Chapter 12- Prophesies, Translators, and Family
28 September 1977, sometime after 2000
Katja then realised what was more wrong than anything else right now. The spell that added a slight foreign accent to her voice had worn off completely, and she was speaking fluent Londoner's English.
Oh crap, she thought. I've got to speak German to keep my cover.
"Scheiße! Die Übersetzung Zauberspruch funktioniert nicht!" she said.*
"What's she saying," asked James. "And what language is that?"
Just then, Lily came running up the stairs. "Female on deck! Female on deck!" she announced, as was required for all women going into the male dormitories. This was supposedly so that any male could deny the female permission to the dormitories, for the stated reason of not being dressed, or something of that nature. James said, "Come in" after Lily knocked three times on the door.
Lily came in and heard what Katja was saying. She immediately recognised it as German. "Was hast du gesagt, Katja?" Lily asked. Katja repeated it. "Katja says that her translation spell is broken. Her dialect and intonation is slightly off, but within acceptable parameters. Do you want me to ask her anything?"
"Yes, I'll ask her, though. I can speak German. Most pure-bloods know at least one or more extra language." Sirius said. "I've heard that most Muggles in Europe also know multiple languages," he stated. He then asked her, "Was ist passiert, meine Katja? Hat ein Slytherin angreifen?" (What happened, Kat? Did a filthy Slytherin attack you?)
She answered, "Nee. Ik flauwgevallen."
"What is she on now, Sirius. That's not German!" Remus stated.
"No. It's Dutch. She's saying that a Slytherin did not attack her; she says that she just fainted." Turning to Katja, Sirius asked, "Können Sie werfen der Übersetzung Zauberspruch wieder? Nicht alle von uns kann Sie verstehen." (Can you cast the Translation spell again? Not all of us can understand you.)
Katja asked, "Wo ist mein Zauberstab? Ich mochte den. Nein, ich kann. Geben Sie dein Zauberstab, bitte."
"She needs her wand," Sirius translated. Then handing over his own wand, he said, "She then asked for my wand. I think that she wants to summon her wand."
"Rufen Katjas Zauberstab! " Katja intoned. Her wand came flying to her. She tossed Sirius' wand back to him, and then whilst moving her hands in a circle said, "Aktiveren Übersetzung, Jetzt!"
She could talk normally again, as she could feel the spell activating. She then said with the slight accent the spell gave her, "Did it work?"
Then, patting her on the back and pulling her into a hug, Sirius asked her, "How are you feeling? I think that you just had a case of exhaustion. Either way, we need to see Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore, just to double-check."
Lily asked, "Why do we need to see Dumbledore? He's not a Healer."
James answered, "We'll explain on the way. Who first, Padfoot? Hospital or Headmaster?"
Sirius replied, "I think we ought to go see Pomfrey first, and then we'll go see the Headmaster."
So then they went up to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey cast a couple of Diagnostic Spells on Katja. She couldn't find anything wrong, except for a mild case of exhaustion. She told the guys to let her have a good night's sleep, administered some Pepper-Up Potion, and then told Katja that she could leave. She reiterated her statement about getting a good night's rest as the five of them left the Hospital Wing. They then made their way to the Headmaster's office, where James and Katja started yelling candy names at the Gargoyle. "Acid Pops, Cockroach Cluster, Fizzing Whizbee, Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans, Fudge Flies, Sherbet Lemon!" At the last one, the gargoyle sprang aside, and the door opened. They went up the rotating staircase and were about to knock on the door when they heard Albus Dumbledore say, "Come in, Messrs. Lupin, Black, and Potter, Miss Wagner, and Miss Evans!"
When they went in, Dumbledore said, "What a wonderful surprise. Sherbet Lemon?" They all declined, and the Headmaster continued, "What brings five young Gryffindors up to my office at this hour?"
"Sir, Katja fainted in the hallway outside of the Common Room, and one of the times that she woke up, she gave what seemed to be a prophesy. I could give you the memory if you want, so that we could all look at it in the Pensieve," Sirius said quickly, as if the Headmaster would throw them out for disrupting him for a petty matter.
"I assume that this prophesy had to do with you?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yes, sir, our whole group." replied James.
"Group?"
"Yes, sir." Remus said. "We...are the Marauders. Mooney, Padfoot, Prongs, Le Lys, and Ruige. We haven't the foggiest as to where Wormtail is."
"You are the Marauders? That explains a great deal. James, Sirius, Remus, could you give me your memories of the event?"
