Katerina Blair's silver lioness Patronus pranced around her, illuminating the tent with its blue glow and providing a source of entertainment for Harry, Ron and Hermione. It also brought Katie a sense of comfort, which, she supposed, was what Patronuses were supposed to do.

"Oh my God!" Hermione gasped suddenly, jumping to her feet and rushing into the kitchen.

"What?" Harry asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute."

Harry stood up and followed her into the kitchen. "Maybe you could tell me now."

Katie did not get up, instead continuing to watch her lioness circle the tent, but she could hear Harry and Hermione's conversation quite clearly. Ron, also, did not retreat to the kitchen, instead deciding to remain on his bottom bunk looking thoroughly disgruntled about something.

"The sword of Gryffindor — it's Goblin made."

"Brilliant." Harry said sardonically.

"No, you don't understand," Hermione went on, excitement shaking her voice. "Dirt and rust have no affect on the blade. It only takes in that which makes it stronger."

There was a pause in which neither of them spoke.

"Harry, you already destroyed one Horcrux, right? Tom Riddle's diary, in the Chamber of Secrets."

"With a basilisk fang! If you tell me you've got one of those in that bloody beaded bag of yours—"

"Don't you see? In the Chamber of Secrets, you stabbed the basilisk with the sword of Gryffindor. It's blade is impregnated with basilisk venom."

Katie made an involuntary movement. This was why Dumbledore had left the sword of Gryffindor to Harry in his will. Ron, however, did not look pleased at all. In fact, he groaned loudly and clenched his fists.

"It only takes in that which makes it stronger."

"Exactly, which is why—"

"It can destroy Horcruxes!"

"And that's why Dumbledore left it to you in his will."

"You are brilliant, Hermione! Truly!"

Ron got to his feet and began making his way towards the kitchen. With a sudden feeling of looming foreboding, Katie stood up and followed him.

"Actually, I'm highly logical, which allows me to look past extraneous detail and perceive clearly that which others overlook."

"Yeah... there's only one problem with this—"

Ron clicked the Deluminator and the lights went out. When he clicked it a second time and the balls of light were returned to their lamps, Harry and Hermione were staring at Ron, who had just entered the kitchen with Katie behind him.

"Yeah, I'm still here," Ron drawled, an undertone of venom to his voice. "But you two carry on. Don't let me spoil the fun."

Harry had a book opened in front of him. Looking as though he was refraining from rolling his eyes, he closed the book, turned to face Ron and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong. Not according to you, anyway."

Katie gulped harshly. For the briefest of moments, her eyes met Hermione, and she knew that they were thinking the exact same thing — an argument was brewing.

"If you've got something to say, don't be shy," Harry said. "Spit it out."

"All right, I'll spit it out," Ron snarled. "Don't expect me to be grateful just because now there's another damn thing we've got to find."

"I thought you knew what you signed up for."

"Yeah, I thought I did too."

"Well then, I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand," Harry got to his feet, passed Ron, walked into the centre of the tent and turned to face the group again. "What part of this isn't living up to your expectations? Did you think we were going to be staying in a five-star hotel? Finding a Horcrux every other day? You thought you'd be back with your mum by Christmas?"

"I just thought, after all this time, we would have actually achieved something," Ron growled, ignoring Hermione every time she quietly said his name. "I thought you knew what you were doing! I thought Dumbledore would've told you something worth while! I thought you had a plan!"

Ron's ears were glowing red and Harry's jaw was slacked. Not knowing what to say, Katie nervously chewed her nails while her anxious eyes danced between Harry and Ron, both of whom looked ready to strike the other at any given moment.

"I told you everything Dumbledore told me," Harry said, his voice surprisingly calm. "And in case you haven't noticed, we have found a Horcrux already."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and we're about as close to getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them, aren't we?"

Hermione stepped between the two of them and reached out for the locket that was hanging from Ron's neck, but he shoved her hands away and continued to glare menacingly at Harry.

"Ron..." Hermione whispered, sounding desperate. "Please take — please take the Horcrux off. You wouldn't be saying any of this if you hadn't been wearing it all day!"

