Disclaimer: I don't own…
Kind of ruff…
It was clear to everyone who knew James and Kitty well that something had happened between them. The atmosphere was always tense and awkward, and soon enough one of them would leave the room quickly.
Their friends did not know what to make of it as Kitty did not want to talk to anyone about it and acted quite strange.
"Kitty, what's wrong?" Rose asked when she walked into the dormitory on that fateful day,
"Nothing," she said distractedly, causing Lara and Rose to share a glance at their friend's unusual behaviour.
"Well, if you want to talk about it, we are always here." Said Lara softly and Kitty nodded, looking out of the window.
The day after, Kitty seemed more back to normal but something was still not quite right. She did not eat the amount of food she usually did, she battled even more to sleep and frequently looked over at James.
James was even more worrying. He also barely ate, barely slept too and did not completely focus in everything that was going around him. Fred, Albus and Jack was shocked at their friend's petty behaviour and tried to get the news out of him.
"So, mate how about we prank some of the teachers?" asked Fred, promoting James's favourite past time,
"Nah," shrugged James absentmindedly as he just stared straight ahead of him from his place on his bed.
"Mate, you've been like this for three days, what is going on?"
"Nothing," said James stubbornly,
"Does it have something to do with Kitty?" asked Jack, leaning over. James flinched, but did not answer.
Fred and Jack shared a look, they knew that Kitty had something to do with it and if James would not budge, they would see if she will spill the beans.
They cornered Kitty after dinner that night; she looked up at them like a deer caught in head lights, instead of her usual proud and strong demeanour.
"Kitty," began Fred softly, not wanting to scare her,
"Look, there is something going on with James, and we think that you know what…"
Kitty frowned,
"That is none of your business," she muttered and tried to push past them, but they did not let her go just yet,
"No," said Jack a bit more forcefully, he was never one for patience,
"We want to know what is going on!"
"Nothing!" said Kitty, Jack just scoffed, not believing her,
"If Potter does not want to tell you, then I am not your little information booth." She said angrily, she pushed past them with more force this time, breaking free and walking away.
"Damn," said Fred, glaring at Jack
The boys soon moved on to worry about other things, as there was nothing they could do. The girls continued to worry, but also occupied their time and thoughts with their continual lives.
Xxx
The last couple of days came slowly, torturing the poor Hogwarts students. The last day dawned upon them as a sign of salvation, namely, holidays.
"Pass me some chocolate frogs?" asked Lara as she, Kitty and Rose was sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, steaming their way home.
Rose passed her a few chocolate frogs, before she sat leaned back on the seat.
"So, plans for the holidays?" asked Lara, stripping the chocolate of its wrapping,
"Normal Weasley stuff," shrugged Rose, "I'm going to visit my muggle grandparents for a few days, though."
"Cool and we are visiting your house for an early-Christmas Eve dinner on the 22, right?"
"Yep," confirmed Rose, smiling, "and don't forget Grandma Weasley asked if you wanted to come for Christmas tea and stay a couple of days."
"Oh, yeah, I can come… it's going to be super!" laughed Lara and Rose agreed,
"What do you think, Kitty?" asked Rose and Kitty looked up, surprised,
"Oh, me? Right, sorry… lost in dream land. Um, let me see, I am just doing the usual routine with my family, blah-blah-blah… coming over to yours like you said," she nodded over to Rose, "and I can also come to the Burrow…"
"Nice!" said Rose, excitedly. They had to stop their talk, though, when the train stopped and they arrived at the platform.
"Bye!" said Rose, hugging Lara and Kitty tightly. The three then went their separate ways.
Xxx
"Mum!" called Rose down the stairs and soon enough she heard her mother answer,
"Yes, Rosie?"
"Will you come and help me with something, please?" she asked desperately.
After her mother had come up to inquire about her dilemma, they then stood at her cupboard looking for that perfect outfit.
"How about this nice dress?" asked her mother, pointing to a warm, pretty dress that was a deep red.
Rose frowned and shook her head,
"Mum, I'm not really the dress type… how about some skinny jeans and a nice top?"
"For a Christmas party, I don't think so."
"Fine, how about we compromise, a skirt and cute top?"
Hermione nodded, as Rose quickly went to change in her co-joined bathroom.
She was busy changing when her mother gasped,
"Oh, I forgot to tell you! Kitty's parents can't make it, so it is just her and her sister coming over."
"Oh, did they say why?"
"No, not really… honey, you look nice!" said Hermione as Rose walked out of her bathroom.
"Yeah," smiled Rose, spinning around.
"Let's go, before Dad does something stupid," and she dragged her gushing mother out of her room.
Xxx
"Harry!" said Ron relieved a couple of hours later. He was growing quite tiresome of his wife and daughter running around.
"It is like a mad house here!" he hissed and Harry nodded,
"Merlin, I know! I am so glad Ginny and Hermione decided to alternate turns in throwing Christmas parties, otherwise I would not have been able to survive!" he hissed back and the men nodded in silent agreement, walking over to Ron's study to "go over some work papers."
