Saturday brought howling wind and lashing rain.
Kate came fully armed — raincoat buttoned to the throat, umbrella up — and climbed to the very top of the Slytherin stands. Few people bothered coming this high, and the vantage point was good enough that no one would disturb her.
Even from that distance she could see the scarlet of the Gryffindor kit and the pale yellow of the Hufflepuff kit meet in the middle of the pitch, then split apart as both teams took off.
Playing on in weather like this — she honestly couldn't decide whether to call them rigid or praise them for sportsmanship.
She fixed the umbrella in place with a Levitation Charm, set up her binoculars, and spent a good while searching before she found Harry, already soaked through, somewhere out on the field.
Before the match she had made a point of reminding Hermione to put a water-repelling charm on his glasses. Otherwise, in rain this heavy, he'd have been as good as blind with his eyes wide open.
If Harry had been old enough, she would have bought him a pair of contact lenses.
Even with the glasses sorted, though, every player was struggling through the storm.
She was sitting steady in the stands, watching the match in earnest, when a great black dog came flying through the rain, weaving between the legs of the crowd, and bounded up to crouch beside her.
"You made it." Kate showed no surprise at all at his arrival, and even shifted the umbrella so half of it covered him. "Well? Does Harry have his father's flair?"
The dog stared at the small figure out on the pitch without blinking once, and made no sound.
Kate laughed under her breath and went back to watching the game with him.
The grueling match dragged on and on. The sky darkened by degrees, the rain showed no sign of easing, and then thunder and lightning began.
But it was that single flash of lightning that let Harry, out on the pitch, catch sight of the Golden Snitch hidden behind the curtain of rain.
He wrenched his broomstick up, stretched out one hand, and shot toward the sky after that speck of gold.
The black dog, calm until now, lurched to his feet. He stared up at the layers of Dark Cloud overhead, agitated, and let out a low, frantic bark at Kate.
Above those Dark Clouds waited the hundred-odd Dementors the Ministry of Magic had seized on Sirius's break-in as an excuse to station here.
"Woof! Woof!"
He paced back and forth at Kate's feet, pleading with her, begging her to save his godson.
The moment Harry chased the Golden Snitch through the cloud layer, a hundred Dementors would close in around him.
And right now, of everyone in the stadium, only Kate could save him.
"Not so disgusted by me being a Slytherin anymore?"
Kate's eyes were locked on that speck of scarlet about to vanish into the clouds, but her voice came out frighteningly calm.
The dog shook his head so hard he flung water all over her.
She sighed without a sound and muttered, "Good thing I wore a raincoat. Otherwise I'd be soaked head to toe."
She drew her wand and closed her eyes. Her mind, which she had been working to keep steady since the moment he arrived, went easily to an afternoon in a tearoom with Hermione.
"Expecto Patronum."
She said it softly. Silver mist poured from the tip of her wand and, in barely a heartbeat, took the shape of a dazzling silver dragon that dragged every eye in the stadium toward it.
Under the gaze of the entire crowd, the silver dragon cut through sheet after sheet of rain and rose among the clouds with a lightness that had no business belonging to something that size. Then it roared.
In an instant the Dark Clouds broke apart, and a sky that hadn't been clear in weeks began to show its true, deep blue.
The silver dragon hung above it all, still blazing with that impossible brilliance, scales shimmering like something out of a dream.
Claws bared, jaws wide, it hurled itself roaring at the Dementors that had closed in around that scrap of red.
As though they had run into a natural predator, the Dementors — an instant ago ready to feast on Harry's soul — scattered like startled birds.
Kate kept deliberate control of it: this time the silver dragon did nothing to harm them. It simply drove them off.
The Dementors fled. Harry, freed from their circle, was already slipping out of consciousness, and he tipped backward off his broomstick.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Kate's wand snapped through the motion. Her Levitation Charm — level nine — caught Harry at once, cradling him, slowing his fall through the air until it was gentle.
She gave the black dog a light pat on the head. He understood immediately. With one lingering look at Harry, still drifting down, he bolted away while no one was watching him.
The match was called off. Everyone surged onto the pitch to see Harry, who had come to rest safely on the grass.
Kate only let out her breath once he was down. She raised her wand and called back the silver dragon still roaming free across the sky, unfastened her raincoat, collapsed her umbrella, and made her unhurried way down out of the stands.
"Kate!"
Everyone else was looking at Harry. The first person to find her was, as always, Hermione.
She threw herself into Kate's arms and held on tight, still shaking from it. "You did it — you saved Harry!"
"Is it really so surprising that I could?" Kate smiled and lifted her arms to hug her back.
She looked out at the churning crowd on the pitch, let out a breath, and let the smile fade a little. "Go and be with him. I'm heading back."
"Wait!" Hermione refused to let go, looking her up and down anxiously. "Did you overdo it? Are you feeling all right? Should we go to the Hospital Wing together?"
Kate glanced down, awkward, at the chest pressed flush against her from where Hermione was clamped to her arm and wouldn't let go. She didn't dare even squirm, in case she brushed somewhere sensitive, so she surrendered.
"Fine. The Hospital Wing. But mainly to visit Harry."
"Mm!" Only then did Hermione release her.
Over on the pitch, the unconscious Harry was being lifted onto a stretcher and floated off toward the Hospital Wing, so Kate followed along.
She hadn't gone more than a few steps when someone called out behind her.
She turned to find Cho Chang and Luna jogging toward her, one after the other.
Luna wasn't doing too badly, though her stamina was poor enough that by the time she arrived she had nothing left but panting.
Cho, on the other hand, looked so worried she nearly patted Kate down from head to toe.
"I saw that Patronus just now — so the one on the train was yours too!"
Driving off more than a hundred Dementors in one go, and having the power to scatter the Dark Clouds on top of it — the magical drain had to have been enormous.
That was why she and Luna had fought their way through the crowd all the way from the Ravenclaw stands to find her.
Only after confirming that Kate was in no real trouble did she pat her own chest in relief. "I thought you'd collapsed like Harry did!"
Kate's face twitched. She turned her eyes to Luna. "Do you think so too?"
Was that really her image — frail and sickly?
Luna had just about got her breathing under control, her small face a little flushed from the run.
She looked at Kate and said nothing.
But the look in her eyes said it all: as far as Luna was concerned, Kate was extremely feeble.
Kate: …
Someone please just knock her out.
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