A.N. Sorry for the delay in updating, hope you enjoy!
*~ He's a Keeper ~*
By Infinity Lily
Chapter Four
When I arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters the next day, I was greeted enthusiastically by Alicia, who dragged me away to search for our other friends. Alicia, being considerably taller than me, spotted the twins first.
"George Weasley!" Alicia cried, storming towards the twin she had seen first, "How could you do that to your own Aunt?"
In the face of an angry Alicia Spinnet, the trademark smirk fell and was replaced with a slightly frightened, pleading look.
"Come on 'Licia, it was just a joke," he said weakly.
Alicia scowled at the shortening of her name,
"You probably terrified the poor woman!"
"Trust me Alicia, she got what was coming to her," Fred said coming to his brother's aid.
"And do you know what the best part is?" George asked excitedly, brightening up instantly, "She told Mum not to bother inviting her next year!"
Alicia shot them both a scornful glare,
"What if you'd hurt her? Would you be celebrating then?"
Then she turned on her heel and stomped off. The twins watched her go, George his mouth forming an 'o' of surprise and Fred shaking his head.
"What did she do that made you subject her to the torture of a dung bomb?" I asked.
"We got sick of her insulting everyone," George shrugged turning to me.
"The thing that tipped us over the edge was when she told Mum the food wasn't really up to standard and that back in her day there would have been a roast ham as well as a turkey. Mum and Ginny worked for hours on it!" Fred said, glowering at the memory.
"Not to mention how hard Dad's worked all year so we could afford it," George muttered under his breath, in a way that made me wonder whether he intended for me to hear it.
I smiled and threw an arm over each of their shoulders, as we crossed the platform to the train, cooing,
"Aren't you two sweet!"
"Too bad Mum wasn't that grateful," Fred said darkly.
"Yeah, I doubt I'll ever be able to sit comfortably again!" George agreed rubbing his backside mournfully.
I managed to control the smile that threatened to cross my face and asked,
"Can either of you see where Alicia went too? Or see Zac or Angie?"
The twins craned their necks, looking around for our friends,
"There's Angie!" George said suddenly, "And I think that's Alicia with her."
I stood on tiptoe trying to see over the heads of the people milling around the platform, but could not see the two girls. Cursing my under average height, I waited until the twins caught the two girls attention and they had made their way over.
"Hey Angelina," I said embracing the older girl.
"Katie!" She squealed, enthusiastically hugging me back.
Then she turned to the twins, fixing them both with hard glares, she asked in her scariest no-nonsense voice,
"What in the name of Merlin were you two thinking pulling such a horrible prank on your Aunt?"
"She was insulting Mum and Ginny," George said stubbornly meeting her gaze.
"She deserved it," Fred repeated his earlier sentiments.
Angelina glared at them both for a moment longer then threw her hands up in exasperation, before taking Alicia and my arms and dragging us towards the train.
"If you don't hurry up you'll miss the train!" She called over her shoulder to the Weasleys.
We found Zac sitting alone in a compartment at the end of the train, when Alicia opened the door he looked up, greeting us with a smile and a murmured hello. I went and sat next to him, giving him a one armed squeeze, ignoring the way his shoulders tensed, the boy would learn to like hugs in time.
"Hey Zac, thanks again for my Christmas present," I smiled.
"You're welcome," he replied, "Thanks for mine."
"No worries. How was the New Year's party?" I asked as the others sat down.
Zac made a face,
"It was even more horrible than usual!"
"Is this the ministry party?" Alicia asked curiously.
Zac and I nodded.
"VIPs only," Angelina teased.
"More like very annoying people. I swear they have nothing better to do but gossip and figure out ways to politely insult people!"
"Did you dance with any pretty girls?" Alicia giggled.
Zac blushed slightly, but shook his head,
"It's awful! I've been going since I was eight and deemed old enough to behave and act politely."
"Ha we'd have no hope of being invited," Fred said with a little bitterness.
"I thought your Dad was the head of a department?" I queried.
George snorted,
"Yeah head of the misuse of muggle artefacts!"
"He's considered a joke," Fred agreed darkly.
"It's so sick the way some wizards look down on Muggles!" Angelina said disgustedly.
"Yeah, the ways they cope without magic is amazing!" Alicia agreed.
"They've invented so many cool things to take the place of magic!"
"Yeah, and I bet you lot don't even know what a movie is!" I laughed
"I do!" Alicia giggled, "My muggle grandparents have taken me to see them a few times!"
"What's a movie?" George asked.
"It's like a story that people act out. Muggles use a special type of camera to record it and someone puts all the different scenes together to make the story," I explained, "some Muggle's jobs are to be the actors, or to make the costumes or edit the film."
"Muggles go and watch the stories for fun," Alicia added.
"That's so weird!"
"Muggle's are completely barmy! Why would you pretend to be someone else for a living?" Fred scoffed.
I shrugged,
"They get paid loads of money and are really famous."
"Well loads of money would be nice," George conceded.
