Chapter! Gap was longer than I expected something came up. Me posting dates will get better I swear. Hope you're all still enjoying it!
"So, I realise it's only early in the year," Alicia announced, "But we've been getting all this work, is anyone else confused as to why Katherine seems to have less to do than normal?"
"That, is actually a good point," replied Lee with a frown, looking around the Common room, "Where is she anyway?"
"She said she had to return a book to the library," Fred answered, lazily folding a paper plane, "She'll be back soon."
"He's not even paying attention to the conversation is he?" Angelina asked quietly, leaning over so only George could hear.
"No, I think he was largely just reacting to hearing her name," George chuckled back, easily accepting the plane Fred handed over and launching it into the air. Fred pointed his wand at it as it took off and it gained some height and continued doing lazy circles above their heads. Both boys grinned at it, high fiving each other.
"What are you guys doing?" Katherine asked as she came into the Common room, raising an eyebrow at the twins' grins."
"Plane," Fred explained, point up at the object, which was still doing circles.
"Nice job," Katherine nodded, watching it for a moment before she sat down beside Angelina, dumping her bag beside the couch, "What're we all doing?"
"Wondering why you're so relaxed this year," Alicia said pointedly. Katherine opened her mouth to speak, only to be cut off.
"Why do you have a feather in here?" Katie demanded, only to receive a sharp glare form Katherine as she pulled her bag away from the younger girl.
"Do you mind?" she demanded, scowling, "Since when do you go rummaging through my stuff?"
"This is pretty though," Angelina commented, gently taking the reddish feather from Katie.
"Thank you," Katherine smiled, "I thought so too. I was just going to put some charms on it so I could use it as a book mark."
"Anyway, are you going to explain your lack of work?" Alicia demanded, returning everyone to the original conversation.
"It's OWLs this year," Katherine shrugged, "So, I'm cutting back on my extra studies, and because I'm used to the extra work I'm not having any extra difficulty this year."
"I'm pretty sure that's cheating," Fred frowned, "Why would you even be doing extra work to begin with? That's ridiculous."
"It's useful stuff," Katherine rolled her eyes, "Some of us actually enjoy learning."
"No, that's just you," Alicia snorted, returning to her essay, "The rest of us just struggle through it."
"I'm helping," Katherine sighed, sliding off her seat to look over Alicia's essay. She made sure to keep her bag next to her this time. She didn't have any more animagus stuff sitting around, she'd gone over all the potential dangers she was still facing, she didn't need the texts anymore. She hadn't exactly stopped all her additional studied though, she was looking into some basic healing. She wasn't putting as much focus on it as she had been on her animagus studies, so she wasn't overdoing it.
She'd just really like to be able to look after herself now that she spent a large part of her spare time jumping out of trees.
Katherine skimmed over her transfiguration essay. It looked good, she'd probably get an E, McGonagall was a fair marker, even when she was doing it by OWL standards.
"You're working very hard," an unfamiliar voice informed her. Katherine looked up to find a dark haired boy smiling down at her. He was perhaps just a little shorter than the twins, with short, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. He was giving her a friendly smile, looking slightly sheepish.
"Hello," she greeted, smiling back at him.
"Yeah, hi," he replied, "Do you mind if I sit?"
"Not at all," Katherine nodded, shuffling her parchment to give him some space.
"I'm Alex," he offered, sitting down beside her.
"Katherine," she smiled in response, shaking his hand lightly.
"I know, I saw you at the duelling club last year. That was some really advanced magic."
"Thanks, I have a tendency to do some extra studying."
"I know, I mean, I've seen you in the library before. While I was, studying."
"OK, so, what are you doing today?"
"Ah, actually I just wanted to finally talk to you," Alex said, giving her a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck, "You always look so focused when you're in here."
"Well, the library is the easiest place to study," Katherine shrugged, "The Gryffindor Common room isn't exactly quiet."
"Yeah, I always thought you seemed like you'd do well in Ravenclaw," Alex nodded thoughtfully, "Especially with all the extra studying you do."
