Katie's first Defence Against The Dark Arts class came too soon for her liking. With a scowl on her face, she plopped down in a seat next to Ron. Harry and Hermione sat in the seats across from them.

Judging by his facial expression, which was nothing short of a glower, Ron was not enthused about Defence Against The Dark Arts either. Having had his fair share of embarrassing encounters with the new DADA teacher already, Harry piled as many books on his desk as he could to hide his face, much to Hermione's annoyance.

The light chatter in the class died down as Professor Lockhart waltzed into the room. Hermione's whole face lit up bright pink and she swooned over Lockhart. Katie and Ron exchanged sidewards glances in response to this.

"Me," Lockhart said finally, picking up Neville's copy of Travels With Trolls and holding it up for the class to see. "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Homorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming Smile Award — but I don't talk about that. I didn't get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!"

Lockhart paused and waited for the class to laugh, but no one did. Hermione, however, was smiling broadly and admiring Lockhart from a distance.

"I see you've all bought a complete set of my books — well done. I thought we'd start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about — just to check how well you've read them, how much you've taken in..."

Lockhart handed out the test papers. Katie stared down at the pages in front of her. Every single question was about Lockhart. These questions included what his favourite colour was, his secret ambition and so on. Katie must have left half of the paper blank, while Ron didn't even bother picking up his quill.

After an agonisingly slow half hour, Lockhart collected the papers and made quick work of marking them. Over all, he seemed very dissappointed by the results.

"Tut, tut, hardly any of you remembered that my favourite colour is lilac. I say so in Year with a Yeti. And a few of you need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully — I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples — though I wouldn't say no to a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky!"

Harry contorted his face in disgust, Hermione let out a hum of contentment, Ron was looking at Lockhart with an expression of pure disbelief, and Dean and Seamus, who were sat at the top of the room, were shaking from trying to hold back their laughter. Lockhart continued to speak.

"...but Miss Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions — good girl! In fact, full marks. Where is Miss Hermione Granger?"

Hermione let out a small but very audible gasp. She blushed furiously and lifted her shaky hand into the air, making Katie and Ron snigger.

"Excellent!" Lockhart beamed. Hermione looked as though she was going to pass out any moment. "Quite excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business..."

Lockhart bent down beneath his desk and pulled out a cage that had a purple cloth draped over it. He placed the cage down atop of his desk and turned to face the class with a sincere glint in his eye.

"Now — be warned! It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm."

Harry finally peered around his pile of books to take a look at the cage, which Lockhart was now reaching towards. Neville was trembling with extreme fear.

"I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them." Katie felt herself involuntarily hold her breath as Lockhart yanked the purple cover from the cage. Katie was expecting some ghastly, evil creature with sharp claws and saw-like teeth to throw itself at the bars with a menacing growl, so when she saw what was actually inside the cage, a laugh that she couldn't seem to hold back slipped out. Luckily, Ron and Seamus snorted at the exact same time.

"Really?" Seamus said. "Cornish pixies!"

***

Katie was having an incredible dream about being a professional Quidditch player when she found herself being shook awake by Pansy Parkinson.

"Katie!" Pansy whispered sharply. Katie groaned and squinted at her friend through the bright light.

"What do you want?" she grumbled groggily.

"Draco asked me to come and get you. You have Quidditch practice in half an hour." Pansy explained. Suddenly alert, Katie shot up into a seating position, making Pansy jump in fright.

"Merlin! I forgot about that!" Katie proclaimed. She didn't waste another second of her time, pouncing out of bed and scrambling into her green Quidditch robes. The girl made quick work of washing her face and pulling her hair back into a loose braid. She and Pansy then walked down to the Great Hall together.

Katie didn't have a lot of time to eat breakfast. She snatched a piece of toast and a goblet of pumpkin juice, wolfed them down, and then went to join the rest of the Slytherin team, who were waiting for her in the Entrance Hall.

The team made their way across the Hogwarts grounds and towards the Quidditch stadium. It was a cool, slightly bitter morning, but the large sun still shone down brightly through the trees. Katie knew that it would definitely warm up as the day went on.

As the Quidditch stadium came into view, Katie noticed that it had already been claimed by another team — a team wearing scarlet robes, to be exact.

"Oh no..." Katie murmered under her breath. The rest of the Slytherin team had smirks painted on their faces. They were welcoming the inevitable trouble that was about to happen with open arms.

Not even five seconds after they had stepped onto the pitch, Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor captain, swooped down in front of them, his team following close behind.

