Sorry I've been updating this book so much, I just have a lot of free time on my hands for writing lmao

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"It is your birthright... It is your birthright... It is your birthright..."

Katerina gasped loudly. For a few foggy moments, she was confused as to where she was and what had just happened, but as her dorm room came into focus around her, she realised that she had just woken up from a new nightmare, one involving the same cloaked figure and chilling voice as before.

A blunt perplexity dawned on her.

She hadn't had a new dream or experienced one of her old recurring dreams since August, so why, now, in the depths of October, were they coming back to her?"

"Are you OK?"

Katie jumped, startled. She didn't notice that Pansy was sitting on the end of her bed until she spoke. Rubbing her eyes, Katie pushed herself up into a seating position.

"You were muttering in your sleep."

Katie nodded, still rubbing her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine — bad dream," she said casually, grateful for the fact that she had not woken up screaming like she usually did. "What time is it?"

A small glimmer of dusty sunlight was sweeping the polished floor of the dormitory, and the faint orange glow that was gleaming behind the thick curtains told Katie that it was daybreak.

"Early," Pansy told her, "but there's no point going back to sleep now."

Very quietly so not to disturb their other dorm mates, Katie and Pansy dressed themselves. Katie checked her timetable, shoved all her required materials into her bag, and went down the spiral staircase behind Pansy. To neither of the girls' surprise, the common room was empty. A school of vibrant purple fish was lolling calmly on the other side of the picture window.

"Is it too early for breakfast?" Pansy inquired.

Katie shook her head. "Probably not."

The two Slytherins headed upstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Katie was rather surprised to see that the Hall was not entirely empty. A small group of second year Hufflepuff girls were conversing happily, and at one end of the Ravenclaw table, Katie spotted Luna Lovegood reading a magazine called The Quibbler upside down. The sight that shocked Katie the most, however, was Harry and Hermione sitting at the Gryffindor table so early in the morning.

"I'll be right back." she told Pansy, and they split in two directions — Pansy went to sit at the Slytherin table while Katie, checking that Umbridge was nowhere in sight, made her way towards the Gryffindor table.

Harry had begun to say good morning when Hermione cut across him.

"You're not allowed to sit here." she said curtly to Katie.

Katie shrugged and sat down anyway. "Umbridge isn't here."

The only professor in the Hall that early was Professor Flitwick, who was scoping around the walls, making sure that no one was breaking any rules.

"What are you two doing up?"

"We found a place for the Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons." Harry said, grinning broadly. Katie couldn't help but allow her face to mirror his smile.

"Really? Where?" she asked eagerly.

"It's a place called the Room of Requirement. Dobby told me about it," Harry explained. "It only appears when someone really needs it."

"And it always appears equipped for seeker's needs." Hermione finished. She was also smiling.

"We were thinking about meeting there tonight around eight o'clock," Harry said. "It's on the seventh floor opposite that tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being clubbed by those trolls."

"Great!" Katie beamed. "I'll be there."

"Oi, Blair, don't leave me hanging over here!" Pansy called loudly from the Slytherin table.

Hermione suddenly frowned. She leaned across the table and asked Katie in a very quiet and solemn voice, "You didn't tell her or any of the others about the Defence group, did you?"

"No," Katie replied, her expression hardening. "But I don't see why I can't."

Hermione sighed in a fed-up sort of way. "You know they can't be trusted."

"I trust them," Katie snapped defensively. She turned to Harry and said, in a much softer voice, "Draco believes you, you know? He believes that You-Know-Who is back."

"Of course he does — his father is a Death Eater, Katie." Harry hissed under his breath.

"You don't know that!"

"I saw him, OK? He was in the graveyard."

"So what if he is?" Katie crossed her arms angrily. "Draco isn't. Does he have a Dark Mark? No. Case closed."

"Katie!" Pansy yelled exasperatedly. Katie threw her a glance, looked back at Harry and Hermione, who were both frowning now, and stood up. She left the Gryffindor table without another word and joined Pansy.

"Trouble in paradise?" Pansy asked with a raised eyebrow as she eyed Harry suspiciously.

"Something like that." Katie sighed out.

