Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Seven - Silver and Opals

Wherever Dumbledore was and whatever he was doing, it did not involve more meetings with Harry. Over the next few weeks, he caught only passing glimpses of the headmaster in the hallways, and never during mealtimes. He assumed that Hermione was correct, and that Dumbledore was taking frequent trips away from the school, perhaps for days at a time. It was infuriating, thinking that he might be doing something important with the Order, plotting ways to thwart Voldemort, and keeping Harry in the dark. Hadn't Dumbledore declared that Harry would fulfill the prophecy? That he was the Chosen One? If that was true, then why wasn't he confiding more in Harry?

While his frustration grew with each passing day, there was at least one thing to look forward to. Halfway through October came their first trip to Hogsmeade for the term. Harry had worried that these trips to the wizarding village might be canceled, due to the increased security measures around the school, but to the relief of himself and his friends, the visits were scheduled to continue as planned.

He was so excited by the prospect of getting away from the castle for a few hours, he could barely sleep the night before. The morning of their trip, he woke early. He estimated that another hour would pass before Blaise would rise from his beauty sleep, and so he whiled away the time by reviewing Snape's old copy of Advanced Potion Making.

Much to his amusement, he had quickly discovered that the margins were not only filled with helpful tips on potion making, but scribbled spells, as well. Judging from the way in which the incantations had been crossed through and re-written several times, Harry had come to the conclusion that Snape had been inventing spells himself. The concept was endlessly fascinating to Harry, who was just as curious about the process of inventing new spells as he was in wand construction. He couldn't resist trying a few of the more innocent-looking incantations himself.

He had tested one on Crabbe the previous week, which had made his toenails grow at an alarming rate and sent him to the hospital wing. Goyle received a similar treatment the following day, when Harry made his tongue stick to the roof of his mouth during their Charms lesson. Snape's spells were not all jinxes, of course. Harry had found one charm, muffliato, particularly useful. It filled the ears of those around them with a sort of faint buzzing, enabling Harry, Blaise, and Draco to carry on whispered conversations in their dormitory without being overheard by Crabbe and Goyle. Harry refrained from using the spell during his shared classes with Hermione, however. He was quite certain she would not approve.

This particular morning, he pondered a spell that seemed to have given Snape particular trouble. It had been crossed through and re-written several times, until Snape had finally scribbled the word levicorpus across the bottom of the page. Next to it, in parentheses, was the annotation - (nvbl). Harry could only imagine that this abbreviation indicated a nonverbal spell, but he hadn't had much luck in conjuring those during class.

With his eyes focused on the page, and his wand still sitting at his bedside, Harry gave his wrist a lazy flick, thinking the word "levicorpus" to himself absently, and wondering what the spell might do. At the exact same moment, Blaise was yanked out of his bed. He gave a yelp of outrage and surprise, but continued to hang upside down in the air, as if an invisible hook had grabbed him by the ankle.

"Durin's Bane!" Blaise shouted, struggling against the unseen force that held him aloft, "Harry! What in the twisted mines of Khazad-dûm is going on?"

Harry had leapt from his bed at the sound of Blaise's cry, but upon seeing his friend upside down, though otherwise unharmed, he struggled to stifle his laughter. He hastily grabbed the textbook once more, turning his back so that Blaise wouldn't see his smile. He rifled through the pages until he found a note with the word "liberacorpus."

Hoping that this was in fact the counter-jinx he had been searching for, Harry grabbed his wand and took aim at Blaise. The next moment, Blaise had tumbled back onto his bed in a cursing, grumbling heap. Harry could no longer withhold his laughter, even as he tried to apologize. He was delighted that he had finally mastered a non-verbal spell, and what's more, one he could perform with or without his wand.

Blaise continued to complain as he got dressed, but once he had been fed, he was able to see the humor in the situation. He regaled Millie, Hermione, and Neville with a description of the events from his perspective as they finished their breakfasts. Millie was fascinated by the discovery of a new jinx. Though Harry found himself too busy with his Quidditch team to attend any meetings, she had obtained Dumbledore's permission to continue with a Defense Against the Dark Arts study group, and was thrilled to have a new spell to teach the Marauders. Meanwhile, Neville praised Harry for successfully mastering a non-verbal spell, a feat he had yet to accomplish himself. Only Hermione was not as impressed by Harry's progress as he would have wished.

