It's You And Me
Chapter 1 - Mistaken Identity
Monday, September 5th, 1977
"Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose,
and it's you and me, and all other people, and I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you,"
- You And Me, Lifehouse
Katharine Morgan was not having a good day; her allergies were acting up, she had a detention as a result of oversleeping due to aforementioned illness, her bag had split open and spilled it's contents out into the corridor between Transfiguration and History of Magic, and then, to top it all off, her longtime crush had called her the wrong name at lunch. She most definitely was not Katelynn Morris, a much prettier Hufflepuff girl who was tiny, blonde, and fairly popular; essentially Kat's polar opposite - but there was no way on earth she was going to tell the James Potter that.
The redhead's green eyes flashed with annoyance as she scanned the common room for her best friend, Lily Evans - also a green-eyed redhead.
Some of their fellow Gryffindors had once voiced that it was humorous that the two shared the red-hair-and-green-eyes traits - and also both being muggleborn, but in no way were Kat and Lily identical - where Lily had dark, almost auburn hair that fell straight down her back, Kat's hair claimed a lighter, orange-tinted red hue, and framed her face in wide curls.
There were other differences, too - Lily had darker, emerald, almond-shaped eyes, while Kat's where a lighter, olive-y green, and were slightly more rounded. Where Lily had an oval-shaped face dotted with freckles, Kat had a more rounded face free of any color save her pale skintone, and a not-uncommon rosy blush. Their bodies, too, were different - Lily; with a perhaps slightly taller than average height for a girl, had a slim build with small curves - though they were still existent, mind you, and she was very pretty. Kat, on the other hand, was five-foot-zero, and built very... sturdily. She was not overweight, she was a perfectly healthy size, thank you very much, but she certainly wasn't slim or muscled-up from playing Quidditch (not that Lily played either, of course), the mere thought of which made her shudder.
Katharine, you see, was terribly clumsy. She was extremely talented at tripping over thin air, and the standard flying lessons they'd had in first year were not fond memories for the girl - there were several instances in which her broom didn't move an inch when she said 'up', and the time it had hit her on the nose after she'd lost her patience and nudged it angrily with her foot. There had also been numerous bruises from losing her balance and falling off, thankfully close to the ground. The fact that she was petrified of heights didn't endear flying to her much, either.
It was with an unpleasant expression that she hurled herself down onto the common room sofa next to Lily, the empty fireplace dark behind them. Her hair flew up around her face in an orange whirlwind with the sudden movement, and her book bag hit the floor with a loud thump.
Lily concluded her Potions essay with an elegant flourish of her quill, fixing an amused look on her best friend's huffy expression.
"I take it detention with Professor Flitwick wasn't pleasant?"
"I had to peel all the gum off the bottom of the desks, Muggle style! It was positively revolting, Lily!" Kat complained, glaring at Lily's smug look.
"I did tell you that you should have just taken the potion for your allergies - "
"It tastes positively vile!"
"- and I can't believe you fell asleep in Charms, tired or not! Piertotum Locomotor is a fascinating spell!"
Lily had hardly been sympathetic towards Katharine's plight that day, not thinking anything save unconciousness was a proper excuse for missing class.
"You think all spells are fascinating, Lil, and I'm sure you'll be happy to know I have another detention tonight at eight!"
"I do not! I dislike Levicorpus, the Unforgiveables, the - "
"Okay, okay, just shut up and do your homework, will you?" Kat muttered groggily, sinking into the numbing darkness that was sleep.
It was not until she was shaken awake some time later that Kat once more remembered the detention she was to serve that night.
"Katharine," A far away voice was buzzing through the redhead's sleep-clouded mind, the vaguely familiar voice having a tinny echo that made her head spin as she tried to place it.
"Katharine!" Olive green eyes jerked open as the voice barked at her, and Kat came face to face with a faintly annoyed-looking Lily Evans. "You're already five minutes late for your detention."
Lily's voice was blunt and not at all sympathetic, and it was through that that Katharine could tell that the other redhead was still miffed about Kat's behavior earlier in the day - she knew her friend felt she fully deserved any reprimand she was handed. Lily Evans was of the opinion that if you were sick, you ought to go to the Hospital Wing, and if you didn't think it was bad enough for that or tried to 'tough it out', then you had no excuse not to pay attention in class.
Katharine loved Lily, but, as with all relationships of any manner, there were certain things about her friend that just drove her stark raving mad sometimes - Lily's self-righteous, 'I-told-you-so' attitude and unsympathetic feelings toward her detentions being one of those things.
"What?" Katharine demanded, sitting upright with a jerk. "Why didn't you wake me up, Lily?"
"I've been trying for the past twenty minutes!"
Kat scowled, snatching her bag and bolting for the portrait hole at speeds quite fast for your average, not-athletic witch.
"Have fun!" Lily called sweetly, and Kat was tempted in her foul mood to put on display her not-often-used array of curse words as she stumbled over the portrait hole's threshold.
Katharine was even more tempted to let loose with a word her mother certainly would not have approved of when, as she was halfway to the library, she fell through a trick step on a very fast-moving rotating staircase. By the time the redhead arrived at the library door, out of breath and sweaty from the run, she had tripped more than five times, resulting in bruised and throbbing knees and hands, and it was already halfway into the first hour of her detention.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Kat breathed a quick prayer that it might be one of the more lenient teacher in charge - Professor Sinistra, or Professor Flitwick, perhaps - but her hopes were dashed as soon as she caught sight of Madame Pince barking at four Gryffindor boys.
