Sorry this is late, I've been on vacation. I probably shouldn't have posted that story before I left, but, cest le vie, right? Anyway, hope you guys like this chapter, it'll show you a bit more of where the story is headed. Please please PLEASE review, I'd like that so very much! - Jen.

Chasers, Keepers, and Bludgers
Chapter 2.

Just over a week later, on Halloween morning, Katie Bell stood in the great hall, waiting for Victoria to show up with their dates in tow. She stared at her shoes awkwardly, trying to avoid eye-contact with the couples pushing past her. Victoria had refused to tell Katie who her date would be, leaving Katie more frantic than she would have liked to have been. She glanced up at the sound of her friends voice, possibly too eagerly.

Victoria was bouncing down the stairs, a large smile plastered on her face, showing off perfectly pristine teeth, and talking to a tall boy with wavy brown hair. Justin Bradley. Of course she had bagged him, Katie thought almost bitterly. Victoria bagged every boy she wanted. Behind her, Fred Weasley skipped down the stairs with a blond girl that Katie had never met before.

Maybe she forgot my date, Katie thought hopefully, spying no possible canidates in her friends vacinity. However, Victoria's grin did not falter as she approached Katie.

"Well?" Katie asked, expectantly, looking over her friends shoulder. But there was no one, save for Fred Weasley, who was sparing a quick hello to Angelina Johnson and Lee Jordan.

"Oh don't worry your silly little head, Katie. I haven't forgotten you." Victoria patted her friends shoulder. Katie felt her heart drop quite quickly - she wasn't off the hook. Why, again, had she agreed to this? "Your date is meeting us at The Three Broomsticks. He had a detention with Flitwick to finish."

Great, thought Katie, A boy with a nearly criminal record. She silently cursed herself for not ticking trouble makers off of the list she'd made Victoria. Nevertheless, she followed Victoria and Justin out the hall, stopping to be poked at with a probity probe by the dirty caretaker, Argus Filch, as she did so. Now that the dementors were surrounding Hogwarts, security had been greatly increased.

Her day wasn't starting out so great. The journey to Hogsmeade had become greatly uncomfortable as Justin and Victoria had taken to kissing each other deeply and every chance they got. The bitter cold didn't help, either. Katie wondered why she hadn't remembered to bring her scarf. When they finally arrived at the three broomsticks, she couldn't be happier. She tried to ignore the two kissing across from her as she sipped at her butterbeer and waited for her mystery date to arrive. It was just over an hour when a tall, black haired boy with gleaming blue eyes met them at their table.

"So sorry I'm late, got a lecture from Flitwick about house loyalty as I was leaving, bloody annoying, he can be- Sorry, I'm Fabian Rosewood." He smiled down at Katie. Katie blinked a few times at the boy, his face was pink from the cold, but she couldn't help but smile. Was this her date? She reminded herself to let Victoria set her up more often.

"Katie Bell." She replied sheepishly as he took a seat next to her. Katie glanced at Victoria, who sported a smug smile, and then continued on where she'd previously left off on Justins' lips.

"Having fun?" Fabian laughed, as he glanced at the couple across from them. Katie shook her head.

"Not really, no." She sipped at her butterbeer.

"Ah, well, hopefully I can make that a bit better." Fabian smiled. Katie felt herself blush profusely.

"So, why did you have detention?" She asked after Fabian had ordered himself a butterbeer.

Fabian racked his fingers through his hair, looking a bit uneasy. "They told you, did they?" He laughed nervously. "I er... Well, I'm not proud of it. But I used a bat bogey hex on Rodger Davies. He was being a right git... trying to show me the proper way to hold my wand... You'd think after six years in school I'd know how to hold a wand."

Katie snickered behind her hand.

"Don't hold it over my head! Davies and I have never been on good terms, he had it coming!"

"Oh, I don't doubt you." Katie grinned.

