18th November

"Hey – Harry!" Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker called out as we walked through the corridors towards the Great Hall for lunch after Charms.

"Yeah, that's right." Harry yelled as he pushed through the crowds of people all poking at him and making fun of Rita Skeeter's article that was published TEN DAYS AGO, "I've just been crying my eyes out over my dead mum, and I'm just off to do a bit more…" he really had had enough by this stage.

"No – it was just – you dropped your quill." Cho said.

Harry went bright red, I felt awful for him, "Oh – right – sorry…" he muttered in embarrassment, taking the quill back.

"Er… good luck for Tuesday," she said, "I really hope you do well."

Harry hung his head in shame, "I could really do with the power of invisibility right now."

"Need a tissue, Potter?" some random kid from Slytherin shouted across the corridor.

Then a Hufflepuff pushed towards us, seeing Harry grab onto my shoulder, "Are you cheating on Granger?"

Harry gritted his teeth, "Kathryn. I mean it. I would really appreciate it right now."

I turned in the middle of the corridor and walked backwards momentarily, giving Harry a warning look for being so moody with me, "And you think that is possible, how?"

It took us ten minutes to navigate through the corridors. The usual journey would usually only take two. At one point I just pushed through a barricade of students, who were quite frankly really annoying me and quickly dispersed them as I threatened I'd blow them up. Probably not appropriate if they were to report me and I'd get more detentions but I had had enough and Harry was at his wits end. As I reached the Great Hall I didn't even have time to eat a single bite of food as I had to turn out the door again to go to detention with Snape. Hermione caught eyes with me and chucked me an apple, which I very luckily caught. Then there was yet another battle in the corridor.

"You're late, Miss Pink." Was the first thing Snape said to me as I entered his classroom.

I had no fight left in me that day. He was in his normal huff and I had to keep my mouth shut, no sarcasm, no rude comments, no moaning and no unnecessary talking. "Sorry…" I said as politely as I could.

"Today you will be writing the ingredients and methodology for making the confusion concoction on the board for my third year class. I assume you know it off by heart." He smirked, handing me a piece of chalk.

I stood looking at the board, straining to think after all that had happened in the past fifteen minutes.

"Struggling, Miss Pink?" Snape teased.

"No, I'm just gathering my thoughts." I said perfectly calmly, not allowing his obvious attempts to annoy me to take over. I closed my eyes, trying to picture myself making the potion as part of my exam last year. It slowly started to come back to me and I began to write, miming the actions of chopping, adding to the cauldron and stirring. Around twenty minutes later I had finished and Snape stared at the board, looking for fault. Any fault, but he couldn't find one.

"Hmmmm." He said, "You may go. Be back here tomorrow at break time."

I just about had enough time to walk from the dungeons to Muggle Studies to arrive on time. Safe to say I felt completely exhausted, hungry and now as a result, miserable.

19th November

In Transfiguration this morning, Professor McGonagall had to leave midway to deal with a Gryffindor second year who had flooded the girls' bathroom. That gave Harry, Hermione and me ample opportunity to talk about the impending task. Hermione instead had a better idea as Ron had moved from beside her to talk to Dean and Seamus.

"You really need to make up with him, Harry. This is getting out of hand."

"I'm not apologising to him I haven't done anything wrong!"

"You miss him!" she stated, "And he misses you, too."

"Miss him?" Harry went on the defence, "I don't miss him."

I sniggered, "Yeah, that's right, Harry loves spending time with you in the library when I'm in detention."

"There's only so much I can talk about that interests you, Harry, wonky faints are probably as far as my Quidditch interests go…"

"Wronksi Feints, Hermione." I corrected her, shaking my head.

I could see Harry's lip curl.

"See, Harry, you just need to go and apologise and everything will go back to normal, as soon as Kathryn grovels to Snape enough to get off detention."

"Do not bring Snape into this."

"Speaking of Snape…" Harry smiled in reminiscence "You yelling at him and giving him the middle finger has been the best thing that's happened this year." He continued, "But you really ought to get out of detention sometime soon. No offence but you look exhausted."

"Next time someone is rude to you, Hermione, you are on your own. These detentions are not worth it. Sorry, not sorry." I ranted, "And Harry, I'm sorry I haven't really been here for you…"

"Don't worry about it, you've been better than Ron."

Hermione was fit to explode, "APOLOGISE TO HIM."

Harry was exasperated by this point, "Not until he admits that I didn't put my name into the Goblet and apologises for calling me a liar." Then McGonagall returned.

Soon after it was break time and I was laying out ingredients for Snape's sixth year class. They were having an exam today, testing if they could determine common ingredients that could easily be mistaken. For example, ingredient a) was a doxy egg, b) was an occamy egg and c) was a chicken egg. I had to powder a few herbs and roots for the class to determine as well as laying out four potions, to distinguish.

As the students all lined up outside, Snape had me embarrass myself by welcoming the class into the room and explain exactly what was happening. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be, Miss Pink, or would you like to take the test as well?"

"What would you like, Professor?" I spoke eloquently. Snape must have known I had a free period and was about to make my life hell, I could just sense it.

"You can make sure none of my students cheat and then mark the papers afterwards."

I felt my eyes widen, "No problem. I'm sure they can all go one at a time then."

Angelina curtseyed slightly, trying to hold back laughter, "Alright Professor Pink. Who do you want going first?"

"You can, Miss Johnson for your smart commentary. The rest of you can wait outside, if I hear a peep, I'm sure you can all expect a detention."

I could see Snape smirk slightly, "Setting your standards as a teacher firmly, Miss Pink, keep it up and you might get yourself a job."

"Oh Professor, didn't you know?" I had to take the edge off my sarcasm, making myself sound serious, "It's my dream to become a teacher."

Angelina snorted.

