Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling…I only own the plot…

A/N: Hey Everyone, I'm glad the majorityof you like it so far J Once again, I apologize for the delay, I'm a busy senior girl. Haha. I hope you like this next chapter, because it's EXCITING! And I'm glad everyone liked the house-elf ballet scene…lol…based on an experience I had on a date not too long ago…hehe.

/And I'll show you love

'cause we're all alone,

Put business aside,

'cause life passes by,

And I'll part your hair,

when it's in your eyes,

Love,

dirty stained jeans with the patches on the side/

--Fefe Dobson; "8x10"

The curtains closed over a house elf lamenting over a broken mop, and my pathetic date was on his feet giving a standing ovation as myself and half of the audience woke up.

Cedric wiped the tears from his eyes as we walked out of the theater together. "That was beautiful," he muttered. "Utterly life changing."

I felt obliged to say something here. "Er--yeah--" I agreed feebly. "Very…long." I winced inwardly, but if Cedric noticed my lame comment, he didn't seem to care.

"And the most important thing, Katie," he said, suddenly stopping in front of me and taking my hands, "is that you were there to share it with me."

I could have laughed, but it was really too pathetic. And the situation, I figured as he leaned in to kiss me, wasn't one that merited laughter. As gorgeous as Cedric was, I couldn't do this to myself. I almost stopped him when I suddenly thought of the other Hogwarts girls faces when they heard that Cedric Diggory had kissed Katie Bell. Torn, I compensated. I let him kiss me on the cheek. Who knows, I could still save him.

"So," I said, carefully avoiding the handholding that he was trying to start, "How do you feel about defacing public property now? Everyone would think we were the coolest ever if we carved our names on the side of the Shrieking Shack! Or, even better, we could go inside and explore, psych ourselves out, and maybe even do a little 'redecorating'. I was thinking the shack might actually look better in florescent pink, what about you?"

To my annoyance, he shook his head and said in a tone of disgust, "Katie, Katie, Katie…I never thought you were that kind of person."

"What kind of person?" I demanded, annoyed.

"Breaking into the Shrieking Shack? Painting it pink? Katie, don't you realize how immature you're being? I don't think the ghosts would like pink much. Don't you think that's a little bit degrading to their masculinity? Since when do you ignore other people's feelings?"

I stared. "They're ghosts, Cedric. They're dead. I don't think they're trying to impress anyone, and I don't think they care what color their house is."

"Why are you being so difficult? You don't even care about ghosts! You're just like those idiotic Weasley twins. Why do you hang out with them so much, anyway? They're having a bad affect on you, you know. They don't care about other people's feelings either. Do you know they actually sent Harry Potter a toilet seat in his first year! How degrading! Not to mention completely immature."

"I thought it was hilarious," I said fiercely. "And what do you mean by 'those idiotic Weasley twins'? Those idiotic Weasley twins are my best friends!"

"Well, you sure have an awful choice in best friends, Katie. They're fools! They live to try and make people laugh, and it's always at the expense of someone else. And the one you hang out with the most, that Fred, he's the worst of the two! He's the loudest, most immature, vulgar person I've ever met!"

"I don't have to take this!" I said, angrily, twirled around, and stalked off. A few seconds later, Cedric seemed to realize what he'd done.

"Katie, wait!" he cried, running behind me.

"Why?" I asked, coldly. "If my friends aren't good enough for you, obviously I'm not either."

"Well…I just thought maybe I don't know them that well. You know, I shouldn't judge people without really taking the time to get to know them."

"What are you saying?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, maybe we could go meet up with them right now. Hang out. You know."

I raised my eyebrows. "Seriously?" I asked.

"Seriously."

I looked at him curiously. He did seem to be honestly sorry. How he came to be in less than five seconds, I wasn't sure, but what the heck. It was worth a try.

"Alright," I said. "They'll probably all be in the Three Broomsticks by now."

"Then it's off to the Three Broomsticks!" Cedric said, cheerily, and to the Three Broomsticks we went.

It had started snowing again, and the flakes swirled around the little building, framing the window where I could see Fred, George, Angelina, Oliver, Alicia, and Lee sitting at a table and laughing at some joke Fred had just told. I smiled to myself. I only hoped Cedric wouldn't say anything to embarrass us both.

We walked inside, and my friends' surprise and gladness at seeing us there was just as I'd figured it would be. Angelina and Alicia waved happily, and Oliver acknowledged us politely, but George and Lee made a point of only yelling out greetings to me, completely ignoring Cedric. Fred alone simply sat there and made his best effort at smiling. When Cedric turned around to talk to Alicia, he made a gagging noise and shoved his finger up his throat. I grinned, and he winked.

