Chapter Four

Katie's POV

After a few minutes of dancing with Rose and Scorpius- or rather watching the two of them flirt- I begin to feel a bit like a third wheel.

'I'm going to go and say hi to some people from school,' I shout to them both as they dance wildly to the loud music.

'Okay,' says Rose before turning back to Scorpius and continuing their mad little dance routine.

They are kind of cute, although why they aren't together yet is completely beyond me.

Pushing through the throng of people I wonder how on earth James is planning to keep this a secret from Harry and Ginny. By the looks of it, numerous drinks have already been split all over the floor, walls and other people.

Just as I notice Roxanne Weasley- another of my fellow seventh year Gryffindors- and begin to make my way over to her, none other than the party man himself appears.

'Hi James,' I say, a little warily, 'having fun?'

He nods in a dazed kind of way and takes a large swig from a dangerous looking, unmarked bottle before passing it to me.

'I think I'll stick to the branded stuff thanks,' I laugh, marvelling at how bad a state he's in so early on in the evening.

He shrugs and takes another sip himself, 'Why have you been upsetting my little brother?'

I squirm at the thought that Al has already told James about my dramatic disappearance earlier, 'Erm, I really didn't mean to.'

'He likes you, you know.'

Despite the slight haze I'm experiencing because of a couple of glasses of Firewhiskey, those words cause something akin to an electric shock to rush through me.

'Albus likes me?!' I practically yell, causing James to jump half a foot backwards in shock and drop his bottle.

'Yes,' he insists angrily, while attempting to wipe spilt drink off his shirt, 'and I know you fancy him, so just go over there and snog him.'

Was that what Albus was going to say a few minutes ago? That he fancied me and wanted to start something?

Oh God, I'm such an idiot! He told me he liked blondes for goodness sake, and I still managed to not get the hint.

'I'll go and talk to him,' I mutter, although I have absolutely no idea what to say to him.

What the hell is the protocol for when the brother of your best friend of six years tells you that said friend fancies you?!

I push through the crowds of people who are dancing and laughing, and make my way back into the hallway, hoping that Al will still be there. Due to the sheer number of guests, it takes me a while to fight my way through, and then I have to dodge McLaggen's advances; the boy seems to be trying to set a record for the most rejections in one night.

Al likes me, I think again and again. If I hadn't been such a coward a few minutes ago we could have been dating by now.

We could be upstairs kissing…

Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

'Hello, Katie.'

To my immense displeasure, Lucinda Nichols corners me just as I have reached the doorway into the hall.

'Are you alright?' I ask her, despite myself; whenever we're at Hogwarts Lucinda always looks immaculate (no doubt another part of her plan to snare Al), yet now she looks upset about something and her face is rather blotchy.

She shakes her head dramatically, 'I suppose you already know.'

'Know what?' I ask, not really following the conversation, as I strain my head around the tall figure of Fred Weasley to try and spot Al in the hallway.

She sniffs and takes a deep breath as though about to admit something dreadful, 'About Albus and Charlie Green. How could he? He knows he and I are made for each other. Hey, come back!'

But I ignore her and shove past Fred to get out of the room. And that is where I witness the worst thing I've ever seen. Worse then when I walked in on Rhia and her boyfriend's enthusiastic snogging session, worse than the time Slytherin beat us at Quidditch, worse than anything I can imagine.

Albus Potter- my Albus Potter, the boy who supposedly fancies me as much as I fancy him- is kissing the face off of Charlie Green in full view of everybody.

In the most cliché way possible, the entire room fades out apart from the two of them, who look so passionate and caught up in one another.

A wave of nausea rises in me and I turn and dash up the stairs and throw myself into the bathroom. Leaning against the locked door, I wonder just how on earth that happened. I must only have been gone for ten minutes. Did Al really get over me in that short a time?

No, it's my fault, I decide as the tears start coming, I shouldn't have disappeared like some melodramatic idiot when he was about to ask me out.

There's a loud bang on the door and a voice I recognise as Lily Potter's shouts, 'Can you hurry up please? There are four hundred people here and only two toilets!'

'Give me a minute,' I reply thickly.

'Katie?'

I ignore her and pretty soon I hear footsteps hurrying back down the stairs, which I take to mean she's given up and gone to use another bathroom.

I only have a couple more minutes to wallow in my misery and realise how pathetic I am to be shut in a bathroom at the party of the year, when there's another loud knock.

'Katie, open this door right now,' demands Rose, sternly.

Reluctantly, I pull the door open to see Rose and Lily standing on the threshold looking concerned.

'What's wrong?' asks Rose, hurrying inside and closing the door behind her.

'Haven't you seen the show your cousin is putting on?' I snap, rather unfairly since Rose has done nothing wrong.

She rolls her eyes, 'Ugh, it was disgusting. They hardly know one another, but why-'

She breaks off and stares at me, a look of realisation appearing on her face, 'You like Albus!' she practically screams.

