"Have any of you seen Chris?" Katie asked Niall and his friends as they were sat at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"He was looking for you earlier, actually." Niall replied.

Katie quirked an eyebrow. "Really? What for?"

"Dunno," Niall shrugged as he brought himself to his feet. "He's probably in the common room. The password is fairy lights."

A couple of Gryffindors scowled at Niall when he gave the password to Katie, but they didn't say anything. After giving Niall a thanks, Katie set off for the Gryffindor common room.

When she arrived, Katie found the Gryffindor common room completely empty, as everyone was eating lunch, apart from Chris, who was sat alone in an armchair by the fire. He looked rather grim. Frowning, Katie made her way over and sat down in the armchair across from him. Chris didn't look up to acknowledge Katie's arrival, he just continued to airily stare into the fire.

"Niall said you wanted to talk to me." Katie said.

Chris finally looked up, and maybe it was just the whirring fire reflected in his eyes, but he appeared much angrier than Katie had ever seen him. She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, growing anxious.

"Why didn't you tell me about the vision?" Chris asked flatly. Taken off guard, Katie found her words failing her, and all she could do was blink at her brother, who let out a cold and dry laugh. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? You announce something like that to your entire class, Katerina, and the news tends to spread rather quickly."

Katie could feel her heartbeat gradually beginning to pick up speed. Her palms were sweating so, as subtly as possible so as to hide her nerves, she wiped them in her cloak.

"I — what?" Katie stammered out. Chris rolled his eyes.

"All this time," he began, an evident bitterness to his voice. "All this time, you've known how our dad died, and you didn't think to tell me? You didn't think to tell anyone?"

"Chris, I — I didn't know how—"

"Save it," Chris spat. "I don't want to hear any dull excuse, I just want the truth. How did he die?"

A thick lump formed in Katie's throat and she couldn't seem to swallow it, so when she spoke, her words came out in a broken croak. "The Killing Curse."

Chris' breath audibly hitched and he shivered. Katie noticed tears spring to his eyes, but he promptly blinked them away. When Chris remained silent, Katie decided that she should say something to argue her case.

"I wanted to tell you," Katie said, and upon seeing the stone-cold glare that Chris gave her, she continued on. "Really, I did. I just didn't know how."

"You could've at least said something!"

"OK, listen—" Katie jumped to her feet suddenly, "—this hasn't been easy for me, alright? Everywhere I go, people are whispering and pointing and glaring—"

"And you think I'm not getting the same taunts as you?" Chris growled. He, too, was standing up now, and was shaking slightly.

"No, Christian, you're not!" Katie snapped. "You're a Gryffindor, you have a good house reputation. I'm in Slytherin, and the other houses jump on any opportunity they can to frame Slytherins as the bad guys."

Chris ran a hand through his hair and yelled, "Well maybe they're right!"

Katie froze. "What?"

"Maybe Slytherins are the bad guys. You know what, maybe you really did kill dad!" Chris shouted, his eyes narrowed.

Katie sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes blurred over with tears. Although her vision was foggy, Katie could vaugely make out the shape of her brother edging towards her.

"Katerina, I—" he sounded extraordinarily penitent, but Katie stumbled back away from him, shaking her head violently.

"No," she whimpered, her voice cracking. "No, you said it. You can't take in back."

"Kat, please—"

"No!" Katie bounded backwards and the back of her knees collided with the armchair, causing her balance to sway. She clung onto the chair just in time to stabilise herself before she could topple over.

"You know I didn't do it!" she shouted, her voice rattling. Chris was still making an effort to reach out for her, but she kept backing away.

"I know, I know," Chris said frantically. "I'm sorry, I—"

"I have class." Katie said firmly, and before Chris could say anything more, she turned on her heel and left the common room.

Katie headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts, and was in a considerably mad mood when she sat down next to Hermione, which did not go unnoticed by any of her friends.

Hesitantly, Ron leaned forward, cleared his throat, and spoke, "Uhm, Katie...?"

Katie let out a disgruntled hum of response as she slammed her book down on the desk, making Hermione wince.

"Are... are you OK?" Ron asked, his voice quavering slightly.

"Fine," Katie said. "I'm fine."

