Hello again. Slightly disappointed my last chapter didn't warrant *any*
reviews, but there you go. Okey-dokey. I love Easter Holidays. It's the
only chance I'm gonna have to really write for the next few months. Unless
I write at times past nine o'clock, and then things are really insane!
Anyway, on with the story.
Chapter 20 – I love you – Finally!
Two weeks later:
Kathryn sighed and put down her quill. Finally. After Quidditch practise (where she, Lily and James were the new Chasers – James had given his position to a promising second-year after realising he was just too big) (A/N: Ha, knew I could get that sorted out somehow! Now he's been Seeker *and* Chaser!), their 'Elemental Guardian' practise and all of her homework, she was finished. And it was one o'clock in the morning.
She looked about the common room. There was no one there apart from a First-year who had fallen asleep. Smiling a little, she packed away her belongings and woke the child up.
"I think you ought to sleep in your own bed." She teased.
The boy nodded and trailed up the stairs to his dorm.
Kathryn fell back on the sofa, thinking. She couldn't help staring into the fire and snagged tiny flames, working them into elegant lilies, Celtic knots or voluptuous roses. And then a voice spoke.
"Kathryn."
She stared at the flames. Her mother's head rested in them, looking bedworn.
"Mum? What're you doing here?"
"I had a vision – of you and Sirius."
Kathryn coloured. "Uh, what happened?"
"You were fighting, screaming at each other. I think one of you was hurt." Elise looked terrified.
Kathryn went pale. "But – but we never fight! Do you know what it was about?"
"No. Just... be careful, Kat. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Yeah, I will, Mum. Promise." Kathryn nodded.
Her mother smiled and her head disappeared with a faint *pop*. Kathryn sat back on her heels, worried. What could she have seen?
* * *
That night a foreign presence entered the Seventh-year boys' dormitory and then the Seventh-year girls' dormitory, adding a little something to the glasses of water that Sirius and Kathryn drank from every night.
* * *
The next morning revealed something terrible.
"What, you think I'm too weak to defend myself?" Kathryn shrieked at breakfast.
"I never said that! You're just foolhardy, careless. You never think before you act!" Sirius protested, his voice rising.
The argument continued, the voices rising higher and higher.
"What the hell are you two arguing about?" Lily demanded.
But she was ignored.
"Detention, Miss Orenda, Mr Black!" Professor McGonagall roared. "For your misconduct!"
But *she* was ignored.
And as the argument became more heated, so did other things begin to occur.
Ever so gently at first, the ground began to shake. The flames of the candles and the fires began to grow.
"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Kathryn screamed.
"IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE, NOW, IS IT? IT'S ALWAYS WHAT *YOU* WANT TO DO!" Sirius yelled.
"GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Kathryn ordered.
"FINE! IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT, I WILL! IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I CARE ABOUT YOU! MAYBE I CARE TOO MUCH, IS THAT THE PROBLEM?" Sirius wanted to know.
At that moment, a stinging blow whacked across his face and Kathryn ran, the flames engulfing the candles or fuel they fed on. The ground shook dreadfully for one moment, and then ceased, but Sirius' eyes glittered dangerously white.
"Sirius, leave her." James advised.
"No."
He ran from the room, following the woman he knew to be his soulmate, deep down, but something clouded that knowledge from him.
But he didn't catch up with her. The entire day was spent with them screaming and yelling, something so uncharacteristic for Kathryn and Sirius that people had to wonder if there wasn't something other than a 'lovers' spat' at work.
That evening Lily heard a loud noise, a keening shriek, erupting from the bottom of Kathryn's trunk. Frowning, she pulled it open and found that the noise was coming from the Celtic box they had received the previous Christmas holidays. Or rather, the one that had been entrusted to Kathryn.
"We forgot about this." Lily murmured.
Kathryn had the key. Damn.
Tucking the box under her arm, she went down into the common room, where she found James sat with Remus, Radella, Alura, Damion (who had got permission from McGonagall and Flitwick) and Peter, all puzzling over the arguments between Kathryn and Sirius.
