It had been two years since Katie had last liked a boy. She had counted,
counted every day that none of her hormones worked to achieve a man. Her
final crush had been George in the fifth year, but she broke his heart
after he had given her a prototype Canary Cream™, which ended in her
becoming some odd looking vulture. It was now her seventh year and her mind
was tuned to Quidditch.
Katie walked down to the Quidditch pitch alone, not really wanting to talk to anyone, as she had just received a letter from her mother explaining how it would be best if she didn't come home this year for Christmas. Her broom rested on her shoulder as the eighteen year old passed through the gold gates and on to the large open field. She took a quick breath and kicked off of the ground.
The air was cold and smelled of dewy trees as it whipped across her tanned skin, and the wind gave perfect resistance for her training. As Katie barreled down the pitch a faint figure gave shape in the stands. Coming closer she noticed who it was. Lavender. The airborne girl leapt off her broom right over the stands...just to show off.
"What are you doing here? It's a bit too cold," Katie asked. She was breathing hard and had a smirk on. Being charming was just how Katie grew up.
"I was waiting for you to finish." Lavender said, looking a little too innocent.
"Oh, um...ok well I guess I'm done now. What do you need?" Katie sat down next to Lavender looking at her as though she were sizing the younger girl up.
"Yeah, er, that's a good way to put it. I need something" Lavender said, "I need something very badly but it's probably the hardest thing to get," Lavender looked at Katie who was now staring out on to the pitch which was beginning to darken as the sun set on the colossal castle. "Oh, honestly!"
Lavender grabbed the back of Katie's head and pulled her face to her own, kissing her until both had to catch their breath. Katie was so surprised her eyes hadn't closed until at least five seconds into the kiss, and even then her eyebrows remained involuntarily up. The younger girl licked Katie's bottom lip making her gasp. At last they pulled apart. Lavender stared at Katie, who looked almost smug.
Katie then did something Lavender did not expect--she stood up and walked away, picking up her broom as she did so. Lavender was horrified "what did I do wrong?" she asked herself.
"Hey, Lavender, you coming?" Katie stood at the edge of the stands, looking at Lavender expectantly. However, after seeing the shock on the fifth year's face, she walked back. Katie grabbed Lavender's hand entwining it in her own and led her all the way up to the castle and to her private room.
Katie woke the next morning finding the maroon sheets on her old four- poster bed crumpled over a sleeping girl. Lavender's hair was spread over the pillows; her hand over her face, Katie's eyes grew wide as she remembered what had happened the previous night. "Oh, Merlin", she threw her legs over the side of the bed putting her head in her hands, "oh, Merlin, Merlin". Lavender turned over.
"Hey"
"Hey, Lav...er...I've got to go," Katie threw on her worn out jeans with a button-up shirt and a tie. "Where's my ro- oh, here it is."
"Where are you going? It's a Sunday," Lavender asked, stretching.
"Uh...I've got Quidditch practice. There's a big game against Ravenclaw next week and I want the team to be ready." Katie started to stride out of the room when she heard Lavender talking again.
"When are you coming back?"
Katie stopped and turned around, "look, Lav, yesterday, I was really upset-- my mom said she couldn't have me back home for a while and I just was trying to...filter my anger...through you," Lavender's eyes were welling up. "Oh, crap. Lav, don't cry, I hate it when girls cry. I...I'm really sorry. I mean if it makes you feel better last night was really fun." Katie took a deep breath, "Ok, I really am late. I'll see you later." Katie walked over to Lavender and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then strode out.
Katie walked onto the Quidditch pitch, feeling considerably better then she had when she left Lavender. Her yellow practice uniform was now on and her pads were fastened safely across her wrists and knees. Katie looked into the sky to see who was in the air already. George, Fred, and Harry sped around each other playing tag and Alicia was letting the bludgers go. Katie mounted her broom, still staring at the players when a hand grabbed her shoulder.
"Oh! Bloody hell, Hermione! Don't scare me like that!" Hermione stood at her side gripping a notebook and a quill.
"Sorry, Katie, I just wanted to catch you before you took off. The Hogwarts Tribune is doing a piece on the Gryffindor house Quidditch team and I volunteered to write it. So I figure I could get an interview with some of the players. Do you mind me asking you a few questions?" Katie looked onto the pitch, watching her fellow teammates playing.
"No, no, I don't mind, but I've go to practice, do you want to meet me in the common room in...er...three hours?" Katie didn't wait for an answer, "great, see you then." She took off in a gust of wind that blew Hermione back.
Katie stopped next to Alicia. "How are we doing?" Alicia looked upon the new keeper.
"Ron's no Oliver, but he's coming along. Oh! Nice save, Ron!" Alicia glanced at Katie, "Good Merlin, Katie, you look like shit. What'd you do last night? I didn't see you in the common room."
"I'll tell you later, we need to practice."
"Ok, let's run some drills."
Katie stumbled into the common room, tired and dirty. She fell into a sofa and almost fell asleep when Hermione disturbed the sagging burgundy couch.
"So, are you ready to begin?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, go ahead," Katie put her head under her arm and closed her eyes.
"Ok, so let's start with something simple. What do you think of the team? I mean, how do you think the team will do this season?" Katie sat up and yawned.
"Well, Ron really isn't quite Oliver but he's really improving, and, er, Harry is, well, Harry, you know, he's great. But the team's got a lot of potential; I think we're going to do really well."
The interview got better and better as Katie began to talk not only about Quidditch, but about chemistry in the team and the pressure the houses put on them. She felt loose, fluid, comfortable talking to Hermione. Pretty soon the fire in the fireplace was gone and the common room had emptied leaving only the two girls.
"It's 1 o'clock, maybe we should go to sleep. It was really great talking," Katie stood up and stretched, realizing she was still in her Quidditch uniform.
"Yeah, I really enjoyed talking too." The girls stood for a moment nodding their heads. Hermione was really quite beautiful, after years of being some curly haired geek, she had turned into looking like something of perfection in Katie's opinion.
"So, I'll see you later."
"Yeah," Hermione turned around and walked up the stairs.
Katie was in a daze for the next hour or so, trying to go to sleep but she couldn't. Just as she was flipping over, Alicia burst into the room.
"Katie, wake up! Come on! Tell me what happened last night!" Katie rolled over to face the ecstatic girl.
Why should Katie not tell her? Alicia already knew about Katie's affinity for girls after an awkward discovery in the charms classroom with Cho last year. Unfortunately, Cho decided she was straight and has been chasing the most popular boys ever since. Katie explained the entire night to Alicia, only to receive much scolding which turned to asking how it was.
"It was fine I guess, I mean, I didn't really think about it then."
"You didn't think about it??? How could you not think about it??? What were you thinking about?" Katie showed Alicia the letter she got from her mother.
The piece of parchment was worn and had smudges, as if written very fast. There was no return address and the seal was picked off unnecessarily.
Katie,
We are sorry to inform you, but your father has been relocated to America. It would be best for you, and us, if you didn't come see us for Christmas. We are going to be spending two days in New York and then moving onto Seattle. Good luck in school.
