A/N: A much shorter chapter than usual but I think it's a nice way to wrap up the Half-Blood Prince.
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The students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had been awoken to the sounds of banging and screaming in the corridors. The news that Death Eaters had entered the castle spread rapidly, and no sooner had Severus Snape escaped did the pyjama-clad students file out into the dark grounds to check that the Death Eaters were indeed gone.
A black mound could be seen lying on the grass at the foot of the Astronomy Tower. Katie, of course, knew exactly what this mound was, as did Lupin, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Harry, but no one else did, so they all moved, overwhelmed by curiosity, towards the mound. As people drew closer, they let out cries of shock or horrified gasps, and many people burst into tears.
Harry pushed to the front of the ground and Katie, Hermione, Ron and Ginny followed him, each of them shaking from head-to-toe.
When he reached the fallen Albus Dumbledore, Harry dropped to his knees at his side and reached out, with a trembling hand, to straighten the half-moon spectacles that rested on his crooked nose. Katie could not seem to stifle her tears, and neither could Hermione.
Amidst the darkness, there was a flicker of light. Professor McGonagall had raised her wand in respect for Dumbledore. One by one, the students and the other teachers raised their wands also, until a ring of gentle light obscured the dense darkness of the night, bidding farewell to the great Albus Dumbledore.
Harry started to tremble and it was safe to assume that he was crying. Ginny stepped forwards to comfort him and Katie felt a hand grip her elbow. She turned to see that it was Ron, white-faced, lip quivering.
"C'mon..." he said quietly. Evidently, he had also taken Hermione's arm, because she too turned around, nodded, and together, the three of them walked silently back up the lawn and into the castle.
Bill Weasley had been attacked by Fenrir Greyback and suffered great injuries to his face, injuries that Madam Pomfrey said would leave prominent scars. When she saw Bill lying in the bed, his face so grotesquely disfigured, Katie absent-mindedly reached up to touch the scar on her face that Remus Lupin had given her when she was thirteen years old. She remembered how much that small strike from a werewolf had hurt, so she could not even begin to imagine the pain that Bill was in.
Remus must have noticed her touching her scar because he put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry about that." he said, and judging by his quiet tone, he meant it.
Katie smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. I think it kind of suits me. Besides, it's nothing compared to that." she nodded towards Bill, who had not yet woken up. No one, not even Madam Pomfrey, knew what his fate would be. Although he could not be sure, Lupin had suggested that, as Greyback was not transformed when he attacked, Bill would not be a full-werewolf, but he may possess wolfish characteristics.
Harry did not join the group in the hospital wing, but no one could exactly blame him. It made sense that he would want to be alone. They were, however, growing worried about him, because Ron had gone back to the Gryffindor common room to check on him and returned to tell everyone that he was not there.
Katie, however, had a pretty good idea as to where he was. Telling the group that she was tired and going to go to bed, she left the hospital wing but did not return to the Slytherin common room. Instead, she turned into the corridor in which the battle had taken place only hours before, and climbed the spiral stairs of the Astronomy Tower.
As expected, Harry was at the top of the Astronomy Tower, standing by the railing over which Dumbledore had fallen. He did not look to be deep in thought, as one might have anticipated. In fact, he looked completely free of all thought — completely blank.
"Harry?"
He did not turn around at the sound of a voice, but he did shift slightly on his feet.
"I knew you'd come." he said. His voice sounded hollow and coarse, as if every word was causing him pain.
Katie walked across the floor and stopped beside him, clutched the railing, and gazed out at the moonlit scene below. In the light being cast upon the grounds by the open oak front doors, Katie could see smoke issuing from Hagrid's burnt cabin. Obviously, one of the Death Eaters had set it on fire.
"I'm sorry—"
"Don't." Harry cut her off sharply.
"No, please let me talk," she said. Harry took a deep breath, hesitated, then nodded. "I should have listened to you. There were so many signs and I just ignored them."
