108-109 A.V.C 110 a&b. cahier 92-93 A
A/N: Several random items to take note of. First, I must say I'm delighted with how many guesses/wishes about pairings I've received: Alicia/Oliver, Katie/Oliver, Alicia/George, Katie/George, Alicia/Michael…tells me that I haven't completely given away everything yet! I do have some pretty set ideas, & no, I won't tell you what they are, you'll have to read & found out. Heh. Second, updates will probably not be coming as quickly seeing as how I'm entering the wasteland otherwise known as midterms. Third, & of the least importance, in this dream sequence business, I'm kind of imagining Katie's Yule Ball dress along the lines of Kate Winslet's red dress in Titanic during the dinner scene, & her hair basically the same as well. You honestly did not need to know this, I am aware, but I thought I'd clarify anyway. grins I seriously love that dress & I'd do anything to own it, but as this is clearly not a possibility, I've given it to Katie, whom I love deeply. Haha. So! Enough of the ridiculously long author's note, which will probably be continued at the end of the chapter…read & review, s'il vous plait!
Katie Bell stood at five feet, five inches with the addition of her three inch heels. Her dress was deep crimson, covered in sheer black veneer. Diamonds and sequins followed the intricate pattern of black velvet ivy and roses that covered the bodice. Rubies hung from her ears and adorned her throat. Her shiny dark brown hair was curled and tied into several tiny knots, which were pulled back into one large knot at the back of her head. A diamond chain wove its way in and out of the knot, and several tendrils of natural curl fell from it at the base of her neck. Her side swept fringe framed her face, long lashes curling prominently above the now dark green eyes. In all her life, Katie had never looked more beautiful. Neither had she felt more livid.
"Fred Weasley, you are a liar!" she cried, almost in hysterics. She was jamming her finger into the red-head's chest, fighting desperately to keep back the angry tears which were boiling behind her eyes. "I don't think I can stand to hear you say that you love me one more time! Don't you understand how much it's killing me to hear you say something that you don't mean over and over and over again!?"
As she shouted, the knot of hair shook and threatened to fall out. This was the closest to tears she had been in front of Fred since the previous year when Dementors had found their way onto the Hogwarts Express. It was also the most fear she had felt since then. Fred did not love her. He simply did not. She had fallen in love alone; to him, she was the stand by plan when no other girl could be found. If he loved her, they would never have fought this much.
Fred looked equally angry and frustrated with her. "Well then what the bloody hell d'you want to hear, Katie?!" he exploded, throwing his hands up in the air. "I've tried and tried with you! NOTHING is ever good enough! What is it that you want to hear?! Huh?!"
"D'you even HAVE to ask?!" she yelled back, the hot tears beginning to brim in her eyes. Several frightened stragglers from the Ball avoided the pair of them and dashed nervously up the main staircase in the entrance hall. George had disappeared long ago when it became clear that his brother had his date's undivided attention. Angelina hung back scared, standing next to Alicia and Lee, her fun for the evening swallowed up in her best friend's anger. "I want to hear a million things! I want to hear why everything's a game to you! I want to hear why you feel that you have to make every aspect of your life, including me, a spectacle! I want to hear why you're addicted to attention and why your image is what's most important in your life! I want to hear why the hell it is that you think that you love me, I want to hear why—if that's true—why you treat me the way that you do, and I want to hear why it is that every damn time we have a disagreement you feel the need to throw it up in my face that you're the effing rock star of the castle and could have any girl at your beck and call!! And above all else, I want to know WHY THE HELL you asked Angelina to the Yule Ball just so that you could prove to me that you're perfectly capable of having a fun time without me! Can you tell me all those things, Fred, can you?!?"
Fred's Weasley ears were red with his anger and the violent lime green pinstriped suit he had selected for the occasion had never seemed to clash more with his disposition. In two long strides, he was over to his girlfriend, had her by the shoulders, and was forcing her to look at him. Alicia summoned Lee and Angelina to follow her up the staircase and with one last shocked glance at her date, Angelina disappeared behind her friends.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I love you for you to believe it, dammit?!" Fred said angrily. Katie seethed back at him, unflinching and unalterable. Faster than you could say "quidditch", he was kissing her, passionately and desperately.
