September passed quickly as I grew accustomed to the pattern of my third year classes. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had gotten very popular in school. Professor Lupin seemed like a nice enough guy and he was a much better teacher than Lockhart had been. Draco didn't like him, not that it surprised me. He kept complaining about the state of his robes and how a professor should have more pride than to wear something like that. I wasn't too thrilled with his choice of words but I just shrugged it off, that's just how Draco was.

Professor Snape didn't look like he liked Professor Lupin either. Apparently during a practical lesson with Gryffindor, Neville had made a boggart look like the professor and then proceeded to dress him in his grandmother's clothes. I'm sure it would've been entertaining to watch if I had been there but I could understand why our professor wasn't happy.

Professor Lupin certainly did teach us more in class. He went over Boggarts, Red Caps, and Kappas all in that first month. Not a bad class, unlike Care of Magical Creatures. It had ended up more boring than I had imagined. It was still nice working with different creatures but I continued to give Draco looks, reminding him that it was his fault. He grinned at me.

Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes were amazing. They were the most challenging classes I had ever taken, and the ones that I never regretted signing up for. They both taught me so much, not just information but how to exercise my patience. Since Crabbe and Goyle had taken Arithmancy without actually knowing what it was they never expected it to be as challenging as it was. I constantly had to sit down with them and explain to them why there was more than one method and why they needed to learn both. It was a lot more work dealing with them than the actual class.

Time was flying by and as October began the Quidditch season got nearer. I walked to the Black Lake with Fred and George by my side. We had decided to spend some time together today. Thankfully it hadn't rained but it was still pretty chilly out. Winter was definitely coming and I was just grateful that I had a somewhat high tolerance for the cold.

"I think this is a good spot" George commented as he fell onto the cold grass. I smiled and sat next to him, carefully placing my robes directly under me to protect me from any unwanted shivers. It felt like such a long time since I had seen my favorite twins and I was really missing them. Their cheerful smiles and playful demeanor always got me in a good mood.

They were both tired as their captain, Oliver Wood, kept making them practice for long periods of time. From past years I had seen how he would push them near their breaking point. Oliver had always asked them to practice more than I thought was fair. I understood that he was worried about the Quidditch Cup, since this was his last year and all, but still. This was one of the only days the twins had been given to relax since the beginning of October and they looked exhausted. It made me feel a little special that they chose to spend it with me instead of their other friends. Then again, none of their other friends were in Slytherin…

"This year is going to be rough" George groaned next to me. It must be frustrating having to deal with the stress of trying to win the cup. If it were me I would've probably quit the team by now. Not so much because of the stress but mostly because I didn't like being bossed around all the time

"You wouldn't happen to have any more evil plans up your sleeve would you?" Fred asked. He was sitting directly in front of me leaning in. George looked down at me from my side. Both looked hopeful but I shook my head.

"No sorry." Fred looked down disappointed but George smiled anyway. "Don't worry I'm sure you'll do great"

"Yeah I guess..." Fred grumbled and I smiled. I looked to the lake to see the giant squid's tentacles slightly sticking out of the top of the waters. He was a large and surely dangerous creature but it was so cute at the same time. I had seen it swim around several times from the windows in the dungeon. Maybe I just had a thing for dangerous creatures…

Fred and George talked amongst themselves as I continued to let my mind wander. I liked that they never looked upset that I did this. A lot of people were bothered by that side of me but I couldn't help it. I had tried many times when I was younger, to stop my mind from wandering whenever I could, but I eventually gave up. That was just another side of me that I would have to hide from people and I had enough of those as it was. I joined in on the twins' chat from time to time but mostly just sat back and enjoyed my time doing nothing with them.

"Hey!" someone called from a little ways ahead of me. I sat up and looked over Fred's shoulder to see who it was

"Oh hey" I called back noticing the angry voice had come from Draco. "Be right back" I told the twins as I stood up and walked over to him. He had his arms crossed not happy with my company

"I don't suppose you're finding out strategic secrets from their Quidditch team" he mumbled when I reached him

"Nope" I replied cheerfully. He frowned. Not at me or my answer but to something behind me. I looked back in the direction he was to see Fred looking ahead and George staring back at Draco. Surprised, I turned back. It wasn't like George to do something like that. It was like Draco though. "So what is it?"

