Kathryn Winchester and the Goblet of Fire

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Nine: Life in the Castle

The first week flew by as though she had just blinked and for the first time in her life, Kat found herself enjoying being away at boarding school instead of staying at home. Although there were a few teachers that seemed to have a grudge against the world at large (all right, mostly Snape), she was settling into life at Hogwarts with surprising ease. She was also starting to make friends, which for her was highly unusual.

Jo made a surprising fast friend, always with a grin and a laugh in place, dragging her off to class without a care in the world, joking and smiling. Kat couldn't help but smile as the two of them became friends. Although she had a few friends at Lerion, there was no one who would pull her out of a crowd and insist that she hang out with them, which was probably why she felt so awkward around the other students at first.

The Hufflepuff fourth-years were nice and pleasant as they helped Kat adjust to life in the castle and even formulated a study group for all of them, not only for her to get caught up in the schoolwork, but also to start preparing for O.W.L.'s the following year, something that Kat was not particularly looking forward to.

Cedric, too, always had a smile for her, always inviting her to come study with him if she needed some help or hang out with him if she just needed to talk. While she enjoyed Jo's company, Cedric was someone that she could talk to about stuff she couldn't talk with anybody else about. And some of the things that he talked to her about, she knew that he didn't want anybody else to know. They had a strong trust between them, able to trust each other and talk to one another about stuff they couldn't tell anybody else. Kat didn't know what it was, but she trusted him in a way she had never trusted anyone else.

But even to Cedric, Kat couldn't talk about the one thing that had been bothering her since she arrived here.

Professor Moody.

Practically the moment that she stepped into his classroom, she had noticed that there was something off about him. Granted, Kat had never met the man before, but she had heard enough about him from her father's stories that she pretty much knew him. She knew that he had been getting paranoid in his old age, but there was something that just seemed a little . . . well, odd about him.

Especially the way that his eyes had flashed towards her the moment that he read off her name, training on her with a flash of recognition in his normal eye. The other one just rolled around, as per usual.

But there was something besides recognition, something that Kat couldn't recognise, but it almost looked like . . . anxiety, worry, even alarm. Of course, it had only been for a brief second that she had seen it, so she half-thought that she had just imagined it.

The worst part about not being in the same house as Faith was not being able to see her sister as much, Kat thought. However, Faith was determined to see her as much as possible and resorted to hanging out with her Hufflepuff friends when she was able.

Of course, there was sometimes when the sisters were just hanging out by themselves before heading off to dinner. Faith was chattering endlessly on end as they were heading towards the entrance hall when they heard some kind of commotion going on and went to investigate, finding Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the middle of some kind of disagreement with Draco Malfoy.

"And there's a picture, Weasley! A picture of your parents outside their house—if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry retorted as Faith looked at Malfoy in deep annoyance. "Come on, Ron—"

"Oh, yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry retaliated. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung over her nose? Has she always looked like that or was it just because you were with her?"

Faith giggled and Kat shook her head, a hint of amusement flooding through her as she saw Malfoy's expression. "He's good," she muttered to her sister.

"I know," Faith agreed. "I wish that we had popcorn."

Kat gave her sister a look as she saw Malfoy pull his wand out of his pocket, aiming it at Harry.

She wasn't sure what happened, but the next thing that she knew, her wand was in her hand and a spell was escaping from her mouth. "Expelliarmus!" she yelled.

His wand flew out of his hand, landing a few feet away and she glared at him in annoyance. Malfoy spun, glancing around to see who it was who had disarmed him, a scowl plastered onto his face when his eyes landed on Kat, her wand still in her hand.

"Stay out of this, half-breed," he snapped.

"Sure, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Kat agreed, giving him a sharp look. "Faith, go get Professor McGonagall, would you? I'm sure she'd love to hear what's going on." Malfoy's pale face went even paler at the thought of the Transfiguration teacher coming onto the scene. "Or even better, Professor Moody. He might have a more painful punishment in store for you."

"What? Too scared to take me on by yourself, coward?" he taunted her. Kat frowned at him.

"I don't have to prove anything to you, Malfoy," she said delicately. "You're just a bully, someone who preys on the weak just for the heck of it. And there's a word for people like you, Draco. Loser," she added, causing a few people to giggle. Ron laughed at Malfoy's expression. "And the thing is, I feel sorry for you, because that's who you'll always be."

Malfoy's sneer deepened. "You don't know me."

"Oh, but I do," she assured him. "Just an arrogant, egotistical, harebrained tyrant who's so obsessed with his own pride that he can't see people for who they are. And that's how it's always going to be, isn't it? Maybe it's because you're so insecure that you just take it out on everybody else so you can feel superior. Or maybe you just didn't get enough love and attention as a child. But in any case, when you grow up a little bit, you're going to see just how delusional and pitiful you really are. And you want to know what?"

