As the weeks went by, winter melted into spring at a furious pace. Suddenly the trees were budding, flowers were blooming, and I was able to spend my free time outside, enjoying the lush Scottish countryside.
It had seemed like this year was flying by. In a week, there would be a Quidditch game. Hufflepuff was playing Gryffindor, and it was supposed to be a really good game. This year, the teams were pretty well matched. Alex Sturgeon was coming to scout, and Adam and I were both hoping it was for him. Saturday had the potential to be a perfect day. If he played well and Hufflepuff won, he would almost definitely have a job offer. At this point, that was all we could hope for.
I wanted to be there for him, so I hardly left his side the weeks before the game. I sat in the Quidditch stands in the rain to watch him practice. I did everything I could possibly do to support him.
But of course, due to something that was out of my control, really, I would screw up.
~.~
It was Wednesday afternoon, three days before the Quidditch match. I was heading from my class on the fourth floor to the Quidditch pitch, where I knew Adam would be flying. I walked quickly, not wanting to waste any time. While I walked, I fiddled with a piece of my hair that had fallen out of its holder and was starting to drive me insane.
"Kat!" someone hissed. The hallway I was in was nearly empty, so I stopped immediately. I turned around and saw Harry Potter standing in the doorway about ten paces behind me.
"Oh, hey Harry!" I called, waving to him, before quickly turning around. I was on a mission.
"No, Kat, wait!" he said, with a tone of urgency in his voice. I was a little worried. He was usually such a calm and level person around me.
"What?" I asked.
"I need your help," he said. As I took a few steps closer to him, I could see how pale and worried he looked. I realized that he was standing in the doorway to the bathroom- what was going on?
I noticed that there was blood on his hand and gulped. I couldn't help it, it was an automatic response. Whose blood was it? And where had it come from? I regretted stopping now.
With his non-bloody hand, he grabbed my arm and pulled me into the boys' bathroom. I did not want to go in there, this seemed like the start to a really bad horror movie. I dug my heels in and refused to go in any further. "What is going on?" I asked him. "I'mnotgoing in there."
"I screwed up, and I need your help," he said, panicsoevident in his voice. He pulled me just a little further, and I could see the source of the blood. Draco Malfoy lay in a pool of blood near the sinks. I couldn't help but scream. There was so much blood on the floor that I had a hard time believing he was still alive.
"What did you do to him?" I asked, turning around and looking at Harry. What kind of evil person was he? Was I next? I backed up and reached for my wand.
"It was in self defense, I promise!" he said.
"You killed him!" I said, the words getting distorted as they got caught in my throat. I kneeled down next to Draco's body and looked for a pulse.
"I didn't kill him. He's just unconscious. Don't think I'm a monster, please, you know me better than that, don't you?"
I looked up at him and he met my eyes. I could tell what he was saying was true. The Harry I knew, not well, but better than most of our peers, would not kill anyone, especially like that. Neither of us liked Draco, but if Harry had attacked him, it would have been in self defense. I lowered my wand, and started trying to heal Draco.
"What sort of spell did this?" I asked, in complete disbelief. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. This was not a run of the mill defense charm.
"I'll explain later. I don't even know what I'm going to do. I didn't mean to hurt him; I was just trying to-"
But he stopped in the middle of the sentence. I looked up, and saw why. Professor Snape stood in the doorway. We were about to get in deep trouble.
Snape did not even look at us. He rushed to Draco and began to heal him, so that no more blood was pouring out of the wounds. The silence, save for the charms Snape was using, was the most ominous thing I had ever experienced. I wanted it over with.
Once Draco was stabilized, Snape took him to the Hospital Wing. "Wait here for me," he said, before turning and leaving.
"Great," I said. "He's going to come back, and he's going to expel us. And then I will never get to have a career or-"
"I'm so sorry," he said. He leaned against the sink, his head in his hands. I could tell he had a lot more going on than I did. I was pulled out of my selfish cloud and walked over to him.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I shouldn't have pulled you in here," he said. "I just panicked. I'm sorry. I will take full responsibility of this when he comes back. You won't get in trouble."
I wondered if that was even possible. I had, after all, tried to help him instead of reporting what had happened. I should have been more persistent with not helping him after all. I hoped that everything would work out in the end. I didn't care if I would be in detention for the rest of the term, Iwouldbe at the Quidditch game on Saturday.
It felt like an eternity until Professor Snape got back. In reality, it was only twenty minutes according to my watch, but I felt like it had been much, much longer.
"Come with me," he said. I looked at Harry and gulped. It would be a long, long way to his office. And all this time, I was supposed to be on the Quidditch pitch watching Adam. I wondered if I would even see Adam play on Saturday. For the sake of our relationship, I seriously hoped so.
Once we finally made it to his office, we sat down and waited. He looked at us with his beady, dark eyes, scrutinizing us. It was the absolute worst minute of my life, as there were so many unknowns. He focused on Harry for a minute, and I saw him twitch. His hand went to his head. What was Snape doing?
He broke eye contact with Harry, and looked to me. "Miss Hammond, you will receive one detention for attempting to help Mister Potter cover up the injuries he caused to Draco Malfoy. You will serve this detention Saturday at ten in the morning."
I just blinked at him. Ten in the morning was when the Quidditch game started. "Sir, is there any chance I could serve it at an alternative time?" I asked. "Saturday's the Quidditch game."
"I'm well aware," he said. From the expression on his face, I could tell there was no way I was getting around this. "Now, I would advise you to leave before I increase it to two detentions."
