By the night of the Yule Ball, Kate had decided just to stay in Gryffindor
Tower. She helped all the other girls with their toilettes. After Harry
had decided to go with Cho, the only person to ask her was Gregory Goyle,
and she had turned him down flat. Kate had a feeling that Malfoy had told
him to do it. Ron and Hermione, who were going together, Ron having asked
Hermione as soon as he heard about the dance, expressed worry that Kate
would be alone. She reassured them and sent them down to the feast. Once
everyone was gone, Kate plopped down in a chair and read an enjoyable book.
Wanderer stood watch at the window, and Orion, who decided to be a pain in
the butt, sat on Kate's lap. On top of the book. He mewed at her pitifully.
"Like I was going to go by myself, or worse, with Goyle, who hates me? You're a big, dumb ball of fluff, you know that?"
"Why not go by yourself," it was Professor McGonagall, " I know your aunt sent you a dress and robes, Katherine. Why not put them to use, go down and enjoy yourself.. I'll help you get ready and one of the Professors will come to escort you down."
One of the professors, indeed! Kate supressed a shiver at the embarassment of such an action. "I could go down alone," she said hopefully.
"No, you can't do that. It isn't quite safe to do that. You've been in the hospital wing enough already this year. Besides, we've already had a volunteer."
"Oh, all right," she said and put on her dress, "Hope it isn't Snape," she muttered, loud enough for only Wanderer and Orion to hear. Orion, with the typical feline sense of humor, snorted. Wanderer merely cocked his head and blinked. McGonagall took Kate's dark hair down from the customary braids and brushed the long silky waves. Then she muttered a spell, "Estellarius!"
All over Kate's head, tiny lights shimmered and sparkled; miniscule stars, showing bright against her tresses. Kate finished with her other things, pulling on the robes over the dress. The dress itself was blue in one light, silver in another. It had been the one birthday present her aunt had sent. The navy trim of the gown contrasted nicely. Over this, her robes were navy, with silver star points all over it, and pearlescent white trim. Her shoes were heeled 'faerie slippers,' silvery white, sparkling with faerie dust.
"You look lovely, dear. You do your aunt and Gryffindor House credit. I'll let you finish up now. You'll meet your escort at the bottom of the staircase." And Professor McGonagall was gone.
Kate tucked the silver pendant under the neckline of the dress. She stood tall, proud, facing her pets as they looked on, the robes and gown pooling about her. The moonlight from the window spilled over her, her entire body set afire with silver radiance. She looked in the big mirror a moment, then went to her cupboard. She got out her staff, weighing the silver rod in her hands. She nodded her heads, and carried it with her. She pulled the pendant from it's hiding place, comparing the two. Kate had never noticed, but the two pieces matched. The blue crystal in the staff shimmered encouragingly.
She opened the portrait of the Fat Lady and stepped out onto the landing. "Have fun, my dear," the Fat Lady called after her, then said to her friend Violet, " She looks like her aunt, Golden Gwen… Only she's quite a silverhair by the look of her."
At the bottom of the staircase, a tall man in unrelieved black robes waited for her. The man turned and let out a rather forced breath. She stopped four stairs from the bottom, on hand pipping her pendant, the other grasping the staff with whitened knuckles. "Damn!" she thought. "Professor Snape," she said, rather frostily, "How kind of you to make certain I reach the Great Hall in safety," she began to glide past, but stopped when he took hold of her arm. His hard look was mirrored by her look of haughty anger.
"You will be escorted to the Great Hall like a proper lady. And you will behave like one tonight, if I have to take you over my knee and beat manners into you. You're a Rhys, no matter that your father was a Muggle."
" Raise a hand to me and you'll find out that mouths aren't the only thing I can manipulate with a dull needle. And, by the way, some people think that I'm even more powerful this way. Unlike Malfoy, that little inbred sneak-cup," she replied, eyes so darkened as to be coal black.
"Your mouth will get you in trouble one of these days, Miss Rhys," Snape said, putting a finger to her lips.
"I certainly hope so. I'd rather get in trouble of my own volition than by chance the way Harry does."
"Harry Potter deserves to be treated like everyone else." Snape began to glower. Kate's back was up as well, she was beginning to enjoy the sparring matches with Snape.
"Indeed? I've heard that you've detested him since day one."
" Oh, so you're to be the new president of his fan club?" Snape said nastily.
