Katherine spent the next few weeks sulking, sleeping and pretending to pay attention to the classes that once were enchanting. Even Quidditch didn't have it's usual appeal!
Her eyes remained trained on her shoes as they clicked rhythmically against the cobblestone with every painstaking step. There had always been rumors of something dark rising, thickening the air, but now people sounded sterner, louder, more scared. Everything was becoming more real. Her mother didn't even want her going to Hogsmeade on weekends, and now the usually bustling town was cloudy and barren.
Several children sat in teashops, glancing at Kat through the rain stained windows as she passed, paper wrapped parcels clutched tightly underneath her arms.
The wooden sign for the Three Broomsticks swung back, the door held open and a sweet scent of butterscotch emitting from it. The Hogshead stood next to it, small and molding. None the less, Kat took off her hat as she stepped into the latter, knowing that Sirius and the others most likely occupied the Three Broomsticks and she wanted anything but to see them.
"One butterbeer," She murmured towards the ragged man standing behind the counter, pulling an extra seat up to the bar and placing her damp parcels on it.
"Make that two," A voice said behind her, and she turned to see Hannah standing there, smiling grimly. "Hey Kath, how are you?"
She sighed inwardly, not in the mood for pleasant conversation. "I'm fine, and you Hans?"
Hannah opened her mouth to respond but quickly turned towards the door as shouting erupted from the street. Flashes of green light shone through the clouded windows and Katherine felt a hand pull her behind the counter just as a blast of neon green hit the spot where she had been just moments before. Hannah crouched there, eyes wide, breathing heavily, as she mutter the only two words that could strike fear into the bravest man.
"Death eaters."
The Hogshead seemed to shake down to the cement as the bottles of different alcoholic beverages shattered, sending shards of glass flying to and fro.
Katherine looked down at her hands to find them perfectly still, not moving one inch as the room around her crumbled, appearing to scream in defiance against its attackers.
"Wake up, you lazy child!"
She sat bolt upright, wiping the sleep from her blurred eyes as they brought the woman standing in front of her into focus. Her mother stood there, a scowl on her face and wand in her hand as if she had been prepared to jinx Kath awake.
Christmas holidays had come oh so fast and she had once again found herself in the all too quiet Jameson manor, a crystal clean building hidden in muggle suburbs.
"I want you up by nine, that school has made you soft." Her mother shook her head in disappointment as she made her way to the door. "The Blacks are coming for dinner tonight."