The Cursed Chronicles: Year 6

Chapter 56

Everything was moving too fast. It felt like the tournament had barely ended before the visiting schools were rushing to pack. The school year was coming to an end, the tournament was over, and Delphi was safely locked away. There really was no reason to stay. 

Yet Katrina couldn't bear to leave. 

She knew that she couldn't stay at Hogwarts. As far as her orphanage was concerned, she was a minor until she was 18, and Hogwarts had allowed her to be kidnapped. If they even knew that Beauxbatons had brought her here, she'd be sent somewhere else for sure, and Katrina wasn't sure they would be as accommodating this time. She might wind up at a non-wizarding school, and that would be torture. 

Albus tried to be encouraging. 

"I'll write you," he promised. "And you have Bella, Sabrina and Parisa. Although I don't know how much company they're going to be, they'll all have pen pals too." The other girls had the good grace to blush. Parisa and James had agreed to stay in touch, much to Parisa's excitement. Katrina was sure it was nothing lasting, both Parisa and James were horrible flirts and she was pretty sure they were just enjoying the mutual attention. But they were having fun and that was really all that mattered. 

The Gryffindor boy that had asked Sabrina to the ball, Brian, had rather timidly asked if he could send her owls and Sabrina had agreed. James had a good laugh over it, because he had apparently never seen Brian so flustered before. He was usually quite boisterous and confident, but something about Sabrina made him nervous. 

Much to Bella's horror, Katrina had flat out announced to Emiliya that her friend found her attractive. She'd asked, while Bella watched on, uncharacteristically flappable, if she could introduce the two. Emiliya had agreed, and while Bella had been initially flummoxed, the two hit it off remarkably fast. They already had taken to catching each other in the halls, and Katrina had caught Emiliya blushing once or twice, so she felt confident her radar had been spot on this time.   

"And you'll write me too?" she asked anxiously. 

"Of course!" Scorpius exclaimed. "As often as possible! It'll help me practice my French!"

"You'll be sick of me," Rose promised. "You'll be burning my letters before you read them." 

It was then that it struck Katrina how much had changed for her in just two years. The girl from the closet was all but gone. She had friends who cared for her deeply, in two different countries no less. She felt confident and happy. She knew she could face any problem. She had taken back her power. 

Despite this, it still made Katrina jump a little when Professor McGonagall approached her in the Great Hall during lunch the day before the visiting schools were supposed to leave. 

"I wonder if you'd indulge me with a chat in my office?" she'd said. 

"Of course," Katrina had replied. Even if she hadn't been headmistress and practically undeniable, she would have done anything she asked. Professor McGonagall had moved mountains to help her over the years. She'd rearranged class schedules, accommodated her social anxieties, checked up on her during her hardest times, ran interference with her orphanage, gave her private instruction when needed and even provided her resources for the summer months when she would have to return to the abusive environment she reluctantly called "home." She was basically Katrina's hero. She would never be able to thank her enough for everything she had done for her. 

Which is why it felt strange to be sitting across from her in her office, watching a look of apprehension and anxiety cross the Headmistress's face. 

"Is everything alright, Headmistress?" McGonagall sighed. 

"It's not so much that there's anything wrong," she began hesitantly. "It's a matter of the sensitivity of the subject I'm considering broaching with you. It could open a can of worms with consequences uncertain." Now Katrina felt very anxious.