Confrontations

Katie sighed as she finished packing up her bag. The match had gone on far longer than expected with far more injuries than expected. At the moment, all she could think about was getting home and taking a long hot shower. Or better yet, soaking in the tub with a glass of wine. Yes, that was exactly what she needed, she thought as she slung her bag over her shoulder and took one more look around the clinic to make sure she hadn't left anything undone.

Satisfied, she walked out, turning the lights off as she left, though she couldn't help but grimace as she thought about how much longer it would take her to get home. Plus the floos were on the other side of the stadium. She stopped for a moment, glancing down the hallway to the apparition point that all the players and staff used.

No, she needed to go home her regular way. That was the deal she made with herself when she moved in with Finn. No popping in and out of the flat. She started walking again, but stopped, remembering that Finn said something about having plans that night. She glanced at her watch. It was still relatively early for a Friday. She would likely still be out. Glancing down the hallway again, she sighed and turned.

"Just this once," she thought to herself. "And I'll just apparate to the alley near the house…"

She stepped up to the point and pulled her wand out, then closed her eyes, thinking of alley. But at the last second, the living room popped in her head. But it was too late. She had already disappeared.

When Katie opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of the flat, slightly terrified that she had screwed up.

Merlin, she hadn't intended to apparate here.

Taylor was sitting on the sofa in front of her wide-eyed. Katie gulped slightly. Please, for the love of all things holy, let Finn be in another room , she prayed silently.

There was the crash, telling Katie that Finn - or someone - was not in the other room and had, in fact, seen her pop up in the living room, seemingly out of thin air.

Slowly, Katie turned, seeing a pale-faced Finn staring at her, her mouth open, as two glasses of wine lay broken on the wood floor at her feet. Katie looked back at Taylor and then over at Finn. Shit. How did she explain this?

"You were… where did you… how did… what the hell," Finn managed to say, still not moving.

"I, ehm…"

"She came in while you were in the kitchen. You just didn't hear the door," Taylor said quickly, jumping to his feet.

"No. No. I clearly saw her just… pop out of thin air," Finn said, still staring at Katie. She didn't appear to be afraid, which Katie would take as a positive for now. "Is that… what the hell are you holding?" Katie looked down at her wand in her hand and then back up at Finn. "And what the hell are you wearing? Is that a robe?"

Katie opened and shut her mouth a few times, completely blanking on what she should say.

"I think… you've had a bit to drink," Taylor continued saying.

"I am not drunk, Taylor. I've had one glass," Finn shouted. "But I'm seriously wondering if something is wrong with me. Because I swear I just saw my roommate appear out of thin air in my fucking living room."

"Nothing's wrong with you," Katie finally said, taking a few steps towards.

"Katie-"

"No, I have to tell her," Katie said, looking over at Taylor. He grimaced and turned away rubbing his face.

"Tell me what?" Finn asked. Katie looked back at her and took a deep breath.

"There's something that… well, I've been keeping from you," she started.

"Haley said you were keeping secrets. I told her she was overreacting," Finn said automatically.

"Honestly, this is a secret that I have to keep from… others not like me. There's a law," Katie said. Finn frowned in confusion.

"A law?" she asked. Katie took another deep breath as she glanced over at Taylor, who was pacing. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she was at least going to come clean on her part. She looked back at Finn.

"I'm a witch," she said. Finn's mouth dropped open a moment and then she started laughing.

"A witch? I'm supposed to believe that?" she asked. "Just… tell me the truth. Are you some sort of drug addict, or, or… do you have some sort of mental health issue?" Katie frowned. This was ridiculous. Finn had literally just seen her apparate. How on earth could she think that Katie was the mad one here?

"No, I'm not mad. And I'm certainly not a drug addict. You just bloody saw me do magic," she replied sternly. She held up her wand. "This is my wand, which I use to do magic. The boarding school I told you about - it's actually a school for magic."

Finn just stared at her and then looked over at Taylor.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on here, but I suggest you tell me the truth. Now," Finn said, crossing her arms in front of her, still staunchly entrenched in the idea that magic couldn't possibly exist. Katie groaned, then waved her wand, the broken glasses fixing themselves and flying up onto the table. Finn hopped back and then looked at the ground, seeing the wine had cleaned itself up as well.

