I hope you're enjoying the story so far, but its only just beginning! This is one of my favorite chapters, so enjoy and critic!

"I can't believe Halloween falls on a Saturday this year! So lucky!" Alicia gushed as we got ready for Hogsmead.

"I'm excited too! I was worried Oliver was going to schedule practice, but I'm glad he didn't. Are you going with George?" I asked as I started to pull my hair back.

"NO! You're not wearing your hair up today! I forbid it," She said and took my hair tie away, "And George never officially asked, but we're all going together…"

"It's not like you want to go with them to Zonko's for hours, so maybe it's better this way," I agreed as we head out the door of room. Angelina was waiting in the common room for us, but it appeared the boys had already left for breakfast.

"Yeah, they were too hungry to wait, or something immature like that," Angelina said with a small smile.

"Well then good thing we know the way to the Great Hall," Alicia joked.

"Come on guys, we need to get down there, so we can leave for Hogsmead before 11," I said as we started to leave the common room. We made it to the Great Hall fairly quickly, walked across the room, and towards our usual spot at the Gryffindor table.

"You could NOT eat that many in a minute, you're on!" Exclaimed Fred as George piled blueberry muffins on his plate. I assume they had just began an eating contest, but they usually eat like pigs anyways…

I took a piece of bacon off a platter and began to nibble on it, when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around, and was very surprised to see Cedric Diggory. What was the Hufflepuff captain doing at the Gryffindor table so soon after their victory?

"Morning Katie," he started with a charming smile. "I was wondering if you would like to join me in Hogsmead today, that is if you haven't already been asked by someone else," he finished as he glanced across the table at the boys.

I too looked across the table in shock where Cedric was looking. Who would ask me to Hogsmead at this table? Wait, Cedric asked me? I look back up at him with a shy smile, "No one else has asked me."

"Excellent! How about we meet at the front doors in ten minutes, so you have time to eat breakfast-" He began to say, but was interrupted by Oliver who I had thought was talking some of the boys in his year sitting on the other side of him.

"Too bad we have qudditich practice today," he said with a smug smile.

"We don't have practice today Oliver," Fred informed him.

"Of course we do!" He says in outrage.

"You never scheduled it," Alicia reasoned.

Oliver muttered, "I guess I didn't.."

After hearing the final words from my captain I turned back around, "I'd love to join you in Hogsmead. See you in 10."

He smiled, and walked back to his table.

I put some pancakes on my plate, and began to eat.

"Lookie here! Katie Bell has a hot date to Hogsmead!" Laughed Alicia.

"Oh shut it," I said with a blush.

"She's just jealous, because she doesn't have a date. Plus Cedric is debatably one of the best looking boys in the school," Angelina said with a proud smile.

"I could ask him to bring one of his friends for you," I said with a glance at George, who narrowed his eyes.

"Really, I-" Alicia began.

"You can come with us Alicia," George volunteered.

"I'm not sure…" she said with a smile.

"PLEASEEEEE!" George said giving her puppy eyes. He should have just asked her, and he wouldn't have to worry. As I finished eating I felt a pang of sadness. I wish Oliver wanted to go with me, but I stopped myself right away. That was a lost cause, and I knew that.

"Well I'm going to meet Cedric. See you all later," I said with a wave.

I made my way out to the hall to meet him by the door where he was talking to another Hufflepuff qudditich player..

I smiled my greeting, and we were on our way. We had a steady flow of conversation, and it wasn't awkward the entire way there… he really was good looking!

"So where would you like to go first?" He asked with a smile.

"Hmm… well we could go to Zonko's and see the new stuff before it gets crowded," I propose.

"Sounds good to me," He agreed.

The rest of the day was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. I found myself laughing almost as much as I do when I'm around the twins. It wasn't awkward at all like I feared it would be.

We were down by the shrieking shack, when we met up with the gang.

"Hey guys!" I waved to them.

"Oh hey," Alicia said, "We haven't seen you all afternoon!"

I laughed, "Yeah, we were just about to go to The Three Broomsticks. Want to join us?" I asked.

"We were just about to head there also. Are you sure?"Ang asked looking at Cedric.

"Of course. We would love for you all to join us," he answered sincerely. He did look a little nervous to be going with the Gryffindor qudditich team, but at least Oliver wasn't here. He was probably with some people from his year.

After a round of drinks with my friends, Cedric turned towards me, "Hey, so I have to start back, because I have qudditich practice soon. I'll see you around."

