A/N: First off, I don't own the lyrics in the chapter - they come from the song American Pie by Don Mclean. Secondly, I've written the scene in the pensieve from a flashback point of view, rather than as a proper pensieve scene. This is simply because it's important that you know what the characters were thinking and I can't get that any other way, so just assume Harry, Remus & Katherine are standing around somewhere watching it. ;) Enjoy!
Chapter 30 – Bad influence
Harry looked at the small plastic bowl that now lay innocently on the table, then up at Remus who was considering it critically. Over all, it had taken Katherine about half an hour to complete; it seemed it wasn't quite as simple as just carving a few symbols into the bowl – you also had to cast a number of complicated spells, most of which Katherine said she'd forgotten and had subsequently made up. As a result, Harry didn't blame Remus for being a little sceptical about the reliability of the makeshift pensieve.
"Don't you trust me?" Katherine was grinning, leaning back in her chair and twirling her ebony wand idly. Remus glanced up, brown eyes neutral.
"Trust you? With my life, yes. With this, not exactly, no."
Katherine pouted, blue eyes glinting with amusement. "And why, may I ask, is that?"
"Well I think the misgivings started around the time you said that you'd never actually tried it with plastic before and then multiplied rather rapidly when you decided to start inventing your own spells."
"Would it help if I made it look more like a pensieve?" asked Katherine, flicking her wand at the blue bowl, which shimmered for a moment, then transformed into an exact replica of the pensieve Harry had seen so often in Dumbledore's office.
"Does that make it any more reliable?" asked Remus, picking it up and weighing it in his hand.
"No."
"Right, so if this thing collapses on us-"
"It won't," said Katherine calmly. "But if it does, I'll get us out."
Remus smiled for the first time since she'd started making the pensieve.
"Now that I can believe." He sighed and set the bowl down on the table. "Are you sure you want to do this, Harry?"
Harry nodded and Katherine smiled happily. "Right then, choose a memory Rem. Preferably one where we're not arguing."
"Why me?" asked Remus, frowning.
"Well he's hardly going to believe anything I tell him, is he?" asked Katherine, raising her eyebrows. Remus sighed again, and pulled out his wand, thinking hard.
"You argued?" asked Harry as Remus tried to recall a suitable memory.
"Everyone argues," said Katherine seriously, gazing at him with clear blue eyes. Harry said nothing, wondering why, the more innocent Katherine looked, the less trustworthy he found her. Beside him, Remus put his wand to his head and drew out a long, silvery strand and, after only a moments hesitation, placed it in the pensieve. Katherine glanced up at him, the silver light from the memory reflecting on her face.
"Which one?" she asked softly. Remus just smiled and gestured for her to see for herself. She narrowed her eyes slightly, then shrugged and looked into the pensieve.
x – X – x
A twenty year old Remus gazed shrewdly over at two of his best friends, wondering how long it would be before one of them started shouting. In the corner, the radio was playing some song he hadn't heard before and the lead singer's dulcet tones were at present concealing the conversation on the other side of the room. Remus sighed, draining the remainder of his drink and glancing at the clock on the mantelpiece. Sirius was due soon; he hoped Katherine and James wouldn't have killed each other before he arrived.
Leaning back into the sofa, he closed his eyes and let the song drown out all other sounds.
'…I met a girl who sang the blues
And asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away…'
The sofa jolted and Remus opened his eyes to see Peter sitting next to him, a slightly worried look on his plump face. Remus followed his gaze and saw the look Katherine was giving James.
"I hope you two aren't arguing," he said loudly, frowning at them. James turned to him, face the picture of innocence.
"Of course not, Moony," he said cheerfully, walking over to him.
"We were just having a mutual disagreement," added Katherine, smiling sweetly.
"About?" asked Lily, appearing next to James and giving him an appraising look.
"It's not important," said James, slipping an arm round her waist and kissing her gently on the forehead. "We'll sort it out later."
Remus could tell Lily was about to press the matter but at that moment the doorbell rang and after a moments indecision, she hurried off to answer it. Remus glanced at James, but he just shrugged and went to pour himself another drink. One look at Katherine told him not to even try and get answers from her, not that he really needed to. There was only ever one thing that James and Katherine argued about and he had just entered the room.
