Friendship groups were splintering left, right and centre. Christmas was creeping up on the students of Hogwarts, and soon Katie would be traveling to the Burrow for the holidays, accompanied by Ron and Harry, both of whom she was not speaking to. Katie and Harry weren't exactly not speaking, but they certainly done their best to avoid being left alone together. As for Ron, he wouldn't so much as look at Katie, never mind talk to her. Although, Ron didn't seem to do much talking at all these days — every minute was dedicated to kissing Lavender, who was now his girlfriend, much to Hermione's despair. Ron and Hermione had a row, and Harry was left caught in the middle of it.

As for Draco, Katie had never seen him more alive. He smiled a lot, which was usually a very rare sight, and he often left his hair untouched because Katie adored it. This started as a once a week thing, but now, almost everyday, Draco would stride into the Great Hall for breakfast with no gel in his hair, creating swarms of whispers as girls ducked their heads together to discuss the fact that "Draco Malfoy's hair was messy!"

While Katie and Draco never 'announced their relationship', per say, they didn't take care in hiding it, and people figured it out anyway. Katie found that Draco was incredibly clingy, which was both a shock to her and everyone else who knew him.

On the second last day of classes before those wishing to return home for Christmas would be departing, Katie was sat in the Great Hall when the post owls arrived and was surprised when not one, but two owls landed in front of her and held out their leg. The first ow, which was carrying a letter, Katie recognised to be Christian's barn owl — which he named Barney because he thought it was quite hilarious, and the second was one that she had never seen before and he had a tightly bound scroll hanging from his leg.

Katie took both the letter and the scroll, stroked Barney's ruffled feathers, and the two owls took off. Assuming that Chris' letter was merely news about how Ireland was treating him, Katie decided to read the scroll first. She unraveled it and read it with furrowed eyebrows.

"Who is it from?" Draco asked curiously, lifting himself out of his seat and trying to read the scroll upside down.

"Professor Slughorn," Katie told him in a bewildered tone. "He's invited me to his Christmas party tomorrow night. It says to bring a guest." she added casually as she rolled the parchment up once more.

"Who are you taking, then?" Draco asked, trying but failing to hide the jealous undertone of his voice. He looked down at his porridge and began to poke at it rather aggressively with his spoon. Katie raised an eyebrow.

"Harry," she said, and apparently Draco didn't pick up on her sarcasm, because his eyes snapped up and he scowled at her. She rolled her eyes. "You, obviously, you plonker."

***

"Pansy, I don't see why it's such a big deal." Katie groaned.

It was the next day and Pansy was rifling through Katie's drawers, searching for, as she put it, the perfect dress for Katie to wear to Slughorn's Christmas Party. Katie, who would really have had no problem showing up in the most casual dress she owned, was sprawled out on her bed and staring up at a hole in the ceiling.

"Of course it's a big deal!" Pansy said, throwing a pair of socks out of the drawer, which somehow hit Katie right on the nose. "This is your first official date with Draco! Well, technically that Hogsmeade visit in October was your first official date, but—"

Katie choked on air and sat bolt upright. "That — that was a date?"

Pansy stared at her blankly for a few minutes, apparently stunned into silence by Katie's obliviousness, before sighing and rolling her eyes.

"You're so dense," Pansy said, shaking her head. "Honestly, I don't know how you managed to pull two of the most popular guys at Hogwarts — here, try this."

She had tossed Katie a silvery dress which Katie turned over and eyed sceptically, but after being pestered by Pansy, tried it on anyway.

"Oh, you look amazing!" Pansy squealed in delight. "Twirl around!"

Katie glared at Pansy, who raised her arms in surrender but giggled anyway.

"I'll go see if Draco's ready." Pansy announced, exiting the common room and leaving Katie alone to examine her appearance.

The silver dress twinkled in the dim light of the oil lamps on the walls. Katie looked in the mirror and, as Pansy had told her to, twirled around. The dress shimmered all over like some kind of dull diamond, making Katie giggle.

The door opened and Katie abruptly stopped spinning. Feeling rather dizzy, she grabbed a hold of the post of her bed to stop herself from falling over. Pansy's expression was the polar opposite of Katie's — she looked both annoyed and upset, which made the wide grin on Katie's face promptly fade.

