"You really will?" asked fifth-year Fred Weasley excitedly. "You really will go out with me?!"
"I really will go out with you," laughed Katie, grinning at his incredulity.
"And you're totally serious?"
"Dead serious," she reaffirmed, laughing. "Honestly, Fred, did you really ask me out expecting that I'd say no?"
"I don't know what I thought!" he cried, laughing now, too. "But I'm so glad that you did! In fact—"
Fred clambered on top of the couch on which they were sitting in the common room and threw his arms out, his booming voice calling everyone to attention.
"Excuse me," he shouted. "Excuse me here, I have a very important announcement to make!"
"Fred, get down from there," Percy warned. Katie just rocked back in peals of laughter.
"I'm sorry, but I'll not allow even you to ruin this for me, dear brother. Many apologies," Fred grinned, casting a full body bind on the self-important Head Boy. "And now, friends, I must let you know: This girl—this lovely girl sitting right here—(Come on, Katie, wave to the people!)—This girl right before your eyes has agreed to be my girlfriend on this, the 22nd day of November, and I am SO HAPPY!" He paused, laughing out of sheer joy and began again. "And I just wanted to let you all know—that I LOVE THIS GIRL!!! Merlin, I love this girl!"
By now, Katie herself was in hysterics, caught up in the passion of the moment, tears of laughter pouring from her eyes. "Fred, get down," she begged, tugging on his sleeve and accomplishing absolutely nothing.
"No disturbing the team equilibrium," Oliver Wood said moodily from the corner.
The two just laughed as Fred returned from the top of the couch. "Oh, sod off, Ollie," Katie laughed, causing him to look affronted. She returned to Fred, leaning on him for support.
"What did you do that for, huh?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Why'd you have to make such a spectacle?"
"I couldn't help it," he returned, grinning just as wide as she was. "It's just SO MUCH FUN being in love with you!"
She laughed again. "I know exactly what you mean," she said quietly, just before the two shared their first kiss. It lasted about seven and a half minutes and was only interrupted when Percy managed to find someone to release him from his brother's body binding spell.
This time, Katie was shaken awake by a man she did not recognize. She opened her eyes to his round, red face, grimacing in the light that was glinting off of a badge on his chest which read "Sheriff". Katie had time to wonder vaguely why muggles wore their names on their chests and just what kind of name "Sheriff" was before the man spoke.
"It's illegal to sleep on the beach, missy," he said, staring down at her.
Katie jerked upward, staring around her. He was right; she was still in Seattle and still on the beach. Her eyes grew round as she thought of the Weasleys and how they would probably be wondering where she was. She checked her watch but found that she had somehow leaned against the reset button during the night and that it no longer read the correct time.
"Are you alright?" the sheriff now asked curiously. "You were jerking around in your sleep quite a bit there."
"I'm fine," she breathed, standing up and brushing the sand off of her jeans. "Do you happen to know what time it is?"
"It's 7:30," the man replied. He was looking her up and down, eyes lingering on her engagement ring with disappointment.
"Oh no," Katie moaned, not noticing his reactions. "I've got to be at work in half an hour or I'm late!"
"Well where do you work?" the sheriff asked. "I might be able to drive you there."
"London," Katie breathed, gathering her things.
"London?!" he laughed incredulously. "Sorry, lady, but I don't think you'll be making it there in half an hour. You're much better off having breakfast with me instead."
"Oh, I'll make it, I'll just be in a rush" Katie said dismissively. "And you can keep your breakfast, Sheriff. By the way, that really is a curious name. Is it in the family?"
And without waiting for an answer, she sped around the corner and seemingly disappeared from his view. The sheriff scratched his head and then began to commence with his rounds. "Damn crazy Brits," he muttered to himself.
Katie apparated with a small pop back into the Weasleys' kitchen where Molly was just cleaning up breakfast and Percy and Arthur were getting ready to floo to work.
"There you are, dear," she said, surprised. "Where did you go?"
"Had to go out to—er—get some new clothes. Can't go in jeans to work," she lied quickly.
"But I don't see any—"
Katie dashed into the nearest washroom, quickly summoning up a blouse, skirt, and a pair of heels. She changed quickly and ran back out into the kitchen.
