A/N: Hello, everyone. I apologize for my leave of absence. Was at university. My summer project will be attempting to finish this story, however, if anyone's still interested in it. Disclaimer, though, I will not be following JK's little wrap up of having George marry Angelina. Sorry, but it's just not happening. I accepted her killing Fred, but not this. Please read & review, as always.
Katie lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling without blinking. Where was she supposed to be? She couldn't remember. Her entire universe at the moment was the white-washed ceiling above her. Then she remembered—she'd escaped here to avoid dressing for tonight. She was very much regretting having ever agreed to let Oliver accompany her. Even if she had simply agreed to let him escort her there, that would be fine. It was ridiculous that she was going to dinner with him. She let her eyes flick to the clock on the nightstand next to her bed. Wood was due to arrive in twenty minutes and she was still covered in flour and grass stains from her trip to the Weasley's. She ought to get up.
She knew she ought to, and yet she couldn't make herself. All of her thoughts were floating back to Fred, bouncing off the pale white ceiling and rebounding back into her brain. Katie would hide in her room until Wood left.
Except she knew he wouldn't.
She knew him well enough by now that the stubborn Scotsman would simply Apparate inside and make sure she hadn't slit her wrists in agony, or something less gruesome…like slipped in the shower and passed out. He would come see her like that….what a pervert.
Katie tried thinking about what all the girls from school would say if they found out she was going out with Wood. They'd be jealous. But she couldn't make herself care about the girls from school. She hadn't even cared about them while she was in school. No, that would not work. The thing to do was to forget it was a date. Plain and simple. It would be easy. Because, after all, it wasn't really one anyway. This was the bloke she would say "Morning, Wood" to and crack up with Angelina and Alicia. The twins never thought this was funny. They had made every possible joke about Oliver's name before they'd finished the first year.
Katie laughed to herself at this memory and rolled off her bed, throwing open her closet door. Her wardrobe was clearly that of a female who hadn't been on a first date in years. It consisted mainly of work clothes, old quidditch tees, and jeans. She frowned, and then remembered something. Grabbing a stool and reaching for the top shelf in the closet, Katie stood on her tip toes and managed grab hold of a box. Teetering, she successfully held the box to her, and then lost balance. Sprawling back down on her bed, clothes came flying out of the box. Undeterred, she threw them across the room until she found what she was looking for: a simple, strappy black cocktail dress.
Aunt Elizabeth had given it to her for her birthday when she became of age. She had never had occasion to wear it. She always thought that sometime when things slowed down and the war ended, she and Fred would go celebrate at some new club and she would be able to break it in. Now…well, that didn't matter. Now she was wearing it to the reopening of Fred's shop.
Katie slipped on the dress. It fit like a glove. She stopped for a second to admire the way it fit to her body, and then turned her attention to her hair. She avoided anything extreme, simply combed out the short dark mass until it shone and then performed the same curling charm she had the day she had gone with her friends to the movie theater. By the time she finished her makeup, Wood was knocking on the door.
Focused on not letting her emotions get the best of her, Katie put on a pair of heels and what she felt might be a pleasant expression, and opened her door. Oliver was grinning rather goofily, clutching a bouquet of daffodils. He was dressed nicely, his hair combed. He thrust the bouquet at her.
"Here," he said, Scottish accent thicker than ever. "You look nice."
In spite of herself, Katie laughed. "Wood, you look nervous," she observed, reaching up and flicking him behind the ear. "This is just me. You know—Katie…the girl you made run extra laps for having a lie in during dawn practices?"
"Right," Oliver said. "But you didn't look like this when you had a lie in. You had red puffy eyes and your hair stuck up in the back and—"
"Alright, alright," Katie said testily, whacking Oliver with the flowers before reaching to get a vase. "Where are we going, Romeo?"
Wood stepped over to Katie's counter to help her reach the vase she was struggling to get. He easily grabbed it and gave it to her. "I thought we'd go to the Paper Dragon," he said casually. "It's far enough from Diagon Alley that I didn't think people would recognize you. Or either of us, I guess."
Katie measured his consideration and smiled at it. "Thanks, Ol," she said. "Sounds great."
"And Katie?" he asked, momentarily serious.
Katie turned, slightly raising an eyebrow. Here was where he would try—and fail—to say something heroic or encouraging about Fred. She could feel it. She braced herself.
"Don't worry about tonight," he said, and then his face split into a grin. "Because as great as you look, you're safe with me."
She actually laughed and rolled her eyes.
He flashed a grin at her and took her hand, and they both Disapparated to large, chique looking building at the edge of Diagon Alley. Katie had never been here before; it opened up a few weeks ago, she had read about it in the paper. It made sense that Oliver would pick somewhere like this—chique and new. She'd never been anywhere like this with Fred before. For most of their dating lives, Fred had been too poor to take her anywhere other than Chachky's in Hogsmeade, and just as his business was starting to take off, the war escalated. It didn't matter, though. They had never been a pair to place too much stock into hype and glamour.
