Food for thought... I was thinking what my favorite couple to read is. (Rose/Scorpius at the moment). What if someone said they were going write about one pairing, had a surprising twist, and the couple ended up with other people. That would be so evil! I wouldnt do that, but at the same time, I wonder if the writer could set up the plot in a way that would make the readers want the new couple in the end... It would be a challenge. Anyways, back to what's really important...

I look in the mirror one last time before heading out the door of my bedroom at my Grandmum's. I was already pronounced "perfect" by the hair stylist and Grandmum, but I had just needed to check my make up one more time. My blonde hair is styled in loose, perfect ringlet curls down my back. The baby blue dress is elegant with its sweetheart neck line, tight beaded bodice, and flowing skirt, but I still feel as if something is missing. It's times like these that I really miss my mum. Being the only girl is lonely, and wish I at least had her here for advice.

The New Years Ball is starting. All of the most powerful wizarding families will be here. Oh joy. My Grandparents, Kevin, Aunt, Uncle, along with cousins Chris, Zach, Dan, and Nate are already lined up near the entry. The receiving area is the most boring part of the entire night. Family after family I must make small talk with...

"KATIE!" Zach yells from the end of the line as I'm making my way down the steps.

I glance at my Grandmum and smile at him in a polite way. As soon as Grandmum looks away I wink at him and begin to walk as quickly as I can over to him. Many families are starting to arrive and I smile a greeting at them as I pass them. Tonight is a night full of friendly smiles I don't really mean. I stop and give an extra warm welcome to Mrs. Wood because she is one of the least snobby women here tonight, and I actually enjoy talking to her. My Grandmum gives me a look for being late. I excuse myself and make my way to the end of this boring receiving line.

As soon as I'm in my place at the end my cousin Zachary closest to me in age and proximity turns to me with a huge smirk. He lifts me up and twirls me around obnoxiously, "I've missed you Katie! We were sorry we missed Christmas. Kevin gave us a hard time, and told us how sad you were."

I smile at him and give him another hug, "All will be forgiven when you dance with me tonight. I hope you had fun with your other family in Italy though."

He frowns because he hates dancing, but knows better than to protest. "You're lucky you're a girl and can take extra time to get ready. You probably missed over 30 families and you won't even get in trouble."

I look at him with my eyebrow raised, "Is Grandmum trying to set you up with every man she thinks would be a suitable husband? You boys have it easy in some areas. Remember that.."

I smile hello to my other cousins, but besides Zach, who is only 2 years older than me, I don't hang out with them much. They are the serious Ravenclaw types, which my Grandmum loves immensely. I think it's a little boring and feel bad for Kevin, because he has to hang out with them and is constantly compared to them. Zach is most like Kevin, and we get along splendidly.

Zach and I chat while we do our time in the receiving line. We compare it to jail time, but it's not nearly as bad as azkaban. Once we are finally released, he keeps his end of the promise and begins to dance with me. He's a wonderful dancer, and I have no idea why he hates doing it so much. I think he likes to be a rebel like Kevin.

"What's this I hear about you and Diggory? I'm only gone one year, and you finally decide to give up on Wood." Zach jokes, but I can tell he's trying to read my response. We had been pretty close when he was at Hogwarts, and the only member of my family that knows about my crush on Oliver. He was supportive, but didn't talk to Oliver much because they were in different houses.

I glance away and blush, "I'm still working on the getting over him part. Oliver has a girlfriend so that helps, but it's not like Cedric and I are official. We have only been on 2 hogsmead visits and study together in the library. It's not super serious." Zach nods, but doesn't continue to ask, so I decide it's his turn for the hard question. "What about you? Do you have any ladies in your life? You stopped in the city of love for a few days before you came home, oui?"

He shakes his head, "Nothing to report in the love department. Work at the ministry department is going well though. I should get a promotion in the next couple of weeks. Boring stuff."

I shake my head, "I love to hear about what you're doing Zach."

He nods but asks me about if I'm still thinking the path of healing. I tell him all about my time in the hospital wing and he seems rather impressed. "We Bells can do more than play qudditich when we set our mind to it." I wink at him as I do my best impersonation of Kevin.

Suddenly I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn to see Cedric. "May I cut in Mr. Montressor, Miss Bell?"

I smile and nod, "I'll find you later Zach. Don't have too much fun."

I turn back to Cedric and find him smiling at me, "You look beautiful Katie."