"But you'll miss breakfast!" Mrs. Weasley protested as Katie prepared to follow Percy into the fireplace grate.
"I'm seriously fine, Mrs. Weasley," Katie said as gratefully as she could muster. "I'll come back 'round for a slice of pie again tonight, though?"
"At least take a piece of toast," she urged, shoving a small saucer into Katie's hands. "You look very underfed."
Katie knew when it was best to just let things lie, and this was one of those times. She placed the piece of toast inside her mouth, reshouldered her messenger bag, and waved a quick goodbye.
"Wait!" Molly shouted. "I forgot—this came for you today. I think it was Alicia Spinnet's owl."
"Thanks, Mrs. W," Katie mumbled through the toast, gripping the letter and shoving it into one of the many pockets of her bag. "But I really have to go. 'Bye!"
And Katie sped through the Floo Network, landing hard on the floor of the Ministry of Magic. Not wanting to waste more time crossing the street, Katie apparated quickly to the building where the Daily Prophet operated. Finally entering the elevator, Katie leaned against the back of the door and swore slightly under her breath.
"Miss Bell, how odd it is to see you here only fifteen minutes before work starts," said a voice beside her. Katie started and turned around to find her boss, Germaine Hudson smiling at her in a curious sort of way.
"I spent the night with a family friend," she breathed. "They kept me a little later than I had planned."
"Don't apologize to me," Hudson said dismissively. "It's probably best that you're not here the usual full two hours before the day begins. You're going to wear yourself out if you aren't careful. Watch yourself, Bell."
"Yes, ma'am," Katie said, nodding without any intention of following through. The elevator dinged and both witches stepped out, heading their separate ways.
Katie, still only nineteen years old and a budding journalist, sat in the corner of the large office in a cubicle pushed far from the main center of activity. She didn't mind this, however. The quiet helped her concentrate. Her main goals here at work were to, one, get her father released from Azkaban and two, attain a regular spot in publication by the end of the year. The way she was working now, she would have it by the end of the next six months. Her work was flawless, provocative, and always in two weeks early. This was good for her professional life, but ravaged her social one; Ever since she had returned to work after the war, she'd earned a reputation as somewhat of an overachiever and a killjoy. The only person in the office she got along tolerably well with was Jacquelyn, another young witch whose cubicle was next to her own. Jacquelyn graduated from Beauxbatons the same year Katie left Hogwarts.
"Morning, Katie," Jacquelyn said, looking over her typewriter as Katie lowered herself into her chair.
"Hi, Jac," she returned tiredly.
"Long morning?" the long haired girl asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear that had managed to fall out of the light brown ponytail.
"You've no idea," Katie said, arranging her things. "I woke up on a beach in Seattle."
Jacquelyn raised an eyebrow and then shook her head. "No," she said, more to herself than to Katie. "I'm not going to ask."
"Probably for the best anyway," Katie said appreciatively. "How are things going today?"
Jacquelyn bit her lip.
"Jac…" Katie said, urging.
"There's good news and bad news," she said finally.
"Well?"
"Well, the good news is, you got your article published."
"I did? That's great!"
"Yeah…but you and that other Weasley bloke are front page again." Jacquelyn peered at Katie, waiting for the storm to break loose.
"What?!" she shouted. "Give me the newspaper. What in the hell could they have thought to come up with now??"
Wordlessly, the other girl handed over the issue of the Daily Prophet and Katie stared down at the headline that now read "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes: Will It Ever Reopen, and if not, does Fiancee Kathryn Bell Inherit?" With one ferocious effort, Katie tore the thick paper in half and threw it violently into the bin. She sat back down and put her face into her hands, breathing heavily.
"I'd hide out as much today as you can," Jacquelyn said quietly. "Word on the street is that Rita Skeeter's snooping around for you."
Katie began her day with smashing a coffee mug.
Xxx
Katie sat in a far corner of the lunch room shared by both the Ministry and the Daily Prophet. She wasn't eating and was instead spending the mandatory half-an-hour break by staring at the envelope handed to her by Mrs. Weasley earlier that morning. She had been right, it was from Alicia. Katie recognized the small neat cursive that had written her name on the center of the envelope. She considered and reconsidered opening it. It had traveled the small distance from the table top into the messenger bag and back onto the table top about fifty times now and Katie was still unsure of what to do with it.
