femexchange_mod (femexchange_mod) wrote in fem_exchange, @ 2007-12-27 00:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | alicia/katie, pg13 |
Happy holidays, 7shotsofjager (Alicia/Katie, PG-13)
Title: Silence
Author: ???
Recipient: 7shotsofjager
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2108 words
Pairing(s): Alicia/Katie, mentions of Katie/Kenneth/Alicia triangle.
Summary: A journey of discovery answering the age old question: Just why did Fred and George put Bulbadox powder in poor Kenneth's pyjamas during their OWL year?
Warning(s): It's probably not everyone's cup of tea because it's an attempt towards the artsier side of things. Also, there is absolutely no sex. Yeah. I'm sorry. Hope you like it anyway :)
Note: Many thanks to my lovely betas R and T for the late notice, last minute edit. I owe you guys ;)
Cormac McLaggen had always acted as though he was the prettiest boy in Hogwarts, which was even less of a turn on than the fact that he wasn’t. Still, Katie was stuck with him kissing her and trying to get a grope in when he thought she was too awed by his snogging skills to notice. Katie restrained herself, somehow, from kneeing him in a way that would have sent him crying to Madam Pomfrey; instead, she punched him hard in the offending arm. He yelled as if he’d been mortally injured, screaming something about how his arm had been torn off by a rampaging Katie-gryff.
Katie’s first thought was not, ‘oh dear, perhaps I actually hurt the poor boy,’ instead, it went somewhere along the lines of, ‘hey, maybe I’m actually stronger than I thought I was!’ She poked herself out of pure curiosity, and was rather pleased to find that she’d bulked up quite a bit. Her second thought was: ‘Angelina’s new training program must be really working for me.’ Her third thought was not so much a thought from her conscious mind, but rather from that irritating lesbian at the back of her head who kept implanting stupid thoughts into her brain like, ‘I wonder if Alicia’s noticed?’ Foregoing her usual trick of putting sellotape around the lesbian’s mouth, she instead told a pouting Cormac that he wasn’t dying so he could stop with the screaming because it was hurting her ears, and to please not touch her without her permission.
He told her it was an accident.
Katie managed to pretend to believe that without sniggering too loudly. He started to say something else so naturally, she kissed him to shut him up. Now that she didn’t have to worry about wandering hands or his voice, which was nasally and grated on her ears, Katie found that he wasn’t actually that terrible a kisser. It was just whenever he did anything else that he pissed her off. (That’s what she got for wanting the opposite of Alicia, she supposed.) Unfortunately, he was the best she could do on such short notice. She’d needed someone fast, because Alicia had decided that she’d had enough time to get over Kenneth. Katie had had the whole holidays to get over him, and she had, sort of. (She was just now getting over the fact that she’d been over him before they’d been over, but that was neither here, there nor anywhere else.) Katie had thought that Ken was a pretty cool guy and they’d clicked well, but then, Alicia…and Ken…well, he seemed to think that their relationship was open. She probably would have been happy with that, if she’d been informed. She’d told Fred and George that she’d caught him with another girl, not mentioning the fact that she’d nearly been with the same girl on more than one occasion since she and Ken got together. They’d put Bulbadox powder in his pyjamas, and Alicia had congratulated them.
Of course, Katie had been only fourteen then. Now, she was all of fifteen, hiding out from one of her best friends because she kept trying to talk about feelings, and hiding out from the other one because she kept trying to kiss her, in a broom closet, with Cormac McLaggen. She was moving up in the world, that was for sure.
They were supposed to be having a special Chaser-only practice soon. Katie had just decided that she needed a hickey or something when Cormac went to grab her arse again. She was about to pull away and tick him off when he remembered all by himself, his hands settling on her lower back. Katie counted that as a victory, not only because he had actually listened to her, but also because it was so anti-Alicia of him. The sorting hat had spared Ravenclaw House the travesty of having Alicia counted amongst its numbers for a reason.
**
When Katie showed up to practice, Alicia was already there, watching her walk towards her from the other side of the pitch. Angelina was nowhere to be seen.
She’s in the Hospital Wing. She’s fine, George just elongated her nose and Pomfers is fixing her up with her usual nasty potions, Alicia said. Such events were common, but that didn’t make them any less inconvenient. One of the downsides of having friends that were bat-shit crazy.
Well then, Katie replied, determined, Let’s start. Angie’ll kill us if we slack off. It was a valid concern, but her reasoning for flying away so quickly from Alicia and the Quaffle she held in one hand had little to do with Angelina’s training program.
Alicia joined her in the air and they trained in silence for several minutes, Katie’s focus not swayed by Alicia’s lack of. Katie started to loosen up after only a few minutes in the air. This was okay, she could do this. She could ignore this thing that had been mutating between them, she had to, because Quidditch came first, always, and despite what certain members of her team said, dating team members off the field was something that effected the game no matter how hard you tried to deny it. That, and Alicia snogged her boyfriend a few months ago to prove a point, which wasn’t exactly the basis for a stable relationship. Also, Katie wasn’t gay. She had the hickeys to prove it. Even though yes, okay, she had the occasional stray lesbian thought, that didn’t mean she wasn’t straight. This thing with Alicia was very complicated and Katie usually tried not to think about it because whenever she did it hurt her brain, but then, her relationship with Kenneth and everything around it was just as complex. She still hadn’t figured out who was cheating on whom. Maybe she should just give up on the relationship thing entirely and stick to pulling random people in random broom closets.
