Katie strode through the sterile, white halls of St. Mungo's hospital as fast as her feet would carry her without breaking into an all-out run. Behind her, George struggled to keep pace and begged her to slow down. She was barely aware of the fact that he had followed her to the hospital, let alone heard his urgings. Her mind was focused on only one thing: Michael.

"I can't believe the bastard turned up," she yelled, more to herself than to the various medi-wizards and witches that turned around in surprise. Half conscious that George was indeed behind her, she now addressed him. "I mean really, what was he thinking? 'Oh, I'll just cut out for about three months, thanks. Then I'll magically reappear after the entire war's over'! Idiot!"

She turned the corner sharply, flying past a man who has somehow engorged his nose and a little girl who had snakes growing out of her head. George caught up to her and tried to calm her down.

"Come on, Kay, I seriously doubt that that was Michael's intention."

"Sure it was!" she exploded. "He probably thought it'd be funny! Oh, a right hilarious joke, Michael, just leave your family panicking beyond help and then injure yourself for good measure so we have to find you in the effing hospital! Merlin! We wouldn't have had to worry about this if he had just died like a normal person!"

She suddenly stopped, whirled around, and grabbed George by the collar.

"You don't think he's dead, do you?" she yelled, practically in hysterics.

"Katie," George said quietly, taking her hands and lowering them off of himself, "Try to calm down."

"How can I calm down?" she hissed, though quietly now. "My brother might be dead!"

She released him and continued to walk quickly through the hospital's halls. "What if he is? What if he's not? They would have said something if he was, wouldn't they?!"

"I don't know, Katie," George said quietly.

Katie's vision was beginning to blur as she reached the corridor where she was told she could find Michael. "I don't want my brother to die, George," she cried weakly.

"Neither did I." It was a whisper that might not have been meant to come out at all, but Katie heard it and turned around, looking at George with a fallen face.

"Oh, George," she said regretfully. "I didn't mean—"

"I know, I know," he cut her off, waving a hand. "I'm sorry. Listen, Kay. Whatever happens…well. I'm here."

He shrugged awkwardly, placing his hands inside his pockets. Katie squeezed him tight and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, George," she said, leaving him in the waiting room and rushing down the final corridor.

Room 312 stood before her ominously, nothing but an eerie blue light peeking out from between the floor and the bottom of the door. Katie did not hear Michael's voice, but she didn't hear her mother weeping either. So, with a firm resolve not to lose it completely, Katie took a deep breath and turned the handle.

Her mother and Aunt Elizabeth immediately looked up as Katie entered the room, faces worried and tired. Also crowded around the bed was Alicia and two healers Katie didn't recognize. Alicia looked at her gravely and stepped away from the bedside, revealing her brother's face.

"Michael," she breathed, rushing over to his side. She gripped the side of the bed railing and stared down into the face of her older brother. His eyes were closed and an ugly gash marred the right side of his face. His mop of brown hair had grown wilder and upon brushing it back, Katie discovered that he had somehow lost an eyebrow. She clasped her hand around his large one and looked up expectantly.

"Well?" she asked impatiently, searching the faces of her friend and family.

"He's in a coma," one of the healers Katie didn't know answered, when no one else would. "Hit by several stunning spells, we think. He's been out for three months."

"What?" Katie blurted incredulously. "How—"

"He was found in the woods near Albania," the other healer said quietly.

"Well is he going to make a full recovery?" She couldn't understand the blank looks on her family's faces or the failure of Alicia to provide any kind of detail.

The first healer hesitated. "We are unsure at this time," he said at last.

"What the hell does that mean?" Katie splurted. "Alicia, what's going on?"

She looked at her friend in the eyes. Alicia tried to look away, but Katie grabbed her wrists and forced her friend's brown eyes to meet her own. Alicia swallowed and then said very articulately, "Michael's in a coma. He has been for almost three months, it seems like. We won't know the extent of the damage until he wakes up."

"Which will be when?!"

"We don't know, Katie…"

"But he will, won't he?"

"Katie, we don't know."

The second healer started uncomfortably. "We'll leave you with him," he said with decision. "Talk to him, it might help." And the three healers exited the small room, Alicia looking back only once to give her friend what she must have thought was an encouraging look.

"Mother!" Katie cried as soon as the door shut. "Mum, why are you not freaking out like I am?! Michael is in a coma!"

Andromeda sighed and sunk down in a nearby chair. "What took you so long to get here, love?" she asked finally.

"What?" Katie looked, confused, between her mother and her aunt. "I came as soon as I got the owl."

