Katie's mood the next day was solemn. When she first entered the Great Hall and took her place beside Angelina and Alicia, they took her utterly downcast look to mean that there had been a death in the family. Katie shook her head at this. She hated to think that she might have preferred a death in the family to the pain she was feeling now.

Katie quietly pleaded her friends to join her in a less public place. She told them what had passed between her and Cedric the night before. The news was received in awed silence. After exchanging worried glances, and pestering Katie to take a slice of toast and a few of bacon, they followed her out of the Great Hall and up towards the deserted Charms corridor. Once she was sure they had complete privacy, Katie blurted out the whole story as fast as she could. Words and sentences blurred together and her friends had to make her stop and take some deep breaths before she could start again. Katie thanked her lucky stars that she was able to make it through the story without breaking down crying, though one tear ran down her cheek as she ended it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Katie," said Alicia as she warmly embraced her friend, "I had no idea it would be like this."

"What a way to end it all," Angelina mused, as she clasped a hand on Katie's shoulder.

"I don't think there's much we can do to make it better for you," Alicia told Katie as she released her from the hug, "but let us know if you need anything, okay?"

Katie responded by nodding gravely.

"Cheer up, Kates," Angelina told her. "Everything is going to be alright, you know that."

"Yeah, I know it," Katie replied as glumly as ever.

"Hey, do you need one of my famous cheering charms?" Angelina asked jokingly.

Angelina's "famous" cheering charms had very little to be cheerful about. They were, in fact, rather infamous. Katie had once been present when Alicia had been helping Angelina practice. Alicia hadn't thought it safe to practice it on humans yet, and Weasley twins had managed to procure a live chicken as a substitute. On the fourth try, Angelina somehow managed to strip the poor animal of all its feathers. She had rarely performed the spell since.

"No, I think I'll be alright," responded Katie, unable to suppress a smile at the memory of the naked chicken stalking its way around the Gryffindor common room.

"That's better," Angelina said on seeing her smile.

Alicia looked at her watch.

"We'd better be off if we want to be on time for Herbology," she said. "I'm really sorry, Kates."

"It's okay," Katie assured her much more confidently than she felt. She even managed a small smile.

Angelina gave her friend an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder, and Alicia threw her another apologetic look before the two started off down the corridor and disappeared down the nearest staircase. Katie looked down at the scraps of breakfast that she had nicked from the tables, but felt no pang of hunger. Frustrated, she chucked them into a nearby alcove that contained a marble bust of Balfour Bane. Just then, Mrs. Norris, the shaggy, dust-coloured cat belonging to the caretaker, Mr. Filch, appeared seemingly out of thin air. She stared at Katie with her yellow, lamp-like eyes, as if she would very much like to reprimand Katie for littering in the hallway.

"Bugger off," Katie snapped at the cat, who kept her eerie, unblinking stare fixed on her.

After a pause, Mrs. Norris finally decided that there must be other students elsewhere doing things more heinous than littering. With one last haughty look, she turned around and slinked off. Almost as soon as Mrs. Norris' scruffy tail disappeared around the nearest corner, dwarfish Professor Flitwick arrived to unlock his classroom.

"Oh, Miss Bell!" he squeaked, "How surprising to see you this early."

Katie smiled kindly.

"Just wanted to get a good start to the day," she said.

Katie responded with smiles and pleasant answers to Flitwick's small talk. She took a seat in the corner and took out a roll of parchment and quill in order to give her an excuse to avoid the eyes of her classmates when they showed up. Before too long, other students started to appear. Fortunately, her roommates were some of the last to arrive.

The fourth year Gryffindor girls took their places just as Professor Flitwick began to call for attention. Leanne sat next to Katie, as was her usual, and sent Katie a worried look. Leanne hadn't seen her friend since she had left her and Cedric together in the corridor the previous night. Katie had come back after she had gone to bed, and a restless night had forced her up at an early hour to wander the cold, deserted castle passageways, wading through thought and emotion to confront the situation at hand. Leanne had noticed Katie's empty bed with worried suspicion and her hypothesis was proven correct when she examined Katie's features. The previous night's activities were evident in Katie's face: her eyes were bloodshot and slightly puffy and she could only manage a very taut smile in greeting. Now, however, was not the time to be inquiring after Katie's health. Flitwick had already begun the lesson by starting to explain the theory behind Summoning Charms.

