Katie entered the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning with huge dark circles under her eyes. She couldn't sleep because she was worried about Harry and Ron. The girl let out a loud yawn as she sat down next to Pansy at the Slytherin table.
"Woah, what happened to you, Blair?" Malfoy snickered. Katie sneered at him before beginning to eat some eggs and toast. She had to admit that she wasn't feeling particularly hungry. In fact, she felt almost too sick to eat — sick with nerves.
"Are you all right?" Pansy asked her. "I woke up last night and you were sat at the end of your bed." Katie was about to respond when Malfoy decided to asnwer for her.
"She was probably up thinking about Potter." he jeered. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.
"Yeah, actually, I was." Katie confirmed, taking Malfoy off guard. "Incase you haven't noticed, Harry and Ron aren't here and I'm worried."
Draco leaned back in his seat and painted a smug expression on his face. "As if anyone would miss them."
There was a loud clatter of metal as Katie angrily dropped her knife and fork. She was about to counter-argue Malfoy's statement when something else caught her attention.
A loud cheer erupted from some other part of the room. Katie whipped around to see three Gryffindor boys proudly patting none other than Harry Potter and Ron Weasley on the back.
"Bloody hell." Katie muttered. She left the Slytherin table and made her way across the hall to the Gryffindor table. Neither of the boys saw her coming, so when she dropped down beside Ron and grabbed a fistful of his robes, he let out a yelp that echoed throughout the entire Great Hall.
"Where have you been?" Katie demanded. "I was up all night worrying!"
"Yeah, I can see that. You look dreadful." Ron replied, referring to her hollow face and messy hair. Katie glared at him.
"We—"
Hermione finshed for Harry. "The gateway to Platform 9 3/4 sealed itself, so Ronald and Harry decided to fly Mr Weasley's enchanted car to Hogwarts."
Katie didn't know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.
"Are you insane? You could've been seen!" Katie scolded. Harry looked down at his lap in shame. Ron, who's robe Katie still had a hold of, cautiosuly poked at Katie's hand, treating her as though she were a ticking time bomb. Katie's narrowed eyes slowly averted to Ron'a face, who gulped in fear under her stone-cold glare.
"Uhm... could you... would you mind... you're still holding onto my robes and—" Ron stammered. Katie released her grip on the cloak and Ron let out a great sigh of relief. He discreetly shuffled away from the Slytherin girl in fear.
"That's not even the whole story." Hermione continued and Katie's stomach knotted. "They flew into the Whomping Willow, which broke Mr Weasley's car and Ronald snapped his wand."
Ron let out a little whimper of fright as Katie looked at him again.
"Tell me you didn't. Oh, please tell me you didn't break your wand." This time, when she spoke, Katie's voice was filled with deperation and dissappointment rather than rage, which Ron thought was much worse. With a shaky hand, Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. It had a thick waft of sellotape wrapped around the spot that it had been snapped.
Katie didn't have time to scold Ron because, at that moment, owls swooped into the Hall and begun dropping letters on the tables. However, this only made things worse for Ron, because a letter from his mum landed right in front of him.
"Look everyone, Weasley's got a howler!" Seamus Finnigan grinned, making the entire Gryffindor table laugh.
"What's a howler?" Harry inquired, but he was ignored, because Ron and Katie were both staring at the letter with pale faces and wide mouths.
"Open it Ron," Neville Longbottom's high-pitched voice chimed in, "I ignored one from my Gran once... It was horrible."
Reluctantly, Ron opened the howler.
"RONALD WEASLEY!" For a second, it sounded as though the letter had exploded. The screams of Molly Weasley bounced around the Hall and shook the cutlery on the tables. "HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR. I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED. I BET YOU DIDN'T THINK ABOUT HOW YOUR FATHER AND I FELT WHEN WE SAW THAT IT WAS GONE, DID YOU? I GOT A LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WAS GOING TO DIE OF SHAME. YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED!"
By now, everyone in the hall had moved around to catch a glimpse of Ron, who had sunk so low into his seat that only his mop of red hair could be seen peeking above the table. Harry looked as though he was about to faint and Katie couldn't seem to keep her facial expression calm.
"YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT. IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!"
On that final note, the letter burst into flames and shrivelled up. Ron finally dared to sit up straight again. His entire face was a burning scarlet colour, while Harry's face was still white as snow.
"Well, I don't know what you expected, Ronald, but—"
"Don't say I deserved it." Ron snapped at Hermione, who had her curled nose tucked away in a book. Harry pushed his porridge away. Katie could tell by looking at his face that he felt extremely guilty. After all Mr and Mrs Weasley had done for him over summer, and now Ron's dad was facing an inquiry at work...
Harry decided not to dwell on his guilt. Instead, he turned to Katie and spoke in a hushed tone.
"Katie, I need to tell you something."
Harry spent the next few minutes explaining how a house elf named Dobby came to him over summer and tried to convince him not to come back to Hogwarts. He also said that he thought it odd that, a house elf shows up in his bedroom and tells him not to go back to school, and then he finds that he can't get on to Platform 9 3/4. Katie agrreed that it was definitely strange, but their conversation was cut short when Professor McGonagall whisked down the table, dropping timetables in front of all the Gryffindors.
McGonagall stopped when she reached Katie. The Slytherin did not dare look at her, thinking that she was for sure going to tell her off for sitting at the Gryffindor table. Harry, Ron and Hermione must've thought the same too, because they all gulped harshly. However, McGonagall only dipped her hand into her pocket, pulled out a Slytherin timetable, and handed it to Katie.
"There you go, Miss Blair."