Disclaimer: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight: I wish I owned Harry Potter. K, not gonna happen! HP belongs to J.K. Rowling, the lucky woman.

Summary: In Katie Bell's seventh year at Hogwarts, she learns that there's more to life than Quidditch. Ironically, Mr. Quidditch obsessed himself is the one to help her discover this. Katie/Oliver ...

In chapter one, we get a glimpse of what Katie's home life is like, as well as a sighting of a hot Quidditch star while Katie shops for her school supplies.

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Of Love and Quidditch
May 2003

by: KT
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I

"No, Thomas, I am not going to tolerate this treatment any longer! What makes you think that it's fair that you can go out and buy some damn thing that you don't even need but I can't even buy a pair of shoes for a few Sickles when I need them?" The outraged voice of Laticia Bell floated up the stairs early one Monday morning.

The couple's argument this particular morning was nothing out of the ordinary, and neither was Thomas's response to his wife. "I earn the fucking money, so I should be the one to spend it."

Laticia let out a dry, sarcastic laugh. "Oh, right. I'd forgotten that I'm nothing more than a worthless piece of shit who does nothing but sit on her lazy ass all day." Laticia's voice was carrying the bitter sarcasm that she was known for. "Thomas, I do everything around this house. I believe that has earned me a pair of secondhand shoes!"

Katie Bell let out a muffled groan from underneath her bedspread as her parents' daily morning argument dulled to a silent roar. The indication that this particular row was over came in the form of a slam of a door and a loud, shouted curse from Katie's father, followed by another door slam. When Katie heard no more noises coming from downstairs, she removed her pillow from over her face and threw off her covers, then reached out a hand to silence the screeching of her alarm clock. It was just another normal beginning to a normal day in the life of Katie Bell, and Katie wanted nothing more than to be able to scream.

Climbing out of bed, Katie nearly tripped over a stack of textbooks that she had brought home with her over the summer holidays. All of her summer assignments had been neglected due to her parents' nerve wracking arguments that she had been a witness to nearly every day of her holidays; she had been reminded why she usually stayed at Hogwarts during Christmas and Easter. All summer, Katie had been going to bed earlier than she normally would have just so she could escape from their arguing, only to awake the next morning to them arguing again. Sometimes Katie wondered why, if they had so many disagreements, they married each other; that was exactly what she was pondering as she pulled a pair of khaki capris and a baby blue tank top from her closet and entered her bathroom to take a shower.

Twenty minutes later, Katie emerged from the hot bathroom fully dressed with her long light brown hair wrapped up turban-style in a towel. She sat at her vanity table and applied her usual make-up: foundation, powder, nude eyeshadow, a bit of blusher brushed across her cheekbones, and a light coating of vanilla lip gloss, before quickly blow-drying her hair and putting her feet in a pair of baby blue thongs. Then she exited her room, turning off the lights on her way out the door, and headed for the kitchen.

If Katie had not heard the heated argument between Laticia and Thomas just a half hour earlier, she would not have had a clue about any disagreements in the family. The scene in the kitchen looked like a typical family: Thomas was seated at the table, reading the Daily Prophet, and Laticia was standing at the stove, flipping an omelet with her wand. It almost seemed strange, but Katie was used to her parents behaving like this -- they were playing the "it never happened" card, and for the moment, that was perfectly okay with Katie.

"Morning, Mum," Katie said, pecking her mother on the cheek. Laticia smiled faintly and handed her daughter a plate with two slices of buttered toast and the recently cooked omelet and Katie headed to her spot at the table where a tall glass of milk was waiting for her. "Morning, Dad," Katie added, giving her father a small kiss on the cheek as well, before sitting down.

Neither Laticia nor Thomas responded to their daughter's greeting aloud, but Katie didn't let it get under her skin. It wasn't that the fact that sometimes it seemed as if her parents didn't love her didn't hurt Katie ... it was just that Katie was so used to it that it didn't bother her anymore. After hurriedly eating her breakfast, Katie announced that she needed the key to the Bells' vault at Gringotts so she could make her school purchases that day, as she was to be leaving for Hogwarts the following morning. Thomas eagerly offered to go with Katie to Diagon Alley so she would not have to Floo alone, as he needed to be at his office early that morning anyway.

