Just a brief author's note here: I'm not British. I'm American and I've never been to England so some of the terms my charcters use might not sound too British. Like, I don't think they say okay as much as I do. Anyway, for all of you Americans out there, when I say football that means soccer. I know everyone pretty much already knows that. American football is just that. American football. And I mention both in this chapter so sorry if there's any confusion. Crisps are American potato chips. Now onto the chapter.
Disclaimer: Not her.
A Day in the Life of a Muggle:::
"Katie! Phone!" My dad's voice yells up the stairs, waking me with a start. "KATIE!" Groaning my displeasure, I walk out of my room and grab the cordless phone from the hallway.
"Hello?" I mumble into the receiver. Who the hell is calling me on my first full day of break?
"Your dad has a sexy voice," I hear Angelina say over the phone line.
"Did you call me just to listen to my dad's voice?" I ask, irritated.
"No. Actually, I called to invite you to Diagon Alley this afternoon. I'm bored." Even over the phone, I knew she was pouting.
"Hold on; I'll ask," I groan and take the phone with me downstairs as I try to locate my father.
"It'll be you, me, Alicia, Fred, George, and Lee. Sound okay?"
"Yeah it sounds fine. Where the hell is my dad? DAD!" I scream.
"Living room," he yells back. We have a very fine-tuned communication system worked out.
"I've got something to tell you," I taunt Angelina as I head for my dad's voice. She loves gossip.
"Katie, you can't just say that and not tell me. What is it?" I ignore her and pull the door open to the living room where I can hear the TV going. My dad's obsessed with American football—watches it constantly.
"Go, go, go, go!" He was yelling at the screen as I walked in. And he wasn't the only one. Our next door neighbor, Mr. Wilson, was sitting there cheering as well. And I'm in my pajamas. Great. Thankfully, they were both enraptured by the television.
"Dad, can I go to London with Angelina this afternoon?"
"Stop him you bleeding idiot!" he yells at the TV, ignoring me completely. "What, dear?"
"Can I go into London with Angelina later today?"
"Yeah. Sure, honey. No, no, no, no, no! What are you doing? Get the damn ball!" That's my cue to leave. I exit the living room and head for the kitchen. If I'm up, I might as well have breakfast—oh look at the time—I might as well have lunch.
"Okay, I can go, Angelina."
"Yeah, I heard. Now, what did you have to tell me?" I open the door to the kitchen and enter, running right in to Mr. Wilson's son. I promptly scream and drop the phone. He drops the bowl of crisps that he had been retrieving causing a great cacophony of falling objects.
"Oh God, I'm sorry," he says after the chaos clears, bending down to pick up his mess.
"No, it's fine," I assure him. I'm still in my pajamas. Great. And guess what? This guy's gorgeous. His name's Tyler and we used to go to school together. I pick the phone up off the floor where I can hear Angelina yelling into the other end.
"I'll see you at three, Ange," I say over her hysterics.
"Okay, but is that guy single because he sounds hot?"
"Bye, Angelina." Click.
"I'm so sorry," Tyler says again as I throw the phone onto the nearest counter.
"It's really fine," I assure him, bending down to help him finish picking up the mess.
"So it's true?" he asks as we work. "Katie Bell has decided to grace us with her presence for Christmas. How's that fancy school of yours coming along?" Dad's tells everyone that I attend a fine arts school on a scholarship playing football. I suck at football…
"Uh, yeah. I'm only back for two weeks."
Tyler and I used to be good friends—hell, best friends. Mr. Wilson's from America but Tyler was born in England. Since Mr. Wilson's the only person in the country who'll sit down with my dad and watch teams that they have no affiliation with run all over each other day after day, Tyler and I were sort of forced into a friendship. Quidditch is so much more interesting than any muggle sport. Anyway, he was always like the brother I never had. Until this summer…
I really don't even want to think about that right now.
We finished cleaning and stood facing each other for several seconds. Mr. Wilson then stuck his head into the kitchen. "Come on, Tyler. I've got to get you to Todd's before the tiger's play. Oh, hello, Katie."