"Flint!" Wood bellowed at the Slytherin captain. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

"Easy, Wood. I've got a note." Flint said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small piece of parchment. Katie noticed Harry and Chris standing next to Oliver, along with Fred and George and Niall Murray. Hermione and Ron were also making their way across the pitch to see what was going on. Katie hid herself amidst the group of green-cloaked figures so that her friends wouldn't notice her.

Oliver snatched the note from Marcus and read aloud, "I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch pitch, owing to the need to train their new seeker."

"New seeker?" Harry spoke, drawing in everyone's attention. Katie felt her mouth go dry. "But Katie is your seeker..." Harry looked completely and utterly puzzled, as did the rest of the Gryffindor team. This was when Draco Malfoy strode forward. Ron coughed loudly and Harry's jaw dropped.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked. "You're the new seeker?"

"That's right." Malfoy replied smugly.

"But... but what about Katie?" Harry's eyes danced around, clearly trying to locate Katie amongst the tall Slytherin boys, but she had slowly shuffled into the centre of the group.

"I said I wanted to play, so Blair got moved to chaser."

At those words, Katie finally revealed herself. She would be damned if she was going to let someone like Draco Malfoy undermine her.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, Draco," Katie groaned, guttarally, shoving Malfoy. "I stepped down as seeker because I was told we were getting an extremely talented fifth year."

Katie's friends, her brother and the Weasley twins all gawked in shock at this confession.

"That's right, but then I showed up with these broomsticks, and so the Slytherin team had to let me play." Malfoy said. All of the Slytherin team held their brooms foward, except Katie, who modestly tucked hers behind her back.

The golden engravement on the brooms sparkled in the sun, reading 'Nimbus Two Thousand and One.' None of the Gryffindors could seem to think of anything to say as they gaped at the polished brooms that shone under their noses.

Katie caught her brother's eye and mouthed, "I'm sorry." Chris gave her a sympathetic smile and a nod of understanding in return.

"Good, aren't they?" Malfoy said, referring to the brooms. He then looked at Fred and George. "But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms, too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them."

The Slytherin team roared with laughter.

"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione quipped sharply. This certainly silenced the Slytherin team. Malfoy snapped his head around so that he was looking at Hermione. His smirk faded and his cold eyes narrowed into slits.

"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood." he spat.

Katie clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. As soon as the words rolled off Malfoy's tongue there was an instant uproar. Fred, George, Chris and Niall all dove towards Malfoy, who was shielded by Flint. Ron had gone tomato red with rage. He plunged his hand into his robe, whipped out his wand and pointed it straight at Draco's chest.

"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!" he screamed. "Eat slugs!"

Due to Ron's broken wand, the curse backfired, sending him spinning through the air. He landed in a heap with a grunt. With a loud belch, he puked up three large, slimy slugs. The Slytherin team erupted in fits of laughter.

Without thinking twice, Katie dropped her Nimbus Two Thousand and One, not caring that it rolled into the mud, and rushed to Ron's side with Harry and Hermione.

"Ron, are you all right!" Hermione shrieked. Ron found himself unable to respond as he puked up another batch of slugs, making the Slytherins laugh even harder.

"Let's take him to Hagrid." Harry said quickly. Nodding, Katie and Hermione helped heave Ron to his feet. They had started carrying him away when someone called Katie back.

"Where do you think you're going, Blair?"

Katie looked up at Harry with tentative eyes.

"Go," he jerked his head towards the Slytherin team. "We'll take care of Ron. Meet us at lunch when you're finished."

Katie nodded and returned to her team, who were still laughing at Ron's misfortune. She picked up her broom and wiped the dirt in her robes. Then, she grabbed Malfoy by the back of his collar and pulled him towards her. He let out a yelp that none of the others heard because they were still mocking Ron.

"What's your problem, Blair?" Draco snapped.

"No, what's your problem, Malfoy?" Katie bit back. The two Quidditch teams slowly begun to gather around to watch this next scene unfold. "Seriously, you prat — just because Harry didn't want to take your hand in marriage last year doesn't mean you have the right to treat him and his — my — friends like crap."

The Slytherin team definitely snickered at Katie humiliating Draco. Niall stepped forward and spoke before Draco got the chance to.

"And if I were you, I'd give Kat her position back. She's the best damn player on that team!" he growled angrily.

"Kat." Malfoy tittered quietly to himself.

"I wouldn't go that far." Flint countered.

"Yeah, well I would." Chris said. "She could beat all you low-life losers for skill with her eyes closed."

Katie shot a grateful smile in her brother's direction.

"I highly doubt that." Draco scoffed.

"Shove it, Malfoy." Chris snapped, taking Draco off guard.