Katie Bell, that was as far as I had gotten on my Transfiguration test. My name, and even remembering that was a push. Sighing I forced myself to give my head a little shake to clear from it thoughts of a certain best friend of mine that was sitting right in front of me at the moment, writing lazily on his paper every once in a while.

This was hopeless, I had spent the night after Quidditch practice with Fred Weasley because he was in a mood and needed to blow off steam by playing even more Quidditch, and I really ought to have been studying instead. I really didn't know any of this. Honestly, what the hell was supposed to be the difference between the thought process for transforming a teacup into a turtle and turning a turtle into a teacup? All I care about is that when I have my tea (which really isn't very often, I'm more of a coffee girl myself) I don't want to be drinking it out of something that used to crawl through Hagrid's pumpkin patch.

And it really wasn't helping that Fred's hair was getting a little too long and curling just the tiniest bit at the back of his neck again.

I mentally smacked myself for thinking these thoughts. Fred was my best friend, there was no way he would fall for me. Plus, I knew it was only a phase I was going through… albeit a very long phase.

Putting my quill down to my test I began to scratch a couple answers out on the parchment. I had finished maybe half the test when the bell rang.

"Turn your tests in on the way out!" Professor McGonagall said over the noise of students heading out the door.

I groaned and threw my quill into my bag before shouldering it and falling into step beside Fred.

"That bad?" He asked, laughing as he handed his test to McGonagall.

"You have no idea," I moaned. "It was horrible. That's the last time I stay up with you after Quidditch practice!"

"Oh come on Kates, it wasn't that late."

"Fred, I didn't sleep last night and we came in so late that I didn't get any coffee!" I exclaimed, "It was late!"

Fred shrugged, "Well, it got me out of my mood, didn't it?"

"You'd better be happy. I'd have to force you to be if you weren't for making me fail Transfiguration."

"It's not like I was distracting you while you were trying to write or anything. I was being a model student and taking my own test quietly."

"I blame you." I replied simply, hoping he didn't sense my attempt to quickly change the subject. "So, what's for lunch? I'm starving!"

"You're always starving." Fred laughed. "But would you accompany me to find out Miss Bell?"

"As always Mr. Weasley."

I looped my arm through Fred's and we marched off to the Great Hall. When we got there, all conversation ceased between us as we both scrambled to get the best food before the other could.

"Pass the sandwiches!" Fred exclaimed through a mouthful of macaroni.

"Certainly," I handed him the plate of sandwiches, grabbing two for myself as I did so. One of which I immediately stuffed into my mouth.

"You two are so disgusting," Alicia Spinnet, one of my good friends, scoffed from her seat across the table.

"It's amazing that they actually know what the other one is saying," Angelina Johnson, one of my other good friends, pointed out. "Meant to be if I've ever seen it."

"When pigs fly; you've never seen it." I assured, but my mouth was full of sandwich and she couldn't understand what I was saying.

"She said when pigs fly; you've never seen it," Fred relayed, as he prepared to stuff a sandwich into his mouth.

I nodded vigorously to show that was what I had said and Angelina gave me a doubtful look.

"Uh, yeah, keep telling yourself that. Maybe it will come true for you someday." She rolled her eyes at Alicia.

"Hey! I'm not getting stuck with fatty here, he has horrid table manners!" I protested, as I prepared to dig into a piece of pie mind you.

"Watch who you're calling fat, fatty!" Fred cried.

"Yeah!" George, his identical twin, seconded. "We're genetically identical and I am certainly not fat!"

I grabbed Fred's arm and pulled my hand back, "Are you calling me fat?"

"N-n-no!" Fred stuttered.

"Good, because I'm a Quidditch player and I have to keep up my strength." I lowered my hand and Fred let out a whoosh of breath as I let him go.

"You've got a lot of reserve strength then," Fred muttered.

"I could still break your nose you know." I growled threateningly.

"I didn't say anything!" Fred cried innocently, his eyes wide.

I just glared at him and turned back to my second piece of pie. When I had finished stuffing my face, I pulled out a spare piece of parchment and my quill.

