Life Down at the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter Seven

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"Katie can we go on the lift again?" Katie looked over at Oliver whose eyes were bright and he was grinning like he'd just won the Quidditch Cup.

"Is it that exciting?" she asked, as they stepped off the lift into the second floor of the shopping centre. Oliver nodded and she swore that he had temporarily been replaced with her younger brother Andrew.

"Yes it is!" he said, getting odd looks from the teenagers walking by. Katie smiled and shook her head.

"Keep your voice down, we don't want the Muggles to think something's odd."

"Oh," he replied. Katie watched him look around, wide eyed and she couldn't help but laugh. Oliver was so different now than he'd ever been. For one he wasn't constantly talking about Quidditch, which actually, Katie thought was a little odd, but didn't question it. "What exactly are we doing here?"

"Shopping."

"For what?"

"Clothes."

"But we're wearing clothing."

"Very good Oliver. We need clothes for the funeral."

"I don't have to wear a kilt then?" Katie raised an eyebrow. The thought of Oliver in a kilt was oddly appealing, though she wasn't sure why. "Mum always makes me wear a kilt to weddings and funerals and such."

"Well then Oliver, if you don't want to wear kilt then, no you don't." She shook her head. Oliver looked puzzled for a moment. She felt his breath on her neck.

"I don't have any Muggle money," he said. She looked to see him looking a bit embarrassed. "And I don't have much..." Oliver looked around. He lowered his voice even more. "Or much other money." He looked a bit scandalized and Katie laughed.

"No worries," she replied. "I can handle it. I've got this." She pulled her Muggle credit card from the place in her pocket. He looked confused but didn't say anything. She was glad that he was keeping the conversation light; she really didn't want to think about losing her Mum. She wouldn't admit it later but Oliver was being really great about the whole thing. He seemed to know that she needed him to not mention anything about death or dying and kept referring to the funeral as 'it'. For once she was grateful for Oliver's company.

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"There you are!" Alicia looked up from her Charms book to see Dean crossing the room to where she was.

"Oh no, I'm done playing inspector for the Department of the Disappearance of Minors," she replied flipping a page.

"Please Alicia," Dean begged. " I have to have someone help me with my Transfiguration."

"If you wanted help with Transfiguration, why didn't you just ask? I thought you wanted me to track people down!" she said, relived a bit. "What are you working on right now?"

"Turning books into badgers. I don't understand the concept at all. In fact, I accidentally turned Neville into a badger yesterday." Dean looked sheepish.

"It's not the easiest thing to do, but trust me it gets easier. Fifth year transfiguration is not the easiest thing to master. I had problems with it as well."

"Glad I'm not the only Prefect, Hermione always gets things right away."

"Does she really? Of course I knew that she was clever, but I didn't realize that she was that clever. She sounds sort of like Roger Davies, only less irritating."

"You and Roger don't get along, eh?"

"We're sort of like Katie and Oliver only with a lot less arguing and lot more pure hatred. I don't speak to him; he doesn't speak to me, unless we're trying to be prats to each other." She shrugged.

"Is bitter rivalries common among Chasers?" Dean asked.

"No, actually Katie is just hot tempered, and well Roger Davies is just a mean cruel boy. He should have been put in Slytherin."

"Ah...I see..." Dean said.

"Well you didn't want to hear about my boring life, let's get onto those badgers. It's quite simple once you understand the theory, so let's start there." Alicia began explaining the theory to Dean. She loved helping others, and teaching. It made her feel so alive, like when she played Quidditch. She finished explaining the theory to Dean, who was nodding and he had the look in his eyes that convinced her that he understood everything she was saying. They then moved on to discuss Arithmancy versus Divination; she couldn't believe that Dean actually sat through that class.

"Divination isn't very interesting class wise, but Ron and Harry's homework is always good for a laugh, "Dean said. "Then there was the time last year when we thought Harry was having a seizure."

"Aren't you all a little star struck by Harry?" she asked. "Or are you over it?"

"Honestly I was once someone told me Harry's story. I was raised by my Muggle grandparents...Mum and Dad died when I was little, so when I came here and heard the whole thing about Harry I was in awe. But after the first time he talked to me, he

seemed so real. Any sort of awe I had for him died there, he's just Harry to me. What about you?"

"Well when Oliver first told us that Harry Potter, Harry Potter of all people would be our new Seeker, I was a bit skeptical. I thought that we were only going with him because he was famous, but once I saw him play...Merlin, he can fly and he loves to fly, it's amazing," she replied. "I've always felt slightly protective of him though, for some reason, I can't ever quite pin down exactly why."

