Chapter Twenty-Two: A Bet Revealed

"At least half of these don't make sense, when you're thinking rationally,'' Montague said, staring at Harry's list with a frown. They were drinking tea in the Bells' garden, along with a sober up potion for Katie, and a veritaserum reversal potion for Montague.

"You made the list," Ron said, "they were your names!"

"I was under veritaserum," Montague protested, "I said, thinking rationally. I know that can be hard for Gryffindors, but–"

"I made Victoria sponges!" Bill said enthusiastically, as he carried a giant tray onto the patio, looking like he was having the best day of his life. Isla was napping after her twenty four hour shift that had been followed by interrogating her drunk and brain damaged daughter's fake boyfriend with magical liquids.

"Thanks," Ron said eagerly, grabbing three slices for himself, Bill's eyes practically tearing up with joy. It was shocking how much Ron could still appreciate homemade cooking when his mother was Molly Weasley.

Montague looked vaguely queasy still, but took a slice to be polite, most like.

"I'm off to the rental store,'' Bill said, "do you kids need anything else before I go? more sponges? Tea? Sandwiches? I can whip up a goat cheese salad Katie, I know how you like those."

"A rental store?" Montague said blankly, taking the tiniest bite of Victoria sponge he could. "Wow, this is amazing! I want to vomit and I am still enjoying this!"

"Stunning,'' Ron said, mouth full, the first two Victoria sponges already murdered and being dissolved by his stomach acids.

"Dad, don't we already own Star Wars?" Katie sighed, "in multiple formats and editions, in fact?"

"But we need The Wizard of Oz!" Bill said,"can you imagine, watching wizards watch it Katie?"

"That will be funny," Harry admitted, "can I invite Ginny? She'll like that Glinda's got red hair."

"The more the merrier!" Bill said with genuine enthusiasm, "Graham, invite your brothers! Frank has been dying to see Muggle movies I'm sure!"

"Dad, he owns a television," Katie said, "er, I think."

"He does," Montague said, "well, Isadore does. His girlfriend."

"Katie, what other movies do you think would be exciting for wizards and witches?" Bill said, "Maybe Back to the Future?"

"Dad, we're going to watch The Wizard of Oz, all three Star Wars movies, and Back to the Future?" Katie asked, exasperated.

"True,'' Bill said thoughtfully, "well, I'll get a selection to choose from just in case!" He bounded off, and they heard him whistling as he left the house.

"Your parents are so nice," Montague said wistfully.

"Yeah," Harry said, looking vaguely depressed.

"Your dad is a great cook," Ron said, grabbing the tray Bill had left and eating a fourth Victoria sponge.

"He lets you eat sugar," Hermione said, looking wistful as well.

"Well don't you all get too jealous of me," Katie said, I've got a festering hole in my brain, remember?"

"Right," Montague said, eyes narrowing, "Now that you all know it's not me, let's stop wasting time." He crossed a third the names off the first page of the list, flipped the page and saw that Harry had started painstakingly writing out the name of every Quidditch player in the league, then flipped back to page one with a grimace.

"Now hang on," Harry said, "we didn't rule those on the first page out!"

"You crossed off Nott," Hermione said, "put him back on at once!"

"I'm thinking rationally now," Montague said, "it can't be the ones I've crossed out."

Harry squinted, craning his head round. "He's crossed out Nott, Hellman, Higgs, Warrington, and Flint."

"That leaves the Malfoys, the Greengrass sisters, your maybe fiance maybe not fiance Tatiana, Pansy Parkinson, Zabini, every member of your family, and every single person in the Quidditch league," Ron said, making his own notes while chewing, "helpful. Really narrows it down for us to investigate. Roughly eight hundred people or so. Thanks, Montague."

"I want an explanation why the version of you who can't lie included Nott, Higgs, Hellman, Warrington, and Flint, and the version of you who can lie is now insisting that you rationally can rule them out," Hermione said, coming through as always with the hard hitting questions.

Katie grabbed the list and studied it, then yanked the pen from Montague's hand. They accidentally touched each other for the first time in ages. It did things to her that were shameful. Katie crossed out Zabini and Tatiana's name, then added on Zacharias Smith, Cormac McLaggen, Anastasia Higgs, Didi Miller, and Zoe Simmons.

"Why are you crossing out Tatiana and Zabini?" Harry said, his head so twisted he looked like an owl. Especially with those glasses.

"Bell, you crossed out Zabini?" Montague said, also craning round. His hand had twitched when they'd touched. Katie hated herself for noticing. "I know everyone thinks he's hot, but–"

"I'm assuming that's why you added him in the first place?" Katie asked, "misplaced jealousy?"

