I fell to my knees, shrieking for Prim. Knowing it was useless. Knowing she wasn’t there. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I did nothing to stop them descend down my cheeks. I heard Gale’s heavy footsteps approach my huddled figure, placing his hand on my shoulder. After letting it rest there for a moment, I shook it off, stepping up to the window, opening it to dry my tears. As I undid the latch, a silver otter flew into the room, landing on the floor. In Hermione’s voice, it said:

“Katniss. We’re all in the forest. Prim and your Mother are safe.”

A smile bigger than I could imagine spread across my face, and I darted down the staircase, flinging the door open. Running, once again to the fence, I slipped down the hole, and approached the trees, coming to an abrupt stop. Gale, who had finally caught up with me, rested on my shoulder.

“Come on, Catnip! You heard the flying otter. Prim’s fine! What are you waiting for?”

“How do we find them? They could be anywhere! This forest is massive!” Then it hit me. I fingered the pin that Madge had presented to me before the Games. Whistling the tune I had created to signal Rue that I was alright, the Mockingjays mimicked it.

“Do you think that those guys will know what the Mockingjays mean?” Gale asked.

“No. Just making sure they were around.” I said. “Hermione! Where are you?” I yelled in a singsong voice, the Mockingjays picking it up, repeating it throughout the forest. Then I heard it. Hermione’s screams and Ron’s yells were flooding the forest, drowning out the sound of the Mockingjays.

Dashing to where the sounds were coming from, I entered a clearing. Hermione was crouched in a corner, her arms shielding Prim and my Mother, her stick that I had seen earlier was sitting on the opposite end of the clearing. Death Eaters were everywhere, shooting bright lights at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. One of them was about to cast something on Hermione, but Ron raised his stick, and he shouted “Expelliarmus!” The Death Eaters stick flew out of his hand, and Ron caught it.

Several lights flew my way, and I dodged them. As I reached back for an arrow to load into my bow, a bright flame flew by me, grazing my arm. Glancing at my wound, I saw my shirt was singed, and I dropped my bow as the burn intensified. The Death Eater must have seen I was wounded, because as I looked up, I saw him prepared to cast another flash to take me down, when an arrow flew past my ear and lodged into his stomach. A memory of Rue flitted through my mind once it hit him.

I twisted around to see that Gale had flew the arrow, and that he was loading another arrow into his bow .

I ducked the oncoming spells, and snatched up Hermione’s stick. Skirting the trees, I finally found Hermione and handed it to her.

“Katniss. Get Prim and your mum out of here! It’s not safe. We exposed you!” she stuttered.

“I’ll get them out of here, but what did you expose me to?” I demanded.

“Harry, Ron, and I are wizards! Muggles aren’t supposed to know about us!” she paused when I blankly looked at her when she said “Muggles.” “Muggles are non-magic people.” she pushed my legs, urging me forward. “Thank you for returning my wand, but just go!”

I gripped Prim and my Mother’s hands and pulled them into the trees. I could feel Prim shaking. Just as we exited the trees, a Death Eater appeared in front of Prim, Mother, and I, making us back into the trees again. The Death Eater raised what I expected to be his wand, and shot a jet of scarlet light at Prim, hitting her in the chest. I tore an arrow from my sheath and shoved it through his heart. As he fell to the ground, I rushed over to Prim, who was lying on the ground.

I felt her wrist for a pulse. Feeling the small pump of blood that assured me she was alive, I looked up into my mother’s worried eyes.

“She’s alive.” I told her reassuringly. As her expression relaxed, she said, “We should get out of here. Should we go back to the house?”

“No.” I said firmly. “I don’t think it is safe enough right now. We should go to the Hob. I’ll leave you with Greasy Sae, and she can take care of you.”

“Ok.” she agreed. She attempted to lift Prim over her shoulder, but only toppled over under her weight. I lifted Prim’s unconscious form off of Mother, and gently threw her over my shoulder. “C’mon.” I told her.

We walked to the fence, and I slid Prim underneath, then went under myself, Mother following. We skirted the buildings, hoping no one would spot us. We entered the Hob, and found Greasy Sae's stand. I tapped her on the shoulder, and she spun around in surprise.

“Hello, Katniss! Are you trading, today? I didn’t think you were coming until tomorrow.” she chortled.

“No, Sae. Sorry. I really need your help.” I said, seriously. “Something very serious is going on right now, and I’m afraid to send these two,” I pointed at Mother, then at the limp form of Prim on my shoulder, “home. Can you look after them while I sort this out?”

“Of course, but what is going on?”