"I think a lot of people feel that way," Dean replied. "Harry is an easy person to like."

"Yes he is. With the exception of the Slytherins in his year, I think that everyone generally likes him."

"He's a great guy."

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"C'mon Davies, just switch, what is the big problem?" Angelina demanded putting her hand on her hips. She was down at the pitch, in the pouring down rain trying to convince Ravenclaw to switch games with Hufflepuff, so that the Gryffindor team could go to Katie's funeral.

"We've been training to play Gryffindor NOT Slytherin," Roger replied.

"Look, I've tried to be nice about this, but if you don't agree with me, I'll go to Dumbledore!" she replied, raising her voice. Now she understood why Alicia couldn't stand the prat.

"This isn't fair to us, we've got a new Chaser and Keeper to train, and they've expected to play Gryffindor. Gryffindor and Slytherin have totally different tactics!"

"What do you want me to do Davies? Tell my team, 'sorry about our grieving teammate, but Roger Davies is being a total prat and won't switch dates with us. So try to play even though Katie Bell will be sobbing her eyes out at her mum's funeral while we're playing a game'?"

Roger looked exasperated; Angelina knew that she'd won him over. She knew despite what Alicia claimed, Roger did have a heart, somewhere.

Roger let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, Johnson, fine. I'll switch dates with you...we'll play Slytherin, you play Hufflepuff."

"Thank you!" she called, running back to the castle in the rain. She was soaked but it was worth it. Katie would want them there at the funeral. She looked down at her watch, it was dinner time already, so instead of changing, she went into the Great Hall, still soaking wet.

Fred and Lee were there, but that was about it besides a few first years at the Gryffindor table.

"Where have you been?" Fred asked, as she slid next to him. She gave him a wet hug, and he laughed.

"Outside talking to Davies, he switched with us."

"You got that prat to switch classes with you?" Lee asked, looking surprised. "What did you do to him?"

"Begged and made him feel really bad about being such a prick." She stabbed the piece of chicken on her plate. "Everything that Alicia is afraid to do."

"Speaking of Alicia..." Angelina looked up to see George sliding next to Lee.

"Speaking of Mr. Doom and Gloom..." Fred added, flashing his twin a smile. George didn't return the smile. Angelina shrugged when Fred gave her a questioning glance.

"You need to keep an eye on your girlfriend, she and Dean were just upstairs having a we love Harry Potter fest, that was so sweet it would make Ron sick to his stomach," George said, shoving mash in his mouth.

"Everyone likes Harry," Angelina replied.

"Not that kind of like," George replied, sounding snotty. Angelina looked at Lee, who kept stirring the food on his plate. What was George trying to pull? He knew how insecure Lee was when it came to other guys. He never thought that he was good enough for her, and now George was making his worst fears surface.

"What, you think Alicia fancies Harry? Bullocks," Fred replied.

"I'm just telling you what I heard."

"Well it's wrong," Lee said suddenly. He slammed his fork down onto the table and jumped up, practically running out of the hall.

"Good job," Angelina said. "What exactly are you trying to pull? I don't know what has been shoved up your arse lately, but don't take it out on us. You know how Lee is."

"I'm just trying to protect him Angelina!"

"Just because Sarah broke up with you doesn't mean that you have the right to walk around making the rest of us totally miserable!"

"You two stop it," Fred said, stepping in. "You're both right, George you shouldn't have brought it up like that and Angelina; he had a right to mention it. I don't want to hear the two of you argue like this. There isn't a point."

Angelina didn't say anything else; she glared back at George and finished her meal in silence.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Ready?" Katie asked. "Grandmum wants us to Floo over tonight to meet her in Kent. Emma and Andrew want to see me."

Oliver looked up from the picture box, he wasn't sure exactly how it worked, but it was fun to watch. "Whenever you are, aren't you tired from shopping?"

"I'm a girl, I don't get tired from shopping," she explained. Oliver just grinned and hit the red button on the merote troller or whatever it was called. They walked back to the Leaky Cauldron, Katie had put some Floo powder in a plastic baggie, so that they wouldn't have to take the pot with them. When they got there, she handed him the flower pot and he took out a pinch of Floo powder.

"Grandmum Rose Kellan," she shouted into the flames. She disappeared and Oliver followed suit. He was slightly nervous about meeting Katie's family. He wondered if they'd hate him, he was pretty sure that she'd told them about her hating him. Nervously he threw the powder into the flame and yelled his destination.

He fell out of the fire place and onto his stomach, he really hated the Floo network. He stood up to find himself in a cottage with yellow walls that made him think of his humble home. He brushed the ash off the front of his red jumper and looked around some more. Where had Katie gone? Was he even in the right house?

