Chapter 2, In Which We Meet Katharine, and Hermione Has An Idea
After the feast had been cleared away, Dumbledore stood again. Hermione looked up at the Headmaster, a smile on her lips, although it did not quite reach her eyes. She was rather upset at the news that the Restricted section of the library was off bounds, as she had been hoping to start some research there. Her memory while on the train had inspired her to start looking for the true identity of her parents.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I have several announcements still to make, so if I might have your attention please? Good. First of all, I'd like to announce the identity of our Head Boy and Girl, as I'm sure everyone is quite curious. As it happens, our Board of Governors has decided that those who are not currently students at our school would better fill these positions. Fortunately, I had final say, along with your professors, on deciding who would take these positions. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, your Head Boy, until we have a different term for the role, will be Fred Weasley, and your Head Girl will be Katharine LaFontaine. I am aware that this is rather strange for most of you to accept, especially as Miss LaFontaine has never been a student at Hogwarts, but I am confident you will all welcome her here. Your prefects will now make themselves known, as they will discover their badges... now."
Hermione smiled up at Fred and Katharine, and then glanced down at herself, discovering that not only did she have no Head Girl badge, but also no Prefect badge. Although she knew she should be upset at this, having worked so hard on her grades in hopes of being at least one of the two her seventh year – even she wasn't convinced of the possibility of being both – she also knew that not having those duties would allow her more time for her research. She had also decided to be as secretive about her search as possible; she did not want to reveal her search before she knew what the results would be, lest she find that some terrible Dark wizard or witch would decide to claim her again after all.
Besides, she'd been a prefect in her sixth year, and that would look well enough on her college applications.
She looked around at the Gryffindor table to see who had taken what others might consider to be "her" spot, and was surprised at Dumbledore's choices – Lavender Brown and Neville Longbottom. She blinked several times, considering his reasons, and realized that as usual, he had more than one purpose in everything he did. Hopefully, Lavender would become more responsible, and she could only pray that Neville developed some backbone from this. Perhaps he'd be all right in Potions this year after all.
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After dinner, Dumbledore asked for Katharine and Fred to follow him up to his office. After passing by the guardian (the password, for the moment, was Pop Rocks), he invited them both to take a seat, and offered tea. After a few minutes of polite small talk, he got to the point.
"Now, Mr Weasley, and Miss LaFontaine, I'm certain that both of you are curious as to what your new duties will be. Miss LaFontaine, I'm sure that you will be more familiar with this type of duties, as you were a prefect at El Dorado Academy. Mr Weasley, rest assured that while the reputation of you and your twin brother for mischievousness was a factor in my selecting you as our Head Boy, you will still be expected to fulfill the classic duties of the position. For tonight, however, I would like merely for you to show Miss LaFontaine around the castle. Classes commence tomorrow, as will your duties. Therefore, I request the presence of both of you immediately following breakfast tomorrow morning, and until then, I hope you have a good evening." And with that, he dismissed them.
Katharine followed Fred out of the Headmaster's office with a very bemused expression on her face, as he noticed when he turned to her at the bottom of the stairs. "You all right there, then?" he asked.
She shook her head clear of her thoughts, looked up at him, and smiled as she replied. "Is he always like that? Acting all innocent, like your friend's grandfather or a demented Santa Claus, and then he'll come out of nowhere to give you your walking orders?"
Fred grinned. "Yeah, more or less. It's all right though, as long as you don't have a hero complex." His face shut down for a moment. "Anyway," he continued, perking back up, "I'm Fred of course, and you'll meet my twin George as soon as I can get you down to Hogsmeade. He's running the shop for now. If you like, we can start the tour now... d'you mind if I take you to Gryffindor Tower first? Only I didn't get a chance to talk to Ron nearly all summer."
"Who's Ron? I don't mind, I mean, I'm just curious... it's going to be hard trying to meet an entire school full of new people when I'm supposed to be taking care of them, too..."
"Ah, don't worry about that. It's really not as hard as you'd think, you'll probably know everybody's name in a month at worst, and there aren't too many troublemakers. And Ron's my kid brother, about two years younger than George and me, and then there's my kid sister Ginny, she's a year younger than him. Come on then, let's go!" Fred grabbed Katharine's hand, pulling her with him as he headed the quickest way to the tower.
