Winter's air descended on London by early December, and Katie and Oliver soon slipped into a cozy routine, free from interruptions from fan girls after The Daily Prophet managed to get word of Katie's now infamous pumpkin jinx.
Katie found herself adjusting to the spotlight, and even managed to find some of the rumors about her relationship amusing.
She laughed about them over brunch with Alicia and Angelina one chilly Saturday morning before Alicia changed the subject.
"I think Lee's going to propose soon," she blurted out.
Angelina gasped and Katie fumbled her fork. "You think so?" Katie asked.
"He's been acting a bit dodgy lately," Alicia explained. "And my Mum wrote me to tell me he went to dinner with my dad. What else could that mean?"
"It sure sounds like a proposal to me," Angelina mused.
"Absolutely," Katie agreed. "I bet he'll do it around the holidays."
"You think so?" Alicia's eyes glinted with excitement and Katie smiled.
"You know Lee – he likes to make a show of things. I bet it'll be a nice, grand gesture in front of family. He knows how much your family means to you," Katie said.
"Oh, I hope so," Alicia said, fiddling with her napkin anxiously. "I really hope he asks."
"That'll be two down and one to go," Angelina said raising an eyebrow at Katie.
"Does this mean I have to move out of our flat?" Katie whined.
"I'd probably move in with Lee. That is, unless you're going to move in with Oliver," Alicia answered, her tone reaching a suggestive sing-song level.
Katie shot her a pointed look. "Alicia, need I remind you that our relationship is not real?"
"Oh, come on, Katie," Alicia whined. "You and Wood are good together."
"It's not real!" Katie repeated. "We're two friends helping each other out."
"Sounds like he ought to help you out in another way," Angelina muttered under her breath.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katie demanded.
Angelina blinked innocently at her. "I just mean that you and Wood have been pretending to go out for weeks now. And so I presume you haven't had any… adult relations in that time. It's made you cranky. Unless you have?"
Katie rolled her eyes in annoyance. "No, I have not had 'adult relations' with Wood," she said, her tone dripping with displeasure. "And you know that."
Angelina sat back in her seat in dramatic exasperation. "I mean, you might as well make it worth your while. If you're going to pretend to date him, you might as well commit fully to the concept if you know what I mean."
"Ugh, you two are something else," Katie groaned. "Oliver and I are friends. And Angelina, he's your teammate! Doesn't it feel weird to be talking about him like that?"
"No," Angelina shrugged. "Wood is fit. And while I personally would never physically touch him because he annoys the piss out of me, you, on the other hand, have the perfect opportunity to do so. I mean, have you two even snogged?"
"Of course not," Katie answered. "Why would we? We're already convincing enough that The Prophet and the fans think we're a couple."
"But that's so boring!" Angelina whined. "You two need to keep things interesting if you're going to remain in the papers. Have a good snog once in a while. Have a good shag in an alleyway, something! Anything!"
"I don't know," Alicia chimed in slowly. "As much as I want Katie and Wood to hook up for real, I do think that could complicate their friendship."
"Exactly," Katie nodded in agreement.
"All right, fine," Angelina sighed. "But if you want to keep up the charade, you're going to have to step your game up."
Katie met up with Oliver later that evening at a nearby pub with some of his teammates. Puddlemere United had just signed a new Chaser, Trent Healy, from the Puddlemere reserve team. The Puddlemere players decided to go out for drinks to welcome Trent and to get to know him better.
Katie slid across from Angelina in a booth near the bar as Oliver fetched them drinks. George had decided to stay at the shop to unpack some new inventory with plans to meet them later.
"Trent is awfully fit," Angelina commented as she eyed the new Chaser, who was chatting with teammates at the bar.
Trent Healy was tall and muscular with dark brunette hair and chocolate brown eyes. Oliver had introduced Katie to Trent upon her arrival at the pub, and from everything Oliver had told her, Trent was an exciting addition to the team after one of the starting Chasers had been injured in the previous match.
Katie nodded in agreement with Angelina. "He is rather nice to look at, isn't he?" she commented, causing Angelina to elbow her in the side.
"You already have a hot quidditch star," she said. "Don't be greedy."
"Oh, please," Katie laughed. "Like I have the allure or energy for them both. Pretending to date Oliver is more than enough."
"Pretending being the key word."
"What's that mean?"
"I mean, you and Wood aren't being very convincing."
"Not this again," Katie sighed.
"I'm just saying!" Angelina shrugged. "People are going to start to wonder things if you don't stop acting like siblings."
Oliver appeared while balancing a handful of cocktail glasses. He took the seat at the booth's end next to Katie and caught Angelina's gaze.
"So how do you like Trent?" he asked her. "Think you'll be able to play alongside him?"
"Absolutely," Angelina replied dreamily and Katie giggled.
"What?" Oliver frowned in confusion.
"Nothing. Trent's just nice to look at," Angelina said casually. She didn't want Oliver to become alarmed over some harmless fun as she loved George and would never get involved with a teammate anyway.
"You've got to be kidding me," Oliver groaned. "You cannot be serious."
"Oh, relax. I'm just stating the obvious. There's no need to get your knickers in a twist. Besides, Katie agrees with me, don't you, Katie?"
