I'm a horrible person.
I'm sorry.
I hate the wait.
"Honestly, everyone's making such a big deal about Hagrid being a half-giant," George huffed.
"The real question is, how on Earth do you manage to physically produce a half giant?" Fred said, nodding seriously. Lee burst out laughing while Alicia made a horrified face.
"I did not need that image!" she shrieked, "I'm never going to be able to forget that now."
"Exactly!" the twins declared together, wide grins in place.
"You are horrible people," Katie informed them.
"Keeps us awake at night," Fred chuckled, "That and prank plans."
"And Lee's snoring."
"Right, and that."
"I don't snore!" Lee exclaimed.
"Yes you do," Katherine spoke up, "When you sleep on your back."
"Why do you know things like that?" Alicia demanded.
"I've spent nights in the boy's dorm," Katherine shrugged in reply, "Trying to talk Fred and George out of stuff."
"Of course you have," Angelina chuckled, "You three are the weirdest."
"Thank you!" Fred and George replied delightedly. George pulled Angelina closer to himself, grinning into her neck. They had very nearly not taken the Yule ball date any further but Katherine had locked Angelina out of the dorm saying she was sick of listening to the two of them talk about each other and not do anything about it.
That was, of course, a lie, because Fred and George didn't talk about girls with her, but Angelina didn't need to know that.
So, Katherine had more or less gotten the pair together. George may or may not have promised her his first born, to which she may or may not have replied that Angelina would kill him.
Considering she'd forced Danton and Ivana to go together, and found them snogging later in the night, and holding hands all over the place, Katherine thought she was doing quite a good job.
"Hey, Fred," George called, stopping in place and narrowing his eyes at the window of the Three Broomsticks, "Look who it is?"
"Who?" Fred asked, looking inside. His eyes narrowed too, "Well, let's go say hello."
Katherine sighed and followed the pair into the Three Broomsticks, easily spotting Bagman. With Harry of all people.
"Hello, Mr. Bagman," said Fred brightly. "Can we buy you a drink?"
"Er… no," said Bagman, with a last disappointed glance at Harry, "no, thank you, boys…"
Fred and George looked quite as disappointed as Bagman, who was surveying Harry as though he had let him down badly.
"Well, I must dash," he said. "Nice seeing you all. Good luck, Harry."
Katherine rolled her eyes as Bagman quickly hurried out of the pub, then watched curiously as a group of Goblins hurried after him. That could be interesting.
"Twat," Fred growled at the door.
"Undoubtedly," Katherine sighed, "Let's get a Butterbeer while we're here, you two find a table."
Of course, what should have been a peaceful drink quickly became a drink and a show when Rita Skeeter showed up and Harry shouted at her. Katherine sighed into her drink. Harry needed to learn to choose his battle, Skeeter wasn't changing anytime soon. At least Hermione got them out of there, though no doubt they'd be reading something about her soon.
"What do you think she's got on Bagman?" Fred asked curiously.
"Don't even think about going to ask," Katherine scowled, "I want nothing to do with that woman. Besides, you already know at least something minor about Bagman that isn't exactly to his advantage."
"S'pose," Fred grouched. Katherine rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, let's got meet the others, Angelina will be waiting for George."
"McGonagall sent Fred and George to the library?" Alicia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Apparently," Katherine shrugged, tucking her mirror away, "Fred said she wanted to see Ron and Hermione. Probably something to do with the tournament. The second task is tomorrow."
"Do you think all the Champions solved the clue?" Angelina asked curiously.
"I certainly hope so," Katherine snorted, "After the dragons I wouldn't want to be going into any of these tasks without some advanced warning."
"Not that a screeching egg is probably much help," Alicia rolled her eyes, "Aren't you glad you didn't end up getting chosen Ang?"
"Quite a bit actually," Angelina grinned, "I think I'm perfectly happy watching from the safety of the audience. Quidditch is about as dangerous as I want my life to get."
"You, my friend, are dating George Weasley," Katherine reminded with a laugh, "I'm not sure you thought this danger thing through."
Angelina opened her mouth to argue, but then paused thoughtfully.
"Well," she said slowly, "At least I only have to look after one of them."
"The implication here being that I'm babysitting your boyfriend?" Katherine asked with a raised eyebrow, "Because, if that's the case I feel I should be getting paid."
"Getting paid for what?" Fred asked, flopping onto the couch. Followed by the floor when his flop ended with him accidently jabbing his elbow into Katherine's leg. He let out a muttered, 'ow' that was duly ignored.
"Babysitting," Katherine replied, rubbing her sore leg.
"Who're you babysitting?" George frowned, taking the seat beside Angelina, who laughed lightly.
"You," she supplied, leaning back into her boyfriend. George blinked down at her.
