Quidditch League - Finals Round 1, Holyhead Harpies

Beta'd by my wonderful crew - Lizziebee and SafariParty

WC: 3,318

Chaser 1

Quote: "I can't wait until we're seventeen and free as a pixie!"

2. (colour) salmon

12. (word) pernicious

14. (style) first person present tense

Pirate Ship Competition: Captain, KBOW (write over 2,000 words)

Disney Character Challenge: Eugene Fitzherbert (write about true love)

Fairy Tale Competition: Princess and the Pea

Fanon vs. Canon: Katie Bell/Oliver Wood

Pairing War! Competition: Katie Bell/Oliver Wood

Seven Deadly Sins Competition: Pride

4 Weeks

"We are having a Yule Ball!" McGonagall suddenly announces, and my head snaps up in shock.

A ball? We've never had one of those before. This is going to be so interesting.

I wince as something smacks the back of my head. I know who it is before I even turn around.

"Katie!" Angelina whispers, and then Alicia prods me in the back. We're all sitting on the risers they've put in the Great Hall; we're to receive dancing lessons, apparently. McGonagall begins a rant about bumbling buffoons, so I turn to look back at my friends.

"What?" I whisper, and they grin.

"Lee Jordan is looking at you," Alicia says with a wink. I turn back around. Lee? I've always thought he was more into Alicia, but...

Sure enough, he is looking at me. And so are Fred and George.

Oh, no.

I turn back around and nudge Angelina. "Ange, I-" I start to say, but a loud cough catches my attention. McGonagall is glaring at the three of us, so I quickly clam up and start paying attention.

It's still ridiculously boring. I've never been a fan of balls and dancing - I've never had anyone to go with before. But if Lee has his eye on me . . . Katie, surely you can do better than Lee Jordan.

I start scanning through the guys on the other side of the Great Hall - McGonagall has us separated by gender, and I see a few of the boys checking out my side while I examine theirs.

Neville Longbottom... no, no one younger than me. That'd be too awkward.

Harry Potter... but he'll for sure be going for Cho Chang. We all see the way he looks at her. Besides, again with the younger thing.

Lee, Fred, and George are all still staring at me.

They're possibilities, I suppose. I know them well - suffering through early morning Quidditch practices has a way of bring people closer - but they're too immature for my taste.

Not for the first time, I find myself wishing I had my old Captain back.

But he left last May, and he has made it clear he will not be coming back.

As McGonagall makes us get up to practice, I realize that among those hundred boys, there isn't really one I can imagine myself enjoying a romantic evening at a ball with.

I am a positively pathetic girl.

3 weeks

"OI! Bell!"

I turn in the hallway to find Roger Davies rushing after me. Curious, I stop. He's never given me the time of day before this year, but recently I've caught him watching me. He's never outright talked to me about anything but Quidditch, and even then it's only in passing. "What's up, Davies?"

"Bell! Hey, I was thinking maybe-"

"Katie-darling!"

"What a wonderful surprise!" Fred and George appear on either side of Davies, swooping in and grabbing me by the arms.

"We've been looking all over for our favorite chaser!" Fred says with a wink. Davies stands there uncomfortably.

So do I, actually.

"Well, Katie-kins, we really must be off to Quidditch practice."

"There is no Quidditch now!" I protest, but they're already dragging me away from the rather shocked Ravenclaw Captain.

As soon as we turn the corner, I force them to stop.

"What in the bloody hell was that?!" I cross my arms and glare at the two boys.

"We were rescuing you," George says it as if it should have been obvious.

"From what?! You basically just cock-blocked Davies!"

Fred rolls his eyes. "That was the point."

I turn on him. "And why was that? I happen to like Davies," I spit, and Fred snorts with laughter.

"Name one time when you've spoken more than two words to him," says George.

"Just now." I hold up three fingers. "What's. Up. Davies."

"If you like him so bloody much, why can't you refer to him as 'Roger'? You've only ever called him Davies."

"It's a Quidditch thing!" I protest.

"We've never seen you take a second look at the guy. 'Sides, you called Wood by his first name."

"Oliver's different," I begin, trying to ignore the pang in my chest at the mention of his name.

