Yeah I know I said I will update my Twilight fic Lovers, Again this weekend but I couldn’t resist writing a KBOW story again. It has been a really long time since I’ve done one and I re-read TB and decided to make it a three-or-four shot. I changed the tone slightly though.

So look out!

Chapter Two

It was a most unusual sight. But the twenty-two pairs of eyes staring couldn’t be wrong. Oliver Wood was standing outside the dungeon doors a wholefive minutes before Potion lesson.

A twenty-third pair (framed with horn-rimmed glasses) popped out of its eye socket before its owner strolled up to said Keeper.

“Oliver… Are you feeling alright?” Percy Weasley asked.

The Quidditch Captain looked up from the playbook he had been reading and frowned.

“I’m perfectly fine. Why do you ask?” He raised an eyebrow. Percy was the third person who asked him that question (thereby making him the third idiot to interrupt his precious booktime. Tsk, didn’t they know better by now?)

“You are here.” Percy stated.

“Yes I am.”

“Early?”

“That’s obvious,” he said dryly. Oliver leaned back onto the wall, feeling slightly bored.

“Without your Potion Textbook?” Percy demanded, eyeing him up and down.

Oliver followed his gaze to the non-existent bookbag. Indeed it was not with him. He wasn’t even carrying anything apart from his playbook and a quill.

“Well, I certainly am not holding one,” he shrugged. Did he really need it?

“Are you sure you are all right?” the prefect pressed again.

“Of course,” Oliver replied. He slammed his playbook shut. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“If you are sure,” Percy said doubtfully before turning back to his Penelope Clearwater.

Sheesh. And people thought he had one too many Bludger.

The bell finally rang and the dungeon door swung open. Noxious gas (From the potion, or Snape’s bad breath?) and nauseated students flooded out of the classroom.

Oliver Wood barely noticed. He walked right into the dungeon. Snape, being who was, registered the fact that the Gryffindor was not armed with his books.

“Hope you do have a copy of your textbook somewhere,” Snape sneered. Oliver ignored him and headed to his usual bench. The rest of the class filed in.

The table was unsurprisingly bare. However, Oliver knew better. He yanked the table’s drawer open.

A tattered copy of Magical Droughts and Potions laid within.

Oliver grinned. Thank god. He had been relying on the fact that his absent-minded chaser would forget to bring it along with her. A la Katie style.

A small torn piece of parchment fell out from between the pages, and Oliver bent down to retrieve the note. It was folded pretty tightly into a very small square. He cocked an eyebrow as he examined it.

Ooh. Top secret. Cheesy.

Immediately he yanked the note open.

Oliver,

I’m pretty sure you didn’t bring your textbook, whether intentional or not. Just take mine. We don’t want our Keeper getting into more trouble with Snape… Unless I get to witness it.

xoxo

K.

P.S. Turn to page two hundred thirty four. Use the back of this note instead. Trust me, it helps.

Smiling, he flipped to the page Katie instructed him to.

He chucked the book onto the table so that Snape could see that did have a copy of the precious textbook after all.

The Potions professor walked past without a word. Oliver smirked. The satisfaction was there, definitely.

“Psst!”

Percy Weasley behind him was now looking at him, nonplussed. The Keeper leaned back on the two hind legs of his stool complacently, looking as cool as cucumbers.

“Yeah?” He cocked his head at Percy.

“How did you get your Potions Textbook here? You weren’t carrying any!” The Headboy hissed accusingly.

“Magic,” He told Percy smugly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “After all, that’s what we come to Hogwarts for.”

That shut the redhead up pretty quickly.

“But… You didn’t… I didn’t hear you say anything,” Percy stammered, looking dumbstruck.

“That’s right,” he confirmed, keeping a straight face. “I didn’t.”

Percy Weasley was speechless.

“Better listen to Snape,” Oliver added casually. “Don’t want to get into anymore trouble.”

There wasn’t time to talk anyway. Snape glided to the front of the dungeon again. He seemed to be in an even more sour mood than usual.

“Silence!” he threatened menacingly even though it was still you could hear the bending of broom twigs. “I had enough.”

Oliver pretended to pay attention. He tried not to focus on Katie Bell’s note.

“We are going to do something… More complex today,” the slimy git went on, his voice silky. “It’s extremely complicated and difficult. Most of you probably won’t even get something near the actual results.”

He grinned. Sounds exactly like page two hundred and thirty-four.

“Flip to page two hundred and thirty-four.”

His book was already opened up to that page. Lucky guess. Not.

“And begin.”

