Chapter 24

Kate Potter

Death did not come quickly, or at all. It seems I was not meant to die just then. After a few hours, maybe it was only minutes, it's hard to say, the man left. I was left seizing on the floor. I knew just what he had cast on me: the Cruciatus Curse.

Thought after thought raced through my mind, broken images that didn't make sense. Sirius turned into a crazed animal that attacked everything. I saw James laughing cruelly over a mangled body. Peter held me close and kissed me with great passion. Remus lay dead with a blank look in his eyes.

Over and over these images played through my mind before they all became contorted and unrecognizable. All the while I continued to shake uncontrollably.

One image persisted over all the others. One image remained unchanged: a large, muscular, black car. It was more than just a cat though; it was a great a cat, a leopard. Her spots were visible when viewed at the proper angle and in the proper light. She came bounding in to each image, persistently. Steadily she was growing larger, becoming stronger until hers was the only image I saw.

I focused on her. I focused on how she moved. I focused on the way she flicked her tail. I imagined the way the ground would feel beneath her velvety paws, or the way the wind rushed by her when she ran.

Slowly I could feel my body changing. My legs were becoming shorter but stronger, and they were curving at a different angle. My back lengthened as my head and my neck came down level to it. I sprouted a tail out of my…tail. My ears shifted on my head and became rounder. And whiskers grew out the side of my nose. Perhaps best of all though, the pain weakened considerably.

While in the form of one's Animagus, one takes on all aspects of their animal: what they like to eat, how they like to eat, what they think, and how they feel. A leopard's pain receptors are different than a human's, meaning the same injury won't affect them quite the same way. The Cruciatus Curse is mostly a mental thing. It causes very little physical damage, but it can destroy the mind if used persistently.

While in my Animagus form, my mind, my emotions were simplified. The change allowed me time to heal the broken images and set them straight. It allowed me time to regain control.

After lying there for a while, I sat on my hind legs. My tail curled around me. I took in the room with my cat eyes, hoping to see some weakness my human eyes had missed. I saw nothing.

My ear twitched. What was that noise? It was a low whistling sound mixed with a soft hmm. My ears stood erect as I listened. I began to follow it. It was coming from the bathroom. I pushed the door open with my nose. It was air, a small stream of air. I could almost feel it move my fur.

I sniffed around the room until I detected the source. The air was coming from behind the water basin I used to wash my body. I pushed it aside and discovered an air vent. I could sense the magic was weakest here. Of course the vent was too small to crawl through, even in my human body. Still, I had found my way out.

XXX

Digging out the vent wasn't easy, even in my Animagus form. The barrier still hurt, but my paws were tougher than my hands. I could feel the magic give way, little by little, but I began to wonder if it would be enough. Even if I got out of the room, what would I do after that? I'd still have to escape from the rest of the house; I may need help in that area. Or rather, I might need help fighting the man and woman. If only there as some way I could get a message out or send some sort of signal.

The answer came to me one night in a dream. I was in my Animagus form running across the land. Running next to me was my silver reflection.

A Patronus.

XXX

I had never cast a Patronus before, but I read all about how to do it in the book I'd gotten Remus for Christmas. The theory behind it seemed simple enough, even though it was supposed to be really advanced magic. Then again, becoming an Animagus was really advanced magic too. The Patronus was also supposed to be unique to the witch or wizard that cast it, so those closest to them would know it was theirs, even if they'd never seen it before.

XXX

My days were split at working on the vent in the bathroom, and trying to cast a Patronus. The woman continued to bring me porridge every morning. Every so often the man would come by as well. He'd tell me to renounce my Muggle loving ways and join the Dark Lord before it was too late. I'd tell him to go to hell, and he'd put me under the Cruciatus Curse again. I'd wait for him to leave before transforming.

One day my routine was thrown off balance. The door to my room was thrown open. I quickly ran out of the bathroom, in my human form, to see what was going on. The man hurried down the stairs with the woman in tow and threw her on the floor. He yelled and kicked at her before placing the Cruciatus Curse on her. I ran forward to try and stop him, but he threw me against the wall. I tried again, but the strength of his spell held me in place. All I could do was lay there and watch.

XXX

Several minutes later he left. The woman lay on the floor before me, a distant look in her eyes and a line of drool trailing from her mouth. I crawled over to her. As I neared her, she looked up at me and reached a hand up to wipe away my tears.

"Don't cry…pretty girl." Her voice was barely that of a whisper.

"How can he do this to another human being? No one deserves this."

I knew what I had to do now. I couldn't just escape; I had to rescue the woman too. I had to rescue my mother.

"I'm going to get help for us. I'm going to get us out of here." I went to stand up but she pulled me back down.

"Don't go; don't leave me."

"It's alright. I'm going to get us out of here."

"My daughter…have you seen my daughter anywhere. She…she ran away. My pretty Persephone." She was talking to someone else now; some memory in her head. I couldn't leave her like that. So I crawled around behind her and placed her head in my lap.

"It's alright, Mum. I'm right here. I won't leave you."

I gently stroked her hair until she fell asleep. Then I went back to work in the bathroom. The hole was much bigger now, but I had yet to break completely through to the other side. I scratched, and I clawed, and I rammed my shoulder into it. Finally I felt something I hadn't felt before. The wall gave a little wobble and a trickle of stones fell down. Then one of the most glorious things I'd even seen, a stream of light came flowing through.