"It's unnatural. Occasionally they disagree, but they do not shriek like that." Alura sighed.
"It's like they're under some sort of spell." Peter mused.
The others stared at him.
James gasped. "Or potion." He saw Lily. "Lily, I think Peter just helped me work out what's going on." (A/N: Peter doing something *good*? That's a first!)
"What?"
"I think they've been given an overdose of the Discord potion. Or an extra concentrated dose. We learnt how to do it this time last year. It's used to relieve tension by letting people get their feelings out through argument. But they've been grasping at anything even vaguely that could cause an argument. And they keep getting more and more heated. It should have worn off by now."
Lily's eyes were wide. "But if it hasn't and they've had overdose..."
"It's a very effective poison."
"We've got to find them."
"YOU BASTARD!" Kathryn shrieked as Sirius grabbed hold of her arm as they reached the top of a set of stairs.
"WHAT HAVE I DONE NOW? BREATHED?" Sirius demanded.
"I HATE YOU! YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU'RE PERFECT AND OH SO CLEVER! YOU'RE AN ARROGANT JERK!"
"ME, ARROGANT? WHAT ABOUT YOU? YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU'RE WONDERFUL! YOU HAVE A FAMILY THAT LOVES YOU, YOU CAN HELP PREVENT DREADFUL THINGS FROM HAPPENING, YOU LEARNT EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED TO FOR YOUR OWLS IN THREE WEEKS! AND YOU CALL *ME* ARROGANT?"
She shoved him away from her and stepped back, but he stepped forward again.
"JUST SAY WHAT YOU TRULY FEEL, FLAMMA! DON'T CONCEAL ANYTHING!" And as he said that he grabbed her shoulders.
Kathryn struggled back. "LET GO!"
Another voice shrieked. "NO!"
Kathryn and Sirius toppled down the stairs just as it changed. They fell down so quickly that they shot of the end, falling three, four floors.
James threw out his hands. "Freeze, damn you! Freeze!" But it was no use, for they were Elemental Guardians and immune to his power.
They raced down the stairs to their friends.
"She's still breathing, but it's weak." Lily murmured.
"Sirius' pulse is strong and steady. Seems him having such a hard head can be helpful at times. We'd best get them to the Hospital Wing before the poison finishes them off."
Levitating their friends, they sped to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey clucked as she saw them.
"I should have known this would happen. They've been arguing all day. What happened?"
"Sirius grabbed Kathryn, he was trying to get her to tell him her true feelings. She struggled and they fell down the stairs. The stairs then moved, and they fell off it onto the ground floor."
"What?"
"But we think we've worked out the real problem. They've been poisoned."
"What with?"
"An overdose of Discord potion. While it's normally used to relieve tension by causing argument about what people have been hiding, these two don't have anything to hide. The arguments have been about any tiny little thing they could think of. And now it's killing them."
James frowned at the box Lily held, which was still giving off a keening whistle. "What is that?"
"It's the box that man gave Kathryn last Christmas. It's been shrieking for a while. I think we need to get Professor Dumbledore."
"No need, I'm here."
They immediately explained what had happened.
Dumbledore frowned. "Why would anyone do that? What is to be gained by giving them a Discord potion?"
Lily sighed. "I don't know. But we only learned it this sort of time last year, so only Sixth and Seventh-years could use it. But what's scaring me is..."
"The password." James finished. "Unless someone found out the password from a Gryffindor, it was a Gryffindor that did it. We *know* there aren't any secret passages into the Gryffindor Tower."
Dumbledore nodded. "This is going to have to be investigated. A suspected poisoning... I never thought I'd see this at Hogwarts. Anyway, what is this box and why didn't you bring it to me before?"
"We... Kathryn forgot about it. The man gave her the key, called her a Seer, said something about not thinking she doesn't play a part in the future because she doesn't see it. Something about bringing 'his' protectors back." James explained. "I don't know who 'he' is, though."
