Sheets
of Darkness
Harry turned over in his sleep. He had seen her. He had
seen his daughter. But still something didn't feel so right. It should feel
right, shouldn't it? Why was this feeling haunting him, why wouldn't it go
away? What did it mean? He wanted to take Katrina in his arms and kiss her as
he had done before. He wanted to whisper sweet nothings in her ear and wrap his
arms around her slender waist. He loved her, yet he hated her, yet he loved her
in a way he had never loved anyone before. His heart gave a twang as he pined
for her. Longed for her. Wanted her.
Katrina held Lily and rocked her
back to sleep. The baby ceased her wails and settled down to the soft movements
of Katrina's rocks. 'How does she do it' thought Sirius, as he watched her.
'How does she cope with an adult's trauma at seventeen?' Lily drifted off into
a dreamless sleep and Katrina laid her on the makeshift bed Sirius had put
together for her. As she pulled the thin blankets over her child, she
whispered,
"What do we do now?"
"What do we do? We wait."
"Wait for what?"
"You know what."
"You know who."
"Yeah." Sirius smiled bleakly at her, and she
smiled back. He could see it in her eyes that she missed him already. But she
had only been away from him for two days. 'But then again,' he thought, 'That's
how Lily was when she had Harry and James had to go away.' He chuckled silently
to himself as he remembered the look on Lily's face when James told her he was
going away for a week. How she had been scared. But when you looked back on it,
maybe she had every right to be scared. Sirius wouldn't know. No one had ever
wanted to love him. And looking at himself now, no one ever would. 'If only I
was as strong as Katrina,' he thought to himself.
Albus Dumbledore sat in his
chair, twiddling his thumbs. So Professor Trelawney's first prediction was
coming true. History was repeating itself. So was the same fate to be retold
upon the innocent lives of Harry and Katrina? Would he allow it? The pensive
look upon his face said it all, to speak the facts. But he knew he would have
to do it. Their destiny was their destiny, and as much as he wanted to, Albus
had not the power to change fate. So he sent them into hiding. The fidelius
charm, performed upon Neville - this, obviously, the reason he was put into
Gryffindor, house of bravery. Albus trusted he would not do the same thing as
Peter...Peter had always had a bad streak in him. And anyway, Neville loved his
parents too much to even think of turning to the dark lord's whims. But would
the dark lord's whims turn him?
Lily's screams echoed round the
house. Harry woke up with a start...but then he realized the screams were not
of pain, but of discomfort. He stumbled out of the room and down the corridor
to silence the baby before it woke Katrina up - she was exhausted already. Some
tired walks round the nursery later, Harry finally got Lily to sleep and placed
her back in the cot. He sighed, and fell asleep on the rocking chair next to
the sleeping baby, not even managing to get back to his room.
Katrina
woke up, thankfully not quickly as she usually did. She got up and began to
dress, not worrying that Harry wasn't in bed where he should have been. She had
fallen asleep on that rocking chair a few times too. Pulling on a sky blue polo
neck top and black trousers, she went through to Lily's room to discover the
baby awake and giggling, and Harry dead to the world (asleep, I mean) on the
chair. She put a finger to her lips as if to silence the baby, and jumped a
little when Lily responded by quietening her giggles. Katrina knelt down next
to the rocking chair and kissed Harry softly on the lips. Keeping her face
close to his, she whispered to him,
"Wake up, sleepyhead." He woke up, grinned, and
kissed her. Lily began to giggle and clap her hands again. They broke from the
kiss and Katrina picked Lily up. "Let's take you downstairs and get some
breakfast, angel." Harry stood up, rubbing his bleary eyes and went to the
bedroom to get dressed. Katrina walked down the steps and through the door to
the kitchen. She placed Lily in the high chair and went to the cupboard to get
out her bottle. Katrina had just begun to feed the baby when Harry came down.
"Here, let me do that..." Harry offered to help,
and walked over to the high chair.
"No, you were up all night, honey, let me do
it..."
"Excuse me? Honey? I don't even like honey!"
"Would you rather I called you Potty?"
"Would you like me to call you Snapie?"
"You know, I called Snape that once."
