Chapter 3: The Platform Between Worlds

The brick courtyard behind the leaky cauldron was completely plain and ordinary.

Until there was a sternum-thumping rumble, and the bricks began shuffling out of their mortar. They formed an archway to a bustling alley of shopfronts that Katherine had never seen before.

"Diagon Alley." said Giles, looking around casually at the things that made Katherine gawk.

In a daze, she followed him through the archway which promptly closed behind them, and they began to stroll down the alley.

Women and men were passing them in an eclectic range of garb; full cloaks, mismatched suits, 1920's gowns, and there were a small few that Katherine supposed wouldn't look out of place on Carnaby Street.

But Katherine was less interested in them when she saw the stalls and shopfronts.

Slug and Jiggers Apothecary had signs boasting half price bat's spleen and freshly pickled toads.

Quality Quidditch Supplies had a bright light beaming down on a broomstick, glittering letters claiming that the shop housed the 'newest and fastest racing broom to sweep the market'.

Potage's Cauldron Shop apparently had 'everything from pewter to gold'.

A few stalls down was Magical Menagerie; a pet shop unlike Katherine had ever seen before. There were owls, rats, toads, cats, and a breed that resembled a cat that had run at a brick wall.

Gambol and Japes was overflowing with trick wands, Katherine watching a brother and sister go from fencing with licorice to gripping the necks of rubber chickens.

Further down was Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour; one shop that didn't completely take Katherine by surprise, and – for that reason – she longed to taste something familiar.

Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment came next, Giles not slowing for a cool, sweet treat.

In Dervish and Bangs Katherine saw telescopes among many other items – usual and most unusual things in the same cramped space.

Katherine glanced at the equipment list in her hand and felt uneasy.

"Giles," said Katherine quietly.

But he hadn't heard, he was watching the exit to a cobblestone street. A sign hung, albeit barely, marking it as 'Knockturn Alley'.

"Giles!" Katherine tried louder.

Giles met Katherine's eyes calmly, "Yes?"

She had never been in such a predicament before. Her Aunt and Uncle had always taken care of things… and they were very well off. On her own, however, Katherine had nothing.

Katherine suddenly felt very small, "I don't…I don't have any money."

Giles wasn't nearly as affected.

"Gringotts is the wizarding bank," he said, pointing ahead, "Your parents have a vault."

"A vault?"

"I took the liberty of making a visit before you woke this morning," said Giles, producing a bulging velvet sack, "Galleons are the gold ones, Sickles the silver, and Knuts the bronze."

Giles nodded in indication they begin walking again.

"At Hogwarts you are allowed to bring a pet, as I am sure you remember from your letter this morning," said Giles. He pointed to a shop where an old lady was sweeping owl droppings from the cobblestones, "Pick one out from the menagerie and I will meet you back here at Nine-forty to complete the rest of your shopping."

He checked his fog watch and then loped off towards the crooked sign that marked the off-shooting street Knockturn Alley.

Katherine sighed at his abrupt nature as she crossed the bustling alley and entered the belled entrance of the Magical Menagerie.

"I can't believe it – my daughter, a prefect!" Anne Evans exclaimed with an affectionate clasp of her youngest daughter's shoulder, "Something I can finally tell Martha next door!"

Her youngest daughter smiled apologetically at an eagle-hatted witch outside of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour who had jumped at the exclamation. A sullen expression replaced it shortly once she and her mother had scooted past.

"I really wish we could have brought Sev…"

A silence struck up after her words.

"Your father doesn't like him coming around the house, Lily" the mother eyed her daughter sideways, uncomfortably, "And I'm inclined to agree with him."

"He didn't break Tuney's arm, Mum," said Lily, trailing behind her mother with the most pleading of expressions, "It was an accident."

Her mother's hand on her arm pulled her to a stop outside their destination, and her stern expression brought an end to Lily's petulance.

"He wanted to though, didn't he?" Anne's eyes were imploring as she gazed down at her daughter, "Accidental magical has to have intent behind it – that's what that Professor McGonagall said when she came to the house all those years ago."

Lily shifted and looked around at the witches and wizards bustling past, "Well…yes…"

"If someone wishes harm on those you love, they don't care very much for you then, do they?"

"Petunia was being rotten to him."

