Katarina sighed as she looked out of the window in the attic of Grimmauld Place. Being here brought back so many memories, both the good and the bad. A tear traveled down her face and she stared at her reflection. When had she last been here, to the place that reminded her of what she lost second only to Hogwarts? She turned and made her way down to the main floor. She paused at the last step and closed her eyes, one hand on the railing. She could almost hear the sound of her and Sirius laughing, of him cursing Snape, and so much more.

The moon shone through a window, illuminating the dust floating in the air, making it look like little flecks of silver were drifting. Poor Teddy, he must be so uncomfortable with the full moon tonight. Andromeda was one possessive grandmother, not that she blamed her, but seriously, she refused to let her have Teddy over for a night or two.

No matter what others said, Katarina always felt that it was her fault Teddy no longer had parents. Survivor's guilt Hermione had gone off on a long and boring lecture about it even after Katarina had told her that she knew perfectly well what it was. Katarina cocked her head when she heard a noise outside. She didn't have to wait long for the door to open and Luna to poke her head in.

"So this is where you went." Luna had become less dreamy and more serious after Neville was almost killed in the war. Katarina smiled slightly at Luna.

"Yeah, just taking a trip down memory lane." Luna laughed at her friend, but there was a tinge of sadness to it that Katarina immediately picked up on like a Niffler would metal.

"Luna?" Katarina looked at her in concern and she found herself staring at Katarina like she was going to disappear at any moment.

"It's nothing, just the Nargles getting to me." Katarina looked at her dubiously, clearly not buying it, but was unwilling to push her friend on it at the moment.

"I take it you wanted me for something?" Luna smiled at nothing in particular, humming before she answered her friend.

"Hmm, oh yes. Come with me." Luna didn't give her friend a chance to say no, dragging the young woman towards the still open door. "Hurry, we haven't forever." There was a slight hitch when Luna said that and Katarina felt her concern and suspicion grow.

"Luna…" She trailed off warningly, the silent promise to pester the truth out of her later unless she explained hanging in the warm night air. Luna turned to look at Katarina, her wavy blonde hair looking like liquid silver. Her pale skin seemed to glow.

"I can't, it's too painful." Katarina gave her a piercing look, her acid green eyes glowing in the dark menacingly.

"Later then." Luna looked like she was about to burst into tears when she said that. "Are you pregnant?" Katarina asked this hesitantly, afraid that she might push Luna over the edge and cause her to start crying.

"No, I wish that was it though." Katarina felt slightly panicked. Dear Merlin, what had Luna so upset? The last time she was like this was when the Lestranges nearly killed Neville. "No more talking, just let me take show you something." Katarina nodded and let Luna send them hurtling through space.

Katarina stumbled slightly when they reappeared in a forest. She looked around, her eyes having no trouble piercing through the darkness. Wordlessly, Katarina let Luna guide her to whatever it was that she wanted her to see. Luna let go of her and pulled away, walking ahead a bit and turning to look at Katarina when she failed to follow.

Katarina was a bit distracted by the strange humming noise, failing to notice Luna go on without her. "Katarina." Katarina startled and looked at her friend in confusion, only to blush in embarrassment when she realized why Luna was trying to get her attention.

Katarina hurried forward and Luna pointed at something between the trees. Katarina was unable to contain her gasp of shock and awe at the sight before her. It was enough to make her want to start crying it was so pure and beautiful. A herd of unicorns was gathered around a small pond, little fairies flitting about, laughing and singing. It would appear that she had been hearing the singing. The laughter sounded like little bells tinkling.

"It's beautiful." Such beauty had been lost in the war.

ADD MORE FROM BEFORE SHE FELL INTO THE VEIL OF DEATH.

Katarina groaned, her head spinning and aching. She had been in the Time Room; she remembered the constantly breaking, reforming, then re-breaking shelf of time turners. She glanced around her. No, she was definitely no longer in the Time Room. Katarina was actually in a dark alley, filled with garbage. Her chest hurt, but she ignored it, having a high pain tolerance and writing it off as insignificant. Her head hurt a lot worse anyway.

