A/N: Hi, I have written this one shot as a request/challenge from "Little Dancing Flames"... The pairing was Fred/Katie, and the story had to include mention of the Giant Squid.
I've never played with this pairing before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I hope you like it too!
((((((( (((((( Dancing With No Music )))))) ))))))))
"Oi, Angelina!" Fred Weasley called across the Gryffindor Common Room.
Angelina Johnson, who was sitting with Alicia Spinnet, looked up and eyed the twin questioningly.
"What?" she asked, her voice carrying across the heads of the other Gryffindors.
"Want to go to the Ball with me?"
Angelina grinned, looking Fred up and down. "All right, then," she said with a nonchalant shrug, but she turned back to Alicia with a smile on her face.
A number of Gryffindors watched this casual exchange with amused expressions, impressed with Fred's typical laid back and confident attitude, wishing they could find it that easy to ask someone out to the Yule Ball that easily. Some thought it was wonderfully romantic that Angelina didn't even have to think about it before she answered "yes", she was that happy about going with Fred.
One person disagreed with them all.
Katie Bell sat in an armchair by the fire, accompanied by a couple of her friends in the fifth year. She, like everyone else, had heard Fred's casual invitation. However, rather than be amused by Fred and his blasé attitude, her body was overcome by this indescribable need to scream. Or was it a need to cry? She couldn't be sure.
Either way, she needed to get out of the Common Room.
She stood up, unfolding her legs from where she had been curled up in the armchair. She briefly stretched out her slim, athletic body, kept so by endless Quidditch practice, and began to make her way to the portrait hole.
"Katie?" her friend, Anastacia LeFeu, asked with a hint of concern. "Where are you going?"
Katie shrugged. "I'll be back soon," was her only reply.
Anastacia nodded and turned back to the book she was reading. Katie reached the portrait hole and opened it.
Only one pair of eyes caught her gaze as she turned back before stepping out. Only one pair of eyes watched her leave. Only one pair of eyes caught the solitary tear on her cheek.
But it was the only paid of eyes that mattered.
Fred and George excused themselves from the conversation with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny shortly after Fred asked Angelina to the ball. Ron had refused to allow them to borrow his owl, and so instead they would have to use a school owl to contact Ludo Bagman. As the twins left the Common Room, Fred turned to his brother.
"Go on to the Owlery without me, George," he said. "I've just got somewhere to go first."
If George was surprised or confused, he didn't show it. With a nod of agreement, he turned and went down the corridor in the direction of the Owlery.
Fred watched his brother go, then turned in the opposite direction, taking off at a jog. He knew exactly where he needed to go.
He found Katie where he thought he would; sitting under the large cherry blossom tree overlooking the Great Lake, although the tree had been bare for a long time now in the cruel Scottish winter. Had he not known she was there, he might have missed her; she was wrapped in a dark fleece jacket, but the gold edges of a Gryffindor scarf stuck out at the bottom. It was HIS scarf: the one he had given to her a few weeks ago at a Quidditch practice, and forgotten about it. If he was honest, he'd liked that she had kept it; maybe she did care about him, after all.
And he had clearly hurt her. What an idiot he was. Even though he didn't exactly know why, he knew that he had hurt her.
He approached the tree a little more. They had spent a lot of time together under this tree throughout the previous summer, when Fred had been studying for his OWLs. Katie Bell had been more than willing to help him revise, despite the fact that she was only a fourth year at the time. She had tested him with questions, and watched his incantations. She excelled in Charms, and could already handle OWL-standard Charms, so she was an invaluable studymate.
They kept in contact throughout the summer holidays, letters flying back and forth. Often they didn't write about anything in particular, it was idle chatter but the companionship brought a sense of comfort to each of them.
In September, both of them were busy as the new term brought with it new challenges of schoolwork and Quidditch, not to mention the Triwizard Tournament. They didn't talk much, but when they did, it was as natural as breathing.
But now, as Fred stood back from the tree under which Katie was huddled, it felt anything but natural.
Grasping all of his Gryffindor courage, Fred went and sat down beside Katie.
She didn't move, or react to his presence in any way at all. They sat in silence, both watching the lake as it rippled with the movements of the Giant Squid.
Finally, Katie took a deep breath and said one word.
"Fred."
Startled by the sudden break in the silence, Fred jumped a little, before responding. "Katie?"
Katie knew she needed to ask the question outright, or she would never get the answers she was looking for, the answers she had come and sat under the tree to find.
"Why did you ask her, Fred?"
Fred frowned. "Ask who?" he asked honestly.
