You've a Good Heart, Katie Bell
By CarbonMonoxide
Full Summary: When you fall in love, the world stops. Love is nothing but sentimental bull shit. Love is when you'd rather die than live without. There's no such thing as true love. Love makes the world go round. Love is just some crackpot joke that old novel writers make up. Love always exists within ourselves. Love only exists in people who need a reality slap… What is love anyway?
Disclaimer: Yeah right. Go taste the rainbow.
IMPORTANT: If you've read this story already before my chapter 3, then you've got to go back and read Chapter 1, its the recently 06 uploaded chapter, not this one. This chapter was just bumped from 2 to 3 as a result of the upload of a new chapter 1.
Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers! I love all of you guys, and I took all of your comments/suggestions to heart! I don't really like the new personal reply thing, because I just think it's weird, if you wrote a review like a month ago, and the author is a bit slow (like me), then they'll reply a month later, and when you get the email, you're like… wtf? It's an internet stalker!
Lol, yeah, aneeway. So I won't really reply unless you asked a question or gave some advice or something, but that doesn't mean I love you any less. Okay, yeah, on to the next chapter, I'll shut the hell up already.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there's kind of a gory/makes me wanna hurl scene coming up, it's not too bad, but I'll put a ':9' by it, so you kinda know, and aren't like…gonna vomit on your keyboard or something.
"Angie, I can't believe you brought me along!" Alicia Spinnet grumbled as she accidentally bumped up against her friend. "I'm always just sitting there bored out of my mind. And I'm so tired! I could be sleeping right now." She stated sourly, as she accidentally pushed her dark haired friend again as a result of her distraction.
"Ow, watch it!" Angelina mumbled, as she was shoved against the glass door of the Three Broomsticks. "And quit whining, I brought you along because George is going to be here, okay? That's how much of a good friend I am, I actually care about your love life." She stated, as she pulled a grouchy blonde haired woman into the warmth of the bustling little café. "Don't be a cow. And quit pouting, it makes your face look fat." She added, turning around, and not even looking at Alicia. She stretched her neck trying to find two masses of bright red hair sticking out from the crowd.
"Oh god, well thanks a lot, Miss Mom." Alicia huffed, but she did indeed soften the Mr. Grumpy look on her face. "And for your infor-"
"Look, there they are!" Angelina exclaimed, pulling Alicia towards a table where two redheads were waving frantically, well actually, only one was waving frantically. The other seemed to be slouching in his seat, a genuine Mr. Grumpy look on his face.
"See look, he doesn't even want to see me." Alicia whispered in an annoyed tone as they made their way over to the table.
Angelina only huffed and shook her head, leading the way, until they reached the twins.
"Hey baby!" Fred exclaimed immediately, as he jumped up and nearly threw himself at Angie to catch her in a rather tight hug. "Sweetheart! Honey! Apple of my eye, diamond in the sky-"
"Hi Fred." Angelina said simply holding onto him, before she moved to kiss him.
And if you thought it was just a cute, little welcome kiss, then my god, were you wrong.
Uh… Alicia honestly didn't know what to do. She couldn't even try and take a seat, because Angie was standing right in her way, sucking face, right in front of her. She averted her gaze, and caught a glance of George, who had only rolled his eyes at the snogging couple, before turning around to lock eyes with a pretty lady at a nearby table.
"Err, excuse me…" She asked in a small voice. Oh hell! Why do they do this to me? I told her I didn't want to come. Alicia finally cleared her throat rather loudly, tapping Angie on the shoulder. To hell with manners.
At last, Fred and Angelina broke apart, having the decency to at least look embarrassed.
"Eh, sorry. Got a little carried away there." An out of breath and slightly red faced Fred stated. "Hi Alicia. Come on, have a seat."
Alicia smiled politely, setting her handbag down. Thank Merlin. Shooting a quick 'I'm going to bloody kill you!' look at an apologetic faced Angie; she slipped into a seat beside her dark haired friend and across from George, who merely nodded at her.
Alicia wanted to kick Angie…badly.
Nearly twenty minutes had passed, and the blonde haired woman was bored out of her mind. The only people even trying to maintain conversation were Angelina and Fred, while George would nod and she would smile politely every once in a while. Obviously, George was bored, just like her. But unlike her, he made no effort to cover it.
Stupid git. She couldn't even believe she had used to have a crush on him. Of course, that had been in her fifth year, and she had been slightly, well… disproportional at that age. Back then, Angie had been the tall, lean one, that all the guys went after, Katie was the little short and shrimpy one that all the guys either picked on or protected, and Alicia…well, she had been the medium height, slightly, slightly, chubby one that all the guys (except for Eugene Humphrey) pretty much forgot was a girl. But nevertheless, her little infatuation with George Weasley ended the day he called her thunder thighs. And sure, it might've been true then, but Alicia Caroline Spinnet held grudges.
