Here is the chapter that you've all been waiting for!!!! Kate, Harry,
Hermione and Ron become animagi! Kate finds out who her father is! And
underneath it all, a dark figure waits to destory everything. And for once
it's not Voldemort! Usual disclaimers, Kate, Gwen, Orion, Wanderer and now
the wicked Loenzo are the only characters who I own, though as everyone
must know, no one really can own Orion, he tolerates me because I made him
up.
K.S.
The idea of Lorenzo, out there lurking, waiting for an opportunity to strike drove Gwen to accept Dumbledore's idea of creating a class for the second half of the school-year, Fey Studies. It seemed like everyone loved the class, as well as the instructor. Gwen simply let everyone fall in love with her, and her class was just as well kept as either McGonagall's or Snape's, as well as being more popular.
Kate was the only student required to take Fey Studies, and though she understood her mother's reasoning, she loathed the manipulation the adults displayed her. Of course she retaliated, using whatever means necessary, magical or Muggle. It was through her frustration and boredom that she incited Harry, Ron and Hermione to start working on the Animagi book.
Kate pushed her friends hard, and herself even harder. By the time Christmas holidays were over, she had began the rudimentary changes necessary in becoming an animagus. She found it fascinating that one could tell what they would eventually transform into by looking at one's shadow. She was up most nights, if not working, then pacing up and down the girls' dormitory, going mad from inaction.
Finally, they had managed the preliminaries, right after classes started again, mostly due from Hewmione's studies and Kate's manic, suppressed energy.
Once they had found what they were best suited as, they performed the transfiguration spell.
Hermione was the first to get the spell right. She turned into a great snowy owl, larger than Hedwig. When she'd turned back into herself, she looked about. They had met in an empty classroom, so that no one knew what they were up to. The invisibility cloak as well as the Mauraders' Map assured their privacy.
"It's amazing! Totally different from flying on a broomstick or even riding Buckbeak." Hermione exclaimed
"I think we ought to make up nicknames, like Sirius and my dad did," Harry said.
"Hermione should be Lightwing. She just seems to float on the air," Kate murmured.
"Let me try,"Ron said, muttering the spell. Quite suddenly he was gone with a pop. Where he had stood was a bear-cub, half grown.
"I was hoping for something a little more inimidating," he said, and the other three grinned.
"Don't worry, Ron, you'll grow into a very intimidating animagus." Harry said.
Then it was Harry's turn. He stood very still, mouth barely moving, his eyes rather crossed. Then the other three had to jump back suddenly, for there stood a great red and gold beast, flexing wings which were reminiscent of those of a small airplane. Harry had become a pheonix.
"Wicked! Harry, that's awesome!" Ron exclaimed as Harry turned back into himself. Kate then took a deep breath and thought about what she would become.
Murmuring the spell ever so quietly, she felt an indesribable feeling come over her. Her body shrank, a tail grew, and soft fur covered her. She sat on her haunches and looked at the others, who all looked fairly shocked. She stretched this odd new shape and moved to look in the mirror. A small grey cat with blue eyes blinked back. Kate was so shocked, she changed back. She stumbled and fell on her bottom as she backed away from the mirror.
"Ok, I guess this means that the sorting hat was right when he called me willful as a cat."
"Well, we have an owl, a bear, a pheonix, and a cat. Now we have to think of more nicknames."
"Madam Lightwing, Mr. Arcas.... hmmm, what else?" Kate said.
"Arcas? I like that but what does it mean," Ron grinned.
"It's the actual name of Ursa Minor. You know, the small bear." Kate replied.
"Mr. Firetail, and Madam...." Harry screwed his face up, "Can't seem to think of something for you, Kate."
"Madam Shadowmist," Hermione said.
"All righty then, Messrs. Arcas and Firetail and Madams Lightwing and Shadowmist.. Animagi extrodinaire," Kate laughed.
In the next Potions class, they talked to each other using their new nicknames.
"Hand me those dandelion roots, Mr. Arcas."
"Certainly, Mr. Firetail."
"Madam Shadowmist, would you lend me the use of your measuring cup?"