After all, there were only three hair-raising shortcuts this way, and she'd need to learn them after all, wouldn't she?
They came to a stop outside the Fat Lady's portrait. She stared in fascination as Fred gave the password – she missed it in her concentration, but she knew she'd learn it later, if it hadn't changed already – and then was tugged on inside to the Gryffindor common room. She craned her neck to see the back of the portrait, which looked the same as the back of any of her grandmother's paintings. While she'd seen many moving photographs, not to mention countless movies, she'd never seen a Wizarding portrait. One of the downsides of being raised in America, she supposed.
"Katie? Katie! I knew it was you! How've you been?"
Katharine snapped back to herself with a start. "Oh my gods, Mina? Is that you? Holy crap, look at you, you're all grown up! You're gorgeous!" She rushed over to give her childhood friend a hug. Hermione laughed, then, and when Katie pulled back a little, she pointed over Katie's shoulder at the Head Boy, Fred, who was completely flabbergasted.
He looked back and forth between the two girls, his gaze finally coming to rest on Katharine. "Katharine? Why did Hermione call you Katie?"
Katie glanced at her friend, and couldn't help but laugh a little at Fred's expression. "Well, Fred, Mina here is one of my best friends from childhood. Actually, my parents were best friends with hers, from the time our parents were in college. We practically grew up together, even though I'm a few years older than she is. I just haven't seen her in years, and never for more than a weekend during the summer. Haven't spent a decent amount of time with her since she moved here to England, and that was what, ten years ago? As for her calling me Katie, well, that's been my nickname for forever. You can call me Katie, if you like..." She trailed off, at that.
Fred blinked several times as he stored that bit of information, and then grinned at them again. "Right, well, that was unexpected. You hiding any other secrets like that?" He turned his head towards the stairs for a moment. "Oy, Ron! Ginny! Where are you?" Fred turned back to Katie and Hermione again. "Well, are you?"
She couldn't help but smirk at him a little. "I'm not sure, I guess we'll have to see, won't we?" And then, never one to back down, she winked at him.
Any response that Fred may have been planning to make was interrupted by the clatter of two young men running down the stairs, followed by the more sedate progress of one's sister. "Fred! How the bloody hell did you end up Head Boy? I mean, you didn't even finish your seventh year!"
Fred blushed. "Language, Ron! For chrissakes, would you shut up?" He looked over at the girls with an expression indicating he expected impending doom.
Katie raised an eyebrow. She looked at the small group of friends, most of whom she didn't know, and asked the question it was clear she was expected to ask. "And how did that happen, anyway? I was under the impression that a person didn't graduate here without passing seventh year, or are the schools so very different from the ones in America?"
Hermione took pity on the boys. Fred was blushing because Ron had put his foot in it, Ron was blushing because he realized he'd done something stupid, Harry looked pale – probably remembering just why it was that Fred and George hadn't stayed to take their NEWTs – and Ginny just looked distracted, staring at Katie. "Well, you see, Katie, two years ago, we had the most horrible DADA teacher in the world-" "DADA? What the hell is a DADA?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course, I know I must have mentioned the job in a letter at some point, didn't I? Anyway, pay attention. So there was this horrible woman named Umbridge, and she was making everybody's life completely miserable. I mean, she wasn't even really teaching us anything, either, just studying out of a book. We've had the worst string of DADA teachers of anywhere, really, it's just terrible. Anyway, at the end of the year, right before the OWLs and NEWTs, Fred and George got completely sick of it – she was on a massive power trip, too, because of the Ministry's having appointed her, and she was absolutely beastly to everybody – and they told her off in the middle of everyone, and said that rather spend a moment more under the same roof as her they'd quit school and start up their own business. I think Professor Dumbledore was actually rather proud of them, really."
