Chapter Twenty-Nine: Caught in the Middle

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" and "The Heart of Everything: Shallow Bay" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.

Time: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship

Rating: PG-13

Katie leaned back her bed. She had no idea where her father was. She was thankful that her sisters were safe in Italy at school. She was just glad that her grandparents had agreed to pay for them to go to school aboard. It was just more weight off Katie's shoulders.

Emily was sleeping peaceful in her crib. Katie had noticed that Emily had been sleeping more since they came here.

Katie sighed. She knew that she should get up but she just wasn't ready to move right now. There was just something keeping her in bed.

Jenna was just down the hall. Katie wanted to talk to her more about Jim, but didn't want to disturb Jenna. Jenna had been through a lot over the last couple of months and Katie did not want to be the one to bring up those horrid memories. There were just some lines you didn't cross.

Emily cries filled the room.

Katie kicked back the blankets and went over to Emily's crib.

Emily looked up at Katie with big blue eyes.

Katie bent down and picked her up. "What's the matter?" she asked as if she expected an answer.

Emily wrapped her hand around Katie's and stared up at her with teary eyes.

"Daddy will come see you soon," Katie whispered. It felt strange to call Marcus "daddy." It was something Katie could get used to though.

Emily just smiled.

Katie sat down on her bed. She really did hope that Marcus did visit them soon. It had only been a couple of days, but she hadn't heard from him. She looked at her mobile on the desk. Maybe she should just call him, but she didn't want to seem to clingy.

Katie looked down at Emily. Maybe it would be wise to call him and make sure everything was okay. "What do you think?" she asked Emily.

Emily just blinked.

Katie put Emily on her hip and went over the desk. She picked up the mobile and dialled Marcus's number. Busy. Sighing, Katie sat the mobile back down. He would see that Katie could had called and call her back at some point in the day.

Katie gathered up some of Emily's toys and sat them and Emily down in the centre of the room so she could get ready for today.

As soon as Katie stepped out in the hallway, Demi's olive face appeared. "Good morning," Demi said.

"Good morning to you too," Katie said as she entered the bathroom.

Demi leaned against the doorframe. "You're stepmother is still sleeping. I wasn't sure if we should wake her or just leave her be."
Katie leaned against the sink. "I would leave her alone. She's been though a lot."
Demi nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you okay?"

"He hasn't called." Katie paused. "He said he would and he hasn't."
Demi came over to Katie and put her arms around her. "He will. He's probably just busy."
"How do you know?" Katie whispered. "Something's wrong, I just know it is."

Demi sighed. "You just have to stay positive. He will call."

Katie nodded. She wanted to believe that Demi was right, but there was a feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't had any dreams about Marcus over the past couple of weeks, but the sick just wouldn't go away.

Demi pulled back from Katie. "Are you okay?" she asked slowly.

Katie ran her hand through her hair. "Yeah, you're right."
Demi smiled and touched Katie's arm. "I'll see you in a bit for breakfast?"

"Yeah."
"Do you want to check on Emily?"
Katie nodded. "Yeah, that would be great."
Demi smiled again and disappeared.

Katie put her hands on the edge of the sink and stared into the mirror. Maybe Demi was right and Katie was looking too much into this.

Katie pulled her long blond hair back into a ponytail. She just had to believe that everything was okay.

She quickly showered and came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later.

Demi and Emily were playing in the centre of the bedroom with Haley sitting crossed legged on the bed.

Katie threw her wet towel at Haley.

Haley ducked and frowned. "That's not a nice thing to do to your sister-in-law."

Katie rolled her eyes. "It's not like you haven't done it to me before."
Demi smiled. "You know, Katie, we've never talked about your honeymoon."
Haley stood up. "Not that this again."

"It was very nice. The skiing was great. I discovered that Marcus isn't one for cross country. He's more of a track kind of person," Katie said.

Demi nodded. "Yeah, he doesn't like to get out of his comfort zone. Quidditch makes people stay close to a controlled setting."

Katie nodded. "I know. I don't understand that since it is a very uncontrolled game."

Haley sat back down. "I can handle this."

"How did you do?" Demi asked.

Katie slid down next to Emily. "I let him in the dust with cross country."

"Have you let him hear the end of it?" Haley asked.

Katie looked innocently at Haley. "Would I ever rub something like that in Marcus's face?"
Haley snorted. "Um, yeah. If it were me, I'd never let him live it down. "

Katie let out a small laugh.

Demi smiled. "Yeah, you would."

Even though Katie was enjoying her time with Demi and Haley, she could not get her silent mobile out of her head. She just knew that something was wrong. He never went this long without calling back.

She was caught in the middle of two different worlds: the one here and the one back in England. She wanted to be a part of both, but couldn't stand not being a part of both. She supposed this meant that she maybe really didn't know here place. It was a shame to admit it.