The class went into some sort of frenzy. Many were quickly chopping up the potion ingredients. Some were busy wiping off sweat as they started a fire.

Only Oliver stood up with a chuckle and pulled out a crumpled not from his pocket.

He was whistling happily when he met Angelina crawling out of the Portrait hole along the hallway.

“Angelina,” he greeted warmly. He felt a certain fondness for this girl in a Fred-way. She was the one who took his side the most often when he demanded another dawn practice. And she turned up on time to boot. Too bad she had extremely bad taste in men.

“Ol,” she nodded. “Good day?”

“You can tell?”

She rolled her eyes. “Wood, you are postitvely radiating happiness.”

Was he? “At least I have something to be glad about. Seen Katie?”

The chaser motioned to the portrait. “Busy retrieving scattered items around the Common Room.”

He shook his head. What else could he expect her to be doing?

“Have you seen Fred?” she asked.

“George and he said something about pranking Flint and Higgs.”

“Damn!” she sighed frustratedly. “You are Captain. Can’t you keep them out of trouble?”

“Who do you think gave them full permission to do it?” He snorted. “Besides, he’s bad news. But he’s your bad news,”

“I could say the same for you,” Angelina shot back and scurried down the hall, giving a small wave of goodbye to Oliver.

He wondered what she meant by that comment, but decided not to think about it.

“Iway ovelay ymay Idditchquay aptaincay,” he told the Fat Lady’s Portrait (and wondering why she had to choose such a long password). It swung open and Oliver entered the Common room, searching for his target.

A blur of school robes and dark hair blew past him. It didn’t take him more than two seconds to realize this was who he was seeking.

The sight of Katie Bell dashing all over the room with a mad expression on her face was too entertaining to miss. She was diving onto all the study tables and searching beneath the piles of books, chucking textbooks one by one onto the floor. Occasionally she missed and tripped over a pile of books (which she had chucked onto the floor).

The area looked like a tornado went past it, leaving a trail of disaster behind. And Katie was the tornado.

He plopped onto the couch instead, choosing to watch this amusing scene unfold before his eyes.

“Something funny, Captain?” his chaser suddenly asked. She didn’t even shift her gaze from the table. She threw various textbooks across the room, her bright green eyes focused on her task. Her face was slightly flushed.

“How did you know it was me?” He asked, instantly getting up and standing beside her.

Katie stopped and looked at Oliver. “Because no one else’s ass is so fat that they land so heavily on the couch,” she grinned.

“I happen to know I have a pretty good piece of ass,” he said smugly.

She leaned behind and peered. “Fine then,” She smiled evilly. “Nice rear.”

“I don’t play Quidditch all day for nothing you know. There are certain benefits.”

Katie wasn’t listening—she was busy climbing onto a chair near a bookshelf. She stood on her tip-toes and pulled a heavy looking book from under Merlin’s bust.

“Found it!” Katie cried happily as she got off the chair.

“How did it even end up there?” Oliver asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say some of us will go through desperate measures to avoid homework. Why are you looking for me?”

“Who said I was looking for you?” He countered. She rolled her eyes slightly.

“Fine then.” Katie shrugged. “I will go to the library. Got some Potions homework to do.”

“And you can do it without this?” He questioned with a smile on his handsome face, unzipping his bag and pulling out her textbook.”

“Almost forgot about it,” she admitted, taking her textbook back from the Keeper. “Not that I need it though. Some of us are gifted you know.”

“I’m extreme adept in potion-making.”

“Speaking of that…” she said, putting her hands on her hips, leaning in. “Don’t you have something to say?”

“Like what?” Oliver asked innocently, smirking this time.

Katie glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest (Oliver couldn’t help thinking she looked kind of pretty even when she was pretending to be crossed). He felt extremely tempted to go on with the innocent look, but decided it wasn’t worth it. Better get the gloating over and done with.

“Fine,” he conceded, looking at his complacent chaser. “I am eternally grateful for your help. Thanks to you and your lovely note giving me shortcuts on how to prepare the potion, I was the only one who aced through Potions today.”

This part was extremely true. When he had flipped over the note Katie stuffed inside her Potion Book, he found a set of instructions depicting how to make an Anxiety Potion, the very one that was outlined on page two hundred and thirty four.

Except they weren’t the same instructions. Or ingredients.

“I’m surprised you followed it,” Katie remarked. “Weren’t you scared that your potion would blow up or something?”

“I trusted that you didn’t want to spend the next practice doing hundred laps around the field .”

