"Do you have your trunk packed?" Katie whispered to Draco out of the side of her mouth, her lips barely moving.

"Yeah, I never unpacked it after we got back from school," Draco responded. "Why?"

"Because we're going to need to make a quick getaway... Run!"

Gripping each other's hands like their lives depended on it, Katie and Draco turned on the spot and sprinted from the room. Bellatrix fired spells at them — many of them missing them by mere centimetres and ricocheting off the walls.

"Get back here!" Bellatrix shrieked. "You lying little — you knew it was Potter!"

A jet of green light soared by Katie's ear and she saw her entire life flash before her eyes.

"Bella!" Narcissa screamed wildly. "Stop! That's my son!"

"You don't want to kill me, Bellatrix!" Katie called back as Draco heaved the door open. "You can't harm the Dark Lord's precious daughter!"

"I'm sure he'll have a change of heart when I tell him that you betrayed him!" Bellatrix yelled, firing another Killing Curse that missed Draco by an inch. Narcissa was searching the room for her fallen wand. Lucius still lay Stunned on the floor.

"You can't betray someone that you were never loyal to," Katie raised her own wand. "Accio trunks!"

Bellatrix let out a roar of fury. Katie and Draco had escaped the grand room and were hurtling down the hallway, but Bellatrix was pursuing them through the house, yelling in anger and casting curse after curse, most of which were aimed perfectly so Katie had to deflect them with a Shield Charm. There was a banging from upstairs, meaning that Katie and Draco's trunks were on the way. Sure enough, as they were nearing the front doors, the trunks came zooming down the staircase and right into their hands.

The front door was ajar, as Draco had said, but as she got closer to the door, Katie got that horrible feeling that it was moving farther away. Rain lashed down heavily outside.

"You'll pay for this!" Bellatrix screamed. "Avada Kedavra!"

Thankfully, the curse missed, instead obliterating a portrait of a Malfoy family ancestor.

"We can't Apparate inside the grounds of the Manor," Draco shouted over the noise of smashing glass and furniture, courtesy of Bellatrix missed spells. "We need to get to the end of the pathway, then we can Disapparate."

Katie nodded, then, still running, wheeled around. "Stupefy!"

To her amazement, the spell hit Bellatrix square in the chest. She let out a cry of fury and then fell over, unconscious.

Draco grinned from ear-to-ear. "Nice!"

"Let's not relax just yet," Katie said gravely. "It won't take your mum long to realise what's happening."

Into the rain they ran. They had barely made it ten paces down the carriageway before they were soaked to the skin. Katie made a mental note that ankle boots with heels, skirts and blouses were not appropriate for rain or running. Their trunks were weighing them down greatly; by the time they reached the iron gates, Narcissa had already hurried outside.

"Draco!" she called. "Draco, come back here at once!"

She sounded worried. Katie knew that Narcissa was only looking out for her son, and she respected the woman for that, but the issue was the fact that Narcissa did not care how many innocent people were killed, so long as she and her family were safe — that was the reason she was on Voldemort's side and obeyed his commands. She was afraid of what he would do to her and her family if she did not fight for him.

"Just up ahead!" Draco said. It was hard to hear him over the heavy rain, which was pummeling against the ground like bullets. Katie's wet hair swung in her face and blinded her.

All of a sudden, a skull-splitting pain filled her head. She knew this feeling. Voldemort was trying to infiltrate her mind.

"You lied..." Voldemort hissed inside her head.

"No!" she shouted.

"What?" Draco asked, his voice laced with worry. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Katie had stopped running. She put her hands on the side of her head, applying as much pressure as possible, as if this would somehow get Voldemort out of her mind.

"It's him," she gasped, for she was suddenly quite breathless. "He's in my head."

Draco cast a nervous glance up the wide pathway. His mother was gaining on them. Chewing his lip nervously, he firmly gripped Katerina's shoulders.

"You have to push him out." he told her.

Katie shook her head. Her eyes were clamped shut.

"You dare lie to me..."

"I can't, I can't!" she sobbed.

Draco shook her gently. "Yes, you can," he assured her firmly. "You've done it before, Rina, you can do it again. You can do it."