"I feel I should be offended by the direction of this conversation," he announced after a moment.
"Don't worry," Alicia assured, "We were including Fred as well."
"Hey!" Fred snapped, head shooting up from where he'd been laying on the floor to hide his laughter. The girls just laughed.
"Definitely glad I'm not in the tournament," Angelina muttered, looking over the lack, "A little splashing around is one thing, but seriously."
"Well, at least it explains why McGonagall wanted Ron and Hermione," Katherine offered, pulling her cloak tighter. The task was actually quite dull from an audience point. They couldn't see anything in the water.
Fred and George's heads both snapped up to look at her after this announcement before their eyes landed on the lake again. Clearly they hadn't made the connection to Ron's absence and the fact that there were people in the lake.
"This is boring," Alicia snapped after another moment, "They should have made sure we could see something. What happened to 'spectator sport'?"
"Budgeting probably," Katie offered with a light laugh, "Really though, this is pretty dull."
"Dull," Lee demanded, "This is almost as bad as Binns."
"We won't have to wait much longer than an hour," Katherine shook her head, "They have an hour to retrieve what was stolen, the Judges won't let them go too far over time."
…
"They went a fair bit over an hour," George commented as they headed back towards the castle.
"But did you see Ron blush when Fleur kissed him?" Fred snickered.
"Fleur is part Veela," Danton spoke up, "She 'as that effect."
"That explains a lot," Katherine nodded thoughtfully.
"She's a Veela?" Alicia repeated.
"Part Veela," Ivana corrected, "Let us not be racist."
"Either way," Fred shrugged carelessly, then laughed, "Can you believe Harry pulled that win though? Karkaroff was fuming."
"Well, it's not like Durmstrang gets much good publicity," Katherine replied, glancing at Ivana, "No offence."
"None taken, ve are quite used to it," Ivana shrugged, "But vatch out for Skeeter, she vill be looking to cause some havoc."
"That woman," Angelina shook her head.
Katherine drummed her fingers on the table, staring thoughtfully, and rather worriedly at the letter. This could not be good. Her father hadn't made a true fuss about her friends for a while, and suddenly she had a letter warning her off them.
She glanced over to the Slytherin table, where Theodore was reading his own letter. That was certainly worrisome. With a sigh Katherine folded the letter back up, tucking it into her robes. This could not be anything good.
"What's up?" Fred asked curiously, cocking his head to the side.
"Just my father wanting to make sure I'm behaving," Katherine smiled at him easily, "Pretty much the usual. Pass the bacon?"
Fred rolled his eyes and passed over the platter of bacon. Katherine just smiled at him against and returned to her breakfast.
…
"So, what do you thinks going on?" Theodore asked, looking up at her as they switched letters back.
"Something he thinks will change the tide," Katherine shrugged, frowning thoughtfully out the window, "He told us to keep track of power and influence. He thinks something's happening, but doesn't know exactly what. He's not going to be happy about that."
"So, what should we do?" Theodore frowned, "If this is something to do with… him…?"
"We don't give father a reason to get frustrated with us," Katherine sighed, "There's not much else we can do at this point. We don't know enough."
"You would fit so well in Slytherin," Theodore laughed, Katherine smiled at him.
"Well, you win some you lose some," she chuckled, turning away, only for Theodroe to grab her arm, looking up at her worriedly.
"Be careful, ok?" he commanded.
"When am I not?" Katherine smiled, reaching forward to ruffle his hair, "Hufflepuff."
"Ha, a Hufflepuff is the Hogwarts champion, that's a compliment," Theodore snorted, batting her hand away. Katherine conceded with a nod and a smirk.
"Can you believe the stuff people are sending to her?" Angelina asked, looking over one of the letters. Katherine wasn't sure how the twins had some to collect all of Hermione's hate mail, but here they were reading through it. She'd feel bad if she thought any of it actually mattered to Hermione.
"It's not that surprising, Skeeter tends to inspire that reaction," Katherine shrugged, muttering detection charms over another letter before tossing it the pile of safe ones. Fred and George were looking to use some of the substances in them, unfortunately it was hard to tell what was what without the proper spells and knowledge of harmful curses and substances.
Thus the task had fallen to Katherine, she check them, if it was safe she'd toss it in the pile, if it had something the twins could use she gave it to them with a warning of what it was, and if it was cursed the lit it on fire.
There were a startling number of those.
"It's ridiculous how many people listen to her, even when she's lied about some of them," Lee shook his head, picking up one of the unsorted letter and getting his hand slapped for his trouble.
"Automatic belief in the Ministry supported paper," Katherine supplied "Never mind that she writes poorly about the ministry as well. Fred, I will let one of these letters blow up in your face, stop touching them."