“So what did Snape do?” she asked eagerly, looking at her bemused friend.

“He started to twitch a little and mumbled something under his breatj. I did the concerned act and asked whether he accidentally inhaled a little of Flint’s Anxiety potion,” he grinned.

She burst into laughter.

“How did you get know a shortcut to that potion anyway?” Oliver asked curiously, leaning slightly towards Katie.

She smiled. “When you are friends with Fred Weasley, nothing is exactly impossible.”

“Then why is he failing Potions?” he asked doubtfully.

“Duh. Snape will get suspicious. Besides, he doesn’t exactly need a NEWT for Potions to open a joke shop,” she said, pausing thoughtfully. “Plus he always forgets when is the next lesson.”

“Ah. But how did you know what will Snape be doing in my class?”

“What is this? Twenty Questions?” Katie snorted in a very unladylike manner. “And I will have you know that Snape isn’t very creative with lesson planning… He makes most of his class prepare the same potion.”

Oliver reflected for a moment. “Well, at least one good thing came out of it.”

“Just one?” Katie pretended to look offended. “And what is that?”

“Percy thinks I am some sort of Wizarding God.”

Her interest was piqued. “Oh?” she asked, her green eyes sparkling. “Why?”

Oliver chuckled. “He thought I did one of those fancy silent spell casting and summoned a textbook when he saw I didn’t bring my copy of textbook to class. Then he saw that I flipped to the correct page before Snape even told us what we were doing. And oh, I was the only one who did a decent potion in the entire class. He’s therefore convinced I’m some genius.”

“So now he thinks you are some powerful Merlin reincarnate?”

“Some powerful Merlin reincarnate with Quidditch skills,” he corrected.

“Well, I wouldn’t be too happy about that,” she said dryly.

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Well, let me put it this way… Do you really want Percy Weasley staring furtively at you every minute and throwing you challenging gazes and competitive looks during lessons and lunch?”

Oliver’s eyes widened as it dawned on him.

“Shit.”

“I know,” Katie said sympathetically, patting his back.

She wasn’t in the Common Room like Oliver expected her to be. She wasn’t in the Quidditch field either. Neither was she in the bathroom.

No. Katie Bell was outside of his Potions classroom right now, waiting patiently for him to come out. Just a few feet and one wall away from him. And he was dying to get there.

Or at least that what she had said. Right there on page eighty one of textbook, where she had scribbled beside today’s assignment.

Cap’n, she had written. He had almost grunted at that. She had taken to calling him that lately. He preferred it when Katie called him Oliver—much more personal. Or just perhaps his name sounded better from the slight lilt in her voice.

No cheats for today, sorry! Fred forgot. I drew some stick figures of F and G drowning in the cauldron to entertain you instead.

I will be waiting for you outside your class today. So until then!

Can’t wait to see you,

Katie

P.S. I ran out of parchment.

He wondered throughout the whole lesson why she had come. Perhaps she wanted to talk to him. He smiled, and his heart skipped a beat at the thought of that.

Oliver sneaked a peek at the clock. Only five minutes more till the end of lesson. Was it just him, or was Potions was dreadfully slow today?

He passed his time by looking at the little cartoon she had drawn. One of the stick figures had bug eyes and was being eaten by the piranha. The other was foaming in the mouth.

He added more piranhas in the drawing. Then he drew a bespectacled stick figure, circled it and wrote Hope that’s Percy beside it.

The minute the bell rang Oliver was out of his seat. He was anxious to get out of class.

The hallway was crowded with students flooding out of the various classrooms. Oliver couldn’t see Katie at all. He glanced around for the sight of her familiar dark hair. She wasn’t exactly tall. He stepped aside, letting the other tired Seventh Years pass through.

And nearly knocked into said person, who was glancing about in all direction except his.

“Looking for somebody?” he asked. She whirled around and caught sight of Oliver.

“Yeah,” she said breathlessly. “I found you… But I haven’t seen him yet.”

He frowned.

“But— ”

“Shh! There he is!”

At that moment Percy Weasley walked past. He threw Oliver a challenging look before flashing his perfect Potions mark not-so-subtly in front of him.

Katie laughed. “Sorry, I just had to catch a glimpse of his expression.”

“You came all the way here to look at him?” He questioned incredulously.

“It was worth it,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I’m hurt.”

“You are not Oliver. I can see your eyes glittering with mirth.”

“It was a nice try,” he shrugged. “Do you know how hard it is to brew a potion while someone is constantly throwing you superior looks?”

“No, that’s why I had to witness it first-hand.” They both walked back to the Common Room.