"Like I said, I'm a witch. I do magic," Katie said. Finn looked back up at her, her expression unreadable.

"Okay…" she said after some time. "You do… magic…"

"It's real," Katie said emphatically. "There's an entire magical world that people without magic don't know about. We have a government and laws. And schools and… and… everything." Finn studied her a moment.

"So… do you really work for a football team?" she asked. Katie shook her head.

"I am a medic, well, we call them mediwizards. I work for a magical professional sport team - the Magpies. The sport's called quidditch, though I really don't want to get into explaining that right now. It's a bit complicated," Katie said, knowing that she was rambling slightly.

"Do… do your parents know?" Finn asked. "Are they the same?"

"Yes, they know. My dad is a wizard. My mum is muggle, er, non-magical," Katie said. Finn nodded slowly. This was good. She seemed to be taking it in. Accepting it. And she didn't seem angry. But then Finn's eyes flicked over to Taylor.

"You knew about this," she said, pointing at him. A hurt expression came over her face as she glanced at Katie. Taylor sighed and stopped pacing.

"Yes. Because I'm a wizard too," he replied. Finn's mouth dropped open as she looked back and forth between the two.

"You mean… this whole time… you've been… and you've known…" she said.

"We couldn't tell you, Finn. Honestly, we shouldn't be telling you now," Taylor said, though a pained expression came over his face. Finn stared at the ground as her mouth dropped open. It seemed she was putting all the pieces together. She looked back up at the two.

"Wait, so… Oliver… Alicia… Angelina… all of you?" she asked. Katie took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Yea," she said.

"And, and, not one of you thought this was something I needed to know?" she asked softly. "My roommate? The guy I'm dating? My friends? My fucking best friend?"

"Like we said, Finn. There are rules. We're not supposed to tell muggles. Or do magic in front of them. It's against the law and we could get in rather large trouble," Taylor said. Finn gulped.

"So… are you going to make me do some magic potion and forget this conversation ever happened?" she asked dryly. Katie and Taylor didn't respond for a bit, just looked at each other. "Shit?! Christ?! Really?! Wait! Have you done this before to me?!"

"No," Katie said firmly, turning to look at her. "We've done no magic on you whatsoever. Er, well. So once I slipped a hangover tonic into your tea. But it was small and it really seemed to help." Finn just gaped at her.

"You put a potion? In my tea?" she accused.

"Stop it, Finn. It's meant to help. I've been putting it in your drinks or food for the last several years," Taylor admitted.

"Oh my god."

"We would never do anything to hurt you, Finn. I swear," Katie said, taking a step towards her.

"Stop. Don't come near me," Finn said, putting her hands up to stop Katie. She then walked over and grabbed her coat and purse.

"Finn, where are you going?" Taylor asked.

"Out. To think. Don't fucking follow me," Finn said as she charged out of the flat. Katie moved to follow her, but Taylor grabbed her arm.

"Let her go. She'll be back," he said. "In the meantime… we've got to figure out what to do about this." Katie looked over at him, her eyes wide.

"You can't honestly think we should obliviate her," she replied. Taylor sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not really sure what to do, but… yea… we might have to," he replied. Katie looked towards the door, frowning.

Part of her was terrified that she had just lost something important.

"I warned you about this," Alicia said as she frowned at Katie, who was pacing around the living room.

"Yes, I know," Katie nearly shouted, shooting a frown at her. Alicia then turned to Taylor, taking a deep breath and opening her mouth to speak. "Don't even rail into him. I was the idiot who apparated into the flat. He was trying to cover for me."

"Perhaps it's good that Finn knows," Angelina said tentatively.

"How is this a good thing?!" Alicia shouted. "Do you know how much trouble we could all get into? There are reasons why we're not supposed to tell!"

"But… there's more muggleborn nowadays. And more people are marrying muggles, so things are changing. Not to mention, there are already so many people with magic in Finn's life. She was going to find out sooner or later," Angelina continued. "Especially if she continued to date Oliver."