"I don't like them" he said ignoring my question. He was looking behind me again, peering at them. I rolled my eyes

"If you have time to come whine to me why don't you spend it doing something more useful, like studying? You're getting behind on Arithmancy"

"Am not!" he yelled and I giggled at how easily I could distract him

"Go back to the dungeon" I told his angry face. "Daphne should be in the common room; you can ask her for my notes."

"Why don't you come and give them to me" he suggested. I gave him a look and he sighed but smiled. "Fine just hurry up and come back so you can help me. I'm injured you know"

"Right, and the reason I spend so much time with you is because you're such a good person." He laughed openly at my sarcastic comment. "I will help you but when I'm done here. I have other friends besides you, you know."

"Yeah, yeah" he mumbled and left. I happily turned back to Fred and George. They were having some sort of quiet conversation with each other. It looked like they were whispering but harshly, almost aggressively. I was curious but purposely stepped on a branch so they'd hear me coming. When they did, they stopped talking about whatever it was they had been talking about and George looked up to me. I smiled as I closed the rest of the distance between us and sat back down next to him.

"So what did that prick want?" he mumbled when I was settled in my spot. If I didn't know any better I would've thought he looked upset. I ignored the comment, though. Draco had certainly called them worse

"He wanted to know if I would help him with one of our classes"

"But you stayed instead?" Fred asked and I nodded. This seemed to cheer up George.

"I spend time with him every day and I barely see you two anymore" I answered wrapping my arms around my knees. It was getting colder the later it got and I was mentally scolding myself for not bringing warmer robes

"We have a solution to that" George smirked down at me. "Just ask to be moved to Gryffindor" I laughed, clearly they had to be kidding. But when I stopped they weren't laughing

"Are you serious?" I asked. They nodded. "You know that's not possible, right? Even if I wanted to, I was sorted into Slytherin and this is where I belong"

"So you don't want to..." George looked a little hurt at my remark. I hoped he didn't take that personally; if I wanted a reason to be in Gryffindor it'd be them

"Slytherin isn't so bad. I like it there. Sure some of the people have some issues but hey who doesn't" I shrugged but they weren't convinced

"I don't know why you'd want to be there. It's in a dungeon, for crying out loud!" George complained but I laughed again.

"It's actually rather nice down there. And no offence but I wouldn't want to live in a tower. I'm not a morning person and waking up to the sun in my eyes isn't very good for me." I frowned thinking about home. There, my room was on the top floor and every morning I woke up to the sun burning through the curtains and into my eyelids. I had tried to convince parents to let me move to one of the other rooms but they refused. The rest of the rooms were apparently too small and it would've looked bad if I stayed in one of those.

"You there, Kitty?" George waved a hand in front of my face. I blinked a few times as I snapped back to reality and they chuckled.

"So are you excited about Hogsmeade?" Fred asked changing the subject

"Yes!" I threw my arms up in excitement but quickly pulled them back down. Fred and George thought it was funny but if my mother had seen it she would've flipped. She cared a lot about conduct and me being ladylike. She was very superficial in that way but that's my mum

"Where do you want to go? We could show you around" George offered

"It's okay I'm sure you have other friends who want to go with you." Those two were very popular, not just in Gryffindor but in general. "Besides I promised Draco we'd go together"

"Oh" George mumbled but Fred nodded

"Still if you change your mind you know where to find us" Fred said looking carefully at his brother. I nodded but couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Fred must have noticed George was acting different too. So it wasn't just my imagination…

The twins walked me down to the dungeon entrance before climbing up the stairs to their own room. I entered and after a quick scan of the Slytherin common room I made my way up to Draco's room. He was sitting on his bed, my notes spread out in front of him. Theodore was on his bed, studying for one of his classes too. He looked up at me and smiled before turning back down to his book. I liked him, he was quiet but quite nice once you got him talking. Draco noticed me too and scooted some things around so there was room for me on his bed.

"How do you even know what this says?" he complained as I took my seat

"What do you mean? I don't have bad writing!" I whined and started to take my notes back from him. He shook his head and chuckled

"I meant the things not the writing, idiot. Someone is sensitive today" he teased. I stuck out my tongue at him and he sighed. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked

"You're acting, strange…"

"I always act strange" I reminded him but he shook his head

"No, I mean – Never mind." He sighed again and turned back down to my notes. I helped him study some of the more complex equations that we had been given and it did help him some. Not a lot but more than he would've managed on his own. After all his roommates stumbled back into the room I said goodnight to them and walked to my bed. Hopefully I'd get a good night's sleep