"Eugh!" Katrina laughed and walked over to the
sink to wash the bottle as the last drop of milk got sucked into the vacuum of
Lily's mouth - she drank so much, Harry liked to call it the black hole.
"We have Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Snape coming over
this evening, remember, Harry." Katrina called over the running tap.
"What are we going to do about Sirius and Snape?" She turned the tap
off and sat down at the table with Harry as Lily played with a mini-broomstick
(it didn't work, of course).
"I'm not sure...give them both the leg locker
curse?"
"And silencing charm!" Katrina laughed, and
Harry took another sip of his drink.
"No, siriusly...I mean seriously! We need to sort it
out."
"I suppose, actually, we don't really have to do
anything - it's their problem they don't like each other."
"Kat, Sirius nearly killed him."
"Yeah. Then Snape stopped Sirius from being
freed..." Harry looked at Katrina, and they sighed. Tonight was going to
be hard to cope with, but it was the only visit they'd get from them for
months...maybe even for a year if Voldemort was spotted again. Fawkes flew in
through the window with a package, and dropped it on Harry's plate (luckily
empty). Harry gave Fawkes a little food, then began to open the package as
Fawkes flew over to where Hedwig and Willow were perched. Harry gulped, and
passed Katrina the Daily Prophet. She read the title, and gulped, just like
Harry had done. It read:
You-know-who
strikes again
23 killed in night attack
The dark lord has struck again - last night he, and a
group of death eaters, killed 5 wizards (two of them aurors) and 18 muggles in
an unprovoked attack. One of the wizards killed was Alastor Moody, known as
Mad-eye Moody. Moody was found with a note pinned to his cloak, which read: "We're coming for you, Katrina. Coming
for you and your baby. She's very powerful, you know. Remember, you're my
daughter - I can find you whenever I want." Katrina Snape (Riddle)
graduated from Hogwarts just over a year ago, and her whereabouts are currently
unknown. The other wizards killed in this incident were....
Katrina ripped the paper. She ripped it into tiny pieces
and threw it on the floor. She rested her head in her hands and her body was
racked with dry sobs. Harry walked round and held her in his arms. He held her
tighter as tears threatened his eyes, and began to recite the words of a muggle
song he had heard on the radio when he was at the Dursley's once.
" Look into my eyes - you will see
What you mean to me
Search your heart - search your soul
And when you find me there you'll search no more
Don't tell me it's not worth tryin' for
You can't tell me it's not worth dyin' for
You know it's true
Everything I do - I do it for you." Katrina stopped
sobbing and fell silent in Harry's grasp. "I love you."
"I love you too, Harry"
Albus sat
in his desk again. Two months. Then Lily would be one. On her first
birthday...he didn't want to think about it. It was on that day, seventeen -
nearly eighteen years ago that Lily and James were killed, leaving Harry alive.
So Katrina and Harry had two months left to live. Albus rose and walked over to
the door. He opened it, but it didn't open onto the stairs...he wasn't
flustered, of course, things like this happened all the time...but something
seemed special about this candlelit corridor. He walked down the corridor and
came across a scratching in the wall, reading the letters LE & JP 4 Ever.
Albus smiled. Then he took out his wand, and with a flick another set of
letters was scratched in the brickwork. KR & HP 4 Ever. Albus turned and
walked back into the office, closing the door behind him.
Katrina
picked up the letter bearing the Hogwarts crest, and opened it. A silver
whistle fell out. Katrina picked up the letter. It read:
Dear Harry and Katrina,
Due to the unfortunate circumstances, your friends and
relatives will not be able to go to your house this evening. However, if you
wish, there is a whistle enclosed that will enable you to call Fawkes at any
time and send letters using him.
Albus Dumbledore
Katrina passed the letter to Harry, then got up and went
over to Fawkes.
"Go back to Dumbledore now. We will call you
soon." The phoenix spread it's wings, pecked Katrina on the ear and flew
out of the open window. Katrina went over to Lily and picked her up. She span
Lily round, and Lily giggled uncontrollably, then burped suddenly. The two girls
laughed. Harry got up and wrapped his arms around Katrina from behind, and
pulled a face at his daughter. "Ignore your father, Lily, he's got too
much of Sirius in him!" Katrina took Lily through to the lounge and put
her in the playpen. Lily waved her arms madly as she saw all the bright colored
toys. Katrina grinned and went back into the kitchen, where Harry was waiting.
