Thanks to the reviewers for Ch. 15 (xxGREEN BAYxx, Jayne1, and softballgeek 291) I really appreciate your input. Keep reviewing everyone.
I hope you all like this chapter! Read up!
Chapter Sixteen: Recovery
Katie felt a soft poke on the top of her head the next morning. "Angelina, bugger off. I'm so tired. Just leave me alone," she said sleepily, her eyes still shut.
This time she felt pokes on her forehead, nose, cheeks and eyes.
"Angelina, just 5 more minutes, and I promise I will be up," Katie said and winced at the pinch she received on her cheek.
Angelina didn't stop. The pokes continued, until they made their way to her extremely ticklish sides.
"Angelina!" Katie protested and bolted upright.
"Morning!" a chipper Oliver said to her.
Katie looked at him with her jaw dropped. "You're awake."
Oliver laughed. "It's good that you're not blind." It still hurt a little when he laughed, but when he had woken up that morning, Madam Pomfrey had given him many potions. Now, all his bones were healed, the gashes gone but he was still a little tender in some areas.
Katie blushed, but laughed with him. "It's good to see you are up. When did you wake up?"
"Once very early this morning, and again about an hour ago," he said as he admired her in the morning sunlight.
"Why didn't you wake me up the first time? I've been worried sick!" she said fixing her hair.
"Because I was in an insane amount of pain and because you looked too beautiful to wake up," he replied.
She smiled bashfully, and let out a small giggle. She stopped, and then a look of contemplation came over her face. She hesitated for a moment, but then finally pulled him into a hug.
"Katie?" Oliver asked confused.
"I'm so happy you're alright. I was so worried about you. Who did this?" she said, still holding on.
"Don't worry about that Katie, I'll take care of them," he said wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.
"It was Davies wasn't it?" Katie said pulling away to face him.
He nodded slowly, not letting go of her. "Don't worry about it, I'll take care of him. I don't want you to end up in here," he said referring to the Hospital Wing.
"I won't! I can take care of him! I'm not scared of him at all," Katie protested.
"I know. I'm just scared of what he might do to you. I couldn't handle seeing you in any pain. I can barely handle seeing you in this pain that I brought on you. How do you think I'd feel if you were in here, unconscious?" Oliver said, placing a hand on hers.
Katie swallowed. She looked deep into his dark, deep brown eyes and kissed his lips tenderly.
She pulled away from him before he could deepen the kiss. But it didn't matter, that small kiss was amazing. "Katie? What was that?"
"Let's put Rory behind us, ok? I don't forgive you, but let's just forget about it. I've got class in half an hour, so I have to go get ready. I'll come see you later," Katie said.
Oliver nodded. "Ok, that sounds great. Just promise me you won't go looking for Davies, or confront him, or doing anything else. I'll deal with him."
"I can't do that Oliver," she said rising, "If I see him I will confront him." Katie started off towards the exit.
"Katie!" he called to her back.
"I'll see you later Oliver," she said and shut the door behind her. Oliver prayed that Davies would not go near her.
---
Katie sprinted to her room and took the quickest shower of her life. She threw on her uniform, robe, and hat and rushed to the Great Hall, where hopefully she could at least have a slice of toast.
She entered the Great Hall with five minutes to spare. She sat down on the bench in her normal spot and snatched up a piece of toast. She quickly ate 2 slices and washed it down with some pumpkin juice. She sighed happily and looked up at her friends, who were looking at her with varying states of shock.
"Hungry?" Fred asked. He had a spoonful of oatmeal halfway up to his mouth, which hung open at the sight of Katie stuffing her face that fast.
"A little," Katie replied looking around at her friends, "What? So I was a little hungry. I needed to eat. Breakfast is going to be over in less than 5 minutes!"
"We know. It was just weird to see you eat like you're bonkers. What did Oliver do to you?" Angelina asked jokingly.
"Nothing, but he's awake and he's doing great. And I was right, it was Davies who did it," Katie retorted.
"So what are you going to do about it?" George asked, finishing his eggs.
"Oliver told me not to do a thing, but if I see Roger, I will do something. I don't know what, but I'll figure that out later," Katie told them as the bell rang to signify breakfast was over and that they were all to get to class. "Better be off then. Off to Potions we go!" she said to Angelina and Alicia.
"So did you and Oliver talk about anything special?" Alicia questioned as they reached the dungeons.
"Not really. I told him that, although I don't forgive him, we should just put Rory behind us. Move on, you know?" Katie said pushing open the door.
