An A.U btvs/hp fic about everyone's favourite Gryffindor chaser Katie Bell as you've never seen her before! (okay that's a lie there is probably hundreds … well maybe twenty that has her with this attitude; girl power and stuff!)
This is my first ever fic so I apologise if its not very good but if I don't get this story out of my head I'm going to go mad! Constructive criticism is accepted but all flames will be returned tenfold like the fiery pits of hell! (sorry got carried away)
Okay for plot purposes:
In hp Katie is in 6th year (with Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina and Lee), Oliver is in 7th, as far as the books go I am basically ignoring them! (I think)
Btvs up to the end of season 6, but Joyce isn't dead and neither is Tara but Willow did go evil cause she thought Tara was dead and Xander saved the World, Spike doesn't have a soul but he and Buffy are dating. Joyce and Giles are married
A/N Because I was only born in the 1980's and that's when Katie supposedly started Hogwart's (according to Harry Potter Lexicon) I'm going to pretend that they have everything that we do (ha! Take that FA) plus I don't like the 80's fashion sense!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing (except for a Beefcake Boys 2003 calendar, a pencil, a chocolate button and a pair of shoes) and bow down to the awesome genius ness that is the minds of J. K. Rowling and Joss Whedon
Chapter 1: Oh joy (fake enthusiasm) its term time, again!
This would not do, Katie Bell had just walked onto the platform 9 ¾ for the Hogwarts express and already the incessant noise, the chattering of children, various screeches from animals and the consistent blubbering of mothers was really starting to piss her off!
One particular child caught her attention, well perhaps it was the voluminous amounts of neon pink spotted robes next to the child that caught her eye anyway, it was a squat skinny little thing with the blackest hair she'd ever seen and it appeared to be trying to escape the be handkerchiefed clutches of its wailing mother "Oh Farquar you will be careful at school won't you no playing that rough Quidditch" this was accompanied by the wagging of a sausage like finger in the child's face "blah, blah, blah and remember to eat your vegetables" The reluctant child was then embraced and the mother opened her jowled cheeks to say something that Katie was sure was going to be totally ignored by the child but then the woman looked up directly at Katie, gasped and ushered the boy behind her horrendous bulk. In response Katie stuck out her tongue providing a view of the silver bar that ran through it. Another huff of outrage and the woman swept the child further down the platform mumbling about "the disgraceful appearance of the older students" and promising to "have a word with the headmaster, because its an outrage" Or some such rot.
'Geez' Katie thought 'haven't had a reaction like that for say ten minutes' By now though she was used to it, it was all due to her new image thanks to a potion her once mousy blond hair was now jet black and reached down to the middle of her back and thank Merlin the woman hadn't seen what Katie was wearing under her jacket, a deep purple satin corset that clung very nicely to her figure along with a calf length black skirt, blue and black stripy knee socks and midnight blue dock martins completed the outfit, and a black and silver dog collar fastened around her neck. Surprisingly she was wearing make-up but not very much though, black eyeliner and dark blood red lipstick. Katie was quite proud of her new image, she thought it fitted her new situation and depressed outlook on life.
Katie came back from her musings with a hiss, thanks to all the whispering about who she could possibly be. Upon hearing a comment from Lavender Brown, a girl from her own house conversing with a Hufflepuff, Katie had to choke back a laugh "I wonder who she is"
"Yes I've never seen her before".
'Merlin what is it with these people, you change a couple of things about yourself and no one recognises you" Resigning herself to a rather quiet fate, that she had to admit she was looking forward to, Katie loaded her trunk onto the train and went to find an empty compartment in which to await her friends, because surely they would recognise her, right?
Katie soon settled into the second from last compartment at the end of the train and took off her coat. Removed her enchanted muggle walkman from her deceptively small bag, that also contained her robes, put the head phones in her ears and let the sounds of Stone sours song Bother wash over her, and remembered the summer that caused life as she new it to go to hell.
Wish I was to dead to cryMy self-affliction fades
Stones to throw at my creator
Masochist to which I cater
It all started when Katie came back from Hogwarts for the summer, she should have realised that something was wrong when nobody was there to pick her up.
The train pulled slowly up to the platform full of smiling parents and children herded on mass trying to all get out of the small train doors at once. The atmosphere in the compartment where Katie sat with her Gryffindor year mates Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia and Lee was a mellow one when they had left school but then the twins had been reminiscing about the pranks they had played over the year including an especially good one involving Percy Weasely, Penelope Clearwater, a broom closet, the 'Alohmora!' charm and Professor McGonagall, there happy mood had become contagious and they were all engrossed in thinking up pranks for next term until they arrived at Kings Cross.
"Well, see you all in September!" said Katie walking towards the door only to find herself falling to the floor of the compartment under an onslaught of bodies, in what was supposed to be a group hug but felt more like a group crush to Katie who happened to be at the bottom of the pile. "ann oomph gef uf eee!"
"Katiebell …"
"What did you say?"