Fred snorted,
"Yeah, you think?"
"Maybe I'll become an actor," Angelina joked, "Fame and fortune!"
"You'd probably end up having no privacy," Zac pointed out, "famous people are always in the newspapers for silly reasons."
"Yeah, did you hear about Wilda Griffiths?" Angelina asked, naming the one of the starting Chasers for the Holyhead Harpies Quidditch team.
"No, what happened?" I asked.
"She's moved to Puddlemere!"
"What!" Alicia, the twins and I demanded at the same time.
"But it's the middle of the season!" I cried.
"Yeah, one of Puddlemere's chasers found out she was pregnant and had to go on maternity leave, so Puddlemere offered to double Griffith's wage if she transferred."
"Oh Godric!" I muttered, absolutely stunned.
"She must be one of the highest paid female Professionals in the entire league now!" Alicia gaped.
"She's not even that good!"
"I bet the Harpies are pissed off!" Fred commented.
"Oh yes!" Angelina agreed, "Apparently Gwenog Jones is livid!"
"Who's replacing her on the Harpies?" Zac asked.
"They haven't named anyone yet, but I bet they will in the next few days because they have a game next weekend."
"The Puddlemere, Harpies game is going to be intense!" Alicia observed, "I wouldn't be surprised if there were riots and stuff!"
"Yeah! It's kind of bad! I mean she'd have been silly to turn down an offer like that, but at the same time, where's her loyalty to the Harpies?" I said.
"That sort of money is a once in a lifetime offer though, but that's just bad sportsmanship on Puddlemere's part! They've bought a player off one of their biggest oppositions mid-season! That's dodgy!" Alicia exclaimed.
"If you want fame and fortune you should go into Quidditch Angie!"
The dark skinned girl shook her head,
"More like scandal and invasion of privacy! Quidditch is just a hobby, I love it, but not as a job! All the pressure would get to me!"
"We'll leave professional Quidditch to Katie then!" Alicia smiled at me.
I blushed,
"Well I'd love to, but I have to make the Gryffindor team and be scouted first and I'm not sure I'm good enough for that!"
"Please," Angelina scoffed, "You're a natural!"
"We'll be expecting free tickets all the time Katie Bell!" Fred laughed.
I smiled in embarrassment, searching for a way to turn the attention off me,
"So, did your cousin tell you about Wilda, Angie?"
She nodded,
"Yeah, Jeselle was really upset about it. She said that she doesn't blame Wilda for taking the offer, but most of the other players aren't as forgiving."
"Does she play Chaser? She might have a shot at moving to the starting team!" Alicia said eagerly.
"No, she's a Beater, but even if she was a Chaser, I doubt they'd move her to the starting team right away. She's only been on the reserves for a few weeks."
"Yeah, they'd want to get her some experience, before moving her to the starting line," George nodded.
"I wonder who'll it'll be then."
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see!"
We chattered together for a while, recounting interesting parts of our holidays. Zac told the others about Ethan's 'love' for his cousin's French girlfriend, which made the twins roar with laughter, and the girls roll their eyes. Alicia recounted her embarrassment when her grandmother had sat her down and wanted to know if she had a boyfriend and then, 'why ever not?' and so had tried to introduce her to her friend's grandson who had been staying with his grandparents too. Only to discover that he was 17, had tattoos over most of his body and too many piercings to count. After a while the twins went to find Lee Jordan, leaving the four of us laughing at Alicia's imitation of her grandmother's expression after seeing the boy.
"So Angie, how was dinner with Hayden's girlfriend?" I asked.
Her face immediately darkened,
"It was bloody terrible!"
"Oh no, what happened?" Alicia asked sympathetically.
"Does she not like Quidditch?" I demanded, causing Zac to shoot me an incredulous look that I chose to ignore.
Angelina scowled fiercely,
"She's a stuck-up Ravenclaw know-it-all! She was showing way too much of her chest and she told me Quidditch was a man's sport and it wasn't attractive for a girl to play and then she said that Hayden must have gotten all the attractive and academic genes!"
"That's a bit rude!" Alicia cried!
"She sounds like a right cow!" I agreed.
"I mean, excuse me, I can outplay Hayden in Quidditch any day! And just because he's in Ravenclaw and I'm not doesn't make me stupid!" Angelina said angrily.
"What's her name?" Zac asked, frowning.
"Ruby Cranston!" Angelina spat.
Zac's face hardened,
"Urgh, I know her! She goes to all the Ministry things too. Her parents are high up in the Ministry. She's very...confident in how she looks," Zac's cheeks flamed red.
"She dressed like a hooker to meet her boyfriend's parents so I don't even want to think about how she'd dress to a New Years Eve party!" Angelina said in disgust.
"But Hayden obviously likes her," Alicia pointed out.
"Hayden is a sixteen year old boy and she is a sixteen year old girl who has not only taken an interest in him, but is also giving him an eyeful."
"She is kind of pretty," Zac murmured awkwardly.
"She's blonde, with flawless skin and huge boobs, that she is more than willing to show off!"
I couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Zac's face, he muttered something about the bathroom and fled the carriage.
"Angie!" Alicia cried with a giggle.
"She is! And she's a total slut!"
Alicia sighed,
"I'm sure she can be perfectly nice."
"I don't care, she can be 'perfectly nice' somewhere else! She'll keep her claws off my brother if she knows what's good for her!" Angelina threatened darkly.
"I'm sure he'll come to his senses," I consoled her, "Did he hear what she said to you?"
"No, she's not stupid enough to say it in front of him unfortunately."
Alicia shrugged,
"It's only a matter of time, if she really is as bad as you say, he'll break up with her soon enough."
"Or he'll catch her cheating on him is more likely," Angelina muttered.
I smiled and Alicia rolled her eyes at Angelina's dramatics, Angie was likely to hate anyone dating her brother, and also had the tendency to overreact and exaggerate. Hopefully this Ruby Cranston wasn't as bad as she said, else Hayden was going to have a rather bad time of it.
"You'll just have to smash Ravenclaw in the last match," I told her.
Angelina brightened up considerably,
"That'll show her Quidditch isn't a man's game!"
"Exactly," Alicia agreed, winking at me when Angelina wasn't looking.
xxxXxxx
We arrived at Hogwarts a few hours later and after dinner I went to bed, ready to start the new term the next day. From this side of Christmas the end of the year looked a lot closer and the older students began studying for their end of year exams. The teachers also began piling on the homework and as a result Alicia and I limited our flying sessions to only two or three times a week. Because the house teams were using the Quidditch pitch every possible moment between the four of them, we practised down by the lake, using a Quaffle Alicia had received for Christmas and the school brooms. I still ran almost every morning, but I was very seldom joined by Oliver, who was, in an effort to appease his demanding parents spending every spare moment he had studying.
In fact when I returned from my morning run in the second week of term, my nose streaming and my toes numb from the cold, I'd gone to stand in front of the fire for a few moments and had been startled to see someone was asleep in one of the armchairs. Upon closer inspection, I'd realised it was Oliver. He looked so peaceful, curled up in the large chair, his mouth slightly open and his breath coming in deep even rise and falls of his chest. With his face relaxed, his eyes shut and curled so tightly in the chair, he looked much younger, and I could scarcely believe this was the tall, stubborn, Quidditch obsessed fourth year I knew. For a moment I felt like I was the older one, and a small smile crossed my face as I reached out and brushed his hair off his forehead.
"Oliver," I said softly, then when he didn't respond I repeated it slightly louder.
"Wazzat," he muttered, his voice still thick with sleep.
"Oliver," I said again, gently pulling on his shoulder.
"Katie?" he said sleepily.
"Yeah, have you been here all night?"
He sat up and stretched, proceeding to click his neck and back, before replying with a yawn,
"Yeah, I was finishing an essay for Snape."
I frowned at him,
"So why are you asleep in the Common Room then?"
He looked around blearily, as though only just noticing where he was,
"I must've fallen asleep," he said, then began looking around him for his essay.
"Merlin only knows what you've done with it," I muttered, pulling away the pillows on the couch, "Is this your wand?" I asked holding up what my search had revealed.
Oliver peered at for a moment, clearly still half asleep, then beamed at me.
"Yes! Thank you Katie! You're a life saver!"
"We haven't found your essay yet," I murmured, but blushed slightly as I handed his wand to him.
"Accio Essay," he said, giving it a flick.
A slightly crumpled roll of parchment flew out from underneath the armchair, and Oliver caught it. He groaned and I came around to crane my neck and peer over his shoulder.
"Damn it, I didn't finish it!"
"How long was it supposed to be?" I asked, it looked to be about twenty-five inches already, which was long for me, but I assumed was a reasonable length for fourth year.
"Thirty-six inches," Oliver sighed, running a hand through his already messy hair, "I must've fallen asleep halfway through my third point."
"You better get going then," I told him, "I'll bring you up some breakfast so you can work on it."
He smiled at me gratefully,
"Thanks Katie, you're the best."
After one of the fastest showers I've had in my life, I dressed quickly and twisted my wet, uncombed hair into a messy knot. As I pulled my shoes on I gave a yawning Alicia, a brief explanation, before hurrying out the door. I should have just enough time to go down to the Great Hall, grab some food and get back to Gryffindor Tower, grab my books and hopefully fix my appearance before class. The Great Hall was still fairly empty when I arrived, after draining a glass of Pumpkin juice, I grabbed a stack of toast, which I slathered butter on, a plate of bacon, two apples, which I tucked into the pocket of my robes and made a large cup of black coffee. Using my wand to levitate my pickings, I darted back out of the Hall, ignoring the strange looks I was getting.
As I crossed the Entrance Hall to the Grand Staircase, Viola Richmond and Gertrude Meads, the two Slytherin girls in my year came up the steps from the dungeons.
