She's a filler queeeen! Dynamite with a lazer beam Guaranteed to blow your mind... yeah that's me. This chappie is mostly filler, however I promise the next shall be much much better. So get over it and review. :D Anywho, it should be up soon. I'm going to be working very hard to try to get as many chapters up as I can before my surgery... so here we are. Thanks for the support. Don't forget to check out the drawing of Kat on my profile page. - Bex

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (but oh! if I did... ahem... anyway) nor any of the other people or wizarding world. Just my amazing character of Kathryn Adara Riddle. Everything and everyone else is the brilliance of J.K Rowling. I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!

CHAPTER 9 ENCHANTÈ

"Don't use a weakness
Don't change the subject,
Don't ask the questions if you fear the answer

There is no turning back now
Everything you've ever wanted
Everything in this moment

And there's no turning back

now that you've opened up to your mind."

"Crying out" Shinedown

"Good evening Mr. Potter, Miss Riddle."

"Evening Professor." Harry said.

"The reason I called you in here, is that I wanted to discuss about Miss Riddle." Kat's smile disintegrated.

"Wha?"

"Your attire." she looked down her nose at her. "Stand up!" she said exasperated, after the blank stare on Kat's face. "You need a full school uniform," she said briskly. "Mr. Potter step outside for a moment." Harry obediently got up, gave Kat one fleeting glance, and closed the door behind him. "Now, you are to have these on every day except week-ends," she said summoning shirts, skirts, tights, socks, ties, and jumpers, from a trunk near the window with a mere flick of the wand.

"Yes ma'am." she said hoarsely, as McGonagall piled on one set of clothing in her arms. She stood there dumb-struck, not sure what to do, being surrounded by flying clothes.

"Well, put it on," McGonagall snapped irritably, as she was sorting through different sizes of blouses.

X

The door opened.

Harry scrambled to his feet from the floor where he had been waiting.

"Not a word." Kat said threateningly, as the gargoyle leaped back into place behind her. Her white blouse was opened at the neck, with the undone Gryffindor tie hung loosely from the collar, she had her robe and jumper over her arm. "Damn these thangs itch like Hell." she said scratching her leg, where her high socks were. The short pleated skirt showed off her muscular thighs from riding horses for years. Harry gulped. Kat grinned and walked smoothly over to him. "I'm guessin' you like the naughty school girl look?" she shimmied with the tie and acted like it was a boa, wrapping it around Harry's neck bringing them closer together.

"It works for you." he grinned as she purred into his neck. "Let's go get a bite to eat." she lifted her head and grinned. "It seems as if you haven't had a decent meal since you've been here."

"You're tellin' me!" she giggled. She put on her tie, jumper, and robe. He noticed the new Gryffindor patch attached to her robe, his finger lingered there for a moment. "What?"

"This means you're in Gryffindor." he said slowly. Kat's eyebrows furrowed. "Not Slytherin." her stare was if possible, blanker. "Slytherin was the house that your grandfather was in. In fact you're the heir of Slytherin. You can speak Parseltongue!" he cried happily.

"Speak wha?"

"Speak to snakes!" he cried.

"Yeah, how'd ya know that?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm one too, but I knew because Voldemort was a Parseltongue, which automatically makes you one."

"Okey..." she said slowly, trying to understand.

"Well let's go, by the time we get back down to the great hall, the feast will almost be over." They made their way to the Great Hall, Kat was awed by the live bats fluttering over head, floating pumpkins, and huge amount of food that was piled upon the tables like mountains. But again as she walked to the Gryffindor table with Harry, there were stares and gasps of terror from the remaining people in the hall. Kat wanted to turn around and sneer or do something, but she restrained herself for Harry. He had her hand tightly in his, and each time a girl sniveled or gasped at Kat he would squeeze it, as moral support, or maybe to restrain her from doing anything brash. McGonagall was seated in Dumbledore's chair and seemed to be pleased with herself.