She pushed herself to her feet, stumbling…That's it!

She had tripped over a stone and crashed into the shelf. She had fucking tripped of all things. She was never going to live it down. She'd been an Unspeakable for years now. She had snippets of Voldemort's memories, most centering around knowledge and a few about his life. Talk about traumatizing when she figured that one out.

Hermione had been fascinated by the situation and pestered her non-stop for Voldemort's knowledge. Katarina had never actually told Hermione anything of consequence, much to the other woman's ire. Ron hadn't been so accepting, watching her warily, as if she was going to suddenly go bat shit insane and take off on a murdering rampage. Neville had been surprisingly supportive, though had she gotten to really know him, she would have expected nothing less. Luna was, well, Luna.

She really wasn't that surprised that Ron acted the way he did. The rest of the Weasleys were neutral, except for Molly and to some extent Ginny. Molly had been horrified and demanded that she have herself be Obliviated. Ginny was still too traumatized from the Chamber incident to really be able to be comfortable around her.

It hadn't been long after her she came of age when she turned seventeen that she and others discovered she was part vampire. She still wasn't sure where the inheritance came from, but it was both a blessing and a curse. Only a select few knew of this due to the prejudice against such begins. She was unbelievably lucky that direct sun had little effect on her aside from her being less powerful and tired out faster. She could eat, but sometimes it didn't agree with her stomach and she had to run for a bathroom. She stuck to blood for the most part to avoid this. No one knew how she would age, or if she would continue to beyond her prime. A full vampire would have matured twice as slow as a human and only received the full benefits of being a vampire when they reached their prime and they stopped aging.

Of course, that also produced the question of how much vampire blood she had and if it was enough to trigger a full transition to being one. Katarina really didn't want to become immortal. It was sad how few vampires actually manage to survive to full maturity. Vampire children were nearly the opposite of their adult counterparts. They were weak and easily susceptible to many magical illnesses, they needed twice the amount of blood, and their resistance to sunlight was iffy at best. Sure they were stronger, faster, and better looking most of the time, but still, the amount that actually survived was depressingly low.

It was no surprise that the vast majority of vampires came from those successfully turned and random inheritances. Hermione thought it was something like how Muggleborns popped up seemingly randomly. Katarina was inclined to believe her, never mind she had absolutely no idea what the hell gene expression and DNA had to do with it. She was an inventor, not a biologist or whatever Hermione said. She and Ron both tuned Hermione out, not caring about such things. Of course, Hermione would inevitably find out and go into 'rant mode' as most liked to call it.

Ron had joked that even if she became a full vampire, it's not like some measly disease was going to bring her down if Voldemort never could. Hermione had kindly reminded him that Katarina had almost died more than once when it came to Voldemort.

Then there was the fact that her spells were more powerful and she could summon spirits far too easily.

Katarina wasn't stupid, she knew the thrice-cursed Hallows had something to do with it. Oh, how she longed to be rid of them. She had used cursed fire on the damn things, but they remained unscratched, mocking her with their continued existence. She then tried using the Elder Wand to destroy the other two, but that didn't work either. Katarina knew that people were going to soon grow suspicious within the next twenty years. She was ever so thankful that witches and wizards aged more slowly than Muggles. She would have twice as long to be with her loved ones before the truth came out and she had to start applying glamors.

She shuddered at the thought of having to constantly wear glamors when around people or where she might be seen and recognized. Glamors were extremely uncomfortable and took a ridiculous toll on one's magic. She could maintain them no problem, she just dreaded the irritation of them. Magical would be able to see through them as the charms were only for Muggles.