"You're very lucky you were able to find the counter-curse," she remarked, poking at her food while avoiding Harry's eye.

"Yeah, I was," said Harry, hoping that if he agreed with her it would avoid another argument. "Imagine if I'd had to ask Snape for help! Blaise might still be hanging upside down..."

"Maybe you should've told him," Hermione muttered. "I doubt he would let you keep the book if he knew what you were doing with it..."

"Oh, knock it off, Granger," said Blaise, rolling his eyes. "It was just a laugh! See? I'm totally fine. Though I would like to give it a go on Crabbe or Goyle..."

"I don't think you should be trying the spells at all!" Hermione snapped.

"We've been over this, Hermione," Harry said with a sigh, "The book used to belong to Snape…"

"When he was a student!"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"These are his handwritten notes, Harry! I doubt any of those spells are Ministry-approved. And yet here you are, talking about teaching them to the Marauders, without even knowing what they do…"

"That was Millie's idea!"

"Do not drag me into this!" Millie interrupted. She had been saying this a lot, recently.

The damage was already done. Hermione was no longer avoiding Harry's eye. She was positively glaring at him from across the table as she announced, "I don't care if they're Snape's spells! They're dangerous! Think about it, Harry. A spell that lifts someone into the air by their ankle? It's sounds like Dark Magic!"

"Dark Magic?" Harry repeated incredulously. "It's just a prank, Hermione! You've been biased against the book from the beginning. Just because you're jealous that I'm better at Potions than you…"

"You are not better than me!" Hermione interrupted, rising from her seat imperiously, "Just because you can read someone else's notes, doesn't make you more skilled!"

"Well, if you weren't so stubborn, maybe I'd let you borrow the textbook…"

"I don't want a book filled with dark magic!"

"It's not dark magic!"

Hermione had already stormed away. She hadn't even bothered to drag Neville away with her. He exchanged awkward glances with Blaise and Millie, the only Gryffindor sitting at the Slytherin table, while Harry stared hard at the empty plate in front of him, trying to control his breathing.

"You know, Harry…" Blaise said tentatively after several long seconds of silence, "You keep this up, and you'll be down one girlfriend…"

"I don't care," said Harry, but inwardly, he already felt guilty. He hadn't meant to lash out at Hermione, but when she said he was practicing Dark Magic, it awakened a hidden fear inside him.

What if she was right?

Snape had explained that he had been obsessed with the Dark Arts. It was the reason he'd never gotten along with Harry's father, and why Harry's mother had never returned his affection. It was what had eventually driven him to join the Death Eaters… Harry didn't think he was like Snape. But deep down was a fear so sinister that he had never shared it with anyone, not even Blaise or Millie. It whispered to him that perhaps the rumors were true. Not the ones that called him the Chosen One... Not even that he was cursed, as Ron Weasley once accused... No, Harry was afraid that there was something wrong about him. When Dumbledore told him about the prophecy, he couldn't get a certain phrase out of his head... The Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... What if the "power" the prophecy spoke of meant that Harry was destined to become the next Dark Lord? To defeat Voldemort, only to take his place...

Harry didn't think he was evil, but perhaps Voldemort didn't consider himself as evil, either. Perhaps Hermione's warnings were justified, and Harry was too blind to see it.

"Alright, Harry?"

He looked up. Nell was standing in front of him, looking with concern at the turbulent emotions playing across Harry's face. Harry released the breath he had been holding and did his best to offer her a reassuring smile.

"Sure, I'm alright. What's up?"

"I'm supposed to give you this," she said, offering Harry a small slip of paper.

Harry suspected that he knew what missive contained, but he couldn't bring himself to be excited for another lesson with Dumbledore, not while his mind was still on his troubling argument with Hermione. Still, he accepted the note with his thanks, and quickly read that his next lesson with the headmaster would be Monday evening.

"Want to join us in Hogsmeade, Willoughby?" asked Blaise, "We were just about to leave."

"I already promised Oliver I'd go with him," Nell replied, seeming genuinely surprised by Blaise's invitation. "Might see you there… See you around, Harry?"

