Katherine Frances's Blog, page 281
November 24, 2015
Coming Soon- Desiderium: The War WithoutThe much awaited sequel...
Coming Soon- Desiderium: The War Without
The much awaited sequel to Desiderium: The War Within is in the last stages of amazon ebook publication! Keep an eye out for it here on my tumblr or on twitter!
November 23, 2015
Kim Shimmers and the Diviner’s Curse
A Harry Potter Fanfic by me (and sequel to Kim Shimmers and the Screech Owl)
(Art not mine, couldn’t find credits. Let me know if you know them!)
This Harry Potter fanfic will be posted, if all goes well, every weekend.
Chapter 8
Scrimmage
The next morning Kim’s stomach was still twisting into knots. She had hoped her dreams would give her a vision of something, reveal to her what was to come, but they gave her nothing. When she got down to the Great Hall she didn’t see the twins, probably sleeping in after partying all night. Harry was nowhere in sight either for that matter. Ron and Hermione were sitting across from each other and appeared to be in a bit of an argument, so Kim went over to sit beside Hermione.
“…being ridiculous,” Hermione said. Ron just stared at his plate with a tight purse to his lips, like someone had put a bucket of salt over his eggs and was forcing him to eat it. Kim began loading her plate quietly beside them without making to interrupt. “How could Harry have entered himself, Ron? Forget whether he wanted to or not, he wasn’t able to.”
“I don’t know, all right?” Ron snapped. “And I don’t care to know.”
Kim was glad at least that Hermione was being rational about this. She wasn’t looking forward to things if she was the only person willing to give Harry the benefit of the doubt. This also would give her someone else to discuss her worries with.
“About all this, Hermione,” Kim said, “how do you think his name got in the goblet?”
Hermione’s expression folded inward with concerned. “I don’t know. I wish he would hurry up. I want to talk to him about it.” She stretched to look over Kim’s head and search the entrance of the Great Hall for any sign of Harry, but there was none.
“Probably busy with all his admirers,” Ron muttered. Hermione made a faint sound of disgust and grabbed a napkin, standing. “Where are yougoing?” Ron asked incredulously as she collected pieces of toast onto the napkin.
“To find Harry,” she said simply. Kim stood as well, grabbing a sausage and a piece of bacon from her plate since she’d only managed to eat a few bites.
“I’ll come with you,” she said, popping the sausage in her teeth like a cigarette and shuffling out from the bench. Ron scowled at them as they departed, and then went back to his eggs, still pondering them like they were infused with a mountain worth of salt. Kim and Hermione made their way up to the Fat Lady, at which point Hermione opened her mouth to say the password.
“Ah!” she shouted, again raising an accusatory finger at Kim. “Not you again. How many times am I going to have to tell you, you don’t belong—”
“I’m not trying to sneak in,” Kim said, exasperated. “I’m waiting outside.”
“A likely story. Ah! And don’t you give away the password with her there,” she said, again interrupting Hermione before she could say the password. Hermione heaved a great sigh. Just then the portrait pushed open, causing the Fat Lady to give a little startled cry. Harry immerged from the common room, surprised to see them both standing there.
“Hello,” Hermione said.
“Er, Hi,” Harry said, eyeing Hermione’s toast stack, and then Kim as she bit off a piece of bacon. “What are you two doing here?”
“I brought you this… Want to go for a walk?”
“Good idea,” said Harry gratefully. The three of them went downstairs and out of the castle to stroll beside the lake while Harry recounted exactly what had happened while he was inside the other room with the professors. Evidently, Professors Moody, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were the only ones who believed Harry hadn’t put his name in the goblet, but it didn’t much matter who believed him. The magic was binding one way or another; Harry was required to compete. It was even suggested that perhaps someone had put Harry’s name in because they wanted Harry to get killed…
Kim turned this idea over in her head, feeling an uneasy sensation in her chest. Certainly the games were dangerous, and she was very uncomfortable with the idea that Harry was going to be in them. But if killing Harry was someone’s intention, certainly there were easier ways to go about it, weren’t there?
“Well, of course I knew you hadn’t entered yourself,” Hermione was saying as Kim mulled over all the information in her head. “The look on your face when Dumbledore read out your name! But the question is, who did put it in? Because Moody’s right, Harry… I don’t think any student could have done it… they’d never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore’s—”
“Have you seen Ron?” Harry interrupted. This shook Kim from her reverie and made her look at Harry. There were a lot of things more important than Ron’s whereabouts at the moment, and Hermione was trying to talk about them. She had some great points about students not possessing powerful enough magic to trick the goblet, and Kim thought now was the time to discuss that, not discuss Ron. But Hermione was making a face of semi-discomfort and answering, none the less.
“Erm… yes… he was at breakfast.”
“Does he still think I entered myself?”
“Well… No, I don’t think so…”
Kim made a face. This was a lie, and kind of a silly one since Harry was bound to find out the truth eventually. Hermione seemed to realize this as she glanced at Kim and added, “not really.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, ‘not really’?”
“Oh Harry, isn’t it obvious?” Hermione said despairingly. “He’s jealous!”
“Jealous?” Harry said incredulously.
“Uh, yeah,” Kim said, as if it were obvious. Because it was.
“Jealous of what?” Harry asked. “He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?”
“I’d imagine that’s exactly what he wants to do, yeah,” Kim said with a snicker.
“Look,” Hermione said patiently, ignoring Kim’s joking, “it’s always you who gets all the attention, you know it is. I know it’s not your fault,” she added quickly because Harry looked like he was about to object furiously. “I know you don’t ask for it… but, well, you know, Ron’s got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you’re his best friend, and you’re really famous. He’s always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many…”
Kim watched Hermione’s eyes search the path before her as she thought, her mind turning over her own observation and then shifting back to Harry compassionately. Kim couldn’t help but be impressed with her. It was quite an accurate and detailed observation, and felt just right. She was even a little awed that Hermione had picked up such subtleties, perhaps the slightest bit jealous she hadn’t said all this herself.
“Great,” Harry said bitterly. “Really great. Tell him from me I’ll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he’s welcome to it… People gawping at my forehead everywhere I go…”
Kim almost winced. This was the first time she’d ever heard Harry admit allowed how much he hated the spotlight that was always shined in his face. She wished again, as she had so many times before, that there was something more that she could do to protect him from it. But there simply wasn’t.
“I’m not telling him anything,” Hermione said shortly. “Tell him yourself. It’s the only way to sort this out.”
“I’m not running around after him trying to make him grow up!” Harry yelled.
“Then prepare for the long haul, Harry,” Kim found herself yelling back, though she was surprised by her sudden spur of frustration. Perhaps she was just feeding off of the helplessness that Harry felt, the helplessness that she felt knowing she couldn’t do anything for him, or make him understand. She leveled her voice before continuing. “If you want a fight with Ron, by all means, stick your head in the sand. I’m not saying he’s not being stupid, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to make it better by being stupid back.”
“Yeah well,” Harry retorted harshly. “Maybe he’ll believe I’m not enjoying myself once I’ve got my neck broken or—”
“That’s not funny,” said Hermione quietly. “That’s not funny at all… Harry, I’ve been thinking. You know what we’ve got to do, don’t you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?”
“Yeah, give Ron a good kick up the—”
"“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” - Ernest..."
- (via paperbackward)