At her husband's offer, Laticia scoffed. "What, can't Tommy at least hide his excitement of finally getting the chance to see his secretary's newly implanted breasts in front of his wife and child?" she asked, giving Thomas a glare.

For a moment, Thomas glanced between Laticia, who was looking at him expectantly, and Katie, who was staring down at her nearly empty plate and playing with her fork. He let out a small sigh. "Laticia, that's enough," Thomas stated, his voice dangerously low. "You know there's nothing going on between my secretary and me."

Laticia rolled her eyes. "That's right, I keep forgetting your absurd excuse as to why exactly you've been out until all hours of the night for the past week," Laticia snapped hatefully.

"Tish, Katie's right here," Thomas whispered, gesturing at Katie, who was slowly moving toward the kitchen door, trying to escape from the room without having to hear more of her parents' petty arguing.

"Dammit, Thomas!" Laticia yelled, slamming an empty plate down violently on the table, causing it to shatter into little pieces. Katie flinched and involuntarily jumped back. "Don't 'Tish' me! You can go on to your little hussy at work and I'll take Katie to Diagon Alley. She doesn't need to shop by herself anyway!" Laticia focused her attention on Katie. "Katie, get ready to leave," she said, her voice a bit harsher than Katie would have appreciated. Katie nodded in response before turning and practically running from the room.

A few minutes later, Laticia joined Katie in the sitting room, where Katie was sitting on the arm of the couch. "Are you ready, honey?" Laticia asked, her voice a bit softer than normal. Apparently she was feeling guilty for subjecting Katie to yet another argument with Thomas. For a brief moment, Katie relaxed.

"Yes, Mum," Katie replied, standing up from her spot. As she waited for Laticia to start a fire in the fireplace, Katie reached into the pot on the mantle that the Floo powder was kept in and pulled out enough for herself and her mother. Within minutes, Katie and her mum were standing in the middle of the Leaky Cauldron, which was particularly busy that day and Katie reminded herself that it was probably because school term was beginning the following day. Witches and wizards of all ages were swarming around and Katie looked around briefly, to see if she could spot anyone she knew. The crowd was so immense that Katie gave up just a moment later, sighing.

"What's the matter?" Laticia asked, grabbing onto Katie's arm and hauling her toward the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Katie was quick to respond. "Nothing." She followed her mother through the tall archway leading into Diagon Alley.

Laticia said nothing else. Once she and Katie were inside Diagon Alley, she let go of Katie's arm and began to walk very quickly down the street, expertly dodging various witches and wizards without ending up with so much as a misplaced hair. Katie nearly had to run to keep up with her and wasn't doing such a good job at avoiding running into people; she had almost tripped over a little boy that didn't look to be older than three or four, and he had promptly run to his mother, crying about the "mean girl" who had "kicked him". Of course, that earned Katie a sharp look from the boy's mother as she hugged her child lovingly and guided him in the opposite direction, as if Katie were some kind of deranged child-kicking maniac. At that, Katie let out an exasperated noise.

Finally, Katie and Laticia stopped in front of Madame Malkin's, where Laticia gave Katie a pouch of coins and instructed her to do her school shopping and meet her back in front of this shop in two hours. With that, Laticia turned and went her own way. Katie watched her disappear, then rolled her eyes. Her mother was probably going to go on a secret shopping spree while she was out of Thomas's watchful eye; whatever she purchased would be hidden in a friend's house, and then Laticia would every so often fetch an item and bring it back to the Bells'--Thomas would be none the wiser. In the many years that Laticia had been doing this, Katie had caught on to her scheme, but Thomas hadn't. Katie figured it had something to do with the fact that Thomas was far too preoccupied with "not" cheating on his wife to notice that Laticia was bringing home new clothes.

