I think I kinda like you.

A Harry Potter Fan-Fiction

Disclaimer: I Do not own Harry Potter or its Characters or settings, those are owned by J.K. Rowling. (only the main character is mine)

I also decided not to make this fifth year, but forth year instead because I want to do the Yule ball and the tri-wizard tournament. So ignore any statements about fifth year and O.W.L's in the last chapter. ((I want to do something for the Yule ball.))

Also I will be writing in both Kathleen's and Draco's perspective in the following chapters so look out for the perspective changes, I put their names in bold to signal the change, but if it doesn't show up that way…then I don't know keep a good eye out.

Chapter 2: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble…

Kathleen groaned as she rolled out of bed and slammed onto the cold floor below, she heard a muffled growl as Mittens jumped up from his sleeping spot beside her bed, dodging her body as it nearly hit him.

"sorry boy…I was having a good dream..didn't see the falling part coming.." she mumbled standing up and stretching waving at the other students that were already awake and staring at her and her Familiar, they had done enough staring at her last night to last her a life time but she supposed they didn't think it was enough.

She opened one of her suitcases and pulled out some clothing for that day and made her way towards the girls bathroom that was next to the temporary sleeping quarters. When she was refreshed and dressed she was met by another house elf who bowed Deeply.

"hello Misses Grey, Professor Dumbledore sent Dobby to escort you through the castle, so you wouldn't be lost in the near future." Dobby said bowing low again. "I know you will love the castle, there is so much to see." He continued excitedly his wide tennis ball shaped eyes looking up at her as he waited for her to speak.

"thank you Dobby, I would love a tour of the castle…but I don't suppose I could get some breakfast first? Oh and call me Kathleen, it feels weird to be called by my last name." she said with a small smile to the house elf, causing him to grin wider.

"Yes…Kathleen…Dobby would be delighted to get you breakfast." The little house elf said taking Kathleen's hand and pulled her along the corridors and stairways to the kitchens where Kathleen could grab something to eat before he took her around the rest of the school telling her various things including something about a boy named Harry but she didn't pay attention to much.

By the time Kathleen had eaten Breakfast and lunch and finished the tour with Dobby it was about time for her to make her way to McGonagall's office before she met up with the first years. Dobby lead her through a few more corridors before he stopped infront of McGonagall's office door. He turned and bowed to Kathleen.

"Dobby must go now to the kitchens to prepare dinner for the students." He said before popping out of her sight.

Kathleen sighed and knocked on the door. When she heard the quick 'come in' from behind the door she opened it. she smiled when she saw the elderly woman smiling back at her.

"oh, hello Kathleen, nice to finely meet the face behind the letters. Now, we don't have much time to get acquainted further, so we might as well head to the front hall before the first years get there. I am going to have you sorted last after the rest of them so we can get the first years out of the way." Professor McGonagall said gathering her wand and a piece of parchment before leading Kathleen out of her office and down the corridors towards the entrance hall.

As they were walking, well fast walking anyway, they past one of the teachers, he was dressed in completely black robes that covered his entire physique save for his face and greasy black hair. He stared at Kathleen with pure black eyes that pierced her and made her shift to the other side of McGonagall. Though she had only seen him for a moment before they rounded the corner, he had made her nervous and she let out a little shiver he reminded her of a snake. And she hated snakes.

"That was professor Severus Snape, he is head of Slytherin house and the potions teacher here at Hogwarts." McGonagall explained just as they reached the entrance hall before Kathleen could think ask her anything else.

It didn't take long to calm down the first years and lead them into the Great Hall. Kathleen gasped when she saw it, and was particularly interested by the ceiling. Even when they stopped she was still staring at the night sky above her head dotted with stars and the floating candles. She couldn't help but smile, she knew she would love it here, so much magic around her, it seemed to energize her and fill her with a warm fuzzy feeling, something that she would have described as a crush if it had been a boy she was staring at. But even through the feeling she couldn't help but shake another one...it was as if she was being stared at, and when she took the time to rip her eyes away from the ceiling, she found out that was exactly what was happening.

