Authors Note: Sooo sorry for keeping you all waiting so long!! I feel sso bad! Hope you haven't lost the thread of the story affter all this time! When did I last update this? Like 2 whole weeks? Anyway, this is a really long chapter. It's like 10 pages, so read it, review it, and I hope you enjoy it!
Chapter 3
Quiddich Match
"They lied! Those lousy, cheating scumbags!" Oliver raged, storming into the common room and throwing himself onto the couch next to Katie. He punched a pillow in anger.
"What happened Oliver?" She asked comfortingly.
"Those lousy, stinking Slytherins! That's what happened!" He fumed, pounding the pillow again.
"What did they do?" She asked calmly.
"They're not playing us tomorrow! They canceled at the last minute! We're playing Hufflepuff!" Oliver declared, outraged. Katie should have guessed it would be about Quiddich, it was always about Quiddich with Oliver. Lately he had been stretched to the breaking point over this Quiddich game against Slytherin.
"But Oliver, that's a good thing." Katie told him.
"How!? How is that in any was a good thing?" Oliver was almost screaming. When he got mad he got flustered, and when he was flustered that incredible, under-the-surface accent always became more pronounced. Katie tried hard to conceal a smile.
"Well, Oliver, Hufflepuff is worse than Slytherin, it will be easy to beat them. We don't need to worry about the first game anymore." Katie explained to him with the air of explaining something very simple to someone very thick.
"No, we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin. If we're not, that changes everything!" Oliver said, taking deep, shallow breaths and punching the pillow periodically.
"But Oliver, Hufflepuff isn't as good as Slytherin." Katie said again.
"But Katie, they're better this year. Diggory is their captain, and he's got a whole new training routine, all new tactics. Trust me, they're good." Oliver said.
"Well, we can just practice extra hard this practice." Katie said sympathetically.
"We're going to have to. I'm going down now to get ready, see you in a half hour." Oliver said, somewhat despondently.
Katie sighed, turning back to her charms textbook, which she had been reviewing from. She decided that studying was useless ten minutes later and went to go sit with Alicia.
"Practice is going to be brutal." Katie said, sitting down next to her and Lee.
"I heard Oliver yelling a minute ago, what's up?" Alicia asked.
"We're playing Hufflepuff, be prepared for hell." Katie said absently.
"Oh no." Alicia said, putting her head on the table. "I was thinking of bailing on practice, telling him I'd forgotten. I'd better not I suppose if he's going to be in a bad mood. He'd just take it out on me."
"Isn't it a good thing if you're playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin? It'll give you a leg up on the season." Lee said.
"Don't let Oliver hear you say that. It's exactly the kind of attitude we don't need, apparently. He seems to think we'll be over confident, and that Diggory has really turned the team around." Katie said morosely.
"Great." Lee said sarcastically, turning back to his transfiguration homework.
"Tell me about it." Katie said, also groaning. She slammed her head onto the table. "And don't any of you dare skive off, otherwise he'll take it out on the rest of us. We'd better get going, I do not want to cross him any more than absolutely necessary. He's going to be wound tighter than a top without us being late on top of it all."
"Good point." The others agreed.
Practice was awful. Oliver was just as bad as they had imagined, except crankier. He yelled at Harry when he suggested that it was a good thing that they had reorganized the schedule.
"That's exactly what they're expecting us to think!" Oliver ranted like it was all a maniacal scheme on the part of Slytherin to take over the world. "They're trying to wrong foot us, and we cannot let them! It's exactly the sort of thing they'd do to." Oliver continued. And then he was off. He snapped at George so loudly and severely that he fell of his broom into the mud.
On top of it all, the drizzle that had started earlier was now a full blown storm. Katie crossed her fingers that it would let up by tomorrow, because she could barely see the bright red quaffle, and she doubted that Harry was having a better time seeing the snitch. Oliver was grumpy, the practice had been a flop. They hadn't made any progress whatsoever.
Katie had dried off from the steaming shower and had just changed into her normal robes when she heard a pounding, followed by restless pacing from the other end of the locker room.
"Katie!" Oliver exclaimed when she peeked around the lockers to find him. Had he been waiting for her? she wondered. She hoped he had. Her heart gave a little thrill at the very idea of it.
"Oliver? What are you doing? I thought I was alone here." Katie suggested.
"I was waiting for you. I was wondering..." He trailed off.
Was he finally going to ask her out? Was he going to tell her that he felt the same way she did, and sweep her off her feet, and then they would gallop off into the sunset? She began to imagine it now, Oliver in his shining armor, her in a flowing pink dress, riding together on his white stallion.
"Katie?" Oliver said. She jerked back to reality. "Earth to Katie." Oliver said, waving a hand enthusiastically in front of her face. "Tell me honestly, what do you think?"
"About what?" Katie asked, dazedly.
"About the block! You know, when Angelina came from the left and I went right with that inverted roll thing. Was that too show-offy?" He asked earnestly.
