Chapter 20 – Salazar's Locket

"Never mind that," snapped a voice suddenly. "What are you going to do about them?"

Katherine glanced up at the portrait of Mrs Black, one eyebrow arched questioningly. "Do?"

"The boys are traitors to their blood and the girl is – is filth – she's a mudblood," hissed Mrs Black, rolling eyes steady for once and fixed intently on the woman before her.

"Watch your mouth," said Katherine quietly, head held high. "Your precious Voldemort's half and half."

"Lies!" howled Mrs Black, pointing an accusing finger at her almost-daughter-in-law. "You only seek to disgrace your family-"

"Like Sirius disgraced yours?" asked Katherine, brushing off Robert's calming hand. "Leaving home was the best decision he ever made, except for the fact that it left Regulus to your clutches. He was a good man and you destroyed him, or tried to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" spat Mrs Black, furious now. Katherine just smiled grimly.

"Leopards don't change their spots, Amelia."

Mrs Black's lips tightened to a thin white line, yellowing eyes blazing. "So it would appear. You always did seem to have a soft spot for Gryffindors, sometimes I think you're a Lion at heart."

"I am not," snarled Katherine, glowering at the portrait. "I was never a bloody Gryffindor."

"How'd you explain this then?" asked Harry softly, emerald eyes hard. Katherine started and looked at the photograph he was holding out.

"What is it?" asked Mrs Black, craning to see over Harry's shoulder. "What's he got?"

Katherine gazed at the picture, then up at Harry, something like pity in her eyes. "You shouldn't have that."

"It was in that box of yours, along with the one of you and Regulus. Well that's not Regulus you're with this time – that's Sirius. And that's my Mum and Dad and Remus," said Harry hotly.

"I know," said Katherine, leaning against the wall.

"You do?" asked Robert, frowning at her. "You hated them, Kat – except for Lupin. I don't remember you ever going near them."

"You wouldn't," said Katherine, sighing. "It was the train ride home at the end of seventh year."

"Ah," said Robert, understanding dawning.

"You betrayed them," said Harry, glaring at her.

"I didn't," said Katherine softly, but firmly. "Firstly, we were not exactly what you would call friends to start with, and secondly...secondly we need to talk, Potter, but not here. Too many prying eyes and ears."

"Meaning me, I suppose," said Mrs Black, positively bristling.

"Among others," grinned Katherine slyly, before turning her jewel bright eyes on Harry. "Can I ask you something, Potter? Sirius seems to have done his level best to remove most of his history from this place so why is that portrait still here?"

"Permanent sticking charm," said Harry grudgingly.

"Ah yes," smiled Katherine. "Impervious to all magic." The portrait of Mrs Black smiled sourly, looking a little smug. "But not to fire, I think," added Katherine quietly, looking thoughtful. Harry stared at her and she smiled sourly. "Sirius must have been really depressed not to have thought of that. It's a Marauder solution if ever I saw one."

"You knew him, didn't you?" asked Harry, frowning at her.

"Like I said Potter, neither the time nor the place. Well, perhaps the time, but definitely not the place. Probably not the best time either come to think of it – Kreacher?"

"Yes Mistress?"

"Did Sirius throw everything out?"

Kreacher looked up at her, large eyes suddenly fearful and seemingly close to tears. "Kreacher tried to stop him, Kreacher knew Mistress wouldn't like it, but Master was determined to ruin his Mother's good name – Master wouldn't listen to Kreacher-"

Katherine looked over the head of the prostrate elf at Robert. "Well that's it then. I didn't really expect it to be that easy."

"It was worth a try at any rate," agreed Robert soberly.

"What was worth a try?" asked Harry, unable to stop himself.

"Never you mind," muttered Robert, casting a hostile look towards the young man.

Katherine half smiled, then turned sharply towards Kreacher who was still sobbing his apologies. "What was that last bit?"

Kreacher broke off abruptly, gazing up at her fearfully. "Kreacher did not like the blood traitors? Kreacher tried to escape to warn-"

"No," said Katherine carefully. "The bit where you said you salvaged what you could."

"Kreacher tried to-"

"Where?" asked Robert sharply, following Katherine's train of thought. "Where did you put what you stole?"

"Steal? Kreacher would never steal, Kreacher was only-"

But Katherine was already gone, tossing Robert's wand back to him and dashing along the corridor and down the back stairs to the kitchen pantry, Robert close on her heels.

x – X – x

"Alexandra, isn't it?"

Alex McKenzie looked up from the book she was reading with a guarded look on her face. "Yes. Was there something you wanted?"

Bellatrix Lestrange smiled and sat down opposite her, eyes bright. "Do you remember someone called Faye Belle?"

Alex arched an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"She's Riddle's cousin," said Bella silkily. "You do know Katherine, right?"

"I used to," said Alex, scowling. "But if you're trying to get to her through Faye you're wasting your time. Faye's dead – Katherine killed her."

"Riddle did away with her cousin?" asked Bella incredulously. "Are you sure?"