For a long time.
Of course, Angelina still thought her friend fancied the younger twin. At the time, Alicia had only told Katie about the end of her little obsession with George, and they had both agreed to tell Angie later, but she'd never gotten around to it. Six years, an obsession, and a pair of slimmer thighs later, Katie was gone somewhere, and she still hadn't told Angie…
Katie.
Whatever happened to her?
Katie had been a year younger then all of them, but somehow she had managed to keep in touch with Angelina and Alicia while she was in school. Of course, they had all come to her graduation and to the funeral of their old headmaster. That was when she had told them.
It had come as quite a bit of a surprise, when Katie had quietly informed them that she'd been accepted into the Auror Academy, and would begin training in less than one month's time.
Alicia secretly supposed it had something to do with the necklace. Yes, Leanne had immediately written to Angelina and herself explaining what had happened at Hogsmeade that day. The necklace incident had probably opened Katie's eyes to the world of evil and danger, and war.
But she was sure even Angelina had never imagined Katie becoming an Auror. I mean, Katie? An Auror? That short girl who never woke up on time, and tripped down stairs, and made faces at Marcus Flint, and had the fastest pass on the whole team? No way. She had always envisioned Katie doing something with Quidditch. Maybe that was only because Quidditch was such a big part of their lives at the time. But still. Katie as an Auror? No. Just no.
"Hey!"
Alicia was suddenly jolted out of her memories at the loud outburst. She looked up just in time to see George nudging his brother. "Hey Fred, isn't that Harry over there?"
"Holy shi- crap, yeah that's him!" The older twin exclaimed. "Oye Harry!" He yelled loudly. Obviously, the young man didn't even care about the fact that he was attracting nearly every single person's attention in the cafe. "HARRY POTTER! Boy who lived and lived again! OVER HERE, MATE!"
Nearly two minutes later, after fighting through a throng of his fan club, a panting and slightly dazed Harry Potter reached their table. "What is it?" He rushed, in a slightly panicky voice. "Did you see a Death Eater or something? Or is this about Ginny, because I swear we didn't do any-"
Fred smiled, cutting the twenty year old off. "Have a seat, Harry. We just haven't talked to our favorite Gryffindor Seeker in a long time. Though, now that you mentioned it, I did want to tell you something about Gins, but that's for another day…"
One butterbeer, and twenty minutes of greetings and light conversations later, all five of them had settled into a comfortable, peaceful silence.
"Hey, you know something?" Angelina asked suddenly, breaking the silence, as she looked at everybody at the table, her light brown eyes sparkling in excitement. "This reminds me of our little pre match breakfast meetings that we used to have back at Hogwarts. You know, when all of us would sit and pick at our food because we'd be so nervous, and Oliver would yell at us to eat…"
"Except Oliver's not here." George added.
"And Katie Bell." Alicia said quickly. "Katie's not here."
Angelina frowned slightly, staring at the table. "Whatever happened to Katie? I haven't heard from her in Merlin knows how long. If I didn't miss her so much, I'd probably be mad." Angelina paused, her face softening slightly, at the mention of one her best friends. "Maybe she found someone and settled down." She added quietly. "I mean, I sent her about two hundred owls begging her to just tell me how she was doing."
"And she never replied." Alicia said softly, gazing at the mug in her hand. "Not to a single one."
"You- you mean you don't know?" His hesitant voice broke through the heavy silence that had begun to settle in.
All eyes immediately flicked to the young man with messy black hair, who was wearing a slightly worried frown. His eyes widened, as he looked at everyone, realizing the meaning of their questioning gaze. "You, you really don't know?" He asked slowly, obviously surprised.
No one seemed to respond, they only glanced at Harry, looking puzzled.
"No, I don't think we do." George said finally. "You know what happened to Katie?"
Harry sighed softly, staring intently at the mug in his hands. "It's kind of a long story." He started. "You do know that after Katie graduated, she went right into Auror training, right? Well, ever since the war had started, the Ministry was running on a severe lack of Aurors. To make things worse, Vol-, uh, I mean you-know-who," he added hastily, "was gaining support outside of Europe too. They started having Death Eater attacks in America and Canada. The Ministry selected a few second year trainees to go help out over there. You know, they wanted to stamp out the Death Eater's and stop them from spreading their beliefs as soon as possible."
