Life Down at the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter Two

Oliver forgot one key item upon his return to the place where he'd received his magical education. The infamous Katie Bell temper. Most people if they knew anything about Katie, knew two things about her, the first being that she was an excellent Chaser, the second was that she had a wicked temper that rivaled Snape's.

He now lay on the flat of his back, staring up at the red Quaffle on his face. Katie had thrown the Quaffle at him, and hard, knocking him flat on the ground. Luckily though, this time, he thought, she hadn't broken his nose. The Quaffle rolled off his face, as well as it could roll, and he looked up and saw the Gryffindor Quidditch team sans Katie standing over him.

"You dead Wood?" Potter asked.

"No, Potter, I'm still alive. You may want to keep the Quaffle away from the she-beast though," he said.

He felt the Weasley Twins pull him up and he brushed the grass off of him. He took a second to look at the six members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Alicia was still as doe eyed as ever, taller now, but still she had looks that made many men turn when she walked passed, light brown skin, big brown eyes. Angelina looked exactly the same, as she had when he left. Dark skin, dark eyes, and the perfect build for a Chaser. Tall but not too tall, thin, but not too thin, unlike Alicia who was built more like a Seeker. Fred and George were still built like Beaters, a little taller and thinner now, but they were still enough to put fear in the hearts of Chasers everywhere. Then there was little Harry, he'd probably changed the most. He was taller, and lankier. He also felt older, Oliver mused. But that probably came from dueling with You-Know-Who, and seeing the death of another student less than three months ago. Harry though, had seemed to pretty much put this behind him, and he looked rather happy today. Then his eyes roamed to Katie, his bane, the thorn in his side. Katie was scowling at him from the table that he had been setting up when Angelina came out to the field. He couldn't' figure that girl out. All he knew was one day Katie kissed him and a few days later, she'd broken his nose, and they spent an hours screaming at each other on the Quidditch Pitch. Since then Katie had said as little to him as possible, and the little she did ever say to him, well it was never very nice.

Oliver noticed that she had grown taller, actually quite a bit taller. She was about the same height now as Angelina and the Weasley twins, but she still seemed so small. She wasn't as thin as Alicia anymore, not that it was a bad thing, he thought. He'd told Alicia more than once she needed to gain some weight.

"You all right Oliver?" Angelina asked, looking concerned, bringing him back to the real world.

"Of course." He brushed the dirt off of his knee, taking a determined look at the table, grabbed the Quaffle, and marched over to the table. "This belongs to you. You may want to tighten your grip, it really shouldn't slip out of your hands like that."

Katie roughly squeezed the ball and yanked it out of his hands. He still had a hard time believing that this was the same girl that had kissed him all those years ago. The dark blonde hair and hazel eyes were still the same, the round face and red cheeks too. However the scowl was a new edition, he thought. And not a very good one.

"Here's what I thought Oliver," Angelina said, pulling him out of his thoughts. She explained to him what she thought, have everyone sign up, watch Oliver try to defend against one of the Chasers, then set up a series of exercises, have them go one on one with one of the Chasers, then finally scrimmaging them with the full team, two at a time.

"What do you think Oliver?"

"The exact same idea that I had," he replied, grinning at her. "In fact that's what we did the year that you all tried out; Harry was easier, McGonagall found him for us."

"Too true," Angelina said. "I was thinking about sending you up against Alicia for them to watch."

"Why not have the three of you up in the air? It will be a lot more realistic, often times you don't know which Chaser will be up against you until its too late," he suggested, even though he knew that his life would be endangered if he was anywhere near Katie with the Quaffle again this afternoon.

"Are you sure Oliver?" Angelina asked, looking visibly worried. Oliver knew what she was thinking.

"We've done this a hundred times; Katie is not going to decapitate me with the Quaffle. Now come on."

Katie sat in full Quidditch garb in a chair at the table with Harry, Fred, George, and Alicia. They had just gone through and signed everyone up, Seamus Finnigan had tried to make a pass at her, which resulted in her rolling her eyes and 'accidentally' kicking him. He winced and she had seen Harry just shaking his head out of the corner of her eye. Oliver and Angelina were standing in front of the crowd of about ten hopefuls. She noticed that most of the sixth, fifth, and fourth year Gryffindors were here, and there were even the odd third and second year.

