The First Attack
Author's Note: I was a in a really big hurry when I spellchecked this, so go easy on any typos!
Some of you might thing it was kind of lame how Katrina kept falling in the mud, but I think it is a little amusing, and I'm sure any Katrina haters might like it! Please read and review! I hope to have Chapter 14 up soon because it's going to be short, and basically their conversations in the, well, Hospital Wing. Hey, that's not spoiling in surprises because just by looking at the tittle you know someone will get attacked.
Big thanks to Katrina (not related to Katrina Figg :-> for all of her nice comments, suggestions, and opinions!
The First Attack
When Harry and Katrina arrived at their Defense Against the Dark Arts class, they were already a few minutes late. Drew Fordson, the new professor, smiled at them.
“Ah. Katrina. Harry. Nice of you to join us.” he said with a grin.
“Sorry ‘bout that.” Katrina said laughing. “Did we miss anything important?”
The professor smirked. “Just a few minutes of my charm, wisdom and grace.”
“Oh, then I guess we didn’t miss anything at all, then?” she joked.
“Ha ha ha.” was his reply. “You know, your supposed to be nice and respectful to me now. After all, I control your grade.”
Katrina laughed as she and Harry sat next to Hermione, Ron and Neville. “And teachers shouldn’t threaten their students.”
“Or you will have your uncle fire me?” asked Drew Fordson.
“Nope.” she said, shaking her head, grinning ear to ear. “He’ll just turn you into a goat or something.”
“A goat? Well, that should be something interesting. I would like to be a goat.”
The whole class looked at Katrina strangely. It seemed very strange to them to see a student joking around so freely with a teacher.
“Well, that brings me to my next point, class. Katrina, here, is an old friend of mine. We went to school together. I’m a couple years older than her, mind you, but we are still good friends. And I want to be good friends with all my students. Therefore, I’m asking you to call me by my first name, which is Drew.” he said. “It seemed silly to me to have students not that much younger than me calling me Professor Fordson. Especially when many of the Seventh-years are the same age as me.”
“Now, if we are all going to be good friends, then we’ll have to know something about each other. Why don’t you all tell the class something about yourselves. We’ll start with you, Katrina. I know you’ve always got a mouthful to say.” said Drew.
Katrina stuck her tongue out at him, but she told the class a few things about her. She told them she liked to play the guitar and sing. She told them she liked to write stories, and poems, and she kept a journal. She mentioned her love of animals.
When all the class had told things about themselves, Drew looked at the clock. He smiled.
“Well, we’ve got 40 minutes left to go. I believe we have lunch after this, don’t we?”
The class nodded.
“Well, no point of overworking ourselves the first day. Especially one the period before lunch. Class dismissed!” he announced.
Everyone chattered happily as they gathered up there things to go.
“We’re not going to learn a thing this year!” Hermione and Ron said at the same.
“Isn’t it great!” Ron said at the same time Hermione said, “Isn’t it awful!”
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When they got to the Great Hall, Katrina pointed out how the ceiling that was blue and bright that morning, now showed fierce pouring rain.
“Do you still want to go to Hagrid’s this afternoon?” Katrina asked.
Everybody nodded. Katrina shrugged her shoulders. “Okay, I just thought you might not want to go with the weather being so nasty.”
“Why?” Hermione asked. “Don’t you want to meet Hagrid?”
“Oh, of course I do! He sounds really, well, interesting! I’m really looking forward to it. I just thought you guys might want to wait until dryer weather.”
“Nah.” said Ron. “I want to visit with him today.”
“Okay.” Katrina said, smiling. “That’s fine with me.”
Harry stared down at his meal without eating. He felt empty but certainly not hungry. All he could think about was Katrina, and what happened at the stairwell. Why did she kiss him like that? Did she like him? She couldn’t! After all, she was dating Percy, and she seemed to really care about him. Did Harry like her? He Kinda felt like he did, but he kept telling himself that it was wrong. He liked Cho Chang, and Katrina belonged to Percy. After all, Percy was his friend! And Ron’s brother!
Harry sighed inwardly as Percy sat down at the table next to Katrina and draped his arm protectively around her. Harry really didn’t want to see Percy at that moment.
Percy gave her a peck on her lips. “Hey, Kitty Kat.” he said in a soft voice, using the nickname Harry had heard so many of Katrina’s old friends or relatives use. If Katrina was his girl, he’d come up with something much more original. But he didn’t want her to be his girl, did he?
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron rolling his eyes at his older brother.
“How come your not working, Percy?” asked Katrina.
“I’m on my lunch break, so I thought I’d come visit you.” he said. “Unless you don’t want me here?”
“Of course I want you here! Why wouldn’t I?” she exclaimed, reassuring Percy with a soft kiss.