"Pay," Voldemort hissed. "You will pay."

Then another voice spoke inside her head — her own voice, warm but strong, and she said, "Get out of my head!"

It felt as though she was breaking the surface of an icy lake. Gasping for air, her eyes shot open, and for the briefest of moments, she did not know where she was, but then her eyes met Draco's and everything came back to her.

"I did it!" she beamed.

Draco looked ecstatic. "You did it!"

"Come back to the house, Draco!"

They both whipped around. Narcissa was no more than twenty feet away from them now. Her blonde hair had turned brown from the rain and her clothe were sticking to her skin. Apparently, she had not found her wand before she chose to chase after Katie and Draco, because she was unarmed. Draco frowned at her.

"I'm sorry, mother." he said, and Katie could tell by the sincerity in his voice that he meant it.

Ignoring Mrs Malfoy's desperate pleas for them not to go, Draco and Katie ran the rest of the carriageway, dragging their trunks behind them; once they were outside of the Manor grounds, Katie pocketed her wand, took Draco's hand, and turned on the spot to Disapparate.

Katie felt the very familiar and uncomfortable sensation of being tightly pressed from all sides. Then, she and Draco were harshly thrown to a forest floor.

"Are you all right?" Draco asked at once, pushing himself to his feet. He staggered a little, probably from the disorientation one often feels after Apparating, but still, he held his hand out to Katie and helped her stand up. She brushed herself off.

"I'm fine," she said. "You?"

"Fine," he hummed. He started turning his head in all directions. "Where did you take us?"

They were standing on the edge of a forest. A winding gravel pathway twisted between the dense trees and wet leaves coated in forest floor. To their right stood a small village, the houses of which were all medieval style cottages. A few villagers roamed the streets, but they seemed to have the same idea as the city-folk — stay inside unless absolutely necessary. A cobbled pathway ran through the village and the air smelled of a field on a summer's day.

"Appleby," Katie told him. "My hometown."

She felt her heart sink. She had not returned to Appleby since her dad died and her house was destroyed. As she stared out into the village, she wondered if her house had ever been repaired. Perhaps a new family had even moved into it. Draco studied her carefully and Katie tried not to look at him. She did not think she could stand the expression of pity that he was undoubtedly wearing on his face.

"Are you going to be OK?" he asked her gently.

"I'm fine," she said quickly. "It's just... weird."

After wallowing in her sadness for a few more seconds, Katie shook herself, turned around, bent down and picked up our trunk.

"We're not staying, anyway. It's too dangerous for me to be in my hometown. It's where he'd expect me to go," she announced. "I just brought us here because it was the first place I thought of. We should just stay for a little bit, maybe get some food, and then we can Apparate somewhere safer."

Draco could tell by the quavering of her voice that she was using all her strength to keep herself from crying. He watched her bustle around aimlessly, opening and closing her trunk and rooting inside it just for something to do, something to distract her from the pain she was feeling.

Wordlessly, Draco walked towards Katerina and wrapped his arms around her. At first, she didn't want to accept the comfort, but then she realised that she needed it and gratefully accepted the hug.

"We need to change." Draco murmured, stroking her wet hair. She hummed in agreement.

"I have a batch of Polyjuice in my trunk," Katie said and, although she didn't know it, Draco was smiling at her fondly. "I like to keep it for emergencies. If we could just stun two of the villagers and take their hair, we can go into a restaurant, have some food and change in the bathrooms."

She looked up and blushed when she saw that Draco was smiling at her. "What?"

"You're cute when you talk all pragmatically." he said, his eyes twinkling.

"Right, first of all, I don't know what progmalatic—"

"Pragmatic." Draco corrected, a teasing undertone to his voice.

"Yeah, that one, whatever," she brushed him off. "I don't know what it means. Secondly, I'm trying to devise a plan here — no, don't kiss me!" she added firmly, for Draco had started leaning down and Katie was very familiar with all of his moves and antics.

"Why not?" Draco pouted.

She playfully shoved him away. "Because I know you're only doing it because I'm rambling."

Smirking, Draco took her hands and pulled her towards him again. "If I kiss you, it shuts you up and it calms you down, so it's a win for both of us really."