-Your mother
"Well it's not that bad; you can probably come home with me. My mom really likes you; she says you're really-."
"That's not the point Alicia! Don't you understand? My father can't be relocated, he has a contract until next spring, the Ministry of Magic doesn't even send their auror trainers to other countries...they just don't me want back."
"...Why would they...oh...."
The two girls sat in silence until Alicia announced she was tired and went off to her own room.
Katie lay in bed until she was completely sure she couldn't go back to sleep. She got up and left for the bathroom.
The seventh year bathroom wasn't like the rest of the school, the stone walls were replaced with shiny grey granite and all of the knobs were odd shapes. The art on the wall was just landscapes so there wasn't any strange person or creature staring at you while you took a shower. The floor was covered with red carpet that soaked up water magically so you wouldn't slip, and the ceiling showed the sky, not the actual sky, but a perpetual sunny sky. Katie slipped into a shower, "4 am. That's an early start," she said to herself.
The seventh year left her shower stall and began to get dressed, completely unaware of Hermione washing her hands at the stone basin.
"Holy Merlin, Hermione," Katie had already put on most of her clothes but she still tried to cover herself.
"Oh, come on Katie it's not like I haven't seen it all before" Hermione glanced at the older girl in the reflection of the mirror.
"How did you get in here anyway? This is a seventh year bathroom."
"I'm a prefect I can go anywhere I want. And this is the nicest bathroom in the school." Hermione shot Katie a mischievous glance, which she returned. Now fully dressed the seventh year walked to the exit muttering a quick good bye to Hermione.
Katie got up from the floor, her crimson, carpeted, beautiful floor. The drugs she bought off Fred now thoroughly gone, and the plastic bag discarded, she changed to her pajamas. Katie had meant to throw it away, never to use it again, but lust and the urge to not let griffin beak go to waste set in. It was Hermione, Hermione that made her do it. Katie never wanted to hurt anyone, but it happened. She had a tendency to upset most of her lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever they're called...conflict was good in a relationship she told herself, it was healthy. But it ends, the affair ends when Katie decides that there was too much happiness, too much kissing, hugging, laughing.
Katie knew there was something about Hermione, something different. She had felt this way before, about Cho, Angelina, George. She had broken all of these people's hearts, and after all of these experiences she learned from her mistakes. That's why it's Hermione's fault. Why'd she have to be so appealing? So lovable, and the way her eyebrows would react while you told her a story....No! Stop it Katie! She will not get into this pattern again. Hermione's not even gay! This is how it starts. Someone pays Katie a bit of attention and she goes crazy over the person. And Katie, being who she is, normally succeeds in snagging the object of her affection.
Tears run down her flushed cheek. She falls to her knees and leans forward, wanting to puke. Katie always pukes when she cries. She doesn't think it has anything to do with the tears though. Hermione's face flashes upon Katie's eyelids and the girl quickly yelps and rubs her eyes. All of her muscles tense and she forces herself to get into her bed, knowing, she won't get any sleep.
"Angelina! Get the quaffle!" Katie sped forward. Angelina intercepted the red ball from the Ravenclaws and passed it to Katie who was right in front of the goal posts.
"SHE SCORES!!! KATIE BELL SCORES FOR GRYFFINDOR!!" The crowd boomed sending chills up Katie's back. She sped off to try and block the rookie Ravenclaw chaser. She's not sure but Katie thinks the boy's name was Marliew.
"NICE BLOCK!!! MARLIEW LOSES THE QUAFFLE AND ALICIA SPINNET TAKES IT!! GO ALICIA GO!!!!" Alicia was near the goal posts executing a perfect fake in front of the keeper. Unfortunately, the keeper caught the quaffle easily. Seeing her chance Katie caught the ball right as the keeper let it out of his hands, and threw it quickly into the middle hoop. "OH, MY GOODNESS!! KATIE BELL HAS SCORED AGAIN!!!" Katie was thriving solely on the crowd's cheer.
"Go Katie!!" She looked below her, Hermione was gazing up at the airborne girl waving. Katie waved back.
"OH MY GOODNESS!! KATIE BELL IS DOWN!!" Distracted by Hermione, Katie was hit by a bludger across the face and fell fifty feet to the grassy ground.
"Ow..." Katie sat up and found that her arm couldn't support her, "Oh, it's broken."
"Katie, Katie, are you alright???" Hermione ran to her side, holding Katie's back to support uneasy girl. The two girls' eyes met, sending chills up Katie's back, suddenly every thing was gone, Katie's pain, the jeer of the crowd...everything.
Katie looked around, "this is far to cliché," she thought to herself. She got up, pushed off Hermione, and walked toward the locker rooms followed only by Madam Pomfrey. Katie actually doesn't remember how she got to the locker rooms; she was blinded by her pain, so her body basically led itself by instinct. The blood from her left cheek dripped down her face and fell upon her cradled right arm.
Madam Pomfrey bent over Katie and sent a cooling cloud across her face bringing down the swelling and healing most of the gash. She had already healed her arm the best she could, it was a pretty bad break and the bone had completely snapped in half.
"OK, well I think you can go back to the dormitory now, there's bound to be a party. Potter caught the snitch right as you were falling," Madam Pomfrey conjured a sling to put on Katie, "the final score was 190-20." Katie got up and thanked the nurse. Her arm, although still in considerable pain, felt much better then it had.
Katie left the locker room looking at her sling. Sexy or dorky? Sexy, definitely.
"What was that about?" Hermione stood ten feet away, arms crossed looking particularly angry. Most of the people had cleared out from the stands, but some were still lingering around the pitch waiting for a friend from the locker rooms.
"What?"
"You left! You didn't even say anything to me!"
"What did you want me to say? Excuse me Hermione but I have to go reattach my bone?" Katie stood her ground waiting for a response.
"Madam Pomfrey could have healed your arm there."
"I'm sorry, I didn't want eight hundred people staring as I writhe in pain!" Katie searched for words to cover herself, she was doing so well already, Hermione didn't even suspect she left because the sight of her eyes was too much. "Why would you even care?"
"Wha...I....er..."
"Yeah, OK." Katie started walking towards the castle, looking back once to see a confused Hermione watching her retreating back.
The party lasted until three in the morning when George passed out on the table knocking over a considerable amount of butterbeer. Katie never saw most of the party, having left for her room after shuffling into the common room to the applause she had previously thrived on.
The seventh year lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling, sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.
"Hey Katie."
"Merlin Hermione! What is that...the tenth time you've snuck up on me?" Katie sat up shooting Hermione an angry expression. Her face softened however when she saw the look on Hermione's face. "Sorry...I wasn't...what do you need?"
"I wanted to...er...apologize for this afternoon."
"For what? You didn't do anything."
"I know, but I shouldn't have gotten angry. I guess I never really thought about the other people watching. It's just with Harry, he always let me escort him when he got hurt." Katie got up from her bed and strode to Hermione stopping a foot away.
"It wasn't about the other people watching my arm." They spoke quietly now, barely whispering.
