“Hello there,” Ron said, coming up and sitting across from her. “How was your first day?”
“Oh, it was great,” Katherine said, smiling. “Where are the others?”
“Oh, they went straight down to the Quidditch pitch. Harry going to help get me started and Ginny is going to help as well. Hermione is in the library. She’s been in a right mood all day. Don’t know what’s gotten into her. I only came up here to give you this. Mum sent it with Errol, but he brought it to me a little after lunch instead of you.”
“Oh, thanks,” Katherine said, taking the letter Ron offered her.
Katherine,
We regret to inform you that your guardian, Virginia Evans, has been found to have been murdered by the Dark Lord. Your home of approximately eleven years has been almost completely destroyed. We wish your presence on Saturday to sweep the house and go over inheritance details. We will also give the funeral at that time. In addition, although we realize this is a time of great grief for you, we wish to offer you belated birthday wishes. Please inform your Headmistress of our request.
Anne Drenkum
2nd Under-Secretary,
Department of Magical Catastrophes
She finished reading, taking a second paper from the back.
Katherine,
I have already spoken to Professor McGonagall and Arthur and I will be picking you up on Saturday morning. Maybe we can get permission to take one of the kids with you so you’re not alone. Remus asked us to let you know he wanted to take you, but he has some things to take care of over the weekend. By the way, why didn’t you let us know it was your birthday? We could have done something to celebrate a little.
Love,
Molly
Katherine laid it on the table. Ron put his hand on hers. He had taken the first letter and realized why Katherine was now on the verge of tears.
“It’s alright. Harry, Ginny, Hermione, or I will go with you,” he said consolingly. “Why didn’t you tell us about your birthday? Maybe we can celebrate tomorrow or something.”
“I didn’t even remember it was my birthday,” Katherine said, still holding back tears. “I completely forgot. Auntie was going to take me into Diagon Alley and get me a new broom.”
“I’ll get you one,” Ron offered. “I’ll find a way.”
“No, don’t do that,” Katherine said, knowing he was only trying to make her feel more at home. “Accompanying me on Saturday will be a far greater gift than a broom.”
“Alright then, that’s what I’ll do,” Ron said, moving awkwardly to brush her tears away, accidentally knocking a stack of books in the floor.
“Ron,” Hermione interrupted Ron’s movement, pursing her lips. “I met Harry. He asked me to come ask you to hurry up. I’ll tell him you’re busy.”
Hermione emphasised the last word, smiling curtly at Ron.
“No, not busy at all. Just delivering a letter,” Ron said, jumping up causing his chair to topple dangerously near to falling. “See you at dinner. Come on Hermione, come down with me.”
Hermione took Ron’s hand, smiling back at Katherine, then flipped her head around to follow Ron out of the Common Room. Katherine was grateful to have friends even though they were quite new. They would be there for her for the good times and the bad.
She decided it would be best to put away her work, knowing she would never be able to concentrate now. Gathering her books and parchment, she took them up to her dormitory and dumped them at the head of her bed. Lazily she sat down on the floor and leaned against the side of her bed. Eighteen years ago, on this day, her real parents were grieving the loss of their baby and the Dark Lord was celebrating the successful kidnapping of an heir. However, seventeen years ago, her real parents were enjoying their life with their new baby boy and Katherine was living with Voldemort as her father.
Snapping out of her musings, she stood and made her way down to the Great Hall, thinking it must be almost time for dinner. She climbed down staircase after staircase, concentrating hard on not taking a wrong turn. Thankfully, she found the Entrance Hall with no problem. As she climbed down, three boys ran by her, one knocking her to the side. This irritated Katherine a great deal and she was about to tell them off, but then one of the boy’s friends turned around.
“You okay?” he asked. “Michael, apologize to the lady.”
