite honestly, sometimes it was bad to overthink things. Angelina and Alicia were always happy, and Harry was... well, he was Harry Potter, wasn't he? And Oliver kept them all together. The glue of the team.

Looking back on it as a Hogwarts graduate, it was some of the best times of her life. On the Pitch, with her friends.

After Oliver graduated, he lost contact with the friends he had made in Hogwarts. Not on purpose, of course - he didn't mean too. But Puddlemere practices were often, and he was often sated after the long hours of flying around a Quidditch Pitch catching Quaffles.

Of cours

e, his dream of playing on a professional Quidditch team were blasted straight out of the air when the war took a turn for the worse. Quidditch shut down, and for the first time in his life, Oliver had no idea what to do with himself . He just wasn't sure. He wanted to fight back - that he knew for sure. He wanted to fight back, make the Death Eaters and Voldemort hurt for every friend and family member of his they'd hurt.

And that was how he joined the Order of the Phoenix, with one graduated Katie Bell.

Friendship between the two came back easily. It was like all of those early morning practices, when he'd drone on and she'd be the only one awake. Those nights at Grimmauld Place waiting what to do next were terrifying, but they had each other. The Weasley twins stopped by often, when they weren't making fun of the Death Eater force with joke products or being admonished by their mother. Alicia and Angelina stopped by often, too, because they were just as involved as Oliver and Katie.

They would spend nights taking about their dreams for the future What they wanted to do, what the w anted to accomplish , Oliver found out Katie did not have plans of working in the Quidditch industry, but instead wanted to help out at St Mungos.

"I couldn't be as selfless as you," he admitted, one night, in the one of the many bedrooms at Grimmauld Place. They were waiting for what to do next.
"I'm not being selfless," she said. "I just am doing what I think is right. And what I want to do, as well. They happen to coincide."

For the first time, he felt a little ridiculous. What was playing on Puddlemere United doing to help anyone? All he had did was fly around on a broomstick all day. For the first time in Oliver Wood's life, he felt like playing Quidditch just wasn't enough for him.

Katie, bless her, the brilliant soul that she was, managed to cheer him up. "Oliver, Quidditch isn't meaningless. I hadn't thought I'd ever hear those words coming out of your mouth. That's just plain ridiculous. Do you know what you're dong?"

"What?"

"You're installing a believe in people. You're telling to believe in a time of darkness. Hope is always necessary."

That night, they had stayed up talking , and he woke up with the sun peeking through the curtains the next morning with one Katie Bell and her blonde hair fanned out on his chest.

The rest of their time at Grimmauld Place was spent devising plans and practicing, practicing, practicing. Katie could stun in her sleep, and Oliver's reducto curse was perfection. They were warriors, trained to fight and defend themselves and other.

"Do you feel like we're machines?" asked Katie once.

Oliver had to ponder her question for a moment. "A little bit," he admitted. "But I also feel like we're doing to for something good. We're doing if for the safety of our families, and that's what matters."

She grinned brilliantly at him and continued practicing her stunning charm.

The night they were called to Hogwarts to fight, Katie found out after all this time, she didn't want to leave the safe confines of Grimmauld Place. Leaving and fighting, while it probably meant the end of the battle, it also meant death, and destruction. She was nineteen, she wasn't really ready for that. Couldn't they see that?

But Oliver was always by her side. He stood by her, tall and strong. They stood strong together, he corrected her.

"Together," he said, raising his wand. Together. Together they were united, together they were strong.

And Katie wouldn't have them any other way.

a/n - This was supposed to be a romance, but gen fics are so cute! So it's more of a friendship/romance. Also for 12 Days of Christmas Competition. KatieOliver is one of my otps.