Grimmauld Place was exactly the same as Katie remembered it: eerie, cobwebbed and dimly lit. Apart from a few jinxes that had been put in place to scare away Snape if he ever dared to come lurking, everything was identical to the way it had been two years before.

"Right, where's the Horcrux?" Harry asked as soon as they had settled in the drawing room on the first floor. Hermione shot him a piercing look.

"Relax, Harry," she scolded. "We just got here."

Ron moved towards the window, pulled the heavy velvet curtain aside and inch and peered down into the lamp-lit street.

"Can't see anyone out there." he reported and turned his back on the window; but as soon as he did, Katie let out a panicked cry and pointed towards the window. They all drew their wands as a silver Patronus soared through the window and landed upon the floor in front of them, where it solidified into a weasel that spoke in the voice of Arthur Weasley.

"Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched."

Ron let out a noise somewhere between a whimper and a groan and dropped on to the sofa. Hermione joined him, gripping his arm.

"They're all right, they're all right!" she whispered, and Ron half laughed and hugged her.

Despite the relief that flooded her upon hearing that Ron's family were all right, there was nothing Katie could do when her mouth grew dry and her heart clenched. Hermione noticed her distressed state and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Hermione quizzed.

Katie tried to swallow but found that her mouth was too dry to do so.

"Chris," she croaked out. "I don't know if he's all right."

Hermione and Ron exchanged newly saddened glances while Harry placed a comforting hand on Katie's shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine," he assured her. "The Killing Curse is green, remember? The spell that hit him was red."

Katie nodded stiffly and attempted to curl her lips into a grateful smile, but she still could not shake the looming feeling of dread that was steadily growing in her stomach.

"I'd be more worried about your Niffler, Katie," Ron joked, trying to lighten the mood. "Without you around to keep him tamed, Mum might just throttle him."

After Hermione said that she did not want to be alone that night, they all agreed to set up sleeping bags and sleep in the drawing room together. Harry was very adamant on finding the real locket, but Hermione insisted that they all needed rest and they could search in the morning.

Katie was the first one to wake the next morning. It was barely dawn — only the tiniest sliver of faint golden light was seeping in through the crack in the window. She had been jolted awake by a nightmare — a nightmare that she had not had for quite some time. She had seen her father's death again, and whether or not Voldemort had made her see it like he used to, she couldn't be sure, but one thing was certain: the dream was much more horrifying now that she knew it was her mother casting the Killing Curse on her father.

Not wanting to rob the others of a good night's sleep, Katie started searching for the Horcrux herself. For extra safety precaution, she kept her wand gripped tightly in her hand as she searched the house, casting nervous glances over her shoulder every few seconds as though she was expecting a Death Eater to lunge at her from the shadows. She had a vague memory that the room in which she found the locket was on one of the higher floors, so she skipped the first few floors and began searching on the taller levels.

It felt as though she had checked every room in the house until she came across the one that she was searching for. At once, she recognised the green, chipping wallpaper, the moldy bed sheets, and, on the door, the printed gold letters reading: Regulus Arcturus Black.

The room was considerably messier than it had been upon Katie's first venture inside it. The duvet had been pulled back, the drawers were opened and paper lay scattered across the dusty floor. Evidently, someone had been by to search the place before them.

On top of the black dresser sat the silver case in which the locket had resided before Katie decided to disturb it. Pocketing her wand, she scurried over and hastily opened the box. The locket was not there. Katie was not sure why she felt so surprised — she had, after all, dropped the locket on the floor and left it there. But even after twenty minutes of scoping the floor and searching every nook and cranny of the room, Katie found nothing but some terrified mice.

Just as she had given up hope and was leaving the room, something caught her eye; something that she had been stupid enough to disregard only moments before. She paused in the doorway and carefully ran her fingers over the golden letters.

"Regulus Arcturus Black..." she whispered. "R.A.B."

And although the real locket was no longer there, their trip to Grimmauld Place had not been a waste of time. Katie tore down the stairs two at a time and as she was nearing the first floor, she could hear Ron calling out her name. Harry, Ron and Hermione were opening doors, peering inside and calling for her.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Katie shouted as she thundered down the stairs.

"We woke up and you were gone! Don't scare us like that!" Hermione reprimanded.