"I cant believe they told you." Fabian grumbled. "I hope you didn't get the wrong impression of me-"

"No, No, I didn't." Katie lied quickly. She was so engulfed into his seemingly perfect facial features that she couldn't tear her eyes away when Madam Rosemerta returned to ask if she'd like another butterbeer.

"Yes, Sure." She said absentmindedly and the older witch stalked off. "So, are you in Ravenclaw too, then?" She asked. Fabian sipped his butterbeer and nodded.

"Guilty." He smiled. "Wit beyond measure, and all that nonsense."

For the remainder of the date, Katie couldn't wipe a small smirk off of her face. She kept her eyes intently on his, and his, vice versa. She wondered why she had cursed dating for so long - this was actually quite fun! She nodded, giggled, ooh'd and ahh'd in all the right spots. Finally, when the time for dinner began to approach, they group of four (Though, Katie had nearly forgotten Victoria and Justin were even with them) began their way back to the castle. When the wind began to pick up, Fabian lent Katie his scarf, and she felt herself blush, hoping her pink cheeks could be blamed on the cold.

"That was fun." said Fabian, as they walked into the castle. Katie nodded excitedly, glad he shared the same view on their time together. She mentally slapped herself for being so nervous - dating was easy! "I'll see you around, alright?" He grinned at her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and took off towards his table with Justin.

"I love you." Katie admitted to Victoria as she gave her a quick hug.

"Yes, I am amazing." Victoria flipped her hair over her shoulder and sat down across from Gwendolyn, who adorn a similar dreamy smile. Katie assumed her date with Eddie had gone smoothly. Before she questioned anything, however, she was swept away by Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet.

"We saw you with Fabian Rosewood today. Why didn't you tell us you had a date with him?" Angelina smacked her arm playfully as the three took seats near Fred, George, and Lee. Katie felt herself blush.

"Fabian Rosewood? That prat from Ravenclaw?" Scoffed Fred. He took a seemingly angry bite of his food.

"If he's a prat, he's one attractive prat." Alicia set the girls into giggles, causing Katie to blush even more deeply.

"Fred and I have served multiple detentions with him. Don't let his "Dreamy blue eyes" fool you." George scowled. This only sent the girls into further giggles thinking about his "dreamy blue eyes", as George had deemed them.

"Oh shut up, you three." Fred finally muttered, leaving the girls to gossip quietly about the quality of their dates. Katie had never met Fabian previous to their blind date, but she had seen him around. She wasn't stupid, she knew he was attractive, but from what her teammates had told her, he was much more sought-after than she'd imagined.

"So, do you have a second date?" Alicia asked after their giggles had subsided. Katie shrugged - she wasn't sure. He'd said "see you around" - but what did that mean? She explained this to the girls, who exchanged wary glances.

"Oh." Angelina replied quietly, as she moved around the vegetables on her plate absentmindedly. Katie's eyes widened in worry.

"What? What do you mean, oh?" She pleaded. She was suddenly reminded why she didn't want to date - the waiting period, the wondering, the panic. The jumping butterflies in her stomach weren't enough to make up for it.

"Well..." Angelina began. "It's hard, you know. When you're here, you can't exactly go on a date whenever you please... but Lee and I" (She glanced to the boy beside her who was talking animatedly with the twins about the coming Quidditch season - a small smile on her face.) "We have plans to work on our transfiguration essay together Monday night."

Katie somehow knew working on their essay wasn't the only thing they'd be doing. Transfiguration wasn't exactly romantic.

"And Ryan Summerby and I are taking a walk by the lake before it gets too cold." Alicia grinned, glancing over her shoulder at the Hufflepuff table.

Katie racked her brain - Victoria had never warned her about this. Was she supposed to ask Fabian when they would see each other again - or was that something he was supposed to do? She knew boys were supposed to make the first move, but times were changing - maybe it was the girls job. Should she had done something? She was now mentally beating herself up over this - had she just given up a great guy? Was he even aware that she was interested? She subconsciously raised her hand to her cheek - he had kissed her, even if it was only on the cheek, that did mean something, right?