Hugo came down, but soon he and Lily went up to his room leaving James and Albus alone.
"Rosie!" said Albus and Rose walked in. After festive greetings, they all stood in awkward silence again, until the doorbell rang.
"Hey!" said a voice as soon as Albus opened the door. He laughed and hugged his girlfriend enthusiastically, pulling her to the side so that her family could come in.
After Lara's arrival, they moved into the sitting room to talk with each other more freely.
Rose kept checking her watch, as Kitty was fifteen minutes late. This was unusual, as she was by a rule, always early. When the doorbell rang again, Rose quickly ran to open the door. Immediately she was enveloped in a bear hug by Kitty.
"I've missed you to!" laughed Rose as she was nearly squeezed to death. Kitty laughed and hugged Lara tightly too. She greeted Albus as he came into her view, before she saw James. They both froze and just kind of looked at each other, lost.
"Karien!" said a voice behind Kitty and she immediately jumped in shock.
"Wat? O, jammer!" (What? Oh, sorry!) She said to someone behind her. James looked up, or rather down to see the girl that he had spotted in her photographs.
"This is my sister, Lee-Anne" Introduced Kitty to the twenty-year old. Like in the photo, Lee-Anne was short, probably around 5ft'3, a drastic comparison to her sisters 5ft'7. She had dark brown her that reached below her solders and toffee-brown eyes. She had light freckles, something that was not even a trace of on Kitty. While Kitty was a long and skinny type, Lee-Anne was more a pixy built.
Despite these differences, they had extreme similar facial features. He could see why he thought when he saw the photo that they could be mistaken for twins, there was just something about them that was similar.
Lee-Anne rolled her eyes at her sister and hugged Lara and Rose, who she knew.
"My fault that we are late," she laughed and Rose muttered,
"Weird how one of you is always super early, the other, super late!" The girls laughed some more.
Lee-Anne smiled knowingly when she was introduced to Albus and James, as if she already knew a lot about them.
"So, you all still in school, right?" she asked as they sat back down again. She sat next to her sister on the loveseat and looked at Albus and James when she asked her question.
James nodded but Albus elaborated, "Yeah, I'm in my sixth year and James is in his seventh. You did not go to Hogwarts, right?" asked Albus and Kitty and Lee-Anne launched into a joint description of the differences.
They immediately noted the difference in the two's accents, despite being sisters. When Lee-Anne talked, it was more of an English accent, being was closer to a British accent than to an American accent.
When Kitty talked, she had a twang of a different language that sometimes made her pronounce words in different ways. It was certainly unusual that two sisters who lived in the same house have that difference in their pronunciation, but more humour full that a worry.
They talked for another while, until Ron and Harry decided to join the small party. Harry jumped and Ron yelled in shock when he came into the living room and saw Kitty and a copy of her sitting on the next space.
Kitty and Lee-Anne laughed identically, "Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry, this is my sister Lee-Anne. Lee lee, this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."
Lee-Anne smiled at them as she got up and shook their hands.
Ron shook his head, muttering, "So bloody identical," before walking off to get a drink.
"Time for dinner!" called Hermione,
Xxx
The mindless chatter that was buzzing around the room was a great source of comfort for Kitty. The feeling of something that is present and the warmth that was provided by them was made Kitty feel safe.
Her bubble was burst when she looked up and straight into James's eyes. She quickly looked away, straight into her sister's eyes.
Xxx
After dinner everyone was sitting around the house, full, content and talking like there is no tomorrow.
Rose, Lara and Kitty disappeared up to Rose's room, growing bored of the adult's conversations. They were soon followed by Fred and Albus, dragging a disgruntled James behind them.
"Rose," whined Fred, "Why are your walls so pink? It is disturbing!"
"Hey, just because you do not like pink, does not mean others can't. And, actually, I am not so fond of it anymore so stop your whining."
"I am not whining!" said Fred, pretending to be shocked,
"Yeah, and pigs can fly!" retorted Rose,
"Get me some pigs and I'll make 'em fly!" said Fred, winking.
"Oh, and how will you do that?" asked Rose, playing along,
Fred leant in closer, whispering, "Magic," as if it was a great secret. Everyone laughed at this and the conversation drifted off.
"Girls are weird!" said Fred randomly after Rose said something to Lara which he did not understand.
"We are not, boys are!" said Lara, rolling her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I agree with Fred, especially on the whole argument of they do not always make clear what they want. What do we need a bloody encyclopaedia to understand you or something?" asked James, breaking his silent revenue.
Kitty rolled her eyes, "Just because some guys do not have brain cells to figure it out…"
"Oh, come on Black! For once in your life, just expand on that." said James, standing up and crossing his arms. Kitty stood up to and placed her hands on her hips,
"I was confused, okay! Damn, you think we are confusing… well, news flash Lara is right, boys aren't saints either! Am I not allowed a moment of doubting almost everything and just general confusion?" she asked him, clearly getting upset. James sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.
"We need to talk," and he grabbed her wrist, pulling out of the room before she could protest.
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