---Chapter Five---

It's A Date

'Katie, remind me again why you're going out with that pompous Hufflepuff Reiner?' prompted Angelina, who was lying on her bottom bunk bed. Her brow was ever so slightly furrowed, as if in thought. Katie could see she was attempting to turn a matchstick into a tiny replica of her owl.

'He's not pompous!' said Katie indignantly, blushing furiously.

Alicia stiffled a giggle as she gave her mahogany wand a graceful flick. Katie's silky brown hair piled itself in a loose bun, brushing her neck everytime she moved.

'Thanks, Leesh.' said Katie, brushing back a stray strand of hair.

The half-matchstick and half-owl flapped feebly over to the full-length mirror at which Alicia and Katie were standing, and gave a quiet hoot. It fell onto Alicia's shoulder, motionless. Angelina rushed over, a mixture of amusement and annoyance on her face.

'I spent almost half an hour making this stupid matchstick bird. And this is how it repays me! By dying!' exclaimed Angelina, prodding the presumably dead matchstick-owl.

She picked it up carefully by its tiny wings and put it into a small, red tin can resting on her bed and set her wand at another matchstick. Alicia glanced over her shoulder at Angelina and her attempted Owl Transfigurations, but then her attention flickered back to Katie.

'Well you're done now!' said Alicia, patting her friend on the back.

'I guess I am,' replied Katie, quickly examining herself in the mirror. She felt uncomfortable in the robes she was wearing – Alicia thought it would be a good idea to wear casual robes, instead of their uniform. Katie soon found herself dressed in her favourite casual robes (one made of silky, indigo blue material) and looking as though she was going to someone's wedding.

'Hurry, then! You don't want to be late,' said Alicia, shoving Katie's wand into her hand.

'Uh, yes, thanks. Bye Angie and Alicia, I'll be back as soon as I can,' called Katie, who was now rushing down the corridor that lead to the stair case. She stopped dead in her tracks, making sure there werent any teachers sneaking about, hoping to catch pupils creeping out as she was. Katie gave her surroundings another quick scan before bolting out the corridor and down the flight of stairs into the Common Room.

What she didn't know though, was that there were people watching her – not teachers fortunately, but unfortunate enough to be the very eyes of Lee Jordan. Lee and the Weasley brothers were cleverly hiding in a dusty, cramped space behind a suit of armour. As Katie rushed down the steps, Lee gave George a sharp jab in the back.

'Scoot!' he hissed at George.

'Careful, Lee. Just because you're still in love with Katie – ,' began George irritably.

'Doesn't mean we're going to help you stalk her.' said Fred, rubbing his elbow which he had jammed into the armour when he was getting up.

'Who said I ever loved her!' objected Lee.

'Everyone.' Fred and George sniggered.

'Shut up.'

'No, YOU shut up.'

'Twits.'

'Extremely handsome twits at it too,' added George, puffing out his chest.

Lee made a face, and pulled out an Invisibility Cloak from his robe's pocket.

'Blimey! Where'd you get that?' asked Fred, who was goggling at the bundle of slinky, silver material in Lee's hand.

'Borrowed from Harry,' replied Lee, throwing the cloak over his shoulders.

'You coming?' added Lee, who had now disappeared from the Weasley twins' sight.

'Can we fit?' asked George calmly, who was swatting the air violently with both his hands.

Lee ducked as he narrowly missed George's incoming left hand.

'Oi!' roared Lee, 'Watch it!'

'Keep your bloody voice down!' said Fred, eyeing the stair case.

'Okay okay! Get under here now!' Lee ushered the twins under the slightly too small Invisibility Cloak.

'Er… our feet are showing.' pointed out Fred.

'Doesn't matter,' said Lee hurriedly, 'We'll be hiding in bushes or something anyway.'

'I can't walk!' grumbled George, who squashed in between Fred and Lee, rendered quite unable to walk.

'Shuffle those feet of yours, George!' snickered Fred.

George tried to turn his head to give his brother a glare, but under the cloak that was obviously not meant for three, tall seventh-year boys, it was rather impossible.

'Let's just go!' said Lee impatiently to Fred and George.