"I can't believe I'm wearing this shit." Kat whispered to Harry tugging her skirt, trying to get the fabric to cover more of her tanned muscular thigh.

"You look brilliant." Harry said sternly.

"Harry how could you?" Hermione shrieked as they sat down across from her, her voice echoed through the nearly empty hall.

"What?"

"What happened?"

"What?" asked Harry confused.

"You've honestly turned totally thick haven't you Harry, what happened with Dumbledore?"

"Oh," Harry said, his head was still a little fuzzy, his mind was still in the boat on the lake with Kat. "Kat's house was attacked last night."

"We already knew that from your dream."

"Yes, but Kat's aunt was killed. And the Ministry wants to talk to Kat and I."

"Why?" Ron asked through a huge mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Because supposedly I know what's goin' on." Kat said helping herself to some roasted chicken.

"Because I know what's going on, and she's the long lost heir of Voldemort." Harry said piling his plate with everything in reach.

"No mustard for you sir." Kat whispered in his ear.

"Right." he said laughing as he removed the ham and mustard sandwich off his plate.

"Hogsmede tomorrow." Ron said nudging Hermione who was glaring at Harry. "I need to stock up, plus I reckon Fred and George are going to meet me at the Three Broomsticks."

"Yeah? Are they bringing any new products?"

"Yeah loads, they just perfected their new lot. New sweets inspired from American candy." he said nodding to Kat.

"Like what?"

"Somfink like..." he swallowed. "Blubberfinger, Twits, Greases Pieces, loads more that I can't remember."

"They take regular sweets and put a sort of spell on it to make it trick candy." Harry explained to Kat's confused look.

"Oh, cool."

"Damn that assignment was bloody brutal." said a skinny red-headed girl setting down next to Kat. She started piling loads of food onto her plate and eating ravenously, as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

"Ginny?" Harry asked leaning across Kat.

"Wha?" she asked irritably through a mouthful of potatoes. She looked up at Harry and noticed Kat for the first time."Oy!" she swallowed her huge bite. "Who are you?"

"Manners Ginny!" Ron sputtered, his ears tinging pink.

"Don't worry 'bout it honey, I reckon I'm 'bout used to it by now." Kat smiled.

"Ginny this is Kat." Harry said calmly.

"No shit?" Ginny said dropping her fork. "You're the dream girl?"

"That would be me." Kat smiled at her.

"Cor!" her eyes lit up. "I love your hair!" she said happily.

"Thanks. Yours is mighty pretty too." Kat's eyes spanned the wavy red locks. "I went red once." Ginny's eye brows went up. "Mind you it was out of a bottle but I loved the color."

"Out of a bottle?" Ginny said slowly.

"She means fake." Hermione said bluntly. "Artificial coloring." she sounded disgusted at the thought of it.

"Well Hell, so is this!" Kat pointed to the blonde part of her hair.

"Really?" Harry and Ginny said together. Kat mocked jumped at the amplified speech on either side of her.

"Naw, I'm just shittin' ya'll." she said sarcastically. "Yeah, my real color is black." she turned to Harry. "Like yours." she said softly fingering his wild jet black hair near his ear. Harry grinned down at her, and she winked, Hermione sighed deeply, and Ginny stared incredulously at Harry. Harry felt her gaze on him, so he tore his eyes away from Kat's and raised an eyebrow at the pretty redhead.

"What?" he asked indignantly.

"D'you fancy her?" she asked flatly nodding to Kat.

"Er..." Harry blushed a bit. "You see... erm..." he struggled with words.

"What that translates into is 'yes'." Kat said as always unflustered by questions about her feelings.

"Right." Harry said happily resting his hand on her thigh.

"Damn," Ginny grinned. "Mum will lose her head when she hears you have a girlfriend." everyone laughed except Hermione who rolled her brown eyes. Harry let out his breath that he had been holding. He no longer had to worry about Ginny causing a scene.

"I'm going to the–"

"Library." Ron, Harry, and Ginny finished her sentence for her. She rolled her eyes Heavenward and gave Kat a dirty look before she huffed away.

