For Kailey Hamilton (Karyn)

helping to heal

"What can I get you?" Katie asked the young, hooded wizard in front of her at the Three Broomsticks, "Butterbeer, Gillywater?"

"A firewhiskey please," the wizard said, holding two galleons out for Katie to take. Katie narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm going to need to see some ID first," Katie said suspiciously, "and you can take that hood down, it's not raining in here."

The wizard hesitated, his hands not moving anywhere near his hood or to show her any identification that he had on him. Katie's mouth made its way into a thin line. It wasn't the first time she'd had to turf some kid that wanted booze out onto the street.

"Right, you, out," she said, moving around the counter and grabbing the wizard by the front of his robes and dragged him towards the door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He protested, trying to resist. He was strong, but Katie had experience with throwing grown men out of the door when they got too drunk and started hitting on her, plus he had been caught off guard which gave Katie a distinct advantage.

"Look mate," she said, reaching the door as he attempted to swat her off, "You can either show me some identification for that firewhiskey or get out and seeing as you didn't, then I think you've gone for the second option. Now go back to school and study."

"Katie, please," the voice said and Katie rolled her eyes, it wasn't the first time she'd had to deal with students from the school trying to get alcohol for their little parties that took place after hours. They forgot that she was once a Hogwarts student too.

"Save it," she said, "You're lucky I'm not turning you in to Professor McGonagall."

The wizard made an exasperated noise and pushed his hood back. Katie gasped as she saw who she had been about to throw out into the weather.

"Oliver?" she asked, her expression turning from irritation, to shock, to surprise in a matter of seconds, "what are you doing here?"

"Trying to grab a drink without being swamped by Puddlemere fans," he grumbled, "you stamped on that though."

Katie winced, "Sorry," she said, "all you had to do was lift your hood a little and I wouldn't have had to do that. I get kids from the school trying to con me into giving them alcohol all the time, thought you were one of them since you wouldn't give me ID."

Oliver rolled his eyes, "It's eleven at night, I think all the students are in bed."

Katie snorted, "You really think that everyone follows the rules? There are secret passages out of the castle that you can use in your sleep."

Oliver looked surprised, but it cleared quickly. After all, after you'd spent seven years at that place, you couldn't be surprised by what the castle threw at you anymore.

"I figured they were bound to be there somewhere," he said grimly and Katie couldn't tell if he was disapproving of the fact that the students used the secret passageways or if he was annoyed that he never got to use them while he was at Hogwarts.

Katie shivered as a gust of wind blew past them, causing the rain that had been pounding down to curve sideways and sprayed all over Katie and Oliver.

"Come back inside," Katie said, conjuring a simple charm that would protect the front door of the bar from the weather, "I'll fix you something."

Oliver shook his head, "Too late for that, you've already thrown me out, remember?"

"Where will you go?" she asked curiously as he put his hood back up, "you can't go anywhere in this, you'll get blown away."

"Relax Katie, I'm just going to the Hogs Head," he said, smiling slightly.

"I get off in half an hour, can I join you?" Katie asked, almost too eagerly. She hadn't seen Oliver in person since he had graduated Hogwarts.

"Sure," he said, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Alright, she said as he stepped out into the rain, "I'll see you later."

But her words were lost in the wind.

Katie couldn't remember the last time she had ventured into the Hogs Head. She never had much cause to go there as normally she wanted to go home straight after her shift at the three broomsticks. She tried to think back to the last time she'd been in the dusty old pub and found that she didn't want to remember.

That's when she knew that the last time she'd been in there was on that night; the night where she had lost everything, her brothers, her parents, her niece and nephew, all dead. Katie shook the thought, she didn't need to be remembering this right now. She'd blocked it out for so long, what cause did she have to remember it again?

She pulled off her cloak and dried it before hanging it up on the rack by the door. She looked around the pub and spotted Oliver straight away, he was the only one who looked remotely normal in there. She smiled and walked over to him.

"Hi," she said with a grin. He looked up at her in surprise.

"You came."

"Of course I came, I haven't seen you in years," she said, sitting down next to him and ordering some Gillywater from Abeforth, who was apparently still alive, "You seem shocked?"

Oliver looked down into his drink, "Most people forget that they want to meet up with me. I haven't spoken to anybody from Hogwarts since the battle."

Katie bit her lip as the memories that she had locked away threatened to burst out. He talked about it so casually and it scared her that he obviously didn't have nightmares every night, that he didn't see his loved ones being shot down over and over again.

"They've all made a life for themselves, and I'm here still single and playing Quidditch. Did you know that Angelina had twins the other day?"

