Two weeks later, it seemed that he had gotten his wish. Harry, Ron and Hermione were waiting in the Entrance Hall; in their smartest clothes with their Head Boy and Head Girl badges shining.
"Where's Kathryn?" Harry hissed at Hermione.
"She was getting dressed when I left the common room."
"They'll be almost finished by now, she'll be late!"
"Don't worry Harry, she wasn't going to take long." Hermione said in a calm voice despite the fact that her stomach felt like it had tied itself in several knots. They all jumped as a door closed in the quiet Entrance Hall and Dumbledore walked towards them, followed by the twelve Governors. They quickly formed themselves into a small line, waiting quietly as they approached.
"What's this Dumbledore?" they heard on of them ask. "You told us that there were four." They watched several of the Governors sweep their eyes over them to see who was missing. "Where's Miss Potter?"
"She hasn't gotten herself injured again, has she?" another piped up. They had by now reached Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Well, at least the rest of you are here." Dumbledore said as he reached them. "Where is your sister?" he asked, turning to Harry.
"She'll be along in a moment Professor." Harry made this up, not really knowing how long she would be.
"No, she's here now." Another of the Governors spoke, nodding his head to the staircase. Sure enough there Kathryn was, the click of her heels on the steps announcing her arrival.
She walked down slowly, knowing that they all had their eyes on her. She could especially feel his gaze washing over her; dressed in dark, figure hugging jeans that sat perfectly on her hips and black suede boots with chunky heels that the jeans were tucked into. On top she was wearing a soft black shirt and a thickly knitted, long sleeved black jumper with a slash-neck that showed off her shoulders. It was a striking look; with her Head Girl badge gleaming brightly on her jumper. The elegant string of rubies, that Hermione, Ron and Harry thought to be a cheap piece of costume jewellery, glistened around her neck along with matching earrings and his ring on her finger. She had one thumb crooked in her pocket, her long, fur trimmed cloak draped over her arm. Setting it on the banister, she walked confidently over to where the rest of them were standing.
"Sorry I'm late Professor." She apologised, coming to stand in line next to Hermione. "Slight wardrobe crisis." She laughed, making sure to close her mind as to the real reason she was late. She had been ready to go down when she had caught sight of that morning's copy of the Prophet. It was lying open at the society section and it was the photo that had caught her eye. Smiling back up at her was Lucius Malfoy with a young, blonde woman, who must have only been in her mid twenties. She was very pretty and, looking through the article, he was pictured with several other young, very beautiful and, assumedly, very rich young women. It had been a charity benefit for St Mungo's and Mr Malfoy was mentioned as one of the largest contributors of the night.
To own the truth, it hurt her to see him like this. She thought that he had probably not invited the attention; the fact that he was an eligible bachelor once more was the reason for that, but what bothered her was that he didn't seem to mind them hanging off his arm. They were all very beautiful and looked as if they hadn't done a hard day's work in their lives; the hardest thing they probably did was choose what they were going to wear each day.
"No matter Miss Potter, no matter." Dumbledore waved off her apology. "Now," he addressed the assembled Governors, "I would like you to meet Messer's Ron Weasley and Harry Potter, our joint Head Boys and Miss Hermione Granger and Miss Kathryn Potter, our joint Head Girls."
The Governors then proceeded to work their way through the four of them, starting with Ron and finishing with Kathryn, shaking each of their hand's in turn. The men, out of politeness, kissed the hands' of both Hermione and Kathryn; many greeting Kathryn in an amicable manner, having already met her before. Lucius Malfoy was at the end of the group. He shook hands with Ron, Harry and Hermione, whose faces went as hard as stone; none of them speaking and their faces unreadable. When he reached Kathryn, however, his expression softened and he actually smiled.
"Miss Potter," he took the hand she had offered, "a pleasure as always." He kissed her hand, his eyes lingering on hers for longer than they should have considering the setting.