Kate smiled, " I can't possibly fit it into my schedule. It seems I have my own fan club to run. Ah, the Great Hall. ' Moonlight, stars bright, announce my presence here this night,'" she whispered as Snape opened the door for her. They entered and she took two steps ahead of him, enough for the entire assembled school to gasp at her amazing transformation from tomboy to enchantress. A bolt of light shot down on her, illuminating hre entire figure. Kate threw a smug, cat-like smile to Snape and then took flight, her feet barely touching the stones of the floor as she reached the table where her friends sat.
"How was that for an entrance? I could swear I heard jaws hitting the floor," she laughed with a toss of her head as she sat down with Ron, Hermione, Harry and Cho. There was an empty seat, Kate did not have a date. "But why on earth did they have to send Snape? I just about turned back when I saw that he was there to fetch me."
"Dumbledore is going to make an announcement. He asked someone to go and fetch you. He let McGonagall to help you get ready and Snape volunteered to go and get you." Ron said.
"What's it about?" She asked.
"Don't know, he noticed you weren't here, told someone to go and make sure you were coming." Hermione said. The room quieted suddenly. Dumbledore had risen.
The old wizard began, " Before we have our feast, I would like to announce that we have made a great discovery. We have located, in a hidden room, a portrait of one of the most famous enchantresses of all time. The portrait has been restored and we wish for her most recent descendent to help me unveil it for us. Miss Rhys, would you be so kind as to come up here? Now, take this cord and I shall take the other. One, two, three, and pull! Behold, here is Morgana Le Fey." Dumbledore said jovially.
Kate took a step back to look at the portrait, but her intake of breath was lost amongst the dropping of silverware and glasses… The portrait which looked back from the silver gilt frame was that of a girl of about twenty… who had Kate's face! The only difference were her eyes, they were gold where Kate's were blue.
"Quite remarkable. Kate, my dear, you must touch your wand to the canvas, and she will be able to move about and talk."
Kate didn't use her wand, but her staff, and suddenly, the picture looked down on her. "You're one of mine, aren't you? You've the look about you. Your eyes aren't of Le Fey though. No, I'd say your father gave you those eyes. Merlin's eyes, and you wear the pendant. He must have given it to you. The rest, why you look just like me. What a treat, it isn't every day that one knows a prophecy will be fullfilled, now is it?"
"Now, my dear, go to your seat and the feast will begin," Dumbledore said and led her back to her table. Kate walked back amid hushed whispers. She sat, pale as a ghost herself.
"Wicked, ain't it?"
"Ron, I don't want to talk about it. It's too weird. There's one thing I don't understand, though. What did she mean by Merlin's eyes? All of my dad's family had brown eyes. And she knows something about my necklace." Kate only picked at her food after that.
Hermione stood when the band began to play, "The dancing is ready to start," She said.
"So," Kate replied, " Everyone must dance the first with their partner. I don't have one."
"I'll dance the next with you, Kate," Harry said. Then, one by one, several other boys offered to dance with her.
"I'll want to sit a couple out, I fear for my feet," she laughed. As the music started, she got up as well, walking about the edges of the dance floor. She tapped her feet to the solemn beat of of the first dance. She found herself looking at the painting.
"Uncanny, is it not?" a whispered voice reached her. Snape.
"It happens, I've heard. Every other generation… every ten generations, there is no great difference."
"Katherine Silverhair, that's what they call you, little lark. However, you've likely not heard that often. Your aunt, I've heard, flies into a temper when she hears that name spoken… rather like when she hears the name Sirius Black. Does Golden Gwen not like competition?"
"Oh be quiet, you odious man," the painting of Morgana snapped at him, "She's only a child. And few know of the prophecy. If she wasn't told, it was for a good reason. Now, go away, unless you want to dance with her. She looks to be mad after dancing, can't keep her feet still even now," Morgana said, glancing down at the long, elegant foot tapping out the beat.
"My Lady Katherine?" Snape bowed, " I would be honored if you would dance with me?"
"I cannot, I am engaged for this next dance," she said quickly.
"This dance is not even half over. Why miss out?"
"All right, I'll dance," she was too tired to argue with him, and he bowed to her and led her into the dance.
