On Saturday morning, Katie walked into the Great Hall to find the enchanted ceiling mimicking the mass of silvery gray clouds visible through the tall, mullioned windows.

"Good sign," said Wood looking up as she approached. "No sun to get into our eyes."

"It's not a game day," Katie reminded Oliver as she took a seat on the bench next to him.

"I know, but I want to have a good practice to start the season on the right foot."

Katie grabbed a piece of toast and replied, "If you say so."

"So, how's the reading been going?" Oliver asked brightly.

"Erm…good," Katie responded. She hadn't found time to thoroughly read the playbook, but she had at least scanned through it all. She found she had a lot more free time now that Rhea, Rose and Chloe weren't talking to her. Leanne was doing her best to be polite, and had reassured Katie (outside the hearing range of the others) that she didn't believe she was a thief. Nevertheless, their relationship had also turned a bit cooler, so much so that Katie was making even the stupidest mistakes in Herbology, ones that Leanne used to covertly prevent.

"I hope the others liked it, too," said Wood happily.

Katie quickly took a large bite of her toast so she wouldn't have to answer. She knew for a fact that neither Fred nor George had cracked the cover of theirs. Angelina had looked at the first page the previous night, then promptly thrown it down in disgust, complaining once again about Oliver having another excuse to yell at her.

Harry was the next team member to join them at the table. He said a quick hello before tucking into a pile of eggs and bacon. Angelina and Alicia showed up next with dark circles under their eyes. They had obviously been up late studying yet again. Katie knew Alicia was taking OWL year very seriously, but she was starting to become worried for her health. By the time Fred and George rolled in, they only had time to grab some toast and head out again, grumbling about early practices.

The team made the way down to the pitch. After fetching their brooms (Katie having to suffer another pang of guilt as she looked longingly at Harry's Nimbus), the team entered the locker room. When Katie opened her locker, she reveled for a moment in the joy of seeing her Quidditch uniform again after a long hiatus.

In a well-practiced ritual, Katie exchanged her plain, black school robes for ones of vivid scarlet. Next, she changed into the special, light Quidditch shoes and strapped the guards onto her shins and forearms. Finally, she pulled on her new gloves. Flexing her hands, she marveled in the way they seemed already worn in. She caught Angelina's eye and gave her a grateful smile.

Once done, she and Angelina waited for Alicia to finish. Katie fiddled with her ponytail to be certain it was secure.

"Ready?" Angelina asked Oliver as Alicia grabbed her broom. Oliver was sitting on the bench in front of the lockers, looking over his own playbook, a quill in his hand. Katie saw he had already scribbled some changes or tips in the margins. Oliver looked up at them, momentarily dazed.

"Oh, yes, right," he responded clumsily.

Katie smiled as he stuffed the playbook in his locker, grasped his Comet 260 by the handle and strode out onto the pitch. If he was loosing his head in the game already, she knew they had a great season to look forward to.

"Harry!" Wood bellowed.

Harry, who was already flying around the pitch, looked towards the noise, turned on a dime, and sped down towards them, pulling up just in time and dismounting delicately to the ground. He was truly graceful on a broom, more than could be said for him at practically any other time. Katie had the same problem, but even she didn't look like she had been born on a broom like he did.

"Alright," said Wood as his team gathered around him. "First practice. Let's make it a good one, shall we? To start—George, give us the firework," he said, turning on the twin who had been inching closer to him from behind.

George quickly flicked his wrist and then held up his empty hands. "I am unarmed!" he proclaimed, looking oh-so-offended.

"And I'm Prince Charles," snapped Wood, "Now get to work!"

They all knew an order when they heard one. Everyone mounted their brooms and rocketed off into the air within two shakes of a lamb's tail.

"Wow. He yelled at them before we even got into the air," Alicia said to Katie with a smile as the two ascended in parallel. "Must be a record."

"He's really into it this year," Katie responded, looking down at Oliver while leveling off high above the ground.

