They heard Lee's horrified shout and then a clatter from what had been their train compartment. The door rattled as someone slammed against it.
"You ready for this season?" Oliver asked Katie casually .
Both Gryffindors were waiting out a particularly fierce Lee Jordan-Angelina Johnson brawl.
"More or less," she replied.
Another shout and thump resonated.
"Some lover's quarrel," Katie noted good humouredly.
"Mhm," Oliver said. "How was your summer?"
She looked up from her feet to his liquid brown eyes.
Is this a trap? she wondered.
"Great. I don't really have much to say about it, it was just great. Family went to Romania most of the summer. The last few weeks have been pretty quiet but you know... relaxing. My mum got me a new broom and robes that actually fit."
"Robes certainly do fit well," he commented, a sly smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. "Very, very well."
She frowned instantly and barely suppressed a shudder of disgust.
Knew it...
"There you go again!" she shouted at him. "This is what always happens! A conversation starts well and civilized and thanks to you it always turns into a round of sexual innuendo!"
"What?" he cried. "You said so yourself. You finally have 'robes that actually fit'. I was just reaffirming that!"
"You can get your own compartment!" she spat, shoving past him and bursting into the compartment.
Angelina and Lee were kissing almost as heatedly as they had been fighting and hardly found disruption in a fuming Katie Bell.
"Sod off!" she hissed.
They broke contact and quickly scurried out.
Katie sat brusquely, seething.
Damn Wood, can't be civilized for once in his damn life… You'd think as a seventh year he'd have himself under control…Or at least do a better job of acting like he does...
The door suddenly burst open and she was ready to hex the intruder but instead found herself smiling.
"Alicia!"
Her fellow schoolmate returned the smile.
"Hi! Wood came raging into the compartment I had with Fred and George, muttering about a prudish egotist, so I figured he'd said something horrid to you again. Decided to check in, leave the boys alone to… do whatever they do."
Katie snorted.
I think I have a sneaking suspicion as to what they do when they're alone…
"Well thanks, Licia. How've you been?"
Alicia sat herself across from Katie.
"Fantastic, but I have to admit, I am raring for school again; got the Quidditch itch again."
"Me too," Katie replied enthusiastically. "Though, I can't say I'm too excited for the yearlong sexual harassment."
Alicia sighed impatiently. "Kates, you should be used to it by now. I mean… It's happened ever since you came back third year with a chest. However obsessed the guys are with Quidditch, I don't know if it matches their passion for certain aspects of the female anatomy."
Katie laughed. "Shush. The change wasn't that noticeable and I wasn't the only one! Lots of girls came back looking different."
"Well, not too many for the better," Alicia replied. "And none that hunched over for the first three months to hide it."
"Some of us aren't comfortable with the idea of showing off like that."
"Stop being so righteous, for Merlin's sake. So a few males have shown an interest, so what?"
"So... So it's disgusting," Katie said sourly.
"Wood's not so bad," Alicia insisted with a smile. "He can be charming when he wants to be."
Katie's face twisted in disdain. "Doubtful! Listen to the things he says! He has no filter."
"He's perfectly nice," Alicia replied. "Just… not around you."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Licia."
Alicia rolled her eyes while flicking her wand arbitrarily.
"Don't get pissy at me because Wood wants to strip you naked, tie you up and do bad things to you."
Alicia hardly had time to react to the huge book that Katie subsequently hurled at her.
"HEY!" Alicia yelled. "What the bloody was that for?"
"You know why," Katie replied with a scowl. "That book's yours by the way. Thanks for loaning it to me."
"Sure."
Alicia tucked the book into her bag and propped her feet up on the empty space on the opposing seat between Katie and the window.
"Think we have a chance at the Cup this year?" Alicia asked, staring out the passing countryside.
"Maybe," Katie mumbled. "If we can all work together. And if Fred and George stop debilitating each other for laughs."
The door suddenly slid open.
"What's that?" two voices chimed in simultaneously, their redheads popping into the doorway.
"Eavesdropping, as usual, eh?" Katie asked with a wry smile.
"Hello to you too, Kates," Fred said with a goofy grin. "You look stunning in your post-rage flush."
She laughed. "You heard, eh?"
"Course." George interjected. "Who didn't? Wood's particularly steamed 'bout this one."
"So he's pleased with the trauma he's caused to one of his Chasers?" Alicia asked with a dramatic flair of her hand.
"You know Wood, he cares, he does," George replied with equally exaggerated sentimentality.
"Exactly," Fred agreed. "Sure, he won't let us off the field until we're bleeding, concussed and ready to splatter our brains into the stands but he means well. In his own crazy, homicidal way."
The girls sniffed at the distastefully graphic description. The twins smiled on.
"Well I'd appreciate if he'd stop directing his 'care' my way," Katie finally said.
The others laughed.