As it turned out, the bed wasn't as warm as Oliver's hug, but I got to sleep anyway. When I woke up the next morning, the rest of the girls were still asleep, and judging by their faces, it had been a big welcome back last night. I grinned at the mess Angelina's hair was in, wondering how the heck she was going to untangle it. My stomach growled, and I remembered that I hadn't had any dinner. I grabbed my favourite pair of jeans and a black v-neck tee and headed for the shower. No one bothered with robes on the weekends unless they had to.
When I finally got out of the shower, I had to pull on a jumper. Bloody Scottish weather.
Scottish.
Scottish equals Oliver.
Argh, must not think about him. I might actually do something stupid. It is so much easier to have normal conversations with guys that you don't fancy, so you don't make a fool of yourself. My stomach growled again, and trying to push thoughts of Oliver out of my mind, I walked down to the Great Hall, hoping that breakfast would be something hot.
The doors of the hall were already open - I wondered if they were ever closed, because I didn't remember them being shut, only when the first years arrived for the first time.
And it was empty. Yes! I had never been the first one there before. Then I rolled my eyes and giggled at my own childishness. Excited about being the first one there for breakfast. I must be going crazy.
I sat down at the Gryffindor table, and a plate with scrambled eggs and toast and a jug of pumpkin juice appeared in front of me.
I had nearly polished them off when the rest of the school began to filter in. I watched as the Slytherin contingent came in, surprised to see Malfoy's arm draped around the waist of a girl with long blond hair wearing Slytherin robes, that I had never seen before. I grinned as an evil though crossed my mind. Malfoy's weakness had a female form. 'What's the smirk for, Miss Bell? Or should I be saying for whom?'
It was the Ravenclaw chasers that I was friends with, Tara, (another) Katie and Fiona. There was always a bit of friendly rivalry between those three and Angelina, Alicia and myself when Gryffindor took on Ravenclaw in quidditch.
'Oh, I just noticed that Malfoy seems to have acquired himself a girlfriend.'
All three heads snapped around with chaser precision.
'Hey, that's the new Slytherin chick, Tegan,' said Tara.
And eyes still riveted on the couple, they walked over to the Ravenclaw table to gossip, no doubt.
While they were talking, Gryffindor's had made their way over to the table, Fred and George already having reached it, sat down, and promptly fell asleep again.
Oliver walked up behind them, shaking his head and sitting down next to Fred. He looked up at me and smiled. I started to laugh. He had obviously slept well - his hair was sticking up a little at the back, giving him a roguish look I could quite get used to. Very Oliver.
He noticed my grin. 'What's so funny?', he said, clearly puzzled. 'Your, um, unique hairdo.' He gasped. 'You mean you don't like it? And I did it especially for you,' he said, trying to look downcast. I smiled at his performance. 'Did you take acting lessons from George?' I replied. He sat up straighter.
'That reminds me.' He elbowed Fred in the ribs, who woke up with a tremendous jump and knocked George hard enough so that he fell off the seat, much to the amusement of the rest of the school. George got to his feet with as much dignity as he could and cuffed Fred over the head, before silently resuming his seat. The laughter died away. Oliver cleared his throat.
'Ok, team, listen up. Now that you are all properly awake,' and he let a smirk creep across his face. I bit down on the tip of my tongue. He was being sexy without even trying, and dammit, it was affecting me. My stomach was feeling squirmy.
Oliver went on, ' I would like to say that we will have a practice session after breakfast. Now before you all groan and throw whatever you can get your hands on at me, I am going to say that it is only a warm up, and I will not be demanding anything to complex.So after breakfast could everyone change into their robes and meet me on the pitch. And don't argue, because you know you can't get out of it.' He beamed, clearly thinking that early morning quidditch was just what we all wanted. Crazy boy.
I waited around until the rest of the team had finished eating, and then walked to the locker rooms with Alicia and Angelina, the rest of the team following behind. Despite all the grumbling as we changed into our robes, we were out on the pitch in 15 minutes. Angelina was whining again, like she did at the start of every quidditch season - about the robes.
She was convinced that they made her arse look fat. Alicia and I told her each time, that no, her rear end wasn't anywhere near the size she was imagining it to be.
'Look Angelina, it is painfully obvious to me that my arse is the largest of all, so clearly you have nothing to worry about.' I said to her after her first 30 seconds.
She frowned at me. 'Katie, that is so not true. And I know just the person to prove it,' she said, a cheeky grin appearing on her face.
'Oh Oliver, could you come here for a minute?' I was totally speechless. She wanted Oliver's opinion on part of my anatomy? What was wrong with the girl? What could possess her? Uh oh, had I been too obvious?
But before I could say anything, Oliver was standing next to me. He twitched his eyebrow and smiled. 'You called, m'lady?' he said to Angelina. I could melt into the ground right about now, if I had my wand and could remember the spell.
'Oliver, we need an objective perspective. Katie thinks she has a fat arse, and we disagree. Can you help convince her that it ain't so?'
Angelina Johnston, I will kill you.
Oliver's eyebrows nearly disappeared into his hair. He looked into my eyes, then with a suggestive smirk on his face, slowly trailed his eyes down to the area in question. The nerve. I hoped my posterior wasn't too large after all. Apparently not.
Oliver's eyes had returned to my face. 'nah Katie, I don't know what you're on about. In fact, it really is quite-'
'OLIVER!'
Oliver spun around, but not before I saw his face turn bright red. Guilty of something, perhaps?