"No," Montague said, "he's amazing at potions. His mother has been having an affair with my father for thirty years. It's possible he's actually my half brother, in fact. He's been my enemy my whole life. Why do you think Flint made sure we were never on the team together, even though Zabini is a great chaser? He knows how he has tried to kill me before."

"What?" Katie, Hermione, Harry, and Ron all said in a unified shout. Ron dropped his Victoria sponge.

"Pureblood drama is the best," Harry said under his breath.

"He tried to kill you?" Hermione repeated.

"I mean this literally now," Montague said, "not figuratively. Oh, he also might've been a Death Eater but I can't prove it. Frankie and Chris and I have been trying to get proof for ages. When we find some, I'll turn him in and you can arrest him, Potter. For Merlin's sake close your mouth Bell."

"Where's the veritaserum," Katie said, lunging for Ron's robe pocket, "I want him to repeat that under veritaserum!"

"When you say 'tried to kill you,'" Hermione said, "do you mean when you were children? Maybe an accidental push into a pond or something?"

"I mean childhood, adolescence, adulthood.." Montague said, "and I mean he's actively poisoned me before. He's actually one of my top suspects for this nonsense."

"Why do you hang out with him and act like his friend, then?" Katie asked.

"Pureblood drama," Harry said with relish, "it's better than that dramatic show you like Hermione. The Real World?"

"I don't like that show," Hermione said too fast, "I was watching it as research!"

"Research for what?'' Katie asked, fighting a laugh, glad she wasn't the only Muggle raised magical person who kept up with ridiculous Muggle trash for entertainment.

"As for Tatiana," Montague said, as Katie wrestled with Ron again, trying for the veritaserum, "I know you crossed her out because you've most likely been getting doused since school,and you assume it couldn't have been Tatiana then, right?"

"Right," Katie said reluctantly, as she gave up fighting Ron, who was surprisingly strong when you considered he was half Victoria sponge at the moment, "which should eliminate your brothers, too."

"Wishful thinking on your part," Montague said grimly, "I put Tatiana on because she's been obsessed with you since her first year."

"You've got that in common," Hermione mumbled under her breath.

"She wanted to be friends with popular people," Montague explained, after shooting Hermione a nasty look, "not Slytherin popular or pureblood popular, mind you, but real popular. Gryffindor popular."

"Er, what?" Ron said, speaking for them all, "what's Gryffindor popular?"

Montague looked round at all of their puzzled expressions like they were yanking his chain for fun.

"You're joking, right?" he asked, "you can't all be this oblivious. You just can't."

"I miss when he was under veritaserum," Harry said nostalgically.

"He still roasted me under it," Ron said, "god, these are good!" he devoured the last Victoria sponge like a ravenous pregnant woman, proving Montagaue's earlier snarky point.

"Gryffindor popular," Montague said, speaking with slow deliberation that made it clear he was mocking their stupidity, "is what you all enjoyed since you started at Hogwarts. You know, everyone at school knowing who you are, as members of the most outgoing and revered house. Most people copying your trends, listening to your favorite songs, cheering for your Quidditch team and your house for the cup, everyone trying to date you, everyone trying to befriend you–"

"He's gone round the twist," Katie said from the corner of her mouth.

"Absolutely barking," Hermione said back, "maybe Zabini has poisoned him too?"

"Did you really not notice?" Montague asked, "you really didn't see how the twins got everyone buying their products with no effort?"

"Oh, there was effort," Ron said.

"And puking," Harry said reminiscently.

"And threats," Hermione said, also reminiscently. "Remember how I said I'd write your mum, Ron?"

"All too well," Ron said, so quietly only Katie could hear. He covered by drinking a sip of tea.

"I'm sure there was effort," Montague said, clearly striving for neutral tones when talking about Fred and George, "but they became huge success as teenage businessmen in a market already occupied by Zonkos, an extremely popular joke shop business. None of you found that odd?"

"Their products are also good," Katie said, "you're overlooking that."

"How about the fact that half the girls in the school grew their hair long because of you, Spinnet, and Johnson?" Montague asked, "when the trend amongst witches had been for hair to here?" he gestured to his shoulders, "or how about the fact that every time Johnson changed her hair ten girls would show up the next day trying to copy it?"
Katie cast her mind back. Was all that true? Lots of girls had long hair in her later years, that was a fact. But so had lots of girls in the nineties. And probably most decades before. It wasn't revolutionary.

"What about the fact that the other houses wore Gryffindor shirts to matches against us?" Montague asked.

"More a sign of how much the Slytherins sucked as humans," Katie said, and the others nodded.