Demi rolled a ball at Emily, who grinned when she caught it. "Nathanial and I are thinking about having another child."

Katie nodded. "Marcus and I haven't really discussed that yet."

Demi looked over at Katie. "You're both young, you've got plenty of time for that."

Haley rolled her eyes.

Katie nodded. "I know, but is it something we should talk about?"

"Probably. For all you two know, you could each have different plans for the future."

Katie nodded. "I haven't heard him say for sure if he's going back to Quidditch or school."

Demi nodded. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Katie asked taken aback.

"Are you going to school?"

"Yeah, once this is all over. I just didn't feel like now was the right time."

Demi nodded.

"You could start at the local university here and get your basic classes out of the way," Haley piped in. "It's a Muggle one, but surely they aren't that different."
Katie nodded. "Teaching is pretty universal."

"That's what I thought," Haley said, grateful that they were off the baby talk.

Demi looked at Haley. "Speaking of school, aren't you supposed to be there?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "I'm going, I'm going," she muttered as she left the room.

Katie waited until Haley was out of the room before speaking. "You're sending her to a Muggle school?"
Demi shook her head. "No, there's a small wizard's school about twenty minutes away. It doesn't board, but since there is a large of number of wizards in the area, people thought it necessary."

"I see."

Demi took Emily into her lap. "You really should think about starting your schooling, that is if you are planning on staying here."
Katie looked at Emily. "I really don't know what I'm going to do."
"There's no rush."

Katie sighed. "I know, but I just don't know what to do about it."
"Nothing comes without a cost."
"I know, but I just don't know what to do."

Demi gave Katie a small smile. "It's understandable. Family always leaves us with the most difficult things in life."

"Tell me about it," Katie muttered. She got to her feet. "I probably should go and check on Jenna. Can you stay with Emily."

"Of course," Demi said.

Katie picked up her mobile and headed down the hall. Jenna's door was cracked and Katie peered in. Her stepmother was sitting on the edge of bed, staring straight ahead.

"Jenna?" Katie called in a small voice.

Jenna looked over at the door. "Katie, come in."

Katie pushed open the door and took a small step in. "Are you okay?"

Jenna patted the bed next to her. "I'm doing just fine, honey. How about yourself?"

"Good." Katie really did not want to bring the whole Marcus thing up.

Jenna's hands twitched in her lap. "I can't stop thinking about your father. He let the Death Eaters get him so I could be saved. I feel so guilty for letting them take him."

Katie turned toward her stepmother and took her hands into her own. "You didn't let them take him. He was holding them back in order to give you a chance."
Jenna blinked. "I keep telling myself that, but it doesn't make any difference. It's all so hard."

Katie nodded and gave Jenna's hands a squeeze. "Nothing is ever easy."

Jenna gave Katie a small smile. "You could say that one again."
"I don't really want to."
"I know the feeling."

The two women sat there in silence staring at the wooden wall. Katie welcomed the silence; it was much better than the screams of the dying. She closed her eyes. They would find her father and everything would be okay.

Nathaniel rushed into the room with his mobile grasped tightly in his hand. "I need you downstairs!"

Katie looked at him. He normally was the clam one of the bunch. "What's wrong?"

"Marcus is hurt."

Katie and Jenna jumped to their feet. Katie felt herself pale. She had known all day that something was wrong and this was just proving it.

"How bad?" Jenna whispered.

Nathaniel was halfway down the hall. Demi met them with an armful of clean linen. "Brad didn't say. He just said to be ready and that Mum would be here as soon as possible."
"Haley's with Emily," Demi said.

Katie nodded as she took the sheets from Demi.

"I have started getting the downstairs bedroom ready for them," Nathaniel said as they started to descend the stairs. "I just hope it's not that bad."
Katie nodded. "Me too."

She followed Nathaniel down to a smallish room. It was big by Katie's standards, but compared to the rest of the house, it was nothing.

Nathaniel motioned for Katie to spread the sheets on the bed. "Between Mum and myself, we can heal almost anything."
Katie nodded.

"Where do you want me?" Jenna asked.

Nathaniel looked around the room. "Water. There's a bathroom two doors down."

Jenna nodded and left the room.

Katie looked up at Nathaniel as she finished making the bed. "How did Brad sound?"

Nathaniel took a deep breath. "I'm going to be honest with you, he sounded panicked. I think he was talking to me and trying to calm Marcus down."
Katie just nodded. Her heart was racing. She just wanted Marcus to be okay.

A loud pop filled the room as Brad entered with Marcus's limp form in his arms.

"Lay him down him," Nathaniel said.

"He's lost a lot of blood," Brad said as laid Marcus down.

Nathaniel nodded as Jasmine stepped into the room.

All Katie could do was stare at Marcus's bloodied form, knowing that there was just too much blood.

The next chapter backtracks and switches from Marcus and Brad's point of view. Thanks for reading!