Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

Katarina stared out the window of the taxi as she and her parents headed to the train station. She wasn't looking forward to the train ride to school. There would be awkward, uncomfortable questions. Her brother's absence would undoubtedly be noticed. She sighed softly, thinking about how she could answer their questions in a way that would get people to leave her alone. She sighed again, knowing that there was nothing she could say that would get people to leave her alone. Everyone would want to offer their condolences and try to hug her or do something else that was just as awkward. She wondered, if she sat with the Slytherins on the train, if anyone would bother her then. After all, the Slytherins were very unpleasant to almost everyone. It looked like her best chance of avoiding contact with her other schoolmates. Then she'd have more time to figure out how to deal with the situation.

"Katya, we are here." Her mother told her, breaking Katarina out of her thoughts. Katarina looked out the window and saw that they were indeed at the train station.

"Oh, I see, thank you." Katarina opened her door and stepped out. While her parents paid the driver, Katarina grabbed her owl out of the backseat and went to get a trolley. When she returned, the cab had left and her parents were standing on the curb with her trunk.

"Are you ready to go Katya?" Her father asked softly.

"I am." Katarina replied.

"Then let us go." He said, as he loaded Katarina's trunk onto the trolley. They made their way through the crowded station until they reached an area in between Platform's 9 and 10.

"I promise to write when I can." Katarina promised her mother, as she gave her a hug good-bye. "And I'll see you when I come home for the winter holidays." She added, hugging her father.

"Katya, you're going to miss the train if you don't go now." Her mother said, looking at her watch.

"Alright. I love you mama, papa. Goodbye."

"We love you too Katya." Her father replied. "Now go, or you will not get a seat." Katya nodded, put her head down and ran as fast as she could through the barrier between platform's 9 and 10. When she was through, she noticed that almost everyone else had boarded. She quickly gave her trolley to a porter and hurried on the train. She ran right to the back of the train, where she assumed the Slytherins would have made themselves at home. They hadn't.

"Well, well Ivanova, you certainly seem to be in a hurry to see me." Sirius Black said, his dark eyes shining.

"You know Black, not everything is about you. Especially when it involves me." She turned to Remus Lupin and asked, "You haven't seen Severus, have you?"

"I don't believe we know anyone by that name, do we Sirius?" James Potter answered instead.

"No James, I don't believe we do." Sirius returned with a sly smile.

"You are all such children!" Katarina exclaimed exasperatedly. "Fine, have you seen Snape around?"

"I think she's inventing people again, James." Sirius mocked.

"Haha…good one Sirius." Peter Pettigrew complimented. Katarina gave him a withering stare, but it didn't do anything.

"Peter, shut-up." James replied. "Why Sirius, do you think she's a wee bit touched, you know upstairs." He finished, pointing to his head.

"I do believe she may be." Sirius replied his grin nearly as wide as his face.

"You are the three most frustrating people I have ever met! Grow up!" She said, her frustration coming through clearly.

"She is touched." James remarked. "Or blind, as there are clearly four of us in here."

"That there are, Potter." Katarina returned. "But yet, I only mention three. Why do you think that is?" She added mockingly. "Stumped?" She asked. "You see, only you, Black, and Pettigrew frustrate me. Remus, on the other hand is actually a pleasant person. He's the only one of you with any decency. Hence why he, and not any of you, was made prefect. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have someone to find." With that, she stalked out the car and attempted to find Severus. She found him at the front of the train with most of the rest of the Slytherin 5th years.

"Nice badge." She told him with a laugh.

"Jealous?" He asked.

"Not in the least." She replied with a smile.

"Hey, Snape, what's up with the Ravenclaw?" Karl Langston, a 7th year Slytherin asked snidely.

"You're an ass Langston." Katarina replied.

"I wasn't talking to you, was I Ivanova?" He sneered.

"Ugh, fuck it. I'll go sit somewhere else. Why am I surrounded by assholes?" She said with a scowl before leaving. She stalked to the back of the train again and threw herself onto a seat.

"Not a word from you Black, I mean it!" She warned darkly. She glared at him, as he grinned wildly. "Shut-up!" She yelled, which caused Sirius to promptly burst out laughing.

"I didn't say anything." He squeaked out, in between laughs.

