CHAPTER 14

"Katie, you're going to be late to your match if you don't get up!" Alicia called from the kitchen

"I'm up" I groaned from my bed. Nothing in me wanted to be playing quidditch again, but I had made the deal with Oliver so I went back to the Wasps right away. It was hard, nearly impossible, but I ran through the motions and got by. Every practice I constantly felt like Jake was behind me, or just hovering in the corner of my vision. I would turn to see him, but of course he wasn't there. It had me wondering at times why he hadn't become a ghost, it made me feel guilty but I was glad he hadn't.

Oliver has been all over the press lately with his apologies. Puddlemore finally gave him back his spot, but the national team was a little more reluctant. He did seem like he was pulling himself back together again, was staying sober at the very least. I struggled out of bed and shuffled out into the kitchen.

"Big day, you've got this Kates" George said to the zombie version of myself in front of him.

I groaned, grabbed my sports bag, and the travel mug of coffee Alicia set out for me.

"Good luck" Alicia said as she kissed the top of my forehead. I shuffled out the door to the Wasps pitch.

"Katie, oh good you're here" Jon said, as I walked into the pitch.

"Should I be scared and run back home?" I asked, I had pivoted on the spot to walk back out and he laughed

"No no, just someone is here to see you." Jon said, leading me to his office.

I walked into Jon's office and Gregory Summerville was sitting in his office.

"Well this is a bit of déjà vu" I said as I shook Greg's hand.

"Yes, well we understand your reasoning for leaving the team in November Ms. Bell, but we were wondering if since you were back playing again, if you might be ready to come back to play for us again. The cup begins soon and we could really use you." Gregory said.

"I don't know, Greg. Jon I'm sure you don't want to hear this, but I really only came back as an agreement for Oliver to get his shit together. I know you guys haven't been jumping to get him back on the team, it would feel wrong to go back without Jake or him there. I'm still not up to my old standard of play, I'm not sure I'd even be as much help as you'd like." I sighed.

"Don't sell yourself short, you've been doing great since you've been back" Jon said, patting me on the back.

"Would you consider coming back if we called back Wood?" Greg sighed.

"I guess so." I shrugged.

"Well then, I will have to look into that and see what we can do. I will be seeing you again shortly, Ms. Bell" Gregory said, shaking my hand. He got up, put on his hat, shook Jon's hand, and walked out the door.

"Don't give me that look, it doesn't matter why you're back. I'm just glad you are. You belong out there playing. Remind me to send Wood a thank you owl nonetheless, who knew he was such a pivotal supporter of the Wasps. He's been responsible for bringing you to us twice now." Jon laughed. I shook my head and headed down to the locker room.

It ended up being a pretty open and shut game against the Cannons. I barely managed a few assists but that's all we needed to clinch the win. After it was over Alicia and George took me out for dinner. At this point George was living full time with me and Alicia, and Fred was living over with Angelina. It felt like things were getting serious between them all quickly, which is weird to say because they all had basically been in love for their entire lives, but still.

"To Katie's win today and the many more to follow" George toasted with a glass of firewhisky at the table. Alicia and I raised ours along with him.

"Gregory Summerville was in Jon's office when I got to the pitch today." I started playing with the food on my plate.

"That bloke that coaches the national team?" George asked between bites.

"Yeah" I mumbled.

"What did he want?" Alicia asked.

"Me to come back and play for him," I shrugged.

"Kates, that's amazing! Are you going to?" She got up to hug me at first and then realized that I didn't seem that excited about it and sat back down.

"I don't know. I told him honestly that I wasn't sure I had it in me. I told them I was only playing at all to keep Oliver in line" I shrugged. We finished the rest of our dinner in silence after that.

Back at the apartment George and I were sharing a carton of ice cream watching some sappy romance movie on the telly. Alicia was in her room on a conference call with some supplier for her shop based out of the States.

"So, you're really not going to go back to play for England?" George asked, taking a scoop of ice cream.

"I dunno," I said, sucking on my spoon.

"It wouldn't feel right to be there without Jake OR Oliver. I explained that to them" I said going for another spoonful.

"Yeah? And they just understood and left it at that" George raised an eyebrow knowingly.

"Well...no. He asked if I'd come back if they called Oliver back" I confessed.

"Would you?" He put his spoon down on the coffee table.