Her mother simply opened the door to the animal filled space and said over her shoulder, "He's been nothing but rotten to her."

"It's just because she's a muggle." said Lily, stepping through.

The bell sounded again as the door clamped closed behind the two.

"Then what does he think of me? Your father? Where you come from?" said her mother, absentmindedly, as she browsed the pets on display.

Lily did not have a thing to say to that. She knew exactly what Severus Snape thought of her whole family, but she thought she could change his opinion with time. She was sure she could. She pondered on that thought while she slowly walked the perimeter of the shop.

Her mother, however, seemed to have been browsing more than the animals.

"Oh, look – she seems about your age! Do you know her?"

Lily recognised the attempt to broaden her friendship circle. But she looked up anyway.

"No…actually," said Lily, truthfully, "I've never seen her before."

A girl, not unsimilar to height to Lily, stood by the display of kittens. She bore freckles and an incredible resemblance to the character Miranda from the film Picnic at Hanging Rock that Lily had seen at the theatre over the summer with her sister.

If it weren't for her blonde hair and freckles, Lily thought she might be a relative of the Black family. She wore robes so nice that they looked new, her hair was neat and shiny, and her carefully blank expression could only be the result of being well-bred.

Lily was reminded of her manners too when the girl looked up and found herself under Lily's gaze.

"Oh, hello." The girl's voice rang like a bell alongside her expression of delighted surprise.

"Hello," said Lily, trying for a friendly smile, "Are you getting a pet for school?"

The girl nodded and smiled serenely, "Yes, I start Hogwarts today."

"Oh – I go there!" said Lily, stepping up to the kitten enclosure to converse more easily, "Which year?"

"I'm starting my fifth year."

"That's my year!" Lily realised, before realising something immediately, "You must be new."

The girl fidgeted with her cuffs, her elegant hands on display.

Lily resisted hiding her paint-chipped nails self-consciously.

"Yes… I, er," The girl hesitated, and lowered her voice – and her head, "Thought I was a muggle up until last night. A professor came and found me."

"Really? They usually send a professor when you turn eleven – before the beginning of first year…" said Lily.

A beat of silence passed, one too long to be comfortable.

"Where are my manners?" said Lily, remembering herself and extending a hand, "Lily Evans."

"Katherine," said the girl with a ready smile, shaking Lily's hand, "Katherine Spencer."

A memory rang through Lily's mind of the business district in London, "Like that big shot lawyer in London?"

"My Uncle," said Katherine.

Katherine Spencer, for the first time, closed off. She turned away too, to peruse the kittens.

"I'm very lost on what kind of pet I should take," she said, turning back to Lily with a new smile, "You know the school – what kind of pet do you have?"

"I just got made prefect over the holidays, so Mum is actually getting me my first pet today." revealed Lily, turning her own eyes to the animals.

"Oh – me too!" said Katherine, excitably, before clearing her throat, "I mean…at my old school I was a Prefect…"

Lily nodded, and pointed toward the front of the store, "Owls are very practical, sending letters home and all…"

Katherine's eyes lit up with delighted confusion.

"Owls send letters?"

A MEOW drew both girls' attention back to the kittens, where one pure white one with green eyes brushed against Katherine.

"Oh, hello, aren't you gorgeous?" said Katherine, in a higher pitched voice, petting the kitten – only for another one, a tabby cat with a paler shade of green eyes to begin brushing up against her too, "And you too!"

She continued to pet the white cat, but the tabby cat had wondered over to Lily.

"It looks like that one's taking a shining to you." said Katherine, nodding to Lily.

The tabby cat purred under Lily's hands and it went without saying that they needed to look no further for their pets. The girls passed over fifteen galleons each for their pets, their carriers, and a small supply of food to start.

"What are you going to name him?" asked Katherine, as the girls poked fingers into the front grates of the cats' carriers.

"Marbles," said Lily, smiling when the kitten swatted at her finger, "I have a set at home with a pattern just like his fur. And you?"

Katherine observed her kitten before saying firmly, "Belle."

"Like sleeping beauty?" asked Lily.

Katherine shook her head, "It means 'beautiful' in French."

"You speak French?"

Lily would have been even more convinced she was a Black relative if she hadn't known her story of only discovering magic the previous night.