"Why aren't you finished yet, Miss Johnson. I expect better from you." I remarked, the two of us had to stop each other from laughing.

"Next!" I shouted as Angelina was on the second table, "You do not move on to the next table until Angelina is finished, do you understand?" I said to Tobias who was also trying to hold back laughter.

"Yes Miss." He nodded.

I stood behind Angelina as she wrote down her answers, tutting and shaking my head for Snape's benefit. As I brought the class in one by one I had a bit of banter with them, making myself sound serious but letting my facial expressions tell that I was anything but.

Next to enter the classroom was George. A little bit of me died inside as he had that air of mischief on his face. Then he started to play up and that made me want to hit him.

"Did I not make myself clear? If you muck about you get a detention." I addressed the class, meaning for George to hear. I could see him shaking his head at me, so I continued, "And if you don't take this seriously I have the power to give you zero. I don't have time for this childish behaviour." I commented, being completely serious for the first time.

"Detention, Mr Weasley." Snape said. "That's how you show authority around here, Miss Pink. Teacher always wins."

"They certainly do..." I said in realisation. As the rest of the class completed their tests my enthusiasm for mimicking Snape dwindled. Snape had won. He was making me take his class during my free period and there was nothing I could do about it… I could no longer find the oomph to put on the stupid performance. I felt my self-confidence dwindle.

"Look," Snape said sardonically at the end of the test, "this idiot can take a class and her life is a disastrous mess, least you could do is revise for the exam. I'm not saying you need to put on all the excess weight," Snape looked me up and down, "but a bit of hard work won't go a miss."

I held in my emotion until Snape dismissed me, then ran to the toilets and burst into tears… Self-esteem = 0.

20th November

"You need to cheer up." Angelina sat beside me in the common room around bedtime, "It's the weekend and to top it off, it's a Hogsmeade weekend! Come on, girl, smile."

"I don't feel like smiling, not today." I sighed.

She moved a bit closer, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I started ranting, "Well, as you know I was humiliated in my detention yesterday and today Snape made me dissect a few rabbits after class. We had used rabbit foot in making our potions, then after in detention I had to cut out the eyes and preserve them. Then we had rabbit stew for dinner and I feel like I could throw up. Not to mention that on Tuesday Harry is going into a task that could potentially kill him and we haven't a bauldy notion what it could be. I haven't been sleeping very well these past two nights and I have a pile of work so high that I should be doing, but I don't have the energy."

"Well, you're going to stop feeling sorry for yourself right now."

"Okay!" I said, getting off the seat.

"What the…?"

I walked over to the window and opened it to allow a beautiful black barn owl to swoop into Gryffindor Tower. I stuck out my arm and the owl landed gracefully, "Hello Milo." I said stroking him, "Have you got a letter for me?"

The owl hooted and let me untie the letter from his foot and I stroked him gently, "I really ought to get you some treats…" I said before releasing him out the window again.

"Ooooh, what does the letter say? Are you two going on a hot date tomorrow?"

"You never know…" I winked sarcastically.

Ange looked downtrodden, "I really hope not, I still hold a light for you and George you know."

"You have got to get over that one. George needs a personality transplant and somehow I don't see that happening anytime soon…" I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders before opening the letter which said,

KP!
You're always full of great news, have you realised this? Have you been talking to Maura? You shouldn't be dealing with all this on your own. If I was still at school, I would have had words with McGonagall, slapped Snape and strangled George by now. Have you talked to any of your friends about what's going on? You shouldn't be feeling this way. You are NOT fat, and Snape was out of order saying that in front of the class. As a friend, it is acceptable for me to tell you that you are beautiful, do not doubt that for a second. And I know you're worried about Harry, but I can't make it on Tuesday, I have a match… I hope you understand but I will write to you on Wednesday, I promise.
Ollie xx

Angelina gasped, "He still loves you."

"Just because I write to him and he responds doesn't mean he loves me, we're friends and he still wants to feel part of everything that's going on at Hogwarts. He even asks me about you, Katie and Alicia. Besides, he feels bad about everything that happened last year and together we are writing to each other to make amends. Nothing more, nothing less." I concluded.

"Whatever you say, KP."

21st November

"It'll be good for you to get out of the castle for a while, Harry." Hermione said at breakfast.

Harry agreed, "Yeah, but what about Ron though, don't you want to go with him?"

"Oh… well…" Hermione's cheeks turned pink, "I thought we might meet up with him in the Three Broomsticks?"

"No." Harry said flatly.

Hermione set down her piece of toast, "Harry – this is so stupid!"

"You are coming into Hogsmeade with me, okay?" I told Harry, "No male Weasley required to have a good time. Agreed?"

Harry nodded slightly, "I'm wearing the invisibility cloak."

"Fine. We can both be invisible and watch Ron and Hermione's date." I jested.

Hermione snapped, splitting her crust in two and throwing a piece each at us, "You two act like brother and sister and gang up on me all the time. It's not fair."

"You're our older sibling who likes to bully us." I said.

Harry snorted, "I'm the jock."

I giggled, "You both know I'm the hot one."

"Darn." Harry said sarcastically, "I wanted to be the hot one."

"Too bad." I spoke playfully, "Hermione is the bossy, nerdy one."

Harry laughed a little too loud, "Definitely."

"Honestly you two." Hermione said in her motherly tone.

I looked at her, "Would you like to join us in Hogsmeade, Hermione?"

"Not if you're both invisible, no."

Harry mocked her, "Oh good."

I got up from the table and tapped her head condescendingly, "Oh 'Mione… I know you're our big sister who is working her butt off to support her two misbehaving siblings and all that, but it would mean the world to me if you could take the time out to join us, I'll consider being visible to make you feel better about yourself."

"If you stop patting me like a dog, I'll go." She glared.

