Hey people! Another Friday, another chapter! Onto the story – notes and
thanks at the end.
Chapter 24 – NEWTs
Kathryn was busy studying her Transfiguration notes at midnight in the Head Common Room. It was quieter than the Gryffindor Common Room, plus there were the Fifth-years anxiously revising for their NEWTs as well. It made for an even tenser atmosphere.
"Ach, I give up." Kathryn groaned, throwing her notes aside.
Sirius, studying his own notes, looked up. He smiled wearily.
"Tired?"
"Frustrated. I don't think I can learn anymore and Transfiguration is our first exam tomorrow!"
"Theory, morning. Practical, afternoon." Lily murmured, closing her own notes. "I suggest we all try and get some sleep. We'll be no use if we're too tired tomorrow."
Kathryn nodded. "It's fine for the practical. For all the practicals in fact. We can do those, we're all skilled. It's just the theory. Mind you, at least we're only doing six this time."
James agreed. "Yeah. Okay, bed everyone."
Groaning, they all stood, leaving their notes scattered over individual tables. No one minded, particularly at this time of year.
"Night." Sirius groaned.
"Night." Kathryn smiled, briefly pressing her lips against his, feeling the tingle of molten lava that seemed to flow from him into her veins, and broke away, rushing upstairs to bed.
Sirius smiled, remembering the fire she always sent into his body, roaring as it went.
James and Lily exchanged a tender kiss and parted as well.
Both Kathryn and Lily forewent showers, deciding to use them as a waking up aid in the morning.
And slowly each of them drifted into a dreamless sleep (Kathryn had bought some Sleep Mints from Honeydukes in the hopes of sleeping better for the exams).
* * *
"You have two hours to complete the Transfiguration Theory paper. You may begin." Professor McGonagall informed them.
Kathryn opened her question paper and answer parchment and began.
Q. 1. What is the correct incantation for Cross-magic Transfiguration?
Kathryn grinned. 'I can do this,' she thought, scribbling down the answer. A weight was suddenly off her shoulders.
She continued to scribble answers and finished the paper with half an hour left. She sighed. Going through her answers, she realised that, as usual, she had done her best on them first time around, not expecting to have chance to go through them again. She sighed and began to doodle on the piece of spare parchment they were all handed at the beginning of the exam.
This is *so* boring! A voice said in her head.
Kathryn stopped suddenly and scowled. Sirius! You're not supposed to use thought-speech!
I'm not using it to cheat, am I? Sirius replied. I've already finished. I'm just bored.
Well write a story, or doodle or something. Kathryn snapped. Talking is wrong, whether anyone else can hear it or not!
She heard him sigh in his mind. Oh alright. But I'm gonna need appeasing after the exam.
Kathryn barely suppressed a grin. Oh really? Well, stay quiet and you will be.
Sirius was silent and appeared to be scribbling something down on his spare piece of parchment.
Kathryn stared at her parchment. There were numerous designs upon it, many of which were magical. She recognised the triquetra, a symbol used to represent the Charmed Ones on the TV programme 'Charmed'. Also, without the circle running through it, it was a basic Celtic knot. She recognised the symbol of Beauxbatons Academy, two crossed wands with three stars shooting out. A rough sketch of the Hogwarts shield. But something else caught her eye. Because she didn't recognise it.
The sketch showed a diamond-shape, split into four triangles. One held a flame, another a wave, a third a cyclone, and the fourth a crystal. Each was like the symbol that had appeared on their bodies at the age of seventeen. Nothing like it had happened when they turned eighteen. In the centre of this diamond, where the separating lines crossed, it became a Celtic cross, a circle through it. Kathryn knew of the cross, after all, she was descended from the Celts on both sides... A Celtic cross – not crucifix, cross – represented sun, or the crossroads. She wondered what the symbol meant.
"You must finish your sentence and place down your quills." Professor McGonagall's voice broke through her thoughts.
Kathryn looked up, the two hours were over. Everyone was rolling up their answer-scrolls, looking nervous. She leant back in her chair, still staring at the symbol she had unknowingly sketched.
"Accio answer-scrolls." Professor McGonagall Summoned and all the scrolls stacked themselves neatly on the desk in front of her. Transfiguration was a popular N.E.W.T. subject, nearly all of the forty Seventh-year students were there. (A/N: Forty sounds about right, I mean, there's ten in Gryffindor, makes an average of ten all round, doesn't it?)
"You may go. Return here at two o'clock for your practical examination." Professor McGonagall informed them.
It was eleven o'clock; they had an hour to wait until lunch at twelve.
"That wasn't so bad, now, was it?" Lily asked. "What did you put for question twelve b..."
"Lily, we are not going to go through the exam again. It's bad enough going through it once." James groaned.
Lily grinned. "Sorry, sweetie. Now, where to?"
"Well, there's a very fateful tree you visited after your OWL in DADA..." Kathryn began wickedly.
Lily grinned again. "Yes, be glad its not after our DADA NEWT. C'mon, Jamie, I'll race you!" She ran off.
James ran after her. "What do you mean 'JAMIE'?" He roared.
Kathryn and Sirius laughed as they followed. "She's the only one he won't kill for calling him that, you know." Sirius smiled.
"Uh huh. Now, what did you say about the need to be appeased?" She raised a brow.
"Oh, yeah, that." Sirius grinned. "You know we can beat them." He held her close.
"How?"
A flash of white light later, and they were sat under the tree.
"Teleporting, remember?" Sirius grinned.
"Mmm-hmm." Kathryn murmured.
It was then that Sirius caught her lips with his, his embrace firm and yet tender. Kathryn returned the kiss, feeling a volcano of molten lava burst inside his body and flow into hers at their contact. Even though it was not her element – lava was part of the earth – she did not reject it, or even mind it, it was part of Sirius, and therefore she couldn't care less. Sirius kissed her harder, knowing the firestorm inside his girlfriend's body raged, burning through into him as his skin touched hers. Again, the fact that it was not his element did not bother him, it was almost as though he couldn't reject it, as it was part of the woman he loved so much.
"I love you." He murmured as she pulled away.
"Oh good." Kathryn smiled. "Coz I love you too."
They began to kiss again, and both wondered how their kisses could be tender, loving and beautiful at the same time as being passionate, lustful and raging.
"God, can't you two keep your lips off each other for five minutes?" Lily asked as she and James approached the tree.
Kathryn pulled away from Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "James caught you then, did he?"
Lily stared at her. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, Little Miss Hypocrite, your lipstick does need just a leettle bit of retouching." Kathryn smirked.
Immediately, James and Lily began wiping their mouths, going bright red.
"What are we like?" Sirius laughed.
