Playing With Firewhiskey

The door to Kaitlyn Thompson's second floor flat had swung open unexpectedly, forcing her to stop what she was doing for the moment as she instead stared at the man in the doorway with a look of shock. In the end, after trying to figure out what to say, all she could come up with was, "What are you doing here?"

Kaitlyn stood and stared for a few seconds longer before she made a sound that resembled a squeal and flung herself into her older brother's arms. "Kyle! You weren't supposed to be back for another month! You said in your last letter that training got moved up and that I wasn't going to get to see you until Christmas time! Oh, but of course, I'm really glad to see you sooner! Don't get me wrong, you just took me off guard and it's really been quite the week at the Ministry and I really haven't been able to tidy up around here at all! Oh, but you must be tired. How are you, by the way?"

All of this came out very quickly, and by the time Kaitlyn had stopped rambling, Kyle had managed to untangle himself from his younger sister's arms, usher them both inside, and set his bags down in the guest room.

He turned around to look at Kaitlyn, who had parked herself in the doorway of the room, flushed with excitement. He chuckled lightly. "I'm fine, a bit knackered, but nothing I can't deal with. Yes, training was moved up, but Coach ended up having family matters to tend to, so I'll be here for a couple of weeks at least. Wood and I Flooed back to his place earlier today and then I came here straight away."

"Oh," Kaitlyn said, giving her brother a mischievous smirk. "You and Wood, eh?"

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Oh come off it, Kait. Wood and I are just friends. Besides, I think he's still mourning Fred Weasley."

At the mention of Fred Weasley, Kaitlyn's smile faltered slightly. It had only been a year since the Battle of Hogwarts. Kaitlyn had never known the Weasleys well, but the Weasley twins had always made her laugh, and she'd had a few classes at Hogwarts with Ron since they were in the same year. Kaitlyn remembered walking through the Great Hall the night of the Battle, frantically searching for Kyle, needing to know that he was alive, when she saw the Weasley family. It was one huge circle of red haired, teary-eyed, sobbing Weasleys.

And just a few metres away from them stood Kyle, looking devastated, lost and tired. One look at him and Kaitlyn had known something was wrong. It broke her heart to think about not just their loss, but the loss of the entire wizarding community. So many people had died fighting for the greater good. She was both proud of her parents for being so brave and yet angry with them for leaving their children all alone. She had later found out that they had been tortured until they went insane, and as a result, were forced to reside, much like the Longbottoms, at St. Mungo's.

Ever since that night, Kyle and Kaitlyn had been on their own. Luckily, Kaitlyn, who had graduated Hogwarts that year, had quickly found a job at the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, working alongside a former Hogwarts classmate, Hermione Granger. Kyle was briiliant at Quidditch and had graduated two years prior to Kaitlyn. He had become a reserve Chaser for Puddlemere United right out of school, but after the Second Wizarding War had ended, he, Oliver Wood, and one of their back-up Beaters were taken off of reserve. That meant Kaitlyn was left on her own for the better part of the year while Kyle travelled and trained with Puddlemere. She didn't mind too much, but it did get lonely, especially when she sat alone in her parents' ward at St. Mungo's, watching them blankly watch her back.

Kaitlyn shook her head, ridding her thoughts of that bittersweet night. "I saw Ron Weasley the other day," she said softly. "He seems like he's doing okay." Shrugging, she added, "But I didn't really talk to him very much. He'd just come by the office to take Hermione to lunch."

By now, the Thompson siblings had meandered into their kitchen and Kyle was making some tea. He nodded solemnly. "Oliver says that George owls him every now and then... Says it doesn't seem like he does much else besides work."

"Yeah, I mean, the shop's doing really well. Practically taking over Zonko's business." Kaitlyn sat down at the table, accepting the cup of tea Kyle offered her. "I didn't know Oliver fancied Fred."

"I think it was unrequited," Kyle stated, rolling his eyes as he thought of his friend and teammate. "Pretty sure Fred was straight anyway. I mean, the bloke's really got to move on."

"Kind of like you do, don't you think?"

"We're not talking about that," Kyle said abruptly, giving his sister a look and immediately changing the subject. "Speaking of love, how's the git?"

"Kyle!" Kaitlyn admonished, throwing him a dirty look. "He's not a git!"

"Really? Then why are you at home, without him, on a Friday night?"

Kaitlyn felt her cheeks flush bright red. "He's just...he...he's just busy, okay?" She wracked her brain, trying to remember where Zacharias had said he was going, but the truth was, she didn't know. He never told her anything. He just said that he was "busy". Kaitlyn pushed the nagging feeling to the back of her mind and turned back to Kyle's skeptical, raised eyebrow. "Besides, I saw him for lunch today."

Kyle studied his younger sister for a moment longer. He worried about her while he was away. Especially after he had heard that she had taken Zacharias Smith back after the war had ended. He knew it was just because Kaitlyn was still upset over their parents, and Zacharias was there, a source of comfort and stability. It didn't make Kyle like him though. The bastard joined the D.A. with Harry Potter and then refused to fight with them. Not to mention what a horrible boyfriend he was to Kaitlyn, especially since she was nothing but perfect to him. And clearly, as much as Kaitlyn claimed he'd changed, it wasn't true. But after seeing the fire flare behind his sister's eyes after he had insulted Zach, the Quidditch player decided to let it drop. He would investigate this further at another time.

"Well, since it seems that you clearly don't have any plans, you're coming out with me," Kyle declared.