"Hello, Mr. Wilson." And then they left without another word. Slightly dazed, I trekked back up to my room and was asleep before anymore thoughts could trouble my mind.
OoO
"Dad, I'm leaving," I call, getting ready to floo to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Curfew's eleven."
"I know. I'll be back by then." I step into the fireplace and throw the floo powder around me. "The Leaky Cauldron," I say confidently, and it's only seconds before the flames engulf me. I hate flooing…
The fireplace spit me out a minute later, flat on my back in the pub that I am now so familiar with. Slightly dazed, I stay where I am. Staring up at the ceiling, a red-headed person blocks my view.
"You need to work on the landing, Katie," Fred says, offering me a hand to help me up. I take it reluctantly. I'm still not too happy about him asking me out.
"Ha ha; very funny," I say in response, trying to get all of the soot off of me. "It's not like I floo all the time. My dad doesn't much approve of travel via fireplace."
Fred's not acting like anything's happened between us. Whatever, I'll just follow his lead—I don't want to start anything.
Tom, the bar keeper, suddenly points his wand at me and the soot disappears. "Thanks," I say politely. He just grunts in response.
"Come on," Fred says, pulling me towards the door leading to muggle London.
"Wait, where are we going?"
"London," he says as if I should know that already.
"But Diagon—"
"Katie, how many times have we been to Diagon Alley? I'll tell you: tons. We need new places to make adventures."
"But where is—"
"George spotted a joke shop down the street and Angelina said he shouldn't go alone, so her and Alicia went with him."
"Good call," I say, stepping into the gloomy winter air. "Have you two ever been to muggle London before?"
"Who two?"
"You and George."
"Nope."
"Well, this'll be interesting." Especially since they aren't exactly the most covert twins on the planet.
When we arrive at the joke shop, Fred rushes off to join George, both of them looking like kids in a candy store. I roll my eyes and wander over to where Angelina and Alicia are flirting with a worker.
"Katie!" Angelina shrills when I get near enough and she runs over to me, dragging Alicia behind her and leaving a very confused muggle in her wake. "Come on," she says, beside herself with excitement, pulling me back outside. Into the cold. Into the freezing cold. "Spill. What do you have to tell us?"
"Is it safe to leave those two in there alone?" I ask, glancing in at Fred and George.
"Yes, yes. Now what's up?" Alicia asks impatiently. And Alicia never gets excited. Ever. That was what tipped me off. I stare at the happy grins on both of their faces and it's obvious that they already know.
"Who told you?" I ask, disappointed. This was my news!
"What?" They both cry. "No one."
"Yeah right. Don't lie. Who told you?"
"Okay," Angelina finally admits. "Oliver told us he fancied you before Hogsmeade and then you were both just so happy yesterday morning. So what happened?" I filled them in on the fight—and the kiss. The glorious kiss.
"Oh my God! So you're together now, right?" Alicia asks, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Well, I don't know," I admit.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Angelina asks angrily. Apparently that's the type of thing you're supposed to figure out.
"Well, we didn't get a chance to talk but he said he'll call me." And then we were somehow all jumping around and screaming like maniacs. Girls…
"What's going on?" Fred and George ask, walking out of the joke shop, their hands filled with bags and their mouths filled with chocolate. Where they found candy in a joke shop, I have no clue.
"Nothing," we all say, stopping our jumping immediately.
"Where's Lee?" I ask, trying to change the subject.
"Said he couldn't come," Angelina replies. "Don't know why."
"I think he has a date," George says and Fred nods his agreement. I try to ignore Angelina's disappointment.
"Oh, well. Okay. Is anyone hungry?" When everyone voices their approval, Alicia leads us to a small café that I've never been in before.
The waitress escorts us to vacant booth and introduces herself as Jessi before taking our drink orders.
"Butterbeer," Fred says when she finally gets to him. The waitress just stared in confusion as us half-bloods froze with our heads behind our menus.
"He'll take tea," I tell her, raising my head once I'm sure the Ministry of Magic isn't going to swoop down and arrest us. She nods and then departs.
"What?" Fred asks once she's gone. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Butterbeer's a wizard drink, dumb ass," Angelina says.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" They continue arguing until Jessi comes back and after she takes our orders, they start again.
Looking for something to shut them up, George shouts above the ruckus, "Hey, Alicia, want to go shag in the bathroom?" That shut them up. And the rest of the restaurant for that matter. Of course, George doesn't seem to notice and surprisingly, neither does Alicia.
"Eh—maybe later." Scattered groups chuckle nervously, but Fred and Angelina thankfully remain silent.
"You two argue too much," I comment.
"And you don't?" Fred asks.
"I don't!"
"Maybe not with us, but I heard you yelling at Oliver night before last," Fred says smugly, obviously thinking he's proved a point.
"Yeah, well they weren't arguing for long," Angelina retorts, making kissing noises.
"Angelina!" I yell. She had no right to tell Fred that!
"You kissed that bastard?" Fred cried and then we were all yelling again. Ah, it's good to be with friends. If we were at school, McGonagall would have told us to shut up by now.
The door to the restaurant opens and a group walks in that is almost as loud as us. I look up out of curiosity and my jaw immediately drops. Into this quaint little café steps Tyler, the last person I want to see right now, followed by our old group of friends. Why couldn't Mr. Wilson have kept him home today?
"Damn," I mutter and duck down out of sight.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Fred asks, ducking down also, so that he's at my height.
"Those people who just walked in. I know them."
"So I'm guessing we shouldn't say hello?" Angelina asks from the other side of the table. "It's a shame. Those guys are hot!"
"Why do you always do that?" Fred surfaces to yell at Angelina.
"Bloody hell," George mutters.
"Do what?" Angelina cries angrily. Here we go again…
"Say other guys are cute when I'm around!"
"What does it matter? You want me to tell you you're hot, too?"
"His ego's already big enough," George comments.
"Sod off," Fred snaps across the table at his brother.
"All of you shut up!" Alicia cries and then ducks under the table to where I am now residing. "They're heading this way—" She lifts her head back to the surface. "And they're at the table next to us."
I look over and sure enough: shoes.
"Shit," I swear and slowly lift my head back to the surface, turning it away from sight and staring directly at Fred, who is next to me.
"So, Katie, how are you doing?" he asks way too loudly, emphasizing my name.
"Shut the fuck up," I hiss. Angelina, Alicia, and George are all just staring at me as Fred laughs silently.
"Ham and cheese?" Jessi asks, arriving with our food.
"Oh, Katie, had that," Fred says pointing to me. Damn him to hell. When Jessi leaves, no longer blocking me from view, I slowly turn to the side and see four people staring at me.
Should I say something?
"Long time, no see," Tyler finally jokes and I noticed that his hand's resting on Amanda's knee. She's another olf friend. And one who wouldn't be too happy with me if she knew the truth about Tyler. Are they still going out? It's been three years.
"Hey," Angelina says in realization. "You're sexy-voice guy from the phone this morning." Could this get any more embarrassing? George and Alicia are just watching the show and Fred's smirking next to me.
"Um," I say, figuring introductions are in order. "These are some of my old friend's—um, friend's from primary schools, um—Tyler, Amanda, Lexi, and Todd." Since Leanne was home schooled, these people were my best friends until I left for Hogwarts. And time has changed us all.
Tyler's always been good-looking, but never so much that it's been noticeable to the casual bystander. Now, he's the type of guy who commands your attention and your respect. He's got dark brown hair and eyes. He's the kind of guy that every girl wants, but never believes that she can have. I happen to think that he enjoys having all of the power.
Amanda is your basic blue-eyed, blonde, bombshell and I could tell that Fred and George were definitely interested. Of course, they're interested in all humans of the female persuasion within a certain range of breast size. You wonder if they'd date a muggle…
Lexi is just as stunningly gorgeous (yeah, guess who the odd one out is) with red hair as bright as the Weasley's.
