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Disclaimer: I know this chapter title is the same as one in OotP but it was very appropriate for this chapter, so please don't sue, I have no money to begin with.

Chapter Nine: Fight and Flight

Katie's POV

I walked off to my first class of the week with Oliver by my side. I was smiling; the weekend had done wonders for me. I barely noticed the whispers around me.

Oliver and I stopped outside my classroom. He gave me a kiss and I entered the room, not caring that nearly all of the girls had stopped chattering and were staring fixedly at me. Those bitches could kiss my ass.

"Katie, you look great today," Alicia said.

"I feel great actually," I replied.

"I'm so happy for you Katie, I knew you wouldn't let Chloe get to you," Angelina said smiling at me, pulling me into a small one-armed hug.

I sighed in relief. It looked as though Chloe had finally realized that Oliver liked me, and decided to back off. I started doing my work cheerfully. I was busy scrawling down something with I felt something hit the back of my head.

I looked around and saw that a crumpled piece of paper had hit me. I picked it up, flattened it out and read the note inside:

You're a slut Katie. You don't deserve Oliver.
We know what you've been doing to Alexander and Oliver.
We're not going to stop.

I hurriedly crumpled the note back up and resumed my work. I kept telling myself not to take it to heart; Chloe and her friends wanted me to react negatively. So instead, I laughed to myself and flicked the note off my desk. After a while though, I started to feel depressed. I guess I'd spoke too soon.

In my next class, I was pelted with spit balls every time the professor had his back turned. I was appalled; they weren't even trying to cover themselves. They did it right out in the open.

By the end of Monday, I was back to the exasperated, exhausted and depressed state I was in the week previous.

On Tuesday I was walking along with Oliver, and a random girl walked in between us, hitting me hard with her shoulder. I flew into the wall and sank to the floor. I didn't even bother trying to pick myself back up. I guess when I'd laughed at the note, Chloe or whoever it was saw it as they weren't working hard enough to break me. Or maybe they could sense that I was back to way I was before. Oliver rushed to me and helped me up. The rest of the day wasn't any better. They hit, punched and stepped on me whenever they felt it was necessary. Oliver did his best, but I couldn't listen to him telling me it was all going to be fine anymore. It clearly wasn't going to be fine.

The rumours were still flying. And they'd gotten worse. Now I was currently having sex with Alexander behind Oliver's back, and was pregnant with his child. Hmm... Last I checked, I was a virgin.They were ludicrous, but they were getting to me. In the beginning, I laughed them off. But now, I just looked at my feet when I heard the nasty whispers and the even nastier laughs.

Alexander and Oliver told anyone who they heard whispering about me that they weren't true, but no one believed them. All the girls loved to hate the girl who was with Oliver Wood. They thrived off the drama and pain. It sickened me.

I was in class Wednesday after lunch being hit with the usual barrage of spit balls, paper balls, you name it; it was thrown at my head. My head was down on my desk, my face buried in my arms and I was thinking deeply. I needed to find a way to stop this. An idea formed in my head, and I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of it earlier. It wasn't going to be easy, but I couldn't take this violence. I had the right to be safe and happy.

Oliver's POV

"Hi Oliver," Katie said as we met up after class.

"Hey sweetie," I said, picking a few spit balls out of her hair. It didn't look like the girls were letting up on her. I gave her a hug and a kiss.

"I know how to stop this," she mentioned.

"How?" I asked excitedly. I knew she'd think of something!

She looked up at me and smiled regretfully. "You and I have to separate. Break up. Whatever you want to call it. We just can't be together."

"No, Katie! No, you can't do that," I said. This couldn't be happening.

"I'm sorry Oliver, but being with you shouldn't be this hard. I shouldn't have to be beaten up for us to stay together," she replied.

"Katie, please, no," I said. I was prepared to fall to my knees and beg her not to do this. I didn't care about how many people were in the hall moving to their next class. I'd kiss her feet if I had to.

"Oliver, it's over. I can't take this. It's the only way," she said biting down on her lip, fighting back the tears that I saw forming.

"Katie, don't, this isn't going to do anything," I said. I grabbed her hands and held them tightly in mine.

She pulled them out with little struggle. "It's going to stop this bullshit violence."

"Katie…" I whispered, "I love you". My voice had failed me and Katie hadn't heard what I said.

"HEY EVERYONE!" Katie yelled getting most peoples attention, "KATIE BELL AND OLIVER WOOD ARE NO LONGER TOGETHER! YOU HEARD RIGHT, KATIE AND OLIVER HAVE BROKEN UP! YOU WIN CHLOE!" Katie stomped off, not even bothering to look back at me. I felt my heart being broken in half.

"Katie! Come here! Now!" I said as I watched her walk farther and farther away, "I mean it!"

I saw her shake her head violently.