If she opened the letter, she would be inviting her friend that she had cut out for over a month back into her life. While this would undoubtedly be some small source of comfort for her, it would also involve returning to a flood of memories which were irrevocably connected with Fred, and she just could not bear to deal with that yet. Even the thought of reading what Alicia had to say caused her whole body to shake and her stomach to tie itself into multiple knots. What many people did not understand was that she was past the point of being able to cry; it was this state of being where her emotions were felt with her nervous system that was utter and complete agony. Only those who had experienced this knew the gravity of it. She wasn't being brave; she was at the point of deep, tearless sorrow.
She felt, rather than knew, that once she was able to cry this whole thing out, she would be on her way to really getting on with her life. There was no way to recover from this—but she could get on with her life. Perhaps Alicia Spinnet could help. Katie's hand hovered over the envelope.
But perhaps she couldn't. She drew back again. This kind of loveless existence that she had been living had its benefits. She didn't have to share anything. But maybe sharing would lead to feeling and feeling to expressing through tears; maybe Alicia could help her become human again.
Katie took a deep breath and placed her hand on the envelope. She was on the point of giving way to her fears and pushing the letter away again when a voice interrupted her vacillation.
"I'd open that if I were you."
At the familiar Scottish accent, Katie whipped around in shock. Casually standing behind her was none other than Oliver Wood, her old captain and friendly acquaintance from her school days.
"Hi, Ol," she said, still bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
Oliver laughed good-naturedly. It was a strange and unfamiliar sound to Katie, who had only heard hushed voices for over a month. It somehow felt comforting. "I would have settled for a 'How are you?' or a 'Why don't you sit down, Wood?', but I suppose I can answer that if you'd really like to know."
"Oh, sorry," Katie muttered, suddenly recollecting normal civilities. She cleared the small table of her things and motioned for Oliver to sit down. He complied.
"Sorry…" Katie said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to interrogate you right off the bat. I just—well, I read the papers just like any other normal person and I thought I read that you'd been hired on as a regular with Puddlemore, so I guess I assumed you'd be practicing with them instead of…at the Ministry lunch room…" She trailed off.
"Yeah, Puddlemore's put me in the starting line up," Wood nodded. "But practice doesn't start until five and so sometimes I come 'round here to visit old Ludo Bagman in Magical Games. He asks my advice on a lot of things and, well, sometimes it's easier to show him in person…Anyway, I thought I recognized the back of your head."
He grinned. Katie attempted to grin back but was only able to muster a wan smile. Wood seemed to accept this, however, and continued.
"Listen, I've—er—read about you a lot lately, too. How are you doing, Katie?" His brown eyes searched hers intently and his voice conveyed gentility and concern. Katie broke the gaze, letting her eyes drop to her lap, hoping that this could somehow function as an answer.
Oliver reached out and gently took her hand, squeezing it softly. "Trust me, you're really going to want to open that letter, Bell."
For some reason, Katie reacted angrily, snatching back her hand. "How do you know?" she snapped. "You're just like all those other heartless bastards who pretend to care about poor Katie Bell who's fiancée was killed during the war so you can get the inside story!"
Oliver stared. "Bell, I'm not a reporter, I'm just concerned—"
"Like hell you are," she said angrily. "Since when do you care about what happens to me? In school, you were always too busy thinking about us as just part of the team that was going to get you the quidditch cup! You never noticed that any of us had feelings. Why should you be concerned now?"
"Right," Oliver said quietly, standing up. "Right, well—I'll go then. I'll not tell you that I actually came to find you to make sure you opened Spinnet's letter and to try and be a friend, because I can tell you wouldn't believe me. Have a good day, Katie."
Katie glowered at his retreating back and then buried her face in her hands. What the hell am I doing? Chasing away people who want to help…Terrific, Bell. This will really get you through this.
Recomposing herself, Katie sat up straight and seized Alicia's letter, ripping it open. She unfolded the single sheet of parchment and began to read rapidly.