Katie looked into the pouch to see just how much money her mother had given her, as she was notorious for taking money from Katie's school funds in order to buy the contraband clothes. Luckily for Katie, Laticia hadn't taken a very noticeable amount, if any at all, and Katie knew that she would have more than enough to purchase her school supplies. However, that didn't change the fact that, as usual, she was shopping alone. A glance around her at all the kids pulling their parents into the various shops caused Katie to sigh in dejection before tucking the pouch of money into the pocket of her capris. Then, Katie looked around her and tried to decide where to begin her expedition for school supplies.

It didn't take long for her to notice that the shop in front of her, Madame Malkin's, had no line. With a grin, Katie realized that it was probably because most kids didn't enjoy being fitted for new robes; instead, they wanted to explore the fun shops, such as Quality Quidditch Supplies in hopes of finding a good deal on a broom or perhaps a set of Quidditch balls. However, for Katie, getting new robes was her favorite part of shopping; she loved the smell of them, the feel of them, and basically everything else about them. So, without a second thought, Katie headed through the front door of the shop and was almost instantly greeted by Madame Malkin herself.

"Katie Bell! Hello, dear! How are you?" the petite, plump witch asked, smiling in a welcoming manner.

Katie returned the older witch's smile. "I'm fantastic!" she replied enthusiastically. Madame Malkin was a kind old witch and she always chatted with Katie as Katie got her school robes. "I can hardly wait to go back to school," Katie added after a moment. Isn't that the truth? a voice in Katie's head said dryly.

"I was beginning to think that you'd found someone else to get your school robes from," Madame Malkin said teasingly, referring to the fact that Katie was late in shopping. Usually, Katie completed her shopping almost two weeks prior to the beginning of school, but this year, she hadn't had the chance to get out of the house.

"Of course not," Katie answered in the same teasing manner. "I'm just a bit late, is all."

"Well, dear, just follow me and we'll have you fitted in no time!" Madame Malkin led Katie to a stool and set to work measuring her. "What year are you going to be in, dear?" she asked, making small talk with the younger witch, as she pinned the hem on a particularly pretty set of deep blue dress robes.

"Seventh," Katie answered simply, smiling. She was looking forward to this year; even though she had to take her NEWTs (which were, as their name implied, nastily exhausting). After leaving Hogwarts, she would be able to find a job and could leave her house and the arguing that existed in her house behind. That was the one thing that Katie was looking forward to the most.

Madame Malkin let out a small sigh, which made Katie's smile even wider. "Growing up is a hard thing to do, huh, Katie?"

"Yes, but I'm looking forward to it," Katie said honestly.

After Madame Malkin pinned the hems of a few more robes (black, standard Hogwarts robes) and hemmed them magically, Katie followed the woman to the front of the store where she paid for them. The total price of the five sets of standard issue robes and the two sets of dress robes barely made a dent in her funds, and since her robes were usually the most expensive part of her school shopping, Katie made plans to perhaps buy something Quidditch-related, just for fun. With a cheerful goodbye to Madame Malkin, Katie left the robes shop with her bags and emerged back onto the crowded street. The warm August sunshine flooded into her eyes and Katie had to squint at first.

She checked her pouch of money before once again tucking it away into the pocket of her capris. She checked the Muggle watch she wore around her wrist; according to it, she had spent nearly an hour inside getting her robes, which wasn't surprising as she and Madame Malkin had talked quite a bit while Madame Malkin fitted her, which slowed the process quite a bit. Katie had another hour before she was supposed to meet her mother again, so she needed to hurry.

Katie was just getting ready to walk to Flourish and Blotts to purchase her books when she heard a decidedly masculine voice call her name. "Oy! Katie! Katie Bell! Wait up!" Confusedly, Katie looked around her, trying to find the source of the voice. A mere few seconds later, a very familiar, very tall, very handsome Scotsman appeared in front of her.

