Katie walked up from the dungeons with a merry spring in her step — which was not the attitude that most students had after a visit to Professor Snape's office. She was stopped in the Entrance Hall when Pansy grabbed her arm.

"Hey, no time to talk, we have to get to class, but you're telling me all about what Snape said later. Here's your timetable," Pansy thrust the timetable into Katie's hand. "They handed them out at breakfast. See you later!"

Pansy dashed off up the marble staircase, leaving Katie alone in the middle of the hallway. She scanned down her timetable and almost groaned (but nothing could truly spoil her high-spirited mood). Her first class was History of Magic, followed by double Potions, Divinination and double Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Luckily, she already had the materials she needed for History of Magic, so she took off towards the classroom.

As she arrived in the corridor where the classroom was, she saw that the students had not been let inside yet. They were all lined up against the walls and chatting loudly. Katie spotted Ron's vibrant red hair first, then caught sight of Hermione and Harry beside him. She continued on with a jog.

"Harry! Harry! Harry!" she called excitedly.

Harry spun around, grinning. "Katie, hi—"

Harry had barely uttered two words when Katie almost tackled him with a hug.

"Woah — good morning to you too." Harry laughed.

"Guess what!" Katie beamed, springing backwards. She was almost bouncing on her feet and her behaviour seemed to be startling Ron and Hermione, who were smiling uneasily at her.

"What?" Harry asked.

Taking a deep breath, Katie, who was bursting to share her news with someone, said, "I'm Slytherin Quidditch Captain!"

Hermione and Ron's uneasy smiles were replaced by grins.

"Really?" Hermione said, seeming just as excited as Katie.

"Yeah!" Katie replied, before straightening up and speaking in a voice that was scarily identical to Snape's ugly drawl. "As I am sure you are well aware, Miss Blair, Mr Flint is no longer with us, and I am also sure that you have already been told on countless occasions that you are quite the extraordinary Quidditch player. Therefore, it seems only fitting that I appoint you to the position of Slytherin Quidditch Captain."

Ron shivered violently. "You sounded just like him. That's disgusting."

"Do my ears deceive me?" Chris had been wandering the corridors and passed by just in time to hear Katie's announcement. "My little sister, Quidditch Captain?"

Niall, who was accompanying Chris, gave her a pat on the back.

"Nice one, Kat," he beamed. "We'll still beat you, though."

"In your dreams, Murray, in your dreams."

***

If there was one class that Katie certainly wasn't looking forward to, it was Defence Against the Dark Arts with Professor Umbridge. She entered the classroom with a scowl on her face, only to find that Umbridge was already seated at the teacher's desk, which somehow worsened Katie's mood. Umbridge was wearing the same fluffy pink cardigan from the night before.

Katie slipped into the seat next to Draco.

"Can't wait to see how this goes." Draco mumbled.

"Well, good afternoon!" Umbridge said, rising from her seat and pointing her wand, which was strangely short, at the blackboard. At once, words appeared on the blackboard.

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations, O.W.Ls, more commonly known as Owls," she turned to face the class with the same sweet smile that made Katie feel sick. "Study hard and you will be rewarded, fail to do so and the consequences may be severe."

With a wave of her wand, a stack of textbooks levitated from the desk behind her and began distributing themselves to the students. Katie looked down at her new book with a grimace.

"Defensive Magical Theory?" Katie whispered. "Theory?"

"Wands away and quills out, please."

Many of the class exchanged gloomy looks; the order 'wands away' had never yet been followed by a lesson that they had found interesting.

"Good," Umbridge continued as everyone shoved their wands into their pockets. "I should like you to turn to page five and read 'Chapter One, Basics for Beginners'. There will be no need to talk."

Professor Umbridge returned to her chair behind the desk, observing them all with those pouchy little toad's eyes. Katie turned to page five of her copy of Defensive Magical Theory and started to read. It was desperately dull. She felt her concentration slipping away from her; she had soon read the same line a dozen times without taking in more than the first few words. Katie looked to her right and received a surprise. Hermione had not even opened her copy of Defensive Magical Theory. She was staring fixedly at Professor Umbridge with her hand in the air.