"Look, Katie, don't worry. We don't want you to make a mistake, ok? Davies isn't the one you want to go to the ball with," George says kindly, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I promptly shrug it off. "Oh, really? And how would you know that? Unless either of you are planning on asking me?" I phrase it as if I'd never consider saying yes.

They simply laugh in my face. "Us?" says Fred. "Oh, Merlin no. We don't want to take you to the ball. We're going to take Angie and Alicia."

It's not what I expected to hear. I stare at them, in complete shock, as they turn and walk away, still laughing.

Funny how much it hurts to be rejected, even by people I would have rejected myself.

2 weeks

After the incident with the twins last week, I decide to go on the offensive. I walk straight up to Lee Jordan at breakfast and sit down.

"Hey, Lee," I say sweetly, smiling and turning on the charm. I toss my hair a bit and lean forward, smiling as he shifts uncomfortably.

"You need the Transfiguration notes?" he asks, leaning away from me to fumble through his bag. "Because I've got them, if that's why you're here."

"No, I'm here about something else." I run my hand through my hair, and he sits up and looks at me. "So...the Yule Ball is in a few weeks. I don't have a date yet, and you don't have a date yet, so...what do you say we go together?" I bat my eyes, and I'm sure I've won when Lee swallows hard.

But then he glances over my shoulder, and I see his resolve harden before he turns to me. "Sorry, Katie. I can't take you to the ball. I'm sure someone else will, though," he adds quickly as I lean back in disappointment. I can't help but notice he won't meet my eyes- he's looking over my shoulder, and when I turn around, I see the backs of two identical ginger heads.

"I've got those notes, though, if you want them," Lee says.

I shake my head. "Your notes don't have the answers I'm looking for."

1 week, 4 days

The situation is always the same:

Me: Hey [insert name here]! Wanna go to the ball together?

Boy: Oh, well, uh... *glances over my shoulder* Well, you know what, Katie, there's certainly someone better for you than me. I wish you all the luck on finding him, though."

Me: *stares in utter silence as boy walks away*

It goes like that the for three days. I ask Marcus Belby, a Ravenclaw in my year who is cute but boring. I try Terry Boot, who's actually a pretty cool guy, even though he's shy and keeps to himself so much that practically no one knows who he is. I even approach Merton Graves, but he says something about 'inter-school relations' and a cute Beauxbatons girl, and I give up on him pretty quickly.

I break my own rule about younger boys and try Neville (he's going with Ginny), Dean Thomas (paired off with Lavender Brown), and Seamus Finnigan (going stag, although he started to accept until he saw the twins hovering behind me). It's as if every single boy in the castle wants nothing to do with me.

My last resort is Cormac McLaggen - proof that I have never been more desperate. I have hated this boy ever since he spent an hour listing the reasons why he's a better Keeper than Oliver - as if that's even possible. It isn't even about getting a date to the ball anymore; this is about foiling Fred and George Weasley and whatever pernicious plan they have to keep me single.

During dinner, I make a beeline for where Cormac is sitting with his douchebaggy friends.

"Hey, McLaggen." I slide into the empty space beside him, straddling the bench and causing my skirt to ride up a few inches further than I'm comfortable with. I'm not wearing stockings, even though it's deathly cold outside; anything I can do to look appealing, and with McLaggen, that means showing off the toned legs I've gotten from Quidditch.

Oliver would be sickened by my behavior.

Don't think about him, Katie. He isn't here, and he doesn't want to be here. Think about Cormac.

He looks down pretty quickly, and he licks his lips, too.

Ugh. What a creep.

"So, I hear you haven't asked a girl to the ball yet. Waiting for the right one?" I lean forward, and the open collar on my blouse shifts, giving him a prime view down my shirt.

He flashes a wolfish grin as his eyes become glued to my chest. "Nah, just waiting for one who will beg."

I almost smack him for that, but I know I can't. Fred and George are a few seats down, and I know they're watching. I need to show them that their plan won't work.

