It was pretty smooth sailing up until the France match, Oliver seemed to have gotten out of his funk and we were all back to practicing like a well greased cauldron. The morning of the match, I was getting ready to head over to the team portkey when Alicia's owl Gidget was tapping at my window. She flew in landing on my end table and held out a note wrapped around what looked to be a copy of the Daily Prophet.

Good luck today! Not sure you saw this and thought you ought to. -Lesha

I took the Prophet and unrolled to see a picture of Jake tackling and kissing me in the snow. The headline read "New Romance Sparks for the English National Team Chasers". I guess we were finally caught. He and I were doing so well that I didn't even care. We had made it through the bumpy beginnings of a relationship without the pressures of the press. I suppose we were fairly careless being romantic out in the street that night. I continued reading. "Chasers Katherine Bell and Jacob McDermott have been seen all around London together recently and sources finally are able to confirm that the two have been romantically involved for some period of time. "Katie and Jake are together and the whole team is happy for them. We've all known it was only a matter of time before they ended up together" said team captain and Bell's former beau Oliver Wood. The two chasers have been what have made up the team for the Wasps and the National team. With them, Mr. Wood, and Seeker Mr. Andrew the English team has been unstoppable and we expect them to win the world cup in the next few years. Knowing that Bell and Wood's messy relationship nearly brought down Puddlemore early in the season it's fair to see why fans would have concerns she could tear down yet another team. "Jake and Katie seem very much in love and I think they will be together for a very long time, they've never played as well as they have since they've been an item and I have no doubt in them helping us to bring home the cup" said Wood about the matter. Surprising that the captain could be so happy to see a former flame burn so brightly for someone else but seems to truly wish them the best. "They are both good friends of mine and I will always be their friend first. I am happy for them no matter what they are doing and I'm here to support them both." he explained. So love is in the air for the English team and hopefully this is the key to success."

I put the Prophet down after rereading a few passages just to make sure I really read them correctly and stared at it expecting it to burst into flames. Oliver said so many good things about us. There was a rock forming in the pit of my stomach, I don't know if it was guilt or what. But I headed over to the meeting spot for the portkey.

"You okay? You look like you saw a ghost...or you know what I mean." Jake laughed when I walked up.

"Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Just in my head. Big game I guess" I said giving him a light peck on the cheek.

"Gotcha, here we go," he said, pulling me in for a hug as the mug in the middle of the team huddle started to glow blue.

We landed a bit outside the french stadium and all walked into the changing room. After we got done changing Oliver gathered us all up to give one of his famous Oliver game day speeches, I humored Jake by saying it word for word under my breath before he did. He has had the same pre-game speech since the Gryffindor team. After he finished I told Jake to go ahead because I wanted to talk to Oliver. Oliver was taking a last look at his playbook. I walked over to him and just stood there with this big smile on my face.

"What are you so smiley about?" he said without looking up.

"I read the paper this morning" I said still smiling

"Oh" He said and looked up at me and then back down at his plays

"I'm proud of you" I said

"Why?" He said

"Because you had every opportunity to make my life hell for me and Jake but you were kind" I said still smiling

"Everything I said I meant" He said and flipped over a piece of paper in his book.

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah" he said with a sigh.

I leapt over and gave him a big hug from the side. While hugging him I noticed a picture in his playbook of him and I after we won the house cup. I was practically on his shoulders with a smile from ear to ear. Somehow his smile was even larger and he looked on the verge of tears.

"I remember that day so well," I said, pointing to the picture.

"Yeah…I wish that I could just go back and live it again" he said smiling at the picture

"Yeah….you would think with all the witches and wizards in this world someone would have figured out how to do that" I laughed.

"Well in a way they did" Oliver said looking back to his plays.

"Yeah but you can only watch it…not relive it" I said.

"I guess, but most people don't have days like that, that they would want to relive" He said looking at another piece of paper.

"Yeah I suppose" I said.

"See ya on the pitch" I said smiling and started walking away.

"Thanks again Ollie," I said and then skipped out the door to gather with the rest of the team.

"What did you need to talk to him about?" Jake asked when I got to him.

"Just checking in," I said, kissing him.

"He's okay?" Jake asked

"He seems to be doing well," I said.

In a blink of an eye the game was over. That's what I hate about quidditch… It either goes on forever or is over in a matter of moments. We headed back to London and went to the Leaky Cauldron for a celebration. We had a break for a bit from games until our next qualifier. Everyone was going to be returning home for a few weeks. Jake and I had decided we were going to drive up to my parents. It was late November and my family always has everyone over for Thanksgiving. My Mum is American, so her magical side of the family always traveled over and my Dad's muggle family would come up to all celebrate together.