"Then what was it?"
"I didn't want them to see me do this." Katie leaned over giving a gentle kiss upon Hermione's lips. It wasn't rough and passionate like the rest of Katie's kisses, it was slow and soft.
Katie pulled away, Merlin she was nervous. "I...I'm sorry." Hermione put her fingers to her lips. She opened her mouth as if to say something but she closed it. "Hermione..."
"I have to go." She turned and walked out slowly.
Katie stood in her place watching the air which Hermione had previously occupied. "Why???" She collapsed on her bed, falling asleep two hours later.
Katie settled into her usual spot next to Alicia in the great hall, taking a half piece of toast. Katie sighed as she bit into it, sending crumbs across her plate. "Urg...I can't eat."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, come on, I know when my best friend is upset. What? Does your arm hurt?"
"No...nothing like that...I...er...I kissed Hermione." Alicia spat out her pumpkin juice across the wood table much to the dismay of the people sitting around her.
"Sorry, Seamus you can wipe that up right?" Alicia's attention swept back to Katie, "you did WHAT?? Merlin, Katie! What happened??"
"Nothing. She said she had to go...then she left," Katie sighed again and stood up, "I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Oh, you'll feel better later. We're going to Hogsmeade remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I'll go get ready."
"OK, see you later!" Katie made her way through the bodies rushing towards various friends, some of them still chatting about the Quidditch game. A few went so far as to applause Katie as she walked by trying to avoid hitting her aching arm against anything.
WHAM. "Holy...fuck," Katie was on the floor, her arm throbbing so much she didn't think she could stop herself from passing out. She managed to stand up holding onto the stone wall to support her. Stupid Creevy, always running into people with his stupid camera-
"Katie? Are you alright?"
"Yep, just, you know, pain," Katie looked up to meet Hermione's deep brown eyes, "Hi."
"Hi...are you going to Hogsmeade?"
"What? Oh...Yeah."
"Good," Hermione helped Katie steady herself, leaving a piece of paper in Katie's hand.
"What's this?"
"What?" Hermione turned and walked away. Katie opened the paper.
Behind Zonko's, 3:00
At 2:45 Katie told Alicia and Angelina she was tired, and made her way toward the castle. When they were clearly out of sight, the girl doubled back, walking the back streets until she reached the alley behind Zonko's. Hermione was already there, leaning against the stone wall of the joke shop.
"Hey," Katie walked over to the young girl, eyes locked the entire time.
"Hey, Katie," Hermione stood up straight looking at the approaching girl intently, "I needed to talk to you about...yesterday."
"Yeah, about that Hermione, I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm really sorry." It took all of Katie's energy to say this. Her knees were weak and she could feel heat crossing up her back and up to her neck. She always found it easier to say something when she imagined herself away from her body, moving her muscles just to move them, not to actually have any effect.
"You didn't scare me...you just surprised me. And you shouldn't be sorry, I mean we can't help who we like, we can learn to restrain ourselves, but hardly anyone does that."
"What are you saying? Because, honestly, you're confusing me." Katie grew more impatient as she waited for Hermione to give her a final answer.
She smiled slightly, "Katie..." Hermione walked forward slowly, taking the older girl's good hand. She leaned on her tip-toes to plant a small kiss on Katie's weathered lips. There was a long silence in which the surprised girl's mouth hung open and Hermione tried to look as confident as she didn't feel. Katie smiled; she hadn't felt this happy in a long time, in fact, when she thought about it, she had never felt this happy.
After about ten minutes of kissing, and, to Katie's surprise, groping, they both made their way up to the castle, hand in hand.
"So, you and Hermione? Well done Katie," Alicia sat at the edge of Katie's bed looking impressed, while Katie examined the bruise that had spread across her arm after the fall.
"Yeah, I've got to admit when she asked me to meet her, I thought it was to tell me how sick I am. But I was wrong, very, very wrong," the two girls giggled, "I've got to go though, I planned to meet Hermione in the common room at 10."
"Yeah, yeah, go get your girl...I'll go get my boy."
"What? Who's your boy? Hmm? Someone HOT?" Alicia threw a pillow at Katie hitting her on her leg.
"Yes, I'd like to think so...it's Fred."
"Fred?!?!?! When did this happen? Good Merlin!"
"I'll tell you later, it's 10:05 already."
"Oh, Hermione's going to be pissed, but you'd better tell me when I get back."
"I will...but I doubt you'll be back soon." They both laughed as Katie walked out of the room.
When Katie arrived at the bottom of the stairwell Hermione was already waiting for her. She was leaning against one of the couches, in fact, the exact same couch they had had the interview on.
"Where were you?"
"Sorry, Alicia got me side tracked," Hermione looked stern.
"What were you doing with Alicia?"
"Merlin, Hermione, way to be jealous, she was only telling me about Fred and her."
"Oh...sorry, Katie," Hermione looked embarrassed, "I was just making sure, I don't want to lose you."
"Considering you've only had me for a week..."
"Best week of my life."
"Me too," and Katie meant it.
As the school year crept into winter, Angelina decided it would be best if the Quidditch team went from three practices a week, to five. This meant, for Katie, less time for Hermione.
"Come ON Angelina! The team's tired! We can't do anymore five per week practices!" The team was changing into their Quidditch uniforms, each player more tired then the next. Even Angelina had bags under her eyes, which wasn't surprising considering Katie found her awake every night she came back at 1 after a rendezvous with her 5th year.
"What? Can't get enough time with your little lover? I can't sacrifice the team for Hermione." Katie swooped down on Angelina, clapping her hand over her mouth and pushing her against the lockers.
"If you ever-."
Alicia stepped in, gently pulling Katie's hand off of Angelina's trembling mouth, "hold on...Angelina, we'll meet you on the pitch in five minutes. Let's go Katie."
Alicia led her out of the locker rooms, pulling Katie's wrist hard to restrict her from assaulting Angelina even more. "Katie! You can't just push someone like that! If you don't want attention brought to you and Hermione I suggest you stop making scenes! I mean...I didn't even hear what you guys were saying until I heard Angelina suffocating under your hand!"
"Sorry. I'm sorry." Tears were running down Katie's face, but her expression showed no sign of it.
"Just...urgh...Let's go practice."
Practice was considerably awkward; Angelina and Katie kept blocking each other, even stealing the ball when they were on the same side. The team felt the tension, and in effect, played horribly for the entire three hours they were on the pitch.
Katie collapsed on her bed. Why would Angelina say those things? What did I do? Hermione strode in.
"Hey."
"Hey," the younger girl layed her head on Katie's stomach, "you look tired."
"Yeah...I got angry at Angelina. She said something...about us." Hermione looked up.
"What? What did she say?" Katie explained the confrontation.
"I wonder why she would say that..."
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
"Has anything happened between you two?" Katie thought of those two months with Angelina. She always looked beautiful when she was with Katie, so care free. Then she remembers those two hours during the break up. She was so angry.
"No."
"Oh...you know you shouldn't have gotten so angry. Seriously, we don't want this to escalate. Angelina could kick you off the team."