"Look at her hair!" Viola cried, "Oi, Bell! Did you fall in the lake again? Just couldn't keep away from the Giant Squid could you? But then if I looked like you, I'd be desperate as well!"
I scowled, but tried to just ignore them, if I did they'd get bored and stop. Just keep walking, I told myself, Oliver's probably getting hungry.
"It looks like something crawled in there and died!" Gertrude snickered.
Good for you Katie, taking the high road, not rising to it. My foot was on the first step and I was nearly away.
"So exactly like normal then? She must be trying to imitate that Johnson girl's style, you'd think she'd get sick of looking like a drowned rat! " Viola smirked triumphantly as I whirled around, to glare at the pair of them.
"Don't talk about my friends like that Richmond!" I snapped.
"What are you going to do?" She simpered, "Throw a piece of weed at me?" The pair of them screeched with laughter.
The advantage of being friends with older students, especially older students with the last name Weasley, is that you learn a few good hexes.
"Tarrantellgra!"
Viola let out a cry of surprise as her legs began to move against her will, forcing her to dance jerkily. Gertrude tried to help her, and both forgot about me. Turning on my heel I took the stairs two at a time, and thanks to my strict exercise routine, wasn't even breathing heavily when I reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"Peaches," I told the Fat Lady, who swung open, giving me a curious look.
"I'm back," I announced to Oliver as I approached, "And I come bearing food!"
"You. Are. Amazing." Oliver cried, gratefully accepting the food I offered, "And you even remembered coffee!" He sang.
"Hopefully it's not too cold by now," I said handing him the mug, "I was held up by some Slytherins."
Oliver paused mid bite to eye me with concern,
"You're alright though, right?"
I raised an eyebrow at him,
"Of course."
He smiled,
"And what about them?"
I waved a hand,
"Oh nothing that won't have worn off by now if they couldn't find someone who knew Finite Incantatem."
Oliver shook his head,
"I'm glad you're on my side."
I laughed, and snagged a piece of toast and some bacon from his pile. Oliver had nearly finished everything and I was in danger of losing my breakfast. After we had finished every last bite, with him eating at least double what I had, I went upstairs to get my books and fix my hair, leaving him to hurriedly finish his essay.
Viola was right about one thing, my hair was a mess. I had only a few minutes until I would definitely be late for class if I didn't leave, so I just combed it out, grabbed my bag and raced for the door. Bolting down the stairs, I waved goodbye to Oliver who was frantically fanning his parchment in an effort to dry the ink.
"You're going to be late if you don't get a move on!" I warned him.
He winked and summoned his broomstick,
"I'll fly down to the Entrance courtyard, that'll save time. It's you who's going to be late!"
"And it'll be your fault," I teased, as I ran out of the Portrait, nearly face-planting as I tripped on the threshold. Flying was one thing, but on the ground, I was definitely not the most co-ordinated of people.
"Sorry!" I called over my shoulder to the Fat Lady who grumbled something about rude students who were always in a hurry.
I slipped into Transfiguration just as the bell went, earning myself a disapproving look from Professor McGonagall. I smiled at Zac as I took the empty seat next to him, he smirked and said,
"Sleep in this morning did we?"
I shook my head as I pulled out my text book and things to take notes, but was unable to reply because McGonagall began her lecture and I didn't want to annoy her twice in one morning. I'm not that stupid.
xxxXxxx
"So why were you so late to Transfiguration this morning?" Zac asked as we navigated the crowed corridors on our way to lunch after an unusually boring Charms lesson learning the origins of the softening charm.
"I had to go back up to Gryffindor Tower after breakfast, Oliver was working on an essay and I offered to bring him some food," I replied, scowling at a fourth year Slytherin who had shoved into me as he passed.
"Oh, that was nice of you," Zac murmured.
I shrugged,
"I ran into Richmonds and Meads in the Entrance Hall."
Zac raised an eyebrow at me,
"What did you do? I thought Richmonds was glaring particularly hard today."
I snorted,
"I used a very weak Tarrantellgra on her so she would shut up and I could leave."
Zac just shook his head,
"You have a talent for making enemies Bell."
"Yes, but I have a talent for making awesome friends too," I smirked, nudging him with my elbow as we breezed into the Great Hall.
"I am pretty awesome," Zac said, completely straight faced.
"Sure," I laughed, "Except I was talking about Alicia, it's her birthday on Sunday."
Zac nodded, I'd reminded him several times already that week, as we sat down at our usual spot at the Gryffindor table. Angelina and I had been planning Alicia's birthday since the beginning of term. For each of mine, Angie's and Zac's birthdays, which had been earlier in the school year, Alicia had stolen away to the kitchens and baked us each our own birthday cake, we were touched by the effort she had put in and wanted to make her birthday extra special. We were hoping to surprise her.
Our Second year friends joined Zac and I as we filled our plates with food. Angelina was complaining about how boring Herbology was, something she did quite often, and the others were nodding absently, without paying much attention. While Angelina raved on about how she was never going to need to know about why dragon dung fertiliser was the best for mandrakes, considering growing them was so restricted it was practically illegal, the other four loaded their plates up and began to eat.
