22nd April

"What time did you get back last night?" I asked Harry as he sat down to breakfast this morning, "I tried waiting up, but -"

Harry smiled, "I went straight to Dumbledore."

"No way!" Ron's chin dropped, thankfully there was no food in his mouth at the time.

"Did you get the memory from Slughorn?"

Harry beamed, "I did! Slughorn came down to Hagrid's with me and they both had a drink and I doubt he'll even remember, but -" he said excitedly, casting the Muffliato spell, "You're never going to guess what actually happened that night when Tom asked Slughorn about Horcruxes?"

We were all on the edges of our seats, breakfast didn't matter anymore, leaning in to hear what Harry had to say, "So remember the last time I told you that Tom seemed to know too much, more than other staff in the school and then the room went foggy? Well, in this memory, Slughorn tells Tom that he thinks he'll be Minister for Magic one day, that he has excellent contacts in the Ministry. Tom said that he didn't think politics would suit him, that he didn't have the right type of background. Slughorn said that he thought Tom would go far, and that he hadn't been wrong about a student yet. That was when the clock chimed and Slughorn told Lestrange to remember his essay, or he'd get detention."

I nodded, remembering the detail well.

"So this is when it gets big. Tom stays behind when everyone is sent to bed and asks Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn asks if it's a DADA project, even though he knows well that it's not. Tom tells him that it's a term he came across when reading that he didn't fully understand. Slughorn then said that he'd be hard pushed to find a book in Hogwarts about the topic, because it's so Dark. So Tom does this thing where he flatters Slughorn really carefully and out spills the information Tom needed."

At this stage, I really don't think we could have leaned in any closer to one another, without touching.

"A Horcrux is the word used for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul." Harry paused, though we all urged him to explain further, "Slughorn explained that you split your soul and hide that part in an object outside the body. Then, even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul lives on, earthbound and undamaged. But existence in such a form is known to be undesirable, that death would be preferable. Then Tom asked how you split your soul, and Slughorn stated that the soul is designed to remain intact, it is against nature to split it. But it is done by committing murder. Killing rips the soul apart. The wizard then encases the torn part, but Slughorn didn't know the spell and got really defensive about it. So Tom carefully suggested that splitting the soul once wouldn't be optimal, that splitting the soul in more pieces would be better, that the most powerfully magical number is seven -"

Hermione gasped.

"Well we all know that Voldemort has killed more than seven people…" I muttered, "Sorry Harry… Carry on."

"That was the end of the memory," he said.

"What did Dumbledore have to say?" Hermione asked promptly.

Harry took a sip of pumpkin juice before answering, "Dumbledore said that he thought that Voldemort had split his soul, that I handed him proof when I destroyed Riddle's diary in the Chamber of Secrets."

"The diary was a Horcrux?" I asked, trying to get my head around the whole situation.

Harry nodded.

"But -" you could see the cogs turning as Ron thought, "that diary – Ginny was possessed by Voldemort's soul?"

"Part of his soul, yes." Harry confirmed, "But I destroyed it. It's no more."

Hermione was next to speak, "But don't you think it was a bit blasé of Voldemort to leave a diary containing part of his soul lying around?"

"Dumbledore said that, too. That lead him to think that Voldemort would have made or was planning to make more Horcruxes, otherwise it would have been detrimental to his return in the Graveyard that night."

"Sorry, I'm just trying to wrap my head around all this…" I said slowly, "Are you insinuating here that there are seven of these Horcruxes in all, because of the significance of the number seven and that you've destroyed one, meaning that there are six left to find somehow?"

Harry sighed, opening his mouth and closing it again as he formed whatever he wanted to explain in his mind before saying it, "No. The seventh part of his soul still resides in him, in his body. It'll be the last thing to be destroyed, when Voldemort is finally killed."

"Oh… So there's five to find, then?"

"Four," Harry said to our surprise, "That's how Dumbledore got his blackened hand, when he found, and destroyed Marvolo's ring. It was cursed."

Hermione gasped, "Did Dumbledore tell you where he found it?"

Harry nodded, "It was hidden in the ruin of the Gaunt's house under protective enchantments."