Harry was shaking his head. "It's not your fault. You really liked him. If it had've been you telling me that Ginny was up to something, I would have ignored you too."
Katie chewed her lip. For a few, lingering seconds, neither of them spoke, until Katie heaved a sigh that broke the silence.
"No, you wouldn't have," she said quietly. Harry looked at her. "That's the difference between you and me, Harry. You're so moral, so selfless, and I'm... well—"
"You're not selfish." Harry said firmly.
"I can be," Katie argued. "As you saw this year. I was so obsessed with making myself happy that I ignored all the warning signs."
"You've lost so much," Harry said gently. "It makes sense that you would want to—"
"Stop making excuses for me!" Katie snapped so suddenly that Harry's eyes widened in alarm. "You're supposed to tell me that this is all my fault, that I should've listened to you, that I'm part of the reason Dumbledore is dead!"
Another silence followed, but it was much less comfortable than the one that they had sat in only minutes before. Katie was on the verge of tears and Harry was frowning so deeply that profound creases had appeared on his forehead.
"But I don't think any of those things." he mumbled quietly.
"Well, you should," Katie interjected. She tore her gaze away from him, instead focusing it on the trees that were swaying in the gentle night breeze. "Harry, I was so horrible to you all year. You have no idea how sorry I am."
There was a brief pause.
"It's all right."
Katie was overcome with the intense desire to let out a yell of frustration. Why was he being so stubborn? She would honestly feel so much better if he shouted at her, reprimanded her, told her he would never forgive her for what she'd done, but then she looked into his eyes and saw that, when he told her that he had no hard feelings, he truly meant it and was not only saying it to avoid confrontation.
"So, did you find one?" Katie changed the subject, and when Harry arched an eyebrow in confusion, she elaborated. "A Horcrux. That's why you and Dumbledore were gone tonight, right? You were hunting Horcruxes."
Harry nodded, swallowing a harsh lump in his throat.
"And did you find one?"
Wordlessly, Harry slipped a hand into the pocket of his worn, torn, blood-stained jeans and pulled out a golden locket. Katie stiffened. It was almost identical to the locket in Grimmauld Place that had triggered one of her forgotten memories. But upon closer inspection, Katie discovered that this locket did not have the same mystical glow or serpentine 'S' engraving that the locket in question had.
Harry handed the locket to Katie and told her to open it. Inside was nothing but a crumpled piece of parchment.
Katie extracted the parchment, unfolded it and read aloud, "To the Dark Lord, I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B."
Katie stared at the parchment for many moments before speaking again.
"Who's R.A.B?" she asked, handing the locket back to Harry, who pocketed it once more.
"No idea," he said gruffly. "Not that it matters. The Horcrux isn't real. Dumbledore died for nothing."
"Harry, I know where the real Horcrux is," Katie told him and his eyes blew open wide. "It's in Grimmauld Place. It triggered one of my memories last year."
"There's at least four more Horcruxes out there," Harry explained. "The real locket — we don't know if R.A.B ever did destroy it — the snake, Hufflepuff's Cup, and something that belonged to Gryffindor or Ravenclaw."
"And me." Katie said. She had thought that her words were lost to the ghost of the night, but Harry still heard her quite clearly.
"Didn't McGonagall say that you're not a Horcrux?"
Katie shrugged. "Yeah, but she never had the chance to tell me who my father was, and she never called me back to tell me either. It's better to be safe than sorry, you know that."
Harry had seen Katie's hand drifting towards her pocket and he grabbed her hand.
"Not you too," he stated firmly, though his voice quavered ever-so-slightly. "I'm not losing two of you tonight."
Nodding slowly, Katie moved her hand away from her pocket and Harry let her arm drop. Although she did not say it aloud, she had lost not one, not two, but three people that night.
Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts Headmaster, the greatest wizard of their time, and a man who had helped both Katie and Harry so much, was dead.
Although he wasn't dead, Katerina lost Draco Malfoy that night. She had meant it when she told him that, were he to leave with the Death Eaters, she would be finished with him forever. Like she had said so many times before, she knew that Draco wasn't the nicest person, but she always believed that, deep down, he was a good person.
