"I can't believe we're going to the Quidditch World Cup!" Christian Blair beamed at breakfast one morning.
"Yes, yes, it's all very exciting — Katie, dear, have up packed your things?" Mrs Blair asked, sounding agitated as she bustled around the kitchen. Katie swallowed her mouthful of tea before responding.
"Yes, mum, don't worry." Katie reassured her mother.
"And you, Christian?"
"Of course." Chris said, a subtle smirk on his face, which did not convince Mrs Blair.
"You better have everything packed, Chris," Mr Blair chimed in. "You won't be coming back here before school starts."
Mrs Blair started hurriedly collecting up plates and silverware. She got to work on scrubbing them clean. Although she could very well bewitch the brush to clean the dishes for her, Maria Blair was a very practical woman and liked to do everything herself.
"Alright, hurry up you three. You don't show up in time and you're going to give poor Molly quite a scare." Mrs Blair snapped, ushering her two children and their Irish friend — who, as he did every summer, was staying with them — away from the table. "Go on, to the fireplace. Grab your trunks."
"What about Leo?" Katie asked.
"He's coming with your father and I. Now, grab the Floo Powder."
Katie smirked at her brother. "Are you sure your stomach can handle the Floo Powder, Chris? Last time you made quite the mess on Nana's floor."
Chris slapped his sister across the back of the head and Niall snickered.
Mr Blair retrieved a small pot from the mantle and offered it out to Niall first. Niall grinned from ear to ear.
"The Weasleys don't know I'm coming. I can't wait to give Mrs Weasley the fright of her life when I pop up in her kitchen." Niall had just reached out for the pot when Mr Blair pulled it from his grasp.
"In that case, I suppose Katie should go first." Mr Blair said sternly. Niall sulked.
The atmosphere between Katie and Anthony Blair had been strange all summer. Katie avoided conversation with him if she could, and any time he asked her about it, she would shrug it off and claim she didn't know what he was talking about. Truth be told, Katie had a single horrible thought nagging at the back of her brain every time she spoke to her dad — he wasn't her real father. Although she had no proof, or even strong evidence, for that matter, Katie couldn't help but feel as though he was hiding something from her.
Katie had confronted her mother at the start of the summer and asked her out front if Anthony Blair was her real father. Mrs Blair became very annoyed and stated that she was appalled by the fact that Katie would dare to ask such an outrageous question. She shot down Katie's theory in an instant, but Katie thought that her mother's reaction had been a bit too suspicious. There was more to the story of Katerina Blair, and she was going to find out what it was.
Katie reached inside the pot and scooped out a handful of glittering powder. Then, she stepped into the fireplace and clearly said, "The Burrow."
She let the powder fall at her feet, and she started to feel the horrible sensation of feeling as though she was being sucked down a plug hole. She kept her eyes open as the roaring green flames flickered wildly before her eyes.
The spinning stopped, and she was standing steadily in a little, old fireplace, staring out at possibly the homiest kitchen she had ever laid eyes on. It was small and cramped. There was one, long, wooden table, and the walls were littered with shelves that housed books and various little knickknacks.
An eerie silence filled the room, as though a loud conversation had been taking place until there was a burst of flames and a fourteen year old witch appeared in the fireplace. Sure enough, sat around the kitchen table were a large gaggle of redheads, and a single black-haired wizard, all staring at the mantle.
"Katie!" Mrs Weasley cried suddenly. She hobbled over to the Slytherin and embraced her warmly.
"Mrs Weasley!" Katie beamed. "Its so good to see you. Thank you for having me."
Mrs Weasley was smiling so broadly that her face had gone red and her eyes were almost shut. She put her hands gently on Katie's cheeks.
"You're welcome any time, dear. Isn't that right, Ron?"
Ron, who had resumed eating his eggs, almost choked when he was suddenly addressed. Taken off guard, he nodded quickly and gulped down his food.
"Nice to see you, Katie." he smiled.
