Chapter Two
Kat adored London. She loved watching people walk down on the sidewalk from her tiny penthouse hotel room. The room was strange with the door leading right into the bedroom instead of the miniscule sitting area. She was in love with the decorations.
The entire room was fit for her tastes. When Pansy had come to help her decorate, Kat had full rein and made it all hers. Everything was bright, unlike her room at the Mansion. The curtain were light and fluttering with a heavier damask over them for privacy. The bed was ruffle-free and done in simple white sheets that were cool and soft to the touch. There were pillows everywhere.
Now she glanced out the window at the passersby. Everyone was wearing coats and jackets. Kat had been surprised at how cold it had been in London. She had called Pansy and asked her to owl her pea-coat and light jacket here. Kat expected they would arrive tomorrow morning. Today, she unpacked her two small suitcases. Carefully, she filled the underwear drawer of her dark wood dresser. She hung up all dresses and tops in the walk-in closet, smiling at the emptiness of it. She then put all skirts and pants in a dresser drawer. From her carry on bag she covered the top of the dresser with makeup, perfumes, hygiene products, etc. She sat down at the dresser bench, looking again in the mirror. This time, she smiled.
The next morning, Kat heard a knock at the hotel room door. She scrambled out of bed, calling, "Coming!" She didn't bother to put a robe on over her slip. She wanted to tease the bellboy a bit, anyway.
She opened the door. The young man at the door looked at her up and down, smiling. She nodded at him, leaning her head against the door and smiling. "Yes?"
"Message for you, ma'am," he said, handing her a slip of paper and an envelope.
"Thank you," she said, nodding. She closed the door and furiously ripped open the envelope. Yes. The money was in there, nearly seven hundred pounds. She stuffed three hundred in her wallet and left the other four hundred in the envelope, tucking it underneath her underwear and closing the drawer. Then she opened the note.
Dearest Katarina,
We sincerely hope you are having a wonderful time in London. The money we sent you is yours to spend however you wish. Your request for your warmer clothing has been answered. The hotel should have the things you asked for at their service desk. Have a nice time! See you in two weeks!
With love,
Pansy & Draco
Kat snorted, but folded the note and put in the dresser underneath an ornate perfume bottle. She stepped into the shower moments later and washed her hair furiously, scrubbing her scalp until she was sure it was pink. She dressed slowly, didn't bother to use magic to dry her hair. Then she ordered breakfast.
The young man who delivered breakfast was handsome and Kat chatted with him for a few minutes before asking him if it was cold outside.
"Freezing, ma'am," he replied. "Unnatural for October. It feels like January." Kat agreed, discussing the temperature. Then he left and she ate alone.
The ginger tea reminded her of Oliver. She drank the warm, fragrant liquid slowly, dipping bits of her croissant into the tea and swallowing the moist bread. She finished eating her eggs and left the greasy bacon at the side of the plate. She should have asked for turkey bacon.
Kat called down to room service to take the silver tray away. A plump woman came this time, smiling at Kat who smiled back, glancing at the woman's nametag; it read Irma. "I'm Kat," she said, shaking the woman's hand. The woman smiled.
"You know mine," she said. "Kat…meow." Kat had to smile. She hated it when people did that but this woman was different.
"Exactly," Kat replied, "but mine's with a K."
"Will remember that," Irma said, then steered the cart away. Kat pulled on brown sneakers, grabbed her wallet and headed downstairs, tucking the key into her back pocket.
"Excuse me," she said to the handsome man at the service desk. "My name is Katarina Dobbs. I believe I was sent a few jackets in a package this morning."
"Ah, yes," the man said. "Wait just a moment, please." She stood there, fingernails drumming the marble counter until Jason (according to his nametag) returned, holding a box for her. "Here you are, Miss Dobbs," he said. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
Kat said thanks and went to sit in a couch in the lobby. She opened the package. Pansy had sent a pea-coat, a light fall jacket and two sweatshirts. "Thanks, Pansy," Kat muttered. She took the pea-coat and took the box back to her room where she thrust it under the bed. Carefully, she tucked the wallet into the pocket of the pea-coat, buttoned the coat up. As she was closing the door to the room, she thought better of it and went back in, took her wand from the bedside table and tucked that into her pocket as well. Then she headed out.
She spent nearly all day shopping. At five, she ate dinner at a place that served only noodles, savoring her independence. The money in her wallet made her cocky. She wanted to do something grand, but had to do something important first.
She took a train to downtown London where she visited the Ministry.
"Please state your name and purpose," said the female voice in the telephone booth.
"My name is Katarina Natalia Dobbs," Kat said. "I'm here for People Search." The button came sliding down. Kat fixed it to the front of her pea-coat. Then, she waited.