"Hopeless describes the case pretty well." A different voice remarked.
"Hey Remus, guys. Come join the festivities." Sirius beckoned, and eleven friends (Damion was with Alura, and Peter, believe it or not, was there) laughed and joked until lunch called to them, along with their second exam.
* * *
"Orenda, Kathryn." A voice called. "Phenners, Alice. And Potter, James."
The three teens grinned at each other and entered the smaller room for the practical examination. Both Sirius and Lily had gone through, in fact, all of their closest friends had (Peter had not taken Transfiguration).
"Ah, Miss Orenda, Professor Marchbanks is free." Professor McGonagall informed her.
Kathryn obeyed, grinning.
"Hi. I'm Kathryn Orenda." She told the Professor, a woman in her forties or fifties. Her aging appeared to be natural. Then she remembered that Marchbanks had examined Dumbledore for his NEWT. Maybe not.
"Miss Orenda. Your brothers graduated last year?" She asked. The woman looked stern, but had a faint smile.
"Yep. They did really well. Working in Gringotts now." Kathryn explained.
"Good, good. Firstly, I would like you to Transfigure this paperweight into a Healing amulet for preventing blood loss." The woman pointed.
Kathryn pulled out her wand. She had done this in lessons, following her mirror to show animagus forms. She concentrated on what she wanted, the runes for healing and blood loss, not to mention for it to look good...
"Magice ordinatus." She incanted, flicking her wand.
Instantly, a perfect Healing amulet appeared, and Kathryn placed a Permanent-Transfiguration Charm on it, one of the few charms used in Transfiguration, at her examiner's request.
"Impressive. This is perfect." Marchbanks gave a smile.
"Thanks. I'm guessing these are going to have too much use?" Kathryn looked a little sad.
The woman nodded. "Yes. Now, conjuring. A chair please." She smiled.
Kathryn waved her wand. Instantly, a plush, red-velvet chair appeared.
"Very nice."
"Yeah, not even flowery and chintz." Kathryn giggled.
The examination continued. And judging by Professor Marchbanks' reactions to her Transfiguration skills, Kathryn was pretty sure she had just scored an O in her Transfiguration NEWT.
"Well done, Miss Orenda." Professor McGonagall smiled at her as she left the room, shortly followed by James.
Kathryn almost looked upset. "But that was so easy!" She protested as she found the others, some of whom were complaining about it's difficulty.
"Yeah, but we're not the ones with wandless Transfiguration at our beck and call!" James snapped.
Six friends stared as Kathryn looked stricken (A/N: Peter wasn't there, what a surprise? I quite like Damion though, but since I made him up, it doesn't really count, does it?).
"What do you mean?" Radella asked.
"I – uh – I..." Kathryn stammered.
"They should know the truth. We can trust them. Dumbledore knows we can. He won't mind." James decided.
"You sure?" Sirius asked.
"You don't know if you can trust us?" Remus looked annoyed. "After what you all know about me...?"
"No, Remus, it isn't that." Kathryn soothed. "Its just, well... It's why Voldemort wants us all dead."
"Why?" He asked.
"We're the Elemental Guardians." Sirius answered.
"You're WHAT?" Remus demanded.
"The Elemental Guardians." Kathryn repeated helpfully.
"I know who they are, I read about them one time..." Remus frowned. "They haven't been around since... Zaran." His eyes widened. "And all these previous lives that keep resurfacing... But the one James and Lily had, with a child, they were two of the Elemental Guardians then, and Zaran killed them. What's to say that won't happen again?"
"Nothing." Kathryn replied. "But there's one big difference."
"What's that?"
"Me."
* * *
The six who had taken identical subjects – Lily, James, Kathryn, Sirius, Alice and Frank – had complained about all their exams being in one week, the Auror Studies exam taking place over the Saturday, being their last exam and taking an entire day, some sort of specific course, they weren't sure about. However, there were only nine students in that class anyway.
The Charms exam was next. Again, they all did it quite well, again it was a popular NEWT subject. Lily, though, seemed to do best in this, she had always had a special skill in Charms. Kathryn had a mental block and accidentally did the Summoning Charm instead of the Banishing Charm, much to her examiner's amusement as she expressed her mortification in less than polite terms. Luckily, her examiner was a young professor, named Stevens, and he didn't mind her language. James, for whom Charms was more difficult (his wand preferred Transfiguration and DADA), managed to write the wrong answer twice in his paper. Both times, he'd given the same answer – even though he knew it was wrong! The others managed without too many major mishaps, but Lily appeared to have passed with full marks, much as Kathryn had Transfiguration.
Next was DADA, where James excelled. (A/N: Like father, like son, eh? But luckily, Harry got more of Lily's compassion!) The others did well, but they couldn't beat him, and Lily was horrified when she realised she had got the Tirius Curse and the Terius Curse mixed up.
"I can't believe I did that!" Lily cried as they sat under their tree, waiting for their practical exam that afternoon. Well, she wasn't sat, she was pacing. "I mean, one to make the person tired, the other to make them go into terrified hysteria... I should *know* the difference!"
"Lils, relax, it was one question, you'll be fine, you won't fail." James tried to soothe her.
"We need all Os to be Aurors!" She ranted.
"Lily, relax!"
But she showed no sign of doing so.
James stopped her from pacing anymore as he caught her and kissed her hard. Lily came out of the kiss a little dazed.
"Okay, I think that worked." She told him.
The others cheered or, in Sirius' case, wolf-whistled.
They proceeded to eat lunch under the tree (the house elves adored them all, because they were always so nice whenever they wanted anything, and were more than willing to bring a picnic out to them). And then after some more revision of a last few curses, charms and counter-curses, they went inside.
James had no problem here. None of the others did either, and they all managed to impress their examiners with their Patronuses, which Kathryn had insisted Remus show her how to do after the episode on the train at the beginning of Sixth-year, and the others had agreed. Out of all of them, though, James did the best.
Kathryn always liked seeing her Patronus, it had surprised everyone by being a magical creature – a phoenix, one of the creatures used to represent fire. Lily's was an eagle, like her animagus form (she had not yet learnt how to transform though). James' was a dolphin, in direct contrast to his animagus form, while Sirius' had been a dog identical to the Grim. He loved this, he disbelieved death omens and felt that this was promising. Plus it had the added effect of disconcerting people, something he never tired of.
Again, they had to revise and sleep, preparing for their next exam, Herbology.
Funnily enough, Herbology seemed to be Alice's area of expertise, she never struggled with it at all, and Frank was nearly as good. Kathryn was relieved at the exam, Herbology seemed to be the weakest of her subjects, but she did well in the exam. Mind you, she had a habit of getting extremely nervous and it helped her to get through this kind of exam.
