The Safest Place To Be

After she got out of the hospital, her mother wanted her to see a therapist. That was one of the few things on which her pureblood father disagreed with his muggleborn wife.

"Even though she says she's okay and she doesn't remember anything, she needs to talk to someone. Being under the Imperius Curse must have impacted her deeply," Mrs. Bell argued.

"We can't violate the statue of secrecy for something like that. Katie's a strong girl, she'll get over it," Mr. Bell insisted.

In the end, owing to the lack of any proper magical mental health professionals, Katie was sent to spend a weekend with her maternal aunt, who already knew about the wizarding world by necessity. Her aunt was a medical doctor, not a psychologist, but Katie's mother felt that was better than nothing.

Auntie Theresa took her shopping and to three of the latest movies, and didn't once ask her anything. Katie appreciated the silence.

Going back to Hogwarts wasn't the relief she anticipated. There were curious looks and pitying gazes. Before the Incident, she was merely the blonde Gryffindor chaser. Now she was a Victim of the War. First Years who hadn't even known her name last September now stopped to stare at her in the corridors.

Classes went better than she'd expected. Out of boredom, she had studied diligently in St. Mungo's and she was fully prepared for N.E.W.T.s. As for Quidditch, Katie did what she'd always done, but she might as well not have been there. All eyes were on Ginny, who seemed capable of victory by herself.

After the Death Eater attack on the school and the murder of Professor Dumbledore, Katie could no longer sleep. She laid in bed wide awake all night, her wand tightly clutched in her hand. During free periods, she napped in the common room.

She was a good girl. If she followed the rules, nothing bad was supposed to happen to her. Some of her classmates preferred the Hog's Head because the bartender didn't care how old you were when you gave him sickles for firewhiskey. Except for meetings of Dumbledore's Army, Katie had only gone to the Three Broomsticks, like nice girls do.

Madam Rosmerta was friendly and she looked so warm and comforting. She was supposed to be safe. It should have been a dirty, ugly, old man who put her under the Imperius Curse and forced her to take that cursed necklace.

Katie was relieved to leave school. She got a job as a clerk in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, doing paperwork for the Obliviators. With Dementors swooping all over Britain and giants pulling out power cables to play with every day, there was a lot of work for her to do.

Now that she was an official adult, too, she tried to reconnect with her old friends. She stopped by Weasley Wizard Wheezes, but it wasn't the same. Fred and George were somber in front of her, wary of offending her with ill-thought jokes. It made her sad to see them not laughing and she stopped visiting.

Angelina and Alicia weren't much better. Angelina had constructed a prison out of fear of the war and she wanted Katie to lock herself inside with her. Alicia lived like it was the end of the world and wanted to help Katie forget the last year. Katie didn't find either approach comforting and started avoiding them, too.

It was all right for a young witch to live with her parents, but it wasn't okay for her to spend every evening in the attic, poring over old photographs and scrapbooks. Mrs. Bell began to talk about looking for a muggleborn with a psychotherapist sibling. Katie started going to bars after work.

She chose the seediest bars, figuring there would be no temptation to let herself be lulled into a false sense of security. She met Marcus Flint the third time she went to the Werewolf's Lair.

Katie glanced around while she sipped her drink, trying make out shapes in the dimly lit room. She noticed Flint, looked a second time to confirm it was him, then moved her gaze over to the next shadow. It was several minutes later that Flint approached her.

He didn't speak at first. He stood there, looming over the middle aged wizard seated on the stool beside her, and stared. Then other wizard soon vacated his seat and Flint took it. "Katie Bell, right?"

She nodded and looked away. Flint's hand on her shoulder drew her attention back to him. "What do you want?"

"Only one thing a witch comes into a place like this for, Bell, and I'm the wizard to give it to you."

A year ago, Katie might have reprimanded him for his sexist and downright stupid assumptions, hexed him if he persisted, and stormed out of the establishment. Now she merely sighed and said, "Not interested, Flint."

"Your fellow Gryffindors will never know," he promised.

Katie finished her drink and prepared to leave, ignoring Flint.

He followed her outside and grabbed her wand before she could disapparate. "What were you doing in there, Bell? There's better company and cleaner glasses in the Three Broomsticks."

She was so weary. "Your place, or should we rent a room?"

They ended up in a room above the Leaky Cauldron. Flint's teeth cut her lip when he kissed her, and she wasn't certain whether it was an accident or not. She felt claustrophobic under his massive frame, but he pinned her to the bed when she tried to move. His teeth nicked her neck, drawing blood, and this time she was sure it was deliberate.

She didn't have anything to say to him, so she wasn't disappointed when he rolled away and went to sleep without even telling her good night. She was planning to go home, but Flint's arm closed around her waist and she figured she might as well stay.

