Introduction/Note

The story line for this is as such:

This is the year 1999. The Golden Trio people are 19. This has the main Harry Potter book series characters, plus some OC's. It has been four years since the Second War, where Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. The Trio's sixth and seventh years were missed for the three years Hogwarts was closed for the War. So now, any student who missed fifth, sixth, and/or seventh years have been called back and formed into a temporary house called the Upperclassmen. They have a special common room and dorm set, seeing as there is not enough room in the other houses for these excess people.

Harry is in a state of silence and possible depression. Cho Chang is his current girlfriend. She was kept out of school an extra year after the war was over, so she is now taking her seventh year. She is like an attachment to Harry.

The original characters will come and go as needed, except for the main two or three. The ones that are the main OC's are Kat Spartan and Mark Rose.

Thus, the story begins.

Say your prayers little one
Don't forget, my son
To include everyone

Tuck you in, warm within
Keep you free from sin
Till the sandman he comes

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to never never land

Something's wrong, shut the light
Heavy thoughts tonight
And they aren't of snow white

Dreams of war, dreams of liars
Dreams of dragon's fire
And of things that will bite

Sleep with one eye open
Gripping your pillow tight

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
Off to never never land

Now I lay me down to sleep
Pray the lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
Pray the lord my soul to take

Hush little baby, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the beast under your bed,
In your closet, in your head

Exit light
Enter night
Grain of sand

Exit light
Enter night
Take my hand
We're off to never never land

Enter Sandman, by Metallica

Kat sighed into her pillow. It was early morning, and she had woken up a few times. She decided to whisper a prayer, the only one she had ever known.

"As I lay me down to sleep, pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, pray the Lord my soul to take."

She whispered it into her pillow, and she was drowsy already. She wasn't sure what would come of her sleep, but it would be a dream. She always remembered them, so it would probably be something sad. It always seemed to be.

Kat was dreaming again. She was sure of it… Something was happening.

She was looking around her former home, the 'summer' home, the place where her parents and Maureen, her sister, stayed during the winter while Kat stayed at Hogwarts.

It was in ruins. There were ashes everywhere, and it looked as though it had burned down in about ten minutes. There were charred walls left, and Kat walked over. She sat on one and waited. This dream was familiar to her.

There was something like a rewind, but it left her in a strange sort of bubble. She silently watched these events of two years ago.

Again.

This was the twelfth time she had this dream in two years. It had made her cry the first five times.

She watched her parents die at the hands of Death Eaters, and was unable to help them. She was just a ghost left in the world of the past.

But then there was the rewind again, somehow. Her mother snapped her head around quickly while standing guard earlier, though. This made Kat jump. This was new.

Her mother smiled wearily at Kat and mouthed the words 'I love you.' Kat smiled back and nodded.

Her father told her mother to be on guard, not stare off into space. Her mother tried to point Kat out, so her father sighed and looked.

Then his jaw dropped.

He hadn't expected to see Kat.

Kat hadn't been expecting this. Not at all, not even the smallest amount. It was like this was real. She smiled at her father, and whispered, "I love you." Slowly, softly, she mouthed the words 'Goodbye forever.'

Then the Death Eaters burst through the door, and something new happened.

No fight.

The Death Eaters looked confused, but then proceeded to raid the house after killing her parents.

Kat sighed, and curled up on the charring ground. The whole scene faded away to nothing as per usual while the house burned down and the Dark Mark filled the night sky with an eerie green color.

Then she saw a slightly more usual sight for these dreams.

There was a misty field (she thought of it as a limbo, where she always visited).

A new turn came to her dream. The mist cleared away slowly and suddenly. There was the aftermath of a battle…

She looked around, walking slowly forward. Her surroundings cleared themselves to her to show it was a graveyard. It made her think of the one she had overheard Harry talk about at the end of fourth year. She looked around quietly, and nearly tripped over something in a clearing. She looked down. Her bare foot was caught in a root. She sighed and rescued her foot.

Kat shivered slightly. She was in a bra/camisole and boxers over a pair of underwear, without even socks. This place was freezing and most surfaces were covered in a dew that spoke of it being about four o' clock in the morning here, if it was a real place inside real time.

She continued, and suddenly felt a damper spot of grass. She looked down… And felt like vomiting.

There was a boy. He was cut up and bleeding sluggishly. Her foot was in a dark stain on the grass she knew was blood.

Kat's body froze up, and her mind ran sluggishly for a moment. Her family had a history of odd powers, and now she could barely remember her own. Damned shock, she thought. Then something came to her mind. The one that would make her pass out in reality…

The kiss.

The kiss could either give life or take it away.

She didn't think further. She didn't even recognize this boy, but she pulled every piece of her power together she could…

Then leant over the boy and kissed his lips.

The cuts started healing up without scars, the dried blood disappearing. She saw…

Oh holy shit. This isn't real… It can't be. Oh my God, God, oh my fweaking God. She thought, looking at the boy in shock and sitting up.

She brushed his hair on his forehead away to be sure. It was…

Harry Potter.

His eyes opened barely and blearily, but Kat leapt up and ran away before he could really see and recognize her. She had known him. And it was hard for someone not to recognize a friend… Doubly so if the friend was the only person you knew with a pale blue eye and a dark brown one.

x

Kat sat up in bed and mentally swore. So that was the place… She wasn't sure what to think anymore.

She sighed and pulled the curtains shut, taking off her jim-jams (pajamas) yanking on some new underthings (bra and panties), a random pair of jeans she liked, and a tight cotton tank top. Over that she pulled a sweater from some American Muggle university. It said 'Yale' on it in large letters, and the sweater was soft on the inside as well as very warm.

She drifted downstairs and waved to a few people sitting around. It was one of the few days left before the holidays for the winter were done.

She mentally counted the tables for the students. One, two, three, four, five. Woohoo, upperclassmen. Aren't we special? She thought, sitting down at the seat with the birthday cake in front of it. An elf had even gone to the care of writing 'Happy Birthday Kat' in curlicue writing. It was sweet… Probably a gift from Mark, she figured.

The upperclassmen were, as the name suggested, the older students at Hogwarts. Kat personally called the temporary house the Post Bellum house. This house was formed so students who had missed their last few years of Hogwarts while the school was closed in the three years of the Second War could finish their terms. A few students, such as Cho Chang, had been kept out a year after the War ended so they could be re-taught basics by their parents. They were now back, mainly for their seventh year.

A few other people soon joined her, mainly her small crowd of friends, all wishing her a happy birthday and taking a slice of cake. Kat had already had a slice. It was vanilla, because she liked that flavor. She gave a general good morning wish to people she knew. They were all dressed warmly… It was a Hogsmeade day, so they would all be able to venture through the cold to Hogsmeade for the day.

Kat smiled and waved Mark over. "Heya!"

"Hi Kat! Happy birthday. Nice cake." Mark replied, taking a slice. He had brownish-blonde hair and blue-grey eyes, sort of a mellowed out color set of Kat's own short blonde hair and one light blue, one dark brown eye set.

"So you didn't send it?" Kat asked.

Mark shook his head. "Nope."

Kat shrugged. "Odd. It's gotta be someone, though, right?"

"Maybe it's one of your other friends. You never know." Mark said, taking a slice.