"How can you two eat this much?" Daphne teased as Crabbe and Goyle continued to fill their faces with food. In the common room they had most of the sweets they had bought this morning laid out in front of them. I laughed as Lev took a piece from Crabbe's pile and growled when he tried to take it back. The Halloween feast had ended and we were all piled back in the dungeon. It had been a good feast like always and my stomach was more than satisfied.

I pulled my puppy onto my lap and stroked his head. He was getting bigger now but he was still small enough to be called a pup. Lev continued to eat the Jelly Slug he had stolen while I put my attention on Tails, the book I had gotten from Luna. She was a very peculiar person but in a charming way. And it was nice of her to give me this book. It saved me the trouble of having to look for it at Hogsmeade where instead I spent some time with Draco. He complained about going into all the different shops I dragged him into but I knew he secretly loved it.

"Don't you ever get sick of reading?" Draco asked scooting closer to me. Lev didn't even bother growling at him as he got off my lap and went over to Daphne who was waving a chocolate wand at him. That puppy sure loved chocolate. She gave me a wicked smile before turning to Blaise who was staring at my pup cautiously. I looked back at Draco realizing I still hadn't answered him and smiled apologetically. He rolled his eyes. "What's this one about?"

"It talks about a number of different magical creatures and little things about each of them" I said excitedly

"Let me guess, they all have tails?" he mocked looking at the cover of the book. I stuck out my tongue at him and turned back down to my book. So far yes they all had tails but I wasn't going to tell him that. Draco chuckled quietly next to me as he started reading over my shoulder. I flipped the pages quickly just to bother him but stopped when I spotted a familiar picture. On the page was the figure of a horse with vast leathery wings and sharp fangs. "That is one ugly horse"

I didn't even fake a smile at Draco's comment as I looked through the words by the image. The creature was called a Thestral. It looked just like the horses I had seen pulling the carriages into school. It had never crossed my mind that it would be something… real. I had honestly thought that somehow I had come up with that image and that the carriages were actually charmed to move on their own. Nobody else could see them so why could only I? I had a wild enough imagination that it wasn't completely impossible for me to imagine the whole thing… Except…

"It can only be seen by those who have witnessed death…" My eyes went a little wide at the realization. That's why I could see it. That was why it would stare at me and ignore the others. They couldn't see it, I could. They hadn't seen death… I had.

"Katerina!" Daphne's voice called snapping me back to reality. I looked up to see several worried faces staring down at me. I blinked and rubbed my eyes. I wasn't tired but for some reason I really needed to do that. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Yes, I'm fine." A few of the people who had been around me nodded to themselves and went back to whatever they had been doing. Draco, Daphne, Crabbe, Goyle and Theodore all kept looking at me. My face must have still been thinking about those creatures, betraying me.

"Are you sure?" Daphne asked handing me my book. I had dropped it when my mind had left me I suppose

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm fine, really" I insisted. Only three looked affected as Daphne and Draco continued to stare, not believing me.

"Are you sure?" Draco asked frowning and eyeing me carefully. I sighed and was about to make a sarcastic comment when I was interrupted

"She's sure!" Pansy screamed from behind them. "She's fine! There are plenty of more interesting things to talk about! Why is everyone so focused on her? She does this all the time!" Daphne rolled her eyes and Draco grinned but both of them sat back down and changed the subject. After a little while of mindless chatter someone came for us. Every student in Slytherin was called out and taken up to the Great Hall. I pulled my puppy up into my arms and followed the rest of them out of the dungeon

"The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle" Professor Dumbledore informed us once we were there. The doors to the Great Hall were closed and apparently we would be spending the night there, for our own safety. Something was obviously going on as the prefects were all put in charge of the doors and Professor Dumbledore himself wanted to be informed of anything happening. He waved his wand giving us a number of sleeping bags to choose from. Whatever this was, it wasn't good. "Sleep well."

Professor Dumbledore exited the hall and closed the doors behind him. There was uproar of exited voices as the students discussed a number of different explanations for this. None were even close to what really happened. Gryffindor told all the other students how the Fat Lady had vanished from her portrait in fear of Sirius Black. He had tried to get into the Gryffindor common room. He was in the castle. I looked around to distract myself and, in one of the little groups of people still hearing the story, I saw Fred and George.

