Fade Away

Gryffindor Quidditch team reunion five years after the original team disbanded with Oliver leaving Hogwarts. Harry wedded to Ginny, and Fred gone and all. Things don't go exactly as Angelina and Alicia planned.

Disclaimer: Even though I save up lunch money, I don't have enough for a court trial. So don't sue 'cause I don't own Harry Potter or "Only Time" by Enya.


Fade Away

Much to Angelina and Alicia's excitement and her own dismay, Katie Bell had finally agreed to host a party for the Quidditch team that had won the Cup in her fourth year, Angelina Johnson's and Alicia Spinnet's fifth.

She was rather reluctant because she had not heard from her captain since he joined Puddlemere five years back. She wasn't sure if she could handle seeing him again.

And of course, Angie and Leesh had to make sure to schedule the party when the one and only Oliver Wood would not have Quidditch game.

What great best friends they were. They had been her closest friends since she joined the Quidditch team in her second year, though they didn't keep in touch as much during Katie's busy last year in school. They themselves were struggling, finding jobs and apartments and adapting to the "real world." Now they all shared a comfy flat situated in the heart of London.

Then the two of them had to ruin the peaceful everyday life. Okay, not necessarily peaceful considering all three of them would come back drunk whenever Angelina or Alicia had a fight with their boyfriends. Alicia would constantly bicker with a certain George Weasley, and Angelina would feel really bad about Fred and break down in the most sudden moments. She would never forget. And at Fred's last moment, who but Percy, the hugest prick on Earth, had to be right next to him, alive. For a while, Katie tried to convince Angelina to give Lee Jordan a chance since he had always flattered her while commentating Gryffindor games, but (1) they had no idea where he was and what he was doing since he had moved out of the country, (2) he could very well have a girlfriend or maybe a wife by now, and (3) Angelina would never get over Fred, especially when Lee would remind her more of the most missed Weasley.

Angelina also dragged Katie along to some pubs and clubs so the two of them could find some men while Alicia and George had a wild shag at their flat. By the time they would get home, the unsteady couple would be done snogging anyways, so they were saved from any strange sound effects emitting from Alicia's room.

So basically Katie loved her two best friends to death, until they ganged up on her like this. Of course she still loved them and appreciated their efforts, but it was just going to be… awkward.

Especially with Harry there. And he had already married and settled down with the Weasley girl, even though he was only fresh out of Hogwarts! Way to make everyone else feel bad about their love lives, Harry.

-:-

"Remind me why you two are supposed to be my best friends again…" Katie groaned.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Oh please. We do all your laundry—"

"And cooking!—"

"All the time. And all you have to do is pay half the rent. Seriously…" Angelina finished, after Alicia had so kindly interrupted her.

"Well, couldn't you guys have left out a certain person of our Quidditch team from this freaking party?" demanded Katie.

Angelina's eyes were beginning to well up as she whispered. "Kat… we already did…"

"Oh, Angie, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I'm so sorry, I… I…"

"Forgot?" Angelina suggested meekly.

"Angie, come off it. You know we feel bad, too. You just have to make it hard on us also, right? Oh come on Katie, let's go make some lunch."

Once in the kitchen, Katie continued complaining, "Why did you just have to invite Oliver? Do you know how uncomfortable this is going to be? It's supposed to be fun! A party!"

"Who knows, you two may end up having a fierce snog session by the end of tonight."

Katie shut up and crossed her fingers behind her back.

-:-

"'LICIAAA! GUESS WHO'S HERE!" someone sang into her ear while covering her eyes with his hands.

"Aw, my darling George has decided to grace me with his presence!"

George wrapped his arms around Alicia's waist, pulling her into him. He craned his neck so he could see her flawless face and smiled.

"Well, I'm first, aren't I? Aren't you going to get something for a certain charming—"

"Oh, dear. I'm not interrupting, am I?"

"Nope, not at all, Ange. You can watch us snog right now since you didn't miss any of it before!" Obviously, George was in a great mood today. He apparently wanted to see everyone again.

"Um, that's okay… well, I'll just be going now…" Angelina backed out of the kitchen.

Angelina was feeling horrible as ever about her being boyfriend-less these days. And those sounds coming from the kitchen were definitely not helping. Even Katie would meet back up with the love of her life tonight. They were all sure of it.

-:-

Now that it was officially five o'clock, Katie was starting to get even more worried about Oliver. She heard a slight pop! outside the door, and knocking soon followed. At least it would be safe to open since Oliver usually was late for such events since his practice ran overtime or something like that. He would stay behind for extra practice on himself anyway, or at least he would when he was still on the Hogwarts Gryffindor team. Now he was the extremely famous (he was almost a household name these days), exceptionally gorgeous starting keeper of Puddlemere United. But he still had his fan girls, but now with the paparazzi to make a complete set, and Katie guessed that could have taken a bit of his time away, also.

"COMING!" she yelled as she headed towards the door. Angelina was probably in her bedroom, sulking until Alicia and George would stop making those sounds in the kitchen.

Katie opened the door, smiling, to come face to face with…

"Ol… Ol… Oliver. How dashing to see you here. Please do come in, and make yourself comfortable without your fan girls," Katie stammered.