For a second, Katie just stared at her visitor. Then she began squealing delightedly and Katie dropped her bags and threw her arms around the neck of Oliver Wood. "Ollie! Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been? Where have you been? What have you been up to? What brings you here? I thought you moved to France or somewhere like that!" Her questions were fired in such rapid succession that Oliver looked almost overwhelmed.

Oliver, who was still as handsome as he had been the last time Katie saw him, laughed jubilantly. "Katie, Katie, Katie," he said, his voice a bit strained due to the fact that Katie was hanging from his neck. "You're just like I remembered you, vivacious and a little spitfire!"

Katie let go and laughed along with her former Quidditch captain. "Well, are you going to answer my questions or are you going to just stand there and say, 'Katie, Katie, Katie'?" Katie couldn't help but notice that Oliver's smile was just as heart-stoppingly beautiful as it had been two years ago -- it still had the exact same effect on her, too. Katie could practically feel herself melting under Oliver's gaze, right then and there.

"Well, which do you want me to answer? You fired about a hundred at me," Oliver joked.

"All of them," Katie said simply, looking eagerly up at him. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "We have a lot of catching up to do, mister."

"That we do," Oliver replied, his voice softening. A ponderous look crossed his face and then his eyes lit up. "Hey, Katie ... we should go to Florean Fortescue's for an ice cream, what do you say? We can talk some there." His offer was so enthusiastic that Katie couldn't have refused, even if she had wanted to.

Katie nodded her consent and bent down to pick up her bags. When Oliver offered to help her, Katie had no qualms about handing over most of the bags and skipped ahead of him, giggling quietly to herself as Oliver stumbled along by himself, trying to see over the top of the pile.

Upon reaching Florean Fortescue's a few minutes later, Katie and Oliver found a small round table to sit at. It was outside on the sidewalk and offered a nice view of what was going on in the busy Diagon Alley street. The two had barely sat down when a young witch with long blonde hair and big blue eyes took their orders. She seemed to catch Oliver's attention and who was openly and shamelessly flirting with him, and in consequence ignoring Katie. She lingered around for a bit after writing down what they wanted on her pad of parchment, then walked away, keeping Oliver's attention the whole time. Katie had to kick him under the table in order to get him to focus his glazed-over eyes on her. She smirked at him.

"What?"

Katie rolled her eyes. "Nothing, but the next time you see a pretty girl, just keep in mind that having your jaw dropped to the floor while your mouth catches flies isn't exactly attractive," she informed him nonchalantly, all the while grinning evilly at him. Quietly, almost to herself, she added, "Loverboy."

"You're just jealous," Oliver teased, swatting her arm playfully. "I used to give my full, undivided attention to you and now that I'm noticing other girls, you feel the need to make fun of me just so you can make yourself feel better. I know these things, Bell."

"Full, undivided attention?" Katie asked skeptically. She let out a snort. "No, Ollie, dear. I believe that was given to the lovely game of Quidditch, not me. And why would I be jealous? It's not like I like you or anything." To herself, Katie added, Not right now, anyway. She remembered two years ago, when she would have done anything to get Oliver's romantic interests; she had been head over heels in love with the boy, which wasn't unlike all the other girls at Hogwarts.

Oliver grinned. "Keep telling yourself that, love," Oliver said in a voice that Katie couldn't help but think was sexy. He leaned across the table, inching closer and closer to Katie until she could feel his breath on her face, and added, "I know you want me."

Katie would have responded, but the same blonde witch from earlier chose that moment to bring their orders to them. Katie anxiously dug into her butterscotch ice cream and ignored the flirting going on between the waitress and Oliver altogether. By the time the waitress left their table, Katie's ice cream was gone and Oliver's had melted, making a vanilla and chocolate sprinkle soup in his cup. He didn't seem to care and just tossed it into a nearby trashcan. Then Oliver flashed Katie a triumphant grin and held up a piece of parchment that looked like it had been torn from the waitress's order pad. "Got her address," he said, sounding rather full of himself. "She's twenty and has a flat all to herself and said she 'gets lonely' sometimes."