"What?" Katie asked, scared or the answer she would receive.

Pansy gulped and her frown grew heavier. "Draco said he can't go. He's not feeling well."

There was a short pause during which Katie felt a sudden wave of disappointment crash down upon her. She turned away from Pansy and began undoing the satin wrap on her dress.

"Oh," she said. "All right."

"All right?" Pansy repeated shrewdly. "That's it?"

Katie shrugged. "If he's not well, he's not well, there's nothing I can do about it. I didn't really want to go to the party anyway."

Pansy stood clicking her tongue and tapping her foot as Katie continued to undo her dress. She had just slipped one arm out when Pansy said firmly, "No, you know what? You're going to that party."

"Pansy, how can I—"

"You can ask Blaise, I'm sure he'll say yes." Pansy said as she pulled a pair of shoes out of Katie's drawer.

"No," Katie countered quickly. "No, I'm not going with Draco's best friend."

"Well then..." Pansy paused, plunging herself deep into thought. "We'll go down to the Great Hall. Dinner isn't over yet. You'll probably find someone there."

Katie chewed the inside of her mouth. Part of her wanted to just call it a night, throw on her pyjamas and slip into bed, despite the fact that it was only seven o'clock, while another part of her really did want to attend the party to see if it would be as good as everyone was anticipating. At long last, she agreed to go, wrapped her Slytherin cloak around herself to hide her silver dress, and went down to the Great Hall with a thoroughly delighted Pansy.

As soon as they stepped into the noisy Hall, which had been decorated with its usual twelve Christmas trees, Pansy began pointing out boys that she thought Katie should take to the party.

"There's Zacharias Smith," Pansy pointed at the Hufflepuff table. "He's cute—"

"Oh, Merlin, no," Katie said hastily. "Anyone but Smith."

"All right, how about — hey, where are you going?"

Katie had broken away from Pansy's side and was sweeping along the Gryffindor table. She stopped when she reached a small group of people, including Ron and Lavender, who were so tightly wrapped around each other it was hard to tell who owned which hands, Harry and Parvati, looking vaguely embarrassed by the behaviour of their friends, and Seamus, Neville, and Dean and Ginny.

"Katie?" Harry said, sounding both sheepish and surprised. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's up?"

"Hello," Katie turned away from Harry. "Hi, Neville."

Neville looked up quickly and his mouth fell open. Katie was sure she had never seen a person look so shocked in her entire life.

"Hi," he forced out in an awkward stutter. "Did — do — are you looking for the Herbology homework? I haven't got it done yet, but — but I can give it to you in the morning." Neville stammered out, coming up with his own reasoning as to why Katie had addressed him directly, because he apparently thought that the only reason any girl would talk to him would be for homework answers. Katie felt her heart sink at that thought.

"No, I've already done the homework. I came to ask you to Slughorn's Christmas Party." she told cheerfully.

There was an awful sound like a plug being pulled from a sink as Ron resurfaced from his kiss with Lavender.

"What?" Ron, Dean and Seamus chorused. Neville had gone so white and his mouth was hanging open so wide that Katie was afraid he might collapse. Ginny and Harry, on the other hand, were smiling subtly.

"Me?" Neville asked in a stupefied whisper.

Katie grinned at him. "Yeah, Draco bailed on me, so I thought I'd ask the next best person."

Neville's cheeks burned a bright shade of pink. Dean and Seamus ducked their heads together and began muttering incoherently, and Ron goggled at Katie, ignoring Lavender's attempts to turn his face towards her. Neville seemed to force out at least five incomprehensible sentences before somewhat clearly responding to Katie's offer.

"I — you — I — me — I — yeah. Yeah, I-I'll go."

"Great," Katie smiled. "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall at eight, then."

Pansy was waiting by the doors when Katie returned from the Gryffindor table, her arms folded, looking flabbergasted and personally offended.

"Longbottom?" she ridiculed. "Really?"

"He's actually really sweet." Katie defended.

Pansy raised her eyebrows. "Whatever you say."

One hour later, after Pansy had double and triple checked Katie's hair, Katie ascended from the dungeons to the Entrance Hall where she found Neville looking positively terrified. He was trembling slightly and his face was white as parchment, but he straightened himself up when he saw Katie approaching.