The twins were talking animatedly at those crowding them, happy to share their experience. Before long their quick summary had turned into a somewhat elaborate skit. From their movement Fred, I assumed, had taken on the role of Sirius and George was playing the Fat Lady. Though I doubt they saw it actually occur Fred began swinging at George with an invisible knife. George, who played the role quite convincingly from my angle, put his hands up to his face in defense and pretended to shriek in fear. I giggled a little just before George caught my eye. He paused from his scream and smiled at me making Fred hit him for real; whether that was accidental or not I was unsure. They began to get into an actual fight when Draco cleared his throat, making me turning to him. He was frowning slightly and I gave him a small smile before turning away again

I stood and headed straight into a corner of the hall, Lev followed. In his mouth was the edge of one of the sleeping bags, I had forgotten to get one. I smiled at my puppy and continued to walk. When we reached the corner we stopped but I still heard shuffling. I turned to see that the rest of my usual group had followed me to the corner. Well Draco and Daphne had, the rest were probably following them. Draco raised his eyebrows at me, a silent question, and I gave him a weak smile. He nodded then put his sleeping bag next to mine. I sank into mine and sat cross legged leaving a spot for Lev to sit in.

"This can't be a coincidence" Theodore was the first to speak. "Sirius Black shows up and he just happens to head straight for the Gryffindor tower?"

"He probably got lost and figured that the higher he went the easier it would be to tell where he was" Daphne tried to understand, frowning. It occurred to me then that not many of their parents talked to them like mine and Draco's did to us. We knew things that the adults tried to hide from other kids our age. I didn't know if I should feel special that my father shared this information with me or sad that maybe he just didn't care if it upset me. I wished it was the first

"I don't buy it," Theo insisted. "I think he was looking for someone. Someone in particular..." The boy was a smart cookie.

"Doesn't matter why he got in" Draco interrupted their conversation. My head was down but I had a feeling he was looking at me. "The question is how. How did he get past the Dementors?"

Everyone shuddered a little at the thought of those creatures. But Draco was right. It didn't matter why he got in so much as how he managed to do it. If he found a method he could come back whenever he wanted. If he was after Harry and managed to get him what was to stop him from hurting anyone else. Someone needed to find out how he got in, if they didn't, then no one was safe.

"He wore a disguise?" Goyle asked more than anything. I had to smile at how simple this all seemed for him. There was no disguise out there that could hide someone from a Dementor not to mention heaps of them.

"He obviously used Apparate. That's the only way he could've gotten past the Dementors" Pansy said smugly, proud that she knew so much. Too bad for her, she was wrong

"No, that's not it" I informed her truthfully. She scowled at me but I had more things on my mind to worry about. It had explained it all in Hogwarts, A History. It's a book that Hermione recommended, or rather insisted, I read. "The castle is protected by all sorts of charms and enchantments. He couldn't have just used Apparate; it had to have been something else." But what? How did he get in the castle?

"The lights are going out now!" Percy shouted. "I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

I rolled into my sleeping bag and stared up at the ceiling. It was enchanted and made to look like we were camping under the stars. I'd only gone camping a few times in my life and it had been in our backyard so they didn't really count. I had however visited Albania with my father once and had gone for a nighttime stroll under the stars. But that wasn't a happy day for my younger self… Lev curled up in a ball by my side. I patted his head gently trying hard not to think about what had happened then or what was happening now.

"Stop it" I heard someone whisper next to me. I turned to see Draco lying next to me and scowling. It reminded me of the day we had that sleepover after my birthday party. I smiled at him.

"Stop what?" I asked turning back to the ceiling.

"Stop worrying so much" he said a little louder. I smiled again and closed my eyes. Lev had fallen asleep in my arms already. I could feel Draco's stare but chose to ignore it. Yes I was worried but I had reason to be. If they didn't catch him soon there might be death. A few more people would be able to see the Thestrals too… They couldn't find him soon enough. As if reading my mind he added "Just go to sleep, they'll catch him."