"Whatcha doing?" Fred asked, peering over my shoulder as I started writing.

"What do you think she's doing?" Alicia asked, rolling her eyes. "She's finishing her homework for Transfiguration next week, like she always does."

"Why bother?" George piped up, "She's just going to lose it like she always does."

I stuck my tongue out at him, "Nu huh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Nu huh!"

"Uh huh!"

"Don't you uh huh my nu huh!" I did a little dance, "I WIN!"

"Katie, we're not playing a game," Alicia explained slowly.

"Everything's a game if you're Katie," Fred pointed out.

"See! I win!" Then I realized that this wasn't a compliment. "Hey!"

"I win!" Fred mocked.

"Oh sod off Weasley." I grumbled.

"Kates, I was just kidding." Fred poked me, "I didn't mean it."

"You called me fat. And I said sod off." I fixed him with a glare.

"I was kidding. Kaaayyyteeee."

"Oh just snog each other senseless and get it over with!" Angelina exclaimed loudly, drawing a couple stares from other tables and a glare from me.

It wasn't until later, in History of Magic, that I said anything about her teasing.

"Why can't you just drop it?" I asked quietly, not because I thought Binns might hear me, but because I didn't want to draw the attention of Fred who was napping right next to me.

"Drop what?" Angelina asked innocently.

"You know what. The couple stuff."

"Oh, that. What do you think Lic?"

"Think about what?" Alicia asked, not entirely awake from her nap.

"About dropping the couple hints with Fred and Katie."

"Absolutely not!" Alicia exclaimed, "Those are helping to change the way he thinks about you!"

"What if I don't want that to change?" I demanded.

"You two are perfect for each other." Alicia whined, "And you do want it to change."

"Face it, you looove him," Ange sang.

I glanced over at the redhead in alarm, afraid he had heard her. But he simply heaved a huge snore and fell over onto my shoulder.

"When pigs fly!" I hissed at Angelina.

"Then why are you letting him drool on your shoulder?" Alicia asked in an annoyingly confident voice.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed, poking him in the side rather more forcefully than was perhaps completely necessary, "Frederick Weasley if you've drooled on me I sear I'll be sure that you never have children!"

Fred started and spun to look at me abruptly before regaining his usual aloofness. "Well, that'd be unfortunate. We won't be able to produce offspring then. It's a good thing I don't drool."

"Sod off," I snapped, searching my shoulder for any sign of drool. I scowled when I didn't find any. "You're lucky mister."

"Only because I have the prettiest girl sitting next to me."

"I'm telling George you said he was the prettiest girl." I retorted. I really wasn't in the mood for his meaningless flirting.

"Oy, George," Fred turned to his brother, "Kates thinks you're pretty."

"Thanks Katie!" George grinned, "I think you're not too hard on the eyes either."

I scowled again, "Sod off, the lot of you."

Fred looked at me concerned, "What's got your knickers in a bunch?"

"It's almost Valentine's Day," Alicia informed him.

"In four months," Fred shook his head, "It's too early for that."

"Perhaps it's her monthly visit." George suggested.

Fred shook his head again. "Naw, that happened last week."

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" I snapped, "And why the hell do you know the timing of my monthly cycles?"

"I'm your best friend, how could I not know? Besides, the entire school knows." Fred rolled his eyes.

"Are you stalking me?"

"You didn't see me in the tree then? That's good, I could have sworn you looked right at me."

I let out a very unladylike snort, "I thought it was just a really ugly bird with disgusting red feathers."

"My hair isn't disgusting!" Fred exclaimed.

"Keep telling yourself that, maybe it will come true for you someday."

Fred glared at me, "Fine, if you want to be mean I can be mean."

"Look, Fred, I don't mean it, I'm just tired." I sighed.

"Prove it."

"I'm not going to…"

"Say it!"

I took a deep breath and said as quickly as possible, "You're my best friend whom I love very much and I'm sorry that I'm being an idiot head, please forgive me."

"I meant sorry, but that will work too," Fred smirked at me.

"That's not the standard reply!" I protested. "You'd better say it."

"It makes me sound gay," Fred whined.