She hadn't thought that her presence among the first years would cause her to gain the attention of a good majority of students. They all stared at her mature figure that towered over the little first years, she figured it was because she looked so much older and was standing in the middle of the isles waiting to be sorted with them. She blushed bright red and let her red-gold hair fall infront of her face to hide her blush from her watchers. But even her attempts to hide failed when the last first year ran up and was sorted into Hufflepuff.

McGonagall called her name and just before she was sorted Dumbledore stood up.

"Students, I would like you to welcome Kathleen Grey, now under unusual circumstances, Kathleen is joining us a little later than usual as a fifth year, so please treat her as if she has been with you for the last five years and make her feel welcome, like a first year this is all very new to her." He said staring at her gently behind his half moon spectacles.

Kathleen mouthed a quick 'thank you' and sat down on the stool and looked at the ground trying to pretend she didn't have any eyes on her. She listened to the hat as it whispered to her.

"Hm…you have a very intelligent and powerful mind, and very brave I see…I haven't had someone this difficult to place since five years ago…Hm…difficult…let's see…"

There was a long pause and Kathleen gripped the edge of her seat and nearly fainted as the hat opened its mouth and screamed out her house name.

"SLYTHRIN!"

Kathleen stood shaking from her seat and made her way towards the cheering table at the far wall of the Great Hall. She sat down between two girls who scooted over for her. Just what she needed, to be thrown into a pit of snakes. she looked up at the teachers table and saw McGonagall looking at her with a sad smile and she just shrugged and looked down at her empty gold plate before taking a chance to look at the occupants at her table.

That's when she saw the pair of steel blue eyes locked on her. He was quite handsome, a prince, in a way his hair was white blonde and his skin was fair. She shook her head mentally, he wasn't a prince, he looked like and angel. Immediately her mind began to wander, and she remembered a certain song that could have described him perfectly, but she couldn't remember the name. she did remember one line though and she played it though her head. 'He's the devil in disguise, a snake with blue eyes…' her emerald green eyes locked with his and the more she looked the more the phrase made sense.

After a few more moment both she and the boy ripped their eyes away from one another, only for Kathleen to run her eyes across the room and lock her eyes with another set of green ones. This boy looked a little less prince like and more heroic. His hair was black and messy as if he just woke up and his eyes were as green as hers. He had a scar on his forehead and his skin was a little darker than the other boys. Also he didn't give her a cold analyzing look, instead he looked a little shocked and curious at the same time, he looked at her as if he had seen a ghost and then brushed it off as something else. He raised his hand a little as if to wave to her and she did the same wishing she could go over and talk to him he seemed nicer then the people at the table she was sitting at, in fact she already heard most of their conversations and was completely sure that the raven haired boy's table was much nicer. But McGonagall had already explained to her that on the first and last days of school all students were required to sit at their house tables.

Kathleen was distracted with the other table and it's friendly face that she hadn't noticed that food had appeared until she was shoved in the shoulder by a first year.

"Oi! Could you pass the damn salt already." He hissed and was shocked when Kathleen's nervous face turned harsh and she slammed the salt infront of him, still not registering that the food had appeared out of nowhere.

"Fine, here is the 'damn salt' you stupid little bastard." She yelled loudly, she might have been nervous, but hey, she was an American that had been raised in New York, if you were rude to her, she would be a bitch to you. Even after she had said it she didn't notice the large group of people staring at her in shock and the people over at the Gryffindor table laughing, until it was too late, her face turned red but she smiled when she saw the Raven Haired boy laughing as well. The blue eyed snake on the other hand was staring at her with a small amusement planted on his marble smooth face.

Dumbledore couldn't hide his amused smile and McGonagall had placed a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. But the one called Snape glided over and stood behind Kathleen who had ducked down.

"Is there a problem…" Snape said in a low, soft, threatening voice. He narrowed his eyes when both Kathleen and the first year shook their head. "Good, I would hate to have to give out detentions on the first day." He said in a quiet hiss before gliding back to the teachers table.