"Huh?"
"Was it too show-offy." He persisted. "You're the only one I can trust to tell me the truth." Oliver told her.
"Honestly, Oliver, I don't see that it really matters all that much." Katie told him. What was he talking about? Inverted rolls? She had never even noticed him doing anything of the sort.
"What do you mean not important?? Doesn't matter? Of course it matters! Come on Katie! That could be the difference between the quiddich cup and nothing! No one remembers the guy who came in second!" Oliver went off into a tirade and Katie felt her attention shifting. Her eyes glazed over. So much for her knight in shining armor, once again "Katie? Are you even listening? You're such a dreamer Katie. Come on, we'll miss dinner if we don't hurry." Oliver told her, sighing.
He looked at her sideways, giving her his disappointed look. Oliver's disappointed look was enough to make Katie feel six years old again. His hair drooped and the corners of his mouth went down. Worst of all were his eyes. They went all sad, and calm. Like an 'I pity you for being so stupid, too bad you aren't nearly as perfect as me' look. Katie sighed.
"Now you're mad at me. Look, Oliver, I didn't even notice it. I don't think it's that big of a deal. You asked me to be honest? Here's honest, the game is not going to change because of ten points, and if it does, then it's because we weren't playing well anyway. Harry catching the snitch is the important thing okay? If he misses it, it's over, no matter how many times you block the quaffle. It all comes down to Harry and Cedric." Katie told him.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Oliver said, shaking his hair out of his eyes. He looked disgruntled and agitated.
"I don't mean to offend you, Ollie, I just thought you wanted me to be honest." Katie said.
"Now you're mad at me! Don't give me that disappointed look!" Oliver said, after looking at her again.
"I don't have a disappointed look." Katie said, surprised.
"Of course you do! It's enough to make me want to crawl into a corner and rot. You make me feel so small Katie. I probably deserve it, of course. I don't mean to take it out on you. You just always listen. You're the only one who will still be my friend if I do go off on you occasionally." Oliver told her.
"Well, that'll all stop if you don't cut it out. I don't mind every once in a while, but every day, Oliver? Honestly, either find someone else to listen or stop taking it out on anyone. That or stop being so sensitive to everything." Katie told him, only half jokingly.
"I am not sensitive." Oliver informed her. Katie narrowed her eyes as he started to open his mouth to argue with her. "And speaking of finding someone to listen, remember Margaret?" Oliver asked.
"Of course I do. How could I forget?" Katie said, trying to force all bitterness and jealousy out of her voice.
"Well, I asked her out." Oliver said proudly.
"And?" Katie asked, already knowing the answer. He wouldn't have brought it up if she had rejected him. He was too proud for that. And no one in their right mind would say no to Oliver.
"She said yes. We're going to Hogsmede together on the first weekend." Oliver told her happily.
"That's great Oliver." Katie said, trying to sound sincere. They had reached the dining hall in time to get the last of dinner before the plates cleared. They didn't talk much. Katie did not really trust herself to speak. If he mentioned Margaret, she did not think she would be able to handle it. And if he said another word about quiddich, she might just go and do that crawling in a corner and rotting that he had mentioned.
Katie slept poorly. She had dreams about Oliver and Margaret. In her dream she was waiting in her tower to be rescued, and Oliver came riding up. He entered the tower, and Katie waited expectantly. He did not come. Instead he rode of into the sunset with a beautiful Margaret in his arms.
Katie woke up sweating. You have really got to come off this knight in shining armor thing she scolded herself. It's not realistic, and it's so juvenile. Why do you let mom get you those princess books? She never should have read them to you when you were younger, Katie beratted herself.
The day of the game was just as miserable as the previous practice. Worse in fact, The torches in the corridors had to be lit. It did not help her somewhat sour mood that Slytherins kept making snide comments about how they were glad they weren't playing in this weather. There was one all out brawl between a Gryfindor third year and a Slytherin fourth year.
As she passed Cedric Diggory in the hall, however, he smiled courteously at her. He came running over to her, for the sole purpose of opening a door for her. She smiled at him.
"Thank you." Katie said.
"No problem." Cedric said, looking away shyly. He was very quiet. And also very handsome, Katie noticed. Maybe she should start moving on from Oliver. He was obviously seeing someone else, so why shouldn't she?
Not Cedric, most likely. He was very well liked by girls at Hogwarts. Cho Chang, for one, had her eye on him. But someone. Anyone really. Just to prove to herself that she could live without Oliver.
"Good luck in the match today, Katie. I know you'll do great," Cedric almost whispered. He walked away before she had a chance to respond. Weird. Thought Katie to herself.
She shrugged it off, walking down the hall. For the rest of the day before the match she sub-consciously looked around for any guys she would date. Anyone would do, really. She just needed to prove once and for all that she didn't need Oliver.
