The morning after Katherine was sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, she had blocked out the conversations happening around her, just absentmindedly eating her breakfast, she barely even registered that mail had arrived until two letters had dopped in front of her, she looked at the first letter, recognising Moony's handwriting straight away, she looked at the second and wished she hadn't. The second letter was from her parents, she didn't even think, she stood up and practically ran at McGonagall who was handing out class schedules.
"Kathy what's the matter?" She asked grabbing onto Katherines shoulders.
"They've sent me a letter Min" Katherine all but whispered up at McGonagall.
"Let me finish passing out the class schedules, speaking of here's yours" McGonagall said whilst handing her a slip of parchment, "and then we will head up to Dumbledore". Katherine nodded and went to wait by the doors to the great hall. George noticing her alarm got up, ignoring Fred's protests and headed over to her.
"KitKat, what's happened?" He asked after noticing the alarm on her face, he pulled her into his arms.
"My parents have written to me Georgie; I'm just waiting for Mins to finish handing out the class schedules and then we're going to speak to Dumbledore" Katherine said in a hushed tone into his chest.
"I'll come with you, if you want?" Katherine didn't have words, so she just nodded, she eventually pulled away from him when McGonagall came over.
"Is Mr Weasley coming with us?" McGonagall asked to which Katherine simply nodded and so the three of them rushed off to Dumbledores office, Katherine clutching tightly to the letter from Lupin and McGonagall holding the one from her parents. "Acid pops" McGonagall all but shouted at the poor gargoyle, the three of them ushed up the stairs where McGonagall frantically knocked on Dumbledores door.
"Come in" Dumbledore shouted through the door. Katherine, George and McGonagall went inside. "What can I do for you Minerva, Katherine and Mr Weasley?" Dumbledore asked.
"Kathy's parents seem to have written to her Albus" McGonagall stated, handing him the letter.
"Do I have permission to read it Katherine?" Dumbledore asked her, to which she again just nodded. George stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders.
Katherine,
I cannot believe that you made such fraudulent claims against me and you mother. After everything we have done for you. You bring shame on the Willow name. You can however make it up to us, at the end of the year something big will happen which will call for you to choose a side. You better make sure that you pick the right one or you may find yourself in a difficult situation.
Father
As Dumbledore read the letter Katherine got closer to tears, she didn't know what was going to happen at the end of the year, but she could hazard a guess.
"He's coming back isn't he Albus" Katherine spoke, her voice so soft that if the room wasn't already silent you would never have heard it.
"I'm afraid so Katherine, am I safe to assume your loyalties lie with the side of good?" Katherine hummed a little.
"My loyalties do lie with the side of good Albus, but they also lie with the innocent, and I will fight until my last breath to protect them, even against my parents if I must" Katherine said with a confidence that even scared George, he watched as her eyes glossed over. Elise and I will be there also Katherine. Katherine smiled to herself, "I also have the full support of Athena and Elise".
"Very well, I would advise you stay away from the tournament Katherine, it is entirely up to you of course, however, with your parents sending this letter I don't think that it would be a wise idea to enter" Dumbledore looked over the top of his halfmoon spectacles at her.
"I had no intentions of it anyway Albus, I have no desire for eternal glory, and besides I don't want to give Mins a heart attack" Katherine chuckled, "Can I trust that you will make sure that the Ministry know of that letter?" Dumbledore merely nodded at the girl. "I think I'm going to go and walk around the grounds, I need to sort my mind out, is George allowed to accompany me?".
"Of course, I will write you out of your morning classes, but make sure you are both in Defence Against the Dark Arts please" Dumbledore asked.
"Of course Albus, thank you" Katherine said before taking Georges hand and pulling him out of the office and down the stairs. It was silent for a moment, both of them lost in thought, Katherine about the letter Moony had sent her and George about what he had just heard.
"What in Merlin was all that about KitKat?" George had gently pulled her to a stop in the courtyard.
"As you know my parents are death eaters, they basically tried to push me into choosing their side, which as I told Dumbledore will not happen" She sat down on one of the benches and pulled George down with her, "I haven't heard a word from them since the beginning of school last year, I almost forgot about them if I'm honest". She let out a heavy sigh.
"Is it hard? Them still being out there somewhere?" George asked sincerely.
"Not really, I know they cant get to me whilst I'm at Hogwarts, and in another seventeen days they will no longer have any control over me at all since I will be seventeen and I wont have the trace on me either, so I when school is out, I get to choose where to go" Katherine peaked up at George, "I was thinking, maybe I should see if Moony wants some company during the holidays".
"You know what KitKat, I think that's a splendid idea, and as for your parents, as long as you have your real family, here at Hogwarts, they will never be able to hurt you" George said before placing a kiss on the back of her hand and pulling her to a standing position. "Now I do believe it is almost lunch time" George practically sang out as Katherine laughed at him before they both headed towards the great hall.
They both sat down in their usual spots and started putting lamb chops and mashed potatoes onto their plates whilst chatting about anything and everything. Soon enough Fred dropped down on Katherines other side looking utterly miserable.
"What's the matter Freddie?" Katherine asked.
"You two left me!" He cried dramatically before placing the back of his hand on his forehead and pretending to faint. "But seriously where did you go?" He asked sitting back up and helping himself to food.
