Katie made her way up from the Slytherin common room after fixing herself up a little bit. When she reached the Entrance Hall, Harry was already standing there waiting. He was leaned up against a pillar and stood up straight with a smile on his face when he saw Katie coming.

Grinning, Katie walked over to meet her friend.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey. Shall we walk?" Harry said and Katie giggled.

"We shall."

The pair left the castle together and started on their stroll through the Hogwarts grounds. They passed the greenhouses first, and couldn't help but poke their heads inside.

There were many plants with long vines that were swirling around, nipping at and attacking each other.

"I can't wait for my first herbology class." Katie said as she gazed in at the magical plants.

"I had mine today! We had it with the Hufflepuffs. It's pretty good." Harry replied and Katie smiled weakly.

"I wish we had herbology together." she sighed.

"Katie, we have most of our subjects together. Not to mention we haven't even started flying lessons, which we also have together." Harry pointed out.

"Yeah but, you're my only friend, Harry. I'm really upset that we're not in the same house."

"Your only friend?" Harry repeated. "Aren't you friends with.... err — Pansy. Is that her name?"

"I guess. But it's not the same."

Katie and Harry continued to talk as they walked around the Hogwarts grounds. They stopped walking once again when they reached the Quidditch Stadium.

"Who's your Quidditch team, Harry?" Katie asked as she stared up at the towering hoops.

"I... eh... I don't know any." Harry said quietly and Katie's jaw dropped.

"You really don't know a bloody thing about the wizarding world, do you Potter?" Katie gasped.

"Well, in my defense, I only found out about it a month ago." Harry said sternly. Katie chuckled and shook her head. Grabbing Harry by the hand, she began running and dragged him towards the stadium.

"Katie, what are you doing?" Harry giggled, but he allowed himself to be dragged into the centre of the Quidditch pitch. "This is... wow." Harry breathed as he looked around. Katie smiled at him. After his tragic past, even if he only found out about it very recently, Katie liked seeing Harry happy.

"Okay, so, how to play." Katie said and Harry's face lit up. "Quidditch is pretty simple once you grasp it. So, there's two teams on the pitch with seven players on each team. Three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker. These make up the seven players. Got that?"

"Err — Yes, I think so."

So, Katie went on to explain the rules of Quidditch to Harry. She had to go over some parts because Harry didn't quite get it, but after about twenty minutes, Harry had a pretty good understanding of Quidditch.

"Want to give it a try?"

"I — eh — What?"

"There's brooms in the shed." Katie nodded her head towards the broom shed but Harry shook his head.

"Katie, I've never ridden a broom before. I don't think that's such a good idea." Harry mumbled, looking at his feet.

"Oh, come on Harry! It'll be fun." Katie begged but Harry just shook his head with a smile on his face.

"You can. I'd love to see what you're like on a broom." Harry said.

"I'm a pretty good flyer, if I do say so myself." Katie smirked.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "Go on then."

But just as Katie was about to head over to the broom shed, three more people stepped onto the Quidditch pitch. They were wearing Gryffindor robes, and looked a few years older than Harry and Katie.

"I think they came to tell us to leave." Harry whispered. But as the three people got closer, Katie realised that they weren't a threat at all. At least not to Harry.

"No. They didn't. But we should get going anyway." Katie said urgently, trying to drag Harry from the stadium.

"Katie?" called a familiar voice. Katie sighed and turned around, faking the most realistic smile that she could.

"Chris.... hi."

Katie's heart pounded in her chest. Chris and his two friends Niall and Oscar walked over to meet Katie and Harry. Katie hadn't spoken to Chris ever since the sorting. She didn't want to hear his nasty comments about Slytherin.

Niall had thin strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes, and the thickest Irish accent you could imagine. Oscar had a lot of brown hair, though it was well kept and gelled. And, not too unlike Katie, Chris had honey blonde hair and blue eyes, though his hair was darker than Katie's.

"Who's this?" Chris asked as he looked Harry up and down. Harry was about to open his mouth to speak, but Katie got there first.

"Guys, this is Harry. Harry, this is my brother Christian, though everyone knows him as Chris. And these are his friends Niall and Oscar." Katie introduced them all to each other.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said politely. Chris stared long and hard at Harry with a look of awe and wonder on his face. Harry shifted around uncomfortably and gave a nervous glance at Katie.

"Harry? As in Harry Potter?" Chris asked and Niall and Oscar's eyes widened.

"Yeah."

"No way!" Niall exclaimed.

"So you saw You-Know-Who?"

"What did he look like?"

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows.

"Kill him, of course!"

"Guys!" Katie snapped angrily. "Bloody hell, leave him alone! He's still human!"

All three of the third year boys went silent. Harry gave Katie a grateful smile and she nodded.

"Chris, can I talk to you for a second?" Katie asked, though you could tell she was nervous.

"Sure." Chris shrugged.

"Sorry." Katie whispered to Harry, before she pulled her brother off to the side and left Harry there with Niall and Oscar, who were bombarding him with questions.

"What's up?" Chris asked casually while folding his arms. Katie raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"What?"

"You're not mad at me? Or disappointed?" Katie asked. Chris' eyebrows twisted together and a look of pure confusion spread across his face.

"Mad at you? Disappointed? No! Why would I be?" Chris sounded shocked. Katie shrugged and put her head down. She started swinging her leg back and forth, kicking the ground in the process.

"I just thought that... Since I got sorted into Slytherin, I assumed you'd be disappointed because Slytherins are like... bad people." Katie said quietly. She slowly and cautiously looked up at her brother, who looked completely dumbfounded.

"Katie, no, no, no!" Chris placed a hand in his sister's shoulder. "I was just a little surprised, that's all. But definitely not disappointed. Sure, most dark wizards do come from Slytherin, but you're my sister, I know you. I know that you're not like that. Now come here."

Chris wrapped his arms around his sister, who was a good few inches shorter than him.

The sun was now setting on Hogwarts, illuminating the sky is various shades of purple and pink. Although Katie have would loved to stay outside and admire the beauty, she knew it was time that they head back into the castle.

"Harry, I think it's time we got back." Katie said. Harry looked relieved to be free of Christian's crazy friends.

"Yeah, alright."

"You guys go ahead, we'll follow in a bit. See you tomorrow, sis." Chris said.

The light of the setting sun glistened over the Black Lake, sending sparkles dancing across the water. The sky also reflected in the lake, making the water look a mystical, deep purple.

"It's beautiful." Katie breathed as she admired the lake.

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

Harry and Katie stopped once the reached the Entrance Hall and just looked at each other for many moments.

"Well, see you tomorrow I guess." Katie said, though it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Yeah... Bye Katie."

Katie made her way down to the dungeons and Harry went up to Gryffindor tower. When Harry got to his dorm, Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus were already asleep. Thankful that he wouldn't have to explain where he had been, Harry changed into his pyjamas and climbed under the covers of his four-poster bed. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.