The Second Scar
The Second Scar
The next morning, at breakfast, an announcement was made.
“Since so many of you enjoyed the Yule Ball last year, we have decided to make it something of an annual tradition.” said Albus Dumbledore. “Of course, Christmas is over with, and we won’t want to have a dance every Christmas since it would inconvenience our students who wish to spend the holidays at home with their family, so we decided to have our dace, the Cupid’s Arrow Dance, on Valentine’s Day Evening. Dress robes will be worn, naturally, and the dance will be open to all students, regardless of what year they are.”
Talk immediately sprang up all over the school. Excited students had a lot to discuss, such as what they were going to wear, and who they wanted to go with. Harry knew exactly who he wanted to go with, but he figured that Katrina would be attending the dance with Malfoy, since she was pretending to be his boyfriend.
Potions was unbearable. They were still working on the Balding Potions, and it was hard, sweaty work. Harry couldn’t see what use a Balding Potion would be to anyone with the exception of the Weasley twins would love to use it as a practical joke. Wouldn’t an Anti-Balding Potion be more effective?
Snape gave giving Harry dark looks, his eyes darting from Katrina to Malfoy and Harry constantly. Did Snape know about Katrina’s mission, and how much Harry desperately wanted it to end? At least Harry didn’t have to bear seeing Malfoy and Katrina sit together. While Malfoy had tried several times that lesson to get her to come over and sit by him, she refused, and said she wanted to sit on the other side of the room with her best friend, Neville Longbottom. Although Katrina still had to avoid Harry, Hermione, and Ron for her spying to work, she seemed to make an exception to spend time with Neville. She had told Malfoy that she felt sorry for Neville, and that he was a charity case. Malfoy seemed to fall for this.
Neville could definitely use all the help he could get with the potion, but Katrina was merely an average student when it came to Potions, so she was not that much help. Feeling unsure of himself, Neville clumsily dropped the final ingredient (a sheep bladder) into the pot. When he did, it caused a large amount of the potion to splash up into the hair, and it struck Katrina. Almost instantly, her long hair was gone, and her head was bald. Although it was bald, her head was not bare. An inch and a half above her right ear, she had a small but recognizable...
“Scar!” shouted Draco Malfoy pointing at her, yelling in utter disgust. “A great big ugly scar just like Potters!”
Everyone in the room starred at Katrina, who burst into tears and ran from the room.
Snape looked quite alarmed as he starred at the doorway Katrina had just burst out of.
“Someone, go after her. Make sure she gets to the Hospital Wing. Someone. Don’t care who. Just someone. Do it.” he breathlessly commanded, his hands trembling.
But everyone was much too shocked to do what Snape had asked them to. Harry had found that his feet appeared to be glued to the cold dungeon floor. Neville Longbottom, however, didn’t seem to care about anything to but Katrina’s safety.
He chased after her, running down the hallway screaming “Katrina come back here! I don’t care if your bald! I’m sure that they can sort you out in the Hospital Wing!”
Harry smiled. Although Katrina took great pride her personal appearance (okay, so she was a bit vain!), Harry was sure that having the whole class know she had a lighting bolt shaped scar, a secret one, was the source of her distress.
“What the bloody hell would she have a scar like yours Potter?” Malfoy spat at him, voicing the very question that was running through Harry’s mind. Malfoy looked like he was about to vomit. Harry almost felt sorry for him, discovering that his girlfriend had a scar exactly like Harry’s was too much for him.
Across the room, Snape cleared his throat very loudly. “Of course, she doesn’t have a scar just like Potter’s! Don’t be an idiot, Mr. Malfoy. I’d think that even a simpleton like Longbottom could tell that the girl had a tattoo.”
Harry could tell that Snape was doing some quick thinking by the way his eyes kept darting around the room. Harry was glad he was doing this, it kept a lot of awkward questions from being asked, but Harry knew this was not to spare him embarrassment. Snape must care very deeply for Katrina to put on such a charade.
“If you knew anything about the girl, who supposedly is your girlfriend, you’d know that she may be a British citizen, but she grew up in America. That wizards and witches of America reacted strangely to what had happened in the past with the Dark Lord. He hadn’t bothered them yet, so he felt safe, but they worried if he could come back in the future and attack American wizards. Sects of wizards believed that if they tattooed themselves with a lighting bolt like Potter’s, it would protect him. But it had to be in a spot that was not visible.”