"Well, I believe that the rest of the school has made its way down to the Quidditch pitch, so I suggest that we follow lest we be blamed for holding up the match." Dumbledore said jovially once the introductions were over. They all followed him out the doors, Kathryn, Harry, Hermione and Ron dashing over to where they had left their cloaks.
As Kathryn had correctly predicted, Harry, Ron and Hermione each found themselves accosted by one or several of the Governors who were all eager to talk. Kathryn lagged slightly behind, walking very close to Mr Malfoy as they headed out the doors. She stopped for a moment at the top of the steps to pull on her cloak and was not surprised to find another pair of hands helping her. Smiling, she adjusted the clasp and, as they started to walk down again, slipped her arm through the one he offered.
They walked in silence for a little while, Kathryn continually having to put a hand to her hair, which was flying out in the wind. She heard a small snap as they walked past an early flowering shrub and, moments later, found him presenting her with one of the white blooms. Taking it, she whipped out her wand and tapped it three times. The stem went limp and, with lightning speed, she slipped it beneath her raven hair and twisted it about the wavy locks to hold them in place. Seconds later, the stem returned to its normal rigid self and her hair was no longer flying in her eyes.
"Thanks." She smiled up at him.
"It looks better there."
"Well you would say that, wouldn't you?" the rumble of noise from the Quidditch pitch was beginning to grow louder.
"Only because it's true." She slipped her arm out of his at this point as they had caught up with the rest of the group and were beginning to climb up into the stands. This was a lot less painful than the last time she had climbed these stairs as she was not recovering from a serious injury. When they reached the main landing, she looked back into his eyes and she could see that he was thinking the same thing as her; the last time they had been here, he had carried her the rest of the way. She tried to push these thoughts from her mind as they climbed, although this was made more difficult by his nearness to her and the discreet presence of his hand on her waist as they ascended.
It became even more a mirror of the year before when they reached the box for the only seats left were in the middle of the front row.
"We remembered you like to have a good view" One of the Governors said as they edged past. Kathryn smiled in thanks, noticing Harry, Ron and Hermione's eyes flicking to her as she sat down. She could almost sense the lecture that she would be receiving that evening. Looking back moments later, she could see them engrossed in conversation with the Governors sitting around them and thankfully no longer looking at her. During the match she felt quite secure in the fact that, thanks to the well fought battle going on between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, no one would notice the way he looked at, and acted around her apart from herself.
However, someone did. Hermione saw the way he whispered in her ear, the way he sat very close to her, the way he looked at her. She could see the way Kathryn reacted; smiling and laughing politely. She privately wondered why no one else seemed to have noticed anything odd but kept her thoughts to herself, resolving to discuss them with Harry and Ron later.
Once the match was over, Slytherin winning by a narrow margin of ten points, Kathryn could tell that he was disappointed as they were in the middle of the group walking back and he was unable to get as close to her as he would have liked. He had to be content with walking alongside her as his colleagues talked to her. Hermione noticed the same things at lunch as they were sitting at the top table with Dumbledore and the Governors. It was even easier to see the way he looked at her when you were sitting across the table from him.
Kathryn disappeared quickly after lunch, walking quickly through the corridor and up flights of stairs to the fairly empty common room. She hurried upstairs to change out of her smart clothes and into her usual baggy jeans, relaxed top and flip flops. As an afterthought, she pulled on her chocolate brown shrug, not wanting to look too underdressed. She swung her schoolbag over her shoulder and was just stepping out of the portrait hole as Harry, Hermione and Ron came up the stairs.
"I'm going for a shower," she lied, hefting her bag higher on her shoulder, "and then I'm off to the library to look up some stuff for the next DA meeting." The three of them waved her off, Hermione glad that she would have the opportunity to talk to Harry and Ron alone. Kathryn, meanwhile, had ducked into a passageway concealed behind a tapestry and was hurriedly consulting the Marauder's Map. Sure enough, the tiny dot labelled Lucius Malfoy was walking along the seventh floor and, after pacing back and forth three times, disappeared completely.
