Late Summer, 1998: Part Two

Oliver loved two things in life more than anything else: Quidditch and his wife.

Thus, it stood to reason that his two favorite past-times, above all others, included playing Quidditch and spending time with his wife.

Today was a rare occasion when he got to do both. At the same time.

Needless to say, it wasn't going to end well for one of them.

Oliver was suddenly torn from his thoughts by the sound of his name being called.

"Oi! Wood! What about you?"

Oliver looked up from the broomstick he'd been meticulously polishing to see that all of his teammates—minus the captain, who was currently in a meeting with the team manager—looking at him expectantly.

"Er…what about me?" Oliver asked in confusion, having tuned out their entire conversation in favor of his own inner monologue.

"They want to know how you feel about playing the Harpies," Moran, the only female chaser, said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh…er…if we beat them, then we'll take the lead over Appleby for second," Oliver said. "Plus, it'll give Holyhead their first loss of the season."

"Who cares about our chances to make the playoffs?" Derrick, one of the beaters, asked. "What kind of priorities do you have, Wood?"

"As you can see," Moran said dryly, "We're focused more on the Harpies aspect of the match, rather than the Quidditch."

"It's completely barbaric," The other beater, and also the only other female member of the team, spoke up now.

"Still care to chime in on this conversation, Wood?" Terence Higgs, the seeker, questioned sardonically.

"I think I'll pass," Oliver said swiftly.

"Good call," Higgs said, even as the discussion between the two beaters got more heated. "Oh look, mother and father are fighting again…"

"—all I'm saying, Mack," Derrick was speaking, "Is that I haven't got any sort of problem with Holyhead being an all-female team. Honestly, where could that go wrong?"

"Did you really just say that?" Mackenzie McConnell, otherwise known as Mack, demanded. "I think I know why you're still single…"

Oliver attempted to tune the conversation back out. His peace was short-lived, however, when a very familiar name was brought up.

"—Katie Bell, of course," Derrick was saying.

"What's that about Ka-er, Bell?" Oliver demanded, stumbling over his words a bit.

"My lovely partner's favorite Harpy," Mack replied with pursed lips.

"I wonder if she's single…" Derrick said thoughtfully.

"Leave it alone," Oliver said immediately. It was impossible to miss the warning tone in his voice or the dark frown that spread across his face. He cringed internally when Derrick turned to him with a knowing look.

"Special friend of yours, Wood?" He asked slyly.

"I used to be her captain," Oliver said shortly, attempting to look disinterested as he gave a small shrug. "That's all."

"What?" Bradley, one of the chasers, demanded. "How come this is the first we're hearing of it?"

"You must know all of her moves," Moran jumped in. "And you're only thinking to mention this now? You said it yourself: we really need this win."

"Look," Oliver said even more uncomfortable, if possible, with the turn this conversation had taken. "It's been years since we were on a team together. You lot probably know as much as I do, what with all of the scouting we've done."

The locker room was silent for a moment. Then…

"Well do you at least know if she's single or not?" Derrick pressed, causing his assembled teammates to collectively roll their eyes.

"I doubt it," Oliver replied, jumping onto a new tactic as his previous, and admittedly brief, attempt at intimidation had apparently failed. "I actually saw her about a week ago. We were at…a mutual friend's wedding. She had a date."

"Still…" Derrick said, thoughtful once more, "A date isn't necessarily a boyfriend."

"They looked pretty serious to me. And he was a pretty big bloke," Oliver warned his teammate, fighting to keep a concerned expression on his face. "He looked like he could take you if you tried anything with Bell."

"If he knows…" Derrick still had a speculative look about him.

"He looked like the type who would know," Oliver said immediately. "I'd just give her up as a lost cause now, if I was you."

"I suppose…if you're sure," Derrick said, slightly dejected.

"Positive," Oliver stated.

Oliver could barely contain the sigh of relief that passed his lips as the captain chose that moment to enter the locker room for his pre-game pep talk.

Crisis averted. Barely. Hopefully the actual match wouldn't be nearly as stressful…

Two Hours Later…

"Katie looks like she's out to kill Oliver," Lee commented in an offhand manner as Puddlemere took possession of the Quaffle.

"He probably left the cap off the toothpaste again this morning," Leanne said knowingly.

"Seriously though," Lee stated, his gaze fixed on the match. "I'm pretty sure she's trying to kill him."

"That was her eighth goal in the past half hour," Angelina chimed in. "I think she might be well on her way to a new league record."

"Best way to continuously humiliate a new spouse within the shortest amount of time possible?" Alicia offered.

It was just over an hour into the match between the Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United—or, rather, the showdown between the secret newlyweds: Oliver Wood and Katie Bell. Currently, Puddlemere was being positively crushed by the Harpies. Not that Oliver and his teammates weren't doing their best; they were tied for second in the league, after all. But the Harpies were undefeated for a reason.

"Oliver will recover from this, don't worry," Charlie said confidently.

