Disclaimer: All of these lovely characters belong to JK Rowling.

Ever since Katie Bell had been a little girl hearing about how her older brother had succeeded in playing Quidditch for the Ravenclaw house team, she had hoped to play herself; she never thought she would have the talent to take her to the professional leagues. Upon graduation from Hogwarts, Katie had been contacted by several teams all offering her gazillions of galleons to play for them. Of all the offers she had received, Katie chose to play for the Salisbury Sphinxs—a team that she had favored growing up. In the five years since Katie had graduated from Hogwarts she had had arguably the most successful Quidditch career since her captain and teammate at Hogwarts, Oliver Wood. Oliver Wood had lead Puddlemere United to four national championships and had recorded more shut outs than any keeper in the history of Quidditch. Neither Katie nor any of her teammates had heard from Wood since graduation, but Katie had read in the wizarding gossip magazine, Witches, that Wood had retired from the Quidditch scene so that he could fully enjoy the spoils of his success. It was rumored that Wood spent his time romancing the wizarding world's most beautiful witches, travelling the globe, and buying expensive broom sticks. Katie only knew about all these articles about Wood because Fred and George had bought her a subscription to the magazine. "It's good to know what people are saying about you," Fred had told her when they had bought her the first subscription a few Christmases ago. Katie of course appeared in the magazine at least once a month because not only was she a very famous Quidditch player herself, but her boyfriend, Eric Ives, was a very famous Wiz TV star. Eric had starred in countless movies in addition to his long running show Pompfrey's Anatomy, a dramatic series about Healers working at Saint Mungo's Hospital. On a monthly basis the magazine reported that Katie and Eric had broken up for any number of reasons, Katie's favorite being that she was jealous of his fame and couldn't stand to live in his shadow, which Katie thought was absolutely ridiculous. The only thing she ever paid attention to in the gossip magazine were the mentions of Oliver Wood…

"Good morning, beautiful," said Eric, kissing Katie on the head.

"No morning is a good morning," said Katie, who hated waking up, smiling up at the perfectly chiseled face of her boyfriend of three years.

"Every morning I wake up to you is a good morning," said Eric. He certainly did have a way with words, Katie thought.

"Are you ready for your game?" Eric asked. He was pretty supportive of her career and came to as many games as his filming schedule would permit.

"Yes, but nervous as well," Katie admitted, as today's game would decide whether or not her team would make it to the playoffs. "You're coming , right?"

"Oh no, not today, my love. I'm sorry. My agent has booked a few publicity events for today with the new season starting next month," said Eric.

"Oh alright," said Katie, she was very nervous about the game and it would have been nice to have him there. Katie rolled out of bed and into the shower, hoping the hot water would calm her nerves.

When Katie emerged from the bathroom with a cloud of steam, she found Eric in the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast?" asked Katie whose nerves had disappeared leaving her very hungry.

"Protein shake," said Eric handing her a glass of brown lumpy looking liquid. Katie made a face. "It's very healthy. We need to stay in shape."

I'm a professional athlete, Katie thought, I should be able to eat something more substantial for breakfast especially before a match. "Fine, fine," Katie muttered, knowing that she would pick up a bacon and egg sandwich on her way to the match.

"Good girl," said Eric giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Good luck at your match. I'll be home tonight and I want good news."

"Thanks," said Katie as she waved goodbye. She dumped the rest of her shake down the sink and apparated to her favorite breakfast spot. After stuffing down a bacon and egg sandwich, she apparated to the pitch.

"Ughhh," Katie moaned clutching her stomach when she arrived at the stadium. It was never a good idea to apparate so soon after eating, she might regret that during the match. Katie made her way into the locker room, only her coach was present.

"And how does my star chaser feel today?" her coach, Derek "Eagle Eye" Kennedy, asked. Derek had been the best seeker of his generation and had held the record for the fastest snitch capture until a few years ago.

"100%, coach!" said Katie grinning at her coach. Derek was a tough coach, but he really cared about his players.

"That's just what I want to hear. Saw you and Eric on the cover of Witches in the store yesterday."

