Disclaimer: Double-checked - I still own none of it.
Warning: From this point on, the story starts to add steamier bits to the plot. I've tried to keep it tasteful and not full on smut but...
Chapter 7 - An Unhappy Christmas and Unexpected Gifts
"Welcome back Hagrid," Severus turned at the sound of Flitwick's voice. He noticed how odd the pair looked standing next to each other, the Charms Professor not even coming up to the waist of the half-giant. Severus knew that Hagrid had been on a mission for Dumbledore and judging by the state of his face, the man had not been very successful.
Though he held nothing against the man, he honestly thought that Professor Grumbly-Plank was a better instructor than Hagrid had been, and definitely the safer choice for the students. The man had no concept on what types of animals were safe and which should be kept away from human populations. Seriously the nut had thought a dragon egg was a smart thing to have hatch in a wooden hut. His associates believed Dumbledore's story of Hagrid having gone off on a sabbatical to research the life cycles of the elusive yeti, though Severus could not blame them for taking the story at face value. Hagrid was currently discussing with Filius the way that most yeti cubs ended up orphaned due to muggle extermination. Severus wondered if Hagrid had taken a detour during his mission with the giants and actually gone and found a yeti cub to bring home. Having no interest in being drawn into another conversation over the legalities of Hagrids' animal interests, Severus stood and bid them goodnight.
Walking down to his dungeon chambers Severus was thinking back on his recent conversation with Miss Dumbledore about the possibility of creating wearable protective objects that could absorb the majority of the damage done by a curse or jinx. He had to admit the young girl certainly took after her grandfather when it came to her genius mind. He did worry about the effects that Dark Magic had on her mind though and if she may be slipping towards the darker path of life.
~~Flashback~~
"Miss Dumbledore, blood magic is not to be played with by a child! It is considered Dark Magic for a reason."
"I understand that professor," the girl looked up at him with twinkling blue eyes, her violet hair framing her small face. "But I've been reading a lot of older potions and charms books – blood magic was used a lot before in white magic as well as dark. It's only been in the past 200 years or so that it has been declared as only Dark Magic. If we use a persons' DNA, whether it be hair, saliva, blood, or…you know…" Kat's hair turned a bright pink, "…as long as it is unique to the person that we are trying to protect, than the protection runes on the object will be stronger."
"It was declared Dark Magic because people were using blood magic to hurt others."
"But I'm not trying to hurt others, I want to help them." Kat had tried to reason.
"Miss Dumbledore, the road down to the Dark Arts is a slippery one. Many start traveling down it in an effort to produce good and slowly but surely their decisions are influenced by the power and hunger of the Dark. Do not be naïve enough to think that you can withstand the sweet voice of temptation. Not many can."
"It's something that should be researched though, shouldn't it? If we can give our side more protection than we should at least try."
"You WILL NOT be trying blood magic in my labs. End of discussion." Severus had snapped at the girl.
"Yes sir."
~~End Flashback~~
Severus smiled to himself as he remembered what he saw when he looked up. Katerina was looking down at her feet and her hair was a strange mixture of green and purple. He had come to know that when Katerina felt guilty about something her hair took a green tint to it. He knew that either she was already toying around with blood magic or was at least still planning to. He would have to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't do anything too Dark and he planned to warn Dumbledore that perhaps he should reconsider how much of the library should be available to his brilliant young grandchild.
The weeks were passing by in a rush and Kat felt like she was running on empty. With Harry's private lessons, continuing her research with Snape (she no longer had detentions but neither one had mentioned that she still came down to his labs three or four times a week), regular schoolwork, and finding time for the boys she was exhausted. It was already two in the morning and she was still down in the common room reading more about the connection of runes to blood magic in an ancient book she had found in her grandfather's study. She refused to think about how he would react if he knew that she was sneaking out dangerous books every time they had tea. It was for the greater good. Isn't that what he always said? Stifling a yawn, she looked down at her notes and tried to see if why any of her ingredients were reacting negatively to her hair sample. Her most recent potion had literally blown her cauldron to melted silver (an extremely expensive, old cauldron of her father's which had hurt her to have lost) as soon as she had added the simple ring that was wrapped with her hair. Adding the ring by itself had no reaction. Her hair added had been volatile.
She was just packing up her things when she heard screaming coming from the boys dormitory. A disturbed Neville was running down the stairs.
"What happened?" Kat asked.
"Harry…need McGonagall…can't stop, sorry." He managed to get out while running out the picture. Minutes later her gram came hurrying into the tower in her nightgown and raced up the stairs, not even noticing that Kat was still up. Not much longer and her gram was walking back down the stairs with an extremely angry and sweaty Harry and a very worried looking Ron. "Katerina, I don't know what you are doing up but go to sleep. Now." Kat watched as her gram ushered the boys quickly out of the tower.
