Katherine-Mai Winchester sat next to Hermione in ancient runes. The bushy haired teenager had informed the American teen about the time turner she had been given, since she had decided upon taking all of the classes possible. "Why muggle studies, you realise you are muggleborn right?" Katherine asked her friend.
"But learning from a wizard point of view will be fascinating" Hermione shrugged. "Why didn't you take divination with the rest of us?" She added
"Because I've met physics before and they freak me out" Katherine replied "I mean, there's this really cool one my Uncle Bobby knows called Pamela, she's awesome but still, it's a little creepy as she knows what I'm thinking without even having to look at me" Katherine shuddered
"Well I doubt there is any reality to what we're going to be learning, but again, it could be fascinating." Hermione said as the pair settled down and started taking notes when the professor started their talks. Both girls immersed themselves in learning the new language. It reminded Katherine of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Both enjoyed the lesson.
After the class, Katherine understood why Hermione needed to run off as soon as she could, but was okay to join her and Ron and Harry at the stop of the steps to walk down to care of magical creatures together. "Omens, honestly. If you ask me divination is a very woolly discipline" she said as Katherine joined them "Now ancient runes, that's a fascinating subject" sue said
"No kidding, it's awesome, told you divination would be a load of crap" she added smugly to Hermione as the tow girls linked arms and walked down to Hagrids hut, ignoring Rons comment about Hermione being in two places at once.
The four teenagers followed Hagrid into the forest with the rest of the group when he called them all together. "Wow" Hermione and Katherine breathed together upon looking at the creature in front of them. "He's beautiful" Katherine added.
Having heard her comment Hagrid beamed at the young American "This here is Buckbeak, he's a hippogriff" he said to them. The creature was incredibly majestic and proud, one could tell that with a single glance. Standing almost the same height as Hagrid himself, with large wings and pretty feathers. A mix of silver, grey and white. "Now the first thing you got to know about hippogriffs is they're proud creature, easily insulted, don't ever insult one, because it might be the last thing you do" Hagrid told them
"Morbid, I love it" Katherine smirked.
"You're so weird sometimes" Ron replied, she simply shrugged and continued to listen.
"No then, who wants to come say hello?" Hagrid asked and every one, including Katherine, took a step back, leaving just Harry their.
"It's always him isn't it?" Katherine said.
"It is a reoccurring theme, yes" Hermione nodded.
It was a sight to see, especially when watching Harry fly on the Hippogriff, "Wow" Katherine spoke under her breath again, she could hear her friends whoops of joy and laughter ringing through the forest, a large grin on his face as he landed. Katherine was the first to run over and pulled Harry into a tight hug, the two of them laughing "That was amazing" she said as she pulled back but kept her hands on the tops of his arms. She watched as his face blushed pink, looking at him with amusement before the two were shoved out of the way by Draco Malfoy, causing Katherine to fall to the floor.
"Your not so scary are you, you great ugly brute." he insulted.
"Oh crap" was all Katherine managed to say before Buckbeak was on it's hind legs and leaning forward, slashing Draco's arm. Hearing the slytherin roll around and complain about dying only caused an eye roll from the American who walked over "Hey" she said, slapping Draco on the face a little "Listen here Malfoy, first, this was you fault, second, your not dying, and third, if you stay still I can sort out your arm before you get to madam pomfrey" she said as she reached into her bag and pulled out a medical supply kit,. Gryffindor and Slytherins alike watched as Katherine helped the boy the whole school knew she hated, wrapping his arm in bandages before putting it in a sling "Don't say muggles never did anything or you" She added with a glare before walking over to Hermione whilst Draco and his friends walked of to the hospital wing and Hagrid dismissed the class.
"You should have just left him" Ron said.
"If I did that he would have kicked up even more of a fuss. Hagrid could have gotten into even more trouble, believe it or not, Malfoy may be a git, but if somebody helps him he likes to make sure they're even." She said with a shrug the boys looked at her not understanding but Hermione nodded "It means he owes me a favour now" She elaborated "My dad always said collect as many favours as you can because you never know when you might need them" She said with a shrug. Before pulling a thoughtful possession "Do you think they'll have cupcakes at lunch, I haven't had one in like, two days" she said.
