Well sorry for the looooooonnnnnnggggg wait but honestly I had no idea anyone was reading this because I didn't have any reviews but then da da da da someone reviewed!!! Thanks goes out to Bri P. for being my ONLY reviewer. You are absolutely awesome and this chapter goes out to you.

Disclaimer: Yet again, I own nothing, and as much as I would absolutely adore owning Harry Potter I don't think it's going to happen any time soon.

Gentlemen and Scariness

Katarina Potter stood in front of her mirror and nervously smoothed the front of her short Slytherin coloured dress. Honestly, how Luisa talked her into that colour she really did not know….it might be because it looked amazing on her. Okay, so that was it, the dress was perfect. One of those dresses that made anyone wearing it look drop-dead gorgeous. Thankfully Lu had not forced her into heels but instead let her wear a pair of Grecian looking silver, strappy sandals. Then her hair was pulled into a low, twisted pony tail and hung over her shoulder, while her bangs were held back by a small silver clip.

"Are you ready?" Luisa's voice echoed from the bathroom.

She spun around as Luisa exited the bathroom, her bright auburn hair flowing in curls down her back. Her dress was a dark yet bright blue with intricate silver woven through the torso. The color was a perfect contrast to her long hair. The silver heels she wore match the silver design on the torso. Kat couldn't wait to see her brother's reaction to her best friend's appearance.

"Yeah, and I definitely cannot wait to see Cam's face when he see's you," Kat grinned at her.

Lu rolled her eyes but grinned all the same. They made their way out of the dorm and down the stairs. At the bottom, all of the boys were waiting, some with their dates and then there was Cam and Zach nervously fidgeting with their dress robes.

Theo caught sight of them first, he smiled at Kat then Lu and nudged his date, who just so happened to be Lily Malfoy. Lily smirked at Kat and glanced pointedly at Zach. Kat scowled back at her cousin who shrugged unconcernedly and turned to Seth and his date, Joy Longbottom, Theo's sister. They spun around and smiled at the two girls and tapped Landon and Danielle. Landon ran to them and spun each girl around laughing and effectively gaining Cam and Zach's attention. Cam stopped dead with his jaw dropped open wide as he took in the beautiful red-head standing in front of him. Landon glanced between the four Gryffindors and smirked. Then Danielle closed Cam's mouth with her hand and that seemed to bring him back to reality. Zach was burning holes into the side of Kat's head who refused to look at him.

Cam rushed to Lu and bowed goofily taking her hand and kissing it lightly. Lu grinned and as Kat's brother pulled her out of the room with the rest of the boys she glanced back at her best friend and gave her a quick wave but then Cam pulled her out the portrait hole. Kat looked anywhere but the devastatingly sexy man in front of her as she nervously fidgeted her hands, his eyes were slowly dissecting every bit of her body and it was making her shiver.

Finally Zach spoke, "I like your dress," he commented quietly after Landon and Danielle finally exited the dorm.

"Er..thanks," Kat mumbled still determined to look anywhere but his intense hazel eyes.

"Kat," Zach's deep voice saying her first name was heavenly to her ears and she had to instill all of her will-power not to jump his hot body in his black dress robes right there. His dark hair was, as always, slightly mussed, like he just woke up but honestly it worked for him and…oh Godric!!! Kat though in exasperation. She couldn't believe it, she was actually attracted to the bloody git.

She came out of her stupor and noticed he was smirking, so she scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. Then he bowed gracefully to her still smirking and brushed his lips over the palm of her hand. She silently cursed as yet again she blushed and he held a gentle but firm grip on her hand even as he straightened up.

"Ready to have everyone stare at us?" Zach asked after a moment more of appraising her body.

They left the common room and made their way toward the Great Hall.

"No, and I don't understand, it's not like we're dating or anything."

Zach's small smile disappeared and he looked straight ahead.

"Right, not like we're dating."

Kat scrunched her forehead at his weird reaction and him now avoiding her eyes. They walked in silence the rest of the way and then he pulled her into the transformed Great Hall. It looked beautiful, white and blue being the main colors and fake snow falling from the ceiling.

