What Curse?

After all the wizards who had come to visit left, the ward quieted down again, leaving Katie feeling even lonelier than before they had arrived. Bored, she turned on the television. With no programs airing late at night, the Television Station was replaying footage of the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

Seeing Draco Malfoy and the others being tossed into the air by the excited Slytherins while the Gryffindors beside them hung their heads in dejection made the guilt in Katie's heart grow heavier and heavier. She still had to stay at St. Mungo's for nearly three more months. During that time, the temporarily formed Gryffindor Quidditch Team might lose again. And losing one or two matches was actually a small matter; the final Quidditch Cup was awarded based on a team's cumulative total score over the term—so even if Harry caught the Golden Snitch as quickly as possible in every match from now on, if they only earned one hundred and fifty points each time, Gryffindor's final result might still only be a little better than Hufflepuff's, far behind Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

The more Katie thought about it, the more agitated she became. If only she had not gone to Hogsmeade in the first place, none of the things that followed would have happened. But then the curse flared up, making Katie twitch several times before she closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her heart filled with helplessness.

In the middle of the night, half dreaming and half awake, Katie seemed to be tugged by something invisible, swaying left and right on the bed as if something were constantly dragging her back and forth. Her eyes were wide open, her mouth gaping in a silent scream of terror, as though she were suffering some extraordinarily terrible