(A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I fear my fan fiction has taken a back seat to much of my life. I've actually finished the first book of Savior. Now, I don't want this to be taken the wrong way, but I'm considering not posting past the first book simply because it's so long and kind of personal. I really appreciate how nice everyone has been about this. I was back on the prednisone this past month; the effects haven't been so bad this time, but I still went back to thinking about this story a lot. Well, anyway. I've babbled enough. Hope you still like me when you've finished this chapter!)

Step. Ow. Step. Ouch! Step. Ooh… bloody hell that hurts!

The bounciness of her run jolted her hand with every step. She had never slept so poorly as she had that night. Every time she rolled over, her hand would twinge impressively. For once she had a dream involving something other than the usual. When she woke up it wasn't due to the urge to run but to the fact that her hand had swollen roughly to the size and shape of a Little League softball.

Reaching the lake with no sign of improvement, Kate finally gave up and returned to the castle. She did her sit-ups but didn't bother doing push-ups as she was hardly good enough to try the one-handed type. The hot water of the shower stung the wound quite a lot. The bleeding wasn't quite so profuse anymore, but it was still seeping a gooey red with more or less the consistency of water. Dressing herself was difficult and when she finally immerged into the common room, she was worn out.

"You're late." Wood said, tapping his watch. "Fall asleep in the shower, did you?"

"Har har,"

His eyes flashed down to the blood-stained handkerchief around her left hand. "What happened to your hand?"

"Stray dog bit me,"

"Was it rabid?" Wood asked concernedly.

"Don't think so. Apparently I smelled like yummy meat so it took a bite but left me alone after it realized I was yucky," Kate winced as she tried wiggling her fingers.

"Have you gone to Pomfrey?" Wood persevered.

"Nah," Kate shrugged. "It's nothing serious."

But she wasn't so sure.

Charms was a trying class that day for Ron. The "swish and flick" that Flitwick had so impressed upon their brains was not going so well for him.

"Bloody hell," Ron hissed, "I give up." He stared at his hand hopelessly. "I can't even hold onto my wand, let alone wave it about like a loon."

Kate shook her head. "I can't move my wrist at all."

"Lucky yours is your left hand." Ron fumed.

Harry looked at him with concern. "Maybe you should see Pomfrey," he muttered, making sure no one else was listening in.

"How does it look?" Hermione whispered.

"I dunno. It kind of smells funny though." He scrunched his nose.

Hermione bit her lip. "Let's have a look, you too Kate."

Hesitantly, the two unwrapped their arms.

"Ooh, that is disgusting," Kate stuck her tongue out. It had turned a nasty shade of green like a bruise in the prime of its life, only slightly more mossy in tinge. "Do you think she'll recognize it?"

"Who?" Harry asked absently.

"Pomfrey." Ron and she chimed.

"Ah, hell, who cares, we've got to get this looked at." Ron said, looking paler than usual.

When the class ended, Ron and Kate started up to the Hospital Wing.

"What if it falls off before we get there?" Kate whispered nervously as they passed a portrait of Gertrude the Galvanized, a large blond woman with a Viking helmet who was spitting curses at a small dog.

Ron blanched even more, his brown eyes wide with terror. "D'you think that could happen?"

"Do you want to risk it?"

Without a second thought, they ran for it.

Madam Pomfrey stared at the two sweaty-faced first years with a look of disapproval.

"What are you two doing here in such a mess?"

"Erm…." Ron looked to Kate.

"We were bitten yesterday after Herbology," she said quickly, breathing heavily. "It was a dog… two dogs… they seemed friendly enough. They came out of the forest. We thought they wanted to play but apparently they were hungry." To add effect, "we were wondering if maybe…they were…" she swallowed, "werewolves…."

Pomfrey clicked her tongue. "Full moon was over a week ago." She grabbed both of their arms (which caused them to cry out in agony) and looked suspiciously at the bites. "Dog bites, eh?" She pursed her lips. "These aren't good. Get some gowns on, you two."

Ron and Kate looked at one another in fear. A few minutes later they had changed into pajamas and were lying in beds separated by curtains being administered to by Pomfrey.

