The group clambered out of the secret passage. Ron instantly threw himself to the ground, desperate for some relief on his injured leg. Katie, Harry and Hermione sat down beside him and attempted to aid his wound.

While Lupin was threatening Pettigrew, telling him not to dare to try and escape, Black stepped away from the group and stared at Hogwarts, the illuminated windows of which were the only source of light on the grounds.

"Go talk to him." Katie said to Harry.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's fine, I'll stay."

"We'll stay," Katie protested. "Go."

"You're OK?" Harry asked Ron apprehensively.

"I'm fine. Go."

Harry stood up and made his way over to Sirius. Katie undid her tie from around her neck and tightly bound it around Ron's leg to stop his bleeding. He hissed and grimaced in pain but ultimately nodded a thanks.

"That looks painful..." Hermione said, sounding sick.

"So painful," Ron nodded. "They'll probably chop it."

Katie couldn't stifle her laugh. She snorted and clapped her hand over her mouth in regret, but neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to have noticed.

A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. Katie could see Lupin's silhouette. His head was growing larger and his body taller.

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked a warning.

Lupin's shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from beside Harry and was replaced by a huge, bear-like dog. He snarled at the werewolf and bound forward. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

With one great swipe, the werewolf knocked the dog aside, and it tumbled across the ground with a whimper. The werewolf rounded on Katie, Ron and Hermione. It growled and bared its pointed teeth at them, before springing forward.

Hermione let out a terrified scream as the werewolf drew closer. It swung its gigantic, clawed paw at Ron, but Katie threw herself in front of him at the last moment. She received a huge blow to the side of her head and felt a gash open up on her cheek, before she hit the ground and everything went black.

A ringing sound whistled in Katie's ears. Her head was spinning. Her heart was thumping. She awoke with a start, springing forward. The girl's vision had gone foggy and her eyes darted around the room in desperate search of any familiar shapes.

"Katie? Katie? Are you alright? It's me, it's Hermione."

Katie blinked thrice and her eyesight was restored, though her head was still spinning, making her stomach feel awfully sick. A worried Hermione Granger came into focus.

"Is she alright?" another voice chimed in.

"Hermione," Katie said breathlessly. "What happened? Where's Harry?"

"I'm fine too, thanks." Ron announced sarcastically. Katie looked across the room and saw Ron sat in a bed that was identical to hers. She finally realised that they were in the hospital wing.

"Lupin attacked you," Hermione started to explain. "Well, actually, he attacked Ron. You jumped in front of him. That was really brave of you, Katie."

Not liking the attention and praise, Katie brushed off her heroic act. "Yeah, well, I'm sure any of you would've done the same for me."

"You should lay back down. Madam Pomfrey suspects you have a concussion. You got really lucky, Katie. It could've been much worse." Hermione said as she placed her hands on Katie's shoulders and pushed her back down onto her back. Katie had to admit that laying down did make her feel much better.

There was a shifting of duvets and a groan of pain from the bed beside Katie's. She turned her head and squinted to see Harry, who she hadn't known was there, slowly awakening.

"What happened to him?" Katie asked urgently, sitting up. She lay straight back down when Hermione shot her a glare of warning.

"Dementors." Ron told Katie.

"I saw my dad." was the first thing that Harry said. Once more, Katie sat up, and Hermione didn't order her back down again. She was too distracted by Harry's statement.

"What?" she inquired.

"I saw my dad," Harry was grinning. "He conjured the Patronus."

Katie and Ron exchanged glances of perplexity, both of them thinking that Harry had finally lost it.

"Listen, Harry," Hermione tabled the ongoing conversation for another time. "They've got Sirius. Any minute now, they're going to perform the Kiss."

Harry jumped to his feet, alert. "You mean they're going to kill him?"

"No, it's worse, much worse. They're going to suck out his soul." Hermione gulped, Her voice quivered slightly.

The doors opened and Professor Dumbledore entered the room. Harry ran towards him.

"Professor, you've got to stop them! They've got the wrong man!" Hermione said quickly.

