Life Down at the Quidditch Pitch

Chapter Eighteen

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

The students were leaving for the holidays. He could hear them in the hallway--the pitter-patter of many feet, and loud, joking voices. Katie was with them. She'd been secretive about where she was going for holiday, but she had said that she'd be leaving Hogwarts.

He sighed and mentally kicked himself. He hadn't sent her anything since the rose on the paper. Her reply at first had made him happy, but then, after a while, his conscience kicked back in , and reminded him that he was a teacher, and she was a student. Such a relationship, he was sure, was forbidden.

George had told him more than once that he was being a prat. He knew it--George didn't have to tell him. George had actually said, "No one likes a bloody pansy." The prat was merely implied.

He sighed. He didn't want her to leave, but maybe the time would allow him to distance his feelings for her.

Like hell, a voice in his brain replied. He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't, it was just wishful thinking on his part. He was in love with her, he knew it, she knew it, and worst of all George knew it. He would give anything to be with her. When it came down to it, he knew he wouldn't let anything get in the way if she ever gave him a chance to love her the way he wanted to.

There was a rap at his window. He looked up, surprised to see a tawny owl knocking at it. He raised an eyebrow and let it in, as the air was freezing. The owl flew to his desk and sat there looking at him expectantly.

Oliver, fingers cold, took the message from the owl, and read it.

Dear Oliver,

I hope that I'm not too presumptuous doing this, but I would like to invite you to my home for Christmas dinner. I wasn't sure if a nice young man like you had plans for the holiday, but I thought that I would try to thank you for bringing our Kate home. Hopefully I will see you around six on Christmas Day.

Happy Christmas,

Rose Kellan

He smiled. Someone wanted him for the holiday. He immediately wrote back.

Mrs. Kellan,

Thank you for your kind invitation. I will glad to see you Christmas Day.

Happy Christmas,

Oliver Wood

PS- Please tell Emma and Andrew hello for me.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Alicia?" She turned to see Harry standing behind her, she was about to dead downstairs with her trunk.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can you come up to my room for a second?" Harry asked, looking around. Alicia raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Okay," she replied, following Harry up the stairs where the staircase split, normally she would head to the right rather than the left. He led her to the highest room in the tower, then closed the door behind her. He looked worried.

"Where are you going for the holidays?" he asked.

"To the Johnsons'," she replied.

A look of relief came over his face. "Good."

"Can I ask why?" she said.

"I'm not supposed to say anything, but you are a Muggleborn and a prefect," Harry began. "Let's put it this way. You, Hermione, and Annette Thomas from Hufflepuff are the only Muggleborns leaving Hogwarts for the holidays."

"So?" she asked confused.

"Dumbledore is worried that the Muggleborns wouldn't be safe," Harry replied sagely. "The only three of you that are going home are staying with witches or wizards, which is really good."

"He was worried about us being attacked?" she asked. That was why William had sounded so concerned during the prefects' meeting three days before; he was a Muggleborn. He must be staying at Hogwarts, she deduced. She nodded and they headed down the steps.

"Thanks for warning me," she said, once they'd reached the bottom step.

"There you...oh," Alicia looked over to see Lee making an odd face at her. "I should have guessed," Lee said, sounding betrayed.

"What are you on about?" Alicia asked, sending her boyfriend a confused look. He didn't say anything he simply walked away and out of the portrait. "What the hell?"

"He's being a boy," Katie muttered from her left. Alicia jerked around, since she hadn't heard Katie creep up behind her. "There's no other reason for it." Katie shrugged and left the common room.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Let's go, Tiger," Draco said, leading Katie towards the barrier to King's Cross.

"When did you start calling me 'Tiger', Katie muttered, trying to hide from her friends who were also getting off the train. They had an unwritten agreement that they weren't going to tell a soul that they were really related.

"Thomas keeps referring to you as "Tiger" during prefects' meetings-- a Weasley, eh?"

"Shut up, you great prat." They were silent for a moment and Katie just shook her head. "So where is Aunt Alexia picking us up?"

"Picking us up?" Draco turned to her raising an eyebrow. "Mother and I are picking you out some actual wizard's clothes for you to wear. You don't actually think that you'll be wearing that do you? We're purebloods, Kate."

"Don't call me Kate," Katie said through clenched teeth.

