Harry Potter wasn't the only person not able to go to Hogsmeade when the first trip of the new year came up. Katherine-Mai Winchester was spending it with professor Sprout, pulling out weeds as detention. It had actually been Snape that gave her the detention. He said he didn't like her attitude but Katherine was under the impression he didn't like it when she got answer correct in his potions class. But after saying he had better things to do with his time than to watch over Katherine's punishment, she was directed to the greenhouses.
She looked thoughtfully at the head of Hufflepuff house, Sprout had been at Hogwarts for a while, she knew that "Professor" Katherine started, the older woman looking up to show she was listening "Did you teach Sirius Black when he was at school?" Kathy asked the woman who's face paled a little.
"Yes. I did" The herbologist confirmed.
"What was he like? When he was a student I mean. Was he always... you know, insane and evil?" She wondered. Professor Sprout stopped and looked at her with a sad expression.
"Quite the opposite in anything Miss Winchester." Sprout said "Black was a charming lad, quite good at herbology. Quite good at most subjects in fact. He was a prankster, usually in detention with his friends. He always seemed loyal though, seemed good."
"What do you think happened? To make him snap?" Katherine-Mai asked and Professor Sprout looked at her curiously, intrigued by all the sudden questions but then figured the curiosity couldn't hurt.
"I wish I knew." She finally settled on. "Of all the students I've taught, I never thought Black would go to you-know-who's side. And I never thought he would betray his friends. Especially..." The woman stopped herself before shaking her hand, seeming to go a little teary "You carry on with that now, that's enough questions" She ordered and Katherine nodded, getting back to work.
When she finally finished and walked up to the Gyffindor common room, covered in dirt, she saw Ron, Harry and Hermione were huddled up in a corner, talking quietly to themselves. "What's up?" She asked the group. Ron and Hermione exchanged nervous glances whilst Harry looked like he could murder somebody "Who are we plotting to kill?" She asked jokingly but her smile slipped when seeing the cold expression on her friends face.
"Black" Harry spat. "He was their friend Kathy. Sirius Black was my dads best friend and he betrayed them" He looked at the surprise on Katharine's face before something else flickered onto it. She sat down and told them about what Sprout had said. It only served to make Harry angrier. "I'm going to kill him" Harry spat.
"No you're not" Katherine shrugged simply, Harry's green eyes snapped to her "You're not a killer Harry. You won't kill him. Punch him, kick him. I'll lend you a gun if you want. But the dementors will deal with him" She said softly, "You're too good to be a killer" Kathy finished with a faraway look in her eyes like she wasn't actually talking to them anymore. Without any warning she jumped up and ran up the stairs to her dormitory.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked when she walked up a few hours later.
"I'm fine 'Mione" Kathy replied, turning so her back was to the girl, pretending to fall asleep. But the moment Hermione and the rest of the girls were asleep Kathy crept out of her bed, pulling on pair of shoes and a warm jacket before exiting the tower and carefully leaving the castle, sitting down on the bridge above the lake. It was freezing out. She could see her own breath but Kathy didn't care.
Hearing a small bark behind her, Kathy jumped, turning to see a black dog stood in front of her. "God, you made me jump" Kathy exclaimed, kneeling down to give the dog a scratch behind the ears. "Where did you come from then?" She asked. The dog cocked his head to the side and Kathy rolled her eyes "Talking to a dog. Great." she sighed.
Katherine-Mai stood up and leaned over the railing, feeling the dog sit next to her so close he was touching her legs. He was looking up at her with an expression in his eyes so clear Katherine could decipher it like it came from a human. "I'm trying to contemplate whether or not I'm a bad person" She told the dog. "I've done some really bad things. Like really bad. God. If my friends knew even half of it I doubt they'd ever even look at me again. And the worst bit is- I don't even feel guilty for most of it. But there are some things, they haunt me," Kathy shuddered. She looked down and noticed the dog was gone. "Great talking to ya" Katherine sighed, rolling her eyes. She continued to look at the view in front of her until a loud yell could be heard. When the castle and grounds were as quiet as they were, a yell from one of the tallest towers in school could be heard quite far.
Running up to the castle, carefully avoiding any teacher, she entered the common room and was thankful the McGonagall's attention was on Ron rather than on the door. "Where were you?" Hermione hissed to her friend when Kathy slipped in beside her.