To my horror (I hardly ever cry), I burst into a fresh wave of tears, which seems unlikely to ever stop. Looking rather alarmed, Rose fetches me some tissues and puts her arm round me.

'I had no idea,' she mutters, 'I just thought you were friends.'

I shake my head, 'I've always thought he was good looking and then I saw him earlier this week and realised how much I like him.'

She shakes her head and hands me some tissue, 'Well he's an idiot for not realising how amazing you are. You're much nicer than Charlie bloody Green.'

'That's not the worst part,' I exclaim dramatically, 'Al was about to ask me out when I arrived, but I misread the signals and ran off because I didn't want to embarrass myself by admitting that I fancied him.'

'Wait,' says Rose, looking thoroughly confused, 'So you liked Al and didn't think he liked you. He was about to ask you out but you didn't realise this and ran off. So he has no idea that you like him?'

'That's about the gist of it.'

'Shit,' mutters Rose after a few moments of stunned silence. Then her face sharpens into a look of outrage, 'well it didn't take him long to get over you, did it? The bastard.'

I can't help but giggle at this because I don't think that I've ever heard Rose swear before, let alone twice in one go.

'It'll be alright, the thing with Charlie is probably just a one off,' she says bracingly, 'Maybe you should just go home and try and calm down.'

I shudder at the thought of going home, and then remember that my mother told me not to go back if I went out.

'What?' asks Rose, noticing my reaction.

I shake my head, unsure whether to laugh or cry over how messed up my life has suddenly become, 'Going home will not help me relax.'

Rose looks at me incredulously for a moment, 'For God's sake Katie, you can stay at my house! I've already told you this!'

'I didn't want to cause any arguments,' I mutter rather lamely.

She shakes her head despairingly and pulls me into a hug, 'You're my best friend, you know that.'

'So I'm staying at yours?' I ask, my heart jumping at the thought of never having to live with my family again.

She nods, 'Yep. Shall we go and get your stuff?'

'What, now?' I'm surprised Rose would want to miss an opportunity to dance with Scorpius without it looking too suspicious.

'Yeah, well tonight's not going to be much fun for you if Al and Charlie are at it for the entire time.'

'You're my best friend too,' I murmur pathetically, grateful for her sacrificing her night to look after me.

'Of course,' she laughs, 'Okay, I'll go and say goodbye to some people, and then we'll get out of here.'

I nod and use some tissue to sort out my make-up. If I have to walk past Al again, I want to do it with at least some dignity.

Rose and I head downstairs and unfortunately have to go through the hallway where Al and Charlie are still playing tonsil tennis.

Come on! This is getting ridiculous! Do they have endless stamina?

Fortunately, Al doesn't notice either me or Rose walk past, so I don't have to pretend to be fine with him kissing Charlie nor slap him around the face. (I'm still debating which one of those choices to employ when I next see him.)

'Hey, Rose, your favourite song is on!' Scorpius has appeared, clearly looking for Rose.

She leans towards him and talks quietly so that only the three of us can hear, 'I think Katie and I are going to head home.'

'Are you okay?' he asks immediately, and I notice his hand brushes her waist as he speaks.

She nods, 'Yeah, Katie's not feeling well. I'll speak to you tomorrow.'

I watch in slight fascination as she briefly touches his forearm and then hugs him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

How the hell are these two not a couple yet?!

'Okay,' he says and then turns to me, 'I hope you're alright, Katie.'

I give him a nod, unwilling to speak in case it draws any of Al's attention to me; he's only a few feet away and the last thing I want to do is have to talk to him right now.

Once Romeo and Juliet have said goodbye, Rose and I head outside, where the cool night air hits me and wakes me up from my part-drunken, part-heartbroken daze.

'What a bastard,' I mutter as Rose takes my arm, ready for us to disapparate.

She giggles, 'Yep from now on Albus will be known as The Bastard.'

Two hours later and I'm sitting at Rose's kitchen table, holding a cup of tea and feeling more relaxed than I have done in ages. Somehow, being in Rose's house with her lovely parents and the annoying in a cute way Hugo, has made the Al situation seem not quite so bad.

I mean, it's not as if he and Charlie will go out, or anything. They were probably both a bit tipsy and found a shared interest in each other's tongues. It's not like that's an ideal foundation for a long-term relationship.

God I hope I'm right.

'And of course you're welcome to stay for the rest of the holidays,' smiles Rose's mum Hermione as she offers me a plate of biscuits.

'Thank you,' I say, feeling incredibly grateful.

'Oh it's nothing,' she insists, waving my thanks away, 'Besides, it'll be nice for Rose to see someone other than her cousins over the holidays.'

I glance at Rose who shoots me a warning look; clearly her parents are unaware of the amount of time she spends with a certain Scorpius Malfoy.

