Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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Chapter FiveThe room was dark and silent, and the only light was coming from a crystal ball in the center of the room. A tall man paced the length of the room, the hood of his cloak covering his face.
The smaller man sitting at the table had gnarled hands that held out over the crystal ball. He too had his hood pulled over his face, concealing all features.
"Well, is he coming?" the man who was pacing asked, annoyed.
The man sitting at the table moved his hands around a little more, then replied, "He is coming."
"Then what's taking so long?!" demanded the pacer, "He should have been here by now if he followed all the signs!"
"There is something stopping him…" the man at the table started, the pacing man interrupted.
"God knows there's something stopping him! It's that Potter boy again. Damn him, we'll have to get him out of the way," he replied.
The seer shook his hooded head, "No, it is not the Potter boy. Everything he has done has been perfectly to plan, it is… a girl… a woman… a conflicting problem, a recurring problem…" The seer trailed off.
"Damn!" exclaimed the other man.
The seer's shoulder's shrugged, "What can I do? I am but a seer. Allow me to take my leave," he started to stand up.
"Not without my say so," the other man replied, pushing him down, "I'll damn hell if this name doesn't yet command respect!"
"Fine," the seer replied, bowing his head and stooping his shoulders forwards.
"No, I have a plan. You need to check something else for me," the pacing man said.
"Anything… my Lord."
Harry snapped out of his dream by sitting bolt upright, drenched in sweat. He lay back down slowly, thinking. The only problem with those damn dreams that weren't painful was that he couldn't tell when they were happening. For all he knew, it could be happening right now, ten months ago or twenty years in the future. All he knew that was his name was mentioned, and he didn't like it.
He tried to go back to sleep, rolling over. Two beds around he heard Dean muttering: "But you're so hot Seamus."
He pondered his dream, thinking.
Ack! Who cares, he thought, It'll all come out in the wash… I hope.
Catrin and Ginny joined Harry, Hermione and Ron for breakfast the next morning. Harry was bleary eyed, and tired and Catrin and Ginny could barely keep their eyes open. They had stayed up all night, pretending to be asleep while the rest of the girls in their dorm bitched about them, and Hermione for taking over all the attention of Harry, Ron, Colin and several other people that they deemed "Hottest in the House".
Catrin yawned and grabbed herself some porridge. Ginny managed a tired smile when Harry passed her a goblet of pumpkin juice. "We were talking about the Yule in the bathroom. It seemed to slip out that you were already taken for the ball," Ginny said, smiling. Harry blushed.
"What happened then?" Hermione asked, interested.
"Huh," snorted Ron, buttering toast and putting it on his sister's and Catrin's plates, "Mass suicide among sixth, fifth and fourth years, probably. With the odd death in the first, second and third years as well."
"Someone's cheerful this morning," Catrin commented, eating her toast, and loading sugar and cream into her porridge.
"I just found out that Snape has another reason to flunk me," he said. Ginny yawned loudly, and got looks from every girl at the table, who were probably hanging onto Ron and Harry's every word.
"Peeve's stole my paper, I found it shredded in Snape's classroom today."
"Oh, that's bad," Ginny said. Cho Chang, looking surprisingly good for early in the morning stopped by their table.
"Hi Harry," she said, smiling sweetly.
"Hi Cho," he replied, head in his porridge.
Cho pitched her voice loud and clear, for all the hall to hear, "I was wondering, Harry, if you wanted to go to the Yule with me?" The room was silent, even the Slytherins wanted to hear what the Boy Who Lived would say to this stunning girl.
Harry mumbled, "Sorry, I'm already going with someone," into his breakfast.
"Sorry, what was that?" Cho asked, her voice lower because of her uncertainty.
"I said, sorry, I'm going with someone," Harry tried to keep his voice low, but every girl in the room was hanging onto his every word, except Catrin and Ginny, of course. Catrin had a strange idea of how this would turn out.
"Oh." Cho's disappointment was visible, she was a year older than Harry and it was her last chance to go to the Yule with him. "Who is it?" she asked, obviously interested.