He was staring at her, in an odd sort of way; his eyes transfixed upon her
face..."Harry?" Harry walked over to Katrina, and took something out
of his pocket. He hid it behind his back so Katrina couldn't see. He took a
step closer to her, his chest nearly pressing against hers.
"Katrina, I love you very much..." He took the
box from behind his back and opened it to reveal a ring made of white gold,
with one sapphire sparkling in the center. "Will you marry me?"
Katrina put her hands around Harry's and looked into his shining emerald eyes.
"I'd be stupid if I said no." She smiled at him,
and he smiled back, a smile of happiness she had never smiled before, and she
had never seen him smile before...Harry took the ring out of the box and put it
onto Katrina's ring finger. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed
him. Lily sat in her pen, watching her parents kiss and smiling, a gurgling
sound coming from her throat. It wasn't laughter, or crying, it was sheer
happiness. After all, her mummy and daddy looked happy right now.
Two
months later
Katrina closed her book (Lost Footsteps, by Bel Mooney, a
muggle author) and got out of the chair. She went over to the settee, where
Harry was sleeping, and brushed his hair out of his face with one hand. She sat
down softly on the edge of the settee, and stroked his face. She watched his
chest rise and fall and remembered the first time she saw him. Of course, he
had sat there and gawped at her. Not because she was pretty or anything, but
because she was Snape's daughter. Foster, of course, but Harry didn't know that
then. Katrina sighed. In one week it would be Lily's birthday. One year since she
had run away was gone; one year since she gave birth and delivered her daughter
was approaching. Not long after that, one year since she had ran into
Sirius...and found Harry. Katrina got up and walked upstairs to the study. She
took out her diary, and wrote in it.
Dearest
Lily,
This will be my gift to you, dear
child, from a mother to her daughter. I want you to have this with you, so you
can learn from it, and be who you want to be. You have power, my angel, power
beyond any belief. You are related to three of the great founders, Godric
Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, and, I'm sad to say, Salazar Slytherin. Treasure
this power, do not fear it, but use it wisely. I hope you have as wonderful a
life as mine has turned out to be.
Katrina
Anne Potter
PS:
Beware of anyone with the name 'Malfoy'.
Katrina placed the diary in the box of things she had for
Lily, and closed it. Then she walked out of the study, closing the door shut
behind her. But she turned back and went into the study again, to write letters
to Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Dumbledore, Snape and her mother.
Dear
Ron,
Hope everything's going well at the
Burrow, Harry and I are looking after Lily at all hours of the morning (and
night, occasionally), as usual. How are things with Ginny? Look forward to
seeing you again,
Much
love,
Katrina
PS: Send
my love to your family
---
Dear
Hermione
Guess what? Harry's sleeping. Lucky
thing, wish I could sleep! But no, I've got to sort the bedroom....oh, I love
him really. How is your study going? I hear you passed your masters and are
going for majors. If only I could have majored in Transfiguration...anyway, I
should stop my babbling. Hope
everything's well with you. Send my love to Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore...anyone
else you might see.
Much
love,
Katrina
Anne Potter (Don't you just love the surname?)
---
Dear
Sirius,
In
answer to your letter, yes, I am treating Harry right, and no, I'm not being
rough with him. Would I? (An innocent smile goes there...I take it you're not
associated with them unless they're alibis?) Anyway, how are you? Do you still
keep my picture under your pillow? You find out some weird things from living
with people, you know. Like the fact that Harry snores when he has a cold. Did
James do that? I think it's hereditary...or maybe he got it from you. You snore
like a pig, by the way. No offense to pigs. Hope to see you soon.
Much
love,
Katrina
Anne Potter
---
Dear
Professor Dumbledore,
I hope you are well. Harry is
currently asleep on the settee, bombed out from looking after Lily. She still
ceases to amaze me, in how much she looks like a cross between Harry's mother
and Professor Snape. Do you see what I mean, from the photos I sent you?