Dear Katie,
If you're reading this now, I'm guessing you've probably already seen Oliver. Since you haven't responded to any of my previous letters, I assumed that neither your family or the Weasleys could convince you to open them so I sent Wood who I see about every other day to find you and ask you to read it. If you are, I'm assuming he did his job. If you haven't seen him, don't worry because you will next Saturday. We're all going to a movie together—that's right, those big muggle productions that you got us kicked out of the summer after our fifth year.
Katie, I'm not going to waste ink or parchment to tell you that I'm worried about you and George. If I did, I know you'd quit reading this letter right now and most definitely wouldn't show up Saturday. So all I'm going to say, I guess, is that I miss you. I'm sharing an apartment with Ange now and Lee moved into the complex across from us a couple of weeks ago so it's really only been the three of us. Needless to say, we miss you and George like Flitwick misses his platform shoes George knicked from him two years ago.—Nice side step of Fred there, Alicia, Katie thought, but continued reading. Anyway, it's pretty dull without you two around. It would really be doing me a huge favor if you could come with us. And I think it would be really good for George to get out, too. Every time I pass his boarded up shop, I think and worry about him, and I'm sure you're probably even more concerned for him than we are because you see him every day. Oh, and I thought it might be fun to invite Oliver, too, because none of us have talked with him in a while. It turned about to be a good idea, because he's really excited to come.
Anyway, Katie, I really hope you think about this and decide to join us. And please talk to George about it, too. I'd owl him, but I know there's even less chance of his opening a letter from me than there is of yours. We'd all really love to see you there. Actually, since you only respond to threats, here's one: If you and George don't both drag your arses down to my house at noon on Saturday, none of us are going. And I know you don't want to spoil four people's fun! I'll see you then, Katie.
All my love,
Alicia
Katie rolled her eyes. It was like Alicia to try and con her into doing something against her will. It had actually worked out really well in school. This situation, however, was enormously different from anything in school and there was nothing Alicia could say or do that would make Katie want to give up a day of work for a day of being surrounded by people who would remind her consistently of what she had lost.
She shoved the letter back into her bag and returned to work, forgetting that she had received anything in the post that day at all.
Xxx
"Was that Oliver Wood you were talking to at lunch?" Jacquelyn asked casually around five as she was packing up her things to leave for home.
"Yeah, it was," Katie replied, not looking up from her work. "I don't know what he was doing here, actually. I mean, we talked at school, but it was never anything friendly so I don't know why he's decided to try and strike up an acquaintanceship now." She paused briefly to sigh. "Anyway, he and a few of my old friends from school are getting together next weekend and are trying to get George Weasley and me to tag along."
Jacquelyn nodded. "Interesting," she muttered.
"What's interesting?"
"Sorry, just that his career is taking off and he still finds time for his friends."
Katie scoffed. "He's hardly a saint, Jac. I'm sure he's just after another connection that will make headlines. 'Rising Quidditch Star Oliver Wood Finds Time to Console Broken Hearted Kathryn Bell'. It's a great publicity stunt. I commend him for being so resourceful, actually."
Jacquelyn shrugged. "Whatever, Katie. He seems harmless to me. Kind of sweet, come to think of it."
Katie quirked an eyebrow. "Would you like me to set you up on a date with him? Is that what you're getting at?"
Now it was taller girl who scoffed. "Hardly," she said dismissively. "Not denying that he's dead gorgeous, but…well, goodnight, Katie. Don't stay too late."
"'Night, Jac."
Katie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, trying to refocus on her story. Her angle, which had really worked for the last couple of issues, was failing. Kingsley Shacklebolt was more than a capable Minister and Katie knew that; it was hardly his fault that Azkaban was a practically medieval institution. Kingsley was working hard, first by removing dementors from guarding the prisoners and then by appointing a special staff over the release process. But still, having her father behind bars over trumped up charges after a month was absolutely ridiculous. And the flack her family—and many others—were receiving from some members of the wizarding world was getting to be more than just salt on an open wound. Katie sighed, running her fingers through the short chocolate brown hair that hung in layers to her chin. She sat up, readjusted her black reading glasses and began typing once again, showing the administration no mercy despite the reprieves she had just given them inside her head.
Having properly produced another of her harshly worded editorials, Katie placed the acidic article in Hudson's inbox and began to collect her things.
