Chapter Twenty Four

Yes, I'm a terrible person. But I've also just finished university - for good, scarily enough - so I am fully capable of updating. Thank you to everyone still reading/reviewing!

Disclaimer - I do not own Harry Potter. I do own Katherine.

"How bad is it?"

"Awful. I can't help and people keep disappearing. I've never felt so useless."

"Your time will come, love. For now, do me a favour and stay safe."

"You do that radio show!"

"We always move. You can't run away if you're trapped in Hogwarts."

"I just want it all over with."

"I know, sweetheart. I know."

Time moved exceptionally slowly when all one had to do was wait. Katherine watched bitterly and helplessly as, one by one, her friends disappeared from Hogwarts. Luna hadn't even made it past the train ride, Ginny was kept home after Christmas and Neville had gone into hiding. Katherine forced herself to keep returning to Hogwarts and not give into the temptation merely to stick to George permanently. She told herself that they needed people on the inside, but she wasn't doing anything useful. But she selfishly wanted to be where things were actually happening, instead of hiding away. She didn't tell anyone that though.

Katherine moved quietly through the halls. Curfew wasn't for another hour, but that made her no less cautious as she passed several students. No one made eye contact anymore and no one spoke, moving like ghosts through the corridors. It was disheartening and terrifying, but she didn't attempt to change it as she entered the library.

There used to be days when crossing that threshold was like entering another world – one loud and one silent. Those days had long since vanished and Katherine only found herself in more silence as she headed towards the back for privacy. Unfortunately, someone else had had the exact same idea.

"Get lost, Prevett. I was here first," Theodore Nott drawled without looking up. He continued writing frantically across his parchment, pausing every so often to dip his quill in ink or turn the page. Katherine found herself stuck on the spot, the memory of what the Sorting Hat had said all those months ago flashing before her eyes. Eventually, Nott sighed and looked up, his startling blue eyes meeting hers. His hair, black as Harry's, fell across his forehead and dangled precariously near his eyes. "Yes?"

"Did you ever meet my mother?" she blurted before flushing in mortification. Nott's eyebrows shot upwards and, whatever he'd expected to come out of her mouth, that clearly hadn't been anywhere on the list. Slowly, like he was wary she would hit him, he shook his head. Katherine deflated and made to leave.

"Wait!" he called, though his voice barely reached a normal speaking volume. Madame Pince may not have been in the library at that moment, but it was never worth the risk. In current times, being chased from the library with one's own books and quills caused too much disturbance and attracted the wrong sort of attention. Gradually, Katherine spun on her heel to face her some-kind-of cousin. "You can stay."

"Uh," she began uncertainly as Nott sat back down casually. He gave her a dry look and, cautiously, she took the armchair across from him and pulled out her Dark Arts paper. Since the beginning of the year, she'd perfected sounding professional about torture but, more often than not, she ended up getting beaten as a result of refusal to torture first years. "What?" she asked when Nott didn't stop staring at her inquisitively.

"If you weren't my cousin, I'd find you extremely attractive," he told her bluntly and it took her a few moments to gather herself in from the shock of that statement. Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she opened her textbook and began finishing off the essay due in the following day. "I hear you're quite the rebel."

"Don't believe gossip," she drawled without glancing at him. She was nearly finished, hence the last minute trip to the library. Nott let out a vaguely incredulous laugh. "I was, but not anymore."

"A true Slytherin doesn't trust without just cause."

Smirking, Katherine elected to look up and found him smirking right back at her. She knew immediately that they had a mutual understanding and he didn't utter another word. They spent the next twenty minutes in silence before she finished the essay and Aidan skulked up, glancing around like he was in a bad crime novel.

"Are you going to help me with that Charms homework or not?" he asked stiffly and she sighed, packing away her things. Nott barely offered Aidan a nod and then Katherine a brief wave goodbye before focusing back in on his own work. "I see you're meeting more family members," Aidan noted when they were outside and heading back for the dungeons.

"Is it finished?" Katherine asked instead of answering. Aidan, looking far too much like his big brother, sighed dramatically and handed over the little device with a flourish. Katherine beamed at him and hurried him on his way. In the Entrance Hall, they split apart and she stood there, gathering courage she didn't have.