His friend reluctantly turned and apologized. Then the boy smiled and turned to rejoin his friends who had begun running again. Katherine continued down the stairs, her cheeks burning fiercely. She guessed this would be one of those moments to tell your best friend, so upon entering the Great Hall she immediately sought out Ginny Weasley. Ginny seemed very excited about her news and began asking for every detail about him, before searching the hall for any sight of the boy Katherine had described. Everyone was enjoying the meal thoroughly when half way through dinner a small boy brought Harry a note.
“Thanks, Dennis,” Harry said, opening it to scan it quickly. “Professor Blue wants me to meet him in his office after dinner.”
He sent the other three a meaningful look, and Katherine knew this was one of those moments in which time was a factor she was severely lacking in her friendships. Hermione, obviously thinking Katherine needed more than a meaningful look, said, “We’ll talk about it together later, Harry.”
Katherine did not need any help understanding, but was thankful that Hermione was being so considerate.
“So, you said his friend’s name was Michael?” Ginny began their conversation again, while, for no apparent reason, throwing a look of contempt at Hermione.
After dinner, Harry went off to meet Professor Blue and the rest of them returned to the common room. They rested around the fire until Harry got back. Katherine pretended to need to go sit at the table and tried not to listen.
“So what did he want?” Ron asked.
“Just updating me on the deal,” Harry said. “And we’re going over this weekend to start.”
“Well, that’s good,” Hermione said. “You don’t have to wait like you thought.”
“I’m glad you got to come back and still…,” Ginny said, but Katherine couldn’t hear the rest over the two younger kids who had just exploded something. She knew it wasn’t her business, but she couldn’t help wondering what Harry was still getting to do. She looked around the room, taking in the faces of her fellow Gryffindors. She saw the people Ron had shown her. Neville was leaned over a parchment with a look of deep concentration on his face. The two other girls, Lavender and Parvati, were close together whispering. The whole common room was a comfortable busy of activity.
“Katherine,” she heard Ginny yell. “Come on back over here.”
Katherine thankfully rejoined the group, placing herself on the floor across from Harry’s armchair.
“Ron told us about Saturday,” Harry began. “And we all really wanted to go. But I’m not going to be able to make it.”
“The rest of us are though,” Ginny added quickly.
“That’s great,” Katherine said, relieved she wouldn’t have to go alone. “Not that you’re not coming Harry, but that the rest of you still get to come.”
“So, now we’ve got that sorted, who’s up for a game of wizard chess?” Ron asked, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you know how to play, Katherine?”
“Well, I know how. Unfortunately, I’ve never had much of a chance to play against anyone but my Aunt, and she wasn’t very good.”
“Well, let’s play. I’ll get the board,” Ron said, running out of the room.
When he returned they began a stupendous game, which Ron won narrowly. Nevertheless, when he offered a rematch, Katherine utterly destroyed him. After this, Hermione told her about a time at the end of their first year in which Ron helped win against a giant enchanted chessboard. She ended by telling how she later had to rush him to the Hospital Wing where she wouldn’t leave his side. Katherine couldn’t help thinking how lucky Ron was to have Hermione.
They sat around the fire talking for about thirty minutes before Katherine decided it was time for her to go to bed. She stood and walked to the stairs.
“Goodnight, Katherine. We’ll look for your mystery man again at lunch tomorrow,” Ginny bid her, and when Katherine turned around winked mischievously.
“What mystery man?” Ron asked as Katherine turned back to her course.
“Oh Ron, where have you been? They’ve been talking about him since the beginning of dinner,” Hermione answered scathingly, but Katherine could not hear the end of the conversation as she began to climb up to her bed. She looked out at the grounds. It was a beautiful night. Katherine decided to leave the curtain open again. Not only would it help her get up, but the moon was just visible through it and Katherine wanted to watch it as she went to sleep.
Katherine was awake and down at breakfast early the next morning. In fact, she was the first Gryffindor in the Great Hall. She gathered some toast and sausage and settled herself at the front end of the table. As she ate, she took out her Charms textbook that she had brought down for her first lesson of the day. She skimmed through it, then returned to the first chapter to read it thoroughly.
By the time she was joined by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she was three-quarters of the way through the chapter and on her third piece of toast.
