Best Laid Plans

"It's been forever since we had a night like this," Katie said excitedly as she and Lottie made their way down the hallway towards Angelina's flat, their arms laden with bags of snacks and alcohol, along with their overnight bags.

The plan was to have an old-fashioned slumber party and Lottie had been looking forward to it all week, deciding that she needed a weekend off from worrying about Marcus, Oliver and Aiden. Penny was to meet them there a bit later, having to work late.

"I really need this," Lottie said while smiling. "Thanks, Kates."

"Always looking out for my favorite cousin," the blonde replied with a grin.

"I won't tell Adam and Bernard," she replied. Katie snorted.

"Tell them all you want," she retorted. They came up to the door and stopped, already hearing music coming from within. Katie shifted the bags and then knocked. They waited a few moments and then the door flew open. Angelina stood there, a pained expression on her face.

"I swear, I tried to make them leave," she said quickly.

"What?" Katie asked, confused. Angelina just sighed and stepped back, motioning them inside. Both Lottie and Katie walked in and then froze, seeing the decent-size flat full of people.

"What the hell?" Lottie murmured. She had been expecting a girls' night, but this was a full-blown party. Both women looked at Angelina, who was chewing on her bottom lip.

"I don't know how this happened - I didn't invite them or even tell them what was going on. But then more and more showed up and… I'm so sorry," she said. Lottie smiled tightly and shook her head.

"It's fine. I know it's not your fault," she said. "Where do you want all this?"

"Here, we'll take it," Angelina said, motioning Alica over. The two women took the bags from them and started towards the kitchen. "You can put your things in my room."

Lottie looked over at Katie.

"Well then… Suppose as long as I can get roaring drunk, the night is not lost," she said with a sigh. The two walked to Angelina's room, depositing their overnight bags and jackets, then walked back out into the living room.

"Lottie," Oliver said, walking up to her with two cups in his hand. "Thought I saw you walk in." Lottie smiled at him and took the offered cup.

"Thanks," she said before taking a drink and sure that her face was bright red. While things hadn't been that awkward when she left his place last weekend, she had been slow to reply to his owls all week, torn over what to do.

"Work keeping you busy this week?" he asked.

"Yea. Made some headway on the dark wizard," she said.

"Brilliant," Oliver replied, grinning at her. "Sure you'll be the one to bring him in."

"Well, helps that I've got a good partner," she said.

"Don't downplay yourself. We both know how hard you're working on it," he said. "Potter's good and he helps, but it's part your effort as well." Lottie smiled in appreciation and nodded.

"Yea, you're right, I reckon," she said. She glanced around the flat, seeing a fair amount of her old schoolmates. "Feel like this is a Hogwarts reunion."

"Might as well be," Oliver said with a chuckle.

"And how is our favorite auror?" George said, popping up next to them. He looked over at Oliver and then back at Lottie, a bright grin on his face.

"Good. Busy," she said, now sure that the full-blown party had been George's doing. "How's the shop?"

"Always busy, as it should be," he said, his eyes twinkling. She looked over at Oliver, noting that he seemed just as suspicious as she did. "Flint! Glad you could make it!"

Lottie's heart stopped as she looked over at the door, seeing a surprised Flint standing there with a bottle of wine in his hand. He was looking directly at her and Oliver.

"Bugger," she murmured. She quickly shot off to the kitchen, grabbing Katie on the way.

"Ow, that hurts!" Katie yelped as Lottie turned around to face her.

"You didn't know about the party?" she asked desperately.

"No! I was just as surprised as you!" Katie shouted. Lottie looked towards the entry to the living room and back at Katie. "What's going on?"

"So, you didn't know Oliver would be here? Or Marcus?" she asked. Katie just shook her head. "Knew it. Fucking George Weasley… But how did he know about Marcus? Did you tell Angelina?" Katie just sighed.

"Lottie… there's something I should-"

"Lottie… why did you run off?" Marcus asked as he walked into the kitchen. Both Lottie and Katie whipped their heads over to look at him as he smiled awkwardly. He glanced at Katie. "Good to see you, Bell."

"You too, Flint," Katie squeaked. Lottie gave her an odd look. "I just need to… I'll… bye." Katie then shot out of the kitchen, leaving Lottie alone with Marcus. "You alright, Lottie?" She looked at him, completely at a loss as to what to say.

