The next thing I knew, Bill was shaking me awake. As soon as my eyes opened, it was like I had never shut them. I tried to get up right away and chase after them. My head was spinning, and I was unsteady. But Bill grabbed my arm. "They're gone, Kat," he said.

"No, no, no. They can't be gone- HARRY!" I screamed. "HARRY! COME BACK!"

"Here, drink this, please," he said. I refused the potion and tried to run further down the beach. I didn't get very far before I stumbled, and I found myself drinking the potion. I knew as soon as it hit my tongue that it was a calming drought. My eyes grew heavy and I took Bill's hand to get up, out of the sand. He walked me into the house, and I didn't feel like I could say no. At that point, all I wanted was my bed. Blinking required so much effort...

I found myself in a daze, but in my bed. I couldn't remember how I got there, but I did. I stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, but it started spinning and confusing me, so I just closed my eyes and buried my face in the pillows. It did not take long for me to fall asleep.

~.~

"Kat?" Fleur asked softly, stirring me from my sleep.

I blinked a few times, trying to get a grip on reality. They were gone. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left, and I was left here. I sighed as everything came back to me. The goodbye kiss, Hermione stunning me, Bill making me drink a calming draught.

"Yeah?" I asked, my voice raspy. I coughed a few times.

"We have visitors, would you like to come down?" she asked. But I could tell it was not really a question. They wanted me to get out of my room and be a little social. Maybe they were trying to distract me from everything that had happened today.

I figured it was just Remus, and maybe Tonks and the baby. "Yeah, sure," I said. "Just give me a second to get dressed..."

She shut my door and let me be. I changed out of the pajamas I was still wearing, before going downstairs. I tried to listen to the voices as I went down the stairs, and it didn't sound like Remus and Tonks. As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I was attacked with a hug. "Oh, Kat!"

"Adam?" I asked, in disbelief. He let go of me, and I got to look at him fully. He looked so much older than he had the last time I saw him. His hair was a bit scraggly and he had a beard and he just looked grown up. "Oh my god..."

I buried my face in his neck and did not want to let go. I still couldn't believe it. My brain was too busy to come up with words, so I just held tight to him. How did he get here? Where had he been these past few months? Was he okay?

"You're okay!" he said. "I've been so worried about you."

"I'm fine," I said. "Completely, totally, fine."

It was then that I became aware of how many people were in the room with us. Adam was not our only visitor. Ron's mum and his twin brothers were there as well, watching the interaction between Adam and I. It made me feel really awkward.

"Hello," I said, to all of them. Unsure how to proceed, I took a few steps away from Adam. I knew they would want to hear all about things with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Perhaps they would even be angry at me for staying here, or not stopping them.

"I've made supper!" Fleur said, directing us all into the kitchen. Of course she had made supper. It seemed like meals were the way these people socialized. Coming from such a divided family, I only ate meals like this with other people on holidays. I had more large meals in the past ten days than in the past ten years.

I sat down across from Adam, wanting desperately to be alone with him and able to talk freely. I wanted to know all about where he had been and what he had been up to.

"You've been with them?" Molly asked. I could tell she had been restraining herself.

Since she asked just as I had taken a bite of food, I just nodded. All eyes were on me, and I found myself unable to meet anyone's gaze.

"Mum..." Bill said, his tone warning her. I was glad that I had Bill and Fleur. I was lucky that they were allowing me to stay here, and understanding that I didn't want to talk about things.

"Thank you," I said, quietly. "I'd been with them since August. Since they left."

"Why didn't you stop them from leaving?" I didn't know her well enough to discern her

"You don't think she tried?" Bill asked. "Honestly, Mum. Remus told you what happened."

I felt so strange about the fact that they had been talking about me. I knew that I was interesting to these people; a connection to those that they loved. But it was still odd to face them. "There's no stopping them," I said. "You know Harry. When he is determined, it's very hard to change his mind."

I took a sip of water as everyone looked at me. "Besides, if I had had it my way, I would have gone with them."

That set her off. She was yelling so loud and speaking so quickly, I couldn't even understand her. All I knew was that suddenly I didn't want to be in the same room as her right now. Why did the simple idea of me wanting to be with my friends set her off like that?

I got up from the table and went into the living room, Adam on my heels. He helped to calm me as everyone else calmed the storm I had created in Molly Weasley. It took a while, but when things seemed to have calmed down, Adam and I went back in. I did have to eat after all.

~.~

"Let's go for a walk," I said to Adam, as soon as the meal was over. There was still enough light out to walk down the beach, or at least find somewhere to sit and talk freely. Once outside, with the fresh air and some privacy, I felt a lot better. "So how have you been?"

"How have I been?" he asked. "I'm fine, of course, there's been nothing to worry about. You, on the other hand..."

"I'm fine, Adam," I said.

