A/N – Every now and then, a little inspiration for this story strikes me and I get the (guilty?) urge to continue it. Hence this chapter.

Disclaimer – Harry Potter and everything associated with him belongs to J K Rowling, not me. Don't sue me. I have made up the names of Lily's parents.

Chapter 8 – Comparisons

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9 and ¾, delivering its students safely into the embrace of their parents, or their guardians, or whoever had been designated to pick them up as they returned after their first year from Hogwarts. Kate, who had looked forward to seeing her parents once more – although she had been careful to keep that feeling to herself – found herself watching the others in their little group with puzzled incomprehension.

They seemed in no hurry to go home.

Snape, in particular, had become silent as they approached the station, lost in introspection and his own brooding thoughts. Luc had not told her much of Severus' situation, but she had been able to infer some of it; enough to make her relieved that she was not in his position. Augustus Snape sounded like a thoroughly unpleasant man.

The others – Avery, Lestrange, Andahni and Courtney – seemed to have better relationships with their families (better being a relative term) but treated the thought of returning home quite casually, as if it was something to be endured rather than enjoyed. From what she could see, home life was no better and no worse than life at school…

Kate found that sad, but would never dare say so. Her own parents were wonderful people, and she loved her family dearly – yes, even Petunia, who could sometimes be difficult – although there might be some trouble if her parents persisted in thinking that she had fallen in with a group who would lead her astray. But she couldn't ever imagine having the kind of cool, detached relationship with them that the others did – it was just too…alien to her way of thinking.

Strangely enough, the brothers Malfoy were also looking forward to meeting their father – if not Lady Malfoy – and returning to their estate in Wales. But then she had long since given up trying to analyse any of her new – friends? acquaintances? – by using her normal standards. If there was one thing she had learned in her first year at Hogwarts, and in Slytherin, it was that people – and things – were very, very rarely as they first appeared to be. Surface appearance was deceiving, and words – especially words – were so easily manipulated as to be worth absolutely nothing.

It was not – by any measure – a nice, comfortable way of life. No wonder they were all so cynical.

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Lily stepped off the train, laughing at Sirius' antics, and James' and Remus' reactions to him. She would miss them, but she couldn't deny that she was looking forward to going home. As fascinating and intriguing as the past year had been, there was a part of her that just wanted things to be normal again – she and Kate together, as they had always been, and as she had imagined they always would be.

They were twins, weren't they? They had always shared and done everything together – until she had been sorted into Gryffindor, and Kate into Slytherin. And then things had begun to change, and not for the better. Kate had withdrawn into the darkness of Slytherin and the mysteries of the High Clan – why had they accepted her, when she was a Muggleborn? Didn't they prefer purebloods? – and Lily herself had become more outspoken, more confident, and, quite frankly, louder.

She supposed they had drifted away from each other, despite their mutual promises. Hopefully the summer holidays would allow them to renew their bond – she would have sworn, before they had started at Hogwarts, that they were so close to each other that nothing and no one could ever tear them apart…

Through the crowd, she saw her sister's dark hair, standing within the circle that included Lucius Malfoy's distinctive white hair. Waving goodbye to her three friends, she made her way through the crowd of milling students and parents, heading straight for Kate. Luc Malfoy saw her coming first, and turned to say something to the others – as she drew closer, she found herself on the receiving end of a number of thoughtful, inscrutable gazes, including Kate's.

"Hello Lily," Kate said, sounding like every other pureblooded Slytherin aristocrat at Hogwarts. Once again, Lily felt the strange sense of disorientation, as if she was looking into a mirror at a reflection she had known all her life, but which had suddenly shifted. 

She breathed deeply, wishing suddenly for Sirius' brash confidence, or Remus' quiet courage. Those Slytherin eyes intimidated her, but she could not back down now, not in public, not when she had come to take her sister away from these people. "Kate," she replied. Suddenly she could not think of what to say. "Are you ready to go?"

When Lucius Malfoy looked at her, his brows raised quizzically, she lifted her chin defiantly, squaring her shoulders. She was Kate's elder sister – by all of forty minutes – and she had a responsibility to look after her. But the Slytherins closed ranks about Kate, a subtle movement, an inward step, and dark haired Luc put a very unsubtle hand on her shoulder.

"Weren't you waiting for your parents?" Shan Andahni asked, all innocence. "I don't see them here…"

"No," Lily said grimly, "we were to wait for them on the muggle platform."

