Authors Note: Hello there! Since uploading the prologue I have gotten some activity for the story, so for those who followed the story, THANK YOU! And soon after updating I realized that I made Crouch the Minister of Magic (oops!) So I will be changing the name so I hope it isn't too confusing, I don't think it will be because he was hardly in the prologue. This chapter is mostly full of flashback fluff, but it is a very important chapter! (The flashback stuff is italicized) It explains A LOT! HAPPY READING; for I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good ;)
Chapter 1; Reunited
James sat alone in his bedroom staring at the clock on his wall; 3:25pm. 5 more minutes, James thought. Sirius is suppose to come over using the floo network at 3:30, once the rest of his family has left to go to Diagon Alley. They're going to buy Regulus, Sirius' younger brother, his 3rd year supplies. Sirius and James were planning to go together tomorrow, since Sirius' parents were cruel and wouldn't take him out to buy his. He was "a disgrace to this godforsaken family!" as Sirius' mother put it.
3:27; James laid on his double bed staring around at his oversized bedroom.
Plastered all over his walls were Quidditch posters and Gryffindor banners, and on his nightstand sat a photograph of him and his mates. James grabbed the frame off his nightstand and stared at the little moving picture. He was in the middle while Padfoot and Wormtail were to his right, and Moony on his left.
James smiled fondly at the memory. It was the last day of school 4th year and the lake was crowded with students celebrating the end of exams.
He tilted the frame to the right and watched this picture slip out, revealing another one.
In this small moving photo there stood James and a very pretty young woman in front of a Christmas tree laughing. Katherine, James thought. This photo was taken last Christmas when she came to visit. James seldom ever saw his sister, only times he did were at Christmas, Easter, the birthday they both shared, and the occasional Thanksgiving. At first they weren't even aloud to write to each other, but their parents put a quick stop to that. They had said that if they wanted Kat to stay there with them, then she would at least be aloud to write to her family.
3:29; he'll be here any moment, James thought. He quickly slid the photo of the Marauders back in the frame when flames shot up from his fireplace. James quickly put the frame back down on his nightstand and got up to greet his guest.
The flames dissolved and there stood Sirius covered in soot.
"That's a very attractive new look you're going for Padfoot." James said sarcastically.
"Do you really think so, Prongsie?" Sirius asked as he stepped out of the fireplace and checked himself out in the mirror James had hanging on his wall. He posed and said, "Wow, I can really pull off anything, cant I?"
"Careful there, you're heads getting so big you may fall off your broomstick the next time you play Quidditch." James replied with a smile, same old Sirius, James thought happily.
"Well look who's talking Mister…" The sound of James' mother calling for him cut off Sirius.
"James! Come here now!"
"Okay mum! Sirius and I will be down in a moment." James yelled back downstairs; I wonder what's so urgent, James thought.
"No! Don... Don't bring Sirius." His mother stammered.
Sirius and James shared a questioning look, and before he could reply to his mum, James' father walked in.
"James there's a ministry official downstairs. Come with me and please excuse us Sirius." His father said, his voice very tense.
Sirius looked over at James and saw his face turn green; he looked like he was about to be sick.
"Uh… Okay, um, Sirius I'll see you in a few, okay?"
"Sure," Sirius replied questionably, "I'll be here."
James followed his father downstairs to the living room where his mum stood looking worried. She was standing beside a tall looking wizard in all black robes.
"Is the boy upstairs?" The wizard asked formally.
"Yes. We left him upstairs in James' room." His father replied nervously.
"Good. Okay so then lets get started. Mister and Misses Potter please sit down and…"
"Is Katherine okay? Did she get hurt?" James blurted out. He couldn't wait any longer to find out. The officials never came here to see us, this must be important.
"Yes she healthy and well," the wizard replied, "Katherine has finish her training and will be returning home. Once James starts school she will go along with him."
The three Potters stood there with their jaws on the ground.
"I must be going now. She will be escorted home and will arrive at 7:00pm. Good day Mister and Misses Potter," he said formally and turned to James, "James," He nodded and then disapparated.
The Potters stood there in shock before James' mum started crying tears of joy. His father joined her and then walked over to hug her. James locked eyes with his mother and then ran over to his parents to hug them.
After a few minutes James had a realization and pulled away from his parents. "What will we tell Sirius? He's staying with us for the next week until school begins."
His parents pondered this for a while before his father said, "Tell him the truth."
After talking over the plan with his parents, James bellowed for Sirius. He walked down stairs and James' father said with a smile, "Sirius my boy, it is lovely to see you again." He pulled him in for a hug; I always liked Sirius, he was a good boy. Raised with a dreadful family and even so he turned out a good young man.