"Yeah, Gryffindor was a bit of a surprise," Katherine chuckled, Alex smiled at her, leaning over to take a look at her essay.
…
"So, see you around?" Alex asked.
"Undoubtedly," Katherine smiled as she moved towards the Fat Lady, "Thanks for your tips, by the way, very helpful."
"Happy to help," Alex smiled, beginning to walk away, "See you later."
"Absolutely," Katherine nodded. She watched him walk away before she turned to the Fat Lady, who was watching her closely. Katherine easily ignored her, after being friends with Fred and George it got easy to ignore people staring at you. She easily settled into one of the armchairs, pulling out her sketch book and expertly ignoring the excited buzz in the room. Harry was the first of the team to come into the room, immediately moving towards his friends.
"What's happened?" he asked Ron and Hermione, who were sitting in two of the best chairs by the fireside and completing some star charts for Astronomy.
"First Hogsmeade weekend," said Ron, pointing at a notice that had appeared on the battered old bulletin board. "End of October. Halloween."
"Excellent," said Fred, who had followed Harry through the portrait hole. "I need to visit Zonko's. I'm nearly out of Stink Pellets."
"Of course that's what you're worried about," Katherine rolled her eyes, "There are some things more important than Stick Pellets."
"Like restocking your candy stash?" Fred raised an eyebrow, Katherine snorted.
"Fine, we both have priority issues, happy?"
"No, you spent practise in the library again didn't you? You know at some point you're going to have to interact with people again," Fred informed her as the others joined them.
"There are other people in the library, Fred," Katherine rolled her eyes. She hadn't actually been spending most of their practises in the library anyway. She'd spent most of them on the grounds, or in the air around the grounds, as it were.
"Yes, well…" Fred started, only to stop as Crookshanks leapt into Hermione's lap, "Oh great, here comes the screeching."
"Those two are awful," George huffed, "And the cat's not making it any better."
"They'll sort it out," Angelina shrugged, "And you never know, sometimes they manage to deal with it without screaming."
"Not very often though," Alicia snorted, looking over to the pair before turning back to Katherine, "So, do you think you could…"
"Ok, I know you had time to finish your transfiguration essay," Katherine frowned at her, "You can't just demand my help every time you leave an assignment late, you're as bad as these two."
"Hey!" Fred and George exclaimed together. Katherine just rolled her eyes at them, opening her mouth to argue when suddenly Ron started shouting. They all turned, along with the rest of the Common room, to watch the commotion.
"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as Crookshanks freed himself from the remnants of the bag, sprang over the table, and chased after the terrified Scabbers.
George leapt for the cat, and promptly collided with the floor. Angelina and Fred both went to help him up while the others continued to watch Ron and Hermione shout at each other, ending in Ron storming up to his dorm.
"Well, that was fun," George rolled his eyes.
"Wasn't it?" Fred snorted, "C'mon, let's go get something from the kitchens."
"Oh, good idea, bring me back brownies," Alicia commanded.
"I have to finish my charms work," Angelina nodded, "Could you bring me something."
"No problem girls, let's go Kat," Fred grinned, started towards the portrait hole.
"It's amazing how I'm automatically on kitchen duty," Katherine rolled her eyes, though she stood up the follow the twins out.
…
I'm just saying, we could totally set it up so that the Slytherin's foods attack them," Fred exclaimed, "I mean we go into the kitchens often enough."
"Yes, and the house elves would be very pleased with that, I'm sure," Katherine snorted.
"Well, we could always put a spell on the table itself," George offered thoughtfully.
"Or maybe we could just not attack the Slytherin's with food," Katherine suggested in return.
The twins looked at each other thoughtfully for a moment before shaking their heads and together saying; "Nah."
Katherine rolled her eyes and the boys laughed as they entered the kitchen. Only to stop as their gazes fell on a figure that definitely wasn't a house elf. Professor Lupin blinked at the trio in surprise as they all blinked at him.
"Hello," he eventually greeted, a slight smile tugging at his lips.
"Err," said the twins intelligently.