"So what are the rest of them?" Ron asked, "You could hide your soul in anything…"

"That's what I thought…" Harry said, "Dumbledore said that he likes to take trophies and that he would have carefully selected the Horcuxes, making sure they were worthy."

"How was the diary worthy?" Ron asked.

Hermione hastened a guess, "Because Voldemort was able to use the diary to make the bloodline connection as the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry nodded.

"Dumbledore must have given you some idea as to what the rest of the Horcruxes are?" Ron asked.

"The locket, Hufflepuff's cup and something of Ravenclaw's."

"Why nothing of Gryffindor's?" I asked, "I mean… Surely the significance was there, despite despising the house?"

Harry explained, "The only known relic of Gryffindor's left is a sword, which is in a glass case in Dumbledore's office."

"Oh." I said quickly.

"So even if he did find something that was Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's there is still a sixth Horcrux, which Dumbledore thinks could be Voldemort's snake, Nagini. He thinks that Horcrux was made the night that Voldemort came to Godric's Hollow to kill me, that my death would have been significant enough to warrant the making of his final Horcrux. But we know he failed, and Nagini was used to kill a Muggle man and he thinks the snake was turned into a Horcrux then."

Hermione pointed to her fingers in turn as she rhymed off, "Voldemort's own soul, the diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, something of Gryffindors, Ravenclaws or the snake?"

"Yes," said Harry as the bell rang for the start of classes. So we had to make a run for it towards Charms. Thankfully it was a practical class, so we had more freedom to chat, and so Harry continued, using the Muffliato charm to avoid eavesdroppers, "Dumbledore thinks he might have found another Horcrux. He said that he'll bring me along to help him get rid of it, when the time comes. One Horcrux destroyed at a time brings me one step closer to killing Voldemort."

"Wow." Ron said, flabbergasted by the whole thing. He was absentmindedly playing with his wand, and caused flakes of snow to fall from mid-air above us.

"Ron." Hermione indicated to the snowflakes that were now resting on our heads and shoulders as she reached over and brushed some of the flakes off his shoulders.

Ron was busily rubbing his hair, "Sorry, it now looks like we've all got horrible dandruff!" he reached across and gently brushed some out of Hermione's hair.

A few metres away, Lavender started to bawl her eyes out. Ron awkwardly turned his back on her and whispered, "We split up. Last night. When she saw me coming out of the dormitory with Hermione. Obviously she didn't see either of you two, so she thought it had just been the two of us."

"Ah," Harry said, "Well – you don't mind it's over, do you?"

"No," Ron admitted, "It was pretty bad while she was yelling, but at least I didn't have to finish it."

"Coward." Hermione said, though she did have a rather amused expression on her face.

Harry then looked up at me, "Where were you in all this?"

"I was going to follow you, but then I got a bit -" I waved my hand in the air to indicate the iffy feeling I had, "and I also got to watch, simultaneous to Ron's berating from Lav, Ginny breaking up with Dean." I gave him a knowing look, quickly raising an eyebrow, "Something about him giving her a nudge through the portrait door?"

Harry's eyes widened. I had a feeling.

"So I followed her and gave her a shoulder to – well, we chatted for a long time." I said, "So we've two free Weasley agents roaming the corridors of Hogwarts. Give it a suitable amount of time and they'll both be snapped up. A beauty of a girl and a devilishly handsome bloke."

Ron rolled his eyes at me. I laughed.

"I suppose this puts you in a bit of a dilemma, doesn't it?" Hermione asked Harry.

"What d'you mean?" he asked quickly.

"The Quidditch Team?" Hermione responded, "If Ginny and Dean aren't speaking…"

Harry instinctively put his hand in his hair, hiding the embarrassment in his face, "Oh – oh yeah."

"Flitwick!" Ron said in a warning tone as our teacher approached. We were supposed to be turning vinegar into wine; her glass was full of a deep crimson liquid, but Harry, Ron and mine were still murky brown. My excuse was that I had missed the theory class.

I played the card. There are times you can afford to play it, this is one of them, "Professor, I'm having awful bother, I haven't had the chance to catch up on the theory, would you mind going through it with me?"

