Katherine walked down the stairs from Dumbledores office, and straight into Harry.
"Harry what on earth is the matter?" Katherine asked looking at his frantic state.
"Mr Crouch is here, he's down in the forest, he wants to speak with Dumbledore" Harry said, as Dumbledore came out of his office behind her.
"Lead the way, Katherine please return to your dorm" Dumbledore said before rushing off with Harry. Katherine made he way back to Gryffindor tower.
"Fairy lights" she spoke the password to the Fat Lady who opened the portrait before bidding Katherine goodnight. She walked in and saw the common room was nearly empty except for a few people, like Hermione, Ron and the twins.
"Kat, how did it go with Dumbledore?" asked Fred, looking at her tired face.
"He agreed, Lupin is going to collect me after my last exam instead, he said Hogwarts is no longer safe for me" Katherine spoke quietly to the group, George got up and held her tightly.
"We will see each other though during the holidays wont we" George asked sounding a little panicked.
"Of course Mon Amour. I wouldn't be able to go so long without seeing you at least 4 times in the week" she said gently before kissing his cheek.
"That means you wont be here for the final task" Hermione gasped.
"No I wont be, it is no longer safe 'Mione, I need to go before something happens to me, and besides I can still see you in the last few Hogsmeade visits, I can apparate now" Katherine announced proudly, she had passed her apparition test a few months ago. Just then Harry came back and told everyone what had happened with Mr Crouch and Katherine developed a pit in her stomach which told her that leaving when she was, was indeed a good thing, and from the look on George's face he agreed.
*****
The weeks passed by quicker than Katherine would have liked, she had already packed her trunk before coming down for her last exam. She had spent as much time as possible with George and as she came out of her last exam and saw him she couldn't hold her tears back and barrelled into him like a freight train. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as close as humanly possible.
"You promise me you will stay out of Moody's way, you and Fred" She whispered.
"I promise KitKat" George whispered back.
"I'm going to say this to you now before I go because I'm not waiting until I see you again. I bloody love you George Weasley, and you are the best thing to ever happen to me" Katherine said with confidence before she kissed him.
"I love you too Katherine Willow" He replied after they pulled away. He kissed he one last time before she hugged Fred and Hermione and the departed to Dumbledores office. Muttering the password one last time she headed up the stairs and into the office where her trunk and Lupin were waiting.
"I will send your exam results to you Katherine, stay safe. Remus keep her indoors as much as possible" Dumbledore said quickly. "Here is your portkey, you must go, now". Katherine and Lupin grabbed hold of the teapot Dumbledore had given them when the familiar feeling of being hooked came and went just as quickly, landing on he feet in front of a small cottage.
"Papa Moon, where are we?" Katherine asked following the man to the door.
"We are home Little Dragon" Katherine walked in as Lupin made her follow upstairs, opening a room that was decorated in Gryffindor colours.
"This used to be your room when you were at Hogwarts didn't it?" Katherine asked with a smirk.
"What gave it away?" Lupin asked with a chuckle.
"The house pride" Katherine laughed.
"Well its your room now" Lupin said, Katherine looked at him in disbelief before laughing and spinning around and hugging Lupin.
"Thanks Papa Moon" Katherine whispered before letting go and placing her trunk down and pulling out her stash of chocolate. "Now I'm thinking, coffee, chocolate and music" Katherine spoke raising an eyebrow at Lupin.
"Sounds like a plan" Lupin said before grabbing her chocolate and running off.
"Papa Moon, you better return my chocolate, right now!" Katherine yelled after him before following him down the stairs, jumping on his back before she hit the bottom sending Lupin sprawling to the ground. She did a front roll and started gathering her chocolate. Grabbing the last bar she went and stood over Lupin. "You alright down there pops?" Katherine asked in amusement.
"A little help would be nice" Lupin grumbled, but Katherine took pity and helped him up.
"Come on lets get that coffee and discuss a few things" Katherine said as she headed into the kitchen and started to boil the kettle. "So full moons? Do you have somewhere you go here?" Katherine asked waiting for the kettle to boil.
