A Mind Gone Astray

The news of the new girl in the Quidditch team spread like wildfire among the fifth-years and even though Draco was not pleased to hear that, Montague assured him, with a nasty look at Cathy, that it is better this way. Additional to that, Professor Umbridge struck again and now published an “Educational Decree” with the number twenty-four. On her behalf, signed by the minister himself of course, every group, team or organisation was disbanded until a written permission of reforming was signed by the High Inquisitor. Luckily Draco was on good terms with her and Professor Snape was also in support of Umbridge's ideas so just after breakfast, the permission for the Slytherin Quidditch team was signed.
Ever since Umbridge was made High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, she had the right to judge the teachers on their methods and also had the power to make Fudge sack everyone not fulfilling the standards of the Ministry. So far Cathy just had her inspecting Snape in the Potions lesson after the decree number twenty-four had been published. The thought of seeing Umbridge out of class was so mind-wrecking that Cathy had a hard time to focus on the instructions for the potion. This was the first lesson of Potions after which she left the classroom with relief.



The October rushed by and welcomed was a cold and icy November which painted the sky in every possible shade of grey. The Friday before the first Quidditch match arrived and after dinner Cathy had adequate amount of homework on her nightstand to fill the whole weekend but for some reason she didn't care enough to waste one thought on it. Later on she would meet up with Ginny up on the Founders' Tower. It is a secret tower located close to the Astronomy Tower and it had a little study at the very top. Catherine had discovered it a little over a year ago when she was strolling through the castle. With a smile she climbed up the stairs and was pleased to see Ginny already inside.
‘How do you even know a place like this exists?’ she said astonishingly while she sat on one of the big arm chairs and Cathy chuckled as she lit the lamps inside the room.
‘I stumbled upon it somehow. I like the towers and this one here was a good place to read. Enough of that though, I am so glad to be able to speak normally to you again so now start off with the recent gossip!’ With an honest smile Cathy sat down in the other arm chair and just like that, the two girls started talking like back in the holidays with the difference that both knew to trust the other even the meanest and darkest secrets.
‘And then, when his mouth was sealed shut, I was able to see the panic across it face! It was hilarious though the best part was that Montague walked so stupidly for the next two weeks and every time he sat down, I could hear him curse,’ she finished laughing into her butterbeer before she took another sip of it.
‘That sounds so much like Fred 'n' George! Speaking of which … What is it with you and Fred?’ Instantly the blonde waved off and a strange heat radiated from her cheeks.
‘There's nothing! I mean … we're friends … kind of. Besides that, I have to play girlfriend for Draco so I shouldn't get involved with anyone else because it'd be twisted, wouldn't it?’ Speaking it out made it somewhat clear that the only male person in her life for now and the only one in her dreams should be Draco Malfoy.
‘That's bull. Just speak to him and maybe he doesn't care!’ she said and looked at her sternly. Cathy looked at her for a moment and had to smile crookedly.
‘We'll see what happens. There is Christmas around the corner and I heard from your Mam that you invited me through her to celebrate it with you.’ Thankfully Ginny adopted the change of topics and way too soon it turned ten to nine which meant for the two to part ways again.



