Chapter 6 - A kind Slytherin?

After a few minutes the two boys returned to the tree on the edge of the lake. James and Sirius sat back down, and carried on talking like nothing had happened. Katie glared at Sirius and James. It was a while before they noticed. Finally they looked over.

"What?" asked Sirius. Katie indicated Snape heading back to the castle.

"What, Snivellus? What about him?" asked James.

"What you always call him!" said Katie indignantly.

"Snivellus? I'd consider that pretty kind compared to what I'd like to call him." laughed James. Sirius however, had spent too much time in the library with Katie to laugh as well.

"Oh really? How about egotistical git?" Katie said sourly. James nodded.

"That'll do."

"Oh, I'm glad you like it, because that's what I'll be calling you from now on." with that she got up, collected her broomstick, and set off towards the castle. James looked baffled.

"What did I say?" Sirius looked annoyed at her as well. She certainly wasn't any giggling girl he'd ever met. So what they made fun of Snape sometimes, it wasn't as though he didn't give as good as he got. Sirius leaned back against the tree and tried to forget about her, he'd rather just relax with his best friends by the edge of the lake.

Katie stormed through the grounds and into the castle. Those gits! she thought furiously, just picking on people because they can. Lily was right, she was better off without them. Well, maybe just Sirius and James, Peter and Remus were fine. In fact, she was sure Remus thought exactly the same about the whole Snape situation as she did.

She was so intent in her thoughts that when she crashed full on with someone in the corridor she had no time to grab onto anything. Instead she fell backwards and hit the ground with an audible thud. It was a moment or two before she realized where she was and stood up. She came face to face with none other than a Slytherin. But this one wasn't sneering at her like most others did. This one in fact, picked up her broomstick for her, and held out a hand.

"Sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going. My name's John." She took his hand, frankly she was rather surprised. This was the kind of behavior she would expect from an eighteenth century gentleman or something.

"I'm Katie." she said, taking her broomstick he was now holding out.

"I know. In fact I was looking for you just now." Katie was even more surprised.

"Me? Why?"

"Well," he offered her his arm and she took it, letting him lead her along a corridor. Wow, a real gentleman, she thought. Not like those thoughtless idiots outside. She wondered what they'd think if they could see her, arm in arm with a Slytherin. She grinned at the thought.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, and I was wondering..." he faltered slightly. She looked at him expectantly. "I was wondering if you'd like to go with me?" She thought about this for a moment. A Slytherin? Normally she wouldn't mind that at all, but from past experience she'd found that all Slytherins, kind or not, had a hidden agenda. Then she thought about the marauders. She smiled. Why not? After all it was only Hogsmeade, not marriage. Lets see what James and Sirius think about this. She turned to him, and found that he was watching her expectantly.

"Sure. Why not?" He sighed in relief.

"Great, I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eleven o'clock." He let go of her arm and, after saying good bye, walked off towards where Katie assumed was the Slytherin common room. She smiled in satisfaction and headed off to the Gryffindor common room. She still had a transfiguration project to finish after all.

That night in the common room Sirius and Katie were to be found haunched over a pile of books in the corner of the room. Every time Sirius made an attempt to go over and join the other marauders, Katie would give him a look that could freeze fire, and he reluctantly continued working. Gradually they worked their way through the project, ticking off ingredients, working out a method, and writing down various notes. As they went on the common room emptied around them, until only the marauders were left, leaning over a piece of parchment on a table by the fireplace. Sirius looked over longingly at them, and was about to go over when Katie spoke.

"I hope you're not thinking of going over there." she said icily, in a tone that suggested he wouldn't make it back alive. Sirius sighed, and without a word continued writing down a paragraph from a book. Katie smiled, and looked over at their work. They had almost finished. After about ten minutes he had finished writing down some more notes, and was once again looking over at the marauders hopefully. Katie spotted this. Sirius caught her eye and sighed.

"I know, I know. Back to work." Katie grinned.

"Am I that predicable?" Sirius looked surprised at this sudden change in behavior.

"Yes." said Sirius smiling mischeviously.

"Well I can't have that then can I? Go on, I'll finish up." Sirius grinned.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course, go on." He thanked her and eagerly went over to the marauder's table, who immediately made room for him.

Katie smiled to herself, like a little kid, she thought. And turned back to her work.

It was half past twelve by the time Sirius, James, Remus and Peter headed off up to bed, yawning as they climbed the stairs to their dormitory. Sirius suddenly remembered Katie, and decided he'd better check on how far she'd gotten before he went to bed.

"See you guys in a minute, I'm just going to check on Katie." They yawned and nodded, and headed back up to bed.

Sirius turned around and walked to the back of the common room. He grinned when he saw Katie. She was seemingly leaning closer to the book to see better, but as he walked over he found she was in fact fast asleep over the books, mumbling slightly. He slowly pulled out the parchment underneath her, not wanting to wake her up, and examined it. She'd finished it, now they only had to make the potion that went along with it. He smiled at her, she was obviously tired, but had let him go over to see the marauders. Well, he might not have finished it with her, but he wasn't going to let her sleep over a table all night. It was painful when you woke up, he knew from past experience.

He carefully lifted her up from her chair, and carried her over to the couch by the fireplace. He had intended to take her up to her dormitory, but he knew (again from past experience) that boys who tried to get into the girl's dormitory normally ended up sprawled on their backside. He set her down on the couch and took off his cloak. With a smile he covered her with it, at least she could sleep somewhere more comfortable than a table. He walked back up the stairs, and, sending back one last glance, tripped on the last step.

Aww...yeah I said it'd be a while but I had nothing better to do and thought you all deserved some nice fluff! rolls in the fluff