Chapter 4

~Smack!~

The sharp, piercing sound echoed through the common room as Kat entered it. There was a ruffle of robes swishing as everyone moved out of the way. Pushing her way forward Kat caught sight of what was going on. Sara and some other girl were faced off in front of the spiral staircase to the girl's dormitory. Sara's face was red with anger and her eyes blurred with tears as they shot venom at the other girl. Kat didn't particularly know the other girl other than the fact that she slept in the room next to her group's. The girl in question had a red mark of Sara's hand across her cheek and was slowly bringing her head back around to face Sara once more.

"How - dare - you." Sara growled at the girl, making every word precise as she bit back tears.

The girl replied back in a voice dripping with loathing. "That just shows how pathetic you truly are. You can't even justify - " but she didn't get to finish off the statement before Sara was on her.

Sara was muggle born, so first instinct wasn't to go for the wand, but to tackle. The girl didn't know what hit her before Sara was on top of her taking as many punches as possible. Everyone watching gasped in horror. No one had EVER seen Sara act like this before. Nowhere ~near~ it. Even Kat didn't think Sara would do something like this. What ever this girl had said or done, it had been bad, and Kat had a feeling she knew what it was about. A few more sickening punches and the girl's face was bloody. But she wasn't totally helpless. Sara had her wand arm pinned under her knee, but the girl was using her free hand to tear flesh off of any exposed skin she could find, mainly the face. As enraged as Sara was though, she didn't seem to notice. Her sick satisfaction came from the revenge of bringing as much blood as she could. Kat had to stop this.

Pushing her way through the crowd and rushing forward she took hold of a hand that was about to come crashing down on the shrieking girl. "Sara! Stop!" Kat yelled.

Sara whirled around to face her. The anger and loathing brought on by deep despair was almost too much for Kat to handle. Christy suddenly burst through the mob with a look of despair and panic on her face. She took one look at the girl on the ground and scowled at her with all the hate she could muster. Before the girl could move another muscle Christy had her free arm tightly clasped in her own. Kat let Christy handle the other as she slowly put an arm around the front of Sara and helped her up. The look in Sara's eyes didn't lighten any as they went back to glaring at the girl. The girl spit out some blood and directed it at Sara. Kat was using all her strength to keep holding Sara back.

"No, It's not worth it. Leave it. Leave it." She chided her.

Christy held the girl's shoulders to the ground, not that the girl looked as if she could stand up anyways. That was probably Christy's whole point in doing so. Reaching out and taking hold of the girl's wrist she stopped the sudden reach for her wand. This had inspired Sara and Kat had to do the same. Both girls were working to restrain their captives as everyone stood and stared until an authoritative cry froze all movement. McGonagall storms up to the scene followed closely by a very flushed Hermione. The Head of House's lips were taught and her eyes glared at around with a dangerous twinkle in them.

"What is going on here?" she demanded in a tone that refused argument.

"She attacked me! For no reason just came down and - " the girl started to accuse.

"You bitch! You started this whole thing! Don't act as if you didn't!" but Sara was cut off as well.

"Enough!" cried McGonagall and waved her hands in the air to call for order. Both girls quieted, though resentfully. "Someone," she spoke more calmly but no less dangerously, "tell me what just happened." She suddenly pointed at Seamus who was one of those in front of the ring around the girls. "You. Tell me. Now."

Seamus gulped and took a deep breath before answering cautiously, "Melanie said… something to Sara… and Sara got mad… and Melanie just made snide comments… then Sara slapped Melanie and then Melanie started throwing insults and then Sara tackled Melanie and then Melanie tried to get her wand but Sara stopped her and the Sara started throwing punched and Melanie clawed back but Sara was really mad and the Kat and Christy came over and tried to stop them but they kept trying to go at it again and Melanie spit on Sara and Sara tried to attack Melanie again - "

"That's quite enough, thank you." Said McGonagall. It was a good thing she stopped him, for he needed breath and who knew how long his commentary. It was no small wonder why everyone was trying to get him to do so for the Quittage games, but on the other hand, he might pass out from lack of oxygen if he did.

