doesn't think that Ronrina is endgame. Personally, I ship it :)

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Mrs Weasley had written to Katie and Chris a few days before term ended to let them know that they were welcome to stay with her for the Christmas holidays. When Katie, Hermione and Chris stepped off the Hogwarts Express, Mrs Weasley, Tonks and Lupin were waiting for them, each of them sporting wide smiles.

Katie and Hermione hugged each of them individually while Chris shook their hand, except for Mrs Weasley, who embraced him warmly before he could object.

Hermione had planned to go skiing with her family over the holidays, but given the circumstances, she decided that it was best she stayed with her friends and was to also stay with the Weasleys for Christmas.

At first, Katie was surprised to see Remus and Tonks, but then it quickly dawned on her — Grimmauld Place was much closer to St Mungo's than the Burrow, so they must be spending Christmas at Headquarters so that they could be closer to Mr Weasley. Of course, Katie didn't dare to ask if they would be staying at Headquarters, they couldn't mention it in public, but Remus must have read Katie's mind because he gave her a soft smile and nodded his head discreetly, confirming her theory.

"Ginny is looking forward to seeing you," Tonks nodded to Katie and Hermione. "I think she's sick of all the boys."

"And Fred and George are looking forward to seeing you, Christian," Remus added. "They're bored of the 'younglings,' as they call the others."

Katie, Chris and Hermione laughed at this, and the small group set off from King's Cross together. As expected, they were to walk to Grimmauld Place, much to Katie's discontent, because the air was crisp and bitter, and they had only been walking for five minutes when the imaginary smell of hot chocolate filled her nostrils and her longing to sit in front of a crackling fire began to grow.

When they arrived at Grimmauld Place, Katie was pleasantly surprised to see that Christmas decorations were strung up. In the front hallway, Sirius was stringing gold tinsel across the wall, humming merrily, and upon hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned his head, grinning broadly. Katie had never seen him this happy before. She expected he was just excited that he was going to have company at Grimmauld Place for Christmas.

"Room for three more?" Chris asked brightly. Sirius dropped the cluster of gold and red tinsel in his arms and made his way through the corridor to greet them.

"Dinner is just ready," he said, gesturing towards the dining room, then, as everyone let out hums of excitement and shuffled into the room, he turned to Katie and said, in a very low voice, "I'd like a word with you later — don't worry, you're not in trouble," he added upon seeing the growing look of apprehension on her face. "Come on, you must be hungry."

As expected, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were all sat along the dining room table. Katie sat down next to Ginny and across from Ron, and they both greeted her enthusiastically.

"All right, Katie?" Ron beamed, passing her a plate of baguettes.

"Good," Katie smiled as she started buttering her roll. "How's your dad?"

"Loads better," Ron answered. "We think, if he's lucky, he might be out of St Mungo's for Christmas."

"That's great!" Katie grinned.

They had already been ten minutes into their meal when Katie realised that Harry wasn't with them. Feeling that she may have just miscounted heads, her eyes scanned over the table once more — at the top was Sirius, who was sat beside Remus, across from them were Tonks and Molly, Fred and George beside their mother, Ron on the other side of the table, Hermione tucked in beside him, then there was Chris, and finally, Ginny and Katie across from them.

Katie frowned, growing suddenly worried. "Where's Harry?" she asked. He had, after all, left Hogwarts with the Weasleys the night that Mr Weasley got attacked. Her question seemed to carry throughout the entire room, because all heads turned to look at her, and a wide smile split across Mrs Weasley's face.

"Oh, of course!" she exclaimed. "Oh, you must miss each other terribly, being away from each other for so long—"

"Mum!" Ron hissed aggressively. Still smiling, Mrs Weasley turned to him, but her grin began to falter when she saw the stony expression that was painted on Ron's face. Hermione had suddenly teared up — she seemed to be more fond of Harry and Katie's relationship than Harry themselves — Fred, George and Chris were exchanging anxious glances, and Katie could feel heat rising to her cheeks.

Katie was able to pinpoint the exact moment that the harsh realisation struck Mrs Weasley, because the colour drained from her face so quickly that Katie feared she was about to pass out.

"Oh no..." Mrs Weasley said weakly. "No, don't tell me that..."

