Katie watched in amusement as Angelina continued to glare at her boyfriend as they ate in the Great Hall, while Harry paid her no attention as he talked to Dean and Nevile. When they reached dessert, and Angelina was still sending Harry dirty looks, she could no longer contain her curiosity until they got back to the common room. "What did you do? Angie looks pissed." Katie whispered into Harry's ear.

"I may or may not have pushed her into the water." Harry whispered back.

Katie snorted as she tried to contain her laughter, which wasn't helped when Katie glanced at Angelina and saw she was now glaring at her rather than Harry. "Why did you do that?" She asked in a giddy tone.

"She needed to cool her head." Harry answered. "Well, more than usual." Angelina had become more and more high strung as the tournament progressed. It had left some of her friends had become worried about her heath, and the other members of the Gryffindor quidditch team also became worried about their health when she became their captain next year. Harry had clearly had enough of it.

"What did she do?" Katie asked.

"She wanted to skip dinner and keep practicing until ten." Harry responded. Katie looked to Angelina, questioning her sanity. They had been practicing since four in the afternoon. Practicing six hours straight was a great way to burn yourself out, and hinder your progress rather than help it. Especially since Angelina never took a day off to recuperate. "Oh, and I'm also keeping hold of her wand until tommorow." Harry mentioned, causing Katie to start laughing again.

Once Dinner was done, Harry and Katie walked up to the Gryffindor common room with most of their house, but Harry pulled Katie away and lead her to the room of requirement. "I know we've got to get up early to see the girls and Charlie off, but I wanted to show you something first." He explained when he caught her questioning look.

Once inside the room, Katie saw two wooden cats that were the same size as a real one on sperate tables facing opposite each other. Harry took his summoning coins out of his pocket He placed one on each of the wooden cats' heads and tapped one of them with the wand. Katie gasped as the wooden cat on the opposite table momentarily disappeared and then reappeared just above the table next to them a second later.

"It works!" Katie gasps.

"Mostly." Harry answers as he inspects the cat figure before resetting the experiment. But this time Harry used an animation charm on the figure he was going to summon causing it to walk along the edge of the table as a cat would. Harry summoned the wooden cat again but this time not all of it was transported. The paws were left behind as was the end of the tail, its ears, and a chunk of the face was missing where its nose was supposed to be.

"Yikes." Katie muttered.

"Yeah. We might have to tie it to the users' blood to make it safe, but that comes with a drawback." Harry mentions.

"You can't pass the coins around." Katie quickly responded.

"I want you to have the second coin." Harry stated.

"What?" Katie gaped.

"I want you to have it, Katie. You're the best choice." Harry answered with a hopeful smile.

"Are you sure?" She asked, still skeptical.

"Positive. The only other people I could give this to are Ella and Tonks, and there is no way in hell I'm giving them a way to get through my wards while I sleep." Harry replied and Katie laughed before Kissing Harry soundly on the lips.

"We should head back if we want to be up to see the others off." Katie mentions as she embraced Harry. Harry hummed his agreement as he picked up the two coins before they left the room of requirement. "You're not just giving me it so we have an easy way to get past the gender wards are you?" Katie teased as they walked down the hall.

"I have no idea what you're on about." Harry grinned.

The next morning.

Capella Potter walked from the girls dorms into the common alongside her best friend Astoria Greengrass talking about their plans for the holidays. The two girls had first met when James had taken Capella to Greengrass manor while he discussed business with Cyrus. The two girls became fast friends with a desire to see the world together, both Muggle and Magical.

Even when Capella was in Atlantis they kept writing to each other as much as they could. The two girls never planned which house they wanted to be in before they arrived at Hogwarts, only that Slytherin was off the table due to Capella being a Potter, so when Astoria was sorted into Hufflepuff, Capella didn't hesitate to follow her. The two young witches were two of the best students in their year, with Capella even winning the third year's dueling tournament, that ended last week. (Not that anyone was surprised at the outcome.)