Random girls started to pour all over me, saying how sorry they were. I knew they weren't. They told me they'd do anything to make me feel better, and winked at me. I told them to get to their classes. Their behaviour was revolting. They didn't give a damn that I just had my heart broken.

I leaned against the wall. My legs turned into gelatin. She had let her sister win. I stood there long after the bell had rung. In fact, I didn't even hear it. All I could hear were the words coming out of Katie's mouth, telling me that we couldn't be together anymore.

When my legs had feeling again, I headed out to the Quidditch Pitch, my only source of comfort. I didn't care that I was missing class; I'd just tell the professor I wasn't feeling well, which wasn't a complete lie. I walked out to the middle of the pitch and stood there looking at the sky. It was a chilly day, in the beginning of February, but I didn't notice. I could have caught pneumonia and not cared in the slightest.

I looked around the pitch. It was so empty and lonely. Somewhat like me. This wasn't fair. We could have worked something out. I know we could have. I went to the bleachers and climbed to the top one and sat down. I sat and started thinking again. I was really starting to hate thinking. Katie had a point though; being together shouldn't have been this hard or trying. That thought had crossed even my mind.

I went back in the castle after it started to get darker and colder, then pined and pouted around and around the corridors and halls until well after curfew. I trudged up to the tower. When I entered, Chloe smiled sweetly at me.

"You make me sick Chloe," I told her to her face, "I never want to be with you. When will you get that? I love your sister. I love Katie. I'm in love with her, and I'll get her back, and we'll be happy."

I walked past her before she could reply, though managed to catch the vicious glare she gave me, and headed up to my room. I opened my trunk and pulled out a bottle of scotch and a shot glass. I did a few shots to relax myself, put the bottle in my night stand and went to bed half drunk. Not the smartest thing to do really, but right now, I didn't care.

Katie's POV

I spent the rest of the day in tears. But it was worth it, in a way. By the end of the day, the hitting and tripping had stopped almost completely. That's what is so great about Hogwarts. Gossip flew around like wildfire. Everyone knew by the end of the day, and Chloe had called off her friends. She had what she wanted, and I had what I wanted. Sort of. Come to think of it, not really at all.

When classes were over I didn't bother going to dinner or doing homework. I changed into a pair of purple plaid pyjamas and curled up in my bed. I didn't say anything to anyone. I laid in my bed, doing nothing but thinking. I wanted to cry, but it was physically impossible. I was so dehydrated from crying all day. So thinking was the next best thing. I hated seeing Oliver collapse against the wall and I hated that I knew he was thinking about me right now. But if this is what it took for me to be left alone, then so be it.

I managed to fall asleep around 2 that morning. I had a restless, dreamless sleep. I woke up the next morning feeling worse then I did the previous night.

On the twisted bright side, no one attacked me on Thursday. I could walk through the halls and no one pushed me, or hit me or pulled my hair. I could sit in class and not be hit with disgusting spit balls or paper balls with nasty messages in them that I didn't even bother reading anymore. The bruises I had from girls hitting me finally had a chance to start healing. My scalp stopped throbbing in pain from all the hair that had been ripped out. I finally stopped finding spit balls in my hair when I showered in the morning. I heard the giggles around me, and saw the fingers pointing. I'd rather have that then have bruises.

The only part I couldn't bear was seeing Oliver walking in the halls. I know he'd been following me, and I tried my best to ignore him. If we even looked at one another, I'd have Chloe and her army of sluts after me in a second. I didn't want to start being hit again. Everytime he got near me, I'd duck into a girls' lavatory or run to my room or into a random classroom.

Sometimes I followed him, to see how he was doing. He walked along looking at his feet mostly, his glasses nearly hanging off his nose. His shoulders were hunched. He looked as though he didn't bother shaving anymore. I hated this, but I couldn't think of a better way.

On Friday morning, Alexander and I sat alone for breakfast, at my request. He was the only person I could talk to about Oliver.

"How's he doing?" I asked quietly as I poked at my scrambled eggs.

"Not good Katie. He's been drinking every night," he responded.

"How much?" I mumbled.

"About half a bottle a night. I bet he'll be up to a whole bottle by next weekend."

My jaw dropped and my fork clattered against my plate. "Is he an idiot?"

"No Katie, he's extremely upset, you have no idea," Alex retorted.

"Oh, I think I do! It hurt me pretty bad as well. I didn't want to."

"Then what the hell inspired you to break up with him?"

"Haven't you noticed? As soon as Oliver and I broke up, no one has been violent towards me! Everything stopped! I don't get hit in the hall, I don't get my hair pulled at meals and no more spit balls hitting me in class! I didn't want to do it Alexander, I really didn't, but I didn't have a choice. I was looking out for myself!" I told him heatedly. "I love him Alexander! I do! But I shouldn't be beaten up for it! Love isn't supposed to be this complicated!"

