Ok....apologies aren't enough to express the sorrow that I feel for making you readers wait. But, shamelessly....I'm sooooo sorry! Ok, now that the guilt is partially pushed out of my brain, I am here from a whole new level of sadness, ready to complete the story. And even though I'll feel loss from the security this story has given me...ha....I'm going to end it all here folks! Hopefully you all will forgive me enough to thank you for the last batch of reviews ducks, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter...I'm thinking my English either improved since the last update, or it could have very well plummeted. So, without further ado, the final chapter...
Before I could say 'Quidditch', the week of my last Hogwarts exams, ever, had arrived. Nifty how I used Quidditch considering I play Quidditch, don't you think? Ok, sorry.
On the morning of my first exam, I woke up with a yawn, and a migraine. What a surprise. Extremely reluctantly, I swung my feet out of the bed, and let my feet rest on the floor for a very long time, contemplating skipping the exams entirely, waving down the Night Bus, and getting the hell away from this place. Not too perky in the mornings.
I pushed off of the bed, and walked slowly towards the bathroom, my brain fogged with thoughts of sleep. I plastered a scowl on my face, and turned to face Angelina's bed when I found the door locked, sounds of a shower running inside.
Angelina was sitting motionless, on her bed, hair standing straight up, with a smile on her face. I stared at her for a moment, considering laughter, or perhaps a brief mocking cession.
"Good morning." I croaked out, all teeth visible in my attempt to smile. Damn, if I can't act too.
"Uh-huh." Angelina replied, glancing nervously towards the locked bathroom door. Scared? Oooh, fun.
"Are you ready for the exams today?" I tried to look innocent as Angelina began to twitch slightly. It had not been a good week for anyone, studying too late, and getting up too early. Unfortunately for others, I found this as a good chance to torture people, with enjoyment.
"No." Angelina's response was brief, and the look on her face was unmistakable fear.
"Don't worry. No one is completely prepared." Damn. There I go being nice again.
"You think?" Angelina looked hopeful, and her hands unexpectedly stopped gripping a squished pillow.
"Of course." I rolled my eyes, thoughts of staying mad at someone who had nothing to do with my migraine, or my life's situation, leaving my head.
I stood there, in front of the door, for a few seconds longer, before feebly walking back towards my bed. Might as well do some last minute studying. If I'm going to fail the freaking tests, damn if I'm not going to fail them with style.
Several minutes later, Alicia appeared from the bathroom, robe intact on her head, with a content smile.
"Well, that was refreshing." Angelina appeared annoyed at Alicia's comment, and retorted with,
"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are you trying to psych me out, or something?" Alicia rolled her eyes, and retreated behind the curtains of her bed. I smiled sheepishly, knowing that for once, I wasn't the biggest annoyance in the room. Hooray.
I decided to take the opportunity of silence to go take a shower, before someone else decided they had to use the bathroom for an hour. I had gotten up successfully, when my foot slipped on a spare piece of clothing, and I came tumbling down to the floor. Well, that was intelligent, Katie, you should try it more often. Make it a hobby.
I snapped my head upwards, to see two pairs of eyes watching me with humor.
"You think that's funny?" it was about time I snapped, I had gone all morning without my usual pre-test anxiety symptoms, and that can't be healthy. "Well, I bet you'll think this is funny too!" I picked up a book, threw it at the door, and burst into tears.
After a bit of emotional calming, I had made it to breakfast to find that basically all the other seventh years were in the same condition as me. Except, I had a nasty bruise on my left elbow. Right.
Alicia and Angelina kept on peering at me from over the top of their last-minute-studying books, probably waiting for me to start with the vulgar language.
"So. What test do we have first?" I set my silverware on the table, and waited for an answer, eyes on the two of them.
"Potions. As if I didn't have enough to worry about, we have to have the hardest subject to test on first." Alicia raved, setting down her book now that I was carrying on human conversation.
"Don't worry. As far as I'm concerned, we're all going to blow all of our tests, and have the rest of our lives to make up for it." I said casually stuffing some toast into my mouth. Angelina choked on this statement, and Alicia looked back down to her book, her eyes fervently moving across the page. I'm a bad, bad, evil person.