"And whining like George doesn't?"

"I don't whine!" George whined in protest.

"Good point." Fred closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "Oh my best friend I forgive you with every fiber of my being and you will always have my heart."

"We good?"

"We're good."

We both spit in our hands and then shook them. Angelina and Alicia looked revolted.

"You really ought to just snog each other senseless like normal people," Angelina scoffed.

"Hey, we were 11! Give us a break." I defended.

"We could try that snogging thing sometime though." Fred shrugged. "I'm interested to see how it would work out."

I looked at him, alarmed, "You aren't serious?"

Fred's eyes were glinting mischievously so I knew he was only joking, but he said, "Oh, dead serious Katie dahling."

I opened my mouth to reply just as the bell rang signaling the end of class. I jumped right up and grabbed my bag, heading towards the door.

"Kates, wait up!" Fred caught up to me and fell into step beside me. "Where are you going so fast?"

"Away from you," I snapped, suddenly back in my sour mood.

"Katie," Fred grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop, "You know I was just kidding, don't you?"

I stared at him for a second. "Exactly."

Realizing what I had said, I pulled away and hurried off before he could process what I had said. I hadn't meant to say it, but it just tumbled out of my mouth, like word vomit.

I was the first student in the dungeons for Potions. Sighing I knew there was no way I could get away from Fred without skipping. He was my partner after all. Grabbing my stuff, I headed back out of the classroom. I thought about going to the Hospital Wing to get something for my stomach, but I knew it wouldn't help. Nothing would help but time.

So I headed back to my dorm and dropped my books and bag beside my bed. Then it was off, but to where I didn't know. I just walked through the empty school halls aimlessly, hoping to find a place where I could be alone. Then my steps took me to the Quidditch Pitch and I climbed the short wall and lay out on the roof of the locker rooms, staring at the clouds in the sky.

I don't know how long I was out there, but it must have been a long time because my stomach was telling me it was dinner time and it was just starting to get dark. That's when I heard someone climb onto the roof and lay down beside me.

"Hey Kates."

"Hi Fred." I opened my eyes and looked sideways at him.

"I thought you'd be up here."

"Yep."

"About earlier…"

"Forget it, I'm just being moody. It was nothing."

"No it wasn't. Kates, I don't think of anything as nothing if it involves you."

"Huh?"

Fred repeated what he had said and then looked thoughtful, "Yeah, that really doesn't make much sense."

"Not so much."

"So, want to explain what's going on? I heard Alicia and Ange's version, but I want to hear it from you."

"Have you ever heard that if you can tie cherry stems into a knot with your tongue, you're a good kisser?"

"Yes, but don't try to change the subject."

"It was just a simple question."

"Katie!" Fred exclaimed, sitting up, "Stop with the dodging of the question!"

I sat up and looked out towards the Quidditch Pitch. "It's stupid, I'm stupid."

"Don't say that, you're decent in Transfiguration. You'll graduate… eventually."

"But it is stupid. You know how in those sappy movies we always make fun of, the girl falls for this idiot guy and then ends up in love with her best friend?"

"Yeah."

"It's sorta like that. Only there wasn't an idiot guy. I got to skip that step."

"So, you're saying that you fancy me?"

I heard the smirk in his voice and turned to look at him. "If you make fun of me for it I swear I'll beat you up."

"No need for that, I'd rather be snogging you senseless."

I stared at him blankly, "That's not funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny, for once."

"Oh, okay… no, you lost me."

"Kates, you know those movies we always make fun of where the guy watches his best friend fall in love with an idiot before making the right choice and falling in love with him?"

"Yeah, I just-"

"Nnnh," Fred waved his hand to cut me off, "It's kind of like that, only I didn't have to watch you fall in love with an idiot."

"Wait, so you're saying-"

"Shut up for once in your life Kates," Fred cut me off as he climbed to his feet and grabbed my hand to pull me up. "What I'm saying is that I'm as much infatuated with you as you are with me."

He had pulled me to my feet, but he didn't stop pulling then. He pulled me into his arms and kissed me. I think I went into shock, but then I responded and began to kiss him back.

