Invitus Adamo

For the next few days I avoided Kyle like the Bubonic Plague

For the next few days I avoided Kyle like the Bubonic Plague. To my grateful surprise, he hadn't approached me since the incident. I spent nearly all of my free time in the Gryffindor common room just because that was the one place I knew I was completely free of him.

Except for talking to Tristan, I remained to myself like I had since the beginning of the year. If ever there was a time to steer clear of friendships, it was now. I couldn't risk letting someone get close enough to me to notice that I was scared of my boyfriend. It's like Kyle said himself- he would follow more drastic measures to take our little secret to our graves. And I'm not going to risk my little brother's well-being just because I'm too lazy to keep curious people out of my business.

"Katie!" The voice that called my name always made me smile. Tristan was always cute as a button; that will simply never change. "It's time for dinner. Will you walk with me tonight? Phil and Erica are already in the Great Hall. And besides- you haven't been down there in days. Enough sneaking around in the kitchens after curfew- you need a good meal, ok?"

"Anything for you, bro." I piled my books together and took them up to room and met back with Tristan. "Let's go," I smiled.

He grabbed my hand and nearly dragged me out of the portrait hole.

"Woah! Are you that hungry?" I let out a giggle.

"I could eat a giant!"

"Mmmm… that sounds delicious. All that tough hide covered in coarse hair… I say we skip the Great Hall and go straight to the mountains. I'll catch it and you cook, alright?"

"Ewww!" He wrinkled his nose, "Never mind. I'd rather just have a huge roast turkey. Those are much easier to catch."

I grinned. "Alright. Turkey sounds great to me."


The moment we entered the Great Hall I felt a wave of nausea. Damn it- Kyle's already here. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I've been avoiding normal dining hours exactly for this reason. I could feel his eyes on me but I refused to look at the Slytherin table. Thank God our two tables are on opposite sides of the room.

Despite feeling uncomfortable from being watched, dinner was incredible. Ever since the incident I had been living off of cereal for breakfast in the kitchens. I took random fruits that held me over until late at night where I would get some leftovers. Jeez… I'd forgotten how amazing a fresh, warm meal can be!

I ate my fill and bade Tristan farewell. He was going to the library after dinner so I probably wouldn't see him until tomorrow. I was among the first ones out of the Great Hall, and I was thankful once the fresh air of freedom hit me. Subconsciously I picked up my pace, determined to put as much distance between Kyle and myself as possible.

"Katie!" The Scottish accent made me panic and nausea hit me again. It was useless to run; he was already catching up. I turned around with my eyes shut and took a deep breath. Here's the moment of truth. As long as I'm not forced to do something sickeningly sweet and romantic, I'll be able to get through this. I took a second deep breath and finally opened my eyes, just as Kyle closed the distance between us.

For a second I felt no change at all. I stared at Kyle, no emotions of longing or affection to report. I just stared at the disgusting Slytherin, thinking about how much I hated him.

I opened my mouth, planning to say some kind of greeting but before I could stop myself, I found my arms wrapped around him in a hug, the words "Oh, Kyle! I've missed you so much!" slipping from my lips.

Ugh… my body just completely betrayed me.

He looked surprised for a moment and finally pried me off of him, holding me at arms length. We just stared at each other. Despite my attempts to glare, I felt a smile tug at my lips. He gazed into my eyes. The look wasn't menacing; in fact, it was rather apprehensive, as if judging whether or not he liked my change in attitude towards him.

"How have you been, Babe? I haven't seen you in ages." I heard my voice but the words were not mine.

He seemed to realize how I felt and looked half pitying.

Excellent. He felt pity and I felt like I could rip his head off. A nice, healthy relationship, no?

"Come on. Let's go to the Den. We need some privacy." Great. The bleeding Den is the last place I want to be. What kind of stupid name is that anyway? Really- the man was probably the smartest Slytherin and the only name he could come up with for our deserted classroom was the Den? I had honestly expected better from him.

Minutes later he closed to door to the abandoned classroom behind us. I never wanted to set foot in here again, yet my body disobeyed my screams to turn around and run.

Kyle flicked his wand at an abandoned desk, turned it into a couch, and sat down.

I sat down goofily next to him, giggling for some reason beyond me. My hand found his and our fingers laced together.