"What? How does that work? You don't forgive him, but you told him to forget the thing that made you not able to forgive him? That's messed up!" Angelina said, her face screwed up in confusion.
"It just works. It makes sense to me, it doesn't have to to you," Katie said back.
"So are you two gonna be a couple or not?" Alicia asked.
"I don't know. It's hard to say. I'm confused. We'll just have to wait and see I suppose," Katie said.
"You know you want him. Why not just be his girlfriend?" Alicia said to her as all 3 girls sat down at the back of the dark, cold classroom.
"We'll see ok!" Katie said slightly louder then normal, causing Angelina to start giggling, "I don't trust him anymore! That takes a lot of work to get back!"
"Fine, whatever," Angelina and Alicia said as Snape stormed into the room.
---
A few hours later, the 5 Gryffindors met up for lunch.
"Snape is so evil. I can't believe he gave us that much work for tomorrow! I'll be up all night!" Alicia complained.
"Well at least Professor Sprout didn't give us much work," Katie said trying to cheer her up. She had her meal and said, "Anyway, I'm going to go up to see how Oliver is doing."
"No need. I came to see you," Oliver said from behind, putting his hands on her shoulders.
Katie turned around, trying her hardest not to look too excited. There stood Oliver Wood, still slightly bruised, but none the less gorgeous. "Hey," she said in the most normal voice she could muster.
He smiled. "Could I talk to you for a minute outside?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Katie said as she rose, "I'll see you guys later."
Katie followed Oliver out of the Great Hall. She noticed he had a bit of a limp. "Are you ok Oliver?" she asked.
"Yeah, Madam Pomfrey says it'll go away within a few days. Don't worry about it," Oliver replied.
"That's good to hear. So what do you want to talk to me about?" she asked as they stopped on the marble staircase just outside the Great Hall.
"I wanted to talk to you about us. You and me," he said and took her hands in his.
"Oliver..." she started.
"I know that you don't trust me. I don't expect you to at the moment. But I really like you Katie and I mean a lot. I want to be with you, and I will do anything to make that happen," he said and kissed her hands delicately.
"I don't know. I like you too, but what you did really hurt me," she replied and squeezed his hands with affection.
"Before you say anything else, I want, no, I need to tell you something. Katie, since that moment I saw you, since the moment I laid eyes on you, I've wanted you. But I knew I could never have you. Every other girl since that moment hasn't compared to you at all. I've used them all to forget about you, but obviously that's been fairly unsuccessful," Oliver told her, looking into her eyes the whole time, "I promise you this isn't some lie. It's the complete truth."
Katie stood there in disbelief. "Why didn't you say anything before? I didn't realize you existed until I was in third year and I joined the Quidditch team." She looked away, unsure what else to say or think. "Oliver, you just can't tell me all this and expect me to automatically forgive you."
"I was so afraid of you. You were so beautiful, and intelligent, and talented, and you have one hell of a temper. You were exceptionally intimidating. Trust me, I wanted to talk to you everyday, but I couldn't do it. I was so happy when you joined the team. I could get close to you. And then you and Roger started and I just gave up for awhile. I finally realized this was my last chance. Now I'm really on my last chance. I don't expect you to automatically forgive me. I just want you to think about it. That's all," he said smiling weakly.
She nodded. "Alright."
The bell rang. Katie was just about to turn to leave but Oliver held her back. This was his revenge on Roger.
"Oliver? What are you doing? I have to go to Ancient Runes," Katie said perplexed.
"Waiting for Davies. This is our revenge," Oliver said, watching the doors to the Great Hall like a hawk.
"What? How is this revenge?" Katie asked.
"Wait and see," he told her. He had spotted Davies. He watched as he approached the stairs, and Oliver grabbed Katie's waist. Roger's eyes narrowed. He saw them. He kissed her affectionately on the cheek. "Katie, I really like you, and I'm so happy you're considering me as your boyfriend," Oliver said loudly, enough so Roger could hear.
"WHAT!?" Roger exclaimed and ripped Oliver away from Katie, "Katie? You can't go out with this loser."
"Go to hell Roger. I hate you. I can go out with whomever I want, and if I want Oliver, I'll go out with him. Come on Oliver, you said you'd walk me to class," she said and grabbed Oliver's hand.
"Whatever you say," Oliver said and they turned away from a very stunned Roger, trying not to laugh. He grabbed her books out of her arm, and carried them for her.
"You don't have to do that," Katie said, "You're a handicap."