When we broke apart, I looked at him.

"So, what exactly does this mean?" I asked, "I'm so confused."

"So am I," Fred hugged me tightly, "But I do know that was the best kiss I've ever had and I expect it to be the first of many."

"Sounds like a plan, but I had another question." I reminded him.

Fred just kissed me again, "Let's go in. It's getting dark and I'm starving. I didn't eat dinner because I came after you, so let's go to the kitchens."

"Thank Merlin you think with your stomach too," I breathed, "I'm starving!"

Fred climbed down from the roof and waited as I climbed down too. Halfway down I realized that I was wearing a skirt.

"Fred, don't look up my skirt, you pervert."

"But I can do things like that now without being a pervert."

"We have no official status. And you'd still be a pervert." I replied as I stepped onto the ground, "There's no changing what you are."

Fred shrugged and started to walk off with his hands in his pockets. I caught up with his long strides and looped my arm through his.

"Why are we walking so fast?" I asked.

"I'm hungry."

"Oh, what's for dinner?"

"Food Kates."

"You're irritable when you're hungry."

"We're gonna be late for Quidditch."

"So? It's not like that's anything new."

Fred shrugged and I stopped walking, causing him to look back and see why I had stopped.

"What?" He asked.

I looked at him and shook my head, "I don't get you. You skip dinner and come after me, kiss me twice and now you're being…"

"What am I being?" Fred demanded.

"What the hell is your problem Fred? You are being such an arse!"

"Well, you wouldn't want to snog an arse, would you?"

I just stared at him, "When you want to be civil, come and find me."

Then I pushed past him, heading into the school. Suddenly I wasn't hungry anymore so I headed up to the dormitory and ignored my friends greetings as I stormed through the common room and headed up to throw myself on my bed.

Stupid Fred Weasley and his stupid mood swings. Everything was going perfectly before we left that roof. Sure he was avoiding the question about where we stood, but then when I said we had no official status his mood suddenly took a nose dive.

I felt like throwing something, so I grabbed my pillow and chucked it across the room. It hit the wall and slid to the floor. Then I noticed the picture that was sitting on the nightstand of me and Fred and I flipped it facedown rather forcefully, so that it made a cracking sound. I had probably cracked the glass, but at the moment I didn't really care.

"Katie, what's going on?" Alicia demanded as she and Ange came into the dorm room.

Ange spotted the picture and pointed. Alicia's eyes widened and her mouth formed a big O.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Alicia asked. "I know normally that would be Fred's job, but at the moment…"

I winced at his name. "I don't want to talk. And don't say that name until I see some flying pigs."

"Okay," Ange replied, and she and Alicia started for the door.

"It's just, where the hell does he get off kissing me and then being an arse?"

"Okay… you're going to have to explain a little more than that." Alicia prompted, sitting down on her bed. Ange sat down beside her.

I related the entire story to them and they both looked thoughtful for a minute or two.

"Well, I guess it has something to do with your comment about 'official status'." Alicia started, "Why would that bother him?"

"I don't know, but he wouldn't give me a straight answer to my question. I really shouldn't have said it, thinking about it now."

"No, but then he should have answered your question instead of sidestepping it." Alicia pointed out. She really was the queen of advice.

I sighed, "I don't know what to do."

"Get ready for Quidditch and come with us to eat something," Angelina stood up and tossed me my Quidditch robes for me to put on. "Let's go."

I quickly changed into jeans and a t-shirt and then pulled my scarlet robes over top of them. Then I grabbed my Quidditch gear and broom and we headed off to the kitchens.

"I'm not hungry," I protested as Ange and Lic tried to feed me something.

Ange snorted, "I'll believe that when pigs fly."

"Please Katie. You should eat something." Alicia urged.

I shook my head, "I'm not hungry."

"Katie, eat the food or I'll force feed it to you." Ange threatened.

I glared at her and then ate all of the food that they put on my plate, "Happy now?"

"Very, let's go." Ange stood up and Alica and I fell into step beside her and headed down to the pitch.

"You're late Bell, Johnson, Spinnet." Oliver Wood, the Quidditch captain, barked as we walked onto the pitch.