Capella had been kept in the dark about the Greengrass family blood curse, and that Astoria had it by her parents and Harry because they wanted Astoria to be able to tell her when she was ready. But Capella found-out on her own thanks to some thinly veiled jabs by Elliot Nott (Theodor's younger brother) as well as some private research in the library. Capella confronted Astoria in private, feeling betrayed at not being told. But they soon settled down, and Capella swore to never leave Astoria's side. Even if she found Astoria's crush on her brother incredibly annoying.

The two girls waited in the common room for Charlie and Susan to arrive, which thankfully didn't take long. Most of the first years were heading home, but Susan was the only fourth year that they knew of.

The four of them left the common room and walked down to the entrance to the main courtyard, where the thestral drawn carriages had yet to arrive. Others soon joined them, including the Carrow twins, who promptly gave Charlie a kiss on opposite cheeks, and linked arms with him. His smile became as bright as his blush.

When Harry and Katie arrived, Capella threw up every privacy charm she knew before she hugged her brother. It wasn't often she did this as she didn't want to be seen as reliant on her brother, but she did cherish the bond they had. Harry simply smiled and hugged his sister back. After they separated Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out six small present boxes. Harry handed each of the four Hufflepuffs and the two Slytherins one of the small boxes. "They'll unshrink on Yule. So until then, no peeking." Harry grinned.

The group just smiled back. Harry had become somewhat of a big brother to all of them. It was no secret that he was protective of those close to him, mostly because he tended to make examples out of those who threatened those close to him. Each member of the leaving party gave Harry and Katie a hug, including Astoria, who wanted to kiss Harry's cheek but feared being hexed by Katie.

The thestrals arrived and Harry and Katie promised to get up in time for the train leaving the day after the ball, they said their goodbyes.

"Ella." Astoria called.

"Yeah?" Capella responded absentmindedly.

"Do you think there's any way we could get your brother to sign a concert contract with me?" Astoria asked, shocking Chalie while Susan and the Carrow twins laughed.

"Ugh!"

The Yule Ball.

Katie Bell took one last glance at herself in the mirror before she headed down into the common room to meet up with Harry. Katie had never an overly attractive girl. Brown hair, brown eyes, and average height and breast size. Her only physical aspect she saw as above-average was her backside, and that was because Angie, Alica, and Harry were always complimenting it, and how her body had become toned from her quidditch training. Even now she didn't feel overly confident in her looks. She was wearing a ruby red silk dress that reached her ankles, the straps going over the shoulders, but left her collar exposed as well as the top of her chest without showing to much. She was also wearing ruby red heels, matching gloves that reached her elbows, a similar shade of red lipstick, and a necklace that Harry had given her that very morning. The pendant was made of steel phoenix with an amber eye on the front and there were small engraved writing on the back.

"Live free and fly high Kathrin Bell

Love Harry"

Katie couldn't help but smile as she walked out of the fifth year girls' dorms and down into the Gryffindor common room. Their she saw Harry waiting for her. He was sat in a chair facing the entrance to the girls' dorms. Before he saw come out, she saw him cast a single glance, but when he saw her, his mask of indifference shattered into a thousand pieces. He was in awe of her. Katie felt her cheeks heat up as Harry continued to shamelessly stare at her. His eyes were wide and his jaw was slack as he leaned forward in his chair to get a better look at her. Katie felt any and all concerns about her looks evaporate under her boyfriend's hungry gaze, that was fixed solely on her.

Harry was quick to stand up and make his way over to her, others swiftly moved out of his way as he approached her. Harry greeted her with a strong kiss before staring into her eyes with his hands resting on her biceps. "You look beautiful." Harry stated boldly.