Kathryn and Sirius both let out an ear-splitting shriek or yell.
"The key!" They both murmured before falling back into a coma-like state.
Lily set her face grimly and went to the locket at Kathryn's neck. On the same chain was a tiny, slender key, which barely looked strong enough to hold anything. It remained purposely hidden by the locket most of the time, and the locket wasn't all that big either. Lily slipped the key off.
"It's so small." She frowned.
"It's magical. It doesn't need to be placed in the lock, just activated." Dumbledore explained.
Lily frowned, placing the key alongside the lock. "But how... Of course." Neither she nor James were as adept at giving the rhymed spells from the top of their heads, but this one seemed inherent.
"Four jewels you do contain,
Four jewels ever shall remain.
Heart and Mind command thee now
Save Life and Soul, open as must thou."
Instantly a mixture of Lily's green and James' blue light went forth, entering the box's lock and a click opened it. With reverent hands, Lily pushed open the lid.
"Wow."
Four jewels were held in the black satin of the dark box. One was a white diamond, another a dark – crimson rather than scarlet – ruby, the third a deep green emerald, the last a bright blue sapphire. All seemed to shimmer with a faint light – the light of reflection, they realised. But the ruby and diamond seemed to have a deathly aura glittering about them.
"The Jewels of the Elemental Guardians." Dumbledore breathed. "The tools believed to be false, those used to show life and magic and death, those used to change the life and death of the four Guardians, helped by their Element."
James frowned, touching his jewel. And realised something.
"These will contain our essences when we die. Until each one shines with the light of life, we shall stay within these. Though I don't understand how."
"They appear to be reflecting us, our lifelines, if you will. And Kat and Sirius... Their jewels don't look too happy." Lily bit her lip.
"Merlin knows what they are going through." James sighed, running a hand absently through his hair.
* * *
---Kathryn and Sirius' dream/vision--- (A/N: Just in case it doesn't do italics! Stupid formatting!)
Kathryn was falling through trees. They tore at her clothes, raked across her skin, dragged on her flesh. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know who she was. She didn't know anything, but for the knowledge that she was missing something.
Sirius was falling down a rock face. Hard stone scratched and cut his hands, sharp edges tore his clothing, loose and jutting rocks bruise and slashed his skin. He had no idea where he was. No idea who he was. Only an aching feeling that there was something he was missing.
Kathryn fell onto hard ground. It was smooth, like polished marble, and cool to the touch. Her skin was swiftly mending, but her clothes hung from her in rags. Why was she there?
Sirius slipped onto a hard, cool surface. Dark, polished stone cooled his aching body and wounds as they rapidly healed – supernaturally. His clothing was in tatters. Why was he there?
The two teenagers looked across the expanse of dark, smooth stone and caught each other's eyes. They realised how little their clothing now clad them and blushed. But they had to get to each other. They knew nothing of the other, only that an irresistible force pulled them together, like ink to paper.
They stood, staring into the other's eyes.
"Who are you?" Sirius asked softly.
"Who are you?" Kathryn replied.
"What is it you know?"
"What can you show?"
"What is this game?"
"What is your name?"
"My life is yours."
"Both to the cause."
They reached each other, and as they touched, the elements of fire and earth burst into life about them, filling their veins, their minds, their breath.
"A potion of Discord." Sirius murmured, as though trying to understand.
"Aimed to separate." Kathryn frowned.
"Ordered by evil lord."
"In order to annihilate."
They both stared deeper into each other's eyes. And realised there was something they hadn't ever said that they had to. The only thing that could destroy a Discord potion.
Laughter can destroy fear, when manifested by a Boggart. It is the natural opposite.
There is also an opposite to discord. One is unity. But there is something even more powerful, that defeats discord among so many other things.
"I love you." They confessed in unison.
Forgetting – or ignoring – their barely-clad states, they began to kiss fervently. Passion and ardour ran through their veins as they embraced each other tightly. And then they began falling once more...
