Defeated

The Dream

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story goes alongside GoF telling of a character that no one has heard of, though she has spent her last three years alongside our famous trio. So, here goes.]

Harry awoke to the sharp pain in his forehead. Immediately his hand flew to his forehead trying to remember the dream. There were three men. Two he knew, one he didn't. One of the men had died in a flash of green light, Harry had seen him die. Voldemort. Suddenly Harry knew. A rush of cold fear shot down his spine.

Harry sat picturing this dream, as it faded quickly from his mind, trying to remember details when another unknown image drifted into his mind's eye. A room. This one was a room Harry had never seen. There was a girl curled up in pain on the bed. She looked strangely familiar to Harry, but he couldn't put his finger on whom this girl was. Harry. He's after Harry. And me... Oh god... Harry swore he could hear her thoughts. The voice was familiar, like the girl. I've got to be imagining this. Harry thought. I don't even know her! But yet...he did. Me? She said something about me! Oh, no. It's him. He is after me, Harry thought in realized fear. But...I knew that. But, the girl. Is Voldemort really after someone else? No. The girl looked cautiously up. She could hear him too, Harry suddenly realized.

Harry thought back to the end of his third year. There had been a dream. There was this girl, at least he was pretty sure this was the same girl, in a Muggle classroom full of people. And there was another mass killing. Voldemort again. He had gotten strength, and a body. Probably another poor victim. He'd killed all the Muggles there, but when it came to this girl, he had a difficult time. But yet, she was dead! Harry had seen her fall to the floor after a time! He could hear her screaming even now. It sent a chill down his back again, remembering hearing the blood-curdling scream. It haunted him still. Who was it though? Harry pounded his head with his fist in frustration while still thinking of this past dream.

The pain in his forehead had subsided now. Harry looked around his room, thinking of Hogwarts, his school. Harry strongly missed his friends, and couldn't wait for a letter from each of them, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Kat (short for Katerina) Myers. Ron had told Harry that his father was going to try to secure some tickets for the four of them to go to the Quidditch World Cup this summer. Harry hoped with all his might, that they could all go together. Kat was staying at Hermione's for the holiday, but no one would tell him why. Harry continually wondered about it. Hermione didn't really know the exact reasons herself, Harry could tell. She had just said to Harry that it was 'none of his business anyway. She just doesn't want to go back home'.

Kat had been acting strangely since her last trip home. After exams ended at the end of last year, Kat had visited her home for a week in Leeds, but came back two days after she had left, and hadn't talked to anyone since. All three of them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had badgered her for the next week on why she had returned, but she refused to say a word. Harry had noticed a big change in her as well. Kat had always been the high-spirited one, and rarely was seen without a smile on her pretty face. She had always been cheerful and would help anyone with their troubles, taking them all unto herself. And she never went a whole day without speaking to someone, or volunteering in class. Last year Kat was the first to have known about Sirius, even before that fateful night, which had made for a rather upset Ron.

Harry was chuckling to himself, remembering Ron's expression when he discovered this minor detail, when he spotted, out his window, a strangely shaped figure flying his way. [A/N: Ya'll know what happens here, so we'll skip ahead a week.]

Ron's House

Harry was still glowing with delight after supper that first night at Ron's. He was so contented just sitting here with his friends in Ron's living room. Ron and Hermione were debating over one of their homework assignments from Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. Again Kat hadn't said a word all day. Hermione wouldn't respond about it whenever Harry asked about her. But there was something else too, but he couldn't quite finger out what it was. He sat there listening to Hermione trying to instruct Ron on what the spell was to transfigure a pen into a worm, when he finally realized.

It was Kat again. Usually she was greatly amused by her two dueling friends and tried to settle whatever disputes were present, but Harry noticed not even the slightest trace of a grin on her lips. Kat just sat a bit of a distance away and didn't even bother sending them an infamous now-what's-up-with-you-two look. And there was something about her eyes that bothered Harry. They seemed almost...scared. But, no, that couldn't be it. No way. Harry must have misread them. That was it. It had to be something else.

Kat put her head in her hands, Not again...I hope they never... And it ended like that. At "I hope they never". Harry looked up, startled. "What? Did someone say something?"

Kat looked up quickly. Hermione and Ron stopped arguing to both look strangely at Harry. "No-o," replied Hermione. "Are you ok, Harry?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just thought I heard something."

Kat looked up, surprised at him and with a questioning look on her face. Harry shrugged and looked at his lap. What was that about? Then another thought crossed his mind. Could it be the girl again? No. That's silly. Harry, you can't hear what other people think, you idiot. But yet... It had sounded like her. This mysterious girl... Who was she?