But Katie pushed him away hard, wrenching herself out of his grasp. "Stop it!" she cried, backing away from him, hair falling loose. "STOP IT! Not this time! No more kiss and make up! Because I KNOW, Fred, I know the truth! You ARE capable of having fun without me, and you ARE capable of living your life perfectly fine without my being there! You don't love me! You never have!"
As the last words rang out across the entrance hall, Fred's eyes opened wide. Anger evaporated into complete sorrow as Katie stared at him desperately and Professor McGonagall burst through the doors.
"I have never in my life seen such a display!" she shouted angrily, rushing over to the pair of them. Her eyes flashed lividly as she looked from a disheveled Katie to Fred, who was red in the face. "Mr. Weasley!" she shouted. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Ask her," was all he said, staring at Katie almost defiantly.
McGonagall looked at Katie and then shook her head vigorously. "I think I speak for this entire castle," she huffed. "When I say that I have had enough of the love spats between the two of you to last me a lifetime! I suggest that you either patch things up, or move on! Spare us all the pain of your break ups!"
"It's fine, Professor," Katie said, shaking her head numbly. "It's over. It's done. Isn't that right, Fred?"
Fred's jaw tightened and he shook his head at her, as though disbelieving. McGonagall ignored this exchange. Katie had never seen her look so furious in her life.
"Now I really hate to do this on a Christmas Eve, Mr. Weasley," she said venomously, "But I must insist that you take responsibility for your actions! You have destroyed the peace of almost the entire castle! For the next two hours, you will be back in the Great Hall helping to clean up this mess. WITHOUT MAGIC. Miss Bell, I suggest you get to bed and thank your stars that I'm only mad enough to punish one of you this evening. Now go!"
She took a firm hold of Fred's arm. He cast one final, furtive glance at Katie and said stonily, "Katie Bell, you are so blind. Why don't you come talk to me when you've figured some things out?" McGonagall gave him a final push and the pair of them disappeared behind the oak doors.
"I HATE YOU!" Katie shouted, hurling her shoe with great force at the closed doors. "D'you hear me?! I said I hate you! You've ruined EVERYTHING! My Yule Ball, my Christmas, my LIFE! I HATE YOU!"
She finally burst into tears and collapsed on the bottom step of the grand staircase. She was bawling in that position when someone carefully stepped down the stairs beside her and dangled a white handkerchief in front of her eyes. Katie looked up tearily to find George smirking, standing above her.
"Merlin, Kay, I didn't know that I was that bad of a date," he joked casually, as she let out a bark of a laugh and accepted his handkerchief wordlessly.
"Oh, George," she said. "You know I wasn't talking about you." She blew her nose noisily and then sighed, putting her head down.
George regarded her curiously for a while and then placed a comforting hand on the small of her back.
"Kay?" he said finally.
She looked up at him with half-hope that he would say something to cheer her up. "Yeah?" she asked wearily.
"You really were the world's worst date."
Katie looked at him, stunned, and then began to laugh. "Oh no," she laughed ruefully. "You're right…"
"Damn right, I'm right," George said, mock seriously. "First, you spend most of the night looking at my brother. The rest of the night you're talking about him. Your dress clashes with my hair horribly, and then you don't even let me walk you back to your room. I was hoping for the awkward door step scene, but instead I got the awkward teary 'bottom step in the entrance hall' scene." He gave her a half-smile, and Katie laughed again.
"George," she said wearily. "You really are a complete lunatic."
He nodded sadly. "I know."
They were silent for a few moments when Katie finally said sadly, "He doesn't love me, George."
"Yes he does," George returned, as though this was as simple as stating that Angelina and Lee were destined to be together, or that Professor Trelawney was certifiably insane.