"Hello, Professor," Katherine replied respectfully.
"Feel free to sit down," Lupin nodded towards the other chairs at the table he was sitting at, "It's far too late to pretend as though we're not all here on purpose."
The trio sat, slightly awkwardly, across from the Defence teacher, willingly accepting the three hot chocolates the house elves immediately brought them. The boys shifted slightly nervously, while Katherine sipped her hot chocolate in silence, she was better at keeping her nervousness inside, and she was definitely nervous. Honestly, all the times to not check the map and they wind up face to face with a professor. At Least Lupin seemed relatively calm about the whole thing.
"So, are you all managing to keep on top of this year's work?" he asked peaceably. The trio exchanged a look.
"Managing," Fred answered hesitantly after a moment.
"That's always good to hear," Lupin nodded, the corner of his lips twitching up slightly, "And here the other teachers were telling me about what trouble makers you were."
"Well, people do exaggerate sometimes," George offered. Katherine rolled her eyes at her drink, the students exaggerated, not the teachers.
"Yes, I know what you mean, we had a group of rather energetic trouble makers when I was in school," Lupin answered, grinning slightly, "Anyway, I best be getting back to bed. Don't you three stay up to late, someone might find you."
The trio exchanged looks as Lupin headed towards the exit of the kitchens, unsure how they were meant to react to that.
"Oh, one more thing," Lupin said, turning back to them for a moment, "The Slytherin attacking food? It's been done before."
With that the trio watched him leave, closing the doorway behind him as though nothing had happened. For a moment they were silent, staring at the doorway. Then.
"Dammit!" Fred burst out, letting his head hit the table, "We need a new plan."
He easily joined Katherine and George when they burst out laughing at his reaction.
"I'm just saying Harry should have forged his note," Fred shrugged, "It's not like anyone's seen his uncles signature before. Stupid Muggles."
"Careful, someone might think your falling into pureblood superiority," Katherine warned, digging through her bag, "Dammit, I forgot my sketchbook. I'll just run back and get it."
"Want us to come?" Angelina offered.
"No, it's ok," Katherine assured with a smile, "I can manage. I'll meet you guys in Hogsmead."
"If you're sure," Angelina nodded, Katherine just flashed them a grin over her shoulder as the group watched her run off.
"What's wrong Ang?" George asked as Angelina continued to stare at the corner Katherine had just turned.
"It's just, well, we saw how she reacts to the Dementors," Angelina explained, "I figured it'd be easier if we all went through together."
Fred and George exchanged looks, turning slightly.
"Oh, relax," Alicia snapped, "She said she'd meet us there, even if we did go back for her, she's so fast we'd probably just miss her and she's go through on her own anyway. Let's just go and wait for her."
…
Katherine sighed once she was out of the group's sight, reaching into her bag to brush her hand against her sketchbook. She didn't like lying to her friends, but her pride didn't really allow her to just tell them how badly she didn't want to go anywhere near the Dementors. Rolling her eyes at herself she continued towards an abandoned corridor, gently pushing open one of the windows as she set her bag down.
The transformation came easily now, as though she'd been doing it all her life, and soon there was a falcon perched on the window sill careful grasped at the bag's strap. Really, it wasn't the most discrete way to go about this, but using one of the secret passageways would give her away to the twins.
Besides, it was probably important to know if she could manage flying while carrying something. Owls could do it, by right she should be able to as well.
Didn't stop her from being a little nervous.
Lifting the bag put extra strain on her wings and she had to flap them harder than usual to gain height. Still, she was in the air, as long as she remember to keep her grip she shouldn't have any problems now. Just get to Hogsmead without anyone spotting her, easy.
…
Katherine was tired when she landed, and her arms twinged when she changed back. Turns out she could carry things, no problem, but it wasn't exactly comfortable to fly with the extra weight. Ignoring the slight discomfort in her arms she pulled her bag strap onto her shoulder and ran into the street, looking around for Fred and George. They're the easiest of the group to spot.
She found them stepping into the Three Broomsticks and quickly chased after them.
