Life Down at the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter Seventeen

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

Katie was terrified. Oliver was holding her, had just told her that he was in love with her, and all she wanted to do was tear off somewhere else.

"Excuse me?" she asked shakily.

"I love you," Oliver said. He looked as scared as she felt. She shook her head, unable to say anything. She just stood there, feeling blank. He loved her? How? How could he possibly be in love with her? It did explain all of his odd behavior. She closed her eyes, but when he spoke she opened them again. "Kate, aren't you going to say anything?" He was biting his lip and he looked so scared and vulnerable. "Say something."

"I'm sorry," she finally said shaking, tearing herself from his gaze and his grasp. She turned on her heel and ran towards the castle. When she entered, she leaned against the cold wall for support and closed her eyes.

He loved her, she thought. She knew that he wasn't lying, a look like that couldn't lie. When had he fallen for her? He couldn't love her; it was impossible. She'd done nothing to make him ever want to love her. She'd only been cruel to him, and had actually attempted to kill him more than once.

"Take a deep breath, Bell," she told herself. She debated on whether or not to go back out onto the pitch [one wouldn't capitalize 'field.']. No, she'd have to miss practice today. Angelina would be angry, but she would just have to deal. Right now Katie really needed a place to freak out in peace.

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

"Where did Katie go?" Oliver turned around, surprised, to see Alicia and Angelina behind him, with the rest of the Quidditch team behind them.

"Don't you mean Tiger?" Fred asked, and the boys dissolved into laughter.

"Oh, what are you all on about now? Does it have anything to do with breakfast this morning?" Angelina asked.

"No, this all has to do with last night," Lee said trying to keep a straight face.

"What are you doing here, love?" Alicia asked.

"Not sure. I guess I couldn't resist ribbing George about Katie--I mean Tiger--last night." Lee was wearing a stupid grin and Oliver resisted the urge to smack it off of his smug little face.

"So where is Katie?" Angelina asked, with her hands on her hips.

"She's...not well," Oliver said lamely. George looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Had Katie told him something? Or was he just paranoid?

"Well it's hard to practice minus a Chaser and she missed practice ..."

"Oh sod off Angelina, we don't have a game until February," George snapped

"Maybe today we should cancel practice. I don't know about you all but I don't want George anywhere near me with a bat," Dean said, looking slightly terrified.

"I have a feeling that if we..." Angelina started.

"Oh, just shut up," Oliver and George said at the same time.

"I think that since all of our tempers are flaring, it would be a really good idea to just cancel practice today," Harry said, intervening. "We don't need any dead Quidditch players. Let's just reschedule."

"Harry's right," Alicia agreed, nodding.

"Of course you'd agree with Harry," Lee said. Alicia looked at him, confused, but he didn't say anything more.

"We all just need time apart," Harry added, looking confused and bewildered.

"Fine," Angelina snapped. "Practice is cancelled. But if we lose..."

"Shut up," George said. Everyone walked back to the changing rooms. Well, everyone but George he said to Oliver. "Let's talk."

Oliver followed George under the goalposts out on the pitch. "Look, Katie told me everything last night."

"While you shagged her?" Oliver asked in disbelief.

"No, you twit, before," George replied. "Look I'm sure you don't want to hear me about shagging her, so let's just pretend that didn't happen, I'm sure you'll feel a lot better."

"Er...okay."

"Now where did Katie really go?"

"I don't know," Oliver said. "All I did was tell her that I was in love with her..."

"You did what?" George's mouth dropped open. "Are you mad, mate?"

"Er...did I do something wrong?"

"More than something," George replied in disbelief. "You scared her."

"I was just jealous," Oliver replied, feeling like a little kid. "Of you and her. That's why I told her."

George smiled at him. "You are incredibly clueless, Wood. But trust me there's no reason to be jealous of Katie and me. We're just friends, that have shagged, but friends none the less. But that's not what I wanted to talk to you...she loves you too; she just hasn't realized it yet. I saw the way she looked last night when she was talking about you, and if you want...I'm here to help you out..."

"Er, okay."

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

"What's the matter, Bell--lost?" Katie spun on her heel and came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"No, Malfoy, actually I'm on my way up to my common room," Katie replied snidely. "Not that its any of you damn business what I do."

"But you see, cousin, it is," Malfoy replied smirking.

"What are you on about? Calling me cousin?" Katie replied, putting her hands on her hips.

"Don't you know? You're the first Bell on my mother's side to be a Gryffindor for at least two hundred years." There was something about Draco's smirk that she didn't like.

"Once again, what are you talking about?"

"You don't know anything about your father's side, or anyone except Aunt Alexia. Father told me," Draco said. He smirked. "As if it wasn't obvious."

