In chapter two, Katie's friends Angelina, Alicia, Cassidy (OC), Fred, and George are met and the first years' Sorting takes place. Oliver Wood is introduced as Hogwarts' new flying instructor.

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Of Love and Quidditch
May 2003

by: KT
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II

The next morning, Katie Bell woke up bright and early to finish her last-minute packing. She had sneaked back into Diagon Alley the night before to complete her shopping and, thankfully, had not been caught by her parents; they were too busy fighting yet again to notice her absence and thought she was asleep in her room.

"The French are glad to die for love," Katie sang to herself as she placed the last of her standard issue uniform skirts into her trunk. "They delight in fighting duels ... but I prefer a man who lives and gives expensive jewels."

Marilyn Monroe certainly had the right idea, Katie mused to herself, allowing a small smile to form on her face.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend!" Katie declared to her empty bedroom, throwing her arms out to her sides and reveling in the joy of belting out one of her favorite songs. Muggle or not, Marilyn Monroe was one of the greatest singers of all time and Katie had idolized her ever since she was a little girl, like many others -- Marilyn was a fairly popular name in the wizarding world and several Marilyn songs had been covered by wizarding artists. "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" was one of Katie's top five favorite songs ever and she never grew tired of singing it.

Katie glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table; with a sigh, Katie realized that she still had another thirty minutes before she even had to think about leaving for the station, and even then her parents probably wouldn't be ready. Unlike Katie, who liked to be as punctual as she possibly could, Laticia and Thomas only wanted to hurry to get somewhere if it benefited them. In a way, Katie's leaving did benefit them, but they still wouldn't be in a hurry to get to the station.

With a last scrutinizing look in her trunk, Katie closed the top and locked it. She picked up a small bag that contained a book to read on the train, her pouch of money just in case she wanted to buy some snacks from the food cart, parchment, ink, and quills, and her wand. Then she observed herself in the full-length mirror on her closet door, making silent criticisms about her appearance to herself. She smoothed the invisible wrinkles in her knee-length pleated skirt, buttoned another button on her long-sleeved white blouse, and then tied her tie even tighter. She bent over to pull her white socks up closer to her knees and made sure her black dress shoes were properly shined. With a grin, Katie picked up her carry on bag and grabbed the handle of her trunk; perhaps she would be able to convince her parents to leave for the station five minutes earlier than necessary.

She found her parents seated in the living room, each of them reading a book and giving the other a death glare every now and then. Katie rolled her eyes. "Are you two ready to take me to the station?" she asked, perhaps a bit eagerly -- but Katie was eager to leave her house and her parents' arguments behind. Hogwarts, where all her friends, Quidditch, not to mention Oliver Wood, were was a fantastic trade off for her less than ideal home, in Katie's opinion.

Laticia looked up at her daughter and sighed as if taking Katie to King's Cross was a laborious task. "I suppose," Laticia said in a bored manner. "Do you want to come, Thomas, or are you planning on screwing that hussy of yours while we're gone?" Laticia's question was so nonchalant, like it was a question that one would ask normally. Well, in this house, it is a normal question, Katie reminded herself.

"Actually, yes," Thomas said sarcastically. "My 'hussy', as you so eloquently put it, is also bringing a friend of hers and all three of us are going to have wild sex right here in the living room. We might even decide to move on to the master bedroom." Reaching the end of his sentence, Thomas returned to his reading and ignored the yelled, profane comment that Laticia made.

No, there was no doubt about it; Katie was going to be very glad to board that train in a mere few minutes.

~

Katie had just emerged onto Platform 9 3/4 when an excited, familiar voice called her name. "Kates! Katie! Get your sorry arse over here now!" Angelina Johnson, who was standing amongst a few other friends of Katie's, was waving to Katie wildly, her hair bouncing on her shoulders and her face glowing. Katie laughed and gladly joined the group, which consisted of Angelina, Alicia Spinnet, Fred and George Weasley, and Cassidy Baker, a shy sixth year who had tried out for the Quidditch team the year before and made Keeper. Of course, Cassidy had quickly befriended the others in the group and had even dated Fred for a short time, much to Alicia's chagrin (it was a well-known fact that Alicia had been harboring a rather large crush on the redhead for quite a while). However, they had broken up a short time afterwards, leaving Alicia a very happy girl.

Grinning, Katie enveloped each of her friends in a tight, short hug, then straightened up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You all have no idea how glad I am to finally get out of that hellhole I call home," Katie said, her voice relieved. "I've been counting down the days until September first!"

They all laughed. "Having family problems again, Kate?" George asked sympathetically. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team knew about Katie's unresolved anger towards each other because she figured if she couldn't trust the people she spent the most time with, who could she trust? They had all been really great about it since she told them the previous year.

