I know, I haven't posted in a long time, I'm a horrible person, I'm so so sorry. Have a chapter.
"I'm going to die," Lee announced, slouching over the table, "Exams aren't even here yet and I'm going to die."
"I know," Fred groaned in agreement.
"You won't die," Angelina sighed, though she looked tired as well, "We'll manage."
"Ok," Alicia finally snapped, making the others look to her, where she was glaring at Katherine, who was curled up in an armchair sketching, irritably, "You should not be looking that relaxed, you look cheerful for Merlin's sake!"
"You're exaggerating," Katherine replied, despite the small quirk of her lips, "I'm just used to having more work than you so I'm not quite as overwhelmed."
"You have been spending less time with use though," Angelina pointed out gently.
"It's easier to study in the library," Katherine answered easily, "You guys should try it."
"Well, at least Lupin's not giving us too much work," George offered, cautiously watching Fred. His twin had been getting twitchier ever since they came back from the Burrow, ever since they realised Katherine had spent the holidays with Alexander Barker, the Ravenclaw.
"Kind of hard to give extra work when he's sick so often," Katie nodded, joining the others in the Common room.
"Any idea why that is?" Lee asked, looking towards the twins.
"We haven't really bothered trying to snoop into the teachers lives," Fred shrugged, "It's more fun to make stuff up."
Katherine chuckled as she continued her sketch, causing suspicious eyes to turn to her.
"You know, don't you?" Katie demanded.
"Don't be ridiculous," Katherine rolled her eyes, "How would I know? I don't see him anymore than you guys do."
She tapped her pencil on her sketch book thoughtfully though, clearly wrapped up in other thought for a moment before she returned to the sketch. George watched her, she definitely seemed less busy this year, and more cheerful. Maybe she was really enjoying having a friend outside their little group to talk to. He didn't have a problem with that, and he knew Fred didn't really either, it's just that they both knew Barker had a crush for her, as did a few other students.
Normally it wouldn't matter, most of them brushed it off, not interested enough to actually bother talking to her, or getting scared away by mayhem they caused. It help that Katherine, for all her crazy intuitiveness, never seemed to noticed the extra attention, too busy study, drawing or making sure he and Fred didn't blow something up.
That was part of the problem here. Five years of knowing her meant the twins knew Katherine wouldn't realise, or maybe just not acknowledge, that Barker had feelings for her unless he was blunt about it, which meant she'd just interpret Fred's jealousy as him being a git. Fred, remembering that one disastrous time in second year, was eager to avoid that. The other problem, that Fred had yet to admit to beyond grumbled about studying and house choices, was that in some ways it seemed like Barker was more suited to Katherine, most people would think they had more in common than Katherine had with the twins.
Which led to the other problem, both the red heads felt that Barker was boring. It wasn't just that he wasn't a trouble maker like them, but he actually disliked even the smaller practical jokes. They weren't sure where Katherine stood on that point, she always seemed cheerful enough when she was with him.
"Georgie? Still with us?" Fred asked with a raised eyebrow, waving his hand in George's face, "Time for dinner."
"Right," George nodded, easily pulling a smile into place. It was clear the conversation had continued without him.
"So what were you drawing, Kat?" Angelina asked Katherine as she packed up her stuff.
"Nothing serious," Katherine answered, holding out the sketch book to the page she'd been working on. They all crowded around to see the new sketch. Katherine's work was always worth a look, even if she didn't think so.
The sketch was just a simple one of the Hogwarts grounds, only it was different from normal. Instead of showing the grounds how they'd see it if they were outside, or even from a window, the sketch was looking directly down, as though floating above the school.
"How'd you get that angle?" Alicia asked as Katherine took the book back.
"I've drawn the school enough times to be able to imagine what it looks like from above," Katherine shrugged, slipping the book into her back, "Now come on, I'm hungry."
"Hey, what were you thinking about before?" Fred asked as they walked out.
"We haven't done anything major for a while," George answered easily, "OWLs are messing with our fun."
"That they are," Fred agreed, a grin on his face that Fred easily match, "We'll just have to do something about that."
"I'm telling you, thank won't work," Katherine shook her head, "The only thing you'll achieve with that is getting yourselves on the black list of every single thing living in the lake."
"It's a good plan!" Fred shot back. They were making their way down to the Great Hall for lunch, having spent the morning discussing what they could do for a prank.
