Rating:
R
House:
Astronomy Tower
Ships:
Angelina Johnson/Other Canon Wizard Other Canon Witch/Other Canon Wizard Other Canon Witch/Oliver Wood
Characters:
Other Canon Witch Oliver Wood
Genres:
Romance Friendship
Era:
The Harry Potter at Hogwarts Years
Stats:
Published: 05/04/2007
Updated: 05/04/2007
Words: 3,055
Chapters: 1
Hits: 886

Just Listen

Ai

Story Summary:
Katie Bell and Oliver Wood have always been there for each other. After all that's what friends are for, and despite the rumors, Oliver and Katie are just friends. Or...maybe not.

Chapter 01

Posted:
05/04/2007
Hits:
886


"Bell?" Katie Bell rolled over in her four poster bed.

Sitting up, she blinked a couple of times and looked around. The stars still shone through the windows outside, and the room was pitch black. "Wh-what?" she asked sleepily.

"C'mon, Kat!" It was Oliver Wood. She felt his hands on her shoulders as he shook her slightly.

"Damn it, Wood. I thought I told you not to call me Kat. Why the hell are you in my dormitory?" she demanded.

"Training of course!" was the cheerful reply.

"Training," she repeated thickly. "At..." she trailed off and looked at the watch on her bedside table. "Four in the morning. You've gone mad, go back to bed."

"Just get up, Bell."

"Fine. I hope you know that I'm going to get you back someday."

"As much as I'd enjoy sitting here and listening to you plot my untimely demise, I have to go. With any luck we can be on the pitch by four-thirty."

"I hate you."

"I know." He disappeared into the room across the hall to attempt the difficult test of waking the Weasley twins. Katie smiled to herself as Oliver gave a shout. The previous night, the twins had rigged the door to their room in anticipation of an early summons by Oliver. When he opened the door into the room, a shower of ice cold water would descend upon him.

Katie let her feet hit the cold wooden floor. As quietly as possible, she dug through her trunk for a set of practice robes. Slipping them on, she drew her long blonde hair into a ponytail and started up the stone staircase to where Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet slept. She found the door ajar, Oliver's voice urging the other two chasers out of bed floating into the staircase.

"Angie, make him go away," muttered a lump of bedclothes that could only be Alicia. Angelina, however, could do no such thing, as Fred and George were mercilessly tickling her feet and sending her in a fit of silent laughter.

"Oliver," Katie said solemnly from the doorway. "We won't be able to see the bloody quaffle at this time of day. Does the phrase 'pitch black' mean anything at all to you? We're not even allowed to be out this early in the morning."

"Besides," Harry piped in as he appeared in the doorway behind Katie. "Other houses win the Quidditch Cup, and they don't do this."

"Exactly!" Oliver exclaimed. "They don't deserve to win it anymore. None of the other houses do this, so we'll have an edge over them! Not that we don't always, I mean the only reason we never win are circumstances beyond out control..." Harry shifted nervously, knowing Oliver was referring to his frequent absences from the last game of each season.

"You want to know why no other houses do this?" Alicia asked, getting to her feet. "Because none of the other houses have psychologically impaired captains."

"Have you lost your marbles?" Angelina demanded. "I've got an Ancient Runes test first period! I went to bed an hour ago because I was up studying." She got out of bed and crossed the room to where Oliver was standing. Seizing the front of his robes, she hissed, "Do you know what my parents will do to me if I fail again? Damn Ministry workers."

"Again?" Oliver asked.

"She's failed five exams in a row," Fred smirked.

"Shut the hell up!" she screeched at him.

"You shut the hell up, Angelina," Alicia muttered as she emerged from the bathroom, a toothbrush in her mouth. "You want to wake these bitches up, be my guest. But personally, I'm not really sure they'd appreciate it. Probably make up another rumor, dumbasses." She gestured to the other six beds, all of which were still occupied.

