All the while Madam Pomfrey was tending to Draco's wounds and doing her best to aid him, Katie sat by his bedside. Yes, it definitely annoyed Madam Promfrey. She continuously shot Katie snobby glances, but Katie didn't much care, she just wanted to make sure that Draco was alright.

Once Madam Pomfrey had done all she could for Draco, she disappeared and Hagrid, who had been sat in the corner of the hospital wing since the Care of Magical Creatures class, stepped over to Katie. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Yeh should really be getting back ter yer classes." he said matter-of-factly. Katie shook her head quickly. Hagrid merely sighed and gave the Slytherin girl's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"Sure yeh'll be OK?" he asked her seriously. Katie sniffled and nodded uncertainly. She did not dare to take her eyes off Draco, who still had not woken up since he passed out in Hagrid's arms an hour before. Madam Pomfrey said he had lost a lot of blood.

"Alrigh' I'll have a chat with yer Professors, tell 'em where yeh are, and I'll let Harry and Ron know if I see 'em." Hagrid told Katie as he gathered himself to walk away.

Katie smiled weakly. "Thanks, Hagrid."

Hagrid disappeared behind the doors to the hospital wing, leaving Katie alone in a wide room with nothing but silence and her unconscious enemy to keep her company.

With every minute that went by in which Draco did not wake, Katie grew more and more anxious. Her blood was pumping wildly with nerves and she bit down on her lip so hard that she made it bleed twice.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Katie took Draco's hand in hers and gently rubbed the back on his hand with her thumb. She wished she could say that he looked peaceful, but that would be a lie. His face remained contorted in a pained expression — eyes squinted shut, eyebrows furrowed.

A further half hour passed. Katie done nothing but flick her eyes between the unconscious blonde and the enormous clock that was mounted on the wall.

Just as the clock struck the hour, Draco let out a small moan and he stirred. Katie jolted and her eyes widened with hope. Miraculously, Draco's silver eyes fluttered open, but his eyebrows remained furrowed.

Draco gazed around suspiciously. It took him a few seconds for him to come to terms with where he was. Then, his eyes traveled from the hospital beds to the slightly smiling face above him. His eyes narrowed when he saw Katie.

"What are you doing here?" he asked more violently than intended. Katie's heart sank but she decided not to let her sadness show.

"Making sure you're OK, dumbass." she replied, half joking, half serious.

"Well don't," Draco grumbled and sat up. "I'm fine."

"Draco, you don't have to pretend—"

Draco cut Katie off harshly. "Just because we had one nice conversation does not mean we're friends, got it?"

Katie was a little taken aback. Her mouth dried up and fell slightly agape, but she quickly shook herself. Clearly, Draco was back to his normal self — passing around insults like they were chocolate frogs — which meant that he was fine and she could stop worrying. She was starting to begin why she was even worrying in the first place at all. After all, she and Draco weren't friends, as he so kindly pointed out.

"And holding my hand doesn't make us friends either?" she retorted, raising an eyebrow.

For a split second, Katie could've sworn she saw Malfoy's expression soften, but he collected himself too quickly for her to be certain. His eyes narrowed into slits and he scowled.

"You held my hand, Blair."

"Bold words for the boy who didn't let go."

"I didn't want to embarrass you."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Katie asked flatly. This was a question that had been secretly burning in the back of her mind since first year, so she wasn't going to waste this opportunity to receive and answer.

Draco stumbled with his response to this question.

"I don't hate you."

"Uhm, yes, you do. You made that pretty clear in first year."

"I don't hate you," Draco repeated firmly. "I don't like Potter."

Katie knitted her eyebrows together. "So you treat me like crap because you don't like Harry?"

"Well, I don't particularly like you either." Draco shrugged nonchalantly. He shifted around in his hospital bed so that he was sat in a more comfortable position.

"And there it is." Katie said, throwing her arms in the air. She had finally had enough. She stood up out of her seat and glared down at Draco. "You know what? I don't know why I was even worried about you." She laughed coldly as she spoke. "I guess I forgot how much of an arrogant prat you are. Or maybe I just got so caught up in your stupid silver eyes that it actually made me care about you. Oh, forgive me for trying, Draco!"

"Katie—"

"No, I don't want to hear it," Katie said angrily as she pulled her cloak on. "Merlin forbid I actually try to make things right with someone I got off on the wrong foot with."

"I—"

"Get better soon, Malfoy." Katie spat. These were her final words before she stormed out of the hospital wing. As she angrily pulled open the door, she came face-to-face with Pansy, who froze when the door opened. Katie glanced between Draco and Pansy.

"He's all yours." Katie growled bitterly, then she marched off down the hall.

Katie spent a long time pondering on whether or not she should go to the Slytherin common room to cool off or retreat to the Great Hall for dinner. While socialising probably wasn't the healthy option, seeing how worked up she was, the girl was hungry, and dinner had only started five minutes ago. Before she could change her mind, Katie sped to the Great Hall.