She walked quickly and with purpose towards the seventh floor, checking the Marauder's Map one final time before she rounded the corridor. She pulled off her cardigan as she walked; revealing the slightly skimpy cream silken top beneath that did nothing to conceal the flesh-tone, lacy underwear she was wearing beneath. She stepped quickly through the door, closing it behind her and hearing the several locks click automatically shut. She dumped her schoolbag and shrug against the wall and waited.
The room was shadowy, with heavy, deep blue drapes at the windows and lit only faintly with small clusters of candles on the mantelpiece and on several small tables. She could make out the usual assortment of furniture in the half-light; a large, four poster bed with dark green hangings this time, a large sofa and several chairs and tables. She could make out the figure sitting at the end of the bed, still dressed in the same black suit only the jacket was now missing. She walked over slowly, kicking off her flip flops as she walked, her heart fluttering with every step. Climbing onto the mattress, she knelt behind him, wrapping her arms round his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.
Without speaking, he turned round and met her lips, his hands already beginning to roam beneath her top, stroking softly against her warm skin. They lay there for some time, entwined in each others arms, still fully clothed and just kissing. It was a significant change from the times well over a year ago when anything between them had just been his way of hurting and degrading her. Now, with every touch and glance, she got the feeling that he didn't care anymore. His hands shifted their pace, slipping her top over her shoulders and throwing it aside. She could feel him smile as his fingers flirted with the waistband of her jeans. She giggled as he got stuck, unable to reach far enough to pull her jeans off without breaking contact with her. Laughing, she sat up quickly and pulled them off; tossing them onto the floor next to her top.
She kept on kissing him, his hands toying with her hair, as she undid the buttons on his shirt and added it to the growing pile of clothes on the floor. He shivered as the cool air in the room hit his chest and, seconds later, he had pulled the covers over them. In addition to this, as soon as he thought it, a fire sprang up in the grate. He had, by now, grown impatient and the rest of her clothes were on the floor in minutes and her legs were wrapped around him; eager for what he was giving her.
"You're so beautiful." He whispered in her ear afterwards, hugging her shapely form close to him.
"You're not too bad." She replied teasingly.
"Oh, so you only love me for my money?" he went along with the joke.
"Who says I love you?"
Meanwhile, up in Gryffindor tower, Hermione had locked herself, Ron and Harry in the boy's dormitory. She had even gone as far as to put and imperturbable charm on the door just in case any extendable ears had found their way into students' hands.
"What's up Hermione?" Ron asked as she checked to make sure no one was outside trying to listen "Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?"
"We need to talk, and this is the best place save Grimmauld Place."
"What's wrong?" Harry asked her, noting the serious tone in her voice.
"Your sister, or more specifically, the problem with a certain person who seems to have taken a fancy to your sister." She told them in a hushed, grave tone.
"Oh no, one of the Slytherins doesn't fancy her, do they?" Ron said, thinking this was what Hermione was getting worked up about.
"Oh Ron!" she said in a terse voice. "Please try to be serious."
"Sorry." He apologised meekly, shrinking in the wake of Hermione's annoyance.
"What is it?" Harry asked her again. Hermione finally sat down and began to speak.
"You are very lucky Harry, you and Kathryn both are."
"Yeah, because we've got a psychopathic dark wizard who's killed loads of people, including our parents, out to get us." Harry said in a sarcastic voice, raising his eyebrows. "Yeah, we're really lucky."
"Let me explain, I mean, I'm not sure if things are the same in the wizarding world but I'll use this as an example anyway." Crookshanks jumped up into her lap and she stroked his ginger fur whilst she talked. "Now, my parents are dentists and they work in the dental hospital near where we live, ok. One of their colleagues, a dental surgeon, he lost his wife in a car accident one Easter. He did the whole grief thing, you know; he lost weight, didn't sleep well, took lots of time off work." She paused, looking as if she was trying to remember what had happened. "After a few months he started seeing people again, at least, that's what my parents were talking about. The next time I saw him was at Mum and Dad's Christmas party. He was far from heartbroken with a blonde piece of 'eye-candy' half his age clinging onto him."