"Hey guys, sorry," she greeted with a smile.
"Hey Kat," Fred replied, "Get your book?"
"Yeah, I got, my shout since I made you guys wait," Katherine offered, "Butterbeer for all?"
"Excellent," Lee grinned, cheering along with the girls. Katherine laughed, leaving her bag with them before going to get their drinks.
"I can't believe Black was in the castle," Lee said in amazement.
"I can't believe he was organised enough to know we'd all be at the feast," Alicia replied, "Isn't he supposed to be insane?"
"You can be insane and organised," Fred argued.
"Point in case," Katherine added, raising an eyebrow at Fred's position, feet sticking out the end of his sleeping bag.
"I feel like that was meant to be an insult," was Fred's muffled response, a frown in his voice.
"Are you stuck?" Katherine asked with a laugh.
"What do you reckon Black was after?" George asked while Fred, who'd manage to get back to the surface, made faces at Katherine.
"Don't know, but whatever it was he's going a long way to get it," Angelina said thoughtfully, "I mean, how did he even get in? All the entrances are guarded by dementors, right? How'd he get past those?"
Fred and George exchanged looks and Katherine gave an almost inaudible sigh, pulling out her eraser as she continued working on her sketch. They knew not all the entrances were guarded, but considering how often they used them they were all hesitant to share that information with teachers.
"Well, he was in You-Know-Who's inner circle," Katie pointed out, "He's probably got some really advanced magic up his sleeve."
"That's a point," Lee nodded thoughtfully, "Katherine you…"
"I don't know how anyone would get past the dementors and the Hogwarts protection," Katherine rolled her eyes, "I study, I'm not a genius. Besides, Black has years of experience on me, doesn't he?"
"Yeah, suppose," Lee sighed, "How lame."
Katherine frowned at her sketch of the Whomping Willow as she realised the dishonesty in her words. She'd noticed it on her flights to and from Hogsmead, when she got too close to the dementors she didn't get the same feeling as when she was human, the cold was there but it was by for more bearable. Plus the dementors didn't seem to notice there was anything wrong with her, they hadn't seemed suspicious at all, not that she'd really stayed around to check.
An animagus could get past the dementors, and there wasn't really anything in the Hogwarts wards to keep them out either. Still, the chances of Black being an animagus, an unregistered one at that, were extremely minimal.
This was going to bug her for ages.
"Great, first Oliver's freaking out, now Lupin's disappeared," Fred huffed, flopping down on a sofa in the Common room.
"Reckon Snape did him in?" Lee asked dully. He may as well be on the Quidditch team considering how he reacted to their news.
"He's just sick," Angelina frowned, "People get sick Lee."
"And then they go to Pomfrey and get better," Lee replied, "I'm just saying, something's off here."
"You're being dramatic," Katherine told him, "We've been having a bad run, but that just means we need to snap out of it and start making things better."
"So you think Lupin's fine?" Alicia asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If he's not he's going to be," Katherine shrugged, "Otherwise Dumbledore would need to find another permanent teacher, and there'd be an announcement."
"You're not worried at all?" Katie questioned.
"I'll be worried when the teachers get worried," Katherine supplied, "In the meantime, I have still have another essay to write for Snape."
"You finished one already?" Fred demanded, a look of horror on his face.
"Yeah, I go to the library while you're at practice remember?" Katherine snorted, "I have more time than you."
Plus Alex was helping her out so she was getting through it even faster. It wasn't really telling her the answers, more suggesting how to organise it, and helping her find the books she needed. It was nice, having a friend who did school work with her, and enjoys reading for that matter.
"Kat? Katty? Hello?"
"What, Fred?" Katherine demanded, shaking her head slightly to regain focus.
"You zoned out for a moment," Fred frowned, "You ok?"
"I'm fine," Katherine rolled her eyes, smiling lightly, "Just relax. Things will get better."
Also, big thanks to everyone one who's stuck around and put in reviews! Especially FredMischiefmanagedGeorge as you actually covered a couple of the aspects I was worried about, thanks!