***
As the first quidditch match of the season drew nearer, the weather got unbelievably worse. Some even started to doubt that it was humanly possible to play in such conditions. As if it wasn't enough, just before our last practice before Saturday's match, Oliver stormed into the locker rooms with some very unpleasant news.
"We're not playing Slytherin! Flint's just been to see me." – I noticed he clenched his fists while saying Flint's name - "We're playing Hufflepuff instead!" – he said looking more furious than I had ever seen.
"Why?" – the rest of the team and I asked together, everyone very shocked.
"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured. But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances…"
"There's NOTHING WRONG with Malfoy's arm! He's faking it!" – Harry said getting nearly as mad as Oliver was.
"I know that, but we can't prove it. And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and their style's quite different. They've got a new captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory…"
At the mention of Cedric's name Angelina, Alicia and myself giggled.
"What?" – Oliver asked, looking puzzled.
"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" – Angelina asked.
"Strong and silent…" – I said. Truth to be told, Diggory was incredibly good-looking, but, apart from Oliver's fan club, I was probably one of the only girls in Hogwarts who didn't have a crush on him.
The girls started to giggle again and Fred, clearly jealous, said.
"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together. I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff are a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"
"We were playing in completely different conditions! Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin are trying wrong-foot us! We MUST win!"
"Oliver, calm down! We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. Seriously."
Clearly defeated, Oliver couldn't say anything else so he just walked out to the quidditch pitch and everyone else followed. Two hours of practice later, we were all soaking wet, shivering from head to toe and completely exhausted… as usual!
"Really, Katie! You should talk some sense into Oliver… he's going mad!" – Angelina said as me fellow chasers and I stepped into the showers.
"Me? Why ME?" – I asked turning on the water. Oh, the feeling of the hot water running through my body... no words could possibly describe how great that felt.
"Because you're the only one he listens to, that's why!" – I heard Alicia saying somewhere to my right.
"Honestly Katie, his obsession is getting out of control."
"Come on, he's not that obsessed, he's just passionate about quidditch!"
"Yeah, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wasn't evil, just slightly bitchy." – Angelina replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Fine! Fine! Maybe he IS obsessed, but you've got to cut him some slack… it's his last year, his last chance to win that cup!"
"It's your last year as well, but you're not going insane about it like he is!" 0 Alicia pointed matter-of-factly.
"That's because I don't have to… I'm not the captain!"
"Ok, now I must admit that you do have a point…"
"Yes, I do!"
"But you've got to admit that so do we…"
"Ok, I'll make you two a deal: I'll talk to Oliver and ask him to slow down a bit… but if, and only if, you two promise that you'll try to be more understandable with him!"
"Fair enough…" – Angel admitted.
"Plus, you also have to promise that you'll do your best in the next game!"
"Don't we always?" – Liz pointed jokingly.
"Good! No relaxing just because we're playing Hufflepuff! So, do we have a deal?"
"Deal!" – the two girls said together.
As expected, I was the last one of the girls to come out of the showers so, when I went back to the locker rooms, once again, Oliver was the only one left. And once again, he didn't have his shirt on. Honestly, we were in the middle of November, wasn't he cold?! Not that I was complaining, quite the contrary… I'd appreciate a shirtless Oliver Wood anytime! Oh my God… get a grip, Bell! Sure, Oliver IS hot, any female with at least one good eye and some good sense would recognise THAT, but this is getting ridiculous… he's your best friend! You shouldn't be having that sort of thoughts concerning him!
"Hey, Ollie!" – I said snapping out of my inner-monologue as I approached him.
"Oh, hi Kats… still here?!"
"Yeah… you know my shower routine…" – I said smiling.
"Right…" – he smiled too.
"What about you?! What are you still doing here?"
"Uh… would you believe if I said I was waiting for you?"
"Nope! Not this time Mr. Quidditch Obsessed."
"Too well, Kats! You know me too well…"
"Indeed… now, speak!"
"What's there to say?! It's the game, Katie! I'm worried about it. That was a nasty scheme Flint pulled this time. Can't say I was surprised, though… it was expected he'd try and pull something to screw us up!"
"Ollie, you need to calm down!"
"I know! But I don't know how to, Kats… how could I possibly calm down now?! It's the first game of the season, everything depends on it and we're completely unprepared for it!"
"Oliver, we're not unprepared!"
"Yes, we are! We are not prepared to take Hufflepuff, but no one seems to understand that… " – he said, almost yelled. – "You just don't get it Katie! This means so much to me…" – he added looking down, his voice now almost a whisper.
