Easier To Run

****

Katie came to as Angelina lightly slapped her face.

"Ang?"

"Hey, Kate," Angelina said smiling and offering Katie a hand, "You alright?"

"My head hurts," Katie said weakly, and taking Angelina's offered hand, "What happened?"

"You fainted," Angelina said.

"More like had an anxiety attack. Stupid bloody Lucius Malfoy," Alicia said angrily.

Katie rubbed the back of her head and took her bag of ingredients and shrunken books from the store employee. "Thank you. I'm so sorry about that."

"It's no trouble," a young wizard said, "You took quite a spill. Are you sure you're alright?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine," Katie said smiling politely, before she, Angelina, and Alicia began to look around the store.

As they looked at color changing quills, Angelina giggled, which set Alicia off. Katie looked at them curiously.

"What are you two giggling about?"

"That guy was flirting with you," Angelina whispered to Katie.

Katie blushed severely. "He was not," she muttered.

"Pity you have Ol, Kate. He was kind of cute," Alicia said before dissolving into giggles again.

Katie rolled her eyes and grabbed a few new quills, along with a restock of parchment, before approaching the counter. The guy smiled at her again.

"Is this all?" he asked before ringing it up for her.

Katie took a fleeting look back at Angelina and Alicia, who were in uncontrollable giggle fits. "Yeah, let them fend for themselves," she said shaking her head and smiling, "They thought you were flirting with me."

The guy blushed. "Well, I kind of was," he said as he ringed up her things.

"Oh. Uh, I have a boyfriend. I'm sorry," Katie said an embarrassed look on her face.

The guy waved off her apology. "Lucky guy than," he said and then gave her the total.

Katie paid him, smiling apologetically again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. Have a nice day."

"You too," Katie said turning and grabbing Angelina and Alicia before exiting the store.

"You guys are so embarrassing," Katie muttered.

"Well, he was flirting with you. He said so!" Angelina said arching her eyebrows, "Isn't it nice to have someone other than Oli or Marcus," she said shuddering, "looking at you appreciatively?"

"Actually, Ang, it just makes me very uncomfortable. But at least he was nice about it," Katie said, trying not to think about Marcus.

"Who was flirting with Kate?" said a voice before wrapping its arms around Katie.

Katie turned to see Lee's smiling face. She flung her arms around him and hugged him tight.

"Oh, I've missed you Lee!"

"I've missed you too, love," Lee said, kissing Katie's cheek as he pulled out of her hug, "So who was flirting with you?"

"The guy in the parchment store," Angelina said giving Lee a half hug, "and he was cute too."

Katie rolled her eyes and reached around to push Angelina. "Let it go please. That was thoroughly embarrassing."

"Oh, Lee. Did you get your dress robes yet?" Angelina said batting her eyelashes at him.

"Ugh, yes," he said, "Do you want to see them?"

All three girls nodded, and Lee told them to go and sit at Florean's and wait for him as he went to look for him mom. He came back a few minutes later, brandishing the robes at them. Katie picked them up and stood to hold them up. All three girls whistled.

"My, my, Lee Jordan. Aren't you going to look sharp?" Katie said, handing him back the robes.

Lee blushed. "Mum picked them out."

"And she did a good job," Angelina said encouragingly.

"Yep, they're very nice, Lee," Alicia said smiling.

Lee nodded and gave each girl a peck on the cheek. "Thanks ladies. Let me give these back to mum. I'll be right back."

The girls shared a laugh as he disappeared into the crowd.

"We're going to end up being Lee's fashion consultant," Angelina said giggling.

"Better than letting Fred and George help him. They can't even help themselves," Katie said and the trio burst into giggles.

Lee returned when they had controlled themselves.

"You girls hungry? I'll treat you to ice cream," he said as he approached the table, jingling a bag of wizard money.

The girls looked at each other and nodded. Lee bought each of them a cup of ice cream and then one for himself. They sat outside at one of the tables and discussed everyone's summers so far. Katie found herself jealous when Lee told them that he was going to the Quidditch World Cup the next week. But he promised to have enough fun for all of them, so that made Katie feel better. Katie told them all about Hekate and her rescue. Angelina couldn't wait to see the tiny owl, and Alicia made her promise to train it not to hoot 24/7.

When they finished their ice cream, the girls parted ways with Lee to look at shoes while he had to get his book with his mom and dad. Diagon Alley had opened a new shop devoted to shoes. It was small, but as soon as they had entered, they each spotted a pair of shoes that matched their robes. After buying them, Katie counted her money.

"How much do you have left?" Angelina said looking over her friends shoulder.

"Eight Galleons, fifteen Sickles, and five Knuts," Katie said, taking out Snape's key, "Looks like I may have to use this after all."

"He won't mind. He said so," Angelina said patting her shoulder, "Take out twenty-five Galleons. That'll help cover the robes and you'll have spending money for Hogsmeade."

"You're right. After I tell him what my parents left me, he surely won't mind," Katie said and the three girls walked back over to Gringotts.

Katie walked up to the Head Goblin and waited for him to acknowledge her.

"Yes?" he said gruffly.

"This is an odd request. But I have the key to Severus Snape's vault and I need to extract money from it with his permission. I understand that I can't accompany anyone down to the vault, but I was wondering if extracting money from someone else's vault was still possible," Katie said politely.

The Head Goblin nodded and called over another goblin. "How much do you wish to take?"

"Twenty-five Galleons."

The Head Goblin looked to the other goblin, who nodded and looked to Katie.

"Key, please."

Katie handed the goblin the key.

"I'll be back with your twenty-five Galleons, ma'am." the goblin said before disappearing through a door that Katie knew led to the carts that moved through the vaults.

About five minutes later, the goblin was back and handed the key and a pouch to Katie. Katie opened the pouch and quickly counted the gold pieces.