Anyway, I'm babbling. Thank you very much for letting us use Fawkes, he's been
a world of help. Thanks also for your present for Lily, which I'm sure she
shall enjoy very much...when she's older. Send my love to all the teachers at
Hogwarts.
Much
love,
Katrina
Anne Potter
---
Dear
Professor Snape/Father
Hi, it's me again. How are you? We're
fine here. Somehow this house seems like a home now, it didn't before. It
doesn't seem like a prison to me, or somewhere I'm destined to stay for the
rest of my life. And hopefully, that's not true. Got any horrible classes this
year? I seem to remember there's another Weasley coming to you for first year -
Charlie's son, right? Wonder if he's as obsessed with dragons as his father.
Anyway, I ought to go now, Harry'll be waking up any second. Poor thing, he's
been watching Lily for about four nights. I'd better do it tonight.
Much
love,
Your
daughter,
Katrina
Anne Potter
---
Dear
Mum,
How are you? Lily and Harry are
sleeping, so I thought I'd take the time to write you this note. I'm reading a
book at the moment about a woman called Ana who has a son called Ion. She sends
him out of her country (Romania) to save him from the political war sweeping
muggle Romania. It's incredibly touching - and I began to wonder whether this
is the kind of love that saved Harry from Voldemort. Yes, it's rubbed off on
me; even I'm saying his name now. Voldemort. My sworn enemy, blood relative and
father. I hate to say that. Father. I've never really called anyone father
before. Sorry, I'm babbling. Hope to talk to you soon,
Much
love,
Katrina
Anne Potter
---
Katrina blew the whistle for Fawkes, and waited. Surely
enough, in a few minutes Fawkes soared in through the open window. She tied the
bundle of notes to the Phoenix' leg, and watched it fly away into the setting
sun. Then she went downstairs to wake Harry. She shook his shoulder, carefully,
and he looked at her, nodded, and went into the kitchen. Katrina picked Lily
up, careful not to wake her, and carried her upstairs. Then there was a crash.
'Lily,
take Harry and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off -'
"Kat, take Lily and go! It's Him! Go! Run! I'll hold
him off -'
The
sounds of someone stumbling from a room...
Katrina stumbled out of the room with Lily in her arms,
and ran down the corridor.
A door
bursting open...
Harry ran into the hall just in time to see the body of
Voldemort blow it's way through the door.
A cackle
of high-pitched laughter...
Voldemort threw his head back and brayed a long, high
laugh that penetrated Harry right through to the bone. Katrina screamed as her
arm burned, slight wisps of smoke coming from her smoldering shirt.
Voldemort
muttered the fatal words...
"Avada Kedavra!" Harry yelled out in pain as the
green blast smashed him against the wall. He fell to the ground with a thud and
whispered his last words...
"I love you, Katrina..." and then he fell...fell
into the icy blackness that was - death itself.
He let
out another high-pitched cackle, and stepped over of the body of his life long
foe.
"Come
to me, girl."
"Come to me, daughter." Katrina, pulling her
wand from her pocket, walked to the top of the stairs. She strode to the middle
step and placed her daughter, tears welling in her eyes, behind her. Voldemort
eyed the child, and then his daughter.
"She is beautiful," his cold voice rasped as
Katrina's arm burned, the dark mark visible where it had baked away her shirt.
"As is her mother."
"How dare you..." Katrina whispered, fire
welling up in her eyes.
"That
child will be the death of me, Lily. I'm going to stop that..."
"You assaulted my mother, killed my husband, and now
you want to kill me?"
"Well. That's what's going to happen...right?"
Katrina glared at her father...this killer, this madman, this...
"Crucio!" A bright jet of green light shot from
Katrina's wand. She watched her father writhe in agony, tears pouring down her
cheeks and her hand shaking from the force of the curse. She lifted it.
"What do you think of your daughter now?" She cackled, and stepped
further down the stairs. The dark power in her began to cease all rational
thought. Only one thing went through her mind - kill. "I'm going to do
something I should have done a long, long time ago..." She pointed her
wand to her father's chest. He was still writhing in pain, despite the lift of
the curse.