"Oliver, how can you say, that?! Of course I get it! It's my last year too, remember?! This means as much to me as it means to you. I may not obsess about it, like you do, but quidditch is just as important to me as it is to you!"
"I… I'm sorry, Kats! I'm just so nervous."
"I know, Ollie." – I said taking his hand – "It's alright… but listen to me: we CAN win that game! And I'm not saying this because I'm taking Hufflepuff for granted! I'm saying this because we have the best team in the school! That cup will have our name on it this year and that's that! I don't care what it takes… even if I have to steal it and write our names on it myself!!"
"Only you to make me laugh in times like this… I love you, Kit-Kat… did you know that?!" – Oliver said chuckling while kissing my forehead brotherly. I always thought it was the sweetest thing when he did that. However, something about it, I didn't know what nor why, sort of… bothered me that time?! Or maybe I was just tired.
"O-of course you do! Now, will you put on a shirt?! You wouldn't want to catch a pneumonia just before our first game, would you now?!" – I joked winking at him, feeling a bit uneasy for some reason.
"Yes, ma'am!" – he said getting up and moving towards his locker.
"Shall we, then?!" – Oliver said a couple of minutes later, already by the door, fully clothed with his bag on his shoulder.
"Oh… yeah, sure!" – I replied absent-mindedly while getting my stuff and walking to the door.
As usual, we talked the whole way back to the castle, but inside my head I could only hear one thing, over and over again: "I love you, Kit-Kat…"
-*-
The day of the match arrived much quicker than we'd all have liked. Before the game, the rest of the team and I had breakfast together, or at least we tried to. Apparently, Oliver's worries were contagious: everyone was so nervous that no one could actually eat anything. Wood, in his usual pre-match "Captain Mode", kept insisting for us to eat while not touching anything himself. At exactly 10:30 we all left the Great Hall together and crossed the ground towards the Quidditch pitch.
As we sat in our locker room, nobody dared to say a word. We all kept silent, waiting for Oliver's pep talk. However, and that must have been a first, it never came. He did try… But all he managed to do was to open his mouth then close it again with a sigh several times before giving up and leaving the room to the pitch, signalising for the rest of us to follow him.
Outside the weather was nearly chaotic: the rain was pouring down heavily, the noise of the thunders muffled the noise coming from the crowd on the stands, the wind was close to blowing us away and the visibility was close to none. I wondered how would Harry ever be able to see the Snitch, specially wearing glasses…
Coming from the opposite side, I could see some yellow blurs getting closer to the centre of the pitch: the Hufflepuff team. Diggory was a step ahead of the rest of his players, his beautiful features impossible to be properly distinguished through all the rain.
After both teams were in their positions, Oliver and Cedric approached Madam Hooch to the traditional handshake. I could see her lips moving, she was probably saying her usual "I want a nice clean game…" but I couldn't hear it. All I could hear was the storm and the fast, heavy beats of my heart as Hooch moved the whistle towards her lips. That was it, then… it was time to play!
As we heard the whistle, fourteen figures shot up in the air simultaneously…
-*-
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" – Fred was the first one who dared to say a word as we were on our way to the Hospital Wing to see Harry.
"What, that we lost the game or that one hundred dementors showed up to support Hufflepuff?" – Alicia asked full of bitter sarcasm.
"BOTH!" – the twins replied in a mix of exasperation and sadness.
"That was rotten luck…" – Angelina sighed.
"Too rotten!" – I completed as the five of us stepped inside the Hospital Wing.
For a second Madam Pomfrey looked like she would explode when she saw our team, all wet and covered with mud, entering the room. But after a few "pretty pleases", she was kind enough to let us stay. Harry's inseparable friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley (the twins younger brother) were already beside his bed, looking rather pale and worried.
I was really preoccupied as well… I still couldn't accept the fact that we had lost like that, but what was really worrying me was our seeker: he had fainted shortly after the dementors showed up and fallen off his broom of an incredible height. If Dumbledore hadn't been quick on performing a spell to ease his fall, I don't think our young Harry would have survived.
I shivered at that thought as I heard the twins whispering beside me.
"Lucky the ground was so soft."
"I thought he was dead for sure."
"But he didn't even break his glasses."
"That was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life." – Angelina said with a scared, tired voice.
