12th of October
I woke up at 7 am. The birds were churping by my window, the sun is barely up. Snow was gently falling on my window sill. I stared at it for a few seconds before slowly getting up and taking my morning shower. I got dressed and headed to breakfast. There, I was greeted by Leanne. She asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her and I said yes. It's Saturday, no one has classes but many students wanted to stay inside because of the snow. 'I flown in snow before so no biggie' I thought to myself. After breakfast, we headed to Hogsmeade. We shopped for a bit, Then we headed to Three Broomsticks for some butterbeer. We spent hours talking and drinking butterbeer. As we were about to leave, I went to the Ladies'. That was the worst mistake anyone can ever take. I opened the door to an empty stall and suddenly everything went dark.
3rd of April
I opened my eyes and I saw a white ceiling. It was very bright for me, I squinted my eyes and look at my surrounded. "Merlin! You're awake! Oh dear, you had me so worried" says the familiar voice. It takes me a few moments before my mind registers who it is. It's my mother. She kisses my forehead and pulls me in for a bone crushing hug. My mind is barely registering, everything seems to be blank. My body feels numb and I can't move a muscle. I don't remember anything except who I am. My memories are taking their time to come to me. Healers come rushing in and run a lot of tests on me. I see a badge of one of the healers. 'St Mungo's. Oh Merlin! What happened to me? Why am I here? Why don't remember what happened?' I thought. I started to panic but a healer quickly gave me some potions and I fell right to sleep.
6th of April
I wake up to the sound of monitors beeping rhythmically. It's the crack of dawn. Memories are starting to come back to me and I'm starting to get the feeling of my body. I feel my arm burning roughly. I still can't move most muscles but I can move my fingers and toes. "Hey" says the gentle voice of Leanne. "How are you feeling?" She says worriedly. "I..." I frown as I barely have energy to speak. I feel like my life has been sucked out of me. "What happened to me?" I say weakly. "We were at the Three Broomsticks drinking butterbeer. When we were going to leave, you went to the Ladies' and you came back with a package. It contained an opal necklace.
On our way back, we argued about it and you touched it. It was cursed, Katie. You barely lived but you're alive and you're okay now." She lets tears fall as she tells me what happened. "I... I'm sorry. I must've been imperiused. I wouldn't have taken it willingly" I say weakly. "I know, Katie" She replies. She smiles at me. A nurse rushes in with my potions and I take them slowly. "You said that the package was for Dumbledore. Someone wants to kill him" Leanne adds as I take my last sip of potion. "Who would want to kill Dumbledore? He's the best wizard ever" I reply as I frown. I try very hardly to remember who imperiused me or at least think of who might plot to kill him. The twins knock on the door and they come in. "Our little Kitty" says Fred. "How are you feeling?" Says George. "Not too shabby" I reply weakly as I smile at the sight. George sits on the bed whilst Fred sits on the second arm chair next to the bed. George caresses my knee gently but soon retreats as Angelina and Alicia burst in. "Merlin!" says Leanne as they startled her. "What happened?" "Are you okay?" "You can't live without us, can you?" "We graduate and you almost get yourself killed!" They took turns asking me. "You're gonna be a Hogwarts Legend, Kitty" says George. "You will be on a chocolate frog card by the end of the year" adds Fred. I giggle at the thought. "Yeah, right" I respond. "Prof McGonagall said that you will not go unnoticed. You saved Dumbledore, Katie" Leanne smiled as she looks at mr proudly. "Although, we would've appreciated it if you don't get yourself killed" says Alicia softly. She's very caring but she can kill you with a stare if you cross her. We spent hours chatting together. It felt good that so many people cared for me. I'm receiving gifts everyday with kind notes from many Hogwarts students and graduates. I feel loved.
12th of April 4 days before Easter
I wake up to an exciting sight of my mother. She's grinning widely. "You just got discharged! You can come hope, love! You can return to Hogwarts after the holidays if you want but Dumbledore is giving you the choice to not return for the rest of the year and graduate anyways or repeat the year if you wish to learn what your classmates learned." "Calm down, Veronica. Give her time to breathe. You'll be spending a few days with us so you can get back on your feet slowly in a quiet environment" says my dad on the armchair Fred has claimed. I get up slowly from the bed. I glance around the room to see everything already packed. The nurse comes in to give me my last potion and I drink it carefully. My parents grab my bags and take them to the car. I follow them slowly and get in the car. I slept throughout the journey. I wake up one corner away from home and I take my time to get out and enter the house. I head to my room and I sit on the edge of the bed. I stare at my hand which was bandaged. It's still burning as hell. My tabby cat greets me and sits on my lap. It's purring so loudly. Animals can sense danger. It can tell that I'm not feeling well, that something bad has happened to me. It won't leave my side, which is good because it feels like he's watching over me. I lay on my back and stare at the ceiling, trying to remember what happened but nothing. My mum brings me a glass of water and I drink it. I get comfortable on the bed and I slept for a few hours.