* * *
The Hospital Wing:
"Sirius."
"Kathryn."
The two teens sat up sharply on their beds and smiled at the other.
Sirius crossed over and sat on Kathryn's bed, taking her hands. "I love you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."
"I love you too." Kathryn smiled. And then grinned cheekily. "Better late than never."
And they kissed, softly, tenderly, sweetly.
"Well, *that*'s an improvement." A voice remarked, moving back the curtain.
"JAMES!" Kathryn shrieked. "Piss off!"
"Is that any way to greet a concerned friend?" James asked innocently.
"Yes it is when you've interrupted one of the most romantic moments of our lives!" Kathryn complained.
"But..."
Sirius' hand twitched. James was thrown back and the curtain closed once more.
Lily looked at him, amused.
James sighed. "I think they're friends again. And they don't want to be disturbed."
They looked back at the jewels. Kathryn and Sirius' had returned to the shame shimmer of Lily and James', though they seemed to be reflecting an overturn of fire or earth respectively.
"What do you think that's about?" Lily wondered.
"They've finally discovered they're in love." Dumbledore explained.
The Head Girl and Boy looked scandalised. The Headmaster shouldn't say stuff like that about his students, no matter how obvious they made it!
Dumbledore smiled. "Since this is a special case, I thought it would be sensible to explain this to you. However, since they are soulmates anyway, this was only a matter of time."
He didn't mention the fact that Kathryn and Sirius were soulmates for two reasons. The first was them being spiritual descendants of Flamma and Solum. However, the second was the fact that the Soul – or Fire – and Life – or Earth – of the Elemental Guardians were always destined for each other, just as the Mind (Air) and Heart (Water) were. He did not mention that James and Lily, though they did not truly realise it as yet, were also soulmates.
It was a while before Madam Pomfrey managed to get through to Kathryn and Sirius to check them over. In seeing that, miraculously, the poison of the potion had left their bodies, she promptly kicked them out, but could not be as angry as she might have been, Kathryn and Sirius being, well, Kathryn and Sirius. She had a soft spot for both of them.
James and Lily filled them in on the deal with the jewels, while Dumbledore made a pendant that hung in his office, each one corresponding to each jewel and fixed with a spell – they would copy the jewels' appearances and auras, ensuring that there would always be a way for Dumbledore to know if they were in danger, or, indeed, dead.
Sirius and Kathryn were more interested in one thing – who had slipped the concentrated potion into their drinks (as well as making out at the most inconvenient times). They didn't know if it was a Gryffindor or not. The Fat Lady admitted to letting in someone she didn't see that night, but assumed it was one of the Marauders in the invisibility cloak. Since they had the password, she thought nothing of it. Sirius and Kathryn also wondered about something slipping a brief truth potion into of the Gryffindors' drinks and requesting the password. And both knew that it had been ordered by Voldemort.
Kathryn couldn't help suspecting Peter, though she knew he was still on the side of good and would be for another two or three years at least.
Both basked in the 'I love yous' they so frequently now exchanged. And so September melted into October, nothing else out of the ordinary happening if you discounted Snape singing 'Hello Goodbye' (by the Beatles, but I couldn't think of a really soppy one for him to sing. If anyone has any ideas for more songs for him to sing, either e-mail or review me!) to McGonagall one dinnertime, much to the student body's amusement – and disgust, since his singing voice was appalling.
* * *
A/N: What do you think? A bit shorter than some of the other chapters, but necessary. I have just realised I may have said James had grey eyes in the second chapter. He does not – they are blue! It's just one of those little things I had to change before you all tell me his eyes are hazel.
Okay, no reviewers to say anything to (Hint Hint), so I s'pose goodbye until next week.
Oh yeah, and review, or I'll kill Kathryn off, which would just make everyone depressed. Including me, because this is a pre-written story, so killing her off means I have to write a different chapter.
Review! Please! I just want one or two! Cookies to everyone who does!
