(no subject)

[everyone_takes]

There wasn't anything special about the day, nothing in particular that Kate had to do, nothing out of the ordinary that she wanted to do. That was one of the cool things about having a boyfriend, she'd come to realize. Especially a boyfriend who didn't totally suck. Not having anything to do wasn't a big deal, she could still head over to his place and hang out with him or talk him into going to the beach with her.

Doing nothing was still kind of awesome when she was able to do it with Harry.

That was pretty much her plan for the day when she grabbed her bathing suit and a towel from the hut, then tried to head out the door and leave Chang behind. The fluffy dog was having none of it, no matter how hot it was outside, and he followed her toward Harry's, trotting cheerfully behind her, pausing occasionally to sniff at something or pee on the side of a tree.

"You better not ruin the day," she warned him as she neared the hut Harry shared with Ron and Hermione. "I mean it, if you eat a rabbit or do something gross, I'll be pissed and I'll send you to live with Troy and Abed because I'm not dealing with that shit."

She was still talking to the dog when she reached the hut and knocked on the door. It was possible Harry wouldn't even be home, but she didn't think there was anything else he had to do that day.

"Behave," she told Chang one more time. "That's the main rule. Be good and everything will work out just fine."

Comments

[theboywholived]

Harry did not have anything to do that day. He had vague sort of plans. He thought he would definitely go to the Quidditch pitch and get some practice in, even though the official practices had been cancelled. He had told Ron as much and they had decided to maybe meet up if it worked out. Hermione had disappeared early, the busy whirl of activity that she always was. This left Harry alone in their cottage, nibbling at bits of tropical fruit and offering them to Hedwig. She seemed turned her beak up at everything.

"Well I don't know what's in an owl treat," Harry grumbled at her as he stood to answer the door.

There was an attractive blond girl standing on their doorstep. Harry had no idea who she was, but she looked like she was on her way to the beach.

The dog he remembered. He gave Chang a passing smirk then looked at the girl.

"Can I help you?"

[everyone_takes]

"You can grab your stuff and come with me to the beach," Kate suggested with a grin, surprised by how good she felt lately. There was still so much shit going on, so many things she wasn't happy with, but during the past few weeks, with the exception of Jeff's disappearance, things hadn't seemed quite so bad. Danny was talking to her again, she was making plans to continue with her training and things with Harry were going well. That was all more than she expected.

"Come on," she said, leaning in to kiss him, her fingers curling into the front of his shirt. "You come keep me company and I can pretty much guarantee my bathing suit top will come off at least once."

[theboywholived]

...She was friendly, wasn't she?

Merlin's balls, she was more than friendly.

If Harry were another sort of guy, he might have played along, happy to let a girl he didn't know offer to take her top off for him. But Harry wasn't very good at deception and he was worse at girls. And besides, this made absolutely no sense.

He stumbled back out of her reach, sputtering and staring at her with wide eyes.

"Sc--I--wuh--ha-- whatno!"

[everyone_takes]

"What? That's problematic for you all of the sudden?" Kate asked, stopping short when Harry stumbled away from her like he still thought girls were gross. If that had happened, it was certainly new, because he hadn't seemed to think she was gross just the day before. "It's not like I got cooties overnight, so we're good there."

Chang nosed his way past Kate's legs and into the hut, sniffing the floor around Harry's feet. She frowned down at him, wishing that he'd show a little more solidarity or whatever it was dogs did.

[theboywholived]

"I--Nng--Duh--wwwwwhat?"

He had no idea what this girl was talking about. All of a sudden? Overnight? Cooties?

"I think you've got me confused for someone else," he managed, taking another hesitant step back. He wanted to keep some distance between them in case she made another lunge.

"I'm Harry? Harry Potter. I don't, um... I don't know you. Sorry?"

Blimey, this was awkward. Had Ginny had to deal with anything like this because she looked like that Olive girl?

[everyone_takes]

"Are you fucking high?" Kate asked, taking a step away from him as well, a mostly unconscious gesture to protect herself from what she was suddenly sure was coming. In the end, it always turned out like this. They all did the same thing, no matter what she expected.

"I know who you are, given that we've been dating for more than a freaking year." And she wasn't about to introduce herself to her boyfriend, no matter what sort of shit he was trying to pull. If that was how he wanted to do it, then she wasn't going to pander to it, trying to remind him who she was and making herself look like an idiot.

[theboywholived]

"What?!"

Harry stared at her, wide-eyed and disbelieving and on the border line about to cross over into angry annoyance. Who was this girl that barged in here with her wild, stupid stories? Harry didn't have a girlfriend. And if he did, it wouldn't be this mad girl.

"Look," he said, trying to stay calm, trying to think of what Hermione would do. "I don't know what you're on about. Maybe it's .. one of those island things? Maybe you should go to the clinic. Or... to someone who can actually help."

[everyone_takes]

"Go fuck yourself, Harry," Kate snapped, turning around to leave before she thought better or if and looked back at him. It shouldn't have surprised her, but it did. And it hurt. "If you honestly wanted to break up with me, you should have had the fucking balls to do it properly. Not like this. Not after this long."

Then she was stomping away and Chang whined uncertainly before he took off after her down the path. She had no idea what to do or where to go. In that moment, more than she ever had before, she wished Marshall was still with her.

[theboywholived]

"I'm telling you, I'm not--" But it was too late and too little. She was already storming off and Harry had no idea what her name was, let alone what he could say to make her understand. He wasn't sure he wanted to work too hard to convince her anyway. Something was clearly off with her -- something island related, probably -- and Harry preferred to stay out of it rather than stick his nose into things that didn't concern him.

It had hurt a little though, to see the look on her face. Whatever the island had done to her, her feelings felt real to her.

Thoroughly unsettled but grateful for the escape, Harry shut the door on the retreating sight of the girl and tried to put the incident out of his mind.