Kat and Snake
By: Fantasyfreako
Disclaimer: I own Kathlin, her cat, and her family. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Prologue
"Momma! Momma! I got a letter!"
"Calm down, Kat," laughed the eleven-year-old girl's mother as she handed the letter over.
"Let's see who it's from." She flipped the envelope over and her eyes grew wide.
"George!" she yelled and ran outside. "George!"
"Ouch!" they heard him yell from underneath their old jeep. He scooted out from underneath it and sat up asking, "What is it, Aysha?"
"Look what our daughter got in the mail." She shoved the letter in his face and he took it from her calmly after wiping his oil-covered hands off on a rag. He looked at the front and beamed at his daughter proudly.
"Good job, Kat! You got into Hogwarts."
Aysha hit her red headed husband on the head and said crossly, "She isn't going! She is to become a voodoo witch like the rest of the family."
"Oh, but momma," whined Kat. "I don't want to be a voodoo witch. I want to cast spells with a wand. I want..."
"You aren't going!"
"I wasn't qualified to be a wizard there," said Kat's father as he leaned towards the little girl. "My brother was though. He became a great wizard and..." He yelped as his African wife tugged his ear.
"She isn't going!"
After Aysha had stalked off, the Irish man sighed and straitened his glasses. He smoothed out his mustache and said, "Sometimes I wonder why I married that woman." He sighed and said to his daughter, "Sorry, but I can't say anything against your mother. She'd probably put a curse on me." He lay back on his board and scooted it back under the car and started to work again.
Kat picked up her letter and looked at the cover again. It was written in green ink and said:
Miss Kathlin Rit.
The Middle of Nowhere
Morocco, Africa
"How did the letter get here," she asked as she looked at the bare plains of Morocco. She saw a large brown owl sitting in a tree not to far from them and it hooted at her.
The next day, two more letters arrived for Kathlin and her mother Aysha burned them. More came the next day and the next and all the while, George just sat there smiling. He knew something.
"I'm not paying for this!" screeched Aysha one night. Kat froze and peered through the kitchen door.
"Then I'll pay," said George calmly.
"You will not."
"Aysha, you now Kat doesn't fancy voodoo magic. Ever since she was a baby she would hold a stick and wave it around, making cookies fly to her or making her disappear. She isn't made for voodoo magic like you and the rest of your family."
"I'm not paying and that's final! She's staying here and I'll make sure she becomes a voodoo witch, not some English one!"
Kat ran back up to her room and started to throw her clothes into a small suitcase. She found the letter from Hogwarts she had hid from her mother and stuffed it into her coat pocket.
Silently, she made her way back down the stairs and heard her parents still arguing. When she was outside, she started to run for the old jeep. She got in and started to fiddle with the wires at the bottom. The car started and she looked back at the house as she saw her parents come out.
"Kat!" screamed her mother and she started to run towards her. Kathlin waved at her and pushed her foot down on the gas and sped away down the dirt road towards the docks.
"You have to have a ticket to get aboard," said the white man in front of the small Kathlin.
"But I need to get to England for school!"
"Tell it to someone who cares."
Kat sighed and lugged her suitcase away from the grumpy man. She grumbled as a heavy rain started to fall and mumbled, "I'm doing all of this just for school. What has the world come to?" She sat down on the steps of the dock masters building and put her head in her hands as she leaned forward and watched the ships sail away.
"Meow!"
Kat looked up and searched for the source of the noise, but saw no cat. She leaned back down to stare at the boats again when she heard the cry again.
She looked down and saw a bright yellow lump sailing down the stream of water going towards the gutter. She was about to look away when she saw that lump flail little paws around in distress.
Kat jumped down the steps and raised after the yellow kitten as it got closer and closer to the large rain gutter up ahead. She leaped for the cat and grabbed its tiny body just in time.
She sat up with mud dripping off her clothes and hair and she held up the cat.
It had bright long yellow fur and electric green eyes. It meowed softly and Kat hugged it to her face.
"Excuse me, miss," said someone behind Kat and she looked behind her.
An old man with a long silver beard and half moon spectacles looked down at her with a pointed hat. He wore a deep purple velvet cloak and he was smiling brightly down at her.
"What's your cat's name?"
Kat smiled at the man and held the kitten up to him. "I dunno; ask him."