"Where are we?" Katie asked.

"Shush!" Mrs Weasley hissed.

"Mum—"

"Shut up, Ron!"

They were in a rather dull suburban area. The surrounding grimy houses were not welcoming; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the street lamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several of the front steps.

"Now, I don't have a Deluminator—" Mrs Weasley began, only to be cut off by all four of her children.

"A what?"

"BE QUIET!" Mrs Weasley cried. "Alright, no Deluminator, so we'll have to be quick."

Mrs Weasley stepped into the middle of the street. Katie looked to Ron for answers as to what exactly was going on, but he seemed just as in the dark as she, judging by his bemused facial expression.

Mrs Weasley shut her eyes and scrunched up her face in concentration. Miracuolosuly, before Katie very's eyes, a battered door emerged out of nowhere between houses number eleven and thirteen, followed swiftly by dirty walls and grimy windows. Katie watched in amazement as an extra house — number twelve — transpired. Apparently the Muggles living on the street hadn't felt or heard this disturbance — they did not react at all.

Katie opened her mouth wide. "What—"

"Come on now, hurry up, can't have the Muggles seeing us. Katie, Chris, you go first, on you go, now." Mrs Weasley uttered hurriedly.

Katie and Chris walked up the stone steps, Katie clutching her brother's arm tightly. On the front of the black door there was a silver knocker in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox.

Mrs Weasley bustled to Katie's side and pulled out her wand. When Mrs Weasley tapped the door once with her wand, many loud, metallic clicking sounds arose, then the door creaked opened.

"In you go, now. Don't make a sound." Mrs Weasley instructed.

Katie, Chris, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George all stepped through the door and filed along a narrow and pitch black corridor. The place smelt damp, like something was rotting in the walls. There was a soft hissing noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps illuminated, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of the long, gloomy hallway. Dusty portraits hung crooked on the walls and a cobwebbed chandelier swung from the high ceiling.

There was a small patter of footsteps and a door opened at the far end of the hall, revealing the smiling face of Arthur Weasley. He ushered the group over, so they waddled down the hall and through the door, finding themselves in a well-lit sort of dining room. It was slightly cleaner than the grimy hallway, though the wallpaper here was also peeling. Katie couldn't tell if the windows needed scrubbing — they were concealed by thick, velvet green and moth-eaten curtains.

Along the extensive table running through the centre of the room sat many witches and wizards, most of whom Katie had never met before. Among them, however, were three familiar faces — Mad-Eye Moody, Bill Weasley and — Katie's mouth opened in surprise and her eyes lit up.

"Professor Lupin?"

Smiling brightly, Lupin got to his feet and walked towards the children that had gathered in the doorway.

"Oh, I'm no Professor anymore," Lupin chuckled. "Remus will do fine. It's good to see you again, Katie, and all of you." he added, nodding and smiling at the Weasleys and Chris.

A second door in the back corner of the room opened, and a man with long black hair stepped into the the dining room. Katie recognised him instantly, only he looked much more cleaner and tidier than the last time she had seen him. The man did, however, seem just as gaunt and tired as always.

The Weasley twins gasped and dragged a frightened Ginny behind them, while Chris let out a cry of terror.

"Sirius Black!" he shrieked, staggering backwards against the wall. "Sirius Black!"

"Shut up, Chris!" Katie snapped hastily. "It's fine — he's fine, he's innocent."

Chris may have stopped yelling, but his wide and fearful eyes were still darting between the Azkaban escapee and his little sister, and his mouth was still agape.

"What — I — how do you... you know him?" Chris asked, perfectly startled.

"Yes, he's..." Katie had begun her sentence confidently, but trailed off briskly, unsure of how much personal information Sirius would like revealed about himself. Sirius, however, was smiling subtly and, walking to Lupin's side, finished Katie's sentence.

"Harry Potter's godfather, and quite innocent," Sirius said in a chipper tone. Despite this revelation, Chris still stared uneasily at Sirius as he drew closer. "You must be the brother," Sirius continued with a nod in Katie's direction. "Yes, you look very alike."