A small hole was all I needed to send my Patronus through. I just had to make the Patronus first. I had yet to cast a full bodied Patronus. I'd managed little whiffs of smoke and a non-corporeal shield, but those wouldn't serve me well in this instance. I needed a distinct, full-bodied Patronus that couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's. And if I was going to do it I had to do it now. I didn't know when the man would come back or when my mother would return to being his loyal servant.

I pulled out of the hole and returned to my normal form. I quickly checked to see that my mother was still asleep and that the man wasn't returning. Then I took up my wand. The casting of a Patronus required thinking of your happiest memory. I discovered I actually had quite a few of those, and it was hard to determine which was my happiest. So instead, I went to the source of my happiness.

Remus.

I thought of every moment Remus and I had together, and I thought of every moment we could have had. Then I spoke the incantation.

"Expect patronum."

I could feel the power surging through me. I could feel all that happiness radiating within me and I could feel it extending outward. I knew I succeeded before I opened my eyes to confirm it. It looked just how I expected it to.

"Hi," I said. "Come with me." I lead my Patronus to the vent hole and pointed. "Can you get through there?"

My Patronus nodded.

"Good, then I need you to get a message out for me."

I told my Patronus what to do and it left. But I knew I couldn't wait for her to return. So I returned to my Animagus and resumed working on the hole.

XXX

It took much longer to finish the hole than I thought it might. I worked straight through the night without pause. My adrenaline kept me going. I knew that any minute help might arrive and I had to be ready to fight with them.

At long last, after weeks of trying, with a final shove a bundle of rocks went cascading outwards. I couldn't spend any time celebrating this small victory however. The noise caused by the falling rocks would have alerted the man to my escape.

I transformed again, and with wand in hand, I ran back to my mother. She was just coming to when I reached her. She saw the rubble in my hair and she understood.

"Persephone, what have you done?"

"I'm getting us out here. You don't have to stay here. Come with me; we'll protect you. He won't ever hurt us again."

I could hear movement above and I knew I was quickly running out of time.

"I…I can't. Your father will be here soon."

I held out my hand to her. "Come with me, please. I can't leave you to him. He'll kill you if you stay; you know he will."

I could see the war raging in her eyes.

"Please, Mum, come with Persephone."

That seemed to seal the deal. My mother reached out and placed her hand in mine. I quickly led her to the bathroom and out through the hole just as the bedroom door blasted open.

We stepped into another room with another set of stairs on the other end. We ran up them. I just managed to open the door that appeared to lead into a kitchen when the man stepped through the hole. I pushed my mother through the door as he fired a spell at us. Then I ducked inside myself.

I was just about to run for another set of doors when our path was blocked. The man had apparated before us.

"Sito! What's the meaning of this?" he yelled.

"I…I…"

"Leave her out of this," I said stepping between them. "It's over. Help is coming even as we speak. And we're leaving." I took hold of my mother's hand again.

"I knew you were going to be more trouble than you're worth from the moment you were born," he said bitterly. "Why do you think we never came for you? I told her you were dead, and she believed me. Until those foolish boys began bragging about how they got the Potter girl," he spat the name out.

"Boys? What boys?" I asked, unable to help myself.

"Rosier and Mulciber. They wouldn't shut up about it; their fathers were so proud, but I thought it was waste of time. She overheard them. She never was very good at keeping out of my business. She started asking around after that." He nodded to my mother. "…behind my back of course. Had I known I would have put a stop it, and to her. She discovered you were still alive and that you'd been adopted by those filthy Muggle-loving Potters." Again, he spat the name out like it was poison.

"Then she intercepted your owl to that half-blood. I knew then that we'd have to take you. I couldn't let the Dark Lord discover I had a daughter who mingled with half-bloods and blood traitors. Think of the disgrace you would have caused me. No matter, it's all about to be over.

"Though…I am curious about one thing. How is it that you managed to escape Rosier and Mulciber on the astronomy tower?"

"Easy," I said. "They made the same mistake you're making. They underestimated a Potter."

I quickly cast a disarming spell at him. I was fast, but he was faster. He blocked my spell and retaliated with a string of his own. It was all I could do to block and keep me and my mother moving towards the door. Our spells were rebounding off of everything, shattering glass and dishes alike, and splintering wood. Shards were flying everywhere. One caught me across the face but I could barely feel it.

"Enough!" he yelled. "Time to end this. Avada Kedavra!"

I heard the words. I saw the flash of green light. But I knew there was nothing I could do. There were no spells that could stop the killing curse. I regretted that I wouldn't be able to see James, Sirius, or the Potters again. I regretted that I wouldn't be able to tell them how proud I was to be a Potter. I regretted that I wouldn't be able to tell them how much I loved them. But, I thought, at least I could be with Remus again.

Suddenly my view was blocked by my mother. She stood facing me. She touched a hand to my cheek, smiled, and said "My pretty Persephone."

Then, with a small gasp, she arched her back. Her eyes went wide and became clearer than I'd ever seen them. She collapsed to the floor at my feet. And I was still alive.

"Stupid woman," the man said without any remorse. Then he raised his wand for a second try.

"Ava…"

"Stupefy!"

Our spells collided in a shocking blast that sent us both flying backwards. A spark ignited the furnace and the house went up in flames.