We decided to make it a road trip of sorts and go all out. I rented a car and packed it up. Jake's Mum was muggle born so he knew how to drive and was familiar with many things but had never done the full long road trip before.

"I'm really excited to get to meet all your family" He said as we piled into the car.

"You say that now" I laughed.

"No this is going to be great. Some time away from the team for us to be a real couple. I've needed this" He said leaning over to give me a kiss before pulling away from the curb.

Everything felt perfect. We stopped at a few tourist attractions as we made our way up the east coast of England to my family's home in Ipswich. I don't think I've ever been happier in my life. I was present in every second which was something I had never experienced before in my life. Nothing in the world mattered outside what he and I were doing in that moment.

I had a polaroid camera that I was trying to document every second with. At a stop light I leaned over taking a shot of the two of us in the car and was watching it develop. The light turned green as I turned to show Jake the photo.

I was suddenly blinded by a light coming from the other side of him. Everything was in slow motion but I couldn't move fast enough. Jake saw the truck and tried to slam on the gas to get out of the way but it was careening too fast. I tried to grab my wand, tried to do something but there wasn't time. Jake turned and looked at me and we both knew. "I love you" was all I heard before the crunching of metal. The car spun until it hit the side of the road and began to roll. I was trying to call out to him and everything faded away...

I opened my eyes to a bright white room with lots of beeping coming from all around me. I was in a hospital. A muggle hospital for sure. I was alive. I was slowly putting together everything I could remember. There was no one that I could see near me but I also was having a hard time moving my head around.

"Honey are you awake?" I could hear my mum saying from the corner of the room.

"Mum?" I said weakly.

"Yes, honey it's me" I could hear her crying.

"Mum, Is he?" it was hard to talk. I felt so weak and every part of me hurt.

"You scared me so much…I thought we were going to lose you…" she was sobbing so hard she could barely form her words. All I wanted to know was where Jake was and if he was okay. But my tongue and eyelids felt like they each weighed a ton. I could feel myself drifting back to sleeping while my mother stood above me crying.

I woke up some time later. It was hard to know how much later. I wasn't disfamilar with waking up in a hospital but I think this was the first time it had been a muggle one. Though it took substantial amounts of effort I was at least able to move my neck and limbs now. I looked over and there was someone sitting in the chair in the corner of the room that wasn't my mother. It took me a couple of minutes to process the information. I definitely had a concussion and could really use one of Madam Pomfrey's recovery potions.

"Oliver?" I croaked.

"Katie…you're awake…" Oliver said…his face was full of tears.

"Ollie.." I said concerned, he tried to speak but he ended up just crying harder. It was not a good sign that my consciousness made him cry harder.

"Oliver! Oliver, tell me what's wrong. Is he okay? Where is he?" My voice was coming back and I was starting to yell.

"Oliver please just tell me" I said now crying.

He stood up, came to stand next to me, looked down into my eyes and took a deep breath before finally saying. "K-Katie….J-Jake…..Jake….Jake…Jake's….Jake's dead. He didn't make it" He closed his eyes preparing for my response.

"No….no…NO! NO! HE CAN'T BE! HE CAN'T BE! Tell me you're lying. Oliver PLEASE, no! HE JUST CAN'T BE!" I said in hysterics and Oliver had to leave the room. A nurse came running in to try to comfort me.

"Miss Bell…Miss BELL" The nurse was saying while I was still screaming, crying, and started to just flail knocking things over that I could.

Oliver came back into the room and wrapped his arms around me pushing my head into his shoulder gently and petting my still blood caked hair while shing me.

"No….he can't be...Oliver...he just can't" I was saying quietly into his neck still sobbing.

"I'm going to give her something to calm her down a little bit" I heard the nurse saying and felt Oliver moving his head. There was a warm feeling in my arm and I felt the weight return to my eyelids.

I woke later to my mother and father coming in to check on me and my mother couldn't stop crying. I was still in shock but now it felt like I had no tears left inside me.

"Is Oliver still here?" I asked my mum.

"No...he said he had to get back to London to take care of some things," she said petting my back. I don't blame him really. I don't know if I could ever face me again after that show of theatrics. But why and how was he here to begin with?