Ginny was blushing furiously, but few people noticed; all they saw was Harry, Cho and the tension in the air.
"Oh, I'm going with Ginny," Harry said the last word very quietly, but Cho looked over and saw Ginny blushing in her toast.
This was almost a replica of when Harry had asked Cho to the Yule. Ginny sunk down in her seat and Catrin wished that she could charm her invisible.
Ginny felt as if she wanted a hole to open up and swallow her. Every female member of the Great Hall was staring at her or Harry, most males were staring at Cho, but some were still gawking at her.
"I can just see it now, on your resume Harry: Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, the man fancied by the most women (and men) in all of the UK. Well, done Harry," Ron whispered quietly. Hermione hit him. Hard.
Cho broke the silence, by gracefully saying, "I hope you have fun then," and walking off.
The hall seemed to breath again.
Ginny discreetly slipped under that table and Catrin handed her a piece of toast.
"If I could charm you invisible, now, Ginny, I would. Unfortunately, I don't have that sort of power right now, why don't you crawl under the trestles to the Teacher's table and ask Dumbledore to do it for you?" Catrin said.
Ginny laughed hoarsely. "Why don't you cover me with your cloak and smuggle me out?"
Catrin considered this, "Not a bad idea, actually."
That day was bad. Practically every girl in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor were ignoring either Catrin, Ginny or both, most of them both.
In Herbology Colin had grouped up with Catrin and Ginny while they were repotting mandrakes. He took it as his personal duty to make sure that they were fine, especially Catrin, who he seemed to be fussing over a lot.
Catrin was getting death glares from the female person of their class.
"I'm telling you, if looks could kill, I would have died at least ten times back then," Catrin told Ginny as they hurried to Potions.
"If looks could kill we would be dead in a matter of minutes, we're late," Ginny said, speeding up with Catrin and running through the halls.
"If looks could kill Peeves would have killed half of us, but he'd be pretty messed up as well," Catrin said, giggled despite her lack of breath.
"You can't re-kill a ghost," Ginny told her, as they slid into their seats in Potions.
Catrin noticed that she had managed to sit next to Draco Malfoy again. If looks could kill, she thought, he would be dead right now.
It didn't help matters that throughout the halls Colin took it as his own good duty to escort Ginny and Catrin around when they weren't with their friends. Not, that they had any friends other than Harry, Ron and Hermione, because everybody was ignoring them.
Catrin flopped down on her bed after a long day, and sighed, "I. Hate. This."
"Really?" Ginny asked, searching through her trunk for her dress robes.
"Yes. I mean, time was that we could at least hold a decent conversation with most people in this school. Now it's 'Hi Lavender' and she nods. What is with that?" Catrin asked, ticking her ferret under then chin.
"Nothing, is with that, everything is with the fact that we are going to the Yule with the deemed "Hottest Boys in House" and they are not, how do I look in these?"
Catrin lifted her head up long enough to shake her head at Ginny's pink robes. "Who the hell bought you pink dress robes? Pink clashes horribly with every Weasly's hair."
"Gred and Forge," Ginny replied, busily searching for more robes.
Catrin got off her bed and decided to join Ginny trying on robes. She searched through her own trunk and found her favourite old sky-blue robes. She held it up to her shoulders.
"Ginny?" Catrin asked, Ginny turned around.
"Nope, it's a couple of inches too short in the hem, and the sleeves. Do you have any hem? I could take it down for you?" Ginny asked, turning back to her own trunk.
Catrin picked up the bottom of the robe and looked, there was just a small hem, not nearly enough to be let down, and it was the same with the sleeves. "Damn." She threw the robe on the bed and turned to Ginny, who was now holding up a green set of dress robes.
"Nuh-uh," Catrin told her, "Green is all…well, at least not that colour green."
"Great. Just GREAT! The ball is in two days and I have no robes! NONE!" Ginny jumped around the room stomping her feet, Catrin danced out of the way.
"You know what, Gin, I think I'm going to go… do… something… constructive. You stay here and fume, I'm going to dinner."
Ginny dragged herself into the Great Hall ten minutes after Catrin sat down with Ron and Harry.
