Chapter Three
The next day, Kate woke lightheaded. Vaguely she could remember the dancing candlelight shining from the sconces when she stirred after passing out, taking a nasty fall to the head. Her skull throbbing, she had stumbled back to the Tower in the snow. By dawn, the puddles tracing her path to bed were the only things left.
Months passed, along with bitter winter and the heaps of snow tossed upon Hogwarts. Kate remained in the Tower, generally trying to ignore the students of Hogwarts scurrying about on the spacious grounds below, frantic in the face of finals drawing so near, fighting the strain of spring fever breaking out among them. Dumbledore, Severus, and Remus had done their best to make the Tower comfortable--and it was--but Kate was always wishing for more, wishing for freedom after nearly a whole term of solitude in the Tower. Only weeks after her arrival at Hogwarts, the Tower had been refurnished to Kate's taste. She'd never take much stock in it before. Never noticed it, really. The haunting visions had kept her more than occupied. Mostly, she had closed her mind to them, closing off a piece of herself she was glad to stray from, a piece she feared. A piano in the corner, big windows paned with glass, hardwood in place of the cold stone floors; it had all been done in the darkness of night, of course, to keep Kate a secret within Hogwarts. Happy enough in waking, Kate was satisfied with her retreat, but a desperate panic was growing inside her with the arrival of spring. It clenched her soul in waking, in dreams, and recently, in visions. Far more powerful than the typical bout of spring fever. The terrible and soul clasping freezing came most frequently at night, when she was vulnerable. Kate would wake in the secure dark of the Tower, drenched in cold sweat. And it was terrorizing.
Parting a path through the darkness, Kate wandered through the corridors of Hogwarts, silently like a ghost. Dressed and covered by her invisibility cloak, she went undetected. She was barefoot--the echo of shoes on the marble floor could not be risked--and walking outside, the chilled grass of a spring morning was welcome between her toes. Wind whipped through her thick mane of hair, slender waves of it stuck in the crease of her lips. An agonizing song escaped her lips, lilting into the night air. The despair weaving through the patterns of the wind made Kate feel better, lighter. It was her pain being released. The pain of being caged, of the uneasiness she felt about the Garden, her family, everything. It all seemed so hopeless. Until the rosy breaking of dawn, the sad, forlorn song echoed around the grounds of Hogwarts, finding a home in the ears of the person who could free her, if unintentionally.
A restless Draco Malfoy squirmed under the sheets of his four poster bed, watching the night wind breeze through the open window and stirring his partially open bed curtains. Even over his writhing, the seventeen year old could hear his roommates' loud breathing from the beds next to him. Draco couldn't shake the thought from his mind that someone was singing to him. A lullaby of a sort. In waking, he could have sworn he heard a song. A sad, mournful song that called to him. It drew him in like a moth to a burning candle that threatened to either dazzle him with beauty or burn him to ashes. It tickled his soul like a soft feather and it surprised him. The desolation of it made him want to change, to be a better person. It gave him life in his unresponsive body and he wanted more of it. Dressed, Draco Malfoy slipped into the darkness of the empty castle in search of attracted him so acutely.
Ironically, her feet led Kate to the one place she desperately didn't want to be. The Temple Garden emerged like a monster from the shadows as Kate approached. The distinctive apprehension it threw at her filled her stomach but there was no turning back now. She felt it. Tonight, they would let her in. She was ready.
The tarnished silver knob turned easily this time and the circular door opened for her. No vision. Unexpectedly, Kali turned up and followed Kate in, padding softly in the cool grass. They walked over the paving stones, cold under Kate's bare feet. The invisibility cloak had been thrown aside; she didn't need it here. Kate found her way to the Temple. Everything was the same as it had been in her vision. Only this time, it didn't seem to sharp, so stark in the moonlight. The coating of the buttery moonlight in actuality had softened it. Kate wasn't afraid. She felt peace and was certain this was right. She was supposed to be here.
The statue of the woman, her face smoothed out by immeasurable age, shot a streak of brassy light into a dark shelf. From atop the woman's head, Kali jumped in one graceful movement to the shelf where the golden light pointed. Like a leprechaun on a rainbow. Several books fell to the floor when Kali landed, sending up a plume of dust. Coughing, Kate waved away the dust and bent to gather the books, but something on the shelf sending a flick of golden light caught her eye. A box. The box.