"I never saw a Gryffindor wearing a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff shirt when we played them," Montague said at once, "if it's all about showing how much everyone hates Slytherin."

Katie opened her mouth to argue, then shut it. Was that true as well?

"It's subtle," Montague said, "I guess if you never saw it you won't believe me. But trust me. It's real. Even the Slytherins were always talking about the Gryffindors, and it wasn't always because of rivalry. I came across Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass doing their makeup one day like Ginny Weasley. They had a picture of her and everything."

"Ginny wears makeup?" Katie said blankly. That was news.

"She used to," Hermione said, snickering, "god I would've paid money to see the pug trying to look like Ginny."

"The point is that only popular people get copied," Montague said not so patiently.

"Yes, I was so popular," Harry said, "all those times I got shunned by the whole school. Remind me, how many times was that, Hermione?"

"At least three times," Hermione said, "last I checked. And I was certainly beloved by the school, Montague."

"I'm not saying every Gryffindor got universal popularity," Montague said, "but I'm saying, you were the ones we all watched, and talked about. This pains me to admit to you all, I'm sure you understand. So Tatiana was obsessed with you, Bell, because you were popular."

"Why?" Katie asked, "she was what, a year below me? I wasn't doing anything special my second year."

"Two years behind," Montague said.

"So…the year of the chamber?" Katie said, still baffled. What the hell had she done in her third year that was so great? Not win a Quidditch cup due to a giant monster attacking Muggleborns?

"It's not what you did,'' Ron said shrewdly, "it's what he did. So what did you do to make Tatiana Prewett hate Katie, Montague?"
"Nothing," he said at once.

"I thought you said your engagement was fake, and neither of you wanted to get married," Hermione said.

"Right," Montague said, "that's true."

"So why does Tatiana hate Katie because of something you did in your fourth year?" Ron asked. Sometimes–okay, a lot of times–Ron Weasley was underestimated by the wizarding population at large, including Katie, and then he did something clever or brave and she was reminded that Ron, for all his flaws, was occasionally wildly useful. Then again, he must be clever in his own way, to be dating Hermione.

"I didn't do anything!" Montague repeated, "she'd just heard that our mothers were discussing an engagement, which is sick by the way, since she was barely twelve at the time, and she started stalking me!"

"And that made her hate me…how?" Katie asked.

"She got the wrong idea is all," Montague said, shifting around like he was lying, which he probably was, "we just had to watch you all! Flint made us!"

"Informative," Harry said, reaching for a sponge, "buggar! Ron, did you eat them all already?"

"There's probably more inside," Katie said, as Ron looked guilty, and Harry half rose out of his seat, then seemed to realize what he was doing and picked up his notes again with a sigh. Auror to the bone, Harry was.

"So she caught you stalking Katie," Hermione said, "and deduced you were in love with her?"

Katie snorted. That seemed to offend Montague even more than the tripe that Hermione had just said.

"What's so funny?" Montague snapped.

"Oh, nothing," Katie said, "I'm finding humor in sick things lately. Don't take it to heart. Or do. I don't care either way."

"So you're still mad," Montague said, "even after I apologized?"

"Lame apology," Ron said.

"I bought her tickets to Rome!" Montague said, outraged, "I got her-"

"With your money?" Ron said shrewdly.

"And the Victoria sponges grew his brain three sizes that day," Katie murmured under her breath.

"I've practically been disowned over you, Bell!" Montague said, the redness to his face indicating he knew exactly what Ron was getting at and couldn't counter it to save his life, "for real this time, not my father playing games!"

"Heavens," Ron drawled, "he might have to get a job."

"Hard for me to do," Montague said, looking Ron dead in the face, "since your brothers gave me permanent brain damage."

"Well Fred's dead, so let it go on that account," Ron said, "I mean, you've won. He's been dead since he was barely nineteen."

"You didn't answer Hermione's question," Harry said loudly, looking over his notes, clearly deciding as Katie had that Montague and Ron fist fighting in Katie's parents garden might be amusing, but was most likely a bad idea.

"Yes," Hermione said, "ahem. I said, Tatiana caught you stalking Katie, and deduced you were in love with her?"

"No," Montague said, still red, "I wasn't…I'm not a stalker!"

"That's what they all say," Ron said mistily.

"You have a stalker?" Katie asked.

"Several," Harry informed her, "we all do."

"What?" Katie said, trying to picture the deranged soul who would stalk Ron Weasley. A Cannons fan, for one, which would explain why the brain wasn't functioning right.

