In chapter three, the Gryffindor's first Quidditch practice of the season takes place, with Oliver there to watch. A small fight between Katie and Oliver ensues and Quidditch practice ends on a sour note. Angelina and Oliver have a talk and later, Oliver apologizes to Katie in a sweet way.

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Of Love and Quidditch
May 2003

by: KT
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III

A bright light flooded into Katie's eyes early one morning and she let out a loud groan and rolled over onto her side, moving her fluffy pillow over her head to block the light. She was unsuccessful, however, because someone tugged at the pillow until they managed to pry it away from her, then they pulled her covers down. Katie's body, clad only in a pair of shorts and a thin camisole, was met with a shock of cool air and she shivered before curling up into a ball and burying her head in her arms.

"Katie Bell, rise and shine!" came the plaintive voice of Angelina Johnson. Katie let out a groan in response. "We have practice this morning, Kateums!"

Katie groaned again. "Who died and made you queen?" Katie asked sleepily, not moving from her position on her bed.

Angelina made a small noise. "No one, but I'm captain and I say that we have practice this morning." To Katie, Angelina's voice sounded a bit indignant, so to avoid getting on her bad side, Katie rolled out of bed and landed on the floor, which woke her up properly. She looked up at Angelina to see the other girl beaming.

"Happy now?" Katie asked dryly, standing up and rubbing her bottom, which had hit the floor with the most impact. She pulled her shorts, which were riding up her thigh, down and then pulled the hem of her camisole over the waistband of the shorts.

Angelina crossed her arms. "I will be when you get ready for Quidditch practice," she stated. It was then that Katie noticed that Angelina was already wearing her crimson Quidditch practice robes and the door to the bathroom was closed; presumably, Alicia was in there getting ready, since their only other roommate, Rachel Benson, was still fast asleep in her bed.

Grumbling, Katie dug through her trunk until she pulled out a slightly wrinkled set of practice robes. "You know, I seriously hate you right now," she mumbled as she pulled her Quidditch robes over her head, not bothering to take off her night clothes; since it was a Saturday, Katie planned on coming back upstairs after practice and going back to sleep.

Without even flinching, Angelina looked straight at Katie and said, "Ask me how much I care." Then she turned and headed for the door of their dormitory, stopping to turn back to give Katie some instructions. "Be down at the pitch in ten minutes; if you're late, you have to run four laps." She flashed Katie a smile before walking out of the room, humming a cheerful tune under her breath.

Katie let out a loud screech before reaching for the nearest object -- a hairbrush -- and hurling it toward the closed door. She was not a morning person. Then, calmly, Katie sat down on her bed to wait for Alicia to finish in the bathroom so she could go brush her teeth.

A few minutes later, Katie and Alicia were making their way down to the pitch, where they could see a few figures on broomsticks already flying around. Katie rolled her eyes, briefly wondering how these people could get up at five in the morning and still function properly. She had experienced the early, early, early morning practices when Oliver was captain many times, yet she still hadn't gotten used to it. In fact, she doubted she ever would.

"They're going to give us hell, you know that, right?" Alicia whispered to Katie, sounding amused.

"Of course ... it would be unlike them not to," was Katie's sour remark. She shifted her broom in her arms and lifted up her long robes to avoid getting mud from the slightly wet ground on the bottom; she hated that.

When Katie and Alicia reached the pitch, the first thing Katie noticed was that one of the figures flying in the air was Oliver. He was doing theatrical dives and difficult maneuvers, showing off just how skilled he was in the air. Katie had to smile; she had seen Oliver fly before -- many times, in fact -- but she had never seen him fly while wearing a huge grin on his face. Usually, he was too focused at Quidditch practices to smile. Katie could have watched him forever, but Angelina caught sight of her two missing Chasers and landed directly in front of them, snapping Katie's attention away from Oliver.

"You're one minute late," Angelina informed them matter-of-factly. "I would make you run laps, but since one minute isn't such a large deal and Oliver has been showing off anyway, I'll be nice." Angelina grinned at the girls, who smiled back. "Get up there, you two."

Katie looked at Alicia and rolled her eyes but obeyed her captain and mounted her broom before rising gracefully into the air. Alicia did the same and after they had flown around the pitch for a warm-up lap, Angelina shooed Oliver out of the air and onto the wet grass. Looking more than a bit put out, he sat on a bench on the side of the pitch and focused his gaze upwards.

About ten minutes into practice, Oliver stood up from his spot and cupped his hands around his mouth, like he was going to yell up at the flyers in the air. "Katie! You're moving a little slow today -- it's not good for Chasers to be moving slow!" he called. Oliver received a dirty look from Angelina, who was obviously far from happy about him taking her captain duties.