"Ok, what's your point?" Harry asked, although he had a vague idea where this was going.
"What I'm saying is that you and your sister, especially your sister, are very lucky to be Potters'." She paused again, looking as if she didn't want to say what was coming next.
"Why?" Harry persisted.
"You have all these associations, with Dumbledore, with the Order; with everything that Voldemort and his Death Eaters stand against."
"I know that, but so do you and Ron."
"What I mean is, well, is that if you and Kathryn were anyone else without these connections." She trailed off, taking a deep breath before finally finishing her sentence. "If you weren't, Lucius Malfoy would be on your sister like that." She snapped her fingers for effect. Harry just stared at her, not believing what she was saying. "Please don't tell me you haven't seen the way he looks at her." The anguish in her voice reached a new high. "Even today, you must have seen?" she asked, sounding almost panicked. "You could have cut the sexual tension between them with a knife!"
"Well, I was talking to the Governors a lot, we all were."
"And who made sure that they were continually sat next to your sister?"
"Lucius Malfoy." Harry admitted. "But that doesn't really matter; you've seen the society pages of the Prophet. He's a consummate Playboy. Since his wife died he's been seen with more than one pretty girl on his arm."
"I know that Harry, I don't just look for the important stuff when I read the Prophet." Hermione replied tersely. "But he appears to only have eyes for her. All those other girls are just gold-digging or desperate for attention," she dismissed them with a wave of her hand; "your sister is the only one who he seems to pursue despite her dismissal of his attentions."
"But Hermione, she told us last year, she knows what she's doing and I don't want to start a row over it again."
"I know she can handle it, I'm just pointing it out." Hermione went all defensive. "Look Harry, I'll be surprised if you haven't noticed, but you're sister is extremely pretty." She looked as if she didn't want to say this either. "She's every girlfriend's worst nightmare. Not that I worry about her." She said quickly, noticing the looks Harry and Ron gave her. "She's been here nearly five years now and, despite most people knowing her, she still turns heads when she walks down a busy corridor. I mean, I've seen boys in our year trip over themselves because they've been looking at her instead of where they're going." She giggled slightly, remembering the sight of Justin Finch-Fletchley landing in a heap of books and spilled ink. "Even you said yourself, on the day of your hearing just before the start of fifth year, when they first met. You told us that he seemed almost entranced by her."
"Well, he was." Harry conceded. "But that was just curiosity, she was only fifteen then!" he was beginning to get defensive.
"Oh Harry, even then she turned heads! Get over it." Hermione laughed slightly, finding the way Harry was getting irritated quite funny. "Look, she knows that she's got it, in fact, she's told me that it's quite fun to cause such a stir! Anyway, she knows what she's got and I'll bet you anything she knows Lucius Malfoy wants it. He's just lost his wife, he's rich; he'd be a good catch if only for the niggling fact that he's a Death Eater."
"If he dares try anything." Harry seethed.
"That's my point Harry, you could see it today. She knows he wants it but that's the thing, she's definitely not giving it to him; I could see it in her eyes."
"She'd never go near him anyway." Harry spat.
"Oh get over it, Harry! She's just playing to him, like she was last year; just playing nice because she's the Head Girl and she has to. I'm sure she said once that we should keep him happy and then he might not try to get rid of Dumbledore at every chance he's got."
"So, apart from the fact that Lucius Malfoy is attracted to my sister, why is this dangerous for her?" Harry asked, feeling down in the dumps now that he'd actually admitted this.
"Men get jealous, resentful even, when they don't get what they want and I'll bet you that doesn't happen often to Lucius Malfoy." Hermione's voice had an added tone of dread in it. "We know that Lucius Malfoy generally always has the best of everything; clothes, a mansion, tickets for the top box, everything. Your sister is, let's be fair, the best there is. He's not used to being denied what he wants." She repeated to enforce her point.
"Well, it's not like he can hurt her whilst she's here or when she's at Grimmauld Place. I'd say she's pretty safe." Ron finally spoke.
