Ack, it's been so long since I updated! You must forgive me, summer's soooo hectic for me! Don't worry, to make up for it I'll start writing the next chappie immediately! Thank you once again, Sunflower2005! Tell all your friends to R/R! And a huge thanks to my second reviewer, Lacie! And my third reviewer, ZeldaDragon: such compliments, I'm flattered. And look at that! My FOURTH reviewer! I'm afraid to say there isn't much Oliver in this chapter, Griffindor Quidditch Gal, but the next one is loaded, I promise.

I've tried to make the part with the dementors relatively short and sweet. As no dementor comes into the compartment Katie's in, you'll forgive me for leaving out the feeling of cold. I just read the third book, and it didn't happen until the dementor actually came into the compartment. I'm a perfectionist, my apologies.

And on to the story!

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Chapter 3 - The Hogwarts Express

Katie woke up the next morning to the sound of an annoyingly loud alarm clock. She hit the sleep button and sat up groggily, realizing that she'd woken four hours earlier than the morning before. The weariness wore off quickly, though, when it dawned on her exactly what day it was, and with a happy heart she leapt into the shower excitedly. She was too excited to weigh herself even, just dressed quickly, dried her hair, and headed downstairs.

Dave was sitting at the kitchen table munching on a bowl of cereal. Mum sat next to him, reading the Daily Prophet. Both looked surprised when Katie nearly bounced in.

"Hogwarts today!" Katie chimed, absently grabbing an apple, red this time, and taking a big bite.

"Have you packed everything?" Mum asked.

"I started, but I haven't finished yet," Katie admitted.

Mum glanced at her watch. "King's Cross is an hour and a half away, so we should leave by. nine, I suppose. Can you be ready?"

"Yes, of course," Katie said, and after finishing her apple and a tall glass of water, jogged upstairs to finish her packing. A snowy owl was sitting on the window sill, hooting impatiently, while Twit hooted back.

"Good morning, Einstein," Katie said to the owl, taking the letter off it's leg, giving it owl treats and letting it drink out of Twit's water bowl. The two knew each other, so it wasn't a horrible mess.

Katie opened the letter to find Angelina's obvious scrawl. It read: 'Hey, sorry you couldn't come with Leesh and I to Diagon Alley the other day. It wasn't much fun, raining all over the place, but not horrible. Fred and George went with us. They express their regrets that they haven't owled you - or any of us, for that matter. Their silly owl got all sick, and they hadn't a single owl to use. Well, send a letter back with Einstein, and be quick about it, I've got to get him packed and ready to go to King's Cross! Love you, Lina.'

It was good to hear that Fred and George didn't hate Katie. And it was relatively nice to hear that, had Katie gone with Angelina and Alicia, she would have returned home completely soaked. But still, Lina hadn't mentioned Oliver. 'Was he there with them? No, probably not... She would have said something about him, wouldn't she have?' Katie wondered. 'Maybe... Maybe Oliver was there, but he didn't have an excuse for not owling me. Maybe he hates me!'

Katie was appalled at the thought; she and Oliver had been long-time friends. But things could change over the summer.

She found parchment, a quill, and ink, and replied, 'Hi Lina, it's ok, I had fun with-' Quickly she scribbled out the 'with.' She couldn't put Dave, as she'd told no one about Mum new marriage, or even her divorce, but she couldn't put Mum either. She couldn't lie to Angelina! 'I had fun in Diagon Alley anyway. Finally got all my supplies, at least. Who do you suppose is the new DADA teacher? Let's hope he's better than the last two! I'll see you at King's Cross. Can't wait for Hogwarts! Love, Kate.'

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On the way to King's Cross, Katie silently wondered if Dave would be joining her and Mum on Platform 9 ¾. It seems obvious that he would do so, but if Fred, George, Oliver, Angelina, or Alicia saw him with Mum instead of Dad, what could she say? 'Oh, no worries, it's just Mum's, err, psychiatrist?' Right, they would believe that.

She didn't have to worry about it, though. As they pulled up to King's Cross, Dave said to Mum, "I'll just wait for you here with the car, ok, hun?" He turned to Katie and asked, "Unless you mind?"

