The Difference One Choice Makes
12th February 1997
"My mum's got friends at Witch Weekly, after we finish school I would love to write for their gossip column" said Lavender Brown excitedly.
Sat with Ron in a booth in the Three Broomsticks enjoying some butterbeer, Lavender had spent the last five minutes talking excitedly about how she wanted to be a gossip columnist for Witch Weekly after she left school next year, seemingly not noticing that Ron was not paying the slightest bit of attention to her words.
Instead, her boyfriend was staring across the crowded pub at two people occupying one of the tables a short distance away from them.
Janet was sitting at that particular table, talking and laughing with Jimmy Peakes, which did not sit well with Ron for a reason he would not voice out loud as he completely ignored whatever Lavender was telling him.
Unable to tear his gaze away from Janet and Jimmy Peakes, Lavender finally took notice of this and took Ron's hand bringing his attention back to her.
"Are you even listening to me?" said Lavender heatedly.
Ron swallowed before nodding.
"Yeah" lied Ron, knowing that he had not listened to one word she said.
Lavender huffed and folded her arms.
"What did I just say then?" said Lavender icily.
Knowing he had been caught out, Ron just slumped his shoulders in defeat.
"I thought so" said Lavender icily.
"Sorry" mumbled Ron.
Lavender scowled.
"Stop looking at her then… you're here with me Ron, not her" said Lavender icily.
Again not paying one-hundred percent attention to his girlfriend, Ron was wondering exactly why he was even there with Lavender in the first place.
Of course, he had eagerly returned Lavender's advances towards him for two reasons, the first being to show Ginny that he was not a pathetic loser who could not get himself a girlfriend and the second reason being that he wanted to make Janet jealous and make her come running to him for a relationship.
Yes, he was angry that she had kissed the person who took her to the Yule Ball back in their fourth year but even now he did not understand why he allowed it to anger him so much.
Looking at Lavender, Ron started to consider that what he was doing with Lavender was unfair on the bubbly Gryffindor gossip queen, wondering if he should just end things with her before she ended up hurt.
Glancing over at Janet as she laughed at something Jimmy Peakes told her, Ron instantly regretted making the decision to return his gaze to Janet when he felt Lavender slap his hand hard.
Turning to face her again, he winced when he saw that she was extremely angry with him.
"If you want her so bad Ron, then grow a pair of balls and go over to her" said Lavender angrily, with the background noise in the pub being loud enough to ensure that no one else heard her.
"What are you talking about?" said Ron indignantly.
Lavender glared at him.
"You obviously want her instead of me… so go to her, cos we are finished Ron" snarled Lavender.
Not giving him a chance to respond or defend himself, Lavender got to her feet and stormed out of the pub.
Watching her leave, Ron was in two minds of what to do next.
Ever since they returned to Hogwarts at the end of the Christmas holidays, Ron had been looking for any possible reason or opportunity to end his relationship with Lavender, knowing that the relationship they had did not feel right.
Yet now, after Lavender had just dumped him leaving him free to pursue Janet like he had wanted to do since their fourth year, he could not help but blame her for Lavender breaking up with him, feeling like she had deliberately come to the Three Broomsticks in an attempt to make him jealous when he saw her with Jimmy Peakes.
Watching Lavender storm out of the Three Broomsticks, Janet felt bad that her careless attempt to make Ron jealous of her had inadvertently caused Lavender to break up with him.
Turning to Jimmy Peakes, who had only agreed to come and spend the day with her on the condition that she put in a good word for him with Demelza Robins, Janet sighed and said he could go and find his friends if he wanted.
Once Jimmy Peakes was gone from her table, Janet took a deep breath before standing up and making her way over to Ron's table where he was sat staring off into space with a flat look on his face.
"Ron?" said Janet testily as she came to a halt behind him.
Scowling, Ron turned to face her.
"Outside" said Ron bitterly.
Ten minutes later…
Finally coming to a halt in a deserted part of the village near the Hogs Head pub, Ron wheeled around to face Janet with an angry look on his face.
"Happy now, are you?" snarled Ron.
Janet reeled back in shock.
"Deliberately trying to make me jealous by flaunting yourself with Jimmy Peakes and causing Lavender to break up with me… I hope you're happy" snarled Ron.