Still grinning, Sirius turned to Katie and held out his hand to her, which she shook while mirroring his smile.

"Great to see you again, Katerina. How have you been? How's Harry?" Sirius said, his voice still light and breezy.

"Sirius," Katie breathed — she too was surprised to see Sirius, though, unlike her brother, she did not jump back in horror when he emerged from the door, "you're staying in the country, then?"

"Of course I am," Sirius replied with a nonchalant shrug. "Now that Voldemort is back, I don't really have a choice. Unfortunately, my name still hasn't been cleared, so I'm under quarantine here," Sirius added, grimacing around at the glum room. "It's awful — I'm terribly bored."

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. "You've been here for two weeks, Sirius."

"Two weeks too many." Sirius shot back, making Katie giggle, and he winked at her. He then turned to Ron and shook his hand warmly.

"Hello again, Ron."

Ron smiled. "Nice to see you."

"What is this place?" Katie asked, allowing her eyes to wander around the dingy room.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix." Lupin told her.

Katie, along with her brother and the Weasley kids, all twisted their eyebrows together in bewilderment.

"What's the Order of the Phoenix?" Ginny asked. She had finally emerged from behind her brothers after coming to the conclusion that Sirius Black was in fact innocent, judging by Katie and Ron's friendly nature with him.

"It's a secret society, founded by Dumbledore during the last war."

Katie made a moue of distaste as she took in all the sights of the room. "And he had to choose this place as Headquarters?" she asked, clearly disapproving of the lack of cleanliness.

"This was my family home," Sirius explained and, upon seeing how her face grew pale and her mouth opened with regret, he chuckled. "Oh no, don't worry, I agree — it's dreadful."

There was a sudden movement at the far end of the table. A tall, black-robed figure with a length of greasy black hair had swooshed to their feet. Katie blinked at the wizard, wondering how she hadn't noticed that her Potions Professor had been in the room with her the entire time.

Sirius clearly hadn't spotted Snape either, because he curled his nose distastefully and said, his voice ringing with stifled venom, "Oh, you're still here, are you?"

Snape scowled at Sirius. They stared at each other, each of their faces full of so much loathing for the other, and Katie thought that if looks could kill, both of the wizards would be six feet under.

"I was just leaving." Snape said calmly, though his voice was wringing with the same amount of toxicity as Sirius'.

Without another word, Snape swept across the room. Katie and Chris moved aside, allowing Snape a clear passage to the door. He did not even glance at them and he whipped by and disappeared behind the chipped door, his robes ruffling out behind him.

"Git." Sirius muttered, but stood down upon seeing the warning look that Lupin was giving him.

"Alright, I think we should all have a bite before bed," Mrs Weasley announced. "Take a seat." she added to the Hogwarts students.

Katie sat between Ginny and Ron, eyeing the unknown wizards and witches that were seated along the wooden table. Noticing her eyes travelling, Remus began introducing Katie to these witches and wizards.

"This is Kingsley Shaklebolt, Elphias Doge, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones, and I'm sure you've met Bill Weasley —Fleur Delacour, and the one sleeping in the corner over there is Mundungus Fletcher."

As Remus ticked off names, the witches and wizards said their hellos, to which Katie responded to each with a friendly nod. Katie recalled Fleur saying that she was going to try and get a job in the country to improve her English, and it seemed that she had succeeded in doing so.

From the hallway, there was a deafening crash. Katie must have risen at least two feet from her chair with how high she jumped in alarm. All of the adults froze in fear, as though expecting something horrifying to happen, and soon, Katie knew exactly what they were dreading... A horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech sounded from the hall. It was so horrible that Katie, and many others in the room, clapped their hands over the ears as an effort to drown out the sound.

"TONKS!" Mrs Weasley screamed.

Sirius had jumped to his feet, muttering something in agitation. He exited into the hallway, but seconds later, his yells could be heard over the petrifying and mysterious shrieking.

"Shut up, you horrible old hag, shut UP!"

"Yoooou!" the screeching voice howled. "Blood traitor, abomination, shame of my flesh!"