"Okay, Tiger," Draco replied. Katie stuck her tongue out at the back of his head. She followed Draco to the barrier. They were waiting in line to cross when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

Fred and George were behind her, glaring daggers at him.

"He's not bothering you, is he, Katie?" Fred asked.

"Er...no," Katie lied. "He's fine, hasn't said a word."

"Hear that, Weasleys? I haven't said a word, now why don't you scuttle off somewhere," Draco said snidely. Katie glared at him. Draco merely met her gaze.

"Are you sure, Katie?" George asked.

"Yes, I'm sure. I think Ron's looking for you," Katie said, thinking quickly. She didn't want any of her friends to see her with Draco and her Aunt Narcissa--she didn't want that getting around Hogwarts. She sighed and watched the Weasley twins walk over to where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were waiting at the end of the line. She wished that she were back there, with the rest of the Gryffindors, not in the front with the slimy Slytherins.

"Let's go," Malfoy said. Katie pulled her black cloak closer to her, pushing her cart in front of her. They flew through the barrier, stopping, of course, before they ran into the Muggles.

"Where's your mum?"

"My mother is over there," Draco pointed to a pretty blonde. Looking at her, Katie saw a bit of herself in her aunt. They had the same bone structure and they were close to the same height. It was weird seeing someone that looked like her, but was she'd never met before in her life.

"Mother," Draco said once they were in earshot.

"Draco," Aunt Narcissa said, looking up and down at Draco. She gave him a brief smile and then looked Katie up and down. "You must be Kate."

"Yes, ma'am," Katie replied, feeling uncharacteristically formal. Her aunt was rather intimidating.

"Kate, you're my niece, not a house elf for pity's sake. I'm your Aunt Narcissa, now let's go shopping. Draco tells me that you're in need of some robes, so shall we go?" Katie nodded, and her aunt looked over at Draco. "And Draco no doubt has forgotten his again, or Crabbe or Goyle accidentally spilt something on the ones he took to school." She looked down her nose at her son, who looked subdued. "Come on you two, let's not laze about," she snapped and they followed her in silence.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Where is Katie going?" Alicia asked, watching Katie slipping through the barrier with Malfoy, attempting to go unnoticed.

"Home for the holidays?" Fred suggested. Angelina smacked him in the stomach.

"With Malfoy, I think is what she meant," Harry added.

"Really?" Lee asked, a bit too sarcastically for Alicia's tastes. She gave him a glare but he wasn't looking at her. Ron cleared his throat.

"Well, wherever she went with Malfoy it's not conducive to a happy holiday," Ron said. "Poor Tiger."

The boys dissolved into yet another giggle fest, George glared at them, tutted, and crossed his arms across his chest. "Not amusing anymore, chaps."

"If you say so," Lee said, grinning.

Alicia shook her head. "What is everyone doing for the holidays?"

"Well, everyone except you, Lee, and Angelina is going to the Burrow," George said. Alicia nodded--she was going to Angelina's for the holiday and Lee was visiting his grandparents on the continent.

"Is your mum ready for that madness?" Angelina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's raised six sons, she can handle anything Remember, two of the sons are Fred and George," Harry joked.

"Remember who you're sleeping in the same room as, mate," Fred replied.

"Your turn," Lee said, Alicia noticed how he didn't call her love or pet. She sighed. Lee had been acting funny lately, especially when Harry was around. Then there was the whole thing that morning. She'd ask Angelina for advice, she thought, as she and Angelina ran through the barrier.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Draco tells me that you play Quidditch," Aunt Narcissa said as they entered the gates to Aunt Alexia's estate.

"Yes, Aunt Narcissa," Katie replied.

"Ah, you play a different position from. Draco. I find Quidditch excessively tedious," she replied, once again sounding superior.

"She plays Chaser, Mother," Draco said.

"As I said, I find it excessively tedious, but Draco says he's very good at it--his father bought him a new broom."

"I remember," Katie said, resisting the urge not to belt out something rude or unladylike. Everything about the carriage was making her uncomfortable--there were Draco and Aunt Narcissa's attitudes, the white interior of the carriage itself, and her completely uncomfortable dress robes.

"Don't fidget," Aunt Narcissa said. Katie looked outside the window of the carriage and inwardly groaned. She faked a smile.

"Aren't we almost there?" Draco asked.

