Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, with the notable exception of all four books, and 'Macvity' belongs to Andrew Lloyd Webber. "CATS" as well, and is based on Old Possums Book of Practical Cats, by T.S. Elliot.
Authors Note: I just realized that the timing in this story doesn't work - Harry defeats Voldemort at the end of book Four, this takes place at what should be the start of book five, and somewhere in between Kat is taken prisoner for six months. Gimme a break and ignore it, K? And REVIEW, REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!
Chapter III
Hagrid and Kat proved to be the only ones Windbreath would allow to touch her, although she did allow the other students near her. She and Kat kept up a constant rapport, trading feelings rather than words. It was definitely a more sure method of communication than words.
"Now, Windbreath 'ere isn' 'ere on'y fer te lesson. Gryphons 'ave a talent with all magical creatures, and cin call, banish, an' control - t' an extent - many o' 'em. She's goin' t' be my assistant fer te year, now that yer on more dan'rous creatures."
"Great," Malfoy muttered. "We're going to be taught by two magical creatures."
Kat gasped as Windbreaths anger filled their rapport. The she-gryphon growled, and it was not the same sound as the purring. With an angry snarl, she broke the rapport. ~Hagrid is not a mythical creature! In fact,~ with this, Windbreath stalked towards a frozen Malfoy. ~I am empathic, may I remind you! And Hagrid is far more human than you!~
The Slytherin stared at the gryphon, who had lost all traces of her diplomatic tranquility. Her composure vanished, and she had slipped into a full gryphonic battle-rage display. Tawny feathers on end, she towered over the blond Slytherin.
And then the entire episode seemed to vanish. Windbreath was suddenly back in her original place, feathers smooth. Only Malfoy's rigid stance indicated that anything had happened. ~Next time, boy, don't insult someone whose champion is a gryphon.~
"I'll remember that," Malfoy said shakily. Kat felt Windbreath reassert their empathic rapport. The gryphon was annoyed, but pleased that she had managed to frighten the human without laying a talon on him.
After the class left, Hagrid turned a slightly disbelieving look on Windbreath. "Are yeh sure 'bout this, Windy? Te girl's a Muggle. What d'yeh see in 'er?"
Windbreath's answer was simple, and was composed as much of empathy as it was of telepathy. ~She feels right, Hagrid. Just like you. You both have a gift with magical creatures, sentient or not. Hers, however, is even stronger than yours. She might even be able to fearlessly approach a werewolf. Or a Nightmare, which will help because none of the students or you will be able to get anywhere near.~
"Nightmares," Hagrid shuddered. "Te on'y critter I don' like. They remin' me o' Dementors. Don' suck the 'appiness out o' life, they suck it out o' dreams. Turn 'em mad, crazy -"
~Not all Nightmares are evil, you know. Most of them send their dreams as tests against your greatest fears,~ Windbreath pointed out. ~Although most don't understand that, I think Kat will. And a Nightmare respects the ability to understand.~
"I 'ope yer right, Windbreath, 'cause even yeh 'ave trouble wit' Nightmares."
~We all do.~
"Oh, what have I got next, where am I going?" Neville mutters, holding his head after coming down from the stuffy Divination classroom.
"Potions," came a voice from next to him. She had been forced out of the classroom by the smell and the incense, the combination giving her a splitting headache.
"Oh, noooo," Neville moaned. "After that awful double Divination . . ." Then he looked skewed at the girl who'd answered his rhetorical question. "H-how did you know?"
"I overheard ye moaning about it at the table this morning. If I remember correctly, ye were the only one in earshot. After what little I've seen of Snape, and after that - what class was that?" Kat asked as she followed Neville down the hallway.
Neville, who was by now very confused, answered. "Divination. W-why are you f-following me?"
Kat shrugged as they passed through a door that required tickling. "I don't know me way around yet. I've never been to the dungeons."
"D-don't rely on me for a g-guide. Anyone will t-tell you, I t-tend to forget things."
"After four years o' going to the same classroom, I'd hope ye'd know yer way there!" Kat exclaimed.
As they began walking down the stairs to the dungeons, took another sideways look up at her. "If y-you're a fifth y-year, then why d-d'you need someone to s-show you around?"
"Ye really do have an abysmal memory, don't ye!" Kat exclaimed. "I met ye last night, when ye were looking for Dumbledore. I'm the Muggle, Kathryn. Kat, preferably."
"K-Kat?"
"Aye. Meow," Kat shrugged wryly as they entered Snape's dismal dungeon. "Here goes nothing. Wish me luck!"
"You'll need it," Neville looked frankly terrified at the prospect of talking to Snape one-on-one, even though it wasn't he who was going to.
"Professor?" She asked as she approached the Potions teacher. "Professor Snape? Where do ye want me?"
Snape ignored her for several moments as he finished giving a few third-year Gryffindor's papers zeros. "Hm. Yes," Snape surveyed the room. "There. Next to Longbottom. Perhaps a Muggle can help him improve his grades," Snape sneered in Neville's direction, and Neville flushed. Ignoring Neville's scarlet coloration, Kat simply sat down next to him and pulled out an old geometry textbook one of the Muggle-born had sent home for for her. She hated math, but judging from the Gryffindors expressions and Snape's attitude towards her, she figured this was probably a good class to work on math in.
