Katherine-Mai Winchester walked up to the two thirteen year old boys and threw her arms around their shoulder, giving them both a hug form behind, "Happy new year" She told them both "Believe it or not, but I missed the pair of you" She added with a grin as she released them from her embrace and the pair turned around.

"You seem cheery" Harry commented.

"Of course, I had an amazing Christmas, and still no school for three days. What reason is there to be miserable" She grinned. Harry and Ron looked at their friend, shrugging and deciding to just go with it as Hermione also gave the pair of them a hug before making their way up to the Gryffindor common rooms. Katherine was getting used to the fact that somebody putting their hand on her shoulder from behind wasn't reason to turn around and punch them, she was glad she had learnt this since that's exactly what the Weasley twins did, "Happy new year guys, you cause any trouble yet?" She wondered.

"Not yet, we have something big planned" The twins nodded, Fred shooting her a wink as George ruffled her hair when the pair passed, running up the stairs to the boys dormitory.

After a relaxing weekend- or at least relaxing for those who had already done the homework set during the Christmas holidays- Monday came like and much like a dementor, ducked all the joy out of the morning as people realise they would be back into a routine of classes, homework and talks about the end of year exams, despite them being months away.

Katherine was no exception to this as she walked into the great hall for breakfast later than most, dressed in black trousers instead of the skirt the girls were suppose to wear with the white blouse hanging out instead of being tucked in as it should be. Her hair that she usually pulled up into a ponytail for school was hanging below he shoulder in messy waves, bringing Hermione to the conclusion she hadn't brushed it that morning.

She sat down next to Hermione, opposite Ron and Harry, putting her new dark red satchel back on the table with a loud thump, a scowl on her face. "Good morning to you too" Hermione spoke with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't talk to me" the girl grumbled, picking up a fork and stabbing it into a piece of toast on the platter in front of her rather than picking it up normally to transfer it to her plate.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked the girl in concern.

"Don't talk to me, I'm too tried" was the response.

"You look tired" Ron unhelpfully commented.

"I will stab the next person who speaks to me about anything that isn't food or returning to bed" Katherine glared darkly, taking a bite of her toast. Ron turned to Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know about you, but I find it really reassuring she's back to her scary self, I was getting really worried seeing her so cheerful," The ginger spoke. Harry grinned a little, eating some breakfast himself. After ten minutes it was time to get to class, all four of them having potions first. He and Hermione both found great amusement in the simultaneous, and almost exactly the same groan Ron and Katherine gave in hearing this.

"Come on Kathy" Harry spoke, taking the girls hand and pulling her up into standing position, "If we're late Snape will just be even more unbearable" He reminded the girl, holding up her bag for her to take.

"I know" She sighed, resting her head and Harry's shoulder, eyes closing "I just want to sleep for a few more minutes, this day is going to drag" She complained before realising what she was doing and stood up straight, face blushed red. "But no can do, oh look, there's Neville!" She called, walking ahead to join the fellow Gryffindor who was walking by himself, happy to report than he wasn't as nervous around her anymore.

Like Katherine predicted, the day did drag. Having double Potions first class didn't help, especially since Snape was in a particularly foul mood and decided that bullying Harry would making his day brighter, it was hard for Katherine not to snap herself, but the warning look from Hermione (who was like a disapproving mother when she wanted to be) was enough to make her stop.

As she climbed the stairs to get to the top of the tower, she and Dean Thomas getting into a heated debate over which sport was better, American or English football. There conversation was cut short however, when noticing the gathering crowd surrounding the entrance. "What's happening?" Dean wondered.

"Hey, Harry, what's going on?" Katherine called, noticing the boy was further ahead than him.

"Probably Neville forgot the password again" Ron was heard saying, with an annoyed 'hey' sounding out from Neville.

"Let me through, let me through, I am head boy" the arrogant tone of Percy Weasley called.

"Because we haven't been reminded of that enough" Katherine muttered, earning snickers from surrounding people.

"Its the fat lady, she's gone!" the voice of Ginny Weasley could be heard, with shocked expressions, everybody started to push forward, wanting to know exactly what she was talking about. She was talking about the giant slash going across the fat lady's portrait. Soon joining the crowd was several of the teachers and Dumbledore himself.

"Alert the ghosts, get them spread out, we must find the fat lady" Dumbledore said.

"No need professor, she's there" Filch the caretaker with severe attitude problems and hatred towards children, despite working in a school, pointed towards a safari painting in which the fat lady was hiding behind a hippo.

"My dear lady, who did this to you?" Dumbledore asked her.

"Eyes like the devil he's got, and a soul as dark as his name. It was him headmaster, the one they talk about, Sirius Black" She shriek, shooting fear through the students listening. Katherine looked up at the pure drained face of Harry. She reached over and took his hand, giving it a small squeeze. The thirteen year old boy looked at her and gave a small smile.

Soon all the students were rounded and brought into the great hall where the tables were pushed aside and purple sleeping bags laid out on the floor, as the other three houses joined Gryffindor, obviously confused, chatter filled the hall. "You okay Harry?" Katherine asked.

"I'm fine Kathy" Harry nodded.

"I'll be right back then" she smiled, standing up and jogging over to some hufflepuffs, coming back ten minutes later, "Word is spreading quick" Katherine told them "Hogwarts is awful at keeping secrets, you realise that?"

"You went over to tell people what's going on but they already knew, didn't you?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, disapproving look.

"Hey, I like to get involved with things, and Lola's been really unnerved with this whole Sirius Black thing" Katheirne-Mai defended.

