A/N: Yes, it has been an appallingly long time since I last posted. No, I cannot unfortunately promise that it won't happen again. Yes, I will shut up so you can get on with reading the chapter, but I have to first say an enormous thank you to Slythy who beta-ed this chapter, and to you all for bearing with me for so long. :)
Chapter 56 – Famous last stands
Cold scarlet eyes thinned to slits as they focused on the cloaked figure in the centre of the circle. The late afternoon sunshine cast the face behind the low hood into shadow, but he didn't need a face to know who it was; there was only one person in the world with enough audacity to pull a stunt like this, and he should have disposed of her years ago.
"You called?" he asked icily, impatience hissing in his voice.
One hand rose to pull the hood back and the golden light of the falling sun illuminated Katherine's grinning features.
"I brought you a friend," said Katherine mildly, and though her tone was pleasant enough, there was a dangerous gleam lurking in the depths of her eyes.
"A friend?" asked Voldemort softly, his own blood red eyes watching his errant daughter cautiously. Yes, he should have had her killed before now - she was far too loose a cannon to be trusted. "And where exactly would this supposed friend be?"
Katherine smiled, and lowered her gaze, fingers clenching into a fist, and for a moment Voldemort thought she was steeling herself for a fight, but her curious actions were explained a second later as a silvery material appeared in her hand. It was an invisibility cloak, and beneath it…
Voldemort looked back up at his daughter, meeting the challenge in her gaze and smiling cruelly: maybe it hadn't been such a big mistake to keep her alive, after all.
"A friend?" he asked again, though there was amusement in his high voice now. On the grassy ground at his feet, the black haired boy struggled with the bonds that held him, trying to yell through the thick wad of cloth that gagged him.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord," said Katherine quietly, her soft words carrying easily on the still evening air. "But not his daughter, it seems." She gave him a bright little smile as he frowned, and continued smoothly: "I caught him trying to break into Anguis House."
"And he's still breathing?" questioned Voldemort, though the flicker of suspicion that lingered somewhere deep inside him was being rapidly drowned out by excitement. After all this time, all the failed plans, he had Potter in front of him, and not only that, the boy was completely helpless.
"You wanted him alive." Katherine's answer to what he had meant as a throw away comment broke into his thoughts and he looked up to see her sapphire eyes strangely dark. "I can't kill him anyway."
"No?" asked Voldemort, a slight frown marring his brow; there was something unnerving about the surety in that statement.
"No, just like I can't kill you, and that's hardly through lack of trying."
Usually Voldemort might have let a remark such as this go unheeded; what was a little insolence when she could pull off feats such as the capture of Harry Potter, something none of his disciples since Crouch had come even close to? But this time Katherine wasn't smiling, and there wasn't even a trace of humour in those dark eyes. It was then that he realised exactly what that strange emotion in his daughter's features was: hatred. Pure, unadulterated malice, all of it directed at him.
Which made the fact that she'd brought him Potter somewhat odd.
His gaze flickered uncertainly to the bound teenager, but he seemed secure enough, and it there was no doubt it was him.
"What's going on?" he asked levelly, as the tiny flame of doubt grew and flickered anew.
"Nothing's going on," said Katherine, smiling serenely. "Just fulfilling the Prophecy. It's about time someone did something about it, don't you think? I mean, it's been seventeen years, and it's still hanging over us."
"Fulfilling the Prophecy?" repeated Voldemort, an unfamiliar sensation curdling somewhere in the deep recesses of what remained of his soul. Fear.
"Yeah, the Prophecy," agreed Katherine brightly. "You know the one. 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…'" She trailed off, a real grin curling her lips now, the antipathy in her eyes making it far more disconcerting than a mere smile had any right to be. "That Prophecy."
"You're fulfilling it?" asked Voldemort coldly, snake like eyes narrowing even further. "A Prophecy that no living man has ever heard in full?"
Katherine smiled, head tilted very slightly to one side. "Ah, but I'm not a man, am I, father?"