Harry and I have never been close friends and quidditch was our only connection, but through the years I grew to love him like a little brother. I looked at his bed once again, as if wanting to make sure he was really all right. As I stared at him, my eyes filling with tears, I saw him shifting a bit, then snapping his eyes open. I had always loved Potter's amazingly green eyes, but I had never been so happy in seeing them before.
"Harry! How're feeling?" – Fred asked at once.
"What happened?" – was the first thing Harry managed to say.
"You fell off. Must've been – what – fifty feet?"
"We thought you'd died" – Alicia said shaking, to which Hermione responded with a squeaky noise.
"But the match, what happen? Are we having a replay?" – he asked at once. Honestly! The boy has barely survived an accident and all he cares about is Quidditch?! Oliver's definitely having a bad effect on us.
As no one answered, Harry realised the horrible truth.
"We didn't – lose?"
"Diggory got the Snitch, just after you fell. He didn't realise what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a re-match. But they won fair and square… even Wood admits it." – said George bitterly.
"Where is Wood?" – the boy asked, noticing for the first time our captain wasn't with us.
"Still in the showers, we think he's trying to drown himself." – Fred answered. Only a Weasley twin to manage a joke in times like this.
Harry, however, didn't seem to think it was funny. He put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair.
"C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the snitch before." – Fred said grabbing him by the shoulders.
"There had to be one time you didn't get it." – George completed.
"It's not over yet, we lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff lose to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin…"
"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points."
"But if they beat Ravenclaw…"
"No way, Ravenclaw are too good! But if Slytherin lose against Hufflepuff…"
"It all depends on the points – a margin of a hundred either way…" – Fred said ending their maths.
Harry didn't say anything else and we all remained silent for the next few minutes, until Madame Pomfrey came over and shooed us out, saying Harry needed to get some rest.
"We'll come and see you later. Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had." – Fred said reassuringly (which was rare for him) before we left.
The five of us walked slowly and quietly to the halls, no one really had anything to say. As we got to the Entrance Hall, Angelina, Alicia and the twins started walking towards the marble staircase, while I went to the front doors.
"Where are you going, Katie?" – George asked.
"I'm going to look for Oliver… I'm worried about him! He must be needing a friend right now."
"Ok… we'll see you back in the common room."
I waved goodbye to my teammates and walked through the big oak doors, towards the locker rooms. The rain was just as heavy as it had been earlier so I ran as fast as I could. When I finally got inside, I was even wetter than before – if that was possible – but at least I wasn't all covered in mud anymore.
I stood there quietly for a couple of minutes, just listening to the sound of running water, unsure of what to do next. After a few moments, the water stopped and I waited for Oliver to come out of the showers. He appeared some seconds later, wearing a red towel, facing the floor and looking devastated, apparently still unaware of my presence.
"Ollie-Wood?" – I spoke unsurely and he looked up at me. I could see all the pain in his tear filled eyes and it hurt me beyond words seeing him like that.
"Hi…" – he said looking down again with a shaky, husky voice.
"Are you ok?!" – I asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but I didn't know what to say.
"No… how could I be?! It's over, Kats… everything I've fought for, everything I've always wanted since I started at Hogwarts… my dream… it's over!"
I wasn't able to say anything, so I just walked to him and put my arms around him, holding him tightly.
"Tell me it didn't happen, Kats! Tell me this is just a bad dream and that I'll be waking up soon…"
"Well, I could tell you that… but it wouldn't be true!" - I felt him chuckle lightly against my shoulder. It was some sort of painful laughter, but at least it was a start. – "Now, cheer up, Ollie, it's not that bad!"
"Not that bad? It's over, Katie, we lost our chance at ever wining that cup."
"No we didn't, you silly! Haven't you calculated it yet? We still have a shot! While we were in the Hospital Wing, talking to Harry, the twins did some maths, it all depends on the points, now."
"Oh my God! Harry… how is he? Is he all right?" – Oliver jumped back, letting go of me.
"Yeah, he's fine now. Why didn't you go with us to see him?"
"I didn't want him to see me like this, I was afraid he'd only blame himself more and feel even worse for losing the match. I didn't want that to happen! It wasn't his fault…"
"Good point! He was feeling pretty bad… one of the first things he asked was about the match. You should have seen how devastated he looked when he found out we'd lost."
"I'll go see him first thing tomorrow… will you go with me?"
"Of course!" – I said smiling while taking his hand supportively, glad to see he was starting to feel a little better.
We stayed silent for a couple of minutes, until Oliver spoke again.
"I still can't believe we lost…" – he said squeezing my hand and I saw some of the previous pain returning to his eyes.
