Chapter 53
A few days later, Katherine found herself standing in front of the window of her room. She was looking outside and fondly remembering the adventures she and Draco had gone on when they were younger. The door opened and Katherine quickly wiped a stray tear away before turning around.
Bellatrix stood in the open doorway, looking very pleased with herself for some reason. She smiled predatorily at Katherine.
"I have a special surprise for you, Katie." Bellatrix sang before she pulled someone into the room.
Katherine's stomach dropped as she watched a terrified Hermione being pushed into the room by Bellatrix. Katherine quickly gained control over herself.
"Let her go." Katherine commanded.
Bellatrix looked at Hermione, and then smiled at Katherine.
"Nah, I don't think so." Bellatrix answered.
"I'm warning you." Katherine growled, taking a step closer.
"Oh? And what are you going to do, little Gryffindor?" Bellatrix mocked.
Katherine ran forward, swinging her arm at Bellatrix's face. But Bellatrix lazily waved her wand and tossed Katherine into the wall next to the closed door. Katherine rolled upwards to her feet, but found chains conjured out of thin air attaching themselves to her wrists and ankles. The chains were long enough for Katherine to come within an inch of Hermione.
"Are you ready for the show, Katie?" Bellatrix asked, cackling.
"Let her go!" Katherine yelled.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix said, pointing her wand at Hermione, who dropped to the floor, shrieking.
Katherine struggled against the chains to stop Bellatrix from hurting Hermione, but it was not working. Hermione was screaming and thrashing about.
"Hermione! Hermione! Listen to me! Everything's going to be fine!" Katherine yelled, while still struggling against the chains.
"Really, Katie? Really? Are you still making promises? Don't you realize that you can't keep them?" Bellatrix cackled.
"Shut up!" Katherine yelled.
Bellatrix released the curse on Hermione, who rolled her head to look at Katherine. Hermione's brown eyes were filling with tears that started streaming down her cheeks.
"Hermione, I'm here. Don't worry." Katherine whispered, willing herself to believe it.
"What did I tell you about making promises, Katie?" Bellatrix mockingly scolded.
"To only make promises I can keep!" Katherine answered before spitting, "Fine! I promise to kick your fat, ugly arse to hell and back! You stupid bitch!"
"You're going to pay for that one." Bellatrix said menacingly.
Bellatrix slashed her wand and cut Hermione on the stomach. Blood started to stream out of the wound and Hermione's hands darted to it. Soon, they became covered in her own blood. Katherine kicked and thrashed in an attempt to get free and help Hermione.
"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed.
Hermione screamed even louder and started having spasms. She rolled and thrashed sporadically as if she was on fire. Her screams cut Katherine to the core and filled her with guilt.
"LET HER GO!" Katherine bellowed in fury.
"What?" Bellatrix said, cupping her ear. "Crucio her some more? Okay, if you say so."
Bellatrix shouted the Cruciatus Curse again and Hermione's screams turned bloodcurdling. Katherine doubled her efforts, but despair started to seep into her. She was failing to keep her promises for the third time.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Katherine screamed at Bellatrix.
"Oh, I'm so scared." Bellatrix said sarcastically as she increased the power of the spell until Hermione's screams became fainter and fainter. Then Bellatrix released the spell and walked over to Katherine, who was leaning as far as the chains would allow her. She was within an inch of Hermione. If only she could just reach her.
Bellatrix grabbed Katherine's chin and forced her to look up into Bellatrix's eyes. Bellatrix smirked at the storms raging in Katherine's green eyes.
"You failed." Bellatrix smirked. "You failed again."
Bellatrix let go of Katherine and stepped towards the door. She turned around and made the chains holding Katherine disappear. Katherine fell to her knees next to Hermione. Katherine made to pull Hermione into her arms, but she felt nothing. Katherine looked and saw that Hermione was gone.
Then Bellatrix was laughing hard. Katherine turned to see Bellatrix clutching her side.
"It's called an echo, Katie." Bellatrix explained. "And that's what you get for making the Dark Lord pissed at me."
Bellatrix went through the doorway and shut the door at the moment Katherine dove for her. Katherine started banging her hands against the door.
"DAMMIT, BELLATRIX! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" Katherine yelled in pure fury.
A week later, Katherine was again in front of the window, looking out upon the lawn that had not been taken care of for months. For a week, Katherine had let her walls down and bathed in her emotions. She allowed herself to be consumed by fury.
She focused all of her energy on planning how to kill Bellatrix. Her rage consumed her and filled her with brutal, barbaric ideas on how to destroy Bellatrix. Murderous fire controlled her and filled her with revenge.
The door to her room opened, but Katherine did not turn around. She went through the steps in her head on how she was going to kill Bellatrix.