Now feeling her own anger bubbling to the surface once again, Janet sent Ron a deadly glare.
"Flaunting myself with Jimmy Peakes… I wasn't aware that talking and laughing with someone was considered flaunting in your eyes Ronald Weasley" snarled Janet.
"It is if you're just using him to make me jealous… which it's obvious that you were" said Ron angrily.
"Don't blame me for your inability to focus on your girlfriend when I am sat four tables away" said Janet heatedly.
Stepping towards her towering over her slightly, Ron was not holding back with his angry words.
"You're bloody mental you… I can't believe I was even considering…" said Ron angrily.
"Considering what?" said Janet with equal anger.
Ron glared right at her.
"That I was considering asking you out… good thing I didn't" said Ron angrily.
Taken aback by his words for a few seconds, Janet thought back to how he had treated her for most of the school year for no apparent reason and she reacted accordingly.
"What… after you spent so much time treating me like I was invisible for no reason whatsoever" said Janet angrily.
Ron scowled.
"How could you even say that you were going to ask me out when you treated me like I didn't exist Ron… and do you want to know something?" said Janet angrily.
"What?" scowled Ron.
Janet pushed him with more force than he had expected from her.
"Before you started treating me like that… I would have said yes if you had asked me out" said Janet angrily.
As they carried on their argument, both of them felt thankful that no one was around to hear them.
"What the hell's stopping you then Janet?" said Ron with a mixture of anger and hope in his voice.
Janet snarled, unable to believe that he thought that she would agree to go out with him after the whole argument they had just had.
"Screw you Ron" snarled Janet before she slapped him hard and stormed away, unable to hold back the tears brimming in her eyes.
Tears that were the result of her anger that turned into sadness, thinking that their friendship might have been ruined for good now.
5th March 1997
Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry was growing increasingly frustrated with Janet and Ron, who were at each other's throats yet again during their last practice session before the match against Hufflepuff this coming Saturday.
While the practice sessions went well for the most part, with the team looking like they could win the Quidditch Cup if everything went smoothly, the arguments that would sometimes erupt between Ron, Janet and sometimes Ginny would often derail the sessions, resulting in Harry losing his temper with all three of them.
Today was no different as Harry was bringing an end to the practice session, Katie flew over to him with a concerned look written all over her face as Ron and Janet were in the middle of their latest heated argument.
"This is the worst one so far" said Katie sounding concerned.
Harry sighed and slumped his shoulders slightly.
"Perhaps I should take your advice and lock them in a broom cupboard until this gets resolved" said Harry in a slightly defeated voice.
"Somehow, I doubt that will do much good… they need to get past these petty arguments first" said Katie flatly.
Harry frowned and turned to Katie, deciding not to focus on the seemingly never-ending argument taking place several feet away from them.
"I doubt that will happen anytime soon" said Harry.
An angry shriek from Janet brought Harry and Katie's attention back to the arguing pair, just in time to see Janet lose it with Ron when she pelted one of the Bludgers at Ron with an incredible amount of force.
Unable to move away in time, Ron remained still as the Bludger slammed into the side of his head with a loud crack.
The force of the Bludger propelled Ron into the hoop with the other side of his head making impact with the hard metal frame, making him slump forwards on his broom with blood staining his hair and Quidditch robes.
Harry and Katie shot towards Ron who was hovering unconscious in mid-air while a shaky Janet turned white with shock and horror, bringing her free hand up to her trembling lips, feeling horrified at what she had just done.
"I didn't mean to" said the trembling Janet as Harry put one of Ron's arms around his shoulders and started flying him towards the castle followed by Jimmy Peakes who took Ron's other arm around his shoulders.
Janet took a deep breath to try and steady herself which failed miserably.
"I swear… I didn't mean to hurt him, I just lost it with him" said a panicking Janet.
Understanding that she needed support rather than anger in this situation, Katie just took her hand and started to guide her back down to the ground as Harry, Ron and Jimmy Peakes faded into the distance.
One hour later…
"He'll be back to normal in a few days… but he needs his rest so he will have to remain here until I deem him well enough to leave" said Madam Pomfrey as she moved away from the bed containing the unconscious Ron, who had bandages wrapped around the top of his head.