Oliver just nodded and went in, head bent down a little.

Angelina coincidentally came out of her room the second Alicia and George stopped making sounds in the kitchen. They, too, came out a few seconds later.

"OLLIE WOLLIE!" George exclaimed and ran to give Oliver a huge manly hug.

"Uh, yeah."

"Oliver!" Angelina and Alicia cried together while Katie just quietly stood behind the new guest.

"Captain, captain, nice to have you back with us," George slapped his back. "You just seemed to have disappeared from—"

"Oh, is that knocking?" Katie mentioned. It was safe to say she was glad that she could escape the awkward scene. "Must be Harry and Ginny! I'll get it." She made her way to the door to welcome the two lovebirds.

"Harry! Ginny!"

"—and you decided to give all that to Hermione…" Ginny turned to face Katie, blushing slightly. "Oh hey, Katie!"

"Nice to see ya, Katie," Harry added rather solemnly, though trying to look cheerful. Katie felt for him; publicly receiving a verbal beating was always embarrassing, as she would know. Her mom had bought a whole package of fifty howlers because they were seventy-five percent off. She decided to use them whenever she would hear about Katie doing something not-so-appropriate with a male schoolmate. Especially the older ones, her brother's friends.

"Come in, come in!" she ushered them.

They all greeted each other merrily, except for Katie, who was trying to find a spot in the living room as far away from Oliver as possible. George, Angelina, and Katie were already engaged in a game of Exploding Snap. Ginny and Alicia were playing some wizard's chess. And Oliver, of course, was talking about Quidditch to Harry.

-:-

After dinner, they all returned to their respective games.

"—and the Chudley Cannons seeker screwed up that Wronski Feint so bad!" Oliver exclaimed rather loudly.

"Don't let Ron hear you say that," grinned Ginny.

Angelina rather randomly shouted, "Let's play spin the bottle!"

"Oh God, Angie, you and your queer mood swings…" Alicia scolded.

"I'm all for it! Please, Alicia?"

Oliver piped up, "Johnson, we have a married couple and a seemingly unbreakable one. So that leaves me. And you and Katie."

"I don't think that would work," Katie agreed with Oliver, and even though this was a lost cause for Angelina, Katie still decided to excuse herself. "Um, I'm going to go… shower now…"

"Fine… I wish there were some real men here. What babies," Angelina sulked.

Katie retired to her room and snatched up some clothes. She wasn't planning on returning to the party that night. A long nap was calling.

Two minutes later, the rest of the party was bickering… over who else but Katie.

"Oliver, why do you think she would actually get to all the practices on time?"

"Uh, so she could yell at me?"

"Why do you think she was actually not sleeping during dawn practices?"

"WHO WAS SLEEPING?!"

There was a moment of silence when George starting tearing up. Apparently, it was him and Fred. "The point is," he sniffled, "she even managed to wake up Ange and 'Licia for you."

"Every day," Angelina put in.

Alicia added, "Without a problem."

"Well, you honestly can't say that since she would wake me up first and we'd both have to drag you while you started shouting quite obscene things…" Angelina remarked.

Alicia made a face. "THAT'S BECAUSE THIS BLOODY SCOTTISH BOY DECIDED TO WAKE US UP AT FUCKING FOUR IN THE MORNING!"

"Let's just say she woke us up everyday without fail."

"And all because we knew about her secret crush… She really owes us a lot, Angie. Or actually, Oliver owes all three of us a lot."

Oliver looked soundly confused, brows furrowed and all, "I'm still not getting this…"

"At least you didn't have him in your dorm! He could get into ours!"

"George, that's not helping me understand the point of this lecture…"

"IT'S NOT A DAMN LECTURE, YOU JUST DON'T SEEM TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT KATIE!"

"Sh!" Angelina hushed them. "Thank goodness Katie takes long showers. Though I believe this is longer than usual…"

In the silence, Oliver muttered under his breath, "If only you guys knew…" And he then stood up and Disapparated…

…straight into Katie's bathroom.

Oliver stood there for a few seconds, listening to a distressing voice.

"…where the road goes… where the day flows… only time…"

Sniffle, sniffle.

"And who can say if your love grows… as your heart chose…" Katie sung softly, "only time…"

Oliver then noticed the steamy mirror, and he lifted his finger to it.

-:-

Katie pulled the curtains violently out of the way as she stepped out of the shower. She was drying herself off when she read the words slowly fading from the steamed mirror:

but the one i truly love will be the one to read this before it fades away... i love you.

Mortified, she turned around and checked the shower curtains. Thank Merlin they weren't see-through.

When she turned back to read the message another time, she realized it had faded, just like her relationship with Oliver.

She then breathed on the mirror and retraced his words.

FINITE INCANTATEM.


A/N: Man, I didn't really like how that came out, but oh well. I wrote half of it a few months before I finished it, and I wrote it OUT OF ORDER. So when I came back to reread and finish it, I was so confused… and screwed. I did the best I could. It's still hard to believe Fred is gone. JKR killed him off so abruptly. Well, don't flame me because it's so old. :)