Weeks upon weeks had been spent attempting to get into the Headmaster's office. Without Ginny or Neville around and the knowledge that the DA had ceased to exist after their departure (not to mention hers and Luna's), she'd had to think for herself. And she was a Slytherin – cunning came with her house description. So, she'd set Aidan and Blaise a task – which was a lot easier considering Malfoy hadn't returned after Easter either.

Dropping her bag to the floor, Katherine held out her hand and dropped the Decoy Detonator to the floor. Immediately, it sprouted legs and began scuttling and she cast a charm to multiply it. Soon, the hall was filled with blaring noise and the stench of Dungbombs – and the raging sounds of Death Eaters yelling as they fought through the murky green smoke created moments before. She raised her hands mockingly and both Carrows nearly broke her back as they slammed into her and held her in place.

"You're just too much trouble for us, little lady. Let's see wha' the 'eadmaster has got to say about you," Alecto hissed maliciously, yanking Katherine's arm back hard enough to cause a whimper of pain. She started fighting and clawing at them, but they fought back easily. Amycus smacked her so hard across the face that blood spattered from her mouth to the ground and she saw stars. Alecto winded her with a sharp blow to the chest and then hit Katherine to the side of the head, causing her to collapse in near unconsciousness.

Through bleary eyes and throbbing pain in her head, Katherine saw she was being dragged up to the Headmaster's office. She spat a thick, grotesque glob of blood on the floor but had no further energy as her lungs recovered from the painful shot at her ribs. Eventually, they made it and she was thrown unceremoniously on the floor, her head pulsing even more as it hit the solid marble.

"'ere's the Prevett one, just like you asked. She's bein' difficult again, so we brought her to you," Amycus reported and Katherine frowned, rolling over with most of the effort she still had in her body. Thankfully, the lights were dimmed in the office, but her vision was still hazy.

"You may leave." That voice was one she hadn't heard for a while. He was rarely sighted outside of his office, which meant no one heard his voice. The only reason someone got sent to the Headmaster was if they were being extremely difficult. Those students tended to not be seen or heard from again. "Miss Prevett, I do believe you have been warned about your behaviour before."

Katherine struggled to push herself up on shaking arms, but she managed. Fuzzy vision finally focused in on the dark haired, darkly clothed man standing at the top of the small set of stairs leading to the throne like chair he didn't deserve. She coughed briefly and blood spattered on the stone under her hand, the colour fascinating her before she focused once more on the man formerly known as Severus.

"I just . . . wanted to say . . . you're a monster," she breathed harshly, the words not making her feel any better. She had thought telling him what she felt would take the pain away, but it only made it worse. She just felt even more lost at the sight of another friend destroyed by the dark side.

"I trust it is no secret what happens to students as problematic as you, Miss Prevett."

She attempted to scoff, but only coughed more blood. It was almost laughable, given she'd been on her 'best' behaviour since Christmas. She coughed again, tasting the rich, disgustingly metallic taste of blood across her tongue. Her ribs were throbbing and she began to fear the smack had done more damage than she'd thought.

"Do what you want . . . but it's not . . . working," she gasped, a deranged smile twisting her likely bloody lips. She was taking an inordinate amount of pleasure from telling the truth because, whilst students were disappearing and Voldemort seemed to be sinking his claws into the entire Wizarding World, she had faith in the Golden Trio. She had to have faith.

"I assure you, it certainly is."

Katherine croaked out a mocking laugh.

"You killed Dumbledore . . . betrayed us all. The students . . . of this school . . . will never follow a false . . . leader," she spat, running her tongue along her teeth as she accidentally jostled her pained ribs. All of her teeth were, thankfully, intact.

"Regimes fall every day, Miss Prevett. Dumbledore knew this."

Katherine coughed violently on the twisted laugh that threatened to escape but, when she eventually steadied herself and clutched her ribs with an agonised grimace, she thought about the words. Fearful that she was wrong, she met her former friend's eyes and saw nothing revealing in the dark depths. But she knew that everything wasn't as it seemed. Behind her, the door opened once again and she let out a low cry as she was yanked to her feet.

