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Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters form the Harry Potter books. Thank you.
(A/N: Well, this is probably going to be a hard chapter to write. I hate to write serious parts. You have to think about it, and then rethink it and then re-rethink it and so on. Sheesh. Two too many hugs in the last and this chapter. It'll stop soon, I promise you. Question, why does my word processor give the word count more than the fanfic count gives it? Hmm, ponders….Welll,
Thank yous to be given:
Justshroomin: Yeah, Padfoot is so crazy and adorable. And yay me! Yeah…. I'm conceited. Thanks soo much for reviewing!
Does it Matter? Yes, it matters. I'd like to know who in the world I'm thanking for such a nice review!
Lady of Masbolle: I've never heard of Tamara Pierce, but that's because I live in India. What's it about? Anyway, thanks a lot for reviewing!
Miss Prongs: A translation please? Your reviews are highly confusing. I don't know whether you hated or loved the chapter. But hey, at least you review! Thanks!
Windowseat Wonderer: Yay! It makes me so happy when people tell me that they like it! Thanks!
Jess: hey, don't worry about it. I live for orders…I mean that's the only time I get any work done. I'm very lazy otherwise. ; )
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Please do not expect me to write any very big and important chapters in the near future (around two weeks). My final examinations are coming up and I have to study. But I'll try to upload a smallish but fun chapter every chance I get. Please bear with me!
Thanks a ton, stargirlr
NOW, enough with the chitchat! Lets find out what happens…tonight!
Chapter 12
That evening, Katrina was released from the hospital wing and sent back to her dormitory. Although she was physically fit, her emotions were still in a tangle.
To help her 'recover', Professor Dumbledore had given her permission to shift to the Gryffindor tower.
"Aww…honey, are you feeling better?" Lily asked as she helped Larika to shove a large trunk under Katrina's new bed. Katrina hadn't said much about anything at all. L&L were getting very, very worried.
Katrina nodded her head absentmindedly, staring out the window. From her bed, she could see the sun setting on the glistening lake and make out the forbidden forest a little way off. She drifted in her own anxious thoughts and looked up suddenly, as she heard Lily say something to Larika about tonight.
"Tonight! What about tonight?" she questioned them startled. Were they talking about her?
Lily looked at her wondering what the right thing to say was.
"Um…I was saying that we won't have a big crowd at dinner tonight. A lot of people will be at Hogsmeade."
Katrina sighed softly. "Oh."
"What happened, Kat? You jumped up like you'd seen a ghost." Larika asked gently.
Katrina just looked at her, a very odd, isolated look in her eyes. If they hadn't known Kat pretty well, they would have called it a cold look.
"Oh…mum" Larika realized what she had said. "Muggle phrase…there aren't many ghosts in the muggle world so that's why…. picked it up from Lily…I meant to ask you whether anything is wrong? I mean, I know something is wrong…but…um…anything in particul-we're very um…concerned about you, you're acting quite weir-odd and that's perfectly fine but since we don't know the um, circumstances, so to speak, we…" She grew more flustered by the second.
The tension in the room was almost static.
Katrina stood up, silently, a determined look in her eyes and strode to Larika.
Reaching her, she stopped short and just stood there staring at her for a few moments. Then, suddenly, she bent down and hugged her tightly, starting to sob.
She reached one hand over to Lily and she joined the "group hug".
"I'm so sorry I've been so mean to you two…you were only trying to help. But I was…I was…" Katrina cried before Lily interrupted. "No apologies, Kat. We have absolutely no idea what you're going through but…we'll always be there to help you through it."
"Always" echoed Larika.
The same night, Katrina had asked everyone to meet her in the Loft.
The loft was a secret room the Marauders had discovered a couple of years ago. It had lovely warm crème-coloured carpeting and delightfully bright VIBGYOR pillows thrown around the otherwise very empty room.
At about eight o'clock, Katrina was sitting at the head of a circle of her friends. Katrina looked around her; Lily sat next to her on one side, James, Peter, Sirius, Larika and Remus following, so that Remus ended up on her other side.
