The first week went by in a daze for Oliver. He didn't have any classes to teach yet so he just roamed around the school popping into classes' every once in a while or chatting with a teacher in the teachers' room. At nights he headed up to the Gryffindor common room to hang out with Lee and the twins but he couldn't help to notice that Katie would get up and leave every time he showed up. He didn't blame her for avoiding him. Of all things to say to her he said that. He really wanted to tell her that they needed to talk but no! What comes out instead? Have a nice day. It was around three that Friday afternoon and he was looking over notes Madame Hooch left him for the first flying lessons on Monday. He soon caught a glimpse of three figures heading out to the pitch with brooms over their shoulders. He soon recognized them as Ron, Angelina and Katie. He quickly thought to himself. You know, it might be a good idea to try and talk to her. Get a smooth start before you got to tackle the past. Wood nodded to him-self and headed out onto the field bringing his broom just incase. Just as he appeared Angelina grinned,
"Oi Wood. You're just in time to help us test Ron. Want to be keeper for us?" she yelled towards him while Katie turned red and Ron turned white.
"You expect me to tryout with him! He'll block everything!" Katie shook her head focusing on the fact that they were giving Ron a tryout.
"Look at it this way. You will definitely be on the team if you can get by him. If not it's ok. One of the basic skills is if you're able to work with us," She said patting Ron on the back. Katie quickly mounted her broom and lifted off. She wanted to get as far away from Oliver as possible; the others soon followed her. Wood flew over to one of the goal posts and watched as Katie and Angelina explained the tryout to Ron. He looked over to see Harry and Hermione. They must of came to see how Ron would do. He turned his attention back to the chasers blocking most of what came his way. Only Angelina managed to score on him cause he wasn't paying attention, he was yelling something to Harry at the time. As the tryout started to end his attention drifted once more but this time Katie was the culprit. He couldn't help admire the way she flew and she had a cute way of passing the Quaffle too. Out of his eye he noticed Ron coming to try and score. He shook his head clear from his daydream and just in time stopped Ron from scoring. Angelina noticed that he was a little off that time because he was looking elsewhere and grinned as an idea popped into her head. She called Katie and Ron over into a huddle.
"I think I got an idea how to get past the great and almighty Wood. Let's do the "loop" play. But Katie… head towards him like normal making it look like you're gonna throw the ball than at the last minuet throw it to Ron. When you throw it I want you to toss your hair," Katie gave Angelina a puzzled look, "Trust me Katie, just do it. Ron I want you to aim for the right goal k?" He and Katie both shook there heads yes and got into formation. Wood saw that Angelina had the Quaffle first flying real low. He immediately knew they were doing "loop". He grinned as she passed it up to Ron who flew real high. He anticipated that Ron would throw it to Katie who was a few yards away from him. He grinned as Ron passed to Katie. He watched as she headed towards him then she did something that he didn't even see coming. She flipped her hair to one side and grinned at him. He fell into a trans as she quickly threw the Quaffle to Ron waiting at the other side of the goals. Before he knew what happen Ron scored. Katie screamed in joy as Wood came too. She flew over to Ron to inform him that he made the team. Angelina just flew over to Oliver grinning.
"What the hell was that?" he asked flabbergasted.
"It's called using our advantages," she patted Wood on the back and flew back down to the ground. Ron was already down there telling Harry and Hermione that he made the team. Katie was still up in the air practicing a few moves.
"Now or never Wood," he told him self. He flew over to where she was and cleared his voice. She looked up a little startled to see him looking down at the ground.
"Hi Oliver," she said a little nervous. God what does he want! I don't know but he looks so hot right now all sweaty.
"Hi Katie, um..." he started off a little more nervous then her, "I've been meaning to talk to you about some things." He got out trying to not sound too nervous. Why is this so hard? Don't know but she looks so sexy with her hair all messed up!