Oliver tossed the Quaffle up to Angelina. "Work on your passes, ladies!" he called, then bent down again to release a Bludger for Fred and George. Katie shot off to one side, then practiced her side roll as the Bludger shot after her.

Fred swooped down in front of her, and with a quick "pardon me, miss" beat the heavy black ball towards George.

Angelina, meanwhile, had done a flashy reverse-pass to Alicia, and Katie swerved back to receive the Quaffle herself. Finally, Wood released the Golden Snitch for Harry to practice catching. Once that was done, Oliver mounted his broom and zoomed from Chasers to Seeker to Beaters and back, barking out corrections.

"Forgot how to swing that bat properly over the summer have we?" he called to George. "Alicia, you need to—ARGH!" Oliver was forced to do a sloth-grip roll as a Bludger went soaring past his ear. He turned to face George. "THAT WAS DELIBERATE!" he bellowed.

George simply smiled innocently back, as Fred streaked off for the Bludger, which had decided to go for Harry. After a few more minutes, Wood blew two blasts on his whistle and the whole team gathered around, Katie with the Quaffle tucked securely under her arm, Harry with the Golden Snitch in his fist, and Fred attempting to keep control of the Bludger that was struggling violently in his arms.

"Alright, team. Let's give some of these new plays a shot. I say we run through Lion first."

"Lion?" asked Angelina.

Oliver sputtered for a moment as he stared at her. "L-Lion. The—our—THE FIRST PLAY IN THE BOOK I GAVE YOU TWO DAYS AGO!"

"Oh," said Angelina calmly, "that."

"You—you didn't read it?" asked Wood, looking quite crestfallen.

"Well, Oliver, if you must know," she responded coolly, "I happen to have enough work on my plate without you giving us homework for Quidditch."

"But—" Oliver started.

"So, no, I didn't read it."

After a pause, he asked slowly, "How many of you didn't read it?"

Fred, George and Angelina's hands shot into the air proudly. Alicia only raised her hand to her shoulder, looking slightly abashed. Harry and Katie both blushed ashamedly, but for them the reason was they had been the only two thick enough to take Oliver seriously.

Oliver sat there for a moment, utterly speechless. Then, he shouted, "INSUBORDINATION! I should—"

"—have known better," George finished for him.

"Honestly, man, did you think we'd take you seriously?" asked Fred.

"But I—" Oliver looked around for help, and upon finding none, resigned himself to defeat. "Alright. We'll go over Lion now."

He flew off most dejectedly towards the other side of the pitch.

"You know," said Angelina, "if he wasn't so overly obsessed about all this, I might actually feel sorry for him."

Katie simply nodded her head as she watched their captain speed away.

Despite Oliver's shattered dream of his wonderful playbook, the first practice went brilliantly. By the end, even Wood was grinning from ear to ear. The whole group could tell they had the immense wealth of potential to be the best team Hogwarts had seen in years. Full of determination, the team started training sessions three evenings a week. They worked hard through mud, wind and rain, all but oblivious to the harsh conditions as the image of the huge, silver Quidditch Cup loomed in their minds.

Around a week later, Katie returned to the Gryffindor common room with the team after a training session, cold and stiff but grinning from ear to ear after pulling off a rather tricky set of plays flawlessly. She passed through the portrait hole to find the room buzzing excitedly. Harry was first into the room, with Fred and George at his heels—of course they would want to be the first ones to know what the hubbub was all about. Harry talked to Ron and Hermoine, Fred hovering just behind him. Katie saw Fred break into a huge grin, say something, then come bounding back to the rest of the team.

"First Hogsmeade weekend's on Halloween!" he said.