"Okay, Bye Cedric. I had fun today." I said with a smile. He lasted a lot longer than I thought he would with the twins around!

Sometime later, my friends and decided to head back, so that we would be on time for the Halloween feast. The twins had way too much candy already. They were bouncing around with a ton of excess energy, keeping us laughing the whole way back.

On our way we passed Oliver and a group from his year. I recognized his friend Ryan from Gryffindor, but the others were in Ravenclaw I think. I waved and smiled, but he simply nodded at me without a smile. What was that about? Oh well, I thought as we walked in to the best feast of the year.

After eating as much Halloween candy as we possibly could and stuffing the rest into our pockets we made our way up to the common room. I was telling Alicia and Angelina all about my date with Cedric with the boys not around, when we ran into a group of people outside of the Gryffindor common room.

"What's going on?" I asked a group of 4th years as I tried to see over the heads of the people in front of me. It was no use. I couldn't see a thing but I could hear whispering about the Fat Lady.

Suddenly Dumbledore was making his way through the crowd of people. The teachers were searching for the Fat Lady, because she had left her painting after Sirius Black's threats! We made our way back down to safety with the rest of the students, but I couldn't rid the nervous feeling I had in my stomach.

As we neared the entrance it became so crowded with all 4 houses that I lost Angelina and Alicia. I'll just have to find them once I get inside I thought and decided to quickly run to the bathroom. When you got to go, you got to go.

I had hurried, but my little detour made me one of the last students to enter the Great Hall, so I grabbed a fluffy purple sleeping bag and began to search for my friends. As I looked around the room I couldn't help but to notice Marcus Flint walking towards me with a smirk on his face as he pointed to his own sleeping bag. I started to panic and looked frantically around for my friends but the lights were slowly starting to dim and people were getting into their sleeping bags already..

"Kates! Over here!" I heard Oliver yell, and I practically sprinted over to him and the rest of my team. Maybe he wasn't mad at me like I thought.. just over reacted. I smiled as I got to them, because it seems that Oliver wanted his team close so he knew we were all right.

"What took you so long?" Alicia asked with a worried look on her face as I put down my sleeping bag.

"I just made a quick stop at the bathroom, but is Flint still following me?" I asked her in an anxious voice.

"YES!" she squeaked, which cause the boys to follow where she were looking.

"What do I do?" I asked frantically. "He winked at me on my way in, and pointed to his sleeping bag."

The twins looked offended, and Oliver just glared at him as he approached us. I was really starting to get nervous as I took off my shoes to sleep. He was nearly here, and I didn't want him sleeping anywhere near me.

The twins looked at each other and smirked, "Hurry Katie, get in Oliver's bag with him. That's the only way Flint won't try and get in your bag with you or something." I stare at the twins in shock. Flint wouldn't do that, would he?

Alicia, Angelina, Fred and George all pointedly look at Oliver, telling me to just get in. Oliver waves me over, so I scramble over and get myself in as he zips up the other side. Flint pauses 2 feet away.

"Sorry Flint, maybe next time." Oliver says with a smug smirk as he puts his arm around my shoulder and I lay my head on his shoulder. I took a deep breath and couldn't help to notice how good he smelled.

Flint glared at Oliver before he stalked off. I sigh in relief and began to make a move to get into my own sleeping bag. "Thanks Oliver."

"Wait, who's to say he won't come back?" He asked me. "I think you should stay with me. Kevin would never forgive me if Flint slept in the same sleeping bag as you."

I laughed, "I suppose you're right, but I doubt he would like it either way."

He shrugged, "Well someone's got to protect Baby Kate from the murderous Sirius Black."

I roll my eyes as Percy passes and I have to be silent. I felt slightly on edge being this close to Oliver in the dark, "I can take care of myself." I whisper back.

Oliver just shakes his head, but doesn't reply. I can only imagine the looks Alicia and Angelina are giving me right now, and the smirks on the twins faces. They will probably never let this go.. I turned onto my side to get comfortable and put my arm across his hard chest. If I was going to do this I might as well bask in the moment, because I know it will never happen again.

I was almost asleep when I remembered, "Oh yeah, guess what Oliver."

"What?" he asked quietly but not sleepy at all.

"I thought of a place would could practice with Harry and no supervision."

"Really?" he sounded impressed, because no one on the team had thought of any ideas since he asked about it after practice a couple of days ago.

