Thunder pounded the castle roof, and all the occupants were spending their Friday night cosy inside the school common rooms and dorms. The storm was so bad that even the stone gargoyles that littered the rooftops were gripping their platforms in fear of being blown away.

Katie and Crystal sat in their empty dorm. Both girls were slumped together on Katie's bed with the curtains drawn for privacy. They were discussing the topic of the year, boys. Well, Crystal was. Katie wasn't. She was still hung up on Fred, beautiful, gorgeous, totally out of her league, Fred. She sighed not listening to her friend blathering on about a really attractive 7th year who winked at her.

'You're gone into Weasley land again aren't you?' It wasn't unkind, in fact Crystal said it with such sympathy that Katie wondered how much of a lovesick loser she was.

'That obvious?' she muttered back bringing up a pillow to bury her face in. Crystal smiled softly as she heard the muffled groan push its way through the fabric. She placed a gentle hand on her friend's shoulder, applying slight pressure to encourage her to remove herself from the pillow.

'Tell me something I don't understand, why only Fred?'

'Huh?'

'Why do you only like Fred? Why not George?'

Katie pondered the question briefly.

'Well, Fred is Fred. He's different to George, so the idea of dating either one is different as well. Dating Fred is like a dream, it makes me feel all tingly, dating George is weird and gross,' she grimaced. 'Don't get me wrong, I love the guy in a totally platonic way, but the idea of kissing him freaks me out. They're twins in looks but not in personality, and I guess that is what changes it for me. Anyway it doesn't really matter, I wouldn't be able to get either of them.' Katie smiled sadly as she realised the truth she had just put into words.

'Sorry, that sucks.' They weren't exactly words of comfort but they somehow made Katie feel better any way.

The next day was the day that everything changed.

Coming down to breakfast with Crystal, they went to join their group. Katie seated herself between Crystal and Alicia like normal and spooned a large serving of bacon onto her plate.

'Hi guys,' she said as she bent down to scoop a bit of bacon off of the floor. As she came back up she realised that there had been no answer. She stared in silence upon reappearing.

Everyone had left the table and were walking away down the table in stony silence. Only Crystal remained beside her looking as confused as she was. To their left the plates of food had been abandoned, still half full. The two girls looked at each other in confusion.

Wordlessly they leapt to their feet and began to pursue their friends. They caught up to them in the entrance hall, slightly out of breath from trying to catch up.

'Wait guys, what are you doing?' Katie received no answer only five cold stares and one tinged with hurt.

'Why are you mad at us?' Crystal's voice trembled as she looked back into angry eyes. Angelina's softened as she saw the trembling Faye's reaction.

'We're not mad at you Crys, we're mad at her.' The eyes turned to Katie and she looked back in confusion.

'What? Why?'

Instead of a response, Fred just stuck a hand into his robes. When he retracted it he was holding a small black square. He tossed it at her violently and she only caught it, instead of getting hit in the face by it, because of her chaser reflexes. She glanced at it and then at Fred in shock.

'Leave us alone Katie, you're two-faced and a bitch. Go find friends who can put up with you because I know that I for one can't even look at you right now.' And with those biting words he stomped off down the hallway with the others following. Katie didn't notice Fred's shoulders slump down in pain as he practically ran away. She definitely didn't notice the single tear of betrayal that slid down his cheek.

Instead she was focusing on running. Running as far away as she could.

She ignored the anguished cries that Crystal threw after her and sprinted as hard and fast as she could. Eventually she found herself in a cubical of the girl's toilets with strands of hair plastered to her face by the free flowing tears. She sunk down to the ground grasping her robes in distress.

Something plastic hit the tiled floor and the sound shocked Katie out of crying if only briefly. Peering through bleary, stinging eyes, Katie saw the black box that had been thrown at her by Fred. The crying resumed as she remembered the harsh words that he had spoken, the even harsher things that the words meant. She reached blindly for the box and brought it up to eye level.

I had a series of buttons on it labelled from 1 to 10. A little green light flashed beneath the button marked 1. Full of apprehension Katie pressed the button and a voice filled the air. It was a voice she recognised all too well.

It was her own.

'…George is weird and gross.' Katie had stopped crying, she was too shocked to cry. She pressed the button again. And again. She just kept pressing the button unable to believe the situation. She felt like someone was going to jump out and yell 'JUST KIDDING!' and then everyone would laugh because there was way that this was happening. But it was.

How was it that five small words out of context could cause so much trouble?

Been a while I know. Not that good I know. Still fun to write though.