- Past -

The week leading up to Madam Pomfrey's decision proved to be almost exactly what Katelyn had come to expect.

On Monday, Hermione, her new 'friend', began sitting with her in classes, waving her hand in the air and loudly answering every question possible. In potions, Snape grilled Katelyn on the uses of mustard seeds, to the delight of everyone but Hermione, who, naturally, knew the answers and, more naturally yet, was never called on.

In the evening, she went to see Madam Pomfrey, after Defense class left her with another splitting headache and she could barely keep down her dinner. It only took a calming draught and some pain relieving potion to fix, but she was determined not to mention it to Oliver either way. At least Pomfrey had seemed glad that Katelyn came to her for help. She hoped that it counted for something.

At practice, the Weasley twins announced that they'd finally talked Lee Jordan into trying out as reserve seeker, and that he would be joining them for tomorrow's practice. Oliver was delighted, and pulled them both into a bear hug while the chasers glared smugly at Katelyn, and Alicia drew her finger across her throat.

Tuesday was more of the same. Pansy had come up with some creative new ways to mock Katelyn's hair, glasses, and face in general, which Draco and his friends found very amusing. Just that morning, she'd overheard Lavender making fun of her worn out pyjamas. Hermione had offered to lend her a spare set of her own afterwards, which was somehow even worse.

In the evening, she got to see Lee Jordan fly. He only ever came close to catching the snitch once, but he flew well enough. Afterwards, Alicia was very complementary, and asked Oliver if the team could just keep him instead. While the chasers were gathered around him, laughing at her 'joke', Lee actually gave Katelyn an apologetic smile. So at least he was nice. On the other hand, she noticed that Oliver never denied the possibility of replacing her.

Wednesday was when it truly dawned on her that there were only two days left until her fate would be decided. Up until now, it had felt as if the checkup was a desperate lifetime away. But now, it seemed like a tidal wave, moments from crashing over her. She found herself breaking out into a cold sweat in the middle of History, and she had to slip out to the lavatory before she had a nervous breakdown in the middle of the classroom. At dinner, Hermione offered to share her notes (after relentlessly pestering Katelyn about her wellbeing, and why she had left in the first place).

That night, Alicia hit her in the back with a stinging hex when she ran past during warmups. Katelyn was caught off guard and fell over, but she managed to convince a concerned Oliver that she had just tripped.

Come Thursday, she felt like a ball of nerves, all tangled and twisted and woozy. Two days left. Just one if she could have skipped classes Friday morning to go in early. Hermione had not given up on asking after her health, because it was clear she was not feeling well. Though Katelyn insisted she was fine fine fine, she was eventually forced to let Hermione to escort her up to the hospital wing for a calming draught, after she accidentally set her desk on fire in Charms.

After that nights practice, Lee Jordan sought Katelyn out to apologize, which came as quite the surprise. He said that he didn't want her to feel like he was trying to replace her - he actually thought himself a pretty poor seeker, and really just wanted to be a commentator. She thought they might be friends in another life.

When Friday finally arrived, she was barely holding herself together. She ended up fleeing in tears halfway through that mornings double Potions. She had distractedly given her cauldron three stirs too many, causing her potion to begin belching out great showers of spark and fire, and Snape to start berating her. Witnesses might have said that Snape ordered her out of the room first, but in the ensuing chaos it was hard to say.

After she calmed down (perhaps pulling out a fistful of hair or two in the process), she used the rest of the double period to trudge her way up to the hospital wing for what she could only hope was the last time.

"Miss Potter," Pomfrey said as she opened the door to her office. "Aren't you meant to be in class?"

"I got kicked out."

"Professor Snape?" the Matron said knowingly. "Well, come in then, and let's have a look at you."

She sat Katelyn down and began tutting and tapping away with her wand. An enchanted quill hovered nearby, occasionally scritching down a note or two as Pomfrey circled about.

"Have you you been getting enough sleep, Miss Potter?"

"Not really, no."

Pomfrey paused for a moment to confer with the quill, which had begun scribbling more energetically as the matron worked.

"Are you eating well?"

"As much as I can manage."

She gave Katelyn a stern look, but continued the examination.

"Alright, stand up please," Pomfrey said after another minute. "I'd like you to do some star jumps while counting down backwards from ten."

Katelyn shrugged off her robes, and started performing the exercise. She felt a bit daft, but managed it easily enough. After that she was made to balance on one leg, and then the other. Pomfrey took out a strange brass instrument that seemed to measure the dimensions of her head, which would occasionally chirp and puff out steam. All the while, the Matron continued to hum, and tut, and mutter to herself, and occasionally check in on what the quill had been writing.