I had just been gazing around the hall, waiting to be dismissed from breakfast, when I saw Oliver walking in, dark circles surrounding his eyes. Ever since that night when he didn't follow me, I had been avoiding him constantly, horrified of what would happen if I had to talk to him. I had been trying to forget his name, face, and all other features of him, but one does not forget Oliver Wood that easily. He had been haunting my dreams the last week, ranting about how they were making brooms into books for educational purposes. I've been trying to cut back on the candy.
Before I made an idiot out of myself, absently gawking at him, I stood up from the table and awkwardly began to ramble some excuse about leaving my study sheets back in the common room. Luckily, the girls were too busy studying to care about it, so I started off in the opposite direction. Ironically, Fred and George just happened to be walking that same way.
"Top of the morning to you, Lady Katie," Fred bowed, and then took my right arm in his, George doing the same with his left arm.
"It is indeed a splendid morning." George said, steering me back to the table.
"Well, I don't know, I thought it was rather crummy outside myself. Now if you don't mind, I have some studying to–," I tried to jerk my arms away, but Fred just clicked his tongue.
"Nope. Sorry Katesy." he pushed me down into a seat, "You see, we are here on a mission. A friend of ours needs to be-a-talking to you, so we decided we would go and help the lad out." Ok, what the hell is up with the leprechaun talk? Are they trying to increase my pre-test anxiety?
"No, no, no," I began, "I am extremely busy, and I am also on a very important mission. You see, some people that take these test things, they like to pass them. Yes, very odd of them isn't it? Well, I happen to be one of those people. I know, very sad. And you see–," I was waving my hands to demonstrate the importance, when Oliver walked up and sat right across from me. Why me? Why, the hell, is it always me?
"Hello Katie. Thank you Fred," he nodded to Fred, "George," another nod, "I think I can handle it from here." Fred and George both stood up and left, leaving me and Mr. Oliver Wood at the end of the table, isolated, to talk. Bloody hell. What's a girl to do?
Oliver was staring at me, directly, unblinkingly, waiting for me to say something. Well, unless he considers the twitching of my eye, conversation, he's going to be waiting for a hell of a long time for me to say something.
"Right." Oliver looked down at his hands unexpectedly, probably figuring that I wasn't going to be much of a talker. "Listen, I know you've been extremely busy lately, with the tests and all, but I've kind of noticed that you've been, you know...um....er...avoiding me." he looked up at me, saw no motion (except for the occasional twitch), and then looked back down at his hands.
"Well, I was just kind of wondering....well....you know...why?" he risked another look up, but this time he stared at me for a few seconds before returning his gaze to his hands.
"Okay. This is getting difficult." he moved his hands up to his head and he began massaging his eyes. "I'm sorry, Katie, I really truly am. I just was, well...um...er...–,"
"Oliver." he quickly jerked his brown eyes back to me, as he waited for me to continue. "You did nothing wrong. It was all me." I could feel all the emotional-ness returning, and I knew that I wasn't up for the make-up scenario quite yet. That's all I need is one more thing to get me away from studying, and ruining the rest of my life.
"I'm the one who is sorry. Now if you'll excuse me for a second, I have to study so I can have some kind of reliable future." I said, a little louder than I had intended to, and I got up and left the table wondering who had died and made me the biggest bitch at Hogwarts.
"Do you seriously think you failed it?" Angelina looked horrified, later that evening in the common room, at my revelation.
"Oh, there's no doubt. The potion was supposed to turn green, right?" I started, while absently flipping through the pages of a charms book.
"I think so...mine was more of a forest green. Do you think that'll be okay?" Alicia's eyes bugged out at the thought of making such a mistake, and I just rolled my eyes at her. Angelina looked as if she was seriously thinking about the seriousness of Alicia's situation. Okay, I need new friends.
"Anyways....my potion started off okay, but then my hand gripped one of the bottles too hard, and it broke spilling all of it's contents into the pot."
"No!" Alicia gasped.
"It didn't!" Angelina squealed.
"Yes! So, the potion turns some freakish brown color, and explodes, splashing up into the face of my adjudicator. I would have laughed, but when I seriously thought about it, it wasn't that funny after all." I was surprised that she hadn't expelled me from the magical world right then and there. But after a few minutes, her boils started to stop swelling, and she seemed to be less pissed. Unfortunately, I don't think it was enough to save my grade.
"Well, I had a horrible time with my written exam." Alicia began, and I just tuned her out, knowing that her mistakes were going to be petty, probably had something to do with the wrong color of ink or something.