"No, it's alright," Katie replied, trying to hide her relief. Mum kissed Dave and she and Katie got out, briskly finding a trolley to stick Katie's heavy trunk and Twit's cage on and heading towards Platforms 9 and 10. Katie and Mum stood next to each other facing the wall, talking casually as they headed towards it. They passed through easily and Katie found herself staring at the magnificent train that was the Hogwarts Express, billowing smoke and all. She was immediately engulfed in hugs by both Alicia and Angelina, and broke into fits of laughter at the sudden happiness she felt.

"Finally! We haven't seen you all summer!" Leesh exclaimed when she and Lina had let Katie go.

Katie continued to giggle, much unlike her. "I know! I've been sooo bored!"

"Oh, when we get on the train, I have to tell you about Spain," Alicia said. She produced a wide grin, which probably meant that she'd met some hot Spanish guy and had loads of stories to tell about him.

"Well, I'll see you when you come back, ok, Kate?" Mum asked.

"See you then," Katie replied with a hug.

"I love you, sweetie."

"Love you too, Mum."

And Katie, Alicia, and Angelina jumped onto the Hogwarts Express. As they looked for a good compartment, Lina asked, "So where was your Dad? He always comes with you to see you off."

Katie had talked to Dad twice over the summer, once when he and Mum had taken her out to dinner and told her about the separation in February, and a second time about half-way through July when they told her that Dad would be moving to some remote town in the middle of nowhere and would see Katie when she came to visit him during Christmas. That's why Katie wouldn't be seeing Mum during Christmas, but after the entire year.

"Eh, he was... out of town. Couldn't make it." Katie shrugged. Crap, she was already starting to lie to them, and she knew it wouldn't stop there.

"Katie!"

Suddenly the girl was engulfed in a second set of hugs, this time by two boys with shockingly red hair. "Lovely to see you," Fred said.

"Yes, a joy," George added. They briskly produced the same wide smiles.

"The same to you twoo," Katie replied, stretching the last word to mean "two" and "too." She'd done it every year since second year.

"Well, we finally got our owl working again," George told the three of them as they started walking again.

"Just in time for school, of course," Fred muttered.

Katie shrugged and they entered a compartment already taken up by one person. One very, very tall person.

"Hey, Oliver," Alicia said with a grin, giving the boy a hug. Angelina followed, and Oliver finally laid eyes on Katie. He laughed that deep, Scottish laugh.

"Shrunk, have you, Kate?" he asked with a lopsided smile as he engulfed her in hugs. It was true; he was at least a head taller than her by now. She didn't understand why he said it to her only, though, not Leesh and Lina as well.

"You have gotten smaller, haven't you?" Fred asked. This was the first year Katie had been looking up at Fred and George as well. She was about up to their noses.

"Don't pester me!" Katie exclaimed with a laugh. "What about Leesh and Lina?"

The two stood on either side of her and Katie gasped. She was the shortest! Could this be possible?

"Well, someone forgot their calcium over the summer," George said as they settled down into their seats and the train started off.

"Speaking of summer, I still have to tell you about Spain!" Leesh shouted suddenly, and dove into a longwinded explanation of the previous two months. Katie was intrigued the first ten minutes, but by the end she'd resorted to muttering, "Mmm hmm" and "Wow, exciting" at the correct intervals only. Sometimes Alicia could be more than a little dull.

"What have you done this summer, Oliver?" Katie asked when Alicia had finished, dying to know why he hadn't owled her. When she said it, though, he looked a little confused.

"I was at my Quidditch camp all summer, remember?" he asked.

Katie slapped her forehead. "I forgot all about it!" For the last half of school the year before, the only thing Oliver had talked about was the three-month-long Quidditch camp he would be attending during the summer. He'd explained too many times to count that this could mean the difference between him getting on a professional Quidditch team or being stuck at a sorry job at the Ministry.

"How could you have possibly forgotten, Kate?" Fred asked incredulously. "He talked about it so much I could have recited his exact words in my sleep!"

Katie laughed; Fred was being completely serious.

"How was your summer, then?" Oliver asked.