Alicia cast a nervous glance at Angie, as the man paused.
"Katie was picked to go." Harry said quietly, swallowing the lump that was beginning to form in his throat. "Alone. Sometime later, we heard she managed to fight off the Imperius. The…" Harry's voice cracked slightly. "The last we heard about her, she was being noted Missing in Action. That was three years ago."
A hushed silence filled the air, so deafeningly quiet, it felt like someone was silently screaming. Nobody knew what to say. Alicia had long since forgotten the cold butterbeer mug in her hand, and she felt sick.
"That's all I know." Harry said softly, almost whispering. "I'm sorry guys. I'm sorry."
:9 (2 years earlier. Manhattan, New York. 3 AM.)
"So, Katie Bell."
Katie bit back a scream of rage, as the Death Eater loomed closer.
The invisible ropes binding her wrists behind her back, tightened, and it burned.
He was only a few feet away.
She hated this position. Crouched on her knees. It made her feel so weak, so inferior.
And now he was right in front of her.
"I never thought I'd see the day good little Auror Katie Bell was at my mercy. I've heard much about you, Ms. Bell. Gave some of our henchmen a bit of a scare the other day, didn't you? You and that pathetic agency. If they keep it up any longer, their government will surely go to hell."
"Let me go." Katie whispered weakly. Though she whispered it, and though she knew there was little chance of the Death eater actually heeding her words, the disgust was evident in her voice.
The Death Eater gave a chuckle. Dry and cold. And it echoed in the alleyway, like a bloodcurdling scream loud enough to chill your bones.
"Oh now, don't be selfish dear. Do you really think I would do such a thing? After all, this is isn't all about you, is it? No, it definitely isn't." He stated condescendingly, his mask nearly glowing in the dark light of the alleyway. "You see, one by one, ever so slowly, we'll bring your side down. Today we caught one. Tomorrow they'll send someone to look for you, and when they do, we'll get him too. Soon one turns into four, four turns into eight, and eight turns into every last one. The Agency can only risk so many lives. They'll be forced to surrender eventually. And when they do, you, good little Samaritan, can be in two positions."
Katie waited, silently. The beating of her heart roared deafeningly in her ears, every part of her body screaming in agonizing pain. Though she continued to shiver, she had long since forgotten the dull stinging of the cold, more preoccupied with the coursing pain of her own burning skin.
"Oh yes. When this is over, you can be in two positions, little Auror. You could be rich, successful, with someone to obey your every order, your every qualm every second of every day, you could live comfortably, and you could live as one of us. Or… you could be dead. And your mangled, worthless body would lay forgotten on some deserted road, reeking of rotting flesh, your organs ripped savagely from your own body, your blood splattered on the ground."
Your organs scattered, and your blood splattered.
Katie's throat nearly closed up, as waves of intense nausea began to wash over her, and horrifying mental images began to form in her head. She felt sick to her stomach, yet she could not vomit. The heavy metallic taste of blood in her mouth only made it worse.
"Join our ranks, Katherine. And I can end this pain. You'll have everything you ever wanted. Money, power, success... whatever you wish."
The Death Eater suddenly seized her arm, gripping it painfully. "Join our ranks." He commanded roughly. "You could be a double agent. The Dark Lord would be pleased with you. You'd never have to see any more pain. No pain, no suffering, never again. Never again." The grip on her arm tightened. "Join it, Katie. Become one of us."
"Never." Katie whispered, her dark eyes stinging with tears.
With a sudden twist, white hot jets of pain shot through her arm. Katie attempted to bite back a scream, but only proceeded to begin choking up torrents of blood. It spilled out her mouth, and to the front of her uniform, in a silent, sickening scream.
The Death Eater tilted his head away, seemingly disgusted, though she couldn't tell through his mask.
"You people are so foolish." He said dryly. "The entire agency is foolish. What are they thinking, sending out people like you?"
His hand reached out and closed around her blood drenched neck, and Katie instinctively lunged up, desperate for air.
It hurt. Oh god, how it hurt.
He seemed to sneer, watching her wheeze, as he slowly tightened his grip.
"Should I finish you, Katie?" he whispered harshly. "Or will you become one of us?"
Tears stung her eyes, and Katie gasped for breath. "Ne-" she lunged for air, trying to get the Death Eater to loosen his deathly grip.
"What did you say?" The Death Eater asked, leaning in, as he tightened his grip on her neck painfully, so much, Katie was sure she would die then and there from strangulation. "Tell me what weapons the UR is creating behind closed doors. Operation Lightning, what is it?"
"N- no." Katie gasped.
