A/N: Well, another funeral.

One of my co-workers this time.

It was extremely unexpected and a shock to all of us. And believe me, it is one thing to go to the funeral of the member of a family you know, and quite anther to go to one where you see a person you worked with five days a week for nearly two years laying in a coffin. Betty was a lovely woman with more spunk than people half her age. My heart goes out to her family and she will be missed.

Past that I have very little to say, except, as always,

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Oh, go get a hobby, will you!

CHAPTER FOUR: EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED

Miles away Katlin stood in a dark alley smiling quietly to herself.

She had apparated three times already, and used a portkey to throw Orion off her trail.

She knew he would trust her if she ask it of him. But old habits were still simply hard to break, and she knew he would try to follow her.

Katlin sighed quietly, a small trace of the smile still on her lips. She had promised him the boy would be safe. A promise made easily enough. But how in Magic's Name was she going to keep it?

The cold fog wrapped itself about her as she stood in the darkness. Voldemort expected her to complete her mission. Orion trusted her to keep her promise.

How was she going to do both?

A sudden alarm cut her thoughts off.

Harry!

Katlin instantly disapparated.

Apparating back where she had left the teenager, Katlin barely sidestepped a bolt of light that flew past her. On instinct and partly out of irritation, she instantly returned fire in the general direction.

Her first concern was covering herself. Then find the boy.

Shielding herself behind a tree, Katlin quickly scanned the area. Thankfully, Harry wasn't too hard to find. It was simply a matter of following the general direction of all the spells.

Sure enough, behind a large rock where most of the spells were concentrated, several flashes of light shot out, one hitting a figure in dark robes that ventured too close.

'Idiots!' she thought. What were they doing attacking the boy when he was alone?

Well, she would quickly put a stop to that. Raising her own wand, Katlin fired a spell that hit directly between the Deatheaters and Harry. A sharp, bright light erupted as the spell hit the ground, giving off a blinding flash of light. Katlin could hear several verbal curses as the Deatheaters broke off their attack for the moment. But she also knew that a moment was likely all she had.

Instantly she ran from behind the tree, shielding her own eyes as she headed for the rock where Harry was still hiding.

"Harry!" she practically squeaked with worry. "Are you all right?"

Harry was rubbing his own eyes, having caught the flash of light just as the Deatheaters had. As Katlin grabbed his arm he quickly pulled away. But as soon as he heard her voice he instantly relaxed.

"Katlin?" his hands instantly fastened onto her arm. "What happened! I can't see!"

"Well, thankfully, neither can the Deatheaters." she replied quickly. "Are you hurt?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but what happened?"

"A small spell to give us some cover. Don't worry about your eyes. The effects will wear off quickly enough. But for right now we need to move."

Grabbing Harry tightly by the hand, Katlin took off, heading in the direction opposite from where the Deatheaters were. But a few hundred yards out, she switched direction and head off to the side, all the while nearly dragging the teenager behind her. Several times she stopped to check his eyes, his sight returning faster than she expected. Unfortunately, it also meant that their pursuers were likely also over the effects of the spell.

Katlin ran on until she felt the pull on her hand getting stronger. She silently congratulated the boy. He had lasted longer than she expected he would. But she knew it was very unlikely he could keep going as long as she could. Looking for a safe place to stop, Katlin finally pulled up behind a large tree.

Next to her, Harry fought for breath in heavy pants as she scanned the area around them. The Deatheaters were likely already coming after her. She frowned as she thought what Voldemort might have told them of this mission. In her opinion, they were a little too eager to carry out these supposed 'attacks'.

Things had changed so much in the past few years, she thought. Subtle changes, but changes nonetheless. Johnathan Treaks had gained considerable power under Voldemort, who seemed more impressed with his ruthlessness than appalled by it, as she often was. But still he remained under her within the hierarchy of Voldemort's chain of command, though he rarely seemed to acknowledge that fact. But Katlin had learned over the years that little she did ever really required her to come in contact with Treaks. One of the few facts they both seemed grateful for.

But Voldemort had also changed, she admitted grimly. Not just physically, but his ideals as well. Again, the changes were subtle, but there nonetheless. He was becoming shorter in his temper, and more ruthless when dealing with others. Punishments were handed out more than praise whenever he was in the lair. And even that was becoming less and less as he left the running of the day to day activities more to Treaks.

Slowly Katlin was beginning to wonder if surviving the killing curse hadn't effect him more than just physically.

But these were things she would have to worry about later. Most of her attention right now had to be focused on the teenager beside her.

"Are you all right?" she asked, glancing down at Harry.

"I'm fine." Harry replied between gasps for air. "But how..." he sucked in a deep lungful, "...how are we going to lose the Deatheaters, Katlin? They know where we are."

"Well, we'll just have to be someplace else then." she stated, quickly dragging Harry after her as she started off through the trees again.

A few minutes later, Katlin felt their luck had suddenly changed. Following the side of the large hill, she had found an opening and quickly pushed Harry into it.

"But what if it's a dead end?" he asked as she continued to move them along by the light of her wand.

"It's not. " Katlin replied. "I could feel the cold air coming out of the cave. It opens somewhere."

After walking for several minutes, Katlin brought them to a stop. For a few moments she listened t the silence around them, then led Harry over to a large rock.