The next morning was the zenith of the mocking against Gryffindor and when Cathy entered the Great Hall together with Draco, Blaise and Nott, she nearly choked on her laughter. There was a blonde girl with Ravenclaw robes, who looked more like nothing could shake her and everything around her was just a fluffy dream, who had a big lion as a hat.
‘What even is that?’ Blaise snorted and shook his head as he headed off to the table. The others followed and the blonde shook a little as she tried to not laugh out loud – something very inadequate for a pure-blood lady.
‘Are you alright?’ Nott whispered into her ear and she slowly nodded, tears forming in her eyes as she sat down.
‘Perfect. Just excited for the game,’ she peeped and quickly got some food on her plate to brace herself for the upcoming game. Once they were all done, the team walked off to the pitch together. Followed by Pansy and her girl group, in it Daphne and Astoria Greengrass who both wished Draco good luck. Astoria had a strange gaze in her eyes that Cathy did not like at all but she shook it off instantly when she smelled the fresh air of the November's cold. She walked over to the dressing rooms, somewhat guarded by the whole group as if they tried to hide her and then she remembered that, since they had always practised at night, nobody knew who the two Beaters were. Somehow it was to her liking that she had her own flock of guards, she thought while she put on her Quidditch robes and took her beater. There was a short talk about their tactics which basically were being aggressive and derisive. She lined up to walk out onto the pitch when Draco came up to her, giving her a wink as he put on a pin of her robe and she had to hold a groan back.
Over the past two weeks the Slytherins came up with a horrible song about Gryffindors new Keeper who happened to be Ronald Weasley. They rhymed a few lines on how horrible he was at watching the three hoops and they even invented the little pins with crowns on them and the sentence “Weasley is our King”. Cathy smiled at him before they all walked out. They were the first ones but didn't have to wait long for the other team to walk on and instantly she felt fourteen pairs of eyes looking at her and at her brother Gregory. Obviously the surprise was successful.
‘Captains, shake hands,’ ordered Madam Hooch, the flying instructor and Quidditch referee. Montague and Angelina Johnson did as ordered and it looked like former tried to crush the girl's hands. Smart and eager as she was, she made it look like she didn't mind it. Seconds later they mounted their brooms on the order of Madam Hooch and after she blew her whistle, they all shot up into the sky as the balls were released.
Instantly the game was on a hundred percent. The Quaffle flew through the air and Johnson caught it. Cathy used her best chance as she got closer to the goals to smash a Bludger at her and she dropped it. With a satisfied grin she followed Montague a little who dashed to the goals on the other side and suddenly a bludger came right at her, hit by George who had first hit Montague with one and then used the other to distract her. Nice tactics from him and she would have acknowledged them if it wasn't for her nearly falling off her broom.
‘Son of a…’ she cursed and suddenly Lee Jordan, who was the commentator for the Quidditch games, got silent to listen to the crowd. Bad idea as Cathy knew but they would pay the price for letting the Slytherin's get attention for their song. The blonde meanwhile teared through the icy wind and hit the bludger as good as she can, trying to knock every person in red-and-gold off their broom whenever they had the Quaffle. When Warrington was close to the goal, she dared to peek at the scenery for a moment and cheered loudly when he made the first goal, clapping for a moment before she went back on her duty, rushing down to prevent Montague from getting hit in the back by a Bludger. Second later the hunt went on.
It was an exciting game because her two opponents were brilliant. It was forty–ten for Slytherin when Catherine saw Draco and Harry dashing down and after the Golden Snitch. On the inside she cursed because she knew that nobody had ever beaten Harry to catching the little ball. It seemed as if time stood still when Madam Hooch blew the whistle once more and the Veela couldn't help but curse for a moment. Her brother, let it be out of frustration or just to show off his apparent loyalty to his house, smashed the Bludger once more towards Potter who got hit in the back of his head. Promptly the referee was whistling again and started giving him a lecture on fair play. Cathy just heard bits of it when she got back to the ground and sighed deeply about their loss. Draco landed next to her and, as if losing to Potter hurt his ego so badly, he started mocking the Weasley family. The things he said were plain horrible and the blonde was glad that he was having his back to her or else her disguise would've blown instantly. She saw that close to where Harry was celebrated seconds before, Fred was held back by the three Chasers, all girls, so he won't go and attack the blonde who was still sneering at them. Harry on the other hand held back George and Catherine's mind was racing to find a way to get this situation under control, trying to give Draco gentle pushes would be useless and that was pretty much all she could think of before he topped everything and said what makes everything get out of hand.
‘Or perhaps, you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it –’ he leered as he backed off a little and stopped only because in the next moment, George and Harry both stormed right at him.