A Kneazle is a small catlike creature with flecked, speckled, or spotted fur, outsize ears and a tail like a lion's, the Kneazle is intelligent, independent, and occasionally aggressive, though if it takes a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes an excellent pet. The Kneazle has an uncanny ability to detect unsavory or suspicious characters and can be relied upon to guide its owner safely home if they are lost. Kneazles have up to eight kittens in a litter and can interbreed with cats. Licenses are required for ownership as Kneazles are sufficiently unusual in appearance to attract Muggle interest. (A/N~ A Kneazle according to Fantastic Beasts by Newt Scamander. Enjoy reading chapter 10)
Katie woke up early the next day. For some odd reason she couldn't sleep. When she first looked at her clock it read five thirty. Now it was reading six. Getting out of bed she went into the bathroom. She started to play with her hair thinking to her self. I wonder how I should pull up my hair today? You should leave it down. That's how Oliver likes it! Damn! What am I going to wear? What you normally wear may be? No, no it has to be nice! She headed out into the room and opened her trunk. She started to dig through things and her insomnia was waking up others.
"Bloody hell Katie! If you can't sleep like normal people then can you at least be quiet?" Julie Meddle, one of her other roommates, asked a little peeved off. Angelina woke up to Julie's tripe and looked over to where Katie was currently rummaging through her trunk. Angelina looked over to Katie's clock to see that it was only seven a.m. on a Saturday morning.
"What are you doing?" She groggily asked.
"Looking for a nice skirt to wear with my new cloak. Ugh! I can't find a clean one!" Angelina looked utterly confused. When it came to weekends, Katie usually stayed away from skirts. She was either sporting workout pants or jeans.
"What's wrong with you? It's Saturday!"
"Have to look good for Hogsmeade today!" Katie said without thinking.
"What do you mean 'You have to look good'? You never worried about that before! Hell if we care what you look like." Angelina was referring to herself, Lee and the twins. The five of them always went to Hogsmeade together. Katie new she was going to have to tell Angelina sometime. She would feel bad if she just ditched her group for no reason.
"Well I'm kinda not going with you guys today!" Angelina just gave her a repulsive look.
"You're not?"
"Well no I'm going alone with Oliver,"
"What!" Julie shrieked. She wasn't their best of friends but she knew how much Katie liked Oliver.
"Yeah well he kinda asked to spend today alone with me. I was hopping he might finally tell me…" Katie stopped there. Bugger I said too much! Angelina was having a hay day.
"You were hoping what?" Katie too a deep breathe and told the other two girls what she heard Oliver say and how she was waiting for him to tell it to her strait. Angelina leaped out of her bed and hugged Katie hard.
"So what are you going to do if he dose say it to your face?"
"Nothing yet," Angelina looked like she was going to murder Katie, "Chill! I'm going to tell him but not after I play with him a little bit." Julie giggled.
"You're evil!"
"I try," Katie grinned as she returned looking through her trunk. Angelina was now too excited to sleep so she helped Katie look for a skirt. They didn't find one until they hit the bottom of the trunk. Katie grinned and headed strait to the bathroom to shower and change. Angelina laughed as she crawled back into bed.
"I have never seen her so excited,"
"I know. Half of me just wants to shoot her for waking us up so early," Julie yawned. They heard a constant rush of water coming from the shower and soon their eyes began to droop.
"I don't think she'll mind," Angelina paused to yawn then continued, "if we go back to sleep."
"Not like she's got a choice," Julie said as her head hit the pillow and her eyes drooped closed. About 20 minuets later, Katie stepped out of the bathroom ready for the day to start. She had found a nice gray skirt and put on a white blouse to go with it. She left a few top buttons fashionably un-button and wore a silver pendant necklace Fred and George had gotten her for her birthday that year. She had her long brown hair down with the ends curled and donned light lip-gloss. She wasn't the kind for much make up. She shook her head as she noticed Angelina and Julie had fallen back to sleep. Quietly she grabbed her new cloak, black buckle shoes and some white knee-highs and headed down to the common room. She there put the other garments on and surveyed herself in the mirror over the fireplace.