"Explain, you great prat, or I'm leaving, I don't have time to stand here and listen to you running your mouth." She lifted her chin. "Believe it or not, I have better things to do than talk to gits like you."

"Tsk tsk tsk, is that anyway to talk about family?" Draco said. Katie suppressed the urge to knock his head off of his shoulders. "Your father is my mother's half brother, which makes you and me cousins."

"You're a bloody liar," Katie replied, her blood running cold.

"Oh, am I?" Draco smirked again. "Aunt Alexia, she's the only Bell to have brown hair for ten generations. She was a Ravenclaw. Your father went to Durmstrang, and he's five years older than my mother and ten years older than yours."

"You would know that from your father, he's the one representing my father," Katie replied. "You could have found that out anywhere."

"Your mum attended the English Academy for Witchcraft, an all girl's school, in Wales. It closed during your mum's fifth year there, she wasn't a fully qualified witch, your grandmum is a Squib, and you grew up in the Muggle world, despite being a Pureblood."

"You're lying. You're a damned liar," Katie replied, shaking.

"Am I right, Katie--or should I call you Kate, since that's your real name?" Draco asked. Katie didn't say anything. She just shook her head. "Now, cousin, let me tell you something you don't know. Your father doesn't really want the twins, Emma and Andrew. In fact, he doesn't want a damn thing to do with them or you. He's a Death Eater and once he gets what he wants from your brother and sister he's going to kill them."

"Why do you care about what happens to us?" Katie asked, reeling, still debating on whether or not she believed Malfoy. Draco didn't answer. He just walked away.

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

Katie woke up the next morning with her head pounding. She did not want to get up and face the day. George had made it perfectly clear that she was mad and needed to go to bed before she hurt herself or Dean Thomas the night before. She sighed and rolled over. Hopefully today would be better than yesterday, though she didn't know how it could possibly be worse.

Sighing, Katie jumped out of bed. It was cold--winter was coming fast to Scotland, as it always did. But winter, she mused, meant Christmas was close. Perhaps she could spend the holiday at her grandmum's. Even just in the castle would be nice. She'd owl her grandmum after Christmas to see which would be best.

She showered and dressed as quickly as she could and headed off to the Great Hall. Her sleep the night before had actually made her feel a lot better, and her headache had nearly vanished. Smiling, she entered the Great Hall and took the empty seat next to Alicia.

"You alright?" Alicia asked, looking up.

"Brilliant," Katie replied, adding marmalade to her toast. She bit into it, deep in thought. Surely having Draco Malfoy as a cousin couldn't be that bad, right? It wasn't like she had actually to talk to him, and being related to him wasn't something she could help. Besides, he was related to her on her father's side, no good tramp that he was.

Then there was the Oliver issue, which she refused to let herself think about for too long. The boy was in love with her. As to exactly how, she wasn't sure. Confused, she banished Oliver from her mind.

"Did you have a good night's sleep?" Alicia asked, flipping through her Herbology book.

"Excellent, couldn't have slept better," she replied. Now that the bloody house elves have finally cleaned my damned pillow, her mind added to the end of her sentence.

"There's a Prefect's meeting after Arithmancy today," Alicia said, sighing. "Yay, two hours of Roger Da-" Alicia was interrupted by the flurry of owl's wings. A tawny owl and an eagle owl, neither of which Katie had ever seen before landed in front of her. She chose the eagle owl first and raised an eyebrow as she opened the purple parchment carefully.

Dear Kate,

I asked your Grandmother Rose if she minded you visiting me for the holiday, after the dreadful loss of your mother, I thought that you might want to get your mind off of things. I will pick you up from the Hogwarts Express. I expect that your cousin and my sister, your aunt, will accompany us for the majority of the holiday. On Christmas Day, you will be able to attend Christmas Dinner with your Grandmother Rose and brother and sister.

Do be careful,

Aunt Alexia

"Oh sod it all," Katie moaned as she closed the parchment. Alicia gave her a scared look and scooted towards the other end of the table. Sighing, she grabbed the letter from the tawny owl, expecting it to be more bad news. Instead it was something rather odd, actually extremely odd.

There was a piece of parchment, on the top the drawing of a rose, and there was only one line written on it.

When you reach your dormitory and are alone, tap the rose with your wand three times.

Katie looked around to see if perhaps someone was playing a very mean and very cruel joke on her, but no one returned her look. Well, except Dean, who just looked scared. She would have to tell Dean eventually that she really wasn't going to kill him. She stood up quickly and decided to go back to her dormitory--she wanted to know what the rose was about.

She ran up the steps to her dorm and laid the parchment down on her bed. She was quite nervous. What was this about? The writing looked vaguely familiar. She stared at it, one eye at a time. Then, scrounging up her Gryffindor courage she tapped the parchment, once, twice, and a third time.

