Rock Em Sock Em Robots Challenge, HPFC - (pairing) OliverKatie, (object) feather, (dialogue) "You should have been a Hufflepuff."

She tried not to laugh.

Really. She did.

She just failed. Quite spectacularly.

Oliver was indignant, she could tell, but her breath wouldn't come and she couldn't quite see him right, even with all the lamps in this unused classroom.

"Are you done?" he asked after about five minutes, when she could draw a full breath. She looked at him and choked, breaking down in giggles all over again. He sighed. "It is not this funny," he complained.

"Oh - oh, yes, it is," she managed, and then snorted, and then Oliver finally had a smile on his face. And laughter is contagious, so it was at this point that he seemed to find the humor in the situation.

The situation, of course, being the incredible amount of feathers that seemed to have replaced Oliver's hair. They fell down into his eyes and covered the floor around him, some smaller ones sticking between the fibers of his clothes. The cauldron beside him on the table had little burn marks on it, as did the wall behind him.

"You look so stupid," Katie said, almost a whine, and Oliver shook his head.

"Just help me reverse this, would you?"

"No," she whined again, "I have to imprint this moment in my brain. I can't forget it because this'll be what gets me through this war."

Oliver rolled his eyes. "Now who's stupid?"

"Still you," she sung. Her eyes widened, mischievous. "Hey, you should have been a Hufflepuff."

He made a face, nose wrinkling, and it nearly sent her back into hysterics. "No, Merlin - why?"

"Because," she said, softly, stepping forward to run her fingers through the feathers. "You certainly look like one, right now."

"What? How in Merlin's name -"

"With all this - puffiness," she explained haltingly, and then just smiled.

"My eyes will roll out of my head at this rate," Oliver complained. "Now, be serious - Quidditch practice is in about thirty minutes and Potter won't ever let me live this down if he sees me -"

"Potter? What does he matter? I'll never let you live this down. How do you even mess up a potion this badly? What were you doing?"

Oliver shrugged, looking sheepish, and so Katie just raised her eyebrows.

Finally, after several minutes of staring, Oliver huffed a bit. "I wanted to change my hair color."

Katie continued to stare at him, this time in befuddled amazement. "And you couldn't have used a spell for that?"

"Well, that wouldn't be permanent."

Eyebrows still raised, Katie closed her eyes, looking tired. "I'm not even going to - just, no. Let's get you to Professor Snape."

"Wh - Merlin, no, Katie - I was trying to avoid him - that's why I called you -"

"I might be a decent witch, Oliver, but I'm no potions wiz. I've no idea what you even did."

She started to drag Oliver away - to the dungeons, no doubt. "I thought you loved me," Oliver said petulantly.

She laughed. "I do, but even I can't fix stupidity."

"Katie!"