Disclaimer: I hereby formally declare that none of the Harry Potter characters belong to me.

A/N: I've wanted to write a Katie/Oliver fic for quite some time now, and this idea just flew into my head. It takes place when Oliver's about to leave school, which, by canon, means Katie's at the end of her fourth year. Anyway, it's kind of a long one-shot that shows their relationship before Oliver left.

Please enjoy the story and drop a review!

" No, I'm sorry, Dan, I don't want to bet fifty sickles that France will win the World Cup, and that's final! Now, if you'll excuse me!"

The portrait hole slammed behind her, and Katie immediately sprinted down the corridor in case Daniel Bailey followed her out. Gryffindor Tower was in the midst of a loud and raucous post Graduation party, and when the twins had howled that Oliver Wood was missing (upset, no doubt, that they couldn't prank him one last time), Katie had jumped at the chance. She wasn't much for partying. At least, that was what she told herself when she saw George's smirk at her insistence that she go and not Angelina.

Katie paused briefly to search her mind as to possible places where Oliver Wood might be. Oliver Wood, ex Quidditch Captain, obsessive over the game, and completely oblivious to everything else that didn't have to do with Quidditch.

She found him sitting at the very top of the Quidditch pitch; just sitting, staring out at the field. She smiled to herself. She knew he'd be here. She could read him like a book.

Oliver saw her climbing the stands, and he greeted her with a lazy smile. He was still dressed in formal graduation robes, and his dark hair was messy, as always. Katie settled herself next to him.

" What in Merlin's name are you doing up here, Oliver?" she asked him by way of greeting, a smirk stretching her pretty mouth. "Everyone's back in Gryffindor Tower for the post Graduation party."

" Hello to you too." the older boy told her, smirking. " Can't someone sneak away from his own Graduation party without being tracked down like a hawk?"

Katie rolled her eyes. " Well, excuse me for breathing, Mr. High and Mighty Quidditch God."

" Quidditch God…" Oliver mused, " I think I like that title… maybe I should get Puddlemere to print that on the back of my uniform instead of Wood."

" Why not go all the way, and have them print Quidditch Fanatic?" Katie with an innocent smile, and Oliver glared at her. She laughed delightedly, and the pair lapsed into comfortable silence, staring out at the deep red sunset.

They had always been good friends, and got along easily - when they were weren't arguing about Quidditch or school or types of chocolate Harry should eat to give him extra strength against Dementors or just plain teasing each other. Katie, the second youngest member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, had told Oliver her first practice that she refused to be cowed by such an obsessive fanatic like him. Oliver had replied scathingly that she had just better shape up her attitude, else she find herself kicked off the team.

They had been friends ever since.

" Will you miss it?" Katie asked presently, breaking the comfortable silence and glancing over at Oliver, who was still gazing ahead with an expression very much like wistfulnness on his handsome face.

" Miss what?" he asked her.

" This." Katie said emphatically, waving her hand around at the field, the goal hoops, the wide sweeping Hogwarts lawn, the lake and the Forbidden Forest, all lit up with the brilliant sunset light.

Oliver paused, as though searching for words. Katie's open question had suddenly made him realize that he was not going to come back next year. The prospect seemed alarming all of a sudden.

" I think… more than I want to admit."

Katie snorted. " Well, why can't you admit it? There's no reason why you can't admit you're going to miss the place where you've spent the past seven years of your life." she said, in her practical, no nonsense way.

" Nothing, I guess." Oliver replied, shrugging. " It's just… just the little things that seem so…"

" Little." Katie supplied, softening at once. She changed moods like most people changed their socks, Oliver thought at the back of his head.

"Yeah." Oliver said awkwardly. His throat suddenly seemed to close up. " Little things."

Oh, dear Merlin, he was not going to cry. He was not going to cry in front of Katie Bell, who probably would have let him cry if he wanted to and never would have breathed a word of it to anyone.

" Little things like what?" Katie asked him quietly, looking up at him with her big blue gray eyes that seemed to dominate her entire face. She was tiny, and even when they were both sitting she barely reached his chin. He reflected that she had very nice eyes.

" Things like, I dunno," and now it was his turn to gesture helplessly out at the field. " just the feeling of being free, of being young, just being able to flop down by the lake and watch the clouds go by. Being able to sneak to the kitchens after hours for a late night snack. Being able to come out here and sit or play Quidditch or do whatever, just because you could."

