I prepared dinner for them, but didn't stick around to eat with them. I took my bowl and went up to my room. I knew that I was a bit unstable and if I had to eat with them I wouldn't be very nice to them.
I turned on the radio I had found in a spare room and just relaxed. I wrote about four pages in my journal, just pouring every ugly emotion onto those pages. It was very cleansing, and I found I felt much better when I set the journal down, and closed my eyes.
My state of relaxation only last a few moments, as it was interrupted by a loud BANG.
It was so loud I sat straight up out of bed. I reached for my wand, and slowly moved out of the room and into the hallway. My heart thumped away furiously in my chest. I didn't know if there was an attack going on down the stairs. Maybe this was it. We wouldn't even last long enough to get out of London. Maybe we should have let Remus come with us to protect us.
I crept down the stairs, avoiding the creaky ones and staying on my toes. When I got down a few flights and hadn't heard any more loud noises, I figured it was more likely we were safe. I still kept my wand out, though.
Out of the kitchen came a house elf, and he sneered at the wand in my hand. He was muttering under his breath. I noticed he wore the locket Harry had shown me the other day around his neck.
"Everything all right?" I asked, walking into the kitchen.
It seemed that everything was okay. There were a few pots and pans scattered around the floor, so I had to step over them, however everyone was in one piece.
"We know where the locket is," Harry said.
I took a seat next to Hermione, and propped my head up on my hand. I forgot about the ill feelings I had harbored for the trio earlier and was now just concerned with that was more important: the locket. "And...?" I asked.
"Umbridge has it," Hermione said. "It was in this house, but the house got gone through by a member of the Order and he sold it to her."
"Okay," I said, trying to piece together information. "So how are we going to get it?"
"We're working on it," Ron said.
"Okay, so fill me in," I said. If I was here, I was going to participate. "Maybe I have something to add."
"Well, it's at the Ministry," Harry said, taking a seat. "So we need to figure out how we can get in there."
"I have some Polyjuice Potion in my stores, if that's what you're thinking," I said. "I've got more than enough for a quick run to get it."
"Yeah, that would probably be the wisest route," he said. "However, we can't just go in there without a plan, we can't waste Polyjuice Potion or risk getting caught. We're going to have to observe the Ministry for awhile before we make a move."
"How should we do that?" Hermione asked. "There are five Death Eaters circling the block!"
"I've got the invibility cloak..." Harry said. "I think we should observe outside the Ministry for awhile then go in."
I was frustrated that there wasn't a clear time line, but Harry was in charge. He didn't want to drag this out any more than I did. "Sounds good," I said. I didn't stick around very long after that, and returned to my room to get ready for bed. I was sleepy, and the worry from earlier had wiped me out.
I was woken up the next morning by Harry. "Kat, Kat, wake up!" he whispered to me.
"What's wrong?" I asked, instantly alerted.
"Do you want to come to the Ministry with me?" he asked. "I thought you might want to get out of the house for awhile."
"Yeah, that would be great," I said. "Just give me a few minutes to get ready."
"Sure," he said.
After he left, I got out of bed and tried to look for something to wear. I threw on jeans and a T-shirt and knew I had left shoes downstairs. The clock that sat on top of the wardrobe told me it was a little after seven in the morning. Earlier than I had been awake in a week, but the morning was peaceful.
Harry waited for me in the kitchen. It didn't seem anyone else was awake, and I think I liked it that way. "Good morning," he said.
"You scared me, waking me up like that," I told him. "I thought we were being attacked."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I just didn't want to wake the others. Ready to go?"
He held out the cloak that I knew would make us disappear. I stepped under it, and we stepped outside onto the top step. He grabbed my arm and we aparated. When I opened my eyes again, we were in an alley in central London, much closer to the Ministry. He took off the cloak, and put a hat on his head. "We have a little time, yeah?"
"You're asking me?"
"Well, your father works at the ministry, doesn't he?"
"Oh," I said. "Yeah. We're a bit early. My father normally left the house at eight."
Since it was central London, there was a huge hustle as all the workers made their morning commutes. I stayed close to him, since I didn't want to get separated in the crowd. I followed him right into a small coffee shop. Vera's shop wasn't too far from here, and I was really curious as to if it was still in business.
I got a croissant and some orange juice, and we found a corner to sit in and wait. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to look at people who weren't Ron, Harry, or Hermione. The fact that Harry wasn't very talkative didn't bother me, since there was plenty to watch.
After a few minutes, he started talking. "I'm sorry about the other day," he said. "I was out of line."
I knew he was talking about kissing me. I had suppressed it, not wanting to dwell on it. "Yeah, you were," I said. "However, I know you're stressed out... and you weren't thinking straight. I just think we've got enough shit complicating our lives right now."
"You're right," he said. "You're really right, Kat."
"See, you brought me along for a reason," I told him.
"I guess so," he said, however when I looked up at him I could see he was teasing. It brought a smile to my face. "I know is hasn't been easy."
