The Ties That Bind (5/?)
By: Shendra
Shendraz421@aol.com
Category: Romance/Mystery/Drama
Keywords: Snape, Voldemort, Draco, telepathy, 7th year
Rating: R
Spoilers: All four Books
Summary: An old friend falls back into Snape's life, only to mysteriously disappear again. Voldemort returns, demanding loyalty this time around. Will he ever be defeated? Will Kate ever be found? Will Snape ever get laid?
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Kevin and Kate/Katie are mine, so if you want to use them, let me know first, mmkay? Corvus the raven came from J.L. Matthews… a great idea, if you ask me.
Credits at bottom.
CHAPTER FIVEKatie sat on her bed after Severus had left, and stared at the boxes. She wanted so much just to open them and see what was in them, but something held her back.
After a few minutes of building up her courage, she got up and kneeled beside one of them. Gently, she pulled off the tape. Casting that aside, Katie pulled up one of the flaps, just as someone knocked on her door.
Sigh. "Who is it?"
"Kate…. It's Remus." He sounded as weary as before, if not more now.
She stood up and went to the door to let him in. He was leaning against the frame, rubbing his hand. They stood there for a second, and then he glanced past her at the box on the floor.
"You, ah… you found the boxes?"
She nodded. He frowned slightly. "When mom and dad, er.. passed away, I was charged with taking care of their property. I had to sell most of it, but a lot of little stuff, a lot of your stuff, went into boxes. I still have a couple other boxes, the goblins wouldn't let me put much into the vault. Everybody… they thought you were…"
His voice trailing off, Remus looked down at his hand, which was slightly bruised at the knuckles.
"Remus! What happened to your hand?" Katie took his hand and led him in, examining the marks.
"I uh," he shifted nervously, "Severus and I… we talked." He shrugged and sat on her bed, leaning back to look at her. She paused near the box, then sat on the floor next to it.
"You talked to Severus? What about?" Severus and Remus didn't "talk", they fought, or they ignored each other completely. Even back in school, they'd had some sort of rivalry. She could never tell Severus that Remus was her brother. He'd have been crushed, in a strange… unexplainable way. He'd always seen Remus as a demon of sorts, and his friends were no better. James and Sirius were always picking on Severus and the other Slytherins, but at least the other Slytherins stood up for each other. Severus had always been on his own.
Katie sighed and looked at the box. Remus was taking his time forming an answer to Katie's question, but she knew it wouldn't be true. In the end, he just resigned to changing the subject.
"So… you haven't opened the box yet?" she shook her head so he got up to sit next to her. "Here," he said, leaning over her and pulling it open.
Inside was a bunch of folded robes, dresses, cloaks, and just a lot of clothes. He pulled them out in stacks as she watched in awe, and set them down in front of her. Underneath, were some older books, and then framed photographs. Then, a jewelry box with some old jewelry inside.
"Wow," she whispered.
"Yeah," Remus said, pulling more stuff out. "This all came from your room. When you disappeared, Mom and Dad kept everything the same. They never touched your stuff. When they died, everyone else just wanted to sell their house, so I got as much out of it for you as I could."
He set a photo album in her lap, then a couple stuffed bears. One was a lavender bear with a sparkly white bow around it's neck. She'd gotten it from her aunt for her 10th birthday. The other one was a fluffy silver bear holding a black rose. Remus's mouth twitched when he handed it to her, as if he wanted to say something. Severus had given her this bear during their fifth year for Christmas.
The last thing in the box was a pair of tall boots, that Katie remembered as being the ones she wore during her last year at Hogwarts… she'd loved those boots. They were tall… almost reached her knees, and laced up the front. Leather with thick soles, they were always comfortable, and useful for kicking down doors… which she almost never had had to do.
"Hmm…" Remus said, studying the pile in front of him. "Well, that looks about right. The other box was some of Mom's stuff, like dresses, more pictures, jewelry, and a couple books. I think there are a couple of Dad's cloaks and robes in there too. I'd have kept them to wear… but… well, I was never nearly as tall as him."
