Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (standard:fantasy, 13669 words) [1/2] show all parts
Author: Gryfinndor_Girl	Updated: May 17 2002	Views/Reads: 4164/4062	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Harry Potter is starting his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and soon finds himself mixed up in a life of secret organsations, new and mysterious characters, and death.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

it. When his nose did touch the picture he was pitched forward and he 
fell into the page. 

~*~*~ Chapter two ~*~*~ 

The Order of the Phoenix 

Harry's hair whipped his face and suddenly he landed on a cold flagstone
floor. He tumbled forward and he glasses flew from his face smashing on 
the floor. He picked himself up, a looked around him. Through his 
blurred eyes he could make out a huge table, with a hundred seats 
around it. His first thought was that he was in a memory, the same 
thing had happened when he had looked in Tom Riddles diary in his 
second year. Harry saw a chair to the left of him, and he seated 
himself at it. Harry squinted around the room witches and wizards were 
apparating all around him and seating themselves at the table. They all 
wore the same red robes with gold trim, with the crest of the phoenix 
on. At the far end of the table Harry had an impression of long silver 
hair, and knew at once that it was Dumbledore. 

‘Reparo' said a familiar voice to the side of him, his glasses were
pushed into his hand and Harry put them on. He looked at the owner of 
the voice and realised it was Hermione. 

‘What's going on?' Harry whispered 

‘I don't know I -' Hermione began, but a yelp cut her sentence short. 

A tangled mass of robes and legs landed behind their chairs. A shock of
ginger hair was enough to tell Harry it was Ron who had just landed, 
and he rushed forward to help him up. 

‘What's going on?' asked Ron. 

‘I don't know, I just got this scroll delivered to me....' said
Hermione. 

‘And when I opened it a read it I was suddenly transported here'
Finished Harry. 

‘Yeah! Me too!' Ron added. 

‘At first I thought this was a memory, but Dumbledore looks much like
his present day self, I don't know what to... make...of...it' Harry 
said slowly, suddenly the room had gone very quiet, and at least one 
hundred witches and wizards had arrived and they were all looking at 
Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

‘Thank you for turning up so quickly my friends' Said Dumbledore, as he
stood up. 

‘Welcome to the order of the Phoenix, a secret society of the most
powerful witches wizards of our time. This select community of 100 
witches and wizards, is centuries old and enlists the help of the most 
powerful to battle the forces of evil. As you know Voldemort rose again 
earlier this year and now comrades are needed more than ever. Last 
night, three good souls were taken from our midst, Claudius Clapser, 
Henry Barthez and Caerie Bell. They were murdered by two of Voldemorts 
Death Eaters they had cornered in Rattery. Now as you know since the 
tragedy many names have been put forward to fill these places. And now 
before you, you see their replacements. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger 
and Ron Weasley, a formidable trio, who have faced many a peril before 
this time. In their first year, they bypassed tests set by the best 
teachers Hogwarts have ever seen. Harry himself fought Voldemort that 
night and they managed to hold him off. In their second year they 
identified the creature, which was attacking students, found out where 
it was living, who was controlling it, and destroyed it. In their third 
year they tracked down Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black, and managed to 
prove Black's innocence to us all, which you have seen in my Pensieve. 
And this year, I'm afraid Harry was tortured and witnessed the rebirth 
of Voldemort' he said Heavily. 

Ron and Hermione had turned to Harry whose eyes were downcast. He had
never told them what had happened in between transportation's using the 
Triwizard cup portkey. He had never told them – and they had never 
asked. 

Dumbledore looked down the table, past the assembled witches and
wizards, and at Ron and Hermione, whose imaginations were doing 
overtime. 

‘Without your efforts, Voldemort would have returned to power, and
without Harry, Voldemort would have been at full strength these past 15 
years.' 

Everyone in the hall were now faced at the three, they were all
pale-faced but were smiling encouragingly. Harry looked around at Ron 
and Hermione; they looked like he felt – speechless. Ron's ears were 
pink. Hermione started at them, ‘Powerful wizards and witches, us?' she 
whispered. 

‘Yes' Said Dumbledore, Harry thought it amazing he had heard her, over
the rumbling of the Order sitting around the magnificent table. 

‘Your names have been on this list ever since your fist year, we have
followed your career closely' he said chuckling. Harry looked into 
Dumbledore's sparkling blue eyes; he always gets the feeling that 
Dumbledore knows a lot more than Harry thought he did. 

‘Now you three, it is 2 am, when you return home, please do not speak of
this to anyone other than you see here, and in the strictest secrecy. 
We will inform you of tasks and the meetings. Now, you are welcome to 
stay and meet your new colleagues, I'm sure you'll recognise a few of 
them' 

Everyone stood up at the end of Dumbledore's speech and hurried over to
meet Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was only at this time Harry looked at 
the people's faces that had been sitting around them, and when he saw 
who had been sitting two seats away he gasped. 

‘Sirius! Wha – What are you doing here?' Harry stammered. 

‘Do you think I'd miss this? Anyway I've been a member of the Order for
over 17 years!' Sirius replied with a huge grin on his face. 

‘Don't worry Harry! No-body knows about the Order not even the Ministry,
I'm safe here, everyone knows I'm innocent here' He added hastily 
seeing the look on Harry's face. 

‘Anyway we wouldn't want a little thing like being accused murderer stop
Padfoot here from doing his job' another voice answered. 

‘Professor Lupin!' Harry gasped, ‘You're here as well?' 

‘It would seem so Harry' he said smiling. 

Harry grinned at his godfather and one of his dad's best friends, and
scanned the room. He saw Ron surrounded by a group of redheaded people, 
their robes clashing horribly with their hair. Harry couldn't even 
register his shock at seeing that practically the whole Weasley family 
was in the Order. He was passed surprises at this time, but it seems 
there was one more in store for him. 

‘What do you think Harry?' Said a warm voice behind Harry. Harry turned
around and saw Dumbledore standing next to him, with his arm steering 
towards him a small witch with a shock of grey hidden beneath a large 
purple hat. 

‘Harry, I would like you to meet Arabella Figg, I believe you may know
her already?' said Dumbledore. 

Harry glanced at the witch and then he realised who was looking at. It
was mad old Mrs Figg who Harry always had to stay with, when the 
Dursleys wanted to go somewhere and not have to worry about where to 
put him. 

‘Hello Harry' she said in a warm voice. 

‘Erm...Hello Mrs Figg' said Harry his mind reeling, all those years he
had known Mrs Figg he'd never guessed, never knew. He doubted if even 
eagle eyed Aunt Petunia had known. Dumbledore must have sensed this. 

‘Harry, Mrs Figg has been looking out for you ever since I had left you
in the Dursleys care. I always told you there was more than spells that 
protected you from Voldemort didn't I? She has been looking over you 
for me, I had a feeling your aunt and uncle would neglect your 
upbringing. I feared that at these times Voldemort or his followers 
would take the opportunity to hurt you. Arabella is another part of 
your protection that has lasted these last 15 years' Dumbledore 
explained. 

‘I have enjoyed looking after you Harry. I don't think even you realise
how well protected you have been, and now I'm going to continue my job 
Dumbledore set me all those years ago' She said softly. 

‘How...?' Began Harry. 

‘Arabella will be your new Defence against Dark Arts teacher at
Hogwarts' said Dumbledore chuckling quietly to himself. 

‘Yes' said Arabella, ‘I do hope I last longer than your other teachers' 

Harry smiled and looked over to Ron who was now standing next to
Hermione. She was in deep conversation with a wizened old man, and Ron 
had a rather fixed smile on his face. Seeing Harry he waved and hurried 
over to him. Harry grinned nervously at Ron, Ron however was looking 
rather worried. 

‘Professor Dumbledore' he said quietly ‘I think you might have made a
mistake, there's no-way I can do any of the stuff your expecting. 
Hermione has the intelligence and Harry has the bravery, but I don't 
have anything Sir' he looked nervously at Harry, but he was in polite 
conversation with a small witch, looking intensely uncomfortable. 
Dumbledore looked down at Ron his face was sympathetic, and his eyes 
were warm. 

‘Ron' he said in a whisper barely audible, ‘Things are not always as
they seem, you have extraordinary talents hidden inside of you, you 
just need to find the key to unlock them' he stared at Ron, knowingly. 

‘But...I don't know...I cant-' stuttered Ron. 

‘There inside of you Ron' He whispered so quietly, Ron wasn't sure he
had said anything at all, because the next moment, 

‘Goodness Gracious' boomed Dumbledore looking at his pocket watch, Ron
couldn't see any hands, just planets slowly revolving, it must have 
made sense to Dumbledore though. 

‘You three must return before your absence is noticed. Now to get home
place your hand on this statue's head and say the name of the place you 
want to go' he shouted over the sound of a hundred people apparating. 

Harry said goodbye to Mrs Figg then waved to Sirius and Lupin and walked
over to the statue, which was of a magnificent phoenix that seemed to 
be made entirely out of fire. Harry placed his hand in the warm golden 
fire of the birds head, and said ‘4 Privet drive' carefully, he'd had 
bad experiences with floo powder, which he supposed this was a modified 
version of. Harry was engulfed in golden flame and a feeling of 
extraordinary lightness seemed to spread throughout Harry as his feet 
left the floor. Flickers of gold and red flashed before his eyes and 
suddenly he felt his feet return to the floor. 

A sudden wave of coldness swept over him and he realised that he wasn't
he wasn't back in his cold, dark bedroom in Privet Drive. But he was on 
the lawn, facing the road, he shivered but chuckled to himself. He 
enjoyed the ride using the phoenix, wasn't nearly as bad as Floo 
Powder, but wasn't nearly as reliable. Harry grinned but suddenly stop, 
he could smell burning and could hear the crackling of flames. He spun 
round and looked at his home or what was left of it. A great bonfire 
stood where his home had once been, consuming the rubble of the house. 

‘NO!' Harry screamed and ran forward but was pushed back by the heat
which was blistering his skin, as he did he saw it. 

Hovering above the devastation was a colossal skull, made of emerald
green stars, with a snake protruding from it mouth – The Dark Mark. 

~*~*~ Chapter Three ~*~*~ 

Morsmordre 

A scream ripped through the night, and continued for an eternity as the
figure of the young boy sunk to his knees on the lawn of his home, 
staring at the Dark Mark. 

‘They're dead, they're dead' the boy whispered as he drew his arms
around his body protecting from the heat, which was scorching his face. 


Harry heard feet running people coming to help him, but he didn't move
he stayed sitting staring at the Dark Mark. Hands grabbed the back of 
his night-shirt and pulled him away from the fire. Sirens started 
wailing and fireman started pumping water into the fire, and the flames 
started to die down. Harry looked up into the face of the person who 
had pulled him away from the scorching heat. It was Mrs Figg, she was 
staring down at Harry, fear and sadness was etched on her face. 
Suddenly Harry heard the swish of cloaks of Wizards that were 
apparating, completely ignored by the muggles. Harry saw Dumbledore 
through the smoke and he hurried over to Harry. 

‘Arabella, take Harry to your house, I'll sort this out' he said
urgently. 

Harry had the feeling of being pulled to his feet, and being pulled away
from the heat of the fire even more, until the cold closed around him 
like a cloak. Exhaustion and shock set in, and before his head even hit 
the pillow, Harry Potter was dreaming. 

* 

‘The fires been put out, and the firemen's memories have been modified,
they'll remember nothing of the Dark Mark. Now Harry that's a different 
matter' sighed a voice. 

Harry was still lying on the bed in Mrs Figg's house on the edge of
wakefulness, it took a time to register the voice as being that of 
Dumbledore. He opened his eyes and saw a group of shadows standing 
around him, then he heard another voice. 

‘Dumbledore was it...him? Did he do this to them?' said the anxious
voice. 

‘Yes Sirius, It was Voldemort, he killed Harry's aunt, uncle and cousin
last night, before destroying the house and casting the Dark Mark' 

‘So there dead then' Harry asked. They all turned around in surprise,
they hadn't realised Harry was awake yet. 

‘Oh Harry, I'm sorry' Sirius exclaimed, as he sat down next to Harry
gripping his hand. 

‘It's ok Sirius' Harry mumbled ‘They hated me after all' fighting back
the tears. 

‘Harry' said Dumbledore's voice, ‘The pain may seem strong now, but it
will get better, and one day you will be able to overcome it, and use 
it. Voldemort will pay for every life he takes away from this world. 
Don't give up hope' he said with a fire in his eyes, Harry had never 
seen there before ‘Now everyone please leave Harry alone for a while – 
I must go and send owls and notify people of what had happened, Harry 
would you like Sirius to stay with you?' 

‘Yeah' Harry said as the other witches and wizards got up and left, they
were all wearing the Orders robes Harry noticed. Dumbledore swept out 
the room, and Sirius went and sat on the side of Harry's bed. 

‘Sirius' Harry said after what seemed an eternity. 

‘Yeah?' He replied. 

‘Why do I feel like this? I hated the Dursleys, they made my life a
misery for 11 years, and made my summers like living hell for the past 
5 years. I always imagined what my life would be like with them gone. 
And I was always happy. But now there really gone, and I feel terrible 
for even thinking it' Harry said slowly as if trying to unravel the 
thoughts for himself first. 

‘Harry, I don't know, God knows I wanted to kill them myself when I read
some of your letters to me about them. But I think the reason why you 
feel the pain is because they were still your family, and there was 
still a blood bond between you and them' Sirius tried to explain. 

‘Oh, right' Harry said, then he turned over and pulled the covers over
his head. Sirius feeling the conversation had ended he got up and left, 
he wished he could tell Harry that it would all be alright in the end, 
but he didn't know if it would, What was going to happen to Harry now? 

~*~*~ Chapter Four ~*~*~ 

The Unexpected Gift 

A hundred miles away at the moment Harry had discovered the ruin of his
home, Ron had just arrived home, but he hadn't climbed into bed, but 
he'd crept down all the stairs, and went and sat down by the fire in a 
large chair. He huddled up into the corner of a sofa, arms round his 
knees. Why do things like this always happen to him? He knew Hermione 
was intelligent and that Harry was Brave, but him? He was good at 
chess, and that was it! How could he battle the forces of evil with 
only the use of a chessboard? Now he had to prove himself as a powerful 
and brave wizard, in front of a secret society. Sometimes he wished he 
had a normal life. He picked up his copy of “The Adventures of Martin 
Miggs, the Mad Muggle”, a least Martins adventures were fun and 
interesting. Harry, Hermione and Ron's usually ended up with him being 
knocked out, or having his leg broken, or his sister being kidnapped by 
an evil Lord. He had no idea what Dumbledore was talking about, Him – 
having extraordinary talents? And what was all that about a key? Ron 
sighed and drew the heavy blanket from the sofa up to his chin. 

* 

Hermione had been home for some time now, as soon as she had arrived
home, she had gone to her small library of magical books hidden in the 
living room of her small semi-detached house. Apart from all the 
set-texts from school, Hermione had bought many others, for background 
reading. She had pulled a stack of likely looking books down from the 
shelves, and put them on the small kitchen table. She had been 
searching for over an hour and had found nothing on the order, maybe it 
really was a secret society. Not one book mentioned the Order of the 
Phoenix. In the end Hermione had even looked in Fantastic Beasts and 
where to find them, even though she had knew by heart what was written 
about phoenixes. Dispirited she put the books away, and climbed 
noiselessly up the stairs to her bedroom. It was very small and pink 
and her bed was positioned by the window. She climbed into bed and 
looked up into the moon, thinking about the tasks that lay ahead, and 
what Harry and Ron made of it all. 

* 

Ron was still sat in the chair, I was morning now and he was eating some
toast thinking about nothing in particular, when the and knock at the 
front door. He was so surprised he sat their for a second, no-one ever 
came to their house the muggle-way, and he had a sneaking feeling that 
no muggles even knew where his house was, let alone where the front 
door. He got up and cautiously, checking before that no obvious magic 
was being used. In the doorway was a man dressed in a smart blue 
uniform. 

‘Good day sir' the man said in a pompous voice. 

‘Err...hello?' said Ron nervously. 

‘I'm here to deliver a package to Mr. Ronald Weasley' said the man in
the same pompous voice. 

‘That's me' said Ron, wondering who would have been sending him a
package by muggle mail. 

‘Don't worry son' he said chuckling at the look on Ron‘s face ‘I'm with
Scription Wizarding Post Office, I'm here to deliver a creature to you' 


‘But why did you have to come the muggle way?' Ron asked. 

‘Well the Department of Regulation of Magical Creatures says that no
creature should be transported by floo powder, Apparation or on 
broomsticks. I had to bring it the muggle way' he said. 

‘Why?' asked Ron. 

‘Oh too many accidents happen using Apparation, imagine being
accidentally merged with the creature you were carrying! And some 
creatures have been known to explode when being transported using floo 
powder, so we have to bring them to you the muggle way' He said in a 
monotonous voice which told Ron that he had clearly been asked that 
question many times before. 

‘Just sign here...that's the ticket, now here's the letter that came
with the creature. Thank you very much ' he said and handed Ron the 
small box with holes in the lid. 

When Ron had said goodbye to the ‘post-man' and walked into the kitchen
and placed the box on the large scrubbed table, and opened the letter, 
it was from Hagrid. 

Dear Ron 

Hi how are you? I need to ask you a favour. In the box you should have
is Cupio, I found him in some woods here in – where I am. He is a 
lovely creature, fiercely loyal and extremely loving. I am told it is a 
Taka, an extremely rare woodland creature. I'm not going to be back at 
Hogwarts until the middle of October. Now Cupio, he likes to eat 
sweets, I've heard Taka's have a need for sugar, so if you could just 
feed him on them he should be ok. He loves affection so make sure you 
stroke him and spend a bit of time with him. 

I'm sorry to dump this on you, but where I'm going he would not be able
to survive, he's quite young and has been abandoned by his parents. 
Please look after him for me, I trust you and knew straight away to 
leave him in your care. 

See you in October, Thanks! 

Hagrid 

P.S. Could you give Harry this Birthday card and present for me? Have a
nice holiday! 

Ron laid down the letter and stared at the box, he felt a sense of pride
that Hagrid could trust him with such an important task, and he also 
felt a sense on anticipation. Hagrid had a strange idea about 
creatures. What some people would call bloodthirsty monsters, Hagrid 
would call sweet, misunderstood animals. Ron vividly recalled the 
Blast-ended Skrewts from his last year at school. 

~*~*~ Chapter Five ~*~*~ 

Revenge and Revelations 

Ron looked at the box with apprehension, he leant forward and began to
peel the magical tape binding the box together. He held down the lid, 
and then slowly pulled them apart leaning backwards, flinching, and 
expecting a piercing cry or the flash of talons. Instead all he heard 
was a low, calm sound, much like a snore, coming from the mass of 
cotton wool the box contained. 

Not wanting to put his hand inside the box, he reached for a pair of
salad tongs, that were hanging on the wall above the sink. After taking 
a deep breath he plunged the tongs into the wool, and pulled it out. 
Ron let out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding with a 
whoosh. This was for two reasons, firstly, the creature was asleep, and 
secondly he had never seen a creature so...so beautiful. 

Cupio was very small, about the length of a hand, and its long sleek fur
was at first glance green, but when it caught the light it shimmered 
brown. Ron had seen something that resembled the Taka in a book 
somewhere. It looked remarkably like the Chinese costume of what 
muggles thought dragons looked like. It was the costume they used in 
festivals where three or four muggles stood beneath and became the 
legs, and danced. Its sleek fur reached to just a few centimetres where 
eight tiny furred feet were splayed about. It face was covered in the 
short green fur, which complemented its oversized brown eyelids. It had 
no nose but two nostrils and a wide smiling mouth, that stretched 
across its face. 

Ron reached out and stroked the hair of the Taka, it felt as smooth as
silk, all traces of fear had now left Ron, and he placed his hands 
underneath Cupio and lifted him out of the box. The sound of its 
snoring grew quieter and it was replaced by a low purr – like a cat. It 
opened its large brown eyes and blinked a few times. Ron placed it on 
his knees and it started to trot around in circles, this creature was 
just too cool! Ron laughed as it started to chase its own tail. Finally 
it got tired lay down on his knee, and he stroked it until it fell back 
asleep. Ron thought, as he watch Cupio fall asleep that the for first 
time, and maybe the last, Hagrid was right about beasts, they were ok, 
when you really get down to it. 

* 

Ron had shown the letter to his family, and proudly showed off Cupio at
the kitchen table that night at dinner. Everyone was just as delighted 
at Cupio than Ron was, and Ginny was absolutely transfixed by him. 
Cupio have taken an instant liking to Ginny, from the first moment he 
set eyes on her. He was performing tricks and doing stunts on the 
dinner table when Mr Weasley and Percy apparated. They had just got 
back from work at the ministry and were greeted by a large dinner, and 
seats in front of the fire. Mr Weasley howled at Cupio and even Percy 
managed a smile. He wasn't so obsessed with being like Mr Crouch, not 
since he found out that he had smuggled his son out of wizard prison, 
and controlled him using the Imperius Charm. He had taken the death of 
Mr Crouch hard nevertheless, and he had been promoted and now worked 
longer, more stressful days. 

It was around the dinner table that night that the subject of
conversation turned to Harry. Mrs Weasley had received an owl from 
Dumbledore this morning and Ron had noticed how she had been acting 
strange since she read it. Mrs Weasley looked sad and downcast, and Mr 
Weasley looked anxious, as if his worst fears had just been confirmed. 
Ron had been so wrapped up in Cupio he hadn't even remembered to ask 
what was written in the letter, but now it looked like they were going 
to tell him. 

‘We received an owl this morning' Mrs Weasley begun and sighed ‘I'm
afraid it contained some bad news, last night, after the meeting, when 
Harry returned home, he found that his home had been destroyed and his 
family, they were...they were...dead' Mrs Weasley finished. 

Everyone around the dinner table sat in stunned silence, trying to take
in the news, so they were gone at last? Ron thought. 

‘How?' Ron asked. 

‘You-Know-Who, he left the Dark Mark there' 

‘And...And Harry?' Ginny asked. 

‘Harry's fine, has a few burns, it seems Arabella found him in front of
the house last night to close to the flames, but Dumbledore says that 
after his burns have been looked after by Arabella, he may come and 
stay here with us, Dumbledore seems to think he will be safer here...in 
light of recent events' Mr Weasley told them. 

So Harry's coming to stay with us for the rest of the summer? Ron
thought to himself, if he was Harry he would be happy, he knew Harry 
hated the Dursleys, but Ron knew deep down that it would hurt Harry so 
bad if he lost his only surviving relatives. He's alone now Ron thought 
sadly as he climbed into bed. I wish Harry knew how much of a family we 
are to him, more than the Dursleys ever were. 

* 

It was 11.45 am that night, and Harry was lying in a small uncomfortable
bed, in Mrs Figg's spare room. He was staring at the full moon in the 
sky, since that morning he had said a word to anyone, Sirius had been 
sitting with him for hours, but Harry had been pretending to be asleep, 
he didn't feel like talking. It was going to be his birthday soon, as 
much as he tried he couldn't look forward to becoming 15. He looked 
back at his life so far and it wasn't promising for the future. 

When he looked back on his life he realised that everything that had
happened to him was because of Voldemort. He had lost his parents, even 
the Dursleys in the end. It all came to Voldemort all the pain he had 
suffered from, that everyone had suffered from was because of him. Now 
Harry understood what Dumbledore had said to him before ‘The pain may 
seem strong now, but it will get better, and one day you will be able 
to overcome it, and use it' Harry hadn't been able to understand what 
Dumbledore had meant by ‘use it' but now he did. He felt a strong 
emotion inside him now – a need for revenge. Harry was going to get 
revenge for every life Voldemort had taken and he was going to make him 
pay. 

Harry glanced over at his wristwatch on the table, 12:00, he stared out
the window, wondering what this year would bring, deep down he knew the 
answer. Death. 

~*~*~ Chapter Six ~*~*~ 

The Burrow and the Dream 

Harry was walking down an empty street in a place he didn't recognise,
around him were grand houses surrounded by trees that looked bare with 
their leaves swirling around their ankles. He stopped walking in front 
of one house and looked at the sign that was hanging on the small white 
gate, Potter Hole, Godrics Hollow, Harry pushed the gate open and ran 
into the garden. He was excited, he was about to see his parents again, 
and he walked around the garden he'd called out their names waiting for 
them to answer, searching for them. They've already gone Harry thought 
and walked on, he passed the Burrow on the way, but everyone had 
already left, then Lupin's home, Hermione's, and Dumbledore's. Everyone 
had already gone. 

He got to the last gate and read the sign Cemetery. Harry pushed open
the gates. And started to run up the steep path, he walked up over the 
crest of the hill and into a clearing. He looked around, it was dark 
now, he shivered he didn't want to be here anymore. He started to walk 
the way he came but saw a stone was blocking his Path, something was 
carved on it and as he looked closer he saw the words Lily Potter, 
1960-1981. He turned around and tried the other path but there was 
another stone in the way, James Potter, 1960-1981. Stones blocked every 
path he tried, they were all carved. Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, 
Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore. Everyone was there Harry 
spun round, running trying to find different path but they were all 
blocked. 

‘So Harry, you've finally realised, took you long enough didn't it?'
said a cold voice behind him. 

Harry spun round and saw Voldemort standing tall and proud in front of
him. 

‘Have you put the pieces together yet? The reason why so many people
have died? Why these people here have died? Well I'll tell you Harry. 
It's you. You bring death and destruction to all who you know, and you 
know its all your fault, deep down – Avada Kadava' 

Harry screamed and woke up, he was covered in sweat and was shaking
uncontrollably. 

‘Harry, Harry, it's ok, ok' said Sirius soothingly, Harry's yell had
awoken from his bedside position and comforted Harry, who was crying 
softly, until he fell into a deep sleep again. 

* 

The next morning Harry was subdued but a piece of news managed to raise
his spirits. Dumbledore had brought him breakfast and handed him a 
piece of parchment. Harry looked at Dumbledore questioningly and read 
the letter. 

To Dumbledore 

We will be delighted to take Harry for the rest of the summer holiday,
as you know Ron will be ecstatic to have Harry for the whole summer. 
We'll come and pick him up from Arabella's at 2 p.m. 

Yours Faithfully 

Molly Weasley 

Harry laid the letter down and smiled, for the first time in a few days.


‘So I'm allowed to go?' asked Harry unbelievably. 

‘Of course you can Harry' said Dumbledore smiling, glad that Harry's
mood seemed to be rising. 

* 

Mrs Weasley arrived at Arabella's at 2.15 p.m. and as soon as she saw
Harry she pulled him into a tight hug, 

‘We'll always be there for you Harry, you know that don't you?' she
whispered in his ear. 

‘Thanks Mrs Weasley, I know' Harry replied. 

10 minutes later Harry was travelling through the floo network to the
Burrow. Harry stepped out the fireplace and saw Ron sitting waiting at 
the table with the strangest creature Harry had ever seen rolling 
around the table. 

‘Hey Harry' Ron said nervously, not knowing what to expect from Harry. 

‘Hi Ron, it's so good to see you. What that you've got there?' Harry
asked curiously. 

‘Oh this is Cupio, you'll never guess where I got him from...' and with
that Ron launched into a long explanation about the Taka, and Hagrid's 
letter, and the post-man. So for a while Harry forgot all about his 
troubles and felt more alive than he had done for ages, with the two of 
them laughing and talking for what seem an age 

Half an hour later Mrs Weasley arrived carrying Harry's trunk, which
looked worse for wear. All magical trunks are protected with a 
fireproof charm, but the lid of the trunk had been scorched and was 
still covered in soot, to be honest Harry hadn't even thought about his 
things since the fire. He supposed someone had salvaged it from the 
wreckage. 

‘Just had to have a quick word with Dumbledore, he says your to stay
here with us for the rest of the summer, but your not allowed to leave 
the Burrow, unless its to Diagon Alley, ok?' She asked him 

‘Yeah that's fine' replied Harry who had no wish to leave the Burrow. 

‘Lovely' she said, and levitated the trunk and walked up to Ron's room
at the top of the house. 

‘So what do you think of, the you know, thing?' Ron asked, clearly
talking about the Order. 

‘I don't know, god knows I'd like to have at least one year where an
evil murderer was stalking me, but I suppose in the, you know what, 
we'll be surrounded by people who could help us' Said Harry. 

‘Yeah but –' began Ron, when Ginny walked into the room. 

‘Hey Ron, Harry' she mumbled turning red. ‘Fred and George wanted to
know if you wanted to play a game of Quidditch?' 

‘Yeah sure, Harry?' asked Ron 

‘Yeah I'll just get my broom' he replied. Ginny darted downstairs, and
Harry ran up to Ron's room, opened the trunk and found the Firebolt, 
happy to see it wasn‘t damaged, he slung it over his shoulder and made 
his way down the many flights of stairs. 

‘Hermione will be here tonight' said Ron, the frown on Ron's face told
Harry he must of known about Hermione's short visit to Bulgaria this 
summer to see Krum. 

* 

After a long exhaustive game of Quidditch in the garden, they trudged
into the kitchen for dinner. Ron had been playing keeper, and was 
sporting a bloody nose, caused by George over enthusiasm with an apple. 


Hermione arrived in the evening, and they found a secluded bit of the
living room to talk about the Order. Under the pretence of watching Ron 
teach Cupio some tricks, they discussed that night's event. 

‘Nothing!' exclaimed Hermione ‘I looked in every magical book I have and
there was not one mention of the order, or anything like it!' 

‘Well maybe because it's a SECRET society, kept a SECRET for many
hundreds of years, their hardly going to announce to the world that 
they are working against the forces of evil, or they would have been 
wiped out ages ago!' said Ron. 

‘Well all I know, is that Dumbledore is a main member, and that's all I
need to know, I'd trust him over myself! And if he thinks were up to 
it, then we are' said Harry firmly. 

This ended the conversation and they continued to play with Cupio until
Mrs Weasley ushered them to bed with cups of hot chocolate. 

.~*~*~ Chapter Seven ~*~*~ 

The Ghost Train 

That next evening, July 30th, the subject turned to Harry's impending
birthday. 

‘I've got some great news for everybody' said Mr Weasley, ‘Old Gumbert
Holyhead wanted to thank me for a spot of trouble I sorted out for him, 
a tell-vision with very strange powers, I smoothed it all over and he 
gave me nine tickets to Merlin's Magical Wonderland, since Bill and 
Charlie aren't here, we could give the tickets to Hermione and Harry 
and go together – sort of a Birthday treat for Harry. 

‘MERLIN'S MAGICAL WONDERLAND? Are you serious? Wow! I've always wanted
to go!' said Fred and George in unison. 

Mr and Mrs Weasley laughed as Fred, George, Ron and Ginny danced around
the room, Percy even managed to be forced to do a small Irish jig by 
Fred and George. 

Half an hour later everyone still had huge smiles plastered to their
faces. 

Ron punched the air – ‘Yesssss!' he shouted as they walked upstairs to
bed, Harry had the feeling the news hadn‘t actually sunk in yet. Ginny 
looked just as pleased and blushed to the very tips of her flaming red 
hair when Harry smiled back to her. Fred and George looked equally 
pleased, they had done a lot of studying this holiday, and there was a 
lot less arguments in the household. They were also up to their usual 
tricks, mysterious bangs and clouds of purple smoke were still seen and 
heard coming from their room, but Mrs Weasley didn't mind as much now 
she could see them working. 

‘I can't believe it!' Ron Mumbled as they climbed into bed, ‘Merlin's
Magical Wonderland, it's my dream come true!' 

* 

It was around two in the morning and Ron was awake, Cupio wouldn't go
back to sleep, and needed to show Ron some new trick he had learned. 
Ron was stroking Cupio quietly when Harry suddenly started talking, Ron 
jumped he hadn't realised Harry was awake, 

‘Take it' Harry said groggily. 

‘Take what?' asked Ron. 

‘Look Cedric, you were here first, you take the cup' Harry replied. 

Ron realised Harry was still asleep and that he was just talking in his
sleep. Harry must be having a dream about the Triwizard tournament. 
Harry had not told much about that night and Ron had never asked, but 
now Ron listened as he relived that night. 

‘Both of us, We'll take it at the same time. It's still a Hogwarts
victory. We'll tie for it' Harry murmured, ‘Where are we?' he asked 
again. 

Ron wanted to wake Harry, he didn't want Harry to go through it all
again, sometimes he just wished Harry had told him what had happened, 
and at least then Ron could imagine what Harry had been through. 

Suddenly the hairs on Ron's arms stood on end, static filled the room
and suddenly Ron's vision went black. Then patches of colour returned 
and so did Ron's vision, but this time he wasn't in his bedroom, but a 
dark and overgrown graveyard. He turned to his right and saw Cedric who 
suddenly said ‘Someone's coming'. Then without warning Ron's forehead 
exploded with pain, and he slipped to the floor. 

‘Kill the spare' came a cold voice and a blinding flash of green light
filled Ron's vision. He looked to the right of him, and Cedric was 
lying spread eagle on the floor, dead. 

Ron realised he was watching what had happened the night of the third
task, through the eyes of Harry. He saw everything, he saw Voldemort 
rise again, he saw the death eaters, and felt the pain of the Crucio 
curse, and Harry's duel with Voldemort. The moment his and Harry's hand 
touched the Triwizard cup, Ron awoke sweating and shaking, so did 
Harry. 

He looked over at Ron, who was staring at Harry with a mixture of shock
and terror, 

‘What's wrong?' he asked. 

‘Nothing' Ron replied and turned over in his bed. 

Harry was soon asleep again, but Ron couldn't. He had just seen
everything that had happened to Harry that night, he wished he had 
never asked to know what happened to him. He turned over and watched 
Harry sleeping. Ron didn't understand why everything had to happen to 
Harry, in four consecutive years someone had tried to kill him, how 
could he have lived through it and came through sane? 

He felt sick with guilt. There he was the other night wishing he was
more like Harry, moaning about how boring his life was, but he could be 
like Harry, with no parents, brothers or sisters, or any family, and 
with a arch enemy at the age of one. 

* 

Harry woke up around nine in the morning. He couldn't even remember the
dream he'd had that night, and woke Ron up so they could go and get 
breakfast together. He and Ron got changed, and Harry noticed that Ron 
was strangely quiet. 

If Harry had looked a bit closer maybe he would have seen the black
rings around Ron's eyes, but a Birthday display of Dr Filibusters 
wet-start, no-heat fireworks at the breakfast table pushed all thoughts 
out of his head. Fred and George were treating the family to an 
impressive display in their excitement for today's events. Harry and 
Hermione had never heard of Merlin's Magical Wonderland, but obviously 
it was something not to be missed, and by ten ‘o' clock they were all 
stood around the fireplace ready to travel by Floo powder. 

One sooty and very painful Floo ride later and the whole groups were
assembled around a huge pair of golden gates, with the words, ‘Merlin's 
Magical Wonderland' twisted into the bars. A small Goblin took their 
tickets and showed them to their 'transportation'. Harry had never seen 
anything like it before, or maybe he had. It looked like a large boiled 
egg, floating and meter above the ground. They clambered in, sat down 
and it speeded forward, going so fast they were pushed back into 
they're seats, their faces stretched by the force. 

