invisible string! → ron weasley

iv. the common room & the witness

"Kates. What d'you think of her?"

"Oh," said Harry, quite thrown off by the question. He blinked. "Well, er, she's cool, I like her. She is our friend, you know."

"Well I know that," scoffed Ron.

"I just thought you might've forgotten the way you're asking about her. What's up with that, anyway?" Ron's face flushed.

"Oh, er, nothing," he murmured, suddenly very interested in his History of Magic textbook. Harry looked from him to where Kates had been sitting and back again, then his eyes widened in realization.

"Oh." But he said nothing more and turned back to his own textbook, wearing a humored smile.

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KATES WAS FURIOUS. Hogsmeade visits were supposed to be fun, but no, of course her brother had to ruin that for her too—okay, so it wasn't really Wesley's fault, more his friends (specifically the arrogant and cruel Ares Carrow), but it still made her feel better to blame him, too.

She had been sitting in the Three Broomsticks with Dean, Neville, and Seamus when they all trotted in. They looked very pleased with themselves as Ares sat down by Kates's side and struck up what was by all appearances a nice conversation, but she knew otherwise. He asked if she'd like to spend the rest of the day with him, and when she said no, he said some not-very-nice things about the company she decided to keep instead. Without even acknowledging him, she told her friends she'd see them back at the common room and left the scene, heading back to Hogwarts an hour early.

Hogsmeade wasn't anything new to Kates—she had, after all, grown up seeing everything the wizarding world had to offer—but it was also the one time she could experience it with her friends rather than her family. It felt like a completely different place with them, almost like when Aunt Jackie would take her places in the muggle world. It gave everything a new beauty...but alas, her time to enjoy it had been cut short thanks to some of the worst people she knew.

Kates took a breath as she reached the castle and, in true Kates Kinley fashion, tried to look on the bright side. The castle would be nearly empty for the next hour until everyone else came back, which means she could take her time going back to the common room. She loved Hogwarts; it was more of a home to her than Kinley Manor, that was for damned sure. The flickering lights gave everything a warm hue even in the daylight and the architecture was so historic and gorgeous she knew she'd never tire of walking through the halls. Also, she thought as she walked through the castle doors, the day hadn't been a total loss. She was able to enjoy a few hours with her friends, she was able to drink half of her butterbeer, and she had a bag full of sweets from Honeydukes that would last her months.

She walked through the castle without a care in the world, the incident from earlier falling to the back of her mind (for the time being, at least). She didn't stray from her path, but she didn't rush, either, heading for the grand staircase at a deliberate pace. There were a few younger students mulling about, but most of them were either in the Great Hall, the courtyard, or the grounds. The stairs leading up to the Gryffindor common room were currently elsewhere, but she waited patiently on the landing for it to return. As she was waiting, someone approached the Fat Lady's portrait. She didn't recognize them, but of course they weren't facing her so it could have easily been an older student she didn't know.

Then the Fat Lady started screaming and Kates watched as she disappeared entirely, leaving her post and seeking refuge in another painting. The mystery person looked over their shoulder, and Kates heard herself gasp, but she didn't even feel it escape her lips. She recognized his weathered face from the Daily Prophet, from the posters in Hogsmeade, but his eyes were different from how they looked in his prison photos. They had lost their glimmer, but they were the same eyes she had seen in old photos of her Aunt's, photos of the Order of the Phoenix during the last war. It was Sirius Black, still in his Azkaban rags, making a desperate attempt to break into the Gryffindor common room. And he had seen her.

For a moment, Kates was frozen to the spot, staring into his almost pleading eyes. She didn't know what to do, if she should draw her wand or run off for help—luckily, though, he made the decision easy for her. He disappeared up the stairs in the blink of an eye.

She was able to track down Percy easy enough (he stuck around to make sure the underclassmen didn't get into any trouble whilst the older students were out), and from there it was only a matter of time before Dumbledore arrived. At that point, everyone had returned from their day in Hogsmeade, and Kates quickly came to realize that just about everyone wanted to talk to her. Dumbledore and McGonagall had her retell the events as she had seen them; McGonagall checked in with her; Harry checked in with her; Hermione told her how brave and lucky she was; Ron stumbled over his words, saying he was glad she was all right; Neville asked if there was anything he could do for her; Dean and Seamus didn't let her out of their sight.

That night as everyone settled in for the night in the Great Hall, Kates still couldn't get the look in Sirius's eyes out of her head.

"Something isn't right about all this," she confessed to her two best friends, keeping her voice low as to not stir up anything with anyone else. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were nearby and she didn't want them taking the wrong meaning of her words.

"You've got that right," muttered Seamus. "I don't even know how he was able to get in. You're lucky he didn't have a wand on 'im."

"But that's what I'm saying," she whispered. "I don't think he would have hurt me." Both boys looked at her in bewilderment, and she continued. "You should have seen the look in his eyes. It wasn't anger or bloodlust, it was...I don't know, it was almost like he was desperate—"

"Desperate to kill Harry," said Dean, keeping his voice down as best he could. Kates shook her head.

"No, not like that. I can't explain it. Aunt Jackie knew him, back during the war. She said he was James Potter's best friend, she still doesn't think he could have given them up." She watched as Dean and Seamus's eyes widened in unison.

"You really think—"

"I don't know," Kates said firmly, not wanting them to think she was mad. Besides, she didn't have all the facts. "But he didn't look like a killer to me."

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"SO KATES WAS RIGHT AFTER ALL," said Ron, more to himself than to anyone else as he limped through the underground passageway, his arm around Sirius Black's shoulders. He had overheard her conversation that night in the Great Hall. At first, he thought she couldn't have been more wrong; he assumed it was a symptom of her desperation to see the best in everyone. But, as he had learned quite recently, Sirius really had been loyal to the Potters this whole time, and he hadn't killed or betrayed anyone.

"What's that?" said Sirius, and Ron shook his head.

"It's nothing. Just...my friend, she saw you trying to get into the Gryffindor common room back in October. She said she didn't think you were a killer. Turns out she was right." Ron stole a glance at the older man and saw he was smiling.

"She was a friend of yours? At first I thought I was seeing things. She looks exactly like an old friend of mine. Jacqueline Kinley—"

"That's her aunt!" Sirius sighed, growing suddenly solemn.

"That means she's Iris's kid, then? Poor girl." Ron flashed him a look of curiosity, and he continued on, his voice straining slightly as he pulled Ron up through the passageway. "Iris is one of my cousins. She married Jackie's brother once they graduated Hogwarts, right as the war was picking up. I knew Jackie before that, of course—we grew up in the same world, we were in the same year at school, and she fought in the war with us. Iris and Philip, they aren't kind people, Ron—or at least they weren't, and I doubt they've changed. So set in their pure-blood ways, just like my parents were. A shame someone else has to grow up like I did..." He trailed off, shaking his head, and Ron felt his heart sink into his stomach. Kates was the sweetest and kindest person he knew, and to think of her growing up with parents like that...he hurt for her, for reasons he couldn't even explain until years later.

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