"'Problems' is an understatement, George," Katie answered truthfully, sighing. "They've been at each other's throats all summer. I was just about to pull my hair out of my head in frustration." The frown disappeared off her face just as quickly as it came and she grinned. "But I'm going to Hogwarts now, so I won't have to worry about my parents for months!"

Once again, they all laughed. Attempting to get the subject steered away from her, Katie asked Cassidy what she had done over the summer. Cassidy promptly blushed and merely stated that she had "met somebody" that she had instantly "fell in love with", which made the other girls let out a chorus of "How sweet!" while the boys rolled their eyes and grumbled a bit. The boys couldn't stand the girls' chatter for very long and left to find friends of the same gender, claiming that the "sticky sweet stuff" was not their style.

"Men," Alicia muttered, putting her hands on her hips. As she said this, though, her gaze followed Fred until he could no longer be seen in the crowd.

"Ooh, does Alicia still have a crush on Freddy-Weddy?" Cassidy teased, using the nickname she had given Fred while they had dated; Fred hated it, and just to make him mad, Cassidy still called him that.

Alicia's cheeks immediately turned crimson, which Angelina gleefully pointed out. "You all," Alicia said, smiling. "I'm over that childish stage in my life. I've grown up; Fred hasn't!"

"Right," Angelina said, nudging Alicia. "We believe you, right girls?" At Angelina's question, Katie and Cassidy both nodded.

"Fine!" Alicia exclaimed after a few minutes of being under the gazes of the other three girls. "I do still like him -- just a little, though -- but it's not like anything could ever happen between us. He's made it quite clear that we're just friends because 'wouldn't it be odd to be teammates and a couple'?" She sighed. "He didn't seem to mind when he dated you, Cass."

A guilty look immediately appeared on Cassidy's face. "Alicia, I wouldn't have said yes to him if I had known that you liked him!" she exclaimed. Cassidy was a very sensitive person and already Katie could see tears forming in her eyes. "You're not still mad, are you?" Cassidy sounded truly worried.

It was Alicia's turn to look guilty. "Cass, I forgave you ages ago," she assured the other girl. "It's Fred who I'm still kind of mad at; I mean, how can he say he can't go out with me because we're teammates when he already went out with you?"

Always the voice of reason in the bunch, Angelina spoke up, "Maybe he decided that since it didn't work out with Cass, it wouldn't work out with you. There's no reason to hold a grudge."

"I guess you're right," Alicia agreed reluctantly. "But I'm still hurt."

"And that's perfectly fine," Katie put in, patting Alicia on the back. "It's his loss, girl."

Alicia nodded although she didn't look like she believed her friends' words. A silence passed and then Angelina let out a squeal, attracting the attention of not only the girls, but a few passers by, as well. "Have any of you heard that we have a new flying professor?"

"Really?" Cassidy and Alicia asked in unison, looking very enthralled.

Angelina nodded enthusiastically. "Madam Hooch is taking a break or something like that and someone from Puddlemere United is going to fill her position this year! I wonder who, though ..."

Smiling secretly to herself, Katie turned away from the girls. She wasn't sure if she should tell them just yet that the one who was replacing Madam Hooch was none other than Oliver. They would find out soon enough ... but if they discovered that Katie had known all along, they might get upset with her and Katie certainly didn't want that. In the end of her internal debate, however, Katie decided that she would let them find out when Oliver came to visit her on the train; he had promised, after all. Katie liked knowing that she knew something the others didn't; it was very empowering.

"Kate?" Angelina's voice jostled Katie out of her thoughts. When Katie looked at her, Angelina grinned and said, "Let's go find a compartment on the train before it decides to leave without us! Cass and Alicia went ahead with their luggage; they each brought their entire house, I think."

Katie laughed and nodded, grabbing onto the handle of her trunk once again. Angelina did the same and they began dragging them toward the train, gaining very little ground with each tug. By the time they had halfway reached the train, they both had to stop and wipe the sweat from their brows.

"This is a reminder to pack lightly," Katie wheezed, wondering how in the world she had managed to pull it onto the platform from the station and why in the world she hadn't used a trolley like any normal person would have. She grimaced and watched as Angelina started forward again. Katie was just ready to give up and leave her damn trunk on the platform when she felt someone's robe billow against her leg.

A deep masculine voice proclaimed, "Katie, you're going to injure yourself before you even get on the pitch for the first time! Let me help you with that!" Of course, it was Oliver who had appeared behind her and taken hold of her trunk. At his arrival, Angelina turned around and gaped, staring at Katie first, then Oliver. Her gaze alternated between the two and then she placed her hands on her hips and gave Katie a glare; then she smiled sweetly at Oliver.