Several silent minutes passed. The chapter that they had been instructed to read was so tedious that more and more people were choosing to watch Hermione's mute attempt to catch Professor Umbridge's eye rather than struggle on with 'Basics for Beginners'.

When more than half the class were staring at Hermione rather than at their books, Professor Umbridge seemed to decide that she could ignore the situation no longer.

"Did you want to ask something about the chapter, dear?" she asked Hermione, as though she had just noticed her.

"Not about the chapter, no." Hermione answered.

"Well, we're reading just now. If you have other queries we can deal with them at the end of class."

"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells." Hermione said, ignoring Umbridge's previous statement.

"Using defensive spells?" Professor Umbridge repeated with a little laugh. "Why, I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed.

"Students will raise their hands when they wish to speak in my class!" Umbridge snapped. "Mr—?"

"Weasley." Ron said, immediately putting his hand in the air. Umbridge turned away from him and addressed the entire class.

"You will be learning about defensive spells in a secure, risk-free way."

"What use is that?" Harry said loudly. Everyone turned to look at him. "If we're going to be attacked, it won't be in a—"

"Hand, Mr Potter!" Umbridge sang.

Harry's hand shot into the air. Like she had done to Ron, Professor Umbridge promptly turned away from him. Despite being told not to speak out of turn, Harry continued on anyway.

"How is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?"

"There is nothing out there, dear," Professor Umbridge countered in a horribly honeyed voice. "Who do you suppose would want to attack children like yourselves?"

"Hmm, let's think..." Harry said in a mock thoughtful voice. "Maybe... Lord Voldemort?"

Katie winced, Ron gasped, Lavender Brown uttered a little scream, Neville slipped sideways off his seat. Professor Umbridge, however, did not flinch. She was staring at Harry with a grimly satisfied expression on her face.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr Potter."

The classroom was silent and still. Everyone was staring at either Umbridge or Harry.

Professor Umbridge leaned towards them, her stubby-fingered hands splayed on her desk. "Now, let me make a few things quite plain. You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has returned from the dead—

"He wasn't dead," Harry said angrily, "but yeah, he's returned!"

"Mr-Potter-you-have-already-lost-your-house-ten-points-do-not-make-matters-worse-for-yourself," Umbridge said in one breath without looking at him. "As I was saying, you have been told that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

"It's NOT a lie!" Harry shouted. "I saw him, I fought him!"

"Detention, Mr Potter!" Umbridge snapped. "And now, will you kindly continue reading. Page five, 'Basics for Beginners'."

Professor Umbridge sat down behind her desk. Harry, however, stood up. Everyone was staring at him.

"So, according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord, did he?" Harry shouted, his voice shaking.

There was a sharp intake of breath throughout the entire class, for none of them, apart from Katie, Ron and Hermione, had ever heard Harry talk about the night that Cedric died. Even Draco visibly stiffened. They stared avidly from Harry to Professor Umbridge, who had raised her eyes and was staring at him without a trace of a fake smile on her face.

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident." she said coldly.

"It was murder!" Harry yelled. "Voldemort killed him and you know it!"

Professor Umbridge's face was quite blank. Then she said, in her softest, most sweetly girlish voice, "Come here, Mr Potter, dear."

Harry kicked his chair aside and strode up to the teacher's desk. Professor Umbridge pulled a small roll of pink parchment out of her handbag, stretched it out on the desk, dipped her quill into a bottle of ink and started scribbling. Nobody spoke. After a minute or so she rolled up the parchment and tapped it with her wand. It sealed itself.

"Take this to Professor McGonagall, dear." Professor Umbridge told Harry, handing the note to him. He took it from her without saying a word and left the classroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

As soon as he left, an outbreak of nervous whispers erputed in the classroom.

"So, is he really back?" Draco asked in a hushed voice.

"Shut up, Draco!" Katie hissed back. She was glaring at Professor Umbridge, who was looking very proud and paid no attention to the steadily growing noise in her classroom.

"Hey, it was just a question."

Katie redirected her glare to Draco. "You know he is."