Shooting Oliver the most hateful look she could muster, Angelina said, "Yeah, Katie ... look alive!"

Katie smiled at both of them and tried to speed up a bit. Evidently, she still wasn't moving quick enough for her former Quidditch captain because Oliver stood up again just about ten minutes later. "KATIE! Move, move move!" he barked, sounding very much like a drill sergeant.

Had Oliver only done this once, Katie would have accepted it gracefully. However, the fact of the matter was that Oliver continually stood up to criticize Katie about something, be it how fast she was flying, how she didn't pass the Quaffle to Alicia properly, or how she almost missed the Quaffle when Angelina passed it to her the last time, which could have had major ramifications if this were a real Quidditch game. Finally Katie, who had quite enough of Oliver, landed. She dismounted her broom and marched over to him, her hands on her hips.

"Oliver," Katie said through clenched teeth, balling her hands up into fists. "You are not captain. Angelina is. If she sees something wrong with how I am playing Quidditch, she has the right to tell me so. You, having no affiliation with the Gryffindor House team any longer, do not." Her voice was icy as she spoke, which indicated that Katie meant business. "Please stop it."

"I was just trying to help you, Katie!" Oliver exclaimed, sounding offended. "If you're playing like crap, I bloody will tell you!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Oliver realized what he had just said and to who -- Katie was infamous for her attitude and her huge temper tantrums that she occasionally threw, and Oliver had been witness to many of them; luckily, he hadn't been the cause of any of them ... yet. He had the feeling that Katie was about to launch one right there, however. "I don't mean that you're playing like crap," he quickly amended, but it was too late.

Scrunching up her eyebrows and glaring at him, Katie screamed, "You, Oliver Wood, are a jackass!" Then she began pummeling him with her fists.

Damn, she's strong, was the first sentence that came to Oliver's mind after Katie began trying to beat him up. Oliver was unsuccessfully trying to hold her off and he shot a pleading glance over the girl's shoulder at Angelina, who just shrugged, not wanting to get in Katie's way. Finally, Katie delivered such a hard blow to Oliver's chest that he lost his balance in the slippery grass and fell flat on his bottom. With a triumphant grin, Katie gave him one last kick on the leg before grabbing her broom, hiking up her robes, and marching toward the castle.

"Damn," Fred and George said in unison, giving each other a bewildered look.

"Yeah, damn," Cassidy echoed, laughing comically before following after Katie to attempt to talk some sense into the girl.

Angelina let out a sigh. "I guess practice is over," she muttered, watching Katie and Cassidy walking away. "Hit the showers ..." She watched as Fred, George, and Harry Potter dismounted their brooms and walked toward the Quidditch changing rooms, then turned back to the professor. "Oliver, you are going to apologize to Katie."

"Excuse me?" Oliver exclaimed, pushing himself up from where he had fallen. "Why should I apologize to Katie when she's the one who hit me?" He seemed absolutely shocked at Angelina's words and his voice gave that away.

"You provoked her, knowing what would happen!" was Angelina's reply. Seeing that Oliver was still wearing a dumbfounded look, Angelina rolled her eyes. "You know how bitchy that girl can get, yet you still criticized her every move! Dammit, Ol ... you were just asking for it!"

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "She wasn't playing to her full potential! I was just trying to help, and she got offended!" he said in reply, crossing his arms across his chest defiantly. "She should have to apologize to me, not the other way around."

At that point, Oliver was sure that he heard Angelina mutter, "Moronic men," under her breath. She looked up at him expectantly. "Oliver, you will apologize to her. I will not have her playing 'like crap' at our first game! And she sure as hell won't be playing well if she's pissed off at you!"

A guilty look formed on Oliver's face. He knew how important winning games was to captains, as he had been captain of the same team just two years earlier. If he felt like a loss for the Gryffindors was even remotely his fault, he would feel guilty for ages. "I guess I could say sorry," Oliver managed to get out, frowning a little. "But Katie really needs to learn to accept criticism!"

Angelina shook her head. This time, she voiced her opinion of Oliver aloud. "You are a moron!" she exclaimed, smacking him hard on the chest before turning around and walking toward the changing rooms.

Oliver stared after her, gaping. That made two times he had been hit by a girl in the past fifteen minutes! Today was just not a good day. Letting out a low groan, Oliver made his way back to the castle, thinking about how he could make his apology one that Katie would be unable to refuse.