"Hi," she said. "Shall we go then?"

Neville cast an anxious glance over Katie's shoulder and then very quietly said, "Are you sure Malfoy is OK with this? I — I mean, I don't fancy a hit of the Leg-Locker Curse..."

Katie chuckled. "Don't worry about him. I'll talk to him in the morning."

Katie let a still shaking Neville take her arm and they walked the short distance to Slughorn's office. Whether it had been built that way or magic had made it so, Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. It was very stuffy inside and the walls were draped in hangings of emerald, crimson and gold. What Katie assumed at first glance were magically circling tables turned out to be house-elves carrying silver platters and rotating around the room.

One passed by carrying a tray of Gillywater and Katie, ensuring that no teachers were looking, snatched two glasses of the cocktail and handed one to Neville, who stared at it fearfully.

"Are you sure?" he asked nervously.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to." Katie assured him, but he gave her a grateful smile and took a sip of it, smacking his lips together afterwards. "What d'you think?"

"It's good!" Neville beamed, taking a larger gulp this time. "Gran would kill me if she knew I was drinking."

Katie chuckled and took a sip of her own Gillywater.

"Hey, look, it's Harry," Neville announced, pointing. Glancing up, Katie saw a messy tangle of black hair bobbing amongst the crowd, accompanied by long, flowing blonde hair. "Should we go over?"

Katie dithered for a moment.

"Sure." she agreed, though hesitantly, and Neville led her across the room, where they found Harry, Luna, and now Hermione.

"Oh, hello Neville," Luna said brightly upon their arrival. "Hello, Katie."

"Hi," Katie and Neville said together, then Katie turned to Hermione, who appeared just as pale and panicked as Neville had been in the Entrance Hall minutes before. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

"I've just escaped," Hermione said breathlessly. "I mean, I left Cormac under the mistletoe."

Katie, who had been taking a swig of her Gillywater, choked violently.

"Cormac?" Harry sounded disgusted. "That's who you invited?"

"I thought it would annoy Ron the most," Hermione explained. "Oh no, here he comes!"

Hermione vanished so fast that it almost seemed she had Disapparated, but as she had reminded her friends on so many occasions, you can not Apparate within Hogwarts — Hogwarts: A History says so.

"Harry," Cormac nodded. "Seen Hermione?"

"No, sorry."

With a grunt of annoyance, Cormac turned away, angrily muttering something that Katie was almost certain sounded like "Women."

"Harry, m'boy!" boomed a merry, rather drunken voice. A hiccoughing Professor Slughorn was thundering towards them, with a very bored looking man on his arm. "Sanguini, meet Harry Potter!"

Sanguini, a very tall, extremely pale man who Katie assumed must be the vampire that was rumoured to be attending the party, nodded curtly but did no speak a single word.

"I was just telling Sanguini here about your talent in my classroom!"

"Er — were you?"

"As I told you, he is most modest," Slughorn said fondly. His eyes landed on Katie and he let out a hearty laugh, making her jump. "Miss Blair! You came!"

A little startled, Katie could only muster a very small smile.

Slughorn clapped a hand down on her shoulder, hiccoughed, and turned to Sanguini. "This one here has quite the talent when it comes to Quidditch. Sadly, her team suffered a horrible loss against Harry here—" he nodded happily towards Harry "—but she can handle herself on the pitch! Quite good at Potions too, may I add, though nothing compared to Harry!" he added with a booming laugh.

Katie and Harry forced themselves to laugh while throwing anxious glances at each other. Neville and Luna were engrossed in what seemed to be a very enthusiastic conversation about magical plants, and Katie would have given anything for them to involve her — anything to get away from the tipsy Professor and the vampire.

The door burst open and Filch, his eyes alive with excitement, rushed into the room, dragging along behind him a very enraged Draco Malfoy. For the second time that night, Katie choked on her Gillywater.

"Professor Slughorn, sir," Filch began, his jowls aquiver and his eyes alight. "I've just discovered this boy lurking in an upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party. Did you issue him with an invitation?"

Slughorn had just opened his mouth to speak when, with one apologetic look at Neville, Katie stepped forwards.

"He's with me." she told Filch, whose eyes narrowed into slits.

"With you?" Filch repeated venomously.