"The only reason there are so many people with magic around her is because Katie decided she had to live in a muggle neighborhood with a muggle flatmate," Alicia replied, a stern gaze fixed on the pacing blonde.

"Look, there's no point placing blame at this point," Taylor said loudly before the three women launched into a drawn out argument. "Finn knows. And I tend to agree with Angelina - it was likely a matter of time. Regardless of how things went with Oliver."

"Oh, so you were going to let her in on the big secret?" Alicia scoffed.

"Been thinking about it, yes," Taylor confessed. Katie stopped pacing and looked over at him, her eyebrows raised. "We've been best friends since uni. We're close. I know everything about her and she knows pretty much everything about me - save magic. It… didn't feel right…"

"You've all gone mad," Alicia replied. "It's obvious what we have to do. You have to obliviate her. And then you've got to move out, Kates." Katie frowned as a heavy silence filled the flat. "You messed up this time, who's to say it doesn't happen again? How many times do you think you'll have to obliviate her?"

"But… what about Oliver?" Katie asked, trying not to think about the idea of moving out. Not when she finally felt like she found a home.

"Obviously, they can't keep seeing each other," Alicia replied, though even she had a worried look on her face. "I don't like it - I know how he fancies her - but… he's honestly worse than you with keeping secrets… At least this one..."

More strained silence filled the flat.

"That's if she even speaks to us again," Angelina said. "You said she was fairly angry…" Katie looked over at Taylor. He rubbed his face and sighed.

"I honestly don't know what to do in this situation, but… if we're going to obliviate her… it needs to be done soon. The less we have to erase, the better," he admitted. "But I really don't like the idea of messing with her memories…"

"You think we should?" Katie asked softly. She didn't like that idea at all, but she wasn't sure if they had any other option.

"Maybe? Could be easier for her," he said. He then pushed up off the sofa and walked over to his coat.

"Where are you going?" Alicia shouted.

"To find Finn. And hope she hasn't already called Haley and spilled everything to her," he said before walking out. Katie groaned and continued pacing. She hadn't even begun to think about that possibility.

"This is a fucking mess…"

Finn sat at the bar, frowning at her half-empty glass. This was… insane. She had wandered around a bit, trying to come to terms with what she had just learned and then found herself walking into the pub without realizing. She was currently working on her third drink and still had no idea what to make of it.

She nearly called Haley to meet her, but decided against that. First of all, she could be rather smug when she was right about something and Finn wasn't a huge fan of smug Haley. Secondly, Finn thought there was no way she was going to believe her anyway. And she couldn't help but remember what Taylor and Katie had said about some law against people knowing about magic.

Finn snorted to herself. Magic. It was real. Go figure.

Shaking her head, she brought the glass up to her lips. As if her life couldn't get even more complicated.

"Well you didn't get very far," a familiar voice said. Finn sat up and swiveled around in her chair, seeing Taylor walking up to her.

"How did you find me?" she asked, the question carrying more weight than what she actually said.

"You're in a pub we've been to about a hundred times that's literally two blocks down from the flat," he replied, sliding into the chair next to her. "Doesn't take magic to figure you'd likely be here."

"Oh," Finn said, turning back to face the bar. Taylor waved down a bartender and ordered a drink of his own.

"So… take it you have loads of questions," he said lightly. Finn huffed slightly.

"You think?" she asked, not looking at him.

"I'm here to answer them all," he said.

"Why? So you can just make me forget later," Finn replied, though she tried to discreetly move her glass away from him. Taylor rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to do anything like that in public, please Finn," he replied. "Besides, it's not a potion. Though suppose there are potions that can do that…"

Finn glanced at him, then returned to staring down at her glass.

"So… you really kept this from me for so long because of some law?" she asked. Taylor sighed.

"The only time it's really broken is when someone like us marries someone non-magical and they have magical children - which they normally always do. Or in my case, when two non-magical people have a magical child," he said. Finn turned to look at him, her eyes wide.

"You mean… your parents…"

"Yea, had no idea. And then strange things started happening when I was kid. Objects would fly off the shelves. Dishes would randomly break. They thought our house was possessed or something until the Ministry of Magic sent someone to tell them it was actually me," he replied, a wry smile on his face. "Still took them a bit longer to come to terms with it… they thought I was possessed for a time."