"It's nice to see you too Mr. Potter," Sirius said politely. Sirius was always on his best behavior in front of the Potters for they were always so good to him. They would let him come over whenever he wanted; he considered them his family, not those sinful people back home.
"Please Sirius, sit down a moment. We must talk to you about something." Mrs. Potter said warmly.
"Oh, okay…" Sirius trailed off curiously. He took a seat in the armchair as Mrs. Potter got him a cup of tea.
The large stone fireplace radiated heat beside him as he looked around the room casually. Faces of the Potters ancestors lined the walls as well as two large windows that poured light in the room. Sirius continued to look around before his eyes met James. He looks rather antsy, Sirius thought curiously. Before he could motion to James to see what's going on Mrs. Potter came with his tea.
Sirius sipped it once before Mr. Potter began talking.
"Sirius you must be wondering what's going on here," he paused indicating that Sirius should nod; so he did.
"Well," Mr. Potter continued, "lets start at the beginning…"
"Congratulations! You've given birth to a healthy boy and a beautiful baby girl!" The doctor handed Mrs. Potter the girl, and Mr. Potter the boy. When Mrs. Potter stared down at her baby girl, she noticed something right away. Around her daughters right write was a black swirly band, and in the middle of it was an odd symbol. To Mrs. Potter it looked like an upside down uppercase "F," written in cursive writing. But when she looked away and back at it, it was gone. It must have been exhaustion, she concluded, although she was skeptical.
The next day Mrs. Potter lay in the bed of the hospital wing when there was a knock on the door. A nurse came in followed by three wizards; two of them quite ordinary looking, one of them was tall and slender, and the other was short and round. The third wizard entered in behind them; it was the Minister of Magic himself.
"Minister!" Mrs. Potter gasped, "What are… why are you.."
"Please relax Mrs. Potter, everything is fine." The Minister smiled.
Mrs. Potter began to sit up when the Minister said, "Oh please dear! Don't strain yourself! You must rest!" Minister McPhail turned to the nurse and said, "Thank you very much for showing us her room Theodora," the Minister smiled warmly. "If you could please give us a moment?"
"Of course sir!" Theodora squeaked in her obvious Irish accent.
Theodora walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. Mrs. Potter looked up at the three men expectantly.
"Finnegan," the minister said gesturing to the wizard to his right; the short and round one, "Please go fetch Mr. Potter, he should be here to discuss this."
"Discuss what sir? I don't believe I understand," said Mrs. Potter questionably.
"You will in due time Madame, but lets wait for your husband to arrive."
When Mr. Potter walked him he looked just as curious as his wife.
"Please Mr. Potter," said McPhail, "Sit down."
He took a seat next to his wife on the hospital bed and put a comforting arm around her, which helped her relax a little.
It was only a brief moment before the Minister began talking again, "Well lets cut to the chase, shall we? I don't want to keep you too long because I know how exhausted you must be."
The Minister paused before continuing; "You both must have noticed something… different about your daughter, yes?" He didn't give them time to reply before he said, "Perhaps an odd marking somewhere on your daughter?"
"What are you getting at McPhail?" Mr. Potter growled. He looked furious at the idea of someone thinking his daughter was anything but perfect.
The Minister ignored what he had said, and pulled something out of his robe pocket; it was an old piece of parchment, Mrs. Potter noticed, with an odd symbol on it that looked awfully familiar…
She gasped and threw her hand over her mouth. It was the exact symbol that she had seen the night before on her daughter; the little upside down "F".
"You recognize it then, I presume?" The Minister asked happily.
Mrs. Potter looked at her husband and was about to explain where she had seen the symbol, but before she could he said, "You saw it too then too?" Mr. Potter asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I thought I was imagining things… but I guess I was wrong…" He trailed off before looking at the Minister.
"So what does this all mean? Why are you here?"
"Well I guess I should start at the beginning…" The Minister said before inhaling a huff of air, "Hundreds of years ago, a prophet by the name of Cassandra Trelawney predicted that there would be several Wizarding Wars, and that we needed to protect ourselves. Of course most people thought this was hogwash, but the Ministry also believed we needed defense. Cassandra predicted a line of warriors that would be born. They would bare a mark that symbolized strength. This is the mark the seer drew all those years ago, the one your daughter bares."
"Cassandra was a very famous seer, very good at her work. So the Ministry decided to believe what she said. They built an undercover facility called the WWTC; Wizarding Warrior Training Centre. Here the Ministry planned to train all those baring the mark of Vis Vires. But since Cassandra foresaw all of this, there has only been one other to bare this mark, and he was born two days ago, at this very hospital."
