Author's note: Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

Hogwarts: Assignment #10, Magical Literature Task #2, Write a fic set in St. Mungo's or the Hogwarts Hospital Wing

Warnings: Injury requiring hospitalization, positive coming out

So They Know to Call

Angelina's breath completely left her chest when she finally reached the room—and not just because she'd run there.

"Oh my…"

She looked at Katie, who didn't look so much as if she were sleeping in her St. Mungo's bed as much as she looked…

Ali looked up from her bedside. To Angelina's complete and utter shock, her eyes were red and puffy as if she'd been crying.

"What happened?" Angelina said. She dropped her bag of disgusting, smelly Quidditch gear by the door and went to join Ali. She was too afraid to touch Katie. "She was at school!"

"They don't know," Alicia said. "She touched a cursed necklace, apparently—during yesterday's Hogsmeade visit. Madam Pomfrey woke her up for about ten minutes and then they transferred her here, and she hasn't been awake since."

"How?" Angelina asked. "Oh, sweetheart…"

She sat on the edge of Katie's bed and reached out, fingers shaking, but froze.

"We can hold her hands," Alicia said. "The Healers said so. They said she might be able to tell we were here, and I don't know if I believe it but it sounds like the kind of thing Katie would buy into so I'll bite."

"Okay," Angelina said. She took Katie's hand and took a deep breath. Katie's fingernails were tipped in chipped, yellow nail polish. One of the Healers, probably, had taken off the thin silver ring she always wore on her index. Angelina's stomach twisted to see her finger bare.

"She's going to wake up, right?" Angelina asked, turning back to Ali. She saw Ali struggle between her instincts to be brutally honest and forwards, and her desire to smoothen this one out.

"The Healers… they said yes, but they aren't sure what's going to happen to her when she does," Ali said. "I don't really know. They talk to her Mum, and I didn't want to pry."

"Ms. Bell's around?" Angelina asked.

"I told her to go get herself a cup of tea," Ali said. "That I'd sit with her for a bit."

Angelina nodded and reached out to touch Ali's cheek with her free hand. Ali leaned into her touch.

"Thank you for calling me," Angelina said quietly.

"Of course," Ali said. "I just… I couldn't imagine her being alone. It was bad enough, graduating a year ahead of her and leaving her all alone at Hogwarts—and then this happened…"

Her heart was in her throat.

"Stop that, Ali," Angelina said anyways. "Don't go there. This can't be our fault. Katie's smart, she doesn't need her hand to be held. It's just… it's a bad world out there. It's a bad world not to be with the people you love."

Ali shook her head. Angelina decided not to push her for now. They were watching Katie breathe when Ms. Bell came back into the room.

"Oh, Angelina," Ms. Bell said with a smile. She was holding two cups of tea and a paper bag in her hands. "If I'd known you were here, I'd have gotten you a cup of tea as well, darling… you can have my biscuit."

"Thank you Ms. Bell," Angelina said.

Katie's mum put everything down on the table at the foot of Katie's bell and circled the bed, giving them each a quick hug. Angelina couldn't help but notice that she was still wearing her black kitchen shoes—the one she wore to work as a cook in The Leaky Cauldron's kitchens. Over the years, they'd gotten many a free plates of chips, thanks to her. Ms. Bell must have been called to the hospital while she was at work. She wondered for a second if anyone had bothered calling Katie's father, and then realised that it'd be a waste of all their time—Katie wouldn't want him around anyways. He was the only person Angelina had ever heard Katie speak poorly of—because Katie was like that, she could look at an absolute disaster, a wreck, a tear in the universe and find a positive thing to say while soothing your pain and…

Angelina turned back to look at her, breathing deeply. They needed Katie. Katie was a good person to have in a crisis, not just because she could think fast and creatively, but because she could weather you through the aftermath too. They were going to have to handle themselves without her now.

"No change," Alicia informed her.

"Thank you, dear," Ms. Bell said, patting Alicia's shoulder.

"Ms. Bell, if you want to go home and change we can stay with her," Angelina said.

Ms. Bell sighed and patted her daughter's hand. "Maybe in a little bit, thank you so much sweetheart… She's so lucky to have friends like you."

Angelina chewed on her lip but didn't say anything. Ali gave her a quick, fleeting glance during which they seemed to come to a silent agreement to keep their peace, here. Now was not the time to tell Ms. Bell what Katie hadn't told her earlier.

They said nothing; they simply sunk in their chairs and continued their vigils.

Katie woke up in the middle of the day, two days after the accident, with the sun shining through the window and onto her cheeks. Alicia was there—Angelina had gone to talk with the Appleby Arrows' Head Coach about getting some time off. Her Mum had had to go back to work, or else she'd lose her job, though she'd sworn to rush back to St. Mungo's faster than anyone could say "Quidditch" the second something about her daughter's condition changed.

"Ali?" Katie croaked. "Ali—the necklace…"

"Thank Merlin," Alicia breathed. "Thank Merlin, thank God, and all the rest and… can I get a Healer in here?"

"Don't shout."

"Sorry," Ali said. She cupped one of Katie's cheeks with her hand. "Oh, thank goodness… oh, thank goodness, Katie…"

She rested her forehead on Katie's chest, and she felt trembling fingers come to rest in her hair, comfortingly.

"You came," Katie said shakily.