"Now, now, boys," Flitwick turned his attention to Harry and Ron, "A little less talk, a little more action … let me see you both try, show Miss Pink how it's done."

I watched as together, Ron and Harry raised their wands, the concentration etched in their faces as they pointed them at their flasks. Harry's vinegar turned to ice; Ron's flask exploded.

"Perhaps not, Miss Pink," Flitwick shook his head at the boys, telling them, "For homework…" he said, pulling out a shard of glass from his hat, and me out of my hair, "Practise." He turned to me, "Yes, of course Miss Pink, I apologise." Flitwick took me aside, "So the aim of this spell is to reverse the oxidation process to turn the vinegar back into wine, so using the incantation vicissim oxidatio and the wand movement is just as so -"

He pointed his wand at the flask of wine and smiled, "Just point and tell it what to do?" I joked, giving it a go, but not succeeding, "Can you give me the pronunciation again?"

"Vic–ish-ee-um ox –ee–dat-ee-o"

"Oh." I said, "I put too much Northern Irish into the pronunciation." I pointed my wand and pronounced it properly and so the vinegar turned into wine.

"Well done!" Flitwick congratulated me, "Now you try, Mr Finnigan, Mr Thomas, Mr Longbottom."

I watched as Seamus pointed and nothing happened, "Come on Finnigan," I jested, "You should be good at this. You Irish are proper -"

"Says the girl from the North."

"And I, the Northern Irish gal, managed to do it." I lifted the flask, "Want a drink?"

Flitwick's eyes widened, "Please do not drink -"

I laughed heartily, "I won't Professor, don't worry, alcohol and I don't have a particularly good history."

Seamus laughed, "You can't say things like that without a back story."

"Well, it involves my seventeenth birthday party and me waking up bear-hugging the toilet." I laughed at the thought of it, "I blame Angelina Johnson to this very day."

Flitwick's placed his fingers in his ears, "I did not hear that."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all decided to go back to the Common Room during our free period together. It was during that walk from class that I was able to properly reminisce about that fateful night when Fred and I probably should have had our stomachs pumped. I told them about Tonks and Lee being in bed beside George and me crawling in beside Fred, of which there is definitely a photograph somewhere. Ron was in stitches. Harry didn't quite believe me. Hermione looked at me as though I had been scandalous. I climbed into the Gryffindor Common Room and immediately dropped my bag on the floor.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked me.

"KATIE BELL!" I pushed past all those gathered around her and wrapped my arms around her, "How are you?"

Katie hugged me as tight back, "I'm really well. I see Fred and George kept their secret after all."

"They knew?"

Katie smiled, "I got out of hospital on Sunday and paid them a visit yesterday. I knew they'd visited me, and you too!" she then greeted the other three, "Leanne told me about McLaggen and the last match, Harry…"

"Yeah…" Harry said, "well, now you're back and Ron's fit, we'll have a decent chance of thrashing Ravenclaw, which means we could still be in the running for the Cup. Listen, Katie…" Harry paused, his eyes met mine, "… that necklace … can you remember who gave it to you now?"

"No…" Katie said, shaking her head ruefully, "Everyone's been asking me but I haven't got a clue. The last thing I remember was walking into the ladies' in the Three Broomsticks."

"You definitely went into the bathroom, then?" Hermione asked.

Katie shrugged her shoulders, "Well I definitely pushed open the door… So I suppose whoever Imperiused me was standing just behind it. After that, my memory's blank until about two weeks ago in St Mungo's. Listen, I'd better go, I wouldn't put it past McGonagall to give me lines even if it is my first day back…" she grabbed her bags and books, "I'll catch up with you, Kathryn, okay?" she said before hurrying after her friends.

"Well that was a pleasant surprise." I smiled.

They all nodded in agreement, "So it must have been a girl or woman who have Katie the necklace, to be in the ladies' bathroom."

I laughed, "Not necessarily."

"Could have been someone who looks like a girl or a woman," Harry said, "Don't forget about that cauldronful of Polyjuice Potion. We know some of it got stolen…"

"Which really brings us back to square one again…"

Harry surmised, "Maybe I could take another swig of Felix Felicis? Then maybe I'll find out who cursed Katie and what Draco's doing in the Room of Requirement?"

