Rebel, Seemingly Without a Cause
Summary: Kathryn's parents died when she was one. All she knows is the suburban family of her aunt, uncle, cousin, and brother in which she was raised with hate. On her brother's eleventh birthday, however, Kathryn's life is tossed upside-down.
Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize!
Rock. On. Rock. Out.: Thanks!
Chapter Two: Jesus of Suburbia"Everyone's so full of shit,
Born and raised by hypocrites
Hearts recycled but never saved
From the cradle to the grave…
We are the kids of war and peace,
From Anaheim to the Middle East
We are the stories and disciples of
The Jesus of Suburbia…"
-"Jesus of Suburbia" Greenday
Kathryn Potter awoke the next morning in a state of confusion. The last thing she remembered was being in the basement…
That was when it hit her all over again.
Flashes of yesterday flew before her eyes, which stared off into space with a blank look to them. She suddenly remembered the most striking moment of it all: she was a witch! With a new fervor, Kathryn shot out of bed and was dressed in what seemed like .05 seconds flat. Obviously, it was a lot longer though.
She glanced at her outfit in the mirror to check and make sure she didn't look horrid, of course. She wore a pair of light, denim acid-wash jeans, a small black tee shirt that read "Remember the Alamo!" (she borrowed it from May last month and never gave it back). On her feet were a pair of camouflage Chuck Taylor's that were scribbled all over. Running a brush quickly through her annoying curls, she rushed out the her door, down the steps, and across the street and one to the left.
The house was no different than any of the others, really. It was the typical beige, two story house with brown dormers that you saw next door and next door to next door and so on and so forth. But for Kathryn this house was different from them all because it simply was the best. Kathryn knocked on the door and was thrown backwards when a flushed May Journey flung herself at her best friend.
"Where have you been?" May demanded angrily. "I haven't seen you in a while, I was getting worried!"
"You will not believe what happened!" Kathryn exclaimed, pushing her way into the house to sit on the couch. May followed like a puppy, wide-eyed and ears perked. "So Harry hears this snake talking to him at the zoo, right? Well, I get locked in the basement for Harry's mistakes, of course. A couple days later, Aunt Petunia pulls me up and I'm told we're going away for a while. There are envelopes, all unopened, everywhere! So we drive out to the coast, and get on this rickety little boat out to some rock they decided to put a house on. It's midnight and Harry's turning eleven and this huge man comes knocking down the door looking for Harry! Then -- get this May, the guy says Harry's a wizard and I'm a witch! Uncle Vernon puts up this fight against Harry attending this school with a funny name – something about pigs or summat, and Aunt Petunia throws this hissy fit about my Mum. This man, Hagrid, then proceeds to drag Harry off to nowhere."
"Finally!" May said exasperatedly. "It's about time! I remember when we first moved here and I told Mari that we lived across the road (and to the left) from Harry Potter and she wouldn't believe me!"
"I don't get it." Kathryn interjected, perplexed. "Are you saying that you're a witch as well? But what has that got to do with Mari and Harry?"
"Didn't they tell you?" May looked appalled. "Harry is famous! He defeated the dark wizard You-Know-Who as a baby! Nobody had ever faced him and lived to tell the tale, never the less survive the Killing Curse!"
Kathryn stared at her friend, and she was speechless. Her brother, Harry Potter, was famous? He had defeated an evil dark wizard as a baby and survived a killing curse? That's a lot to put on your resume, she thought with a lopsided grin forming on her face.
"Are you bloody serious?" she asked, unbelievingly.
"Of course!" cried an indignant May. "Why would I lie about something like that!"
With that comment, this time it was Kathryn who flung herself at her friend. Soon, that started a fit of girlish laughter. You could hear them miles away, or at least that's what they were told, by May's sister Marianna.
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Kathryn sat on the Dursley's porch, her legs swinging freely. May sat beside her, carelessly smoking a cigarette as people walked by. You'd get the wrong impression of this little neighborhood in Little Whinging if you judged by the lawns and houses. What was really going on wasn't all groomed grass and perfect families.
Down the street Kathryn could see a few boys in the alley between Magnolia Crescent and Privet Drive who were negating with two rare black guys, flashing bundles of money. Next door she could see Hailey Polkiss and Brett Harlan doing it on the couch since her parents were away. Piers was upstairs smoking what smelled like pot in Hailey's room. Across the road girls were applying their thick red lipstick, heavy eyeliner, and adjusting their breasts in their shirts. She knew they were heading to the city for the weekend for 'a little fun.' More like they were going out to hang at the 21 and Overs, snort some coke, and get some action.
Yeah, never judge a book by it's cover. Kathryn knew what really went on in Little Whinging, even if the adults didn't. Laughing at it all, she turned to May.
"Can I have one of those?" Kathryn asked, referring to the fag she was smoking. May proceeded to dig around in her pockets and fished out a pack, handing it over to her with a light.
With the cigarette hanging out of her mouth loosely, Kathryn lit in and inhaled. A strange feeling of calm set over her, one that she thoroughly enjoyed. It took her concentration away from those teenage hookers, the drug addicts, and the raging hormones of her neighbors. Kathryn just couldn't see what was so appetizing about the opposite sex. Boys were great as friends, but she sure wouldn't like to do anything with the kids she grew up with, who happened to enjoy farting and belching contests, as well as picking their noses. She knew the secret life of males, and it turned her off pretty quickly.
