Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Katie Bell has been alone for the last four years. After the wedding of her best friend, she heads to the Leakey Cauldron. After she gets drunk, will she make some mistakes that she'll regret later? Oliver Wood/Katie Bell

Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine, neither is Ron, nor is Katie, nor is Oliver, nor is...oh you get it!

Chapter Two: Mistakes Happen...

"Katie, is that you?" Oliver repeated, as I stared unflattering at him with my mouth wide open at the mere sight of him.

The last time I saw Oliver, we were graduating from Hogwarts. That was damn near four years ago!! He had started playing for Puddlemere United Quidditch team. Damn, he fine... Was the first thing that popped into my definitely intoxicated mind. He was taller than me, which is saying a lot, considering the majority of men that I've gone out with have been level with my chest. Let's just say they didn't do much talking to my face on those dates. His light brownish-blonde hair flopped across his forehead, sometimes covering his sexy dark brown eyes. His hands were in the pants of his khakis and his oversized Quidditch shirt didn't quite hide the muscles that he acquired in Quidditch practice.

I realized I was staring and I started. "Um...er...yeah, I'm Katie...in the...Leaky Place!" I blurted out.

Oliver's eyes went up. "Katie, are you ok?"

For some other reason or another, that ticked me off. Please remember, I was fried. "I'm perfect, wonderful, stu...stu...wonderful!" I said, unable to pronounce 'stupendous'.

I turned my back on Oliver and looked at Seamus to find him mixing me a different drink. "What's this?" I asked as he put a cup of black liquid in front of me.

"Coffee." Seamus said. "You're drunk."

"I am not!" I said indignantly. "I'm perfectly shnober!"

Oliver snorted. I turned to him, giving him the trademarked Katie-Bell-Death-Glare. He had sat down next to me at the bar without me even realizing it. I turned back to Seamus. "I pay for Butterbears, you hand them over! I don't pay for a lecture!"

Oliver looked from me to Seamus. "How many has she had?"

Seamus shrugged. "More than six, less than a dozen."

Oliver's eyebrows had a very good chance of disappearing into his hairline. "Katie, I'm taking you home." He said, taking my upper arm in his hand and standing up.

"Oh, just leave me alone!" I yelled, yanking my arm out of Oliver's grip and nearly falling over. Several customers turned in their chairs to look at the pair of us. "Oh, whatcha lookin' at?" I sneered. I turned back to Oliver. "I'm perfectly capable of finding my house." But now that I thought of it, where in Gaia's name was my house?

Oliver looked at me seriously, his dark brown eyes raking my face. "Kates, you never drink...or at least you didn't, unless something was wrong." He tucked a strand of hair that had escaped the death trap of hairspray behind my ear. "Come take a walk with me."

He turned and walked out the door. I hesitated. I saw several women in the restaurant give me a dirty look. I gave one right back. I wondered if I should go with Oliver. But then again...England's most eligible bachelor is asking me to go on a walk with him. Who can resist that?? I followed him out the door.

"What's up, Kates?" He asked me as we walked along the streets. I was tripping every few meters, but I didn't really notice. It took me a couple seconds to realize that he had used my old nickname from Hogwarts.

I really didn't want to pour my entire life story on Oliver, but unfortunately my un-rational side was armed and ready. "You ever heard of the Muggle phrase, 'Always a bridesmaid, never a bride'?" I asked him. I saw him nod his head slightly, and I continued. "Whoever said that must've known me cuz here I am, Bridesmaid of the Year, but yet I haven't had a boyfriend since my sixth year at Hogwarts!" I threw my hands in the air and tripped into Oliver, but continued, barely rattled by the fall. "I've been in eight weddings!" I held up nine fingers. Oliver put down one. "Eight! And in every one, I was the bridesmaid. It's been killing me...Killing me softly..." I hummed.

I continued humming the song, Killing Me Softly. It lasted several minutes before I got a brilliant idea. "Marry me Ollie!" I yelled into the night air, startling an old couple on the other side of the street.

Oliver looked taken aback. "What?"

"Marry me!" I repeated, a grin taking over my features. "That would solve all my problems!" To my great surprise, Oliver began to chuckle loudly.

"What may I ask is so dern funny?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"For one thing, Kates, you just said dern." Oliver said, trying not to laugh. "And you're really, really, really drunk."

"I most certainly am not!" I replied haughtily.

"Katie, where's your house?"

"It's...um..." I looked around me. I didn't recognize anything. "I don't know." I finally admitted.

Oliver looked at me with a sympathetic smile. "Come on, Kates. You can spend the night at my place." He said. "It isn't far."

*+*

I woke up in a soft bed with an incredible headache. I groaned, when the pain registered in my brain. I lay there, feeling the pain going through my system. I realized in a sudden flash that I wasn't in my bed. My bed had covers with large red splashes of flowers, not pure white down comfertors. The sun was shining through a window, but the window in my room was on the other side of the wall. I turned over in the bed to see...

Oliver Wood was asleep in the same bed as me.

A/N: I know, I know, each chapter seems to end with Ollie, but it's just for the first two chapters. *smiles* but hey, he is cute!

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