Chapter 12
The same time that Severus had been talking to Dumbledore, Catherine was entering Professor McGonagall's office.
"The door's open." Minerva called from inside. The young woman pushed open the door and walked in, careful to make sure that it was securely closed.
"Professor . . . may I talk to you for a couple of minutes?"
"Why of course!" She seemed surprised that Cate had even bothered asking. "Sit down." Cate sat. "My guess is that you're here to speak about Elena. Am I right?"
"Yes." Catherine sighed heavily, "It's just so weird to not have her here anymore." Tears began forming in her deep brown eyes. "After so long of only having a mother, having only her to rely on, it's awkward. Mum was always who I went to talk with about anything she always helped me through life, made me fell better when I was down. It's been harder to talk to her since I moved over here, with no letters being able to get to her. But now . . . now I fell so . . . so empty. I don't really know how to describe it, it's weird."
"I know the feeling." McGonagall responded from the other side of the desk. "Catherine, I'm hoping that wherever you disappeared to on Christmas, you spoke with someone about what happened."
"I did." Cate replied, "My instinct was to go to Grimmauld Place. I talked with Charlie nearly the whole day."
"Charlie Weasley?"
"Yes."
"Ah...I see."
"I've spoken with him quite a lot since then. He's rather good with advice, it's been great to be around him. He really cheers me up."
"I can understand that." Minerva sighed lightly. "We've all had our shares of problems, most which we will talk about. Some however, will remain inside us until we find the right person to talk to."
"Yeah." Catherine sighed, "I know that I still need to speak with Severus though. It's just not right to not discuss what happened with him."
"Yes. Catherine, I must ask this though, why do you always address your father by Severus?"
"I'm not sure actually. As I was growing up, whenever Elena spoke about him, which wasn't often, she called him Severus. I also never cared, or considered him to be my father, with him leaving so early in my life."
"I see." Minerva replied, lost for words.
"Well," Cate began as she stood up, "Thank-you for letting me speak with you professor."
"Anytime dear." The woman smiled as Catherine left the office, closing the door behind her.
As she walked through the halls of Hogwarts, memories of her childhood came flowing back to her.
The first time she had mentioned Severus to her mother:
Elena sat at the kitchen table, going through paper work. A four-year-old Catherine approached her from the hallway.
"Mummy?"
"Yes dear?" The woman didn't look up from her work.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go right ahead." She still did not look up.
"Where's Daddy?" Elena's head shot up.
"Catherine!" She shrieked, "Never, ever mention your father in this house again. He's a bastard, a very, very bad and cruel man. Why do you think he left us? He never loved either of us!"
"Mummy!" The toddler screeched, "Don't talk abut my daddy like that!" With that, she stormed from the room, and into her bedroom.
"Catherine!" Her mother called as she was just slamming the door, "Go to your room!"
"I'm already in my room!"
Seven years later, Catherine was accepted into Flueracot's, where she found out more about the war that had happened. The instant that she and Elena arrived back at the house, Cate was dying to bombard the woman with questions.
Catherine hurried back down the stairs from dumping her trunk off. Running into the kitchen, she stopped dead infront of the table where her mother sat.
"Where's the fire?" The woman asked, looking up.
"Severus was a death eater, wasn't he?"
"Cate! Where on earth did you get that from? You don't have contact with him, do you?"
"No. There were some girls at school talking about the war. They said that Voldemort had major supporters called death eaters, and that they gathered about a year before the war. Which would be when we left." Elena sighed heavily.
"Yes, Severus was a death eater. I didn't know at first, I presumed he was working...or possibly having an affair. Soon enough, I did figure out what he was doing, that night was when he left us."
"So...he...he killed people for no reason. Innocent civilians?"
"Yes." She looked up at her eleven-year-old daughter. "I've told you many times Catherine, Severus was, and probably, to this day, remains to be, a horrible, horrible man. Do you understand?"'
"Yes Mum." Cate replied softly, then left the room
Finally, the young woman reached the Gryffindor tower, hurriedly, she climbed the stairs to the common room, and collapses onto her bed.