"Where's Hermione?" asked Ginny, helping herself to some treacle pudding.
Ron shoved a plate full of vegetables under her nose, Ginny wrinkled her nose at the smell of them. "Probably off doing some sherpa mumbo-jumbo and cursing every girl in this school who gave her a death glare today," he told Ginny, he pretended to count something off on his fingers, "Which pretty much takes up every girl in the school. Looks like I won't have a date for the Yule."
"If looks could kill," Harry muttered as he took a mouthful of pudding.
Catrin nodded. "I know. If looks could kill we'd all be dead by now, except maybe Ron, who would be a pair of googley eyes."
Ron threw ice cream at her.
"Yeah," Ginny said, ignoring the vegetables and continuing to eat her pudding, "If looks could kill I would have been dead back in first year from that basilisk thing. Oops," she added, when Ron and Harry gave her strange looks, "I forgot their looks can kill."
"Never, ever get in the way of my sister and her food, lest thy wish to face the wrath of her humour," Ron quoted solemnly.
"Will you help me kill him, Catrin?" asked Ginny.
Catrin considered this then shook her head, "Nope. Sorry, no can do. He's just a pair of googley eyes in my mind, I couldn't kill something that cute."
Ron threw his roll at her and stood up, stalking out with an offended look on his face. Harry followed suit, nodding to the girls before he left.
Lavender Brown, Pansy Parkinson (why a Slytherin sat down at their table eluded them), Chikia Rhodes and several other girls who were the more… 'popular' of their classes, slid into their spots.
Ginny continued eating her pudding. Catrin ignored them.
"So, how'd you do it?" one girl asked, leaning her head on her chin, and looking as if she would pay attention to every word they said.
Catrin stared at them as if they were nuts. Ginny took the lead.
"Well, it's really quite simple. You pick up your spoon, like this, then you scoop some food onto it, and bring it up to your mouth—"
"No that, silly, how'd you get Harry and Colin to ask you two to the Yule?" Lavender asked.
Pansy fluttered her eyelids, "Was any money involved?"
Catrin shot her a disgusted look, "I—we— did nothing to make them ask us. Which is a fair sight less than you lot did. If you weren't throwing yourselves at Colin, Harry, Ron and the rest of those people you deem to be hot, then maybe it would give them time to notice you."
Pansy Parkinson pouted and left, stalking after Draco Malfoy as he entered the room. He nodded curtly to Catrin, who looked bewildered at this sudden show.
"See, just then, what did you do to make him nod at you? Draco Malfoy never takes notice of any girls outside of the dances," Lavender said.
Ginny looked skeptically at them, "She was paired with him in Potions, moron. It's hard not to recognise someone you've been working with for an hour and a half. He was just being polite."
"Draco Malfoy is many things. None of them polite," one girl said in a thick Russian accent.
"Alright! I'll tell you," Ginny said, throwing her hands up in the air. Catrin raised an eyebrow at Ginny's sudden enthusiasm. "Well, what we do," Ginny started whispering conspiratorially, all the girls leaned in with her, hanging onto her every word, "what we do is we go into their dorms at night, and cut a little bit of their nose hair, you know, the hair that grows in their noses? Everybody has it." One or two girls looked alarmed at this, touching their noses, but most just nodded.
"Then, we pull it out, the more boogey on it the better," Lavender was starting to look skeptical, and narrowed her eyes, "Then, we put it in our pumpkin juice in the morning and drink it and—"
"You're kidding me," Lavender said, getting up, disgusted. Some of the girls followed suit but some seemed a little interested.
"No! Honestly, then we drink it with our pumpkin juice and take aspirin at the same and…" the rest of the girls had walked off and Ginny mocked an offended look. "What did I say?"
"I think it was more of what you didn't say, come on," Catrin dragged her out of the Great Hall.
Ginny woke at the crack of dawn the next day, eerie gray sunlight filtering through the window next to her bed, and the gap in her hangings. She pulled aside the hangings and jumped on Catrin's bed.