With Harry under the invisibility cloak, the three of us ended up in Honeydukes buying far too many sweets and went for a quick stroll along the road. As it started to drizzle, we went into the Three Broomsticks to seek cover. I made a path to a table towards the back of the pub with Harry as Hermione offered to buy us drinks.

"I really had to resist the urge to poke Ron on the back of the head." Harry admitted.

I added, "I had to stop myself from kicking George's stool." I shook my head, took a breath and asked, "Tell me, when you saw Rita Skeeter-"

Even though I couldn't see him, I could tell by Harry's voice that reality was hitting him, "I'm petrified, yes."

"I will get you through this. If needs be I will make myself invisible and-"

"You will be doing no such thing. They will not let you die, Harry, they've put in extra protective measures. Why do you think Dumbledore is letting you compete?" Hermione clunked down two bottles of butterbeer and a non-alcoholic cocktail for me to try.

I tried to be practical about the whole thing, "We can practice spells this evening, defensive, offensive, let you blow shit up, it'll be fun and relaxing, how about it?"

"Yeah, okay…" I heard the small voice from under the cloak.

McGonagall approached us, making my heart jump into my throat, "Miss Pink, Professor Snape asked me to give you this letter and this bag of coins. He asked me to warn you not to be any later than four o'clock."

"You're too kind. You couldn't have pretended not to have seen me, could you?" I joked, knowing that McGonagall was stuck between a rock and a hard place with Snape's unexplained feud with me.

The first line of the letter was as follows,

'Miss Pink,
Since you're in Hogsmeade Village today, I thought you could pick up a few ingredients…'

I looked at my watch, it had just gone 1445. The bag of coins was rather heavy and the letter had a list of twelve items I had to collect from around the village. From the local apothecary to Dogweed and Deathcap the Herbology shop I had to buy a range of weird items with specific instructions, one such being "scales of a parrotfish and eye of trout".

"This man just does not know when to stop." I slammed the letter down on the table, "I need a break before I crack up!" I put my head on the table and quickly lifted it as the surface was sticky, "He needs a wife, not a fricking student."

I could hear Harry trying to hold in laughter, "Shut up." I said.

"Kathryn, I'm so sorry…" Hermione put an arm on my shoulder, "I feel like this is all my fault."

I shook my head, "You know it's my fault for having a big gob."

Hermione went to grab her coat, "Do you want us to come with you, for company?"

"Nah, it's alright, you two have a good time." I drank the last of my cocktail and left in a huff.

Ron grabbed the arm of my coat as I put it on, "Kathryn, what's up?"

"If you bothered your arse talking to your supposed friends, you'd know." I snapped.

"Have you fallen out with them as well?" he tried to say without smiling.

"Why should I tell you?" I continued walking towards the exit and walked across the road to complete the shopping list for Snape.

An hour and ten minutes later I handed Snape the bag of ingredients, a new quill, some ink and some new parchment. I had to resist the temptation to say, "What else can I get for you dear? Foot rub? Back massage?" instead I watched as Snape counted out the coins in the bag and checked it with all the receipts. The last thing I would honestly be doing is stealing from him. But I kept my cool nonetheless.

Snape walked towards the bench Draco and I would usually sit at which had a cauldron and several ingredients sitting around it, "Today we will be brewing Veritaserum. Do you know what this potion does?"

"It's the truth telling potion?" it was the first thing that popped into my head. I remember Hermione having a debate one night about its use.

"Are you asking me or are you telling me?" he said.

I looked into his eyes, "I am telling you."

He raised an eyebrow, "What colour is it?"

"Colourless."

"How long does it take to brew?"

"A lunar phase," I answered, and Snape opened his mouth so I pre-empted the answer by saying, "which is about 28days."

"How do you know all this?" he shook his head in disbelief.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Hermione Granger is my best friend."

"Of course." He grimaced, "Well, as you probably already know, it is a two-man job for the first stage of the process. You will be assisting me, do not mess this up."

I daren't reply to that.

Snape took out his recipe which had been doodled on. I quickly took a read over it and I followed Snape's instructions to the nth degree. If he told me to chop something, I did, if I was asked to stir the cauldron, I did. I would have jumped and mid-air asked how high. I was not going to get into any more trouble with him.

"We now have to leave the potion to simmer for an hour. Be back in time."

That was his way of telling me to go away. So I found Harry and Hermione in the Great Hall discussing how we were going to get everyone out of the common room in time for Harry to meet Sirius at 0100. I think by the time I had gotten there Hermione had concluded that the usage of dung bombs was a last resort. I felt awful not knowing half of what was going on with my friends because I was spending so much time with Snape. They had already eaten by this point and I grabbed whatever was left over, which so happened to be a bowl of vegetable soup and a bread roll.

Harry told me all that happened after I left the Three Broomsticks earlier. He said that both Hagrid and Moody approached the table and talked to Hermione for a while. "Then Moody looked directly at me, he must be able to see past invisibility cloaks with his eye. So I wonder if he could see you, whenever you're invisible? Either way, then Hagrid told me to meet him tonight at midnight with my cloak down at his hut, any ideas what it could be?"

"None, sorry… Snape is making some Veritaserum with me. So don't get caught out of bed by him. It's going to be a long night. Don't be waiting up for me, 'Mione."

Her jaw dropped, "I am so jealous."

I stood in Snape's classroom from 1900 and dissected another rat brain, Snape told me I needed the practice, claiming that the brain needed to be fresh and not pickled. The recipe said nothing of the sort. Then I burnt my hand cutting the seriously hot African red pepper which was quickly relieved after plunging my hands into cold water after putting the pepper into the potion and mixing.

"The next ingredient is chicken lip." Snape said with a small smile, "I took the liberty of dissecting this one, I didn't think you'd cope with something so difficult. Especially since the subject is still alive."