"Indeed I shall, Madam Lightwing."
"What is all this rot?" Draco Malfoy ambled over to their table.
"Mr Firetail, do you think we should tell Mr. Malfoy?" Kate asked, eyes
radiating mischief
"No, indeed, Madam Shadowmist, for I doubt he'd get the joke. Don't you agree, Mr Arcas?"
" Huh? Oh yeah. You too Hermione? Er... Madam Lightwing?"
"Of course I do, Mr. Arcas."
"Scram, Malfoy. Before I get the urge to repeat the bouncing ferret episode I've heard so much about," Kate said.
"I don't think you'll do that. Cause I know the truth about you, and your mum. Yeah, that's right, Gwen Rhys is your mum. My dad says that in school, she led every man there along. Professor Snape and Sirius Black had it the worst for her."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"So who was it Kate? Are you Snape's bastard or Black's? Your mum was a whore to both of them, I understand. Aww, are you going to cry? Oh no, not again!" he began to hiccup and belched up a bubble, and then another and another, till the room stank of lye soap.
Kate stood in the middle of the room, hands clenching and unclenching, breathing hard. Every time her hand contracted, she drew blood in her palms. Harry watched her a moment, then flung himself on Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were frozen by Petrificus Totalus by Hermione as Harry beat the tar out of
Malfoy. No one really noticed when Snape entered the room, but he had to pull Harry off Malfoy.
"Detention and fifty points from Gryffindor," he roared at them, then noticed the pale, statue-like girl who stood as though she could neither see nor hear. Her hands were dripping blood. He changed from the furious man into a concerned father-figure.
"Katherine? Katherine... please, are you all right?" He asked, gentle now, kneeling at her side. She blinked, then looked up at him, as though she only now saw him.
"Did you hear? What he called me? What he called her? I want to go home, to Cannon Hill. I want everything to be the way it was before this all happened," she was crying now, the tears flowing like a river, her hands and robes streaked with blood. Snape took a clean cloth from his desk and wiped
the blood off her hands.
"I'll take you to your mother. I think you need to be with her. Hush now, Kate. Everything will be all right. Soon we'll know for sure. Then you'll have both a mother and a father who love you. You already do."
"Don't. Everything you say will be twisted and mangled by someone like Malfoy, or Rita Skeeter. Why do you think Harry was beating him up? He called Gwen a whore... and he called me a bastard."
"Shhh. I'll set everything to rights. Don't worry, Kate. Come along. Malfoy, go to the hospital wing, and I will be talking to you later. Everyone else, get started on today's work. Come on, Katherine."
He had to hold her up, she was shaking so badly.
"You called me Kate back there."
"So I did. Here we are," he knocked on the door and Gwen opened it.
"Severus, what's the matter? Oh Kate!" She pulled the girl into the room and set her down in a comfy chair.
"I can't take much more of this. When will life be normal?" Kate looked about her.
"When has life ever been normal for us, darling? Besides, I know you, Kate-Kat. If life were normal, you'd be bored within an hour," Gwen hugged her daughter. Kate returned it.
"You're right, I would be bored," she looked past her mom to Professor Snape. He had the oddest expression on his face, "Thank you, Professor."
Since the incident in Kate's potion class, Gwen had avoided both Severus Snape and Sirius Black for the better part of a month. One day in February, however, one of her pursuers caught up with her. Gwen had just sat down in the teachers' lounge with a mug of hot tea. She didn't notice the other teacher sitting in an arm chair on the other side of the room. Snape watched her with a look of great desperation. He knew Sirius Black was beginning to court her, and was determined to try and stop it.
"Your daughter continues to be a good student," he opened quietly. He thought it best to bring up a safe subject. Kate's academic ecxellence, if nothing else about the girl, could be considered safe.
Gwen turned and looked at him. She was still as lovely as ever, he thought. Her golden hair had a few strands of silver gilt in it, and her face showed that she had grown, but that inner radiance had never dimmed.
"I'm glad. She handles certain things much better than I. The fact that her attention span is of stronger mettle doesn't hurt either," Gwen turned back to her tea and her book. Snape, however, was now determined to talk to her.
