I know I should have been sleeping. I mean, it was bloody one in the morning. But I figured, hey, as long as I can't sleep, why not work on some Quidditch strategies?

So that's how I found myself in the Gryffindor common room at one in the morning, flipping through our playbook, and occasionally writing in it.

I heard a sniffle from just up the stairs to the girl's dormitory, and I turned quickly to see who it was.

"Oh, Oliver," Katie said, somewhat surprised. "I didn't expect to see anyone down here."

She quickly wiped away her tears and put on a smile, but I could see through it.

"What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned. She just shook her head. "Come on, you can tell me," I said, patting the spot next to me on the couch.

She walked over, and laughed weakly when she saw what I was doing. "Honestly Oliver," she said. "You're going to work yourself to death."

"Hey, no changing the subject," I said, faking anger.

She laughed, sitting next to me. I put an arm around her. "Now, tell Oliver what's bothering you," I told her.

She laid her head on my shoulder. It felt so funny. I was nearly six feet tall, and she seemed almost like a midget, squirming until she could reach my shoulder with hear head. "My parents are getting divorced," she said, and I could tell she was holding back more tears.

I wished I could have thought of something better to say, but, being a pureblood, I couldn't think of anything I could say before I asked, "What's divorced."

"It must just be a muggle thing," she said thoughtfully. "It's when two people-two married people-they…just get, well, un-married."

"Oh," I said. "That's…strange. Why?"

"Loads of reasons," she said, sniffling. "But usually it's because they fall out of love. They usually start fighting a lot, ant then one of them moves out, then they get divorced."

"I'm sorry," I told her, as I still couldn't really think of anything else to say.

"I only see them in the summer!" she sobbed. "Now I'll see both of them even less because I'll have to divide my time between them!"

I wrapped both arms tightly around her, willing her to feel better. It didn't work, obviously, and instead, she curled herself into a ball inside my embrace.

It was rather embarrassing to explain when we wake up like that, not realizing we'd fallen asleep. Katie's face turned a deep shade of maroon, and I had to step up and calmly explain that she'd been upset, and I'd simply been comforting her.

*****

Katie Bell was a good actress.

Throughout the day she joked, laughed, and went to Quidditch practice as if everything were normal. You would have had to be paying very close attention (which I was) to notice the carefully concealed tears behind every smile.

It had been a few weeks since tryouts, and we'd been practicing for a while now. It amazed me how quickly Katie seemed to get over her shyness. She was of course already friends with the twins, and warmed up to Angelina almost instantly. Alicia she seemed almost scared of, but became friends with her quickly as well.

Everyone was pressuring me to chose one of the horrible candidates as our seeker, as whoever I chose was going to seriously need to practice, but I kept putting it off. Why, oh why, did Charlie have to graduate!?

So I was sitting in Charms, not really paying attention, but rather going through the pros and cons (or rather, cons) of the different Seekers, when McGonagall opens the door, and asks if I can come out in the hall.

"Yes Professor?" I ask, not really paying attention to the little first year she had with her.

"Wood," she said. "I have found you a Seeker!" She looked almost…giddy. I knew McGonagall really did have house pride!

"Really!?" I asked, thrilled. She nodded, gesturing to the little first year. My face fell. Then I noticed who he was. McGonagall thought Harry Potter should be our Seeker.

"I've seen him fly," McGonagall said. "The boy's a natural."

I grinned stupidly, shaking Harry's hand.

We were so going to win the Quidditch Cup this year.