I felt slightly queasy at the thought. Next thing I did was cut up an onion and juice it, making my eyes water like mad. Straight after I had to split the yolk and white from a doxy egg, that proved to be rather difficult considering I managed to smash the egg shell with my finger as I picked it up. Snape sighed, went into his store and told me to do it again, except more gently Miss Pink.

"Now stir it constantly for the next hour or it won't work." Snape demanded. There was a knock on his door a few minutes later and three third year Slytherin boys who looked like they had been in a fight appeared. "Professor Moody sent us." One of the boys said.

"It is eleven o'clock! You should all be in bed!" I could see Snape roll his eyes and he went into his office with them and left me to it. "How could you be so idiotic using spells on each other? YOU BLEW UP A WALL IN THE SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM?" It was actually quite a relief to be able to move about and have him annoyed at someone other than me. They were going to be in detention for a while.

An hour later, three very red-faced boys hurried out of Snape's office. "The potion has gone thick." Snape said with a straight face.

I really wanted to say I can see that or that's what the recipe suggests dumbass, but I stopped myself and smiled and nodded.

"Well done." He said. I honestly think it was genuine, but just to make sure I didn't fall into any traps I continued stirring despite the fact I felt like my arm was going to fall off. "I will take over the stirring if you will powder all these roots and add them to the cauldron."

I got started and ground them up using the mortar and pestle, trying my best not to yawn. There were six in all which took ten to fifteen minutes each to turn into a powder.

"Miss Pink." Snape said, making me jump, considering he hadn't spoken a single word in at least an hour, "You look like you're going to fall asleep. Go to bed. I will take over now and will let it simmer for eight hours, be back then."

"Goodnight, Professor." I said, finally allowing myself to yawn.

I felt like I was sleepwalking as I walked up towards Gryffindor Tower and opened the portrait door, much to the Fat Lady's disgust. I could see Harry jump off the floor and stand casually in front of the fire.

"Oh, it's just Kathryn."

I yawned again, "Oh hey! Good to see you Sirius."

"Why are you up so late?" Harry asked, still a little startled.

I shook my head disbelievingly, "Snape has had me in detention from 1600 with an hour long break. I've to go back in seven hours and fifty-five minutes for more."

"Snivellus up to his usual cruelty, then?" Sirius questioned.

I let out a groan, "Don't go there. I'm fed up with him. I've had a detention every day from the 7th November. The man hates me, but I think I hate him more and that's what matters."

"That's the spirit." I could see Sirius' smile in the flames.

"Well, goodnight, I'll see you around." I waved.

22nd November

I seemed to close my eyes and a second later had to open to them again. I took a quick shower to waken myself up and grabbed myself a slice of toast from an otherwise empty Great Hall. It was so depressing being up out of bed when everyone else was sleeping. I dragged myself down to the dungeons and Snape was up and ready waiting for me. "Good morning." I said respectfully.

"Morning. We have to add burnt wormwood, twenty-five parrotfish scales one by one, the aqueous humour of the two trout eyes, ten drops of dragon blood, syrup of Arnica and a chopped tarantula leg."

"Okay." I nodded in understanding and started without question.

The time passed relatively quickly, well, it was still four hours of my life that I'm never going to get back, but Snape and I worked quickly and efficiently and got the jobs all done. "Well, Miss Pink. You have now, very successfully, assisted in making Veritaserum, I don't think many people have that capability. Thank you for helping."

"No problem." I said rather unsurely.

"I apologise for being firm with you but I wanted you to learn your lesson, which I believe you have. Your detentions have now ended. I do not wish to keep you in detention ever again. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday."

"Thank you." I smiled and left his classroom before he could call me back in.

I walked into the Great Hall where Harry and Hermione quickly caught eyes with me and I beamed. "Snape and I are over. I AM FREE!" I celebrated, raising my hands in the air.

"Have you finished the first stage of making the veritaserum?" Hermione questioned.

I nodded happily, lifting a sandwich, "Yeah, worked until after one last night and I was back in the classroom just before nine this morning. How was the chat with Sirius?" I asked Harry with a smile on my face.

"The first task is dragons." Harry whispered.

The smile on my face faded in an instant. "Oh." My stomach filled with butterflies, "Who-?"

"Hagrid."

"Bet he was delighted. Does he have any tips for you?"

"He was too interested in Madame Maxime to answer any questions. I told Sirius, but Ron got out of bed and Sirius had to go… He never got to tell me how to defeat them…"

"We can go to the library! We can figure this one out, try not to worry!" I nodded, finishing my food, we headed there straight away. I realised that this is exactly what he and Hermione had been doing all morning when I was stuck with Snape, making me resent the man all the more. We lifted out piles of books and searched through them, hoping to find something that might help.

As the afternoon drifted away, the three of us had found precisely nothing that was in any way useful. Hermione started talking aloud to herself, which only made Harry all the more nervous and therefore more aggravated. I started to look for fire extinguishing spells, pushing a relevant page right under Harry's nose.

"Oh no, he's back again…" Hermione started moaning, "Why can't he read on his own stupid ship?" I didn't realise what she was saying until I looked up and saw Viktor Krum slump on a chair not too far away from us with a pile of books. "His fan club will be here any moment, twittering away…" and sure enough, a gaggle of girls appeared whispering and tiptoeing around. At eleven we decided to retire to bed, knowing that we were all too exhausted to concentrate any longer, hoping and praying that tomorrow would bring us more luck…

23rd November

It took me ages to get to sleep last night and I woke up at stupid o'clock after having the most horrible nightmare involving Harry and a dragon. Hermione was wide awake staring at me, knowing exactly how I was feeling.

"Coffee?" she suggested.

"It's going to be a long day…" I started to feel a sense of blind panic and had to snap myself out of it.