"Angie," I butted in when she showed no inclination of either eating or stopping, "Why don't you have something to eat?"
She broke off, and scowled at me, but obliging filled her plate.
"Oh no," Alicia suddenly moaned, "That essay for Jameson was due today wasn't it?"
"The one about the difference between-"
"Yes!" Alicia cried, cutting Fred off.
"Yes it's due today, why else do you think I was working on it after Quidditch last night?" Angelina chimed in.
"I'm going to the library then, we have Defence next don't we?"
Angelina nodded and rummaged in her bag,
"Here, just rephrase mine," she offered handing Alicia her essay.
"Bugger, I suppose I'm off to the library then too," Lee muttered, sighing despondently, "I haven't even started."
He hurried off after Alicia and Angelina shot the twins a surprised look,
"Have you two actually done it?" She asked incredulously.
"Of course not," George snorted.
"It's like you don't know us at all Angie!"
"You're going to get detention," I told them flatly, reaching for more bread.
"So?" They shrugged simultaneously.
"It's our goal to beat the record for the amount of detentions ever received by one person in their schooling career," Fred explained cheerfully.
"Who holds the record now?" Zac asked with interest.
"There's two of them actually, James Potter-"
"-and Sirius Black," Fred finished.
"And they both got the same amount?" I asked skeptically.
"They must be as joined at the hip as you two!"
The twins smirked,
"We reckon they were each trying to get more detentions than the other," George explained.
"Because the last detention Potter ever got was for breaking into McGonagall's office on the last day of his seventh year and demanding he be given detention."
I snorted and Angelina rolled her eyes,
"Why are boys so competitive?"
"Ange, I hardly think you can talk, considering you got mad yesterday morning because Alicia took less time to get ready than you did," I pointed out.
She glared at me again, but before she could snap out a reply, Zac butted in.
"So exactly how many detentions did they get?"
"1094 each," Fred smirked.
"Holy crap!" Angelina cried, forgetting about me and turning to stare at Fred, "That's ridiculous!"
"Ridiculous, but brilliant! They got one almost everyday for during their third, fourth and fifth years, but nowhere near as many in their sixth and seventh, so if we aim to get a detention every day, we'll set a new record!"
"Sometimes I worry about your aspirations in life," I muttered.
"No need to worry Katie Bell! We have plenty of aspirations!"
"Yeah, we plan on opening the best joke shop the Wizarding World has ever seen!"
"Oh Merlin!" Angelina sighed.
"So how many do you have so far?" Zac asked, his eyes sparkling.
"I have 287 and George only has 285," Fred smirked.
His brother scowled and hit him on the back of the head,
"Git!"
Zac continued to eagerly question them, while Angelina and I simultaneously rolled our eyes,
"Why do girls mature faster than boys?" Angelina sighed rhetorically.
I smiled and changed the subject,
"Do you think you'll be able to give Alicia the slip after classes today?"
Angelina shrugged,
"I can always get the twins or Lee to distract her, why?"
"I was thinking, both of us are terrible cooks, right? Well, why don't we ask the house elves to make Lic a cake? They'll do a much better job than we ever could and I'm sure they'd be delighted to help."
"Oh good idea! We can go and ask them after class!"
"My thoughts exactly!" I grinned, then frowned, "it'll give me something to look forward to during double Potions!"
I had arrived at my first Potions lesson of the new year, still sore over the injustice of my punishment, and had spent the entire lesson giving Snape murderous looks. My detention had been served, and as far as detentions with Snape went, the Weasley twins assured me sorting potions by their expiry dates wasn't bad. Surprisingly Snape had ignored me every lesson, he skipped completely over Zac and my potions on his rounds and did little more than purse his lips when I handed my work in. In contrast he was particularly hard on McLaggen and Benjamin Larkin, the only other Gryffindors in our year, using any excuse to take points from them. It was all quite strange and my fellow Gryffindors as well as Leanne and Kieran had all commented on it.
"Speaking of which, we'd better get going Zac," I addressed my fellow first year, "I really don't want another detention."
"Katie Bell, you need to be instructed in the art of mischief making," Fred said, shaking his head in mock despair.
"One detention is enough for me!" I protested, standing up.
"You two had better be careful," Angelina chimed in, "You wouldn't want to be thrown off the Quidditch team, because you weren't making the grades or because you missed too many practices because you had detention."
"Charlie wouldn't kick us off the team!" Fred protested.
"Face it, he'd be happy to be rid of you," Angelina snorted.
"See you after class Angie," I butted in before Fred could respond and the two could get into another argument, "meet you in the Entrance Hall?"
"Yeah, see you then," Angelina agreed.
"Charlie would never get rid of us," George said firmly, as I slung my bag over my shoulder, "We're the best Beaters in Gryffindor!"
"I don't know," Angelina replied as Zac and I walked away, "Taylor Peters was pretty good at trials!"
"That third year?" Fred cried in outrage.
"We are far better than him!" George agreed.