"Don't play games with me, Katherine," warned Voldemort, raising his wand and pointing it straight at her heart, but she only laughed.
"Am I irritating you?" she questioned, grinning delightedly. "I must be irritating you. You only use my name like that when you're annoyed."
Voldemort shot a curse at her, which she ducked, giving him a reproachful look.
"No need to resort to violence. And you're wrong, by the way – Potter's already heard the Prophecy from our dearly departed headmaster, so really you're the only one who's still in the dark."
"You got it out of him?" asked Voldemort, red eyes gleaming with anticipation, and Katherine laughed, shaking her head.
"Out of Potter?" She grinned, tilting her head to one side again and surveying him with something akin to amusement. "Now why on earth would I need to do that?"
Voldemort stared at her, at her belligerent expression and sour smile, and the truth dawned on him like poison spreading through his veins. "You already knew." The words were barely above a whisper, but Katherine heard, a low chuckle resounding in her throat.
"Don't feel bad, dad. I mean, I didn't know about it for a whole two days after it was made. It's really not your fault it's now two decades later and you still don't see how stupid you've been." She hesitated, chewing her lip and looking thoughtful. "Oh no, wait, that's wrong, isn't it? It is your fault. Fools rush in, and all that."
"What are you talking about?" hissed Voldemort, forgetting all about Potter for the present, his entire being focused solely on the grinning witch before him.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches," said Katherine slowly, a dark light dancing in eyes that would forever remind him of her insipid mother. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…" She paused, listening to the hush of a clearing full of people holding their breath, then continued deliberately: "…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not-" Katherine raised her voice to be heard over the sudden rush of murmurings and gasps that erupted at her words, her gaze never once leaving the pair of scarlet eyes before her. "-and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies."
Over the shouts and yells from the surrounding ring of Death Eaters, Voldemort heard her voice again, low but unmistakable.
"Never bothered to ask where I worked, did you, Tom? Shame. It might have saved you."
"Saved me?" he asked blankly, as wands appeared in hands all around, directed straight at Katherine, waiting only for the word of command.
"Didn't I mention?" asked Katherine, face set in an expression of wide eyed innocence. "Potter brought some friends too." She smiled again, gesturing around the circle with a careless hand.
"Potter is friends with Death Eaters?" Voldemort asked, seething with rage, but not too incensed to ignore the nonchalant stance of his only child.
"Potter is friends with the people surrounding them," answered a different voice, and Voldemort looked down sharply to meet the gaze of a pair of fierce bottle green eyes glaring up at him. So much for being tied up.
"Traitor!" The scream came from one of the hooded figures, and a jet of green light flew from the tip of a wand, directed straight at Katherine, who didn't quite raise her own wand in time, and actually looked rather bemused when the curse bounced harmlessly away, unable to penetrate the barrier generated by the seven separate shield charms cast to protect her.
"Apparently I'm not the only one with friends," murmured Harry, sparing her half a smile, his own wand directed at Voldemort.
"Not the only one with a score to settle, either," Katherine replied, a truly evil grin curling her lips as she turned towards her would-be murderer. "I'm going to enjoy this."
x - X - x
Next to him, Remus could hear Tonks' gasp of surprise as Katherine started spouting out the forgotten Prophecy, and her grip on his hand increased. He squeezed back in what he hoped was a reassuring manner and concentrated on listening to what was going on in the circle.
He'd been impressed with Harry's choice of battleground – the site of the last Quidditch World Cup. The stadium had of course been removed years ago but it had left behind a large clearing surrounded by trees which made the perfect cover for the ambush they were about to stage. Added to this, the Aurors had set up anti-muggle and anti-disapparating wards for a square mile above the forest, and Katherine was currently maintaining a concealment charm that hid the hundreds of Aurors, Order members and newly recruited fighters from prying eyes.
Just then, Katherine's voice broke into his thoughts once more and he snapped back to attention.
"Didn't I mention?" she was asking, in a voice too full of innocence to be remotely believable. "Potter brought some friends too."