The frail smile that Katie gave Molly seemed to answer her question just fine, because she let out a small cry, as though someone had just stuck a dagger in her back.

"No!" she gasped. "What? Why? When?"

"It's — er — a long story," Katie said awkwardly, and although she kept her gaze fixed firmly on Mrs Weasley alone, she could feel everyone else staring at her. Maybe she wouldn't do well as a professional Quidditch player after all — she didn't much like attention. "Where is he, anyway?" Katie asked, trying to sway the subject away from herself.

"In our room, I expect," Ron shrugged sadly. "He doesn't come out much. Mum has to send him up food."

Katie opened her mouth to ask why, but Ron gave her an I'll-tell-you-later-look. Unlike Katie, Hermione was wearing a sceptical expression that showed that she herself had already figured out exactly why Harry was refusing to socialise.

After dinner, Ron, the twins and Ginny took Katie, Chris and Hermione into the drawing room upstairs, shutting the door tight to ensure that no one could hear them from outside the room. Ron then launched into the story of why Harry was being so distant.

"Well — er — the morning after dad was attacked, we went to visit him in St Mungo's," he started, and Katie nodded along to insinuate that she was following. "Fred and George kept asking loads of questions about what dad was doing, you know, why was he patrolling and what was he guarding, that kind of stuff. So Mum kicked us out of the room, but we used Extendable Ears and..." Ron trailed off, a sort of horrified expression dawning on his face, so Ginny picked up for him.

"And we heard Mad-Eye say that You-Know-Who is possessing Harry." she finished.

Katie wasn't sure what she had expected Harry's reasoning for closing himself off to be, but it certainly wasn't that. She found herself at a loss for words, and all she could seem to do was stare between the Weasleys. Chris and Hermione were apparently just as stunned as she, because neither of them spoke a single word either.

Then, with a horrible stab of panic, a terrifying thought struck Katie. What if Voldemort was possessing her too? After all, Dumbledore thought that Katie and Harry's visions were interlaced...

"I reckon he thinks we're scared of him," George piped up, and Fred nodded his agreement. "Or, he's scared that he'll sprout fangs and take a chunk out of our necks."

"But, he didn't attack your dad, did he?" Katie said matter-of-factly. "He was in his bed."

Ron nodded. "Yeah, but he saw the attack from the snake's perspective, so I reckon he's blaming himself," Ron paused, his mouth hanging open, as though he wanted to say something else but was scared of what the response he would receive would be. "We were kind of waiting for you to get here, Katie. We were hoping you could, y'know... talk to him."

None of the Weasleys dared to look at Katie as Ron said this. All of a sudden, the peeling paint on the ceiling seemed to be extraordinarily interesting, and they all gazed up at it dreamily.

"Why is it always me that has to talk to Harry?" Katie proclaimed, anger rising inside her, remembering when Ron and Hermione told her to convince him to teach the DA Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Because you understand each other better than any of us." Ginny said hesitantly.

"That's nice, Gin," Katie scowled, "but in case you haven't noticed, Harry and I aren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Oh, you're so stupid!" Hermione cried exasperatedly, making Katie, and everyone else, for that matter, jump in fright. "Katie, he's still your best friend, the fact that you kissed a couple of times can't change that."

"Hermione—"

"No!" Hermione snapped angrily. "No, I don't want to hear any more dull excuses. You're going to go upstairs, you're going to knock on his door, and you're going to talk some sense into his stupid, dotty head!"

No one could seem to do anything but stare at Hermione, who had gone very red in the face, and her hair was springing up as though she had been electrocuted. Chris was gazing at her adoringly, while Ron looked mildly terrified.

"I—" Katie began nervously.

"Go." Hermione growled, narrowing her eyes, which was enough to convince Katie to obey the order, because what ever awkwardness may ensue when Katie and Harry came face to face, it couldn't be nearly as bad as Hermione's scorned wrath.

Katie climbed the creaky stairs, past the decapitated heads of House-elves that were hung on the wall, skipped her bedroom door, and paused outside the one she new to be Harry and Ron's. Pressing her ear against the rickety wood, she could hear someone pacing inside. Though she hesitated for many moments, Katie managed to will herself to knock gently on the door, taking a deep, calming breath before hand.