She began to feel the tempo pounding through her veins, and then she was unaware of anything save the swirling colors, the swish of fine fabrics, and the dizzying intoxication of movement. She danced with a wild abandon so very unlike her normal self, even her fierce rages were not so reckless as this. It was when the Sidhe in her was closest to the surface and many people stopped to watch. Snape had a very hard time of it, keeping up with her.
As they slowed to the finish, Snape whispered to her, "Katherine, Katherine. Come back to us. Come back to our world." She gazed back at him with starry eyes, utterly breathless with sheer delight. She looked like a star herself in those robes, all silvery in the moonlight.
"I can see that the painting was right, you are mad after dancing. Your aunt was just that way," he said. Then Harry was coming over as the band readied to play the next piece. His green robes shone like a beacon of hope to her.
"Harry!" she called out.
"Professor. Kate, I think this is our dance," Harry bowed to her as a slow waltz began. Once they were far enough away from Snape, she leaned her head to his ear and whispered, "Thanks for rescuing me. I was in danger of being sneered to death. That damned painting told him to dance with me. The head of Slytherin. I couldn't think of an excuse. But oh, the dancing was wonderful!"
Harry grinned and teased her, "Dancing with Snape?"
"Just dancing. I can't seem to keep still when there is a bright moon and the stars are about. 'Tis such a fair night."
"You're nutters, you know that?"
"Yes, of course. Aren't we all? Hey, Snape's over talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall. Dance us over that way, I want to hear what they're saying." They danced closer and heard the three teachers conversing.
" Albus, what was that painting talking about? What is the prophecy about the girl?" Professor McGonagall was saying.
"We shall meet in my office in twenty minutes time. I'll tell you what I know then," Dumbledore replied. Harry thought he looked rather tired. They danced away from where the teachers stood, towards the middle of the floor.
"We need to find out what's going on. I don't like it that people know something about me that I don't." Kate whispered.
"If we go now, we can get my Invisibility Cloak and hide in the office."
"What about Cho?" Kate asked him. Harry gave her a measuring look.
"We'll just say that you're sick and I'm going to help you up to Gryffindor Tower. We'll ask permission of Professor Flitwick."
Ten minutes later, they stood outside Dumbledore's office, quietly trying to find the right password. Finally, Kate, exasperated, started on her favorite Muggle treats, "Peanut butter fudge? Reeses Pieces, um…. Snickers, Butterfinger, Almond Joy?" she paused, thinking hard, then she said in disgust something she'd heard her aunt say often in vexation, "Tutti- Frutti Jello!" The gargoyle slid open. " It worked!" she excaimed and they hurried in, hearing voices down the hall. They hid underneath a cabinet, squeezing themselves in just as the door opened and Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape walked in.
"The girl knows nothing of this and I don't want word getting around. The wrong ears could hear it. When the child was born here at Hogwarts sixteen years ago, she was taken from her mother and put in the care of a relative. This was both for the child's safety and the mother's. Kate does not know her mother is alive." Dumbledore began.
Kate's soft intake of breath from underneath the Invisibility Cloak was drowned in the sharp gasps made by the teachers. If Katherine wasn't Anwen Rhys' daughter, then whose was she?
"When it was fairly certain that the most dangerous of Voldemort's minions had been dealt with, the mother was allowed to go and live near Kate, who had been given to her sister. Yes, Severus, Gwendolyn Rhys is not her aunt, but her mother."
Snape paled visibly, swallowed, then asked, "Who is the girl's father. It surely wasn't that Muggle that Anwen married. Who is the father?"
"That I do not know. Gwen is the only person who would know for sure. The child is meant to find something of great worth and power. It was said that the Child Silverhair was to wield the two swords, Dyrnwyn Dragonstar and Caelvich Starfire. There is one more thing about the night of her birth, which even I cannot explain. I had taken the baby to my office to wait for Anwen. I left her under the care of Fawkes here for a minute or so, I had to send Hagrid to the Potters'. When I came back she was wearing the silver pendant which she is never without. From what little I could find out about it, the piece is a protection and birth-charm. I know nothing more about it, or how she could have gotten it," Dumbledore replied.
Harry, listening under the Invisibility Cloak, felt Kate trembling beside him. She hadn't known! She was shaking like a leaf by the time they got back to Gryffindor Tower. She raced into the girls' dormitory and came out again a few minutes later, changed out of her dress robes and in a pair of jeans, a sweater, jacket and a pair of sturdy boots. Her arms were full of scrolls, her silver staff and her sleek Moonlight Pursuer broomstick. Orion followed, obviously unhappy at having been woken. Wanderer was at the windowsill, still on watch.
