A/N: Written for the finals of the Quidditch League, Season Five. I am Beater 1 for the Montrose Magpies. My prompt was: BEATER 1: Write a story set during Harry Potter's sixth year (1996–1997 school year). My chosen optional Beater prompts are at the bottom.

This is set during 1997. I've made a small change to canon and put Alicia and Angelina in Katie's year, making '97 their 7th year as well, so they are not a year older than Katie here. The rest of the events mentioned in the fic, including how long Katie spends in St Mungo's after the Opal necklace incident, are all canonical.

All other prompts and challenges are listed at the bottom, so as not to give anything away.

Word Count: 2700

life is a moving sea between the shore of our souls

i. fear

She had broken down on Tuesday, April 15th. Katie had been keeping track of the days since then, she couldn't really help it. She'd always been good at numbers, the only Gryffindor in her year to take Arithmancy through to NEWTs, and so as each day went by, a counter ticked in the back of her mind.

She had been back at Hogwarts for three days.

One hundred and eighty-five days ago, Katie's life had changed forever.

People assumed that it was the necklace that was the 'problem'. The curse still lingered; according to the Healers, it would always be a part of her now. When the necklace made contact with bare skin, the curse transferred and spread through the person's body. It killed Muggles almost instantaneously, or so Katie had been told, whilst for magical people, it seemed to course through their magic, creating intense pain.

If she had touched it barehanded or not received help in time, it would have ripped the magic from her body and she would have died as well.

Spells that had come easily to her before didn't anymore. Katie had come to learn so much new vocabulary based around Healer jargon and specific terms for different magical consequences and issues, but even then they hadn't been able to give her a proper label for what had happened to her.

It had been six months of constant therapy. Katie had started playing the violin again, picking it up after she'd stopped playing when she was eleven. Her dad had bought her a camera and she had an album full of shots she'd taken in and around St Mungo's. She had thought she was getting better. She had thought she was getting stronger, because people assumed that the necklace was the problem and she was healing, her magic was healing.

But it was never about the necklace.

Someone had taken away her free will. Someone had ordered her about and she couldn't remember a thing. What if it happened again? What if she felt the dazed peace again and willingly embraced helplessness?

Katie put her hands in her hair as she hunched over, her forehead touching her knees. She was supposed to go to Transfiguration but she couldn't move. She knew she was late, although not really by how much, and she wanted to cry — if only because it might release some of the pain in her chest, some of the loud thoughts in her mind. Apprehension seemed to fill every waking moment now as Katie found herself constantly glancing over her shoulder, waiting for someone to attack her.

"Katie?"

Alicia's voice was soft. Katie had never heard her shout or get truly angry, not in all the years they'd been friends and then something more.

"Katie, babe. I'm going to sit by you. It's okay, you're alright. Just breathe with me."

Katie felt as though her body, her mind was infused with dust, in between every crack. She was like an old china plate that had once been a family heirloom, smashed and then carefully glued together, so it looked the same as before but was now unusable. She was broken.

Katie repeated the words aloud, over and over again.

"No, you're not. Just breathe with me and when you can, take my hand. I'm right here and what you're going through is completely understandable," Alicia said firmly as Katie struggled to breathe, barely able to choke out the word 'broken'.

Katie ended up curled up, her head in Alicia's lap as Alicia wrapped her arms around her. She wanted to cry but the thoughts kept getting louder and relief only came when eventually she fell asleep, clutching desperately at the one person who made her feel alive as panic rose up and threatened to drown her.

ii. joy

The chess pieces gathered at the side of the board all nodded firmly as Katie gave the order for the castle to move three spaces to the left.

"Checkmate."

The only reason Angelina didn't throw the board was because last time she had, the chess pieces had shouted so loudly and been so pissed off that the girls had been worried there would be some sort of mutiny and that they'd be attacked by miniature knights and pawns in the middle of the night.

"It's ridiculous that you're this good when I still remember you screaming the first time you saw the pieces move," Angelina sulked.

"Cons of being a Muggle-born." Katie snorted. "I really shouldn't play with you, you're such a sore loser."

Alicia laughed and gave a nod in agreement from where she was lying on her bed, reading over Katie's Astronomy essay on the moon's phases and the effects that can have on Earth. Angelina did her best to stay miffed but when Katie moved across and kissed her on her cheek, the tip of her nose then lips; Angelina fought a smile.

"Say that you love me," Katie murmured and Angelina cupped her face, her hand warm against Katie's cheek.

"I love you. I adore you and both of us, we'll do anything for you. The three of us are unstoppable."

Katie felt herself blush. Sometimes, all of it felt imaginary. When the lines had blurred between best friends to partners in all things, none of them was really sure. Alicia had kissed Angelina in third year and Katie had started falling asleep curled up with Alicia in fifth year after OWL stress got to her. They didn't use labels, they weren't 'girlfriends'. They were a team, they were together, they were each other's world and that was what mattered.

Both Angelina and Alicia had visited her in St Mungo's more than even her parents had.

