Mid-Spring, 1998: Part Three

Katie had never really held much stock in the reliability of the reporting for the Daily Prophet. Their bias and the fact that someone was clearly pulling the strings behind the scenes became even more obvious with the start of the Second War and the Ministry takeover. However, Katie found that there was always some glimmer of truth to be found in the paper's articles—generally a few words or phrases here and there or, on a good day, even an entire sentence. Really, the general rule of thumb when it came to the Prophet was that they reported the exact opposite of the truth.

Which was why Katie had absolutely no idea what to think as she sat in her empty flat reading the Evening Prophet on the first of May. She had never trusted their reporting, but they couldn't be serious about this story…

Sadly, before Katie could dwell any more on the particular article she was reading, she was interrupted by the sound of incessant knocking on the front door.

"Finally," Katie muttered to herself, standing up from the couch and dropping the newspaper onto the coffee table in front of the cold and empty fireplace.

Wand in hand, Katie peeked through the peephole, though she knew exactly who would be on the other side.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" Katie asked through the door, her tone distracted as her thoughts were still with the article she had been reading moments before.

"Strong and silent," came the reply, a chorus of two voices.

Unlocking the door, Katie slipped her wand back into her pocket and wrenched the door open.

"Have you seen this evening's Prophet?" She demanded by way of greeting.

"It's lovely to see you too, Katie," Alicia Spinnet said happily, throwing her arms around Katie and squeezing her in a limb-shattering embrace. "It's been far too long!"

"It was really nice of you to invite us to venture from within the safety of our warded apartment to come visit you," Angelina Johnson agreed with a smile, giving Katie a hug as well once Alicia had released her. "And by 'invite' I obviously mean 'demand.'"

"Sorry," Katie said, looking slightly abashed. "It is wonderful to see both of you; I'm so glad you could both make it on such short notice. But seriously, have you seen the Prophet?"

"Well, never let it be said that Katie Bell can't have a one-track mind when she wants," Angelina said with an amused shake of her head.

"What rubbish are they reporting now?" Alicia asked as Katie ushered them both into the flat and secured the door behind them. "I read it this morning and I didn't think there was anything incredibly drastic in it, other than the usual nonsense they've been reporting. I would have read the Evening edition, but someone set the kitchen on fire."

She looked pointedly at Angelina as she spoke.

"I told you we should have replaced that stove ages ago," Angelina insisted and Katie couldn't help but roll her eyes in amusement at her friends' quarrel.

"I don't even know what to say about it," Katie admitted, redirecting their conversation back to the evening edition of the newspaper before they got too off-topic. They had reached the living room by now and while Angelina and Alicia each took a seat on the couch, Katie picked up the newspaper from where she had discarded it only moments previously and showed them the front page. "Just look at this."

"Is that…?" Angelina asked, trailing off in astonishment.

"A dragon?!" Alicia exclaimed. "And what's that headline say about Gringotts?"

"Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger broke out of Gringotts earlier today," Katie informed her two friends. "On a dragon."

"Were they trying to get noticed?" Alicia demanded.

"Who knows with those three?" Angelina said with a roll of her eyes, though there was a certain hint of fondness in her tone. Then her attention refocused on Katie. "But never mind all that. This isn't why you asked us here, Katie; you sent your owl earlier this afternoon, long before the Evening Prophet came out."

"Ah…yes," Katie said slowly, taking a deep breath to calm herself even as she began pacing in front of where two of her best friends sat on the couch. "I mean, no. You're right, that's not why I needed you two to come over. I just got a bit distracted by the paper, that's all."

"Katie," Angelina said suddenly, reaching a hand out and latching onto Katie's hand as she passed by, forcing the other girl to stop walking. "Just spit it out. What happened? Is something wrong?"

"Is it Oliver?" Alicia jumped in. "Is that why he's not here? Did something happen to him?"

"Oliver's fine," Katie said shortly. "He's at his parents', that's all."

"But something did happen?" Angelina pressed, concern written clearly across her features. "Katie…what is it?"

Katie closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Oliver asked me to marry him."

The room was silent for a moment. And then…

"Katie!" Alicia shrieked, pulling Katie onto the couch in between her and Angelina and then proceeding the squeeze the living daylights out of the smaller girl. "This is so exciting!"

"You couldn't have just started with that right off the bat?" Angelina asked, joining in on the hug as it didn't appear as if Alicia would be letting go any time soon. "You were making it sound as if somebody died!"

"No deaths tonight!" Alicia said in a sing-song voice, "Katie and Oliver are getting married!"

"Er…Angie? 'Leesh?" Katie spoke up now, "I can't really breathe…"

Immediately both Angelina and Alicia released their holds on Katie, and resumed their previous sitting positions, though both were still sporting massive grins.

"I'm just so happy for you—for both of you," Alicia stated, clapping her hands together giddily. "You're going to marry Oliver! I always knew this day would come."

Angelina, meanwhile, was studying Katie intently.

"Wait a minute," Angelina said, almost before Alicia had finished speaking. "You only said that Oliver asked you to marry him. You never said what your answer was."

Alicia's eyes widened in alarm now. "What did you say, Katie? What did you tell him?!"

"Well she said 'yes' of course," A voice spoke from behind the trio.

As one, they all turned to see Oliver standing there, apparently returned from his parents' house. He, too, had a massive grin stretched across his face, and Katie could feel an answering grin spreading across her own features at the sight of him.

"Way to make me nervous for no reason," Alicia said, reaching around Katie now and punching Angelina lightly in the shoulder.

Angelina, for her part, studiously ignored her oldest friend and kept her attention on her former captain. "Congratulations, Oliver. And you, too, Katie."

"Thanks, Angie," Katie replied, still smiling widely. "And sorry about before, I didn't mean to make you worry; I was just a bit distracted with the anticipation of Alicia screaming."

Alicia frowned playfully. "Rude. I'm going to pick out the most horrid wedding present I can find now, just you watch."

"Better than trying to help plan the wedding and picking out absolutely horrid decorations," Angelina said with a teasing grin.

The conversation quickly turned to plans for the wedding, which Oliver took as his cue to leave the room as quickly as possible, though his wide grin was still firmly in place. He made his way into the kitchen and was about to look through the cabinets, in search of any food he could find, when he spotted a lone galleon lying out on the counter. With a shrug, Oliver picked it up and was about to pocket it, when he noticed that it was unusually warm…even warmer than it would be if someone had just been holding it, which he knew wasn't the case.

"Hey, Katie?" Oliver called, retracing his footsteps back out of the kitchen, his gaze now firmly locked on the odd coin in his hand. "Is this yours?"

Katie, Alicia, and Angelina all turned around on the couch so that they were looking at Oliver as he held up the galleon.

"Er…sure?" Katie offered with a shrug. "Where'd you find it?"

"It was on the counter in the kitchen," Oliver replied, still frowning slightly at the coin. "It's really hot…"

A sudden look of understanding passed across Katie's face, and she was on her feet in a flash. "That's my D.A. coin. I found it earlier and put it in my pocket, and then I almost paid for the Evening Prophet with it. But it should only be warm if…"

By this point, Katie had reached Oliver and plucked the coin from his fingers. Now with her own small frown, she studied the face of the coin intently for a moment before looking back up and scanning the three faces staring at her.

"We need to go to Hogwarts."