WARNING: I wanted to tell everyone in advance that this chapter is a little boring. Really sorry I'm in the middle of exams.
Anyway, I swear the next one will be better.
"How come you always get away with this stuff?" Alicia asked, frowning at Katherine who was eating now that she'd finished explaining the events of the evening before.
"Because I know an excessive amount of curses," she answered with a shrug, "McGonagall should be bringing over our time tables soon."
"Think we'll have much spare time this year?" Angelina asked with a sigh.
"With Quidditch? I don't know, it's going to be tough for you," Katherine replied.
"Don't say that," Fred chided, "We'll be fine, nothing to worry about."
"You chose Divination purely so you had another class you could laze around in," Katherine replied.
"What do you mean another?" Fred asked, sounding offended, "I have excellent grades!"
"Yes, you do, but you don't actually study or work overly hard in class," Angelina chided.
"How do you manage that?" Alicia asked confusedly.
"They're actually really smart, they just don't have enough interest to apply themselves to classes," Katherine replied casually.
"Aw! That's so sweet Katty!" Fred cooed making Katherine rolled her eyes.
"I still don't approve," Katherine pointed out, "Look, timetables." McGonagall wandered down the table giving timetables to people. Katherine read over hers quickly before handing it off to the twins, she knew they were going to end up looking over her shoulder otherwise, and that just pissed her off.
"You have so many classes Kat!" Fred whined.
"I have one more than you," Katherine replied, "And let's go, we have History of Magic first up."
"Yay! Naptime!" George exclaimed happily, everyone else just laughed as they followed. They lazily wandered into the classroom and took up their seats at the back of the room where they could each do whatever they wanted. Everyone was talking animatedly about Quidditch this year, as they were all confident they'd come out with a brilliant Seeker, one way or the other.
Katherine smiled as she listened to them and Professor Binns began his daily drone. She sometimes took notes, but most of the time it was more effective to just go to the library and read the information. This in mind, and still listening to her friends talking, Katherine pulled out her sketch book, brushing her natural brown hair out of her eyes.
She joined in with the conversation as the class droned on, allowing herself to sketch lightly over the page, not really focusing on what she was drawing. Slowly the conversation turned to the new defence teacher.
"Quirrel," Katherine corrected automatically as Lee tried to convince them they should call the guy 'squirrel' for the rest of the year, "I think he used to teach muggle studies, he doesn't really look like much does he?"
"Oh great," Alicia groaned, "A useless Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, that's just what we need."
"Has anyone else noticed that smell?" Angelina asked, everyone nodded with distaste.
"What do you think it is?" George asked, looking at Fred who shrugged.
"We have to see more of him before we can come up with a story," he answered making Lee snicker.
"You know, the real stories often more surprising that the made up one," Katherine told them logically, "I bet you'll come up with a story and it'll turn out the truth seems less believable."
"Done," Fred said immediately, "What do you want to bet?"
"I was being sarcastic Fred," Katherine sighed, "I think you may be developing a betting problem."
"So are you chickening out then?" Fred asked challengingly.
"No, I'll put five chocolate frogs on it, unless you've got a better idea," Katherine shrugged, it wasn't really a loss to her either way, she could just buy more frogs.
"Ok, shake on it."
Katherine rolled her eyes before tucking her pencil behind her ear to shake Fred's hand. The others were now making bets on whether Katherine or Fred would win their bet. They were betting on betting. Katherine shook her head.
"Hey, what've you been drawing Kat?" Angelina asked, noticing the pencil. Katherine blinked in surprise then looked down at the page she had open.
"Huh, our conversation, apparently," she answered, slowly making sense of the little cartoon drawings in her book.
"How in Hell?" Lee commented, and they all gathered around Katherine and her sketchbook. There were a few drawings of people playing Quidditch, and goblins, and goblins playing Quidditch. Underneath these there was a group of laughing kids running away from Professor Quirrel, who had stench lines coming off his turban, and he was running away from what appeared to be an army of chocolate frogs.
Everyone stared at the page in silence for a moment, trying to either work out what was going on or why Katherine had bothered drawing any of it (and how she'd managed to do so when she'd hardly even been looking at the page). Just as the class finished they all burst into loud peals of laughter, startling some of the people packing up near them.
"Why the Hell don't you draw like that more often Kat?" George gasped out, getting and enthusiastic nod from Fred who still was struggling to breathe through his laughter.
"How do you know I don't?" Katherine challenged, already levelling out her breathing she flipped her sketch book closed. As these words registered to Fred he snapped up off the floor turning to star at her with wide eyes. He looked almost in shock and wondering, Katherine raised an eyebrow at him and his mouth dropped open.
"Show me!" he demanded, making a scramble to the book, "Show me, show me, show me, show me!"
"Wait, what just happened?" Lee asked as Katherine easily dodged out of Fred's way before tapping him on the head with it. Fred continued to grab for the book.