Neville did not accompany them, either. Harry suspected that he had gone to check on Hermione. He knew it should be him in Neville's place, and yet he didn't want to face Hermione when he was still so unsure of his emotions. He resolved to find a gift for her in Hogsmeade, hoping that it might serve him when he apologized.

Filch was taking longer than usual to check the names of students with permission to visit the village, as he was also probing them with a Secrecy Sensor. When they were finally free, their walk was miserable. Though there was no snow, it was cold and blustery, and the road was filled with students bent double against a bitter wind.

The first sight that greeted Harry's eye was Zonko's joke shop, closed and completely boarded up. Harry took this as a sign that their trip was not destined to be fun, though his determination to find a gift for Hermione remained unshaken. He reasoned that she wouldn't appreciate a gag gift from Zonko's, and if he really needed to restock any supplies, he could always write to Fred and George Weasley.

Things were already starting to look up as they entered Honeydukes, still benevolently open, and enveloping them all in a warm, sweetly-scented air. Harry was about to suggest that they remain in the sweet shop all afternoon when a booming voice called out from just behind him.

"Harry, m'boy!"

"Great, it's your best friend," Millie muttered just as Professor Slughorn, clutching a large bag of crystalized pineapple in his hand, sidled up to them.

"Good morning, Professor," said Harry in his most polite voice, ignoring Millie's smirk.

"Now, now, don't play that act with me," Slughorn chastised in teasing voice, "That's three of my little suppers you've missed, now! It will not do, m'boy! Why, your friend Mr. Zabini loves them, don't you?"

Blaise looked as though he would rather attend a hundred dinners with Voldemort himself than spend another moment speaking to Slughorn, but after a cautionary glance from Harry, he began to say, "Yes, they're really…"

His tone was unconvincing, but Slughorn wasn't listening anyway. He interrupted to say, "Why haven't you come along, Harry?"

"I'm very sorry, Professor," Harry apologized, "But I've been training the new Quidditch recruits, you see, and between my responsibilities as Captain and homework…"

"Nonsense, if you're half as skilled in your other classes as you are in potions, your assignments can't take too much of your time!" Slughorn replied, "Now, what say you to Monday evening?"

Harry winced. He had privately vowed not to miss another of Slughorn's parties. Though Blaise had been attending them in his absence and told Harry he wasn't missing anything of importance, he had not forgotten Dumbledore's directive. He had hoped to present a more promising report of his progress with Slughorn by their next lesson. It was unlucky that Slughorn had picked the very day of Harry's scheduled meeting with Dumbledore.

Slughorn did not attempt to argue. After all, there was little that he could do about Harry meeting with the headmaster. After issuing a lofty warning that Harry could not avoid him forever, he departed the store with a regal wave of his hand. Harry had rather gone-off the sickly-sweet smell of toffee by this time, and after making a few quick purchases, abandoned Honeydukes for The Three Broomsticks.

The street was not very busy. None of the few shoppers peppering the roads were lingering to chat. They just hurried on, heads bowed against the cold, toward their destinations. Perhaps it was because of this that two men caught Harry's attention. They alone remained stationary, speaking just outside the door of the Three Broomsticks. One was tall and thin. Harry recognized him as the barman from Hogsmeade's other pub, the Hog's Head. As Harry and his friends drew closer, the barman drew his cloak close around his neck and abruptly walked away, leaving the second man to fumble with something in his arms. There were barely feet from him when Harry realized who the man was.

"Mungdungus!"

Harry hadn't seen Mundungus Fletcher in ages. Harry had never particularly liked him, and his failure to attend Sirius's funeral had not helped matters. But in spite of everything, Mundungus was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and Harry couldn't see him again without remembering the friendly raillery that used to exist between him and Sirius. The association inspired a bit of fondness for the man.

That was, until Mundungus, startled by Harry's sudden appearance, dropped the old suitcase in his arms, spilling its contents all over the ground at Harry's feet. A silver goblet, bearing a familiar crest, rolled toward him and came to a stop, resting against Harry's shoe.

In an instant, Mundungus shot into the air, suspended by one ankle. Harry hadn't even opened his mouth.

"Harry, wait!" warned Millie, grabbing Harry's arm.

Harry shook her off. "That's the Black family crest," he said, jerking his chin toward the goblet, "You took that from Sirius's house… What else did you steal?"

"I… No… I didn't…" spluttered Mundungus, clearly astonished to find himself in such a predicament.