'Yes ma'am,' said Fred, to which Lee returned with a roll of his eyes.
Katie fingered the sleeve of her robe nervously. Was Tom even going to show up? She wondered to herself. Katie turned her head slightly, just enough to glance over her shoulder up at Hogwart's entrance. If Tom did not turn up as he said, she'd be making a fool of herself. Katie checked her wristwatch.

7.04. Still time. Katie checked it again. The '4' was no longer there - but now was a '5'. She was starting to feel nauseous. Tom didn't seem to be the type of person who would turn up late to anything, especially not a date.

'5 more minutes,' Katie mumbled to herself.

If Tom didn't turn up then, Katie would leave, and perhaps give up on men all together. Too unrealiable. Too complicated. Too -

'Katie?' said a familiar voice from behind.

Katie swiveled around, to find none other than Tom Reiner, still in his robes and Hufflepuff uniform.

'You look pretty,' he noted shyly.

She blushed lightly.

'Thanks,' nodded Katie. 'You um... look er, good too,'

'You don't have to lie,' said Tom, turning a slight shade of red. 'I should've worn something else instead of my grotty uniform...'

'No, you look good. I overdressed, that's all,' said Katie, a little stiffly.

'Well... I think you look very nice,' Tom's face went beetroot red. 'And-and these are for you,' he added, handing Katie a bunch of daisies, which was sparkling considerably.

'Sparking daisies,' said Katie, holding the flowers at an arm length.

'Oh, I'm sorry about that,' Tom said, hanging his head slightly. 'One of my roommates tried setting the flowers on fire - ,'

A sudden, and rather violent rustle in a bush close to the two startled Katie. She immediately pulled her wand out on instinct, and edged closer to the shrub.

'Who's there?' she yelled at the bush.

Silence.

'If you don't come out, I'll come and get you,' said Katie, trying to sound as threatening as she could.

Tom watched on with fearful eyes with his wand drawn too. He took a deep breath and stepped forward.

'No Katie, I don't want you to get hurt,' he said firmly, pushing Katie back with surprisingly strong hands.

Tom rolled his sleeves back and raised his wand. 'Expel-,'

He never got to finish it.

A tiny squirrel, or perhaps even a chipmunk, scrambled out of the bush and darted towards the direction of the Dark Forest. Katie let out a mixed laugh and a sigh of relief.

'It was a squirrel!' exclaimed Tom, throwing his hands dramatically in the air. 'I can't believe we thought it was something dangerous...'

The two exchanged nervous laughs and an uncomfortable glance before Tom offered to take Katie on a walk around the lake and then back into the castle.

But the squirrel was the least of their worries. In fact, what caused the bush to shake so hard was three hidden Gryffindor seventh-years; namely Lee, Fred and George.

'I can't believe Katie is going out with that bloody know-it-all Hufflepuff!' fumed Lee, his hands curled into tight fists.

'It ain't that bad,' said George, attempting to stand up from the crouched position he had been in.

'Yeah, you've still got us.' chimed in Fred.

'I didn't say I cared about Katie, I just can't believe she chose a slow-witted Hufflepuff like him,' said Lee irritably, pulling a snapped twig from his dreadlocks.

'Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning,' commented George, grabbing the Invisiblity Cloak from behind the shrub.

Lee furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to protest, but Fred interrupted.

'C'mon, we better get up to the dorms before that stinkin' Norris cat starts lurking around again.'

'Yeah, good idea,' mumbled Lee absently, joining George under the cloak.

The three figures soon disappeared under the slinky material of the Invisibility Cloak and made their way up to the castle, with Lee's heart slightly heavier than usual.

'So, what do you like?' asked Tom, a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

Katie could tell the nerves were settling in.

'Like books, music... and that sort of thing?' said Katie.

'Yeah,' said Tom, looking slightly more relieved.

'Well... I like Quidditch books mainly, but I read the occasional novel, and music-wise... I unfortunately like soppy love songs, but I do like some alternate music...' Katie glanced upwards, racking her brain for ideas.

It was strange, with Tom, she had absolutely no idea of what she could say to him. But with Lee... she could say anything she wanted, and still feel extremely comfortable. A jerk in her thoughts broke into her mind. No. You have nothing with Lee now. You don't need to talk to him, or need to think of him. He is a no-good selfish git.