I caught Zac's eye and we smiled, knowing that Angie was just riling them up. I'd never tell them, their heads were big enough already, but they were definitely the best Beaters in a long time. Their way of communicating without speaking made them a deadly, unstoppable team.
Potions passed uneventfully, as usual, the double period was used for a practical. We had begun work on the Draught of Living Death, although the last steps in the brewing and the nature of the potion meant First Years could not complete the draught, Snape was using the earlier steps and ingredients to show us how to prepare ingredients and illustrate some of the most common combinations of ingredients. I found the theory interesting, but the practical was mundane, there's no fun in brewing if you know exactly what is going to happen!
Snape avoided Zac and my table, but took a total of twenty two points from Benjamin and McLaggen over the course of the double period. Mainly from McLaggen.
When the bell rang Zac and I parted ways, he for Gryffindor Tower and I for the Entrance Hall to meet Angelina. I arrived to find her already waiting, leaning against the wall, a scowl on her face.
"Hi, I hope you haven't had to wait long," I greeted her warily.
She perked up a bit when she saw me, which was a good thing, because you really didn't want to get on the wrong side of Angelina Johnson's temper.
"No, just some Hufflepuff idiot wanting to know why I was loitering by his Common Room," she said, pushing off the wall and following me down the stairs to the Basement corridor, "I informed him that there were other far more interesting things down this corridor than the Hufflepuff Common Room."
"I'm sure you did," I said with a trace of amusement, coming to stop before the large painting of the fruit bowl.
Two Hufflepuffs sent us curious looks as they passed, but Angelina's glare sent them on their way without comment. I waited until they had disappeared up the stairs before reaching out and tickling the pear. Angelina and Alicia had to do a lot of wheedling, pleading and threatening before the Weasley Twins had finally revealed the location of the Hogwarts Kitchens, last year. Apparently it had included a lot of blackmail and the very topic made both twins quite uncomfortable. The pear transformed into a green door handle, I pushed open the portrait and climbed through, followed by Angelina.
The cacophony of clanking pots, and squeaky voices immediately greeted us. As always the size of the room surprised me, it was the exact shape of the Great Hall, with the five tables set out in the same places. Around the walls House Elves worked steadily preparing for dinner which would start very soon. However, even though there was clearly work to be done, five elves came to surround Angelina and I, greeting us happily and wanting to know if we were hungry, one offered us a basket of scones, while another ushered us to a table.
"How can Honey help misses?" One asked in a high, squeaky voice, fisting her tea cosy anxiously.
"Hello Honey," I began with a smile, "I'm Katie and this is-"
"Angelina," she cut in.
"-and it's our friend Alicia's birthday on Sunday and we were wondering if you wouldn't mind making a cake for her please, if it's not too much trouble of course?"
The house elf stared at us wide eyed for a moment, then nodded her head wildly,
"Of course miss, Honey would be honoured!"
Angelina and I shared a relieved look,
"Thank you so much!" we said together.
"What sort of cake does misses want?" The elf asked, looking up at us with wide watery eyes.
Angelina and I exchanged another glance,
"A surprise?" Angelina asked hesitantly.
I nodded, Honey looked very excited at the thought and it would be nice for her to have some fun.
"We're trusting you Honey," I said, smiling down at her, "I'm sure you'll make an amazing cake!"
The little elf swelled with pride,
"Honey will do her best miss!" She promised, bobbing her head.
When Angelina and I left the kitchens some time later we were clutching all sorts of different foods the elves had pressed upon us.
xxxXxxx
"On the count of three," I whispered to Angelina.
"One, two, three - HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICIA!"
Alicia sat bolt upright, blinked, then broke into a smile,
"Aw, thanks guys."
Angelina and I beamed back at her and climbed onto the bed to sit on either side of her.
"Happy Birthday," I repeated, handing Alicia my present, "Sorry, I'm terrible at wrapping presents," I added when I saw Alicia eyeing the amount of spell-o-tape I'd used.
"It's from both of us," Angelina added.
"Technically; Angie made it happen, that's why I wrapped it."
Both my friends laughed at my guilty expression. After a bit of effort, Alicia managed to open it and gasped.
"Thank you so much!" she cried, reaching out to hug us both, before pulling the hoodie out.
Alicia may have a special place in her heart for the Holyhead Harpies, (I mean which Quidditch mad girl wouldn't?) but her home team was the Appleby Arrows. Through her family's connections in the Quidditch league, Angelina had managed to get one of the starting teams' warm up hoodies for Alicia. I had to admit, they had good taste in uniform. It was pale blue with the silver arrow logo embroidered on the left breast. Across the back Angelina had gotten Alicia's Gryffindor number, 12, printed with the word 'Spinnet' underneath in silver block letters. I'd had the idea of trying to get the uniform, but Angie was the one who wrote off to her family and through them different sources and managed to get her hands on one.
Alicia, pulled it on at once, gasping at how warm and soft it was, before declaring that it was her new favourite hoodie. Honestly between the three of us, we could open a shop that sold only that particular style of jumper, we all had a special love for the comfort they offered.