A few hours later we forced ourselves to act normal as we sat with Harry at breakfast, who was barely able to finish his bacon and toast. My throat was so dry, no matter how much coffee I drank and every so often I had to stop myself from tugging at my hair. When we got up to go to class, Harry said, "I'll see you in the Greenhouses. Go on, I'll catch up."

"Hurry, the bell is about to ring!" Hermione called.

"I'll catch up, okay?" he yelled back.

Hermione and I shared a look and continued walking in silence, our faces full of emotion.

"Professor Sprout, Harry said he'll be along in a minute." I told our teacher quietly.

Professor Sprout, a teacher I wouldn't usually associate myself with put a gentle hand on my arm and said, "He'll be alright, you know."

That didn't make me feel any better. Ten minutes later, Harry sped into the greenhouse to join us and I cut off a large chunk of my Flutterby bush that I was supposed to be pruning.

"Careful!" Neville sprang into action as I nearly cut off another chunk, "They are very delicate plants…"

"Sorry…" I said, "Can you-"

"I'll fix it now, here, take mine." he swapped the plants over without me noticing.

Harry caught my and Hermione's attention and drew us in close, "I need you both to help me."

"What do you think we've been trying to do?" Hermione whispered back.

"I need to learn how to do a Summoning Charm properly by tomorrow afternoon." He said.

We skipped lunch and went straight to an empty classroom and Harry tried with all his might to make various objects move. He was still having problems, the books and quills kept losing heart halfway across the room and dropping like stones to the floor.

"Concentrate, Harry, concentrate…" Hermione coached him.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he replied angrily, "a filthy great dragon keeps popping up in my head, for some reason…"

The same thing kept happening for the next half hour as Harry stood and got progressively more frustrated with himself. "Will you skip class so I can keep practising?" Harry asked Hermione.

"No way, I'm not missing any classes. Sorry, Harry…"

"What about your meeting, Kathryn?" he pleaded, "You know I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate…"

"Give me ten minutes." I left my bag lying in the classroom, made myself invisible and ran all the way to McGonagall's office, which was luckily empty and I let myself into her office and flooed myself to Maura. "I'm going to have to reschedule this meeting. Harry is panicking. He is doing the first task tomorrow and I'm going to help him master a new spell."

Maura nodded her head quickly, keeping up with all that I was saying, swallowing the remainder of the salad she had just taken a mouthful of, "Okay, that's fine." she swooped her hair over her shoulder and said, "how about Wednesday before lunch, you're free then?"

"Perfect!" I said, "Thanks!"

"Kathryn?" Maura called after me as I was halfway out her office door, "Remember to breathe, don't panic and if you need to visit me any time in between, my door is always open and other people's appointments can always be cancelled, okay?"

"Yeah, see you Wednesday at 1100." I ran, flooed and ran again, all the way back to Harry in time for the bell ringing, "Let's do this." I puffed, setting down a chocolate cream at the other side of the room before returning to the back desk, "Harry, take a seat beside me a second."

Harry was irritated, "I don't have time to chat, I'm going to die tomorrow if I don't learn how to do this spell."

"I'm telling you to sit down on this desk beside me." I said forcefully. "Now."

Reluctantly he obeyed.

"Close your eyes." I said gently.

"Why?"

"Close your eyes," I repeated, "take deep breaths and imagine yourself summoning the chocolate from the other side of the room. Try practicing the rainbow shape that you create with your wand, think about the chocolate. The round sweet, filled with white cream in the centre. Imagine it floating across the air towards you, landing on the palm of your hand and you popping it into your mouth… Why don't you try it, with your eyes closed? Deep breath, imagine the chocolate, think about it, consume yourself in getting it to you, you know the spell and wand movements."

Harry drew in a deep breath, rolling his neck in attempt to relax himself, "Accio chocolate." He said calmly, his eyes still shut. I could see the chocolate fly across the room. He lifted his hand to grab it. Then he opened his eyes, the chocolate lost interest and fell to the floor in a splat.

"Reparo." I said, making the chocolate whole again, "Try again."

Harry tried a hundred times in the two hours we spent together. The only good thing that happened was that the chocolate was getting closer and closer.

"Arghhhhhh!" he yelled, stomping across the room towards the chocolate and kicked it with such force against the wall.

"I think it's time for a spot of dinner." I said it as though I was ordering him.

Harry sighed, "I don't have time."

I stood up from the desk, my bum feeling rather numb, "Harry, neither of us have eaten from breakfast and we're both really grouchy right now. You are going to eat something before you strangle me. The break will do you good, promise."

"Fine."

Hermione looked at me with such hope as she entered the Great Hall, but I quickly shook my head to prevent her from getting ahead of herself.

"Harry has done really well, the objects are only a metre or so away, we're getting closer! We can do this!" I encouraged him whilst informing Hermione.

I ate the majority of a bowl of beef casserole with some rice before feeling ill. My stomach was churning at the thought of what was looming ahead of us tomorrow. After half an hour of Harry staring blankly at his leftover food, he said, "Can we go now?"

"Out for a walk? What a great idea." I smiled, "you can summon me some… leaves."

He rolled his eyes at me, "Okay."

As we strolled around the castle, Hermione and I chatted, hoping that Harry would figure out the spell without having the two of us breathing down his neck. I also had to get Hermione to resist the urge to take over and boss him around, claiming that it was my job for the next hour. After a loop of the school and three loops of the Black Lake, Harry claimed that he was about to lose his hand from frostbite and asked me if he was allowed to go indoors again. Being the gracious friend I am, I allowed him.

Four hours later I was sitting on a sofa that had been turned around to face Harry who was standing in the middle of the common room. I had a dictionary in one hand and a quill in the other which were held in the air for Harry to summon. It had just gone 0100 and Harry caught the book in mid-air which was quickly followed by the quill and the cushion I was resting on.

"Harry!" I was slack-jawed and raised my hands up in the air in celebration.