"I swear that man gets more paranoid with every passing day," sighed Sirius, tossing his cloak over a chair and grinning at Katherine. "You've really got to stop tormenting him, Kitten."
"Me? What did I do?" asked Katherine, arching an eyebrow. "I've been at work all day – whoever's making him worried, it's not me."
"Kitten, you can probably make people nervous simply by not doing anything. It confuses them," said Sirius gently, wrapping his arms round her waist and grinning down at her.
"Would you rather I wound him up?" asked Katherine, smiling playfully. "At least then you'd have a legitimate reason to complain."
"I think he'd complain no matter what," said Remus lightly. "He just wants sympathy."
"I can't help it," objected Sirius, giving Remus a mock hurt look. "It's my terrible childhood – I was deprived of love. You love me, don't you, Kitten?"
Katherine grinned and twisted out of his embrace. "We'll see."
"Where are you going?" asked Sirius petulantly, looking slightly miffed at this rebuff.
"To get a drink. Want one?"
"Firewhiskey?"
Katherine nodded and disappeared into the kitchen as Sirius dropped down onto the sofa between Peter and Remus.
"So, apart from the paranoid colleague, did you have a good day?" asked Remus, shifting position to make himself more comfortable.
"Yeah, managed to skive off early to get here, too," answered Sirius, loosening his tie and grinning. "How about you, Wormtail? How are things going in the Ludicrous Patents Office?"
But how exactly things were going, they never found out, because at that moment, the doorbell rang. James, who had just reentered the room with a stack of records, paused and glanced over his shoulder, frowning.
"Are we expecting anyone else?" he asked, glancing over at Lily, who had risen from her seat.
"Well I ran into Michael Green in town a couple of days ago and he mentioned he hadn't seen you in ages, so I said he should drop in sometime. I guess he must have decided to come today."
"Uh, when you say Michael Green, do you mean the Michael Green in our year?" asked Katherine, sticking her head around the door to the living room, a concerned expression on her face.
"Yes – why? Is something wrong?"
"No," said Katherine slowly. "Not exactly wrong."
"But?"
"But, well, does he know about me and Sirius?"
"Of course he does – you two were the talk of the school," laughed Lily, frowning at her as the doorbell rang again.
"Yeah, but that was two years ago," said Katherine uneasily. "Do you really think he's going to expect us to still be together?"
"Well no one's ever said you broke up," shrugged Lily, moving past her to go and open the door. "Why would he presume otherwise?"
"Hey don't worry," said Sirius lazily, getting up and throwing an arm around her shoulders. "It doesn't matter what he thinks, does it?"
"Not to me," said Katherine quietly. "To you it does."
Sirius frowned. "I told you before, I don't care what anyone else thinks."
"No, I don't care – you don't worry," said Katherine, glancing towards the hall where she could hear voices approaching. "It's not the same thing."
"I would be inclined to agree with her on that point," put in James, looking at Sirius with troubled eyes. "Maybe you should go."
Katherine nodded, but Sirius grabbed her arm before she could move. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere. Honestly, why is it that the first time you two agree on something, you're both being ridiculous?"
"Who's being ridiculous?" asked a bright voice, and a woman with clear blue eyes and long wavy blonde hair entered, followed by a brown haired man and behind him, Lily, looking slightly annoyed. The girl stopped short when she saw Katherine and her cheerful smile faltered for a second. "Oh, hello. I didn't know you were going to be here."
"I was invited," said Katherine quietly, her small smile doing little to conceal the malice in her eyes. "Were you?"
"She's with me," said the man, softly. Sirius cleared his throat and tore his gaze away from the woman, focusing instead on Michael.
"Do you want a drink? I'll go and see what we've got." He slipped out into the hallway, heading towards the kitchen and Remus exchanged a look with James, whose usually light brown eyes were dark with anger.
"So, how have you all been?" asked Michael, either unaware of or choosing to ignore the frosty atmosphere in the room.
"Surviving," said James quietly, flicking through the records in front of him.
"How are you getting on?" asked Remus, trying to lighten the mood a little. After all, it wasn't Michael's fault – he hadn't known Sirius would be here. If he had, he certainly wouldn't have brought Rose, would he?
Michael started to tell them about his new job and Remus cast a glance over at Katherine, who was gazing at Rose with an expression that Remus had long ago learned to be worried about. She caught him looking and smiled slightly before walking out of the room to find Sirius. Michael finished talking and glanced over at the door Katherine had just walked out of.
