Life Down at the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter Twelve

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Oliver looked out his window which faced the Quidditch Pitch. He loved the view; well he normally loved the view. However, he couldn't help but notice the three red figures in the sea of black Hogwarts robes. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were still out on the Pitch, and the girls from the other day were out there as well. But he really wasn't paying attention to the rest of the girls; it was Katie who captured his attention. She was out on the Pitch, her blonde hair was flying out behind her and she had her hands on her hips. He was too far away to see her face, but just by the way she was standing, he could see her scowl, hear her biting tone, and knew the loathing that would be in her eyes. How many times had she looked at him that way?

But it was one of the things he found amazing about her. Everyone always knew when she really cared about something, because that was when she let herself get angry about something.

Oliver closed his eyes. He needed to think less about her and more about his position at Hogwarts and his life next year. Quidditch was his one desire, his one passion; it had been since he could remember. He remembered his dad outside with him and his toy broomstick. His dad had been a Keeper for Gryffindor. He'd played Quidditch with some of the Hogwarts greats, James Potter, Andrew Mackellan, and Anise Colley. He remembered hearing about how in his father's seventh year, second year James Potter had won Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup with an extra goal as the Hufflepuff Seeker was catching the Snitch.

He opened his eyes back up and looked back out the window. They weren't there; well Alicia, Angelina, and Katie weren't, though the other girls were.. He knew that he should probably go out and tell them that they needed to be inside, but he wasn't in the mood. He'd let someone slightly evil, like Snape or Filch, catch them and give them all detention for a month.

He kicked the leg of his desk. He was angry with himself, he was angry with his old coach, and he was generally angry with everyone right now. He'd had everything in his grasp, but it slipped away. He closed his eyes again.

Oliver waited in front of the goal posts. Puddlemere was playing the Cannons, and he'd been put in for only the fourth time the whole season. The usual Keeper was injured, a Bludger to the head had taken him out after about two hours of play. Morgan, the coach, had sent Oliver in. The rest of the team members hadn't been too happy about it; in fact the star Chaser, Normans, had given him a dirty look and yelled for him not to choke loud enough for the whole team to hear.

He sat on his Nimbus 2001, a gift from his family for being signed. He was nervous as he watched the Cannon's Seeker begin to dive... If he caught the Snitch now, Puddlemere would still win, but if they caught the Snitch and scored there would be a tie, and well... Oliver wasn't really up to penalty shots. The last time he'd missed , Morgan had screamed at him not only in front of the whole team, but the whole crowd.

However this wasn't a normal game . This was the big one, the Wild Card game, and whoever won this was qualified for the final tournament, a tournament that Puddlemere was dying to win.

He watched the Cannon Chasers fly towards him, passing quickly. At the other end of the field, the Cannon and Puddlemere Seekers were fighting for the Snitch. He watched the redheaded Cannon Chaser fly closest to him, she had the Quaffle and she was glaring at him. She had a determined look on her face, and as she released the Quaffle, the crowd was screaming. He was almost deaf from the noise. The red ball came hurtling towards him, he was ready to block. He swung around, and watched the red ball fly right by him. He missed.

The crowd began to yell; he hoped that Damons caught the Snitch, it was the only thing saving him from penalty shots. He was nervous; he knew that whether they lost or won he would be at the receiving end of a lecture , or as Morgan called it a talking to.

Watching the Seekers, he missed the red headed Chaser steal the ball from Normans and fly towards him. When he finally spotted her, he was determined not to let her past.

Just pretend she's Flint, he thought. He glared the girl down, ready to block. She released and before Oliver knew what was happening, a Bludger had hit him in his left shoulder, knocking him clean off his broom. Falling, he watched the red head score and before he hit the ground he heard the scream of the announcer.

"The Cannons have won, the Cannons have won!"

Two weeks later he woke up in St. Mungo's with a Howler on his chest. He cringed as it began to scream.

Voices in the hallway pulled Oliver out of his reverie and he recognized them immediately. Alicia, Angelina, and Katie were standing outside his office, talking.

"...will kill me, I'm already twenty minutes late for the Prefect's meeting." That voice was Alicia.

"Then I'll complain, they've no bloody reason to be out on the Pitch." There was Katie, her voice was angry. He could just see the flashes in her hazel eyes.

"Who cares about them?" Angelina asked. "They're obviously mad. Lunatics all of them."

"I'm leaving," Alicia said. He heard Alicia walk away.