Someone who had a fetish for sandwiches. And gingers. Someone who liked someone funny but as dense as the wooden fence Hagrid had used to house the Blast Ended Skrewts. Someone who hated maroon with the fire of a thousand suns.

"We were all assigned a different one of you to monitor," Montague said, "by Flint. So we could learn tactics to disarm you in the matches. I got Bell, Adrian got Spinnet, Bole got Johnson, Bletchley got Potter, Malfoy got Fred Weasley, Derrick got George Weasley, and Flint stalked Wood."

"Of course he did," Katie said, picturing Flint lurking behind statues to stare at Oliver like a giant gargoyle. Flint wouldn't even fit behind any statues at Hogwarts, but he'd do it anyway, convinced his troll bulk was hidden. And maybe it would be, because Oliver was so oblivious to most things he might not even notice a half man, half troll stalking him about the school. it became less funny when she remembered drugged Katie liked to fuck Wood for fun, and maybe had more in common with Flint than she had she even fucked Oliver? Surely not in school?

"Is that why I kept seeing Bletchley in the loo that year?" Harry demanded.

"Er, what?" Montague said, recoiling.

"It was really obvious," Harry said, "everyone else was avoiding me because I was the fanged serpent of Satan or whatever that year, thanks Gryffindor popularity, and then Bletchley would pop up in the loo staring at me without blinking."

"He kept staring at your willy!" Ron said, pointing at Harry in remembrance, "I forgot about that!"

"Me too," Harry groaned, twitching, "god that was weird. Thanks for clearing that ten year old mystery up, Montague."

"Why did he have to stare at your penis?" Katie asked, bewildered, "how did that help him beat us at Quidditch?" They all turned to Montague, who looked appalled.

"Don't ask me," he said, "I was unaware Bletchley was staring at your dick while you peed, Potter."

"Noted," Harry said, shuddering.

"So you followed me around, third year?" Katie said, realizing there was something else she should be focusing on more, but who could blame her? Was there not one boy on the Slytherin Quidditch team who wasn't an abject freak?

"That's also known," Hermione said, "as stalking."

"I wasn't…I didn't enjoy it!" Montague said, "it was part of Flint's orders! We all had to follow his orders!"

Katie cast her mind back, or what was left of her swiss cheese memory. She hadn't really seen Montague more or less that year, had she? Sure, every year her third year on Montague had seemed to pop up at annoying times to tease her and torment her and call her Katie Long Legs and sometimes grab her brad and wrap it around his hand and yank on it and–

"What's wrong with you?" Ron asked Katie, "you look all pale all of a sudden."

"I need to lay down," she blurted, "it must be the potion. I'm feeling weak."

"Yeah okay," Harry said, lunging to his feet, "let me check your room."

"You already did earlier,'" Katie protested, but it was without heat.

"Are you okay?" Montague asked, standing, hovering like he was going to sweep her into his arms or some such nonsense, if they didn't have witnesses. That made Katie feel twice as ill. No. She had to be wrong. She had to be. She waved him away.

"Fine," she said, "I just need…a rest." She avoided eye contact. How could she have been so blind? Everyone had told her. Even Montague had told her, hadn't he? And she'd just kept dismissing it all, as stubborn as all Gryffindors were known to be, shoving aside all evidence because it didn't fit her narrative, her worldview.

Harry walked by her solicitously, understanding her enough to know if he tried to carry her she'd punch him in the shoulder, even as sick as she currently felt.

"You look like you had an epiphany," Harry said, as they made their way to her bedroom, past a few of Bill's Egyptian statues. "Care to share?"

"Not right now," Katie said.

Harry cast a spell on her bedroom door, and it glowed pink for a second.

"I don't think anyone has broken in and hexed my room in the last hour since you checked," Katie quipped. Her heart wasn't in it though. What had she done to deserve such kind friends? What had she ever done for Harry? She'd not been one of the people standing valiantly by his side in his first year when McGonagall had taken a hundred and fifty points from him, Hermione, and Neville and moved Gryffindor to last place for the house cup. She'd not been one of the people arguing loudly that he wasn't the Heir of Slytherin. She had stuck by him when he'd been chosen for the Triwizard Tournament, and she had joined the DA and fought in the battle with him. Maybe those counted. She'd grown as a person. Allegedly.

Harry pushed the door open, wand still out like Tatiana Prewwett was crouched behind the door like a hobgoblin, ready to shove a potion down Katie's throat that would turn her into a swiss cheese brained slut so Montague would never want to marry her. Joke was on Tatiana. of course Montague had never wanted to marry–Katie's guts twisted unpleasant. Fuck. The joke was on her, not Tatiana.