"He's right," George agreed, "It'd be totally awesome, and we totally fixed the spell since the last time we used it."
"So I'm not going to have to save people's lives again?" Katherine raised an eyebrow, "Anyway, I'm not arguing that it's a good idea, I'm just saying the lake is a bad idea. You should try for some… prefect's bathroom."
"We should try for some prefect's bathroom?" Fred repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not our fault you didn't get prefect," George immediately jumped in.
"Who is prefect?"
"I have no idea."
"No guys, I meant you should do it in the prefect's bathroom," Katherine rolled her eyes, "It's localised and manageable, but it'll still get a reaction."
"Oh, that's an idea," Fred nodded, "That'd be brilliant. We just have to work out how to get in."
"And without the map," George added.
"Plus, we've have to set it so that it'd be noticed in the evening, when the bathroom is most used," Katherine said thoughtfully, "I can find out the password if you two work out how to get in."
"Done," Fred and George replied in unison, wide grins in place.
"Guys, down play it, we don't want the school on red alert a head of time," Katherine reminded with a snort. The twins schooled their features just before entering the Great hall. Lunch was spent going over details, and getting Lee's opinion on the plan. As expected, he was all for it. Katherine stood up while the others were discussing the benefits of having different colours.
"Where you going Katty?" Fred asked, looking up in surprise.
"I'm meeting Alex in the library," Katherine answered, already picking up her bag, "I'll see you guys later, don't forget you have to work out how to get to the room."
"What about the password?" George called after her.
"I got it, no worries," Katherine replied, waving as she walked away. George turned back to see Fred scowling.
"Relax, she won't be gone long, she wants to do this as much as we do," he reminded his twin, "So, the question is; how do we make sure no one's going to be around the bathroom while we set this up?"
…
"The password is soap bubbles," Katherine announced as she joined the twins in the Common room, "It's horribly Ironic."
"How did you even find that out?" Fred demanded after a moment of the pair blinking at her.
"That's beside the point," Katherine rolled her eyes, the she smirked as she tucked her currently brown hair behind her ear, "Did you two work out how we're getting there?"
"More or less," George nodded, "We just need-"
"-a distraction to make sure everyone's attention is somewhere else in case we're off," Fred finished.
"And?"
"Lee's on it," Fred shrugged, "He's planning a fight with the girls."
"You may want to warn them," George added, "And let them know that's what the fight at lunch was about."
"You guys fought after I left?"
"There is no better distraction than arguing pranksters," Fred said sagely, "It throws people off."
…
"I'm just double checking, it will wear off this time right?" Katherine asked as she watched the boys pour their homemade potions into shampoo bottle and on soap.
"Yeah, we tested it on ourselves," Fred nodded, "We know it won't-"
"-do that," George finished, looking up in time to see Katherine's hair change to bright red.
"Hmm," Katherine rolled her eyes, "Well, at least I'm in colour for the match."
"Oh, we should have totally done house colours!" Fred exclaimed, "That would have been hilarious."
"Well, missed your chance," Katherine shrugged, "We better get going or we'll be late."
…
Dinner was hilarious. As a last minute thought the trio had set up the room the prefects were going to meet in, Katherine having found out the details of the prefects meeting. Once everyone sat down they were covered in mud and a few green slimy things from the lake, prompting them all to go have baths before dinner.
Of course, this meant that all the prefects turned up to dinner with brightly coloured hair, and some having had their skin dyed. One had bright orange skin and pink hair, it clashed horrible. They also made complaints about the unpoppable bubbles that sounded like Moaning Murtle whenever someone touched them, which were still floating around their bathroom.
Katherine, who's hair was still it's unnatural red watched the student deal with it various ways, some laughing it off, others glaring. McGonagall did not look pleased, neither did the Head Boy. He'd ended up with slim green hair and purple polka-dots on his skin. Katherine was still trying to work out how some of them had gotten patterns.
"Honestly, this is ridiculous, and pulling it on all the prefects?" Percy demanded of the twins, who were paying more attention to flicking food at Lee when their friend wasn't looking.
"It is impressive," Fred nodded, aiming a pea, "Be even more so if the idea was original."
"True, we did kind off set the precedent for pranks with dye," George agreed easily.
"I know you two are behind this," Percy fumed.
