Mass Collision

14. Curse of Katie Bell

With NEWT level classes, many kids were using their free periods to catch up on the vast amounts of homework they had. Not only were they studying as though they had exams every day, but the lessons themselves had become more demanding than ever.

Nonverbal spells were now expected, not only in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but in Charms and Transfiguration too. People were having to hold their breath or tape their mouths shut just to stop themselves from saying the incantation.

This was when Natalia started really appreciating Care of Magical creatures. She got time outside, she could hang out with the bowtruckles and the Thestrals and didn't have to read which was becoming extremely difficult.

McGonagall had sighed multiple times and Professor Flitwick had charmed her books four times, switching the languages to make it more readable. He had switched it to Italian, American English, Spanish, then finally, mostly as a joke, he switched it to Greek, which Natalia found worked quite well so he switched all of her books to it. He didn't care, whatever worked.

That didn't mean that it was tedious though, having to read and write so much. With CMC, Hagrid basically read the textbook to them while they were with the animals, they didn't have to read anything, just do it practically. They fed them, learned the differences and how to spot certain animals and their genders. She knew that the others who quit this class were missing out.

Natalia felt relieved that she wasn't having to worry about nonverbal spells like everyone else, it was taking up hours of their time. She didn't know why it came naturally to her, but it did. Like she had been practicing a type of magic for years.

For some reason, she also assumed some spells had to go along with a ritual, but she also hadn't seen anyone do any blood magic or harvest spells.

Her and Draco had been going on the weekends and sometimes during the week to go and work on the cabinet. They had gone through a few pages, but nothing had worked yet. To test it, they were putting apples in to see if they moved. It never looked like anything had happened, like the cabinet had died or something.

While that was going on, there seemed to be several more attacks. Just the other day, Hannah Abbott had to be taken out of class to be told that her parents died. It was times like these that Natalia was slightly glad that her entire family was dead. It made it easier.

Now, the first Hogsmeade trip was coming up and Draco pulled her aside as they were all getting ready to leave. "I need your help," he whispered and Natalia crossed her arms.

"What?" He gulped.

"I have detention with McGonagall," he started before dropping his voice to a very low whisper. "I need you to use the imperius curse on Madam Rosmerta and get her to give a girl in the bathroom this package." He gave her a box with paper and a ribbon. She went to open it, but he stopped her. "Don't, it's cursed." She nodded and placed it in her bag. "Give the instructions to deliver this to Dumbledore." Natalia gave him a look and he just shrugged.

"Draco, this is a horrible plan. It's never going to get to him!" Draco groaned frustrated.

"You don't know that!" He snapped at her. "It'll be waiting on his desk for whenever he picks it up. He's already as weak as he is."

Natalia scoffed and shook her head, "look, I'll do it, but I'm passing by Madam Rosmerta, that's just unnecessary." She went to catch up with the group then stopped, "it's not going to work though and someone's going to get hurt."

"I don't see why we should care," Draco told her and she closed her eyes, shaking her head and left.

~

The group split up as they went to the different shops to pick out what they wanted. Natalia got some sweets and started looking for Christmas gifts. It was going to take her a while.

After looking for a while, she headed to the three broomsticks and went into the girl's bathroom. Inside it she found only one girl– Katie Bell, who she knew was on the quidditch team. Natalia made it darker inside and walked up to her. "Confundas," she whispered. She pulled out the package and put it in her hands. "It's a surprise, deliver to Albus Dumbledore, don't tell anyone who it's for and don't touch what's inside."

"It's a surprise, deliver to Albus Dumbledore, don't tell anyone who it's for and don't touch what's inside," Katie repeated and walked out. Natalia couldn't make it obvious that whatever happened to her she, so she opened the window in the back and climbed out.

She closed it back and walked to the main road. She saw Harry and his friends walking back to the castle and she nodded as they walked past. Then, Katie walked by with her friend. Finally, Pansy was giggling with Blaise and Natalia walked up to them at the same time as Daphne. "Are you guys ready to go back?" Daphne asked and they nodded and followed the road back to the school.

"It's pretty cold for October," Pansy noted and they all nodded. They were practically freezing with all the snow.

A little up the road, Katie started yelling at her friend, "It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Natalia's heart panged for a minute hearing the name, but she couldn't tell why.

They rounded a corner in the lane, sleet coming thick and fast. Just then, Leanne made to grab hold of the package Katie was holding; Katie tugged it back and the package fell to the ground. At once, Katie rose into the air gracefully, her arms outstretched, as though she was about to fly. Yet there was something wrong, something eerie. . . . Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression.

Everyone on the road had halted to a stop, watching her. Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish. She screamed and screamed; Leanne started to scream too and seized Katie's ankles, trying to tug her back to the ground. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed forward to help as the Slytherins backed away, but even as they grabbed Katie's legs, she fell on top of them; Harry and Ron managed to catch her but she was writhing so much they could hardly hold her. Instead they lowered her to the ground where she thrashed and screamed, apparently unable to recognize any of them.

Harry looked around; the landscape seemed deserted other than the Slytherins several feet away. "Stay there!" he shouted at the others over the howling wind. "I'm going for help!"

Natalia couldn't help but get a look at her. Why wasn't Leanne doing anything? She was a witch, why wouldn't she, she had every power there ever was, she was more powerful than anyone. Why wasn't she helping her? Why was she just sitting there crying? Natalia reached for Daphne's hand and pulled her around them, there was nothing they could do and watching was just rude.

It was then that Natalia spotted the package, it was ripped open to reveal an opal necklace. She recognized it from when she went to Borgin and Burkes. Draco must've gone back and bought it.

Right after they made it back to the common room, Draco looked at Natalia expectantly. "You fucked up."

All of them glanced between the two of them and Theo gasped, "What did you do to Katie?"

"Just a little cursed necklace," Draco defended himself and rolled his eyes. "She was supposed to give it to Dumbledore." Everyone threw their hands up in frustration.

"Do you know what you just did?" Blaise asked him. "Potter is already suspicious of you enough and now he probably thinks you did it!"

"You just put a target on all of our arses," Pansy shook her head with her arms crossed. "Plus you hurt a student."

Draco scoffed, "it's not like she ever cared about any of us and they can't tie any of us back to it so just calm down."

"Calm down?" Natalia asked. "I could be traced back to this!" Draco just shrugged.

"That won't matter when we succeed and we will." Natalia just shook her head as she looked at him disappointed.

"You're just like a Gryffindor, fucking recklass and don't care about the consequences."