He grinned and Katie giggled. Remus had always been short, at least compared to Sirius, who had been at least 6'3 in their last year. Severus had been short most of their time at Hogwarts too, but somehow in the last seventeen years, he must have gained at least a foot. Katie, who was a couple inches shorter than Remus, felt strange for a moment.
Severus?
She had almost forgotten about Severus, and now wondered where he could be. He didn't respond right away, then,
Oh bloody hell, Owww….
Katie shook her head and chuckled, and Remus looked up at her strangely. "Erm," she said quietly, "Maybe we should find a place for all this stuff…"
"Of course." He said, standing up. Then, pointing his wand at the wall, he conjured up a tall bookcase. Pointing his wand at the books on the floor, he muttered and they shot into the air, and perched themselves onto one of the shelves.
Katie gathered up the clothes and stacked them at the bottom of her wardrobe, vowing to have them cleaned later. Maybe the house elves would do it, she thought.
Hey Sev, you ok?
In her head, he groaned quietly, then responded in an oddly strained voice.
Lupin's up there with you, isn't he?
For a brief second, she considered denying it, then remembered how hard it was to lie through telepathy. Almost impossible, and of course, the other person almost always knew.
Yes, he is. He came to help me with the boxes.
Silence… then, I'm going to have a few drinks to get rid of this migrane. You can join me, if you wish.
She nodded, then remembered he couldn't see it. Alright then, in a few minutes.
Turning back to Lupin, she watched him put the things from the boxes away, handling them as if they were priceless gems. In a way, they were, but they were also normal items. When the last of the shoes were stuffed in the bottom of her wardrobe, Remus turned to face her. The flicker from the flames in the fireplace added creepy shadows to his face, making him look at least a hundred years old. She stood up.
"Remus, I've got some things to do before bed… it's been a really long day, so if you don't mind…" her voice trailed off and her eyes flickered towards the door.
"Oh.." he said, then "Oh! Alright, yes… I'm sure I'll see you again soon." With two steps forward, he had enveloped her in a warm hug, stroking her hair and just breathing in her essence. Katie thought to herself, 'this would be a lot better if it were coming from Severus..' then caught herself and shook those thoughts from her mind.
"Kate," Remus mumbled into her shoulder, "can you ever forgive me? For not being there to protect you?" his voice shook and he trembled slightly against her.
"Shh," Katie whispered and patted his back, "Don't worry, there's nothing I need to forgive you for. It's ok."
Pulling out of the hug, Remus stared at her and trailed a thumb down her cheek. "I thought… I thought I'd never see you again. Everybody believed you were dead and it was so hard to.. to believe you were still out there, still alive… and I'm babbling so I think I'll just shut up." He grinned and stepped back. "You look… beautiful. You look a lot like dad… but only with the girlish figure and all."
Katie giggled and blushed. A few minutes later, Remus had left and Katie brushed her hair and went down to the dungeons, where she found Severus in his office, refilling his tumbler with a large bottle of Ogdin's Famous Firewhiskey.
He looked up at her with an odd expression, like he hadn't expected her to come, but thought she was extremely beautiful now that she was there. Katie sat down in the chair in front of his desk and filled a glass of her own.
"Firewhiskey?" she queried aloud and he nodded.
"Well," he replied in a gruff, drunken tone, "what did you expect? Tea and crumpets?"
Giggling, Katie gazed at her tumbler uncertainly, then in one gulp, downed it. He stared at her in amazement and she glanced back.
"What?" she said.
Severus shook his head, still wide-eyed. "Drink a lot?" he replied, staring as she refilled her glass.
"Occasionally. There isn't a whole lot a witch can do in the Muggle world without a wand."
Severus seemed to take this in for a moment before nodding, and drinking his whiskey. Katie was watching him, wondering what seemed so different about him… it should have been obvious by now but…
Then she saw it. Along his jawline, a large bruise was deepening to a dark violet, standing out against his pale skin.