My mum was also sneaking in some healing potions and did a few charms while she was visiting as well. The muggle nurses were amazed at how fast I was recovering from some of my injuries. We just chalked it up to a miracle like one of them suggested. The police took a statement from me as well. They were a bit confused about why Jake and I both had strange sticks on our person in the crash. Mine had snapped in half and impaled me in the thigh. Which was a real salt in the wound situation. A member of the ministry ended up having to come and take over and clear things up. I was transferred to St. Mungo's to finish my recovery.

"One of these days they are going to name a wing here after you, for all the time you've spent here." Alicia said as she came into my ward.

"I think there are some people on the fourth floor that have me beat" I laughed and gave her a hug.

"I'm glad I can at least still make you laugh. I'm so sorry Kates" She sat holding me in the hug and rubbing my back.

"Yeah" I said meekly.

"Are you doing okay? I saw your mom downstairs and when I asked she just broke into tears" She said, breaking the hug but still holding my arms and sitting on my bed.

"Yeah. I'll survive. And I keep telling her she should go home. She isn't making anything better standing around sobbing all the time" I said, not making eye contact.

"Yeah. I'll talk to her. She means well. She wasn't any better last time you nearly died...and well...it was just you last time." Alicia said awkwardly.

"...yeah" I said staring at the mound of blanket that was my feet.

"Are you eating? I heard one of the healers saying that they were having a hard time getting you to eat, which I'm not surprised. Want me to bring you any? I can go grab us some ice cream? I'll check in with your mom and go get some junk food. Ange is supposed to be stopping in tonight too." She said walking around my bed looking at the various forms and things around me. Honestly she was more motherly than my mother anymore.

"Yeah. That sounds good. Thanks Leesh" I said trying to manage a smile. She kissed me on the forehead near some still healing scarring and left the room.

I rolled over on my side and curled up in my blanket. Surprisingly there was no one else in the ward with me. I'm not sure if that was somehow on purpose or what but it was silent when no one was in to talk to me.

"Hey" I heard a familiar scottish voice say from behind me. I rolled over and Oliver was standing there. He looked like he hadn't slept since the accident. I felt bad and I didn't even know why, or if it was my fault, or if there was anything I could do.

"Hi" I said up to him.

"I wanted to come, bring some stuff to you from the crash and talk to you" he said and I sat up in my bed. Why did he have anything from the crash?

"Unfortunately the press knows everything about the crash, down to even this detail somehow, and I wanted to talk to you about it before they were how you found out." He said sitting down next to me. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. I had no idea what he was going to say.

"A while back Jake came over and wanted to talk to me about you. It was around the time you called me out for being a grump at practice so I assumed he wanted to talk about the same thing. Instead he asked me the hardest question I have ever heard. He wanted my permission to ask you to marry him." He said. I was just staring at him like he was speaking a foreign language.

"He wanted to make sure that I wasn't still hung up on you, and that by proposing he would ruin all of our friendships and force me into a miserable life of bitterness. I was so amazed that he even cared what I thought at all. It is a really dumb thing to say, but it really opened my eyes to how amazing of a guy he really was. I knew in that moment that what I wanted most was both of your happiness. I even went as far as to help him pick out this" he said, handing me a small black box. I just held it limply still not really sure I understood English.

"He had it in his pocket that night in the car. He was going to ask you at your parents'. He even asked if I thought I could be his best man" He chuckled, starting to tear up.

"Greg nearly broke down my door when he heard about the accident. I was at the hospital before Jake's parents. The doctors told us all together that he was dead on arrival. I thought I felt my soul shatter in two. The police gave them the ring and they didn't know what to do with it. I told them I would give it to you, he wanted you to have it. Just finding out he was gone though...you were in so much pain. I hated seeing it. It felt like I was causing it in a way. I've never cried so much in my life. I couldn't tell you then, I was too scared to cause you any more pain. But you have to know that he loved you so much. And he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with you." He finished getting up and wiping tears out of his eyes.

"I'm so sorry that you don't get to spend the rest of yours with him" he said, patting my head and walking out the door.

I was still sitting on my bed with the ring box in my hand for a few minutes after he left. Finally I managed to open the small box. Inside was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It was platinum gold with a large diamond in the middle and two radiant rubies on each side. I took it out of the box to look at it closer. I noticed writing inside that said "to the love of my life, I can't imagine life without you". I put it back in the box and noticed a drop of something wet fall down next to it. I reached up and realized I was crying. I couldn't even tell anymore. I closed the box, clutched it to my chest, and rolled onto my side curled tightly in a ball like a cat. I laid on my side like this crying silent tears staring at the wall.