"I'm outta here," she growled to the astonished group in the common group, "I can't take any more of this. I thought the Forest of Illusion would drive me insane; Hogwarts is doing a far better job," she looked ready to rip apart the person nearest to her, "I don't even know who I am anymore. Orion! On the broom. Wanderer, follow me." Harry and Ron made a move to stop her from mounting, and she turned on them, like some wild creature, " Try and stop me and I will lay a curse on you to make the ten plagues of Egypt look like a day at Disneyland," she snarled.
Opening the largest window, she sat astride her broom, all her books and other things in her bag, the staff balanced crossways on her back. Orion settled himself at the end of the broom. The kestrel unfolded his wings and looked askance at Kate, he was not overly fond of night flying.
"I'll let you know when I've gotten to where I'm going. Don't bother looking for me," and with that, she was gone: a silver streak in the moonlight. The three left in the common room stood aghast at her fierce words and manner. Hermione began to speak, as though reading from a book.
"She can hide anywhere, wherever the moonlight or the starlight touches. Being half- Daoine Sidhe, that is how she gains that monumental power. And if her father is a wizard, that means she is not only as unpredictable as the Fey, but she's got more control over her thoughts and actions, if not her
temper; she could perform the most complex spells, and not have a whit of conscience about hurting someone," Hermione said, " I wouldn't want to cross her path this night; I daresay even You-Know-Who could be reduced to ashes under that..... That maelstrom."
"We have to tell Dumbledore. He'll know what to do," Ron muttered.
"Like what? You didn't see her, she was in complete shock. It would be like learning my mother was alive after all that has happened. She's just had her world turned upside down. I say we let her cool off, for a day or two at least. If she isn't back by Thursday, we'll tell Dumbledore. Since Christmas holidays are here, she should be back soon" Harry said. He then told them of what they heard in the teachers' conference. " I wonder why Snape went off the handle the way he did, when he learned. Seemed rather
possessed."
" Well, Gwen Rhys told Kate and me that he was 'in the running.' Maybe he's Kate's dad?" Hermione said, horrified, then amended herself, "Though, she looked really sad when Kate asked if there was someone else.... Whoever this other guy is, either him or Snape is her dad , I'm sure of it. Dumbledore
himself said Gwen would not tell him. Oh, I'm glad Rita Skeeter doesn't know about this! What a field day she'd have on it!"
"Like I was going to go by myself, or worse, with Goyle, who hates me? You're a big, dumb ball of fluff, you know that?"
"Why not go by yourself," it was Professor McGonagall, " I know your aunt sent you a dress and robes, Katherine. Why not put them to use, go down and enjoy yourself.. I'll help you get ready and one of the Professors will come to escort you down."
One of the professors, indeed! Kate supressed a shiver at the embarassment of such an action. "I could go down alone," she said hopefully.
"No, you can't do that. It isn't quite safe to do that. You've been in the hospital wing enough already this year. Besides, we've already had a volunteer."
"Oh, all right," she said and put on her dress, "Hope it isn't Snape," she muttered, loud enough for only Wanderer and Orion to hear. Orion, with the typical feline sense of humor, snorted. Wanderer merely cocked his head and blinked. McGonagall took Kate's dark hair down from the customary braids and brushed the long silky waves. Then she muttered a spell, "Estellarius!"
All over Kate's head, tiny lights shimmered and sparkled; miniscule stars, showing bright against her tresses. Kate finished with her other things, pulling on the robes over the dress. The dress itself was blue in one light, silver in another. It had been the one birthday present her aunt had sent. The navy trim of the gown contrasted nicely. Over this, her robes were navy, with silver star points all over it, and pearlescent white trim. Her shoes were heeled 'faerie slippers,' silvery white, sparkling with faerie dust.
"You look lovely, dear. You do your aunt and Gryffindor House credit. I'll let you finish up now. You'll meet your escort at the bottom of the staircase." And Professor McGonagall was gone.
Kate tucked the silver pendant under the neckline of the dress. She stood tall, proud, facing her pets as they looked on, the robes and gown pooling about her. The moonlight from the window spilled over her, her entire body set afire with silver radiance. She looked in the big mirror a moment, then went to her cupboard. She got out her staff, weighing the silver rod in her hands. She nodded her heads, and carried it with her. She pulled the pendant from it's hiding place, comparing the two. Kate had never noticed, but the two pieces matched. The blue crystal in the staff shimmered encouragingly.
