Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the storyline. And I don't think I'll own the Harry Potter universe anytime soon. If I did it would have been 'Oliver Wood and the Deathly Hallows' and there'd be a follow up 'Teddy Lupin: the Way Life Should Be.' Tonks and Lupin shouldn't have died, by the way there was a spoiler back there…

"Another." I croak at Tom. This will only numb the pain, I know it'll hurt so much more in the morning. Borderline depression and excessive alcohol consumption have never been a good match, I don't need the bloody Department of Mysteries to tell me that much.

"I think you've had enough M-" Tom starts before I cut him off.

"Another." Tom spares me a concerned glance before topping up my glass of Firewhiskey. I've never been a heavy drinker, I used to be the girl that got drunk on Butterbeer, but times have taken their hold on me and made me hard. The necklace, the war, the loss of Fred and finally loosing Oliver. I'm so selfish, feeling this way when people have suffered so much more than me, like poor Andromeda Tonks, she lost her husband, daughter and son-in-law all in the war.

I still don't know why all of this happened, we were doing so well. I thought he loved me. I gave everything to be with him, to make it all work out for us. I moved to Puddlemere so we could live together and he'd still be close to his "second love", because of this I didn't see my family as much as I wanted. I rarely talk to Angelina, Alicia and Leanne because I worked all my time around his schedule. I saw Charlie, Percy and Penelope more than I saw the twins because Oliver is closer to them than to the twins. Finally, I gave up my dream so I could be with him, what if I had made it as a singer? How would a Quidditch Star and a Singer have made a relationship work? With both of them touring and constantly tempted while away from home, at least if I wasn't famous Oliver would always have someone waiting at home for him, ready to show him what "Home is Where the Heart Is" really meant.

I remember when Oliver said "I love you too Katie, and in a few years when you're the best Unspeakable the Ministry has ever seen, you'll be able to tell me why.". When he said the nine words that ruined my perfect world I threw myself into work and I worked out why humans love. Katie you stupid fool, I can't believe I honestly thought that if I worked out what love was and why we fall in love that he'd actually come back to me. Like having answers would make him see reason, make him realise that he loves me. I knock back my Firewhiskey, gasping with tears in my eyes as it sears my throat. If Fred had been here he would have laughed and warned me against "playing with things we all know need to be Katie-proofed", that was his solution when he came to see me in St. Mungo's, that people needed to 'Katie-proof' things before I came into contact with them.

Katie stood staring in wonder at the Room of Requirement, it was a beautiful and highly useful room she wished she had discovered earlier during her time at school. She could have used a place to hide from Oliver's dawn practices she mused before stifling a small giggle, 'Now is not the time for giggling Katie'. Katie gazed around the crowded, but strangely quiet room. Of course she knew why everyone was silent, they were all lost in their own thoughts, any moment now they would find out their fate, whether or not Hogwarts would put up a fight, or if they'd give up with the hope of suffering less casualties.

They were all waiting for Harry, Harry was the Wizarding world's sign of hope and it was Harry that would be leading them into the greatest battle in history. And there he was, Harry Potter, their sign of hope, tripping down the stairs "Well good omen there…" Katie mumbled to Oliver who playfully nudged her in her side. The grin slid off Katie's face as she heard Professor Lupin call "Harry, what's happening?" [1. Katie's heart froze with anticipation, she had been expecting this and planning for this for years.

"Voldemort's on his way, they're barricading the school - Snape's run for it -" [2. Katie didn't listen to anymore, instead she turned to face Oliver and drew him into a kiss. This could be the last time they saw each other, alive anyway, she mentally shook herself of the negative thought.

"Promise me we'll make it through this Ollie." She mumbled against his lips.

Oliver spared her a chaste kiss before looking into her eyes and muttering "I'll always protect you Katie, I'll give anything to make you happy. I promise." With that he turned his attention back Harry to hear him announce "…everyone's meeting in the Great Hall to get organised. We're fighting." [3 With a deafening roar everyone surged towards the door and into the upcoming battle. Katie saw a glimpse of red hair she recognised as Fred, struggling towards the back of the room.