The Minister gave the Potters a moment to let this all sink in. The first thing that popped into their minds was that this is crazy, but as McPhail continued talking they realized he wasn't joking.
"So… so what does this all mean then?" Mrs. Potter said softly.
"This means that when your daughter turns six years of age, she will come join the WWTC where she will be taught and trained as the Ministry's secret weapon in war. She…"
"Absolutely NOT!" Mr. Potter shouted; he looked enraged. "My daughter is barely one day old, and you want to TAKE HER AWAY FROM US? Absolutely NOT!"
"We won't be taking her now. You'll still have six years with her! And you'll still see her on holidays! This is for the greater good! You must understand." The Minister said, obviously trying to keep his calm.
Just as Mr. Potter opened his mouth to start yelling again, Mrs. Potter said sadly, "The greater good, Minister? Wasn't that Grindelwalds saying?"
It took the Minister three days of return visits to finally get the Potters to agree.
As the Potters are getting ready to leave the hospital, they stood by the glass window looking in on all the newborn babies. Of all of them, one stood out. Lying swaddled in a blue blanket was a baby boy. A mark flashed on his wrist, and then it was gone.
"That must be the other warrior…" Mr. Potter trailed off sadly.
"Yes I suppose it is." Mrs. Potter lifted up her baby girl to the glass and said, "Katherine, say hi to your friend, Xavier Cornalwald.
"Six years later they came for her. There was nothing we could do…" Mr. Potter trailed off. By the time he finished the story it was 5:00pm.
It was a lot to take in for Sirius. He had known the Potters for five years and never once had he expected this would turn up.
"You must never tell anyone. If this information got into the wrong hands it will be very dangerous for all of us, especially Katherine. The reason why we're telling you this is because when the Ministry officials came they told us she was finished her training and that she would be coming back here tonight. Once the school year starts she will be coming with James and yourself," said Mrs. Potter.
"I promise to never tell a soul." Sirius said loyally.
"Good," said Mr. Potter, "now I suppose we'd better prepare; our daughter is coming home."
Katherine folded the last of her clothing and stuffed it in her bag. Minister Bagnolds words were ringing in her head. I cannot believe I am done, Katherine thought in astonishment. She always missed home and her family, but she never complained because she knew this was what her duty was; she never really had a choice.
In a way she was excited, she gets to see her family again. She also gets to attend Hogwarts! As a small child, she was always jealous that James got to go and she didn't. But now it wasn't envy, she was just excited to see the place James spoke fondly of.
I also get to meet his friends, Katherine realized. She always kind of wanted to meet them because of the way James had described them. They seemed so fun and carefree. Everyone around the facility was always so serious, Katherine understood why though; they were preparing for war.
Other than James, only one other person knew how to make her laugh; it was Xavier. The thought of him made a multitude of emotions spring up inside of her; happiness, love, bliss, and sadness. She grew up here with him. Zave was the only one who really understood what it was like to have so much responsibility. Many times in class they were told they needed to depend on each other for they only really had one another. There are no other people like us.
Katherines train of thought was interrupted by a knock on her door.
"Come in!" Katherine yelled through the door.
The door whizzed open and Xavier stepped in.
"Hey, how's the packing coming along?" he asked whist standing in the doorway awkwardly.
"Fine," Katherine said suspiciously, "what's wrong?"
He stood there looking at her dumbfounded before saying, "What's wrong? Seriously Katherine? You're leaving! I will probably never see you again! That's what's wrong!" He added angrily.
"I know I'm leaving," Katherine said trying to keep her cool, "but we will still see each other. We only have one another." Katherine added with emphasis.
"But everything is going to change… I'll still be stuck here in this godforsaken hell hole…"
"Don't say that! They'll hear you!" Katherine snapped. "And it's not that bad here, Zave." She added, calming down.
"Without you." He finished pretending like she had never spoken.
Katherine looked at him with sad eyes before running to him. He welcomed her with open arms and embraced her passionately. She buried her head into his chest and started crying. He stroked her hair soothingly and muttered shushes into her ear.
She pulled away and looked up at him. With tears in her eyes she asked, "How are we going to do this?"
He hesitated before saying, "Come on, lets sit down." He pulled her over to the loveseat that sat in the corner of her grey, plain bedroom.
"Katherine, you're a beautiful, caring, sweet, amazing person. You're also fifteen years old. You're young, you should be able to go to Hogwarts and enjoy yourself. You shouldn't have anything or anyone holding you back."