"What's gotten her knickers in a twist?" Ginny said watching Hermione stalk away. No one said anything but looked at Kat.

"Yeah, I reckon I've been moved right to the top of her Shit List." Kat pretended to look sad. "I'm so tore up 'bout it." Kat grinned her evil sexy grin and leaned against Harry as they all laughed.

"I'm positive you have a star by your name, next to the number one." Ginny sputtered through her laughter, making Kat burst into a deep throaty laugh. She has the best laugh. Harry thought as he watched her face, remembering Sirius' laugh. As the laughter died down Harry was still gazing into her face, savouring the memory of Sirius' face.

"So why did you come to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked, breaking the laughter.

"Weren't you at breakfast?" Ron said turning to her.

"Er– no, I wasn't hungry this morning." she answered blushing.

"You were with Seamus weren't you?" Ron said, his ears tinging a deep red.

"What if I was Ron?" Ginny said banging her fork on the table.

"Who's Seamus? Is he your beau?" Kat grinned at the red-head.

"Yeah." Ginny's anger faded as she gazed down the table at the good looking Irish boy sitting next to a skinny black boy. He seemed to feel her eyes on him and turned to wink at her. Ron intercepted their contact by sticking his head between them, shooting Seamus the death stare.

"I get the feeling Andy don't like Seamus?" Kat giggled.

"No, he's just an overprotective wanker." Ginny said exasperated, shoving Ron back into his seat. Harry and Kat laughed at Ron, who pouted moodily smashing his trifle into mush. "Anyway, are you going to answer my question?" Ginny asked, helping herself to more pumpkin juice.

"Er– well..." Harry started.

"I'm the granddaughter of Voldemort." Ginny dropped the pitcher, splattering it down the table.

"What?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't know anything, she didn't even know she was a witch until we came and told her." Harry said cleaning the sticky mess with a wave of his wand.

"What?" Ginny said again incredulous.

"Yup." Kat said grinning at her.

"Why in the name of Merlin was I not told about her?" Ginny said looking passed Kat to Harry.

"Because we had to keep my dreams quiet, besides, if we didn't get her last night the Death Eaters would have." he paused realizing what he just said, the impact of not being able to have Kat with him hit him hard.

"Blimey." Ginny said looking at Kat, who was no longer paying attention to her, but was staring into the face of Harry.

"Er– excuse me." Harry said standing up and walking away from the table running his hands through his hair.

"Hang on, sorry." Kat said hurriedly getting out of her seat and bustling out of the hall."What's wrong with you?" she hollered at him as he reached the entrance hall.

"Kat, d'you realize if I hadn't gotten there when I did, if I had waited for one more dream, that you would've been kidnaped?" he said angrily spinning around to face her.

"That's all 'what ifs'. The fact is Harry, you came and you got me. I'm safe, I'm here with you. I ain't goin' nowhere." she reached out and squeezed his hand. "As long as you'll have me, I'll be here." he held her beautiful, truthful eyes with his for several seconds, trying to rid the resemblance of Sirius within her classy features. He didn't say anything as he swept her up into his arms into a bone-crushing embrace, lifting her from the ground, and soundly kissing her on the lips. He exhaled mournfully into her neck as he set her down, leaning on her for support..

"Kat?" he murmured into her mussed hair, wrapping his robe around both their bodies.

"Mmm?" she purred into his chest.

"Let's go." he said after a moment taking her hand leading her up the stairs. "We can relax in the common room."

"Alright." Kat said leaning into him as they walked up to the dormitory.

"I want to put my bag up first, is that alright?" Harry said as they approached the Fat Lady.

"What ever you want darlin'." Kat said. They snuck quietly through to the boys staircase, and quickly opened the door to Harry's dormitory giggling at Kat almost tripping over the threshold.

"HEY!" a voice yelled irritably.

"Hay's for horses." Kat said turning to the voice, a tall thin black boy with corn rows, and no shirt, looked back at her, he seemed to be annoyed.