Lol, Tanydwr
Anyway, on with the story.
Chapter 20 – I love you – Finally!
Two weeks later:
Kathryn sighed and put down her quill. Finally. After Quidditch practise (where she, Lily and James were the new Chasers – James had given his position to a promising second-year after realising he was just too big) (A/N: Ha, knew I could get that sorted out somehow! Now he's been Seeker *and* Chaser!), their 'Elemental Guardian' practise and all of her homework, she was finished. And it was one o'clock in the morning.
She looked about the common room. There was no one there apart from a First-year who had fallen asleep. Smiling a little, she packed away her belongings and woke the child up.
"I think you ought to sleep in your own bed." She teased.
The boy nodded and trailed up the stairs to his dorm.
Kathryn fell back on the sofa, thinking. She couldn't help staring into the fire and snagged tiny flames, working them into elegant lilies, Celtic knots or voluptuous roses. And then a voice spoke.
"Kathryn."
She stared at the flames. Her mother's head rested in them, looking bedworn.
"Mum? What're you doing here?"
"I had a vision – of you and Sirius."
Kathryn coloured. "Uh, what happened?"
"You were fighting, screaming at each other. I think one of you was hurt." Elise looked terrified.
Kathryn went pale. "But – but we never fight! Do you know what it was about?"
"No. Just... be careful, Kat. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Yeah, I will, Mum. Promise." Kathryn nodded.
Her mother smiled and her head disappeared with a faint *pop*. Kathryn sat back on her heels, worried. What could she have seen?
* * *
That night a foreign presence entered the Seventh-year boys' dormitory and then the Seventh-year girls' dormitory, adding a little something to the glasses of water that Sirius and Kathryn drank from every night.
* * *
The next morning revealed something terrible.
"What, you think I'm too weak to defend myself?" Kathryn shrieked at breakfast.
"I never said that! You're just foolhardy, careless. You never think before you act!" Sirius protested, his voice rising.
The argument continued, the voices rising higher and higher.
"What the hell are you two arguing about?" Lily demanded.
But she was ignored.
"Detention, Miss Orenda, Mr Black!" Professor McGonagall roared. "For your misconduct!"
But *she* was ignored.
And as the argument became more heated, so did other things begin to occur.
Ever so gently at first, the ground began to shake. The flames of the candles and the fires began to grow.
"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Kathryn screamed.
"IT'S NOT LIKE I HAVE A CHOICE, NOW, IS IT? IT'S ALWAYS WHAT *YOU* WANT TO DO!" Sirius yelled.
"GET OUT OF MY LIFE!" Kathryn ordered.
"FINE! IF THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT, I WILL! IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT I CARE ABOUT YOU! MAYBE I CARE TOO MUCH, IS THAT THE PROBLEM?" Sirius wanted to know.
At that moment, a stinging blow whacked across his face and Kathryn ran, the flames engulfing the candles or fuel they fed on. The ground shook dreadfully for one moment, and then ceased, but Sirius' eyes glittered dangerously white.
"Sirius, leave her." James advised.
"No."
He ran from the room, following the woman he knew to be his soulmate, deep down, but something clouded that knowledge from him.
But he didn't catch up with her. The entire day was spent with them screaming and yelling, something so uncharacteristic for Kathryn and Sirius that people had to wonder if there wasn't something other than a 'lovers' spat' at work.
That evening Lily heard a loud noise, a keening shriek, erupting from the bottom of Kathryn's trunk. Frowning, she pulled it open and found that the noise was coming from the Celtic box they had received the previous Christmas holidays. Or rather, the one that had been entrusted to Kathryn.
"We forgot about this." Lily murmured.
Kathryn had the key. Damn.
Tucking the box under her arm, she went down into the common room, where she found James sat with Remus, Radella, Alura, Damion (who had got permission from McGonagall and Flitwick) and Peter, all puzzling over the arguments between Kathryn and Sirius.
