Full Summary: Kate Weasley has the same dream over and over. As she delves deeper into it, she finds things about herself she'd rather not know. She discovers that her parents aren't perfect as well as a terrible secret she wished she never knew. She wished she could put it back and never think of it again, but the more she tries to forget about it, the more it haunts at her mind.
Nervously, she adjusted the small hat on her head. Her long, wavy red hair reluctantly settled under the pressing black weight. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute against her throat making her feel uneasy for the seventh time that day.
The first had been understandable, as she had almost missed the train. She would have died if she had showed up holding Hermione's hand and looking as though she couldn't bear to leave her home. That would have been mortifying for the eleven year old.
Now, however, as she stared at the giant doors before her and listed, quite reluctantly to the talking around her, she could not settle the unease in her stomach.
"As I was saying," the girl next to her prattled on, "I don't think that the 'test' is going to necessarily be that hard. I'm quite confident that I'll be able to do anything they ask me to do. Perhaps, however, I should brush up on Accio. I can't quite get the handle of it, you know?"
The was an expectant pause.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh, forgive me," the girl gave her a giant smile. "I'm October."
"Oh, hello." A hand was suddenly thrust in her face and begrudgingly, she accepted. "I'm Kate."
"Why, hello, Kate." The girl in front of her studied her for a moment more before giving her a comfortable smile. "My brother's told me just yesterday that the test is quite awful. I was instructed to brush up on some protection spells…"
Kate looked away quickly, swallowing with some difficulty. No one had warned her of any such thing. Ron and Hermione hadn't interrupted when Max started going off about it. They hadn't said how much it was going to hurt.
"Oh, that's hogwash!"
Kate turned sharply to see a boy with brown hair and amazingly blue eyes staring back at her.
"And you are?" October interrupted.
He seemed to hesitate as though his boldness was a bit impulsive. "Samuel," he replied slowly. "Longbottom. Samuel Longbottom."
"October Lupin," October said, sticking out her hand again. "And this is Kate…"
"Weasley," Kate said after a second. She had a feeling that October was going to be hard to shake off. "Kate Weasley."
Samuel nodded as though he agreed with the name.
"If everyone could please come and stand by the door," a stern voice interrupted. All the soon-to-be-first-years turned sharply and stared at the young man standing in the doorway. A few gasps and an excited buzz soon began to flow throughout the room.
"That's Harry Potter!" October hissed into Kate's ear. She threw her a contemptuous look and rolled her eyes. She could very well see who was standing in front of them, frown out, gazing most disgustedly around the room.
Almost without her knowing, Kate put a hand to her head and nervously adjusted the hat once again. Two years ago the school changed the dress code. The skirts, once plain black, were to resemble which house you had been accepted into. Kate desperately wished that by the end of the night she would go back to a dorm and find twelve crisp, neatly folded red and gold skirts waiting for her.
The small hat on their heads was only required for the opening feast. As of right now she was dressed in the original uniform: black shirt, black sweater, crisp, white shirt and stockings.
"In line, all of you!" Potter barked at them.
They all obeyed instantly. No one dared go against him. This was, after all, the man who helped defeat Voldemort.
Kate remembered her older siblings talking about such a fight.
"I was there," Max boasted proudly. Madelyn rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Well, I was!" Max said indignantly.
"You were about this big," Maddie snapped, holding her fingers an inch apart. "You were hardly there."
"Whatever," Max snapped and turned his attention back on Kate. "Anyway, back to the fight-"
"Which you were at," Maddie injected, sarcastically.
"Right," Max snarled. "They say that Harry Potter went in completely determined. There were hundreds of people at the battlefield and hardly any of them survived." Kate stared at Max, completely in awe of what he was saying. "Some say that Harry Potter lost his innocence, or what was left of it, that night. He completely pulled away from his friends and mum and dad and grandma and grandpa and moved out into the woods and didn't talk to anybody. Mum said he died that night, though his body was forced to go on living."
Those words rang in Kate's ears as she felt herself staring down Harry Potter. His eyes rested on a spot two inches above her head and her breath hitched in her throat. They passed over her indifferently and swiftly swept across the room. Kate couldn't help the small swoop of disappointment she felt as she begrudgingly let her eyes fall down on her shoes.
"He's a bit intense, huh?" October said.
Kate nearly jumped, completely unaware of the girl's overpowering presence.
"Jeez," the girl sniffed. "You know, he was in the Order with my mum and my dad."
Kate turned to her and gave her a look that quite simply said, "So?"
"Dad used to teach him, too," October said matter-of-factly.
Kate turned to October and frowned.
"Your dad is Remus Lupin?" she asked incredulously.
"Yeah!" October said proudly. "Do you know him?"
"My mum and dad were in the Order, too," Kate said, nonchalantly. "Ron and Hermione Weasley."
"Whoa," October whispered. "Get out of here! Then you must know Harry Potter? My dad said that his friends were inseparable!"