McGonagall sent a piercing glare to the two girls at hand, "Fighting is strictly prohibited within school grounds. I wouldn't expect two of my own House fighting against each other. Needless to say, I am very disappointed in both of you." Both girls looked away from her; even in anger that stare brought you back to earth with a thump. "Twenty points. For each of you." She added glaring at both of them with white pinched lips. "Be thankful I don't give you detention with Filch!" And with that she stormed out of the room giving orders to Hermione to see everyone to bed early.

Wasting no time for the knowledge that 40 points was taken from their house to sink into everyone's minds, Kay hurriedly guided Sara up the stairs to their rooms. Half way up Sara started to shake. Whether it was from anger or crying, or both, Kat didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to figure out what happened. Whatever it was, she had a bad feeling that the next fight there was going to be would be Kat vs. Melanie.

Once inside the room Kat lead Sara over to her bed and pushed her down on it. The look on Sara's face was stony as tears forced their way out of her eyes. She looked as if she were completely refusing to cry, as if it would Melanie too much pleasure to know that she was. Kat sat down on the bed next to Sara and put a hand on her shoulder. It was odd that Sara didn't react in the slightest to her touch; it was also scary. Rage began to well up inside Kat. She would make sure that her and Melanie would have a little chat over this. First though, she needed to know what was going on.

"Come on Sara, talk to me. What happened?" Kat said quietly and a lot more calmly than she felt.

Sara just kept glaring at the wall with a look that made Kat feel as if it might ignite in flames soon. And with Sara being a witch, it might just as well. A sharp breath was suddenly taken in by Sara, which caused more tears to well up in her eyes. Still, Sara refused to make a sound. She seemed to loathe the tears falling from her eyes but made no move to brush them away. They slid down over the red clawings on her cheeks. They must have hurt, but Sara seemed too far away to notice. Other than her shaking, she also refused to move or look at anything other than the wall. Kat decided to try and talk to her again.

"Sara, are you even going to look at me?"

At this, Sara's head slowly turned to look Kat right in the eyes. Kat almost regretted saying anything, for the full force of that stare was now on her. But this only made the worried and sympathetic look on her face increasingly more so. Of all Sara's anger and hatred, she couldn't hold up to that look. With a single, muffled sob Sara finally broke down and collapsed onto Kat's shoulder. Her body shook more as she tried to make as little noise as possible, this only resulted in more painful sudden intakes of air. Kat hugged her with all the sisterly love she could muster and let Sara cry it out. After a while she managed to calm down enough to regain control of her breathing as the tears slowly stopped.

Just then Christy stormed into the room and slammed the door with a loud enough bang to shake the windows. Both Kat and Sara jumped. Christy looked as mad as Kat had ever seen her before as she strode halfway into the room and stopped in the middle of the room. Slowly straightening up Sara looked over at her. Upon seeing her friend Christy lost all looks of anger as she looked at Sara with full on sympathy.

"Oh Sara!" she cried and ran over to hug her. "I am so sorry for what she said." Christy pulled back and looked Sara in the eyes with more heart than anyone in the world could muster.

Sara didn't break down again, only dropped her eyes to the floor and kept her breathing steady. Curiosity got the better of Kat, "What happened?" she asked cautiously.

Christy asked Sara, quietly, first, "Are you okay with me telling it?"

Sara gave a half-hearted nod that made way for a worried look upon Christy's face before she looked up at Kat.

"Melanie confronted Sara rather rudely about how she was keeping her up at night." She said censordly. This caused Sara to snort.

"Rather rudely my ass…" Sara muttered weakly.

Both Kat and Christy knew she was mad, but it took a lot to make Sara use profanity so many times in a row. Christy took a breath and told as much more detail as she dared.

"Melanie told Sara said that if she was so emotionally unstable that she had to keep everyone else awake at night for petty problems than she shouldn't have been sorted in Slytherin. She even brought some Dreamless Sleep potion…" Christy got a look on her face that said she was unsure how far to go on that one.

But Sara didn't seem to mind putting in that bit, "Which I dumped all over her books." She finished. Then added with a sneer, "I'd like to see her un- smudge that report drenched to mush for her."