"The room of requirement could probably help us out," I said quietly with a yawn as I snuggled closer to Oliver's side. I would like to say I wouldn't have done that if I were more awake, but let's be honest. I might have.

"wow Kates, that's a really great idea." Oliver whispered back. I could tell he was excited

"mmmmhhhmmmm," was all I said.

After a while, when I was nearly asleep again Oliver asked, "Kates .. why did you go to Hogsmead with the enemy today?"

I sighed, so maybe he was really mad and I hadn't imagined it. "He's not the enemy Oliver."

"Did he ask about anything to do with the team?" Oliver asked. Like I would ever tell Cedric our plays, give me some credit Oliver!

"No, all he said was that I played well, and he hated that Harry had fallen off his broom during their race to the snitch. Nothing else qudditich came up for the rest of the day."

"…. You mean date." He said quietly to himself a while later. I slept surprisingly well, but I do know that when I woke up once during the night I'm pretty sure that he was still awake.

..

The next morning I was rudely awakened by the twins jumping on top of us.

"Get up you two! Before Percy sees you and explodes!" George said as he snuggled while on top of us.

I honestly couldn't breathe, and as soon as Oliver noticed he shoved George off of us and sat up. I sighed and arched my back to stretch while still laying down as I rubbed my eyes, "mmmhhhmmm."

When I opened my eyes I noticed George and Oliver giving me a weird look, "What?"

Oliver looked away, "Nothing." But George on the other hand smirked at me.

"You just looked like a kitty cat! The way you stretched and made that noise that sounded like s-" George started but was silenced as Oliver threw my unused sleeping bag at his face.

"What Oliver! I know you agree! I saw the look on your face when-" George started again, but Oliver cut him off again with a pointed glare.

What were they going on about? Oh well I shrugged and stood up, "Thanks again Oliver. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Really Kates, it wasn't a big deal," Oliver said with a shrug and stood up as well. He did look tired though.. I was just glad it wasn't awkward in the morning.. Maybe it's a good thing George tried to snuggle with us. It let me avoid waking up and being caught by Oliver at how much I liked being next to him.

As we're walking upstairs, I can tell the girls are dying to say something, but don't want to be over heard. At least I have until the dorm room to not talk about it .. I thought with a smile. After meeting Sir Cadogan we got back to the common room and they hurried me up the stairs.

"Well last night was interesting," Alicia started as her and I sat on my bed.

I nodded, "It was really nice of Oliver to let me do that. Leave it to the twins to think of that, but I guess even looking back. What else could I have done?"

"What do you mean 'let you do that'? I'm surprised he didn't suggest it!" Angelina laughed, and Alicia agreed.

I rolled my eyes at them, "Oliver did NOT want that to happen! You two .. always assuming there's a sexual tension underneath everything."

"Not everything, just you and Oliver," Alicia replied quietly.

I laughed and laid back on my bed.

"KATIE BELL! YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT YOU STILL THINK OLIVER DOESN'T LIKE YOU?" Angelina yelled as she plopped down on her own bed.

I sat up in shock, "Angelina, please.."

"NO Katie! This is your year to finally get together with him, and you keep acting like it couldn't happen. It's sooo frustrating, because everyone but you sees it! You should have seen the look on his face when Cedric asked you to Hogsmead, or how he then went with people from his own year and not the team yesterday, or how happy he looked when you needed his help last night. Kathryn Bell. Oliver Wood has feelings for you!"

"No Ang, you're just looking for what you want to see. That's what I used to do, but I know now that I need to put a stop to it. How pathetic is it that I've had a crush on him since I was practically 5? You should be helping me get over him!"

Angelina shook her head, "When will you see Katie?"

I just shrugged my reply as I noticed an owl I recognized at our window..

Dear Kathryn,

I was very upset to hear that the terrible Black man was on the loose broke into Hogwarts! I was very worried for your safety, and will have to have a talk with Professor Dumbledore someday soon about his methods! What are they even doing as security at that school? I trust schooling is going well, and I am very happy with your future career choice decision. Being a professional qudditich player is not the place for a fine woman such as yourself, and I am thankful that you out grew that phase. I hope your studies are going well.

Love,

Grandmum

I sighed, how did my Grandmum already find this out? She's always on top of her gossip, but I can't imagine how … maybe one of our family portraits in in Hogwarts or something. Oh well, I better write her back to tell her I'm okay before she harasses Dumbledore too much. She seems to think everyone wants to hear when she has an issue.

What'd you think? Review!

~Grace