Suddenly Harry began to panic, he was being pushed further and further
into the back of the seats that he was nearly completely hidden, 
further and further he went back until the seat closed in front of him. 
Suddenly he had the feeling he was falling and he opened his eyes just 
in time to see himself fall onto a huge mattress, on which he bounced 
up and down, until all the Weasley's and Hermione joined him. 

Eventually they began to slow down and they were laughing until their
sides ached as they clambered off the giant bed and began to walk down 
the long golden cobbled street. 

‘That was exciting, eh lads?' said Mr Weasley as he mopped his head
which was glistening with sweat. 

They made their way down the street stopping to look at each ride, ‘How
about this one?' asked Harry, as they came to a stop in front of the 
‘Hall of the unexpected'. 

Mr and Mrs Weasley stayed outside while the rest of them went in. In
front of them was what looked like a huge flagged stone floor, as they 
started to walk across it, the slabs started to fall away, and they all 
started to run for their lives screaming as every stone they stepped on 
fell away beneath their feet. They made it to the other side of the 
room, panting for breath. 

‘That...was...awesome!' breathed Fred, and they all laughed together. 

The next room had a sunken floor at least two meters below the doorway,
they stepped over the edge and the world was suddenly reversed. They 
were standing on what used to be the ceiling looking downwards. They 
soon realised that they could walk upside down and started to run and 
playing tag, made all the more better by the fact that every few 
minutes gravity would reverse itself again. 

After another 15 minutes of running most of which was being done by the
Twins, who were acting like a pair of human bludgers, Harry was 
suddenly saw Fred and George running from each side at him, with intent 
to corner him. Harry was quick in realising and just before the twins 
reached him he jumped out the way and the twins smacked into each 
other. Everyone fell over with laughter, Fred and George laughing the 
most as two identical bruises started rising around their eyes, they 
quickly decided to go onto the next room. 

As the troop walked into the next room their mouths dropped open. It was
a replica of the World Cup Quidditch pitch from last summer. Suddenly 
they felt a ruffle, and a set of the Irish National team robes was 
placed over their clothes. The five Weasley's, Harry and Hermione 
stared around and saw 7 Firebolt's lined up against the base of the 
scoring hoops. Ron let out a whoop of excitement and ran over to his 
broom. Just then out flew what Harry supposed where holograms of the 
Bulgarian team. He glanced over to Ron and Hermione. Hermione's face 
lit up at the sight of Krum flying towards them, but Ron's happy face 
clouded over and was replaced by an angry scowl. 

The team grabbed the brooms and took out their positions, Harry playing
seeker, Ron playing Keeper, the twins playing beaters and Ginny, 
Hermione and Percy playing chasers. Then the referee blew the whistle 
and they were off. They flew backwards and forward, Fred and George 
never missing a bludger, and Ron making an excellent job as Keeper. In 
no time at all the score had reached 100 to Ireland and 70 to Bulgaria, 
after an impressive display of teamwork between Hermione and Ginny, who 
surprised everyone by being naturals as Chasers. The replica Krum had 
been trying to trick Harry into the Wronski Faint, but Harry had 
expected this and had been keeping up high, his eyes searching for the 
small golden snitch. Just then the referee blew his whistle because Ron 
had thrown a quaffle he had just caught a Krum's head, for no reason 
that he would like Hermione to know. 

Just then Harry saw the glint of gold and flutter of wings, and he raced
towards the snitch, Krum saw this and followed, time seemed to be 
moving slower and slower, they were neck and neck when Harry reached 
out and closed his hand around the snitch. The referee blew the 
whistle, and the team soared to the floor and began their celebrations. 
To everyone's amazement leprechauns soared over the pitch, and the cap 
it all off, when the team was shaking hand with the opponents, Ron 
managed to get throw a good right hook into Krum's face, before they 
disappeared. 

They came out of the Hall of the unexpected to meet Mr and Mrs Weasley
who were sitting in a small café drinking tea. They all sat down and 
the Weasley's treated Harry and Hermione to a huge lunch. After they 
had finished they decided to visit ‘The Ghost Train', Harry thought 
this sounded very interested, he knew muggle ghost trains weren't 
usually scary, but the ones in the magical world had to be better. 

They boarded into carriages Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny in the first
and Fred, George and Percy in the second. The carriages floated into 
the long chamber screams and screeches started coming from hidden 
shadowy corners, and then to Harry's shock a dementor appeared at the 
end of the chamber, fear gripped Harry's heart and he reach for his 
wand, before long though he realised it was just a boggart. He managed 
to grimace in the face of his fear, and even managed to laugh when it 
tried to scare him and Ron at the same time by becoming a dementor with 
long hairy legs. They laughed even harder when it tried to scare 
Hermione as well, becoming a dementor with the head of McGonagall. They 
giggled so much that the boggart exploded in a thousand of tiny wisps 
of smoke. 

Then they rounded a corner and saw a long black empty corridor. The
carriages hovered down it silently, the four found they lack of 
phantoms disconcerting. They got half way down when a shriek and a 
flash of silver emerged from the roof and flew at them. They shouted 
and then burst out laughing when they realised what or rather whom is 
was. It was in fact a ghost and not just any ghost, 

‘Nearly Headless Nick?' They gasped in unison. 

‘Oh my' Groaned Nick as he realised that not only were the people on the
ride not scared, but also they were shrieking with laughter. He groaned 
even deeper when he realised it was Harry Potter and his friends. 

‘What are you doing here Nick? I thought ghosts were only allowed to
haunt one place?' Hermione asked. 

‘Well...I...um...well Dumbledore got the ministry to give me special
permission' he stammered, blushing, if it were possible, ‘It gets quite 
lonely in the summer at the castle, and I like being around children, 
and since the headless hunt wouldn't accept me I chose this' he added 
bitterly. 

‘Please don't tell anyone at the castle, I'll be made a laughing stock!'
he said desperately. 

‘Su – Sure!' Hermione gasped, holding her sides, ‘Won't we guys?' she
added. 

The boys nodded, not trusting themselves to speak. 

The were laughing for the rest of the ride, and paid no attention to the
wide range of monsters, jumping from every other shadowy hole or door, 
and the owner of the ride look quite shocked when he saw the children 
stumbling out, shrieking with laughter. 

~*~*~ Chapter Eight ~*~*~ 

The Class of '78 

It had been the best birthday of Harry's life, they spent the day
walking round stopping now and then to go on fast rides, or to buy food 
from the hundreds of brightly coloured stalls that lay in the amusement 
park grounds. By the evening they were all getting tired, and their 
sides were aching from the laughter. Fred and George had looked like 
Christmas had come early when there carriage had come out, and were 
still walking round with dreamy looks on their faces, imagining the 
ways in which they could use this new information about Nearly Headless 
Nick. 

All to soon they were being ushered out by a small dwarf, ‘Were closed!
You should have been out hours ago!' he squeaked – with a voice to 
rival Professor Flitwick. 

So it was with a heavy heart that evryone walked out the huge pair of
golden gates and towards the public floo fireplace. One by one the 
Weasley's and Hermione disappeared into the flames until only Harry and 
Mr Weasley were left. With one last look at the rides and shops, Harry 
threw a handful of the floo powder into the large black fireplace ‘The 
Burrow!' he shouted and stepped into the fire. 

One rough and painful journey later, Harry stumbled into the kitchen and
was greeted by a shower of golden stars. It seemed Fred and George had 
let of another batch of Dr Filibusters fireworks, when the stars 
cleared from Harry's vision slightly, he saw that the huge scrubbed 
wooden table in the Weasley's kitchen was groaning under the weight of 
all the plates placed on them. In the centre of the table stood a blue 
birthday cake with ‘15 Today' iced on top, on the birthday cake was a 
painting on Harry flying on his broom, which was darting backwards and 
forwards on a miniature Firebolt. 

Harry couldn't speak, and the Weasley's and Hermione began to sing him
Happy birthday, he blew out his candles, stammered his thanks and they 
all tucked in to the huge meal Mrs Weasley had created while Harry was 
in the Floo network. Apparently they had all planned it so that they 
could do it before Harry arrived. At the end of the meal everyone was 
so full they could hardly move and Ron surprised Harry one last time. 
Presents from Hagrid and Sirius had arrived while they were at the 
park, and he opened them expectantly. 

Hagrid had sent Harry a small leather bound book on dragons, probably
Hagrid's idea of a joke after his last year at Hogwarts, remembering 
the look on Hagrid's face when he had saw the dragons in the enclosure 
at Hogwarts. Sirius's present was heavy and he pulled off the paper. 
Two things fell out of the package. Two large leather bound books fell 
onto his lap. They were identical, except for the first had the words 
Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry Yearbook, class of 1978, 
James Potter. The second read the same, except Lily Evans was in the 
place of his father's name. He opened his mother's yearbook, and 
flipped through its pages. Each page held a picture of a different 
witch or wizard, and they all had paragraphs of writing under them. The 
Gryffindor's magical photos were on a red background, the Slytherin's 
green, Hufflepuff's yellow, and Ravenclaw was blue. Harry was surprised 
to see that most of his mothers seventh year pictures had been signed, 
even some of the Slytherin's, as well as all the teachers photos on the 
back page. Harry picked up the letter from Sirius. 

To Harry 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I hope you like your presents, Your mom and Dad left
these with Remus a few years ago, and we just found them in the attic. 
We thought you'd like to look through them. I hope you have a good 
birthday, and I'll see you soon. 

From Sirius 

Harry looked up, and suddenly realised the whole table was looking down
at him, 

‘Oh! Sorry, I forgot you were there for a second!' He laughed. 

‘What did Sirius give you Harry?' asked Ron. 

‘Its my mom and dads Yearbooks from when they left Hogwarts, Look he
said flicking through his dads, Here's Sirius!' he said pausing at a 
page. It was a good job that the yearbook was in alphabetical order, 
because Harry wouldn't have recognised the smiling boy with untidy 
black hair and eyes in the photo as that of Sirius. The Sirius in the 
photo was laughing at something, and kept crossing his eyes and poking 
his tongue out at Harry. Harry laughed and was about to read the 
paragraph of untidy scrawl underneath when Mrs Weasley proclaimed it 
was time for bed. 

Gathering up his presents Harry and Ron walked up the stairs to bed,
Saying goodnight to Hermione and Ginny at their room, then Fred and 
George and Finally Percy. Harry and Ron clambered into bed, 

‘That's a great present from Sirius, Harry!' yawned Ron. 

‘Yeah, Goodnight Ron' replied Harry. 

‘Goodnight Harry, Cupio' Ron said as the lights went out. 

* 

The summer passed by quickly, and no news reached them at the Burrow of
Voldemort or his Death Eaters. The Daily Prophet reported nothing 
unusual or out of the ordinary. One morning the family were sat around 
the breakfast table when the Daily Prophet arrived. Mrs Weasley paid 
the owl, placed the paper on the table and continued to eat her 
breakfast. ‘Werewolves to work for the ministry' was the headline 
splashed across the front, with a picture of Cornelius Fudge, the 
Minister for Magic underneath looking nervous as he twirled his bowler 
hat in his hands. 

‘Can I read that?' asked Harry. 

‘Sure, here you go Harry' said Mrs Weasley, handing Harry the paper. 

‘Cornelius Fudge, The Minister of Magic, announced today that he is to
allow werewolves to work for the ministry. He has faced increased 
pressure for this move all summer, as protests were made when an abley 
qualiffied Auror was fired when his condition was discovered earlier 
this summer. Now Witches or Wizards sufferng from lycanthropy, will 
have the same rights as any other person. The minister gave this 
statement to our report earlier today...' 

Harry laid down the paper and grinned, it was about time people realised
that werewolves were just the same as any other person, apart from at 
the full moon. Harry hope Lupin had read today's paper, Sirius had once 
told Harry that Lupin apllied to become a Auror when he had left 
Hogwarts, but was rufused because he was a werewolf. Hopefully Lupin 
could get a job now, he wasn't sure what he had been doing since he 
left his Defence against Dark Arts post in his third year. 

He grinned and handed Ron and Hermione the article, he was about to put
the paper down when a small article with a colour photo caught his eye. 
It was of a well dressed family standing outside of a large house, but 
it wasn't the picture that caught his eye more the title of the artice. 
‘Firelight's return to Godric's Hollow'. He stared at the photo 
intently, he had never seen the village his parents had lived in, all 
he could make out around the house was a lot of tree's with their 
golden leaves swiling around the ankles of the family. There were three 
people in the photo, a tall man with short black hair and brown eyes, 
and a shorter woman also with black hair and brown eyes.They each had a 
hand on their daughters shoulder, who looked around Harry's age, who 
had long black hair, pale skin and large black eyes. 

One of the oldest Wizarding familys the Firelight's are planning to
return to their ancestrial home in Godrics Hollow. Charles and Mary 
Firelight are set to return to Godrics Hollow after their 14 year 
travelling trip around the world. Many of you may remember the 
Firelights defeat of 12 Death Eaters which had surrouded their house 
back in 1981, for which the minister of Magic gave them Order of 
Merlin, First Class. Their daughter Catalina Firelight, born in 1980, 
is the heir to the Firelight mansion and name, being the Firelights 
only child. The firelights packed their bags and left England only a 
day after being attacked for a second time by Death eaters on their 
daughters first birthday in 1981, only to make a surprise announcement 
last night. The family mansion ‘Firelight Heights' in Godrics Hollow 
has remained boarded up since 1981, and renovation work is being 
performed. The firelights are expected to take up jobs in the ministry, 
and their daughter is expected to take up her position at Hogwarts. 

Harry stared at the picture again, she'd be in the 5th year at Hogwarts,
that meant that she would be in his year, he frowned at the picture one 
more time and continued reading the paper. Harry had a funny feeling 
about that family, but he wasn‘t sure what it was. Nothing else of 
importance stood out, but Harry did register the fact that Rita Skeeter 
didn't have any articles today. Harry passed the rest of the paper to 
Ron and Hermione, Ron completely missed the article about the 
firelights, but Harry watched Hermiones face closely as she read it. 
Her eyes went wide as she read the headline, and he mouth dropped open 
as she read the article. Harry looked away just in time. Hermione 
glanced up at Harry, gulped as if she wasn't sure about something, she 
opened her mouth but seemed to think about it for a second and she 
closed her mouth. Harry was right, there was something about that 
family, he could tell from Hermiones statement it wasn't just about the 
fact they lived in Godric's Hollow. He would have to watch out for that 
family in the future. 

* 

At around 3 am Ron was still wide awake, ever since he had been in
Harrys dream he had been confused he didn't know it had happened. He 
had been sitting in bed and Harry had been having that nightmare, and 
he had just wished he knew what had happened to Harry, and then he'd 
been in his dream. He had thought long and hard about it and had 
decided not to tell Harry what had happened. He didn't think Harry 
would like the fact that he had been in his dream. 

Ron was stroking Cupio absent mindedly thinking about The Order, Harrys
dream, and Voldemort, when Harry moaned and turned over in his sleep. 
Ron panicked, what if Harry was having that dream again? He wished he 
knew what Harry was dreaming, he wasn't sure whether to wake Harry or 
not, it wasn't fair that Harry had to relieve the worst momnets of his 
life every night when he went to sleep. 

Suddenly the hairs on Ron's arms stood on end, static filled the room
and suddenly Ron's vision went black. Then patches of colour returned 
and so did Ron's vision, but this time he wasn't in his bedroom, he was 
in a small well kept garden in front of a huge mansion. A signpost 
Hanging up told him that it was Firelight Heights, Godrics Hollow. He 
looked up and saw a girl his age standing in front of him, she had long 
black hair and pale skin, 

‘Hello Harry' she said softly, 

‘Oh I'm not Harry, I'm Ron' is what Ron meant to say, ‘Hello Cat' came
the voice from Ron's mouth. 

‘So you've come back at last? I missed you Harry, we haven't seen each
other for so long' came the soft voice again. 

‘Why are you back?' Ron/Harry asked cautiously. 

‘Were coming back for the fight against the dark, we are the light
Harry' she said mysteriously. 

‘My parents are coming back in a moment, they wont like to see you here,
you better go' she said hastily. 

Ron turned around and started running. He looked back and saw Catalina's
parents stand behind her and place a hand on each shoulder. They shook 
their fists at Ron, and Ron turned around to continue running. As he 
turned round he saw a tree appear from nowhere, but couldn't move as 
fast. He ran straight into the tree and woke up suddenly. At the same 
time Harry woke up, he glanced over to Ron, 

‘What's wrong?' he asked Ron grinning, Ron looked like he'd seen a
ghost. 

‘Nothing, just got a bit of a headache' Ron said hastily ‘You were
making a load of noise, what were you dreaming about?' Ron asked. 

‘Can't remember now' said Harry truthfully. 

~*~*~ Chapter Nine ~*~*~ 

Dress Robes and Dessert 

Everyone was sitting round the breakfast table and it was only one week
until they would go back to Hogwarts for their 5th year and they had 
heard nothing of the Order. Harry didn't seem to remember anything of 
his dream, but Ron did, and made it his mission to find out who ‘Lanie' 
was, and how Harry knew her. Ron had never seen them before, but 
apparently they lived in Godrics Hollow, he was sure that's were Harry 
Parents lived. Before Ron could get any thoughts together, the post 
arrived, and everyone except Percy received their Hogwarts letters. 

Harry noticed his, Ron's and Hermione's envelopes were larger than other
years. 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY 

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore 

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf Warlock, 

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards) 

Dear Mr Potter, 

Term begins on 1st September, and a list of equipment and books needed
for the new school year. Pupils must know that Dress robes will be 
needed for the annual Yule ball that will be held on December 24th. 

Yours sincerely 

Minerva McGonagall 

Deputy Headmistress. 

‘What books do we need this year?' asked Hermione. 

‘Well lets see...' Said Harry scanning down the list. 

‘The standard book of spells (Grade 5) by Miranda Goshawk, 

The Extended History of Magic By Bathilda Bagshot, 

Advanced Transfiguration by Emeric Switch, 

1001 Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Malorus, 

One Thousand Magical Herb and Fungi by Phylias Spore 

Omens and prophecies by Cartomacy Felix 

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them 53rd edition by Newt Schmander 

Advanced Defence against dark arts by Quentin Trimble' 

‘That sounds like an expensive set of books' said Ron worriedly. 

‘We better plan a trip to Diagon Alley we need to get new dress robes as
well, another Yule Ball it looks like' Said Harry. 

‘Oh No!' moaned Ron, ‘Not again!' 

* 

It was a bright sunny day as Ron, Harry and Hermione walked down Diagon
alley. They stopped off a Gringotts first and Harry got some money from 
his vault, and Hermione exchanged her muggle money for Galleons, 
Sickles and Knuts. Then they walked into Madame Malkin's to get their 
dress robes. Fred and George had given Ron a handful of coins to buy 
himself new dress robes, when Ron quizzed them on the money, they told 
him after the shame of the last Yule ball they had started a collection 
tin to buy him new robes, after giving Harry a conspiratorial wink. Ron 
was happy he was getting new robes, but didn't like the thought of 
being a charity case. 

It was cool inside Madame Malkin's and they walked over to the dress
robes section. Soon Ron had chosen a dark navy blue set of robes, and 
Hermione had chosen a lilac set. Harry couldn't find a pair of Dress 
Robes that he liked, and Ron complained so much he promised he'd come 
back later to pick out a pair. They went to on to Flourish and Blotts 
and got their schoolbooks, and re-filled their potions ingredients in 
the apothecary. Harry treated the others to ice cream at Florean 
Fortescue. Harry finished his quickly and told the others he'd go and 
get his Dress Robes while they finished eating. 

Harry walked into Madame Malkin's again, and went over to the Dress
Robes rack. He looked through all the robes and decided to get a bottle 
green one, the same as his robes last year, he was never any good a 
shopping. Harry turned round to take his robes to the counter when he 
heard an unwelcome voice. 

‘So, what house are you going to be in?' Came the drawling voice from
behind the curtain. 

‘I don't really care now if you'll excuse me...' said a soft yet
impatient voice. 

‘You've got to be in Slytherin, It's the house for the most powerful
Witches and Wizards-which we all know you are' pressed Draco Malfoy. 

‘I don't know about that' came the familiar girl's voice again, she
sounded like she wasn't enjoying talking to Malfoy. 

‘Lets go and get an Ice cream and you can tell me about your family'
persisted Draco. 

‘No thanks, I need to get my robes' said the girl's voice. 

‘No come on' He said getting angry with the girl. 

‘Malfoy, why don't you just leave her alone, she obviously doesn't want
to go with you' Harry said angrily, as he stepped from behind the 
curtain. 

‘Who asked you?' Malfoy hissed angrily at Harry. 

‘No he's right, I don't want to go with you, slimeball!' said the girl
sweetly to Malfoy. 

Small pink patches appeared on Malfoy's cheeks, but he didn't say
anything, he just turned on his heal and stalked out of the shop, 
shooting evil looks at Harry. Harry and the girl laughed when Malfoy, 
so intent on glaring at Harry, walked into the door of the shop. 

‘Thanks for that I thought I'd never get away from him -' she said
turning round for the first time, but when she saw Harry she stopped. 
She seemed to recover so quickly Harry wasn't even sure she faltered 

‘Hi I'm Catalina Firelight' said the girl holding out her hand. 

‘Harry Potter' He said after a moment shaking hers. 

‘So I noticed' she added looking at his scar. 

‘Well its nice to meet you Catalina, I have to go and buy my dress
robes, my friends will be waiting for me.' said Harry after an 
uncomfortable silence. 

‘Yeah, I'm just gonna buy my robes for Hogwarts' she said staring at
Harry strangely. 

‘Hey after that you can come and meet my friends if you like' Harry
asked. 

‘Erm...sure' she said after a while. 

* 

Ron and Hermione were sitting in the sun outside the Ice Cream Parlour,
they had long finished their ice creams and were talking and waiting 
for Harry. Hermione seemed to want to tell Ron something, but was 
taking a long time to get round to it. 

‘Hermione, what do you want to tell me? You've been chewing your nails
for the last 10 minutes' said Ron after a while. 

‘Well, Ron I was watching Harry read the paper the other day, and he
spent about ten minutes reading this one article about the Firelight 
Family, and how their going to move back to Godric's Hollow, where 
Harry used to live. Anyway, the Firelights they had a daughter, called 
Catalina, and she's a -' Hermione began. 

But what the Firelights daughter was Ron never found out, because at
that moment a shadow fell on their table. 

The pair looked up and their mouths dropped open, Harry standing in
front of them with a girl with pale skin and long black hair. 

‘Hey guys, sorry I took so long, I've got my robes at last!' he said
holding up his bag as proof grinning at his friends. 

‘Hi I'm Catalina Firelight' said the girl extending her hand to Ron then
Hermione. 

Harry paid close attention to his friend's reactions to Catalina. Ron
stared open mouthed at the girl, and whispered back his name to her. 
Hermione managed to smile at the girl and introduce herself. 

‘Well guys, I've got to go, my parents are waiting for me' she said
nervously as if she was scared of being seen with them, with a small 
wave she was gone. 

Harry looked his friend's smiling at their faces. 

‘What's the matter guys, you look like you've seen a ghost' asked Harry.


Little did Harry know that both of his friends had seen Catalina before,
and knew a lot more about her than he did. 

~*~*~ Chapter Ten ~*~*~ 

Magus and Magic 

It was the last night of the summer term, and Ron, Harry and Hermione
were just finishing dessert. Hermione and Ron had both been subdued 
since their meeting with Catalina. But soon the subject of conversation 
turned to Catalina. 

‘She was being pestered by Malfoy when I saw her, you should have seen
Malfoy's face when she told him he was a slimeball...and then walked 
into the door...priceless!' said Harry laughing at the memory. 

‘Harry have you ever met Catalina before?' asked Ron out of the blue. 

‘No, not since that day at Diagon Alley, why?' asked Harry, startled by
Ron's odd question. 

‘No reason really, it's just you seem to know her already, just the way
you look at her, if you know what I mean?' said Ron recalling his and 
Harry's dream. 

Harry looked curiously at Ron, then to Hermione who was chewing her
nails. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. 

‘What is it Hermione, I saw you read that article in the newspaper after
me, you were going to say something about the Firelights then but 
didn't, What is it?' asked Harry staring at Hermione. 

‘What article?' asked Ron, bewildered. Harry handed him the newspaper,
which was still on the table, which he quickly read, open-mouthed. 

‘Well Harry, I don't know if you anything about the Firelights?' she
asked Harry, who shook his head. 

‘Well they are a very old Wizarding family, they can trace their
ancestry back to the Gryffindor's and further still.' said Hermione 
fearfully. 

‘So? What's got you two so worked up about her? You're an old Wizarding
family' Harry said pointing to Ron. 

‘Well,' said Ron ‘Did you also know that the Firelights are also so
powerful that it is rumoured they can do magic without wands?' 

‘Without wands...is that even possible?' asked Harry in disbelief. 

‘And do you know what that makes her?' added Hermione continued ‘That
makes her a Magus, a very powerful witch, are they are usually 
associated with the Dark Side' 

‘A Magus? Just because that's associated with the dark side doesn't mean
that Catalina works for Voldemort, if that's what you mean' said Harry 
angrily ‘I'm a parselmouth, do you think I'm with the Dark Side?' 

‘No Harry, of course we don't think you're with the Dark Side' said Ron
nervously not liking were this conversation was going. 

‘Well then I wouldn't believe she's with the dark side either, you don't
even know her!' Said Harry, standing up, ‘I'm going to bed' 

Harry strode upstairs to bed, leaving Hermione and Ron. 

‘Well he didn't take that very well did he? Why is he sticking up for
that girl? He doesn't know her either!' said Hermione staring after 
Harry. 

‘I have a feeling he does' said Ron remembering that dream again. 

‘How do you know?' asked Hermione curiously. 

‘He had a dream about her one night' said Ron ‘I heard him talking in
his sleep' he added seeing Hermione's statement. ‘He called her Cat 
though, and asked her why she was back, it was really strange, but when 
he woke up he couldn't remember the dream' said Ron thoughtfully. 

‘Well, we wont find anything out now, lets ask Harry when he's in a
better mood' said Hermione. 

* 

It was the 1st of September and the Weasley house was in total uproar.
Trunks lay everywhere in the house, books still in piles in bedrooms, 
and clothes that needed to be washed that hadn't, and animals of 
varying sizes were running, flapping or padding through the rooms. 
Breakfast was hurried and goodbyes were shouted to Percy and Mr Weasley 
who had to leave for work early. 

Mrs Weasley ordered three muggle taxis to take them to Kingsroad station
for 9 'o'clock when the train to Hogwarts would leave. Finally the 
animals were gathered and everyone was packed into the taxis. All went 
well and Harry was acting his usual self, it seemed all thoughts of 
last nights argument was driven out of his head. 

They reached Kingsroad station with 20 minutes to spare, and they
managed to get through the barrier and onto the platform in record 
time. Everyone put their trunks into the compartment and said goodbye 
to Mrs Weasley who dished out sandwiches, kisses and hugs to everyone. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione grabbed an empty carriage, but it was soon
filling with their school friends, Neville and Ginny stayed with them 
and Dean and Seamus visited them briefly. About halfway through the 
journey Hermione and Ron were playing exploding snap and Harry was 
reading one of Hermione's huge books, Kurds Peerage, a guide to the 
most powerful Wizarding families. Ron and Hermione knew exactly what 
Harry was looking up, but decided not to say anything. Harry heard the 
door of the compartment open, but didn't look up, he was still 
searching for the page he wanted. The cards Hermione and Ron were 
playing with exploded, and he heard Hermione and Ron gasp at the person 
who had just walked in. 

‘I'm on page 356, if you wanted to know, but the picture doesn't really
do me justice' Catalina said grimly. 

‘I wasn't looking for that at all' said Harry blushing shoving the book
out of sight. 

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Harry decided to take the
initiative. He knew Catalina was good, he just knew and he'd make the 
others see it. 

‘So Catalina, where have you been going to school all this time?' asked
Harry. 

‘Oh everywhere, I've been in a different school, in a different country
every year. I spent my first year in China's Hung Yin academy, my 
second in Russia's Red Square Palace, My third year in America's Salem 
academy, and my fourth year Africa's Zulu witchcraft school. I tell 
you, I really get tired of all those new schools, passwords, teachers 
and friends it'll be nice to settle down in one country for a while' 
said Catalina her accent a strange mix of all the different countries 
she had been to. 

‘Wow! All those different schools? What were they like?' asked Hermione
making the effort for Harry's sake. 

Before long Hermione and Catalina were in deep conversation and Harry
and Ron started to play exploding snap between themselves but Harry 
could tell from the looks Ron was throwing 

‘Catalina that he still didn‘t trust her, and the glances at Harry every
now and again that something was on his mind. Their peace was shattered 
when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle pushed their way into their carriage. 

‘So Catalina, I would have thought a witch of your...lineage...would
know better than to hang around with mudbloods like that' Malfoy spat 
looking at Malfoy with distaste. 

‘Really Malfoy, haven't you come up with anything better than that?
You've had all summer to come up with insults for us while your all on 
your own in your mansion' said Hermione laughing off the insult. 

‘I wasn't talking to you, mudblood. I was talking to Catalina. Here's
your last chance, you wouldn't want me as your enemy' hissed Malfoy, 
eyes glinting dangerously. 

‘Well Draco, I think I'll stay right where I am, and I warn you not to
cross my path either, you wouldn't want me as your enemy either' 
Catalina whispered, eyes flashing. 

‘Well, I would have thought you would have more sense that to associate
yourself with him' Draco hissed nodding his head towards Harry ‘Not 
after your past history' he added. 

‘You better watch out for this one Potter, Her family and her –' started
Malfoy staring at Catalina for the reaction his words would get. 

‘Get...Out!' Catalina hissed, for a moment she looked completely wild,
her eyes glowed red and static leapt between the ends of her fingers. 

Ron and Hermione must have missed this because they were staring
intently at Malfoy. 

‘Fine, your loss' said Malfoy simply as he turned on his heal and
stalked out. 

‘Thank god he's out of here, don't you think Harry?' asked Hermione. 

Harry nodded slowly still staring at Catalina hands, maybe he had just
imagined it. 

‘Another game Harry?' asked Ron holding up the cards. 

‘Sure' said Harry shuffling away from Catalina. 

~*~*~ Chapter Eleven ~*~*~ 

The Sorting 

The rest of the train journey passed without event, Catalina had won
over Ron and Hermione during the journey. The way Catalina had stood up 
for herself against Malfoy had proved Catalina to Ron, and she and 
Hermione had spent the whole journey talking about everything about 
Catalina previous schools. 

Only Harry was strangeley subdued during the journey, Ron didn't know
what was wrong with Harry, one minute he was defending Catalina against 
them, and the next he couldn't sit far enough away from her. He looked 
thoughtfull and Ron had noticed a strange look in Harry's eyes ever 
since Malfoy had left the carriage, he couldn't really describe it, was 
it fear? Or something else, Ron didn't know. He made a mental note to 
ask Harry later on. 

They found an empty carriage and piled in, Ron sat next to Hermione on
one side, and Harry who got in last, was forced to sit next to 
Catalina, which he didn't look happy about. Soon however Catalina's 
first sight of the castle drove all thoughts out of Harrys head. She 
had a look of awe on her face as they passed through gates, flanked 
with statues of winged boars, and she couldn't take her eyes off the 
giant towers. 

Harry grinned at the look on her face, she was like a kid in a sweet
shop, and soon they arrived at the huge stone steps that led up to the 
huge oak doors. 

‘Miss Firelight?' came a severe voice from the entrance hall. 

The four spun round and saw Snape looming over them, staring at Catalina
with a sour look on his face, and when he saw Harry standing next to 
her, it was quickly replaced by a strange look, a mixture of dismay and 
confusion. 

‘You have to come with me, you need to be sorted with the rest of the
first years' he said after a pause. 

‘Sure' said Catalina nervously, and after casting a longing look back to
the trio, she walked off with Snape, following his billowing black 
cloak. 

‘I wonder if she's going to be in Gryfinddor?' asked Ron thoughtfully. 

‘I think she will' said Hermione hopefully, ‘You were right about her
Harry, shes a really loveley person' 

‘Yeah' said Harry, but this time there was no mistaking it, Ron and
Hermione saw the look on Harry's face, he clearly didn't hope she was 
going to be in Gryfinddor. 

* 

The great hall was packed with students, most of them sitting at the
long house tables, but a small crowd of them were standing nervously in 
the centre of the hall under the dark, star filled bewitched ceiling of 
the Great Hall. Harry, Hermione and Ron sat at their regular seats at 
Gryfinddor table and waited for the sorting to start. 

Harry looked up to the Staff Table and noticed that Hagrids seat still
stood empty, and then remembered that Hagrid wouldn't be back until 
October. He wondered who they would have to be gamekeeper and Care of 
Magical Teacher until he got back. He also noticed that Mrs Figg, or 
Professor Figg, hadn't arrived yet, neither had Dumbledore. He looked 
over to the pale faces of the small first-years remembering his own 
sorting and how nervous he‘d been then. One face stood out from the 
confident, Catalina pale face showed no trace of fear, which Harry 
found strange until Hermione spoke. 

‘I suppose she wouldn't be nervous about being sorted, not after going
through it at four different ceremonies already' commented Hermione 
seeing the look on Catalina's face. 

Before Harry or Ron could answer, Professor McGonagall stepped forward,
and placed a three-legged stool on the ground before the first years 
and, on top of it, an extremely old and patched Wizards hat. 

At that moment Dumbledore strode in with Professor Figg, and they walked
past the house tables and settled at the Staff Table, he smiled around 
everyone, 

‘Sorry about that everyone, please continue' he said warmly. 

Everyone reverted their gaze back to the hat, who sat still for a moment
before a tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and that broke 
into song. 

Harry amused himself by watching Fred and George, who had created a
dance routine to the Sorting Hats song, one stare from McGonagall 
silenced them, and they allowed the sorting hat to finish. 

The Great Hall rang with applause and Professor McGonagall started to
read the names of her parchment, soon green faced first years were 
sitting down on the stool, and trying on the hat tentatively. 

‘Brennan, Lucy!' she shouted 

HUFFLEPUFF! 

‘Herdson, Geraldine!' 

GRYFINDDOR 

‘Warren, Richard!' 

RAVENCLAW 

One after another, the first years stumbled up to the hat looking sick,
and every one of them looked throughly relieved when they walked over 
to their cheering tables. Soon they list of first years reached ‘W' and 
everyone was starting to get hungry. The sorting ended and Catalina was 
left standing in the middle of the hall. Presently Dumbledore got up 
and smiled around the Hall. 

‘Students and teachers welcome to another year at Hogwarts, before the
feast starts there is one more student left to be sorted. Catalina 
Firelight is a new student at the school, and she has to be sorted in 
to her house, so Miss Firelight would you please step up to the hat?' 
said Dumbledore, eyes twinkling. 