"Black's still with her, then?" he asked as Rose perched on the arm of his chair.
"Why shouldn't he be?" asked James, and Remus could see him tense visibly. He almost smiled; James may not have agreed with, let alone understood, Sirius & Katherine's relationship, but woe betide anyone else who said so. What was that Voltaire said? 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it'
"No reason," said Michael placidly. "I was just saying."
"He does know she's a Death Eater, right?" asked Rose, gazing at them all with wide blue eyes and Remus wondered how two pairs of blue eyes could look so different. On Rose they made her look like an angel, whereas one look at Katherine's and you'd swear she was the devil's advocate.
"He doesn't see why that matters," said a low voice and Rose looked up guiltily to meet the sober gaze of Sirius.
"I didn't mean-"
"I'd love Katherine if she was the daughter of Satan himself, and she very nearly is, so I'd thank you to mind your own business, Rose," said Sirius, a touch of anger in his voice. "You lost the right to have any say over my life a long time ago."
Rose raised her eyebrows and Michael frowned at him, leaning forward in his seat.
"There's no need to take that tone of voice, Sirius. She was only asking."
Sirius threw him a dark look. "I would have thought she'd be happy. I'm returning to my roots, aren't I, Rose? You can take a Black out of Slytherin, but you can't take the Slytherin out of a Black, right?"
"I never said that," said Rose, looking horrified, blue eyes bordering on tears. "I would never say that."
Sirius snorted, gazing at her with dark brown eyes. "No? So that wasn't the reason you ditched me? There was another reason? And what would that be, pray? Do tell. I'm hanging on your every word."
"I said I was sorry," said Rose, blinking back tears in the face of such hostility. "I was just a stupid girl-"
"It was only two years ago, Rose," interrupted Sirius harshly.
"No one ever said she stopped being stupid," said a soft voice and Sirius turned round to see Katherine standing in the doorway, a glass of white wine in her hand.
"How long have you been there?" he asked, staring at her in surprise.
"'You can take a Black out of Slytherin, but you can't take the Slytherin out of a Black'," quoted Katherine, an odd smile on her face. "Honestly, Sirius, you'd be no fun without the Slytherin. Everyone's got to have a mix of the Houses to be interesting."
"Are you trying to suggest you're not pure Slytherin?" asked Rose, scowling at her with an emotion that went way beyond loathing. Katherine smiled dangerously but it was Sirius who answered.
"Don't be ridiculous, of course she's pure Slytherin." He grinned roguishly, running one elegant finger down Katherine's cheek. "What was it my dear old mother used to say? A true Slytherin is smarter than a Ravenclaw, more dedicated than a Hufflepuff and fiercer than a Gryffindor, while all the time being as deadly as poison. I'd always thought she was being a bit over dramatic till I met you," he added quietly and Katherine smirked.
"I'm flattered."
"Flattered at being compared to poison?" asked Rose stiffly, arching an eyebrow. Katherine smiled cruelly at her.
"You don't think it's true?"
"I think he can do better," replied Rose shortly, looking coolly at her.
"I don't give a toss what you think," said Katherine evenly.
"Well I think we should be going," put in Michael quickly, standing and retrieving Rose's cloak from a chair. "We promised Samantha and George we'd join them for dinner." Rose took her cloak silently, gazing deliberately at Sirius as she did so. As Lily ushered them out, Rose paused in front of Sirius and said something quietly in his ear, but he only arched an eyebrow and said levelly:
"Wouldn't be the first."
Rose's doll like eyes widened, then she shook her head and followed Michael out without another word. Katherine looked curiously at him, but he only smiled bitterly and ran a hand through her soft hair.
"You're gorgeous, you know that?"
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Flattery will get you nowhere."
"I thought you said you liked being complimented," said Sirius, chuckling.
"I may like it, but that doesn't mean it will get you anywhere," replied Katherine, blue eyes glinting playfully. The sound of the front door shutting made them look up and Lily reentered, looking apologetic.
"I am so sorry about that, Sirius. I didn't know they were together – Michael never mentioned her and I'm sure I didn't say he should bring anyone-"
"It's all right, Lily," said Sirius soothingly, waving a hand to assuage her fears. "You weren't to know, no harm done."
