Chapter 10
The next week passed slowly at times and quickly at others. The time seemed to crawl for the three who weren't with Katie, and the shifts seemed all too short for the one who was with her. Oliver was doing better ... not good, but better. He did his best to pay attention in class, although no comment on how exactly that went.
On Saturday, one week since the match, the five friends were sitting at the Gryffindor table, pushing their dinner around on their plates. All Gryffindor Quidditch matches and practices had been cancelled for the time being, as they didn't have a replacement Chaser. Besides the fact that none of the team would have felt comfortable playing without Katie.
"I'll go and relieve Cedric ... it was good to actually see all of you at once." Angelina smiled weakly, kissed Fred on the cheek, got up, and walked out of the Great Hall. Fred noticed her furiously wipe away a tear as she left. Cedric had agreed to stay with Katie for an hour so that the five could actually see each other, together, something they had hardly done in the past week.
"I'm going up to bed, I've got night shift today." Oliver attempted a weak smile and nodded to his friends as he walked out of the Great Hall. He slowly climbed the stairs to the Gryffindor Tower, thinking of Katie the whole way there. He muttered the password for the Fat Lady and entered the Common Room. Everyone shot him worried glances as he made his way up the Dormitory stairs.
Two Hours Later
"Oliver! Wake up you lazy arse!" Oliver groaned and rolled over. "Oliver! She's awake!!" Oliver sat bolt upright in his bed.
"What?!"
"She's awake!" Oliver's eyes got very wide; he jumped out of bed and ran out of the Dormitory, leaving Angelina to wake up the twins. He ran at breakneck speed to the Hospital Wing; he threw open the doors to find Katie sitting up on her bed. Madame Pomfrey was bustling about here and there. Katie looked thin, weak, and looked rather uncomfortable, but all that didn't matter now because she was awake!
"Oh my god, Katie!" Oliver rushed to her and started to hug her before pulling away.
"It's okay, Ol' I'm not a piece of glass. I won't break." Oliver looked as though he could cry as Katie reached out her arms and they embraced. Katie wasn't all that far from tears herself; when she fell she had earnestly believed that she was dying and would never see her friends again. Oliver pulled away and sat down on her bed, looking terribly shaken.
"Katie I'm so sorry, I should have listened to you! You were right, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry!"
"Shush Oliver, it's okay." She smiled and ran a hand through his hair affectionately. Katie opened her mouth to say something else when Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George burst through the Hospital Wing doors. Katie smiled as they all ran over to her bed.
"Oh my god! Katie!" Angelina was the first to reach her bed; she leaned in close, kissed Katie on the forehead and hugged her gently.
"Don't hog her you great arse!" Alicia pushed Angelina out of the way and hugged Katie. She kissed her on the cheek before walking to the other side of the bed and sitting down, opposite Oliver.
Katie smiled as she saw George walk forward, he was uncharacteristically subdued, but hugged and kissed her on the cheek anyways. Fred, never subdued, was the last to get to hug Katie. Katie winced and let out a small 'eep' as Fred hugged her a little too tight.
"Oh god, I'm sorry! Did I hurt you?!"
"Fred, it's fine." Katie shook her head and chuckled at her friends' uptightness. "I'm just a little sore is all." Fred still looked worried; he kissed Katie on the cheek before joining Angelina at the foot of the bed.
"How're you feeling?"
"Hmm ... like shit." Katie chuckled, but her friends just continued to stare at her with worried expressions. "Oh bloody hell guys! I'm okay, see!" She waved her arms around, being careful not to over extend her right arm, as she was still quite bruised where the Bludger had hit her. "Lighten up, geez!" She rolled her eyes.
"What is this?! 5 visitors at one time! This simply will not do!"
"Oh, please don't make them leave Madame Pomfrey, please?" Madame Pomfrey cocked an eyebrow as she eyed all of them.
"Fine, but that's it, no more!" Madame Pomfrey sniffed her disapproval before turning and walking back to her office. Everyone started laughing.
"Ow! Ow! Guys stop!" Katie cried helplessly. "Owie! That hurts, don't make me laugh," she said through a wide grin. Everyone continued to laugh, apparently in a much better mood. Once they all quieted down, Katie asked, "How's everything been this week?"
"It was ... horrible, to say the least," Fred said with a sheepish smile.
"Yeah, Katie, you can't ever do that to us again! A whole week without you is like ..."
"It's upsetting the natural Order!" Alicia laughed, finishing Angelina's thought.
"Are you okay, now? You don't look very comfortable." Oliver had apparently missed the memo and was still giving Katie worried glances.
"Yeah, a few my ribs are bruised on the right side. They were broken, but Pomfrey fixed that. I have to wear this weirdo brace until it heals completely. It's not exactly comfortable ... I've likened it to a corset. My ankle's fucked up, but it will be back to normal by the end of next week."
"And until then, we'll just levitate you everywhere!" George said, melodramatically. Katie rolled her eyes but smiled; suddenly she looked as if she had just remembered something important.
"Oliver! We won our match right?!" Everyone laughed; Oliver and Patrick's obsession had clearly rubbed off on Katie.
"Yes, Katie, we won. I'm really sorry I didn't listen to you."
"Oliver! Bloody hell, you've apologized 10 times in the past 10 minutes! Let it go! Get it through that wonderfully thick head of yours that I'm not angry. Okay?" Katie grabbed Oliver's hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Yeah, okay."
"Ooh! We got you something!" Fred and George exchanged excited glances and raced off towards Madame Pomfrey's office. Katie cocked an eyebrow at Angelina, Alicia, and Oliver, but they just shrugged; they were as oblivious to all of this as Katie was. A few minutes later, they came out of the office levitating a sheet behind them; well, it looked like a sheet, but Katie assumed the sheet was covering something. They stopped at the foot of Katie's bed and looked around, pausing for dramatic effect.