"It's unnatural. Occasionally they disagree, but they do not shriek like that." Alura sighed.
"It's like they're under some sort of spell." Peter mused.
The others stared at him.
James gasped. "Or potion." He saw Lily. "Lily, I think Peter just helped me work out what's going on." (A/N: Peter doing something *good*? That's a first!)
"What?"
"I think they've been given an overdose of the Discord potion. Or an extra concentrated dose. We learnt how to do it this time last year. It's used to relieve tension by letting people get their feelings out through argument. But they've been grasping at anything even vaguely that could cause an argument. And they keep getting more and more heated. It should have worn off by now."
Lily's eyes were wide. "But if it hasn't and they've had overdose..."
"It's a very effective poison."
"We've got to find them."
"YOU BASTARD!" Kathryn shrieked as Sirius grabbed hold of her arm as they reached the top of a set of stairs.
"WHAT HAVE I DONE NOW? BREATHED?" Sirius demanded.
"I HATE YOU! YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU'RE PERFECT AND OH SO CLEVER! YOU'RE AN ARROGANT JERK!"
"ME, ARROGANT? WHAT ABOUT YOU? YOU SEEM TO THINK YOU'RE WONDERFUL! YOU HAVE A FAMILY THAT LOVES YOU, YOU CAN HELP PREVENT DREADFUL THINGS FROM HAPPENING, YOU LEARNT EVERYTHING YOU NEEDED TO FOR YOUR OWLS IN THREE WEEKS! AND YOU CALL *ME* ARROGANT?"
She shoved him away from her and stepped back, but he stepped forward again.
"JUST SAY WHAT YOU TRULY FEEL, FLAMMA! DON'T CONCEAL ANYTHING!" And as he said that he grabbed her shoulders.
Kathryn struggled back. "LET GO!"
Another voice shrieked. "NO!"
Kathryn and Sirius toppled down the stairs just as it changed. They fell down so quickly that they shot of the end, falling three, four floors.
James threw out his hands. "Freeze, damn you! Freeze!" But it was no use, for they were Elemental Guardians and immune to his power.
They raced down the stairs to their friends.
"She's still breathing, but it's weak." Lily murmured.
"Sirius' pulse is strong and steady. Seems him having such a hard head can be helpful at times. We'd best get them to the Hospital Wing before the poison finishes them off."
Levitating their friends, they sped to the Hospital Wing.
Madam Pomfrey clucked as she saw them.
"I should have known this would happen. They've been arguing all day. What happened?"
"Sirius grabbed Kathryn, he was trying to get her to tell him her true feelings. She struggled and they fell down the stairs. The stairs then moved, and they fell off it onto the ground floor."
"What?"
"But we think we've worked out the real problem. They've been poisoned."
"What with?"
"An overdose of Discord potion. While it's normally used to relieve tension by causing argument about what people have been hiding, these two don't have anything to hide. The arguments have been about any tiny little thing they could think of. And now it's killing them."
James frowned at the box Lily held, which was still giving off a keening whistle. "What is that?"
"It's the box that man gave Kathryn last Christmas. It's been shrieking for a while. I think we need to get Professor Dumbledore."
"No need, I'm here."
They immediately explained what had happened.
Dumbledore frowned. "Why would anyone do that? What is to be gained by giving them a Discord potion?"
Lily sighed. "I don't know. But we only learned it this sort of time last year, so only Sixth and Seventh-years could use it. But what's scaring me is..."
"The password." James finished. "Unless someone found out the password from a Gryffindor, it was a Gryffindor that did it. We *know* there aren't any secret passages into the Gryffindor Tower."
Dumbledore nodded. "This is going to have to be investigated. A suspected poisoning... I never thought I'd see this at Hogwarts. Anyway, what is this box and why didn't you bring it to me before?"
"We... Kathryn forgot about it. The man gave her the key, called her a Seer, said something about not thinking she doesn't play a part in the future because she doesn't see it. Something about bringing 'his' protectors back." James explained. "I don't know who 'he' is, though."
