Chapter 5

Kate made her way back from Care of Magical Creatures, the last lesson of the day, with Katie and Leanne. They had been doing hippogriffs, but Hagrid seemed to be upset about something. He hadn't let them go near the hippogriffs either, just told them and demonstrated how to handle them. And he'd seemed very relieved when the bell rang.

"What do you think was up with him?" Leanne asked.

Kate shrugged. "Well, it's his first day teaching. Maybe it's nerves."

Katie didn't say anything, lost in her thoughts.

"Katie? Are you there?" Leanne asked.

She started and looked around at Leanne. "Yeah, sorry... My mind wandered off."

"To Ni- someone?" Leanne asked, with a nervous glance at Kate. She wasn't sure how Kate would take that, and she didn't want to cause any trouble between Kate and Katie.

Katie turned slightly pink, but she shook her head.

They had reached the Common Room by now, and they sat down next to Fred and George, in front of the fire. Nick came in a few minutes later, with Alicia, and sat down across from them. They had a few hours of free time before they had to go for dinner.

"Did you have a lesson with Hagrid yet?" Fred asked.

Kate turned to him. "Yeah, why?"

"Uh, did he seem a bit... distracted?"

"Yeah, we wondered why. You don't think something went wrong, do you?"

Fred and George shrugged.

"Anything can happen, especially at Hogwarts."

"I wish Peeves was here," Kate said quietly, leaning on Fred's shoulder.

Most of them grinned and rolled their eyes. Kate had always had a soft spot for Peeves, especially after he helped her escape from Filch in her first year.

"Yeah, so do we. Hogwarts is boring without a couple of pranks, isn't it Nick?" George called out.

Nick looked up and smiled at his sister, who was now talking with the twins, Leanne and Katie.

"Yeah, I agree, but I doubt that even you'd enjoy it much if Peeves was able to enter our common room... We'd never have another peaceful moment." He grinned, thinking about it.

At the same time, he couldn't help but wonder about his dad, who according to his mother was safe. He'd gone to see her during break, and had seen Harry coming out of the classroom.

.

When he'd asked his mother, she'd just said that she had been talking to him about his parents. This had reminded him of his father, and he'd asked his mother if she'd heard anything about him.

Skylar had smiled slightly then, saying that she knew that he was safe, but nothing else.

"Nick?" Alicia said, patting his shoulder softly. "Are you there?"

Nick started. "Huh-what- oh, yeah." He smiled down at his girlfriend. She was wonderful, really. She played Quidditch and was actually very sweet.

"We didn't really get the chance to talk last night," she said quietly.

Nick nodded. "I know. What with the dementors, and all..."

Alicia shivered. "That was really scary. I wish we knew how to stop them."

Nick sat up. "Maybe we can learn. I'll ask my mother, or Professor Lupin about it. I think we do learn how to stop them as N.E.W.T level spells."

"Yeah?" Alicia said, smiling up at him. Nick couldn't resist, he just had to lean down and kiss her cheek.

She was too freaking cute.

Alicia blushed, then brought him in for a kiss.

Something heavy fell down. Nick had no idea what it was, but he didn't really care.

Kate, on the other hand, did. She stared at Katie with something akin to disbelief. Katie looked at her sadly.

Upstairs, Kate mouthed at Katie and Leanne. The three wordlessly got up and walked to the dorm. No one bothered to stop them, they did this quite often, just to talk.

Once in the dorm, the three girls sat down on their respective beds. Kate pulled out a bar of Honeydukes Finest and handed it over to Katie. "Talk."

Taking a large bite, Katie chewed for a moment, swallowed, then took a deep breath. "I like your brother."

Kate frowned. "You think he's cute."

Leanne shook her head. "No, it's not just that. She really, really, likes him."

Kate leaned back, thinking to herself. She loved her brother, and was insanely protective of him, despite the fact that he was older than her.

"Katie? Why do you like my brother?"

Katie blushed furiously. "He's nice, funny, smart, he makes me feel happy... obviously, he's good looking..."

Leanne nodded in agreement.

"But a lot of it has to do with how much he cares about you, Kate."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"He's always willing to protect you when it comes to anything: whether it's taking the fall for a prank or defending you from Slytherins."

Kate nodded, smiling to herself. She loved it when Nick looked after her. In a way, he took the place her father had not been there to fill.

"And there's so much more," Katie said, her eyes shining brightly.

Kate said nothing for a few moments. Finally, she opened her mouth. "I love you, Katie, you're my best friend. And after what you just said, I don't think I'd be okay with my brother being with anyone except for you, to be honest."

Katie smiled widely. "Really, Kate?"

Kate grinned back. "Definitely. I was worried that you were only into him for his looks."

"And what fine looks they are," Leanne said dreamily.

Two pillows hit her squarely on the stomach.

"Or that this was just another one of your fantasies that you grow out of," Kate continued, rolling her eyes at Leanne.

"But, please promise me something," she said, looking seriously at Katie.

"What?"

"That you'll not push him, or make him feel pressured in any way. Right now, he's with Alicia, right? Let him figure things out on his own. Please, don't make him feel guilty about anything."

Katie nodded solemnly and said, "Of course. I couldn't do that either. I would never feel right about it."

Downstairs, Lee and Angelina had joined the group and were chatting happily with the twins. Fred especially was throwing himself into the conversation with a lot of enthusiasm.

Just then, Kate, Leanne and Katie came back downstairs, Katie looking happy.

Kate looked at Fred, who was wearing a goofy look on his face. When he saw her looking, he carefully rearranged his features into one of casual nonchalance.

Kate snorted, amused. The three resumed their former positions in front of the fire.

"Hey, Fred. Do you want to play Exploding Snap?" Kate asked.

"Mm? What? No..." Fred said, not really paying attention to her, but staring after Angelina, who was going to get something from her dorm.

Kate felt a stab of annoyance. Just because Angelina was there, Fred was almost completely ignoring her.

After Angelina was no longer visible, Fred turned around to face Kate, a grin on his face. "Yeah, did you say something?"

Kate sighed. "Never mind. I'm going to get started on Transfiguration homework," she said irritably.

As she got up, Nick followed her. When they were out of earshot, he said, "Kate? Is everything okay?"

She sighed. "Yeah. I'm just annoyed that Fred doesn't even pay attention to me, just because Angelina is there."

"Oh, so you're jealous?" Nick asked, grinning.

"No way! Not in the way you mean, anyway. It just hurts when my supposed best friend completely ignores me for someone else," Kate said firmly.

Nick just smiled.

"Oh, I almost forgot the real reason I followed you," he said suddenly.

"What?"

He leaned towards her, making sure that no one was within hearing distance. "Dad is safe," he whispered.

Kate's breath caught. "Really? How do you know?" she whispered back urgently.

"I asked Mum. She said that she didn't know more, only that he was safe."

Kate exhaled. "Thank God," she said weakly.

Nick hugged her briefly before saying, "I know. For the first time in a long time, Mum looked optimistic..."

Kate nodded, not able to speak.

"Don't worry. I have a feeling that we will get him back," he said, then squeezed Kate's hand and left.

Kate hoped with all her heart that Nick was right.