Kat did not want to sleep after what had happened. So instead she reopened her bag and pulled out a book and sat back down. She jumped nearly a foot when gram spoke again. "What are you still doing up? Nevermind, be a dear and go wake up Miss Weasley. Quickly please." And with that she disappeared back up the boys' dormitory stairs. Kat stood there for a second before comprehending what her gram had asked her to do. Running up the stairs to the fourth year floor of the tower Kat quietly opened the door and tried to remember which bed was Ginny's.
"Ginny," Kat gently pushed the redhead's shoulder, "Gin you have to wake up."
"Wha-?" Ginny rolled over and rubbed her eyes, "Kat? What are you doing here?"
"Something's happened. Come on, gram told me to wake you up."
"What do you mean? What's going on?"
"I don't know, gram asked me to wake you. Come on." Kat pulled harder on the girl's arm, forcing her to sit up. Kat grabbed Ginny's robe and tossed it to her.
The two girls walked quickly down the stairs and found McGonagall waiting by the door with Fred and George. "Professor, what's wrong?"
"I'm afraid that your father has been seriously injured Miss Weasley."
"What?"
"How?"
"Is he ok?"
"That's enough. I don't know much of what happened. Hurry, we must get back to the Headmaster."
"Where's Ron?"
"He is already there. Mr. Potter was the one to inform us of your father's injury."
"How could Harry know?" Fred asked.
"No more questions. Move. Katerina, GO TO BED."
Kat and Hermione were both extremely worried as none of the Weasleys or Harry came back from the Headmaster's office and none of the teachers, including her gram and grandfather would tell anyone what had occurred, only that it was a family emergency. A few days had passed before Kat finally got any information about what had happened. Christmas holidays had already begun and the other students had already left, Hermione included. Her grandfather had already left on urgent Order business and she was sitting down for tea with gram. She knew from the previous days not to ask if gram had any information about what had happened and Fred had yet to write her back.
"I know that you are worried about Mr. Weasley," Gram started, handing Kat a small china cup and laying out a plate of biscuits. "Arthur will be fine, though he will be spending Christmas at St. Mungos. Thank goodness for Harry, if it weren't for him, and Severus, Arthur would be dead."
"How did Harry see him?" Kat asked taking a sip of tea. She wasn't surprised that it had been lightly laced with calming draught. Kat had been a large bundle of nerves lately.
"Albus believes he has a connection to You-Know-Who." Her gram said with distaste.
"That's horrible! What can be done to help him? And how did Professor Snape help?"
"I believe the Headmaster has a plan for that. Severus created an antivenin to the snake that bit Arthur." Gram leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. She suddenly looked so tired and frail which scared Kat. Gram had always seemed strong and able. "I was wondering if you would like to go visit them for Christmas."
"I would love to see them, but what about you?"
"I'm going to be busy getting things together for the school. Your grandfather has suspicions about Dolores and her goals with Hogwarts. I'm afraid I won't be much company for the holiday and I would like you to have a happy one." She noticed the tears that were threatening to fall from Gram's eyes. The Scottish woman tried to pretend that she was as strong as a rock but Kat knew that the stress was getting to her.
"I miss them too." Kat whispered. "I don't want you to be alone the first Christmas without them."
"I will be fine my dear," Gram said patting Kat's hand. "This is war and war is hard. Go to your friends and have some fun."
Christmas morning Kat quickly ran down to the private labs and placed a small green box on the desk. She then had breakfast with her grandmother in her grandparents' private sitting room. Her grandfather was still away on Order business. Her grandparents had given her a beautiful locket that contained magical photos of her mother and father. Kat tried not to cry but couldn't stop the tears from falling. She gave her gram a small flower that would transfigure itself into any type of flower that gram wanted all she had to do was say the name. For her grandfather she left a large box filled with knitted socks (the man had an obsession with socks, especially crazy colored ones), a large bag of lemon drops, and a set of tickets for the muggle cinema (she had promised to take him after her vacation to the US). After goodbyes were said and hugs given, Katerina stepped into the fireplace and flooed to Grimwald Place. She stepped into what could only be described as happy chaos.
She could hear Mrs. Weasley upstairs trying to get Ron and Harry out of bed. Sirius was loudly singing Christmas songs downstairs with Fred and George (though she was sure that no holiday song was as crude as what they were singing). She glanced around the small library and was surprised to find Hermione sitting in the window seat, her nose stuck in a book.
"I thought you were going skiing with your parents."