The People Search office was on the first floor. Kat took the elevator down and stepped off, searching for the office. When she found it, she entered. It was a neat little office. The plump, redheaded secretary smiled at her. "Well, hello!" she said. "What can I do for you?"
"I need to speak with the Manager," Kat said. The secretary smiled. Her nametag read Helen. Helen nodded and waved her wand at a small ratty radio on the counter.
"Mr. Manager?" Helen said. "You have a very pretty young lady here to see you."
"Send her in," replied a rather young voice. Helen gestured towards the door. Kat nodded.
"Thanks, Helen," she said, heading towards the door.
"You are very welcome," Helen replied, smiling as she went back to work.
Kat entered. "Take a seat," the Manager said, his back turned to her in his huge winged chair. She did as she was told, not regretting the Manager a bit. He was here to help her, not control her.
He whirled around in his chair. Kat gasped. "Vincent?" She gaped at the newer, older Vincent Monawat.
"Kat?" he said, glancing quickly at her nametag. "Christ, it is you!"
"It's so good to see you!" Kat exclaimed. "My God! How the hell are you?"
"Doing better than when you last saw me," he said. The last time she had seen him, he had been working within the Dark Lord's inner circles, responding to Lucius. The last time she had seen him, he had rumpled hair, ragged clothes and a manic expression.
"What happened?" she asked. "I haven't heard about you in nearly three years!"
"I quit," he said. "I left the inner circles." He was talking quietly now, but intently.
"You quit?" Kat said. "No one quits."
"I did."
Kat broke out into a smile. "Congratulations!" she said. "Doing better, huh?"
"Got married a few months ago," Vincent said, "to Lena Darling."
"That's great!" Kat exclaimed. "She was so nice and a Gryffindor. I knew that Slytherins and Gryffindors couldn't always hate each other."
"You can talk, too," Vincent said. "The tabloids are going crazy. You haven't disappeared but are chatting it up with Oliver Wood."
Kat blushed. "Uh…yeah." She hadn't read the papers for the past week while she was packing for London but she knew there must have been something in the papers. "That's what I came to you for."
"Oh yeah?" Vincent's eyebrows became higher.
"I need to get Oliver's address," she said. "I would have gone to the city building but what if his house is Unplottable or something?"
"Oliver Wood…" Vincent jabbed his wand at an enormous file cabinet. A drawer close to the bottom popped open and about thirty files hovered above the rest.
"Do you happen to know his middle name?" Vincent asked Kat.
"Alisdair," she responded immediately. Vincent grinned and jabbed again. A single file came soaring towards him.
"Before I give you this information, you must show me your Magical identification," Vincent said. Kat sighed and reached into her pocket, rifled through her wallet and yanked out the ID where the photo was moving. She pushed it across the desk. Vincent examined it and pushed it back. "Thank you." Kat tucked the ID back into her wallet and dropped the wallet into her pocket.
Vincent walked to a corner where a very curious machine stood. Kat watched as he slid the file into a slot on the machine. Then he waved his wand slowly at it. The thing began to chug.
"Roughly the equivalent of a Muggle copier," Vincent said. "But more efficient."
Soon, the original file slid out followed by another file. "Here you are, Kat," Vincent said, handing her the second file.
"Oh, I didn't want the entire file," she said.
"It's always entertaining to read the files of people you know," Vincent said. Kat took the file and went to the door.
"Thank you so much, Vincent," Kat said.
"Thank you, Kat," Vincent said. "Do you know what?" She shook her head, staring into his attractive face. "The last time I was at Malfoy Mansion, I saw you on the balcony, remember? You were wearing this amazing evening gown even though it was the middle of the day. When I had come in, I had seen you before you saw me. You looked so…mournful and delicate that I had to wonder what these people did to you. I then realized that exactly was going on. You helped me quit."
Kat hugged Vincent tightly, then pulled away. "Be well, Vincent," she said and left. She said a quick goodbye to Helen, clutching the file. When she came out into the blinking sunlight, her eyes were full of tears. She blinked, holding them back.
Slowly, she strolled to a small park where she sat at a picnic table and opened the file. It was exactly what she imagined a Muggle file would look like. There was a black and white snapshot of Oliver. Kat stared at the snapshot, watching Oliver make faces at her. She smiled at the photographed him and then began reading the file. The first page was very boring except for the one thing she wanted: his address. 13 Shirling Lane, Inverness, Scotland. She nearly laughed in relief. She knew! She could simply Apparate herself there. Then she found what she really needed: a phone number. She giggled stupidly, then reached inside her wallet and pulled out an old receipt. She took a miniature pen from the wallet as well and wrote down the number, her hand shaking as she wrote it. She tucked the receipt back inside the wallet and finally settled down to actually reading the file.
