After another sleepless night, courtesy of the new term's building stress, Katherine was making her way to the fourth floor. Her dorm mates didn't question her abrupt exit, but she did get a few strange looks because some of them were in the middle of a study group.

Katherine didn't turn down study groups with big textbooks full of information. Ever.

She resisted rubbing her eyes, she was testing out the new beauty potions that her grandmother had sent her and she didn't want to mess up her look. Impressing Alexa, who bossed her around unlike any other person she knew, was a priority. While Katherine didn't take to being bossed around well, she could deal with her devious, blonde friend.

The owl was abrupt, but the message had been clear. Get up here now. Here meaning the abandoned classroom where the Hogwarts Mafia set up shop on occasion, of course. She took a deep breath before walking in, checking to make sure her outfit was in place before opening the door.

"Alexa," she said, striding in confidently. "You said you wanted to see me?"

Alexa was freaking out. She had no one on the inside keeping an eye on the two undesirables, Chloe Harris, and Mason Hawkins. And now, people were saying that they were together. This was not okay. She needed to keep a keen eye on this development, as she couldn't even think about losing her grip on them. They needed to know they were being watched.

"You said you wanted to see me?"

Alexa stood up from the desk quickly, fixing her hair. "It's a good thing you're here, Beckett. We're reassigning you. You are now on watching undesirable one and undesirable two. Rumor has it they've been getting closer. Report."

Reassigned? Watching people? Now this was something that Katherine could do. With a memory like hers, and of course being in the same house as the undesirable's; it would be a piece of cake. Or so she hoped.

She sat down in front of the desk, perched on the edge of the chair with her hands folded in her lap. Report.

She processed the command and thought about what to report on, "Chloe Harris is experiencing a devastating breakup." Katherine said maliciously, enjoying the undesirable's pain. "She cried for ages, you wouldn't believe it. But I digress. Mason Hawkins attempted to soothe her pain on January sixth in the Ravenclaw common room."

"Tragic," she said with a yawn. "Chloe fell asleep, in his arms." Katherine hissed, "If that's not close, I don't know what is. My instincts are telling me that it's only going to go downhill from here, Alexa."

She bit her lip, trying to remember anything else, any more details. Eyes shut tight, she replayed the memory in her head. "Who's going to help me now, when Rohan comes out to get me?" "She's afraid of Rohan," Katherine blurted, waiting for Alexa's response.

Alexa leaned forward on the desk, her hands folded, her index fingers touching each other and touching her mouth. She nodded, as the news rolled in. It seemed that they were getting closer to each other, which was bad. If they were unified that meant that the mafia would be taking on a bigger beast instead of two smaller. It was less than great to hear, but it could be worse. It wasn't too late to drive a wedge.

"She's afraid of Rohan,"

Alexa smiled. "Excellent, excellent." she whispered maliciously, sitting back up and straightening her back. "Now, we just can't let Mason get to her. She can't lose that fear. She loses the fear, we lose our control." She picked up a few papers, fixing them and setting them back down. "Excellent job, Katherine. You're proving to be quite important to this operation, and I applaud you on this. Keep an eye, gain Chloe's trust, I don't care what you do. Just keep an eye on them, as close as possible."

Katherine allowed herself to relax into the chair, feeling that she had given the best information that she could. There was nothing else to talk about really, between Chloe and Mason. Besides Chloe's blubbering over Heinrich and then her sudden lack of blubbering-ness, all was well. But Katherine was worried, really worried that Chloe was falling in love again.

This time, with undesirable two.

With the ghost of a smirk on her lips, she leaned forwards a bit. "Chloe might be smart, but the girl is an airhead. It's so easy to mess with her and get under her skin. I don't think I'll have a problem gaining her trust."

"I've played enough mind games to know that it won't be hard to psych her out." She said with a shrug, before her smirk turned into a pout. "Mason will be trickier though. I can watch him, but I can't do much about him..."

Katherine wondered how she could get Mason's attention off of Chloe all the time. But it seemed that all of the boy's thoughts were about his fellow undesirable. It irritated her to no end that she wouldn't be able to get in close with Mason too, but settled at the idea of toying with Chloe. The sudden urge to cause her discomfort and pain was startling, but pleasing at the same time.

Alexa smiled as the girl explained her plans on getting closer to Chloe. "If she's as airhead as you say, we shouldn't have much of a problem. Though we may be underestimating this girl. She is a ravenclaw after all. Even if she trusts people easily, she could notice potentially that there's something going on. Be careful where you step, Beckett." She advised. Though Katherine may not have needed it, it helped Alexa to know that she at least warned the girl.

