Disclaimer: Anything you recognise was invented by JK Rowling. No infringement intended.
This chapter's for Rob-Girl, … haha *laughs*
Hope you enjoy!! … All of you!
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-Katie-
It's quiet in the flat - Charlie's gone, and with him every tense thought, every scrap of hatred, every scrap of combat, fighting, and animosity. All gone. And I'm so, so happy about it. Slowly and tiredly, I go to my room, find my pyjamas, pull them on and let my hair down. It almost immediately goes out, rather than following the natural path of gravity, but, ho hum, life continues, and anyway, Oliver likes my hair like this.
As I sit down on the sofa, summon the cushions to either end and put my feet up, I yawn and stretch out.
Oliver left an hour ago, to go to training. The press are slowing down with me now, though the Howlers still come every day, the curses and Bubotuber Pus are still coming through the mail. I guess I'm never going to be able to relax alone, I have to be with someone to be safe, but I don't mind, as long as it's Oliver.
-Oliver-
Chocolate? It's in the box under my arm. Ice cream? In the bag. Her favourite flavour - cookie dough with strawberry swirls, and it's starting to grow on me too. Quietly, I knock on the front door. Katie answers minutes later, her hair all around her shoulders and down her back.
I kiss her in greeting; she almost swoons against me and falls against me, giggling.
"Hello gorgeous," I whisper into her ear, she giggles and pulls me down to her lips again. She's either very happy or slightly drunk… and she doesn't drink, so I suppose she's euphoric.
"How was training?"
"Boring." She smiles and sighs as she pulls the bag from my hands and takes it to the kitchen.
"Oh… well, on the plus side…" She pauses, "There is no plus side to today, is there?"
I have to shake my head. There's nothing at all to say. We can't be normal. There's no normality to the pair of us - she's four years my junior, practically lives in St. Mungo's - the length of time she's been in there since she's left Hogwarts? Probably half of her life.
"Come on," I whisper as she goes to get us a coffee. I take the kettle from her hands and send her to sit down. "It'll do itself…" I flick my wand and go to the phone. "What do you want for dinner?" She half shrugs.
"Nah… I dunno." She smiles at me and shrugs. "What do you want?"
-Katie-
He smiles at me and puts his arms around my waist. My heart flies into my chest and I feel elated at his touch. He murmurs something, I assume it's his request for dinner, and I look up at him, smiling. He shrugs, I nod.
"Chinese it is then." I smile and he goes to get changed.
Fourteen minutes later, I've got my feet up in Oliver's lap, and he's flicking through the paper. There's a knock at the door and I open it to see that delivery boy.
You remember the one. The story - the girl in the purple glasses. Pale, Stan Shunpike sort of character. The one that started all of this. All of this… awful… mess.
"You." Oliver rises and takes a step forward. "Katie… can you go and get the cash to… the money, please Katie-"
"Oliver, if you touch him," I whisper as I walk past, "I will walk out of that door and out of your life." He nods, a panicked look crossing his face. I lean into him and gently press my hand against my chest. He tenses slightly and I hear a laboured breath from him.
I'm getting good.
-x-
When I return, he's holding the food in his arms, staring angrily at the delivery boy. The three of us share a glance at the other two and I hand over the money.
"Oliver," I whisper as I take the food from him and close the door on the retreating delivery boy, "Do you think we'll ever be normal?"
"You asked me that earlier." He smiles as he summons some cutlery. He has never been good with chopsticks. "Of course we won't. We're naturally abnormal people."
"OK…" I smile awkwardly, "But… OK… is it ever going to get easier?" He frowns slightly, "Will you and I ever be able to go out, and nobody look at me like they want to kill me?"
"Maybe… later on." He presses his lips against my neck, I nod to myself and smile at him.
"It's always going to be hard, but… we'll be fine, won't we?" We all nod and he snogs me again.
The matter is settled. We'll be fine, we love each other. Life will never be the same, but did we ever want it to be?
We eat like we used to, playing stupid games, like who can hold their breath longest - still Oliver with the record of 1 minute, 44 seconds, pink faced and laughing, we have coffee, I conjure a cake and we sit and eat the whole thing.
"We haven't done this since… since… you battered the Cannons last season." He smiles at me, remembering that night.
"You got… you got beaten up that night."
"It never bothered me." He gives me a look that says you've got to be joking. "Honestly."
"Why was that, then? Because you knew your knight in shining armour would come and save you?" Do I inflate his ego by telling the truth, or do I lie to save myself?
"Because I knew my… my best friend in the whole world, because I knew he'd find me, and he'd look after me as long as I needed help." He places his hand on my waist and pulls me towards him.
He tastes like Sweet and Sour Sauce.
"Katie…" He looks at me seriously as I pull away, "Katie… you remember when… well… when we were in the graveyard and… well, what I said to your mum?" A tiny pause.
"Yeah. What about it?"
"We've been… well, skirting the issue," He breathes, his accent getting sexier with every second that passes, "And I wanted to ask you again."
"Ask me what?"
He takes a deep breath and goes into his pocket, crouches down and collapses to one knee.
"Essentially, I think you're beautiful, you understand me, you love me, help me and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife… again?"
-Oliver-
She stares at me, completely dumbfounded.
"You want to re-ask me to marry you?" She stutters eventually.
"Yes."
"Then Yes. Of course." She leans forward and kisses me on the lips. It's electrifying and I'm sure I lose control then. Her fingers slip through my hair and I push her back to the sofa.
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A/N: I hope you enjoyed it!!??
This was the double update as an apology for yesterday!
Haha! Hope you enjoyed it!
xxx