It was a weak excuse, and they all knew it. She looked at Kate, her eyes unconsciously imploring, but her sister would not meet her eyes. There was an awkward stretch of silence, a feel of rushing towards something inevitable and unbearable, and then Brandon Avery deflected it, laughing quietly in his lazy, languid manner. "Then perhaps we could come with you, Evans. I have never met a real muggle…"

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Richard and Elizabeth Evans, both of them completely and utterly conventional with no history of anything at all shady in their backgrounds, had been considerably surprised when they received the first Owl that informed them their two youngest daughters were witches. Disinclined to believe anything so absolutely ridiculous, they had ignored it – but then the next one had come, and suddenly it hadn't seemed like such a joke, at all…

Kate and Lily had been delighted to hear of their 'special abilities', as they had been encouraged to think of their magic, but Richard and Elizabeth – and Petunia, their eldest child – had not been so blasé. For Kate and Lily's sake, they had made the best of things, but there had been a definite feeling of unease at so much strangeness suddenly intruding into their nice, normal lives – and when Lily had written home, saying that Kate had fallen into bad company, their forebodings had been confirmed.

They had allowed the girls one year at this Hogwarts – it remained to be seen whether they would return for the second. When they were all back at home, back in the real world instead of the fantastic fairytale land both Lily and Kate had described, there would be a serious discussion about their future, and what they really wanted to do with their lives…

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Luc saw them first.

Pureblooded product of the wizarding world, and therefore accustomed to seeing both men and women in robes, he was a little dazzled by all the strange clothes worn by the young muggles swarming so casually around the platform. Of course, he was not entirely ignorant of muggle clothing, having glimpsed it occasionally in Diagon Alley – but this was another thing entirely.

It was 1972, and though he did not know it, the muggle world was in upheaval: vibrant, daring, entirely outrageous, it was everything that his own world – and the High Clan in particular – was not. It was fascinating – here, in full, was everything that had drawn him to Kate in the first place.

The individuality. The innocence.

And, by all the Gods, the ingenuity…

Of course, not all muggles were of Kate's calibre. Take these two middle-aged adults – man and wife – walking towards them: purely conventional clothing, middle class written all over them; comfortable, complacent and not a jot of real ambition to be found.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…*

They could be any number of reasonably well off wizarding couples, with children at Hogwarts in either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor or sometimes Ravenclaw, the father with in a comfortable, mid-level administrative spot in the Ministry or the public service or a reputable firm, the mother looking after the family or serving on committees of some sort, or even with a little job of her own…

It was hard to imagine that these were Kate's parents. They were so… ordinary, so mediocre.

And if there was one thing that Luc despised, it was mediocrity.

Snape, too, had seen them. Less discreet, or perhaps less inclined to hide his disapproval, he was watching their approach with critical eyes. Catching onto his mood, the others quickly followed his gaze to see what had so offended his sensibilities, and Kate – impulsive, now, or perhaps more courageous – moved forward with her sister to welcome her parents with what appeared to be a genuinely warm hug.

For the next three months, Kate would be free of his influence. How much of his teaching would she retain, once she was back in her old world, living her old life? What other influences and events would she encounter, without him to supervise her education?

What if she returned to Hogwarts irrevocably changed? All his work would be undone…

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Whatever their limitations – if, indeed, contentment with their lot and a lack of driving ambition were limitations – Kate loved her parents. They had always been supportive of anything Petunia, Kate and Lily had wished to do and become, had happily paid for music lessons, and for memberships in the local sports clubs – they had even overcome their incredulity and unease about Hogwarts and had managed to smile as Kate and Lily were whisked away in the Hogwarts Express, and she loved them for it.

She would not have disappointed them for the world.

But as soon as her parents came close enough that she could see the expressions on their faces, she knew, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that there was something wrong… Damn Lily, and her interfering letters. Couldn't she have kept quiet?

Now they would have to fight to be allowed to go back to Hogwarts next year…

*******************************

Their daughters were standing with a group of young boys, watching them approach. Or rather, the boys were standing around Kate, and Lily looked as though she were trying to stand with Kate but not with the boys. An interesting study in body language, and had Richard and Elizabeth been more like the High Clan they had no idea existed, they would have greatly appreciated the scene.

Unfortunately – or perhaps not – they were simple, uncomplicated people; all they saw were Kate and her school-friends of whom they had heard so much.

Lily came forward to meet them and give them a big hug, and Kate – after a glance at one of the boys that Richard did not miss – followed suit, a genuine smile on her face. So that much, at least, had not changed… but there had been that last questioning look.

The boys were watching them, now, their eyes clear and quizzical, and some latent, paternal protective instinct prompted Richard to say, "Introduce us to your friends, Kate dear. We've heard so much about them…"

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*That great saying, "the more things change…"

No, that was not a cliffhanger. It was the culmination of the chapter, of the four different viewpoints expressed here, each and every one of them with different agendas. What I'd like to know (as a point of interest) is: where and with whom do your sympathies lie? The relationship between Kate and Luc can be viewed in many different ways, depending on your point of view.