Chapter 31 – Truth is relative

"Harry, can I see that note again?"

Harry looked up from his musings and stared blankly at Hermione.

"Note?"

"Regulus' note," said Hermione patiently, smiling slightly.

"I, uh, haven't got it," he said slowly. Ron, who had been perusing The Prophet, looked up, eyes wide.

"Haven't got it?"

"No, someone swapped it," said Harry, pulling the locket out of his robes and tossing it over to him. "I think it was Katherine; I've only showed it to you two, her and Avery, and I doubt he would have done it."

"So what's this then?" asked Ron; he was holding up the piece of paper with the rose header.

"I think it's a way for us to communicate," shrugged Harry. He still wasn't quite sure of his feelings towards Katherine, but he knew that if she'd been with Sirius, she probably would have known about the mirrors he and James used in school and afterwards. He wondered vaguely why she'd said this was better; he hadn't had the chance to ask her at their last meeting.

"Write a letter?" asked Ron. "Couldn't we do that anyway?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and took the parchment from his hand, then, carefully, she dropped a bead of ink onto the creamy surface. It shone there for a moment, then disappeared.

"Magic," said Harry unenthusiastically, trying to ignore the unnerving similarities between the parchment and Riddle's diary. Like father, like daughter... "Why did you want the note anyway, Hermione?"

"I was just thinking – how exactly does the end of it go?"

Harry shrugged, reciting it by heart. "I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more."

"Those were his exact words?"

"Yes, why? Is it important?" asked Harry, raising an eyebrow. He didn't think it was particularly strange that Regulus should have thought he wouldn't survive for very long after the locket was taken – he must have thought he'd get discovered – or maybe he already knew Voldemort was after him. Hermione shrugged, but she looked troubled.

"It's just, well, Katherine said it was Regulus who told her about the Horcruxes, right? I mean, I know she hasn't actually said all that much about him, but he must have told her there was more than just the locket, right? Else she wouldn't be looking for more than one."

"What's your point?" asked Ron, looking at her with a bewildered expression on his face.

"Didn't you hear the last line of Regulus' note?" said Hermione with exaggerated patience. "The hope that you will be mortal once more. Do they sound to you the words of a man who thinks there's more than one Horcrux?"

There was an uncomfortable silence while the two boys processed this idea. Harry had to admit that Hermione had a point – Regulus sounded like he thought he'd found Voldemort's only Horcrux and that it's destruction would make him weak enough to be brought down. But if that were the case, why had he told Katherine that there was more than one?

"Maybe he wanted to trick You-Know-Who?" suggested Ron uncertainly. "You know, catch him off guard. If he thought only one Horcrux had been discovered, he might go into battle thinking he was indestructible when really all the other Horcruxes are gone too?"

"If I were Voldemort, and I found that note, I'd check the other Horcruxes," said Harry darkly. "He's not stupid – Regulus would have known that."

"That's another thing I don't get," said Hermione softly. "Why leave the note? I mean, 'I know I will be dead long before you read this' does rather seem to imply that he thought Voldemort would read it at some point, but why? Does he check up on them?"

"Look, wouldn't Katherine have thought of all this?" said Ron, shifting in his seat. "She's not exactly stupid either."

"No, but she's had other things on her mind," said Harry mildly, thinking of the talk he'd had with Remus the night before. '...yes, she loved him, Harry. She went to Azkaban loving him, and I think she always half expected to come out and find him again - I know Sirius did. He was devastated when she was arrested, but then the Prophecy came about and your Mum and Dad had to go into hiding, and he had other things demanding his attention. I don't think either of them ever quite got over the fact that they didn't get to say goodbye...'

"I think we should ask," said Hermione quietly. "Just to be on the safe side."

Harry nodded and took the rose headed paper from where it lay on the table in front of Hermione.

"Are you sure it's from Katherine?" asked Ron, frowning worriedly as Harry picked up a quill.

"No," answered Harry, looking at the words written beneath the roses. "But it's hardly likely to come from a dead man, is it?" He ignored the utterly perplexed looks his two best friends gave him and wrote a short message.

We need to talk.

It's not about Sirius.

He watched as the ink disappeared into the parchment, then sat back to wait. After about a minute's silence, Ron spoke up, confusion etched into his voice.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"What was that about a dead man?"

Harry sighed and was about to reply when the parchment in front of him glowed gold. He picked it up warily and the glow faded, words scrawling across it in black ink.

St James Park.

One hour.

x – X – x

Harry looked up as a pretty young woman with short auburn hair sat herself down next to him. She looked about twenty five, he thought, but then she turned to look at him and he saw the eyes.