"Oy! Don't go there again, Ollie" – I said taking a step closer to him – "I've told you already, we still have a pretty good shot, it all depends on the results of the upcoming matches. But we still can make it… I've told you before and I'll tell you again: that cup will be ours!"
Oliver suddenly smiled – it was a faint smile, but still a smile nonetheless - then wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to him slightly.
"Thank you Kit-Kat!" – he said in a low voice, looking in my eyes.
"What for?" – I asked.
"For caring, for putting up with me, for cheering me up… that's why I lo-"
"Yeah, I know, you love me!" – I said smiling.
"Yes, I do…" – he said more seriously than I expected him to.
Neither of us spoke nor moved. We just stood there, still holding each other, facing each other. Suddenly I became aware of how close Oliver's face and mine were. Suddenly I became aware of that fact that he was wearing nothing but a towel. My heart started pounding in my chest and, looking more deeply into Oliver's eyes, I could see something there that I couldn't recognise, for I had never seen it before. My breath caught in my throat as I saw him closing his eyes and instinctively I close mine as well. I could feel his face getting closer to mine slowly as he moved one of his hands up to the back of my neck. Everything around us seemed to have stopped, I couldn't hear the storm anymore and I couldn't think straight.
I could almost feel his lips touching mine, but before anything could happen, we heard the doors of the locker rooms opening and immediately pulled apart. Jennifer appeared seconds later, looking slightly worried. At the sight of Oliver, however, her expression changed completely into a much cheekier one.
"Oliver Wood, what a scandal! There are ladies in the room, so if you don't mind putting some clothe on…?"
"Uh… right… sorry… excuse me!" – he said blushing deeply and walking back into the boys' showers.
"Uh… Jenny, what are you doing here?!" – I asked, maybe a bit too quick.
"Well, after the team arrived at the Common Room without you two, I got a little worried and decided to come check if everything was ok and if you didn't need some help."
"Oh… thanks, but I'm all right! Everything is fine!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why do you ask?"
"I don't know… you seem a bit off! And… why are you so flushed?"
"What? Flushed? I… I don't know, suppose it's because I came down here running, you know, 'cause of the rain! I mean, why else would I be flushed!" – I answered, once again probably talking a bit quicker than I should have.
"Kates, are you sure everything is ok?! Isn't there something you're not telling me?"
"No! I mean, yes, everything is ok and no, I'm not hiding anything from you!"
"Right…" – she said sounding rather suspicious. However, she was kept from asking further questions as Oliver appeared once again, this time fully clothed.
"Uh… shall we go back, then?" – he asked awkwardly, avoiding looking at me.
"Yeah, sure…" – I replied feeling just as awkward as he seemed.
Jennifer looked from me to Oliver suspiciously, but decided to let it go, at least for the time being. We walked back to the castle together, not talking much the whole way to Gryffindor Tower. I'm sure that that unusual situation between Oliver and me was enough to confirm Jen's guess that something wasn't right. I didn't know what to do or how to act… could the two of us have been more obvious?
To my surprise, as Jenny and I went up to the girls' dorm, leaving Oliver downstairs talking to some of his dorm mates, she still didn't make any questions. Maybe she just thought that we were both upset because of the match, maybe she knew something had happened but didn't know what to ask, or maybe she simply realised that I needed some time to myself. Whichever the case was, I was glad that she didn't bring the subject back again, 'cause I really didn't feel like talking. All I needed was some time alone to think.
Noticing that I was still wet and dirty, as soon as we reached our room, I went straight to the bathroom, for a much deserved bath. Before closing the door, I saw Jen sitting in her bed then grabbing a book. I suspected that she would wait for me to be done to ask what was really going on, so I decided to take my time showering.
As I stood under the hot water I still couldn't think straight. My head was an incredible mess, what the hell almost happened down in the locker rooms? How? Why? There were so many questions spinning in my mind, but no answer whatsoever. I didn't recall ever being so confused in my entire life!
***
How cliché was that?! ;) So, that's another chapter done… I'm not sure that it came out right, don't know if that's exactly how I wanted it to be, but… I tried my best and I'm really glad I finally managed to end this one. Once again, I'm sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, hope it was worth it. It's my longest chapter so far, that's ought to count for something?! Hehe! I don't know when I'll be able to post Chapter 8, but hopefully it won't take me that long next time. For one thing, I'm sure it won't be as hard to write as this one was… anyway this time I won't say what's coming next, so you'll all just have to wait and see for yourselves! Aren't I annoying?! ;)
