So I'm home for Christmas break right now. Due to all the free time, I've been writing like crazy. Unfortunately, my wireless isn't working in my house for some reason so I'm being forced to go out and find places with free Wifi (my favorite place to write is the Seattle's Best Coffee at my local Borders). So, I've been very busy writing. The only reason I haven't updated is because I haven't had internet. At least it's a long one :) On another note, since I'm American and J.K. Rowling's characters are not, I'm trying my best to keep the dialect accurate (especially in this chapter). So if you're Scottish or British, I'm really sorry if I'm hacking up your language. I'm trying my best haha. Now, without further ado, on to chapter the fourth!

CHAPTER 4 - TRICKS AND TREATS

"I still can't believe that idiot boy had the nerve use that word," Alicia moaned after dinner when the whole team, minus Harry, was gathered in the common room.

"I know! The nerve of him! Just because he thinks he's better than everyone else, it doesn't give him the right to throw such language around like it's nothing," Angelina added. "I mean, did you see Hermione's face?" Katie looked down at her lap at that moment, just as a blush began to color her cheeks. She had seen Hermione's face, but she hadn't needed to have seen it to know what Hermione's expression would've looked like; it would've mirrored her own.

"You know, if you girls would like, we could get even with him," Fred suggested.

"You had better not. You think I want my own friends sinking to that scum's level?" Alicia said.

"Heavens, we'd never hit that below the belt! Alicia, it's like you don't know us at all!" George said, shock on his face.

"Of course not, we wouldn't even harm a hair on his greasy head!" Fred said. "But, we could slip a few dungbombs into his underwear."

"Exactly. His ego could use a nice harming."

"And just how do you plan on getting your hands on his underwear?" Angelina said, a smug look on her face.

"Oh, we have our ways," the twins replied together.

"You can go ahead and plant tentacula in his hair if you need to. I don't care," Oliver said. "Just don't get kicked off the team."

"Will do, captain!" Fred and George both said with a salute before they headed up to the fourth year boys' dormitory to plan their revenge.

"You know, they're probably going to try to do that now," Angelina chided.

"But tentacula is dangerous," Oliver said, like it meant nothing.

"Like that's ever stopped them before" Angelina said.

"Well, if you ask me," Oliver focused on Katie, "that boy deserves whatever trouble is coming his way."

"Never said he didn't," Angelina replied.

Katie stared into Oliver's eyes, fearing for the slightest second that he would expose her; he only stared back with a small smile on his lips.

Not a day passed without rain as October came and went. The interference from the Slytherins had only motivated Oliver even further - if that was possible. He was absolutely drowning in determination until one afternoon when the Weasley twins had reported that they'd seen firsthand the jaw-dropping power and speed of the Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. This dreadful bit of information had heightened his enthusiasm so much that he didn't even chastise the twins about spying on the opposing team. Instead, he scheduled a practice during one particular nasty storm a few days before Halloween, not that anyone was surprised by his doing so. Due to the rain, the wind, the cold, and the feeling of all around hopelessness, everyone on the team grew miserable, and by the time practice was over, their spirits were almost as damp as their robes. Oliver gave up on trying to inspire the team and cancelled all practices until after Halloween.

With the lack of Quidditch, Katie spent as much time as possible the next few days holed up in the Gryffindor common room getting a head start on a Transfiguration essay. Angelina was prompted to do the same while Alicia spent most of her newfound free time procrastinating.

"I don't see why you're wasting your time doing homework when you could be doing anything else," Alicia said on the last afternoon of the month. "I mean, it's Halloween for Merlin's sake!"

"At least we're doing something," Angelina said without looking up from her parchment.

"Yeah, at least we have lives," Katie agreed with a nod and a quick glance at Alicia.

"Humph." Alicia folded her arms and glared at her teammates before she raised her eyebrows and said," You're one to talk, Bell. About having a life, I mean."

"And what's that supposed to mean, Spinnet?"