She took a step towards Malfoy, giving him a sweet smile. "I really hope I'm there when you finally realise that," she told him. Malfoy's expression was laughable as she turned on her heel and headed back to Faith, leaving Malfoy standing there, completely thrown and stunned, as they went into the Great Hall for dinner.

--

Kat was sitting in the common room, pouring over her Transfiguration homework when a shadow passed over her and she glanced up to see Cedric standing right above her, a smile on his face as he looked at her.

"Hey," she said, smiling back at him.

"Hey, yourself," he said as he took a seat opposite of her. "Heard about your little discussion with Malfoy."

"Where'd you hear that?"

"People have been talking about it all afternoon," he informed her. Kat's eyes widened and she groaned, leaning her head back in distress. "Apparently, Elaine picked it up in the girls' bathroom."

If it were possible, Kat's spirits dropped even further. "Well, if it's in the girls' bathroom, then it's all over the castle," she grumbled.

"Well, if you don't want people to talk, then I'd suggest not getting into it with Draco Malfoy," he advised her. "Did you really call him an insecure, egotistical loser?"

Kat winced slightly, ducking her head to hide her face flushing. "It . . . might have been something along those lines," she admitted. Cedric started laughing. "Hey, anybody can curse that jerk, but telling him exactly why he's a jerk takes talent."

"Didn't say that it didn't, I just wish that I could have been there," he returned, still grinning. Kat reluctantly smiled as she looked back down at her homework. "So, how are you settling into the castle? Everything okay?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah, it's great," Kat answered, looking back up at him. "Everybody's been really great. Apart from getting lost a few times on my way to class, everything's good."

"Good," Cedric said with a grin. "And don't worry about getting lost; it takes everybody awhile to get used to the staircases moving at any given moment." He paused, looking over her shoulder. "Transfiguration, huh?"

"Yeah, McGonagall's a lot tougher than Professor O'Donnell was at my last school," Kat said swiftly, shaking her head.

"She's still better than Snape."

"Well, McGonagall's tough, Snape's just downright scary," Kat muttered, wincing at the very thought of the Potions Master. Her first encounter with him had been enough for her to just duck her head and focus on her potion until the end of lesson.

Cedric laughed and her heart skipped a beat at the sound. She loved his laugh, the way that his eyes lit up whenever he did it. Somehow, it made his entire face light up.

Pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, Kat looked at him. "So, are you still thinking about entering the tournament?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I am," he answered. "It's something that I want to do."

Kat heaved a sigh. "Well, if you do happen to get chosen, try not to get yourself killed," she told him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"Don't mention it."

He shook his head, watching her carefully with an expression that she had never seen before, not when boys were looking at her. Never once had any boy looked at her with that fascination, that allure . . . and it kind of intimidated her.

Clearing her throat and managing—just barely—to pull her gaze away from him, Kat looked down at her hands. "Well, good luck," she told him. "I'm kind of torn on whether or not I want you to get picked, though."

"Why?" Cedric sounded surprised.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Well, because the Tournament's super dangerous and I know that it's not supposed to be lethal anymore, but somebody could still get hurt and . . ." She trailed off, well aware that Cedric was still watching her and she shifted nervously, wishing that he would look at something other than her. "And I don't want you to get hurt," she finally confessed, turning red.

His hand suddenly lifted her chin towards him and Kat looked up to see him smiling at her. "I won't get hurt," he told her reassuringly. "Besides, there's about a million to one chance that I'll actually get picked."

"Yeah, and you might actually be the one," she pointed out. Cedric smiled, but just shook his head.

"I doubt it."

"Well, I'm a worrier, so I'm just gonna worry," she told him. "And possibly get this essay done from McGonagall before midnight."

"Let me see," Cedric instructed. She looked at him, but waved at him to take a look at it. He took the parchment and started looking over it, his blue-grey eyes moving further down as he continued to read, keeping his face impassive until he was finished and then he looked back up at her, a small smile on his face.

"All right," he said at last. "I think I can see why you're having trouble figuring out the human transforming."

"What's that?"

"Well, you're focusing too hard on the theory of it," he explained, moving to sit right next to her. "You need to look more at the basic principles of it. Here, try reading this chapter here," he suggested, flipping through her book and opening it up to a particular chapter. "Read that one and then try it."

Kat frowned. "All right. Thanks," she said gratefully. "I guess you can kind of figure out Transfiguration's not my best subject."

He shrugged. "Don't worry. I had the same problem. Besides there's a least one subject that people have trouble with," he said. "Snape wouldn't even let me into the N.E.W.T. level class because I got a lower grade than he would accept."

"You ever consider that the problem might not be Potions?" Kat suggested. "Maybe it's just the teacher."

Cedric chuckled. "Maybe. Come find me when you're done, I'll take another look at the essay."

"All right. Cedric?" she added as he stood up. "Thank you."

"No problem," he assured her as he went to head back to his own studying. Kat watched him go, her heart beating surprisingly fast as she returned her gaze to the book, but her heart was still racing, knowing that he was still watching her.