"We'll wait here for a little bit." Katlin advised. "If they try to come from the front, we'll hear them long before they get to us. And I doubt they know where this cave comes out. So for now I think it's best we use our present situation to our advantage and wait them out. Eventually they'll either find the cave entrance or leave the area. Hopefully the latter."

"And if they find the cave entrance instead?"

"We'll deal with that if it happens, Harry. Don't go inventing problems we may never have to face. We have enough as it is."

Harry sat in silence for a while, wondering how long Katlin was going to opt to stay put.

"Katlin," he asked finally in a low tone, "when you had to leave, where did you go?"

Katlin turned back to him with an unreadable expression. "I had to take care of something, Harry."

"Something?"

"It was business, Harry." she replied in an even tone. "Personal business."

Harry quickly fell silent again, feeling that was as much of an answer as he was going to get. For several more minutes he studied the ground before him by the dim light of Katlin's wand.

"We're going to get home, aren't we?" he ask suddenly.

Katlin turned again to the teenager sitting by her. She studied him for a few moments, understanding why Sirius had taken to the boy so easily. He was bright, and inquisitive, as brave as a fifteen year old could be, and seemingly completely unaware of his status in the world. Could the boy honestly not understand his own place in the scheme of things going on in the wizarding world? Was he really just a unknowing puppet of those around him, who manipulated him with their own truths and agendas?

"You'll get home, Harry." she said solemnly. "I promise you that. But nothing more."

"Which means you're going back to the Deatheaters." he stated quietly.

Katlin sighed in the stillness of the cave. "It's where I belong, Harry." she reiterated. "They're my people. Many of them my friends and people who depend on me. How can I ignore that and walk away?"

"But Voldemort is likely going to punish you for helping me escape."

"He won't be thrilled, no. But remember something for me, Harry." she added, tilting his face to her's with one long finger under his chin. "For all he may be, deep underneath all those layers that make up the person you know as Lord Voldemort, is just a man. You remember that for me, all right?"

Harry stared up into her eyes, slowly nodding as he thought about what she said.

"Very good." Katlin stated, "And now," she added, getting to her feet, "I think it's time we move on."

Harry got to his own feet and quickly hurried after her.

After what seemed like ages of moving through the tunnel, Harry suddenly could feel the air flow himself. And a few minutes more he could see a pinpoint of light beaconing them eagerly toward it.

"Katlin! I can see the opening!" Harry cried with excitement.

A hand slapped over his mouth.

"Quiet, child!" She hissed from behind him. "You want the Deatheaters to hear us?"

Harry shook his head hard as Katlin removed her hand.

Once he was free again, Harry hurried toward the light as quickly as he could, being more and more blinded by it as they got closer. But finally he could make out the opening and the path leading to it and broke into a run.

"We're almost there!" he gave a whisper of excitement behind him.

Harry burst out into the light without any thought that the Deatheaters would have been able to follow them or know where the cave entrance opened.

But that turned out to be the least of his worries.

As he rushed out into the light, he abruptly pulled to a stop, teetering on the edge of a cliff that fell a good thirty feet to the rocky ground below.

Harry let out a cry as he fought a losing battle with his balance. The last thing he felt was a hand grabbed him from behind and yank him back from the edge. Harry fell backwards and hit the ground on his backed.

But a second cry caught his attention.

A woman's cry.

Harry looked up just in time to see Katlin disappear over the edge of the cliff herself, unable to hold her own balance.

"Katlin!"

QA

Silverfox:

Treaks might or might not have a better chance at getting away with it. I would have to narrow this down to the last point. Caught at it, who would fair better? Definitely Treaks then.

Orin Bale would not look favorably on one of his agents, least of all the only muggle he has working for him, caught at unsolicited murder. However, for that situation to arise, Charly would have to first be caught at it.

Don't sweat the team thing, Dear. PAR does not work and play well with others either. I have serious issues there.

I hope that mile distance marker was a mistype on your part. My co-writer and I do not live 30 miles apart. More like 3000.

Bo is very talented, Dear, but he is not up to creating life at this time. So no, sorry, Bo did not 'make' Orion's kids.

I'm pretty sure about this, Dear. Voldemort wants an unknown, unguarded entrance to Hogwarts. He believes Harry knows where it is. Hence, Harry is a valuable source of information...right up until he tells Voldemort what he wants to know.

What last line, Dear? And to put your mind at rest, Orion and Katlin are very much still enjoying happy wedded bliss...as often as they can.

Nessie:

So very nice to see you back, Dear.

So glad you enjoyed seeing Sirius again. Keep that scene in mind. It does figure into Family Relations.

Book Six in five months? I am sorry to say I am having a hard time getting worked up about a book I have been promised is going to be even darker than the last one. Who is she going to whack this time?

Sorry, but since the demise of my favorite character, I'm just not that hepped up about the release of book six. It's all well and good, but I just think Rowling is taking this book on a turn for the worse. But then again, when you're sitting on a pile of money as high as the sky, who cares if someone likes your story or not?

Personally, I have gone from 'Who's gonna get killed?' to 'Who's gonna survive?' I am currently down to three for separate reasons.

1. Snape: With everyone else dead, he will finally get the DADA job.

2. Hagrid: Because he seems to be the least likely character TO survive.

3. Lupin: Since he's already the last surviving Marauder, (Peter doesn't count), it seems logical, as a survivor, he will still be around at the end of the story.

All reviews are as of 02/13/2005.

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Macintosh for graphics.

Palm for mobility.

Windows for solitaire.