" She is so much like you. The way she talks, frank and open, but she will display those same sly little barbs of humor. The way she turns her head and stares people down. Draco Malfoy would do well to learn a lesson, and leave her be. The soap incident was enough to keep most everyone else quiet."
"Soap incident?"
"She made Draco Malfoy belch lye soap whenever he says something 'not very nice' were the words Katherine used." Gwen laughed outright at Snape's last statement.
"That sounds like something she would do. She loves to put original spins on things. My favorite things that she has said are, ' plot twists make the world go round.' and 'Variety, hell. Irony is the spice of life and whoever says otherwise is a putz.'"
"She has a way with words, to say the very least."
"The very least. She'll make a rare and powerful sorceress, and a good woman. Which is the more unusual?"
"Gwen, please," Snape loomed over her for a moment, "Must you torment me so?"
"Torment you?" She stood and faced him, now angry, "I am tormenting you? When I am torn apart by everything that has happened! I wish to God that you hadn't created that injection. It gave me something I should never have thought to posess: a human heart. I watched my daughter, my child, taken from me because it would have been too dangerous for me to keep her. I watched, hidden, as one of the men I loved was thrown into the deepest hell-hole on this earth. And I stood by as the other become a monster, a vile creature serving the devil incarnate. Don't you presume to speak to me of torment, Severus Snape. Not when I...." She sank back down into her chair, shaking uncontrollably.
"Have you taken the serum lately?"
"No."
"Good God, Gwen! You need taking care of more than your daughter. I swear, the two of you are the most stubborn, foolhardy...." He stopped his rant as Kate knocked on the door, speaking as she came in.
"Mom, Hermione has been bugging me about asking you to lend her those books on Morgana.... Well, isn't this cozy? What was all the shouting about?"
"Your mother hasn't taken her serum."
"That's not what the shouting was about, and you know it Severus," Gwen returned coldly.
"Oh for heaven's sake. You sound like a pair of ten year olds trying to tell a badly thought up lie."
Snape looked down his hooked nose at her. Kate was trying her best to look stern and imposing, but that wicked sense of humor was enjoying taking her mother and her teacher to task. Finally, she couldn't help it. She laughed, long and hard.
"This is too ridiculous. Really, Professor, if you think you're going to win her in this manner, you certainly need a few pointers. Watch a few Cary Grant movies.... her favorite actor, you know. Another good hint is flowers, or a walk in the moonlight on a spring night....Hopeless romantic, my mother is," oh that laughter, those eyes which both mocked and encouraged him!
The child got along better with Sirius; they teased the living daylights out of one another. But there was that tension underlying everything. As the time to the blue moon neared, the tension increased tenfold, until it was two days to the blue moon. Kate was getting as jumpy as a cat. She wasn't the only one. Nearly everyone involved, from Professor Dumbledore to Ron and Hermione were all showing a strain in their manner. The main players in the drama all felt about ready to go insane. Snape was nastier than usual to nearly everyone, Harry in particular, till he caught Kate glaring at him, angry for her friend's sake.
"If she's mine," Snape thought, " I'll have a hard time of it with her and Potter."
Sirius would often wander about in the form of Padfoot, Wanderer sometimes with him. Orion was Kate's faithful shadow, not even leaving her side during classes. Teachers let this slide, there had been odd stories floating about Kate's feline companion and his rather remarkable tendency towards growth.
Gwen also followed Kate about, though not as closely as did the cat. She was worried about the outcome, worried that she would have to choose.
Kate herself tried to keep busy, but the approaching blue moon made it impossible. This was her delight, dancing about underneath the moon and the stars. She had a great deal of affluence during this time; drawing her strength from the blue moon, it was when she was most powerful. A force to be reckoned with. And coupled with the import of what must happen, she felt as though she must know, or soon go mad.
And then, the day came, and afterwards, came the night. Kate watched as the last rays of the sun sank down beyond the western mountains. She trembled as she put on the warm robes over her jeans and sweater. She went down the staircases as though in a dream state. Out on the lawn, everyone awaited
her, formed in a circle. It opened up to admit her, and she saw Snape and Sirius also standing in the middle.