Katie sighed again. "I just don't know that anymore…" she trailed off. "I used to think it was so obvious and that we were 'meant to be together' and that all this…shit…was just unresolved sexual tension, or whatever else it is that you read about in books. Now I don't know. Now I feel like it's a sign that something isn't working. Like maybe we're just trying to make this work because we're so used to it. And that scares the hell out of me, George. Mostly because I still love him, and I don't know that I can ever stop that."
George just looked at her while she unloaded this on him. "I don't know," she continued, uncomfortably. "Maybe I'm crazy…"
The other red-head now nodded. "You are crazy," he affirmed. "Maybe that's why you and Fred are so perfect for each other."
Katie laughed at this depiction of herself, and George continued on. "Katie," he said. "I don't think you've got to have everything figured out just yet. And I'm no expert on love, or anything, but I have a feeling that this is what happens when you've found your—and I promise that I will personally ensure that you become the first one-armed Chaser if you tell anyone that I used this word—soul mate so early in life."
Katie looked at him curiously. "You think?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I know," he said, half-smiling at her.
She considered him. "I want to believe that," she said, shaking her head. "But George, why all the fireworks and the loud arguments and even louder make ups? It feels like this is just another part of Fred's dramatic bids for attention rather than a relationship. And if all that I mean to him is just another way to publicize himself…"
George interrupted her here. "Absolutely not, Kay," he said solemnly. "Think about it for a second. D'you really believe that, or have you just lost sight of who my brother really is? Come on, Kay, maybe to everyone else he just seems like a loud, immature prankster with a pathetic need for attention—which he is, mind you. But we can't judge him too much, considering that you and I can be a bit like that ourselves—but you and I, more than anyone, know who he really is. The kid who cares about his friends and family above everything else. The friend who sneaked out of his dorm at night to visit you when you were in the Hospital Wing and brought you your favorite sweet. The boy who went ballistic when Snape made you cry in our first year. The man who loves you."
George paused. "Have I said enough pathetically shameful romantic things to make you remember why you're dating my twin yet?" He grinned at her, but Katie was already on her feet and bursting through the oak doors that separated her and Fred. George watched her go with a rather sad half-smile on his face, then stood up and collected himself, and returned to bed.
Meanwhile, Katie was encountering problems with Professor McGonagall.
"Come on, Professor, I've got to see him!" she shouted as McGonagall stood firmly in between herself and Fred. Fred happened to be in her office taking inventory of Yule Ball decorations and the door was slightly shut.
"Miss Bell, I do believe that you can wait another hour to see Mr. Weasley!" the professor said, exasperated. "I won't have another of your famous rows tonight!"
"I don't WANT to have another row, can't you see that?!" Katie said desperately, struggling against the older woman. "I want to tell him that I love him!"
"That's out of the question!" McGonagall shouted back, taking her by the shoulders and holding her out at arm's length. She was surprisingly strong for a woman of her age, and Katie reflected on this with a mix of astonishment and anger.
"Oh, let me through, will you?" she pleaded. "Could you for once care about helping me get Fred back!? It's Christmas!"
"Katie?" At that moment, Fred came through the door, a load of fairy lights in his arms. He looked thoroughly confused to see her there.
"Fred!" she shouted joyously. In one swift motion, she had shoved a disgruntled McGonagall aside and was running toward him, leaping into his arms and nearly knocking him over, wrapping her legs around him as she kissed him, hard. He was surprised, but soon kissed her back with equal passion, letting the fairy lights fall to the floor.
"I love you," she said breathlessly when they parted. "I don't know what my deal was tonight, but I'm sorry, and I love you. Always have, always will."
"I'm sorry, too," Fred said seriously, letting her down and pulling her close to him. "No more mucking about, that was stupid of me. Especially with Ange. From now on, it's you and me, okay?" He kissed her again, and she grinned against his lips.
"Or at least for now," she laughed. He raised an eyebrow.
"What d'you mean?" he asked curiously.
"Oh, just that I'm sure that there will be a lot more fights after this one. But I think that's just the product of finding your soul mate at such an early age."
Fred laughed. "Now who told you that?"