"Even if she hated my guts more then the world, I'm the highest scoring chaser in three years, the house wouldn't let her kick me off."
"True, but still, you should be careful."
"Yeah, yeah I should...Have you told Harry and Ron...about us?" Hermione looked up from Katie's stomach.
"No. I'm sure they've figured out something's up, I mean you're all I talk about an-"
"You talk about me? What do you say?" Katie sat up cocking her head slightly, looking amused.
"Oh, you know, Katie does this, and Katie says that...those kinds of things."
"That's cute." She took Hermione's head in her hands and gave her multiple kisses on the lips letting the giggles spurt out in the intermissions. When they finished, and the two girls lay on their backs, Hermione looked over and into the blond girl's face.
"Katie, I love you." Katie sat up.
"You what???"
"I mean...I mean, we've been going out for a month now...and...and I thought it was time...I didn't mean to, er, upset you."
"Hermione, you didn't upset me...I just, I'm not sure I feel...the same." Hermione's face looked so hurt.
"Oh...I guess I should have expected that, I mean you went so far as to push Angelina against the lockers to keep our relationship hidden...I'm expected to think you love me when you don't even tell anybody about us? The only reason I haven't told Harry and Ron is because of you!" Hermione stormed out of Katie's room slamming the thick wooden door as she passed through the entry way.
Katie sighed into her pillow. Did she love Hermione? Her answer was merely a reflex that she said to anyone that told her those three little meaningful words. Katie would do anything for her, the incident with Angelina was just to protect her, but did she hurt Hermione instead? She did, and she knew it.
Katie made her way down the steps towards the common room. Hermione was sitting in one of the armoires watching a wizard chess game Harry and Ron were playing. Her eyes were red and she made an effort not to look at Katie as she abruptly stopped in front of her chair. In one quick motion the younger girl was swept into Katie's arms. Without looking at the staring Gryffindors, the two kissed as passionately as they could. For about five seconds the common room was completely quiet. When the two separated, Katie looked into Hermione's face, seeing a huge smile; she said those three little words that she had feared so much for so many years. "Hermione, I love you."
When Hermione and Katie emerged from Katie's bedroom and into the common room, they were met with applause. A few came up to them saying they didn't agree with homosexuality, but what they did was brave. It was a welcome relief from trying to hide their relationship. None of the other school found out about the public girl snogging, as the Gryffindors protected there own, and no way were the fucking homophobic Slytherins going to mess with them.
Harry and Ron even patted Katie on the back as she walked by; apparently they already figured out a week ago when Hermione tried to sneak by them towards Katie's bedroom. Hermione was so relieved that they were alright with their relationship that she brought Katie with her when the trio went to Hogsmeade.
At first the older girl was nervous, not wanting to embarrass Hermione in anyway, but eventually she got comfortable talking to Harry and Ron. She could see why Hermione liked them so much.
"I don't think you should resort to being as dirty as Malfoy next week. He can get really annoying, but still. What do you think will be more satisfying, winning using only fair tactics, or playing against the rules?"
"Yeah I guess you're right, it was just a thought. He just...needs to be put in his place."
"Well you can do that during the game, ok?"
"Yeah, during the game..."
Hermione smiled at Katie.
"KATIE BELL STREAKS DOWN THE PITCH! OH! SHE LOSES THE QUAFFLE!" Katie was sure she had the quaffle secure in her underarm, but the Slytherin chaser hit her side and the ball fell to the ground and was intercepted. She and Alicia sped side by side surrounding the Slytherin. Alicia blocked him causing the quaffle to fly into the air and be caught by Angelina who sped down the pitch.
Things had been different in the team since the incident in the locker rooms. People had originally been distant from Katie, but after the snogging in the common room, all of the team had warmed up considerably, especially Harry and Ron. Most of the team knew about Hermione and Katie anyway, due to the zealous gossiping that surrounded most Quidditch players of the house. Angelina, on the other hand, had become worse. She talked behind Katie's back, pushed her out of the way, and, on one occasion, trashed her locker.
"ANGELINA SCORES!!! THE SCORE IS NOW 50-10 GRYFFINDOR! OH MY GOODNESS! POTTER AND MALFOY ARE SHOOTING DOWN THE PITCH! WHAT'S THIS?? HARRY POTTER HAS THE SNITCH!! YOU HAVE THE SNITCH MATE!!" Katie blew a sigh of relief. The entire game had been stressful, not because she was afraid of losing, but because Angelina was really on the verge of doing something drastic.
The team gathered in their usual post-victory huddle, yelling and jumping. After the Gryffindors flooded on to the field, after everyone had gone running up to the castle, after Hermione had left Katie to congratulate Harry and Ron, Katie walk slowly up to the common room.
She walked slowly, not bothering to look in front of her. She knew the way well enough, right? Katie felt tired, depressed even. It wasn't really Hermione or Angelina that made her feel this way. But she knew it was something, something nagging at her. And it hurt, right from behind the lungs forming an S shape, up to the bottom of her throat. And then it hit her, literally.
"Oh, Merlin, Lavender, are you OK? I wasn't looking where I was going and I kind of-" Lavender lay dazed on the floor clutching the corner both had just turned.
"What? Oh....Oh." Lavender's eyes darted away from Katie; she stood quickly, brushing off her robes.
"Are you alright?"
"Mmm." Lavender nodded her head, except her head didn't extend during the last nod, so it looked to Katie as if she were bowing. The older girl, who managed to stay standing, turned slowly, never allowing her eyes to leave Lavender.
"OK, well, I'll see you then."
"Right."
"YOU WHAT???" Hermione was standing next to Katie's bed waving her hands frantically.
"But it was before you and I got together! I don't see how this upsets you!" Katie was on her bed, but she gradually slid off allowing her to gain the minor advantage of height.
"YOU SLEPT WITH HER!!! How could you have done it SO quickly?!?! WHO ARE YOU???"
"It was a mistake!"
"But it was a HUGE mistake!!!"
"Hermione! Listen, I know, you didn't let me finish. I feel BAD about it. I feel GUILTY. I wanted to apologize to Lavender, and I wanted your advice."
"But-"
"Hermione, please?" Hermione pursed her lips, and crossed her arms.
"Fine. But if you have any other secret relationships..."
"It wasn't secret! And it was a PREVIOUS relationship..."
"Even so, I expect you tell me about all of your PREVIOUS relationships. Because if you don't it's like you're hiding something from me...Are there any others?"
"Yeah...there are...er...You know how Angelina is giving me a hard time?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think it has to do with the fact that I kind of went out with her, and then dumped her. Now I'm going out with you, and it makes her even more angry and-"
"Wait, you went out with Angelina??? You told me nothing had happened between you two!"
"I'm telling you now aren't I?" Hermione sighed and leaned against Katie's four-post. Her lips were pursed, and her arms crossed, but her eyes were softer then they had been ten minutes ago. She nodded her head. "Well...anyway, she's angry and I need to apologize to her too."