I blush, "Thank you Cedric. You look quite handsome yourself." He smiles and we begin discussing our breaks, but I can tell something is on his mind. I give him a knowing look, "What's on your mind Diggory?"

He sighs, "I'm just feeling a lot of pressure from our families. Don't get me wrong. I love hanging out with you, and you're attractive. But I don't know if I can handle our Grandmum's plotting and your brother and his friend's glaring at me. I'm just curious. Did you ever tell anyone in your family that we were dating, or did they assume? I never told my dad and he is already practically announcing our engagement. I'm so sorry."

I laugh, "I never said anything. I promise. I feel like they're trying to push us together as well. Making it clear to my family we are just going to be friends is probably the best idea."

Cedric smiles at me, "Katie you really are the perfect girl. If I wasn't afraid Wood would kill me, I would definitely try to go after you. Especially after that kiss.. But alas, I'm going to be the bigger man."

I look at him in shock, "What about Oliver?"

Cedric looks behind me and then whispers in my ear, "That reaction from him was more than for your brother. Remember that." I look up at him to see if his expression is joking, but he is completely serious. He takes a step back, "Alicia and her mum have been trying to get your attention for some time. I guess it's time to share you. See you later Katie."

Well, that was unexpected. I make my way across the dance floor to where Alicia and her mum are sitting. "KATIE! You look FABULOUS!" Alicia beams at me and hugs me. I give her mum a hug as well.

"Thanks! You two look great as well. Sorry I didn't stop by yesterday, but Grandmum had me helping with last minute preparations. You know how she is." I smile at them as we begin to talk about the gossip of the night and what people are wearing. Now this is comfortable conversation. Even as Mrs. Spinnet asks me a billion questions about Cedric, I would rather be here than making small talk with random people. They both seem happy that Cedric and I decided to just be friends. Which is probably because they both think Oliver and I will end up together, but I know better.

We are just talking about Alicia's cousin's wedding when I am swept into the arms of Timmy, "Sorry ladies, but you've been hogging her. She owes me a dance!" I barely get the chance to say goodbye before he starts twirling me around the dance floor. I can't stop laughing, and am soon begging for him to let us rest and get some punch. He leads me over to his aunt, "Stay here until I come back with the drinks. It was hard enough to find you earlier."

I salute at him, "Yessir!" He rolls his eyes at me, and I stick my tongue out at him before I turn to Mrs. Wood. "I hope you are enjoying yourself this evening Mrs. Wood, and that the men in your life have been dancing with you."

She laughs, "My husband has never been fond of it, but Oliver and Timothy have always been quite graceful. I even had the chance to dance with your brother tonight."

I laugh with her, "Really? And here I thought they were only good at qudditich."

Timmy pops up next to his aunt just as she was about to reply, "I take great offense to that Kathryn."

He hands me a drink, "Thanks, but you and I both know that you love qudditich more than-"

Suddenly Mr. Diggory puts his arm around my shoulder, "There you are Miss. Bell! I've been looking for you all evening! I can't praise my son enough on his choice in you. I was just talking with your Grandmum about what a perfect pureblood wife you will be someday." I can see that he has been drinking and I feel very uncomfortable. "..Bringing the families together will make the Grandparents immensely happy. I haven't seen such a smart match for quite some time. Dont you agree Wood?"

Timmy's jaw is clenched, and I can tell he doesn't agree. I hope he doesn't hurry off and tell Kevin about this. That could be bad, "I'm not sure my opinion matters. I should think you should be discussing this matter with your son."

Mr. Diggory laughs and claps him on his back before he hurries away mumbling something about his son. I look to Mrs. Wood and Timmy with a blush on my cheeks that won't go away. I clear my throat, "Well that was.. quite flattering.. I hope you two are even half as happy with Oliver's girlfriend as Mr Diggory is apparently with me."

Mrs. Wood's sympathetic smile turns to a frown, and Timmy just looks confused, "What girlfriend?"

I look between the two in confusion, "Why Olivia of course." Neither of them acts like they know who I'm talking about. "She's a seventh year in Ravenclaw, and quite pretty.. but I'm sure you've heard of her." I look at the two to find them both shaking their heads and looking at each other communicating silently. "Oh dear, I didn't mean to let the cat out of the bag. I'm sure he doesn't realize he forgot to tell you! I feel terrible for breaking the news. You must find him, and make him tell you all the details. They are quite the couple. I haven't seen him all evening, but maybe Kevin has."