Katie shrugged. "Oh, just this kid I know that happens to resemble a rather devilishly charming red head."
Fred grinned and leaned down to kiss her again. "Thank Godric for George," he muttered, his lips meeting hers.
Katie agreed with this fervently, but it remained inside her brain as her lips were rather busy.
"Headmaster!" Professor McGonagall shouted, striding over to where Professor Dumbledore was standing with Snape, looking rather subdued. "Headmaster!"
"What is the matter, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked gently, turning his attention to the distressed Deputy Headmistress. "It's Christmas."
"They—" she panted, pointing an accusing finger at Fred and Katie. "They are SNOGGING in the middle of the Great Hall!"
Dumbledore looked up, amused. Fred and Katie paused, separating, and looking at the headmaster rather guiltily. Dumbledore looked back at McGonagall. "Oh for goodness sake, Minerva," he laughed. "It's Christmas. Let them do as they please for the night."
Fred and Katie grinned madly as Dumbledore waved them on, and Professor McGonagall looked lost for words, then retired into her office, rubbing her temples vigorously.
"Bell and Weasley," she muttered, as she passed the pair of them. "Just my luck.
XXX
Katie Bell stretched out in the middle of the large bed with a grin on her face. When she opened her eyes, she half-expected to see Fred staring merrily back at her, but she was met with only the cold stare of a blank wall. Oh, that's right. He's gone now.
Katie rolled over so that she was facing the white-washed ceiling and stared at the stucco which she so despised. She lay that way for only a while, attempting to brace herself for the day ahead. It was going to be a big one, and she would not make it through by remaining in the weak state she was currently in. She had to be strong; if not for herself, than for a variety of other people, Fred first and foremost.
Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was—and really, almost always would be—half Fred's shop. She despised Rita Skeeter for asking her whether or not she felt like she had to live for Fred as well as for herself now, but if she was completely honest with herself, she had to admit that that was exactly what she wanted to do. And there was no doubt that if Fred could have, he would have been first in line for tonight's launch party. Hell, he would have been the co-master mind behind it.
And then there was George. Was there any question that he would need as many friendly faces in the audience as possible? She was particularly worried that she hadn't seen him since his disappearance from the St. Mungo's waiting room. Considering that he had been out to dinner with his parents, however, Katie assumed that he was at least functioning and not in a ditch somewhere, having slit his wrists open. Well, not that George would ever do that, but she thought that the basic principle of this idea had come through. Oh, Merlin. She had a sick sense of humor lately.
Lee too now, she realized, needed as much support as possible. After talking with him in the shop yesterday, Katie had a better appreciation for what the twins' best friend was going through. She sighed thinking about Lee, hoping for both his sake as well as Angelina's that the two of them would date already. The constant bickering was getting old, and Katie felt that at twenty, Angelina should tone down her promiscuousness before she got into serious trouble. According to Alicia, Ange had been bringing home various quidditch players from work at least once a week.
Her thoughts then turned to Oliver, her "date" for the evening. She was not sure what she felt about him. She appreciated what he was trying to do for her, but the thought of having an escort to the reopening of Fred's shop seemed wrong at best. She bit her lower lip, wondering how George would react when he saw the two of them together. He had been throwing out remarks about Oliver's obvious attraction to her with obvious contempt. Katie figured this was a combination of George's life time perception of her as his twin's girlfriend and maybe the increased closeness between the two of them since Fred's death. She groaned, sinking beneath her covers. She didn't want to offend George by giving into Oliver, but she didn't want to risk her developing friendship with Oliver because of George. Since when had her life been so complicated? "This is your entire fault, you know," she muttered to the ring on her finger which supposedly represented Fred. "If you hadn't gone and died I wouldn't be in this situation. And I most certainly would not be talking to myself right now."
Katie groaned again and pulled herself into a ball underneath her covers. She was, very clearly, pathetic. She needed to get up and begin the day. She had just listed the reasons she needed to get up and begin the day. And yet, there she still was; unmoving and unwilling to do so. She needed someone to come into her room and force her out of bed if she was going to ever get started.