***

Despite her disagreement with Harry and Hermione at breakfast, Katie still set out for the seventh floor at half past seven that evening. When she arrived in the hallway with the tapestry of the trolls brutally bludgeoning Barnabas the Barmy, Katie let out a small gasp. The stretch of blank wall that usually stood opposite the tapestry now had a large, polished door built into it. For some inexplicable reason, Katie stupidly knocked on the door before turning the brass handle and opening it. She let out a breath of awe when her eyes found the room waiting behind the doors.

It was very vast. The walls were lined with bookcases and mirrors. In the far corner was a row of shelves hosting various instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors and a large, cracked Foe-Glass. The room was lit with torches much like the ones that were hoisted on the walls in the dungeons. Katie stared wondrously around the room.

"Pretty nice, isn't it?" Ron's voice rang out.

Distracted by the wonders of the room that was, in fact, perfect for practicing Defence Against the Dark Arts, Katie hadn't noticed that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Lavender, Dean and Parvati were already there. Hermione was sitting cross-legged on a silk cushion reading Jinxes for the Jinxed. She took no notice to Katie's arrival what-so-ever, and Katie assumed that she was still vexed by their minor row earlier in the day.

By eight o'clock, everyone who had been at the Hog's Head had arrived and all of the silk cushions were now occupied. Harry moved across to the door and turned the key protruding from the lock; it clicked in a satisfyingly loud way and everybody fell silent, looking at him.

"Well," Harry began, slightly nervously. "This is the place we've found for practice sessions, and you've — er — obviously found it OK."

"It's fantastic!" Cho exclaimed, and several people murmured their agreement.

"It's bizarre," Fred said, glancing around the room. "We once hid from Filch in here, remember, George? But it was just a broom cupboard then."

Harry continued to speak. "Well, I've been thinking about the sort of stuff we ought to do first and — er — what, Hermione?"

Hermione was kneeling on her cushion with her hand stretched into the air.

"I think we ought to have a name," she suggested brightly, her hand still in the air. "It would promote a feeling of team spirit and unity, don't you think?"

"Can we be the Anti-Umbridge League?" Katie asked hopefully.

"Or the Ministry of Magic are Morons Group?" Fred suggested.

"I was thinking," Hermione said firmly, "more of a name that didn't tell everyone what we were up to, so we can refer to if safely outside meetings."

"The Defense Association?" Cho proposed. "The DA for short, so nobody knows what we're talking about?"

"Yeah, the DA's good," Ginny chimed in. "Only let's make it stand for Dumbledore's Army, because that's the Ministry's worst fear, isn't it?"

There was a good deal of appreciative murmuring and laughter at this.

"All in favour of the DA?" Hermione demanded, kneeling up high to count. "That's a majority — motion passed!"

She pinned the piece of parchment with all of their signatures on it on to the wall and wrote across the top of it in large letters: Dumbledore's Army.

"Right," Harry said when she had sat down again, "shall we get practicing then? I was thinking, the first thing we should do is Expelliarmus, you know, the Disarming Charm. I know it's pretty basic but I've found it really useful—"

"Oh, please," Zacharias Smith scoffed, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. "I don't think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?"

"I've used it against him," Harry said quietly. "It saved my life in June."

Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

"But if you think it's beneath you, you can leave," Harry hurled. Zacharias did not move. Nor did anybody else. "OK, I reckon we should divide into pairs to practise."

Everybody got to their feet at once and divided into pairs. Ron and Hermione paired together, so Katie made to move towards Ginny, but suddenly, with a growing smirk on her face, a more spiteful idea sparked her mind.

Zacharias Smith had just stood up and taken out his wand. Hoping that she would be able to do the spell properly and not embarrass herself, Katie pointed her wand at Smith.

"Expelliarmus!"

Zacharias's wand flew from his hand and Katie caught it from the air with ease. He whipped around, mouth agape, and stared at Katie. Both shocked and relieved by the fact that she preformed the spell perfectly, Katie goggled at Smith's wand for a brief moment before regaining her poise.

"If you ask me," Katie simpered while twirling Smith's wand in her hand, smiling smugly, "it's a pretty useful spell."