The three Marauders put their wands to their temples, and extracted silver, hair-like strands. Katja was shocked; aside from the time she saw Severus do it right before he died, this was the first time she had really seen it happen. Dumbledore then said "Omoide wa, māji!" and the memories started to merge into one. Katja was surprised, because she didn't recognise the language. Dumbledore then said, "It's a spell that works best in Japanese, Katja. The Japanese created the spell, so it always works better this way. Now lets put it in the Pensieve, and view the prophesy." Wordlessly, Dumbledore summoned his Pensieve and tipped the memory in.
They viewed the memory and afterwards, James and Sirius explained some of the context for the events that had just happened. Then, Dumbledore wanted to discuss with Katja the prophesy, so he thanked the boys for bringing this to his attention, and dismissed them with a note stating that they had permission to be outside the common room. After they left, Dumbledore spoke up.
"Miss Granger, do you know what you have just done?"
"Sir, I don't even remember it happening. One minute, I was walking up to the Gryffindor Common Room, feeling a little tired," she started.
"Understandable, you do not yet realise how to counter the effects of last night," Dumbledore replied in a Grandfatherly fashion.
"I remember collapsing and wishing I had gone upstairs with Sirius—he's my boyfriend, by the way, and the next thing I remember is I was lying in Sirius' bed in the Seventh Year Dormitories, with all of the Marauders huddled around me. I think that was when the rat took off, sir."
"The prophesy referred to a rat, and you just referred to someone as a rat. I assume the rat you are talking about right now is Wormtail, am I correct? Miss Granger," he said in a tone reminiscent to when he asked Harry the same question, "is there anything you wish to tell me?"
"Sir, Wormtail is an unregistered rat Animagus. I am technically an unregistered Animagus, also. I was about to send in my paperwork, but then I was sent back in time. I am a wolf, but last night changed my Animagus form a little. My form is now almost a werewolf. I tried to change into my Animagus form first, to try and avoid becoming a werewolf, but I simply just went from regular wolf to werewolf form."
"Miss Granger, is there any Seer blood in your family?"
"No, sir. I'm Muggle-born, you see."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Fawkes, my phoenix, told me that you are somehow related to Headmaster Dagworth-Granger, who was quite an accomplished potioneer in his day. Also, you seem to be related to me."
"You, sir?"
"Yes. Most likely a Squib from a branch of my family, who we probably disowned, married a Granger or a Wagner, and therefore you are related to me."
"A Wagner? That's just my alias."
"Not exactly. I have found the people who I presume to be your parents. Right now, they have a small, what is the Muggle word?, dentistry in London. I looked into their heritage, and you cover story actually had some truth to it. A Squib from the Wagner family in Germany married a woman in England, where their daughter Jean Wagner eventually married a Doctor Tom Ian Granger last year. But getting back to the original topic, do you think that you had a prophesy?"
"In my third year, I dropped Divination around Easter, because I think that it is a woolly Discipline. Perhaps my subconscious mind somehow wanted to warn them about what will happen."
"Yes, but remember, just because you prophesied these events will happen, does not mean that they will. I actually examined your Aura while I was telling you about your family, and there is no Seer in you what so ever. You have a great mind, Miss Granger," the headmaster said. "You would've done well in Ravenclaw."
"The Hat tried to put me there, sir. But then Godric saw my bravery and courage, and decided to put me in the House of his creator, Gryffindor."
"Godric?" asked the Headmaster. "The Hat has a name? I never thought to ask it." He wrote something on a piece of parchment. "Now, go up to your common room, and pretend all we did was discuss the prophesy."
She left the Headmaster's Office, and went up to Gryffindor Tower, only being detained once by Filch, who tried to drag her to McGonagall's office and give her detention, even after she showed him the note.
"What difference does that make?" he asked when she showed him the note.
"It's signed by the Headmaster, you stinking Squib!" she said, and he begrudgingly let her go the rest of the way to the Common Room. She finished up the Homework that she had and went up to bed. When she passed Lily's bed, she said, "Meet me. Same place, after classes tomorrow."
29 September, 0930
Katja was in the middle of First Period Defence Against the Dark Arts. She had been teaching them about tactical uses of spells from other classes. They were about to start a practical demonstration when Remus came hurrying in. "Ms. Wagner!" he said frantically.
"Mr Lupin, what's the problem?"
"Mr Potter, Professor. He's been cursed by someone, most likely a 'Snake'," this statement caused half of the class to start pointing their wands at him. "I'm not against you all," he said, "It's just that there are a couple of them that give us Gryffindors a bit of trouble."
"Is it bad?" Katja asked Remus.
"Yes. We don't know what hit him, but it looks to be a blood-draining curse of some sort. He's in Hospital Wing right now, Professor."