"Escort Miss Prevett to the dungeons and make sure she has no escape."

"What?" she asked, her knowledge fading to doubt. Terror lit up her face as she was dragged away and the headmaster made no move to stop it. "No! No, please don't!" she screamed, writhing despite the protests of her ribs. She barely noticed the pain in her throat or the building blood in her mouth as she begged for mercy.

Her already frail body was slammed mercilessly into the wall of the dungeon and she whimpered in agony. Burning pain reached across her ribcage and she choked on blood. Alecto 'helpfully' pounded her back and she felt like her ribs would cave in as she stopped gagging on the thick, cloying blood. Shackles were attached to her wrists and raised above her head so they dangled uselessly. She was left in an awkward kneeling position as the dungeon door slammed finally, just out of her reach.

Katherine suddenly felt more lost than ever. Her anger, her determination and her pain receded to the back of her mind as she tried not to cry. It only hurt her more, but she couldn't stop the tears that fell. She wanted George or Hermione or Molly to be there, comforting her. She wanted to be free again.

It didn't take long to realise that none of them had been free for a long time.

XXX

Everything hurt. Katherine's head was pounding and one of her eyes was swollen shut. She had no idea of how much time had passed her by, just that she hated the grating sound of the metal door grinding against the cold stone she never left. Her ribs never stopped aching and she was fairly sure they, along with her right ankle, were broken. The Carrows seemed to particularly enjoy using her for their own personal entertainment, though she was never brought out for Dark Arts lesson. She was sure everyone thought she was dead.

The room was cold, dark and dank. There weren't any windows and the walls were slimy with water, likely from the lake. Due to lack of mirrors, Katherine could only assume what she looked like and it greatly resembled what she'd looked like three years previously, when she'd been found by Harry. She went to shake her head at the thought of dying this way, but the movement hurt her stiff neck and the spot above her eyes throbbed continuously. No movement then.

Katherine rarely slept and she hadn't been fed more than stale bread. Her mouth was parched and she could feel the dried blood cracking if she twitched her lips. Her body was close to giving up and only thoughts of the war being over, of her faith in the Golden Trio and, by Merlin, her love for George were keeping her going. As she'd said to Snape – no one would follow a false leader. She was not giving up hope because she was in a tight position.

The familiar shrieking of the door dragging over stone greeted her ears cruelly and she winced, using her one good eye to stare resolutely at the crack near her broken ankle. Unlike her other experiences with torture, she knew what it was like to have people out in the world that loved her – and she was not going to crack like the stone had. She'd be damned if Voldemort won.

"Bloody hell."

Surprised, Katherine's head jerked up and she ignored the spike of pain that ran down her neck to her spine. After focusing her blurred vision, she was shocked to see Blaise skidding to a halt in front of her and producing his wand. He muttered the Alohomora charm and she collapsed forwards into his arms, where he readily caught her. The shackles clattered against the wall as he heaved her up into his arms.

"Blaise . . ?" she murmured blearily, still in shock. He made a noise of confirmation before sliding out of the dungeons and making his way towards the stairs. "What . . ?"

"Shh, don't question a rescue," he urged quietly and Katherine's shock only increased when pressed a hand to a wall and it opened to reveal a secret passageway. Evidently, Snape hadn't gotten to all of them, though she didn't remember George telling her about one near the dungeons. Where did it lead? "You never mention this to anyone." Who was she going to tell that would care?

"My lips are sealed." Neville? Katherine opened her eye and ignored the uncomfortable cracking that occurred when she beamed brightly. Neville was really standing in front of her and Blaise handed her over. "Thanks for doing this."

"Aidan was insistent," Blaise muttered and Katherine laughed deliriously. Neville hushed her and she clamped her mouth shut, aware of how loud that had been. "Get her taken care of. Aidan and I will take care of the rest." Neville nodded as Katherine leant her head on his shoulder and she watched Blaise disappeared back down the passageway.