He released her, and she collapsed onto the floor, her wrists bleeding, and her knees weak. She teetered on the very edge of consciousness, though something was stopping her from going over. Holding her back. Something keeping her awake for her suffering, for this torment, for this everlasting pain, to cause increase in her anguish a thousand fold, yes, the curse of magic gone bad.
Katie closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable. This was it. This was the end. She was going to die. She wanted to die. She wanted the pain to be over, to never come back. Death called to her like a warm bed, to lead her away from this slow, treacherous torment. She could not even move her neck to face her death. It hurt just to breathe.
"Such a pity. You look not a day over eighteen. But you've left me no choice then, Katie Bell."
The Death Eater raised his wand.
"Crucio."
She shot up in bed, drenched in a cold sweat, her heart beating so loudly, she felt it was going to be torn out of her chest. Clamping a cold, clammy palm to her forehead, she tried to slow her heavy breathing, shutting her eyes tightly. Just a dream. C'mon, Kate. It was just a stupid dream.
But it was to no avail. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw them. Their masked faces glowing, it was horrifying. Scrambling out of bed, she reached for her wand on her bed stand and turned on the lights with a shaky wave of her hand.
Wrapping her arms around herself, she made her way quickly to her now quite empty kitchen, where large cardboard boxes were taped and piled on the floor. With one hand, she opened every drawer, searching quickly, hurriedly for something, anything. Finally, she found the small travel size bottle in the last drawer. Her long, thin fingers worked around the cap quickly, twisting and pushing due to the security lock.
Finally, the oval shaped sleeping pill fell out. And she tossed it in her mouth, snatching up the glass of water sitting on the counter, finishing the entire glass in a matter of seconds.
Katherine took a deep, staggering breath, as she laid her head in her arms, leaning against the cool surface of the counter.
She had no idea why she'd remembered it so vividly. But this occassionally happened. Every once in a while, she'd be doing fine, sleeping great, happy and well, until she'd suddenly have one of these recollections. It was normal, her Healer had told her. And they should always be expected if her mind was especially unclear or bogged down at a particular time.
At last, she began to calm down, starting to feel a bit sleepy as the pill worked its magic, literally. Lifting her head and standing up, she picked up her small, oval wristwatch, one of the few things still on her counter. She had about a good eight hours, before she'd really have to get up to meet with the team. To get to England.
Oh god, England.
She hated thinking about it. Just the dread she felt whenever England was mentioned was killing her. Simply put, she felt torn. A part of her wanted to go, to relive those memories, and see the same places, maybe even the same people, revalidate that part of her life, but a part of her wanted to stay here. A part of her wanted to stay in this safe haven, where she could live peacefully in her self imposed exile, trying to forget her old self. A part of her hated England, for everything that it took from her. And still a part of her needed, loved, and cherished England for everything that it gave to her.
It was killing her softly, she realized, subconsciously. This life. Sure, it was peaceful, calm, safe and virtually guaranteed. Unlike anything she'd ever had before. But was this really what she wanted? Living a life of fame and athletic glory, seemingly a perfectly happy and successful person to all her fans and onlookers, only to come home alone each night to a restless sleep and numerous color coded bottles of medications. Was this what she really wanted? How long would she live like this, alone and depending on chemicals to let her sleep at night?
No. She wanted to be a perfectly happy, successful person on the inside too. Not just on the outside, where everybody could see, but on the inside, where only she could feel. There was so much she wanted to do, but how could she, when this life was...
Killing me softly.
That's exactly what it was doing. Even Healer Jones knew it. It was killing her softly. Slowly, but surely, it was ruining any life she had left. She had to escape. Somehow, sometime.
...Only eight hours. She had only eight hours, till she was sure it would all come rushing back in.
Warily, a tired and emotionally exhausted Katherine Bell made her way to her bed, settling in for a peaceful, dreamless, medication induced sleep.
- -
Next chapter, seriously, Katie gets to England, furrrrreal, no lie. AND, she gets her first glimpse of Ollie. Hell yeah, so if you want a faster/longer update, you better review!
Yes! 28 reviews! Hmm…(rubs chin thoughtfully)…this is my wonderful sage advice. Get me up to 45 reviews, and thee/thou/whatever shall go far! Now hurry, bunnies, hurry! Time is a runnin!
Eeek. If you can guess who wrote the song this chapter is titled after, then you're a special kid today!
If you can't guess who wrote the song this chapter is titled after, then you're a super sonic kid today!
If you're thinking something along the lines of what the hell is wrong with her?… then you're a normal kid today!
K, yeah, whatever. Review.