Chapter 24
A/N: Thanks to everyone that reviewed!
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The days and weeks seemed to pass in a blur, until suddenly it was nearly Halloween. The school was still aflame with gossip about Lucius's death, and Draco's abrupt departure from Hogwarts. Crabbe and Goyle seemed lost without him, following the other Slytherins around in a large pack. The Gryffindor students stopped just short of celebrating, and the other houses as well seemed genuinely relieved that Draco was gone. The mood in Hogwarts had subtly changed, and it appeared that the Slytherins were no longer quite as feared and hated as they had once been. The fact that a very powerful and seemingly indestructible man had been killed had subdued them some, and the cocky stares and idle threats were no longer as common as they once had been.
Severus had recovered very quickly, much to the disappointment of his students. They had been hoping that he would miss a few weeks at least, but he dashed their hopes when he returned after only two days, working them harder than ever to make up for lost time. Katherine was more quiet and pensive than usual, but recovered from the initial shock and guilt of her actions. She always went slightly glassy eyed at the mention of Draco, but no longer looked as if she was about to fall to pieces. Severus was grateful for this, because he was unsure of what would happen if she did. Only once had she broke down and cried in front of him, when the ministry came to question her a week after the incident. Severus could not remember ever feeling so uncomfortable in his life, and since he could not think of something that wasn't sappy or cliche to say, he awkwardly gave her a pat on the back and let her cry.
As Katherine soon discovered, Halloween was not a holiday that was taken lightly at Hogwarts. There was ball planned for Halloween night, and nearly a week before the great hall was strung out in orange and black streamers, and enchanted pumpkins that could sing and carry on suprsingly astute conversations. The younger students were dizzy with excitement at the thought of all the butterbeer, cakes and sweets to be had, while the older students nearly talked themselves hoarse about who was bringing who as a date, and who had been rejected by who when they asked. It seemed that Severus could not conduct a class without having to hear all this mindless chatter, and it was putting him into such a foul mood that students were just short of diving into open classrooms to avoid him as he prowled the halls.
"Honestly Severus, you don't have to be so miserable." Katherine commented as the two walked down to the dungeons together after dinner.
"I'm trying not to be." Severus said flatly, pulling Katherine out of the path of the trick step on instinct as they made their way down the stairs.
"Are you really?" Katherine said, barely containing her surprise. "You seemed to me like one of those types who's only happy when they're miserable."
"And you seemed to me to be someone who knew when to keep their mouth shut." Severus said, in a tone that made it impossible for Katherine to tell whether he was joking or not.
When they reached the door leading to Severus's quarters they both drew up their wands to disarm the wards surrounding it. Severus sighed dramatically, and lowered his, allowing Katherine to do the honors. The door slowly creaked open, and both stepped inside to the darkened rooms. Shivering from the sharp drop in temperature, Katherine cast a warming charm and drew her arms up over her chest.
"How do you live with this cold Severus?" Katherine said, throwing herself down on the couch. "This almost makes me want to live somewhere tropical when I leave here. Like Tahiti, or Barbados."
Severus paused to stare at her for a moment. At first he couldn't wait for her to be gone, and now he was suddenly dreading the day that she would leave. He had all but taken her presence for granted, the way she was nearly always there by the fire at night, twirling her hair in her fingers as she read through one enormous book after another. He didn't even mind giving up his bed to her every other night, thought an rather wicked but increasingly loud voice in the back of his mind wondered what would happened if he asked her to share. Even though Severus would never admit it, without her these rooms would be cold and lonesome, and he would be cold and lonesome as well.
"Have I said something wrong?" Katherine asked, mistaking Severus's pained look for one of anger.
"I have to go to my office for something." He said quickly. "Do you want to come?"
For a moment, Katherine thought that she might have gone deaf. Severus had never asked her to his office before, in fact, he had banned her from it all together.
"I suppose so."
Katherine gave him a sly smile, that Severus dutifully ignored. He still didn't trust her not to destroy anything, but at the moment he was longing for her company. Severus led the way up the half flight of stairs to his office, and ordered Katherine to turn around as he disarmed the wards surrounding it.
"Paranoid, aren't we?" Katherine said, put her hands of her eyes and smirking.
Severus ignored her, tucking his wand away and crossing the threshold into his office. Katherine wandered inside after him, surprised that it was larger than she imagined it would be. The stone walls and floor gave the room a chilling air, and the fireplace behind Severus's desk was cold and empty.
"Oh!" Katherine exclaimed softly, noticing the jars of very interesting looking objects floating in different shades of liquid.