"Don't waste it Harry!" Hermione said, "The situations are completely different. Besides, you'll need all the luck you can get if Dumbledore takes you along with him."

"And it takes six months to brew," Harry sighed, checking his potions textbook.

"Typical," said Ron.

27th April

"So how do you feel your week has been?" Maura asked as we met up for the second time this week, giving me time to adjust back into school life.

"I've had a few issues with Draco's girlfriend," I said slowly, "she just seems intent on making my life more difficult. I know this sound massively big headed, but I think she feels threatened by me and my closeness to Draco." I said slowly, "But she's probably warned him off, because he hasn't spoken to me from I got back. Not a word."

Maura frowned, "Despite your assignment from me to talk to him?"

"It's not for the lack of trying, I assure you." I said, "He's shutting himself off from me, which probably means that Pansy is preventing him from talking to me, or there's something else going on that he's not telling me. Or both. I'm going with both."

Maura smiled weakly, "Have you considered a third option?"

"That he just doesn't want to talk to me? Cause he's a stupid teenage boy with his head up his own arse?" I asked, "Yeah, I have."

Maura tried to hide it, but giggled, "Your use of vocabulary never ceases to amaze me! The progress I've seen in you over the last week has been incredible, Kathryn. I'm very proud of you."

I smiled, "Thank you. I've had a lot of time to think about where my priorities lie."

"What have you learnt about yourself?"

My eyes widened at the question, "I've certainly learnt to communicate a lot better. George has started asking me about how I feel and what's been going on, he's prompting me to think about myself and my own feelings and then process them, rather than shelving them. I've had to learn to take care of myself first, above everyone else. That I don't need to stress about the small stuff; I will catch up on my work and my teachers are only there to help me." I took a deep breath before saying, "And I've learnt to hold my tongue, a little."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"That I don't always need to react. Sometimes it's okay to take a minute to think about what's going on and what reaction that person is wanting versus what reaction I should give."

Maura nodded, "That's a very intelligent way of coping."

"And what about your other friends? Harry? Ron? Hermione? Ginny?"

"All good," I nodded, "Lavender broke up with Ron at long last and Ginny broke up with Dean."

Maura shook her head, "So just a normal week, then?"

"Oh yeah."

The door opened, "Sorry I'm late."

I gasped, "GEORGE! What're you doing here? I – I mean, it's a lovely surprise, I just – wasn't expecting you?" I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him tenderly.

"I couldn't miss an opportunity to come see my girl, now could I?" he kissed me again, "That and I want to see how you're doing."

He sat down beside me and I admired him, "Don't you look handsome in your muggle clothes?"

George laughed, "She's saying this because she bought me this cardigan… this whole outfit, now that I come to think of it." He told Maura, "And I happen to love it. So, tell me, what's going on in life at Hogwarts?"

So the three of us sat together and had constructive conversation for the rest of the hour long appointment. George seemed rather content with me. He knows I'm not 100% yet, mostly because I'm not doing so good on stopping myself dwelling on things like Draco and Pansy's relationship, but I am trying, and that's what matters.

"Kathryn, I know our time is almost up, but I've been wondering," Maura asked slowly, "have you shown your friends your scar yet?"

I shook my head.

"Why not?"

"I'm not ready." I told her.

Maura nodded. "And that's okay." She said, "Have a lovely week and I'll see you again, same time next week?"

"Works for me." I agreed, standing to get ready to leave.

"Want to grab a coffee with me?" George asked.

I smiled, "What's another hour away from school?" I wrapped my arm around his waist, "Especially when I get to spend it with you!" I held out my hand, "I can Apparate now, where are we off to?"

"Home?"

"Home."

3rd May

There was a definite change in the weather over the last couple of days as the sun split through the trees. After my early morning meeting with Maura I went on a coffee date which turned into an ice-cream date with George.

"What made you come by for our impromptu date?" I asked as we sat down with our tubs of ice cream outside a muggle shop in central London.

"Well it's a beautiful day and I have this beautiful girl I am proud to call my girlfriend sitting in front of me, I say it's a beautiful day all round." He was being a proper gentleman, making me feel like a Princess, "I really like that dress you're wearing, by the way." He touched a bit of the material, rubbing it between his fingers.

