Disclaimer: I am getting tired of this… if you don't know I don't own Harry Potter by now, you really need your head checked, I mean, if you are here on this chapter, I should hope you at least skimmed the others.
A/N: Yeah, I've been busy with inspiration when it strikes, but now I'm back and ready to continue this story… I think… if that's okay. Please don't hurt me!
She's who?
Katy
"I don't believe it Albus. After all that time…" the woman said. Her voice was familiar and yet unfamiliar. Had I seen her before? Had I heard her before?
"Well, she looks the part and even though she remembers nothing, she acts the part as well," Dumbledore said. I was sitting on a hospital bed, and why? It was because they needed to run some tests… on my blood and such. I hated hospitals for some reason, and Dumbledore told me it was because I usually ended up in these places in the past. That… explains everything, and please note my sarcasm.
"Well, does she have all the scars?" the woman asked again. "You know the ones I'm talking about Albus."
"Poppy, I do hope you see the one on her cheek. That if any proves it is her!" Dumbledore exclaimed.
"Lots of people have scars on their faces, but what about the one that runs the length of her back?" she asked. "That one would be uniquely hers, a definite proof of it being her. Although I don't know if her being reborn would have gotten rid of it, though I doubt that could have happened."
"Well, if you want to see my back, Mr. Dumbledore, please leave!" I said irritably, "I don't remember much, but I do have a feeling that right now I'm a lab rat…"
"She has her sense of sarcasm," Poppy said, glancing at Dumbledore. Dumbledore smiled and walked out of the curtain for a bit. I lifted my shirt so Poppy could see my back. She gasped, so I assumed she had found the scar. I shouldn't have been surprised, and I wasn't. I sort of expected that, so I guess I was the big somebody everyone thought I was.
"Ummm, what now?" I asked.
"Well, we need to give you a reason to stay close," Dumbledore said, and then a dawning look appeared on his face, "And I believe I know how. We should enroll her as a student at Hogwarts. That way I can keep a close eye on all involved parties, the ones who knew her and such, and she will be able to relearn some of the things she can't remember." And Dumbledore looked as though he had won the lottery.
"Okay…" I trailed, "it sounds okay to me, I think…" School, yes oh yes it is just what I need…
Graveyard
Severus!
"Severus, you're here?" Remus asked me as I walked towards the gravestone.
"Yes, did you already clean the gravesite?" I asked, glancing at the tombstone. I remembered that day fresh in my mind. It was something I could never forget, how she died…how she left me. I sat down, and didn't meet Remus's gaze.
"I see she still exerts influence, even after 15 years," he said, I sensed he was smiling. Both Remus and I had agreed that whenever we were around Katy's tomb, we wouldn't fight, because of the fact we had promised to get along in Katy's presence when she was alive and we weren't about to test that fact in death, for if we ever fought in front of her, well, after the first time, she kicked our ass and we never did it again, let me just leave it at that. We couldn't fight now; there was no reason to it anymore, especially not at her grave. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to kill Remus and I still hated and loathed him, but for Katy, I'd bear it. It was only once a year for the past 15 I saw him anyways.
"One of these years I might test it," I joked, even though I knew I really wouldn't, and began lighting the candles Remus had already surrounded the tombstone with.
"Well, I won't," Remus said, "I still remember it as if it were yesterday." As if he was the only one.
"It doesn't bother me anymore," I lied, and he knew it.
"Yes it does. And here we almost thought we had won that battle," he continued, "and then he played your feelings for one another to kill her. That is all evil does, they try to ruin what's good in the world."
"If we didn't have those feelings she might still be alive!" I yelled. "She might still be here, laughing and smiling and being the wonderful woman she was!"
"But then again you wouldn't have had her, would you? If she didn't have those feelings at all she might have died sooner. She had no true reason to fight until you came into her life," Remus said, "And even with her friends, she wouldn't fight, but you, she always fought to protect you. We never knew why. I think I might know, but all it is, is a hunch. It was just a hunch about something that happened the summer before our 4th year." He had almost nailed it. She had visited my house, and what she did for me there and from then on was… I fell in love with her that summer, and I still loved her even today.
"Shut up," I muttered, watching the candles burn brightly.
"Hey, Harry is starting school this year," Remus said, trying to make conversation.
"That brat? Dear god, really?" I asked. "That's Potter's son, right? Sorry, just making sure." That boy, he'd be a constant reminder of Lily and of Katy. I bet he'd be a trouble maker like his father, and have Lily's hair. Katy, she was named the godmother of Harry, even though she was dead. Did Lily know something and not tell me?
"Severus?" came a voice, oh, Remus.
"What?" I asked peevishly. "What more annoyances could you possibly plague me with?"