Although Katrina didn't really want Peter there, it would be highly insulting for him to be left out. So, out of respect for his feelings, she had invited him as well.
She took a deep breath.
" As you all very well know, my name is Katrina. But have you ever noticed, that you had never seen before two months ago. That everyone, even the teachers, even Professor Dumbledore calls me Katrina. Odd isn't it? No one here uses my full name. That's where it began, I guess. My full name." She smirked. "My full and real name is Katrina Chloe Ellis. The daughter of Jacob Ellis."
Hearing the words from her mouth, Peter shrunk back in his place, both Larika and Sirius stared at her, disbelieving, James looked down and Remus suddenly flinched.
Lily looked around at her friends, wondering.
Katrina turned to look at her, almost as if she were expecting Lily not to know.
"Jacob Ellis. You've probably never heard of him. He's the Dark Lord- I mean- Voldemort's right hand man. The most brutal, evil, amoral man that walked the earth. Next to Voldemort himself, of course." She shook her head quietly.
Lily stared at her and realizing what she was doing, looked down quickly.
"I know what you're thinking, Lily. This is my own father I'm talking about. But you have to understand. It's the truth. I mean I never really loved him. There was never any love lost between us really. The harsh truth. When your father is the leader, the chief of the Death Eaters and the worst among them all." Remus suddenly grasped her hand. She looked down.
"So, you are all probably wondering what am I doing here then. When I was barely seven years old, I realized. Realized that I… we were different from them. We were different from the rest of the family."
"We?" asked Remus quietly.
"We—my twin brother and I… Nick and I."
"What?" gasped Sirius, looks of surprise flitting across everyone's faces.
Katrina glanced at him. "I haven't talked about him, I know. But in the circumstances…"
"What circumstances?" asked Lily.
"Till about two months ago, I lived with them. We were taught at home, so I didn't know any kids my age, besides…besides Nicky, of course. We had tried to escape twice before, but my father had always caught us. And 'disciplined' us for it, too. On the third attempt, we finally managed it. We escaped from that wicked place. I had heard about Professor Dumbledore from my father's talks with his associates. The loathing he spoke with…because of that I knew that we had to go to Professor Dumbledore. On the journey here, Nick and I got separated. Since we were traveling as Muggles, I couldn't use my wand to track him. So, I arrived at Hogwarts alone, hurt, with a broken arm and a twisted ankle. Thankfully, I was right about Dumbledorethe Headmaster did understand. He let me join Hogwarts."
"I knew my father was going to try to track us. I knew, as conceited as it may sound, how important we were to him, to his entire group." Larika began to interrupt but Sirius shushed her. " The letter. It was from Lord Voldemort. Apparently, they've found Nick. Kept him captive. They know where I am. And they need me. They know that although both of us are quite powerful alone, together we are invincible."
She didn't sound doubtful in the least about the fact.
"So, I know that although they can't kill him, they can and will torture him. Torture him so that I will come out of my own accord. I was worried that they would break into Hogwarts to try and find me. But I didn't take into consideration the 'Dumbledore factor'." She smiled, almost to herself.
" The 'Dumbledore factor'?" questioned Peter.
"Yes…haven't you ever heard that Professor Dumbledore is the only one Lord Voldemort is afraid of?"
Peter nodded.
"I hate to sound as if this were a teaching workshop or something but…any questions?"
Larika began, "Well, when you said that you are very important…why are you so important?"
"I'm a controller."
"A controller?" asked Lily.
"I can control the minds of others, read their minds, page through their deepest thoughts, memories, recollections." She explained coolly.
"Wait…you mean at this instance, you can tell what we're feeling?"
Katrina shook her head. "No, not at this moment. When I came here and explained my powers to Dumbledore, he decided to keep a Binding Spell on them. So that even accidentally, I wouldn't be able to use them in school."
"Why, what harm would come if you used them?" pressed Peter.
"Don't be a prat, Peter. Besides the fact that they would be able to track her if she used them, she would be able to cheat on her tests, find out what exactly someone thought about her. Even be able to control our minds, even the minds of the teachers, Professor Dumbledore, himself. No wonder." James grated.
