Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Katie Bell has been alone for the last four years. After the wedding of her best friend, she heads to the Leakey Cauldron. After she gets drunk, will she make some mistakes that she'll regret later? Oliver Wood/Katie Bell

Disclaimer: Bloody Blasted Blue Blazes of Hell!! Must I keep repeating myself? I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Twelve: The Barbie-Doll Bitch Strikes Back

It had been nearly a month since Ron and Cassidy had started dating, and I was almost sick to death of the gossip around the office going around about them. It ranged from simple things like he had bribed her to date him, to that he had made a robot impersonation of her to date him and the real Cassidy was out in the middle of Texas mining coal.

Then again, I certainly wouldn't mind Cassidy out in Texas mining coal. Too bad that Ron's not out there with her. He's actually in here. Complaining. To me. Who does he think I am? Ask Abby???

"...and then she took nearly three hours to get ready for her date and she had just been complaining that I was fifteen minutes late because Fred and George had taken a test run of their newest product and made the whole kitchen at the Burrow into a slime zone... Katie? Are listening to me?"

"I'm trying not to." I said through clenched teeth, hoping that would hold my words back. But I realized that it is well possible to talk while your teeth are pressed together so hard that there was a danger of chipping a tooth. I was trying to fill out a form for Temporary Apperation Legalization as part of an ongoing investigation, but Ron was being a stubborn mule.

"Katie!" Ron exclaimed.

"Ronald!" I cried out, finally tried of it. "I am sick of you coming in her almost every day after a date with that...that THING!" I screamed. "And complaining about it to me! I am not your mother. I am not your sister. Though I highly doubt that your sister would listen to you moan and hiss about the ways in which Cassidy annoy you to no end! So here's the deal. Either continue dating her and stop coming to me to expect sympathy to your plight, or break up with the freakin' pancake make-up covered idiot and talk to me about more important subject matters!" I let out a loud sigh, feeling like a humongous weight had been lifted off of my chest.

Ron looked like that weight had settled over him. His face had turned bleach white, his freckles standing out more than ever. His brown eyes flashed with a combination of emotions, anger, guilt, sadness and several others I couldn't identify. His hands clutched at the arm rests on the chair he was sitting at, his knuckles turning white. I was expecting any moment, steam would leak out of his ears and whistle loudly. Finally, without saying a word, Ron got up and left my office.

"Good riddance." I said gruffly and went back to work.

*+*

I was still angry the next morning when I started a new case on my desk that had appeared there in the morning. Seems like a spell went awry in the middle of downtown London during the night and needed a Full-Officer to okay the clean up. There was a knock on my door. Kevin's newest PA, Hillary, walked in when I called out it was okay. She was wearing a knee-length jeans skirt with a pale purple shirt under a black robe. Her almost white-blonde was up in a ponytail and she was pale. She looked like Draco Malfoy's little sister, even though I knew that Malfoy had no siblings. She smiled at me as she gave me a folder. "Kevin thought this might be helpful in your ongoing case." She said. Despite her size and outward appearance, she had a low voice that seemed almost impossible for her tiny body. Her dark blue eyes twinkled on her face. "Did you hear the latest?" She whispered conspiratorially.

"Cassidy and Ron had eloped to Ethiopia?" I asked sarcastically.

"No." Hillary said, her voice even lower. "They broke up."

That stopped me dead in my tracks. I nearly chocked, even though I wasn't drinking anything. My mouth fell open and I looked up at Hillary with eyes as wide as Galleons. "You're joking!" I gasped.

"No." Hillary said, happily. "Supposedly, Ron broke up with her yesterday. Said something like it wasn't working between the two of them and that they should just end it before it went too far. From what I hear, Cassidy is in a right state."

Did Ron actually take my advice/temper tantrum seriously? I thought a Weasley skull was tougher than the crust of the Earth. Living in the same school with nearly all the Weasley's at one point or another during my seven years at Hogwarts, I knew the extent of their stubbornness. I couldn't believe it, but Hillary's gossip didn't make it true.

Hillary smiled, wrinkling her nose at me and left my office, closing the door softly behind her. My brain was completely blank and I couldn't process anything. Ron and Cassidy, no more? That's so wonderful! I had to fight the urge to get up and run screaming down the halls of the Ministry of Magic inviting everyone in the vicinity to a party at my house for the downfall of Cassidy. I started humming as I walked around my office, "Ding dong, the Witch is dead...which old witch? The blonde bitchy witch..." I sang under my breath as I started to go out of my office, but Hermione barreled into my office before I had a chance to leave it.

