Easier To Run

A/N : Uh, nothing much to say. This is a continuation chapter again.

Read on!

****

Katie looked down at Snape, only to see him staring at her intently.

"Keep that attitude and no one will be able to save you," he said simply.

"What would you do?" Katie raged at him, keeping her voice low, "You have no idea what I'm going through. Finding out things about the people that raised me up until last year. And not good things," she said waving her hand in front of her, "Like you haven't wished death on someone. Some people just deserve to die."

She reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out the letter that had been delivered at breakfast. The writing on the front indicated one person; Percy. She opened it in haste and read it quietly to herself.

Katie,

No doubt you've heard by now about what happened last night. Bill, Charlie, and I heard about it from Ron, Harry, and Hermione. We weren't there, we went to help the Ministry workers. I ended up with a bloody nose and Bill got a pretty bad gash on his arm. Charlie was ok though. And of course, whoever was levitating the Muggles disapparated before we could unmask them.

It was terrible, Katie. I don't think I've ever been so scared. I knew the kids had gone into the woods, along with the Twins, to hide and when I saw the Dark Mark. Its the worst feeling imaginable. I'm just glad that no one was hurt. Well, besides Bill and I, and a few Ministry workers.

Oliver helped out too. I was surprised to see him run out of his family's tent, but then again, he was never lax for bravery. And he's fine, don't worry yourself.

This is first time since we got home this morning that mum has let us out of her sight. So, I decided to write you and make sure that you knew that we are all ok. I'm going to have to go into work tomorrow with dad and help with the damage control that the Ministry's doing because of his comment. Leave it to Rita Skeeter to blow it completely out of proportion.

Don't worry about a thing and have fun in the coming term.

Love,

Percy Weasley

Katie smiled and folded the letter, placing it back in her pocket.

"At least they're safe," she muttered, standing and climbing down from the rock.

"Who, Miss. Bell?" Snape asked, and Katie had almost forgotten he was there.

"The Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, and Oliver. Percy sent me a letter," Katie said, patting the pocket of her robes, "I just hope I hear from Lee. And Cedric," she said remembering that Cedric had gone too.

As the two started walking up toward the castle, Snape cleared his throat.

"Miss. Bell, about this," he said handing her the parchment with her dream written on it, "the Headmaster thinks you may have some hereditary powers that are affiliated with those of a Seer. Neither of us think that you are a true Seer, but neither was anyone in your family. Seers have powers of mind and you may have one of those."

Katie nodded. "I researched it. I think its called precognition. Seeing things before they happen," she said looking up at her companion, "Maybe a weak version of that."

Snape nodded immediately. "Exactly. Your intelligence also plays a part in this. It makes you extremely intuitive. Do you have dreams like this often?"

Katie shook her head. "No, this is probably the third time something like this has happened. But I do get bad feelings about things. Like the night all that stuff happened in the Shrieking Shack. I went to bed with a bad feeling and I woke up feeling even worse."

Snape nodded, as if expecting her answer. "We will have to monitor you more closely. If anything like this happens again, you must tell someone. The Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, or me," he said stopping their progress toward the castle to look at her seriously, "The information divulged in your dream was highly classified. Not many people know about your parents, and the ones that do want to keep it that way. I'm not sure where it came from or how you tuned into it, but someone was trying to tell you what I hadn't," he said in that tone of his, "Tell no one else about my being your godfather. The ones you have told, swear them to secrecy. Use a spell if you have to. I have reason to believe that foul play may be afoot," he said, hiking up his left robe sleeve and baring the underside of his forearm.

Katie kept her surprise on the inside and merely studied the mark on Snape's arm. It looked exactly like the Dark Mark, only faded. But as Katie watched, the black outline began to grow clearer.

"I noticed it a few days ago. The lines haven't been clear for thirteen years. And now they are," he said, pushing his sleeve back down, "I shudder to think what that could possibly mean."

****

Just like clockwork, letters were dropped onto Katie's bed throughout the morning and afternoon. Oliver's was the first, and reassured her that he was fine. Next came Lee's, who was away from the 'action'. Around noon, Katie received word from Cedric, who said that he too was away from the action. But as soon as she penned a reply to Cedric, another letter was dropped into her lap. The owl was gone before she could see it. She set the letter aside and took care of her reply before picking it up again.

It was unmarked in every sense of the word. Katie took it over to the window and held it up to a beam of sunlight. There was definitely something written on the inside, but she was afraid to open it. She sighed and came to the conclusion that she should probably bug Snape about it.

She made her way down through the common room and out of the tower. Once in the entrance hall, she started toward the dungeons when she ran into someone. She stumbled backwards, muttering apologies.

"Oh, that's quite alright. Are you alright, dear? Didn't mean to keep you from where you were going," spoke the man she had run into.

She looked up, cringing when she recognized the voice. Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic.