“You know, I never did get the new Common Room password,” he said conversationally. “It’s really a mouth-full and exceptionally tongue-tying.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You mean you don’t know?”

“I know it’s an awfully long bunch of gibberish.”

“It’s not.” For some reason the corner of Katie’s lip started lifting. “I chose the password.”

“And it’s actually supposed to mean something?”

“Yep.” She popped the ‘p’.

He waited for her to say something. She didn’t.

“Well? Aren’t you gonna tell me?” Oliver asked, glancing at his smug chaser.

She grinned. “Nope. You got to figure it out by yourself.”

They walked in silence now. It was a comfortable one. Oliver liked it. Her presence radiated ease and grace. It was extremely soothing. In fact, he enjoyed it almost too much.

But still he couldn’t resist asking a question.

“You mind if I ask something?” Oliver asked offhandedly.

She was digging through her oversized bag, searching for yet again something.

“Shoot.”

“I’m curious. Who exactly is that Alpha male you wrote about in your book?”

“Which one?” She asked perplexedly. He gave her a pointed look.

“I asked you about him before,” he said as casually as he could. “Last week. The one you and Fred were writing about.”

“Oh.” She smiled, looking up at him as if she caught on to something. She leaned in towards him. “Promise not to tell?” she asked in a whisper.

Her sudden proximity threw him. His heart stopped.

“Promise,” he told her, his voice unconsciously mimicking her’s.

Katie leaned towards him again, closer, closer, until she was a mere two inches away from him. He tried to concentrate as she cupped her hand around his ears, her breath tickling his ears.

“Cedric Diggory.”

Her answer shocked him. He jerked back.

She was bursting into laughter now. “Well, you asked.”

He was back to his crappy mood. “Why the hell would you like Cedric Diggory?”

“He’s nice, really good-looking and really smart,” she said plaintively. “Who wouldn’t like him?”

“Me.”

“Why not?”

“I would like someone whose a bit more challenging. Or interesting.” Like me, he added silently.

“You aren’t a girl,” Katie replied dreamily, waving her hand. “You wouldn’t get it. He’s just so… good-looking. A real suave gentlemen.”

“That’s all probably part of his ploy to get the girls.” Oliver said viciously.

“It’s not,” she said assuredly. “I went out with him before.”

“You went out with him before?” He said, shocked.

“Last year. It was fun,” Katie said. He ignored her.

“I bet he’s a wanker.”

“Probably after some of ours plays—”

“Oliver I—”

“Cannot trust a Hufflepuff even—”

“He—”

“Must be a player like Davies,” he continued muttering.

“Oliver.”

He turned to look at Katie. She looked highly amused

“You haven’t it out,” she sighed, tossing her head.

“Figure what out?” He said frustratedly.

Katie Bell didn’t answer. Instead she stopped walking and turned to look at Oliver.

“That note was written last year,” she finally said, looking meaningfully at him.

His attention was caught again. “What?”

“In other words… I have moved on.”

“What does that mean?” He asked in a whisper.

It seemed to take her forever to reply. She was looking at him with her great green eyes, tilting her head slightly, her lips threatening to curve up. She looked absolutely bloody ridiculously lovely, and this fact made him nervous.

“It means,” she smiled coyly. “I like someone else now.”

His heart thumped again.

“Who?” He gulped.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” She kissed him on the cheek but he wasn’t distracted.

“Who?” He persisted.

“I will give you a hint about something… The Gryffindor password.”

That threw him off again.

“What about it? What had that had to do with anything?” he asked, confused. She wasn’t making sense. He couldn’t see the connection

She ignored his question. “It’s in Pig Latin.”

And then, Katie Bell flounced away before he could say anything else.

“You haven’t answered any of my question!” He hollered.

She turned her head mid-run and blew him a kiss. “Don’t worry,” she shouted back. “Someday you will figure it out!”

That night Oliver Wood opened up Katie’s Potions textbook and flipped to page eighty one again. This time he crossed out Percy’s name and wrote the words ‘Cedric Bloody Diggory’ instead.

I seriously hope the KBOW community hasn’t forgotten me after more than to years of loyalty to this ship. Even though there’s totally a good reason to.

I have recently opened a Facebook account. I know, how lag am I to be now when the rest of the world started years ago. I didn’t even do it until my friends forced me to. Perhaps I’m a techno-resistant.

Anyway I would love to make more friends so if you want to FB me, do leave your email or something in your review or PM and I will try and add you! I would love having some ff friends around, so yeah.