"Not bad Katie," she said to her image, "Guess I'll be going to breakfast alone," she sighed and headed out of the portrait door. She slowly made her way to the Great Hall but when she entered it she noticed, beside the usual nutters that liked to be up early on a Saturday, there was another person who seemed to be up quite early for no reason. Quietly she headed up to the blurry boy and took a seat beside him. Reaching for a piece of toast she softly spoke,
"You're up early Professor," Oliver turned to look at her and smiled.
"As are you Miss Bell," He looked her over and his smiled widened, "you look nice today."
"Thank You. You don't look bad your self," Katie had to admit that Oliver looked drop dead gorgeous. It was the first time sense he had been there that Katie had seen Oliver dress the way she knew he liked. He had on a nice pair of muggle jeans that he always wore at school, Ambicrombie and Fitch she believed he had called them. They were slightly baggy but still defined his best feature, his ass. She could see the outline of the black t-shirt he always wore around in the common room years ago under the dark green knitted sweater he had on. She fell into memory mode and grinned as she remembered how he used to look in that shirt. How it fitted just right and always adjusted to his muscular features. Lastly there was the familiar sent of the cologne that he wore. They ate in silence for a little bit until Oliver spoke up,
"So are there any other plans for today besides getting our costumes?" Katie had to think for a moment. It didn't occur to her that it wouldn't take long to go shopping for costumes and what they would do after that was beyond her.
"Not a clue. We'll just wing it I guess."
"Sounds like a plan to me." They finished up eating and just talked a while until other students started to show up. Then an idea crossed Oliver's brain.
"Lets go now!"
"Now? But Oliver we're not allowed to leave until 10 and it's only 9!"
"I know that but sense I'm a Professor, he grinned and placed his hands over his chest. Katie remembered how he did that when telling people he was that captain or keeper of the team.
"I'm sure Dumbledore wont mind."
"Well ok but is there any reason why you want to go early?"
"If we get there before everyone else then we can get in and out with our costumes with no mad rush. Then we can spend the day just walking around in the other shops." Katie beamed. She liked the idea of Walking around with Oliver in peace. Gave her time to pry information out of him and being alone was an added bonus.
"Brilliant idea!" Oliver smiled and headed up to the teachers table to have a quick word with Dumbledore. He came back to the table a few moments later with a wide grin on his face..
"Shall we go," he asked holding out his hand for her. Accepting his hand as he helped her out of her seat she smiled and answered a simple,
"We shall." Just as they were heading out of the hall together, Katie's posse walked in. George looked confused.
"Where are they going? Not spending the day with us?" he said sitting down. He didn't really think that Katie and Oliver were not going to hang with them and got quite a shock from Angelina.
"Well no actually. Oliver asked Katie to spend the day alone with him,"
"So basically they ditched us?" Fred muttered.
"Don't look at it that way! You know how smitten those two are about each other!" Angelina didn't like how Fred seemed to be less than happy for their friends.
"Well I hope he's up to something," Lee said.
"I'm sure he wanted to talk to her about something," Angelina mused.
Katie and Oliver got to the village to find it quite dead except for the normal bustle of local people. It was nice but all Katie could think about was how much she wished Oliver would hold her hand. She had to shake her mind clear of it. If I did that then I'm not going to get to mess with him later! Oliver smiled at her and asked,
"Where do you want to get your costume?" Katie wasn't really sure. She had an idea what she wanted to dress up like but hadn't a clue where to find it and how much it would cost.
"I know what I'm looking for but I don't know which store would be good. Do you know what you're getting?" Oliver nodded his head yes.
"Yeah, I know exactly what I'm getting,"
"Well then let's get your costume first then we can search for mine."
"Ok." Katie followed Oliver into the Costume store that was there year round. No matter how hard she peered and peaked, she couldn't see what Oliver was pulling off from the racks.
"Let me see Oliver!" she whined as he started to head off to the dressing room.
"Nope! No one gets to see till next week. I would just pay for them but I might need to get some alterations." He gave her a cheeky grin and disappeared. Ten minuets later he came out with the garments folded and a grin on his face.