Kathleen slipped under the covers of her new bed, it had been hell making her way through the dungeons, she didn't get lost since she was following the group of Slytherin students, it was just the statues of snakes everywhere she turned, it made her stomach churn. It also didn't help that there were ornamental snakes that were carved into the poles that held up the curtains on her four poster bed. There were whispers vibrating around the stone walls and most of them were about her and her unusual familiar that curled up by her side.

"they let her bring a tiger? Isn't that against the rules or something?" one girl whispered only to be shushed by another.

"it doesn't matter, if she hadn't been allowed they wouldn't have let her bring it now go to sleep." The other whispered. There was a sound of shuffling as both girls turned away from each other as they quieted down for a long sleep.

Kathleen sighed and pulled Mitten's closer to her, the Tiger Cub purring at she scratched the top of his head for comfort. "looks like this is going to be a long year…a very…long…year…" she said quietly to her cub burying her face into his fur and closing her eyes willing herself to sleep as if she wasn't surrounded by her fears.

Kathleen woke up the next morning expecting sunlight to greet her, but only found the dull light of candles, she hated being in the dungeons already, too dark, gloomy and to perfect for slithering reptiles. She wished she could go back to the Sorting Hat the throw it out the window for making the mistake in placing her in the one place she really didn't need to be.

She slowly rolled over and stroked the soft fur of her Tiger cub only to find that the fur was hard and cold. She opened her eyes and frowned, in place of her Tiger was a stuffed animal that didn't even look tiger like. Her eyes widened and she shot up out of bed and put on a robe to go over her nightgown. She stomped out into the common room and glared at every single person that dared to glance at her. There had been wild chatter but it died down, even the snake prince stopped talking to stare at her.

"Okay, I will give you snakes one warning, if no one brings my cub back within fifteen minute I will personally rib apart this dungeon along with the body parts of the person responsible for taking him, and don't think I am kidding, I come from that back alleys of an American shit city, I don't need magic to kill you if I really wanted to." She hissed and she recognized the two girls who had been talking last night as they shriveled out of sight.

She stomped up to them and grabbed one of them from the front of their robe. "where. Is. He." Kathleen said flatly.

"w-we only meant it as a joke…l-like a…Hazing, he's locked in Draco Malfoy's trunk." She whimpered

Kathleen whipped around, she was an angry mother tiger. "Which one of you assholes is Malfoy.." she hissed her Green eyes blazing dangerously as they slowly turned molten gold.

The Snake Prince stood up from a velvet arm chair with a smug look on his face. "That would be me, and yes I have your Tiger, we meant no real harm, a she said just a joke. " he said calmly until he saw her eyes, he seemed to grow a little nervous. And his face turned to shock as she balled up her fist and pulled it back as she stomped up to him.

Kathleen stormed up to the blonde and pulled back her arm and punched him square in the face sending him flying back a few feet. She always had a strong Scottish punch, many jerk teenagers suffered from it back in New York.

"Don't you EVER touch my cub again, or I will make sure your face doesn't heal, magic or not." She growled and stomped up to the boy's dormitory and slammed open the door making the boys that were still sleeping fall out of bed or shout in surprise.

"which bed is Malfoy's." She snarled and stopped over to one of the beds that the boys pointed at and tore at the lock breaking it off and opening it to find Mittens scrambling out of it and into her arms, he let out a long quiet chuff. He had been scared and the inside of Malfoy's trunk lid was clawed into splinters. Before she left she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Malfoy's trunk and cast a quick spell she had learned from her grandfather's books and changed all his clothing into red and gold coloration, it wasn't hard to learn the Snake hated the lions, and the spell was permanent.

When Kathleen returned downstairs she found Professor Snape helping Malfoy up. The Slytherin head turned to her his face less then pleased.