A burst of green flames behind her made Katie yelp in fright. She blushed furiously when she realised that it was only her brother, Flooing to the Burrow.
Fred and George bound to their feet and yelled excitedly. "Christian!"
Before Fred and George could reach their friend, however, the flames erupted again, and a blonde emerged from the fire. Mrs Weasley almost doubled over in shock.
"Merlin's Beard!" Fred exclaimed, making a horrible attempt at an Irish accent.
"Its a wee leprechaun!" George chimed in.
"Niall! I didn't know you were coming!" Mrs Weasley said.
"My mam bought me a ticket, but she didn't feel like coming across to England. I thought id'd be alright if I went with you?"
"Of course, dear!"
Fred, George, Chris and Niall got to work on performing their dorky handshake and Katie turned around to see a green-eyed wizard walking towards her. He was smiling brightly. Katie hugged him.
"I didn't know you were coming." Katie said.
"Surprise?" Harry replied, scratching the back of his neck. Katie giggled. "I thought Ron would've told you."
"Bit hard when he isn't responding to my letters." Katie spoke loudly so that Ron could hear. The red-haired boy turned a deep shade of red.
"I-I just thought that it could wait, you know. I mean, I didn't really have anything important to say." Ron stuttered.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Nice to know I matter, Ron."
Harry's eyes landed on the scar on Katie's cheek and his face dropped sadly. Luckily for Katie, despite the fact that the wound had been very big when it was fresh, the scar was rather thin and small. It ran from just beside her nose to the centre of her cheek, and wasn't very noticeable from far away.
Harry gently grazed his fingers across the scar. "How is it?"
"Its just a scar," Katie shrugged. "I deal with it."
Katie and Harry took a seat at the table. Molly conjured up an extra chair for Niall, as they didn't know he would be joining them.
"Have some breakfast, dears," Mrs Weasley said to Katie, Chris and Niall. "You must be hungry."
"Oh, no thank you, Mrs Weasley. We ate back at home." Chris politely declined.
Niall snickered. "Besides, after travelling with that Floo Powder, Chris could be sick at any moment."
Chris glared angrily across the table at the blonde.
"Well, in that case, have a cup of tea, won't you?"
Katie could never say no to tea. Mrs Weasley quickly fixed three mugs of the steaming, hot beverage and Katie drank it happily.
"So, Katie, do you take Muggle Studies at school?" Mr Weasley asked intently.
"Oh, no," Katie replied, setting down her tea. "I do Care of Magical Creatures and Divination."
"Interesting," Mr Weasley hummed. "And how do you find them?"
"I enjoy Care of Magical Creatures, but not Divination. Its a bit..."
"Woolly." Ron finished, referencing Hermione's comment about the subject in their previous year at Hogwarts and making Katie and Harry chuckle.
"Ron tells me you play Quidditch." Mr Weasley claimed. Katie wasn't so sure why all the attention was being placed on her. She assumed that, Chris and Niall had known the Weasleys for so long, so Arthur probably knew everything about her brother and his friend already, and he had no doubt interrogated Harry for all the information he could about the Muggle World.
Katie nodded and took a sip of her tea. "I do."
"Yes? Are you any good?"
Niall spluttered as he choked on his tea. "Is she what?"
Katie cringed, already seeing where this was going. "Niall, you don't have to do this anytime someone mentions me playing Quidditch—"
"Put a sock in it, Kat," Niall snapped. "We almost lost the Quidditch Cup last year beacause of her!"
Mr Weasley's eyebrows rose in suspicion and his eyes flashed between Katie and a very enthusiastic Niall.
"So, I'm taking it that — and please don't take any offense to this, Katie — that you're not very good?" Mr Weasley said hesitantly. Katie realised what was going on. Mr Weasley thought that she, like her friends, was a Gryffindor. Harry must have realised this too because he was chewing his lip nervously.
"NOT GOOD? She's brilliant!" Niall shouted, seeming to be very excited. For some reason, he had always been obsessed with Katie playing Quidditch, and the girl never quite understood why. "Put away at least four goals in the final, she did. She would give Chris here a run for his money, that's for sure."