"Are you sure?" asked James, frowning at his friend. He'd stayed out of the argument simply because he wasn't sure if he'd need to restrain Sirius at some point, and he couldn't do that if he was shouting himself, but that didn't mean he wasn't furious at Rose for having the audacity to turn up as though nothing had happened. She'd hurt Sirius more than she knew when she'd broken up with him and James didn't think he'd ever quite gotten over it.
It wasn't that Sirius had loved her or anything like that, it was just that he'd spent seven years trying to prove to everyone that he wasn't like his family, and then Rose had turned up and reminded him that no matter how hard he tried, he'd be stuck with that same stigma forever. People were always going to presume the worst, unless you presented them with bona fide evidence that you were innocent.
"I'm fine, Prongs," assured Sirius airily, walking over to the radio and searching through the stations. "I'm perfectly content with life, all right? Now come on you lot, cheer up – this is supposed to be a party. For the first time in ages we've all got jobs, even Moony, and we're all healthy and happy and we're going to celebrate, ok?"
"Ok," agreed James, laughing.
"Good. Now I'm going to go bring the drinks in here and when I get back, I will personally hex anyone who isn't smiling," said Sirius, turning the radio up and grinning at the room in general. James shook his head, grinning back and Lily pulled a reluctant Peter into a dance. Katherine caught his eye and smiled bitterly; they both knew Sirius wasn't fine, but Katherine would make sure he was later and James was content to leave it to her – there were some things that girls could handle better than boys.
"I'm impressed." James jumped and turned to see Remus standing beside him.
"What?"
"Well you've been in same room as Katherine for at least ten minutes and not only have you refrained from arguing with her, you've actually agreed with her on several points. I'd say that alone calls for celebration – I'm surprised Sirius didn't point it out in his little speech."
"Maybe he thought it'd jinx it," said James, as Sirius reentered, floating a tray of bottles and a crate of beer before him. Sirius caught them looking at him and grinned before grabbing Katherine and pulling her into a dance besides Peter and Lily. "He loves her, doesn't he?"
Remus looked seriously at his friend. "I think so, and really, would you be so against their relationship if you thought it wasn't going anywhere?"
"If she hurts him, I'll kill her," said James quietly, watching them calmly. Remus just smiled, and summoned a bottle of butterbeer. The song on the radio changed and Peter and Lily stopped dancing as a piano picked out the first few bars of a slow ballad. James smiled softly and held out a hand to his wife, who took it as Peter flopped down onto the sofa.
James cast a glance over Lily's shoulder as she lay her head on his chest and caught Sirius' eye as he glanced up. He smiled and Sirius returned it, before shifting his attention back to Katherine. Maybe Moony was right. They weren't soulmates, but maybe they didn't need to be. In times of crisis, you take what you can get, and if Katherine made Sirius happy, maybe that was all that mattered.
He smiled, resting his chin on Lily's soft red hair. Still, if Katherine couldn't handle a few arguments ever now and again, she definitely wasn't good enough for him...
x – X – x
Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and a moment later he was in the kitchen once more. He glanced up at Remus who was frowning slightly and Harry realised a moment later that Katherine had disappeared.
"She's not-?" he began, looking worriedly at the pensieve, but Remus shook his head.
"She just disapparated," he said quietly, neglecting to tell Harry the expression that had been on her face. There had been a reason she'd vanished so quickly.
"Who was that woman?"
"Hmm? Oh, her name was Rose Perseus. She went out with Sirius in seventh year, then someone's father was killed by Death Eaters and she dumped him," said Remus, sighing tiredly. "Sirius never quite forgave her."
"She dumped him because Death Eaters attacked someone's father?" asked Harry incredulously. Remus gave him a shrewd look.
"You have to understand that the war was just really starting to get going when we left school – Hogwarts was probably the safest place to be with Dumbledore there, and the full impact of it didn't really reach us. It's one thing to read about attacks in the papers, but quite another to have someone you know affected by it. The person who's father died was in Rose's House, and I would think there probably would have been a great deal of speculation over who could have done it." Remus leant on the back of a chair and looked seriously at Harry. "You know yourself that most of Sirius' family were Death Eaters, and when people are angry and hurt, they don't tend to think straight."