"Want to know why I listen to that radio every night, do you?" Ron continued on. "To make sure I don't hear Ginny's name, or Fred, or George, or Mum."

"What, you think I'm not listening too?" Harry shouted, making both Katie and Hermione flinch. "You think I don't know how this feels!"

"No, you don't know how it feels!" Ron roared, and this time Katie and Hermione actually jumped. "Your parents are dead, you have no family!"

Apparently, this had struck a nerve with Harry because, abandoning all magic, he flung himself at Ron.

"Stop!" Hermione shrieked. "Stop it, both of you!"

Hermione seized Ron around the shoulders and Katie latched onto Harry's arm, and with extreme effort, the girls managed to pull Harry and Ron away from each other.

"Fine, then GO!" Harry roared. "Go, then!"

Scowling maliciously, Ron ripped the Horcrux from his neck and tossed it aside. Then, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a collection of crumpled parchment, grabbed Katie's wrist and shoved the pages into her hand. She assumed that they were Draco's letters but she did not glance down to confirm — she was too busy staring, terrified, at Ron, who barely even looked like himself. His face was mean and contorted with rage.

Ron snatched up his bag and made for the door of the tent, where he sharply look back at Hermione, who was now crying.

"And you?" Ron demanded. "Are you coming or are you staying?"

Hermione looked completely broken. She threw her gaze between Harry and Ron, shaking her head and muttering incoherent words. Ron's nostrils flared.

"Fine, I get it." Ron spat, turning on his heel and storming from the tent and into the rain.

"Ron!" Hermione shouted, hurtling after him. "Ron, please come back! Ron!"

There was a distant crack, meaning that Ron had Disapparated, and although she already knew that Ron was gone, the crack still sent a feeling of despair washing over Katie. She collapsed back into an armchair, tossed Draco's letters onto a nearby table, and placed her head in her hands.

***

After a few days of waiting for Ron to come back, they finally had to accept that he wouldn't. Each of them feeling empty, though none so as much as Hermione, they packed up their tent and Apparated to yet another spot.

Hermione had chosen a forest again and there was another river just visible through the thick trees. This forest was much denser than any that had camped in before. With a wave of her wand, Hermione set up the tent. Harry announced that he was going to catch some fish for them to eat and disappeared amidst the sea of brown and green.

Wordlessly, Katie and Hermione retreated inside the tent and busied themselves with making tea. None of the three had really spoken to each other since Ron left. His departure seemed to upset Hermione the most. Katie often found her with red, puffy eyes, meaning that she had been crying, but she would never let anyone see her when she was crying.

"Did you and Harry talk?" Hermione asked out of the blue. It had been so long since she had a proper conversation with Hermione that it took at least five seconds for the question to register with Katie.

"What do you mean?" Katie said, genuinely perplexed. She and Hermione were both straining their teabags against the sides of the cups.

"Did you two ever talk about what Dobby had said?" Hermione elaborated. Katie felt a surge of agitation rise in her throat like bile.

"I don't want to talk about that, Hermione." she snapped a little more venomously than intended. She did not apologise for her tone, however, and sat down in an armchair beyond the kitchen. Hermione followed her and took her own seat.

"I think you do." Hermione said knowingly. Through narrowed eyes, Katie studied Hermione's face. It was soft and understanding. Hermione knew that what Dobby had said had been nagging the back of Katie's mind for weeks, and she wanted Katie to get her feelings off her chest.

"I just wasn't expecting it," Katie mumbled, swirling her tea around in her mug so not to look into Hermione's eyes. "But it's no big deal. It's not like Dobby was telling the truth or anything. He was probably just rambling."

Katie had expected Hermione to agree with her, so when she said nothing, Katie looked up from her tea to find Hermione gazing and smiling sadly at her.

"I think he was telling the truth," Hermione said and a strange and uncomfortable tingle ran down Katie's arms. "You have no idea how upset he was after he ended things."

"I was upset too." Katie said.

"But you got over it."

Before responding, Katie took a long drink of her tea so she could consider Hermione's sentence properly.

"Well, is he over it now?" Katie questioned at last.

