Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that is owned by someone else that I put into this story.

A/N: Just so you all know, I plan on this being a long story with many chapters. That's why its moving slowly. So this chapter is just a fun chapter to read, getting to know the everyday life of a Hogwarts student.

Chapter 11

Blah Blah Blah

The next morning, it took all of Katharine's strength to peel herself out of bed, even though it was ridiculously loud in the dorm. She had not slept well at all, which was just her luck on the first day of class. She sat on her bed and rubbed her eyes, allowing herself a chance to fully wake. She looked around at the source of all of the noise and watched the other girls hustling to get ready.

"'Morning guys," Kat said groggily.

"Morning, Kat! Shower is all yours. Laura is in the other one," Renee said as she was blow drying her hair with the tip of her wand in one hand and brushing it out with the other.

Kat was about to stand up when she noticed a long, rectangular box placed on her night table. Her heart skipped a beat as she snatched the box and ripped the top off. There it was, her beloved wand, only much newer. She picked it up and immediately a red glow burst from the tip. Yes, it felt just right. She felt nearly complete now. Then she wondered how it got there, but no matter, she had it now and just in time for classes to start.

As she grabbed her uniform and everything else she needed to get ready, she thought about the previous day...


James, Sirius, and her had visited Madam Hooch in her office and asked permission if she could try out for the Quidditch team. Everybody that wished to try out had to go through Madam Hooch, however once tryouts started, it was the Captain and Madam Hooch together that would choose who would be on the team. She had said yes as long as Kat got some practicing in before tryouts.

The rest of their day consisted of the Marauders planning some new prank that Katharine refused to be a part of. She tagged along to James' Head dormitory until it was time for dinner. Katharine couldn't believe how comfortable the Marauders made her feel. They were such goof balls and she literally could not stop laughing the entire time she was with them.

After dinner they headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room, where Remus challenged her to a game of Wizard's Chess. Thanks to Ron's lessons, she had become fond of the board game. However, that didn't mean she was any good at it.

While she and Remus played chess in one of the corners of the common room, Sirius and Peter sat at the table and moaned and groaned over their homework they had waited to do until the last minute. James had pulled up a chair next to Kat and Remus and was watching their game intently until it was time for him and Lily to make their nightly patrol. He kept instructing Katharine on what to do, however, and was making her extremely anxious.

"Nah ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you," James interrupted her as she was in the process of speaking her Knight's move.

She finally rounded on him, "Well, you aren't the one playing are you? So shut up!" This humored James as he chuckled at her annoyance. Remus simply sat back in his chair and grinned at the two. Like he would really care much since he was winning.

"Bishop to F three," she said.

Her knight moved over to Remus' last pawn and stabbed it, which crumbled into pieces. She picked up the pieces and moved them to the side.

Remus grinned widely and said, "Queen to F three."

His queen moved over to her bishop and completely slaughtered it.

"Check mate."

Katharine quickly scanned the board for somewhere to move her king, not believing that she was really in check mate. Defeated, she slammed her fist on the table, "Dammit! James, if you hadn't been distracting me-" She began accusing him. Remus was laughing hysterically.

"Hey, don't start blaming me!" He defended as he threw his hands up. "That was aaaaaall your doing, my lady. I only tried to help you." He smirked as he cocked his head to the side.

"Whatever." She said, shoving the the board game away from her.

"Oh, don't be such a sore loser." James said.

Katharine stuck her tongue out at him.

"Don't you think I deserve something?" Remus said as he mockingly began to bow.

"Yeah, yeah. Good game, Remus." Katharine scoffed.

Then, the portrait hole opened and in came Lily. She glided over to the three of them and greeted Katharine, not evening looking at James yet.

"Hi Katharine, you're looking better."

"Thanks, Lily," Kat smiled up at her.

"Hey, if you need any help with your classes and such tomorrow, just let me know okay? I realized our first meeting wasn't so... Nice." Lily said for lack of better words.

"I most definitely will ask you first," Kat said.

Then, as if Lily had some kind of bipolar disorder, her mood completely changed as she cocked her head to the side and spoke to James with such a disdainful tone, "You ready or what?"

James' eyebrows narrowed together. He didn't reply as he stood up. He only looked back at them, rolled his eyes, and followed Lily out of the room.

Katharine was lost in thought as she stared at where the two had disappeared from the Common Room. She was brought back by Remus snorting.

"What?" She looked around, confused.

"Oh come off it," Remus grinned. Sirius then slammed his books shut and scooted his chair over to the two. Peter followed suit.