I couldn't help but blush. He still managed to give me butterflies, "Stop it you."

"What? Why?" he tilted his head, "Am I not allowed to give my girl a compliment?"

"You are," I smiled, "But I'll be awfully disappointed if I leave and I'm all hot and bothered."

George bit his lower lip as I bit mine, "I understand. And d'you want to…? Or are we not supposed to yet?"

"I am sorely tempted," I tried to hold back a smile by eating a spoonful of ice cream, and I ended up sucking on the spoon a little too long, and when I realised, the two of us were in stitches, "But…"

He reached over and stroked my cheek, "It's okay. I'm just glad I turn you on."

I gave him a gentle shove, "Shut up." I rolled my eyes, hoping that no one in the vicinity could hear our conversation, "What I was going to say is that it would be too much of a risk with me stopping all of my medications. No matter how much I'd love to, I'd also love to not have a mini you running around in my seventh year, cause we both know they'd be just. like. you. and I'm not ready for that just yet."

"Received and understood." He smiled, "And I'm sure our children will be absolutely delightful beings: fun, creative, intelligent -"

"A recipe for disaster." I said under my breath.

When I got back to Hogwarts, Hermione and I decided to go down to the Quidditch Pitch to watch the team practice. Mostly because I couldn't concentrate on my DADA essay and didn't want to waste the opportunity of soaking up the glorious sunshine. I smuggled a few sandwiches out of the Great Hall to munch on.

"Good session?" she asked as we sat watching Ginny dodging Bludgers from Cootes and Peake and both Katie and Demelza practiced throwing the Quaffle to one another and taking shots at the posts.

"Yes, thanks," I nodded, "I've a lot to work on still."

Hermione looked up from her Runes textbook, which she had brought for light reading, "And things aren't building up on you? I mean, you seem happier, but before you -"

"I know, and I can only apologise. If I feel that way, I'll let you know. I appreciate you asking. There's just so much that I just need to sort and I could do with there being a few more weeks where absolutely nothing bad or dramatic happens that could cause me to panic. Think we could manage that?"

Hermione's eyes met mine and she saw my smile, which she took as a sign of me allowing her to laugh, "When has life around here been boring?"

"They're really good," I said after a while, when Harry now had everyone practicing as though it were the real thing, "I know you're reading, but the team is really on form. Ouch-"

"What?" Hermione's head snapped up.

I shook my head, "Harry just took another Bludger. He's too busy watching Ginny."

The two of us exchanged a knowing look.

5th May

"Hey stranger!" I saw Draco sitting alone in the library before Alchemy class started, "how are you?" I asked him.

He barely looked up at me, "I'm busy."

"Do you know how hard it is to get you on your own," I jested, taking off my cloak, getting myself comfortable for class, I only had a short window of opportunity to say what needed to be said, "I haven't talked to you since – well, that's what I'd like to talk to you about."

His eyes softened as he looked at me, then he saw someone behind me, his eyes followed them, hardening as they did, "Not now."

I took a look at the work he was catching up on – Arithmancy, it was like a foreign language to me. When I was looking, I saw his fingernails were chewed short, and one of his nails was bleeding. He must be under a lot of stress, "Here," I took a plaster out of my satchel and gently took his hand, which made him jolt as I cleaned the wound, "you ought to take better care of yourself." I stuck the plaster on with great care, "There," I kissed my fingers and touched his finger and smiled, "all better."

He took his hand away quickly, placing it under the table, unseen.

"That day I had a gash on my forehead?" I tried to get his full attention, though I had no doubt he was listening as I took my opportunity to speak, "I had a panic attack, and I passed out in the bathroom and hit my head on my way down. I hadn't been dealing with what happened with my mother very well. I'm still not. My therapist isn't convinced, I was hoping that you could help, but it's okay, I know you're busy." I paused, allowing the bell to ring to signify the start of classes, "I haven't been able to look at it. Thankfully I've been sleeping again, now that my medication is no longer emotionally killing me, that's why I had -" I stopped talking, "Forget it. Can you come find me sometime whenever you're free?" I asked, "I feel like you're the only person who can help me."

