Falling Into Black

As Natalie and Katie headed to the common room, Natalie had her head high and was grinning widely, while Katie had her head down and her hands in her pocket, petting Rowan. Natalie, for the time being, was completely oblivious to Katie’s sullen attitude. Katie wished she was that oblivious, and was able to be happy no matter what. But, unfortunately, she was who she was.

“Nat! Katie!” James yelled, nearly sprinting to catch up. The two girls stopped, and turned to look at a panicked James. “In the courtyard...Sirius...three Slytherins....GO!!” he gasped. Katie was instantly gone, running faster than she’d ever had in her life. She didn’t even realize she had made a command for her feet to start moving. But her mind was fixed solely on getting to Sirius before he did something that would get him hurt.

She shoved students out of the way as she came to the courtyard, and saw Sirius, surrounded by three Slytherins, unarmed. Katie didn’t hesitate to whip out her wand. “Stupefy!” A bolt of red light shot out of the tip of her wand, and hit a Slytherin, sending him flying backwards. The remaining two turned, sneers on their faces.

“Oh, look who it is” one of them chuckled. “Little Katie Scott.”

“The filthy little mudblood” the other snarled. Katie felt her jaw clench.

“Get away from him” she said quietly.

“Katie, stay out of this” Sirius hissed, but Katie ignored him.

“And what are you going to do?” the first smirked. Katie said nothing, causing them to laugh.

“Scared little girl” the second sneered.

“Incendio” she hissed. Flames burst around them, encircling them, trapping them. Sirius, however, was left outside the circle. Bending down, she picked up his wand, which was by her foot, and walked toward him. Silently, she handed him his wand, at the same time that Professor Slughorn and Professor McGonagall arrived.

“What happened?” Professor McGonagall demanded, looking straight at Katie and Sirius.

“They insulted my friend and I attacked them” Sirius muttered. “Katie was just helping.” McGonagall looked at her, looking for confirmation.

“He’s lying” Katie stated, staring straight at the ground. “I was out here and I heard them talking about Natalie. I got angry, and I drew my wand. I didn’t help Sirius, he helped me.” It was silent.

“Well, Miss Scott, I must say I’m increasingly disappointed in you” McGonagall said, sighing. “You’ll be serving detention—”

“Professor—” Sirius began.

“Katie’ll be serving detention with me, Mr. Black” Slughorn interrupted with a smile. “Tonight, at midnight. I’ll inform Professor Sinsitra of your absence, Katie.” Katie merely nodded, eyes still on the ground. She then felt the heat of the fire ring dissipate. “Now, everyone back to class” he called. Katie, dodging Sirius’ hands, walked off as well.

“Katie” Sirius hissed. “Why did you take the blam—?”

“Because I wanted to” Katie interrupted, voice barely audible. “I stick up for my friends, and you’re my friend, Sirius. And besides, you get in enough trouble as it is.”

“But—” he protested, but was once again interrupted.

“Don’t, Sirius” Katie said firmly, before walking away, leaving him standing alone in the corridor.

“I’ve never seen her attack someone like that” Natalie murmured, joining Sirius. “Ever. She didn’t even think about getting in trouble.”

“She didn’t think at all” Sirius muttered. “She just acted.”

“I know. And that’s even less like her” Natalie agreed. Both of them sighed, before going separate ways.

~

Meanwhile, Katie was sitting behind an armor suit statue, reading one of her favorite books. Well, it was more of a play, but whatever. She was so into it, that she didn’t notice someone beside her until they cackled.

Giving a shriek, she jumped nearly a foot in the air, which caused her to drop her book. Peeves, the school’s poltergeist, cackled again, flipping around in the air. “Jesus Christ, Peeves, you scared the crap out of me” Katie gasped, clutching her heart, which was threatening to jump out of her chest.

“Peeves scared you, yes he did” the ‘ghost’ cackled mockingly.

“Just said that, Peeves” Katie stated, with a small smirk.

“Well, I didn’t do this” he grinned. Suddenly, Katie was covered in slimy blue stuff, which she soon realized was paint. His laughter could be heard nearly everywhere in the castle.

“Peeves!” Katie shouted, fuming, which was rare for her.

“Ye-e-e-e-es?” he drawled.

“I am so-o-o-o going to kill you!” she exclaimed, jumping up.

“You have to catch me first!” he cackled, quickly flying away. Katie growled in annoyance as she chased the poltergeist down the hall. “Come and get me, Katie Anne Scott!”

As she rounded the corner, she ran into someone, hard. Hard enough to make them both fall on the ground. Katie groaned, holding her paint covered head as a headache bloomed. “Katie?” a familiar voice asked. She looked up to see Severus, who had spots of blue paint on his black robes.

“Hi, Severus” Katie muttered.

“Why are you covered in blue paint?” he asked slowly.

“Peeves” she answered simply. He nodded in understanding, before standing and helping her up.

“Katie, what happened in the courtyard today?” Severus asked seriously. Katie sighed, wiping her brow as paint dripped into her eye.

“I just helped Sirius, okay?” she said shortly.

“Every Slytherin is pissed off at you!” he hissed, grabbing her wrist. “You just made a lot of enemies because you attacked three Slytherins.”

“They ganged up on Sirius. He was unarmed” Katie argued. “Tell me how that’s fair.”

“That doesn’t matter” he muttered. “What matters is that they’re trying to figure out a way to either get back at you or get rid of you.”

“They won’t do anything with the professors around” Katie stated. Severus maneuvered her so her back was against the wall and he was looming over her.

“They’ll find a way, Katie” he growled. “And you’ll get hurt. Just stay out of our affairs.”

“I like how you’re referring yourself to them” Katie said evenly. Severus slammed his palm into the stone wall beside her head, making her jump.

“Don’t change the subject!” he barked. “You need to stay out of this. It doesn’t concern you.”

“It concerns me if my friends will get hurt” Katie said calmly, staring right into his black eyes. Katie watched his jaws clench, before he finally, and almost reluctantly, pulled away.

“If you get involved, you’ll get hurt. Don’t say I didn’t warn you” he said lowly, and then turned away.

“If you’re trying to scare me, Severus, you’ll have to do better than that” Katie called after him. He didn’t stop. With a sigh, she turned around, and screamed when Peeves appeared nearly an inch from her face.

“Well, that was entertaining” he stated, then cackled. “We should do it again some time.” With that, he disappeared, cackling all the way. Katie, shaking her head, walked back to her hiding place and picked up her blue stained book.

She sighed. “Great, now I’ll have to get another one” she muttered. Just then, Eos swooped down and landed on the statue’s shoulder and screeched. “Hey girl, how you doin’?” Katie asked the snowy owl. Eos ruffled her feathers and flapped her wings a bit, almost happily. “Not sure if that was good or not, but let’s head back to the common room” Katie smiled, extending her arm, which Eos landed lightly on.