Katherine waved a listless hand through the air, "It's compulsory at St Mary's."

"We were going to send Lily there,"

Lily and Katherine turned to find the approaching kind eyes of Anne Evans.

She smiled warmly at Katherine, "I'm Anne, Lily's Mum."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Evans." said Katherine, inclining her head.

"Oh, I like you," said Anne with a good-natured laugh, "Are you muggleborn like our Lily?"

A figure blocked the sun streaming in from the alley.

"Mudbloods do tend to herd together, don't they?"

The snarky comment belonged to a tall brown-haired girl with a prominent widow's peak that lined up with her buttoned lips.

"I wonder how many it would take together to do one decent spell?" her voice was high and cold.

Lily trembled with rage, stepping in front of her mother and Katherine.

"Say it again at Hogwarts, Greengrass," said Lily, keeping her voice low and measured, "Slytherin will be in negative points before the first day."

"You get a badge and you've let your insolence get out of check," said Greengrass with a sneer. She then turned her haughty expression on Katherine, "And you – who are you?"

Lily interjected, "That's Spencer – and she's not your new –"

"Katherine Spencer?"

Greengrass transformed before them. Her mean demeanour evaporated, seemingly, with the change in the wind, and she held out a hand to Katherine.

"Griselda Greengrass."

Katherine did hold out her own hand.

Lily floundered, at a loss, "How'd you…"

"Your dirty blood is showing, Evans," said Greengrass with a roll of her eyes, "She's famous."

Katherine crossed her arms, "I hardly think so."

Greengrass surveyed Katherine head to toe, before leaning in and gesturing between her and Lily.

"At Hogwarts you should split from this one," said Greengrass, with a jerked thumb in Lily's direction.

Anne gasped.

Greengrass wasn't perturbed, and continued, "You would be most welcome with me and my friends, you know…people of your station."

Lily fell back to her mother's side, taking her arm to pull her away. She recognised that there would be no sense in Katherine refusing Greengrass' offer.

"No, thanks,"

The words made Lily stop in her tracks.

Katherine smiled obliviously, and continued.

"I prefer Lily."

The end of her sentence coincided with the sudden springing open of Katherine's cat carrier. Belle skulked out and sniffed around a shell-shocked Greengrass' robes, before squatting and urinating on the gold trim.

Greengrass' face became one of utter disgust, "You little…"

A few things happened at once.

Greengrass pulled back her boot to kick Belle, Katherine screamed out in defence of her pet, and a timely intrusion of owl droppings were flung by the old lady sweeping the floor – into Greengrass' face.

Spitting and clawing the brown deposits from her face and mouth, Greengrass stumbled out of the shop blindly.

"That was brilliant, Katherine." said Lily, recognising the eruption of accidental magic.

"She was terrible," said Katherine, frowning out into the alley, "Hating someone because of something they can't help?"

The DING and clicking shut of the shop door caught all three's attention.

However, Greengrass hadn't returned for revenge as they had all thought.

A tall, chestnut-curled man stood in the doorway, moving with the grace you would expect from the obvious expense of his robes to a stop beside Katherine.

"Katherine," said the man, breathlessly, before frowning at her cat carrier, "I thought you were going to get an owl?"

Katherine opened her mouth to explain, but the man waved her off.

"No bother, we need to go get your wand and robes." he said as he wrapped a hand around her elbow and tugged her to the shop door.

Lily felt a spark of urgency in her gut and started after them, "Oh, you'll sit with me and friends on the train?"

Katherine smiled over her shoulder as she was tugged out the door.

"I'd love to."

Katherine's return to the Wizarding World was short lived, Giles leading her straight from Twilfitt and Tatting's, through The Leaky Cauldron and into the streets of muggle London. Katherine ignored the sick feeling of dread that inched up her throat when they skirted around Claremont Square and continued on.

She beat back feelings of longing for her material items, and let Giles lead her to their final stop in the muggle world between Platforms Nine and Ten at King's Cross Station.

With a hand on her elbow, Giles pulled her towards Platform Ten, "Forgive me for the shock."

Katherine barely had time to blink before he pulled her through the brick platform.

There was a cloud of steam around a scarlet train. On a black plaque, golden letters spelled out the engine's name; The Hogwarts Express.