Despite what she was telling herself, it didn't feel like she was particularly good at convincing herself. But who could help it? His chocolate brown eyes and that hair... and not to mention, his ridiculously funny humour... Snap out of it, Katie! What are you doing to yourself? Her brain screamed. It was true. She was torturing herself with annoying thoughts of that annoying git.

'Katie?' said Tom.

Her thoughts were gone in an instant flash.

'Oh sorry Tom. Must've dozed off... you know, I'm a little tired and all,' said Katie quickly, feigning a convincing yawn.

'Ah Katie,' grinned Tom. 'You should've told me, we could have gone up to the castle a while back,'

He checked his watch.

'It's almost half past eight... golly, have we been out this long?'

Katie nodded through mid-yawn.

'Better take a raincheck on this one then, huh?' asked Katie.

Tom gave her another grin. 'Yeah, probably,'

'Well, how about next weekend? We might go to Hogsmeade or something, yeah?' prompted Katie, in spite of her recent thoughts.

'Sure,' the grin on Tom's face widened.

As they slowly walked up the trail back to Hogwarts, Katie couldn't help but wonder why she was agreeing to another date with someone she didn't quite have a spark with. In fact, she found herself uncomfortable even talking about her sense in music... was it that he seemed too perfect? Well, too perfect was good for her. She couldn't afford to get hurt again, especially not so soon. Yes, Tom was right one for her. Lee and her obviously werent meant to be, and the past few weeks surely proved it well enough.

'So, it's a date?' queried Tom again, as they neared the portrait of the Fat Lady.

'Definitely,' replied Katie with a small smile.

Tom returned her smile with another one of his dazzling grins, and embraced her in a less constricting hug than she had prepared herself for. But just as they leant away from the hug, Tom quickly bent over and gave Katie a light kiss on her lips. She almost keeled over in surprise, but Tom gripped her hand firmly and then turned to sprint away into the darkness of the corridor.

'Um, bye,' she called after the darting figure.

No reply.

She paced over to the portrait of the Fat Lady, still in much of a daze.

'Password?' mumbled a half-asleep Fat Lady.

'Puttnesca,' replied Katie in a whisper.

The portrait swung open, and Katie quickly clambered in. What was she feeling? Happiness? No, it wasn't. It was so unexpected... and... unwanted, a tiny voice in her mind said.

'No!' she scolded. She felt odd for telling herself off.

But it was probably true. Katie had always imagined her first kiss to leave her in a ecstatic, unrealistic mood afterwards and an extreme surge of adrenaline. But she did not feel any of the emotions and feelings she had expected to feel. Perhaps it was the fact that Tom didn't kiss her properly. In fact, a peck would be the correct analogy. She didn't even feel it properly... but, with a person quite as attractive as Tom Reiner, she imagined she would have sensed at leastsomething.

but there was no denying it, Tom was quite attractive. Tall with a mop of messy, dark brown hair that reminded Katie vaguely of Harry Potter's, stunning blue eyes and what seemed to be an extraordinarily shy personality. If only he was a little more daring, adventurous or even sly... but he wasn't. Katie could accept him for the person he was, couldn't she? He was caring, sensitive and selfless. But he was just missing that particular element... Katie shook the train of thoughts from her head. Too late to be thinking about that now, she reasoned. Time for sleep. Katie sank into the plushness of her pillow and soft quilt. The bed was already nicely warmed, from the bedpans the house-elves had put in. She gave in to her sleep and allowed for her mind to rest, sinking into a deep, dreamless sleep. Katie didn't even hear Angelina call her for breakfast the next morning.

A/N First thing I want to say, is that I am sincerely sorry I haven't updated in such a long time, and hope dearly all of you haven't given up on this FanFic (I keep my promises to update ) and please continue reading! I will update, no matter what, although there may be a few weeks because my Yearly Exams are coming up, and I need to study for that later. But I should get up the next two chapters (hopefully) in time before the Yearlys, and you can read them until then P
Please review to keep me informed that at least a few people are reading my fiction xP

Also, a big thankyou and huggles to LCH8292 hehe, I indeed like making them suffer P, darkforest214 and Euraphadriel! Also a big huggle and a cookie for TooSweet4Words for reviewing!)

I love you guys! You are my inspiration to write!

This is Charmed777 signing out,

arrivederci,

Charmed777.