Katherine stared back at him in disbelief before saying, "You're not going to hold me back Xavier. I love you; I only want to be with you. We can make this work. I know we can, if anyone can do it, it's us."
Xavier stared down at her seriously and said, "Are you sure?"
Instead of answering, Katherine pulled his face to hers and kissed him.
The house was chaotic. People and house elves were everywhere preparing for Katherines arrival.
"I called the decorators! They'll arrive any…" Before Mrs. Potter could finish her sentence, a witch and a wizard popped in through the floo network. They were both dressed in matching robes that were brightly colored.
"Excellent! You're here!" Mrs. Potter said with delight. "Her room is straight up the stairs, third door on your right!" She motioned them were to go, went back to the kitchen to talk to the house elves.
Sirius and James sat by the pond, which was in the backyard. James further explained the situation with Katherine.
"What will you tell people at school?" Sirius asked.
"Well Dumbledore has known from the beginning, and the teachers will be informed." James answered truthfully. "As for the students, the story is that she's been away in France where she attended Beauxbatons Academy of Magic."
"They'll expect her to be able to speak French though."
"She knows how. She can speak over 100 languages, including Goblin." James replied proudly.
"Wow, that must be some hell of a school she attended" Sirius replied in astonishment.
Before James could reply his mother called for him to go get cleaned up because she was going to be here in 15 minutes.
Sirius turned to look at James and said, "Are you okay?"
James hesitated before answering, "Yeah I'm ok. I'm just a little anxious to see her because it will all be so different with her back. But I'm happy she's finally going to come home. Now our family can be complete."
Katherine stared at her bedroom. This was the room she has known for 9 years and now she was leaving. It was always pretty much the same, the silver plated walls and flooring; even the furniture was grey.
Her stuff was being moved to the car, and she was waiting for Xavier to come so she could say goodbye. He couldn't walk her to the car because there would be too many people around to see them together.
The door swished open and Xavier walked in. Xavier, with the same brown wavy hair, and big brown eyes that he has always had, Katherine thought sentimentally.
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out so he walked over to Katherine and hugged her. This may be the last time I hold her in my arms, he thought sadly. He pulled away a little and kissed her passionately. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
They stayed like this for the next few minutes before the intercom sounded, "Katherine Potter please make your way outside, Katherine Potter please report outside."
They looked at each other with wide eyes while they exchanged 'I love you's'.
Katherine pulled away and walked out the door leaving Xavier standing there alone, with tears in his eyes.
As all the decorators finally left, James was becoming more and more apprehensive. He sat with Sirius in the living room looking from his tea to the clock constantly; it was 6:59pm. Katherine will be here any moment.
His father was pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace, and his mother sat in the armchair beside him stirring her tea hectically.
BING-BONG! The clock sounded at the hour mark. The Potters heads shot up at the sound. All of their thoughts were the same, she's here.
The wizard who drove the car unloaded her bags from the trunk as she took in her surroundings.
She stared at the large white home in front of her. Memories of her and James as small children swam through her mind. Her thoughts however were interrupted by the wizard clearing his throat, and she realized why. She pulled 2 Galleons and handed them to him, "Thank you," she said politely.
The Wizard got back into the car and drove away rather quickly. Muggles wouldn't have been able to see the car; it worked like The Knight Bus.
"Katherine."
Responding to the sound of her name, she turned around. In the doorway to the manor stood the one who called her name.
The sides of her mouth turned up as she said, "James."
Katherine ran towards James with great speed. He opened up his arm wide and picked her up and spun her around. Katherine giggled with delight.
"Oh James I've missed you so much!" Katherine said after James let her down.
Before James had time to respond, she saw spotted her parents standing by the living rooms archway; they had tears in their eyes.
Katherine briskly walked towards them and embraced them both. They stood there like that for a few minutes before they all pulled away.
Sirius stood by the stairwell in the large foyer and watched the events play out. He felt overwhelmingly happen for James, but he also felt somewhat surprised. The moment Katherine ran in he couldn't bring himself to breath. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Sirius has always been somewhat of a "ladies man," but he's never really felt anything for the girls he's dated. He mostly wanted to shut them up be snogging them.
"Sirius."
Sirius jumped at the sound of his name, and then wondered if he had been thinking out loud. But by the look of exhilaration on James' face, he knew he hadn't been. If he had, James would have killed him by now.
"Katherine, I'd like you to meet someone. This is Sirius, Sirius, this is my sister Katherine." James said gesturing back and forth from the two of them.
"Sirius…" Katherine said ponderingly, "Why yes I do remember you. James has told me a lot about you."