All eyes in the hall were on Catalina, as she strode up to the hall and
sat down at the stool. Professor held the hat to her head, and before 
it had even fell over his eyes, it screamed GRYFINDDOR! Harry had 
expected as much, if she was decended from Gryfinddor, it made sense 
that she would be in his house. Despite his doubts over Catalina he 
couldn't help cheering along with the rest of the Gryfinddors as 
Catalina strolled over and sat next to Hermione. 

‘Congratulations' said Hermione enthusiastically to Catalina. 

‘Yeah, your going to love Gryfinddor tower!' said Ron, smiling at
Catalina. 

Suddenly the food appeared on the tables, and everyone suddenly
realising how hungry they actually were, stopped talking and tucked 
into their dinner. 

* 

Catalina walked through the corridors with her mouth slightly open, she
stared down the stone corridors, at the paintings hanging up on the 
walls, at the suits of armours and the empty classrooms. Soon they were 
outside the Gryfinddor tower. 

‘Fortitudo' said Harry to the Fat Lady, who swung open. 

The boys split up from the girls, as they went up to their own
dormitries, feeling full from the feast most of the boys fell asleep as 
soon as their heads hit the pillow. 

The girls however, sat up in bed and talked for hours, about Catalina's
life before Hogwarts, about Hermiones life since Hogwarts. They 
compared notes on the different schools, and Hermione told Catalina 
about all the different lessons. It turned out Catalina was taking 
Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes. Hermione 
quickly filled her in on the different teahers, and told them about 
Hagrid, and Catalina couldn't wait to meet him. At about 2 am the 
girls, still talking throught the yawns, decided it was time to sleep. 

‘Go-o-od night Catalina!' said Hermione trying to stifle a yawn. 

‘Night, Hermione' said Catalina sleepily. 

Within minutes the girls were fast asleep, and across the tower, in an
identical dormitory so were the boys. 

~*~*~ Chapter Twelve ~*~*~ 

Crossing The Line 

Hermione and Catalina were woken by various pillows hitting there beds. 

‘Get up! Come on girls your late!' shouted Harry from the doorway. 

‘Yeah, you two are gonna be late for breakfast if you don't get up
soon!' Shouted Ron, as another charmed pillow floated over and hit 
Catalina in the face. 

‘What?' asked Hermione, sitting bolt upright in bed. 

‘You guys shouldn't be in here!' mumbled Catalina from under the heavy
red and gold blankets. 

‘Ah-ha! But were not in your dorm,' said Harry knowingly. 

‘Yeah we havent crossed The Line!' said Ron with mock seriousness,
reminding Harry forcibly of the Twins. 

The boys grinned at the two girls who were trying to unravel themselves
from their bedsheets, still pelting them with charmed pillows. 

‘Oh yeah?' said Hermione with a sly smile. 

‘Haven't crossed The Line?' asked Catalina catching on. 

The boys looked at each other nervously, and started to back away from
the threshhold. 

‘Accio Harry!' Shouted Catalina at the same time as Hermione shouted
‘Accio Ron!' 

The boys felt invisible strings pulling them towards the girls, they
both grabbed hold of the doorframe, looking as if the were being swept 
away by strong winds. They couldn't hold the frame for much longer, and 
with one last desperate look at each other, let go. 

Harry went flying into Catalina, and Ron into Hermione and soon they
were lying in a pile of arms, legs and bedsheets. Laughing hysterically 
they tried to free themselves, and soon Catalina, Harry and Hermione 
were free, and left to laugh at Ron who seemed to be wrapping himself 
up more as he tried to get out. 

In the end Hermione went over to extricate Ron from the Sheets, and the
two girls banished the boys fom the room, promising they wouldn't be 
too long. Five minutes later the girls flew out of the tower, robes on 
back-to-front and bags flying behind them. The four of them quickly ran 
down the Great Hall, and found themselves four seats and eat breakfast 
in record breaking speed. 

Timetables were handed round, and all four of them groaned as they saw
they had double potions with the Slytherins first thing. Not wanting to 
be late for their first lesson of the year with Snape, they left 
breakfast as soon as possible, each clutching pieces of toast in their 
hands. They made their way down to the dungeons, and as they tuned the 
corner felt their hearts sink as they saw Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle 
already waiting in front of the closed classroom door. 

‘Oh look if it isn't Potty, Weasel and the Mudblood, Oh and their new
friend' Said Malfoy, with a sneer playing across his thin lips. 

Harry grabbed the back of Rons robes, ‘Snape'll be here any minute, he's
just trying to aggrevate you' he whispered to Ron. 

‘Ah whats the matter Weasel? Has your family run out of courage aswell
as money?' Malfoy sneered. 

‘Shut you face Malfoy, were fifth years now, and that's the worst you
can come up with?' Catalina hissed. 

Ron saw Harry give a start and look fearfully towards Catalina. 

‘Oh, its you' Malfoy said directing his comment at Catalina, staring
daggers at her. 

Ron saw Harry staring wide eyed and fearfully at Catalina's hands, just
then sensing Ron's gaze, Harry looked up, Ron quickly turned away, back 
to Malfoy. 

‘So Catalina, been catching up on old fiends have we? Been having a
little –' Malfoy started, before the sound of the swish of a cloak shut 
him up. 

The seven of them stared around the corner, and saw Snape come into
view. Malfoy quickly turned back to Crabba and Goyle, and pretended to 
carry on a conversation they were having. 

Snape unlocked the door and ushered them in, they choose seats at the
back as far away from Malfoy and their cronies as possible. 

‘What was that all about?' Ron hissed at Harry. 

‘All what?' asked Harry faking amnesia. 

‘You were staring at Catalina as if she was about to explode, and what
was all that Malfoy was saying about Family reuni-' Ron started before 
Snape cut them off. 

‘Today we will be conconcting a memory potion, so get out your quills
and take these notes...' Snape said, and started to tell them the 
ingrediants they would need. 

Ron looked over to Harry waiting for him to explain, but he merely
looked over to Catalina and shrugged. 

‘You know as much as I do Ron' he whispered, but apparently not to
quietly. 

‘Mr Potter, I assume from the fact that you are talking instead of
listening means you already know how to make the memory potion. 
Therefore you can and Longbottom can test your potion for us at the end 
of the class' he said silkily to Harry. 

Harry didn't say anything but picked up his cauldron and slammed in a
little harder than he meant to on Neville's table. Harry stared at the 
back of Snapes head, hoping to god something horribly painfull would 
happen to him, then set to work on his potion. He had to get this 
right, or who knows what would happen. 

Ron was paired up with Crabbe, Hermione with Goyle and Harry saw
Catalina get up and walk over to Malfoys table with a look of disgust 
on her face. 

He saw Malfoy lean over and whisper something to Catalina, they both
looked over to Harry, who quickly turned away. He heard Malfoy laugh 
out loud and from the corner of his eye saw Catalina gulp, before 
getting out her ingredients. 

An hour later and Harry and Neville's memory potion was dark green
instead of blue, and Harry was getting nervous. He looked over 
pleadingly to Hermione, who seemed to be doing both her and Goyle's 
work. Harry caught her eye, pointed to his potion they made a sign as 
if he was praying. Hermione must have understood because as she walked 
past under the pretence of washing her ladle, whispered ‘Add more 
Moonflower petals to it.' 

Neville picked more moonflower petals, and handed them to Harry, who
started stirring feverishly. Slowly the potion started turning blue and 
Harry let out a sigh of relief just as Snape shouted, 

‘Times up! Your potion should be ready. Now everyone gather round, if
Potter and Longbottom have done their potion correctly they should be 
able to remember any event that has happened to them ever for exactly 
one hour, when it will wear off' 

Snape sneered at Harry as he handed a cup of the potion to him and
Neville. Harry gave Neville a reassuring nod and the both gulped down 
the potion together. It tasted like peppermint and slid down their 
throats slowly. 

‘If they have done the potion correctly, they should see a rush of
images infront of their eyes, indicating the memories which are 
flooding back to them' said Snape with a look on his face that said he 
clearly hoped they had got the potion wrong. 

Nothing happened for a few moments and Harry started to panic but just
then, images started to flash in front of his eyes, he saw himself in 
the Triwizard Tournament, in the Shrieking Shack, Facing a huge snake, 
standing infront of the Mirror of Erised and getting his Hogwarts 
letter. Images he already knew rolled past his eyes, going further and 
further back in time. Then images he didn't recognised started coming, 
him in the cupboard at Privit drive, him at Mrs Figgs house, him crying 
from a cut on his leg, Dudley chasing him around the house. Further and 
further the images stretched until he was just a baby. Him sitting on 
the floor, Dudley high above him in a highchair, Him folded in blankets 
sitting on a huge bike, A huge pair of hands picking him up from some 
rubble, Sirius's face holding him arms out to Harry, him and his mother 
running up some stairs. Even further back the memories stretched until 
he was just a small baby crawling aroun a garden, his mom and dad 
playing with him on a carpet, a gaggle of faces looking at him over the 
edge of a crib, him with another small baby in the garden. Then the 
images stopped and he looked around to the shocked faces, they were 
staring at him and Neville, with a look of awe on their faces. 

‘Right! Everyone packed up, for homework write a three page essay on the
Memory potion, including a summery on the ingredients, uses and 
side-effects' shouted Snape over the babble of voices echoing around 
the dungeon. 

Everyone made a rush to pack up, no-one wanted to stuck in the dungeon
with Snape. Ron met up with Catalina and Hermione and walked over to 
Harry who was picking up some books he dropped on the floor. 

Harry straightened up and looked into Ron and Hermiones grinning faces. 

‘What?' he asked suspeciously. 

‘Do you know what Snape meant by side-effects to the potion?' asked
Hermione trying to hide her smile. 

‘No,' asked Harry staring between Ron and Hermione eyes narrowing, ‘What
are they?' 

‘Well,' said Ron grinning ‘You actually tell people what the memoies
your seeing' 

‘No I didn't!' said Harry nervously ‘I didn't say anything!' 

‘Oh you did!' added Hermione, ‘You told us all about you and the mirror
of Erised, and you and Hagrid flying the motorbike, you and Lupin, 
Peter Pettigrew and Sirius looking at you in your crib!' 

‘Yeah, people were a bit shocked about Sirius actually' Ron added
laughing. 

‘Oh don't worry Harry! You didn't say anything too personnal!' Said
Hermione noticing Harry's blushing and shocked face. 

‘Oh' Harry said, picked up his stuff and walked out of the deungeon, ‘We
don't want to be late, or it'll be like the time Aunt Petunia locked me 
out of the Kitchen like she did when I was six!' said Harry, then 
realising what he said clapped his hand over his mouth, eyes wide. 

‘How long does this potion last again?' Harry asked apprehensively. 

‘Oh, only an hour' said Rin, grinning as Harry let out a groan. 

‘Trust Snape to test it on me' shouted Harry to no-one in particular. 

‘That wasn't a very nice thing for Snape to do, was it?' asked Catalina
who had remained silent all the way through their conversation. 

‘Snape be nice? If Snapes ever been nice to us in our lives I'll eat
Cupio!' Ron said laughing. 

‘Catalina, Are you ok? You look a bit pale' Hermione asked. 

Catalina glanced over to Harry, gulped and then rubbed her head. 

‘Yeah I've got a bit of a headache, Hermione could you show me where the
First Aid Room is?' She asked 

‘Yeah, we've got a hospital wing here, come on I'll take you, See you at
dinner guys' Said Hermione as she led Catalina to the Hospital Wing. 

Ron and Harry made their way to the Great Hall for lunch, Ron laughing
as Harry kept blurting out memories. He was still chuckling when they 
sat down to dinner, and the twins sat next to them. Ron filled in the 
twins in on the potions lesson, while Harry was shooting daggers at 
him. 

‘Ah come on Harry, the hours nearly up, just thank your lucky stars we
weren't making veritserum!' Said Ron, who started laughing even louder 
when Harry shared another memory that veritserum had reminded him of. 

After that Harry had the sense to keep his mouth shut, and he merely
nodded as Ron chatted to him. 

‘Wonder whats wrong with Catalina? She didn't look very well did
she?‘asked Ron idly. 

‘Don't know, she didn't look very happy about that memory potion though
did she?' said Harry, forgetting his vow to not answer any of Ron's 
questions. 

‘Nah, she looked postively sick when you and Neville started talking!'
said Ron wonderingly. 

‘Really?' asked Harry, watching Ron look at the watch on Harry's wrist. 

‘Only one minute to go Harry!' said Ron cheerfully. 

‘hmmm,' said Harry trying to keep his mouth shut waiting for the minute
to pass, suddenly with 10 seconds to go he blurted out ‘I remember when 
Catalina's parents were at my hou-' he started, but then the memory 
faded in front of his eyes, and then he couldn't think of what he was 
going to say. 

‘What?' asked Ron confusion on his face, ‘I thought you told me you'd
never met Catalina before?' 

‘I didn't say that' said Harry, clearly not remembering what he'd just
be talking about. 

‘Yeah you did, you just-' Ron begin, but seeing Harry's confused look he
shut up. Then he remembered that Harry wouldn't remember any of his 
memories. 

Harry looked across to Ron and saw his face, screwed up as if he was
seriuosly thinking about something. He shrugged it off, and carried on 
eating his Shephards Pie, he'd need to keep his wits about him, 

‘Divination next' Harry groaned, seeing Rons face he knew he wasn't too
happy about that either. 

~*~*~ Chapter Thirteen ~*~*~ 

Cards and Cats Eyes 

Catalina wasn't in the first Divination lesson of the year, something
Professor Trewlawny wasted no time in telling them, she already knew. 

‘Yes, I was gazing in my crystel ball before you arrived, I saw that
young Miss Firelight would not be wth us today' she said airily, 
walking around the room. 

Lavender and Pavati look very impressed at Professor Trelawany's
prediction, but Harry and Ron merely rolled their eyes. 

‘Today class we will be starting Cartomancy, reading the future with the
use of playing cards. Now everyone take a pack, and lay them out as I 
instruct you...' started Professor Trelawny, giving them details on how 
to arrange the cards on their desk properly. 

After about 10 minutes Professor Trewlawny wandered over to their table,
and watched Ron deal out Harrys cards. As each card was turned over she 
told gave a small gasp and told them the meaning, 

‘Four of Spades, an untimely decision,' she started, and Ron grinned at
Harry behind Professor Trelawnys back, ‘ten of spades, dissapointment,' 
at this point he was stiffling a fit of giggles, ‘three of spades, 
heartache...this is a most unhappy deck!' She said staring at Harry 
with pity, not noticing Ron stuffing the hem of his robe in his mouth, 
face red with silent laughter. 

She gave a small shriek as the Ace of Spades was turned over. 

‘Oh my, dear..' she said eyes brimming, Harry could feel his heart
sinking he knew what was coming next, 

‘You have the card...the worst card...the death card' she said, leaving
the words hanging in the air like a dark cloud. 

She gave a last, sorrowfull look towards Harry and continued round the
class. As soon as she was out of earshot Ron burst out laughing and 
Harry couldn't help but join in, as depressing as your death being 
predicted twice a week, it was always funny to see how many different 
ways Trewlany could come up with. 

‘Sorry mate,' started Ron, ‘Maybe I should've shuffled the pack?' 

Harry burst out laughing, and Professor Trewlawny shot them an angry
look, obviously wondering why Harry wasn't writing his will. 

They spent the rest of the lesson arranging Rons cards so he would get a
very interesting reading. Five minuted before the end of the lesson 
Professor Trewlawny hovered over to their table, and instructed Harry 
to deal Rons cards. 

‘Four of Spades, a strong partnership...King of Hearts, a passionate
lover...Six of Diamonds, passion...Oh Ace of Hearts, True love! My oh 
my, that was a happy reading if I ever did see one!' said Professor 
Trelawny slightly blushing, and slighly scowling at Rons lack of death 
and destruction. 

Harry, Ron, Seamus and Neville waited until they'd stepped off the
silver ladder before they burst out laughing and continued all the way 
to the Great Hall. 

‘Those must have been fixed!' said Seamus wiping a tear from his eye. 

Ron could only nod in agreement, the look of Professor Trelwanys face
had rendered him unable to speak through gales of laughter for some 
time. 

They reached the Great Hall and sat down for dinner, and was filling in
the Twins on their hilarious Divination lesson, when Catalina and 
Hermione walked in. 

Cataline was whispering into Hermiones ear, who looked serious, and
nearly as pale-faced as Catalina was. They saw the boys and stopped 
talking abruptly. 

‘Awight Catalina, feelin betta?' asked Ron thickly through a mouth of
mash potatoe. 

‘Fine thanks,' said Catalina ‘Did I missed anything in Divination?' 

‘Oh not really' started Harry, ‘Rons going to be having a very good year
though!' 

Ron quickly filled the girls in on the Cartomancy lesson, and Catalina
and Hermione were laughing along with them by the end of the story. 
Catalina had a bit of colour returning to her pale face, and Hermione's 
was red with laughter. 

The four of them made their way to their transfiguration lesson with
Professor McGonnagall, hurrying because they had forgotten the time 
while chatting at the dinner table. 

‘Sorry...were...late Professor!' gasped Hermione, clutching a stitch in
her side, as they all hurried over to their seats and got out their 
books. 

‘Very well' she said with a reproving stare. 

‘This term class we will be starting on the basics on human
transfiguration, I will be putting you into pairs, and you be trying to 
alter the appearance of your partner, after making notes on pages 213 
through to 215' she told the class, as they groaned and took out their 
parchment and quills. 

Twenty minutes later, and Harrys hand was stiff with writing, he laid
down his quill as Professor McGonnagall started reading out the 
pairings. 

‘Patil and Brown, Thomas and Fiinagen, Weasley and Granger, Firelight
and Potter, and Longbottom, you can chose who you want to go with. Now 
everyone I want you to start small, try transfiguring eyes' She shouted 
over the babble of voices. 

Ron waved Hermione over to his desk, and Harry watched as Catalina
picked up her books and walked over to him. He smiled shakily as he 
took out his wand, and looked his book, trying to memorise the spells. 

‘Er...do you want to start?' asked Catalina nervously. 

‘Sure' said Harry gripping his wand, ‘I think I'll try the eyes' 

‘Oculus feles' said Harry pointing his wand towards Catalina's face,
there was a flash of blue light, which settled in Catalina's eyes and 
began to fade. 

‘Did it work?' asked Catalina aprehensively, not sure if she wanted it
to or not. 

‘Err,' said Harry leaning over and looking into Catalina's eyes ‘Yeah!
Its worked, they've gone all amber and you've got pupils like a cats!' 

Harry passed Catalina a mirror and she gazed at her eyes, 

‘Wow! Just like a cats, these are brilliant!' she said clearly loving
her new look. 

‘Right! Your go now' she said brandishing her wand and trying to look
menacing. 

Just as Catalina was raising her wand, to transfigure Harry, there came
a huge thud, and sound of chairs falling to the ground. They both 
looked over in time to see Ron dissapear in a flash of red light. Harry 
rushed across the room and picked Ron up from the floor, Hermione had 
managed to give Ron a sweeping silver beard, reminicent to that Fred 
and George sported after crossing the age line at the beginning of last 
year. 

‘Sorry Ron! I didn't mean to do that! It was only supposed to be a
goatie!' Hermione said wringing her hands, clearly distraught that 
she'd done something wrong in Professor McGonnagalls class. 

‘Finite Encantem' Shouted McGonnagall over the gales of laughter, and
Rons beard vanished with a puff of smoke. 

‘Right that's enough experimentation for today' said McGonnagall looking
flustered, as she raced over to undo whatever Neville had done to 
Seamus. 

‘Homework is to write a short summery of what you learned in todays
lesson, in for next lesson!' she shouted at the retreated backs as the 
four made there way back to Gryfinddor tower. 

It had been a long day, and the four of them settled infront of the
large roaring fire in Gryfinddor tower. Catalina had been introduced to 
Cupio, who was entertaining them with his tricks. Catalina had never 
seen anything like Cupio before and was enjoying teaching him to roll 
over. Harry was beginning to get sleepy, and the flames cast weird 
shadows on the faces of his three friends, there was something 
different about Catalina's face he couldn't put his finger on. Ron 
noticed Harry staring intently at Catalina, who looked up at Ron having 
just asked a question. 

‘Huh?' he said stupidly. 

‘I said, does he have any special powers?' repeated Catalina. 

‘Not that I noticed' said Ron, with a look of alarm in his eyes. 

Just then Harry realised what was wrong with Catalina's face. 

‘Your eyes!' he blurted out, as all three of them stared at him, ‘I mean
I never changed them back at the end of transfiguration!' he added. 

‘Yeah I know, I think they look cool like this! Im gonna see how long
the teachers take until they make me change them back' she said 
laughing. 

Harry zoned out as the subject of conversation turned back to Cupio, he
found sitting around Catalina disconcerting. It made him uncomfortable, 
and her strange eyes mixed with her long black hair, made her look like 
a black cat. 

‘Im going to bed' said Harry stifling a yawn, waiting as Ron pulled
himself up out of the large armchair, and followed him into the boys 
dorm. 

* 

Harry was walking with a crowd of people, towards a large white
building. He looked around to the people he was walking with, and 
realised with a jolt, that they were all clad in black, wearing masks 
over their face. His stomach gave a lurch and he shivered against the 
sudden chill that crept up his spine. He looked around, desperately 
searching for a way of escape, but the death eaters wern't paying any 
attention to him. 

He followed them unable to make his legs obey the commands his brain was
giving them. In one movement, the group of death eaters he was walking 
with drew out their wands. The door to the large white building sprung 
open, and they glided silently towards a side room. They seemed to be 
in some sort of official building, and Harry could hear his footsteps 
on the marble floor. They approached a door, with a shiny metal plaque 
on it, but before he had time to read the name, the door was blasted on 
the hinges and shattered in to millions of tiny splinters. When the 
debris had cleared from Harrys vision he could see a man in black 
robes, surrounded by a wall of death eaters. 

‘Where are they? Where are you hiding them?' one asked in a harsh voice.


‘I don't know who your talking about' said the surrounded man, standing
up proudly against the death eaters. 

‘Crucio' shouted another, and the wall of death eaters laughed as the
man shrieked on the floor. 

‘Where are they?' the hasrh voice repeated once the curse had been
lifted. 

The man stood up on shaking legs, and faced the wall of death eaters. He
clamped his mouth shut and stared at the faces. Harry looked into the 
eyes of the man, he saw fear there, and the knowledge that this night 
was the last night he would see, he knew he was going to die, and there 
was nothing Harry could do to stop it. 

‘I would never talk for scum like you' spat the man. 

Well if you won't talk to us, you will never talk to anyone...Avada
Kedavra!' 

There was a flash of blinding gree light, and a the sound of rushing
death, and Harry screamed and sat bolt upright, gasping in the 
darkness. 

He screamed clutching his hand to his forehead, where the scar was
buring fiercly. 

‘Harry! Harry are you ok?' came Ron's voice, Harry felt hands pulling
his own hands away from his forehead. 

‘Im ok,' Harry managed to gasp ‘Just a nightmare, im ok' 

He sat bolt upright, swung his legs over the side of his bed and reached
for some parchment and his quill, teeth gritted against the waves of 
pain that were gradually subsiding. 

‘Harry, what are you doing?' asked Ron incredulously ‘Why are you
writing a letter at a time like this?' 

‘Im telling Dumbledore, he has to know. If I leave it too long I won't
be able to remember anything, they fade after a while the dreams' Harry 
explained, whilst feverishly scratching his quill across the parchment. 


At that moment Hedwig flew through the window, and Harry didn't have
time to wonder how she'd known that he needed a letter taken. 

‘Take this to Dumbledore, please it's really important!' he told Hedwig.


Hedwig flew through the window, and there was silence for a few minutes.


‘What was it?' Ron asked, not wanting to know the answer ‘Who was it?' 

‘A death' said Harry heavily ‘Someone in a large white building it
looking really important, the death eaters wanted to know where someone 
was being hidden, the man wouldn't tell them' 

A heavy silence filled the room, Ron looked stricken and Harry crawled
back into his bed. 

‘That was the Ministry, the big white building you saw' said Ron after a
long time. 

‘Lets not worry about it tonight, go back to sleep' said Harry, not
comforted by his own words, and he didn't expect Ron was either. 

After what seemed like hours Rons snores filled the room, and Harry lay
in bed looking at the ceiling. The look in the mans eyes stayed with 
Harry until he finally fell asleep and the dull grey of dawn filled the 
room. 

~*~*~ Chapter Fourteen ~*~*~ 

The Midnight Meeting 

Harry had hardly closed his eyes when Ron was shaking him awake, with a
look if concern on his face. The boys dressed in silence, got their 
books together and went down into the common room, before meeting the 
girls and going down to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

They had missed the arrival of the post yesterday in their haste to get
to Potions, but now hundreds of owl of every shape and size roamed 
around the bewitched roof of the Great Hall looking for the owners of 
their packages. Harry looked up and saw a large Barn Owl deposit a 
letter in front of Catalina, then Errol dropped one off for Ron. The 
three large dark brown owls caught his eye, they were swooping towards 
him and dropped off a letter to him, Hermione and Ron. 

Harry tore it open and saw that it was written in Dumbledore's
handwriting. 

To Harry 

Could you please come to my office at 12 pm this evening? We'll talk
about last night events then. 

Thankyou 

Albus Dumbledore 

He looked over to Rons and Hermione's letters curiouly and saw they were
nearly identical to his. Ron gaved him a confused look but Hermione 
mouthed ‘Order of the Phoenix?' to him with a raised eye-brow. 

Ron gulped nervously, and shot a look around him to make sure no-one was
listening. Catalina was imersed in her letter, with a worried statement 
on her face. 

‘Whats all this about last nights events' asked Hermione quietly. 

Harry was looking at the letter from Dumbledore, his eyes glazed as he
recalled the dream. Hermione shot Ron and worried look, and Ron opened 
his mouth to answer, but then Harry snapped out of his reverie. 

‘I had a dream last night' he whispered, looking everywhere but at Ron
and Hermione. 

‘Harry sent a letter to Dumbledore last night...explaining what
happened' said Ron uncomfortably. 

‘What happened?' asked Hermione fearfully. 

‘A man in the ministry, he was –' started Harry after a slight pause,
but was interupted by Catalina, who thumped her letter down on the 
table. 

‘Who's your letter from?' asked Catalina. 

‘No-one' said Harry guiltily 'Whose yours from?' 

‘No-one' she said equally as guilty. 

An uncomfortable silence followed, until Ron opened his letter that had
been delivered by Errol. 

‘Hey look Harry! Photo's from Merlins Magical Wonderland!' he said
passing over some of the moving photos, hoping it would take his mind 
off last nights events. 

Harry laughed to himself as he saw one large group photo, with him, Ron
and Hermione standing together grinning. And laughed even harder when 
the Fred and George in the photo dropped something down Percy's neck, 
who instantly forgot his mayoral posistion, and started to squirm 
trying to get it out. The trio laughed quietly as they passed photots 
between themselves, sharing the memories.They passed them to Catalina 
whose face broke into a wide grin when they saw a picture of Ron and 
Harry asleep, which Hermione had sneakily took. 

‘Aw don't they look sooooo cute!' said Hermione in a voice that sounded
like she was talking to two toddlers, or puppies. 

They burst into a fit of giggles as they saw Harry in the photo started
to murmer and mutter in his sleep, and the real-life Harry turn 
scarlet. 

Mysterious letters forgotton, the four got up to go to their first
lesson of the day, Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. 

‘I wonder who they're going to get to cover for Hagrid' pondered Harry
as the walked across Hogwarts grounds towards Hagrid's hut. There was 
no light inside and the windows looked like dark, empty eye sockets. 

‘Oh no! It's her, that one from last year, what's her name again?'
muttered Ron. 

‘Good morning class, I am Professor Grubbly-Plank, and I will be your
temporary Care of Magical Creatures teacher' started the elderly witch. 


‘Wheres Hagrid?' came a cold, sneering voice from behind Harry. 

‘He's indisposed, but will be returning in October' she said shortly. 

Harry looked round to see Malfoy's pale, pointed face alight with
curiosity. Harry balled up his hands, and felt his fingernails press 
into the sides of his palm. Lucious Malfoy had been one of those Death 
Eaters he had encountered at the end of the Third Task, and Malfoy was 
still strutting around the school like he owned the place. 

‘Whats the matter, missing your half-breed pal?' asked Malfoy, noticing
Harry was staring at him. 

Harry didn't say anything, he refused to rise to Malfoys bait, and
turned back to Professor Grubbly-Plank who was introducing the course 
for the next few months. 

‘This term we will be looking at Magical creatures and their role within
the home. So we are going to be finding out all about magical pets, and 
how to look after them' She said briskly. 

Rons face breaking out into a huge grin, he turned to Harry and
whispered ‘No more Blast-Ended Skrewts!' happily. 

Harry couldn't help but smile himself, but he was still worried about
Hagrid and the task Dumbledore was getting him to do that was taking so 
long. 

He surveyed the class's face and smiled inwardly, everyone looked
extremely pleased that they'd finally finished the weekly torture of 
the Guess-What-Hagrids-Got-For-Us-This-Week game. 

Harry couldn't concentrate properly on the lesson, and was only half
listening to what Professor Grubbly-Plank was saying about Kneazles. 
His mind was wondering to the meeting with Dumbledore tonight, and 
wondering if he had any news on Sirius. 

‘For homework, write a short essay on Kneazles, to be handed in on
Friday' said the teacher trying to force what looked like a large tabby 
cat, into a charmed cage. 

The four of them trooped up towards the castle, and found themselves a
seat in the Great Hall. Hermione had an extremely pensive look on her 
face, and Ron's was shining with anticipation as he pulled out his 
time-table. 

‘Great! Defense Against the Dark Arts next! Now we'll get to see how
good Professor Figg is' said Ron happily. 

‘Well she can't be as good as Professor Lupin' said Harry vaguely,
remembering his first lesson when they were fighting boggarts in the 
staff room. 

After a quick meal of sandwiches and salad, Harry, Catalina, Ron and
Hermione set off for their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson 
of the year. Harry was secretly nervous of Professor Figg, after all 
he'd know her since he was a baby, and thought her to be quite mad. 

They settled down in their seats and waited for Professor Figg to arrive
with baited breath. She finally strolled into the clas 5 minutes late, 
and gave them all a small smile. 

‘Now class. This terms topic will be Voldemort' she paused waiting for
the surprised gasps to finish. 

‘Now as I'm sure Professor Dumbledore told you after last years events'
she said her eyes pausing on Harry ‘Voldemort is gaining strength, and 
it will not be long until the signs can be ignored by the general 
wizarding community. So, this year I am to teach you how to duel, and 
yes I know you already practised it exhaustively with Professor Moody 
last year' seeing everyone look of dismay. 

‘Now the spell I will teach you today is called the Protego spell, it is
a variation on the Patronus, a defense advanced wizards can use on 
dementors. Now the Protego spell creates a shield around the person who 
congures it, which can block almost anything for a short time' she 
started staring at the classes reactions, they all seemed to think this 
would be an extremely usefull spell to master. 

‘Yes?' Professor Figg asked Hermione whose hand was up in the air. 

‘Can it block the unforgivables?' she asked voice trembling. 

Harry waited with baited breathe for the answer, as did the whole class
it seems, because when Porfessor Figg told them ‘No' there was a sound 
of everyone letting out their breath. 

‘Now like the Patronus the Protego spell requires a great deal of
strength and it will take on the colour most suited to you personality. 
Now get into your pairs, and start to practise to wand movement, and 
saying the spell. I don't expect any of you to be able to produce a 
really good shield today, infact I'd be rather surprised if you did!' 

Ron and Harry paired up together and Catalina and Hermione grouped up.
They practised the wand movement, then saying the spell, then paired 
them together. 

‘Expecto Protego!' Shouted Harry, waving his wand through the air. He
was delighted to see what looked like a red metalic liquid pour out of 
the tip of his wand, which started to grow and took the form of a 
barrier. It settled infront of him, as thin as paper, reaching from the 
top of his head, to just below his heart, and he looked through it's 
translucent suface. 

‘Hey Ron you face is bright red through this! Matches your hair!' he
said laughing. 

‘I can't even see you through it! Maybe it's like a one way mirror kind
of thing, because all I can see is my face!' said Ron moving full 
circle around Harry. 

‘Hey, whichever way I walk it follows, to protect you!' said Ron clearly
impressed. 

‘Finite Incantum' said Harry, and the shield dissapeared in a wisp of
smoke ‘You try!' 

‘Expecto Protego,' shouted Ron, who was quickly enveloped in a dark red
shield, which hovered restlessly over his face. 

‘Well done you two,' said Professor Figg, walking over to Harry and Ron
‘Now practise trying to break the shields' 

‘Tarantellegra' shouted Harry, aiming his spell at Ron's shield, three
seconds later Rons legs were moving in a complicated quickstep. 

‘You need to work on them a bit more before they can take curses and
hexes' a laughing Professor Figg told them, walking away to inspect 
Deans and Seamus‘s. 

Harry and Ron had fun breaking each others shields, and finally Harry
was lying on the floor wheezing with laughter from a well placed 
tickling charm from Ron. 

‘Look at this Ladies and Gentlemen, Catalina's managed to create a full
shield!' said Professor Figg, indicating towards Catalina, who was 
surrounded by an orb of golden fire. 

Harry stared in amazement, and started walking around Ctalina. Her
shield wrapped all the way around her, making his shield suddenly feel 
a little inadequate. 

‘Well Mr Potter, Lets see if you can break through this one' said the
small Professor with a smile lingering on her lips. 

Harry gulped and drew out his wand, severly doubting his ability to
break through Catalina's wall of fire that was surrounding her. 

‘Rictusempra' shouted Harry, there was a spark of white light where his
hex landed on the shield, it didn't break it, but the fiery red dimmed 
slightly. 

Taking the initiative, he started to fire as many of his schoolground
hexes as he could think of at the shield, each time they hit, a white 
spark rippled along its surface. 

‘Tarantallegra! Rictusempra! Furnunculus! Lacrimosata!' shouted Harry,
the shield had become seethrough now, and Harry could see Catalina's 
worried statement as she tried to pour more power into her shield. 

‘Rictusempra' shouted Harry, the final curse broke through the shield
with a bright white flash, and the paper-thin remains of Catalina's 
shield fell the the floor in a shower of shards, where they lay for a 
few second before dissapearing. 

Harry had been so intent on watching the dissapearing pieces of
Catalina's shield, he didn't notice that Catalina was bent over double 
whezing with laughter, he caught sight of her and started laughing. 
Catalina shot him an angry glare, or at least tried to through her 
gritted teeth, laughter bubbling up and spilling out uncontrollably. 

‘F– Fi – Fix I – it' she said giggling, tears streaming from her eyes. 

‘Finite Incantem' said Harry, grinning as an angry Catalina drew herself
up to her full height, rubbing her aching sides. 

‘That wasn't funny Harry,' she said looking at his happy face ‘You
waited ages until you took that curse off!' 

‘Just be glad I didn't use the furnunculus curse last' said Harry
grinning, as anger flashed through Catalina's cats eyes. 