~

"Oliver Wood is an insufferable git," Katie proclaimed to the girls she shared a dormitory with. "I cannot stand the man!"

It was later that night and the girls were all lying on their beds, attempting to get their homework done before it got too late. Actually, Angelina and Alicia were attempting to get their homework done; Katie was still complaining about Oliver and what he had done at Quidditch practice earlier that morning and Rachel, their other roommate, was out with her boyfriend somewhere. Angelina, who had the sudden urge to bash Katie's head in the nearest wall, gave Katie a look. "Why don't you just talk to him about it and tell him that you didn't appreciate what he said?" she asked as if it were the most simple thing in the world. Angelina sure hoped that Oliver was planning on apologizing to Katie very soon; she didn't think she could handle much more of Katie being angry with him.

"Uh, because I cannot stand him," came Katie's reply.

Alicia rolled her eyes at Angelina, making Angelina grin in response. "Kate, why are you making such a huge deal of this? I think you're blowing this out of the water!"

"Yeah," Angelina added. "I talked to him afterwards and he said he was just trying to be helpful. There's no reason to try and beat someone up if they just try to help you out."

Katie's mouth fell open as she glared at her friends. "I cannot believe you two! You're taking his side!"

"Whoa," Alicia said calmly. "We're not taking anybody's side ... Ang and I are just trying to tell you that he didn't mean anything by it!"

Judging by the way that Katie's face was turning a dark shade of red, Angelina realized that she and Alicia were doing nothing but making the other girl even angrier -- and given her temper, that wasn't a good thing. Angelina opened her mouth to apologize but was interrupted by a knocking on their window. At first, Angelina thought nothing of it as she stood up to walk across the room to the window. As she opened it, however, she gasped. "What the hell," she breathed. The window was opened and there was Oliver, on his broom, smiling jovially at the girls inside, who were all gaping at him.

"Oliver!" Alicia screeched. "What the hell are you doing? You're going to get in trouble with McGonagall!"

"I'm a professor," Oliver said airily, as if he didn't really care. He looked straight at Katie, who was glaring at him over the top of the book she was "reading"; it was upside down, he noted. "I just came to see if there was someone in here who might want to take a midnight fly with me." Although Oliver's eyes were clearly focused on Katie, Alicia started to take Oliver up on the offer, but Angelina nudged her in the ribs, making her let out a gasp of realization. "Miss Bell?" Oliver asked.

"I don't think so," Katie replied coldly. "Homework, you know."

For a brief moment, Oliver looked hurt. Then his expression changed rapidly and he shot a dirty look at Katie. "Bell, if you don't get your arse out this window, I will do something so bad that I don't even know what it is yet!" he threatened.

She made a face. "Bite me, Wood," she snapped, standing up from her bed. Katie tossed the book she was holding onto her bed and grabbed her bathrobe, which was laying across the bottom of her bed. She walked toward the bathroom, but was stopped by Angelina, who had rushed across the room and grabbed her friend's arm.

"Oh no you don't," Angelina said sternly, taking the robe from Katie's hands and putting it back where Katie had gotten it from. "You are going to join Oliver and you are going to enjoy it!"

Katie snorted in an unladylike manner and wrenched her arm free from Angelina's grasp. "Like hell I am!" she yelled, grabbing for her robe again. Angelina grabbed it from her and threw it across the room, then stood in a stance that was just crying, "Try me" to Katie. Katie let out a loud groan. "Do I have to?" she whined childishly.

"Yes," Angelina and Alicia said together. "He's being gentlemanly enough to attempt to apologize to you, and you're not going to act like a bitch about it!" Angelina added for effect. She pushed Katie toward a hopeful-looking Oliver.

Katie seemed conflicted with her decision but that didn't last long. With just one look at Oliver, who was wearing his trademark puppy-dog face, Katie caved. That was the one look she had never been able to resist, no matter how mad at him she was, and tonight was no different. Letting out a defeated sigh, Katie reached for her cloak and climbed out the window, allowing Oliver to help her as she steadied herself behind him on his broom. "If you do anything that pisses me off, I will push you off this damn broom," Katie hissed into his ear so that only he could hear her threat.

Knowing that Katie meant it, Oliver nodded quickly. "Don't worry about it," he said. He turned his head to give Alicia and Angelina a smug look; they grinned at him and Alicia mouthed, "Good luck, you'll need it." At that, Oliver laughed inwardly. "See you two later," he told the others before flying off into the night sky.

As they watched them go, Angelina glanced worriedly at Alicia. "You don't suppose having them do this is a death wish for Oliver, do you?"