"Katie," asked Hermione, breathless, "did you hear the news?"

"That you nearly killed the likes of my unborn children my ramming into my stomach?" I said, in pain, trying to hold my side that her elbow had accidentally knocked into.

"Oh, Merlin's Beard, I'm sorry!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing over to my side and holding me. "I'm terribly sorry...I didn't think."

"'Course not." I said, laughing slightly. "And, yes, I heard the news."

"I just can't believe it." Hermione said, sinking into a chair, eyes vacant, staring at a corner of my desk. "I didn't think it would happen. I never thought it would happen."

"Well, now you can tell him how you really feel?" I asked hopefully.

Hermione looked at me as if I had just told her to swallow a whole herd of Blast-End Skrewts and then dance a jig. "Are you mental?" She cried out in a high pitched voice that nearly broke my eardrums. "I can't do that! He'll know I've felt like this, and he'll think that I'm a total idiot for waiting all this time for him."

This is exactly why I don't get into the middle of my friend's love lives. They pretend they want my advice, and usually they don't.

*+*

The next day was my last day at work. I was about sixth and a half months pregnant and Kevin was starting to insist upon me taking my maternity leave. I was rather sad to leave. This had been my first job since Hogwarts that I had felt like I really belonged. I was finishing up my last case of the day almost at the leaving time, feeling sad that no one had come in to say good-bye. It was almost impossible to stop the tears from fogging up my eyes, and it was getting really hard to read the writing on the parchment. There was a knock on my office door. "Come in!" I called out, clearing my voice of any sign of tears.

Susan popped her head in. "Hey there, stranger." She said. "Need a lift home?"

"No." I said, standing up and cracking my back. I winced. "I'm just going to Floo home. Dr. Soorenko said that it's getting dangerous to Apperate anymore. I might leave one or both of the twins behind if I Apperate."

Susan shrugged. "Oh well. Do you want to walk to the fireplace then?"

I grinned, looking strangely at her. "Afraid of Flooing now are you?"

Susan just shook her head. "I just thought you were feeling lonely."

I sighed. "I am. I'm really going to miss you guys while I'm away."

Susan came over and sat on my desk, facing me. "We're not going anywhere. Promise, pinky-swear." She held out her pinky for me to shake and I smiled and did so. "Come you pregnant lady." She said jovially. "We need to get you home before you turn into a pumpkin!"

I gathered up my stuff from the corners of my office. Once I was ready, I wiped my eyes, trying not to cry. I took a deep breath and walked out of my office.

"SURPRISE!"

I shrieked in shock. Nearly everyone in the Department of Magical Catastrophes was outside my office smiling and grinning at me. Hermione, Erica and Ginny were in the front. Susan laughed beside me. "We got you! We really got you!" She exclaimed happily.

"You bloody freaks!" I screamed at Susan and grabbed her and gave her a hard noogie. "I nearly had a heart attack!" I finally had the heart to let Susan go, her blondish-brown hair going up in all directions though. I gave her a dirty look before turning to all the other people gathered here.

"Katie." Hermione said solemnly. "We have come here to say our farewells and our best wishes as you take your leave..."

"Oy, Mya!" Erica exclaimed loftily. "Quit the dramatics. We've come to say good luck and make you promise to come back in one piece!"

I laughed. I didn't feel so depressed anymore, knowing that they cared this much about me to have a party in my honor. I smiled so much I thought my lips would crack and fall to the floor in pieces. Tears did come eventually, because I was still damn sad I was going to leave this place I loved working at. They had even gotten me a cake that was my favorite, vanilla cake with strawberry frosting. I still don't know where they found strawberry frosting, considering the only other time I had it was at my eighth birthday party and fell in love with it. The party started to wind down and I was feeling pretty tired when Susan told me I should go home. My yawned agreed with her.

The people began to disperse and I started the long walk down the stairs until I finally got to the lobby, where a crackling fire awaited me to spin me to Bell Haven. I couldn't wait to sink my head into the fluffy pillows on my bed. I yawned again, renewing my want to get home.

"I bet you enjoyed that, didn't you Bell?" A nasal voice asked. I turned around , mid-yawn and closed my mouth. Cassidy leaned against the doorframe I had just come out of. I was surprised that I hadn't seen her before. With that Barbie-Doll figure, it's hard not to.

"What do you want?" I asked frankly.