"Merlin, Katie..." Katie stepped towards Hermione and took her hands, gently rubbing her thumb above Hermione's palm.
"Please?"
Katie walked down to the Quidditch pitch alone, not really wanting to talk to anyone, as she had just received a letter from her mother explaining how it would be best if she didn't come home this year for Christmas. Her broom rested on her shoulder as the eighteen year old passed through the gold gates and on to the large open field. She took a quick breath and kicked off of the ground.
The air was cold and smelled of dewy trees as it whipped across her tanned skin, and the wind gave perfect resistance for her training. As Katie barreled down the pitch a faint figure gave shape in the stands. Coming closer she noticed who it was. Lavender. The airborne girl leapt off her broom right over the stands...just to show off.
"What are you doing here? It's a bit too cold," Katie asked. She was breathing hard and had a smirk on. Being charming was just how Katie grew up.
"I was waiting for you to finish." Lavender said, looking a little too innocent.
"Oh, um...ok well I guess I'm done now. What do you need?" Katie sat down next to Lavender looking at her as though she were sizing the younger girl up.
"Yeah, er, that's a good way to put it. I need something" Lavender said, "I need something very badly but it's probably the hardest thing to get," Lavender looked at Katie who was now staring out on to the pitch which was beginning to darken as the sun set on the colossal castle. "Oh, honestly!"
Lavender grabbed the back of Katie's head and pulled her face to her own, kissing her until both had to catch their breath. Katie was so surprised her eyes hadn't closed until at least five seconds into the kiss, and even then her eyebrows remained involuntarily up. The younger girl licked Katie's bottom lip making her gasp. At last they pulled apart. Lavender stared at Katie, who looked almost smug.
Katie then did something Lavender did not expect--she stood up and walked away, picking up her broom as she did so. Lavender was horrified "what did I do wrong?" she asked herself.
"Hey, Lavender, you coming?" Katie stood at the edge of the stands, looking at Lavender expectantly. However, after seeing the shock on the fifth year's face, she walked back. Katie grabbed Lavender's hand entwining it in her own and led her all the way up to the castle and to her private room.
Katie woke the next morning finding the maroon sheets on her old four- poster bed crumpled over a sleeping girl. Lavender's hair was spread over the pillows; her hand over her face, Katie's eyes grew wide as she remembered what had happened the previous night. "Oh, Merlin", she threw her legs over the side of the bed putting her head in her hands, "oh, Merlin, Merlin". Lavender turned over.
"Hey"
"Hey, Lav...er...I've got to go," Katie threw on her worn out jeans with a button-up shirt and a tie. "Where's my ro- oh, here it is."
"Where are you going? It's a Sunday," Lavender asked, stretching.
"Uh...I've got Quidditch practice. There's a big game against Ravenclaw next week and I want the team to be ready." Katie started to stride out of the room when she heard Lavender talking again.
"When are you coming back?"
Katie stopped and turned around, "look, Lav, yesterday, I was really upset-- my mom said she couldn't have me back home for a while and I just was trying to...filter my anger...through you," Lavender's eyes were welling up. "Oh, crap. Lav, don't cry, I hate it when girls cry. I...I'm really sorry. I mean if it makes you feel better last night was really fun." Katie took a deep breath, "Ok, I really am late. I'll see you later." Katie walked over to Lavender and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then strode out.
Katie walked onto the Quidditch pitch, feeling considerably better then she had when she left Lavender. Her yellow practice uniform was now on and her pads were fastened safely across her wrists and knees. Katie looked into the sky to see who was in the air already. George, Fred, and Harry sped around each other playing tag and Alicia was letting the bludgers go. Katie mounted her broom, still staring at the players when a hand grabbed her shoulder.
"Oh! Bloody hell, Hermione! Don't scare me like that!" Hermione stood at her side gripping a notebook and a quill.
"Sorry, Katie, I just wanted to catch you before you took off. The Hogwarts Tribune is doing a piece on the Gryffindor house Quidditch team and I volunteered to write it. So I figure I could get an interview with some of the players. Do you mind me asking you a few questions?" Katie looked onto the pitch, watching her fellow teammates playing.
"No, no, I don't mind, but I've go to practice, do you want to meet me in the common room in...er...three hours?" Katie didn't wait for an answer, "great, see you then." She took off in a gust of wind that blew Hermione back.
Katie stopped next to Alicia. "How are we doing?" Alicia looked upon the new keeper.
"Ron's no Oliver, but he's coming along. Oh! Nice save, Ron!" Alicia glanced at Katie, "Good Merlin, Katie, you look like shit. What'd you do last night? I didn't see you in the common room."
"I'll tell you later, we need to practice."
"Ok, let's run some drills."
Katie stumbled into the common room, tired and dirty. She fell into a sofa and almost fell asleep when Hermione disturbed the sagging burgundy couch.
"So, are you ready to begin?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, go ahead," Katie put her head under her arm and closed her eyes.
"Ok, so let's start with something simple. What do you think of the team? I mean, how do you think the team will do this season?" Katie sat up and yawned.
"Well, Ron really isn't quite Oliver but he's really improving, and, er, Harry is, well, Harry, you know, he's great. But the team's got a lot of potential; I think we're going to do really well."
The interview got better and better as Katie began to talk not only about Quidditch, but about chemistry in the team and the pressure the houses put on them. She felt loose, fluid, comfortable talking to Hermione. Pretty soon the fire in the fireplace was gone and the common room had emptied leaving only the two girls.
"It's 1 o'clock, maybe we should go to sleep. It was really great talking," Katie stood up and stretched, realizing she was still in her Quidditch uniform.
"Yeah, I really enjoyed talking too." The girls stood for a moment nodding their heads. Hermione was really quite beautiful, after years of being some curly haired geek, she had turned into looking like something of perfection in Katie's opinion.
"So, I'll see you later."
"Yeah," Hermione turned around and walked up the stairs.
Katie was in a daze for the next hour or so, trying to go to sleep but she couldn't. Just as she was flipping over, Alicia burst into the room.
"Katie, wake up! Come on! Tell me what happened last night!" Katie rolled over to face the ecstatic girl.
Why should Katie not tell her? Alicia already knew about Katie's affinity for girls after an awkward discovery in the charms classroom with Cho last year. Unfortunately, Cho decided she was straight and has been chasing the most popular boys ever since. Katie explained the entire night to Alicia, only to receive much scolding which turned to asking how it was.
"It was fine I guess, I mean, I didn't really think about it then."
"You didn't think about it??? How could you not think about it??? What were you thinking about?" Katie showed Alicia the letter she got from her mother.
The piece of parchment was worn and had smudges, as if written very fast. There was no return address and the seal was picked off unnecessarily.
Katie,
We are sorry to inform you, but your father has been relocated to America. It would be best for you, and us, if you didn't come see us for Christmas. We are going to be spending two days in New York and then moving onto Seattle. Good luck in school.
-Your mother
"Well it's not that bad; you can probably come home with me. My mom really likes you; she says you're really-."