Katie nodded, of course she knew, she'd been there for the birth of them.

"How do they just move on that easily?" he wondered aloud and Katie's ears pricked up, "People died that day and they just move on with their lives."

Katie put a hand on his and he looked at her quizzically, "In all fairness, Oliver that happened five years ago."

"Five years doesn't change what happened that day, it can't make me forget."

Katie felt her heart tug and she looked down at the table, "Me neither."

She felt him turn to look at her. She couldn't meet his eyes, he had unlocked memories that nobody had ever unlocked before and it scared her.

"I just thought…" Oliver stammered, "You seemed so strong. I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about this."

"No," Katie said drawing in a deep breath, "It's okay, it might be good for me."

"We don't have to," Oliver said, "I know it's still a touchy subject."

"Oliver calm down," she said, slightly amused at his concern, "It's fine, what did you want to say?"

"I just wanted to talk to someone who had made a life for themselves after the war without someone there to help them along. I saw you at the three broomsticks and you seemed so happy and then when you literally picked me up and threw me out I knew that talking to you would help," he said, blushing.

"Well," Katie said cautiously, she'd never spoken to anyone about this before and to suddenly agree to talking to Oliver about it was a bit intimidating, "It wasn't easy, I was upset for a very long time and literally lay in bed feeling depressed for about a year and a half until Angelina kicked some sense into me and told me that if I got a job it might take my mind of things, and it does, for a while. As soon as I stop doing something I start thinking about it again, which is when I start doing something again. I'm not nearly as strong as I look Oliver, it's just an act."

"Well, you certainly had me fooled," Oliver said quietly, "You're incredible for being able to do that you know."

"I don't see you quitting Puddlemere, do I?" Katie said, "You still play professional Quidditch even after everything that's happened. Do you know how many people use watching the Quidditch as an excuse to take their minds of what's happened? You and your team help people Oliver; you gave them something to root for something to hope for even if it was something like Quidditch. I'm just a barmaid."

"You're not just a barmaid," Oliver said, "I can tell. You listen to their stories don't you? You serve them drinks when they need them the most and then you listen to their stories and you never tell anybody because you're just that kind of person that will keep a secret for someone."

Katie looked at the ground, "They're not my stories to tell."

"I couldn't do that, it would just bring back too many memories that I'd rather forget."

"Is this just going to turn into a never-ending compliment fest?" Katie asked. Oliver laughed.

"Well at least it's not going to end in tears," he said and Katie smiled. She'd always liked Oliver, despite the fact that all he had been to her during Hogwarts was the Quidditch captain and obsessed with winning every game, he had always been compassionate and looked out for everyone on the team's best interests... well he did when there wasn't an important game coming up.

Katie glanced at the clock, "Listen Oliver, I'm going to have to get going. I've got to start work at six tomorrow morning."

"I should probably go too," he said setting his drink down on the table, "Training isn't till five in the afternoon but I'm definitely going to have a hangover to sleep off."

Katie giggled, "Can we continue this another time, maybe?"

Oliver's smile widened, "Of course, same time tomorrow night?"

Katie nodded, "no drinking next time though."

Oliver laughed and nodded, "Yes definitely no drinking."

The two of them walked towards the door, both of them feeling considerably lighter than they had when they walked in. Strangely, Katie didn't regret telling Oliver about what had become of her after the war, she felt comfortable with it. Maybe it was because of the fact that he hadn't looked at her sympathetically, or tried to understand what she had gone through. He didn't have to try; he knew what she had gone through without having to think twice. They were both survivors of a war that had claimed both of their families.

"See you, then," Oliver said, giving her a half smile.

"Yeah," Katie said with a grin. And before any more goodbyes could be exchanged, Oliver had disapparated.

As Katie walked back down towards the three broomsticks where she could floo back to her apartment in London, she felt different. She felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, she almost felt happy, which was an emotion that she hadn't felt in years.

Maybe all she had needed was to talk to somebody and that somebody just happened to be her old Quidditch teammate who knew what she'd been through just by looking at her. They had helped each other tonight and maybe, just maybe, they could help each other heal.

AN: I hope you liked it Karyn! I wanted to do something other than Quidditch but when you have these two in a pairing together Quidditch talk is kind of inevitable.

When most people wake up at 4am, they go back to sleep, but noooo, I write fanfiction. /facedesk, first day back at school is going to be fricking fun.

I'd really appreciate it if you could take the time to leave me a review :)

DFTBA,
Best Wishes

~The Original Horcrux~