So instead, I shift closer. I'm practically on Cormac's lap by now, placing my hands on his shoulders and leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Is this enough begging for you?" I whisper, as sensually as possible, trying as hard as I can not to cringe at how disgusted I am with myself. My Gryffindor pride makes me do terrible things sometimes.

He takes it all in stride, though, and slides one hand up my thigh.

"As sexy as this is, Bell... you wouldn't put out in the end, would you?" He looks me right in the eyes as he says it, still running his hand across my leg. He grins at the shock in my eyes. "You wouldn't. I'd have to spend all night pressuring you into shagging me, and in the end, all I'd get is twin devils on my arse about screwing up whatever plan it is they have. You just aren't hot enough for that risk. Sorry, no can do, Bell." He squeezes my thigh before pushing me off his lap and returns to his meal as if I'm invisible.

It takes me a moment to register what just happened. When I finally do, I don't even say anything; I just get up and walk out calmly.

But once I'm outside the Great Hall, it doesn't take long before I'm running for the bathroom with hot tears streaming down my face and a shattered pile of pure pain in my chest.

Cormac McLaggen has finally shown me what everyone else has been telling me these past three weeks: I, Katie Bell, am just not wanted. By anyone.

1 week

"You idiots!"

I don't think Angelina realizes I'm still in the Common Room. Practically everyone has gone to bed, and I'm curled up in an armchair by the fire, hidden from view by its tall back.

Angelina and Alicia have cornered the twins by the chessboards, and even from here, in my depressed state, I can feel the anger emanating off my fellow Chasers in waves.

Fred and George apparently feel it, too, and they proceed carefully.

"Well, we don't know exactly what we've done..." one starts.

"...but we're sorry for it?" finishes the other hopefully.

The girls aren't buying it.

"You've spent the past three weeks making Katie feel unwanted and unloved, and all you can say is sorry?!"

"Oh, that." I can't see him, but I can imagine the smirk on Fred's face. "Don't worry, Ange, we have a plan."

"A plan?! Was Katie asking McLaggen part of your plan? Was her spending two days crying in the Tower a part of your plan?! She doesn't even want to go to the ball anymore!" Angelina is practically shrieking now. If she's any louder, she'll wake up the rest of the Tower.

Fred and George sound nervous as they hurry to reassure her. "Whoa, Angie, don't worry. You lot just make sure you wear something that won't clash with our red hair, and we'll take care of Katie."

There's silence for a moment, and the situation grows tenser.

Finally, a hissed whisper. "You think we'd still go to the ball with the two of you? You're pathetic. Cowardly. Evil. You don't deserve to be called a Gryffindor," Angie says, and somehow her calm voice is colder and more frightening than her shouting.

The twin boys are in as much shock as I am as Angie and Alicia stalk up the girls' staircase.

It takes me another hour to drag myself from the chair and go join my dorm mates, but when I finally do, my heart feels just a tiny bit fuller.

The day of

"Are you absolutely sure? We don't want to make you go if you don't want to, Katie."

I smile bravely at my friends. No, I don't want to go. Especially not now that I've heard Cormac is taking one of those Beauxbatons girls. But Angelina and Alicia didn't want to leave me alone tonight, and I don't want to let them miss the ball on my account. "I'm going. We're all going. We're going to have a great time."

Alicia sighs. "If you're sure. Honestly, you shouldn't feel bad about any of this. Boys aren't worth it."

"Going stag is in," Angelina adds.

Alicia nods emphatically. "Who would even want to go with any of the guys at Hogwarts? The only good looking one I've ever seen here is Oliver, and he graduated last year. The rest are all just children. Immature children." She sighs theatrically. "I can't wait until we're seventeen, Katie, and free as a pixie. Then the three of us will go to pubs and Quidditch games and pick up worthy lads. They'll see how beautiful you are, love." She kisses my cheek and hugs me from behind. I do my best to smile, but inside, I'm frozen, just like I am each and every time someone mentions my old captain's name. I still haven't told them what happened last spring. I still haven't told anyone.