"Harry will be at Hogwarts, look after him, okay?" Remus asked, and then stood, turned to the stone and said, "May the Protector of Forest watch over me. Katy, it's good to know you rest peacefully."
"Maybe I'll watch over him, maybe I will, maybe I won't," I said, standing. Obviously no, not unless he was a troublemaker would I keep an eye on him. Then again, I should keep maybe a little eye, for Katy's sake.
"I must go. Farewell Severus, until next year," Remus said. He was quite a follower of the Protectors. Katy, Protector of Forest, was always his favorite, and he seemed to try to fill in as an advocate of sorts and would visit her temple from time to time to check in. How did I know? I have walked in on him saying a prayer in her temple, twice. I watched him leave, and then turned towards Katy's grave.
"Uh, hi love. It's been a year," I started, sitting back down, "Well; a year since I last came. 15 years since your death. I miss you, I really do. It's hard, to manage things you used to be able to do and now I have to do. Teaching is going okay, and by the looks of it, your godson is starting this year. That should make you happy, right? I know I may not be able to do it like you would have done, but I do it okay. Dumbledore doesn't seem to mind that I keep applying for the DADA, he rejects it anyway. I suppose it's because he knows why I started teaching potions, for you, and he doesn't want me to forget that. I'll keep trying anyway. No, I haven't been eating like I should and I know I am getting thinner, but I blame it on not being able to eat your cooking."
"That's no excuse, is it? I can't seem to stomach much, it still hurts. Your death is still imprinted on my mind. I miss you and I wish you were here. We promised never to leave each other, and damn it all, you did! You died, and left me here, alone. Please, I've been making this plea for years now, but I mean it more and more. I'm falling apart without you here. I need you back, we held each other together, and now I'm left to myself. God damn it! Why'd you die for me anyway? I never asked you to…" I felt the fresh tears sting my eyes.
"I never wanted you to. If I hadn't loved you then the dark lord wouldn't have played our feelings for one another against us. But then, I wouldn't have had you for the time I did. I don't want…don't want anyone telling me I should have just been happy with the time we had. I don't want to hear any more whispers of people calling you a traitor! No one understood you…there where times when I didn't understand you…but I loved you, more and more as each day passed and more even now because I don't have you here!" I was looking so pathetic now, a sobbing, crying mass.
"I miss you. I love you… please, just… don't… don't do this to me anymore! I need you back here! People are starting to forget you, and they need a sign to know you still watch over them, as a Protector and as whom you are and as who you were. I need to have hope here too. I do, but I feel it fade each year, as if you aren't coming back, and it has become more factual to me with each passing day. I know you will come back, but when? I wish you to come back… I don't even know what I'm saying anymore!" I choked back salty tears. Was she crying in the realm of the dead too? Did she remember me in that realm?
"You loved me and I know you still love me and all I can believe for now is something is preventing your return, and that is all I will believe until the end of time, or until you return to my side, with me, where you belong. You didn't deserve to die, the ministry had no right to bury you into the sands of forgotten time and lock all they could of you away. Dear god, I sound so weak. I… I love you… only you… and I know… you will… come back… we promised each other… You never break a promise. I love you… I love you…" I fell to the foot of her tomb and wept. I did this every year, maybe I just believed that my tears would bring her back, help her come home. I knew next year I'd just be visiting her grave again, nothing new to report, and nothing new to say. She has heard it all. I say it every year. She isn't coming back, but I can't accept that, not now, not ever. She promised. I seem so weak, don't I? Katy, my love, my life, come back to me, please…
I love you…
Flash
"Come on Sev, let's go somewhere fun today!" she said.
"What do you have in mind love?" I asked.
"An amusement park!" she replied, a gleam in her eye, "And we'll get pictures and more memories and have lots of fun!"
"Are you going to go on the roller coasters or do I have to drag you on them?" I asked teasingly.
"So long as I can grip onto you for protection I'll be fine!" she said and giggled, yanking me down into her embrace for a kiss and drew it out as long as she could. I quickly took control of the kiss, brushing my hand against her cheek. I think she liked it more when I was in control, not that she would admit it outright.
"So, so long as I protect you you'll be willing to go on all the big rides this time?" I asked and she nodded, and I grinned. "Then what are we waiting for love? I think there are some roller coasters with our names on it."
Flash
Still, I love you so much…
Still, I love you so much…
A/N: Aside from school and writers block, I scraped this together to continue the story. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm just busy, so I haven't given up, I'm just dealing with Forensics and School right now, so bear with me… Read and Review! Okay, I know, this note sucked, okay, so sue me. I promise to have Severus's Suffering up ASAP! It explains a scar and more of Severus's past, but it will be on a different story line than this one is, just FYI. I don't know when it will be up, but hopefully within next two to three weeks… Love you all!