"Thank you," she said smiling at the goblin.

The goblin nodded curtly and walked away. Angelina, Alicia, and Katie made their way back to Madam Malkin's. When she walked in, Madam Malkin rushed over to her.

"Here to pick up your robes, dears?"

"Yes, ma'am," Katie said getting out the appropriate amount of money and handing it to Madam Malkin.

Angelina and Alicia had paid for theirs and were just picking them up with Katie. After telling Madam Malkin that they were Flooing home, she placed them in a plastic covering and magiced the robes to stay upright. They left the shop, and headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to Floo to their different destinations. After many hugs, Katie Flooed back to the Three Broomsticks. She gave a wave to Madam Rosmerta, and made her way back up to the castle.

She immediately went down to the dungeons to give Snape back his key and tell him about the borrowed money. She found them in the Potions classroom and walked in quietly so as not to bother him.

"Yes, Miss. Bell?" he said as he marked the place in the book he had been reading.

Katie fished out his key from her robes and walked over to his desk. "Well, here's your key back. And unfortunately, I did have to take money," Katie said sadly.

"Why? What happened?" Snape said taking the key back slowly.

"The goblin I talked to said that my parents had taken gold from my vault and moved it to theirs. They left me with twenty Galleons and with having to get dress robes, it wasn't enough. I'm sorry."

Snape reached out and took Katie's now shaking hand in his. "It's fine. How much did you take?"

"Twenty-five Galleons. So I could have something for Hogsmeade, and I have to be able to get Hekate's food for the whole next school year," Katie said not meeting his eye.

She felt him squeeze her hand and only than did she look up.

"That's fine. Don't feel bad about it. I just don't understand why they would take money from you vault," he said his brows furrowed, "But don't worry about that. How was your day?"

"It was fun," she said, but the confrontation with Lucius popped back into her head and her heart sped up again.

She walked over to her stuff and sat down at one of the stools, trying to calm herself. She heard Snape stand and bring his stool to sit it across from her. He reached out and grabbed her hand again.

"What happened today?" he asked cautiously.

"Lucius Malfoy."

Katie felt him squeeze her hand, urging her to continue.

"I was walking out of the Apothecary and I ran into Draco. Well, he had to be a brat because we were in public. And of course he called me 'Bell'," Katie said taking a deep breath, "Well, Lucius heard that and asked if I was Kathleen Bell, because he said a friend of his was my godfather. I told him that he must be mistaken because I don't have a godfather," she said looking up at Snape, "I didn't know what to do, I panicked. So much so, that I made it across the street before having an anxiety attack and passing out. I didn't want to tell him because what if something happened and they found out about the spying," she said tears coming to her eyes, "I don't want to die."

Snape stood and moved around to sit on the stool next to Katie. "That will never happen, Katie. I promise you," he said placing a hand on her now shaking shoulders, "Please don't cry."

Katie took a few deep breaths and began to wipe at her eyes. "It was a good day other than that."

Snape gave her a genuine smile and patted her shoulder. "Good."

****

Katie walked up to the Gryffindor Tower after that episode in the dungeons, and she wanted to try on her dress robes and shoes. She approached The Fat Lady, who appeared to be conversing with someone who wasn't usually in her portrait.

"Hello, dear. Time for a new password, isn't it?" The Fat Lady said, shooing the other occupant away.

"Yes. And I really gave this one some thought," Katie said grinning, "Enter Alabama Nighty Shirts."

The Fat Lady looked at her oddly. "If you say so, my dear," she said swinging open.

Katie waited until she was on the stairs to burst into giggles. Once in her room, she tried on her dress robes and her shoes and stood in front of the full length mirror that adorned the dormitories bathroom. She pulled the cape's hood up and over her head and looked into the mirror. She felt like an actress she had seen in a Muggle movie called, "The Three Musketeers".

"Very lovely, dear," the mirror complimented her.

Katie smiled and exited the bathroom and entered the confines of her bed to change back into regular robes. She carefully hung up her dress robes in the wardrobe and grabbed her Mythology book, before getting Hekate out of her cage.

"You can fly around the common room if you like," Katie said to her kindly.

The owl hooted and perched itself on Katie's shoulder as she walked down the steps. She contented herself with reading for the rest of the afternoon. She was only interrupted once. By Draco's Eagle owl. It perched itself on the end of the couch. 'He must want me to respond,' she thought opening the letter.

Katie,

I'm sorry about what happened in Diagon Alley. My father was being a real ass. What was he going on about anyway? Do you have a godfather?

I'm so confused right now. Please write me back. I told Orion to stay put and wait for a reply.

Why are you staying at the castle anyway? Couldn't the Weasley's have taken you in?

Ok, too many questions. Please send me something back.

Draco Malfoy

Katie grabbed Hekate and walked up to her room to get a piece of parchment and one of the new quills she had bought. She walked back downstairs and penned a quick note.

Draco,

Don't apologize for your father. You can't control how he acts.

The questions you ask have rather complicated answers. And you have to swear to me that you will not divulge any of the information I am about to write to you to a single soul. I mean it, Draco. One word to anyone in your House and you'll never get another ounce of sympathy from me. The situation is more serious that I had once thought.

I have to stay at the castle because I do, in fact, have a godfather. It's your Head of House. I had no idea of this until about five months ago.

But you know what people like your father think about him in regards to things that happened in the last war. My life is in jeopardy if anyone found out a certain something about him and realized who I was. So I ask you to keep this to yourself. For me, if nothing else.

Bell

Katie folded up the letter and gave it to Orion, who swiftly flew from the room and back to its master. Katie sat back down on the couch and felt a pang in her heart. She trusted Draco, but she couldn't help but think that she'd just done something horrible.