A full week after the ball, in the third week of June, the four of them were called to Dumbledore's office on Saturday evening. They arrived in the round office at the top of the revolving spiral staircase with little idea of what was going on. Inside, settled in armchairs, were McGonagall, Snape, Lupin, Sirius, Kingsley, Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody. Dumbledore himself was seated behind his desk regarding a small letter that sat before him with a troubled look.
"Professor." Hermione spike in a quiet voice as they entered and approached his desk. "You sent for us sir?"
"Ah yes Miss Granger, Miss Potter, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley." He acknowledged them all with a nod of his head before conjuring more chairs for them to sit in. "Well, now that we're all here, I suppose you are wondering why I sent for you." The four of them nodded, their eyes wandering to the package before him. "Late yesterday afternoon the four of you received a letter. Fortunately it was intercepted by the Order and now lies here instead of in your hands. Of course I recognised the writing and Remus and Sirius have just confirmed this for me."
"Our rodent friend addressed it." Sirius growled with a murderous look in his eyes.
"It was from Pettigrew?" Harry gave them a disbelieving look. "What was it?"
"I think you'd better have a look for yourselves." Dumbledore waved his wand and the letter floated across the room to rest on a small table before the four of them. Tentatively, Harry reached out a hand and picked it up. It was light, the entire letter on one sheet of parchment that had been folded over and sealed with black wax. Opening it up, it revealed only three words, written in a ghostly hand.
"No more hiding." Kathryn read out in the silence.
"He sent us a note?" Ron snorted. "He must have finally lost it."
"It isn't just a note you silly boy." Snape spat at Ron. "It's a Portkey."
"A Portkey?" Kathryn gave Snape a questioning look before turning back to Dumbledore. "Where to?"
"As far as we can tell, it will activate when the four of you hold onto it at the same time." Dumbledore spoke pensively. "I believe Lord Voldemort is trying to control the conditions in which he faces you; hence that special ability. He knows that he must face Harry and Kathryn eventually but he also understands that the four of you are virtually inseparable and that facing two of you means facing four. I am sure that it will only take four people to its destination and, knowing Voldemort's thinking, it will only accept you four."
"He's calling us out." Kathryn said quietly, summing up what Dumbledore had just said.
"But he must have known that you would find that out." Hermione surmised. "How can he bank on us taking the risk?"
"He knows you will because not doing so will put more people in danger. He is banking on your sense of humanity to prevail over the innate need to survive."
"Where will it take us?" Harry asked the question that they all wanted to know.
"Alas, that is still unknown." Dumbledore looked slightly mournful. "Usually a simple charm can reveal the destination of a Portkey. Unfortunately it appears that this one has been modified to repel those sorts of spells. Voldemort is apparently not reckless enough to risk revealing his location to the entire Order of the Phoenix."
"So, so you won't be able to find out at all." Ron's voice had a slight shake to it. "We'll have to go alone?"
"I would say that you should not go if we cannot be there to assist you but I fear for what may happen here if you don't."
"You can't just expect us to go of alone, can you?" Harry raised his voice. "I mean, if you don't know where it's going to take us?" he rounded on Snape who was staring into the fire.
"Enough Potter, no need to shout." Professor McGonagall snapped.
"Sorry Professor, but there will be the Death Eaters too. We can't cope with them and Voldemort, I mean, Ron and Hermione are twenty and we're only nineteen. We can't expect to live through that." Kathryn's insides churned, the meaning of what she had seen the other night at the ball suddenly dawning in her mind.
"I think that is Voldemort's general idea." Dumbledore told them gravely. "Like I said, he is trying to control the situation and remove you from all that you would find helpful."
"I have not been trusted with that information. As the Dark Lord believes me to be acting as a spy for him he thought it unwise to entrust me with such details when I was in such close contact with Dumbledore and even I am not foolhardy enough to attempt Legilimency. The most I can tell you that he will probably wait about two weeks before he comes to fetch you. He will not wait forever. In fact, he expressly wished me to make that very clear."
"So who does know?" Hermione asked Snape.
"Only his very inner circle; Bellatrix Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange, Dolohov, Rabastan Lestrange and, of course, Lucius Malfoy." He counted them off on his fingers.
"In other words, we have little chance of finding out." Tonks said from her perch on the arm of Lupin's chair. The conversation went on in a roundabout way from then, everyone discussing possible methods of finding out where the Portkey was going to take them. No one noticed the way Kathryn was sat; gazing into the fire with a mixed look of terror and comprehension on her face.
"Miss Potter, are you alright?" Dumbledore asked, finally noticing her expression.
"Little Hangleton." She said in a near whisper.
"Pardon?"
"Little Hangleton." She said again in a louder voice. "The Riddle House just outside Little Hangleton." She looked around at them all. "That's where the Portkey's going. But," she hesitated, "but it's not right. It's a trap."
"Would you mind explaining how in Merlin's name you know that?" Moody growled from his chair, his magical eye fixed unblinkingly on her.
"I think we'd all like to know." Snape said with an inquisitive look at Kathryn. She was careful to conceal her thoughts before continuing.
"Lucius Malfoy." Those two words were enough to send most of the people in the room into an uproar.
"WHAT?" Sirius roared, leaping up from his chair. "How can you find that out from him when Snivelly here can't?" Snape didn't even come back with a cutting remark; he just sat there staring intently at Kathryn.
"And what do you think you're doing getting so close to a bloody Death Eater?" Moody roared, his magical eye spinning furiously in its socket.