She grasped his hand in her smaller one and gave him a grin to rival that of his and George, "Well Fredilcious, I guess I'll see you out there yeah? There are lots of Death Eaters out there with my name on them, and more than a few of them will get a good dose of the Tarantellagra Jinx. Keep count old chap, if you win I'll be your guinea pig for a month, that's forever when you consider the stuff you two invent!" Katie giggled before sprinting out the door to catch up with Oliver.

My last words to Fred had been some stupid joke, a desperate attempt to make it seem like we were all going to be ok, because if the twins could still joke around then we'd be ok, the world wasn't as scary as I thought it was… I never did wait to see if Fred still found the humour in every situation, even a war. "Another one for Fred." I croak at Tom. Tom raises a brow at me for a moment before setting down another glass of the amber liquid. "To Fred." I say before raising my glass in a solitary toast and downing yet another drink.

"Smile, it enhances your face value."[4 a deep voice whispers into my ear. Oh how tacky, using lines from Muggle films as pick up lines. If you're really so pathetic that you need to use lines from movies, at least pick movies that aren't well known you twit. It's not even a hard one. This idiot probably thinks I'm too drunk to realise that his sorry attempt at a pick up line is tired and overdone. Well poor guy, I'm nowhere near drunk. Lets see how good he is.

"Sir, you are no gentleman."[5 I snap back, not bothering to turn around and face him. Hopefully he'll leave me alone now.

"And you Miss are no lady. Don't think that I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any charm for me."[6 the man replies. I spin around as I recognise the voice and come face to face with Oliver.

Oliver gives me a shy grin before he slides onto the stool next to me and orders himself a Firewhiskey, he raises his glass in a toast and I hear him mutter "To Fred" before he takes a small sip. "You should really slow down love. True, Firewhiskey is good for shots, but it's also very enjoyable just to sip, you should give it a go sometime. In the time it took me to work up the nerve to talk to you, I saw you down three lots of 'Gryffindor Courage', as the Twins liked to call it."

"What are you doing here?" I can't think of anything else. What's he doing here? Doesn't he have some blonde girl he should be off with? Oliver opens his mouth to reply but I cut in. "Actually no, you can sit there and listen, your turn to talk will come later, much later. I gave up everything for you. I gave up my family, my home, my friends and my dream for you! No one else Oliver, just you! I stupidly made so many sacrifices just so that we could live 'Happily Ever After'. But, do you know the catch to living 'Happily Ever After'? Both people have to want it! Both people need to work at it, crazy, I know.

"And while we're talking about crazy how about we add honesty to the mix? The first thing that I need to get off my chest is that you are a crazy, unstable, egotistical, masochist, insensitive, Quidditch obsessed nutter! Yes, and I know I used to say that your 'quirks' are what I fell in love with, but that was before I had to question what love actually is. You know what? I actually know what love is now, what it really is. Love is just a persons unconscious attempt to quash the fear of being alone, and if you're really lucky, you might find the one person that gives you a feeling of untold happiness because you have finally found that person, but also scares you because they are the only one that could ever hurt you. I found that in you and look what happened! Love is a lie, you tend to learn things like that working as an Unspeakble. Yes, that's right everyone: Katie Bell is an Unspeakble, now you all know!" I call out to the crowded pub who are watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.

I can't believe I'm doing this, everything I've felt for the past nine months is just pouring out of me. "I miss my friends Wood! I spent all my time with YOUR friends. Even after I lost Fred I still put you first, you and your needs, you and your friends! My last words to Fred were some stupid joke, do you know how that feels? Actually, I don't care! For once this is about me Oliver. I don't care about your precious Puddlemere United, I don't care which team has the highest scoring average, I don't care about your positioning in front of your precious bloody hoops! For once I don't care about you!" I yell, chest heaving as my hazel eyes bore deep into his brown ones. In his eyes I can see a whirlwind of emotions: anger, sadness, guilt, shame, longing and even love. "Don't." I growl at him, "Don't even try to make me forgive you. So what did you come down here to say Wood? Didn't you break my heart enough last time? What did you want to tell me? That you're getting married to the blonde from the other night? If that's the case don't even bother trying to be my friend again. So what is it Wood, spit it out."