"All right, Miss Potter," she said after Katelyn had finished clumsily reciting every other letter of the alphabet while balancing a stack of books. "You're still showing some signs of lingering injuries, but I can't see any reason that you shouldn't be able to play."

It hit her like a wave, that swept up from her feet and into her chest. There was still hope.

"I … I can play?"

"You'll need to wear a helmet while you fly for at least the next month, however."

"That's great," she said, unable to feel anything but relief. "Am I free to go then?"

"Yes, but ah - Miss Potter?"

Katelyn paused at the door.

"Do try not to make me regret it, won't you?"

"Yes ma'am. And thank you."

There were still ten minutes until lessons let out and lunch began, so Katelyn camped out in the hallway of the Charms classroom. While she waited, she marveled in the big empty space inside of her, that only a few minutes ago had been taken up by a massive, angry knot of anxiety and fear. She felt so strangely light that it was a bit dizzying.

Once the bell chimed, she got to her feet, and tried not to act nervous while a large group of fifth years passed by on their way out. After a moment, Oliver appeared amongst the students emptying out of the room. His eyes went slightly wide as he spotted her, and he quickly stepped aside to talk. They watched the crowd trickle down the hall before he finally spoke.

"Katelyn, you've seen Pomfrey?"

Oliver had never looked so nervous.

"Good news or bad news?" she asked him, feeling surprised at her own cheekiness.

"Good news," he said slowly.

"I can play!"

Oliver picked her up in a bear hug and began spinning her around before she even knew what was happening. She probably would have screamed if she wasn't frozen in shock.

"Katelyn! You've done it!" he cheered. "The house cup is good as ours!"

When he finally set her back down, she could feel herself flushing from head to toe. It took a concerted effort to stay on her feet, she was so woozy.

"Sorry, got a bit carried away," Oliver chuckled, noticing her dazed expression. "But wait, what's the bad news?"

"I have to wear a helmet for a month," she said breathlessly, forgetting she'd meant it as a joke in her stupor.

Oliver laughed brightly, and she sighed in relief as feeling slowly began returning to her extremities.

"I am really glad you can play Katelyn. I'll have to go break the news to Lee though. He's a great bloke, but …" Oliver looked around before leaning in and whispering, " … he makes a rubbish seeker."

"He won't mind," Katelyn said to herself as Oliver went off in search of their backup seeker.

Hermione finally caught up with her once she ambled down to the Great Hall for lunch.

"Katelyn, there you are!" she said with relief, taking up the seat next to her. "Where have you been? I searched everywhere for you."

"I went to see Pomfrey."

"You had your checkup? How did it go? Are you going to be able to play tomorrow?"

"Yeah, all clear."

"Oh Katelyn, that's wonderful! It would have been so disappointing if you'd missed out on the first game of the season."

Katelyn thought 'disappointing' might have been the understatement of the year, but she nodded her agreement all the same.

"Oh also … Professor Snape told me that I have to give this to you."

She produced a scroll from within her bookbag. Katelyn took it, and reluctantly prized it open.

Detention. My office. Saturday at six o'clock. No exceptions.

Katelyn stared at the words, feeling shocked and yet oddly grateful that he'd chosen after the game instead of during it. She risked a glance up at the head table to catch him sneering in her direction and quickly returned her gaze to the table in front of her.

"What is it? Are you in trouble?"

"Detention, after the game tomorrow."

"Oh that's absolutely dreadful Katelyn! It was just an accident, you didn't mean to disrupt the class."

"I can still play, so it doesn't matter."

The emotional high of learning she was allowed back in the air (and from Oliver spinning her around like a ragdoll) been slowly wearing off. She tried to focus on eating something substantial, rather than worrying about the game, or the detention afterward.

The rest of her classes for the day were a bit of a wash, with so much on her mind, but she supposed that it was more important to focus on quidditch, so that Alicia wouldn't maybe probably murder her.

That evening, the last practice before the game, Oliver's announcement that Katelyn was back was met with stony silence. The twins offered her a sheepish thumbs up, and Katie Bell made an odd face that might have passed for a smile on a good day. Katelyn didn't care however, because she was finally back in the air.

Just maybe everything would work out.

Katelyn should have known. They were booing. She knew it was for her. She looked up at the stands and instantly regretted it. There were posters - "Potter sucks!" "Potty is a phony.". One massive banner showed a crude depiction of Katelyn with crossed eyes and lopsided glasses, which had been enchanted to move so that she was picking her nose. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were pointing and laughing.