"You're always fine , Kat." he sighed. "How are you really? You're incredibly thin."

"Well, we were not exactly eating from the Hogwarts kitchens out there," I reminded him. "I was in charge of food, and I did my best."

"But... I mean..." he grasped at words, but failed. He grabbed my hand and held up his own.I lined it up to his. You could see how small, how thin my hands were. I just shrugged and pulled away, stuffing my hands in my pockets.

"Well I'm here now, and you saw how Fleur is feeding me. I'll fatten up in no time."

He laughed for a second, but then got quiet. "So... what did you do... out there?"

"You know I can't tell you that," I said, sighing. I couldn't tell anyone. They might have left me behind, but I was going to keep their work safe.

"Not even a hint?" he asked. "Please?"

"Adam," I said. "No. We traveled around a lot. The night that you got attacked by Snatchers? We were camping not so far away. I heard you."

"You didn't come out to say hi?" he asked.

"No," I said. I thought back to that night and how blindly angry I had been at Harry for preventing me from going to see Adam. He had really just been keeping me safe. "I wanted to-"

"But?"

"But it wouldn't have been safe- I would have gotten dragged off by the Snatchers with you and-"

"And that isn't preferable to getting attacked by a werewolf?"

"How did you know about that?" I asked. I stopped walking down the beach and faced him, crossing my arms.

"Tonks told me," he said.

"Why's it her business?" I asked. I was so, so angry. The attack was something that I was still trying to process and I hated that I couldn't just keep it to myself until I was ready to share. I had not even yet experienced my first full moon. I would not know how I handled myself for a few more weeks. I didn't want people to think things about me that weren't true. "Why is that her news to share?"

"I mean, it's not," he said, seeming baffled by my anger. "She didn't say it loudly or anything, just to me..."

"Still!" I said. "It's not something I want everyone to know."

"Kat... it's okay," he said, trying to put a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged him off. "It's not something you should feel bad about! You should be getting help for it."

"I am FINE!" I yelled. "I'm not sure why everyone thinks I need to get help."

"It's because people care-"

"If people care, then what they can give me is space. That's what I need."

We were quiet for a minute, so I kept walking. I was angry, but only a little of this anger was directed toward Adam. Maybe if we kept walking, things would get better.

A few minutes passed, in silence from Adam, and my own attempts to take deep breaths and focus on the good of today, rather than the things that upset me. "I didn't think you would react like that," he said, quietly. "I'm sorry, Kat."

"It's okay," I said. "It's just... a lot. I'm processing a lot right now."

"I know, I know," he said, leaning in to wrap his arm around me. I appreciated the hug. "Can I see the bite...?"

"I don't see what good that will bring." I said.

"Please?"

Feeling bad for snapping at him, I let him push the back of my shirt up to look at it. It didn't hurt anymore, luckily, I just felt hyper aware of his fingers as they moved over it. "It's not... so bad..." he said, trying to make his voice sound convincing.

I turned around and looked at him, to see if he was being honest. "I don't care how it looks," I said.

"How did that even happen?" he asked. "Didn't Harry try to stop it?"

I didn't want to talk about Harry. "I got it doing something I believe in, Adam," I explained. "And there's nothing I can do to take it back. I don't really want to talk about it anymore."

"Okay," he said. He put his arm around my shoulder in what I thought was supposed to be a friendly gesture but I wasn't sure how it made me feel. We walked to the end of beach. We could have kept going, but the stone jetty was a good stopping point. Plus, it was just about to get dark out. As safe as I felt at Shell Cottage, I did not want to be out here in the dark.

"I'm really, really glad that I'm able to spend time with you... It's been a really scary few months."

"I know what you mean," I said. He was right; it was very nice to get to spend time with someone who knew me before the the war. Bill and Fleur were incredibly nice, but they only knew a fraction of me. They knew the version of me that was hurting because I was left behind, who was still trying to process the attack. I felt like there was so much more to me, but it was hidden. Adam knew that part of me. He knew the me that loved Hogsmeade and spending hours brewing potions. "I'm glad you're here."

He leaned in closer and pressed his lips against me. Immediately, I put my hands to his chest and pushed him away. All of the anger I had felt before and then some more flooded my body, and I just felt hot. Hot and angry and like I wanted to hurt him. I just stared at him for a moment, trying to think of something to say that really encompassed what I was feeling. But in the end, I decided just to run back to Shell Cottage, up to my room, and shut the door.

Author's Note: Another chapter, done! Also, I am happy to announce a VERY IMPORTANT update on my (looong neglected) blog. To get to my blog, you can visit My Website on my profile, or go to emilyherselfwrites dot w0rdpress (put a o for the 0!) dot com. There is a soundtrack to Not Alone there too! Thank you to potter-reading-coastie for your help on this chapter. Let me know what you think!