"See that you're leaving before I have to tell you to," Aarons's voice came from behind her.
Katie pursed her lips and shouldered her messenger bag, turning around to face him. "Good evening to you, too," she said shortly.
The security guard rudely stared at her skirt, which was slightly above her knees. "You know, you could start dating again if you wanted to," he said bluntly.
Katie just glared at him, shoving past him and into the hall.
"No, that didn't come out right," he stumbled behind her. "I mean, any time you want to talk about your dead fiancée, I'm willing to listen."
Katie whirled around, now completely irate. "Why can't you people just learn to leave me alone?!" she shrieked. "Stay the hell out of my business, will you?!"
The rotund, balding man looked taken aback as another voice began to sound from a darker corner Katie hadn't bothered to take notice of until just then. Oh, sweet Merlin.
"Kathryn Bell, endearingly called Katie by those closest to her, pleads with fellow employees to just let her be as she makes her way out after another overly long day at the office," said the silky smooth voice of Rita Skeeter. The tall blonde woman emerged from the shadows, a smile across her simpering face and a Quick Quotes Quill in hand. "Tell me, Kathryn, is this pent up rage a direct result of your fiancee's death, or your father's imprisonment?"
"You," Katie said with as much disdain as she could afford. "I have no desire to talk to you. You're total scum, harassing people in mourning for a headline."
She turned around and continued walking toward the door, but the questions followed her.
"Wait, Katie—What do you think your fiancée would have thought of the harsh articles you've been publishing? If he had to choose between you and his twin brother, who do you think who would choose to speak to if he had another chance? Do you feel like you have to live for the both of you now? Does George feel that way?"
With each step, she came closer and closer to exploding. She was about to drop a choice swear word she had learned from Fred when someone else interceded.
"Oi!" said a commanding voice. Katie stared at Oliver Wood who had managed to magically reappear in her life for the second time that day. "Oi, Rita, would you give it a rest with Bell for a moment?"
"Coming to her rescue, are we, Wood?" Rita said, looking delighted, her pen scratching away excitedly. Katie's eyes grew wide, silently pleading with him not to stay anything stupid.
"Of course not," he said easily as relief rushed over her. "I just heard you were over here and thought you could use an interview with me."
"Indeed?" she said curiously, quickly forgetting about Katie. "But you've always opposed my interviews in the past."
"Yeah, well, I've changed my mind," Oliver said quickly, but firmly. "Just not tonight. I'll give you my home address, though, and you can pop 'round sometime tomorrow. How does that sound?"
"Quite delightful, Mr. Wood. I'm glad to see you've finally come to your senses about this fame business."
Oliver looked like he was suppressing something as he scrawled his address out on a spare bit of parchment and handed it to Rita. Katie continued to stare in amazement as both the untactful security guard and callous reporter wandered out of her sight. She turned her attention to Wood, hoping to express her thanks but all that came out was, "What are you doing here now?"
"I—er—left my wand here earlier. Didn't really feel comfortable going home without it so I thought I'd pop 'round here and have a look to see if I could find it."
"At the Daily Prophet building…where you haven't been all day?" She looked at him curiously.
"Right, well, I was actually in here earlier, but you must not have seen me."
"Your wand's sticking out of your pocket, Wood."
"Oh is it? I see. I guess you're right." Oliver looked around from his great height, obviously unaware of what to do now that he had been caught.
Katie just sighed and rolled her eyes. "I opened the letter, Oliver," she said, registering that his appearance could only be for that reason. "I know that Alicia sent you to make sure that I did."
"Er—right. Good. So you're coming, then?"
She shrugged. "I don't know, Ol…" she trailed off.
"Alicia's really worried about you."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "How are you seeing Alicia so often?" she asked, changing the subject. "She's a healer at St. Mungo's."
To her surprise, Oliver seemed to laugh to himself. "Well," he admitted. "Life as a professional quidditch player seems to be a bit—ah—rougher than I imagined, I suppose. I've gotten quite a few injuries. If you read the papers, I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. "Accident Prone Ollie', that's what they're calling me now. Bit unfair, really. Anyway, I ran into Alicia probably the third or fourth time I was there and she's been treating me ever since to keep me away from reporters. I've been trying to reestablish those connections from school ever since the war ended. Made me realize what's important in life, I guess."
