Katie stood by the front window, her face pressed close to the chilly glass, illuminated by the multi-colored lights flickering across the way. She sipped delicately on her eggnog inside of the Christmas themed mug she'd seen while browsing through a thrift shop, admiring the snow flakes as it floated down to the ground.

She was waiting for Percy to get home so they could begin to decorate their flat. They'd bought a tree two days ago and she was eager to put the ornaments and lights on, but not without Percy. This was their first Christmas together and she was adamant on them participating in the various activities together, even if that meant waiting until the end of the day when he was finished with work.

It turned out to be an ironic turn of events when she'd realized her unwavering attraction to Percy Weasley. During school, she never gave him much thought beyond that his Prefect and Head-Boy duties had clearly gone to his head. Her opinion of him was mostly influenced by Fred and George, listening to their tales from the Burrow growing up and how their older brother was a terrible stick in the mud.

He hadn't quite been able to prove otherwise, either, in the few interactions they'd had; he criticized how she'd lacked pride in her appearance for her tie being lopsided and deducted a handful of points. Another time, she'd raced down to professor McGonagall's classroom after she'd forgotten one of her books she needed for class and just as luck would have it, Percy had been patrolling the hallway. She still had five minutes before curfew, but that hadn't been the issue. Percy gave her an earful for running through the corridor, not paying attention as to where she'd sat down her belongings and that had been the year that the Heir of Slytherin was petrifying students so she'd apparently neglected to care about her own safety.

So, in Katie's opinion, Percy Weasley had been nothing but a major pest and killjoy.

It wasn't until after the war, when Katie needed to visit Diagon Alley for some new quills when she ran into Percy quite literally.

"Oof!" Katie staggered back, managing to keep her balance steady.

Whomever she ran into, the papers they were holding flew everywhere and a wave of guilt went through her. "Oh my gosh," she grimaced, "I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you." She bent down to start picking some of them up when he spoke to her.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I've got it." A flick from his wand and the papers went back into his hands neatly.

Katie stood, straightening herself, smoothing down her clothes. It was only when her eyes really looked to him, taking in those expressive blue eyes and wild looking curls, that recognition came to her. "Percy Weasley?" She said, dumbfounded.

Percy gazed at her quizzically. Apparently, he didn't remember her. Not that it was entirely shocking. As it happened, she'd been neither Penelope Clearwater or the rules that he so adamantly adhered to, so she imagined she had been nowhere on his radar. "Yes?" He said, eyebrows furrowing. "I'm sorry, Miss, I'm afraid I don't quite know who you are. You do look a bit familiar."

"Katie," she said. "Katie Bell. I played quidditch with Fred and George."

There was a sight of pain in his face at the mention of Fred. She didn't blame him. Even now, years later, it was difficult to move on. "Ah," he said and she assumed that he must have recalled her presence on the field. "Yes. I do remember Oliver talking about you. You're playing for the Arrows, aren't you?"

Katie was surprised. "Oh. Yeah. Er, I didn't know you knew Oliver."

"We shared a dorm at school. I must admit, I haven't always thought well of him. He was far too obsessive for my taste."

She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her. "That's an understatement, if I've ever heard one."

He laughed, too.

They went their separate ways after that but Katie couldn't get him out of her mind. He'd grown up from the pompous Prefect from school. She could just tell, in those couple minutes of talking; he was more relaxed, genuinely happy. She ended up asking George if he still worked at the Ministry, trying to ignore the kissy lips he was making.

She learned that he did, indeed. He was working for the Depeartment of Magical Transporation and had a lunch break at properly twelve, if the need to stop by at a convenient time was great. And that was exactly what she did; she surprised him when he was about to go on his break.

"Knock, knock," she said and his head snapped up. She twirled a piece of her-freezing momentarily how bloody girly that was. But she recovered quickly. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Better not to seem like a stalker by revealing she knew she wasn't.

"Oh," he stammered. "No, no. Not at all. What might I do for you, Miss Bell?"

She made a face at him. "Katie," she corrected him. "You sound like one of the professors when you call me 'Miss Bell'," she'd taken on lowering her pitch in an attempt to sound like him. He chuckled.

"My apologizes. But I must admit I am rather confused as to why you've come to see me."

A wave of shyness wahed over her, something she wasn't used to. "Oh, well," she stumbled over her words, "I was just wondering-you don't have to, of course-if you'd like to, erm, join me for lunch?"

He took a moment to gaze at her. "Join you for lunch?" he repeated.

Somehow that made her feel worse, as if rejection was coming very soon. "Yes," she swallowed back the nerves that were threatening to spew out from her stomach. "If you want to, anyway. Don't feel pressured on my account." She gave a nervous laugh.

He paused. "Can you give me a few minutes to clean up my desk? I simply hate to leave it like this."

Relief flooded through her-and excitement, too. "Sure," she said a little too enthusiastically.