"You're a right git, you know that?" Katerina giggled.

"So you've said before."

"Yeah, well, I need to make sure you've got the message."

Somewhere in the village, a bell clanged. Katie recognised it immediately.

"The Nocte Campana," she said, and when Draco gave her a perplexed look, she added, "It means the Midnight Bell. It rings every hour and twelve minutes."

"That's... odd." Draco said, furrowing his eyebrows and staring in the direction of the chiming. It really was quite a beautiful sound.

"Quite," Katie hummed in agreement. "Every time it chimes, it replenishes the plant life, meaning that it never dies."

"That's also odd," Draco chuckled. "Why does it do that?"

Katie shrugged. "It just does. You'd have to ask the person that made it... whoever he was."

"Or she." Draco countered.

Katie smiled at him dearly. "Yes, or she."

"Because women can make bells too." Draco nodded firmly. Katie rolled her eyes and giggled.

"You're such a dork," she started walking towards the village. "Come on, we have to get some hairs to add to our Polyjuice."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Draco said, sounding offended. He hurried after her. "I'm not a dork!"

***

Katie dragged the unconscious woman into a cubicle and sat her upright on the closed toilet.

"Sorry about this," she muttered as she plucked one of the woman's hairs out. She added it to her Polyjuice and it turned a shade of lime green. Katie grimaced. "Lovely."

Katie took a swig of the potion and instantly began to feet its effects. She grew at least five inches, her hands thinned and elongated, the length of her hair shrunk. Once the transformation was complete, she stepped outside of the cubicle to look in the bathroom mirror.

She had changed into a pale-faced middle-aged woman with shoulder length black hair and a slightly upturned nose. She could tell by the clothes that the real woman was wearing that she was quite wealthy.

Feeling that she could work with this, Katie slipped into another cubicle and opened her trunk. After rooting through for a few minutes, she found that the fanciest piece of clothing she owned was a white sundress. It wasn't exactly warm outside, but it would have to do. Once she had changed, Katie left the bathroom.

Draco was waiting for her outside — well, Draco disguised as a tall man with mousy hair and brown eyes. Katie knew that the woman she had taken the form of and the man that Draco changed into were married by the way they behaved around each other.

"Wow, uhm — right." was all Draco could say. He arched an eyebrow and looked Katie up and down.

"It's only for an hour," she reassured him. "We'll get some food and then we'll Apparate into Hogsmeade."

Draco gave her a quizzical look. "Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah," Katie said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "We can't Apparate directly into Hogwarts."

Draco let out a deep sigh.

"We can't exactly just stroll through the front gates, it's heavily guarded. Besides, we signed the form to say that we were going home for the holidays, meaning that the school legally holds no responsibility for us until Monday when the holidays are over."

"That's fine," Katie said as she pinned her new black hair out of her face. "That's only three days away. We can hide in the Room of Requirement until then, I'm sure it'll give us a bed. As for getting inside, don't worry, I've got that all planned out."

Looking deeply perplexed, Draco opened his mouth to protest and ask more questions, but Katie grabbed his hand and started dragging him to the nearest table.

Katie would be lying if she said she didn't want to stay in Appleby. It was a Wizarding village, no Muggles at all, so people were free to practice Quidditch in the sky and play magical pranks on each other. Often, children would be seen whizzing through the streets on toy broomsticks with panicked parents chasing after them.

The restaurant made Katie feel even more nostalgic. Her family used to eat there every Christmas Eve.

After dinner, Katie and Draco started walking back towards the forest. Their Polyjuice Potion would surely wear off soon so they needed to get away as quickly as possible.

A little boy skipped passed them just as the Nocte Campana chimed.

"Hi, Mr and Mrs Williamson!" he beamed. "Nice dress, Mrs!"

Katie blushed and smiled down at the boy. He then spirited away to join his friends.

"Were we that annoying when we were eleven?" Draco grunted, eyeing the boy with distaste as he ran away. Katie elbowed Draco in the ribs.

"Leave him alone!" she scolded. "That was sweet of him."

"But why do they sound like that," Draco added exasperatedly. "They're so squeaky and happy."

Katie rolled her eyes and smiled. "Better get used to it, blondie, because we're having three."