About halfway through drawing two intersecting planes, Kat glanced over at the neon green potion Neville was making and said "Stop!"
"What?!?" Neville screeched, surprised by Kat's sudden speech.
"Ye're supposed to put the porcupine quills in after the sliced slugs."
Neville stared at her as if she were a giant sliced slug. "H-how did you know t-that?"
"It's right there on your sheet. I just don't want to get a hole burned through my foot."
After Neville corrected his mistake, he and Kat bent over the instructions, concentrating on his not burning another hole in the dungeon floor. Snape looked on with disgust.
Two weeks later, when an article in the Daily Prophet had several students in a panic about the growing Dark Side problem, Dumbledore and several of the professors took a few measures to distract the students.
"What is this?" Hermione, whom Kat had walked with down the breakfast every day, pointed to an announcement posted just outside the Great Hall.
Kat gasped, a huge smile broke out on her face, and she grabbed the quill hanging from the poster and signed her name one of the lines. Hermione shrugged. The sign read:
Kat couldn't wait.
By the next night, Kat had worked herself into excited anticipation, and she arrived in dungeon ten minutes early. Ravynn Crowe, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, looked up as she arrived. "Early, aren't we, Miss Doves?"
"Aye," Kat burst into smiles. "But I couldn't wait. D'ye have a trumpet?"
Crowe stared at Kat for a moment, unaccustomed to the tall girl being so giddy. "Yes. Here - " she opened a drawer, and Kat saw half a dozen trumpet cases inside. She opened them all at once and compared them, finally choosing a scuffed silver one with a dent in the bell. She took it out, oiled the valves, and ran through a scale, tuning as she went. Crowe looked on with a skeptical look on her face. However, when Kat was satisfied that the trumpet was tuned and oiled, she ran a Bb scale that made the pure sound run like water through the room.
Crowe looked as if she had been hit on the back of the head with a board.
Kat ran up and down the chromatic scale, from the lowest note she could play and Crowe clamped her hands over her ears when Kat reached the highest. She also ran a few blues scales, and as Hogwarts students, most of which had never picked up an instrument, filed in, quite a few stared at the Muggle in astonishment. A few hadn't any idea she was doing anything special.
Nonetheless, there was one girl who recognized talent when she heard it.
"Kathryn Doves? The Muggle? Why am I not surprised," the blonde said, a quirky half-smile on her face. "I'm Rois. Rois Moon. I'm in Ravenclaw," Rois shook hands with Kat. Rois was a few inches shorter than Kat's 5'9", with hip-length blond hair and bright blue eyes.
Kat cocked her head at the girl. "D'ye play?" she gestured with her trumpet.
"Trumpet? No. Alto saxophone, but I've only been playing over summers. No time here," she scowled.
"Kathryn?" Crowe called.
"Ye'd better go get an instrument before the greenies get a good one," Kat smiled. "Yes, Profesor Crowe?"
"How long have you been playing?"
"Since I was about eight. I've been dying to get me hands on one since this whole business started, but I figured the likelihood of that in Hogwarts was slim. 'Course, I think that a school on magic should include music as a standard," Kat cocked her smile and shrugged.
"I don't suppose you have a piece of music you would play for the class?" Crowe asked.
Kat thought about it for a moment. "Sure, actually. After I get warmed up well."
"You're not warmed up yet?" Crowe croaked.
"Not for the song I intend to play. I'll go get it from the dorm," and with that Kat fairly skipped back to Gryffindor, where she ran down to the girls dorm and unlocked the 6" trunk Remus had given her before she left. Unlocking it, she pulled out several folded pieces of parchment. She had copied her original version from paper to parchment after being rescued, as the paper was so tattered and dirty she'd had to write half of it from memory.
On her way back to the dungeon, Hermione, Harry and Ron stopped her. "Where are you going?" Hermione asked.
"Band," Kat answered gleefully.
"Can you play that thing?" Ron asked, gesturing to the trumpet she still held in her hand.
Kat glared at him, then played the first ten measures of the theme song from "Jurassic Park" from memory. Although Ron didn't recognize the movie, Harry and Hermione did, and all were suitable impressed. They didn't try to stop her as she raced away.
"I guess she can," Ron muttered.
Back in the dungeon, Kat clamped her hands over her ears at the din. Everyone seemed to be fiddling with their instruments, not even knowing what they were doing. She made her way over to Rois, who was starting in on some of the advanced pieces Crowe had left out for those who already played. "Can you do anything about this?" Rois asked. "I don't think she's got the nerve."
Kat shrugged and yelled, "I'll try!"
"You'll fry?" Rois gave her a weird look as she repeated what she'd heard.
Kat put the trumpet to her lips, and a second later a piercing, high-pitch squeal silenced those playing. "Professor Crowe asked me to play something for ye," she said by way of explanation, and set up her music on a stand.
No one recognized the introduction, but when she reached where the singers would start singing, there were a few intakes of breath as people recognized the song. The melody itself sang, and Kat seemed to be in a different world as she played, and most people forgot that there was a Muggle making this sound, or even a human. The music was almost visible, and it seemed to feel what it spoke of. Haunting, raucous, smooth and even obscene at times, the students lost themselves in the story the music told.
One didn't need words to tell the story of Macavity.