Hermione shook her head slowly. "I don't know. He hasn't really talked about you since we left Hogwarts."

"Well then," Katie said casually, getting to her feet. "That's settled. He's obviously over it."

Katie strolled away towards her bunk, hoping to relax with her tea and maybe read a book for something to do, but Hermione's voice called her back.

"Do you love him?"

Katerina froze. She felt her breath catch in her throat.

"What?" she forced out. Her voice sounded oddly croaky.

"You heard me." Hermione said.

Katie gulped, but her mouth was too dry to swallow so she found herself physically unable to speak for many moments.

"Why does that matter?" she said. She had tried to make her sentence sound like a demand, but it was much to tentative to come across as so. It took Hermione quite awhile to respond to this, and whether she was thinking of an answer or debating whether or not she should utter one that she already had, Katie wasn't sure.

"You always come back to each other," Hermione said at last. "I understand that you really care about Draco, but at the end of the day, you always come back to Harry. It's always been Harry."

Katie did not respond to this and the conversation came to an emotional end. Placing her tea down on the table, she dropped onto Hermione's bottom bunk and pondered over everything that had just been said.

Katie had never really thought about her feelings for Harry — not since Draco kissed her. That seemed like so long ago when, in actual fact, it had not even been a year yet. How could Hermione be so certain about what Katerina was feeling when she wasn't even sure herself?

It took him about a half an hour, but Harry returned with some fish, which Hermione baked over a fire outside rather than in the oven. Not wanting to be around Harry at the time, Katie scoped around as much of the woods that Hermione's protective enchantments covered. Of course, Harry did not see anything odd with this behaviour. As previously stated, the three of them had been avidly avoiding each other since Ron left.

When the fish was finally cooked, the sun was beginning to set over the horizon, sending golden beams dancing through the ceiling of green and brown leaves overhead. Katie, Harry and Hermione sat in a circle and ate their food in silence, listening to the sounds of their own breathing and the gentle crowing of birds in the woods.

It was Katie who finished eating first. She tossed her fish bone aside and made to stand up when she realised that she would much rather stay outside than go back inside the dull tent.

"The protective enchantments cover some of the river, right?" she asked Hermione, still not looking at Harry. Hermione nodded and Katie got to her feet and crunched through the carpet of fallen leaves towards the river.

Katie leaned against the thick trunk of a tree and watched as a school of fish merrily swam through the glittering water, occasionally leaping above the surface of the stream, making Katie giggle softly.

The sun was now level with the tree trunks rather than the leaves and was glaring directly into Katie's eyes. She squinted and turned her head to the side to avoid the light of the sun, but as she done so, a blinding pain filled her head that had nothing to do with the blaring light.

And suddenly, as though she had Apparated, she was in a room. It was a large bedroom with a bed dressed in handsome green sheets and silver hangings. The light inside was dim and gloomy, courtesy of the green oil lamps. Katie was reminded of the Slytherin common room.

A figure lay on top of the bed, hands over their head, writhing and screaming. Beside him was a tall man, enveloped in a dark cloak, though one, long, ghostly white hand was protruding from the robes. This man was holding out his wand and pointing it at the boy on the bed, evidently torturing him using the Cruciatus Curse.

"You're about to find out what happens when you disobey the Dark Lord, Draco."

With a horrible stab of panic, Katie screamed and leapt forward to aid Draco, but before she could even take a step, her mind went black once more.

"Katie? Katie!"

Someone was shaking her vigorously. Gasping for air, she snapped open her eyes. The brown canopy of leaves above was swimming in and out of focus, as was Harry, who was leaning down over her.

Katie was sprawled out on the grass on the river's edge, breathing heavily, her chest heaving up and down. Her head was pounding and her heart was racing.

"I have to go." she said quietly but panicked, getting hastily to her feet. She wobbled slightly but quickly gained her balance and started making for the tent. She now saw that Hermione was standing a little bit away from the riverbank, her face pale and full of worry.

"What?" Harry almost shouted. "What do you mean?"

"It's — it's Draco," Katie panted. "He's in trouble."

