Super sorry for the long silent stretch. Been super busy. Happy Halloween! Enjoy
The next morning, Katie was feeling a bit flustered but managed to wrap and stash all of Davie and Oliver's presents by the time they woke up.
"Happy Christmas Eve Mom!" chirped Davie, rushing into the kitchen. His hair was sticking up in all directions, but he was clearly excited for the holiday.
"Happy Christmas Eve, Davie," she laughed. "I made scrambled eggs for breakfast with toast and bacon. Do you want pumpkin juice or milk?"
"Pumpkin juice," answered Davie.
"Milk!" answered Oliver entering the kitchen from the wardrobe.
"Morning, luv," she said allowing Oliver to kiss her good morning as he took his seat at the table.
"You already eat?" he asked as she set two already prepared plates of food in front of them.
"I was up early. I was starving since I barely ate yesterday," she answered.
"We missed you!" said Davie. "We went over to Mrs. P's and played a board game and had hot chocolate and pie."
"Sorry I missed it, things got crazy at the hospital," said Katie remembering the plans. "I'm glad you had fun with Mrs. Patterson though. Did she want to come over for dinner on Boxing Day? You asked her, right?"
"She said she would love to come," answered Oliver. "And my parents are for sure coming tomorrow. Mum said she would bring a pie, a side of yams, and the potatoes for Christmas dinner."
"Perfect, I never make yams, and I hate peeling potatoes. Plus, I was planning on making biscuits today, so if she makes a pie we will have plenty of desserts."
"Can I help!?" exclaimed Davie. "Last time we made cookies for the team, you said I was a great helper!"
"Or course you can! I wouldn't make them without you!" she laughed. "This time we can even use the Christmas cookie cutters and decorate them with lots of colors. I think we might even have to let Oliver help."
Most of the afternoon was spent making a fantastic variety of Christmas cookies including trees, stars, ornaments, candy canes, and Father Christmases. Oliver carried the wireless from the common room, and they danced around the kitchen singing Christmas tunes and munching on sweets.
"I think we did a good job," said Katie a few hours later, finally wiping the last of the flour off her hands and looking around the newly cleaned kitchen. All of the cookies were safely in tins, at least those that hadn't already been eaten, and Davie was laying on the floor coloring while Oliver scanned the afternoon paper.
"I'd say! I'm stuffed and I never saw such pretty cookies," said Oliver setting the paper aside.
"Look at the picture I drew for Father Christmas!" exclaimed Davie, holding up his picture.
"That's beautiful, love," said Katie. "Can we hang it on the fridge until tonight when we can set it out with the cookies and some carrots for his reindeer?"
"Sure," answered Davie.
"So what do we want to do now?" asked Oliver.
"Well we could take a nap," suggested Katie, laughing at the horrified look that Davie made. "Or… I was thinking maybe we could start a little family tradition." She watched as Davie immediately perked up.
"As long as it doesn't involve eating. I think I had way too many cookies," laughed Oliver.
"How about a game of quidditch at the park? It's not too cold, and I'm pro at warming charms," she suggested.
"YES!" squealed Davie, already rushing to his room for his gear.
"Bundle up!" she called after him. "Sound like a plan?" she asked Oliver.
"This is yet another reason why I'm completely in love with you," he said shaking his head in bemusement. "Comes up with the perfect way to spend every single day of the year."
After the park, they ordered pizza, and Katie got started on the turkey for Christmas dinner with Oliver's parents the next day. All three of them snuggled up in Davie's much too small twin bed and read the wizard's Christmas story, complete with the story of Nicholas Flamel, also known as Father Christmas. While the two adults knew that he had recently passed away, they also knew that his great great great grandson was currently carrying out his work. They also knew that the Flamel family mostly granted gifts to poor muggle children nowadays.
Tucking Davie into bed, kissing his golden head, Katie wondered how the holiday could get any better. "Goodnight mom, goodnight Oliver. Love you," said Davie, snuggled up in his new pajamas for Christmas morning.
"Goodnight snugglebug," she said, closing the door behind her and discretely casting a charm that would alert her if Davie left his room during the night. She didn't want to worry about him walking in on her and Oliver setting the presents around the tree and filling the recently hung stockings.
If playing Father Christmas was fun last year, it was doubly fun this year with Oliver to help her. Arranging the presents under the tree and filling the stockings, mostly with candy for her and Oliver, she was having a great time. They nibbled on the carrots and munched on the cookies that Davie had left out for Father Chistmas. She pocketed the drawing, planning to hang it in her locker at work where he wouldn't stumble on it. By midnight, they were done with everything, the camera was out and ready to take pictures the next morning, and they were happily snogging in front of the fire.
"Happy Christmas, Ollie," she whispered as the clock rang out the hour.