Immediately after my rant Oliver seems to enter a debate with himself about whether or not to tell me why he's here. I honestly couldn't care which action he takes, nothing could make me hate him less or break my heart any more. The Gryffindor Oliver seems to win the internal battle as he fixes me with a determined stare I've only ever seen once before, right before he said those nine sodding words. "First, I must tell you I've been the most unmitigated and comprehensive ass,"[7 He says with a sad smile "and I love you. Most ardently." [8 Oliver gushes, his eyes never breaking contact with mine, love still the most prominent of all the emotions swirling in his eyes.

Oh Merlin… did Oliver just say that, he can't mean it. I can't believe he is trying to hurt me again, I won't fall for it this time. "Oh please Oliver, don't use a quote if you don't even know what it means! Don't interrupt me! You can't know what it means, you don't know what love is you cold hearted bastard." I spit at him as I stand up and glare down at him. To his credit, Oliver still hasn't broken eye contact with me. I can still see the love and hurt in his eyes, and I can also see that he's thinking very carefully about what to say next. Well I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of getting one over me again. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I snap before starting to walk away from him, tears welling in my eyes yet again.

"Once upon a time, I wanted to know what love was. You just have to see that it's wrapped in beauty and hidden away in between the seconds of you life. If you don't stop for a minute, you might miss it." [9 Oliver calls. That's the only line from a movie that has ever meant anything to him, he used to say that all others lacked all sincerity and passion when spoken by an actor. He once said that love was a miraculous thing, it could keep you alive or it could kill you, make you the happiest person in the world or pitch you into a life of grey, mend a heart or break it.

"A heart can be broken but it keeps beating just the same."[10 I mutter with my back still facing Oliver. Love means nothing, I can live without it, I can live without him. A broken heart can't get any worse, the only risk you run is letting someone back in. Well that won't happen. No one will get the chance to hurt me again.

I walk away from Oliver and out of the busy pub, away from the prying eyes and into Muggle London as it starts to rain. Suddenly I feel a strong pair of hands grasp my shoulders and spin me around. My face is inches away from Oliver's, and my heart is racing from the contact. He moves one hand to cup my face and the other to the small of my back where he draws small, soothing circles on my back through my robes. "I guarantee there'll be tough times. I guarantee that at some point, one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing. But I also guarantee that if I don't ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for the rest of my life."[11 Oliver mutters as he bends down, closing the space between our lips.

"No!" I wrench myself out of his hold. "No Oliver, it doesn't work like that. You can't just mutter sweet nothings and movie lines in my ears until it's all ok again!" I cry as tears spill down my cheeks and mingle with the rain. "Life isn't like the movies Oliver, one sentence doesn't fix months of hurt. One line doesn't express everything that needs to be said between two people. Movies aren't real, we don't all have someone writing the perfect script for us where we fall in love, get our dream jobs and have a perfect family, in a perfect house in a perfect neighbourhood. Some of us actually have to live in the real world." I can't let this happen again, I need to get away from him. I set off in search of an empty alley way to Disapparate in.

"Katie, you're right." Oliver calls, "I've never been good at expressing myself, we both know that, I don't have a perfect script and if I had a script I would definitely fire the writer for his inability to write dialogue. I don't have a speech about how I love it that you're cold when its 71 degrees, or it takes you over an hour to order a sandwich or even a little facial quirk you have, because that's not you. How I feel about you can't be condensed into a couple of sentences and I'm sorry for trying. All I know is that I need you Katie and I was wrong to assume that I knew what was best for you. What was that you said earlier? That I was a crazy, unstable, egotistical, insensitive, Quidditch obsessed nutter?"

"You forgot 'masochist'." I mutter as I stop with my back still facing Oliver.

"Right, masochist." Oliver chuckles. "All I'm trying to say is that I need you Katie. I'm lost without you and I'm sorry for ever trying to pretend that I wasn't. I don't make sense sometimes…ok, most of the time, but I need you to understand that I thought I was doing what was best for you. I realise now that what was best for you was honesty. I should have been honest with you and just told you that I thought you deserved someone better. Katie, it's easy for me to list my faults and mistakes, and it's a lot harder to list what I've done right, but I don't want my biggest mistake to be letting you go and I won't let you go without a fight. Basically, all I'm trying to say in my very simple way is that I love you."

