Better late Than Never Chapter 3

It was the next day and Katie was on her way to quidditch practice when she was stopped by none other than Susan Bones.

"I heard you and Fred Weasley are an item" Susan shot at her almost venomously. "Everyone's talking about it" Everyone? This wasn't good, Katie thought, it's time for some damage control.

"Fred and I are not together," she insisted "We're both single"

With this Susan's face lit up.

"Oh really, so he's free this Saturday then? I'll meet him here at eleven for our date" And with that she turned on her heel and flounced off. Now, Katie was certain Fred didn't want to go on a date with someone like that, but if she wanted the rumours to go away she needed him to.

Back in the common room Fred was relaxing by the fire when Katie approached him with the 'I want something' look on her face.

"I know we're supposed to be going to Hogsmeade together Saturday but I can't make it so I've set you up on a surprise date." She said. Fred looked at her sceptically,

"Why can't you go?" Ah, Katie hadn't thought about that.

"I've, um... I've got a date, with..." She scanned the room frantically, stopping at the only half decent looking boy in the room. "With Dean Thomas", and I'm going to talk to him about it now actually.

And with that she made her quick escape ignoring Fred as he called "Who's my date with?" and congratulating herself on the quick save.

So at eleven o'clock on Saturday morning Katie and Fred made their way down to the entrance hall to meet their dates. Katie had got Dean to go on a date with her, and honestly it hadn't taken much convincing on her part.

As soon as she met Dean, Katie made her escape, not wanting to face Fred after he realised she'd set him up with Susan Bones.

Katie's date with Dean actually went really well, and he met all of the requirements on her list. Not that she still had that list or anything. Dean was smart and fun and the conversation didn't lull once.

However things took a turn for the worse on the way back. They were walking along the path when Susan stormed past, pushing Katie out of the way as she went. The push took her by surprise and caused Katie to fall, twisting her ankle on the way.

Dean rushed to help her up but she found there was no way she could stand on it.

"Don't worry about it" he said "I'll fix it"

Now, Katie knew from experience that letting anyone but Madame Promphrey try and heal her usually didn't end well but before she could protest Dean had already whipped his wand out. And sure enough, instead of the spell relieving the pain her ankle swelled to three times its normal size.

Luckily for Katie at this moment Fred appeared. He took one look at her massive ankle and Dean's panicked expression then swept her up into his arms and strode off towards the castle.

Katie smiled at him gratefully before asking "how did your date go?" to distract herself from the throbbing pain. She listened as Fred explained how Susan had first introduced him as her future husband and then started picking out baby names.

"So I kinda told her I was desperately in love with you to get her off my back" He said guiltily.

"Fred! What about my boyfriend plan? If this gets out it'll be ruined!" She exclaimed but Fred just winked at her and said "Sorry about that, but you're right, who would want to compete with these dashing good looks."

At this point Katie would usually have hit him but she refrained in case he dropped her and resorted to poking her tongue out at him just as they reached the castle.

Later that night Katie and Fred sat in the hospital wing eating a big bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and talking about her boyfriend plan.

"How about you Fred?" Katie said suddenly, "What would your perfect girlfriend be like?"

"She would have to be kind and but with a sense of humour, and smart but still pretty, and obviously she's got to love quidditch."

"Wow Fred, it's like we're after the same person" Katie laughed.

"Yeah," Fred replied, "and we know they're not Susan bones or Dean Thomas!"

And as Katie lead in bed that night she couldn't help but feel glad that Fred's date didn't go well.

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