"Let me walk with you," Angelina said. "Katie's off her rocker. I say she should just let them be..." He didn't hear the rest of what Angelina said. Katie was outside his office, about to come in. He shoved the papers from his desk into a drawer. They were Quidditch forms, t The Cannons and the Magpies had both sent him notices saying that they wanted to draft him. He wasn't sure why, but he knew that he didn't want anyone to know.

There was a soft rap at the door.

"Come in," he said, perhaps more confidently than he felt. He watched Katie enter, no visible emotion on her face. She sat down in the chair across from him.

"What did you need?" he asked, not wanting her to know that he'd heard why she was coming to talk to him.

She sighed and looked up at him; she looked tired for a brief moment.

"A lot of things, but it dawned on me that you couldn't possibly help me with any of them."

'I know that feeling,' he thought as Katie stood up to leave. He watched her go in silence. She cast one look back at him before she left. He locked his eyes with hers. She didn't say anything, but for a second she let him see the confusion she felt. He wasn't alone after all.

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Katie jerked awake as screams racked Gryffindor Tower that night. She felt dazed, heard bodies moving around her. She sat up, saw Alicia was running out the door with Angelina on her heels.

"Whassamatter?" Katie asked. She'd been having an odd dream about her, George, and Oliver flying out onto the Pitch and Oliver murdering George by knocking him off of his broom.

"Harry," Angelina muttered before running out the door. Katie dragged herself out of bed, pulling her robe on. She ran down the steps to the common room, the stone under her feet was cold to the touch, and by the time she reached the carpeted common room, they were nearly ice cold. She wished that she'd put on her slippers. The cold was reaching up her legs. Why did she pick that night to wear a thin nightshirt to bed instead of her nice flannel pajamas?

George and Fred were seated on a couch; she sat with them, next to Fred, grateful for the fire in the fireplace. They both appeared to be half-awake.

"S'going on?" Katie asked, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Harry," George replied, pulling his legs to his chest and resting his head on them.

"S'always the matter," Fred added.

Katie stretched her arms over her head, realizing how incredibly sore she was from the practice earlier. She popped her right shoulder and leaned into the soft cushion of the couch.

There was noise on the steps Dean, Ron, and Angelina were quickly making their way down the steps supporting Harry. They were followed by Alicia, Hermione, and the rest of Harry's roommates.

"Dean, Hermione come with me...Ron too," Alicia was instructing.

Katie pulled the blanket from a nearby chair and pulled it over her legs.

"Careful girls and boys," she said, feeling stupid.

"Yes be veeeery careful," Fred said, he felt her grabbing part of the blanket and tugging.

"S'mine," Katie argued, though too tired to put up much of a fight. There was a second tug and Katie knew that George was pulling on the blanket.

"Share Katie, sleepy time," Fred mumbled. Katie felt her eyes close and she drifted off to sleep.

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"These midnight Prefect meetings have got to bloody stop," Blaise Zabini moaned from the desk that she was hunched over . Alicia couldn't help but agree.

"Silly Potter," Draco added, sounding as tired as he did stupid.

"Talk talk talk," Padma Patil moaned. "Stupid talking...want sleep. Sleep is good."

"Okay," William said, over the students' babbling. "We have a serious problem."

"We're always having serious problems," Blaise moaned.

"At least once a week," Justin Finch-Fletchley added.

"There has been an attack at Hogsmeade," Rose stated. "Dumbledore is worried."

"He's always worried," Padma said, her head resting on the desk in front of her.

"Now you lot, wake up!" Rose snapped. Twenty-one heads snapped up and looked up at the Head Boy and Girl in shock. Rose never snapped.

"This is serious. There has been an attack, eight people died. Eight people are dead, and the Death Eaters now have a base at Hogsmeade. Now is that important enough to wake you up ?"

"Er, yes," said Draco Malfoy. "Why didn't you just tell us this wasn't a normal meeting?"

Rose shook her head, William looked annoyed.

"And they said Harry wasn't a target," Padma muttered.

"Teachers are going to the common rooms as we speak," Rose said. "They're talking about canceling Quidditch."

There were instant uproars from the Prefects; Alicia knew she wouldn't be getting back into her warm bed anytime soon.

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As Oliver walked into the Gryffindor common room he saw various people scattered around the room.

He spotted one of the Weasley twins on the couch, cuddled up with a blonde girl. He took a closer look, and saw that it was George and Katie snuggled up on the couch. Oliver felt something tighten in his throat, making it difficult to breathe. A pang of jealousy hit him, hard. Jealousy wasn't an emotion he was accustomed to, the pangs in his heart felt quite odd and misplaced.

He felt someone push past him; it was Fred, and he pulled up the blanket and sat back down between Katie and George. Relief washed over him; she hadn't been snuggled up with George. He had just been overreacting.