"But then — how — I don't understand," Mr Weasley stammered in confusion. His eyes landed on Katie. "You're a Gryffindor, aren't you?"
"Arthur, dear," Molly said gently, leaning across to her husband and speaking in a hushed tone. "She's a Slytherin."
Katie felt herself grow very hot and her hands started to sweat. A strange silence fell over the room as Mr Weasley stared, mouth open wide, at the teenage witch.
"A Slytherin?" Arthur breathed in disbelief. Katie gulped and nodded reluctantly. Mr Weasley had gone a ghastly white and looked as though he could pass out at any moment. Lucky for Katie, the Weasley twins came to her rescue.
"But she's a very nice Slytherin. Isn't that right, Georgie?"
"Sure is, Fred. The nicest."
Katie smiled weakly. Mr Weasley dabbed the sweat from his face with a handkerchief.
"Well, I don't doubt it for a second," Mr Weasley said, sounding breathless. Katie felt her shoulders relax in relief. "But a Slytherin? In a family of Gryffindors like yours?"
Katie shrugged. "It confused me at first, too, but I kind of just got over it after awhile."
This was, of course, a lie. Katie had never stopped wondering why she was placed in Slytherin, when her entire family, right back to her Great-Great Grandmother, had been in Gryffindor. Her number one suspicion was that her father — her real father — had been a Slytherin. But, of course, that didn't explain why Chris was a Gryffindor, as Katie was the middle child. Besides, it wasn't fair for Katie to assume that her dad was not her biological father, he had raised her, after all.
"Well, I suppose there's only one thing to do now." Mr Weasley announced and stood up at the head of the table. Katie started to tremble. She had been sure that he was going to kick her out of his house for being a Slytherin, but instead, he said, "We play."
As there were only eight children, the teams were divided into four. Katie's team was George, Ginny and Niall, while the opposing team consisted of Fred, Harry, Ron and Chris. The Beaters were cut from the game, seeing as there weren't enough players. Ginny and Harry were Seekers and Fred and George stepped in as Keepers. They used the Weasley's vast back garden as a pitch and gaps between trees were makeshift hoops. As he worked at the Ministry, Arthur had a set of Quidditch balls, so they had access to a real Quaffle and Snitch.
Arthur, their referee, chanted, "Three... two... one..."
He blew his whistle and tossed the Quaffle into the air. Katie snatched it quickly and put it past Fred in a matter of ten seconds. George shouted a very rude taunt at Fred, which made Molly scold him.
Chris was easily one of the best players on the pitch. He scored for his team many times. Katie's advantage, however, was that Ron was an absolutely useless Chaser, so while Chris could just about keep up with Niall and Katie, he was practically alone.
"COME ON, RON!" Arthur bellowed from the sidelines.
When Ron did finally catch the Quaffle, Katie swooped by and swifltly took it from his hands, leaving a flustered and confused Ron behind. She put the Quaffle past Fred once again and—
"TWO HUNDRED TO SEVENTY FOR GEORGE'S TEAM!"
Niall gave Katie a proud high five. Chris was growing very annoyed.
"This isn't fair! They're too good!"
Katie smirked and flew straight past her brother's ear. "Keep up."
Once again, she scored. The game had been going on for so long that the score was ridiculously high. Katie was bewildered as to why Harry hadn't caught the Snitch much earlier. He had never taken this long to catch a Snitch before, and if he was to catch it now, his team would win. She looked over at her messy-haired friend to check that he was alright, only to find that he was already gazing at her, eyes sparkling behind his rounded glasses. He quickly diverted his glance when she caught him.
Katie attention was caught by Niall when he let out a victorious shout. He had scored! However, his moment was promptly stomped on when Mr Weasley yelled, "HE'S GOT IT! HE'S GOT THE SNITCH!"
And so the match ended with a friendly draw.