Kat glanced excitedly at Zach, forgetting his weird behavior only to find him no longer next to her. She glanced around the room in confusion but with all of the white and falling snow it was too hard to see anything. She got a glimpse of a tall brown-haired man and the flicker of an emerald tie heading to the gardens and she hurried to follow after him. But then three squealing girls stepped in front of her and gushed about how "she got a date with Hogwarts' Playboy."

"Like honestly Katarina you just don't seem to be his type," the blonde said flipping her hair.

Kat knew her name….well….she knew it at some point but it didn't really matter.

"Get out of my way," Kat growled.

The girls looked surprised but the blonde rolled her eyes.

"Oh cut the crap, I don't know why everyone's so scared of you I mean you are tiny what could you possibly do to me? Those boys follow you around like little puppy dogs because they are worried your ugliness might offend someone and Zach? Come on Potter that boy doesn't really like you it's just a favor for your brother, I mean I was just with him last night, you can ask him and arahdfg!!!!...."

Kat stormed past them and out the door to the gardens after Zach leaving the bloodied nosed blonde, who's name she just remembered was Melinda, writhing on the ground in pain from the muggle punch she just gave her. She glanced around the gardens but didn't see him anywhere. She sighed disappointed and made her way to the pretty fountain. Then a blonde haired boy came into her corner vision. Kat spun toward him and realized it was the one and only Tom, the ex-boyfriend who she had just dumped for cheating on her.

"Tom what are you doing here?" she gritted out, crossing her arms protectively over her chest as he got a little bit too close for her comfort.

"Nothing, just wanted to talk," he replied smiling pleasantly at her, and then looked apologetic, "I wanted to apologize, if you wouldn't mind walking a bit further in the gardens with me?"

"Oh," she faltered a bit and then sighed, "All right, why not?"

"Cool," and they walked into the maze that had been created outside of the Great Hall for the night.

They walked for quite a while until finally Tom stopped glanced around where they were. Kat was starting to feel weary about her decision to go out there with him as she watched is paranoid glances around them. She rubbed her shivering arms at the cold surrounding them. Tom noticed and smiled slightly at her, the smile was a bit disconcerting, it had a smug and hungry look to it. By now Kat was nervous. Very nervous.

"Uh, Tom, I think I'm just going to go back now because I'm cold," she said making her way toward the entrance that they had just come through, just before she got there it sealed itself.

Kat spun around to look at Tom who was holding his wand out thoughtfully at the hedge. A feeling of dread wound up in her stomach as he eyed her from head to toe. It wasn't the same as Zach's looks. This was an invasive look, he was undressing her with his eyes. Kat finally began to panic, searching her dress for her wand only to find that she had left it in her dorm, in her excitement to get to the ball. Tom was coming towards her now and she edged back toward the closed hedge until she was as far as she could go. His eyes had an evil, mocking glint to them as he grabbed her wrists roughly in his. She was strong but she wasn't strong enough to stop a large quidditch player from man-handling her.

"I'll teach you to dump Tom Heartfew," he growled into her ear with his hot breath, making her shiver in fear.

He wrenched her arms over her head with one hand holding them there as he licked down from her ear to her neck, then proceeded toward her cleavage. She started thrashing her legs, only for him to push her to the ground, slam her head against the ground, and hold her legs in place with his. She cried out for help but only got one out before he silenced her with his wand. Her tears were blurring her vision but she felt him tear the front of her dress open so that her bra was exposed. Then he crushed his lips onto hers and she almost gagged as he stuck his tongue down her throat. She tried thrashing again but it was getting useless she didn't have a lot of energy left. Then suddenly there was no more weight on her.

She couldn't move from exhaustion, pain, and fear but she could hear voices and spells being cast and finally gentle hands picking her up. Even though the hands were gentle her automatic response was to protest to jerk away from whoever it was, it was definitely male and she was not exactly fond of males at the time. Then she caught sight of his face. Zach's hard face that softened as he glanced down at her. And she stopped fighting and held onto him tighter, using all her effort to turn her head and glance back at the scene, her brother was there pounding on Tom, along with Landon, Seth, and Theo. She glanced one last time at Zach's pissed off face and she smiled and snuggled closer to him and then she blacked out.