"I know Katie, but there has to be a better way," he said in a low voice.

"There isn't. I've thought of every scenario my mind is capable of thinking about. Even if I pretended to break up with Oliver it wouldn't work. Chloe has her way of figuring everything out. She's a lot smarter then she looks."

We sat in silence for a few moments.

"Alexander… I have an idea," I told him dazed. Why did all my ideas come after the moment I needed them?

"What?" he asked.

"Your handwriting looks an awful lot like Oliver's," I said quietly and pulled out some parchment and a quill and ink out of my bag, "Write a note to Chloe telling her to go to the Gryffindor Quidditch change rooms after her last class today and sign it Oliver."

I shoved the materials at Alex and watched him write feverishly.

He handed me the note and I read it quickly. "Perfect," I said, blew on it to dry it and gave it back to Alex, "Now go to the Owlery and use a school owl to send it to Chloe."

Alexander smiled, "I think I know what you're up to. Do you want help?"

"Not so much help as moral support. Tell Angelina, Alicia, Fred and George to meet us there after their last classes, and make sure to tell them not to tell Oliver what we're doing, or where we're going under any circumstances. I think it'd be best if he wasn't there. It wouldn't be effective. She'd just turned all of her attention to him. We need her to pay attention to us."

"I'll see you there," Alex said with a smile and left.

I sat there excited. I hoped what I thought up would work. It wasn't the best of ideas, but it was worth a shot.

My classes ticked by slowly and I spent them scribbling and drawing on scraps of parchment. I wrote notes to Angelina and Alicia about what was going on and what was expected out of my idea.

They were excited about it. They couldn't wait to see the look on Chloe's face when she realized what was going on.

The time finally came and I rushed to the change rooms with everyone on my heels. I opened the door slightly and saw Chloe sitting on one of the benches.

"She's here," I whispered and turned back to the small group behind me, "Wait until I tell her to sit down to come in, ok? That's when I'm going to need you guys the most."

Everyone nodded.

I walked into the room and Chloe turned to see who it was.

"Get out, I'm waiting for Oliver," she said scathingly. She stood up and we stood eye to eye since we were of equal height (five foot eight, in case you were wondering).

"Oliver's not coming Chloe," I said serenely. I almost didn't recognize my own voice. Cool.

"What are you talking about?" she hissed menacingly.

"I had Alexander write that little note to you. It's about time we had a little chat Chloe. Sit down," I said coolly.

Alex, Alicia, Angelina, Fred and George walked in.

"What the hell is going on?" Chloe insisted.

"Like I said, it's time we had a little chat," I told her.

"About what?" she asked.

"Don't be stupid Chloe; I know you were behind the rumours and everything. I'm here to tell you that I'm not going to let you keep Oliver away from me."

Chloe snorted. "This is bullshit Katie. I took you down before, and I'll do it again. You're too weak to stay with Oliver."

"No, she isn't," Alexander chimed in.

I smiled at him.

"You're going to leave Katie and Oliver alone so they can get back together and be happy," Angelina said.

"They're not going to get back together, Angelina, I'll make sure of it," Chloe said scornfully to her.

"Oh they will too, no matter what you say or do," Alicia said from behind.

"We'll make sure of it," the twins said in unison, "And we'll make sure that you stay away from them."

Chloe laughed. "You really think this is supposed to scare me? It's not working. None of you can stop me."

"Yes we can," I spoke clearly, "Because if you don't leave me alone, you'll know what it's like to suffer, just the way I did. And this time, I don't care if you set your slut army up to me; I've got Fred and George here. I can't believe that I hadn't put them up to you before! I can be as idiotic as you are sometimes.Their rambunctious behaviour has been the cause of many an injury in the halls over the years they've been here, purely by accident of course. They've caused so many injuries that the professors won't even notice if you've been hurt in between your classes. They'll naturally assume that you've run into the twins, unless it is extremely serious. But the twins here will make sure that you're not hurt too badly. Just enough to make you understand what has been happening to me. This will happen day after day until to break down like I did. And trust me; it isn't fun - at all." I smirked with sad triumph.

Chloe's lips thinned and the colour drained out of her cheeks. "You're lying. You couldn't do that to me if you tried. You're too good to do that."

I laughed this time. "Whatever is going to help you sleep at night Chloe. But I'm dead serious. I'll be the one to take you down. I'll make sure you suffer until you really, truly understand what I went through. And once you do, you'll leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. And we'll go on with our lives like none of this ever happened."

Chloe scoffed.

"Fine, I see we're at an understanding. Now get out of my sight," I said and pointed towards the door.

"I'm not going to listen to you. There is no understanding," she replied.

"Well, in my mind there is! So you breach whatever was agreed upon in here, and you'll pay the consequences," I said smiling. This was so empowering.

Chloe got up and left without a word. I left with a smile on my face.

A/N: Everyone Like it?