His eyes met mine and stayed there for quite some time. I don't know what he was thinking, for his expression was unreadable. At least I know he was listening. In that moment, something dawned on me. Tonks, Draco and I were all similar. Related? Yes. Dealing with stuff? Yes. Suffering? Yes. yes. yes. Are we a product of the generation or are these mental health issues familial? I mean, Bella isn't exactly sane, is she?

After classes that day, I went straight to Maura's to chat to her at the end of her working day as she tidied up. I just had to get it off my mind before it became a bug bearer. It's always possible that there's a family history. Maura told me not to let the thought cloud my thoughts, but to let it wash over me in a nice long soak in a hot bath this evening. My goodness did it help.

7th May

"Hi Professor," I said, calling at the teacher's lounge, "I've been looking for you."

Snape looked at me blankly.

"You've forgotten about our meeting," I held up my essay, which had a quilled note at the top to meet today, ten minutes ago, when I'd turned up at Snape's empty office, "you said that my performance wasn't up to scratch? Is now a good time?"

A light switch flicked on, "Ah, yes, of course Miss Pink. Shall we head down to my office?"

"Whatever works for you?"

Snape turned on his heels, flicking his wand at a pile of parchment which vanished, "Have you performed the Patronus Charm yet?" he asked as he returned to my side, and promptly passed me, leaving me to start at a run to catch up with him.

"No, not yet, Sir." I answered, "I've never been able to."

"What memory have you been using?"

I screwed up my face, "I hardly think it's necessary for me to tell you. I can assure you it's powerful."

"It's important that you master the charm," Snape said in a Snape-making-conversation-way, "the Dark Lord's wish to inflict pain and suffering on his victims is an excellent breeding ground for Dementors."

"Noted." I said, "Anything else I need to be aware of?"

Snape continued walking at a fast pace, "Bellatrix is still unaware of your survival. You may wish to make use of that."

"Yeah, and -" I paused, at the top of a set of stairs, "Did you hear that?"

Snape suddenly stopped on the spot, a few stairs ahead of me, like a police sniffer dog his head popped up and he was on high alert, as a loud bang sounded from the boys' toilets at the end of the corridor.

"Stop! STOP!" Moaning Myrtle screamed, her voice echoing loudly around the tiled room.

I looked to Snape and the two of us heard something explode. We started to run, wands out, towards the source of the fight. I jumped five stairs down and managed to catch up with Snape as we ran side by side.

"Cruci-" a voice cried out.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" I knew those voices.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

Snape pointed his wand and the bathroom door banged open for us to enter. His cloak settled to reveal the situation before us: Harry was kneeling on the floor over someone who was shaking uncontrollably, I could only see their feet. Harry was soaked in blood and the person on the floor –

"Draco."

My chin dropped, and my heart sank as I tried to control the inevitable panic that tried to ensue. Snape roughly shoved Harry out of the way and I crashed onto my knees at Draco's side, watching helplessly as blood gushed from his face and chest, a gash on his neck spurting blood. Snape started performing a counter-curse as I took off my cardigan and held pressure over as many of the open wounds as I could as he haemorrhaged.

I leaned over to gaze into Draco's eyes, and his grey eyes found my brown ones, "I'm here. Stay with me. You're going to be okay." I told him, "Come on, stay with me, Draco." I pleaded as his skin paled further and his eyes became disorientated. He soon fell unconscious. I could feel his pulse weaken and slow under my right hand. I was kneeling in a dangerously high level of his blood volume. If he lost more than two litres, he was dead.

"Can you hear me?" I lowered my head so that my lips were close to his left ear as I whispered, "Draco, if you can hear me, I need to you to fight. I need you." I watched as his chest rose and fell, in a shuddering breath.

I looked down to see that Snape's counter-spell was knitting the wounds that I wasn't able to cover. The blood on the floor was being filtered and returned back into Draco's limp body. It seemed to take an age to make the slightest difference as Snape's wand moved, slowly but surely stopping the active bleeding. At a long last I was able to move my hand, to reduce the pressure, I felt a warmth below as Draco's body healed.

