Chapter 2: What Should Have Been
~ Recap ~
The moonlight burnt Kate through the parting clouds as she stood atop the hill, her wand to the balding, chubby man. Her entire body buzzed and erupted in goosebumps –
What had she just done?
A terrible, heavy feeling of dread mingled with relief in the pit of her stomach. She lifted her eyes from the subdued rat animagus to her werewolf Professor, Harry Potter, the smartest witch in third year, and a man in tattered robes with the familiar glittering grey gaze…
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"Well done," said Lupin, almost in laughter, as he observed the binds, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve.
Kate's chest swelled at the praise.
"You and Harry have got him then?" asked Lupin, looking between the two students. He then nodded to the dark-haired man and the two stood off the side, speaking quietly and quickly to one another. Lupin handed over his wand to the other man as they spoke.
Harry glanced back from where he pinned Peter with his wand, "He's innocent by the way – " he nodded to the dark haired wizard, "Sirius Black is innocent, it's Scabbers – Pettigrew – that sold out my parents and killed those muggles."
"Scabbers?" repeated Kate, blinking. She shook her head as she came to a realisation, "An animagus… we've learnt about them this year from McGonagall…"
She never liked that rat…
Her eyes, however, drifted to Sirius Black. He stood behind Lupin as the two returned to the Hogwarts students, his hands clasped behind his back.
"You will all have to go on without me, I'm afraid," said Lupin, sighing, "I will have to transform in the Shrieking Shack tonight…"
"Is that… safe?" asked Hermione.
Lupin and Sirius shared a glance, before Lupin bestowed a genial smile on Hermione, "Of course, Hermione."
"Quickly, Moony." said Sirius, with a hand on his friend's back.
Lupin paused for the briefest of moments at the words, his shoulders seemingly lightened, before he set back off to the whipping limbs of the Whomping Willow.
Sirius stunned the Whomping Willow, and Lupin loped to the entrance to the tunnel, disappearing into the darkness.
"Argh…"
Kate's eyes snapped to the red head on the ground, clutching a leg bound in bandages, "Ron – are you okay?"
"It's gotta be broken…beyond painful…might have to chop it…" he moaned out.
Kate bent down to observe it and the odd angle it bent at.
"It's broken all right," said Kate, "Luckily for you, over my years here...I've had to learn this neat spell… Brackium Emendo!"
Unlike when Lockhart vanished all the bones in Harry's arm the previous year, Ron's leg cracked back into line.
"Ah!"
But not without considerable pain.
Kate winced, "Sorry about that – should have warned you…"
Ron tested his leg, bending at the knee to extend it and then bring it back to his chest. His expression of pain vanished and he leapt to his feet.
"It's back to normal!"
A smile rose to Kate's lips. She had never quite bonded with Ron as well as she did with the other Weasleys.
An air splitting A-WOOO pierced the moon-bathed night. It was a short lonesome howl, rising in pitch. The stark realisation that it was Professor Lupin filled Kate with tingling awe.
Sirius' eyes lingered on the outline of the shack and then on the moon, serenely still, and then said, "We should get moving."
Wordlessly, Sirius used Lupin's wand to conjure balls of light to hover above the group, lighting their way.
Kate remembered the parchment in her other pocket and produced it and her wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."
Sirius stared at the map in her hands for a long moment, deathly still.
Ron's eyes bulged, "Hang on – you're a Prefect – you shouldn't –"
"She's friends with the twins, Ronald." said Hermione
Sirius kept Lupin's wand trained on Peter as he levitated him out in front of them, but he kept casting glances back.
"McGonagall is closest." said Harry from beside Kate as he perused the map.
Sirius nodded, and looked as if he were going to speak, but his eyes simply danced over the four Hogwarts students where they poured over the magical map.
The group tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger.
"It's Filch," said Kate, as they neared the double oak front doors.
A shadow prowled inside the doors, and Kate trained her wand on it, waiting for him to come into clear view.
"Confundus!"
The group ran across the courtyard and past the addled caretaker. Despite his state, Sirius was the only one long-legged enough to match Kate's strides. Excitement lilted his breaths and his eyes glittered again.
Ron watched the caretaker warily as they passed, hand on his wand in case he suddenly sprung from his stupor.
Harry and Hermione ran out ahead, hand in hand.
Kate snuck another glance at Sirius as they all ran past the quiet Great Hall, candles burning dully.
He was not nearly as unkempt as one might imagine, having heard tales of Azkaban...
Sirius and Kate slowed to a stroll as Harry and Hermione knocked furiously on McGonagall's door up ahead. She felt his eyes on the side of her face.