The team was all staring at her now. She didn't want to look back at them. She didn't want to know what expressions she might find. Oliver knelt down in front of her, but she couldn't look at him either.

"Hey," he said in a voice that she didn't know he had. It was gentle, like a parent soothing a child. "Don't listen to that rubbish Katelyn. You're gonna prove them wrong. We believe in you. I believe in you. Do you know how many of those idiots you could fly circles around?"

He paused for dramatic effect.

"Each and every one. You're one of the best players I've ever seen, and it's time you show them too. Okay?"

She could still hear them jeering. Professor McGonagall looked outraged, and appeared to be berating a smug Professor Snape in the teachers stand.

"Okay," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"That's my girl," he said, patting her on the shoulder with smile. "Now let's go stomp some Slytherins!"

Katelyn tried, and failed, to ignore the taunts and laughter as they took to the field. Madam Hooch was talking, but she couldn't do more than pretend to listen. Her ears were ringing. She felt like she was suffocating under the stupid bloody leather helmet.

Her team mounted their brooms, and she numbly followed suit. She tried to focus on their plan. Stay out of the way. Don't get hit by a bludger. Catch the snitch. Only an idiot could mess it up.

The whistle blew, and before long she was soaring above the crowd, taking solace in how small they all looked from high above the pitch. How she could no longer understand the words.

She didn't really know where her feet were taking her but she knew that she needed away. Anywhere else but here. Her ears were ringing with the cheering of the crowd, her whole body numb and hot and cold at the same time. Her pulse pounded like her heart was about to beat right out of her chest. She barely remembered changing out of her uniform, frantically cramming her equipment back into her locker.

Once outside she broke out into a run, back to the castle.

"Katelyn wait!"

She didn't stop until she reached the second floor bathroom, where she collapsed against the wall beside the basins in a heap, sinking to the floor and pulling her knees up to her chest. Myrtle was absent, but only a moment later Hermione caught up with her, panting for breath.

"K … Katelyn …" she wheezed.

Katelyn couldn't hold back the tears any longer, shame be damned, and began sobbing raggedly into her knees while Hermione stood, leaning on the nearest stall for support. After catching her breath, Hermione walked over, and sat down beside her.

Katelyn cried, and cried, for what felt like hours. Someone really, truly wanted her dead. Her Nimbus hadn't just been malfunctioning - when Oliver and the twins had tried to grab her it had intentionally flown her out of reach. She couldn't get the image out of her mind - looking down, the ground hundreds of feet away. If her fingers had slipped, if her strength had given out just a few moments earlier, she would probably be dead right now.

It wasn't a prank. It wasn't cruelty. Someone out there hated her so much that they would try to kill her, in front of the entire school.

She thought about quitting the team, but Alicia and the chasers would probably kill her instead. She thought about dropping out of school entirely - but her relatives would probably … well, she still had panic attacks thinking about having to go back, sometimes. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do. There was no way out.

Eventually, she became too tired to cry anymore, and the fear, and anger, and shame began to subside, enough that she could think clearly again. She could hear the sound of a dripping pipe, and Hermione's slow, steady breathing.

"I thought it was really brave of you, you know, to keep playing," Hermione said softly. "It must have been so scary. I don't think I could have done it, if I was in your place."

"Thanks," Katelyn mumbled automatically, listlessly rubbing at her eyes.

"And then you won, Katelyn. It was a bit unorthodox, but you did it."

"Yeah, I guess I did." The victory felt hollow. No matter what happened, someone was going to hate her. She would never truly win. "What time is it?"

"Let me see … it's about a quarter to six."

"Oh … I have to go meet Snape."

"Oh, Katelyn, I uh - are you sure you're okay to be going? You still seem really shaken up … I could talk to Professor McGonagall for you. I'm sure she can convince Professor Snape to reschedule."

Hermione suddenly seemed very tense.

"No, it's fine. He'll probably just yell at me some more. I'll be fine."

"I just don't think it's a very good idea for you to be serving detention after such an ordeal … too much undue stress and all that. You really should be resting - or maybe I could go with you?"

Katelyn frowned.

"No. I'm okay, really. It's just detention," she said firmly, setting off before she could start acting any stranger. "I'll talk to you later."

As she trudged down to the dungeons, her other problems helped put Hermione out of her mind. She remembered that she hadn't eaten since breakfast. She wondered if Snape would give her another detention if she fainted. She tried not to think about what he had planned as her punishment.