"Come off what?" She asked irritably as she eyed Sirius slide over next to her.

"We aren't blind, Kat. We see the way you look at him." Sirius nodded towards the hole.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kat lied.

"You don't have to lie, there's nothing wrong with it." Peter smiled at her.

"I..." Kat didn't know how to respond.

"Listen," Sirius clapped a hand onto her shoulder, "I think you might be the best thing that has come into James' life. This past week, James has literally become a completely different person. He's actually matured." He shuttered as if he couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth. "I mean, I must say I kind of miss the smart ass, cocky James. He's still there, but not as much when you're around, and definitely not as much as I am..."

"You can say that again," Peter snorted.

Sirius continued as if he had never heard him, "When he was chasing Lily and asking her out every minute of every day, he was usually in a bad mood after she rejected him and so he would pick on someone lesser than him. Anyway, I think it's a good thing that he's met you and I hope you lighten up a bit."

Kat shrugged off his hand, "I don't want to change him, Sirius, and I won't lighten up. I mean, is it supposed to make me happy that I've stopped him from being a terrible bully?"

"It should," Remus said.

"Well it doesn't. He needs to understand he can't be with me. I just want to get back to my own time. The longer I'm here, the more I change the future." She sighed as she stared at the broken chess pieces she played with in her hands.

"Kat, have you even thought about yet that you might be here for a reason?" Remus offered.

"Like what?"

"Maybe for James?"

She laughed humorlessly, "Oh yeah, like I was sent to the past only to fix a poor, selfish, egotistical boy and his mates in crime. Ha! I highly doubt that."

The boys stared back at her silently and she suddenly realized how harsh she had been.

"Okay, look, I understand that you all are concerned about your best friend," she looked them all in the eyes, "but I have bigger problems to deal with than to try and fix woman-less James. And yes, I have thought about that, Remus. All the bloody time. But I don't think I'm here for James. I think I'm here to fix something else in the future that has to do with Voldemort."

She noticed Peter winced as she said his name. Hmm...

"Really?" Sirius asked, his attention completely diverted. "Like what?"

"I can't tell you. I would say too much. Now, if you all would excuse me, I need to go get my school books and such ready for tomorrow." After she gave her lame excuse to leave, she headed for the girls dormitory without another word.


And now here Katharine was, about to go back down to the Common Room to face the Marauders once again.

She was so lost. Should she just ignore the Marauders all together now? Or just learn how to control her emotions? The longer she was friends with them, the more she got this terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was damaging her future.

Why did she have to like them so much? Why did the thought of ignoring them cause a terrible pain in her heart?

What was even worse, was that over the last two days or so, she noticed that she wasn't able to remember certain things from her time. Certain memories she had of her family, friends... Harry... She felt like her future was slipping away with each passing day. Her memory was slipping away so badly that when she tried to remember Harry's face, she would see more of James in it than ever before.

So why couldn't she just get a hold of herself and be reasonable? She hadn't even fallen for Harry in such a short amount of time! Why was James so different? She wished so badly that she could talk to someone. Someone to answer all of these silly questions. She was so homesick and stressed about all of this, that it was literally making her body sick. She didn't sleep well because of her many trips to the bathroom during the night to puke her guts out.

She sighed heavily before she opened her dormitory door and headed downstairs towards the common room. Apparently nobody had waited for her, seeing as the common room was completely empty.

So she walked alone to the Great Hall. She figured that's where everyone had run to. Eating a good breakfast was critical before attending classes, at least that's what the boys' excuses were.

"Hey there, sleepy head," came a silky whisper next to her ear. She jumped in surprise and spun around.

James was standing right next to her, messy hair and all.

"Would you stop doing that to me, please?" Kat breathed out as she clutched her chest. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't realized anyone was behind her.

He chuckled, "Sorry, I thought you had heard me coming down the hall. I'm surprised you're just now getting to breakfast. Didn't know there was actually a female that slept in as long as I do," he winked at her.

"Well, I slept awful so I tried to stay in bed as long as possible." She continued down the corridor with James following.

He then placed his hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer, which sent shivers up her spine. "Why'd you sleep so badly, my dear?"

"I uh... I was puking my guts up all night." She answered him dumbly.

"What? Why?" James exclaimed as he grabbed her arm and placed the back of his palm against her forehead. "Maybe you should go to the Hospital Wing, you actually do look kinda pale." He stated more than asked her.

"Oh, don't be such a pansy." She continued down the hall. "My stress level and nerves are just shot."

"Nerves about me, huh?" He grinned wildly.