"How are your classes? Did you pass that Transfiguration test?"

"Yeah," he said hesitantly. "I got an Outstanding. It was pretty easy."

Apparently he wasn't all that comfortable with this either. Well it's good to know that he might have some kind of conscious after all. You know, it's not like I'm acting ten times gushier and more ditzy than when I was normal and willingly with him.

"I'm so proud of you! You've always been so smart." Oh my God. Are you kidding me? Is this how I'm going to be for the rest of my life? Am I going to be this much of a suck up?

"You've been avoiding me lately," he said, deciding to cut around all the formalities.

How very astute of you, Kyle!

"Avoiding you? Of course not! I love being able to snuggle with you!"

And as if it couldn't get worse, my body curled up next to his, my arms wrapping around his torso. The cologne that I used to love so much hovered around my nose, threatening to smother me.

He tentatively returned the gesture, unsure of what to say next.

What? You couldn't foresee this? You were clever enough to take the money but didn't realize that you'd be forcing me to do everything against my will every time I'm around you? Are you starting to second guess yourself, dear Kyle?

"Tell me about your day, Babe. Pweeese?" I mentally gagged. Please don't…

Regretfully on my part, he decided it would be an excellent idea to inform me about his day. We both knew that he was just buying time so he could think of what to do. When he ran out of things to say, he fell silent.

"Have you told anyone?" He finally asked bluntly.

"About what?"

Along with being sickeningly mushy, my new personality is an idiot, as well. This is bleeding fabulous!

"About the potion, you dimwit!"

Wow.

So on top of permanently drugging me, he yells when my new personality says something senseless as if it were my fault. Excellent….

"Of course not, Babes. You're too cute for me to get you in trouble."

…..Right….

He stared at me for a long moment and finally looked satisfied. "Look- I'll let you off easy tonight. This is admittedly really weird, Katie." He paused and chuckled. "God knows you're probably screaming your lungs out at me in your head."

Right. On. The. Button.

My new self pouted. "Okayyyy…"

We stood up and headed for the door, my hand clutching onto his again. We stopped and he opened his mouth to likely tell me when to meet him here again, but was interrupted by my lips falling onto his.

He hesitated but finally kissed back lightly. At least this wasn't new. I mean, we did date for two months- it's not like we haven't kissed before. My lips and tongue started to move more deftly, forcing him to kiss me deeper.

Kool! So my new self is a slut, too!

While Kyle and New Katie enjoyed themselves, I gagged repeatedly. Seriously… cut it out. I tried to think of better things but felt a wall against my back, bringing my focus on this mess.

Our arms were tangled around one another, kissing messily when he finally propelled himself off the wall and away from me.

His eyes were dark as he caught his breath. "This may be awkward, Katie, but damn… if this is what you're going to be like, I'm not complaining. I can get used to it." He opened the door and headed back to whatever part of Hell he had scurried out from to begin with.

It only took me a moment to regain my senses. I refused to stand there paralyzed. Not when he could just come back and find me… I need to get out.

I walked briskly to the common room, climbed the stairs to my dorm, pulled my broom out of the recesses of my trunk, and climbed back out of the portrait hole. I was so upset that I actually blacked out for a few minutes. Somehow I found myself at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

Well, this works out perfectly. I climbed up onto the parapet, mounted my broom, and launched myself over the edge.

I used to fly all the time when I was younger. Every morning and every night I would fly, sometimes for hours at a time. I would touch the clouds or skim along the ground, dragging my fingers in the grass. Flying was my passion but for the past year and a half I've had to take care of Tristan and flying away would do nothing to help him.

Honestly, this is the first time I thought to pull out my broom ever since before the whole Incident. God, I missed the feeling of the wind whipping me in the face, the cool air of the night, the stars shining down on me as my only audience. My hair flew around me chaotically but that made it all the better.

I flew slowly at first, getting used to the motions, but I was suddenly hit with an irresistible urge to zip past Hogwarts' boundaries. Before I knew it, I was out over the Forbidden Forest surrounded by nothing but trees for as far as the eye could see.

I soared straight up as high as I could go, forcing myself to overcome the unbearable numbness my body was facing due to the drastically falling temperature. That'll show you, body! Maybe next time my limbs will punch Kyle instead of holding his hand. I should have thought to bring a jacket, huh?