A few second years in nearby armchairs raised their heads in interest.

"It means that all you think about is Quidditch."

"That's not true! I...I think about lots of things."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Like...school. And friends. And boys. And teachers. And my family and-"

"Hello, ladies! We thought it was your raised voices we had heard. It seems as though we were correct in that assumption, wouldn't you agree, Fred?" One twin plopped down on the armrest of Katie's chair, right in between Katie and Alicia.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, George." Fred placed himself on the armrest of Alicia's chair and faced his twin. "Simply brilliant. And you have stunning good looks, might I add."

"Oh, stop it, Fred," George said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "you're making me blush." He batted his lashes and averted his gaze from the group.

"Finally, someone to break this up," said Angelina, who had been ignoring the squabble brewing between her teammates by focusing on her essay.

"Actually, that was exactly what we had in mind. You see, we found that it was rather too boring in here today," Fred said.

"And we thought of another way to get revenge on that greasy blond git," George continued.

"And it just so happened that Hagrid was torturing this poor salamander, so we rescued him," Fred finished as he presented a bright orange salamander to the girls.

"Just what do you plan to do with it?" Katie asked hesitantly, though welcoming of the distraction. Whatever the Weasleys had in store was sure to be entertaining.

Fred placed the salamander on the table before them. "Oh, Katie, dearest. This isn't a manner of planning. This is a matter of action."

With that, George produced a Filibuster firework from inside of his robes and stuck it inside the fire-dwelling lizard's mouth. By now, a rather large group had pooled around the table and were watching in anticipation as the salamander began to emit large amounts of smoke.

"What's going on here?" Katie heard a strong Scottish accent ask quite close to her ear. Oliver.

She turned her head to see his face only inches from hers, resting on the back of the armchair.

"Oh...um, the twins just fed a Filibuster to a salamander. Like, maybe three minutes ago?"

"Hmm...," Oliver said. Katie had never been this close to him. She'd never really noticed exactly how warm his brown eyes were. "How long do you think it'll take for something to happen?"

"Warm," was all she said.

"Excuse me?"

"Wha- uh...not long. The salamander is pretty warm," she hedged lamely.

"Well, salamanders do live in fire, Bell," Oliver said with a raised eyebrow as his eyes burned into Katie's.

"I know, I just..." Katie could've sworn she literally saw sparks begin to fly as she gazed into Oliver's too close, too warm, too beautiful eyes, and he gazed back. Then she realized with sudden attention that it was the salamander. The lizard had exploded into the air and was now emitting bright sparks as it banged around the ceiling. Every head in the common room - including Katie - followed the lizard as it whizzed around the room before it flew into the fireplace and disappeared. The room then grew even louder in volume as the crowd broke out into applause and howls of laughter which couldn't compare to that of the twins. Percy began yelling himself hoarse at his brothers - who of course couldn't be bothered in their fits of laughter - and everyone else had seemed to forgotten about their previous affairs and instead focused on the early Halloween entertainment. Katie then abruptly remembered Oliver's close proximity and turned her head once more, expecting to meet his warm brown eyes, but she did not. Oliver was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, the crowd dispersed and the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, barring Oliver, were left to themselves, still chuckling about the salamander spectacle.

"If you guys thought that was amusing, we have something else planned for tonight," Fred hinted when most of the laughter had died down.

"But that depends on your willingness to miss the Halloween feast," George added. "Then again, it's not like that silly little feast could ever compare to something concocted by the great and honorable Weasley twins. And of course, this is team exclusive. No one else."

"I'm in," Alicia said without any further explanation.

"You can count me in too," Angelina said. "Someone is going to have to keep an eye on everyone."

"I'll come too," Katie said. "What about Oliver? Does he know?"

"Naturally. Captain knows all, remember?" Fred answered.

"Alright, so it's settled then. Everyone meet in our dormitory at seven. Don't worry about food," George said before he and Fred left and headed out the portrait hole.