Move closer. Grab wand. Slash off head. No, wait, that's too merciful for the killer of Sirius and the Peters. Katherine thought, closing and opening her eyes as she readied herself.
A chair scraped the floor behind her, and then someone cleared their throat. Katherine turned and her jaw dropped in disbelief.
Sitting in the chair was a dark haired boy with grey eyes. Katherine's brain started fizzling as she tried to figure out what was happening.
No, it couldn't be. It can't be. Katherine thought. Oh please, let it be.
"Ekaterina," He smiled.
It's him! Katherine yelled mentally in pure happiness.
Voldemort must have given him a Draught of Living Death, and then took him away. He was captured for three years and replaced by a wax figure. But now he's here.
"Don't stand there gawking; come and kiss me." He smiled, spreading his arms wide.
"Oh, Cedric!" Katherine exclaimed, breaking out into the smile that she hadn't smiled since fourth year.
She ran towards him with the intention of kissing him nonstop. She wrapped her arms around him and held air. She opened her eyes to see that he was gone. That he had never been there.
Cackling near the door made Katherine snap her head up. Bellatrix was laughing even harder than she had a week before.
"I can't believe you fell for that again!" Bellatrix laughed.
Katherine stood up and started to march menacingly towards Bellatrix. The demented witch stopped laughing and raised her wand.
"Say your good-byes." Katherine whispered snarling.
"I'm not scared of you." Bellatrix rolled her eyes.
"You will be." Katherine said, taking a step closer.
Bellatrix waved her wand and Katherine's legs were swept out from under her. She hit the floor and Bellatrix casted the Cruciatus Curse on her. With her mental walls down, there was no way she could detach and barricade herself from the pain.
Her head jerked to the side as she started to get to her feet. As she rose up, she looked at Bellatrix with green eyes filled with fires and lightning strikes. Her body jerked again before she threw off the curse.
Katherine launched herself at her aunt, smashing Bellatrix into the wall. Then Katherine allowed her fury to consume her. She felt fire course through her, controlling her limbs. Her fists flew, connecting with any part of Bellatrix she could reach. She completely forgot about her plan to grab Bellatrix's wand; she just wanted to do as much damage as possible.
Bellatrix's hand launched out and wrapped around Katherine's throat. Bellatrix pulled both of them to their feet and snarled in Katherine's face. Then Bellatrix threw Katherine onto the bed. Katherine jumped up and grabbed Sirius's knife from the bedside table.
She smirked as the knife changed into a thick sword meant for cleaving. There was no finesse to this weapon. There was no beauty in the use of this weapon. Its sole purpose was to destroy.
Bellatrix's black eyes widened at the sight of the sword. As Katherine jumped forward, Bellatrix flicked her wand, sending Katherine back on to the bed. Katherine got to her feet as Bellatrix went through the door. As the door closed, Katherine jammed the sword three inches into the door.
The fire consumed her again and she saw everything in a furious red. Her right hand clenched around the sword hilt and her entire body shook with anger. With a roar of pure rage, Katherine used the sword to smash the columns holding up the bed's canopy. The canopy crashed on to the bed and the sword fell from Katherine's hand, clattering to the floor before it changed back into the small pocketknife.
Then Katherine fell to her knees, splinters from the columns jabbing her. She stared at the mess she created externally and internally. Then she fell on her side and curled up into a ball.
She clamped her hands above her ears and shook like someone having a seizure. Tears poured down her face. She had let her emotions free and allowed herself to feel happiness that she had not felt since she was with Cedric.
She was reliving every memory, every pain. She shook even harder as she screamed. This was why she never let the walls down. This was why she refused to feel the full force of her emotions.
Because of her screaming and her covering her ears, she did not hear the door open and close. But she felt someone roll her over and she felt someone place her head in that person's lap.
"Katherine, Katherine, it's alright." A woman's voice said soothingly.
Katherine opened her eyes for a moment to see Narcissa holding her. Katherine shut her eyes and screamed even louder as she relived the memory of seeing Cedric dead.
"Katherine, please." Narcissa pleaded, her voice thick with tears of her own.
Katherine stopped screaming and looked at Narcissa, who silently gasped in horror at the look of defeat present in Katherine's eyes. Defeat was something she had never seen her daughter succumb to, even in the first few weeks after Cedric Diggory's death.
"I can't take it anymore." Katherine whispered in a voice so low Narcissa almost didn't hear it. "I thought I was strong, but I'm not. . . . I'm not."
"Katherine, you are strong." Narcissa said.
"No, I'm not." Katherine said, raising her right hand so she could look at Cedric's ring. "Not when it comes to losing him."