They each grabbed something to eat and finished their conversation on Defence Against the Dark Arts.
“It should be very interesting,” Hermione said.
“Yeah, I wonder what he’ll be like,” Ron mused before shoving his mouth with bacon.
“I don’t know,” Harry answered. “He seems young to me, only about Bill or Charlie’s age.”
“Ron, you should write and ask. Maybe they knew him.”
After breakfast, Katherine followed them to Charms. The tiny man who had led the first years in stood waiting for the students. He smiled genially at her as she took her seat beside Harry.
“Look,” he said, pointing, “we’re with the Hufflepuffs again in this class. The same ones who were in Herbology yesterday.”
He waved at the students he had introduced as Ernie MacMillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Hannah Abbot, who sat together across the room. Soon class had started and all attention was turned to the Professor.
“Hello, hello. As you remember, I am Professor Flitwick,” he started. “Not that most of you to need know, but we do have a new student. Today we will be starting on a section on making things invisible. As I am sure you all know, there are ways to disappear without using a spell. The rare Invisibility Cloaks and the spell Evanesco will completely vanish an item. In fact, now I believe you can purchase wizard hats at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes that will make your head invisible. But would anyone venture to tell us all the charm which we will be learning?”
Hermione’s hand hit the air, but Katherine beat her, not that she would have known but for her breakfast review.
“Yes, Ms. Evans?” Professor Flitwick said.
“The Disillusionment Charm, also I believe it’s a non-verbal spell.”
“Correct, take five points for Gryffindor. Now, today we will be working with small non-living things and then work our way up. So, begin with your ink wells.”
Everyone went to work. Katherine glanced down at Hermione and Ron, who were in front of Harry and her. Hermione was looking back at her, but quickly turned and wrapped her arm around Ron to help him. By the end of class, all four of them had managed to make their inkwells invisible and got to leave early as Professor Flitwick reappeared the wells and dismissed them.
Break passed quickly and soon they were all taking seats in Transfiguration. Their seats were at the front of the class, and Katherine didn’t bother to look to see which house shared the class with them. Professor Jones stepped to the front of the class and gained the students’ attention. The class was mostly an overview of what they would be covering in the course and warnings that anyone caught goofing off would receive two detentions and lose house points. The class ended and everyone rose and made for the doors.
Katherine caught Harry’s arm.
“What?” he said concerned.
“I saw him,” Katherine said excitedly. “The ‘Mystery Man,’ in Ginny’s words. But he’s disappeared. What house is that?”
“Ravenclaw,” Hermione answered from behind her.
Katherine nodded, etching that in her memory. She excused herself and went straight to lunch to find Ginny. They excitedly discussed the new information, though couldn’t narrow down who it could be. Soon the others who had taken their books from morning lessons back to the tower joined them. After lunch, Harry and Ron practically sprinted to Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Professor Blue surveyed the class, no smile on his face he spoke, “I am not one to judge the past. It is behind us and I’ll keep it that way. This is your final year and at the end you will face the NEWTs. But, more important than that, Voldemort is back and you need to be prepared. The first few lessons we will be reviewing jinxes, counter-jinxes, curses and counter-curses you’ve already learned. I need to know what you can do and how well before I decide what to teach you. It will go fast, so keep up. Mr. Malfoy, shut up.”
Malfoy flushed and looked to the front of the classes. He had been talking quietly with a dark haired Slytherin girl, who flushed as well.
“You can be the first…”
At the end of class, Katherine gathered her things and made to follow the others out, but they were stopped before they even reached the aisle.
“Potter, stay here. I need to speak with you,” Professor Blue ordered across the classroom. “Weasley and Granger, you can stay too if you wish.”
“Go on to the tower,” Ron told her. “Don’t know how long this will take.”