Acting on ignorant instinct rather than logic, Katie rushed into the hallway without any regards for the fact that whoever was out there could be dangerous — she sounded dangerous, anyway — her cries were so skull-splitting that they could probably be fateful.

Sirius was gripping a pair of moth-eaten curtains tightly in his fists. A portrait of an old woman, drooling, eyes rolling, seemed to be the source of the screaming.

"I said — shut — UP!" Sirius roared, and with a stupendous effort he managed to force the curtains closed again. The old woman's screeches died and an echoing silence fell. It was only now that Katie noticed the young woman, probably barely in her twenties, with bubble-gum pink hair, standing in the corner, her pale face aghast and a fallen umbrella stand lying at her feet.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed. "It's that stupid umbrella stand! That's the second time I've tripped over it!"

Lupin had appeared at Katie's side and was leaning against the door frame. He let out a deep sigh, but his mouth curled into a small smile.

"This, Katie," he said, gesturing towards the girl with pink hair, "is Nymphadora—"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus."

"—Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known as Tonks only."

Tonks smiled sheepisly.

***

"What have you done with him? Where is my son?"

"Your son... is gone."

"You liar! Give me my boy!"

"Katerina is next..."

"NO! Stay away from my daughter, you—!"

"Oh, Anthony, dear, both you and I know all too well that Katerina is not really your daughter."

"She's as good as! I've loved her more than that filthy—"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Katie jolted awake, bolted upright, gasping for air as though her head had been held underwater. She cast her gaze around frantically, searching for a familiar sight, but everything was blotched and foggy. Her head was spinning, and she wasn't sure if her clouded brain was casting petrifying shadows across the walls or if something dangerous was in the room with her.

"Katerina! Are you alright?"

Katie became aware that there was a firm had on her shoulder. Her vision was clearing, the dark blotches were disappearing, and reality set in — she was in her bedroom at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. The door was ajar and the lights were on, and two other people were in the room.

Ron was standing by the wardrobe, slightly back from the foot of the bed. He seemed very alert and alarmed and was shockingly pale. Crouched down next to Katie's bedside was Sirius Black, who looked just as worried as Ron.

"What — what happened?" Katie asked breathlessly as she wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. Sirius and Ron cast nervous glances at each other. "What?"

Ron stepped forward slightly. "Well... I heard you scream. I went to get Sirius straight away, and when I came back with him, you were still screaming. It was so scary," Ron shook his head slowly. "I've never seen anything like it."

Katie fell back against her pillows with a sigh. Her chest was still heaving up and down as she struggled to fully catch her breath. "It was that stupid dream again."

"You're still having that?" Ron exclaimed.

Katie hummed. "It had actually stopped for a while. That's the first time I've had it for weeks."

But Sirius didn't seem to care that the dream had left Katie briefly.

"Dream?" he inquired hastily. "A reoccurring dream? What happens in it?"

Surprised that Sirius seemed so intrigued by a seemingly childish nightmare, Katie lifted herself back into a seating position. Her head was swimming nastily, but she managed to focus her gaze of Sirius' face.

"It's really short," Katie started and Sirius nodded as a way to tell her to go on. "It's... my dad's death. A woman — she kills him, I'm not sure who she is. She uses the Killing Curse," Katie explained, becoming aggravated by the amount of times she had to explain this very dream to different people. "Dumbledore reckons it's a memory — someone else's memory, purposely shown to me."

Disregarding what the dream was about, which seemed odd to Katie because the question asked had been a demand to know what had happened in the dream, Sirius said, "And what do you think it is?"

Katie opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it again, finding that she didn't really have a definite answer. She found that it was wisest to trust Dumbledore's judgement, but suddenly, as though a mystical voice had whispered it in her ear, a word popped into Katie's head.

"A threat," she said. Sirius nodded seriously. "A memory, yes, but also a threat."

"From who?" Ron asked, his voice oddly croaky, like there was a harsh lump in his throat.

Katie's eyes flicked between Ron and Sirius, who were both watching her intently.

"Whoever killed my dad is after me," she said, trying extremely hard to keep her voice steady. "They said so in the dream."