I glanced down at my charms book, got bored, and then moved my gaze to the common room. Lee Jordan appeared to be casting a spell on his book, to make it sing and dance, Hermonie Granger was in a dark corner, sitting next to a pile of books that was much taller than her, or anyone else in the room, her eyes transfixed moving rapidly over every word on the page. Fred and George were at one of the main tables performing tricks with their "inventions", not caring that they wouldn't have any idea what to write on their exams on the next afternoon. Finally, my gaze rested upon Oliver, and I felt a pang of regret when I saw him looking horrible, sitting bent over in a chair trying to memorize some random fact. Don't get me wrong, he was still incredibly handsome, even when his back looked like it was deformed.
I sighed, wishing that I could go over and talk to him, say something stupid, and brighten up his evening. But, with the way I treated him this morning, I'd be surprised if he even let me get within speaking distance of him. I turned back to Alicia and Angelina, and regretfully heard:
"And then I realized that I was using ink instead of lead, and that I couldn't erase the answer!"
"Oh my gosh!"
"Katie! It's the last day of exams!" I was awakened early (and I mean freaking early) by the piercing scream of my mindless friend, Angelina.
"Thanks, dumb-ass. As if I already didn't know that!" I hurled back, burying my face further into my pillow. I'm a little, well touchy, in the mornings, if you want to call it that. I heard a loud sniffle, followed by silence. Dammit.
"I'm sorry, Angelina." I poked my head out of the curtains surrounding my bed, to look for Angelina. She was sitting on her perfectly folded bed, wearing fresh clothes, and her hair was already fixed. How in the hell do you get to be a morning person? I seriously want to know the secret. It could come in handy very quickly.
"I didn't mean it." I got out of bed, and walked over to her bed, and sat down next to her. "I'm just real snappy in the mornings, you know that. You've only been living with me here at Hogwarts for seven years."
"Yeah, I guess. I'm just excited because now we can finally relax, and get in a little friendship time before we...before we...." Tears. Everywhere. Great. Now I have a weepy teenager on my hands, and I forgot to study the third chapter for the History of Magic test. Perfect.
I glanced around for Alicia, as Angelina began sobbing uncontrollably, and upon not finding her in sight, I patted Angelina's back awkwardly.
"Let's not think about unhappy things right now, we'll just leave that for when we absolutely have to." the truth was, however, that this unnerving truth was roaming in the back of my head too. What was I going to do with my life? What was I, Katie Bell, capable of doing successfully in the world? And, furthermore, could I live life without the support of friends backing me at every second? All these thoughts seemed to clot up in my head, and then suddenly Oliver's face would rush back into my vision. I wasn't quite sure what my brain was trying to tell me, but I had a pretty good idea of what my heart was telling me. And that made my life, far more difficult than I had wanted it to be during the final days at Hogwarts.
"Ok." Angelina sniffled, a bunch of times, and then wiped her eyes on her sleeve, leaving a noticeable mark on her shirt.
"Ok. Now are we ready for this next test, or what?" I spoke to Angelina with enthusiasm, as she nodded, probably feeling a little better, but inside the feelings of nervousness were only beginning to start for me.
"Hey Katie, guess what?!" it was the third time I had been asked this by Alicia and I was getting pissed off.
"No." I growled, glaring at Alicia, who was sitting across the table from me at dinner that night. Even though I was extremely excited to be done testing, the aftermath of the quizzes was losing it's glow. Now all I had to do was wait and see how poorly I did on the tests, and then gauge how crappy of a job I would be working at for the rest of my life. Real optimistic there, Katie.
"What?!" Angelina played stupid, smiling broadly.
"No more tests!" Alicia squealed, and then proceeded to exchange high-fives with Angelina. I seriously need to find new friends. It seemed to me that Alicia had changed somehow...she had grown...immature. Oh well, at least it wasn't me. I'm sure it's just a phase. Heh, that would be funny as hell if it wasn't.
"Woo." I swung an imaginary lasso above my head, unenthusiastic, frown plain upon my face.
"So what are we going to do with our two days of free time?" Alicia asked excitedly, looking at me to answer.
"I don't know, stroll around the campus, visit with friends and teachers, maybe?" I suggested, feeling like an idiot. It was at that exact moment, that Oliver walked by, casting a glance in my direction, but then veering to the other side of the table, near Fred and George. I tried not to react to this, knowing that Alicia or Angelina would pick up the sign, but unfortunately, by scratching my ear, they noticed the awkwardness.