"Ok, so how do we go about this?" she asked gravely, turning to Professor Dumbledore.
"Choose who you will first clasp hands with, Kate. The other will join in the circle, till it is his turn," Dumbledore replied just as gravely.
Kate nodded her assent and stood to face the two men. She turned to Snape, "Shall we have a go at it, Professor?" She lifted the silver pendent, which shone even brighter than usual in the eerie moonlight. He took it in his palm and she put her hand over his, their fingers entwined. Their hands were raised to let the moon shine full on them and.... they waited. Nothing happened. Kate stared at the hands, almost willing something to happen. Snape looked just as intense, concentrating not on the clasped hands, but on her face. It seemed as though the world had frozen till Kate felt a pressure on her shoulder.
"It's been ten minutes, Kate. Sirius must have his turn," Dumbledore whispered in her ear. He had to almost lead Snape to a place in the circle. Sirius came up to her.
"Well, Kate, now we see if Morgana has got the right of it," he smiled uncertainly, yet warmly at her.
The pendent was put into place and the hands were raised toward the moon, which suddenly decided to play hide and seek behind some clouds. Kate growled in exasperation, sounding very much like a cat. She caught herself, though. It wouldn't do to transform into Shadowmist this particular evening with these particular people present. The moon came out from hiding and a beam of silvery light blazed down onto their hands. For a moment, Kate felt as though her hand was on fire, but she didn't pull back. Then she was
nearly blinded by the light issuing from between her hand and Sirius'. The others in the circle fell back, and as the light subsided, Kate thought she saw a face in the moon. It appeared to be winking at her. She finally let go of the necklace, and it fell back against her chest, and lay gleaming there, as though it had absorbed some of the blue moon's light. Both she and Sirius sort of trembled for a moment, then collapsed onto their knees. Kate felt tears falling on her head and face as Sirius bent over, holding her close. She stared at the pendent for a moment, then up at his face. After two months of good care, he was regaining health, and even the handsomeness she had seen in pictures. But there was more. He looked... truly happy. Then he
spoke.
"All those years in Azkaban were worth this moment, Kate," he whispered into her hair, "I never expected you. How could I have? But now I have you, and I'm not going to lose you. I have a daughter," he murmured. The circle broke to admit Gwen to the center. She was weeping as well.
" My darling girl. I'm sorry you had to go through all this. But we can be a family now, a real family. Oh Sirius!"
Sirius Black broke away from his daughter and held Gwen's gaze. Gwen had a tremulous smile on her face. Kate scrambled up and backed away. She was a spectator now, watching as everyone else did, as Sirius Black did something he hadn't done in over sixteen years. He kissed Gwen Rhys. A long, tender
kiss, flavored with the sacrifices both had made, and strengthened by the knowledge that they shared something: a child.
Kate managed to drag her attention from the two people who were her parents to the others. Particularly one other. Severus Snape looked like a man who had been wounded unto death and didn't know he was supposed to fall down. Kate moved to stand beside him and she slipped a long fingered, pale hand into his spidery one. He looked down at her in surprise.
"What are you doing? Don't you want to be with... with them?"
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry about, child?" Very briefly, he put a hand to her hair, then leaned to whisper to her, so that no one else could hear, " I think I would have rather been your father than Gwen's husband," and he walked away, back towards the school. Kate watched till he was gone, an odd feeling constricting her throat.
"Come here, Kate," Sirius, her dad, said, " Everything is going to be all right. We're going to be a family, like we would have been if things had been different."
Kate looked to Harry. He seemed almost as shocked as she felt. She took a step towards him, rather than her parents, then nodded.
"Yes, a family. That means you too, Harry. It wouldn't be right without you," Kate grinned, pulling him into a fierce hug, " Besides, who knows what trouble we can get into living under the same roof? Eh, Mr. Firetail?"