After climbing vertically for at least half a kilometer, I stopped, found my bearings, and with a speed that was faster than the fastest I've ever gone, I plummeted straight towards Hogwarts. Somehow I found myself headed straight for the school's Quidditch pitch.

All the better...

I flattened myself against my broom and gained even more speed. The middle hoop was my target.

Admittedly, it was rather dangerous. Flying at God knows what velocity headed for a circle that would be difficult enough to maneuver through at a normal safe speed wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had.

But to be honest, I wasn't in the mood to play it safe now. I just had to endure an hour of unwilling, irrationalized behavior with a man who betrayed me to my one and only enemy. Desperate times call for desperate measures, they say. I'd like to think this is a desperate time and in order to deter myself from insanity, I need to do something daring.

The hoop was closing in dangerously fast and I actually started to think I wasn't going to make it. I'd end up spliced in half by the hoop.

It was getting closer. 30 meters. 20. meters. 10.

And my brave, daring, Gryffindor nature sprung to life just as I passed through the hoop at an incredible speed. The new warmth coursing through my blood felt amazing and made me feel like I could do anything. I took advantage of the adrenaline rush and soared nimbly in and out of the 6 goal hoops around the pitch.

Finally satisfied, I dove down and skimmed the bottom of the pitch as I headed for the Forbidden Forest once more.

I found a strong branch on one of the trees a few meters into the woods and laid down across it on my belly, my arms dangling below me. My eyes drooped closed, suddenly tired from the rush I just went through. I'll just stay here for a while- it's peaceful and quiet. And there's no way Kyle could ever hope to find me.

I'm so screwed. What am I supposed to do? Am I just going to sit back and take the torture of losing control around Kyle? If a simple kiss got out of hand the first time, it's not going to take long before he tries to get into my pants. How am I supposed to stop him?

"Hello?" A voice called uncertainly from the darkness. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now but it was still the middle of the night so I couldn't see much at all. "Oi! Where are you?" My heart sped up uncontrollably in my chest. A thick Scottish accent…

My wand was out in my hands and pointed in the direction of the voice within seconds.

He stepped a few more paces closer to me and stopped. "Can't see a bleeding thing…" the man muttered as he tried to locate his wand in his robes. "Lumos."

A bubble of light illuminated a few trees around him. It's not Kyle. I let out my breath a bit louder than I intended. Just my luck- he heard me.

The man stepped closer, examining the trees, staring hard, trying to find me. He finally stepped into a small clearing about two meters from my tree. The Scot looked right up at me and jumped a bit, apparently not expecting to find a wand pointed at him. He raised his hands in the air, showing that he meant no harm.

"What do you want?" I asked a bit rudely. Well who the hell stalks people into the woods at this hour of the night? I have every right to be suspicious. "Just tell me the truth. I'm not in the mood for games."

"You want the honest truth?"

I looked him bluntly.

"Alright then. That was bloody AMAZING flying. Never seen anything like it. You're faster than a Norwegian Ridgeback. You gained more height than I've seen in my life and the way you maneuvered through those hoops was incredible!"

His gushing took me by surprise, leaving me unsure of what to think or say. "Umm… thank you?"

"Right. What house are you in?"

I could tell by his robes that he was in my house. "Gryffindor. Why? What's it to you?" Can you blame me you being cautious after what I just had to go through because of the last time I let my guard down?

He grinned up at me. "Excellent. I'm the Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I formally request that you play as our Chaser."

I looked at him strangely. "What were you doing out so late?"

"I was just heading in from practice when I saw you tear up the sky," his smile was genuine. "So what do you say?"

"Thanks for the offer, Captain, but I have enough to deal with as it is. I don't need Quidditch added to my laundry list."

"You don't understand- we've been looking for a Chaser all year. No one can even make it past the tryouts. You were unbelievable out there… we need you."

"I'm not interested."

"Can you at least come down and tell me that to my face?"

I suppose it's no harm to jump down. He's obviously just the Quidditch-obsessed Captain that I'm always hearing rumors about. Oliver Wood I believe is his name. Tristan thinks he's a hero.

I leapt down and lowered my wand in the process. He kept his up to provide the light.