"Really Perce? We're not the only pranksters in the school," George rolled his eyes.
"Though we are the best," Fred added, making sure Lee could hear him. Katherine had to dodge the lump of mashed potato that flew past the twins.
"I swear, if you three get food in my hair again, I don't care if you're not talking to each other, I will tie you to the Quidditch posts and leave you there over night," she frowned at them, easily hiding her amusement.
"It's not our fault Lee's got really bad aim," Fred replied.
"My aim is fine!" Lee shot back. The trio of boys soon devolved into making faces at each other, trying desperately not to burst out laughing and give themselves away. Percy made some furious noise and stalked away. Katherine just continued to watch the boys amusedly, making sure no one was aiming revenge at the twins. Evidence or not, people would assume it was them.
…
"Well, it's not that bad," Katherine assured, looking at Alex's electric blue hair contemplatively as they made their way up the stairs, "I mean, it could have been worse, at least your skins still normal."
"It's really distracting," Alex frowned pulling at his hair a little, "I keep seeing it out the corner of my eye and going 'what the hell, oh it's just may hair'. It doesn't help that the teachers can't get rid of it, maybe I could…"
"No," Katherine interrupted, "Don't do that, you could make it worse."
"I just want to know when it will wear off," Alex huffed. Katherine smiled sympathetically.
"I'd guess about a week, but you can never be sure with these things," she offered.
"It's just so frustrating!"
"I know, kinda makes me glad I didn't get prefect," Katherine laughed.
"You know you would've, if people didn't think you were in on everything the twins did," Alex pointed out.
"Nah, I don't really regret it that much, I don't really need the extra attention," Katherine shrugged, "It's probably better I wasn't."
"I suppose," Alex sighed as they approached the portrait hole.
"Katty!" Fred yelled jumping out, closely followed by George. The both paused once they caught site of the pair, clearly not having expected her to actually be right there.
"Hey guys," Katherine raised an eyebrow.
"Hey Kat," George greeted while Fred gave Alex the stink eye, "We were just trying to work out where you'd wandered off to after dinner."
"I was just talking to Alex about the prank on the prefect's bathroom," Katherine rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah, what'd you think?" George asked, making Alex look away from Fred to his twin.
"Well, actually it's been done before," Alex replied, "Only on the Slytherins rather than the prefects."
"Really?" Fred asked, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah, so it's immature and uninspired, but of course you two wouldn't have anything to do with it," he added the last part challengingly, clearly believing the twins were behind it, as most did.
"Well, not everyone has access to the detention lists," Katherine reminded amusedly, "Maybe it was a prefect and that's what inspired them?"
The three boys gave her doubtful looks and Katherine rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, no imagination," she sighed, moving to give Alex a smile, "I'll see you tomorrow, ok Alex?"
"Sure thing, Kat," Alex answered, looking away from Fred again with a smile, "I can go over that Runes essay for you if you want."
"Yeah, that'd be great," Katherine agreed, "Sleep well."
"You too," Alex nodded, giving her a wave as he turned to walk away.
"He called us immature," Fred grouched as they climbed back into the Common room.
"You are immature," Katherine pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"But that doesn't mean people can say it."
"The girls and I call you immature all the time."
"That's different!"
"Oh, relax Fred, it's not like I'm forcing you to be friends with him," Katherine rolled her eyes, "I'm not even making you spend time with him. Can't you just be happy the prank went off without a hitch?"
"How come you didn't tell us he was a prefect?" George asked, interrupting before they could devolve into an argument.
"You didn't ask," Katherine shrugged, "It didn't seem that important."
"How is that not important?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know, I just figured there were more interesting things to talk about than who is and isn't a prefect," Katherine shrugged, "I'm going to get ready for bed."
Harry getting the Firebolt back was huge news in Gryffindor tower. Katherine stood to the side as the other's crowded around. She was curious to get a look at it, especially with the new love of flying she'd found this year. She'd been pushing to see how fast she could fly and comparing it to riding brooms.
She liked her animagus form more, it felt more freeing, but she wanted to try racing a broom. The problem being that no one knew that she was an illegal animagus, and so she couldn't ask some to fly with her.
She was grinning as her very Quidditch orientated friends gushed over the broom, even though Ron had already taken it up to the dorms. Harry was talking to Hermione, for which she was glad, she was worried about the stress Hermione was under, the young witch didn't need to be fighting with her friends as well.