Katie's smile broadened, showing off her pearly white teeth as her blush became even stronger. "You don't look so bad yourself." She grinned. Harry had left his glasses behind, allowing Katie a clear view of his amethyst eyes, he had used his grandfather's sleekeazy's hair potion to tame his normally wild hair, without using enough to drown a rat, as Malfoy did, and wore a midnight blue robe with purple ascents and the Potter family crest over his heart.

"I'm glad you approved." Harry grinned. "And I can see why you've been growing out your hair now." Harry mentioned as he ran his fingers through her shimmering chestnut brown hair. Originally she only let it grow just past her shoulders, so the Slyerins couldn't pull on it mid-game, but this year she had allowed it to grow past her shoulders but it currently only reached the end of her shoulder blades as she had curled it.

Katie giggled under his attention and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "So what spells did you put on this one?" She asked as she held her new necklace between her index finger and her thumb.

"The usual detection and anti-theft charms, plus the ability to conjure a magical shield if needed." Harry answered with a proud smile.

Katie gave an amused snort. "And you wonder why the Potters are deemed to be paranoid." She teased.

Harry snorted. "If a House doesn't up its protections after seeing the head of the family die right in front of them, then they're just asking to be whipped out." He responded stubbornly.

During a ministry function, Hadrian's great-grandfather Henry Potter had been poisoned and had died within moments in front of his wife and two sons. The purpose was to stop Henry's pushes for equality. Henry had been a political genius, and successfully passed multiple laws that protected the rights of none humans, immigrants, witches, and first gen's alike and blocked any that would harm them. His efforts had earned him the title 'Leader of the light' years before Dumbledore was gifted it for capturing Grindlewald. His death had caused Fleamont and Charles to work tirelessly on new detection charms, with Euphemia and Dora occasionally adding their own input. By the time they were done, they could find no venom, potion, or poison that could slip past there spell work. A month later Casper Malfoy was found mutilated in his own bed, with pain and horror expressed on his decapitated head. While the family had always been careful, that event had made them extremely private and secretive. Some had called the paranoid. They called it learning from past mistakes.

Katie placated Harry with another kiss. "Just messing with you, Luv." She grinned.

"Luv?" Harry repeated in surprise.

"Why not?" Katie asked looking a bit anxious.

Harry simply gave her a kiss on the forehead. "Luv it is." He grinned.

"You're lucky my lipstick doesn't smudge." She smiled back. "We should get going, or we'll be late." She mentioned.

"Let me just give the twins The Marauders Map and we can head down." Harry requested, to which Katie nodded.

Soon.

Harry and Katie were stood waiting in the Great Hall waiting for the champions to enter the hall. When Amber arrived on Terry Boot's arm, Harry had given the wizard a penetrating stare that almost caused him to run back to the common room and hide under his covers. Amber told Harry to behave and he looked away with a grumble. Nevile joined them with Ginny (despite Harry's warnings about her), Alica cames with Warrington (the only Slytherin chaser with a speck of respect), but the biggest surprise was seeing Colin Creery with Lavender Brown. The boy had to endure multiple jokes about getting in good with his future boss but smiled all the same.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I give you. The Triwizard champions!" Ludo Bagman bellowed as the main doors to the great hall open. "Angelina Johnson, Victor Krum, and Fleur Delcour!" The hall rang out with applause as the trio entered with their dates. Angelina entered first with Fred by her side. Next was Victor Krum, who surprised everyone by having Hemione Granger on his arm. Finally, Fleur entered with Rodger Davis (Tracey's older half-brother) who appeared to be struggling to fight off Fleur allure.

Once the champions were sat at their table, the rest of them soon followed. Harry and Katie were sat with Leanne, Lee Jordan, Amber, Terry, Fred, and a Hufflepuff named Samantha. Once Dumbledore demonstrated how to order food, everyone was quick to copy.

"So Harry." Amber began as they ate. "What do you honestly think of Angelina's chances of winning the tournament?" She asked.