The box, seamlessly formed of a tinny metal, flashed at her. Kate reached up, and this time, she didn't fall. Kate's fingers tingled as she pulled the box down from the shelf and took a seat on the stone floor to better examine it. Kali's sapphire eyes beckoned toward the box. Curiosity got the cat, Kate thought, but her own ferocious desire to know what was inside got the best of her. Kate pulled at the lid, easing the hinge. Somewhere far off, the harp's tune grew ugly. In place of soft, tranquil tunes, a harsh and dangerous melody resonated in Kate's ears. The box, however, wouldn't open. She even tried prying it open with a stone, but the hinge wouldn't budge.
Tired, Kate lay back on the cool of the stone floor. Kali nuzzled her clenched hand. Why can't I open it? Kali nudged her hand again. She obliged and scratched Kali's ears. What seemed like an epiphany came. She couldn't open it because she wasn't ready. Emotionally, in her mind, for what would come of it. She hoped.
The terrible vision Kate had about opening the box resurfaced in Kate's mind. Her body tensed and Kali was suddenly arched and hissing, spitting at the box, sitting tauntingly on the floor a few feet from them. Kate's breath was rapid and harsh. Trembling, she replaced the box on the shelf and hid it behind the books. Kali tore from the Temple and Kate flashed after her.
Well out of the garden, Kate turned around a hedge and ran headlong into a boy. His platinum hair lit up his pale, pointed face. He was more a man than a boy, actually. His eyes were haunted with the hardness of first-hand experience and heartache. The force of the collision knocked them both to the ground. The invisibility cloak fell into the grass, useless. He'd seen her. Staggering, Kate found her footing and stood, as did the boy. Kali leapt into Kate's arms and hissed at the prowler. Kate suddenly wished she were wearing more than the thin material of her nightgown in the warm summer night. She pressed Kali into her chest to hide the form of her body in the moonlight. She was spellbound by him.
"What was that? Who are you?" the boy breathed. He was beautiful in the sheer moonlight, Kate thought. His face was all broad lines and milky skin. Cobalt eyes so pale they were almost white glinted at Kate with interest. Without thinking, Kate stepped through the wet lawn toward him. He didn't move away.
"Kate," she whispered and Kali tore from her arms to the ground. The boy reached out and touched one of the locks of her waving hair, toying with it. "I should ask the same of you." Kate didn't pull away from his touch. It was a bold move, or lack of, and Kate didn't feel bold at all.
"No. You're real name." He whispered, his voice gravely deep with a maddening hint of arrogance. His silvery gaze locked with Kate's for a long moment. Breaking the eerie mood, Kali yelped loudly, waking Kate from her stupor. The second time someone wanted to know her 'real' name.
Kate swallowed hard. It didn't look like a good idea, giving her name to people she didn't know. She was after all, in hiding. But then again, there were no bad choices, only different ones. And besides, she felt something for this boy. Like somehow he could be trusted. "Kathleen Clara Rose."
He grinned darkly. "I knew you'd come, Katie. I could feel it." His platinum hair fell in his eyes haughtily; he already knew her.
Kate felt like she knew him, too. A bone deep, ages long knowing of him. Not just physically, though. Not just like the way his shaggy hair grew around his ears, the shape of his hands, and the way his body felt curled around hers. She knew his determination; his recklessness; his dark, ruthless side; and the side he never showed where he cared so deeply for her.
His sturdy arms pulled her into him, pressing them together. Taken aback, Kate couldn't bring herself to say anything. He leaned in and kissed her once, then meshed his fingers in her hair so she couldn't pull away and kissed her again. Slipping his tongue between her lips he took her breath away and she loved it. Kate hated herself for loving it, for letting him take something unnamable from her. She didn't even know his name.
Kate finally tore herself away, her eyes half-blinded with tears. He was like her visions. They pulled her in fiercely and never let her go.
He laughed knowingly. "I'm Draco," he smirked, backing away into the darkness. Kate tried to yell after him, but found she didn't have any words left.