A/N : Hey, I'm baaaack! Haha, feels great to be writing again. First off, I'd like to thank you guys so much for the amazing reviews and condolences I received. You can imagine my surprise when I finally arrived back home and opened up my inbox to see all the wishes you sent me there. I think my mom was pretty touched by it as well, so once again, a big THANK YOU! I feel so loved! =) Alright, I am currently having a bit of trouble coming out with ideas for this story, so please do me a favour and tell me what you think/hope should happen to Katie and Oliver in your reviews. I'm just not very sure how Katie should react, because some people want their relationship to develop fast, and some slow...so review and majority wins! Also, another thing you might notice if you go back to previous chapters and read them again, is that in some chapters Katie seems to admit to herself that she actually likes him, and in some chapters she's in complete denial. This is because I wanted the story to be as real as possible (well, as real as flying broomsticks and talking portraits go anyway). I'm sure I'm not the only one here who experiences these sort of changing emotions when you begin to have feelings for someone you're pretty sure you shouldn't be having feelings for. On some days you may be all "I don't like him, please!" and on other days you may be going, "He is sooooo cute...I wonder whether he has a girlfriend..." So this is what I'm trying to portray, I'm making this thing in Katie's current POV so things turn out that way. And if I've confused you even more, my deepest apologies. Whoops, before I begin (yes yes yes I know this is a long one but please bear with me), I'd just like to thank for listing my story as one of the best Katie/Oliver fics on ff.net! Yay!
Chapter Nine : Do Doorknobs Even Have Teeth?
Professor Snape looked at the magical hourglass hanging from the stone wall of the potions dungeon and turned back to all of us with that ever-present scowl on his face.
"Time is up. You may go. Just leave your things here, you have another period later today."
"Geez, would it kill him to smile for a second?" Alicia muttered as we both got up to exit the room. George, who sat behind us during classes, paused to consider it and replied, "Probably."
I snickered silently and pushed my stool in, ready to leave. I was joined a few seconds later by Alicia and the both of us made our way out of the dungeon gratefully.
"Maybe you should talk to him about it – he'd probably listen to you, being your sweetheart and all..." Alicia began.
I stopped walking and glared at her, "Don't even start, Lish," before resuming my climb up the stairs again.
Alicia made some sort of exasperated sound and began to talk to Janie Kings, a Ravenclaw girl we had Potions with. Unlike the others, who were heading to the Great Hall for lunch, I was going to get Lene from the hospital wing with George – who was ever increasingly looking more cheerful as each second brought him closer to seeing Lene again. Sweet, really, this whole thing he had for Adelene. She is blissfully unaware of his feelings for her, though, which is rather a pity. The poor boy doesn't have a clue to what he should do – I know, because he told me once, after a few too many Butterbeers.
"I don't have a clue to what I should do," he had said.
I only speak the truth.
"Hurry up, Katie – Lene doesn't have all day to wait for us!" George whined, and grabbed my hand to drag me up the stairs.
"Not – so – fast," I wheezed, feeling my life flash before my very eyes.
Oh, dear. I need to get a life.
George sighed dramatically and finally let me go when we had gotten to the top of the winding stairway. "Fine then," he said, and took a step.
I looked at him quizzically.
Now what?
He looked at his wristwatch, seeming to count down to a certain time, and then took another step. I groaned. "Don't tell me..." I yelled to nobody in particular. Why did he torture me so?
George counted silently under his breath and took another single step. He smiled innocently at me. "Well, aren't you coming, Katie? Hurry, I wouldn't want you to be left behind!"
"Eff off!" I finally exclaimed, and tugged him along with me.
We continued bickering the whole way to the hospital wing, where at last we fell silent so as not to be accused of murdering some poor, sickly patient by Madam Pomfrey. I placed my hand on the doorknob, but jerked back in surprise when it bit my hand.
"Oi!" I yelled, forgetting about Madam Pomfrey for a second. "What's up your arse?!"
"Maybe I would know if I had one," the doorknob grumbled. "For your information, mitthy, Profetthor McGonagall ith currently inthide the hothpital wing, discutthing thome VERY IMPORTANT matterth with a patient. Profetthor hath athked me to make thure that NOBODY dithturbth them."
"Doorknobs lisp?" George whispered to me, to which I replied with a sharp poke in the ribs. "Ow!"