I got a much better kiss than that! Harry thought to himself.
“So, what are you doing this afternoon, my beautiful?” Percy asked.
“Well, I don’t have any classes, so I’m going to Hagrid with Ron, Harry and Hermione.” she replied.
“Your going to walk over to Hagrid?” Percy asked dumbfounded. “In this weather? You’ll get drenched!”
“I’ll bring an umbrella.” she answered.
“Well, I just don’t want you to get a cold, being in the nasty rain.” Percy responded, pulling her closer to him. “Your much too pretty to get the sniffles.”
Ron sniggered. Percy shot him a dirty look.
“Relax, Percy. She’ll be perfectly fine.” Ron said. “For god’s sake, we’re just walking over to Hatred’s. What could possibly happen?”
“I guess your right.” said Percy. He ran his fingers playfully thru Katrina’s hair, and tickled her side. She giggled. “I just don’t like the idea of my girl getting all cold and wet, and having to walk through all that mud.”
“But it’s okay for your brother to?” Ron joked.
“You don’t look as good as she does in a skirt.” Percy said in a very serious voice.
Hermione, Ron, and Harry gasped. “Percy! I can’t believe you said that!” Hermione said laughing hysterically.
Katrina laughed. “You’ve been spending too much time with me, Percy. I’m a bad influence on you.”
“I disagree.” Percy said, kissing her cheek one last time as he stood up from the table. “We’re not spending near enough time together. And now I’ve got to head back to work.”
“Okay, will I see tonight?” she asked.
“I’m sure you will.” Percy said.
“When and where?” asked Katrina.
Percy shrugged. “I’ll find you.”
She grinned.
“You take that umbrella with you, and a jacket too. It’s really really cold outside!” he said as he turned and left.
“I promise!” she called back to him. She was positively glowing.
“You’ve been spending a lot of time together, haven’t you?” Hermione said, in a gossipy, girl talk kind of voice.
Katrina giggled. She leaned forward to where Hermione was sitting. She whispered in a voice loud enough that they all could hear.
“I think I’m in love!” she said.
Her eyes flickered towards Harry, but nobody else seemed to notice.
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True to her word, Katrina wore her jacket and brought an umbrella with her on her way to Hagrids. Harry could almost see why Percy was so insistant. The weather outside really was as bad as Percy has let on. The wind was blowing strong, and for September, was blowing unusually cold. Even though it was the afternoon, it was very dark and shadowy out.
“I think we are going to have a really bad lighting storm later tonight. Just look at that sky!” Katrina observed, drawing her jacket tighter around her.
The walk to Hagrids seemed to draw on forever with the rough conditions. When they drew closer to Hagrid’s cabin, Katrina suddenly cried out.
“Lu!” she screamed.
Harry spun around. “What did you say?” he asked, very surprised.
“I saw Lu!” she exclaimed, and took off running.
Harry chased after her. “Who’s Lu?” Ron and Hermione called after them.
“A good friend of hers who is missing!” he called back as he sped off after Katrina.
“She’s got too damn many friends!” he heard Ron exclaim somewhere behind her.
Katrina was running very fast. Harry felt his legs burn with pain as he ran after her. He had to catch up with her. Katrina didn’t know the grounds, and with the weather bring what it was, she could get lost if she didn’t know what she was doing or where she was going. The least she could do is fall and hurt herself in the slick mud. They’d never hear the end of it from Percy if she got a single bruise. He’d blame it on them somehow.
“Lu!” he heard her yell again.
Harry looked around. He didn’t see a sign of anyone. He looked over his shoulder. He couldn’t see anyone behind him. All he could see was Katrina’s hot pink bag that she had flung threw the ground so she could run faster.
“Lu! It’s Katrina! Where are you!” she cried. Her voice faltered. She sounded like she was about to cry. She must really be worried about her friend. Harry kept on running, faster than he thought he could ever run. He know understood the reason why Percy was so protective of her. There was just something about Katrina that made guys want to keep her safe and shelter her.
Harry realized he was at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and he couldn’t see Katrina anywhere.
“Oh no! Don’t let her go into the Forbidden Forest.” he said aloud to himself, breathing very heavily.
“Katrina?” he called out. “Katrina, where are you? It’s Harry! Please tell me where you are?”
“Harry?” she replied. Her voice was not coming from the Forbidden Forest but from where Harry had just come from. He walked forward. Katrina was laying on the ground, her clean clothing splattered with mud, her face drenched with sweat and rainwater. She was shivering, and shaking.
“Katrina, are you alright?” he cried terrified that she might be hurt.
“I’m okay.” she said. “I just tripped when I was running. Can you help me up?”