"Of course I came," Alicia said. "And your Mum was here, she's been here as much as she can... and Ange came too, she just stepped out."

"I was afraid you wouldn't come," Katie said. "I—I was awake in the Hogwarts Wing last and I remembered… I remembered wondering who would tell you… and how you would know and if you would come and..."

"Ginny Weasley sent an owl," Alicia said. "Ginny sent an owl… now shh, keep your strength. The Healers are going to come in and check on you soon."

She had asked to sit by the window to watch the snow fall, and Mum was taking advantage of the occasion to touch up the dual Dutch braids Katie had been wearing her hair. It stayed out of the way that way, and felt slightly less oily and disgusting too.

She was watching the snowflakes flutter down and wondering whether or not Angelina had frozen to her broom yet, what with the Arrows' training schedule being so intensive, when her thumb drifted to touch her ring finger and hit skin.

"Mama," Katie asked.

Her mother stopped humming and answered in the soft Tagalog that only came out when Katie was sick.

"Yes baby girl?"

"They took all my things from me when I was checked in, right?"

"Mmm-hmm," Mama confirmed.

"When do you think I could get them back?" Katie asked.

"I'm not sure, baby girl. They're in isolation right now—the Healers are just trying to see if there's any trace of the curse on them, that way they find out exactly what it was and try to heal you," she explained. It wasn't Katie's first time hearing this. "What is it, love? Are you missing anything? Do you want something?"

"No," Katie said. "Well, and yes. It's just—I had a ring on. A little silver ring, just a thin band really."

"I can ask," Mama offered.

"No, don't worry," Katie said. "The Healers are already doing enough."

"Alright, baby," Mum said. She hummed again for a second, her fingers gently weaving through Katie's hair. "I don't think I've ever seen you with a ring like that. Is it new?"

"Mmm-hmm," Katie said. Mum didn't need to know it had been a goodbye present from Angelina and Alicia. They'd given it to her on the platform just as the Hogwarts Express had gotten ready to take her away to her first year at Hogwarts without them. She was already working so hard, spending so much time with her here… Katie wouldn't rock her boat now.

Besides, Katie would get the ring back at some point, surely… And even if she didn't, it didn't matter. The two other girls were coming tonight, after Alicia's shift at the broommaker's workshop, and they were bringing greasy, greasy burgers and fries with them. That was worth so much more than a silver band.

Mama came in with a fresh bouquet of flowers tucker under her arm and a giddy smile on her face.

"I have a surprise for you," she announced. She set the flowers down and reached into her coat pocket to produce a small cloth bag that she handed over to Katie, who was propped up against a mountain of pillows.

"Mama, you shouldn't…" Katie said.

"Now, now, now. Open it up," Mama said.

Katie listened, and out of the little sack came tumbling out her silver ring.

"Where did you get this?" Katie asked.

"Well, I asked, of course," Mama said with a smile. Happy with the reaction she'd gotten from her daughter, she started switching out the flowers in the vase on her bedside table. "It's quite beautiful, Katie. I see now why you wanted it back so badly."

Katie chewed her lip, because the truth was her mum still had no idea.

Her mum had no idea. Which meant that if Ginny Weasley hadn't been bright and awake enough to send an owl… well, who would have let the other two girls know that she was in here? Who would have known to call the most important people in Katie's life?

"We should get going," Angelina said quietly, touching Ali's elbow gently. "Visiting hours, babe…"

"Right," Alicia said, straightening up. She slipped back into her leather jacket and leaned in to kiss Katie's forehead. "Sweet dreams."

"You too," Katie said. "Get home safe."

Angelina squeezed Katie's hand from afar before then taking Ali's hand and leading her out of the room.

"They're so sweet together," Mum commented as she tucked the blankets around Katie some more. "I always knew there was a spark there, when they'd come over in the summers and so on… I'm happy for the pair of them."

"Actually, Mum," Katie said. Her voice croaked still, but Mum still turned to her—wide-eyed and attentive. "They're dating me too."

Mum furrowed her brows for a second. Alicia stopped in the doorway, having heard, and she grabbed Angelina by the elbow to stop her from going further.

"The three of you?" Mum asked.

Katie nodded.

"How does that work?" Mum asked.

"Really well," Katie said.

For a second, Mum still looked like she was trying to accomplish a very delicate mathematical equation. Then, she simply nodded and turned back to Angelina and Alicia.

"Well, I do believe a re-introduction is in order, then," Mum declared. "If I'm to meet my daughter's girlfriends…"

She held out her hand out to Angelina, who smiled and shook it before letting Alicia have a go at it.

Katie fell back on her pillows with a smile on her lips.

Stacked with: MC4A; Shipping Wars; Hogwarts; Winter Bingo

Individual Challenge(s): Hola, Bonjour, Jambo; Cuppa; Sapphic Bribery; Black Ribbon; Black Ribbon Redux; Gryffindor MC x3; 3rd Rule Bribery (HP Edition) (Y); Winter Wonderland; Seeds; Shipmas; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Trope It Up A (Best Friends to Lovers); Trope it Up C (Secret Relationship); The 3rd Rule; Ethnic & Present (Y); Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux

Word Count: 1922

Shipping Wars

Ship (Team): Angelina Johnson/Alicia Spinnet/Katie Bell

List (Prompt): Winter Big List (Secret Relationship)

Winter Bingo

Space (prompt): 1A (Silver)