‘Well done Miss Firelight, 10 points to Gryffindor. Ok class, that's
enough for today, for homework write a short summery on shield charms 
in for next lesson. Now before you leave I would like to give you a 
short demonstartion, to show you what a fully developed shield looks 
like' said Professor Figg, drawing out her wand. 

‘Expecto Protego' shouted Professor Figg, who was immediately surrounded
by a orb of fiery red light, flames licked up the sides of the sphere, 
and in the centre a owl standing on a broomstick was visible, made up 
out of yellow light. 

Everyone gathered around Professor Figg's shield, mesmerized by the
colours and the emblem in the middle. Harry reached out to touch it, a 
few centimeters before his fingers reached the shield, a small arc of 
red light, lept out and earthed itself on his finger. 

‘Ouch!' shouted Harry, drawing his finger towards him, it was glowing
brightly, and looked as though he'd dipped his fingers into red paint. 

‘It would have been a lot worse Harry, if I wanted it to,' Professor
Figg said as her shield faded away from her ‘You see class, you can 
control your sheild eventually, but at the moment yours are mere raw 
magic, and uncontrollable' 

Harry looked over to Catalina, whose eyes were downcast, staring at her
fingers.He looked over to Ron, who was looking at Harry then Catalina 
quizzically. Harry turned his attention back to Professor Figg, who was 
answering a question set by Hermione. 

‘Well, when you master your own sheild, you are able to change it. As
you saw on mine eventually an image will apear, which takes the form of 
something that is close to you, or something that personifies your 
personality. It seems my sheild thinks my personality is summed up best 
by an owl. It is possible in special circumstances to merge your own 
sheild with someone elses. In my case the person was absolutely 
bessoted by quidditch, so now I have the broom inside my emblem. It 
will never fade away, it'll will always be there' said Professor Figg 
softly, gazing into the distance. 

‘Right class dissmissed!' she said turning away from her class. 

‘That was brilliant!' said Ron, while the other three nodded, agreeing
with him. 

‘Catalina. Your shield was amazing!' gushed Hermione. 

‘Thanks' said Catalina, blushing as they walked back to the common room.


‘How did you manage to do it like that first time?' asked Ron, Harry
watched Catalina closley, he had been wondering the same thing himself. 


‘Oh I've had a bit of practise before' said Catalina dissmisvly,
avoiding everyone gaze ‘I...er...studied it last year' 

There as no doubt about it, Catalina was avoiding his gaze, and dark
flush creeping up her cheeks. She was lying. 

* 

Ron, Harry and Hermione sneaked out of the common room that night and
made their way along the cold corridors to Dumbledore's office. Harrys 
heart was beating against his chest uncomfortably, and he was really 
nervous about what lay ahead of him. He stole a glance at Ron and 
Hermione who both seemed to be feeling the same as him, Hermiones face 
was pale and Ron was chewing his lip thoughtfully. 

‘God, I'm nervous' said Harry breaking the silence, letting out a long
breath. 

‘Yeah me too' said Hermione, ‘But Dumbledore wouldn't make us do
anything he didn't think we couldn't do' 

‘Yeah, He must have thought us capable...right?' he added, needing
confirmation from the others. 

‘Sure' said Harry more bravely than he felt. 

Soon they were standing in front of the gargoyle gaurding Dumbledores
office, searching their memories for names of sweet, magical and 
muggle. 

Er, lets see, Bertie Botts?' started Ron. 

‘Nah, he hates them' said Harry, thoughtfully running his hand through
his hair. 

‘Sugar Quill?' supplied Hermiione. 

‘Chocolate Frogs?' 

‘Humbugs?' 

‘Sherbet Lemons?' 

‘Fizzing Whizbees?' asked Ron, suddenly the gargoyle sprang aside the
lets them step onto the moving staircase, they came to a stop infront 
of the large wooden door. 

Hermione raised her hand, hesitated a few centimeters from the door,
then resolutely knocked the door. 

‘Come in' came Dumbledores voice through the door. 

Harry, Hermione and Ron walked into the room staring around them and the
back of six Large chairs, all of which were occupied by people. 

‘Please sit down' said Dumbledore warmly. 

‘Harry, Ron and Hermione this is Mundungus Fletcher, he's an obliviator
in the Ministry of Magic. He was good friend of your father after he 
left school. 

Harry nodded towards the man, who had short brown hair, and a large scar
running down his face from his eyebrow to his lips on the left side. 

‘Hello Harry, Ron and Hermione' he said warmly. 

Harry looked round the room, and saw Snape, Professor McGonnagall,
Professor Figg, Remus Lupin, and Sirius all sitting in the chairs 
looking at them. 

‘Sirius!' he said looking shocked that he was inside the castle. 

‘Hullo Harry' said Sirius with a cheerful smile on his face, but at
closer inspection he didn't look that happy, his eyes were quite 
serious. 

‘Well you three sit down, and then we can begin. Good. Now I received
your letter last night Harry, and immediately got in touch with 
everyone I could. Now, if you could, could you lease tell us about the 
dream.?' said Dumbledore, his usually bright eyes, where dull and sad 
looking. 

‘Er...well I was inside a group of Death Eaters, I couldn't see their
faces because of the masks. We walked up towards this official looking 
white building, then we came to a door, I didn't have time to read the 
name plaque. There was a man working there, even though it was late at 
night. The Death Eaters wanted to know where someone was, and where 
they were hiding someone, I don't know who. He wouldn't tell them 
so...they used the Crucio curse' said Harry softly, reliving the images 
in his head. 

‘Right, thank you Harry. Now everyone, I apparated to the ministry as
soon as I received the letter, I contacted some of the order who are in 
the ministry. It seems that it was Dedalus Diggle, he was killed with 
the avada kedavra curse' Dumbledore said heavily over the gasps of 
everyone around him. 

‘Now I believe the Death Eaters were trying to locate the whereabouts of
the Firelights. I tried to stop the papers printing the story of their 
return, and now it seems Voldemort has the pinned down as their next 
victims' Dumbledore explained. 

Harry shot Hermione and Rons a quick glance, and saw that they were pale
and had a frightened look in their eyes. Voldemort is after Catalina's 
parents, and her as well thought Harry panicking, what were they going 
to do? 

‘What are we going to do? The child comes to this school, we have to
protect her' said Sirius, he didn't seem to be taking the news of the 
about the Firelights that badly. 

‘Hogwarts is well protected at the moment, Catalina will be safe here.
It's her parents that I worried about, they're currently being hidden, 
Dedalus was their secret keeper, but now they're unprotected' said 
Dumbledore, his eyes flicking breifly towards Sirius, who would had 
been Harry's parents secret keeper. ‘Voldemort obvioisly didn't know 
about the fidelius charm, otherwise he wouldn't have ordered the murder 
of Dedalus' 

‘Now, we have to think hard about the Firelights, we have to protect
them' said Dumbledsore seriously. 

Sirius gave a small derisive laugh, and Dumbledore shot him a warning
glance. Harry looked over towards Sirius, who had a scowl on his face, 
he then glanced over to Remus, who had a closed statement on his face, 
but his eyes were buring with anger. 

‘They haven't returned to Godric's Hollow yet, but after this news I
don't know if they will. I have made their current hiding place 
unplottable, and numerous charms were performed last night. But if you 
all agree, I will need all of your help to keep the charms in place' 
Dumbledore said, staring pointedly at Sirius and Remus, as if expecting 
them to disagree, but that merely sat glaring at the floor. 

‘OK, you three should get back to your dormitory, please don't speak to
anyone about this, not even Catalina' said Dumbledore eying the silent 
trio ‘If you come up with any ideas please tell me, and if you have any 
more dreams tell me at once' 

Harry, Ron and Hermione stood up and trooped to the door, Harry who was
last out of the door turned round and closed it to, seeing Sirius and 
Remus glaring at Dumbledore. 

‘What, was all that about?' asked Ron slowly. 

‘I don't know' said Harry bewilded by Sirius's and Remus's reactions to
the news. 

~*~*~ Chapter Fifteen ~*~*~ 

Gifts 

The next few days passed in a blur of lessons, essays and long periods
of research in the library. Harry was sitting in the library writing up 
his essay for the shield charm, before tomorrows lesson. He was 
riffling through pages of Advanced Defence against dark arts trying to 
find the chapter, when he felt someone come and sit down next to him, 
and thump a heavy textbook on the table. Harry looked up and saw Ron 
huffing with the effort of carrying the book, which looked the size of 
a tombstone. 

‘What's that for?' he said laughing at Ron's flushed face. 

‘You' said Ron simply. 

Harry pulled the book to face him, the dark green leather was dull, and
the peeling gold letters of the front proclaimed it was about ‘Ancient 
and powerful gifts'. 

‘What do I need that for?' asked Harry, confusedly. 

‘Look at page 5465' said Ron shortly. 

Harry turned the brittle pages of the ancient book, searching through
pages and pages of writing, diagrams and moving pictures. He finally 
located the page and looked to the chapter title. 

‘Magus – the power behind the gift' Harry read out. 

Ron was looking at Harry intently, staring at his closed statement he
sighed and began to explain. 

‘Look, when you first met Catalina, you got on really well with her, you
defended her against Hermione and me when we had our doubts. But ever 
since that train ride you been looking at her as if she was about to 
explode. Now I guess it's because you don't understand what a Magus is, 
or that you're scared of her powers' stated Ron blandly. 

‘I'm not scared of – ‘ stared Harry, but Ron held up a hand to silence
him. 

‘So, instead of staring at her as if she was about to fry you, read
this. Catalina can't do magic without a wand yet. She's not powerful 
enough' Ron explained. 

Harry turned to the pages to the book and stared to read about magus,
marvelling about Ron sudden perceptiveness. 

‘Look here, it says A magus power cannot fully be controlled until the
witch or wizard has been able to properly control the power inside 
them. Normal witches and wizards have to channel their raw magical 
energy through wands, but a magus uses their fingers. Before the time 
they can control their power, the magic inside them can be released in 
moments of intense emotion and anger' said Ron proudly. 

Harry stared at the page, trying to take in the words, so Catalina
couldn't even use her powers yet? Not unless she'd had loads of 
training, and Harry doubted she'd stayed long enough in one place to 
get any. 

Now correct me if I'm wrong' said Ron sensibly ‘but didn't you direct
you raw magic at you aunt, when you blew her up that summer? It's 
exactly the same thing, your magic was uncontrollable without a wand, 
just like Catalina's. So, stop worrying, treat her like a normal person 
like she is. Although, don't get her angry! Otherwise she might just 
explode, literally!' 

Ron unfolded himself from the chair, with a smug grin on his face,
clearly impressed that he'd solved Harry's problem, without the help of 
Hermione. He walked out of the library with a spring in his step, and 
Harry grinned as he saw him walk right into someone who was coming the 
other way. Harry's stomach plummeted as he saw it was Catalina, Ron was 
jerking his thumb over his shoulder directing her to where Harry was 
sitting. 

Harry quickly tried to slam to tombstone book shut, but only managed
half of the pages before Catalina came and sat next to him. 

‘What are you reading?' she asked pulling the book towards her. 

‘Nothing' Harry lied quickly, too quickly, and Catalina looked him
suspiciously. 

‘Why are you looking up about parselmouth‘s?' She asked gazing at the
chapter Harry had left open. 

‘Oh!' said Harry going bright red ‘I'm...er...I'm a parseltongue' he
mumbled. 

‘Really? Fascinating' said Catalina whose eyes were skimming fast over
the chapter, Harry was surprised, he was expecting her to be scared of 
him, like most of the school back in his second year. 

Catalina must have noticed her shocked statement, because she looked
over to him, and smiled softly. 

‘I know what it's like to have a gift that everyone's afraid of' she
said quietly. 

Harry gazed at her, as if seeing her in a different light. 

‘I never looked at it as a gift' he said slowly ‘What about you?' 

‘I see mine as an incredible gift' she said gazing at her fingertips
‘Scary, but incredible' 

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, each with their own
thoughts. 

‘So, have you learned anything new about your gift? She asked, breaking
Harry out of his thoughts. 

‘Nope, but I've learned at lot about yours, that's why the book was here
really, Ron was just trying to get to me to understand it. I must admit 
you got me a little scared the other day on the train, with the sparks 
and everything' admitted Harry laughing at his own stupidity. 

‘I shouldn't have let Malfoy wind me up' she said simply ‘Well if you've
read all about mine I think it's only fair that I get to read about 
yours' 

Catalina pulled the book closer and started to read, lips moving as she
read along. Harry carried on writing his essay on shields for Professor 
Figg, they each worked in companionable silence. After a while Catalina 
slammed the book shut, and Harry threw down his quill. 

‘Finished?' she asked him. 

‘Yeah, I reckon we should get back to the common room, before Snape
gives us detention for being out in the corridors' he answered. 

‘You don't like Snape much do you?' she asked laughing at the grimace
that spread across his face. 

‘He doesn't like me much either' Harry laughed and the launched into a
recap of the past 4 years of Snape's history with him. Before he knew 
what had happened they were at the portrait entrance to Gryffindor 
tower who was glaring at them for waking her up. He'd told Catalina all 
about their third year, and even of Sirius's innocence and his fathers 
animagus form. He had meant to, but Catalina had listened intently to 
the stories, laughing at the point where he had knocked Snape 
unconscious in the shrieking shack. 

They walked into the common room to see Ron and Hermione sitting in
their usual chairs, watching Cupio who was running around Ron's lap. 
They walked over, and Ron gave Harry a conspirational wink. Catalina 
was enthralled with Cupio who likewise loved Catalina, and by the end 
of the evening he was sitting on Catalina's lap sleeping. It was 
getting quite late, and Ron and Hermione got up to go to bed, when 
Harry noticed what Ron was carrying. 

‘Oh my god! I haven't done Snape's potions essay!' said Harry panicking
at the sight of Ron's two page essay he was clutching. 

A similar groan coming from Catalina told him she'd forgotten as well. 

‘Well good luck mate' said Ron patting him consolingly on the back ‘It's
gonna be a long night!' 

Harry groaned and pulled out his potions textbook and parchment,
muttering under his breath about Snape and his evil homework. Catalina 
was in a similar position, cursing at herself for forgetting. The sat 
in the common room, with the fire dying down until they were glowing 
embers, sharing notes and copying each other. 

‘Better not tell Hermione! She'd kill us' laughed Harry and he changed
the wording of one of Catalina's sentences for his essay. 

‘Finished!' she proclaimed leaning back in the soft chairs. 

‘Nearly there... Done!' said Harry happily leaning back. 

‘I'm to tired to even sleep now' she muttered from somewhere inside the
chair. 

‘Yeah' said Harry feeling absolutely shattered. 

They sat in the chairs unable to move talking about their gifts again,
Catalina was absolutely fascinated with Harry's and was begging him for 
a demonstration. 

Harry groaned, but obligingly pulled out his wand, and stood up stiffly.


‘Serpensortia' he muttered, and a huge black snake coiled out of the end
of the wand, he heard Catalina gasp, but she looked excited as well. 

‘Go over to the girl' Harry instructed the snake, who flicked his tongue
out at Harry then slithered over to Catalina. 

Catalina stared at the snake, then at Harry, he was hissing and spitting
at the snake, who was now chasing his tail round in circles. She looked 
wide-eyed at the snake again, who was slithering up to her, and looked 
up at Harry, who was grinning. 

‘Don't worry its not going to hurt you' he told her, or at least tried
to. 

‘Er...in English please?' she said, faintly grinning at Harry who had
just hissed to her, but it looked as if he was directing a question at 
her. 

‘Sorry, I said don't worry it won't hurt you' said Harry laughing who
then hissed at the snake again, who slithered over to Harry. They had a 
short conversation, then Harry grinned and pulled out his wand. 

‘Finite Encantam' he said, and watched the snake disappear. 

‘That was so cool!' said Catalina ‘How do you know what to say?'. 

‘I don't, I feel like I'm speaking English, I didn't even know that when
I spoke to you that I was still talking in parseltongue' he admitted. 

‘Hey, one day you've got to show me your gift, when you've learned to
control it I mean ' he told Catalina laughing. 

Catalina laughed nervously then announced that she wanted to get at
least a few hours of sleep before lessons began, and rushed off to bed. 


Harry climbed to boy's dormitory, trying not to disturb anyone. As he
climbed into bed sleepily he thought how nice it was for someone to not 
actually be scared of his gift. 

* 

Days passed by, lessons were taken, and dinners were eaten in the Great
Hall, and Harry, Ron, Catalina and Hermione became closer friends. It 
was nearly the start of October, when a notice was posted in the common 
room, announcing the beginning of the Quidditch season. Underneath 
there was a plea for a new keeper and Ron excitedly told Harry he was 
planning on trying out. Harry was pleased Ron was trying out, it would 
be nice to have him on the team. 

Monday night came around, and Harry grabbed his Firebolt and headed out
towards practise. With the absence of Oliver Wood, the team stood 
around for a few moments before George took up call. 

‘Everyone in the changing rooms! Its time to talk tactics!' he shouted,
grinning at the team. 

‘Now class' began George in a voice uncannily like McGonagall. 

‘We need and new captain and keeper this year' Fred added prowling in
front of the seated players, pretending to look stern. 

‘And also, Basically everyone but Harry are leaving soon, so I think we
should set up a reserve team, not just in case injuries,' added George. 


‘But so they can get a lot of practise before we leave' finished Fred. 

‘So, were having an election for captain next practise, so give it some
thought' added George severely, but grinning like a maniac. 

‘But now, lets get our brooms, and get out there! We've been off for a
year! We need to practise' said Fred, in an accurate impression of 
Oliver Wood. 

They walked out onto the middle of the pitch, everyone climbed onto
their brooms and rose, but Fred noticed Harry was still on the ground. 
He had climbed onto his broom, but he was staring at the floor in the 
very centre of the pitch, with glazed eyes. 

‘Harry?' asked George floating just above the ground, ‘What's wrong?' 

‘Nothing' said Harry quietly, he stared at the ground for a few more
second the pushed off the floor fiercely, and rose above the rest of 
the team. 

Fred and George shot each other worried looks then rose themselves. They
were practising with the bludgers, and Harry was practising dives. Ever 
since he'd seen Viktor Krum do the Wronski Feint at the Quidditch world 
cup, he's wanted to try it out on the pitch. 

He pulled a few dives, and the last one caused Katie Bell to scream
because she thought he didn't have time to pull out. Harry grinned as 
she saw Katie shaking her fist at him as his toes grazed the grass. 

Training ended, and the all descended to the pitch, Fred and George
acting as captain for the evening told them to be at the pitch on 
Thursday night. Everyone trooped of the pitch tired and cold, but Harry 
was still standing in the middle of the pitch staring at the ground 
again. Fred walked over, with a serious look on his face. 

‘What's wrong Harry?' he asked looked at Harry intently. 

‘Right here' muttered Harry poking the ground with his toe. 

‘What was?' asked Fred completely confused by Harry's behaviour. 

Harry looked up at Fred with oddly bright eyes, then as if coming to his
senses cleared his throat. 

‘Uh, Lets go in, its cold out here' said Harry marching away from the
centre of the pitch, broom slung over his shoulder. 

Fred gave one last confused glance at the ground before trooping after
him. 

‘So, Have you got anything new for your joke shop?' asked Harry trying
to change the subject. 

Fred looked at Harry's forced smile before giving in, Harry wasn't about
to talk. 

‘Oh yeah, me and George developed these excellent...' gushed Fred
launching into a detailed description of their latest project ‘...were 
going to called the Divulgo digestives' he finished proudly, gauging 
Harry's reaction. 

‘Remind me never to accept sweets or biscuits from you ever again' he
said laughing. 

Whatever was wrong with Harry before, he seems to have forgotten about
it thought Fred, and they trouped up to the common room, trying to 
avoid Filch. 

* 

It was late by the time Harry and Ron put down their quills from their
transfiguration homework. Ron stretched painfully and Harry tried to 
massage some life back into his hand. They collected their things and 
trooped up to the boy's dorm. The climbed into bed sat back sleepily 
and quietly talked about Hagrid's impending return, and about the 
situation with Catalina's parents. 

‘Hermione's been spending every free moment with her nose in those
books, trying to find a protection charm' whispered Ron. 

Harry squirmed guiltily as he realised he hadn't given Catalina's
parents another thought since the midnight meeting in Dumbledore's 
office. Ron yawned but continued to stroke Cupio who was sat on his 
stomach. Soon Ron heard Harry's regular breathing and knew he must be 
asleep. Ron however was determined to solve another mystery. The 
situation between Harry and Catalina had been resolved, and now he was 
back to think about Malfoy's comments and Harry's while under the 
memory potion. 

‘I wish I knew what was going on with Catalina and Harry' he muttered to
no one in particular. 

Suddenly the hairs on Ron's arms stood on end, static filled the room
and his vision went black. Then patches of colour returned and so did 
Ron's vision, but this time he wasn't in the dormitory, he was in a 
bright sun filled garden, in front of a large white house. There was no 
one in the garden but he could hear raised voices and he wandered over 
to the door, he hesitated but then pushed it open and walked in. A tall 
man with short black hair and brown eyes that were flashing with anger 
walked up to him. 

‘I told you not to talk to him! Any of them!' he shouted at Ron, who
stumbled backwards under the furious gaze of the man. 

‘I can't help it father! I can't ignore him! He's always around! They
all are!' came the voice from Ron's mouth, but it wasn't his, though it 
sounded familiar. 

‘He's dangerous! You should know that, they all are, I sent you there
with a promise from you. You promised not to get involved!' he shouted 
at Ron. 

‘I can't do anything about it!' shouted Ron, who couldn't control the
voice coming from his mouth. 

‘Your putting yourself in danger, your putting your mother and me in
danger! Do you want to be responsible for our deaths?' shouted at man, 
who then lunged at Ron. 

Ron backed away and turned to run, he spun round and saw a wall come
from nowhere. Everything went black and Ron sat bolt upright in his 
bed. He was in the boy's dormitory, breathing heavily. 

‘Ron are you ok?' asked a sleepy Harry from the bed next to him. 

‘Yeah...just a nightmare' said Ron turning over to face the wall. He let
out a shaky breath and replayed the nightmare, or whatever it was. Ron 
was musing over the words trying to make sense of them. He was just 
falling asleep when he thought of something. He sat bolt upright in his 
bed, the voice it had been familiar, now he knew where from. It was 
Catalina's. 

~*~*~ Chapter Sixteen ~*~*~ 

Fire and Ice 

The next morning, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Catalina were sitting at the
breakfast table, in unusual silence. Hermione looked around her three 
friends. Harry had a glazed look on his face, which usually meant he 
was thinking of something depressing, Ron and Catalina both had pale 
faces, and Ron was shooting nervous glances at Catalina. 

First Harry now Ron, wasn't the poor girl ever going to get a time when
someone wasn't worrying about the powers she had? Wondered Hermione to 
herself. 

They had Defence against the dark arts first lesson, so they trooped in
silence to the class and sat down. For the past few weeks they had been 
practising shields, and everyone's were becoming larger, and stronger, 
except Neville's, which still floated pathetically in front of his 
face. 

‘Right class, you know the drill, get into pairs and practise creating
and breaking the shields' Professor Figg shouted over the sound of 
scraping chairs. 

Hermione called Ron over to her, so Harry went a sat by Catalina. 

‘Want to be my partner?' asked Harry leaning on the desk. 

‘Err...sure' said Catalina glumly, allowing Harry to come and sit by
her. 

‘Hey what's wrong?' asked Harry his grin fading, she'd practically
ignored everyone all day and was looking a bit ill. 

‘Oh, nothing. I just –' she paused not sure whether to tell Harry what
was wrong ‘I just had a nightmare last night, left me a bit shaken' 

‘Want to tell me about it?' asked Harry staring at her intently. 

‘No' she said shortly, squirming under his gaze, praying he didn't press
the matter. 

‘Don't worry about it, I have nightmares all the time' admitted Harry
‘now lets see if I can break your shield in record breaking time huh?' 

‘Doubt it' she laughed, silently thanking whatever god was upstairs. 

‘Expecto Protego' shouted Catalina, who laughed as she pulled faces at
Harry, who was completely oblivious. 

‘Hmmm, now let me see' said Harry thoughtfully stroking an imaginary
beard. 

He face lit up with a sudden thought, and he drew his wand, and flicked
it at the shield. 

‘Gelutus' he said, grinning evilly. 

A white light hit Catalina's shield, except this time instead of sending
out ripples, and making the shield dim, A white light hit the shield 
and white light spread across it creating a shining patch on it. He 
started firing the curse repeatedly at the shield, until it was 
completely white. Inside Catalina was getting nervous, and started to 
feel claustrophobic now that she had lost the ability to see through 
her shield. 

Harry lowered his wand, then walked thoughtfully up to the shield, and
touched it. This time no charge earthed itself on his finder, it just 
felt cold beneath his fingers. 

‘Demolier' he shouted and when the spell hit the shield it shattered
into hundreds of pieces and Catalina stumbled out, pale faced and 
breathing fast. 

Harry caught her just before the hit the floor, and sat her down. 

‘What's wrong? Are you hurt?' he asked anxiously. 

‘No – no I'm ok. I just got a little claustrophobic inside there' she
whispered and gave an involuntary shudder. 

‘I'm sorry! I didn't know!' said Harry anxiety lacing his voice. 

Professor Figg walked over to ask what happened. 

‘Nothing Harry just broke my shield' said Catalina shakily ‘Record
breaking time as well!' she laughed nervously. 

‘How did you do that? One second the shield was there then the other
it's gone!' said Professor Figg in surprise. 

‘Oh, I um, used a ice spell, and froze the fire on her shield, then I
just smashed it with a shattering spell' said Harry looking at floor. 

Professor Figg looked impressed, and to Catalina and Harry's relief she
walked across the room to see what curse Neville's partner was 
suffering from. 

‘I didn't know you were claustrophobic' Harry commented as he helped
Catalina get to her feet. 

‘Always have been, I hate being in really small spaces' she said
quietly, shuddering again. 

‘Harry! Catalina, come and look at Ron's shield!' shouted Hermione. 

They walked over and gazed at Ron impressive shield, It had become much
thicker and now looked like the fire of Catalina's except it still just 
hovered from his face to his heart. 

‘Impressive' nodded Harry. 

‘Right, off you go people!' shouted Professor Figg. 

‘Uggghhh Double potions' groaned Ron disgustedly as his shield faded. 

‘Come on, let's face the music' said Hermione, quoting her dad's
favourite song. 

‘What music?' asked Ron, bewildered. 

* 

Double potions was just as bad as they'd imagined. They were allowed to
pair up together, but the potion they were brewing was difficult and 
Harry and Ron were having trouble. 

‘Remember class, unicorn blood is extremely expensive, I do not want any
of you idiots spilling one drop of the stuff, got it?' Snape shouted at 
the class, who immediately eyed the unicorn blood vials, as if 
expecting them to suddenly fall over. 

Harry gulped and gingerly picked up the vial, and measured out the
correct amount of blood before placing it securely on the side of the 
table. He breathed a sigh of relief. And turned to put the blood into 
his and Ron's bubbling cauldron. 

Catalina had just finished measuring hers and Hermione's unicorn, and
with the vial in one hand, and the measured blood in the other, she 
lent past the cauldron to hand it to Hermione. Just then a piercing 
scream echoed through the dungeon, and the vial slipped out of her hand 
and smashed onto the cold, hard floor of the dungeon. 

The scream carried on echoing around the stone walls of the dungeons and
Catalina looked over to see Harry heaped on the floor clutching his 
forehead. She had no idea what was happening but Hermione went flying 
out of the dungeon, and Ron ran over to Harry. Snape was ordering the 
class to move away, and for Ron to take Harry away. Her stomach froze 
and a gasp caught in her throat as she saw a look of intense pain on 
his face. His eyes were screwed up, but tears were streaming down his 
face. 

Catalina wildly looked around trying to get herself to move, and do
something, when she caught sight of Malfoy who was grinning and 
laughing at Harry behind Snape's back. Fury pounded through her, and 
she made a move towards Malfoy, hoping to wipe the smile of his face, 
when Ron gave a groan. Harry was hardly even walking now, and Ron was 
trying to drag Harry out. Catalina rushed over, and put Harry's arm 
around her neck and helped Ron carry Harry to the hospital wing. 

‘What's happening?' asked Catalina, who was scared out of her wits. 

Ron didn't reply but tried to speed up, dragging Harry's legs along the
hard stone floor. 

‘Ron what's wrong with him?' she asked angrily, she had never seem
anything like this happen before. 

‘You-Know-Who is doing something' said Ron through gritted teeth. 

Catalina didn't understand why should that hurt Harry? Was You-Know-Who
here, hurting Harry? She swept the corridor with her gaze, half 
expecting someone to jump out of the shadows. 

‘Its not usually this bad' said Ron worriedly, his freckles standing out
against his pale skin. 

‘What do you mean usually? This has happened before?' she shrieked at
Ron. 

Catalina looked into Harry's face, which was contorted with pain, then
she noticed something else. She reached up and brushed his fringe away 
from his scar. 

‘Ron' she whispered in a terrified voice ‘His scars bleeding!' 

‘Merlin's Beard' Ron breathed looking up towards Harry's face, that was
now covered with blood down one side. 

‘This is taking forever, were ages away from the hospital wing, and
Harry's hurt' babbled Ron, not sure what to do. 

‘Wingardium Leviosa' shouted Catalina, who gently lifted Harry of his
feet and started to pull Harry down the corridor. 

Ron's topped and stared for a second, then ran after Catalina, whose
wand arm was outstretched beckoning Harry towards her. There was a thin 
white cord stretching between Harry and Catalina, who started to speed 
up running towards the infirmary. Ron looked along the white cord of 
light, and followed it from Harry to Catalina's outstretched hand. 

The white light was joined to Catalina's fingers, and Ron realised what
was wrong with the picture, Catalina was holding Harry up without her 
wand, she was holding up Harry with her hand. 

* 

Meanwhile Hermione was pounding along the corridor, ignoring the stitch
in her side and breathing heavily. She didn't stop until she reached 
Dumbledore's office, where she skidded to a halt, shrieking the 
password. She took the moving staircase two stairs at a time, and 
wrenched the door open without even knocking and flew into the room. 

‘Pro – professor, Its Ha-Harry!' she shouted, Dumbledore stood up and
moved swiftly out of door without a word. 

Dumbledore and Hermione were running down the corridors, when they
rounded the corner and saw Catalina, Ron and Harry ahead. Catalina was 
walking backwards with Harry drifting slowly, connected by a white 
light to Catalina. Hermione gasped when she saw Harry, whose face was 
plastered with blood down one side and seemed to be unconscious. 

‘Bring him this way' Dumbledore directed at Catalina, who dragged Harry
along after Dumbledore. 

Hermione walked quickly behind Ron who turned to Hermione pale faced. 

‘She's doing magic Hermione' he said stupidly. 

‘Yes I can see that Ron' she answered anxiously. 

‘I mean, without a wand' he added with a disbelieving look on his face. 

Hermione gasped as she looked at Catalina, whose eyes were glowing, as
white as the cord that connected her and Harry, with a look of intense 
pain on her face. 

‘She cant, she doesn't know how to' said Hermione trying to make sense
of the situation. 

‘She's not supposed to, but she is' said Ron grimly. 

* 

Harry opened his eyes slowly, grimacing with the pain that the simple
procedure had provided. White dots danced in front of his eyes that 
gradually merged and became a blurred white ceiling. He moved his head 
from side to side, trying to unstiffen his neck, but instead was 
greeted with a wave of pain. 

He gently lift his heavy arm to his head, and gingerly fingered his
scar, or at least tried to. His hand bumped into a thick bandage that 
was wrapped all around his head. 

‘Harry?' came an uncertain voice to the right of him. 

‘Uh?' Harry managed groggily. 

‘Harry its Ron, Hermione's here as well' came Ron's voice. 

‘Hi Harry, how you doing?' came Hermione's tentative voice from his
left-hand side. 

‘Ok s‘pose...tired' answered Harry thickly, who closed his eyes again
and drifted off to sleep again. 

Hermione and Ron stayed sitting there through lunch, just in case he
woke up again, they were visited by Dumbledore whose face was solemn. 

‘I'm dreading telling him what happened' Ron told Hermione that evening,
no wonder his scar started bleeding! After an attack like that!' said 
Ron grimly. 

Ron and Hermione stayed all evening, heads together talking, waiting for
Harry to wake up. 

* 

Catalina however, stood in the doorway of the hospital to frightened to
go in, but to worried about Harry to leave. Ron and Hermione hadn't 
spoken to her since she placed Harry in the hospital wing bed. She 
didn't really know what had happened, Ron and her couldn't carry Harry, 
so she decided to float him, she'd said the spell, Harry had rose up 
and followed her. The only thing she could remember was the pain; the 
spell connecting them was pulling pain towards her, taking it away from 
Harry. 

Now she was hovering in the doorway, Ron and Hermione had shot her a
look of pure fright when she looked at them, nervously eyeing her 
hands. So she had stayed in the doorway, in the shadows so they didn't 
know she was there. Harry had woken up briefly a few minutes ago, and 
Catalina's head had started pounding, but he'd gone back to sleep a few 
moments later, and the pain had subsided. Catalina remembered the pain 
while she was carrying him, and shuddered it must have been a hundred 
times worse for Harry. 

Catalina walked back to the dormitory a few minutes before Ron and
Hermione left, and lay down on her bed. Drawing the curtains around her 
she lay down and thought about the evening events. No one had explained 
to her why Harry's scar had caused him so much pain, it didn't make any 
sense. 

Catalina heard someone walked softly into the dormitory, and pause next
to her curtained bed. 

‘Catalina?' came Hermione's uncertain voice. 

But Catalina didn't answer, after a few moments Hermione sighed and
climbed into her own bed. Later on Catalina could hear the girls even 
breathing fill the room, as everyone fell asleep. However Catalina lay 
on her back staring at the ceiling of her four-poster bed. They should 
be thanking her, she thought angrily; she was only trying to help. 

~*~*~ Chapter Seventeen ~*~*~ 

Share and Share alike 

Catalina woke up early the next morning, it was still dark outside but
she couldn‘t sleep. She had been woken up by a dull throbbing in her 
head, and realised it must have been Harry waking up she slipped 
quietly out of bed. She quickly changed into her Hogwarts robe, then 
bent into the trunk at the end of her bed. She pulled out a bundle of 
material that glimmered in the light, and looked as if it was woven out 
of water. 

She shook out the fold of the material and swung it over her shoulders.
As the cloak covered her she became invisible and slipped quietly out 
of the room unnoticed. She made her way down the cold, draughty 
corridors avoiding the ghosts that were patrolling the corridors. 

She finally reached the Hospital Wing, and pushed the door open
soundlessly. She immediately saw Harry's black hair against the clean 
white pillows. She saw his eyes were shut but he seemed to be awake, so 
she just pulled a chair over soundlessly and sat down. 

She sat down and looked at Harry, whose eyes suddenly snapped open
staring right at her, which was impossible since she had her 
invisibility cloak on. She held her breath, watching Harry stared right 
at her. 

‘I didn't say you could borrow my cloak Ron' he said hoarsely, grinning
at the air. 