They headed down to the greenhouses for their practical exams. It wasn't as bad as they had expected, again. They had to care for a number of plants and explain what uses they had when asked on the spot questions.
"Two more exams." James sighed.
Remus shot him a look. "I've got three. Arithmancy, Astronomy and Potions."
"Yeah, but you don't have to spend an entire day doing a single exam. And a Saturday..." Kathryn sighed.
"On the other hand, you then get the next week entirely free of exams, and can even go into Hogsmeade." Radella explained.
"C'mon, Potions tomorrow. Test me, will you?" Kathryn handed Sirius her book. He opened his mouth. "And no innuendo!" She ordered.
"Aww, Kat." Sirius complained.
"Don't you 'Aww, Kat' me." She replied sternly. "C'mon Sirius, I need all the help I can get. You're top in Potions, not me."
Sirius nodded and proceeded to quiz her.
The Potions exam paper was as bad as she thought, but she felt that she had done well enough to get the O she needed. The practical was much easier than she suspected, especially without Swindale breathing down her neck. She guessed that all Potions teachers had that effect on people – Snape certainly would on Harry and Neville.
"One more." Kathryn sighed in the common room that night. "One more and it's all over. Thank God."
"What does the Auror Studies exam include?" Remus asked, curiously.
"Well, it's sort of like a mock-mission. We go into a specially designed part of the castle and we have to go through as though we're hunting Dark wizards or something. We need to get top marks, of course, to even have a chance at the training."
"Sounds interesting." Remus approved.
"Yeah, better than the other exams. We've just got to wait until we know how we're doing it. This year's had the biggest class taking Auror Studies ever. Probably because of Voldemort." Sirius explained.
"Well, if we're partnered, we can't work with our boyfriend/girlfriend." Kathryn informed him. "It's less distracting, and they do that at the Ministry too. Usually, partners will not be couples unless it's a particular assignment. It's funny, a lot of the Aurors seem to be coupled with another Auror, seems to be part of the job. They just have to promise they won't let their feelings distract them."
Sirius actually seemed to approve. "It makes sense. I mean, I'd worry about you anyway. I'd worry even more if you were there with me on a dangerous assignment."
"Exactly. And it's sweet of you to worry." She smiled, kissing her boyfriend on the nose.
Sirius wrinkled said nose. "That tickles."
"You think *that* tickles?" Kathryn raised a brow.
"Oh no!"
It proceeded into a tickling fight, in the middle of the common room, helping relieve the taught nerves of the Seventh-years (and Fifth-years), many of whom desperately needed a break from monotonous revising.
Finally, Saturday came and the six Gryffindors headed to an unused part of the castle that was always used for this exam. The two Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff of their class soon joined them. Their teacher, Professor Longworth arrived with their examiner.
"Holy Mother of Merlin!" Kathryn exclaimed as she saw him.
"That's not usually the reception I get, Miss..."
"Orenda. Kathryn Orenda. Yeah, well, famous Auror and all, wooden leg, lots of scars, kinda makes it hard not to exclaim stuff, Mr Moody." Kathryn answered. She smiled at him. He wasn't as scarred as she suspected he would be in twenty years' time, his nose was still whole, and he had two normal eyes. Still, the wooden leg was very disconcerting.
"You know who I am." Moody looked suspicious.
"Yeah, I do. Don't get paranoid. You were in the future, my coma, you know? I'm pretty sure it went on my application form for Auror training. 'Was put in coma by Voldemort, heard about certain aspects of future through form of books'." Kathryn mimed writing. "You were still alive. Really, really paranoid, yeah, but still alive."
He frowned at her.
Kathryn gave a cheeky grin. "I do believe there's an exam."
He frowned again. "Yes, don't tell me how to do my job, lassie."
She shrugged. "Sorry, won't happen again." Then she frowned. "Well, actually, it might..."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ignore her sir, she's a bit mad."
"No more mad than you, Sirius!"
"Me, mad? You've got to be joking!"
"SHUT UP!" James yelled.
They obeyed, looking sheepish. Professor Longworth hid a smile.
"Are they really your students?" Moody asked her.
"That's definitely them. Two of the best." She explained with a straight face.
Kathryn would have sworn Moody rolled his eyes.
"Very well. You are all partnered." He explained gruffly. "Longbottom and Evans, Black and Phenners, Potter and Orenda, Bones, Davies and Prewett, you're a three. These are your assignments. Each is different. These are, effectively, your exam papers. They will tell you what you need to do, you just need to work out how to do it. You each have different assignments, but they all culminate in the same place. Professor Longworth and I will wait there. We will be watching all of you. Now. To your starting points. You have until four o'clock to complete this. Food, of course, is your own call. Do what you must to survive, even if it means go hungry. Understood?"
They nodded.
"To your starting points."
There were four doors. Each of them, stood by the corresponding one.
"Begin!" Moody ordered and opened a fifth door, disappearing into it with Professor Longworth.
Kathryn and James examined their 'assignment'.
"Right, we've got to get to the central room of this 'maze' of rooms. In it, there's a safe. We need to crack it, make copies of the documents inside, hide all trace of our opening it, and then arrest appropriate culprits based on the facts revealed to us by the papers." James explained.
"There's a map, and a number of passwords here. Okay, I think that's all we need. Let's go." Kathryn grinned. "Oh, first, clothing."
She muttered a transfiguration with her wand, exchanging their current clothing for black trousers, boots and shirts. They discarded their robes.
"The more floating our clothing is, the more likely we'll catch them on something." Kathryn explained.
James nodded and turned the handle of the door. It was locked.
"Alohomora." He muttered, and opened the door.
He and Kathryn slid inside, closing the door behind them.
They were in a large room. A number of galootish wizards or henchmen seemed to be playing cards or something similar. They weren't noticed.
"Sleeping spell." Kathryn whispered.
James nodded.
"Somnus sopor." They murmured in unison.
Seconds later, all five men fell into a heavy, enchanted sleep.
"Which way?" Kathryn asked. James had the map.
"This door." James pointed. "There's a trick door and real one. That's the real one."
"How do you know?"
"Trick doors always have a slight incongruence. This one's keyhole is far too big."
"Ah. Okay, do any of them have the key?"
"Accio keys." James called.
None of them had any other keys except to the outside door.
"They're purely guards. Not very good ones, though." James looked disgusted.
Kathryn whispered Alohomora again, but the door merely fizzed.
"Ah, need something stronger." She murmured. "Recludere."
The door unlocked.