"So next we're going to show you what a good Keeper needs to be able to do,"

Angelina said. She wasn't paying too much attention to her friend though. Katie stretched her arms over her head and yawned, then propped her feet on the edge of the table, pushing against it. "Katie, Alicia, and I are going to go up in the air against Oliver." Alicia tapped her leg, when Angelina said that, which was just enough to throw her off balance and send her crashing into Harry. However, the crashing didn't stop there, the two of them rolled into George's chair, who promptly fell, with the chair, on top of Harry and Katie.

"Get your fat arse off of me George," Katie said, seeing Harry at her left, looking confused.

"Now Katie, were you that anxious to snog Harry that you had to interrupt Angelina?" said the person that belonged to the Scottish accent that she had hated for the past five years. She looked up to see Oliver and Angelina standing over them, Oliver with a smirk, that at this point, would love to just smack right off his face.

"Shut up Wood," Katie snapped.

"Is that anyway to talk to a teacher Katie?" Oliver asked raising an eyebrow.

"You're my coach, not my teacher, now shut up and help us up." Oliver kept any and all snide comments to himself and helped the three of them, along with the chairs, to disentangle themselves. When they were all standing, and after they'd made sure that no one had any broken bones, she, Angelina, and Alicia got on their brooms and did a couple of warm up laps around the Pitch. The hopefuls were now sitting in the stands; Harry, Fred, and George were standing on the actual Pitch. She saw Angelina swoop down to talk to them.
Alicia flew in at the corner of her left eye. She looked at her friend. Alicia stopped and winked, she knew what she was going to do. Katie flew straight forward.

"One, two," Katie said to herself. "Three." On three, the red Quaffle came flying in front of her from behind just as practiced. She caught it one handed and there was a cheer from the crowd. She grinned. She was back in the air, right where she belonged. She turned to see Alicia grinning at her. What they had just done, was something that the two of them had been working on for quite a while. It had taken the two of them the better part of a year to get the timing down, however last year without Quidditch they'd had more than enough time. The only bad thing about the play was that she had to see Alicia wink to know exactly what was going on. It would probably be a lot harder to do that during an actual match. Regardless, it had been fun to work on last year, and it had brought her and Alicia a lot closer.

"Nice move Bell." She tuned to see Oliver hovering to her left. "You're a lot more graceful up here than you are on the ground."

"Thanks."

"So you have been working since I left. I figured that when I heard that Quidditch was cancelled last year, you'd be slacking off."

"Wouldn't you like to think that you were the only thing keeping Gryffindor Quidditch going? We're perfectly capable of holding practice and working hard ourselves."

"I know that."

"So why are you here?"

"To teach flying."

"No Oliver, why are you here? Why are you going to coach Gryffindor? We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves; you know that, I know that, Angelina knows that. Why are you here?"

"That Miss Bell," Oliver said with his one eyebrow raised. A shudder went through Katie's spine for some reason when he said her name like that. It was so soft. So perfect. For a bloody second, a voice in her screamed at full volume. This is Oliver. Oliver Wood. Your arch-nemesis, remember Katie, remember! "Is none of your business. Happy flying." Katie crashed back down into the real world with startling velocity. Katie tore after Oliver, Quaffle in hand. She was going to give them something to see all right.

****

"I think we can narrow it down," Angelina said. Alicia looked up at her friend who was holding a piece of paper in front of her. It was now after tryouts and the Gryffindor Quidditch team was gathered around the table set up outside. Tryouts had gone really well. Well, except for her, Angelina, and Katie going up against Oliver. Katie had been, well, violent. Actually, Alicia mused, violent was an understatement. She'd tried to take Oliver's head off, and nearly succeeded too. "Dean Thomas, Parvati Patil, and Ginny Weasley."

"I thought Dean or Parvati," Katie said.

"What about Ginny?" Fred asked.

"Don't play favorites," Angelina said with a smile. Fred made a 'Who me?' sort of look.

"C'mon Angelina," George said. "We all know that you fancy Dean to make it."

"Maybe she just fancies Dean," Katie said. She saw her grinning. Angelina and Fred both gave her a dirty look.