Alicia barely stopped smiling all day. The boys joined us at breakfast and we spent the morning having a rather large snow ball fight. The teams were rather evenly matched at first, with us three girls working well together, all the Quidditch practice made us rather accurate throwers too, but the twins, Lee and Zac were formidable opponents. Well the twins were. Zac managed to ambush me a few times, and Lee got Angie right in the face, but after Fred and George had had their way with us, all five of us were soaking wet and had had to dig ourselves out of a snow drift.
"You're supposed to be on our team!" Lee grumbled, "You could have left Zac and I out of your prank!"
"Oh no, Jordan!" Angie grinned mischievously, "If I'm wet and cold, so are you!"
Then she managed to stuff a handful of snow down the back of his shirt,
"That's what you get for throwing a snowball at my face!"
The twins roared with laughter as Lee let out a rather high pitched squeal, ineffectively patting his back and squirming uncomfortably. I chuckled, smiling at Angie's self satisfied smile.
"I don't know," Alicia stage whispered to Angie, "I think it's Fred and George that need to be punished!"
"I agree!" Lee scowled at the pair, who were wiping tears from their eyes and grinning merrily.
He tackled both twins simultaneously to the ground, which I thought was rather impressive and Alicia assisted him in shovelling snow on their faces, giggling as they spluttered and tried to sit up. Angelina plonked herself down on Fred's torso and wagged her finger at him, reprimanding him in constant stream for everything from his recent prank to the colour of his socks. Zac laughed beside me at the blank look on Fred's face as he stared at her and I grinned, bending down to scoop up a handful of snow and approach Zac menacingly. He sent me a look of fake terror and took off at a run for the school, with me sprinting after him, cackling like a mad woman.
He stopped after a bit and I easily caught up to him. I was unprepared, however, for him to grab me around the waist as I approached and shove me into a drift of snow, laughing madly. Damn he was stronger than he looked.
"You're going to regret that Simmons," I said sternly, trying to hold back a smile as I struggled out of the snow.
Zac grinned and held out a hand to help me up,
"Probably."
We all traipsed inside after that to change clothes and warm up. Alicia moaned a little bit saying that we'd missed lunch, but George easily reassured her saying we'd stop by the kitchens. Angelina and I encouraged her to have a nice hot shower, before hurriedly changing our own clothes and racing down to the Common Room. Zac and Lee accompanied us to the Kitchens, while the twins waited for Alicia.
"This is going to be awesome!" Angelina squealed as we entered the basement corridor, "She's going to love it! I just know she will!"
We were just about to tickle the pear and enter the kitchens when Leanne and her two female dorm mates turned the corner. I groaned loudly, if Tamsin ruined my good mood, she was going to get an earful.
"Katie!" Leanne cried, "Oh hi Zac," she smiled at the older two Gryffindors too.
"Hi Leanne," I said, smiling at her, before acknowledging her companions with a curt nod, "Ella, Appleby."
Ella waved somewhat awkwardly and Tamsin wrinkled her nose,
"What are you doing here Bell? This is a Hufflepuff Corridor."
"Sightseeing," I replied pleasantly enough.
Zac snorted slightly beside me, and nudged me with his elbow,
"We just wondered what was down this corridor," he said politely, "We haven't been down here before."
"We have much better things to do than try and break into the Hufflepuff Common Room anyway," Angelina said with a haughty flip of her hair.
Leanne and Ella looked a little offended, but Appleby just sneered,
"Just like I have much better things to do than talk to brainless Gryffindors. Let's go Ella, Leanne."
"Would you look at that," I snapped, "She is capable of coherent speech, I wouldn't have been surprised if her speech was impaired by all the gunk on her face."
Zac sighed exasperatedly beside me and Leanne shot me a warning look,
"That's not very nice Katie," she said sternly.
"You're such a b-"
"Look Ladies," Lee cut in drowning Appleby's indignant reply, "I'm sure we all have much better things to be doing, so how about you Hufllepuffs hurry along and we'll leave you and your corridor alone?"
"Yeah," Angelina scowled, "Beat it!"
Leanne looked rather hurt and stared at me sharply, lingering after Appleby and Ella flounced off,
"She's my friend Katie, you could at least try and be polite."
I sighed, feeling guilty,
"She's not exactly polite to me either Leanne."
"I know," she said sadly, "But I thought you were the better person."
She held my eye for a second then hurried after her friends. I scowled after her, annoyed, it wasn't all my fault, Angelina had been rude too and Tamsin Appleby was no saint! I was irritated even more by the guilt I was feeling, okay so maybe I shouldn't have said that about her make-up, but I hadn't started it! A part of me wondered if Leanne had been more hurt by the condescending way Angelina and Lee spoken, and that I had almost encouraged it.
Sighing, I shoved it from my head. I'd apologise to Leanne later, right now, we had a party to set up!
xxxxXxxxx
"The cake looks amazing, Honey," I told the elf standing before me, "You've done an incredible job, you should be really proud of yourself!"