"Well, did you have to bite me so hard?" I asked, rubbing my sore hand.
"Thorry, mitthy, but ith my job," the doorknob replied, and I could practically hear the shrug in its voice. "The profetthor will be done thoon, anyway, and then you can thee your friend. Ath for now, however, DO NOT COME WITHIN A THEVEN-MILE RADIUTH OF ME, YOU THUBBORN THUDENTS!"
"Thubborn thudents?" George sniggered.
"Thut your hole, freckles!"
"Hey!" George said indignantly and turned to me. "Did you hear that piece of –"
He was interrupted by the door suddenly opening and Professor McGonagall walking out.
"- fine furniture merely performing its job with full pride and dignity – ah! Professor McGonagall! What a surprise!"
She nodded in acknowledgement to George's greeting. "Good afternoon, you two," she said briefly and continued on her way.
George and I giggled nervously at her retreating back and entered the large room; George giving the doorknob the finger in the process.
I let the door close to the sound of, "Thay that again, you thuffering thcoundrel! Why I oughta -"
"Who was that?" Lene asked.
She was perched on the windowsill, looking much better than she had the last time we had come to visit her.
"Nobody worth mentioning," George grinned and made his way over to her. To our surprise, George planted a soft kiss on Lene's cheek before pulling back and saying softly, "You look great."
Well, it was true. That Pomfrey can certainly work miracles in here. All of Lene's bruises were almost entirely gone, and she wasn't looking like a stick insect any more.
Thank Pomfrey for small miracles! That will be my new saying!
Take that, God!
"You do, you know," I chimed in, walking up to Lene as well and giving her a hug as she slid off the windowsill. George currently had a permanent smile fixated on his face and somewhere inside of me, I knew it wasn't going to go away as long as Lene was in the immediate area.
So cute!
"Well, I still ache all over," Lene said ruefully. I noticed that she had the very faintest traces of a blush creeping over her cheeks.
The door opened and Angelina strode in, immediately pouncing on Lene to give her a tight hug. "It's so good to see you with us again!" she laughed.
"The feeling is mutual," Lene grinned, but her face darkened slightly when she saw a red mark on Angie's right hand. "Hey, what happened there?" she asked with a worried expression.
"Oh. Biting doorknob."
"Do doorknobs even have teeth?" George mused with a strange expression of wonder on his face.
"Well, it certainly had attitude," I shot back. "And a very bad lisp, come to think about it."
Poor Lene looked completely befuddled. "What on earth are you people blabbering on about?" she asked.
Angelina, George and I snorted in unison. "Hah. Don't bother," we muttered.
Lene shook her head, murmured something about 'insane little buggers' and then said out loud, "If you three will hang on for a second or two, I'll just pack up my things. I won't be long, I need to go to McGonagall's office anyway. She wants me to see her about some catching up I'll have to do."
Angelina opened her mouth to reply, but I had a sudden inspiration and whacked her in the stomach. Hard.
"Oof," she actually said, and clutched her stomach, giving me a look that plainly said, "What the bleedin' heck was that for? Are you mentally disturbed?"
"Actually," I quickly said to Lene, "Angie and I didn't have breakfast this morning and we're really, really hungry. I'm sure George would be more than happy to escort you back to the tower."
George's eyes widened slightly, but Lene merely shrugged and said, "Okay, then, you lot. I'll see you in the Great Hall in a few, where I shall EAT!"
After leaving the hospital wing (and putting up with another string of badly-pronounced abuse from the doorknob), Angelina asked me, "What were you going on about back there? You know very well that we had breakfast this morning – unless you've forgotten Fred making all of us rude signs on our plates with those blueberry muffins..."
"Oh, hush, Angie," I reprimanded her jokingly. "This time I actually know what I'm doing! Just call me Doctor Luuurve..."
"Oh, yeah, and that's why you broke Oliver's heart," Angelina retorted.
I knew she meant what she had said about Oliver lightly, but something about what she said struck a pang of hurt deep in my heart.
I ignored it, though, both for her good and mine.
"You'll see, non-believer...you'll see..."
When I walked out onto the Quidditch pitch later that evening, Lene was sitting in the stands watching us practice.
Hah.
In your face, Angie!