"Katie Bell," he deduced. And here I thought he wouldn't recognize me. Great- my secret is out in the open. "Who'd have known the quietest person in Gryffindor would turn out to be such a smashing flier? I ask you again. Please- be our Chaser."

"I don't want the position. Thanks." I brushed passed him and stepped out of the tree line.

Oliver Wood caught up and walked beside me. "But you're a Gryffindor. Don't you love your house?"

"That has nothing to do with anything."

"Of course it does! We need to win the House Cup back!"

I stared at him for a moment. The man really did love Quidditch. "Well, I'm glad you're determined. You might just win it after all, Mr. Wood. Have a good night." I picked up my pace; it's freezing.

He caught right back up with me. "Damn right, I'm determined! That's why I'm not giving up until you accept my proposal."

"Really- no means no."

"Why?"

"I don't need to explain myself."

"Just give me three good reasons."

"School work."

"Two more."

I had two more perfectly good reasons. One- I need to keep an eye on my brother. Two- I have a little predicament involving Shadow and Kyle. That will take up enough of my energy. I don't need any more distractions.

"School work is a perfectly valid reason and far more important than some sport."

Oliver made some kind of choking sound, "'Some sport…?' Quidditch is the best sport in the world! I refuse-" He stopped himself from berating me, knowing full well that it would give me another reason to say no.

Instead he took a different approach. "Look, we haven't won the Cup in years. We need this. I need this. I can't just let you go so easily when you're clearly the best one out there who could help us win. You have no idea how much you would be helping Gryffindor just by playing for us."

"Guilting me into accepting your offer will only weaken your case. I won't risk my education just for pity." I heaved open the huge front door to the castle and crept inside. By now I had gotten relatively used to sneaking around in the corridors past hours. I still had yet to get caught.

"What will it take for you to accept?" he whispered desperately.

"Nothing because I won't do it." I whispered back. "Now please shut up. If you get me detention, you can kiss all of your hopes goodbye."

At this he looked hopeful once more- clearly he misunderstood my words and thought he still had a chance. I inwardly groaned. Just leave me alone!

We climbed up the main staircase and followed the well-traveled path to the common room. We were half way down a hall when we heard footsteps and saw a light bounce off the walls. It was headed for us.

I looked around in a panic for anything to hide behind but found nothing. Oliver wasted no time in shoving me into a niche in between the wall and a good looking statue of some famous centaur. He drew up his overly-huge cloak in both hands and draped it around both of us in a hug. I flushed at the close contact and would have given him a black eye had a professor not walked by at that exact moment.

Our faces were pressed together and I felt his warm breath on my ear. I forced my hands to stay at my sides- they had tendencies to move and strike of their own accord when I felt threatened or vulnerable. We stayed in the cocoon for a few moments longer than necessary but he finally released me and helped me out of the hole.

I brushed the dust off of myself and tried not to glare. "Thank you, Mr. Wood."

"Right. Call me Oliver."

"Just because you saved my skin from detention doesn't mean we're suddenly friends."

"Alright, then. That's fine."

I'm going to have to owe you one, though, huh? I suppo-

"Excellent. You can pay me back by just playing at one of our practices."

What…? Don't tell me I said 'I owe you one' aloud. Judging from the grin plastered on his face, that's exactly what I did.

Jeez… I'm such an idiot.

I turned on my heel and walked for the common room again. "I didn't mean to say that so drop it. I'm not going."

"Well whether you meant to say it or not, you thought it and that makes all the difference in the world."

"Why?"

"Because it means you're an honest person and honest people hate being in debt, Katie." I forced myself not to groan; he was exactly right. "So just come to one practice, alright? We have an extra uniform so you don't have to worry about getting anything of yours messy. You have a broom but if you don't want to use it, we can provide that too. We're meeting two nights from now at 8pm." We stopped in front of the Fat Lady.

"Pixie Dust," I said a little too sourly and the portrait swung open.

The common room was empty. What a surprise. I wasted no time in stepping inside and going straight to the girls' staircase. "Good night, Mr. Wood."

"Sweet dreams, Katie." He couldn't keep the satisfied tone out of his voice. He and I both knew that I'd end up at the practice in the end.

Lucky me…