She didn't exactly know who she was proving it to, herself mostly. Maybe a tiny part of her wanted to make Oliver jealous, but only a very small part. At least that's what she told herself. Another half of her knew that it would be an effort to make him jealous, although she knew deep down the Oliver wouldn't get jealous. He considered her a friend and nothing more.
The time of the game approached. Oliver was pacing like a caged tiger. He looked outside and saw the trees shaking from the wind.
"We'll be blown off our brooms." Katie heard him mutter under his breath. "Team!" He yelled.
Those stragglers who had not yet gathered by the door now came rushing with their brooms to exit together. Oliver began to lecture the team about strategy when a third year who was a friend of Harry's who Katie recognized well as Hermione Granger (she was infamous for her buck teeth, bushy hair, and brains) came rushing over to the group.
Katie, from her position in the circle, could not see what exactly she did, but she saw sparks fly from her wand. She heard Oliver faintly thanking her, his normally thundering voice was carried away by the wind.
"Harry, get that snitch. You have to get that snitch, Harry! It's all down to you!" Katie heard Oliver boom. She slapped her forehead. She could have kicked herself. Why had she had to go and say that to Oliver right before a game? That was so foolish of her.
"Oliver, don't put so much pressure on him! it's just a game Harry." Angelina said reproachfully.
"Harry, get that snitch or die trying." Oliver told him severely.
"No pressure though, mate." Fred told him cheerfully. He seemed always to be in good spirits, be it right before a game or during an exam, or while he was in detention.
George and him cracked identical grins as they patted Harry on the back before mounting their own brooms. Madame Hooch blew the whistle, although it was barely audible over the winds.
Katie could hardly make out the Hufflepuff team, though they were a mere ten feet apart. It was so dark already. She did, however, notice Cedric, and he was looking at her as well. He smiled. She smiled back. Was there something going on here that Katie was unaware of? Maybe he was interested in her. Katie could have kicked herself for being so cocky immediately after thinking that. Of course he wasn't interested in her. He could have whoever he wanted, he was smart, handsome, athletic, kind, polite, why would he be interested in her? She was no one. Katie looked away, blushing, and kicked off into the air.
Was it just her or did Cedric accidentally bump into her because he couldn't see where he was going an excessive amount? And was it just her or was he always staring at her whenever she looked? To be fair, she was looking more often than necessary. In addition to finding him attractive on his own merits, she also had the creeping suspicion that there was some potential to make Oliver see what he was missing here. Maybe Diggory would ask her out. That would show Oliver that she was, in fact, more than just friend material. It was perfect. She did feel bad that she was thinking of using someone like this, but what else could she do? She was in love, and not with Cedric.
She caught the quaffle again and charged the goal posts. She scored another ten points for her team, although it was by a narrow margin. She could not hear Lee's commentary over the wind, nor could she hear the crowd cheering. She doubted that they even knew what had happened. She was surprised that there even was a crowd, what with the awful weather.
Katie looked up at the sound of Alicia's scream. Harry had fallen from his broom and was plummeting towards the ground. From what Katie could see, his broom had been swept away. She could see it drifting towards the forbidden forest now. She gasped, horrified. Cedric had not noticed, however, and kept racing to the snitch, which he had evidently spotted. Katie held her breath as she saw Dumbledore racing onto the field, and looked back up to see Cedric's fist close around the snitch.
Katie dove to the ground and ran to Harry, leaving her broom where she had landed. Oliver was already there.
"What's happened?" Asked Cedric, landing gracefully beside Katie. Oliver glared at him. The wings of the snitch were still visible in his grip.
"He's fallen." Gasped Katie, out of breath. She saw Cedric glance bashfully at the snitch in his hand.
"Let's stop the game and have a re match when the conditions are better." He offered. "This wasn't fair, you would have won if he hadn't fallen." Katie could tell from the look on Oliver's face that he agreed with the last part of the statement.
"Of course there wont be a rematch!" Madame Hootch exclaimed. "Hufflepuff won fair and square. Clear off, you lot. This boy is going up to the hospital wing."
Authors Note: How sad is that? Now Oliver is mad at Cedric, who we're sensing could possibly have a thing for Katie. Why, you ask, does Cedric have a thing for Katie?
Go ahead, ask it!
"Why?" Chorused the readers, hanging on her every word. (haha im too cool for words n'est-ce pas?)Could he have ulterior motives? Gee I don't know. You'll just have to find out. Meanwhile, what'll Oliver do, all sad that he's lost the game, and to him all hope of his last shot at the cup? Who'll be the girl orgirls involved with his sadness?
Anyway, I fyou want to find outt he answers to all these very good questions, you'll have to wait a few chapters! Haha. I am, however, starting to spead up my posting now that homework is slowing down a little. And I just had a jolly long vacation to type things during. So review and you'll find out what's happening soon enough! Ps. the next chapter is super intense. Just as a teaser, it's called kisses...haha don't hate me too much!!