"I think she said 'can you get off me,'" stated Alicia
"Oh right, sorry!" said George pulling Katie from the bottom of the pile
"Hey! What about us!" exclaimed Lee from the tangle of bodies
"Nar! You lot can stay there while I hug Katiebell!"
"That's not fair!" said Fred he was about to continue when the door slid open and the gruff voice of Marcus Flint said, "Who would of thought the prissy little Gryffindors having an orgy!" he and his companions, the Slytherin Quidditch team laughed.
"Well …" started George the light of battle in his eyes only to be interrupted by Katie saying in a sultry voice
"Gee Flint I don't know how many orgies you have been to but in my experience they usually involve a lot less clothes… and a lot more fun!"
The Slytherins stopped laughing and everyone including the now untangled Gryffindors on the floor turned to look at her. Katie Bell never spoke like that!
"What!" she exclaimed looking at the shocked faces " oh come on I'm sure even Crabbe and Goyle realise that you have to be at least half naked to have an orgy!"
Katie was saved from further explanation by Prefect Percy Weasley, of Perfect Prefect Percy, as he was known to the friends of Fred and George, shouting at them "Fred, George, hurry up mums waiting!"
"Go on mummy's boys!" sneered Flint as he stepped out of the door way to allow the ladies to pass "Oh and Bell" she turned to look at him "have a nice summer" then the scariest thing happened, Marcus Flint smiled at her, at least she thought it was a smile, with teeth like that you never could tell!
That was it; the reason for her bad summer, Flint the big git had jinxed it!
Katie said goodbye to the Weasely's, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee with promises of letters and visits. The platform was rapidly emptying and there was no sign of Mr or Mrs Bell. 'Perhaps they are stuck in traffic' she thought. An hour and a half later and Katie was still sitting on her trunk waiting for her parents, deciding enough was enough Katie got up, pushed her trunk through the barrier and hailed a muggle taxi cab, using her emergency money to pay for it. All the way home she wondered what could have been so important that neither one of her parents had come to pick her up?
You don't need to bother
I don't need to be
I'll keep slipping farther
Once I hold on I won't let go till it bleeds
Katie arrived at 24 Primrose Vale, South London, a normal looking muggle estate, to find no cars in the drive. She thanked the taxi driver and paid him trying to ignore the wary stare he gave her owl Loki, and silently wished she had bought a cat instead because they looked less inconspicuous. Dragging the case up to the door, she was just about to put her key in the lock when the door creaked open 'This isn't right'.
Stepping into the hallway Katie found it to be completely empty, no furniture in sight.
Dropping her trunk on the floor, Katie ran through the downstairs rooms only to find them in the same state as the hall empty of furniture and people, the amount of dust laying on the shelves was a clear sign that it had been like that for a while 'Where the hell could they be?" by this time Katie was becoming quite worried, her mother was a muggle, could death eaters have kidnapped the family but then a little voice said "Don't be stupid what would death eaters want with cheap muggle furniture?" A thought occurred to Katie what about her stuff? Racing upstairs past the now bare rooms that once contained her parents bedroom, her brother Elvis's and sister Casey's bedroom she finally reached her own to find her clothes torn up beyond wearable and in a heap, the furniture was all gone as was the TV and her vast film collection, thank god Hermione had enchanted her walkman for her last year so her C.D collection was in her trunk. A small crate in the middle of the room caught her attention; in it were the less valuable items, money wise anyway, such as her stuffed teddy that reminded her of her childhood, a bulky letter sat on the top it was addressed to her: Katherine Eloise Bell in the flowing script of her father with shaky hands she picked it up and broke the seal.
Katherine
"What no dear Katie? She thought sarcastically"As you now know we have moved, "well duh, never would have guessed that!" the Bell family has gone into hiding and the house is up for sale and the new owners will be moving in the day after you return from school. The enclosed documents will inform you of why you we not required to accompany us, in case you never noticed my dear, even someone of your lack of intelligence would have noticed that you bare neither resemblance to myself or your mother and that is because we are not your parents. "What the bloody hell!" In all honesty it was entirely Miriam's fault she read about the poor orphaned baby girl at St. Mungo's, who's mother had recently died and father couldn't be found, and as we had no children at the time and little prospect of having any we adopted you and promised never to tell you. Eventually Elvis and Casey came along and well my dear you became rather surplus to requirements but you were quite helpful when they were little but now due to financial incompetence on Miriam's side we now appear to be lacking in funds and have done away with anything unnecessary. You my dear fall under that category, the thorn in our sides for years, you will find all belongings that are legally yours "Things you couldn't sell you mean!" in this crate and I recommend you vacate the premises immediately.
