Katherine-
Do ask your friends to call you Katherine instead of Kitty. I am hoping to get you betrothed to a gentleman from a most suitable family by fifth year (perhaps fourth) so try to appear refined. Take extra care in your appearance. Do not talk to any mudbloods.

Lady Wallaburga Onissa Mayanna of the Most Noble House of Black

"Would you like some muffins, miss and mister?"

"Thank you, Dimple, but I'm full," Jack admitted.

"Me too," Kitty said.

Dimple frowned. "Eat. You need food, you're still growing. I'll leave some for you."

"Thank you." Dimple gave a little curtsy and walked away. Jack, Kitty, and sometimes Tina and Yemi had been meeting at the library to study for almost a week, and a little old house elf had taken it upon herself to make sure that they were properly nourished.

Not that Kitty needed it. Wallaburga always complained about her waistline and told her to eat less. (As a married woman, her mother could eat whatever she liked.)

"D'you know what hand motion you need for engorgio?" Jack asked.

"I think you just flick your wand down."

"Ah, right."

"What's your wand?" She asked him, curious. She had just caught sight of it in his back pocket, and she realized she had never seen it up close.

"Oh, it's applewood, I think." He said, handing it to her. "Means I'm 'charming and likable.'" Kitty snorted. "Well, what's yours, Miss Uptight?"

"Alder. I'm helpful and considerate."

Jack started laughing. "Shut up!" Kitty whispered. "We're in a library!"

"The core is unicorn," Jack whispered. "Yours?"

"Phoenix feather. Eleven inches."

"Mine-"

"Miss Black, Mr. DiGievo." Madam Pince had suddenly appeared next to them. "The library is closing. Do you need to be escorted out, or can you find the way?"

"We're fine," Jack said, standing up. "Thank you, Madam Pince."

"Suck up," Kitty whispered as the walked away. Jack shoved her, and she nearly fell into one of the shelves.

"Sorry! I didn't mean-"

She shoved him back.

"What are you two hooligans doing?" Madam Pince's voice thundered. Laughing, they ran out of the library and down the hallway towards the Hufflepuff common room.

There was a faint sound running through the school, a resounding tapping. "What the heck is that?" Kitty whispered.

Jack wrinkled his nose. "I think it's coming from up there." He pointed up the winding rows of staircases.

"Let's go check it out!"

"Kitty, no!" But she had already begun to climb the first staircase.

***

They arrived, finally, huffing and puffing, in front of a portrait of a young girl. She was really quite lovely, if a bit plump.

"Uh, hello," Kitty said. "Who are you?"

The girl sniffed. "Tatiana, but everyone calls me the Fat Girl."

Kitty gasped. "Why, that's horrible! Why don't you ask them not to?"

Tatiana shrugged. "This is my job and it's a good job. I don't want my portrait to be moved again to some remote corner. Besides, most of the kids are nice."

"Kids?" Kitty asked, confused.

"Kitty, I think it's the Gryffindor common room," Jack said, staring determinedly at the wall.

"Oh! I've been up here before, during that one Defense Against the Dark Arts class with the Nuroh, but I didn't know where the common room was."

"Yes, they're having a big party now and didn't invite me." Tatiana sniffed.

"It's awfully loud. I'll never be able to sleep." Kitty said.

"What're you, Ravenclaws?"

"No, Hufflepuffs." Jack said.

Tatiana brightened. "Is that so? I always liked Hufflepuff. Gryffindor is wonderful but much too loud. And so many arrogant prats."

"Is the common room very nice?" Kitty asked.

"Oh, sure. Tell you what-- I'll let you in for a bit. They're all tipsy anyways."

"I really don't think-" Kitty began to protest, but Tatiana's portrait swung open to reveal what would have been a cozy-looking common room if not for the wild party going on.

"Kitty, we should go," Jack said.

"No, I want to at least find my brother," Kitty said. "We can ask him to turn it down a little." She was actually a bit curious. Not everyone had the chance to see another House's common room. 

Jack groaned, but, "Alright."

They weaved through the dancing crowd, who seemed to take little notice of the two first-year Hufflepuffs.

"Excuse me-- oh, sorry!" Kitty had bumped into none other than Carson Arlo, who had clearly had too much to drink.

"No problem, sweetheart." He said, grinning at her. "You'll just have to dance with me to make up for it."

"Oh, no, I-"

"Don't leave!" He insisted. Suddenly, a hand grabbed Kitty and pulled her away. She looked up, grateful, and saw James Potter, Sirius's best friend.