"Silly girl..." he rasped. "You wouldn't
have the heart to kill your father...your dear father..." Ministry
officials began to apperate into the front garden - among them, Minerva
McGonagall and Severus Snape. They were within earshot of the house when
Katrina spoke again.
"You're not my father, Riddle." She glared at
him. Snape's muscles tightened - he too suffered the pain of the dark mark. But
it wasn't just that...
"Then who is, dark angel?" She stepped closer to
the man in front of her, her wand tip now touching his chest. Say me, say
me! Snape thought as his daughter opened her mouth to speak.
"My father is Severus Snape, be it by law or
otherwise. And for him, I shall do this." She took a breath and felt her
power build up inside her. Snape's arm stopped burning. "Avada
Kedavra." The frail body of Voldemort was flung against the wall, where it
slammed and fell to the ground. "You may be the dark lord...but inside
you're still mortal, like all of us." Albus Dumbledore apperated next to
the worried parents. "And all mortals...die." The dark mark faded
from every death eater's arm as the dark lord's soul ebbed into infinity. There
was silence. Katrina stepped back. She looked at her arm - no mark. It had
worked. She looked down and saw Harry's still body on the floor. Kneeling next
to it, she kissed his forehead, and brushed his hair out of his eyes. Then she
went over and picked up her wailing daughter, whom she silenced with a finger
her lips. Katrina looked up and saw Snape walk into the house. She gave him the
baby. "Look after my daughter for me." He stepped into the house
further, looked at her, confused, then yelled as she pointed her wand to her
chest.
"Katrina Riddle, don't you dare..." She dropped
her wand to the floor and looked at Harry. Then she heard a voice from behind
her.
"He'd want you to live, you know." She span
around and gasped as she saw a ghost...Lily Potter's ghost? "Sorry, I
didn't mean to make you jump." The woman laughed.
"L...Lily?" Snape choked. Lily's ghost looked
from him to the baby, which he was handing back to Katrina.
"The one and only, Severus." Albus Dumbledore
closely watched the proceedings. Smiling, hopefully. He didn't have the power
to change fate...but the dead do. Lily turned to address Katrina. "You're
wondering what happened to your friend Neville, aren't you." Katrina nodded.
"He was tortured by Voldemort - the cruticus curse. Then the veritas curse
(that's the curse form of veritaserum) got the information."
"Did he make it?"
"No." Katrina gulped, and choked back tears.
That was when she realized. She could save them all, by living. She was the
only one, apart from Lily, with the power to overcome the death eaters. She had
to live. For Harry, for Neville, for James and Lily...she would live.
"Thank you...mum." Katrina whispered to Lily, as
her image faded away.
"No...thank you." Katrina began to cry again as
the ghost disappeared. She turned round and looked at Harry. Then from Harry,
to her father. She kissed Harry's cheek, and kicked her father's skull.
"And that," she said, addressing the deceased,
"Is what I think of you two." She turned to her father and
Dumbledore, and spoke. "If you pardon the expression, let's go kick those
death eating bastards into hell...and beyond. Not you of course...father."
She smiled at Snape, and he smiled back. Katrina took one last look at Harry,
and summoned her belongings. "Come on Lily..." she said. "Let's
go to Hogwarts."
Finis, the end, kaput, goodbye, &c &c. Many thanks
to all my reviewers who supported me all through always and forever. I'm sort
of proud of this sequel - once again, however, it's a little rushed, but I
thought it would go over the length I was aiming for if I wrote in the two
months between Harry & Katrina's engagement and Harry & Voldemort's
death. A million thanks go out to my amazing beta readers, Heather (Azira) and
Sylvia (Riddle). Thanks to Cassandra Claire for the veritas curse, thanks to
The Terrible Trio for more inspiration, FanFiction.net for having a wonderful
service like this, thanks to Flourish for her fantastic column, 5 Snitches, all
my reviewers again, including anyone who's reviewed any of my works...I think
that's it! Love to anyone I've missed, sorry!
Hoping you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed
writing it,
-Beki