"I'm pretty sure it's the chasers on Puddlemere that are going to have to make a comeback if they want any chance of winning," Ginny informed her older brother.

"It would probably also help if Derrick and McConnell were on the same page," George commented, eyeing Puddlemere's beaters. "I think she's aimed the bludger at him more often than at the other team."

"He probably deserves it," Leanne said without any hint of remorse.

As was to be expected, the group that had assembled to cheer on Katie and Oliver was rather biased in their loyalty. Angelina, Alicia, and Leanne were most obvious. Katie was their friend, who else would they want to win? Lee, on the other hand, had decided that the Harpies were a good team to cheer for if they were the team Alicia wanted to win.

Likewise, Harry's pick was based on the fact that the Harpies would always be Ginny's favorite team. Honestly, he didn't really have a preference, but if one was going to put him in the good graces of his girlfriend… And no, that did not make him a wimp, no matter what all of the Weasley boys present kept muttering when they thought their sister wasn't paying attention.

Of the Weasleys, Charlie was of the belief that if Oliver considered him his hero, then Oliver deserved to win the match. And Percy was obviously going to cheer for Oliver, one of his oldest friends, to win. Ron's motive for cheering for Puddlemere was a bit different. Honestly, the only reason he'd even come to the match was because George had asked and he'd never turn down a good Quidditch game, even if neither of the teams playing was the Chudley Canons. But there was not a bloody chance he was going to ever think about supporting his little sister's favorite team.

That just left George, who, unlike his brothers, was not an idiot. In fact, he was quite smart. Or, at the very least, smart enough to know when the right time was to be absolutely terrified of his younger sister. Supporting the Harpies alongside her was one of those times. He rather pitied his brothers for the gloating Ginny would most likely soon be doing at their expense.

"No!" Ron cried, though it was drowned out by the roar of half the crowd. Another point for the Harpies, courtesy of Katie Bell. "How could Wood have missed that one?"

"Katie's probably cheating," Charlie said with a frown. Ginny leaned around Harry to glare at her older brother, who quickly backtracked, "Er…I mean, it was an excellent shot. Oliver really didn't have a chance of saving that one."

"And you thought I was the wimp…" Harry muttered under his breath.

"How could she possibly be cheating, anyway?" Angelina questioned. "If anything, Oliver is the one who's handing the game to Katie. How many times has she scored on him now?"

"But I thought they had a wager on the match?" Percy said with a frown. "Why would he let her win?"

"I'm still not entirely convinced Katie was telling the truth about what they wanted from each other," Leanne said. "Seriously, who asks their new wife for a house with a Quidditch pitch?"

"Oliver," came the chorus from Charlie, Harry, Percy, Angelina, Lee, and Alicia.

"Yes!" The cry came from Ron yet again, but this time it was exultant, redirecting everyone's attention back to the game.

The chasers from Puddlemere had managed to get the Quaffle past the Harpies keeper. But the Harpies had long ago pulled ahead, thanks in large part to all of Katie's goals; there wasn't much of a chance that Puddlemere would be catching up any time soon. Plus, within seconds of Puddlemere scoring, each of the seekers fell into a dive after the snitch.

Yes, it was quite clear to everyone who would be winning this game…

Eight Hours Later…

Oliver, just about to drift off to sleep on the couch, jerked awake at the sound of the front door closing. Sitting up, he felt around blindly on the nearby coffee table for his watch, only to find it and discover that he definitely didn't have night vision and thus could not see what the time was.

Just at that moment, however, the living room was flooded with light, momentarily blinding Oliver, who had first collapsed onto the couch hours previously, when it was still light outside.

"Oliver?" Katie's voice asked. His still-blurry vision prevented Oliver from seeing her, but he thought she sounded vaguely amused. "What were you doing sitting here in the dark?"

"Sleeping," Oliver replied, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Just after ten," Katie replied, crossing the room and sitting beside her husband on the couch. "Were you waiting up for me?"

"I was wallowing in my misery and self-pity from the comfort of home," Oliver replied, causing Katie to shake her head with a small smile across her features. "Why are you back so early? I figured you'd stay out later celebrating. Congratulations on the new league record, by the way."

"It was hard enough sticking around when they all kept going on about how I was sure to be named Rookie of the Year after today; it reminded me a bit too much of my mum talking about you. But when the drunken singing started…that's when I left," Katie said with a slight grimace, which then morphed into a sly grin. "Besides, why would I want to hang out at a bar where everyone thinks I'm single, when I could be here with you?"

Now it was Oliver's turn to shake his head. "I should have known you'd have a few tricks up your sleeve at the match today when you were going after eternal servitude from me."

Katie grinned brightly. "No hard feelings though, right?"

"Only because I love you," Oliver informed her. "So I take it eternity starts tonight?"

"We can wait until tomorrow," Katie replied.

"Should I be worried?"

If possible, Katie's grin widened, but she didn't say anything as she stood up and began walking in the direction of their bedroom.

"Merlin help me…"

a/n-Just 2 more chapters and an epilogue...