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Chapter 1 - Kate

May 16th, 1996

"Lucius Malfoy condemned to prison." Proclaimed the Daily Prophet. "About bloody time" she thought "finally run out of bribes to give the Ministry, only took that idiot Fudge ten years to see him for the slime ball he is" She thought back to the first time she had met the Minister, well, met was taking it a bit far, the first time she and the Minister had been in the same room, would be a much more accurate way of describing the encounter. She had been otherwise distracted at the time; she closed her eyes at the memory preferring to shut it out than relive the events of her life that day which had in reality changed her life.

She hadn't touched her wand in ten years and maybe it was time that she started to think about curing the curse that meant she couldn't. Her father had placed it on her ten years ago. He had cursed her wand so that if she touched it for any purpose at all he would know and he could come after her and kill her. She'd stood up to him in an obvious confrontational manner for the first time that day. There had been other more subtle times in the past but no there was no way he could've ignored what she did to him that day. And she'd known it, that was why she had done it in public hoping that his desire to maintain an aura of respectability would prevent him from killing her there and then. And it had, barely. He had instead cursed her the only way he knew how and effectively banished her from the world she knew and the people she loved.

There were days she hated herself for the decision she had made but most days even now eight years later she still shuddered at the though of staying and fulfilling the destiny her father had made for her and married Franklin Nott. After all the Nott's had been just as fascinated in the Dark Arts as her father, and that was a road she was most definitely not interested in travelling. And she'd told him so, at graduation. She'd warned nobody that she was going to do it, although her friends and Charlie had probably either hoped or guessed that she would pursue this course of action.

Charlie, she let her thoughts wander down the memory lane that was signposted by the handsome Gryffindor seeker. He's been her light, she'd been so sure that they would end up together, she loved him still and lived in hope that he loved her in return. It had been her decision to leave him; after her father had cursed her as he did she felt she had had to leave. The Definio Curse that her father had placed on her had bound her wand and her magic to him and he had promised her that if she ever used magic or had anyone use it on her, even a simple healing spell he would know. They had been standing in the Great Hall at the time and she was certain from the look in his eye that had they not been she'd be dead by now and that he would kill her the next time he saw her. He had then turned on his heal and left. The Great Hall had been as silent as it had the morning that Dumbledore had announced that Voldemort had been defeated. Her mother had looked down her nose at her, a difficult achievement as they were now the same height, sniffed and then turned to follow her father. Nobody else moved, they were still stunned the Definio was usually only used my parents on their under age kids, those with a powerful innate magic that could make things explode in temper, before they had learned how to control that magic. Why on earth would Lucius Malfoy use it on his daughter, a girl who was of age?

She turned to her friend Rose Evans and asked "Any chance I could stay with your family while I sort myself out?" Rose was muggle born and there was therefore little chance of her getting accidentally hit with a spell of some sort. She hadn't thought her father would actually curse her here in Hogwarts, under Dumbledore's nose! And now she had to think about the way in which this particular curse was going to affect her life

June 6th 1987

"What just happened?" Her cousin Nymphadora demanded as they both watched Narcissa Malfoy exited the Great Hall

"I'm fairly certain I've been disowned" Her cousin replied. "I told gitface I wasn't marrying Nott and there was no way he was going to make me and that I wasn't returning home with him and mother. And, well you saw his response. I'll have to get you to take my wand out of my pocket later."

"Correct me if I'm wrong" interjected their friend Rose "but doesn't the Definio bind your magic to the one who curses you"

"Sure does but not in a way that they can use it, its like an alarm system to warn parents that their child is using magic. Usually used by parents so that they are aware that their children are using their magic I found it very useful when Nymphadora was young" Katelyn turned to face her aunt Andy. Andromeda surveyed her niece wondering what they were going to do about this particular problem.

