Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with Harry Potter (except unremarkable copies of all four books), and am making no money off this, so you can't sue me. 'Cause all you'll get is the books and a gerbil.

Authors Note: Review. If you even think about maybe reading this story, review. There's a nice box at the bottom of the page, set up all nicely for you to tell the author what you think of the story, it makes things really easy for you. So, even if you flame, review. I may end up with a singed tail - but if I'm going to burn my tail feathers off, I at least want to know about it, hey? So, good or bad, use the box at the bottom of the page. Please?



Chapter One

"Where was she found?"

It was the same question that had been asked of the same girl over six months ago, only this time the party doing the asking was considerably more compassionate. The elderly man in long purple wizard robes paced before his informant, a man who appeared to be in this mid-thirties.

Albus Dumbledore was pacing in front of Remus Lupin, Headmaster before his one-time student - and known werewolf. Dumbledore showed no fear concerning the latter fact, however, he was mostly worried about this particularly unique problem that they were faced with. "Are you certain she knows all about the wizarding world, Remus?"

Lupin shook his head. "She knows so much about it that she wasn't even startled when Siris transformed back into a person. And we can't afford to put a Memory Charm on her, not yet. She knows too much about the other side to risk losing."

Dumbledore shook his head so hard that even the end of his long white beard was bouncing back and fourth. "Oh, I had not even considered that they might let any that got into their hands live . . . What are we going to do with her, Remus? Can she stay with you?"

"Too risky," Lupin answered. "If they raid our place to get her back, or just for us, what she knows is far too valuable. About our side and theirs. To tell the truth, the only place that I can think of that I'd put her is Gringotts. Or - Hogwarts . . ." Remus let his voice trail off, and Dumbledore whipped his head around and they stared at each other. "Dumbledore, would it work? Can we hide her here?"

Sinking into a chair, Dumbledore was muttering to himself, debating. "Maybe. I think that Hogwarts has enough protections on it to stop any Death Eaters who try to get onto the grounds, but there is another problem. We wouldn't be able to keep her existence here a secret. The students . . ."

Lupin swore, creatively. "We'll never be able to keep them from finding out. Especially Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They seem always to know when the school is hiding something. They have a talent for it."

"They do, don't they? Harry seems to have gotten a little much of his father -"

"Ah, don't underestimate Lily, Headmaster. She had her fair share of scrapes with the rest of us," Remus smiled, remember his days in Hogwarts, when the biggest trouble on his mind was how he was going to manage the exams when James and Siris had dragged him off on another fool adventure. Those days, the existence of a Head Boy we'd never met didn't bother us. But that Head Boy - Tom Marvolo Riddle - killed James. Oh, James, I'm doing my best. But Voldemort's got it in for Harry and the rest of us . . .

Remus wrenched his thoughts off that particular bleak path. "What about that Malfoy boy? Lucius still got him going here?"

"Amazingly, he does. I think Malfoy's smart enough to realize how easily Voldemort could turn on his followers. I think he honestly wants to keep his son safe . . . Although you are right, the students will inevitably tell their families . . . It can't be avoided. Regardless of how many people know, this is still the safest place she can be at the moment."

"Are you sure? I mean, what are you going to do with her? She certainly can't learn magic!" Remus raised and eyebrow at Dumbledore's chuckle.

"No, she can't but all the same, I want her sitting in on classes. I'm fairly certain that she can get lessons some other way . . ." Dumbledore "hmm"-ed, and Fawkes chirped at him from his perch. Dumbledore smiled back at the brightly-plumaged phoenix. "Yes . . . Remus, bring her here. There is no safer place, and the students will get used to her if she's here by the time they start the term."

"Consider it done, Headmaster," Lupin stood quickly and made to leave.

"Oh, Remus -" Lupin turned back at Dumbledore's words. "What is her name again?"

"Kathryn Doves."



A tall, sickly-thin girl of about fifteen lay stretched out on her stomach, reading. Her long legs were waving back and forth to the obscure song she was humming, and her head was bobbing to the same tune. Her short black hair had a reddish sheen to it, and her eyes, when she looked up, were a piercing green. Her complection and face rang of Asian background, but her bright green eyes and the reddish gloss in her hair pointed to an Irishman somewhere in her lineage. Her accent, when she spoke, proved it.