Katie leapt up and let out a tiny frustrated scream. "Oh, you, Fred Weasley, you are – you're — impossible!" she exclaimed, her wide eyes sparkling with tears. Fred stood up too, stepping towards her in concern as she continued," 'Ask who, indeed — why are you so bloody clueless? Oh, d'you know what, forget it: I would rather go to the bloody Ball with the Giant effing Squid than with you, you good-for-nothing, stupid idiot!"
The last three words were accompanied with three punches to Fred's chest. They weren't particularly hard, but he was so shocked at Katie's words and actions. What was she so angry about?
Then it dawned on him.
She had mentioned the Ball. The Ball that he had just asked Angelina to.
Oh, crap.
"Katie..." he said quietly.
"Don't 'Katie' me, Fred!" she said, angry tears now spilling down her face. "I just want to know why you picked her! What has she got going for her, Fred?" she glared up at him. "I thought—I thought..."
Fred didn't need to hear what she thought. He knew already.
Bridging the gap between them in one easy stride, he hugged the girl close to his chest, resting his chin on her dark blonde hair. "Oh, Katie...I'm so sorry," he murmured. "I didn't realise you felt like that."
Katie twisted her head up to look at him. "You don't feel like that?" she asked, stiffening in his arms.
She felt Fred's chest vibrate as he chuckled wryly. "Oh, you silly Katie, of course I do!" he said, rubbing her back gently. "I just thought you didn't. Seems we were both wrong, eh?"
Katie rested her cheek against the boy's chest, well-toned by all those hours of Quidditch. "A bit of a mess, I think, don't you?"
She felt rather than saw her companion smile. "Yep, a terrible mess, made by two terribly messy people," he quipped.
She giggled. "I'm not a messy person at all, I'll have you know, Mr Weasley."
"Says you," he said, ruffling her hair. Suddenly he pulled away, and took her by the hand. "Dance with me, Katie."
"What?"
"Dance with me," Fred insisted. "Right here, right now."
"But there's no music!"
"Who cares?" Fred said with a shrug. "It can just be you and me, dancing...and the Giant Squid can watch, as long as he doesn't ask you to dance. He'll have plenty of opportunity for that when you invite him to the Yule Ball." Fred winked cheekily, and Katie couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, you..." she said. "I didn't mean that, you know."
Fred nodded. "Yeah, I know." He took both of her hands and began swaying on the spot. Then suddenly he stopped. "Listen, Katie, I am going to make you a promise. I am going to cancel my date with Angelina. She can go with George; he has kinda always fancied her anyway. And then, Katie Bell, I promise you, you will never go to a Ball, or a dance, or a party, or even a wedding, without a date, because I will always be there. Got that?"
The intense stare of Fred's eyes boring into Katie's own was mesmerising. How could he make such an intense, heartfelt promise at an age so young? But she could see the raw truth behind his gaze, and she nodded, overwhelmed, before raising her hands encased in her own.
"Shall we dance, then?" she asked shyly.
Fred grinned. "Absolutely." He looked over the lake. "Squid, man, take notes. I'll be asking questions later!"
If anyone had looked out a window overlooking the lake back at the castle that night, they would have seen two people, silhouetted by the moon which had risen as night finally fell, dancing without music, and the tentacles of the Giant Squid lazily waving on the surface of the water.
((((((A few years later... ))))))
Katie Bell walked down the long, carpeted aisle, holding a beautiful, fragrant posy of white roses. Either side of her, people sat on benches. Some were watching her. Some gave her reassuring smiles. Some were looking straight ahead. Some had a few tears in their eyes.
Katie too, felt a little like crying, but for some reason the tears would not come. She was nervous about what she was about to do. She didn't know if she could make it down the aisle to him.
'Pull yourself together, Bell', she said to herself, mentally trying to get her act together. 'It's only Fred, it's Fred, it's just Fred...'
That mantra was all that got her to the end of the aisle. And when she got there, there was Fred before her, looking as handsome as always, a faint grin on his face. He wore a smart black tuxedo, but instead of a typical black bow tie, he wore his Gryffindor scarf, the one he had lent Katie all those years ago.
Katie smiled at him, then with a final burst of Gryffindor courage, she laid the flowers she had been holding across his inanimate body. Kissing her fingers, she pressed them to his forehead, then bent down so she was closer to the pure white coffin which held the body of the man she had loved and lost.
"Fred..." she whispered. "You made me that promise, Fred, that I would never go to a ball, a dance, a party or even a wedding, without a date, because you would always be there."
She took another deep breath. "Well, guess what Fred? I'm at a funeral without a date now, because you can't be with me. But I will still always have you, Fred. Always in here."
She touched her chest, where her heart continued to beat steadily. Then she touched the chest of her beloved, where his heart lay still and unbeating.
And part of her thought she almost saw him smile.
The End.
Please review!