"Maybe you should tell me your revelation," Harry said, his eyes alighting on the puppies and rainbows and the Wood shrine she still hadn't removed, "in case it's relevant to the case."

"Oh," Katie said, "sure, why not? I have zero dignity now." She flopped onto the bed. An Oliver winked at her. "I realize I was a total moron and Montague's been flirting with me since my third year, just like everyone with a brain tried to tell me."

"You…didn't realize that before..?'' Harry asked delicately.

"I knew he was trying to fuck me," Katie clarified, "I mean, he admitted that even. But he went to great lengths to make it clear to me that's all it was. He even humiliated me for thinking otherwise!" She remembered the incident where she'd drunkenly revealed that all it would've taken Montague in school to date her was smiles, politeness, and flowers and stupid things like that, and he'd laughed at her. What the hell was wrong with him? She thought she knew. But she had been wrong.

"That's not all it was," Harry said, "oh, Katie. You just realized this? After everything?"

"I'm sorry, was I supposed to think he cherished a long harbored, long hidden...whatever it is, when he treated me like dirt? When he did everything possible to show and tell me that all I Had ever been to him was a distraction? A sexual object?"

"Most of his actions said otherwise," Harry said, "the way he looks at you says otherwise. I really thought you'd gotten it by now."

"It was just a crush," Katie said,"why did he have a crush? Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was a sexual thing only."

"You are wrong, and not the way you think," Harry said.

"Meaning?" Katie asked.

"You still don't get it," Harry said gently, "Montague's clearly in love with you, Katie."

"He's engaged," Katie said, outraged, feeling strength returning, sitting up, "I just meant he had a crush in school, is all!"

A horrible memory jabbed into her brain out of nowhere. Fifth year. The Quidditch house cup had been called off that year, because of the Triwizard Tournament. Barely anyone had cared, aside from the Quidditch players. She'd been flying alone on the pitch to practice that first week back, to clear her head. Montague had been there, alone. Katie hadn't seen him until she'd dismounted, but she walked to the Gryffindor locker room, expecting a vicious jab about her spider legs, or her shitty playing, or her Muggleness, or anything typical from a Slytherin Quidditch player.

"Great flying today," Montague said, "you've really improved your shovel passes."

Katie walked faster, which worked on shorter guys, but Montague kept pace.

"How can you tell?" she asked, "I wasn't passing to anyone real." She'd bewitched a bludger to act as a stand in player. It had helped…a the charm wore off and the bludger whacked her in the head.

"I can practice with you next time," Montague said, and Katie scowled.

"Why, so you can sabotage me for next year?" She asked. It sounded so dismal. Next year. A whole bloody year wasted on this stupid tournament!

"No, so we can both keep our skills up," Montague said, "fuck, you are stupid sometimes, Bell."

"Whereas you're stupid all the time," Katie retorted.

"You can't keep your grip when you do a sloth grip roll," Montague shot back, "you're going to slide off your broom one day and fall."

"That's because of my upper body strength," Katie said, stung, "Oliver gave me exercises to work on it."

"No, it's because your grip is poor," Montague said, reaching for her broom, but Katie yanked it away. "Bell, like I want to steal a Comet 260 when I've got a Nimbus 2001!"

"Only because Lucius Malfoy bought it for you as a bribe," Katie snapped.

Montague snickered. She'd never heard him laugh, when it wasn't directed at her.

"That did hurt Flint," he said, "he tried to get his father to buy them insead so we didn't have to take on Malfoy. But…" he shrugged. "Come on Bell, I'm trying to help!" He yanked her broom away, "you're holding it like this, right?"

"So?" Katie said, "that's what I was taught."

"Well Wood taught you wrong," Montague said bluntly, "you should hold it like this." He rotated his hands slightly, gripping more with his thumbs. "Then you won't fall off one day."

"Why do you care?" Katie asked, "me falling to my death mid match would considerably help the Slytherin chances of winning, wouldn't it? You'd still lose, of course, but it would be closer."

"I don't want you falling all over me again," Montague said, "like last year."

"When you grabbed my head and almost flipped me off my broom?" Katie snarled.

"Yeah," Montague said, "it's a typical move used in the league, don't get all upset. How was I supposed to know that you had a shite hold when you roll on your broom? I'm fixing it now, aren't I?"

"My hero," Katie said sourly.

"I'm a Slytherin," Montague said, "I'm not a hero." He grinned, like he was proud of it.

"Pity," Katie said, "I like heroes, not villains."

Montague's grin, which Katie hadn't noticed at the time was quite attractive, slid off his face at once.

"Your hero Wood taught you a grip that could get you killed, or seriously injured," he said in a clipped tone. "This evil Slytherin taught you the right way."