"I'm fine, sir. I'm a bit of a klutz. I'll just be going now. Have a nice day, sir," she said, bowing her head slightly, before ducking around the man and practically running for the dungeons.

'What the hell is Fudge doing here!' her mind screamed as she approached the Potions classroom. Snape was inside, hunched over a cauldron, but Katie didn't bother to knock. She walked right up to his desk and stuck the envelope under his nose.

"Hello, Miss. Bell," he said taking the envelope, "What is this?"

"I don't know. You tell me. I just got it and I didn't want to open it seeing as its unmarked," Katie said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Snape arched an eyebrow at her before turning to study the envelope. He opened it carefully, and a piece of parchment fell out. He reached down to pick it up and the moment his fingers touched the parchment, he let it go and grabbed at his left arm. Katie looked at him startled. His face was an obvious mask as to how much pain he was actually in. He pushed up his left robes sleeve and stared at the mark. Katie's eyes widened when she saw the mark on his arm. Every line of the mark was as bold as ever, as if it had just been received. Katie went to take the parchment, but Snape's hand shot out and grasped her wrist.

"Don't touch it!" he hissed.

"But I don't-" she said pointing to her arm, but Snape cut her off.

"It doesn't matter. It will still hurt you. You've been marked," he said simply, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Its a cursed parchment. Only Death Eaters know how to do it," he said pushing his robe sleeve down and cursing softly, "I warned the Headmaster that something like this would happen."

Katie could only stare. Her eyes went from the parchment to her godfather, who still seemed to be in immense pain.

"Why is the mark getting clearer?" she asked softly.

"Someone must be helping Voldemort. It's no secret that he's still out there," he said leveling her with a serious stare, "It's his way of calling the Death Eaters to him. The pain only stops if you answer the call."

Katie's mind went on auto-pilot. "Peter. Peter could be helping Voldemort," she said softly.

Snape scoffed. "Do you actually believe that Peter Pettigrew is still alive?"

"Remus wouldn't lie," she said defiantly.

Snape took a deep breath. "Do you know that he and his friends tried to kill me while we were at school?"

Katie shook her head, but didn't get upset. She knew that the level in which the men hated each other was extreme.

"Than how do you know that he wouldn't lie?"

"You're still alive aren't you?" Katie asked, crossing her arms once more.

Snape sighed. "Miss. Bell, I-"

"Let it go! I know you hate him. I get it. But he doesn't hate you. He may not like you, but that's beside the point. Whatever they did was probably deserved, and vice versa. So goes life as a teenager. I should know," Katie said the last part softer than the rest.

Snape seemed to be offended by her speech and changed the subject. "I will dispose of this letter. If you receive anymore, burn them," he said shooing her from his room.

Katie heard the door slam from behind her as she exited the dungeons. She was right, she knew she was.

*

She was right and he knew it. He pointed his wand at the letter and incinerated it. Taking his anger out on it. He sat down in a nearby chair and put his head in his hands. The Headmaster had told him to let go of his grudges, but every time Katie mentioned her faith in Lupin, it angered him. He had known the girl much longer than Lupin. But then he thought, that wasn't true. He knew of her intelligence and his tie to her, but until the last year, he didn't take the time to know her. But Lupin had. He had been her confidant, something Snape knew he could never be. She would never fully trust him.

And that was what pained him the most.

*

Katie walked up the marble staircase, passing Fudge again. But this time she just bowed her head and made her way up the stairs and to her dormitory. She knew that Snape would take what she had said and leave it at that. Whatever he had been ready to tell her would have been a half truth, blinded by his hatred for the Marauders.

When she walked into her room, she decided to complete her last essay for Muggle Studies. It wasn't complex, and she finished it quickly. After a while, she decided to go and fly on the pitch. She needed to clear her head.

Flying had always been a freedom that she felt the need to take advantage of. Oliver had taught her that. Katie could still remember taking flying lessons with Charlie and Bill over the summers, and with Oliver during the school year so she could try out for the House team. She had been terrified to fly. Now she didn't know how she could live without it.

As she flew she thought about her parents, Voldemort, and Snape. Now she knew the link. And it scared her. What had he meant that she had been marked? Who had sent it? Shaking her head, she reminded herself that she was out here to clear her head.

When the sun began to set, she flew back across the grounds, and made her way back up to her dormitory. Not feeling like dinner with Snape and Dumbledore, she opted to call on the house-elves for food. And while finishing the cookies that the house-elves had brought her for dessert, she took the parchment out of her pocket that she had written her dream on. She contemplated throwing it away, but looked at her chest of drawers contemplatively. She walked over to it and opened the top drawer where she had once kept her piece of glass. Her weapon of choice against herself. She placed the parchment in that drawer, and also ran off to gather up all her letters. She placed them in the drawer too. She was about to close the drawer, when the light caught something in the back right corner of the drawer. She stood on tip-toe to peer closer, and her eyes widened when she saw what sat there.

The shard of glass sat there with a note attached to it.