"Yes," Katie stated firmly, "with me." She seized Draco's arm, yanked him free of Filch's grasp and dragged him to a far corner of the room, where she glared at him with her arms crossed, tapping her foot and waiting for an explanation.

"Well?" she demanded after ten seconds of silence in which Draco merely stared fearfully at her.

"I came to apologise." he told her, voice quivering ever-so-slightly, giving the impression that he was lying.

Katie's glare hardened. "Apologise?"

"Yes," Draco nodded. "I wanted to say sorry for not coming."

Katie quirked an eyebrow. "So you wanted to say sorry for not coming by coming?"

"I know it sounds stupid—"

"It is stupid."

"Are you mad at me?"

Katie had opened her mouth to respond with a firm "Yes," but instead drooped her shoulders, sighed deeply and said, "No. It's not your fault you're not well."

Someone cleared their throat behind Katerina and Draco. They both swiveled their heads around to find Snape, his expression almost blank with the exception of his pursed lips.

"I'd like a word with you, Draco." Snape said.

"Oh, Professor, can't it wait—" Katie started.

"Open your mouth again, Miss Blair, and see how many detentions you'll get," Snape snarled without looking at her. "Now, Draco."

Draco gave Katie a weak smile, which she returned, before Snape steered him away. When Katie turned around, Neville and Luna were right beside her, making her jump in fright.

"Neville and I were just going to dance," Luna said. "Would you like to join us?"

Katie downed the rest of her Gillywater, placed the glass on a table, and followed Luna and Neville.

***

"An Unbreakable Vow?" said the stunned voice of Ron Weasley. "Nah, he can't have... are you sure?"

"Yes," Harry stated simply. "Why, what does it mean?"

Katie paused by the door to the kitchen of the Burrow to eavesdrop, despite the fact that she knew she shouldn't.

"Well, you can't break an Unbreakable Vow..."

"I'd worked that much out for myself, funnily enough. What happens if you break it, then?"

There was a short pause.

"You die."

"Who's made an Unbreakable Vow?" Katie asked conversationally, acting as though she had not been standing outside the door for the last minute. Harry and Ron were stood by the kitchen sink peeling potatoes.

"No one." Harry said quickly. Ron, on the other hand, did not even bother to answer. He merely shot Katie one brief, repulsive look, grunted angrily, and went back to speaking to Harry.

"Fred and George tried to get me to make an Unbreakable Vow when I was about five," he told Harry. "I almost did, too — had my arm linked with Fred's and everything."

"I beg your pardon?" came Fred's voice as he and his twin sauntered into the kitchen. "Aaah, George, look at this. They're using knives and everything. Bless them."

"I'll be seventeen in two and a bit months' time," Ron grumbled. "Then I'll be able to do it by magic!"

Katie, who had sat at the kitchen table and hidden herself behind the morning's addition of the Daily Prophet, let out a snort of amusement, attracting the attention of Fred and George. They both smirked at her.

"I don't know what you're laughing for," Fred said teasingly. "Aren't, like, younger than Ginny?"

"I'm older than Harry, thank you very much." Katie retorted smoothly.

"By one week!" Harry said, sounding rather defensive.

Katie shrugged. "Still older."

"Now, Ronald," George began, propping his feet up on the table. "What is this we hear from Ginny about you and a young lady called — unless our information is faulty — Lavender Brown?"

Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the potatoes.

"Mind your own business."

"What a snappy retort," Fred drawled. "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was... how did it happen?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Did she have an accident or something?"

"What?"

"Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage?"

Katie, Harry and George all laughed loudly but Fred, having a rather mischievous glint in his eye, rounded on Katie once more.

"Don't you go thinking you're getting off the hook so easily," he said to her. "Ginny's told us all about you and," he paused to grimace, "Draco Malfoy."

"Git." George said, concealing the word behind a cough.

Feeling a fierce blush growing on her face, Katie hid behind the Daily Prophet once more.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told Ron," she said coolly. "I have the perfect obligation to kiss whoever I like."

Ron cast a furtive glance at Katie but said nothing. Fred and George, on the other hand, suddenly looked very serious and they both straightened up in their seats.

"Now, now," George said in a rebuking sort of voice. "You're our little sister now and we get a say in who you date."