She opened the portrait of the Fat Lady and stepped out onto the landing. "Have fun, my dear," the Fat Lady called after her, then said to her friend Violet, " She looks like her aunt, Golden Gwen… Only she's quite a silverhair by the look of her."
At the bottom of the staircase, a tall man in unrelieved black robes waited for her. The man turned and let out a rather forced breath. She stopped four stairs from the bottom, on hand pipping her pendant, the other grasping the staff with whitened knuckles. "Damn!" she thought. "Professor Snape," she said, rather frostily, "How kind of you to make certain I reach the Great Hall in safety," she began to glide past, but stopped when he took hold of her arm. His hard look was mirrored by her look of haughty anger.
"You will be escorted to the Great Hall like a proper lady. And you will behave like one tonight, if I have to take you over my knee and beat manners into you. You're a Rhys, no matter that your father was a Muggle."
" Raise a hand to me and you'll find out that mouths aren't the only thing I can manipulate with a dull needle. And, by the way, some people think that I'm even more powerful this way. Unlike Malfoy, that little inbred sneak-cup," she replied, eyes so darkened as to be coal black.
"Your mouth will get you in trouble one of these days, Miss Rhys," Snape said, putting a finger to her lips.
"I certainly hope so. I'd rather get in trouble of my own volition than by chance the way Harry does."
"Harry Potter deserves to be treated like everyone else." Snape began to glower. Kate's back was up as well, she was beginning to enjoy the sparring matches with Snape.
"Indeed? I've heard that you've detested him since day one."
" Oh, so you're to be the new president of his fan club?" Snape said nastily.
Kate smiled, " I can't possibly fit it into my schedule. It seems I have my own fan club to run. Ah, the Great Hall. ' Moonlight, stars bright, announce my presence here this night,'" she whispered as Snape opened the door for her. They entered and she took two steps ahead of him, enough for the entire assembled school to gasp at her amazing transformation from tomboy to enchantress. A bolt of light shot down on her, illuminating hre entire figure. Kate threw a smug, cat-like smile to Snape and then took flight, her feet barely touching the stones of the floor as she reached the table where her friends sat.
"How was that for an entrance? I could swear I heard jaws hitting the floor," she laughed with a toss of her head as she sat down with Ron, Hermione, Harry and Cho. There was an empty seat, Kate did not have a date. "But why on earth did they have to send Snape? I just about turned back when I saw that he was there to fetch me."
"Dumbledore is going to make an announcement. He asked someone to go and fetch you. He let McGonagall to help you get ready and Snape volunteered to go and get you." Ron said.
"What's it about?" She asked.
"Don't know, he noticed you weren't here, told someone to go and make sure you were coming." Hermione said. The room quieted suddenly. Dumbledore had risen.
The old wizard began, " Before we have our feast, I would like to announce that we have made a great discovery. We have located, in a hidden room, a portrait of one of the most famous enchantresses of all time. The portrait has been restored and we wish for her most recent descendent to help me unveil it for us. Miss Rhys, would you be so kind as to come up here? Now, take this cord and I shall take the other. One, two, three, and pull! Behold, here is Morgana Le Fey." Dumbledore said jovially.
Kate took a step back to look at the portrait, but her intake of breath was lost amongst the dropping of silverware and glasses… The portrait which looked back from the silver gilt frame was that of a girl of about twenty… who had Kate's face! The only difference were her eyes, they were gold where Kate's were blue.
"Quite remarkable. Kate, my dear, you must touch your wand to the canvas, and she will be able to move about and talk."
Kate didn't use her wand, but her staff, and suddenly, the picture looked down on her. "You're one of mine, aren't you? You've the look about you. Your eyes aren't of Le Fey though. No, I'd say your father gave you those eyes. Merlin's eyes, and you wear the pendant. He must have given it to you. The rest, why you look just like me. What a treat, it isn't every day that one knows a prophecy will be fullfilled, now is it?"
"Now, my dear, go to your seat and the feast will begin," Dumbledore said and led her back to her table. Kate walked back amid hushed whispers. She sat, pale as a ghost herself.
"Wicked, ain't it?"
