The Answer to Our Lives

Prologue: Late Summer, 1999

Katie Bell had always been a fantastic Quidditch player.

Flying and playing Quidditch had been two of the main staples of her childhood. It had come as a surprise to no one when she made the Gryffindor house team in her second year at Hogwarts. The following years proved to be difficult, especially where Quidditch was concerned, but Katie was always more than willing to rise to a challenge. It was with pride that she was able to return to Quidditch after recovering from an incident that had almost cost Katie her life in the middle of her seventh year.

It was with absolute astonishment that she found out her housemates weren't the only ones impressed with the part she played in helping Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup that year. Before she had even completed her N.E.W.T.'s, Katie was signed on as a reserve chaser for the Holyhead Harpies.

Playing Quidditch professionally had long been a dream of Katie's. Sadly, the universe was not very willing to let Katie live her dreams just yet, even after what she had gone through in her last year at school.

With Albus Dumbledore's death, You-Know-Who gaining control of Wizarding Britain was inevitable. And there was no time for a frivolity such as Quidditch when the world was at war.

Katie was not hindered in the slightest, however. She played her part in the war, and was overjoyed to be a part of the side that emerged victorious once all of the fighting ended.

That is not to say that she had escaped all of the horrors of war, though. It was with a certain humbleness that Katie Bell accepted a position as a starting chaser for the Harpies when the new season was announced in the weeks following Voldemort's defeat. But what better way to try to overcome all of that darkness than with Quidditch?

And so, in the Harpies first game of the season, Katie Bell started as a chaser without ever having played in a professional match before.

It was hard to tell.

Katie quickly became the new rising star of Britain's professional Quidditch League. She ended the season with a league championship for her team and as the Rookie of the Year for the entire league. It was with great anticipation that the Quidditch world looked to the next season, eager to see what great things Katie Bell and her team would do.

It was not to be.

When the Harpies announced their roster for the upcoming season, Katie's name was inexplicably absent from it. They announced their roster in conjunction with every other team in the league and it quickly became clear that Katie, the star chaser, had not been traded. It was an issue that was finally addressed by the manager of the Holyhead Harpies at a press conference later in the day.

"We've been fielding owls all day," the manager stated without preamble, "Questioning our roster. Although she has requested privacy at this time, we would just like to acknowledge that Katie Bell, our former chaser, has chosen to retire from professional Quidditch for personal reasons. She will not be joining the team for the 1999-2000 season. In her place, we have signed Ginevra Weasley as a Chaser."

To say that this announcement put the Quidditch world in an uproar of speculation would be a severe understatement. The rumors ran rampant. Why in Merlin's name would Katie Bell retire from Quidditch at the age of twenty after only one season? And, while she always had been notoriously private, why had she not been seen in public since?

As the season began, the speculation died down, however. It was replaced with awe at Ginny Weasley's skills as a chaser.

Katie Bell had been a superb Quidditch player, but Ginny Weasley was her own personal brand of spectacular.

There was one thing, though, that Katie had been able to accomplish that Ginny did not. Mid-way through the season, the Holyhead Harpies played Puddlemere United. It became the Harpies' first loss of the season. Critics and fans alike couldn't help but compare this match to the previous season's; it was a match that had been popularly declared the best of Katie's short-lived career. It had also been dubbed a face-off between former teammates.

For the first half of her Quidditch career at Hogwarts, the members of Katie's team had been constant. And the one person who held them all together was Oliver Wood, keeper extraordinaire.

After leading his team to Gryffindor's first Quidditch Cup victory in almost a decade, Oliver Wood had been signed as a reserve for Puddlemere United. From the time he had been a young lad, growing up in Scotland, Oliver's dream had been to play professional Quidditch. The sport was, quite simply, what he ate, slept, and breathed. So when he finally got his chance to play, Oliver was going to make every second count.

When Puddlemere's starting keeper retired at the end of Oliver's second season with the team, it was an easy decision to bring him up from the reserve team. Oliver Wood quickly became the greatest keeper that Puddlemere United had ever had. And he had only strengthened that claim by being the main reason that Puddlemere was able to defeat the Harpies in their most recent face-off.

"Great practice today, everyone," The Puddlemere Captain told his teammates towards the end of their Wednesday practice. "Personally, I think you're all in great form. I know it's been said plenty already, but we had an excellent match against Holyhead the other day," There was a murmur of assent from his teammates before he continued, "So, in honor of that, management has agreed that you lot all deserve the day off of training tomorrow."

"Excellent," One of the beaters piped up, slinging his bat over his shoulder. "I vote we all go celebrate that victory again. Who's up for a drink?"

This suggestion was met with supportive cheers from a majority of the team. They all hastened to the team locker room to shower and change out of their dirty practice uniforms. It was as he was about to leave the locker room half an hour later that the captain noticed Oliver still straightening up and putting away all of his gear.

"Oi! Wood!" The captain said loudly, "You coming?"

"Not today," Oliver replied easily, turning his attention toward his captain. "I've got some business that I have to take care of."

"You can't do it in your time off tomorrow?" The captain questioned. "You know one of your lovely teammates is going to want to re-enact several of your saves after he gets a few pints in him, don't you?"

"Is that supposed to be incentive to go?" Oliver asked cheekily.

"It's supposed to be a reminder that you should have to suffer with the rest of the team, Wood," The captain said, though his tone was cheerful. "But if you have better things to do…"

"I do," Oliver insisted. "It's important."

The captain rolled his eyes. "I'll see you bright and early Friday morning."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Oliver replied with a mock salute.

"Get lost, Wood," the captain said, grinning as he finally exited the locker room.

Oliver took a few more minutes to put away the last of his carefully cleaned gear, before standing up from where he had been seated on the bench before his locker. Stretching slightly, he followed the same path the rest of the team had taken out of the locker room, out of the stadium, and over to the nearest apparition point. Spinning on his heal, Oliver apparated directly into his flat, which was situated in the midst of the bustling city that was London.

He paused for a moment in the entryway; the flat was completely silent. He shrugged before making his way down the short hallway and into the living room. The sight that met his eyes there made a warm smile light up his otherwise tired-looking features.

Oliver wasn't quite sure what, exactly, she had been up to that particular day, but it had obviously been enough to warrant a mid-afternoon nap for his wife. Crossing the room in three quick strides, Oliver sank to his knees before the couch where she was fast asleep and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then another on her heavily pregnant stomach.

In his mind, Katie had never looked more beautiful.