I mounted my broom and flew up to about fifty feet above ground level, relishing in the feel of the fresh air whipping my hair around my face. It was in a half-up pleat again, as usual during Quidditch practices – I told you my hair was boring. I could see Alicia practicing shooting the Quaffle past Oliver on the other end of the pitch and flew over to join the fun.
The second I got there, however, Alicia turned to me and said excitedly, "Did you hear? George asked Lenie to become his girlfriend – and she said yes! Look, she's over there watching him!"
My eyes widened. "Wow, really? No, I didn't hear at all! That's great!"
Oh, I heard.
I heard.
"They do make a cute pair," Oliver offered with the Quaffle tucked neatly under his arm. "I just hope she won't distract him from his flying."
"Oh, you would," I teased him before I could stop myself; then, feeling as if I might as well go for it, stuck my tongue out at him as well.
A slight look of surprise registered on Oliver's face, but he quickly recovered by tossing the Quaffle to me and ordering, "Less talk and more shooting, Katie Bell."
I flew away to put some distance between myself and the hoops, then easily shot the Quaffle past Oliver's outstretched arms.
I smiled artificially at him and said sweetly, "Just for you, Oliver."
He made a stabbing motion with his hand through his heart and rolled his eyes before zooming down to the ground to collect the Quaffle.
"Group up so we can begin, team!" I heard him yell.
Alicia and I flew down to join the others, who had just emerged from the changing rooms. Oliver gave his usual pre-practice speech to all of us and let us disperse to follow through with his orders.
I was about to kick off when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I squared my shoulders. Oliver wasn't going to catch me off my guard this time. I turned around.
It was George.
It certainly was George Weasley, with a bashful smile on his face. "Katesies, I – I'd like to thank you. If it hadn't been for you, I probably wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to – well, you know."
Exactly. You ought to thank me! I ought to get the Order of Merlin for this! If this had gone wrong, Lene would have had my head!
"Really, George! It was nothing! What are friends for?"
Borrowing stuff off.
"I just want to see Lene happy, and I think you can do that for her," I smiled, and this time I wasn't even lying.
George's grin became even larger – if that was even possible; his face looked like it was about to crack – and he tugged on my hair once before kicking off into the cool evening air.
"What was all that about?" a voice asked, and I spun around to see Oliver standing right behind me.
Shit.
He always catches me off my guard. And when I'm ready for him, it always turns out to be people like George Weasley.
"Er – nothing. Shouldn't we be practicing right about now, captain?" I managed to say quite convincingly.
Oliver shrugged.
"Spinnet and Johnson don't need me yet; they're working on their passing. What am I supposed to do, pretend to save imaginary Quaffles?"
"It works for some people," I replied in a sugary-sweet voice, with a smile to match.
Oliver looked like he was about to laugh, but then stopped himself and got a more serious look on his face. "You know, Katie – you have the most amazing smile."
Despite myself, I felt a warm blush creeping up my neck. Why was he doing this to me?
"Oliver, you – you know I don't have any feelings of that sort for you. You know I don't."
Oliver shrugged and said, "I'm not trying to seduce you or anything. I'm just saying what I think is true. You know, freedom of speech and all that. Because you really do have the most beautiful smile I have seen in my entire life. So far, anyway."
"Oliver, stop..." I mumbled, beginning to feel slightly embarrassed. I wasn't very used to people heaping compliments on a golden platter on me like this.
"What, are you afraid of the truth?" he teased, the edges of his lips tugging up slightly.
"Never," I challenged him, but with slightly less conviction than I should have said it with.
"Dirty truth..." he sang and wiggled his eyebrows at me.
I would have come up with some sort of cool comeback – really – if Angelina hadn't yelled, "OI! SOME PEOPLE UP HERE VERY MUCH NEED A KEEPER RIGHT AT THIS VERY MOMENT!" Then, for good measure, "THIS MEANS YOU, OLIVER WOOD!" And then a muffled, "Oi, not you, Fred - bleedin' heck, give me that Quaffle!"
Oliver blushed and quickly zoomed off to his spot in front of the three hoops.
I felt a strange sense of satisfaction that I, Katie Bell, had been able to distract Oliver Wood from Quidditch.
I am evil.
"I DEMAND some entertainment!" I had told Oliver, to avoid being bored out of my mind during our tutoring session.
So he gave me his photograph album.
"I'm sorry, what?" I managed to choke out in between laughs at seeing him dressed in a kilt, Hawaiian shirt and leather jacket. AT THE SAME TIME.