Katie jumped about half a foot off of her bed at the sound of her door clicking open. Okay, she wasn't SERIOUS about needing someone to force her out of her bed…who the hell was in her flat?? Katie inched to the edge of her bed, reached out from underneath her covers, grabbed her wand off of the nightstand, and dashed back toward the center of the bed, shivering. She listened as the person fumbled through her living room. She gripped her wand, pleading that whoever it was just wanted to steal her pathetic excuse for a WWW radio and then get out as quickly as possible. No such luck, however. The door to her bedroom opened. Katie whimpered and waited to be killed, screwing up her eyelids tight.
She could feel the person lift her covers and crawl into bed next to her. What?!
"I didn't scare you, did I, little sis?"
Katie's eyes flew open and she stared at Michael who was grinning across from her.
"You bastard!" she yelled, kicking him, and pulling the covers off. "You scared the hell out of me! Don't you knock?!"
"To get into my little sister's flat?" he asked, feigning confusion. "No way! I knicked a key from Mum." He tossed the small brass key up in the air and caught it handily.
She glared at him, shoving her bare foot into his face. "Get out of my bed!" she protested.
Michael calmly took hold of his sister's foot and put it back down. "How are you doing, Katie Kate?" he asked congenially.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Katie pouted, repositioning herself and pulling the covers back over her head. Michael joined her beneath the down comforter.
"Just checking on you," he replied, grinning.
She frowned, unamused. "Why aren't you in the hospital? You're supposed to be there for another week!"
"I sneaked out," he said easily. "I've gotten permission to take the night off, so I thought that I might as well take the day off, too."
Katie quirked an eyebrow. "Why did you want to 'take the night off'?" she asked suspiciously.
Michael grinned devilishly at his sister. "Your brother has got himself a date for tonight to the grand reopening of George's shop. What do you say to that?"
Katie rolled her eyes. "I say which one of the unlucky bimbos posing as your nurse did you manage to seduce into dating you?"
Michael's eyes flashed. "That's the best part, little sis," he said. "It's your good mate, Alicia Anne Spinnet."
"What?!" Katie was incredulous.
"I think she likes me, too," he said confidently. "Of course, why wouldn't she? I mean, look at me…"
"Yes," Katie conceded, "You've been lying in a hospital bed for three days and your eyebrow's starting to grow back. Every witch's fantasy."
She rolled over and ignored him.
"Oh, don't be jealous because you haven't got a date, Kates. There comes a time for everyone."
"For your information," she said importantly, rolling back over to face him. "I do have a date. With an internationally famous quidditch star."
Michael scoffed. "I am an internationally famous quidditch star," he said. "So you'll have to invent some other bloke, because I'll most likely know if the fella exists or not."
She rolled her eyes. "Oliver Wood asked me, Michael."
Her brother looked surprised. "Wood asked you?" he repeated.
"Yes," Katie said defensively. "Why's that so hard to believe?"
Michael shrugged. "Sorry," he said. "I'm just surprised you got more than one bloke in your lifetime to show an interest in you."
He clearly meant it to be funny, but Katie didn't find it so. She merely glared at him stonily and then let her face fall.
"Ah, Katie Kate, I'm sorry," Michael frowned. "I didn't mean it like that, I was just--"
"Trying to be funny, I know," Katie finished for him. She sighed. "Michael, I don't know what to do," she finally stated.
"About what?"
She considered this question. "About everything," she answered.
He stroked his chin in mock thought. "Well," he said slowly. "Everything's kind of a big task, so why don't we start with right now?"
Katie allowed herself to laugh. "Alright," she said. "What am I going to do right now?"
"First, you're going to get yourself out of bed," Michael said, grinning at her. "Then you're going to shower, and brush your teeth because your breath stinks--"
Katie gasped incredulously, and slugged her brother in the shoulder, laughing.