Harry, Katie and some of the others were standing around the bed, paying attention to Madam Pomfrey while Janet was sitting in complete silence at Ron's bedside, holding onto Ron's hand with both of her hands, still dressed in her Quidditch Uniform.
After hearing the mostly good news from Madam Pomfrey, Harry and the others waited for Ron to wake up.
After ten minutes, Ron slowly came around, complaining that his head hurt like hell. He ended up being even more disappointed when he found out that he would have to remain in the Hospital Wing for the next few days and would miss the match against Hufflepuff this Saturday as a result.
All of them, with the exception of Janet who did not want to move from his bedside, since she was feeling guilty that it was her fault that he was lying in this bed, gave Ron words of encouragement to get better before leaving Janet and Ron alone in the Hospital Wing.
Feeling her squeeze his hand, Ron slowly looked at her.
"You hit me with a Bludger?" groaned Ron, wincing from the pain in his head.
"I know… I'm really sorry Ron, I never meant to hurt you" said Janet regretfully.
Ron groaned.
"My head feels like it's ready to fucking explode" said Ron groggily.
He took a deep breath to deal with the amount of regret building up inside of him at the sight of his close friend and not-so-secret crush.
"I'm sorry… for behaving like a proper arsehole towards you" said Ron.
Janet smiled and squeezed his hand.
"I'm sorry too Ron… I said and did some things I shouldn't have done" said Janet softly.
"Not as bad as me though… I was unfair on you, especially that day in Hogsmeade" said Ron regretfully, squeezing her hand gently in return.
Janet frowned.
"I didn't mean for you and Lavender to break up because I tried to make you jealous Ron, I never meant for that to happen I swear… I just wanted you to feel exactly how I felt" said Janet sadly.
Ron sighed.
"Yeah well, I should have ended things with Lavender long before that… instead I ended up stringing her along and hurting her because I couldn't like her the way she liked me" said Ron with a guilty tone to his voice before he winced as the pain from his head spiked again.
"Shh… don't talk Ron, just rest and let it heal" said Janet softly.
Ron groaned and he felt like he wanted to sleep for several hours before he was surprised to feel Janet press her lips to his hand.
Pulling his hand away from hers, Ron turned to her with shock and confusion on his face.
"What did you do that for?" said Ron in shock.
Janet smiled and let go of his hand.
"Would you rather I did this instead?" said Janet softly.
Leaning across and pressing a soft kiss to his lips, Janet turned red when she comprehended exactly what she was doing.
She was kissing Ron.
Pulling away from him as she broke the kiss, Janet scooted her chair closer to his bed to get as close as she could to him.
Looking at her in shock with slightly red cheeks, Ron could not believe what had just happened.
"Why did you do that?" said Ron in shock.
Janet smiled.
"Because I wanted to, you silly fool… I told you that day in Hogsmeade, if you had asked me out before everything went wrong then I would have yes in a heartbeat" said Janet softly.
Ron sighed.
"Why did you never tell me you felt this way?" said Ron warily.
Janet sighed and took his hand.
"I thought if I gave you enough hints then you would finally take notice of me and get the message" said Janet sternly.
Ron tried to sit up in his bed before Janet placed her hand on his chest, making him stop his attempts to sit up.
"Don't sit up Ron… you need to rest and get your strength back" said Janet, sounding concerned.
Ron scowled.
"I'll be fine" said Ron in an annoyed tone of voice.
Janet leaned closer to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"You can act all strong and manly for me some other time Ronald Weasley… for now you need to rest and get better" said Janet in a soft but stern voice.
Ron voiced his disagreement with a groan but decided to listen to her advice and concentrate on resting to get his strength back.
As he laid back on his hospital bed, he glanced at her with a questioning look on his face.
"So… what happens now… between us I mean?" said Ron warily.
Janet smiled and squeezed his hand.
"Well we can either go back to being just friends… or you can ask me a question and see what happens" said Janet teasingly.
Ron gulped and pulled her hand closer to him.
"Will you be my girlfriend?" said Ron nervously.
Janet smirked and leaned towards his face.
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that?" said Janet softly, with their noses nearly touching and her blonde hair tickling his sensitive skin.