Katie raised a perfectly arched eyebrow inquisitively. "Are you going to visit her or something? Have a little meaningless sex? Oh, Ollie, didn't know you were like that!"

It was Oliver's turn to kick Katie under the table, and he did, rather successfully. His face flushed with her comments. "Shut it, Bell. You know I'm not like that," he said, sounding a little offended.

Laughing a little and rubbing her shin where Oliver's well-placed kick had hit her, Katie shrugged. A moment's silence passed before Katie leaned across the table and propped herself up on her elbows. "You never answered any of my questions, Wood. What brings you back here? I thought you were playing for Puddlemere United."

Oliver sighed and sat back in his chair, balancing on the two back legs. He put his hands behind his head. "Well, Puddlemere decided to take a break this year, leaving me jobless. Evidently, Dumbledore pays much attention to the Quidditch goings on, especially when it comes to Puddlemere, and sent me an owl offering me professorship at Hogwarts this year. Madam Hooch is visiting family in America for a few months this year and told Dumbledore that I would be a prime candidate for replacing her as flying instructor. Needing a job, I accepted."

"You're going to be at Hogwarts this year?" Katie nearly leaped across the table. She managed to latch her arms around her neck again to hug him tightly, cheek to cheek. She pulled back. "Oh my gosh, that's great! Ollie, it can be like old times again!" she shrieked, clasping her hands together happily. "Can you imagine how much trouble Ang, Lish, the twins, you, and I could get into together?" Katie already seemed to be plotting pranks in her head at that very moment, Oliver noted.

Oliver didn't want to burst Katie's bubble, but it had to be done. "Hey now, Kate," he said warningly. "Don't get ahead of yourself! I can't be participating in any of those foolish pranks like I did when I was still in school; then, I had nothing at stake because there was no way McGonagall was going to let her house Quidditch captain get expelled. Now, I'm sure she'll have no qualms about firing me if need be."

"Oh, she wouldn't fire you, Ollie," Katie assured him, nodding her head as if it eased any doubts Oliver had. "You're everybody's favorite former captain, babe!"

Oliver laughed. "You're impossible, babe," was his sarcastic response.

The two talked for a while longer; then, Katie looked at her watch and was astounded when she learned that almost an hour had passed. Her mother, always wanting to leave early, was probably either heading for or standing in front of Madame Malkin's at that very moment, waiting impatiently for Katie. Katie sighed, not wanting to leave Oliver. However, knowing that she had to, she said, "Ollie, it's been great talking to you, but I have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow, though, on the train. Right?"

Oliver smiled. "Of course, Katie," he said, standing up and handing Katie's bags to her. He bent down to hug the girl, who only barely reached his shoulders. Katie hugged him back tightly, resting her head against his well-toned chest. She could feel the muscles through his shirt and once again, Katie nearly melted. "Bye." Katie returned his goodbye and then walked away, not noticing the fact that Oliver's eyes followed her until she left his field of vision.

As Katie had expected, Laticia was standing outside of Madame Malkin's, tapping her foot impatiently on the ground and checking her watch every couple of seconds. Katie made a face and bit her lip before running over to her mother, making herself pant to give her mother the illusion that Katie had been hurrying to meet her on time. Laticia rolled her eyes. "Katie, save it. I know you were talking to that Wood boy," she stated simply, sounding just slightly angry. It was better than Katie could have hoped for, so Katie didn't even try to protest.

"How did you know?" Katie asked, confused.

"I'm psychic," was Laticia's sarcastic, biting reply. "Let's go, Katie." She began to stalk off back toward the archway leading into the Leaky Cauldron and, with a heavy sigh, Katie followed.

It was later that night when Katie was up in her room packing that she noticed that she had forgotten to purchase anything other than her robes.

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To be continued ...
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AN: Man, I'm just darn proud of this, my very first chapter of my very first Harry Potter fanfiction (and any fanfiction, for that matter!). Please review.