"Fred?" Alicia Spinnet asked tentatively. She had obviously just gotten back from Quidditch. Fred scowled at her; it was an unwritten rule not to talk to him directly after a Quidditch practice. He didn't like being reminded that he wasn't allowed to play his favorite sport.
"What?" He asked sharply. When he turned to really glare at her, he noticed the whole team assembled behind her, minus one very attractive dirty blonde. His glare faltered slightly. "Oy, where's Katie?"
"She's in a mood." Alicia said. "She won't leave the Quidditch pitch."
"I'm not allowed." Fred replied hollowly.
"Yeah, cause you let that stop you." Ginny snorted.
"You're just feeling sorry for yourself." Ron said.
Fred's face darkened at the sibling input.
"Fred, dammit, look outside. It's a bloody monsoon!" Angelina stepped to the front, pushing Alicia rather roughly out of the way. "You know that you're the only one that can talk Katie out of one of her crazy moods. I don't want to lose another member of my Quidditch team because she got blown into the bloody Forbidden Forest and killed! And so help me, if you get your girlfriend killed because of some stupid self pity, I will hold you completely responsible!"
"She isn't my girlfriend." Fred snapped.
The entire team looked back at him unbelievingly, eyebrows raised.
"I haven't asked her, alright? Not that it's any of your business." Fred growled.
"Fine, we won't argue with the status of your relationship." Angelina gave Fred a pointed look, "You're wasting time. Move your fat arse, Weasley."
Fred finally stood up, but slowly. He might be able to talk Katie Bell out of a mood, but he certainly didn't enjoy the time spent with her in a mood as much as he enjoyed the time spent with her when she was feeling flirty. "I don't have a broom."
Alicia handed him hers without another word.
"I'm not dressed for it." Just then there was a huge clap of thunder and it sounded as if it had started to hail. Fred swore violently, grabbed Ron's cloak directly off his back and dashed out of the common room. He would have to play Quidditch, in the rain which was possibly hail, with a completely drenched Katie. Suddenly he grinned; this wasn't sounding so terribly after all. Perhaps after Quidditch they would have a very different type of fun.
He burst out of the castle and dashed down to the pitch. He was completely soaked before he got even halfway. The wind howled as he searched the sky for Katie. He spotted her, a little blur of red in the rain. He didn't even bother to call to her; she wouldn't have responded even if the day was calm and sunny. That's just how Katie was when she was in a mood.
Hopping on Alicia's broom he flew up through the rain, getting hit by a few stray bits of hail, and caught the quaffle Katie was throwing violently through the hoops. She turned her hostile gaze on him, but it softened slightly when she saw who he was.
"Ange thinks you're going to blow into the forest and be smashed to bits by a tree. Probably the Whomping Willow." Fred shouted, so that she could hear him over the wind.
"You're not supposed to be here." Katie eyed the quaffle and flew a little closer.
"Come into the locker rooms." Fred urged, "So that we can talk for a minute."
Katie scowled, "No thanks."
"Katherine Hilda Persephone Bell." Fred gave her a stern look, "It wasn't an option. We can do this the easy way, or I can make you come into the locker rooms."
"My middle name is Elizabeth, you moron." Katie grabbed the quaffle in a single swift motion. She then threw it directly at his head, as hard as she could. He pretended to attempt to catch it, but allowed it to hit him in the head. Katie zoomed over to him. "Oh shit, Fred, I'm sorry. I guess your Quidditch skills-" She cut herself off before she pissed him off too.
Fred blinked to try and clear the wooziness, but Katie could throw harder than he remembered. The world was fuzzy, even more so than it had been with the rain, and he could hardly make out Katie's hand which hovered above the obvious bump from the quaffle.
"Fred, d'you think you can land?" Katie asked with obvious concern in her voice. The hail picked up and the wind gave a particularly nasty roar.
"Er," Fred blinked, "Wh-which way is down?"
"Nevermind." Katie grabbed hold of Alicia's broom as firmly as possible and started to transfer herself onto the other broom. Her hand slipped and she found herself hanging upside down from her own broom by her knees. Giving a nervous laugh because they were so high up and nobody would come to find them, Katie managed to right herself. She glanced at Fred, who was swaying dangerously. "Fred, you have to stay with me."
"Wanna be my girlfriend?" Fred asked, his words slurred.