Angelina paid the warning little heed, and turned to Oliver again. "You've gone mad."

"Funny," he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "Katie said the same thing."

"That makes two accurate diagnoses," George observed.

"A third if you count what I'm thinking right now," Fred added.

"Which is?" Katie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I can't say in front of Harry." Harry, always left out of such matters, couldn't understand why they often refused to say things because of his presence. They swore as much as they wanted to in front of him, but when it came to anything truly nasty they would act like they were positive and influential rolemodels, holding their tongues until he was out of earshot.

"Can we hurry it up a bit?" Oliver cut in impatiently. "We can't simply stand here all morning."

"Maybe you can't," Alicia said under her breath.

"Oliver, if you want us to hurry up so much, then get the hell out so I can change!" Angelina demanded.

The team filed from the dormitory, down the stairs and into the deserted Gryffindor common room. Katie plopped down into an overstuffed armchair by the fire, and the others soon followed suit. "Ancient Runes has to be the worst subject in the world," Katie observed. "Angie doesn't hate much, but Ancient Runes has to be right up there with seafood and Slytherins."

"And me in the morning," Oliver mused.

"We all hate you in the morning," Fred yawned.

"If you didn't make us get up at ungodly hours to play Quidditch, we wouldn't."

"It's not an ungodly hour. There are plenty of people up at four," Oliver protested.

"I don't see why I have to be one of them," Katie remarked dryly.

The conversation went silent for a moment, then Harry spoke. "If Angelina hates Ancient Runes so much, then why does she take it?"

"Because she's crazy, kid," George explained.

"Right. Angie and Oliver are both completely mental," Fred told Harry.

"So're the two of you." Oliver glared at the twins. "What the hell were you trying to accomplish with all that cold water?"

"Some things are better left unknown," Fred said mystically.

"You know who else is mental? Alicia. Did you know she--" George was silenced as Angelina and Alicia came shuffling down the stairs.

"Alright, team!" Oliver said jovially. "Let's get out there!"

"If we get in trouble, I'm going to skin you alive," Katie warned him scathingly.

"If I fail my Ancient Runes test I'm going to throw you off the Astronomy Tower," was Angelina's threat.

"If you make us get up this early again I'm going to shove a textbook up your nose," Alicia added.

"They'll do it too," George told him, wincing at an apparently painful memory.

"Are you still complaining about last week?" Alicia snapped.

"It was completely uncalled for!" George exclaimed.

"It was your own fault."

"Was not."

"You were asking for it."

"What?"

"Shut up, please," Katie snapped as she swung the portrait hole open.

"We won't get caught," Oliver assured her upon seeing her hesitation. "We've got Gred and Forge." He clambered out of the portrait hole, the rest of the team following reluctantly after. With Fred and George leading the way, they set off down the silent corridor in the direction of the pitch. Aside from Fred, George, and Harry, none of the other team members had any real experience at sneaking around the school at night or in the early hours of the morning.

Somewhere behind them a door creaked open causing all of them to jump. "Shit!" Alicia muttered under her breath. "McGonagall." Sweeping down the corridor, apparently oblivious to their presence was Professor McGonagall.

"Gred, Forge, what do we do?" Angelina asked, hastily.

They started to reply, the "we don't know" perched on their tongues, but Katie had already taken action. The seven players felt a cooling sensation on the tops of their heads, as though an egg had been cracked and the yolk was now running down their features. A Disillusionment Charm performed in the knick of time. Professor McGonagall walked by the now invisible team without a glance.

They waited until her footsteps had died away, then the group let out a collective sigh of relief and the charm was lifted. "Damn, Bell. It's lucky you're good at Charms," Oliver breathed.

"I told you I'd skin you alive if we got into trouble," Katie hissed. "Don't make me do it."

"Should've brought the Marauder's Map, Harry," George whispered as they rounded a corner. With each step they took the party became increasingly jumpy. Every snore that was uttered by a sleeping portrait, every breeze that wafted lazily through an open window sounded like Filch or Mrs. Norris.