Katherine yet again found herself surrounded by people that were anything but normal – by people that were like her. There were parents and their children; some clinging on, and others fleeing with promises of letters.

And then there were Giles and Katherine.

"You'll need to load your trunk into a compartment and then it's about a three hour ride," Giles patted the trolley he had pushed for Katherine, "I'm going to have to leave you on your own for a little bit,"

Giles looked down the length of the train before looking back to Katherine.

"Will you be okay?" Giles asked, smoothing back a stray curl into his slick-backed style and furrowing his eyebrows.

Katherine didn't think that he would stay if she said 'no'.

"Sure." Katherine lied.

"Use one of the toilets to change into your robes after you find a compartment." said Giles absentmindedly as he turned.

Katherine stood and watched his frame retreat into the throngs of students loitering outside the train. A group of older boys eclipsed him, but Katherine saw the carriage door open and close before his head bobbed out of sight completely.

A tall figure blocked the sunlight filtering in through the end of the platform tunnel.

"Do you need any help with your trunk?"

Katherine turned around, but – at the sight of the owner of the voice – lost her words.

He grinned brilliantly, already bending over, "What kind of Head Boy would I be if I didn't insist?"

The neat part down his gold locks was where Katherine fixed her gaze.

She herself tucked her hair behind both ears, "Oh, you're Head Boy?"

He stood with the handle of her trunk in one hand and his own in his other. He was smiling amusedly.

"I'm afraid that I don't know who you are either," he conceded, putting down her trunk before extending his hand, "Gideon Prewett."

Katherine accepted his hand, "Katherine Spencer."

His honey eyes lit up and his hand ceased it's shaking of Katherine's.

"Oi, Gideon –" A boy stopped short of Gideon. At once, Katherine noticed that the two were identical within a freckle.

The twin of Gideon looked upon Katherine with delighted surprise. Katherine took note of the shirt he wore, it had '402nd Quidditch World Cup' emblazoned in gold lettering that glittered and winked.

"A transfer from Beauxbatons?" he inquired.

Katherine shifted her weight from leg to leg and blinked, "Oh, er, no…"

"Gideon, laddie!" a boy in a blue and bronze scarf greeted, grabbing Gideon's shoulder roughly in passing.

Gideon nodded at the boy in returned respect, "Wood."

His twin, however, was still frowning at Katherine, "Durmstrang?"

Two dark heads – one messy and one neat – passed behind the Prewetts and stole Fabian's attention. They seemed younger, closer to Katherine's age.

The one with messy hair locked his bespectaled gaze onto Gideon, "Good summer, Gideon?"

"Splendid, Potter," answered Gideon absently, before gripping his twin's upper arm. Gideon threw a significant look at Katherine before throwing his eyes back to his brother, "She's a Spencer."

Katherine was beginning to become curious about her surname...

The twin held out his hand with decided grin, "Fabian, twin of Gideon."

Katherine took his hand, "Katherine."

The Potter boy had gone on, but his neater haired companion had turned back to glance curiously at them.

Fabian smacked Gideon soundly on the chest before pulling his towards the train, "Come on, we've got to meet with King."

Gideon looked back at his Katherine, his expression caught, "But –"

Fabian was not listening.

"King's handing over the captaincy this year after having to repeat his seventh year," Fabian announced importantly, "I need to know if I'm getting it."

"Sorry, Spencer." Gideon's expression was apologetic before it was submerged into the sea of heads on the platform.

But it was not long until she saw the Prewetts again. After changing into her robes in the toilet, Katherine, her trunk, and Belle's carrier on top, were squeezed past her fellow students as they flooded the train. They didn't seem to pay her any mind. While she was lugging her trunk down the hallway to find an empty compartment, she passed the compartment the boys from earlier had taken up residence inside of.

The boy in the blue and bronze scarf from earlier - Wood - was extending his hand to an already seated boy, "No hard feelings about this year, King?"

King was long, stretched across the compartment easily even with his legs bent. He had closely cropped black hair on a head shaped like a half-let-down-football. But he held out a hand, even larger than his head, with a crooked smile in accompany of it.

"With the best Gryffindor team in years… we'll smash yer's anyway." said King as he shook Wood's hand before leaning back with a resigned smile.