Kathryn and Sirius both let out an ear-splitting shriek or yell.
"The key!" They both murmured before falling back into a coma-like state.
Lily set her face grimly and went to the locket at Kathryn's neck. On the same chain was a tiny, slender key, which barely looked strong enough to hold anything. It remained purposely hidden by the locket most of the time, and the locket wasn't all that big either. Lily slipped the key off.
"It's so small." She frowned.
"It's magical. It doesn't need to be placed in the lock, just activated." Dumbledore explained.
Lily frowned, placing the key alongside the lock. "But how... Of course." Neither she nor James were as adept at giving the rhymed spells from the top of their heads, but this one seemed inherent.
"Four jewels you do contain,
Four jewels ever shall remain.
Heart and Mind command thee now
Save Life and Soul, open as must thou."
Instantly a mixture of Lily's green and James' blue light went forth, entering the box's lock and a click opened it. With reverent hands, Lily pushed open the lid.
"Wow."
Four jewels were held in the black satin of the dark box. One was a white diamond, another a dark – crimson rather than scarlet – ruby, the third a deep green emerald, the last a bright blue sapphire. All seemed to shimmer with a faint light – the light of reflection, they realised. But the ruby and diamond seemed to have a deathly aura glittering about them.
"The Jewels of the Elemental Guardians." Dumbledore breathed. "The tools believed to be false, those used to show life and magic and death, those used to change the life and death of the four Guardians, helped by their Element."
James frowned, touching his jewel. And realised something.
"These will contain our essences when we die. Until each one shines with the light of life, we shall stay within these. Though I don't understand how."
"They appear to be reflecting us, our lifelines, if you will. And Kat and Sirius... Their jewels don't look too happy." Lily bit her lip.
"Merlin knows what they are going through." James sighed, running a hand absently through his hair.
* * *
---Kathryn and Sirius' dream/vision--- (A/N: Just in case it doesn't do italics! Stupid formatting!)
Kathryn was falling through trees. They tore at her clothes, raked across her skin, dragged on her flesh. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know who she was. She didn't know anything, but for the knowledge that she was missing something.
Sirius was falling down a rock face. Hard stone scratched and cut his hands, sharp edges tore his clothing, loose and jutting rocks bruise and slashed his skin. He had no idea where he was. No idea who he was. Only an aching feeling that there was something he was missing.
Kathryn fell onto hard ground. It was smooth, like polished marble, and cool to the touch. Her skin was swiftly mending, but her clothes hung from her in rags. Why was she there?
Sirius slipped onto a hard, cool surface. Dark, polished stone cooled his aching body and wounds as they rapidly healed – supernaturally. His clothing was in tatters. Why was he there?
The two teenagers looked across the expanse of dark, smooth stone and caught each other's eyes. They realised how little their clothing now clad them and blushed. But they had to get to each other. They knew nothing of the other, only that an irresistible force pulled them together, like ink to paper.
They stood, staring into the other's eyes.
"Who are you?" Sirius asked softly.
"Who are you?" Kathryn replied.
"What is it you know?"
"What can you show?"
"What is this game?"
"What is your name?"
"My life is yours."
"Both to the cause."
They reached each other, and as they touched, the elements of fire and earth burst into life about them, filling their veins, their minds, their breath.
"A potion of Discord." Sirius murmured, as though trying to understand.
"Aimed to separate." Kathryn frowned.
"Ordered by evil lord."
"In order to annihilate."
They both stared deeper into each other's eyes. And realised there was something they hadn't ever said that they had to. The only thing that could destroy a Discord potion.
Laughter can destroy fear, when manifested by a Boggart. It is the natural opposite.
There is also an opposite to discord. One is unity. But there is something even more powerful, that defeats discord among so many other things.
"I love you." They confessed in unison.
Forgetting – or ignoring – their barely-clad states, they began to kiss fervently. Passion and ardour ran through their veins as they embraced each other tightly. And then they began falling once more...
