I haven't had the chance to properly proofread this chapter yet so please excuse any minor mistakes!

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Very slowly and as quietly as possible so to avoid drawing attention to themselves, Katie, Harry and Ron, disguised as Antoinette Banks, Albert Runcorn and Reginald Cattermole, stepped into the courtroom where Mrs Cattermole was being interrogated. As soon as Katie passed through the door, an overwhelming sense of doom and despair sufficed her and, looking up, she found the source of this horrible feeling. Hundreds of Dementors, faceless and terrifying, were looming some fifty feet above Mrs Cattermole, who was bound to a chair in the centre of the room by thick chains. The only thing keeping the Dementors at bay was a Patronus cat that was prancing around Umbridge, Yaxley, and a disguised Hermione, who looked just as pale as Mrs Cattermole.

"Mary Elizabeth Cattermole," Umbridge said in her usual girlish voice, "mother to Maisie, Ellie and Alfred, wife to Reginald?"

"Yes." Mrs Cattermole responded in a terrified whisper. Rivers of tears were flowing from her eyes.

Umbridge suddenly caught sight of Katie, Harry and Ron standing in the doorway, and as Umbridge turned to face them, Katie saw, with a great jolt of her heart, the real locket, glinting gold, dangling around her neck.

Unfortunately, Mrs Cattermole and Yaxley had also noticed that Umbridge's attention had faltered, and the two of them also looked to the door. Mary's face lit up hopefully.

"Reg?"

Katie heard Ron's breath hitch. He looked to her, his eyes pleading for help, but Harry seized him by his robes and shoved him forwards. Ron placed his hand on the back of Mrs Cattermole's chair while Umbridge glared suspiciously down at the scene.

"Thank you, Albert," she said before addressing Mary once again. "Mary Elizabeth Cattermole, a wand was taken from you upon your arrival at the Ministry today. Mrs Cattermole, is this that wand?" Umbridge held up a short, reddish wand.

Mrs Cattermole nodded. She was trembling uncontrollably from head to toe.

"Would you please tell me from which witch or wizard you took this wand?"

"Took?" Mary stammered, tears leaking from her eyes once more. "I got it at Diagon Alley, at Ollivander's, when I was eleven. It chose me."

An unpleasant leer formed on Umbridge's face — a smile that made Katie's desire to hex her reach its peak.

"You're lying," Umbridge hissed. These two words seemed to spark a sort of anger with Harry, and Katie knew that he was thinking about the scar that was still visible on his hand as he began to pace the room. "Wands only choose witches and you are not a witch."

"But I am!" Mrs Cattermole sobbed. "Tell them, Reg, tell them what I am!"

Harry slipped his wand out of his pocket and Katie suddenly felt incredibly nauseous. Umbridge had also noticed this movement, because, for the second time, her attention was averted from the crying woman before her and she now focused on Harry.

"What on earth are you doing, Albert?" Umbridge asked.

Harry's face was swimming strangely. The Polyjuice Potion was beginning to wear off. Instinctively, Katie reached up to check if her hair was returning, but she found herself touching the bouncy, extravagant curls of Antoinette Banks. She had, after all, taken her Polyjuice Potion about ten minutes after the others, as Mrs Banks had arrived late that morning.

"You're lying, Dolores," Harry said. "And one mustn't tell lies."

A dawning comprehension twisted its way onto Umbridge's face, but she was not quick enough. Before she could even draw her wand, Harry had screamed "Stupefy!" and she crumpled forwards, her head hitting the desk in front of her.

Yaxley was on his feet at once, his wand pointing at Harry, whose hair was slowly but surely turning back to its usual black nest.

"Stupefy!" Katie cried and, like Umbridge, Yaxley fell unconscious.

Hermione wasted no time in snatching the locket from around Umbridge's neck and tearing down the steps.

"Harry!" Ron shouted, flailing his arms upwards.

Whether it was because of the absence of the Patronus or because they had just sensed that matters were no longer in control, the hundreds of cloaked Dementors were now swooping down upon them. Mrs Cattermole let out a scream and buried her head in her hands.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A stag burst out of the end of Harry's wand, chasing the scurrying Dementors back into black abyss that was the high ceiling of the courtroom.