"What in the bloody Hell are you playing at Potter?" he put his hands on his slim hips.

"Sorry Dean." Harry mumbled.

"What in the Hell should you be sorry?" Kat said to Harry. "This is your damn room too. Why does he gotta have a case of the red ass?" She sneered at him.

"I got a right to privacy, so bugger off you." he nodded leering straight back.

"I can see why you would want privacy." she said cooly gazing over his frighteningly thin frame. "You're 'bout as thick as a stick. Looks like you need some grits and gravy." Harry smothered his laughter as Dead looked bewilderingly over at Kat.

"Grits?"

"That's what I said honey... ya need a definition? Well, you should probably ask Bushy Britches, she probably has the whole damn thing memorized."

"Harry you have the queerest choice of birds." Dean said scratching his braided head. "Where'd you find this one."

"Damn, you Brits have the best manners." Kat said throwing her hands in the air.

"Kat..." Harry said softly putting a hand on her shoulder. "Breathe." Kat took a deep breath. "Dean this is Kathryn Riddle, you saw her at breakfast this morning?"

"Oh right, this is the girl that you've been moaning about in your sleep since the beginning of term." he said slipping on his shirt.

"Moanin'?" Kat grinning cheekily up at Harry.

"Yeah, man he'd go on and on about how he had to rescue this girl, she so beautiful, he would go on for ages." he rolled his eyes as Harry just shook his head. "Now, if you don't bloody well mind I want to get some sleep, I have to work all weekend on a bloody Herbology project I've been skiving." he said sitting on his bed.

"Better not tell Hermione." Harry grinned over at him.

"You wouldn't." Dean's eyes were big with fear.

"I would." he said crossing his arms. "But I'll change my mind if your apologize to Kat."

"Why should I–." he stopped as he saw the dangerous look in Harry's eyes. "Yeah, sorry then Kat, didn't mean to be rude, just didn't fancy anyone popping in while I was changing."

"That's fine." Kat batted her hand at him.

"Right, I like your accent by the way." he nodded at her. "Is it real?"

"Naw, I'm just usin' it for attention, 'cause I'm so damn worried 'bout fittin' in 'round here." she sighed. "You can bet your skinny li'l ass it's real, direct from Texas."

"Wicked." Dead said smiling.

"Yeah, I like yours too, ya don't hear many black folks say 'bugger off' it's weird hearing a British accent comin' from ya."

"What the fuck?" Dead said getting to his feet.

"Americans." Harry said with a bit of nervous laughter as he ushered Kat from the room.

"Nice meetin' ya Dean." she hollered over Harry's shoulder. Kat giggled gravelly. As Kat saw Harry's furious face her laughter abruptly stopped. "What did I do this time?" Kat said throwing her hands in the air.

"I don't approve of racism." his green eyes flashing dangerously.

"I ain't racist, far from it actually. I was a leader at my school for equal rights, I started a group called HURL, Humans Understanding Race and Linguistics." Kat said putting her hands on her hips. "I was just comparing the good ol' U.S. of A to cheery ol' England." she shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't mean to offend anyone." she paused. "I never mean to offend anyone. I just do." she was quiet for a moment, Harry watched her intently.

"That's what the Dark Lord is all about. Just pure racism. Plain and simple. He thinks that some wizards are better than others because they have pure blood lines, which means that their whole family are witches and wizards, no muggles at all."

"What's wrong with muggles?" Kat said jutting out her chin.

"Nothing. And sorry to break it to you, but you hardly have any muggle in you at all."

"And why's that?"

"Well, your father is pure blood. And well, Voldemort is a bit like Hitler." Harry said putting into a tense that Kat would relate to better. " and I seriously doubt that he would have sex with a muggle."

"Hell why not? Hitler raped Jewish woman all the damn time." her eyes avoided his as she uttered the word 'rape'.