"Oh, don't worry about it, Katie." Alicia slung her arm around Katies shoulder. "He could still ask you to do something. Some guys like to wait. It's a game, of sorts."

"A game?" Katie inquired. She felt so immature, having her teammates hand her dating advice. All the same, she was entirely thankful for it.

"Guys are jerks, Katie." Angelina sighed. Lee nudged her shoulder with a short "Hey!". She smiled apologetically. "Some guys like to make you wait - make sure you're interested. Make sure they're interested. Maybe it's something about them wanting to see if there's anything better out there. I'm really not sure, I wont pretend to be an expert. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. The best thing to do, is to act like you don't care either way."

Katie furrowed her brow. "But I do care." She replied sheepishly. Angelina laughed a bit, but not in a mocking way.

"I know, Katie. We always do. We're girls, that's just how we are! But you've got to play the game. You can't win if you don't play." Angelina shrugged. Katie buried her head in her hands - she had so much to learn. On the other hand, maybe she should just stick to what she knew. And that was quidditch. Dating and Quidditch were far from coming hand in hand. She could marry her broom and be happy ever after. Oh no, she was turning into Oliver Wood!

"I'm hopeless." She admitted, feeling lower than she had all day.

"Oh, Katie, don't give up!" Alicia patted her back encouragingly. "It's Halloween, lets just enjoy the fest!"

Unfortunately for Katie, she couldn't take her mind off of her lack of dating experience. Her mind swam with thoughts of whether or not she'd see Fabian again. She liked him - he had been easy to talk to and charming, but did he feel the same way? How was she supposed to know?

The plates finally cleaned themselves, and Katie followed her fellow quidditch players out the door. Angelina and Alicia exchanged nervous glances, they were both perfectly aware that Katie hadn't said a single word the rest of the night.

"Listen, Katie." said Angelina in a low voice. "If you want... Alicia and I... we'll teach you."

"Teach me what?" Asked Katie, unaware that they had even noticed she wasn't being herself.

"How to date." She offered.

Katie raised her eyebrow at her friends. They'd teach her how to date? That seemed so bizare. Was that something that was usually taught? She'd always thought it had just come naturally.

"I have an older sister, Katie." Angelina explained. "I practically studied her - everything, even the mistakes."

"Okay." Katie nodded. "Alright."

"You'll let us teach you?" Angelina asked, as she avoided the trick stair.

"I suppose. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right?" Katie shrugged. Angelina put her arm around the girl.

"You can call me Professor Johnson from this day forward, Katie, my dear." She teased.

The teasing came to a worried halt when they reached the 7th floor, however. The entirety of the Gryffindor house was congregated outside of the portrait hole, gossiping excitedly. Katie couldn't help the nervous glances being thrown from person to person.

"What's going on?" Alicia asked - her friends shook their heads.

"Fat Lady's been attacked." gasped Fred, as he pushed through the crowd, a few of the students giving him dirty looks along the way, and found the girls.

"Attacked?" Asked Angelina, disbelievingly. "By whom?"

"Sirius Black." Fred answered. Katie felt the color wash from her face.

After orders to congregate in the great hall, Katie found herself in a squashy sleeping bag with Angelina on one side of her, and Alicia on the other.

"Well, we've got ten minutes" Announced Angelina, as she scooted her sleeping bag closer to where her friend lay.

"For what?" Katie asked stupidly as she watched the head boy, Percy Weasley, patrol between the rows of students, stopping periodically to bicker at a group of students for talking too loudly, or sitting too closely to one another.

"To start teaching, silly." Grinned Angelina. Katie sighed. "Lets start with the basics, shall we? Rule number one: Never appear too eager."

"Too eager?" Asked Katie, who was already sufficiently lost.

"Yes. Say, they ask you to Hogsmeade, don't scream yes at the top of your lungs, you'll scare them away. Appear to contemplate it for a moment, or, if you're really risky, tell them you'll think about it. They'll come back. They always do."

