Hello hello hello again! Well, this installment is promising to be interesting. I've decided to do a little before Winter Break, then a bit with Katie's Dad (but only a bit), and back to school. Oh, and I can't be for sure, but am I correct in saying that Oliver is the back-up keeper for Puddlemere United? If I'm wrong, correct me, thanks. Good with everyone? Great, off we go.

Kat6528: I know, isn't he horrible? Not much - actually, nothing - about him in this chappie, but enough in the next. Woody'sWickedWitch: Thanks for the compliments! I've got a feeling Katie and Oliver are gonna get a little closer next chapter, but who knows? Gryffindor Quidditch Gal: Lovely thoughts about that whole snogging incident, but no answers yet! I wish I could have thought of a better pet name, but Kate works. And I thought long and hard about your proposition, and decided... you CAN have him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but if I don't get him back I'll be coming for your head! Ash: It's so sad, isn't it? It'll get a little worse before it gets better, even more sadly. I'm happy to tell you that, slowly, Katie IS waking up. Go her! Itefaq: So many compliments, I almost can't take it! Ok, I can, keep 'em coming! ;) Like I said to Quidditch Gal, good thoughts. I will continue posting!

Sunnyflower2005: Ok, I hope you get your comp back soon! You probably won't be reviewing too many, but I'll try, I promise. GuitaristChelle: Thank you thank you thank you!! Kiera: Oh, much thanks. I'm a hopeless romantic, so I'm glad I'm part of the effort to change your mind! Oliver WAS nice in the movies... Do you think I could get him to come home with me and use him as my... eh... muse? Lol. Sarah: Thanks for the review. There'll be more going on with Katie and Oliver next chapter. Like I said up there ^ there's some with Christmas break in here but not a horrible load. Don't worry, you're only twelve, no need to worry about fat. I'm glad you haven't turned to anorexia and bulimia!!

ZeldaDragon, I reserved a special paragraph for you, lol. I'll tell you know, Flint won't be expelled. Sadly, it never works like that. :( He's a horrible little person, but one always needs one in a story! About band, I'm sorry for you, because we only had a week-long band camp. We got the football field, but the football players were only a little bit away and they were horrible! Eh well. This Friday we're going to the Pendleton Round Up (a big thing here in the middle of nowhere) to march in a parade, and that night we've got our first football game. I'm just a poor lowly high school freshman living in La Grande, Oregon, sadly. I think all we're doing is the Battle of the Marching Machines in Ontario, so no regionals. Eh well! What do you play? I'm a flute. Today I learned I'm either "delicate" (as according to my friend) or "wimpy" (as according to my band teacher) when I play. Poor me... Right, back to the story! Isn't Oliver great for getting Katie to open up? In case you haven't noticed, a lot is going to happen in the chapter after this. This one's just sort of setting it up, but it'll be nice anyway.

I only got ten reviews and I managed to make three HUGE paragraphs out of them, lol! Ok, now the moment you've all been waiting for... on to the story!

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Ch. 10 - Puddlemere United and Scales

A few days later, after both Katie and Oliver had calmed down, and Harry had recovered from the Quidditch match, practice resumed. Katie's broom had flown away in the wind and couldn't be found, so she used the school brooms and decided to wait to ask for a new one. She didn't talk to her captain much, and Oliver had obviously decided to press nothing at the time. He was much too busy waiting for the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, which was easy to predict. Ravenclaw won, and with Gryffindor still in the running for the Quidditch Cup, Oliver pressed the team harder and harder.

During practice Oliver was constantly glancing at Katie, as though expecting her to fall over dead at any moment. He probably had good reason, as Katie could barely keep up, but it still bothered her. Not that she was going to talk to him. She couldn't, not after what had happened.

"Katie, we have to talk," Angelina said one evening, sitting on Katie's bed and nearly spilling ink all over the mattress.

"What about?" Katie asked after replacing the lid on the ink bottle.

"You and Oliver." Katie sighed and started to roll her eyes.

"No! None of that, Katie," Alicia snapped, joining the conversation. "There's obviously something going on, and you two need to either do something about it or get over each other."

Katie glared at Alicia. How dare her! She's the one that snogged him! "There's nothing going on, he's just a concerned friend."

"Yeah, right," Angelina mumbled. "What about that one night? When you were asleep in his arms up here?"

"I passed out on the pitch, remember? He's the one that found me, you know, and we talked. He sort of... pissed me off - that's why I was screaming - and he came up here to make amends, that's all."

"You didn't kiss or anything?" Alicia groaned.

Angelina glanced at Alicia with a slight shake of the head. "What were you talking about that so pissed you off?"

'Quick, think up something, Bell! The dementors! They know the dementor story!' "Those dementors, they're the ones that caused me to fall. He was wondering about them. Why they hurt me and stuff."

"Oh," the two of them chorused. During Christmas break of the first year of Hogwarts, Katie had stayed at her grandmothers and had watched as she had a massive heart attack. Angelina and Alicia had been some of the first to find out, and whenever Katie saw a dementor, she was reminded of the incident, of how scared she was, of the hole in her heart that her grandmother had left...