Harry gave her his hand and pulled her from the ground. “You’re a mess.” he said noindicating her torn and dirty clothes. “But the important thing is whether or not you’re hurt.” She seemed to be a little weak on her feet. She limped a bit, and leaned on Harry’s shoulder for support. “Are you sure you are okay?”
“Nothings hurt but my clothes and my dignity.” she said trying to smooth her hair and her jacket. “My jacket is ruined. I look disgusting.”
“No, you don’t. Your’e as beautiful as ever.” he said. Damn. Did he really say that? He certainly didn’t mean to say that!
Luckily, Katrina didn’t say anything back. “Lu!” she yelled.
“Enough about Lu.” Harry said, placing his hand over her lips. “He’s not here. You must have just imagined him.”
Katrina tore herself away from him, and without Harry’s support, fell into a large mud puddle.
“Ack!” she cried, removing a large piece of wet grass from her hair. “I didn’t imagine him. I know what I saw, and I know that I saw him!”
Again, she fell to the ground.
“Here, let me help you.” Harry said, putting his arm loosely around her shoulders. “If you don’t let me help you, your just going to fall all over the place. You must have sprained something. Don’t worry, I’ll take you to the hospital wing, Madame Pomphey will be able to fix that in an instant.”
Katrina pushed him off her. “Don’t touch me.” she said in a grumpy voice.
“Okay, fine, fall into the mud again. See if I care.” Harry hissed back.
“I’m not going to fall into the mud.” she said defiantly, as she tripped over her own backpack and fell headfirst into some more mud.
She stood up unsteadily. Her entire face was covered. “Ugh! I think I just swallowed a grasshopper.”
Harry laughed. “Serves you right for being so stubborn.”
Even through the dark rain, Harry could see her roll her eyes at him. He walked towards her.
“You’ve grown.” Katrina remarked.
“Huh?” Harry replied, not having a clue what she was talking about.
“You’ve grown quite a bit taller since I met you. When we first met, you were shorter than me. Now you are at eye level.”
“Okay.” Harry said. He couldn’t think of anything appriote to say. He felt like an idiot. Why couldn’t he ever find the right words in a situation like this? Why did Katrina always do this to him?
“They say guys have their growth spurts at a later age than girls. Your 15, right?” she asked.
Harry nodded. Even though her face was covered in mud, he wanted her to kiss him again like she did earlier. He reached forward with the sleeve of his robes and wiped the mess off her face. “Much better.” he said.
She smirked. “You’ve ruined your robes.”
“It’ll wash off.” he replied.
Her smirk widened and grew more mischievous. She seemed to know the conflict she was creating inside of Harry, and she seemed to enjoy it.
“I saw him, Harry. I saw him run into the those woods over there.” she pointed towards the Forbidden Forest. “Take me in there. Help me find him. I know that you know the way. I can’t go without you, Harry. I need you.”
Harry shook his head. “No, Katrina. That’s the Forbidden Forest.”
“So?” she asked.
“Er..that means it’s forbidden.”
“And your point is?” she replied.
“We’re not going in the Forbidden Forest.” Harry said firmly.
“Fine.” Katrina said with a pout. She pulled away from Harry and stumbled off.
Harry sighed. “You are so stubborn.” he said. “I just cleaned you up and now your going to go fall in another mud puddle. I don’t know what you did to yourself, but you sure managed to d something bad.”
Katrina rolled her eyes. “I’m not a child, Harry. Don’t treat me like one.”
“Percy sure treats you like one.” he grumbled.
Harry didn’t know whether or not Katrina heard him because she didn’t say anything. They walked in silence back to Hagrid’s cabin. Katrina managed to not fall into anymore mud puddles, but the two of the were very cold and very wet.
“What happened! What happened!” Hermione cried, running out towards them.
“She felt and hurt her ankle.” Harry replied. “And then she fell in almost ever mud puddle out there.”
“Humph!” was Katrina’s reply. “I know I saw him! If I hadn’t tripped I would have caught him!”
“Well, look at the two of ya! Let’s getcha inside before you catcha death of cold out here!” Hagrid said, ushering them inside his house. He handed them towels to dry off with, and then offered them all hot tea.
“How was your summer, Hagrid?” asked Hermione. Hagrid preceded to tell them all about an amazing trip to France he went on where he met up with Madame Maxime. As Hagrid talked, Katrina stared out the hut windows. Suddenly, she jumped out of her chair, and ran out the door.
“Here we go again.” Harry mumbled. “She thinks she saw him, doesn’t she?”
As if to answer his question, Harry heard her cry out, “Lu!”
“Not ter be mean or anythn’ Harry, but I think your new friend is a bit mad.” Hagrid said.
Ron snickered. “She’d have to be to be going out with my brother!”