"What did you do?" Harry seethed, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing his wand, just to jab it into Mundungus's face, "Go back the night he died and strip the place?"

"No… Harry, no…"

"You're going to return every last thing you stole!"

"Harry, let him go, mate! He's turning purple!" Blaise urged.

In truth, Mundungus's face was turning several shades darker as the blood began rushing toward his head. There was no way Harry was going to let him get off so easily, until a sudden flash of light, followed by a loud bang, caused his wand to be yanked out of his hand just as Mundungus's body fell back to the ground.

Mundungus wasted no time. Without bothering to grab his fallen case, he disapparated with a CRACK. Harry swore at the top of his voice, spinning on the spot to confront whoever had disarmed him. Tonks, her usually pink hair a dull, mousy brown, stood before him, holding Harry's wand between two fingers.

"Let it go, Harry," she advised, her voice sad.

Harry ignored the wand she offered back to him as he crouched on the ground, hastily grabbing the objects still scattered in the dirt and stuffing them back in the abandoned suitcase.

"He nicked Sirius's things," Harry snarled. "They were supposed to be friends… He's part of the Order… And he goes sneaking around like this…"

For a moment, the others were still. Then Millie crouched on the ground next to Harry. She picked up a particularly gaudy candlestick and held it out toward him.

"Harry… Do you really think Sirius cared about any of this stuff?"

Harry paused, his hand resting on the goblet that bore the Black family crest. Sirius had hated his family. Hated anything that tied him to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black, and everything that implied. He knew, of course, that Sirius had only cared about inheriting his childhood home for Harry's sake. It had given them a place to live together, where he and Remus could raise Harry. It was never about Number Twelve Grimmauld Place or the relics inside. It had been the people… And now Sirius was gone…

All of the fight had left Harry. Defeated, his shoulders sagging, he replied, "No… It doesn't matter…"

"Why don't I collect these things, just in case?" Tonks offered, pressing Harry's wand back into his hand. "You three can head inside. Get yourselves warm."

Harry allowed himself to be lead into the Three Broomsticks. He didn't think the whirlpool of emotions he was feeling at the moment could be resolved with one butterbeer, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. While Millie went to the bar to order a round of drinks, Harry and Blaise found comfortable seats in their usual corner.

"Look who it is," Blaise commented, nodding at a table on the opposite side of the room. Still thinking of Sirius, Harry welcomed any distraction. But what had attracted Blaise's attention was nothing more than Nell and Oliver, enjoying a couple of drinks of their own. They were merely chatting, as friends were known to do, but for some reason this caused Blaise to shake his head sadly.

"I don't understand... She can do a lot better than him."

"Suppose we go and say hi?" Harry suggested, straightening up in his chair.

Blaise stoutly declined. Millie returned with their drinks a few moments later, and the trio lapsed into silence. Harry's mind kept drifting to Mundungus, wondering why the Order couldn't control him better. And while Blaise insisted that he didn't care who Nell spent her time with, his gaze kept returning to where she and Oliver were sitting, their laughter occasionally carrying across the busy bar. Without conversation to distract them, they finished their drinks quickly. It was Millie who finally suggested, "How about we call it a day?"

Blaise was more than willing to leave, but Harry objected. "Not yet! I still haven't found a gift for Hermione!"

"You really think a gift is going to fix what's wrong there?" Blaise muttered. Harry ignored him with what he thought was a dignified silence, and soon they had left the warm security of the pub for the brittle cold outside.

At Harry's insistence, they poked their heads into a few more shops, but the village of Hogsmeade was not like Diagon Alley. There were fewer places to choose from, and he couldn't find anything that he thought would suit Hermione's taste. He was just about to give up and comply with Blaise's demands to return to the castle, when he noticed two girls arguing on the street ahead of them.

He recognized the Gryffindor student as Katie Bell, the new Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Her friend, sporting a Hufflepuff scarf, pointed to something Bell was holding in her hand.

"It's none of your business, Leanne!" Katie shouted, her voice carrying toward Harry on the wind.

Harry was in no mood to question what Bell and her friend wished to fight about, until Leanne made a grab for the paper-wrapped parcel in Katie's hand. Katie pulled away, and in that moment Harry saw a flash of silver. The package fell to the ground. At once, Katie rose into the air, not as Blaise or Mundungus had done, suspended comically by one ankle, but gracefully. Her arms were outstretched, like a bird about to take flight.

