Chapter Two
"No. No, Katie. NO! WHAT THE HELL DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND BY THAT SIMPLE TWO-LETTER WORD?"
Hermione woke up to the sound of Oliver screaming on his cell phone. She sat up in bed and looked out the window, where Oliver was and scratched her head.
"Okay… so cheating on your soon-to-be-spouse it in your family blood? That's bullshit, Bell, and you know it! …I don't care if your daddy did that to your mommy the day before they got married!" He looked up and saw Hermione. She waved at him sleepily. He gave a small smile and began to yell at Katie some more.
"Mione." Hermione turned around and saw Bill.
"Yep?"
"Breakfast?"
"I'll be down in a minute." Bill came over and looked out the window with her. "How long's he been at it for?" Bill shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. Hermione picked up a hairbrush and began stroking it through her unkempt brown hair, transforming it into delicate curls that went down to the middle of her back.
"An hour, maybe."
"…WHAT THE FUCK, KATIE! YOU'RE TRYING TO APOLOGIZE TO ME AND FLINT'S THERE WITH YOU! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" Oliver ran a hand through his hair
"Hang up!" Bill and Hermione shouted at the same time. They threw stuffed animals at him. Oliver held his index up with a grin that immediately turned upside down.
"Screw you, Katie. I'll be swinging by to get everything out of my house, so you'd better be gone. Flint, too." Oliver flipped his cell phone closed, nodded his head at Hermione and Bill, and walked into the kitchen holding the four stuffed animals they threw.
Bill and Hermione came running down the stairs at full speed but stopped when they saw who was in the living room. Oliver was off to the side, peeking around the corner. They went to join him.
"And – and – and – he broke it off with meeeeeee!" Fred, who was by Katie Bell's side rolled his eyes and shoved a box of tissues in her hands. "And – and – I don't know where he iiiiiiis!"
"Jesus Christ," Oliver muttered and sat against the wall.
"He's probably with – with – some bimbo…" Everyone raised their eyebrows to this. Fred snickered evilly and George smirked.
"Dearest Katesies," George started, dripping with sarcasm.
"Oliver is here, actually!" Fred continued. Oliver froze.
"They told me out!" he mouthed to Bill with furrowed brown eyebrows. Bill grinned, showing white teeth, shook his head and pointed back to the scene.
"Yes, Fred, he is. We locked him up in a closet because he dumped you."
"Yes, Katie, now follow us!" All they heard was a door open and close. "Well done, George."
"Couldn't have done it without you, dear brother of flesh and blood." Oliver, Hermione and Bill came into view.
"What'd you do to her?" Oliver asked. The twins shrugged simultaneously.
"Disappearing closet," Fred said.
"So I can go get my things from my house now?"
"Well, yeah, she's gone. Flint's probably gone, too." Oliver nodded and apparated away.
"Why doesn't he seem sad or anything that Katie cheated on him?" Hermione asked.
"It probably hasn't sunk in him yet," Bill replied, looking into the disappearing closet. "I wonder where she went…" Oliver came back with four bags. One dropped out of thin air and onto Fred. Oliver was crying.
"Flint's so fucking ugly! What does he have that I don't?"
"There, there, Oliver," George soothed, leading him to a couch. "…Want a chocolate?" Oliver glared at him.
"That's what K – Kat – Katie used to ask when – when –" he wiped his face, "I lost a game…"
"Oh, shite," George mouthed to the rest of the people circling them.
"It's sunk in, I think," Hermione whispered to Bill. He looked at her.
"Gee, really, Granger? Okay, all of you people, out." When George didn't move, Bill kicked him. "OUT, GEORGE. I need to talk to Oliver." Bill took George's place on the couch opposite from Oliver and sighed.
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just… you could do much better than Bell, you know. Remember all those times you two came to the Burrow during Christmas? Yeah, she's not the same Kill-Bill-With-Snowball girl that she used to be." Oliver shook his head.