"She thought he might be a Death Eater?"
"Maybe," shrugged Remus. "Maybe she just didn't want to be associated with someone whose family was so heavily involved with Voldemort."
"But Sirius had left home by then, hadn't he?"
Remus smiled wanly. "Yes, but he hadn't made it common knowledge. Much as he hated his parents, I don't think he was quite reconciled to the fact that they'd disowned him back then. After all, parents are supposed to love you unconditionally – being disowned is not something you really wish to shout from the rooftops."
"My dad – he was arguing with her?"
"Well they never did get along. James thought Sirius was being reckless and he didn't trust Katherine."
"And Katherine?"
"Katherine knew where he was coming from but couldn't care less," smiled Remus. "I think that was actually what annoyed James the most."
"Did she really love him?" asked Harry, thinking about Sirius' face when he'd been dancing with Katherine. He'd looked happy – happier than Harry ever remembered him being before.
Remus looked at Harry soberly; did Katherine love Sirius? She'd given up her friends for him, abandoned Severus for him – and Remus knew that however much she claimed she didn't regret it, that had been one the hardest things she'd ever done and, after seeing that memory replayed in front of her, she'd been on the verge of tears and that was saying something; it took a lot to make Katherine cry. So had she loved him?
"Yes."
x – X – x
Severus awoke to the sound of a piano playing somewhere in the house. He sat up, glancing at his watch. It was only two o'clock, he must have dozed off after lunch. He sat still for a while, listening the hauntingly sweet melody before he realised that Nicki had gone back to work an hour ago.
He got up and headed out of the lounge and into the study across the hall. Katherine looked up when he came in, hands frozen over the keys.
"Hi. Sorry, did I wake you up?" Severus just stared, not quite knowing whether to yell or hug her. "Cat got your tongue?" she asked quietly, attempting a smile. Severus frowned. Attempting? Had she been crying?
"What's the song?"
"Ange déchu," replied Katherine in an English accent, though Severus knew the name was French.
"It's good. Who wrote it?"
Katherine smiled faintly, though it was tinged with sadness. "Sirius."
"Black?" asked Severus, surprised. She nodded. "I didn't know he wrote music."
"There were a lot of things you didn't know about him," said Katherine, turning away.
"Are you going to tell me where you've been?" asked Severus, ignoring this slight.
"Why bother? You already know," said Katherine quietly, starting to play again. "Avery told you."
"How do you know that?" asked Severus, staring at her. Katherine smiled, though Severus could detect little warmth in it.
"A little birdie told me."
"I've been worried."
"What d'you want? A medal?"
Severus arched an eyebrow. What on earth with up with her? First she came in without so much as a word and now she was acting like he'd done something wrong.
"I was just saying," he said in a clipped voice. "You could have been killed. What the hell were you thinking giving Potter your wand? What would you have done if Bella had found out it was you?"
Katherine stopped playing and turned to face him.
"I would have run like hell," she said softly. "And who told you I gave Potter my wand?"
"Avery isn't as good at Occlumency as he likes to think," said Severus, glaring down at her with dark green eyes. Katherine stared back at him for a moment, then looked away.
"Well I'm back now, ok? And I'm fine. You don't need to worry."
Severus arched an eyebrow. "Katherine, for as long as you exist on this planet I don't think it would be possible for me not to worry about you. You're always going to be in some sort of trouble."
"Yeah well, I'm a big girl now. I can look after myself," said Katherine firmly. Severus smiled bitterly.
"Everyone needs someone to look after them." Katherine laughed darkly at this.
"Nice philosophy. Does it include Tom?" Severus appeared to think for a moment, then said carefully.
"No, your father needs someone to take care of him. But I think you've got that pretty much wrapped up yourself." He smiled faintly at the look she gave him. "Like I said: Avery isn't as good at Occlumency as he likes to think."
Katherine watched suspiciously as he left the room, turning his words over in her mind. Robert had said Severus used to teach at Hogwarts. Exactly how close had he been to Dumbledore? Would he have – but no. Severus had killed Dumbledore. You didn't do that sort of thing unless you meant it.
But as Katherine resumed her playing of Ange déchu she couldn't quite ignore the nagging voice at the back of her mind that was trying to remind her that people don't usually mean to get sent to Azkaban...
x – X – x
Reviews are welcome. :)