Kaitlyn responded with a snort. "Yeah, right. I'm not going to sit at the Leaky Cauldron with you and Oliver, listening to you guys talk about Quidditch all night. I'd rather do the dishes."

As she said that, both siblings' eyes trailed towards the sink overflowing with dirty plates and glasses, and Kaitlyn wrinkled up her nose, turning slightly pink. "Well, maybe not the dishes."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Kait. I'm your brother for Merlin's sake. I'm back in town for who knows how long? The least you could do is soak up all the time you've got with your favourite person on Earth." He batted his eyelashes at the younger girl.

Kaitlyn threw her head back in a laugh. "Favourite person on Earth? Don't flatter yourself." She smirked, but stood up anyway. "Just let me get dressed, will you? I can't go out looking like this."

Kyle only rolled his eyes in response.

Fifteen minutes later, the Thompson siblings had bundled up and stepped out into the November London chil, making the short walk over to the Leaky Cauldron where Kyle, Oliver, and a few of their teammates had agreed to meet.

"I'm telling you, Kyle. More than ten minutes of Quidditch talk and I am out of here," she warned her brother as they stepped into the welcoming warmth of the Three Broomsticks.

It was busy, as usual, but it was easy to spot Oliver. He was in the middle of a boisterous group of men, all a little drunk already after being there for Merlin knows how long.

"Look who finally decided to show up!" one of the players chortled when Kyle and Kaitlyn walked up to the table.

"Yeah, yeah, bugger off. This one had to get ready. She's my little sister by the way." Kyle rolled his eyes, pointing directly at Kaitlyn, who scowled at him before turning to flash a charming smile at the rest of the group.

"Hello, I'm Kaitlyn." She waved, looking at the group of fairly unfamiliar faces. Introductions were made, though Kaitlyn had to admit that she wasn't quite paying attention to any of them, only offering friendly smiles to the men her brother introduced her to. In any case, other than Oliver and Kyle, Kaitlyn thought Quidditch players all kind of looked the same. Then again, it was probably because she had absolutely no interest in the game whatsoever, besides when Kyle was playing.

However, she soon realized that she did know a few of the people sitting at the table. Thankfully, Hermione Granger was there with Ron and George Weasley.

Hermione smiled up at her. "Hi, Kait. I didn't know you would be coming. Thank goodness you're here, though. I don't think I could stand another minute of Quidditch talk."

Kaitlyn laughed and shrugged her coat off, sliding into the chair next to Hermione and falling into an easy conversation with her about office gossip while Kyle went off to get some Butterbeer for them both.

"Oh, Kaitlyn, I don't think you've ever formally met my...uh..."

"Boyfriend," Kaitlyn finished for a blushing Hermione, smirking at her co-worker. Hermione had to horrible at this relationship business if she still couldn't even call Ron her boyfriend in public without blushing. Heck, even Kaitlyn was better than that, and that really wasn't saying very much. "Hello Ron. It's nice to see you again," she said, grinning at the younger Weasley, who was just as red as his girlfriend. She raised an eyebrow, eyes shifting over toe George.

The twin was already giving his brother a teasing elbow to the side, and stopped only to turn to Kaitlyn with a lopsided half smile. "I'm George."

Kaitlyn nodded. "I know. You and um...Fred were in my brother's year. Beaters for Gryffindor." Kaitlyn treaded on Fred's name lightly. She didn't know the twins at all and did not want to offend George, especially since she knew that one year was not nearly enough time to be over a brother's death. She herself was not even close to being over her parents' condition and she couldn't imagine what George was feeling after losing his twin.

"Ah, yes," George said with a hint of amusement in his voice, gracefully ignoring Kaitlyn's comment about Fred, "the Slytherin Chaser. Have to admit, we didn't get along well in school." He flashed Kaitlyn the Weasley smile that her dorm mates had often fawned over in school.

Kaitlyn was glad that it was dark in the pub because she was pretty sure she could feel her face heating up. So that was why were fellow Hufflepuffs were so obsessed with the Weasley twins. She'd never received that smile before. She couldn't even imagine getting two of those identical smiles at once. Surely, she would have melted.

She cleared her throat and let out a nervous chuckle, glancing at Kyle, who was shamelessly play flirting with Oliver Wood. "Oh, well, Gryffindors and Slytherins never quite got along, did they?" she replied lamely before quickly turning to Hermione.

It had been a long time since she had received even the slightest bit of male attention from someone besides her brother, Zach and his flat mates. It was kind of nice, Kaitlyn had to admit, though she almost immediately scolded herself in her head. You dolt, you have Zacharias Smith. Zach. My Zach. Don't be an idiot, Kaitlyn Elizabeth Thompson. Besides, George is far too...no stop it. Zach, Zach, Zach -

"Kaitlyn!"

The brunette snapped her eyes up from her daydream and looked up sheepishly at whoever was calling her name. "Uh...yes?"

Kyle furrowed his brow at her. "Are you alright?"

It was then that Kaitlyn realized everyone at the table was, well, staring at her. She flushed bright red and grabbed her Butterbeer, taking a long sip after mumbling, "Perfectly fine."

Kyle gave her a sidelong glance before turning back to his teammates to continue their conversation. Kaitlyn scrunched up her nose in annoyance at his over-protectiveness of her. She heard a snort of laughter coming from beside her, and when she looked up, George Weasley was giving her a wide smile. When she flushed bright red for what seemed like the millionth time that night, George had the gall to wink at her. Kaitlyn should've figured it out right then; she would later kick herself for not knowing sooner. But Kaitlyn Thompson? Well, she was screwed.