Catrin rolled over a groaned. "It's too early to be up Ginny," she moaned. Ginny grabbed the pillow from under Catrin's head, while Catrin tried to snatch it back.
"Get up, sleepy, come on! UP!" she whispered loudly…she stopped, hoping that none of the other girls in their dorm had heard her, but no one had. Someone rolled over and snorted loudly in bed, and Ginny made a mental note to herself to take a Muggle-videotape of some of those girls sleeping.
"Why?" Catrin groaned, as she pulled the pillow away from Ginny and shoved it on top of her head.
"Because, I want to go down to breakfast," Ginny said.
Catrin cracked her eyes open, "Ginny, it's only just the crack of dawn, so to speak, go back to bed."
"Ha, you used a cliché, you have to get up now," Ginny poked Catrin.
"Give me one good reason," Catrin asked.
"I don't know. We get the good stuff at breakfast?"
"It's not being served for another hour."
"Fine. We can go out and practice Quidditch."
"The pitch is closed."
"We can get some studying done."
"We don't have finals and I've done all mine. We don't get our break projects until today."
"Fine! I'll go back to bed then!" Ginny slunk back to her bed and started reading.
Catrin tossed and turned for a few moments, trying desperately to get back to sleep. It was an insane hour, and she didn't want to be up. She shoved her head under the pillow, and listened to the frost crackling on the warming window. She heard the other girls in the dorm breathing, in and out, in and out. In…and out… so damn peaceful. She waited for sleep to come, but she was wide awake now. Catrin jumped out of her blankets and onto Ginny, pinning her down.
"Why do you always do that to me? Always? I never get a full night's sleep because of you!" She started tickling Ginny who began to shriek… then she stopped, and looked over at the girls next to them.
"Well, at least they didn't wake up," Ginny said. Catrin scowled at her.
"I'm going to the bathroom, to use up all the hot water in the showers and take a nice, long bath. Come if you wish, I have no interest in you," Catrin took on a snobby voice as she said this and Ginny giggled with her, grabbing clothes and a book. Ginny also grabbed several packets of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans — REJECTS, Lorraine's Long-Lasting Gum, Shrevel's Every-Flavour-Toothpaste — REJECTS and Kikolaine's Removable Soap.
It would be several hours before any of the other girls woke up, and last time Ginny and Catrin had done this, it was amusing to watch everyone else's reaction. At the time they had been sharing a bathroom with Hermione, and she had given them an annoyed look then marched off to use the sixth-years' bathroom.
Ginny, it seemed, had inherited the twins' prank-playing gene. Ron swore that it only happened once in a blue moon. Of course, with seven kids in the family, blue moons came far too often.
Catrin and Ginny spent about an hour in the bathroom.
Half that time was spent chewing gum to plug up some of the sinks. The rest of the time was spent actually doing something. They left little packets of Bertie Bott's rejects around, as if they were presents. Of course, they were the rejects, and tasted mostly like earwax and vomit, spinach and dirt and some other things that were just… nasty in general. They put Shrevel's Reject toothpaste in the toothpaste dispensers. Making sure to take at least one dispenser with them, and putting them back perfectly. They put purple and pink wash-out hair-dye in the communal shampoos, and in anyone's who was stupid enough to leave their shampoo hanging around. The removable soap was put on the mirrors, and distorted your reflection sufficiently that you looked utterly hideous when you had finished doing your makeup.
Ginny made sure that everything they did was within the rules. They took baths before they left, making sure that the bathroom looked as if two people had used it — not as if two people had spent an hour in there making sure that other people would have a hard time using it.
All in all, Ginny felt successful. Catrin felt cheeky, like she had just glued professor Snape's chair to the ground (which Fred and George did do, the last year they were at Hogwarts). So, with all thoughts, worries, confusion and bewilderment over Draco Malfoy's recent behaviour banished from her mind, she trotted down the Ginny to breakfast.
"Kismet, and Malfoy, Granger and Weasly, Potter and Weasly: G, Parkinson and Zabini. Those are your pairs for today's potion. Mind that you will be getting graded on the effectiveness, quality and speed that you make your potion in." Snape told them, cutting off the end of his sentences the way he always did.