"All done. Let me just pay for these and we'll go get yours," Katie just frowned. She really wanted to know what he was going as. She let out a tut. Well if I don't get to see his then he doesn't get to see mine. Oliver came back and he and Katie started to search for her costume. She didn't find anything and was starting to get frustrated. It was also getting close to ten and everyone else would be coming soon. She was about to cry, which wouldn't be fair to Oliver, when she thought of a store she had been to at the end of town last year.
"I just thought of something!" she yelled scaring Oliver out of his mind. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to the far side of town where there was a shop called Design Your Own. They headed in and a small witch came hobbling over.
"How can I help you dears?"
"Well I'm looking for a specific dress for the Halloween dance next week at school but I really haven't seen anything I like. I was hoping to get it made here."
"Of course but you know it will probably be a pretty penny,"
"I was afraid of that. Cheep material here I come," Oliver put a hand on her shoulder,
"I'll pay for it. Get whatever material you want," Katie's mouth dropped.
"Oliver no! You don't have to..."
"Consider it a late birthday present. I just wont tell you how much it is,"
"Oliver!"
"Katie pleases!" Katie just looked at him and knew she was going to lose anyway.
"Fine but you don't get to see what you're paying for,"
"Why not!"
"Simple, I didn't get to see yours." The witch led Katie to a back room while Oliver sat in a waiting chair. It made him uncomfortable when a different witch would come running out to get different kinds of purple silk, lace and other things he knew were going to be expensive. He became more uncomfortable when one of them would come up to him during an errand to get something and tell him how beautiful she was looking. What really did him in though was at the end when he heard a bunch of weepy voices at one time.
"Oh my!"
"Lovely"
"You look spectacular!"
"Are you sure you don't want to show that handsome young man how radiant you are?" Oliver smirked at this and hoped she would change her mind.
"I'm sure. He can wait," Oliver's face fell and greeted the witch as she came out of the back. As they headed up to counter the witch gave him her own comments.
"She's beaming so much back there. I don't think any other material would work the way she wanted it. It's so nice of you to do this for her." Oliver smiled and read how much it was going to cost him. He had to do a double take then just swallow hard as he paid. Katie's worth this! You heard those comments. You're in for a treat next Saturday. The witch smiled at him again as she handed him his change.
"If I'm not mistaken, you're not only doing this cause you missed her birthday are you?" Oliver went red and shook his head no.
"Dose she know you like her?"
"I'm not sure,"
"I think you should tell her," the witch said and winked right before Katie came out with a big bag in her hand. She beamed at Oliver and debated with her self before giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Oh Oliver thank you so much!"
"It was no problem!" He said turning red from the kiss. As they headed out of the store they noticed that the rest of the school had arrived and were packing full all the clothing shops. Katie was glad that she and Oliver came early, as the other stores were less crowded. They did, however, run into the twins, Lee and Angelina at Zonkos.
"How's the shopping?" Katie asked Angelina while picking out some of her favorite tricks and gags. She decided that she was going to do all of her shopping that week so she didn't have to go next week, that way she could just sleep in and do nothing all day.
"Ok. Still haven't gotten our costumes. Damn stores are too full to even walk in. I see you lucky bums have though."
"Yeah! Dumbledore allowed Oliver to take me an hour early,"
"Where did you get your costume Katie? I don't recognize the store bag?" Lee asked.
"Oh I got mine made at the cute little store down the road. You guys might want to try there. It's not as crowded but more pricey. I think it's worth it," Katie said as she began to tell Angelina all about her dress without giving it away. Oliver smirked to himself. It better be worth it for what it cost me. Now, now you heard what all those witches were saying! It will be well worth it.
"So did you see the dress?" Fred asked knocking Oliver out of his thoughts. He was listening to what it was made out of and was really curious.
"No, she wouldn't let me. I was going nuts though wondering. Those damn witches kept running out for things and kept telling me how wonderful she looked."
"Must have been expensive," Lee concluded.
"Oh it was!" All three boys looked oddly at Wood.
"What do you mean, "It was"?" Oliver went read and before he got a word out Angelina screeched!
"He did? OH! Oliver how sweet! Fred never bought me anything like that!" Fred went red and rounded on Oliver,
"Don't tell me you bought it for her?" Oliver just gave a sheepish grin and shrugged his shoulders. George rolled his eyes while Lee chuckled.