What if she figures it out? Kate wondered as Madam Pomfrey layered some white goop on her wound that stung and fizzed. What will happen if she doesn't The salve didn't feel good, Kate winced as she watched it bubble, but Madam Pomfrey said that it would burn any unwanted germs out. Kate lie back on her pillow and stared at the ceiling, wishing Hagrid had been blessed with prudence instead of love for magical beasts.

There was a loud knock on the door.

Skirts rustled as Madam Pomfrey bustled over to the door.

"What is it?"

"I wanted to see…er… Ron," a familiar drawl floated through the room. "For homework. Needed to get an assignment."

Malfoy. Her face drained. What could he want?

"All right then, Mister Malfoy, fifteen minutes." Kate listened to Pomfrey's retreating footsteps and listened intently to Malfoy and Ron.

"You might be able to lie to her but I know what really bit you," he said smugly.

"Sod off, Malfoy," Ron spat.

Kate got cautiously out of bed, bare feet chilled against the cold flagstone floor, and walked through her curtain and then through Ron's. Her first view was of Draco Malfoy's haughty face, grinning down at an ashen Ron Weasley.

Malfoy looked up at Kate and his face brightened even more. "Oho, oho! So you're not the only casualty to Hagrid's… er… little pet."

"What are you talking about?" Kate snapped. She knew Ron was a horrific liar. She, however, had had practice.

"I saw the dra-."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron hissed.

"The dra?" Kate laughed. She wished she would shut up, but her mouth seemed to have taken on a worthless volubility of its own. "What the heck is a dra?"

Malfoy looked skeptically at her, his cold blue eyes piercing her face. "Dragon, Slate, I know you're not the fastest broom on the pitch but I didn't know you were a dullard."

Kate flushed slightly but kept on, resisting the urge to inform him of his own lack of intelligence. "What do dragons have to do with any of this? We were bitten by dogs, not some fantastical reptile flying around Scotland."

Malfoy smiled, his face looking even more saturated with evil. "I saw it, Slate. No amount of lying will undo that."

"Whatever," Kate said.

"How long do you think your mammoth mate can keep his little secret, hm?" Malfoy leered at her.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Miss Slate!" Madam Pomfrey called across the room, charging forward. "What do you think you are doing? Get back in bed!" She grabbed Kate by her right arm and pulled her towards her bed. "And I expect it is time for you to leave, Mister Malfoy."

"Right, I'll just borrow this, then?" Malfoy blindly took the book at the top of Ron's stack and left. When Madam Pomfrey had calmed down, she checked their wounds and clicked her tongue before leaving again.

Kate began to feel nauseous and woozy. Sweat broke out across her face. She lay back on her pillow. Her hand was pulsing painfully. She wondered how much longer it would stay attached to her arm.

"Ugh," Ron groaned. "I wish Norb- the dog had just taken my bloody head off."

"Nice." Kate responded, almost agreeing with him. "Ooh, this is not where I had wanted to spend my evening."

"Truer words were never spoken."

In the later evening, Hermione and Harry stopped by to visit.

"Malfoy was playing 'turd extraordinaire' when he came up," Kate explained to Hermione and Harry.

"Yeah, he kept threatening to tell Madam Pomfrey what really happened. I shouldn't have hit him at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this." Ron looked even sicker than he had already.

"Sh, don't worry about it. It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione pat Ron's sheets in an attempt to comfort him.

Ron sat up quickly, knocking Hermione's hand away unintentionally.

"Midnight on Saturday!" His voice came out as more of a croak. "Oh no- oh no- I've just remembered- Charlie's letter was in that book Malfoy took, he's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert!"

"What!" Kate's hands flew to her face and she cursed in pain as her wounded left twinged.

Ron stared at her in amazement.

"What's going on in here?" Madam Pomfrey came in. "These patients need their sleep. You two, out, out!"

Harry and Hermione exchanged unhappy looks and said goodnight. Madam Pomfrey went to her office to get them sleeping draughts.

Ron was still staring at Kate.

"What?" Kate asked, holding her hand at chest height.

"I've never heard you swear before."

"You haven't?"

"You dropped the f-bomb. You always say things like 'poo' and 'crap.' I'd always expected your first swearword would be 'shit,' but apparently you go all out."