She froze by the doors and let her eyes wander. She didn't particularly feel like sitting with the Slytherins as they were huddled together and muttering among themselves — probably coming up with their own version of how Draco got hurt, Katie expected. Her only other option was to sit with the Gryffindors which, of course, she wasn't allowed to do, but Katie had been breaking that rule since first year.

She speedily made her way down the aisle and, ignoring the beady eyes of the teachers peering at her, threw herself down on the bench next to Ron, who jumped in fright, splashing his stew everywhere.

"Bloody hell, Katie! Don't scare me like that!"

But Katie wasn't listening. She grabbed a bowl, filled it with stew and started eating in angry silence. Harry, Ron and Hermione glanced between each other, having a conversation with their eyes which consisted of them debating whether or not it was safe to speak to Katie.

Hermione cleared her throat, cautiously leaned across the table and spoke to Katie in a gentle tone. "Uhm, how is Malfoy? Is he alright?"

"He's fine." Katie said sharply.

"Are you sure?" Ron piped up. "I mean, I saw that gash. It looked pretty serious."

"He's fine," Katie repeated through gritted teeth. "As soon as he woke up he was at my throat, which means he's back to normal, all bright and shiny and new!"

Katie's raw rage was evident in her voice and it shook Ron's bones with fear. Once again, Hermione was the one who bravely spoke up.

"Katie, if you want to talk about—"

"What's there to talk about?" Katie snapped, attracting the attention of some of the other Gryffindors. "He's fine! If anything, you should be more worried about Hagrid. Draco will be sure to get him sacked."

At that very moment, the hall erupted with hushed whispers and all heads turned towards the grand doors of the Great Hall. Draco Malfoy, with his arm in a sling and a weedy Pansy Parkinson at his side had appeared at the top of the hall. Katie scoffed, rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Does it hurt terribly, Draco?" Pansy asked gingerly as she and the blonde walked by the Gryffindor table.

"It comes and it goes," Draco replied. "I consider myself lucky. Another minute or two and I could've lost my arm. Couldn't possibly do any homework for weeks—"

"Listen to the idiot!" Ron bellowed with a look of pure disgust plastered on his freckled face. "He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?"

"Yeah, I hope Hagrid doesn't get sacked." Harry said seriously.

"I bet Draco's father will be furious." Hermione stated worriedly. "We haven't heard the end of this."

"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" an Irish accent proclaimed. Katie's head snapped in the direction of the voice and spied Niall Murray slamming a newspaper down on the table.

"Who?" Ron asked apprehensively.

"Sirius Black!"

Katie and her friends lunged to their feet and ran to Niall to catch a glimpse of the newspaper article. Suddenly, Draco Malfoy was the last thing on Katie's mind.

"Dufftown!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's not far from here!"

"You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts?" Neville asked timidly. His face had grown awfully pale, like it had done in Divination class only hours before.

"There's dementors at every entrance—" Ginny Weasley tried to reassure Neville, but she was cut short by Seamus.

"Dementors — he's already slipped passed them once, hasn't he? Who's to say he won't do it again?"

Katie looked aside to Harry, hoping to catch his eye and express her opinions on Sirius Black being sighted, but she found herself unable to speak from shock at the sight of Harry. His whole face was glowing red and he was desperately pulling at his collar in discomfort.

"I... I have to go..." he told the Gryffindors before turning and speeding from the hall.

"Harry!" Ron called after him. He was about to chase after Harry when Katie intervened.

"I've got it." she told Ron before rushing after Harry for the second time that day.

Harry was already hiking the marble staircase when Katie emerged from the Great Hall. She was not about to play Marco Polo with him again.

"Harry Potter, don't you dare run away from me again!" she yelled and, to her surprise, Harry stopped and slowly spun himself around. With great hesitance, he descended the steps, stopping when he got to Katie's level. Katie had opened her mouth to ask Harry what was wrong, but Harry seemed to form his words quicker than she.

"He's after me, Katie," he said with a fierce gulp.

"After you?" Katie breathed. "What do you mean he's after you?"

"Sirius Black — Mr Weasley told me that he was a follower of Voldemort, and now he's escaped from Azkaban to come after me." Harry explained. Although he frantically blinked them away, Katie didn't miss the tears that were welling up in Harry's evergreen eyes.

"Harry, you have to tell me these things!" Katie slightly raised her voice, but her tone remained concerned.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to worry you. You have enough on your plate with your whole dad situation. I didn't want to stress you out."

Katie exhaled slowly as she shook her head.

"Katie, he escaped to come after me. He's out because of me."

"Harry, no—"

"So if anyone dies at his hands... it's my fault, Katie. It's my fault." Harry's voice trailed off. He wiped his eyes before his tears could fall. Katie sighed and pulled Harry into a tight embrace.

"It's not your fault, Harry."

"He's after me, Katie," Harry whispered. "He's after me, and I don't know what to do."

Would y'all like me to make my chapters longer? I try to keep them short because I personally prefer reading stories that have short chapters (I feel as though the shorter chapters make it so I don't lose concentration or get bored), but I can make my chapters longer if that's what you would prefer :)