They continued on their way, coming across many obstacles, including a Boggart, a number of fully awake, armed guards, and several booby traps. They had also had to use disguising charms to get past a number of facial recognition doors. They stopped briefly for a drink of water, provided by James, and a bite of chocolate, provided by Kathryn, for energy and refreshment. After at least three hours, they made their way into what they knew had to be the central room.
"Safe." James nodded to the portrait with a beautiful mermaid on it.
Kathryn nodded. "Stars and sea." She murmured to the portrait.
It clicked open.
Placing Disillusionment charms on themselves, they checked around for anyone else. They didn't find anything with the Revealing Charm, or the Seeing Charm, or anything else. They proceeded to the safe.
It was locked. Kathryn twirled the dial expertly, and wondered what wizard had given the technology to Muggles (they had been told so in earlier lessons).
"Okay, got the code done." Kathryn murmured.
James incanted the unlocking spell used to hide traces of the unlocking. The safe clicked open.
Kathryn nodded, sifting through the papers inside. She copied each one with a Duplicating Charm while James read through them, being a very efficient skim-reader. After few minutes, they finished and resealed the safe, while James briefed her on the information.
"This guy." He pointed to a photo in their 'assignment' file. "Leader of the organisation, recruits Death Eaters and places Ministry officials, Gringotts workers, people with importance, under the Imperius. If we can get his lieutenants too, that's a bonus."
Kathryn nodded.
They slipped into the shadows.
Seconds later, the man and several others appeared.
Kathryn nodded to James.
She removed her Disillusionment Charm.
"Did they get into the safe?" The man asked.
"No."
"Good. They don't have anything on us then." He sighed in relief, placing his wand down.
"Accio wand!" Kathryn cried.
The wand flew to her hand.
"You wanna test that theory?" She asked.
"What... What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"Silencio." Kathryn incanted, pointing at the walls. "Claustra." She pointed at the doors. "No one can here you. And the doors are locked. Your own anti-Apparation wards prevent you from leaving. You're all under arrest for conspiring with Voldemort."
"What makes you think a little girl can arrest us?" The leader laughed scornfully.
Kathryn grinned dangerously. "Bring it on."
He shot a curse at her. She dodged it. "Tarantallegra!" She yelled.
Another shot a snake at her. "Ignis." It burst into flames.
But then she got hit with the Imperius curse.
'Put your wand down,' a voice told her. 'Put it down and you won't be hurt.'
Kathryn could throw off the Imperius curse, just as she could throw off Legilimency. She made as though to obey.
At that moment, a wand-tip put itself at the leader's throat and James Disillusioned himself. Kathryn took the moment of surprise upon the others to tie them up magically.
"Well, well, well. Impressive." A voice murmured. A clap of hands and everything disappeared.
It took Kathryn a moment to realise she was bleeding.
"Oh." She looked at the blood on her fingers in surprise as she drew them away from her cheek.
James smiled. "Adrenalin dull the pain, Kat?"
She nodded and looked at Moody, the owner of the voice.
"We finished then?"
"Yes. It's four o'clock, you know."
"What? Already? I'd swear it was only two." James looked surprised.
"This area is charmed to do different times. Less time passes in here than in the normal world. You took three hours, which is very good. Your friends were all similar timings. You may now go." He pointed to a door.
They went through it and appeared back in the original corridor, where their friends also seemed to appear at that moment.
"That was weird." Kathryn decided.
"Just a little." James agreed.
"Kathryn, you're bleeding." Sirius murmured, coming over.
"So are you." She observed, seeing blood on his sleeve.
"You two, come here." James ordered and proceeded to heal their wounds. He also healed those of Lily, Frank and Alice. All were minor wounds, but sore.
"No more exams." Kathryn sighed dreamily.
"Nope. All I want now is some rest though." Sirius yawned.
"Yeah, that takes it out of you." James agreed.
"C'mon."
They made their ways back to their dorms where, after quick showers and a bite to eat, all of them fell asleep early.
* * *
A/N: Hello! I've just had *another* Friday off ill – God I hate illness, I've got a headache and stomach-ache and sore throat... It's bloody inconvenient!
If you haven't reviewed, skip to end.
Anyway, to reviewers:
Lenorathetrekkie: (to Chapter 20's review) You might eventually get to read some of the replies to your reviews! I'm really appreciative, and I'm glad you think my story's addictive! *Blush* (To Chapter 21's) Yeah, I'd definitely be embarrassed, but Kathryn's a bit mad anyway. I'm not sure about how much they remember, though. (To Chapter 23's review) Yay! You got to the current end! Sorry, I'm mad. Glad you like it. Hang on my every word, you say? Hmm, interesting...
golden wolf 73: Eighteen pleases? I take it you like my story then. *Grin*
Tina: Siblings can be annoying, can't they? Luckily, mine isn't too bad. Seer of Faith (she was Thriodien but changed her penname) actually likes my stories! Cool, huh? She's still trying to get me to send my – uh – original and fairly long story to a publisher. What's depressing me, though, is that my fic's already longer than it, and not even half way through, and I'm talking the stuff that's prewritten! Oh, and ignore your brother! Post up the fics, and I'll read them! I'd be glad to!
toomuchanime: If you've read this far – I lived in Scarborough for four years, near Whitby, by that's nearly five years ago now. I can't remember if there was a statue, but since Captain Cook had connections to Whitby, it seemed sensible. If you can think of another landmark, (not the whalebone at the top of those stairs) please tell me, I like to keep things accurate.
Gray Dawn: Funnily enough, you haven't actually offended me. I do have a habit of making my characters a little *too* good at things, but you will find out that there are some things Kat can't do. Have you got any fics up? If you have, I'd like to read them. I do like to read the work of my reviewers. It's like a circle. And are you aware you've spelt 'grey' wrong? Heh heh heh! Sorry, just another difference between English and American spellings. I'm mad, I tell you, mad!
Seer of Faith: You're not afraid of my evil laughs anymore? Oh. *Pouts* Why the hell am I replying online? You're only upstairs. Anyway, yeah, 23 is different to the first draft. I like it better this way. Me in a stress? Well, where else did you think the inspiration came from? Just be glad *I* can't manipulate fire. *Evil grin. Seer remains out of same room for rest of the evening*
Okay, everyone! I love reviews and reviewers! If you review, I'll go and read your stories! It works so well this way!
Also, to anyone who wants to know, I have got a second story called 'Of Heroes and Heroines'. It's an AU Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter crossover. Tell me whatcha think. Unfortunately, I can't update until next week!
I've decided to start up a little advertisement at the end of my chapters! So...
Read: 'A change of heart' by angelbud2233. It's Lily and James fic and very funny, but also very sweet!
Okay, have a good week and review, please!