"Oh I got a letter from my parents, and I went straight to Minnie about it who took me to Dumbledore, George was there as moral support" Katherine replied in a very nonchalant tone. This statement had caused Fred to choke on the food he was in the middle of swallowing.
"I beg your pardon?" He asked in disbelief, "Those cheeky bas- ". Katherine slapped a hand over his mouth.
"I don't need to hear language like that, thank you very much" Katherine said, once he nodded his head, she removed her hand. "They wanted to make sure that I picked 'the right side', but it's like I told Dumbledore, the right side will always be the good and the innocent" She took the last bite of her food before wiping her mouth with her napkin.
"Well you have me and George here to make sure you stay on the correct path, your not allowed to leave us you know. Stuck with us for life you are, isn't that right Georgie?" Fred asked looking over to his twin, who had finished his food and was resting his head on top of Katherines who's head rested on George's shoulder.
"That is right dear Freddie" George said, and Katherine just smiled, she would be lost without the twins. She felt so lucky to have these two, but for some reason she always found herself drawn to George more, she had noticed the butterflies whenever he smiled at her, or laughed, or winked, or just did anything really. She noticed how they always had to be touching, and how he always sought her out. She smiled softly, before her eyes widened. She had felt like this before, at the world cup after he had kissed her cheek. She knew in that moment that she definitely had feelings for George, she sighed, she knew he would never feel the same though, and with that thought she headed down to her DADA class.
Sitting in Moody's class Katherine listened intently, he was going on about unforgivable curses, Katherine already had first hand experience with Crucio, she didn't want to particularly know about the rest, however she found herself raising her hand as Moody asked for another curse after Lee had given him Imperio.
"There's the Cruciatus Curse Professor" she said timidly.
"That's correct, Miss Willow" Moody placed the spider onto her desk, "Crucio", Katherine winced as the spider started making a horrible squealing sound, unknowingly a tear had slid down her face as she looked away from the spider and out of the window. "Mr Weasley?!" Katherine and George both jumped as Moody addressed George, "Can you give us the last one?" George shook his head, as did everyone else in the class, Moody again turned his eyes onto Katherine, "What about you Miss Willow?".
"The Killing curse Sir" She whispered so low she didn't think he would hear it, however he did pointing his wand at the spider that was directly in front of her,
"Avada Kedavra" Moody spat, Katherine didn't react when the spider died in front of her, she just stared at the poor creature. Moody limped away as George grabbed her hand under the desk.
*****
Katherine had taken off into the forest after Moody's class, the twins had tied to follow her but were stopped by Hagrid who told them to leave her be. Hagrid knew they couldn't be around her in the state she was in as she dashed passed him. She just about made it to her the clearing before Athena had burst out causing Katherine a small amount of pain. Athena apologised to Katherine but knew that it was necessary. Curling up on the ground in the clearing Katherine let out a hefty sigh, which caused the trees to blow quite harshly due to her being in Athenas form. Suddenly the sent of gunpowder and sweets filled the air, Katherine lifted Athenas large head and looked in the direction it came from, her big purple eyes landing on none other than George bloody Weasley.
Katherine huffed as he came closer to her because in that moment, she wanted to strangle him for his own stupidity. Shifting back she thanked her lucky stars she did the spell that let her keep her clothes on, or this would be very awkward.
"George Weasley you bloody idiot!" She yelled at him; he stood in place staring at the small girl in font of him who was seething at him. "Do you even realise the danger you put yourself in!" a lone tear had escaped, but as quickly as it came, she wiped it away.
"I'm sorry KitKat, but you looked so hurt after Moody's lesson I didn't want you to be alone, both me and Fred tried to follow you into the forest, but Hagrid stopped us". He replied taking slow steps towards her.
"How did you manage to get passed Hagrid?" She asked warily.
"Fred, he managed to keep Hagrid talking about some creature id never heard of, allowing me to slip past him. When I got into the forest I had no idea where you had gone and – ". George fell silent again.
"And what George, how did you find me?" Katherine asked, he shouldn't have been able to find her.
"I've no idea, one minute I'm utterly lost and next its like the path lit up and it brought me here" He was finally stood in front of her.
"You put yourself in so much danger Georgie, what if Athena or Elise or even myself didn't recognise your scent, I could have killed you" This was enough for Katherine to bust into tears, at the mere thought of hurting George by accident. It would be impossible for us to hurt him Katherine, Athena whispered to her. "Why?" Katherine asked in her mind. You will find out on your birthday. Katherine left it at that, her birthday wasn't that far away.
"I'm sorry KitKat, I didn't think, and it broke my heart seeing you so upset, I just, I didn't think" Katherine jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged high tight, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back equally as hard.
"It's alright Georgie, I love how much you care about me, but you need to think some things through before you dive headfirst into them" Katherine mumbled into his shoulder. "Now that you've already seen her, do you want to see her again? With Athenas permission of course" He nodded quickly and backed up to the trees, Athena didn't even need to give her consent as she was so excited, she bust forward, and Katherine shifted on the spot. George stood at the tree's looking at her before he slowly moved towards the giant dragon in front of him, her wingspan was now at least 25 feet and Athena had also grown in size.
He ran his hand along her scales and laughed and she grumbled slightly before sitting down right in front of he head, "You really are beautiful" he murmured but thanks to he dragon hearing, she had heard it. And that's how they spent the rest of the afternoon, George and Athena/Katherine.