(Thanks to those of you who reviewed!)

Another terrible silence settled among us. "What?" I whispered.

"Oliver, I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore," Katie said. "I'm sick of waiting up for you. I'm sick of you suddenly leaving, going to who knows where. And I'm sick of what's happened to us. You're never here. I mean, you may be here physically, but your mind…… your mind is somewhere else."

"Katie, what are you talking about?" I demanded.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Katie exclaimed. The doorbell rang and we both jumped in surprise. I hurried out of the bedroom to the front door and pulled it open. It was Jen.

"Um, hi," she said. "Sorry if I'm here at a late time, but I found this on the-" She looked up and saw Katie standing behind me. "On…… on the… on the ground! Yeah, I found this on the ground of the quidditch pitch." She held out my wedding ring and gave me a look. I could feel a headache coming on. Perfect timing, Jen.

"Oh, er thanks," I said, taking my ring from her. "It must've slipped off during training today."

"Yeah, I guess," Jen replied. She caught my eye and I shot her a look. "Well, I'll see you later then." She smiled at Katie and left.

"So, is that her?" Katie asked as I shut the door. "She's pretty. I bet it's a lot more fun fooling around with her."

My jaw dropped. "Katie, I am NOT cheating on you!" I exclaimed. "I love you! How can you not know that?"

"You know," Katie continued, ignoring me. "Maybe I should've given my ring to her. I mean, she'll get better use of it."

"Katie, stop!" I yelled. "Just stop! I don't get it! I don't understand this! I'm NOT cheating on you. Jen works with me. That's it! It's nothing more!"

"Oh? Then how come she knows where you live?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "Honestly, all she had to do was ask someone! It's not that big of a deal."

"It's ironic, isn't it, how you manage to come home late and then she happens to drop by with your wedding ring," Katie said coolly.

"Katie, I'm not-"

She held up her hand. "Just forget it, Oliver," she said. She pulled out her wand and mumbled, "Accio bag." A suitcase came zooming through the air and rested at her feet. "I'm going to Alicia's. I'll be back later to get the rest of my stuff," she said. And just like that, she was gone.

For the next few days, I moped around, not really doing or feeling anything. My whole world had fallen apart and I had nothing left. I couldn't believe this was happening. It was almost like I couldn't feel anything. I always had this horrible feeling of pain that I couldn't get rid of. I went into work late again 3 days after Katie left and that was when Mike finally figured something was wrong.

"All right, Wood," he said. "What's going on? You've been moody and depressed and moping around for the past 2 days. What's going on?"

I shrugged and didn't answer. "Did it have something to do with your ring?" Jen asked me. My heart sunk back into my stomach and I thought I was about to burst into tears.

"Ring?" Mike asked, confused. "What ring?"

"My wedding ring," I mumbled.

"What happened to it?" Mike asked.

I had a hollow feeling in my head and I couldn't even think straight. "It fell off the other day at Crabbe's mansion. Jen had found it but I had to leave so she brought it to my place to give it to me…… right when Katie was accusing me of cheating on her."

"Ouch," Mike said.

"Oliver, I'm really sorry," Jen started. "I didn't know-" I waved her off.

"Don't worry about it," I said. "It wasn't your fault." I stared at my hands. "Katie left me."

"What!" Mike exclaimed. "Why? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I haven't been able to process it myself," I said. "I mean, she just…… left. She said she was sick of being in this relationship. She claims I'm never there and that she doesn't want to put up with it anymore."

Mike didn't say anything for a moment. "Have you talked to her?"

I shook my head. "She hasn't even come to get the rest of her stuff."

Mike sighed. "Wow, I'm sorry man. But honestly, I think the least you could do is try to talk to her. Tomorrow's Saturday, so why don't you go see her?"

I sighed. "I don't know. I mean, I just can't believe this is happening. I thought things were OK."

"May I offer you some advice?" Jen asked. "Go talk to her, but instead of doing all the talking, listen. When woman get upset, all we truly want is someone to listen to us. OK, we don't want to hear explanations or pleads. We just want someone to listen and understand us. And some flowers never hurt either."

"But what do I say to her? I can't tell her the truth," I said. "And if I told her that I'd be there for her more, that'd be a lie. I mean, you two both know how things go here."

"Wood, what have I been telling you all along?" Mike asked. I looked at him puzzled and he sighed. "I'm going to tell you right now, women like Katie are very rare. Very rare. I mean, think about it. She's got a pretty cool job. She's totally nice and has a killer sense of humor. Not to mention she's the hottest woman in the northern hemisphere. Oh, and she's got nice-" I cleared my throat and Mike stopped. "Well, you catch my drift. Anyway," he continued. "You've got like, the greatest imaginable wife and personally, I think it'd make more sense to spend time with her, rather than searching for Death Eaters. Hell, if I was married to her, I'd never leave her side."

"I just don't want to make things worse," I mumbled.

After another night of no sleep and constant tossing and turning, I decided to talk to Katie. I missed her more than I ever could have imagined. So, the next day, I made my way to Alicia's apartment. I knocked on the door and after a few moments, Alicia answered it. "Hey," I mumbled. "Is she here?"

Alicia nodded and stepped aside to let me in. "A word of advice, Oliver-just tell her the truth, whatever it may be." I nodded and stepped past her.

Katie was lying on the couch, watching the muggle television. She looked up at me and her expression turned cold. I remembered what Jen told me-listen to her.

"What's the matter, Oliver?" Katie asked. "Are you cheating on your brunette girlfriend as well? Did she dump you too?"

"Katie, for the last time, I'm not cheating on you."

"Then explain to me what it was about," Katie said. "Explain to me why you came home so late, on our anniversary. And, explain to me why a pretty brunette, whom you've never mentioned, decided to drop by with your wedding ring, which you seem to have 'dropped.'"

This was not going the way I wanted. It seemed as if I was going to be doing all the talking anyway. "Kate, it must have happened during practice. It probably just slipped off."

"Really? I don't recall it ever 'slipping off' before."

"I don't know how it happened, OK?" I said.

"All right then, why did you get home so late?"

I sighed. "We had an emergency meeting. The team needs a Chaser and none of the Reserves are ready and-"

"Oliver, it was our anniversary!" Katie exclaimed. "You couldn't have come home, just one night? One night?"

I sighed. "I know and I'm sorry," I said. "I know I should have, but we just got so busy-"

"Oh, you just got so busy? Who, you and your brunette friend?"

"Katie, I'm NOT cheating on you!" I exclaimed. "I married you for a reason."

"Yeah, so you could forget our anniversary."

"I didn't forget," I defended. "I had every intention of coming home."

"And yet you didn't."

"Here." I pushed the bouquet of roses into her arms.

"Thanks," she mumbled shortly.

We fell silent and I sighed. "Katie, I miss you so much," I said. "Come home. Please?" I didn't care what Jen had told me. I was pleading. I had to. I was left with no other options.

"Oliver, nothing is going to change. You've told me time and time again that you'd be home, that you'd be there on time, but they were just empty promises. I'm tired of it. Ol, I love you more than anything, but I don't love the way things have gotten between us."

"Katie, I'm sorry for the way things are too," I said. "But my job-"

"Is more important than me," Katie finished.

"Katie, you're more important than anything," I said. "But things have just been busy lately. They'll slow down eventually."

"Well, until then, I'll be here."

(2 updates in 2 days…… you owe me a review.)