Love in Excess

A/N: This last chapter should perhaps be titled "Fluff in Excess" instead. Read on to see just how everything falls out for the girls…

A great big thank you to Wotan, who really deserves a rest after all this beta-ing! May everyone have as generous a reader.

Love in Excess 7: Passion's Progress

"Tranquillity now reigned in those hearts which lately heaved with various and disturbed emotions…" -E. Haywood

Katie had never known how exhilarating falling in love could be. Her crush on Cho had been exciting in its own way - always looking out for her between lessons and around the school, the thrill of their stolen moments together - but she'd never felt very sure of where she stood with Cho. With Hermione, Katie experienced for the first time the sensation of knowing the object of her adoration felt exactly the same way towards her. The smallest thing, from a note passed to her in the corridors to a quick smile from Hermione across the crowds of students moving between lessons, filled Katie with an unreasonable exuberance and made her happy the rest of the day.

She didn't even begrudge Angelina and Alicia their sneaking around with the Weasley twins, despite her initially hurt feelings at not being told of their plans. She'd returned to their room the night she and Hermione had found Helga's garden to find both girls still awake.

"Where have you been?" Alicia had asked. "As if I can't guess."

"Did you get detention? McGonagall found Alicia and George outside -"

"I know." Katie cut off Angelina tiredly. "She found Hermione and me, too."

Both her room-mates' eyes opened wider. "She did? What happened?" Angelina leaned closer from her perch on Alicia's bed.

Katie kicked off her shoes and sat down, suddenly exhausted. "Nothing. I told her Hermione had caught me out of bed, and McGonagall said the Gryffindor prefects will meet and decide on punishment for Alicia, George, and me."

"Lucky you, dating a prefect," moaned Alicia. "What do you think they're going to do to us?"

"Not much," predicted Angelina. "All the House prefects are friends with George - I don't think they're going to do anything much to him or to you. And Hermione certainly isn't going to give her own girlfriend detention."

"I don't know," countered Katie. "She can be a regular law-and-order type."

Now Alicia chimed in, "Katie, the girl is completely in love with you. Trust me, she's not going to give you detention."

Brightening, Katie said, "Yeah, you're probably right." Then she turned to Angelina and demanded, "What's going on with Fred sneaking up here? I ran into him on the stairs earlier. You guys could definitely get in trouble for that - if anyone catches you it won't matter how many prefect friends Fred has, they'll have to punish you."

"Do you really want me to spell out what's going on with him up here?" smirked Angelina, laughing as Katie blanched at the implication. "Don't worry - my virtue is still intact."

When Katie still didn't laugh, Angelina sighed and said, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you, but I knew you were meeting Hermione and it just seemed better if you didn't know. Like you said, she's a prefect and if it came up that you knew he was in here, well…"

"She knew anyway. She heard him talking to me on the stairs," Katie informed her. "And she didn't tell anyone," she added, as Angelina began to look worried.

"So where were you two all this time?" Alicia asked Katie.

Katie smiled and flopped back against her bed. "The most amazing place," she began, and told them all about the garden. Neither girl had heard of it, but a quick rifling through Alicia's copy of Hogwarts, A History revealed a small entry.

"You have to take us there," Angelina announced.

"It's girls-only," reminded Katie with a smile. "Sure you can bear being separated from Fred that long?"

"It'll do him good," scoffed Angelina, bouncing off Alicia's bed and over to her own. "Got to keep him on his toes."

**

Angelina's predictions were right; none of the Gryffindor prefects seemed inclined to punish their Housemates too seriously, and Alicia, George and Katie got off with merely having to give the common room a good cleaning. Granted, they had to do this without the aid of magic, but as Alicia and Katie pointed out, much of the mess present was due to George's (and Fred's) many experiments with exploding substances, and the girls made him do most of the work while they sat about, gossiping.

In her new state of euphoria, Katie never imagined that she was the subject of gossip herself. Had she known just who was talking about her, she would have been even more surprised: Harry and Ron had noticed the increasing frequency with which Katie had been spotted in the company of Hermione, and neither of them could quite work out why.

Harry was particularly puzzled. Also a prefect, he had watched in open-mouthed shock during their meeting as Hermione breezily accepted Lee Jordan's suggestion of making the errant seventh-years clean up the common room as punishment. He understood why Lee wouldn't want to come down too hard on his friends, but he couldn't begin to fathom why Hermione would suddenly display such leniency.

He decided to consult Ron one evening, asking "Have you noticed anything odd about Hermione lately?"