Katie, as well as Angelina, turned her attention back to her essay while Alicia went back to doing nothing. After several minutes of attempted work, Alicia finally broke their silence.

"So, you think about boys, huh? Any boys in particular?" Alicia's expression had morphed into a look Katie was familiar with: meddlesome.

"No one in particular. Just in general. You know, like a teenage girl should."

"Mhmmmm," Alicia replied with a smirk.

Hours seemed to pass with every rain drop that pelted against the windows and just when everyone's stomachs began to grumble, it was time for the Halloween feast. Gryffindors filed out of the common room to head down to the Great Hall, eagerly awaiting the giant jack-o-lanterns and the supposed skeleton dancing troupe Dumbledore was rumored to have booked for the event. After the common room had emptied, except for Harry and the twins' younger brother, Ron, Katie and Angelina packed up their books, scrolls, quills, and ink and headed up the stairs to the boys' dormitories with Alicia following behind. After magicking her books away, Angelina knocked on the door to Fred and George's dorm.

"Come in!" a twin's voice called from the other side of the door.

Angelina pushed the door open and the aroma of butterbeer, apple, and pumpkin swam from the room. The entire dorm was empty of its usual furnishings, instead decorated with large, squashy orange beanbag chairs that resembled the giant pumpkins in Hagrid's garden. Dozens of various colored smaller pumpkins floated by the ceiling, like a miniature version of the Great Hall, and on one of several tables, lay the still smoldering salamander from earlier, still emitting occasional sparks. This time, however, there was no fireplace for the lizard to escape to.

Fred and George were already sitting in two of the pumpkin-like beanbags with their wands in their hands.

"Sit down," Fred said, motioning to the available chairs.

"And get out your wands," George instructed.

All three girls tentatively pulled their wands from their robes as they sat down opposite the twins.

George continued. "If you're wondering what we have planned, we decided-"

The door opened again, this time, it was Oliver entering.

"Hope I haven't missed anything. Just had to return Quidditch Through the Ages to the library," he said.

"You think we didn't know that already?" Fred said.

"Or care?" George added.

Oliver simply ignored their comments and made his way into the circle of bean bag chairs. Of course, the remaining seat was next to Katie.

"As we were saying before we were so rudely interrupted," George shot a glare towards Oliver, "we decided tonight would be as good a night as any to experiment with a few new spells."

"George-" Angelina started.

"Calm down, dear child, nothing dangerous. Just a few harmless spells. All in good fun!"

"That's what you always say," Angelina said.

"And it's always fun. I see a trend here," Fred said looking at his twin.

"I daresay I do as well. Anyways, everyone have their wands out? Good. Now let's see who will be going first."

George pointed to a top hat that was on the table in the middle of the room.

"What, are we going to pull names from a hat?" Katie asked.

"Yes," George answered.

"But that's so... Muggle," Oliver said.

"I never said we would actually be doing the pulling. Who do you think we are, our dad?" George then tapped the top hat with his wand and sparks burst out of the inside, forming Alicia's name in midair.

"Excellent!" Fred exclaimed. "Perfect specimen to go first!"

"Uh...Fred, George, exactly what is it I'm going to be doing?" Alicia stammered.

"Ever heard of the Muggle game Truth or Dare?" George answered.

"I have," Katie answered. Of course.

"Well, this is a slight variation of it. Except, think of it more as Dare or Dare. But with spells."

"Just a few simple little spells we've invented. We promise we won't hurt you or your pride in any way."

"Okay...." Alicia answered.

"Basically, it's like a minor, less powerful, legal Imperius Curse. You can defy it if you want. I guess you could say it just gives you a bit of a courage boost. Nothing Azkaban-worthy."

"Everything you do is Azkaban-worthy," Angelina said with a roll of her eyes.