Katelyn arrived outside his office with three minutes to spare, and knocked on the door twice.

"Enter," came Snape's voice from within, making her jump slightly.

Katelyn tried to tell herself that she didn't have a good reason to be afraid. What could he do besides torment her a little bit more? Filch often moped about how he wasn't allowed to use any particularly cruel punishments anymore. With a deep breath to steel herself, she pulled the door open and peeked inside.

Snape's office was dimly lit, crowded with shelves of glassware and potions ingredients. Every flat surface seemed to be covered with books and scrolls of parchment. The professor sat behind a large desk, which was likewise cluttered with papers. He barely spared her a glance as he continued to write.

"Sit," he said, briefly gesturing at a small desk and chair that had been pushed off to the far corner of the room.

She did as instructed, and waited in silence, listening to the scratching of his quill. It seemed like minutes, if not hours, before he finally spoke again.

"Well … I do hope that I haven't cut your celebration short, Potter," he drawled, setting aside his quill. "For your detention, you'll be writing lines."

"Yes sir."

Snape flicked his wand at her desk, and a large stack of blank parchment appeared alongside a quill and inkwell on her desk. Another flick of the wand and, at the top of the first page appeared the words: 'I will let neither my inattentiveness nor my stupidity jeopardize the safety of myself or my classmates.'

"You will copy it until I am satisfied. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

She set to work copying the lines, wondering why he hadn't come up with a worse punishment. She'd overheard plenty of stories about how awful his detentions could be, so it was almost suspicious that he'd chosen something so tame. Surely he would have wanted her scrubbing out cauldrons by hand, or dissecting something foul.

Writing lines ended up being a bit of a blessing, as repeating Snape's little mantra in her head as she wrote kept her mind from wandering back to her would-be killer, and her impending doom. The sentence was a bit insulting, but she couldn't exactly disagree with the sentiment.

She had just gotten started on her third sheet when there was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Snape called.

To her surprise, it was Hermione who opened the door. If she hadn't been watching closely, she might have missed the brief wave of relief that swept over her features at seeing Katelyn sitting nearby.

"Miss Granger, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Snape said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

"G-good evening professor … I was er - just wondering if I could ask you about the - the homework that you assigned for Monday."

"Yes?"

"Well … er, in the paragraph describing moon seed, it says that it's most potent when harvested on a full moon … but is the full moon relative? What about cloud cover, or different time zones?"

"That information," he said, making no effort to hide his annoyance, "is in the appendix, which I would be alarmed to find you had not read through at least several times already."

"O-oh, I must have missed it, sir, I'm very sorry. I'll go check there." She then made a show of pretending to notice Katelyn, who had been watching the exchange with a mixture of discomfort and confusion. "Oh, I didn't see you there Katelyn! Are you well?"

"Miss Potter," he cut in before she could answer, "is serving detention, as you very well may know, having delivered the notice to her."

"Of course, I must have forgotten it was this evening … "

"I'm fine, Hermione," Katelyn said placatingly, realizing that Hermione must have come to check on her, and wondering what had her so concerned that she would risk the professors wrath.

It gave her plenty to think about while she copied yet more lines, as she completed her eighth page, and had practiced enough that she hardly had to think about it anymore. She began noticing patterns in Snapes behavior, where he might huff in frustration and hunch over his desk slightly, and make some very angry strokes with his quill. He was probably grading some very poor essays.

As she neared her tenth page, there was another knock at the door. Snape flicked his wand and it flew open, revealing a startled Hermione, with her hand still held aloft in mid-knock.

"Miss Granger," the professor said, his voice nearing a growl, "if you do not have a very, very, good reason for disturbing me, you will find yourself joining Miss Potter for detention this evening, and every evening for the next two weeks."

Hermione blanched, mouth hanging open slightly.

"I uh … just … er ... nevermind!"

She abruptly turned tail and scurried back down the hallway, and Snape loudly slammed the door shut with his wand.

"Whatever you two are plotting," he said in a low voice, "I would strongly suggest you reconsider, or you will be doing far worse than lines."

"Yes sir."

She wasn't sure what she was supposed to be plotting either, but thankfully Hermione did not seem inclined to further test his patience. Detention remained wholly uninterrupted and uneventful through another three pages of parchment, to the point that she started practicing her penmanship to keep her mind occupied.

"Miss Potter, if you were planning a hunger strike, it may behoove you to know that I can simply conjure food, right into your stomach if need be."