"And then you're going to get yourself over to the Weasley's," Michael continued, "And apologize to George for leaving him to his own devices in the ever so boring waiting room of St. Mungo's Hospital while you sobbed over my broken body—don't roll your eyes like that, you did so—and then you're going to put on a dress and attempt to look decent for Oliver Andrew Wood, keeper and star of Puddlemore United, while enjoying an evening full of Weasley wonders. Sound good?"
She smiled. "It does," she admitted. "But I won't do it."
"What? Why not?"
"I need you to do a favor for me first."
Michael rolled his eyes. "What?" he asked. "I'm not cooking you breakfast, you're going to have to put up with toast as usual."
"No," she said, interrupting him. "I need you to get yourself back to hospital because Mum's going to throw a tissy fit when she goes to visit you in—" she checked her watch. "Five minutes and finds that you've run off."
Katie enjoyed this one-up on her brother as she watched his face fall into shock. Michael yelled a quick "G'bye!" and dashed out her front door, disapparating.
Katie laughed lightly to herself and then rolled out of her bed, doing exactly as Michael had instructed her to do.
XXX
Katie Apparated on the Weasley's front porch with boysenberry pies in her arms, stacked up to her chin. George had mentioned that his mother would be doing some baking for the launch party and Katie figured she might make her own contribution and see if she could help Molly before finding George. She'd spent two galleons on the whole stack, but she figured it was worth it. She'd even had the shop take them out of the cardboard boxes so that they looked home made.
She rang the doorbell and Molly appeared, looking extremely surprised to see Katie there.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," Katie began, albeit a little awkwardly. "I heard you were doing some baking for the party tonight and I thought you might—er—want a little help?" She held out the boysenberry pies with a forced grin on her face.
Molly took them happily, dumping them on an unsuspecting Ginny who had appeared to see who was at the door, and smothered Katie in a hug.
"Oh, Kathryn," she said, squeezing her tightly. "I knew you would come! George said you would be too busy to help with the baking, but I knew you would come. Come on, let's get you inside and in an apron!"
Katie flushed, a smile twitching at the corners of her mouth at George's obvious attempt at protecting his friend from having his mother discover her inability to cook anything other than a piece of toast—and sometimes not even that. Katie smiled obsequiously as Mrs. Weasley threw a floral print apron over her head and began to tie the strings, but when she turned around she silently pleaded with Ginny and mouthed the words "Help me!" Ginny just shrugged and gave her a look as if to say, "You got yourself into your own mess." Damn. Why did the girl have to be so much like her twin brothers?
"What eez going on? Who eez there?"
Katie turned around to find none other than Fleur Delacourt, Bill's wife, emerging from the dining room into the small kitchen. She was sporting an apron identical to Katie's, slender milky arms covered in flour. She looked at Katie scrutinizing, as if trying to place her. Katie frowned slightly. She didn't mind Fleur or anything, but she would always remember her as the perfect half-veela princess who had referred to Katie as "zat little mezzy-haired quidditch girl who runs 'round wiz zee twins." Not to mention she had caught Fred sporting with one of her veela cousins at the wedding. Yes, so she was sort of a grudge holder. But would she be a good witch if she wasn't?
"Katie's come to help with the baking, Fleur," Ginny said firmly, coming to her rescue.
"Oh," Fleur said, obviously remembering who she was now. "Kah-tee. Oui. Je te souviens maintenant. Tu etait fiancee avec Fred, oui ? »
Katie stared at her. The little French that she did know was ill spoken and learned from Jacquelyn during random breaks at work. She had no idea what Fleur had just said, but she had heard Fred's name and nodded. Fleur looked satisfied. Katie exchanged glances with Ginny who rolled her eyes and said in a low voice, "She's always doing that. Apparently Bill finds it sexy."
The two girls shared a hushed laugh as Molly handed Katie a bowl of something unrecognizable and told her to stir. Figuring that she could handle this, Katie complied cautiously.
"Katie, dear," Molly said as she hurried over toward the oven. "We've just heard that Michael's woken up! What wonderful news! That must have really taken a load off your poor mother's mind. Andromeda's been in such a state lately…"
"Yeah," Katie said, smiling. "Yeah, she has. But it's really great to have Michael back. He's…" She searched for the right word. "He's my brother."