Drawing herself out of her thoughts, Katarina focused on the issue at hand. She didn't feel like she was of sound enough mind to use magical transportation and refused to even consider the Knight Bus. She probably had a concussion now that she thought about it. Glad that she always kept the mokeskin pouch that Hagrid had given her as a gift many years ago, on at all times, she summoned a vial of pain reliever and nausea remover.

Knocking back the foul concoctions, she gave a small grimace of distaste.

Urgh, no matter the potion, they were all foul.

The only ones that weren't were the ones to steer clear of at all costs. Love potions, poisons, and truth serums along with a few other nasties were either flavorless or had other favorable tastes. Amortentia was said to mimic one's favorite flavor, a major tipoff if you were drinking or eating something that should in no way taste like chocolate for example.

Leaning against the brick wall, Katarina closed her green eyes and waited for the potion to kick in. A slight wind blew in her face, the cold stinging her cheeks.

Wait, cold?

Her eyes snapped open, head spinning as she stumbled to the sidewalk outside of the alley. Her mind went blank, mouth dropping open in confused shock. She could plainly see that the deciduous trees were leafless, meaning that it was either the very beginning of spring or sometime in winter. Her mind whirled with the thought. She was just in summer, so how could she now be in a different season?

Katarina groaned as the answer smacked her upside the head.

The fucking time turners.

"Oi, move out of the way lady!" Katarina scrambled back into the Alley, barely moving out of the way in time for a truck to back up right where she just was. Looking at the truck with a dawning sense of horror, Katarina frantically surveyed her surroundings.

Oh, gods, these are the cars that were used back in the early 1900s.

Feeling sick, Katarina let her back collide harshly with the cold brick wall, ignoring the suddenly concerned truck driver talking to her. She buried her face in her hands, vaguely registering the man putting his hand on her shoulder. She heard the man let out a cry of alarm when he saw the blood on her, previously hidden by her dark clothes. Fortunately, she had charmed her Unspeakable robes to automatically transfigure into acceptable Muggle clothes when in non-magical areas. Her boots contained runes to do the same thing. Being made out of basilisk skin, they were highly resistant to all spell magic.

It's not possible. I am in a nightmare and will be waking up anytime now.

The truck driver, extremely concerned when the beautiful young woman began to slide limply down the wall, picked her up and rushed out to find help. A Bobby saw the couple and hurried over.

"She just collapsed! I had yelled at her to get out of the way, and she did, but something seemed off, so I asked if everything was all right. She did not reply, so I grew concerned and went to check on her. That is when I saw the blood. She collapsed soon after I spotted it." The two men were trying to find the source of the blood, blushing as they did so.

"I believe she is bleeding from her chest, can you get her to the hospital in your truck? I have a horse, but I do not want to jar her injuries." The truck driver nodded, waiting for the other man to open his truck door for him to place the woman inside.

They had drawn a crowd, the watchers whispering excitedly. The truck driver made sure the woman was secure before clambering into the driver's seat, bloodied hands slipping as he tried to start the engine. With a grumbling roar, the truck came to life. Yelling at people to get out of the way, the truck driver flew down the street, honking at people and yelling to get them to move. He spared a brief glance at the woman when she let out a groan as the truck hit a deep rut. Her head was also bleeding he noted with alarm as the red stain surrounding it grew larger. Her red hair had hidden the blood. She was pale, extremely so. He wondered how she came to be in the condition that she was.

Turning the next corner so sharply, that the truck almost tipped over, the man threw out one arm to hold the woman in the place and slammed on the breaks as a child ran out into the road after a ball. The young boy looked up and froze, the ball dropping from his numb fingers. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Get out of the road!" The boy scrambled for the ball, scooping it up and dashing back to the sidewalk, almost getting hit again by another car. Stomping on the gas pedal, the truck lurched forward, resuming its journey to the nearest hospital. Within five minutes, seeing as the hospital wasn't very far away, the truck was haphazardly parked.