Once Kat got past all the boring social security stuff, she got to the good stuff. His birth certificate, for one. He was born at home on the Orkney Islands. She also discovered that his father's work took him down to south Scotland until Oliver was about eight, the time James was born. Then, when Samuel Wood began working for the Ministry, they moved up to Edinburgh where the parents and James reside now. Kat laughed, reading over the file. She got to more and more interesting things until she came to something she did not expect—a sheet that Oliver himself had filled out about his personal life and career.
Ministry of Magic Official Papers
Name: Oliver Alisdair Wood
Place of Birth: Orkney Islands, Scotland
Race: White/Caucasian
Employer: Puddlemere United Quidditch Team (Manager: Lee Jordan)
Name of Father: Samuel William Wood
Birthplace of Father: Aberdeen, Scotland
Name of Mother: Martha Nora Alisdair
Birthplace of Mother: Aberdeen, Scotland
Current Marital Status: girlfriend; Katarina Natalia Dobbs
Kat stopped reading there. How old was this paper? She glanced at the date. It was filled two years ago. She paused and re-read it. She couldn't believe it. A smile crossed her face and slid that paper back into its safe little clip.
Towards the end of his file, she came upon his school records. Surprisingly, the Ministry also had his marks. After she finished reading the file, Kat came to the conclusion that Oliver was extremely good at Quidditch, quite good at Transfiguration and Astronomy, average in Charms and Defense and completely hopeless in Herbology. Quickly, she shut the file and glanced at her clock. An hour had passed.
"Oh shit," she said. It was getting dark and no one wanted to be in downtown London when it was dark. She quickly found her way back to the hotel and went into her suite, sliding the file into a drawer next to her bed. Before she did this, however, she took out the black and white picture and placed it in her wallet.
Then, Kat took out the phone number and stared at it for a long time, sitting cross-legged on her bed. With a shaking hand, she picked up the phone, dialed 9 to get out of the hotel and slowly began dialing Oliver's number. When she finished, she tucked her shaking hand between her feet and waited. The phone rang once, twice, three times. She was beginning to lose hope. Four times. Then a click and…an answering machine! Kat was surprised Oliver even knew those existed. She supposed he lived in a Muggle neighborhood.
"Hello! You have reached Oliver Wood's place!" His voice made her melt. She sat there listening to it. "I'm not home right now but I'll be back soon so please leave a message and I'll be sure to get back to you. Have a great day!" She waited for the beep. It came too soon and she stuttered leaving her message.
"Ollie, it's me," she said. "I'm in London by myself so I thought I'd drop by to see you. I'm staying at the Concourse in Suite 26 if you want to call or visit or something. Anyway…goodbye." She hung up reluctantly, hoping to actually talk to him in the next few days. She picked up the phone and dialed Pansy's number at the Mansion. This time a person picked up.
"Pansy!" Kat said, trying hard to sound excited,
"Oh, Katarina!" Pansy said. "How are you? Have fun today?"
"Plenty," Kat said. "Thanks for the money and the clothes."
"Oh, honey, it wasn't a problem," Pansy said. "Thanks for calling. I was a wee bit worried."
"How's the wedding stuff going?"
"Divinely!" Pansy replied. "I'm so glad Draco's helping."
Kat could only imagine how Draco was helping. He would probably sit and sneer as Pansy happily picked out plate patterns and registered for gifts. "I'm glad," Kat lied. "Listen, I'm going to bed now. I'll call soon."
"Alright, darling," Pansy said. "Goodnight."
"Bye." Kat hung up the phone.
She undressed and pulled on a thin slip before entering the bathroom to clean her skin. She pulled back her hair and rinsed her face, drying it gently with a lush towel. Then she peed and while she was peeing, she was tired of playing this stupid role for Pansy and Draco, for all of their friends. Where were her friends? She was herself today when she was with Vincent and even though she had slept with him in her Hogwarts days, they were still friends. She rinsed her hands and stood in front of the mirror, exhausted at what she was looking at. She saw a thin girl with small boobs and dark circles under her eyes. She saw who she was hiding behind that mass of curly hair. Kat saw what she had become under the watchful eyes of the Malfoy family. She couldn't find who she had been two years ago; she couldn't find who she had been when she had been happy with Oliver.
She went to bed but lay awake for a long time, dreaming of him and her life without them and then fell asleep after she started seeing clouds on the canopy of the bed.
In the morning, she got up from a strange dream, glanced at the clock and fell asleep again, resting in the mountains of pillows.
The next time she woke up, it was nearly two in the afternoon. She smiled contentedly like a lazy cat and rolled over, staring at the window. She wanted to go get some food at a grocery so she would stop spending money buying breakfast at the hotel.
She lay around for a long time, then look a long and lazy hot shower, rinsing her hair and scrubbing her skin with fragrant hotel soaps. Then she dressed, pulling on a long wool skirt and a black blouse. She stood at the dresser, putting on pearls for fun. Then she put on long stocking underneath the skirt. As she was pulling her shoes on, there was a knock on the door.