"Maybe. You really think the league is going to let him back on after everything?" I shrugged and took the carton for myself.

"Puddlemore took him back, and they were the team he nearly killed himself in front of" George shrugged.

"I guess." I scraped the bottom of the carton for the last bits of ice cream.

I don't know what it was at that moment, but I suddenly realized that I was sitting with George in our pjs, eating ice cream straight from the carton, watching sappy chick flicks, and talking about boys.

"George, you're turning into the best girl friend I've ever had" I laughed.

"Well I'm glad I can help" he laughed.

"Well would a girl friend ever ask you what you thought about them marrying one of your other girl friends?" George asked after a beat.

"I would hope not, you silly lesbian" I laughed and wiped a finger of ice cream onto his nose.

Then it fully dawned on me what he had said.

"But wait seriously, are you going to ask her?!" I yelled and he shushed me.

"I don't know. I was thinking about it. Do you think she would say yes?" George shifted in his seat.

"Of course she would say yes" I whispered and punched him.

"Good so then you'll help me?" George asked.

"Whoa, it depends on your definition of help" I laughed.

"Come with us on a big group date on Valentines Day, it will be me, Alicia, Angelina, Fred, Oliver, and you." George said.

"That won't be awkward" I laughed sarcastically. He just looked at me.

"You cannot expect me to basically go out on a group date with Oliver on Valentine's Day!" I protested.

"It's not. I just want everyone to be together. The original gang. If it's this hard getting you to agree, getting Oliver to come is going to be impossible" George said looking defeated.

"It's fine. Just promise me to make it all about you guys and nothing about general Valentine's or anything like that" I laughed.

"I'll do my best," He smirked.

"And don't worry about Oliver. Just tell him I said that if I'm going he has to go" I shrugged.

"You two have really become a packaged deal" he laughed. I threw the empty ice cream carton at him.

Walking into practice the next day Jon was standing at the door to the locker room waiting for me.

"No way, Greg is back?" I said as I got to him.

"Yeah" Jon smirked.

"They actually…." I said in shock and Jon shrugged his shoulders.

I walked into the office and sure enough Greg was sitting down with his hat off and smiling.

"Wonderful new Ms. Bell, the organization has agreed to let Wood back on the team, on the condition that you also return" Greg said, folding his hands in his lap.

"Wow…really?" I said in shock. I really didn't expect them to let him back on.

"We'd like to have you back practicing with us as early as next week" Greg said.

"Wow…does he know yet?" I said.

"Yes we spoke with him this morning" Greg said.

"And…"

"And he said that he was only willing to return on the guarantee that you were returning. I guess you two are quite the packaged deal, huh?" Greg chuckled and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Yeah….funny…." I said and half smiled.

"So will we be seeing you two?" Greg asked.

I let out a big sigh. "I guess so" I said and Greg jumped out of his seat.

"Great, we are playing Turkey in a few weeks, so I'll see you both at practice" Greg said.

"Wow okay" I said and shook his hand. He put on his hat and left the door.

"So I guess I'm back on the national team" I said to Jon and he laughed at me.

I got out my mobile after practice to call Oliver.

"Hello?" A Scottish voice picked up.

"So they talked to you?" I asked.

"Yeah, how did you do that?!" Oliver asked in shock.

"I have no idea. I figured there was no way they'd let you play again so if I said that was my terms I wouldn't have to worry about going back." I said and I heard him laughing.

"So you didn't want to play again" He laughed.

"No," I said.

"Well then this is even better than I thought" he chuckled.

"And how is that?" I asked in a heated voice.

"Because now you have to suffer through it more than me!" he snickered.

"Did you talk to George yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, are you going?" He asked.

"I feel like I have to," I said.

"So see ya there?" Oliver said.

"Yep, see ya" and he hung up.

February 14th is probably one of the worst dates on the calendar. Either you are in love and have the overwhelming expectation to showcase it to the fullest extent and that only results in anxiety and disappointment, or you are alone looking at those showcases with a longing envy. It should be hexed away as a whole. But maybe that's just the bitter person who has never had a "good" valentine in me.

Nevertheless, it was here and I found myself dressed to the nines standing in front of the best rated magical eating establishment in London. I was wearing a red silk dress and a pair of Louboutin stilettos (you'd be amazed at the gallon to sterling exchange rate).