For a moment Katie was silent. Tell the group about the divorce and remarriage, or tell them she'd had a lovely summer and all was well? They'd find out eventually, of course, but Katie nearly physically shuddered at the questions she'd be asked if she revealed the secret now. So, plastering on a smile that she hoped everyone would believe, she replied, "Oh, it was fun. We didn't do much. no vacations or anything, I mean, but it was ok."

Oliver had that confused look about him again, but before he could say anything there was a loud pop and a shower of confetti. Katie nearly screamed and looked over at Lina, who was busy shouting at the twins.

"You said you wouldn't try anything until we got to Hogwarts!" she yelled, holding the remains of one of their fake wands.

"We couldn't resist!" George wheezed through his laughter. "It was such perfect timing!"

Of course, by now Twit, Einstein, and the other owls were hooting angrily at everyone, and with Fred and George laughing, Angelina yelling, and Katie, Alicia, and Oliver trying to decide whether to keep their cool or burst out laughing and risk serious injury from Lina, all thoughts of the previous summer had dissipated.

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They weren't far from Hogwarts, maybe a half hour or less. Fred and Oliver were playing a regular game of cards, while Alicia was reading a book and Lina was dozing on George's shoulder while he absentmindedly played with her hair. Katie wondered if the two would finally realize their undying love and go out, but she doubted it. The two were hopeless.

She turned her eyes on the card game. Oliver and Fred playing what looked like Speed, but she couldn't know for sure. Her eyes wandered over to Oliver. 'How could I have possibly suspected him for hating me? We've been friends since our second year, and there's no way one summer could change that. Of course, when I left for Hogwarts last year, Mum and Dad loved each other - or at least seemed to - and by the time I returned the two had separated.' She still didn't know exactly what had happened that summer. Mum and Dad had never specified.

"If you keep looking at him with those glazed eyes, he's going to know you're in love with him," Alicia whispered in Katie's ear, causing her to jump.

"I wasn't staring at him with 'glazed eyes,'" Katie whispered back, accompanied with a death glare.

"Yeah, right, keep thinking that," Leesh murmured and thankfully continued to read her book. Katie returned her gaze to Oliver.

Ok, maybe she had had a slight crush on the boy since their fourth year. But how was she to help it? He was a tall, muscular Quidditch player who had no idea every girl in the school drooled over him. He treated Katie like an equal, even though she couldn't even begin to be as good as him at Quidditch.

Suddenly the train slowed to a stop, breaking Katie away from her thoughts once again. Fred glanced at his watch and muttered, "We can't be at Hogwarts yet."

Katie wiped condensation off the glass and peered out at the darkness. "I think... I think someone's actually getting on..."

"I've never heard of-" Oliver stopped talking as the lights went out and everything became really, really dark. Katie shuddered; she was afraid of the dark. Very, very afraid. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face, let alone see if anyone was coming towards her.

Katie jumped and swallowed a scream as the compartment door slid open and someone tumbled in.

"Who the bloody hell - Malfoy!" Fred gasped. "What are you doing in here?"

"D-d-d-dementors!" Malfoy shuddered, and Katie felt him curl up in a ball on the floor. Suddenly everyone got very quiet. Why were dementors on the Hogwarts Express? The thought of a dementor coming into the compartment and - and stealing someone's soul...

Katie leapt up, trodding on Malfoy as she hurried to close the compartment door. Closing her eyes against the dark she fumbled back to her seat.

"Ouch! That's me!" Oliver yelped as Katie sat down on him.

"Oh I'm sorry!" Katie gasped, leaping up and finding her own seat. By the time the lights came back on the train started again, she'd broken into a sweat.

No one spoke. Malfoy quickly realized the lights were back on and righted himself, brushing off his robes and tripping out of the compartment. George, unable to contain himself, burst into laughter. Soon Katie was laughing too, and with the darkness and dementors gone, she relaxed and let herself cool down for the last ten minutes of the train ride.

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Hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't horribly, disgustingly boring. I had hoped to also put in the feast for the start of school, which with Katie's attitude about food will be interesting, but that'll have to wait for the next chapter. Along with that feast, Katie will also have a run-in with her arch-nemesis, Marcus Flint! Bum-bum-bum!

R/R or I'll sick my pet hippogriff on you!