Carefully lifting the stunning woman out of the truck, mindful of her head, the man ran into the building. His sudden entrance caused a brief moment of stillness before a nurse ordered him to put the woman down where she was directing him. The last he saw of the beautiful redhead as she was being rushed off was her skin is almost the color of the nurse's uniform. FINE DIFFERENT COMPARISON?

Katarina regained consciousness slowly. Her head was pounding and her mouth disgustingly dry. She peeked open her eyes, only to squeeze them shut when the sunlight streaming in through the window blinded her. The room was chilly, and the blankets scratchy.

Shit, I'm in a Muggle hospital.

She vaguely recalled the truck driver, and pain, lots of pain. The simple pain reliever hadn't been strong enough.

"Ah, good you're awake. How are you feeling?" Katarina squinted, blinking rapidly to try and see through watery eyes. "Oh, let me close the blinds first." Katarina heard someone moving around the room, and the sound of fabric rustling and sliding before the light dimmed considerably.

"Water." Or at least that's what she tried to say. It came out scratchy and not at all like the word water. The nurse and Katarina could now see that the person was indeed a nurse, plucked the full glass of water off of a metal tray by the door. Walking over, she helped support Katarina as she held the glass to her lips, letting her take small sips slowly.

The middle-aged nurse observed her patient with a critical eye. The woman was a stunning beauty despite being covered in bandages. Her wounds didn't look nearly as bad as the amount of blood found on her suggested, so she should be able to leave tomorrow. The doctor had given her stitches, lamenting on the fact that her nearly flawless skin would be scarred for life. That would have been true if not for Katarina's magic. She did have scars, most from the war and her days at Hogwarts.

Vivid green eyes that seemed to glow with an inner light sent chills down the nurse's spine. Unnatural, the woman was.

"Thank you." Katarina's voice washed over the older woman, causing her eyes to widen at the lyrical sound it made. No human should have such a voice. Being very religious and superstitious, the nurse decided that the younger woman would be leaving today if she could convince the doctor that it was in everyone's best interests.

"You should hopefully be well enough to leave today." Her words were tight and brisk. Katarina narrowed her eyes at the older woman. Her mousy brown hair and dull brown eyes set in a round face belied her true colors. Katarina knew her type, had had to deal with plenty of such people in the Wizarding world. Scowl settling onto her delicate features, Katarina swung her legs out of the bed, looking around for her clothes. Seeing them on the small wooden table by the wall, she ignored the nurse's squawking.

"No, I don't want to be a bother, I'll just leave now." Batting away the woman's hands, Katarina tugged on her clean clothes. Glad that her head wasn't heavily bandaged, she left the ones on under her clothes. Slipping on her boots, Katarina turned to the flustered nurse. "Now, if you could be so kind as to show me the way, out, I would be most appreciative." Casting a wandless compulsion, the Muggle woman went to do her bidding without a fight. People in the hallways stopped to stare at Katarina, one man even walked into someone, causing both to go down in a tangle of limbs, cursing.

Katarina smirked, inwardly cackling as she let go of her vampiric allure slightly. It proved to be a marvelous distraction tactic. She came to a sudden halt when she saw the state of the weather outside.

Snow, it was fucking snowing.

Scowling, and cursing fate, Katarina soldiered her way out into the cold. Casting a heating charm, Katarina pulled in her allure and cast a charm to be looked over like one would do to something normal and boring.

Ducking into a side alley and making sure that no one was paying her any attention, she conjured a mirror and vanished the bandages on her head. Carefully vanishing the stitches, Katarina watched the wound close on its own. It must have been pretty bad if it was still large enough to be stitched. She repeated the process with the rest of her body, constantly making sure her charms were still working. Satisfied that she was as good as she was going to get, Katarina put on her invisibility cloak and flamed to the entrance of Diagon Alley. Her clothes shifted back into Unspeakable robes, which she quickly transfigured into expensive winter robes that would have been popular in the early 1900s. Making sure she was alone, Katarina pulled off the cloak and let it disappear again. She idly wondered if there were now two sets of Hallows existing because of her.