"Don't touch anything!" Severus warned, crossing over to his desk and sorting through a stack of papers that lay waiting for him.
Katherine walked slowly across the room, occasionally tapping on the glass jars, watching as the creatures inside floated about. When she saw one that looked suspiciously like a tiny mermaid, she could no longer contain her curiosity. Turning to make sure Severus wasn't watching, she carefully lifted up the jar's lid and stuck her wand in the clear yellow liquid. She gave the object a poke, and let out a terrific scream when it opened its eyes and clamped down onto her wand.
"I said not to touch anything!" Severus yelled, crossing the room in a flutter of black robes.
He slapped her hand as if she was an unruly child, and yanked her wand free for her. Replacing the lid on the jar he turned and gave her an angry look.
"You could have killed it, you foolish woman." Severus said, doing his best to look angry.
Katherine noticed that his lips were quivering oddly, as if he was trying very hard not to smile.
"Would you have been very angry with me?" Katherine asked, reaching out for her wand.
Severus placed it into her open palm, purposefully running his fingers along the delicate flesh of her fingertips. They both stared into each others eyes for a moment, and Katherine let a slow lazy smile grace her pretty face. She leaned forward on her toes, and placed a single gentle kiss on Severus lips. He blinked in surprise, but just as quickly returned the kiss, only longer and much more forceful.
Katherine reached up and wrapped her arms around Severus, relishing the feeling of his lips on her own, his body pressed up so tightly against hers. Severus put his own arms around her, pulling her even closer into the embrace. Surprised at her own daring Katherine let her arms slide slowly down his back. She had always thought that he had a rather nice...
A sudden knock at the door and they both literally flew apart, panting for breath. Katherine started to laugh, more than a bit disappointed that she wasn't able to grasp what she was after. Though her eyes were fixed on it quite longingly as Severus walked across the room and threw open the door.
"What!" He hissed, looking extremely intimidating.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but I thought you might be here." Hermione Granger stood in the hall, holding what looked like a rolled up newspaper in her hand.
"My office hours are tomorrow Ms. Granger." Severus said coldly, moving to shut the door.
"Wait!" Hermione pleaded, jumping into his office before he could close her out. "This doesn't have to do with class."
"Lovely." Severus said, staring daggers at her. "Then to what do I owe this honor?"
"It's about her." Hermione said, handing the newspaper to Severus, who hesitantly took it from her.
"I've always known that I've seen you somewhere before." Hermione spoke to Katherine, who nodded her head in interest. "But I couldn't think of where until just yesterday. I had my mother send it to me this morning. I'm very sorry, but I thought that you should know."
Severus looked down at the muggle newspaper that he held in his hands, his eyebrows knitting in confusion when he glanced at the date.
"This is nearly seventeen years old Ms. Granger, what in the world are you doing with it."
"It's the paper from the day I was born, my parents saved it for me. I've read it front to back so many times..."
Severus turned a few pages, and then gave Katherine a very grave look. As his eyes scanned the article he began to look more forlorn than ever, until he finally placed it down on his desk and sighed deeply.
"I need to keep this for now Ms. Granger. Now run along, I'm sure your delinquent friends must be looking for you."
"I just have to ask one more thing." Hermione insisted, giving Katherine a very apologetic look. "What am I supposed to do about Halloween?"
"What about it." Severus sighed, deciding that he was about to hear something unpleasant.
"Professor Dumbledore said that I should mention in front of the Slytherins, Malfoy especially that you had tried to slip a potion into my drink. But now Malfoy's gone and..."
"It doesn't matter now." Severus said, rubbing his suddenly aching forehead. "We are no longer...in contact, with certain people."
"Oh." Hermione said, looking very surprised. "Well...much less dangerous.... I'll just be going then."
As Hermione let herself out Severus smoothed out the yellowed paper, and took a deep agonizing breath.
"What is it?" Katherine said, crossing the room at last. "What does it say?"
"You might want to sit down." Severus said, his voice sounding very gentle.
Katherine did sit down, because she had a sudden sinking suspicion that she knew what this was all about.
"This article here, it says that they found a woman's body in London, very close to entrance to Diagon Alley it sounds like. They sketched a picture Katherine, and it looks very similar to you. It would have been around the time your sister disappeared."
Katherine quickly paled, and the snatched the paper out of Severus's hand. For a few moments the only the sound of Katherine's frantic breathing filled the room, until she let the paper fall and put her head in her hands.
"Is it..." Severus said, unsure if he should speak at all.
"It has to be." Katherine said, sounding surprisingly calm.