"Good. Very good. Krum's mentor is from what I've been able to gather the brightest in their year, but he has little to no understanding of magics not taught at Durmstrange. Fleur may have you helping her now but it's too little too late. Especially with what the second task involves." Harry answered calmly.

"You think I can't teach Fleur basic elemental magic in time? Remember who is more gifted with it." Amber challenged.

"Doesn't matter if she's no good at it." Harry countered. "Besides Fluer's got a larger weakness." Harry grinned.

"You mean her lack of critical thinking? I'm working on it. But are you aware of Angelina's main flaw?" Amber retorts confidently.

"Her anxiety? I make sure she takes breaks and gets enough sleep." Hary answered back. "So how much do you want to bet?"

"Ten galleons." Amber answered. Some of the poorer members of the table looked at them in shock. 10 galleons was a good chunk of money.

"Deal." Harry answered immediately and stuck out his hand for Amber to shake. Amber obliged and a golden thread of magic appeared from each of their wrists and wrapped around their hands before vanishing with a flash.

"What was that?" Lee Jordan asked in awe.

"A minor magical oath." Harry answered.

"It's nothing more than a way to remind us of the oath and can tell the one partner if the other has broken it. And It'll dissipate once fulfilled or broken." Amber elaborated.

"Won't that kill you if you break it?" Leanne questioned. "She knew oaths weren't to be taken lightly.

"Neither of us will break the oath, but even if one of us did, it wouldn't kill us, but it would hurt like a bitch." Harry answered.

After that, they swapped to other topics while they ate. Once everyone had finished eating the tabled were moved and the opening dance began. The crowd watched in silence as the champions and their dates began to dance.

During the dance, Harry nudged Katie and pointed out how Rodger was slowly but surely succumbing to Fleur's allure, much to their amusement. Once the song ended, Fluer immediately stalked off with Rodger following like a puppy. Harry also got a glimpse of Tracey and her date Blaise following them.

As the song for the second dance began Harry looked to Katie. "May I this dance?" He asked with a small smile as he offered her his open hand.

"You may." Katie smiled back as she placed her gloved hand in his, before allowing Harry to lead her to the dance floor. They positioned themselves with practiced ease and slowly began to dance. It wasn't an activity they did often, but they enjoyed the rare moments that they did. Neither of them spoke a word as they danced, both happy to simply look into each other's eyes with a smile on their faces. Once the song began to come to an end Harry and Katie began to slow down, and once it did end they stared at each other for a moment before pulling each other into a passionate kiss. When they came up for air they saw James looking at them with a proud grin, causing them both to blush and leave the dance floor.

The couple went to the drinks table that was being guarded by Moody and grabbed a goblet each.

As they sat down to drink, they were approached by Angelina Alicia, and Fred as well as their dates. "Mind if we join you?" Angelina asked.

"Not at all." Katie responded as she gestured for them to take a seat.

Once everyone was sat at the table Angelina spoke again. "So how we address the elephant in the room, or more apparently, the snake at the table." Everyone at the table immediately looked to Alicia and Warrington, who both looked uncomfortable. "Spill."

"Well, we first meet at a quidditch match when we were five." Alicia began.

"Tornados verses Falcons. The tornados won." Warrington grinned.

Alicia rolled her eyes before continuing. "Anyway! Our seats were right next to each other, so we got to know one another during the match, and became friends." Angelina already knew this as she and Alicia had grown up together but said nothing about it as she knew the others didn't know this. "And we stayed friends until we came to Hogwarts." She continued looking at bit bitter at the end.

Warrington sighed and picked up the story. "When the older Slytherins noticed I was friends with a Gryffindor they threatened to make my life a living hell if I didn't 'prove my loyalty'." He spat the last three words. "That's why I started the argument." Everyone but Harry and Katie was there for that argument. Alicia had approached Warrington as if nothing was wrong. He had snubbed and told her to go away, but when Alicia refused the two quickly began arguing until Warrington had said something that had cut Alicia deep, causing her to leave with tears in her eyes. It had taken every ounce f his will to not comfort her and tell her he didn't mean it, and that he was only doing it to protect them. After the incident, the twins had taken to targeting Warrington but he never did anything about it. He felt like he deserved it.