"Come on!" Harry ordered, gesturing towards the door. As Katie and Hermione, and Ron, who was holding Mary Cattermole's hand, tore after Harry, the silver stag galloped along in their wake in case and more Dementors came leering upon them.

The effects of Harry's Polyjuice had completely worn off, and Hermione's was beginning to fade to.

"It's Harry Potter!" Mrs Cattermole cried. Her expression was showing clear signs of mingled relief and confusion.

"It is, isn't it?" Ron said. He still looked like Reginald Cattermole. "This will be fun to tell the kids."

Harry ushered everyone into a lift. The grilles slammed shut and then they were descending; the lift didn't stop until they reached the Atrium, where wizards were scrambling to seal the fireplaces. Apparently, word had already gotten out that there were inrtuders at the Ministry.

"Mary?"

The real Reginald Cattermole had just stepped out of one of the lifts. Ron swore loudly.

"Reg?" Mary said, appearing just as pale as she had while down in the courtrooms.

"Listen to me," Ron said rapidly. "You've got to get out of here, understand? Go home, get your kids, and leave the country."

More and more fireplaces were being sealed.

"Nice meeting you!" Ron finished, and then they were rushing through the Atrium as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves. Harry had his head down, as his messy black hair, lightning scar and emerald green eyes had since returned. In fact, Ron's Polyjuice had worn off now, too, and Katie was the only one left looking like a Ministry official.

"It's Harry Potter!" someone said. And then the name "Harry Potter" was ringing through the Atrium as everyone noticed his presence.

"STOP THEM!" Yaxley bellowed, bursting through the golden gates.

Katie, Harry, Hermione and Ron broke into a sprint across the Atrium. Ministry wizards were now working faster than ever to seal the fireplaces, and it did not help Katie's stress that Yaxley was now casting curse after curse at them.

Only five fireplaces were still opened. Hermione leapt in, followed by Harry, then Katie, and she could only hope that Ron made it.

They were back in the bathroom. Katie threw open the door of the cubicle and barely had time to process the situation before Harry, who was already gripping Hermione, seized her hand. Yaxley was in the bathroom too, his wand aloft. Hermione turned on the spot and they were Apparating — possibly the worst sensation in the world. Katie couldn't breathe, her lungs were being compressed. With a breath of relief, she saw the from door to Grimmauld Place, but there was a flash of purple light and a cry of pain, and she was soaring through darkness again.

She was thrown hard against the ground, hitting her head against something rough that could only be a rock. Gold light obscured her vision, which was unfocused and foggy anyway, thanks both the horrible Apparition and the fact that she had just slammed her head. Her vision swam in and out of focus. Someone was yelling, crying, possibly, but Katie wasn't sure who, then her vision faded and everything went blank.

Sometime later, Katie was gradually pulled from the silent darkness by the unmistakable sound of crickets chirping. As she stirred, she let out a small groan. The pain in her head came seeping back to her, as did the memories of what had happened — breaking into the Ministry, getting caught, Apparating, purple light, screaming...

Katie jolted up right. For a few short seconds, her vision was hazy, but it quickly came into focus. At first, she thought she was staring at curtains, but upon rotating her head she realised that she was inside a tent and the uncomfortable surface that she was lying on the bottom bunk of a bed. There was another bunk bed across the way, where an unconscious Ron lay, and between the two beds, Harry was sitting on a chair.

"What happened?" Katie demanded at once.

"We got away fine," Harry told her while walking over, putting a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down when she tried to climb out of the bed. "We got the Horcrux. But Yaxley grabbed a hold of Hermione and he saw Grimmauld Place. Hermione knew that it wouldn't be safe for us to go back there now that Yaxley can get inside — he'll no doubt Apparate loads of other Death Eaters to the house, so she brought us here."

The tent seemed quite big. It was sectioned off and, from what Katie could see, had four or five different sections. Oil lamps and candles sent a comfortable light dancing throughout the tent and shadows flickered against the drapes. It was the exact same tent that they had stayed in during the Quidditch World Cup.

"What happened to him?" Katie nodded towards Ron. She now saw that he had a thick wad of bandages wrapped around his upper arm. "Is he all right?"