"What do I want?" She repeated to me, walking towards me.

"What? Did I stutter?" I spat at her. I was in no mood to get into her little games.

"You little Mudblood." Cassidy hissed. "I know it was you that convince Ron to dump me. You couldn't stand that he wasn't yours, could you?"

I sighed loudly, exasperated. "Don't you get it?" I exclaimed. "I do not like Ron that way. Never have, never will. Besides. It was all his decision to break up with you. Did you ever stop to think that it might have been your lack of natural beauty that turned him off? Personally I thought it was the nose job, but that's just me."

Cassidy made an inhuman noise and launched herself at me. The years upon years of Quidditch training gave me reflects beyond measure. I dodged her, feeling rather clumsy even so. I turned to see Cassidy pull out her wand and point it at me. "Talla Meren!" She cried out and a peach-colored spell flew out of her wand and hit me square in the stomach, and I stumbled backwards.

"IMPENDIMENTA!" A loud, filling voice yelled from the staircase. I saw Kevin descend from the staircase, looking hard and cold at the frozen figure of Cassidy. He muttered the counter-curse and Cassidy started to see her boss so close to her face.

"That kind of behavior, Ms. Jones," He started in a cold tone that seemed to fill the entire lobby of the Ministry of Magic. "Is unacceptable to say the very least. If Ms. Bell wished to, she could press charges and you could be sent to Azkaban for two counts for attempted murder, considering that spell is lethal to children."

Cassidy gulped. One count of attempted murder sent her to Azkaban for fifteen years. Kevin turned towards me. "Are you alright, Katie?" He asked kindly.

I nodded, gingerly getting to my feet. I rubbed my stomach, checking for abnormalities. "Shield Charm on my stomach." I said. "I was careful." I gave a dirty look to Cassidy, who was looking gray, her eyes focused on the marble floor.

Kevin nodded and turned back to Cassidy. "You're fired, Ms. Jones." He said swiftly, and she turned her face up to speak. "What, Ms. Jones? I saw the entire thing. You nearly murdered two unborn children. I would see you in Azkaban for the rest of your natural life if I could. But that is up to Ms. Bell."

I looked her in the eye and said, "I'll make my mind up about it later."

I saw Cassidy visibly shake at the prospect of living in Azkaban for thirty years of her life. Let her sweat.

*+*

I dipped my paintbrush into the pale yellow that was in the can and then began to paint the walls of one of the babies room. Ron thought I was insane for trying to do this the Muggle way, but the Wizarding way was just so fast, and since my life didn't consist of much more than bed rest and watching soap operas that had no intelligence at all, I was all up for a way to do some therapeutic such as painting a room. I painted another streak of yellow on the walls. The girl would sleep in this room. I thought to myself. Goddess forbid she have a pink room.

It had been two weeks since Cassidy had tried to attack me, and I had decided to press charges. Only to battery and assault charges though. I didn't have the heart to send her to Azkaban, most likely to her death. If six months in Azkaban couldn't change her of her ways, nothing could and hopefully she'd just get sent straight back to Azkaban.

I continued to paint the walls, up and down, painting to a rhythm only I could here. I was listening to the WWN, humming along to a new Weird Sister's song about love in the Alps. I didn't know the words, but I tried to sing along anyways. I failed miserably and I laughed as one of the twins kicked me on the stomach as if they thought my voice was so bad that they needed to cause me injury to stop. So I stopped singing to only hum. The song faded away and a newscaster came on.

"Breaking Quidditch News!" The broad voice proclaimed loudly. "The United Kingdom's very own Puddlemere United team has had a tragedy today."

I stopped what I was doing completely. I put the paint brush down in the can, wiping the paint on my overlarge football jersey. I turned the volume up, my heart racing. The endless possibilities had already started rushing through my head at an unspeakable rate.

"Keeper, Oliver Wood has been severely injured by a bludger to the head and fall from sixty feet after trying to save a goal in a spectacular game against Moutohora Macaws of New Zealand. His injuries were so bad, that he is being transported back to England for treatment at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, as it is considered one of the leading Magical Hospitals in the world, and as for the Puddlemere United's World Tour will continue without Oliver Wood, but he will be dearly missed. Let's hear from some of his team mates, out in New Zealand right now with out correspondent, Kasey Michaels. Can you hear me Kasey?"

My ears were buzzing so loudly, I couldn't hear the rest of the broadcast.

Oliver Wood has been severely injured by a bludger to the head and a fall from sixty feet...