AN: Written for MissDominqueLysander's: Royal Competition: Servants: Minor Characters.
I chose Katie Bell after deciding to write my Head!Canon for her.
She read in the Daily Prophet that Puddlemere United were holding tryouts. Katie was excited and quickly prepared for the tryouts of the year. Being Chaser for the Puddlemeres had been one of her greatest dreams since she was young and that was all she wanted and her parents – mostly her father – supported her decision. He worked endless shifts just so Katie could have the best broom and equipment; he would do anything just to see his little girl achieve her dream.
But something terrible had happened, impeding that dream to come true.
The cursed necklace still gave her agonizing tremors all over her body, forcing Katie to stop and rest for a while. Only by taking a dose of a horrid blue potion could she diminish the tremors. Katie and her family prayed to Merlin that this would not be an obstacle to her dream. She had worked too hard to be told no.
Standing with all the candidates, Katie waited to show that she was still good, that the tremors weren't going to stop her. As she held her broom her brown eyes looked to the stands and she smiled at her dad who smiled warmly back at her. The whistle blew and she kicked off and began to play.
Everything was going perfectly. Her recently cut jaw-length brown hair blew in the air, making her feel even more free. She should have cut her hair like this ages ago! One brown glove held tightly on her broom as she twisted and turned. Katie Bell was a sight to see. She was like a phoenix flying through the air.
A young man about her age passed her the Quaffle and her hand caught it. A smile appeared on her lips and she leaned into her broom and zoomed even closer to the goal hoops, swishing past her opponents in twists that looked so easy but yet so hard at the same time. Katie was almost there, she was about to score her sixth goal, but then she felt it. The tremors started in her toes, accelerating all the way to her head causing it to wrench backwards. A groan escaped her lips.
These tremors were much worse than ever before. It felt as if she was being hexed continuously. Her hand dropped the Quaffle, her eyes closed and it only took a moment but she lost grip of her broom and fell.
Terror was in everybody's eyes.
The shakes didn't stop, but Katie knew that she couldn't give up. Opening her eyes against the wind, she saw that her broom was falling. If only her hand was close enough to get it!
It was a miracle from Merlin himself.
The tip of her fingers reached and grabbed tightly and with a swoop she sat on top of her broom again. Katie was going to continue but the whistle blew, indicating that the game was over. Her brown eyes looked down and the coach waved at her to fly down.
The tremors were still there but a sense of dread was overpowering them.
"I'm sorry, Kateyln bu-"
"It's Katie, not Kateyln," she interrupted the coach. She despised her full name; it sounded frivolous.
"Right. Look, you're a great Chaser. But we can't risk you being in the premier league..." he said, not even daring to look in her eyes.
Katie lips pursued, but before she could speak the coach said a few more words.
"Nor can we risk having you in the reserve team. It's not that you're not good, it's your tremors..."
After that she blocked him out. Whispering under her breath she said, "Reality continues to ruin my life..."
She should have known that the tremors were going to block her dreams. Katie didn't dare cry, but it hurt too much – it wasn't fair! She didn't want this; she'd never asked for this. Her plans were ruined all because of that stupid necklace!
A cough interrupted her brooding thoughts. "Like I always say, better to be hurt by the truth than comforted with the lie," the old coach encouraged and shifted from foot to foot then awkwardly left when he noticed the unshed tears.
Turning around, she saw that her dad was already there with a sad smile on his face. "Next year you'll show them."
But Katie knew it was a lost cause.
Walking out of the stadium with her dad and with her broom in her hand, Katie stopped when a middle-aged wizard came to them, introducing himself as Alexandru Barbu, owner of the Hunedoara's Dragons Quidditch team in Romania, telling Katie that he wanted her on his team.
It shocked Katie. "You want me? Didn't you see what happened just now? My tremors are a barrier to how I play."
Alexandru shrugged as if this was not of much importance, which in his mind it wasn't. "Look, when I see an extraordinary player, I want them. And I want you. Your tremors aren't a barrier but only an extra quality of your future playing techniques."
Katie looked confused – future paying technique? As in, she could use these tremors in her favor?
Sighing, the wizard said, "I know my team isn't in the premier league, but with you, I just know we'll get there. We'll be undefeatable."
Katie turned to her dad. He said simply, "I support you in every decision you make."
She bit her lip and thought for a moment. Her dream team didn't want her because of the tremors. But this Romanian team that wasn't even in the European premier league did want her, even more so for the tremors. Looking at the middle-aged Romanian wizard she gave him her hand and he shook it with a smile.
"Alright then. Where do I sign?" Katie Bell asked with her own smile. She felt it in her body that this was the start of a new life.
AN: So if you have read Changes, this explains why Katie went to Romania :)