"How are we going to decide?" Harry asked.

"Who do you think Harry?" Angelina asked.

"Dean or Parvati. Like Katie, I can't make up my mind."

"And this has nothing to do with them both being in your year?" Alicia asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Of course not. Who do you think then Alicia?"

"Parvati."

Angelina sighed. "So we have no clear cut winner, and two people can't make up their minds, Harry and Katie."

"So?" Katie replied with a grin. "All three are actually quite good. Dean and Parvati just have something that Ginny doesn't."

"Actually, Ginny may be my sister, but I'm going with Parvati," George said. "This is Quidditch, nothing to do with family."

"I agree, I agree," Fred said. "But I'm still voting for Ginny."

Alicia grinned at her friend who was shaking her head. She was never going to get this lot to agree. "Can we decide within an hour, I do have a Prefects meeting." She then realized that was not the thing to say. She was mocked for the next ten minutes about being a Prefect, mostly from George, Fred, and Harry.

"Okay, okay, we'll do this the old fashioned way," Angelina grumbled.

"What we'll fight each other?" Katie asked.

"Only if its you versus Oliver, round two hundred and twelve," Fred muttered

"You've been counting?" Harry asked.

"Well you see young Harry, it's been quite easy to keep track of. I just counted how many Quidditch practices we've ever had, and that's how many rows those two have had," Fred said, grinning at Katie. Katie in return made a rude gesture with her hand. Angelina gave both of them reproachful looks. Harry, George, and Alicia just laughed at them.

Angelina conjured a hat, parchment, and six quills. "Okay write down on your parchment who you want to win." She passed out the parchment and passed it out along with the quills.

Alicia quickly wrote down Parvati and folded her parchment. She dropped it into the hat that Angelina was holding and waited for everyone else to vote. She honestly thought that Parvati was the best person for the job. She was quick. She had blocked almost every single one of their shots during their scrimmage. She had even noticed Parvati paying close attention to Oliver's every move while he was in the air. Of course, she could also just be another member of Oliver's infamous fan club, the one that during fifth year, Katie threatened to kill every member of if they didn't stop giggling and delaying the start of every Quidditch practice. After that, they just resorted to stopping him in the hallways, though she wasn't sure that Oliver had caught on to why they were. Oliver, who was smarter than anyone when it came to Quidditch, was pretty daft, make that really daft, when it came to anything to do with girls. More than one girl had asked Oliver to go with her to Hogsmeade, and Oliver's reply was the same every time, Er, isn't everyone going? Oliver had always been too obsessed with Quidditch to pay attention to much else, especially girls.

"Okay," Angelina said, pulling Alicia from her thoughts. "I'll read each one as I pull it out." Angelina stuck her hand into the hat. "Parvati...Ginny, Dean, Parvati, Dean, and a vote for Dean and Parvati." Angelina was eyeing the parchment. "Wait a minute, Harry this is your writing!"

"I couldn't choose!" Harry exclaimed. "They were both really good!" Angelina rolled her eyes, and Alicia giggled.

"This is QUIDDITCH! QUIDDITCH! Gryffindor has to have a good Keeper, think deep down, who is the best person for the job; it's either one or the other, not both!" They all looked at each other wide eyed. That was truly scary, and not very Angelina like. Angelina was even tempered, and never yelled, and not scary, like now.

"Wow, that was very Oliver of you Angelina," Fred said. "Now please promise to never do that again." They all laughed, including Angelina.

"Make a choice Harry." Angelina was staring at Harry. "Dean or Parvati."

"You know she wants Dean to be on the team," Katie whispered into her left ear.

"You voted for Parvati too?" Alicia asked.

"Nah, I voted for Dean."

"Okay, okay," Harry finally said. "Let's redo the vote, I'll only choose one this time."

"Promise?" Angelina asked. Harry nodded and Angelina gave them all new pieces of parchment. Alicia quickly wrote down Parvati's name again and put it the hat once more.

Angelina smiled; soon everyone else had also put their names in the hat.