"Katie, who are you waiting for? Hot date?" A member of the press asked from a bit away. I didn't really think about them when I decided to wait out front for everyone.

"Well you look nice" Oliver said as he walked up to the door. Instantly I could hear the flashbulbs going off..

"Thanks, you too. This is going to be a thing no doubt" I said, gesturing at the press.

"Don't worry about them. Either they were always going to write something about us, or someone will do something more interesting and we'll be old news. Maybe George and Alicia will be enough to occupy their headlines" He shrugged. He did look well tonight. He was wearing a black button up shirt with a red tie.

"You two sorta look like you are heading to prom in a cheesy 80s American movie" George said as he, Alicia, Angelina, and Fred all finally arrived.

"Great" I huffed and Oliver laughed.

The restaurant was set up to be very romantic, low lighting, candles on all the tables, even fairies hovering in the air. Thankfully not a cherub in sight. There was a live band playing music and every table was filled with couples enamoured with each other. Including most of our table, George was feeding Alicia some of his pasta and Fred was wiping sauce off of Angelina's face. Each pair was only facing their partner speaking quietly amongst themselves. I was eating on my own, me and my chicken fingers were quite fine with going from my hand to my mouth, and the ketchup can be wiped off with my own hand thanks.

"I can't believe that you are eating chicken fingers at a restaurant this fancy." Oliver said, stealing one of my chips.

"Well nothing else looked good" I explained.

"You are such a dork" He laughed.

"Whatever, look at you, you're only eating soup. That's not even a meal" I protested.

"At least it is Italian soup, in an Italian restaurant" He shrugged.

We continued to eat our meals in silence. The other couples barely noticed whether or not we were even there. I took a few deep breaths and kept telling myself that I had to hold it out for Alicia and George. A few times I could feel Oliver thinking something similar.

After dinner George suggested we went down to Hogsmeade, because he wanted it to be like 'old times'. They always gave us a Hogsmade visit on Valentine's Day, so there was an extra familiar feeling to being there today. And sure enough there were little Hogwarts students running about on their dates. I even recognized some of them.

"I never went on a real date in Hogsmeade when we were kids" Oliver said, thinking out loud.

"Because your head was so big that no one could fit in a room with it" I joked.

"Ha ha, I guess I just never thought about girls that seriously in school" He shrugged.

"Or anything other than quidditch. They thought about you though believe me" I said.

"Yeah…" He said.

"Hey Ms. Bell" I heard a student call; ugh it was this stupid boy that used to bug me every day during lunch.

"Hi" I said and made a face to Oliver to express that I very much didn't want to get stuck talking to this kid.

"Haven't seen you at the castle, we have this ugly old professor now" The boy said.

"Yeah, I was just a temporary professor until the one you have now could come" I said and tried to walk away

"Well, that kid wants you," Oliver said under his breath as we tried to walk away and I shot him a dirty look.

"Is this your boyfriend?" The kid asked, popping up in front of us.

"How did you..?" I said trying to figure out how he appeared in front of us.

"Well is he?" the kid asked.

"Is he what?" I asked, still trying to figure out if he was old enough to apparate.

"Is he your boyfriend?" the kid persisted.

"No...no, we are just friends," I said. Oliver was cracking up by now.

"Oh well good, I would have to duel him for stealing my girl" the kid said.

"Are you kidding me? You're like 8" I said and tried to get around him and get Oliver to follow me.

"I'm 13" he yelled.

"Oh my bad, I was 5 years off" I said sarcastically. Oliver could barely breathe; he was laughing so hard.

"Oh come on Ms. Bell come get coffee with me or something" He yelled to us.

"Kid you're almost less than half my age, go and find some girl who still can't fit into her mother's shoes" I said and grabbed Oliver's arm pulling him towards where Alicia and George were walking.

"Oh Katie so nice to see you!" I heard McGonagall calling to me.

"Goodness, is it everyone notice Katie day?" I grumbled.

"Well you do draw attention to yourself in that dress" Oliver smirked.

"What's wrong with my dress?" I asked and he just shook his head and laughed at me.

"Katie it's so good to see you, what brings you to Hogsmeade?" McGonagall said once she caught up to us.

"Oh we were just going to watch some fireworks with Fred, George, Angelina, and Alicia" I said pointing in the direction that I so desperately wanted to go.

"How nice, are you two on a date?" McGonagall asked and I swear my face might have been as red as my dress.