They enjoyed their little outing, their non-date that George insisted was a date. Katie listened as he talked animatedly about his job and his adorable niece, Victore-that was nicknamed Vic. He was genuinely interested in getting to know her as well, asking her questions about her short lived professional quidditch career that was unfortunately ended early by not only the war, but one too many bludgers taken to the head. The healers at St. Mungos had advised her to quit and find another job, or else she risked irreparable brain damage. He asked her, jokingly, how Oliver had taken that. Apparently, he'd shared a dorm with him and knew all too well how much of a fanatic he could be.

She'd almost been unable to believe that he was the same bloke she'd went to school with, the very one that scolded her on her supposed lack of pride toward her appearance. It was a bit hard to believe. But, she'd heard from George that things had changed for Percy after the war. Work was still importent to him but his family was now his bigger priority, after actions from both sides-George had admitted such with shame crossing his face-nearly tore the family apart.

After that day, she and Percy often met for lunch and if not that, they found some way to be together. Those non-dates soon made way to be real dates, or, perhaps they'd been real dates all along and they just hadn't come out and say it.

The rest, as the muggles tended to say, was history.

The fireplace roared to life and out stepped Percy, looking exhausted, but his face lit up upon seeing her. Katie would never get tired that, the way he looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the entire world. She beamed, setting her cup down on the table-without the sacred coasters that he said she should use but she usually didn't-embracing him.

Katie stood on her tip-toes, hands coming up to cup his face, kissing him delicately. She felt him smile into the kiss and it grew quite difficult to not to give into those delightful sensations.

Godric, her stomach was fluttering with butterflies, just like how they'd done when they first kissed.

"I've missed you," she murmured.

"Mmmm, I've missed you as well," his hands went around her waist, pulling her body close to his own, thumbs rubbing into her back. "I thought about you most of the day, you know."

She adored hearing things like that, knowing that he wasn't merely telling her because he thought that was what she wanted to hear-he didn't do any of that to improve his own self. He told her that because it was true; he had been thinking of her and he wanted her to know it, wanted her to feel cherished and loved. During her brief relationship with Cormac McLaggen-of which she wholeheartedly regretted, wishing someone had knocked some sense into her sooner so she hadn't wasted half a year on that git-he hadn't done that. Well, he had but it wasn't genuine like Percy. Cormac lacked the same warmth, was almost a bit detached and it made Katie uncertain, again, as to why she'd stayed with him for so long.

"I was actually thinking about you, too," she admitted.

"Oh?" he was intrigued.

"Yeah," she said, almost bashful. "About how we met."

"Oh," and playfulness was dancing in his eyes, "you mean when you crashed into me."

"It wasn't just me," she protested, knowing he was only joking around, "you weren't paying attention either, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Which you aren't."

She ignored him. "You were looking at some papers. I mean, who does that when you're out in public?"

"A dedicated Ministry worker."

That was said at the same time that Katie coughed, "Suck up."

They'd let go of each other by now. She gazed up at him with an air of innocence, fluttering her eyes and smiling sweetly. He raised his eyebrows, clearly not buying the act one bit.

"I'm a dedicated suck up, thank you," he said, mildly. "I'll have you know, Kingsley promoted me that day, which was why I was so busy."

She knew that, of course.

"If anything, Miss Bell, it was you that wasn't paying attention, bumping right into me. Quite rude, I must say."

"Well, Mr. Weasley, I must say that as a Ministry worker, you should have paid more attention to your surroundings," she poked him in the chest. "What if you'd of run into a mother pushing her child? The poor thing could have been slingshot into some wall and could have died, then you would have faced Azkaban charges and Kingsley would have had to find a new person to fit your position. Of course, nowhere near your skill level, so the Ministry would be worse off and all because you couldn't be bothered to pay attention."

She shook her head solemnly.

"I feel like I should be disturbed about the bit about the child," he remarked, chuckling. He nudged her. "When we have a child, you will be forbidden from being left alone with it."

"Oh, sod off," she laughed, though her stomach did a flop flop when he said the word we.

"I'm serious! I'll come home one day and you'll have done something to it. Little menace," he flicked her nose.

"I'm not little," she mock scowled, swatting his hand away.

"Oh, that's simply not true."

"It is!"

"Face it, Katie, Dear," Percy grinned, having the audacity to pat her head and ruffle her hair, "you are fairly small."

She only came up to his chest, a smidgen more if she stood on her tip-toes. It didn't help her case at all. But she knew that he liked that, it made that feeling of wanting to protect her stronger, and well, how could she deny him of that?

"I am not," she said, primly. "I'm of average height for a girl my age. You're the one that's a freakish giant."

"A handsome freakish giant," he corrected her.

"Maybe."

"You don't seem to mind when you're stealing my jumpers."

"Of course not," she said, agreeing. "However, I must disagree with you on that last part. They're our jumpers, so that means I haven't stolen them."

He snorted.

"What about my blue one that you borrowed," he used air-quotes there, "on our first date? I've yet to receive it back."

"Oh, that," she nodded, "I'm afraid it's taken up permanent residence in my side of the closet."

"Case in point."

"I like your jumpers," there was something alluring about wearing his three sizes too big ones that faintly smelled of him and Katie was aware that Percy didn't really mind. He'd told her-an interesting mixture of lust and shyness in his eyes- that he rather liked seeing her in his clothes. "They're much better than mine."