“I don’t think I can tell you. I’m sorry.” I dropped Prim lightly off my shoulder, and reluctantly hugged my mother. I waved at Sae, Mother, and even though she would never know I did, Prim, then retreated to the forest. Bow preloaded, I followed the sounds of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s shouts to the clearing.

Looking around at the scene before me, I saw that many of the Death Eaters were scattered along the forest floor, and I couldn’t see Gale, or any arrows being shot. I shot my arrow at one of the Death Eaters, and missed, then I glanced around quickly, and spotted Gale on the ground, eyes closed and arrows strewn around him. My heart sank, and I ran to him. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione casting spells at the Death Eaters. I turned my head back to Gale, and stroked his hair. I didn’t know if he was alive or not. I grabbed an arrow and shot it into one of the three remaining Death Eaters.

Two to go. I thought to myself.

I felt Gale’s wrist for a pulse, but before I felt anything, I saw a flash of red in the corner of my eye, then everything went dark.

“Katniss?” Hermione’s voice sounded worried. I opened my eyes, and everything was blurry. “Katniss, are you ok?” Hermione’s face swam into view.

“I-I’m fine.” I said slowly. “Where’s Gale?”

“He’s over there, resting.” Hermione pointed to the other end of the clearing. “Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes. I’m positive.” I stated firmly, wanting to end the conversation. I walked over to Gale, and knelt down beside him. “Is he ok?” I asked Hermione as she followed behind me and knelt down, too.

“Yes. He’s fine. Just stunned. So were you.” She looked at me. “Is Prim and your mum alright?” Then I remembered Prim getting hit by the Death Eater.

“Prim was hit.” I blurted out quickly.

Hermione’s lower lip began to tremble. “N-Not with a green light, right? Please tell me it wasn’t green!” Hermione desperately gripped my shoulder, and I shook her off.

“It was a red light. Don’t worry.” I reassured her. Her lip stopped quivering.

“Ok. Then she was Stunned, as well. We can fix her up...” she glanced at my singed shirt. “What happened to your arm?”

“I was hit, too.” I said absentmindedly.

“Let me see it.” she commanded.

I lifted my arm, and she examined it for a minute.

“What did the spell look like? The one that hit you?” she asked.

“Fire.” I replied.

“Ok. I know what happened. Vulnera Sanentur.” Hermione pointed her wand at my burnt arm, and the wound healed instantly. I flexed my arm and smiled.

“Thanks.” I said. Hermione nodded. I peered over my shoulder at Harry and Ron, who were discussing something on the other side of the clearing, and saw Harry remove something gold from around his neck and hand it to Ron, who slipped it over his own. They walked over to Hermione, Gale, and I, and sat down. Ron’s eyes kept fleeting back and forth to look at Hermione. I looked back at Gale, and several minutes later, he woke up.

Gale looked around, and saw me. He leaped up, and hugged me tightly, and I embraced him back. He let go and looked around again.

“Where’s Prim and your mom?” he asked.

“Back in the Hob.” I confirmed. “We were going to go check on her when you woke up.”

“Oh, ok!” He said as he stumbled onto his feet.

“Easy...” Hermione said gently. “We don’t want you to pass out, again!”

Gale glared at her, then looked at me.

“Should we get going, then?” He asked.

“Yeah, sure.” I got to my feet, still flexing my arm.

Gale walked to the trees and disappeared within the bark and leaves. I ran after him, hearing Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s footsteps thundering behind me. The five of us reached the edge of the trees, stopping only to see if there were any Peacekeeper's on patrol. Seeing none, I broke through the trees into the blinding sunlight, making my way over to the fence. Not hearing the buzz, I slipped under, Gale, Harry, Ron, and Hermione following.

We walked and walked until we reached the Hob, finding Greasy Sae’s stand where she was stirring her “stew.” I tapped her on the back once more, and he spun around.

“Katniss!” She took no notice to Harry, Ron, or Hermione. “I couldn’t find out what was wrong. Quill, the woman who runs the medicine store, came by and saw Prim unconscious, and offered to give her some remedies. Nothing helped, and she is still out.”

I cautiously approached Prim’s still limp form, but I was pushed aside by Hermione. She knelt over Prim and retrieved her wand from deep inside her cloak. Blocking it from Sae’s view, she pointed it at Prim, and muttered “Renovate.”

Prim’s eyes slowly fluttered open, but quickly darted around the room, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes rested on me, and she darted up, but fell back down, dizzy. I stepped over to Prim, who was holding her head, and wrapped my arms around her. I felt her little hands rest on my back as she returned the hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alright!” I whispered in her ear.