Tapping her custom made wand on the correct sequence of bricks, Katarina doggedly made her way up the snow-covered streets to Gringotts. Several witches and wizards gave her curious looks when they saw her, subconsciously realizing that she wasn't a regular witch.

She curiously glanced at all of the shops on her way, mentally noting which ones she would need to visit.

Giving a short bow to the Goblin guards, much to their surprise, she walked into the bank, making a beeline for the nearest empty Teller. Waiting for the Goblin to finish writing something down, she observed the bank itself. It didn't look any different from the one in her time, except for a few little things here and there.

"Well, what do you need?" Jumping slightly, Katarina gave the annoying Goblin a sheepish look.

"I would like to have an Inheritance test done please Master Goblin Jagtooth. Making sure to be as polite as possible, Katarina kept her face perfectly blank at the Goblin's suspicious glare.

"Very well. Griphook!" Katarina was startled by the familiar name. She had forgotten that Goblins had an even longer lifespan than average witches and wizards. She wasn't pure Vampire, so normally would fall in the above average category, meaning she would have an abnormally long life. Well, if she was normal for once that is. Who knew what her lifespan would be.

A slightly younger looking Griphook came over quickly, gesturing for her to follow him. Katarina easily kept up with the much shorter Goblin. Seeing as she was five foot six, she was significantly taller than the small Goblin and therefore had to shorten her stride so that he could keep up with her. She resisted the urge to smile, knowing that it would likely offend the cantankerous Goblin.

Katarina never got the chance to tell the Teller her name, and thought briefly about telling Griphook, but was soon distracted by her surroundings.

The unusual duo came to a stop outside of an impressive set of doors after walking down the large hallway for about five minutes. The word 'INHERITANCE' was engraved in a large gold plaque, gems sparkling around its edges in the torchlight.

Opening the doors, Griphook led her into a neat and orderly office, family crests covering the walls. A large desk and chair dominated the center of the room, with several smaller chairs in front of it. Another Goblin, though this one much older than the previous ones she had seen, sat in the large chair behind the even larger desk. A shallow stone bowel sat on top of the desk off to the side, covered in runes. A small athame rested next to it on a stand, its slender blade also covered in runes. The hilt was made of some sort of blue stone, having an inner fire that shone through.

"Axegrinder, she's here to have an Inheritance test." Having said his part, Griphook backed out of the office, the massive doors silently closing behind him.

Katarina and the old Goblin eyed each other warily, sizing the other up.

"Well, miss…" Axegrinder trailed off, scowling when her realized that Griphook had neglected to mention her name.

"Miss Evans sir." She groaned mentally as she realized the ritual might very well prove her to be lying. She thought on the issue for a few seconds before deciding that if it did show her real name, it'd be much easier to explain at that point rather than before.

"The cost of an Inheritance test is sixty Galleons. Do you want to pay now after, or have the money is taken out of any accounts you might possess?"

"The latter option please." Giving a short nod of agreement, the goblin lifted the shallow bowel and the slim athame. Reaching into a drawer once the bowel was in place, the Goblin produced a small blue vial filled with purple liquid.

"You will need to drink the potion, then cut your hand or wrist and give enough blood to fill the bottom of the bowel. Do you want to see only the items that you can claim?"

Katarina gave a silent mental sigh of relief. She was worried that the Potter and Black families would pop up, but she was sure that the current Heads of the two families would prevent her from being eligible to claim them. She hoped that was the case at least. Magic was finicky and the last thing she needed was to be found out.

Normally Katarina would have a valid reason to worry, but the Family magics for both the Black and Potter families could sense her rejection to be the Head of the family.

As Katarina went to drink the potion, Axegrinder spoke once more.

"Be warned, the potion will be painful." Katarina groaned.

With that ominous warning, she tossed back the potion, grimacing at the bitter taste. She hated bitter things, absolutely hated them. She also didn't really like tea. Some Brit she was.