As with any other time immediately following the posting of dates for a Hogsmeade visit, everyone from third year up was talking about it. You couldn't go from one class to the next without hearing someone gabbing about what they were going to buy, or with whom they'd heard someone was going. Katie was desperately looking forward to a nice, warm Butterbeer, some sugar quills and another large chunk of nougat from Honeydukes, but for the first time, she had something else on her mind as well: a date. She hadn't really done more with Cedric since their not-so-chance meeting in the library. They had ended up talking in the halls once or twice, but his flock of protective supporters, as well as the amount of time Quidditch was beginning to take out of her schedule, were making it ever than harder for her to spend time with him. She glanced longingly over at the Hufflepuff table often enough that Alicia and Angelina had even stopped teasing her about it. On the contrary, they looked rather worried for her sanity. Katie reluctantly decided to lay off a bit, just in case they decided to do something drastic. Unfortunately, Katie was starting to consider doing something drastic herself. There just seemed to be no way to get close to Cedric.

Finally, on Thursday, she was walking back to the castle from Hagrid's cabin after another rather boring lesson involving Puffskeins (Hagrid seemed to have lost his gusto after that creepy Draco brat had been attacked by a Hippogriff) when she saw Cedric exiting the castle and heading for the lake.

"I'll see you," she told Leanne, and ran off to catch up with him. "Cedric!" she called when she got close enough.

Cedric spun around, looking somewhat agitated, but grinned when he saw who it was. "Oh, hi, Katie."

"How's it going?" she asked as she closed the gap.

"Alright," he answered. "I was just going for a walk. Care to join me?"

"Don't mind if I do."

Cedric turned and Katie fell into step with him as they walked along the lakeshore.

"Excited about the Hogsmeade weekend?" asked Cedric.

"Yeah," Katie answered as casually as she possibly could.

"I'm really looking forward to having Butterbeer and Chocoballs again," Cedric admitted, a dreamy expression drifting across his features.

"Mmm…" Katie imagined the strawberry mousse and clotted cream as well.

"What's your favorite sweet?" Cedric asked.

"Oh, I like the homemade nougat," she said. "but sugar quills are good, too, since you can have them in class."

Cedric nodded. "My dad told me that when he went to Hogwarts, they came out with quills that had wit-sharpening potion inside. Everyone started doing so well on their tests that the teachers found out and the Ministry had to intervene and stop production."

"I guess those were the original smart-answer quills, then," said Katie with a laugh. Without thinking, she added, "My da wouldn't know anything about that sort of thing…"

"He's a Muggle?" asked Cedric kindly.

"Yeah, and a rather helpless one at that," Katie admitted with an affectionate grin. "He's not very organized, and a horrible cook. He's best at frozen dinners."

"Are those the things you cook in the macro-wave?" Cedric asked, stumbling over the last word.

"Microwave, yeah."

"Well, it must've been a shock when you found out you were coming to Hogwarts."

"Sort of. My mum was a witch, but she—" Katie stopped herself. Cedric looked over at her, concernedly, and opened his mouth to change the subject. Katie, though touched once again by his gentlemanliness, decided to take a chance and continue. "—she died when I was four."

"I'm sorry," said Cedric earnestly.

"It's okay," Katie replied without having to think about it. "She was really sick. They said it was better that she passed quickly."

She paused. Cedric looked at her warmly. He was going to let her say whatever she needed to. Katie silently thanked him for it.

"When—when I threw up," she continued, "on the train, because of those dementors?"

Cedric nodded his acknowledgement.

"It was because—because of her. I saw her lying on that hospital bed…and…and…" she couldn't talk anymore. The lump in her throat wouldn't go away. Her eyes stung as she held back tears. She had to stop. She would hate for Cedric to see her cry. The last thing she wanted was for him to think she was just another overly-emotional drama queen. But she couldn't hold back. A tear slipped down her cheek. Cedric stopped walking and looked at her, concern reflected in his gray eyes. Katie stopped too, looked away, and hurriedly wiped away the tear. "Sorry," she whispered hoarsely.

Cedric didn't respond—not really. He just put a hand on her shoulder and gently said, "Sit down."

Katie obeyed. She didn't know what else to do. Pulling her cloak about her, she plopped clumsily down on a patch of earth, and looked out at the lake, seeing the water ripple as a giant tentacle was pulled under the surface. Cedric sat next to her and gazed out towards the lake as well. Katie felt another tear leaking out, and wiped it away with her sleeve before it could fall. Cedric still sat, motionless, staring out in front of him. Katie looked at him appreciatively.