Sirius was shaking his head. "I assure you, they can't get to you. Not here. Not at Hogwarts."

Katie's lips curled into a small but gracious smile, and she gave Sirius a nod of appreciation. His hand still on her shoulder, he squeezed it briefly, before standing up straight.

"We'll let you get some rest. It's still quite early." Sirius said before leaving he room. Ron followed behind, but paused and wheeled back aground when he reached the doorway.

"You alright?"

Katie nodded. "Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for, you know, getting Sirius."

"Yeah, of course," Ron smiled nervously. He reached for the door handle. "I'm just in the next room if you need anything." he said.

"Thanks, Ron."

"No problem."

When Ron shut the door, the lights instantly went out, plunging Katie into darkness. She was now alone with nothing but the silence (and the rustling creature in the wardrobe that she suspected was a Boggart, but would have to wait until the morning to ask Lupin to inspect it) and her thoughts. All of a sudden, the pile of clothes on the splintered chair looked like a person, and the mirror in the corner was reflecting strange shapes that were giving Katie chills.

She shut her eyes, but as soon as she done so, a high-pitched screaming filled her ears — filled her head. Snapping her eyes open, the screaming stopped, but the sound still echoed in the caverns of Katie's mind. She knew exactly who the screams belonged to...

"Leo." she whispered.

***

"Good morning, Katie. Did you sleep well?" Remus asked as Katie entered the dining room the next morning.

Everyone who had been at Number 12, Grimmauld Place when Katie arrived was gathered around the table, excluding Professor Snape, and appeared to be finishing up their breakfast.

"Yeah," Katie lied. "Very well."

Despite her sunken appearance and blackened eyes, this lie slipped past those as the breakfast table unnoticed. Sirius and Ron, of course, noticed the falsification, and each gave Katie a saddened look but didn't mention the dream in front of the rest of the Order, which Katie was very grateful for.

"Good, good," Remus said. "Well, we've all had breakfast, but I'm sure Molly kept you something. Molly?"

"Of course I did!" Mrs Weasley declared, pulling a steaming plate from the stove. She brought over and placed the plate down in front of Katie, the warm smell of bacon filling Katie's nostrils instantly. Although she had a restless night, the eggs and bacon cheered Katie up quite a bit.

"Smells delicious, Mrs Weasley, thank you." Katie grinned and tucked in to her meal.

"Feel free to roam the house if you like," Sirius called across the table to Katie. "I've said the same to the rest. Just, as you know, keep it down in the halls." he added with a sidewards glance at Tonks, who remained oblivious to the jab made at her — either that, or she just didn't care enough to react.

So, as Sirius had suggested, after Katie had eaten and washed up, she decided to explore the large and dingy house. She avoided every door that seemed to lead to a bedroom, out of fear of disturbing someone's privacy. One time, however, she did stumble into a bedroom, but she was quite certain that this room was not being used.

It was clear that the room hadn't been entered, never mind used, for years. A thick carpet of dust matted the dark floorboard, the green walls were faded and chipped, and the bed clothes were covered in patches of mold. On the door were printed gold letters, reading: R.A.B. The rotting smell was stronger in here than in any of the other rooms in the house. Finding this room in particular vastly displeasing, Katie turned to make an exit, only to stop when a glimmer of something caught her eye.

A small case sat perched on top of a black dresser. The case was silver and bright, so bright that is still shone through the layer of dust that had collected around its surface. As though the box was calling out to her, beckoning her over, Katie took cautious but large strides towards it.

Beneath the lid was a strip of encrusted green diamonds, each so bright that the glare almost hurt Katie's eyes. She thought that opening the case couldn't hurt... clearly something special lay inside, and she so desperately craved to peek inside... just peek, to see what lay within the silver casing, that's all.

Hands trembling faintly, Katie reached out for the case. She pasued when her fingers touched the cool silver to fully contemplate her decision, then carefully, she lifted the lid, opening the box.

Inside, snug in a silky, black embedding, was a large, oval locket of heavy gold, imprinted with a serpentine 'S' in green jewels.