"Ughh, I just wish they would recognize me on my own, not just as his girlfriend," Katie confessed.

"Don't pay that trashy magazine any mind—it deserves less respect than the Quibbler. Quidditch Illustrated recognizes your talent and that's all that should matter to a player," said Derek.

"Thanks coach. I'll score a goal just for you today," said Katie.

"Make it ten, why don't you?" Derek laughed.

The rest of the team arrived and the trainer led them through stretches and focused on some of the other player's injuries. With only a few minutes left before the start of the game, it was time for Crystal Shacklebolt, the team captain and keeper, to give her inspirational speech.

"I know I don't need to remind anyone here how important this game is. This game decides whether or not we become the first team to make the playoffs 50 years in a row. But that's not what I care about. I don't just want to make the playoffs, I want to win. In the past 50 years, we have only won seven titles. No one individual on this team has ever been a champion, but together everyone on this team can become one. If we beat the Holyhead Harpies today, chances are we will face them again in the finals. Today let's make the fear the day they meet us again," said Crystal causing the whole team to cheer. With that being said, the team shouldered their brooms and marched out on the pitch.

The crowd roared as teams were announced, cheering and jeering at all the right places. Katie's nerves and stomachache were no more, as the thrill of game overtook her.

"And now the Salisbury Sphinxs: chasers Abbott, Bell, and Thurston, beaters Straight and Baker, seeker Donlon, and keeper and captain Shacklebolt," the voice of the announcer boomed over the audience. "And now the first whistle…"

Katie was first to gain control of the quaffle, and after a few passes between Travis Abbott, Lexi Thurston, and herself, they were able to score the first goal. Unfortunately for every goal the Sphinx chasers were able to score, the Harpies were able to answer with one. Katie knew this was going to be a game that came down to the seekers. After forty minutes the game was tied and Katie heard a horrible scream. She spun her broom around in time to see Crystal Shacklebolt falling to the ground. Quidditch officials had their wands pointed at Crystal to slow her fall.

"I'll take the posts," Katie shouted to her fellow chasers, as she raced to the other end of the pitch. Oliver had made her player keeper once and a while so that he could watch Alicia and Angelina run plays from the side, so Katie had a little experience. Katie was able to do a reasonably good job as keeper, well at least for a chaser. The Harpies started to pull ahead, but their surged ended in vain as Donlon took a steep dive and rose with the snitch firmly in his hand. When Katie saw that she felt a wave of relief wash over her—she hadn't had time to realize how nervous she had been about playing keeper.

But rather than gather in the air to celebrate, the team waved to their fans as they rushed to the locker room to learn the fate of their captain. Crystal was lying in a cot with fluffy white pillows place in the center of the locker room. She had impressive looking bandages around her head.

"Crystal, what happened? I didn't turn around in time to see," said Katie.

"One of the Harpies mistook my head for a bludger," Crystal said giving them a small smile.

"Will you be okay for the next game?" asked Levi anxiously.

"We seem to have a small problem there," said Coach Derek stepping forward. "Shacklebolt has been benched for the rest of the season. Head wounds are a very serious matter; even the best healers need time to mend the injury completely."

"Benched?" gapped Travis.

"I'm afraid so," said Derek.

"What will we do? We just secured a place in the playoffs," moaned beater Will Straight.

"You will play and you will win, with a new keeper," said Crystal fiercely.

"And where are we going to find a keeper as solid as you?" Katie asked.

"Well that's where Coach and I were hopping you could help out," said Crystal.

Katie gave her a quizzical look.

"Those keeper skills of yours—"

"I am not playing keeper!" Katie interrupted.

"I'm not asking you too. Let me finish—you learned to play keeper like that from the best keeper of our generation," said Crystal.

"Well yeah, I played quidditch at Hogwarts with Oliver Wood, but I don't see how that's going to help. He retired to focus on being a womanizer," said Katie.

"Now Bell, don't talk that way about your future teammate," said Derek.

"Future what?!" shouted Katie.

A/N--Oliver Wood the womanizer will make his appearance shortly--can't wait! Hope you enjoyed and if you did send a review!!