Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of it's characters. Kat is mine and that is it :D (This will be my only disclaimer!)

It was dark out when a pop was heard throughout the street and a woman materialized on the front steps of a building. She sighed tiredly before opening the door and walking inside. Kat glanced around and despite her weariness smiled at the familiar scent of the buildings foyer. She walked over to the stairs and slowly made her way up to the fourth floor. When she got there she walked down the hall to the only door and pulled out her wand.

As she began taking down some of her wards she thought, not for the first time, about maybe not strengthening her anti-apparation charm every time she left long term. Due to her building's security, apparation was only allowed in, or out, of the flats themselves. But she, as she did every time she returned from a trip, decided against it. She left her wards up for a reason. There were plenty of dark artifacts that she had in her place and while away on business, she wasn't close enough to apparate home if her intruder alarms went off.

She waved her wand one last time, verifying the strength of the rest of her wards, before she opened her door. She managed to pull her bag out from her pocket and unshrank it before falling onto her bed fast asleep.

A pounding on her door woke Kat up and she scowled. She had done quite a bit of intensive magic over the last week and her body was still sore and tired. She stumbled over to the door, waved her wand and stared in disbelief at a visible Draco Malfoy standing on the other side of her door.

She opened the door and he stared at her in shock. It was then that she realized that she had slept in her travel clothes. Crossing her arms self-consciously she got straight to the point.

"Draco Malfoy. Can I help you?"

"Yes. Are you Katherine Herondale?"

"Yes."

"Good. I need a curse breaker."

Kat frowned.

"Excuse me? You are aware that you already know a curse breaker? Theodore Nott?"

Kat hadn't seen him since school, but they were both well respected within their small career field. If Malfoy needed a curse-breaker, he couldn't go wrong with his own friend.

"That's the thing. I need you to help me get into Nott Manor."

Kat laughed but quickly trailed off at the serious look on Malfoy's face.

"You're serious. You do realize that Nott probably warded his manor himself?"

"Which is why I need you."

"I'm not breaking into his house."

"Look, he's not answering any messages and if I don't get in contact with him a guilty man could go free."

The two of them stared at each other for a minute before Kat sighed, moved to the side and gestured him inside. They had both sat down before Kat spoke again.

"Explain that last piece to me."

"I'm an auror."

"Yes I am aware of that."

"My specialty is tracking down people who have been committing crimes with dark artifacts. A few months ago, I realized that even I was way out of my league and that I needed help. Theo agreed to help me. While we have a lot of evidence, Theo is our only witness. Somehow, and trust me we're still trying to figure it out, the man is immune to veritaserum and without Theo… Sometimes when he gets caught up with work he disappears into his house for a few weeks."

"Occupational hazard."

Kat stated as she gestured around her flat that was filled with her work.

"Yes, but the trial is tomorrow and unfortunately we need him at the ministry today."

"Wait, did you just say today?"

"Yes, I've been trying to get in contact with you for a week but you were out of the country."

"I was in the middle of nowhere and it wasn't safe for people to get me messages."

"I know you just got back, but. We need Theo."

Kat sighed and wished that she could say no.

"Give me 15 minutes."

Malfoy sighed in relief and sunk into her couch. Kat slowly got to her feet and made her way to her bathroom. 13 minutes later and Kat stepped back into the living room, having both showered and changed. She plaited her hair as she made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed a protein bar and scarfed it down before grabbing two more.

"Let's go."

He held out his arm, and once she had grabbed it, spun and disappeared.

They reappeared in front of a gorgeous estate but Kat barely had time to admire it before a thought occurred to her.

"I'm surprised that you aren't included within his apparation wards."

"When he bunkers down with work, he raises them completely so that only blood relatives can get in. And since he hasn't got any relatives."

Kat nodded and ate another protein bar as she gently probed the wards in front of her.

"I don't have the strength right now to hold a hole open for long, so when I say go, you go. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. This might take a while."

Kat sat down on the ground, closed her eyes and started on the wards. Immediately she cursed at herself. She hadn't wanted to completely dismantle his wards completely, despite it being easier. Instead she was going to create a doorway and then let the wards reseal. However, due to her over confidence and Theodore Nott's cleverness, she was in a bind. He had layered his wards so that some weren't visible until you were connected with the system. She gritted her teeth and dug deeper within herself to pull at her magical reserves.

As a general rule, Malfoys didn't worry; but if they did, right now he'd be worried. It had been almost an hour and the curse breaker in front of him had been getting paler and paler, difficult to do with her already alabaster skin tone. Her body was beginning to shake and she was sweating rather heavily.

Kat wasn't aware of the slight concern Malfoy had. She was completely immersed in her work. Nott's wards were highly complex and she was going through them extremely slowly, ensuring that she didn't miss anything. She knew that she had also gone slowly enough, and taken such an indirect route, that she'd be surprised if Nott knew that she was there, at least not until the end when she actually breached the wards. She couldn't afford him realizing that someone was there, he might direct the wards to attack her and she didn't have the magical reserves to handle that at the moment.

Finally satisfied with her work she opened her eyes. Mouth dry, she licked her lips and rasped out.

"I'm about to make a hole. It won't be large and the wards will reseal once I let go."

Malfoy nodded and walked over to where Kat gestured. She took a deep breath and with what little magic she had left, opened up a doorway in the wards.

"Now."

She gasped out and the moment that Malfoy was through the wards she let them go and pulled herself from the system.

"He'll know you're here."

Kat said to him as she shakily got to her feet. She ate her last protein bar and apparated back to her apartment before the energy from the protein bar disappeared. She landed on her feet, but her legs gave out immediately and she was sucked into unconsciousness.