"We had to feed Katie. Can't have your Chaser collapsing from hunger, Oliver." Ange replied.

"And we have first names," I pointed out. "And I know you know them because you're dating Ange. Just a thought."

Fred gave a snort of laughter; I ignored him. Oliver glared at me. Oh, what a wonderful start to Quidditch practice.

"Run a lap Bell." Oliver commanded.

I saluted and dropped my broom to start jogging around the pitch. I heard protests from some of the other team members at his making me run, but I didn't really mind. I needed to cool down. Seeing Fred had put me in a sour mood, but I refused to let him get to me the rest of practice.

When I finished my lap, I grabbed my broom and mounted it, kicking off the ground and flying over to meet Lic and Ange.

"So, what's the game plan?" I asked.

"He shouldn't have made you run, sorry." Ange apologized.

I waved my hand, "Doesn't matter. What play are we running?"

"We're going to get that tornado thingie worked out," Alicia explained. "I still don't think it's going to work."

"It'll work. Oliver's a genius." Ange assured. They both looked to me, knowing that I always knew which of his plays were actually doable.

"It's possible, but we probably won't get it the first time." I said after a minute.

"Then let's get practicing." Ange tossed me the quaffle and we flew to the opposite side of the pitch.

We ran the play unsuccessfully for a while, improving each time so that we were getting it down. Then we scored one time.

"Oy, Oliver, wanna play Keeper?" I called. "That is your job, isn't it?"

"Do you want to run another lap Bell?" Oliver threatened.

I shrugged, tossing the quaffle from hand to hand as I waited for him to get in the goal. Then we ran the play. Alicia shot the quaffle and Oliver stopped it.

"Run it again." He threw the quaffle to me and I caught it easily.

We flew to the other end of the pitch and ran the play over and over again until we could score on Oliver about half the time.

"That's good enough. Practice is over." Oliver called, then he looked at me, Lic, and Ange. "We'll work on it more next practice."

"Thank Merlin." I groaned as I landed, "I thought we were never going to get out of here."

"Bell, run another lap for that comment earlier." Oliver passed me.

"What?" I cried, "Practice is over and I was just kidding!"

The rest of the team, except Fred, protested but Oliver ignored them.

"Make that two laps Bell."

With a glare I threw him my broom and sprinted off to run my laps.

"Slow down!" He ordered, "You're going to kill yourself."

I ignored him and ran faster. I saw him shrug and head off to the locker rooms to shower. After he had gone, I slowed down my speed, but kept running past my two laps.

When Oliver and Ange walked back out of the locker rooms, I was still running. "Bell, you can stop running."

"You wanted me to run, so I'm running!" I yelled back.

"Oliver, stop her." Ange looked at me with concern. "Why are you making her run anyway? Lic and I were late too."

"You didn't talk back to me."

"It's Katie, she always talks back to you!" Angelina exclaimed.

"Bell, stop running."

"When pigs fly!" I gasped, jogging past them.

"Katie, you've made your point, stop!" Alicia called as she and George joined them.

I ignored her and kept running.

"Go get Fred," Alicia told George, who jogged off to do what she said.

A moment later, a scowling Fred joined the group standing by the locker rooms.

"Stop her Fred." Alicia pleaded.

"She's going to kill herself." Ange added.

"She'll pass out soon," Fred shrugged.

Alicia took Fred by his shoulders, "Are you really so mad at her that you'd let her kill herself?"

Fred shook his head, his wet hair spraying water in all directions.

"Then stop her."

Sighing Fred jogged after me and caught up, "Stop Kates."

"What the hell do you care?" I asked in gasps.

"I love you, alright, now quit being a dumb arse and stop running. You're going to hurt yourself."

I shrugged and kept running, putting on some more speed.

"Kates, don't make me force you to stop." Fred warned, easily catching up to me.

"I'd like to see you try," I replied, or tried to reply. It probably came out more like, "Iph lihhe oo ee ooou thrie."

Fred sighed and slowed his speed. I was about to celebrate my victory when he crashed into me and tackled me to the ground. I fell awkwardly on my shoulder and Fred landed on top of me knocking all the air out of me and probably bruising a couple of my ribs.