He nervously looked around, remembering the last time he'd wound up in the wrong house. His Scottish accent made it hard for him to wind up in the right house on the Floo network, especially in England and Wales.

"Hello?" he called.

"Oliver in here," he heard Katie call. He was relieved to find that he was at the right house. He followed Katie's voice to find her sitting on a stool talking to an older woman who reminded him of his grandmother. There were two blonde children; he figured her brother and sister, sitting next to her.

"So then Davie Simpson came out of nowhere with the Quaffle, he tried to trick me, but he couldn't...blocked that shot I did," the boy was saying, Oliver figured that he must have been Andrew. Emma was grinning broadly at her sister. No one seemed to notice he was in the room just yet; in fact it was kind of nice. Katie was different than at school, it reminded him of the time he had walked in on Alicia, Angelina, and Katie having one of their chats during his fourth year. She seemed so free whenever there were people she was close to around.

"You must be Oliver Wood." Oliver shook his head and realized that Katie's Grandmum was talking to him.

"Yes, yes I am. A pleasure to meet you," Oliver said. He walked over and shook her hand, she looked surprised, but his dad had always taught him to be polite to his elders. "I've heard a lot about you from Katie."

"Oh," her Grandmum said, putting her hand to her chest. "Katie is a lovely child." Katie blushed.

"And an excellent Chaser ma'am." Katie blushed again.

"Please call me Rose, Oliver, and have a seat." He took a seat next to Andrew. "These two are Emma and Andrew."

"Blimey," Emma said. "You're the real Oliver Wood aren't you? I thought Kate was pulling my leg!" She had an astonished look on her face. "Puddlemere United is my team! You're a spanking good Keeper!"

"Thank you," Oliver replied, feeling slightly embarrassed by his little fame. He'd hardly had any playing time at all, really and what he'd had wasn't exactly the best playing time he'd ever had.

"Now, now Em," Katie said, he could tell that she was enjoying his embarrassment.

"Kate, love, there's some more items about..." Rose looked at Andrew and Emma. "You-Know-What that you and I need to go over."

"Hey," Oliver said, realizing that Emma and Andrew probably would not want to be around for that conversation. "Do you two want to play outside?"

"There's a field out back! We can play Quidditch!" Andrew said, looking delighted.

"Grab the brooms, Mr. Wood; I think we have an extra!" Emma said, looking delighted. "You can help Andrew and I! We'll be the best players on the whole team!"

Emma and Andrew ran off, he heard the two of them pound up the steps.

"They seem to be taking it well," Katie said.

"You know those two, incredibly upbeat. I don't think it's set in quite yet," Rose said. "And thank you Oliver ahead of time for taking the twins out. I've really tried not to talk about the details with them...they're so young." Rose frowned and he thought that he saw tears in her eyes. He felt so bad for Katie's family. To loose someone like that. He looked at Katie again, and she looked completely stoic again. He didn't understand her, but that wasn't surprising. He never had.

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"Alicia can I talk to you?" Alicia looked up from where she was sitting with Dean. They were still talking, they'd moved on to Care of Magical Creatures versus Defense against the Dark Arts, and Alicia wasn't sure how they'd gotten there. Lee was standing above her, not looking like his happy normal self.

"Sure," she said. She excused herself and followed Lee to a corner of the Tower. He was rubbing his hands together.

"Do you like Harry?" he blurted out.

"Do I like Harry? Everyone likes Harry!" she said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, do you fancy Harry?"

"No."

Lee looked up at her. His brown eyes were a bit scared. Then it dawned on her, he was being insecure again. he gave him a smile. He didn't return it. "George said that you were talking about him...in more than a friendly manner."

"Well George heard wrong. I like Harry, I worry about Harry. I'm a Prefect, I'm supposed to. What George heard was Dean and I talking about a mutual friend that happens to be famous. We were talking about whether or not his being famous had an effect on our friendship with him." She looked Lee in the eyes. "I don't fancy Harry, because I fancy you. In fact, I fancy you rotten love."

"I'm sorry," he said feebly. "I know I get insecure. You're just wonderful pet, and I'm not quite sure what I did to deserve you."

"No worries love," she said. She rested her head on his shoulder. "You're wonderful too. Now can I go yell at George for making you worry like that?"

"No, I think he was arguing with Angelina when I left. She was pretty angry with him, she sounded like Katie, and it was quite scary."

"I can imagine. Katie is scary, Angelina being Katie is scarier." She smiled up at him and he kissed her forehead. "Now are we okay again?"

"Of course pet, of course."