"I found something!" Katie announced, slightly breathlessly, as she rushed down the stairs. The other three whipped around to face her.

"The Horcrux?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No," Katie answered. "R.A.B."

"What?" Hermione gasped.

Katie motioned for them to follow her and they raced up endless flights of stairs until they reached the bedroom of Regulus Arcturus Black.

"Sirius' brother..." Harry whispered, tracing his finger across the letters as Katie had done only minutes before.

"But — but — you don't think... R.A.B.?" Ron said, his eyes wide.

Katie nodded. "That's exactly what I think. The locket isn't in there," she added as Harry moved to push the door open. "I've already checked."

They all fell into a thick silence as they pondered where the locket could have possibly gone. It was obvious that someone had been in Grimmauld Place since Sirius had died — the entire house was turned upside down, as if someone had been scavenging it.

"Kreacher!" Harry said so suddenly that Katie jumped. Without another word, Harry bounded back down the stairs, Katie, Hermione and Ron hurrying along in his wake. Harry continued all the way down to the basement kitchen, where he wretched open a small door that led to the small cubbyhole in which Kreacher slept. It was full of rotten old blankets which Harry ripped out and shook. The only thing that fell from the rags was a dead mouse and, frustrated, Harry and Ron sank back into chairs.

"Wait..." Harry mumbled, then he yelled, "Kreacher!"

There was a crack and the ugly house-elf appeared in the kitchen before them. Kreacher sunk into a bow at Harry's feet while also giving him a look that plainly said he wished Harry dead.

"Master," Kreacher croaked, "back in my Mistress's old house with the blood traitors Weasley and Blair and the Mudblood—"

"I forbid you to call anyone 'blood traitor' or 'Mudblood'." Harry growled.

It still deeply confused Katie when Kreacher referred to her as a 'blood traitor'. As she had informed the elf two years before, she was a Half-blood. She shook this thought as Harry continued to interrogate Kreacher.

"I've got a question for you," Harry said to the house-elf, "and I order you to answer it truthfully. Understand?"

"Yes, Master." Kreacher replied, bowing low again.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the fake Horcrux. Kreacher let out a yelp and jumped backwards, as though merely looking at the locket burned him.

"This locket, you've seen it before, haven't you?"

There was a short pause, then Kreacher resentfully said, "Yes. That's Master Regulus' locket."

"But there were two of them, weren't there?" Harry pressed on. "Two years ago, did you take the real one?"

Kreacher dithered for a moment, straightened up to look Harry full in the face, then he said, "Yes."

Katie, Ron and Hermione all grinned jubilantly. Their visit to Grimmauld Place was proving better and better by the minute.

"Where is it now?" Harry questioned.

"Gone." the elf said.

In an instant, Katie, Ron and Hermione's smiles were wiped away. Katie could feel herself growing cold.

"Gone?" Harry echoed. "What do you mean, it's gone?"

The elf shivered, swayed, then spoke only two words, "Mundungus Fletcher."

Harry's eyes narrowed, his eyebrows brooded and a deep scowl lined his face.

"Find him." Harry ordered.

A second crack identical to the first sounded through the room and then Kreacher had disappeared.

All four of them knew that it would more than likely take Kreacher at least a few hours to find Mundungus and bring him back to Grimmauld Place, so they retreated upstairs to the drawing room, where Harry played idly with the Snitch that Dumbledore had left for him in his will and Hermione attempted to teach Ron how to play piano. He hammered very hard on the keys, making Hermione giggle.

"Be a bit gentler." she said softly, then demonstrated how to play properly. Ron, however, did not seem to care about the piano at all, and was instead focusing, mesmerised, on Hermione, who hadn't the faintest idea that he was ogling her. Katie glanced up from the old letters that she was poring over and smiled at them.

"You think he'd just kiss her already." she said quietly to Harry, who chuckled and closed his fingers firmly around the fluttering Snitch as Hermione came over and seated herself across from him.

"They have flesh memories," she said. "When Scrimgeour first gave it to you, I thought it would open at your touch. I thought that, maybe, Dumbledore had hidden something inside it."

Harry stared at the Snitch, clearly deep in thought, when a revelation struck Katie.

