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FOURTH YEAR WAS LOOKING TO BE quite different than years past, and all because of the newly-resurrected Triwizard Tournament. The tournament brought with it students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, events that were meant to ensnare everyone's attention for quite possibly the whole year...and a huge row between Ron and Harry once the latter's name was pulled from the Goblet.
"Well of course I know he couldn't have cheated," Ron confessed to Kates one day. Unable to hang out in his usual group, Ron had taken to spending his time with Seamus, Dean and Kates. She, of course, didn't mind at all, and found herself rather glad of the opportunity to spend more time with him. They were friends, after all, and the added time had brought them even closer.
"Then why won't you tell him that?" she asked pointedly, and his face flushed. He tried to make up some excuse, but soon realized his words weren't going to do a thing and sighed. She didn't push, and he was grateful for that.
Also, she noticed, he was more gentle around her than he used to be. He wasn't doing so in an annoying way, but it was enough to make her curious. One day, when she made a comment about her family and Ron hesitantly asked for her to elaborate, she suddenly knew why.
"Is that why you've been acting differently? Because you've heard something about my family?" It was one of the rare moments when they were alone, as Dean and Seamus had risen late and were eating a later breakfast. Ron hesitated, then sighed and looked around to make sure no one would overhear.
"Sirius mentioned something that night," he began quietly, his eyes locked with hers. He had told her a bit of their conversation one day in the hospital wing shortly after the event, but now she was realizing she hadn't heard the whole story. "About how tough it is growing up in families like that. I-I had no idea—" She held up a hand to cut him off, wearing a sad sort of smile.
"It's all right," she said gently. "I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I'm all right. My parents are just...so incredibly set in their ways. They're uncaring, and they always have been. All they want is two perfect children who marry into another pure-blood family and support You-Know-Who's cause, whether he ever comes back or not. My brother, he's all right with that. He's never been outright cruel to me like his friends have, but he looks down on me, I know it, just like my parents do. I push back against them, and I have ever since I was old enough to talk. I didn't understand why we had to be better than muggle-borns, and Aunt Jackie was there to tell me that we aren't. If it weren't for her support..." Kates trailed off, shaking her head. She and Ron were sitting in the courtyard, and as she spoke their hands had begun to brush up against each other. It was a comforting feeling for both of them, and neither moved away.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You shouldn't have to go through that." She shrugged.
"It's nothing I can't handle. Besides, some people have it worse, I'm sure. I'd rather deal with their snide remarks and constant disappointment than think like them. At least I'm on the right side." Ron nodded, unsure of what to say. He kept quiet, deciding that just being there for her was enough, and she was grateful for it.
The first task came and went and Ron was back to spending his days with Harry and Hermione. The Yule Ball was announced and the entire school could talk of nothing except what they were wearing or who they wanted to go with. About a week after the announcement, Kates was sitting in her favorite armchair with her legs draped over one arm and her head resting on the other. Her Ancient Runes book sat in her lap, and Neville and Dean were on the couch beside her, pouring over Divination work.
Seamus, oddly enough, had been absent since dinner. When he returned and plopped down in the armchair across from Kates, they all looked to him with immense interest. He was grinning from ear to ear, which was even more curious.
"What's got you so happy?" asked Neville.
"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen you smile so brightly," added Kates.
"Or at all," remarked Dean, earning a glare from Seamus. He was back to smiling in a heartbeat though and leaned back in the chair.
"I just got a date to the ball," he said proudly, and Kates sat up, beaming at her friend.
"Nice, congrats!" she said cheerfully. They were all smiling now. "Who's the lucky one?"
"Lavender Brown," he replied, and Dean raised his brows.
"Lavender? Well, all right." Seamus's brows furrowed.
"'Well all right' what?"
"She just seems too...happy, for you." Seamus playfully hit his friend on the arm, and Neville laughed.
"That just leaves you two now," he said, referring to Dean and Kates. He had asked Ginny almost straight away, and she had kindly accepted. Dean groaned, and suddenly a thought popped into Kates's head. Her smile turned into a mischievous grin that quickly caught the attention of her friends.
"What are you planning?" asked Dean.
"Yeah, I'm scared," said Neville.
"What if we just went together? As friends, obviously. It isn't as if either of us has someone we'd really like to go with, and besides, I just know it will absolutely piss off my entire family." Her grin must have been contagious, because soon all of them were wearing ones just like it. Dean laughed.
"Yeah, all right. It'll be fun."