At this, Sirius actually blushed.
"Yes, I've told her all the horror stories." James said jokingly.
"Oh James, give it time, before long she'll know all of the stunts you've pulled," Sirius replied with the same joking manner.
"Well you kids get acquainted, your father and I will go check on dinner." Mrs. Potter said pleasantly.
Finally recovered from the awkward situation, Sirius walked up to Katherine, took her hand and said, "Katherine, it's a pleasure to meet you." He brought her hand to his lips.
"I charmer, I see," Katherine noted, "Well I wouldn't waste you charm on me. I'm not one to soak up compliments like a sponge."
With that being said, Katherine walked upstairs to her bedroom.
"Sirius," James groaned, "what are you doing? She's my sister! She's only been here for ten minutes and you're already hitting on her?"
"I was just being polite." Sirius simply said. He couldn't believe what just happened. He had never seen someone resist his charm before.
"Listen, okay? I know how you're like with girls. You like to play around with them and when you get bored or when the newest thing comes around you drop them. I don't want that happening to her." James said protectively.
That stung Sirius a little. It's true though, Sirius thought, I do that kind of stuff, I'm no good for her.
"You don't need to worry Prongs," Sirius replied with the little dignity he had left, "I wouldn't do anything to ruin our friendship."
Katherine stood in the bathroom that adjoined to her bedroom and looked at herself in the mirror.
She was wearing black jeans, boots, and a blue jumper. This is how she usually dressed, but her family has never seen her this way. They're used to seeing her in the little flowery dress that they bought for her when she visits. It's just a reminder to them that she's not their little girl anymore. She's more like a 20 year old than a 15 year old. She didn't need her parents or anyone else to look after her, but she still wanted them to. With everything inside of her, she wants to lay on the couch with her mum while she tells her a bedtime story. But that will never happen. She shook the thought out of her head and went to get ready for dinner.
Everyone, except Katherine, sat at the large dining table while the house elves put the food on the table. They chattered and the topic eventually turned to Quidditch.
"Ireland is going to win the cup this year, mark my words!" Mr. Potter said enthusiastically.
"With all due respect sir, I don't think they have a chance. Bulgaria has a better team as a whole, whereas Ireland just has a few good players; a few good players don't make up a team.
"Are you kidding…"
"It's always Quidditch around here isn't it?" Katherine laughed while leaning against the archway.
She wore black strappy heels with a black circle skirt pulled up to her indent. It stopped a few inched above the knee, and she wore it with black short sleeve shirt tucked into it.
"You know how you father gets." Mrs. Potter laughed.
Katherine laughed and said, "I'm sorry to have kept everyone waiting, I was putting away my things."
"No worries, no worries. Have a seat beside your mother," said Mr. Potter.
Katherine took a set beside her mother, and was right across the table from Sirius. She caught him staring at her so she looked over and raised her eyebrows questionably; he blushed and looked away.
Katherine stifled a laugh and joined in the conversation.
"So Kat, who do you think will win the cup?" Asked her father.
"I'm thinking England has a pretty good chance…"
She was interrupted mid sentence by a laugh. She turned to look at the one it belonged to and said, "oh I'm sorry Sirius, who do you cheer for again?"
"Bulgaria," he replied proudly.
"Bulgaria…" Katherine trailed off before saying, "But how can you possibly laugh at me when your team didn't even make it to the finals last year?
The whole table hollered. Katherine caught Sirius' eye and smiled.
"So Katherine, tell us, how is Xavier doing?" Mrs. Potter asked over tea that night. They all sat in the living room by the fire.
Xavier? Sirius thought jealously, who the hell is Xavier?
"Oh," Katherine gasped, surprised by the question, "um… he's fine… good! He's good…" Katherine trailed off. Although she was an excellent liar, she couldn't lie to her parents.
Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow questionably.
"He's really good mum. I'm sorry, I'm… just really tired that's all." Katherine said. I hope they don't question me about it!
"Of course dear! How thoughtless of us! Go to bed, you need sleep." Mrs. Potter said warmly.
Katherine said goodnight to everyone and on her way upstairs she heard her mum say, "There's something going on between those two. I know it."
Katherine smiled, and continued to bed.
So there it is! My first chapter! This chapter was pretty boring just because of all the background info that I needed to throw in. But I hope you all liked it! IT WILL GET BETTER! Oh and I made the Minister of magic Millicent Bagnold. Although she was minister from 1980-1990, it was the closest Minister I could find to 1975. So PLEASE review!
And BTW I do apologize if there are a few mistakes, it's late and I wanted to get it posted.
Mischief Managed ;)