Days passed on, as boring as History of Magic classes are long, and my life became dull again. I barely saw Oliver; he was busy running around like a chicken with its head cut off after various people. Diggory was locked in his dorm more than anything. I felt bad not helping him, but he had yet to even show me who Aurora was, much less give me any information that would help me find the key.
This whole key business was harder than I had believed it to be, also. I had tried every spell imaginable to bring the key to me. The Summoning Charm was useless. The spell I had read about to make the key come alive and walk to me, surprisingly enough, was a crock. I had no other choice than to befriend a Hufflepuff, get the password, and sneak into the girl's room. And if I got caught for that. . . all for Diggory. Damn him and his captivating smile. Damn his adorable blue eyes. . .
Three days after our weekend in Hogsmeade, I found myself sulking around the school, bored beyond belief. That was before Fred and George showed up.
"Hey, Katie," Fred came up behind me, throwing his heavy arm over my shoulder. His mere presence made me nervous.
"What are you going to do to me?" I asked warily, eyeing both of the twins.
"Nothing at all. In fact, we came here to offer you a once in a lifetime opportunity," George grinned, hurrying a little ahead of me and Fred.
"I don't want to be one of your guinea pigs. Sorry, guys."
"Oh, no. It's nothing quite that. . . well, dangerous," Fred grinned sheepishly. "We simply wanted to know if you would like to join us on a nice mid-afternoon walk now that we're done with our classes for today."
"A laid-back stroll among the grounds. If we happen to wander off into the muggle town about two miles away, so be it," George sighed. "There's nothing we can do if that is where our feet choose to lead us."
"And," I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, "how did you come to find this muggle town. Pure accident I'm sure."
"Of course!" Fred squeezed his arm around my neck a little tighter. "You know better than to think WE would go looking for trouble. We were simply running a little late for Potions one day and found a shortcut behind an old suit of armor."
"It looked dank and eerie, so we figured it had to lead to the dungeons. So, we hopped in. However, after about 30 minutes of walking, we hit a stone wall," George explained.
"And it flipped around, sending us into the storage room to a muggle convention center."
"And we wouldn't have stayed," George assured me.
"As we had classes to attend, of course," Fred chuckled.
"But there was this sign on the wall that caught our attention. An advertisement to a concert of sorts."
After these words, I caught on.
"You're lying!" I exclaimed, pulling my head out from under Fred's arm and turning to face the both of them.
Even though I had asked the question, I knew there was no point. A muggle convention hall, my favorite muggle band, which happened to be touring England at this very moment, and the fact that Fred and George NEVER invited me on their little escapades off-campus convinced me of that fact.
"Would we lie to you?" George acted insulted.
"Well, we would, but not this time," Fred added.
"Evanescence is playing here tonight? And you can get me there?"
"We even bought you tickets," Fred and George grinned. "To pay you back for bleaching the bottom of your hair last year."
"Actually, that was okay. It looked pretty nifty, but you guys ROCK! I love you!" I jumped up, squeezing them both into a hug before backing off and starting to jump up and down.
"Sheesh, Katie. You could at least pretend to be excited," Fred rolled his eyes sarcastically.
"I have to go get ready and rub this in Alicia's face," I turned to run off.
"Katie," George called after me. "Meet us at the suits of armor at 6 PM sharp, got it?"
"Got it," I squealed and ran up the stairs.
Yes, I know that in that moment, I lost all of the rough and tumble attitude I usually possess, but I had been waiting to see that damn muggle band in concert for MONTHS now.
Though I normally don't get myself involved too much with muggles (It's not that I don't like them, it's just that I have a VERY big mouth and am terribly afraid that I'll spill the whole witch secret), muggle music is one of my passions.
While magical people tend to sing more about magicians' power, evil, and magic, I appreciate how the muggles sing about human emotions and actions. They don't narrow down their music to man-made things, but bare their souls when writing and I think that makes their music so much easier to relate to and so much more beautiful. And Evanescence's lyrics are some of the most soul-bearing that I've ever heard.
Enough with the rambling, though. I had a LOT of work to do before the concert. I had no muggle clothes! I rushed upstairs to the Gryffindor common room and was relieved beyond belief to see Alicia and Angelina sitting on the plush red sofas.
"You guys, please help me," I groveled at the foot of the sofa. "I need muggle clothes."
"Sorry," Angie grinned apologetically. "I don't have anything but robes."