"Humph." Katarina grumbled before pulling out a book and reading. The book was very dull. It was supposed to be a great novel about a young witch and a young warlock caught between warring sides during a goblin war. She thought they were both stupid and could benefit from a swift kick in the head. She scowled. There were a lot of people she'd like to give a swift kick in the head, and Sirius Black was at the top of the list. She stole a glance at the four young men sitting across from her and shook her head. They had a bag full of things from Zonko's and were debating over how best to use them. She had to admit they had pretty original ideas, except Pettigrew who merely copied Black. Her brother would have had his hands full with them this year. She felt a pang of guilt as she remembered that she hadn't thought about her brother since she got on the train. The hint of a smile that had begun to appear on her face disappeared and was replaced by a look of distress. She held up her book to cover her face so that none of the Marauders would be able to see her face. It wasn't that she wanted to hide the death of her brother from them, Sirius had most likely told them already, but she just didn't want any of them to see her upset. She didn't want her vulnerability exposed to anyone. Not even her parents knew that she'd cried herself to sleep every night since her brother had been murdered. She tried to keep herself from getting too emotional by reading her book. She figured that it was so mind-numbingly dull that it would kill all her brain activity. It did the trick.

"Oi! Ivanova!" Katarina looked up with a start. Remus Lupin was standing above her grinning.

"Yes, what do you want?" She asked tiredly.

"We're here. You can get off the train now."

"Oh, thanks." She packed up her bag and stepped off the train. Her eyes widened as she saw that the carriages that had previously been horseless now had large equine beasts towing them. She nudged Remus in the ribs and asked, "What on earth are those things pulling the carriages?"

"You can see them?" He asked, surprised.

"Of course I can. Who could miss them?"

"Almost everyone else. You cannot see them unless you've seen death. How many people here do you think have seen someone die?"

"Not too many I guess." She replied. She felt dirty, like she'd been tainted by something, by death.

"Remus, come on, let's go." James interrupted, as he grabbed Lupin's arm.

"I have to go sit with the other prefects, sorry." He replied.

"No one will notice if you skip out. Come on."

"James, I just became a prefect, I'm going to give it a good hour and a half before I start breaking the rules. Why don't you ask Evans, as you're so keen on her?"

"She said that she'd rather be married to a toad than sit with me. Oh, and she's a prefect."

"Struck out again, eh?" Remus teased.

"She wants me, she just doesn't know it yet." James returned. "Oi, Ivanova! Come with me." He grabbed her arm and started pulling her to the carriages.

"What are you doing?" Katarina asked, trying to shake her arm out of James's grip.

"If you don't come in our carriage, David Trellenger will. And if he does, I will hurt him. So you're really doing him a favour."

"Fine." She replied sullenly. "Can you let go of my arm now?" She asked, clearly annoyed.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry." James answered with a grin as they walked to the carriages. Sirius and Peter were already inside waiting.

"James, is something wrong with your eyes? Because that's not Remus." Sirius asked sarcastically.

"He's going with the other prefects. It was either Ivanova or Trellenger and since I don't want to get expelled already, Trellenger wasn't coming." James retorted.

"Is that true Ivanova? Or is it that you just adore spending time with me?" Sirius asked mockingly.

"Black, don't push me today, I'm not in the mood." Katarina said threateningly.

"So what are you in the mood for?" Sirius asked suggestively.

"Fuck you, Black. Stop being such an asshole."

"So you're in the mood for that, eh? Can't say I blame you. A good looking guy such as myself always has the ladies going crazy for him."

"You know if your ego was any bigger, you'd have to ride in here alone. No one else would fit." Sirius went to reply, but the carriages stopped before he had the chance.

"I guess we're here." James said quietly.

"Finally." Katarina replied sullenly. She stepped out of the carriage and headed up to the great hall for the feast. Even though she was absolutely famished, she was not looking forward to the feast. After the feast everyone would know about her brother and would want to talk to her about it. Katarina had no idea what she was going to say to them. What could she say? Was she going to tell them that due to her stupidity a gang of muggle thugs murdered her brother? That it was her fault her brother was dead? Katarina shook her head involuntarily, trying to clear her head. She held her head up high and walked into the great hall with the rest of her class. Her eyes darted around the room and she noticed that the hall was almost full. She had never realised how many people there were in the school. She immediately felt ill. She turned and ran. She ran as far as she could before she collapsed in tears. She didn't notice that someone had followed her.