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 chapter of my Harry Potter fanfic is the last of this book. It’s sequel will be posted here and on Archive of Our Own starting next week.
Chapter 20
Stowaway Book
Kim lay out in the grass, watching the abraxans graze in the field beside the Beauxbaton carriage. It was the day before everyone would depart for home, and the previous week had been so somber Kim was actually looking forward to leaving. But then, that was a very mixed feeling as well. She just needed some relief from this constant state of dreary sadness that had befallen herself and all of Hogwarts. She wanted to feel close to someone, she needed that. Harry was quite at best, and vacant at other times. Ron and Hermione tried to keep everything neutral by avoiding anything that could remotely be related to Lord Voldemort or the Triwizard Tournament, which made conversations short and awkward. Clemon had been avoiding Kim ever since she told her that Voldemort was back, despite whatever the Daily Prophet had to say, or had not said on the matter. Luna was great, but… she was her spacy self, and that could only do so much for Kim in these times. And that left Fred and George.
What am I going to do about Fred and George? With everything that had happened, the three of them had managed to settle into a fairly normal pattern of friendship. Things were almost like they had been once, but there was one key difference. Kim felt different. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t seem to let go of the hope that Fred would come around eventually. That he would touch her like he once had, that he would treat her special. Even if their friendship looked normal on the outside, she worried, on the inside, it would never go back to how it’d once been.
As Kim churned over these thoughts, two bodies slid down to the grass on either side of her.
“Guess what we just found out?” George said.
“What?”
“We know why Bagman won’t give us our money.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, George,“ said Fred, "she doesn’t even know what he’s done last.”
“What? What happened?” Kim asked attentively. Last she’d heard they’d been increasing the threateningness of their correspondence with him, escalating all the way to blackmail. Not more trouble, she pleaded silently, that’s the last thing I need right now.
“First he told us we were too young to be gambling,” Fred said.
“Funny thing for him to say, since he’s the one who asked us in the first place,” George added bitterly.
“Exactly what I’m thinking,” Kim exclaimed. “Where’s he get off telling you you’re too young when he took your damn money in the first place.”
“Well, then he outright refused to give us the money we’d won,” Fred said. “So we asked if he’d give us our original money down back.”
“And?” Kim asked hopefully. Certainly this small request could be met…
“He was a bit loony at this point, mind you,” George said.
“He told us to shove off is the sum of it,” Fred said, the hostility in his voice scraping away at the light hearted posterior he’d been trying to maintain. He leaned a bit forcefully back against the grassy hill, picking a blade of grass and shredding it.
“I can’t believe it…” Kim said, looking away from him and off at nothing.
“Believe it. It’s over…” Fred huffed.
“But…” She looked down at the grass between her legs. She couldn’t stand to let this go. This was very much her fault, though she had never intended any of this to happen. Why couldn’t she have had a vision of this outcome, telling her not to say a thing to Fred and George at all about the Quidditch World Cup? “I feel terrible,” she muttered.
“’S not your fault, Kim,” George said, looking at her meaningfully. Kim wanted to believe him, but she still felt responsible.
“Nothing anyone could’ve done,” said Fred. “Turns out he owes loads of money to the goblins. Lee told us his dad’s had the same kind of troubles with him, dodging him every time he asks to get payed back. Man’s got a gambling problem.”
“So much for our joke shop…”
Kim couldn’t stand it. She frowned, looking to either side of her where both boys were laid out in the grass.
“No!” she said, shifting around to her knees so she could face them both. “Don’t think like that! It’s not over. Maybe you can’t get your money from Bagman, but you can’t give up!”
“That was all our money, Kim,” George said.
“We’d have to start from scratch,” Fred added.
“…Okay? So, start from scratch then! You did it once, you can do it again. Besides, you’ve got the rest of your lives to get it together. So this is a minor setback. So what?”
Fred let out a huff of air and a small smile crept across his face. He folded his arms behind his head and looked up at the clouds above. George was smiling wryly at her before he tilted his head to look at Fred.
“She’s right, you know Fred,” he said.
Fred’s smile crept farther up the edges of this mouth. He looked down at Kim slyly from half closed eyes.
“Yeah, I know she is,” he said, and the fondness in his voice lit a fire in her heart. For the past week she’d suffered through the kind of internal coldness no amount of sunshine seemed to amend, and just now she felt the kindling warmth in her that had been dormant.