They reached the pitch unseen, and proceeded into the locker room. Not daring to light a lantern or even a wand, lest the lights be seen at the castle, they shuffled around in the dark trying to unlock the broomcloset. The problem was, however, no one could locate the broomcloset. After much stumbling around in the dark and general wasting of time, Katie fell against a doorknob. "Here it is," she said into the dark.

"Unlock it, then," George told her.

Katie reached for her wand in its signature place inside her robes, but it wasn't there. "Damn!" she exclaimed.

"What's the matter?" Oliver asked.

"I can't find my bloody wand! I must've left it back in the corridor." No one else had thought to bring their wands.

"Does anyone have a hairpin?" asked Alicia.

Angelina produced one, and Alicia moved closer to the door. She fiddled the pin around in the lock for about a minute before it popped neatly open.

"Bloody hell! I thought only George and I knew how to do that," Fred said in awe.

"My stupid Muggle brother," was the explanation offered.

After a bit more shuffling and stumbling, they found themselves on the field, brooms in hand and accompanied by the quaffle. After a minute, however, it became apparent that the appointed four-thirty practice time was by no means optimal. Harry and Angelina rammed into each other in a chase for what appeared to be the outline of the quaffle, but was actually just Fred's head. While Oliver was circling the goal hoops, a shot from Katie hit him squarely in the face and nearly pitching him backward off his broom. "Oliver this is ridiculous! I can't see a damned thing!" Alicia complained angrily as she crashed into George for the fifth time.

"Flying in the dark will improve our visibility during bad weather games!" was the optimistic reply.

"Is it necessary to experience vertigo?" Fred asked as he shot upward, thinking he was heading towards the ground.

It was not until ten minutes later when Katie collided violently with the ground that Oliver postponed practice until a later hour. With great difficulty, they again locked up their brooms and entered the castle, tired and ready to go back to bed. They would have no such opportunity, however, as when they turned a corner they were met by a savage looking Professor McGonagall, twirling Katie's forgotten wand in her fingers. "Shit, Wood. You've really done it now," Katie whispered.

"You're the one who left your wand," he shot back.

"I never would have believed it!" McGonagall hissed. "Especially from the four of you!" She nodded at Oliver, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. George looked as if to protest their exclusion, but he was sent a withering look that silenced him immediately.

"It's my fault, Professor. I can explain," Oliver said hastily.

"I rather think you can't," McGonagall said solemnly, pursing her lips.

"The Quidditch Cup--"

"Is not more important than your safety," she finished for him, eyeing the fist sized bruise that was forming on Katie's cheek as a result of the crash. "Come with me, all of you." Greatly subdued, they filed after her. She flung open a door and led them, not into her office as they had expected, but into a large, empty Charms classroom. "Sit," she commanded. She waved her wand and pieces of parchment, quills and ink appeared in front of the team members. Another wave and the phrase "I will not sneak out of bed to play Quidditch" was suddenly scrawled on the blackboard. "You will copy this five hundred times by hand. No magic," she looked pointedly at the Weasleys. "When you have finished you will remain here until the end of first period, then go to class."

Angelina's eyes widened. "Professor, I have an Ancient Runes exam first period!"

"Well, Ms. Johnson, maybe you should have thought of that before you left the common room," McGonagall replied dryly.

"Does this mean I fail?"

The professor merely raised her eyebrows and turned to leave. "Professor?" Katie asked. She turned back. "May I have my wand back?"

Professor McGonagall looked at the wand in her hand. "Oh, of course." She set it on the desk then swept the room.

"Shit!" Angelina put her head down on her desk, nearly upsetting the inkwell that was perched there. "My parents are going to lynch me as soon as I get home."

"You know," Katie said to Oliver, "I'm really resisting the urge to throw something at you right now." As she spoke a small object sailed into the back of his head with a dull thud.