"He got splinched but Hermione fixed him as best she could. He's going to be OK. And you," Harry added hastily when Katie opened her mouth to ask another question, "just hit your head really hard. You were only out for a couple of hours."

"Where's Hermione?"

Katie had cast her eyes around the tent but could not see Hermione anywhere.

"She's just outside casting some protective enchantments. Any more questions, or can I go make you tea?"

Katie and Harry both chuckled. Harry retreated into the kitchen. Now that he was gone, Katie could stand up freely. She wobbled on her legs a bit but quickly gained balance and hobbled over to a table where Hermione's beaded bag sat. It was surprisingly cold, considering it was September, and Katie assumed it must already be night. She snatched her wand off the table, opened Hermione's bag and said, "Accio jumper!"

The fluffy white jumper that Harry had gotten her for Christmas almost two years before popped out of the bag and Katie pulled it over her head, instantly feeling warmer. Harry's cup of tea, which he returned with minutes later, helped too.

Hermione ducked inside the tent twenty minutes later and smiled at Katie.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, pulling up a chair.

"Me? I'm fine. It's Ron that I'm worried about." Katie responded.

Hermione dragged her chair right up to Ron's bedside and stared at him with sadness swirling in her eyes. "He'll be fine, he'll just need some time to recover, that's all."

"So, what's the plan now?" Katie inquired.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the Horcrux. For some reason, the sight of it made a shiver run down Katie's spine.

"We don't know how to destroy it," Harry said, twirling the locket around his fingers and staring at it. "Kreacher said he'd tried everything but he just couldn't destroy it. We'll just have to keep it safe until we figure out how."

Harry draped the locket around his neck and dropped it inside his jumper. For some unexplainable reason, this action made Katie feel highly uncomfortable.

"We'll take turns keeping watch," Hermione said, standing up and drawing her wand. "I'll go first."

Before Katie or Harry could offer to take the first watch, Hermione had exited the tent, leaving behind silence in her wake.

"Katie, I — er — need to tell you something." Harry mumbled, and with a horrible stab of panic, Katie's thoughts trailed back to what Dobby had said all those weeks before. Ever since Ron interrupted their conversation, Katie and Harry had not sat down to talk about the matter.

Relief flooded Katie when Harry reached inside his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. When he unfolded the parchment, Katie realised that it was a file.

"When we got separated at the Ministry, I went into Umbridge's office," Harry started and Katie nodded to show that she was listening. "She had this drawer full of files and — well — I found yours. I thought you might want to have a look at this..."

Harry gulped harshly and Katie felt her heart jump to her throat. Judging by Harry's facial expression, he knew that she was thinking this file would tell her who her father really was. She took the file from Harry and read earnestly.

