Title: Dateless
Rating: PG13
Word-count: 2493
Pairings: Katie/Lee
Summary: Five days before and after the Yule Ball.
Author's notes: Written for the Harry Holidays fic exchange. I forgot that I hadn't posted this up yet, so here it is! It's my first time ever writing Lee Jordan, let alone Katie/Lee. I hope they're at least somewhat believable. Oh, and it's very fluffy. Enjoy!
–
5 Days Until the Yule Ball
Lee was nervous, and he was never nervous.
The Yule Ball was days away and he was dateless. He couldn't really believe it. Everyone knew that he was a catch. He was funny, smart, and awesome. But here he was, days before the social event of the year and dateless.
What was going on?
Fred had immediately snatched up Lee's first choice: Angelina. Man, she was gorgeous. And George found his own date in a fifth year Ravenclaw girl who he happened upon in the library one day. So that left him, the Lee Jordan, dateless. It was ridiculous and wrong and just – well, he had better do something about it soon or people would start to talk.
There were hardly any girls left though, that was the problem. He was going to ask a girl from Beauxbaton but ofcourse they had all been asked within a day of the ball's announcement. Damn French girls with their pretty hair and stupid accents and nice smelling-ness. It had gotten so bad that Lee had started considering Millicent Bulstrode. Merlin knows that girl wasn't getting asked any time soon. (Not that Millicent would say yes anyways. She only even talked to Slytherins and he was most certainly a Gryffindor).
But alas, for the moment, Lee was simply dateless.
–
4 Days Until the Yule Ball
He's at breakfast, eating alone this time. Fred and George were off somewhere trying to figure out how to make Filch sing everything he said. Lee's sitting this one out. He's booked with detentions through the third week of January and he's not about to let Filch make he sit out the Yule Ball.
Fucking Yule Ball.
Suddenly, the Great Hall is flooded with owls. And one lands in front of him with a bright pink envelope. Confused, Lee takes it and opens it.
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
The ball's coming up,
Do you need a date too?
What the heck?
What horrible rhyme scheme. And such a cliché letter. And who the hell was it anyways? Why didn't they leave a name? Sometimes, Lee really hates the people at Hogwarts.
He tries looking around for some girl looking at him but all he sees though are tired students slowly eating breakfast.
Lee disregards the letter, folding it haphazardly and putting it into his pocket. He's too exhausted and stressed to worry about this ridiculous declaration of love.
It's probably just Fred or George anyways.
3 Days Until the Yule Ball
The twins are playing quidditch right now, which Lee thinks is ridiculous since it's freezing outside and the quidditch season is canceled anyways. Either way, he's sitting on the bleachers warming his hands in his pockets and waiting for them to finish. Then he spots Katie, Angelina, and Alicia walking by.
Lee yells, "Hey girls, over here!"
Fred gets to them first though, pelting Angelina with a quickly made snowball. Out of nowhere, George is hit with one as well and the battle is on. Lee finds himself fighting the three Gryffindor chasers in an epic snowball fight which quickly escalates into an all out war, complete with forts and strategy and espionage. As he keeps watch over the fort as George sneaks over to the girls' side (the twins figured they wouldn't notice if there was only one Weasley instead of two), Lee spots a splash of brunette hair ducking behind a tree.
"Hey Fred, I'll be back."
"What do you mean you'll be back! YOU'VE GOT TO KEEP GUARDING THIS DAMN FORT!"
"It's for the good of the team, I promise."
He crouches low, eyes intent on who he's sure is Katie Bell trying to sneak over. He rolls over behind a bush, slides behind the next tree, and somehow manages to reach her undetected. Lee makes a quick snowball and is ready to launch a sneak attack when he's suddenly hit from behind with two, three, then four snowballs. He falls to the ground in slow motion and raises his hands in defeat.
Katie stands above him, smirking. "Sorry Lee. You've got to try harder than that to beat us."
She extends a hand to help him up and he graciously takes it. Except then he's ambushed by Angelina and Alicia who carry him into the open.
"Hey Weasley's! Give it up, we've got Lee Jordan here!"
Fred and George emerge from behind their fort with a look of resignation on their face which quickly turns into mischief.