‘Er...it's not Ron' said Catalina pulling the cloak hood down. 

Harry stared at Catalina for a few seconds, obviously shocked to see
her. 

‘Where did you get an invisibility cloak from?' he asked finally. 

‘My uncle' she whispered 'Long story' 

‘What are you doing here?' Harry asked trying to prop himself up on his
elbows, but a wave of fresh pain, caused both Catalina and Harry to 
gasp in pain. 

Harry leant back slowly, breathing through gritted teeth, and Catalina
prayed he hadn't heard her. 

‘What happened?' asked Harry ‘What's Voldemort up to?' 

‘I don't know' Catalina whispered looking fearful. 

Harry looked like he was about to attempt to get up again, so Catalina
stopped before causing them both some injury. 

‘Don't! Sit back down, Dumbledore'll be along later I expect, you can
ask him there. Ron and Hermione were very worried' she said quickly. 

‘They always are' said Harry chuckling to himself, ‘I've had worse that
this' 

‘I better go' Catalina whispered, then threw the hood over her head.
Harry hadn't often seen people wearing an invisibility cloak, since he 
was usually inside one. He tried to follow the sound of the swishing of 
the material, but had great difficulty, so he propped himself up again. 


‘Ouch!' said two voices in unison. 

The door opened and closed signalling Catalina had left, and Harry was
left with only his thoughts, why was Catalina hurt? 

* 

Morning arrived and Dumbledore was his first visitor. He had a look of
great sadness on his face. 

‘Sorry to be the bearer of bad news' he begun his usually twinkling eyes
sad and downcast. ‘When your scar hurt you yesterday, Voldemort had 
launched an attack on a small Wizarding community in Wales. There 
didn't seem to be any motive for the attack, but 12 people were 
murdered before the Ministry turned up. Voldemort had dissapperated 
before this time, and only a handful of injured death eaters have been 
captured and blamed for the incident' 

Harry stared at Dumbledore unable to comprehend the loss of 12 lives in
one go, and the fact that the ministry could still turn a blind eye to 
Voldemort actions. 

‘Now Harry, I believe your scar hurt so violently because of the sheer
size of the attack Voldemort launched, and I have to commend Hermione 
for having the quick thinking to come and tell me straight away, her 
actions saved lives. No doubt there another person you want to thank?' 
asked Voldemort who's eyes were twinkling again. 

‘Who?' asked Harry, clueless to who Dumbledore was talking about. 

‘Catalina, it was her quick thinking that got you to the Hospital Wing
in time, I dare say you'll have a headache for a few days' he added 
smiling sadly. 

‘What is the Order doing about the attack?' said Harry refusing to be
distracted by Dumbledore. 

‘There will be a meeting tonight, I don't expect you to turn up, but no
doubt Ron and Hermione will inform you of what happens. Now, I have the 
Ministry to deal with, who are making things impossibly hard for us 
all, I hope you get better soon' said Dumbledore smiling warmly, but 
his eyes held a thoughtful look. 

‘Don't be to hard on Catalina, she was only trying to help' he said,
then swept out of the room. 

Again Harry was left with confusing thoughts which made his head pound. 

* 

Catalina was left without a partner in Transfiguration that morning. Ron
was partnered with Hermione and even Neville had a partner, so she 
simply practised the spell on her own, and then made detailed notes, 
eliminating the need to do homework. Hermione and Ron hadn't tried to 
talk to her, but she had a suspicion this was because they were too 
worried about Harry and the attack, to even talk between themselves. 

Lunch was strained as the three sat together, eating in relative
silence. Ron and Hermione left early to speak to Harry, so Catalina was 
left on her own. She was soon joined by the rest of the Gryfinndor's 
but quickly finished and went to her next lesson, Herbology. 

They were working in the in the exotic greenhouse, and were currently
pruning a poisonous stickleback. Ron and Hermione walked in 5 minutes 
late, both clutching something in their hands and looking flushed, they 
muttered their apology to Professor Sprout. Hermione walked over to 
Catalina tentatively. 

‘Can I be your partner' she asked quietly. 

‘Sure' said Catalina moving over slightly so Hermione could reach the
plant. 

After working for a few minutes in uncomfortable silence, Catalina leant
over to Hermione, 

‘How's Harry?' she asked anxiously. 

‘Oh he's getting better, just a bit of a headache!' said Hermione glad
Catalina talking to her. 

‘Yeah, I kno – bet' said Catalina rubbing her forehead distractedly. 

‘Nothing Harry can't handle, he's been through worse, once he lost all
the bones in his arm!' Hermione told her, laughing at Catalina shocked 
face. 

‘Thank you' said Hermione quietly after a few moments of silence. 

‘What for?' asked Catalina. 

‘Helping Harry, I was just a bit shocked by seeing it and all, and then
the worry about Harry and the attack. I didn't realise you knew how to 
control your powers' explained Hermione. 

‘Does he know?' asked Catalina fearfully, wondering what Harry would
think about her gift now she used it against him, after she told him 
she couldn't. 

‘Er no, not yet' explained Hermione. 

‘Ouch!' yelped Catalina suddenly, clapping her hand to her forehead. 

‘What? What's wrong?' asked Hermione fearfully. 

‘Oh nothing I've had a bit of a headache all day, I er think I might go
to the Hospital Wing' said Catalina backing away towards the door. 

‘Do you want me to come with you?' shouted Hermione at Catalina's
retreating back. 

‘No don't worry' said Catalina running across the lawn to the entrance
hall. She was worried about what had happened to make her head hurt so 
much. 

She burst into the Hospital Wing and walked over to Harry's bed, the
matron was leaning over him. 

Madam Pomfrey bustled off into her office, and Catalina hurried over to
his bed, now that she was here, she didn't actually know what she was 
going to say. 

‘Harry are you alright?' asked Catalina. 

‘Ugh' said Harry opening his eyes ‘I just forgot about my head and sat
bolt upright!' 

‘Oh right' said Catalina laughing with relief, ‘I thought you were
really hurt!' 

‘How –?' 

‘Miss Firelight? What are you doing out of lessons?' asked Madam Pomfrey
severely. 

‘Oh I had a bit of a headache, so I thought I wait here with Harry' said
Catalina avoiding Harry's gaze. 

‘Oh right, come over here then, let me take a look at you' said Madam
Pomfrey bustling around Catalina. 

Harry leaned up on his elbows to watch Catalina walk away, a fresh wave
of pain pushed him back down, Catalina slapped a hand to her forehead, 
and Madam Pomfrey gave her a worried look. 

Harry sat back down and started to think, Catalina was standing over by
Madam Pomfrey's office, pulling her hair long, black hair away from her 
face. Coming to a decision, Harry quickly pushed himself up, he heard 
Catalina give an audible gasp. Frowning to himself, Harry understood 
what was happening, just not why it was. 

Catalina was given a charm that was supposed to take away the pain of a
headache, and she came and sat by Harry, just until lunch. 

‘So, How long have you had your headache?' asked Harry, gauging
Catalina's reaction. 

‘Oh, they only came yesterday' she said avoiding his gaze. 

‘I had an interesting conversation with Dumbledore this morning' said
Harry grinning inwardly at the look on Catalina's face, she looked like 
a trapped animal. 

‘Um yeah?' she said. 

‘Yeah, he told me that I should thank you for something' said Harry
smiling ‘Know what for?' 

‘Oh well, I helped Ron bring you here' she started. 

‘Thank you for that then' said Harry thinking he'd resolved everything. 

‘Well, but something kind of happened on the way' she said avoiding his
eyes. 

‘Oh yeah?' he asked laying back gently. 

‘Well me and Ron couldn't carry you so I decided to levitate you,
Dumbledore found us and showed us the way. But I'm afraid Ron and 
Hermione were a little upset or angry at me for doing it' she said in a 
rush with a blush creeping up her cheeks. 

‘Why?' asked Harry bewildered. 

‘Well, because I didn't use my wand' she blurted. 

Harry stared at her for a few seconds, then opened his mouth to answer.
Hermione and Ron chose that time to come running in, looking ecstatic 
that Harry was finally awake. 

‘Hi Catalina, how's your head?' asked Hermione, peering closely at
Catalina's face. 

‘Erm, fine. Sorry I've got to go and apologise to Professor Sprout' said
Catalina backing away from Harry. 

She turned on her heal and ran out of the room, and Ron and Hermione
turned back to look at Harry, whose mouth was hanging open. 

‘Looked a bit pale didn't she?' said Hermione worriedly. 

‘Yeah. So how are you?' Ron asked Harry, who on closer inspection looked
a bit pale himself. 

‘Uh, yeah I'm actually feeling ok now, just a bit of a headache, I don't
think I'm going to make Quidditch practise tonight though' said Harry 
disappointedly. 

Ron and Hermione grinned to each other, obviously Harry was feeling
better if he was talking about Quidditch. 

After a while, Ron and Hermione had to leave, and again Harry was left
with his thoughts. Catalina expected him to be angry or something for 
trying to help him, but Harry was quite grateful, but a bit worried 
about the side effects. 

He winced as he sank into his pillow, wondering if Catalina was as well.


* 

Harry was kept in all the next day by Madam Pomfrey, who kept a constant
eye on Harry, as if waiting for something else to happen. But the day 
went smoothly, and Harry was counting the hours until he was going to 
be released, already sick of looking at the white walls, ceiling and 
doors. 

The thing he wanted the most was to see Catalina again, and tell her he
wasn't angry, but she never showed up, and Harry felt a little 
disappointed. He decided the first thing he was going to do when he got 
out, was to tell her not to worry about what happened, and then go to 
library and look at the huge book Ron had shown him. He wanted to know 
how long Catalina would be feeling his pain. 

The next morning eventually turned up, and Harry was mercifully allowed
to go back to lessons. He made his way into breakfast, and quickly 
located Ron and Hermione sitting down, but couldn't see Catalina. He 
got some toast and went and sat down by his friends. 

‘How you feeling Harry?' asked Ron thickly though a mouthful of
scrambled egg. 

‘I've got a killer headache' said Harry gingerly fingering his scar.
Madam Pomfrey had healed to cut, but it was still bright red and 
painful. 

‘Where's Catalina?' asked Harry after a brief silence. 

‘Don't know, did she tell you what happened?' asked Hermione fearfully. 

‘Oh yeah' said Harry and continued to eat his toast, grimacing through
his headache. 

‘And...?' asked Ron. 

‘And what?' answered Harry. 

‘She used her magic, without her wand, on you!' said Ron pointedly. 

Harry laid down his toast, licked his fingers clean and turned to look
at Ron, who suddenly felt very nervous. 

‘So?' he said innocently. 

‘Harry, you were the one scared of her a few days ago remember?' said
Ron. 

‘She was only trying to help' said Harry simply, whilst picking up his
bag ‘You ready?' 

Ron sensibly held his tongue and he and Hermione followed Harry, who was
walking slowly through the corridors towards Defence against the Dark 
Arts classroom. Ron shot Hermione a disbelieving glance, who merely 
shrugged her shoulders. Harry was definitely in a funny mood today. 

They walked in the classroom and saw Catalina was already there, in deep
conversation with Professor Figg. She had her back turned to Harry, she 
seemed to be discussing something of great importance, waving her hands 
emphatically every now and again. Professor Figg patted her on the 
back, then noticed Harry, Rona and Hermione standing in the doorway. 

‘More early students?' she laughed. 

Ron simply shrugged his shoulders and sat down next to Hermione.
Catalina remained with her back to Harry, and her shoulders stiffened 
when Mrs Figg spoke. 

‘How are you Harry?' asked Professor Figg seriously. 

‘Fine' said Harry, getting a bit annoyed at the numbers of times he'd
had to answer that question. It must have shown on his face because she 
didn't press it further. 

‘Well today I thought we'd have a bit of a break from shields, and try
some good old duelling, thought it might make a change' said the 
Professor cheerfully. 

The rest of the class was starting to arrive, and Harry was still stood
in the middle of the room. Unsure of whether to sit at the back with 
Catalina, or at the front with Ron and Hermione. Harry was starting to 
feel a little unsteady on his feet, and the ache in his head was 
increasing, so he quickly went and sat next to Catalina. 

She had her head in her hands, and hadn't notice Harry's internal
struggle of choosing a seat. He fell down heavily in the seat next to 
her, taking the weight of his still shaky legs, his scar pains never 
usually effected him this bad. He groaned and fingered his raw scar. 

‘Bad head?' came Catalina's muffled voice. 

‘About exactly the same as yours I would guess' Harry said, looking down
into the mass of black hair. 

Catalina raised her head and looked at Harry, trying to gauge the
meaning behind his words. 

‘Really? I don't think an ordinary headache like mine can compare to
what happened to you' she said eventually. 

‘Hmmm, yeah ordinary headache...' started Harry, who then jerked his
head violently from one side to the other. 

The whole class turned around when the heard a loud shout, to see both
Harry and Catalina groaning holding their heads. 

‘What's wrong?' asked Hermione, staring at the identical masks of pain. 

‘Banged our heads together' Harry said through gritted teeth, he was
really going to regret proving his point. 

The class laughed, and Catalina looked at Harry, her cat's eyes flashing
with anger. 

‘What did you do that for if you knew?' she asked rubbing her forehead. 

‘I dunno' said Harry holding his head ‘Had to be sure I guess' 

Professor Figg explained the day's lesson, and let the pair up and
start, completely ignoring the fact that both Harry and Catalina didn't 
look like they were about the get up and start duelling. 

Catalina was following the wood grain with her wand trying to avoid
Harry's gaze. He had been staring at her for a while, and when she 
looked like she wasn't about to say anything fast, he decided to take 
the initiative. 

‘I have so many questions, I don't know which ones to ask' laughed Harry
and he ran his fingers through his hair absentmindedly. 

‘I have just one question' said Catalina turning towards him ‘Could you
please never shake you head again? Or preferably go to sleep for the 
next week? 

Harry and Catalina burst out laughing at this, but quickly stopped
because of the identical headaches. 

‘So does this usually happen to you? When you use your gift?' asked
Harry. 

‘No never before' said Catalina thoughtfully, 

‘I asked Professor Figg, she said it might be because of the, er
circumstances. She thinks it might really be my fault. You see I've 
been having training to use my gift for years, and when you use magic 
on someone, you make a kind of connection with them' she stopped, 
looking at his direction, Harry just nodded and waved his hand, 
beckoning her to continue with what she was saying. 

‘The other day I was absolutely terrified about what was happening, I
didn't understand it and nobody would explain it to me. Because I can 
usually control it, I don't often have times like back in the train 
compartment and when your scar hurt, where I loose control' she said 
sounding embarrassed. 

‘Well I don't know, I had control at the beginning, but I was panicking
so much I wasn't concentrating. Then before I knew what was happening, 
I could feel the pain coming into me, it made me really panic, and 
before Dumbledore found us I nearly dropped you!' she stopped, not 
knowing what else to say. 

Harry just sat there, open mouthed, thinking of what had happened. When
he thought about it, it was an incredibly brave, and incredibly stupid 
thing to do. 

‘How long is it going to be like this?' asked Harry, wondering if it was
just headaches Catalina felt, or every little injury. 

‘Dunno, I guess just until your headache goes, I've never really heard
of it before' she shrugged. 

That sat in silence for a while, laughing occasionally at the pairs
duelling. Hermione had hit Ron with a tickling charm, and Ron had hit 
Hermione with a crying curse. It was quite comical to see Ron clutching 
his side laughing, and Hermione clutching Ron crying her heart out. 
Neither of them could get enough breath to stop the curses, and 
Professor Figg was trying to calm down Lavender whose hair had been 
dyed green. Seamus and Dean eventually came to Ron and Hermione's 
rescue. 

‘Thank You' said Harry quietly, watching Ron and Hermione walking over
to them. 

‘It's ok' said Catalina, eyeing Ron, who was avoiding her gaze. 

‘Time for dinner everyone!' said Hermione with fake cheerfulness. 

They all stood up, and Catalina and Harry had almost identical looks of
pain on their faces. Just before they reached the library, Catalina 
made her an excuse and went back to the common room. Harry, Ron and 
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner, and Harry decided that 
it was the perfect time to set the record straight. 

‘Listen guys, there's something you should know about what Catalina did.
I want you to understand what happened' said Harry seriously looking 
from Ron to Hermione. 

Hermione nodded, and Harry launched into a detailed description of
everything that had happened. When he'd finished he sat back, and 
looked at his friends. 

‘So her headaches...? Hermione began. 

‘Me' said Harry grimly. 

‘She was only trying to help' said Harry emphatically, directing it more
towards Ron. 

Ron seemed to be pondering the situation, but eventually he looked up
and smiled. 

‘I understand' 

‘Well why don't you tell her that? She's thinks your scared of her!'
asked Harry 

~*~*~ Chapter Eighteen ~*~*~ 

The Past 

The next transfiguration lesson, Ron had partnered up with Catalina, and
Harry and Hermione had watched them talking with baited breath. They 
were sitting next to each other, heads together and talking in low 
whispers, Catalina was waving her hands round, trying to explain to 
Ron. After about ten minutes they had to start their transfiguration 
project for today, and Ron and Catalina stood up to start. Catalina had 
her back to Harry and Hermione, but Ron faced them. He gave a small 
thumb's up sign that told them everything was ok. 

Harry and Hermione gave each other a cheerful smile, then Hermione
brandished her wand, and started to turn Harry's hair blonde. They had 
fun all lesson giving each other new hair colours and styles. Ron and 
Catalina walked over and joined them just before the end. They had 
swapped hair colours, so now Ron had short black hair, and Catalina had 
long ginger hair. 

‘Blonde definitely isn't your colour Harry!' said Catalina giggling. 

‘Yeah mate, it doesn't match your eyes!' said Ron ruffling his hair. 

‘You sound like your mom' said Harry laughing at Ron's impersonation
‘Anyway, I'd be inclined to say that black doesn't suit you!' 

‘You look like a Weasley with that hair Catalina' said Hermione giggling
at Catalina's long, red locks. 

‘I don't know who you look like Hermione, I've not seen many people with
black and white striped hair!' said Catalina laughing at the look of 
horror on Hermione's face. 

‘Harry! What have you done?' groaned Hermione fingering her striped
hair. 

‘Nothing!' said Harry innocently. 

‘Ok class, pack up your stuff, and I want you to fix everybody's hair
before you leave!' shouted Professor McGonagall, over the noise of the 
classroom. 

‘Finite Incantem' muttered Harry, watching Hermione's hair return to
it's normal mousy brown. 

Everyone laughed with relief when their hair returned to its normal
colour, and they walked into the Great Hall in high spirits. The sat 
down at the table and began to quickly eat their lunch before 
Divination. 

‘Guess what? Hogsmeade trip on Halloween!' said Seamus enthusiastically.


‘Really? Great! I need to stock up on a few essentials' said Fred,
grinning like the Cheshire Cat. 

‘What's Hogsmeade?' asked Catalina. 

‘It's a completely magical community that's just behinds the Forbidden
Forest. We get visits there every few months. It's got loads of shops 
there, you'll love it!' gushed Hermione. 

Ron, Harry and Hermione launched into a detailed description of the
shops and things the could buy in Hogsmeade, and before they realise 
what was happening, they were 5 minutes late for divination. 

‘Great' said Ron bitterly as they ran towards the North Tower. 

* 

That night Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the common room, each
working on their own homework. Harry had to catch up on the lessons he 
missed while he was in the Hospital Wing, and Catalina was nowhere to 
be found. 

After a while Ron and Hermione went up to bed, and Harry was started to
get worried about where Catalina was when she stumbled in through the 
portrait hole. 

‘Where have you been?' asked Harry when she came and flopped on the
chair next to Harry's. 

‘Dumbledore's office. Professor Figg told him about the headaches. He
was very interested in them. I've been in there for about 2 hours 
telling him about it. Anyway, he'll probably want to talk to you about 
it' she said heavily. 

‘Why?' Harry asked confused. 

‘Dunno, guess he's just curious' said Catalina. 

She pulled some parchment over to her, and started on her potions essay,
they worked for a while in silence, Harry was wondering why Dumbledore 
was so interested in the headaches. Finally they both finished and sat 
back in the chairs. 

‘Hey,' said Harry suddenly ‘Last time we did this, I showed you my gift.
You said that you'd show me yours when you could control it. But if you 
can control it now, why not give me a little demonstration?' 

‘Oh yeah, forgot about that. Ok, lets see' said Catalina flexing her
fingers theatrically. 

‘Accio parchment' she shouted, hand outstretched. White light leapt from
her fingers and touched the parchment clasped in Harry's hand. Harry 
felt the parchment being pulled out of his grasp, as it travelled along 
the path of the white cord towards Catalina's hand. She reached forward 
and grasped it, looking nervously at Harry's reaction. 

‘That was so cool!' said Harry looking at the parchment in her hands
with amazement. 

Catalina's face broke into a wide grin, as she handed him the parchment
back. 

‘I've never shown anyone except my tutors and parents, I wasn't sure
what you would think' she said quietly. 

‘Nah, it was really brilliant. That could be so useful, not like mine,
how is that supposed to help me?' Harry said laughing. 

‘I dunno, anyway need sleep' she said standing up. She stretched in a
cat-like way and climbed the stairs. 

Harry sat in the chair for a few minutes longer thinking about what he'd
just seen. It was amazing but she could do magic without a wand, he 
thought that would be so useful, the possibilities could be endless. 
Harry picked himself up and yet again he was last one to get into the 
boys dormitory. 

* 

The next morning Harry made a resolution to himself to work hard on his
shield, if he ever faced Voldemort again, if could be really useful, 
and he knew with certainty that he would see Voldemort again. So Harry 
decided to practise out of lessons on his shield, and also decided 
needed he needed some help. 

Catalina was the obvious choice, her shield was nearly as strong as
Professor Figg's was and she was even working on the image in the 
middle. That day first lesson was Defence against Dark Arts, and Harry 
concentrated really hard on watching Catalina's technique before 
practising it himself. 

‘Catalina? I was wondering if you would help me improve my shield?'
asked Harry at the beginning of the lesson. 

‘Oh, sure' said Catalina ‘Right before you conjure your shield, you have
to think really positive thoughts, just like with a patronus. When the 
shield is formed you have to imagine it like...like your energy made 
into something you can see. Then you just have to imagine yourself 
pouring your energy into. It's best to imagine it like a glass of 
water, with you pouring in more water' 

Head swimming with all the information, Harry summoned his happiest
memory, winning the Quidditch cup in his third year, and produced his 
shield. 

Harry watched Catalina through his shield giving him instructions, and
tried to follow them. 

‘Right now summon your energy, like a ball of light inside your stomach
or something, and push it into the shield' said Catalina, whose voice 
was slightly dulled by the shield. 

So Harry tried imagining the ball of light, and then pushing it into the
shield. It wouldn't work, he could imagine the light, but he couldn't 
put it into his shield. 

‘Oh! Sorry Harry, I have a thought. It'll be different for you, because
I don't usually use my wand when I'm doing this. Right imagine the 
light, and channel it through your wand tip' said Catalina sounded 
sheepish ‘Sorry, forgot' 

‘Ok' said Harry creating the ball of light then imagining being pushed
through the wand tip, suddenly there was a red flash and then small 
flaming shield in front of his face, started to spread, moving down and 
wrapping around Harry. 

Catalina was whooping and clapping loudly and Hermione and Ron rushed
over to take a look. 

‘Wow Harry! That's brilliant!' said Hermione sounding pleased. 

Harry who was just as excited as Catalina, let the shield disappear, and
stood smiling it of his friends. 

‘I did it! Yes!' shouted Harry punching the air. 

‘Very impressive Harry, but there's a long way to go, but 5 points to
Gryffindor I think' a voice came from behind Harry, who spun round to 
see Professor Figg looking pleased. 

Harry grinned back, and then went back to practising with the shield. It
was Catalina's turn next, and she created her full flaming shield, then 
spent about five minutes tying to direct the yellow sparks that had 
culminated in the middle of shield into some sort of form. Eventually 
Harry started to see it taking form, and he bent down and looked 
intently into the centre of the shield. Inside the shield Catalina bent 
down as well looking at the image from the inside of her shield. 

‘Looks like a cat or something' said Harry peering closely at the image.


Catalina chose that moment to banish her shield, and Harry was left
looking into a pair of cats eyes. 

‘Oh!' said Harry in surprise toppling backwards and lying sprawled on
the floor; Catalina started giggling at him, who was looking 
half-amused and half-angry. 

‘You scared the hell out of me then!' Harry laughed, looking into the
cats eyes which where alight with mischief. 

‘Well then, mission complete!' she laughed. 

‘Hey Catalina, could you help Ron and me as well?' asked Hermione,
trying to hide a smile as she saw Harry still sprawled on the floor. 

‘Yeah sure' said Catalina walked off towards Ron and Hermione. 

By the end of the lesson, both Ron and Hermione had managed to create a
shield that wrapped all the way around them. No one could produce 
images on them though, and it took a lot of concentration and energy to 
keep the full shield up. 

They spent the next few days practising their shields, going to lessons
and doing essays, and before they realised it, they week had flown by 
and they had the weekend free. Harry spent the time on the Quidditch 
pitch, helping Ron practise for the upcoming trials. Ron practised 
feverishly, desperate to make it on the team, aided along by Fred and 
George who were pelting him quaffles as he circled around the goal 
posts. Harry watched, impressed by Ron's skills, obviously having 5 
brothers meant you can duck and catch flying objects. Harry looked on 
the trials with a feeling that they'd need someone very good to beat 
Ron, it was a dead cert. 

They trooped into the Great Hall that evening, sweaty and tired with
their brooms slung over their shoulders. Harry carefully placed his 
broom out of the way on his lap, and began to hungrily eat his food. 
What with shield practising and Quidditch Harry was running low on 
energy. 

‘Is that your broom Harry?' breathed Catalina, eyeing Harry's Firebolt. 

‘Yeah' said Harry, grinning with pride, his broom was his prized
possession. 

‘It's amazing, I bought one when I was in France over the holidays its
not nearly as nice as yours' she said enviously. 

‘What type is it?' asked Harry, curious about the foreign racing brooms.


‘Coup de Tonnerre,' she said in a perfect French accent, ‘it's the
latest type in France, but they're a bit behind England when it comes 
to Quidditch' 

‘Do you play Quidditch then?' asked Harry through a mouthful of potato. 

‘Oh yeah, I love Quidditch, What's your position?' asked Catalina. 

‘Seeker, what about you?' 

‘Chaser' said Catalina with a dreamy look on her face. 

‘You should try out for the team, where holding trials for the reserve
team on Monday' said Harry, looking at Catalina, who seemed to be 
giving the proposition some thought. 

‘Yeah, I think I will' said Catalina with a grin spreading across her
face. 

‘Tell you what' said Ron who had been listening to the conversation ‘You
can practise with us, were going back out onto the pitch after this! 
See if you can get past me!' 

‘Your on' laughed Catalina. 

* 

Catalina broom was stunning thought Harry as she held it out for
inspection. It was as highly polished as his Firebolt, but lacked the 
streamline look to its tail end. It was a glossy white colour, with 
‘Coup de Tonnerre' painted on the side in black letters, and the twigs 
where also black. 

The three rose up into the air, and Harry was playing the part of
referee, watching Catalina scoring, and Ron blocking. There was no 
doubt about it Catalina was a good flyer, and Ron was a good Keeper. By 
the time the sun was going down, the score was an even 25 scored, 25 
saved. Harry decided to end it there, seeing the identical looks of 
competitiveness on Catalina and Ron's faces. 

They are marched back to the common room, absolutely shattered. Catalina
rushed upstairs to put her broom away, and Hermione bustled over to 
Harry and Ron. 

‘Dumbledore want's to see you this evening Harry' she said quietly. 

Ron and Hermione gave him puzzled look, but Harry merely shrugged his
shoulders. 

So Harry quickly got changed and made his way down to Dumbledore's
office. He gave the gargoyle the password, then entered the room. None 
of the teachers were sitting in the chairs this time, there was only 
Dumbledore sat behind his desk, smiling at him, stroking a large black 
dog. 

‘Sirius!' Harry shouted rushing over the man who had just transformed
back into his godfather ‘What are you doing here?' 

‘Came to talk to you' said his godfather with a lopsided grin. 

‘Well I'll leave you two to catch up, I'll see you later Sirius' said
Dumbledore walking out of the door, and magically locked it. 

‘What's all this?' asked Harry puzzled at the odd behaviour of
Dumbledore and Sirius. 

‘Well I know how angry you get when you get left in the dark about
things, especially when it involves your parents. So I thought I'd 
share a few bits of information with you' said Sirius, with a grave 
look on his face. 

Harry was taken aback with the odd comment, so he just leaned back in
his chair opposite his godfather. 

‘Did you ever wonder what your father did for a living?' asked Sirius
out of the blue. 

Harry just stared back, unable to think why he'd never asked. 

‘Well James trained with Remus and me to become Auroras for the
Ministry. As soon as we left Hogwarts we signed up together, and went 
to a special school set up by the Ministry in Wales. Our training was 
long and hard, but we all did well, especially Remus' explained Sirius. 


Harry just nodded dumbly, taking in the information. 

‘There was a teacher their, that didn't particularly like us, by the
name of Charles Firelight,' at this Harry looked up sharply, but Sirius 
held up his hand to stop him interrupting. 

‘Now, as you can imagine, we had to er, keep Remus's condition a secret,
because werewolves weren't allowed in the ministry. But this teacher 
found out, we tried to stop him telling the ministry, but he wouldn't 
listen. He went straight to them and told them about Remus, and they 
kicked him out' said Sirius angrily, flexing his fingers. 

‘Well as you can imagine James and me were furious, Remus had lost his
once chance to do what he wanted, because of that man. Remus never hurt 
anyone, was the top of every class, but he still got thrown out, with 
no money and nowhere to live. So James and me went to the Firelights 
house one night, and we got a little bit er, violent with him, and 
Charles suffered a bit from James curses. Firelight tried to get us 
expelled as well, saying we were a danger to the public, but Dumbledore 
stepped we were allowed to stay' said Sirius, his eyes glazed as he 
recalled the memories. 

So anyway, your dad and me hated this guy. Then your parents went to be
hidden in Godric's Hollow, which made James really angry because they 
were next door to his enemy. The night your parents were – that night, 
Death Eaters surrounded Godric's Hollow, they didn't know which house 
they were hiding in, so the Death Eaters went to the Firelights house 
first, they managed to escape and got away with the Order of Merlin 
First Class, while your parents were killed' said Sirius bitterly. 

‘They disappeared after that, supposedly on a trip around the world, but
they were just running away. See they were scared that the Death Eaters 
would be coming after them, and now their back, and Voldemort is after 
them. And I have to protect them' spat Sirius, anger flashing in his 
eyes. 

Harry sat there dumbly, trying to take in everything he'd just heard. 

‘So...?' asked Sirius waiting for Harry's reaction 

‘I don't know what to say, it's so much to take in' said Harry slowly. 

‘There's another reason I'm telling you this, I've seen you making
friends with the girl' said Sirius looking at Harry. 

Harry's eyes snapped up sharply, trying to understand what Sirius was
getting at. 

‘And?' he said with a closed statement on his face. 

‘And, I want you to be careful, I knew her father, there's no way he'd
let his child grow up without giving her a little extra tuition. I 
wouldn't be surprised if she's fully in control of her powers, and I 
want you to be careful of her, she's dangerous' he said seriously. 

Harry stared at Sirius for some time, the words Catalina and dangerous
didn't go together, he was suddenly angry at Sirius, he didn't know 
Catalina at all, he was judging her on a label. Like Catalina's father 
did with Remus. 

‘So what are you saying?' asked Harry quietly. 

‘Stay away from her' said Sirius looking at Harry intently. 

‘You cant tell me what to do, your not my father' said Harry angrily. 

‘No, but I'm the nearest thing' said Sirius earnestly. 

‘No' said Harry angrily. 

‘No what?' asked Sirius, confused. 

‘No, I won't stay away from her, she's my friend. I'm not just going to
turn my back her because you don't like her' said Harry angrily 
standing up, wanting to be out of the room. 

‘Harry, I'm only trying to protect you' said Sirius rising up as well. 

‘She's my friend Sirius' Harry hissed, turning on his heal and striding
towards the door. The door sprang open before Harry reached the 
doorknob, and he walked through slamming it on the way out. 

Sirius just stood there for a few minutes open mouthed, Harry hadn't
really taken that news very well, he though, not very well at all. 

* 

Harry stormed through the corridors, completely oblivious to where he
was going until he arrived in front of the portrait of Fat Lady. 

‘Fortudio' he hissed, then pushed his way through. 

He marched into the common room, and scanned the room, Ron, Hermione and
Catalina were sitting by the fire. He was going to go and sit with 
them, but decided he was too stressed. 

‘Hey Harry, what did Dumbledore say?' asked Ron looking up to see Harry
walk in their direction. 

Harry didn't even look at Ron, he just stormed up to the boys dormitory,
slamming doors on his way. He flopped onto his bed and pulled the 
curtains around his bed, wanting to be alone to process his thoughts. 
He'd never fought with Sirius before, but Harry though as he angrily 
pummelled his pillow, Sirius was being completely out of line, he had 
no right. 

Meanwhile back in the common room, Ron was staring open mouthed as Harry
had just walked past them completely ignoring them with a huge scowl on 
his face. Everyone had jumped as they heard the boy's dormitory door 
slam. 

‘He looked really angry' said Hermione in a worried voice ‘What could
have happened?' 

Ron shrugged and stared at the staircase to the boy's dormitory, with a
thoughtful statement face. 

‘Do you think I should go up and talk to him?' asked Ron nervously. 

‘Err, better leave it a bit' said Hermione. 

‘Yeah' said Ron thinking about the look on Harry's face, he didn't want
to get in the way of his friend when he was that angry. 

* 

Monday morning arrived and Ron woke up early, to find his friends bed
empty already. Ron quickly got dressed and located his friend sitting 
by the fire in the common room. Harry was staring into the fire, 
completely oblivious to the fact that Ron had sat down next to him. 

‘You all right?' asked Ron nervously. 

Harry nearly jumped out of skin and glared at Ron. 

‘Ron! You nearly gave me a heart attack, don't sneak up on me like
that!' said Harry massaging his heart. 

Ron shrugged guiltily and stared at his friend, who didn't look like
he'd had much sleep. 

‘What did Dumbledore tell you?' asked Ron fearfully. 

Harry gave a derisive snort, then looked at Ron, anger in his eyes. 

‘He wanted me to talk to Sirius' said Harry grimly. 

‘What? Isn't that good?' asked Ron confusedly. 

‘Huh!' said Harry staring at the fire ‘He told me some stuff about my
dad' 

‘What?' asked Ron. 

So Harry launched into the full story of last night. Telling Ron all
about his dad, and Remus, and Catalina's parents. Ron didn't understand 
why Harry was so upset, Harry was always really happy about hearing 
more information about his parents. 

‘Is that why your so mad? You're mad at Catalina, because of her dad?
That's stupid' said Ron more bravely than he felt. 

But Harry merely looked at Ron and nodded his head emphatically. 