Lol, Tanydwr
Chapter 24 – NEWTs
Kathryn was busy studying her Transfiguration notes at midnight in the Head Common Room. It was quieter than the Gryffindor Common Room, plus there were the Fifth-years anxiously revising for their NEWTs as well. It made for an even tenser atmosphere.
"Ach, I give up." Kathryn groaned, throwing her notes aside.
Sirius, studying his own notes, looked up. He smiled wearily.
"Tired?"
"Frustrated. I don't think I can learn anymore and Transfiguration is our first exam tomorrow!"
"Theory, morning. Practical, afternoon." Lily murmured, closing her own notes. "I suggest we all try and get some sleep. We'll be no use if we're too tired tomorrow."
Kathryn nodded. "It's fine for the practical. For all the practicals in fact. We can do those, we're all skilled. It's just the theory. Mind you, at least we're only doing six this time."
James agreed. "Yeah. Okay, bed everyone."
Groaning, they all stood, leaving their notes scattered over individual tables. No one minded, particularly at this time of year.
"Night." Sirius groaned.
"Night." Kathryn smiled, briefly pressing her lips against his, feeling the tingle of molten lava that seemed to flow from him into her veins, and broke away, rushing upstairs to bed.
Sirius smiled, remembering the fire she always sent into his body, roaring as it went.
James and Lily exchanged a tender kiss and parted as well.
Both Kathryn and Lily forewent showers, deciding to use them as a waking up aid in the morning.
And slowly each of them drifted into a dreamless sleep (Kathryn had bought some Sleep Mints from Honeydukes in the hopes of sleeping better for the exams).
* * *
"You have two hours to complete the Transfiguration Theory paper. You may begin." Professor McGonagall informed them.
Kathryn opened her question paper and answer parchment and began.
Q. 1. What is the correct incantation for Cross-magic Transfiguration?
Kathryn grinned. 'I can do this,' she thought, scribbling down the answer. A weight was suddenly off her shoulders.
She continued to scribble answers and finished the paper with half an hour left. She sighed. Going through her answers, she realised that, as usual, she had done her best on them first time around, not expecting to have chance to go through them again. She sighed and began to doodle on the piece of spare parchment they were all handed at the beginning of the exam.
This is *so* boring! A voice said in her head.
Kathryn stopped suddenly and scowled. Sirius! You're not supposed to use thought-speech!
I'm not using it to cheat, am I? Sirius replied. I've already finished. I'm just bored.
Well write a story, or doodle or something. Kathryn snapped. Talking is wrong, whether anyone else can hear it or not!
She heard him sigh in his mind. Oh alright. But I'm gonna need appeasing after the exam.
Kathryn barely suppressed a grin. Oh really? Well, stay quiet and you will be.
Sirius was silent and appeared to be scribbling something down on his spare piece of parchment.
Kathryn stared at her parchment. There were numerous designs upon it, many of which were magical. She recognised the triquetra, a symbol used to represent the Charmed Ones on the TV programme 'Charmed'. Also, without the circle running through it, it was a basic Celtic knot. She recognised the symbol of Beauxbatons Academy, two crossed wands with three stars shooting out. A rough sketch of the Hogwarts shield. But something else caught her eye. Because she didn't recognise it.
The sketch showed a diamond-shape, split into four triangles. One held a flame, another a wave, a third a cyclone, and the fourth a crystal. Each was like the symbol that had appeared on their bodies at the age of seventeen. Nothing like it had happened when they turned eighteen. In the centre of this diamond, where the separating lines crossed, it became a Celtic cross, a circle through it. Kathryn knew of the cross, after all, she was descended from the Celts on both sides... A Celtic cross – not crucifix, cross – represented sun, or the crossroads. She wondered what the symbol meant.
"You must finish your sentence and place down your quills." Professor McGonagall's voice broke through her thoughts.
Kathryn looked up, the two hours were over. Everyone was rolling up their answer-scrolls, looking nervous. She leant back in her chair, still staring at the symbol she had unknowingly sketched.
"Accio answer-scrolls." Professor McGonagall Summoned and all the scrolls stacked themselves neatly on the desk in front of her. Transfiguration was a popular N.E.W.T. subject, nearly all of the forty Seventh-year students were there. (A/N: Forty sounds about right, I mean, there's ten in Gryffindor, makes an average of ten all round, doesn't it?)
"You may go. Return here at two o'clock for your practical examination." Professor McGonagall informed them.
It was eleven o'clock; they had an hour to wait until lunch at twelve.
"That wasn't so bad, now, was it?" Lily asked. "What did you put for question twelve b..."
"Lily, we are not going to go through the exam again. It's bad enough going through it once." James groaned.
Lily grinned. "Sorry, sweetie. Now, where to?"
"Well, there's a very fateful tree you visited after your OWL in DADA..." Kathryn began wickedly.
Lily grinned again. "Yes, be glad its not after our DADA NEWT. C'mon, Jamie, I'll race you!" She ran off.
James ran after her. "What do you mean 'JAMIE'?" He roared.
Kathryn and Sirius laughed as they followed. "She's the only one he won't kill for calling him that, you know." Sirius smiled.
"Uh huh. Now, what did you say about the need to be appeased?" She raised a brow.
"Oh, yeah, that." Sirius grinned. "You know we can beat them." He held her close.
"How?"
A flash of white light later, and they were sat under the tree.
"Teleporting, remember?" Sirius grinned.
"Mmm-hmm." Kathryn murmured.
It was then that Sirius caught her lips with his, his embrace firm and yet tender. Kathryn returned the kiss, feeling a volcano of molten lava burst inside his body and flow into hers at their contact. Even though it was not her element – lava was part of the earth – she did not reject it, or even mind it, it was part of Sirius, and therefore she couldn't care less. Sirius kissed her harder, knowing the firestorm inside his girlfriend's body raged, burning through into him as his skin touched hers. Again, the fact that it was not his element did not bother him, it was almost as though he couldn't reject it, as it was part of the woman he loved so much.
"I love you." He murmured as she pulled away.
"Oh good." Kathryn smiled. "Coz I love you too."
They began to kiss again, and both wondered how their kisses could be tender, loving and beautiful at the same time as being passionate, lustful and raging.
"God, can't you two keep your lips off each other for five minutes?" Lily asked as she and James approached the tree.
Kathryn pulled away from Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "James caught you then, did he?"
Lily stared at her. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, Little Miss Hypocrite, your lipstick does need just a leettle bit of retouching." Kathryn smirked.
Immediately, James and Lily began wiping their mouths, going bright red.
"What are we like?" Sirius laughed.
"Hopeless describes the case pretty well." A different voice remarked.