Kate sighed tiredly, running a hand through her hair. "Oliver, you didn't lose anyone in the war," she said, slightly exasperated. "What do you know about what's important in life?"
"I was friends with Fred, too," Oliver reminded her gently. It was true, Katie guessed, If you counted the twins constantly badgering Oliver as friendship.
"Okay, Wood," Katie said, continuing to walk down the stairs and out of the building while he followed closely behind her. "Maybe we'll see you on Saturday."
She attempted to open the door, but he blocked her. "I also came by to see if you fancied a bit of tea," he said quickly, looking at her intensely.
"I have to be somewhere," she said, looking up distractedly at Wood. What was he playing at now?
"Where are you going?" It was obvious that he didn't believe her.
"I'm going to the Weasleys," Katie sighed. "I meet them for dessert every night. They like me to be there, and George especially needs—" She broke off, tiredly looking up at him as though begging him to understand.
To her relief, he nodded. "Alright," he said. "Well I'm coming back here tomorrow to go over some more stuff with Ludo; how'd you like to go out to lunch with me? Catch up a bit?"
Katie looked at him confused. "I don't know, Wood, we'll see."
"Please consider it. And Katie? Try and get some sleep tonight. You look a frightful wreck."
"Thanks, Ol." And she pushed past him for the final time, crossing the street toward the Floo station.
xxx
Dessert that night was more of a quiet affair than usual. Katie wasn't quite sure wheter to attribute this to George's absence ("He refuses to come down tonight," Ginny had said, frustrated, as she sidled in next to Harry Potter) or the repeated careful glances between her mother and Mrs. Weasley. Katie ate her raspberry cheesecake listlessly, figuring that the two women would unfold whatever they were conspiring together in due time and that it was best not to push it.
Katie was right. Just as people began to throw down their napkins and push their empty plates toward the center of the table, Mrs. Bell began to speak tentatively.
"Mrs. Weasley and I think it's best if you and George go out with your friends on Saturday," she said finally. Molly nodded firmly.
Katie raised her left eyebrow and stared at the pair of them. "You've been reading my mail?" she asked, accusatorily.
"No, no, of course not," her mother said, looking scandalized.
"Oliver Wood dropped by this afternoon, dear," Mrs. Weasley explained kindly. "He informed us of the contents of Alicia's letter."
Katie groaned and stared up at the ceiling. Oliver Wood strikes again.
"We know what you're thinking, love," Mrs. Bell gently began. "But we've talked about it and really decided that that's what's best—for you and for George. Neither of you have talked to your friends since—"
"Since Fred was killed," Katie finished for her, causing a couple of people at the table to wince. "I know."
"I would really like for you to go, Katie," Andromeda said, eyes pleading with her.
"I have work," Katie said coldly. "I can't." She knew that going would be the best thing for her, but it would be hard and Katie didn't feel like she should handle hard at the moment. George could go if he wanted—which meant that he wouldn't go, but that was his mother's problem. Katie didn't own any of them.
"We've called in and cancelled for you," Mrs. Weasley supplied helpfully as Katie's jaw dropped in incredulity.
"They were actually quite glad to see you take a day off," Mrs. Bell said, smirking. "They were a touch worried about you being a little—ah—overzealous.
Katie threw her napkin down, albeit a little immaturely. "This isn't fair!" she whined. Oh Godric, I'm resorting to whining. What next?
She turned toward Arthur, hoping that he would cause his wife and her mother to back off a little bit. He had been one of her strongest allies throughout the past four weeks. Unfortunately this time, he had nothing for her.
"I'm sorry, Katie," Mr. Weasley said, shrugging his shoulders. "This time I'm going to have to agree with them."
The ex-chaser crossed her arms moodily and stared at her empty plate. "I hate you right now, Mother. I hope you know that."
"Oh, I know," Mrs. Bell said brightly. "But you'll be thanking me in the end. Now why don't you kip up and join Ron and Ginny in a game of exploding snap while Molly and I clear the dishes?"
Katie glared at her mother stormily and stood up, defiantly taking both her and Percy's plate to the sink.
