December drifted into a frozen January, and before Katie knew it, she had said goodbye to Sirius and the rest of the Order, traveled back to Hogwarts, and finished a very tedious day of lessons. She was now sat at dinner, relieved that her classes were over, but dreading the pile of homework that she had already gotten on her first day back.

"Woah," Pansy gasped as she read the front page of the Daily Prophet. "Look at this." She pushed the paper across the table so that Katie and Draco could read it together. Katie felt an uncomfortable shiver run down her spine when she read the bold headline: MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN, MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS 'RALLYING POINT' FOR DEATH EATERS.

Ten black and white pictures filled the front page, nine showing wizard's faces, and the tenth, a witch's. Her hair was unkempt and straggly. She glared up at Katie through heavily lidded eyes, an arrogant, disdainful smile playing around her thin mouth. Despite her estranged appearance, Katie instantly recognised her from the family tree at Grimmauld Place — Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius' cousin.

Each picture was captioned with a name and crime for which the person had been sent to Azkaban.

Antonin Dolohov, convicted for the brutal murders of Gideon and Fabian Prewett.

Augustus Rookwood, convicted of leaking Ministry of Magic secrets to He Who Must Not Be Named.

Bellatrix Lestrange, convicted of the torture and permanent incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom.

Her face growing steadily paler with every passing second, Katie read through Bellatrix's caption at least three times to make sure that she had not misread anything. Then, with a horrible writhing feeling in her stomach, as though serpents were coiling around inside of it, she cast her gaze along the Gryffindor table. Her eyes found Neville. He was sat beside Dean Thomas, the Daily Prophet hanging loosely from his hands, his mouth and eyes open in a silent scream. Katie could feel horror rising in her throat like bile. Of course she had known that Neville was raised by and lived with his grandmother, but she had never known or been so ignorant as to ask what had happened to her parents. However, now that she knew, she desperately wished she didn't.

"Bellatrix Lestrange?" Draco whispered to himself. Katie decided to tear her stare away from Neville and look at Draco instead. "She's — she's my Aunt."

Katie's stomach did a somersault. "She's your what?"

"My Aunt," Draco repeated simply, oblivious to Katie's horrified tone. "I forgot all about her."

But Katie didn't care that Draco was related to Bellatrix, what she cared about was the fact that he was related to Sirius.

"You — you're related to Sirius Black?" she asked.

Draco turned to face her with a scrutinising look etched into his expression. His eyes narrowed.

"I suppose I am," he said darkly. "Why?" he added.

Katie gulped harshly. "No reason."

After dinner, Katie had barely left her seat when Chris came tearing across the Great Hall towards her, madly flailing a copy of the Daily Prophet around in his hand.

"Did you — did you see—?" he gasped.

"Yes," Katie told him. "Chris, you know what this means don't you?" she dropped her voice to a level that was so low it was barely louder than a whisper. "He's got them. He's got the Dementors on his side."

***

Over the next few days, the entire school had received the news of the mass breakout at Azkaban. Those who came from wizarding families, like Katie, had grown up hearing the names of these Death Eaters spoken with almost as much fear as Voldemort's. Katie always recalled her mother being very reluctant to speak about Voldemort or his followers — not that most people enjoyed sharing that kind of information with their children, but Maria Blair flat out refused to speak of the first war or anything that had happened during it.

As away to get back at Umbridge for practically obliterating everything that made Hogwarts enjoyable for Harry Potter — Quidditch, his Firebolt, letters from Sirius, visits to Hagrid's — Harry had re-doubled his efforts with the DA. Katie, however, had not attended a DA meeting since she and Harry split, and Harry had not once asked her to come back. Hermione, on the other hand, was very adamant that Katie keep learning Defence Against the Dark Arts from Harry.

"Katie, please look at the bigger picture," Hermione said to Katie one day. It was mid-way through February already and they were sat together in the library doing their homework. "This is Voldemort we're talking about here. You've got to know how to defend yourself."

"I know, I know," Katie sighed. "I just... need time."

"You've had plenty of time," Hermione snapped, but quickly replaced her agitated tone with a much kinder one. "Look, you have your Galleon, you can see that the next meeting is on Wednesday. Please just consider coming?"