"Happy Christmas, Kates."
The next morning, Katie groaned as she heard Davie enter their room. "Wake up!" he exclaimed. "Father Christmas came! Father Christmas came!"
"Really?" asked Oliver. "I was sure you were getting coal."
"Oliver!" protested Davie.
"Happy Christmas, bug," said Katie deciding to open eyes.
"Wake up mom! I want to open the presents!" he said pulling on her arm.
"Can't you let us sleep another hour?" she pleaded, nearly laughing at the distraught look on Davie's face.
"But Mr. and Mrs. Wood are here!" he protested.
"WHAT!?" she exclaimed, all pretenses of lingering in bed gone. She felt a blush spreading over her body, but tried to push it down. She had known the Woods since she was a girl, and if they were going to judge her, they had to judge Oliver too. She hadn't realized they would be flooing over quite so early or she would have made the effort to keep up the pretense she slept in her own bed.
Oliver groaned and rolled out of bed. "I'm up," he said. "Let me just brush my teeth. Happy Christmas, Davie." He ruffled Davie's hair as he hurried to the bathroom.
"Come on, mom!" said Davie impatiently as Katie rose slowly from the bed and pulled her scarlet dressing gown on over her pajamas.
"I have to brush my hair and my teeth quickly. Why don't you go see if Father Christmas ate the cookies you left out for him."
"They were going to find out soon enough," said Oliver before she could say anything as she entered the bathroom. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, love."
"Happy Christmas," she said, kissing him. "Just don't make me face them without you."
"Happy Christmas," he said with a smile. "And I won't."
Five minutes later, they walked out of Oliver's bedroom into the common room where Mr. and Mrs. Wood were sitting on the sofa, each still wearing their dressing gown.
"Father Christmas ate all the cookies, but look at the reindeer teeth markings on the carrots!" exclaimed Davie, taking the half eaten carrots over to show Katie and Oliver. "Oliver! Your pajamas look just like mine! We match!" he exclaimed.
"Katie thought they would look good on both of us," laughed Oliver showing off his pajama pants. Although his shirt was a plain one, the pants matched perfectly. "Happy Christmas Mum and Dad!" he hurried over to hug his parents, giving his mom a loud kiss on the cheek.
"Oh!" exclaimed Davie. "HAPPY CHRISTMAS MOM!" he ran to Katie and hugged her, allowing her to pick him up and swing him around even though he was probably too big.
"Happy Christmas, love," she said, setting him down with a loud kiss. "Happy Christmas Mr. and Mrs. Wood," she said with a smile.
"Katie dear, Robert and Aileen, call us Robert and Aileen. Happy Christmas," said Aileen, crossing the room to hug Katie.
"Happy Christmas Katie-Bug," said Robert hugging her before Oliver pulled her over to the large armchair and into his lap.
"Go ahead, open your first present," said Oliver, reaching behind him to grab the camera and snap a few shots of Davie rummaging through the pile to find the perfect first present. He finally settled on a smallish one, which turned out to be a box of treats from George's shop.
"Mr. George told me about these!" he exclaimed. "At the tree lighting! Father Christmas must be quick! I didn't even tell him I wanted these!"
"Just don't eat them all at once, you'll get a tummy ache and who knows what would happen," warned Katie, wondering just what George had told Davie about those sweets that he knew what they were. She had thought them fairly innocuous when she purchased them… but with George, one never knew what mischief one could get up to with 'innocuous' things.
"Here, open this one Oliver! Mom helped me pick it out for you last week," said Davie, bringing a present to Oliver.
"Wow! My very own secret play book!" exclaimed Oliver with a laugh. Katie and Davie had spent some time decorating the front of a journal with the words "Oliver Wood's Super Secret Play Book".
"Since you're always drawing plays on scraps of paper around the house, this way you will at least have a place for all of them," said Davie, causing Mrs. Wood to smile and nod in agreement.
"Okay, open another one," said Katie. "I think that lumpy one by the purple ornament has your name on it."
"It's chaser gloves! Look!" Davie tried them on, demonstrating a perfect fit. "They're just like the ones the Puddlemere team wears!"
"You played chaser too, didn't you Katie?" asked Mr. Wood.
"Yes, but Davie is even better than I was at his age," said Katie, causing Davie to blush. "He loves the game just about as much as Oliver."
"Open another one, Davie. This one is from me and Aileen," said Mr. Wood.
Davie ripped into a broom care kit, which he loved, hugging both Mr. and Mrs. Wood enthusiastically despite having met them only that morning.
"Bring me that red square box, Davie," said Katie getting up and moving to the floor to clean up some of the paper. "That one is for Oliver from me."