"But what if," she paused, thinking of how to word this, "but what if the end eventually comes and we win," she paused, "we win, but he survives? Would she forever be in danger of him coming to get her; determined to get what she refused him?" Hermione shuddered as she said this. "What I mean is, we have to be extra vigilant, like Moody says, you never know what a Death Eater's got up his sleeve but you can bet it's not nice."
"She could take Lucius Malfoy any day." Harry said proudly. "It's not like he's going to be any challenge after Voldemort." They were interrupted by a banging on the door.
"Harry, Ron, let us in!" They heard Seamus yelling.
"We'll talk about this later." Hermione said, removing the imperturbable charm from the door.
"Well, at least she's not giving him what he wants." Harry said before they unlocked the door. "At least I can take comfort in that." They unlocked the door and headed back downstairs to get on with some of their homework.
How wrong they were.
Back in the Room of Requirement, Kathryn lay dozing in his arms, not really wanting to move even though she knew she had to or Harry, Ron and Hermione would start to wonder where she had gotten to.
"Hate to say this, but I've got to go." She told him, wrapping a sheet round herself and beginning to gather up her clothes. She pulled on her knickers and bra, smiling to herself when she remembered what Hermione had said to her when she saw her packing to come back to school. 'It's Scotland, not the Bahamas Kathryn!" she had cried, giggling slightly. 'At least in an emergency we'll be able to use them to strain tea!' she had gone on, failing to stay calm.
"Well, when can I see you next?" he asked from the bed where he was still lying; watching her as she pulled on her clothes.
"There's another Quidditch match in a couple of weeks, but that's us versus Hufflepuff so I'd like to see you think of an excuse to come and see that." She ticked these off on her fingers. "Then it'll be Easter and that's two weeks holiday. Then we'll have the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin after Easter and the final in the last half term before summer." She ticked these off too, pulling on her jeans. "There will be a Hogsmeade weekend in there too I suppose, there may even be one before Easter for everyone to get Easter eggs from Honeydukes." She pulled her top back on. "Oh, and there's the summer half term." She added, slipping on her shoes.
"So, plenty of chances then." He seemed quite satisfied with that list.
"Yes, plenty of chances. I'm thinking of organising a ball too." She sighed, moving back over to kiss him one final time. "Just send me an owl." She pulled on her shrug and slung her schoolbag back onto her shoulder. After giving in to his entreaties, she kissed him for what she promised herself was the final time and, before he could call her back again, sauntered out the door; making sure it locked behind her.
Once she was a few corridors away from the Room of Requirement, she leant against the nearest wall and slid slowly down until she was sitting on the cool stone floor.
"What am I doing?" she murmured to herself, hoping that no one would come along and find her like this. She sat there for several minutes before standing up again and walking purposefully back the way she had come. "I must be mad." She muttered as she looked for the door that only she would be able to see. It was still there.
Inside the room of requirement, just as he finished buttoning up his shirt, Lucius' heart practically stopped as he heard the door handle click. Something must have gone drastically wrong as only he and one other person should be able to get through that door. He had thought that it would be a little longer before this happened, before someone found out. He stood quickly and turned around, bracing himself for what was to come. What he didn't expect was to see was Kathryn slip in and close the door behind her.
Leaning against the heavy oak of the door, Kathryn faced him across the room. Her bag slid to the floor with a thud but she did not move.
"I thought you were someone else." He said, setting his cane down again. In her eyes, he looked as if he had readied himself for a fight.
"You'd better not be expecting anyone other than me." She replied quietly. She had seen the pieces of blonde fluff that had been hanging round him at parties. She had seen the pictures in the society section of the Prophet. This was what she had been worried about, what had made her turn around.
"Certainly not." He replied carefully, sensing that something was bothering her.
"Not even one of those leggy, blonde girls that I see in the photos that they put in the Prophet?" she shot back as he walked closer.
"Those vapid harpies?" he raised an eyebrow, closing the distance between them quickly. "I think not."