"I have a corset," Alicia blushed. "You can use it if you like."
"Thank you!" I ran up and gave Alicia a quick hug.
"Why do you need muggle clothes?" Angelina stood up and followed me as I began hurrying up the stairs.
"Evanescence concert tonight. Fred & George are helping me get there," I explained as I huffed up the stone steps.
"No way!" she shrieked. "Why can't I go?"
"You can, if you want to buy a ticket. But you'll have to wear your robes," I spoke as I began digging through Alicia's trunk.
"I'm coming, too," Alicia stumbled through the door and hurried to her trunk. "Here," She pulled out a tan suede corset, "try it on."
"Okay, but what am I going to do about pants?"
"I'll make you a skirt. Just try on that corset," Alicia snapped. The look in her eyes told me not to argue.
The corset fit fine, though I left it a little loose, and looked surprisingly good, if I do say so myself. It showed curves and dips that I didn't even know existed before. It wasn't actually a corset, more like a form-fitting, stiff top that laced up, but I wasn't about to contradict Alicia.
While Angelina changed her robes and clothes underneath, Alicia took a pair of scissors and cut a slit up her robes from last year. And another. And another. Before long, the robes were shredded and hung from her legs before gathering together in a black and gray pool on the floor.
"Er - - - not that I'm being pushy or anything, as you are helping me, but what in Merlin's name are you doing?" I asked Alicia as I took up a seat next to her on the wooden trunk.
"You know those shredded skirts Amy Lee (the lead singer of Evanescence, for all fo those who don't know) wears all the time when performing? I'm making you one," Alicia smiled as she gathered together the material. "Stand up."
I stood up and faced Alicia, and before I knew it, she had finished the skirt and I was looking very much like Amy Lee herself. I had charmed some eyeliner on, along with a coat of clear lipgloss that tasted like sugar. The gray suede top still clung to my body, amazing me with the detail it showed of my form, a loose black and gray, shredded skirt hung from my waist down to my knees, giving me an authentic Evanescence look, and I had charmed my hair so that it was black and hung down to my waist. I looked. . . good. And for the first time in a long while, I looked like a woman. Style-wise, of course.
Angie and Alicia were awesome about the whole thing, never complaining about having to wear their robes or having to pay for their own tickets. We all left the common room at five and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. Before arriving there, I hadn't realized how much attention the outfit would attract. People from all four House tables turned to look as I walked by, giving me questioning stares and whispering to one another, everyone trying to find out who I was. Shows how much they paid attention to me before - all I did was change my hair color and length.
A hand slid its way onto my shoulder and a soft voice whispered in my ear.
"Well, if it isn't a true woman in the making. Hope you're not thinking about wearing this on the quidditch pitch."
I spun around to see Oliver glancing me over.
"Of course not, Wood. I'm going out tonight," I glared at him. Though something inside of my jumped for joy with the appreciating gaze of his eyes, I didn't like the way his eyes were roaming over my body - it made me feel like a piece of meat and when I looked back up at Oliver's face, my mind replaced it with that of a growling bulldog.
"Yikes," I whispered and took a step back.
"I thought you looked a little. . . decorative to be staying in. So," he moved closer again, so only I can hear him. "You're going to the concert, too?"
"Yeah. Fred and George didn't tell me you were going, though," I mumbled.
A concert with my friends was fun. A concert where I had to worry about my crush (crap, did I just admit I have a crush on OLIVER? I'm going to have to work this out with the little voices in my head when I get back) seeing me act like a fanatic rocker was NOT. As a girl, I would have to worry about being self-conscious and not letting loose.
"Fred and George are going? I sort of *ahem* lied to McGonagall and told her that I need to pick up a new Snitch to practice with and she gave me a pass to leave the school grounds until curfew," he smiled innocently.
"Well, I'll see you later. I've got to eat and then meet up with Alicia, Angie, Fred and George. Meet you at the concert," I hurried off toward the Gryffindor table.
"Shoot me," I muttered as I sat down and allowed my head to hit the hard wooden table.
A/N: Well, I am currently back from my little hiatus. Once I get back in school, I'm sure I'll write more. Procrastinating is a great source of inspiration.
I'm sorry this chapter sucks, it's just a transition chapter leading up to a big one at the concert.
Thank you to all of the people who have reviewed. You are AWESOME. I'm asking for 55 reviews this time :) Maybe that'll get my lazy bum working on the next chapter.