Chapter 17: The New Year

Katherine spent her Christmas at school, like usual. She had done so even at St. Mary's.

But it was the best one she'd had yet.

Under the tree in the common room had been three presents for Katherine; a broom polishing kit from Marlene, a silk paisley scarf from Lily, and a skinny, flat box with no sender. It was upon opening the box that she found a familiar photograph – and her father waving up at her.

The photograph became her most cherished present, the very same one from Jimmy Twill's counter at Quality Quidditch supplies in Hogsmeade; set into a brilliant, French-swirled gold frame. There had been no note or tag with the flat berry-coloured velveteen box. From the outside, Katherine almost thought there might have been jewellery inside. She wondered… who on earth would have known?

Giant trees – hauled in by Hagrid – had lined the Great Hall, decorated with gold and silver – and actual live faeries. Breakfast had been spent with the Headmaster, Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, and a few Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw first years that wanted to experience Hogwarts at Christmas. Crackers were pulled, paper hats were worn, and an extravagant feast was put on for the table.

The trees remained up until the new year, when Katherine's friends, and the school at large, returned.

Tired from their journey from London through the Scottish countryside, Marlene and Lily had fallen into their beds either side of Katherine's without a word to her or each other that night. It was only at breakfast, when Lily ducked her head as Bertram passed; laughing with his friends, that Marlene cleared her throat.

"What's all that about?"

Lily shrugged, "We broke up."

Katherine swallowed her toast; it felt larger than the piece she bit off.

"When did that happen?" asked Marlene.

Lily frowned at her bowl and abandoned her spoon in her porridge before sighing and looking up.

"I invited him over to meet my parents on Christmas Eve for dinner." said Lily.

"And?" asked Marlene.

"They liked him enough," said Lily lightly; eyebrows raised, before her entire face twisted, "But so did Petunia,"

Lily went on, eyes squinting at her recollection of the seemingly fateful Christmas Eve.

"She thought that dating him was the best thing I have ever done – and all the little things he's said or done flashed through my head… and I knew I didn't like him as much as I had thought."

Marlene smiled down at her sausages, "He is a bit of a tosspot."

Across from them, James and Black settled in, shoulder to shoulder, to join the group of boys on the other side. They looked taller, thought Katherine.

In the returning kerfuffle the previous night, Katherine had not gotten close enough to chat to the returning Gryffindor boys either, much the same as her own friends.

Remus frowned at a copy of the Daily Prophet, "A Ministry official is missing."

"I wonder what happened to him…" said Peter, in a small voice.

"Oh, I don't know…"

Katherine glanced up to catch Sirius Black's eyebrows raised far too high for sincere contemplation.

"Maybe he spontaneously combusted?" said Black, pushing up his robes and displaying an angry, jagged pink scar running the length his forearm.

Peter put his cup of pumpkin juice down, "Really?"

Remus put the Daily Profit down, shooting Black a look before turning to Peter, "Don't listen to him, Pete."

Black leant forward on his elbows, looking around James to where Peter was.

"Hundreds of people spontaneously combust each year," Black's face was blank, but his eyes glittered, "It's just not widely reported."

Mary noisily clambered over the bench and sped down the Great Hall to the double doors.

"Is she okay?" the words tumbled out without much thought on Katherine's part.

Lily looked uncomfortable, "The Ministry official that's missing… it's her dad."

Katherine felt all happiness from the festive period drain from her at Lily's words. In its place, she felt, simply, lost.

"Watch out, it's coming this way…" said Alice softly, nodding up at an approaching owl.

Mary's exit seemed to have left a thick blanket over the girls at the table, and no one seemed to be able to manage anything more than a whisper.

The letter that dropped onto the table, was addressed to Katherine.

Miss Spencer,

Please meet me in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom this evening after dinner.

Sincerely,

Professor Giles.

"I'm sure you wondered why I've requested to speak with you this evening, and I must confess it has nothing to do with your academics,"

Giles looked at Katherine for what felt like a very long moment, his face nerve rackingly blank.

"Professor Dumbledore and I have had…conversations about your predicament," said Giles, nodding to himself before fixing her with his stare once more, "I'm sure that you're well aware that I am more than just a Professor."

Katherine wasn't sure whether his statement required a response, but she gave him one anyway, "Yes."

Giles nodded once, blinking slowly at a desk to Katherine's left.

"As it is, Dumbledore finds me well equipped to take on a temporary sort of guardianship role that stretches beyond the end of term."

Katherine felt shot through in her surprise, "I'll live with you?"

Giles head snapped up, his eyes abandoning the desk to Katherine's left.

"I can understand if perhaps you'd want to stay with one of your friends –"

"No,"

Giles' sudden pause made her wonder if she had said the word a little too loudly.

Katherine swallowed her embarrassment before continuing, "I…I'd like to stay with you."

Giles lips picked up their slack as his fingers picked up his tie and went about tightening it.

"Oh, well…good… I guess." said Giles, he uncrossed and re-crossed his ankles.

Katherine had something else to ask him, however, before she was dismissed.

"Sir, I…" Katherine felt her confidence slowly drain, "Mary – Mary MacDonald, her father…"

"Yes…" said Giles, his eyes dropping. He pushed off his desk, and walked back around to the back, "It is indeed more than a workplace incident."

Katherine felt ill, "You don't think he's…"

Giles sorted through some parchments on his desk, and glanced up for but a moment, giving a shake of his head, before returning to his task as he replied.

"You will need to be prepared for such things as this to come, Spencer…" Giles broke off, placing a hand down on the table, and nodding thoughtfully into the distance, "This is how it began last time… so we know the patterns, disappearances..."