"Before you say anything…I don't care if I get detention or whatever punishment you decide on, all I want you to know is I don't give a shit about anything when it comes to the safety of my Cub, and if anyone here ever touches him again, I will deal with them New York style with a side of French fries." She said glowering at Draco who glared back at her a little trickle of blood dripping off the side of his mouth. Mittens let out a low growl as if to complete her threat his blue eyes boring into the snake prince, Tigers had been known to eat snakes here and there.

Snape took a few moment to figure out what had happened, Kathleen was lucky she was in Slytherin house, or she probably wouldn't have gotten away with anything she just said.

"I see…" Snape drawled looking between Malfoy and Kathleen. "Draco, I seem to recall that stealing is against the rules, now I didn't just hear that you had broken that rule, did I?" Snape asked his cold eyes locked on his prized student.

Draco Malfoy looked away from him staring at one of the far walls.

"I thought so, and you miss Kathleen, since your new I will give you a warning, Fighting is not permitted unless it is an authorized wizards duel, which are very rare." He continued and waited till Kathleen nodded before he relaxed, he should have given her detention but she reminded him of someone and it was her first day and year a Hogwarts, he would give the benefit of the doubt. If it had been anyone from any other house they would have been scrubbing the entire outer wall of the castle.

Kathleen kept her cub with her the rest of the day, since he was a familiar it was allowed, most of the students just didn't like dragging them around and cleaning up after them. She was walking down one of the corridors towards the great hall for lunch when she ran into the raven-haired boy she had seen at the opening feast, he was flanked by a girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with bright red-orange hair.

The raven gave her a small smile but the other two looked more cautious, until Kathleen gave them a bring smile back.

"You don't have to look so worried, I might have been stuck in Slytherin house but I don't bite." She said reassuringly sticking a hand out to the raven. "My name is Kathleen Grey…and this is Mittens." She said tilting her head towards her tiger cub that had curled up beside her when she stopped.

The raven took her hand and gave it a soft shake. "I'm Harry, and this is Ron and Hermione." He said indicating toward his two followers.

Hermione stared at the Tiger blinking a few times and if she was thinking of something and bit her lip, but then seemed to shake it off. "Mittens, that's a cute name…but I don't think it will suit him when he gets older." She said looking back up to Kathleen. "is it alright if I pet him?"

The red head, Ron grinned. "Yeah, can we pet him…or will he bite our hands off?" he asked making Kathleen laugh.

"Yeah, he likes people, he has too since my father and myself were Magicians performing in New York…so I don't see why you can't, just don't pull on his tail, he hates that." Kathleen said and grinned when Hermione and Ron bent down and started smothering her little cub with affection.

"So, a tiger is a little unusual for a familiar, how did you get the teachers to agree with it?" Hermione asked scratching Mittens in between the ears.

"I wrote a letter to Professor McGonagall and she said it was fine since he's still technically a cat and I'm bonded to him." Kathleen explained and it seemed to satisfy Hermione who didn't ask anything else and continued to slather Mittens with love.

Harry watched his two friends for a few moments and looked up at Kathleen.

"So how'd you get stuck in Slytherin, you seem more like a Gryffindor to me, especially after you snapped at that First Year during the opening feast. " He commented trying to make conversation.

Kathleen thought about it and shrugged not really coming up with any real answer.

"I really have no idea…the hat said it was extremely difficult to place me…so I guess it just picked randomly…unfortunately, it was at my expense, those assholes locked Mittens in a trunk that belonged to some jerk named Draco Malfoy…" She said crossing her arms frowning at the memory. "called it a Hazing, assholes…"

"Yeah, I figured you would run into him sooner or later, I saw him staring at you during the opening feast." Harry said feeling sorry for her Tiger cub, animals like him shouldn't be locked in small places even as a joke on the owner, it was flat out cruel.

Ron seemed to turn a little red at the name. "If he took anything of mine I would Hex him." The red head growled.

"That's okay, I rearranged his face for him…Mittens is my cub in a sense, that snake just has to learn that when it comes to my cub, I'll be glad to rip his throat out…" she said and watched as Harry and Ron turned red with laughter.