Once the room was full of objects flying through the air (or, at least, feebly flopping off a shelf), Katie and Leanne had more time, and privacy, to talk. After relaying the story, Katie felt just a bit better to know that all her closest friends now knew. Leanne was even more dumbstruck than Angelina and Alicia, and almost as effusive with support. Katie shrugged it all off, trying to be as casual and discreet as possible about the whole affair. After a few minutes of this, however, the two of them began to draw furtively curious looks from their roommates. Katie knew they probably gathered the topic of conversation, but still loathed for them to be let in on the truth. She could just imagine Rhea gloating that Katie was nothing more than a flavor of the week for someone like Cedric.

Throughout the rest of the class, Katie could tell that Leanne thought it best to tell the other girls, but was prudent enough not to bring it up. Katie, meanwhile, was silently enjoying watching Rhea writhe with curiosity, but eventually tired of her yearmate's purposely obnoxious hints. As the class was packing their things back into their bags, Katie leaned over to Leanne.

"Tell them," she instructed her friend, "but wait until I've left. I don't want to be stared at."

Leanne looked at her and nodded. Katie closed her bag and walked out, straight past the girls who were staring her down with such intensity. She purposely put a spring into her step to throw them off, and felt their eyes on her back the whole way out.

Katie made her way down to a secluded little courtyard to spend her morning break in much-desired solitude. She walked over to the old oak tree which stood in a corner and leaned against its trunk. The chill November air bit at her cheeks. She pulled her red and gold Gryffindor scarf up a little higher, and returned to her thoughts. The news would spread like wildfire, as any good secret should at Hogwarts. But at least, Katie thought, it would bring closure. There was something rather final about the whole affair being declared over by nigh half the student body. Cedric's loyal followers would be pleased that a substandard fourth year like herself was out of their way. Best of all, after the initial fascination with this "scandalous" development, interest would quickly disappear to focus on some other tidbit and Katie would be once again left alone. She could move on, wiser and stronger, and that was all she could ask for.

The fallout was pretty much what Katie had expected: plenty of girls whispering in to each other as they passed in the corridors, and many sixth and seventh year boys sizing her up and possibly wondering what about her had drawn the attention of Cedric, who could have his pick of all of Hogwarts' upper-year girls. Seemingly the only upperclassmen who refrained from this activity were Percy and Oliver, though this gallantry more likely rose from ignorance than anything else. Yet, Katie's stay in the limelight was shorter-lived than even she had hoped. Apparently, the student body cared more about Marion Scott being seen kissing Roger Davies in the hallway. Katie couldn't have been more thankful. And, in all the kerfuffle, she had completely forgotten about her tactless flight from Oliver Wood earlier in the week. However, when Katie realized that she had Quidditch practice on Saturday, she thought about skiving, despite the pact she had made with her friends. The only thing that made her go was the thought of hiccupping frogs courtesy of the Weasley twins, a service which they would be more than happy to provide if she didn't show. Thankfully, when she got to the Quidditch pitch on Saturday, only Angelina and Alicia were in the locker rooms. Already dressed in her Quidditch pants and sweater, Katie began putting on her leather Quidditch shoes. Harry appeared as she was moving on to her gloves and wrist guards.

She was just strapping on her shin pads when Oliver finally burst into the room. All four of them looked up.

"Sorry, I'm late," he said, looking quite flushed," I was… was… Where's Fred and George?"

The whole team looked at the twins' lockers with alarm. Their contents were untouched.

"Harry, can you check for their brooms?" Oliver asked.

"Sure," the Seeker answered and quickly dashed out the door.

Oliver cursed the twins with words that made the three girls look amongst themselves with raised eyebrows. He flung his locker open with slightly more force than was necessary and began yanking his equipment out just as fiercely. Harry came back a few moments later.

"Well?" Oliver demanded.

"Still there," Harry responded, though trying to break the news as gently as he could. Katie didn't blame him.

"WHAT?" Wood exploded.

"Well, they're still…"

"Yes, I get it," snapped Wood. When he saw Harry about to answer back indignantly, he quickly finished with, "Thank you, Harry."

Harry looked moderately appeased, but Wood went back to tearing through his locker.

"This was the worst possible practice for them to miss! I was going to work on Bludger evasion techniques. We need to practice up now if we're to be ready for Slytherin at the end of the season. I won't have anymore broken bones like last year. Oh, I'm going to stuff them next time I see them! Skiving off practice, indeed…"

The team didn't catch what came after, as Wood nervously began to mutter to himself as he dressed in his padding, often stopping to flip through his well-loved playbook and nod or shake his head while muttering a quick comment. When he was half-dressed, he finally looked up to notice the other four players standing nervously around, afraid to make any move that might provoke their Captain's temper.

