HEY GUYS! I know it took a while but I REALLY like this chapter, so I hope the wait was worth it! I'm having a hard time writing new chapters because no one ever reviews, so I have no idea if anyone's even reading this! Anyways...enough with that. Enjoy the chapter!
Katie and Oliver arrived at Oliver's apartment from Katie's parent's house at about eight that evening, and they both slumped onto the couch.
"I suppose I wasn't very fair," said Katie, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"Meaning?" asked Oliver, looking over at her.
"Well," she explained, "I didn't exactly warn you about what was coming, did I? You must like me an awful lot to have put up with that."
"Of course I do, I love you," said Oliver automatically, making Katie sit bolt up right. Oliver wanted to smack his head into a wall...he'd been trying to find a way to tell her for the past couple days, but that was certainly not how he'd been planning on doing it.
"You sure you mean that?" asked Katie, her eyes wide.
"Of course I'm sure," Oliver mumbled, cursing his own stupidity, and looking at anyone but Katie.
"Well good," said Katie, her mood turning light as she leaned back into the couch, "Cause I love you too."
Oliver almost laughed at the casual way that she handled the situation...it was so Katie. And that was why he loved her.
Katie and Oliver spent the next nine months enjoying their relationship as it came, but not forcing anything. On their one year anniversary they decided to move in together in Oliver's apartment, which was bigger, but they kept Katie's apartment for renters, rather than selling it. One evening shortly after Katie moved in they received a rather unexpected visit.
They'd been sitting on the couch, Oliver on Katie's left as she read a book and he played idly with the fingers on her left hand, contemplating them and their ring-less state. He knew that he wanted to marry Katie. That wasn't the question. She was everything that he'd ever wanted and he knew he'd never want or need anything else, so it wasn't a question of 'if,' it was a question of 'when.' They had another Quidditch match against each other very soon, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. The Quidditch season went from March to October every year, and the previous year they'd played eachother in September, however this year their game was scheduled in October, which made him nervous, because it was one of the last games of the season for both teams, so tension would be running high. If their relationship made it through that game it'd be a miracle...well, he didn't really believe that, but he knew it had the potential to be unpleasant. He had just come to the conclusion to think more about marriage after the game when there was a firm knock on the front door.
"I wonder who that is," said Katie in mild interest, setting down her book and standing up. They'd been very careful in the charms they'd put on the apartment, so it was impossible for anyone but them to apparate directly in, and they couldn't do it accompanied by anyone, so if someone grabbed hold of them they wouldn't get in, they'd just get to the front door.
Oliver stood up to as Katie walked towards the door, because another, more forceful knock sounded.
"Oi! Katie! Oliver! We know you're in there!" came a familiar voice from the other side of the door, "Let us in!"
"Ugh," Katie said with an eye-roll as she opened the door to reveal her brothers, Paul, Patrick, and Ian.
"About time," said Ian as they waltzed in and sat down on the couch, looking totally at ease.
"What are you doing here?" asked Katie as she observed her three, tall, burly brothers try to squeeze onto their couch.
"We just came to invite you two to a Sunday lunch on October 2nd," said Paul.
"The day after your big game," added Patrick with a smirk, "Just in case you forgot..."
"We didn't, thanks," said Oliver, sitting in an arm chair. He'd gotten more used to Katie's brothers over the past nine months, and now could deal with their presence quite easily.
"And I suppose an owl wouldn't have sufficed," said Katie.
"You know us," said Paul, smirking, "We love being the bearers of ill-I mean good tidings."
Katie merely rolled her eyes at his antics.
"Nice place," said Ian casually, glancing around. Katie had managed to inject her personal style into the house, and it was visible everywhere, though Oliver's came out in more subtle ways.
"Thanks," said Oliver and Katie at the same time, before glancing at eachother in surprise.
"So," said Patrick, "What's for diner?"
"Excuse me?" asked Katie incredulously, "Did you just invite yourselves to diner?"
"So it would seem," said Ian, "And we're starving."
