I was in my room trying to go to sleep when I heard a knock on my door. I sat up and flicked my wand to open it, revealing Harry standing outside.

"May I come in?" He asked and I nodded in reply, knowing he must have come to ask me what they couldn't do earlier due to Ginny.

He sat down on the chair across from the bed and he looked thoughtful, as if contemplating whether or not to say what he had in mind. Well, I guess I should make it easy for him.

"Can you keep a secret, Harry?"

He looked startled to hear my voice but nodded, "uh yeah, sure."

I summoned the photo album Moony had gifted me on Christmas last year that contained all the pictures of Harry's parents, the Marauders, and me. I also summoned my diary which had the photo I had taken with them all on Christmas Eve that happened during my visit to the past.

I remember I had given one of those pictures to Harry already back when he was in his second year and going through a rough time due to all the Heir of Slytherin nonsense. The other one in which I was in the photo was pasted in my diary that I showed to him right then.

Harry stared at the photograph in disbelief. He took in all the smiling waving faces with his amazement written clearly over his features. 

In that picture, we were in the Gryffindor Common Room amid all the chaos of Christmas decorations. Sirius had an arm around my waist, and Marlene was hoisting a pair of antlers on James, laughing hysterically. While Lily was smiling yet shaking her head as if wondering how on Erth she got stuck with the lot. Wormtail was making funny faces, Moony was trying to get us all to stand straight for the picture and I was laughing at all the antics.

"That's... That's you?" Harry asked at last, his voice reduced to a whisper, "you knew my parents?"

I gave a low nod, "yes... We were best friends."

"But... But how?"

How indeed. 

"I traveled back in time when I was in my fourth year by accident. I went to the year 1977." Then after an awkward pause, I added, "remember that photograph I gave you on Christmas three years ago? I didn't find it among old things. I... I took that photograph. From Remus' camera."

He was staring at me in shock as it was of course too much for him to take in so abruptly, "and you never told anyone?"

Well, yeah because I wasn't that stupid. 

"Who would believe me if I did?" I mumbled, observing his eyes flicker from disbelief to a mild look of understanding.

It definitely was a lot for him to take in but he was so far handling it much better than I expected him to. Actually, sharing it all with him made me feel lighter too as if a heavy burden had decreased gradually.

"And... Were Fred and George right?" He finally got to the question that was prying on his mind, "about you and Sirius, I mean... Were you really..."

He didn't complete the question as he felt hesitant to ask. Well, since I have told him everything, I might as well answer that question too.

"Yeah. We were good friends and actually a bit more than friends," I replied, closing my eyes briefly to keep myself composed. 

He didn't say anything as if waiting for me to tell him further and when I opened my eyes, I saw him just sitting there with his kind eyes focused on me. At that instant, he reminded me immensely of James' brotherly affection and Lily's kindness.

"But here's the thing, Harry... We weren't meant for each other," I elaborated with a soft sigh, "we were both from different times, almost different worlds until we met again... Falling for him wasn't something I regret but there had always been this realization that we were never going to be together."

My voice cracked at those words and I looked away. I could see now what Professor Trelawney's prophecy about me meant. Her words resonated inside my head as clearly as if she had said it to me just yesterday.

However, I paused as I saw a tiny flesh-colored thing in the doorway that vanished immediately after I had stopped speaking.

I know what that meant.

Fred and George were listening in using those darn Extendable Ears...

I strode towards the door all of a sudden, taking Harry by surprise. "Fred George, wait till I get my hands on you!"

But of course, before I could grab hold of them and teach them a well-deserved lesson for eavesdropping, they disapparated.

I wish I had never helped them in creating Extendable Ears.

A crack sounded and I turned around to see the twins behind me. Before I could do something, they held their hands up in surrender, "we're sorry, Kat, but we just couldn't help it."

Help what? What exactly...?"

"We've been dying to know what you were hiding from us for so many years," Fred spoke.

"And we were utterly desperate even though we had a tiny guess that turned out to be eighty percent correct," George added.

Yeah, so what? Should I be rewarding them with fifty house points each? Not happening.

"Thanks for interrupting," I remarked coldly, "now you know so kindly step out or else I will leave myself."

"Wait!" Both of them took my arms before I could make an escape, "Kat, stop."

Then turning to Harry, George remarked, "sorry, mate, but you gotta go now."

Harry nodded and quickly made his exit. No wonder he would have been feeling quite awkward at the sudden outburst. 

"What?" I raised an eyebrow at both of them skeptically.

They made me sit down on the bed, erected a muffling charm around so that anyone outside wouldn't hear our conversation and we kept silent for a while throughout which I was glaring at them. 

Finally, Fred broke that silence, "why didn't you tell us?"

Why indeed...

"I didn't think it was necessary to give you something to laugh at," I remarked vaguely.

And embarrass me for the rest of my life, no thanks.

George shook his head, "we wouldn't have laughed. We would have understood."

"Oh really?" I narrowed my eyes at them, indicating that I wasn't so sure about that.

They nodded, "of course! We were completely okay with you and Sirius without even knowing about this time travel thing in the first place. Sirius was a great guy, we totally wouldn't have laughed at you two."

At that, I nearly exploded, "but that's what the problem is, right? Sirius was a great guy. He isn't anymore. He is no more. There's no use in recalling everything, no use in me telling you guys the whole account of what passed because the reality is that it's past and is not coming back!"

I broke down...

After Sirius' death, I had never cried in front of anyone else. But this time, I broke down.

I had had enough. I was exhausted from keeping all the sorrow inside me with no one whatsoever to share it with.

But right then, seeing my state, Fred engulfed me in a tight hug and so did George. For the first time in this whole dreadful year, I felt at home as if I had found peace at last.

The twins meant the world to me literally. And without them, I was nothing but an empty shell.

Forcing them all out had only ended up hurting me much worse and I could see that as I let them console me just like they always did.

Even though I had lost Sirius and nothing could make up for his absence, I still had my family around me. I had to stop distancing myself from them and accept the reality of all that had happened.

Every rise has a downfall. And sometimes the harder you fall, the stronger you rise. I had never believed in this universal truth until I fell into what seemed like the worst oblivion for me.

But I had my brothers and my family to get me through it. I had to be strong and move on for my sake as well as theirs.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Kat," Fred reassured me, "your secret is safe with us and I am sure Harry won't tell anyone either."

I nodded weakly, feeling too tired after that outburst and the emotional breakdown.

"You should rest, we will bring dinner for you upstairs and if anyone asks about why you are so sad, just tell them you had a bad vision and it was due to it," George advised, "we'll handle the rest of it."

They were both so supportive and I felt my eyes well up with tears again. "Thank you so much, guys... This means a lot to me."

"Aw come on, don't thank us for something that's our duty," they remarked, trying to cheer me up, "we'll always be there for you and we promise that we will always look out for our dear younger sister."

"Hey, I'm older than both of you!" I remarked.

"Time travel or not, that is one thing we will never accept," they replied, lifting off the muffling spell at last.

It had been exhausting letting out all the smoke building up inside me but I felt a lot better than earlier. Of course, it didn't magically make all my sadness disappear but at least I had the reassurance that I was no longer alone in facing whatever stood ahead of me.

My family and especially my caring twin brothers would always be with me.

***