"Oi, Hermione." Harry grabbed her attention, "Let me take a look at that book. Accio book." The book soared in the air, straight into Harry's outstretched hand.

Hermione had an expression similar to mine, "We knew you could do it!"

"Well, now we know what to do next time I can't manage a spell," Harry said, raising his wand, "threaten me with a dragon," closing his eyes he spoke the incantation, "accio chair" and the chair at the other side of the room, tucked behind the table zoomed in our direction. I had to duck to avoid getting hit as it landed just behind Harry and he sat down on it.

"You're really getting a hang on this, Harry, I'm so proud!" I smiled broadly at him, even though I felt absolutely exhausted.

"I think you've got it!" Hermione commended as Harry accio-ed a heavy book, ink, parchment and a quill to himself.

"Just as long as it works tomorrow," Harry said, "the Firebolt's going to be much further away than the stuff in here, it's going to be here in the castle and I'm going to be out there in the grounds…"

Hermione spoke firmly, "That doesn't matter, just as long as you're concentrating really hard on it, it'll come! Harry, we'd better get some sleep… you're going to need it." It had just turned 0214.

"Come here," I said to Harry as he was about to go up the stairs to his dorm, "Give me a cuddle."

"Ugh. Kathryn…" Harry rolled his eyes.

I laughed, "It's either now or in front of everyone tomorrow."

"Fine. Come here." He opened his arms and hugged me tight.

I smiled, "Night night, Harry!"

24th November

The next morning, I woke to a strangling sound that originated in the bed beside mine. Hermione had just woken from her third nightmare. "Sorry…" she said sighing. "I've been staring at the ceiling half the night."

"Me too." I whispered, "Welcome to doomsday."

I didn't even attempt breakfast this morning but fuelled on three cups of strong coffee, which on reflection was a stupid idea as I went hyper and got the shakes towards the end of History of Magic. Between the comments wishing Harry good luck and others mocking him, I remained unbelievably positive around him. In potions, Snape had given up trying to teach due to the lack of concentration going on and the fact that the class was going to be cut short in aid of the tournament. I had Draco nattering in my ear, asking what would happen if Harry was to die and he imagined all the gruesome things that could be impending. This all happened whilst Harry summoned the entire contents of my desk to himself. I turned on my stool and stuck my tongue out at him cheekily.

At lunch I served Harry a portion of toad in the hole with mashed potatoes and encouraged him to eat. I could see the panic in his eyes as he looked at me, unable to manage a conversation. At this point, neither could I or Hermione. I felt unbelievably ill as I swallowed every mouthful, but I knew Harry wouldn't eat if neither of us were.

Professor McGonagall hurried over to us at our table, "Potter, the champions have to come down to the grounds now… you have to get ready for your first task."

"Okay!" Harry said, standing up quickly, dropping his fork onto his plate with a clatter.

"Good luck, Harry," Hermione whispered across the table, "You'll be fine!"

"I know you can do it." I said confidently, "just concentrate."

"Yeah." Harry said in a voice that didn't sound like his own.

I watched as he followed McGonagall out of the hall, "He's going to be fine." I said. "He's going to be fine." I repeated. "He's definitely going to be A-Okay." I reiterated. "He's going to be okay, right?" I asked Hermione.

"Yeah, just fine." She nodded, "Do you want to-?"

"Yes." I said rising from the table, trying to control the urge to regurgitate everything in my stomach.

Forty-five minutes later, the entire school had made their way to the large tent that had been erected for the tournament. Ludo Bagman had made his way from a far opening that was covered by a curtain where I assumed the champions were all behind. Hermione was nattering in my ear nervously but I wasn't listening to a word she was saying. Ginny pushed Neville slightly to the side and slipped in between us, "Nervous?" she asked.

"Hmmm?" I asked, "He'll be fine."

"You've said that at least a thousand times." She linked her arm into mine, "Do you have any idea what the task is going to be?" she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Gooooooood afternoooooon!" Ludo Bagman had raised his wand and was bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly, still wearing the idiotic yellow and black stripped outfit, "And welcome to the first Triwizard Tournament." He paused for cheering. I didn't feel much like participating. "Our Champions, Cedric Diggory – Fleur Delacour – Viktor Krum – and Harry Potter will be competing against each other to collect an egg. Collect an egg, I hear you say? They will be tackling a nesting dragon in the process."

Gasps filled the stadium.

"Mr Diggory will be up first, tackling the magnificent Swedish Short-Snout." Ludo Bagman informed excitedly, "Miss Delacour will follow with the Welsh Green," he paused for yet another cheer, "Mr Krum will be confronting the Chinese Fireball," the students from Durmstrang erupted, "And last by certainly not least, Mr Potter will be facing the Hungarian Horntail."

"Oh no…" Hermione whispered, "Oh no, oh no, oh no…"

"In ten minutes the first task will begin on the sound of the whistle. We are just allowing for the first dragon to be released. I personally wish all the best to the competitors." Ludo concluded before heading up into the stands where he would be commentating.

Hermione let out a whimper.

"He can do this!" I said, "We know he can!"

"Step up! Step up! Place your bets! Who will win the first task? Will it be Krum, Diggory, Delacour or Potter? Who will burn and who will shine? Will they make it out alive? Bet here with us today!" Fred and George rhymed off a well-rehearsed speech.

I nearly choked as I swallowed my saliva, "Are you for real?" I couldn't get over how insensitive everyone was being as crowds of people surrounded Fred and George, throwing their money at them. 'I bet two Galleons Krum will win.' Someone shouted. 'I bet five galleons Potter won't last the first ten minutes.' I heard Draco wager. 'I bet Potter will get burnt.' Pansy Parkinson placed her bet.

"Don't listen to them." Ginny said, turning me around to face the arena.

"Will Potter lose an arm? Or a leg?" I heard George shout behind me and I had to grit my teeth.