I grabbed my book bag and walked out of there in a bit of a daze. I left Harry in there, but at this point, I didn't even care about him. I almost wanted him to get expelled, because I was just so upset he would drag me into the situation. I wasn't that good of a friend to him, why was this my spot? Where was Ron when he needed him?
There were tears in my eyes as I realized how upset Adam would be with me. I wouldn't be there for the most important match of his season. He always called me his good luck charm, and I wouldn't be there when he needed me the most. What good was I doing him? I was a terrible girlfriend.
I stopped in the bathroom to pull myself together, but ended up sitting in the stall to cry. What a terrible day this had turned in to. I just wanted to wake up from this terrible nightmare.
I looked down at my watch, and realized it was getting close to dinner. I wondered if Adam was worried about me. I decided not to tell him tonight. I just didn't have the strength. I washed my face with some water and decided it was time to really get control of my emotions again. If I went down there looking like I cried, Adam would know something was up.
When I was convinced I looked okay, I left the bathroom. Down the hallways, I saw Harry Potter waiting for me. "Don't you think you've caused me enough harm today?" I asked him.
"I wanted to apologize," he said.
"I don't want to hear it," I told him, brushing past him, and going downstairs. Dinner had already started, and I took my seat next to Adam.
"Hey, babe," he said, throwing an arm around me. I leaned in to the embrace. "Where were you today? I was worried."
"I've had an awful day, Adam," I told him.
"What happened?" he asked.
I just shook my head. "I don't want to talk about it," I told him. "But I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry about it," he told me. "You've been so supportive. Why don't you take the next few days off? I need my good luck charm on full power Saturday, you know?"
I looked down in my mashed potatoes, guilt seeping into my brain. "Of course," I told him, putting my head on his shoulder. "I know you'll come out of Saturday with an offer to play for a team."
We went back to the Common Room, and sat with Adam for the rest of the night. I knew I was being needy and clingy, but to be completely honest, I didn't care. When he found out that I wouldn't be at the match on Saturday, he would never forgive me. I wanted to enjoy the last few hours I had with him.
"Are you okay, Kat?" he asked, looking at me.
I nodded. "Like I said, just a terrible day," I told him.
"I love you," he whispered.
I nodded. "Love you too," I said.
"And whatever is bothering you... well, we will get through it, I promise. I'm here when you're ready to talk," he told me.
I wanted to cry again, I was feeling so guilty. It would all change, I knew, when he found out what was going to happen.
I was so screwed.
~.~
The next day during Potions, Hermione met me outside the classroom. "I'm going to work with Ron today," she told me.
That means I would have to work with Harry. I was so completely against that idea. I didn't even want to look at him right now, let alone work with him. "No,please," I begged her.
"Harry told me about what happened yesterday, and I think you two need to talk," she said.
"You're not being a very good friend right now," I hissed at her. By now, we were at our table in the classroom, though, and I couldn't do much about it.
Harry was already waiting for me at the table. I didn't even look at him.
Slughorn talked for a few minutes before giving us today's assignment. It was a simple potion, really just busy work. I was not impressed. "Look, Kat-" he started, as I began to gather the tools we would need.
"I told you already, I don't want to hear it," I said. "Now make yourself useful and go get these ingredients from the cupboard."
"Not until you hear me out," he said.
"What could you possibly have to say to me that would make this better? Because of you, I'm missing the single most important game my boyfriend has ever played in. How am I supposed to explain that to him, huh?" I asked. I took the list out of his hand and went to the supply cupboard myself.
I knew I wasn't being very nice about it, but I didn't really care at this point. The only thing that mattered to me was making sure my relationship with Adam survived the weekend.
"If you would remember, I am also serving detention on Saturday, and am also playing in the game," he said when I returned and started chopping the ingredients. I was being very jealous with my chopping today. Of course I remembered. I had heard so many times that Harry was his rival in this match, and before, hadn't really cared. Now I wanted Adam to annihilate him.
"You're seriously not helping your case," I told him.
"Right," he said, "like I was saying. I've got a really great plan. It's almost foolproof, but it's complicated. Do you want to hear me out?"
I looked him in the eyes and saw that he was being pretty honest with me. "What do I have to lose?" I wondered out loud.
"Now, that's the spirit," he said. "How familiar are you with Polyjuice Potion?"
I turned and looked at him again. "No." I said. That was very dangerous and probably illegal.
"No, listen. You come serve your detention, and I'll keep tabs on the Quidditch game. When it's over, I'll have Hermione come in and take on your identity, finishing out the shift for you, while you can sneak down to the Hufflepuff locker room and join Adam in congratulating him. He will never know you weren't in the crowd that day."
It did sound like a doable plan, though I wasn't completely sure if I was okay with it. "I'll think about it," I told him.
I thought about it for the rest of the day. I weighed the options, and from the start, I knew which one would win. But it took a little while to admit it to myself; that was for sure. I tried to tell Adam at dinner that I wouldn't be at the game, but I could just foresee how crushed he would be, or how angry he would get. It would destroy us.
So I sought out Harry after dinner. "I'll do it," I told him.
"Good," he said. It was his turn to walk away from me. I guessed I deserved it.
I would spend every free second of the next two days praying that his plan worked.
Author's Note: Thanks for all the really great reviews over the past few days. I really appreciate all the feedback and hope you will continue to let me know what you think :) Thanks to potter-reading-coastie for betaing this chapter. Thanks all!