"Fine," Fred says, "but while you've got Lee here -"
" - do you know anyone who'd want to go to the ball with him?" George finishes.
Lee goes completely red and manages to escape the girls' grip. After a pause and without saying a word, he runs back into the castle, leaving a pair of laughing Weasley's and a trio of confused girls.
–
2 Days Until the Yule Ball
His dress robes came into today.
They look good on him, Lee decides. He knows he's a pretty attractive guy and his dress robes only accentuate this fact more.
He only wishes he had a date to admire him.
Lee folds up his robes and delicately places them into his trunk. Even if he doesn't have a date, he still has to look good for the rest of Hogwarts, right?
–
1 Day Until the Yule Ball
The only topic of conversation in the school today is about the ball. Lee feels like the only person on earth who doesn't want to talk about it. He'd much rather talk about quidditch or food or … school even! But of course things wouldn't go his way. So now he's treated to Lavender's dress dilemma while he eats breakfast.
"God, can't they talk about something else?" Lee looks up to see Katie seated across from him buttering a piece of toast as she continues talking. "I get that this is a ball and all but please talk about something besides it!"
"But you're a girl. You're supposed to like things like this."
Katie makes a disgusted face. "I like dressing up and all but this is all too much. It's supposed to be fun but it's too much pressure."
"You think it's a lot of pressure? Try being a guy who has to ask someone to be his date. Rejection sucks."
"You try having to wait around for someone to ask you. Being ignored sucks."
"Touche."
She smiles at him. "Besides, you shouldn't have a problem asking someone. You're the Lee Jordan. I'm sure you've got like 6 girls lined up waiting for you to ask."
"Yeah, sure," Lee says. "Loads of them."
"Well … then maybe I'll see you tomorrow? And the lucky girl you're taking?"
Lee smiles weakly back at her. "Definitely."
Shit.
The Yule Ball
The Great Hall is gorgeous tonight. The trees are beautifully decorated with fantastic ornaments and fairy lights. The ceiling above shows a crystal clear night sky, complete with twinkling stars. And yet Lee doesn't notice. He's too preoccupied with his lack of date.
So maybe it was his fault for going stag since he never officially asked anyone to the ball. But that was only cause all the girls were already taken. He decided to just show up alone and act cool and confident for the sake of all the younger students who idolized him. He sat at the same table as the twins and their dates as well as Alicia and her date. Which made him the awkward 7th wheel. He could tell that Angelina at least wanted someone to stay with him while the couples danced and recruited Katie to come sit by him.
"Where's your date?" Katie asks, immediately upon sitting down. When Lee doesn't answer, she says, "Let's dance," and grabs his hand.
The two get up as a ballad begins to play. He takes her hand in his (it's soft, he thinks, and warm) and leads her to the floor. She places a hand on his shoulder and the two begin to sway to the beat. Katie's light on her feet and has an innate grace about her. Her hair is full of curls and her dress shimmers beneath the lights. Lee thinks she looks pretty.
Just as he's about to tell her what a great dancer she was, he's pulled back from behind.
"LEE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH HER!"
It's a tiny fourth year Gryffindor, someone he sort of recognizes from the common room but not really. He thinks her name starts with an M. Melissa? Michelle? Regardless, he still doesn't know what the girl wants with him.
Megan or Marissa begins crying. "Why didn't you answer my letter? I asked you to the ball!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"Three days ago!" Margaret sobs. "I sent you an owl!"
"I didn't know it was from you! You didn't leave a name!"
With wide eyes, Melanie turns around and runs. Confused, Lee turns to look for Katie who was silently covering up her hysterical laughter.
"Shut up."
Laughter.
"I hate you."
More laughter.
"It's not funny. I just broke that girl's heart. I've ruined every other man for her."
Another burst of giggles.
"Go to hell."
Katie settles down but keeps grinning. "I'm sorry Lee, but even you've got to admit that was pretty ridiculous."
"Come on," he says with a sigh as he takes her hand again, "let's dance."
The next thing they know, everyone is leaving the ball, tired and weary. Lee's holding Katie's hand as they walk back to the Gryffindor common room. He's content and all he wants now is to sleep forever.