Ron looked up from Unfogging the Future. "Odder than usual, you mean?" he asked, glancing over at the next table where Hermione sat surrounded by stacks of books and scrolls of old parchment. "Look at her – she's been reading those old OWL papers since school started, and the exams aren't even until next term."

"I'm not talking about school," whispered Harry, anxious that Hermione not overhear them. "Think about it – she's hardly spent any time with us lately, or even Ginny. But she has been spending an awful lot of time with Katie and those seventh-years. And when they all got in trouble for being out of bed the other night, she didn't even try to punish them."

This last sentence did make Ron take notice. Putting his quill down, he stared first at Harry, then glanced again at Hermione, and finally looked around the room for Katie, Alicia and Angelina, none of whom were present. "Why would she spend time with them? All those girls talk about is Quidditch. And Fred and George," he added, rolling his eyes. Then his expression brightened and he said, "Maybe Hermione's finally taking an interest in Quidditch. I bet that's it."

"She could talk to either of us," pointed out Harry. "I'm on the team and you know just about every Quidditch trivia fact there is."

"True." Ron thought a minute more, then shrugged and suggested, "Why don't you just ask her? She's right over there."

Harry watched Hermione working as he thought over Ron's advice. Deciding he might as well talk to her, Harry pushed back his chair and approached Hermione.

"What is it, Harry?" she asked, not looking up from her homework.

"I need to talk to you," he said, and his tone made Hermione stop her writing and look at him. "It's about you and Katie."

He was surprised to see Hermione drop her quill and could have sworn her face turned pale, but then she quickly bent down to retrieve the quill and when she sat back up, she looked completely normal. "What about her?"

"Ron and I have noticed you're spending a lot of time with her lately. And I think it's making you act differently."

"You do?" Hermione raised one eyebrow at him.

"Yes. I mean, at the prefects' meeting the other day you didn't even protest when Lee gave Katie and her friends such light punishment. It's not like you."

"Why do I always have to be the one to make the unpopular decisions? Maybe I just didn't feel like it this once," she snapped.

Harry paused before speaking again. Then he said, awkwardly, "It's not just that they're older, but you don't have anything in common. It just seems like you've got a different, well, attitude since you started hanging around them."

"Harry, are you saying you think Katie and her friends are a bad influence on me?" A moment ago Hermione had been annoyed, but now her mouth twitched upwards and she appeared to be holding back a giggle.

"No," Harry retorted, regretting ever starting this conversation. "I just think you're different somehow, that's all."

At that moment Katie burst through the portrait hole along with Alicia and Angelina, having just come from showing them the enchanted garden. A cluster of sixth-year girls ran over to see them and the flowers they'd brought back.

Katie looked over the heads of the other girls to catch Hermione's eye, and was startled to see Harry looking back at her, an unreadable expression crossing his face as he watched her watching Hermione. Feeling his eyes on her, Katie quickly turned back to answering questions the other girls were asking, and Hermione returned to her books.

**

"Do you think he knows?" Katie hunched forward in her desk, leaning towards Hermione across the aisle. They'd met up in the empty classroom as soon as the bedlam in the common room had died down and Harry and Ron had gone upstairs.

"No. But he knows something is up." Hermione sat rigidly in her own chair, anxiety pervading even her posture.

"Do you want to tell him about us?" Katie asked quietly, reaching for Hermione's hand.

"I thought you didn't want anyone to know."

Katie sighed. "I don't care about people knowing about me now. It seems half the school – and certainly any girl with a passing interest in Quidditch – knows where my preferences lie. And it's not that I'm ashamed about our relationship. I'm more worried about you. This is my last year here – in a few months I'll be gone and can do what I want. It might be harder for you, being only a fifth-year."

"Maybe. It's not as if I want Dumbledore to announce it over breakfast to the whole school. I think if I told just Harry and Ron, they could keep it to themselves," Hermione said slowly.

"These things have a way of getting out. Believe me, I know. Every time I've tried to do something in secret this year it's backfired."

"If I tell them to stay quiet I really think they will," Hermione repeated. "We've been through a lot together - even if I am only in the fifth year," she added, a hint of a smile at her mouth.

Katie could see Hermione was resolute, and realised she probably had no idea just what Hermione had seen and experienced, being Harry Potter's friend. She thought back to her third year, when Harry, Ron and Hermione had stunned the whole school as first-years in their showdown with You-Know-Who. "Do whatever you need to, then."

Hermione stood up, her features relaxing and that familiar, determined gleam settling in her eye. "I don't want them to hear it from anyone else. I'll see if I can talk to them tonight."