"My dear, you don't need to worry about staying with Rose, you can come home with us we are family"

" I know Andy but they'll be expecting that and I couldn't put you all in trouble plus it might be an idea to start learning how to do things the muggle way, doesn't look like I'll be using my wand any time soon. That is if you think your parents won't mind Rosie? I'm kinda just dumping myself on you here"

"Isn't that what friends are for. Come home with me and we can start to sort things out. Meanwhile "Rose Evans looked over her friends shoulder" I think it's quite possible that you're about to get more problems not only is Charlie on his way over so is lover boy.

"Look can you guys tell Charlie I'll talk to him in the common room later, I may as well get Nott over and done with"

"Yeah, like we can get Charlie to stand by and let you talk to Nott"

Kate sighed Rose had a point her boyfriend was overprotective, probably came from having five younger siblings, but still right now it the last thing she could deal with was Charlie hexing Nott if for no other reason than she'd probably find herself in some cross fire and the Definio now in place that could be serious trouble for her.

"Your right, could you at least remind him that if I get by a curse my dad will know and the temper he is in right now could cause him to do anything. Look even his kid brother is trying to stop him from doing anything." The others turned to see twelve year old Percy Weasley standing between Charlie, Kate and Nott. Dora and Rose hurried on over while Kate turned to Nott, her aunt Andy remained where she was.

"I'll be okay Andy" Kate told her aunt

"I won't be far away" Andy replied recalling the time she had herself advised her betrothed that she would not be attending their prearranged wedding ceremony, it had not been pretty at all and if this boy attempted to hex her niece someone was going to have to step in front of her before Lucius got the chance to do whatever it was he was planning for the girl. She had to admit she'd shown every ounce of Gryffindor courage she possessed at that moment standing up to her father, a man she was still convinced had followed the ways of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named despite of wriggling out of his trial some years previously.

Kate turned quite calmly to Franklin Nott, looked him straight in the eye and told him "I'm not marrying you, that's why my father cast the Definio."

"What do you mean you're not marrying me?"

"Could you perhaps be a little more specific in where you are having difficulty in understanding the statement?" Katelyn was beginning to feel mightily hacked off and severely in need of chocolate and no longer in the mood to be polite. She had been tense all the way through the graduation ceremony dreading the confrontation with her father. She hadn't given Nott much thought, she didn't care for him at all, she still remembered with horror when her mother had sat her down at the age of ten and told her that her father had arranged a marriage for with the eldest of the Nott boys, and perhaps it would be a good idea if she were to get to know him while they were at school, but not to well. This discussion was then followed by a talk about the birds and the bees, a talk she recalled that was very different from the one Aunt Andromeda had given her and Dora the previous week the day after Dora's eleventh birthday. Her mother had never once mentioned the word 'love' and it was that fact more than anything that had stayed with Katelyn in the intervening years and probably the reason she had made some of the choices she had.

"Your father signed a marriage contract promising you to me"

"Yeah, well I'm 'unpromising' myself thanks very much, I don't like you Frankie, let alone love you and to be honest being this close" she gestured to the two foot gap between them " is making my skin crawl. Look why don't you just take this opportunity to marry Ambrosia Fudge, you know you're nuts about her, and her father hasn't promised her to anyone" Her eyes softened as she looked at him, in all honesty it wasn't his fault anymore than it was hers, and he had hidden her relationship with Ambrosia, just as well as she had hidden hers with Charlie, which for their final year had been well not very well. "Going to get hitched to Weasley then?" he asked. "I don't know, there's magic involved in the ceremony you know, which is quite possibly why my father just cast the curse he did" The wheels turning in Katelyn's head as she said this made her think about the statement and she realised that she could quite possibly be right on that score. Merlin he was one sadistic bastard. Frankie looked her in the eye, nodded as he saw her eyes widen in recognition of the truth of her statement and told her "I'd better go before that Weasley temper explodes and you cause another scene" He too then turned on his heel and left. She turned to see Charlie still looking at her. She caught his eye, as blue as the ocean she often found herself just swimming in them, she smiled recognising the love, concern and hope within them.

Katelyn jolted back into the present as her assistant knocked on her door, wondering as she did on a nearly daily basis just where was Charlie Weasley these days. And as she glanced at the headline once again how was her baby brother coping with a parent in Azkaban?