Katie stared fixedly at Hermione and then, with a second sigh, this time of defeat, she grumbled, "Fine, I'll think about it."

Katerina did, in fact, think about it, and a little past seven o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, she found herself climbing the many staircases and walking through the seventh floor corridor. When she reached the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy being beaten by the trolls, she found that the door to the Room of Requirement was already there, clear as ever.

"Here goes nothing..." Katie muttered to herself and, taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open with shaking hands. The room was alive with excited chatter when she entered. Everyone was sat on the silk cushions discussing their day and awaiting Harry's instructions. Of course, no one was expecting another person to show up, so when they heard the door open, they fell into a terrified silence and all turned, white-faced, to look at the door, visibly relaxing when they saw that it was only Katie and not Umbridge.

Noticing the drastic drop in volume, Harry whirled around to see what had sparked everyone's attention, and his mouth fell open.

Katie smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I'm late." she said, awkwardly twirling her wand around her fingers.

The stiff silence in the room remained as Harry crossed the floor, his footsteps echoing through the quietness, to Katie.

"You came." he said, as though he could hardly believe it.

"Of course I came," she replied quietly, meeting his eyes, which had actually been quite a challenge since late November. "We might not be on the best terms right now, Harry, but you're still my best friend, and I'm still in this with you..." she paused. "Until the end."

Harry stared at her for many moments, while everyone else in the room stared at the two of them, looking intrigued but also frightened, as if they expected the pair to start hexing each other at any moment. Both Katie and the rest of the DA were thoroughly relieved when a smile tugged at the corners of Harry's lips.

His eyes brightening, he raised one hand, stuck out his little finger and said, "Pinkie promise?"

Katie suddenly felt very warm and she couldn't stop a wide smile from splitting across her face. Refraining from rolling her eyes, she latched her smallest finger around Harry's.

"I thought you didn't want Ron to see us making pinkie promises?" she said teasingly, raising one eyebrow.

Harry was grinning now. "Yeah, well, special occasions and all that."

The two of them chuckled, and as though someone had pinched him, Harry snapped back into a business type of mood, and started explaining what Katie had missed during her absence from Dumbledore's Army.

"We done the Impediment Jinx, but, I think you're already pretty decent at that. We also just finished up Shield Charms," he hesitated briefly before continuing. "I — I could help you catch up this weekend... or whenever. Or, if you'd prefer, Hermione could—"

"I'll do it!" Hermione said quickly, taking pity on the pair for the tension between them.

"Er — right — thanks, Hermione," Harry continued before turning back to Katie. "Well, we started Patronuses. Do you think you're up for that?"

A bubble of excitement burst within Katie. She had been really looking forward to learning to produce a Patronus Charm.

"Yeah, sure." she tried to sound casual, but her insides were leaping with exhilaration.

"Good," Harry smiled, then, suddenly remembering that he had a whole group to teach and not just Katie, he turned around to face the rest of the students. "Right, you all know what to do."

Everyone broke apart, muttering excitedly, and there were various shouts of, "Expecto Patronum!" A few feet to Katie's left, Hermione was producing silver wisps out of the end of her wand, but could not seem to conjure a Patronus yet.

"OK, so," Harry began, facing Katie once more. "The incantation is Expecto Patronum."

"Expecto Patronum," Katie repeated quietly. "Got it."

"The trick to producing a Patronus is to think of a happy memory, the happiest you can remember."

This was where Katie's confidence diminished. The happiest memory she could think of? It wasn't easy to just pull that out of fifteen years worth of memories. Harry, sensing her stress, gave her a small smile.

"You've got this, just keep practicing. I'm going to go help the others." Harry said, and with that, he began circling the room.

Cho Chang had produced a swan Patronus that was now gracefully gliding across the ceiling. Katie pulled out her wand and merely stared helplessly at it, trying to rack her brain for happy memories.

When Snape appointed her to Slytherin Quidditch Captain...

"Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing happened. Katie got a sinking feeling in her stomach, but reminded herself that this was only her first attempt, and the Patronus Charm was incredibly difficult to produce.