"Did Morgan get lost finding your flat?" Elizabeth asked, frowning. "I thought he had been there before."

"Oh." Realization dawned on Katie. "I was at the shop. With George. It must have taken Morgan a while to figure out where I was. How long have you been here?"

"Around three hours," her mother said quietly. She stroked Michael's hair lovingly, staring at his vacant face.

"Oh, Mum," Katie said sadly. She sat beside her mother and took her hand. "Hey, guess what?" she said suddenly. "You were right. Michael was alive." She tried to smile, was afraid that it was only an echo of one.

Andromeda did a better job of putting on a false smile. "I think we were both right," she said sadly, looking at her son. "I can't understand how Molly does it. If this hurts the way that it does right now, I simply can't imagine what she must feel." Tears sprang to her eyes and she squeezed Michael's hand, looking intently into his face.

"Please, baby," she pleaded. "Please come back."

Taken aback, Katie stumbled backward into her Aunt Elizabeth. She began to murmur an absent-minded apology, but her aunt grabbed her arm and dragged her into a corner. Katie looked at her, confused.

"I need to get your mother out of here," Elizabeth hissed in a low voice. "It's not good for her to be here for as long as she has, she's worrying herself into a fit."

Katie only nodded, glancing over at her weeping mother.

"I need to get her home, but she won't leave Michael by himself," the older woman continued. "Do you think you could—"

"I'll stay with him," Katie affirmed quickly, though the prospect of this was already causing a lump to form in her throat.

"Thank you," Elizabeth breathed and took hold of her sister's hand.

"Andromeda," she said gently. "Andromeda, let's go home. You need to rest."

"I c-can't rest until he w-wakes up," Andromeda sobbed, still clinging to her son's hand as Elizabeth rather forcefully stood her up.

"But we don't know when that is," the younger of the sisters replied gently. "Katie is going to stay here, and I'm sure that the staff will alert us as soon as Michael regains consciousness."

"That's right, Mum, I'm staying," Katie reaffirmed firmly. "You should get some sleep." Mentally as well as physically exhausted, Katie felt that her mother ought to be leaping at the chance to go home.

It took a while longer to convince her, but soon Andromeda Bell and her sister had apparated home. Left alone with her brother, Katie sighed and sat down at his bedside. She scooted the chair up close to Michael's head and looked down into his face. Katie resembled her father exactly, with his dark chocolate brown hair and celery green eyes. The only thing she had inherited from her mother was her height and the small sprinkling of light sun made freckles that dotted her nose. Michael, however, looked like neither of their parents unless you put them together. His hair was light brown, probably a mixture of the dark and the blonde, and curled slightly at the edges. His freckles were more obvious than Katie's, and were present year round. He was tall and built, years of quidditch toning his otherwise slender body. If his eyes were open, they would have been the warm chocolate brown of his mother's. Katie was well aware that Michael had been somewhat of a heartbreaker at Hogwarts, and it pained her to see him this way now.

"Hey you," she muttered quietly. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but somehow talking made her feel better.

"Haven't seen you in a while. And Godric, d'you look terrible…wow. Well, you know, more so than usual. That's a joke…erm…well, sorry for thinking you were dead. Mum said I was being an awful sister and that you would have never given up on me. Is that true? It probably is…you were always a git, but you looked out for me. Thanks for that. Listen, Michael, I really need to you to come back right now…Can you do that for me? And for Mum…I dunno what's going to happen to her if you…well. You know."

Katie swallowed and took hold of her brother's unmoving hand. She traced the large bone structure with her thumb and tried to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry I forgot about you," she choked out. "You know that would have never happened under any other circumstance, and I'm really not trying to make excuses, but everything's been so hard lately. After you disappeared, they took Dad away, and then Uncle Gareth was killed. Then there was the final battle, and…and Fred…oh Godric, Michael, I can't stand to talk about that right now. But you know I never really stopped thinking about you, it was just that death started becoming so natural and you were gone for so long…Oh, Michael, I'm so, so sorry…"

The petite girl began to sob, and gently climbed over the small bed railing. She laid her head on her brother's chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, Michael, please come back. You've got to…You've just got to…"

It was now approximately two in the morning. Physically exhausted and emotionally drained, Katie wept over her brother's body for about three minutes before falling asleep entirely.

"Come on, Michael, let me play!" whined the messy haired seven-year-old. She was clutching her toy broom and pouting at her brother's heels.

"No way," the older boy retorted, flying a little higher so that his sister couldn't reach his ankles to pull at them. "Why can't you go play with your dolls or something? Charlie and I don't want you."