"She seemed the same to me," he said quietly. "Looked the same, felt the same… acted the same…"
"Clearly she isn't, Oliver," Bill reasoned. "I mean, come on, you're a great guy. Great personality, great looks, great humor… you're basically the whole package. I don't see the reason she would cheat on you. Come on, Wood, open your eyes a bit."
"Yeah, well, why'd Krum cheat on Hermione? She seems like a great girl." Oliver inquired. Bill shook his head.
"Don't bring that into the conversation, Oliver. Katie's not a Death Eater." Oliver looked up from his feet.
"…He's a Death Eater?"
"The Order's seen him with known Death Eaters, so, we're assuming he is one. Plus, the girl he cheated on Hermione with is a Death Eater as well." Oliver scoffed and shook his head.
"The Order. That's all you Weasleys talk about."
"We're saving the world, Oliver, both Wizarding and Muggle."
"Yeah, okay, but what happens if you don't come home? What happens? Bill, you've got two children. What happens if both you and Fleur die? Who'll take care of Danny and Alexis then?"
"…We're close to finding Him, Oliver."
"I don't care; I'm not losing another friend." The fire returned to Oliver's brown eyes as he stared at Bill. His and Percy's friend, Mark Benton, had died five years earlier for the Order. "No one should die at nineteen years old, Bill. It's too young." Bill didn't answer. He stood up and, before he left, said,
"Move on from Katie, Oliver. It's the only cure." He went up the stairs, out of Oliver's sight.
When Percy came home for lunch, he and Oliver went to visit Mark's grave in the Wizarding Cemetery.
"I miss him," Percy said quietly when they reached his burial mound.
"Yeah, I do, too. I'm going to wake him up." Oliver swung his foot back when Percy stopped him.
"That's disrespectful!" Oliver shrugged and tapped the tombstone with the back of his hand.
"Wake uuppp, Benton!"
"No. I'm happy sleeping for all eternity. 'Final resting place', Oliver, doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"We wanna see you, come on," Percy whined.
"Oh, be quiet, you prat. Are you the Minister yet?"
"No," Percy muttered.
"Then no, I'm not coming out. Would you like to see bits and pieces of me floating around in the air?" When they didn't answer, Mark stuck his ghost head up from the ground. "…Guys?" He allowed himself to ascend from the soil to look around. "…Perce? Oliver?"
"There he is!" Percy began clapping. Mark turned around and saw his two friends behind his grave.
"This isn't a place you're supposed to be happy," Mark scowled. Oliver smiled and laughed.
"You got him to laugh!" Percy exclaimed. Mark frowned.
"Why? Why isn't he laughing anymore?" Oliver shook his head and waved it away with his hand. "What's troubling my Olliekins?"
"Nothing," Oliver ground out. "How's death?" Mark shrugged.
"Boring. How's life?" Oliver shrugged.
"Boring."
"Um… how's Jess?" Mark asked.
"I haven't seen her in a good two years. She transferred to the Harpies. Perce, talk to her lately?" Percy nodded and looked at Mark.
"Well, she's finally got another boyfriend." Mark smiled.
"Good. She was getting depressed since I died."
"Well, you two were only going out for six years…" Mark raised an eyebrow at Percy.
"Percy Weasley? Using sarcasm?"
"Living with the twins does something to you after twenty-four years."
"Twenty-two," Oliver corrected him. "Remember the fight with your dad?" Percy groaned.
"Oh, don't remind me. Worst two years of my life."
"That's because you lived in your office!" Oliver exclaimed. Mark laughed so hard that his arm fell off. He grabbed it and screwed it on properly as Oliver and Percy stared at him.
"…Yeah… can I go back to bed now?"
"I need to get back to work," Percy said, looking around. Mark winked and disappeared under the ground. Oliver and Percy apparated back to the Burrow.
"We're back!" Oliver shouted as Percy walked into the kitchen to quickly prepare something for himself.
"Feeling better, Uncle Oliver?" Bill's eldest, Daniel, asked as he plopped onto the couch beside Oliver. He smiled and ruffled the three-year-old's hair.
"Kind of," he replied. Daniel grinned and kicked the bottom of the couch with his heels.