"So you and Remus… 'talked'… eh?" Katie asked, staring plainly at the bruise. Severus looked down to avoid her gaze and shrugged, not interested.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. We had a little discussion, that's all. Now… you tell me… why is he so interested in you?" At this, Severus jerked his head up and stared Katie in the eye, demanding an answer.
"What do you mean" She wasn't going to play this game. He wasn't going to avoid her questions and expect her to answer his.
"Why, pray tell, did Remus corner me in the dungeons and demand that I explain what was 'going on' between myself and you? Why did he seem so insistent to intimidate me into not talking to you anymore? What is going on here?" Severus set his glass down, his voice steadily rising. He looked angry, and a muscle in the corner of his mouth twitched.
"He… He told you not to talk to me anymore?"
He shrugged in response, and took a swig from his drink. "Does it matter? The point was made. He doesn't want me to talk to you anymore. And where do you get off talking to him? Do you even know what he is? Who his friends were?"
Now Katie was the angry one. She stood up. The hand holding her drink was trembling. "Who," she spoke clearly and sternly, her voice etched with danger, "are you to tell me who I can and cannot associate with? I am damn old enough to decide who I want to be friends with and nobody, and I mean NOBODY, is going to tell me otherwise."
At this, Katie slammed her glass down on his desk. He stared at her in shock, not replying. As she turned to leave, a thought came to her and she paused.
"Severus, while I went to Hogwarts, countless people asked me why I was even friends with you, why I would associate myself with someone who was obviously going to be a Death Eater. You know what I told them? I told them that I wanted to be friends with you, that you accepted who I was even when they didn't. Now, you can't accept who I want to be friends with? I'm sorry… Severus… I'm really sorry. I can't be friends with you if you can't handle me being friends with Remus as well."
As the door closed behind her, Severus broke out of his trance. "Katie! Katie, wait!" but she had already left. 'Damn' he thought to himself. Well… if she didn't want to be friends with him, that was fine with him.
That night, Katie couldn't sleep. She'd dozed a couple times, but thoughts of Severus always crept back into her mind. Eventually, she got tired of tossing and turning, and sat up. The clock near her bed said it was almost 2 in the morning.
Katie sighed and stretched, then stood up. Outside, the moon cast a misty glow over the grounds, illuminating the lake. Not a soul could be seen; even Hagrid's hut was dark.
Pulling a heavy blue cloak over her dark nightgown, she headed out of her bedroom, quietly stepping down the halls, and out to the lake where she found a nice, quiet spot under a tree. She sat down, leaning back against the rough bark, and stared across the glittering water.
From his window on the third floor, Remus watched her leave, having heard her footsteps down the hallway as she left. He leaned against the draperies of his window, while she crossed the grounds in her loafers and cloak, and then when she sat down, he grabbed his cloak, heading out as well.
Katie sighed and rested her forehead on her bent knees. Life used to be so simple, she thought. It used to be just school, homework, and Severus. Remus had been too busy with his friends and life to really spend any time with her, but that had been fine, because it would have made others suspicious. A Slytherin hanging around the best friend of the most popular Gryffindor? Neither of them would have ever gotten any peace then.
But now… Dumbledore was pressing her to remember what happened the night she disappeared. Severus wasn't talking to her, but she didn't want to talk to him either, (though, that was a lie,) and Remus…
She had to keep those two apart, if they had indeed fought like she suspected. As a Muggle, at least she had been certain about her future. She knew where she would be in a year, or at least she thought she did. Now everything was different.
Behind her, a twig snapped. Katie jerked her head around, her wand pointing at the source of the sound. "Who-… Remus?"
He stood there, smiling tiredly. "What are you doing out here this late, Kate?"
Pocketing her wand, Katie turned back towards the lake and shrugged. "Sitting… thinking."
"I see"
He came and sat down next to her. "Anything wrong?"
She shook her head, her dark hair falling over her shoulders in soft waves. "Not really…. Nothing really important, that is."
"Everything's important."