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A WEEK BEFORE THE BALL, Ron was scrambling to find a date. He honestly didn't know what to do; he hadn't realized how hopeless he was at this until the pressure was on. How did someone get a date, anyway? He watched as seventh years simply went up and asked each other without looking nervous in the slightest, and he didn't know how they did it. Harry told him he had asked Cho with only a slight stumble, but she of course had already been asked by someone else.
And that was another thing: how was he supposed to know who was taken and who wasn't? In hindsight, maybe he should have gotten his shit together earlier on, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now.
His thoughts, for some reason, kept going back to Kates. He had really enjoyed spending more time with her earlier that year; she was kind and funny and sweet, but she wasn't a pushover, either. She was cool, he liked her—as a friend, of course, but he kept thinking about her whenever the subject of the Yule Ball came up.
"Hey, Ron." Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts, his gaze searching for and quickly finding her as she approached. He was on his way to meet the others in the Great Hall, and seeing as she had to jog to catch up with him he fancied she was up to the same thing.
"Hey," he murmured, still rather distracted. Her brows furrowed.
"All right? You seem...lost."
"I dunno," he sighed. "It's this whole Yule Ball thing. Why is it so hard to find someone to go with?" Kates gave him a sympathetic smile, but for reasons they both couldn't explain, it didn't quite meet her eyes.
"Just ask a friend," she suggested. "I'd go with you, but Dean and I are already going together." Finally, her eyes regained that twinkle to them that never ceased to bring him joy. "My parents'll hate it." He chuckled, but his heart wasn't in it, for all he could think about now was how stupid he had been. Why hadn't he thought to ask her? They were friends, it would have been fun. They would have spent the night dancing and laughing and he could be with her as she saw what holidays were supposed to be like because Merlin knew she probably didn't see many happy ones unless she spent them with her aunt, and he could see that twinkle in her eyes over and over again—
But instead he wound up going with Padma Patil, which was unfortunate for both of them. Luckily, she was able to find a nice Beauxbatons boy to dance with, but all Ron could do was sit there and sulk. The worst part was he didn't even have anything against Dean, and he knew he was only with Kates as a friend, anyway—not that it mattered, because that's all Ron would have been too, obviously. Maybe if Kates were like Hermione and had gone with some Durmstrang boy he could give himself a reason to sulk, but he found as he sat there that he had no reason at all, other than the fact that he ruined his own night by not being sure enough until it was too late.
The worst thing was he knew he'd make that same mistake again someday, and that time he may not get another chance.
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THE THIRD TASK was excruciating for the audience to watch, seeing as they couldn't see a damned thing. At least there was a running clock for the second task; here, the contestants could take as long as they needed, and everyone hated it. They had no clue how long they'd be sitting there or who they'd see when it was over, just that the first person they saw—unless they were taken out—would be the winner.
Kates was disheartened to see Fleur disqualified yet again. In spite of their differences, the two had struck up a conversation in Honeydukes one day and the moment Fleur learned that Kates spoke French, the two had gotten along swimmingly. They weren't friends, exactly, but Kates had rooted for the girl nevertheless, and she hoped to give her her best once the whole thing was over.
"Fleur looks really frightened," said Kates worriedly to her friends. Ron was on one side of her with Hermione beside him, and Dean was on the other with Seamus.
"It must be awful in there," murmured Ron, his voice wavering as he thought of Harry.
"Even so, I'm sure Fleur could have handled it..." Kates paid more attention to what was going on on the field below her. Fleur was talking urgently to Madame Maxime, who quickly went to speak to Dumbledore and Karkaroff. Her eyes widened as a realization came to her. "Something's happened."
She watched nervously as nothing happened, and then, after what felt like a lifetime, a Portkey arrived and not one but two bodies landed with it. One, she saw, was Harry, and Cedric was beneath him. The band started playing and everyone was cheering, but Kates was more confused than anything. Neither of them jumped up in victory—and then, she realized as Fleur screamed, one of them wouldn't be getting up ever again. She gasped, and Ron, who hadn't quite been able to see what was going on yet, looked to her.
"What?" he asked, suddenly concerned about her more than anything. Had she not been so focused on the scene in front of her, she would have found him to be rather adorable. "What is it?" But she couldn't speak. Instead she pointed to the field and let him come to the conclusion himself. He breathed in sharply, and next thing Kates knew his arm was around her shoulders, but rather than shrugging it off she leaned into his side. She felt Dean take her hand and she gave his a tight squeeze, which he returned. It wasn't like any of them knew Cedric well, but they knew what his death meant for them all:
Everything was about to change.
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