"Draco?" I clasped onto his cheeks as Snape performed the counter-curse a third time and mended the last of the open wounds, "Draco open your eyes. Please open your eyes."

There was a flicker.

Draco's eyes met mine and I never knew relief like it, "Hey you."

Snape and I helped him sit up and regain consciousness, "You need the hospital wing." He told Draco, "There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might even avoid that…" he looked at me, "come."

The two of us helped Draco to his feet, and I wrapped my arm tight around his waist, and Draco did the same with me as he walked.

As we reached the door, "And you, Potter… you wait here for me."

"Can you talk?" I asked Draco as we walked.

He grumbled something, clutching his stomach as we walked. I would have carried him if I was strong enough, but with Snape's strong grip on the other side as we walked, Draco was hardly walking at all.

"Have you got him?"

"Yes." Snape said, as I let go, flicking my wand to open the Hospital Wing door, I ran into Madam Pomfery's store and found the essence of dittany. When I exited the store, Draco was lying on the bed and Madam Pomfrey was taking his shirt off him, showing off a heavily scarred abdomen. He looked like he had been slashed and stabbed with a knife multiple times.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to have gotten up to speed in that time as she knew exactly what I was doing with the Dittany and even appeared thankful as I handed it over, "You should probably hold his hand." she told me, "You know this process better than me."

"Draco," I said, "look at me, trust me," I placed my hand on his cheek and caressed it, turning his head towards me, taking his hand in mine with the other, "this stings a little. Squeeze as hard as you need, okay?"

He gave me a small nod.

"Ready." I said to Madam Pomfrey who immediately used the dropper to disperse the Dittany over his many scars. The potion completed the healing process, burning off the scars, leaving perfect new skin underneath.

Draco's focus on my eyes grew more intent as he realised how uncomfortable the process was. It was like picking at a scab, a burning sensation, followed by a soothing coolness. His hand squeezed mine as I stroked his cheek lovingly, "You're doing really well." I told him repeatedly.

"I'll leave you in Madam Pomfrey and Miss Pink's very capable hands." Snape said to Draco, seemingly satisfied that he is progressing well, his face was still pale, fury no doubt coursing through his veins, "I'll be dealing with Potter, then I'll informing Professor McGonagall if you need me." he swiftly left the room.

"We've got this handled," I smiled down at Draco, my eye contact with him unceasing as I lovingly stroked his face, "don't we? You and I, we can conquer the world."

Draco gave me the smallest of smiles through the pain.

"You gave me a right good scare." I told him as Madam Pomfrey finished off the last of the lacerations, "Please don't do that to me again, alright?" I felt a tear run down my cheek as Madam Pomfrey left the cubicle.

He reached up and caught the tear with his thumb, stroking my face in return. When Madam Pomfrey returned, she held a plastic container with a mixture of ointments used for healing the skin, pairs of gloves and what I consider thick lollypop sticks to spread it. I took a pair from her and started covering his body in the soothing paste which would have the new skin moisturised and unlikely to leave a visible permanent scar.

Draco's hand lay on my left arm as my right hand did the work, gently and generously slopping the paste on as I sat on the edge of his bed. It was quite therapeutic. By the time we had finished, Draco was fast asleep. Relief flooded my body.

"He's going to be alright." Madam Pomfrey assured me, in a whisper, "He's very lucky Professor Snape was there, and knew the counter-curse."

I nodded, feeling the tears fall down my cheeks again, "I was so scared I was going to lose him." I looked down at my clothes which, I had only just noticed, were saturated with his blood. "You know he picked me up and carried me out of Malfoy Manor after Bellatrix cut me?" I grabbed a cloth and washed the blood of his face with warm water, then cleaned around the areas that weren't covered in ointment.

"Kathryn, I'd like to check you over," Madam Pomfrey said when I'd done as best I could, "I just want to make sure it's the adrenaline wearing off. And we need to get you into some clean clothes."

I obliged, allowing her to perform spells over my body. I also took a drink of calming solution to slow my fight or flight response. It was only after Madam Pomfrey assured me that he would be asleep for an hour or more as his body recovers from the shock that I finally agreed to go upstairs to get showered and changed.