‘My thoughts exactly, but Sirius doesn't seem to think so' he said
angrily. 

Harry told Ron what Sirius had said at the end of the conversation. 

‘I can see why so angry at Sirius then' said Ron, understanding Harry's
foul mood. 

‘He thinks he has the right to tell me what to do, he's only my
godfather' Harry growled. 

Harry sat for a few more minutes brooding when a thought suddenly came
to him. 

‘Do you reckon Catalina knows about her dad?' asked Harry thoughtfully. 

Ron memory wandered back to Catalina's dream, and everything Malfoy had
said, and what Harry had said under the memory potion. 

‘Yes' he said so certainly that Harry shot him a curious look, ‘She must
do, er, remember what Malfoy said on the train, she was trying to shut 
him up then' 

‘Right' said Harry with a slight look of suspicion on his face ‘What
should I do Ron?' 

Ron stared back at his friend, Harry just looked miserable now. 

‘If Catalina knows, then maybe you should ask her about it. I bet her
dads giving her just as much grief being your friend. If not more 
seeing as your dad and Sirius must have whacked him one' said Ron 
laughing at Harry's smirk. 

‘Yeah' laughed Harry ‘I'll ask her about it later' 

* 

At breakfast Harry and Ron were sitting together when Hermione and
Catalina walked in. Then were talking in low whispers when the girls 
sat down at the table. The both shut up instantly and had guilty looks 
on her faces. Hermione was relieved to see Harry didn't look half as 
angry as he did last night, all though his eyes still looked a little 
angry. 

‘What are you talking about' said Hermione suspiciously, narrowing her
eyes as she looked at the guilty faces of each boy. 

‘Oh nothing' said Ron giving Hermione a warning look. 

‘Double potions first lesson, were brewing that really difficult healing
potion today' said Hermione trying to cover up the awkward silence. 

‘Oh yeah' said Ron grimacing ‘will you be my partner Hermione? I'm
absolutely useless at potions' 

‘Yeah sure' said Hermione noting the pleading look in his eyes. 

‘Will you work with me Catalina?' asked Harry, speaking for the first
time. 

‘Uh-huh' Catalina consented through a mouthful of scrambled egg. 

They eat the rest of their breakfast in silence, and trooped down to the
dungeons in the same state. They sat down at their cauldrons and waited 
for Snape and the rest of the class to turn up. Harry glanced over to 
Catalina who was staring at the wall ahead, as if transfixed by the 
stonework, he swallowed noisily and decided to get it over with. 

‘Did you know about my dad, and er, your dad?' asked Harry trying to
gauge Catalina's reaction. 

Her eyes snapped towards Harry, and she tried to read his face, but he
had a closed statement that made her slightly nervous. 

‘Um, yeah' she said, wide-eyed. This is it she thought. 

Harry sat there for a minutes in silence, trying to think of what to
say, while Catalina's stomach plummeted at the look of anger on his 
face. 

‘But we cans till be friends, can't we?' asked Harry hopefully. 

Catalina looked at him is disbelief, and with a grin spreading across
her face, nodded. 

‘Sure' said Catalina with relief. 

They spent the rest of the lesson chatting about general topics ranging
from Quidditch to the Hogsmeade visit at the weekend. 

‘If you don't mind me asking Harry, why were you so angry last night?'
said Catalina curiously. 

‘Oh, Sirius was the one who told me. Seemed to think he had the right to
tell me what to do. Just because he didn't like you dad, doesn't mean I 
have to stay away from you' Harry muttered to himself, as if he forgot 
Catalina was even there. 

‘Like your really dangerous, like you'd really hurt me' he muttered
under his breath. 

‘I think that scarab beetles ground up enough' said Catalina pretending
she hadn't heard his dark muttering. 

~*~*~ Chapter Nineteen ~*~*~ 

Till Death us do Part 

The next few days passed quickly, and the four were looking upon the
Hogsmeade trip with excitement. Harry pronounced that he'd buy everyone 
a butterbeer, and Hermione had promised a chocolate bar to everyone. 

One thing that managed to take their mind off the excitement for
Hogsmeade, was Ron, Harry's and Catalina's excitement for the Quidditch 
trials. Harry had to get there early with the rest of the team to set 
up the pitch. Five Gryffindor's turned up to try-out for the part of 
Keeper. Ron was looking green with nerves but Harry was full of 
confidence for him. 

Katie and Alicia took it in turns to try and score against the keepers.
Ron went up and managed to save 9 out of the 10 quaffles that were 
thrown against him, and Harry cheered loudly as Ron descended. Ron gave 
him a thumbs-up sign and went and sat of the bench. Next up was Seamus 
who only managed to save 5 out of his 10, and looked depressed as he 
descended and sat next to Ron. A second year and two fourth years also 
tried up, but none of them were up to the standard of Ron. 

After a brief discussion in the changing room, Ron was proclaimed the
new Gryffindor Keeper. Harry ran outside to see the five Gryffindor's 
all sat on the bench waiting for them. 

‘You all did really well everyone' George said congratulating the
players. 

‘But we've decided that Ronald Weasley is to be the new Gryffindor
Keeper' shouted George in a pompous, mayoral voice. 

Ron jumped up and punched the air, and then shook the hands of the other
applicants. Then Fred and George walked up and slapped him on the back. 


‘We would also like the name Seamus Finnigen as the Reserve Keeper, if
Ron should come to any grievous injury' laughed George. 

‘God forbid' added Fred rolling his eyes. 

Next the rest of the Gryffindor team had to be chosen, and all the
potential seekers were sent Harry's way, who would be the one to test 
them. Harry groaned as he saw Colin Creevey walk up to him, with an 
excited look on his face. 

‘I want to be the Seeker, just like you' proclaimed Colin and he stood
in front of Harry. 

Harry turned round to see he only had one other applicant, which was a
small second year girl called Rebecca Ellis. He took the two potential 
seekers on laps around the pitch, mentally giving them points for broom 
control, and taking them off for mistakes. Eventually he let out the 
Snitch and watched their techniques for searching. Harry could tell 
that Colin had studied his technique and basically copied it, floating 
high above the pitch, searching for the Snitch. In the end Harry had to 
grudgingly admit that Colin was far more talented when it came to being 
a Seeker than the young girl. 

He took the two applicants over to the sidelines, and sat on the bench
himself, watching Catalina darting back and forth across the pitch. She 
was flying just as good as she did in practise with Harry and Ron, and 
the Gryffindor Chasers were clearly impressed. 

After a short time the rest of the team descended and Harry followed
them into the changing room while the waiting applicants were sat on 
the pitch. 

‘Ok, so were agreed. Seeker is Colin Creevy, Keeper is Seamus Finnigen,
Beaters are Mark and Daniel Jameson, and the Chasers are Sarah Bell, 
Ginny Weasley and Catalina Firelight?' asked Fred looking down the list 
they compiled. 

Everyone agreed, and walked back out onto the pitch to break the good
and bad news. Soon there was a huddle of people dancing and shouting, 
and another who looked sad and despondent. 

‘Ok everyone, meet on Thursday evening for your first training session'
shouted George over the cheers and sobs. 

Ron ran up to Harry who was beaming at his friend's good mood. 

‘I made it in!' he said laughing at his own good luck ‘And can you
believe it? Ginny got in as well! I didn't even know she was trying 
out' 

‘Neither did I, but Katie Bell said she was a brilliant Chaser' said
Harry happily. 

The two boys ran over to where Catalina was standing beaming, holding
her French broom. 

‘I did it! I got Chaser!' she said excitedly. 

‘Well done!' said Harry laughing with his friends as they walked back to
the castle. 

‘Wait till we tell Hermione!' said Ron happily 

* 

‘Hurry up you guys!' shouted Catalina up the boys staircase, it was
Saturday morning and it was the day of the Hogsmeade trip, and Catalina 
was really excited. 

Ron and Harry dragged themselves downstairs looking dishevelled and
tired. There had been a party in the common room the celebrate the new 
Gryffindor team, and they had only got to bed when Professor McGonagall 
had come up. 

‘How can you be so cheerful in the morning?' asked Ron disgustedly. 

‘Oh shut up and hurry up. We need breakfast before we go!' she said
dragging them out of the portrait hole, talking excitedly to Hermione. 

They quickly finished their breakfast, and swung their travelling cloaks
over their shoulders. The made the way out of the large gates guarding 
the school and walked towards the village. Ron and Hermione were 
walking behind Harry and Catalina, and they were all talking about the 
Quidditch teams chances this year, and plotting the downfall of the 
Slytherin's. 

They arrived at Hogsmeade, and gave Catalina the choice of where to go
first, since they had been so much the novelty had worn off. They 
trooped around the Zonko's, Honeyduke's, Dervish and Bangs and 
Gladrag's. Catalina went to buy a new dress robe with Hermione, so the 
boys went and bought their Christmas presents, and waited for them to 
come out, not wanting to even think about the Yule Ball yet. 

They came out twenty minutes later looking all giggly, whispering
between themselves. 

‘I think it's time for those butterbeer's I promised you!' said Harry
leading the way to The Three Broomsticks. 

They found a booth and Harry brought over the four butterbeer's. They
sat a laughed and chatted between themselves, enjoying the change of 
scenery. It was getting late and the Hogwarts students were starting to 
leave, when a huge explosion rocked the floor of the inn, and brought 
plaster raining down on their heads. 

‘What was that?' shouted Hermione over the panicked voices. 

A second explosion rocked the floor, and everyone looked around wildly,
trying to find out what had happened. Harry was reached into his robes 
and pulled out his wand, brandishing it in front of him, the others 
followed suit. Suddenly Harry dropped to his knees, hands clasped over 
his forehead, moaning. 

‘It's you-know-who' said Hermione, pale face and white-lipped. 

Ron and Hermione grabbed Harry, and all four of them started to move
towards the door. 

‘Hurry up, hurry up!' shouted Catalina panicking. 

They reached to doorway, and forced themselves into the street through
the throngs of people packing the street. Harry groaned through gritted 
teeth as he stared around the packed Village Street, and what he saw 
made his blood run cold. 

A solid wall of around 15 Death Eaters were walking down the centre of
the village, wands outstretched and faces masked. A fireball erupted 
out of the end of one Death Eaters wand, and a third explosion rocked 
the ground as it hit a house. Harry stood up without the aid of his 
friends, he was still gritting his teeth in pain, and stared at his 
friends. 

‘What are we going to do?' he asked. 

The crowd that had thronged into the street started running away from
the Death Eaters, and would soon leave Harry and his friends exposed. 

‘Here' hissed Catalina, dragging her friends into a dark side alley. 

They crouched in silence in the shadows watching the line of Death
Eaters pass them by, holding their breath as a Death Eater walked only 
3 meters away from them slowly, cloak swishing along the floor. The 
Death Eaters passed from view, and they breathed a sigh of relief. 

Suddenly Harry let out a piercing scream, clutching his scar, and
rolling on the floor. Hermione shot a panicked look at him, but 
thinking quick put a silencing charm on him. Everyone sat, not daring 
to breathe, in case the Death Eaters would hear them. 

Catalina sat on her hunches staring at Harry, who was lying on the
floor, eyes screwed up in pain, mouth open in a silent scream. It made 
her sick to see it, but couldn't think of anything to do, her mind had 
gone blank. 

Ron and Hermione were watching the entrance of the alley panic-stricken,
as if waiting for something to happen. Ron looked down to Harry who was 
silently screaming holding his forehead. Ron breathed between his teeth 
and crawled to the entrance of the alley. 

‘Ron' Hermione moaned quietly ‘Come back!' 

‘We can make a run for it, there's no-one it sight!' whispered Ron, his
red freckles standing out against his white skin. 

They looked down at Harry, who wasn't screaming any longer, but his face
was still screwed up in pain. Catalina stood up and heaved Harry up 
next to her, who stood up resolutely, although his legs were unstable. 
Hermione removed the silencing charm, and Harry grinned shakily at her. 


‘Thanks' gasped Harry rubbing his forehead. 

‘Stick together!' Ron whispered as they crept towards the entrance. 

They stood at the entrance and then bolted, running as fast as their
legs could carry them along the deserted streets. The lack of noise was 
disconcerting, and Harry felt himself tensing up, as if expecting to be 
pounced on. He legs were aching so much and his head started to pound 
even harder, and Harry started to slow down. His felt a hand slip into 
his, and drag him along the street. 

They ran towards a bend in the road, and as they turned the corner the
stopped in their tracks. They had walked straight into the path of 10 
Death Eaters that were walking along the road. 

‘Harry' said Catalina faintly, tightening her grip on his hand 'What do
we do?' 

‘We fight back' said Harry brandishing his wand, and saw the others
follow suit. 

‘Harry Potter, we meet again, although I suppose this is for the last
time' laughed a harsh voice coming from one of the Death Eaters hoods. 

There was a brief silence, while the Death Eaters tightened ranks and
glided towards them. 

‘Ah, and of course, Miss Firelight, what a pleasure to meet you at last'
said the harsh voice. 

Harry instinctively moved in front of Catalina shielding her from the
group of Death Eaters that were closing in on them. 

The group of Death Eaters started laughing, cold and mercilessly at
Harry's attempts to protect Catalina. 

‘So brave' said the harsh voice cruelly ‘your willing to die, out of
stupidity' 

The four stared back, silently waiting for reinforcements to come. 

‘Well, no matter. I will take great pleasure in being the one to kill
you Harry Potter. I dare say we can find a use of you later' said the 
Death Eater to Catalina. 

The Death Eater stared around the group, eyes falling on Hermione, then
with the slightest flick of his wand, screamed ‘Crucio'. Harry watched 
the scene unfolding in slow motion, the curse flew through the air 
aimed at Hermione, who was roughly pushed to ground by Ron. The curse 
hit Ron squarely in the chest who fell to the floor shrieking. Harry 
took only a second to make his move, 

‘Stupefy!' he shouted, pointing his wand at the main Death Eater. The
curse hit him and the curse on Ron was lifted. 

Then all hell broke loose, every curse and hex Harry could remember was
thrown at the Death Eaters, beside him Catalina, Ron and Hermione were 
following suit. 

Fireballs where whizzing past Harry's head, some hitting Death Eaters,
some flying off into the distance. 

‘Impedimenta! Stupefy! Impedimenta!' shouted Harry, backing away as the
Death Eaters advanced forwards. 

‘Finite Incantem' shouted the Death Eaters, reviving their comrades. 

Every curse or hex Harry threw, was soon disabled by the Death Eaters
around him, and none seemed to last long or have any effect on the 
approaching wall of black cloaked people. Harry carried on throwing 
curse's however while looking around at his friends. Catalina was 
almost deathly pale, but was resolutely throwing fireballs into the 
crowd of oncoming Death Eaters. Ron was trying to hold off three Death 
Eaters who seemed to have broken away to deal with him and Hermione. 
Harry watched as a ball of black light flew threw the air towards 
Hermione, but didn't have chance to scream a warning to her. 

Then Harry saw Hermione fall onto the floor, face pale and eyes closed.
The Death Eaters swept past her ignoring her, until she was hidden 
behind the wall of black coats. Ron ran forward, and launched himself 
at two Death Eaters, lashing out wildly. Hs fist connected with two 
Death Eaters chins, before they retaliated. Ron kicked and hit, tearing 
at the masks on the faces of the Death Eaters, wand forgotten. 

Harry saw Ron disappear in a huddle of Death Eaters that surrounded him,
and only Catalina and Harry were left, greatly outnumbered. 

One Death Eater stepped forward and cried ‘Crucio' wand aimed at Harry's
chest. 

Harry crumpled to the floor shrieking with the pain of the curse,
completely oblivious to everything that was going on around. Catalina 
was the only one left standing, Ron and Hermione had disappeared 
moments ago, and now Harry was lying on the floor at her side, 
shrieking in pain. 

One tall Death Eater glided towards Catalina, and came to a stop in
front of her. He reached over and grabbed her arm, gripping in tightly. 


‘You will only ever be asked this question once' said the harsh voice in
Catalina's ear, ‘Join us, your not willing to give up your life for 
these people are you? You'll amount to more than that' 

Catalina tried to wrench her arm out of the man's grasp on her arm, but
he held to tightly. 

I can give you power you so desperately want' he hissed in her ear. 

‘No' whispered Catalina between pursed white lips, looking round for
someone, anyone to help her. 

‘Maybe you need a little persuasion' said the man, holding out his wand
until it floated just above her heart. 

‘You see Miss Firelight, I just want to make you see sense' said the man
jerking his wand. 

Then Catalina felt it, her heart was contracting, being squeezed
painfully as if by an invisible hand. Her chest burned, and drawing 
breath became even harder. 

‘There's no use in fighting us, we'll only come after you, we'll get you
in the end' said the man, laughing at the pain contorting the girls 
face. 

Dots of white light exploded in Catalina's eyes, and she her legs gave
way as her heart was squeezed even harder. She was only being held up 
by the man tight grip on her arm, who pushed his masked face up to 
hers. 

‘And after we find you, we'll find your family, your friends. What is
there to loose by refusing us? I'm offering you power.' 

Catalina nodded and the world stood still. The invisible hand that was
squeezing her heart released its grip, and she was pulled to her feet. 

‘You agree?' the man asked, excitement lacing his voice. 

‘I would...never...with scum like you' she hissed between gritted teeth,
as she pulled back an arm and launched a fireball straight into the 
mans face, who fell backwards screaming in agony. 

Catalina dived at Harry, who was still lying on the floor writhing in
pain. She grabbed hold of his hand, and closed her eyes concentrating 
on drawing the pain out of Harry, she knew she had succeeded when a 
dull pain started welling up inside her, because stronger and stronger 
until she had to gasp for breath. 

She saw the Death Eater controlling the curse of Harry, and aimed a
fireball at him, which hit the Death Eater in the stomach, setting 
alight to his robes. Her connection was broken when a foot came out of 
nowhere and kicked her in the stomach. She rolled over the floor 
completely winded and unable to draw breath. She looked up to see 
Harry, who was already getting unsteadily to his feet. Sweat was 
pouring off him, but he stood up and surveyed the scene. When he saw 
Catalina lying on the ground he raced over to her, a picked her up, 
standing her on her feet, willing her to take deep breathes. 

Catalina had never felt terror before, but now the new emotion was
washing over her in waves, her hands were shaking, her heart was 
thumping against her ribcage, and her aching sides were refusing to 
draw in breath. Harry looked at Catalina's state, and whilst still 
holding her up, turned resolutely and faced the Death Eaters again. 

‘Serpensortia!' Harry yelled, and watched as a large black snake
uncoiled from the end of his wand falling to the floor. 

‘Kill them' he hissed at the snake, which slithered forward towards the
first Death Eaters, slithered up his legs, and coiling it thick black 
body around his chest. 

The remaining Death Eaters regroup and walked towards Harry who was
dragging Catalina back towards the wall of a large white house. 

‘Harry!' whispered Catalina, terrified as their backs hit a cold, brick
wall. 

‘Don't' worry' said Harry desperately, clasping Catalina's hand. 

‘What are we going to do?' she whispered, terror coursing through her
veins, turning to Harry. 

‘Shields?' said Harry desperately, it was the only thing he could think
of. 

‘Expecto Protego!' shouted Harry and Catalina together, who were both
engulfed in a red ball of fire. 

The Death Eater stood back in surprise for a moment watching the red
ball of fire engulfing the two teenagers then let out a roar of fury. 
The remaining Death Eaters walked forward and started throwing curses 
at the shield that was already starting to dim. 

‘We need more power' whispered Catalina desperately, pushing her hand
against the wall of their shield, grimacing with pain. 

Harry followed suit, wand tip resting on the shield, he poured as much
of the white energy light as he could, but exhaustion was setting in 
and he was loosing his concentration. 

The Death Eaters came up the front of the shield glaring at the wall of
fire, prowling around the edges. Harry allowed a large spark to jump 
away from the wall of fire, and earth itself on the Death Eater, who 
was thrown backwards onto the floor. 

Inside the shield, Harry still clutching Catalina's hand, was growing
weary and his power was fading. There was strange white light engulfing 
the hands of the two teenagers, who didn't notice it because of the 
concentration it now took to hold the shield up. 

‘It's only a shield' hissed one, pushing his way to the front of the
group of Death Eaters ‘It can be broken with an unforgivable!' 

The Death Eater brandished his wand, and Harry gave Catalina's hand one
more squeeze before he uttered his final curse. 

‘Avada Kedavra!' shrieked the masked Death Eater. 

An explosion of brilliant green light filled air around the two
teenagers and the Death Eaters where thrown back off the feet with the 
force of the explosion. Nothing but a brief scream was heard, before 
the body's of two lifeless teenagers were seen crumpled on the floor, 
still holding hands. 

~*~*~ Chapter Twenty ~*~*~ 

A Problem Shared 

Ron woke up to find he had great difficulty drawing in breath, he felt
there was a great weight pressing down on his stomach. He groggily 
opened his eyes, to see a cloudy grey sky above him. Slowly memories 
started to resurface, the four of them sitting in the Three 
Broomsticks, and the explosion, the duel, and then Hermione. Ron 
struggled to sit up, pushing violently at the weight on his chest, he 
looked down, and saw a pair of wide staring eyes looking back at him. 

It was a man, with a Death Eater mask torn off his face lying across
Ron, with a snake coiled around his body, dead. Ron gasped and 
struggled from out from underneath the dead man, who stared back 
accusingly at Ron. Ron back away taking in the scene around him 3 black 
robed figures lay sprawled across the floor all dead. He hastily 
staggered backwards, and tripped over another prone body and went 
tumbling backwards. He looked down to see Hermione lying on the floor, 
eyes closed and face pale. 

‘Hermione!' Ron shouted, crawling over to Hermione's limp body. 

Ron was shaking uncontrollably as he reached out and hovered his hand
over Hermione's mouth and nose. Ron felt a small breath tickling the 
palm of his hand, so he reached down and started to shake Hermione by 
the shoulder. 

‘Hermione! Wake up! Wake up Hermione!' shouted Ron, looking at her pale
face. 

Hermione made a small intake of breath, before her eyes fluttered open. 

‘You're alive!' shouted Ron pulling Hermione into a hug of relief. 

‘Wha – What happened?' asked Hermione faintly, trying to sit up. 

‘We were in a duel, remember? But your safe now, were safe' said Ron
helping Hermione unsteadily to her feet. 

She took a few steps, and decided that she could walk on her own. 

‘Where's Dumbledore? Why isn't anyone here?' she asked worriedly. 

‘I don't know lets just get out of here' said Ron leading Hermione away
from the debris, suddenly Hermione gripped his arm painfully hard. 

‘Where's Harry? Where's Catalina?' she said turning terrified eyes
towards Ron. 

Ron's face paled as he took in his surroundings, Harry and Catalina were
nowhere to be seen. 

‘Where are they? I can't find them!' shrieked Hermione, limping across
the rubble. 

Ron ran down the street, looking for any sign of his two friends, the
last thing he'd seen before he had been knocked out was them backing 
down the street. Ron ran as fast as he could, feet pounding on the 
cobblestones, when he came across more bodies of Death Eaters. He 
looked around and what he saw made his blood run cold. Harry and 
Catalina were lying sprawled across the floor a few metres away from 
the body, both unconscious and pale. Hermione limped up to Ron, and 
gave a small scream when she saw the body's, rushing towards them. 

Harry and Catalina was both deathly pale. Harry eyes were shut and his
face had a look of calm. Blood had trickled down from a wound on the 
side of his head, and dried on the side of his face. Catalina looked 
almost identical, with a small pool of blood where her head lay. 

Ron knelt down next to Harry, feeling his wrist, whilst Hermione did the
same to Catalina. Ron looked up slowly to Hermione, who had tears 
streaming down her face. 

‘I – I cant feel a pulse' said Ron unbelievingly looking down into his
best friends face. 

Hermione shook her head as well, unable to speak. 

‘They're dead? They can't be' said Ron not believing what he was saying,
tears pouring down his face as well. 

At that moment there was the sound of many small ‘pops' and the swish of
cloaks, people were apparating all around Ron and Hermione who just sat 
next to their friends crying in each others arms. 

‘Harry!' came the strangled cry of a man behind Ron, who roughly pushed
past him to look down in the teenager's peaceful face. 

‘Ron what happened?' asked the man, shaking Ron by the shoulders. 

‘He's dead, he's dead Sirius' moaned Ron shaking his head. 

* 

Ministry officials and members of the Order of the Phoenix milled
through the devastation of the once peaceful village. Dumbledore 
hurried over to where Sirius was sat, staring at the body of someone 
lying on the floor. As Dumbledore got closer he realised it was Harry 
and Catalina lying spread eagle on the floor, clutching each other's 
hand. Ron and Hermione were sitting to one side, tears pouring down 
their faces as they stared at the bodies. 

Dumbledore swept passed the grieving figures, and knelt down next to
Harry, staring intently at the boy's face. 

‘He's dead' said Sirius with no emotion in his voice, eyes staring at
the pale faces. 

Dumbledore looked again at the girl then back to Harry, both faces had
identical looks of peace lying on them, but they were both pale and 
cold. 

Dumbledore reached down and lifted one of Harry's eyelids. His black
pupil reacted to the light and shrunk in size, as did Catalina's when 
he repeated the experiment. 

‘No, they're not' said Dumbledore softly ‘But very nearly' 

* 

The limp bodies of Harry and Catalina were gathered in the arms of two
men from the village and taken to the hospital wing whilst Dumbledore 
surveyed the wreckage of Hogsmeade. Sirius followed the procession of 
his godson in a trance-like sate. Not noticing what was happening or 
where they were going.. Dumbledore had prised Harry's death grip from 
Catalina's cold fingers and transported them back to Hogwarts. They 
were laid in identical beds in the Hospital Wing. 

Dumbledore returned to Hogwarts, and anxiously swept down the corridors
and into the Hospital Wing. Harry and Catalina were sitting side by 
side, both with identical looks of peace on their faces. He rushed over 
to Harry's bed, which was surrounded by his blank faced friends. 

‘What happened?' asked Dumbledore to Ron for the third time, who still
had a glassy eyed statement. 

‘The Death Eaters came...we tried to get away...we duelled...I got
separated from them' said Ron disjointedly. 

It seemed no one was around the bear witness to whatever it was that
caused Harry and Catalina, to slip in to the comatose state they were 
in. 

Days past and neither Harry or Catalina made the slightest move, neither
of them were marked, save for identical lightning bolt scars that ran 
across the palms of their hands. Hermione and Ron were kept in the 
Hospital Wing for three days, and were treated for shock and slight 
head wounds. After a few days they were allowed out and they started to 
return to lessons, spending every free moment of time at the side of 
Harry and Catalina's bedsides. 

A steady stream of visitors visited the two still figures. Hagrid, who
had arrived in the evening of the attack, howled in pain and anger when 
he heard the news, and did not return to teaching. Sirius kept a 
constant bedside vigilance, usually in his dog form, staring sat 
Harry's pale face. 

‘If he – he'll go, hating me' sobbed Sirius, whose last meeting with
Harry was torturing him. 

Dumbledore did his best to console Sirius, and every other close friends
of the duo, but felt that with every day that passed, his optimism grew 
weaker. 

‘What's wrong Professor? Why won't they wake up?' asked Ron for the
fiftieth time. 

‘Ron, judging by the scars on their hands, it seems the Avada Kedavra
curse was used on them, how they survived it I do not know. I don't 
know when or even if they will ever wake up' said Dumbledore heavily. 

Ron looked back to his best friend, and sighed. 

‘What's happening to them? What do they see? Can they hear us?' asked
Ron fearfully. 

‘That I do not know. They may be able to hear us, they may not'
Dumbledore replied. 

* 

Days of no news passed, and turned into weeks. Harry and Catalina had
been lying in the same position for nearly and month, and no spell, 
potion or incantation could bring them back. News of the fact Harry and 
Catalina were lying in the Hospital Wing as if dead spread through the 
school like wildfire, and people had taken to avoiding Ron and Hermione 
who were constantly pale and reserved. 

Whispers and finger pointing followed them as they walked through the
corridors. The Slytherin's were privately celebrating the downfall of 
Harry Potter and Ron had received three detentions from Professor Snape 
for attacking Draco Malfoy in class. 

When Hermione and Ron weren't in lessons or at the nearly daily Order of
the Phoenix meetings, they could be found at their friends bedsides, 
silently praying they would soon wake up. 

They stayed late into every evening, until they were shoed out by Madam
Pomfrey, who had set up a small table for them to do their schoolwork 
on. They waited, never giving up hope that they would both wake up. 

* 

Harry and Catalina hadn't moved a centimetre on their own since they
were brought into the Hospital Wing over a month ago. Madam Pomfrey was 
walking through the ward, checking the beds before the lights were 
turned out. She walked over to Catalina's bed looking down into the 
pale face, looking even more ghost-like against the waves of black hair 
that lay beneath her. She was just about to go to check on Harry in the 
next bed, when she saw Catalina's eye's move beneath her lids. Unable 
to contain her excitement, Madam Pomfrey rushed over to Harry, and saw 
that his eye's were also restlessly flicking from side to side beneath 
his pale lids. 

Quickly grabbing a passing student and telling them to fetch the
Headmaster, Madam Pomfrey bustled over to the two teenagers. Both sets 
of eyes were moving in identical patterns, restlessly flicking from 
side to side. No statement passed over their pale features, but Madam 
Pomfrey was optimistic that they would awake tonight. 

Dumbledore ran into the room, cloak sweeping out behind him, looking
from Catalina to Harry. 

‘Poppy?' he said questioningly. 

‘They're waking up' she told him as the two teenagers gave identical
gasps. 

* 

Harry's eyes were heavy, but his forced his eyes open, pain exploded in
his head as bright white light swam in front of his eyes. He gave a 
gasp drawing breath painfully into his body. He squeezed his eyes shut 
against the harsh colours invading his eyes. 

‘Harry?' asked a voice from above him, Harry forced his eyes open and
saw a blurred face hovering over him. 

‘ugghh' Harry groaned, unable to get any audible sound to come out of
his throat. 

‘Harry, your ok now, your safe now' said the distant voice. 

Harry's head pounded with the effort of keeping his eyes open, so he
gratefully sunk into the darkness that was threatening to envelop him. 

In the next bed Catalina had awoken with a small gasp and was in much
the same state as Harry, unable to speak, and too exhausted to keep her 
own eyes open. 

Dumbledore stood back from the two teenagers, who had been awake for
less that half a minute, but still awake he thought happily. 

He sent two Gryffindor First Years to get Ron and Hermione who would
want to be with them when they woke up again, then sat back in the hard 
hospital chair, waiting. 

* 

Harry was aware of a great pain in his head, and he tried to slip back
into a peaceful sleep, but the pain was growing until he couldn't 
ignore it. He gently opened his eyes, studying the white ceiling above 
him. His mind replayed the last few days, he could remember going to 
Hogsmeade, and fighting Death Eaters, and being inside the shield with 
Catalina, and then darkness. Panic squeezed his heart, where was 
Catalina? 

‘Catalina?' he said thickly through his dry mouth, unable to move his
head. 

‘Harry! Harry are you awake?' asked an excited voice. 

Harry looked up to see a blurred face looking down into his eyes. 

‘Mione?' he asked groggily. 

‘He's awake, Madam Pomfrey, he's awake!' came the voice to his left
side, and Harry tried to turn his head, but found his neck was too 
stiff. 

Madam Pomfrey bustled over, and came into Harry's line of sight. 

‘How are you feeling Harry?' asked the slightly fuzzy voice. 

‘Where's Catalina?' asked Harry desperately. 

‘She's ok, she's right here' said Madam Pomfrey ‘Now how are you
feeling?' 

‘Head hurts' said Harry thickly 

‘Well just sit back and rest, you gave us quite a shock there. The
Headmaster will be here in a moment, and I believe there is some people 
here that want to speak to you' said Madam Pomfrey disappearing from 
Harry's view. 

‘Harry?' came Ron's voice uncertainly, who lifted Harry's glasses and
placed them on his nose. 

‘At least you can see the ceiling properly' said Ron trying to sound
cheerful but his voice was shaking. 

‘What happened?' asked Harry through gritted teeth. 

‘We don't know, when me and Hermione came round we just found you and
Catalina lying in the middle of the street. We thought you were dead!' 
said Hermione, choking back a sob. 

‘Don't worry, I'm ok now' said Harry grimacing ‘How's Catalina?' 

‘She's ok, she woke up at the same time as you last night, but she's
still sleeping at the moment' said Ron glancing over to her bed. 

‘Listen Harry, we've got to go, were 10 minutes late for potions
already' said Hermione anxiously. 

‘Glad your ok Harry, see you soon' said Ron, moving out of Harry's view.


Harry sat grimacing against the waves of pain that washed over him every
time he tried to move. Catalina hadn't made a sound and Harry was 
feeling inexplicably worried about her. He spent a few minutes gently 
moving his stiff neck to his right side, eventually Catalina's pale 
face swam into view, surrounded by a mass of black hair. He breathed a 
sigh of relief when he saw that she was breathing regularly, even if 
she hadn't opened her eyes. Keeping his head in that position he closed 
his eyes, and welcomed the sleep that took over his body. 

* 

Harry woke up much later on to see that he was just in time to see
Catalina wake up. He stared across the space watching Catalina flick 
open her eyes wincing in pain. Harry's own head started pounding even 
fiercer against his temple, but he could see Catalina was obviously 
scared and didn't know what was happening. 

‘Catalina? Its Harry, your ok, were in the Hospital Wing' he explained
in a strained voice. 

‘What happened?' she asked, and Harry was unpleasantly surprised to hear
how weak her voice sounded. 

‘I don't know' he admitted, then saw Madam Pomfrey bustling over to them
accompanied by Professor Dumbledore. 

‘Hello Harry' said Dumbledore as Madam Pomfrey checked over Catalina
‘I'm glad to see you finally awake, we were really worried about you. 
Can you remember anything that happened?' 

Harry launched into a slow description of what happened at the Death
Eater attack, telling him about the snake and the shield, pausing every 
now and again to take breathes and wait for each fresh wave of pain to 
subside. When it came to the end of the attack Harry stopped, not 
knowing what happened. 

‘...and he shouted Avada Kedavra, and this bright green light hit our
shield, which shattered, and I can only remember a scream before 
everything went black, then I woke up here' finished Harry still 
looking across to Catalina who had her eyes closed shut. 

‘What happened?' asked Harry confusedly, ‘Why didn't we die?' 

‘It is my guess Harry, that when you created the shield, you also invoke
some more powerful, ancient magic. You said yourself that you were 
trying to protect Catalina when you first ran into the Death Eaters. I 
believe that because you were willing to die for each other, coupled 
with the fact you had merged your shields, caused the shield to deflect 
most of the brunt of the curse, rebounding it onto the Death Eaters 
around you. You and Catalina were very nearly killed by the curse, in 
fact we all thought you dead for a short time' explained Dumbledore 
looking into Harry's eyes with concern. 