Something was very wrong. Though Katie's hair whipped around her head, agitated by the fierce wind, her face was empty of expression, her eyes closed as if asleep. Then, when she was six feet above the ground, her eyes snapped open, and Katie let out a blood-curdling scream… And didn't stop. She screamed and screamed, never pausing for breath, as her wide eyes fixed themselves on a horror only she seemed able to see. Leanne began screaming, too, as she grabbed onto Katie's legs and tried to pull her back down to the earth.

Harry, Blaise, and Millie rushed forward to help, but Katie had already crashed back down, falling on top of Leanne in the process. Katie's body, freed of its suspended prison, proceeded to writhe and thrash upon the hard ground. She looked as though she was having a seizure, but all the while she continued to scream, her eyes backward into her head.

"What do we do? What do we do?!" Leanne screamed, looking around them frantically, tears streaming down her face.

"Stay with her! I'll get help!" Harry shouted, already racing back toward the Three Broomsticks. He had no idea if Tonks was still there, or if she had finished packing up Sirius's things and moved on, but he had to find someone.

What he found wasn't Tonks, but Hagrid. They collided as Harry rounded a corner at top speed.

"Harry!" Hagrid exclaimed, gripping him by his shoulders to stop Harry from toppling to the ground. "What's yer hurry?"

"Hagrid!" Harry gasped, out of breath, "Someone's in trouble… A student… She's been cursed, or jinxed, or something…"

"Wha?"

"Someone's been cursed!" Harry bellowed.

Hagrid, seeing how frantic Harry was, required no additional explanation. He followed Harry back along the lane to where Katie was still writhing and screaming on the ground. Millie seemed to be doing her best to make sure Katie brought no further harm to herself in her thrashing, while Blaise held on to a sobbing Leanne.

"Get back, Millie!" Hagrid demanded as he got close, "Don' touch her!"

"What's happened to her?" Leanne asked, breaking away from Blaise and watching in fear as Hagrid stooped over Katie.

Hagrid stared at the screaming girl for a second, then without a word, he scooped her into his arms and began running toward the castle, his long strides carrying him faster than any of the others could run. Katie's piercing screams died away in a matter of seconds, and the four students were left alone on the silent street.

"Where is he taking her?" moaned Leanne, wrapping her arms across her chest and shivering from both cold and anxiety.

"It's ok," said Harry in a soothing voice, "Hagrid's probably taking her to the hospital wing."

Millie nodded her head in agreement. "It would help if we knew what happened..."

"It was that thing," Leanne replied, pointing one shaking finger toward the brown parcel on the ground. "The package tore, and then she... she must have touched it, I don't know..."

"Harry, do not touch that!" Millie ordered as Harry crouched next to the package for a closer look at its contents.

"I know," Harry replied, "I'm just getting a better look…"

The flash of silver he had seen before turned out to be an ornate necklace. It had large, pearlescent stones set in silver and linked by thick, tarnished chains.

"Where did Katie find this?" he asked.

Leanne shook her head. "That's why we were fighting! We were in the Three Broomsticks, and when she came back from the bathroom, she was holding it. She said it was a surprise for someone at Hogwarts. I thought it was strange... I told her that she'd get in trouble for bringing it back to school, but she wouldn't listen to me…"

Harry exchanged a glance with Blaise and Millie and knew they were all thinking the same thing. It was possible Katie had been under the influence of the Imperius Curse. And if that were the case, then that curse had been destined not for her, but for someone else at Hogwarts.

"Let's get back to the school," Blaise suggested, "We'll be able to see how she's doing. Come on…"

Leanne allowed Blaise and Millie to direct her down the path toward Hogwarts, but Harry hesitated. After a moment of consideration, he reasoned that they couldn't simply leave a potentially cursed item laying in the middle of the street. What if someone else came along and picked it up?

Ignoring Millie's gasp of horror, he stooped to the ground, using his scarf to carefully pick up the glimmering necklace.

"Madame Pomfrey might need a look at this," he said to his friends, "It could help her figure out how to treat Katie..."