Catrin drooped her head and gathered her stuff, dragging it over to where Malfoy was sitting. It was going to be a long exam.
"Hello Kismet," Malfoy smiled at her. Catrin tried not to shove her fingers down her throat in a vomiting performance. That would, at least, get her into the hospital ward… again.
"Hello Malfoy," Catrin said. She looked at the potion on the paper before her.
Just my luck, she thought, ironically, I get the potion I nearly died trying to make. Maybe I'll get to die this time, and then I won't need to go back to the hospital ward!
"Come on Kismet, let's get to it," Draco said in mock happiness. Catrin knew that she would get negative marks unless she procured a potion exactly the same as her last one.
"Oh, shove it up your arse, Malfoy," she said, reaching into one of the secret pockets in her robes and procuring a small bottle of potion. "Ask Snape if we can go outside, to another potions room to make our potion, it's too noisy in here, and the disturbances may affect the potion — make up something," she told him.
Draco raised an eyebrow but raised his hand. "Yes Malfoy?" asked Snape.
"Professor, can Miss Kismet and I go to another room to make our potion, we think that the commotion may affect the way the potion turns out," Draco asked.
"Fine. Kismet, Malfoy, next door, I will be checking on you occasionally."
Which means never, Catrin translated to herself. Snape trusted Malfoy, which was more than she could say of herself. She gathered up all their ingredients, grabbed a parchment and followed Malfoy as he walked next door. Ginny shot Catrin a sympathetic look as she passed her, Catrin gate the tiniest shrugs in reply: what can you do?
Malfoy held open the door for Catrin and she passed through it, commenting sarcastically, "Not all who are chivalrous are knights."
Malfoy chuckled. "So, Kismet, couldn't wait to get your hands on me alone?" he asked, smiling.
Catrin dropped everything on a table, and took the vial out of her pocket, throwing it at Malfoy, "Think again."
He looked at it, held it up to the light, and sniffed it, screwing up his nose delicately. "This wouldn't happen to be the potion you were making on Monday?"
"One and the same. If we just stick in here, cook up all the ingredients and make an unholy smell, and then hand in that bottle, Snape'll never know the difference. Then, I say we blow this joint," she tried to ignore her use of the word "we".
"You're suggesting that we chat on our semi-final potions exam?" Malfoy asked, scrutinizing her.
Catrin shrugged, "I spent an hour with Ginny this morning rendering the girls' bathroom unusable. You figure it out."
"And what if Professor Snape realises that the bottle is cool, not warm?"
"We'll say that we cooled it before handing it in, as it works better after cooling before adding the last bit of mandrake, adds…colour, flavour, something."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Let's do it, then." Draco proceeded to add all the ingredients required for the first part of the potion. Catrin amused herself by quickly sketching half a dozen quick drawings of him in action. The way his back turned, and the fine curves of his face, his long, slender (and incredibly feminine) fingers, and the way his hair flopped over his face from his mushroom-cut. It was a subconscious action, and when she looked back at them, after making half a scene, trying not to choke, she dated the piece of paper (13th of December), and shoved it at the bottom of her stack. She took it back out again, and titled it: "Draco Bloody Malfoy", and signed it with her name, adding "who was on some sort of crack at the time, but didn't know it".
Finally the potion was ready, and Catrin dumped the contents of the cauldron in the sink, giving Malfoy the bottle.
"He's much more likely to believe that we're not cheating if you give him the bottle," she told him.
"Fine. Let's go." On the way out he held open the door for her, bowing sardonically as she passed.
"If I were in a worse mood, I'd kick you, but all I want to do right now is get out of potions," Catrin snarled at him. She could almost see Malfoy's macabre smile behind her, as she walked away.
"As you wish," he said, adding almost silently, quiet enough that Catrin didn't hear it, "My Lady."
"Ginny! I passed! I passed the potions final!" Catrin squealed as she jumped on Ginny. It was the end of the day, and they had all their break projects, and Catrin and Ginny had gone down to check their potions scores.