As soon as her knuckles rapped against the door, the pacing from within stopped, but no one came to open the door.

"Harry?" Katie called out, her voice higher in pitch than it so often was. "Harry, it's... it's me," she paused momentarily to take another deep breath before continuing. "Please open the door. I just want to talk."

All was still and silent for at least twenty seconds. Katie had just accepted that Harry wasn't going to reveal himself, and had begun to step away from the door when, miraculously, there was a sound of approaching footsteps, and the door swung open.

They locked eyes for the first time in weeks and Katie's breath got caught in her throat. For a few, lingering moments, they stared at each other like they were seeing the universe for the first time.

It was Harry that broke out of his daze first.

"Er — hi." he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

Katie blinked, quickly shaking her head to awaken herself from her trance.

"Hi... can — can I come in?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, sure." Harry held the door open and Katie stepped inside, and once she was in the room, he closed the door behind him. The atmosphere was growing even more tense, and for at least two minutes, both of them stood, rooted to the spot, their hands tucked deep into the pockets, casting glimpses around the room as though they had never been inside it at all. Never, in her entire four and a half years of knowing him, did Katie ever think that things would be so awkward between her and Harry. They had always been very close and extremely comfortable around each other.

"So," Katie spoke after minutes, and Harry looked relieved by the fact that someone had been brave enough to fill the stiff silence between them, "Ron told me about the — er — Extendable Ears thing."

Harry blinked at her. His expression was unfathomable. "Oh?"

"I — I think — I mean, do you think that Dumbledore was right?" she asked timidly. They had now reverted to not daring to look each other directly in the eyes. "Do you think our visions really were linked?"

"I've been — er — thinking about that a lot, actually," Harry turned away from Katie and pretended to be searching for something in one of his drawers. "I don't know, I reckon it's possible."

Silence fell once more. The tension in the room was pulverising as Harry continued to rummage through his drawer and Katie stared blankly at the light for so long that she began to see purple spots obscuring the walls around her.

"Uhm, Harry?"

Hermione and Ron had asked Katie to knock some sense into Harry, and if anything was going to do just that, it would be Katie expressing how they're in the same boat — she had to tell him something that she'd known herself for awhile but had been too afraid, or even ashamed, to admit.

"Yeah?"

"Can I... tell you something?"

Harry whirled around at light speed, his countenance showing mingled apprehension and eagerness.

"Yeah, of course, anything."

Katie breathed deeply. Her heart was suddenly beating very fast. She would just have to say it, get it over with, she couldn't back down now.

"I think the figure I see in my dreams is You-Know-Who." she rushed, as though saying the words hastily would make them any less true. Based on Harry's blank expression, Katie was lead to believe that he thought she was overstating things, but his mouth did fall open slightly, suggesting at least mild surprise.

"Well, Dumbledore thinks that the visions are linked to Voldemort, doesn't he?" Harry said. "So I guess it would make sense if it was Voldemort you were seeing."

Katie nodded. "I just thought I'd ask what you think because, well, you know, you know what it's like to be possessed by You-Know-Who—"

Clearly, Katie had accidentally struck a nerve, because Harry's eyes suddenly darkened.

"If you want to know what it's like to be possessed by Voldemort, you should ask Ginny, she knows all about it." Harry snapped.

"I — I just thought that—" Katie stammered, taken aback by his sudden burst of anger.

"What do you really want, Katerina?" Harry demanded. "Why did you come up here?"

"Ron and Hermione asked—"

"And why did you agree?"

"I don't know," Katie hurled angrily. "Maybe I've missed you, Harry. Maybe I've missed my best friend."

Harry couldn't seem to come up with a suitable response to this. He stared, unblinkingly, at Katie, his face gradually growing paler and paler. With a grunt of indignation, Katie marched passed Harry and towards the door, grabbing the handle. She had just pulled open the door and made to step out into the hallway when she paused, turning sharply on her heel.

"You know, if you weren't happy, you could've just said something," she told Harry, but instantly regretted it, because as these words rolled off her tongue, tears began to bubble up inside her eyes. "You didn't have to break up with me in front of the entirety of Gryffindor house."