"What about you and Oliver?" Alicia inquired, suddenly serious. Dammit, just when you don't want someone to notice, the person's entire focus is placed on you. Just my freaking luck.
"What about me and Oliver. There's nothing to say." I sipped on some orange juice through a straw, hoping that it would get me out of having to answer the questions. Wrong again.
"So, you're just never going to talk to him again, is that it?" Angelina leaned forward, also thinking this was an essential conversation.
"Yeah, I guess so." I mumbled, feeling two inches high.
"Katie Bell, that has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Alicia said, thoroughly annoyed, losing the immature side. What luck.
"Yeah, that's totally not the way to resolve the situation." Angelina set down her fork and crossed her arms.
"You have to talk to him. I mean, the two of you together, you were a perfect match. And don't try to tell me that you don't still have feelings for him, because it's the most obvious thing in the world." Alicia also crossed her arms across her chest, and they both stared me down. Creepy.
Damn. My actions were obvious all along. I wonder if Oliver noticed too. Probably, I'm apparently the only person that doesn't know that I still have feelings for Oliver. Hmm. Must have missed the memo.
"I...um...er..." I managed to get out. " I don't want to do the wrong thing."
"What do you think is the wrong thing, Katie? Living your entire life not knowing if Oliver was the one, or just simply talking to him. He's not the one who's being stubborn." Alicia chided.
"Yeah." Angelina added stupidly, and I would have felt the urge to laugh, except for that I wanted to bawl right now. First I had to give up Oliver, and now my friends are turning against me for the decision. What the hell is a girl supposed to do?
"Ok, listen." I snapped, losing control. "You want to know the reason why I won't make up with Oliver? Fine. He's going to be someone big in the world, and I'm not. That's as simple as it is. I wish I could be with him, yes, but I know I'm not good enough for him. Even if I was with him, eventually he would realize that I'm not the one he wanted, and then I would be crushed. I might as well nip it in the bud before I get too comfortable, and he decides that it's time for me to leave." Before I knew it, I was sobbing, and Alicia and Angelina stared at me, open mouthed. Luckily, the hall was noisy, and probably no one could overhear our conversation, otherwise I would have even more embarrassment to deal with.
"Katie." Alicia's face was entirely solemn, "What gives you the idea that you're not good enough?" I shook my head, not willing to answer. "You are good enough for him, and he's not judging you, either. And you cant say what's going to happen in the future, no one knows. I can't believe that you would sink to thinking that Oliver's going to hurt you, when you have no idea what life has planned for you."
"You've been hurting him, Katie, with the lack of trust." Angelina chimed in. I sat, staring dumbly at the table, sobbing inconsistently, knowing that I was about to sink into full fledged bawling.
"I have to go." I said shortly, my nose runny. I stood up awkwardly, and began walking away from the table.
"Katie." I heard his voice from behind me, and I knew that he had heard the whole thing. But, I couldn't talk to him, not now.
"I'm sorry," I threw over my shoulder, and I hurried towards the doors. I walked quickly up the stairs, into the common room, I ran up to my dormitory, threw myself on the bed, and cried my eyes out.
I awoke feeling groggy, unsure of what had woken me up. I heard the sound of a train whistle, and remembered where I was. I turned to gaze out the Hogwarts Express window, to see the sunny blue skies, not a cloud in the vicinity of the air. The rolling hills were lush with green, flowers dotting the expanse of the land. I leaned back on the seat, sighed, and gazed around the empty compartment.
My last two days at Hogwarts seemed to have progressed extremely slow, with the lack of human interaction. I had avoided everyone, going outside from dawn till dusk, watching for approaching persons with caution. I had eaten conservatively, the food that I had stored in my trunk at Christmas time, so that I wouldn't have to enter the Great Hall with the other students. It wasn't exactly how I had envisioned spending my last moments at Hogwarts, but things never work out like you'd want them to.
There was a slight knock at the compartment door, and I jumped, the noise scaring me out of my reverie.
"Yes?" I said, cracking open the door.
"Anything from the trolley, dear?" the old witch asked.
"No, thank you." I smiled, and waited for her to continue moving. She gave me a grim look, then turned back to walking to the next compartment.