I could have passed Bellatrix on my route and I wouldn't have realised. I merely climbed the usual route from the Hospital Wing up to Gryffindor Tower. When I reached the Fat Lady, Neville was standing there, the first person that had come into focus on my journey. I don't know what he said, but the portrait door opened and I climbed into the Gryffindor Common room. I was quickly bombarded by Harry.

Harry looked sheepish as he asked, "I wanted to check – is he okay?"

"YOU – YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!" I screamed, terrified at the thought of what could have been, "YOU'RE BLOODY LUCKY HE'S STILL ALIVE!"

"I didn't mean to; I didn't know -"

I roughly wiped my face with my now dried, bloody sleeve, "YOU DON'T EXPERIMENT WITH SPELLS YOU DON'T KNOW, HARRY! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU. YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE MEANS TO ME." I slammed the door up to the girls' dormitories in his face, rushing up the stairs into my dorm where I shut the door tight and slid down to the ground, head between my knees, sobbing.

There was a tap tap tap on the door and Ginny let herself in, "Kit-Kat?" she got down on her knees beside me, "can you slow down your breathing? Look at me, focus on me." she took my hand and squeezed. The warmth was comforting and I squeezed back.

"Can you get me a tissue please?" I said as I looked up at her, aware of the snot and tears staining my face.

"Here." She took a handful out of the box, I blew my nose as she dabbed my eyes and cheeks. I managed to settle myself, having let the build-up of emotion escape me as Ginny sat with me, "I'm coming into the bathroom with you, I'm not letting you go in there by yourself."

"Okay." I said, knowing that it was for my own good, "I'm sorry, I just needed to get that out." I blew my nose loudly and peeled my clothes off me, dropping the hardening fabrics onto the floor at my feet, before going into the bathroom and taking my underwear off from behind the shower curtain.

Ginny had grabbed me some fresh clothes and a towel and sat on the toilet seat beside the shower, "I'm not watching you, so I need you to talk to me, so I know you're alright."

I offloaded to her. Every worry, every negative emotion flowed off my lips as the water flowed off my blood-stained body. I frantically scrubbed my skin and under my nailbeds, watching the red water escape down the plughole. The warmth of the water was quite hot, so I knew I could only stand there so long before I felt faint, "Can you pass me the towel?" I asked her before climbing out. I trusted her, she was my little sister and I knew she wasn't judging me, but rather she was there to support me if I needed anything. She was a real blessing in my life.

When I got dried and dressed, she handed me a glass of water and the rest of a bar of chocolate she found in my bedside drawer, "You should probably talk to George."

I looked at the clock after gulping down the cool liquid, "It's too early, he'll still be working. I'll go back down to Draco and write to him from there."

"Kat, you need to take a second and breathe, okay?" Ginny said slowly, and Hermione walked into the room, "You need to get your head sorted before you go anywhere."

I sat up on my bed, stretching my legs out as I wrote a few lines to George. I knew he wouldn't reply immediately, but Ginny was right, he needed to know, I needed to tell him how I was feeling, that I was terrified, that he's okay and now I'm trying to calm myself down. My head was spinning again with everything that happened. Ginny broke me off a square of chocolate and I ate it without argument.

"Harry got rid of the textbook," Hermione told me, "Snape's given him detention every Saturday from now until the end of term."

I looked at Ginny, "He won't be playing on Saturday, will he?"

She shook her head.

"Good." I said, "He deserves it, at the very least."

Neither of the two girls dared argue with me, not when I was this angry at him. I finished writing to George, ensuring that I was in good hands with Ginny and Hermione. I then siphoned the excess blood out of my clothes before putting them in the wash basket and asked Hermione to kindly ask Ron to retrieve my stuff from the boys' bathroom. I then proceeded to walk through Gryffindor Common Room, not paying the slightest bit of attention to anyone or anything as I headed back to the Hospital Wing.

I opened the doors and caught eyes with Madam Pomfrey, who was exiting her office, "I feel so much better after the shower and a change of clothes, how is he? Any change?"

"Kathryn?" I saw a blonde head of hair appear from behind the curtain.

"Cissa."