Angelina kissed her slowly and Katie felt herself melt into the other girl's embrace. Alicia grabbed Katie's camera off her bedside table and snapped a picture of them with a contented sigh.

"We're going to be okay, all of us," Angelina said softly, looking deep into Katie's eyes. "You know we will."

For a minute, Katie decided to believe her. She forgot about the cold, dark world looming outside, she forgot about her fractured thoughts and she let herself laugh with the two people who made her feel finally whole. In a week that had felt like hell, that evening was the happiest she'd been in a long time.

Indulging in joy, she found herself laughing.

And when they fell asleep in a tangle of limbs in Angelina's bed that night, Katie didn't dream.

iii. anger and disgust

"I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!"

"And I'm trying to subtly avoid it."

Katie stabbed a broccoli stalk viciously and shoved it whole in her mouth, ignoring Angelina's disgusted look. Alicia went back to lecturing on how they needed to have varying options for their future and couldn't just bank on getting their dream jobs as Katie kept eating, trying to stay out of the 'discussion' that was most likely to turn into an argument.

"Katie?!"

They said her name in unison and Katie swallowed, trying to look like she was engaged in the conversation rather than just bored.

"What do you think?"

What they really meant was: Whose side are you on?

"I'm leaning towards blind panic myself." Katie shrugged.

What she wanted to say was that they likely weren't going to able to have normal jobs. The war was encroaching on everything, every news article in the Prophet, every conversation in the corridors before class started.

When she thought about it, Katie was disgusted at the amount of vitriol and propaganda that was already coming out of the woodwork. Only yesterday a Ravenclaw in her Potions class had asked why she had even bothered to do NEWTs because she would never be able to get a job that required qualifications as a Muggle-born.

Katie had gotten two week's detention for punching him and the fact that he had got off scot-free had pissed her off even more.

The politics, the discrimination... It was getting to the point where Katie was just tired of it all. But then she read another article about a family dead and saw fear in people's eyes and her blood boiled. When she thought about it, truly thought about the future, Katie knew that she was going to fight.

She might be a Muggle-born, she might be scarred and damaged beyond repair, a teenage girl playing soldier but if it was one thing Katie was sure of, it was that she would fight for what she believed in.

iv. surprise and anticipation

Their dorm looked like a bombsite. There were textbooks, parchment, extra books that had been drawn out from the library, empty ink pots and quills strewn everywhere. Navigating to the bathroom and back had started to feel like an Olympic worthy challenge. When Katie had made that joke the other girls hadn't gotten it but it had made Katie laugh at least.

The first NEWT exam was in three days and if one word could sum up the collective mood of the 7th years, it was 'cramming'. Katie, on the other hand, wasn't feeling as nervous as she had anticipated.

She had done her best to revise while in St Mungo's but it hadn't been easy, especially the more practical aspects and spellcasting. She was still determined to do her best, but the reality she had talked about with Professor McGonagall and her parents was that Katie would have to resit the year if she wanted to get the NEWTs she wanted. In fact, she had set her sights on getting even better qualifications than she'd wanted before the attack. After the excellent care she'd received from the Healers, Katie had come to the realisation that she wanted to try and apply for an apprenticeship with the hospital.

She'd told only her two lovers of this ambition and they'd both been so supportive that Katie had been overwhelmed. Angelina, of course, had been scouted by several Quidditch teams whilst Alicia was, at least initially, going to work for her parent's bakery business. She made such good cakes that Katie often thought they rivalled the desserts of even Hogwarts.

An alarm went off and Katie jumped out of her skin as Angelina raised her wand and aimed it at the old-fashioned style clock which was jumping up and down on the window sill. It dodged her curse, the alarm falling silent as the clock scrambled to the floor and ran under the wardrobe. They had started to call it Quentin, and whilst it had started as a miscast Charms spell that had essentially anthropomorphised the clock, it was now a firm feature of the girl's dorms. That being said, it was also a pain in the ass and regularly woke them up at bizarre times.

Katie assumed that was what had happened, that Quentin had decided to go off at a random time again so she merely swore and then went back to the book in her lap on Muggle Psychology and the effects Disillusion Charms can have on them. Katie wasn't even taking Muggle Studies but found it all fascinating, which normally resulted in Angelina sighing woefully and calling her 'the nerdy, intelligent one of the trio'.

"Katie, baby, we're going to stop for the night."

Katie looked up as Alicia spoke and blinked in surprise. The blonde looked absolutely gorgeous, wearing a simple dress that Katie knew Alicia had sewn together herself.

"We're going to tidy the stuff all away, finally, and then we're going to have a date night."

"Wh - what? But you, well we, have to revise, right?"

"If we haven't learnt it already we're not likely to now," Angelina shrugged. "I keep telling myself that anyway. We all need a break and besides, Al and I have something we want to give you."

Katie felt herself blush.

"You can't just spring this on me unannounced! I haven't got anything for either of you."

Alicia just grinned and kissed Katie lightly on the lips.

"That's fine. Just let us do this for you. You can cast the cleaning charms, you're always better at that."