"Well, hmm, yes but I'm sure he murdered them straight afterwards." he paused and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Yes, well I reckon there is a slight, very slight chance, mind you, that your mum was muggle born, and your grandmother too." he paused again in deep thought as they sat down in a cozy arm chair. "Yeah, she kept her pregnancy a secret and then when she had the baby she went into hiding."

"Shit, how can ya hide the fact that you're pregnant?" she said hoarsely draping her arm around his neck.

"There's a special charm you can do to make it look normal." his eyes scanned the room. "See that girl right there... the one with the brown curls?" he said pointing to a sixth year.

"Uh huh." she smiled expectantly.

"She's seven months." Kat's jaw dropped.

"Look at her, good Lord." she looked angrily at the girl who was flirting shamelessly with a pack of sixth year boys. Her blouse was open precariously low, and her skirt was so short that it looked like underwear. "It ain't the charm that pisses me off, it looks like she'll have another bun in the oven before she even had the first one." she shook her head indignantly and started to get up to tell her so, but Harry grabbed her and pulled her over the arm of the chair so that she was now laying across his lap.

"Breathe darling." he smiled calmly, (Occlumency did wonders for his temper) his arms still tightly wrapped around her body. "Though, you look dead cute when you're angry." he said smiling leaning down so there noses were an inch apart.

"I – ain't – cute." she breathed hard; as she was being compressed against him.

"Oh, but you are..." he whispered, slowly nuzzling her nose, Kat's eyes glazed over, her barrier once more shattering by his will. She gave into his kisses, and giggled raspily against his mouth as she pulled away. The common room had suddenly grown as silent as a cemetery, everyone had dropped what (s)he was doing and was now staring at the famous Harry Potter snogging unblushingly with their arch-enemy's granddaughter. Harry cracked his eyes open, not wanting to see what was happening in the silence, which at this time of day, was usually a ruckus. He felt Kat tense up against him, as if preparing to fire her perpetual ammunition of chastisements.

"Honestly Harry,"

"What does he think he's playing at?"

"Who's that girl?"

"What a slag."

"Minger."

"How nauseating."

"What will Hermione say?"

Kat was now shaking in silent fury and if was all that Harry could do but just hold on to her and ignore the open ruthless comments shooting at them from all directions. The roomed seemed to be buzzing with negativity, the usually cheerful Gryffindors were being undeniably benign.

"What's all this?" Hermione asked in her authoritative voice, bustling into the common room from her appointed Head Girl dormitory at the top of the stairs. Harry took this opportunity to flip Kat over off of her back, when everyone's eyes were on Hermione. Kat was still furiously staring at Hermione, she, however, was obvious to Kat's malice, was gazing around the room, trying to determine what the uproar was about. She finally caught Harry's eye, he was looking guilty about something, she could only guess what, sure enough she didn't look very far, Kat was looking murderous , still tangled in Harry's arms, her skirt hiked up, her hair mussy. Hermione could only guess what there doing to get the common room into pandemonium. "Harry, a word please." Hermione said turning on her heal and striding back to the privacy of her dormitory.

"Right." he said sadly. "I'll be right back." Harry sighed, and kissed Kat quickly on the cheek. He walked slowly, dreading at the thought of what he was about to hear. Kat watched him, but once he was out of site she rounded on the nearest girl.

"Which one of you bitches called me a slag?" she narrowed her eyes, looking very dangerous. "I may not be from 'round here, but it don't take long to pick up on the lingo." she sneered around the room, everyone had taken a step back, their eyes nearly popping from their skulls. At that moment Ginny, Seamus, Neville, and Ron crawled through the portrait hole from the great hall. Ginny nearly screamed at the ferocious look on Kat's face, but quickly found that she wasn't the only one frightened.

"Kat?" Ginny managed to clearly say.

"Yeah?" she tip-toed to see who it was. "Oh hey there." she smiled at Ginny who was making her way through the crowd. What a difference a smile made to her face, instead of intimidating she now seemed approachable.