Katie sighed again and toyed with the edge of her cloak. "Severus… he and I had a fight."
"Oh." He reached over and took her hand, squeezing it in a brotherly fashion. "You may not think I understand, but I do. I know how close you two were… and even still are."
"You don't know… nobody does…" Katie chuckled quietly, then turned to face Remus. His light brown eyes stared into hers and he waited for her to explain.
"We're… telepathers. We can speak to each other telepathically. We've been able to do it ever since the first day of school."
Remus blinked and opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to change his mind and closed it again.
"I know what you're thinking, and no, he didn't know where I was when I disappeared. We lost touch after school, and I don't think he even knew anything happened."
After a moment, Remus nodded. "I understand." He said in an oddly choked voice. "But, why didn't you tell me before? Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Katie shrugged and looked away. "It really wasn't something we could go around publicizing. And I didn't really tell you because your friends already hated Severus enough. I mean, I don't blame you, but really… could you have understood then? Could you, would you have accepted it?"
Remus stared at her, shocked. Obviously he hadn't thought of it this way. As a boy, no, he wouldn't have been mature enough to understand it at all, and James and Sirius definitely would have tried to take advantage of it. "You're right," he finally admitted, "What did you and Severus fight about?"
Her dark blue eyes flickered in a brief show of pain, then she glanced away. "We ah…" she sighed. "You. We fought about you. He didn't want me to talk to you."
"Why not? What does it matter to him?"
"He doesn't know that we're related, and he thinks you're … well… like Sirius and James. He thinks you're going to hurt me, or get me into trouble. You know what Severus is like, always suspicious and hardly forgiving." At this, Katie looked towards the castle and sighed. She didn't dare talk to Severus now, after what she said to him. How could one take back words like that? 'I didn't mean it when I said I didn't want to be friends with you.' ? That sounded so stupid, even in her head. She would just have to wait for him to come around and apologize for what he said about Remus.
The week passed by quickly, and soon it was the first day of school again. Severus still hadn't apologized, and Katie had taken to spending a lot of time with Remus, talking about his life since school. He'd told her a lot about Sirius, and what had happened two years ago, with Sirius escaping from Azkaban. He'd written to Sirius, explaining how Kate had been his sister, and told him about her coming back and all.
They arranged to meet at Remus's house where Sirius had been laying low, around Holloween.
Katie sat nervously at the Head Table, between Remus and Professor McGonagall's empty chair, four seats away from Severus, who looked more ill-tempered than she'd ever seen him as an adult. She understood immediately why the children at Diagon Alley had avoided him like they had.
Twice, she'd caught Severus looking at her, and countless other times, felt his gaze. Maybe he was ready to apologize?
Harry sat next to Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, staring up at the Head Table in surprise. "They didn't start a new subject this year, did they?" he asked Hermione, who scanned the list of subjects in her letter.
"Nope! I wonder who she is." Hermione glanced over at Ron, who was not looking up at the Head Table, but over at the Slytherins. "I dunno," he replied distractedly, "but the Slytherins don't look too happy to see Lupin, do they?" He pointed at Malfoy, who looked positively furious.
The Slytherins were all glaring at the Head Table in disgust, but the other houses didn't seem to mind much at the return of Lupin. They were all talking like normal, and some of them seemed equally curious as Hermione and Harry at who the woman next to Lupin was.
"Maybe she's Lupin's wife!" one of the younger Gryffindors down the table exclaimed. "Don't be stupid," Ron shot back. "He's not married!"
But then, in a quieter voice, he turned to Harry, "Is he? Really, I mean, I didn't think he was, but wouldn't Sirius say something?"
Harry shook his head. "Sirius would have definitely said something. That girl's not his wife. Besides, he's a werewolf. Who'd marry a werewolf?"
Before they could further speculate, all the lights went out except for the floating candles above the tables. Everybody turned to face the Great Hall doors, and the nervous first years being led in by a stern looking Professor McGonagall. Filch followed them, carrying a three-legged stool and the Sorting Hat. It was patched and worn as usual, and Filch sat it down in front of the Head Table, then turned and bowed to the Headmaster.