"I am extremely secluded here so I go into the woods at the back" Lupin replied.
"So I can keep you company then?" Katherine asked as she started making the coffee.
"Of course, I could use your hearing to be honest. But we have a few weeks until the full moon" Lupin said.
"Can I be honest with you Papa Moon?" Katherine said quietly placing the mugs down. Lupin gave a slight head nod waiting for her to continue, "this past year, its been the best of my life and some of its because of George and some of it is because of you. I never knew what it was like to have loving parents. So I want to say thank you for being the dad I needed" Katherine said quietly, before looking up and seeing Lupin had tears in his eyes.
"Thank you for being you Katherine Willow, I will always be the dad you need for as long as you need it" Lupin gave her hand a gentle squeeze, "now about that music" he got up and put some ABBA on and the two jumped around the living room until Katherine pretty much passed out.
******
The full moon had been and gone, Katherine and Lupin had gone to Hogwarts via floo when Lupin got the urgent Patronus from Dumbledore, both of them ran through the halls up to the hospital wing, bursting through the door and scaring the life out of Madam Pomfrey.
"Kat? What are you doing here?" Hermione asked before bursting into tears and running into her arms.
"I heard what happened, I should have been here, I'm so sorry" Katherine said, loudly enough that everyone in the room had heard her.
"KitKat?" Katherine almost melted at the sound of his voice, letting go of Hermione she turned to face him.
"Hey Georgie" she whispered, here was a silence before she jumped into his arms, kissing every inch of his face, "I've bloody missed you".
"I've missed you too my love" George replied before giving her a sweet kiss. They only broke apart because someone cleared their throat behind George. Katherine looked over his shoulder and saw Fred.
"Hey Freddie" she put her feet on the ground, moving around George and hugging Fred. "So what the fu-", Lupin shot her a look, "sorry Pops, what happened?" Katherine asked.
"Cedric died" Harry said, "You-Know-Who killed him, Moody turned out to be Barty Crouch Jr, I'm so glad you weren't here, he was trying to get information out of Harry on your whereabouts, said it was time for you to go home, where you belong" Hermione said quickly. Everyone was in stunned silence before Katherine let out a sob.
"Did he hurt Harry?" Katherine asked quietly, and everyone avoided her gaze, "Did he hurt Harry? Don't make me ask again".
"He went to use the torture curse on him" Hermione said, shrinking away a little bit. Katherine snapped her eyes to Lupin before looking at Harry, noticing Sirius at the bottom of his bed. Another sob ripped through her throat, and she stumbled falling back into Lupin who just held her.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Katherine kept repeating, breaking everyone's hearts.
"Kat it wasn't your fault, none of this is your fault" Lupin whispered to her.
"It is, I shouldn't have left, I should have stayed Dad, I-I cant breathe" Katherine started gasping but everyone stood in shock at the fact Katherine had just called Lupin dad. Madam Pomfrey rushed over but George and Lupin wouldn't let anyone near her.
"Kat?" Harrys voice came from one of the beds, he climbed out ignoring the growls from Sirius and dropped in front of her, as soon as their eyes met, Katherine pulled him into a hug, Harry hugging back twice as hard.
"Next time, you give me up, don't you ever put yourself in the position again" Katherine said pushing Harry's hair out of his eyes, "I appreciate you wanting to protect me Harry, but they will not find me unless I want to be found, alright?" Harry just nodded before hugging her again, she sent him back to bed and held onto George and Lupin.
Suddenly McGonagall voice could be heard heading up the corridor, Katherine looked a Lupin before taking his hand and camouflaging them. It was a power she was still new at, but no one could know she was here, she was supposed to be seriously ill. That was the cover story Dumbledore came up with. Concentrating hard she watched as McGonagall and Fudge burst into the hospital wing.
"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded to Molly.
"He's not here. This is a hospital wing Minister, don't you think you'd do better-" Molly snapped but was cut off by Dumbledore sweeping into the room, casting his eyes around, before they landed on the Minister.