"That's not the point Alicia! Don't you understand? My father can't be relocated, he has a contract until next spring, the Ministry of Magic doesn't even send their auror trainers to other countries...they just don't me want back."
"...Why would they...oh...."
The two girls sat in silence until Alicia announced she was tired and went off to her own room.
Katie lay in bed until she was completely sure she couldn't go back to sleep. She got up and left for the bathroom.
The seventh year bathroom wasn't like the rest of the school, the stone walls were replaced with shiny grey granite and all of the knobs were odd shapes. The art on the wall was just landscapes so there wasn't any strange person or creature staring at you while you took a shower. The floor was covered with red carpet that soaked up water magically so you wouldn't slip, and the ceiling showed the sky, not the actual sky, but a perpetual sunny sky. Katie slipped into a shower, "4 am. That's an early start," she said to herself.
The seventh year left her shower stall and began to get dressed, completely unaware of Hermione washing her hands at the stone basin.
"Holy Merlin, Hermione," Katie had already put on most of her clothes but she still tried to cover herself.
"Oh, come on Katie it's not like I haven't seen it all before" Hermione glanced at the older girl in the reflection of the mirror.
"How did you get in here anyway? This is a seventh year bathroom."
"I'm a prefect I can go anywhere I want. And this is the nicest bathroom in the school." Hermione shot Katie a mischievous glance, which she returned. Now fully dressed the seventh year walked to the exit muttering a quick good bye to Hermione.
Katie got up from the floor, her crimson, carpeted, beautiful floor. The drugs she bought off Fred now thoroughly gone, and the plastic bag discarded, she changed to her pajamas. Katie had meant to throw it away, never to use it again, but lust and the urge to not let griffin beak go to waste set in. It was Hermione, Hermione that made her do it. Katie never wanted to hurt anyone, but it happened. She had a tendency to upset most of her lovers, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever they're called...conflict was good in a relationship she told herself, it was healthy. But it ends, the affair ends when Katie decides that there was too much happiness, too much kissing, hugging, laughing.
Katie knew there was something about Hermione, something different. She had felt this way before, about Cho, Angelina, George. She had broken all of these people's hearts, and after all of these experiences she learned from her mistakes. That's why it's Hermione's fault. Why'd she have to be so appealing? So lovable, and the way her eyebrows would react while you told her a story....No! Stop it Katie! She will not get into this pattern again. Hermione's not even gay! This is how it starts. Someone pays Katie a bit of attention and she goes crazy over the person. And Katie, being who she is, normally succeeds in snagging the object of her affection.
Tears run down her flushed cheek. She falls to her knees and leans forward, wanting to puke. Katie always pukes when she cries. She doesn't think it has anything to do with the tears though. Hermione's face flashes upon Katie's eyelids and the girl quickly yelps and rubs her eyes. All of her muscles tense and she forces herself to get into her bed, knowing, she won't get any sleep.
"Angelina! Get the quaffle!" Katie sped forward. Angelina intercepted the red ball from the Ravenclaws and passed it to Katie who was right in front of the goal posts.
"SHE SCORES!!! KATIE BELL SCORES FOR GRYFFINDOR!!" The crowd boomed sending chills up Katie's back. She sped off to try and block the rookie Ravenclaw chaser. She's not sure but Katie thinks the boy's name was Marliew.
"NICE BLOCK!!! MARLIEW LOSES THE QUAFFLE AND ALICIA SPINNET TAKES IT!! GO ALICIA GO!!!!" Alicia was near the goal posts executing a perfect fake in front of the keeper. Unfortunately, the keeper caught the quaffle easily. Seeing her chance Katie caught the ball right as the keeper let it out of his hands, and threw it quickly into the middle hoop. "OH, MY GOODNESS!! KATIE BELL HAS SCORED AGAIN!!!" Katie was thriving solely on the crowd's cheer.
"Go Katie!!" She looked below her, Hermione was gazing up at the airborne girl waving. Katie waved back.
"OH MY GOODNESS!! KATIE BELL IS DOWN!!" Distracted by Hermione, Katie was hit by a bludger across the face and fell fifty feet to the grassy ground.
"Ow..." Katie sat up and found that her arm couldn't support her, "Oh, it's broken."
"Katie, Katie, are you alright???" Hermione ran to her side, holding Katie's back to support uneasy girl. The two girls' eyes met, sending chills up Katie's back, suddenly every thing was gone, Katie's pain, the jeer of the crowd...everything.
Katie looked around, "this is far to cliché," she thought to herself. She got up, pushed off Hermione, and walked toward the locker rooms followed only by Madam Pomfrey. Katie actually doesn't remember how she got to the locker rooms; she was blinded by her pain, so her body basically led itself by instinct. The blood from her left cheek dripped down her face and fell upon her cradled right arm.
Madam Pomfrey bent over Katie and sent a cooling cloud across her face bringing down the swelling and healing most of the gash. She had already healed her arm the best she could, it was a pretty bad break and the bone had completely snapped in half.
"OK, well I think you can go back to the dormitory now, there's bound to be a party. Potter caught the snitch right as you were falling," Madam Pomfrey conjured a sling to put on Katie, "the final score was 190-20." Katie got up and thanked the nurse. Her arm, although still in considerable pain, felt much better then it had.
Katie left the locker room looking at her sling. Sexy or dorky? Sexy, definitely.
"What was that about?" Hermione stood ten feet away, arms crossed looking particularly angry. Most of the people had cleared out from the stands, but some were still lingering around the pitch waiting for a friend from the locker rooms.
"What?"
"You left! You didn't even say anything to me!"
"What did you want me to say? Excuse me Hermione but I have to go reattach my bone?" Katie stood her ground waiting for a response.
"Madam Pomfrey could have healed your arm there."
"I'm sorry, I didn't want eight hundred people staring as I writhe in pain!" Katie searched for words to cover herself, she was doing so well already, Hermione didn't even suspect she left because the sight of her eyes was too much. "Why would you even care?"
"Wha...I....er..."
"Yeah, OK." Katie started walking towards the castle, looking back once to see a confused Hermione watching her retreating back.
The party lasted until three in the morning when George passed out on the table knocking over a considerable amount of butterbeer. Katie never saw most of the party, having left for her room after shuffling into the common room to the applause she had previously thrived on.
The seventh year lay on her bed looking up at the ceiling, sighing for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.
"Hey Katie."
"Merlin Hermione! What is that...the tenth time you've snuck up on me?" Katie sat up shooting Hermione an angry expression. Her face softened however when she saw the look on Hermione's face. "Sorry...I wasn't...what do you need?"
"I wanted to...er...apologize for this afternoon."
"For what? You didn't do anything."
"I know, but I shouldn't have gotten angry. I guess I never really thought about the other people watching. It's just with Harry, he always let me escort him when he got hurt." Katie got up from her bed and strode to Hermione stopping a foot away.
"It wasn't about the other people watching my arm." They spoke quietly now, barely whispering.
"Then what was it?"
"I didn't want them to see me do this." Katie leaned over giving a gentle kiss upon Hermione's lips. It wasn't rough and passionate like the rest of Katie's kisses, it was slow and soft.
