After Christmas break, we all returned to school and unlike the past years, we were not in a very good mood to be going back. With Umbridge exercising her Ministry given power over our school, we knew things were going to be just as bad as they were before the break, if not worse.

The only highlight we had was that we would be able to continue the meetings of our Dumbledore's Army in which we would all be helping each other in getting better at Defense.

If only Sirius and Rem knew about this ingenious idea of ours, they would be delighted to see that we were following in the Marauders' footsteps by almost leading a rebellion in such trialing times.

Anyhow, our assumption was right and there was a lot of chaos awaiting us in Umbridge infected Hogwarts. With the Headmaster finally back, we were able to breath in relief as it did put Umbridge in check whenever Professor Dumbledore was around. But that didn't stop her from going around and poking her nose in everyone's business.

Her most recent way of being a nuisance to everyone was to judge whether the teachers at Hogwarts were competent enough or not based on her own set of rules and regulations of what should be taught in a class. As a result, we had to tolerate her presence in every other class including her own as she would be going around with a notepad and pointing out flaws in every Professor's teaching pattern.

Transfiguration was probably the only class in which her attempts of intimidating the teacher failed as Professor McGonagall was very adept at shutting down her remarks and putting her in her place.

And due to that, the twins had started to refer to Professor McGonagall as Queen Mc-Gee because just like a queen, she took no nonsense from anyone (especially Umbridge) and always showed who was boss. 

Besides the whole point of the examination of other's teachers' methods is rather pointless when Umbridge herself is such a lousy Professor. I don't remember learning even a single thing in all the classes of Defense taught by her that I have attended.

Frankly speaking, I think even Professor Trelawney is a better teacher that Miss Pink Toad here.

However my claim didn't stay for long as Umbridge ended up sacking Professor Trelawney and she made quite a huge scene out of it in the Great Hall. If not for Professor McGonagall who had fetched the Headmaster in time, poor Professor Trelawney would have been pushed out of the school grounds after much humiliation.

Dumbledore allowed her to stay in the castle although a new Divination teacher would be appointed in her place. And just when we were wondering who could be the new Divination teacher, Dumbledore played a trump card on Umbridge and hired Firenze, a centaur, as the Divination Professor.

And I say trump card because it is no lesser known fact that Umbridge harbored an intense hate towards half-breeds, as she liked to call them. So with Firenze being appointed as the Divination teacher, it was evident that Professor Dumbledore had used his authority to thwart her in the face.

I had just completed the last rounds of that night and I assumed Davies would have completed his own as well when I said the password to our shared Head Prefect's common room and stepped in. He wasn't anywhere around or perhaps he was in his dorm so I dropped down on the comfortable couch rather exhausted.

I had wanted to go and check up on Professor Trelawney, who was still living in the Divination tower, but I couldn't find the time for it. By the end of all my classes and the prefect duties, I was so exhausted that I had no strength left to climb up to the tower to see her.

Guess I would have to postpone meeting her to the next day.

I might have just dozed off when a rustling of feathers and a tap on the window woke me up. Sitting up I saw Davies had come to the window and he had received mail.

"Isn't this a very unusual time for getting mail?" I asked and he turned to face me holding a brown package in his hands.

"Depends on what you consider unusual, I had to order it in advance because by next morning, it would be quite the talk of the town," he replied and that sparked up my curiosity as I wanted to know what it was.

Sensing that, he did not go back to his dorm and instead came to sit on the couch across from me, opening the package right there. As he removed the brown sheet, a copy of the Quibbler magazine fell out.

"You read the Quibbler?" I asked, briefly recalling that the editor of the magazine was Luna Lovegood's father.

"A lot of people in Ravenclaw do," he replied, "but here's why I ordered this."

He showed me the front page that had Harry's picture up front and it was in fact featuring an exclusive article written by Rita Skeeter. The shocking aspect was that it wasn't a gossip article like Rita's other works.

In fact, it was an interview in which harry had exposed the truth about You-Know-Who's return.

"Luna let me know beforehand that her father was gong to publish the article," Davies explained, shaking me out of my shock, "and I knew it would get banned the instant Professor Umbridge or the Ministry found out about it. But I do want to know the truth too, y'know, so I asked Luna if she could get her father to mail a copy to me before it went out to hit the market."

That's too much to take in because I hadn't been aware about that interview at all. But then there's a lot Harry, Hermione and Ron are up to that I don't have an inkling about.

"You want to read it together?" He offered but I declined because I more or less knew what was going to be written in there if Rita Skeeter had published everything word for word, unlike her previous spicy bits of writing.

"You can read it and let me know what you think after," I mumbled, a slight shudder passing through me as thinking about it all reminded me of Cedric and the way I had envisioned his death but couldn't do anything to stop it.

If only I had told the headmaster before the third task began, perhaps Ced wouldn't have been murdered as a result.

"Katerina, you don't seem okay," a long while later Davies spoke up and I looked up at him.

Of course, I wasn't okay but I wasn't going to share that with him. "I guess I am just tired. Did you read the article?"

"A bit of it, it's really long," he remarked, turning over the pages, "it's going to take me a while to finish."

"Okay. I... I will go to bed then. See you in the morning..." I stood up but things started to sway and I tried to reach out to the closest possible object to steady myself. 

I could hear Davies getting worried and asking me what was wrong but his voice seemed to be coming from very far away. It was almost as if he wasn't even there and I was just engulfed in a horrible darkness.

It better not be another vision because I am already too tired for this.

But then something wet struck my face and the darkness faded. The next thing I saw was Davies holding a glass of water and standing close to me with a very anxious look on his face.

My face was wet which meant he had probably sprinkled water over me to rouse me from that passing out like state. And I wasn't standing instead I must have fallen back on the couch.

"Are you okay?" He asked, placing the glass aside.

"Yeah," I mumbled feebly, "just tired... Too tired."

He offered to walk me to my dorm and even though I would have declined his offer immediately, I did feel too exhausted to move even an inch on my own. Besides he was trying to help and telling him off for it would be rude.

So I took his offered hand and he walked me to my dorm. After reassuring him that I would be fine, I closed the door and collapsed on my bed. I was definitely too tired but after what had just happened, I was scared to fall asleep.

I didn't want to see another vision in my nightmares again.

So I did the only thing I could do to distract myself. I took out the silver bracelet Sirius had given me that Christmas and turned its shiny surface.

It was late at night and perhaps Sirius would be asleep. But if he was awake, he would know that I was trying to reach out to him.

Perhaps talking to him would help me in getting rid of the fear that had began to grip my heart tightly. For some people having an eye into the future would be a blessing but I knew from experience that it was nothing short of a curse.

***