When they reached the castle, they found Professor McGonagall hurrying out the doors to meet them, closely followed by Filch.

"Hagrid says you four witnessed what happened to Katie Bell?" she asked, "I want to see you in my office immediately…"

"What's that Potter's got in his hands?" Filch asked suspiciously, still gripping his Secrecy Sensor.

"It's the thing that Katie touched," Harry explained.

"Good lord…" murmured Professor McGonagall, looking alarmed as Harry uncovered the necklace and showed it to her. "No! Don't unwrap it here. Filch, take the necklace to Professor Snape at once, and be sure not to touch it! Keep it wrapped in Potter's scarf…"

McGonagall questioned them all on what they witnessed, but there wasn't much for Harry and the others to relate once Leanne had explained all she knew. Harry asked if he could speak with Dumbledore, but after McGonagall testily advised him that the headmaster was away, and was not expected to return to the school until Monday, she dismissed Harry and his friends.

They returned to their common room, only to find it filled with students who were too wise to attempt a visit to Hogsmeade on such a dreary day. Harry nodded wordlessly toward the stairs, leading Blaise and Millie to the boys' dormitories, where he hoped they might continue to discuss what happened to Katie in privacy. They were speculating about the intended recipient of the necklace when Draco burst into the room, removing his own silver and green striped scarf in a hurry as he demanded.

"Harry! Is it true Katie Bell has been cursed? What happened?"

Harry was used to the Hogwarts Rumor Mill, but even this seemed astonishingly fast for news to travel. He asked Draco how he heard about it, and Draco breathlessly explained, "Leanne ran into Ginny in the hall and told her everything."

"And Ginny told you?"

"Well, we were sort of… I ran into her in Hogsmeade and we were just getting back when… That not important!" Draco fumbled suspiciously. He flopped onto the bed where Harry was sitting and demanded again, "So what happened? Leanne said something about a necklace?"

Harry nodded, deciding for the moment to let his questions about Draco and Ginny walking back from Hogsmeade together pass without comment.

"Big gaudy thing. Had these huge stones… You know the kind that sort of change color depending on how the light shines on them?"

A strange look came over Draco's face. "Not opals?"

"Yeah… Yeah, I think so. They looked like opals."

Draco grew pale as he murmured, "I've seen a necklace like that once… In Borgin and Burkes…"

"Not when you followed Goyle?" Blaise said.

Draco nodded, confirming the suspicion that had been forming in Harry's mind. "The display said it was cursed… You don't think that's what Goyle wanted repaired, do you?"

Harry gave the matter some thought, but shook his head. "I don't think so… Goyle didn't bring it in, remember? He said it had to 'stay where it was.' But he might have seen the necklace while he was there. He could have ordered it to be shipped the post office in Hogsmeade. I don't think even he's thick enough to have something like that sent to him at Hogwarts…"

"But why have it sent to him at all?" Millie asked, "I mean, that's a bit far for a prank, isn't it?"

"And who'd he want it sent to anyway?" asked Harry, "If he wanted to get back at me or Draco, why give it to Katie? Wouldn't it make more sense to pass it to a Slytherin?"

"Or have Katie turn around and hand it to you on the street," Blaise agreed. "No, I don't think it was meant for you, Harry…"

He paused as their dormitory door swung open again, only to reveal the very person they had just been discussing. Goyle stepped across the threshold, then scowled to see the four of them staring back at him.

"No girls allowed," he grunted, shoving past Millie, who was seated on the floor, leaning against Blaise's bed.

Millie pointedly ignored his comment as she asked, "Enjoy your trip to Hogsmeade, Goyle?"

"Productive visit, I take it?" added Blaise.

Goyle gave them an odd look and grumbled, "What are you all talking about? I wasn't in Hogsmeade…"

"You weren't?" chorused Harry and Draco together.

Goyle continued to look stupid and confused as he replied, "No… Not that it's any of your business, but I was serving detention with McGonagall. That is, until she went running out of the office with that huge half-breed… Acted like someone had died…"

Goyle paused in the act of throwing his bookbag down on the ground and looked up at them curiously, "Wait… Did someone die?"

Nobody bothered to answer him. Harry hoped that Katie would be ok, but in the meantime, a new question had presented itself. If Goyle had not given that cursed necklace to Katie, then who did? And who were they trying to curse?