Chapter 54
Katherine had decided to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. She now slept with her coat on, her backpack and knife in her pocket, and she always kept her cloak at her side.
At the present moment, Katherine was about to fall asleep for an afternoon nap with her wand in her right sleeve. Ready to be used at a moment's notice. The door opened, Katherine opened her eyes, and made eye contact with the intruder. Katherine held the eye contact with Voldemort for a moment before pretending to fall back asleep.
She knew that his patience would not last long and she was not disappointed. Less than a minute later, Voldemort cleared his throat violently.
"Stop pretending, Miss Peters. I have something I wish to discuss with you." Voldemort commanded.
Katherine opened her eyes and yawned. She watched Voldemort walk over to the window, his back to her. Katherine threw the covers off and silently got off the bed. Voldemort did not turn around at all, even though Katherine was about two and a half yards behind him.
"I have spent the last month researching your family." Voldemort said, still not turning around. "I must say, you've covered your tracks well. Taking a Muggle last name was very smart . . . I was mislead for about two weeks."
Katherine felt her heart stop. He couldn't know. It was impossible. There was no way that he could know.
Katherine quietly let her wand fall into her hand. Carefully, she raised her arm and prepared to cast a spell.
"So, imagine my surprise when I found out that your parents were-"
"RICTUSEMPRA!" Katherine yelled.
Voldemort didn't fully succumb to the spell, but it made him move away from the window. Katherine ran forward, exploding the window, and then jumping through it.
"Accio Nimbus Two Thousand and One!" Katherine shouted as she was falling from the window.
Draco's broom flew towards her. She grabbed it, and flew in the direction of the gates.
"GET HER!" Voldemort yelled from her room.
Katherine kept flying and prepared herself to go through the wards. She heard the front door slam open and she looked over her shoulder to see Bellatrix running after her. But then Katherine focused all her attention on the wards because last time it was complete hell to go through them.
Bellatrix fired spells at Katherine, who dodged them, but only barely; she felt the heat of ever bolt as it passed her. The hedges were getting closer and Katherine held her breath as she entered the wards.
This is weird. She thought in confusion.
The wards were there, but she hardly felt them. It wasn't like last time when she felt like she was being electrocuted. This time it felt like that Death Eater's pathetic attempt at a Cruciatus Curse. It felt like nothing.
Once Katherine was through the wards and past the Anti-Apparation ward, she turned around. She hovered on the broom and watched as Bellatrix struggled to open the front gate.
"Well, it's been real, it's been fun, but I can't say that it's been real fun." Katherine said laughingly to Bellatrix.
Katherine raised her hand and mockingly waved at Bellatrix, who shrieked in frustration. Katherine then jumped off the broom and Apparated away before she hit the ground.
She landed face-first on a sandy beach at sunset. A pair of hands grabbed her and helped her up. Once she was on her feet, she looked into the face of Bill Weasley. Fleur was behind him and carrying a picnic basket.
"Hey." Katherine said.
"Hey." Bill said. "What are you doing here?"
Katherine shrugged. "It was the first place I thought of."
"We better go inzide." Fleur said, taking her husband's arm and smiling at Katherine.
The three got inside and Fleur immediately grabbed Katherine's arm and pulled her into the living room and pushed her onto the couch. Fleur sat down next to Katherine and trapped the seventeen year old's chin in her hand.
"Where 'ave you been?" Fleur asked.
"Around." Katherine answered.
"Ron said they saw you at Lovegood's 'ouse, but that waz a month ago. Zo, where 'ave you been?" Fleur said forcefully.
"A month?" Katherine exclaimed in surprise. It felt like an eternity.
"Katherine." Fleur snapped.
"You look as if you've been through awful battles for the past month." Bill said, his eyes trained on the bruise on Katherine's injured cheek.
"Try torture." Katherine said, sneakily adjusting the left sleeve of her coat so that it completely covered her Dark Mark scar.
"What?" Fleur exclaimed, dropping her hand from Katherine's chin.
Katherine sighed and hung her head. She didn't want anyone to know about Malfoy Manor. If people knew what happened to her, they would treat her with pity. And pity was something she could not stand.
"Katherine," Fleur said gently.
"Nothing." Katherine said, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it."
"Katherine," Fleur said as she took Katherine's hand. Katherine shook her head again before jerking it up, a smile placed upon it.
"So, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were here. Where are they now?" Katherine asked.
Fleur was startled by the subject change, but she didn't press Katherine.
"They left early this morning to Gringotts." Fleur answered.
"Gringotts?" Katherine repeated in surprise.
"I overheard them talking about something in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault." Bill said.
Katherine thought for a moment about what they would need from Bellatrix's vault. Surely there could not be a Horcrux in Bellatrix's vault. Well, she guessed that she would have to check.
Katherine stood up and started going for the door, but Bill stopped her.
"Where are you going?" Bill asked.
"Gringotts." Katherine said as she went through the door. She walked down the beach until she reached the Apparition point. She turned and landed in Diagon Alley. She pulled on her cloak and fixed the hood so that her face was hidden.
Katherine walked until she reached Gringotts, which had a crowd of people around it. She looked up to see that the great white dome of the bank was gone and pieces of it littered on the ground. She walked until she reached the crowd. She found a man who was alone and looked like he would tell her what she wanted to know.
"What happened?" Katherine asked him.
"A dragon burst out of the bank this morning!" He said excitedly.
"A dragon?" Katherine repeated in disbelief.
"I sees him, miss! He was carryin' three people on his back!" The man said, waving his arms around excitedly.
"Who?" Katherine asked.
"I don't know, miss. They were two boys and a girl. One of the boys had red hair, though." The man said.
It could be Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"What direction are they headed in?" Katherine asked, concealing her excitement.
"North."
North. That meant that they could be heading to Hogwarts. Katherine remembered what Snape had told her at the Death Eater dinner party. That she had to go to Hogwarts.
"Thank you." Katherine said as she sneakily slid two Galleons into the man's hand. "And I wasn't here."
He nodded and Katherine turned on her heel and Apparated to Hogsmeade at dusk. The alarms went off and Katherine wasn't quick enough to hide herself. Burly men walked out of Three Broomsticks and trained their wands on her. Katherine raised herself up and adopted a look of contempt.
"Put your wands away." She commanded with the tone of someone who was never refused.
"You're under arrest." One of the men said, though a little hesitantly.
"Excuse me." She snarled. "Do you know who I am?"
The men looked uncomfortable, but they didn't lower their wands. Katherine sighed annoyed and started to roll her left sleeve up. The men saw what she was doing and immediately lowered their wands and started comically bowing to her. Katherine stopped rolling up her sleeve once it barely showed the tail of the Dark Mark scar and she left it there.
"So sorry, m'lady. It's just that the alarms went off only a few moments ago." One of the Death Eaters said hastily.
"Who set off the alarms?" Katherine asked contemptuously.
"We don't know, but we suspect that it was Potter." Another man said.
"I'll deal with him then. Alone." Katherine said.
"We understand, m'lady." Another man said as they all, but ran, back into Three Broomsticks.
Katherine breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at her left arm.
"Thank you, Bella." She muttered, her green eyes glinting in amusement.