Kat gasped as her eyes snapped open. It was all a dream, all a dream, she told her self. But then as she looked down and realized she was still in Zach's arms, her dress was ripped and Zach's robe was draped over the top of her. She groaned and rubbed the back of her head which was slightly bloody from Tom slamming her head on the ground.

Zach glanced down at her when she moved and his eyes were full of concern.

"I was worried when you passed out, how's your head?" he asked as he climbed into the portrait hole.

"Throbbing," she groaned.

"Yeah it looks as much," he grunted.

The common room had a few stragglers in it and they gaped at Zach and the girl he was carrying.

"What are you gawking at?" Zach growled at them and stomped over to the boys stairs and up into the seventh year boys dorm that they shared, and shut the door with his foot after he put a sock over the door and then locked it.

"A sock? Really Zach?" Kat groaned slightly as he carried her to his bed and gently laid her down.

"Well I can't have the entire Gryffindor population coming in here now can I?" He said gruffly and he started undoing her sandals.

Then he stood and pulled her top half up so that he could examine her head. She winced as he touched in gingerly and then muttered some sort of spell and it instantly felt better. Sighing he sat on the edge of the bed and let out a shaky breath. Quietly, Kat got out of the bed and walked slowly around the bed and then approached Zach and spun around so that her back was facing him.

"Take it off," she whispered.

"Kat," Zach started.

"No, Zach, please, just get it off of me," she pleaded.

She heard him sigh and rub his face with his hands and then stand so that he was directly behind her. Kat could feel his warmth against her and his cool fingers as they fumbled with the ties to her dress. He slowly, ever so slowly unlaced each strand and let the dress drop. They stood there for a moment, Zach, with his black pants, his shirt was hanging out and his emerald tie was loose; Kat in her bra and underwear and yet she didn't feel embarrassed.

Kat spun around and faced him. Zach's eyes went straight to hers and he studied her eyes for a few moments and then he glanced down and noticed the bruises. His hard glare was trained on her wrists as he grabbed them and examined them, tracing them lightly, then he noticed the ones on her chest. He closed his eyes as if in pain. Then opened them and stared right at her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"Zach, why are you apologizing?" Kat asked confused.

"If I had just stayed with you instead of getting upset over…something stupid…I could have been there for when that arsehole…." He trailed off and wouldn't look at her.

"Zach it's not your fault," she said, "Look at me! Its not your fault I shouldn't have gone with him."

The both sighed and Zach leaned his head against her forehead. Then her tears came as the weight of what she had been through finally came to her. Her body wracked with sobs and she clung to Zach and he soothingly rubbed her bare back and whispered calming words into her ear. He pulled her onto his lap and they sat on his bed. They stayed like that for an hour, or what felt like an hour, until Zach started to become aware of the situation he was in, of the practically naked, beautiful girl on his lap, who was extremely vulnerable and very attainable. Kat was thinking along the same lines. She pulled back and looked into his troubled eyes.

"Zach, all I can feel is him, please, make me not feel him anymore," she whispered.

"Kat," he started yet again, looking like he was about to refuse.

"Zach, please," she couldn't feel his hands on her or taste his breath in her mouth anymore she needed Zach.

"I…." Zach couldn't refuse her, he wanted her of course, but not that way, not because that jerk almost…did what he did to her.

He gently picked her up and placed her on his bed as he got up and paced around the room. Then he determinedly walked back over to her, picked her up and carried her to the shower, turned it on and tossed her in. He stripped his tie, dress shirt and pants off so he was only in his boxers and climbed in after her. Since she was still unresponsive he washed her hair, and body for her, trying to hold himself back from doing more, and then pulled her out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. He left her for a second, grabbed a pair of his black sweatpants and his Gryffindor quidditch sweatshirt, then he pulled the sweatshirt over her head and ordered her to put his sweatpants on. She numbly followed his orders and then he pulled her back to his bed and pushed her down so that she was laying on his bed.

At first she just lay there, staring at the ceiling with Zach sitting in a chair next to her watching her. Then she glanced over at him.

"Will you lay with me?" she asked.

He thought about it for a moment and decided it wasn't going to hurt and climbed in next to her, protectively throwing one arm over her and they fell asleep staring into each other's eyes.

Well? I know it was a lot to happen in one chapter…sorry….tell me what you all think….

Thanks

~Ace~