"Why?" Katie asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Boys love the chase, Katie." said Alicia, from the other side of Katie.

"Rule number two:" Began Angelina, again. "Never talk about other guys on your date. While other guys will most likely be in the back of your mind, talking about them will make whatever boy you're with drop you like you're a flobberworm."

"What if it's just a friend?" Questioned Katie. Angelina shook her head.

"Boys don't think other boys can ever just be friends with a girl. They'll always think there's something more there. No matter what."

Katie groaned into her pillow. "How many more of these rules are there?" She asked.

"Hundreds." Shrugged Angelina. Percy shouted from across the room that they were turning off the lights, and suddenly the hall was dark. Katie rolled in her sleeping bag to face Angelina.

"Ange." She whispered.

"Hmm?"

"This is all really informative, and all. But how am I ever supposed to get a boy to like me in the first place?" She asked.

"Don't worry, Katie. Alicia and I will handle it. You're awesome, we just have to make everyone else see that."

"You two, shush!" Percy called to them.

"Thanks, Angelina." Katie smiled briefly. Angelina nodded. Katie rolled back over, facing the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like a starry night sky. She hoped things wouldn't be as hopeless as she felt they were. Maybe she was, actually, appealing to the opposite sex. Maybe for once she'd stop feeling so much like the little sister.

"Shame we couldn't get him locked in that pyramid over the summer." She heard either Fred or George whisper. Katie smiled a bit, before falling asleep.

Drowsy and half asleep, Katie slid into the Gryffindor table the next morning. When most of the students had gone back to bed in their common rooms, Oliver instructed them to stay and eat an early breakfast and prepare for an early morning practice. Her hair, she could only assume, looked like a bird had taken up it's home inside it. Five AM was not a good hour for her, but when Oliver demanded they practice at 5:30, what choice did she have? The rest of the team sat around the Gryffindor table in the same state of delusion. The sky above them was dark and murky.

She looked around at her teammates. George was drooling onto the palm of his hand. Fred's face was in his oatmeal. Angelina's head slowly drooped down, and then popped up again. Harry's forhead was against his palm. Alicia was staring towards the far side of the room, eyes droopy and mouth agape. The only person who seemed to have the least bit of energy was Oliver Wood.

"9 out of 10 teams don't eat right before games." Oliver began to lecture. Katie glanced in his directions, but couldn't hold her head up for long. "A healthy breakfast is the best way to prepare for your game. Eat up, everyone!"

Fred let out a loud snore, which cause oatmeal to spray over Angelina, she shrieked, which seemed to wake up much of the rest of the team. Oliver some how convinced them to muster up enough energy to make it to the pitch, where the sun was slowly rising. Katie heard Fred mutter something about not enjoying being awake before even the (Insert bad word here) sun was.

Half asleep, Katie slipped into her quidditch robes and took her place on the pitch with the rest of the players. Though she could have sworn her team had turned into zombies, she continued nonetheless as Oliver drove them through drill after trill until the sun was fully awake, the birds had taken to chirping, and they had 20 minutes for breakfast until class began. Though Oliver wasn't completely pleased with the way practice had gone (Fred had "accidentally" hit Oliver with a bludger), he let them go.

Katie rushed into the showers with the other girls, knowing that she'd feel miserable (and smelly) the rest of the day if she skipped out on it. She also hopped that a quick shower would wake her up a bit, but she knew it was impossible. She had Potions first, being miserable was inevitable.

"Where have you been?" Gwen asked as Katie rushed into the class room a half a second before the bell rang. Professor Snape gave her a distrusting look but surprisingly let it slide.

"Quidditch." Katie muttered under her breath as Snape began to instruct the class on what they'd be doing that morning.

"Well, I have some news that will cheer you up." Victoria smiled as she pulled her potions book from her bag.