‘Now I can see you need your rest, it'll be a long time until your out
of this bed again, hopefully you'll make it out for the Yule Ball 
though' said Dumbledore with his eyes twinkling, ‘I know how much you 
enjoy those. Now rest' 

* 

The days passed slowly for Catalina and Harry, who were confined to
their beds, unable to move for the terrible headaches they suffered 
from. Madam Pomfrey would come to each of them in turn every morning 
and stretch and flex their stiff muscles. It was daily torture for 
Harry, who was sat back in his bed wincing as Catalina's arms were bent 
and stretched. The pain equally shared by some mysterious force invoked 
by Catalina's wandless magic. Time passed slowly and they soon learned 
with a shock that it was the 5th of December, and they'd lost over a 
month of time whilst in their coma's. 

‘Eye spy with my little eye, something beginning with W.B.' said Harry
drowsily. 

‘White bed' said Catalina, ‘Eye spy with my little eye, something
beginning with W.W.' 

‘White walls?' groaned Harry at the futility of the game. 

‘How did you guess?' laughed Catalina. 

‘Call me Mr. Mind-reader' said Harry, trying to push himself up on his
elbows, but collapsed groaning. 

‘Would you please not do that? If not for your sake than mine?' said
Catalina through gritted teeth, as she also massaged her head 

‘How long is this going to take?' asked Harry angrily, ‘I bored of doing
nothing!' 

* 

Every day though Harry and Catalina were getting stronger, and soon they
were sitting up in bed, and even gingerly padding around the Hospital 
Wings bare floor, much to the disgust of Madam Pomfrey. 

Nearly everyday someone came and visited the pair. Either Hagrid,
Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore. Ron and Hermione visited at every spare 
chance, and Order of the Phoenix members visited to give Harry quiet 
updates on the situation, occasionally bringing him a newspaper. One 
that was saved from the day after the attack was the most interesting 
to Harry. 

Ministry Officials are today clearing up the wreckage of the events from
yesterday in Hogsmeade. A group of masked wizards attacked the small 
village yesterday around 6 p.m. No motive for the attack has been 
discovered and it seems a break out from St Mungo's psychiatric ward 
near the area is being blamed. The masked wizards proceeded to destroy 
homes and attack the inhabitants of the village, including some 
students of nearby Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

7 bodies of the masked wizards were recovered from the scene, and are
being identified by ministry officials. The bodies of 3 Hogsmeade 
villagers were also recovered and have been named as Ellia McCarther, 
Elizabeth Huckle and John Greene. Two students from Hogwarts were also 
caught up in the incident, and are being treated at the schools 
hospital. They are said to be in a critical state, but have not yet 
been named. 

The Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge gave a brief statement this
morning. ‘We are obviously shocked at the unexpected ferocity of these 
attacks. The group of escapees caused mass destruction that has not 
been seen since the Death Eater attacks at the time of you-know-who. 
But I warn people not to panic, this is an isolated attack and our 
thoughts and prayers go to the families and friends of the deceased, 
and to the families and friends of the two Hogwarts students. 

Harry had handed the paper to Catalina who read it in disbelief. 

‘Escapees from St Mungo's phychiatric ward?' she said faintly. 

‘What a load of rubbish! I still can't believe that Fudge is managing to
brush off these attacks! Those people had Death Eater written all over 
the forehead! And he still chooses to ignore it' said Harry 
disgustedly. 

‘It can't be for long, people will soon see the similarities, and then
Fudge will be sorry' said Catalina, lying in bed staring at the 
ceiling. 

‘Your right you know' said Catalina after a while. 

‘What about?' asked Harry 

‘It's really boring being bored' she groaned. 

* 

The next day Ron brought in Harry's Wizarding chess set, and the days
were spent exercising their minds, instead of their limbs. Madam 
Pomfrey grudgingly allowed them to draw a table between both beds and 
now they sat with their legs swung over the side of the beds to play. 

Harry had noticed a few days ago that a small, lightning bolt shaped
scar, identical to the one on his forehead, had appeared on the palm of 
his right hand. When he'd asked Madam Pomfrey about it, she said it 
must have been from the curse that had hit him. Now he sat waiting for 
Catalina to play her go, he'd been waiting for five minutes. 

‘Catalina, are you going to move or what?' groaned Harry. 

‘Sshhh!' she said holding up her hand to stop him from talking. 

‘What the –?' asked Harry gazing at the palm of Catalina's hand, on it
was an identical copy of Harry's scar. 

Catalina looked at the look on Harry‘s face, and then looked at the scar
on the palm of her hand. 

‘Oh don't worry, Madam Pomfrey says it's nothing to worry about, she
reckons it was the curse. Don't worry it doesn't hurt' she said 
dismissivly as she finally moved her chess piece. 

Harry was gazing at the scar, with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.
Slowly he looked down at his scar then back at Catalina's, they were in 
the exact same place. 

‘Don't worry Harry' repeated Catalina, misreading the look on his face. 

Slowly Harry reached out and pulled Catalina's hand towards him, and
turned it palm upwards above the chess board. Wordlessly he moved his 
hand towards the same position, and uncurled his fist. 

Catalina gave a small gasp as she looked from Harry's hand to her own. 

‘They're identical' she whispered. 

* 

By the 16th of December Harry and Catalina were well enough to start
walking around, and eventually Madam Pomfrey allowed them to return to 
Gryffindor tower, much to the delight of the Gryffindor's, who thought 
they deserved a guard of honour. 

Ever since Harry had found out about the identical scars, he had been
wondering about the meaning behind them. They had spent the afternoons 
piecing together the events of Halloween, but couldn't seem to remember 
why they would have identical scars on the palm of their hands. 

Harry dismissed it as a mystery of the magical word, and Catalina put in
out of her mind. Only Hermione and Dumbledore remained curious and 
spent long hours researching and questioning the two. 

‘For the last time Hermione, I don't remember!' Harry had said angrily,
as Hermione asked him yet again. 

Hermione had ceased her questioning after that, but was often seen
trying to smuggle books on curses and ancient magic into her dormitory 
at night. 

‘Let her if it make her feel better' Ron had told Harry when he pointed
this out. 

‘Talking about guilty people,' said Ron looking over to his pale friend,
‘Have you spoken to Sirius?' 

‘Yeah, he came and visited me on my first day awake, sobbing his
apology. I was a really strange sight, this supposed convicted murderer 
crying because we had an argument!' said Harry laughing at the memory 
of Sirius's apology. 

‘I think he was probably more upset about the fact you nearly died
actually Harry,' said Ron seriously, ‘He hardly moved from your bedside 
you know, he was so worried that you'd go being angry at him; 

‘Yeah,' said Harry distantly, ‘Still doesn't change the fact that he
still thinks Catalina's dangerous, he even said so, told me that “I had 
the right to choose my own friends, just as long as I choose carefully” 
honestly, he think she's going to sprout fangs or something!' 

* 

The first day back to lessons passed uneventfully, save for the whispers
and stares that followed them as they walked through the corridors. 
Professor Snape was refrained from testing any potions on the two, and 
duelling was strictly forbidden in Professor Figg's class. Harry and 
Catalina walked silently through the corridors, wincing as people 
banged in to each of them, and Catalina had a slight limp, which Harry 
was unable to stop himself mimicking. 

* 

Ron and Hermione were ecstatic to have Harry and Catalina awake and back
in their presence. The month without them had been unbearable, and the 
fear and uncertainty of the situation still haunted the two. They had 
felt like a piece of themselves were missing, while their friends had 
lay in the Hospital Wing, and now they looked at life with renewed 
vigour. 

They had failed to notice however, the after effects of the curse on
their friends. Often they would cry out in unison with pain, or sit 
thoughtfully rubbing the identical scars. Though Ron and Hermione never 
put the two together, even if they did they would have laughed off the 
obvious answer. 

Catalina and Harry however, noticed the effects of the curse. Each of
them would know when the other had woken up, because of the pain that 
increased in their heads. Each of them would know if the other was 
really angry, or sad, or happy because they could feel it. They hadn't 
noticed that at first, but gradually through the aches and pains, Harry 
could sense other emotions around him, that didn't belong to him, but 
sort of did. He couldn't explain it. 

Harry and Catalina had discussed the strange new sensations, both
silently coming to the same conclusion, which was too laughable to 
voice out loud. They had decided to keep it a secret, sick with the 
questions that followed them already. 

Two days before the end of term, Harry walked into the Great Hall with
Ron for breakfast to see Hermione and Catalina already there. Hermione 
was silently chewing her breakfast, while Catalina was reading some 
post her families' owl had brought her. Harry could feel a sense of 
worry and sadness coming from Catalina, who had her back, turned 
towards him. 

‘What's wrong?' asked Harry anxiously as he sat down next to her, eyeing
the letter. 

‘Oh, my parents say I'm going to have to stay at Hogwarts over
Christmas, they say it's too dangerous for me to see them' she said 
quietly, staring down at the letter. 

‘Don't worry Catalina, were all staying as well, at least now you can
come to the Yule Ball!' said Hermione with a small smile on her face. 

Harry felt Catalina's mood lifting, and he turned to his breakfast.
Suddenly a foot came out of nowhere and kicked Harry in the shins. 

‘Ouch!' said Harry angrily, noticing that Catalina had bitten her lip
and was rubbing her own shin. 

‘Oh sorry Harry, didn't mean to!' said Hermione innocently, staring at
Harry pointedly as if they were sharing some great secret. 

‘Don't worry' said Harry through a mouthful of toast. 

Hermione shot Harry an withering look, and went back to her own
breakfast. 

‘So who are you going to the ball with this year?' Harry asked Hermione,
grinning as he watched his friend squirm and grow red. 

‘No-one yet' she mumbled, pretending to be transfixed by a glass of
pumpkin juice in front of her. 

Harry dropped the subject and they all continued to eat their breakfast
in silence, and were too busy concentrating on his meal to notice Ron 
give Hermione and small sidelong look. 

* 

Harry and Catalina were sitting next to each other in potions that
afternoon, trying to concoct the rather difficult babbling potion they 
had been set. 

Harry could tell Catalina was still a little depressed, so he kept on
the safe topic of Quidditch. 

‘You know I still can't believe that Gryffindor won their first match
against Ravenclaw' said Harry thoughtfully. 

‘Yeah, by all accounts Colin played pretty well, caught the snitch after
20 minutes' said Catalina sounding impressed, ‘His first proper game as 
well!' 

‘Mmmm' agreed Harry, as they worked in silence for a few more minutes. 

‘Who are you going to ask to the ball then?' asked Catalina hesitantly a
few minutes later. 

‘I don't know' lied Harry, ‘Don't know if I'm going to go, I'm not a big
fan of dances' 

‘Oh' said Catalina, whose mood had just slipped down a few more notches
into despair. 

‘What about you, got your eye on anyone special?' Harry asked, not
really concentrating on the answer, more on getting exactly 10 cc of 
Dragon's blood into his vial. 

‘Nope' she said in as much of a nonchalant voice as she could muster,
staring thoughtful at her lightning shaped scar. 

‘You know, I reckon Hermione and Ron would make a good couple' said
Catalina casually a few minutes later. 

Harry let out a snort of laughter, imagining the formidable duo Ron and
Hermione would make together. 

‘What makes you say that?' asked Harry laughing at the very thought. 

‘Well, they keep staring at each other all the time, when they think I'm
not looking. I'm sure Hermione wanted Ron to ask her to the ball this 
morning' said Catalina looking over to where Ron and Hermione were 
bickering about the potion ingredients. 

Harry looked across to his two friends with a thoughtful statement on
his face. His mind was too busy contemplating the Hermione/Ron 
situation he didn't notice that Catalina's cloud of depression had 
grown even darker following their talk about the ball. 

‘They certainly fight like an old married couple' said Harry offhandedly


~*~*~ Chapter Twenty One ~*~*~ 

Questions and Answers 

That night, two conversations were being held on the same topic in the
girls and boys dormitory. Catalina and Hermione were sat cross-legged 
on one of the large four poster beds talking about the upcoming Yule 
Ball. 

‘Are you going to ask Ron?' Catalina asked Hermione out of blue. 

‘What? – I don't – No!' spluttered Hermione going red. 

‘Aw knock it off Hermione, you're not fooling me! I've seen the way you
look at Ron, and the way Ron looks at you for that matter' said 
Catalina, with a small playful grin on her face. 

Hermione looked outraged for a few seconds, tying to think of some kind
of retaliation, but then sensed the futility of it all and let her 
shoulders sag. 

‘Is it that obvious?' asked Hermione, face turning scarlet. 

* 

‘Are you going to ask Hermione to the Ball?' Harry asked Ron as he lay
on his bed. 

‘What?' asked Ron indignantly, sitting upright looking at his friend
incredulously. 

‘Ron, I can read you like a book' said Harry, thinking more along the
lines of Catalina can read you like a book. 

Ron stared at his friends for a few moments, gauging his reaction. 

‘Maybe' said Ron, face turning scarlet red. 

‘Well' said Harry offhandedly, ‘if you don't get there first, I'm sure
she could end up going with Neville or something' 

‘What!? No way she wouldn't...Would she?' asked Ron uncertainly, while
Harry was left to laugh silently to himself at his friends look of 
jealousy on his face. 

* 

‘Well since you've succeeded in completely embarrassing me, I think its
only fair that you get a turn' said Hermione grinning evilly, ‘Has 
Harry asked you yet?' 

‘What? No, of course not, were just friends' said Catalina, who hadn't
expected the question. 

‘Would you go with him if he asked you though?' pressed Hermione,
enjoying seeing Catalina go red. 

‘Maybe' Catalina mumbled. 

‘Well you'll be waiting for a long time. Harry's ok when it comes to
Dragons or facing you-know-who, but when it comes to asking a girl to a 
dance, he falls to pieces' laughed Hermione. 

Catalina must have looked a little bit crestfallen by the news, because
Hermione leaned forward and patted her sympathetically on the hand. 

‘I know he wants to ask you. You two have shared something special, how
many people can say the person they liked was willing to die for them? 
And nearly did?' Hermione said seriously. 

* 

Harry was still sitting on Ron's bed, silently laughing as his friend
listed the reasons why Hermione would never go to the Ball with 
Neville. Harry and Catalina had decided it was their duty to their 
friends to get Ron and Hermione together, and Harry could feel a 
certain amount of amusement coming off of Catalina, but a few seconds 
ago her mood had practically dive-bombed into sadness. He was wondering 
what the situation was in the girl's dormitory that had caused such a 
swing in emotions, but suddenly interrupted by Ron waving his hand in 
front of his eyes. 

‘What?' asked Harry, looking at Ron frowning. 

‘I said, You're going to ask Catalina right?' said Ron rolling his eyes
at his friend's blank statement. 

‘I don't know' admitted Harry, deciding to not even bother with
pretending like Ron had. 

‘So your thinking about it then?' asked Ron, excited at the fact he
caught Harry out and that he was causing his friend to squirm 
uncomfortably. 

‘Well yeah' Harry admitted running his fingers through his hair
absentmindedly, ‘But what if she says no?' 

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained' shrugged Ron. 

* 

The next morning everyone that was going home for Christmas boarded the
Hogwarts Express, which wasn't that many because most students wanted 
to go to the Yule Ball on Christmas Eve. Harry had decided that evening 
as he lay in bed that he would ask Catalina to go to the Ball with him, 
just as friends though he promised. The only problem was that he 
couldn't pick up the courage to actually ask her, and Catalina was in 
such a despondent mood by the afternoon, that even Ron and Hermione 
noticed it. 

‘Let's go outside or something?' suggested Ron, sick of being cooped up
in the Gryffindor common room all morning. 

‘Sure' said Harry, pulling Hermione and Catalina out of the comfort of
warm common room. 

They all walked out onto the Hogwarts grounds, the powdery white snow
clinging to the hems of the robes. Harry knew for a fact Ron was going 
to ask Hermione to the Ball today, he had practically forced his friend 
to do so. Harry looked across the landscape thoughtfully, trying to 
decide whether to ask Catalina today as well, to get it over and done 
with. Suddenly something cold and wet hit him in the neck, and trickled 
down his spine. 

‘Snowball fight!' shouted Ron, as he aimed another at Harry's face. 

Harry quickly ducked using his Quidditch reflexes, and scooped handfuls
of the frozen snow. At fierce battle of the snowballs quickly ensued, 
and alliances were quickly made. Ron and Hermione ere currently hiding 
behind a mound of snow, sniggering as they heard Harry curse as another 
of Hermione's charmed snowballed pelted him in the head. 

‘No fair! You're cheating! I demand a fight the muggle way' shouted
Harry to his hidden friends. 

‘Ok you asked for it!' shouted Ron standing up and throwing a huge
snowball he had been making at Harry. 

Harry bent over double wheezing as the air was knocked out of him, and
Catalina, also slightly breathless, soon retaliated on her allies' 
behalf. Soon the four were soaked to the skin and dithering with the 
cold but they carried on, Harry was determined to wreak his revenge. 

Ron and Hermione, however had the advantage over Harry and Catalina, who
were still slightly sore and had to run into the edge of the forest to 
escape the storm of snow that was upon them. Harry quickly pulled 
Catalina behind Hagrid's cabin, peering round the corner for Ron, 
breathing heavily. 

‘I think we've lost them!' said Harry happily through chattering teeth. 

‘Oh no we didn't, here they come!' said Catalina pointing down around
the other end of the cabin where Ron and Hermione were fast 
approaching, eyes sweeping across the landscape. 

‘Down here' whispered Harry, pulling Catalina behind a pile of logs by
Hagrid's cabin door. 

Catalina squeezed into the small space behind the damp logs watching Ron
and Hermione move closer. 

‘Come out, come out wherever you are!' said Hermione in a singsong
voice. 

Catalina tried to contain her laughter, and let out a small giggle,
which Hermione heard and started to stalk closer. Harry clapped a hand 
over Catalina's face to keep her quiet, which just made her laugh even 
harder. 

‘Sshhh' said Harry, lips quivering with suppressed laughter, ‘They'll
hear us!' 

But it seemed Hermione and Ron didn't hear them, because they walked
right past Harry and Catalina's hiding place. After a few minutes Harry 
took his hand away from Catalina, and she peered around the logs. 

It's now or never thought Harry, as Catalina sat back down, he took a
deep breath: 

‘Catalina, Do you want to –?' started Harry, but whatever he was going
to ask was interrupted by a shriek from Catalina. 

‘Agghhh!' she shouted as she leapt up from her hiding place, shaking the
mountain of snow from her jet-black hair. 

Ron and Hermione were stood in front of them, roaring with laughter, as
Catalina tried to shake the snow out from the back of her robes. Soon 
all three of them were rolling on the floor, and gales of laughter 
followed the glaring Catalina all the way up to the castle. 

Catalina stormed ahead, pretending to be angry with Ron, but Harry could
tell she wasn't really. They were just about to walk up the steps to 
the Entrance Hall, when Catalina suddenly stopped and pushed Ron into a 
nearby snowdrift. 

‘Now were equal!' she said sweetly, before running up the stairs away
from Ron, who chased after her. 

Hermione and Harry laughed and walked more slowly, up the stairs and
back to the common room. They followed the trail of melted snow back to 
the common room, when Hermione turned to him, as if desperate to tell 
him something. 

‘Ron asked me to the ball' she blurted out turned red. 

‘Took him long enough didn't it?' laughed Harry as they walked into the
common room. 

‘You knew?' she said incredulously. 

‘Course' said Harry nonchalantly. 

‘Are you going to ask Catalina? Because if you don't she might go with
someone else' said Hermione slyly, inwardly laughing at Harry's paling 
face. 

* 

It was the day before the Yule Ball and Harry still hadn't asked
Catalina, who was walking around the castle with a thundercloud over 
her head. Harry could tell she was upset, and depressed but he didn't 
know what about. Hermione and Ron had disappeared to the library a few 
minutes ago with a conspirational wink, and had left Harry alone with 
Catalina. 

‘You're upset' Harry stated bluntly. 

‘No, I'm bored' said Catalina angrily, staring a the fire. 

Harry looked at Catalina, trying to understand what was wrong with her.
All week long he'd been interrupted every time he'd try to ask Catalina 
The Question, and he decided to take the opportunity Ron and Hermione 
had given them, to swallow his nerves and do It. 

‘Er Catalina? Do you want to –?' he started, before he was interrupted. 

‘Catalina? Can I borrow your charms book?' asked Lavender Brown
desperately, ‘I need to find a charm to sort out my hair for tomorrow 
night!' 

‘Sure it's in my trunk' said Catalina, who turned to look at Harry, who
was shaking with silent laughter. 

‘What?' she asked indignantly. 

‘Nothing, every single time' he muttered said to himself, laughing at
his own bad luck, someone was trying to tell him something. 

Suddenly Harry jumped up, and grabbed Catalina's wrists. 

‘Up! Up!' he said pulling Catalina to her feet, ‘Get your broom, were
going flying!' 

Catalina couldn't be bothered to object, and quickly got her broom. The
walked down to the frozen Quidditch pitch, brooms over their shoulders 
and shivering against the cold. They both mounted their brooms and 
pushed off the ground, racing each other around the pitch. Harry 
practised the Wronski Feint on Catalina, who always pulled out of the 
dive first. 

‘Catalina!' Harry yelled across the pitch, ‘Get over here!' 

Catalina glided over to where Harry was hovering, 50 feet above the
ground with a nervous grin on his face. 

‘Right listen up. I've been trying to ask you this all week, and every
single time someone's been butting in, but I think I'm safe here don't 
you?' he said eyeing the empty stadium. 

Catalina held her breath. 

‘Do you want to go to the Yule Ball with me?' said Harry quickly,
flinching as he waited for her answer. 

There was a long pause as Catalina regarded him critically, and Harry
felt as if someone had winded him, she was going to say no! 

‘Sure' she said finally, grinning evilly. 

‘You!' said Harry, chasing after Catalina who was laughing
uncontrollably. 

~*~*~ Chapter Twenty Two ~*~*~ 

The Seeing Stone 

Ron and Harry were standing in the middle of the common room, waiting
for Hermione and Catalina to come down from their dormitory. They were 
ten minutes late already. 

‘What‘s taking them so long?' muttered Ron, fidgeting with his navy blue
dress robes. 

‘Girls' muttered Harry in response, ignoring the butterflies in his
stomach. 

Just then Hermione descended the staircase, dressed in he lilac dress
robes with her hair twisted into an elegant French plait. Harry tried 
to conceal his laughter as he saw Ron staring goggle eyed at Hermione, 
who was nervously patting her hair. 

‘Well?' she asked nervously. 

‘You look lovely Hermione' said Ron, ears turning pink. 

Harry bit his lip as he watched his two best friends standing together
awkwardly, Ron couldn't keep his eyes of Hermione. Harry was about to 
burst out laughing, when a noise behind him made him turn around. 

Catalina was walking down the stairs dressed in pure white dress robes,
her black hair sat loosely in ringlets on her shoulders. This time it 
was Ron and Hermione's turn to laugh at Harry whose jaw had fell open 
and refused to close. 

‘Well are you just going to stare at me all night?' asked Catalina good
naturally. 

‘Nope, I was hoping to dance with you as well' said Harry recovering
enough to shoot Ron a glare. 

‘Shall we go down?' asked Catalina grinning at Hermione. 

‘Sure' said Harry holding out his arm to Catalina, grinning like a
lunatic as they walked down to the Great Hall. 

Everyone couldn't fail to be impressed as they strolled into the Great
Hall, small round tables were dotted around the edges of the hall, 
leaving a huge space as the dance floor in the middle. Real Life 
fairies were fluttering around the ceiling, mingling with the brilliant 
stars that they could see on the bewitched ceiling, making the Hall 
glimmer like silver mist. 

Dinner was ordered in much the same way as at the previous Yule Ball, by
telling the plate in front of them what they wanted. Harry and Catalina 
were talking together, as were a Ron and Hermione, completely oblivious 
to their surroundings, or what he was eating. Harry had forgotten about 
the entire dance until the food was cleared away and Dumbledore stood 
up to make an announcement. 

‘Let the ball begin' he said smiling at the students around him. 

The lights dimmed, and four wizards walked onto the small stage, each
picking up an instrument, and started playing. 

‘Come on Harry' said Catalina, tugging Harry to his feet, and dragging
him onto the dance floor. 

‘I've got to warn you, I can't dance' said Harry nervously as Catalina
pulled him onto a crowd of people. 

‘Then you're just going to have to learn' laughed Catalina as she took
up her place in the mass of moving people. 

The fast beat was pumping through the Great Hall and Harry and Catalina
joined a group of Gryffindor fifth years. After a few minutes of 
awkwardly trying to copy the people around him, Harry got into the 
swing of things, and was soon dancing without looking at his feet. 
Hermione didn't seem to have any problems with dancing, and Ron was 
gazing at Hermione constantly, much to the satisfaction of Harry and 
Catalina who felt that everything had gone according to plan. 

Soon Hermione and Ron danced over and the entire 5th year of Gryfinndor
tower was dancing together to a wild swing beat. Partners were being 
passed round the circle, and soon Harry had danced with Lavender, 
Parvati and Hermione before being given Catalina back. 

The night passed quickly in a blur of music and colour, and soon the
night was drawing to a close. It had been completely different from 
Harry's first dance, which he couldn't wait to leave, and now Harry was 
looking at the end of the dance with sadness. 

The band struck up a slow number, and Harry managed to find Catalina in
the crowd. He held out his hand to her grinning, which she took, and 
they began to dance. They swayed to the slow music, and Harry found it 
very hard to believe at that moment there was any evil in the world. 
They twirled round slowly, scars on their palms touching, pointing out 
couples that were dancing around them, trying to keep a straight face 
as they saw Snape sitting alone at the teachers table. 

The music faded away and Dumbledore stood on the stage, clapping at the
band that laid their instruments down and took a bow. 

‘Alas, all good things must come to an end!' said Dumbledore as he
ushered students out of the Hall. Harry waited back for Hermione and 
Ron who were at the back of the crowd, who soon caught up with them. 
Behind the four, Malfoy was walking with a scowl on his face, hissing 
loudly to his two friends trying to provoke Harry and Ron. 

‘Of course he would go with that mudblood, couldn't find a proper
date...and I'm surprised at her, going with a nutcase like him' Malfoy 
murmured to his chuckling friends. 

Harry tried to block out the sound of his annoying voice, which was
echoing round his head as he insulted Catalina, Ron and Hermione. 
Catalina laid a calming hand on his arm as she felt Harry's anger 
rising, and saw Hermione doing the same to Ron. 

‘Of course they make a good couple, he doesn't even have any family, and
hers don't even want her around. Don't blame them personally, who'd 
want a freak like –' 

Harry spun round in a whirl of robes to face Malfoy, whose eyes were
glinting maliciously, and without a second thought drew back his fist 
and punched Malfoy in the face. Harry heard a satisfying crack and 
Malfoy sunk the floor cursing Harry and clutching his nose. Harry sank 
down onto his knees in front of Malfoy and stared into his face for a 
few seconds. 

‘Don't you ever say anything about Catalina or my friends again, or I‘ll
do something much worse than that' he hissed, pushing Malfoy backwards 
onto the cool, hard marble. 

Harry stood up and looked down at Malfoy coolly for a few moments
longer, then without saying another word, took Catalina's hand and 
walked to Gryffindor Tower. 

Catalina could feel the fury pouring from Harry who was storming down
the corridors. Ron and Hermione were looking at Harry with shock and 
awe, eagerly looking forward to see Malfoy with a broken nose, and 
hopefully a pair of black eyes to match. 

* 

Harry was awoken the next morning by a cold breeze fluttering through
his hair, he opened his eyes groggily to see a pair of cats eyes 
staring back. He jumped backward falling on to the floor in a tangle of 
sheets. 

‘Catalina! That wasn't funny' he shouted from the floor, watching the
Catalina, Ron and Hermione gasping with laughter. 

‘The look on your face! Priceless' spluttered Ron, laughing even harder
and Harry tried and failed miserably to untangle himself from the 
sheets. 

‘What are you two doing in here anyway?' asked Harry glaring
suspiciously at the two girls. 

‘Christmas?' Catalina reminded him rolling her eyes. 

Harry sat up, looking excitedly at the small pile of presents on the end
of his bed. Catalina settled on the end of Harry's bed, holding a small 
pile herself, while Hermione made herself comfortable on Ron's. Harry 
picked up his first present, which turned out to be a new pair of 
leather Quidditch gloves, as a joint present from Hermione and Ron. The 
second package turned out to be from Sirius, which was a large box of 
assorted Honeyduke's sweets. Harry realised with a small jolt, that 
there was no present from the Dursleys, he had been so caught up with 
everything that had happened this year he had forgot about the death of 
his only surviving relatives. 

Harry was looking sadly at the empty space on his bed, when a square
package was pushed into his hand, he looked up to see Catalina smiling. 


‘You didn't think I'd forgot did you?' she said grinning. 

Harry took the package in his hands, and started to peel away the brown
paper. A small object shaped like a snow globe fell into his hands, 
which was filled with a strange silver mist. He shook the globe, and 
the mist swirled crazily before settling back into it restless 
patterns. 

‘It's a Specto-Saxum, its supposed to be able to show you an hour into
the past or future' she said proudly. 

‘It's amazing' said Harry softly, watching the silver smoke swirling
inside, ‘Where did you get it? I've never seen anything like it before' 


‘I've had it for years, I got it when I was in China, a mysterious old
man gave it to me' she said ominously, but the effect was slightly 
ruined by her trying to contain her giggles ‘Well actually I bought it 
at a fair, so I don't suppose it works, never has for me' 

Harry laughed as he shook the globe again, but couldn't make out
anything through the swirling mist. He picked up the small gift he'd 
brought for Catalina and handed it to her. 

‘It's not much' he muttered, looking at Catalina's large gift compared
to his. 

She gasped as she unwrapped the delicate silver bracelet. She put in on
her left wrist and took in the detail of the snakes that curled round, 
intertwining with one another. The bracelet caught the light, and she 
looked into the emerald green eyes. 

‘It's beautiful' she breathed. 

Hermione and Ron looked up sharply, and Catalina proudly showed off her
new bracelet. Judging by their shocked expressions they were equally 
impressed with the bracelet as her. Ron and Hermione gave each other a 
long searching share, while Harry and Catalina munched their way 
through the large tub of Berti Botts Every Flavour Beans. 

Hermione was similarly impressed with the amethyst necklace that Ron had
bought her, and they all sat in the common room for a few hours, 
admiring their gifts and eating Harry's sweets. 

* 

Christmas dinner as Hogwarts was a splendid as any other year, and
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Catalina all had fun pulling the Wizard 
Crackers and throwing brussel sprouts a Draco Malfoy, who sat glaring 
at the four through two black eyes. 

Hermione sat laughing at Ron, who was squirming as he tried to pull off
the flowery bonnet she had magically attached to his head, and Catalina 
occupied her time pulling faces at Malfoy, who seemed to be either too 
angry or too scared to retaliate. After a few rather unenthusiastic 
Christmas carols, which were conducted by Dumbledore, the four trooped 
up to Gryffindor Tower, too full to even speak. 

* 

The next day Harry and Ron didn't rise until past 12 ‘o' clock, and the
common room was jam packed with students, who were not brave enough to 
venture outside into the blizzard that was whipping up around the 
castle walls. Hermione was huddled by the fireplace, reading a large 
book, but Catalina was nowhere to be found. 

‘Where's Catalina?' asked Harry, smirking as he saw Ron wriggle into the
sofa next to Hermione. 

‘She had to go and see Dumbledore' said Hermione distantly as she read
her book. 

‘Why?' asked Harry anxiously. 

‘Nothing bad' said Hermione quickly, ‘At least it didn't sound it' 

Harry sat down in one of the deep chairs, and pulled out the
Specto-Saxum. He was trying to get the thing to work, which showed 
nothing but silver mist still. He tuned out of Hermione and Ron's 
conversation and let his mind wander, trying to find out what Catalina 
was up to. She was excited, Harry could tell that much, so he wasn't 
worried, and turned his attention back to the globe. 

‘Maybe you need a password for it?' suggested Ron. 

‘Mmmm, but how am I supposed to figure out the right one?' asked Harry
turned to globe over in his hand. 

‘The Map!' said Hermione excitedly, ‘The Marauders Map, it shows you the
passwords to Hogwarts, maybe it'll show you the password to the globe?' 


Harry leapt up excitedly and ran to his dormitory, returning a few
seconds later with the old parchment clutched in his hand. 

‘I solemnly swear I am up to no good' whispered Harry to parchment, and
watched as Hogwarts was created by thin snaking lines of ink. 

He leaned forward to see the small dot labelled ‘Harry Potter' say
‘Retego' to the globe. 

Eagerly Harry picked up the globe, and after saying the password, looked
in amazement as the silver mist inside the globe turned purple then 
disappeared. The three crowded around the globe, watching the miniature 
scene inside the globe. Hermione was sitting in the same seat reading 
her book and Catalina walked up to her. 

‘I've got to go and see Dumbledore' said Catalina in a distant voice. 

‘Ok, see you later' said Hermione absorbed in her book. 

The room started to go cloudy again, and Harry realised it was because
the silver mist was closing in again. 

‘That's only what happened here an hour ago' said Hermione settling back
in her chair. 

‘Try again Harry, maybe it'll show you the future now?' said Ron, eager
to see the globe in action again. 

‘Retego' said Harry, peering into the swirling depths as the silver mist
turned green and parted to reveal himself sitting in the chair on his 
own. He was staring thoughtfully at the scar on his hand, holding the 
globe in one hand, when he suddenly looked up. 

‘I don't want you to leave' the Harry inside the globe said distantly,
looking at someone across the other side of the room. 

The view suddenly clouded, and the globe became full of the swirling
silver mist again. 

‘What was all that about?' asked Ron thoughtfully. 

‘Dunno' said Harry flopping down into the chair he'd seen himself in
inside the globe. 

He stared around his surroundings, thinking about the globe, maybe it
showed past and future alternatively, or maybe you had to ask for the 
past or the future. 

‘Coming?' asked Ron, breaking Harry out of his reverie. 

‘Where to?' asked Harry, thoughts still with the globe. 

‘Hagrid's, we haven't seen much of him since he got back' repeated Ron,
rolling his eyes at Harry. 

‘Nah, I think I'll stay here, and catch up on my Potions, say hello to
him for me' said Harry grimacing at the thought of a months worth of 
potions essays that lay inside his trunk to be completed. 

‘Fine see you later' said Ron, as he and Hermione donned winter cloaks
and stepped out of the portrait hole. 

Harry however didn't get his potions, he sat in the chair, globe in
hand, and thinking. He held the globe up to himself again, desperate to 
know what was going on. 

‘Retego' said Harry, watching the silver mist turn green then clear. He
saw Ron and Hermione sitting opposite each other talking seriously. 

‘She's keeping secrets from Harry' Hermione said faintly. 

‘Yeah, I wonder why though? Especially from Harry' came Ron's distant
voice. 

‘Do you think we should tell him?' asked Hermione 

‘I've got no idea, I just don't understand why she doesn't want us to
kno – ' began Ron, but the silver mist swirled in front of Harry's 
eyes, settling back to its rhythmic movements. 

Harry sat dumbstruck for a moment, thinking about what he had just heard
when Catalina came running through the portrait hole, Harry didn't have 
to be able to read Catalina's emotions to know that she was impossibly 
excited. 