She mused on this and tried to shake it off as Oliver pushed the door open and held it for her as she stepped inside. For some reason, she had a fleeting wonder where George and Angelina were at the moment, fearing facing them in this same place. It was odd and she dismissed it. Katie was still in somewhat of a different place as Oliver cheerily asked for his reservation. The witch behind the counter's eyes lit up as she recognized Oliver and clumsily led them to their table. Katie managed a small smile and blinked twice at her menu.
The Paper Dragon was a nice place. The room was dimly lit, with sleek looking low lamps hanging from the ceiling. There was a small jazz ensemble playing in the corner. The witch that was singing had a low, husky voice that seemed to fit in with the surroundings. Katie watched the piano player's hands shift in different patterns as the witch sang the slow paced, smooth medley.
"Katie?"
Wood's voice brought her back to her senses.
"Hi, Wood," she said.
He smiled at her. "Like it?" he asked.
"I do, actually," she said sincerely. "It's nice and…calm…." She trailed off.
"That's what I thought, too," Wood agreed. "I thought it might be a nice place to come before the Reopening."
Katie could only nod. She returned her eyes to the menu where she tried to find something she could both identify and eat without spilling it in her lap.
"How are you, Katie?" Oliver again interrupted her silent musings.
I'm alright, if half-dead is alright.
"I'm fine, Oliver, and how are you?"
"Worried about you." He said it simply, without a trace of irony. "How are you, Katie?"
"Really?" she asked, wondering why he wanted to go into it tonight.
"Really. I can see it's on your mind, and I'd rather you lead the conversation than me trying to pretend you're just dandy."
She half-smiled. "Dandy?" she asked.
"Sorry," he apologized, almost blushing. "Mum says it."
"Well, Ol, most of the time I am dandy," Katie said shortly.
"And the other times?"
She sighed, and told Wood about her experience with George at the graveyard that afternoon. He listened quietly until she finished, a grim look on his face.
"And then, I didn't know what to do," Katie said simply. "He misses him, Ol. He misses him so much it hurts. And I don't know what to tell him, because I can't make sense of it myself enough to bring myself to say that everything will be alright in the end. What's going to happen? After a few months, he'll be fine, and then bam, he'll grow a new heart? I can't say that to him, Ol. I'm just so worried about him…"
Wood just nodded.
"And then there's Mrs. Weasley, Merlin, I don't know how she does it. Every day she'll get out of bed, and hurry herself around the house, and all she'll say is, 'All forward motion counts'. Just like that. But inside she's hurting—hurting so much, you can see it in her eyes. He's in there, I see it. So much sorrow, Wood. So much hurt, so much pain."
It was quiet for a few seconds before Oliver finally spoke.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I know you're concerned about these people, but Katie…I asked how you were."
She laughed a little, in spite of herself.
"I'm doing alright, Ollie."
"Katie, he was your fiancé."
"I know."
"So?"
"So how are you doing it?"
Katie took a breath, and shook her head.
"I don't know, honestly," she said. "But somewhere along the line I started to tell myself that I just had to…get out of bed every morning. And breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while, I'm hoping I won't have to tell myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out all day long. And I won't have to think about…how I had it great and perfect for a while."
She finished and shrugged her shoulders, trying to fight back the lump in her throat and the hurt that was growing in her stomach. Oliver's eyes looked horribly concerned, but he just nodded.
"I had no idea he meant that much to you…that he was that big of a part of your life."
Understatement of the century.
Katie simply nodded. "Oh, it was a million tiny little things," she said. "And when you added them all up it meant we were supposed to be together. And I knew it. I knew it the first time we kissed. It was magic."
It was quiet. Oliver cautiously touched her hand. She didn't want it there, but she knew he was empathetic enough that she couldn't shove him away.
"Why?" she asked, keeping her voice remarkably steady. "Why him? It doesn't make any kind of sense. He was life. He was life to me."
"I don't know, Kates," he said solemnly. "But if you keep asking yourself why…you'll go crazy."
She nodded, pulling herself together. This probably wasn't what Oliver had wanted, nor what either of them needed. She would save her break downs for when she was alone. Or with George.
She was saved from trying to come up with a subject change when the waitress came to their table.
"Are you two ready?" she asked.
Oliver ordered something in French Katie didn't recognize. The waitress then looked down at her patiently. She then realized that she hadn't yet decided on anything for dinner.
"Um," she said. "Do you guys just have grilled cheese?"
The waitress looked at her, trying to measure her up, and finally answered with a startled yes, they could make that work, and left.
Oliver looked at Katie, clearly attempting to suppress a laugh. She cracked a grin and the two of them busted up laughing, causing the few other guests in the restaurant to stare.
XXX