"For you, my dear!" George said, beaming. Fred ripped off the sheet, revealing a 15 lb bar of chocolate. Katie's eyes got as big as Quaffles as she stared at the floating bar.
"You think, oh my goodness, a 15 lb bar of chocolate. But this is no ordinary 15 lb bar of chocolate." Fred smiled proudly.
"No, no, not ordinary. This is none other than your favorite brand of Swiss Chocolate sold in only three stores in the entire world." George held up three fingers for emphasis. Katie's eyes got even wider, if that was possible. Aina Swiss Chocolate was extremely hard to find, unless of course you lived near one of the three shops. Katie's grandmother did, which is how she developed her intense passion for the silky chocolate.
"Oh ... my ... god! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Katie stretched out her arms and waved her hands towards her, signaling that she wanted the twins to hug her. "You didn't have to do that, but I'm so glad you did! Thank you!" Katie hugged both of them as tightly as she could without hurting her ribs, as they both grinned from ear to ear; clearly proud that Katie had liked their gift.
"For a speedy recovery!" they said together. Katie smiled expectantly as they laid the huge bar on the bed next to hers.
"All right! All of you out! She needs her rest and you've been in here long enough!" Madame Pomfrey came out and started shooing them towards the door.
"Wait! We can't just leave her alone!" Madame Pomfrey cocked a skeptical eyebrow at Fred's outraged statement.
"Just let one of us stay!" Angelina pleaded.
"You let one person stay with the shifts and everything!" Alicia added.
"And that was when she wasn't awake and would have had no need for anyone to talk to!" George said as he clasped his hands together pleadingly.
"Come on, Madame Pomfrey! You've got to let just one of us stay!" Oliver stuck out his bottom lip and Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes.
"Fine, fine, whatever! One of you may stay. But the rest of you hurry up and get out of my Hospital Wing!" Oliver turned immediately to his friends.
"Let me stay?" They all exchanged knowing looks and nodded, reluctantly.
"We'll bring some food down in the morning, so we can all have breakfast together," Alicia said, smiling. Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George all hugged Katie once more before walking slowly out of the Hospital Wing and back to their Dormitories. Oliver sat back down in the chair next to Katie's bed and smiled at her.
"What?"
"I'm really happy that you're okay is all." Katie cocked an eyebrow at Oliver. "I need to tell you something, Kate ... I mean Katie."
"Oliver, you can call me Kate."
"Really? But you said –"
"I know what I said; I was being stupid and stubborn and I never should have said it. So call me Kate, okay?" Katie bit her lip nervously.
"Of course I'll call you Kate." Oliver smiled and Katie returned it.
"So what do you need to tell me?"
"Okay," Oliver took a deep breath. "I've been holding this in since the beginning of the year and I wasn't going to tell you. But when I thought I was going to lose you ... I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn't told you how I really felt." Katie could see how hard this was for him; his insides felt like 10 snakes wriggling around. "So I have to tell you now ... now that I have the chance again." He took a deep breath again; he needed to tell her this, get it off his chest. The only problem was getting his mouth to form the words. He wasn't exactly sure why he was so nervous; I mean this was Katie, his best friend of 5 years. Kate, whom he could tell anything. He sighed it was now or never and he didn't really want the latter. "I like you, Kate ... I think ... I think I love you." Katie gave Oliver a confused look.
"I love you too Oliver –" He wasn't sure if he could make himself say it again, but he had to make her understand.
"No, Kate, I love you." Katie blinked several times, finally understanding what Oliver was trying to tell her. Oliver bit his lip nervously as he watched her silent reaction.
"Wow ... when did this change?"
"I don't know ... but I realized it completely when, well you know." Katie nodded, still looking quite shocked. His stomach dropped; this would change everything if she didn't feel the same. He suddenly wished he had kept his mouth shut about the whole thing.
"I don't ... I don't know what to say Ol'. I don't know if I like you ... like that."
"Don't worry about it, Kate. I wasn't expecting an answer or anything today, I just wanted you to know." Katie nodded as Oliver continued to bite his lip. Who was he kidding? Of course he was expecting an answer; did he want her to throw herself into his arms and say that she loved him to?
Katie knew what he had said was a lie ... he was just trying to cover up the fact that he really did want her to feel the same way. But she couldn't lie to him about it.
"I'm not saying I don't ... I'm just saying that I never thought about it that way. Let's ... let's just take some time and figure this out, okay?" Oliver nodded, still looking worried. "Until then, promise me that nothing will change?" He sighed as he felt his stomach unclench, this was Katie again, nothing intimidating, just Katie.
"Katie. I would rather have this fabulous friendship with you than have no relationship at all. Even if it does mean I can't be with you ... like that." Katie smiled and squeezed Oliver's hand. He picked up her hand and kissed it gently. "How about you get some sleep?"
"Okay ... will you help me lay down? This brace is really hard to move in." Oliver smiled and nodded. Katie looked at him; she was starting to see him in a new light.
A/N: Okay, I know the chocolate is a bit random. But I had an intense craving for Swiss Chocolate when I was writing this ... so bear with me and my hormones! ANYWHO! What did you think? Isn't Oliver just a doll? The whole thing with the twins kissing Katie on the cheek is totally a friendly gesture. There's nothing implied, so don't take it like that! How was the Katie/Oliver convo at the end? Good? Bad? Heartbreaking? Unrealistic? All good adjectives pick one and leave it in a review ... that's right a review!
HarryPotterFan670: So glad you liked it, how was this one? I'm super glad that someone was worried about Katie's health!
Disclaimer: Although I do have some Swiss Chocolate, I don't own the company. Similarly, although I do own several Harry Potter books, I don't own Harry Potter!