"I think they might, everybody knows you get mean when your deprived cupcakes" Hermione smirked as the two girls linked arms.
~ 0 ~
"I regret helping him" Katherine said sourly as she heard Draco milk his injury for all it was worth "I should have over tightened the bandage and cut of the blood circulation" She said.
"We haven't heard the end of this" Hermione said
"What do you mean?" Ron asked with his mouth full of food, Katherine swiped the top of the chocolate frosting off of her cake and put her finger in her mouth before answering
"It means" she started before imitating Draco's voice badly "His father will hear about this" she said, causing some much needed comic relief into the situation. "It Hagrid I feel bad for, I mean, his first lesson. Sheesh" She said
"At first you were being helpful, then you became Katherine again" Ron said and she shrugged.
"No, Kathy has a point, If this happens in his first lesson, it will cast doubt about his ability to teach overall, maybe even an inquiry and well… it not exactly a secret that Hagrid isn't exactly qualified" Hermione said, leaning in to finish her sentence in a whisper.
"Plus, I highly doubt Dumbledore does background checks on the teachers, I mean, the first bloke had Voldemort on the back of his head" She said, ignoring Hermione and Rons flinches at Voldemorts name.
"Yeah, and the second guy was Lockhart, enough said" Harry added as he and Katherine high fived. "Hey, are you going to eat that?" Harry asked Katherine, looking at the second cupcake on her plate. Hermione and Rons eyes widened, nobody was allowed to touch her cake. But to their surprise she just shrugged, handing it over to him.
"He's been sighted, he's been sighted!" Seamus Finnegan said, running down to his fellow third years and slamming a newspaper in front of them as Ron asked who? Sirius Black, that's who. And he wasn't far from here, Katherine couldn't help but think the people talking were right, the dementors weren't much protection if he has already gotten passed them once. Kathy, Ron and Hermione all looked at Harry uneasily as he turned a sickly pale colour.
~ 0 ~
The four were lounging about in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione doing her essay for ancient runes, Katherine pretending to be going hers whilst Ron and Harry had none. "You want to know what I think is weird about this whole Sirius Black thing?" Katherine started.
"What?" the other three all asked simultaneously.
"Well I was doing some research on him, you know, since he's trying to kill one of my best friends" She said offhandedly. If it was anybody else who said it like that, somebody might take offence, but the three knew Katherine well enough to know she was just raised to be blunt, although she was getting better with the way she talked to people thanks to Hermione's teachings in etiquette. "He was a Gryffindor" She said, surprising the others. "He was in the same year as your dad, and on the quidditch team with him, he was a beater" Katherine aid. This held some interest to Harry as he looked up.
"You mean, Sirius black and my dad, they could have been friends, the would have shared a dormitory. All that time" Harry said, an ever surging hatred for the man.
"Yeah, but before he was total psycho, he was actually somewhat of a hero, like, he saved a bunch of Muggles and such, he fought off death eaters. Dunno, just think it's a little weird, the sudden dark side of it all. I think there is something we're missing from the story" she mused. The three looked at her with raised eyebrows "What, that doesn't mean I don't want to shoot him, maybe kick him in the nuts as well before stabbing him with a knife or whatever just means I think there was something in the middle that caused him to go whacka doodle," she said, defending herself "I like to know peoples motives okay, it makes me feel better when I stab them" she added, crossing her arms.
"You shouldn't stab anybody!" Hermione exclaimed
"Oh come on, only like, werewolves and shape shifters and djins and you know, evil creatures that are killing humans." she said with a roll of her eyes.
"What the hell did you do before coming to Hogwarts?" Ron asked her and she widened her eyes, forgetting a moment that they didn't yet know about her being a hunter.
"Nothing, never mind, I'm going to take a shower" she said, standing up and sprinting out of the common Ron and up to the girls dormitory.
"Honestly, she scares me a little more every years. Don't get me wrong, she's awesome, but scary" Ron said.