A/N: I dunno, but all of a sudden, I've been totally stuck on Oliver/Katie stories. So here's a oneshot, 'cos I couldn't help myself.

Disclaimer: Freshman year my best friend and I threatened to do something like this. And we almost did. I think Jo is sorta past that phase in life, you know?

Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet sat on their beds at two in the morning, gossiping and giggling, and eating loads of Honeyduke's finest.

"Well I heard that our deranged captain jogs shirtless in the morning!" Alicia told them conspiratorially.

"Ha! I always knew he was psychotic!" Angelina crowed triumphantly.

"Hey," Katie said indignantly. "Don't diss the joggers!"

Her friends rolled their eyes. "But at least you keep it to sane hours, Katie. You know, nighttime. If he jogs in the morning that means he wakes up super early—especially when we have dawn practices."

"Well I'll have to jog before school tomorrow, because he's scheduling practice tomorrow night," Katie pouted.

"Ha, you should do the damsel in distress thing and fake an injury!" Angelina crowed.

"Wouldn't that be great? She could pretend to trip—"

"—he'd believe it—"

"—and twist her ankle. Then he'd have to carry her back," Alicia mused, refining the plan.

"And you call him psychotic," Katie muttered.

"Psh, Bell, you can't deny that you've got a thing from our maniacally obsessed Quidditch Captain."

"So?" she asked defensively. "That doesn't mean I want to be all diabolical and crap and make him save me!"

"But that's the beauty of it," Angelina said, grinning wickedly. "We're doing all the diabolical crap for you!"

.xXx.

Katie yawned as she pulled on her running clothes—cotton shorts and a gray jumper—then stretched before leaving the tower. Out in the misty morning, she listened to her feet whisper over the damp grass as she routinely followed her running path. She stared down at the ground ahead of her, checking for anything that might trip her up. When she did look up, though, she saw the bare back of her Captain, out on his own morning run. Startled, Katie lost her stride, tripped, and fell.

And yes, she twisted her ankle.

"Sodding hell!" she snapped.

Oliver heard her outraged exclamation and dug his heels into the ground, spinning around. He doubled back to stand next to her, then stared at his Chaser, uncomprehending. "Bell?"

"Yes?" she asked innocently, as if she wasn't sitting on her butt with the morning dew seeping through her shorts and her ankle wasn't screaming in pain.

"What are you doing?"

"Having a tea party. Would you care to join me?" He smirked at her, and she rolled her eyes. "Well, I was having my nightly run."

"It's five thirty in the morning."

"I am completely aware of that, but your mad captaining has made my nightly run impossible for tonight, and I am therefore having my nightly run at an ungodly hour of the morning." Her ankle continued to throb unbearably, but she ignored it.

"But why are you on the ground?" He seemed dumbfounded by the whole situation.

"Well, the morning was just so beautiful, and the grass is all sparkly and everything, so I thought I'd just sit down and enjoy it for a few minutes, you know?" she told him, hoping he wouldn't realize she was injured. The boy was simply too chivalrous for his own good.

"You tripped, didn't you?" he asked, grinning.

Katie sighed in defeat. "Yes."

He chuckled and held a hand out to her. Katie grabbed it and let him haul her to her feet. The moment she was up, she fell back on her bum, gasping in pain. The amusement instantly slipped off of his face, replaced by concern, and he crouched down next to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nooooothing."

He frowned, his brow furrowed with worry. "Dammit Bell, you're so immature." He glanced down at her feet, as did she. For the first time, she noticed that her right ankle was already beautifully swollen, and definitely not its proper color.

"Whoops," she said.

"How can you be so clumsy?" he asked as he unlaced her trainer and carefully slipped it off her foot, then pulled off her pink sock.

"Good question." She watched him prod her ankle in several different places. "What are you doing?"

"Praying to Merlin that you didn't break something." She yelped when he hit the spot, and he made a face, the worry still in his eyes.

"Only you could break your ankle falling down."

"It's broken?" she demanded, the color draining from her face.

"Don't worry, Pomfrey can fix this sort of thing in the blink of an eye," he assured her, brushing her hair back from her face. "Now come on, hold this." He handed her the shoe and picked her up, holding her like he might a child. This is where she was afraid it would go. The last thing she needed was her too-chivalrous Captain carrying her around. It was bad for the faint of heart.

Katie sighed and leaned her head against his chest, then pulled away instantly. She had conveniently forgotten that he wasn't wearing a shirt. He looked down at her and gave a small smile, not having noticed her startled reaction. "Really Katie, you've got to be more careful. I—none of us want to lose you." Katie caught the stumble and ignored it.

"Yeah, because you know the team would be shot to shit without me, right?"

He threw back his head and laughed, and she grinned in response. "So, how long have you been running nights?" he asked casually.

"Since third year," she responded, not guessing the trickery behind the innocent question.