Harry, surprised, returned the hug, "This means I don't have to go back to the Dursley's, Madam Shadowmist!" And they both started laughing and whirling about madly. Finally they got so dizzy they fell to the ground, laughing like loons. It seemed as though everyone else was infected, and the lawn rang with the sounds of laughter.
K.S.
The idea of Lorenzo, out there lurking, waiting for an opportunity to strike drove Gwen to accept Dumbledore's idea of creating a class for the second half of the school-year, Fey Studies. It seemed like everyone loved the class, as well as the instructor. Gwen simply let everyone fall in love with her, and her class was just as well kept as either McGonagall's or Snape's, as well as being more popular.
Kate was the only student required to take Fey Studies, and though she understood her mother's reasoning, she loathed the manipulation the adults displayed her. Of course she retaliated, using whatever means necessary, magical or Muggle. It was through her frustration and boredom that she incited Harry, Ron and Hermione to start working on the Animagi book.
Kate pushed her friends hard, and herself even harder. By the time Christmas holidays were over, she had began the rudimentary changes necessary in becoming an animagus. She found it fascinating that one could tell what they would eventually transform into by looking at one's shadow. She was up most nights, if not working, then pacing up and down the girls' dormitory, going mad from inaction.
Finally, they had managed the preliminaries, right after classes started again, mostly due from Hewmione's studies and Kate's manic, suppressed energy.
Once they had found what they were best suited as, they performed the transfiguration spell.
Hermione was the first to get the spell right. She turned into a great snowy owl, larger than Hedwig. When she'd turned back into herself, she looked about. They had met in an empty classroom, so that no one knew what they were up to. The invisibility cloak as well as the Mauraders' Map assured their privacy.
"It's amazing! Totally different from flying on a broomstick or even riding Buckbeak." Hermione exclaimed
"I think we ought to make up nicknames, like Sirius and my dad did," Harry said.
"Hermione should be Lightwing. She just seems to float on the air," Kate murmured.
"Let me try,"Ron said, muttering the spell. Quite suddenly he was gone with a pop. Where he had stood was a bear-cub, half grown.
"I was hoping for something a little more inimidating," he said, and the other three grinned.
"Don't worry, Ron, you'll grow into a very intimidating animagus." Harry said.
Then it was Harry's turn. He stood very still, mouth barely moving, his eyes rather crossed. Then the other three had to jump back suddenly, for there stood a great red and gold beast, flexing wings which were reminiscent of those of a small airplane. Harry had become a pheonix.
"Wicked! Harry, that's awesome!" Ron exclaimed as Harry turned back into himself. Kate then took a deep breath and thought about what she would become.
Murmuring the spell ever so quietly, she felt an indesribable feeling come over her. Her body shrank, a tail grew, and soft fur covered her. She sat on her haunches and looked at the others, who all looked fairly shocked. She stretched this odd new shape and moved to look in the mirror. A small grey cat with blue eyes blinked back. Kate was so shocked, she changed back. She stumbled and fell on her bottom as she backed away from the mirror.
"Ok, I guess this means that the sorting hat was right when he called me willful as a cat."
"Well, we have an owl, a bear, a pheonix, and a cat. Now we have to think of more nicknames."
"Madam Lightwing, Mr. Arcas.... hmmm, what else?" Kate said.
"Arcas? I like that but what does it mean," Ron grinned.
"It's the actual name of Ursa Minor. You know, the small bear." Kate replied.
"Mr. Firetail, and Madam...." Harry screwed his face up, "Can't seem to think of something for you, Kate."
"Madam Shadowmist," Hermione said.
"All righty then, Messrs. Arcas and Firetail and Madams Lightwing and Shadowmist.. Animagi extrodinaire," Kate laughed.
In the next Potions class, they talked to each other using their new nicknames.
"Hand me those dandelion roots, Mr. Arcas."
"Certainly, Mr. Firetail."
"Madam Shadowmist, would you lend me the use of your measuring cup?"
"Indeed I shall, Madam Lightwing."
"What is all this rot?" Draco Malfoy ambled over to their table.