"Alright, now! Alicia, we dare you to roll around on the ground while yelling "I love Lee Jordan" at the top of your lungs while being wrapped in this." George flicked his wand once and a blanket with Lee's face in the center appeared. George waved his wand once more and immediately, Alicia got up and wrapped herself in the blanket then dropped to the floor and began rolling around, shouting Lee's name over and over.

After the laughter had died down a bit, Angelina said, " She seems to be enjoying this."

"We knew she would," Fred and George said in unison with huge satisfied smiles on each of their faces. "Next!"

Alicia slowly came back to sanity and crawled back to her spot, still wrapped in the blanket, as Fred tapped the hat this time. In a matter of seconds, his own name glittered in the air, along with Angelina's.

"This should be good," Oliver muttered.

"Brilliant," Alicia beamed, still showing traces of the spell as she snuggled more into her blanket.

George pointed his wand at Fred and then pointed his wand at Angelina and then thought for a moment. Just when a look of realization dawned on George's face, the salamander hiccuped and burst into the air, almost like a lightbulb going off in George's head.

"Fred, Angelina, I want you both to kiss each other as passionately as possible while pretending the other is your dream man or woman, as the case may be. But for Merlin's sake, keep your clothes on. We see enough balls on the Quidditch pitch."

"Or lack thereof if you're on the Slytherin team," Oliver prodded as he nudged Katie in the ribs with his elbow. She giggled and Alicia raised an eyebrow.

Angelina and Fred were already in a passionate embrace, eating each others' faces off. Everyone else in the room watched with anticipating - and slightly disturbed - eyes, waiting to see whom Fred and Angelina were thinking of while they swapped spit.

Moans both began building in each of the pretend-for-the-moment-lovers until finally Angelina yelped, "Fred!" at the same time that Fred cried out, "Angelina!"

"What a shock," Alicia said.

"More like what a waste," George said.

"Then if you already knew they'd choose each other, why'd you give them that dare?" Katie asked.

"Just so I could hear them admit it already. Do you have any idea how much time I spend with Fred? And how much he talks about 'Angelina this and Angelina that?'"

"I'm guessing just about as much time as I spend with Angelina and how much she talks about Fred," Alicia said.

"If you think you pestering her for information until she goes insane and gives in is her talking about Fred, then you're right," Katie said.

"I don't pester. I assist."

"Assist, my ass," Katie smiled.

When Angelina and Fred had finally pulled apart and were only staring lovingly into the others' eyes, George tapped the hat again and the dares continued.

After everyone had gone by themselves at least once, Katie's and Oliver's names shot simultaneously from the hat and twinkled in the center of the room.

"You two are going to snog for ten minutes straight. No pretend soul mates or anything this time, just pure teenage hormonal lust." George flicked his wand once. "Oh, and we won't be watching. Go as far as you'd like."

As soon as the spell took affect, Katie felt her eyes glaze over. Everything blurred around the edges except for Oliver as she lunged at him. Like some kind of magnetic attraction had formed between them, Oliver's lips were on Katie's in no time, showing no signs of any pending separation. Katie's mouth moved right with Oliver's, her hands traveling all over his chest, waist, shoulders. Oliver's hands trembled over Katie's own waist and back as her fingers twined themselves in his hair. Katie's lips wandered down from Oliver's jaw to his neck, where they stayed. Seconds seemed like hours and hours passed like seconds as Katie kissed and kissed Oliver. She had just begun kissing him on the lips again when without warning, she heard hoots and hollers echoing around the room and someone shouting.

"Stop! Stop before I vomit! Your time is up!" Fred was yelling from somewhere in the room. Instantly breaking apart from Oliver, Katie looked for the source of the shouting when the room came in to painfully disorienting clarity, like she had been wearing someone else's eyeglasses for fun and had just taken them off. Angelina was staring with wide eyes and Alicia had the smuggest look on her face. George was making retching noises.

"What?" Katie said, feeling unbelievably disoriented.