Katie pulled away, Merlin she was nervous. "I...I'm sorry." Hermione put her fingers to her lips. She opened her mouth as if to say something but she closed it. "Hermione..."
"I have to go." She turned and walked out slowly.
Katie stood in her place watching the air which Hermione had previously occupied. "Why???" She collapsed on her bed, falling asleep two hours later.
Katie settled into her usual spot next to Alicia in the great hall, taking a half piece of toast. Katie sighed as she bit into it, sending crumbs across her plate. "Urg...I can't eat."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Oh, come on, I know when my best friend is upset. What? Does your arm hurt?"
"No...nothing like that...I...er...I kissed Hermione." Alicia spat out her pumpkin juice across the wood table much to the dismay of the people sitting around her.
"Sorry, Seamus you can wipe that up right?" Alicia's attention swept back to Katie, "you did WHAT?? Merlin, Katie! What happened??"
"Nothing. She said she had to go...then she left," Katie sighed again and stood up, "I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Oh, you'll feel better later. We're going to Hogsmeade remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. Well, I guess I'll go get ready."
"OK, see you later!" Katie made her way through the bodies rushing towards various friends, some of them still chatting about the Quidditch game. A few went so far as to applause Katie as she walked by trying to avoid hitting her aching arm against anything.
WHAM. "Holy...fuck," Katie was on the floor, her arm throbbing so much she didn't think she could stop herself from passing out. She managed to stand up holding onto the stone wall to support her. Stupid Creevy, always running into people with his stupid camera-
"Katie? Are you alright?"
"Yep, just, you know, pain," Katie looked up to meet Hermione's deep brown eyes, "Hi."
"Hi...are you going to Hogsmeade?"
"What? Oh...Yeah."
"Good," Hermione helped Katie steady herself, leaving a piece of paper in Katie's hand.
"What's this?"
"What?" Hermione turned and walked away. Katie opened the paper.
Behind Zonko's, 3:00
At 2:45 Katie told Alicia and Angelina she was tired, and made her way toward the castle. When they were clearly out of sight, the girl doubled back, walking the back streets until she reached the alley behind Zonko's. Hermione was already there, leaning against the stone wall of the joke shop.
"Hey," Katie walked over to the young girl, eyes locked the entire time.
"Hey, Katie," Hermione stood up straight looking at the approaching girl intently, "I needed to talk to you about...yesterday."
"Yeah, about that Hermione, I didn't mean to frighten you. I'm really sorry." It took all of Katie's energy to say this. Her knees were weak and she could feel heat crossing up her back and up to her neck. She always found it easier to say something when she imagined herself away from her body, moving her muscles just to move them, not to actually have any effect.
"You didn't scare me...you just surprised me. And you shouldn't be sorry, I mean we can't help who we like, we can learn to restrain ourselves, but hardly anyone does that."
"What are you saying? Because, honestly, you're confusing me." Katie grew more impatient as she waited for Hermione to give her a final answer.
She smiled slightly, "Katie..." Hermione walked forward slowly, taking the older girl's good hand. She leaned on her tip-toes to plant a small kiss on Katie's weathered lips. There was a long silence in which the surprised girl's mouth hung open and Hermione tried to look as confident as she didn't feel. Katie smiled; she hadn't felt this happy in a long time, in fact, when she thought about it, she had never felt this happy.
After about ten minutes of kissing, and, to Katie's surprise, groping, they both made their way up to the castle, hand in hand.
"So, you and Hermione? Well done Katie," Alicia sat at the edge of Katie's bed looking impressed, while Katie examined the bruise that had spread across her arm after the fall.
"Yeah, I've got to admit when she asked me to meet her, I thought it was to tell me how sick I am. But I was wrong, very, very wrong," the two girls giggled, "I've got to go though, I planned to meet Hermione in the common room at 10."
"Yeah, yeah, go get your girl...I'll go get my boy."
"What? Who's your boy? Hmm? Someone HOT?" Alicia threw a pillow at Katie hitting her on her leg.
"Yes, I'd like to think so...it's Fred."
"Fred?!?!?! When did this happen? Good Merlin!"
"I'll tell you later, it's 10:05 already."
"Oh, Hermione's going to be pissed, but you'd better tell me when I get back."
"I will...but I doubt you'll be back soon." They both laughed as Katie walked out of the room.
When Katie arrived at the bottom of the stairwell Hermione was already waiting for her. She was leaning against one of the couches, in fact, the exact same couch they had had the interview on.
"Where were you?"
"Sorry, Alicia got me side tracked," Hermione looked stern.
"What were you doing with Alicia?"
"Merlin, Hermione, way to be jealous, she was only telling me about Fred and her."
"Oh...sorry, Katie," Hermione looked embarrassed, "I was just making sure, I don't want to lose you."
"Considering you've only had me for a week..."
"Best week of my life."
"Me too," and Katie meant it.
As the school year crept into winter, Angelina decided it would be best if the Quidditch team went from three practices a week, to five. This meant, for Katie, less time for Hermione.
"Come ON Angelina! The team's tired! We can't do anymore five per week practices!" The team was changing into their Quidditch uniforms, each player more tired then the next. Even Angelina had bags under her eyes, which wasn't surprising considering Katie found her awake every night she came back at 1 after a rendezvous with her 5th year.
"What? Can't get enough time with your little lover? I can't sacrifice the team for Hermione." Katie swooped down on Angelina, clapping her hand over her mouth and pushing her against the lockers.
"If you ever-."
Alicia stepped in, gently pulling Katie's hand off of Angelina's trembling mouth, "hold on...Angelina, we'll meet you on the pitch in five minutes. Let's go Katie."
Alicia led her out of the locker rooms, pulling Katie's wrist hard to restrict her from assaulting Angelina even more. "Katie! You can't just push someone like that! If you don't want attention brought to you and Hermione I suggest you stop making scenes! I mean...I didn't even hear what you guys were saying until I heard Angelina suffocating under your hand!"
"Sorry. I'm sorry." Tears were running down Katie's face, but her expression showed no sign of it.
"Just...urgh...Let's go practice."
Practice was considerably awkward; Angelina and Katie kept blocking each other, even stealing the ball when they were on the same side. The team felt the tension, and in effect, played horribly for the entire three hours they were on the pitch.
Katie collapsed on her bed. Why would Angelina say those things? What did I do? Hermione strode in.
"Hey."
"Hey," the younger girl layed her head on Katie's stomach, "you look tired."
"Yeah...I got angry at Angelina. She said something...about us." Hermione looked up.
"What? What did she say?" Katie explained the confrontation.
"I wonder why she would say that..."
"I was thinking the exact same thing."
"Has anything happened between you two?" Katie thought of those two months with Angelina. She always looked beautiful when she was with Katie, so care free. Then she remembers those two hours during the break up. She was so angry.
"No."
"Oh...you know you shouldn't have gotten so angry. Seriously, we don't want this to escalate. Angelina could kick you off the team."