"Mr Firetail, do you think we should tell Mr. Malfoy?" Kate asked, eyes
radiating mischief
"No, indeed, Madam Shadowmist, for I doubt he'd get the joke. Don't you agree, Mr Arcas?"
" Huh? Oh yeah. You too Hermione? Er... Madam Lightwing?"
"Of course I do, Mr. Arcas."
"Scram, Malfoy. Before I get the urge to repeat the bouncing ferret episode I've heard so much about," Kate said.
"I don't think you'll do that. Cause I know the truth about you, and your mum. Yeah, that's right, Gwen Rhys is your mum. My dad says that in school, she led every man there along. Professor Snape and Sirius Black had it the worst for her."
"Shut up, Malfoy."
"So who was it Kate? Are you Snape's bastard or Black's? Your mum was a whore to both of them, I understand. Aww, are you going to cry? Oh no, not again!" he began to hiccup and belched up a bubble, and then another and another, till the room stank of lye soap.
Kate stood in the middle of the room, hands clenching and unclenching, breathing hard. Every time her hand contracted, she drew blood in her palms. Harry watched her a moment, then flung himself on Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle were frozen by Petrificus Totalus by Hermione as Harry beat the tar out of
Malfoy. No one really noticed when Snape entered the room, but he had to pull Harry off Malfoy.
"Detention and fifty points from Gryffindor," he roared at them, then noticed the pale, statue-like girl who stood as though she could neither see nor hear. Her hands were dripping blood. He changed from the furious man into a concerned father-figure.
"Katherine? Katherine... please, are you all right?" He asked, gentle now, kneeling at her side. She blinked, then looked up at him, as though she only now saw him.
"Did you hear? What he called me? What he called her? I want to go home, to Cannon Hill. I want everything to be the way it was before this all happened," she was crying now, the tears flowing like a river, her hands and robes streaked with blood. Snape took a clean cloth from his desk and wiped
the blood off her hands.
"I'll take you to your mother. I think you need to be with her. Hush now, Kate. Everything will be all right. Soon we'll know for sure. Then you'll have both a mother and a father who love you. You already do."
"Don't. Everything you say will be twisted and mangled by someone like Malfoy, or Rita Skeeter. Why do you think Harry was beating him up? He called Gwen a whore... and he called me a bastard."
"Shhh. I'll set everything to rights. Don't worry, Kate. Come along. Malfoy, go to the hospital wing, and I will be talking to you later. Everyone else, get started on today's work. Come on, Katherine."
He had to hold her up, she was shaking so badly.
"You called me Kate back there."
"So I did. Here we are," he knocked on the door and Gwen opened it.
"Severus, what's the matter? Oh Kate!" She pulled the girl into the room and set her down in a comfy chair.
"I can't take much more of this. When will life be normal?" Kate looked about her.
"When has life ever been normal for us, darling? Besides, I know you, Kate-Kat. If life were normal, you'd be bored within an hour," Gwen hugged her daughter. Kate returned it.
"You're right, I would be bored," she looked past her mom to Professor Snape. He had the oddest expression on his face, "Thank you, Professor."
Since the incident in Kate's potion class, Gwen had avoided both Severus Snape and Sirius Black for the better part of a month. One day in February, however, one of her pursuers caught up with her. Gwen had just sat down in the teachers' lounge with a mug of hot tea. She didn't notice the other teacher sitting in an arm chair on the other side of the room. Snape watched her with a look of great desperation. He knew Sirius Black was beginning to court her, and was determined to try and stop it.
"Your daughter continues to be a good student," he opened quietly. He thought it best to bring up a safe subject. Kate's academic ecxellence, if nothing else about the girl, could be considered safe.
Gwen turned and looked at him. She was still as lovely as ever, he thought. Her golden hair had a few strands of silver gilt in it, and her face showed that she had grown, but that inner radiance had never dimmed.
"I'm glad. She handles certain things much better than I. The fact that her attention span is of stronger mettle doesn't hurt either," Gwen turned back to her tea and her book. Snape, however, was now determined to talk to her.
