She bit down on her lip hard, hard enough to almost draw blood, but then gradually released the pressure. Katie Bell ran a quick hand through her blonde hair, noticing that her fingers got tangled in it, frowned and returned to the piece she was working on. She squinted at the computer screen, tilted her head, readjusted her black framed glasses and started typing furiously. She paused to take a sip of wine and just as she was about to place her glass down, the phone rang, startling her, causing her to spill on herself. She leapt up and ran to the phone exasperated.

"Hello?"

"May I speak to a Katie Bell?"

"That's me... I'm here..." she said still out of breath.

"Hey, you probably don't remember me. Eliza? Eliza Wood?"

"Oh hi! It's quite a long time, Eliza. What can do for you?" she added quickly.

Of course she remembered Eliza, they ran in different social circles, but she remembered her.

"So, ummm... there's no easy way to ask but grapevine says that you've got an extra room in your flat. My brother, Oliver, he's run into a bit trouble and my mum thinks that he'd do better if he was just away from all of this. It won't be a permanent solution. It'll just be until he gets back on his feet and we'll help out with rent."

Oliver. She definitely remembered Oliver.

"Yes, I have an extra room but don't you think..." she was quickly cut off.

"Your mum said it would be no trouble at all, since it's not like you have friends or boyfriend to live with... and us being family friends and all."

Katie sighed. How pathetic was she? Even her mom thought she was hopeless. She looked at the huge stack of bills in the corner and sighed again.

"I guess its no trouble at all." she added. She definitely needed to learn to say no. It was one of those thing that came almost naturally to other people, that was impossible for her to do. It seemed the more she tried to work on it, the more hopeless it became.

"Great! I'll give you a call later to set everything up."

"But--"

She heard a click on the other end. Katie held the receiver and shook her head, and placed her phone back into the cradle and returned to the computer.

****************

Beads of sweat collected along his brow line and he used the back of his hand to brush away strands of unkept hair. He had made it up four flights of stairs with a box 14 of 19 of his belongings. He placed them against the wall in front of his new room and sat down, leaning his head back allowing it to touch the brick wall.

She said that she'd be here to help him move in over 30 minutes ago, but she was nowhere to be found. He placed his hand up on the ugly green carpet to push himself back up and go down the stairs again. It wasn't long before he heard the frantic sound of footsteps ascending the stairs.

***************

Katie ran up the stairs as fast as she could. She decided to take the subway back her apartment, but there was a slight hiccup in the transportation system and she was stuck in a crowded traincar for longer than usual. She saw a couple of boxes at the bottom of the staircase and she picked up two of them and started ascending. She started rehearsing what she would say to Oliver once she saw him again. "Oh hi, I'm sorry for being late..." "Oh, long time no see... how are you?" "Oh, Oliver... you look-" She looked up just in time to collide with him letting the top box spill out.

He shot her an annoyed look as he knelt over trying to pick up the random contents that had spilled out of the box. She managed to quickly mutter a quick "sorry" before he turned around and headed back up the stairs. He yelled to her behind him, "Don't worry about the rest of the boxes, just unlock the door."

Feeling utterly pathetic, she dug through her bag for her keys and locked the door.

After he moved everything up, he grabbed the spare key and declared that he was heading out. Katie was almost relieved. She could finally finish up that paper that was due in a couple of days. She turned on the television and began writing again.

A bowl of ramen, two awful made for tv movies later, she had written a little over a page. She readjusted the way she sat and decided she would write at least half of her paper before calling it a night. Just then, the lock jiggled as Oliver walked in. For the first time, Katie got a good look at him. Brown Converses. Jeans. White Ribbed Sweater. Brown Leather Jacket. He looked different from the days of Hogwarts. He seemed more worldly, his features sharper, his eyes more fierce then the boyish charm he had when he was younger. He still had the look of mischief; he just filled out and grown into himself.

He tossed his keys on the coffee table and without paying attention to me walked into his room.

He came out of his room and asked, "Have you eaten anything yet?"

Katie looked at her half-eaten ramen and nodded. "Yeah, I ate dinner." She hoped that he couldn't tell how nervous she was answering him. She glanced up to see him looking intently at her.

"Have you had dessert yet? You haven't eaten until you've had dessert," he said with a weak smile and opening up his jacket just enough to reveal a pint of ice cream.

"Housewarming present?" he said to her across the room.

Oliver grabbed two spoons and took a seat next to her. He scooped a spoonful for her and for himself and handed her a spoon.

Just as Katie reached out to grab the spoon, he clinked the two spoons together and said, "Cheers," before he placed his spoonful into his mouth and decided to make his way into his new bedroom, spoon still in mouth.

Katie looked down at the pint of ice cream he had bestowed upon her, smiled, and took another bite before readjusting her attention back to her paper.