He suddenly realized what a wanker he must sound like, and closed his mouth.

Katie was looking at the field with a dreamy expression. " Oh, Oliver, it's so true, isn't it?" she sighed.

He looked down at her, then back out at the field. To be young, impressionable, fifteen again, he though nostagically, ignoring the fact that he was only three years older than she was.

" And here I was thinking you only cared about Quidditch." she continued, glancing at him slyly.

He poked her in the side. She brushed his hand away, giggling.

" No trash talk, Bell, or I'll kick you off the team."

" Ah ha ha, you can't anymore. You're not the Captain. Therefore, I am not your Chaser, and you can't boss me around."

" A challenge!"

" You could never control me, Wood. Why, if it wasn't for me, you;d be working us out there still, even though the Quidditch Cup is over and we won."

" Thanks to my brilliant captain skills!"

Katie opened her mouth, and closed it again.

" You look like a fish."

" Insulting a lady, are you?"

" You're not a lady, Bell."

" I'm more of one than you are!" she finished triumphantly, whacking him on the shoulder.

Oliver stared at her for one moment, before bursting out into peals of laughter. Katie stared at him.

" Stop laughing, you loon!" she exclaimed, highly affronted, hitting him on the shoulder agin.

" Aw, Merlin, Katie, that was priceless." he gasped between laughter. " Priceless! What am I going to do without you?"

If he hadn't been laughing so hard he might have seen a curious expression come across Katie's face, as though she had suddenly remembered something unpleasant. In any case, she drew back her hand from his shoulder, and looked away from him to stare out at the field, her mouth set in a tight line.

Therefore, when Oliver finally stopped laughing, he only saw Katie staring determinedly out at the Quidditch field, expression grim.

" Kate?" he asked her carefully, voice concerned. The shortened version of her name, used only by her close friends and family, sounded wonderful coming from his mouth, she thought. Then she told herself she was an idiot.

" Kate, what's wrong?" he asked again.

" Nothing… it's just… you're leaving." she said stiffly. " What on earth are we supposed to do when you're gone?"

" We or you?" Oliver asked slyly, still in the teasing mode. Katie glared at him.

" Ever since I arrived at Hogwarts, you've been here." she snapped, the uncharacteristically serious words surprising from a girl normally laughing or smiling at something. " It will… it won't… it won't be the same."

Well, Katie thought in the back of her mind, I just made a fool out of myself. Now he'll think I like him. Or something.

Oliver wasn't saying anything. Why wasn't he saying anything?

" Kate," he said slowly. He rarely used the shortened version of her nickname. " Kate. Katie."

Katie turned to stare at him. He was gazing out at the field again with a detached expression on his face.

" Have you gone daft?" she asked him snippily. She had just practically poured her heart out to him and here he was repeating her name over and over again.

" No." he said simply, with a lopsided smile. " I just think I'll miss that name."

Katie looked at him, non-plussed. Then, the tiny part of her brain, the tiny part she didn't like to listen to, the tiny part that whispered in her ear that Oliver Wood was gorgeous and sweet and funny and smart and that wished he would think of her as more than an immature fourth year, that tiny part of her brain muttered "Well, at least he'll miss your name."

They sat there a few minutes longer, in soft silence, watching the sun sink behind the trees in the Forbidden Forest. It was beautiful and still, and they sat and let the sheer size of the Quidditch pitch sink into them, and make them feel small, yet filled with a sort of inner serenity that they both connected with the Hogwarts Quidditch field.

When the last rays of the sun had disappeared behind the trees, leaving only a soft red glow, and the sky had turned a pale blue, with a few small stars twinkling over the lawn, Katie impulsively leaned her dark head against Oliver's broad shoulder.

" Don't forget about us." she said softly.

Oliver looked sideways down at her hair, and detected a faint scent of roses. Suddenly, he was consciously aware that in addition to Quidditch, and the ability to flop down by the lake whenever he wanted to, he also was going to consciously miss Katie Bell, with all her laughter and spunk and sparkling eyes and fearless attitude.

Tentatively, he leaned his own head against the top of hers.

" Don't worry." he replied, just as softly, and he felt her smile.