Ron took a breath in and nodded. "you know, I like you, you might have been stuck in a snake pit, but you are nothing like a Slytherin. Oh how I wish I could have been there to see Malfoy's face when you socked him."

They spent nearly a quarter of lunch talking the corridor before they made their way into the Great Hall. Kathleen was telling them about her life in New York, the beat of the city and the good times and bad, some nights she and her Father had to move in the middle of the night because the neighborhood was getting so bad and so were the pranks that were pulled on them that it was getting out of control.

"That's how I lost my mother…was from one of the pranks a gang of teenagers pulled, I wouldn't call it a prank though, I would just call it horrible…my Father for one of his acts set a box she was in on fire, but you know those tricks where there is a secret door that you crawl in and out of. But one night a gang of drunk teenagers surrounded her and lit a match and threw it on her…she died later that night in the hospital from third degree burns…I was only five." Kathleen explained as they reached the Double doors to the Great Hall.

The Trio stared at her, both sad and horrified. Harry looked at the ground, there was evil all over the world whether it be a dark wizard or just a group of kids.

"I lost my parents when I was still a baby…I can't remember anything about them except the night they died. They were murdered by another Wizard." Harry said still looking at the ground.

Kathleen looked at the raven-haired and gave him a small smirk of sympathy.

"Well, maybe one day, we will both get the revenge we deserve…" she said and before Harry could say anything she pushed open the doors and picked up Mittens. "Now whose hungry, my stomach is practically eating itself from the inside out. "

Harry blinked a few times but knew she was trying to change the subject so he just looked at his friends and gave a small shrug so they wouldn't press the issue and walked into the Great Hall.

Immediately the group of Four was met with shocked stares, the golden trio was interacting with a Slytherin and as they watched the girl with Fiery Golden hair sat down with them at the Gryffindor table and actually smiled as she talked and laughed. Soon enough the Gryffindors excepted her, but the Slytherins looked appalled shooting her nasty looks and hissing to one another, just like an angry pile of snakes. The other houses didn't know what to make of it but they seemed to except it just like the Gryffindors and continued with their lunch.

After lunch Kathleen waved goodbye to her knew friends as she made her way to the dungeons for potions class. When she entered the cold room she was met with several pairs of harsh looks and whispers but she held her head high and sat down in an empty seat infront of a cauldron and started to pull out all the supplies that she needed.

A few more students piled in and seemed to avoid her, the last one to walk in was Draco Malfoy and as they were required to sit in pairs, the last seat was next to her.

The snake prince's figure stiffened and his eyes scanned the room, but seeing no other option her moved towards the bench and sat down keeping his eyes away from her as he did and began to dig through his own things.

Kathleen glared at Malfoy as he sat down but she wasn't going to yell at him for it since he had no other option since no one else was willing to sit with her. When they did catch each other's gaze Kathleen gave him a short nod, in a way telling him it was a short truce while they had to work together.

Draco let out a sigh of relief when he realized he wasn't going to receive another punch in the face for just being near her, he noticed she had dragged her Tiger along everywhere that day ever since the prank, that he now regretted.

He noticed his fellow Slytherins were whispering harshly here and there and staring at her. They had begun this after she had sent him flying, but even more after she was seen during lunch with Potter and his little band of rejects. He had to admit she was brave.

He was about to ask her a few questions when Snape walked into the room slamming the door behind himself making Draco close his mouth and face the front of the class.

"Open your books to page three-hundred and five and read till you reach page three hundred and ten, and take notes, if I don't see books open and quills moving I will be docking points and giving out detentions." Snape said coldly glaring at the entire class, though his eyes skipped over Draco and Kathleen.

Draco opened up his potions book and frowned the topic was about antidotes to certain poisons. They had done this last year, but he started to read anyway figuring it was review before a test. He heard shuffling beside him and saw that the new girl was looking for something in her bag. His eyes scanned her table. she had her Book, her ink well, paper..but she was missing her quill.