Katie chuckled. "Well, Mina, I see that you still can't tell a story without rambling, and do you ever take a breath, anyway? No doubt that's not exactly how the story went, but I think I get the point – and Fred, I can't say I blame you for walking out on a situation like that. Personally, I'd probably get in a lot more trouble and get detention for a year for beating up a teacher with a big stick. So who is everybody else, then? I'm guessing the guy who stuck his foot in his mouth is your brother Ron, and by rights the redheaded girl standing next to him is probably your sister Ginny... but who's the brunette, here?"
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Ginny didn't pay attention as Hermione explained Fred's seventh year, and barely noticed when her name was mentioned. Looking at the black-haired woman standing across the carpet, a wealth of images was crossing her mind.
IA short woman with once-red hair, now shot through with white, was walking down a street with Katie. "Dear, I'm so proud of you that you're going to Hogwarts, but be careful, it's a more dangerous place than it seems. I think you'll be happy to find that Mark and Carol's daughter is still there – it's her seventh year now, and I hope she'll be happy to see you. But you knew that..."
"What's wrong, Mom? Something must be, you don't chatter like that anymore unless something's up..."
"Well, dear, you're going to see one of your cousins there, and he might seem much different than he did last time you saw him. Most of the family doesn't know him, not my family anyway, he's on your father's side... it's the Lynns, they're not really Lynns, but your father insists I not say their actual name. Once you see him, since I'm sure everyone will try to turn you against him, I think you'll understand. His father was never a terribly pleasant man, and Michel's worried about him..."
"What's Dad worried about?"
"Well, it's just that his father isn't a very nice man at all anymore, and your father and I are hoping you can keep an eye on your cousin. I'm sure you'll know what to do, sweetheart, you always do..."/I
"What? I'm sorry... what did you ask?" Ginny shook herself. II need to stop this, I'm going to fall and crack my head on the table if this keeps up.../I She looked up apologetically at her friends. She noticed that Katie was looking at her rather quizzically, and just shrugged a little, then dropped the other girl's gaze.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it was nothing. Actually, Fred, don't you need to show me the other Houses, too? Although... do you think you could avoid showing me too many of those secret passages, this time? I don't think my head's on straight from the last one yet." The group laughed, forgetting about Ginny's quietness for the moment, except for Katie. She decided to keep an eye out on the girl, thinking that she could probably enlist Mina's help for some of it. "Okay, everyone, it was very nice to meet you, and I hope I can maybe join you for lunch tomorrow – but for now, Fred, why don't you show me around the rest of the castle?" She caught his arm and 'encouraged' him to escort her out.
Fred gave Katie a running commentary on the characteristics of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as he led her on a strange path through the castle. More than once, the stairs changed on them, necessitating a change in route. Katie didn't really mind. Exploring the castle was fun; her old school, in a small town in Kansas, had been nothing like this old castle, and Fred was good company, besides. She was keeping an eye out for her cousin, and trying to remember the last time she'd seen someone with an expression like Ginny's – glazed over, but with the eyes moving rapidly – because she knew she /I seen that before. She just couldn't remember when.
"All right, so that was Ravenclaw. Just one last house, and then I'll show you where your rooms are. Unfortunately, the only house left is Slytherin." Fred's tone pulled the rest of Katie's attention back to him.
"Slytherin? What's wrong with them?" By his tone, something must be, and she was rather curious to learn what he thought.
"What isn't wrong with them, more like. Half of them are probably involved with the Dark Lord in one way or another, or at least their families are. Their Headmaster teaches Potions – his name is Snape, and he's such a greasy git. Loves to take points off everybody else, but lets them get away with murder. Bloody hell, we're here already – look, I'll tell you more later, just be polite to them, you should be okay, they'll probably want to make fun of me anyway." He pulled her up to the doorway, poked his wand at the door, and muttered something under his breath that she supposed was the password. Although, it sounded suspiciously like an unlocking charm...
Katie tried not to grin as Fred led her into the fourth Common Room of the evening. Decorated in silver, green, and black - Inot really my colors, I suppose/I - there were only a few students lounging around. She glanced around the room, taking note of faces and sneers. Their entrance had not gone unnoticed.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't yet another Weasley. What's wrong, did you decide to have another go at school?"