"Shit was my first swearword," Kate said coolly. "Just because I don't swear like a drunken Irishman doesn't mean I never swear."

"What are you implying?"

"Here you are, my dears," Madam Pomfrey supplied them both with sticky sweet sleeping draughts and it was only a matter of seconds before they sunk into a black world of sleep.

The next day Parvati and Lavender came up to visit Kate, bringing homework and notes as well. Kate was hardly in a mood to talk about boys and make-up, but she put on her game face and listened. Perhaps her face was paler than usual or her eyes were drooping excessively, but Lavender finally pat Kate's arm and said to Parvati, "We had better go. Kate needs some rest."

"Thanks for visiting," Kate said softly to their retreating backs. Parvati turned around and smiled before leaving.

"You get all the visitors," Ron said glumly from his bed as they worked on homework. Wood had come up with his friend Brandon Trice, another Gryffindor fifth year. Wood had wanted to make sure she was okay and told her (quite firmly) that she had better be careful from now on. Then he and Brandon went off to study for their O.W.L.s.

"That's because people love my enormous specs," Kate said cheerily. "Why do you think Harry is so famous?"

"It can't be because he killed You-Know-Who," Ron said sarcastically, biting back a grin.

"Oh come now, people wouldn't care if he had done that if he didn't have glasses. Look at Dumbledore: glasses, and everyone knows who he is."

"What about Gilderoy Lockhart, that smiley author bloke?"

"I don't know who he is, Ron. Obviously he's not famous enough because he doesn't wear glasses."

"You're out of your tree," Ron shook his head, laughing quietly.

"One hundred and fifty points?" Ron whispered in amazement. He and Kate had left the hospital wing Sunday morning to discover that Hermione, Neville and Harry had made a teeny error… one that had cost Gryffindor house the total of one hundred and fifty points. Harry and Hermione were red with humiliation. They were hiding in the library because everyone in Gryffindor house now hated Harry and Hermione.

"I will never forgive myself," Harry mumbled.

"Oh… they'll all forget this in a few weeks. Fred and George have lost loads of points in all the time they've been here, and people still like them," Ron said encouragingly.

"They've never lost a hundred and fifty points in one go, though, have they?" Harry said miserably.

"Well- no," Ron admitted.

Hermione looked close to tears over the next week. She no longer volunteered in class, instead keeping her head down in humiliation. Harry was insulted in conspicuous voices by Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, and Gryffindors alike while the wily Slytherins made to thank him for giving them a hand. Wood was far from happy with his Seeker and made no secret of it to Kate or during Quidditch practices. In fact, he told her to tell her "friend to keep out of trouble" to which she immediately ignored him for the rest of the evening. Harry was more glum than he had ever seemed at the Dursley's.

As a joke to make him feel better, Kate sang him a song from Jesus Christ Super Star the musical during a cramming session.

"Try not to get worried, try not to hang onto, problems that upset you sooooooo…. Don't you know everything's alright, yes everything's fiiiiiiiine…. And I want you to sleep well tonight…. And the rest of the lyrics escape me…. Close your eyes, close your eyes… blah blah blaaaah," Kate trailed off as Harry, Ron and Harry stared at her in amazement. Kate turned pink and looked back to her notes. "Sorry, it had to happen."

"Where did that come from?" Ron asked incredulously.

"You all look so stressed out, I thought an act of sheer stupidity would make you feel better," Kate giggled.

"What would make me feel better… definitely getting out of school," Harry sighed.

"And going where?"

"Good point," Harry grimaced as he thought of the Dursley's. "Maybe just dying."

"That's pleasant," Hermione scolded.

"Library is closing in five minutes!" Madam Pince's strident voice jerked them from their conversation.

"I forgot to tell you," Harry said darkly to them as they left, large stacks of books filling their arms, "I overheard Quirrell this afternoon. He was begging someone not to do something again. Then he gave up and agreed to… do whatever."

"Was Snape with him?" Hermione gave Kate a sideways look.

"I'd gamble twelve Sorcerer's Stones he was," Harry said fervently.

"Snape's done it, then! If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell-."

"There's still Fluffy, though," Hermione pointed out.