Bloody hell, it was her worst nightmare come true. Stuck at a party with both Marcus and Oliver. There was no way she was going to get out of this without them finding out. Her heart sped up as it became slightly harder to breathe.

"Lottie…"

"I need some air," she said quickly, dashing out of the kitchen. She stopped in the living room and looked around. She met Oliver's eyes a moment and he started towards her. She then saw a glass door leading to a terrace. There. She started towards it.

"Lottie."

Lottie stopped and closed her eyes, grimacing. Fucking, bloody hell. Could this night get any worse? She opened her eyes and slowly turned, seeing Aiden standing there, a fair amount of the party now watching them. Oliver and Marcus, she could understand, but Aiden? How had George found out about him? She was going kill him with her own two hands when this was over with.

He walked towards her, smiling. But was immediately cut off by Oliver and Marcus. Lottie frowned. What the hell were they doing?

"What did we tell you?" Marcus growled.

"You're meant to stay away from her," Oliver added. Lottie's mouth dropped open in shock. What was happening? How did they know Aiden? When had they spoken to him? Then she realized none of that mattered right now.

She could take care of Aiden on her own.

She quickly walked up and pushed the two aside, glaring at one and then the other before turning to Aiden. She would deal with them later.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Could we talk?" he asked softly, reaching out to touch her. She stepped back from him, just out of his reach.

"No. I don't have anything more to say to you," she said coldly, not caring that they were causing a scene. "What are you doing here?"

"I just want to talk," he said, his brow furrowed. "I've missed you-"

"Yea, well, I moved back to England to get away from you," she retorted. Aiden winced.

"I know we had a bit of a misunderstanding-"

Lottie's harsh laughter cut him off. He stood there, a look of confusion on his face.

"You fucking wanker," she said. "A misunderstanding?! You bloody stole my job! A job that you knew I had been working up to for years! And after all that shite about not caring for promotions and just wanting to do what was right! You fucking lied to me through your teeth!"

"I thought we were passed-"

"No, I'm not fucking passed it! What?! Did you seriously move all the way over here just because you missed me? Because you thought that we could be together again?! Or did MACUSA finally realize that you're a shite auror and fired your arse, so you thought maybe if you came here, you could pull off the same stunt?!" she shouted. Aiden didn't respond, which only confirmed Lottie's suspicions.

"Well, then… you can just fuck off!" she shouted.

"If you would just hear me out-"

"I SAID FUCK OFF!" Lottie shouted again, her eyes blazing in anger. Aiden stared at her and then his face hardened.

"Fine," he said before turning and walking out of the flat. Lottie sighed heavily and then rubbed her temples. Merlin, she needed a drink. But first she had something else to deal with. She turned, leveling Oliver and then Marcus in a scowl.

"What was that?" she snapped.

"Well, ehm… may have ran into Aiden at the pub," Oliver said, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking down at his feet.

"Spouting off a load of bollocks about you," Marcus continued.

"Couldn't let that stand," Oliver added, looking up at her.

"So, we may have told him to stay away," Marcus finished. Lottie stared at the both of them and then groaned loudly.

"I already have two older brothers and I do not need two more!" she shouted. "What's more, you both know how much I hate my brothers fighting for me!"

"Right, probably wasn't a smart move. I'm sorry," Oliver said quickly. Marcus glared at him and then looked back at Lottie.

"We just wanted to help," he said.

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Lottie shrieked. "WHAT WERE YOU EVEN DOING TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Neither answered at first and that's when the realization hit her. Her eyes widened as her mouth dropped open and her heart stopped a moment.

Holy, fucking Merlin and all the Hogwart founders. They knew.

She looked from Oliver to Marcus and then did the first thing that popped into her head. She turned and fled from the flat.

Both men looked at each other, unsure of what to do next.

"Care for a drink, Wood?" Marcus finally said.

"Suppose so," Oliver replied.

Katie nearly couldn't believe the showdown in Angelina's living room. She was already starting to move towards Angelina's bedroom to fetch her and Lottie's things, then head over to Lottie's.

"Well… expected a blowout, but that was not the blowout I was expecting" she heard, causing her to stop. She turned slowly, seeing George standing with Lee. Of course, she had figured out right away that this whole mess had Weasley written all over it, but she had yet to actually confront him about it yet.

"Did you invite the Yank?" Lee asked. "How did you even know about it?" George snorted.