"So what have you two been up to?" Angelina asked as I sat down next to Fred, and Cedric did so on the other side of me.

"Oh, not much," I said quickly, hoping to simply gloss over the house elf ballet episode. Cedric, however, did not let me have my wish.

"We went to go see The House Cleaner!" he said, excitedly, looking around for approval. I buried my face in my hands.

"That's the--uh--ballet with the house elves, isn't it, Cedric?" George snickered.

"Heard that was a real winner, I did," Fred joined in. "Didn't we hear that, George?"

George nodded fervently, and Fred continued, "What did you think of it, Ceddy boy?"

"Oh, it was wonderful!" Cedric continued, completely unaware of the ridicule he was receiving at the hands of my two friends. "A real tear-jerker, wasn't it, Kat?"

"Yes, Katie, what did you think?" Fred asked, slapping me on the back. I took my face out of my hands, looking at the two clearly amused faces of the twins. I grinned a little at the obvious entertainment the boys were getting out of this.

"Simply fabulous," I said, smiling.

Fred and George cracked up. Lee and Oliver looked amused, but checked themselves, unsure of whether or not I would be offended if they laughed at my date. Cedric looked around, a little confused, doing his best to remain composed. He smiled goofily and Angelina and Alicia.

"I was getting real scared there for a moment when Susie and Bobby were lost in the rain storm," he said, glancing around.

I nodded solemnly, and patted his hand. "But they found their way, didn't they Cedric?" I asked, sweetly.

"Must have been quite the experience," Oliver said, joining in now that he knew I wouldn't be angry.

"Dynamic, I'm sure," put in Lee.

Cedric hadn't the slightest clue what was going on around him. "Utterly life changing," he repeated fervently.

We all cracked up, Fred and I being the loudest. "Oh, I'm sure it was!" he crowed, unable to restrain himself, and I buried my face in his shoulder with laughter.

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "What's with you two?" he asked, slightly annoyed. That jealous look was back on his face again, but I didn't care. I'd had enough of him romantically. He'd actually turned out to be more useful for entertainment.

"Oh, just remembering the play," I said, wiping a tear from my eye.

"Yeah," Cedric said, seeming to take this as encouragement. "We all got a bit of a chuckle out of it."

Fred and I were both overcome with laughter again. This time, however, the rest of the table looked at us with curiosity.

"What's so funny?" Lee asked.

"He said--chuckle!" I exclaimed.

"So?" Cedric asked, defensively.

"I'm sorry, mate," Fred said, laughing, "but that has got to be the dumbest word I've ever heard in my life!"

"Hear, hear!" I cried, and we both cracked up again. I was laughing even harder because yet another item from my list was checked off, again by Fred. And while normally this event had been a little disconcerting, here, after all that had gone on that day, it was just funny.

Cedric then echoed my sentiments from earlier that evening. "I don't need to take this!" he said, and stood up and stalked out of the Three Broomsticks. "If you two want to be together so bad, I'm not going to stand in your way!"

And everyone laughed.

"Katie," George said seriously, "You have the worst taste in guys of anyone I have ever met!"

I laughed. "I just have to say to you and Fred, and Lee, and Oliver…you were right about Cedric. And I'm sorry I didn't listen the first time. He's an idiot."

"Yeah," Angelina agreed, "He's hott, Katie, but we were wrong. That guy is a loser with a capital L."

"I'll go buy us some drinks to celebrate the riddance of the idiot," Lee said cheerily, and got up from the table. Everything seemed to calm down now, and George (who had apparently ditched his girlfriend earlier on in the day) was now talking softly to Alicia, and Angelina had her head on Oliver's shoulder, discussing Gryffindor's chances for the cup that year. I sighed happily to myself. This was where I belonged.

"I'm glad you're back, Kat," Fred said happily. "You see what I've had to put up with all day?" He gestured to the group. "All this ridiculous love stuff. Not for me."

I smiled, but in an instant I was shocked when, underneath the table, Fred took my hand in his, lacing our fingers and placing our joined hands on his knee.

"At least not without you," he whispered into my ear, and then continued livening up the group as though nothing on earth was any different than it had been earlier, and when Lee got back, everything went on as it had been. Fred and George told jokes, and the others laughed. I did my best to join in with the group, but my mind was somewhere very different: on the pair of hands underneath the table. Anywhere else, I would have objected, but there, hidden from view, everything was alright.