Lastly, Katerina Blair lost herself that night. Without Ron there to stop her this, she had cast the Killing Curse. Only for it missed Maria Blair by an inch, Katie would have taken a life. The fact that the curse missed did not matter to Katie, however, because that did not change the fact that she had cast it. She tried to murder someone.
"I'm not coming back next year." Harry said suddenly.
Taken-aback, Katie blinked very slowly at him. Out of all the strange things that Harry Potter had ever said, this one definitely confused Katie the most. Had he not said countless amounts of times that Hogwarts was his home? Why would he be so keen to leave before his final year?
"Dumbledore gave me a job to do," Harry went on and Katie understood why he was not coming back to school. "He can't be killed until his Horcruxes are destroyed. I have to find them."
Katie nodded understandingly. "All right. When are we leaving?" she asked casually, as though she had not just suggested that she tag along on a hunt for fragments of the soul of the most feared Dark wizard in the world..
"What?" Harry raised his eyebrows. "Katie, I'm not dragging you into this. It's too dangerous. Besides, this is my fight."
"No, I'm never leaving your side," Katie said, shaking her head, tears welling in her dejected grey eyes. "Not again."
***
Dumbledore's funeral was beautiful. Hundreds of chairs had been laid out on the lawns by the lake, facing a marble table. Countless amounts of people had come to pay their respects to Dumbledore, most of whom Katie did not recognise, but there were some familiar faces: Mr and Mrs Weasley, Bill and Fleur, Fred and George, Lupin and Tonks (who, as far as Katie could see, were holding hands) Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shaklebolt, Cornelius Fudge, Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister, and various shop owners from Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Chris and Niall had, of course, shown up, and Katie sat with them in a row near the front.
Hagrid had placed Dumbledore's body, wrapped in purple velvet, upon the marble table, before white flames erupted all around the table. When these flames and the white smoke that is billowed disappeared, the funeral guests found that a white marble tomb was now encasing Dumbledore and the table on which he lay.
This encasing of Dumbledore's body marked the end of the funeral and mutters erupted as people began rising to their feet and engaging in conversation. Katie, however, did not stand up, instead choosing to remain seated and staring at her lap as hot tears spilled from her eyes. Chris and Niall also did not immediately leave their seats. Chris wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulder.
"We heard about Draco." Chris said, his voice oddly croaky and hoarse, giving the impression that he had also been crying.
A strange sensation rippled through Katie at the mention of Draco's name — a sensation f mingled rage and sadness. Of course she was angry with Draco; he had been plotting murder behind her back all year, after all, but she could not forget the fear in his voice on top of the Astronomy Tower. He did not want to kill Dumbledore, and he had been lowering his wand before the other Death Eaters arrived on the tower. Over and over, Katie reminded herself that Draco had been forced by Voldemort into killing Dumbledore, but then she thought that, had it been her who was told to murder Dumbledore or else suffer death herself, she would have allowed herself to be killed without question.
"I don't know why you're surprised, to be honest," Niall shrugged. "He was always a prat."
Both Katie and Chris glared harshly at Niall, who raised his hands in surrender and promptly turned away, understanding that this was a conversation strictly reserved for siblings only.
"It's fine," Katie mumbled, wiping her eyes. "I'll get over it."
Chris frowned.
"Will you?" he said quietly.
Katie did not respond. In all honesty, she had never felt so broken, and it wasn't just her moping because of a break-up, it was the looming fact that everything she loved never stayed by her side. Her father was dead, Leo was dead, her mother was a Death Eater, she and Harry had not lasted, and when Draco walked off the Astronomy Tower the night of Dumbledore's Death, she felt her final shred of happiness being ripped from her.
But the arm around her shoulder tightened its grip and pulled her closer, and Katie was reminded that she was not alone. After all this time, after all she'd lost, she still had Chris, who had always been and forever would be by her side.