"But, the ideas," Fred said with a grin, Katherine narrowed her eyes at him.
"I'm not letting you send a cursed letter to anyone," she warned, "Not even these ones."
"It'd be awful to get one of these, no matter the reason," Alicia scowled, "They're just nasty."
"Petty, actually," Katherine shook her head, "They could be much worse. Here, wart-cap powder."
George took the envelope and scrawled 'wart-cap powder' on it before adding it to their collection. Katherine just rolled her eyes and continued checking through the letters.
Katherine took off from her perch by Hagrid's hutch. She'd spent a couple of hours playing an odd game of tag with Fang and getting pet by Hagrid, who told her she was a beautiful bird and offered her some food.
It was a little weird, but it had been fun, so she tried not to think about it too much.
She let her talons skim the lake as she cross it, keeping an eye out for any creature that might try to grab her. The lake creatures had been more agitated than usual after the second task, not that she could really blame them.
She was glad she'd managed to get some time on her own. There seemed to be a lot of scheming this year. It was to be expected, with the tournament, but combine that with the twins' regular activities, their trouble with Bagman, and Hermione's determination to work out how Skeeter was getting in it was a little overwhelming.
Hopefully things would calm down next year.
Time went by relatively quickly, even with the teachers giving them NEWT level work in preparation for next year. Katherine managed fairly easily, even though she took it upon herself to read over the few notes the twins were sending to Bagman. They were frustrated, but they weren't the type to give up.
Soon enough though, the summer term was upon them and the Third task was right around the corner. Which meant everyone was trying to work out what it was.
"Vell, the main idea is a treasure hunt," Ivana offered as the group talked it over, "After all it would match the theme."
"That's true," Angelina nodded, "They had to get the egg, then the stolen item from the lake. It would make sense for them to collect something."
"Yeah, but where?" Alicia frowned, "They already did the lake. Unless, they wouldn't send them into the Forbidden Forest?"
"They could," Katherine replied with a slight shrug, looking over one of the advanced book from her father, "Harry went in there in his first year for detention, and the champions are supposed to show they can handle themselves. They won't, though, it would encourage younger students to think they can manage in there."
"Always a step ahead, aren't you, Katty?" Fred asked, a smirk forming. George was clearly on the same track as his brother, as usual, because a similar grin was growing on his face. Katherine looked up from her book to look them both over, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sensing there's something more to that," she commented, neatly closing her book and leaning forward, "Are you about to offer me a challenge?"
"Are you interested?" Fred replied in a similar tone. The gang watched on, used to this kind of play between them. Lee had his notebook out to write down the challenge. He started keeping score late first year. Katherine was winning, but the twins didn't have a bad score.
"What are the stakes?" Katherine asked; she always checked first.
"First to work out the task, and the location, wins," Fred offered.
"Loser has to-"
"Ah, ah, ah," Katherine interrupted George quickly, "My turn."
This gave the twins pause, Katherine rarely took the initiative in the consequences for bets or challenges unless she'd had the idea for a while. Katherine, however, had already reached down to one of the other girl's bags and dug around to pull out the latest copy of Witch Weekly. She flicked through for a moment, before stopping on a page and putting down on the table for the others to see, finger on a particular article and the spell it included.
The girls all let out quiet 'oh's of understanding, while the boys' eyes all widened. Except Danton's. The three Gryffindor boys turned to him in horror.
"Do not question ze French," Danton advised simply, "Our women are beautiful as beautiful as the sunrise, and as ruthless as a nesting dragon."
"No kidding," Lee breathed, looking back at the magazine.
"Well, you don't have to do it," Katherine rolled her eyes, taking the magazine back, "I mean, it's a little childish anyway, and we do have exams to study for. Maybe next time, right guys?"
With a smile Katherine got up and turned from the table, heading out of the hall. The other four girls glanced at each other before moving after her.
"You're just going to let it go?" Alicia hissed quietly, taking back her magazine.
"Just wait," Katherine replied easily.
"Hey!"
"Kat! We didn't say no!"
Katherine turned back to the boys with a raised eyebrow, "So you're in? First to find out the when and what of the Third task wins, loser uses the charm?"
"Deal," Fred and George nodded with determined expressions.
"Pleasure doing business," Katherine grinned wickedly.
…
Katherine, honestly, hadn't fully thought out how she was going to win this challenge. The eavesdropping would be easy enough, but she needed to find something to eavesdrop on. Fred and George were upstairs, probably planning, while Katherine was in the Common room sketching idly.
This was how she saw Harry waving good bye to Ron and Hermione and wander out of the Common room.
"Where's he going?" she asked.
"Quidditch field, tournament thing," Ron answered absently, scowling at his homework. Katherine nodded absently before tucking he sketch book away and getting up.