"I bet Harry will win." I heard Neville say to us, obviously trying to distract us, "having you two as best friends stands him in good stead. You have had him practicing spells and reading books for weeks now. He can do this."

"I think you're right, Neville!" Ginny patted his shoulder gently.

The Swedish Short-Snout was put in place and was seemingly waking up from the enchantments put upon it. A whistle blew in the distance and the stadium erupted once again as Cedric Diggory emerged from the tent. I could see him take a step back from the dragon, hurriedly trying to think of what to do next. The dragon's eyes never left Cedric as he ducked and dove away from the intense fire exhaled. When out of the dragon's sight, Cedric transfigured a rock into a black Labrador which ran around the enclosure excitedly, catching the eye of the dragon. Cedric slowly and carefully crept up on the dragon whilst her attention was diverted, jumped at the last minute to grab the golden egg and scrambled away. The dragon became alert to this and blew fire all over his back, scorching his skin, making him run all the faster. He was awarded 38 points by the five judges for his efforts.

Next, Fleur entered the stadium with her head held high, her long flowing silver-blonde hair tied up in a bun. She did a lot of running and diving and dodging of fire from the Common Welsh Green. I wasn't really too sure what was going on with her. "She's trying to bewitch the dragon, to make her fall into a deep sleep!" Hermione said excitedly, "but… she hasn't mastered it… the dragon is only snoring… Oooooh…." She gasped. A jet of fire shot out of the dragon's mouth, setting Fleur's skirt on fire, which was quickly resolved by jets of water from her wand. She, too, grabbed the golden egg. Fleur was awarded a score of 36.

Thirdly, Krum entered the arena, really pumping up the excitement of the crowd. Again his dragon, the Chinese Fireball, took great offense at him being close by and took every measure to protect her eggs from him. She blew fire, stomped, and watched his every move. It took him ten minutes to do anything as she was so enraged at how close he was. He shot the conjunctivitis curse at the dragon, making her thrash about in panic and rage, Krum was barely able to keep himself out of harm as the dragon stood on most of her own eggs, crushing them into pieces. Luckily though, Krum escaped without injury. He was awarded 40 points.

Then the time came for Harry to walk into the stadium. Hermione had her hands up to her face and Ginny took a hold of my hand and squeezed it tight. My heart was pounding and I was breathing rapidly. "Come on Harry, you can do this, just concentrate." I whispered in a well-controlled panic. The Hungarian Horntail had black scales with large yellow eyes and a spiked tail. She was thrashing her tail about, lying down low, close to her eggs to protect them, her eyes directly on Harry. I saw him raise his wand and he yelled, "Accio Firebolt."

"Come on, come on, come on! Concentrate Harry, concentrate!" I prayed with every fibre in my body. "Hermione! Open your eyes!" I yelled, "Hermione! It worked! The Firebolt is coming!"

"Oh my." She said, her face half scratched off in the panic.

Harry swung his leg over the broom and flew like he had never flown before. It was incredible. He was free. Harry felt invincible when he was in the air, hopefully today was not an exception. He was high up in the air, gaging his next move. He dived. The Horntail followed his every move and he pulled out of the dive just in time. This was just like a Quidditch match for him. Harry soared higher in circles, the dragon's head revolving. He plummeted, just as he had before, but this time the Horntail opened her mouth, Harry luckily missed the flames, but her tail whipped up into the air, slashing his robes, grazing his shoulder.

Hermione screamed beside me. She had gone a shade of green. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

I heard Fred and George yell behind me, "WELL DONE DRAGONNN!"

Harry changed tactic, flying this way and that, trying to tantalise the dragon into flying after him. The dragon opened her mouth wide, showering out more fire, but Harry dodged. She extended her neck, desperately trying to reach Harry. She spread her great black wings and took to the air. Before she had a chance to work out what had happened, Harry dived and hurtled towards the unprotected eggs, grabbed the golden egg and shot back up into the air again!

"YEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!" I punched the air, "WHOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" I finally found my voice, now feeling able to breathe again.

"Let's go!" Hermione grabbed my arm, directing me toward the champions tent. We found him in the first aid section with Madam Pomfery who was giving off about the Dragons. Harry leapt to his feet as he saw us.

"HARRY!" I shouted, "I knew you could do it!" raising my hands in the air, and he let me hug him quickly.

"Harry, you were brilliant!" Hermione squeaked from all the screaming and shouting, "You were amazing! You really were!"

Then I noticed Ron who had followed close behind us, "Harry," he said very seriously, "whoever put your name into that Goblet – I – I reckon they're trying to do you in!"

"Caught on, have you?" Harry said coldly. Hermione shot a worried look at me as Harry continued, "Took you long enough!"

Hermione took a step forward, standing directly between them. Ron opened his mouth uncertainly.

"It's okay!" Harry said before Ron could get his apology out, "Forget it!"

"No," Ron said, "I shouldn't've-"

"Forget it!" Harry put an end to it.

Ron grinned nervously at Harry and Harry grinned back.

Hermione and I burst into tears.

Ron put an awkward hand on Hermione's arm and Harry put his hand on my back, "There's nothing for you two to be crying about!" he was bewildered.

"You two are so stupid!" Hermione shouted, stamping her foot on the ground, grabbing the two of them into a hug.

I stood there, shaking my head, sniffling. "Twenty-four days." Then I followed Hermione who was now howling. We went back to the stands, to allow the boys to catch up and to get Harry's score- 40 points, making him tied in first place! Hermione and I clapped and cheered, finally able to relax for the first time this week. We followed all the students to the Great Hall for dinner- I couldn't believe all that time had passed! I was glad though, I was starving.