"Come on," Neville urged like he wasn't carrying her. A second later, they were walking through a familiar door and Katherine smiled proudly. Why hadn't she thought of the Room of Requirement? "Parvati, can you get some water to clean this up? Does anyone know any healing spells?" he called out like a leader before placing her gently on what felt like a hammock. A quick and pained glanced confirmed it.

"I can sort the broken bones for you," a Ravenclaw stated and Katherine vaguely remembered his name to Anthony Goldstein. He'd dated Ginny briefly, if she recalled correctly. She smiled a tad hysterically as gentle hands began cleaning up the blood caked around her face and neck.

Katherine fell into a sort of stupor after that. She was vaguely aware of being cleaned as best as possible and the pain in her ribs and ankle disappearing rather sharply, but the world was rather blurry around her as her exhaustion fully kicked in.

"You can't fall asleep, Katherine. We have to check you for concussion and get some food in you," Neville urged and she forced her none swollen eye open. Someone was holding ice to it for her and she noticed her face felt distinctly lighter than it had when she'd been brought into the Room.

"Tell me what's going on," she ordered, though it was weak. Neville immediately nodded, realising she would stay awake if he kept talking about important matters.

"We've all been hiding out here for a while – anyone that became a target of the Carrows. The numbers have been going up since Easter as more became caught up in rebelling. Since you disappeared, we've been trying to find you. We never thought you were still in Hogwarts and George said you weren't with him."

Katherine grimaced, knowing George would be panicking, just like she would if he vanished from the face of the Earth.

"Eventually, we established that you weren't dead and still in Hogwarts – we just didn't know where. When we got the message to George, he managed to communicate through Potterwatch, giving us a cryptic message about fire," Parvati added, gently easing the ice away from Katherine's face to check the swelling.

"We finally worked out that it was Blaise and Aidan he was talking about." Katherine stared at Neville like he'd lost his marbles. George had sent Neville to Blaise and Aidan for help getting her out? That was rather surprising. "And we got the message to Seamus, who was still around the school at the time." She cast a look to the beaten face of Seamus Finnegan and grimaced sympathetically, the movement tugging uncomfortably at the cut on her lip. "He got to Aidan and managed to relay the message before the Carrows caught up to him. It was Aidan that worked out where you were."

"And George wasn't happy about me making friends with Slytherins," she rasped, her throat still dry and sore, but it no longer hurt her lungs to move. Neville laughed as Ernie Macmillan appeared with food and a glass of water. Katherine immediately swallowed the water and sighed in relief as it soothed her parched throat. She took the food slower, aware that she could upset her empty stomach if she ate too much too fast.

"So, what do you say? Are you going to stay here with us?" Neville asked and Katherine cast her eyes around. The Room had expanded itself bigger than she ever thought possible and was full of hammocks and the hangings of three of the four houses. There had to be over twenty people living there and a door looked like it went to a bathroom. She smirked at everyone and then looked at Neville.

"As long as we get to hang Slytherin colours too." She had to admit, she wasn't surprised at the looks of disdain. "I'm a Slytherin and, if it wasn't for two particular Slytherins, I would be dying in a dungeon," she said in a hard voice. Neville grinned.

"Of course we can," he said like it was obvious and everyone dispersed, no longer protesting. Almost immediately, a Slytherin hanging appeared near the back of the room where there was space (close to the bathroom) and a hammock dangled underneath. Satisfied, Katherine stood up and Neville had to catch her as she swayed dizzily. "You don't have concussion, but you do need sleep. I'll wake you if something comes up."

"And how likely is that?" she asked warily as Neville helped her over to the hammock.

"We don't like to be taken by surprise." She took that as an acceptable answer as she climbed into the hammock. It was remarkably comfortable and the pillow was soft under her sore head. "Just sleep, Katherine. You're safe now."

Yes, yes she was.

As you've all been so good and I've been terrible at updating, have a real sneaky look at next chapter:

"Harry, Ron and Hermione broke into Gringotts and stole a dragon."

That made her look up with raised eyebrows before a smirk graced her lips.

"You're right, I don't believe you," she replied, moving to the other cauldron that was on the desk.

One week, I promise! Love, Bianca :) x