"Don't be so childish." Aunt Narcissa gave Draco a look. Katie smiled--at least she wasn't the only one who was being bossed around today. Draco gave her a rather nasty look behind his mother's back. "Children," said Narcissa. Did this woman have eyes in the back of her head? "I suggest that the two of you act properly. No one likes an immature witch or wizard." Katie sighed. It was like being in a carriage with a book of etiquette.

They pulled up to the manor where their aunt lived, someone pulled the door open and Katie stepped out of the carriage. There was someone there to hold her hand as she stepped out, and she felt like Muggle royalty. When she visited with her mum, no one was this nice, that much was for sure.

"Miss Kate, Young Master Draco, and of course Mrs. Malfoy," the butler said. "How marvelous to see you."

"Where is Madame Alexia, Jeeves?" Aunt Narcissa asked.

"Waiting for you in the drawing room, Mrs. Malfoy," Jeeves replied. "Shall I lead you there?"

"We know the way," Aunt Narcissa replied. "Just take our cloaks." Jeeves the butler nodded as they entered the house, taking their cloaks. Draco and Katie still were wearing their house cloaks from school. Katie remembered where the drawing room was herself. It was the second door on the left. She followed her aunt and cousin into the drawing room. Aunt Alexia was sitting on a scarlet chair, by the fireplace.

"Ah, how was your journey?" she asked standing up.

"Absolutely spiffing," Draco replied.

"Mind your attitude," Narcissa said glaring at her son.

"Just like his father," Aunt Alexia replied, making a tutting noise.

"And young Kate," Aunt Alexia said, turning her attention back to her niece. Katie gave her an uncomfortable smile; she hated it when people that she didn't know very well or like very well called her Kate. "My, you've grown into such a lovely young woman. Have you any suitors?"

It took her a moment and a nasty smirk from Draco to realize what her aunt was talking about. "No, not really."

"There's a Weasley boy interested in Kate," Draco said If they hadn't been in the company of her two aunts, she would have knocked him flat on his bum.

"A Weasley?" Aunt Alexia asked, a look of disgust crossing her face for a brief moment.

"Draco's wrong, Aunt Alexia," Katie replied through clenched teeth. "George Weasley is just a friend." Both of her aunts were now wearing faces like they'd just stepped into something smelly.

"Whatever you say, Tiger," Draco muttered under his breath.

"What was that you said, Draco? No one likes a mutterer," Aunts Alexia and Narcissa said at the same time. This was going to be a long holiday.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^

"What do you think Katie's doing now?" Alicia asked, lying in her bed on the other side of Angelina's huge bedroom.

"Drinking tea with You-Know-Who's minions, why are you asking?" Angelina asked, annoyed. Alicia hadn't shut up about Katie since they'd entered her house.

"Not amusing," Alicia replied. "Where was she going off to for holiday?"

"You've a better idea than I do, haven't talked to her lately," Angelina replied, thinking of the huge row they'd had. Why couldn't Katie understand that she was just worried about her? She wasn't trying to play Mummy-dearest or anything of the like.

"Are you two still at each other's throats?" Alicia asked.

"If she would watch herself, then we wouldn't be in this huge row, if that's what you're asking," Angelina snapped back

"I'm not the one that you're angry with," Alicia replied, she was sounding angry and very unlike herself. Angelina sighed; Alicia was right.

"Look, sorry, I just don't want to talk about Katie, let's go to sleep."

"No, no sleep, dammit! I want to know now!" Alicia demanded. Angelina felt blankets ripped off her body and cold air chilling her to the bone. "You better bloody well tell me or I am hexing you into the New Year."

Angelina sighed. "I can't tell you, now give me my bleeding blankets back," Angelina demanded, standing up.

"No I've had it with the both of you. Honestly, you're too alike sometimes, both stubborn as mules and twice as stupid!" Alicia shrieked. "Now tell me what is going on!"

Angelina was torn--she'd told Katie she wouldn't tell, but at the same time, she wasn't exactly speaking to Katie and she was speaking to Alicia. Not telling Alicia would make her not speak to her as well...and dear Merlin she was getting confused. Tell her, her mind demanded. Angelina was exasperated. Finally she just opened her mouth and let the words flow out.

"All right, all right, I'll tell you everything," she began. She told her everything: Katie snogging Oliver, Katie arguing with her, and finally Angelina explained what she suspected about Katie and George. When she was finished Alicia nearly fell over in shock.