Oliver and I had first become close during Quidditch. The two of us had gone out to practice whenever I had a free moment, and he had helped me keep my mind off my parents' imminent divorce. When he had tried drowning himself in the showers after losing a Quidditch match, I'd been there to drag him out. Maybe that's when things had changed between us, during that heartbreaking moment after the loss to Hufflepuff. Whatever the reason, my infatuation with him had skyrocketed, and we had become closer than ever.

Our relationship changed one night, at the top of the Astronomy Tower. He'd finished NEWTs, and he'd said we could celebrate together that night, just the two of us. I'm still not sure how it happened, but it led to us lying on a picnic blanket, counting stars, and sharing secrets.

He finally convinced me to share the one secret I hadn't planned on sharing with him. And when he kissed me, he tasted like starshine and regret.

I still remember every word he said. I just wanted to do that once. Just once, before I have to go.

But why, Oliver? Why do you have to go?

I'm going to travel the world playing professional Quidditch, Katie. You know it won't work out.

But… I'll wait for you.

Don't, he tells me - I can still hear it in my mind, repeating over and over like a broken record. Don't bother waiting. Because I won't be coming back.

"Katie?"

I snap out of my thoughts and smile at Angelina and Alicia. Oliver isn't here for me anymore, but they are. For now.

"I'm not going stag," I say finally. "I've got the two of you."

So I climb into my salmon-colored dress and allow them to dress me up. By the time I'm pronounced ready to go, I look like an entirely different girl - they've done my makeup flawlessly and swirled my hair into some sort of French twist, pinning it to my head with sparkling hair pins.

They say I'm beautiful.

I wish I felt that way.

At the Ball

Fred and George are standing awkwardly at the bottom of the Grand Staircase when we reach the top. They flush when they see Angelina and Alicia.

It's not because they look beautiful - Angie and Alicia always look beautiful - but instead it's because of their dresses, which have been charmed two lovely shades of pink to match their blonde and brown hair perfectly. Even from here, though, I can see how much they clash with the red hair of the Weasley twins.

Even though the boys understand nothing about color, they get the hint.

Maybe they are worthy of being called Gryffindors, though, because they approach us with dignity as soon as we step off the last stair of the staircase.

"Katie, Angelina, Alicia. You-you all look very beautiful," Fred says gallantly, but Angelina shuts him up with a glare.

"Katie, we wanted to apologize-" George begins, but he's lost my attention. I've noticed something - no, someone, a someone I'd thought I'd never see again. A boy who told me he'd write me. A boy whose letters, if he'd even written any, I've never received. A boy who, until this second, I'd thought to have forgotten me.

Standing behind the Weasley twins is a face I've spent the past eight months convincing myself to forget. It's the face of my dreams, the reason no other boy interested me, because my heart is still caught up on that one.

"Oliver? What are you doing here?" I squeak, then cough, blushing. He blushes, too, shoving his hands in his robe pockets.

"Fred and George told me you were in need of a date to the ball and... thought I could help out there," he said, running a hand through his hair nervously.

All three of us girls turn to the twins incredulously. They have the decency not to look too smug.

As Angelina and Alicia throw themselves on the twin boys, Oliver pulls me aside.

"Look, Katie, I can see you didn't know anything about this. If you want me to go..."

"No, Ollie, don't. I... I would love for you to escort me to the ball," I say, shyly, and he grins.

I haven't seen that grin in so long. I've missed it. I've missed him.

He seems to read my thoughts. "I've missed you so, so much, Katie. And, the longer I've been away from you, the more I've realized that I need to see you. I should've written, I know, but I thought that if I avoided you it would help me forget… how I feel. And I know there's a chance I'm too late, but... next time you've got a Hogsmeade day, will you meet me? Can I..." he stops, swallowing hard, and I realize my heart is pounding. "Can I take you out?"

"Like... on a date?"

He blushes and nods. And then my heart is full and bursting, and I'm hugging him tightly, like I never want to let go.

"Yes, absolutely. I've missed you, too." He's grinning, and I'm grinning, and his arms are around my waist and mine are around his neck and our foreheads are touching, our eyes staring deep into each others' souls.

He leans into me, his lips mere centimeters from mine. "You really look beautiful tonight," he whispers.

And, as he leans in to kiss me, I realize that for the first time in forever, I feel beautiful.