"No, it hasn't," I said. "You three have been friends since what? First year? And I've known you for less than a year and was a bit thrust in to it. So I'm struggling here. I miss my family and I miss Adam... I know it isn't exactly easy for any of us but... it sucks."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll try and make it better for you."
"I just want us to do the best we can, get it over with, and move on with our lives... but for now, I think we can probably go watch the Ministry," I told him, stuffing the last bit of croissant in my mouth. Eating fresh, warm, delicious bread was lovely.
"Okay," he said. We found an alley to put on the cloak and staked out near the Ministry. It was a little scary, and the whole time, I was on high alert. I so wanted to see my father, to know he was safe and in one piece.
"I hope I see my father," I said, quietly to him.
"You can't talk to him," Harry said.
"I just want to see him," I said. "That's really all I want. Just to know he's okay."
"Okay," he sighed. We watched the people for about an hour. The stream of workers slowly dwindled down. I wasn't sure what exactly we were looking for, but Harry seemed pleased with our work. "Let's call it a day."
We hadn't seen my father, so I was a little upset. I hoped that wherever he was, he was okay. "Can I ask a favor?"
"What?" he asked.
"Can we go see if the coffee shop is boarded up?" I asked. "It's my stepmother's place and I'm just curious. I don't want to go in or anything, I just want to know."
He nodded. "Show me the way," he said.
I let us down a few alleys, knowing the shortcuts that would take us to the shop. As soon as it came into view, I could see plywood boards covering the windows and doors. I gasped, it was a hard sight to see.
"Wow," I said.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly.
"I just want to see one thing," I said, ducking down the alley. I wondered if the spare key was still under the mat in the alley. It was, and I used it to open the door.
"Kat," Harry said. "I thought you didn't want to go in!"
"Well, no one's here. I bet there's food in here... and I know where there's money stashed."
"Oh, okay," he said.
It was dark inside, and smelled bad. The fruit was probably rotting, but I was on a mission. I took out my wand and lit up the kitchen. I knew that in one of the cabinets I would find an old glass jar that had loads of Muggle money. "Got it," I said. I handed him the jar.
"How much money is in here?" he asked.
"Not sure. We used it to stock the till when we ran low," I explained. In the same cabinet, I found a few boxes of cookies and biscotti. Not exactly the most nutritious food, however, any food was good food. "All right, let's get out of here."
I took one last look around, saddened by how far the cafe had deteriorated. I missed my family and being here reminded me of that. "You sure?" he asked.
"Yeah, c'mon," I said. We stepped under the cloak and apparated home.
~.~
It became a bit of a ritual. He woke me up every morning that week so that we could stake out at the Ministry together. I wasn't so sure what we were looking for after a few days, but he seemed pleased and it got me out of the house. Plus I felt like I was possibly doing something productive.
After a week of observing, he declared we were ready to take on the Ministry. "Tomorrow morning," he said at dinner.
"Harry, doesn't that seem awful quick?" Hermione reasoned.
"How much more can we learn?" he asked. "Tomorrow. We have to leave the house at seven o'clock in the morning."
She huffed. I could tell she didn't agree with his plan. Ron just shrugged, and I guessed I agreed with him. I trusted Harry to lead us the way he thought best.
"I'm not discussing it anymore," he said. "Tomorrow."
We all ate in a sort of silence. Dinner wasn't very good however I hadn't spent much money on it. I had gotten minced beef and made hamburgers, but we didn't have any cheese to put on them and our bread was stale. I think we all knew this would be our last meal here. I had the sinking feeling that when we walked out the door tomorrow morning, we wouldn't be coming back.
Harry stood up and left the room. I looked to Hermione. "Where is he going?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I give up," she said.
I chewed on my lip and tried to finish the rest of my dinner. Who knew where we would be headed tomorrow night? We needed a good meal.
A few minutes later, Harry came back in. He looked ghastly, pale and sickly. The brief thought that I may have given him food posioning crossed my mind and I felt terrible. "Are you okay?" I stood up, and walked toward him.
He nodded. "Voldemort is looking for Gregorovitch," he said.
"You let him in to your head?" Hermione asked, anger rising in her voice. Hermione had mostly kept her cool so far, and it surprised me to see her so upset.
"I couldn't exactly help it, Hermione," Harry said, leaning against the counter.
I turned to Ron, since he wasn't rowing and he was close to me. "What are they talking about...?" I asked.
"Sometimes," he began softly, "Harry can see what Voldemort is up to... Legilimency."
"Oh dear," I said. That wasn't good, at all. "What else did you see?"
"He's looking for Gregorovitch," Harry said. "He wants to know why my wand will defend me against him."
"You idiot!" Hermione said. "You're going to get us killed because of that!"
I just sighed, and didn't want to get involved. I summoned all of the dishes to the sink to wash, and blocked out the argument before going upstairs.
Author's Note: Really, no good excuse for not having an update... just been busy! Will try to get updates out faster now... not having a beta makes it easy to slack off. Feel free to poke me and get me to update! Let me know what you think, please!