'You're depressing yourself,' Katie thought bitterly. 'Say something.' "So, eh, don't worry about me and Oliver. We'll figure it out eventually."

Leesh and Lina nodded and headed to their own beds, and Katie sighed. She was drifting away from her friends, she noticed. So much had happened that year. Would they ever become close, giggling friends again?

*************

Katie was glad to see it snow, but realized that without much body fat on her, she was incredibly cold almost all the time. Sweatshirts and sweaters were her new best friends, along with warm fires and blankets.

The last Hogsmeade trip before term Katie skipped. She had bought Christmas presents for all her friends during summer vacation (hey, you get a little bored...), and she didn't really feel like spending the day with anyone. Instead, she finished all her homework and lazed around, and really wasn't all that bored.

Finally Christmas break came. Katie gave Oliver, Fred, George, Alicia, and Angelina all hugs and headed on the train, towards her father's new home. She tried not to think about what she would find when she got there. Did he get married again like Mum? Had he earned a beer belly from sitting around all the time? Would she even recognize him?

Finally the train stopped, and Katie took her week's work of luggage and headed out to the station. It was hard not to notice her dad standing there, holding a sign that said: THE BEAUTIFUL KATIE BELL. She smiled and ran to greet him, engulfing him in hugs.

"Hi, Dad," she said into his shoulder, smiling widely.

"Hey, Kate," he replied. "How's Hogwarts going?"

"Ok, I guess."

"Here, hand me that luggage. How about Quidditch?"

"Well, we lost to Hufflepuff," she said glumly.

"Yeah, I read about that in the Daily Prophet," he told her. "They said that hundreds of dementors ran onto the field. Is that true?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I was ok."

"Really?"

Katie shrugged. "I managed to get to the ground, but I passed out. Oliver Wood found me and took me to Madam Pomfrey's, and she gave me a pepper-up potion and everything was ok."

Dad smiled. "Oliver Wood. Good man, there, good man. He's graduating this year, right?"

"Mm-hmm. He said some professional Quidditch teams were looking to sign him up!"

"Oh, that's great! Tell him I said good luck, ok?"

"Ok."

"Here we are. We're driving a car home. I hope you don't mind, but I live in an apartment complex full of muggles, and it looks a little strange if I don't have a car and I never leave my apartment."

Katie nodded, not at all minding the ride home. Dad hadn't changed a bit. Well, ok, he'd grown a little beard, and he'd probably gained about ten pounds, but that was it. He still looked like Dad.

Dad was sighing and looking a little nervous during most of the ride home. Finally Katie said, "Something wrong, Dad? You're looking... I dunno, strange."

Dad sighed one more time. "Well, I was thinking about saving this for Christmas, but I want to play Quidditch with you, so I'll let you know now... I got you a Nimbus 2001."

Katie's eyes widened in shock. "Are you serious?!" she squeaked.

Dad grinned and replied, "Of course I am! My favorite Quidditch daughter is visiting me and I'm not going to get her a broom? You've got to be kidding!"

Katie grinned; this would be fun.

***********

Returning to Hogwarts was hard. Katie had had a blast with Dad, who seemed a little lighter and more cheerful after the divorce. 'Mum is a little demanding,' Katie admitted as she sat on the Hogwarts Express, fingering the charm that hung around her neck, which Dad had given her before she left. 'I guess it was a good thing they split up then.'

With renewed spirits Katie happily hugged all of her friends, Oliver especially hard. While she was hugging him he whispered, "Come with me when we get inside, ok?"

Katie nodded and smiled, releasing the Quidditch star and heading towards Hogwarts. On the way there Fred and George let off a stink pellet, which they'd conveniently stuck in Draco Malfoy's pocket, and the group enjoyed a laugh over that.

Once inside Oliver took Katie by the wrist and led her to the third floor, which was entirely devoid of life. Grinning from ear to ear Oliver said, "Guess what happened. Guess!"

"Um... you got a new broom!" Katie suggested.

Oliver's grin weakened for a moment before returning strong. "No. Guess again!"

"You're going to the Quidditch World Cup next year?"

"Well, yeah, but everyone already knew that. Keep guessing!"

Katie shook her head. "I can't think of a thing. What is it?"

Oliver was still grinning. He danced around for a moment, humming a little tune and watching Katie slowly, slowly smile.

"Oliver!" she whined after a bit, "Tell me what happened!"

Finally he stopped bouncing. "Ok, ok! Drum roll please..."

Katie imitated a lovely drum roll on Oliver's shoulder...

"Puddlemere United accepted me as a back-up Quidditch Keeper!"

Katie shrieked with happiness and hugged her friend hard, dancing around the third floor with him. "Go you! That's SO awesome! Congratulations!"

"Scouts have been coming to watch us last year and this year, but they didn't come to our last game because of the storm," Oliver told her. "They said it would be great to have a player with my 'enthusiasm,' and that when I'm old enough I could become the full-time Keeper!"