"What're you doing here, Wood?" she questioned. "I thought I'd finally gotten rid of the Quidditch Nazi when you left Hogwarts!"

Oliver laughed. "Ang, what makes you think you're that lucky?" he questioned teasingly. "Didn't Kate tell you that Dumbledore offered me a teaching position here this year?"

Angelina raised her eyebrows. "No, she didn't," she said. "What sort of teaching position? Charms, Astronomy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy?" She gave a pointed look to Katie before adding, almost as an afterthought, "Flying?"

Obviously confused, Oliver nodded. "Why would I teach a course I was horrible at?" he questioned.

"Oh, I was just wondering because when us girls (Kates, Cass, Alicia, and I) were talking about the new flying instructor, Kates didn't say anything about it being you."

Oliver feigned surprise, bringing a hand up to his chest. "Why, Katie -- I simply cannot believe that you would fail to mention me!" he exclaimed. "I'm hurt." A pout formed on his face as Katie rolled her eyes.

"Please, spare me," she murmured, talking to both Oliver and Angelina. "So I didn't tell you; get over it." Katie stared at Oliver. "And you get enough attention, so what does it matter if little old me didn't mention you? Now why don't you help Ang and me get our damn trunks on the train before it leaves us!"

Oliver saluted her before hoisting Katie's trunk into his arms and carrying it on the train.

~

"I can't believe you didn't say you knew it was Oliver," Angelina whispered during the first years' Sorting. A small, wiry boy with a pasty complexion called Alex Monterrey was currently being scrutinized by the hat, looking very much frightened. As the hat boomed, "GRYFFINDOR!", Angelina asked the question again.

"I didn't think it really mattered that much," Katie whispered back, sighing. And she hadn't; if she had known keeping the knowledge from Angelina would be this big of a deal, she would have spilled everything, including talking to Oliver while she shopped in Diagon Alley, to her friend. "It's not that big of a deal, Ang."

"I know," Angelina chirped. "I just wanted to annoy you."

Katie had to laugh at that. "I thought you were mad at me! Don't do that again, Ang!" she cried quietly as "Nunley, Rhiannon" was called to be Sorted.

"I can't make any promises." Angelina grinned brightly at Katie, making Katie shake her head in disbelief. Angelina really was a character.

Pretty soon, the Sorting was over and all the first years were settled at their House tables, looking shy and scared to death. Katie smiled comfortingly at a little girl with blonde hair sitting across from her and the girl smiled back, just a little. Dumbledore stepped up to the front of the Great Hall to make his start of term speech.

"I welcome each of you back to Hogwarts," he began, "for a new, hopefully peaceful year of schooling. This year, we have a particularly large first year and I hope each of you older students will do your best to make them feel right at home here. First years, if you feel the need, do not hesitate to ask one of the older students for help with one of your courses, because I am sure they will be obliged to assist you in any way they can.

"Second years, it is now the year that you are able to try out for your House Quidditch team. This year, we have a new flying instructor to take the place of Madam Rolanda Hooch, who is visiting family in America; please give a warm welcome to Professor Oliver Wood, who just completed his final year of Hogwarts two years ago." At that, a burst of applause resounded through the Great Hall and Katie had a hunch that most of the noise was coming from the female population. She sat back in her chair and rolled her eyes before looking straight at Oliver, who was sitting at the Head Table. He caught Katie's eye and grinned; she returned the grin and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Fifth years, this is the year that you must be studying for your OWLs; seventh years, your NEWTs will be upon you before you know it. Please do not waste your time with frivolous nonsense." Dumbledore's speech continued. Finally, he said, "And, as a last note, the Forbidden Forest is, as its name implies, forbidden. Please do not go traipsing around in it. Now, enjoy the feast!"

As Katie dug into the delicious food that the house-elves had prepared, she couldn't keep herself from stealing glances of Oliver every now and then. She noticed, much to her dislike, that many of the other girls in the room were doing the exact same thing as she was. Right then and there, all hopes Katie had of possibly forming a relationship with Oliver were crushed. It's not like there was much hope to begin with ...

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To be continued ...
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AN: Thanks so much to all of my lovely reviewers! You all are absolutely fantastic! Keep 'em coming, please! (See, I even said please! That must tell you that I'm an incredibly nice person!)

This chapter is a bit shorter than the last, but it's still quite long ... don't you think? I tried to make it longer, but it just seemed to reach a natural stopping point and I think it would have gotten far too long if I had continued with the next scene -- whatever that is!

Snidgetlass ~ Aw, thank you! Yes, Sean Biggerstaff is quite yummy. *g*
baabaa ~ Thanks!
Ash Carroll ~ Thank you very much! I hope this is soon enough for you. *g*
nortshell ~ Ah, no worries ... there's plenty of romance coming up! I e-mailed you back, btw.