"I had no part in that - didn't even know he was here," he replied. "I just made sure Oliver was here."

"And I got Flint here," Lee said, looking around the room. "But who invited the tosser?"

"What the actual fuck?!" Katie bellowed. The two men jumped and looked at her. "I should have known." George smiled and shrugged.

"Thought it might make things a bit more interesting," he said. "And really, they all needed to confront each other…" Katie groaned.

"Too far, George, too far," she said. "She wanted a weekend away from blokes and for good reason!"

"We didn't invite what's-his-name! We swear!" George shouted.

"Yea, but you stole our party and invited Wood and Flint!" Katie shouted back. "Merlin! You'll pay for this, both of you! But first, I've got to try and clean up some of your mess." She then spun on her toes and stalked off.

She needed to get to Lottie.

Oliver stood with Marcus, the two of them sipping glasses of firewhiskey. Both of them were getting a fair amount of looks. He wasn't sure just how many people there knew what was really going on, but he figured it could have had more to do with the fact that the two of them nearly jumped the Yank before Lottie sent him off.

Merlin, he had never been prouder of her. Though he now worried that she would never speak to him again.

"You think she'll be okay?" Flint asked, breaking the silence. Oliver looked over at him, seeing his own concern mirrored in his eyes. But there was also the same sense of awe there.

"I think so," he replied. "Lottie's a strong sort."

"Bloody wanker, Aiden," Flint growled.

"Got that right," Oliver said. They both were silent, staring at their drinks.

"You think she'll talk to us again?" Flint then asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Dunno," Oliver said with a sigh, wondering the same thing. There was a good chance they had just mucked things up.

"Reckon we should do anything?" Flint then asked. Oliver looked across the room, seeing Katie come out of Angelina's room with two bags and start for the front door. Penny had just stepped in and looked around in confusion before seeing Katie. The blonde just grabbed her and yanked her back out of the flat.

"I think she's in good hands for now. She'll contact us if she wants to talk," Oliver said. Flint nodded.

"Fair enough."

Lottie sat on her sofa, now dressed in a pair of sweatpants and an old Ravenclaw t-shirt. She brought the glass of wine to her lips and drank, then lowered it, her eyes not leaving the flames in the fireplace.

She felt rather weary, everything catching up with her. The last hour had been a fucking rollercoaster. Freaking out about Oliver and Marcus finding out about each other. Then dealing with Aiden. Then realizing that both Oliver and Marcus already knew about each other.

"It's a fucking mess, is what it is," she said softly to herself.

"Lottie!"

She didn't even bother turning around, recognizing Katie's voice. She heard footsteps and then Katie and Penny stepped in front of her, the two of them wearing worried looks.

"Katie told me what happened. Bloody job well done," Penny said, smiling slightly. Lottie offered a weak smile.

"Did she mention the part where both Oliver and Marcus were there and I realized that they already know about each other?" Lottie asked dryly before taking another drink. Penny looked over at Katie, who frowned.

"I knew that they knew," Katie said, closing her eyes and wincing, as though she was waiting for Lottie to yell at her.

"What? How?" Lottie asked, frowning at her. Katie opened her eyes and sighed. She then walked over and sat next to her on the sofa.

"First of all, they discovered at practice one day about a couple weeks ago," she said gently. "But I knew before you told me… overheard you and Penny talking about in a bar, one night… Alicia and Angelina were with me."

Lottie stared at the glass in her hands, her eyes filling up with tears. She wasn't sure why she was crying. Or what she was feeling at that moment. Actually, she knew a large part of it was embarrassment. And then a bit of anger.

"How many people know?" she asked.

"Well… us three… then Wood and Flint, George, Lee, not sure who Flint told, but I'm sure he told some of his mates," Katie said.

"So… most people," Lottie said slowly. "Merlin, this whole time and they knew…"

"Apparently it's sparked up a bit of a feud," Penny said with a chuckle. Lottie looked up at her, her eyes wide.

"Wait a minute, you knew!? How long?" she demanded.

"Since the day Aiden came back," Penny stated. "Katie told me while you were in the loo. Thought it best to keep it from you at the time, since you were already in your head dealing with Aiden." Lottie took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"So… everyone knows… oh god," she moaned, dropping her head in her hand. "This is so embarrassing."