Alicia bit her lip. "As long as he manages to keep Katie's temper in check, then I don't think so. Otherwise ..." She made a slicing sound as she ran her index finger along her neck.

Together, the girls frowned. "Poor Oliver," they said in unison before bursting into side-splitting laughter.

~

Meanwhile, Oliver was flying Katie through the night sky, making the occasional wild dive or sharp turn for no reason at all other than wanting to hear Katie shriek frightfully, "OLIVER!" When Katie flew, she was in control of her broom; however, when someone else flew her, she was always terrified. That was something that never failed to amuse Oliver to no end.

"Where are you taking me?" Katie asked, a soft edge to her voice. She wanted Oliver to know that she was still angry at him, but not overwhelmingly so. After all, he was taking her for a midnight fly; if this had been in any other situation, Katie would have thought this was terribly romantic.

"Somewhere," was Oliver's cryptic answer.

Katie knew that she would be unable to get anything else out of him; obviously, whatever Oliver had planned, it was meant to be a surprise. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, hoping to receive more of an answer this time than what she received last time.

"To apologize for acting like an asshole this morning; it was wrong of me."

That brought a large smile to Katie's face and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't force it away. They flew in silence for a bit longer until Oliver swooped down in a heart-dropping dive before landing smoothly in the middle of a Quidditch pitch; Hogwarts' Quidditch pitch, to be more specific. Katie squealed when she noticed a red and white checkered blanket sprawled a few feet away, with a picnic basket on top. Also laying on the blanket was a bouquet of red roses, Katie's favorite flower.

"Oh, Oliver," Katie breathed as several unknown emotions flooded through her. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes and at that moment, Katie realized something ... she had fallen for Oliver all over again -- that was why Oliver's words at Quidditch practice had sounded overly harsh to her ears, and why she had flown off the handle. Katie had had an enormous crush on him for some time while he was still at Hogwarts, and for the first time, she realized that the two years he had been out of school had only been effective in intensifying her feelings for him rather than helping them disappear as she had hoped.

Oliver's light laugh broke Katie out of her thoughts and she stared at him for a moment before asking, "What?"

Through his laughter, Oliver asked, "Well, are you going to stare at that with stars in your eyes or are you going to join me for a picnic?" He gestured toward the blanket and Katie grinned before sitting down cross-legged. Smiling, Oliver followed her.

The two enjoyed a light midnight snack for a little while. Then, Katie leaned back on Oliver and gazed up at the star-filled sky. When she was a little girl, she had lain outside with her father and had tried to identify the constellations; that practice had soon ceased when her parents began arguing more and more and her father became more reclusive. Though she had never admitted it aloud -- or even to herself, for that matter -- she missed it. She missed how things used to be before, when her parents loved each other and when her mother wasn't paranoid about Thomas having various affairs behind her back ... when her older brother, Jake, still lived with them. Jake had moved out a few years earlier, as soon as he turned eighteen; now twenty-three, Jake shared a flat in London with his longtime girlfriend; he had escaped from the constant yelling and hatred that inhabitated the Bells' home, like Katie planned to do once she finished Hogwarts. Katie missed seeking solace in Jake whenever her parents' fighting was so tremendous that her ears hurt and she felt like crying ... unaware that Oliver noticed, Katie allowed herself to cry silently for a moment before Oliver's voice brought her crashing down to the real world.

"Katie?" Oliver asked, alarmed at Katie's sudden mood change. "What's wrong?"

She wiped her tears away and smiled blearily at him. "Nothing. Everything's perfect." And in that moment, it was.

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To be continued ...
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AN: We watched "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" in English on Friday -- it's a creepy, bizarre movie, but it's great! Hehe. I recommend it to anyone. :)

Anyway, this chapter was originally only going to contain the Quidditch practice and Katie and Oliver's fight, but I found that to be too short so I added the make up scene as well. That chapter was a lot of fun to write, especially the make up scene! I want an Oliver! Well, I'm not sure if this chapter was up to par with the two previous ones, but it was definitely fun to write.

Ali Lee ~ Thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying it so far; I'm definitely enjoying writing it.
Cinnamon ~ Wow, a nice, long review! Hm, let's just say that dear Ollie is on the train because ... because he is. Hehe. There will probably be more from the twins, but most of this fic will be focused around Oliver and Katie. There may be some Alicia/Fred romance in here somewhere! In chapter two, it is mentioned that Cassidy Baker is the new Keeper. Once again, a billion thanks!
Bil ~ Yes, I love reading stories about the minor characters, particularly Oliver and Katie. Thanks.
Elle-poohbear ~ Thank you and I'll try! :)