"Remus! Ye're back!" she greeted the werewolf with a wave. "Siris went out to get somethin'; forgot what it was -"

"The paper, Kitten. Nothing more," Siris Black had simply twisted out of his dog form, which greatly resembled the death-watching Grim. He grimaced, spitting a wad of paper out of his mouth. "I think I swallowed part of the Sports section."

Kat put a hand over her mouth to hide her grin and stifle her laughter as he rolled his tongue around in his mouth, trying to get the ink taste out of it. "Yuck," he muttered.

"An Animagus who gets t' paper an' comes back in with part o' it stuck in his mouth," she shook her head, grinning. "Ach, what's the wizarding world comin' t'?"

"Me, I hope," Albus answered as he came in the door after Remus. The instant she noticed Dumbledore, Kathryn's eyes searched him up and down, scrutinizing him mercilessly. "You're Kathryn? Kathryn Doves?"

Two things and two things alone put Kat at ease; Siris didn't even blink when he showed up, meaning that this man must know who and what he really was, and that he knew her name. "I'm Albus Dumbledore -"

"Headmaster at Hogwarts?" Kathryn interrupted. Inwardly, she sighed with relief. The only man Voldemort ever feared, and he's standin' in the room with me! Glory!

"Hmm. Yes, you know about Hogwarts?"

"How could I not, what with every one o' them Death Eaters mutterin' about how impenetrable it was? An' it's famous Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore - more feared than Harry Potter!" Kat almost snorted. What, did he think me deaf? I could not have avoided hearin' about him and his school!

Dumbledore and Remus exchanged a Look, and Dumbledore nodded. "Kathryn, do you know what happened to your family?"

Kat gave Dumbledore a look as deadly as a basilisks. "Aye. Dead. Every one o' them, killed by Death Eaters an' their kin. All but me."

"Even more distant relatives?" Dumbledore prodded.

Scowling darkly, Kat replied, "We were havin' a party, with family in from all over the United Kingdom. Me Mum an' Da were havin' their twentieth anniversary celebration. Even me brother, Sean, was there. Not for long, though."

Dumbledore nodded. "And I believe that those members of your family who weren't there already think you're dead. It would be quite a nasty shock to bring you back to life, unless you had someplace you felt you truly wished to go to."

"No. All of me family that was ever close t' me were there. I don't know anyone else, so it'd be like a stranger anyway."

Dumbledore nodded again, as if he had expected something of the sort. "Alright. Since no family can be produced to take you, then we have a place for you - dead set again Voldemort. How would you like to come to Hogwarts?"

The expression on Kat face was so astonished that both Remus and Siris had to hold back great bouts of laughter. "How can I - I mean to say - Headmaster Dumbledore, how can I?" Kat's eyes widened. "I'm a Muggle!"



Kathryn looked around the circular, five-bed dorm room that she had to herself for one last day. She had settled into Gryffindor House yesterday, and already the place felt (at least a little) like home. The place that she'd shared with Remus, Siris, and the others had been a mansion compared to what she was used to but this place . . .

It had taken her half an hour to find her way back to Gryffindor Tower after supper.

"I am going to need a guide to get around this place," she muttered, running her hand through her short black hair. "And how do you build a staircase that goes somewhere different on a Friday!?!?!" she yelled to the empty room. She flopped down on the four-poster bed. Her arrival at Hogwarts had caused . . . somewhat of a stir, to say the least.

Heh. Boy, did having a Muggle in the castle scare them! Kat grinned as she remembered a few of the professors reactions. Hah. Besides fright that things have gotten so bad that Dumbledore is sheltering a Muggle in Hogwarts! I think that if I were an adult, they wouldn't stand for it. Kat's grin faded. The students would be arriving tomorrow, and she though she had some idea of what to expect from them, she had no way to defend herself if one of them should try to hex her, curse her, or jinx her. She would only have to hope that someone on Gryffindor would know any counter-curse, and would be willing to preform it on a Muggle.

But then, her practical side took over, and she pulled the sheet over her, leaving the heavier blankets for winter - if she was here that long. I will worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

With that in mind, she slipped into sleep, where her myriad fears were reduced to nightmares . . .