Title: When We Were Little
Author name: Allie-Marina
Category: Romance
Sub Category: Humor/Angst
Keywords:  Katie Oliver friendship
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, QTTA
Summary: Oliver can't stand to be around Kate and believes a lie. Katie's complains about Wood again, and contemplates why her boyfriend won't kiss her. Katie visits Oliver late at night.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author notes: Hi! Thanks to each and everyone of my reviewers. Really, thanks. And thanks to Laura for the BETA. Rhys is pronounced 'rice.' And he was inspired by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The hot guy from Bend It Like Beckham. You all rule, and thanks for sticking with me.

The end to that class could not have been more welcome. The dead air between the two was deafening and uncomfortable. He could have picked another fight just so he wouldn't feel so awkward. He could have done something to break the everlasting quietness.

It was too silent, and he was hating every second of it. Sitting next to Katie, not talking, not even arguing. He had been glancing her over the whole class. She was biting her lip again as she wrote, and her hair fell into her face. He wanted to tell her to push it back, but that would be an odd discussion. What would he say? 'Pull your hair back so I can see your face?'

He was seconds away from reaching over to her face and delicately sweeping her hair off her shoulders himself, when he stopped. 'I have to get away,' Oliver told himself. 'Away...away from her.' He couldn't have been anymore thankful when Professor Terentius deemed the class dismissed. He bolted out of the room like a rocket.

***

She knew that this class was going to hell. As soon as the Professor Terentius uttered those terrible words, she hung her head. He was going to yell at her again; he always did, but she always fought back.

He hated her, she knew very well. She just wanted to avoid confrontation with Wood today. She really wasn't in the mood to yell; she wasn't even in the mood to look his way. He'd be terrible to her.

And terrible to her, he was.

He had just started hating her randomly, and she didn't know why. She would have loved to hate him right back, but try as she might, she couldn't. She just highly, highly disliked him.

And as for Quidditch, that's a whole other story.

She walked the rest of the way back to Gryffindor tower with Fred. "How do you think you did on the assignment?" he asked. "I think I did alright, it's just that there are these three symbols I keep forgetting, and I mix them up."

"I know exactly what your talking about," Katie answered, climbing stairs with Fred, "but that class was absolutely horrible. I had to be partnered with Wood. Wood! Everyone knows he hates me!"

"Well, how do you think you did?"

"I think we did well, only because I ended up doing all the work."

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you. You're still on the Quidditch team, aren't you? I mean he hasn't had you removed... has he?" Fred asked.

"Rhys would kill him if he kicked me off the team. Not that that situation hasn't crossed his mind, I'm sure."

"I think I know why he isn't fond of you," Fred mused. "He's secretly in love with his best friend and he's jealous that you got to him before he did."

Katie laughed out loud. "Nice one! But, it doesn't matter why he hates me. Can't he just leave me alone?"

"Not until you break up with Rhys so Oliver can have him," Fred joked.

Katie laughed again. "Rhys is one-hundred percent man and one hundred percent mine."

They entered the common room, where Rhys was playing chess with Wood. Rhys excused himself from the chess game and as he stood up, Katie could see the look of disgust on Wood's face.

"Hi, how were your classes?" Rhys asked as he hugged Katie.

"I wouldn't know, ask your friend. He was my partner in class," Katie said. Rhys was well aware that his girlfriend and his best friend didn't find each other's company comfortable.

"I see," Rhys answered and looked back at Oliver who was slumped in his chair in front of the chess board, awaiting Rhys's return. "Don't worry about him."

"I never do," Katie replied, beaming up at her boyfriend.

Rhys smiled back at her. She could stare into his electric blue eyes all day, everyday. He didn't play Quidditch, but that didn't matter. Not all Quidditch players were 'worthy', obviously. On the upside, Rhys was a superb fencer.

Rhys's most apparent downside was his connection to Wood. Year mates, room mates, and best friends. She hated having to share with Wood, but she would never want Rhys to stop being friends with Wood, even if she has stopped being friends with him. It wouldn't be fair to Rhys.

***

She had been playing for Gryffindor for four years and she still managed to be late to every practice. Figures.

She had burst in while everyone was putting arm, wrist and shin gaurds on themselves. Wood looked up from his occupation, but only briefly to see that Katie was a tinge red in the face.

"Sorry I'm late," she said to no one in particular.

Wood nodded, but didn't say anything, and he turned back to strapping his arm guards on. He'd been used to her truancy for a while now. But, today she was even later than usual.

"So, Katie, where were you?" George grinned.

"She was with Rhys," Fred answered his twin.

"Snogging?" George asked.

"But of course," Angelina snickered. Wood felt his temper rising again.

"Will you three be quiet about my dating life?" Katie insisted, opening her locker.

"More like sex life..." Alicia muttered.

Katie spun around abruptly. "Alicia!" she hissed. Now Wood was mad. Alicia's commentary was completely too much for him to handle. He had to leave.

"Let's go," he muttered to Harry.

They had both got up to leave when Katie shouted. "Wait, I'm not ready yet!"

'Like hell you aren't,' Wood thought. "Fine. All of you guys, help her out or something," he told the rest of the team as he turned and left the changing room. He walked down the dirt path to the Quidditch pitch, with Harry by his side.

Wood guessed that if he wasn't rambling on to Harry about Quidditch, Harry might suspect something of Wood and try to find it out. That was something about Harry. He was a detective, he knew when things were wrong. So, he forced himself to go on and on about Aiden Lynch, the Irish National Seeker, even though he had started feeling sick.