Alicia put her hand on top of his, and Warrington shifted his hand so they interlocked fingers. "We didn't talk to each other again until two years ago when we were both in the hospital wing from the bludgers." She continued. "We didn't talk all that much but he did explain why he said what he did, and apologized."

"Thankfully she accepted my apology and agreed to meet in private the next day." Warrington mention. "After that, we started meeting in private where and when we could."

"A few months later we decided to become a couple, but we agreed to never tell anyone, so anyone who would cause problems didn't." Alicia explained before giving her team a nervous look. "Sorry for keeping it from you."

Harry shrugged. "We all keep secrets." He responded, and the others agreed.

"So why have you come in the open now?" Angelina asked.

"I'm a sixth year now, and none of the seventh years really care what anyone else does." Warrington answered. "And we figured if we're gonna come out in the open, what better time than the Yule Ball?"

After talking some more, the group split up and Harry and Katie shared a few more dances with one another, and a few of their friends. But when Tracey asked Harry for a dance he knew it wasn't for fun.

"You look nice tonight." Harry greeted her with a smile.

"So do you." Tracey responded.

A silence fell over them, until Harry sighed. "Before you ask Tracey, I'm trying, but it's not easy. They blocked the appeal the first time and it would require nothing short of him admitting he's a Death Eater for them to even think about a retrial."

Tracey sighed and nodded, she knew how corrupt the ministry was. How most of them would happily sweep ruined lives under the rug for a bit of gold. "I know but we're running out of time. They'll be wed once they're both of age, isn't their something you can do?" Tracey pleaded. They both looked over to Daphne was sat. Her face was emotionless and her posture was ridged. Her hands rested on her lap as she sat next to Theodor Nott who had his arm wrapped around her, but paid her no attention what so ever.

"The best I could do right now is wipeout the entire Nott family, but that doesn't mean her contract won't be passed onto a distant cousin, and if fingers start getting pointed my way the backlash could be catastrophic." Harry answered. "As much as I hate it we have to bide our time. They'll slip up soon enough. They've been getting cocky recently." Tracey nodded and they said nothing else on the matter.

Soon.

Harry and Katie exited the Great Hall and headed to the garden which had been set up for the ball. James had managed to inform them that Skeeter had been sighted in her animagus form in the garden on the right side of the entrance.

Harry had walked out first, he looked like he was barely containing his anger as had a scowl on his face, fists clenched, and he walked in quick powerful strides.

Seconds later Katie rushed after him with a worried expression. "Harry! Harry wait up!" Harry pretended to ignore her as he kept on walking. Once she caught up Katie wrapped her arm around his. "Let's just talk!" She pleaded.

Harry huffed in response. "Fine." he growled and flicked his wand into his hand, and started casting privacy wards one by one. Normally he'd use an all in one ward made by the unspeakable and taught to him by his mother, but he wanted to give Skeeter a chance to get close. While Harry was doing this, Katie discreetly put up another ward designed to capture any snooping animagi.

Once Harry was done with his wards, Katie activated hers causing the near by hedge to glow blue. At the center of the blue light was a paralised water beetle.

"Well that was easy." Katie shrugged as she stared at the capptuered reporter.

"Well if it wasn't that'd mean we did something wrong." Harry responded as he dispelled his wards and signaled for Tonks to come over.

"Nice work you two." Tonks praised as she approached with a glass jar. She levitated skeeter from the hedge into the jar and then sealed. "Rita Skeeter you are under arrest for being an unregistered animagus..." She announced before walking off as she began to inform the 'journalist' of her rights. Harry and Katie looked at each other and high-fived, before sharing a kiss.

"Not a bad way to end a date." Katie joked.