Draco choked on air. "Three?" he cried.

"That's right," Katie smirked. She didn't look at him but she could tell he was probably completely put out. "I want a girl named Aurora."

"Now hang on a minute," Draco jumped in front of her and held his arms out to stop her taking any more steps forward. "I want to keep my family tradition of naming our kids after constellations and stars."

"Yes, well, the Aurora Borealis is a sky phenomenon. Is that good enough for you?"

Draco pondered this for a moment, folded his arms and huffed.

"Fine," he grunted. "But we're naming our first son Scorpius."

"Only son," Katie corrected. "Our youngest will be another girl and she'll be named Lyra."

"At least it's a constellation." Draco shrugged.

He slipped his hand inside hers and they walked the remainder of the cobbled path in silence. Just as they were reaching the edge of the visit, Draco spoke again.

"Do you want to visit?" Draco asked.

For a moment, the question did not fully register with Katie.

"Visit?"

"Your house, I mean."

Katie frowned. "Oh..."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Draco added quickly. "I just thought it might be nice for you."

"No, no, it's just that I haven't been back since..."

Biting her lip to stifle her tears, Katie stared up the right side pathway that she knew led to her own home. After a lot of internal conflict, she decided that, yes, she did want to visit her old home one last time. The chances that she would ever return here were slim, so what harm was one final visit?

As they approached the house, Katie's grip on Draco's hand tightened. The Polyjuice was beginning to wear off. Draco's hair was fading back to its usual white-blonde and Katie could feel her own hair lengthening. They would have to make their stop quick.

When they reached the house, Katie stared at it, confused. Last time she was here, the house was up in flames and an entire wall had been blasted apart. Now, however, the house looked brand new. Potted plants sat in every window and a swing-set had been placed in the flowered garden. Although the place had changed, their was still a sense of familiarity.

Katie would have stayed there all day, staring at the house, letting all her happy memories and Leo rush back to her, but then the front door opened and laughter emerged.

A father and a mother, each of them with neat brown hair, exited the house. Between them was a little girl, also with brown hair and wearing a pink dress, and both parents were holding one of her hands. The father hoisted the girl up onto the swing and the mother started pushing her. The little girl giggled with glee and Katie couldn't help but smile.

"I think that's enough," she said, gazing warmly at the family. "Let's go."

It was nice to know that a new family had made a home of the old house, but there was a certain sadness to it too. Seeing a new family move into her home, a home with so much history, made Katie feel like she was officially saying goodbye to her old life. So much had changed since Chris handed her her Hogwarts letter on the morning of her eleventh birthday.

Screaming erupted from the village square and Katie and Draco froze were they stood. They exchanged frightened glances. Both of them looked like themselves again.

"Death Eaters!" someone from the village screamed. Katie's blood ran cold.

"They found us..." she whispered fearfully. "I knew it was dangerous for us to come here."

"Come on!" Draco started pulling her away.

"Wait — we have to stay, we have to help the villagers!" Katie cried frantically. Draco hesitated. It was clear that he wanted to stay and help.

"Rina, I don't have a wand. Potter took it," he said. "Besides, the world thinks you're dead, and it's probably safer for you that way."

Katie looked helplessly towards the sound of the screaming, which had grown louder now. Then, sighing, she realised that Draco was right and agreed to go. Just as he clasped her hand to Apparate, a gruff voice shouted, "There they are!"

It was Fenrir Greyback. Instinctively, Katie raised her wand.

"Stupefy!"

Greyback was struck with the spell and fell backwards in a heap. Draco turned on the spot. Next thing Katie new, she was lying on the end of the main street in Hogsmeade. Once more, Draco helped her to her feet and they examined their surroundings.

The sun was beginning to set. A dusty light coated the empty village street. Many of the shops were demolished, and most of the remaining ones had been boarded up and abandoned. The place felt cold and empty, as opposed to the usual light and cheery atmosphere that the village usually played host to.

Katie's eyes found Honeydukes and she cursed loudly.

"It's boarded up." she groaned.

Draco furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What, were you hoping to take a detour to get some Cauldron Cakes?"

Katie shot him a murderous look.