Katrina let go and just stared, disbelieving. Fred followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Wow. Ang works fast. They've known each other what, four minutes?"

"Something like that." Angrily, she made her way over to the snogging twosome. "Uh, Alek?"

He broke off his snog-fest, a guilty grin spread across his face. Angelina looked sheepish, and made excuses to leave.

Katrina turned to Alek. "Well?"

Nothing.

"You have nothing to say for yourself?" Her voice got dangerously high, yet no one else seemed to notice. "What, do you just kiss every girl you dance with?"

"Kat, I-"

"Don't you dare call me Kat! I'm leaving now, so you can just find someone else to cheat on in the full expanse of a few hours." She turned on her heel and stalked away, leaving Alek to fend for himself.

Tears swum in her eyes, and she swiped a hand angrily across them, but they spilled over anyways. Damn. Everytime she cried, her nose lit up like Rudolph's. That was why she didn't do often. Or at least tried to.

It didn't really feel like he had cheated on her. She had only known he existed for a few days at the most. But it hurt.

"Katrina, wait up!"

"Go away!" The last person she wanted to talk to was Angelina Johnson.

"Katrina," Angelina said, catching her arm, "I'm so sorry. He just went for it, and well, I have to admit, I went for it back, but I didn't mean to-"

She jerked her arm away. "It's fine. Now leave me alone."

Angelina stopped, seeing there was no point. "I'm sorry..."

Katrina didn't stop until she reached an empty hallway, far from the sights and sounds of the Yule Ball. She sat down with her back against a pillar, and let the tears stream down her cheeks soundlessly.

She put a hand to her face; her fingers came away black. Great. My mascara is running or whatever. Could this night get any better?

Katrina heard footsteps behind her, and quickly turned her face away. She didn't want anyone to see her like this.

"Kat, you okay?" Fred sounded concerned.

"Yeah, Fred told me what happened." George did too.

"I'm fine." Her voice shook.

"No, you're not."

"Leave now, please."

"Kat-"

"Leave!"

They left. And Katrina was left to herself, sitting against a pillar on a beautiful moonlit night, with her first heart-break.

The next morning she wished she hadn't yelled. The twins looked away when she tried to say good morning. Was she too proud to apologize?

Apparently, yes.

A full day passed in self-pity. She was wallowing so deeply in it that when Professor Flitwick asked her what exactly the incantation was for making flowering plants grow faster, she didn't reply until the teacher had called her name three times. Even then, her mind was cloudy and it took her at least ten seconds to decipher precisely what he was asking. Thankfully, Flitwick didn't pursue the matter.

That evening, she collapsed on her bed and stuffed a pillow over her face. "Ium neer gettgn up aginn."

Katie, the only other girl in the room, sat on the end of Katrina's bed. "Permission to speak, General Misery?"

"Uhhhhhh," she groaned, the pillow still clamped firmly over her mouth. "Gramtidd."

"Stop- first take that pillow off your face."

When Katrina didn't move, Katie pulled her friend up.

Katrina looked at her dully. "What?" The question was sullen.

"Look, first of all, Angelina feels awful. She's been teary all day and has threatened to hex Alek any time he's tried to come near her, which had been a total of about six times since this morning."

Katrina tried to smile. It came out more like a grimace.

"Second, Alek's a jerk. Turns out he's really popular at Durmstrang, but only because he's had as many girlfriends as the number of times Harry Potter's escaped certain death. Third, Fred and George are really worried about you-"

"Didn't seem like it this morning." Again, sullen.

"Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself?" Katie cried, hitting her hard with the pillow. "They only ignored you because they were afraid you'd yell at them again."

Katrina winced. Okay, note to self; control bad-tempered emotions for later use.

"They've been asking after you all day, but you've been a complete loner for the past twelve hours, so no one knows."

When Katrina looked down at her hands shame-faced, Katie put a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Katrina, there are a lot worse things to get upset over than arseholes like Alek Shavenik. Losing friends like Angelina, Fred and George, for example. Or failing your Charms exams because you're so swallowed up in yourself you can't concentrate. Come on, Katrina, before the Ball you were so good you made all of the other sixth-year Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and especially Slytherins jealous. Go back to being the smartarse we all know and love, okay?"

Katrina let out a breath of air she didn't know she had been holding. "Okay. Thanks, Katie."

There was a pause.

"Am I really a smartarse?"

Katie laughed. "More than that. Come on, you should be making up with your friends."

Angelina was down in the Common Room, slumped in an armchair, reading a thick Potions book. She looked tired and bored.

"Ang, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so-" Katrina came down the staircase.

"You're sorry?" Angelina snapped her book shut and stood up. "You're kidding me, right? I snogged your date to the Yule Ball, and you're sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry."

Katrina smiled. "So we're cool, then?"

"Can't imagine how we could play Quidditch together if we weren't."

Now for the harder part. She walked up the staircase towards the sixth-year boys' dormitory, feeling slightly self-conscious. Sure, she had been up there before, but only with Fred and George. Knocking on the door and having some other boy answer would be weird.

God, what a MarySue-like thought. Next thing you know, I'll be wearing a pink robe and talking in a falsetto voice. Get a grip and knock. You know all these guys.

Lee Jordan answered. When he saw who it was, he leaned against the doorway and flashed her a cocky grin. "Well, hello, beautiful."

She rolled her eyes. "Please, Lee, save the hopeless pick-up lines for Angelina. At least she'll listen to them, if not respond. Are Fred and George there?"

"Oi! Weasleys!" Lee yelled back into the dormitory. "You've got a house-elf to see you here. Something about a blocked toile-oof!"

The oof sound came from Katrina stomping on his foot. "You know that kick could have been a lot harder, and a lot higher. Spare me the theatricality, please."

He looked up from his mock-pain. "Sure, if you'll go on a date with me."

"Never in a million years, Jordan."

"Yeah, she's saving herself for one of us. If only she'd tell us which one." The twins appeared in the doorway.

Katrina took it all in stride. "As you may have noticed, I prefer muscular, dark-haired two-timing idiots."

"We might have picked up something like that, yeah." George shared a look with Fred.

"Come on, Lee, sensitive moment here."

"Yeah, I know." He didn't move.

"Lee."

"Alright, alright. I'm going already!" He disappeared into the dormitory.

There was an awkward pause.

"Guys, I'm so sorr-"

They immediately waved it away.

"It's okay, Kat. Alek's a schlemiel, and you didn't know that. It was a shock for everyone."

"Especially poor Ang," George snickered.

Katrina hugged the two of them. "Thanks, guys."

"Say no more about it, Kat. We've learned firsthand over the years about what saps girls are about their breakups." George quipped.

"Way to ruin the moment, bro." His brother gave him a look, amused. "Oh, by the way, Katrina, we've got to tell you all about this man we met the other night, Ludo Bagman I think his name was. Anyway, he's some Ministry fella-"

"-and we were talking to him about our fake wands, right-"

"-and he promised to look into a patent or an introduction into Zonko's! Isn't it brilliant?"

"It's fantastic." That was the great thing about the twins, they always knew exactly what to say. "Wait, didn't he used to be a Quidditch player?"

When they nodded excitedly, she broke out into a huge grin. "Well, don't just stand there! Tell me exactly what he said!