Looking a bit scared at how her friend was acting Christy rubbed her shoulder encouragingly and finished up her careful story. "Insults flew for a while until Sara couldn't handle it any more I suppose." She shot a glance at Sara who was now busy burning a hole in the floor with the look in her eyes. "I got the story out of a lot of people who were near by." She said looking back at Kat, "But Melanie locked herself in her room and refused to budge. No one will help me get her out because the perfects were ordered to make sure no more fights happen and that everyone is in their rooms by ten." Christy sighed in exasperation once she finished.

"Ya, who's the one that can't face their own problems now?" Sara grumbled.

Both friends gave each other a worried look before setting about to jobs that would keep them busy. Kat went to get something to clean up Sara's face without hurting too much. Christy went ahead and took the liberty of tidying up Sara's things and pulling out her nightgown. Soon bother girls had Sara healed up, dressed for bed and in somewhat of a better mood. This doing to the fact the Kat was rubbing Sara's shoulders as Christy rubbed her feet. After a while Sara started trying to shrug them off but they kept insisting that "their Lady" must be well cared for. Once they had Sara producing some giggles they finally relented and went to get ready for bed. When all were settling down to go to sleep at last Sara spoke up.

"You guys are the greatest friends in the world. I don't know what I'd do without you." With that she yawned and turned out her lights. It was a nice thought, but Kat still felt sad for her. It must really be hard to say that to someone and lose then them.

Closing her eyes Kat drifted off into a peaceful sleep at last.



Kat was bored out of her wits. Trying to keep her promise to help Snape was harder than it seemed. The Slytherins whose minds she jumped into either didn't know anything or refused to think about. The bad thing was, she couldn't stay in there long enough to figure anything out. Pansy Parkinson always had this look on her face as if she were something special, and better yet, knew everything. Unfortunately, the only thing on her mind was how much power she could gain if she stayed with Draco. The minds of Crabbe and Goylle were something to shudder over. A few times Kat thought she had lost her touch when she got nothing from them, then realized they just didn't think often. Not surprising really. But when they did think, it was mighty perverted, and usually over girls, any girls, they were undressing with their eyes. Again, since they didn't think much, they were all images. Quite a few times Kat felt like clawing out her eyes and screaming "It burns!" when she would forget and brush their mind as she swept by their thoughts.

Other Slytherins were just totally clueless on these subjects. Some hinted that they knew something but barely ever thought about it. Some were even trying to figure out what the others were up to. But the minds of these people seemed so unorganized, she supposed it was because she was so used to Snape. The thing about all the minds she jumped across though, was that they constantly thought about Draco. They all had their theories of him and what he could do and what he should do and all about his honor and family name. He had so much to live up to that Kat almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Added to those problems came those of Melanie. Sara seemed to be over it but the two rivals kept shooting looks to kill every time they saw one another. At one point the whole House seemed like it was going to choose sides between the two girls. But then friends, enemies, and Perfects came in and ended it before it started. Now all they did was stay out of the way and hoped they were set on fire by one of those looks. It surprised Kat that of how much was going on in Gryffindor, the rest of the Houses didn't seem to notice. Rumors usually spread as easy as hot butter among the whole school, but all these little things going on had been extremely secluded. This included some of the little things that never went outside a group of people in the House itself. Soon enough Kat felt like she knew more of Gryffindor and Slytherin affairs than even Dumbledore did. If that wasn't enough for her, her schedule got even busier.

The meeting with Snape had been short. It was to determine a time to meet. They would end up meeting every Wednesday night and every other Saturday. On Saturdays Kat could make up any excuse she'd like to leave. But on Wednesdays she needed an alibi. This was simple enough, some study time in the library and a health walk around the castle. Or as she so like to refer to it, a Stress Walk. Mainly for the reason that her friends more readily believed she was trying to work off anger so she didn't punch somebody. In fact, they found it a pretty good idea but they usually were packed down with homework Wednesdays and couldn't come. This was a good thing, she didn't know what she'd make up if she had to bring along a friend.

Soon Kat realized how loaded down she was. With all the work she was doing now, she might as well be exercising her mind every second. It wouldn't surprise her at all if she started contemplating things in her sleep from now on. This caused a whole new respect for Hermione Granger. That girl must be as busy as Kat considering she was a perfect as well as taking such advanced topics. Adding to that, her Ron and Harry had another plan hatching though Kat didn't know what. She might as well be just as over worked as Kat. Two of a kind really.

Well, of all this it was no wonder that Kat was completely exhausted as she walked around in Care of Magical Creatures Class. Everyone was herded over to a big whole in the ground. Yup, that's all it was. No telling how deep, deep enough that the darkness obscured that bottom of it. They had been assigned to read some chapters on cave dwellers and underground creatures for today. Kat read them, just barely though. Hagrid was having fun seeing who could guess the creature down there first. Mostly people were clueless. Or, in more of the Slytherin's case, didn't care. Kat was just plain tired of guessing games considering she had been through them far too many.

Looking over at the group of Slytherins she saw they were talking about something. And they all looked deadly serious. Taking the opportunity she quickly ran through their minds.

"…This will be so great!"

"Draco's a genius…"

"…He'll never see it coming…"

"…she better get it right this time…"

"…cares anymore? I mean, I'm tired of the games…"

"I don't get it…"

The last one had to have been Goyle since his face suddenly looked blank. But that wasn't saying much for being out of the usual. The pieces of conversation didn't help her much, only sounded like it wasn't really that important. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a prank pulled on Neville soon.

Hermione started jumping up and down with excitement next to Hagrid with that look on her face that said she had figured it out. Looking at Hagrid she said a word that Kat didn't quite catch, tired as she was. By the way Hagrid beamed, she had been tight though. Soon all curious looks were answered, well maybe not all, for Kat had a feeling some were more curious about the stunt the Slytherins were planning.

"That's right! Wha's down there is'a scrouter." Hagrid called out cheerfully.

"I don't remember reading about them." Ron stated indignantly.

To everyone's not so surprise, Sara backed up the notion what an indignant "Ya!"

"Well I figured since ya all read 'bout all da others in ya books, then we'd start off with a diff'ent 'un." He beamed and looked at Hermione. "How'd ya know?"

"I read it in another book once. There isn't much on them though." Hermione said. She was most likely the only one who looked curious. Some of the other students, including Harry and Ron, started to look nervous. Hagrid didn't have a good reputation for kind fluffy animals after all.

Hagrid then bent down to the edge of the hole and thumped on the ground with his hand in odd rhythmic beats. Hermione looked on in wide-eyed fascination. Whatever book she had read apparently didn't have much on what Hagrid was doing, just what it was. Of coarse, for the rest of the class, they hadn't a clue. Kat included.

Soon the dirt around the edges of the hole started to move, and not just from Hagrid's pounding on the ground. A little black nose popped up from the rim of the whole and began to sniff the air excitedly. Even the Slythers stopped to stare at what exactly was going on. A very long snout soon followed and finally a heart shaped head. Two little tree clawed feet came to rest on the grass as the little eyes squinted in the light. It's little head never stopped moving around the air and sniffing, but thumps started coming from inside the hole. Hagrid had stopped beating the Earth to death and beamed at the little creature. The scrouter didn't seem to notice. It kept swinging around its entirely black head around through the air, occasionally stopping in Hagrid's directing, obviously knowing he was communication with the half giant.

"This lil feller talks wi'h it's tail. Ya can also tell by the brown stripes on its black whe'er it's a male or female. Da male's 'ave long stripes from it's head ta it's tail, da female has 'em from da left ta right foot. This'n here is a male." Hagrid said in his best teaching voice.

By this point the Slytherin's had lost their interest now and were back to plotting. Everyone else was gathered around as Hagrid taught everyone how to say "hello" in scrouter. He said that since everyone couldn't hit the ground in the same way the scrouter could tell a difference in who was talking to it. The scrouter never said "hello" to the same person twice, considering because it already had done so once. One by one everyone would come up and say hello and the scrouter would say it back. Occasionally somebody would try to say "hello" again, but it didn't say it back, proving Hagrid's point. It was really fun actually. Soon enough, some people wanted to know how to ask questions and Hagrid would interpret the answer. They ended up knowing a lot about the scrouter's personal life, it even made a couple of jokes.

Kat started to wonder just what exactly it would be like if she caught a though from it's mind. So, having nothing better to do as everyone else fought over turns for their questions, Kat decided to take a peek in its mind. The thoughts she got were nothing but mentally thought out "thumps", or at least, the resonation of the sound to the little creature. Kat couldn't very well ask Hagrid what they meant, for the scrouter wasn't thumping those thoughts out loud. Kat wondered if it were possible to search around in the little thing's mind to find her own translation. Reading thoughts and searching for them were two different things entirely of coarse, and being that Kat had never really thought about it before now, she had never been tempted to try it. The closest she had ever gotten was going into Sara's dreams. Was that constituted as searching through her mind since she had interfered with the dream? Stuff to ponder on. But if it was searching, could she try it now? And what would happen if she did? Fear of hurting someone someday always scared Kat.

Well, she'd never know unless she tried, and this was an animal, simpler mind right? It was a simple mission really, translate what it was thinking. So, pushing her nervousness aside she jumped into the scrouter's mind before she could stop herself. There was nothing but a series of thumps for a while, one on top of the other, just like a normal mind thinking of many things at once. Angling her hand so that the direction of her flow of power was more concentrated on the scrouter Kat looked around some more. Soon, she hit memories. These were visual, though it was more sound and sent than sight considering she was underground. It was odd though, the combination of such acute hearing with the distinguishing power of its smell left her used-to-seeing-images mind with this sketchy picture of what was around her. Some of the memories held a lot of emotion, even though to a human it would seem something little, to the scrouter it was big. And considering that Kat was in its mind, she felt the full force of these. The emotions the little creature felt all the time was just as good, or better, than that of a human's. It saw everything in the best way it could, such a nice way to get through life really.

Residing herself to move on, Kat searched to the very subconscious on the scrouter's mind. There she found thought mingling with primital sense, leaving Kat's mind to finally interpret the thoughts. The thumps seemed to run through the back of its mind to the back of hers then to her conscience, processing mind. The thoughts of this little creature ran through her mind, not like that of a human's where it sounded like she could almost hear it. This was different, like it just echoed through her mind. And what it said was the last thing she'd expected.

~Did you like your little escaped through my memories?~ It asked.

Kat almost gasped, but stopped herself in time. She also almost spoke aloud, but caught herself and spoke back to it through the link she had created with their minds.

~How did you know?~ She said, completely surprised.

The scrouter did the equivalent of a laugh in her mind. Not one she would expect from a normal person, where it would be condescending for her ignorance because they knew something she didn't. This was more in real humor and understanding than anything else.

~It was quite an odd feeling. I doubt I would have figured out what came over my mind had you not begun to communicate with me.~

Kat was a bit confused by this, ~You talked to me first.~

~Indeed I did. But I could feel you when you managed to understand my thoughts as your own. I felt a few of your own.~

That Kat could understand. From what she had found out, scrouter minds were much more emotionally sensitive. Apparently to others too.

~What exactly were you looking for, might I ask?~ It said, bringing her out of her thoughts.

~I… I don't know really. I just wanted to understand I suppose.~ Really, it was a good question what she was doing in someone else's mind. She had no right to be there. Now Kat felt bad about the whole thing. Apparently, the scrouter sensed this as well.

~I cannot blame one for their pursuit of knowledge. After all, that's why you all are here today talking to me.~

Good point right there, but it didn't make her feel much better about it. ~I'm still sorry for invading your mind like this. But… It was a rather interesting experience. It's so unlike that of a human's.~

~Well I would hope so! It said with that strange feeling of laughter again. We are of two different species after all. ~

Kat also had to laugh a little at that - though she made sure to keep it in the confines of her mind - he did have a point. Kat's curiosity started to get the better of her so she decided to take the best of this educational opportunity.

~What's your name?~ She asked, and felt a little foolish for the question. There could have been so many better things to ask, if only she could think of one that is.

The scrouter seemed to be pleased by the question though. We do not have names such as yours. We are known by our frequencies of communication.

This brought another good question to mind, ~Then how would you talk about someone else? Surely that would come up.~

~Oh, indeed it does. We all choose our own frequency and can change it to match that of someone else we would wish to speak of.~

Well, this made sense, after all, it was only humans who were devious enough to break a code of moral and pose as someone different. There was a point for the "primitive" species out there.

The scrouter stopped moving its head around and looked directly at her as Hagrid stood up to tell the class something.

~You have a special gift my dear. A powerful one indeed. Use it wisely and the Earth will always be on your side.~

Though Kat wasn't completely sure what he meant by that it made her smile anyways. At least someone knew about what she could do and respected her for it as well as held her confidence. ~Thank you.~ She said and he smiled, in her mind, at her.

~It was nice meeting you. Very educational for me as well. Very much so indeed.~ And with that he left.

Coming out of its mind and back to the world at hand she heard Hagrid finishing up on some of the lectures he was prompted on by the students. By the time he was through, it was almost time to go to the next class. He walked off to prepare for the next class. This gave the Slytherin's the opportunity they needed, and with just enough time on their hands they banned together and managed to hex Neville into an orange penguin that talk- squawked in Neville's voice. The bell rang and the Slytherin's bolted from the scene before they could be caught. Seamus took the liberty of hefting to panicked penguin over his shoulder to carry it to the Hospital wing as Harry and Ron chased after Malfoy and Hermione tried to stop them.

"Ron's so brave." Sara said in a dreamy voice, which caused everyone around her to roll their eyes.



Wednesday night seemed to take longer than usual to come. She couldn't wait to try out her new power that she had discovered. She couldn't very well try it on anybody though. Even if the scrouter's emotions were way off the scale for sensitivity, it was too risky to try on a person. If they even figured it out, it would be the end of her. Now all she had to do was find a way to talk Snape into letting her try in on him. Granted, she knew it wasn't dangerous, but an animal's mind and a human's were two entirely different things after all. Kat wondered what it would feel like to have your mind invaded and be searched. It would most likely feel like Imperious she supposed, thought that was only a theory, it could feel entirely different. She also wondered whether it was possible to shield herself from anyone noticing that she was in their minds in the first place. Well, she wouldn't know until she tried.

With these anticipation thoughts in her head all the time it finally came to the point where she was in front of Snape's classroom door. With her hand poised in front of it, ready to open but not quite making it. She had been nearly excited until she was in front of his door, now she was scared and nervous. ~Damn it.~ She thought and forced herself to open and walk through door.

Snape was at his desk writing furiously over some papers. He made a noise in his throat to acknowledge that he knew she was there. Kat decided not to interrupt and went over to sit on one of the desks and wait. She figured that not wasting time would be first on Snape's list of priorities so she concentrated to see what he was writing on. It was a 3rd year potion's report that he apparently thought was completely horrible and was making that perfectly clear on the paper. He didn't write much of anything on his reports other than a grade. That meant when he did, it was bad. After a while of scribbling, it just got worse.

Before Kat knew what she was doing she spoke. "Infinitesimal seemed bad enough, but I doubt profanity will do you much good if another professor sees it." Kat could have bit her tongue off when he looked up and glared at her with one of those "I'll rip your heart out looks".

To her utter relief though, he didn't say anything. He did though take his wand and erase a few words before scribbling in a few last retorts and setting it aside. The words he had chosen were no less awful, but at least it didn't have profanity that the kid could get him in trouble for. It suddenly hit Kat that she was helping Snape stay out of trouble, and at cost of her own head by the look he had given her. Ah, how times change.

Snape finally stood and walked over in front of his desk to search through a few things he couldn't reach from his chair without toppling them over. With how much work was stacked up there Kat was surprised he could keep it looking so neat and orderly. He seemed to be losing his anger so Kat decided now was as good a time as any to ask him.

"I wanted to try something. I'm not quite sure how to manage it, but I was hoping you'd let me try."