Katie shrugged. "Of course Trent's attractive," she answered carefully, Angelina's remarks about her relationship with Oliver still lingering on her mind. "But not nearly as attractive as my dear Ollie here." She clutched onto Oliver's elbow and smiled sweetly up at him.
Angelina snorted and Oliver looked as confused as ever, causing Katie to laugh. "Relax, Oliver," she said. "Angie here just thinks you and I aren't convincing enough as a couple."
"Why not?" Oliver demanded.
"Something about us needing to shag in an alley or something," Katie replied, causing Oliver to choke on his beer.
Angelina smirked and took a sip of her martini. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't hurt for the two of you to try a little harder."
"Fine," Katie said simply. Maybe it was because she was already three cocktails in, or maybe it was because Oliver looked particularly handsome in the jumper he was wearing, but Katie slid herself onto Oliver's lap, her legs dangling over the end of the booth's bench.
"Am I too heavy?" Katie asked, her arms gently draped around Oliver's neck. Oliver blinked at her.
"Katie, you're what, 120 pounds?"
"125, thank you very much."
Angelina rolled her eyes, but her gaze was quickly diverted as she scanned the pub. "Oi, there's George," she said, waving at the redhead. As George failed to spot them among the crowd, Angelina excused herself from the table to fetch him.
Oliver quirked an eyebrow at Katie as she watched Angelina scurry after George. "Shagging in an alley?" he mused.
"Something like that," Katie shrugged. "Apparently our friends think we don't look like a real couple because we don't act like feral cats who go at it at all hours of the day."
"I do remember when Angelina and George started dating," Oliver reminisced, causing Katie to grimace.
"That's right, they were all over each other all the time."
"Thank Merlin they didn't start dating when I was Captain. I think I would've drowned myself in the Black Lake if I'd had to deal with that."
"I'm pretty sure they hooked up in the locker rooms a few times during George's seventh year," Katie said, grinning at Oliver's horrified expression.
"Our friends are absolute degenerates," he said.
"Oh, come on," Katie laughed. "Don't tell me you never snogged anyone in the locker rooms. You were Captain all those years and had all of those girls following you around."
"I would never defile such a sacred place," Oliver answered indignantly. "Besides, the Astronomy Tower was a much better place to take girls." He flashed Katie a smirk in response to her wide-eyed expression.
"I knew it! I knew you were into more than just quidditch. I knew you were just as bad as the rest of us!" Katie exclaimed.
"I was not! Taking girls up to the Astronomy Tower wasn't nearly as bad as hooking up in the locker rooms!"
"Who's hooking up in the locker rooms?" Angelina had returned with George, who was looking amused at Katie and Oliver's conversation.
"The two of you, apparently," Oliver replied.
George offered a cheeky grin. "Those were the days. Not a care in the world."
Oliver shook his head in disproval and returned his attention to Katie, who was still in his lap. Her hair smelled like coconut and he noticed she still had a small scar on her chest just below her left collarbone, a grim reminder of the cursed necklace.
Oliver had always been in awe of how well Katie had adjusted to life after the necklace incident. She'd nearly died and been made an involuntary pawn in Voldemort's twisted game, but somehow she'd managed to return to life without feeling jaded or victimized by the unfair things that had happened to her.
"Oliver." Oliver was pulled from his thoughts, his cheeks turning red as he realized Katie had caught him staring at her chest. George snickered. "You're going to have to snog me a few times before I let you see what's under my jumper," Katie teased.
Oliver didn't want to admit that he'd actually been studying Katie's scar. It was a topic she preferred to avoid and he didn't blame her.
"Sorry," Oliver said quickly. Not wanting to appear awkward, he flashed his signature smirk. "If you wanted me to kiss you so badly, you could've asked."
Angelina and George were staring at the couple with intense newfound interest. They hadn't really believed all of their joking and teasing would actually heighten the flirtation between Katie and Oliver.
Katie wasn't one to back down from a challenge and surely that was what Oliver was doing, right? She may not play quidditch anymore, but she was just as competitive as him. Though alcohol was probably to blame for their antics, Katie was happy to oblige him.
"Fine," she said simply, pulling him into a deep kiss.
"Wicked," George said, though neither Katie nor Oliver appeared to hear him.
It wasn't lost on Katie that Oliver's hands had come to rest on her thigh and lower back. It also wasn't lost on her that, not only did Oliver kiss her back, but he was quite good at it.
"There," Katie declared once she'd decided to come up for air. "Are we convincing enough yet?"
Angelina and George both nodded in quiet shock.
"Speaking of," Oliver said, stealing Katie's attention again. "My Mum wrote to me today and demanded I visit for Christmas. She's also demanded that she meet you now that she's seen us in the papers together."
Oliver had spent most of the day thinking this through. He knew Katie wouldn't be spending Christmas with her family, but he didn't want to come off as presumptive. Maybe she had her own Christmas traditions, or maybe she preferred to be left alone during the holidays.
"Christmas at your parents' house?" Katie said blankly.
For the past few years, she'd spent Christmas at The Burrow with the Weasleys, a tradition she'd grown to love. It made her feel like she was making up for the family she never had. But Oliver had always spoken fondly of his family and Katie was curious to see what they were like. She hoped Oliver wasn't inviting her out of pity, but she appreciated the invitation nonetheless. Maybe spending a few days with the Woods would be a nice change of pace for her.
"Okay," she finally agreed. "I'll come."