Todd, however, seems to have changed his image a bit since the last time I saw him. He's dressed completely in black with hair dyed bright blue and a nose ring. And he used to be such a geek…
"And these are my friends from school: Alicia, Angelina, George, and Fred." When I say Fred's name, he puts his arm around my shoulders and I restrain from hitting him only because I know why he's doing it. He recognized the name Tyler, even though I'd only mentioned him briefly a few months before. He knew that Tyler was the guy who had decided to use me over the summer to cheat on his girlfriend.
"Well, it's nice meeting you," Tyler comments and everyone else mutters their agreement.
"Yeah, nice seeing you again." I then turn to my food, but I know I won't be able to keep any of it down. Fred, God love him, noticed.
"Katie and I are going to go look around for Christmas presents," he says, just loud enough for the next table to hear.
Seeming to pick up on his twin's cue, George added, "Yeah right. The house's empty until nine." What a lie; when is the Weasley house ever empty? I'll never understand how those two always know what the other's thinking. It's magic, I tell you.
Anyway, the next thing I know me and Fred are headed back to the Leaky Cauldron. And when we arrive, the day has yet another surprise in store for me. Sitting at a table in the back is the one and only Oliver Wood. Fred's eyes follow my gaze.
"I'm going to go on home, babe," he says. And he isn't mad.
"Thanks, Fred."
"No problem." I watch as he floos to his house and then I make my way over to where Oliver is sitting.
"Hey," I say quietly, coming up behind him. He turns around and a big grin plasters itself onto his face.
"Hey. What are you doing here?" he asks, pleasantly surprised.
"Afternoon out," I answer. "You?"
"I just got back from an interview with a scout from Puddlemere and I needed a drink," he winces.
"That bad?" I ask.
"I honestly have no clue," he laughs and reaches across the table to take my hand in his. I stare at our interlaced fingers for a second. Now that's a nice sight.
"Hey, Oliver?"
"Yeah?"
"Are we going out now?"
"I don't know," he says after a few seconds.
"Well, I kind of think we need to figure that out…"
"Well…I want to go out with you."
"Same here."
"Okay, so…Katie Bell, will you go out with me?"
"Well, you see…" I joke.
"Katie!"
"Yes, Oliver Wood, I will."
"Well then, cheers," he says, holding up his glass of firewhiskey.
"Cheers," I agree. "But I don't have a drink."
"Right," he laughs, offering me a sip of his. I gladly take one. "So what are your plans for break?"
"Nothing special; just me and my dad." I try not to sound too bitter about that.
"How would you like to be my date for a party on New Year's Eve, then?"
"Whose party?" And why was I not invited?
"My parents'. It's just a bunch of their friends from the Ministry. Me and Cullen normally just grab a bottle of wine and get drunk up in my room."
"Fun," I comment.
"Yeah, not really," he says and I laugh. "But you can come anyway."
"Well then, I'd love to."
"Great, I'll pick you up around seven on New Year's Eve. Oh, and Katie? You're going to need a ball gown."
OoO
There you go. Another chapter. It's a little different, but I wanted to show Katie's other life—her muggle life. Hope you liked it.
Next time on Love and Quidditch (This isn't a very good blurb, but here it is none the less):
"Dad, go have fun with the Wilson's. Oliver's bringing me home," I say, grabbing some sort of shawl thing that Leanne said would keep me warm. "I'll be home a little after midnight."
"Curfew's eleven."
"It's a New Year's Eve party, Dad!"
"Twelve thirty; no later." I start for the car but my dad stops me. "I wish to meet this boy, Katie." Damn.
Please review guys. And feel free to tell me which characters you want to see more of. I've noticed that I've been leaving Lee out a lot lately—that was a subconscious decision, I swear. And which guy's your favorite? Not necessarily for Katie, but which guy do you like the best? Just wondering. And if this chapter's a bit hazy, ask questions. Editing time was limited on this one. Until next time…