***

Katie dropped her books off at her dormitory before going to dinner that night. Her mind was racing as Harry's confrontation with Professor Umbridge played over and over in her head. That vile woman had barely been inside the castle for twenty four hours and Katie somehow already hated her with a burning passion.

Katie had been so caught up in her inner rage that she didn't notice a blonde girl round a corner in front of her until they collided. Both of them stumbled backwards but neither of them fell. A handful of books and strange coloured quills did topple from the blonde girl's hands, however.

"Merlin's Beard — I'm so sorry." Katie said quickly, bending down to help the girl collect her things from the floor.

"That's all right." the girl said in a dreamy, airy voice.

Once all of the books and quills were back in the blonde girl's arms, both of them stood up. The blonde girl, who Katie could now see was a Ravenclaw student, smiled. She had wide, silvery eyes that gave the impression that she was in a constant state of mild surprise.

"I'm Luna," she said in the same dreamy voice. "Luna Lovegood."

Katie smiled back at her. "Nice to meet you, Luna. I'm—"

"I know who you are."

Katie blinked at her, pleasantly bewildered. "You — you do?"

"Sure," Luna nodded. "You're the girl that everyone says killed her dad."

Katie's heart plummeted. She was hoping that Luna would say she knew her for being a good Quidditch player, or maybe even as Harry's girlfriend — anything would be better than being known for supposedly murdering her father.

"I don't believe it, of course," Luna continued casually. "I always thought you seemed quite friendly from afar."

Feeling a considerable warmth growing inside of her, Katie allowed herself to smile.

"Well, am I everything you thought I'd be?" Katie chuckled jokingly. Luna, however, did not seem to pick up on the joke, and nodded cheerfully.

"Quite," she began. "You are very friendly. I should be going. I hope there's pudding at dinner. It was nice talking to you, Katerina."

With that being said, Luna skipped off down the corridor and out of sight. Exceptionally cheered up by that strange but warm encounter, Katie arrived at the Great Hall with a smile on her face. She sat down next to Pansy, who greeted her with a smile.

"Where were you?" Pansy asked as Katie began stacking her plate with food. "We thought you died or something."

"I was just talking to someone." Katie replied, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Yeah? Who?" Draco asked from across the table.

"I don't know if you know her. Her name's Luna."

Both Pansy and Draco snorted, causing Pansy to splutter orange juice all over her food. Draco covered his face with his hand to stifle roars of laughter, meanwhile Katie eyed them both sceptically.

"What?" she asked.

"You mean you were talking to Loony Lovegood?" Draco cackled.

Katie frowned. "Hey, don't say that. She's actually really sweet."

"Yeah, sure," Draco said sarcastically, still laughing. "Eat your steak, Blair."

Katie ate in silence for many minutes until she remembered — she was Slytherin Quidditch Capatin.

"Oh, Draco, I forgot to ask," she began. Draco looked at her enquiringly. "Are you trying out for the Quidditch team this year?"

Draco quirked an eyebrow. "Why would I try out? I'm already on the team."

Katie smiled a smile that was half smug, half mischievous.

"Ah, no, you see," she leaned forward slightly, resting her chin on top of her entwined hands, "you were on the team when Flint was captain, but now that Flint is gone there's a new captain, so you're going to need to try out."

"And who's the new captain?" Draco asked casually, returning to eating his food. Clearly he had not picked up on the roguish tone of Katie's voice. He awaited an answer, but when he didn't get one, he glanced up at Katie to find her staring at him with an expression that was telling him the answer was obvious. Katie saw the exact moment that the realisation hit Draco. He choked.

"You?" he gasped.

A grin split across Katie's face. "Me!"

Pansy let out a squeal of delight and hugged Katie awkwardly from the side.

"Katie, that's amazing!" Pansy cried happily, making Katie giggle.

"Great," Draco grinned. "Now I don't have to tryout."

He returned once more to eating. Katie raised an eyebrow at him.

"Any why, may I ask, do you not have to tryout?"

Draco gave her an are-you-serious look.

"Because I'm like, your best friend — you're obviously going to give me a spot on the team." Draco said, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.

Katie placed down her knife and fork. "First of all, Pansy and Hermione are my best friends," she said coolly. "We've been over this — we're acquainted enemies. Second of all, I'm not just putting you on the team because we're friends."