"…Can you teach me how to play Quidditch, Uncle Oliver? You're on Pud… Puddle… Puddle… that… that Quidditch Team, right?" Oliver bit back laughter and nodded.
"Yeah, Dan."
"I want to play Chaser…"
"Chaser! Well…" Oliver stood up and went to one of the many cabinets. "Here." He tossed Danny a mini broomstick. "You know how to fly, right?"
"Yup, mommy and daddy taught me a few months ago."
"Good. Now, the red ball…" Oliver bent down and picked it up, "is called a Quaffle. You, being a-"
"How come you talk like that?"
"Talk like what, Dan?"
"'Kwoh-full'."
"…Quaffle."
"You did it again!" Oliver rolled his eyes.
"Daniel, that's my accent."
"What's an accent?"
"Are we going to talk about my accent all day, or do you want to play Quidditch? I'll explain everything outside, follow me." With Daniel carrying his broomstick and Oliver carrying the ball chest and his own broomstick, they made their way out to the yard.
Hermione watched from Fleur's window as Oliver and Daniel tossed the ball back and forth.
"I see you've had your eye on Oliver lately," Fleur said as she folded her clothes. Hermione looked at her sideways.
"What do you mean?"
"I heard you two on the rooftop last night… what were you talking about?" Hermione scoffed and looked out the window again.
"Unfaithfulness."
"Ah."
"Mummy, Danny's flyin'! Daddy say'ed he can't without suppervizionsors!" Alexis, Bill and Fleur's youngest exclaimed, bursting through the door.
"Supervision, Alex, and your Uncle Oliver is out there."
"How come I haven't met Uncle Owiver until today?" Alexis inquired with her head tilted to the side.
"Because he was busy with his job. Go play with Violet, okay?" Alexis smiled and nodded, then skipped down the staircase.
"Oliver seems good with children," Hermione noted as she watched Oliver chase Danny on the broomstick. Fleur raised a blonde eyebrow but decided to drop the subject.
Meanwhile, Ginny Weasley was taking a stroll down Diagon Alley to open up Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where she worked.
"…Ginny?" Ginny spun around and saw the one person she most definitely didn't want to see.
"Seamus," she whispered and backed away. Seamus Finnigan reached out to her while biting his lip.
"How many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry?" he asked with a pained expression. Ginny shook her head and turned around.
Her bright red hair stood out against her blue robes and danced in the wind as she ran towards the Joke Shop. While looking behind her back, she ran into a solid brick wall. A Solid brick wall wearing jeans and a t-shirt, with hair so black it was almost blue tossed around on his head and naturally purple eyes.
"Whoa." The someone got hold of Ginny's shoulders. "Are you all right?" Ginny shook her head and darted her eyes around frantically. "…You're Ginny Weasley." Ginny nodded her head. "Um… are you heading somewhere?" Ginny nodded her head.
"Triple W," she said quietly. "Take me there, go, go, go." The stranger didn't ask any questions. He made Ginny walk in front of him and looked over his shoulder in search of any suspicious-looking people. The two of them finally turned the last corner. "Thank you," Ginny whispered. The man smiled.
"A damsel in distress. Instinct takes over."
"Zabini!" someone called. The man turned around, waved and looked back to Ginny.
"B… Blaise Zabini?" Blaise smiled a smile that warmed Ginny down to her toes. It melted her fears away.
"I was wondering when you realized who I was." He brought Ginny's hand up for a soft kiss. "I've gotta go… you still live in that weird house that defies gravity, right?" Ginny nodded dumbly. Blaise gave one last smile and jogged down the alleyway. "See ya, Firefly." It was a name he called her in Hogwarts.
Ginny smiled and forgot about her ex-boyfriend, went into the Joke Shop and opened it for the public.
Yay! Chapter two is finite! Thanks to...
soopaflie
Evilevergreen (I sent an email back to you!)
be11011
Charlie K.
BetrayedVision: Here's your bloody description! I'm just kidding... haha
gracie5412
FredWeasleyLover1126: ...Uh... why Fred? Why not George? They're identical...
THANKS!
loving.wood