"Thanks. But I'm not useless. Just let me carry them," Oliver said still holding Katie's hand. She stayed silent, and they walked the whole way to her class together.
They reached the Ancient Runes classroom, and Oliver gave Katie her books back. "Thank you for letting me walk you," he said and kissed her hand.
"And thank you for walking me. It was fun," she said blushing slightly.
"Anytime. We should do that more often. I'll see you at dinner," he said back.
"Yeah, definitely. See you then," she said and watched him walk away. She turned to walk into the room when her name was called.
"Oi, Bell! I saw that whole thing on the stairs!" Angelina said and caught up to her, "You should have seen Davies' face when you two walked away! I thought he was going to cry!" There were tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.
Alicia wasn't far behind Angelina. "Well Katie. Was that just an act with Oliver or no?"
"Yes and no. It was our revenge against Roger I guess. But he's right, I am considering him," Katie replied and held the door open for them, "I'll explain everything inside. Let's go."
---
Oliver walked down the corridors whistling. Things were better, finally. It felt great that Katie was thinking of him in a good way. He took out the picture that she'd left behind in the Hospital Wing. He smiled as he watched it. Two of his very favourite things were in the picture.
He walked along happily, not going to class because the matron had excused him from classes so he could rest and heal the rest of his injuries. He eventually made his way back to the common room. He was feeling rather tired, so he headed up to his dorm, crawled into bed and feel into a deep sleep.
---
When dinner rolled around, Oliver was nowhere to be found. This worried Katie.
"Have any of you seen Oliver? He said he'd be here for dinner," Katie asked the group.
"Aww look at that, Katie's all worried about her little Ollie," Fred said mockingly, causing Angelina, Alicia and George to laugh.
"Be quiet. What if someone decided to use him as a punching bag again?" she said concerned, pointing at the Ravenclaw table.
"Katie, first of all, there's Davies right there," George said pointing at the boy walking in the doors, "And secondly, you embarrassed him so bad today that he's realized that beating Oliver won't do anything to get you back. He's not that daft, he's a Ravenclaw after all. Plus look at the expression on his face. He'd be smiling if he'd beat up Oliver again. Oliver is probably on a broomstick somewhere. He's just lost track of time."
"George is right," Angelina said, smiling at him. "Just sit and eat!"
"Fine," Katie said, and started to load up her plate, "I'll look for him after."
Katie finished before the rest and left the table with a chorus of "Awww!!!" following her out of the Great Hall. She turned and glowered at her friends, causing them to laugh.
She went immediately to the Quidditch Pitch, the most likely place one would find Oliver Wood. But he wasn't there. She checked the change rooms – nothing. She went up to the Hospital Wing (just to be sure) and he wasn't there either. She headed to the common room, but he wasn't in there. She headed to his room and opened the door, slightly scared that he was with another girl. But when she looked in, she sighed in relief – he was sound asleep.
His eyes opened slowly, one at a time. "What are you doing here?" he asked smiling sleepily. His smile made her knees weak. It was such a mischievous smile, and it made he eyes twinkle.
"You said you'd be down at dinner. I was worried when you didn't show up. I thought maybe Davies go you again," Katie said gently, smiling and standing over him.
"Nope, right here, safe as can be," he said, "But it's cute that you were all worried about me and stuff." He grabbed at her sides.
"It's not funny," she said although she was smiling, "I really thought that you were actually in some sort of trouble. But since you're alright I'll leave you alone."
"I don't think so," Oliver said and pulled Katie down onto the bed beside him. They lay side by side looking into one another's eyes.
"We shouldn't do this Oliver," Katie said, "Percy might walk in."
"I won't keep you long. I just want to have you here for a while. It's been too long since I could hug you," he said and held her.
"I hugged you this morning," she said laughing.
"My point exactly," he said. She struggled to get up, but since he was larger then her, she didn't get far, "I just want to talk to you Katie, calm down. Everyone is still at dinner. How were your afternoon classes?"
"Fine, thank you. I love my arithmancy class," she said, and went on about it.
"Be quiet, you're giving me a headache. It's too complicated for me," he said and put a hand over her mouth. He watched her eyes narrow, and then crinkle up. She was smiling.
He removed his hand from her mouth. "How was your day?" she asked, still smiling.
"Well, I saw you, got some revenge on Davies, slept and saw you again. My day was excellent," he said with a laugh, and pulled her closer.
He lay there beside her, taking in the feeling of her next to him, taking in her scent, not knowing that she was doing the exact same thing he was.