The words hang in the moment as my mind reels. The darkness of my world fades away as a comforting warmth envelops my body. I spin around to see Oliver walking away, head hung in defeat and his hands stuffed in his pockets. Where's he going? "Hey, I thought you said you weren't giving up without a fight!" I call at his retreating back, he stops for a brief moment before shrugging his shoulders and continuing on. I can't loose him, not again! I run towards him and step in front of him, preventing him from going any further. I look up into those beautiful eyes I've missed so much and whisper "I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her."[12

Shock graces his features before he closes the gap between us and takes me in his arms. His lips come crashing down upon mine and for the first time in months I feel alive again. My fingers tangle in his hair as he runs tongue along my bottom lip, seeking entrance which I grant. The rain continues it's assault on the busy street as Muggles flee from the street looking for shelter without sparing a glance at the young couple. We finally pull apart as oxygen becomes a factor, but Oliver still holds me against his chest. We stand together in silence for a moment before Oliver asks "If I was your reason to give up singing why didn't you follow your dream after I left?".

I instantly tense up before I look into his eyes and tell him what I had been afraid of admitting to myself for months, "Because when you left I had no one left to believe in me." Oliver wipes away my tears which are instantly replaced with raindrops before pressing a kiss to my forehead.

"I'll always protect you Katie, I'll give anything to make you happy. I promise." Oliver whispers before pulling me in for another kiss, my favourite kiss to date, because Oliver is finally fulfilling his promise.

All our young lives we search for someone to love, someone to make us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, someone perfect is searching for us.
-The Wonder Years

A/N: So that's 'Deceitful Eyes' finished, vaguely thinking about writing an epilogue chapter, if I do it'll be called "Speaking About Quidditch". What do you think: yay or nay? Let me know.

Ok, so now down to the fun part, the countless numbers…

[1 taken from 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' written by the amazing J.K. Rowling.

[2 also taken from 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' , 3 points if you can guess who its written by…. Whoops, there's a clue just up there

[3 ooo, the anticipation is killing me…. Is it 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' by J.K. Rowling? Why yes, yes it is!

[4 'Steel Magnolias' - movie

[5 'Gone With the Wind' - movie, it's a classic

[6 'Gone With the Wind' YAY! Halfway there!!

[7 'Pride and Prejudice' - movie, not books cause it was a movie theme, love the book though

[8 'Pride and Prejudice'

[9 'Cashback' - movie, yes I'm being cheeky. A line from Sean Biggerstaff's (Oliver Wood's) film

[10 'Fried Green Tomatoes' - movie

[11 'Runaway Bride' -movie

[12 'Notting Hill' - I seemed to have used that movie A LOT!

Ok, I also make references to the speech that everyone knows from 'When Harry Met Sally' everyone seems to know that speech even if they've never seen the movie.

Tarantellagra Jinx: Makes victim's legs dance uncontrollably, so the victim cannot control his or her movements. (see, I did my research, YAY for me :D )

Ooo and I would like to take credit for the 'Fredilicous' probably done countless times before but I had never seen it so I promise I'm not intentionally stealing from anybody!

The story was not inspired by the above quote from 'The Wonder Years', I just saw that quote and thought it was very fitting for the kind of feel I hope I achieved for this story.

Big thanks to: everly, Cinny75, Oo.katieWood.oO and Romy who all reviewed!! Thank you so much for sticking with it.

Massive thanks to everly, who reviewed EVERY chapter and asked some very valuable questions. She probably doesn't realise how much of an effect she had upon the story. I hopefully, without her realising, bounced a few ideas off her to get an idea about where the story should go. I hope you liked it.

Even thanks to those that didn't review or anything like that but came back to check up on the story every so often. I can't blame you for doing that, until recently I was exactly the same way. Thanks for reading and hopefully it gave you some ideas and now you are just itching to let them out. I know that's what happened to me.

Big thanks to my sister who spent countless nights in my room while I talked at her, rather than to her, trying to work out the all the ideas and sort out the quality from the rubbish (hopefully I did a good job!). And even thank you for the occasional "Claire, stop right there, its crap. Don't even go there, too cheesy" gotta love sisterly honesty.

You guys have been great. Love ya.

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