"Its true, sir, Sirius is innocent." Harry said.

"Its Scabbers who did it." Ron piped up.

For the first time in her entire life, Katie saw an expression of bewilderment unfold on Dumbledore's face. "Scabbers?"

"He's my rat, sir. He's not really a rat — well, he was a rat, he was my brother Percy's rat, then they gave him an owl and I got—"

Hermione cut across Ron. "The point is, we know the truth. Please believe us."

"He's an Animagus, sir — Peter Pettigrew," Katie blurted out. "He faked his own death. We saw him with our own eyes. Professor Dumbledore, you have to stop them. You can't let them do that... that thing to Sirius, you—"

But Dumbledore held up his hand as a command to silence the girl.

"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time," he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word — and the word of thirteen year old wizards will not convince anybody. A street full of eye-witnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret Keeper."

"Professor Lupin can tell you—" Harry said, unable to hold back, his hands balled into fists.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the Forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late. Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little — and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends—"

"But—"

"What we need," Dumbledore said slowly, and his light blue eyes landed on Hermione, "Is more time."

"But—" Hermione began, and then her mouth opened in realisation. "OH!"

"Sirus Black is in the topmost cell of the Dark Tower. You know the laws, Miss Granger — you must not be seen, and you would do well, I feel, to return before this last chime. If not, the consequences are too ghastly to discuss. If you succeed tonight, more than one innocent life may be spared. Three turns should do it, I think." Dumbledore subtly winked at Hermione before whirling around and waltzing towards the doors.

Just before he closed the doors, Dumbeldore said, "Good luck."

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Ron said loudly.

"Good luck?" Harry repeated. "Three turns? What is he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"

Katie watched, her eyebrow quirked in suspicion as Hermione reached into the front of her robes and pulled out a rather gold, rather fine chain. She pulled Harry closer to her and threw the chain around his neck. A wave of understanding washed over Katie.

"Is that a—!" she gasped. "Hermione, how did you get one?"

"Get one? Get what?" Ron demanded, exasperated.

Hermione turned a small hourglass in the chain three times, and she and Harry begun to fade away.

"No way!" Katie exclaimed in excitement, her eyes glittering. "That's how she's been getting to her classes all year!"

Ron's eyes were wide with alarm. They darted around, searching for Harry and Hermione, who had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

Merely five seconds after they faded, however, the door burst open and Harry and Hermione, rosy-cheeked and out of breath, rushed into the room. Ron let out a cry of shock.

"H-how did you get there! You were just there!" Ron shrieked, pointing between Hermione and the spot that she and Harry had disappeared from.

"What's he talking about, Harry?" Hermione said airily.

"I don't know," Harry responded in the same tone. "Honestly Ron, how could anyone be in two places at once?"

The two of them broke out into a fit of giggles.

"Sirius escaped. We'll let you two rest and we'll come back in the morning." Hermione told Katie and Ron. Hermione and Harry exited, leaving Katie and Ron alone with their only source of light being the moon shining through the large windows.

Ron huffed and collapsed back on his pillow. Katie decided that it was best if she finally got some rest and lay back also. Moments of peaceful silence ensued before Ron's soft voice broke it.

"Hey, Katie?"

"Mhm?"

"Thanks for saving my life out there." Ron said bashfully. Katie didn't need to be able to see his face to tell that he was blushing.

"Don't mention it," she shrugged. "Just paying you back for when you saved me in the Chamber of Secrets."

"You went rigid when you saw those rocks fall," Ron laughed. "Twat."

"Hey, I'm not the one who had a man as a pet for twelve years."

"He was a rat!"

Katie snickered. "How's your leg?" she asked.

"Its been better. How are you? That scratch on your face looked nasty."

Until that very moment, Katie hadn't noticed the pulsing pain in the gash on her cheek, she had been too distracted by her swiveling head. She heard a shuffling of bed sheets as Ron sat himself up.