**

As soon as she saw Hermione the next morning at breakfast, Katie knew she had talked to Ron and Harry. Not only was Hermione looking pleased although tired, but the two boys kept casting incredulous looks from Hermione to Katie as they ate their breakfast mechanically, apparently still dazed at Hermione's announcement.

"How'd it go?" she whispered as they walked back from the Great Hall to collect their books for morning lessons, too anxious to wait until they were alone to talk.

"Not bad," Hermione replied. "I think they're still a little shocked, but they seem okay with it."

"That's great." Katie felt she would melt with relief. She'd hardly slept the night before, she'd been so worried.

"Er, Katie?" She looked over to see Harry and Ron walking alongside her. Ron elbowed Harry, who coughed nervously before saying, "Hermione told us about you two. And we just wanted to say we, um, support you."

Judging from his expression, Katie got the feeling Harry would have been much more comfortable confessing he'd just completed a KwikSpell course than talking to her about her relationship with Hermione, and appreciated the effort he was making. "Thanks. I know that means a lot to Hermione, and to me."

"Just as long as she's, you know, happy," added Ron.

"Don't worry - I can keep her plenty happy," replied Katie, smiling as Ron blushed bright red. With a final wave to Harry, she dashed to catch up with her girlfriend.

She told Hermione about her encounter with Harry and Ron with a smile. "Come upstairs with me while I get my books," she urged, and Hermione didn't need much convincing to accompany her.

While Katie hunted through her belongings for her schoolbooks, Hermione lounged on the bed, tactfully refraining from expressing her amazement over Katie's scholarly disorder. Although sometimes surprised by Katie's nonchalant attitude towards schoolwork, Hermione secretly found it thrilling the way Katie moved so confidently through her lessons despite putting in less study time than herself.

"I can't find my Gobbledegook book!" Katie complained, peering under her bed.

Hermione felt around under the pillows and held up a battered volume. "Is this it?"

"Yes! Thanks." Katie joined her on the bed. After carelessly tossing the book into her bag (Hermione wincing at such blatant book abuse), she turned her attention to Hermione, handling her with infinite care.

"Um, Katie? Could you do me one favour?" Hermione asked.

"What's that?" Katie panted, pulling back for a moment from her enthusiastic embrace of her girlfriend.

"Could you take down that poster of Viktor? He keeps giving me these looks," complained Hermione.

Katie glanced up at the poster hanging on her wall. Just as Hermione had said, Viktor was winking down at them in a rather suggestive manner. "Cheeky bastard," she muttered, pulling out her wand and bringing the poster off the wall, into a tight scroll. "I forgot I even had that up there. In fact, I keep forgetting you ever went out with him."

"Apparently he hasn't," Hermione observed dryly, then sat up and smoothed down her robes. "We'd better get to class," she said, and Katie didn't try to disagree. There were certain points on which it was useless to argue with Hermione, and schoolwork was one of them.

**

Katie had been so absorbed in her feelings for Hermione, not to mention negotiating the anxiety she'd had about Hermione coming out to Ron and Harry, that she hadn't had much time to think about Cho. When she next saw her - at one of the pick-up Quidditch games - it caught Katie off guard. Cho was as beautiful as ever and she didn't turn away from Katie's hesitant glances, although they didn't speak. Katie was glad the Seeker didn't have much contact with other team members, feeling she'd be too distracted if Cho had been playing Chaser alongside her. But at least Cho didn't seem angry with her anymore; in fact, if Katie had paid a bit more attention she might have noticed Cho trying to catch her eye after the game was over.

But she didn't notice, and was surprised when Cho approached her one afternoon as lessons were letting out.

"Got a minute?" Cho asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous.

"Sure." Katie tried to mask her shock, and indicated to Alicia and Angelina they should go ahead without her, ignoring the questions in their eyes. "What's up?"

"I guess I owe you an apology," Cho said, once they were alone in the now empty corridor. "I've been thinking a lot, and well – you were right. I should have known you'd never have intended for me to be affected by that potion. I know it's probably too late, but…" she trailed off, looking more embarrassed than Katie had ever seen her. "Do you think we could try again? We used to be pretty good together, before that potion mix-up." She raised hopeful brown eyes and watched Katie closely.

Katie blinked in surprise. Cho was saying just what she'd longed to hear last term – it seemed impossible she could have changed her mind, yet there was no mistaking the sincerity of her expression. "I'm sorry, Cho. I'm – that is, there's someone else."

"Hermione?"

Katie nodded. She expected Cho to be upset, but she merely looked resigned and a little sad.

"She really loves you, I could see that months ago. You're lucky." Cho gave her a disappointed smile. "Well, maybe I should go and visit Fleur after all – she owled me over the holidays and said she's coming to England in the spring."

