A/N: This is a collection of random shorts that happen outside the timelines of Carpe Diem, Fire Burns and Fallen Angel and feature mostly OCs. It will be updated on an ad hoc basis - please feel free to request anything you particularly wanted to know about, and I'll see what I can do.

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Karma

Timeline: Marauder Era, Fifth Year. Sometime in early November.

POV: Nicola Meliflua

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"It's fine, really," said Nicola, forcing herself to look unconcerned - a hard task when faced with Cassandra Rookwood in full blown protective friend mode. Cassandra's light green eyes shone with worry and she reached for Nicola's hand, which she hurriedly withdrew. "I'm fine, Cass. It's not a big deal."

"But he told everyone that you-"

"I know what he told them," said Nicola quickly, cutting her off. She dug around in her bag so that she didn't have to look at her friend. She knew Cassandra was only trying to help, but the only thing Nicola really wanted to do right now was crawl into bed and hide until the gossips got bored and found someone else to talk about.

The sly looks had started that morning, quickly followed by the comments and sniggers. It hadn't taken long to work out the cause: Kieron Burke.

Nicola had had a crush on him since last year, when she'd first seen him play Keeper on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Cassandra had dragged her along – Nicola was not usually one for sport, but while Cassandra had spent the entire match criticising the team's tactics and bemoaning the fact that Gael Fawley, the team captain, refused to allow girls to try out, Nicola had found a new appreciation for an activity that required you to stare at athletic young men for a few hours.

This year, she'd managed to get Kieron's attention and then – finally – he'd asked her on a date. She'd been over the moon – they'd snuck out to Hogsmeade at the weekend, had dinner and everything had been perfect. Until it had been time to go back, and it turned out that that wasn't quite what Kieron had had in mind.

She scowled at the memory and pulled a book out of her bag, opening it at random and hiding her face behind it. She heard Cassandra sigh and felt her friend's sympathetic gaze boring through the paper pages.

Nicola couldn't stand being pitied. She was Nicola Meliflua, daughter of Antoinette Melifua, and she was damned if she was going to let anyone feel sorry her.

She glared at the words on the page in front of her, trying to force herself to read, but the letters were blurring and embarrassment and anger were burning a hole in her stomach.

Gradually, her other classmates drifted in and filled the rest of the seats in their small nook of the Slytherin Common Room. She risked a peek over the top of her book and saw Severus hunched over a nearby table, nose deep in a Potions book as usual, occasionally casting dirty glances at Robert Avery, whose muddy boots were propped up on the opposite side of the table as he leant back in his seat to read the Daily Prophet.

Cassandra had mercifully taken a break from her efforts to make Nicola feel better and was chatting politely, though without much enthusiasm, to Fiona Parkinson. Nicola wasn't sure if she was happy they weren't talking about her, or annoyed that they weren't standing up for her.

It wasn't fair to think like that though – after all, Nicola herself wasn't doing anything to dispel the rumours. Kieron was popular, handsome and one of the true pureblood families – you didn't try and go up against someone like that. He was untouchable.

Just as she was about to return to her book and maybe actually try to take something in this time, she felt someone watching her. Looking around, she saw Katherine Archer curled in the corner of the sofa opposite, dark blue eyes fixed on her.

It was funny, Nicola thought, how there were some people that you never really saw. Katherine had shared a room with the other girls for five years now, and yet all Nicola knew about her was that she'd been brought up by muggles. She never spoke to anyone, didn't appear to excel at anything and generally kept to herself.

Nicola doubted she'd said more than ten words to her in all the time they'd known each other, but that look was disconcerting - she felt like the inside of her skull was being examined. She wondered if Katherine had heard the rumours, but the girl didn't seem to be passing judgement, she was more...curious.

Just as Nicola was preparing something disparaging to say, Katherine set down her book and walked across the now crowded common room. Despite herself, Nicola turned her head to see where she was going. It couldn't be the girls' dormitories or the entrance - there was nothing on that side of the room except study tables.

As she watched, Katherine walked up to one of them and spoke to a small group of sixth years. Nicola was too far away to hear what was said, but by the expression on Jane Fawley's face, it had been the wrong thing.

Katherine looked from her to the others on the table, talking very fast now and looking like she wished the ground would swallow her whole. Jane stood up, face furious, and Katherine quickly retreated, returning to her seat and practically hurling herself back into her corner before burying her head behind her book.

Nicola stared at her, utterly bewildered - what on earth had she said?

There was a thump and the sound of smashing glass from her right and Nicola, along with the rest of the common room, turned to see Kieron Burke being held by the throat by Gael Fawley, Jane's elder brother. The broken glass belonged to one of the lamps that lined the walls, which he'd been shoved into.

Nicola watched, stunned, as Kieron's face slowly turned from red to purple and a couple of other seventh years tried to pull Gael off him. Gael shoved them away with one hand; being a beater on the Quidditch team had given him arms the size of small trees.

It was hard to hear above the sudden cacophony of shouts from those either cheering the fight on or shouting to break it up, but she could make out the name Addison. Addison Lee was Gael Fawley's girlfriend - she'd been the year above them and graduated Hogwarts last July.

Across the room, someone finally succeeded in releasing Gael's grip and Kieron slumped to the floor out of sight, although from the sudden chorus of male sympathy, it seemed Gael was not above kicking a man when he was down.

There was a surprised laugh from the chair beside her and Nicola met Cassandra's wide eyed gaze.

"Karma?" Cassandra asked quietly, tucking a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear and arching an eyebrow.

"I guess Gael found out about Addison and Kieron's fling," said Fiona, eyeing the fight with cool brown eyes.

"Addison and Kieron?" asked Cassandra in surprise. Fiona nodded, a frown creasing her neatly plucked eyebrows.

"They used to hook up after Quidditch practice - Addison told me once when she'd had too much red wine. Wonder how Gael found out - I didn't think anyone knew."

Nicola said nothing but cast a sidelong glance at the dark haired figure curled behind her book on the sofa. No one ever noticed Katherine. How much did an invisible girl see?

Blue eyes peeked over the top of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration and met hers. There was a long moment and then Katherine grinned. It was not, all things considered, the grin of a particularly nice person. It was the grin of someone who knew that a few words in the right ear could end with a broken nose in in the face of someone else.

Many years later, long after Katherine was no longer in her life, Nicola wondered what it was that had made her do it. Katherine had always surrounded herself with people who were useful to her. Robert Avery was clever, Severus Snape resourceful and Cassandra Rookwood had connections, even if she hadn't known it at the time.

Nicola was smart enough in her own way, and she could usually make people do what she wanted, but as Katherine's actions that day had proved – she'd never needed any help in that area.

Maybe she had been showing some female solidarity.

Maybe she had just wanted to see one of the purebloods who'd looked down their nose at her, when they'd looked at all, smacked in the face.

Knowing Katherine, it was entirely possible that she had just wanted to see what would happen.

Nicola had never asked her, but she had known, from that grin, that she had made a new friend. If nothing else, you did not want to be enemies with a person who smiled like that.