They sat in the increasing darkness a while longer, until Oliver suddenly voiced something that had been on his mind quite recently.

" Kate," he said suddenly.

" Yeah?" came her voice, almost sleepy.

" What if I don't make the Puddlemere team?"

Down by his shoulder, Katie smiled to herself.

" Oliver, you're going to make the team. Now shut up, and enjoy the moment."

The train ride home was loud and wild. Oliver, Katie, Angelina, Alicia, the twins and Lee all crowded into one compartment and spent the time playing crazy games of Exploding Snap, debating possible outcomes of the Quidditch World Cup, and daring each other to eat mysterious looking Every Flavor Beans.

When the train pulled up into Platform Nine and Three Quarters, they all tumbled out of the compartments into the arms of their waiting parents. Oliver was immediately beseiged by all his friends, both those leaving and staying at Hogwarts, who were wishing him a good summer and good luck etc etc etc.

He kept looking for Katie, but didn't see her in the crowd. Regretfully, he turned away with his parents, and had gotten exactly five steps away from the crowd of hugging parents and children before someone called his name.

He knew who it was even before he turned around.

" Thought you were leaving without seeing goodbye, did you?" Katie laughed, looking up at him.

Oliver grinned down at her. " I could say the same of you."

They suddenly lapsed into awkward silence, staring at each other.

" Er… good luck on your Puddlemere tryouts-" Katie said, and then before she could say anything else Oliver had wrapped her in a sudden, tight, hug. She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed against him.

" Bye, Kate." he murmured in her ear before releasing her.

" Bye, Oliver." she said, and she almost looked as though she were blinking back tears. On impulse, she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. It was a swift kiss, but it would give Oliver courage when he was waiting in line at the Puddlemere Keeper tryouts.

" Write." she told him, smiling almost shyly. And before he could say anything else, she had turned and was heading back to her parents.

It took him several minutes to get rid of the smile on his face.

Buggered if he knew what that smile implied, though.

Katie,

I can't believe you doubted I would write you a real letter. What do you call this piece of parchment in your hands?

I am seriously disturbed by your judgement of my character, and I think you should make it up to me. Perhaps by replying to this letter?

That said, let me apologize for having taken two months to write. Pre season training keeps me busy, and if I hadn't already raved to you at the World Cup I would write paragraphs and paragraphs of how amazing playing for Puddlemere is.

I heard through the grapevine that they're holding the TriWizard Tournament at Hogwarts this year. Figures they decide to do it the year just after I graduate. Then again, Ludo Bagman told me that they've suspended the Quidditch program at Hogwarts because of the tournament, which is unforgivable. I can't believe nobody has protested against such a heinous crime.

Well, I've got to leave for practice soon, so I'll end here. Hope your first day of term goes well, and give Snape a kick from me,

Oliver

PS - I noticed on the train ride home that Lee Jordan was acting a bit too friendly with you. I highly suggest you tell him to back off. Have you seen him try to throw a Quaffle? There's a reason he's a commentator, not a player.

Write back,

Oliver

Oliver,

All right, I did doubt that you would write to me. I see that I was wrong, and you'll see that I am making it up by replying to your letter.

And I suppose it doesn't matter that it took two months for you to get around to writing this letter, as I was in Greece most of the time after the World Cup, as long you make up for it by answering this letter quickly as possible, even if it arrives while you are at practice.

Everyone here is excited over the TriWizard Tournament. Angelina is thinking of entering her name, and Fred and George are furious because nobody under the age of seventeen can enter. Which means I can't enter, but I didn't really want to. You'll be sorry to hear that nobody has complained about the lack of Quidditch. But I'll miss it, if no else will.

My first day of term is going fine- fifth year is O.W.L year, you know, and I already have three hours of homework, and it's only ten thirty in the morning. I'd give Snape a kick from you, but I'd rather not have detention the rest of the year.

I'm supposed to be Vanishing my snail right now, so I'd better go before McGonagall finds out and confiscates this letter.

Katie

PS - Honestly, Oliver, this is not a soap opera, and you can tone down the dramatics. Lee Jordan was not acting unnecessarily friendly. And you certainly didn't have a problem with him when he was calling the Slytherins "cheating scumbags" during our Quidditch games.

Reply soon,

Katie

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that, and please leave a review!