"Katie, you can't just abandon the—" Hermione began but Katie swiftly cut her off.

"I'm not abandoning, Hermione!" she said. "He's dying, all right? You-Know-Who is torturing him, and if someone doesn't go to help him, he's going to die."

"And if we don't find these Horcruxes, hundreds of people are going to die." Harry countered. He was pursuing Katie through the forest as she marched towards the tent. Katie stopped abruptly and spun around to face Harry.

"Look," she started, "I know that Draco messed up — big time — I haven't forgiven him for it, and I doubt that I ever will, but if you think for one second that I'm just going to sit back and let him die—"

"Ron already left, we can't lose you too." Harry said. He sounded awfully desperate and was making Katie's wish to depart much more painful.

"Katie," Hermione took one cautious step forward. "If you leave now, you might not be able to come back. You won't be able to find us again because of our protective enchantments.

Katie could feel tears pricking her eyes but she hastily blinked them away.

"I'm so sorry, but I have to go."

Once again, Katie turned away from Harry and took one more step towards the tent, but Harry was not going to let her go that easily.

"Remember how it felt when Draco walked away from you on the Astronomy Tower?" Harry called out, sounding tearful, his voice almost empty. "Please don't do that to me."

All of a sudden, Katie was wondering whether Harry wanted to keep her around to help find the Horcruxes or whether he simply enjoyed her company. Nevertheless, what he said sparked an unwanted surge of guilt inside of her.

Taking a deep, shaky breath and allowing her tears to fall, she slowly turned around to look at Harry. She took one step forwards, he took one step forwards, and then they were running towards each other, and they were kissing.

It was quite a peculiar phenomenon. Katerina could not remember the last time he had kissed Harry, but now, he was holding onto her so tight that she was scared he might never let go.

She felt an odd sensation of mingled bliss and shame. She was not sure what had made her kiss Harry — it was a very sudden and unexplainable impulse, but he responded with utmost enthusiasm.

When they broke apart, there were tears in Harry's eyes. He brushed a strand of Katie's hair off her face.

"Well, now I'm definitely not letting you go." he said quietly.

Katie took his arms, which were still wrapped around her waist, and slowly removed them. Shaking her head, she stepped backwards, giving him the most apologetic look she could muster.

"I — I'm so sorry."

The realisation had just dawned on Harry's face when Katie turned on the spot.

"No, wait—!" Harry shouted, reaching out to grab her, but it was too late — she had already Apparated.

She assumed that Draco and Voldemort were at Malfoy Manor. Katie thought hard of the Manor and found herself at the end of a very long and wide pathway. On either side, walls of finely trimmed hedging towered feet above her, and up ahead was a wrought iron gate, topped with incredibly sharp pikes. The air was bitter. A layer of eerie mist swept the damp ground, swirling beneath Katie and engulfing her boots.

Beyond the gates stood a dark and handsome Manor. Not a single light was on inside. Pulling her jacket tighter around herself (she wished she had been wearing something warmer) and drawing her wand, Katie set off up the path. Her steps were hesitant and filled with caution. The sight of the tall gate was immensely intimidating.

As Katie drew nearer to the gate, she started to worry that it would be locked and she would not be able to get through, but once she reached it, it swung open of its own accord, creating a horrible, ringing noise. Katie only realised just how sinisterly quiet the grounds of Malfoy Manor were when the gates had opened completely and this reverberating noise died away.

Taking one deep breath, Katie fastened her grip on her wand and approached the grand, dark wooden front doors of the Manor. Her legs were shaking horribly but she was determined to not turn back. She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do when she got inside — she was certainly no match for Lord Voldemort. Maybe she could grab Draco and Disapparate with him. It was only as she paused in front of the front doors of Malfoy Manor that Katie realised she had no plan and was acting entirely on impulse.

Every nerve in her body was telling her that this was too dangerous, that she should turn back. She was playing right into Voldemort's hands; but then she remembered Draco's agonising screams and decided that she had to stay. He needed her, and although she hated him with every fibre of existence, she knew all too well that he did not deserve to die.

Katie raised her trembling hand, closed it into a fist and knocked on the door.