Many weeks had passed since that faithful day in the hallway. Katie had still not returned to her Gryffindor friends and spent all of her time with Pansy. Harry and Hermione would smile and say hi if they crossed paths with Katie in the corridors. As for Ron, he just blanked Katie completely. He would never shoot her mean looks or mutter anything nasty, he would just treat her like any other person who he didn't know and walk straight past her, which Katie thought hurt more than insults and dirty looks.

One night at around half past ten, Katie was sat alone in the common room. All of the other Slytherins had long gone to bed. She was sitting on the green couch by the flickering flames of the fire, wrapped in a black robe, her knees tucked tightly to her chest. She cried silently but heavily.

Upon hearing the sound of footsteps drawing near, Katie hastily wiped her tears and turned to see Draco Malfoy, fully clothed, coming out of the boys dormitory. He eyed Katie suspiciously.

"What are you doing here?" they asked in perfect sync, though they did not laugh afterwards like normal friends would. Instead, they held lingering eye contact that was filled with heavy silence.

"I've got a detention with those Gryffindors. Now, what about you?" Draco said in exasperation. Katie's lips formed a small pout and she shrugged, turning her head away from Malfoy because she felt tears bubbling up in her eyes once again, and if there was one thing she didn't want, it was for Draco Malfoy

to see her cry. Malfoy let out a short, almost inaudible but cold chuckle.

"You're not still crying about Potter, are you?" he questioned, disgust evident in his voice. He started slowly pacing towards Katie, who was staring into the flames and completely ignoring Draco.

"He's not worth it Blair. Besides, you're a Slytherin. You're much better off associating with your own kind."

This was when Katie spoke up.

"My own kind? Like you?" her tone was harsh and almost insulting, though Malfoy did not pick up on that. He thought that Katie was just making a simple statement, when in actual fact, she was offended about being compared to the other Slytherins.

"Of course," Malfoy confirmed, "You're a Slytherin and I'm a—"

"A spiteful, evil, cocky, filthy scumbag." Katie bit aggresively. She finally dared to meet Draco's eyes, which were wide with blatant shock. He had been completely knocked off his feet by Katie's sudden outburst. His mouth hung open and his pale face had somehow grown even whiter.

"What did you just say to me?" Draco growled, his voice low and threatening, his eyes completely shadowed over with dark anger. Katie gulped and fear arose in her, but she did not back down.

"The truth." she stated. Katie stood up and stepped towards Malfoy, coming to a halt when she was only inches from his face. Her eyes narrowed to meet the same, dark, daunting glisten that shone in Malfoy's.

"Let this be a lesson," she began, "Never compare me to yourself again, because I may be a Slytherin, but we all know I have a bite like a lion."

If Draco wasn't at a loss for words before, he certainly was now. Although he was falling apart on the inside, he held his threatening stance and glare.

Katie spoke one final time.

"Now, don't you have a detention to get to?"

Then, she whisked off up the stairs to the girls dormitory, Pansy and her other housemates were sleeping. Katie made the impulsive decision to dress herself and go on a late night walk through the castle. As she was tying her shoelaces, Pansy stirred, let out a groan and rolled over. She squinted through the dark to see Katie dressing herself.

"What are you doing?" she asked groggily.

"I need to clear my head." Katie told the sleepy girl.

"Cool." Pansy said, instantly falling back asleep. Katie lightly giggled to herself and left the dormitory. Upon re-entering the common room, she found that Draco had left, much to her relief. She made her way through the dungeons, threading lightly and checking behind her every few seconds to ensure that Professor Snape wasn't lurking behind any corners. Katie knew that Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione had gotten detention for being caught out of bed after hours, and she was well aware that she would face the same fate if someone found her wandering the corridors, but the stress had gotten too much and she needed the peace and quiet.

Not only was the absence of her friends in her life bothering her, but Katie had received a letter from her father that week, and it reminded her of that day in Diagon Alley when Mr Ollivander told Katie that her father was a great wizard, and upon being informed that Katie's father was not dead, Ollivander did not correct his (supposed) mistake.

While she was walking past the library, the sound of hushed but angry voices reached Katie's ears. Curiosity overtaking the young girl, she peeked through the door of the of the library just in time to see Professor Snape slamming Professor Quirrell against a wall.

"Have you found out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?"

"B-b-but Severus, I—"

"You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell."

"I-I don't know what you—"

"You know perfectly well what I mean."

At that exact moment, Peeves the Poltergeist decided to zoom down the corridor, wheezing loudly as she done so. This made it so Katie could not hear part of the Professor's conversation, but silence regained itself just in time for Katie to hear Snape say, "—your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting."

"B-but I d-d-don't—"

"Very well. We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie."

Katie had seen and heard enough. She turned and bolted down the hall, telling herself that she needed to find Harry. His detention must have nearly been over by now. Katie decided that she would wait by him by the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

Suddenly, someone gripped Katie's sleeve and tugged her backwards. She went to let out a great yelp but a hand clapped over her mouth, silencing her.

"It's just me." the gentle and familiar voice of Harry Potter said. He spun Katie around and removed his hand from her mouth. For a few short seconds, Katie gazed into his evergreen eyes, because it had been so long since she was near Harry, but she quickly snapped herself out of her trance.

"Harry, I need to tell you something."

"I need to tell you something too."

"It's about the Philosopher's Stone."

"My thing is about the Philosopher's Stone too."

"Where are Hermione and Ron?"

"In the common room, but it's too risky to take you there when Filch is scoping around. Look, in here..." Harry led Katie into a vacant classroom and carefully shut the door behind him. The pair had barely settled into their surroundings when Katie started rambling.

"Harry, it's true. The dog is guarding the Philosopher's Stone and Snape is trying to steal it. I just saw Snape threatening Quirrell. He asked him if he knew how to get past Fluffy, and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus.'"

"He wants the stone for Voldemort." Harry said, completely disregarding everything that Katie had just told him. The Slytherin flinched at the use of that name, but soon the information that Harry had shared sunk in and her discomfort was replaced with a form of shock.

"He what?"

"I just saw Voldemort in the forest."

"You what?!"

"He tried to kill me."

"WHAT?"

Katie started to hyperventilate. Harry placed firm but comforting hands on her shoulders and forced the girl to look into his eyes.

"Hey, listen to me, I'm all right. He didn't hurt me. I need you to listen, ok? This is important." Harry said, his tone silky and soothing. His whirling eyes speedily calmed Katie down and she nodded, telling Harry that he could continue.

"Voldemort is alive but he's weak. He's been surviving off of unicorn blood, but if Snape gets that stone and gives it to him—"

"He can come back..." Katie gasped in horror. Harry nodded seriously.

"What are we going to do?" Katie whispered, fear evident in her trembling voice. Harry's eyes glanced around the classroom before they finally settled on Katie's face. A mysterious twinkle lit up in his eye.

"We're going down the trapdoor."