"Okay, okay, but Fred, you have to promise me not to pass out, okay? Just… just keep talking to me." Katie knew she didn't have time to mess up again. And she definitely didn't have time to ponder if Fred was really aware of what he was saying. She had to get herself onto Alicia's broom this time without any mishaps. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the other broom and gripped as hard as possible. Then she slid quickly across to the other broom and let out a relieved sigh.
"They said you were in a mood, Kay. But you don't seem mean. Except hitting me in the head… that was kinda mean."
"Yes it was, and I feel horrid about it, Fred. I hope you forgive me." Katie replied, only half listening to him as she landed the broom on the ground. "Can you walk?"
"Er, yeah." Fred squinted, "Where am I walking?"
Katie hopped off the broom and watched as Fred tripped himself dismounting and fell in a heap on the ground. She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "We're going to the locker rooms, like you said."
"Oh okay." Fred tripped, but Katie miraculously managed to keep him from pulling them both to the ground. She held the two brooms tightly in her free hand and slipped her arm more securely around Fred's waist. "Kay, I don't feel so great."
"I know, love, it's just a little bit further." She soothed. Katie struggled to push open the door to the locker room. Finally she got it open far enough and the wind blew it open with a crash. Katie staggered into the locker room, supporting more than half of Fred's weight, coaxed him into lying on the bench, and then tore open her locker in search of her wand. "Just a minute Freddie. I'll fix you up in just a sec."
Fred closed his eyes. "Okay. Naptime."
"No!" Katie shrieked, remembering Madame Pomfrey saying something about how it was bad to sleep with a concussion on one of her many trips to the Hospital Wing. "Fred, it isn't naptime! Don't you dare go to sleep on me!"
"No, naptime."
"Oh, like hell it is." Katie found her wand and slid to her knees beside Fred. She patted his cheeks roughly without any response. Then, she had an idea. The last time she had kissed Fred he had definitely come out of his brooding mood and woken up. Maybe…
She kissed him roughly, and he quickly started to respond. Laughing in relief, she pulled away and fumbled with her wand. He gave her a look. "What do you think you're doing? Giving a guy a kiss like that and then just breaking it off?"
"I'm fixing your bloody concussion, Fred. Then we can do whatever you want." Katie replied, trying to remember the exact wand motion and word pronunciation. She performed the spell and then looked at him eagerly. The swelling on his head went down dramatically. Katie breathed another sigh of relief. "Look, I didn't blow your head up."
"Hold on." Fred sat up quickly, knocking Katie in the chin with his elbow and onto the floor as he did so. "Did I ask you out?"
"Er-" Katie bit her lip. He had asked her out, but perhaps he was just loopy. She wanted him to ask her out of course, but she didn't know if he was serious and didn't want to wreck her friendship with him. It was a dead end either way. "Well-"
"Damn." Fred frowned and lay back on the bench.
"Well you don't have to be so goddamn nasty about it. I know you had a concussion, and if you didn't mean it then I'm not going to take offence."
"So I did ask you out?" Fred sat up again, looking at her quickly. His voice sounded relieved. "What did you say?"
"I don't know." Katie lied, "I was trying to keep you from dying; I was a tad busy."
Fred suddenly looked very nervous. He clambered off the bench and sat on the floor beside Katie. "Er, if I were to, erm, ask you out, what would- Oh damn. What I'm trying to say is- Katie, go out with me?"
Katie blinked, "Did- did you just ask me out?"
"Er- yes."
"Stand up." She said as she scrambled to her own feet. He stood, eyeing her nervously. Katie smirked devilishly as she stepped into his arms and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. Fred responded immediately, putting one hand on her waist so her body arched into his and the other on the back of her head to deepen the kiss. He shifted so that her back was against the lockers. When they broke apart, both were panting for breath and clinging to the other.
"So, that's a yes, right?" Fred whispered, his teeth grazing her ear lobe.
Katie shivered, "No."
Fred kissed her neck. "Damn. Can you imagine a 'yes' kiss then?"
"Should I say yes just so we can find out?" Katie gasped as Fred found the most sensitive part of her neck.
"Mmm." Fred murmured against her lips. "I think I like the thrill of no commitment."
"I think you're afraid of commitment." Katie teased, her breath tickling his ear as he kissed her jaw line.
"No." Fred looked into her eyes. "Not with you. I want you now, and forever, and longer than that if it's possible."
Katie shivered again, starting to get chilled in her wet clothes. Fred brought his body even closer to hers in an effort to keep her warm. She wrapped her arms around his waist and turned her face up for a kiss.