"Oh shit!" May exclaimed, glancing down at her watch. "Mari is going to be home any second now!"
May jumped off the porch, and ran to her back yard, dragging Kathryn all the way. The two girls ran through the Journey's back lawn and snuck in the back door just as Marianna "Mari" Journey, May's seventeen year-old sister pulled into the driveway with her car.
"Oi!" Mari shouted, opening the door. "Where are you guys?"
"In the kitchen!" Kathryn replied, walking into the living room. "Hey Mari."
Mari grinned at her sister's friend, Kathryn looked up to the older girl like the sister (or mother, whichever you prefer) that she never had.
"I love your hair!" Kathryn squealed, looking at Mari's now bright purple hair.
"We could do yours… except not the same color." Mari suggested, grasping Kathryn's chin and forcing it upwards, critiquing her skin tone. "How about blue?"
"Come on May!" Kathryn shouted as Mari and she went up the steps. "We're dying my hair blue!"
May's head popped around the corner of the door, an amused looked on her face.
"Can you do mine green?" She asked excitedly, and took Mari's sigh as a yes.
A while later, Kathryn sat on Mari's bead, her head burning from the peroxide. She winced and tried to stay still, her eyes tearing.
"Is it supposed to hurt this bad?" Kathryn inquired to Mari as she walked over to May, who was just lightening her hair before the green could go on.
"Yeah babe, that's normal." Mari explained. "Just feel glad you don't have to lighten your hair first, like May and I do. Damn our black hair!"
Kathryn nodded in agreement as she stared as May's hair. It was covered it a pale gloop that made her beautiful dark hair seem strange and unfamiliar. The smell was killing their noses, for it was potent and strong, burning like fire as it did on their scalps.
Kathryn's mind wandered off as she waited. She thought about Harry, much to her dismay. She couldn't help but wonder… where was he now? What was he doing? Where was he staying? Was he still with that Hagrid man? Before long, Mari was poking her to put her head in the tub, and she did. Kathryn wondered if her brother was thinking about her as well…
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"Kathryn Anne Potter!" Aunt Petunia shouted at her niece. "What have you done to your hair?"
Kathryn looked up at her aunt defiantly, her new hair color making her more confident than she had ever felt in her life. It's strange, isn't it, that something like hair color can do that to a person?
"I dyed it." Kathryn replied nonchalantly, shrugging it off and trying to push past her aunt. Petunia, however, had other ideas in mind.
"I will not have anyone in my home with hair so ridiculous!" Her Aunt proclaimed, causing Kathryn's eyebrows to shoot up to her hairline.
"What, you think I like living here?" Kathryn accidentally let the words slip in her anger.
"How dare you, you ungrateful little wench!" Aunt Petunia screamed, backhanding Kathryn will all the might her skinny body could muster. The strength of the blow threw Kathryn to the ground. "We give you a roof under which you can live, food, a room, clothes, water… we support you! How dare you!"
With that, Petunia turned on her heel and walked away. The glare she gave Kathryn on her way told her that she had better get herself upstairs –now, before Vernon was sent after her. She scrambled to her feet and raced up the stairs. Once safely inside her room, the leaned against it, collapsing to floor. It was then that she felt the throbbing stinging of her cheek. She knew it was bright red, and more than probably she would have a bruise there tomorrow.
Thank god school started in less than a week, or she'd swear that she would bury the bullet from a Derringer or .45 in her brain to stop the insanity. But then, if she did that, who on earth would torture the Dursleys? That was her job, after all, her favorite part of existence… even if it did mean beatings and torture and pain. The look of anger on Aunt Petunia's face was always worth it. Well, most of the time…
With nothing better to do, Kathryn lay there on her bed for what seemed like hours, just staring up at the ceiling. Admittedly, there wasn't a whole lot to view up there, but it was better than any of her other options. Kathryn fell asleep hours later, her head empty and a bruise formed on her cheek.
She awoke to the sound of Dudley going down the steps, sounding like a thundering stampede of elephants. Kathryn groaned, rolling around and covering her head with her coverless pillow. She knew any minute know those damn Dursley's would be waking her up anyway…
However, the shouts never came. A sense of unease grew in the pit of Kathryn's stomach until she shot up out of bed and ran downstairs. Much to her surprise, she realized that no one was home. On the refrigerator was a note that simply read:
Gone to get Dudley's school supplies. No funny business! Do not leave the house.
-Vernon & Petunia
Sighing, Kathryn looked around the empty house. She had never been left alone before when she wasn't locked away in her room or the basement. It was an odd, yet liberating feeling to her. Grinning, she knew that no one would know if she stayed or went, as long as she was back before her family got back. Of course, to avoid breaking the rules she could always invite May over. The note hadn't said anything of the sort about that. Kathryn was about to pick up the phone when she realized she was still in her underwear.
"Getting dressed might be a good idea…" she muttered to herself, going upstairs once again. She threw on the same pair of jeans she had worn yesterday and some random tee shirt that was too big for her. She then proceeded to ring up May.
"What do you want?" May's voice rang out the other end of the receiver, rudely.
"Hey May, it's just me. You wanna come over?" Kathryn asked, frowning at the way her friend answered the phone, to everyone.
"Yeah, sure. I'll be over in a nanosecond." May replied, and clicked off.
"Well I'm glad she knows her proper phone etiquette." Kathryn mumbled, putting the phone back onto the receiver.