Almost

Chapter 33: Altered

Katherine and Lee wandered up the stairs to the small studio apartment above the store she had first stayed in when she took off her tempering. The coffee pot her dad had dug up for her was still on the counter. The whole room had been left almost untouched—George frequently offered to let her move back in any time she showed the slightest irritation with Crawley.

"What's up?" Katherine asked, sitting down at the round table. Lee sat across from her with his bag left on the ground, equally at home in the space.

"That can wait. How's it going with her? They told me you were getting locked up again, but details were sparse."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "She's the worst. I mean, Crawley was no walk in the park at first, but she... I don't know, something about her makes me feel entirely inadequate."

"Inadequate?" he asked, his voice going lower. "You're way more powerful than her."

"My magic is more powerful than hers, maybe. But she's just so perfect. I mean, you should see how people act around her—it's like nothing happens in that department without her go ahead. Even Quahog seems to consult her on everything."

"I've never seen you take anyone's opinion this seriously," Lee countered, pulling a book out of his bag. He set it on the table and began flipping through the pages.

Katherine sighed, shaking her head and looking out the window, before quietly admitting, "My mom would like her."

"After the way she's treated you? I never met your mother, but I'd have a hard time believing that."

"I suppose," Katherine muttered, resituating so her legs were crossed under her. "Anyways, I should be grateful to her, I guess. At least she's letting me be halfway useful."

Seeing Lee's confusion, Katherine told him about the plan to feed her story out to the ConJour reporter. She quickly wished she hadn't however, when she saw the worry that floated into his eyes. Lee looked at her intently, seeming to forget about the book under his hands.

"I just keep thinking about how different things would be if you would have come with me."

Katherine couldn't have thought of words she expected to come out of his mouth less. But she knew from the way his jaw tensed, the way his fists clenched an unclenched against the table, the way he didn't push his glasses up as they slid down his nose, that he was very serious.

"When?" she asked.

"When I came to Iowa. I got on a plane, Katherine. Three planes, actually. Then I apparated to places I'd never been before, which is dangerous, and reckless, and I did it anyways. To come and make sure you were okay."

"I was really grateful," Katherine told him, reaching out to lay her hand on his. "I am sure I didn't seem it at the time..."

"You told me I was high on the Hogwarts hog."

She laughed at the memory. "You made me a peanut butter sandwich and questioned my coffee drinking."

"You said you were going to process and then disappear, but I figured, eventually... I figured you'd come back. And at least you and I would get back to normal. But then you left with them. And if you hadn't, if you would have come with me, you'd have never spoken to Iz. She'd know nothing more about you than whatever file they had. They would have never known you like jasmine or that you take your coffee black or that you ask more questions than an N.E.W.T. or that..."

His voice trailed off and he looked down at her hand, turning his up so that their palms met.

"I would have just gotten my friend back. My best friend. Not my best friend and the weight of the American magical government. And I don't know how you've begun to trust them again, but I don't."