"For the fourth time –"
But then whatever he said after that was lost on me as I chanced another look at the photograph again. "Katie!" he said sharply, and I could tell he was getting pissed. "Did you even hear what I said?"
Ah, feck.
"Of course - look it up in the textbook, Orli dear," I quickly replied, doing my very best to keep a straight face. Wow. I am beginning to totally rock at lying! No, seriously, that was good.
"I asked you what the time was, Katie dear," Oliver glared at me.
Whoops.
Hey, even the Weird Sisters have their off days.
"Oops," I mumbled sheepishly, and looked at my watch. It currently displayed the words 'YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT TO ME AND THE REST OF THE TIMEPIECES IN THE WORLD. PLEASE DO NOT WEAR ANY MORE WATCHES. YOURS FAITHFULLY, YOUR WATCH – SOB.'
The whole world is against me.
"Um, my watch is currently missing in action. Why don't you just continue reading your History so I can help you?"
"You mean, look at my photo album."
"Well, yes, now that you mention it. I am planning to look."
"And mock."
"And laugh."
Oliver gave me a withering look and said, "I thought so," before returning to his book. "Did it ever occur to you that if neither of us knows what time it is, we won't know when to stop?" he asked.
"Of course," I said loftily, wondering why the thought had never occurred to me. "We'll just stop in a few minutes, then. Just finish up that last sub-topic, I'll quiz you on it, and then we can go to bed."
"Well, I'm not that tired yet, I can go on -"
"But I am, Oliver. I want to go to sleep and dream about you being arrested for your fashion faux pas."
"I was young, innocent, naive, and didn't know better!" Oliver exclaimed, flinging his arms up in frustration. "What more do you want from me?"
"To lend me that shirt. It's so glaringly pink and excruciatingly turquoise that it just might get me sued – and trust me, I really need some excitement in my life."
Well, he asked.
"Right, right, right, I get the point," he sighed, and read the last sentence on the page he was on with a flourish. He slammed the book shut and grabbed the album from me, to a lot of protesting on my part.
"But –"
"You can do much more interesting things with your life, Katie."
"Yes, but –"
"Sorry, dear, but if that shirt is exposed to oxygen any longer it'll explode on us and that will be the end of the fashion world as we know it."
"Oliver..."
"Katie..."
"I just –"
"For Merlin's sake, girl, if you don't leave right now I'm going to turn you into a badger."
I wrinkled my nose. "Eeeew."
"My thoughts exactly," Oliver said calmly.
I sighed and decided there was no point in arguing about it, just in case the boy's brain – small as it was – exploded due to too much exertion or something. I picked up my textbooks and quill and proceeded to the stairwell leading to the dormitories just as I heard Fred and Angelina enter the common room, laughing about something or other.
LOVE EEZ EEN ZEE AIR, my watch flashed. "You have a horrible French accent," I told it grumpily.
When Angelina finally entered our dormitory about an hour later, I was on Lene's bed, helping her with some of her schoolwork; while Alicia was taking a shower.
"Okay, so the Enlightening Charm can be Negated...so can the Hovering, Summoning and Levitating Charms... Oh, for heaven's sake, I can't believe I missed so many classes in such a short time... How many do those make? One, two, three, four...ah damn...are you sure Professor Sinistra said we needed five examples?"
I nodded my head in reply and Lene groaned. The poor thing was told earlier today that she'd have to go for some counselling during the Christmas holidays, and this was making things a whole lot worse.
"You can Negate the Aniguration Charm, use that one," I suggested. "And I wouldn't really advise on Negating a Summoning Charm, that'd turn out rather messy – how about the Conjuring Charm?"
"Oh, yes, perfect," Lene declared and scribbled down a few notes on her piece of parchment. Angelina skipped up to us and plonked herself down next to me. "What are you two working on?" she asked, with a suspiciously huge grin on her face.
"Negating Theory," Lene sighed.
"Oh. Charms," Angelina said, wrinkling her nose.
I really don't understand why she doesn't enjoy Charms. It's the only class where you can conjure up your own personal Brad Pitt and get graded on the hotness factor of the outfit he's wearing. Oooh. Brad Pitt.
He NEEDS to call me.