Kate sighed. She had heard of that, too. However, apparently whatever glue held their friendship together ripped apart during the War. Hermione had also told her that after her aunt, Ginny died, Harry Potter, who had been recovering, had slunk further into himself. She said he never came out of it and found it too painful to even see the Weasley's anymore. He accepted a job at Hogwarts against his best wishes, however McGonagall sort of forced him into it. "He had really loved your aunt," Hermione had whispered, stroking Kate's hair. "I think he misses her the most."
Now as Kate looked over at Harry, she couldn't really see how anyone could love him back. He seemed mean and bitter.
"Not anymore," Kate said hastily, quieting down as Harry led them into the room with the rest of the school. She scanned around and immediately found her older brother and sister.
They didn't look like her, not really. She could see some similarities between them, but that was the end of it. They all had bright red hair, while Kate's was a deep maroon color. Madelyn had her mother's brown eyes, while Max had received his father's blue. Kate's however were a deep, murky olive brown. Sometimes people didn't even know they were related.
When Kate was younger her brother and sister would tease her that someone tossed her in the trash and Hermione and Ron had plucked her out and given her a home.
"Oh, don't be so foolish," Ron has said dismissively. "Here." He went to a desk drawer and sifted through it. "Aha! There we are." He extracted her birth certificate and handed it to her. "See for yourself."
Kate had taken it and read it carefully.
Katharine Aurora Weasley. Born April 11, 2001. Parents: Ronald B. Weasley and Hermione J. Granger. Time of Birth: 6:00pm. Weight: 9 lbs, 4 oz.
She glanced up at Ron and smiled.
"Alright, I'm yours."
"Damn straight," Ron said, kissing the top of her head.
Kate met her sisters eye and saw her Weasley smile light up her face.
"Who're you staring at?" October asked nosily.
"My older sister," Kate replied.
"Ooh, she's pretty," October said, glancing at her. "Do you have any other siblings?"
"Yes, a brother," Kate whispered and pointed him out.
"Well, he's dishy, isn't he?" Kate turned to her incredulously.
"I wouldn't have any idea!" Kate hissed. "Shh!"
They both turned and waited for their names to be called.
"October Lupin," Harry called, gesturing to the stool to his right.
"Wish me luck," October whispered and weaved her way through the crowd.
"Luck," Kate whispered.
She noticed Samuel sitting nervously among the other Gryffindors at their table. He chewed on a nail nervously.
A while later, just as Kate was beginning to believe they would never get to her name, she heard it being called.
"Weasley, Kate!"
She started forward and walked past the Wi's and the Wu's and the Z's and took her place on the stool. The hat slipped over her eyes and all was silent. The soft chatter and whispers instantly disappeared.
"Oh, another Weasley!" the hat exclaimed. "I believe you are the seventh Weasley I've had in the past five years!"
Kate felt herself blush.
"Oh…but not all Weasley," the hat whispered. It seemed as though it were a bit surprised. Kate wondered what the hat was going to say about her mother. "I've nothing really to say about your mother. A bit ditsy, though unbelievably stubborn. I can see that a lot in you, Miss Weasley. And bravery, much like your father…also…a need to prove yourself to your siblings…to show them that you really belong. I know where to put you, indeed. GRYFFINDOR!"
Kate's ears rung. She stood up a bit light-headed and turned towards Harry Potter. His smile never came close to his eyes.
"Take a seat," he said not unkindly, stretching out his hand for the hat. Kate took it off her head and handed it to him, beaming.
Not only had she become the third and final Gryffindor, but the hat had said she was like her parents, which was all she ever wanted.
She happily sat next to her sister and next to her brother, each of them beaming with pride as their little sister joined their table.
Kate chatted happily with October, who despite her best efforts to shake her off, was slowly growing on Kate.
"Well, I have a younger sister, Artemis. She's nine right now. And an older brother." She took a swig of her pumpkin juice and pointed to a boy down the row eating and chatting with friends.. "Dad is taking care of us now, allowing mum to go off and work. She's an Auror, you know."
Kate smiled politely, not sure of what to say. Her father was a Quidditch player and she wasn't quite sure what Hermione did. She never spoke of work at home and had forbid her children to ask of it.
It wasn't until dessert that Kate finally glanced up at the long teacher's table.
There was old McGonagall, who Maddie pointed out.
"Careful of her," she had warned. "She's gotten a bit crazy in her old age."
Old professor Flitwick still had his place at the table alongside the giant Hagrid.
"He was a friend of mum and dad's," Max informed her. "He's gonna love you, though. Don't get him angry, he'll eat you up." A look of panic flashed across Kate's face and Maddie slapped his arm.
"He's lying," she said, directing her glare at her brother. "Don't mind him. Hagrid is a sweetie."
Kate nodded, deciding to believe her sister rather than her brother. She scanned the line of faces and stopped on Harry Potter. He was bent over his plate, slicing something up. As though he felt eyes on him, his head snapped up and his eyes locked with hers.
Sixteen year old Kate Weasley woke with a gasp, her entire body drenched with sweat. She wiped her upper lip and took a deep breath. It was the dream again.