Harry knew Snape was lying, but Malfoy didn’t seem to know.
“Ex-girlfriend.” Malfoy announced looking bloodless and pale, but still carrying on the cocky attitude that he always had. “I wouldn’t want to be with a girl who had the same disfigurement as Potter.”
The bell soon rang, and they all packed up and left. Before Harry could leave, he, Ron, and Hermione gathered up Neville and Katrina’s belongings, and headed toward the Hospital Wing.
When they got to the door, Katrina and Neville came out the same time they were coming inside, causing Neville to get hit the head.
“Hey, your hair grew back.” Harry said.
Katrina’s hair looked the same as it always had, except that instead of being down to her waist, it now fell lightly at her shoulders.
“But it’s shorter now.” Harry added quickly, remembering that girls liked it when it when guys noticed hair style changes. “Is it still growing back?”
“Nope, I decided I wanted it this length, I thought a change in style might be fun. Madame Pompey just gave me half the amount of Hair Re-growth Potion she normally would have.” Katrina said smiling, and shaking her head.
Then she her face turned serious, and she looked at Harry. “I need to talk to you alone.” she said. She looked at the others and said apologetically, “I hope you understand, but this is something Harry and I have to talk about by ourselves.”
They nodded.
“Oh well, I’ll be late for Arthinmancy.” said Hermione. “And Ron and Neville, you don’t want to be late for Divination.”
“No, we certainly don’t want that.” said Ron, grinning broadly. “C’mon, Neville, let’s those two have their privacy.”
Harry and Katrina walked in silence until they got to the end of the corridor. Katrina sighed, knowing she’s have to answer Harry’s questions even though she did not want to.
“I supposed my spying gig with Malfoy is kaput.” she said. “He got really mad, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, it really upset him.” said Harry. “But he’s a big stupid git anyway, so don’t worry about Malfoy. He wasn’t worth your time. I didn’t want your mission to fail. I knew it was important to you that you do your duty, but I can’t deny that I’m happy Malfoy does want you to be his girlfriend anymore.”
Feeling a sudden rush of boldness, he quickly added on, “Mostly because I want you to be my girlfriend, and get to the be one everybody sees you with, walking around Hogwarts and all that. I guess you Kinda are my girlfriend, but it’d be nice if I knew for sure.”
“Did Snape say anything about my scar?” she asked him.
“Snape said it was a tattoo.” said Harry. “But it’s not, is it?”
“No, it’s not a tattoo. That was the cover story that we were supposed to use in case something like that happened. Was Malfoy convinced?”
“Yeah, he was.” said Harry. “But I’ve got to know, why and how did you get that scar?”
Katrina gulped. “I was there that night your parents died. At the house. He didn’t want to leave me alone by myself after my mom tried to kill me, so he took me along. I was two years old, and I can relive it when a Dementor comes near me, just like you can. When the cursed that failed to kill you, backfired upon him, it created such a force of power that it destroyed your home. Some of that force hit me, but it didn’t kill me since I was an innocent child, and I was not the one doing the spell, it just cut me. So, I have a scar just like yours. Only mine can be covered much easier.”
“That’s why I hurt so bad that night you killed Wormtail. It was your anger! I can feel it when you feel a strong emotion, just like Voldemort!” Harry exclaimed.
Katrina nodded. “I didn’t want you to know about it, I was afraid you’d hate me. think that I was responsible or something like that.”
Harry frowned. “Katrina, we have had this discussion before. You know that I could never hate you. You were not responsible. For God’s sake, you were a toddler when it happened!”
Katrina turned away without speaking, and head down the stairs. Harry followed her. Suddenly, she spun around on her heels, her skirt flying upwards.
“Harry, go to the dance with me.” she said.
It was not a request. It was a command. How could Harry refuse?
“Since, I no longer have a date, now that Malfoy dumped me, I think you don’t have one yet, maybe we could go together.” she said with an impish grin.
Harry returned the smile. “Okay, I guess I’ll go with you since I don’t have anyone better to go with.”
“Only because you don’t anyone better?” she said, laughing.
“Of course.” joked Harry. “Why else would I go with you?”
“Well, I’m off to Remedial Herbology. Horrible stuff, but I guess I gotta go. And you have to be at Divination.” she said, taking off farther down the stairs.
Harry walked towards his Divination room, feeling so full of life that even Professor Trelawney wouldn’t predict his death today.