Chapter 6: Talks

The next day, Kate woke up early, wanting to speak to her mother. After what Nick had told her the previous night, she needed to find out the whole story.

As she crept out of the common room she thought about everything that had happened the previous day. It had been a strange first day back. Not only did she have to endure the rumours surrounding her father, she also had to deal with the problems of her friends. Like Katie liking Nick and Fred ignoring her for Angelina. This last point still annoyed her. But she decided to worry about it later.

Five minutes later, she stood outside Skylar's office. She knocked tentatively. Her mother could be really ferocious when she was half asleep, something no doubt picked up from Great- Uncle Moody.

The door opened slowly and Kate walked in. Skylar, who had been reading, looked at her in surprise. "Kate? Is anything wrong?"

"Mum, tell me what you know about Dad. Nick told me that you said he's safe. Where is he?" she pleaded.

Sky got up and hugged her. "He's safe. That's all I know for now. Oh, and he's probably somewhere nearby."

"How do you know?"

"From this..." Skylar said, summoning the piece of parchment from underneath her pillow.

Kate smiled slowly as she looked at the paw print. When she looked at her mother, her smile turned mischievous.

"You slept with this under your pillow?" she laughed.

Sky raised an eyebrow. "No, I hid it there."

Kate laughed again. "Sure you did. Okay, bye Mum, see you later." she said, before Sky had a chance to respond.

Sky smiled at Kate's retreating figure, thinking about how Sirius would have said the same thing.

When Kate got back, Fred was sitting in the Common Room, dozing off in a chair. Kate went to him and shook his shoulder lightly. He gave a start and blinked up at her.

"Kate! I was waiting for you," he said sleepily. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Was it so important that it couldn't wait until breakfast?" she asked, grinning.

Fred rolled his eyes. "I need your advice, and I don't want to ask in front of the others."

"Why? Scared that it will ruin your reputation to be seen asking for help?"

"Are you going to listen or not?"

"Fine," she snorted. "This better be good."

"Okay, I'm thinking about going with someone to Hogsmeade. And-"

"Wait," Kate interrupted. "Fred, the date for our first Hogsmeade trip hasn't even been announced yet. Don't you think it's a bit too early to be worrying about this? Besides, if you want to ask someone out, just do it. No girl will be able to resist your charms." she laughed.

Fred frowned. "Really, you think so?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "I don't think you're fully awake yet. Go back to sleep. Talk to me at breakfast or break, okay?" she said, pushing him back towards his dorm.

"Thanks Kate," Fred said. He kissed her cheek lightly. Kate blinked, surprised. Clearly, he wasn't awake yet.

Fred smiled at her, then walked back to his dorm. Kate stood there for another five minutes, then smiled and sat down in the same chair he had just vacated.

Strangely enough, she didn't feel that annoyed about the whole Angelina thing anymore.

"Kate?" Nick said, shaking her gently. "Kate, wake up."

"Huh?"

"You fell asleep in the common room. Come on, we'd better go down. We have classes today, you know."

Kate got up and stretched. "Yeah, coming." She lowered her voice. "I saw Mum today. She told me about Dad."

Nick smiled at her. "Yeah, I figured you'd do that. Now hurry up."

Ten minutes later, they were in the Great Hall, sitting at the Gryffindor table. Kate sat across from Fred and George, who were laughing at something. Nick sat at his usual spot, between Kate and Alicia.

"What's the joke?" Nick asked.

"Oh, just about how Sirius Black probably killed thirteen people to play a prank on Professor Trelawney."

"That's ridiculous," Kate said.

Nick forced himself to laugh. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see that Kate was looking at her plate.

"Kate?" George asked.

Kate looked up, smiling. "Yeah, that was very funny." She rolled her eyes.

"That's more like it," George grinned.

Kate smiled at him before shoveling food into her mouth to avoid talking. Nick frowned at her, then shook his head slightly. She understood what he was trying to say.

"I actually agree with Fred and George." Alicia laughed from Nick's other side.

Nick turned to face her.

"You agree with us?" Fred and George said in unison, before grinning at each other.

Alicia nodded. "Yes. Though you meant it as a joke, it was probably true."

The twins looked at her. "You're seriously saying that it was to play a trick on Trelawney?" George asked incredulously.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "No. What I meant was that he was probably mad, so the reason might have been something as stupid as that, or maybe there was no reason at all."

"You're wrong!" Kate said before she could stop herself.

The twins, Alicia, Katie, Leanne, Lee and Nick turned to look at her, their expressions ranging from curiosity to surprise to worry.

"What makes you say that?" Lee asked.

"I... Nothing, never mind. I'd better get to class." Kate said, getting up and grabbing her bag.

She ignored Nick's look of mingled exasperation and understanding and Fred's expression of concern as she almost ran out of the Great Hall.

Nick looked down at his food as soon as Kate had left the Hall.

"Nick?" Alicia said tentatively.

He looked up at her. "What happened to your sister? She was acting like she actually knew Black..." she trailed off.

It was at times like these that Nick wished that he could tell his friends the truth about his family.

He couldn't help it. "That's ridiculous." he snapped. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Alicia looked stunned. Dropping his fork onto his plate, he got up and left.

As/N: We're SOOOO sorry for the late update. Both of us have been busy with school, so it's been really hard to find a time when we're both free. We'll try to continue this, but no guarantees as of now :-/