"Fine thing for you to say. Harry and I scraped through," Ginny said, eyebrows raised. Snape's blatant favouritism of Malfoy had managed to get Catrin the marks, as far as they were both concerned.
"Oh, who cares! I'm going off to study, get some hours in before dinner, you wanna come? Not the library," she added, leaving open the silent option of either one of their 'private study' rooms. Ginny shook her head.
"Nah, I wanna talk to Harry about some stuff. I'll see you back, whenever? Just before dinner?"
Catrin nodded, and skipped off to her room. Humming happily. She sat down, and laid out her books. She picked up Defense Against the Dark Arts, first. Their teacher had announced that he would be leaving, this winter, to help his pregnant wife, but would be back in the Autumn without fail. Professor Lynthara was, obviously, one of the semi-permanent Defence teachers, as he had been here for two years already.
Finally comfortable, Catrin opened her book to the page that they were meant to be reading. Shoving the sketches of Malfoy into the back of the book, she began reading.
Catrin had no idea how long she'd been reading — she measured time in pages, so she guess about 40 minutes, since she had read over 60 pages, — when the door creaked open. Expecting to see Ginny she was disappointed to see…
"Come off it, Malfoy. What are you doing, stalking me or something?"
"As a matter of fact, Kismet, I happen to like this room to study in. Believe it or not, I study. Now, will you stay quiet so I can get some work done?" he asked, sitting on the window ledge.
"One word out of you, and I swear I will hurt you so badly, you'll be walking around with saddle legs for weeks." Catrin warned him.
He nodded, and sat, curled up in the windowsill, reading his Defense against the Dark Arts book, and chewing on his quill.
"What do you want, Draco?" she asked tiredly. Late afternoon sun filtered through the stained-glass window, a huge shadow in his shape covering the wall. He turned his head from where he was sitting. His lean frame was curled into the windowsill and was blocking the sunlight that was streaming through. He had been blocking her light for the better part of the afternoon. She would really have to change her homework spot if she wanted to stop getting bugged by him. Although, this was one of the few rooms in the castle that boasted stone ledges, stained-glass windows and soft carpeting. Catrin could have made her own carpeting if she wished, with a little help from Hermione.
He had been stealing looks at her all afternoon, soon after he had switched books from his Defense Against the Dark Arts book to his Ancient Runes book. She also heard the scratching of quill on parchment, so she guessed he was writing something. Several times when she had felt his eyes on her, she had raised her head, and their eyes had met, his with a silent question, hers with a cold fury. She knew he wanted to ask something, she just didn't know what.
"You're going to the Yule with Creevy. Why?" he asked, not his first question of the afternoon. She had already answered half a dozen about why she hung around Potty, the Mudblood and those "bloody poor Weaslys". Catrin reminded him that she would personally rip off his balls if he so much as thought of insulting her friends again.
He'd shut up.
Catrin shook her head. The Yule ball was a day away. Most people were frantically rushing around getting ready. She couldn't have cared less. Colin was just a dance partner, nothing more, even though he had expressed more than once that he would like it to be something more. "Why do you care?"
"Curious."
She scowled behind his back at the fragmented reply. "Well, if you wanted to go with me you should have asked. I'm going with Colin and nothing is going to change that. I tend to keep my promises," she spat.
Draco laughed, his shadow shaking on the wall. "What makes you think I wanted to go with you? Don't flatter yourself Kismet," his shadow stopped shaking and he turned around, and got off the window ledge. "I have a date, unlike many would like to believe." The years had softened his harsh comments at Harry and Ron. At most people, really. He was more willing to accept people who were not Slytherins these days, and his stupid bickering with the Gryffindors had subsided somewhat. Like most sixth years he had work to do, and he fully intended to do it, if he wanted to pass school.
Catrin stood up to meet his lazy challenge with a defiant stance of her own. Her books were piled on one of the stone ledges, save her Defense Against the Dark Arts book, which was open to where she was reading. "Ill ask you again, Malfoy," she reverted to using his last name. "What do you want?" He was so close that she could have touched him. His hair was like fine, spun white gold.