Even now, Katie felt nervous casting a spell but with Angelina and Alicia, she knew even if she made a mistake or it didn't work, they wouldn't judge her. The love and acceptance that they gave her defied words. There was a whirlwind of papers that rushed through the air before landing in neat piles on one of the desks in the room, as clothes shot into drawers and textbooks slammed shut to stand upright against the window sill.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Katie flopped back on her bed and then quickly pushed herself up onto her elbows. She wanted to know what was happening, what the girls had planned but they were having a silent conversation, secret smiles on their faces.

"What're you planning?"

"Like I said, date night. So Alicia's got cakes, I've made a blanket fort and we're going to just talk, listen to the wireless, be together."

Katie gazed in wide-eyed amazement after fifteen minutes passed, in which their dorm was transformed. There was an expanded bed sheet canopy over their heads, floating soft lights, quiet jazz and two beautiful women sat on large cushions. Katie had put some makeup on and plaited her hair as Angelina had changed into dress robes which both Alicia and Katie had burst into laughter about, recalling the Yule Ball two years ago.

It was a perfect surprise, Katie thought to herself and one absolutely needed.

v. trust

Standing at the dock on the edge of the Great Lake, Katie exhaled shakily.

"We've done it, ladies," Alicia said and there was a note of reverence in her voice. "NEWTs are done, whatever happens, will happen. But we've survived seven years of school and the world is our oyster!"

Angelina snorted as Katie rolled her eyes slightly, her fingers playing with the charm bracelet on her wrist. Alicia and Angelina had bought it together for her, each of the charms representing an important moment in their lives together. Katie's favourite had been the broom as well as tiny lion but all of them were beautiful.

"Whatever you say, love. The real world involves real jobs and bills and adulting." Katie pulled a face of horror making the others laugh. Angelina pulled Katie into a tight hug and pressed her lips against Katie's neck.

"Whatever happens, we'll do it together. All three of us, we're a team and we're going to make the future our bitch."

"That's definitely another way of putting it," Alicia said deadpan.

Katie looked at them both, her eyes filling with tears as other students started to get into the boats at McGonagall's signal.

"I love you both. I really do."

Alicia helped her into the boat and Angelina sat at her side, an arm wrapped tight around her waist.

"We love you too. You know that, right?"

Katie's nod was immediate. The three of them had been through so much, all of it side by side. There had been times after the attack that Katie had felt as though she'd never be the same person again - and even now, she wasn't. But the person she'd become was stronger, braver, ready to fight and so deeply in love that sometimes it scared her.

"Whatever happens, I'm here for you both too. I know you've taken care of me this year and I've been a bit..."

"You've been incredible and just as supportive of us this year as we've been for you. Don't worry about it, Bell, it's all good."

She kissed them both, amongst the cheers, shouts of goodbyes and yells of celebration from the other students as they left their childhood, zooming across the lake in beautiful sunshine, towards their future.

Katie wasn't afraid anymore, of anyone or anything, not even the future. Holding hands with her partners, Katie smiled and let herself trust that no matter what happened, they would be alright in the end. If she had any say in the matter, they were going to change the world, side by side.

A/N: The headings for each section were inspired by Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions.

Beater 1 Prompts:

Intelligent (word)

Never (word)

Disgusted (word)

Additional Prompts for other Challenges:

Hogwarts Assignment #4: Muggle Media - Task #9: "I Just Can't Wait to be King" (The Lion King): Write about someone looking forward to the future.

The 365 Prompts Challenge: 273. Song - Fight Song by Rachel Platten

The Insane House Challenge: Song - Breathless by The Corrs

The Fanfiction Resolutions Challenge: 15. Write a fic set in trio era

Character Appreciation: 17. Going through a hard time

Disney Challenge: Flounder - Write about a supportive friend.

Shannon's Showcase: Happiest Minute of the Week - Write about the happiest minute of a character's week

Book Club: Charlie Ridgemont - (object) chess piece, (word) imaginary, (word) vocabulary

Showtime: We Both Reached For the Gun - (word) Understandable

Days of the Month: International Women's Day - Write a story without featuring or mentioning men.

Count Your Buttons: (song) Dying to Live by Scott Stapp, (object) Camera, (dialogue) "You know that we will." (word) Moon

Lyric Alley: 13. And there's tears we'll cry, but those tears will fade

A Year In Entertainment: Dust (word)

TV Show of the Month: Rupert Giles: (item) book, (action) lecturing, (dialogue) "I'm leaning towards blind panic myself."

Liza's Loves: Pixelator - Item: Camera

The Crafty Cooking Cocktail Corner: Lemongrass - Word: Stalk, Dialogue: "I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!" / "And I'm trying to subtly avoid it."

Jewel Challenge - Emerald: Ring - Write about a gift, Bracelet - Write about a prediction, Necklace - Write about the truth or a lie told by a lover.

Library Lovers - The Sweetest Taboo by Carole Matthews: (Relationship) Best Friends, (word) Gorgeous, (Item) Dress