"She told him she did," said Alex in a tired voice. "Why would she lie? She's ruthless right? Least that's what I've heard and from the look in her eyes when she brought James back I could well believe it."

Bella frowned, leaning forward slightly, her dark hair falling to frame her pale face. "Ruthless, yes, but not towards her family. If she found her cousin there's no way in hell she'd hurt her – Riddle hasn't got much family and the friends she has got she'd give her life to protect. Besides, Faye Belle is teaching at Hogwarts."

Alex took a moment to consider this, twirling a strand of copper hair between her fingers. "But Jamie already tried that. He went up there to see her and it was Katherine – she knocked him out for sneaking around her room. So you see – even if Faye is alive, it's not her at Hogwarts."

"Your brother," said Bella carefully, thinking fast. "Was that the only time he tried to see her?"

"Of course," said Alex, brown eyes large with surprise. "She threatened to use Number Four on him if he came back – what? Why are you smiling?"

Bella leant back, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Why would she need threats if there was nothing to hide?"

Alex frowned, looking confused. "I'm not following you."

"Look, if it really was Riddle up at the school, which I don't believe for a second – she's got far to many commitments down here for her even consider a teaching job – why bother threatening Inopia? The worst your brother could do to her is be a nuisance – always checking that she was who she said she was..."

"But if it's Faye, he'd find out she was lying," completed Alex, eyes wide.

"And Riddle would have to answer some very tricky questions," agreed Bella, smiling nastily.

"And then she'd kill us," said a low voice from the doorway. Bella jumped out of her seat and whirled to face the intruder. James McKenzie smiled pleasantly at her and looked over at his sister. "You're not getting involved, Alex. Katherine's not the sweet little girl we used to think she was. If you cross her she'll kill you."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" interrupted Bella, looking coolly at James.

"Maybe she's having a hard time thinking up a suitable punishment," grinned James, flaming red hair falling softly onto his forehead.

"Maybe she knows she can't handle me," said Bella icily, looking distinctly ruffled at his suggestion.

"Maybe," conceded James. "And maybe Severus has a heart. Or Dumbledore was a Death Eater."

"Very funny," seethed Bella, giving him a look that would have felled a tree. "We'll talk later, Alex." With that, she swept out of the room, taking no notice of James' smirking features.

"You never know, maybe Potter wants to join forces with the Dark Lord," he shouted after her.

"Don't Jamie," chided Alex, giving her brother a disapproving look. "And she had a point, you know."

"Yeah, I know," said James, gazing at her calmly. "I also know I don't want Katherine after my blood. She invented that, you know," he added, nodding towards the book that lay open on the desk before Alex. The red head glanced down at the page and sighed.

"Not timid little Miss Average, then?" she asked, looking up at her brother resignedly

"Not exactly, no," agreed James, taking the seat Bella had vacated and sliding the book towards him. "Haven't looked at this in ages – I suppose mine's at the bottom of one of my trunks or something."

"Well go find it," grinned Alex, snatching the book back from him and snapping it's green cover shut. James smiled ruefully, then frowned as a thought occurred to him.

"You're not planning to use any of those on Riddle, are you? Because she probably knows that book inside out-"

"It's ok, Jamie, I won't," sighed Alex reassuringly. "I'll stay out of it."

"Good," said James and stood to leave but Alex asked quickly:

"Jamie? How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"Know she invented it?"

James shook his head and smiled grimly, brown eyes meeting his sister's identical ones. "You really should read the papers Allie."

x – X – x

"Harry, where are you going? We should go and get someone!"

"It'll be too late," shouted back Harry, taking the stairs three at a time and rushing along the corridor that lead to the kitchen and Kreacher's den.

"But we don't know what they're looking for," chipped in Ron, catching up with his friend.

"It doesn't matter – this was Sirius' house, it's my house, she's not taking anything from it," fumed Harry, pushing open the kitchen door and meeting a grim looking Robert Avery on the other side.

"I told you, Kat. Stupidity always wins in Gryffindors," he said softly, gaze never moving from Harry's face, his wand pointing directly at his heart.

"It's bravery, Rob," came Katherine's muffled voice from the depths of the room.

"Same thing – both get you killed," said Robert calmly.

"So does loyalty," replied Katherine distractedly, making Robert frown slightly. "Oh yes..."

Robert cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see Katherine straightening up, a golden chain dangling between her fingers. She smiled brightly at him, opening her hand so that the heavy locket dropped, swinging gently from the chain.

"Loyalty's not all bad then," murmured Robert, gazing at the gold locket and not even caring when Harry darted around him, wand pointing at Katherine. Katherine gave the boy a withering look.

"I thought I told you not to bother with that," she said tiredly. Harry wasn't listening however, his gaze was fixed on the locket hanging menacingly from her fingertips, things suddenly clicking into place with alarming speed. There was no mistaking that locket this time – it was definitely the one he'd seen in the pensieve, and this wasn't just Sirius' house – Regulus Black had lived here too – Regulus, whose own fake locket he had in his jeans pocket at the very moment. He'd spent weeks with Ron and Hermione trying to decide on the best course of action for tracking the horcruxes down and here was one, sitting quietly in his very own house, just waiting to be remembered, waiting to be found. And now it had been, but by the wrong person.