Snape snorted at this. That wasn't a good sign. "Ah, yes." He said sarcastically with a little sneer. "You want me to willingly give you my mind to whatever little idea you can come up with and hope it doesn't do any permanent damage. Why yes, Miss Jennings, I'd be perfectly happy to submit to that." Sarcasm was absolutely dripping with every word, but Kat decided to take it as a yes and try it anyway before he could protest. After all, he said yes.

Kat reached out into his mind and began to run through it. His mind was so much more different than the scrouter, not like that was much of a surprise, but still. The layout of his mind was more on visual and mental alone. She could see the way his mind worked, in fact, she could see a transparent figure of herself gliding through his mind. It was well organized of coarse, as everything of Snape is. She saw something that looked interesting a little further forward and to her right. It looked like strips of paper flapping up from the floor. They were really tall and blocked view of what was behind it. She occasionally caught shimmering glimpses of something between the breaks in it. Maybe it was just another store to keep things to contemplate on later. Stuff he didn't want to think about all the time. It made sense, it was just what an organized mind like his would do.

She couldn't very well stay wondering around like she was. That little place seemed much more interesting. What little things could he be keeping there? Maybe thoughts of his family? That thought alone gave her enough curiosity that she had to go and see. Pushing back one of the strips of paper the shimmering thoughts fell out of the flimsy barrier and engulfed her. Memories of Death Eaters and Voldemort and rituals flashed through her mind. Awful things happened before her. Hurt, pain, and terror were top of the list. Misery, loathing, and regret soon followed. These acts weren't just seen by Snape, but caused by him too. It started out as just turning a blind eye, then joining in little by little until he would show off what new malicious thing he could do next. Then he realized, realized all the things he had done and was doing. All those terrible acts and for what? What good was he doing? Why did these people deserve this? Why was he inflicting them with such pain that they couldn't bare?

~Crack!~

The sound echoed through the empty stone classroom like gunfire. Kat was snapped out of Snape's mind by the sound loud enough to call her back to the present. What was that? The he noticed him. Snape was rigid and breathing heavily, his head tilted down. His left hand was holding balance on his desk while the other held onto the edge of the desk. The broken edge. He had been gripping to hard that it had snapped. His knuckles were white and a bead of blood dripped down to the ground from the inside of his hand. Apparently he had seen the memories too. And apparently, that flimsy paper barrier was all he was capable of creating to hold them back. He was mad.

As if on cue he whirled around to face her. A look of absolute rage on his face. Kat took an involuntary step back at the pure fury emanating from him. He spoke in a strained voice that chilled her to the bone. If his velvety smooth talk could send you shivering, constraint of him screaming was enough to make you cower.

"Never," he said through gritted teeth and paused for emphasis, "Do ANYTHING without my permission." He started advancing on her and she stumbled backwards at his slow pursuit. "NEVER do that to ANYONE!" his voice was deep and menacing even when he screamed it out. "A person tends to push memories away that they DON'T want to see. A person would DEFINATLY not want them suddenly forced all at once back into his mind!"

He was now only a foot away from her and she was running out of room. She knew she would hit the wall soon but didn't know where he would stop with him as mad as he was. Another step backwards sent her flying. He walked faster towards her as she fell backwards over a chair leg. Him mad. Her on the ground. The outcome of those two facts looked grim. In panic, one's mind has a strange tendency to forget logical and go straight to instinct. In this case, instinct Kat didn't know she had.

The frightened prey released raw power yet again upon her enemies.

A/N: Sorry about the corny title but we've been talking about that show a lot in Spanish and it seemed like such a good title for this chapter. Also, sorry about the updates be so far appart, I have this thing on long chapters if you couldn't tell. Well, while I'm on notes: Harry Potter 5 will be coming out soon and will probably mess up my story, as it will many others. So, I encourage you to read the book, love it, and pretend I'm still right. ;-) Well, if I can hold out on a certain part in my story until I read the book and can interperate it into my story I might be okay. But I doubt this. So, my fic will soon turn to AU. Ah well, I'll still enjoy writing this. Plz comment more! I love comments! And thanx to those who already have!

P.S. - I'm having a Hell of a time tring to make my story show italics. So, you all are going to have to make do with squiggles instead. If anyone can explain what's going on to me, I'd be happy.