"Parvati, Dean, Dean, Parvati, Ginny..." Angelina was pausing, and Alicia was about to get up and smack her friend if she didn't announce who won soon. She looked down at her watch. She had to beat the Prefects meeting in twenty minutes, and she hoped that they would hurry up. She wanted to be here for this, but she could already hear Roger Davies's voice in her head if she was late. 'Alicia, we're Prefects, if we don't follow rules, how can we expect the other students to?'

"C'mon Angelina!" Katie said. "Hurry it up!"

"Okay okay," Angelina said, but she was smiling. "Dean is the new Gryffindor Keeper."

****

"Go ahead and go tell him Angelina," Katie said, cleaning up after tryouts. "I know you're dying to tell him."

"Are you sure?" Angelina asked. "Fred and George have already headed off to Hogsmeade to get things for the Gryffindor has a new Keeper party and Alicia's gone to that Prefects meeting."

"I think I can handle it," Katie said smiling at her friend. "Besides Harry is still here, I can make him my slave." She winked at Harry where he was standing and he blushed.

Both Angelina and Katie laughed.

"Actually Katie, I've got to meet Ron and Hermione in the library, Hermione's already going on about how we need to study for the O.W.L.'s," he said, shaking his head.

"Okay," she said, shrugging. "So I'll do it myself, anything for my Captain."

"Are you sure?" Angelina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Positive," Katie said. "Now you and Harry scamper off. Harry make sure that Hermione doesn't keep you too long, there's the party in the Common Room that Fred and George decided we're having."

"All I have to do is say the word party and Ron will make sure that we're there, much to Hermione's chagrin," Harry said.

"Well, lets go Harry, I'll walk you to the library, I've got an idea for a play that I want to run by you," Angelina said, as she and Harry walked away. Katie shook her head and began picking up miscellaneous pieces of equipment. She couldn't understand how people could leave perfectly good Quidditch equipment just lying about. Even Fred and George, who were the two most irresponsible members of the team, never left anything relating to Quidditch lying about.

Twenty minutes later, she had everything picked up and put into the locker room they belonged to. She was putting the Quaffle back into the box when she heard someone behind her.

"Why are you still out here?" She turned to see Oliver standing not two yards behind her, in a charcoal jumper and corduroy trousers.

"Cleaning up," Katie said, shutting the box. She stood up and picked the box up by its handle.

"Shouldn't Angelina or someone be helping you out?" he asked, looking around.

"Fred and George are, erm, somewhere," she said, it dawning on her that now that Oliver was a teacher, she probably shouldn't tell him exactly where Fred and George went. She didn't want them getting into trouble.

"Off to Hogsmeade then?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Er, maybe. Harry's in the library, Angelina couldn't wait to tell Dean, and Alicia had a Prefect's meeting and these belong in your office, so I think I can give them to you now."

She put the box down at his feet and was starting to walk away.

"This is the most civil conversation that we've had since you the day you kissed me in the Transfiguration corridor." Katie felt herself pale and she turned around. She was almost positive that he wouldn't remember that, in fact she had convinced herself that he didn't remember. The night in the Common Room proved it, didn't it? "Don't tell me you forgot about that Katie, I sure haven't."

"No I haven't forgotten," she said, regaining some of her composure.

Oliver looked down at his feet. "I always wondered what had happened to make you hate me so much. I've thought about it, almost everyday since the day we got into the huge row after you broke my nose, and I haven't been able to figure it out. I asked Angelina and Alicia, but every time I asked, they replied something like, like you don't know, or wouldn't answer me at all."

"They don't, or rather didn't know Oliver, but don't try to pretend that you don't know."

"I don't."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Whatever Oliver, I heard you that night."

"What night?!"
"The night in the Common Room, I was on the steps! I heard what you said!"

"What are you talking about?! I've never said a seriously bad thing about you in my life!"

"What about the she beast comment earlier?"

"That was a joke; you and everyone else know it too." He took a step towards her.

"Look I don't have time to play these stupid games Oliver!" Katie was now yelling.

"There is the damn case." She gave him a fake smile. "Now I've done what I have to. You can take these back to your office. I'm going to join the rest of my house in my Common Room." Katie stormed away from an opened mouthed Oliver. If she had turned around, she would have noticed him watching her until she entered the castle. However, she didn't. She made her way, broom in hand, to the Gryffindor Common Room, for what proved to be an excellent party.