"Just a little," she confessed.

He choked slightly, "Wow, I didn't think you were actually going to admit it."

"I'm just too exhausted today to play games with you, James."

"I'm not trying to play games with you, Kat..." He sounded offended.

She sighed as they entered the Great Hall. They walked over to the other Marauders and her roommates. She threw her book bag under the bench and sat next to Laura while James of course took the seat next to her on her right.

"Well, funny you two are joining us together," Sirius said from across the table as he shoved more bacon into his mouth.

Katharine glared murderously at him and his grin quickly wiped off of his face.

"So, Kat, looking forward to starting your lessons today?" Renee asked, whom was sitting next to Sirius. She handed her a piece of toast that Katharine had been trying to reach.

"Thanks." She said as she took the toast, "And yeah, I guess I'm kinda excited to have something to do."

Renee read off their schedule to her, "Well, we have Charms first today with the Ravenclaws and then Arithmancy after that with the Slytherins-"

"What? I'm in Arithmancy?" Kat exclaimed as she accidentally spewed her toast out of her mouth. "I HATE Arithmancy..." She whimpered.

"Well, Dumbledore put you in it so..."

"Don't worry, Kat, I'm in Arithmancy with you so I can help you if you need it. I'm pretty good at numbers." James offered.

Renee continued, "And then we have Transfiguration and after lunch we will have double Potions with the Slytherins again..."

"Wow, sounds like such a fun Monday..." Kat said sarcastically.

"Well, tomorrow will be better, at least. We have History of Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Herbology."

"Cool, sounds good."

Katharine didn't eat much else after her slice of toast so she decided to excuse herself and get some alone time before class.

"Wait, do you remember where the Charms classroom is?" Renee hollared after her.

"Yes, don't worry, I remember." She glanced back and noticed all eyes were on her: James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Renee, Jordan, and Laura. But she couldn't think about that, she needed to limit her time with them.

She left the Great Hall and decided to walk outside for a little while. She had about fifteen minutes to spare before she had to head to class in twenty.

She crossed the grounds and went for a huge oak tree by the Black Lake. It was her usual spot she liked to study at when she needed to focus. As she got closer to it, she realized she wasn't the only one that liked to sit by it, past or future.

She saw her bright red hair hung over her face that was pressed into a book, and thought it might be nice to talk to her a little. So she walked right up to her.

"Hi Lily!" She said a little too cheerfully for her normal behavior.

Lily looked up in surprise and slipped her hair behind her ear. "Oh hey, Katharine! What's up?" She asked curiously as she was probably wondering why Katharine was there.

"Well I was coming to this tree for the very same reason you're here..." she laughed.

"Oh, well here, have a seat!" Lily said as she moved her book bag to the other side of her.

"Thanks," she said as she sat down and leaned against the big trunk. Lily was watching her closely, as if studying her face. Kat felt a little uncomfortable under her intense gaze. "Soooo..." She said to break the ice.

Lily giggled, "Sorry, I don't mean to stare. I find... I do that a lot." She smiled sheepishly.

"That's alright. Happens to us all."

"So, um, how do you like it here so far?" Lily asked, positioning herself more towards her.

"So far, it's been really nice. Everyone here seems much more friendly than they were where I came from." Shit, she had said too much.

"Really? And where did you come from exactly? I did think it was a bit strange letting a seventh year come to Hogwarts..."

"Yeah well, um," Kat paused for a second, "I was having a real hard time with, uh, people at my other school that's in Ireland. It's small and hardly known of really..." Gosh, she was a terrible liar.

"Oh... Okay..." Lily said but did not push the subject.

"Yeah, so uh, you and Potter, huh?" That didn't come out as smoothly as Katharine had wanted, but she really wanted to know how Lily felt about him... Aaaand to get off the subject of where she came from... She just couldn't understand why they hated each other so much when they were supposed to be dating soon.

"What about Potter?" Lily's tone became defensive.

"Sorry, I was just wondering, you know, since I've hung around him a little. I understand he's been after you for quite some time? Why don't you two have a go?"

"Have you not noticed how obnoxious he is? Why would I want to go after that? Someone who hexes people just because he can and treats women like they're a piece of meat?"

Katharine laughed, "I don't think he's quite that bad, Lily."

"Well, you just haven't been here long enough. Just wait, you'll see." Lily nodded her head.

"Well, I think he really fancies you and that you should give him a chance. I've seen a different side of him from what the other Marauders have told me. I think you two would be perfect together." Kat smiled at her.