“Are you ok, too, Katniss?” Prim asked.

“I’m fine.”

A wide smile spread across Prim’s face.

“C’mon, Prim. I want to go home.” I glanced at Hermione. “Do you think it is ok to go back?”

“Well, I think that if the Death Eaters were coming back, they would have invaded this place, already. I think it would be ok to head back.”

“Alright.” I stretched out my hand to help Prim to her feet. She reached for my hand, and I lifted her up. I threw her onto my shoulders, buckling a little under her weight.

“You’re getting big, huh, Little Duck?”

“‘Little Duck’?” I heard a voice behind me.

I turned around, Prim swaying, and faced Ron. As I opened my mouth to retort, another voice spoke up.

“Didn’t see you laughing when I called her Catnip, now did you, Gingerbread?” Gale huffed.

Ron’s ears turned red again.

I lead Prim out of the Hob and started walking up the path with her resting on my shoulders. Ron, Hermione, Harry, Gale, and Mother following me.

I shoved my way through the door to my house, which was slightly ajar, and threw Prim down onto the couch. Mother and Gale came in after me, flopping down on the couch next to Prim. Neither Harry, Ron, or Hermione came in. I peeked outside to see if they were out there, and sure enough, they were pointing their wands up at the roof, mumbling obscure words that I couldn’t understand. Hermione looked over at me, put her wand down, and walked towards me. She collapsed onto the porch next to my feet, and I sat down after her.

“You seem to really love your sister.” She stated.

“Yeah. I have to take care of her. I even took her place in the Hunger Games.” I responded.

Hermione stared at me with a look of utter confusion.

She seriously doesn’t know what the Hunger Games are? I thought.

“What are the Hung-” She started.

“The Hunger Games are a fight to the death on live television.” I stated plainly.

The expression on her face morphed from confusion to shock. Her eyes opened wide, and her mouth opened in surprise.

“Are you serious?” She said. “I thought what Vold-... You-Know-Who does is horrible! How come I haven't heard about it?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are about not knowing about it.”

“But, you took Prim’s place?”

“Yeah. She was pretty unlucky. It was her first year, and I made sure her name was only in the Reaping once. Still didn’t do anything. I took her place, and obviously won.”

Hermione still had the look of horror on her face. “S-So how do they work? The Hunger Games?”

I stared at her for a moment, then answered.

“Every year the Capitol picks one boy and one girl from each of our Districts to be in the Hunger Games. Then they train them for about two weeks and put them in an arena where they have to kill each other until there is one person left. That was me... and my friend, Peeta. We got the Capitol to think that Peeta and I were in love, so they let us both win after we were the last two left. That’s pretty much all there is too it, unless you want to know the history of the Games. It’s pretty stupid.”

Hermione continued to stare at me with horror and disbelief.

“Hey, what are you two talking about?” a voice piped up from behind us. It was Prim.

“Nothing, nosey!” I said, tackling her lightly and throwing her on my shoulders. Prim giggled.

Harry and Ron walked up, passing Hermione and I, and went inside. I exchanged glances with Hermione and followed them inside.

Hermione plopped herself on the floor and whipped out her wand, letting Prim examine it. Taking it back from Prim, Hermione produced bubbles from the tip, making Prim gawk in amazement.Soon after, she made small, yellow birds fly out of the tip, Ron worriedly eyeing them constantly. Noticing, hermione made the birds fly at Ron’s head. Ron ducked.

“It wasn’t funny the first time, either, Hermione!” He said, brushing dirt off his shirt.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny the first time, Ronald!” she retorted.

“Dinner’s ready” Mother shouted from within the depths of the kitchen.

After we ate, Hermione continued entertaining Prim with magic. First with the birds, then bright lights, and then changing several items in the room into animals and then back.

Eventually, when I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer, I said goodnight and slipped into bed. I fell asleep immediately


I was running. There were bright flashes everywhere behind me. Several passing by my head. There were large shadows behind me, too. A green light flashed behind me and was about to hit me. A light appeared ahead, like a doorway. I ran as fast as I could to the door. The green light was inches from me, I had to run. Run faster. Faster.


*Creak*-


I woke in a cold sweat. Sure enough, my door was open. I was about to conclude that Prim’s cat, Buttercup, had opened the door, when I saw two figures hovering in the doorway. It was Harry and Ron. I looked around my room and Hermione was standing in front of me, her wand out and pointing at me.

“Hermione? What are you doing?” I asked.
“Obliviate.” She whispered.