He was slightly less drunk than Arlo, and looking at her confusedly. "Aren't you Sirius's sister?"

She nodded. "Yeah, we were just-"

He didn't listen to what she was saying and pulled her through the crowd towards the couches. "Hey, Sirius!"

Her brother looked up. "Yeah- Kitty? What on earth?"

"We just wanted to see what the noise was," Kitty said.

"How'd you get in?"

"Tatiana let us."

"Tatiana? Who the heck is Tatiana?" Sirius looked baffled.

"The girl! On the portrait?"

Arlo chose that moment to make another appearance, this time with a group. "Well, well," said a boy at the back. He looked to be at least a fourth year, wearing a Slytherin tie.

"What's a little Hufflepuff doing in our common room?" A lanky Gryffindor boy said, smirking.

"Bug off," Sirius said, frowning. "I invited her."

"Oh, another one of your girlfriends? Isn't she a bit young for you?"

"He's her brother, moron," Arlo told the boy who had spoken, finally breaking eye contact with Sirius.

"So she's available, then?"

Sirius punched the boy in the gut. Kitty yelped as James jumped into the fray, hitting Arlo. Everyone was joining the fight, picking a side at random.

Was this what all Gryffindor parties were like?

An arm grabbed her and hauled her out of the fight and out the portrait hole. This time, it was Sirius.

"What the bloody heck were you thinking? You can't just barge into a common room like that!"

"I was curious," Kitty said lamely.

"Curious? Those idiots aren't going to leave you alone know that they know you're my sister."

Kitty frowned. "And why is that, Sirius? Why do they have a reason to dislike you?"

"Because he's a player," said a girl, who had been watching from the doorway the whole time. "And he always messes around and copies homework."

Sirius whirled around. "Shut up, Samantha."

The girl named Samantha smirked before turning to go back into the common room. She looked back and shot a sympathetic glance at Kitty, and then she was gone.

Kitty crossed her arms. "I don't care, you know. But you didn't have to haul me out here in front of everyone else. If you hadn't interfered-"

"You still haven't answered why you were in my common room."

"Because you're blasting your music and no one else can sleep!" Kitty said, exasperated. "I was hoping you could get someone to turn it down, but I guess you Gryffindors don't care about anyone else!"

She whirled around, ignoring Sirius's protests. It wasn't nice to lump all the Gryffindors together like she had, but it also wasn't nice to keep the whole castle up on a weekday. Surely, McGonagall would be furious if she knew.

"Kitty, wait!"

"Sirius, I don't have- oh, sorry!" She had turned to see Jack instead of Sirius. "I didn't mean to leave you."

"I thought I was going to get trampled in there!" Jack said. "I asked a girl to turn the music down, and she just laughed at me!"

"We could tell a professor," Kitty said.

"Nah, our common room's far enough away. I'm just surprised that none of the professors have woken up."

"What did he mean that they won't leave me alone because he's my brother?" She asked.

"Well, they don't like Sirius so they won't like you. But don't worry, if anyone messes with you, they mess with me. And probably Yemi too."

Kitty smiled. "Thanks."

They paused at one of the windows. Outside, sparks were rocketing out of the sky. They didn't look like a spell.

"What's that?" Kitty said, wrinkling her nose.

"Fireworks."

"Fireworks? Don't fireworks usually form shapes?"

"They're muggle ones," Jack said.

"I've never seen muggle fireworks," Kitty said. "Or muggle anything, to be honest."

Jack glanced sideways at her. "Do you care?"

"Care about what?"

"That I'm a muggleborn?"

"No." She said truthfully. "No, I couldn't imagine a better friend than you or Yemi. Or the twins. Mother was wrong."

They watched the fireworks until the sparks all died and the only thing left in the sky was the moon.

***

Sirius Black paced around his dormitory. "It's all my fault," he said. "I should have treated her like Regulus and my mother."

"That's wouldn't have helped." James objected. "You don't want her to hate you."

Sirius paused and wrung his hands. It was weird for James to see his friend worried. "She doesn't realize that she's in danger, though! She doesn't know that these people have ties with You-Know-Who, and she definitely doesn't know how strong You-Know-Who is getting!"

"You didn't care when you angered these death eater people."

"Because it was me, not my baby sister! They'll tease her because of me, and she'll get angry and do something reckless."

"It's just Arlo."

"It's his henchmen that bother me," Sirius said. "They're not as stupid as they look."

"Kitty will be fine," James said. "She may have the heart of a Hufflepuff, but she has the strength of a Gryffindor."

Sirius turned around. "That's what I'm worried about."