It did too. It was a double layered chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and small broomstick adornments made of a shimmery silver icing on top. There was a pale blue and silver number '13' candle in the middle of the cake ready to be lit. Not only did it look amazing, but it smelt divine and there was probably enough of it to feed all of Gryffindor.
"And I'm sure it will taste great too," Angelina added kindly, "Thank you."
"Misses are too kind," the little elf said, but her shoulders straightened and she seemed to swell at our praise, "Honey had help though, she hopes Misses don't mind, but Honey's friend Tallie helped to decorate Miss Spinnet's birthday cake. Honey and Tallie also made some other food for Misses too…"
She showed us a small spread of party food, that had been set up off in the corner, blue and silver balloons and streamers had also been used to decorate and Lee and Zac were just levitating a banner reading: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALICIA!" into place.
"Thank you so much Honey, you've outdone yourself," I said, rather impressed.
"Everything looks amazing," Angeline agreed, "I'm sure Alicia will really appreciate it and Katie and I are very grateful to you and Tallie."
I nodded my agreement, before we said goodbye to the elf and hurried to help Lee and Zac who had gotten themselves in a bit of a predicament. Hopefully Alicia was having a long shower!
xxxxXxxxx
"Katie!" Alicia called, "You have to try some of this!"
Her straight, golden brown hair was still slightly damp from her recent shower, but her cheeks were flushed and eyes bright with excitement. She'd been blown away by the cake and food the house elves had provided as well as the out of the way corner of the kitchens we'd set up and decorated for her.
"Fred and George bought it," she sang, coming to stand over Zac and I, and offering us each a bottle, "It's butterbeer!"
"Have you not had butterbeer before?" Zac asked, sounding shocked, as he gratefully accepted the bottle.
"Muggle raised, remember," I smiled, "thanks Alicia."
Angelina drifted away from where the other boys were eating their third slice of birthday cake, to sit down against the wall with Zac and I, she was holding a half empty bottle of the stuff,
"You'll like it," she said with certainty, sipping her own, "you'd have to be mad not to!"
I watched as Zac popped the top off his bottle, and took a swig, grinning,
"I can't believe muggles don't have butterbeer," he murmured, eyes dancing, "You've been missing out Katie!"
I smiled and opened my bottle,
"Cheers," I offered to the three watching me, then hesitant took a sip, then a larger gulp. Damn this stuff was good!
"Like it?" Alicia laughed.
"Yes!"
"I told you so," Angie grinned with satisfaction as I took another large gulp, then her eyes locked on something over my shoulder and she stood up, scowling, "Oh no! You do not need a fourth slice of cake Lee Jordan! I don't care if you're a 'growing boy' or not, that's just greedy!"
I snickered as she stormed over to the second year boys, who had frozen in the act of cutting more cake up, looking eerily similar to young children caught by their mothers with a hand in the cookie jar.
"So what do muggles drink instead?" Zac asked me a moment later.
"Well there's a few different types of sodas and things - wait is this alcoholic?" I addressed the question both him and Alicia, who had just sat down beside me, glancing guiltily down at my almost half empty bottle.
"Only very slightly," Alicia assured me, "About half of what muggle beer is. You'd have to drink quite a few to get drunk."
"How many is quite a few?" I asked curiously.
Alicia looked thoughtful, but it was Zac who answered,
"Four or five for you maybe," he said, eyeing my small frame, "but don't worry about it, you've eaten food and I doubt Fred and George brought more than enough for one each."
I nodded and took a smaller sip,
"Well, muggles have this drink called coca-cola, it's amazing, I'd say it's almost as good as this-"
Alicia gasped in horror,
"You're a Coca-Cola lover?" she demanded, "How are we even friends!"
"Wha- wait! Don't tell me you like Pepsi?" I asked in disgust, "Alicia! Pepsi is so American!"
"So is Coca-Cola!" she protested, "And Pepsi is way better!"
"It's not," I said to Zac, "She's delusional, Coca-Cola tastes far better, and it was created first! Pepsi just copied it!"
"It's my birthday," she argued imperiously, "you're not allowed to speak of that brand!"
I rolled my eyes,
"Fine, but we are conducting a blind tasting on our uneducated Pure-Blood friends and then you'll see which brand is better!"
"You are so on!" she smirked, holding out her hand, "And how about we raise the stakes! The loser has to drink only the other brand of cola for a year?"
"Agreed," I grinned, and shook her hand, "May the best cola win!"
I looked over at Zac who had his eyes narrowed in confusion, seeing me look, he shook his head, and said decidedly,
"You're both mental."
"But you love me and it's Alicia's birthday, so you have to put up with us," I said, smiling winningly.
He blushed, but assumed a long suffering look,
"I should have run when I had the chance " he said mournfully.
I just smiled, thinking that I probably still would have chased him. After all chasing was what I did best.
xxxxXxxx
Thanks for reading! I love reviews!
-IL