"Why are you being so pushy? And it seems to me that he's already moved on to you anyway... So why don't you have a go at him?"

"Oh no, I uh... I couldn't. I just came out of a relationship that had to end... Because I was moving... So... Plus, he reminds me of mine too much, so... Yeah." That was terrible. No way was she going to believe that.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Well, you never did say that you didn't like him back or anything. So maybe you'll come around." Lily winked at her.

"No, you don't understand. I can't like him..." Kat tried to explain.

"I'm not following you."

"Oh, forget it. Never mind. I think it's time for me to get going anyway." Katharine proceeded to get up.

"You have Charms first, right?"

"Yes, how did you-?"

"I'm Head Girl, I know quite a lot. I'm in Charms too, so I'll walk with you."

The two girls went back to the castle and on to their class on the third floor. They chatted some more along the way. Lily asked her about her family and she found out they were both muggle born, even though Kat already knew this. She had to tell her that she was an orphan though and this caused an awkward silence that was held the rest of the way to class.

Students were starting to pick their seats along the double rows of extremely long benches and desks that lined three walls of the room. There was a long aisle down the middle of the classroom and a bunch of books stacked upon a desk in the front of the classroom, which Katharine knew to be where Professor Flitwick would stand up on to be seen by everyone.

Katharine followed Lily and sat next to her closer to the front of the classroom.

"I like to sit near the front in here. Professor Flitwick is a half human/half goblin man and therefore is pretty small. It helps to pay attention if you can see him," Lily chuckled.

"Ah, I see," Katharine went along with it.

Then James, Remus, Jordan, and Renee all walked in to the classroom at the same time.

Katharine watched James search the room and then his eyes landed on her. He gave her a questioning look and then looked to her left and saw Lily sitting next to her. He gave her a sort of sad pouting look and then followed the other three to a desk on the other side of the room.

"Maybe you should go sit with him..." Lily proffered.

"What? No, I'm allowed to make new friends." Katharine smiled at her, who returned a smile.

Then one of Lily's friends came over and sat next to her and the two of them became very engrossed in whispering. Kat didn't really care that she wasn't a part of it, so she flipped through her charms book that Renee lent her and waited for class to start. Renee said she hardly reads the books anyway.

She couldn't help but notice James' gaze on her the whole time she pretended to read her book. Finally class started and she was able to "reading."

Professor Flitwick looked slightly younger in this time with darker hair. His squeaky little voice was funny to listen to at first, but then shortly after class began, it led her mind to wander...

Katharine glanced over at Lily's parchment and noticed all of the notes she had taken already. She looked down at her own blank page and was slightly ashamed that she hadn't been taking any notes. She picked up her quill, dipped it in her ink cup, and was about to write some notes when sloppy hand writing suddenly appeared on her paper.

"I'm sad you're not sitting over here with me..." - James

Astonished, Katharine glanced up across the room and saw James grinning right back at her with his wand slightly pointed towards her. Her eyes widened as she looked back at him. Then he went back to writing on his parchment and Katharine looked back down at hers.

"It's a spell the four of us made up. You know, so that we could use Remus' notes without him having to rewrite them for us... Heehee."

Katharine chuckled slightly and then quickly turned it into a cough. She looked around, a little embarrassed, and then replied to James.

"I must say, I am thoroughly impressed. Not about you cheating, we all expect that of you, but that you guys came up with this spell. How ingenious." - Kat

"Well, thanks for the compliment... I think."

"No prob."

"So, why are you sitting over there with Evans anyway?" - James

"Because I ran into her and then we walked to class together." - Kat

"Did you talk about me?"

"Now why would we talk about you?"

"I don't know, maybe because I'm so charming?"

"Yeah, right... But yes, we may have talked briefly about you." - Kat

"What'd you say?" - James

"I told her that she should reconsider not wanting to date you because you're such a great guy and all. You know, blah blah blah."

"Why did you say that? You don't mean it do you? You know I only want you, Kat."

"Nah, you're just going through a new girl phase."

"I am not, Kat, I'm being serious."

"What? He's here? Where is he?" Kat looked up and jokingly looked around the room. She met James' eyes and laughed quietly.

She looked back down and saw, "Good joke. But honestly, I don't even think about her anymore. I only think about you..."

"James, you sure are straight forward. You leave no room for my mind to wonder about you."

"I don't want your mind to wonder about me, I want you to know how I feel right up front... Because it's true."

Katharine paused for a second, not knowing how to reply. This boy was a mess.

Then, as if it was her Savior, the bell rang and Katharine immediately took the opportunity to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible without another glance at James.