"Ahhh," Hermione dropped the book and almost fell out of the seat, "Kat! Oh I was going to but you know…skiing isn't really my thing and I thought it might be better to be here…because of what's happening."
"Wouldn't you rather be with your parents on Christmas though?"
"Oh they understand. I told them that I would be studying for OWLS anyway. I'll see them this summer, it not that big of a deal." Hermione said matter of factly.
Kat stood there for a minute, not knowing what to say. She felt an unexpected desire to yell at the witch. How could she say such a thing with what had happened to Mr. Weasley? With how quickly her parents had been taken from her? Hermione was a muggleborn, the ones that Voldemort hated the most and by being Harry's best friend, Hermione was willingly putting her parents at a great risk. Deciding not to ruin the day by allowing her emotions to control her Kat bit her tongue, turned on her heel and walked down to the kitchens without saying another word to the confused brunette. When Kat walked into the kitchen she was greeted by a hilarious sight: Sirius, Fred, and George were marching around the large table with Santa hats on their heads, bellowing a ridiculous muggle Christmas song at the top of their lungs, adding their own inappropriate commentary as they went along.
"I am quite sure that that is not the reason Rudolph's nose glowed." The three looked up, smiling gleefully. Fred and George broke away to give her a large hug.
"They never say why his nose glowed,"
"Only that it did,"
"So we can only assume,"
"That it was because he was possessed." Fred gave her kiss on the cheek. "Happy Christmas, my beautiful angel."
"Ugh," George moaned, "Come on Sirius, I'm not sure we want to witness this sappy reunion."
"Happy Christmas, Kat." Uncle Sirius pulled her into a tight hug. Suddenly he was glaring at Fred, singing forgotten, "Keep your filthy little hands off of her."
"Uncle Sirius!"
"I would never do anything untoward to the lady," Fred said, giving a low bow. As Sirius went to follow George upstairs who had begun to sing even louder, Fred leaned into her and whispered, "At least nothing you didn't want."
"How are you doing? How's your dad doing? Why the bloody hell didn't you answer my owl?" Kat immediately began questioning him, slapping his arms for not letting her know anything about what was going on.
"Whoa, whoa slow down!" Fred backed up with his hands in the air. "I wasn't allowed to write all that happened because your grandfather told us he believes that all mail going in and out of Hogwarts was being monitored. Probably by Umbitch. Dad is doing fine, he'll be in St. Mungo's a few more weeks but they believe he'll make a full recovery. And I am doing fine, especially now that you are here with me. What about you?"
"Honestly?" Fred nodded, grabbing her hand. "I'm trying hard not to think about anything."
Fred caressed her cheek. "I'm here. You don't need to pretend with me." Kat looked up into his face and saw his sincerity in his words. "I love you Katerina." He moved slowly, as not to push her, wrapping his free arm around her waist while his hand on her cheek traveled around her neck and into her hair. He looked deep into her eyes before lowering his mouth to hers and Kat almost forgot how to breathe. She felt his tongue slide across the seam of her lips and she whimpered, the sound making Fred grip into her hair. She felt herself being guided backwards, her back gently hitting the wall behind her. Fred crushed his hips into her as his mouth devoured hers; she knew this was partly a response to what had happened and his need to heal himself with her. Kat didn't mind being used though, not by her Fred. Fred growled and lifted her up as Kat bit his bottom lip, sucking it into her mouth. Unconsciously her legs started to wrap around his waist pulling him even closer to her body. Just as she felt a hand slide underneath the front hem of her jumper, Fred jumped back his face in pain, his hands going to his backside. Kat stumbled before catching herself from falling to the ground.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Mrs. Weasley had come downstairs. Behind her Ron and Harry were both blood red and trying to look everywhere but at Kat and Fred; Hermione and Ginny looked shocked; George was laughing; and her Uncle Sirius, well, he looked ready to commit murder. Kat felt her hair begin to crackle and looked down to see the bubble gum pink braid laying against her now wrinkled sweater.
"Oh hello," Fred started, "You see, Kat was…um…choking…and I was…just trying to help a friend out."
"Is that what it's called?" George laughed even harder.
"YOU TWO WILL NOT BE LEFT ALONE IN THIS HOUSE AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Mrs. Weasley screamed.
"How attached are you to this one, Molly?" Sirius growled. Pointing his wand at Fred, "I thought I told you to keep your hands off."
"You can't kill me unless you want to kill your niece too." Fred backed away into the wall next to Kat.
"You aren't Bonded yet, at least you better not be bloody Bonded yet." Sirius was enraged. "She'd get over it eventually."
"It didn't seem like Kat was really fighting it though," Ginny pointed out with a grin.