"Who's Lola?" Ron wondered.

"Second year Hufflepuff, I helped her out last year with some homework, you know, when I went crazy trying to figure out what the basilisk was but ended up being petrified before I could tell anybody the answer and then the exact same thing happened to Hermione, therefore making me think there might be some justification to my brother Deans theory that nothing good can come out of being in a library," Katherine spoke rapidly. She blinked a little "You're all doing that thing you do when I say something that I think is fine but you deem inappropriate" She remarked dryly.

"I'm glad you didn't stay petrified Kathy, despite everything going on, life would be dull without you around" Harry grinned at his friend.

"No it wouldn't, everything would just be a lot more depressing" Ron remarked, earning a bright smile from Katherine,

"Aww, Ron, I didn't know you cared so much" She teased, watching his ears burn red.

~ 0 ~

All the gryffindors struggled with the new portrait protecting their painting, a barking mad knight by the name of Sir Cadogan, who frequently changed the passwords without telling anybody, dared the students to a duel and as Katherine was quick to point out, despite living in the castle and watching time evolve around him, still had the mind frame of somebody born centuries ago. Even the fat lady kept up with the new lingo and passing trends.

It was almost amusing to see the building rage in the thirteen year old girl every time she wanted to get into the common room.

Amusing and scary.

"That's it!" She snapped as she stormed down into the great hall, dropping a stack of books loudly onto the table, her eyes ablaze with anger "I'm going to kill him, I'm going to find a spell to take him out of his painting, I'm going to beat his pompous ass, and then I'm going to kill him. And if that doesn't work then au revoir to the lot of you, I'm joining a different house" She declared.

Professor McGonagall walked down to where Katherine was sitting, Professor Lupin behind her. "Miss Winchester, what is all the racket about" She asked the teenager.

"Sorry Professor" Hermione responded, "It's uh, Sir Cadogan is just being a little difficult" she spoke, trying to phrase it delicately.

"Difficult!" Katherine repeated loudly. "No Hermione, I'm difficult, he's a sexist, arrogant pig and if I have to hear one more remark about being a damsel in distress, or about how dames shouldn't carry their own bags, or one more frankly racist comment about being American, then I'm going to... Do something stupid!" Katherine finished.

"Miss Winchester. are you aware that Sir Cadogan is a painting?" Professor McGonagall asked her. Katherine Winchester raised and eyebrow.

"Professor, if he had been a real person, I would have thrown him over the staircase, and dragged him back up just to do it again. At least in the muggle world you don't have to worry about your pictures talking back." McGonagall pursed her lips.

"While I agree that Sir Cadogans methods are a lot to be desired, he's the only option available. However, I will see to it that his behaviour gets... tone down a little" The head of Gryffindor house spoke. She herself knew of the Winchester family, their reputation for killing the supernatural, although not common knowledge, was still known by a few. The woman had no doubt that Katherine-Mai could look after herself and her friends, and would battle by their side and give her life for them if it came to it, but something she had come to know of Katherine Winchester whilst teaching her at Hogwarts, was that she didn't have the best self-esteem, believing others to be more worthy of things than her, she have a lot of pride and on occasion, depending on the subject she can have a short temper, and although Katherine could keep many of her feeling bottle up, it was very clear the teenage girl had a boiling point where she would just explode, and comments on her not being able to defend herself were obviously something that ticked her off.

"Thank you Professor" Katherine smiled, sitting down and reaching out for some Grapes. "Say, what do you think our chances of wining the quidditch cup are this year? I think we have it in the bag to be honest" She asked the woman.

Lupin grinned a little to himself. He had been watching Katherine almost as closely as he had Harry, not just because she was close friends with the boy, but there was something about her, the way she seemed so strong, yet at thirteen had memories bad enough to cause her to pass out in the presence of a dementor. What he saw in her, was similar traits that Sirius Black had possessed as a teenager. Judging by the way the dementors effected her, her boggart and of course, the fact he over heard she went to her uncles at Christmas rather than her parents, he gathered she hadn't had an easy childhood. To some, a bad childhood could make you timid, or it could make you cruel, but to people like Katherine, Sirius and Harry himself, it made them kinder people, it made them want to help others and it made them fiercely protective of the people they care about.

He had seen her, Ron and Harry (because Hermione of course did not approve and would not participate) pass notes in class, the way he, James, peter and Sirius did. He had seen her give the Weasley twins tips on pranks. And he had seen she was smart, even if she didn't like to admit up to it. The similarities in their personality was there, and he wasn't sure if it made him hopeful, because how come somebody like that betray their best friend, or worried, wondering if history was doomed to repeat it's self.

With a shake of his head, Remus Lupin exited the great hall. He was over thinking things again. All the drama of Sirius Black getting into the classroom was going to his head. Perhaps it was just guilt, after all, he knows about Black being and Animagus, he knew about all the secret tunnels Black could be using. He should speak up, he really should. But then he would think about a stag, a rat and a black dog who were friends with a werewolf, and he just couldn't.

SO SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT AND I DON;T THINK THIS CHAPTER WAS WORTH IT EITHER however, I have an excuse, I started collage and a job as a waitress so forgive me and thank you for the patience.

In other news, I was thinking of starting a one shot series to coincide with this story, shots from Katherine-Mai's childhood with her brothers and dad, what she does at Bobby's in the holidays, maybe a few cases they went on together, a few moments of her in Hogwarts hanging out, like how she made friends with the hufflepuffs or such.

If you like this idea, let me know.