Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I think we should have established that fact at this point.
I Won't Tell if You Won't Tell
Fred stumbled groggily into the living room of the safe house that he and Oliver were staying in until they received further instructions. Oliver was already up and eating a breakfast in the tiny kitchen.
"You slept awfully late," he mumbled through a mouthful of ham and eggs.
"I can't sleep in these places," Fred moaned, "The bed is as hard as a rock."
Oliver laughed. "You wouldn't complain if Angelina was here."
"How do you know that?" he countered.
"Because we stayed here last year, and you and Angie had no complaints. Of course, from what I could hear, you two weren't doing much sleeping."
Fred turned fire engine red, and Oliver could have sworn there was smoke coming out of his ears from sheer embarrassment.
"Well you only slept well because you were dreaming of a certain Blue Flame member by the name of Katherine Bell," he retorted.
It was a good thing Oliver had already swallowed or he would have choked. He'd been extremely careful not to breathe a word about Katie and himself or to so much as bring her up in conversation. If anyone mentioned her, he carefully dodged the subject and brought up another topic.
"I did not," he grumbled, stabbing at some egg on his plate.
Fred smirked and fixed himself a pile of ham with gravy.
"Really? Then why were you clutching your pillow and moaning her name all night."
This time Oliver did choke.
"I was not!" he exclaimed, a spray of eggs flying from his mouth and hitting Fred square in the chest.
"Oh, you did."
Fred grabbed a cushion off the chair and clutched it, imitating a sleeping Oliver. "Oh, Katie, darling, I'll never leave you. I love you." He finished by making an obnoxious smacking noise with his lips as though he were kissing someone and pretended to snog the pillow.
"Sod off," Oliver muttered, concentrating on his plate off food, wishing he could disappear or at least send Fred to Hungary.
"So, do you LIKE her?" Fred asked.
"She's a good friend," came the ambiguous answer.
"Are you involved?"
"She's not allowed to be involved with anyone. It's part of Blue Flame regulations."
"That doesn't mean you aren't involved."
"Fine, we aren't involved," Oliver lied, "not together, not anything except friends!"
Fred raised his eyebrows. "You've got to learn to be a better liar."
***************************************
"I am SO bored," Katie complained, dropping onto her couch.
A cloud of dust plumed up from the cushions, causing her to cough.
"Well, I suppose it's something to do."
She got a dust-buster out from under her kitchen sink. It would have been easier to use a cleaning spell, but Katie had learned long ago to take advantage of anything that would pass time, including cleaning in the muggle fashion. Sometimes, it actually came in handy to be half muggle.
She flipped the switch to on, and a roaring noise soon filled the air. She ran the appliance over the arms and cushions of the couch and then turned to her curtains.
"What in the bloody hell is that?"
Katie jumped, barely managing to hold onto the dust-buster and prevent it from becoming a worthless pile of plastic pieces on her floor.
She glared at Angelina who was smiling innocently.
"Can't someone, for once, warn me ahead of time that they plan on showing up at my flat?"
"And miss the priceless expression on your face, not a chance."
Katie resisted the urge to throw the machine at her friend. It would give her one less person to come over and keep her company, not to mention that Fred would kill her.
She set the dust-buster on the window seat and plopped down on the couch.
"So what brings you here, outside of scaring the piss out of me?" she asked.
"Glad you asked," she flopped down next to Katie, "I was cleaning house and found a picture of the team after winning the cup."
She watched Katie carefully as she looked over the picture, waiting for something to confirm her and Fred's suspicions. In the picture, everyone was jumping up and down and hugging. Fred and George had conjured up a bucket of water to dump on Oliver, Angelina and Katie were giving each other bunny ears, Harry was grinning madly, and Alicia was staring at George. It was a mirror image of the old days.
Katie's eyes wandered over the whole picture, finally landing on Oliver. A small tear formed in the corner of her eye.
"You really miss him, don't you?"
Katie looked up and wiped the tear away.
"I miss everyone, and I worry. I mean, poor Harry faces Voldemort every year, Alicia is dead, and George is just now getting over it," she babbled nervously.
"And if something happened to Oliver you would be devastated," Angelina added.
"Well, you would be if something happened to Fred," she snipped, "It hurts to lose someone you love."
She snapped her mouth shut the instant she realized what she had said. Her cheeks turned a deep shade of scarlet. "I mean…"
Angelina laughed. "Fred and I could already tell. The poor boy was over here any time he wasn't on a mission. He might as well move in."
Katie's stomach flip-flopped. "Is it that obvious?"
"To me and Fred it was. Dumbledore will figure it out eventually."
"Fuck!"
She leapt up from the couch and began pacing around the room. Angelina's face took on a look of confusion.
"It's no big deal, Katie. You two are a really cute couple. Dumbledore will be thrilled."
"You don't understand," Katie groaned, "I'm not allowed to date."
"I think your parents lost that control when you moved out."
Katie grabbed her handbook off the end table and opened it to the appropriate page. She held it under Angelina's face.
"Read it."
Angelina's eyes widened. "Merlin, Katie. Do you know how much trouble you could get into?"
"I have a few ideas. Angelina, please, you can't breathe a word to anyone."