"Katherine?"

"Did you know there're a couple of Aurors over there?" asked Katherine, smiling pleasantly and relaxing in her seat. Harry was almost surprised that this didn't seem to bother her at all – almost.

"No. Who are they following?"

"You mean me or you?" asked Katherine, lips quirking into a smile. "At a guess, I'd say you."

"Dare I ask why?"

"I don't get followed," said Katherine, eyes glinting challengingly. "They can't track me. Only Alastor's ever come close." She shrugged, eyes flickering over the undercover Aurors. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? And where are the other two?"

"They're covering for me," said Harry carefully, trying not to look at the Aurors; he didn't want them to know he knew they were there. "Look, did you take Regulus' note? 'Cause that paper thing is yours, isn't it? And that Latin stuff is done in Regulus' handwriting."

Katherine gave him a sideways glance, something like approval in her deep blue eyes.

"Yes, I took it. It's safe – you don't want just anyone getting their hands on it." She sighed, exhaling loudly and looking up at the clear September sky. "And that paper thing is a way of contacting me – and Robert when he finds his." She smiled faintly, adding, "But you already figured that out."

"What do you mean when Robert finds his?"

"We all used have one – me, Reg and Rob," explained Katherine. "Don't worry, I didn't give you Reg's – that wouldn't be...right. I've burnt his – yours is new. That's why it's not connected to Robert's yet. Anyway, that's not what you wanted to talk about, is it?"

"Not exactly, no. I wanted to ask – did Regulus tell you there was more than one?" A slight frown crossed Katherine's face and at last she said slowly:

"Now why would you ask a thing like that?"

"You've read the note," said Harry levelly. "He doesn't sound like he knew that more than one had been made. So what exactly did he say to you, because I know you thought there was quite a few of them." Katherine breathed out heavily, running a tanned arm through her short ruffled hair.

"He didn't."

"Didn't know?"

"Didn't actually say there was more than one," said Katherine quietly. "He didn't have time – but he gave me his research and told me about that one. He did know, I'm sure of that."

"But the note-"

"Yes, the note," sighed Katherine. "I suppose it does rather give that impression, doesn't it? But the thing is, he only found it about a week before he died, so unless he tried to kill Dad or something – which I assure you I would have noticed – I can't see how he would suddenly change his mind."

"Maybe he found another one?" suggested Harry, but Katherine shook her head.

"He would have told me. Besides, he wouldn't have kept looking, would he? And I hardly think Dad is likely to go flaunting them around the place." But even as she said it, Harry could tell she didn't believe it – not quite.

"Maybe he wouldn't, but someone else might," said Harry quietly, and Katherine's head snapped round to face him, fine eyebrows drawn together in a frown. "Malfoy gave Ginny the diary to open the Chamber, remember?"

"Malfoy did that?" asked Katherine, incredulously.

"Yes – he hates muggleborns," said Harry, wondering why she was surprised. "He was hoping Slytherin's monster would kill them all."

"But you destroyed it," said Katherine softly. "He sent it into Hogwarts and you destroyed it. No wonder Dad's angry at him."

"Voldemort's angry at Malfoy?" asked Harry, staring at her.

"Bloody furious," agreed Katherine. "Avery said it was because he lost the Prophecy, but I thought that was rather odd, because there's more than one way of retrieving it and Dad wouldn't be that mad over the words of a seer."

"You think it's because he let the diary get destroyed?"

"Potter, you Crucio someone for failing you – you don't enlist their son unless they did something really bad."

"What?" Harry was aware that he was gaping at her, but didn't care. He knew Draco had become a Death Eater but- "Voldemort forced him into it?"

Katherine smiled sourly. "You don't refuse the Dark Lord unless you really want to die. Even then he'd probably use you as an Inferi."

"But he didn't want to do it?" asked Harry, though he thought he already knew the answer. Draco crying in the toilets, his face when Dumbledore had been talking to him on the top of the tower...

"Not many people do – not unless you're mental like Crouch, or just plain thick like Crabbe, if you think he's actually capable of making a decision without Malfoy hissing in his ear. Oh yes, and then there are the people like him – Malfoy – who relish the idea of being involved in The Cause because they're too blinkered to see where it will lead. And those who are just plain scared."

"And where do you fit in?" questioned Harry, surprised to find he really wanted to know. Katherine shrugged; she'd never really believed in The Cause, had just wanted to know her father, had just been stupid.

"I guess I just got a little too caught up in it – went with the flow and didn't realise how deep in I was until it was too late."

"And then?"

"I figured I had two choices – go along with it and pretend everything was all right, even though I knew I'd never agree, or try and get out and be killed." She gave him a twisted smile. "Needless to say I chose survival."