"I think we would all like to know how you have discovered this, Miss Potter." Dumbledore spoke, his voice calming the tempers that had suddenly flared.
"It was an accident." She explained to the now silent room. "His guard was down and I just thought I'd try it out, I didn't think it'd work." She shifted nervously in her seat. "I didn't think Legilimency would work, I mean, I've not practiced it. It didn't really; I just got that one bit of information."
"Just how, may I ask, was his guard down?" Lupin asked calmly.
"He was…he was," her voice caught in her throat, as if her mind was in conflict over whether to actually say it. She wasn't sure that she could.
"Yes, my dear." Dumbledore prompted.
"He was looking at me. He was looking at me and his guard dropped." She spoke very fast before she could change her mind about what she was going to say.
"Why was Lucius Malfoy looking at you in a way that made him drop his guard?" Sirius asked in a level voice, belying the anger that he felt.
"Because he's an arrogant playboy that thinks he can have whatever and whoever he wants. If you'll remember, his wife died so he is free to eye up anyone he chooses."
"Why didn't you tell us this?" McGonagall asked, looking slightly white at the revelation that Lucius Malfoy had been eyeing up one of her students.
"Because it's nothing worth bothering about." Kathryn dismissed her head of house's worries with a wave of her hand. "He'll be in Azkaban within a month so it's nothing to worry about." Her tone was final and they did not broach that subject again.
"Did you see anything else, anything else about where it would take you?" Dumbledore asked.
"It would take us to the house, to somewhere we couldn't escape from." She explained. "I saw Hogwarts too."
"And do you have a theory?"
"I think that he wants to take Hogwarts first, to remove those that would wish to help us that would be here guarding the castle."
"A good theory."
"And then he would return to finish us, something made easier away from the castle's, and your, protection." She finished, staring into her lap nervously.
"Well," he looked quite happy at this new information, "I hope you realise that this discovery has probably saved your lives, as well as those of most of the students in this school." His face was full of gratitude and that only made Kathryn feel even guiltier about how she had found out. "Naturally, I do not wish for you to take that Portkey, but I doubt that Voldemort will show himself here without proof that the portkey has left."
"There has to be a way of making him think that we have gone." Hermione suggested hopefully. "Polyjuice potion maybe?"
"Possibly, Miss Granger. I have no doubt that Voldemort expects you to be noble and go, and might therefore assume that you will not try to fool the Portkey."
"Hang on," Ron spoke before Snape had a chance to get his words out, "what about if you did what Crouch did to the Goblet of Fire?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with inspiration, "confound it, make it take something else!"
"Quite inspired Mr Weasley!" Dumbledore chuckled. "It would take some complex magic but I'm sure I could manage. Alastor, might I assume that your assistance will be provided?" Dumbledore asked Moody.
"If you need it."
"Marvellous."
"What about the students?" Professor McGonagall asked in a serious tone. "If He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is coming here then we cannot have them stay."
"I understand your concerns, Minerva, but I believe it quite imperative that we do nothing."
"Nothing!" even Snape seemed to balk at this suggestion. "They are just children, Albus; some can barely perform simple spells. He will not discriminate between members of the Order and children."
"Any apparent evacuation of the students will arouse suspicion." Dumbledore explained rationally.
"And we don't know how many people he has in the Ministry," Kingsley added, "if Ministry employees start talking about their children being sent home, it's a sure-fire guarantee that You-Know-Who will find out."
"Hogwarts is still the safest place." Dumbledore nodded. "But I assure you that we shall protect the students when the time comes."
"What about those students who are of age?" Snape asked curiously.
"They may, if the time comes, fight." Dumbledore conceded. "I believe that most of the school is well educated on a variety of jinxes and hexes, as well as effective methods of protection."
"They are," Kathryn nodded, "but it is only those from seventh year and above that I would consider capable of facing such an enemy, and even then they are a small number. They could, however, be of use in the protection and evacuation of younger students."
"As well as keeping the Slytherin's in line." Ron snorted, not caring that Snape, Head of Slytherin, was in the room too.
"Watch your tongue, Weasley."
"Now, now, Severus," Dumbledore cautioned, "he does have a point."
"Yeah," Sirius chipped in dryly, "how many of your students have parents in You-Know-Who's little gang?"
"Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle," he listed, "Mulciber, Parkinson, and Bletchley."
"Impressive list." McGonagall commented.
"There are more but I couldn't be sure." Snape added. "Only Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott have fathers' in the inner circle."
"And is Draco Malfoy the only one with the Mark?" Lupin asked.
"Yes." Snape nodded. "Although Crabbe and Goyle might as well be marked as they go everywhere with him."
"Thank you Severus." Dumbledore nodded. "I think that is all that needs to be said really," he glanced at the clock, "and it is getting late. All that I can suggest now is that you prepare the elder members of the DA for a fight." He nodded in Kathryn and Harry's direction.
"I feel like we've been doing that since fifth year." Harry said dryly.
"Well, yes." He gave a small chuckle. "Anyway, that is all, you may go now."
"Thank you Professor."
"Good night." They bade goodnight to everyone else in the office before heading back to the common room.
"Well, I say we've got about a week to enjoy what we have left of our lives, if we're lucky." Ron prophesised gloomily as they walked.
"Don't be so depressing Ron." Hermione scolded, although Kathryn could tell that she felt the same way.
"Look," Kathryn was determined to stay the voice of reason, "we will either win or lose and Harry and I will live or die. We've just got to do the best we can."