Last week when Slytherin beat Ravenclaw in their second game of the season — Katie had been very proud of her team.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Still, nothing, not even a small silver wisp burst out of the end of Katie's wand.

At least an hour passed and Katie had made no progress whatsoever. Nearby, Ron let out an awe-filled "Wow!" Glancing up, Katie saw that Hermione's Patronus, a small, silver otter, was gamboling around her. She smiled at it fondly.

"They are sort of nice, aren't they?" she said to a proud-looking Harry as he passed by her.

"How are you getting on?" Harry asked Katie as he approached.

She frowned. "Terrible. Harry, I can't even do a non-corporeal."

"You'll get there," Harry assured her. "You just need practice, that's all."

But two weeks later, Katie had made little to no progress with her Patronus. She was now one of the only members of the DA that could not conjure a Patronus, along with two Hufflepuffs, Neville, and, shockingly enough, her own brother Chris.

Katie often used her free time to sneak down to the clearing she and Draco had found in the Forest. Here, she would further practice the Patronus Charm, but never had any luck. At first, she just assumed that the memories she was using weren't powerful enough, but she was quickly running out of happy memories.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Nothing.

A rustling in the trees startled Katie. She swiveled around so fast that she was sure she felt the bones in her neck crack loudly. She had almost expected Draco to emerge from the shadows — he had a habit of popping up all over the place — but instead, a slightly triumphant, slightly saddened looking Hermione came out of the shrubs.

"I knew I'd find you here," she sighed. "Katie, do you know how risky it is practicing the Patronus Charm out here? If Umbridge was to find you—"

"Umbridge isn't going to find me," Katie said defiantly, turning away from Hermione. "She's too scared to come into the Forest, as you know, she's not a fan of the half-breeds -- Expecto Patronum!"

Katie still could not produce as much as a sliver of silver smoke. Hermione frowned at her.

"You need to give yourself a break." Hermione told her softly.

Katie turned sharply. An uncomfortable prickling sensation was dancing across her neck.

"I'm one of the only people in the DA that can't produce a Patronus, Hermione."

A sullen comprehension settled on Hermione's face. Her eyes drooped and she gazed sadly at Katie.

"I know what you're thinking..." she said softly but critically. "But don't."

Katie's heart beat was gradually speeding up. She gulped thickly. "Hermione," she said hoarsley, "Dark wizards can't produce Patronuses..."

"You're not a Dark witch." Hermione stated firmly.

With a heavy heart, Katie turned away from Hermione once more, instead fixing her gaze on the towering trees that were ruffling gently in the airy March breeze.

"I don't know who I am anymore."

***

"Fantastic, Ginny!" Harry beamed as a dazzling horse shot out of the end of Ginny's wand. Despite the fact that Ginny was an undoubtedly skilled witch, Katie felt somewhat disheartened by the fact that a student a year below her could produce a corporeal Patronus and she couldn't.

"Any improvement?" Harry inquired, stepping up to a very stressed Katie.

"No." she said flatly.

Harry's eyebrows twisted together. "What kind of memories have you been using?"

"I dunno," Katie shrugged. "Mainly Quidditch ones."

"Clearly, there are things that make you happier than Quidditch."

Katie let out a short burst of laughter. She lifted her gaze and was about to tell Harry that he was mad, but their eyes met, and she felt a swirl of content inside of her. Her breath hitched involuntarily and Harry gave her a sceptical look.

"I think I have one." she mumbled, feeling heat rising to her cheeks.

"Yeah?" Harry grinned. "Let's see, then."

Katie closed her eyes and let the memory surge through her.

Harry gazed down at his friend. Evergreen met faded blue, and time seemed to stop as their laughter drifted away into the crisp winter air. Katie felt her breath catch in her throat. Her heart was beating wildly, and she could've sworn she saw Harry leaning down before his arms buckled and he collapsed on top of her.

Katie let out a great huff of pain.

"Sorry!" Harry said quickly as he rolled off of her.