"Damn it Oliver! Now I'm going to have to do something sweet like that for Angelina!" Angelina growled at Fred who went white. The others burst out laughing.
"Of course I would get her something anyway but I don't think I can live to his standards," Fred quickly added only making everyone else laugh harder but earned him a peck from Angelina.
"Much better,"
After promising to meet them at two for butterbeers, Oliver and Katie went off by them selves again. It was nice and they did a lot of talking. Mainly telling each other what they had been up to in the past years but deep down Katie tried to find a way to get Oliver to tell her he liked her and Oliver tried to figure out how he was going to tell her. It was 1:30 when Oliver and Katie went to the Three Broomsticks and got a table for six. They only had to wait ten minuets for the others to show up, each holding numerous bags. Once the rest ordered their drinks Katie made a small comment to Angelina.
"I notice you have a bag from my favorite shop!"
"Yes I do," she said looking over to Fred she grinned, "and prince charming bought it for me,"
"I had no choice after what Oliver did. I do say I'm pretty sure it wasn't as expensive as Katie's though," Lee chuckled.
"The lady made a comment that an earlier Casanova had done the same thing," Oliver blushed red and remembered what the witch had said to him. Quietly he leaned over to Katie and whispered,
"After this drink mind if we go back to the common room? I kinda want to talk to you about something." Katie looked and him puzzled and nodded her head yes. So after they got done with their drink they made their way back to the castle. Oliver told Katie he would meet up with her in the common room once he dropped his things off so Katie quickly ran to her room dropped her bags, hung up her dress, quickly cheeked her self over and then went down to the common room to wait for Oliver. He showed up a few moments later and joined her on the couch. Katie could tell he was nervous and truth be told she was a little nervous her self.
"Well?" she prompted in a sweet tone. She wasn't sure if it was a smart thing for her to do but she felt he needed to know that it was ok. Gingerly she ran her hand along his arm trying to calm him down. Oliver took a deep breath and sighed.
"Remember the night I so stupidly said I couldn't stand being around you?"
"Yes, I remember that night quiet well,"
"Well I wanted to rephrase that statement if you'd let me?" Katie gave a shift in the couch and nodded her head. Not realizing what she was doing she moved closer to him.
"Go ahead," Oliver did the same thing and had their body distances inches a part.
" The reason I was having problems being so close to you wasn't because I couldn't stand you. I couldn't stand being around you and how you made me feel. Every time I was near you I just wanted to hold you. More than that I wanted to kiss you. Remember what your lips felt against mine. Katie," Oliver paused to look right in her eyes, "I still like you!" Katie couldn't breathe. She knew he still liked her but how he had just said it blew her away.
"Katie you ok?" All she could do was nod. Her eyes were so transfixed that it took all her emotion not to cry. Oliver took it upon him self to keep going.
"Katie, I'm going to kiss you now. You can slap me, hate me, I don't care. I just want to kiss you." He was leaning so slowly and all Katie could do was sit there transfixed. Bloody hell move girl! This isn't part of the plan! But I want him to kiss me! That was so beautiful. What he just said. Oliver never got the chance. They were interrupted as a group of first years came back from getting their costumes. They stopped seeing the two and gave them puzzled looks. Oliver immediately thought up of a cover plan.
"Sour gum ball. She hates them don't you Katie?" Katie nodded and the little firstlings thought nothing of it.
"You ok Katie?" Oliver asked again and Katie was now able to pull herself together and continue with her plan. Seductively she whispered in his ear,
"So, you like me huh Professor?" Oliver nodded. It was his turn to be blown away. Katie ran a hand up his side and added, "Very interesting," before she blew in his ear, dragging her hand across him as she moved and headed up stairs to flop on her bed in a fit of giggles.
A/N's~~~ HI!!! Wow this is longer than most chapters yet I get it done quicker. LOL GO figure! Anyway I will admit I was really inspired. The next chapter is a dream flashback both Katie and Oliver have of that fateful day on the train. If you don't remember what I'm talking about then I highly suggest you go back and read the first chapter! After that will be the Halloween dance, now on to my thank yous. PokElilpupE…. princess…and to my faithful Allie. Thanks for the reviews… (I still own nothing except for Julie and the clothing store!!! LOL)