* * *
The Hospital Wing:
"Sirius."
"Kathryn."
The two teens sat up sharply on their beds and smiled at the other.
Sirius crossed over and sat on Kathryn's bed, taking her hands. "I love you. And I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."
"I love you too." Kathryn smiled. And then grinned cheekily. "Better late than never."
And they kissed, softly, tenderly, sweetly.
"Well, *that*'s an improvement." A voice remarked, moving back the curtain.
"JAMES!" Kathryn shrieked. "Piss off!"
"Is that any way to greet a concerned friend?" James asked innocently.
"Yes it is when you've interrupted one of the most romantic moments of our lives!" Kathryn complained.
"But..."
Sirius' hand twitched. James was thrown back and the curtain closed once more.
Lily looked at him, amused.
James sighed. "I think they're friends again. And they don't want to be disturbed."
They looked back at the jewels. Kathryn and Sirius' had returned to the shame shimmer of Lily and James', though they seemed to be reflecting an overturn of fire or earth respectively.
"What do you think that's about?" Lily wondered.
"They've finally discovered they're in love." Dumbledore explained.
The Head Girl and Boy looked scandalised. The Headmaster shouldn't say stuff like that about his students, no matter how obvious they made it!
Dumbledore smiled. "Since this is a special case, I thought it would be sensible to explain this to you. However, since they are soulmates anyway, this was only a matter of time."
He didn't mention the fact that Kathryn and Sirius were soulmates for two reasons. The first was them being spiritual descendants of Flamma and Solum. However, the second was the fact that the Soul – or Fire – and Life – or Earth – of the Elemental Guardians were always destined for each other, just as the Mind (Air) and Heart (Water) were. He did not mention that James and Lily, though they did not truly realise it as yet, were also soulmates.
It was a while before Madam Pomfrey managed to get through to Kathryn and Sirius to check them over. In seeing that, miraculously, the poison of the potion had left their bodies, she promptly kicked them out, but could not be as angry as she might have been, Kathryn and Sirius being, well, Kathryn and Sirius. She had a soft spot for both of them.
James and Lily filled them in on the deal with the jewels, while Dumbledore made a pendant that hung in his office, each one corresponding to each jewel and fixed with a spell – they would copy the jewels' appearances and auras, ensuring that there would always be a way for Dumbledore to know if they were in danger, or, indeed, dead.
Sirius and Kathryn were more interested in one thing – who had slipped the concentrated potion into their drinks (as well as making out at the most inconvenient times). They didn't know if it was a Gryffindor or not. The Fat Lady admitted to letting in someone she didn't see that night, but assumed it was one of the Marauders in the invisibility cloak. Since they had the password, she thought nothing of it. Sirius and Kathryn also wondered about something slipping a brief truth potion into of the Gryffindors' drinks and requesting the password. And both knew that it had been ordered by Voldemort.
Kathryn couldn't help suspecting Peter, though she knew he was still on the side of good and would be for another two or three years at least.
Both basked in the 'I love yous' they so frequently now exchanged. And so September melted into October, nothing else out of the ordinary happening if you discounted Snape singing 'Hello Goodbye' (by the Beatles, but I couldn't think of a really soppy one for him to sing. If anyone has any ideas for more songs for him to sing, either e-mail or review me!) to McGonagall one dinnertime, much to the student body's amusement – and disgust, since his singing voice was appalling.
* * *
A/N: What do you think? A bit shorter than some of the other chapters, but necessary. I have just realised I may have said James had grey eyes in the second chapter. He does not – they are blue! It's just one of those little things I had to change before you all tell me his eyes are hazel.
Okay, no reviewers to say anything to (Hint Hint), so I s'pose goodbye until next week.
Oh yeah, and review, or I'll kill Kathryn off, which would just make everyone depressed. Including me, because this is a pre-written story, so killing her off means I have to write a different chapter.
Review! Please! I just want one or two! Cookies to everyone who does!
Lol, Tanydwr