‘Harry! Harry guess what?' she said running over to where Harry was
still sat. 

‘What?' said Harry, knowing full well what Catalina was going to say.
She was leaving. 

‘Dumbledore says it safe for me to go and visit my parents for a few
days! I can't wait to see them!' said Catalina excitedly, hurrying to 
pack her things. 

‘When are you leaving?' asked Harry, feeling Catalina ‘s excitement
matching his anxiety. 

‘In a minute, Dumbledore's taking me to the train station...' she said
eyes clouding, ‘...in Hogsmeade' 

Harry watched Catalina rush to the girls dormitory, and he sat in the
chair thoughtfully looking at his scar, still grasping the globe when a 
noise made him look up. 

Catalina was standing in front of him, looking excited. 

‘I don't want you to leave' said Harry truthfully. 

‘But I do, if you were me, you'd want to go wouldn't you?' said Catalina
seeing Harry's statement. 

‘Well I wouldn't know' said Harry shortly, ‘When are you coming back?' 

‘Three or four days, before term starts, I'll see you then Harry' said
Catalina expectantly. 

‘Ok, I'll see you soon' Harry called to Catalina's retreating back,
watching her trunk float behind her. 

Harry got up and walked across to the window by the boy's dormitory
stairs and stared into the blizzard. A few minutes later Harry saw 
Catalina emerge with Dumbledore and walk out of the gates. It had all 
been a bit sudden, and Harry wondered if Dumbledore had an ulterior 
motive. 

Just then Hermione and Ron scrambled through the portrait hole, talking
quietly between themselves. They looked around for Harry, who was 
hidden by the shadows of the heavy red curtains by the window. He saw 
Ron and Hermione sit opposite each other talking seriously. 

‘She's keeping secrets from Harry' Hermione said anxiously. 

‘Yeah, I wonder why though? Especially from Harry' came Ron's voice
across the common room. 

‘Do you think we should tell him?' asked Hermione 

‘I've got no idea, I just don't understand why she doesn't want us to
know, were supposed to be her friends' said Ron. 

‘I don't understand why she doesn't want Harry to know' said Hermione
while biting her nails. 

Harry chose this moment to walk over to the two, who judging by their
faces thought Harry had overheard their conversation. 

‘Harry –?' begun Hermione, trying to explain. 

‘Catalina's gone' said Harry flatly, not wanting to think about the
secrets Catalina was keeping from him at the moment. 

Relief spread across Ron and Hermione's features who obviously thought
Harry didn't hear their conversation, and was just glum about Catalina 
leaving. 

‘Where?' demanded Ron. 

‘To visit her parents, Dumbledore just took her, one minute she was here
then the next...' said Harry waving his arm expressively. 

‘That was a bit sudden' said Hermione thoughtfully. 

‘Yeah I know' said Harry with a far away look in his eyes. 

~*~*~ Chapter Twenty Three ~*~*~ 

Uncontrollable 

Harry couldn't get to sleep that night. Ron and Hermione's conversation
kept replaying in his head, until it started pounding with effort. What 
secrets was Catalina keeping from him? What could be that bad that she 
wouldn't be able to tell him, or Ron and Hermione? 

He sat in bed for a long time, unable to get to sleep, listening to
Catalina's excitement. Harry guessed that she was on the train by now, 
and would be at King's Cross-in the early morning. Harry finally 
drifted to sleep, thinking about the reason behind her secrets and her 
sudden departure, worrying about the meaning behind it. 

Harry awoke slowly the next morning, choosing the keep his eyes squeezed
shut as long as possible. He sat in his bed for a while, going through 
his usual morning routine, checking who was in the dorm through 
squinted eyes, seeing if Ron was there, checking Catalina as ok. He 
enjoyed doing this because he didn't even have to move to find this all 
out. So he checked the dormitory, only Neville was still in the room, 
Ron had disappeared already. Then he checked Catalina, taking only a 
few seconds to realise what was wrong. Catalina's emotions, which were 
usually like a second heart beat to him, were missing. 

Harry sat bolt upright it bed, panicking. There was nothing, no
happiness, no sadness, no fear or pain. Nothing. Harry hadn't even 
notice the space Catalina's emotions had taken up inside him, until 
they'd gone. He sat panicking, wondering what it meant. Was Catalina 
ok? Then the thought came to him, she was at the other end of the 
country, maybe she was to far away? 

Harry walked down to the common room, in a deep depression. He couldn't
explain why, but he just felt lonely now. 

‘Missing Catalina?' asked Ron innocently, laughing at his friends
statement. 

‘Oh shut up' said Harry falling into the seat with a scowl on his face. 

‘What's wrong with you?' asked Ron indignantly. 

‘Nothing' said Harry stoutly. 

* 

The last few days of holiday passed slowly, and Harry was in a permanent
bad mood. Ron and Hermione suspected it was because of Catalina's 
departure, but couldn't get Harry to admit it. Catalina was arriving 
with the rest of the school a day before term started, and Harry was 
counting down the hours. He felt all empty and cold inside, like being 
sick. 

One thing did take his mind off his fear, anger and worries. Two days
before the return back to school life, Harry, Ron and Hermione were 
called to another meeting in Dumbledore's office. 

‘There's still no joy with the Ministry I'm afraid. They're refusing to
release the names of the Death Eaters who attacked you, because they 
were all acquitted of being Death Eaters a long time ago' stated 
Dumbledore once the three had settled into the chairs in his office. 

‘Well at least we can console ourselves with the fact a lot of people
didn't pass of the attack as mental patients, they saw the signs, they 
recognised the similarities' said Snape slowly, his pale face looking 
even more sallow than usual. 

‘Yes, and I'm sure Voldemort is planning something big, to get the whole
world talking about him again. No doubt he doesn't like his handiwork 
being blamed on psychiatric patients' said Dumbledore thoughtfully. 

‘What do you think he will do?' asked Hermione fearfully. 

‘That, I do not know,' said Dumbledore heavily, ‘we must keep our eyes
and ears open for signs' 

Everyone sat in a few moments of silence, thinking about the impending
situation. 

‘Well if that's everything, I think it's time for us all to sleep' said
Dumbledore rising and ushering everyone out of the room. 

‘Err, Professor Dumbledore could I talk to you for a minute?' asked
Harry lingering in the doorway. 

‘Of course' said Dumbledore showing Harry into another seat opposite
him. 

‘Can I ask you why Catalina left so suddenly the other day? I thought it
was too dangerous for her to leave, and then suddenly it's ok? Asked 
Harry anxiously. 

‘Ah Harry, we were given a short window of time to get Catalina away
from the school, before Voldemort could realise. We also needed her to 
take part in some charms to protect her family' said Dumbledore, eyes 
twinkling at Harry's worry. 

‘What kind of charms?' Harry asked anxiously. 

‘Nothing harmful I can assure you, she's perfectly safe were she is. I
have people looking after her, and she'll be back tomorrow' laughed 
Dumbledore. 

‘Oh, ok' said Harry thoughtfully, and he stood up to leave. 

‘Did you talk to Sirius?' asked Dumbledore as Harry reached the door. 

‘Yeah' said Harry awkwardly. 

‘He's only trying to do his best for you, you know' said Dumbledore
seriously. 

‘I know' Harry whispered as he let himself out of the office. 

* 

The next morning and Harry awoke to a pleasant thought, Catalina was
excited. It took a few seconds to realise what he'd just thought, and 
he sat bolt upright in bed. Harry could feel Catalina's emotions again! 
She was coming back he thought happily. He suddenly didn't feel empty 
anymore, and sat listening to Catalina for a while. 

Harry was confused, he was getting mixed messages, he could tell she was
extremely excited, but also depressed, and a little scared. He jumped 
out of bed quickly and threw on his clothes, and raced into the common 
room. 

‘Catalina must be back soon' laughed Ron seeing Harry's excited
statement. 

‘Oh shut up Ron' said Harry good naturally. 

‘Shall we go down and meet her at Hogsmeade?' asked Hermione
thoughtfully. 

‘Sure' said Harry, fidgeting in his seat. 

‘Oh Hermione, I really need some help with my Herbology essay' said Ron,
winking at Hermione theatrically. 

‘Oh!' said Hermione cottoning on, ‘Sure, you don't mind going on your
own, do you Harry?' asked Hermione innocently. 

‘No, it's ok' said Harry, too busy with his own thoughts to notice Ron
and Hermione's smirks. 

‘You'd better go, the train will be arriving at 12' said Hermione
seriously. 

‘Yeah, Have fun!' said Ron waggling his eyebrows. 

They held their laughter until Harry had climbed out of the portrait
hole, nervously trying to flatten his hair. 

‘How long do you think it'll take him to realise he hasn't got any shoes
or socks on?' asked Ron laughing at his friends excitement. 

‘Lets see...5...4...3...2...1' said Hermione, laughing as she saw Harry
run back into the common room exactly on time. 

‘Forgotten something?' asked Ron innocently. 

‘Shoes' said Harry sheepishly, charging into the boys dorm, and back out
again faster than a Firebolt. 

* 

Catalina watched the scenery changing, from rolling countryside to wild
moors with deep satisfaction. The short stay with her parents, which 
had seemed like such as good idea at the time, did not go well. Her 
father and mother were in a constant bad mood with her, she had been 
followed everywhere by Ministry Official, and wasn't even allowed out 
of the house. 

The house her parents were staying in until Firelight Manor was
renovated, was small and in the middle of a large muggle city. She 
couldn't rest there, it didn't feel like home, her parents didn't feel 
like her parents. Catalina brushed away a tear as she stared at the 
window, not seeing what was passing by. 

She sighed contentedly as the train started to sow down, pulling into
Hogsmeade station. Now she felt like she was going home. Out of all of 
the schools she had gone to during her life, only Hogwarts felt real, 
like home. She pulled her trunk from underneath her seat, and slowly 
made up way up the aisle and to a the train door. She stepped off and 
looked around, the wind was blowing furiously and whipping her hair 
around her face. She pulled the winter hood of her winter cloak around 
her face, hiding her red-rimmed eyes from everyone around her. Slowly 
she made her way up the platform, excited at the prospect at seeing her 
friends again. She'd missed them more than she thought she would, and 
the absence of Harry's emotions mad her feel cold and empty. Cut off 
from the world. 

Now however she rejoiced in being back home, and listened to Harry, who
was impossibly excited. He was probably playing Quidditch at the moment 
or something thought Catalina. 

‘Hello stranger' came as voice near her ear. 

Catalina whipped round to see Harry standing beside her, face half
hidden in his large winter cloak. 

‘Harry!' cried Catalina, as she gave him a small hug. 

‘How was your trip?' asked Harry as he carried her trunk towards the
horse-less carriage. 

‘Oh fine!' she lied, which Harry seemed to have realised. 

‘Really?' he asked, eyebrows raised. 

‘Just a little strange I guess. Anyway I'm back now, what have you done
while I was away?' she asked, hoping Harry would change the subject. 

Harry hadn't done a lot by the sound of it, and they were both glad to
get back to the warm common room. Catalina spoke briefly to Ron and 
Hermione before putting her trunk back in her room, Hermione followed 
her up and left Harry and Ron alone. 

‘So, happy to see Catalina again?' asked Ron with a small smile on his
lips. 

‘Oh shut up Ron' laughed Harry. 

‘You seem to say that to me a lot you know' said Ron with mock
irritation. 

* 

Catalina got into the girl's dormitory, and threw off her cloak, placing
it gently inside her trunk. 

‘Catalina? Have you been crying?' asked Hermione catching sight of her
friends slightly red eyes. 

‘What? No of course I haven't' she said, wishing that her eyes didn't
stay red for so long. 

‘What's wrong? It's not Harry us it?' asked Hermione, not believing
Catalina's act for a second. 

‘No! And yes,' admitted Catalina, ‘Did Harry ever tell you about my dad
and his dad?' 

‘Yeah, he told me you were ok about it though' said Hermione, not
understanding where the conversation was heading. 

‘Well remember when Sirius told Harry that he should stay away from me,
and he was in that foul mood? Well my parents kind of had the same talk 
with me' said Catalina heavily. 

‘Oh I see' said Hermione thinking. 

‘I mean, just because our parents didn't get on, it doesn't me that we
cant right?' Catalina burst out angrily, ‘I can be friend's with 
however I want right? I don't need his permission right?...'. 

Hermione sat back listening intently, letting Catalina continue with her
rant, who seemed to have forgotten that Hermione was there. 

‘...and he wants me to stay away from Harry! Thinks he's dangerous! He
saved my life' Catalina said seriously. 

Catalina suddenly gave Hermione a surprised look, as if seeing her for
the first time. 

‘Sorry' she muttered before starting to unpack her things 

‘What are you going to do?' asked Hermione watching Catalina anxiously. 

‘Nothing, carry on like normal. I'm not letting Harry go just because my
father had a fight with his dad' said Catalina firmly. 

‘What would your father do if he found – ?' started Hermione nervously. 

‘He saved my life Hermione' said Catalina earnestly. 

Hermione merely nodded, she wouldn't to get on the wrong side of a
powerful magus, but Catalina knew her dad, she knew how far to push 
him. 

* 

‘Eugghh, I can't believe were back in potions again' said Harry
disgustedly. 

‘I know, kill me, kill me now' laughed Ron who was trying to dice rats
livers into equal cubes. 

‘Hey there is one good thing about it,' said Harry mischievously. 

‘What's that?' asked Ron, failing to find anything that could possibly
be good about double potions with the Slytherin's and Snape. 

‘Malfoy!' said Harry grinning, ‘Ever since I pinched him at the Yule
Ball, he's been so scared to even look my way!' 

Ron and Harry laughed loudly, with earned them with a sour look from
Snape. Harry and Ron occupied the rest of the lesson pulling faces at 
Malfoy, and rubbing their fists menacingly. Malfoy merely glared at 
them through his subsiding black eyes, and turned back to his bench. At 
the end of the lesson Ron and Hermione pushed out of the class first, 
followed by Harry and Catalina. Harry was halfway to next lesson when 
Malfoy leant behind him. 

‘Don't think I haven't forgotten this Potter, I'll get you back' he
hissed into Harry's ear. 

Harry swung round, all ready for a repeat of the end of the Yule Ball. 

‘Mr Potter? What do you think you are doing?' came the cruel voice of
Snape, which was standing behind Malfoy now, who had a look of smug 
superiority on his face. 

‘10 Points from Gryffindor for loitering in the corridors now get to
your next class' said Snape, watching Harry walk away with a slight 
sneer on his face. 

* 

The rest of the day went smoothly, and Harry didn't see Snape or Malfoy
again. That evening Ron, Harry and Catalina walked down to the 
Quidditch pitch for practise. Fred and George were made captains whilst 
Harry was in the Hospital Wing, and now had two whole teams to 
organise. Fred took the Gryffindor team, and George took the reserve 
team running through drills, new moves and tactics. At the end of the 
evening the two teams were mixed and they played a game against each 
other. 

Ron, Ginny, Catalina, Katie and the Jameson Brothers were on Harry's
team, and they played well. The match was close, but Harry eventually 
managed to catch the Snitch making it 200 – 90 to Harry's team. 

Catalina's broom caused a stir, and all of the new members of the team
couldn't wait to go on Harry's Firebolt. So the training finished later 
than expected and its was dark before the three made their way back to 
the common room. 

‘Gryffindor against Slytherin in two weeks time' moaned Ron. 

‘Don't worry, we'll wipe the floor with them!' laughed Harry, hoping to
get another one over on Malfoy. 

* 

The following two weeks flew by in a blur of lessons, Quidditch
practises and homework. Order of the Phoenix meeting were held 
regularly every three days now, which provided Harry with an unpleasant 
and unwelcome view at life outside the safe castle walls. There were 
disappearances, murders and sightings of the dark mark everywhere, but 
still the Ministry managed to cover it all up. People were becoming 
increasingly suspicious and rumours of a new powerful dark wizard 
emerged. 

However inside the castle walls, the most Harry and Ron had to worry
about was not being beaten up by the Slytherin's that seemed to follow 
him and his teammates. It seemed everybody had something to prove, and 
Harry was going to win this game just to wipe the smug smile of 
Malfoy's face that had reappeared. 

Harry had just thought the tailing by the Slytherin's to be a little
pathetic and not really dangerous until upsetting news reached him the 
night before the big game. He had turned up for dinner late that 
evening to find the Gryffindor table alive with whispers. 

‘Katie Bell's in the Hospital Wing...' 

‘Yeah they say she's broken her arm and leg...' 

‘They say she fell, but I don't think so...' 

‘What's happened?' Harry demanded. 

‘Katie Bell was pushed down some stairs this afternoon, she in the
Hospital Wing now, she can't play tomorrow' said Ron face flashing with 
anger. 

‘Who pushed her?' asked Harry angrily. 

‘Well the official story is she lost her balance in a crowd this
afternoon, jut happened to be a crowd of Slytherin's didn't it?' said 
Ron, spitting the name in disgust. 

Harry looked over to the Slytherin table and say Malfoy and the other
Slytherin Quidditch team laughing heartily to themselves. Malfoy was 
doing spirited impressions of someone falling, and Harry felt cold fury 
pulse through his body. They didn't care about anyone, just themselves. 


‘Catalina we want you to play Katie's position' said Fred, staring at
Catalina intently. 

‘Me? No I can't, I'm not good enough, the others have had more practise
than me!' said Catalina nervously. 

‘You're our best Chaser, you have the skill and you have the broom. Do
it for Katie' said George equally as serious, which was quite 
disconcerting to see. 

‘Ok, ill do it' consented Catalina, looking over t the Slytherin's. 

‘Were gonna give them a match they'll never forget' said Fred looking
furiously at the laughing Slytherin's. 

* 

‘Ok team, this is it' said Fred seriously. 

‘We are going out there today, and were gonna play the best damn game of
Quidditch we've ever played!' shouted George. 

‘And were gonna win it, for Katie' said Fred quietly. 

‘Were going to show them, that only Quidditch skills win a game of
Quidditch, not rich fathers and foul play!' said George passionately. 

The team had never seen the twins so furiously serious as they did
today, and their determination rubbed off on the whole team. 

Harry, Catalina and Ron lined up on the pitch next to each other, and
mounted there brooms, waiting for the whistle. 

‘Nervous?' Harry asked Catalina. 

‘Do you need to ask' said Catalina trying to block out hers as well as
Harry's nerves that were niggling her stomach. 

‘Course not' Harry laughed, then looked seriously at Catalina, ‘Be
careful, Malfoy's out to do damage today, they all are. Stay away from 
him. Keep yourself safe' 

‘I will, don't worry, as long as you do the same' said Catalina. 

Madam Hooch blew her silver whistle, and Harry, Ron and Catalina kicked
off from the ground. Harry's nerves were left down on the pitch, and he 
felt a thrill as the wind whipped his face and hair. He was free at 
last. 

Harry rose fast above the rest of the team, and played eagle, restlessly
searching the pitch for the snitch. Malfoy flew up beside him, but 
Harry ignored him, surveying the scene and watching Ron and Catalina's 
progress. 

‘Johnson has the Quaffle – passed to Spinnet - back to Johnson, she
approaches the post – Oh nice block there by the Slytherin Keeper – 
Slytherin in possession – Flint has the Quaffle and is approaching 
Gryffindor goal guarded by Ron Weasley – Nice save by Ron there – 
Gryffindor have the Quaffle – it's Spinnet – Firelight – Johnson –YES 
Johnson scores! Gryffindor 10 Slytherin 0' came Lee Jordan's voice over 
the crowd. 

Harry looked down around the stadium, taking in the possessions of all
his teammates, Catalina was doing a good job, keeping a low profile 
until it was her time to shine. Harry saw as a bludger whizzed towards 
her, but Catalina swerved and it flew straight past, hitting one of the 
Slytherin chasers. 

The game started to become dirtier, the Slytherin's were stopping at
nothing to get the Quaffle. Bludgers were been directed at the face and 
Fred and George Weasley had a hard time keeping them away from their 
teammates. Harry tried to get away from Malfoy who was following him 
closely. 

‘Worried about your girlfriend?‘ said Malfoy seeing Harry concentrating
on Catalina's performance, 

‘Wouldn't it be such a shame if something happened to her?' he added
innocently. 

Harry his Firebolt quickly and aimed at Malfoy, but a shout from the
crowd was telling him something was happening. 

‘Brilliant display of a Hawkshead Attacking Formation there – Johnson
had the Quaffle – Passed to Firelight – FIRELIGHT SCORES – Gryffindor 
20 Slytherin 0!' 

Harry sped away from Malfoy, to stop him doing something he would
regret, well probably not regret Harry thought ruefully as he searched 
for the snitch. A flash of George's gold wristwatch nearly had him 
fooled, which suddenly gave him an idea. 

Feigning a look of intense concentration and excitement, Harry sped
towards to ground, as predicted Malfoy's followed suit, desperately 
searching for the snitch that he could not see. 

‘Potter seen the snitch and is diving fast – Malfoy follows suit – it's
neck and neck – THEIR GOING TO CRASH – No Potter pulls out – Malfoy's 
follows, but too late – OUCH – That was a nasty collision with 
Slytherin Chaser Pucey' shouted Lee Jordan happily. 

Harry looked down and laughed at Malfoy who had barely managed to keep
on his broom, and was now sporting a bloody nose. Harry did a double 
barrel roll to vent his feelings. He had just executed a perfect 
Wronski Feint and fooled Malfoy into a bloody nose. 

Harry flew high, watching the game proceeding below, Gryffindor scored
another three times and Malfoy wasn't following Harry as closely. Harry 
formed a plan in his head and decided to try the Wronski Feint again, 
again Malfoy streaked after Harry, although he pulled out sooner this 
time, the crowd were going wild. 

Harry soared over the pitch, his elation matching Catalina's excitement,
who had just scored again making the score Gryffindor 60 Slytherin's 0. 
The Slytherin's were playing worse than ever before and dirtier, and 
Harry watched as Malfoy followed alongside Catalina who was carrying 
the Quaffle. Harry didn't like what Malfoy was up to so he flew in 
closer. Suddenly Malfoy pulled in front Catalina, and their brooms 
clashed mid-air. Catalina screamed out loud, and went cart wheeling 
over the side of her broom, and was left dangling one handed above the 
pitch. 

‘Harry!' she gasped, eye fixed on the floor 50 ft below. 

‘It's ok' said Harry swallowing against the fear and anger coursing
through him. 

Harry helped the trembling Catalina onto her broom with the help of Fred
and George. Harry, who was trembling with rage, snatched George's 
beaters club and hurled it at Malfoy head. Unfortunately, and maybe 
because of Harry's rage, it missed and only hit him in the back. 

‘Stop! Stop!' shrieked Madam Hooch flying over to break up Harry and
Malfoy who were flying towards each other with equal murderous glares. 

‘Penalty to Gryffindor for deliberate and unprovoked attack on a
chaser!' she shouted about to storm of boo's from the Gryffindor's for 
Malfoy and the Slytherin's. 

‘And, penalty to Slytherin for the deliberate attack on their seeker!'
she screamed, unable to make herself heard above the Gryffindor's 
booing for a completely different reason. 

Alicia Spinnet took the penalty, and managed to score, as did the
Slytherin chaser. Harry was unable to contain his rage against Malfoy 
who was smirking at Harry now, but succeeding in keeping his eye out 
for the snitch. After a few minutes Catalina's nervousness and 
sickness, turned into fury, now both of them were flying with building 
angry. It seemed to fuel Catalina, who shot up and down the pitch 
furiously passing and scoring. 

The Harry saw it, the golden snitch. It was hovering above the Weasley
twins bats, that were raised against an approaching bludger. Harry 
dared not to breathe, in case Malfoy saw what he was doing. Harry flew 
over to the twins, trying to make it look like he wanted a pep talk, he 
got with reaching out distance. He stretched out his arm, and his 
fingers closed against the fluffy snitch. No one seemed to have 
realised because they carried on passing and scoring. 

Harry laughed softly to himself, then filled his lungs with air. 

‘OI MALFOY!' he shouted across the pitch. 

Malfoy turned to look at him, as well as the Quidditch teams, and the
whole stadium. Everyone held their breath. 

‘LOOKING FOR THIS?' he shouted waving the snitch for the stadium to see.


An explosion of sound filled the stadium and their cheers of the
Gryffindor's drowned out the howls of fury from the Slytherin's. 

* 

The screaming crowd surged onto the pitch and everyone followed the
grinning team up to castle, while Malfoy and the rest of the 
Slytherin's followed them and glared. The whole team surged into the 
common room, and they celebrated well into the night. 

‘Brilliant catch Harry, you should have seen the look on Malfoy's face!'
laughed Ron gleefully. 

‘I didn't even see you catch it! You caught us all by surprise' said
Hermione, face glowing. 

‘I couldn't believe it! When I caught it everyone was still playing'
laughed Harry to himself. 

‘Well, I think this calls for a toast,' said Catalina raising her glass
of butterbeer that had magically appeared earlier care of Fred and 
George, ‘To Malfoy' 

‘To Malfoy!' shouted the team, raising their glasses, holding their
laughter for a few seconds. 

* 

‘Come on Catalina we'll be late for Herbology!' said Harry trying to
drag her away from her lunch. 

‘Oh, just a second, I'm starving' said Catalina, quickly shovelling food
into her mouth. 

‘Well you should get up earlier' laughed Harry, eyeing the large clock
on the wall. 

‘Don't worry I'll catch you up, I have to go and put my Quidditch gear
in the lockers anyway. Explain to Professor Sprout for me?' said 
Catalina hurriedly. 

‘Yeah sure' said Harry jogging out of the hall. 

Catalina hurriedly eat her food, very aware that she was nearly the last
person in the hall, then grabbing her Quidditch robes and pads ran out 
of the hall. She was running quickly through the halls, then became 
aware of a second set of footfalls behind her. She spun around looking 
for who was following her. 

‘Who's there?' she called out nervously, casting her eyes around the
empty corridors. 

‘Only me' said a voice of someone standing in the shadows. 

‘Oh, you' said Catalina turning back to small cupboard she was placing
her robes in. 

‘You know, I really don't see what you see in Harry' came the cold voice
from behind her. 

‘And I really don't see what any of that has to do with you' replied
Catalina shortly. 

‘You could have anybody you wanted, you could have powerful friends and
allies, but still you choose to associate yourselves with mudbloods, 
lunatics and disgraces to the Wizarding name' said the voice 
questioningly. 

‘Do you want something Malfoy?' asked Catalina, refusing to rise to his
bait. 

‘I just want to know what you want out of life' said Malfoy stepping out
of the shadows. 

‘I want friends that love me for who I am, something you won't be
familiar with I'm sure' said Catalina scathingly. 

‘Oh that's harsh Cat, I'm really hurt. Now I'm just trying to offer you
something and you just throw it back in my face' he said airily. 

‘And what‘s that?' asked Catalina, curious despite herself. 

‘Power' he said simply. 

‘Right, and you want me to be just as evil as you, do you?' replied
Catalina, trying to push past him, but was skilfully blocked. 

‘There's no good or evil Catalina, only power' whispered Malfoy leaning
over to her, looking intently into her eyes. 

‘And who taught you that? I bet it was your father, running around
Hogsmeade like a good little servant' said Catalina hiding her fear 
behind her anger. 

‘How dare you. My family are not servants' said Malfoy disgustedly. 

‘Whatever. Look, you can run back to your daddy and tell him that
there's no way I would join him and his little gang, ok?' she said 
sweetly, trying to push past Malfoy again. 

‘I don't think you quite understand, it's not good or evil, it's glory
or death, and which do you want?' whispered Malfoy dangerously. 

‘Neither now let me go' she shouted trying to get past him, who blocked
her way again. 

‘Let me go!' she shouted louder. 

‘Maybe you need some time to think about it?' asked Malfoy gripping her
arms tightly, steering her backwards. 

‘What are you doing?' shouted Catalina struggling against his vice-like
grip. 

Malfoy didn't answer her however, and kept pushing her backwards,
towards the small broom cupboard she had been putting her stuff in. 

‘Please don't' whispered Catalina as she was pushed backwards into the
dark room. 

The door was slammed shut, and her last image was Malfoy holding her
wand in front of her smiling. Darkness descended and the walls of the 
small room pressed into her. She gulped down a shuddering sob that was 
threatening to overcome her, and started to shout and kick the door to 
her prison. 

Suddenly light streamed back into the room, and Catalina thanked God for
making Malfoy turn back. She knew he couldn't be that inhuman to leave 
her locked in that small dark space, no one was. 

‘Nearly forgot something,' he said smiling down at her, ‘Silencio' 

The door was slammed shut again, and the darkness descended once again.
Catalina tried to scream but no sound came out of her cursed throat. 
The very texture of the darkness was threatening to choke her, sliding 
down her throat and suffocating her. She screamed in silent rage and 
terror, kicking against the door. 

‘Let me out!' she mouthed, but no one could hear her. 

* 

Harry was nearly sick with fear. Waves of terror were crashing down on
him so hard, that he could hardly walk straight. Catalina had only been 
out of his sight for 5 minutes, 5 minutes, when all this fear and 
terror descended on him. He had ran out of his class closely followed 
by Ron and Hermione. 

‘What's wrong?' asked Ron watching Harry looking around the school
grounds wildly. 

‘Catalina's in trouble, she's really scared, she's terrified' whispered
Harry, eyes wide and face pale. 

‘How do you kno –?' started Ron, completely confused by Harry's
behaviour. 

‘It doesn't matter now, lets just find her, quickly!' shouted Harry
racing up the steps to the entrance hall. 

Ron and Hermione raced after Harry who was pounding down the corridors
of the school like a maniac. 

‘She was going to put her Quidditch stuff away before practise' Harry
shouted back to them as he raced through the corridors, ‘Down here!' 

Then they heard it, a desperate thumping against the side of the small
cupboard door. 

‘Catalina? Catalina!' shouted Harry as he ran down the corridors towards
the door, wrenching at the handle that wouldn't give way. 

‘Here, Alohomora' said Hermione, wrenching the door open. 

Catalina fell out in a flurry of robes, into the arms of Harry, who was
already reaching out to catch her. She was breathing heavily, but 
wouldn't say a word. 

‘Catalina? What happened? What happened?' asked Harry looking into her
eyes, trying to get her to speak. 

Catalina shook her head and grasped her throat with a shaking hand. 

‘Finite Incantem' said Hermione pointing her wand at Catalina's throat. 

Shuddering sobs filled the empty corridor, and Harry held her in his
arms, trying to get her to face him. 

‘What happened?' demanded Harry. 

‘Malfoy...put me in there...' she said through her sobs of fear. 

‘What! Why?' demanded Harry, anger flashing through his eyes. 

‘Wanted me to join...them...to make me think' she whispered, breathing
shakily. 

‘Sshhh, your ok now, your ok' said Harry soothingly, rocking Catalina
backwards and forwards. 

‘Lets take her to the Hospital Wing' said Ron shakily, who was helping
Catalina to her feet. 

Harry carefully guided Catalina into the Hospital Wing, where she was
put into a bed and looked at by Madam Pomfrey. 

‘Is she ok?' asked Harry anxiously. 

‘She's just in shock I think I'm going to go and mix up a sleeping
potion. You can go and see her for a few moments' said Madam Pomfrey 
bustling into her office. 

Harry crept around the curtains hiding Catalina's bed, she was lying
under the white linen, eyes red rimmed and face pale. 

‘What happened?' asked Harry again, taking in her distressed state. 

‘Malfoy asked me to join You-Know-Who, I said I wouldn't, so he said I
needed some time – some time to think about it. And he put me in their, 
and locked the door, and took away my voice, just so I couldn't even 
cry or get help' she said, tears brimming in her eyes, and spilling 
down her cheeks. 

She rolled over and pushed her face into her pillow and Harry could do
nothing but wait for Madam Pomfrey to return. 

‘Here you go drink this up' said Madam Pomfrey soothingly, pushing the
goblet into her shaking hand, she took a small gulp before falling back 
into her bed, fast asleep. 

Harry sat with her for a few moments longer, contemplating what had just
happened. Malfoy had locked her up in a tiny room, took away her wand 
and her voice, to prove a point. Harry couldn't get his mind around the 
sheer inhumanity of what he'd done. Catalina was scared of small 
spaces, so he'd put her into her worst nightmare, because he wanted her 
to join Voldemort? How did he think he could get away with this? Harry 
knew one thing for certain, he wasn't going to get away with this. 

He stood up suddenly, knocking his chair to the floor. Without even
picking it up, he stormed out of the Hospital Wing, ignoring Ron and 
Hermione chasing him through the corridors. Lunchtime had arrived and 
people were filling into the Great Hall, and Harry pushed his way 
through the crowd to see Malfoy standing with his back to him and the 
dinner table. 

Harry marched over to Malfoy, reckless rage pulsing through his body. He
reached over and pulled Malfoy round roughly, pushing him against a 
wall. 

‘What did you do that for?' Harry hissed at Malfoy, whose eyes held fear
but also cruel amusement. 

‘Do what?' asked Malfoy innocently. 

‘YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT' bellowed Harry, shoving Malfoy hard up
against the wall again. 

People were starting to stop their conversations, and were turning to
watch the unfolding scene, obviously the teachers hadn't been made 
aware yet and Harry seized his chance. 

‘You had no right to do that to her' hissed Harry, face up close to
Malfoy's. 

‘Well, maybe she'll think twice about who she mixes with now' said
Malfoy so quietly that no one else around him could hear. 

Harry let out a roar of anger and launched his fist into Malfoy's face,
slamming him up against the wall. Hands came out of nowhere, and Harry 
was dimly aware of Ron trying to pull him back. 

‘No, Let go of me, he deserves this after what he did' shouted Harry
desperately trying to prise himself out of Ron's grip. 

He managed to break loose, and hurled himself at Malfoy again, Harry
could see Crabbe and Goyle pushing their way through the crowd towards 
Malfoy, as well as various teachers. Snape came hurrying to Harry's 
side, and tried to pull him away from Malfoy, who was leaning against 
the wall heavily. Harry was burning with anger and pushed Snape away 
from him, fighting to get at Malfoy. Snape suddenly went sailing 
through the air in a mass of robes, propelled by some force stronger 
than Harry. 

‘Your evil do you know that? Pure evil!' Harry spat. 

‘There is no good and evil, only power' Malfoy whispered in Harry's ear.


Harry let out another roar of fury, and tried to get to Malfoy again,
this time a stronger grip pulled him away. Harry looked around to see 
Ron, Fred and George panting against the effort of holding Harry away. 

‘Leave him, it's not worth getting expelled for' said Ron slowly,
keeping eye contact with Harry. 

Harry wrenched his arm out of his friends grip, gave Malfoy one last
final kick, before storming out of the hall. As he walked out, the huge 
double doors slammed shut behind him with enough force to shatter every 
windowpane in the Great Hall. 

Ron and Hermione merely stood open mouthed at the wreckage. Shards of
glass littered the floor, Malfoy lay on the floor moaning, as was 
Snape. 

‘My God' whispered Hermione, eyes wide. 

To Be Continued


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