"Hello, ferret. I'm just showing the Head Girl around, so shut your face and we'll be out of here in a few."
Katie turned around to see who Fred was talking to. She frowned for half a moment, taking off the years in her eyes, and – "Draco? Is that you?"
The blond young man visibly startled. "Kate? What the hell are you doing at Hogwarts? With a Weasley, no less?"
She smiled and walked past Fred, who was once again flabbergasted. "Silly boy, don't you ever pay attention during dinner? Dumbledore asked Dad to ask me if I wanted to be the new Head Girl here, since somebody on his Board of Governors was pushing for non-students. Seems like he wanted Fred here for some reason, and thought that if I came, I could sort of balance things out for a few people who might have a problem with it otherwise. How have you been, anyway, I haven't heard from you in ages!"
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Draco smiled at his cousin. Not only was it a pleasant surprise to realize that the new Head Girl probably wouldn't become a complete Potter sycophant, but it was wonderful to see her again. The opportunity to annoy Weasley just made things a little bit better.
"Well, Kate, I've been as well as can be expected, I suppose. I didn't hear that you were coming from Kansas for the year, and I left early during dinner. It's wonderful that you're here." He glanced at her Head Girl badge, and did a double take. "I didn't realize that they'd keep your EDA colors for your badge, but I'm glad – purple always was a good color for you." He glanced behind her at Fred, who was turning a strange shade of puce. "Don't worry, Weasley, I know where my cousin's rooms are, I'll take her back there... So do feel free to leave Slytherin territory. Now."
Draco kept his eyes on Fred's face, noting that he glanced over at Kate, although he didn't see that her faintly worried eyes were locked on his own face. "It's all right, Fred, I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow. I'd like to catch up with Draco anyway. Go ahead."
Fred shook his head at her for a moment, and then turned away with a sigh. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." He paused a moment more at the door, then slipped through. It shut itself behind him.
Draco turned his attention back to his cousin. "All right, then, Kate, follow me. Let's go talk in my rooms. Finally have some of my own... a perk of being Prefect, I suppose." He pulled her hand to his arm and led the way.
After the feast had been cleared away, Dumbledore stood again. Hermione looked up at the Headmaster, a smile on her lips, although it did not quite reach her eyes. She was rather upset at the news that the Restricted section of the library was off bounds, as she had been hoping to start some research there. Her memory while on the train had inspired her to start looking for the true identity of her parents.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I have several announcements still to make, so if I might have your attention please? Good. First of all, I'd like to announce the identity of our Head Boy and Girl, as I'm sure everyone is quite curious. As it happens, our Board of Governors has decided that those who are not currently students at our school would better fill these positions. Fortunately, I had final say, along with your professors, on deciding who would take these positions. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, your Head Boy, until we have a different term for the role, will be Fred Weasley, and your Head Girl will be Katharine LaFontaine. I am aware that this is rather strange for most of you to accept, especially as Miss LaFontaine has never been a student at Hogwarts, but I am confident you will all welcome her here. Your prefects will now make themselves known, as they will discover their badges... now."
Hermione smiled up at Fred and Katharine, and then glanced down at herself, discovering that not only did she have no Head Girl badge, but also no Prefect badge. Although she knew she should be upset at this, having worked so hard on her grades in hopes of being at least one of the two her seventh year – even she wasn't convinced of the possibility of being both – she also knew that not having those duties would allow her more time for her research. She had also decided to be as secretive about her search as possible; she did not want to reveal her search before she knew what the results would be, lest she find that some terrible Dark wizard or witch would decide to claim her again after all.
Besides, she'd been a prefect in her sixth year, and that would look well enough on her college applications.
She looked around at the Gryffindor table to see who had taken what others might consider to be "her" spot, and was surprised at Dumbledore's choices – Lavender Brown and Neville Longbottom. She blinked several times, considering his reasons, and realized that as usual, he had more than one purpose in everything he did. Hopefully, Lavender would become more responsible, and she could only pray that Neville developed some backbone from this. Perhaps he'd be all right in Potions this year after all.