Fred and George had obviously realized that Kat hadn't smiled for a long while, and took up to the task of amusing her. They tried countless things, which resulted in the rest of them hurting with laughter, but nothing had any affect on poor Kat, who normally would have been the first to burst put laughing. Something was definitely wrong. Harry decided to talk to her before bed.

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much chance to, for at that very moment Mrs. Weasley, Ron's mother, came in and rushing them to go to bed. "It's going to be a very early morning, tomorrow, and you'd better be up on time if you want to get to the match on time!" Mrs. Weasley remarked at the protesting remarks.

Harry fell behind and waited for Kat, who was moving slower than the rest of them. "Kat?" He whispered gently.

Kat looked up, but didn't respond. Harry was getting used to this silence now.

"Is...is something wrong?"

A slow shake of Kat's head was his response.

"Oh, well. If you ever want to, you can tell me, you know that right?"

She looked down. Harry thought for a moment he saw tears in his dear friends eyes.

"Kat? Are you sure you're ok?"

She issued a quick nod of her head and then took off, running for Ginny, Ron's sister's, room, where she was staying for the night. He quickly caught up, and took hold of her arm. Slowly the young girl sank to the floor and Harry suddenly realized whom she looked like.

"Kat?"

Kat looked up slowly. Harry was half surprised to see tears streaming down her face. He'd never seen her cry before. "Kat?"

Harry sank down next to his friend and put his arm around her shoulder. He was brushing back her bangs from her eyes, when he noticed something. What was it? Kat must have felt his gaze and quickly covered it again. Harry didn't want to make her feel any worse, and he wanted to feel needed, so he let her be.

Soon enough the two of them fell asleep there in the Weasley's hall, too exhausted to think anymore of the strange happenings of that day.

The Quidditch Cup

After the first players of the Bulgarian and Irish teams took off through the stadium, Harry looked to his left. For the first time since May he noticed a look of pleasure and eagerness on Kat's face. And could it be...? No...a trace of a smile? Harry beamed at her eagerness. He knew Quidditch would lighten her heart from whatever troubles had stopped her from speaking. He deeply hoped so. He'd been missing his old friend.

At the end of the game, Harry walked off with Ron, Hermione, and Kat. "Kat? Are you smiling?" asked a surprised Hermione.

Harry whipped his head around to look at her. It was true!! Kat was actually letting a small smile play on her lips and quite happily, their friend let out a quiet laugh. Hermione ran and practically squashed the girl in a giant bear hug. Harry wasn't the only one to miss that smile. Ron let out a booming laugh, and in higher spirits than had been seen for a long time among the four of them, they set out towards the campsite.

That night after Harry had fallen asleep looking up at the canvas roof, Mr. Weasley came rushing in telling Ron and Harry to get their wands and head for the Forest. "Stay together!!" shouted Mr. Weasley after them as they ran to catch up with Ginny, Hermione, Kat, Fred and George (Ron's older brothers, who were twins).

A bit into the forest Ron tripped. "Ron! Ron! Are you all right?"

"It was just a root. I'm fine," responded Ron to Hermione's question.

"Not hard to trip, is it, with feet that large," came a sneering voice from behind them.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry said coolly to the blonde boy.

"Oh, nothing. Just decided to come and watch the fun," said the snotty boy, who was in Harry's year at school, about the Muggle family who were being spun around like tops.

"Fun, is it? I suppose you'd like to be out there too, eh, Malfoy? Would you like to be out there in those masks like your parents? Where are they Malfoy? Hmm?" questioned Harry coldly.

"Better run Granger, or you'll be out there spinning around like those stupid Muggles. Don't think they can smell out a Mud blood that's nearby, do you? Well, you're wrong. Run, run!" remarked the boy mockingly, referring to Hermione by her last name.

Ron made a move to hurt Malfoy, but Hermione gently took his arm, and led them away. She looked a little paler, but still defiant. "Let's go."

"Hey? Where's my wand?" asked Harry, frightened. "It was here a minute ago. I swear!"

They looked all over, only to find it must have been taken or lost earlier in the chaos of running from the Death Eaters (Voldemort's followers) who were creating all the ruckus with the Muggle family. They were well known to hurt and torture Muggles, and Muggle-born witches or wizards. They called these Muggle-born Mud bloods. It was a terrible name to call anyone, suggesting that they have bad blood in them, blood that's worth no good. Both Hermione and Kat were Muggle-born, and were good students. Hermione had gotten the best grades of their year for the last three years! Better than stinking Malfoy could say.

After they had been walking for a while and had stopped to rest, Ludo Bagman, a Ministry of Magic official and former Quidditch player, stopped by them and asked why everyone was in the woods. After replying, he vanished quickly to the scene by the campsite. "Not exactly on top of things is he?" said Hermione after Bagman had Apparated.