"So two years of running this same path… in the dark… and the one time you run in the morning is the time you trip and break your ankle?"

Katie said the first thing that came to her mind. "Well, it your fault, you prat." She blushed terribly, and he smirked down at her.

"Really, now? How do you figure that, my dear Chaser?"

"Psh, you'll never get me to admit to that one." It was at that moment that they arrived at the Hospital Wing. The giant doors registered in Katie's mind instantly. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME GO IN THERE!" she screamed, struggling madly.

Oliver gazed at her, his mouth slightly agape as he held tight to her. "Katie, where did you think we were going?"

"I didn't think about it!" she continued to struggle. "Let me down! I don't wanna go!"

He just started laughing. Loudly. Katie stopped fighting and glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"What are you going to do if I put you down? You're ankle's broken, genius."

"I'll hop," she matter-of-factly. "But if you take me in there, I will never forgive you, Oliver-whatever-your-middle-name-is-Wood."

"What's wrong with the Hospital Wing?"

"Are you kidding? It's the Hospital Wing, for the love of God! People die in there!"

He was still amused. "Katie, since when do people die at Hogwarts?"

She scowled. "I'm not going in there."

"Want to bet?" He kicked the door open and rushed in before she could stop him.

"OLIVER WOOD!"

Madame Pomfrey was instantly at his side. "She's broken her ankle, I think," the traitor told her.

"Ah, hold still, Miss Bell."

Katie instinctively pulled her foot out of the nurse's reach. Oliver frowned at her. "Katie, cut it out," he told her in his I-am-your-Captain-dammit-and-you'd-better-do-as-I-say-even-though-we're-not-on-the-Pitch-so-technically-you-don't-have-to voice. She settled for scowling impressively at him while Pomfrey fixed up her ankle.

"There you go, Miss Bell. Take this brace, and wear it for a week, just to support your ankle."

Much to Katie's shame, Oliver insisted on carrying her out of the Hospital Wing. "I'm never going to forgive you," she muttered mutinously.

"For taking you in there or distracting you enough that you broke your ankle?" he asked slyly.

"Both. And this is humiliating, by the way—my ankle's fixed, you know."

He ignored her comment. "So, what was I doing, exactly, that distracted you so completely?"

"As I told you, you'll never hear it from me. I am as a vault."

Angelina and Alicia came running out of nowhere. "Oh my gosh Katie, what happened?"

"Well," Oliver mused. "She tripped running and broke her ankle, so I had to carry her up to the Hospital Wing. Did you know she's terrified of that place?"

She blushed deeply as her friends turned their stunned faces to hers. "You actually went through with the plan?" Angelina asked, dumbstruck.

"Man Katie, I didn't know you had enough guts. And you really broke your ankle?"

"What plan?" Oliver wanted to know.

Alicia, not the brightest crayon in the box, rolled her eyes dismissively. "Well we had this whole idea where Katie was going to pretend to trip while she was running so you'd have to save her and everything, and you'd realize how you were direly in love with her. But obviously you've already realized that." Angelina smacked Alicia upside the head.

Katie could see him biting back a smile, which made her relax. At least he wasn't going to drop her and run. Screaming. "I have, have I?"

Alicia, glaring at Angelina, nodded. "Obviously. I mean you're being all protective and looking at her like a lovesick puppy and everything. I'm glad you two finally got together. Congratulations!"

Katie pursed her lips and Angelina groaned. "Alicia, you're an idiot!"

She stared at Oliver in pure wonderment. "You mean you haven't told her you like her? Good God Oliver, it's written all over your face!"

With that, Angelina clapped her hand over Alicia's mouth. "I believe we'll be going now. Enjoy your day. See you in class."

The two were left in startled silence. Finally frustrated, Katie looked up at him. "Well?"

"Well what?" he asked uncomfortably.

"You're joking, right? After all that? Good God, ask me to Hogsmeade or something!"

"Are you serious?" he demanded, looking at her as if she were mad.

"Screw you, Oliver. You're thicker than freaking Flint! I'll meet you at the Three Broomsticks at eleven on Saturday, okay?" she jumped down, and he stared at her, shocked again. Katie smiled and turned away, but he grabbed her hand.

"You're diabolical, Bell," he said, giving her a light kiss that sent her heart a-pounding. "I'll see you in practice tonight." He grinned goofily and let her leave.

Back in the Common Room, Katie high-fived Angelina and Alicia. "Great acting, girls," she awarded.

Angelina grinned. "Man, I liked the plan in the beginning, when it was the simple damsel-in-distress deal, but when you told us to make a scene—that was sheer brilliance."

Katie bowed. "Thank you."

Alicia wrapped an arm around her friends' shoulders. "So it only took a little coaxing—"

"—a little planning—"

"—a broken ankle—"

"—and our thick Captain realized that you were meant for him. Not too bad, ladies. Not too bad at all."