"My gratitude is immense," Katie said, making a mental note to never change her broom grip, "give me back my broom now."

Montague hesitated briefly. "Want to fly tomorrow?" he asked, "or later this week? Just to keep up for next year, mind. I need someone good to practice against."

"I'd rather shove a porcupine up my arse," Katie said brutally, yanking her broom back.

"I could arrange that," Montague sneered, "would give us all a laugh."

"Not as good of a laugh as seeing you lose next year," Katie said. They had finally reached the Gryffindor locker room.

"We'll flatten you," Montague said, "without Wood, you're nothing."

"What, the guy that can't teach me a proper grip?" Katie mocked.

"Yeah," Montague said, "and that idiot is still the best strategist on your team. I'll be captain next year, and we're going to be so far ahead of you and your half-wit team you won't be able to score a single goal."

"Want to bet on it?" Katie said, her ears turning red with anger, always a sign she was about to do something foolish.

"Yeah," Montague said, "I'd love to watch you lose twice.'

"Fine," Katie said, "if I win, you–" she paused. What the hell could she do to torment Montague?

"There's that quick Gryffindor wit that will beat us," Montague sneered.

"If I win, you can kiss my feet," Katie said triumphantly. There. That would humiliate Montague. A pureblood, kissing a Mudblood's feet? "They'll be sweaty, right after the match," Katie added.

Montague had a weird little smirk on his face.

"Sure," he said, "and when I win, I get to kiss your mouth."

It was so entirely the opposite of what Katie thought he was going to say her brain short circuited, and she did something twice as dumb.

"Deal," she said, holding out her hand.

"Deal," Montague said, shaking hers.

It was only later, when she'd made her way back to the Gryffindor common room and seen Ange sitting on Fred's lap and laughing, that the shock wore off. What the hell had she agreed to? She'd never kissed a boy at all, and now she might have Montague's diseased mouth on hers? And almost as disturbing…why had he even requested that of her? What game was he playing?

"It's obvious, Katie," Leanne had whispered to her in bed later that night, when she'd crawled into her friend's bed for girl talk when everyone else had fallen asleep.

"Is it?" Katie said, strange feelings coursing through her. Did Montague actually like her? No. That couldn't be true. Would she actually let him kiss her? There was a weird, naughty intrigue in kissing a Slytherin. But he was so…beefy. Katie hated beefy. Not to mention the part where he was a raging arsehole.

"Cassius Warington came to me," Leanne said, "he was pretending to be sweet, pretending to like me. He didn't mean it of course. They never do. But he worked on me for months last year, won me over."

"You didn't tell me this," Katie whispered.

"I was embarrassed," Leanne said, "because he tricked me, and he didn't even try that hard. I snogged him a few times. Maybe I let him touch me a little. But then he told me it was all a joke, all a way to get a laugh with his mates. That's what Montague is doing too."

"Of course it is," Katie said, feeling disgust more than anything. Disgust at Montague, and disgust at herself for even thinking that snogging Montague as a joke might be harmless and funny, a laugh to tell her friends.

She'd written him an owl the next day.

"Bet's off. You know why," and walked to Herbology with Leanne, wondering how she ever could've been bored enough to consider snogging a walking pile of evil muscles.

"What do you think about Steve Childers?" she asked Leanne, "do you think he'd be a good kisser?"
And they'd spent all of Herbology debating under their breaths the best boys at school to practice kissing with, Montague slowly slipping out of her mind entirely. Until she'd gone to the library the next day to get a book on creative flow charms.

"Bell," Montague snarled from her left, and Katie flinched in surprise.

"Lurk much?' she sneered to cover her embarrassment at flinching, "be quiet, or Pince will come get us."

"You know why?" Montague said, emphasizing every word at her, crossing his giant arms and glaring.

"No, I assume she's got issues," Katie said, "control issues, maybe, or perhaps she just likes yelling at students for making noise in her library." The anger growing on Montague's face was like aloe to a sunburn.

"Always with the little smart arse comments with you," he said, yanking a piece of parchment out of a robe pocket. He flashed the contents at her unnecessarily.

"Do you need help reading it?" Katie asked sweetly, "is that Slytherin education failing again? Okay, let me help. Step one, worship an evil snake man. Step two, learn how to read by the age of forty. Step three–"

"I assumed you used Wood's shitty grip roll and fell off your broom," Montague said acidly, "hitting your head and causing brain damage. Well, more brain damage. I guess it's hard to tell with a brain like yours."