I gasped for air and tried to push Fred off me. But he wasn't budging. In fact, he shifted so that he was sitting on my stomach.

"Fred, get the hell off of me!" I gasped, still trying to catch my breath, "I think you tore something in my shoulder and I know you bruised my ribs."

"Are you going to keep running?"

"I couldn't if I wanted to now. I can hardly breathe. Bruised ribs are a bad thing you know."

Fred climbed off me and I started to get up, but gasped in pain as a shot of pain came from my right side.

"Sorry Kates, but I warned you not to make me force you to stop."

I took a shuddering breath and forced myself to stand up. "What is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Fred retorted, "What's wrong with you? Why would you keep running, it's not like you were proving a point."

"Sod off Fred." I muttered as I staggered over towards the locker rooms. "I'm not in the mood right now."

"Yeah, well neither am I, but I still had to come and stop you from killing yourself."

"Why bother?" I asked, "If I'm dead you don't have to explain why you're so afraid to date me."

Fred sighed with frustration, "Do you want to let me explain?"

"Not particularly, but I suppose you're going to anyway." I tugged on the door to the locker rooms, but it wouldn't budge before my shoulder gave out.

Fred opened it and held it for me, following me into the locker room.

"Thanks," I muttered as I walked through the door.

"Kates, sit down and listen to me for a second. Please?"

I wasn't going to, but there was something in his voice, almost like a pleading. So I collapsed onto the bench.

Fred took a deep breath, "Katie, you're my best friend but lately I've been feeling more than that. And then suddenly, I found up that you felt the same way, and at first I was excited. But then, I thought how things would change. When people date, things happen and we might break up and I'd rather have you as my best friend than be dating you and have something happen. So, I didn't want to commit to anything."

"Fred, it doesn't work that way. You can't go around leading me on and then backing out. Either we're together and friends, or we lose everything, including our friendship."

"I understand that now." Fred sat down next to me on the bench.

"So?"

"So this," Fred leaned in and kissed me slowly and lazily.

His hands went around my waist, brushing my ribs, and I winced and pulled back.

"Sorry Kates. Here, let me help."

Fred reached over and helped me pull off my Quidditch robes. I lifted my shirt to look at my ribs. There was a nasty looking bruise forming that covered my right side. Fred reached out and touched it lightly, causing me to wince.

"How big is it?" Fred asked.

I pulled my shirt up a little higher but the bruise kept going. "I don't know."

"Come on Kates, I want to know how much damage I did."

"Fred, I am not stripping in front of my boyfriend until pigs start flying!"

Fred looked around like he was looking for someone. Then understanding crossed his face, "Oh, that's me, isn't it? Come on, we've gone swimming before, it's not like it'd be anything new."

"I don't want you getting ideas," I mumbled.

"Kates, how bad is the bruising?"

Sighing I pulled at my shirt, but my right shoulder refused to move properly. "You have to help me."

Fred laughed, "I really hope that nobody comes in right now. They might think we were doing something naughty before the first date."

"Oh sod off." I muttered, "Just help me."

Fred grinned and reached over to help me pull my shirt off. I looked at my right side the best I could. It wasn't easy, and from what I saw it wasn't pretty. Fred grimaced as he looked at it closely.

"That's pretty nasty Kates."

"I blame you." I informed him, gingerly touching my side and wincing in pain. "I'm going to have to pay a visit to the Hospital Wing. Oh joy."

"Go get a shower and then I'll take you."

I raised an eyebrow, "You're covered in mud. Did you know that?"

"You have mud on your cheek, did you know that?" Fred retorted.

I stuck out my tongue and headed to the girls' showers. During my shower, I had to try and keep my right side out of the water as much as possible because it stung like nobody's business if the water hit it. I got out of the shower, got dressed, and headed back into the empty locker room. Fred was in getting a second shower.

Sighing, I lay down on the bench and closed my eyes.

"Tired Kates?" Fred asked as he came out of the shower.