Peter looked about himself, dreamily. The power he would have, if he could have those powers himself."
"Oh, stop looking as if dessert is before dinner, Peter." Snapped Sirius.
Katrina smiled sadly. "Well… straight forward. I totally understand if you won't... can't be friends with me. I mean after this, even I begin to hate myself. And all of you are Gryffindors. Brave, honest and totally against the Dark Arts. And here I am. Immersed in them from the very day I was born."
Without any hesitation, Remus leaned forward and hugged her, Lily, Lara, James, Sirius and finally Peter following.
"We will never ever leave you. We made a promise before. It's not going to change because of this. Do you understand that?" Remus almost shouted as she started to cry. "Katrina Chloe Ellis, whatever your name may be, we will never desert you." He hugged her again, fiercely this time.
He then carried her to bed, where she eventually cried herself to sleep, his comforting arm around her.
The next day, Remus had decided to tell Katrina. He figured that he would tell her to meet him some place, tell her and come down and have sort of a meeting with Larika and Lily, the only two who didn't know.
At breakfast (omelets and toast) the next day, he had (very nervously) asked Lily and Larika to meet him, this time in the boy's dormitory, that afternoon. After lunch (Chinese noodles), he took a hold of Katrina's hand and led her outside to a big beech tree near the lake. It was very sunny, bright and warm. Remus waved his wand; the shade of the tree suddenly elongated and a cool breezed started waltzing. "Katrina," he began. "You told me the truth and were honest with me. Now, I guess it's my turn."
Katrina began to protest. "No, Remus you don't have to tell me something just because I told you!" but Remus cut her off. "No, I have to tell you this. I was going to anyway, but I kept on…procrastinating. Today is just as good a day as any, so…you've probably noticed that about twice the last couple of months, some one in my family was very ill."
Katrina nodded, not really knowing where this was heading.
" What you probably don't know, seeing as you've been here only for two months is that this happens every month. Every single month."
"So what? You're saying that someone in your family galls ill every month?" Katrina asked, confused.
"Well, no. That's the excuse I used to give to my friends. The excuse I still give to you, Lily and Larika. The truth is…" he held his head in his hands. " Katrina, the truth to where I go every month is…"
"You're a werewolf?"
Remus looked up at her, astonished, "Yes, how d'you"
"Although my stronger powers are binded, I'm still able to have sort of a psychic connection to those I'm really close to. So, every full moon, I would get faint impulses. From the time of the impulses, I sort of realized that some one close to me time was a werewolf. And each time, you were…away, so…"
"Oh. And what do you feel about, about me being a werewolf?"
"Remus…" she smiled at him. "If you can take me being a controller and the daughter of Jacob Ellis, I can surely take you being a werewolf."
Remus sighed, thoroughly relieved.
It would be easier to tell L&L now.
"So, I was wondering, since you're alright with me being –you know, and I now know about you, do you think, we could, we could," he smiled sheepishly.
"Go steady?" asked Katrina gently.
"Go…go steady?" Remus looked up, a bit startled.
"Oh, I understand. It was stupid of me to assume…"
"Oh god no, I do, I do want to go steady, I just didn't realize that the feelings, were, um mutual."
"Remus, don't give up your day job to become a mind reader." She grinned.
"Oh and your day job is being a mind reader, is that right?"
She laughed. For the first time in many weeks, she laughed.
(A/N: Many thanks to those who reviewed, are reviewing and are going to review. I think the Katrina part is over for a couple of chapters and we can thankfully resume our normal fun chapters with Lily and James, along with Siri of course as the stars. Thanks starborn! I made up the word guesstimated myself. Thank you, thank you very much! Hmm, what else? What does it take to be on the favorite list of people's authors? Oooh, um did any one actually understand the last part of the last sentence? Didn't come out the way it was supposed to…hmm, well I meant what does it take to get on to the reader's list of fave author's or stories? There does that make more sense? Maybe Anyway, I personally think it take more than fifteen chapters. Hmmm.well gotta scoot, don't expect any thing very long the next week. Yikes! I have to study for my computer exam! It's tomorrow. Bye. Lol (Lots of luv) Stargirlr )
