Chapter 2
"KATIE!!!!!!!"
"Wha-?" I began, but a split second later I was knocked completely off balance and went tumbling into the window display, knocking everything over, as someone threw their arms around my waist.
"Alicia?" I gasped, completely winded.
"Kevin proposed!" Alicia shrieked. "Can you believe it?"
"I'll let you know when I'm able to breathe again," I muttered, clambering to my feet.
Sam's going to kill me, I thought, looking at the ruined window display. Then it hit me. Wait a second. WHAT did Alicia say?
"Liss," I said breathlessly, "What did you say?"
Alicia smiled, and held out her left hand. On the third finger was a silver ring with three small diamonds set in it.
"Oh my God......" I whispered. Wow. Alicia. I finally came to my senses.
"Congratulations!" I yelled, hugging her. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Oh, Katie, I knew you would be," said Alicia, tears of joy in her eyes. "I've never been happier in my life. But-"she paused. "Katie, will you do something for me?"
"Anything." I answered promptly. I am at your beck and call m'lady. I will grant you anything you wish. Well, almost.
"Will you be my bridesmaid? With Ange too, if she agrees."
Wow. This was just too much. I screamed, and then clapped my hands to my mouth.
"Of course I will, Liss, I'd love to! Can we go tell Ange?"
Alicia frowned. "Don't you have to work?"
I shrugged. Work, schmork.
"I can get the afternoon off, no problem." I went over to the door into the back.
"Hey, Sam?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm taking the afternoon off, okay?"
Without waiting for a reply from Sam, I looped arms with Alicia and the pair of us ran out the door. Ministry of Magic, here we come!
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"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business."
"Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet, here to deliver a very important message to Angelina Johnson," I said quickly.
"Thank you," said the voice, as the badges shot out of the chute. "Please-"
I wasn't listening. I handed Alicia her badge and glanced at my own one before pinning it to my t-shirt.
Katie Bell
Visitor
Hmm. That voice knew too much.
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"Here we are."
We stepped out of the lift onto the new floor. A few minutes later we found what we were looking for, a room with a brass plaque outside saying "Angelina Johnson" on it. I raised my fist and rapped on the door.
"Angelina?" I called.
The door opened, revealing a confused looking Ange.
"Katie? Alicia? What are you doing here?"
I opened my mouth to speak but Alicia beat me to it.
"Angie! You'll never guess! Kevin and I are engaged!"
Angelina's jaw dropped. She was too gobsmacked even to protest at the use of her least favourite nickname.
"You're kidding."
Alicia shook her head, grinning like a mad thing. "Nope!"
"OH MY GOD!!!!!!!"
Before I knew what was happening I was in the middle of a group hug, all three of us jumping up and down and screaming our heads off.
A door banged open further down the corridor.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? Angelina, shouldn't you be working?"
We broke apart to see Ludo Bagman looking at us as if he was seriously considering calling the mental home. Angelina's face split into a huge grin and she gave him a quick hug too.
"Alicia's getting married!"
Ludo raised his eyebrows. "That's nice, I suppose. I'll leave you ladies to it."
The moment he was back in his office, Alicia turned to Ange.
"Ange, will you be my bridesmaid with Katie?"
An expression of pure delight crossed Angelina's face.
"Of COURSE I will!"
We hugged again. Alicia was getting married!
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"Really irresponsible....... I thought you knew better, Katie....... Don't want it to happen again........."
I was beyond listening. For the past five minutes I'd been stuck in the back room, supposedly listening to Sam's lecture on how irresponsible I was to skive off early on Tuesday.
"Katie, do you hear me?"
"What? Oh- yes, Sam. I won't do it again."
He fixed me with an icy glare, which told me plainly that he wasn't fooled.
"You had better not. Next time, there'll really be trouble."
I nodded. "Okay. I hear you."
Sam turned back to his boxes. "Get back to work, Katie. And mind you stay there this time!"
I went back into the shop. My friend, Anna, looked up from behind the till.
"Bad?"
I shook my head. "I've had worse. And he does have a point."
Anna smiled. "Never stopped you before."
I shrugged. She'd got me there. Anna Rosewood had been a colleague of mine for two years now. She was nice, and we were good friends, but I would never be as close to her as I was to Ange and Alicia.
"Listen, do you want to go for a drink when we finish up? I have some free time before I have to be back home."
I nodded as I rang up a customer's goods on the till. "Sounds good. There's not to long left, anyway." I held out my hand. "Seven galleons and two sickles, please."
When the shop shut at five, Anna and I headed down Diagon Alley to the Leaky Cauldron. We took our places at the bar.
"Two butterbeers, please."
"Coming right up."
"Anna?"
She turned around.
"Pete! Hi! Katie, this is Pete. Pete, Katie." I shook hands with the dark-skinned guy beside her.
"Hi."
He smiled at me. "Hello." Then he turned back to Anna.
"Listen, Anna, me and some of the lads are going for a game of Quidditch after this. Some guy from out of town and his mates reckon they can beat us. We're short two chasers. What do you say?"
Anna shrugged. "If it's okay with Katie, then sure."
Pete turned back to me. "You play?"
"Yep. Chaser."
"Perfect. We'll tell you when we're going."
As Pete walked away, Anna and I turned back to our drinks.
"How do you know him?" I asked.
"Childhood friend. Obsessed with Quidditch, and his mates aren't much better." She grinned, indicating the group of lads sitting with Pete.
I smiled. "It'll be good to play again," I mused. "I haven't played in ages."
"I'm sure you're still great."
I laughed. "Same to you!"
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"We're leaving now. You guys coming?"
Anna nodded. "Yeah, we're with you. Where are we playing?"
"You know the little practise stadiums down the end of the street, near Gringott's? We checked with Alan, one of them's free."
We followed the guys out of the pub and down the street. Pete and his mates walked with us, laughing and joking. Another group walked beside us, chatting amongst themselves. A few others came along with us; stragglers who'd heard our plans. We reached the stadium within minutes. I knew it well, a small sports complex, with three small practise pitches used for amateur games.
We entered the building and the others headed towards the changing rooms. Anna and I were the only two girls, and neither of us needed to change, so we went to pick our brooms from the shed. Anna chose a Nimbus 2000, I took a Comet 360, and we made our way over to the pitch.
A/N: As always, please read and review! And thanks to my wonderful reviewers;
Kathy
harrypottermarriedme
hanna
IHopeForAnarchy
Pia O'Leary
luvin-it