"What happened?" Ginny said looking around at the silent shocked faces of her fellow classmates.

"Well, Harry kissed me. And then everybody started freakin' out." Ginny smiled. "Then the name calling started." Kat gazed around menacingly. One of the girls that had called her 'slag' stifled a cry of fear as Kat's penetrating blue eyes connected with hers. Kat sneered at her, really laughing inside, she loved making other people uncomfortable, making them feel foolish of themselves. The girl looked away, cold sweet beading at her forehead. She looks like a scared rabbit, Kat nearly smiled at the thought.

"Well, where's Harry then?" Ginny asked smiling at Kat who seemed to be enjoying the whole ordeal.

"Bushy Britches." Kat said as if it scared her to say it.

X

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked passing past him. "How could you do this?" she asked running her fingers through her bushy hair. "Just how could you do this?" she stopped pacing and looked directly at him. "What do you think you're doing?" she put her hands on her hips, bracing herself for an answer.

"I dunno Hermione, what do you think I'm doing?" he said exasperated sitting down on the floor. "Stop acting like my mum. You'd terrify me if you were my mum." he cracked a smile at her, but his usual charm failed to work on his best friend. She physically bristled and started pacing again, Harry just rested his head back against the wall.

"I really don't know how to react to this Harry." she said after a few moments. She sounded like the old friendly Hermione, the Hermione before Kat barreled into their lives.

"React to what 'Mione?" Harry asked getting knowing full well the answer.

"Her." her eyes softened. "Why did you have to fall for her?"

"I didn't have to, it just happened." Harry mussed his hair up with his massive hand, Hermione loved when he did that. "I went to America expecting to save the poor girl from Voldemort's torture, I expected to give her to the Order and my job to be done." he shook his head and a smile slowly spread across his face remembering Kat throwing herself on him in the bathroom, "But I got so much more.." Harry trailed off, his eyes glazing over, no longer connecting with Hermione's, a slight smile still plastered upon his handsome face, her raspy purr of a laugh reverberating through his head.

"Right then." Hermione managed to choke out, she was on the verge of tears. "Harry, I want you to know as a friend, not only a friend, your best friend, I– I." tears were streaming down her face now, she couldn't bring herself to continue.

"What Hermione?" he reached out and grabbed her hand. "You and Ron are my best friends, we all care about each other. But Kat's different... she's..." he stopped, attempting to find a word to describe her. "She's..."

"Beguiling?" Hermione offered, Harry scowled. "Harry listen to yourself, you've known her a total of twenty-four hours, and all of a sudden you're in love? C'mon let's be logical here, you've met just yesterday, there's been no time for you to get to know each other well enough for love." she tried to gain control of herself. "It's an infatuation Harry." he dropped her hand.

"Well, no... but there's something about her, I can't describe it." he started to turn to go.

"So that it then? Head over heels?" she sounded angry and defeated at the same time, he stopped and turned to her.

"'Mione..." he sighed. "Come now, you really are being like a mum." he smiled half heartedly at her. "Trying to hold me back?"

"Yes."she held her chin up indignantly.

"Yes?" he walked over to her once more.

"Yes." she looked stern.

"Care to explain?" he asked pulling his hands up in frustration.

"No." she said simply.

"Hermione you have to idea how I felt when I saw her for the first time, it seemed like it wasn't really the first time. It was like I've known her... known her as long as I've known you." he ran his hand through his hair again. "I don't think I should have to explain myself to you Hermione, don't you trust me to make my own decisions?" his hand still on his head, gripping his hair.

"Of course Harry, but honestly." Hermione tried again but Harry put up his hand.

"Good night Hermione." he turned and bounded down the stairs. He saw Kat talking animatedly to Ginny and company, the rest of the common room had gotten back to normal.

"So then, I dislocated my knee when my foot got caught in the stirrup and the horse got spooked and kept on a runnin' draggin' me on the ground. My foot finally came a-loose when I twisted my leg kinda funny and it just kinda ... popped."

"Gross..."