–
1 Day After the Yule Ball
The castle is silent the morning after the Yule Ball. In fact, there isn't much movement anywhere in the castle until around noon and everyone began waking up. Fortunately for Lee, he's a morning person and he's already snatched a seat in the Great Hall by the time lunch is served. He's sandwiched between the Weasley twins who are recounting their fabulous time last night. Lee's only barely listening, instead focusing on his content and extremely full stomach.
"So, what's going on between you and Katie?" George suddenly asks.
"What?"
Fred and George share a look. "We saw you two together all night."
"We're just friends."
"Right, and I just held hands with Angelina last night."
"Yeah, come on Lee. We know you guys are together."
"No," he says, quickly standing up. "And I'm done eating. See you guys later."
Lee escapes to the unusually quiet Gryffindor common room. He spots his favorite chair and plops down, letting his head droop and his eyes close. He and Katie weren't a thing. Just two friends who happened to dance together all night. Unromantically. That happened, right?
The noise of someone sitting down across from him wakes him up. It's Katie Bell (of course it would be) and she looks tired.
She says, "You got interrogated too?"
He shakes his head. "Not too badly."
"Aren't you lucky."
There's an awkward silence as the two sit alone in the room. Katie's hair is still curly but now she's dressed in pajamas. She's still pretty. Lee feels unwanted attraction towards her. He gets up again.
"Um … I'm going to sleep now. Bye!"
Yeah, there's definitely nothing going on between them.
–
2 Days After the Yule Ball
"Hey look, there's Katie again," George says as they're walking to the Great Hall.
"I'm not hungry anymore," Lee replies, running back to the Gryffindor common room.
–
3 Days After the Yule Ball
He's finally cornered by Katie Bell, after days of coincidences that kept them apart. They're in the 2nd floor corridor when it happens. Lee had tried to run but Katie was definitely more in shape than he was and quickly caught up to him. He really needs to work out again.
"So," Katie begins, "why the hell have you been avoiding me?"
Lee mumbles something incoherent. There wasn't any specific reason. Just Fred and George and Angelina and Alicia and -
"Why have you been avoiding me?"
He had apparently decided that offense was the best defense.
Katie smirks. "Oh really, I've been avoiding you? I'm pretty sure you are the one running in the opposite direction every time I walk into the same room as you."
"Wrong."
"Sure. You're right. I'm wrong. I'll see you later."
She walks away, leaving Lee feeling the comforting feeling of superiority mixed with the uncomfortable feeling of confusion.
–
4 Days After the Yule Ball
He woke up with a start.
Lee had been having one of those dreams last night. You know, the type that boys get about girls and sex. Normally they're starring some famous witch or some gorgeous muggle girl he saw. But never has he had one about someone who goes to Hogwarts. Or someone he knows. Or someone named Katie Bell.
So you can imagine the awkward situation Lee is put in when he sees Katie on the staircase the next day.
Lee pretends it doesn't happen.
5 Days After the Yule Ball
"Lee Jordan. Come here."
Somehow, Katie's managed to find him again. In the library of all places. Lee's only there because he figured it'd be empty now that classes were done. Apparently Katie frequented the library often.
"Katie, I'm busy studying," he says, even though he's got no books and he's nowhere near a desk.
"Oh shut up and come here."
Suddenly, she grabs his robes and pulls him close and plants a kiss on his lips. It's aggressive and wet and sort of perfect. He's completely flabbergasted and says the only thing he can think of.
"Thank you."
She looks at him for a second before laughing and walking away. He's still rooted to the spot. Katie Bell kissed him. That wasn't supposed to happen! He's supposed to initiate any move in their relationship. If they had a relationship. Which they definitely don't. Except they've kissed and he liked it. A lot. So, now what?
"Hey, Katie!"
She turns in slow motion towards him, her brilliant grin facing him. "You're so utterly predictable," she says, before turning and walking out of the library.
He smiles and chases after her. He's not sure exactly what he's going to do but he's going to be completely unpredictable if can. And he's going to be awesome and cool and she's going to be swept off her feet.
He is the Lee Jordan, after all.