"She did seem very…interested…" George laughed again, winking at Kat.
"What would your grandparents think?" Mrs. Weasley asked Kat with a frown.
"That I'm a normal teenage witch?" Kat asked innocently.
"A healthy, beautiful, irresistible normal teenage witch," Fred winked at her.
"FRED WEASLEY! You will behave as a proper wizard and keep your wandering hands to yourself. Now let's go before your father does something else stupid."
"Something else?" Fred raised an eyebrow.
"Dad's healer said that he tried to perform muggle stitches on himself, whatever those are," Ron said with confusion.
The group went by portkey to St. Mungo's to visit Mr. Weasley who seemed to be in quite a happy mood for someone who had nearly been eaten by a giant snake. Katerina quickly set about asking him about the muggle stitches and Mr. Weasley was cheerfully telling him all about a muggle healing book that he had found in muggle London.
"They are quite inventive, aren't they?" Kat smiled. "I can't imagine not performing some sort of magic every day and here they are, millions upon millions of them doing it every day."
"I do agree that magic is amazing, but there are so many things that muggles have figured out that we could honestly take notes from." Hermione stated, "Take for instance all the pureblood nonsense."
"Or their…what was it called again…technoulie?" Kat couldn't remember what Brad had called it.
"Technology?" Harry supplied.
"Yes! I've been wondering if there is a way to take their technology and use it for the wizarding world. I've been collecting books on muggle inventions since my trip to the States but haven't had much time to read through them." Kat rolled her eyes when Fred gave a grunt when she mentioned her trip across the pond. He still hadn't gotten over Brad and her unwanted first kiss. "Would you like to borrow some, Mr. Weasley?"
"That would be wonderful," Mr. Weasley said with a large toothy grin.
"Oh no, Kat, what have you started now?" Mrs. Weasley sighed. Kat giggled. Hermione, Kat and Mr. Weasley started talking about all the different things that muggles had that could possibly benefit the wizarding world while the others began a game of Exploding Snap. By the time they left the hospital, Kat had so many new things she would like to look up, especially getting a TV (whatever that was – Harry said she'd be able to watch the muggle movies she enjoyed so much at home) and taking it apart to figure out if she could manipulate it to be magically run. Hermione said that magic didn't react very well with electricity (another thing she'd have to research). She had exchanged gifts with everyone, the simple gold and silver bracelet from Fred being her favorite. As she fell asleep that night listening to Hermione's page turning and Ginny's soft breathing, Kat thought that it was a pretty good Christmas.
Severus was not a Christmas person. He hated pretty much all holidays, though Christmas wasn't too horrible as the offspring of other idiots weren't there getting into trouble. Walking towards his labs after breakfast he was prepared to spend the entirety of the day brewing and staying away from all other beings. After he opened the door and had reset the wards, Severus' eyes were drawn to a dark green box sitting in the middle of the empty desk. Looking at the tag on the top, he was surprised that it was addressed to him. Always being cautious, Severus took his wand and performed multiple revealing spells to determine if it was malignant or not. After determining the box to be harmless, Severus pulled the lid off and looked inside. There was a small note and a pair of what looked like rune covered socks. He grabbed the note and read.
Dear Professor,
I know you'll probably not want these and will probably be mad at me for doing what you told me specifically not to do but oh well. You can give me detention when the holidays are over. I have developed a way to add protective runes to hand-knitted socks. To everyone else they will appear to be completely black socks (mustn't give anyone suspicions or Merlin forbid, add color to your wardrobe) but to you, they will appear black and green. The runes I've used are luck, safety, hope, shield, and energy. I may have stolen a few hairs and may have dabbled a little in blood magic but you deserve to have a little bit of extra defense when you are called to that maniac. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.
Katerina Dumbledore
Severus read the letter at least five times. He was amazed that the cheeky girl had actually managed to combine runes and potions at her age. He was also pissed that she went against his warnings and had played with Dark Magic. But most of all he was simply astounded that someone would go through so much trouble for someone like him. There was actually someone in this world that wanted to try and protect him. He didn't deserve such a gift. The girl confused the hell out of him. He had been astonished the one night when he had entered her mind and seen the image that was undoubtedly her checking out his arse. He had been so shocked that he had completely forgotten to take off points or add more detentions when she had abruptly run out of the room before he had dismissed her, her hair a vibrant pink. He sat down on a stool looking at the socks again, tracing his finger over the runes that were circling the cuff and leg of each one. He understood most of the runes, but couldn't understand why she had added hope.
A few days later when the Dark Lord called him, Severus took a few seconds to put on the socks and he felt his spirit rise just a bit before grabbing his robes and rushing out of the castle.