"Thanks," she said.

Cedric looked at her. "Just take your time."

Katie nodded and they both faced forward again. Katie took deep breaths until she was sure she had herself contained.

"So what about your family?" she asked. Cedric looked at her, as if to check that she was doing alright.

"All wizards and witches," he replied. "Back as far as anyone can remember. My great-great-grandfather was Minister of Magic."

"Wow!" said Katie, deliberately absorbing herself in what he was saying.

Cedric grimaced. "I suppose. It's just that Dad will never let me forget it."

"Well, why should you? I mean, there's lots of wizards that are really proud of their ancestors," said Katie sensibly.

"But we're not into that whole pure-blood stuff. Dad's convinced that I'm the best thing since dragon's blood. He thinks I'm going to be the next Minister in the family, or Hogwarts headmaster, or professional Quidditch player or something else illustrious."

"And what do you want to be?" asked Katie.

"I'm not sure," Cedric replied with a weary sigh. "That's part of the problem. Dad just keeps trying to set me up with some of his Ministry cronies, but I don't really fancy a desk job."

"It'll work out," said Katie confidently. "My da started out with an ice cream store. Then he was a carpenter, and now he's a postman. He always told me 'it's not what you want to do with your life, but what you want to do first.'"

Cedric smiled gratefully at her, and Katie was thankful that she was sitting down as her stomach did a huge flip-flop.

"You know, your dad sounds like a really smart guy," Cedric told her.

Katie shrugged. "Doesn't make his cooking any better, though."

Cedric snorted, and Katie couldn't suppress a grin at her own joke.

"We should probably be heading back," he said.

"Alright," Katie replied reluctantly.

They walked back up to the castle in silence, enjoying the wonderful feel of fresh air on their faces. When they stepped into the entrance hall, Cedric turned to her.

"It was really nice to talk to you, Katie," he said earnestly.

Katie was surprised she didn't drop dead from happiness right then and there.

"Um, yeah," she responded, fighting to keep her nerves under control, "it was good talking to you, too."

"Have you got any plans for Hogsmeade?"

Now Katie really had to fight to keep from falling. Or dancing. She wasn't sure which one she wanted to do first.

"Uh, no."

"Do you want to meet down there or something?"

She couldn't believe this. All her dreams were coming true. Images of her and Cedric walking down the High Street, laughing, hand-in-hand, flashed through her mind.

"Sure. What time?"

She silently willed him to say something early so they could spend the whole day together.

"How about we meet at Zonko's at one. I've got to run an errand for Mom in the morning."

"Okay. Zonko's. One o'clock."

"Alright. See you then!" said Cedric as he started off toward the basement, giving her a parting wave.

One o'clock wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping for, but if he was running an errand for his mother. Katie found this yet another thing to add to her sizable mental list of great things about Cedric Diggory. She took the steps on the marble staircase two at a time, and half-skipped all the way up to the seventh floor.

"Fortuna major!" she sang to the Fat Lady, who swung forward with a kind smile.

Angelina and Alicia were nowhere to be found in the common room. Katie continued, undaunted, up the spiral staircase to the girls' dormitories. Once she reached the second landing, she burst into the room. Sure enough, her two friends were there, deeply immersed in conversation. Katie's face broke into an enormous grin.

Alicia looked up and smiled. "What's up with you, Katie?" she asked curiously.

"Guess who I'm meeting in Hogsmeade?" Katie replied, in a rather girly sing-song voice.

"No!" Alicia exclaimed.

"Cedric?" Angelina asked.

Katie's grin got even bigger, if that was possible. Angelina and Alicia squealed, standing up to tackle her in a three-person hug.

"That's great!" cried Alicia.

"Katie and Cedric! Katie and Cedric!" Angelina chanted.

When they finally released, Katie collapsed with a happy sigh onto Angelina's bed. Angelina plopped down next to her.

"Blimey, Kates," she said, "when…how did you become such a fox?"

"What do you mean?" asked Katie blissfully.