"What do you want?" he whispered, bending in to kiss her. Catrin was so surprised she had no time to pull back. Instinctively she reached up and looped her hands behind his neck. He locked his hands around her waist and pulled her into him, lifting her up a little as he did so. Fire coursed through Catrin's veins, searing every bit of sense she had in her. He deposited her on one of the stone ledges, so they were at about the same height. She wrapped her arms around him a little tighter, and he pulled her even closer, crushing the breath out of her. He pulled his lips off for a second, just long enough for Catrin to regain her senses.
Her eyes popped at the realization of what she had just done. She struggled out of his grasp and jumped, like startled rabbit, grabbed her books and fled.
She ran in the direction of the Gryffindor common room, her lips tingling. She could remember the kiss, as if she were still back there. His soft hair, the extreme pleasure of kissing Draco Mal—no! She startled herself. I will not think like that, she muttered in her head. I am going places, there is no space in my life for the complication of males! She reasoned with herself. Yes, she thought, I'll just forget it ever happened. But she couldn't forget, it was so…no, she thought, no, no, no, no, NO! She was bolting up the stairs that would lead to the portrait hole when she hit something that felt like a wall.
It turned out to be Ron.
"Catrin! Where are you going in such a hurry?" he asked. She had fallen down and she hurriedly gathered up her books.
"Uh, I, uh…" she racked her brain for a plausible lie. "I had to meet Ginny for something and I was late?" she said quickly, catching her breath. She hoped that she wasn't too red, but she could blame that from the run.
"No, Ginny's upstairs with Harry discussing their…" he screwed up his face, thinking, "post mortem. Something to do with their…potion." He snickered, Catrin knew exactly what he was thinking.
"She…is?" Catrin said, still panting slightly. "I could have sworn I had to meet her…" her voice trailed off as she realised that she didn't have her DADA book. She had left it in her study room.
"Nope. You ran all that way for nothing, I was just going to get something from the kitchen. You want anything?" he offered. Catrin shook her head.
"I better get up to talk with…Ginny," she said, taking a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves. She took several more, thinking clearly.
"Fine then, I'll see you later," Ron said, looking strangely at her because of her behaviour. Catrin jumped up the stairs and barged in on Ginny and Harry, sitting, heads together, talking.
"I'm sorry to break up this happy family reunion, but I need to speak to Ginny. Now," she added when Ginny didn't look like she was going to move. Catrin fully intended to tell her everything about Malfoy. As soon as she could muster up the courage. Which, she hoped would be now.
Catrin dragged Ginny up to their dorm and sat her down on her bed.
"Ginny."
"Catrin, yes?" Ginny said.
"Ginny," Catrin said again.
"Catrin, if you brought me up here, just to repeat my name uselessly, I have better things to do," Ginny said, standing up.
"No! Sit down," Catrin said. She felt…strange about the kiss. It was a secret, a nice secret. Something she wanted to wrap around her heart to keep her warm at night, a secret she wanted to hug to herself, but she should tell Ginny. "Ginny, I… uh, I … need new robes!" She burst out.
Ginny looked happy at that. "Good, I need new robes as well, do you want to go into Hogsmeade with me to get some new ones? It should be fine, Dumbledore told us at breakfast that we could go, you were all… spacey."
"Fine, tomorrow morning sounds good, before the crowds hit, thanks Gin," Catrin said, pursing her lips and nodding.
"Anything else?" Ginny asked, looking as strange as Ron at Catrin's peculiar behaviour.
"Uh, nope." Catrin said, sitting down a swinging her arms.
"Okay then, I'm going back to talk with Harry," Ginny made for the door but Catrin stopped her.
"Wait!"
"What Catrin?"
"Do you have your Defense Against the Dark Arts book with you?"
A/N: The spoiler kiss in this chapter is for Avadriel, because she put up nice reviews. The chapter is dedicated to Caz and Annie, because I'm really sorry that I haven't emailed or talked in a while.
Nice people are:
scarce. Not enough reviews.
Thanks again,
Ta
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