Soon a deep voice from behind one of the trees rumbled "MORSMORDRE!" and out shot a greenish thing into the sky. Kat screamed and fell to the ground. Something about that scream unnerved Harry. It was so familiar. Hermione dropped to the ground beside her and looked up at the green figure hanging in the air. "Oh, no. Oh, no, oh, no, on, no."

"What is it?" asked Harry curiously. It looked like a skull with something long and thin protruding from its mouth. It almost seemed to be a--a snake.

"It's--it's--it's the Dark Mark," whispered Hermione quietly.

"The what?" said Ron, confused.

"The Dark Mark," replied Hermione. "It's You-know-who's sign. When ever he killed, him or one of his followers shot that mark into the sky."

At that moment twenty or so Ministry officials showed up on the site and started to throw questions at the four of them. So, only because you know what happens here, we move on.

Back To The Tents

After some of the chaos settled down, Mr. Weasley promptly led the four of them back to the tents to discuss the recent Quidditch game and the event that followed. Not long after they had started their hot chocolate, Kat got up, nodded cordially to Mr. Weasley, and left to return to her own tent that she was sharing with Hermione and Ginny.

"Kat? Kat!" called Hermione after her friend. "Kat, wait up."

When Hermione caught up she notices Kat was holding something close to her. It looked like there was a pink ribbon hanging from it. "Kat? What is that?"

Hermione's friend held the pink ribbon closer to her, so Hermione could not tell what it was. She was sure she almost saw tears in Kat's eyes. All of a sudden Kat broke into heart-wrenching sobs.

"Oh, Kat. Please tell me what's up with you this summer," Hermione plead, sitting on Kat's bed and putting an arm around her friend's shoulder.

Slowly, and with a lot of shaking hands, Hermione retrieved a pair of used Pointe shoes. "Ballet slippers? Kat who's are these?"

The sobbing girl wouldn't say a word. They sat there a minute when Hermione finally gave up and returned to the boy's tent to rejoin the discussions.

Platform 9 ¾

Soon enough, the time came for the teenagers to head back to school. Taxis dropped Kat, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the attending Weasley's off at King's Cross station to board the train to Hogwarts.

As soon as they'd found an empty compartment for the four fourth years, Ron and Harry burst into discussion about their new professor, Mad-Eye Moody. Hermione groaned and thrust herself back into one of her new Transfiguration books.

Soon enough Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, and Dean Thomas, other Gryffindor fourth years, came and joined them to re-discuss the Quidditch Cup. Neville hadn't been able to go, so of course, they had to replay the whole game in words for the boy.

"We got to see him up close in the Top Box, Neville!" Ron exclaimed showing Neville a toy version of Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker.

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley." Draco Malfoy had appeared in their compartment with his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"I don't remember us inviting you in, Malfoy," Harry said coolly.

Malfoy ignored this comment. Then he saw Ron's dress robes hanging over his owl's cage. "What are those?!"

Ron tried to stuff the frilly ends away from sight, but Malfoy was too quick for him. He made a big show on how old-fashioned Ron's robes were when Kat stood and made her way around the other boys to Malfoy. "Give it up, Draco," she whispered.

All nine ofthem turned to stare at the girl. Not only was that the first time ANY Gryffindor called him by his first name, it was also the first time they had heard the girl speak since June. "So the stupid mute finally muttered her first words. Is it true? You haven't spoken since June?" Malfoy thrust the robes into Kat's open hand and turned to leave, but spun back around.

"Maybe if you enter Weasley you could get some real robes, and maybe even earn some honor to your father's name." With some exchanged comments on not knowing what he was talking about, Ron shoved Malfoy out of the compartment.

"Kat?" ventured Hermione. She then threw her arms around her friend, but Kat didn't respond to the show of emotion. Unfortunately, no other words came from the young lady for the rest of their trip.

Harry pondered the thought of Kat's first words for months being spoken to Malfoy. It didn't please him, partly because Harry had been trying gently to get her to speak lately, and partly because Draco Malfoy was Harry's biggest enemy in the school.

"Thanks," whispered Ron to her when she handed him his robes, obviously surprised at her bravery to Malfoy. It wasn't like she hadn't done such a thing before, heck, she was the bravest of them all when it came to Malfoy, but she hadn't shown any emotion (to Ron, at least) in the last three months!

Meanwhile, Harry was staring curiously at Kat, replaying her words in his mind. It wasn't as though the words were so important, but her voice. He hadn't heard her voice in the longest time, and he'd missed it immensely, even if he didn't want to admit it. Her voice reminded Harry of the mysterious girl and her thinking about him back on his birthday.