"Your star Seeker graduated last year, I would not put all my dragon eggs in one basket if I were you."

"Did you hear… Regulus Black is going to be Seeker this year…"

"Sirius'll murder 'im on the pitch."

"How much are you willing to put on it?"

Katherine moved past.

A group of boys ducked into a compartment up ahead. She recognised the two dark haired boys that passed Gideon. A lanky sandy-haired boy, taller than the other two, trailed behind. A mousy-haired boy, the shortest of the four, scurried up the rear.

Gideon had called the boy with messy hair and glasses 'Potter'. Katherine almost did not recognise him in his school uniform. Potter was walking very carefully while the boy with neater black hair trailed behind.

The trailing boy held Potter's glasses to his eyes and pulled them away repeatedly before handing them back, "You really are blind!"

Potter adjusted his glasses on his nose, grinning all the while.

"Wow, thanks, mate," said Potter sarcastically, "You'd think you'd never seen glasses before."

The boy with perfect vision shrugged.

The boys moved past, but the hallway wasn't empty.

Lily's red hair bobbed past in their wake.

"Katherine! There you are!" Lily waved Katherine out of her chosen compartment, "Come on, you can meet the rest of the girls…"

Katherine straightened out her new school robes, the tie black unlike all the coloured ones she was seeing on the other students milling the train corridor. As she stepped into the compartment, she placed down Belle's carrier inside the door.

"Girls, this is Katherine," Lily announced, smiling kindly back at Katherine before plopping down on the bench, "She's new."

An almond-haired girl waved with a welcoming smile, the first of the girls to do so.

"Mary Macdonald," she greeted, nodding gently, "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Katherine returned.

"Alice Fortescue." The girl who looked remarkably like Twiggy offered quietly.

Katherine remembered the last name from a shop in Diagon Alley and the girl from greeting Gideon.

"Fortescue?" Katherine asked, "Like the ice cream shop?"

Alice smiled shyly, "My grandfather owns it."

"And that's Marlene McKinnon." Lily supplied, pointing to a girl rummaging through her trunk muttering about lost Quidditch gear.

"It's nice to meet you all." Katherine said tentatively to the compartment at large.

Lily patted the seat beside her in indication for Katherine to sit down. There were three seats on either side of the compartment, Alice and Mary sat opposite Marlene and Lily.

Marlene looked around Lily at Katherine with an alert smile, "So, are you muggleborn?"

The terms were starting to confuse Katherine. For all she knew, she could have been. She only knew that she wasn't a squib.

"It doesn't matter," said Lily, rolling her eyes. She instead turned her eyes on Alice, and smiled, "Now, Alice, will you be sitting next to Frank in every class again this year?"

Alice pinked and the next hour was devoted to catching Katherine up on everyone's romantic trysts at Hogwarts and what they had all done for summer. It was well into the train ride when conversation turned to Katherine again.

"What was your last name again?" asked Marlene.

"Spencer." said Katherine.

Mary's eyes widened, "As in…"

Marlene, Mary, and Alice all looked between themselves in silence for a moment before turning back to Katherine.

"Aren't you supposed to be…" Alice wrinkled her nose and waved her hands around awkwardly.

"Dead?" Marlene asked bluntly.

"Dead!?" Lily looked between everyone in the compartment, at a loss. "Is this some weird pureblood history thing?"

"Uh…You-Know-Who, he went after her family when she was a child," Marlene began to explain, looking to Katherine with an apologetic smile, "Sorry about bringing it up, Katherine."

Katherine opened her mouth to tell Marlene that it was fine, but the compartment doors slid open with BANG.

Giles stood there, an expression of mild surprise flashing across his face. His eyes darted around the compartment full of girls until they fell upon Katherine.

Katherine noted that his chest was heaving, as if the man had been running.

"Katherine." said Giles quietly, with a nod to the door.

Katherine pushed herself up.

"Oh, er," she paused and waved back at the girls, "See you."

"See you!" they chorused brightly, all the while watching Giles curiously.

Katherine followed Giles down the corridor, kicking herself that she had not even noticed that the train had stopped. It was a smooth ride compared to the Knight Bus. Katherine came to the swift conclusion that she much preferred the train.

