Disclaimer: I don't own anything that JKR does. Okay then.
The next couple weeks passed quickly for Katarina. She never came close to having a panic attack and her spirits were high. She spent most of her time working on her homework or hanging out with Seliina. She saw Severus once and he was so thoroughly unpleasant to her that she stopped trying to talk to him. She also saw Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus a couple times. She had a good time talking to them, though she was still embarrassed for breaking down in front of Sirius.
The first Hogsmeade weekend was approaching quickly and Katarina was nervous. Seliina was still going with Sirius. Katarina wasn't nearly as upset as she had been, but she was still a little put off by it. She also felt like she was going to have to spend the entire time by herself. This was especially on her mind the day before the trip, during Transfiguration, when Seliina spent most of the class talking to her about it. She didn't want to begrudge Seliina her happiness, but Katarina was really not in the mood to hear about the trip.
"Katya? Are you even listening to me?" Seliina whispered impatiently.
"Hm?" Katarina asked, looking up. Seliina was glaring at her. "Sorry, my mind has been wandering a great deal today. What was it you were saying?" Katarina replied, trying to shake herself out of the daze she seemed to be in.
"Never mind." Seliina answered with a sigh. "It doesn't matter." Katarina shrugged and went back to her work. She tried to clear her mind and focus on vanishing her frog. It worked for the most part, and by the end of class she had managed to vanish her frog. Seliina hadn't been quite so lucky and had managed to vanish everything but the skeleton.
Seliina didn't speak to Katarina once class ended, instead choosing to bolt ahead of her to their next class. Katarina sighed, picked up her books, and headed out the door.
"What did you do?" A voice from behind her asked. Katarina turned around. It was James.
"I stopped paying attention to her. She was going on and on about Hogsmeade and I wasn't really interested."
"I see." James replied slowly.
"So, have you asked Lily yet?" She asked, changing the subject.
"Of course."
"She turned you down, didn't she?"
"How do you know?" James asked indignantly.
"Potter, she thinks you've got an ego the size of Britain. Even if she did fancy you, she'd still turn you down just to deflate it a little." Katarina told him with a grin.
"So she does fancy me?" James asked deviously.
"I never said that. All I said was that it was possible. Anyway, if you're not going with anyone, did you want to go with me?" James looked extremely uncomfortable when she asked him this.
"Oh. Ivanova, I'm sorry, but I just don't really fancy you. Sorry." He looked exceptionally surprised when Katarina grinned at his reply.
"Potter, I don't fancy you either. I don't want to go with you on a date. Seliina has abandoned me to go off with Black so I have no one to talk to. I was more trying to ask if I could maybe spend my time there with you, Pettigrew, and Lupin." Katarina told him with a laugh.
"Well that's different then." James replied slowly. "Sure, though wouldn't you have more fun asking someone you did fancy?"
"No." Katarina replied flatly. "Besides, he's already going with someone else." At that moment, Sirius, Remus, and Peter caught up to Katarina and James.
"Who's already going with someone else?" Peter asked loudly.
"The fellow she fancies." James replied.
"Who might that be?" Sirius asked, with a slight twinkle evident in his eye.
"I haven't found out yet." James answered, before turning to Katarina. "Ivanova, who do you fancy?" She blushed slightly, before answering.
"I'd rather not say." Katarina replied shyly. She quickly glanced at her watch and noticed she was going to be late for her next class. "Anyway, I've got Double Divination now, so I've got to be going. I'll most likely see you all later." She adjusted her shoulder bag before bolting to her next class. She knew she was going to be late. She silently cursed herself for not getting away sooner. She arrived at the north tower just as class was starting. She slid into her seat beside Seliina and tried to catch her breath.
"I asked James to Hogsmeade." Katarina told Seliina breathlessly.
"I didn't know you fancied him." Seliina replied, looking at Katarina quizzically.
"I don't fancy him. I just didn't want to spend the weekend by myself. He doesn't fancy me either, by the way."
"No, he fancies Lily." Seliina said thoughtfully. "Well, it's good you won't be alone." She added.
"So you're no longer upset with me for daydreaming last class instead of listening?"
"I'm still a little annoyed. You haven't seemed happy for me at all."