"And now you want to kill him."

"It's my only way out – the only way we'll ever be free. Rob's got a kid, so has Daemon. D'you think they like knowing that as soon as they're old enough, he's going to summon them and they'll get pulled into the whole tangled web too? You can only protect people for so long."

"Like Malfoy."

"Yeah, and that really doesn't add up," said Katherine, shoving her hands in her pocket and looking up at the sky again. "Even he wouldn't put that diary in danger if he knew what it was – he must have known he'd pay if it got damaged. And he's not as arrogant as to believe that that wasn't a possibility. Much safer to keep it locked up in vault at Gringotts or even his house, where no one will ever find it."

"You think he didn't know?" asked Harry, raising an eyebrow. "But Voldemort wouldn't give it to him without telling him what it was, or at least warning him not to damage it, would he?"

"No," said Katherine, but something in her tone made Harry think she was still dubious about it.

"What? No, he wouldn't tell him?"

"No, he wouldn't give it to him without telling him."

"But he had it-"

"Yes, he had it eleven years after Voldemort fell. But that doesn't mean he had it all the time." She stood, eyeing the Aurors thoughtfully. "I have to go check something out. Leave it with me – I'll get back to you when I'm done."

"And when will that be?" demanded Harry, half considering insisting on going with her, but deciding against it. It probably wouldn't be a good idea. Katherine appeared to think about this for a moment, face scrunched up in thought.

"About three hours? Maybe four? Depends on how willing people are to talk."

"And if they're unwilling?"

Katherine grinned. "I know someone who brews some excellent verita serum."

x – X – x

"Regulus?" asked Auriga Nott, ice blue eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Why do you want to know about him? He's dead, Katherine – you know that."

"Yes," agreed Katherine, looking down and running a hand through her dark hair. "But did anyone visit him in the two weeks prior to his death?"

"Anyone like a Death Eater anyone?"

"Anyone unusual – maybe someone who hadn't visited for ages, or who you didn't think he knew very well?" asked Katherine. This was a long shot and she knew it, but she had to try.

Auriga shook her head. "It was a long time ago, Katherine. I can't honestly remember."

"So Malfoy didn't show up?"

"Malfoy?" asked Auriga, eyebrows raised. "Why on earth would Malfoy be visiting Regulus at home?"

Katherine shrugged. "I don't know."

"So why are you asking?"

"Because if he did, I would," said Katherine softly, meeting Auriga's gaze at last. Auriga frowned slightly, considering.

"This is important, isn't it? It's got something to do with that project Reg was working on, hasn't it?" She smiled at Katherine's look of surprise and relaxed back into her seat. "He wouldn't tell me what it was, but I knew he was up to something. Don't worry – I never told anyone, and I don't intend to ask. If he wouldn't tell me, then I probably shouldn't know."

"I can see why he loved you," said Katherine quietly, smiling a little at the younger woman.

"Yes well, he had to, didn't he?" replied Auriga, smirking. She sighed, smile fading. "I'm really sorry I can't help you, Katherine. I don't think anyone strange came round in those last few weeks. I mean, Andy dropped in one lunch time about a week before, but apart from that-" She shrugged. "No one."

"Right," said Katherine slowly. "Um, when you say Andy, you mean Andromeda, right?" Auriga nodded.

"Yeah, but that wasn't exactly unusual. She came round every now and then to check on Reg – I think it was mostly to reassure Sirius – you know him and Reg could never admit they still cared about each other."

"Yeah," murmured Katherine, glancing at the clock. "Listen, I'd better be going. You've got work to do I'm sure. Thanks for your time."

"No problem. Sorry I couldn't be more help."

x – X – x

Katherine lay on her bed in Nicola's house, thinking. There was something about the whole business that didn't quite add up, but she was damned if she could think what it was. Questioning Auriga had been a dead end, although not quite without it's good points. She knew one thing at least – however Regulus learnt about the other Horcruxes, it wasn't from anyone who visited his flat.

Probably wasn't from Lucius, either. He wasn't an idiot, however much she liked to make him out to be, and he must have known Tom would come back one day – and the price he would pay if he put a portion of his master's soul into danger. But if Lucius hadn't known, how had he got hold of the diary? It wasn't the kind of thing you left lying around.

She exhaled, shutting her eyes. No visitors except Andromeda, and that wasn't unusual. Checking up on Reg for Sirius.

Checking up on Reg for Sirius?

Katherine frowned, opening her eyes again. Why on earth would Sirius need to ask his cousin to check up on Reg when he was engaged to a Death Eater?