"Thanks, Kates, I already know I'll love it," said Oliver before tearing into the paper. Pulling out the black bludger, she watched his eyes widen. "IT'S A PRACTICE BLUDGER!" he exclaimed. "I saw these advertized in Quidditch Weekly last week, but they were out at the supply store. Dad, it's a bludger that you can practice with when you're alone. It tries to attack you at random while you're practicing, but it's actually soft, so it can't really harm you. Kates, this is fantastic!" He bent down to kiss her while Davie winced.
"Can I open another!?"
"Go on!" said Katie, watching as he opened a few muggle clothing items followed by a new box of crayons and a trick wand from George's store. Oliver's parents gave her a sweater, a Christmas ornament from their trip to Australia, and new stylish leather satchel purse filled with beauty products from George's shop. From Oliver, she received a pair of golden pointy toed shoes, a set of Puddlemere jerseys with his name and a K on the back, one in white and one in blue for home and away games in addition to a bigger sized one that she suspected was for pajamas. She couldn't help but remember wanting one at the quidditch shop, and now she had three.
Davie loved the figurines of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and seemed pretty excited about the book. By the time that they were done with presents though, Katie was pretty hungry.
"So how about breakfast before we open up our stockings?" she suggested.
"But…" Davie's face fell and he looked to Oliver.
"Sounds like a good idea... I'm starving.
Breakfast was delicious and gave Katie a chance to check up on the turkey and the Christmas dinner.
"Relax, darling," said Mrs. Wood, forcing Katie to sit down. "Just enjoy your morning tea and a cinnamon roll."
"Kates doesn't know the meaning of relax," laughed Oliver. "She's always on the go." He pulled her into his lap and captured her with his arms. "Just enjoy some breakfast, love."
Katie sighed, but let herself snuggle into Oliver's arms and enjoy some delicious rolls and some hot tea.
"Can we do stockings now!?" Davie finally begged, tugging on Oliver's sleeve after having scarfed down two big rolls and a big glass of pumpkin juice.
"Alright," laughed Katie. Davie whooped with excitement and led the group back into the common room.
Rushing to the mantle, Davie pulled down the stockings, including the ones for Robert and Aileen and proceeded to deliver them to their owners.
"Davie! You gave mine to Oliver!" laughed Katie from the chair as Robert and Aileen settled on the sofa and Davie joined them.
"That's alright, I'll deliver yours love," said Oliver, crossing the room to hand her the stocking with her name on it. She decided to go ahead and sample a chocolate frog. She felt herself frown as she reached in and her hand encountered a soft velvet rather than the smooth cardboard of the chocolate frog boxes she had stuffed her stocking with the night before. Closing her hands around a small box, she involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath as she looked at the small red velvet box. She looked up at Oliver who was still on the floor in front of her chair from delivering the stocking.
"Kates," he said softly. By his voice, she didn't need to open the box to know what was inside. She knew it wasn't going to be earrings, or a necklace. It was going to be a ring, and not the right handed kind. "I won't put you to sleep with some long speech about loving you more than quidditch, but the jist of it is I've loved you longer than you know, and I want to be a part of you and Davie's life permanently. Will you marry me, Katherine Bell?"
"Yes," she managed to get out around the emotional frog in her throat. "I love you too." She finally managed before he swooped in to capture her lips in a kiss.
"Aren't you even going to look at the ring?!" exclaimed Davie. "It only took us AGES to pick it out!" Laughing, they pulled apart and Oliver opened the box with slightly shaking hands to slip the shiny engagement ring onto her finger.
"It's…. so beautiful!" she gasped, admiring the simple yet elegant cut of the very large diamond set on a simple band.
"There were a lot more… well there were lots of rings to choose from and if you don't like this one… I just…"
"It's perfect!" she said cutting him off with a kiss. "I would have loved anything that came from you, but this one really is perfect! Especially because as a healer, something with lots of little details would need to be cleaned almost daily. It's simple, but it's so beautiful, and it's perfect for me."
"Can I get a good look?" asked Aileen, wiping her eyes and reminding the couple of her and Robert's presence.
"Of course!" exclaimed Katie, rising and heading to her future in-laws who embraced the happy couple and expressed their enthusiasm over the engagement, which they had also known about from Oliver.
"Did everyone know except me?!" demanded Katie after things had finally settled down.
"Pretty much," answered Davie. "Mr. Weasley wanted a fancier ring, but I thought you would like this one."
"George Weasley knew!?"
"Percy actually, I'm going to need someone for my best man."
"Oh gosh! I need to owl Alicia, Ang, and Leanne!"
The rest of Christmas day passed with the joy of being together and the excitement of the couple's engagement. Dinner was of course delicious, and while Oliver, Roger, and Davie set up an indoor quidditch match in the oversized living room, Katie and Aileen sipped tea laced with Irish Cream and talked weddings.