"Oh, um, go fly a few warm-up laps, will you?" Oliver asked. "I'll be right behind you."

Angelina, Alicia, Katie and Harry followed without question. Walking out onto the pitch, they all mounted and kicked off in an almost synchronized fashion. Harry soared on his Nimbus 2000 up towards the clouds, while the three Chasers remained in loose formation as they curled around the hoops, occasionally weaving in and out. Just as all of them were getting bored, Oliver appeared from the locker rooms and kicked off to join them in the air. Blowing on his whistle, he called them all to the center. They were surprised to see that he carried a Beater's bat.

Oliver cleared his throat and Katie noticed he was looking a bit pale and clammy.

"Alright. We can't let the Weasleys hold us up. We're decent at swerving away, but with Beaters like Derrick and Bole, sometimes the Bludger will be coming at you too fast for you to have time to turn, so, we need to practice rolls. I'll only teach you side rolls for now, but maybe we'll get to Sloth-Grip later in the season. Now, the key to rolling is to keep as close to the handle as possible so you can right yourself as soon as it goes by. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to score upside down…"

After explaining the theory and watching them practice a few times, Oliver descended back to the ground to let a Bludger loose. Katie swore she could see his hands shake as he went to open the case. The hard black ball soared into the air and headed straight for Harry, who nimbly dodged it with a half-twirl, half-roll. They all took their turn at practicing the new move. Katie was initially intimidated by the whoosh of the Bludger passing so close to her, but soon learned to judge how far it actually was from her critical body parts. Alicia only rolled a few times. She seemed much more comfortable with the traditional swerve or the occasional loop-the-loop. On the other hand, Harry looked, once again, to be a natural. Oliver soared after it and did his best to keep the Bludger's speed under control. Yet, as the practice drew on, Katie could see that Wood winced every time he swung the bat. Finally, he missed the Bludger completely and Alicia ducked just in time to save her head from being smashed in from the side.

"Angelina, can you get it?" Oliver called.

Angelina nodded and intercepted the hurling black orb as it hurdled towards Harry again, then threw herself and it a few feet down to the ground, where she struggled to keep it trapped beneath her chest. Alicia flew over with the crate and helped her friend to strap it back into the dip specially formed for it. Meanwhile, Harry descended and nimbly hopped off his broom, light as a feather. Oliver, however, landed on Earth like a bag of bricks.

"Good practice, everyone," he said with forced cheerfulness.

Harry rushed over and spoke to Wood, who nodded.

"Can you toss up the Snitch?" Harry called over to the Chasers.

Katie, who had walked over to help her friends, took the small, golden ball from its pocket in the trunk top. She marveled briefly at the feel of the cool gold metal, and at the intricate etchings that covered it. Then, she drew her arm back, imagined the goal hoops straight in front of her, and flung the Snitch high into the sky.

"Thanks!" Harry said, as he mounted and kicked off.

Katie marveled at his speed and agility for a few moments before turning and hurrying after her friends, who were carrying the trunk back toward the broomshed.

"Katie!" Oliver called.

She looked over to see him gesturing to join him by the locker rooms. After exchanging confused glances with Angelina and Alicia, she reluctantly jogged over to him. Oliver gave her a tired smile as she approached.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, determined to take control of the conversation and avoid that topic which she was most dreading.

"Drained," he admitted. "I never realized how much work it is to swing these bats."

"Gives you a new respect for the Weasleys, huh?"

"I'd have more respect for them if they'd have showed up," he responded glumly.

Katie started to respond with "Well…" but was overridden by Oliver's "Anyway…"

They stopped and looked at each other. Katie cringed inwardly. She knew he was going ask why she had behaved so oddly, why she had run away from him, what she was hiding.

"I remember saying something about how Cedric was just using you," he began.

Katie clenched her jaw, unwilling to dignify him with an answer. So he had heard the recent gossip and he wanted to pity her a little for having been "toyed with" by Cedric. It was the last thing she wanted, but there was no doubt in her mind that he would want to rub it in that he had been right all along, that Cedric had only used her until their respective teams had played.

"…and I just want to say I'm sorry." Oliver finished, stopping Katie in her tracks

Katie turned and stared at him.

"I was blinded by my own ambition. I really wanted the Cup. Well, I still want it… I dreamed about it all summer. And, well, after you promised me we'd win it, I guess I felt betrayed when I found out about you two. I thought that the only way we could have lost was through betrayal. I never considered dumb bad luck. I thought it was all about skill and planning and that treachery was the only thing that could overcome those. But I know better now."