'Can we have some privacy, mum?' demands Rose, looking rather flushed.

Hermione laughs, 'Of course. Shout me if you need anything Katie.'

'Your mum is so nice,' I mutter as Hermione leaves the kitchen.

Luckily I managed to avoid a confrontation with my parents because Rose and I apparated directly into my room and were somehow quiet enough that we packed all my things and were away before my parents had noticed anything.

Of course I know I'll have to go back in the next day or two and explain where I'm staying, but I'm glad that there was no more drama tonight.

'Thanks again for cheering me up and letting me stay,' I smile at Rose.

Albus' POV

'Seriously, Al you need to go to bed,' Scorpius tells me in what I consider an unnecessarily strict voice.

'You sound like my Dad,' I mutter, as I take another swig of one of James' unmarked bottles of alcohol; after ten of them, I've realised that I do actually like the taste.

It's around three in the morning and most of the guests have left. Not that I've noticed much of what has been going on; I seem to have spent most of the night kissing Charlie Green, although the details are a bit hazy.

'Well since he's not here, I'd better do his job,' says Scorpius, snatching the bottle away from me and vanishing it with his wand.

'Hey! I was drinking that!'

'You're such a twat when you're drunk, Albus.'

I'm about to retort when Charlie reappears by my side, wearing her rather attractive smile.

'Hey, Albus, I'm about to go,' she says, looking up at me through her eyelashes, 'I just wanted to say goodbye.'

And before I can say anything, she leans up and kisses me rather enthusiastically; not that I mind, I would just like a little bit of a warning first.

'So,' she begins, when we break apart, 'are we going to meet up sometime?'

'Yes,' I say, not entirely sure what I'm agreeing to, 'Erm I'll send you an owl.'

'No need,' she says, 'I'll just pop round and see you sometime next week. I do know where you live, after all.'

'Okay,' I agree, thinking of nothing but the comfortable bed which is awaiting me upstairs.

With one final kiss, she says goodbye and disappears out of the front door with a couple of friends, turning to wink at me as she leaves.

Once she's gone, Scorpius turns to me with an incredulous expression on his face, 'bunny boiler alert!'

'Oh don't be ridiculous, these things happen at parties. She doesn't want a long term relationship.'

He raises his eyebrows in that annoyingly smug way of his, 'doesn't she?'

Well, even if she does, I don't have the mental capacity to think about it at the moment. I think the effects of the homemade alcohol have caught up with me.

'See you later, mate,' I say to Scorpius as I turn to head upstairs to bed.

I make it one step when a thought enters my drunken mind.

'Scorpius! When did Katie leave?'

'Oh she left really early on in the night. Rose said she wasn't feeling well.'

'Why didn't she tell me she was leaving?'

Scorpius rolls his eyes despairingly, 'You were a bit busy with Charlie at the time.'

A rush of horror flows through me. Did Katie see that?

Well of course she did! Charlie and I weren't exactly being subtle!

'Oh God, I'm such an idiot,' I moan, sitting down on the steps and holding my head in my hands.

'Well I know that, you'll have to be more specific.'

'I can't believe I kissed Charlie right in front of Katie,' I mutter, more to myself than to Scorpius, 'she won't think that I fancy her now.'

'Okay, back track there, Al!'

'Yeah, yeah, I fancy Katie, okay!' I attempt grudgingly, 'I was going to ask her out but then she ran off, so I sort of ended up kissing Charlie.'

'I knew it!' exclaims Scorpius excitedly, 'I always knew you had a thing for Katie! Why the hell did you kiss Charlie then?'

'Because I'm a twat.'

'Yes, you are. Does Katie fancy you?'

Now that has me stumped. She did run away when I was about to ask her out, but maybe she didn't realise what I was doing at the time- I'm not exactly the smoothest talker.

'Who knows?' I shrug, feeling more than a little bit of despair, 'It's all one massive mess.'

'Yeah and now you've made it worse by agreeing to go on a date with Charlie! And you know you won't turn her down, because you're a nice guy. Not the kind who hooks up with girls at parties and then ignores them. Well, not usually anyway.'

'No, that's usually your job,' I snap, although I'm actually annoyed at myself not Scorpius.

'Hey!' he says, looking rather offended, 'You know I don't do that anymore. Not since I realised-'

He stops talking- no doubt just before mentioning Rose- and blushes.

I pretend not to notice this and find my thoughts returning to Katie. I've somehow managed to screw everything up in the space of one night. Katie will be furious with me (that is if she does fancy me at all, which I still have no proof of) and I'm sort of compelled to meet up with Charlie again so I don't look like a tosser.

How the hell did I get myself into this mess?

Oh dear, it's all a bit messed up thanks to Al and Katie not admitting their feelings.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try and post the next one within a week, hopefully less.

Please review! :)