Mrs. Wood is looking all around the room, "It was wonderful talking to you Dear. If you will excuse me.. I have to talk with my son."

She hurries away to find Oliver, and I turn towards Timmy, "How odd that he didn't tell his mum."

Timmy is looking at me with a frown on his face, "He actually didn't say anything to me either.

I frown, "Huh, really? And you two are so close. Maybe he didn't because she was so rude to me and thought you would always take my side since I'm basically your baby sister. I have no idea, but have you seen Kevin? I haven't danced with him yet tonight." I can feel myself rambling AGAIN, but I just can't stop because I feel so awkward.

"She was mean to you?" Timothy asked looking a little annoyed.

"Oh no! She um, said sorry about it later. Well Oliver said sorry for her, but still. It was a.. a misunderstanding, and Cedric now helps me with arithmancy. Angelina was the one REALLY mad at Oliver, well and Alicia and the twins. No harm done! Well besides the fact that now Mr. Diggory thinks I'm going to marry his son. That was terribly awkward, wasn't it?" I let out a nervous giggle when i realize I'm still rambling, but Timmy doesn't seem to notice and just glares behind me. "Who are you..." I look behind me to see that Oliver is in deep conversation with him mum, and Timmy is glaring at him. He starts to walk over there, but I grab his arm, "Timmy I didn't mean to get him in trouble. I just figured he had told you since they have been dating since November."

"WHAT?" Timmy looks at me in shock.

I look at him in confusion. "I just can't say anything right. I'm sorry?"

Timmy starts to laugh, "You have done nothing wrong katie. Oliver is just messing everything up. After everything we talked about... Go find Kevin and make him dance. He is somewhere pouting his girlfriend couldn't make it tonight."

I practically run away, begin to circle the room for Kevin, and try to forget all the problems I just caused. I am stopped frequently by many of my Grandmum's friends and don't find him ANYWHERE. I do happen to see Oliver pull Cedric aside and start to talk to him. I feel a little nervous about what he could possibly be saying, and can't look away from the intense look on Oliver face as he talks to Cedric.

I give up finding my brother and grab another cup of punch. Out of the corner of my eye I see Cedric walking towards me with a smirk on his face. I give him a wary look as he gets closer. "I hope he didn't bring up qudditich... He can be rather agreeable if you like the same teams. Maybe professional-"

Cedric leans forward and kisses my cheek, "Oh no, we had other more important issues to discuss. It has been brought to my attention that my father has had too much to drink. I hope he did not offend you in any way tonight." He gives me an apologetic smile.

I shake my head, "Oh no, I'm fine. Really."

He grabs my hand and brings it to his lip never breaking eye contact as he bows, "Promise?"

I smile at him questioningly, "Promise. But this isn't doing a very good job of showing our grandparents that we are just friend's. What exactly are you doing?"

He smirks, "This is me pissing off Wood. It's quite fun actually. I might decide to make it my new hobby. Have a great rest of your evening Miss Bell. I must be leaving to take my father home, but will see you back at school."

Suddenly Zach is at my side, "Good seeing you Diggory!" He takes my hand and leads me away. "Well that was interesting, but I had to get you away before midnight." He searches my confused face and smirks, "You have no idea."

I put my hands on my hips, "Not you too! I feel like everyone is speaking in code all of a sudden, and I'm tired of it! First Timmy and Cedric and now you!" I hurry out the balcony doors, and step outside for some air.

Not even a minute later Alicia comes hurrying out the door after me, "Oh this is the best ball since my first kiss with your cousin Zachary years ago!" Alicia giggled and came over to hug me. The music has begun to play auld lang syne, and everyone is yelling happy new year.

I look over to my best friend, and know I wouldn't want to start another year without her always there for me. "Come on! Let's go out to Kevin's old fort beyond the garden. I've had more than I can handle of the people in there tonight!"

She looks at me like I'm crazy, "What about you're dress? I was hoping I could borrow it some time."

I laugh, "I promise to not get it dirty, now come on! I want to tell you about my conversations tonight. I'm so confused."

Alicia giggled, "There was quite a show tonight.. even if you didn't see it."

I glare at her and take off running through my grandparent's garden. It's basically a maze with exotic flowers where I played a great deal during my childhood. I reach the tree first, and begin to hurry up the ladder. I sit down and wait for Alicia to follow me up. She sits across from me and smirks. "It seems a lot smaller in here.. What's that look on your face for?"