Fleur began kneading something and Ginny threw some ingredients together in a pot while Mrs. Weasley worked on frosting what looked like the millionth cake she had made that afternoon. Katie was very happy to be stirring.
"And you'll be with Oliver Wood tonight, too! You must be so happy," Molly buzzed. Katie suddenly dropped the spoon and looked up at the older red-headed woman.
"How'd you know I was going with Oliver?" she asked curiously. Oliver had only asked her to be his date last night, and she had told only Michael of it since then. Molly seemed to realize her mistake, whatever it was, because she turned red and started patting her hair nervously.
"Oh," she said. "You know…here and there."
Katie looked at her curiously and then, acting on a sudden thought, rushed to say, "Mrs. Weasley, it's not really a date. I only agreed because my grandpa wanted me to. I'm really not ready to start dating again, it's totally just a one time thing. I—I still c-can't think of anyone b-but F-Fred.."
"Oh, dear." In an instant Molly had dropped the tube of frosting and was once again smothering Katie in one of her famously suffocating hugs. Katie patted her back awkwardly. This wasn't what she had been hoping for, but as long as Mrs. Weasley knew that she wasn't casting aside her son as quick as she possibly could…
"Oh, dear, of course you can't!" Molly continued, cooing. "None of us expect you to! But Oliver is such a nice boy, he'll take good care of you tonight. Of course, we all were wanting George to ask you, and he was going to, too, but this way it turned out so much better…and he's got the Johnson girl, now, so he's happy as well…"
Katie pulled away from Mrs. Weasley and looked at her, searching her care-worn face. "George was going to ask me?" she said, confused. "What?"
Molly's jaw dropped now, and she once again flushed red. "Oh," she hummed. "Oh dear, forget I said anything. Never you mind, it was just a silly idea of Arthur's…oh, and me, too. But don't you worry about it, it was nothing." She waved her hand aside as if to illustrate her point, but Katie continued to press.
"Is that how you knew Oliver asked me? Did George find out?"
But Molly just hummed away and headed for the stairs. "I'll fetch Hermione," she said. "She's staying the week with us before heading back to Hogwarts—the children have the option of going back or not, you know, and Hermione's always been so diligent about her studies. Good girl---Hermione! Hermione, come down here, we'd like your company." She turned to smile at the three girls in the kitchen. "Then we can have all the Weasley women here," she said, smiling. Katie raised an eyebrow. Weasley women?
She turned to ask Ginny what her mother meant by this, but she was interrupted by Fleur.
"'Ow do you do zat, Kah-tee?" she asked abruptly. Katie looked at her curiously.
"Do what?" she asked.
"Make Molly like you," she explained. "Eet 'as taken me almost zees two years for 'er to like me. One to respect me, two for 'er to admire me. And I s'ought zat eet was because I was marrying Bill, but you were fiancé avec Fred and she still loves you like 'er own daughter. Why eez zis?"
Katie shrugged, actually feeling rather bad for the French part-veela with perfect features. "I dunno," she said stupidly. "It might have something to do with her knowing me so long…you just kind of…showed up." As the words came out of her mouth, she realized how stupid they sounded, but it was too late to stop them.
Amazingly, however, Fleur nodded her magnificent head. "Zat," she said, "And you are razzer like zee twins yourself, with zat dangerous broomstick game and always running out in zee mud. You are a very loud girl, very much like one of her sons. No wonder she likes you."
Offended, Katie opened her mouth to say something rude, but Ginny caught her arm.
"Let it go," she said in a low whisper. "D'you want to know about George?"
"Yes," Katie said, instantly forgetting her petty squabble with the French girl. "Is he okay?"
Ginny looked at her curiously. "Yeah, he's fine…he was at your place last night, though, trying to ask you to be his date to the launch party. He saw Wood ask you out, and told us this morning. That's how Mum knew."
"He saw Oliver ask me out?" Katie repeated, dumbfounded. "How?"