"Well, Katherine suggested she may have more of those drawings, then Fred realised what she said and silently demanded to know if she was being serious, she replied with the 'why would I kid about that?' look and Fred proceeded to have a mental break down that told him he should try to steal her notebook," George explained, he loved the silent conversations those two could have, even if it was partially because they didn't realise they did it.
"Oh," was Lee's reply. Fred was getting more desperate and Katherine was looking irritated, she was going to pull her wand soon. Alicia picked up Fred's bag.
"Oi, Fred!" she yelled, tossing the bag at him as he turned around. Katherine laughed and high-fived Alicia as they wandered from the room.
"C'mon guys, we're gonna be late for Charms," Katherine called, already out walking through the halls with Alicia and Angelina. The guys all quickly caught up, after all it was Fred and George's favourite subject.
It took a few days for Katherine to actually escape into the library, she slid through the familiar doorway with a sigh, glancing around for a free seat. She spotted one beside Hermione Granger who was looking very studious, if a little lonely, sort of reminded Katherine of when she first turned up.
"Mind if I sit here?" she asked kindly, holding back a smirk when the poor girl jumped. Damn her friends and the things they were making habitual.
"Not at all," Hermione replied, shuffling some of her papers over.
"So, what're you doing in the library on Friday afternoon?" Katherine asked.
"Studying," Hermione replied defensively, "And I could ask you the same."
"I need regular breaks from my friends or else they drive me insane," Katherine answered with a shrug, Hermione looked surprised by this confession, "Sorry, I'm Katherine by the way, my best friends are the school's biggest trouble makers."
"Should you be…saying that?" Hermione asked hesitantly, Katherine just smiled warmly at her.
"Oh, they're very proud of it," she shrugged, pulling out her Ancient Ruins homework, "Just makes it hard to study some times. What about you? You made any friends yet?"
"Not really," Hermione answered, looking down at her page. Katherine would swear she was blushing.
"Well, that's ok," she replied, nodding slightly, "I didn't have any friends at first either. In fact I'm pretty sure most everyone though I was going to curse them the moment they said a word to me. Except the Slytherins, who just poked fun at me. Then, through some horrible set of coincidences, I met my best friends. Indecently, I did actually curse on of them first time I met."
Hermione seemed to chuckle quietly, her quill still scratching across the page. Katherine smiled, thinking about how the twins always told her off if she continued to work while talking to them.
"I'm not sure Gryffindor's the best place for me," Hermione said finally, eyes firmly on her work, "I'm just…not really, working well with the others."
"Really? I haven't seen much of them, conflicting interests I guess?" Katherine offered, running through that thought in her head. The other first year girls seemed…less logical, more like gossipers or people who'd be into something like divination but she really hadn't seen much of them. There was one first year she thought she knew fairly well though, so she went with that, "Do you know Ron Weasley?"
Hermione made a face, it was small and quickly disappeared, but it was a face that gave Katherine a bad feeling.
"I think I made a bad first impression," she mumbled to her paper, Katherine watched her sympathetically.
"Well that's ok," she assured the younger girl, "I cursed my best friends remember? I'm sure you'll make some great friends, maybe it'll just take a while. The other thing, the house conflict? That happens to a lot of people, so no worries. If you're uncertain about being in Gryffindor just think about proving the hat right, it's never wrong after all, sometimes it just takes people longer to accept that that's where they fit best. Just keep doing your best, no one can fault you on that."
"But what if they do?" Hermione asked, meeting Katherine's eyes for the first time. She seemed so full of doubt, hiding behind her intelligence.
"Well, then I'll pass on a piece of advice my mother used to give me," Katherine answered, smiling brightly, "'Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter'. Just be yourself, don't let others bully you into something else."
Hermione nodded and Katherine grinned before the two girls returned to their work. Katherine managed to finish off her ruins essay and give Hermione some study tips before she decided it was time for her to leave.
"Hey, I'm heading to the tower," she said, looking at Hermione, "You coming?"
"No, I think I'll just stay here a little longer," Hermione replied, she'd become more comfortable over their study bonding.
"Ok, see you around," Katherine replied, waving to her as she left. She wandered up to the hall, checking her hair, as had become habit. It'd just returned to its original brown as she walked into the Common room, lost in her thoughts. Without thinking about it she sat down on the couch between the twins, staring intently at the table.
"I think," she said after a moment, "That I am angry with your brother."
Fred and George looked at each other over Katherine, she never hesitated in being pissed off with them, or voicing that she was pissed off with them.
"Percy?" they asked together, looking at her confusedly.
"No, the other one," Katherine said, waving her hand dismissively, still looking thoughtful.
"Ron?" they clarified, because he was the other brother at school with them. Katherine nodded and they looked confusedly at each other again before asking, "Why?"
"Well, I'm not sure," Katherine answered, "But he may be being a git."
"Weren't you just in the library?" George asked, "How did Ron enter into this?"
"I made friends with one of the first years," Katherine answered, "The smart one you two groaned about. She's having house doubts, apparently she's not getting on with the other first years, and when I mentioned Ron and she seemed uncomfortable."
"Well, we've just vaguely seen him wandering around with Harry," Fred offered, "They seem to have problems finding their way around."