"I'm heading to bed," she said.
"Night Kat," Angelina, Alicia and Katie called from their game of exploding snap.
Katherine easily climbed up the stairs to her dormitory, throwing her bag on her bed before spelling the curtains closed. This done she opened the window and climbed onto the sill. She felt a little bad, using her illegal animagus form just for the twins' discomfort and the girls' amusement. She wasn't going to give up the chance, but she did acknowledge it was somewhat underwhelming.
Either way, she spread her wings and took off from the tower, circling around to the Quidditch pitch and taking in the sight before her. Oliver would have a conniption if he saw this. She swooped down to find somewhere to rest where she could overhear the Champions, and Bagman, who was quickly approaching. She'd listen in, go to bed, and tell the twins at breakfast. Easy as.
…
"So, who's in the lead?" Lee asked at breakfast.
"Well," Fred started.
"It's a treasure hunt," Katherine interrupted, reading her book with a small smirk tugging at her lips, "They've turned the Quidditch pitch into a maze. The champions will be let in at different times based on the points from the previous task, and the first person to touch the Triwizard Cup wins. There will be a range of obstacles in the maze.
"I figure since it's Saturday you should do it earlier, that way you have the rest of today, and all of tomorrow to get used to it. It'll probably help stop you from drawing attention to yourself in class, which I thought you'd appreciate."
The group gaped at Katherine, who looked up to grin evilly at the twins; "Unless you're going to back out?"
Fred and George wore matching expressions of pained horror as they stared at her. The group knew they wouldn't back out, their integrity kicked in at the weirdest times.
"But, but…" George looked towards Angelina for help, but seemed to immediately regret it when he say she was just watching him with a contemplative look.
"But it's evil!" Fred exclaimed, "It is torture disguised as a beauty treatment."
"Oh honestly," Alicia rolled her eyes, "It's a bikini wax charm, stop being babies, at least she's not making you do it the muggle way."
"What's the muggle way?" Lee asked curiously. Katie leaned over to explain and all three boys pale.
"I'd suggest practicing the spell a bit before you try it," Katherine advised, clear amusement in her voice, "On peaches or something. It hurts more if you're unpractised."
"I regret becoming friends with you," Fred scowled, Katherine just laughed
…
Heads shot up in the Common room to look towards the boys dorm. Except Katherine's friends who all looked at her.
"Don't look at me," she responded, "I didn't do anything."
"Then why can we hear them from the sixth year boys dorm?" Alicia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't know," Katherine replied, rolling her eyes as she stood up, "Why does everyone always blame me?"
She didn't wait for a response, climbing up the stairs the boys' dorm. She stopped in the door way at the sight of Lee grinning unrepentantly.
"I assume you're the reason we can hear their pain from the Common room?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You get all the points for this," was Lee's only response, "I mean, it's horrible, but it's hilarious."
"Yes, most things are, but this wasn't part of the deal," Katherine said easily, pulling out her own wand and cancelling the charms on the room.
"Dear Merlin why do they do this voluntarily?" A voice demanded. Katherine and Lee both turned to see Fred stepping out of the bathroom with a Gryffindor red towel wrapped around his waist. Only a Gryffindor red towel.
The trio blinked.
"I'm going to drown myself now," Fred announced, stepping back into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. Lee and Katherine stared at the door for a moment before they heard the beginning of a struggle and hushed bickering.
Katherine glanced at Lee, who shrugged and flopped onto his bed. With a sigh she rolled her eyes and went and knocked on the door.
"You two ok, or am I going to have you come in there?"
Silence for a moment, then: "Can't you just let me drown with dignity?"
"No. Man up, Fred, girls everywhere are laughing at you," Katherine informed him through the door, "Besides, it's not that embarrassing. You're no troll."
"I honestly can't tell if this is helping anymore," George sighed.
"Shut up," Fred snapped.
"I'm going now," Katherine chuckled, "Don't kill each other, ok? Angie's waiting."
"We'll be down in a moment," George called.
"I will make Bill my favourite brother."
"No you won't."
"Leaving," Katherine called, shaking her head and smiling as she walked out of the room.
…
"But why would you do that to yourself?" Fred whined.
"Well, I think most of the girl's get Madam Pomfrey to do it, actually," Katie commented.
"Yeah, the professional with years of experience," Alicia rolled her eyes.
"Ve have this as vell," Ivana nodded, "For the younger girls mostly."
Fred and George turned a glare on Katherine.
"I never said you couldn't go to Madam Pomfrey," she shrugged absently, "You just didn't think about it."
"You're evil," the twins grumbled. Katherine just grinned at them.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist."
"Evil."
Don't hate me?