He rolled his eyes, trying to make it look as though he didn’t want to stay. However, Katherine could see that they could hardly wait for this conversation. She frowned, but left the room without debate. As she closed the door, she heard Professor Blue start, “Now Potter, about Saturday…”
That night as Katherine relaxed on her bed after dinner, she couldn’t stop thinking about what Harry would be doing on Saturday. The ideas of what all he could be up to were only interrupted by the images of what she would have to face. During one of her ponderings, she closed her eyes, imagining walking through her home gathering remnants with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. This faded into dreams of Harry dueling Professor Blue in the Forbidden Forest. This melted into a picture of a ball, and she was dancing with a tall, faceless man. This suddenly disappeared and she lay on the ground crying surrounded by hood figures. One stepped out and picked her up.
He said, “This is where we shall finish. The First Prophesy will save us. Now it will be fulfilled.”
He carried her over to a kneeling person she had not yet noticed and laid her in front of them. The person had a mask and hood like the rest, but was shaking terribly.
“It shall begin now, boy,” the first man sneered.
The kneeling boy lifted his hand and removed his hood, then his mask. Draco Malfoy had tears rolling down his face; he leaned over and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Then a yellow light surrounded them. Katherine blinked, throwing her hands over her face. She sat up sharply, seeing only her dormitory through her squinted eyes.
The dream, or whatever it was, stayed in her mind all day and the next. She was unusually quiet and kept to herself. Ginny tried to find out what was wrong, but Katherine couldn’t find a way to explain it. Not until Friday night did anything finally end her mental replays of the scene.
“Surprise,” Ginny said, smiling. Katherine had just entered the common room. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were surrounding a small table covered in sweets.
“Happy Belated Birthday,” Harry said, offering her a chocolate frog.
“We thought it was about time we gave you that party I promised you,” Ron explained.
“You’ve been a bit down and tomorrow’s going to be rough, so we thought tonight would be a good time,” Ginny explained.
“Thanks,” Katherine whispered, smiling as she wiped away a solitary tear. She had tried to shut them out of her problems, yet they had still found a way to help. She was not used to having friends, but the smile on those four faces told her she would learn.
They all broke into different conversations, enjoying the sweets and Butterbeer, which were hidden under the table to protect them from passers by.
“So, anything new on the mystery man?” Ginny asked.
“Not really, I think he might be in my History of Magic class. I really don’t remember.”
“Well, next week we’ll head to the library to see if we might catch a glimpse of him.”
Katherine smiled and blushed as Ron turned around inviting himself along.
“What?” he asked blankly. “Can’t I go to the kitchens with you?”
“Not the kitchens, you prat. We were talking about the library,” Ginny said scathingly.
“Oh, well then, count me out.”
Everyone laughed and went back to their conversations. After thirty more minutes, Ron stood and stretched.
“We better get off to bed,” he suggested.
“Why so early?” Hermione asked, taking his hand pleadingly.
“Well, Harry’s busy and we have the funeral.”
Katherine’s face became stony. She had almost forgotten tomorrow was Saturday.
“That sounds best,” Ginny said. “I’m tired anyway.”
Katherine stood up and said, “Goodnight, see you in the morning. Well, except for you, Harry.”
Smiling, Katherine walked up to her dormitory. She slept dreamlessly, but woke before the sun. Knowing there wasn’t much to do, she went ahead and dressed herself for the funeral and worked hard to fix her hair. Ms. Evans had always liked her hair down and Katherine did her best to make it look good as one last favour to her. It was still dark when she finished, so she walked down to the common room to sit and wait. She did not know how long she sat there until the sun began to rise. Soon after, Harry and Ron walked into the Common Room. However, neither noticed her in the chair by the window.
“Bye, Harry. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
“Oh, and be safe.”
“You too. I know that the Order members will be there, but if anything does happen, get the girls out of there. This was a very bad time to do this, but this is important too. Never mind though, bye.”
“See you, Harry.”
Katherine heard the portrait open and close. She looked around the edge of the chair. Ron was just standing there staring around at the walls. She heard voices coming from the stairs. Ginny and Hermione appeared, both dressed for the funeral.
“Where’s Katherine?” Ginny asked.