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After dinner, Dumbledore asked for Katharine and Fred to follow him up to his office. After passing by the guardian (the password, for the moment, was Pop Rocks), he invited them both to take a seat, and offered tea. After a few minutes of polite small talk, he got to the point.
"Now, Mr Weasley, and Miss LaFontaine, I'm certain that both of you are curious as to what your new duties will be. Miss LaFontaine, I'm sure that you will be more familiar with this type of duties, as you were a prefect at El Dorado Academy. Mr Weasley, rest assured that while the reputation of you and your twin brother for mischievousness was a factor in my selecting you as our Head Boy, you will still be expected to fulfill the classic duties of the position. For tonight, however, I would like merely for you to show Miss LaFontaine around the castle. Classes commence tomorrow, as will your duties. Therefore, I request the presence of both of you immediately following breakfast tomorrow morning, and until then, I hope you have a good evening." And with that, he dismissed them.
Katharine followed Fred out of the Headmaster's office with a very bemused expression on her face, as he noticed when he turned to her at the bottom of the stairs. "You all right there, then?" he asked.
She shook her head clear of her thoughts, looked up at him, and smiled as she replied. "Is he always like that? Acting all innocent, like your friend's grandfather or a demented Santa Claus, and then he'll come out of nowhere to give you your walking orders?"
Fred grinned. "Yeah, more or less. It's all right though, as long as you don't have a hero complex." His face shut down for a moment. "Anyway," he continued, perking back up, "I'm Fred of course, and you'll meet my twin George as soon as I can get you down to Hogsmeade. He's running the shop for now. If you like, we can start the tour now... d'you mind if I take you to Gryffindor Tower first? Only I didn't get a chance to talk to Ron nearly all summer."
"Who's Ron? I don't mind, I mean, I'm just curious... it's going to be hard trying to meet an entire school full of new people when I'm supposed to be taking care of them, too..."
"Ah, don't worry about that. It's really not as hard as you'd think, you'll probably know everybody's name in a month at worst, and there aren't too many troublemakers. And Ron's my kid brother, about two years younger than George and me, and then there's my kid sister Ginny, she's a year younger than him. Come on then, let's go!" Fred grabbed Katharine's hand, pulling her with him as he headed the quickest way to the tower.
After all, there were only three hair-raising shortcuts this way, and she'd need to learn them after all, wouldn't she?
They came to a stop outside the Fat Lady's portrait. She stared in fascination as Fred gave the password – she missed it in her concentration, but she knew she'd learn it later, if it hadn't changed already – and then was tugged on inside to the Gryffindor common room. She craned her neck to see the back of the portrait, which looked the same as the back of any of her grandmother's paintings. While she'd seen many moving photographs, not to mention countless movies, she'd never seen a Wizarding portrait. One of the downsides of being raised in America, she supposed.
"Katie? Katie! I knew it was you! How've you been?"
Katharine snapped back to herself with a start. "Oh my gods, Mina? Is that you? Holy crap, look at you, you're all grown up! You're gorgeous!" She rushed over to give her childhood friend a hug. Hermione laughed, then, and when Katie pulled back a little, she pointed over Katie's shoulder at the Head Boy, Fred, who was completely flabbergasted.
He looked back and forth between the two girls, his gaze finally coming to rest on Katharine. "Katharine? Why did Hermione call you Katie?"
Katie glanced at her friend, and couldn't help but laugh a little at Fred's expression. "Well, Fred, Mina here is one of my best friends from childhood. Actually, my parents were best friends with hers, from the time our parents were in college. We practically grew up together, even though I'm a few years older than she is. I just haven't seen her in years, and never for more than a weekend during the summer. Haven't spent a decent amount of time with her since she moved here to England, and that was what, ten years ago? As for her calling me Katie, well, that's been my nickname for forever. You can call me Katie, if you like..." She trailed off, at that.
Fred blinked several times as he stored that bit of information, and then grinned at them again. "Right, well, that was unexpected. You hiding any other secrets like that?" He turned his head towards the stairs for a moment. "Oy, Ron! Ginny! Where are you?" Fred turned back to Katie and Hermione again. "Well, are you?"