"Well, you didn't catch your first Snitch in your hand, did you?" she chimed in and they both turned to look at her. "You almost swallowed it."

At the exact same time, both Harry and Hermione's eyes lit up with excitement and realisation, and Harry pressed his lips to the Snitch. Heart pounding, Katie watched eagerly, but nothing happened until Hermione shouted, "Writing! Quick, there's writing on it!"

Harry turned the ball over in his hand and read aloud, "I open at the close."

"What does that mean?" Ron said, looking to Hermione, expecting her to already have an answer, but her eyebrows were twisted together in perplexity and she slowly shook her head. Then, she reached into her bag, pulled out a book and tucked her nose into it, and the others knew that it was best not to disturb her when she was reading unless they would like a smack of a hardback book upside the head. Ron moved away from the piano and sat beside Katie as Harry continued examining the Snitch.

"What are you reading?" Ron asked conversationally.

"Old letters." Katie told him.

"Yeah? From who, your brothers?"

Katie paused and swallowed a harsh lump that had formed in her throat.

"Draco." she answered finally in a hoarse voice. The eyes of both Harry and Hermione flicked towards her briefly and she did not dare look up into Ron's face — she was almost certain it bore a shrewd scowl.

"He's not on our side, Katie," Ron sighed out, sounding half exasperated, half pitying. "He tried to kill Dumbledore, for Merlin's sake."

"I know what he did," Katie countered, still refusing to look up from the letter. "I was there, remember? Hey — give those back!"

Ron had snatched the stash of letters from her hands and held them out of her reach as she groped the air, trying to take them back.

"You need to let go," he said softly, smiling sadly at her. "You'll only make yourself upset if you read these."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Katie nodded and slumped back in her seat.

"I'm not going to burn them or anything, I'm just going to keep them, all right?" Ron said, pocketing the letters. Katie nodded. Ron was right. She did have to let go.

"Sometimes I just really miss him..." she mumbled quietly, but the three Gryffindors still heard her clearly.

"Katie," Hermione began gently, "he's a Death Eater."

"Yes, but he doesn't want to be one." Katie countered.

"What, so you're defending him now?" Ron said bitterly.

"Of course not," Katie snapped. "I'm just as angry with him as all of you are. In fact, I'm probably angrier. He lied to my face all year. He promised me he wasn't involved with Voldemort," Katie did not even notice that she was crying. "But you weren't on the Astronomy Tower. Harry, you were, and you can back me up on this — Draco didn't want to kill Dumbledore. Voldemort told him that he would kill him if he didn't do it. And, sure, maybe that makes Draco a coward — I know I would die before killing someone or doing Voldemort's dirty work, but Draco still isn't evil."

A tense, heavy quietness fell after this, which was only punctured by an occasional sniffle escaping Katie, and was officially broken when Hermione offered her a tissue. Katie had just wiped her eyes when a distinct crashing sounded from the kitchen below. The four of them glanced fearfully around at each other before jumping up from their seats and running downstairs, where they found Mundungus wrestling with not one, but two house-elves.

"Harry Potter! So great to see you again!" Dobby squeaked. He was wrapped around the leg of the struggling Mundungus Fletcher while Kreacher was sat on his shoulders. The two elves were attempting to heave Mundungus into a rickety wooden chair.

"Get off me!" Mundungus yelled. Only seconds later, he lost his footing and fell in a heap on the floor, but he quickly scrambled back to his feet and drew his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Hermione said. Mundungus' wand flew from his hand and Hermione caught it.

"Dobby was only trying to help!" Dobby cried, leaping onto a chair and then onto the wooden table as Hermione pursued Mundungus into a chair in the corner. "Dobby saw Kreacher in Diagon Alley, which Dobby thought was curious. And then, Dobby heard Kreacher mention Harry Potter's name," Kreacher tried to interject but Dobby shoved him away. "And then, Dobby saw Kreacher talking with the thief, Mundungus—"

"Hold on — thief?" Mundungus bellowed. "Come here you little—"

"You're a thief, Dung, everyone knows it," Ron said, aiding Hermione in pursuing Mundungus into the seat.

"Master Weasley!" Dobby beamed. "So good to see you again!"

Ron shook Dobby's hand before Dobby's eyes found Katie and he sunk into such a low bow that his nose almost touched the table he was perched on.