Draco glanced at Snape and saw him staring at her his eyebrows pulling into a frown, Draco knew that a lecture about how Slytherins were always prepared was forming in the Professors head. He quickly pulled out an extra quill and poked her under the table to get her attention, but he kept his face on the book. He didn't know why he was going to help her, after all she punched him in the face, but at the same time through the shock that he had almost gotten his face bashed in a twinge of respect flew through him, no one, beside Grander last year, had ever tried to sock him a good one.

Kathleen was digging through her things when she felt something poke her. She turned to hiss at Malfoy when she noticed he was holding a extra quill in his hand under the table but his face was locked on his book.

Carefully Kathleen took the quill away from him and his empty hand slipped onto his lap casually. She blinked a few times and opened her book and rested her quill and hand on the paper and began reading, only pausing to dip her quill in the ink and scribble something down.

Once and a while Kathleen would glance at Malfoy as he worked, his blonde eyebrows arched in a neat frown of concentration and the end of his quill gracefully brushing against his soft lips as he thought. She looked away again trying to focus on her reading her long red-gold hair falling infront of her face to keep herself from looking at the Snake Prince. Her heart had sped up just a little when she had stolen that small glance but it was enough to bring color to her face. She frowned as she read the pages of the book finding it harder and harder to concentrate with Draco beside her.

After a while she was able to focus on the book again with her veil of Hair blocking out Draco and she brushed the white end feather of the quill against her cheek enjoying it softness, only taking it away to write some more notes before bringing back to her cheek. It even had a sent to it, she guessed it was from Malfoy. It smelled a little like lavender. She couldn't help but even out her breathing to savor the smell, she loved lavenders. She closed her eyes and focused on the sent a small smile coming to her face, she imagined herself in a field of lavenders.

Kathleen was laying on her back staring up at the sky and Mittens laid on her chest batting at one of the flower heads with one of his big paws. He jumped off and danced around the field playing like the little cub he was. Kathleen laughed at her little cub when there was suddenly movement out of the corner of her eyes. The Snake Prince was standing there with a small gentle smile on his face.

Kathleen stood and walked over to him and he wrapped his arms around her and she could feel him lean closer, his soft breath was against her neck in moments and she couldn't help but close her eyes and lean her head back.

She giggled as he kissed her neck. Giggled? Wait..she didn't giggle, in fact she never did anything too girly in the first place. Something was wrong, she hated snakes and the Prince of Snakes was holding her. She pushed him away and glared up at him only to have her fantasy melt away into darkness. She then felt a sharp poke in her side.

Draco glanced over at Kathleen as her hair fell infront of her face. He sided and shook his head as he finished his notes and shut his book. He glanced back over at he again and noticed her breathing had evened out and her hand had fell to her lap and she was leaned forward ever so slightly. He blinked a few times when he realized what had happened. She fell asleep. He frowned and watched her for a few minutes before he poked her again, sharply. He couldn't believe this girl. There was being brave, but falling asleep in Potions class with Snape was just stupid.

Kathleen opened her eyes and lifted her head to stare at Malfoy sleepily. She glared at him for a moment then realized why he had poked her. Panicking she look up at Snape, who luckily had his face buried in a more advanced potions book. She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck and looked at Draco in thanks and continued her work, luckily she had been almost finished.

By the time she finished her notes, Class was over. Kathleen shut her book and started packing everything way. She looked at the quill in her hand and turned to give it back to Malfoy, but he was already gone. She sighed, he might have let her borrow his quill, but there was no way he would sit by someone who had rearranged his face earlier.

She turned when someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Malfoy.

Kathleen blushed a little as her eyes locked with his and she suddenly had to look away when she remembered her dream. She shoved the quill into his hands.

"Here is your quill back…I won't need it anymore, I'll just go back to the dorms and grab mine.." she managed to get out quickly before she practically fled out of the dungeons before Malfoy had a chance to speak. If this was they was she was going to act around him from now on..she had a difficult year ahead of her.

A very Long and difficult year.