"No, we are still just friends, George wanted a big group date tonight because he is going to ask Alicia to marry him. So we better be going before George gets mad at us for holding it up" I said with the biggest fake smile on my face.

"Oh how nice, yes must not keep him waiting" She smiled and I smiled back. We waved goodbye and I pulled Oliver into a run towards George and Alicia.

"Finally, I was afraid you guys were going to miss the fireworks," George said, looking very nervous.

"Sorry" I said.

"What took so long?" Fred asked.

"Katie was busy talking to her boyfriend," Oliver laughed.

"I hate you" I glared.

"You have a boyfriend?" Alicia asked innocently.

"No!" I yelled

"Yeah, he's just back there and about 13" Oliver snickered.

"I hate you," I said again.

"What?" Angelina asked.

"Nothing" I glared at Oliver sitting on the ground and crossing my arms.

"It was just some kid chatting her up and I'm taking the piss" Oliver said.

I sat there glaring.

"Well….shall we start the fireworks?" George asked awkwardly and I felt awful.

"Yes start them now" I said a little too hastily and George laughed.

So he did, they were amazing fireworks. Like watching sparkly movies in the sky. I looked in front of me and saw George had his hand in his pocket and he was fidgeting with something. I elbowed Oliver in the side and pointed it out to him and he smiled.

With a bright pink blast there was a firework person kneeling down in front of another firework person and then a firework went off writing the words to ask Alicia to marry him and George got down on his knee. It was funny to see how long it took Alicia to realize what was going on.

"Will you?" George asked.

"Of course!" Alicia screamed and George put the ring on her finger. He stood up and he lept into his arms.

"Are you crying?" Oliver asked.

"No" I said, wiping away the tears and he shoved me. At least these were happy tears for the first time in what feels like ever.

Fred and Angelina were snuggling near the trees and looking at the stars and Alicia and George were snogging about 5 feet to the left of them, then there was me and Oliver about 10 feet back just standing there watching like some sort of creepy pervs.

"Want to go home?" Oliver asked.

"Yes very much" I laughed.

"Guys we are going to head back home!" Oliver yelled and all four of them gave us a wave without actually looking back at us.

"Well we won't be missed" I laughed and we apparated back to the alleyway near my building.

Oliver walked me up to the flat.

"Can I crash on the couch tonight?" Oliver asked.

"Why?"

"Because I'm too tired to go home," Oliver said.

"Fine, but I'm going to take a shower and go to bed so don't bother me" I said and went to get a towel and my sleep shorts.

I took a long hot shower and then went to bed. Oliver was already asleep on the couch when I got out of the shower.

I flopped down, curled up in all of my blankets, and tried to fall asleep. I must have because it felt like in the next minute Alicia was bursting into my room.

"KATIE! KATIE WAKE UP!" She screamed.

"Woman, it's 1 in the morning, morning means sleep time" I groaned.

"But I'm engaged!" She screeched.

"Yes I know, I was there" I groaned and she squealed and then ran out of my room.

"Crazy people waking me up at 1 in the morning" I groaned.

"Kates" I heard a Scottish accent grumble with a stretching groan afterwards.

"What" I grumbled.

"Fred has to sleep on the couch" he moaned.

"What" I moaned back.

"Fred was going to sleep on the couch" Oliver said again. I have no idea why in the world he wouldn't have gone back to Angelina's on Valentine's night when he has basically been living there but what do I know? Must have had a tiff.

"So…sleep on the floor," I said.

"It's cold," he complained.

"Then go home," I said.

"I'm too tired," he grumbled.

"So why does this matter to me?" I complained.

"Can I sleep in with you?" he said quietly.

"Aw is wittle Oliwiver hawiving bad daweams?" I said mockingly.

"Kates it's cold" he complained.

"Oliver go home" I grumbled and suddenly my bed felt like 200 pounds of something just fell on it.

"Oliver get out!" I said and kicked him thinking that would tick him off and he would leave like this dog I had when I was a little kid. He wasn't like my dog.

"Oliiverrr" I wined and he didn't move.

"I hate you" I complained and then grabbed all of my blankets and curled into a little ball. He pulled two of my like seven blankets away from me and curled into a ball himself.

"So you keep saying" he mumbled.

I was way too tired to fight him right now, why couldn't he try to get in my bed when I was awake and could care enough to make him leave.