"Ron, I don't want to talk about it. It's too weird. There's one thing I don't understand, though. What did she mean by Merlin's eyes? All of my dad's family had brown eyes. And she knows something about my necklace." Kate only picked at her food after that.
Hermione stood when the band began to play, "The dancing is ready to start," She said.
"So," Kate replied, " Everyone must dance the first with their partner. I don't have one."
"I'll dance the next with you, Kate," Harry said. Then, one by one, several other boys offered to dance with her.
"I'll want to sit a couple out, I fear for my feet," she laughed. As the music started, she got up as well, walking about the edges of the dance floor. She tapped her feet to the solemn beat of of the first dance. She found herself looking at the painting.
"Uncanny, is it not?" a whispered voice reached her. Snape.
"It happens, I've heard. Every other generation… every ten generations, there is no great difference."
"Katherine Silverhair, that's what they call you, little lark. However, you've likely not heard that often. Your aunt, I've heard, flies into a temper when she hears that name spoken… rather like when she hears the name Sirius Black. Does Golden Gwen not like competition?"
"Oh be quiet, you odious man," the painting of Morgana snapped at him, "She's only a child. And few know of the prophecy. If she wasn't told, it was for a good reason. Now, go away, unless you want to dance with her. She looks to be mad after dancing, can't keep her feet still even now," Morgana said, glancing down at the long, elegant foot tapping out the beat.
"My Lady Katherine?" Snape bowed, " I would be honored if you would dance with me?"
"I cannot, I am engaged for this next dance," she said quickly.
"This dance is not even half over. Why miss out?"
"All right, I'll dance," she was too tired to argue with him, and he bowed to her and led her into the dance.
She began to feel the tempo pounding through her veins, and then she was unaware of anything save the swirling colors, the swish of fine fabrics, and the dizzying intoxication of movement. She danced with a wild abandon so very unlike her normal self, even her fierce rages were not so reckless as this. It was when the Sidhe in her was closest to the surface and many people stopped to watch. Snape had a very hard time of it, keeping up with her.
As they slowed to the finish, Snape whispered to her, "Katherine, Katherine. Come back to us. Come back to our world." She gazed back at him with starry eyes, utterly breathless with sheer delight. She looked like a star herself in those robes, all silvery in the moonlight.
"I can see that the painting was right, you are mad after dancing. Your aunt was just that way," he said. Then Harry was coming over as the band readied to play the next piece. His green robes shone like a beacon of hope to her.
"Harry!" she called out.
"Professor. Kate, I think this is our dance," Harry bowed to her as a slow waltz began. Once they were far enough away from Snape, she leaned her head to his ear and whispered, "Thanks for rescuing me. I was in danger of being sneered to death. That damned painting told him to dance with me. The head of Slytherin. I couldn't think of an excuse. But oh, the dancing was wonderful!"
Harry grinned and teased her, "Dancing with Snape?"
"Just dancing. I can't seem to keep still when there is a bright moon and the stars are about. 'Tis such a fair night."
"You're nutters, you know that?"
"Yes, of course. Aren't we all? Hey, Snape's over talking to Dumbledore and McGonagall. Dance us over that way, I want to hear what they're saying." They danced closer and heard the three teachers conversing.
" Albus, what was that painting talking about? What is the prophecy about the girl?" Professor McGonagall was saying.
"We shall meet in my office in twenty minutes time. I'll tell you what I know then," Dumbledore replied. Harry thought he looked rather tired. They danced away from where the teachers stood, towards the middle of the floor.
"We need to find out what's going on. I don't like it that people know something about me that I don't." Kate whispered.
"If we go now, we can get my Invisibility Cloak and hide in the office."
"What about Cho?" Kate asked him. Harry gave her a measuring look.
"We'll just say that you're sick and I'm going to help you up to Gryffindor Tower. We'll ask permission of Professor Flitwick."
Ten minutes later, they stood outside Dumbledore's office, quietly trying to find the right password. Finally, Kate, exasperated, started on her favorite Muggle treats, "Peanut butter fudge? Reeses Pieces, um…. Snickers, Butterfinger, Almond Joy?" she paused, thinking hard, then she said in disgust something she'd heard her aunt say often in vexation, "Tutti- Frutti Jello!" The gargoyle slid open. " It worked!" she excaimed and they hurried in, hearing voices down the hall. They hid underneath a cabinet, squeezing themselves in just as the door opened and Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape walked in.