"Don't be stupid," Harry responded, a small hint of irritation hidden within his voice. "Of course I was happy."

"Yeah?" Katie scoffed. "Then perhaps you can tell me why I've been too embarrassed to look any Gryffindors in the eyes for weeks, can you?"

Katie was aware that her voice was rising, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. From the floor below, she heard the drawing room door open and someone say, "Oh no, they're fighting."

There was a patter of footsteps as Chris, Hermione and Ron rushed up the stairs. Without a word or an acknowledgement of Harry's presence, Chris took Katie's hand and began to pull her away.

"Thanks a lot, Hermione," Katie snapped bitterly. "I really got through to him."

***

Sirius had meant it when he told Katie that he wanted a word with her, because after everyone had gone to bed that night, her bedroom door creaked open and Sirius quietly slipped inside.

"So?" Katie stated simply, sitting up straight as Sirius settled in a moth-eaten armchair in the corner of the room.

"So, we may as well get straight to the point," Sirius said. "Any more visions, apart from the one of Leo?" he added the last part with a pang of sadness in his voice.

"Yeah, one," Katie admitted, and Sirius nodded, encouraging her to elaborate. "It was of..." she hesitated, her heart pounding. "Voldemort."

A shiver ran down her spine. That was the first time she had ever spoken his name aloud, and it certainly felt strange, but somewhat empowering, like she was overcoming a great fear, which she supposed she was. The corners of Sirius' mouth twitched, insinuating that he wanted to smile but held back.

"Voldemort?" he asked.

Katie nodded slowly. "He... well, he keeps trying to persuade me to join him.

It was a great relief to Katie to finally admit what she had known for so long —the cloaked figure in her dreams was Voldemort.

A glimmer of what seemed to be fear flashed through Sirius' eyes.

"Do you know why?" Katie asked. "Why me?"

Sirius hesitated. "I don't know."

He's lying, Katie thought.

"He said that something was my birthright," she pressed, and for a brief moment, Sirius looked fearful again. For some inexplicable reason, Katie felt as though she couldn't trust Albus Dumbledore, but she could trust Sirius Black, and maybe it was because, despite his cheerful nature, Dumbledore sometimes intimidated the girl, while Sirius spoke to her as though she were his sister. "Sirius, he knew I was going to be a Slytherin before I even started at Hogwarts."

Sirius gulped harshly. "He did?" he asked, voice croaky.

"And he..." she hesitated, "Sirius, he said that I'm going to rise... with him."

The blood drained from Sirius' face at an alarming rate, and Katie thought for a moment that he was going to faint.

"Go to sleep, Katerina." Sirius said weakly, rising from his seat.

Katie jumped off the bed. "If you know something, Sirius, tell me." she demanded.

Sirius gritted his teeth, and whether he was refraining from yelling or admitting some shocking truth, Katie couldn't be sure.

"Clearly Voldemort wants you on his side." Sirius said slowly.

"I'd figured that much out for myself, funnily enough." Katie shot back coolly. Sirius glared at her.

"You can do things, can't you?" Sirius asked, a hint of reluctance to his low tones.

Katie blinked perplexedly at him. "What do you mean?"

"You're a Parselmouth, aren't you?" Sirius said, and Katie didn't know why, but her blood suddenly ran cold.

"I — I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, no, I am, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything," Sirius sighed. "Katerina, for years, the ability to speak Parseltongue has always been considered the mark of a Dark witch or wizard."

"I'm not a Dark witch." Katie snapped, though, as she said this, their was a ripple of doubt throughout her, which she chose to ignore.

"I know you're not," Sirius continued. "But Voldemort obviously sees potential in you."

Katie pondered this statement for a moment. Potential? What kind of potential could she, a fifteen year old witch, possibly have? How could a girl with no extraordinary powers, a girl who failed most of her classes, who was only really good at Potions and Quidditch, have Dark potential? Sirius must have been able to sense her doubt, because the next words he spoke were as follows.

"I believe you're stronger than you think you are." he stated simply.

"Sirius, I can barely cast a Levitation Charm." Katerina snorted, but Sirius remained indifferent to this claim.

A sudden, chilling comprehension struck Katie.