He turned around to see Angelina glaring at him. "Why resist?" she spat, then dropped her head into her arms again.

The room grew silent save the scratching of seven quills on seven pieces of parchment. Katie was about three-quarters of the way through her lines when the inkwell she was using tipped over and drenched her parchment. "Shit!" she held up the soggy mass, dripping with ink. A new piece of parchment appeared, a gaping space once filled by lines. Oliver looked over to see what troubled Katie, but as he was doing so his own inkwell was upended by his elbow. He looked at his sheet in dismay, then started again.

Gradually the sounds of five quills died away. The bell rang signaling the end of first period, and Harry, Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia left the room. Katie could swear she saw Angelina wiping a tear from her ebony cheek. Oliver must have seen it too, because he exhaled sharply. "I feel so bad," he sighed.

"I'll talk to her," Katie replied. "It's not entirely your fault."

"If I hadn't forced you all to go to that worthless practice, none of us would be in this position."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. We went with you didn't we?"

"I made you come."

"If we had felt that strongly we could've stayed behind."

"Why is Ancient Runes so important to Angie? I thought she hated it."

"She does," Katie sighed. "It's her parents, though. They both work as Runes translators for the Ministry. Her older sister, Nicole, was a top Ancient Runes student here at Hogwarts. They can't bear it that what she wants is different than what they want. She's failed five exams in a row now, and she can't stand it how much of disappointment she is to them. Schoolwork just isn't that important to her, but they still push her into every class imaginable. They push and they push and they push, but they never feel like they get anywhere. My parents are the same way, but about Quidditch.

"Ever since you took me onto the house team in my second year, they've had grandiose dreams of me playing for England. But the thing is, I'm not sure if Quidditch is so important to me that I'd be willing to sell my soul to the world of professional Quidditch."

"So what is important to you?" Oliver asked, eyeing her intently. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I want to play Quidditch, but I've been interested in dragons since I was really young."

"Dragons? Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe do what Charlie Weasley does. Work on a reserve somewhere. My family's important to me, and I want to make them happy, but I don't really know how much longer I can stand their pressure, I've kind of lost touch with them."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I've got all the family I need here." Oliver raised his eyebrows. "You and Fred and George, and Angie and Alicia and Harry are the most important thing in the world to me. More than my family, my future, Quidditch, anything. I'm not sure what I'd do without all of you."

"I'm not quite sure what we'd do without you either. No one can complete us like you. You're important to a lot of people, Katie. Even your parents, though it may not seem like it at times. That's the thing you have to remember," he said softly.

They sat in silence for a few moments, putting the last finishing touches on their lines. "Thanks for the cheesy, touching moment, Wood." She smiled as she tucked her wand inside her robes. "It made my week, but I have to get to class." She pushed open the door.

"Hey! Bell!" he called after her. She poked her head back in. "Think about what I said, because cheesy as it is, it's the truth." She smiled and turned away.

As she walked down the grounds to Care of Magical Creatures, Katie could help but feel that she had missed a chance. A chance to tell him how she really felt. If it had been any other person, she would have let loose in a desperate attempt to make her feelings known, but it was Oliver. It had "awkward" written all over it, and there was little to no chance he felt the same. They were friends. Not just friends, anymore, they were family. Her love for him would go unrequited, she knew. Just friends, and no matter how many times she wished it, they would never be more.

"'Allo, Katie!" Hagrid exclaimed as she neared the Care of Magical Creatures class. Reading her thoughtful look he added, "Somethin' on yer mind?" She shook her head and smiled. The smile felt fake, forced, plastic. Brittle and easily snapped, the common mask she and Angelina both wore. The mask of pressure, of pain. Unable to tell anyone how they really felt. But she had told Oliver hadn't she? He had listened, not turned away from her "girlish problems." But after all, that's what friends are for.


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