"What has happened? Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you, I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch" Dumbledore said sharply, however McGonagall cut in.
"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore Dumbledore! The Minister has seen to that! McGonagall shrieked. Katherine was worried about McGonagall she had never in her six years of being here, seen Minnie so angry.
"When we told Mr Fudge that we had the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events, he insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him to the castle. He brought it to the office where Barty Crouch-" Snape said in a quiet voice, just to be cut off by McGonagall.
"I told him you would not agree Dumbledore, I told him you would never allow dementors to step foot inside the castle but-" This time Fudge cut off McGonagall.
"My dear woman! As Minister of Magic it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous-" Fudge started, however McGonagall wasn't done. Katherine watched the encounter closely, she hadn't seen Minnie yet, and it was infuriating her how the Minister was speaking to Minnie. She zoned back into the conversation as soon as Dumbledore mentioned Lod Voldemort.
"Lord Voldemort was giving him instructions Cornelius. Those peoples deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body" Dumbledore spoke with clear finality, however the Minister still refused to believe him.
"You-Know-Who returned? Preposterous. Come now Dumbledore" Fudge spluttered.
"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you, we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort, leaning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins, went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort return" Dumbledore said.
"See here Dumbledore, you cant honestly believe that You-Know-Who is back? Come now, come now...certainly, Crouch may have believed himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders, but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore.." Fudge tried to justify.
"Well when Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, he was transported straight to Voldemort. He witnessed Lod Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all to you if you will step up to my office" Dumbledore stated calmly, he cast his gaze to the Minister and then to Harry, "I'm afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry tonight". Fudge glanced at Harry and then looked back to Dumbledore. Katherine watched them go back and forth, watching as Harry got more upset, but she couldn't do anything, she cannot be caught, neither her nor Lupin, she had just about had enough though and was ready to lunge for the Minister when he implied about Harry not being in his right mind, but Harry spoke up first. They were talking about Harry's scar and Harry's insistence on Voldemort returning, when Harry spoke up.
"Look I saw Voldemort come back! I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy.." Harry snapped.
"Malfoy was cleared! A very old family, donations to excellent causes-" Fudge snapped back but Harry wasn't finished.
"Macnair!"
"Also cleared! Now working for the ministry!" Fudge snapped at Harry again.
"Avery- Nott- Crabbe- Goyle and Willow" Harry shouted, that last name made everyone stop, for Katherine however all sound around her faded out, tears started to poor down her face, her concentration started to slip. Lupin pulled them behind one of the privacy curtains out of view before they became visible again and held her as her body wracked with silent sobs. Katherine had no idea what happened next, she vaguely heard the door slam before being passed off to George whilst Lupin spoke to Dumbledore.
"Katherine? I need you to listen to me very carefully" Dumbledore said, "you need to go with Sirius, Remus is going to go and do a job for me, and he will be back soon. Do not leave Sirius, under any circumstance".
"Why where's Pops going?" Katherine asked looking past Dumbledore and to Lupin.
"I wont be long my dear, you will be safe with Padfoot, I promise" Lupin said as he pulled the girl he viewed as a daughter in for one last hug before following Dumbledore out the room. Sirius placed his hand gently on her shoulder.
"Come on Little Dragon, we need to go" Sirius said before moving off to the side so she could say goodbye to George, again.
"I will see you soon Georgie, I promise" Katherine said pulling him in for a kiss that lasted a little too long for the adults liking, "I love you Mon Amour" she whispered.
"I love you too KitKat, I will see you soon" George whispered, giving her one last kiss before Sirius pulled her out of the room.
"Where we off to Pads?" Katherine asked as he transformed into his Animagus form and bounded off, they ran for a short while before he transformed into himself and jumped on Buckbeak.
"My old home, think your alright flying?" Sirius asked. A smirk grew on Katherines face.
"Think Buckbeak can keep up?" She asked before her wings burst from her back and she took off into the sky before Sirius really knew what was happening, it wasn't long before he caught up though. The two off them flew off into the night to get Katherine settled before Sirius ran off for his order mission.