"You didn't seem to mind when they were dangling off your arm." She shot back. "Or am I just a casual fling now?"
"They couldn't hold a candle to you." He reassured her in a murmur, wrapping his arms slowly around her waist, his breath whispering across her cheek.
"I mean, I know I'm not that perfect all the time and I do like my baggy jeans, but at least I'm not faking." She reasoned as he kissed her lightly on the cheek. "And I have a brain and my own fortune so I have no need for yours-."
"You are perfect all the time." He silenced her rambling with a swift, but gentle kiss.
"Really?" she whispered when he eventually had to breathe.
"Really." He nodded. "Those insipid vultures might be beautiful but they are most certainly not intelligent in matters beyond the tactics necessary to catch a good husband."
"That might be the one matter that I have no knowledge of." She replied with a small laugh. "But I don't think it too important at the moment."
"They couldn't hold a candle to you." He repeated, making sure that she got the message. Slowly, he coaxed her away from where she was still leaning against the door until he was sat on the edge of the bed and she was balanced in his lap.
"I thought you had to go?" he asked as she shook her shrug off her shoulders and began to unbutton his shirt.
"Who cares?" she shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to be in any kind of danger seeing as you are not in the castle." She gave him a wink and resumed her attentions as he slipped her top back over her head.
"What infallible logic." He commented with a smirk.
"Well, like you said, much more then a pretty face." She smirked back as he lowered her down onto the mattress. She was perfectly aware of what he wanted as he once again divested her of her clothes and she was perfectly happy to admit that she wanted it too.
"You're so much more fun than those other girls too," he commented as her back arched, "all they want to do is pose for the cameras. You just can't have a decent conversation."
"Well," she gasped, "we're not exactly conversing." He laughed out loud at this statement, a sound rarely heard, kissing her fervently. He had meant what he had said earlier, it hadn't been a lie. She was perfect.
She walked quickly through the hallways after she had left him for the second time, heading straight for the Prefects' bathroom where she had a long, hot shower and filled the marbled room with the scent of various shampoos and shower gels. Eventually she headed back to the common room refreshed and with an added spring in her step; she was very much looking forward to Easter. She spotted the three of them as soon as she walked in, heading straight for them and slumping down into one of the comfy chairs they had saved for her.
"I thought you were going for a shower first?" Hermione asked, noticing her dripping hair.
"Yeah, but then I remembered how Madam Pince is with her books so I went to the library first." She lied.
"Find anything interesting?"
"Some stuff, yeah, but I think I might just go over what we did last time on stunning spells and I might start on the impediment jinx." She ran through what they had done last time. "They're only third years but they're dying to start Patronuses. They won't listen when I tell them it's very advanced magic."
"I did it when I was in third year." Harry reminded her.
"Yes, well, you're a special case. I learnt it in third year too; but that was just because I wanted to know how. I'd seen you doing it when I'd been having those horrible dreams with the Dementors' so I thought it might be a good idea to learn." It was her turn that evening to teach one of the DA meetings that was made up of third year students. The DA had, in fact, become so popular that nearly every student carried one of the fake Galleons in their pockets and Harry, Kathryn, Ron and Hermione had ended up having to split the year groups up so they had manageable classes to teach. Well, apart from the Slytherins, nearly every student was a member.
It had become interesting to watch their schoolmates develop over the years into competent students who were hopefully going to be able to remain calm in difficult situations, should they ever arise. The four of them had to keep going back to the books in Grimmauld Place and in the Room of Requirement to find even more complex spells and learn them themselves before trying to teach them to the other students. There were a select group of highly advanced students made up of the four of them plus Neville, Ginny and Luna as they had actually experienced fighting against the Death Eaters. They trained extra hard, especially Neville, who was determined to face Bellatrix Lestrange and win. She, Harry, Ron and Hermione also worked hard at their Defence Against the Dark Arts practice, knowing that it was almost inevitable that they would be facing Voldemort and his Death Eaters sooner than they wished.