"I only said ten minutes, not ten hours." Fred said with an accompanying gagging sound.

"That lasted ten hours!?" Katie shrieked, panic-stricken.

"Bloody hell, no! My corneas would've burned by then. But I never expected you to go for a half hour!" Fred exclaimed.

Katie immediately looked down at her lap, fearing what the others were thinking, especially Oliver. Had it been she who had gotten carried away and persisted after the demanded amount of time? Had she said anything she would've regretted? Everything was a blur, much like during the actual dare itself, except for Oliver's lips and what it felt like to kiss him.

"I think it's time we eat," George insisted, breaking the awkward silence. He waved his wand and dozens upon dozens of pies piled high on one of the empty tables and a giant vat of pumpkin juice appeared next to that.

"Do you ever not have food on your mind?" Angelina asked him.

"Do you ever not have Fred on your mind?" he retorted.

"Touché," she admitted as everyone rose to fill the golden plates and goblets that had just appeared from Fred's wand.

Once the final pies had been devoured by Fred, George, and Oliver (who had insisted that his protein diet allowed him one free day a month), Fred silenced everyone to make an announcement.

"Now, if you thought dares were fun, this is the second round. Truth or Truth, as George and I like to call it. With this." From inside his robes, he pulled out a tiny vial filled to the brim with clear liquid.

"But isn't that-" Alicia began.

"Veritaserum? You bet your billiwigs, it is," George said with a mischievous grin.

"But how'd you get it?" Alicia asked.

"Need I remind you who we are? We don't have our own drawer in Filch's office for nothing." He passed around the small vial as one by one, everyone took a sip.

Once everyone had the truth potion running through their system, Fred continued,"Anyways, the only rule is any question can be asked. No need trying to deny any answers."

"So, let us see who will be the first victim this time, shall we?" George said as he prodded the hat with his wand. Oliver's name fireworked up at the ceiling.

"Oliver! Hmm... if you absolutely had to snog one or the other, who would it be: Snape or Quirrell?"

"Quirrell," Oliver answered without the slightest pause. Everyone in the room busted into fits of laughter.

Once everyone except the twins had gained their composure, Angelina asked, "It wouldn't bother you that You-Know-Who would've been on the other side of his head?"

"Or that you'd be snogging a corpse!" Fred howled from the floor where he was rolling around in hysterics.

Again, Oliver answered instantaneously, "At least he's not greasy. I'd rather have that onion smell."

The laughter erupted from everyone once more and lasted through Fred jabbing the hat with his wand and the emission of Katie's name.

"Ooh! Ooh! Let me do this one!" Alicia yelled over the giggles. No one bothered to answer so she pushed on. She faced Katie with an impish smile.

"Katie. Who would you rather snog?" Katie nervously braced herself for the option that was sure to come. "Fred or George?"

"Oliver," Katie blurted out immediately.

"That's what I thought," Alicia said with a sly grin. Katie quickly risked a glance at Oliver who was, as she had feared, looking at her. Her eyes widened in alarm and he awkwardly smiled out of politeness before swiftly breaking eye contact. The team giggled a bit but died down quicker than before.

"I'm bored. New question!" George shouted as he touched his wand to the hat which eje!cted Fred's name and then asked, "If you had to jump in front of a bullet for ONE person, who would it be?"

"Mom."

Everyone in the room went into choruses of "aww...." except George, whose response was a furious "not me!?"

"Next," Angelina said with an eye roll as she tapped the hat causing Oliver's name to form in the air.

"Oliver, why do you think you're so bloody good at Quidditch?" Angelina asked.

Oliver choked slightly and his eyes widened before he looked at Katie pleadingly. "Because I'm a Pureblood."

The room silenced. Katie felt as though she'd just been punched in the stomach. Every heartbeat boomed louder as the seconds passed by and Malfoy's face filled her mind, his roaring laughter charging her thoughts. She dared not look around, for fear that her expression would give away her secret.