"Katie, really, thank you for saving me out there. Werewolf bites and scratches... well, they scar. You didn't need to take that blow for me," Ron said sincerely. "You know, when you do things like that, it really makes me wonder why you weren't put in Gryffindor."

"Maybe my real dad was a Slytherin." Katie mumbled, though Ron still heard her words as clear as day. He sighed and gave Katie a sympathetic look.

"You really don't think he's your dad?" Ron asked quietly.

Katie shrugged. "Honestly, Ron, I really don't know anymore... Its just... when you put everything together — what Mr Ollivander said, me being a Slytherin and a Parselmouth — it's just strange."

Ron furrowed is eyebrows and sunk into deep thought for many moments. Finally, he spoke.

"Well, if you ever decide that you want to search for your real dad, I'll help you." he said determinedly.

Katie and Ron way awake for the rest of the night. They were too alert from the events of the evening to sleep, and they quite enjoyed laughing and joking around with each other. As the sun was beginning to rise on the horizon, Katie found that her head was doing a lot better, so she stood herself up and sat down on the foot of Ron's bed.

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

Katie hesitated for a moment. "How do you think Harry is holding up?"

"I dunno." Ron admitted honestly. Katie's shoulders drooped.

"Its just that... I'm worried about him, you know," Katie didn't meet Ron's eyes as she spoke. "A lot has happened to him, and I mean just this year alone."

Ron didn't exactly know how to respond, but he did have an inquiry of his own.

"Can I ask you something?"

Katie smirked. "You just did."

Ron rolled his eyes and Katie nodded, signalling for him ask away. Ron thought hard about how to phrase his question. There wasn't really any light way to ease into it, so he decided to just outright ask his friend.

"Katie, do you, you know — have feelings for Harry?"

Katie felt herself blush. She shifted around and tried to hide her glowing face behind her hair, but the faint light of the rising sun was shining directly on her face and Ron could clearly see the scarlet shade that her cheeks had tinited.

"W-what makes you say that?" Katie tried to sound casual, though her voice was higher in pitch than usual.

Ron shrugged. "Its just the way you are with him, you know? You two just clicked the day you met."

"Ron, I'm only thirteen—"

"Ginny was only eleven when she started crushing on Harry."

Katie chuckled and fell silent. Ron eyed her suspiciously internally debated on whether or not he should interrogate Katie further. He decided that he might as well, seeing as opportunities like this in which he could have deep conversations with Katie didn't often arise.

"I mean, I saw you guys, that time when you were having a snowball fight, and then he tackled you, and then he almost kissed you and... oh no, I've said too much..."

Ron gulped when he noticed Katie staring down at him through darkened eyes.

"Ronald Weasley, were you spying on us?" she questioned, eyeing Ron with a calculating look. Ron shrunk under her gaze and his cheeks dusted a pink colour. He chewed on his lip.

"N-no! I-I just happened to be looking out the window at the time."

"For the entire twenty minutes?"

"That's right." Ron crossed his arms, tilted his nose up and spoke confidently. Katie rolled her eyes but grinned anyway.

"You're a right twat, you know that?" she giggled.

"And you still haven't answered my question." Ron teased, poking at her sides. She bit her lip nervously and shooed his hands away.

"What question?"

Ron and Katie had been so distracted that they didn't notice the doors open and their best friend enter the room. He was halfway across the floor when he spoke, asking what the question Ron had been referring to was.

"Question? Who said anything about a question?" Ron said quickly.

Harry paused and quirked an eyebrows. "You did — just now."

Katie hopped to her feet. "Harry!" she beamed. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," Harry walked towards her. "Its you I've been worried about."

As he got closer to her, Harry could clearly see the deep wound that was carved into Katie's cheek. He winced when he saw it.

"Katie, your face..." he said, reaching out and gently touching the mark. Katie subconsciously leaned into his touch, despite the fact that direct contact on the wound hurt.

"It's fine—"

"No, its not. A deep gash like that is not fine."

Katie reached up and grabbed the hand that had been touching her cut. Harry's eyes followed their interlocked hands as Katie lowered them, and her only looked back at her face when she spoke again.