Giles glanced back to Katherine, eyeing her.

"Fortunately, the Dark Lord was usually merciful enough to keep the murders to a minimum unless… necessary. Punishment was usually mild forms of –" Giles cleared his throat, and went on rather casually, "– torture, so they could remember – to not cross him again."

"Mary's family are… involved?"

Giles gave a curt nod.

"On the right side, don't worry," said Giles, with the ghost of what might have become a smile, if the man did not briskly descend into a frown at his next words, "The Dark Lord, however, had a habit of fixating on a family, until he could be sure… I'm quite confident, however, that her father will surface, so to speak, soon - and alive."

"Mary will be safe, won't she?" asked Katherine.

"She's at Hogwarts," said Giles, blinking, as if that should settle it, "Something will distract the Dark Lord soon enough, things are… fast moving. He will not be distracted long from his ultimate goal."

Katherine nodded, feeling slightly lighter, "That's good then."

"Not –" Giles stiffened and looked to Katherine with mild exasperation "– when it's you."

She left the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom a few minutes shy of curfew, buoyed by Giles' concern for her wellbeing, only to stumble across a scene as black as the two boys' last name.

"You left me there!" Regulus roared, "You went to greener pastures at Potter's and –"

Black's eyes were a grey wildfire of exasperation, "I didn't leave you, Regulus –"

"Well, you didn't ask me if I wanted to go with you!" Regulus trembled with lividity, his eyes dangerously glassy.

Black went still and quiet.

Bitter are the wars between brothers, thought Katherine, as she held herself tightly to the back of a suit of armour.

Regulus let out a hard, accusing breath. His eyes grazed his brother with evaporating fury, still holding himself wide and tall despite being only fifteen.

Black's shoulders dropped and he advanced towards his look-a-like, "Reg, I didn't think –"

Regulus stepped back from his older brother with cutting eyes.

"No, you didn't, you never do." said Regulus, lowly and firmly.

Black stopped short, his hand falling from the stagnant air between them.

And for a moment, they just looked at one another. But Katherine was sure that they weren't seeing each other. They looked upon each other as opponents, or worse; strangers.

"You can take this back too –" Regulus dropped a metallic shard on the ground between them "– I don't need a reminder of the shame you've made of my family's flesh."

Black plunged to the ground, closely examining the shard for any damage; on his knees.

Regulus lifted his chin, narrowed his eyes one last time, and then left.

Black didn't rise.

Feeling weighed down by the personal tragedies clouding the halls of Hogwarts, Katherine curled up beside Lily in front of the common room fire once she'd fled away from the scene of the Black brothers' row.

"What do I say?" Katherine whispered.

CLANK, the common room portrait closed, and footsteps echoed down the passage, approaching the common room –

"There's nothing any of us can really say that would make her feel better," said Lily, sitting knees to knees with Katherine on the couch, gripping her hand, "It's just being there, going on as usual, and listening if she does want to talk about it."

Katherine was not lightened by Lily's words, sighing, and feeling tense all over, "I just feel like…"

"You've lost so many people that maybe she expects you to offer some wisdom?"

Lily's emotional maturity struck Katherine right at that moment. And so did Katherine's lack thereof.

Black emerged from the tunnel at that moment and collapsed onto an armchair closer to the fire. He had spread his arms out behind himself on the back of the armchair, before lifting a hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah…" said Katherine, a little taken aback by Lily's ability to read her – and Black's sudden appearance. She shook her head, and set her eyes on her hands, in her lap, "I don't have any though, they're –"

Alarm shot through Katherine at the thickness gripping her throat –

"– they're all just… gone," the words were weaker, and closer to a whisper, than Katherine would have liked. She lightly cleared her throat, and said a little firmer, "My life – it just goes on."

Lily turned her eyes away, and she shook her head, as if scolding herself, "I never really thought about how you thought about it…"

Lily glanced up with a small, sheepish smile.

"You never let on that it really bothered you, you know –" Lily's eyes widened, and she said quickly, placatingly, "– though it must have, of course – I think I knew, deep down, that it must have..."

Katherine managed a genuine smile, and said, a little mixed in emotions, "Where I come from, feelings are meant to be buried."

Out of the corner of her eye, Katherine saw Black's head turn to her, his hand falling from his face. Not soon after, he set his eyes on the fire.

Lily wriggled a little in her seat, and the girls sat, listening to the rolling crackle of the fire, and the occasional sizzling POP. Neither they, nor Black, gave any indication of moving.

Katherine was content to sit, admittedly, too frightened of what she might encounter up in the dormitory – of having to speak to Mary.

Lily, however, was glancing at Black.

The rest of the school had been too, all day.

"What is it, Evans?" asked Black, still staring intensely into the fire.

Lily shifted on the couch, "What?"

"You're staring at me like I'm in one of those muggle zoos." said Black, finally looking away from the fire and fixing her with a tired expression.

Lily looked down at the cushion on her lap and picked at the loose threads, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear about what happened over Christmas."

"Oh, you mean being disowned and running away from home?" asked Black lightly, his eyebrows raised, and his lips on the way.

"Yeah –"

"Don't look at me like I'm some orphan, Evans," said Black dismissively, before he looked back to the fire, "James took me in and I haven't looked back."

Lily's eyes left the back of his head and found the boys' stairs.

"That was nice of him." said Lily absently.

"No," said Black, just as absently, his face lighter, "That's just James."

Katherine's eyes found the window of their high up tower. January's wintery breath had frosted the window panes, and there was nothing to be seen in the moonless night bar the passing powder of snow.

In the deepening winter, the nights were becoming darker.

Their world was too.

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