"I have to go," Katie gushed, unable to form an excuse due to the Veritaserum still in her veins. Angelina was the first to say something.

"Oliver...how could you say that?" was the last thing Katie heard as she escaped through the door.

Katie flew down the stairs and out the portrait hole without a glance behind her.

OLIVER'S POINT OF VIEW

"Oliver...how could you say that?" Angelina asked me. I stared at Katie's figure retreating out the door, horrorstruck, before I understood what was being asked of me.

"No! Not like that! Let me explain! Both my mother and father played Quidditch. As in there was never any doubt that I would be a Quidditch player. It doesn't have anything to do with parentage, just who my parents are! And my parents just happen to be Pureblood! "

Everyone just bewilderedly looked at me. I don't know what my expression looked like exactly, but it probably resembled Katie's when I'd stupidly answered Angelina's question. Eventually, the tension eased because everyone knew my explanation was no falsehood; the Veritaserum was still in effect.

But Katie. Katie, Katie, Katie.

Her face. I knew exactly what she would think the moment Angelina finished speaking. I couldn't help but blurt out the first truthful answer that came to my mind. I had no idea how to fix this. I mean, yes, we had grown slightly closer over the past few weeks, but not enough to gain her trust this much. Damn it!

"George, you're going next. You've hardly done anything!" Alicia called. George nodded with a determined face. "What's the trickiest thing you've done recently?"

I realized I had no choice but to go after her and try to explain. Even if she didn't accept any apology, it shouldn't be that much of a loss, right? We were never really friends anyway. Just teammates. Only professional.

But I still had to try.

I shot up from my seat and ran out the door just as George answered, "I didn't charm Oliver on the dare to kiss Katie. He did it of his own accord. Sneaky, eh?"

I knew exactly where she would be: the Quidditch pitch. I remembered what she had said about the comforting solitude of the locker rooms and couldn't help but picture her, curled up in a ball again, knees to her chest, only this time, sobbing over my idiocy.

As I hurried to the ground level, each floor grew more crowded. The feast had already ended and everyone was returning to their houses. It was on the second floor before I'd had any setback. A crowd consisting of students from every house congested the entire corridor - blocking my way to the staircase - looking at something on one of the walls. It was a complete gridlock.

"Oliver!" Alicia's voice called out from behind me. I whipped around and saw her, Fred, George, and Angelina running in my direction.

"What's wrong, mate?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, we thought you'd gotten sick or something," George said.

"I just wanted to find Katie. She...she had told me she was...feeling sick earlier. That was why she ran out." Great excuse, Wood. Well, at least the Veritaserum had lost it's effect. Shite. That meant I had no excuse for Katie to believe my explanation.

"You had better be careful, Wood," Angelina warned me. "If Katie's sick, she's gonna have a bit of a temper."

"Yeah, we'd prefer not to have you beat each..." Alica started before her eyes widened in terror at something behind me. Fred's, George's, and Angelina's expressions mirrored hers. I pivoted to see what had caught everyone's attention and that was when I saw it.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

Even from where I stood, towards the back of the crowd and over the heads of the mass of students, I could tell the words were written in blood. But there was also something else on the wall, hanging from the torch bracket, that was indiscernible. It didn't take long for the whispers to travel from the front of the crowd to the back: it was Filch's cat, literally scared stiff, hard as stone. Maybe dead.

"Enemies of the heir, beware!" I heard a voice shout from up front. "You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

My stomach felt like it had exploded and my heart had sputtered and died. For a second, nothing moved, nothing sounded. Then everything became so crystal clear that it was painful.

"I have to find Katie! Now!" I shouted at the team as I pushed my way through the students, desperately trying to reach the staircase.

I shoved as many students out of my way as hard as I could. What if something had happened? What if it was all my fault? What if I was too late?

"NO!" I roared as I rammed the last remaining students out of the way and shot down the staircase and out the front doors.