Katie responded only by blinking. Her mind was racing to absorb everything he was saying. He didn't blame her anymore! He had finally realized what a prat he'd been. She wanted to rejoice, but at the same time, he couldn't make up for the melancholy she had experienced since the Hufflepuff match.

"I hope you accept my apology," he finished, his brown eyes innocently gazing at her like a young puppy's.

Katie didn't know how, but by some miracle she was finally able to move.

"I accept your apology," she responded curtly.

"Good," he said, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Good," she repeated, stone-faced.

They looked at each other for a moment before Oliver, looking slightly disappointed at her reticent response, turned around and began walking towards the locker rooms.

"Oliver," Katie called.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back.

She took a few steps to be closer to him, and spoke in a cool voice.

"Just know that, sometimes, I need a friend more than I need a Captain."

Oliver looked taken aback. His smile was replaced by a look of shock and then embarrassment, but the change was most visible in his eyes. Were once they were eager and vulnerable, they were now replaced by an impenetrable, stony composure.

"I see," he said, and with a brief nod of his head, he turned and continued on to the locker rooms.

Katie waited for Angelina and Alicia, but would only provide vague, offhanded answers when asked what the two of them had discussed. When they finally arrived at their lockers, Oliver had already gone.

Try as they might, it took Angelina and Alicia an entire day to finally coax the truth out of Katie. When they did, they were shocked. More by her cool retort than by his apology, but Katie stuck by her words.

"You said yourself that he was being a prat about the whole thing," she said defensively the next evening as they sat in their favorite corner of the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect you to bite his head off about it!" Alicia responded

"I didn't!"

"Ladies!" Angelina interrupted. "I've been hearing this since dinner and it's giving me a headache. Can we please talk about something else?

"Like what?" Katie asked.

"Like Fred?" Alicia suggested.

"Ali…" Angelina hissed in a warning tone.

"About him missing practice?" Alicia prodded.

"Oh, yeah…"

"What about it?" Katie asked. "Because they made it horrible for all of us because Wood could hardly control a Bludger if his life depended on it?"

"It did make practice more horrid than usual," Angelina agreed

"That's not what I'm getting at," said Alicia.

"Then what are you on about?" Angelina wanted to know.

"This," Alicia responded, taking a piece of parchment out of her bag.

Some familiar lines were scribbled on the parchment:

We, Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fred and George Weasley and Katie Bell (with Lee Jordan as witness) solemnly swear

"The pact!" Katie breathed.

At the bottom, two names were alternating between their original black ink and a flaming red color.

"Cool!" Angelina said as she watched "Fred Weasley" and "George Weasley" turn a bright crimson.

"How'd you do that?" Katie asked.

"A small modification of the Flagrate charm," Alicia answered casually. "Anyway, as you can see, the pact stipulates that it's up to us to come up with a… where is it?... ah, yes… 'suitable punishment.'"

"Oh, those two!" said Angelina. "I'd like to stuff them! They knew they'd shirk off practice and that's why they wanted to leave the punishments up to the rest of us. Scheming little…"

"That's enough, Angie," Alicia gently interrupted.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Katie asked.

"We're going to get them, and get them good," Angelina said with a malicious glint in her eyes.

"But how?" Katie asked. "They can spot a prank a mile away, especially if we try to use their own tricks against them. They practically wrote the book!"

"They aren't they wizards who've enjoyed a good joke," Alicia answered, "I just happen to have come across a book in the library, a place I know they don't go…"

She pulled out a very ancient-looking book and placed it on the wooden table. Katie read the gold-stamped title: Charme Without Harme: A Guide to the Moste Popular Jests.

"Brilliant!" said Angelina.

"As you can see, it's quite old. Fred and George have done their research will have researched all the pranks from the last few generations, but nothing this far back."

"Have you found anything really good?" Katie asked.

"There's an ancient charm in here, called the Antler Charm. Supposedly, it'll create antlers that would make a moose jealous."

Katie laughed out loud and even Alicia couldn't help an impish grin spreading across her features.

"Knew I could always count on you, Ali," Angelina said as she slapped her on the back hard enough that Alicia coughed. "Oh, sorry."

"When are you going to do it?" Katie asked.

"Friday or Saturday," Alicia answered. "Wouldn't want to give them an excuse to miss school, now would I?"

Angelina shook her head in disbelief. "You've thought everything out, haven't you?"

"More or less."

While the three soon had to return to their studies, when one would start chuckling, the other two couldn't help but join in.