A few of the students whispered then a rip appeared in the brim of the hat. As with every other year, it's song was long and impressive, and when it finished, the students all clapped; more out of habit than appreciation.
Amid whispers, Professor McGonagall unrolled a long parchment to read the names of the first years.
"I can't figure out who she is!" Hermione whispered, frusterated. She had been going over her school letters, and teachers lists in search of mention of a new female teacher. "It doesn't mention any assistants or teachers, so she must be somebody's relative or something. Maybe she's Dumbledore's daughter…"
"That doesn't explain why Snape keeps looking at her. Maybe she's Snape's wife." Harry suggested.
Ron choked on his glass of water and spit it out over the table, to the disgust of a couple third years. "Snape?! Married? That's even more unlikely than Lupin being married! And besides, why wouldn't she be sitting by Snape if they were married?"
Hermione shrugged as the last of the students got sorted. "If it means so much to you, why don't we go up and ask them when dinner is over?"
Ron stared at her as if she was crazy but Harry glanced up at the Head Table just in time to see Snape shoot a dirty look at Lupin, who just ignored it. "Alright, we'll go up and ask."
Just then, Dumbledore stood up for his speech.
"I want to welcome you back from summer break, hoping you're all fresh and ready for a year of books, teachers and in some cases," he glanced at Fred and George, "detentions."
A few students snickered and Fred feigned shock. "Who, us?" he laughed.
"Continuing on, I would like to announce the return of our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin."
Some students clapped, but a few of the Slytherins just scowled and whispered amongst themselves.
"Because of recent developments… err.. particularly concerning Voldemort," a few students gasped, "there will be very few Hogsmeade trips, and what trips we do allow will be closely supervised. I am sure you all understand these added precautions." He glanced around to the other teachers. "I think that's about it." Then, waving his hand in a grand gesture across the hall, he smiled and sat down. Immediately, the plates filled with food.
Katie couldn't eat, though. She was lost in her memories of her Sorting. The day couldn't have more different. Instead of the bright sunshine outside today, they'd had a horrible rainstorm, with wind howling all around, blowing most of the boats off course. Professor McGonagall had come outside to help them get across, summoning the boats back on track with a flick of her wand.
"You will wait here," she told them all when they got inside, soaked from the rain. With that, McGonagall had turned and entered the Great Hall, leaving the dripping first years out in the hallway.
After what seemed like ages, Professor McGonagall came back out. "Follow me, students, double-file. Hurry now…" She turned and entered the Great Hall, with all the water-logged students following her.
"Kate," Katie heard her name whispered, and jerked out of her reverie.
"Huh?" she turned to Remus to find him staring at her with a very odd expression.
"You ok?"
Nodding, she turned back to her food, which had grown slightly colder than she would have liked.
Remus seemed satisfied, though, and turned back to his plate. This gave Katie a chance to think again about the moment the Sorting Hat touched her head.
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Aaaaannd.. I think I'll leave it at that for now! Muahaha. I will tell you, though, next chapter will answer some questions about Katie's roots, plus we'll hopefully get a Katie/Malfoy confrontation. The Sorting Hat's remarks will interest you, if you're curious as to what/who Katie really is in this story.
Credits go to the parties mentioned above, and also Cassandra Claire and J.L. Matthews, whose stories I've been reading lately, so if any of their quotes, ideas, or even characters make their way into here, it's their fault for writing their stories in such a way that it makes a permanent indent in your mind. Go read the Slytherin Rising stories by J.L. Matthews, and the Draco trilogy by Cassandra Claire. Go read them now and you WON'T be disappointed! So thank you, girls, for writing those wonderful, awesome, great stories and not being mad if any hint of those stories makes it into mine. In fact, if anyone wants to believe that I took my ideas for this story from them, that's fine, because they're wonderful writers, and to think that I am even close to being as good as them is an honor.