She lays back on the floor and sighs, "I was hoping Oliver would finally get the nerve to go dance with you just before midnight, but alas... Cedric went over there and he didn't. How he got sorted in to gryffindor is beyond me. Although, I think it's a good thing he wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff. That could have caused some major problems." She begins to giggle.

I roll my eyes. I can tell she's had a bit to drink, "Okay that was all well and nice but the real question is.. why hadnt Oliver told his mum and Timmy about Olivia?" I had expected Alicia to freak out at the news, but her smirk just got more Weasley like. It was quite scary. If she had red hair she could have been related to one of the twins. I pout, "Okay, what do you know that I don't?"

She looks at me with so much excitement that I'm a little surprised, "Okay Katie. I'm going to be honest. I listened to a conversation."

I look at her expectantly, "Between whom?"

She starts to giggle again, "Timmy and Oliver."

I take in account her giddiness and assume she thinks it means Oliver likes me. Well, she's thought that all along, but I need to remember that she's drunk and this doesn't prove anything. "And what were they saying?"

She thinks for a moment and finally says, "Well Timmy was yelling at Oliver."

"What?! When?"

"Yeah, something about how Timmy doesn't appreciate listening to Oliver when he's messing everything up and not even being honest about it." Alicia finishes like that should mean something to me.

"That makes no sense!" I roll my eyes and lean back on the floor. It's actually really cold out here. I hadn't thought this plan through before we came out here.

"I know it isn't much, but then Kevin joined them and they started talking about qudditich. It has to do with you though or they would have kept talking about it when Kevin got there."

I sigh, "Of course you can find Kevin. I couldn't find him all night! I didn't even get to dance with my brother."

Alicia looks so sad, "Really? He is so good looking... I would be so sad. Even i danced with him"

I start to laugh, "Alicia you are so drunk! Nothing you say can be taken seriously."

She sits up suddenly, "WAIT! not even what I heard? That's not fair Katie! I know Ang would believe me!"

I nod my head, "Yeah, well Ang believes what she wants to hear. What I want to hear is if you danced with any cute guys tonight?!"

Alicia starts to giggle and tells me about her evening. She got to have fun while I had to play host. I can tell she's starting to get tired as her stories become less frequent between yawns. I'm so distracted by my own thoughts that the tree house is silent for quite some time before I realize that Alicia has fallen asleep. I yawn and close my eyes wishing that it wasn't so cold and that I could fall asleep.

I must have drifted off, because next thing I knew there were male voices talking quietly as they made it up the ladder, "Just stop Tim. I'm already tired of hearing about it. I said I was sorry."

"Yeah well it's going to take a while before I forget this one. Anyways, I bet they're up here. Where else would they be? Kevin isn't worried, so I dont know why you are." Timmy sounds annoyed from the ground.

I sit up with a yawn as Oliver hauls himself into the little room, "Oh hey Kates, we've been sent by your Grandmum to look for you." He smirks at me and then yells down, "Go tell them I found the girls." He moves over in between Alicia and I. He hands me a blanket and lays one over Alicia. "Why did you guys leave so early?"

I cover myself up and lean my head on his stomach, "I needed some air. Once Alicia fell asleep I couldn't just leave her up here and I was too lazy to go back. Is my Grandmum mad?"

He laughs and leans lower against the wall, "I don't think she could ever be mad at you. I think she was afraid you were embarrassed by Mr. Diggory."

"Huh, I thought she would love that.." I yawn again and move my head to his shoulder to be closer to him, "It's so cold."

He puts his arm around me, "I know Kates, that's why I brought the blanket. What were you thinking coming out here?"

I open my eyes and look up at him, and am surprised to see him smiling down at me, "What were you thinking not telling your family about Olivia? I figured you had told them ages ago, and hope you know I wasn't trying to get you in trouble."

He frowns and looks away, "I was thinking it wasn't important, so I didn't tell them."

I sigh, "Dating someone seems pretty important to me."

Oliver doesn't respond for a while, so I decide to change the subject, "You know, we never danced Ollie. I think this is the first year I didn't dance with you and Kevin."

"Sorry Kates, you seemed busy. Maybe next year." He promises quietly as I feel myself falling asleep again.

Can you read between the lines and see what was happening? hmm?

~Grace