"What? Er … sir?"

The professor sneered at her for a moment, and then, as if on cue, her stomach growled loudly.

"Oh." She often forgot how good she'd become at ignoring it over the years. How long had that been going on that he would say something? "I'm fine, sir," she insisted, only for a sandwich to appear on her desk with a quiet pop.

She couldn't help but stare at the professor in poorly concealed bewilderment.

"I haven't poisoned it, Potter. No, I can think of far better ways."

Hardly feeling reassured, she took a small, nervous bite, before returning to her lines. She was on her nineteenth page (and less than halfway through the sandwich) when the inkwell finally ran dry.

" … professor?"

He continued to write for a moment before he finally looked up.

"I'm out of ink," she said, holding up her many parchments.

Snape took a conspicuous glance at the clock. It had been nearly three hours.

"I think that will suffice for the evening."

"Yes sir."

She stiffly rose to her feet, stretching and yawning.

"And tell Miss Granger that it was wise of her to wait outside rather than to continue to disturb me."

"Pardon, sir?"

"Out, Potter. I've had more than enough of you for one day, if not several weeks."

With her face set in deep confusion, she stepped out into the corridor only to find Hermione standing there, looking stressed. She seemed to be holding her breath up until Katelyn closed the door to Snape's office.

"Oh thank goodness Katelyn," she said with a frantic sigh. "I was going spare waiting. Are you okay?"

"Yes, why?" Katelyn said, her legs feeling very stiff as they began to walk back to the common room.

"I uh … how was your detention? Do you feel well?"

"It was a bit weird, I guess. He gave me a sandwich."

"He … he gave you a sandwich? And you ate it?"

Hermione stopped on the middle of a staircase, looking utterly horrified.

"Well, he told me that it wasn't poisoned. It wasn't awful."

"He told you it wasn't poisoned?!" she cried in exasperation.

"I feel fine, Hermione. What's gotten into you?"

"I …" she made suppressed groan of anxiety, clearly in great inner turmoil as she pursed her lip and furrowed her brow in deep thought. "Okay, okay, let's find somewhere private."

A few minutes later, they had secured an empty classroom, and Hermione had coaxed Katelyn into sitting down.

"I didn't want to tell you at first … you already seemed so distressed from today but … well, I think Snape was the one jinxing your broom at the match."

A cold weight dropped into her stomach.

"Oh God … why?"

"When your broom was acting up, we saw him in the teachers stand. He was muttering to himself and staring at you … he wasn't even blinking."

"We?"

"Oh, well, Ron Weasley sat next to me at the game. He's been working up the nerve to apologize to me all week, apparently. He was actually very sweet. But nevermind that! We saw Snape incanting, so I went over and snuck under the bleachers … I er - may have set his robes on fire. And then, just like that, your broom went back to normal."

"But I … he … I was just with him for hours. He could have easily tried to kill me then."

"Well, we knew you were there. If anything happened it would have been far too suspicious."

"And that's why you kept coming in … you thought he was going to ... oh God … "

"I'm so, so sorry, I shouldn't have let you go down there at all but I was second guessing myself and I didn't want to scare you … so I didn't know what else to do but try to check on you. I hope I didn't get you in any more trouble."

"You're sure he was the one jinxing my broom?"

"Well, it went back to normal the moment he started trying to stamp out the fire. It doesn't seem like a coincidence to me."

"Oh God … he said he could think of better ways …"

"What do you mean?"

"The - the sandwich he gave me … he said 'I haven't poisoned it. I can think of better ways.' Oh my God … maybe he was serious."

"I don't know Katelyn, I really don't know. Maybe we should tell McGonagall."

"No, she'd never believe us. There's probably serious consequences for falsely accusing a teacher."

"I … yes, I suppose. And I doubt I'd be able to admit that I started his robes on fire. Oh, but we'll have to be careful, okay? We'll at least keep an eye on him."

"Yeah … "

It was another restless night for Katelyn. She couldn't shake all of the awful feelings. Shame from the taunting crowd, or from nearly choking on the golden snitch instead of catching it. More than that was the abject terror she'd felt clinging to her broom for dear life as it tried to buck her off. Only to find out that the culprit might just be the professor who seemed to openly loathe her, and she had spent hours alone with him without knowing.

But most of all, Katelyn had given everything she had to make someone - anyone - proud, or even just to get them to despise her a bit less, and she'd nearly been murdered for her efforts. Sometimes, she wasn't sure why she bothered.