"Hmm?" Katie asked absentmindedly, flipping to the page 314 in her book. The title blared at her for a cheering potion. She heard Victoria mumble about how she could already perform a cheering charm perfectly, so she would never need this.

"Anyway." Victoria sighed as she crushed her puffapods until they oozed pinkish juices. "I talked to Tory Gladstone who talked to Rebecca Wilson who talked to Tyler-"

"Get on with it." Katie yawned.

"Fabian enjoyed his date yesterday."

Katie dropped her knife, ignoring it as it tinkered loudly to the floor. She'd completely forgotten that she had ever even gone to Hogsmeade, let alone with Fabian. The events of the previous night were still swimming in her head.

"He... he did? Did he say anything else?" Katie asked, trying to contain her enthusiasm. Don't appear too ecstatic, that was what Angelina had said, right?

"Can't tell you. It's a secret." She shrugged as she dropped more ingredients into her now orange potion. Katie's was still green and smoking, and she hopped Professor Snape wouldn't round their table and scold her for it. She quickly snatched up her knife as she saw him slowly approaching, and began to smash her own puffapods.

"You're being too rough, Katie." Gwen whispered, mentioning on how her puffapods were flowering instead of oozing.

"Why wont you tell me?" asked Katie, ignoring Gwens comment.

"I can't. It's for your own good. I know you, Katie. You'll obsess over it. I'm not telling you." Victoria scrunched her nose as her potion turned red. "Gwen, what have I done wrong?"

Gwen, who's potion was now a pearly pinkish color, glanced over the table. "You were supposed to stir it four times counterclockwise."

Victoria scrolled through the text in her book. "Honestly, this whole subject is stupid. This is what they have apothecaries for. I don't need to make my own." She grumbled as she hastened to make her potion the pearly shade of pink that Gwens was.

Katie knew Victoria was right. No matter what he said, she knew she would obsesses over it. As much as she hated it, she had to trust Victoria on this one. Besides, Victoria was her friend, she wouldn't tease her if Fabian had decided he didn't want to see her again. She would keep it quiet.

By dinner time, however, Katie was driving herself crazy with wonder. She plopped herself at the Gryffindor table beside Angelina without saying a word.

"Why is it everytime we see you, you're always moody? You fourth years are so emotional." Angelina laughed.

"Victoria's heard something about Fabian, but she wont tell me." Katie replied.

"Really?" Alicia asked. "You've got no idea what it is?"

"No idea. She said she heard he liked me, but wont tell me anything else." said Katie.

"How exciting!" Alicia grinned jealously.

"Exciting? Alicia, incase you don't remember, I don't know how to date. I've been on one other date, and it didn't go so well... " She scanned the hall until she spotted Lorcan Mylor sitting alone at the edge of his table, carefully separating his pees from his corn, careful not to let them touch. "Fabian's probably decided never to see me again."

"Katie, you need to stop dwelling on this. Chances are, Fabian adores you. But if you're this concerned, let's continue training until the point that he can't resist you." Angelina grinned, and grabbed Katie's arm, pulling her from the table

"Fred, George!" She paused as she reached the edge of the table. "Kitchens. Now."

"I thought we weren't going until later tonight?" Asked George.

"It's an emergency." Replied Angelina.

Fifteen minutes later, Katie found herself at a table in the Hogwarts Kitchens (Which were, to her surprise, inside a portrait of fruit near the hufflepuff common room!), sitting at a short, house-elf sized table across from Fred Weasley. She sat down on the stool, her knees reaching the table top, and shot a confused glance at Fred.

"Good Evening, M'lady." He grinned.

"Er... Hi." She said.

"Is that anyway to speak to your date?" He asked. Katie's jaw dropped, and she glanced at Alicia and Angelina who were simply smiling.

"Date?" She asked, slightly wary.

"Don't sound so disgusted about it. I'm a catch, really!" He crossed his arms forcefully.

