I Only Wanted

****

    Weeks went by and before Katie knew it, she was walking to Professor McGonagall's room to take her O.W.L.s. Katie took a seat in the front of the room and got out a piece of parchment and a quill and waited for McGonagall. She didn't have to wait long, in fact, as McGonagall walked in with a large stack of papers. Katie blanched and stared openly at the pile. McGonagall actually cracked a small smile.

    "Not all of these are yours, Miss. Bell," she said, sitting the papers on her desk and picking up a handful of the papers from the top, "I have quite a lot of papers to grade and since I have to be here and make sure you don't cheat," she said, giving Katie a genuine smile, "Here, these are you tests. There is a transfiguration you will have to perform and then a potion you will have to make in the dungeons. But you can save those for last if you wish."

    "Thank you, Professor," she said, looking over the papers, picking up the Defense Against The Darks Arts test first.

    She breezed through that test and went onto Charms. After writing a rather lengthy essay, she went to Care of Magical Creatures. She smiled at Hagrid's test. It had only one question.

    'What do you do to gain the trust of a hippogriff? Explain in detail.'

    After she finished that, almost laughing at the memory of George hastily climbing over the padlock fence to escape his hippogriff, she decided to do Arithmancy. That one was a little more challenging. She had never been very good at Arithmancy, but she had passed it the past two years and it held her interest, so she kept taking it. Next was Divination. The class that was only fun because she and Angelina were always making up things and making fun of Trelawney. The test wasn't as hard as she had anticipated. Trelawney didn't exactly like her. She picked up the next piece of parchment, but before she started on it, she checked her watch. It was noon already. She shook her head and set to work on the next test. Potions? Then the hands on test must be for Advanced Potions. She went through each of Snape's lengthy essays on different theories and potions they had learned about last year.

    Checking her watch again, she cursed at realizing it was now one in the afternoon. Stupid Snape and his essays, she thought picking up her Muggle Studies test. This was an easy quiz for Katie. She had been taking the class since her third year and had lived very close to Muggle London her entire life. She loved everything that had to do with Muggle devices, cultures, and belief structures. It fascinated her.

    When she had finished that test, she scanned over the other to be sure she hadn't missed anything. Satisfied that that was as good as it was going to get, she carried them up to Professor McGonagall's desk. McGonagall set them in the middle of her desk and stood and walked over to one of the many cages surrounding the room. She took out a bird and brought it over to sit on her desk.

    "Guinea Foul to Guinea Pig, Miss. Bell," she said simply, standing back to watch.

    Katie racked her brain for the correct spell. She suddenly remembered it and pulled out her wand quickly before she forgot it. She said the spell and with a pop, the Guinea Foul was now a squealing and very frightened Guinea Pig.

    McGonagall picked up the animal and checked it to make sure all of its fur was fur, and that there were no feathers present. She checked its feet for short, little claws instead of talons. Satisfied, she sat the rodent on her desk and transfigured it back to its original state. She walked over and placed the bird back in its cage. When she turned, she was smiling.

    "Full marks, Miss. Bell, and ten points to Gryffindor. You may go down to take you potions test now."

    Katie nodded and collected her quill, parchment, and inkwell, placing it carefully into her bag. She walked with a bounce in her step to the dungeons. As she rounded the corner to make her way to the Potions classroom, she bumped into someone.

    "Watch where you're going! Injured person here," a snide voice said.

    Katie looked up and straight into the cold, gray eyes of Draco Malfoy.

    "You're smart, Malfoy. Why don't you watch where you're going? I mean, this is your home, isn't it? The dungeons? I'm just a lowly Gryffindor," Katie said with an eyebrow raised in pure cynicism.

    Draco fixed her with a gaze, as if he were studying her. "Right you are, Bell. See you around," he said, making his way around her, but making sure to bump into her.

    Katie shook it off and kept walking, vaguely wondering what it was with her and Slytherins. She reached the Potions classroom, only to find the door open, but the room empty. She knocked loudly on the open door.

    "Professor Snape? Uh, I'm here to take my O.W.L.s," she said, walking cautiously into the room.

    She shrugged when she got no answer and walked to the front table and took a seat. She threw her bag onto the table lightly and sat her chin in her hands. She looked about the room, finding herself rather frightened being in here by herself. She hated the dungeons. She found herself jumping at the slightest noise. But as she was looking around, her eyes landed on the book that Snape had been looking at the day of her detention. The one containing the Wolfsbane Potion. It was lying open, next to an empty lab station. She was slightly confused, but a noise from the doorway startled her. Snape had cleared his throat and was presently walking toward her.

    And even though she'd never admit it to anyone, she felt like jumping up and hugging Snape as he walked into the room. He fixed her with a confused glare.

    "What do you need, Miss. Bell?"

    "I'm supposed to take a portion of my O.W.L.s," Katie said, as if it should have been obvious.

    "Oh, yes. I thought you would have taken longer on the written exams. I hope you weren't waiting long. I had to deliver a potion to Professor Lupin. He's feeling a bit under the weather," he said, unsuccessfully hiding a smirk.

    "Oh, uh, no, I wasn't waiting too long," she said, and found herself still stealing glances around the room.

    Snape couldn't hide his pure amusement at her paranoia. "Not fond of dungeons, Miss. Bell?"

    "Not particularly. No offense intended, sir."

    "None taken. Now, the potion I need you to make is a rather simple one. I'm sure you remember me speaking about the Amadeus Potion," he said, looking at her expectantly.

    Katie knew this had to be part of the test, so she couldn't just nod. "It gives temporary musical ability to whoever drinks it."