The pair lay side by side in the snow talking about anything and everything until their whole bodies had become numb from the bitter cold. They laughed uncontrollably but couldn't feel the pain in their stomachs thanks to the numbness, and for the first time in months, they were both happy.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Katie saw, with a great ignition of exhilaration, a small mass of silver erupt from the end of her wand. A uncontrollable grin split across her face, one that Harry perfectly mirrored. While it certainly was not a corporeal Patronus, it was something, and Katie couldn't have been more overjoyed.

"Hey, I did something!" she beamed.

"You did!" Harry exclaimed. "What were you thinking about?"

Katie's heart missed a beat.

"Cake," she forced out in a false, croaky voice. Harry lifted an eyebrow in suspicion. "Really, really good cake," Katie elaborated on her lie. "Mhm, yeah, I had it in France this once time. Chocolate. Cream. Strawberries. The whole lot."

She felt as though her skin had been lit ablaze. Her cheeks were burning.

Cake, she thought angrily, really?

"Harry! Hey, Harry, look, I'm doing it!"

There was a chorus of "Oooh!" as a silver lion sprung from the end of Christian's wand. Looking ecstatic, Niall gave him a proud pat on the back.

Then it struck Katie.

A lion.

Leo was Latin for lion...

And, as though a movie that was waiting to be played inside her head was started, a memory came flooding back to her.

"What are you two doing?" Chris laughed.

She was ten years old, Chris was twelve, and Leo was the ripe young age of eight. Chris had been trying to teach his two younger siblings to dance as preparation for a wedding of their mum's friend that they would be attending.

"Dancing!" Leo grinned goofily as he and Katie stupidly pranced around each other, their arms flailing in all directions.

"You are hazards to society," Chris chuckled as he grabbed Leo around the torso and swung him over his shoulder. Leo let out a shriek, followed by elated laughter, and Katie covered her mouth as a string of giggles escaped her.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Katie was momentarily blinded as a great gush of blinding silver light expelled from the tip of her wand. A brilliant, mystical and sparkling lioness issued from the yew wand. She, along with many other members of the DA, let out audible gasps as the lioness bounded around her, obscuring her vision with it's magnificent silver glow.

Everyone watched, amazed, as Chris' lion and Katie's lioness hurtled towards each other, danced around each other for a few short seconds, then they each greeted the other as a brother or a sister, and disappeared in a shimmering silver mist.

Katie and Chris looked at each other, their eyes stinging with tears, small yet somewhat pained smiles playing at their lips.

"Leo." they whispered together.

The door to the Room of Requirement opened, and closed. Everyone whirled around to see who had entered, but there did not seem to be anybody there. Only when Harry looked down did it become clear that a house-elf had entered the Room of Requirement and was tugging at the end of Harry's robes. This particular house-elf was quite unusual — it was wearing eight woolly hats and so many pairs of socks that his feet looked much to big for his tiny body.

"Hi, Dobby!" Harry said. "What are... What's wrong?"

Dobby's eyes were wide with terror and he was shaking. Katie and Chris cast each other nervous glances. The atmosphere in the room was growing fearful and unsettling. The remaining Patronuses faded away into mist, leaving the room much darker than before.

"Harry Potter, sir..." the elf squeaked. "Harry Potter, sir... Dobby has come to warn you... but the house-elves have been warned not to tell..."

Dobby ran head-first into the wall. Katie, Hermione and a few other girls let out shrieks of fear and sympathy.

"What's happened, Dobby?" Harry questioned, seizing the elf around the arm and pulling him away from the wall.

"Harry Potter... she... she..."

Katie could've sworn that her heart momentarily stopped beating. There was only one person that "she" could be...

"Umbridge?" Harry asked, horrified.

Dobby nodded, then tried to bang his head on Harry's knees, who held him at arm's length.

"What about her? Dobby — she hasn't found out about this — about us — about the DA?"

The answer could be read on the elf's stricken face. Katie's veins were pulsing wildly. His hands held fast by Harry, Dobby tried to kick himself and sank to his knees.

"Is she coming?" Harry asked quietly.

Dobby let out a howl.

"Yes, Harry Potter, yes!"

No one could find it within themselves to move. They all stood, frozen stiff, gazing in terror at the thrashing elf. Harry straightened up and looked around at the motionless people.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry bellowed. "RUN!"