AN: Arina-Peachy: Thanks for the review, dear. I'm glad that someone likes it. :) I will update at least every other day unless I'm out of town, which is really unlikely to happen until mid August when I might be moving. Once school starts up I will still try to stay to every other day, though I might have to put it off sometimes for my school work. I hope you Enjoy the next chapter, even though it is a little short.
"KITTTYYY!" Was shouted down the corridor of the Hogwarts express as soon as she climbed on, and not even three seconds later Cat found herself getting practically smothered by her two best friends, besides Lily.
"Mary, Marlene… I. need. Oxygen." She managed to gasp out, attempting to free herself of their long arms.
"Girls, I think you're going to break Catalina." She heard another, slightly raspy voice, chuckle.
"Hello, Remus." She said from between her friends, taking in a gasp of air as she was finally freed from their vise like grips.
"You didn't owl us." Marlene accused, pointing a finger at Cat, "I want to know everything! What you and Lily did over the summer, what you got on your OWLs, any summer romances that you may have had… Especially the last part!" She exclaimed, her eyes sparkling excitedly. Cat shook her head in disbelief, throwing and arm up on Marlene's shoulder (which wasn't easy, considering how tall that girl had gotten over break).
Marlene and Mary were two of Cat's greatest friends, besides Lily, of course. In their group of best friends, it was obvious who was closer too who. While Marlene and Mary shared a sister like bond, Cat and Lily also shared the same bond; all four of them, though, were almost as close as it was possible for four girls to get. They all had their little spats, just as any friends would, but in the end they would always be there for each other. The differences in personality that caused these small spats were also the differences that they'd all come to love and find entertainment in.
"I'll tell you everything, McKinnon." She affirmed, gaining a squeal of delight, "But first, let's find a compartment?" She suggested with a small smile, "Unless you want to wait and then end up cramped in one with people we don't know?" Marlene made a face, grabbing Cat's arm and pulling her along; fortunately for Cat, she didn't notice the flinch she gave as she gripped the spot where a nasty bruise was now forming.
"LILY!" Mary called as they passed the redhead, motioning for her to follow them to an empty compartment. Marlene finally stopped when she was satisfied with the compartment she'd found, ushering the three of her best friends in to the room.
"Now… Let's see… Neither of you owled us much this summer. You especially, Catalina!" Mary accused with a glare, "So let's start with Catalina. What have you gotten on your OWLs, then?" She interrogated with a huge grin. Cat dug into her pocket, searching for the paper that she had been meant to give to her father and uncrumpling it.
"All O's, minus History of Magic, but that class is rubbish, so that doesn't matter." She replied, handing the wrinkled paper over to her friends to see.
"It's not Rubbish! You just don't enjoy it…" Lily protested with a slight pout, gaining a loud, booming laugh from Cat.
"You and Mary are the only ones who are any good in it…" Cat replied with a smirk.
"And Alice, Peter, and Dorcas." Lily retorted with a slight glare.
"You and Lily still both make me feel like a complete moron; I only got one O, in Muggle studies, at that!" Marlene exclaimed, crossing her arms and playfully glaring at her two friends.
"Anywaysssss, what classes are you taking?" Mary continued with her interrogation of Cat.
"Anything I got an OWL in, minus History of Magic, of course." She replied with a small chuckle
"All of them? Even Astronomy? Is that even useful?" Marlene questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really. But I got O's in all of them and I like them. The few I don't really enjoy are simply required to become and Auror." Cat explained.
"And what classes do you actually not Enjoy, Catalina?" Marlene asked sarcastically.
"Herbology." Was Cat's short and simple reply.
"Because of that incident with the Slytherins and the devil's snare?" Mary questioned with a grimace.
Last year's herbology class had been hell for Catalina with Snape, Mucilber, Avery, and Rosier all in her group. She'd ended up injured so many times that she couldn't even keep track of the trips she'd made to the hospital wing. The worst of them, was by far, the incident with the Devil's Snare.
Cat had managed to get detention for 'breaking' one of the pots containing some precious plants, which Snape had actually done. Sprout had refused to listen to her pleas, however, and gave her detention cleaning the greenhouse on a Friday night. She'd gone to the detention, dreading it up until the point of the incident. She had plenty of reason to dread it, too. For one, she might get kicked of the quidditch team for missing a practice and for two, she was going to be alone in the greenhouse at night.
Once she'd arrived, Sprout had immediately taken her wand and set her to work on her cleaning while she went to a meeting. The whole time she'd been there, she'd heard noises coming from outside the greenhouse, people's whispers, and someone staring at her. To put it lightly, she was really freaked out afterwards. After about two hours she'd heard footsteps entering the greenhouse and figured it was Sprout; she was very wrong. As soon as she turned to see the 'professor', something had hit her dead on in the face. She'd heard a dark laugh and a metallic clang ringing through her head before she'd seen nothing but darkness.
She woke up almost fifteen minutes later, her legs and arms wrapped completely in what she knew was Devil's Snare. She'd yelled for the next ten minutes, trying her best not to struggle, but the plant made its way future and further until it was wrapped around her neck and throat. Lucky for her, Remus had happened to be out (doing what, she'd never asked) and found her; not before she'd completely passed out, though.
Cat shuddered at the memory, giving a stiff nod in response; "That pillock of a professor… I hate her so much for that. She's lucky that plant didn't kill me. If Remus hadn't been doing merlin knows what that night, I'd have probably been strangled by that thing." She seethed, only stopping because of the compartment door sliding open.
"Lilyyyy. No!" Mary whined when she saw it was Remus Lupin, dragging their friend off to the prefect's carriage. "We still need to catch up!" She pouted, looking quite like a small child.
"Funny that you should choose this moment to walk in, Lupin." Marlene stated with a chuckle, ignoring her friends whining, "Cat was just venting about Sprout and her stupid plants." She explained with a chuckle.
"Nice to see you too, Mary." Remus greeted the whining blonde with a look of amusement, "It's not the plants fault, it's whoever was using the thing." He replied with a shrug.
"I don't care who's fault it was… that plant still better not be placed anywhere near me in class this year." Cat retorted with a shudder, receiving an amused look from Remus.
"It's hard to believe that you're scared of a silly little plant, when you plan to become an Auror. I'm sure you'll get over it after a while." He replied, turning to Lily, "We should probably get going." The redhead nodded, hopping up and just narrowly missing Mary's arms as she attempted to keep her with them.
"I'll be back in less than half an hour Mary, calm down, you silly girl!" Lily exclaimed, her bright green eyes showing obvious signs of amusement.
"Stupid Prefects meeting…" She grumbled, sitting back down in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.
AN: Short one, but They'll get a lot longer, I promise. :) I just wanted to get another chapter up, and thought that this chapter would be a good way to introduce how Cat's Relationship with most of her family was. Plus, your introduced to Cat's best friends a little bit more. :P As time goes on, you will get to know more about Cat and see how she has changed since coming to Hogwarts and how she will continue to change even more throughout the story.