This description brought back a couple of memories from her Sixth Year, when Harry had cursed Malfoy in the bathroom. She dismissed the class, and then thought, "Accio Half-Blood Prince's Copy of Advanced Potion Making!" She waved her wand in the appropriate manor as she said this, and amazingly, the book and its owner came flying into the room. "Suche Sectumsempra!" she cried, pointing her wand at the book. The book immediately turned to the correct page, where she saw something that Harry had not—the countercurse.
"Lupin, come with me. I have found something." Katja told Remus.
They went up to the Hospital Wing, where Katja told Madame Pomfrey that she had additional data, so Madame Pomfrey let Katja go over to James. At James' side, she started the countercurse, Vulnera Sanentur. She did this three times, and then she started in with the Healing Spells that she knew. "Guérir! Genezen! Heilen! лечить (lechit)", she repeated these spells too, and then started alternating the two spells. Soon, James' wounds were healing. Suddenly, James woke up. Remus asked whether he remembered what happened, to which James immediately sat up and made a spitting motion at the floor.
"It was Snivellus. He hit me with that spell that he uses every once in a while, but it was more powerful than usual. Although, that might have been because the sneaking coward hit me behind my back."
"Scheiße!" Katja said. "That coward is in the Defence classroom. I warded the room so that he couldn't leave, but he can still mess things up. I need to do something really quickly."
Behind her, Sirius nodded to James, motioning that he was going to go with her. They quickly got to the Defence Classroom, where Snape was still in the room, fuming. Katja gave him back his book, and then said, "Amnesia" pointing her wand at Snape's head. His eyes slid out of focus but slid back in quickly. She then said, "Stupor!" and Snape fell to the ground.
"What did you just do?" asked Sirius.
"First, I Modified his memory, and then I stunned him. We should take him out into the hall."
"Wow! You're scary! How do you know how to do that? And did you do that in German?"
"It was part of my training," replied Katja. "And yes, I am a multilingual castor."
"Not everyone can do that!" said Sirius in amazement at his girlfriend's skill and then he kissed her. That is a very good kiss, thought Katja. The kiss lasted a long time, as neither wanted to stop. After they tossed Snape into the hall, they went back up to the hospital wing where James was recovering. Then, Professor McGonagall came into the Hospital Wing, where she asked who had hurt James. When it was explained that Snape had done it, she went over to the Hospital Wing fireplace and shouted, "Horace!" A couple of seconds later, Slughorn's face appeared in the fireplace.
"What can I do for you, Minerva?" the head asked.
"Do you know what Severus Snape just did, Professor?"
"What did he do this time?"
"He attacked James Potter, Horace. I've got the memory to prove it."
"What punishment do you suggest? I'd say 25 points and a week's detention." said Slughorn.
"I'd say 75 points, and two weeks," replied Minerva. "If it wasn't for the quick actions of Ms. Wagner, he could be dead!"
"OK, 50 points and a two weeks," negotiated Horace.
"Agreed. The Headmaster will be hearing about this."
There was a pop and Horace's face disappeared from the fireplace. Then McGonagall turned to Katja. "How did you know how to counter that spell?" she asked.
"I've seen the effects before, and I knew exactly where to find the counter-curse."
"Very well, 50 points to Gryffindor for your impressive skill. By the way, you all are excused from classes for the afternoon if you wish although Katja, I'm sure that your Third Years would hate to miss your class today."
"Yes, professor. I think that Mr. Black and I will be okay. I will of course teach my Third Years later today." Turning to Remus, she said, "Did you hear what I taught about on Tuesday?"
"I heard that the students seem to be under some sort of oath not to talk about something." Remus replied.
"I taught them about werewolves," she replied. "If they figure out that anyone here at Hogwarts is a werewolf, they cannot tell anyone. I wonder if any of them figured out who the werewolves are?"
"Werewolves?" asked Remus. "I didn't know that there was another werewolf here."
/\\/\\
A/N:
*the translation is a couple of rows down, where Lily is translating Katja's speech
The five mentioned are Katja, Lily, Remus, Sirius, and James; the only reason that Sirius and James are friendly with Pettigrew is that he is a useful rat
Dumbledore knows Katja's true identity, remember, so in private, he can call her Miss Granger
Mr. Granger's name is made up of the two actors that played him Tom Knight and Ian Kelly
Hermione finds out Filch is a Squib in Chamber of Secrets
RD: I hope that this chapter clearly tells you that Katja is in no way a Seer, and that it was most likely her subconscious that had her tell. The "prophesy" might not completely fit in right now, but it will cause James and Lily to make a couple of changes that will affect Harry. This story will not end with everything going back to the way it was in the books (it will most definitely be AU at the end)