"Even if she hated my guts more then the world, I'm the highest scoring chaser in three years, the house wouldn't let her kick me off."
"True, but still, you should be careful."
"Yeah, yeah I should...Have you told Harry and Ron...about us?" Hermione looked up from Katie's stomach.
"No. I'm sure they've figured out something's up, I mean you're all I talk about an-"
"You talk about me? What do you say?" Katie sat up cocking her head slightly, looking amused.
"Oh, you know, Katie does this, and Katie says that...those kinds of things."
"That's cute." She took Hermione's head in her hands and gave her multiple kisses on the lips letting the giggles spurt out in the intermissions. When they finished, and the two girls lay on their backs, Hermione looked over and into the blond girl's face.
"Katie, I love you." Katie sat up.
"You what???"
"I mean...I mean, we've been going out for a month now...and...and I thought it was time...I didn't mean to, er, upset you."
"Hermione, you didn't upset me...I just, I'm not sure I feel...the same." Hermione's face looked so hurt.
"Oh...I guess I should have expected that, I mean you went so far as to push Angelina against the lockers to keep our relationship hidden...I'm expected to think you love me when you don't even tell anybody about us? The only reason I haven't told Harry and Ron is because of you!" Hermione stormed out of Katie's room slamming the thick wooden door as she passed through the entry way.
Katie sighed into her pillow. Did she love Hermione? Her answer was merely a reflex that she said to anyone that told her those three little meaningful words. Katie would do anything for her, the incident with Angelina was just to protect her, but did she hurt Hermione instead? She did, and she knew it.
Katie made her way down the steps towards the common room. Hermione was sitting in one of the armoires watching a wizard chess game Harry and Ron were playing. Her eyes were red and she made an effort not to look at Katie as she abruptly stopped in front of her chair. In one quick motion the younger girl was swept into Katie's arms. Without looking at the staring Gryffindors, the two kissed as passionately as they could. For about five seconds the common room was completely quiet. When the two separated, Katie looked into Hermione's face, seeing a huge smile; she said those three little words that she had feared so much for so many years. "Hermione, I love you."
When Hermione and Katie emerged from Katie's bedroom and into the common room, they were met with applause. A few came up to them saying they didn't agree with homosexuality, but what they did was brave. It was a welcome relief from trying to hide their relationship. None of the other school found out about the public girl snogging, as the Gryffindors protected there own, and no way were the fucking homophobic Slytherins going to mess with them.
Harry and Ron even patted Katie on the back as she walked by; apparently they already figured out a week ago when Hermione tried to sneak by them towards Katie's bedroom. Hermione was so relieved that they were alright with their relationship that she brought Katie with her when the trio went to Hogsmeade.
At first the older girl was nervous, not wanting to embarrass Hermione in anyway, but eventually she got comfortable talking to Harry and Ron. She could see why Hermione liked them so much.
"I don't think you should resort to being as dirty as Malfoy next week. He can get really annoying, but still. What do you think will be more satisfying, winning using only fair tactics, or playing against the rules?"
"Yeah I guess you're right, it was just a thought. He just...needs to be put in his place."
"Well you can do that during the game, ok?"
"Yeah, during the game..."
Hermione smiled at Katie.
"KATIE BELL STREAKS DOWN THE PITCH! OH! SHE LOSES THE QUAFFLE!" Katie was sure she had the quaffle secure in her underarm, but the Slytherin chaser hit her side and the ball fell to the ground and was intercepted. She and Alicia sped side by side surrounding the Slytherin. Alicia blocked him causing the quaffle to fly into the air and be caught by Angelina who sped down the pitch.
Things had been different in the team since the incident in the locker rooms. People had originally been distant from Katie, but after the snogging in the common room, all of the team had warmed up considerably, especially Harry and Ron. Most of the team knew about Hermione and Katie anyway, due to the zealous gossiping that surrounded most Quidditch players of the house. Angelina, on the other hand, had become worse. She talked behind Katie's back, pushed her out of the way, and, on one occasion, trashed her locker.
"ANGELINA SCORES!!! THE SCORE IS NOW 50-10 GRYFFINDOR! OH MY GOODNESS! POTTER AND MALFOY ARE SHOOTING DOWN THE PITCH! WHAT'S THIS?? HARRY POTTER HAS THE SNITCH!! YOU HAVE THE SNITCH MATE!!" Katie blew a sigh of relief. The entire game had been stressful, not because she was afraid of losing, but because Angelina was really on the verge of doing something drastic.
The team gathered in their usual post-victory huddle, yelling and jumping. After the Gryffindors flooded on to the field, after everyone had gone running up to the castle, after Hermione had left Katie to congratulate Harry and Ron, Katie walk slowly up to the common room.
She walked slowly, not bothering to look in front of her. She knew the way well enough, right? Katie felt tired, depressed even. It wasn't really Hermione or Angelina that made her feel this way. But she knew it was something, something nagging at her. And it hurt, right from behind the lungs forming an S shape, up to the bottom of her throat. And then it hit her, literally.
"Oh, Merlin, Lavender, are you OK? I wasn't looking where I was going and I kind of-" Lavender lay dazed on the floor clutching the corner both had just turned.
"What? Oh....Oh." Lavender's eyes darted away from Katie; she stood quickly, brushing off her robes.
"Are you alright?"
"Mmm." Lavender nodded her head, except her head didn't extend during the last nod, so it looked to Katie as if she were bowing. The older girl, who managed to stay standing, turned slowly, never allowing her eyes to leave Lavender.
"OK, well, I'll see you then."
"Right."
"YOU WHAT???" Hermione was standing next to Katie's bed waving her hands frantically.
"But it was before you and I got together! I don't see how this upsets you!" Katie was on her bed, but she gradually slid off allowing her to gain the minor advantage of height.
"YOU SLEPT WITH HER!!! How could you have done it SO quickly?!?! WHO ARE YOU???"
"It was a mistake!"
"But it was a HUGE mistake!!!"
"Hermione! Listen, I know, you didn't let me finish. I feel BAD about it. I feel GUILTY. I wanted to apologize to Lavender, and I wanted your advice."
"But-"
"Hermione, please?" Hermione pursed her lips, and crossed her arms.
"Fine. But if you have any other secret relationships..."
"It wasn't secret! And it was a PREVIOUS relationship..."
"Even so, I expect you tell me about all of your PREVIOUS relationships. Because if you don't it's like you're hiding something from me...Are there any others?"
"Yeah...there are...er...You know how Angelina is giving me a hard time?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think it has to do with the fact that I kind of went out with her, and then dumped her. Now I'm going out with you, and it makes her even more angry and-"
"Wait, you went out with Angelina??? You told me nothing had happened between you two!"
"I'm telling you now aren't I?" Hermione sighed and leaned against Katie's four-post. Her lips were pursed, and her arms crossed, but her eyes were softer then they had been ten minutes ago. She nodded her head. "Well...anyway, she's angry and I need to apologize to her too."
"Merlin, Katie..." Katie stepped towards Hermione and took her hands, gently rubbing her thumb above Hermione's palm.
"Please?"