"Perhaps it's a good thing," Katie offered.

"They're fucking fighting over me!" Lottie wailed. "That's not what I wanted at all! I wanted… Merlin, I don't know what I wanted… Why were they even there? It was supposed to be girls' night!"

"You can thank George for that," Katie said, now frowning. "Thought it would be funny to have them both there. Think he and Lee were hoping the two would start a brawl." Lottie looked over at her, a realization hitting her.

"Oh my god… the potion at the restaurant… that was George," she said. Katie frowned.

"Someone slipped something into Marcus' drink. Broke out in boils and couldn't stop farting for a few hours," Penny explained. Katie nodded slowly.

"He was trying to sabotage the date," Lottie said. She went silent again, as though she was trying to figure something else out. "And then… at the match… oh gods. Pucey."

"What about Pucey?" Katie asked.

"I thought I saw Adrian Pucey there, but figured I must of been seeing things. But now it makes sense. He must have charmed the bludger. He was aiming for Oliver and then I jumped in the way," Lottie said, the pieces falling together. "He was trying to sabotage our date as well… What neither of them realized is that it backfired…"

She went silent again as Penny and Katie watched her nervously. Suddenly, Lottie cracked a smile. A small bubble of laughter broke from her lips and then soon enough, she was laughing loudly, her arm wrapped around her stomach as she fell over onto her side.

Katie looked over at Penny, her brow knit in confusion.

"Are you alright?" Penny asked, stepping closer to Lottie.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, still laughing as she reached up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Kates, be a dear and get the tequila. It's the cabinet in the kitchen."

"Are you sure about that?" Katie asked.

"She's finally cracked," Penny added.

"I have not cracked," Lottie said, sitting up and looking back and forth between the two. "Can't you see the humor in this?"

"I'll admit, that's not the reaction I was expecting," Penny said, starting to smile. "But I'll take it." She looked over at Katie. "Go get the tequila."

Katie stood and left the room, a confused look still on her face. Lottie continued to chuckle.

"This is just… wow," Lottie said. "They both knew for the last few weeks. I'm surprised they didn't start fighting as soon as Marcus walked into the flat tonight."

"They were having a drink together when I got there," Penny said, taking a seat. "Perhaps they are being gentlemen about this. Just their friends trying to muck things up."

"All this drama because of me," Lottie murmured, still laughing slightly. "Never thought I'd see the day." Penny snorted.

"Forget those gits, tell me in your own words what went down with Aiden," Penny said, now grinning.

"Oh, well that… that was something else," Lottie said before emptying her wine glass and putting it on the table. Katie walked back in with the bottle and glasses, putting them down.

"It was fucking brilliant," she said, smiling.

"Told him to fuck off," Lottie said. "He said he came here because he missed me. Merlin, I don't understand it. Got a nice job in MACUSA-"

"What was supposed to be your job," Penny interrupted.

"Yea, and because of those bloody reports, I couldn't get anything higher than a mid-level auror position here," Lottie said. "But I told him that there was no chance."

"Should have seen Flint and Wood," Katie said, pouring the glasses. "Looked like they were about to slug him. But then Lottie started wailing into him verbally and they just stood back, both wearing this look on their face like they thought she was the most amazing human to walk the earth."

Penny chuckled and shook her head.

"I wish I had seen that," she said, reaching for a shot glass. Lottie blushed slightly as Katie handed her another.

"Well, I don't think I'll have to worry about him," Lottie said. The smile then faded from her face. "But still have to deal with Marcus and Oliver." She looked from Penny to Katie.

"Do you know what you're going to do?" Katie asked. Lottie looked at her shot glass a moment and then shook her head.

"No clue. But I don't want to think about it for tonight. I'll worry about that tomorrow," she said before tossing back the shot and wincing.

"That's one way to look at it," Penny said before taking her own shot, Katie following suit. Penny then reached for the bottle and started pouring them more. "Well… let us distract you for the night. You can worry about which handsome beau to choose tomorrow."

"Sounds like a wonderful plan - finally the girls' night that I wanted," Lottie said, holding her full glass out. She smiled at them. "To friends always willing to get you pissed so you can forget about your troubles."

"No, to Lottie Bell being a badass," Penny said.

"I'll drink to that," Katie said. They clinked the glasses together and then drank.

"Oh, this is going to be a night…"

"As if it wasn't one already…"