AN- Mercy me! I forgot! Sorry! Have a good weekend, folks!
8.5 - Katie Smiles
Katie Bell walked in a dream state. To be sure, some of that was because of the flying...it always left her feeling a bit jelly-legged. Some of it might have been from the robe rash -the bloody robes had slapped her legs raw in the high wind today- a consequence of not wearing full length undergarments and short boots. That wasn't all of it, however.
She packed her things back in her rucksack and hurried from the common room and through the halls to make it to her study club...something with her friend Corona and the Hufflepuffs. After a quarter hour, she had to stop, get her bearings, and retrace her steps as far as the second floor bathrooms. She had been walking so euphorically, she had literally ignored where she was going, and was nearly to the Ravenclaw tower by the time she stopped.
As she passed a window, she saw someone with long black hair riding a broom...perhaps Natalie. Natalie had talent; Katie had seen that right away.
It was curious how girls could very easily be regarded as quidditch-talented, but they were almost never regarded as quidditch-smart. Out of the whole league, there was but one female coach, and that was on an all-witch team. Even she had only been a coach for a few years, but before her, it had been a bloke, and not even a particularly good one. The team captain had basically run the team with him only occasionally involving himself if something pressing needed fouling.
Katie smacked her lips. As she passed window after window, she watched the-girl-she-was-certain-was-Natalie drop in and out of formation. Even with no one with her and no references for location, it was impeccable; a precise display of quidditch-talent.
In Katie's head, the formations lit up across the sky as Natalie executed them. The myriad of options -and even the defensive responses- were lighting up as well. Katie firmly suspected she possessed quidditch-smarts. She had bided her time with Oliver...not just as a sign of respect, which she certainly had then and was in fact growing now that she was learning all he had done, but as a matter of practicality. A good team might pull something out of a mediocre play. A terrible team had no chance to produce anything but more terrible. And who knows? Ollie's strategies sometimes worked, and Katie took meticulous note of when they did.
She noted the failures, too.
She licked her lips again. The kiss was, to be honest just a kiss. Something to tell her children about, should she ever meet the right wizard. Not everyone had kissed the Boy-who-lived..shockingly few people, actually. Katie was certain she could have parlayed the Girl-who-lived stature into a never-ending parade of eligible wizards.
Before that kiss however, Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived and all around decent bloke, a wizard with plus quidditch-smarts and excellent quidditch-talent, had told her she had pulled this team together; and with this talented group, that took quidditch-smarts. When one was as good as Natalie, Ginny, Harry, or even Ron -should he live up to his potential- one had to see proof of their captain's vision…one had to see how they (and their talent) fit in, and they had to trust the captain enough to be a team and not just a group of stars. He had, in one breath, managed to burn to death every self-doubt she had been feeling about this year.
Any witch could get a kiss, if she was half-okay. Katie would admit that she was half-okay most days. Realistically, she'd kissed him anyway. That didn't even require one to be half-okay, technically speaking.
Not just any witch could get a compliment like that, though; especially from the youngest seeker in a generation, and a bona fide team-maker like Harry Potter. And that was why Katie smiled.