"You cut off all of their hair!" Katie shouted vindictively. "And I'm just as good as you!"

"No, you're not!"

"Look, Katie," Charlie Weasley said, a little more gently. "Why don't you go play with Fred and George? My mum brought them to see you."

"They keep throwing things in my hair, and Fred put a spider on my knee!"

"Ooh, he probably likes you!" Michael teased obnoxiously, flicking back the light brown hair that was falling into his eyes.

"Oh, gross, he does not!" Katie yelled at her brother. "Now let me play!"

"Katie's got a boyfriend, Katie's got a boyfriend! Katie's got a boyfriend, Katie's got a—LOOK OUT!"

The tall boy dove and tackled his sister to the ground, just as Charlie shouted and a stray bludger whipped over their heads.

"Charlie! How did that thing get out?!" Michael yelled, glaring at his friend.

"Strap must have broke!" the red head said breathlessly as he flew over to chase it. Charlie seized the bludger and was wrestling it back into the box when Michael turned to look back at his sister, who was wide-eyed and shaking, still on the ground.

"Are you okay, Katie?" he asked earnestly, pushing aside her dark hair. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Shaken, Katie took his outstretched hand and regained her composure. "Of course not, you bloody git," she said self-importantly. "Now will you let me play with you?"

Michael grinned and rolled his eyes. "Oh, alright. You're annoying sometimes, sis. You know that?"

XxX

"Bell, Kathryn!" McGonagall's voice was clear and crisp. Katie took a deep breath and tightened her long, swinging ponytail.

"You'll be fine, Kay," George urged from behind her.

"Absolutely," Fred echoed. "Gryffindor material if I've ever seen it. Now go!"

Fred gave her a small push on her bottom and the twins laughed behind her as Katie stumbled out of the gaggle of first years.

"Damn last name," Katie muttered to herself as Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat over her head. It slid down to the middle of her head, stopped only by her nose. "Because of it, I'm lucky number one to look like a fool. Why couldn't Dad have been Nicholas Zell? Much more sense."

Katie almost jumped off the stool as a small voice in her head answered back to her, "Hmm…a swearing first year. Interesting."

"You'd swear too if you grew up around my brother," Katie answered, frowning slightly. This wasn't so bad. Michael had told her she had to try on magic underpants and dance in front of the school. Bloody git.

"Bell, is it?" the Sorting Hat mused. "Yes, I remember your brother. Kind of an obnoxious type."

"You've got that right," Katie scoffed.

"Quite the ego he had. Absolutely convinced he was a Gryffindor. I almost sorted him into Hufflepuff just to give him a lesson or two in humility."

"You should have," Katie said fervently. "Then maybe he would have been too concerned about himself to bother me all of my life."

"I'm sure you didn't put up with it, though."

"Are you kidding me? Absolutely not! Just this morning on the train, he tried to tell Fred Weasley I had a crush on him and I walloped him over the head with my broomstick. Let's see him try that again…"

"Good for you," complimented the Sorting Hat. "Quite brave of you, actually."

"Oh, har har," Katie said sarcastically. "Are you trying to get me to say that I belong in Gryffindor because I'm brave and then put me in Hufflepuff because you couldn't do it to Michael? Well, sorry, but I'm not giving in. I want in Gryffindor, but I'm certainly not saying I belong there."

"Why? You don't think you do?"

"Hey, pal, isn't that your job?"

"I just would like to know what you think."

"Listen, you're taking forever to make this decision. And frankly, it's kind of embarrassing sitting up here in front of everyone and talking to myself. If it will hurry you up, though, I'll say what I think. Here's what I think: I think that I do belong in Gryffindor, and I actually really want in there because that's where my mum and dad were, and it's probably where the Weasley twins are going to end up—they're my best friends—and, well, it might be easier to—you know—get closer to Fred if we're in the same house. Merlin, I can't believe I'm telling you my crush…"

"Quite alright, actually. I've been looking forward to seeing a Bell and a Weasley unite for quite some time now."

"You have? Weird. But I guess when you're a hat, other peoples' love lives probably are the most interesting thing to you…"

"Please stop that, or I shall let this Fred know what you've been telling me here—"

"Merlin, don't! Godric, pal. Okay, okay. So I want Gryffindor. Are you happy? Except I really don't want to be in there with Michael because he's a total git, and—"

"May I tell you something?"

"Oh, if you have to."

"When I was sorting your brother, one thing was absolutely clear: he had a sister whom he cared about very much."