'DUCK!'
We all hit the pitch in response to George' s order. One of the bludgers had broken free of its casing and had been aiming right for our group.Fred was following on his broom, and finally managed to dive off and grab it when it was near the ground.
It was lucky he did catch it then. It had started to rain, and it was getting heavier by the second. Oliver made an exasperated sound. 'Ok, lets call it quits.' We didn't need telling twice, and there was a stampede for the locker room and the showers.
We trailed mud through the hallways, arriving at the locker room. Harry was the first one there, and he opened the door.
There was quiddtich gear all over the floor. Then I spotted my jumper and jeans on the floor amongst the mess. I had changed into a tracksuit before putting on my quidditch robes.
Someone had been through my locker. The rest of the team came into the room silently, and I was sorting through the mess when I realised that my black v-neck shirt that I was wearing at breakfast was gone. I stood up and frowned. That's when I saw the note taped to the door of the locker- 'Thanks for the shirt. It would have been better if you were in it, but the self service idea is appealing to me.'
That could only have come from one person. Flint. I spun around and rushed to the basins, where I threw up. I was leaning over the basin, because I was sure that I was going to heave again, when I felt hands gently take hold of my waist as more bile surged into my throat. I knew who it was when I felt small circles being rubbed into my back. Oliver. He was too sweet for his own good. I must have looked so attractive, bringing up my breakfast, and he was trying to make me feel better.
Funny, I have to throw up to realise that I like a guy. Only this was turning into extreme like. And he was still just a friend. Wow, I didn't think that being sick could make you admit so much to yourself in such a short amount of time.
I sighed and rinsed out my mouth, straightening up and smiling at my worried friends. 'It's alright, just a disagreeable breakfast. I feel better now, don't worry.' Yeah, real convincing Katie. Then, as I realised that Oliver's hand was still resting in the small of my back, I looked up at him and said, 'Really, I am ok,' and he grinned softly at me and dropped his hand from my back.
I walked back into the locker area, and as I stood there, Alicia came up behind me, her wand in her hand. She muttered a spell and the contents of my locker replaced themselves. I smiled at her in thanks, and the boys headed off to the showers, leaving me with Angelina and Alicia.
' C'mon, lets go.' Said Alicia, and we walked out of the locker room and back to the tower. When we got there, the common room was empty. Angelina laughed. 'Everyone is probably asleep in the hall,' We sat down on some chairs in a corner of the cosy common room. 'Are you ok?' It was Alicia who asked, but the concern was mirrored in Angelina's face as well.
I shrugged. 'I think that note was from Flint.' They both nodded, knowing about what had happened last year. Angelina grinned. 'At least you have a rather loyal protector.' Was she talking about who I thought she was?
'Ahh,' said Alicia knowingly, 'The devishly handsome Mr Wood.' 'WHAT!' I yelled.
Both their eyes bulged. Alicia shook her head. 'Katie's a goner, look at the colour of her face. She paused. 'I think we should tell her.' Angelina nodded.
'Oliver's liked you since the fifth year - he told Fred and George, and Fred told Ange and me. Katie, he really, and when I say really I mean REALLY likes you. Which means.' Angelina finished. ' which means that if you want him Katie, he is basically yours. I don't think a Veela could drag him away.' She stopped at the look on my face, then grinned wickedly and winked at Alicia, who had an identical grin on her face. 'so Katie, what are you going to do? Don't keep him in suspense, but think of what you can do that all those third, fourth, fifth and sixth year girls - and probably some boys to - wish they could do.' she let her insinuation trail off.
Oliver. Wood. Likes. Me.
Excellent. Suddenly I wanted to see him again, soon. But in the meantime, the expectant faces of my two best friends were looking at me intently. And I couldn't let them down.
Putting on an innocent face and widening my eyes, I sucked in the corner of my bottom lip. 'Can I play with him a little first?' I said in a sweet voice, starting to grin. I was rewarded with a shout of laughter from the two as the portrait door swung open, and Oliver and the twins stepped through. He had just got out of the shower, and his hair was spiked up a little. I couldn't help from grinning. He was wearing all black - a plain black shirt and baggy tracksuit pants - neither of which could hide a body fit from playing years of quidditch. I mentally slapped myself for thinking such thoughts and then realised that it could be a good thing. I clenched my teeth together, reminding myself to breathe. And not to laugh at my internal monologue.
Angelina and Alicia were now giggling madly. As they saw the boys enter, they got up and ran to the girls dorms. Oliver separated from the twins and walked over to me appearing not to notice Angelina and Alicia.
Breathe. Must Breathe.
He sat down on the couch next to me, reaching a hand up behind my head to play with my hair. The chocolate eyes sparkled at me. 'Feeling better?' he said softly. I experienced a whole new appreciation for that delicious scottish brogue.
Mmm Oliver. Much better. I smiled at him. The boy clearly had no idea. Or maybe he did..
'Yeah, a little.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello my lovelies! I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day! Well, if you're not American than I guess it was just another day for you, but I still hope it was wonderful! :) I am super excited for the next few chapters. I've started recording all my online chapters in an orange binder with the cover printed out on it. It's a pretty grueling process, but after one of my friends had Wattpad crash on her, I'm being a bit cautious. I'm all the way to chapter 13 which hopefully you will stick around to read a few days from now. Once again, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been reading. I cannot put it into words how happy I am that you guys are reading!
Thank you so much!
-Kat