Chapter 7 – Digging up dirt

Katherine woke that morning in a soft bed for the first time in nearly twenty years. She frowned at the ceiling, running through the past twenty four hours in her head. She'd seen Damon and Narcissa, and then Nicola had turned up in her hotel room - now that was strange.

She sighed and crawled out of her warm bed, pulling on a black silk dressing gown before wandering out into the hall and heading downstairs. Nicola was in the kitchen, fully dressed and half way through a mug of coffee. She raised an amused eyebrow at Katherine as she entered.

"I know the food is awful in Azkaban, but you're never going to make me believe that that shirt once fitted you," she grinned as Katherine poured herself a glass of milk and sat down, rubbing her eyes.

"It was Sirius'," she muttered, wrapping her dressing gown around herself defensively.

Nicola frowned slightly. "You went back to your flat?"

"No, I went to his," said Katherine, yawning. "I'm not that stupid."

Nicola gave her friend a curious look. "Nobody's living in your old flat, you know. Lupin moved out after you went to prison."

Katherine looked up sharply. "What? Why?"

"Don't know. You'd have to ask him that," shrugged Nicola, glancing at Katherine's hands which were clasping her glass; the knuckles had gone white. "Something wrong?"

"How is he?" asked Katherine, and Nicola could tell she was afraid of the possible answer.

"Aside from turning into a werewolf once a month, you mean?" asked Nicola, her brown eyes appraising. "Did you know about?"

"Of course I did," said Katherine dismissively. "Is he alright?"

Nicola gave her friend a sceptical look. "You mean you haven't tracked him down? I thought he was your best friend, Katherine."

"He is," said Katherine quietly. "I'm just not sure I'm his."

"Well seeing as two of his best friends were murdered, one turned traitor and the fourth's currently on the run from the Ministry of Magic, there's probably an opening. As for being alright, he has no job, no money and, as far as I can tell, no place to live, although there is a rumour going round the department that he's hooked up with some Auror half his age..."

"Anyone trying to kill him?" asked Katherine, ignoring Nicola's remarks.

"Apart from Umbridge? Don't think so."

"Who's Umbridge?" frowned Katherine, fingering the wand stuck into her dressing gown belt idly.

"Some Ministry official who has it in for half-breeds. I wouldn't worry about her though; she's in Saint Mungo's at present," smirked Nicola, sipping her coffee.

"How dreadful," said Katherine unsympathetically. "What happened?"

"Had a run in with some centaurs," said Nicola, now grinning. "I believe she insinuated that they were subhuman."

Katherine laughed for what felt like the first time in ages. "She deserves what she got then." The pair were silent for a while, then Katherine asked slowly. "How'd you know Remus is a werewolf?"

"It was in the paper," shrugged Nicola. "He was teaching at Hogwarts and someone let it slip. He resigned immediately, of course."

"Who was it?" scowled Katherine.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, you do."

"I don't," reiterated Nicola calmly. "But I would dearly like to know who told The Daily Prophet about this latest escapade."

Katherine stared at her, utterly nonplussed, until Nicola slid the morning paper across the desk towards her. She looked down at it and raised her eyebrows. Oh dear. Tom was not going to be happy about this...

Harry and Ron awoke to the crash of crockery from downstairs. Harry fumbled for his glasses and blinked at Ron, who was sitting bolt upright in bed. A second later, they were both running downstairs, towards the source of the commotion.

"What's wrong?" yelled Ron as they rounded the last corner to see Mrs Weasley being helped into a chair by her husband. The contents of the breakfast tray, which Mrs Weasley had obviously been holding moments before, were littering the red tiled floor, and sitting innocuously on the kitchen table was a copy of The Daily Prophet.

"I never would have thought..." Mrs Weasley was muttering faintly. "She seemed so nice..."

Harry and Ron exchanged puzzled looks as Hermione appeared behind them, face pale, her bushy hair unbrushed.

"What's going on?" she asked softly, looking worriedly at Mrs Weasley. Harry shrugged as Ron took the paper from the table and looked at it in surprise.

"What is it?" asked Harry. Ron held up the paper mutely, so they could see.

Under a large black print title of You-Know-Who's Newest Threat was a large black and white photograph of Fleur's professor...

"'Back from the dead', Kat," quoted Nicola, frowning deeply. "What the Ministry doesn't want you to know."

"Who told them?" asked Katherine quietly, gazing at the old black and white photograph, then down at the article beneath it.

"Well who knows about you?" asked Nicola, tapping her manicured nails on the table top.

