A paper bag of sandwiches in one hand and a tray of drinks in the other, Katie made her way towards where she knew Cory's office to be. She looked this way and that through the maze of cubicles, hoping maybe she would see Tonks or maybe Harry, but wasn't surprised when she didn't. Coming to Cormac's door, she pushed her way through the first door to see his secretary.

Katie's face lit with a smile. "Hallo, Hildi. Is Cormac in?"

Hildi returned Katie's smile with a genuine one of her own. "He sure is, Miss Bell."

"Is it okay if I go in or is he really busy today?" Katie asked as she approached Hildi's desk. Setting the paper bag down, she took one of the cups out of the tray and offered it over. "Here, I brought a cuppa for you too," she grinned.

"You know Cormac would want to see you even if he were meeting with the Minister himself," she said, still smiling broadly. "And thanks for thinking of me. You are too kind. But head on in, he's not with anyone, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you."

"It's no problem at all, really," Katie answered cheerfully, glad that she'd caught Cory while he was in and not meeting with important Minister type people.

Picking the paper bag up again, she headed for the door and fumbled with the handle before spilling into the room, barely balancing the cups of tea before they fell off the tray. Glancing up, she gave her friend a sheepish, though bright smile. "Hallo, Cory." Holding up her treasures, she asked, "Lunch?"

Grinning broadly, Cormac stood up from behind his desk and took the food from Katie, placed it on his desk and pulled her into a hug. "Beautiful, I could kiss you. Thank you for bringing food; I'm starving. Please, have a seat." Reaching into the bag he pulled out a few sandwiches, setting one in front of Katie, and a couple in front of himself. "Yum, my favorite, corned beef on rye. You are wonderful."

"I try." Katie grinned at him, returning his hug before sitting down in the chair opposite his desk and picking at her sandwich, turkey and swiss. "Came to make sure you're all fed and stuff. Missed seeing you last week and was wondering if you had any stories for me." She glanced up at him then. "How are you Cory? Besides the overworked bits, which I know to be self-inflicted."

Already through half of a sandwich, Cormac looked up a Katie with an amused expression on his face. "Stories, huh? I'm starting to think you only like me for my stories," he said.

"Well, you always have pretty interesting ones to tell. For as much time as you spend her in this stuffy building, you seem to have a much more exciting life than me." Katie glanced from her sandwich that she was picking apart to her friend, eyes alight with amusement. "And that's a feat, I think. 'Specially since everyone thinks that I'm the one that's supposed to be having the scandalous life. You know, because Quidditch players all live a life of excess and wickedness."

Cormac feigned surprise. "What? That's not true? You're not living a life of excess and wickedness? What was it you were telling me about? Two men in your life? Ring any bells?" he said, jokingly.

Katie blushed as Cormac reminded her of her own ... excesses. "Yes ... well ... it's not ... did I say that?" She squirmed in her chair even as she gave him a sheepish smile.

Cormac laughed as he patted Katie's hand reassuringly. "Sorry, I shouldn't have used that to tease you." He grinned. "But yes, you did say that. And how are things going-with that?"

Katie shrugged, going back to picking at her sandwich. "Things are going, I guess. I don't get to see them very often. Everyone has normal lives with all the working hours and such that entails." She pulled the cheese out and began nibbling on it before continuing. "I haven't actually seen one of them in weeks and really have no idea what's going on with that."

A little sigh escaped her lips before Katie glanced up at him. "How are things for you though Cory?" She curled up on the chair, leaving her most of her sandwich untouched as she watched him. "Women and Dark Marks and life and just you, really?"

He exhaled, resting his head in his hands. "Well, things have been better. Pansy's er-rather upset with me. Wand-drawn upset with me. And you know what the scary part is? I actually care." He looked up at Katie, almost sheepishly, waiting for her reaction, unsure of what it would be.

"I guess that can be scary," she ventured, eyes full of concern as she watched the real Cory come out. He must really be feeling thrown to the four winds if he was letting it out, here in the Ministry. "Doesn't quite fit with your Five Year Plan, this caring for someone?"

"Exactly. I couldn't have said it better. And since when do I care for people," he spat out, disgusted. "Well," he said, gesturing to himself and Katie, "present company excluded, of course."

Katie tilted her head as she watched Cormac search for words, struggle with some internal battle. "You know Cory, caring for someone doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to jump in and mess all your plans up. You've been doing wonderfully in keeping with the schedule even though you care for me," she said with a wry grin.

"I think ..." Katie stared off into space a few moments as she tried to find the right words for what she wanted to say. "... I think that caring for someone can make it all more. You have something to work for and someone to share it with." She looked at him then. "You'll always have me. Always. But that doesn't mean you can't have others, yeah?"

He smiled at Katie. "I'm glad I have you, Beautiful. I trust you. And that is what makes you caring for you different." He sighed. "I guess whether or not I care for Pansy is irrevelant seeing how she feels about me at the moment. Finding me in bed with Alicia Spinnet did not make her at all happy."

Katie chose to keep the certain knowledge that he did care for Pansy to herself. He seemed to think that it was something that hadn't happened yet, or something that he could stop, but from what Katie could tell, the fact that he'd even brought it up, was concerned about it at all, was answer enough.

When the rest of what Cormac had said caught up to her, Katie's eyes widened and she sat forward in her chair. "Found you in bed with Alicia? I thought that was..." She shook her head, not sure she wanted the details of two friends sex lives. "... Is it something that you can salvage? Maybe a misunderstanding?" she ventured, trying to find somewhere in this rapidly deteriorating tale to brighten his mood.

"Yes, it was a disaster of a misunderstanding. Alicia and I were in bed-asleep. Earlier in the evening, Alicia had appeared at my door,  hysterically sobbing.  I gave her some sleeping potion and put her to bed. What was I supposed to do? Sleep on the floor because a witch has an episode in my apartment?" He polished off his second sandwich and took a long drink of his tea. "Mmm...I love you for feeding me."

A dart of alarm went through her to hear that something had happened to Alicia, something that would cause her to cry. For Alicia, if she was crying, it had to be something bad. Katie made a mental note to owl her friend, maybe drop by, to see what was wrong. She wanted to ask Cormac, but she wouldn't put him in the place of divulging information that Alicia might want kept between the two of them. Not that Cormac would feel bad about telling her, but Katie would rather hear it from Ali if she was so inclined to share.

Katie smiled as he finished all the food she had brought. "Someone's got to make sure you eat. For some odd reason, nourishment didn't make it into the Plan," she cheeked. Eyeing her own picked at and unfinished sandwich, Katie sighed and returned her eyes to the man across from her. "If it all really is a misunderstanding, then things will work out in the end. One thing I do know is that anything involving caring and other people is never a easy or straight path."

Cormac made a face. "And apparently it involves lots of emoting. I don't think I'm cut out for it." Big surprise

Katie grinned at him then. She popped out of her chair and walked around his desk to give him a hug. "It's a travesty, isn't it, this emoting thing." She laid her cheek against his a moment as she whispered, "I think you'd be smashing at it, but I won't tell anyone, promise."

Summary: Katie goes to the Ministry to feed Cormac lunch. Apparently food is not in the Five Year Plan. It's almost a girl talk - relationships and everything.