"You got asked by Cedric to meet with him in Hogsmeade," explained Alicia exasperatedly as she sat down on the edge of her own bed. "Diana O'Rourke has been trying to do that for two years!"

"Diana's a cow," said Angelina.

"But she's quite fanciable," Alicia replied.

"Is not."

"Is too. Oliver had a crush on her all last year."

"He what?" Angelina demanded.

"Honestly, Ange, sometimes I think you're blind as a bat."

Katie watched this typical exchange with a blank, detached look on her face. She was to busy dreaming about Halloween to be interested in her friends' benign bickering.

"In any case," Alicia said, bringing the conversation around again, "how'd you do it, Kates?"

That brought Katie crashing back down to earth. She sat up and shrugged.

"Not much," she admitted, "I just talked to him."

"Oh, easy as pie was it?" Angelina cut in.

"Well, getting to talk to him was the hard part. You've seen that awful fan club of his following him around everywhere, batting their eyelashes at him. They've been driving me nuts all year."

"So what did you talk about?" pressed Alicia.

"Sweets," Katie answered truthfully.

Angelina crossed her arms and glared.

"…and our families. Sounds like he's got a really pushy father."

"Does he know about your mum?" Alicia asked.

"Yeah. I didn't mean to tell him, you know how I hate that you-poor-thing routine, but he didn't do that at all. He just let me tell him, without making any judgments. I just felt so…comfortable around him, it all came tumbling out, even about why I threw up on the train."

"Sounds like you two have got a decent connection," said Alicia. Katie was surprised that she had already started to analyze the situation, though she probably shouldn't have been. "Normally, you wouldn't talk about your background for another week or so. It's not usually the first thing to come up."

"I didn't mean—" Katie started.

"Oh, shut it, Ali," interrupted Alicia. "Don't listen to her, Kates. Not all relationships go by formula."

Alicia raised an eyebrow. "And how many relationships have I predicted correctly?"

"Dozens," answered Angelina grudgingly.

Alicia gave her a look that clearly said she thought the matter settled. Angelina just rolled her eyes.

"But Katie's not like the other airheads that run around this school. I think that's why she got Cedric and Diana didn't."

Katie, for once, did not mind them debating her love life as if she wasn't there. It felt like nothing could burst her oh-so-happy bubble. She just sat there, looking out one of the tower's windows, imagining once again what this next trip to Hogsmeade would bring.

"Katie."

Katie looked into Alicia's face. She had completely lost track of time.

"Are you coming to dinner or are you going to sit here and daydream about your boyfriend all day?"

Katie shot her an offended look as she was forced from her reverie.

"Alright, I'm coming." she replied as she rose and strode toward the door. "And he is not my boyfriend. Not yet, anyway."

Angelina smiled. "Whatever you say…"

That night, when Katie went to bed, she noticed the silver necklace was glowing brighter than ever. She took it as a good sign. Maybe it glowed when someone was lucky. It had certainly been bright after she'd received the Broomstick Servicing Kit. But what about that night after the first Quidditch meeting? Nothing really lucky had happened that night. She fell asleep, her mind pondering what it all might mean.

Katie's good mood continued through Friday—when she performed wonderfully at Quidditch practice—and on into the weekend. Alicia and Angelina were having a field day with the news about Cedric. They kept discussing it between them, then giving her tips about what to do or wear. The two of them could be quite a handful when something got their attention, but by Tuesday, Katie had tired of their vicarious interest. After dinner, she retired to her dorm for some quiet reading time—she hadn't quite finished the article from Quidditch Quarterly that Oliver had shown her. Pulling the magazine out of her trunk, she lay down on her bed and scanned the article until she found the place where she had left off. Before she could get very far, however, the door opened and Rhea walked in, followed closely by Chloe.

"Oh, it's you," said Rhea sourly.

Katie, who had come up to her bed for some peace and quiet, was quite bitter that she had been disturbed. She sat up and faced them

"Will you quit talking about me like I'm an overgrown flobberworm?" she snapped.