A few people sniggered and Zacharias's face went a deep shade of red. Katie tossed his wand back to him.

"You're practising with me, prima donna." Katie nodded to Zacharias and, with a scowl, he trudged over to her.

Katie caught Harry's eye. He was smiling subtly and gave her an appreciative nod, which effectively resolved their petty feud from before.

Everyone had now paired up. Predictably, Neville was left partnerless.

"You can practise with me," Harry told him. "Right — on the count of three, then — one, two, three—"

The room was suddenly filled with shouts of Expelliarmus. Wands flew in all directions; missed spells hit books on shelves and sent them flying into the air. Neither Katie or Zacharias had cast their spells — he was glowering at her coldly while her facial expression remained neutral.

"You're pretty brave for a Slytherin." Smith sneered, raising his wand slowly.

Katie lifted her own wand. "And you're a pretty big tosser for a Hufflepuff."

"Yeah, you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?" Zacharias snarled as his eyes narrowed. Katie, determined not to snap, gripped her wand a little tighter to compose her growing anger.

"I'm actually rather friendly," she said, ignoring how Smith snorted, "until you have a go at my friends — Expelliarmus!"

Zacharias glared maliciously at Katie as his wand flew sideways from his hand.

"Don't let your guard down," Harry instructed, retrieving Smith's wand with a Summoning Charm and handing it back to him. "In a duel, your opponent's not going to wait for you to focus before—"

"Yeah, I get it," Smith bit harshly, snatching his wand back and rounding on Katie. "Expelliarmus!"

Something strange happened. Zacharias had been halfway through the incantation when his own wand shot from his hand, hit the ceiling, and landed with a clatter at his feet. Katie didn't have to look far to solve the mystery. Fred and George were standing a couple of feet behind Smith, sniggering, their wands pointed at his back.

"Sorry, Harry," George said upon catching Harry's eye. "Couldn't resist."

Fred winked at Katie before the twins rounded on each other and started practising between themselves.

Katie held her wand out. "Come on, then." she said to Smith.

It took him three tries, but he eventually managed to make Katie's wand soar from her hand. It hit Neville in the side of the head and he let out a yelp of pain.

"Sorry, Neville!" Katie called. "Accio!"

Her wand flew neatly back into her hand.

"I have to say, Smith," she said complacently, "I didn't think you had it in you."

"Very funny." Zacharias rolled his eyes.

"I DID IT!" Neville exclaimed gleefully, catching everyone's attention. "I've never done it before — I DID IT!"

Ron was standing very still, wandless and gaping at his fellow Gryffindor. Evidently, he had just been disarmed by a very proud-looking Neville.

"Nice one, Neville!" Harry beamed.

Harry continued to circulate the room, correcting people who were flourishing their wands wrong and helping people who were struggling with the spell. At some point throughout the session, Katie and Zacharias grew very infuriated with each other, so they split and went to find different partner. Katie was now working with Ginny, who was a much more challenging opponent than Zacharias.

Katie had heard from Fred and George that Ginny was tough, and she had seen it herself when they played Quidditch together at the Burrow, but Katie underestimated just how tough Ginny was. She was a very skilled witch and seemed to know exactly what she was doing, because while Katie had almost mastered the Disarming Charm, Ginny could also preform it perfectly.

"Hey, Harry, have you checked the time?" Hermione called from one end of the room.

Harry checked his watch then blew a silver whistle that he had dangling around his neck. Everyone stopped shouting "Expelliarmus!" and the last couple of wands clattered to the floor.

"Well, that was pretty good," Harry announced, "but we've overrun, we'd better leave it here. Same time, same place next week?"

"Sooner!" Dean proclaimed eagerly and many people nodded in agreement.

"Let's say next Wednesday night, then," Harry told everyone. "We can decide on additional meetings then. Come on, we'd better get going."

Harry let everyone leave in groups of four. He pulled out the Marauders Map and checked for teachers on the seventh floor, and also checked to make sure that everyone got back to their common room safely and without being caught. Katie left the Room of Requirement with Chris, Niall and Oscar.

"That was really good." Oscar said happily.

"Keep your voice down or we'll be caught." Katie warned him.