" She is so much like you. The way she talks, frank and open, but she will display those same sly little barbs of humor. The way she turns her head and stares people down. Draco Malfoy would do well to learn a lesson, and leave her be. The soap incident was enough to keep most everyone else quiet."
"Soap incident?"
"She made Draco Malfoy belch lye soap whenever he says something 'not very nice' were the words Katherine used." Gwen laughed outright at Snape's last statement.
"That sounds like something she would do. She loves to put original spins on things. My favorite things that she has said are, ' plot twists make the world go round.' and 'Variety, hell. Irony is the spice of life and whoever says otherwise is a putz.'"
"She has a way with words, to say the very least."
"The very least. She'll make a rare and powerful sorceress, and a good woman. Which is the more unusual?"
"Gwen, please," Snape loomed over her for a moment, "Must you torment me so?"
"Torment you?" She stood and faced him, now angry, "I am tormenting you? When I am torn apart by everything that has happened! I wish to God that you hadn't created that injection. It gave me something I should never have thought to posess: a human heart. I watched my daughter, my child, taken from me because it would have been too dangerous for me to keep her. I watched, hidden, as one of the men I loved was thrown into the deepest hell-hole on this earth. And I stood by as the other become a monster, a vile creature serving the devil incarnate. Don't you presume to speak to me of torment, Severus Snape. Not when I...." She sank back down into her chair, shaking uncontrollably.
"Have you taken the serum lately?"
"No."
"Good God, Gwen! You need taking care of more than your daughter. I swear, the two of you are the most stubborn, foolhardy...." He stopped his rant as Kate knocked on the door, speaking as she came in.
"Mom, Hermione has been bugging me about asking you to lend her those books on Morgana.... Well, isn't this cozy? What was all the shouting about?"
"Your mother hasn't taken her serum."
"That's not what the shouting was about, and you know it Severus," Gwen returned coldly.
"Oh for heaven's sake. You sound like a pair of ten year olds trying to tell a badly thought up lie."
Snape looked down his hooked nose at her. Kate was trying her best to look stern and imposing, but that wicked sense of humor was enjoying taking her mother and her teacher to task. Finally, she couldn't help it. She laughed, long and hard.
"This is too ridiculous. Really, Professor, if you think you're going to win her in this manner, you certainly need a few pointers. Watch a few Cary Grant movies.... her favorite actor, you know. Another good hint is flowers, or a walk in the moonlight on a spring night....Hopeless romantic, my mother is," oh that laughter, those eyes which both mocked and encouraged him!
The child got along better with Sirius; they teased the living daylights out of one another. But there was that tension underlying everything. As the time to the blue moon neared, the tension increased tenfold, until it was two days to the blue moon. Kate was getting as jumpy as a cat. She wasn't the only one. Nearly everyone involved, from Professor Dumbledore to Ron and Hermione were all showing a strain in their manner. The main players in the drama all felt about ready to go insane. Snape was nastier than usual to nearly everyone, Harry in particular, till he caught Kate glaring at him, angry for her friend's sake.
"If she's mine," Snape thought, " I'll have a hard time of it with her and Potter."
Sirius would often wander about in the form of Padfoot, Wanderer sometimes with him. Orion was Kate's faithful shadow, not even leaving her side during classes. Teachers let this slide, there had been odd stories floating about Kate's feline companion and his rather remarkable tendency towards growth.
Gwen also followed Kate about, though not as closely as did the cat. She was worried about the outcome, worried that she would have to choose.
Kate herself tried to keep busy, but the approaching blue moon made it impossible. This was her delight, dancing about underneath the moon and the stars. She had a great deal of affluence during this time; drawing her strength from the blue moon, it was when she was most powerful. A force to be reckoned with. And coupled with the import of what must happen, she felt as though she must know, or soon go mad.
And then, the day came, and afterwards, came the night. Kate watched as the last rays of the sun sank down beyond the western mountains. She trembled as she put on the warm robes over her jeans and sweater. She went down the staircases as though in a dream state. Out on the lawn, everyone awaited
her, formed in a circle. It opened up to admit her, and she saw Snape and Sirius also standing in the middle.