“Which one?” Hagrid asked.
“Percy.” he replied.
Harry spat out his tea into his large cup. “”Percy?!” he choked. “No offense to ya Ron but I jus can’t imagine Percy dating a girl like that one. Her being Dumbledore’s niece and all, she’s a good girl, but ya would think Percy’d go fer the plainer ones!”
Everyone laughed, and tried to ignore Katrina’s cries outside. They all wondered whther or not she really was crazy. Pherpas it ran in the family. After all, Dumbledore was a great man, but he was a bit mad himself.
“I guess I’d better go bring her in.” Harry decided.
“Yeah, if she gets a cold, Percy’ll kill us all.” Ron said sniggering.
“I’m just tired of having to take care of her. Seems like that’s all I did today was watch out for her.”
Harry stood up from his chair. As he pushed it in, he heard a terrible high pitched scream. It was the voice of a young woman.
“Katrina!” he cried as he fell to the floor, his scary burning in agony. Harry began to twitch and scream himself. He couldn’t take the sound of her screams. It was too awful to bear. “Katrina!” he whispered as the screaming began louder. Harry knew that sound all too well. It was the sound of someone being tortured with the Cruciatus Curse! White hot pain scorched Harry’s scar. His vision was fading and everything was blurry.
“Katrina?” he whispered, almost begging for someone to tell him if she was alright. “Help Katrina.” he begged.
But they didn’t help her, they were too concerted with Harry or too frightened for their selves. Days later, Harry would suppose they didn’t try to rescue Katrina because they were afraid whatever was attacking her would go after them, and then they wouldn’t be able to get any help.
The screaming seemed to lessen. “No!” cried Katrina. “I won’t let you take it! You can’t have it! It’s mine!”
Then the screaming became more intense. Harry could see Hermione on the floor trying to help him, Ron staring out the window trying to get a glimpse of the attacker so he could describe him to Dumbledorel later on, and Hagrid fumbling around trying to find his crossbow.
So weak with pain, Harry crawled outside of the hut. Hermione yelled, “Stay back, Harry! You can’t save her!”
But Harry knew he had to. He pushed open the door. He saw Katrina lying in a crumbled pile in the mud, rain pounding on her, clutching her neck, screaming.
Harry’s scar burned more intensely when Harry saw it. It was a dark figure in a long black robe, it’s face covered in a black hood, with black leather gloves poking out from the robes, clutching a long wand. The attacker turned towards Harry. Through the dark shadows of the pouring rain, Harry could not see it’s face.
It shouted an incantation that Harry could not hear. Katrina stopped screamed. It’s had reached forward to Katrina’s neck. Katrina realized what her attacked was doing and with what little strength she had left, she kicked away it’s hand. The figure then turned towards Harry and gave a low chuckle. Then it turned and ran away into the Forbidden Forest. Harry had never seen anything run so fast. It was catlike, with no wasted motion.
From the time Katrina was attacked, to the moment that Harry crawled to her and asked if she was okay was about 45 seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to those who had experienced it.
“Katrina, what was that?” he whispered, as Ron, Hermione and Hagrid stood above them, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“He wanted my necklace.” she whispered.
“Your necklace?” Harry asked.
“My necklace.” she replied.
Harry crawled up out of the mud. He was still in a large amount of pain, very dizzy and very weak, but he knew he was going to be just fine. His concern was not for himself.
“Are you okay, Katrina? Are you hurt anywhere?” he said breathlessly.
“Just everywhere.” she said.
Hagrid scoped her off the ground. Ron grapped Harry’s arm and pulled him up.
“You two better come to the hospital wing.” Hermione said.
“Right.” Hagrid said. He was holding his crossbow and Fang was at his side. Me and Fang ar’ gonna go n git whatever that was. Don’t you worry. It couldn’t got too far.”
“Noooo!” Katrina screamed, collapsing back onto the ground. “Hagrid, don’t you leave, Harry! You’ve got to stay with him until he’s back in the castle, don’t you understand? Something really bad is out there, and you won’t be able to catch it. But it won’t come if your with us, Hagrid. Your a big guy. Nobody will mess you!.”
Hagrid puffed-up and beamed proudly. “Well, that may be true...” he said.
“So don’t go!!!!” she cried. “Harry is weak..”
“I’m not weak!” Harry yelled, feeling very insulted. His scar started to burn some more, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He had the feeling he was being watched. He had a feeling whatever had been there was coming back.
“He’s weak. I’m weak.” she whispered. She screamed. A blood curling scream, and Harry started to scream as well. His scar was on fire, and he felt his whole body was on fire. From fire, came ashes. Everything went black, deep dark black, and before Harry lost conciseness he felt himself fall back down...down next to where Katrina had already passed out.