"I am happy for you!" Katarina whispered angrily. "But I just get tired of hearing about every single detail. It's not like you've this is a new thing. You've gone on dates before. If Black hadn't asked you, you'd be going with someone else." Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat. Both girls looked up and saw Professor Calchas standing in front of their table.
"Yes, Professor?" Katarina asked meekly.
"I asked you what you saw in your tea leaves." She said evenly. Katarina picked up Seliina's cup and looked at the leaves. Katarina stared into the cup, trying to find a picture in the leaves.
"I see a tree, a large, leafy tree." She said, a few moments later. She flipped through her book, trying to find the meaning. "It symbolizes life and wisdom." She added. Her professor nodded and moved on to another table. "Here, now read mine." Katarina said, pushing her cup across the table. Seliina picked up the cup and looked at the leaves. A second later she screamed and dropped the cup, smashing it on the floor. "What on earth did you see?" Seliina said nothing. Instead, she opened her book and pointed to an entry in it. Katarina grabbed the book from her and looked at it. "Ah, you saw the Grim. I think it's a little late. I've already seen death, thanks."
"You're not the least bit worried?" Seliina asked, once she'd calmed down.
"If I'm going to die, then I'm going to die. There's no use breaking cups over it. Anyway, how am I supposed to know that's what you really saw? The leaves are over the floor now."
"Ladies! What on earth is going here?" Their professor asked, returning to their table to see what all the commotion was about.
"I'm terribly sorry Professor, but I thought I saw the Grim in Katarina's cup and I suppose I reacted rather strongly to it." Seliina explained quietly.
"You say you saw the Grim? That's quite serious." She replied.
"Professor, I think she was seeing the past, not the future." Katarina interrupted. "You see, my brother passed away this summer. I think that may have been what she saw."
"That would be a very viable explanation, yes. Carry on with your work ladies." Their professor replied slowly before moving on to another table.
The rest of the day passed very slowly for Katarina. She couldn't help but think about what Seliina had seen. Tea leaves showed the future, not the past. It couldn't have been about Piotr. It had to be about her or someone close to her. The more she let her mind wander, the harsher her visions became. She tried to shake them out of her head, but it was to no avail. When the time came for her to finally go to bed, she found herself tossing and turning in her bed. Every time she closed her eyes to sleep she saw a new, terrible vision of death. Sometimes it was her own death, sometimes it was her parents', and sometimes it was one of her closest friends. She eventually fell into an uneasy, yet dreamless sleep.
The next morning Katarina was exhausted. She felt unfocused and could barely concentrate in any of her classes. She was exceptionally glad that it was a Friday and that she could have the weekend to mull over her thoughts. That was until she remembered that the weekend was the Hogsmeade weekend. She was rather shocked by Seliina's response when she told her, at dinner, that she wasn't looking forward to the weekend.
"Well you don't have to go if you don't want to." Seliina replied curtly. She obviously wasn't over Katarina's lack of joy over Seliina's date with Sirius.
"So what are you going to do with him?" Katarina asked snidely. "Go up to the terribly romantic shrieking shack? You could have a good, private snog there. But then, of course, you wouldn't be able to show off your prize. Perhaps a place like the Three Broomsticks would be better, if it's attention you're looking for."
"I knew you were jealous!" Seliina exclaimed. "Well it's not my fault you can't land a date! Maybe if you weren't so moody all the time, boys would actually approach you, instead of running for the hills. You couldn't even get Severus to ask you, and he fancies you." She added cruelly.
"You stupid cow, I have no interest in Severus. He's intelligent enough to realize that. Of course he's never asked me. The boy would rather die than be rejected." Katarina responded in an angry whisper. "Secondly, I could care less if I have a date for Hogsmeade. Just because I don't want to hear you ramble on and on about how wonderful Sirius is, doesn't mean I'm jealous. It means I'm bored. I'd rather be moody and dateless than completely vapid and boring like you." She finished, standing up angrily. She glared at Seliina for a second before stalking out of the great hall. She'd barely eaten, but she wasn't going back. She knew some of the things she'd said had been cruel, but she didn't care. If Seliina was going to talk of nothing else besides Black, then she didn't want to hear it.