"Ok, so how do we go about this?" she asked gravely, turning to Professor Dumbledore.
"Choose who you will first clasp hands with, Kate. The other will join in the circle, till it is his turn," Dumbledore replied just as gravely.
Kate nodded her assent and stood to face the two men. She turned to Snape, "Shall we have a go at it, Professor?" She lifted the silver pendent, which shone even brighter than usual in the eerie moonlight. He took it in his palm and she put her hand over his, their fingers entwined. Their hands were raised to let the moon shine full on them and.... they waited. Nothing happened. Kate stared at the hands, almost willing something to happen. Snape looked just as intense, concentrating not on the clasped hands, but on her face. It seemed as though the world had frozen till Kate felt a pressure on her shoulder.
"It's been ten minutes, Kate. Sirius must have his turn," Dumbledore whispered in her ear. He had to almost lead Snape to a place in the circle. Sirius came up to her.
"Well, Kate, now we see if Morgana has got the right of it," he smiled uncertainly, yet warmly at her.
The pendent was put into place and the hands were raised toward the moon, which suddenly decided to play hide and seek behind some clouds. Kate growled in exasperation, sounding very much like a cat. She caught herself, though. It wouldn't do to transform into Shadowmist this particular evening with these particular people present. The moon came out from hiding and a beam of silvery light blazed down onto their hands. For a moment, Kate felt as though her hand was on fire, but she didn't pull back. Then she was
nearly blinded by the light issuing from between her hand and Sirius'. The others in the circle fell back, and as the light subsided, Kate thought she saw a face in the moon. It appeared to be winking at her. She finally let go of the necklace, and it fell back against her chest, and lay gleaming there, as though it had absorbed some of the blue moon's light. Both she and Sirius sort of trembled for a moment, then collapsed onto their knees. Kate felt tears falling on her head and face as Sirius bent over, holding her close. She stared at the pendent for a moment, then up at his face. After two months of good care, he was regaining health, and even the handsomeness she had seen in pictures. But there was more. He looked... truly happy. Then he
spoke.
"All those years in Azkaban were worth this moment, Kate," he whispered into her hair, "I never expected you. How could I have? But now I have you, and I'm not going to lose you. I have a daughter," he murmured. The circle broke to admit Gwen to the center. She was weeping as well.
" My darling girl. I'm sorry you had to go through all this. But we can be a family now, a real family. Oh Sirius!"
Sirius Black broke away from his daughter and held Gwen's gaze. Gwen had a tremulous smile on her face. Kate scrambled up and backed away. She was a spectator now, watching as everyone else did, as Sirius Black did something he hadn't done in over sixteen years. He kissed Gwen Rhys. A long, tender
kiss, flavored with the sacrifices both had made, and strengthened by the knowledge that they shared something: a child.
Kate managed to drag her attention from the two people who were her parents to the others. Particularly one other. Severus Snape looked like a man who had been wounded unto death and didn't know he was supposed to fall down. Kate moved to stand beside him and she slipped a long fingered, pale hand into his spidery one. He looked down at her in surprise.
"What are you doing? Don't you want to be with... with them?"
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry about, child?" Very briefly, he put a hand to her hair, then leaned to whisper to her, so that no one else could hear, " I think I would have rather been your father than Gwen's husband," and he walked away, back towards the school. Kate watched till he was gone, an odd feeling constricting her throat.
"Come here, Kate," Sirius, her dad, said, " Everything is going to be all right. We're going to be a family, like we would have been if things had been different."
Kate looked to Harry. He seemed almost as shocked as she felt. She took a step towards him, rather than her parents, then nodded.
"Yes, a family. That means you too, Harry. It wouldn't be right without you," Kate grinned, pulling him into a fierce hug, " Besides, who knows what trouble we can get into living under the same roof? Eh, Mr. Firetail?"
Harry, surprised, returned the hug, "This means I don't have to go back to the Dursley's, Madam Shadowmist!" And they both started laughing and whirling about madly. Finally they got so dizzy they fell to the ground, laughing like loons. It seemed as though everyone else was infected, and the lawn rang with the sounds of laughter.