Katie, Alicia said, after Katie caught the Quaffle easily, the toss not even half hearted. Katie couldn’t help but think that her name was said in the tone of a five year old that had learnt how to somersault and wanted to prove it to an audience. She closed her eyes too late, seconds after Alicia let go of her precarious hold on her broomstick and swung her torso backwards. When Katie hastily opened her eyes again, Alicia was dangling upside down, using the soft heat retentive skin behind her kneecaps to cling to the stick holding her in the air.
Stop that, Katie told her, shivering, from the cold air on her face, from the expression that had been on Alicia’s as she hung herself limply above the gaping sky. She tucked the Quaffle tighter underneath one arm and contemplated just dropping it to the ground. Instead, she switched it from one hand to another, smacking it against her palm in a not so subtle attempt to get Alicia back on track. Alicia’s head was level with Katie’s eyes now, but she was facing away from her so Katie had to strain to hear her words.
Sometimes I wonder what it'd be like to let go, you know? Alicia said, her eyes now trained on the ground. Katie was left to search the tousled hair on the back of her head for answers. If possible, it was even less forthcoming than her eyes.
It would hurt just as much as falling off by accident, I would imagine, Katie replied, ever the pragmatist.
I think, Alicia said, ignoring her, and then pausing dramatically. Katie had realised a long time ago that Alicia was in this frame of mind and wished that Angelina hadn’t decided to choose this day to go off on a jaunt to the hospital wing. She was always able to cope with Alicia when she was like this, but Katie could never brush her musings off as brusquely as Angelina could. Katie decided that George would be locked in a very small closet with Alicia as soon as she got back on the ground: she’d always been one for making the punishment fit the crime.
I think that there's a little bit of madness in everyone who likes to fly.
Katie stared at Alicia’s kneecaps, at the yellow-brown discolouration on one. She remembered how it happened, but didn’t need to search for the memory – the fact that she knew its origin was enough. She really wished, though, that Alicia had stopped to think that she was still wearing her skirt before flipping herself over like that. Changing into Quidditch robes was too much bother for Alicia when all they were working on was passing.
Alicia continued, her face reddening as the blood trickled down, her arms waving to stop the pins and needles that were pricking her. There's so much air up here, she said, and so little in it, so little holding us up. She casually took a knee off the broom, sticking the leg up in the air for a short second before resting her foot against the side of it, her knee cocked. She swayed dangerously, and Katie’s hands tightened around her own broom as she flinched forwards. I think we're all a bit crazy, really, Alicia said thoughtfully. It’d be so easy just to fall; I think that’s part of the fun of it.
I don’t ride a broomstick because I have a death wish. I could kill you a lot quicker than Quidditch can, if that’s what you want, Katie replied, harsh, because something Alicia said resonated when she didn’t want it to.
Alicia was silent for a few moments. Katie wished she could see her eyes, but they were still on the other side of her head, separated by a hard skull and Alicia’s mind. Sometimes Katie found it difficult to differentiate the two.
It’s such a rush though, she continued finally, as though Katie hadn’t said a word. We’re all crazy together. That was when Katie started to think she knew where this monologue was going, or more precisely, who it was going to. He’s not crazy, Alicia told her, and Katie tired a little more, her suspicions proven correct. Not like you, you’re as mad as a hatter.
I’m madder than that. I’m as mad as you, Katie said, trying to keep her tone light. She didn’t want Alicia to see just how good a job she was doing of wearing her down.
Alicia nodded; a peculiar movement when she was angled the way she was that made her whole body move, her hair flying.
Would you catch me? If I let go?
Katie knew she meant it literally and not in the gooey romantic sense, so there was really only one answer to that. Don’t test me, she said, I might not get there in time.
Alicia made her scoffing sound, a sighed k in the back of her throat. You would’ve said yes to him.
He isn’t crazy, Katie replied. She would have said something more about how it should be the guy doing the catching anyway, but not only did everyone know that Cormac couldn’t catch a magnet if he was made of iron, there was a tension that made her broom vibrate and a funny kind of nausea in the pit of her stomach that kept her quiet.
No, Alicia said, He isn’t. Neither are you, for him.
She looked up then, until she was almost parallel to the ground and Katie could see Alicia’s face, her stomach muscles straining to maintain the eye contact. Katie tried to feel outrage because she knew she should, but she didn’t even think of denying it, and when Alicia’s eyes spoke Katie’s own eyes didn’t wait for her consent to reply.
I can’t help it Katie, I want you.
I know.
Please. Do something about it.
I can’t. You know that.
I know I made a mistake, but…
Mistake? You cheated on me. With my boyfriend.
Katie, please. That was a long time ago. I was confused and I needed you to stop. I still do. Stop this, for me. For you, if you won’t do it for me.
No.
He isn’t right for you.
You gave up the right to dictate what’s right for me, Alicia, the moment you stuck your tongue down my boyfriend’s throat.