Ginny shrugged. "I'm not sure…but you should try to be a little gentle around him."
"Godric, are you sure he's okay?" Katie asked, maybe a little overanxiously.
Again, Ginny regarded her with curiosity. "He's fine, Katie," she assured the older girl. "I just think he's a little tender about it right now. Nothing that you did, of course," she added hastily as she saw Katie on the brink of another outburst. "It's just a difficult time for him right now, you know. Reopening the shop, and he's still missing Fred, of course. I think losing you finally sent him over the edge."
"He didn't lose me," Katie said defensively. "It's not like I wanted to go with Wood. And I'm still right here!"
"I know that," Ginny hissed. "He doesn't. But he'll realize it's not serious in a couple of days. Really, don't worry about. Just…until then, could you try to not be too up on Oliver?"
She scowled. "What d'you take me for? Some kind of hussy? I'm freaking out just because I consented to be his date, there's no way I'd snog him. Especially in public, and especially in front of George. Who d'you think I am?"
Ginny shrugged. "Sorry," she said. "People just handle grief in different ways."
Katie raised an eyebrow, wondering if the young red-head was drawing upon her own experiences. Ginny had been mysteriously missing from quite a few social gatherings, Harry Potter always gone at the same times. She shook herself, trying to get the mental image out of her head. That was the last thing she needed right now."
"Well d'you know where he is, anyway?" Katie asked. "George, I mean. I'd like to talk to him."
"He's at the shop with Ron and Lee," she replied, looking a little guilty. "Sorry…I'm sure he'd love to see you, though, if you could pop 'round a bit early. He's been in a right state all morning, you'd set him up for sure."
Katie opened her mouth to ask something else, but she was interrupted by the reappearance of Molly Weasley into the kitchen, Hermione tailing behind her. Katie and the bushy-haired girl regarded one another awkwardly.
"Hi, Katie," Hermione said gently, smiling.
Katie attempted to return the gesture, but failed miserably, only managing a slight inclination of her head. She turned away, ashamed of herself and very ashamed of the reason she couldn't look the younger girl in the eye. Silly and irrational as it was, Katie couldn't help but bear a slight grudge against Hermione Granger. Hermione--one of the closest people to Harry Potter, always up front in the action, always one step ahead of everyone else in the order, always in the most danger—had lived. Not only had she lived, she had escaped unscathed. There was no scarring on her skin, no missing ear, no one had bitten her and turned her into half of a werewolf. And, most envious of all, she was in love. With Ron. Another who had lived in the heat of the action while those around them died. She supposed she ought to be grateful to the little trio, considering that they had, after all, saved the world…but in a very small way, entirely inhumane of her, she resented them. She resented them because they had lived, and Fred had died. Ron lost his brother, yes. That she felt very sorry for. But Ron—along with the rest of the world—couldn't fathom what George must be feeling. Hermione had no idea what it was like to have the only person you ever loved die when everything was about to work out. Harry had his best friends, and Ginny, too. What did Katie have? Almost nothing…for a while, it had felt like she had lost her entire world along with Fred. And George? Not only had George lost his twin—half of his identity—he'd lost his fucking ear. Try as she might, Katie could not be the bigger person and let this go. So she merely nodded to Hermione Granger as everything else in the Weasley kitchen seemed bright and happy, and Molly said:
"Here we all are! The Weasley women! Those who have always been—" she smiled at her daughter, "Those who have joined us," she squeezed Fleur's hand which seemed to please the girl immensely, "And to those who hopefully will someday be!" She glanced meaningfully toward Hermione who instantly flushed the deepest color of red and busied herself with her apron strings.
"And those who might have been," Katie whispered under her breath as she returned to her stirring.
XXX
Oh geez, sorry this chapter is so long! And…not INCREDIBLY interesting…but I felt like the story was very male dominated & I wanted kind of a girls' chapter ) Also, if Katie is coming off as ridiculously & unbelievably cruel, let me know. I might have been letting some of my own personal feelings come into play right at the end. Ha ha. Look for another update soon, & thanks for your patience!