"A while" said Ron groggily.
Janet smirked and cupped his chin before giving him a full-blown snog, having wanted this for a long time.
Owing to the pain he was feeling, Ron could not do anything but try and return her kiss, showing her that he cared about her just as much as she cared about him, not having the strength to run his arms over her shoulders and arms as they made out.
After a while, the need for oxygen made them separate, leaving Janet to rest her head on his chest and arm.
"And yes Ron… I'll be your girlfriend" said Janet softly.
Feeling like she was lost to the world, Janet just laid there and enjoyed the comforting feeling of her boyfriend's chest and arm.
18th April 1997
Taking a deep breath as she looked around the empty tent, reserved for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team so they could discuss their game strategies and tactics in private, Katie, having already changed into her Quidditch uniform, was feeling the different emotions coursing through her veins for the upcoming match against Ravenclaw.
Nervousness, excitement and disappointment, all of which had her taking a few deep breaths to steady herself.
Being one win away from securing a second straight Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor, a feat not accomplished since James Potter captained the side in his seventh year, had her feeling extremely excited at the prospect of being a part of the first team to win back to back Quidditch Cups in twenty years.
Yet that excitement was accompanied by feelings of nervousness, knowing that she had to play to the very best of her ability to have any sort of chance of impressing the scouts who were going to be watching today's game for potential talent, while she was also feeling disappointed that this was going to be her last ever school Quidditch match.
Sat in solitude in one of the stadium towers after practice had ended last night, Katie spent what felt like hours thinking back on all of the friends she had made and the memories she had created through playing Quidditch for Gryffindor.
The lifelong friends she had made in Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson, both of whom had sent her long letters laced with words of support and encouragement as well as wishing her good luck when it came to impressing the scouts.
The famous Weasley Twins, whose pranks and jokes she enjoyed greatly, also being pleased to see that their joke shop was thriving even with the competition of Zonko's Joke Shop.
The first Captain she ever played for in Oliver Wood who had pushed her to be the best player she could possibly be, even if his rigorous training regimes were exhausting and slightly unnecessary at times.
Then there was Harrison Potter.
Her loving boyfriend, the young man who she had given her heart to.
The nervous young Seeker who she had initially been jealous and slightly resentful of when he was given a place on the team without a try-out in her second year.
Yet despite all of the jealousy and resentment she had shown him at the time, Harry never once had a bad word to say about her, nor would he ever treat her with the resentment and jealousy she regretfully subjected him to.
As the years went on, Katie allowed herself to form a bond with Harry, becoming good friends with him and occasionally subjecting him to teasing and mild flirtation which amused their older teammates greatly.
Then her fifth year arrived, bringing with it a date to the Yule Ball with a nervous Harry who did his best to make sure that she had a really good night with him. Though by his own admission, he had been trying to work up the courage to ask her out by the end of the night and had wanted to show her the best time possible owing to his rather obvious crush on her.
By the end of the school year, after they had exchanged addresses so they could write to each other over the course of that summer. Katie had started to realise that she liked Harry as more than a friend, with Angelina teasing her when the three Gryffindor Chasers were travelling in Switzerland by making a not so subtle comment that Katie should just pull Harry into the nearest broom cupboard and snog him senseless.
Thinking back to when he finally plucked up the courage and asked her out last year, Katie managed a small smile at how their relationship had evolved since then, transitioning from two good friends testing the waters with a romantic relationship to being completely and utterly in love with each other.
While she knew she would miss him greatly while they were apart come September, the fact that it would only be another year, bar the Christmas holidays until she got to spend some time with him, even if it was only for a few weeks.
Even now, sitting here in quiet contemplation as she waited for the rest of her teammates to arrive, Katie felt a little bit sad, knowing that she would miss Harry next year but also happy, knowing that their relationship would not be hindered by the time they would be spending apart.
As she mentally prepared herself for the match, the sounds of the approaching footsteps of her teammates pulled her from her thoughts, getting to her feet so she could greet all of them as they entered the tent.
One by one, each of her Quidditch uniform-clad teammates entered the tent, with Ginny and Demelza Robins giving her slightly sad hugs, thanking her for everything she had taught them and given to the team.
