This is a one-shot Harry Potter fanfic featuring my original character, Katie Duke.


Katie Duke was a sixth year Slytherin, same year as Harry Potter and his posse, but she had honestly never cared for them. She spent years building up walls around her heart and making herself look tough, hoping this would ever keep her from getting hurt. But all walls are meant to be broken.

There he was, sitting in the common room, Theodore Nott. Katie was very interested in him. They were friends, and he was extremely attractive, but she didn't think of him romantically and she knew he didn't see her that way either. It all began one late night when they came onto the topic of relationships.

"Would you ever go back to dating?" Katie asked him, even though she thought she knew the answer. Theo was almost like a playboy. All the girls swooned after him and frankly, Katie thought it made them look ridiculous. She liked to think she had much more self-control.

"No," he answered, "relationships are complicated, and for no reason."

"Right? I tried it once, haven't gone back since," Katie added with a laugh. She didn't even realize how they got to this idea, but soon enough they decided to just be friends, who slept together. No emotions or pain. Katie thought she could handle that.

She didn't know when it happened, maybe it was the night he kissed her before leaving her room, but she felt herself falling. Katie tried grasping on to anything that would make her feel like her old self again, like flirting and getting drunk with Lucian Bole, but nothing worked. She knew that Theo was hanging out with a lot of other girls, maybe the jealousy is what made her finally realize she was in love. They thought the same way, she had never connected with anyone the way she did with Theo, and she didn't want to lose that. And what does professing your love do? Ruins everything and she couldn't let that happen. She just went on acting like nothing bothered her, and it was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

The day it finally took a toll on her was the day she found out Theo was dating Susan Bones.

"A Hufflepuff? Really?" Katie asked Theo when she found out. They had always spoken of Slytherin pride and blood-purity, she was so shocked.

"Yeah, I really like her," Theodore answered, shrugging it off. That was the word she was hoping he wouldn't use. But there was nothing she could do, it was her fault for not saying how she really felt. She spent her nights getting drunk and strolling the halls, and she fooled herself into thinking Theo cared for her like she did for him, with every time he came to her rescue. But this wasn't new to Katie, she was very accustomed to putting on a mask for everyone, just so no one would think her vulnerable. That would be the worst thing she could imagine, but it didn't make her feel any better. So she watched from afar. Theo and Susan laughing together, Katie smiling like she was happy for them. And it worked. It looked like she had finally succeeded in something. Hiding everything about herself.