Harry, Ron and Hermione all glanced between each other, not one of them believing that Katie was fine, but the class had begun, and she clearly didn't want to talk about what was bothering her, so they let it go.

After the class ended, however, Katie made quick work of shoving her materials into her bag, slinging her bag over her shoulder, and rushing from the room, not wanting to explain what had happened to any of her friends. Much to Katie's annoyance, she had barely made if five steps down the corridor when a hand clasped around her wrist. She whirled around to see Harry, slightly pale with worry, standing behind her. Harry didn't say anything, but Katie already knew what he was going to ask.

"I just had a fight with Chris, OK?" Katie sighed out and Harry frowned.

"He heard about the dream, then?" Harry asked in a low voice, and Katie nodded sadly in response. "And... did you tell him what happened?"

Although Harry didn't specifically state that he was talking about what had happened to Chris and Katie's dad, it was pretty easy for Katie to catch on to what Harry was referring too, and she nodded again.

"I had to," she shrugged. "There was no hiding it. He didn't take it very well... understandably."

"Are you—" Harry began, only yo be promptly cut off by Katie.

"I'm OK," she assured him. "Really, I'll be fine. I just need some time to cool off."

At that moment, Chris passed them in the corridor. His eyes narrowed on Katie, making her heart sink. He didn't utter a single word to his sister and just kept on storming ahead.

"Come on," Harry placed a hand on Katie's back and started steering her away. "We've got Care of Magical Creatures."

***

The weeks leading up to the Third Task went by rather quickly, and very uneventfully too. While they should have been studying for their end of the year exams, Katie, Ron and Hermione spent most of their free time helping Harry learn any spells that might be useful to him in the Third Task, which Bagman had told him would consist of Harry and the other champions trying to find the Triwizard Cup in the centre of an enchanted maze.

On top of helping Harry master spells, Hermione was also spending an excessive amount of time in the library, trying to figure out how Rita Skeeter was managing to listen in to private conversations when she wasn't even supposed to come inside the Hogwarts grounds. It amazing Katie how Hermione managed to handle such an immense workload and still maintain her sanity.

The morning of the Third Task rolled around, but the task wasn't taking place until the night, so the students, excluding the champions, would still have to sit exams throughout the day. Hermione jumped to her feet towards the end of breakfast, saying that she thought she had finally come to a conclusion for her Rita Skeeter theory, and dashed off to the library to find confirmation.

Just as Hermione left, Professor McGonagall made her way across the Hall to the Gryffindor table.

"Potter, the champions are congregating in the chamber off the Hall after breakfast." she told Harry.

"But the task's not til' tonight!"

"I'm aware of that, Potter," McGonagall said. "The champions' families are invited to watch the final task, you know. This is simply a chance for you to greet them."

Harry gaped at McGonagall, who payed no notice to this, instead rounding on Katie and eyeing the Slytherin up and down.

"Miss Blair," she began sternly, "you should start making a habit of sitting at your own house table, don't you think?"

Katie tried very hard not to frown.

"But I like it here, Professor." she replied, stifling a tone of sarcasm.

"Yes," McGonagall said, her eyes momentarily flashing towards Harry. "I'm sure you do."

McGonagall moved away. Harry goggled after her.

"She doesn't expect the Dursleys to turn up, does she?" he asked blankly. Katie merely shrugged.

"Dunno," Ron said. "Katie, we'd better hurry, we're going to be late for Binns. See you later, Harry."

***

When Katie and Ron sat down for lunch later that day, Harry was already there, and he was joined by Mrs Weasley and Bill Weasley.

"Mum — Bill!" Ron exclaimed, looking very surprised. "What're you doing here?"

"Come to watch Harry in the last task!" Mrs Weasley said brightly. "I must say, it makes a lovely change, not having to cook. How was your exam? Oh — hello, Katie!"

"Hi, Mrs Weasley." Katie smiled.

"It was... OK," Ron muttered, beginning to help himself to some food. "Couldn't remember all of the goblin rebels' names, so I invented a few."

Bill sat down between Ron and Katie.

"Hello, Katerina. How are you?" Bill said cheerfully.

Katie quickly swallowed down a mouthful of water. "Oh — Katie, please," she said, before quickly adding, "I'm good. And you?"