"Went for a snack" Kathy lied "Why the yelling?"
"Ron said he saw Sirius Black" Hermione told her. Informing Kathy on the full story. "We thought it was just a nightmare but then McGonagall asked Sir Cadogan and he said he let somebody in" The worry in Hermione's face was evident.
An hour later McGonagall looked at Percy "Get everybody back to bed, I must speak with Dumbledore" She said. Percy puffed out his chest and started telling everybody to get back to bed, the first years all listened immediately as did some of the second years but many of the older kids crowded around Ron wanting to know what happened.
"Hey, hey" Katherine called, dragging Hermione along with her "Back away from the ginger" She told the people crowding him. "I'm sure you'll get all the details in the morning" She added
"Yeah, besides, have any of you seen Ronald in the morning? He needs all the beauty sleep he can get" Fred added on helpfully, with people snickering along. It worked though as soon everybody was getting back to their room, Katherine included.
When morning came she learnt she wasn't wrong. Sitting next to Harry on the bench, helping herself to one of the blueberry muffins there and some pumpkin juice, she listened to Ron retelling the story several times of how Sirius Black was leaning over him with a knife that seemed to grow from a few inches to several feet long as the story got told more and more. By the time the day was over people seemed to be under the impression the knife was held right up to Rons throat to the point blood was drawn. But like with all stories in Hogwarts, a few days later the hype had died down and the newest story of the week was about some Ravenclaw affair.
"Sirius Black has managed to get into the castle again and nobody seems to care about that anymore" Harry spoke as he stabbed at his food over dinner one evening.
Kathy swallowed a mouthful of food and followed it with some pumpkin juice before speaking up "That's because Joshua Nike- the seventh year Ravenclaw- he was caught snogging Sabrina Young, she's a sixth year Slytherin- in a broom closest on the fourth floor" Katherine informed her friends who all looked at her like she was mad for knowing such things "Reason people are so shocked is because Joshua is dating Tina Martin, she's a seventh year Gryffindor. That's her there" Katherine pointed out an angry looking seventeen year old sitting a few seats away from them. "And people are angry at Josh for it because Tina's lovely but it's not actually all that surprising because Sabrina is a known boyfriend stealer." The almost fourteen year old finished the gossip.
Katherine would never admit it, but she loved gossip, she would complain about people not being able to keep their mouths shut, but when it came to stories like that, chances are she would know all the details because dust even began to settle on a situation. "How does that trump Sirius Black?" Harry still wanted to know.
"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione asked. "Sirius Black scares people. They'd rather discuss something simpler than a murderer on the loose" Katherine pointed to her with a fork as if to say 'exactly' "Now come on, we have to get to class"
Okay, so to answer some of the more frequent questions I'm being asked. Yes, Harry and Katherine-Mai are the pairing, although it won't been for a few more chapters yet and to the guest on (first thanks for the comment) and second, I promise by the time I get to it, it will make sense (at least I think so but that could just because I want them together) because Harry does a lot of growing between now and when it's going to happen and personally I think his character does get a little darker and more head strong as the books go on, what with all the attempts on his life and all.
As for Ginny, no she and Harry won't be together in this fic. I do have plans for her though. I'm going to try and keep her as badass as she was in the books because ovie Ginny didn't really get the spot light she deserved which I think was more down the the script than Bonnie Wright's acting, but thats just my personal opinion.
The most frequently asked question is of course, when will her brothers be in. Originally the plan was for her and Dean to reunite in order of phoenix and for her and Sam not until the last book. But I've changed that to a lot sooner. It will happen at the end of Goblet of Fire but probably not in the way you might expect. I wont say much more.
I will say I have plans for her and John to meet again after Prisoner of Azkaban happens. That's going to be fun and again I think in a way you won't expect.
Finally, just to have this said. I will be kinda keeping to the basic HP story line the majority of way through, but with the added character of somebody like Katherine things are going to be different. The way she was raised and the way she thinks will influence other characters. The changes will start at the end of GOB but Order of the Phoenix is when you'll really see the effect she will have on the storyline as well as the brothers coming into play a lot more. But as far as timelines go, season 1 of Supernatural wouldn't have happened yet so it's going to be fun to explore some pre series stories and get creative with that
If you have any questions or idea you want to share with me feel free to comment them or message me personally. Thank you all for reading :)