She couldn't help but smirk at him a little. "I'm not sure, I guess we'll have to see, won't we?" And then, never one to back down, she winked at him.
Any response that Fred may have been planning to make was interrupted by the clatter of two young men running down the stairs, followed by the more sedate progress of one's sister. "Fred! How the bloody hell did you end up Head Boy? I mean, you didn't even finish your seventh year!"
Fred blushed. "Language, Ron! For chrissakes, would you shut up?" He looked over at the girls with an expression indicating he expected impending doom.
Katie raised an eyebrow. She looked at the small group of friends, most of whom she didn't know, and asked the question it was clear she was expected to ask. "And how did that happen, anyway? I was under the impression that a person didn't graduate here without passing seventh year, or are the schools so very different from the ones in America?"
Hermione took pity on the boys. Fred was blushing because Ron had put his foot in it, Ron was blushing because he realized he'd done something stupid, Harry looked pale – probably remembering just why it was that Fred and George hadn't stayed to take their NEWTs – and Ginny just looked distracted, staring at Katie. "Well, you see, Katie, two years ago, we had the most horrible DADA teacher in the world-" "DADA? What the hell is a DADA?"
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, of course, I know I must have mentioned the job in a letter at some point, didn't I? Anyway, pay attention. So there was this horrible woman named Umbridge, and she was making everybody's life completely miserable. I mean, she wasn't even really teaching us anything, either, just studying out of a book. We've had the worst string of DADA teachers of anywhere, really, it's just terrible. Anyway, at the end of the year, right before the OWLs and NEWTs, Fred and George got completely sick of it – she was on a massive power trip, too, because of the Ministry's having appointed her, and she was absolutely beastly to everybody – and they told her off in the middle of everyone, and said that rather spend a moment more under the same roof as her they'd quit school and start up their own business. I think Professor Dumbledore was actually rather proud of them, really."
Katie chuckled. "Well, Mina, I see that you still can't tell a story without rambling, and do you ever take a breath, anyway? No doubt that's not exactly how the story went, but I think I get the point – and Fred, I can't say I blame you for walking out on a situation like that. Personally, I'd probably get in a lot more trouble and get detention for a year for beating up a teacher with a big stick. So who is everybody else, then? I'm guessing the guy who stuck his foot in his mouth is your brother Ron, and by rights the redheaded girl standing next to him is probably your sister Ginny... but who's the brunette, here?"
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Ginny didn't pay attention as Hermione explained Fred's seventh year, and barely noticed when her name was mentioned. Looking at the black-haired woman standing across the carpet, a wealth of images was crossing her mind.
IA short woman with once-red hair, now shot through with white, was walking down a street with Katie. "Dear, I'm so proud of you that you're going to Hogwarts, but be careful, it's a more dangerous place than it seems. I think you'll be happy to find that Mark and Carol's daughter is still there – it's her seventh year now, and I hope she'll be happy to see you. But you knew that..."
"What's wrong, Mom? Something must be, you don't chatter like that anymore unless something's up..."
"Well, dear, you're going to see one of your cousins there, and he might seem much different than he did last time you saw him. Most of the family doesn't know him, not my family anyway, he's on your father's side... it's the Lynns, they're not really Lynns, but your father insists I not say their actual name. Once you see him, since I'm sure everyone will try to turn you against him, I think you'll understand. His father was never a terribly pleasant man, and Michel's worried about him..."
"What's Dad worried about?"
"Well, it's just that his father isn't a very nice man at all anymore, and your father and I are hoping you can keep an eye on your cousin. I'm sure you'll know what to do, sweetheart, you always do..."/I
"What? I'm sorry... what did you ask?" Ginny shook herself. II need to stop this, I'm going to fall and crack my head on the table if this keeps up.../I She looked up apologetically at her friends. She noticed that Katie was looking at her rather quizzically, and just shrugged a little, then dropped the other girl's gaze.