Of course, the excited mood was slightly ruined when Ron stormed back down stairs screaming about how his rat was dead. Katherine flinched slightly, rubbing her ears. She felt the animal form was messing with her senses, she really needed to read up on it, she just didn't have time with OWLs looming.
Katherine, for her part, had never been fond of the rat, even when he was Percy's. He always seemed a bit mangy, not to mention fat and lazy. That aside, she had actually taken a few swipes at rats on some of her flights, animal instinct and all, so she couldn't really begrudge Crookshanks, no matter how oddly intelligent the cat seemed.
Still, she didn't think Fred and George were going about it the right way. They cared, it just always came off wrong.
"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," said Fred bracingly. "And he's been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly — one swallow — he probably didn't feel a thing."
"Fred!" said Ginny indignantly.
"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," said George.
"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"
"Yeah, that's true," said Harry.
"His finest hour," said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"
"You are a little insensitive," Katherine pointed out later, "I mean, what if one of you had a pet that got eaten."
"Neither of us have pets," Fred shrugged.
"Except the Gryffindor falcon," George grinned.
"The Gryffindor falcon?" Katherine repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, remember the bird we told you about, that's been hanging around for some of our practises?" Fred asked, "Well, we decided to call it the Gryffindor Falcon. Oliver's decided it's a good sign because falcon's a strong bird and they always win or something like that."
"Oliver's getting a little desperate," Katherine pointed out with a snort. She hadn't realised that they had so much focus on her. She did tend to go to the practises, as good a time as it was to study she liked having the freedom of her flying to break up the work.
"No kidding," George laughed, "I'm pretty sure he'd give up his graduation as long as he could win the cup."
"He's a little insane this year, maybe its NEWTs," Katherine suggested thoughtfully. The boys laughed openly.
"Ah, we should get going." Goerge said as their laughter died down, "Don't wanna be late."
"Don't get killed by your captain," Katherine laughed, waving as they left. Once the team had been gone for a while Katherine slipped out of the tower. It was better that people saw her leave, though not many people would question it if they didn't see her. Still, someone would probably notice a person jumping out a window of Gryffindor tower.
This in mind she found an abandon corridor and opened the window. Looking down she took a deep breath. She'd pretty much got this trick down, but freaking out could make her mess up and this was the highest she'd tried from.
This in mind, she started the change before she stepped out of the window. The wind rushing past her face was exhilarating as always, making her hair blow out behind her. She let out a cry as she felt herself change, easily registering the difference between the wind whipping back her hair and the wind rustling through her feathers.
No matter how often she did this the thrill never listened, she didn't think she'd ever get tired of this flying.
Still, she turned herself towards the Quidditch pitch with ease, gliding between the higher points of the castle and landing on one of the Quidditch hoops in time to see Madam Hooch handing over Harry's new broom. With the team in the air Harry immediately had everyone's attention.
The Firebolt was brilliant.
Katherine gave them a moment for serious practise before taking off from her spot and swerving between them. She imagined it was like having a third bludger in the game, except Fred and George never swung heavy bats at her, for which she was grateful. She tried to push herself to keep up with Harry, but his broom was a lot faster than her, and it didn't get tired.
After a while of thoroughly proving that a Firebolt was faster than a bird Katherine gave up and went about weaving between the others, making it slightly harder for them. Despite this, they all performed amazingly, even Oliver didn't have anything bad to say.
Katherine was about to leave, with the team, when she heard Harry saying Ron was going to have a flight. She paused for a moment, Fred and George would assume she was in the library, and they never went there if they could help it, she could afford to fly a little more, even if she was tired from chasing after the Firebolt.
She was perched, watching them in place of Madam Hooch, when Harry suddenly lit up his wand. Crookshanks was crouched in the bushes watching the two boys. Of course, he fled quickly when Ron started shouting at him. For a moment Katherine paused, in this form her eyesight was undeniably better than the boys', and she could swear there'd been another animal with the cat.
She almost gave in to her curiosity, before deciding it was an unnecessary risk. The twins would be wondering where she was anyway.
Next chapter you get a proper confrontation about Fred and Alex's dislike for each other. Sorry again.
Oh, note, the next year, not next chapter, next year is GoF. I would appreciate knowing who's for and against me introducing a couple of OC's from the other schools. I can go either way.