I sighed, closed the door, then I turned back to my seat. My vision was filled with red smoke and I screamed, raising my arms to my face in defensive. Arms closed around me, and I was pulled towards someone who smelled of coco and cookies. Odd. I should be panicking, but I had stopped screaming, and I felt oddly comfortable.
The red smoke soon cleared, and I found myself staring up at Oliver Wood, grin broad on his face.
"Hello darling."
"What the hell is your problem?! You scared the shit out of me!" I raged, pushing myself away from him. "There is such a thing as blood pressure to consider, you know!" I tried to open the door to escape, but it 'mysteriously' was jammed shut.
"I'm sorry, Katie, but we seriously need to talk." he turned me towards him, and then proceeded to push me down on a seat. He took the one across from me, he leaned forward and cupped my hands in his.
"I don't think–," I started.
"Listen to me, don't talk, listen." his brown eyes were so intense, plain with emotion, that I felt myself tearing inside at the very thought that I may have hurt him.
"I love you." I felt goose bumps all over my arms, and I felt warm and fuzzy, shock coursing through my body.
"I love you, Katie Bell, and nothing is ever going to change that. I don't care what you become, or if some freak accident leaves you eyeball-less, I'll still stay by your side. You're part of me, you're the part that I actually like. I know we may quarrel, but everyone does, everyone disagrees, it's a natural part of life. We can make it together I know we can, with you by my side, I'm not afraid of facing any challenge. So, Katie....will with me?" I felt like I was about to die, and nothing, nothing could ever ruin this moment.
"Are you...proposing?" I choked out, my eyes most likely bulging out. Oliver slowly reached into his pocket, looked confused, tried the other one, and then he began to look panicky.
"Holy shit. I lost the ring." panicking, he stood up, and began to feel all over his body, searching for the ring. I sat, still in shock, when a giggle found it's way out of my mouth. Oliver looked at me, nervousness in his eyes, and then proceeded to look around the compartment.
"Oliver." he continued.
"Oliver." he still searched.
"OLIVER!" finally I got his attention. "It's alright. I don't need a ring. Just your promise is enough." I had tears welling up in my eyes, and Oliver smiled, then jerked me out of my seat to envelope me in a fully fledged hug.
"Katie Bell, I love you so much."
"I love you too." it was the first time I had ever said these words to him, knowing what I meant, and he looked absolutely delighted.
"Sorry about the tacky entrance, Fred and George said it would make a good impression. You know, the smoke and everything. Now that I think about it, it was kind of stupid, wasn't it?" I bit my tongue and nodded, and we both laughed.
"The ring thing was a little tacky too." he added, and I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"That's ok, I'm sure it happens all the time. Ok, maybe not all the time, but often enough." I added, smiling widely.
The jerking stop of the train ended our hug, both of us falling on to the seat. Leave it to the damn train to ruin my perfect moment.
"Well, what from here?" Oliver's eyebrows were raised, as he stood up and offered me a hand.
"I don't know." I grabbed his hand, pulling myself up, and locked my fingers with his. "Let's just see what the future has in store for us."
"Well, that sounds pretty good to me." he opened the 'mysteriously' jammed door with ease, and we walked out together, both grinning like idiots.
"Oh, one thing." I stopped him, and he looked at me, alarmed.
"What?" he said quickly.
"Your hair looks really bad like that." I stared up at his mane, he had parted it straight down the center, and he looked like a nerd. Well, he was still adorable, but I decided that I should protect from the embarrassment he would receive from others, now that we were 'together'.
As we stepped out of the train, together, smiling, together, and walking towards our friends, together, I couldn't think of anything else in the world that I wanted. And I knew that we would make it last forever, because we, from experience, knew that there's no such thing as a match made in heaven.
The End
Squeals with laugher. Ok, so it is a cheesy ending, I know, but it works for me! Thank you so much to everyone that has assisted me in the story! Especially my beta reader! All of the reviews, I hold each one with pride, and I can't thank you enough...yeah...um... In regards to the next story that I would like to write, I would like your opinion. Do you think I should write another story with Oliver and Katie during the school period, like this one, or a post-Hogwarts story? You can leave the suggestions with your review, if you would be so kind, and I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks so much again! And I hope that you all have a wonderful, glorious day! :) (sorry for the cheesy-ness, but I'm a sap, what can I say?)