Disclaimer: It's all Jo's.

Author's Notes: Ah, another Katie/Oliver! This one is simple and untainted with dialogue, which is something I'm not the best at. It is as unromantic as it could get while still being in the romance catagory, and the ending is vague enough for me to make a second part. Yay!

So, if you would, please drop a review.

Alisa

Matchmaker

Some people are just naturally good at some things.

For example, some people can look at the definition of a Shrinking Solution once and have it memorized. Other people can read their Transfiguration assignment and understand what to write about. Others can sit in a common room full of giggling first years and rowdy fifth years and still manage to complete a homework assignment. And still others have the rare and precious ability to listen to Professor Binns without falling asleep.

Unfortunately, Katie Bell has none of these abilities.

No, her rare and distinguishable ability, as she so fondly put it, is "complete rubbish and is in no way ever going to help me pass Charms unless Flitwick sets an assignment on who Cho Chang's going to end up with next." For you see, Katie Bell has a certain knack for choosing couples before they happen, and she is not happy with this gift at all.

She might have found it useful if she was the gossipy type, but she wasn't. And she might have found some practicality in it if she was a social butterfly, but the only flying she was good at was on a broomstick. She might have even noticed its uniqueness if she actually chose to share it with anybody, but deeming it a pointless ability (as if she really cared who Roger Davies would be snogging next week!), she never bothered to tell anyone.

All in all, Katie Bell thought she got short-changed.

That is why she was completely confused one night as she attempted to complete a History of Magic assignment of monumental size. For instead of scribbling away about goblin rebellions and facially-haired wizards, she was making a list (and on her History of Magic assignment as well!). All she knew was that one moment she had been looking up something on Uric the Oddball and had ended up writing Fred Weasley's name next to Angelina Johnson's.

Katie rolled her eyes and made to scribble it out when she paused. Now that she thought about it… Angelina and Fred were being oddly friendlier than was usual…. At least, it was a thought.

Katie put her quill to her lip. Maybe it would be a good idea to write her thoughts down, just to get it out of her system. After all, History of Magic wasn't all that difficult—just write about a few goblin rebellions led by oddly names goblins (it seemed as if the class ought to be renamed History of Goblins instead as that was all that Professor Binns seemed to discuss in it).

With a nod of her head Katie tore the small section at the top of the parchment that the heading of her essay was written on (she hadn't actually gotten to the essay part yet), crumpled it up, and lobbed it at the head of a first year, who started telling off the girl behind him. Smirking, she labeled the paper Katie Bell as Matchmaker and began.

When she finished half an hour and two rolls of parchment later, Katie found herself grinning at the finished product. Some of the people she had paired up solely for her own amusement, but others she knew had real basis. Her list went as follows:

Katie Bell as Matchmaker

Fred Weasley and Angelina Johnson—you'd have to be think as a brick to miss it

George Weasley and Alicia Spinnet—wishful thinking on my part, I reckon

Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley—I have a gut feeling with her

Harry's little mates Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger—they get quite cozy when Harry's not around

Cho Chang and Cedric Diggory—she always gets the handsome ones

Roger Davies and anything with legs—he goes through girls faster than we go through loo roll

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall—hee hee

Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater—I swear I saw him crying over her Petrified body last year

Katie Bell and her dream bloke—because she can't seem to catch him when she's awake

Lee Jordan and some girl who wants him—because Angelina doesn't

Professor Snape and—oh, wait… never mind

Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson—they're evil enough for each other, I reckon

Marcus Flint and a log—because no girl would want him

Oliver Wood and ?

After rereading her list, Katie had to admit she was somewhat proud of it. While some of them were humorous (Professor McGonagall with Professor Dumbledore, for example), some (like her predictions for Roger Davies and Marcus Flint) she knew were true. And others (like Harry and Ginny) were gut feelings while some (Oliver Wood) she just couldn't place.

Setting her quill down, Katie yawned and stretched, reminiscent of a cat. It was getting late and she still had to start her History of Magic assignment. She dug in her bag, fully intending to pull out another roll of parchment for her essay, when she came up empty-handed. She had used up all of her parchment on that silly list.

Heaving a sigh, she forced herself out of her chair and up to her dormitory.

When she returned, it was twenty minutes later. Her dear friend Leanne had held her up when she asked for help on her Care of Magical Creatures assignment (but only in return for a roll of parchment). Now Katie was getting tired; she could feel a dull ache settling behind her eyes. Not to mention she could have finished her essay by now if she had just stuck to it in the first place.

Groaning, Katie dropped into her chair and opened her History of Magic book to the page on Uric the Oddball. With her quill loaded and hovering over the parchment, Katie noticed something.

Someone had written on her coupling predictions. Where the question mark by Oliver Wood's name had been now resided the name Katie Bell.