The rose transformed into letters, but for a moment she didn't pay attention, because soft piano music began coming from the parchment. She recognized the intro almost immediately...only one person knew how much she actually liked this.

She closed her eyes and listened to the song.

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

Shaking and wiping her eyes, she looked back down at the parchment. The rose had transformed into letters and it simply read:

Yours,

Oliver

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

"Do you think that it was too forward, mate?" Oliver asked George later that day. It was after the last class of the day and the two of them were sitting in Oliver's office.

"No, not at all," George replied. "Too forward would be jumping on top of her and shagging her until she was blue in the face."

"Yes, that might be a bit forward," Oliver replied. "But don't you think it's...well...sort of child molesterish of me to be fancying her? I am a bloody teacher for Merlin's sake."

"You're only two years older than she is, it's not like you're Snape, or worse, Dumbledore."

"Erg, bad mental picture there," Oliver said groaning.

"Ah, you sick git, and here I thought that you were a blushing virgin."

Oliver felt his face heat up like it did whenever someone mentioned his sexual expertise. He wasn't embarrassed about it; he'd just never felt anything for a girl that would make him want to shag her. "Anyway," Oliver said changing the subject. He was about to ask George for advice about what to do for Katie next, when a large tawny owl tapped on his office window.

He let it in, recognizing it immediately. It was his sister's owl. He sighed--news from her was always bad.

"Who's it from?" George asked, looking at him curiously.

"My bloody sister," Oliver muttered.

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Well, she's 35 and my half sister...we have different mums. She's a royal bitch, that's why I never talk about her."

"What does the letter say?"

Oliver began reading the letter aloud in a mockingly high pitched manner.

My brother Oliver,

I am having Christmas here on the continent. Father is coming. I'm not expecting you, but I thought that I would be fair enough to invite you, though you'll undoubtedly find a reason not to, something Quidditch related, no doubt. But I don't think that, as you say it, you want me on about Quidditch again.

Your sister,

Margaret

"Bloody wench," Oliver muttered under his breath. "There go my plans for the holidays."

"But what about your mum, it said that your father..."

"She wouldn't bother to mention Mum if I paid her, the only reason Mum is going is because Dad is," Oliver replied, bitterly.

"Ah," George replied. Oliver secretly envied him. His entire family got along--well, except for Percy, but deep down everyone knew that Percy would do anything for his family. Well, maybe almost anything.

There was another knock at the window, and he looked towards it. This time there was a Hogwarts owl.

"You're popular today, Wood."

"At least this one won't be from my wench of sister," Oliver replied, grinning. He took the letter from the owl and ripped it open. There were only two words that made up the letter.

They're hazel.

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

"Come on, people!" Roger Davies yelled into Alicia's right ear. She covered her ear and gave him a murderous glare.

"That was my ear, Davies!" Alicia shouted back. She was in the middle of the Prefect's meeting from hell. It was the last meeting before end of term, there had just been another Death Eater attack, and no one wanted to pay attention. Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy were practicing Summoning Charms on dangerous looking objects around the room, Padma Patil, Hermione, and Dean were talking about who was going where for the holidays, Rose and William were nowhere to be found, and the rest was chaos. Roger Davies was attempting to keep order, and not doing very well.

"Can't you help me get them to shut up?" Roger replied angrily.

"Meetings don't start until the Head Boy and Girl arrive, Davies," Callie Sinclair, a sixth year Slytherin Prefect said, saving Alicia from that happy duty. Roger made an annoyed noise, but didn't try to start the meeting again until Rose and William joined them. After seeing their flushed faces, Blaise made a crude remark, making Rose blush and William take twenty points from Slytherin.

"So why wasn't this meeting cancelled like they've been in the past?" Callie asked.

"There's been another attack," Rose replied.

"Imagine that!" Draco commented loud enough for everyone to hear. Blaise and Callie snickered, and secretly Alicia agreed with his sarcasm. It wasn't a surprise.

"Dumbledore's thinking of not letting the students go for the holiday," William said, looking worried.

There was an instant uproar. Loudest, of course, was Draco.

"He bloody better well not!" Draco was yelling, "I would actually like to go home!" Alicia herself chimed in, as she had plans for the holiday as well.

"But we assured him last night that we thought students going home for holiday would be best," Rose said, trying to soothe the angry Prefects. "Not letting the students go home would not only start an uproar with their parents, but also with the Ministry of Magic, who still will not believe that You-Know-Who is back." They were silent for a minute, until finally William broke in with a smile.

"Okay, now that we've got the serious news over," he began. "What's the latest bit of news around here?"

Dean nearly flew out his seat. "Apparently, Fred Weasley and Lee Jordan found Katie Bell in bed with George Weasley."

Katie was going to kill Dean, of that Alicia was sure.