"I'll stop talking about you when you've proven you're innocent," Rhea retorted.

"It's just a stupid bracelet. You could probably buy another one exactly like it in Hogsmeade."

"Why? Because you sold it to them?" Chloe demanded.

"Even if I did, it wouldn't fetch enough to buy a Licorice Wand. How come you're so convinced it was me? Just because I'm not stupid enough to leave my jewelry lying around? How do you know it wasn't Peeves? "

Katie could feel her temper rising rapidly. Rhea and Chloe were continuing to eye her as if she wasn't human.

"After three years, I've just decided to go around nicking things, have I? Well, I'm sick of you whispering about me in class! And I hate that you've turned Leanne against me!" Katie spat.

"We didn't do anything to her!" retorted Rhea "She follows us of her own free will."

"Yeah right! You're just conniving, manipulating little—"

"I've heard enough," interrupted Chloe. "If you didn't steal them, then why are you so defensive?"

"Because you're treating me like dirt!"

"I think you need to see a Healer," replied Rhea coldly. "Come on, Chloe."

Rhea turned to walk out. Chloe, after shooting another disgusted glance at Katie, followed.

"That's right! Leave me alone!" Katie yelled after them.

Once door slammed shut, Katie slumped back onto her bed. She was furious at them. This had gone on for long enough. She didn't like the thought of what she was risking, but she knew she would have to if she was ever to clear her name.

That night, she took off the necklace. Its glow was extinguished immediately. Placing it on her bedside table, she closed her curtains most of the way, making sure to keep the necklace in view. Now all she had to do was settle down, watch and wait. She had enough to keep her mind busy—she had a quiz in Transfiguration the next day. Plus, there was always Cedric to think about…as her thoughts drifted to his handsome face, she found herself fighting the urge to close her eyes, just to imagine him a little better. But she had to keep her eyes on her necklace, or her plan would fail and she wouldn't be able to find out who—or what—was behind the disappearances.

She listened as the breathing of her dorm mates became slow and steady as one by one they drifted off. She heard Rose's light snores, and someone else's moan. She heard the leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forrest rustling in the wind that had been building all day. Some hushed voices were carried up the spiral staircase from a lower level, but died away with a muffled clap as they too went to bed. Then, she thought she heard a soft patter. She instinctively stiffened, but remained motionless, straining to hear the sound again. After a few minutes without hearing the sound again, she relaxed. Her eyes drooped and she forced them open again. She had to get to the bottom of this. She tried to block out all the normal night sounds and listen only for the sound of someone, or something moving. But as the minutes passed, her mind wandered, and her eyelids fluttered shut once again…

Katie woke to the sound of rain lashing against the tower windows.

"NO!" she yelled, sitting up in bed.

"Wha? What happened?" Leanne asked sleepily.

Katie yanked back her curtain to find what she feared—an uncovered piece of her bedside table.

"My necklace!"

Another mumbled question came from one of the other girls. She had woken all her dorm mates up with her cries. Katie stared at the table in a state of horrible shock.

"I don't believe it," she said to no one in particular.

"What don't you believe?" asked Leanne, sitting up.

"You want proof of my innocence?" Katie snapped at Rhea, tears welling up in her eyes.

Rhea looked at her, perplexed.

"WELL THERE IT IS!" Katie screamed, pointing at the spot where the necklace had lain. "There it is!"

"Katie, what are you talking about?" asked Leanne gently.

"I left my mum's necklace out last night," explained Katie around the lump in her throat. "I wanted to see what was happening, but I fell asleep and now Mum's necklace…"

"Oh," Leanne said as the realization dawned on her. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Katie."

Katie couldn't help it; she finally began to cry. Her mother's necklace. She had been too concerned about daydreaming that she had lost it to the phantom jewelry menace. The one thing she had in the castle to remind her of her mother, other than a pair of creased photos, was gone. Her father's present to her on her fifteenth birthday was gone. Her sobs racked her body as all the girls in her dorm crowded on her bed and engulfed her in one, massive group hug. Rhea looked particularly guilty as Katie wept into Leanne's shoulder.