For such a young woman, the brunette librarian bore an uncanny resemblance with a vulture with the stuffy scowl, pursed lips, and eternally flared nostrils she always sported; the dangerous look she wore when she spotted the late arrival in the doorway only magnified that fact.
"You!" She snapped, and Kat gulped, tensing up as the librarian strode purposefully toward her.
The four boys all froze, one elbowing another as they all peered at the two witches; two of them started sniggering, obviously expecting something amusing to happen.
"Where in the name of Merlin have you been, you foolish girl? Detention started half an hour ago, or can you not read a clock?
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I fell asleep in the common roo-"
"I don't even want to hear it! Detention tomorrow night as well, and if you show up so much as a footstep late for that one, you'll have a week's worth added to it, am I clear?" Eyes widened at the unfamiliar feeling of facing a teacher's wrath, Kat nodded mutely. "Good. Start helping those miscreants sort books onto the shelves, and if any of you damage one, you'll be serving detention with me until this semester ends!"
The librarian finished her rant with a glare, and walked off muttering about 'disrespectful kids these days'; Kat was left staring, slightly slack-jawed, after the foul-tempered adult witch. One of the boys serving detention laughed openly, not bothering to mute his voice, and elbowed his friend once more.
"Merlin, Prongs, look at the bird's face - you'd think she'd been smacked!"
A hot rush prickled through Kat's skin as she realized just who she was sharing her detention with - none other than the school-revered and teacher-despised Marauders. Her cheeks, ears, and the back of her neck grew hot as Sirius Black continued to laugh at her, his arm thrown around the one she couldn't stand to look at without feeling another rush of embarrassed heat throughout her body - James Potter.
James Potter was a boy Katharine had had a crush on ever since it developed in Third Year. She couldn't tell you how and she couldn't tell you why, but she definitely had a crush on the messy-haired prankster. She knew it was foolish of course - he was immature and impossibly idiotic at times, and above that, he had a world class crush on her best friend, of all people. Lily didn't know Kat had a crush on the boy, simply because she refused to having anything to do with him when at all possible, and she religiously ignored anything having to do with him - and that included the way her best friend's face would resemble a tomato whenever he came around to pester Lily, which was often.
If there were any time at all that Kat absolutely hated her pale complexion, it was upon stepping into the library that night.
Amidst his friends' sniggering, a scarred brunette stepped forward with an apologetic smile, and Katharine was relieved it was he who broke the awkward tension; Kat knew Remus Lupin because they were table partners in Potions.
"Hi, Katharine. Don't mind the gits, you know how they are," Remus said, smiling apologetically.
Kat nodded silently, quite aware that her face was still irregularly warm even as she moved to set her satchel on the nearest table by the boys' things. Remus was still giving a welcoming smile when she turned back around, and he offered her a stack of books and a polite question about her Transfiguration essay as they neared the shelves together.
"So," Sirius interrupted loudly, shoving in between his mate and the girl as Katharine drew breath to answer Remus' question; Remus gave him a vague glare and shoved a book onto the shelf infinitesimally rougher than he had before. "What did you do to land yourself here?"
Katharine's lips pursed at the interruption, and her prior embarrassment was replaced with mild irritation as she caught his eyes wandering over the modest girls' uniform and regulation-length skirt that concealed her ample curves from view to the best of its ability.
"I was late to Transfiguration, which you should know since we're in the same class, Sirius Black. I also had detention with Professor Flitwick this morning for falling asleep in Charms. My first two detentions ever," Katharine muttered the last sentence to herself, but the highly amused boy caught it anyway.
"First two detentions ever, eh? Well, aren't we honored, mates? It's Katelynn, right?" Sirius said, grinning at her as he leaned lazily against a shelf uncomfortably close to her, not even bothering to actually work.
Kat's hand clenched the book she was placing in a vice grip, anger causing her face to heat again; she heard Remus snort softly next to her at the wrong name she was once more attributed.
"Katharine Morgan, actually." We've only been in the same house and classes for coming on seven years, and one of your mates just said my name, she added mentally, wishing desperately that she had the courage to say such a biting remark to the irritating playboy.
Sirius peered at her for another minute longer, making Kat's skin crawl awkwardly as he smirked silently at her with that cocky grin that drove ninety-nine percent of the female Hogwarts population mad with lust; finally, he turned wordlessly back to his best mate and began discussing Quidditch as if they'd never even spoken.
"Just ignore him, Katharine," Remus said softly.
Katharine tuned out the boys around her, attempting to do just as her Potions partner directed, and yet that needling, self-deprecating inner voice kept leaking out of her conscience to laugh in her face.
Poor, poor pathetic Katharine Morgan, can't even tell one cocky schoolboy what she's thinking, The voice crooned, words cutting like dutifully sharpened knives.
Katharine shoved another book harshly into the back of the shelf, imagining she was squashing both the voice and Sirius Black into nothing as she did so.
I've had this idea in my head for a while, inspired in part by the song at the top and in part out of desire for a SB/OC story where the OC was different.. Where she didn't seem to stand out at all. So, anyway.. If you want to see, there is a picture of Katharine, and also Katelynn Morris, on my profile, to highlight how moronic it is to confuse them and also to give a clear image of what each looks like. It says at the top of my page where you can find that (my profile page is long...). ^_^ As always, R&R - concrit welcome, reviews loved, and flames will be used to chase their authors out! :)