"Leave yer trunks!" Katherine heard someone yelling from outside the train, "They'll be taken up to the castle separately!"

Giles had collected Katherine's cat carrier from the floor in the compartment, and Belle made small noises of discontent at being swung this way and that in Giles' hold.

The corridor was warm, packed with bodies, and Katherine felt it much easier to breathe when she and Giles squeezed out onto the platform and into the crisp evening. When they did, Katherine paused.

Her limbs tingled in the face of the large castle across the murky lake; Hogwarts.

"This way," Giles' hand found Katherine's elbow in a familiar grip, "We'll get the first carriage up to the castle."

True to his word, Giles weaved through the clusters of friend groups and the path cutting through a forest.

Katherine found herself slowing as she looked around.

There was something familiar about the cracks of leaves and twigs underfoot – about the way the trees twisted overhead. It was odd, considering that the closest Katherine had ever come to so many trees at once was in the nature strip of Claremont Square.

There was a regular flash of light against fair hair. Heavy breaths fell like the quick and heavy footsteps striking the ground below Katherine. The flesh against her forehead was cold and beading with sweat, but it didn't bother her – she felt safe.

"I'm sorry, Katherine –" a deep voice cracked, "– I'm so sorry –"

A branch skimmed the back of her head –

"It's all my fault –"

Arms tightened around her, but all she could see was the path of twisting trees behind her, jolting out of focus every other step –

"Dumbledore will fix everything… he will… he has to…"

"Katherine…"

Katherine blinked and looked away from the trees, realising that she and Giles had stopped.

He was looking at her in mild concern.

Katherine took notice of her surroundings, largely unchanged from the break she took while being caught up in her thoughts, but with the addition of horse-pulled carriages. Stunned at the strange breed of horses – skeletal looking with spiny wings – Katherine paused once again.

"What are they?" asked Katherine, stepping back as the one pulling Giles' chosen carriage let out a snort and it's heavy hooves clobbed against the ground restlessly.

Giles climbed up a small set of steps out of her peripheral vision, "Thestrals – come on."

Katherine tore her eyes from the horses, curious, but not all that surprised after all she had seen over the past day and climbed into the carriage. She and Giles sat opposite one another, and she was vaguely aware that he was observing her. The hairs on the back of her neck were pricked.

"You made friends," said Giles suddenly, nodding once, "Good."

Katherine thought back on the girls she had met and felt a million questions rise up her throat.

"Who's 'You-Know-Who'?"

Giles took a deep breath and blinked, "Chatty girls, I take it…"

Katherine was still waiting for her answer.

Giles gulped, frowned at the passing trees that were painted blue by the starlight, and then sighed.

"Everyone is too afraid of the wizard who –" Giles broke off, looked down at his knees and then met Katherine's eye with new resolve, "Everyone is too afraid of the wizard who murdered your parents to speak his name."

Katherine frowned, unsatisfied, "Well, what is it?"

Giles' eyebrows shot up.

"His name?"

Katherine nodded.

Giles hesitated, "Lord Voldemort."

Images of top-hats and waist-coats entered Katherine's mind.

"He's a Lord?"

Giles shook his head quickly.

"He just calls himself that," said Giles, slowly smiling like he had a bitter taste in his mouth all the while, "It makes people forget he's a half-blood."

It was not the first time that blood had been mentioned around Katherine. It was strange, up until the previous night, she had thought that there were only a handful of types. She knew she was A-Positive, having had a bad flu when she was eight that required a blood test.

"Is blood a big thing here?" asked Katherine.

"Yes." Giles' answer was firm and casual at the same time, his eyes keenly watching the path whiz by them.

"What am I?"

Giles's eyes flitted sideways.

Katherine watched as his throat bobbed and his eyes returned to the path in front of them.

"You're as pureblood as they come," Giles finally said, blinking thoughtfully and tilting his head to the side, "Mind you, I don't think you're related to the Blacks…"

"The Blacks?" Katherine jumped on the name quickly, "I've heard them mentioned a few times. Who are they?"

Giles ran his knuckles beneath his chin, "The oldest pureblood family in Europe,"

He turned back to Katherine, shaking his head.

"Nothing for you to worry about though."

Author's Note: Thank you for reading! :)