I woke up at 6 pm, the drizzle of rain is hitting the window. I went to the kitchen to eat something. Mum made me dinner and my parents and I ate together. It's been a long year. Six whole months not knowing whether their daughter is going to live or die. They already lost one daughter, they're not ready to lose the other. It felt good to be back with my family but I'm not sure if I'm ready to be bombarded with questions from everyone at Hogwarts. I spent a few hours chatting with my parents before I went to bed.
17th of April
I woke up quietly at the crack of dawn. I took a long steamy shower before heading to breakfast. My dad is sitting at the table whilst my mum is making toast. "Morning, love. How did you sleep?" Says my dad. "Not bad. Wish it was longer though" I say as I giggle. I sit down in an empty seat. My mum hands me some toast and I dig in. My dad stares at me for a second "Kates, what's wrong?" he says. "Nothing" I respond without hesitation. I smile at him and continue to eat my toast. "Are you excited to go back?" Says mum as she turns around with her toast in her hand. "Not really. I'm going to be lost" I respond sadly. "Well Professor McGonagall said not to worry about the exams. You're excused from them" adds my dad. "But I want to do them dad. I can't play quidditch until at least September. I need something for me to focus on" I says as I groan. "She's right, Shaun. She needs something to distract her from these past 6 months. Studying is a good way for her to ease her mind on other things" adds my mum. "Alright. I will let Minerva know your wishes. In the meantime, get ready so we go out to run a few errands" I nod and go to my room to change. Less than five minutes later, I open the door and we run a few errands.
20th April My first day back
Life has been pretty normal at home. We run errands in the morning, have tea in the afternoon, hang out with friends in the evening but I have been trying to prepare for the millions of questions everyone is going to ask me. I arrived early at King's Cross. I met Leanne and we boarded the train to Hogwarts. On the train, only a handful of students came up to me and up till now, they only asked if I'm alright. So far so good, I thought. We arrived soon and we headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Everyone was quite busy catching up with friends to notice but one particular person came up to me with curious intent. Harry Potter. Leanne told me that him, Ron and Hermione were behind us. They witnessed it all. My heart started beating fast. I knew he was worried and knowing how curious he gets, he's going to be the first one to ask. "Katie, how are you?" The green eyed boy asks. His piercing green eyes are focused on my brown eyes. "I know you're going to ask, Harry but I don't know who cursed me. I am trying to remember, honestly. But I just can't" there is nothing better than telling the truth. I know he genuinely wanted to help but I know that it will only get him into more trouble. As if trouble doesn't follow him already, but I don't blame him for what happened. As I finished speaking, Malfoy walks in. I can't help feel uneasy around him. My eyes are fixated at the Blond boy. Leanne pulls me out of it and gestures me to my usual place at the Gryffindor table. Still looking at Malfoy, I see him run out of the Great Hall when he met my eyes. Harry followed him out of the Great Hall. What happened between those two, no one knows exactly but something tells me that Harry was suspecting that he was the one who cursed me. Then it all clicked. Malfoy, his father is not too keen on Dumbledore. He has tried to remove him from his Headmaster duties ever since he started at the Ministry of Magic. Is Draco getting pressured by his family? I thought to myself.
It's 9pm and I'm in my dormitory getting settled. My owl flies in with a letter. It says: 'I am deeply sorry. You weren't meant to get hurt. I'm such an idiot. You're the only Gryffindor who was actually nice to me. You must understand that I had no choice. They made me do it. It was either him or me' on the bottom right corner it was signed by Draco Malfoy. The parchment had tear stains on the signature. It was clear that he didn't mean it. When I put it down, another owl came inside and sat on the desk. It had a small package for me. The owl was snowy. It was Hedwig. I opened the small package and it had a small note inside. 'A little gift from Harry, Ron and Hermione' with their three signatures in the bottom right corner. Next to the letter, there was a stuffed lioness with a small red scarf with my name on it. I smiled at it and put it on my bedside table. Underneath it, there was a small card which said 'Katie Bell, a true Gryffindor'. I inserted the card in its scarf and I grabbed some parchment to respond to Draco and the Trio. "Let's start with the trio" I say as I start writing them a short letter to thank them. Now, I need to respond to Draco. I refreshed my quill with ink and started writing 'Draco. I understand how difficult it is for you to be a disappointment to the family. It makes you strive to be not only what they want you to be but better. You strive to impress them but let's be honest, you can never. I've come to learn that your father can never be happy. He let the darkness control him and he became dark. You can't love when you are so far into the darkness. Love is what you need. Someone who appreciates you for who you are. Run away from home if you have to. There are so many inns you can stay at, so many apartments to rent, so many places to go to. Start fresh and clear your family name. Don't make them proud. Make the people who value you proud. That is how you can repay me, Malfoy.' I sign my name and give it to the owl. I watch the owls fly away and I lay down to sleep.