"You're taking this all remarkably well, given that you didn't get the explanation the others did." said Sirius.
Kate shrugged.
"I trust Harry."
Something like approval slipped over the waxy skin of his face.
"What in the name of Merlin! – "
McGonagall slid out of her door, tartan robes flapping and her wand lifted. Her buttoned lips and firm expression faltered upon the sight of Sirius Black. Her wand arm wavered too.
"Potter and Granger say there's an explanation –" The words died on her tongue when she saw Peter Pettigrew, hanging from mid-air, bound and missing a finger.
There was no laughter. And Pettigrew and Black were no longer eleven years old with Gryffindor ties tied haphazardly around their necks.
She sent her tabby cat Patronus for Dumbledore.
It would be an hour later in the Hospital Wing when Madame Pomfrey tended to the four Gryffindors cuts and bruises after a lengthy interrogation with Dumbledore and the calling of Aurors to collect Pettigrew and to cancel the manhunt for Sirius Black.
It was as Dumbledore saw the troupe out of McGonagall's office that Sirius and Kate glanced to each other as they came up to the narrow doorway - for the first time since Kate had heard the truth behind the most wanted man in both wizarding and muggle Britain.
Sirius lingered back with an imperceptible tilt of his head to insist she passed through first. His eyes stayed on her all the while.
Kate self-consciously averted her gaze from the keen grey stare of her companion. They had lingered behind the Third Years, taller, older, naturally bunking themselves together to watch over the younger three.
Kate wondered if she should have stuck with Hermione instead...
To the Matron's credit, when Sirius strolled in beside Harry with a greeting of 'Wotcher, Poppy! Just bringing my godson for a check-up!' she just huffed and got to work mending scrapes and checking bruises.
The Head of the Auror Department, Kingsley Shacklebolt, was tall and well-robed wizard. He lingered by the doors to the Hospital Wing with Dumbledore, before he crossed back to Sirius. His posture was indicative of a farewell.
Kingsley Shacklebolt's stern expression faltered, and Kate noticed his glinting gold earring, "Sentenced without a hearing twelve years ago… the Prophet will have a field day with this…"
Shacklebolt extended a hand to Sirius.
"Stay with your godson tonight. There will be quite a beaurocratic fanfare to soon face, I'm afraid."
Sirius blinked at the hand, as if he had forgotten what decency looked like, before he took it and gave it a firm shake.
It was at that moment Kate's eyes drifted to a shadow disrupting the light beaming through the sliver between the cracked double doors to the hallway. More Aurors seemed to arrive by the minute. However, not many had hair that glowed bubblegum pink in the torch light.
Tonks bobbed unsteadily on her toes, catching Kate's eye and giving a sneaky wave. Her gaze seemed to linger curiously in the direction of the vindicated Black before she threw a worried glance over he shoulder and dissappeared again.
Something seemed to relax inside Kate at the presence of metamorphagus in the castle, still half expecting to see the yellow robes she had long associated with her.
Shacklebolt and Sirius shared a nod, before the Auror left with Dumbledore.
Madame Pomfrey healed the scrapes on Kate's hands and she settled into her bed, resigning herself to the confines of the Hospital Wing until morning.
Kate's eyes drifted around the room to the others as the scene settled down from it's previous buzzing pace.
Sirius sat in the chair by Harry's bed, tilting it back on two legs. He had just finished regaling his godson with the tale of James' first Quidditch match which also ended him up in the exact same bed as Harry with a head so fat it looked jinxed. 'Lily always said he had a big head, this one was of the times it was true.' Sirius had said.
Harry had fallen off to sleep not long after.
In the purple morning light, when Sirius too rested his head, Kate caught the moment Harry smiled in his sleep.
"He always did that… even back then…" were Sirius last murmured words before he took one last deep breath before they levelled out to light, even sounds. His eyes shut, and his head lulled to his shoulder, protecting Harry, even in sleep.
The last one awake, Kate settled into her white sheets, staring at the ceiling where dull stars moved under some enchantment, not unlike in the Great Hall. Her hands rested on the worn maroon wool of her jumper, right over the pale yellow 'C' stitched into the front. As sleep gripped her tighter and tighter, so did her memories…
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! :)
From here on out, the story will go back to the 1980s when Kate started Hogwarts. That means, Bill, Charlie, the Twins, and Tonks will be taking centre stage – at least for a little bit. The story will eventually return to present day after a few chapters and we will explore what happens into the Quidditch World Cup and the Tri-wizard tournament and the years beyond.