"Nott, Snape, Malfoy," shrugged Katherine. "No one who would benefit from spreading it around. Who's Rita Skeeter?"

"A gossip journalist," said Nicola, taking a sip of coffee. "Absolutely horrible but she can smell a story a mile off and digs up dirt like nobody's business."

"At least no one's told her about Remus, then," said Katherine, a desire to find him suddenly taking hold of her. Seeing Severus and Nicola again had reminded her how much she missed her friends, but she'd sworn to herself that she'd stay away from him - it would only end badly.

"Or Sirius."

Nicola's voice brought her thoughts back into focus and she shook her head.

"No one knew about Sirius," she said firmly. "Do you think I would have told any of our lot I was engaged to a Gryffindor?"

Nicola blinked. "What?"

Katherine glanced up, realising her mistake too late. "Nothing," she managed, unconvincingly.

"Engaged? Katherine, have you gone completely mental? You agreed to marry him?" asked Nicola incredulously.

"Does it matter?" asked Katherine, burying herself behind the paper. "He's dead now, remember?"

"Just like you are?"

"I didn't die," said Katherine resolutely.

"Well neither did he, technically," pointed out Nicola.

Katherine peered over the top of the paper at her. "He's staying dead."

Nicola sighed and drained her coffee. "What are you going to do?"

"About this, you mean?" asked Katherine, indicating the paper.

"Yes."

Katherine shrugged. "Nothing. Tom always makes the first move. All I have to do is wait."

The trio had retreated to the lounge while Mr Weasley attempted to calm his wife down, taking the paper with them.

"Look, this doesn't make sense," said Hermione eventually as Crookshanks jumped onto her lap. "Remus knows Faye and Fleur knows Faye – she's been taught by her for the past few years; it can't be the same person. This Katherine Archer has been in Azkaban until just recently."

"Moody thought it was her," said Ron gruffly. "Remember Fred and George's impression of him?"

"And Faye looked really unsettled when we pointed out that Katherine was her cousin," added Harry.

"That was a different Katherine," said Hermione dismissively, then stopped, looking uneasily at the other two. "It was a different Katherine, wasn't it?"

"Must be," said Ron eventually. "Remus is in the Order. He wouldn't have shared a flat with a Death Eater."

"Especially not this one," said Hermione, though she sounded less than confident. Harry and Ron glanced at her curiously. "Didn't you two read the article? She tried to kill Harry's parents."

"You-Know-Who's Newest Threat," read Ophelia Corbelle, glancing across the room at her cousin. "Now that's an interesting headline. Who exactly is she threatening, I wonder? The helpless public or the Lord of Darkness himself?"

Severus Snape frowned at his younger cousin and shut the book he'd been reading. "You shouldn't talk like that. If the Dark Lord-"

"Have you seen her recently?" interrupted Ophelia, smiling sweetly at him.

"She's been in Azkaban-"

"You're not answering my question," said Ophelia gently, her deep green eyes glittering playfully. "So I'll take that as a yes."

"When's your husband getting back?" asked Severus, forcedly changing the subject.

"Daniel's staying at work late. He's working on an important case," said Ophelia, smiling faintly.

"Really? What's it about?" asked Severus politely.

"He didn't say," said Ophelia studying him for a moment before adding softly: "It doesn't actually exist, Severus."

Severus took a while to process this comment, then asked: "What?"

Ophelia shrugged, picking up the newspaper again. "He's got a new secretary."

Severus would have pressed the matter, but at that moment, the Dark Mark flared black on his arm and he stood up. "I have to go. Remember-"

Ophelia nodded, green eyes glistening slightly. "If anyone asks, I haven't seen you. I remember."

Nicola hurried out of the study as Katherine came down the stairs again, this time fully dressed in black jeans and a black blouse.

"There is such a thing as trying too hard to be inconspicuous," she remarked, pulling on her travelling cloak. Katherine pulled a face at her and concentrated on gathering her hair into a ponytail. "Oh very mature," grinned Nicola. "Are you going out?"

"Might do-" Katherine broke off with a sharp intake of breath.

"You ok?" asked Nicola, eyeing her worriedly.

"Fine."

"What was that then?"

Katherine smiled ruefully, rubbing her left arm. "Tom - making his first move."

Nicola glanced at her watch, conscious of the fact that she'd be late if she stalled much longer. "You will be alright, won't you?"

"Of course," said Katherine, fiddling with her necklace. "Why wouldn't I be? My father's a demented megalomaniac who's trying to take over the world, and the only chance of stopping him lies with an seventeen year old kid with a hero complex. Life's just super, thanks."