Fred, George and Ginny came to sit with them too, and Katie was having such a good time that she almost felt as though she was back in the Burrow. Hermione turned up halfway through lunch.

"Are you going to tell us—?" Harry began, but stopped abruptly when Hermione shook her head warningly and glanced at Mrs Weasley.

"Hello, Hermione." Mrs Weasley said much more stiffly than usual. She had definitely been reading Rita Skeeter.

"Hello." Hermione responded, her smile faltering at the cold expression on Mrs Weasley's face. Picking up on the obvious tension, Harry decided to speak up and clear the air.

"Mrs Weasley, you didn't believe that rubbish Rita Skeeter wrote in Witch Weekly, did you? Because Hermione's not my girlfriend."

"Oh!" Mrs Weasley said. "No — of course I didn't!"

But she seemed considerably warmer towards Hermione after that.

"What about you, Katie?" Mrs Weasley addressed her so suddenly that Katie choked on her drink.

"What — sorry?" Katie stammered out.

Mrs Weasley smiled warmly. "Have you got your eye on anyone?"

Katie glanced across the table at Harry to see that his cheeks were growing very red. With a subtle, mischievous smile at Harry, Katie turned back to Mrs Weasley.

"No," she said airily. "No, I haven't."

Harry jokingly sneered at Katerina, and she had to pretend to scratch her nose to conceal her chuckles.

***

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dumbledore announced that night at dinner. "In five minutes time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch pitch for the third and last task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr Bagman down to the stadium now."

Harry got up. Katie shot him a reassuring smile as he headed out of the Great Hall. She felt considerably less nervous about this task. Maybe it was because she knew that, this time around, Harry had done everything he could to prepare for the task, and he himself seemed rather confident.

As Dumbledore said, five minutes later, the Great Hall began to clear. With the Weasleys and Hermione, Katie made her way towards the doors, stopping only when she heard her name being called.

"Katie! Hey, Katie!"

Katie looked over the sea of heads. Draco and Pansy were waving to her from another part of the crowd.

"Wanna sit with us?" Draco asked loudly.

Katie shrugged and pointed to herself and Mrs Weasley. Pansy nodded in understanding. Mrs Weasley was now on her toes, peering over the large crowd, trying to see who Katie was talking to, and her mouth opened in surprise when she figured it out.

"Was that Lucius Malfoy's son?" she asked.

"No!" Ron and Katie said together, as Ron steered his mum away hastily.

Katie's eyes opened in horrified shock when she saw what had become of the Quidditch pitch. The usual smooth, glossy ground had been devastated by a large number of winding hedges, each at least twenty feet tall — it was the maze.

"I-I'm sure it'll be back to normal in September." Ron said timidly, noticing the thunderstruck expression on Katie's face.

The stands were already rather full. Mrs Weasley ushered them along a row of front row seats, before glacing around as though searching for something that was lost. She looked at Katie.

"Where's Christian?" she asked her.

Katie's mouth went dry.

"Er — mum..." Ron said quietly, his voice barely rising above a whisper. "Katie and Chris aren't exactly on speaking terms."

"Oh?" Mrs Weasley blinked bemusedly. "Why not?"

"Mum!" Ron hissed with an anxious glance in Katie's direction, but Katie smiled and shook her head.

"It's OK, Ron," she said and then spoke to Mrs Weasley. "It's a long story."

Once the stands had met their full capacity and the champions were standing by the entrance to the maze, ready to go, Ludo Bagman made his announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!" he boomed excitedly. "So, without further a-due, on my whistle, Harry and Cedric! Three — two — one..."

Bagman gave a short blast of his whistle and Harry and Cedric hurried forward into the maze, to the thunderous applause of the spectators.

Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody and Professor Flitwick were patrolling the edge of the maze, in case anyone got into trouble and needed to be rescued.

Fleur was the first to be dragged from the maze. The first star had barely appeared in the sky when the Professors rescued her. The crowd watched the still maze for what felt like centuries, desperately waiting for someone to emerge, triumphantly carrying the Triwizard Cup, but stars were peppering the navy sky like smudges on a canvas, and there was no victor in sight.

Red sparks shot up from the maze, making the spectators gasp. Katie waiting on the edge of her seat, heart beating quite fast, to see who had to be rescued from the maze. To her relief, it was not Harry — it was Viktor Krum, completely unconscious.