"Harry really knows what he's doing." Niall said in a much more hushed voice than Oscar.

"Yeah, well, that's the perks of having fought You-Know-Who, I guess." Chris joked.

They continued along the seventh floor passage and parted ways at the staircases.

"All right, I'm this way. See you guys later." Katie announced.

There was a chorus of "Goodnight!" and Katie swept away down the stairs, frequently throwing glances over her shoulder to make sure there were no teachers around. The castle seemed rather eerie at night, especially when travelling through it alone. The fading lamps cast flickering shadows across the high stone walls, and Katie's footsteps echoed through the stairwells, creating a sinister aura.

There were very few people in the Slytherin common room when Katie arrived back. Among the small amount still awake were Pansy and Draco, who were sat at a long desk completing a Potions essay that Snape had set them. Wanting to avoid interrogation, Katie tried to slip passed them unnoticed, but Pansy's peripheral vision was too good and she caught a glimpse of Katie out of the corner of her eye.

"Where were you?" Pansy demanded.

Katie froze on the spot, cursed under her breath, then turned to face Pansy while displaying the most convincing innocent smile she could muster.

"With Harry." Katie told her, which wasn't exactly a lie.

Pansy raised one eyebrow. "You know curfew is nine o'clock, right?"

"Relax, I'm only fifteen minutes late." Katie laughed sardonically.

Pansy and Draco exchanged surreptitious glances. Katie felt her mouth growing dry. Neither of them were buying in to her fabrication, and if she stayed there much longer they might figure out what she had really been up to.

"Are you staying up to do the Potions essay?" Draco asked, determined to make her stay in the common room for further questioning. "It's due tomorrow."

Katie had already begun to walk towards the girl's dormitories. "Do it for me and I'll give you my Chocolate Frogs!" she called back with a wave of her hand.

"You can't bribe me!" he shouted after her.

"And my Pumpkin Pasties!"

"That's not fair, you know they're my favourite!"

"Do the essay for me and they're all yours!"

Behind her, Katie heard Draco slam his hand down on the desk and mutter, in a defeated sort of way, "Dammit..."

***

"Your scar hurt again?" Katie asked seriously.

It was the next day and Katie was in Potions class brewing Strengthening Solution. Harry was sat beside her and had just told her that his scar had been searing again.

"Yes, the other night, after training, and what's more, I can sort of... read Voldemort's mind." Harry said, though the ending of his statement sounded uncannily like a question.

Katie goggled at him, thunderstruck. "You're reading his mind?"

"Er — well — not exactly. It's more like his mood, I suppose," Harry explained while adding salamander blood to his potion, which was supposed to be turquoise in colour but his was a shade of light pink. "Yesterday, when it happened, he was really angry. He wants something done but it's not happening fast enough."

Katie swallowed thickly. She herself had a very good idea as to what Voldemort wanted done as Sirius had told her that he was searching for the knowledge on how to kill Harry (whatever that meant), and she felt extremely guilty that Harry wasn't aware of this information himself, but she had promised not to tell anyone so, despite her guilt, kept her lips sealed.

Snape swept over to their work bench. He eyed Harry's cauldron captiously, the potion in which was now a vibrant purple colour, and his lip curled.

"No marks again, Potter." Snape sneered, waving his wand over Harry's cauldron. The purple potion inside vanished. Harry glared at Snape, who took no notice to his piercing stare, because he was bent over Katie's potion and examining it closely, searching for something to criticise. When he could't find any faults in the turquoise concoction, he whisked away from the table and went to assess someone else's potion.

"You will receive your grades for your essays on Monday." Snape announced at the end of class.

Katie looked up and caught Draco's eye, who was shaking his head at her, making her smirk. He had, in fact, written the essay for her the previous night, and as promised, she gave him all of her Chocolate Frogs and Pumpkin Pasties.

"I can't believe I did that essay for you!" Draco said as they left Snape's dungeon.

"If I knew you were that easy to bribe, I would've done it sooner." Katie smiled gloatingly.

"This better not become a regular thing." Draco scolded. Katie merely chuckled.

"Maybe I'll start skiving off lessons and have you take Polyjuice and do them for me."

"Not a chance."