Draco looked mildly offended for a moment, but soon, his signature smirk was growing on his pale face.

"If you don't give me a spot on the team, I'll give you a detention." he threatened proudly, jabbing the prefect's badge that was pinned to his cloak.

Katie snorted in amusement. "I think I can handle a detention, Malfoy."

"I could put you in detention for a week."

"Still worth it."

"Is there really no winning with you?"

"Nope."

"Fine, I'll do the stupid tryouts."

Katie smiled triumphantly. She then turned to Blaise and Theo, who were both seated beside Draco, and said, "Are you two trying out?"

"No, I'm dead awful at Quidditch." Theo said.

"Crabbe and Goyle with tryout, won't you?" Draco announced, clapping Crabbe on the back. Both of them nodded quickly. Katie forced a smile onto her face.

"Great." she said. It was a great effort to try and hide the sarcasm in her voice — she didn't much like Crabbe and Goyle.

***

"Nervous?" Draco asked Katie as the two of them made their way down to the Quidditch pitch for tryouts on Saturday morning.

Katie shook her head. "More excited, really. I haven't flown in forever. Come here, help me carry some brooms down to the pitch."

Katie extracted a key from the pocket of her Quidditch robes and opened the door to the broom shed. As soon as she stepped inside the damp shed, she made a violent gagging noise.

"Bloody hell, it smells awful in here," she grumbled with a grimace. "Here."

Katie handed a handful of the school broomsticks to Draco, and each of them carried, with great difficulty, a stack of said brooms down to the stadium.

"Do we really need that many?" Draco huffed, throwing his stack of broomsticks into the mud. No one else had arrived at the Quidditch pitch yet.

"Better to be safe than sorry," Katie told him. "We don't know how many people won't have their own brooms."

"I suppose," Draco shrugged. "Oh, look who came to watch." he added with a sneer.

With furrowed eyebrows, Katie traced Draco's gaze into the stands, where she found Harry, Ron, Hermione, Chris and Niall beaming and waving down at her. Katie let out a chuckle and grabbed her broom.

"I'll be back in a minute. Call me down if anyone gets here." she said to Draco before kicking off from the ground. She flew towards her friends and hovered in mid-air in front of them.

"I still can't believe you're the captain." Chris said, sounding very proud.

"You better believe it. My team is going to crush you." Katie smirked.

"Still riding a Nimbus 2001? Weak." Harry said smugly.

"Oh, so we're doing this again?" Katie replied.

"Oh, we are so doing this again."

Making fun of each other when it came to Quidditch had always been Katerina and Harry's thing. Their comments were often ruthless, but each of them knew that the other didn't mean them... most of the time. Nevertheless, it was only friendly banter.

"Whatever, Potter, I'm going to sweep the floor with your Firebolt." Katie shot back.

"And I'm going to mop the floor with your team." Harry quipped.

"Oh, it's so on."

"Katie!" Draco called up from the ground. "Katie, they're here!"

Katie looked down and, sure enough, a small number of Slytherin players had gathered around Draco, and some were still on the lawns making their way towards the stadium.

"See yous later!" Katie called to her Gryffindor friends as she soared back to the ground.

Once she was sure that everyone had arrived, Katie cleared her throat, but found herself at a loss for words. She hadn't exactly prepared a speech, or devised a plan for the tryouts, for that matter. At first, the prospect of being team captain was exhilarating, but now, as she stared into the hard faces of the sixth and seventh years who were older and much taller than she was, she was suddenly feeling very nervous.

"Er — hi," she began uncertainly. The older students did not react, but the small number of first years, second years, and a handful of third years waved enthusiastically. "OK — so — uhm... if you could just write your name and your year here," she took out a clipboard and a quill and handed it to the person nearest to her. "Thank you."

Draco leaned over to Katie and whispered, "Very smooth, Blair."

"Watch it, Malfoy, or I won't put you on the team." Katie smiled maliciously.

After everyone had signed the parchment, a second year girl with a very long braid handed the clipboard and quill back to Katie, and she placed it in her bag.