"Ok let's talk," she said lying down against her broom with her head tilted up. Wood got caught off guard for a moment as her green eyes stared right at him. Snapping himself out of it he decided he needed time to think about how he wanted to say things to her. The past seemed so complicated and sitting on a broom while you discussed such maters weren't the best thing to do.
"Well I was hoping we could talk tomorrow. Say the common room. This isn't the place really. I mean I need to do some work tonight and I'm sure you want to get cleaned up and all,"
"I suppose," she said wishing that they would just talk right now but then decided he had a good point, " so we'll talk tomorrow. After Dinner?"
"Sounds good to me. See you later Katie!" Feeling a little better Oliver flew off to hit the showers. Katie yelled after him,
"Later Wood!" then smiled feeling a little better her self. Finally we're going to talk. Well let's hope that goes well too.
The next day Wood waited for Katie in the Gryffindor common room. Everyone was down in the Great Hall eating but he was too nervous to eat. He had been thinking all day about how he was going to get things between the two started and 'I want you! Lets Snog!' wasn't the best of his ideas. What he did on the train that day was an impulse of emotions bottled up for five years. He had a small feeling that she liked him then but now he wasn't too sure. So first things first, he had to apologize for not writing to her and see if they could be friends. He'll work on winning her over later. Besides, Lee was right about the whole teacher thing. Even though he was still seen as an old student, a relationship with a student while he's supposed to be a teacher could ruin her and his social life. All of a sudden he heard footsteps coming down from the towers and was surprised to see a very sleepy Katie. She stood there for a moment and then realized that the common room wasn't empty. Oh God! What's he doing here? Don't know but he sure looks nice!
"Oliver! Didn't know you were down here. Why aren't you eating with the others?"
"I wasn't really hungry. Why are you here?"
"I didn't sleep well last night so I took a nap,"
"Sorry to here that," Wood answered but Katie just thought to her self. And the whole reason I didn't sleep well last night was because I couldn't stop thinking about you. And he really doesn't need to know that! Katie debated for a minuet then headed over to sit near Wood.
"I was just heading down to eat but sense we got the place to our selves why don't we have that talk that you wanted to have."
"Sounds good to me," Wood said a bit nervously and thought where he should begin, "Now I just want to be honest with you. So let me talk and explain things then you can give me an answer. Ok?" Katie nodded her head yes. What was he going to say?
"So about that day I kissed you," Katie froze. He was going to talk about that?
"I know I must of have caught you off guard and all but I couldn't help myself. I had liked you ever sense the day you got here and it was an impulsive thing for me to do. Especially sense I thought I'd never see you again," he chuckled a little, "Obviously I was wrong. First off I wanted to apologize for not writing to you. I should of after I did a stupid thing like that. I really should of have told you how I felt around my fifth year but that was the era of my Quidditch domination goal. I simply tried to ignore the fact that I liked you. I want us to start off with a clean slate if possible. Be friends and all. I feel stupid that I put us in a rut like this. So what do you say? Wanna be friends?" Katie sat there a moment and then it hit her. He had liked her for five years and he was admitting all this to her. Did he still like her though? May be she should confess as well? Before she could get out an answer the Weasley Twins came tumbling into the room, literally. They looked up laughing to see two red faces staring at them. Fred just laughed,
"Did we interrupt something?"
"No! Just talking a little with Katie," he whispered quietly to her, "so are we friends?" Smiling she whispered back,
"Of course we're friends and yes I do forgive you," she got up then said out loud, "well see you later boys. I'm going to go downstairs to eat," and then she left through the portrait hole. Right after she left the Twins rounded on Oliver.
"Ok now what did we interrupt?" Wood turned red.
"Well I told her everything. I decided to have us be friends right now. Don't want to push things. Especially when I don't know how she felt or feels about me."
"Sounds like you did the right thing to us. So how bad do you want to jump her?" George asked with an evil grin on his face. Wood just rolled his eyes and hit George with a pillow.