Katie rolled her eyes, it was so like them, "I'm making spaghetti."
"Excellent," said Paul in satisfaction, leaning back.
As Katie made diner, Ian, Paul, Patrick, and Oliver all discussed the Quidditch season in the living room, and some time during that conversation Ian went into the kitchen on the pretext of getting some butterbeers, and sat on the counter next to the stove, watching Katie work.
"So," he said, but Katie interrupted him.
"Here it comes," she said, "I knew it would, you know."
"Why does that not surprise me?" he said with a smile, "So do I really need to ask?"
"No," she said, "You don't. You know me, and you know I won't take crap from anyone, so why don't you guys lighten up? Oliver is a good guy, and I'm happy."
"Yeah, but-" said Ian.
"No buts," said Katie. She wasn't angry, but she waned to get the message across to her brothers one and for all, "If he ever does something you'll be the first to know, after I kill him, that is, but you don't have to worry about it other than that. Don't you like him?"
"Sure we do," he said, looking mildly insulted, "I like him a hell of a lot, considering he's dating my baby sister. But I just wanted to make sure that-"
"Well you've made sure, so please drop it," said Katie with calm finality.
"Fair enough," he replied, grabbing some butterbeers from the fridge and heading back into the living room.
Katie couldn't help but roll her eyes as she turned them back to the sauce she was stirring. She loved her brothers, but they were something...
The morning of their Quidditch match, a Saturday, was a cloudy one with high winds. Katie and Oliver both woke up and got ready in near silence, unwilling to see the two very different uniforms that they were wearing. As they got ready to disapperate Katie broke the silence.
"No surprises?" she checked.
"No surprises," he affirmed, "Just like any other game."
"Yeah," she said, more to herself, before kissing him lightly and saying, "I'll see you after, okay?"
"Yeah," he said, "Love you."
"Love you more," she replied, before disapperating with a loud crack.
When they arrived at the pitch they went to their respective changing rooms and got ready, listened to their coaches' pep talks, and filed out onto the field with their teams, Katie in blue and Oliver in red. They looked at each other from opposite sides of the field as they got ready to mount their brooms, but only briefly, and they took off, soaring into the air, trying not to listen to the commentator, who was having a field day.
"And it's Bell of the Harpies with the quaffle as she soars up the pitch. Now she and Wood, Puddlemere's keeper, having been dating for over a year now, but this is the first time they've faced each other on the pitch since they became a couple. Can Bell score? Will Wood let the goal in on purpose, or will Bell just never make an attempt? Now, we all remember what happened the last time they played against each other, but I gather their coaches would rather see a better game but-Wait! Bell passes to Robbins who shoots and-Wood saves it! And Becket of Puddlemere has the quaffle!"
The game went on progressing rather slowly, and both Katie and Oliver played brilliantly. Katie managed to score some impressive goals, but Oliver also saved some that any other keeper would've missed. In the end, it really came down to which seeker was the best, and this game it happened to be The Holy Head Harpies.
When they met eachother outside of the changing rooms after they'd got out of their robes Oliver gave Katie a kiss, told her she flew brilliantly, she told him he was equally brilliant, and they went home. No more drama to speak of, and as Oliver lay in bed that night, mulling over the idea of a wedding and deciding that if they were mature enough to compete with eachother so directly they were surely mature enough to get married...
Now the only real question left was how to face her brothers...
I know that the wait you had to endure to get this chapter was completely unacceptable, and I understand why many of you probably just gave up, but if you didn't PLEASE review, because I need to know that someone out there is still listening. This story kind of fell to the back burner as I worked on finishing up a HUGE three-story series that I've been working on now for over a year, and as the last story, "The Extremely Eventful Life of James Sirius Potter" came to a close it became my number one priority. Now that I've only got two stories to focus on, this and one about Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley (PLEASE GO CHECK THAT OUT, it's called "Never in a Million Years") I promise updates will come faster. If you made it through this ridiculously long apology disguised as an author's note tell me in your review and you'll get virtual chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge.
XOXO
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