"Oh, don't worry about it, it was nothing. Actually, Fred, don't you need to show me the other Houses, too? Although... do you think you could avoid showing me too many of those secret passages, this time? I don't think my head's on straight from the last one yet." The group laughed, forgetting about Ginny's quietness for the moment, except for Katie. She decided to keep an eye out on the girl, thinking that she could probably enlist Mina's help for some of it. "Okay, everyone, it was very nice to meet you, and I hope I can maybe join you for lunch tomorrow – but for now, Fred, why don't you show me around the rest of the castle?" She caught his arm and 'encouraged' him to escort her out.
Fred gave Katie a running commentary on the characteristics of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as he led her on a strange path through the castle. More than once, the stairs changed on them, necessitating a change in route. Katie didn't really mind. Exploring the castle was fun; her old school, in a small town in Kansas, had been nothing like this old castle, and Fred was good company, besides. She was keeping an eye out for her cousin, and trying to remember the last time she'd seen someone with an expression like Ginny's – glazed over, but with the eyes moving rapidly – because she knew she /I seen that before. She just couldn't remember when.
"All right, so that was Ravenclaw. Just one last house, and then I'll show you where your rooms are. Unfortunately, the only house left is Slytherin." Fred's tone pulled the rest of Katie's attention back to him.
"Slytherin? What's wrong with them?" By his tone, something must be, and she was rather curious to learn what he thought.
"What isn't wrong with them, more like. Half of them are probably involved with the Dark Lord in one way or another, or at least their families are. Their Headmaster teaches Potions – his name is Snape, and he's such a greasy git. Loves to take points off everybody else, but lets them get away with murder. Bloody hell, we're here already – look, I'll tell you more later, just be polite to them, you should be okay, they'll probably want to make fun of me anyway." He pulled her up to the doorway, poked his wand at the door, and muttered something under his breath that she supposed was the password. Although, it sounded suspiciously like an unlocking charm...
Katie tried not to grin as Fred led her into the fourth Common Room of the evening. Decorated in silver, green, and black - Inot really my colors, I suppose/I - there were only a few students lounging around. She glanced around the room, taking note of faces and sneers. Their entrance had not gone unnoticed.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't yet another Weasley. What's wrong, did you decide to have another go at school?"
"Hello, ferret. I'm just showing the Head Girl around, so shut your face and we'll be out of here in a few."
Katie turned around to see who Fred was talking to. She frowned for half a moment, taking off the years in her eyes, and – "Draco? Is that you?"
The blond young man visibly startled. "Kate? What the hell are you doing at Hogwarts? With a Weasley, no less?"
She smiled and walked past Fred, who was once again flabbergasted. "Silly boy, don't you ever pay attention during dinner? Dumbledore asked Dad to ask me if I wanted to be the new Head Girl here, since somebody on his Board of Governors was pushing for non-students. Seems like he wanted Fred here for some reason, and thought that if I came, I could sort of balance things out for a few people who might have a problem with it otherwise. How have you been, anyway, I haven't heard from you in ages!"
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Draco smiled at his cousin. Not only was it a pleasant surprise to realize that the new Head Girl probably wouldn't become a complete Potter sycophant, but it was wonderful to see her again. The opportunity to annoy Weasley just made things a little bit better.
"Well, Kate, I've been as well as can be expected, I suppose. I didn't hear that you were coming from Kansas for the year, and I left early during dinner. It's wonderful that you're here." He glanced at her Head Girl badge, and did a double take. "I didn't realize that they'd keep your EDA colors for your badge, but I'm glad – purple always was a good color for you." He glanced behind her at Fred, who was turning a strange shade of puce. "Don't worry, Weasley, I know where my cousin's rooms are, I'll take her back there... So do feel free to leave Slytherin territory. Now."
Draco kept his eyes on Fred's face, noting that he glanced over at Kate, although he didn't see that her faintly worried eyes were locked on his own face. "It's all right, Fred, I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow. I'd like to catch up with Draco anyway. Go ahead."
Fred shook his head at her for a moment, and then turned away with a sigh. "Fine, I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." He paused a moment more at the door, then slipped through. It shut itself behind him.
Draco turned his attention back to his cousin. "All right, then, Kate, follow me. Let's go talk in my rooms. Finally have some of my own... a perk of being Prefect, I suppose." He pulled her hand to his arm and led the way.