After another few moments of heavy silence Katherine rose, and crossed the room to lean her head on Severus's shoulder. He wrapped her up in an embrace, as Katherine wiped away the tears that began to trickle from her eyes.
"How they managed to fool me for so long...I really did believe." Katherine whispered, more to herself than to Severus. "But maybe deep down I always knew, they wouldn't have kept her alive, even to harm me. The ministry questioned a few people, only one person had seen anything. They saw Anne leaving with Lucius and a woman, probably Bellatrix. They wouldn't have...I should have known. How could they be so cruel, just to get what he wanted?"
"I don't know." Severus said, and that was the truth.
He seen the Death Eaters do things that he could not possibly justify, and even though these things no longer shocked him, he never could become numb to them.
"We don't have to deal with them anymore. Never again." Katherine said, slowly pulling away from Severus. "I think I want to go lie down."
"Are you going to be alright?" Severus said, taking her arm and leading her towards the door.
"I know at least." Katherine no longer tried to hide her tears, and Severus pulled a black hankerkief out of his robes and wiped them away for her.
"Anne looked so much like you." Severus said, unsure of what to say. "She was very pretty, just like you."
"Prettier." Katherine said, managing a weak smile through her tears and squeezing Severus's hand in silent thanks.
"All these years I just wanted to know. There's a sort of peace in that." Katherine said as they reached Severus's bedroom.
He helped her climb into bed, and then sat on the edge of the bed until she was sleeping. He could not imagine how he would have felt in her place. He was surprised at how calm she seemed, but he guessed that she had mourned for so long that this was only the end of a very long and painful journey. Severus yawned into the back of his hand, not really wanting to leave in case Katherine awoke. Laying down beside her, he shut his eyes, intending to rest only for a second...
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"Good morning." Katherine whispered, as she pushed open the bathroom door and stepped out into the sitting room.
Three days had passed, and they had been far from the highpoint of Katherine's life. She had slept mostly, groggy with tears and grief. But thankfully today, she felt better than she had in what seemed like a long while.
Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but she was smiling, and looked almost serene.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked in concern.
He was shuffling through some papers on his writing desk, an intesne look of displeasure fading from his face at the sight of her.
"I'll be fine." Katherine said, pushing open the bedroom door."We should hurry, its late."
Severus nodded, but then nearly fell back down into his chair at a sudden thought.
"It's Halloween." He said flatly, an absolutely morbid look on his face.
"Your cheer and enthusiasm is overwhelming." Katherine remarked from the next room, digging around her trunk for a clean dress.
She must have used a healing charm on her eyes, because when she emerged it no longer looked as if she had been crying.
Severus stood looking like a sulkly child for a few more moments, silently cursing the holiday that today had the unfortunate luck of being. The students would be rowdy and obnoxious, and then tonight he would have to chaperone them, pulling lip locked couples out of rose bushes and such things. He tried to remind himself that compared to what Katherine was going through, this was unbelievably petty. It still didn't help.
"Let the children have their fun." Katherine said. "You can ruin it easily enough tomorrow."
She smiled at him, and Severus groaned, finally forcing himself to gather his papers and books, and head towards his classroom.
---
The day was every bit as horrible as he imagined, starting with the second years he had first thing in the morning. Two cauldrons nearly exploded because he couldn't get them to focus, and a Ravenclaw girl accidently turned her potion into a hard black rock when she stopped stirring it and started giggling and carrying on with the person beside her instead. The rest of the day passed in a series of barely avoided disasters and heart pounding temper induced screaming fits on Severus's part. When time came for the Halloween Ball, Severus was sure that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"What's the matter?" Katherine asked Severus as they entered the great hall. "Your left eye keeps twitching."
Normally Severus would have said something nasty to her, but instead he put his arm around her waist. He was determined not to upset Katherine in any way, he knew that she was hurting very deeply, despite the brave front she put on. Severus cringed as they passed by the groups of students screaming with laughter. No one was dancing, despite the fact that it was a ball.
"Do you want to go outside?" Severus asked, longing to retreat from the noise and spectacle.
Katherine nodded, and followed him out into the gardens. A few couples were spread out, whispering and laughing to each other. Most separated by at least a few feet when they saw their potions master step outside, and tried their best to look very innocent. Katherine laughed at the sight, and Severus forced himself to smile for her benefit. Walking through the rose garden arm in arm with Katherine, Severus paused every so often to narrow his eyes and listen intently.
"What are you doing?" Katherine said, shaking her head at him.
"I'm a chaperone, what does it look like I'm doing?" Severus answered, taking out his wand as they approached an especially isolated and moonlight section of the garden.
