Chapter 5: Shine

I am glad that she's dead.

I am glad that Katie Bell is dead and gone.

She was always so bloody perfect, that it could make you puke. With her angelic blonde hair and her dark blue eyes, of course no one would notice me. Why look at me when you can fill your brain with images of her? Why talk to me when you can listen to brilliantly fabricated tales and hilarious comments and phrases that sum everything up in just an 'ever so clever' way?

She was never even arrogant. Not often, at least. I remember when I would complain about my name, she would roll her eyes and strike a fabulous pose. "There are all kind of movie stars named Madison. You know what, don't you Maddie? I would kill for Mum and Dad to have given me your name."

'Bells are Gryffindors and Ravenclaws', my mother told me, many a time. The family, pureblood mostly, had their status. And had to keep it there by instilling our family into one of these two houses. Kate was Gryffindor. I never did see until the end, how on earth she could have made it. She never made foolish decisions and thought everything through. She was amazingly intelligent. She was the perfect Bell.

I was sorted into Hufflepuff. My family chose to ignore it, the fact that I was in a lowly house. And Katie, Kate told me to be proud of it. It was always easy for her to be proud of her house. But how could I be proud of mine?

When people heard that I was a Bell, their ears perked. 'You're related to Katie Bell?' They would snigger, pointing at me. 'Your hair is black, your eyes are grey. Can you even mount a broom?'

I was always the misfit.

Frail looking Madison Bell slipped the sorting hat on to her head. It slipped over her eyes and finally rested on her nose. A wise and age-old voice came out of it; it seemed to read every thought that had ever run through her head.

Another Bell, the voice chimed, sounding disappointed. Madison felt the need to rip it to shreds. Sensible, you are, and intelligent. But how! What a nice addition to Ravenclaw house you would make. But here, you have determination. You want what you want, no talk of anyone else. Slytherin traits. You are fair, I see that, to people you care about. Madison, such violence! So many qualities, dear…I have no chouse but to put you in "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Madison ripped the tattered hat off of her head as applause came from the left most side of the room. What a filthy hat, and what a decision it had made!

From the table donned in scarlet, Maddie could clearly see her sister giving a standing encore. Her friends whistling and clapping exuberantly.

In a flash of anger, Madison strode over to the crimson wave of a table and crossed her arms over her cloak. She glared up at her sister with such hatred, hatred that is only reserved for the forgotten and the unloved.

"Oh, Maddie, isn't it wonderful?", Katie gushed, clapping her hands and bouncing up and down on her toes. "We're at the most wonderful place in the world together! Oh…I'll show you everything, Maddie! The entrance to the kitchens, how to fall asleep in Binn's Class… You'll love it, sis!"

In a flash of anger, Madison brought up her small hand and slapped her big sister soundly across the face. It was for being in Gryffindor, for being blonde, for being able to fly. For everything…

Katie looked down at her little sister, who was still glaring up at her, with a sad expression. "Oh, Madison…you will never learn, will you? You will never learn…" Ignoring the taunts from around the hall that dared her to retaliate, Katie gave her sister a look that would break anyone's heart and calmly sat down.

She was always so happy and laughing. She always had friends and that damned Weasley. And she had a career. In something that she loved to do.

I can't do any of this.

I felt no regret as I knocked on the door of the Head Coach's office and held up a bouquet of pink roses, their sickly sweet smell giving me a high that I never thought that I would ever feel. I remember telling her clearly that I wanted to wish my sister a good luck before their big game against Ireland.

I will never feel sorry for the way that I magically unlocked the door to the broom closet and did the best thing that I have ever done for myself and for others.

Dropping a solitary rose next to her broom, I waved my wand. With a manic glint in my eye, I cast a Hurling Hex on her shining new Cleansweep 17.

I gathered up the roses and threw them away after that, all but two. One that I had left by the broom and one that I had tucked into the button hole of my black cloak.

One for spite.

Hours later, before the game, Katie talked with us. Our parents, along with those damned Weasleys, the tall Johnson girl, a rather tall man with dreadlocks, and the shorter Spinnet. She gave me the biggest hug of all and promised that she would wash the dishes the next time our family got together.

Katie started in the game, and kicked off the ground with the self-confidence and assurance that I had always admired. The attitude that made you think that she could do anything. The pink rose that I had left was tucked into her hair band. She had no idea.

From the moment that she left the ground, it was apparent that something was wrong. But it wasn't until she was at least seventy feet off the ground when her broom began to wildly buck. Her Weasley, leaned over the railing and shouted for the referee and the tall Johnson screamed at the top of her lungs. Mother leaned over and started talking to the Minister of Magic frantically while Father just leaned in and squinted his eyes.

I pulled up my hood. No one could see the secretive smile, it would have ruined everything. The rose still gleamed in my button.

Attempting the steer the broom out of danger, Katie teetered precariously before the broom gave a violent flip. I remember the horrified look that she gave us right before she it happened. I gazed her straight in the eye and pulled down my hood enough for her to see my triumphant smile.

Katie fell then. Back towards earth where she belonged. She had no right to fly with the angels. She was merely human. She barely screamed. That was the most admirable thing of all.

Suddenly, around me, my family and her friends started scrambling for the exit. I stayed where I was and watched the scene unfold before me. Strangely enough, the first to reach her was an Irish girl. She couldn't have been any older than Katie and even from the high stands I could see her blonde hair.

Placing two of her fingers on my sister's neck, she screeched for a medic as the announcer told the crowd that McClose had left the air, Ireland had forfeited.

Of course, we were all bustled to St. Mungos upon the realization that my sister was still alive. We weren't there long.

The medi-witch somberly told us that she had broken a bone in her neck that couldn't be fixed. She didn't have much time. The Latin looking girl, Spinnet, punched the wall before letting out a string of colorful words to the witch. The rest of them looked too overcome with emotion.

I laughed.

We gathered into the tiny room where tears and broken hearts were abundant. I could hardly breathe for joy. My sister lay on the small bed looking more frail and hurt than I had ever seen her. A living demonstration of my mind.

George dropped into a chair on the side of her bed and grabbed her hand, while I sat demurely on the edge of the bed and patted her other fingers. Across the expanse of eerily sterile sheets, that Weasley was whispering furiously into her ear and Katie was nodding. The smallest gesture that you could ever see.

I looked away and smirked to the man in the dreadlocks. He hung back, unlike the rest.

I was brought back to my sister when she squeezed my hand and tugged hers away. Reaching delicately over to withdraw the rose from her hairband, she handed the crushed mockery to me.

"I forgive you, Maddie," Was all she whispered, before turning her face away. An air of finality was held in her features and I felt that they would be her last words to me. A sister and a traitor. The words are synonymous.

Bending over, I kissed her gently on the forehead as I placed the remnant of pink petals in my pocket. "G'night Kate." I whispered cheerfully in her ear, before heading out of the door, only to sink into an armchair that was meant for waiting. Only for waiting. When you came to this ward, there would be no good news.

Waiting for the end.

And that's what came. For Katie that is. And I helped. I was merely a cheerful servant, aiding her on her way.

Kate was always the sun and I was the moon. Katie shone all day and all night. People would bask in her presence and she would light the way for others as often as she could. No one paid any attention to me, to the moon. All of them went to sleep before they could see me shine.

I never got the chance to. I was always overshadowed by her. Always.

Now, as the sun set into the distance, the night has begun. The mighty moon rules the night with such power and such mortality that the sun could ever give.

The solemnity of the night has begun.

It is my turn to shine, my dear Kate.

G' Night.