"OKAY! I've got ice cream, I got some pumpkin pasties, your mom agreed to go home and check in back at our flat next week, and Ange will be here in a half hour….what's wrong...you look far worse off than I left you...what do you have?" Alicia said in rapid succession as she came back into the room.

I silently sat up in my bed and handed the box to her. She snapped it open and shut gasping and throwing it back at me as though it had contained a dead spider. "Who gave that to you?!" she said.

"Technically no one" I answered picking it back up and opening it again. She had a face of recognition at this.

"Well that's more depressing than I thought possible" She said sitting down on the bed and also looking at the ring.

"Tell me about it. Ready for it to be even worse? Oliver was the one who told me about it. He helped Jake pick it out after Jake sought his blessing, I guess he was going to ask me at my mum's" I snorted. I took the ring out and put it on my left ring finger. Of course it fit perfectly.

"Yep. That is somehow worse. This might be the wrong question….but do you think you would have said yes?" she said, bracing for impact.

"...I think so. Leesh, I was so unbelievably happy that night." I said and the silent tears started to fall again.

"Then you should wear it" she said, wiping away my tears. I continued looking at it on my finger thinking it all over. Soon Angelina was over and they convinced me to eat some. The conversation was lighter for the rest of their stay, but I could tell that Alicia had explained the ring when the two of them went up for tea together at one point.

The following day I was finally cleared to return home. I wasn't really sure where home was anymore but Alicia showed up to bring me back to our flat. It was weird to think that in the entirety of mine and Jake's relationship we had no memories in that flat. I was very thankful for that.

As we walked up to the front door from the alley we usually apparate in we were surrounded by members of the press.

"Miss Bell! Bell! How are you taking the death of McDermott?" A couple of reporters were saying. There were flashes of lights everywhere that were reminding me of the truck veering towards Jake's window. I held my hand over my eyes, ducked my head and tried to run for the door. All around me there was still the sound of flashbulbs and voices.

"Bell, do you think that Wood is glad that you are single again?"

FLASH

"Miss Bell, is it true that you and were engaged?"

FLASH

"Bell, what do you think the team will be like without McDermott?"

FLASH

"Can we see the ring!?"

Finally I made it to the door and pulled it open and ran through it. I could still hear all the voices and flashes outside it as I collapsed to the floor panting.

"People! The love of her life just died! Give her a break for a bit!" said Alicia's voice above the rest. She thought I was far enough into the building that I didn't hear her but I did.

I walked up to our door and waited for her to catch up. Finally all the way inside I went into my room and collapsed onto the bed. Nothing made any sense anymore. It had been months since I was in the bed and yet it felt like years.

"Do you think you'll be able to go to his funeral?" Alicia asked, stepping into my room after a while. I hadn't even thought about that. The proof that he was gone, the seal on the envelope….

"I guess I have to…when is it?" I asked looking up. I felt the silent tears falling down my cheeks already.

"It's in a week…it's going to be a national funeral since he was on the national team…the Minster is supposed to come." She said coming in to hand me a cuppa and patting the top of my head. I took it and stared into the swirling leaves and steam.

"Do you think that you can have two true loves, or two soul mates?" I asked her after a while

"I think you always have" Alicia said before walking out of my room.

I don't even know what made me ask that question, and her answer made less sense and everything all at once. I looked over to my trunk in the corner of the room and there was a plastic bag on top of it. It was the small personal belongings from the wreck they were able to save. I walked over to look through them. My broken wand with bits of unicorn hair sticking out of them. And the polaroid I had taken moments before the crash. I took it out of the bag and looked closer. There were droplets of blood on the corner of it. I couldn't help but wonder if it was mine or his. But we were both so happy in the picture. It was just a regular muggle polaroid we weren't moving, but both smiling ear to ear, the flash eliminating the English crests on the trunks in the back seats behind us. We both looked so full of hope, hope that was to be extinguished with one of our lives in mere minutes.

I opened the trunk and on the top was the shirt that I officially stole from him the night we played in the snow. It was a Wasps shirt that said McDermott on the back. I picked it up and instantly could tell that it still smelled like him. I took my artifacts, put my tea down, and curled up into bed. Here I had a photo of him with me, and I could smell him, yet he was gone, never to be seen again. I had no idea how I was going to get over that.