"You're the one who can't read," Katie retorted, glancing around her for witnesses. Just her luck that Montague had chosen one of the most hidden nooks of the library to confront her. "though I suppose I shouldn't criticize someone for being illiterate. You can't help that no one cared enough about you to read you bedtime–"

"What do you mean, the bet is off?" Montague snarled, "we had a deal! We shook on it!"

"That's not a binding contract," Katie said, "and even if it was, I could argue we entered it under false pretenses and then I'd get out of it."

"What?"

"God it's painful explaining things to you," Katie sighed, "what do they do to you in Slytherin? a lobotomy, when you get sorted?"

"You're the one breaking deals without explanation and acting like that's reasonable," Montague snapped.

"I know what you're up to," Katie said, "and it won't work on me." She found the right book, slid it into her bag.

"Oh yeah?" Montague said, "tell me with your giant brain. What am I up to?"

Katie would let herself be set on fire before she uttered the words "tricking me into kissing you and then bragging to your mates about it." Somehow, she'd end up being the one taunted as if Montague hadn't been the one to suggest them kissing in the first place.

"Playing games," she said instead, "now get out of my way. I've got homework to do."

"What games am I playing, Bell?" Montague said, not moving aside. God he was huge. How had she even considered kissing him if she lost their bet? Disgusting.

"The same one your mate played with Leanne," Katie said, "and I don't appreciate it. Get out of my way or I'm kicking you in the balls."

Montague moved at once, whether because he knew she would actually do it or because he realized how creepy he was being blocking her in and refusing to move in a hidden corner of the library.

"I don't know what you're–"

"Figure it out," Katie tossed over her shoulder, and she'd stormed away, heart racing in rage and fear and irritation.

She thought the next time she'd see Montague he'd ignore her or go back to pulling her hair and making fun of her. She'd been wrong again.

"I had nothing to do with what Cassius did to your friend," Montague said as Katie walked out of McGonagall's office. She'd gotten detention for screaming at a group of Slytherin girls who wouldn't stop taunting her about her new notebook her parents had bought her with a picture of Nirvana on it. Well, maybe she'd gotten detention for hexing them so lion manes sprouted from their chins. McGonagall's mouth had been the tiniest of tiny lines when she'd seen the sobbing Slytherin girls, but Katie had sworn she'd thrown a shadow of a wink her way.

"What?' Katie said blankly, glancing behind her for her head of house. McGonagall had made her help grade essays, and her brain had turned to mush. The first years were really, deeply idiotic. Had she been that idiotic as a first year?

"He liked her," Montague said, "if it makes your friend feel better."

"Huh?' Katie said, rattled, glancing around. Where was everyone else? Sure, it was nine at night on a Wednesday but–

"I'm not about to attack you, why do you look like that?" Montague said, a note of hurt in his tone.

"I haven't spoken to you in ages, which thanks for that by the way," Katie said, "let's keep that trend going, and now you're stalking me outside of my detention?"

"You're never alone," Montague said, "it's a bit pathetic, really. You even go to the loo with a mate. Do you have codependency issues, Bell? We'll have to work on that."

"You are stalking me!" Katie said, "speaking of pathetic!"

"I'm not," Montague said at once, "I just wanted to talk to you alone, and it took this long to find you alone. That's your fault, not mine."

"Well that's less creepy," Katie said with an eye roll, walking towards the Gryffindor common room, Montague keeping pace beside her. "What are you on about, so we can make this short?"

"Your friend," Montague said, "the reason you called off our wager. Uh, Lynn?"

"What about Leanne?" Katie frowned, then she remembered. "Oh. You're talking about her incident with Warrington. I didn't realize his first name was so stupid. Cassius? who names you purebloods. Really."

"My name is Graham," Montague pointed out, one eyebrow quirked up like they were buddies making jokes together.

"Like I care," Katie muttered. Over her dead body would she call this idiot Graham.

"Anyway, Cassius's name is not the point, is it?" Montague said, "the point is–"

"He liked her?" Katie said, running back what Montague had said, "what does that mean?"

"Well, when two people–"

"Without your sarcastic commentary, please," Katie said. They passed the grey lady.

"Are you asking me to explain the merits of your best mate?" Montague asked, "I didn't realize you value her so little."

"I believe I said without the sarcastic commentary," Katie said, walking faster. She had three essays to write, and this idiot was still trying to embarrass her with a kiss wager? Loser.

"He thinks she's cute and wanted to kiss her," Montague said, exasperated, "she makes him laugh."
Katie cast her mind back to that conversion with Leanne. It was terrible of her to admit it, but she'd been so upset when she realized what Montague was really up to that everything Leanne had told her about Warrington hadn't penetrated her selfish skull.