"Room service!" a voice called. She hopped to the door and opened it.
"Oliver!" she said, grinning from ear to ear. She threw her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "You got my message!"
"Of course," he said, stepping into the room. The bed was unmade. The thought of her sleeping in it made him blush. "Are you going somewhere?"
"I was going to go down to the grocery to buy some food," she said. "I'm tired of buying overpriced hotel breakfasts."
"Good idea," Oliver said. "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all," she said, buckling her shoes and standing up. "Let me get my coat." He watched her walk to a chair where she picked up a grey wool coat and pulled it on, buttoning it up.
They walked three blocks until they found a decent grocery. Once inside, Oliver took a large basket. "Such a gentleman," Kat remarked.
"I know," he said. "Scotsmen are quite remarkable, aren't they?"
"Quite," Kat said, taking a bunch of small carrots and throwing them into the basket.
"How'd you get my number, Kat?" he asked. She blushed.
"I went to People Search," she said.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Oliver said. "You didn't get my whole file, did you?"
"Uhhh."
"Dammit," Oliver said. "So, what do you think of me now?"
"The same as I've always thought of you," she said, pitching in a package of Chinese style noodles into the basket along with a box of water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and baby corn. She moved on down the aisle, finding Romaine lettuce and small salad cucumbers. Then she added fruit.
"What have you always thought of me?" Oliver asked.
"You tell me," Kat said. "You know me too well."
"Not anymore, I don't," he replied. "So tell me."
She shrugged. "You were a hopeless Herbology student."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"I like you, Oliver," she said. "I always have."
She threw peaches and apples into the basket as well, grabbing a long loaf of French bread and swinging it back and forth in her hand like a baton.
"You have enough allowance for all this?" Oliver asked, looking into the basket, a hint of bitterness in his voice. She ignored it, knowing exactly how he felt about the Malfoys having financial control over her own assets.
"Pansy wired me some money," Kat said.
"Quite a bit of money, I understand," Oliver said.
"Quite," she nodded in agreement.
"You'll need to shop for my house one day," Oliver said. "All I have is stupid man food."
"A six-pack of beer and endless amounts of pork chops?"
"Exactly. You seem to have this healthy diet thing going," Oliver said.
"I hate beer and pork chops," Kat said lightly, laughing as she put bagels and cream cheese in the basket. "Why don't you ask Mum to do it?"
"She won't," Oliver said. "She's still upset that I left home."
"Ahh, poor baby," Kat said lightly. "You always were a Mama's boy, I'll bet." Oliver shook his head.
"James was more of a mama's boy," he said. "Although I clung to Mum for a while."
Kat smiled, thinking of little Oliver playing with his mother. She had a wave of nostalgia as she glanced back at him.
Once the basket became too heavy, Kat grabbed a box of tea bags and went to pay for everything. The young woman at the cash register was quiet but polite. "Have a nice day," Oliver said to her as they left. She smiled and waved.
"Always flirting with every woman you meet, I see," Kat said.
"Whatever do you mean?" he asked in fake innocence. She beamed at him as he pushed open her suite door for her. They went into the kitchen and began setting things up. From room service, Kat ordered some dishes and cutlery. They came soon and she arranged them in cupboards and drawers while Oliver set up the food in bowls and the refrigerator.
"Darling," Kat said, "you do a wonderful job of this."
"Thank you," he replied. "It's my expertise."
"You've given up Quidditch?"
"I have practice later today," he said. "Around three."
"It's nearly lunchtime," Kat said. "Let's eat greasy food."
"You didn't buy any," he said.
"Let's find a fish-n-chips stand," she said. "This is London, there's bound to be one crazy bastard trying to make a bit of money."
"Let's go."
They didn't have to walk far to find fish and chips. Kat paid for both of them and they found a park bench where they sat down to eat.
"Did you read the newspapers last week?" Oliver asked.
"Not at all. Why?"
"Front page featuring ourselves," Oliver said.
"Yeah, I heard something about that," Kat said. She giggled as she bit into a soft, buttery chip.
Oliver glanced at his watch. "I have to go," he said. "It'll take a while to get ready for practice and stuff…" He trailed off.
"Right," she said, crumpling up the newspaper she was eating her food on.
"Do you want to come by tomorrow?" Oliver asked. "I'll be home all day."
"How come?"
"It's a Saturday," he explained. "We don't have practices on weekends and we have a game on Monday so we need to rest up, you know?"
"I know," she said. "Maybe I will come by. Help you keep house, maybe?"
"You're a guest, sweet," Oliver said. "No need to help me keep house. I have a mother."
"I'll be the surrogate," she teased.
"Not a very good surrogate," he said. "A strange relationship between a surrogate mother and her son."
"Why do you say that?" Kat asked.
"We'll end up sleeping together."