It turned out to be the best night's sleep Katie had had in months. When she awoke, there was far too much sunlight streaming into the room for her not to be late to work. According to her watch, which she had forgotten to take off, it was ten thirty. Flint was still sound asleep beside her. He woke up when Katie pried his arm off her.

"Bell?"

"Flint."

That was all they said to each other. Katie went home and sent an owl to her boss, claiming a sudden case of vanishing sickness. Her mother had left a note on her bed.

Next time, let us know you'll be spending the night at a friend's.

That was a better reaction than she hoped for, though truthfully she hadn't been thinking about her parents when she let Flint take her to that room. What had she been thinking?

Though it was only noon, Katie opened the cabinet in the dinning room that held her parents' meager selection of liquor and examined her choices. She chose a fairly common wine that she could easily replace later. Only after she'd drained one glass and curled up overstuffed armchair did she allow herself to think about last night.

She didn't even know Marcus Flint, except by reputation, and she didn't like what she knew about him. They'd only ever interacted during Quidditch matches, where he tried his damnedest to make her plummet a hundred feet to the ground and had once cracked one of her ribs.

It wasn't worry about whether having sex with him made her a bad girl that occupied Katie's mind. Rather she was thinking about how well she'd slept in his arms and wondering what her chances were of doing so again. He had seemed satisfied with her. Maybe he still wanted her.

When her owl returned from her workplace, Katie sent him to find Flint.

Meet me in the Leaky Cauldron for dinner?

Not wanting to see her parents, Katie left the house shortly before they were due to arrive home. She wandered by Lee Jordan's office. Lee was - or rather, used to be - a good friend. He was the first person she ever had sex with, and they'd slept together a couple of times since she'd been released from St. Mungo's. But Lee hadn't made her feel safe the way Flint did.

She wasn't planning to talk with Lee, she just wanted to see him. But he spotted her lurking and insisted she sit down and have a cup of tea with him. It was awkward. They really had nothing to say to each other. After the second time he asked her about Angelina, Katie bade him good-bye.

She sat on the floor in Flourish and Blotts and read a novel about a half-veela witch in love with a muggle prince. When the sun began to set and the novel started to bore her, Katie headed over to the Leaky Cauldron. She didn't want to look like a fool if Flint didn't show up, so she ordered dinner and started eating without waiting for him.

After she'd eaten her appetizer, but before she could start on her entrée, Flint sauntered up to her table. He kissed her without even waiting for her to say hello and ate half of her dinner while waiting for his own meal to be served. Katie asked him how his day was and he laughed. She gave up trying to make conversation after that.

This time he took her back to his house. She was wary of being seen by his family, but there was no one else home. In the morning she saw only a house elf, who served her breakfast without ever speaking. Figuring there was nothing to lose, Katie asked Flint about his silent elf and missing parents.

He answered her without looking up from the Quidditch section of the Daily Prophet. The house elf didn't speak without being spoken to because that's the way his family preferred their servants, and his father was dead while his mother was currently consulting a gyspy witch in Romania about ways to look decades younger. He didn't expect her back for several months since she'd mentioned plans to go to Thailand if the gypsy wasn't helpful.

Katie went home to shower and dress before going to work. Her parents didn't comment on her sleeping arrangements beyond her mother reminding her to let them know when she wouldn't be home. They didn't ask where she'd been or with whom. If they'd asked, Katie was prepared to snap that she was an adult and her relationships were her own business. But now she felt oddly contrary and mentioned that she'd started seeing an old acquaintance from school. She added that she probably wouldn't be sleeping home for some time.

"That's great, sweetie. I'm happy to see you out with your friends again." Her mother hugged her and kissed her cheek.

A week later it seemed logical to leave some clothes at Marcus's house, for days she didn't wake up early enough to go home before work. Then she brought her Weird Sisters records to play over the quiet of dinner. A few days after that, she bought a painting to liven up the stark white walls and dark wood furniture of Marcus's bedroom. He complained that the bright colors hurt his eyes, but Katie threatened to replace it with a poster of Oliver Wood and he shut up.

The good nights' sleep made Katie feel more sociable. She started having lunch with Alicia and Angelina twice a week, on different days since they seemed to be cool towards each other lately. And she purchased some select products at a rival store and mailed them to Fred and George to let them know that they needn't treat her like an invalid anymore.

The newspaper headlines were getting worse: "Muggle family shopping for witch daughter hexed in Diagon Alley," "Giants stomp muggle town flat," and "Muggleborn chief of staff at St. Mungo's found murdered." But Katie felt optimistic. Her life was okay.

Katie had been living with Marcus for two months when her friend Leanne was killed. She was only collateral damage, like Katie had been, but not as lucky as Katie. It was sad, but Katie felt distant from the news.

Marcus went with her to the funeral. Katie clutched his arm, the one that bore the Dark Mark, for comfort.

Leanne's death was tragic, but that was life. Katie would be okay, and it was selfish, but that's all that mattered.