"The girl knows nothing of this and I don't want word getting around. The wrong ears could hear it. When the child was born here at Hogwarts sixteen years ago, she was taken from her mother and put in the care of a relative. This was both for the child's safety and the mother's. Kate does not know her mother is alive." Dumbledore began.
Kate's soft intake of breath from underneath the Invisibility Cloak was drowned in the sharp gasps made by the teachers. If Katherine wasn't Anwen Rhys' daughter, then whose was she?
"When it was fairly certain that the most dangerous of Voldemort's minions had been dealt with, the mother was allowed to go and live near Kate, who had been given to her sister. Yes, Severus, Gwendolyn Rhys is not her aunt, but her mother."
Snape paled visibly, swallowed, then asked, "Who is the girl's father. It surely wasn't that Muggle that Anwen married. Who is the father?"
"That I do not know. Gwen is the only person who would know for sure. The child is meant to find something of great worth and power. It was said that the Child Silverhair was to wield the two swords, Dyrnwyn Dragonstar and Caelvich Starfire. There is one more thing about the night of her birth, which even I cannot explain. I had taken the baby to my office to wait for Anwen. I left her under the care of Fawkes here for a minute or so, I had to send Hagrid to the Potters'. When I came back she was wearing the silver pendant which she is never without. From what little I could find out about it, the piece is a protection and birth-charm. I know nothing more about it, or how she could have gotten it," Dumbledore replied.
Harry, listening under the Invisibility Cloak, felt Kate trembling beside him. She hadn't known! She was shaking like a leaf by the time they got back to Gryffindor Tower. She raced into the girls' dormitory and came out again a few minutes later, changed out of her dress robes and in a pair of jeans, a sweater, jacket and a pair of sturdy boots. Her arms were full of scrolls, her silver staff and her sleek Moonlight Pursuer broomstick. Orion followed, obviously unhappy at having been woken. Wanderer was at the windowsill, still on watch.
"I'm outta here," she growled to the astonished group in the common group, "I can't take any more of this. I thought the Forest of Illusion would drive me insane; Hogwarts is doing a far better job," she looked ready to rip apart the person nearest to her, "I don't even know who I am anymore. Orion! On the broom. Wanderer, follow me." Harry and Ron made a move to stop her from mounting, and she turned on them, like some wild creature, " Try and stop me and I will lay a curse on you to make the ten plagues of Egypt look like a day at Disneyland," she snarled.
Opening the largest window, she sat astride her broom, all her books and other things in her bag, the staff balanced crossways on her back. Orion settled himself at the end of the broom. The kestrel unfolded his wings and looked askance at Kate, he was not overly fond of night flying.
"I'll let you know when I've gotten to where I'm going. Don't bother looking for me," and with that, she was gone: a silver streak in the moonlight. The three left in the common room stood aghast at her fierce words and manner. Hermione began to speak, as though reading from a book.
"She can hide anywhere, wherever the moonlight or the starlight touches. Being half- Daoine Sidhe, that is how she gains that monumental power. And if her father is a wizard, that means she is not only as unpredictable as the Fey, but she's got more control over her thoughts and actions, if not her
temper; she could perform the most complex spells, and not have a whit of conscience about hurting someone," Hermione said, " I wouldn't want to cross her path this night; I daresay even You-Know-Who could be reduced to ashes under that..... That maelstrom."
"We have to tell Dumbledore. He'll know what to do," Ron muttered.
"Like what? You didn't see her, she was in complete shock. It would be like learning my mother was alive after all that has happened. She's just had her world turned upside down. I say we let her cool off, for a day or two at least. If she isn't back by Thursday, we'll tell Dumbledore. Since Christmas holidays are here, she should be back soon" Harry said. He then told them of what they heard in the teachers' conference. " I wonder why Snape went off the handle the way he did, when he learned. Seemed rather
possessed."
" Well, Gwen Rhys told Kate and me that he was 'in the running.' Maybe he's Kate's dad?" Hermione said, horrified, then amended herself, "Though, she looked really sad when Kate asked if there was someone else.... Whoever this other guy is, either him or Snape is her dad , I'm sure of it. Dumbledore
himself said Gwen would not tell him. Oh, I'm glad Rita Skeeter doesn't know about this! What a field day she'd have on it!"