"I thought she was a back-stabbing bitch?" Katie smiled.

Cho shrugged. "She was, but before she became one she was a lot of fun. Things change - maybe she's changed, too."

"I hope everything works out for you," Katie offered.

"You too." Cho took a step closer. She reached up with one hand and turned Katie's face to hers, then kissed Katie on the cheek. "You're the best girlfriend I never had," she smiled, then walked softly down the corridor, towards the Ravenclaw common room.

Katie looked after her in a daze, still unable to believe what had just happened.

"Katie?" The sound of Hermione's voice made Katie jump and turn quickly around.

"I didn't know you were here," she gasped, startled to see her girlfriend, before remembering she'd asked Hermione to meet her after lessons that day.

"Obviously not." Hermione stared at her, looking as if she had a lot to say, but remaining silent.

"That was Cho," Katie said. "We were just –"

"- Kissing," interrupted Hermione. "I saw. I thought you were over her, Katie. I asked and you said –" she stopped talking abruptly. Katie could see the tears standing in Hermione's eyes, and then she turned and darted off.

"Hermione, wait!" Katie called, chasing after her. Being the more athletic of the two, she easily caught up, and placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "It's not what you think. Come on, let me explain."

"You don't have to," Hermione said dully, her eyes red. "I know I can't compare to her. Cho's beautiful, and smart and you two like the same sorts of things. I understand, Katie, I really do."

"No, you don't." Katie dug her fingers into Hermione's shoulder for emphasis. "It was the most surprising thing…" she began, unsure exactly how to explain it.

"She asked you if you wanted to get back together," Hermione said.

"Did you hear her?" Katie gaped.

"I didn't have to. I saw the look on your face – and hers."

Katie shook her head. "You have quite a knack for walking in at the wrong time. Listen, here's what happened."

"You don't have to explain. I'd rather not hear it, in fact." Hermione wrenched her shoulder from Katie's grip and stepped back.

"Would you let me explain?" asked Katie in exasperation. "I'm trying to tell you something."

"I said, you don't have to explain. I know you're just trying to find a nice way to tell me you're going back to her."

"No," Katie said softly, reaching forward and pulling Hermione to her with both arms. "What I'm trying to say is, I told her I was with you. You're the one I want to be with, Hermione. Just you."

Hermione had been crying silently, but now she looked up, her face still wet with tears. "Really?"

"Really." Katie smiled down at her, then leaned over and kissed her gently on the mouth, not caring if anyone came by and saw them. "She said I was lucky. And I am."

"But you two have so much in common," said Hermione, her voice amazed. "I still don't see why –"

Katie kissed her again, tasting saltiness where the tears had run down to the corners of Hermione's mouth.

"- you would choose me," Hermione whispered when they finally broke apart.

"Do you need another reason?" asked Katie, pulling Hermione to her once more and kissing her even more fervently. Hermione stopped protesting and kissed back.

"Come on," whispered Katie, taking Hermione's hand. "I found a shortcut to the garden I want to show you."

If Katie had one regret, it was that so many of the girls in her year now knew about Helga Hufflepuff's garden. She'd liked it when it had seemed to belong only to herself and Hermione. But just now, in the liminal space between late afternoon and early evening, between sunset and twilight, nobody else was there.

The mellow, golden tones of late afternoon sunlight splashed across the elaborately decorated tiles paving the very centre of the courtyard, and the air seemed even more perfumed with the heavy scents of various tropical blooms as Katie led Hermione to the stone bench near the fountain. Reaching out to a flowering bush behind them, Katie plucked a white flower and held it out to Hermione. "Smell this," she urged, watching as Hermione bent over the yellow-throated flower.

"It's wonderful," smiled Hermione. "Lemony and spicy and sweet, all at once."

Katie tucked the flower in Hermione's hair. "See what you have to look forward to in two years' time?" she whispered, then moved closer until no space remained between them. Hermione's tears had vanished by now, and her eyes shone clearly and brightly before she closed them and leaned into Katie's kiss. Katie felt Hermione's arms around her, her hands on her shoulders, then roaming down the front of her robes as her kisses picked up in intensity. Their bodies seemed to complement each other so perfectly, Hermione's soft curves pressing against her own angular, athletic figure.

"Don't let go of me," murmured Hermione, opening her eyes a fraction and giving Katie a teasing smile. "I may be precocious but I still can't be in here without you."

"I'll never let you go," promised Katie, and hugged Hermione to her with equal measures of force and tenderness, passion and protectiveness, that only true love can provide.