He sighed dramatically. "Why don't you just take them all and be done with it, then?"

"I might just do that, thanks!" She said, brightly. Then, she giggled, reaching out to tug on his arm. "Come on, we've wasted enough time. I want to decorate!"

"And what if I want to sit down and relax?" he challenged her.

"Too bad," she shrugged. "I've waited all day for you."

"Oh, you poor thing," he said, his voice oversaturated with sympathy. "How did you ever survive?"

"It was hard," she said, grimly. "Didn't think I'd make it."

He shook his head at her, a smile on his face. She imagined that she wasn't what he had initially planned out as a girlfriend either, as they were opposite in many ways. It was probably a surprise to him as well, their undeniable attraction toward one another, but she was glad that their paths had crossed that day, otherwise she wouldn't have all this.

"Please, Percy?" For good measure, she stuck out her lower lip, fluttering her eyelashes. He was never able to resist that and she knew it. It was also certainly possible that she used it to her advantage, he probably knew that, too. But he never said anything. Probably because it would do no good.

That, she could agree on.

"Oh, alright," he groaned good-naturedly. She cheered at her victory. "If I must." He let himself be dragged over to where the tree was standing, a couple boxes of decorations laid there untouched, ready for them to get started.

Katie practically skipped along in her fuzzy holiday colored socks. She'd already placed an anti slick charm so she wouldn't fall, having learned her lesson from it already. Grasping his hands, she rubbed her thumbs along the top of them. It'd become a comforting gesture, one that she often did discreetly when she could decipher that he was getting overwhelmed.

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, giving her a kiss to her cheek. "What shall we do first, Love?"

"The lights," she said, immediately and let go, shoving a bundle of tangled up cords into his arms. He blinked.

"What on Merlin's green earth...where did you keep this?"

"In the box," she said, slowly as if she thought he was stupid for even asking. "Where else would I keep it?"

He attempted to pull at it, hoping some part of it would loosen up. It did not. "You could have at least put an anti tangle charm on it," he pointed out.

She simply smiled. "I could have," she agreed.

He shook his head. "You've clearly wanted to make more work for me."

She didn't deny or affirm it.

The two of them tried to tackle it the muggle way; much as she used her magic, Katie also did her fair share of work without it as she felt that it was taking the easy way out. It proved to be plenty difficult, the knots just wouldn't come undone. Worse, it seemed that every time they were just about to be successful, a new knot appeared, tighter and smaller than the last.

Katie deliberately ignored Percy's pointed look throughout their struggle, determined not to let him get to say that dreaded I told you so he was so fond of doing-jokingly, for the most part. Besides, they just needed a little patience-admittedly, not a strong point for her. They'd be alright so long as they stopped trying to tug on it.

"Give up yet?" Percy asked after a few minutes. "I can have this done in a moment if you'll just let me."

"No," she said, stubbornly. "We can do it. Just...here, you pull it that way."

Percy pulled at it from the right. It took nearly half an hour more, with much groaning from Katie and him eventually taking it away from her, getting it apart- miraculously- himself. Katie clasped her hands together happily and not for the first time, Percy smothered a laugh at how rapid her mood had changed.

"Now we need the ornaments!" She bent down to pick one up, sharing a smile with him. It was a green, sparkly one with their names engraved on it. Katie's parents had given it to them as a housewarming gift. "This one is my favorite."

"Mine too," Percy admired how it twinkled. Simple, yet elegant.

They hung each one all along the branches. Whereas Katie would simply put them wherever, Percy had some careful deliberation as to where he placed the ornaments. She thought it was funny, but she never made fun of him for it.

Halfway through, she glanced sideways at him, impulsively reaching over to nudge him. He looked over at her, eyebrows raised when he found her looking ahead at the tree, attempting to stifle her grin.

He nudged her back, doing the same thing when she looked at him. Only, he didn't hide his grin. The tosser looked like he was on the verge of chuckling.

When it came time to put the star on the top, Percy hoisted Katie up onto his shoulders so she could do it. It took a couple times of adjusting it so it wouldn't be crooked, a few times of Katie trying to direct Percy to go a little forward-no, now a little back and a split second where she nearly fell off when she leaned too far back, but when they were both satisfied, he took a step back, with her resting her chin on the top of his head, her arms going around his neck, gazing.

"Want to turn it on?" Katie murmured into his ear. She felt a glimmer of momentary mischievousness when he shivered.

"Alright," he managed to say and, still keeping a hold on her, he went forward, bending down-as she tightened her grip, warning that he better not drop her-to plug it in. The multi-colored bulbs lit right up, illuminating the room and sending off colorful shadows on their faces.

Katie nuzzled his temple. "I love you."

"I love you as well," he leaned his head upward and they shared a kiss in the middle of their slightly unkept, yet-to-be-fully-decorated living room and she really didn't think life could get any better.

Then, the lights began to flicker.

It got more rapid as the seconds passed until it completely went out, as did the rest of the lights and the two of them were standing in the dark, with the only light coming in from outside at the house that Katie had been gazing at earlier.

Neither of them said a word at first.

"So, now can we use magic?"

"Oh, shut up."