Charles Bell
Katie slumped to the floor in disbelief. Her family had abandoned her, her own flesh and blood... No not her own flesh and blood, and that's the reason. Katie sneered. Those bloody gits! Elvis probably thought it was great, he never liked her and now he was the oldest but poor Casey how was she coping. All she wanted to do was curl up and cry but sniffing loudly she decided that she wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
Wish I was to dead to care, if indeed I cared at all
Never had a voice to protest
So you fed me shed to digest
I wish I had a reason
My flaws are open season
For this I gave up trying, one good turn deserves my dying
Where would she go? What would she do? Thoughts flew around Katie's head. Then suddenly 'the enclosed documents will inform you of why you were not required to accompany us' echoed in her head, picking up the second piece of paper Katie noted numbly that it was a birth certificate, her birth certificate with the name of her dead mother Melissa Redfoil and her father Rupert Giles.
You don't need to bother
I don't need to be
I'll keep slipping farther
Once I hold on I won't let go till it bleeds
Every time Katie thought about what she did next she cringed, obviously due to her turbulent emotional state she wasn't thinking straight running downstairs to her trunk she threw open the lid, removed some parchment, ink and a quill and set about writing to Rupert Giles her father, because what did she have to lose right, if he didn't want her that was fine, she'd handles rejection before. Her mind made up and letter finished she removed Loki from his cage and tied the letter to his leg "Take this to Rupert Giles, sorry Loki but I don't know where he lives, just do your best okay!" The little snowy owl hooted and took off through the open door, returning upstairs Katie grabbed the things from the crate and the distasteful letter and stowed them in her trunk. Then using the phone that was surprisingly still in the room and still connected Katie called a cab. She was going to stay at the Leaky Cauldron, even though she new the Weasley's would invite her to stay with them, the Burrow was cramped as it is and how could she face any of them?
Wish I'd died instead of lived, the sun he hides my face
Shelve forgotten with its memories
Diaries left with cryptic entries
Ignoring the curious stares of the various patrons Katie walked up to the bar " Good evening Tom"
"Evening Miss Bell" Tom replied taking note of Katie's cringe at the sound of Bell
Trying to sound calm Katie asked, " Do you have an free rooms?"
"Sure do, how long will you be staying?"
"I'm not sure yet"
"Here let me give you a hand with that"
"Oh thank you"
The journey up to her room was made in silence, with Katie deep in thought, no doubt any money she had in the bank had been removed by her "parents" but she had to stay somewhere, and to make money she would have to get a job. Inspiration struck "Excuse me, Tom are there any jobs going here?"
"Afraid not Miss Bell, if there were you'd have to be 18 to work behind the bar, the law I'm afraid"
"Oh, never mind then, goodnight."
Katie finally managed to get a job in a muggle boutique selling some pretty wild clothes, her work mates were very nice if a bit strange upon their first meeting, between them all they probably had every piercing known to man, it was under their influence that Katie got her tongue pierced and due to the staff discount and that fact that she liked the clothes accounted for her new dress sense. Katie was happier than she could ever remember, her new friends new that she went to a private school but didn't tease her or look at her in disgust, they said that every one needs to have a chance to rebel against conformity. Of course she never told them about what she actually did at school. The entire summer passed without her either hearing from or seeing her Hogwarts school friends but Katie didn't care, they were part of her old life
In all when a Hogwarts owl arrived with her letter of supplies for the year she was surviving quite well, at least on the surface anyway. Loki hadn't returned yet but Katie took that as a good sign, he was still looking.
Katie picked a rainy Tuesday morning (just because wizards were magic didn't mean that they all enjoyed the rain), her day off, to go shopping for her school supplies in Diagon Alley, of course her new hair colour provided her with a bit of anonymity and she managed to buy everything on her list, she was going to be a sixth year, without seeing anyone she knew. That was until she heard a familiar Scottish brogue that could only belong to one person, Oliver Wood, her supposed crush, Katie didn't understand why everybody in school thought she like him, sure he's cute and has the hot accent going on but come on Oliver Wood. If Katie Bell were going to have a crush on anyone it would be that delightfully delicious muggle actor Orlando Bloom. Surprisingly Katie's friend at work Jenna had taken her to see Pirates of the Caribbean one Friday night and now Katie was enamoured with him. Jenna had let her watch Lord of the Rings repeatedly just so they could ogle!
Biding her time Katie waited until Oliver turned to look at one of the gaggle of girls who were vying for his attention, and therefore had his back to her, before scurrying past him and his entourage to the safety of the Leaky Cauldron. Thank god he hadn't noticed her cause what Katie really needed right now was the interference of her over bearing Quidditch obsessed captain, she was quite surprised he had even noticed those girls he was with, Oliver wouldn't usually notice a girl if she was naked and dancing the hula in front of him!
You don't need to bother
I don't need to be
I'll keep slipping farther
Once I hold on I'll never live down my deceit.
A single tear made its way down Katie's cheek as the song finished, throwing her head back into the head rest in disgust she sighed and thought her life couldn't get much worse. She was not looking forward to being reunited with her friends; sure she had missed them but didn't want to face all the questions. Looking out of the window Katie saw the nervous faces of first years and wondered which ones would be in her house and had an alarming thought. Elvis was eleven now, he would be attending Hogwarts. So engrossed in her thoughts and music was Katie that she didn't notice the door of the compartment being slid open and someone stepping inside.