Searing pain shot through her, feeling like her insides were being burned. It was almost as bad as one of Voldemort's Crucios, close, very close, but not quite. She dropped the vial onto to desk so she didn't accidentally crush it. Gritting her teeth, she glowered at the smirking Goblin.

Bastard!

The pain slowly ebbed away, dulling to an ache, then disappearing altogether. Giving a large sigh of relief, she quickly slashed her wrist, letting the blood rapidly pool in the small bowl.

Once the bottom was completely covered in blood, she released the stranglehold she had on her magic to prevent it from simply resealing the cut before she needed it to.

Katarina watched in fascination as the Goblin tapped several of the runes along the rim of the bowl with his long spidery fingers. The runes glowed black, then the blood turned into a smoky mist. The next time Katarina blinked, the mist had begun to form a piece of red parchment with black ink snaking across it. Waiting until all of the mist was gone, Axegrinder plucked the floating parchment out of the air and read over it first. His eyes grew very large, something that looked absurd on a Goblin. He started rummaging in his desk for parchment, already having a quill and ink ready. Having found what he was looking for, he wordlessly pushed the results across the dark wood desk to Katarina.

Katarina picked it up, curious as to what she could inherit. She blinked several times, clearly not reading the results correctly. She looked again. Nope, still the same. She felt rather faint, never having considered that her mother would be from an old Pureblood line. At least her magic was cooperating with her name change in this time.

Name: Katarina Evans

Eligible for: House of Ravenclaw (through mother), House of Peverell (through father), & House of Gryffindor (through father).

In line for Gryffindor

Creature Inheritance: Vampire; percent unknown.

Properties: Raven's Keep (Albania) and Peverell Castle (Britain).

Katarina took one look at the monetary value of the vaults and promptly shoved it out of her mind.

Well, looks like I'm set for the next…I don't even want to think about it.

"So, can I just claim these Houses now then?" Axegrinder looked up from whatever it was he was writing.

"Yes." Finishing the note, he placed it in a box near him. It disappeared, going off to some Goblin no doubt.

Two ring boxes suddenly appeared in the space where the letter had been only moments before. Grabbing them, the Goblin opened each, setting them down so the rings faced Katarina.

Taking a deep breath, she reached for one of the two boxes. It was going to be a very long day.

Tomas Marvolo Riddle, more commonly known as Tom or the Freak, was staring morosely outside his bedroom window. He was turning six in two days. He grimaced as it started snowing again. He hated snow, it was cold and wet. The orphanage had poor heating and thin, ragged blankets that did nothing to warm one's body. The food was equally as dismal. He hated it here at Wool's Orphanage. Every year, he would wish for the same thing: for some family member, anyone really, to come and take him away from this hell. Yet no one ever did.

He was going to the priest tomorrow for an exorcism. He shivered in fear. Mrs. Cole had caught him practicing his Gifts yesterday. She was convinced he was a demon or at the very least possessed by a demon. His grey eyes glinted maliciously as he imagined all the things he would do to her one day. Oh, would she regret how she treated him? All of the orphans would regret it as well. He sighed, deciding he might as well try to sleep if he wasn't going to be allowed to eat anything tonight as part of his 'punishment'.

Putting on as many layers as possible, he burrowed under the pathetic excuse for a blanket and curled up into a tight little ball. He was abnormally tall for his age, as well as smart. He was a prodigy, a true genius, of that there was no doubt. He was also becoming incredibly handsome. His black hair fell in an orderly fashion, slightly wavy. His skin was a creamy white, though slightly too pale from lack of sunlight. He was skinnier than he should be, but considering how little he was fed, that was no surprise.

He shivered as a strange sensation crawled down his spine. He felt like something big was going to happen soon, like the very world was holding its breath in anticipation. He started out the window at the moon, glaring as it mocked him with its freedom and lack of problems. Stupid moon.