"She said he'd been nice to her and was manipulating her," Katie said, "then told her it was all a joke to laugh about with you all. You think that's someone who likes her?"

"Well of course he'd say that," Montague said, waving a hand like what his sloth faced friend had done wasn't incredibly cruel, but an expected non event, "you don't think he could admit to liking a–Muggleborn, do you?"

Katie stopped dead. Montague almost ran into a suit of armor.

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?" Katie said, "are you not listening to yourself? You really think that's an acceptable–you know what? Never mind. Go away. We're going to annihilate you next year. You probably won't even be made captain. They'll give it to–to–Pucey or something."

"Well then we will lose all of our games," Montague said, "since Adrian spends most of his time planning ways to get girls."

"All that time, and all that failure," Katie sighed, "just like you, really."

Montague's ears went red.

"I don't have to try," he sneered at Katie, "my mother gets an owl every week with a proposal."

Katie opened her mouth, the next insult on her tongue. Should she call Montague a pale imitation of Flint, or a junior Ogre? Same thing, really, but–his last comment penetrated her mind.

"Uh, what?" Katie said, "isn't your mother already married? Or did your parents divorce or something?"

"Of course they haven't–it's not proposals for my mother, Bell, you absolute moron," Montague seethed, "a proposal contract for me! I'm the heir, so she gets offers all the time. Father doesn't handle them because he's busy."

Katie stared at Montague, who seemed to be under the impression that his father not handling his arranged marriage contracts himself was the part tripping Katie up. Just when she thought she understood the wizarding world, things like this happened.

"Congratulations," Katie said, "enjoy marrying Millicent Bulstrode. Am I invited to the happy event? I've got some great dresses that look like I'm going to a gothic funeral."

"If I wanted to try for a girl," Montague said, like she hadn't spoken, "I'd get her. Forget try."

"There is no try," Katie said solemnly, "only do, or do not." Idly, she wondered if she could find a house elf with a flair and passion for the theater and get him to dress up as Yoda to follow Montague around saying Star Wars quotes at him. Then she remembered that new organization Hermione had started, BARF or whatever, and realized she valued her life.

"Er, yes," Montague said, looking at her like he knew she was mocking him but couldn't figure out how.

"So what would you do to get this girl?" Katie asked, "Imperius?"

"Hahaha," Montague said, stone faced, "I'd have to barely do anything, of course. I'm rich. I'm a pureblood. I'll get the family mansion in the Cotswolds when I graduate."

"And this makes you not a cheat at Quidditch somehow?" Katie taunted, "your face changes into Cedric Diggorys? Your personality is completely different, once you move into your Cotswold mansion?"

Montague's face had joined his ears in turning red. Katie felt twice as gross that she'd accepted his request of a kiss for their bet. She hadn't planned on losing that bet of course, but the thought was still repulsive.

"You think you're so great," Montague said, "so much better than me, cause you're in Gryffindor? Cause Potter is your teammate? Because Johnson and Spinnet are your mates? I could get you. You think I couldn't? It wouldn't be hard. All I would have to do is buy you something nice. You've never gotten anything nice in your life, so–"

"Katie!" Harry said loudly, shaking her right arm. She blinked. How long had she been remembering that moment with Montague to make Harry shake her like that?

"I've lost more memories than I realized," Katie blurted.

"What?" Harry asked, "what do you mean? Is that why you went all comatose on me there?"

"I remembered something," Katie said. Nearby, a photo of Wood and Katie on her dresser seemed to mock her. How had she ever let herself fuck Oliver, even under a potion? Had it even been good? Why did part of her want to know? Why had they never done it again? How had Oliver been able to hide it from her this whole time?

"Yes?" Harry prompted.

"Fifth year," Katie said, "with Montague. I didn't remember it at all. At all, Harry! Multiple weird interactions!"

"But you remember now?" Harry frowned, "why, do you think?"

"Because I stopped taking the potion?" Katie ventured. She had been sure, quite sure that she had remembered everything between her and Montague. Anything unimportant, anyway. She didn't need to have every hair pull and insult memorized.

"Yes," Harry said slowly, "that might be it. What did you remember? Something important?"

"No," Katie said at once, a knee jerk defense. "Yes," she said grudgingly, "I suppose. It was a memory of Montague trying to…woo me in school Terribly. You know, in a Slytherin way."

Harry nodded like he understood completely. He probably did.

"Well you know what that means," Harry said.

"Flashback episode to get the information needed to defeat the villain?" Katie said gloomy.

"You know it," Harry said, "don't worry. I've got some experience in that. He held up an empty glass vial, waggling his eyebrows. "And I've got something to hold your memories."