That night, in the tower, Kat lay sobbing quietly in Draco's arms, having told him her story. When the tears stopped, she looked at Draco, and saw his jaw clench as he said, "I swear to you Kat, I will find some way to avenge these deaths." He pulled her closer, letting her head rest on his chest, and murmured, "And I won't let anything happen to you."

They sat in each others' arms, quietly watching the stars as the moonlight cast a warm glow through the tower. Finally, Kat stirred and said softly, "I wish that this didn't have to be a secret." Draco frowned and said, "I wish the same thing, but if what you said about my father is true, then I don't want him to know that you're still alive."

Kat gave him an incredulous look. "If what I said is true?! So, what, do you think I'm a liar or something?!" "No, don't be ridiculous!" Draco said angrily. He sighed and said softly, " It's just, as horrible as my father has been, he's still my father. I don't want to believe it's true. I don't want to believe he's a murderer."

Kat's eyes softened as she realized the predicament that Draco was facing. "I know, Draco, I know," she said. "But didn't you tell me he killed your cousin?" A single tear fell from his ice blue eyes, glimmering like a diamond in the moonlight. Kat reached up and brushed it away as he said, "I-I guess…Oh, Kat, I just don't know what to think anymore," he said angrily, trying to hold back the tears.

Kat sighed. "Draco, it's okay to cry. Just let it all out." She wrapped her arms tighter around him as he cried on her shoulder. When the tears abated, she gave him one last hug and whispered, "Good night, Draco." Then she ran back to her dorm.

Kat changed quickly, tossing her robes on the floor as usual, and then climbed into bed. She didn't notice the scrap of parchment that fell out of her robe pocket, nor did she realize that she was not the only one in the room still awake.

***********************

The next morning when Kat woke up, she noticed two things: first, the robes that she had tossed on the floor the previous night were folded neatly and placed on the end of her bed. The second was staring her in the face—quite literally, in fact. "Dobby!" she yelled in shock. The little house elf tumbled backwards in surprise, yelling, "Oh, oh, Miss, you is in trouble! Hermione is angry she is! She knows! She knows!"

"Shut up!" Kat hissed at the house elf. "She knows about what?" Dobby's eyes grew wide and he began hitting his head against the bedpost, squealing, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" Kat grabbed the odd little creature around his waist and dragged him away from the bedpost, saying, "Dobby, it's okay! Tell me!" Dobby looked at her with wide eyes, and whispered, "She knows about the Malfoy boy!"

Kat stared at Dobby for a long while, then pounced on the neatly folded robes, digging frantically through the pockets. A paper clip…a broken quill…some Spellotape… crumbs…lint… The note. Where was the note? She looked at Dobby and hissed, "Dobby, where is the note?" He looked at her and shrugged. "Dobby is not knowing about no notes, Miss." he said.

Kat was in the midst of looking under her bed when someone coughed and said, "Ahem. Looking for this?"

"Uh-oh," Dobby squeaked, and then Disapparated with a loud crack. Kat looked up to see Hermione glaring at her with the note in her hand. She made a grab for it but she pulled it out of reach, saying, "Kat, how could you?! I thought you knew better. You know that Gryffindors and Slytherins don't mix! They're not meant to!"

Kat snatched the note from her, saying flippantly, "Yeah, well there's a first time for everything, mate." Hermione sighed. "There's no way to convince you is there." "Nope," Kat said cheerfully, as she dressed for the day. "So who all knows?"

"Just Harry and me." Hermione said. "You've got to do something!" she continued. Kat smiled, "All right, all right, I'll take care of it." she said. Hermione shook her head, and followed her out the door. "Then why don't I feel any better about this?" she muttered.

********************

Draco was waiting for Kat at the doors to Great Hall, as usual. She turned to Hermione and said, "You go on in and save us a couple of seats, 'k? I need to talk to Draco for a second." Hermione rolled her eyes, but complied. "Yeah?" said Draco. "What's up?" Kat sighed and said, "Look, Draco, I think it's time that we went public with this. You know, let everyone know that we're together." "Why?" Draco sputtered. "I thought we agreed that it was best to keep it a secret." She sighed again and said, "I know, but we're going to have to tell them sooner or later. I think it's best to just get it over with now."

He looked at her worriedly. "How exactly do we do this?" he asked. Kat smiled and took his hand. "Come on. It's easy. Just relax. And whatever you do, no matter what they say, don't let it get to you." He smiled nervously, and said, "Right. Let's do it." And together, they walked hand in hand into the Great Hall for breakfast.

********************

Kat knew that there would be a few comments, but she wasn't prepared for the hubbub that awaited her when she walked in to breakfast. As she and Draco strolled through the doors hand in hand, an uproar broke out. As they passed the Slytherin table, Pansy Parkinson hissed, "Draco, you could do so much better than that slut!" She was not the only heckler in the crowd, though. Several comments and insults flew through the air and as they reached the Gryffindor table, Hermione and Harry sat still and said nothing, though Kat could have sworn she saw Harry trying to hide a smile. Ron, however, had obviously not been told. His eyes widened and he said, "Bloody hell! Kat, are you mad?!" Kat gave Draco's hand a squeeze, smiled and said, "No, not mad. Just in love." They sat down and began to eat while Hermione and Harry filled Ron in on the details. Kat smiled to herself, and as she glanced up at the Head Table, she could have sworn that Dumbledore was winking at her.