24/07/1980

Half-blood

Maria Blair (Mother)

~~~~~~~~~ (Father)

Anthony Blair (Step-father; deceased)

Christian Blair (Brother)

Leo Blair (Half-brother; deceased)

Seventh year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

MISSING

"My father's name is crossed out." Katie whispered, a hint of venom to her voice.

"I know," Harry said sadly. "I thought you'd want to see."

"But why?" Katie pressed. She sounded desperate as she aggressively shook the parchment. "Was he really a Death Eater? Was he so terrible that they can't even print his name?"

"I don't know, Katie." Harry sighed, giving her an apologetoc smile.

"And who's Undesirable Number-One?" she asked.

Harry dithered.

"Me."

Katie blinked at him.

"There's a really big price on my head, actually," Harry went on, not meeting Katie's eyes. "I saw a poster in Umbridge's office with some of the Undesirables. You were on there, too."

"Spectacular."

***

The group all agreed that it was best if they did not stay in one place too long. Once Ron was strong enough to Apparate, they went to a field near a farm, from which they nicked some bread and eggs. Hermione had not packed food in her beaded bag as she had thought that they would be returning to Grimmauld Place, where Kreacher would be more than happy to continue to serve them delicious meals.

Katie's mind often wandered to poor Kreacher. She had grown quite fond of him during their stay at Grimmauld Place, and so had the others, as the elf had become much warmer and happier. She thought of the elf preparing a nice hot meal for when the four of them returned, only to be met with Yaxley and a squad of Death Eaters. She just hoped that they wouldn't torture Kreacher for information.

Over the next few weeks, they Apparated to a new spot every couple of days, often sneaking into villages and towns while underneath the Invisibility Cloak to steal some food. Often, however, the towns were swarming with Dementors, and none of them were strong enough to fight off that many Dementors at once (they had all grown so much that only one of them could fit under the Cloak at a time).

The constant lack of good food only heightened Ron's agitation. Out of the four of them, he seemed the most on edge. This was justified. He was worried about his family. Every night, he sat next to a battery-ran stereo and listened to the news when the names of recent deaths and disappearances were listed. Not once was a Weasley mentioned, nor was Chris, much to Katie's relief.

They soon discovered that Harry had no further plan. He knew that there were more Horcruxes — the snake and something to do with either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff — but he had no clue what exactly the latter was or where to find it. As well as this, they had no means of destroying the Horcrux that they were currently in possession of. Harry had said that, in the Chamber of Secrets, he destroyed Tom Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang, but as Hermione pointed out, they did not have any of those lying around.

Harry suggested more than once that once of the Horcruxes could be hidden at Hogwarts, but the others were not so certain. Once day, they went to visit the orphanage in which Voldemort had grown up in the hopes that he had hidden a Horcrux there, only to find that the orphanage had been demolished years before and was now a block of offices.

Ron was not the only person who was annoyed. As days turned into weeks, and weeks into a month, and a chilly autumn dawned upon them, the other three grew restless and often snapped at each other. They had no plan, little food, and no idea what Voldemort was doing at any given time. Often, they would go an entire day without speaking just because the sound of each other's voices would grind their ears.

One night they were camping on a riverbank in Wales. Ron, Hermione and Harry had dozed off to the rumbling of Ron's stereo, and Katie was sat atop of some damp leaves by the river's edge taking the midnight watch. Her wand tip was alight and perched in the grass beside her. She cured her boredom by pulling at the loose threads on the cuffs of her sleeves, before repairing them with a charm and repeating. Every so often, she would hear a snapping of a twig and point her wandlight in the direction of the noise, only to see no one and was always left to assume that it had just been a passing animal.

Upon hearing a shuffling behind her, Katie seized her wand and whipped her head around, only to find her wand illuminating the dreary face of Harry Potter.

"Can't sleep?" she asked him. He shook his head and she pat the leaves beside her, signalling for him to sit down. He obeyed and seated himself by the water's edge. For many, peaceful minutes, they sat in silence and listened to the gentle trickle of the black river and the occasional hoot of an owl — to which Harry always responded with a frown, and Katie knew that he was thinking about Hedwig.

"Why can't you sleep? And don't lie to me." Katie added firmly before Harry could come up with a false tale. He must have been about to lie, because he snapped his mouth shut, sighed, and hesitated before answering.

"I keep seeing Gregorovitch."

Katie shifted around on her pile of leaves so that she was facing him instead of the stream.

"Yeah?" she said. "What's he doing?"

"You-Know-Who wants something from him," Harry explained slowly, clearly pondering each little detail as the words rolled off his tongue. "But whatever he wants, it was stolen from Gregorovitch a long time ago by this boy. I'm not sure who he is."

It had been Ron who requested that they use the name You-Know-Who instead of Voldemort. He said that Voldemort seemed like a jinx of sorts. Katie thought that maybe Ron believed the use of Voldemort's name would alert the Death Eaters to the speaker's whereabouts, which did not seem too absurd a theory, considering the Death Eaters had shown up in the café directly after Katie had said Voldemort's name aloud.

"What about you?" Harry asked, and when Katie tilted her head in confusion, he elaborated. "What's been bothering you lately? And don't say hunger, because I can tell there's something deeper."

Katie chuckled lightly before her face fell solemn once more. She chewed her lip nervously, debating whether or not she should admit the truth.

"Draco," she answered truthfully. In the light of the Lumos Charm, Katie saw an emotion momentarily flash through Harry's eyes, but she was not sure exactly what emotion it was. Nevertheless, he did not speak and allowed her to speak her mind. "Is it wrong that I'm worried about him?"