"Actually, dear," Mrs. Weasley said gently, prying the dishes from her unrelenting fingers. "I was wondering if you might do us a favor and let George know of it? I would try to tell him myself, but he won't let anyone into his room—"
At the sight of her worried eyes and tired face, along with her mother's breathless whisperings into the fire to the face of a healer Katie didn't recognize ("No news of Michael yet, then? None at all? Alright then…please keep me posted. Every day?"). Katie breathed out one last sigh. "Alright, Mrs. Weasley. I'll give it a shot," she promised and turned toward the stairs.
Katie walked slowly up the several flights of stairs in the old crooked house until she came to hallway that held Fred and George's small bedroom. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to be phony. She would encourage George in this, even if it killed her to do so. She tried the door half-heartedly, but to no one's surprise it was locked. She pulled out her wand and uttered Alohomora, and then rolled her eyes when the lock clicked open. For as brilliant an inventor as George was, he still managed to be utterly dreadful at the most simple of things. She pushed the door open slowly, expecting to find George angrily glaring at her from behind it, but instead found him on the bottom bunk staring unrelentingly at the bed above him. The sight softened her and she spoke more quietly than she had intended.
"George?" she asked gently. No answer. "George, it's Katie."
He made no sign of hearing her or even recognizing that someone else was in the room. But as he wasn't yelling or throwing sharp objects at her, shouting to get the hell out, Katie took this as a good sign. She proceeded over to his desk and pulled out the same small vial of potion that she'd given him the night previously and poured it into a goblet of pumpkin juice which she held in the other hand. She set it down pointedly on his desk and continued.
"George, I got a letter from Alicia this morning," she began, gingerly sitting down at the foot of his bed and placing her hand on his leg. "Wood made me open it." Then, realizing how odd this sounded, she proceeded to skip over her run-in with Oliver.
"Well, that's sort of a long story," she continued briskly. "Anyway, she wants us to join her and Lee and Ange at a movie next Saturday. Oh, and Oliver's coming too. A movie's sort of this muggle thing…I've been to one once. It seemed cool, but I sort of got us thrown out. Anyway, that's another long story." She paused, feeling all the awkwardness of her speech, but continued on. "Normally, I wouldn't want to go and I wouldn't push you into it either, but our mothers have banded against us and are forcing us."
Here, she forced a bit of a soft laugh. "Anyway, even though I know that neither of us want to go, I think we should…It might be good to see some old friends again, you know? So what do you think?"
She looked up to see George's reaction, but his expression was as unfazed as ever. The only sign of life that came from him was a blink and the slow rising and falling of his chest. Katie sighed sadly, patted his knee, and stood up.
"Well give it a good think," she said finally, turning toward the door. "You have a while to decide, but you ought to let me know because I won't be going without you."
She stopped at the door one last time, but the silence remained undisturbed. "Well goodnight then, George."
She placed her hand on the handle and began to turn it, but his anguished voice stopped her suddenly.
"Katie," he said, and she could hear him sitting up. "Katie, wait."
She turned around and George was up, running his fingers through his shaggy ginger hair and walking toward her. "I'm sorry, Kates," he said quietly. "It's been kind of a hard day, I started going through—I started going through our old things to try and get organized a bit, and I just…"
He stopped hopelessly, throwing his hands up into the air and letting them scruff up his hair once again. He looked out at her, as though begging her to complete the thought for him. Katie's heart went out to the anguished twin and in under a second she was across the floor, enveloping him the tightest hug she thought she had ever given someone in her life.
She could feel George's body tense up, but then relax as he sank into her, allowing her fingers to dig into his back.
"George, it's alri—"
But she was interrupted. "I miss him, Katie," George croaked. "I miss him."
And, for the first time in nineteen years of knowing him, Katie Bell witnessed George Weasley break down. The tears started slowly, softly, but soon gave way to convulsing sobs which racked his whole body and Katie uttered those words which were so strange to anyone involved in tragedy, but which seem to come only because nothing else will.
"It's okay," she muttered, letting him let go on her shoulder. "Everything's going to be okay."
And though she couldn't quite make herself believe them, she whispered the strange words softly to George as the man who was over a foot taller leaned against the small but stable frame for support that only someone who was suffering just as deeply could give. Outside, the muggy summer air stood still.