She laid back down on her bed and struggled to breathe regularly again. Her heart was beating too fast into her chest.
Ever since her first day at Hogwarts she had the same dream. Her mother said all dreams had a meaning. She believed her mother. "Sometimes your mind tries to go back and tell you something. Maybe there was something you wanted to remember but couldn't," Hermione said, shrugging. "Anything unusual?"
"No," Kate answered, frowning. "Same old stuff. I wish my brain would pinpoint exactly what it wanted me to know!"
"That," Hermione said knowingly, "would be too simple." She popped a grape into her mouth and chewed steadily.
Kate shook her head and rolled over onto her side. She pushed her loose ends away from her eyes and tried to sleep in the stifling heat of the room. It was impossible to fall asleep now.
"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Kate snapped at her ceiling, turning onto her back and crossing her arms moodily. She had fallen into her bed, utterly exhausted only two hours ago. Had she known her mind was going to be plagued with that particular dream, she would have been sure to take notes.
Outside she heard the soft voices of her parents out on the porch. She slowly got out of bed and crept over to her window, leaning on the sill and watching them dance to the music in their heads. She smiled to herself and wished for the millionth time in her life that she would find someone who would love her as much as her father adored her mother. She had never met any two people more in love, save for her grandparents.
There was a soft knock on her door and she turned sharply.
"Come in," she whispered, reluctantly getting off the sill and going over to the door, opening it. "Hey." Her sister stood in her bathrobe and glasses. Her red hair was in two braids on either side of her face.
"Is this heat not the pits?" Eighteen year old Madelyn Weasley traipsed into her sisters room and collapsed on the bed. "I think I'm going to suffocate."
"Take your bathrobe off," Kate suggested, moving over to the other side of the bed.
"Well, look at you!" Madelyn declared, pointing at Kate's sweat drenched wife-beater. "Your in a tank and still sweating balls."
"Oh, very eloquent," Kate snapped, not feeling like sharing her dream with her sister. She knew by the end of her little visit, however, that Madelyn would know everything. "I had it again. That dream."
"Oh, the one where Benji Braddock is running around the pitch in his starkers?"
"No," Kate said, sighing. "The one about my first day at Hogwarts. You know, the one in the Great Hall. When I got sorted and all through dinner."
"Right, that one," Madelyn said thoughtfully, "I wonder why."
"Wish I could tell you," Kate said moodily. "I've been having it ever since."
"And it's always the same dream? Over and over?"
"Not a bit of change."
"Interesting. Have you told mum about it?"
"Of course," Kate said, sighing. "She always tells me the same thing. 'Don't worry about it-'"
" 'Dreams always sort themselves out,'" Kate and Madelyn said in unison. They giggled. "Mum's right, though," Madelyn said confidently. "She's always right."
"True," Kate said, frowning. "Wonder what Max is up to."
"Oh, let's not bother with him, shall we?" Madelyn said. "He's still not over that ditsy bitch."
"Really, Maddie, she was a pretty nice person-"
"Ha! She ripped his heart out and squirted the blood all over the streets. That girl was nothing short of a monster."
"I never really liked her," Kate confessed. "I didn't like her hair-"
"Oh, yeah! The ugly pasty color of it? And her boobs!"
"Definitely fake," Kate agreed.
"Poor Max, though. She had him pussy-whipped from the moment they met-"
"You know, if you're going to gossip about me, mind not doing it at one in the morning with the door open and at the top of your voices?" Twenty year old Max Weasley snapped from the doorway. Madelyn giggled wildly into a pillow, while Kate felt a guilty flush come over her cheeks.
"Sorry, Max," she said.
"Yeah, sorry, Max," Madelyn crowed, still giggling. "Come sit with us. Talk. Gossip."
"I'd rather light myself on fire, thank you," Max snapped, walking out of the doorway towards his room.
"That can be arranged!" Madelyn cried, leaning back to watch his retreating back. "What a moody git he's been lately! So touchy! We can't even joke anymore."
"We were being a bit mean," Kate said, always the diplomat.
"Oh, forget that, Little Sister," Madelyn said. "He's a brat."
Kate giggled and leaned against her pillow, pulling her stuffed bear against her chest.
"How does it feel?" Kate asked.
"What?"
"Being out of school."
"Brilliant! Though, mum and dad could not be more up my ass about getting a decent job and settling down, blah, blah, blah."
"They want what's best for you-"
"Dad plays Quidditch for a living and mum won't say exactly what she does. For all we know she's the woman who cleans the train station loo."
Kate snorted. "I'm sleepy."
"Oh, thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to make small talk all night long."
"Good night, Mad," Kate said softly. Madelyn smiled and looked out of her window where the soft light from the wicker candles were burning outside.
"Night, little sister."
Kate settled back into her bed, bear firmly against her chest. She sighed and took her glasses off of her head and placed them on her bedside table.
She wondered what it was about that dream that caused her to wake every night in sweat.
A/N Please read and review. This story is months and months in the making. I have perfectly set up the entire plot. I really hope you enjoy it.