The next day Kim sat on the train with Fred and George, making their way back to the station in London. She couldn’t help the pit in her stomach that came with goodbyes, only this was even worse than any time before. She wanted desperatly to speak with Fred alone, to remind him of their agreement that she would give him time if he would promise to write to her over the summer. It was getting the nerve up to form the words that was proving impossible. The Yule Ball now seemed like a melena away, and she felt stupider and stupider for having ever thought there was something between them.
As she was contemplating various ways to get Fred alone, all of which were complete garbage, she spotted Malfoy and his posse passing her cabin. Kim made an involuntary sound of disgust.
“He’s probably off to bother Harry, the little shit,” Kim said sharply. “As usual… Harry’s been through enough, you know. I can’t stand that Malfoy’s still going at him after everything, I mean how can you have not a single shred of humanity?”
“What do you say we follow him then?” Fred asked mischievously, peering down the aisle after Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.
“Follow him?”
“Yeah,” Fred said. “See where he’s going… Make sure he’s not up to anything.”
“Do we get to hex him if we catch him doing something?” Kim asked with a smirk.
Fred and George lit up at one another. “Definitely,” they said together, making Kim giggle. The three of them hoisted themselves up from their seats and followed at a short distance from Malfoy. Sure enough, it was only moments later that he was stopped before Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s door, butting his greasy head in to talk to them. As they got closer they could hear what he was saying.
“…day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!” He was talking to Harry, jerking his head at Ron and Hermione. “Too late now, Potter! They’ll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord’s back.”
“Why you little,” Kim muttered squirming to get between the twins so she could wring his pasty white neck.
“Easy,” Fred said, holding firm so she couldn’t worm past.
“We got it,” George added, and they both drew their wands.
“Mudbloods and Muggle-lover’s first!” Malfoy said. “Well- second- Diggory was f—”
But he didn’t get to finish because Fred and George had blasted him with a charm that had far more miniature explosions of light then Kim thought normal. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle tumbled to the compartment floor in a cumbersome heap, unconscious. Kim realized as she peered into the compartment that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had all shot off spells of their own, causing the three Slytherins to be hit by quite a cocktail.
“Thought we’d see what those three were up to,” said Fred Matter-of-factly as he planted a foot on Goyle’s chest and stepped into the compartment as carelessly as if the boy were a door mat.
“Interesting effects,” said George, examining their handiwork. “Who used the Furnunculus Curse?”
“Me,” said Harry.
“Odd,” said George lightly. “I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn’t be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let’s not leave them here, they don’t add much to the décor.”
Kim snickered at George and helped him and the others roll the ugly lot until they were entirely in the isle so Kim and the rest could all stand within the compartment and shut it behind them. They took a seat, and Fred pulled out a deck of cards, offering to play Exploding Snap. The six of them played for a long while before Harry sneaked in an ask about what Fred and George had been blackmailing for. The twins finally, after much pestering from Harry, Ron, and Hermione, relented and explained everything about their bet with Bagmen, the fake gold, and the man’s unwillingness to pay what he owed.
“But that was all your savings!” Ron exclaimed when they’d finished.
“Tell me about it,” said George. “’Course, I ‘spous it’s what we had coming.”
“Why do you say that?” Hermione asked.
“Oh, well, we bet on a bit of a rigged match, if you will,” he said, not that it explained anything for the others.
“You sayin’ Krum lost on purpose?” Ron asked. “Caught the snitch before they had enough points to win?”
“Not unless Kim’s been doing some favors for the Hungarian quidditch team,” Fred said, shooting her a devious look with flicking brows and a bob of his head, much to her embarrassment. He and George both smiled wide at the joke and made a knowing sound, “He-heeyy,” as a sort of jeer. Kim just rolled her eyes as the rest of the group looked at her with surprise. Ron almost looked impressed, as if he believed it.
“Oh please- no,” she said to Ron. “The game wasn’t fixed, I just saw the outcome before it happened… well, I wasn’t entirely sure at the time, but I was pretty sure.”
“Well blimey!” said Ron, still impressed, to Kim’s pleasure. “No wonder he won’t give you the money!”
“It’s not like he knows that.”
“I maintain that since we didn’t know for certain if Kim was right or not, it was still a fair bet. Going off a hunch, is all,” Fred reasoned, making Harry chuckle and shake his head.
“Really is sore luck, though…” Harry said, almost crest fallen. The twins both shrugged, seeming like their care free selves again. Kim knew that their demeanor, at least in regards to this topic, didn’t come quite as effortlessly as they made it seem, but she was glad all the same they were able to make light of it now.
It wasn’t long after that when the train pulled into the station. It was time to go. Time to say goodbye for the summer, and Kim’s nerves were making her hands jitter.