"Well congratulations! Owl me and tell me when you play, ok?"

Oliver smiled. "I'll make sure to."

Suddenly there was a loud meow, and the two turned to see Mrs. Norris staring at them with wide, insolent eyes. Katie sighed.

"Come on, let's go before Filch comes and puts us in detention," she said, and led Oliver - still grinning - to the Great Hall, where dinner was being served. Oliver went to sit with Percy, while Katie sat with Alicia and Angelina.

"So how was your break?" Lina asked.

"Pretty good," Katie replied lightly.

"Did you just go home or what?" Leesh inquired.

"Oh, I went to Dad's-" Katie closed her mouth quickly, accidentally biting her tongue. Leesh and Lina were eyeing her suspiciously.

"You mean, you went home," Angelina clarified.

'Ok Katie, time's up. You have to tell them about the divorce.' "Actually, no... I went to my dad's."

"What do you mean, you went to your dad's? You're parents live together, Katie," Alicia said quickly, as though Katie had gone slightly mad.

"My parents... they got divorced last February, but they didn't tell me until summer vacation. Dad lives in some little tiny town - I can't even remember the name anymore - and Mum got remarried to a muggle named Dave."

Lina's mouth was hanging open, and Alicia's eyes had widened to twice their size. Katie tried not to cringe, awaiting the next question.

Finally Angelina closed her mouth, licked her lips and said, "And - and you didn't tell us because... why?"

"I just couldn't," Katie admitted. "It didn't really seem... I don't know, real, I guess... until I went and saw Dad. He's a lot happier now. He gave me a necklace-" Katie showed them her new necklace, "-and a Nimbus 2001."

"Are you serious?" Alicia nearly shrieked. "Wow, that's awesome!"

Katie grinned. "Yeah, I tried it out while we were there, and it's splendid! Perfect handling, and it's nice and fast... So you aren't mad at me for not telling earlier?"

Alicia shrugged, smiling. "My mum and daddy got divorced when I was five, so I understand. I wish we'd have been able to help you through it, but I'm glad you finally said something."

Katie nodded and returned the smile. "Yeah. Thanks, guys."

"No problem," Angelina said.

Later that evening, Katie was finishing a potions essay and watching Oliver talk to Harry about getting a broom. She distinctly heard the word "Firebolt," the newest and best broom available, but then watched Oliver go pale and mutter something about jinxes.

'Poor Harry, he's got all this stuff to worry about. He-Who-Must-Not-Be- Named is after him, Sirius Black's been in Hogwarts trying to find him, and now his Quidditch captain won't stop bothering him about brooms.'

Finishing her essay, she headed up to her dormitory and into the bathroom. She jumped when she saw something on the floor that hadn't been there before - a scale. A real, live scale. Why was there a scale in the bathroom? She timidly half-stepped onto it, but jumped off and hurried backwards out of the bathroom, falling onto her bed.

'Should I check the scale? What if I haven't really lost all that weight? Am I still 127 and a half pounds, or have I gained weight even? Is that possible? And whose scale is that, anyway? Could Dumbledore know that I'm not eating? No, that's not possible, even for a wizard such as himself...'

"Hey, Katie."

Katie jumped again as Leesh walked into the room. She carefully calmed herself down and said, "Hey. Eh, whose scale is that in the bathroom?"

"Lina's, I'm pretty sure. We've needed one for ages, so she finally brought one. Isn't that nice?"

"Lovely."

"Well, I was just dropping off this book up here. Want to join George and me for a game of exploding snap?"

"No, but thanks anyway. I think I'll just go to sleep."

"Ok. See you in the morning!"

"'Night."

Lina left. Katie was alone with the scale. Use it, or forget about it? 'Cripes, I'm going to use it sometime, right? Might as well get it over with now.'

Carefully Katie stood up, took off her shoes and changed into pajamas. She walked slowly into the bathroom, trying to calm her nerves. What happened if she hadn't lost a bit of weight? What if she lost too much? That was possible too, she mused.

'Ok, there's the scale. This is nothing, I've done it a billion times. If I'm lucky, I'll be down to 120. If I'm not, the most I could be is 135. Right? Right.'

Katie stepped on the scale, closed her eyes, and forced them open again. 'Oh my god, this isn't possible. No, there's no way. That's... that's not right.'

The scale read 85.5. Doing a bit of quick math, Katie figured she'd lost 41 pounds in... just about four months, because she wasn't eating. Usually the best she could get was two pounds a week, since she didn't exercise much, which meant eight pounds a month and thirty-two pounds in four months. At this rate, she would weigh nothing in... less than a year. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

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Quite a predicament Katie's gotten herself into, hmm? At least Oliver got on his Quidditch team, right? Right?

Ok, next chapter Katie and Oliver have to figure out exactly what to do about her eating disorder, and also must try to decide whether or not to tell Alicia and Angelina, and possibly even the Weasleys. Then something happens that changes everything. How will Katie deal with it? Find out next time on... Um, fanfiction.net!

Oh, and review or I'll fail all of you in your classes!