"Mmmm. I'm sure." Katie scrunched her nose. She adored Fred, but she'd never quite played with the idea of dating him. He was just a friend.

"Now, Katie. This is a practice date - but we urge you to treat it as a real one." Angelina cleared her throat and pulled up her own small, elf chair.

"I'm dating Fred?" Katie tried to bite back a laugh.

"For all intensive purposes, yes." Alicia added, pulling up her own chair.

Fred placed a hand over his heart, feigning being hurt. "You sting, Katie Bell."

"Katie, please, just go along with it. Fred may not be-" Angelina paused, catching Fred's glare, and leaned in closer to Katie. "He may not be the most appealing date, but he knows his stuff." She whispered.

Katie nodded, knowing defeat. So she was impromptu-dating Fred Weasley? She surveyed his red hair, and slightly dirty robes. He grinned at her confidently, and she gave a small wave back.

"Ah, Katie. Confidence at all times. I don't care if you're dating the giant squid, you're going to pretend like you're having the time of your life." Angelina corrected.

"HEY!" Fred gasped again. "I'm much better than the giant squid!"

"Fred, shush." Angelina ordered. "Now, lets try again."

"Ah, Fred!" Cried Katie in an obviously fake overtone. "How lovely to see you! I was so ecstatic when you asked me-"

"Katie, Katie. Honestly. This isn't going to work unless you're completely willing." Angelina shook her head. Katie sighed.

And in fact, when she got into it, her fake date with Fred was surprisingly enjoyable. He made her laugh, and although Katie had many corrections from Angelina and Alicia, she thought she'd done quite well. So well that she had a certain spring in her step and smile on her face as she made her way back to the Gryffindor common room. She knew she had a transfiguration essay to finish, and she was absolutely positive that McGonagall wouldn't accept a fake date as an excuse not to get it done. She took a place at a table in the far shadows of the room, and pulled out her book and a ream of parchment.

She was halfway into her essay when she let out a giant yawn.

"Tired, Bell?" Came a voice from across the table. Katie barely lifted her eyelids to glance across. Oliver Wood was taking a seat across from him, his own book and parchment in hand. Katie simply groaned, to which he laughed in response.

"It's not funny, Wood. It's your fault!" She complained.

"I'm doing whats best for the team, Bell." He replied as he dipped his quill into parchment.

"I'm sure." Katie snapped. Oliver sighed audibly.

"There's no where else to sit, Bell, could you at least be civil?" He asked. Katie sighed in the same way Oliver had moments earlier.

"I'm sorry, Oliver. I'm just very tired, and very annoyed with this essay." She complained. She rubbed her temples as she tried to remember everything she could about the theory of transfiguring living plants.

"Ah." Nodded Oliver. He reached over the table and grabbed the essay from her.

"Hey!" Cried Katie.

"Shh, I'm going to help you. I've taken this course, if you don't remember." He added with a laugh. Katie nodded. As much as she didn't quite enjoy Oliver Woods company, ask most of the time she was around him he was bickering at her about her quidditch performance, she really could use the help. She was exhausted and frustrated.

"You've got this part wrong." He spoke, lifting his own quill. "It's not a swish and flick, it's more of a jab..." He began to explain the way the spell should be performed, and surprisingly to herself, Katie listened. After a short 10 minutes of working with Oliver, her essay was complete.

"Thank you!" She smiled, as she rolled up the parchment, completely satisfied with her essay.

"Can't have one of my chasers failing off the team, can I?" He laughed. "McGonagall wouldn't hesitate to suspend you, and we've got a game coming up, and we need you to destroy Slytherin."

Ah, Of course, thought Katie. Everything for Oliver Wood was about Quidditch. Couldn't he just be nice for the sake of being nice? She watched him as he returned to his own assignment, his tongue slightly poking out of the corner of his mouth as he traced his quill across the parchment. With a yawn, she waved a short goodbye, and returned to her room. It had been a long few days, she really could use the rest.

Jen Riddle
9-28-10

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