"Of course you'll have to come help me find a dress!" said Katie. "I'll let you know when I set a date to go shopping, but if you can't make it, let me know right away. It's just as important to me that you're there as my bridesmaids."
"I'm so honored you want me to come along," exclaimed Aileen. "So what colors are you thinking?"
"So did you have a nice Christmas?" Oliver asked as they turned down the sheets and got ready for bed that night.
"Oh, you know, it was alright," replied Katie with a shrug. "Some bloke asked me to marry him, figured I might as well say yes."
"Why you ungrateful little witch," laughed Oliver pulling her into his arms and pinning her to the bed. Giggling, Katie tried to get away as he tickled her.
"It was the best Christmas ever," she finally managed as they caught their breath. "I… I wasn't expecting a proposal, but… it feels right. Everything about being with you feels like it was meant to be. I love you Oliver Wood, and I can't wait to be your wife," she sealed her statement with a kiss.
"Good, because I was thinking we could get married either right before or right after the league finals," pronounced Oliver with a grin.
"But that's May! It doesn't give us much time!" she exclaimed, drawing back.
"I figured we could actually take a honeymoon during the off season, plus I'll want to spend all my extra time with my bride," he suggested. "Plus, I'm hoping that if we can stay top three in the league, Puddlemere will have a nice rest up period of the off week and the two by weeks before we have to start May Madness. April would be a really nice time to get married."
"But what if you don't have those two by weeks, and you have to play in the first round? We won't even know what week you'll play until they do the draw!"
"So we get married April 21st, it's the only Saturday I'm guaranteed not to have a game. Plus, then I can show you off two days later at the Monday night May Madness Match Up Gala."
"I guess that works, although don't think I don't realize your underlying reasons for this expediated wedding," she conceded.
"That I want my good luck charm to be sporting my last name?" he joked.
"If we wait until after the end of season party the first week of June, we might run into the problem of you being asked to the English National Team for the World Cup this Summer. Rumor has it that a certain ruggedly handsome Scotsman is the front runner being considered for Keeper. You know, if you pay attention to that sort of thing," she added with a wink.
"Well now that you bring that up, I do want to keep my options open… you know, in case they ask me. I wouldn't want to have to turn down the English National Team."
"Of course not," laughed Katie, pulling her fiancé in for a kiss.
"April 21st!" shrieked Leanne. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"When you look at the professional quidditch schedule, it really does make sense," said Katie calmly. Mrs. Patterson had just left an hour ago, and Katie had asked Leanne to floo over to tell her the big news.
"I'm not saying you don't know Oliver, I mean you've been friends for years and known him longer than you've known me. But, you've only really been dating the guy a month!" said the ever practical Ravenclaw. "I mean, he's nice to look at, but do you really want to spend the rest of your life talking about quidditch?"
"Leanne, stop trying to play Dark Lord's Advocate! Oliver's been living with Davie and I since August, and I've loved him almost my entire life. Quidditch obsession aside, I know that he truly loves me. Besides, I've been known to enjoy a good quaffle toss on occasion. When you think about it, professional quidditch complements my career as a healer almost too perfectly. When Davie's at school, it's usually the off season or break, but during the holidays, Oliver will be around for Davie and any other future children. I know you've always thought he was sort of a big dumb jock, but he's actually quite clever. He's best friends with Percy Weasley for goodness sake."
"Percy the Ponce?" asked Leanne skeptically.
"The one and only BigHead Boy," laughed Katie before looking around to make sure that Davie and Oliver were still in the other room playing with Marvin the Mad Muggle and Hermione the Magnificent Muggleborn, who had somehow become Marvin's second cousin. "Percy's actually rather nice. We've had him and his girlfriend Audrey over for dinner before we started dating, and one night, Davie stayed with Mrs. Patterson and we all went out dancing a few weeks back. He's actually a rather wonderful friend to Oliver. I think they do things together more than I realize, especially since I've heard Percy has loosened up a bit at the ministry."
"Well, you've at least convinced me you know what you're getting into by marrying Oliver. He's quidditch crazed, hangs out with Weasleys, and he's obviously very good to you and Davie. He's a family man, and after losing most of yours, he's exactly what you need to help rebuild," said Leanne. "So when are we going dress shopping? And please don't tell me you're going to put me in something hideous!"
"I was thinking gold might be nice, maybe with some light blue accents. Or perhaps red. I really can't decide. Blue to match his eyes, or maybe red for our house colors. Is that too cliché? I mean, with the international confederation moving this year's world cup back to this summer, there's a chance he could make the national team. Those colors are of course red and white."
"Well, of course my preferences are going to be blue," laughed Leanne. "But by all means, make me look like a bloody gryffindor…"
Thanks for reading- please please please review!
Ellie