Letting Ron, Janet and Jimmy Peakes offer their own thankful and supportive words to Katie first, Harry smiled and walked towards her, placing his hands on her waist and locking eyes with her.
"This team will miss you so much… but you can bet your ass I'll be there to watch you play for whichever club is lucky to have you whenever I get the chance" said Harry softly before he gave her a kiss.
Applause broke out as Katie returned the kiss for a good few seconds before Harry let go of her and moved towards the blackboard, highlighting their tactics for this game.
"All right… now let's get down to business" said Harry, his voice a mixture of seriousness and softness.
He took a deep breath as each of his teammates took their seats looking up at him with focused looks on their faces.
"Given our narrow defeat against Hufflepuff last time out… this year's Quidditch Cup is shaping up to be a tight contest and we need to score at least ninety more points than Ravenclaw in this game" said Harry.
A narrow defeat at the hands of Hufflepuff which truthfully, the Gryffindor team were lucky to get away with, given that Harry spent so much time arguing with his Reserve Keeper Cormac Mclaggen, with the older boy spending so much time criticizing his teammates that he ended up letting seven goals fly past him without attempting to save any of them.
The adverse effect of Harry arguing with Mclaggen, meant that he did not even spot the Snitch until it was too late, giving the Hufflepuff Seeker Cameron Summerbee an easy catch which could have been prevented had Harry been able to focus on his job rather than argue with his Keeper.
Thankfully, the Gryffindor Chasers were able to score enough goals over the course of the half-hour long match to make the final score 220 to 180 in favour of Hufflepuff.
Safe to say, Cormac Mclaggen would probably never play for a Quidditch Team ever again after his disastrous performance which would no doubt go down in Hogwarts history as one of the worst ever individual Quidditch player performances of all time.
As Harry shook all thoughts relating to the disastrous Hufflepuff game out of his head, he took another deep breath before giving his teammates a quick summary of the tactics before they would have to fly out onto the pitch, ready to start the game.
Five minutes later…
As Katie moved to follow Ginny out of the tent, grasping her broom handle tightly, she felt Harry's hand on her shoulder from behind and turned to face him.
"Knock em dead" said Harry softly.
He suddenly leaned in and pressed a fierce but brief kiss to her lips.
"And that's for luck" said Harry softly.
Katie smirked and placed her free hand on the back of his neck and gave him an equally fierce kiss in return.
"Good luck" said Katie softly before the two left the tent together, ready for the match.
Forty minutes later…
With adrenaline coursing through her veins, Katie scored her fourth goal of the game bringing the score up to 60 to 100, with Ravenclaw still being in front of them no matter how many goals they scored.
Though the scoreline was fairly high, this game was proving to be a battle of the Keepers with Ron and the Ravenclaw Keeper Duncan Macdougal pulling off several fine saves each.
As she moved to retrieve the Quaffle and mount another attack, she was almost caught off guard as Harry and the Ravenclaw Captain Cho Chang soared past her as they chased the Snitch, determined to win the match and the Quidditch Cup for their team.
Not wanting to break her focus, Katie kept her concentration on retrieving the Quaffle, knowing that catching the Snitch was Harry's priority and not hers.
As she exchanged passes with Demelza Robins on their way towards the Ravenclaw hoops, she heard the crowd reacting excitedly to the sight of Harry and Cho chasing after the Snitch, demonstrating their exceptional flying abilities.
As she passed the Quaffle to Demelza who soared towards the hoops and had her subsequent shot saved by Macdougal, Katie felt her excitement increase as she heard the commentator Zacharias Smith call out what every single Gryffindor had wanted to hear ever since the day started.
"AND POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH TO WIN THE QUIDDITCH CUP FOR GRYFFINDOR WITH A FINAL SCORE OF TWO-HUNDRED AND TEN TO ONE-HUNDRED!"
After doing a celebratory cartwheel on her broomstick, Katie turned to see Harry soaring around the pitch with the Snitch held high in his hand as he soaked up the roaring cheers from his fellow Gryffindors.
As she watched Harry celebrate, Katie was caught off guard when Ginny, Demelza and Janet wrapped her in a mid-air hug offering her words of congratulations and luck for her future.