I didn't say anything in reply. Fred came over and sat next to my head. Then he lifted it gently off the bench and placed it back down onto his lap.

"Let me know when you want to go." He told me, playing with my hair.

"Can't we just stay here?" I mumbled.

"Nope, I want to make sure I didn't do any permanent damage to you."

"I'm fine," I assured him as I attempted to sit up and then changed my mind. "Okay, maybe I'm not."

"Am I going to have to carry you?"

"No," I sighed, opening my eyes and looking at him, "I'll walk, but just another couple minutes."

"You just like laying with your head in my lap." Fred teased.

"You got me. Am I really that obvious?"

"Neither of us is obvious, or we're both extremely unobservant."

"Doesn't matter anymore," I waved my hand which Fred caught in his, lacing our fingers together.

He rubbed his thumb lightly against my hand. I smiled happily at him and he leaned down to kiss me.

After he pulled away, he looked at me, "Kates, we should go to the Hospital Wing. I know your side is killing you."

I grimaced and nodded, letting go of Fred's hand so that I could push myself up into a sitting position. Then I swiveled around and stood up. Fred stood up and took my left hand with his right one and we headed out of the locker rooms.

"Did it look bad enough to be broken?" I asked.

"Nope, but you've got some nasty bruising and probably a slightly out of place shoulder." Fred replied, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Lovely." I groaned.

Fred laughed and we headed the rest of the way to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey had my bruises healed and shoulder properly reset within 10 minutes so Fred and I headed up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I'm really tired." I yawned.

Fred laughed, "I hadn't noticed."

"Shut up, it's your fault."

Fred's eyebrows shot up, "You really need to be careful with wording Kates."

"You pervert!" I exclaimed, dropping his hand, "That is NOT what I meant!"

Fred wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Or is it?"

I fixed him with a glare, "Fred Weasley! You'd better watch it."

"Sorry Queen Katie," Fred bowed comically, told the fat lady the password and opened the portrait hole. "After you, your majesty."

"He finally learned! And here I was thinking you weren't trainable."

He hurried through the portrait hole with me and let go of the painting a little too early so that it hit me in the back.

"Ow! Fred, are you trying to kill me?"

"Well that would be stupid of me. Who would I make out with on the weekends?"

I looked to the sky, "Merlin, remind me why I'm dating you."

"Because you think I'm gorgeous, you want to kiss me, you want to hug me, you want to looove me!" Fred sang.

"Don't make me test my shoulder out by punching you in the face." I threatened.

Fred took my hand and whispered, "I think you're gorgeous, I want to kiss you, I want to hug you, I already love you."

I felt my cheeks reddening slightly. "Come on, let's go sit with the others."

Fred led me towards an open couch next to Alicia, George, Angelina, and Oliver. They all looked at us curiously as we sat down. Then, they grinned as Fred put his arm around me and I scooted up next to him, laying my head on his shoulder.

"So, you two are finally together?" Angelina asked bluntly.

"Ange!" Alicia exclaimed, then, "Well are you?"

Fred and I looked at each other. I shrugged, "I guess we are."

Alicia squealed, causing George to cover his ears. Ange punched the air and Oliver looked awkward.

"No messing up my Quidditch team dynamics!" He warned.

"Oliver!" Ange hit him. "You had something to say to Katie."

"Bell, I shouldn't have made you run." Oliver mumbled.

I shrugged, "Doesn't matter. I actually should thank you for that."

"Yeah, thanks Wood." Fred added.

Oliver looked at us confused and then turned to Ange.

"I'll explain later," She sighed, shaking her head.

"Are you Fred'n'Katie?" A kid asked, coming up to where we were sitting and eyeing us nervously.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Professor McGonagall wanted to see both of you right away. Something about not being in class?"

"Fan-bloody-tastic," I muttered. "We're gonna get detentions now."

Fred shrugged, "I'd rather be forced to clean toe-jam off the ceiling after the first years exploded something than you being in class today."

"Thanks, I think… wait, what?"

"Let's go Kates." Fred pulled me up off the couch and towards the portrait hole.

"Maybe she'll let us off easy?"

"Maybe… when pigs fly."