"You're a little disappointed aren't you?" Katherine asked, grinning at him.
"Well, we didn't find it that hard," Fred answered defensively.
"You cheated Fred, the map is a cheat," Katherine replied, rolling her eyes.
"So do have any plans on doing something about maybe being angry with Ron?" George asked before they could start an argument.
"No, I'll probably just leave it," Katherine answered thoughtfully, "But I'll keep an eye on Hermione, I don't want her doing anything desperate because she's having a hard time settling."
"Aw, being all saint like," George laughed.
"Shut up George, I'm allowed to be nice!" Katherine snapped back, though it was always hard to stop herself from smiling with these two.
A little while later and Hermione walked through the Common room on the way to her dormitory. When she looked over Katherine gave her a smile from her position playing exploding snap with everyone else. Hermione smiled back politely, though her eyes flicked to Fred and George, who she probably already recognised. Katherine just smiled wider, shrugging at Hermione before looking back just in time to lean away from a small explosion which got Fred full in the face. Everyone around the table burst into laughter at the surprised look on Fred's face as he tried to blink ash out of his eyes.
Fred, George and Katherine wandered through the halls, Katherine happily announcing that her Fridays weren't going to Hell this year and the twins reminding her that, unless an amazing Seeker turned up out of nowhere, she was joining the Quidditch team soon. Suddenly Oliver came down the halls, looking immensely excited and pleased with himself, spotting the twins he immediately turned towards them.
"Fred, George!" He yelled, making sure they realised he wanted to talk to them, "Guess what?" The twins opened their mouths but Oliver kept talking before they could speak. "The first year's just had they're flying class, right? Well, we found ourselves a Seeker!"
"Who?" George asked, Fred just gaped.
"Potter!" Oliver whooped, "We got Potter on the Quidditch team! McGonagall said he caught a Rememberal out of fifty foot dive, not a scratch! She said Charlie himself couldn't have done it better!"
"That's brilliant!" Fred agreed enthusiastically, "It better not have just been a fluke though."
"His first time on a broom!" Oliver was still rambling excitedly, "And McGonagall's considering a Nimbus!"
"Oliver, calm down," Katherine suggested, "Don't forget you still have to make sure he plays well with the rest of the team. Who will want to be informed about this at some point."
"Of course," Oliver exclaimed, smacking himself on the head, "I gotta go guys, see you later!"
Fred and George gaped after the Captain, Katherine merely raised an eyebrow. This was going to piss off every other house, especially if he was as good as Oliver made him out to be. Poor kid was going to go through Hell.
"So, I guess I'll be keeping my spare study time," Katherine threw out after the twins hadn't spoken for a moment, she was starting to get worried.
"Potter's on the Quidditch team," Fred replied numbly. Yep, he was gone for the rest of the day. Katherine rolled her eyes and continued down the hall, only to bump into Lee.
"Hey Kat," he offered, looking excited, "Where're Fred and George?"
"Just there," She answered gesturing behind her, "I think they're having a fanboy moment. What's up?"
"I think I found a new secret passage," Lee said, then he did a double take, "Wait…a fanboy moment?"
"Potter's on our Quidditch team."
"Oh…Holy…! Are you kidding?! Potter's on our Quidditch team?!"
"Announce it to the school why don't you," Katherine cringed, but the loud noise seemed to awaken the twins.
"Quick!" Fred yelled, "To the Great Hall!"
"Lee, what's up?" George demanded, even as they were already rushing past him.
"New secret passage out of the castle," Lee answered hurriedly.
"Great, be right there, gotta see Seeker!" Fred called, rushing down the hall.
"Later, Lee," Katherine offered, taking off down the hall after them. Honestly, part of her was hoping they'd do something hilarious, as they often did, the rest of her brain was screaming that they were going to kill someone tearing down the halls like this. Even though she was going faster than them.
Once they enter the hall they spotted Harry and hurried over to him.
"Well done," said George quietly, reicing a mildly impressed look from Katherine, "Wood told us. We're on the team too – Beaters."
"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch cup for sure this year," said Fred. "We haven't won since Charlie left, but this year's team is going to be brilliant. You must be good, Harry, Wood was almost skipping when he told us."
"Anyway, we've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."
"Bet it's the one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you."
"Discrete aren't they?" Katherine sighed, "I'll see you later I guess, congratulations for getting on the team Harry."
Katherine hurried after the twins, catching up to them just outside the hall.
"You realise you probably just freaked the poor boy out of his mind," Katherine pointed out, "He grew up with muggles, remember?"
Yeah, the poor boy's basic information was public and very common knowledge.
"Like they wouldn't of told him," Fred laughed, eyeing the Marauders map, "Yep, it's the one by Gregory the Smarmy."
"You didn't really find it, you had the map by that point," Katherine sighed, "And no one agreed to your bet so you have to live with the disappointment. C'mon, let's find Lee and get back to the Common room, I have homework to do."
Again, appologies for the less than satisfactory chapter. There are some good bits thought, hope you're all still enjoying it! R&R!