"Hey Remus, guys. Come join the festivities." Sirius beckoned, and eleven friends (Damion was with Alura, and Peter, believe it or not, was there) laughed and joked until lunch called to them, along with their second exam.
* * *
"Orenda, Kathryn." A voice called. "Phenners, Alice. And Potter, James."
The three teens grinned at each other and entered the smaller room for the practical examination. Both Sirius and Lily had gone through, in fact, all of their closest friends had (Peter had not taken Transfiguration).
"Ah, Miss Orenda, Professor Marchbanks is free." Professor McGonagall informed her.
Kathryn obeyed, grinning.
"Hi. I'm Kathryn Orenda." She told the Professor, a woman in her forties or fifties. Her aging appeared to be natural. Then she remembered that Marchbanks had examined Dumbledore for his NEWT. Maybe not.
"Miss Orenda. Your brothers graduated last year?" She asked. The woman looked stern, but had a faint smile.
"Yep. They did really well. Working in Gringotts now." Kathryn explained.
"Good, good. Firstly, I would like you to Transfigure this paperweight into a Healing amulet for preventing blood loss." The woman pointed.
Kathryn pulled out her wand. She had done this in lessons, following her mirror to show animagus forms. She concentrated on what she wanted, the runes for healing and blood loss, not to mention for it to look good...
"Magice ordinatus." She incanted, flicking her wand.
Instantly, a perfect Healing amulet appeared, and Kathryn placed a Permanent-Transfiguration Charm on it, one of the few charms used in Transfiguration, at her examiner's request.
"Impressive. This is perfect." Marchbanks gave a smile.
"Thanks. I'm guessing these are going to have too much use?" Kathryn looked a little sad.
The woman nodded. "Yes. Now, conjuring. A chair please." She smiled.
Kathryn waved her wand. Instantly, a plush, red-velvet chair appeared.
"Very nice."
"Yeah, not even flowery and chintz." Kathryn giggled.
The examination continued. And judging by Professor Marchbanks' reactions to her Transfiguration skills, Kathryn was pretty sure she had just scored an O in her Transfiguration NEWT.
"Well done, Miss Orenda." Professor McGonagall smiled at her as she left the room, shortly followed by James.
Kathryn almost looked upset. "But that was so easy!" She protested as she found the others, some of whom were complaining about it's difficulty.
"Yeah, but we're not the ones with wandless Transfiguration at our beck and call!" James snapped.
Six friends stared as Kathryn looked stricken (A/N: Peter wasn't there, what a surprise? I quite like Damion though, but since I made him up, it doesn't really count, does it?).
"What do you mean?" Radella asked.
"I – uh – I..." Kathryn stammered.
"They should know the truth. We can trust them. Dumbledore knows we can. He won't mind." James decided.
"You sure?" Sirius asked.
"You don't know if you can trust us?" Remus looked annoyed. "After what you all know about me...?"
"No, Remus, it isn't that." Kathryn soothed. "Its just, well... It's why Voldemort wants us all dead."
"Why?" He asked.
"We're the Elemental Guardians." Sirius answered.
"You're WHAT?" Remus demanded.
"The Elemental Guardians." Kathryn repeated helpfully.
"I know who they are, I read about them one time..." Remus frowned. "They haven't been around since... Zaran." His eyes widened. "And all these previous lives that keep resurfacing... But the one James and Lily had, with a child, they were two of the Elemental Guardians then, and Zaran killed them. What's to say that won't happen again?"
"Nothing." Kathryn replied. "But there's one big difference."
"What's that?"
"Me."
* * *
The six who had taken identical subjects – Lily, James, Kathryn, Sirius, Alice and Frank – had complained about all their exams being in one week, the Auror Studies exam taking place over the Saturday, being their last exam and taking an entire day, some sort of specific course, they weren't sure about. However, there were only nine students in that class anyway.
The Charms exam was next. Again, they all did it quite well, again it was a popular NEWT subject. Lily, though, seemed to do best in this, she had always had a special skill in Charms. Kathryn had a mental block and accidentally did the Summoning Charm instead of the Banishing Charm, much to her examiner's amusement as she expressed her mortification in less than polite terms. Luckily, her examiner was a young professor, named Stevens, and he didn't mind her language. James, for whom Charms was more difficult (his wand preferred Transfiguration and DADA), managed to write the wrong answer twice in his paper. Both times, he'd given the same answer – even though he knew it was wrong! The others managed without too many major mishaps, but Lily appeared to have passed with full marks, much as Kathryn had Transfiguration.
Next was DADA, where James excelled. (A/N: Like father, like son, eh? But luckily, Harry got more of Lily's compassion!) The others did well, but they couldn't beat him, and Lily was horrified when she realised she had got the Tirius Curse and the Terius Curse mixed up.
"I can't believe I did that!" Lily cried as they sat under their tree, waiting for their practical exam that afternoon. Well, she wasn't sat, she was pacing. "I mean, one to make the person tired, the other to make them go into terrified hysteria... I should *know* the difference!"
"Lils, relax, it was one question, you'll be fine, you won't fail." James tried to soothe her.
"We need all Os to be Aurors!" She ranted.
"Lily, relax!"
But she showed no sign of doing so.
James stopped her from pacing anymore as he caught her and kissed her hard. Lily came out of the kiss a little dazed.
"Okay, I think that worked." She told him.
The others cheered or, in Sirius' case, wolf-whistled.
They proceeded to eat lunch under the tree (the house elves adored them all, because they were always so nice whenever they wanted anything, and were more than willing to bring a picnic out to them). And then after some more revision of a last few curses, charms and counter-curses, they went inside.
James had no problem here. None of the others did either, and they all managed to impress their examiners with their Patronuses, which Kathryn had insisted Remus show her how to do after the episode on the train at the beginning of Sixth-year, and the others had agreed. Out of all of them, though, James did the best.
Kathryn always liked seeing her Patronus, it had surprised everyone by being a magical creature – a phoenix, one of the creatures used to represent fire. Lily's was an eagle, like her animagus form (she had not yet learnt how to transform though). James' was a dolphin, in direct contrast to his animagus form, while Sirius' had been a dog identical to the Grim. He loved this, he disbelieved death omens and felt that this was promising. Plus it had the added effect of disconcerting people, something he never tired of.
Again, they had to revise and sleep, preparing for their next exam, Herbology.
Funnily enough, Herbology seemed to be Alice's area of expertise, she never struggled with it at all, and Frank was nearly as good. Kathryn was relieved at the exam, Herbology seemed to be the weakest of her subjects, but she did well in the exam. Mind you, she had a habit of getting extremely nervous and it helped her to get through this kind of exam.