***
"By Merlin, we do have an awful lot of people staying with us," Molly announced that night at dinner. Katie quickly counted heads. Ten people were gathered around the table, including herself.
"Mrs Weasley, if there isn't enough space, I could go back home and—"
"Nonsense!" Molly shot Katie's proposal down in an instant. "We can make room."
And that was exactly what she done. That night, Katie found herself sleeping on the top bunk of Ginny Weasley's bed. Chris and Niall had bunked together in the spare room, while Harry was sleeping in Ron's bedroom.
"Its really nice having you with us." Ginny said as she and Katie gazed into the darkness of the room.
"Its great to be here," Katie grinned. "The Quidditch World Cup — never thought I'd see the day where I'd be going."
Katie wobbled into the kitchen early the next morning with a great yawn, She had not yet prepared for the day, so she was still wearing her pyjamas and her hair was a disheveled, tangled mess. Katie was so delusional, in fact, that she hadn't noticed her best friend until she was sat right in front of her.
"HERMIONE! What are you doing here?"
Hermione smiled wide. "Surprise!"
Mrs Weasley, who had been cooking some delicious-smelling food by the stove, whirled around and smiled at Katie.
"Good morning, dear!" she said merrily. "Excited for the World Cup?"
"Oh, yeah. I've never been before so I can't wait." Katie responded enthusiastically.
Mrs Weasley's smile did not falter. "You wouldn't mind waking Harry and Ron, would you? Tell them that breakfast is ready."
"Not at all." Katie nodded, though, she did mind. You see, the Weasley's home was very tall. Tens upon tens of feet worth of creaky stairs zig-zagged to all the different levels of the house, and Ron's room just happened to be the second highest, just beneath the attic.
So after a lot of effort from dragging her still asleep body all the way up the endless staircase, Katie finally arrived at Ron's room. She reached out for the handle but paused abruptly when she heard little murmurs coming from inside the room. She pressed her ear against the wood to hear better, and that's when she realised that the small sounds were voices.
"Don't deny it, mate. I can see right through you." Ron was saying.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're a terrible liar. I've seen the way you look at her."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, come off it! It took you two bloody hours to catch that Snitch yesterday because you were too busy ogling her."
"I was not ogling her! Leave me alone, Ron."
"I'll leave you alone when you admit that you fancy her."
Katie's hand was shaking uncontrollably. Had they been talking about her? She thought back to the day before when she caught Harry looking at her when they were playing Quidditch — but that could've just been a coincidence, he was obviously just scanning around for the Snitch...
Ginny! They were talking about Ginny, of course! Ron's little sister, and only sister, for that matter, had had a crush on Harry since the first time he laid eyes on him. Ginny had been playing Quidditch yesterday too, so they could've easily been talking about her, and Ron was just looking out for his sister. That was what it was, Katie told herself. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and then knocked lightly on the door. The voices on the other side quickly faded. There was a few moments of silence before:
"Who is it?" Ron called out.
Katie put her hand on the doorknob, twisted it, and slowly pushed open the door. Harry and Ron were each sat on a bed on opposite sides of the room. There mouths and eyes were wide as they repeatedly glanced fearfully at each other.
"You two look like you've just seen a ghost." Katie laughed uncertainly.
At the same exact time that Ron said, "We were just talking about Quidditch," Harry blurted out, "We were just talking about school," and their eyes widened even further. Katie furrowed her eyebrows and stared hard at the boys. They may have been best friends, but they were far from in sync.
"Quidditch in school," Harry stammered, tripping over his words. "School Quidditch. Quidditch Cup. Yeah, we were talking about that."
"OK..." Katie said slowly. "Well... breakfast is ready... and Hermione is here."
"Great." Harry said.
"Spectacular." Ron echoed.
"We'll be down."
"Soon."
"Just give us a minute."
"Yes."
"Yes."
Katie's eyes scanned over the boys one last time before she nodded confusedly and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
"Well, that was odd." she said aloud to herself.