"Does this mean I can't ask you about George tonight?" Angelina asked, a glimmer of hope still in her eyes. Lene gave here a look that would have sent the five little pigs running back home, but I could tell she was just DYING to tell us what had happened. We'll give her tonight to recuperate, I suppose...but tomorrow she'll wish she had never been born.
"Well, you work on your Negating, Lenie, because I –"
"Am a lazy pig?" Lene asked hopefully.
Angelina gave her a look and said loftily, "No, I have to talk to Katesies about our Quidditch boy."
Oh, no.
Not again.
"Give it up, Angie," I said, getting up from Lene's bed and walking over to my own dismissively. "I'm not talking about it. I'm going to bed."
"You're not even tired, you were helping Lene!" Angelina protested. "I may have been helping Lene, but before that I was heading for bed when she asked me a few questions. Being the GOOD FRIEND that I was, I decided to help her. So there," I declared triumphantly and proceeded to bury my face in my pillow.
Pillows are good, pillows are fun, pillows prevent my life from becoming hell.
The next thing I knew, Angie was sitting right next to me and tugging on my robe.
"Aren't you even going to take this off?"
"No, I'm a lazy pig. Now go away."
We then ensued in a silent battle of Angie trying to remove my robe and me refusing to move a muscle. I must say that Lene highly enjoyed this. Finally, panting and out of breath, Angelina gave up and said, "Well, you don't have to talk, because I am. Just –"
"I'm asleep. I can't hear you," I mumbled.
"You very well can," Angelina proclaimed, eyes flashing. "Stop being such a ponce and listen to me, you idiot!" In what I assumed was a last resort sort of thing, she reached out and grabbed my pillow in a swift movement.
"Hello, person-who-stole-my-pillow-for-a-very-good-reason!" I yelled and finally sat up.
"When we were four, you called pillows pew-pews," Lene volunteered oh-so-charitably and burst into laughter again, now and then yelping because her ribs were still slightly sore.
"Oh, take your pew-pew," Angelina said and threw it back to me. "But listen up, Katie. Fred and I were talking to Oliver down there, and I think you should give him a chance."
I sighed wearily and wondered how long she was going to take, because I needed my beauty sleep. "Really."
"Yes," Angelina responded, rolling her eyes. "The poor bloke may not seem like it, but he's absolutely devoted to you. It's so bleeding obvious that it's almost funny. And he's not that bad, he's a nice guy and all – so why don't you give it a shot?"
Give it a shot? Okay. M16, anybody?
"Because I don't like him that way, Angie – I can't have feelings for someone just like that, you know."
"Oh, bollocks," Lene snorted from her bed across the room.
"I really don't!" I exclaimed, feeling absolutely bewildered.
What is the matter with them?
Do they not understand English?
Shall I speak in Azerbaijani? Lithuanian? YIDDISH?
Angelina turned to look at Lene and both of them shared a sort of look that I didn't like the looks of.
"What?" I asked suspiciously.
"You're blind, Katie," Lene said matter-of-factly. I looked at Angelina, to find her nodding solemnly at me.
"What the –"
"In time you will see the truth, young Padawan," Angelina said sombrely, before bursting into a fit of giggles.
"Oh, I knew I never should have let you watch that movie. Now goodnight," I said irritably and lay down again with my beloved pe – pillow.
I shut my eyes and pretended to be asleep, and after a while I felt Angelina get off my bed and move over to join Lene. Alicia came out of the bathroom and I could hear the three of them busy whispering something – plotting something. I heard mine and Oliver's names a few times, which was very, very bad. So they were plotting something that involved me and Oliver. Hmmm.
The question was...what?
A/N : Extra long chapter! Whoo-hoo! I hope you enjoyed it...please review! And now for the bad news. Gulp. Um...yikes. I'll just come right out and say it. Today is Tuesday. On Thursday night I will be leaving for Rome. Visiting various places in Italy, France and Switzerland for two weeks. I will come back just in time for my mid-year examinations in school, and as I haven't touched a single book, I will be in deep shit with the parental units if I don't study when I get back. And as the exams last for a week or so, it is possible you won't hear from me until, like, mid-June. *cowers from angry readers* So so so sorry! Anyway, I'm the one who's suffering here. I mean, I will have to study while I'm on holiday in Europe. How sucky can things get??? I hope to come back online from a stressful trip and accursed exams to find loads of reviews in my inbox...that's what I really wish for...so please help me out! I'll miss you guys! See you! =)