“She wasn’t in her bed,” Hermione added.
“Well, I’ve been down here and I haven’t…”
“I’m right here,” Katherine said standing. She diverted her eyes from Ron who had immediately cast her a glance that had been scolding, worried, and amused all at once. He knew now she had heard his conversation with Harry. However, she had gained no useful information from it. She blushed slightly as she walked across to join the group.
“Well, we’re all here now,” Ginny said. “Let’s get going, we’re supposed to meet Mum and Dad in the Entrance Hall at seven-thirty.”
The four walked down to the Entrance Hall silently. No one dared break the uncomfortable silence, as conversation was even more uncomfortable. When they reached the hall, it was still empty. Soon a few students began to walk through to breakfast. All of them gave the foursome curious looks. They waited ten minutes before the Arthur and Molly arrived and ushered them straight away down a path to the village. There they grasped a Ministry-provided Portkey that took them to small room filled with chairs.
“Ahh, the waiting room. Everyone sit,” Mr. Weasley ordered, taking a seat. They sat for about five minutes before a witch came through one of the two doors leaving the room. She led Katherine out of the room into another, this one containing a desk with a smart looking wizard behind it. They discussed the inheritance, the house, and her new guardianship. Katherine would get everything that remained. She would have to go through the house, ‘remnants’ was the word he used, and mark or take everything she wanted. Then the rest would be dealt with appropriately. He approved Remus Lupin as her guardian. By the time they were finished, it was nearly nine forty-five. Katherine returned to the group, and they all took another Portkey, this time to an open field. Well, at least at first glance. After a longer look, Katherine saw that it was really a cemetery. However, it wasn’t an ordinary one; it was magical. There was a courtyard in what looked like the middle with a fountain of glowing water, which had an ever-changing colour. Some of the headstones had moving pictures placed on them or changing epitaphs. It was a very lovely place. Katherine was greeted soon after by a starchy looking wizard.
“I’m sure you will be happy with the services today. We take particular care of all of the plots. We are, after all, the largest, most prestigious Wizarding Cemetery in Britain.”
As he spoke, he led them to a group of chairs surrounding a casket. The service was beautiful, but was mostly a blur. Some people said some words, there was a song, and some other memoriam. Before she knew it, it was over and they were being led away again. As she followed the group, she felt a sudden longing for Remus to be there. Her friends’ presence comforted her immensely, without it she would be going crazy, still she wished he were there.
“We’ll have to wait here for a few minutes,” Mr. Weasley said, stopping the group. “They’ll send us word whenever they’re ready for us to come.”
Ginny and Hermione whispered quietly to each other. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley walked a few steps off and did the same. Katherine stood quietly not thinking about anything.
“Hey,” Ron whispered, breaking her daze. She simply smiled at him.
“I know it’s hard for you right now, but don’t shut us out. I’ll understand if you wait till we get back to school, but just remember we came with you to support you.”
“I know, I can’t tell you how glad I am that you’re here, all of you. But I just can’t find anything to say really.”
Ron shook his head and put his arm around her shoulder, then after what seemed like a great debate in his mind he moved his head gawkily resting his chin on her forehead.
“We are all here for you,” he said quietly. Katherine was terribly grateful for all of them. She knew that everyone, no matter how well they understood the feelings of others, understood the feeling of loss.
“They are ready for us,” Mrs. Weasley said. “Gather up, another Portkey I’m afraid.”
All of them touched an empty Marmite jar and were taken away from the cemetery. Moments later they landed in the first place Katherine recognized, well at least the surrounding countryside. The house was in rubble. Guard wizards and witches encircled the whole yard. All of her guests stood just staring at the destroyed house. After a second of shock, however, Katherine moved toward the house. She climbed over the rubble to what would have normally been the sitting room. Reaching down, she picked up a picture whose broken glass had caught her eye. It was of her eighth birthday, a small photo of her and Ms. Evans. A tear slid down her cheek. She looked up and slowly took in the disaster around her. It was all that was left of what was before.