He raised his gaze and emerald eyes met sapphire ones. "You can't use it," he said quietly, scowling at her.

"Use it? Potter it's a locket, a very old locket. You wear them," replied Katherine, but her expression didn't match the light tone of her voice. She was studying him, weighing up what she knew about him and putting things together very fast by the looks of it.

"Salazar's locket?" tested Harry, trying to keep his voice level. Was there a chance she didn't know what it was? Or was she retrieving it for Voldemort? A slight movement in the corner of the room caught his eye; Kreacher was back.

"Someone's done their homework," said Robert Avery carefully, stepping around the large table to reach Katherine.

"Master's locket!" exclaimed Kreacher, catching sight of the trinket. "Master told Kreacher to keep it safe – he said it was not to be removed. Master made his mother proud, Master would never have run away-"

"Master was trying to destroy his master," said Katherine softly, her voice, quiet as it was, cutting into the elf's tirade and stopping him short. "And you know what this is, don't you, Potter." Harry's stubborn silence was answer enough for her and she smiled grimly. "Yes, I thought you might after all that business with Regulus up on the rooftop. Why would you be interested in a dead man? Reg never did anything particularly notable in his life except for discover Tom's best kept secret. How did you know about him? I'm pretty sure Tom never knew, so I doubt Dumbledore would've."

In answer, Harry withdrew the small locket from his pocket and held it up for Katherine to see. "He left it in place of the real one," said Harry impassively. "We found it the night Dumbledore..." He trailed off, then looked up at Katherine again, gaze as hard as diamonds. "Give it to me."

Katherine gazed back almost sadly and very slowly shook her head. "No. This one's mine."

"No!" shouted Harry, making a lunge for the locket but Katherine held it out of his reach and Harry slammed into an invisible wall courtesy of the quick work of Avery. Katherine turned her attention to the locket and promptly forgot everyone else existed.

"Looks safe," she muttered eventually. "What d'you think?"

Robert took the locket in gentle fingers, though the chain remained looped around Katherine's hand. "Only one way to know for sure," he said carefully, looking grim. Katherine nodded in agreement and tugged the locket from his hands.

"What are you doing?" asked Harry in frustration, barely noticing Hermione's efforts to dissipate the shield that Avery had constructed.

Katherine met his gaze, bright eyes gleaming in the dim light and said simply. "What I promised." And before Harry could move or say anything she flicked her wrist and a shimmering mist crept down the chain of the locket, hardening as it did so and glistening like ice. In a matter of seconds it had covered the entire surface, making the locket look like a very odd icicle.

Katherine glanced up and smiled genuinely at Harry. "Whatever Remus tells you about me, it's probably true. Even the good bits."

Harry stared at her in confusion. Why had she said that? What did Remus have to do with anything? Katherine grinned at his expression and added only one line of explanation.

"Just in case it kills me when I do this."

And she slammed the frozen locket in the wall, shattering it in fragments of gold and ice. A moment later, Harry, who had unconsciously been leaning against Avery's shield, fell forwards as it disintegrated. He was helped to his feet by Ron and Hermione who were looking worriedly over at Katherine and when Harry adjusted his glasses he saw why.

The locket may have lain lay smashed on the floor but there was a dark sinister shape hanging in the air before Katherine that looked like black smoke, except it was swirling, growing and forming into a shape – a human shape. Harry now realised why Avery had dropped the shield charm, the blond man was constructing some sort of spell or jinx under his breath, strange lights dancing at the tip of his wand and throwing his face into deep shadowed relief.

Katherine, just visible through the dark, smoky figure that was becoming more defined by the second, seemed to have her eyes shut, her face screwed up in concentration. Suddenly Hermione tugged Harry and Ron backwards and downwards so that they fell to the floor and by the time Harry got his breath back to ask what she was playing at, it had already become clear.

Avery had hurled his spell at the dark figure at the very moment it had solidified and the resulting blast caused a wave of rushing air that shot out at waist height with all the force of a tidal wave, crashing into shelves and cabinets around the room and knocking Avery and Katherine off their feet and into the wall with a sickening thump. The torrent roared just above the trio as they lay on the floor, their hands over their heads, but there was no way of blocking out the howl that penetrated the noise of falling crockery and the rush of wind – the anguished scream of a soul in torment, which seemed to go on forever...

And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped and silence rushed back to fill the room, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing. Harry lifted his head, distractedly brushing plaster dust from his hair. Ron and Hermione were on either side of him, but both were unhurt thanks to the latter's quick thinking. On the other side of the room, Avery was getting up, grimacing as he extracted broken crockery from his shoulder. Harry cast a glance at the room's other occupant and felt a curious rush of panic when he saw she wasn't moving.

Robert looked up at his sudden intake of breath and followed his gaze. He frowned, then stumbled over the broken chairs to reach his friend, the shards of porcelain forgotten and his brown eyes wide with fear.

"Katherine? Kat? Are you all right?"