"Mason will be trickier though. I can watch him, but I can't do much about him..."

"Well, find something to do about him." She said standing up and slamming her hands on the desk. "I don't care if it's blackmail or threats. Find some other way to get closer to him than just the standard observer. I'm not taking any chances of missing something because we weren't in close enough."

"I know what I'm doing," Katherine protested. There was no need for snippy-ness, or threats. None what so ever. She knew bridges were hard to build, and all too easy to burn. Chloe was an airhead, but she was smart. If Katherine was too pushy, she'd suspect her all too easily.

She stood up as Alexa slammed her hands on the desk, "Will you relax, Alexa!" She snapped back, her irritation betrayed on her face. "I don't need you getting in my face as I try to figure this out!"

Sometimes it was hard to deal with the temperamental blonde, especially when the blonde didn't think she was capable. That pissed her off. There was a limit with Katherine, and slamming hands on desks and pushing her too far was the limit. She knew how to be devious. How to be cunning. It seemed like, at times, that Alexa just didn't think she was good enough for the job.

"Well let's see; I'm not best friend material, it's not like I can catch his eye like you could! You need to get Rohan to man up and fake apologize to Mason and start to gain his trust back to give me some time to get in with Mason. Either that, or you should flirt with him and mess with his brain." Katherine said, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Rohan will never make up with Mason. Ever. That bridge has been burned. It's done. And I will not be helping you until it is completely necessary. We are not going to waste resources here. While I'm still dating that idiot of a Slytherin, I can't be seen flirting with anyone else. So, either work us out of your little equation, or I will reassign your job." She said, sitting back down and diverting her eyes to the papers.

"I chose you because you can get close, the closest of anyone in this group. I figured you could figure something out. But if that is proving too difficult odds are I could find polyjuice, and someone who wants this more. We could, always just put you on look out duty for a pick up or two." She said with a malicious smile, knowing that look out was the crappiest job. She wouldn't mind moving Katherine.

"Sorry for trying to come up with ideas here," Katherine sassed as she began to pace, the inkling of a headache coming on. She could not deal with that right now. If Alexa saw how weak she was, then she would never trust her with anything.

She was seething though when the blonde insulted her intelligence. She was ready with a multitude of threats and comebacks, but she bit her tongue and let the anger pass and reside. "I'll deal with it." Katherine said calmly, still using the pacing as a way to divert her attention from the growing pain in her head.

At the thought of being on look out duty she stopped pacing and shot a glare at Alexa, "I thought you didn't want to waste resources."

Alexa could assign Katherine another job, but then who would she get that could get in close with Mason and Chloe? Who could spy on them and remember everything? No one but her. She was important, and she knew it. Just because Alexa thought she had this whole I'm-in-control thing figured out, didn't mean that it was true.

Everyone had a weak point, a chink in their armor. Alexa had one. Katherine just didn't know what it was yet.

She plopped down in the chair before deciding it was too, chairlike. It needed to move. So she stood up, and transfigured it into a spinning chair, and sat back down; swaying back and forth. "Is that it? What else do we have to get done here?"

"If you'd like to avoid look out duty, I expect good news on your front next time we meet. Understand?" She ordered, squinting her eyes in order to press on the urgency of good news. She knew how important good news would be to Rohan, and she wanted to keep him as happy as possible. Happiness meant more time to focus on what he wants. And that meant more of them time. Which meant she crept closer and closer to absolute power.

"We're having a meeting soon, so, you can hang out here until then, or go off. Rohan will be back soon, and he told me to hold down the fort until he gets back." She twiddled her earring, as she continued to focus on her roster. She looked up at Bennett. "You're doing well, don't get me wrong. Just give me more next time." She said softer, and less harsh. She had to keep Katherine around.

"I understand you want good news, but I'm not promising anything when it comes to those two." Katherine said, with a slight raise of her eyebrow. Alexa should have known better than to expect good news on the Hawkins and Harris front.

The blonde was searching for power, power that she didn't yet have; but that she knew she would have eventually. What a pity that such intelligence was wasted on a devious and cunning girl, power wasn't everything. Power led to sins, sins that Katherine had no intention of committing; but it seemed that the Slytherin was all for it.

"I'll remain here, there's no point in returning now that I've left the study group. All they would do would be to question me, and that's a waste of my time." She said with a sigh, "Don't worry, Alexa. Good things come to those who wait."

....End