"Really, I'm fine. Madam Pomfrey will treat it and I'll be left with a scar at worst."

Although he was reluctant to accept Katie's claim that she was alright, Harry dropped the subject. With his free hand, he reached into his cloak and pulled out an enormous chocolate bar.

"Here," he handed it to Katie. "Madam Pomfrey stopped me in the hall and insisted that I eat this, but if I eat anymore after that breakfast, I might explode. I thought you two could share it."

"Thanks." Katie smiled. She took the chocolate from Harry and tossed it to Ron, who caught it easily.

"Wicked!" he grinned.

"Anyway, I should be getting to class," Harry stated and he started backing away. "Hermione should be up to see you soon — she just had to talk to McGonagall about something."

Katie watched until Harry disappeared behind the doors. She then turned around to face Ron, who was looking at her with a smirk on his face and a glint on knowing in his eye.

"You totally fancy him." he grinned in a teasing manner.

"Oh, shut up!" Katie scoffed, feeling her face heat up again. "And give me some of that chocolate."

***

Madam Pomfrey insisted that Katie and Ron stay in the hospital wing for the rest of the week. On Sunday morning, she reluctantly let them walk free. Ron's leg still pained him, so Katie had to practically carry him to the Great Hall for breakfast. He felt terrible that she had to waste her time helping him, but she honestly didn't mind, she wasn't in a rush to get anywhere.

The pair entered the Great Hall and wobbled over to the Gryffindor table. Katie sat Ron down and then turned to Hermione, who was beaming at the Weasley.

"Is your leg any better?"

"A bit." Ron grumbled, helping himself to some sausages."

Hermione turned to Katie. "And your face?"

Katie didn't have a chance to respond before someone gripped her shoulders, spun her around, placed their hands on the side of her head and started examining her face frantically.

"Are you OK? I've been in detention all week and didn't have time to visit you — blew up a toilet with Fred and George — Merlin! That cut looks—"

"Chris, Chris, Chris!" Katie said loudly and her older brother fell silent, staring at her apprehensively. "I'm fine."

"Are you—"

"Yes." she cut him off firmly.

"Does this mean you're a... Werewolf?" Leo, who Katie hadn't noticed was sat at the Gryffindor table, asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Oh, Merlin, no!" Katie said snappily. "No, it was only a small scratch."

Chris huffed beside her. "Doesn't look small to me."

"Are you staying for breakfast?" Harry changed the subject, which Katie greatly appreciated, and slid a little way up the bench to make space for Katie.

The girl glanced between the Gryffindor table and the Slytherin table, and finally made up her mind. She smiled politely at Harry.

"Thanks, but I think I'll sit at the Slytherin table."

Ron snorted. "Suit yourself."

Katie sat herself between Pansy and a Slytherin boy who she had somehow never met before. Upon her arrival, Draco looked up, and he was about to avert his gaze back to his food when he caught sight of the wound on Katie's cheek.

"Merlin, what happened to you!" he cried.

"Oh, uhm, nothing." she responded both quickly and unconvincingly.

Draco placed his knife and fork down, entwined his hands, then leaned his chin on top of his knuckles.

"It was Professor Lupin, wasn't it?" he asked, not bothering to keep his voice quiet. Katie's eyes snapped open wide and she looked at Draco in blank shock.

"H-how did you—?"

Draco picked his silverware back up. "Relax, the whole school knows. Professor Lupin resigned."

Katie almost choked on her food. She whipped her head around to look at the teacher's table, and sure enough, the seat in which Professor Lupin usually sat was vacant. An overwhelming sadness washed over her.

"So, does that mean you're a werewolf?" Pansy asked somewhat snobbishly, and her tone told Katie that Pansy was hoping she was in fact a werewolf.

"If I was, I would bite you." Katie retorted. Draco snorted into his water goblet and Pansy went slightly pink.

Katie grabbed her goblet of pumpkin juice and brought it up to her lips. "Here's to another quiet year at Hogwarts." she muttered sarcastically.