"God, Taylor," Finn said softly.

"Oh, it wasn't so bad. The Ministry, they're prepared for things like that. It didn't take too long for them to come around," he replied. "But… there's a reason they have that law. It was passed back during the Salem Witch Trials and all." Finn's eyes widened.

"Oh… right," she replied.

"I didn't like keeping it from you. Katie either. I've had a bit longer keeping the secret, but… it tore us both up," he said. Finn frowned as she stared down at her glass. "Oliver as well. Think he struggled the most. At least Katie and I have experience in the muggle world. Oliver's parents are both magical… he hasn't really spent much time at all around muggles."

"Muggles… non-magical people," Finn murmured. Taylor turned to face her.

"Please, try to understand, Finn. We didn't want to keep it from you. It had nothing to do with you specifically," he said. Finn nodded slowly.

"I mean, yea, I guess I get it… just… you're one of my best friends. And I thought Katie was quickly becoming another. You know I don't make friends that easily," Finn said, still not looking at him. "And then I find out you all are keeping a pretty big part of your lives from me…"

"Finn… everything we've talked about over the years, everything between us - that's real. That's the truth. Just… we had to leave a few things out. Twist some things. But our relationships with you - that's all true," Taylor said. Finn finally turned to look at him.

"Do you really work in finance?" she asked suddenly.

"No. Ancient Runes. It's… similar to hieroglyphics, but primarily ancient magic," he said. "I translate and study ancient spells and try to find ways to translate or incorporate them into modern-day magic." Finn just blinked a few times.

"Okay… and Katie…"

"Works in quidditch - a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. She was really good in school and went on to play professionally afterwards, but got injured her first season and decided to go into healing instead," he said. "Which is what we call wizarding medicine." Finn nodded slowly.

"Everything she said about her ex?" Finn next asked.

"All true, though… that's probably a conversation you should have with her," Taylor replied. "But Roger… he's one of the more famous quidditch players." Finn took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Take it Oliver…"

"Yea, quidditch too. He's actually one of the top keepers in the League. More famous than Roger," Taylor said. He then chuckled as Finn gaped at him. "So many witches would be jealous if they knew you had landed the famous Oliver Wood as a boyfriend."

"N-not my boyfriend," Finn shot back with a stutter. "Or, well… it's only been a few dates… I…" She stopped speaking and just massaged her temples. "This is a lot, Taylor."

"I know," he replied softly.

"And… you're just going to make me forget it all later anyway," she continued. Taylor was silent. She looked over at him. "Aren't you?"

"I don't know. We should. But none of us really want to. Well, maybe Alicia, but I think that's because she's worried about getting in trouble with the Ministry - not because she has anything against you," he said. "But… we're all adults and no one has had the trace on them since they were 16… I'm sure the Ministry wouldn't have to find out…" Finn just blinked, once again not following him. Trace? The Ministry?

She then turned back to face the bar, picking up her glass again.

"Don't be angry with Katie," he said. "She's been wanting to tell you… I encouraged her not to. If anything, be angry with me. I have kept this secret for far longer than she has." Finn huffed as she laughed shortly.

"Coming to your girlfriend's rescue, eh?" she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Dunno if I'd call her my girlfriend," Taylor replied, suddenly appearing rather nervous. "We haven't been on a date or anything." A small smile flinted across her face, but just as quickly, it was gone.

"This is… it's just a lot," Finn admitted. "I just… need some time to process."

"Of course, I get it," Taylor said, starting to slide off the stool.

"I mean… you can stay while I process… just… let me think?" Finn said quickly. Taylor smiled as he nodded and sat back down. "And drinks are on you tonight." He chuckled.

"Of course…"

Here we are at the big reveal! I honestly had a hard time coming up with a believable way that Finn would discover magic other than someone outright telling her. Had to be some sort of big magic done in a situation where it couldn't be explained away. So this is what I came up with.

cameron1812 – Your wish is my command!

Thanks everyone for reading and following!