Chapter 5
Alicia and I were making our way down to breakfast the next morning, a sunny Saturday, when we hailed by two fifth year girls.
"Oi, Angelina, Alicia, over here!" Katie Bell called brightly from over by the fireplace. She was sitting in one of the best armchairs, next to a girl called Leanne.
"Hey, Katie," I called back, making my way over to sit next to her.
Alicia and I had become friends with Katie in our third year, when we were all on the Quidditch team together for the first time. I often thought it was ironic that she had long bright red curls, because her personality was anything but fiery or loud. She was quiet, modest, and hard-working. I liked her a lot, but we weren't close, as I hardly ever saw her off the Quidditch pitch. She and Leanne, an extremely shy girl with short black hair, were very good friends.
"What's up?" Alicia asked, sitting beside Leanne.
"Nothing much," Katie answered. "I just wanted to chat. It has been ages since I talked to you two."
"Yeah, well, without Quidditch," Alicia said.
"I know," I sighed. "I hate not playing this year."
Alicia giggled. "Can you imagine if Wood was here? He'd start a boycott of the school or something."
"Burn the castle in protest," I said. "Then, if he got Quidditch to come back, he'd kidnap Krum and force him to play with us." We all laughed, but Katie had an odd look, almost like longing, in her eyes. It made me laugh harder to realize why.
When we had all sobered, Alicia asked, "So, have you two got dates for the Yule Ball yet?"
Leanne nodded, but Katie shook her head.
"Still stuck on a certain Quidditch Captain?" Alicia teased her.
Katie stuck out her tongue at her.
Alicia laughed. "Do that all you want, but notice how you didn't even deny it."
Katie had been completely in love with Oliver Wood since the middle of her fourth year. I don't think he registers anything that doesn't have to do with Quidditch, though, so he didn't notice. Fred, George, and Harry seemed clueless too, but Alicia and I hadn't missed the looks she had given him in practices.
I shook my head. "Jeez! How can you have a crush on someone as egotistical and Quidditch obsessed as Oliver Wood? He's a total blockhead!"
"Says the girl who's going with Fred Weasley to the Yule Ball. He's a blockhead if ever I saw one," Katie retorted. She had evidently been in the Gryffindor common room last night.
I stuck my tongue out at her, trying not to laugh.
"Do that all you want," Katie said, imitating Alicia, "But notice how you didn't even deny it."
I burst out laughing, along with the other three of them, but I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.
"Jeez, Katie," I said finally, composing myself.
"What?" she asked confusedly.
"It's just- I've never seen you so hyper. You're so funny today. The fiery red-head is really showing through," I joked.
She shrugged, "I don't know. On the Quidditch pitch, I guess I'm more concentrated-"
"On Oliver or the Quaffle?" Alicia snickered, earning a dirty look from Katie.
"And sometimes, with a lot of people around, I'm almost as shy as Leanne," Katie continued. "Now, it's almost the Christmas holidays, and I've really missed you guys." She shrugged. "This is the me Leanne normally has to put up with."
"Yeah, but you're even more giddy now because we were just talking about Oliver," Leanne muttered, saying the name with false reverence.
All four of us busted up at that. The fact that Leanne had said it made it even funnier. I'd barely heard Leanne mutter two sentences before, and now she had just made a joke? Katie said that she talked a lot more when she got comfortable with people.
Eventually, we all composed ourselves. "So," Alicia said to Leanne, "You said you've got a date for the ball? Who are you going with?"
"Thomas Moore," Leanne answered quietly.
"He's almost as quiet as she is," Katie interjected. "They'll be the quietest couple ever." Leanne playfully pushed her.
"What about you, Alicia?" Katie asked. "Who are you going with?"
"I'm going with Eric Hale," she answered.
"I don't know him," Katie said. "What's he like?"
At that moment, however, we were interrupted by Lee Jordan.
"Alicia!" he called from across the common room, and then he started to make his way toward us.
"Hey, Lee," she called back.
Katie and I said hello as well, but he just nodded.
"That's weird," I said.
"What?" Katie asked.
"He looks so nervous."
"Just a little."
"Yeah, but Lee never gets nervous, or… emotional… at all. Even when he does, he doesn't show it," I whispered.
"I don't know him much. He never seemed deadpan to me before though," she said, looking at him.
"He's not deadpan, he's just always happy, always laughing," I chuckled as I remembered something. "The morning before our first O.W.L.- the Charms Theory- Alicia was sitting at breakfast, firing off questions without waiting for an answer, I was speed-reading my Charms notes, and even the twins were cracking a lot of really bad jokes out of nerves, but Lee was just sitting there, calmly eating his breakfast, and laughing at all of us." I looked at her. "You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Katie nodded.
Next to us, Alicia was telling Leanne every detail of how Eric had asked her to the ball.
"She's been dying to tell someone else the whole story," I muttered.
"Yeah, and Leanne makes a great listener," Katie snickered.
Lee had finally made his way over to us. His face flushed, he started, "Alicia, I really need to talk-" He broke off as he heard what Alicia had just said.
"-and then, he asked me if I'd like to come with him to the Yule Ball, so, of course, I said yes, and-"
"What? Said yes to whom?" Lee said angrily, almost accusingly.
Alicia broke off, realizing for the first time that Lee was there. "Oh, uh, Eric Hale," she said.
All the sudden, Lee seemed to change from the happy, funny boy I'd always known, to an angry monster. "You're going with ERIC HALE! He's a total JERK! I can't believe you're going with- you deserve each other! Hale!" he spat loudly, almost yelling. Kids in the common room all turned to look as he stalked away back to the boys' dormitories.
Alicia looked around, upset. "What in the name of Merlin was that about?"
I shrugged, troubled. "He's not acting at like himself. I have no idea."
However, as a sudden thought struck me, I gave a start. Suddenly, I realized that my last statement might not be quite true….
Hey all,
Hope you all liked this chapter. Katie Bell isn't mentioned a lot in the books, so I kind of made up my own Katie- I have no idea if she really has red hair or not... I know Leanne talks a lot more in the books in the one chapter she's in, but she's hysterical, so I kind of figured she'd talk more then, especially to say what had happened to Katie. A few of the reviewers thought I was rushing through a bit too much, sorry about that. I just wanted to show how they became friends a bit before all the romantic craziness stuff happened. I'm slowing down now, although I can't promise I won't skip a few more years. Actually, in my original plan for this fic, the Yule Ball was going to be over by the third chapter, bur I'm obviously not following that plan anymore.... Please review! Thanks!