"Good joke."

"I never joke. I'm a hat. And who am I to interrupt sibling ties? Therefore—"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat yelled the last word to the entire school and Katie gladly relinquished herself of it. She flounced over lightly to the Gryffindor table where Michael was cat-calling at her and settled herself down next to him and Charlie Weasley.

"Oh, what d'you have to sit here for, Katie?" Michael complained, but Katie just grinned and gave her brother a bear hug.

XxX

Swirls of various images and colors finally found Katie once more in her brother's capable arms. Snow was falling outside the windows of the Bell household and a letter was lying on the table, reread for the millionth time over the past week. Katie was crying due to its contents.

"How can he just dump me like this?" she wailed. "Right before Christmas!?"

"I thought you said you were fighting," Michael gently reminded her. He patted her hair awkwardly and looked as though he would very much like to pummel Fred Weasley, simply for putting him in this position.

"We were!" Katie cried. "But that's no excuse! And for Angelina, too! She's supposed to be my best friend! How could they do this to me?!"

"It's just one night, Katie-kins," her brother said, lifting her chin. "Buck up."

"That's what George said," she sniffled, wiping her eyes. "And I know Fred and I have been fighting for ages, and I know he only asked her to the ball, but still! We could have made up for the ball! I don't want to go, Michael, I just don't. I want to stay here with you and Mum and Dad."

"Oh, grow up, Katie. George is a good bloke. You'll have fun with him."

"I bloody well know George is a good bloke! He's my best mate, idiot. And he proved it by asking me to the ball when the son-of-a-bitch Fred dumped me through a letter. But how am I going to enjoy myself when I'm watching the two of them dance, huh? Fred and Ange will be obnoxious together and Lee will be pouting because of it and I will be pouting because of it, and George and Alicia will be putting up with both of us. Al and George should've gone together and left Lee and I to rot at home. That's all I want to do anyway."

"You've gone unhinged, old girl," Michael said bracingly. "This is what, the sixth time you've broken up in one year?"

"What's your point?" she spat poisonously.

"Well, you've survived the other five times haven't you?"

"What's it look like, block head?"

"No need for name calling. Just…perk up, okay, Katie? Put on that dress—you look gorgeous—get back to Hogwarts, and go have the time of your life with Georgie-o, alright? No more tears. Things will work themselves out in the end."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Fred may be a git, but he's your git. Anyone can see that."

"I really do love him, Michael," Katie whispered, eyes welling up again. Michael gripped her in a tight hug once more. She breathed in the familiar scent of her brother and threw her fingers through his thick, curly hair.

"I know, Kates. I know."

XxX

When Katie looked up again, she was no longer in Michael's arms, but in Fred's. The wavy light brown hair between her fingers had turned to thick, straight red. Fred peered down his long, freckled nose concernedly at her, his brown eyes shining intently.

"How could he leave me, Fred?" Katie choked out. "How could the bastard leave me? Right now? Right in the middle of the war?"

"He'll turn up, Katesy," Fred said fervently in a rare moment of seriousness. "There's no way anybody could take old Michael out."

"Well I certainly hope so, Fred, because I dunno what I'd do if anything happened to him. He's always been there for me, y'know? Even if he was being a bleeding idiot most of the time."

Fred laughed and squeezed his girlfriend tightly. "Don't worry, wee one," he said. "Everything's going to work out. Seriously. I can feel it."

Katie squeezed back just as hard. "I just hope it's sooner rather than later," she breathed. "When the war broke out I was just as scared as the next person, but his being there made it seem less terrifying somehow. Now he's gone and I have no one."

"Hey," Fred said sternly. "Don't you say that. You've got me. And I'll always be here for you."

"You promise that?"

"I absolutely promise it. This war's made me realize a lot of things, Katesy. When I thought George was—was dead, it kind of shook me. No more messing around, no more breaking up. I'm here forever from now on, Kates. You and me."

"Thanks, Fred," she said breathlessly, tightening her grip. "You just better not leave me like Michael did."

"I'll never leave you, Katesy. And neither will Michael. He's just…not here at the moment. But until he is, I will be. I can promise you that."

XxX

Hi, friends. Quick survey. I really need to know how many of you actually read this, enjoy it, & want me to continue. The last few chapters I've only been getting a handful of reviews from the same people (whom I totally love by the way! You guys rock!) And I REALLY, REALLY need more!!! Just send me a couple of words to let me know that you're reading this & I'll continue. If not…I dunno what I'll do yet. Maybe drop it for a while. I dunno.