The next week I went back into London. I needed to get some stuff out of the team lodging and it was easier to be there for the funeral. When I walked up to the building you could still see a melted snow pile that was once the mighty snowman taller than me. Jake and I had built him weeks ago and now the men both snow and human were becoming nothing but my memory. I stood looking at it feeling the hot tears streaming down my face again.

"How are you doing?" A Scottish voice said behind me. I turned around and Oliver was standing in the doorway.

"Not so well" I said honestly

"I wouldn't expect you to be," He said, holding his arms out to hug me. I walked up and into them.

"There is still a lot of his stuff in his room…Mica can help you go through what's left?" Oliver said.

"Maybe another day…for now…can we just leave it how it is?" I asked, lying my head against his shoulder.

"Yeah….we can leave it like that forever if you want" he said, resting his head against the top of mine.

"Are you going to the funeral?" I asked.

"I don't know yet," He said with a heavy sigh.

"Will you…?" I asked. I need someone who knew him as well as I did to be there to help me stay sane.

"If you want me to," he said, running his hand through his hair.

"I would like you to….but you don't have to," I said, pulling back enough to look up at him.

"I will…do you want me to come get you before I leave for it tomorrow?" he said.

"Yeah…" I said and took a step out of the hug.

"Oliver…." I said as I headed up to my room.

"Yeah?" he said

"Thanks…for everything…for your help with him before…and for being here for me now…" I said and he tried to smile but failed.

Everywhere I went in this flat was haunted by memories. I tried to sleep in the bed but I couldn't. I went out to try to sleep on the couch but felt like he was everywhere there too. Eventually I went down to the corner shop and got a bottle of red wine. I drank most of it and ended up falling asleep in the middle of my floor.

I woke up in the morning to Oliver standing over me dressed like Johnny Cash.

"I figured you would need help so I'm here really early don't worry" He said holding his hands down for me to grab. I enthusiastically reached up to grab them and he pulled me up to my feet. It was far too fast for the amount of alcohol still in my system.

"I get it, but probably not the best choice" he said pointing to the bottle of nearly empty wine. I just grunted.

"Now come on, we've got to get you going. You should shower...maybe sober up some" he said and I continued to stare off into space. He picked me up, carried me over his shoulder into the bathroom and placed me into the shower still clothed. I was just a shell of a human after last night. "I trust you to be able to handle it from here" he said and I grunted in approval. He left the bathroom and I got undressed without stepping outside of the shower and then turned it on. I showered, accio'd a towel, and walked into my bedroom. Oliver didn't even look up from the Prophet he was reading at my breakfast counter. I had a black dress with spaghetti straps and a scarlet slip that just barely peeked out from the bottom of it. I charmed some makeup on and my hair up and walked out of my bedroom.

"Actually better than I did, good job" he said when he looked up.

I poured a cup of tea and sat down at the counter next to him.

"I see you're wearing it" He said, still looking at the Prophet.

"Yeah" I said looking at the ring on my finger.

"Good. He'd be happy. I'm sure the parents will be happy to see you with it" he stated. We sat in silence for a while while I finished my tea and he finished reading.

"Guess we should head over." He said folding the paper up.

The funeral was held at the national pitch. The turn out was amazing. The stands were packed like they were fans here for a game. Except everyone was wearing black and crying. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The closest comparison I could think of would be Dumbledore's funeral, which is not something I would ever think I would have. My fiance and the greatest wizard in history had a similar turn out to their funerals. I'm sure that the stadium seating just gives it the illusion of being a similar number. But it still blew my mind that this many people that had most likely never even met him in person before were here to pay their respects. As people saw me walking into the pitch they began to raise their wands in salute to me which really was the last bone on the thestral's back. Oliver squeezed my shoulder pulling me along to sit down among the friends and family on the pitch.

The whole national team, all of the Wasps, and all of our coaches were already seated. Mica got up and came over to give me a hug when he saw me and Oliver coming over. Jake's parents were in the front row, both faces filled with tears. Oliver directed me to sit next to his Mum and sat behind me next to mine. His Mum turned to me and flung her arms around my neck. She cried into my shoulder and I think there was an introduction in there somewhere. I was in such a trance I just patted her back and nodded. She saw the ring and cried more. She was really happy I was wearing it. I heard my Mum burst into sobs as we were talking about it. Oliver had his arm around her and was patting her on the back.

The service started and a small ancient looking wizard got in front of us and started talking about Jake's life and achievements. He discussed his love for quidditch and his recent but all encompassing love for me. I sat there, silent tears falling from my eyes, looking all around me at the hundreds of people crying over this man that I might have married. I was so unbelievably lost and confused. I didn't even know where to begin. I still couldn't believe that any of this was real.