He heard McGonagall come in behind him. She cleared her throat.

"Gryffindors," she said. He watched Katie, Fred, and George move on the couch, Katie's head dropped onto Fred's shoulder. "Gryffindors!"

The second call woke them up.

"There has been an attack on Hogsmeade," she began explaining. None of the Gryffindors looked incredibly concerned. They all just looked sleepy. Katie yawned and stretched her arms over her head. McGonagall explained what had happened, but here was little to no reaction. Oliver figured that they were too sleepy to care about what she was saying. She could have recited the alphabet backwards and forwards for all they cared. "Now back to your dormitories."

The Gryffindors stood up; Katie looked twice as exhausted as anyone else. Oliver heard McGonagall leave out the Portrait Hole and he was about to follow when he heard a crash and yell.

He turned to see that Katie had slipped down the stairs; she was wincing and trying to stand up. She stepped onto her ankle and looked pained. Oliver crossed the room to where she was standing.

"Kate, you okay?" Oliver asked. She nodded.

"Just tired and sore and sleepy," she replied.

"Let me help you back to your dormitory," he said. He resisted the urge to pick her up and carry her to her dorm room, instead he put his arm around her and supported her weight. It probably wasn't a good thing that he was so close to her. He looked over at her; she was gazing up at him.

He pushed open her door and walked her to her bed. She sat down, still looking up at him. For some reason he felt compelled to sit next to her.

"Tired," she said. "I could sleep forever."

"So could I," he replied.

"McGonagall waking me up at midnight was not exactly a dream for me. Scared me out of my wits."

"I can bet," Katie said, laughing. "Ah, Alicia will probably be gone for hours with her bloody Prefect's meeting." Katie stretched her hands over her head, accidentally hitting Oliver on the head. "Sorry."

"It's okay," he replied rubbing his temple. They were silent for a moment. He looked over at her. He wanted to apologize to her again, but instead he just leaned over and kissed her. He didn't know what possessed him, but it was what felt right at the moment. He felt Katie pull him closer to her. She was so soft; he loved roaming his hands on her back. She smelled like juniper and Quidditch, something very appealing.

He rubbed her lower back, she made a little noise and he took that opportunity meet his tongue with hers. He felt her arm behind him pulling the curtains around her bed closed. The red walls surrounded them and he let him lose himself in her kisses.

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Katie moaned. Her entire body was sore; she stretched feeling a warm body next to hers. She tried to sit up startled, but the person's arm was thrown over her making her unable to move. She really hoped that it wasn't George next to her, in a relapse of the incident the year before.

She looked over and came face to face with Oliver Wood. What happened the night before flooded back into her mind. There had been quite a bit of kissing, but that was it. Any other guy would have had their hands all over her. But Oliver hadn't. He had just seemed happy to kiss her, which was fine with her.

Then it dawned on her that this was Oliver and it completely weirded her out. Of all people in the world, it was him that she'd spent the night with, however innocent it was. She felt him move next to her, she put her head back onto the pillow.

She had to admit it felt good to be held, to wake up to another person, even if it was Oliver. She looked over at him; a pair of brown eyes looked confused at her.

"Oh sweet Merlin," he muttered. He opened his mouth to say more, but Katie flung her hand over his mouth when she heard her dorm mates start to move around. He suddenly looked terrified.

"Katie, get your sorry little lazy arse out of bed," Angelina yelled.

"Kaaaaaatie," Alicia sing-songed.

"Quit having mad dreams about Georgie," Angelina teased. Oliver raised an eyebrow, looking rather intrigued.

"You've done it now," Alicia replied.

"Shut up both of you," Katie demanded.

"We have Potions' first thing, Snape will have your head if you're not there."

"I'll be up in a minute," Katie said, her voice higher than natural.

She heard the door shut and Katie jumped out of bed.

"Kate, I am so sorry," Oliver said, standing up as well. He was only wearing flannel pajamas now, minus the shirt, and Katie felt herself blush bright red. "I'm a teacher, I should have never let this happen."

"It's okay Oliver, we just have to be careful getting you out of here," Katie said. She looked at the clock next to her bed. "In twenty minutes, morning classes start. Everyone will be out of the common room. Then I can smuggle you out."

Oliver nodded, tying his robe back on.

The minutes passed and Katie was about to open the door. However, before she could touch the knob, it flew open. Katie closed her eyes, ready for the storm about to meet her.

Faaar too many people here. Maybe get rid of Dean, Seamus, Neville and Lee? And if they were running, they might fall. Maybe 'quickly making their way down the stairs supporting Harry'?