"Bloody hell," she muttered.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Kate, darling, there you are." Katie looked up from her book, Flying with the Harpies. Aunt Narcissa was standing in her doorway.

"Yes, Aunt Narcissa?" Katie asked, putting her book down and sitting up.

"I thought that I'd just help you get ready for tonight, dear, dinner is in three hours," Aunt Narcissa replied, shutting the door behind her. Katie was confused--it wouldn't take her more than forty-five minutes to possibly get ready, and that was if she took her time.

"I should have..." Katie began, but was interrupted by her aunt when she began speaking.

"Tonight is most important for your uncle." Aunt Narcissa sat down in the chair in front of a very old glass vanity. "Come here, Kate, sit in front of me."

Sighing, Katie sat with her back towards her aunt and began to regret it when she felt something tugging at her hair. Knowing better than to complain, she sat unnaturally docile, while her aunt did whatever she was doing to her hair. Whatever it was, Katie mused, hurt like hell.

"We come from a long line of wizards and witches," Aunt Narcissa said, as she yanked on another lock of her hair. "We're Purebloods. We have certain rights." Oh, who bloody cares, Katie's inner monologue asked. "We're expected to do certain things, speak in a certain way, it's who we are." As Katie rolled her eyes, there was another yank at her hair. "I realize that your mother didn't raise you the way a Bell ought to be raised, and that she didn't teach you the things you ought to have been taught." Like one thousand ways to torture a Muggle, Katie thought evilly, and she had to stop herself from giggling, which wasn't hard right then, as there was another hard tug at her hair.

"What exactly is it that you're doing?" Katie asked, trying to sound pleasant.

"Don't question me," Aunt Narcissa replied, pulling her hair even harder. "That's the first thing you should learn. The second being is that you are seen and not heard."

Excuse me, Katie asked, her eyes popping open. Where in the name of Merlin and all that was holy did her aunt get off? Sod being a Pureblood.

"This might be a hard concept for you to understand, but you are a Bell. A Bell. That may not mean anything to you, but you have certain standards of behavior, especially since your uncle and father are who they are." Yes, bloody Death Eaters, needn't remind me, this was unbelievable. "You must be proper and ladylike." She felt her aunt turn her around so that she was facing her. "If you don't there could possibly be certain...consequences for you. Do you understand?"

Maybe it was the glint in her aunt's eye, or the way she was looking at her, but Katie suddenly understood perfectly.

"Yes, Aunt Narcissa," Katie replied, surprised by her docile tone.

"Good, now I thought that you could wear the red robe tonight..." How ironic, Katie thought. I'll be wearing a Gryffindor colour while I'm supposed to be acting like a bleeding Slytherin.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Weasley," Oliver said good-naturedly as he walked into the Weasleys' home.

"Ah, Oliver dear, please call me Molly. George told me you didn't have any plans for Christmas Eve, and I couldn't bear the thought of you spending it alone," Mrs. Weasley said. Oliver smiled.

"Well, I appreciate it--spending the holiday at Hogwarts isn't quite the same as at home," he replied. "Ah, and I have a gift for you. Happy Christmas."

He handed the box to Mrs. Weasley. It was a box of her favorite sweets. George had suggested it once he had been told that Oliver wanted to do something nice in return for the invitation.

"Happy Christmas," she replied. "And thank you. Now let's go find everyone, shall we. I'm afraid it's a bit crowded, but we'll manage." Oliver stepped into the warm and cozy home, which reminded him of his own, only bigger. He felt his coat taken from him, and he followed Mrs. Weasley into the sitting room, where it was positively packed. He recognized most of them, Potter, Ron, Fred, George, the Granger girl, Percy, Penelope Clearwater, and Ginny. There were three older Weasleys, which of course had to be the legendary Charlie Weasley, Bill, and their father.

"Wood!" George called from the corner he was sitting in with Fred and Ginny.

"Hello," Oliver said smiling. "Happy Christmas."

He was quickly introduced to everyone and he felt comfortable in the loudness, even Percy the Pouf seemed happy to see him. Mrs. Weasley eventually ushered them into the dining room, where Oliver sat between George and Charlie Weasley. It was almost a perfect way to spend a holiday, he surmised. Except Katie wasn't there. He let himself wonder exactly what she was doing at that moment.