After the man finished speaking a levitation spell was put on the coffin and we all lined up to follow it to the cemetery. There was a flag with both the national and Wasps crests on top of it. When we got to the cemetery the Minister of Magic magically folded and handed it to Jake's mom. She teary eyed, turned and handed it to me.

"No. No I couldn't" I said trying not to take it from her.

"Katie. I know he would want you to have it." she said, basically forcing it onto me.

I took the flag and hugged it to my chest. Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minster, gave me a knowing hug, having met me during the war, but I hardly noticed he was even talking. We all watched as the coffin was put into the ground and the dirt placed on top. A formal looking headstone was already in place. Only the immediate family and friends were allowed to come to the cemetery, but there was a crowd of hundreds of fans and press right outside the gates. Jake's mum and dad were up at the stone looking down at it. His mum charmed some flowers and the two of them walked over.

"Katie. We know how much he loved you, I hope you know. Don't be a stranger" Jake's dad said putting an arm around Jake's mum as they walked out of the cemetery.

I just stood there still hugging the flag where it had been presented to me.

"Ollie?" I said softly

"Hmm" he said…he had been standing behind me waiting for me the whole time.

"Did he die at the scene?" I asked.

"…yeah" Oliver said.

"Do you think he died happy?" I asked.

"I would think so," Oliver said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

We walked back into the pitch where all the players and coaches still were assembled.

"Hey there Katie" Said my old Wasps coach.

"Jon! I haven't seen you in ages, it feels." I said with a half smile.

"Yeah…how are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm okay for now" I shrugged.

"Yeah…you'll make it Kate…you're a strong one" he gave me a big hug before going to mingle with someone else. I was still hugging the flag.

"It's funny…I keep forgetting that I'm going to have to go back and play quidditch again without him" I said to Oliver next to me without turning to look at him.

"I don't know if I remember how to play without him" I continued almost laughing as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"If you don't want to come back, you don't have to right away," Oliver said.

"No…Jake would want me to keep playing….I'll be back for the next practice…" I said determinedly.

"It's tomorrow…" Oliver said seriously, actually looking at me for possibly the first time today.

"Good…less time for me to wallow in self pity" I said and Oliver just looked over at me like I was crazy. I probably was…

"Alright then" he said and then looked again.

"Katie! How are you doing?!" Angelina and Alicia said as they came in. They had sat up in the stands for the service.

"I'm okay for now" I said with the best fake smile I could make…I had been practicing it all day.

"Kates?" I heard a voice say from behind me and I saw Alicia and Angelina freeze. I turned around to see Fred and George standing behind me.

"WHAT?!" was all I could manage to get out.

"We read about it in the papers and thought we should come to make sure you're alright" Fred said

"Oliver" They both said nodding their heads towards him, he nodded back.

"Hi" the twins said meekly to Alicia and Angelina

"Hi" Alicia and Angelina said back to the twins.

The four of them went off to the side to talk in hushed voices and I continued to just stand there hugging my flag.

There was a wake for the teams, family, and close friends at the Leaky Cauldron after. I had a few glasses of wine before Mica convinced me I should give a speech.

"I don't know how much I'll be able to say before I lose the ability to formulate words, but I'll give it my best shot" I started off my speech

"I met Jake after I got traded…it was one of my lower points in life….but he was there right away to be the light in that time of darkness. Few people have ever made me laugh so much or so hard, which is saying something because I grew up with the Weasley twins." Fred and George whooped at this.

"For anyone that knew him, it's easy to see how I fell in love with Jake before I even knew it. But he did. And he made sure he took any opportunity he had. He always knew how to grab life by the quaffle I guess. He made falling in love seem easy, because with him it was. For him everything was easy, it was easy to be happy, just need a good tune in your head and not to take anything too seriously, and of course it was easy to be good at quidditch. I don't know if any play I've ever done or will ever do again could be performed so smoothly if not for him...I loved Jacob McDermott….my life will never be the same since he came into it….I have no idea what it's going to be like without him…" I trailed off and looked up at everyone in the bar. Almost everyone in the bar was crying, except for Oliver. He was standing in the center of the room staring back at me like his eyes were drilling through my soul itself. I felt like I couldn't breath and I needed to sit down. Someone clapped and my mum ran up from somewhere forcing me into a hug sobbing into my shoulder. I went and sat back down.