"Maybe Snape's found out how to get past him without asking Hagrid," Ron said. "Maybe there's a book back there in the library about it. About getting past a giant three-headed dog." Ron looked to Harry eagerly. "What should we do, Harry?"

"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure!" Hermione was squeezing her books against her chest nervously.

"But we've got no proof," Harry pointed out. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up-."

Kate was very hot in the face. "Quirrell is the guilty one!" Kate hissed. "I saw him the other night in the forest, alone. He was chasing a unicorn… and there was this voice telling him to… I don't know, but it was definitely Quirrell!"

"Kate! Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Hermione said the same exact time that Ron exclaimed that Kate was off her rocker.

"Because you guys won't believe me because you want to believe that Snape is evil," Kate accused.

"Why do you want to believe that Quirrell's evil?" Harry asked, gritting his teeth, glowering at Kate.

Kate glared back at him, obviously at the end of her control.

"I don't want to! But he's always given me a really… weird feeling, ever since the troll incident," she admitted. "I think he let that troll in. I don't know why but I just do."

"Well…" Ron started hopefully, looking to Harry for help, "if we do some poking around, we could-."

"No," Harry said flatly, giving Kate a final scathing look and then looking determinedly ahead to the portrait of the Fat Lady, "we've done enough poking around."

The next night, Hermione, Neville, and Harry were to serve their detentions at eleven o'clock. Ron and she watched them go with worried faces. Guilt nibbled away at their guts as they sat in the common room "studying" some.

"I feel like we should be out there with them," Kate gnawed her lip.

"I feel like my hand was punished enough already," Ron said with confidence.

"I guess you're right," Kate agreed, plucking at the hairs on her quill. "I feel worst for Neville, though. He didn't deserve to get screwed over for trying to warn us."

"Neville is a git," Ron disagreed vehemently, "if he hadn't been running his mouth off about the dr… creature, maybe there'd have been fewer points taken away."

"Oh don't be ridiculous. Well… maybe you're right, but his heart was in the right place."

"Right," Ron said, flipping through his astronomy charts absent-mindedly. "I still don't get how you can suspect Quirrell."

"Let's not start this again," Kate held her head in her left hand as she underlined a sentence in her transfiguration notes. "If I'm wrong, you can make fun of me later, but if I'm right, then you will be embarrassed."

"If you're right, then I will worship you as the 'girl who was somehow right against all odds.'"

"I'm keeping that in mind, you worthless twit,"

As they continued their studies, the room got more and more comfortable, their heads sunk lower and lower until they were on top of the books and their eyes shut completely. Kate had the most bizarre dream. The Mirror of Erised was in an empty room built entirely of stone. Kate was naked again, and the older, strangely attractive self, (this was beginning to bother her, all this nudity) but as she stood in front of the mirror, she saw that she was touching her heart and suddenly she became a dog, maybe a wolf, or half-wolf half-dog. Her fur was silvery but her face was more dog-like than wolf-like. But in the mirror, her reflection showed her… defending a handsome stag from a snake. After she was jerked into being awake, she wondered why on earth a stag would need to be protected from a snake. By a wolf-dog.

Harry's face was ashen as he relayed the tale of his detention. Hermione sat silently on the sofa between Kate and Ron. She looked pale and frightened as Harry went into a frenzied rant.

"So… so there was this hooded figure drinking unicorn blood. It tried to kill me," Harry explained quickly, giving no room for details. "When Firenze, a centaur, came and saved me. Firenze told me that the figure was Voldemort…."

"Don't say the name!" Ron said automatically, but Harry kept going.

"But it was weird. Bane thought it was bad that Firenze had saved me. So Snape wants the stone for Voldemort… and Voldemort's waiting in the forest… and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich…."

"Stop saying the name!" Ron was whispering, looking around, eyes wide in terror.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so…. Bane was furious… he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen…. They must show that Voldemort's coming back…. Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me…. I suppose that's written in the stars as well."

"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry paced back and forth, sweat making him look pastier, his eyes set alight by the fire. "Then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off…. Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Kate smiled a bit wryly at his sick sense of humor.

"There goes the optimist in Mr. Potter,"

"Harry," a frightened Hermione piped up. Her hands were trembling in her lap. "Everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

Kate thought that Druce wouldn't like that statement very much.