To Katherine's great surprise two figures flew apart at the sight of them, nearly impaling themselves on the surrounding rose bushes. A very sheepish looking Ron Wealsey and Hermione Granger stepped back into the moonlight, shooting apologetic looks at Severus and Katherine.
"What are you...never mind...I don't want to know. You're lucky that I won't go through the bother of giving you a detention. Now go back inside before I change my mind." Severus said, sneering at them.
A mortified looking Ron took off at once, not even waiting for Hermione. Hermione stopped in front of Katherine, and sighed deeply before speaking.
"Are you alright? I'm very sorry." Hermione said, looking truly worried.
"Thank you Hermione."
Hermione nodded, and then hurried off after Ron. Katherine stepped into the patch of moonlight they had just vacated.
"How nice of you to look after the students moral well being." Katherine smirked.
"They have no morals to begin with." Severus said, stepping towards her.
"Let's go break up other students, before they ruin their good reputations." Katherine winked at him, and grabbed Severus by the hand.
They walked out into the courtyard, which was filled with the sound of music and laughter drifting out from the great hall, but suprsingly empty.
"What a shame." Severus said dryly. "I was so looking forward to ruining someone's night."
"You are unbelievable." Katherine laughed, pulling Severus into a shadowy alcove.
Locking him a passionate embrace, she smiled at his yelp of surprise.
"Katherine." He said, breaking away. "Really, what if a student should see us?"
"I'll give them detention." Katherine smirked, pulling Severus into an embrace once again.
"I'm not going to take advantage of a grieving woman." Severus said, gently pulling them back out into the light. "Even thought I very much want to."
Katherine smiled, and put her head of Severus's shoulder.
"You know I..."
Katherine stopped mid-thought when Severus suddenly gasped, and grabbed onto his forearm.
"No..." Katherine whispered meekly. "What do they want?"
"I don't..."
Severus let out a sudden cry, and fell to his knees. Katherine dropped down beside him, her heart racing.
"Severus? Are you alright?"
He nodded, even though it was more than obvious he wasn't. His eyes were steeled shut against the pain, and he was crumpled up around his forearm, clutching the mark that sent burning waves of pain throughout his entire body. Katherine took a few steps, intending to run to get help when she too was struck by an intense burning pain that engulfed her entirely. She had never felt the mark burn so powerfully before, and she knew that this couldn't possibly be good. Falling to the ground, she tried to force her aching lungs to take in air. She crawled towards the edge of the building, towards the door that would lead inside and to help. She had almost reached it when the pain was suddenly lifted, and the sound of a terrific crack startled her into a scream.
Katherine jumped to her feet and reached for the door, her hand was on the heavy brass knob when a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and then tossed her to the ground. She cried out as she hit the ground, her eyes searching the darkness for her attacker. She was not prepared for the sight of the two cloaked and masked figures that stood before her. Staggering quickly over to Severus, she fell on her knees beside him, clutching onto him in fear.
"How did they...I thought you said you can't apparate into Hogwarts"
"You can't!" Severus whispered harshly, his breathing reaching a frantic pace.
If the Dark Lord had went through all the trouble of breaking the Hogwarts apparation wards, something was wildly wrong. He had a sudden sinking feeling that these moments might be his last, and he pulled Katherine even closer.
"The Dark Lord requests your presence." A sickening voice hissed.
A voice that could only belong to one person...Bellatrix.
"We were coming directly." Severus whispered.
"I bet you were." Bellatrix said, taking out her wand and pointing it at the pair.
"Both of you over here, now."
Severus did not bother to hesitate, and pulled Katherine to her feet as well. He knew that if there was any hope of getting out of this alive, they had to play along.
"Apparate." Bellatrix said coldy, jabbing her wand into Katherine's side.
Severus glanced over at Katherine, who had lost all the color in her face. There was still an intense spark in her eyes, one that roused Severus's fears more than it soothed them.
'Please don't let her do anything stupid.' He thoughts pleaded as he took a step away from Katherine.
With a soft bang she was gone, and Severus was left standing before them.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you myself." Severus said, throwing caution into the wind for the briefest moment.
"You should be worrying about yourself." Bellatrix hissed. "And of what you've done to make our Lord angry."
Severus paled, and tried desperately to slow his breathing. He couldn't let them think he was afraid, that alone might prove his guilt. Taking a large step back he forced himself to sneer at Bellatrix as he brought out his wand, and apparated with a loud pop.
After a dizzying rush of light and wind, he found himself staggering on a rough stone floor, surrounded only by an intense black darkness.