"Mistress Blair!" Dobby squeaked. "An honour!"

"Oh — oh, there's no need for that Dobby." Katie stammered, laughing nervously, referring to how Dobby was bowing to her. As far as she could remember, she had never properly been introduced to the elf. She had seen him, of course, and Harry had told her about him, but she had never had a real conversation with Dobby.

"Oh, but there is, Miss!" Dobby continued, coming up from his bow. "Harry Potter speaks most highly of Mistress Katerina."

"Dobby..." Harry said quietly through clenched teeth.

"One time, Dobby came to visit Harry Potter in his dormitory, yes he did." Dobby seemed not to have heard Harry's word of warning.

"Dobby, don't."

"Harry Potter was most distressed," Dobby pressed on. Katie was watching avidly, Ron was burying his face in his hands, possibly feeling intense second-hand embarrassment. "Dobby asked what was upsetting Harry Potter, and Harry Potter told Dobby that he had messed up, that he had driven Katerina Blair away, and now the girl he loved was with someone else—"

"Enough, Dobby, please!" Harry said loudly, his face awfully red.

Dobby reached up and tugged nervously at his ears as his tennis ball sized eyes welled with anxiety. "Oh no, has Dobby said too much, sir? Dobby is terribly sorry—"

Dobby broke off as he lunged for a frying pan, no doubt to hit himself with it, but Harry seized him and placed him firmly back on the table.

Katerina's head was pounding and her heart was beating hard against her ribcage. Was Dobby telling the truth or had he just misheard Harry? He couldn't be telling the truth — if he was, that could change everything... Katie was forced to table these thoughts as Mundungus, who she had honestly forgotten was there, spoke once more.

"Listen!" Mundungus belted. "I panicked that night, all right? Can I help it if Mad-Eye fell off his broom?"

Katie, Harry, Ron and Hermione all glared at Mundungus. Everyone in that room knew all too well that Mundungus was partially responsible for Moody's death.

"Tell the truth," Harry bit angrily. "When you turned this place over — don't deny it — you found a locket, am I right?"

"Why? Was it valuable?" Mundungus sneered.

"Have you still got it?" Katie inquired.

Ron looked disgusted. "He's worried he didn't get enough money for it!"

"Bleedin' give it away, didn't I?" Mundungus said, sounding partially apologetic and partially regretful for his own loss. "There I was, flogging my ways in Diagon Alley, when some Ministry woman comes up and asks to see my licence, says she's in her mind to lock me up. Would've done too, if she hadn't have taken a fancy to that locket."

"Who was she?" Harry asked.

"I've no idea, I..." Mundungus trailed off when something on the floor caught his eye. He bent down low and picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet from the floor. "Well, she's there — look! Big bow and all!"

Mundungus slapped the paper down on the table and they all filed around it. Katie felt white-hot anger boil up inside of her at the sight of Dolores Umbridge smiling up from the page. Katie's eyes momentarily flickered towards the scar that Umbridge had left on Harry's hand. She remembered meeting Harry after his detention with Umbridge, finding him with his hand covered in blood and the words 'I must not tell lies' carved into his skin. This memory only made Katie's fury grow.

"Umbridge." Ron growled.

***

After Mundungus and Dobby left, Katie, Harry, Hermione and Ron gathered around the kitchen table to devise a plan to steal the real Horcrux from Umbridge. They agreed that they would take it in turns to wear the Invisibility Cloak, Apparate to the street outside the Ministry and spy on people to try and get as much information as possible. It wasn't a spectacular plan, but with Death Eaters constantly patrolling the streets of Grimmauld Place, staring at numbers eleven and thirteen, as they could not see number twelve but knew Harry Potter was most likely hiding there, it was the best plan they had.

Later that evening, Katie was sat on her bed skimming through her old copy of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Ron had suggested that, as they would probably be staying in Grimmauld Place for quite some time as they tried to gather information from people outside the Ministry, it would be best if they started sleeping in bedrooms. Katie had chosen the room in which she had previously slept in while at Grimmauld Place, while Harry spent his nights in Sirius' room.

There was a knock on Katie's bedroom door and it creaked opened. Harry's face appeared in the gap and Katie sat up straight.