All of Monday, Katie had a new spring in her step. There was not a dull moment, even in History of Magic, for her brain kept running the same ridiculous images through her mind: Fred and George capped with huge antlers, getting stuck all throughout the castle, or capsizing with their weight. It was a very diverting pastime and Katie was sure any bogarts within a twenty foot radius would be instantly banished from the continuous smiles and spontaneous laughter that kept up throughout the day.

However, not everything was fun and games. Most unfortunately, Oliver managed to pass her as she walked back towards the castle from her final lesson in one of the greenhouses. Katie tried to loose herself in the crowd of fourth years, but in vain.

"Hey, Katie!" Oliver called.

Katie rolled her eyes so Leanne could see. Her friend gave her a sympathetic look, but nudged her towards Wood nonetheless.

"Just see what he wants," she said in a low voice.

"Yeah?" Katie asked as she approached Oliver.

"I, uh, just wanted to say that I've thought about what you said yesterday and that you're right," Oliver said. He paused, but when it was obvious he would not receive a reply, he continued on awkwardly, "And I'll try to do better."

"I'm glad," Katie replied, trying to hide most of the sarcasm in the statement. Surely he hadn't called her over for this?

"Good," Wood said, looking quite pleased.

"Okay," came her short response. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of her conversation.

There was an awkward pause as Katie eyed Oliver, daring for him to continue, as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Finally, he found another topic of conversation:

"So, coming from Herbology?" he asked pleasantly.

Katie nodded. "Yep."

"What are you working on?"

"Porcumoss," Katie replied.

"How's that going?"

She held up her hand, recently gashed by the long, spiny needles of the plant.

"I see," Oliver said, now looking guilty for having brought up the subject. "You know, some pickled murtlap might help clear that up."

"Thanks," Katie responded without being completely sincere. Where in the world was she supposed to stumble on murtlaps? She was pretty sure they didn't live around the lake, as they would probably be a favorite snack food of the giant squid. What was Oliver trying to do? Why was he talking to her anyway? All she knew was that she wanted the conversation to end, so she added, "I'd better get back to the castle."

"Right," Wood responded. "I was just… off to the pitch, you know."

"See you, then," she said dismissively and, without waiting for an answer, walked away.

"What did that mean?" Katie exclaimed that night after she'd finished relating the story to her friends.

"Sounds like he's really sorry," Angelina mused.

"Yeah," Alicia agreed. "I mean… offering you advice about Herbology and all…it's like he wants to make something up to you."

"He doesn't need to make anything up to me!" Katie protested. "He can't take back what he did. What's done is done and I just want to move on!"

But Katie, once again, could not have her way when it came to Oliver Wood. The very next day, the two of them met in the charms corridor, as Katie and Leanne were animatedly talking on their way to the day's final class. Leanne was about to walk away, but Katie surreptitiously locked onto her arm and prevented her from doing so. If things got awkward like they had the day before, she was determined to use her friend as an excuse to leave.

"Katie," he started, nervously looking over her friend.

"Yes, Oliver?" she asked politely.

With another hesitant glance at Leanne, Oliver finally blurted out: "Are you going to the match with anyone?"

"What?" Katie exclaimed, blown away by this turn in conversation.

"The quidditch match this Saturday. Ravenclaw versus Slytherin. I thought we might go together, you know, pick apart their tactics, see what needs doing. So, you want to go?" he asked

"Sure," Katie replied without thinking.

"Good. Well, I'll see you around, then," he finished and started to walk away, but turned before he got too far. "Almost forgot," he said with a smile, "not as good as pickled murtlap, but it'll do."

With that, he flipped a small, corked bottle at her, before continuing briskly down the corridor. Katie, grabbed the bottle in midair and looked at it. It contained a pale yellow, aromatic liquid and was labeled: "oregano oil – for minor cuts and burns." For a few moments, Katie could command her body to do nothing but stare after his receding figure in absolute astonishment.

"Katie, are you okay?" Leanne inquired after her friend hadn't moved for several moments.

"Yeah," Katie responded. "What just happened?"

"Well, he asked you to go to the match with him, then he tossed you that."

"Go to the match? Like a date?"

"I don't think so. He talked about some Quidditch strategy stuff I didn't quite catch."

"And did I say yes?" Katie asked worriedly, finally tearing her eyes away from Oliver's back to stare at her companion with frantic urgency.

"I think you did."

Katie cursed foully enough that Leanne stepped back.

"Is there something going on here that I should know about?" she asked, but Katie was already half-way down the hall.