Cored

Chapter 20: Lakes and Lights

Katherine had woken up early the next morning. Her conversation with Vander had rid her of some nerves, but she had still only managed a few hours of sleep. She put on leggings and a sweatshirt, resigning herself to a cozy day in, and curled up in an armchair with her red knit blanket and Hogwarts, A History. Around 8 am, a knock came on the door. She padded over in her sock feet and found George on the other side.

"Morning," he said to her, holding up two cups of coffee and a paper bag. "Breakfast?"

Katherine smiled at him and moved from the doorway so he could come in. She sat cross-legged at the table, relishing the smell of the coffee. George opened the bag and pulled out two chocolate croissants. Katherine looked at them carefully, then back at the cup.

"You got these from Marcie's?" she asked.

George went a little red. "I thought it might make you feel better to have something familiar. But now I'm thinking I may have been wrong."

Katherine clutched the cup tighter. "No, it's great. Did she ask about me?"

"She did," George said slowly. "I was surprised she even knew to ask, to be honest."

"She told me Mark was mouthing off about you."

"I didn't realize you had made so many friends in the village," George said.

"Really just Marcie and Arlo."

"And Kevin?"

"Yes," Katherine agreed after a pause to ensure the static was staying in place. "And Kevin. Did you see him?"

"No," George said. "Bit early to be at the pub, though."

Katherine thought of all of the mornings they would already be sitting at the bar together by this time, but wanted to protect those details, even (or maybe especially) from George.

"How did you sleep last night?" he asked, trying to end the awkward pause.

"Okay," Katherine said, pulling herself back from the pub to the present. "I went for a walk last night and ran into Vander. We chatted for a while."

"You should be careful out there," George said, attempting to hold the judgment from his voice but still sounding overbearing. "I'll have to show you the spots not to wander. Wouldn't want to  end up in Knockturn Alley by accident."

Katherine bit her tongue, arguing with him in her head instead. He couldn't really force her to stay here.

"I thought you said you didn't want an owl," George said, noticing the cage sitting on the counter. Corliss was sleeping peacefully inside after a long flight last night.

"Charlie bought her for me," she said. "He thought it was important that I could communicate somehow."

George appeared to be the one biting his tongue this time, but couldn't hide the irritation.

"It was kind of him," Katherine said, letting the edge in her voice break through whatever jealousy or aggravation he was feeling. She still wasn't willing to let him co-op this fight.

George nodded unconvincingly. "Here, I brought some other things for you." He pulled out a small bag from his pocket and an envelope.

"This is from Hermione," he said, handing her the letter. She opened it and found a long list of books, ranked in order of what she should read first, signed with a promise to send a few over to get her started later that day. Katherine smiled at the neat handwriting and organized system.

"She giving you homework?" George asked.

"A reading list," Katherine answered. "Pretty sure none of them were on my shelf back in the states."