    "Indeed. You will be making it now and testing it."

    Katie knew that was coming, but she still became nervous at it being spoken aloud. She simply nodded as he handed her the parchment with the ingredients and instructions on it. She scanned it and went over to collect her ingredients. Once she got herself settled into a lab station beside her bag, she set to work. She made quick work of the potion, as it only had three lines of instructions. About a half hour later, Katie looked at her completed potion, smiling as it had the desired color and texture. And to her delight, the smell wasn't as bad as she had imagined. She looked up at Snape, who had been leaning against his desk, watching her the whole time.

    "Very good, Miss. Bell. Now to test it," he said, smirking and conjuring a Muggle keyboard next to where Katie was sitting.

    Katie furrowed her brow in frustration, and fixed Snape with a cold stare of her own. "I have enough musical talent, thank you very much, Professor."

    She didn't quite understand it, but all this time spent in the dungeons with Snape, whether in class or her detention, had given her a sense of familiarity with the Potions Master. Snape looked at her, with a look of shock and insult written on his face.

    "Well, unless you want to fail this part of your exam, I suggest you drink some of your potion and sit down at the piano," he said, in a tone that Katie had come to call 'her tone' in her mind.

    She knew he wouldn't fail her, but he liked to threaten her with it. A lot. He never used the tone with anyone else. Maybe because he knew she would cave without question, when most students would defy him and he would have to fail them. Katie reluctantly ladled out a small amount and put it into the glass Snape had conjured for her. She eyed it suspiciously for a moment.

    "Afraid of your own work, Miss. Bell?"

    "No, not at all," she said, downing her potion.

    She scooted her chair in front of the piano and awaited further instruction. Snape seemed to be going through a music catalogue in his mind. His eyes brightened for a moment and then it was gone as he looked down at her.

    "Frederic Chopin's Nocturne for Piano in E," he said simply.

    Katie's hand seemed to take on a mind of their own as they attached themselves to the keys. She began to play the very beautiful tune to perfection and realized absently that she knew this song from somewhere. When she was through, her hands retreated to her lap and she looked up at Snape. He nodded, and conjured the keyboard away.

    "Full marks, Miss. Bell. Well done. And five points to Gryffindor for the entertainment."

    Katie rolled her eyes as she cleaned out her cauldron and her phials. She picked up her bag and left without a word to Snape, still humming the tune she had just played.

****

    During their first Quidditch practice, Oliver had called them down early and motioned for them to follow him into the locker rooms. Katie still got shivers walking in there. She felt Fred squeeze her shoulder, knowing her shudder had nothing to do with the chill in the night air. Oliver silently motioned for them to sit on the benches opposite of him. He looked at all of them, with a sadness in his eyes. But when he spoke, it was with pure desperation. It pained Katie to hear him speak that way.

    "This is our last chance- my last chance- to win the Quidditch Cup. I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it," he said taking a pause, as if to pull himself together, "But we can do it. Because we have the best ruddy team in the school," he said, the maniac glint returning to his eyes.

    He looked to Angelina, Katie and Alicia and smiled. "We've got three superb Chasers," he said, then turning his attention to Fred and George, "We've got two unbeatable Beaters."

    Fred and George pretended to blush. "Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," they said in unison.

    "And we've got a Seeker," Oliver continued, fixing his gaze on Harry now, "who has never failed to win us a match!"

    Katie watched Harry, laughing as he blushed at the attention. Oliver looked to all of them and Katie noted that he hadn't said anything about himself. But that wasn't uncommon. He never complimented on his immaculate ability.

    "And me," he said, looking toward the door, embarrassed.

    "We think you're very good too, Oliver," said George.

    "Spanking good Keeper," Fred said, smiling broadly.

    "The point is," Oliver said dejectedly, "The Cup should have been ours these past two years. Ever since Harry joined the team. But we haven't got it yet. And this is our last chance to see our names on the thing…." he said, trailing off at the end, pinching the bridge of his nose.

    Katie looked to Fred, who looked strangely saddened as he looked back at their team Captain.

    "This year's our year," he said confidently.

    "Yeah," Katie said, and Fred threw an arm around her.

    "Definitely," Harry added, grinning with determination.

    Oliver seemed to have a renewed vigor after that. But Katie still saw him sitting in the common late at night, pouring over the mini-pitch he had bought in Diagon Alley. After a week of seeing him like this, she went over and sat across from him at the table he was leaning over, lost in concentration. She snapped her fingers in front of his face angrily. He looked up at her, prepared to yell, but his expression softened at the sight of her.

    "What do you need, Katie?"

    "Enough. You need to stop this," she said, pointing to the mini-pitch, "I know we have to have a plan, but Oliver! I don't know how you even sleep."

    "You're one to talk, Kate. What was wrong with you a few weeks back?"

    Katie closed herself off, so that she showed no emotion. "Nothing, just stress. All that time in the dungeons gets to you after a while."

    Oliver looked at her sympathetically. "Well, if you feel cooped up, just let me know. We can go out to the pitch and have a scrimmage match. Just you and me. One on one," he said smiling.

    Katie felt a piece of her heart literally crack off. "Yeah, Oliver, sounds like fun," she said, in what she hoped to be a convincing tone.

    Oliver reached across the table and took her hand in his. He smiled again and gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm here for you, ok, Kate?"

    "Yeah, thanks Ol," she said, forcing a smile, before making a very well disguised hasty exit out of the common room.

    She threw herself on her bed and let silent tears fall from her eyes. She hated how he made her feel. She felt like a little girl. Vulnerable. She curled herself up in her bed and cuddled down in her covers and fell into sleep.