Nicola gave her friend a stern look. "Who have you been talking to?"

"Friends. People who don't want to kill me. Well, people who didn't kill me, at any rate," she amended, looking thoughtful. "Probably wanted to kill me-"

"Katherine, do you remember what you were like at seventeen?" cut in Nicola. She really was going to be late now.

"Vaguely..."

"Potter's managed to escape your father at least four times now," said Nicola gently. "That's more than you ever did."

"Fluke," said Katherine, though Nicola heard the doubt in her voice.

"Four times?"

"Yes."

Nicola shrugged, snatching her bag from the table in the hall. "Well his luck's held out so far. Why would it fail now? Besides," Nicola added, as Katherine still looked doubtful. "Lupin thinks very highly of him. Or so I'm told. Maybe you should pay him a visit."

"Who? Potter or Remus?"

"Lupin. I very much doubt that Potter will be too kindly disposed towards you," said Nicola, pulling out her wand to disapparate. "Not after that article."

Katherine frowned as her friend disappeared and wandered into the kitchen, retrieving the paper from the counter. She scanned it quickly and realised what Nicola had meant. Tried to kill them, she thought despairingly, tossing the paper back down. As if anyone I ever tried to kill didn't die...

In the dark chamber, a circle of black figures stood silently in a ring, surrounding the tall skeletal man with skin paler than moonlight and eyes that gleamed blood red in the torchlight.

Shadowed eyes sought out familiar faces amongst their number, trying to guess who knew what and how much. A few frightened faces stared straight ahead, wondering how they'd come to be in this situation. The Dark Lord glared round at them all, old and young alike and uttered two words in a voice that sounded more reptilian than human:

"Find her."

Nicola Meliflua looked up from her desk as Jeremy Kensington hurried up the corridor, adjusting his robes.

"You're late, Kensington," she observed, folding a memo and charming it to dart away, into the closing doors of the lift.

"I had some important business to attend to," Kensington answered, smiling coolly.

"At nine in the morning?" asked Nicola, handing him the papers that various people had left for him.

"Very important business," replied Kensington firmly. "Oh, and call Remus Lupin in, will you."

Nicola nodded, flourishing quill and parchment. "What shall I say for?"

"He's werewolf, we don't need a reason," said Kensington callously, marching past the desk and into Auror headquarters. Nicola dutifully wrote a letter to Remus and gave it to one of her junior clerks to Owl. Then she assigned Julia Tangent to take her place at the front desk and took the nearest chimney home, claiming she'd forgotten some papers.

Katherine was sitting in the lounge, playing chess against herself. She shrugged at Nicola's puzzled expression.

"Having a split personality comes in useful sometimes," she smiled. "What are you doing back so early anyway? They didn't sack you for being late, did they?"

"Do you know someone called Jeremy Kensington?" asked Nicola, leaning against the door frame.

"Is he still around?"

"He just asked me to call Remus in and didn't give a reason," said Nicola, watching her friend closely. "And he was late for work."

Katherine frowned, idly spiraling the black queen over and over between her long fingers. "Even Trix wouldn't be that stupid, would she?" she ventured at last.

"Bellatrix Lestrange?" asked Nicola. Katherine nodded, still thinking deeply. "She's a raving lunatic by all accounts. Azkaban tends to do that to people," she added, looking meaningfully at Katherine, who grinned half heartedly.

"I'm not crazy, Nic."

"You were in there longer than she was," pointed out Nicola calmly. Katherine shrugged, turning back to the chess board and placing the queen two spaces in front the white king. Nicola wandered over to the board and took the queen with a bishop. Katherine smiled faintly and looked up at her.

"Trixie's behind this, you know. She must have told Kensington. All my fault really; I shouldn't have killed Leon. She really did like him."

Nicola frowned. "You killed Leon?"

Katherine moved a rook forward one space before answering. "He was in the way."

Nicola took the rook with her knight and looked curiously at her old friend. "Of what?"

Katherine grinned, but didn't answer, taking Nicola's knight with her other rook. Nicola glanced down at the board. There were only five black pieces left; the king, a knight, a bishop, a rook and a pawn. A pawn which was only one square away from Nicola's side of the board.

The white king was in check by the castle, but even if she took it, the pawn would become a queen and she'd be in check mate. She looked back at Katherine who was smiling faintly.

"Life isn't a game, Kat," she said softly, taking the rook because there was nothing else she could do.

"No," agreed Katherine soberly, substituting her pawn for a queen and placing Nicola in checkmate. "In life, you don't have to play by the rules."