"Cor."

"Wicked!"

"I've broken my leg." started Ron.

"Must we listen to this yet again?" Ginny rolled her eyes at her older brother.

"Yeah don't put her through that sort of torture." Harry said walking up behind Kat. They all giggled, and Ron's ear's tinged pink, which Kat saw and continued to laugh raspily.

"Speaking of torture," Ginny said as the laughter died down, "how many bones have you broken?" she looked up at Kat.

"Well, I reckon the better question to ask is what bones haven't I broken?" she smiled at Harry who sat of the arm of her chair. "But yeah, speakin' of torture, how was Bushy Britches? Give ya a hard time?"

"Just a little." Harry grinned at her, but Kat's smile morphed into a yawn. "Right," he said still grinning, "time for bed then." Ginny, Ron, Seamus, and Neville all groaned.

"Er, I'm gonna stay up a wee bit later." Seamus said slyly, looking at Ginny from the corner of his eye.

"Me too." she said catching on.

"Right." Ron said getting to his feet, once again supplying Seamus with the look of death, then he and Neville left up the boys staircases.

"Goodnight." his lips overtook hers. "See you in the morning."

"'Night." she grinned against his lips.

X

The ceiling of the Great Hall was an omen for what the day was to bring to Harry. But he wasn't looking at the blackened clouds peppered frequently with lightning bolts, he was more interested in Kat's story about Madame Foncé. He was enraptured by the way the French rolled off her tongue so easily. They made their way slowly to the Gryffindor table. Naturally, the whole school knew already of Kat's outburst to Umbridge and her and Harry's lip lock up in Gryffindor tower. They no longer shrank back in fear, but on the contrary now gawked at her in either awe or jealousy. The two sat across from Hermione and Ron whom were sitting rather close together. Good mornings were shared, even if Hermione's was a mere terse nod.

"This came for you." Ron said handing Harry the Prophet and an important looking letter.

"Thanks." he set the Prophet aside and began to open the scroll with the Ministry emblem on it.

"May I?" Kat questioned gesturing to the paper. Harry nodded and Kat proceed opening the Prophet. "Jesus! Does everything move in this place?" Kat said remembering the portraits and the staircases, and now on the front page of the newspaper was the gruesome Dark Mark hovering eerily over a house, below muggles and wizards alike were milling around in panic.

"Bloody Hell." Harry said crumpling the paper with one hand.

"What is it Harry?" Hermione and Kat said, both leaning closer to him. They eyed each other wearily, but ultimately were more concerned with Harry than throwing angry looks at each other.

"Here." he handed it to Hermione.

Harry James Potter,

It is requested of you to meet with the Minister of Magic, Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour. Kindly report to the Hogwarts Headmistress' office at 7:00 PM, November 1, 1997.

R. Scrimgeour

"I'm guessing those two go hang and hang then?" Ron said motioning to the letter and the hectic scene on the paper.

"I would think so, yes." Harry said skimming over the Prophet in front of Kat.

"Kat's confused!" she said sadly.

"You might have to get used to that feeling for a bit." he said smiling down at her.

"That's the worst thing you could ever say to me." she said covering her heart with her hand. "That's one of my biggest fears. I hate not knowin' things. It's been drivin' me crazy now knowin' what's been goin' on. I'm just itchin' to get my hands on a book that could clear all this up." Harry's eyes shifted from Kat and landed on Hermione.

"Um." Ron said staring open mouthed.

"Here!" Hermione huffed as she dove under the table to her bad. She surfaced with Hogwarts, A History and slammed it down in front of her. "That should clear things up a bit." and stalked out of the Hall lugging her bag with her.

"What in Merlin's name does she have her bag? It's a bleeding weekend!" Ron stammered and reluctantly parted with his breakfast. "S'pose I'll follow her, she better be less miffed by the time we head down to Hogsmeade."

"Go on then." Harry said slowly, thinking that perhaps he should follow her, but the warmth from Kat's body against his pushed the thought from his mind.