The Daughter of a Knight

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The morning arrived much quicker than Katia would have liked. She was not ready for her lessons and she was most definitely not ready to face the other students. The fear of them somehow recognising her was much more prominent than it had been the night before as tonight she would actually see them and spend her day with them.

Katia thanked Dumbledore in her mind for giving her a room separate from the other Slytherin girls in her year. It was a tiny room, but she would have even chosen a broom cupboard over a shared dormitory.

She dressed in her uniform, but quickly noticed that her Dark Mark was showing through the thin material of her white shirt. She tore it off and searched for a gauze. Luckily she had one in her trunk as she had lived in an environment where injuries were common.

Once her forearm had been wrapped, she put her shirt on once more. The mark was no longer visible and even if someone was to lift her sleeve, her secret would not be exposed.

She took her bag with an extendable charm on it, which held all of her books and made her way downstairs. To her surprise, Regulus was waiting for her by the stairs. She supposed that was good since she had absolutely no idea how to get to the Great Hall.

Their walk went by in silence. The two friends had no idea what to talk about. There were plenty of things that had happened in the years they hadn't talked, but those weren't very light stories. Definitely not conversation material for an early morning.

The closer they got to the hall, the noisier it grew. Katia knew that there were a lot of students at Hogwarts, but she hadn't expected such noise, and especially in the morning. The girl was used to the quiet. The unnerving silence of the Manor in Ireland and the silence that filled Koldovstorits. The students hadn't been allowed to talk in the halls so the castle itself was always silent, but the grounds were usually filled with shouting children.

Meanwhile, a group of four boys had woken as early as they could and rushed to the Great Hall. James and Sirius staring at the double doors, Remus revising material from last year and Peter sleeping on the werewolf's shoulder.

The former two were so intently staring at the entrance of the Hall so they wouldn't miss Katia coming in. They were curious as to what house she had gotten, because Gryffindor was not it. They had stayed seated in the common room for a long while after dinner and hadn't seen her coming in.

They had been waiting there for almost two hours and Sirius had fallen back asleep, but was now awakened by James shaking him.

"Look! It's her!"

The sudden shout awoke Peter as well and he looked around in confusion. He was always a bit disoriented after a nap.

But James' excitement quickly died when he saw who she was with. Regulus Black. James did not like the boy at all, but he kept that to himself as he was Sirius' brother and despite all that the boy next to him said, he cared for his brother. The messy haired boy decided not to linger on that and instead got a wicked grin on his face, the Marauders had a new victim, Katia. And what made it even better was the fact that she was a Slytherin.

Well, that explained her rudeness on the train, James thought.

"Alright, so what's our plan?"

"Really, Prongs? She hasn't been here even a day yet. Maybe just leave her be."

"I knew that prefect badge would change you, Remus," James sighed disappointedly.

"It's not the badge, it's basic decency. At least let her get used to a new school. Please?"

"Fine, whatever," the boy grumbled in response with a pout.

But the pout was gone as soon as Remus stood and left the table, he looked excitedly at Sirius and Peter, leaning towards them.