Now, it was only Harry and Cedric left within the maze. Hermione and Katie continuously gave each other anxious glances.

Some time passed. The sky had faded to an ink black colour, and it was now hard to distinguish the walls of the maze from the simple, flat grass. Katie was growing extremely distressed now. Surely, one of them should have returned by now — it had been hours since Harry and Cedric entered the maze.

What if something happened to them? What if something so terrible had happened that they couldn't reach their wand?

Katie shuddered. What if one of them had died?

The moment that the worst possible thought struck Katie, the crowd sprung to their feet. Both Harry and Cedric had appeared on the ground by the entrance to the maze.

The crowd exploded in cheers and claps. Katie clapped momentarily, but a sense of foreboding washed over her and she promptly stopped.

Something was wrong...

Harry was lying face-down in the grass, shaking uncontrollably. He was tightly clutching both the gleaming Triwizard Cup, and Cedric, who hadn't moved an inch since he and Harry had been thrown to the ground. Dumbledore was rushing towards the two boys.

"Something's wrong..." Katie whispered to Hermione, her voice quivering with fear.

The roars of applause died down and a wave of confusion washed over the crowd. People were beginning to leave their seats, making their way towards the scene, hums of bewilderment filling the air.

And as Cornelius Fudge rushed towards the Gryffindor and the Hufflepuff, and as Dumbledore tried to pry Harry off of Cedric, who still had not stirred, Katie realised, with a twist of her stomach, what was happening. The blood rushed from her head at the speed of light.

"He's dead..." she said, her voice coming out in an empty breath of air. Breath hitching, Hermione clutched Katie's hand tight.

"He's dead!" someone screeched into the night. "He's dead! Cedric Diggory! Dead!"

A chill ran through Katie's very bones. People were screaming now, and a looming terror hung in the air like a daunting storm cloud. Tears rolling down both of their faces, Katie and Hermione hugged each other tightly, finding that they couldn't find any other way to react.

Much time had passed when Cedric's body was finally moved out of they eyes of the hundreds of screaming onlookers.

"Come on," Mrs Weasley spoke for the first time since Harry and Cedric had appeared. "Let's go."

With one hand on Ginny's shoulder and the other on Ron's, Mrs Weasley led her gaggle from the stadium. Fred and George walked on either side of Hermione and Katie, as though protecting them from certain danger, and Bill trailed closely behind the pack.

No one spoke a single word as they made their way up the steps of the castle, but it didn't take a genius to figure out where Mrs Weasley was guiding them — they were going to the hospital wing to see Harry. Ginny, Fred and George broke off towards the Gryffindor common room, feeling that Harry would want a limited amount of company with him.

When they got to the hospital wing, however, they found, to their surprise, that Harry wasn't there. Instantly, Mrs Weasley began bombarding Madam Pomfrey with questions, demanding to know where Harry was.

Noticing Professor Moody lying in a bed, his magical eye and wooden leg removed, Katie poked Ron and pointed towards Moody. Ron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but his attention was quickly grasped by the doors to the hospital wing opening.

Harry entered, looking extremely gaunt and tired, with Dumbledore at his side, as well as a great shaggy dog, which Katie knew all too well to be Sirius.

Mrs Weasley let out a kind of muffled scream and darted forwards. "Harry! Oh, Harry!"

Dumbledore moved between Harry and Mrs Weasley.

"Molly," he said, holding up a hand, "please listen to me for a moment. Harry has been through a terrible ordeal tonight. He has just had to relive it for me. What he needs now is sleep, and peace, and quiet. If he would like you all to stay with him, you may do so. But I do not want you questioning him until he is ready to answer, and certainly not this evening."

Mrs Weasley nodded. She looked as though she was going to pass out as she rounded on the kids, and Bill.

"Did you hear? He needs quiet!" she hissed, as though Katie, Ron, Hermione and Bill were being noisy.

"Headmaster," Madam Pomfrey said weakly, staring at the great black dog that was Sirius, "may I ask what—?"

"This dog will be remaining with Harry for a while," Dumbledore stated simply. "I assure you, he is extremely well trained. Harry, I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge."