"Am I crazy?" I asked Angelina and Alicia at lunch together when I was home from Ireland.

"No, people who are crazy don't think they are crazy" Alicia said, like it was this simple while she was reading a copy of Witch Weekly.

"Well was I crazy, and then I'm cured of it now so I know that I was crazy?" I played with my fork on my napkin.

"You can't be cured of craziness" Angelina said while drawing something for work on a piece of parchment.

"Oh…" I said.

"Why?" Alicia asked, closing her magazine and looking up at me.

"No reason…" I said, putting my fork down and looking out the window.

"Katie what's wrong with you…you haven't really spoken since you came back from Ireland. I know we are both a little preoccupied ourselves but we all have tight schedules right now, we have to make the most of them." Angelina said, putting down her quill.

"Sorry! Andrews said that I was boring at practice this morning too, but I don't see what you guys mean. Maybe it's because I was fun while I was crazy and now that I'm cured of it I'm boring" I shrugged going back to shredding the napkin with my fork.

"Kates you were never crazy!" Alicia said, taking the fork out of my hand.

"Am I addicted to Drama? Is that why I'm bad at meaningful relationships?" I said still looking at the hand where my fork had once been.

"Well yes naturally, you're female." Angelina said laughing at everything happening before her.

"Why do you ask….what's wrong!" Alicia was starting to get really frustrated.

"Nothing…I was just wondering…" I was really starting to channel my inner Luna Lovegood.

"Katie, something's wrong, why don't you just tell us?" Angelina said.

"Because if something is wrong I don't know what it is. So I wouldn't very well be able to tell you, so if you find out, do share" I said looking back down at my napkin when suddenly a waitress put a drink on it and I looked at her in shock.

"Well what have you been thinking about that leads you to think that you're crazy?" Angelina like she was starting a therapy session.

"I don't know…just a lot of people brought up mine and Oliver's relationship at that party I went to the other night and it's strange because until they asked me about it I had almost forgot about it, but then when it was happening I couldn't think of anything else, and how do you even forgive people that quickly….and why did I break up with him… I'm eating fine now…and I don't even really like spiders….and I worked so hard to beat him at that one quidditch game to show him that I was fine without him and like not even a month later we are best friends again…that can't be normal or logical." I unloaded.

"Well you are weird undoubtedly and we've always wondered why you and Oliver broke up but figured it just wasn't meant to be…and for forgiving him so quickly it's because he will always be your best friend from Hogwarts. Hell you two were inseparable back then. We always found it so strange because it seemed like you two either hated each other or loved each other, and you're still like that. And about hating him, he traded you and that made you mad but mainly you just missed being his friend. I know that I would act exactly the same if George came back and wanted forgiveness because he was one of my best friends." Alicia said…it makes since I guess…how come she's so smart….OH George; in my thinking I was daft I had completely forgot to tell them about seeing Fred and George.

"Oh yeah. That reminds me, he and Fred are coming here this Christmas. They told Oliver and I when we saw them at the party." I said and began to eat the salad in front of me.

"WHAT!" Angelina and Alicia said spitting out their water they both were sipping.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you we saw them? Could have sworn I sent you an owl" I said pointing to Angelina.

"You sent me a news clipping, nothing about actually talking to them!" She answered and Alicia was now looking at her clearly pissed about not even getting this bit of news.

"Oh well yeah we did…they kept saying how much they missed us but that was about it." I said and continued to pick at my salad.

"You are the worst story teller ever" Alicia said.

"Yeah well it's not much of a story" I said and then my cell phone rang and I answered it.

"That was the coach, I'm late to practice. But do you lot want to go out tonight?" I asked.

"Not tonight and we still need more information about the twins" Alicia yelled.

"Okay see ya then" I said and grabbed my bag and headed towards the pitch.

It was pouring outside and I decided to still walk. Sometimes I swear that I forget that I can do magic.

By the time I got to the pitch I was soaked and so was it. It was like perfect mud, the kind of mud a little kid would dream of…or me because I am a child. I saw the mud everywhere and wanted so badly to just run around in it. I walked into the locker room and everyone was getting changed. It's strange, I think that I am way too comfortable around half naked men being the only girl on the team and just using their locker room.

I walked over to my locker next to Oliver and Jake and started to get changed.

"A muddy pitch like this is wasted on Quidditch players" I said, taking off my shirt.

"What do you mean?" Oliver said, pulling on his practice robes.

"It's like perfect mud and we just fly above it. It's a waste of good mud" I pouted.

"What do you propose we do to not waste such good mud?" Jake said tying his boots.

I turned and smiled very deviously "Football" I said simply.

"Ha that would be fantastic" Jake said.

"I would say let's do it but somehow I have a feeling that the manager wouldn't be happy with me if we played football instead of quidditch" Oliver chuckled.

I turned back towards him with the best doe-eyes I could manage pouting and batting my eyelashes. I wanted so badly just to spend the whole day playing football in the mud.

"Maybe after practice we can propose to some people on the team to stay after and have a game" Oliver said.

"Deal" I said and finished changing.

We got out onto the pitch and Oliver told everyone that after practice if they wanted to stay we were going to have a football match because I was complaining that we wasted perfect mud and all of the guys on the team laughed.

Practice was uneventful as I kept just looking longingly at the ground as the other complained about the rain.

"Bell, you are the only player I know that longs for the ground while on a broom" Andrews called to me when he caught the snitch.

We all went into the locker rooms and got changed into shorts and a t-shirt that we all kept in our lockers for physical training days. Then about 21 people stayed to play football, so we decided to have a team of 11 and one of 10 and that Oliver, Jake, and I were on the team with only 10 players, to make it fair of course.

It was such perfect weather out. I have always loved running and sliding around in mud and being raised a muggle, I started playing football at like age 6. And it's always been somewhat of a comforting time for me to play a harsh game of it in like seven inches of mud.

It was the most fun I've ever had at practice. Oliver, naturally, played keeper and Jake and I were up front. Andrews was on our team too and he played in midfield. It was definitely not a fair match for the teams but it was mainly just for fun, right? As I was thinking this I saw one of the subs on the team by the name of Frank had the ball and I ran full speed for the ball sliding and taking him out….so yeah…just for fun.

I knocked the ball to another sub named Dylan and he passed it to a guy named Sean who passed it back to Frank who I once again tackled but missed and Frank shot on the goal. Oliver caught it easily. He dove to catch it getting a face full of mud. Jake and I burst out into laughter at his facial expression.

It's strange how mud can make someone look more attractive. While laughing at Oliver I looked over at Jake who was covered in mud and his hair was hanging in front of his face all clumped together with drying mud. To normal people this may have made him look gross but I thought he was looking extremely sexy. I was so busy gawking at him that I didn't realize that he had gotten the ball from Oliver and was passing it to me. I came out of my day dream to shouts and the ball at my shins, my feet were completely under the mud. So much so that when I went to run to kick the ball again my left foot got stuck and I fell straight on my face.

I came back up from the mud to hear Jake cracking up.

"Kates what's wrong with you, I never thought you could think about anything else while playing footy." Jake said, lending me a hang to help me up. Instead I decided to let him join me in the mud, he ended up just falling right on top of me. Then I threw him off and into the mud and well it started into a big wrestling match between the two of us.

"Guys it's not normal for two people on the same team to get in a fight!" Oliver said half jokingly while pulling me up from the mud.

I looked at everyone watching us and then noticed that the ball was right next to me. I got it and ran towards the goal. Everyone was taking a while to realize what had happened so it was easy for me to get right through the defense and to the goal. Our back up keeper for the team was in the goal and I gave it all of my might and kicked the ball into the upper left corner. The keeper jumped up to get it but missed and it went right into the goal. I ran away doing that little arms out like a bird thing that you see people do all the time when they score a goal in football.

Jake and Oliver were still standing where I left them laughing and shaking their heads and laughing at me.

"I guess that's good enough for now boys" Oliver said, still laughing at me and everyone agreed and headed towards the showers.

I leapt onto Jake's back forcing him to carry me to the locker rooms.

"You're crazy, Kates" Jake said and I just smiled. I looked over and it looked like Oliver was suddenly really uncomfortable about something. We all went into the locker rooms and there was still one shower stall that had no one in it. So I went in still in my bra and knickers and Oliver and Jake came in wearing their boxers. I couldn't blink anymore because the mud on my eyelids had dried and it hurt when I moved them. We figured that on the way home we would get soaked anyways and this way we at least wouldn't have to go home completely covered in mud.

After we had gotten every bit of mud off of our bodies we went into the locker rooms to put our muggle clothes on. I grabbed my bag with all of my stuff in it and jumped on Jake after he had gotten all of his clothes on.

"Hey, want to carry me home?" I said with a smile and he just sighed and laughed.

"Do I have any choice?" he said, picking up his bag.

"Of course not" I said, making my smile bigger.

And so he did…well he apparated to an alley near the building that we were all now living in while training for the national team.

"Which room are you in?" Jake said carrying me up the stairs bridal style because he hurt his back playing football and having me on his back while going up the stairs wasn't helping.

"237" I said as I was about to fall asleep.

We got to my room and he dropped me then caught me so that I was standing up and awake.

I unlocked the door and turned my light on.

"Hey Kates" Jake said as I was about to turn around to say goodbye.

"Hmm" I said.

"You want to go out later, maybe?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Not tonight…I'm beat…tomorrow night I was going to go anyway with Alicia and Angelina. You're welcome to come along if you want." I said and he nodded and left for his room.

I barely made it to my bed before falling asleep I was so exhausted.

Walking into the club with Alicia and Angelina I saw Jake and ran over to get him. He was really happy to see me but it was hard to hear him over the music blasting. Alicia and Angelina went off and started the competition right away. I hadn't started yet because I was dancing with Jake. Before I knew it hours had passed and I was still dancing with Jake, Alicia was on her 40th man already so I didn't even bother to try to catch up. A slow song started and Jake got really close to me. We were dancing and I was looking gazing into his dark green eyes. I don't think I had ever looked this deeply into his eyes, they were beautiful. The song began to end and he pulled me in close for a kiss.

I shot up in my bed.

"It was a dream?!" I said out loud to the Hello Kitty alarm cat clock Alicia had given me. It was 5:30 in the morning. I need to be up in an hour for morning practice. I laid back down and stared at my ceiling. What did that mean….did I like Jake? This keeps coming up. I wonder if he liked me…

I laid there thinking about it for ten minutes before giving up and taking a shower. Then I walked into my kitchen and made an easy over egg for breakfast. I was sitting at my bar counter just eating and staring off past my food to the wall. Suddenly at around 6:20 my front door burst open.

"Okay so who doesn't lock their door?" Jake said as he walked through my door.

"Jake…oh hi" I said startled.

"Yeah so I came in here to…..are you eating breakfast?" Jake asked in the middle of his sentence, looking at me strangely.

"Um….yeah" I said looking down at my plate on my counter.

"Are you okay?" He said, still looking at me like I had two heads, I almost never ate breakfast, unless plain toast counts.

"I don't know," I said laughing.

"You're up an hour before you need to be, you're dressed in normal clothes, and you're eating breakfast…something has to be wrong" He said checking my forehead with the back of his hand for a fever.

"No…it's nothing….I just had a strange dream last night." I said playing with what was left of my egg with my fork.

"Want to talk to me about it?" He said sitting down next to me.

"No it's okay" I said looking up and into his eyes and smiling half heartedly.

"Okay…." Jake said, not convinced.

"Anyway… I came in here to tell you that practice has been canceled." He said.

"Really?" I said in a happier tone.

"Yeah the old man is sick or something and has to go to the doctor and the coaches told Oliver that they would just give us the day off. We don't have another game for weeks anyway." Jake said as he walked over and turned my TV on sitting down on my couch. I picked up my plate and washed it in the sink. Then I walked over and sat down on the couch next to him.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Jake said looking over at me.

"Yeah…it wasn't that weird. I just couldn't get back to sleep so I'm just really tired." I claimed.

"Alright, oh look Liverpool is playing Chelsea today at 11! Want to go to it?" Jake said watching the sports news.

"Yeah sure that would be fun." I said and smiled.

"We should get Oliver to come," I continued yawning.

"That's a good idea! I'll go now and see if he wants to go!" Jake said leaping up off the couch.

"Jake you are way too hyper for this hour of the day." I said leaning onto the back of my couch because I was too tired to hold my head up.

"I'm only this hyper because we don't have practice." He said and walked out the door.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember was Jake shaking me.

"Come on Kates, it's nine. We better leave now if we want to get good seats." He said while shaking me…so I fell asleep at like 6:30 and slept for 3 hours. Score! I opened my eyes and it was only Jake standing there.

"Isn't Oliver coming?" I said stretching.

"No…he has to go to this meeting thing with the coaches or something." He said. I stood up and put my shoes on.

"I got us tickets in the 3rd row!" Jake shouted proudly as he met back up with me at the gates after I just stood there while he went to get tickets.

"Blimey, how did you afford those?" I asked.

"I still have a load of muggle money from when I was a teenager working in the summers. I never had anything to spend it on because everything I wanted was in sickles not pounds." He shrugged and we went in to get our seats. They really were amazing seats.

It was an amazing game. It ended up being 1-2 Chelsea at Half time and then Liverpool came back after half time and scored three goals and Chelsea only got one more. It was pretty amazing. And I have to say that the whole game even though it was just Jake and I, I never once thought about my dream…during the game at least. Then after the game when we went out to eat, I made the mistake of looking into his eyes. They were just as beautiful as they were in my dream. I honestly hadn't ever looked that closely at them so I have no idea how my subconscious was so aware of it. What else aren't you telling me stupid subconcious?! Oh right...clearly that I like Jake. Crap. They were perfect eyes though…unlike any eyes I had ever seen before. They were forest green almost black on the edges and got more green towards his pupils…from far away they could probably almost look black.

After we ate we went back to my place and watched TV for a bit. We were watching some made for TV movie that was on. I ended up falling asleep on Jake's shoulder. I woke up maybe two hours later in my bed with a big piece of paper taped to my forehead. Nice Jake….you be all cute and put me in my bed and then you have to go and be Jake like by taping a piece of paper to my forehead.

See ya at the club tonight. –Love Jake said the paper that was on my forehead.

Oh crap! I wonder if the girls are even coming tonight…. I rolled over and grabbed my mobile and called Angelina.

"Hey, what's going on?" Angelina answered.

"Hey are you and Alicia coming tonight to go out?" I asked.

"Yeah we were going to leave in a bit," she said.

"Okay…do you mind if my friend Jake comes?" I asked.

"No, Jake's a cool kid. Are you and him getting closer?" she said in her little gossipy voice.

"I don't know. I had this weird dream last night where he kissed me…but I don't think it's anything" I said clearly lying.

"Alright….well I have to go get ready so I'll talk to you later." She said.

"Yeah see ya" I said and then hung up the phone. Then I just sat there and repeated the words I had said to her over and over in my head staring at my door.

Then I got up and got ready. I kind of just picked my best night clothes and put them on. Then I did my hair up and curled the hair in my ponytail and put a little bit of makeup on. I went out the door and met Angelina and Alicia at the Leaky Cauldron. We went into Diagon Alley through there and went to the one and only wizard clubs in London.

Then I had the worst deja vu ever. I was walking to the club and saw Jake standing waiting for us and I ran over to meet up with him. I grabbed his arm and brought him over to Angelina and Alicia.

"You guys remember my friend Jake right?" I said once Jake and I got back to them.

"Yeah" They said in unison

"Evening ladies" Jake said.

"So, you still going to be in the competition Kates?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah…but I'm going to give you lot a head start so I can get a good dance in with Jake." I said and Alicia and Angelina took off on the dance floor

"They get a head start? That's a bold move" Jake laughed.

"I always win, might as well give them a shot." I explained.

"And you think you can still win wasting precious time on little ol' me?" He asked.

"Probably not, but I wouldn't want to just ditch you" I said.

"I see, well that's very nice of you" he smirked as he brought me onto the dance floor and we started dancing.

"42" Angelina said a while later as she passed by me and Jake dancing.

"Are you serious? She has danced with 42 people?" Jake asked in shock.

"It's not as many as you think." I shrugged.

"Wow" he said laughing and looked me in the eyes. I flinched and then looked away.

"What's wrong?" He obviously noticed my flinch.

"Nothing, just a cold chill" I shrugged.

"I see" he said and smiled. It was an amazing smile. Like it sent cold chills down my spine just looking at it. It was like one of those cocky smiles that guys do that somehow doesn't come off as cocky. I don't know how they do it. I just want to poke it.

"Another cold chill… there must be a ghost behind you or something." He laughed.

"Yeah…" I said and the smile was back. I just tried not to look at it.

Then before I had come up with a game plan for it this slow song came on and Jake started dancing closer to me. I thought about thinking of an excuse and leaving. I was fighting with it in my mind. Then I thought why am I running away from it. I clearly wanted it to happen. I did….so I stayed and got closer to him.

I looked up and it was instant eye contact. Have I mentioned he has the prettiest eyes I have ever seen. I was just so absorbed in them. Like I was no longer standing on the dance floor and was being sucked into his eyes.

"Hey Kates" He said, disconnecting me from his eyes.

"Yeah?" I said in a voice that didn't sound like it came from me.

"Do you think…." He started to say but trailed off.

"Well not all the time but I find it to come in handy sometimes" I said laughing at the fact that he never completed his sentence still staring into the void of his eyes. I might start drooling soon.

"No…do you think…that…you and I could...ever…be…like…more than just friends…." He said looking down at the floor.

"There are always chances," I said with a smile wiggling in a way that wasn't a dance.

"Really?!" He said looking back up at me.

"Given my track record it might not be the best idea, but whoever said we should listen to the good ideas? I like the bad ones. We should listen to more bad ideas if they lead to more times like these." I said reconnecting our gaze and he laughed.

He looked up at me and just stared into my eyes with this strange confidence. Then he put his hand on my neck and leaned in to kiss me. It was amazing, more amazing then it was in my dream. Though I have to admit the entire time I was waiting to wake up and be back in my bed.

"To bad ideas and quidditch records over track records" he whispered when we pulled apart and I nearly melted.

"So much for it not being anything" I heard Angelina chuckle behind me while I was now in a full snogging session with Jake.

Then after a while we broke apart and Jake had this huge smile on his face.

"You have NO idea how long I've wanted to do this" He said still with his goofy smile, tracing mine with his thumb.

"Really? How long have you?" I said shuttering at his touch.

"Since the moment I saw the picture of you in the paper for breaking up with Oliver." He said laughing.

I apologized profusely to Angelina and Alicia for basically disowning them the whole night before making my way back to my lodging for a lot more bad ideas.