After dinner, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all went up to the Owlery to send a message to Sirius. Little Pigwidgeon was overexcited as usual to have the opportunity to deliver a letter. Ron had to grab his owl and hold him still long enough for Harry to attach his letter before throwing him out the window. We watched Pig flapping his tiny wings, disappearing into the darkness. Harry informed us that the next task would be held on the 24th February, giving him three months to figure out the clue that had been left by the golden egg.

"There's no way any of the other tasks are going to be that dangerous, how could they be?" Ron and Harry were discussing the task in great detail, as well as everything that had happened since he left us, "You know what? I reckon you could win this Tournament, Harry, I'm serious."

I saw Hermione lean up against the wall of the owlery, watching as Ron just strolled back into our lives as though nothing had happened. I for one was not one bit amused, and by the looks of it, neither was she. "Harry's got a long way to go before he finishes this Tournament." She said seriously, "If that was the first task, I hate to think what's coming next."

"Right little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Ron said, "You and Professor Trelawney should get together some time."

"YOU HAVEN'T GOT THE FOGGIEST CLUE WHAT THE THREE OF US WENT THROUGH ON THE DAYS COMING UP TO THAT TASK!" I yelled, unable to take it any longer, "AND NOW YOU'RE WALTZING IN, PRETENDING EVERYTHING'S OKAY, THAT YOU DIDN'T JUST WALK AWAY AND ABANDON YOUR BEST FRIEND WHEN HE NEEDED YOU MOST."

Ron backed off a bit, "Harry knows I'm sorry, I've apologised."

I crossed my arms and tapped my foot, just like his mother would have done, "I won't be letting you off the hook that easy."

"Don't let what George has done cloud your judgement on me." he replied.

"He has nothing to do with this." I snapped.

Ron took a step forward and made himself taller in attempt to intimidate me, "Harry came first in the task, we've made up, you should be happy."

"Happy for Harry, yes." I agreed, "As for you, you have a long way to go to earn my forgiveness." I remarked.

"Do I look like I'm worried?" he said, "It wouldn't bother me if I didn't have to talk to you ever again. If you can't deal with that, go see your shrink."

Hermione's jaw dropped, "That was totally uncalled for, Ronald."

I laughed mockingly, "Do you want to call me fat, too? Whatever you say won't hurt me, sweetheart." I smiled, "I've been through too many hours of therapy to take what you say personally."

Feeling threatened, Ron changed the subject, "We'd better get downstairs for your surprise party, Harry – Fred and George should have nicked enough food from the kitchens by now." He turned to look at Harry, tugging on his arm gently.

Sure enough when we arrived in Gryffindor Tower, cheers erupted from everyone there. There were mountains of cakes and sweets and biscuits along with butterbeer on every surface. Lee Jordan let off some Dr Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks, so that the air was thick with stars and sparks. Dean had drawn a few banners celebrating Harry defeating the Horntail and a few showing Cedric's head being on fire. Then everyone started chanting, encouraging Harry to open the egg and reveal the next clue. Hermione tried to discourage him, but he opened the egg nonetheless, sticking his fingernails into the grooves and prising it open. The egg let off the most unpleasant of loud screeches, the thought of trying to work that one out sent shivers down my spine.

I realised I had left my Muggle Studies textbook lying on the table from the night before and took the armchair in front of the fire with it, not feeling up to the party. I could still see all that was going on. Fred offered Hermione a jam tart, which she kindly refused, but Fred assured her that it was the custard creams she had to look out for. Which simultaneously Neville had taken a bite out of one and immediately choked and spat it back out again. Fred laughed, claiming it was a joke and Hermione took a jam tart and asked about the house elves and the kitchens. Then when Neville took a second bit of the custard cream, he turned into a large canary. Within a minute or two, he had moulted and reappeared looking like normal. Everyone was laughing as Fred and George announced their newest invention – Canary Creams.

Both Fred and George got progressively more rowdy as the evening went on into night. They had everyone test out the canary creams and some even tried their nosebleed nougat and a few idiots ate some ton-tongue toffee despite Fred and George's warnings. Everyone seemed to find this hilarious. I just progressively got more and more annoyed. I was very surprised George had not fallen off the table he was standing on and broken his neck. I decided to ignore them and try to not let it get under my skin too much.

As the night went on, I was reading my way through a chapter on British Monarchy. Hermione and Ginny were sitting on the sofa next to me just chatting. At one point, Hermione asked if she could get my radio from the dorm to play some music down here in the common room. I agreed and she went off to get it. Ginny went off to the loo, realising that she wasn't getting too much conversation from me.

"Hey!" I heard a voice in the background, "I got some hot chocolate and a brownie for you."

"Kathryn?" the voice repeated.

I looked up from the book and saw George staring down at me with a smile on his face, "You're talking to me?" I asked, flabbergasted.

"I brought these for you," He said, brandishing the hot chocolate and brownies, "I noticed you hadn't taken anything, so I went down to the kitchen to get them… I know they're your favourites." He stared into my eyes.

I was a bit taken aback and quickly lost eye contact with him, "I'm not hungry." I said, getting back to my book again.

"You'd never say no to a brownie!" he sounded shocked.

"Just did?" I replied, feeling extremely vulnerable, I stared at the book intently. I felt like I was in one of those homemade movies where someone is standing with a camera ready to capture a prank or something.

"Oh, come on Katy, don't be like that…" George got down onto his knees and was about to place a hand on my arm.

I jumped out of the seat faster than I thought was possible, "YOU LOST THE RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT THREE MONTHS AGO!" I yelled, defending myself. George dropped half of the contents of the hot chocolate onto the floor.

George was still on his knees, "I'm sorry, Katy, I'm truly sorry, I really am…"

"No you're not." I spoke defensively, a lot louder than necessary, "You don't give a shit about me!"

"Katy-"

"Go away George." I said coolly, grabbed my book from the armchair, flicked my hair away from my face and went up to bed.