He could barely even glance in Katie's way for about a week, and all the conversations that he'd had with Rhys, weren't as comfortable; Rhys couldn't really understand why.

It wasn't that Rhys had changed, it was just that somehow Wood felt that Rhys had bettered him. Maybe he did.

Oliver was seriously considering performing a memory charm on himself so that he would forget the horrible banter that had taken place in the changing room that week ago. He couldn't stand that he cared so much.

Since then, Wood made sure he was ready and dressed before the team got there. As soon as the first person showed up, he would get his broom and leave, afraid of hearing anything else of that nature.

And, he dreaded Ancient Runes.

***

Of course, Alicia had only been kidding about Katie and Rhys. It was well known to Angelina and Alicia that Rhys was still yet to really kiss Katie, let alone snog her or do anything else with her. Fred and George somehow found out as well, and liked to tease Katie about it.

Rhys had given short kisses on the lips all the time, but he'd always pulled away too fast to make it anything else. She had been with him for nearly a year, and it was a strange relationship, indeed.

He was only her second boyfriend, so she wasn't very experienced. The first boy she "dated" was an American Ravenclaw, halfway through her third year. They had been together for maybe a month and a half and he'd kissed her. But then, he transferred back to the States soon after.

**********

Katie had left her hat on Oliver's lawn outside of his house. But she didn't notice, and she left through the front door when Gram Bell walked to the Wood's house to get Katie after she had dinner with the Wood's.

She had been jumping from bed to bed in Oliver's room. He was lucky, he got to have two beds in his room. "I'm flying!" she declared.

Oliver knew it wasn't a good idea to jump on the beds, but it only took him seconds for his fears to push aside. Soon enough he was jumping through the air with her, shouting with laughter.

"Stop jumping on the beds!" They could hear Mrs. Wood's voice amplified with a Sonorous Charm.

They immediately stopped jumping, and Katie landed on the floor like a cat. She ran to the window, and looked out it.

"What are you looking at?" Oliver asked, trying to catch his breath from jumping, he stood behind her trying to see what was so interesting.

She turned around, wide-eyed. "You've got a roof right below your window," she told him.

"I know," he said. "What about it?"

"I bet I could climb it."

"Could not," Oliver objected.

"Could too!"

"Katie! Time to go," called Mrs. Wood.

Katie turned back to Oliver. "Bye!" she said, and hurried out of his room.

He followed her, though. He slowly walked down his stairs and sat in the middle of them, watching through the spindles from the banister, as Katie put her sneakers on.

Mrs. Bell, Katie's Gram, was talking with Oliver's mother. He picked up the words granddaughter, Manchester, summer, and Hogwarts.

"Okay, Gram. Ready to go!" Katie called when her sneakers were properly tied.

Gram Bell took Katie's hand and they walked through the door. "Wait!" he heard Katie say outside, as he was sitting on his steps.

Katie hurried back into the house. She stopped in the doorway and beamed up at Oliver, sitting on the steps. "Thanks for inviting me for dinner!"

He just smiled and waved. She grinned back and turned away.

After the door closed, Oliver went to a window so he could watch Katie and Gram Bell walk away holding hands. Katie was skipping.

Oliver felt a hand run through his hair. He looked up to see his mother grinning down at him. "She's a nice girl, hmmm?" Mrs. Wood asked. "Such nice manners."

Oliver didn't answer, he just turned and stared out the window.

When Oliver went back up to his room, he changed into his jimjams and stood at his window, contemplating if it really was possible for someone to climb up to his window. It was a long way down to fall.

***
The next day, Oliver sat up on his lookout tower, just in case any visitors might come stumbling through the woods. No one came. He was bored.

He noticed the baseball cap that Katie had worn in the few seconds that he thought she was a boy. He picked it up. "Montrose Magpies," it said.

It was getting late, and it looked like no one was coming, so he went inside, holding the hat. He closed out the sound of crickets' chirping when the door closed behind him.

After he closed the light in his room, crawling into one of his beds, he heard a thump. He didn't hear it again, so he ignored it. Then something knocked the curtains that had been wafting lighty in the breeze from outside. Whatever it was landed in a heap on the floor, next to the window.

Oliver sat up, and looked at the heap on the floor. "Katie?" he asked cautiously.

It stood up. "I told you I could climb it," came Katie's voice.

He laughed softly under his breath, so not to wake the household. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting you."

"Won't they be looking for you?"

"Nah, everyone's asleep."

"But it's dark out."

"It's not cloudy," Katie said.

"So?"

"There's moonlight, I can see," she pointed out. "I have a hat just like that."

She had been pointing at the Montrose Magpies hat, and Oliver picked it up and handed it to her. "Oh, you left it here yesterday."

"You can have it," she replied. "I have more at home."

"Cool!" Oliver said and put the hat on his head.

"You're wearing your jammies," Katie observed.

"Uh huh," Oliver stated. "I was going to go to sleep now."

Katie's face fell. "Oh. Okay. I'll go home now."

"Don't be silly," Oliver said. "You can sleep there, as long as you leave really early in the morning." He nodded to the spare bed.

Katie already started yawning and her eyelids were barely staying open. She nodded obediently.

"Now, go to sleep. You have to to wake up early."

She nodded again, and crawled on top of Oliver's spare bed. The night was too warm to put any covers on.

"Goodnight," Oliver told her, turning on his side. But, the little girl was already sleeping. When he woke up the next morning, the spare bed was empty.