They headed down to the greenhouses for their practical exams. It wasn't as bad as they had expected, again. They had to care for a number of plants and explain what uses they had when asked on the spot questions.
"Two more exams." James sighed.
Remus shot him a look. "I've got three. Arithmancy, Astronomy and Potions."
"Yeah, but you don't have to spend an entire day doing a single exam. And a Saturday..." Kathryn sighed.
"On the other hand, you then get the next week entirely free of exams, and can even go into Hogsmeade." Radella explained.
"C'mon, Potions tomorrow. Test me, will you?" Kathryn handed Sirius her book. He opened his mouth. "And no innuendo!" She ordered.
"Aww, Kat." Sirius complained.
"Don't you 'Aww, Kat' me." She replied sternly. "C'mon Sirius, I need all the help I can get. You're top in Potions, not me."
Sirius nodded and proceeded to quiz her.
The Potions exam paper was as bad as she thought, but she felt that she had done well enough to get the O she needed. The practical was much easier than she suspected, especially without Swindale breathing down her neck. She guessed that all Potions teachers had that effect on people – Snape certainly would on Harry and Neville.
"One more." Kathryn sighed in the common room that night. "One more and it's all over. Thank God."
"What does the Auror Studies exam include?" Remus asked, curiously.
"Well, it's sort of like a mock-mission. We go into a specially designed part of the castle and we have to go through as though we're hunting Dark wizards or something. We need to get top marks, of course, to even have a chance at the training."
"Sounds interesting." Remus approved.
"Yeah, better than the other exams. We've just got to wait until we know how we're doing it. This year's had the biggest class taking Auror Studies ever. Probably because of Voldemort." Sirius explained.
"Well, if we're partnered, we can't work with our boyfriend/girlfriend." Kathryn informed him. "It's less distracting, and they do that at the Ministry too. Usually, partners will not be couples unless it's a particular assignment. It's funny, a lot of the Aurors seem to be coupled with another Auror, seems to be part of the job. They just have to promise they won't let their feelings distract them."
Sirius actually seemed to approve. "It makes sense. I mean, I'd worry about you anyway. I'd worry even more if you were there with me on a dangerous assignment."
"Exactly. And it's sweet of you to worry." She smiled, kissing her boyfriend on the nose.
Sirius wrinkled said nose. "That tickles."
"You think *that* tickles?" Kathryn raised a brow.
"Oh no!"
It proceeded into a tickling fight, in the middle of the common room, helping relieve the taught nerves of the Seventh-years (and Fifth-years), many of whom desperately needed a break from monotonous revising.
Finally, Saturday came and the six Gryffindors headed to an unused part of the castle that was always used for this exam. The two Ravenclaws and one Hufflepuff of their class soon joined them. Their teacher, Professor Longworth arrived with their examiner.
"Holy Mother of Merlin!" Kathryn exclaimed as she saw him.
"That's not usually the reception I get, Miss..."
"Orenda. Kathryn Orenda. Yeah, well, famous Auror and all, wooden leg, lots of scars, kinda makes it hard not to exclaim stuff, Mr Moody." Kathryn answered. She smiled at him. He wasn't as scarred as she suspected he would be in twenty years' time, his nose was still whole, and he had two normal eyes. Still, the wooden leg was very disconcerting.
"You know who I am." Moody looked suspicious.
"Yeah, I do. Don't get paranoid. You were in the future, my coma, you know? I'm pretty sure it went on my application form for Auror training. 'Was put in coma by Voldemort, heard about certain aspects of future through form of books'." Kathryn mimed writing. "You were still alive. Really, really paranoid, yeah, but still alive."
He frowned at her.
Kathryn gave a cheeky grin. "I do believe there's an exam."
He frowned again. "Yes, don't tell me how to do my job, lassie."
She shrugged. "Sorry, won't happen again." Then she frowned. "Well, actually, it might..."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Ignore her sir, she's a bit mad."
"No more mad than you, Sirius!"
"Me, mad? You've got to be joking!"
"SHUT UP!" James yelled.
They obeyed, looking sheepish. Professor Longworth hid a smile.
"Are they really your students?" Moody asked her.
"That's definitely them. Two of the best." She explained with a straight face.
Kathryn would have sworn Moody rolled his eyes.
"Very well. You are all partnered." He explained gruffly. "Longbottom and Evans, Black and Phenners, Potter and Orenda, Bones, Davies and Prewett, you're a three. These are your assignments. Each is different. These are, effectively, your exam papers. They will tell you what you need to do, you just need to work out how to do it. You each have different assignments, but they all culminate in the same place. Professor Longworth and I will wait there. We will be watching all of you. Now. To your starting points. You have until four o'clock to complete this. Food, of course, is your own call. Do what you must to survive, even if it means go hungry. Understood?"
They nodded.
"To your starting points."
There were four doors. Each of them, stood by the corresponding one.
"Begin!" Moody ordered and opened a fifth door, disappearing into it with Professor Longworth.
Kathryn and James examined their 'assignment'.
"Right, we've got to get to the central room of this 'maze' of rooms. In it, there's a safe. We need to crack it, make copies of the documents inside, hide all trace of our opening it, and then arrest appropriate culprits based on the facts revealed to us by the papers." James explained.
"There's a map, and a number of passwords here. Okay, I think that's all we need. Let's go." Kathryn grinned. "Oh, first, clothing."
She muttered a transfiguration with her wand, exchanging their current clothing for black trousers, boots and shirts. They discarded their robes.
"The more floating our clothing is, the more likely we'll catch them on something." Kathryn explained.
James nodded and turned the handle of the door. It was locked.
"Alohomora." He muttered, and opened the door.
He and Kathryn slid inside, closing the door behind them.
They were in a large room. A number of galootish wizards or henchmen seemed to be playing cards or something similar. They weren't noticed.
"Sleeping spell." Kathryn whispered.
James nodded.
"Somnus sopor." They murmured in unison.
Seconds later, all five men fell into a heavy, enchanted sleep.
"Which way?" Kathryn asked. James had the map.
"This door." James pointed. "There's a trick door and real one. That's the real one."
"How do you know?"
"Trick doors always have a slight incongruence. This one's keyhole is far too big."
"Ah. Okay, do any of them have the key?"
"Accio keys." James called.
None of them had any other keys except to the outside door.
"They're purely guards. Not very good ones, though." James looked disgusted.
Kathryn whispered Alohomora again, but the door merely fizzed.
"Ah, need something stronger." She murmured. "Recludere."
The door unlocked.