"It'll be okay," Leanne whispered consolingly. "It'll turn up. This can't go on forever."

Katie desperately wanted to believe her. Unfortunately, it was a school day and they all had to get ready for breakfast and classes. All the fourth year Gryffindor girls moved somberly through their morning routines, and for the first time in weeks, plodded silently down to the Great Hall together. Katie didn't sit with Angelina and Alicia for once, she was surrounded by Rose, Chloe, Rhea and Leanne, who all seemed determined to be her support group in atonement for they way they had scorned her. Her older friends did come over during breakfast, but Katie simply looked at them sadly, her face still slightly red and puffy, and shook her head. Angelina looked highly worried, and Alicia squeezed Katie's shoulders encouragingly before the two retreated to their breakfasts. Katie didn't feel much like eating, but with her friends gently coaxing her, she managed to get down a small amount of porridge.

Her dorm mates helped her along every minute of the day, almost overwhelmingly so. Nevertheless, she was glad that Leanne was back to helping her in Herbology. With her guidance, Katie only managed to waste a tablespoon of Bubotuber puss.

That evening in the common room, she finally excused herself from her support group, and went to sit with her fifth year friends, explaining to them all about her plan to clear her name and the end result. They were all quite sympathetic. The Weasley twins disappeared for a bit and returned with a few Butterbeers and brownies. Katie thanked them heartily, and quickly down one of the Butterbeers, which helped to greatly improve her mood and prepare her for the blustery Astronomy lesson later that evening.

After the long period of star-gazing, Katie returned to Gryffindor Tower for the night, absolutely exhausted. She was so thoroughly worn out that she flung herself into bed, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost before her head hit the pillow.

The next day was better. The shock had worn off and Katie let Fred and George cheer her back to normal. Angelina even risked a little tease about getting Cedric to buy her a new one. In Charms class, Katie pondered and discussed with her dorm mates various ideas for what could have nicked their precious items and why.

Friday morning, the fourth year girls dormitory was woken once again by loud cries, but this time they were coming from Leanne. Katie leapt out of bed to see Leanne screaming and convulsing violently in her bed. Initially, Katie thought she was having seizures, then she heard what Leanne was screaming about.

"OUCH! OW! GEROFF ME! GET IT OFF!"

When Katie took a better look, she saw that Leanne was gripping something around her wrist.

"Okay!" Katie called. "Calm down! I can help!"

Leanne managed to stop flailing all but her arms.

"It hurts!" she yelped, tears streaming down her face. "Help me!"

"Stop thrashing and I'll help," said Katie as calmly as she could.

Leanne reluctantly obliged, biting her lower lip in concentration. Then Katie saw what she was holding: a small, furry, black creature with a rat-like tail.

"It's a Niffler!" she exclaimed, stepping forward and grasping it in her hands.

Leanne winced as Katie reached with a couple fingers and pried its mouth off of Leanne's hand. She saw Leanne was wearing two rings. The skin all around them were covered in scratches and bite marks.

"Rings…" she said. Then it hit her.

"Hey ladies," Katie called, holding up the courageously struggling Niffler in her hands, "I think I found our jewelry thief!"

"A wild Niffler in your room?" asked George later that morning at the breakfast table. "That's brilliant!"

"It wasn't a prank, George," scolded Alicia.

"It'd be a good one, though," replied Fred with a devilish grin.

"What'd you do with it?" asked Angelina.

"Gave it to Hagrid," Katie told her. "He said he'll train it so it won't cause any more problems. He's also getting another Niffler that's already trained so we can find our jewelry."

"Imagine that," Lee said. "It'd never thought it'd be something other than human. Well, except maybe Peeves. You never know what this old castle will throw at you."

"It's got to be a relief to be done with it, though," said Alicia.

"Yep," Katie confirmed with a happy sigh. "Case closed."

"Now all you've got to worry about is Sunday," joked Angelina as she gave her younger friend a gentle poke in the ribs.

Katie hid her huge grin behind a warm scone.