* * *

"Ah, I think I can help with that..."

Catina tilted her head to see behind Sirius Black to where her headmaster was sat at a dining table. Sirius moved out of the way for Catina to step through the doorway and he offered her a seat around a large table filled with adults, some of which she recognised including her head of house, Severus Snape and two former Defence Against the Dark Arts (DADA) teachers, Remus Lupin and Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody.

"Whoa, okay, is this some sort of cult meeting?" Exclaimed Catina sitting opposite Lupin who sent her warm smile which she returned. He had always been her favourite teacher and even though it was revealed that he is, in fact, a werewolf, she didn't care about that, he was and still is the best teacher she has ever had.

"Not a cult, Miss Lennox, but rather a congregation." Responded Dumbledore, amusement in his voice.

"Potato, potahto," she shrugged, "now why have I been kidnapped?"

"You have not been kidnapped! How many times!" Cried Tonks, rolling her eyes for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening.

"Then why am I here? My foster family will be hitting the roof because I am not at the station waiting for them! So please hurry this up so I can get back and get whooped into oblivion." Catina responded, running her hands through Juno's fur as his glowered at the adults in the room. Juno doesn't like many people. Juno doesn't like confrontation. And Juno certainly doesn't like when Catina is anxious because that makes her hug him so very tightly and that also makes him alert to hiss and spit at whoever it is making his best friend feel that way.

"Miss Lennox, you won't be returning to your foster family. You will be spending your holidays here with Sirius, Remus and Tonks along with the Weasleys and a few others." Dumbledore told her and almost instantly he could tell she was about to erupt with a thousand more questions to which he beat her too and continued speaking. "Due to events of the Tri-Wizard tournament and the sudden return of Lord Voldemort, you are no longer safe to stay in the care of your foster family. For your safety and theirs, all memory of you has been wiped from them and their home. It is not something that I like to do but it's for your best interests."

"So I am going to live with strangers?"

"That isn't something you are not used to by now, after all, how many foster families have you had?" Commented Snape, which Catina ignored having gotten used to his attitude over the previous six years.

"Not all strangers," piped up Lupin, "You know me, you know Fred, George, Ron and Ginny along with Hermione and Harry who will be joining us soon."

"Correction, darling, I know you. I am aware of the others."

Sirius snickered in the corner, this new girl seemed to rather fierce when it came to herself and her life which reminded him so very much of Lily Potter as a teenager. He was not sure whether Remus saw it too but it was definitely there and was something that Sirius could not wait to watch evolve over the coming weeks of her stay in his family home. Something told him that she would liven up the dreary building, more so than Fred and George's pranks could ever do so.

* * *

Once the majority of the adults left, Mrs Weasley, a stout woman with a heart of gold, started to cook dinner for those staying there just as her children came bundling into the dining room. Upon seeing the dark girl with wild curls, they paused looking at her in confusion and wonder before turning to their mother.

"Why is she here?" Asked George, sparing a sideways glance towards the girl who sipped diligently at her mug of pumpkin juice.

Mrs Weasley spun on her heel and looked cross, "don't be so rude! Catina will be staying here just like we are this holidays. Sorry dear, for my son's unkindly welcome," she directed towards the girl who brushed off the redheaded boys' comment.

Ron's eyebrows furrowed as he slumped into a seat, "you're that Slytherin girl aren't you? The one that Seamus fancied."

Catina looked at him bemused, "yeah, I am a Slytherin and yes I am a girl but I don't have a clue who this Seamus sort is, so I don't know if he fancies me, darling."

Ron blushed at the 'darling' comment and refused to look at her again. This time Sirius spoke up, "you're a Slytherin?"

Catina nodded her head, "and proud of it" she claimed, "I don't care what anyone says, us Slytherin's are not all that bad. Malfoy, well he's a git, but some of us actually give a toss about other people."

Sirius didn't continue on with the subject. He may have a prejudice towards people in that house due to his genetics and their affiliations with Lord Voldemort and his followers and would usually hate their guts but she was right. A small minority of Slytherin's are actually people with feelings, take his cousin, for example, Andromeda, Tonks' mother she is a good sort and so he would give Catina a chance but any trouble from her and he would not hesitate to bring it up to Dumbledore.

"Are you sure about that?" Challenged George, "because I am pretty sure you're the only one I have ever met that isn't preaching bloody murder."

The girl chewed the inside of her cheek, "then you must be blind, deaf and stupid because there is plenty of us who are not evil prats like you think we are."

Ginny sniggered, "he is all three!"

"Name some then."

Catina began to reel off plenty of names, counting them n her fingers as she went which, to be frank, impressed everyone in the room because it was far more people than they had expected her to name, many of which must have been in the years below her in school because they didn't recognise all of them. "..Cas, Prop and Lulu ."

"As in Caspian Morgan, Prosper Byrnn and Luisa Yung?" Questioned Fred who presumed from the nicknames the girl had used. He had seen them around but didn't take much notice to the them because of the fact they sported green robes.

"Yeah, they're chill," Catina said, letting Juno jump onto her shoulder and snuggle his nose into her curls and use them like a blanket.

Ginny bit her lip, "they're your friends, right? I have seen you with them."

"They're my best friends. Trust me when I say this, they are not terrorists like you may think. Neither am I! Do you think I would live with muggles if I hated them? No. I would not- Can you stop looking at me like that!" She cried towards George, "You look like you have just eaten a raw onion!"

"And? Is it wrong? Is it hurting you?"

Catina blinked a few times, her jaw clenching, "not physically but it is radiating distaste off of you which I don't like."

"Well, I don't care what you do and don't like." He spat.

Catina stood up, alarming Juno who leapt onto the table and stood in front of her with his back arched. "This is what I hate. Uneducated boys like you who generalise everyone based on one similar trait. I might be a Slytherin but Slytherin is not for the evil. It is for the cunning and the ambitious. If we were going on stereotypes from the past I would believe that Gryffindors are a bunch of prats who run into battle weaponless and wonder why they end up dying but no. I don't stereotype nor prejudise against people like you do! So why don't you climb off of your high horse, darling, and give me a chance to show you what a true Slytherin is!"

The room fell silent as Catina stood with her hands firmly on the table, her eyebrows arched and her jaw tightened. Even Fred, who would side with his twin on anything sat flabbergasted at the girls' outburst. Maybe she was right? Maybe they should give her a chance. Maybe... just maybe...