They continued on their way, coming across many obstacles, including a Boggart, a number of fully awake, armed guards, and several booby traps. They had also had to use disguising charms to get past a number of facial recognition doors. They stopped briefly for a drink of water, provided by James, and a bite of chocolate, provided by Kathryn, for energy and refreshment. After at least three hours, they made their way into what they knew had to be the central room.
"Safe." James nodded to the portrait with a beautiful mermaid on it.
Kathryn nodded. "Stars and sea." She murmured to the portrait.
It clicked open.
Placing Disillusionment charms on themselves, they checked around for anyone else. They didn't find anything with the Revealing Charm, or the Seeing Charm, or anything else. They proceeded to the safe.
It was locked. Kathryn twirled the dial expertly, and wondered what wizard had given the technology to Muggles (they had been told so in earlier lessons).
"Okay, got the code done." Kathryn murmured.
James incanted the unlocking spell used to hide traces of the unlocking. The safe clicked open.
Kathryn nodded, sifting through the papers inside. She copied each one with a Duplicating Charm while James read through them, being a very efficient skim-reader. After few minutes, they finished and resealed the safe, while James briefed her on the information.
"This guy." He pointed to a photo in their 'assignment' file. "Leader of the organisation, recruits Death Eaters and places Ministry officials, Gringotts workers, people with importance, under the Imperius. If we can get his lieutenants too, that's a bonus."
Kathryn nodded.
They slipped into the shadows.
Seconds later, the man and several others appeared.
Kathryn nodded to James.
She removed her Disillusionment Charm.
"Did they get into the safe?" The man asked.
"No."
"Good. They don't have anything on us then." He sighed in relief, placing his wand down.
"Accio wand!" Kathryn cried.
The wand flew to her hand.
"You wanna test that theory?" She asked.
"What... What are you doing here?" He demanded.
"Silencio." Kathryn incanted, pointing at the walls. "Claustra." She pointed at the doors. "No one can here you. And the doors are locked. Your own anti-Apparation wards prevent you from leaving. You're all under arrest for conspiring with Voldemort."
"What makes you think a little girl can arrest us?" The leader laughed scornfully.
Kathryn grinned dangerously. "Bring it on."
He shot a curse at her. She dodged it. "Tarantallegra!" She yelled.
Another shot a snake at her. "Ignis." It burst into flames.
But then she got hit with the Imperius curse.
'Put your wand down,' a voice told her. 'Put it down and you won't be hurt.'
Kathryn could throw off the Imperius curse, just as she could throw off Legilimency. She made as though to obey.
At that moment, a wand-tip put itself at the leader's throat and James Disillusioned himself. Kathryn took the moment of surprise upon the others to tie them up magically.
"Well, well, well. Impressive." A voice murmured. A clap of hands and everything disappeared.
It took Kathryn a moment to realise she was bleeding.
"Oh." She looked at the blood on her fingers in surprise as she drew them away from her cheek.
James smiled. "Adrenalin dull the pain, Kat?"
She nodded and looked at Moody, the owner of the voice.
"We finished then?"
"Yes. It's four o'clock, you know."
"What? Already? I'd swear it was only two." James looked surprised.
"This area is charmed to do different times. Less time passes in here than in the normal world. You took three hours, which is very good. Your friends were all similar timings. You may now go." He pointed to a door.
They went through it and appeared back in the original corridor, where their friends also seemed to appear at that moment.
"That was weird." Kathryn decided.
"Just a little." James agreed.
"Kathryn, you're bleeding." Sirius murmured, coming over.
"So are you." She observed, seeing blood on his sleeve.
"You two, come here." James ordered and proceeded to heal their wounds. He also healed those of Lily, Frank and Alice. All were minor wounds, but sore.
"No more exams." Kathryn sighed dreamily.
"Nope. All I want now is some rest though." Sirius yawned.
"Yeah, that takes it out of you." James agreed.
"C'mon."
They made their ways back to their dorms where, after quick showers and a bite to eat, all of them fell asleep early.
* * *
A/N: Hello! I've just had *another* Friday off ill – God I hate illness, I've got a headache and stomach-ache and sore throat... It's bloody inconvenient!
If you haven't reviewed, skip to end.
Anyway, to reviewers:
Lenorathetrekkie: (to Chapter 20's review) You might eventually get to read some of the replies to your reviews! I'm really appreciative, and I'm glad you think my story's addictive! *Blush* (To Chapter 21's) Yeah, I'd definitely be embarrassed, but Kathryn's a bit mad anyway. I'm not sure about how much they remember, though. (To Chapter 23's review) Yay! You got to the current end! Sorry, I'm mad. Glad you like it. Hang on my every word, you say? Hmm, interesting...
golden wolf 73: Eighteen pleases? I take it you like my story then. *Grin*
Tina: Siblings can be annoying, can't they? Luckily, mine isn't too bad. Seer of Faith (she was Thriodien but changed her penname) actually likes my stories! Cool, huh? She's still trying to get me to send my – uh – original and fairly long story to a publisher. What's depressing me, though, is that my fic's already longer than it, and not even half way through, and I'm talking the stuff that's prewritten! Oh, and ignore your brother! Post up the fics, and I'll read them! I'd be glad to!
toomuchanime: If you've read this far – I lived in Scarborough for four years, near Whitby, by that's nearly five years ago now. I can't remember if there was a statue, but since Captain Cook had connections to Whitby, it seemed sensible. If you can think of another landmark, (not the whalebone at the top of those stairs) please tell me, I like to keep things accurate.
Gray Dawn: Funnily enough, you haven't actually offended me. I do have a habit of making my characters a little *too* good at things, but you will find out that there are some things Kat can't do. Have you got any fics up? If you have, I'd like to read them. I do like to read the work of my reviewers. It's like a circle. And are you aware you've spelt 'grey' wrong? Heh heh heh! Sorry, just another difference between English and American spellings. I'm mad, I tell you, mad!
Seer of Faith: You're not afraid of my evil laughs anymore? Oh. *Pouts* Why the hell am I replying online? You're only upstairs. Anyway, yeah, 23 is different to the first draft. I like it better this way. Me in a stress? Well, where else did you think the inspiration came from? Just be glad *I* can't manipulate fire. *Evil grin. Seer remains out of same room for rest of the evening*
Okay, everyone! I love reviews and reviewers! If you review, I'll go and read your stories! It works so well this way!
Also, to anyone who wants to know, I have got a second story called 'Of Heroes and Heroines'. It's an AU Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Harry Potter crossover. Tell me whatcha think. Unfortunately, I can't update until next week!
I've decided to start up a little advertisement at the end of my chapters! So...
Read: 'A change of heart' by angelbud2233. It's Lily and James fic and very funny, but also very sweet!
Okay, have a good week and review, please!
Lol, Tanydwr