Tonks gave his hand one last squeeze and then Katherine dropped the concealment charm and the white masked figures in the circle saw them for the first time. There was a long moment in which everyone stood immobile, as though uncertain of exactly what to do, and then he heard a voice he recognised all to well yell: "Traitor!" and saw the dreaded killing curse streaking towards Katherine, who couldn't possibly dodge in time-
-but then it bounced away, deflected by the barrage of protective spells that intercepted it, and he smiled a little. Katherine may not have been one of Voldemort's inner circle anymore, but she clearly wasn't without friends. Every single one of those spells had been fired to save her and every one had come from a black robed figure.
Remus saw Katherine turn and look at the woman who was even now raising her wand for another curse and saw her smile; a wide, vicious grin that made her look both more evil and more mischievous than he'd ever seen her before.
And then for a fraction of a second those vivid blue eyes slid sideways and found his, and he looked back grimly, knowing exactly what she thinking.
This one's for Sirius.
x - X - x
Amidst the confusion of the battle, Robert Avery sought out his old friend, ducking curses and lending an occasional hand to those he saw fit. It wasn't hard to track Katherine down; the furious stream of insults from Bellatrix was clearly audible, even above the noise of the battle.
"-at least I don't try and hit on a certain Dark Lord every time my husband's out of the way."
"You haven't got a husband, Riddle!"
"And whose fault is that?"
Robert dodged the nasty stinging hex that flew over Katherine's right shoulder and watched in satisfaction as his friend's own curse found its target rather better. Bellatrix screamed in fury as the skin on her left arm erupted in scales, and threw a dozen more angry hexes at Katherine which missed, felling two Aurors and an unwary Death Eater in the process.
"Now, now, Trixibell," chided Katherine in a sing song voice, conjuring up a shield charm and shaking her head in mock disappointment. "That wasn't very nice, was it? I could have been seriously hurt." She smiled sweetly at Bella as the two circled each other with practiced ease.
"You will be," snarled Bellatrix, her wild black hair tumbling over her bony shoulders, dark eyes shining with malice. "I'll make you pay, traitor."
"Traitor?" Katherine's voice was all innocence, and Robert grinned, casually cursing an approaching Auror and inwardly marvelling at the excellent job Katherine was doing of winding Bella up, but then, he supposed, she had had years to perfect the art. "You're the one that just killed Jugson." Katherine nudged the fallen Death Eater with her foot, the white mask he still wore askew on a face which was contorted with agony.
"Well I'm not the only one who's hit a fellow acquaintance whilst aiming for another, am I, Riddle? Or perhaps I am?" Bellatrix flung another curse at Katherine which she only just ducked in time, and laughed cruelly. "Tell me, Riddle, how many partners did you end up murdering in the end? Thirteen, wasn't it? But oh no, of course I'm forgetting my dear cousin – that makes in fourteen, doesn't it?"
Robert saw Katherine's expression change from mocking insolence to pure anger in an instant, and she was already lunging for Bella before he'd even started to wonder why Bella would accuse Katherine of killing Sirius.
Severus sent another Death Eater sprawling to the floor and looked around for Katherine, dark eyes darting through the mass of people. He knew she was sure she was going to get killed but he was damned if he was going to just stand by and let her die. He caught the hysterical laugh of Bellatrix and turned towards the sound, but paid for the lapse in his concentration when a scorching hex caught him in the shoulder. He directed his wand in the direction of the attacker but hesitated as he recognised the faintly scarred face and light brown eyes.
Remus' face settled into a expression of extreme dislike, and Severus noticed with slight apprehension that he showed no sign of lowering his wand. Over to his right, he heard Bellatrix laugh once more, mad delight in her voice, and made up his mind in an instant.
He threw one of the less malevolent hexes he knew at Remus, who did, after all, experience far greater pain on a monthly basis, and headed in Bella's direction. A few dodged curses later, he found her, lying on the ground with an insanely happy expression on her gaunt face; a rather curious sight, seeing as Katherine was leaning over her, ebony wand resting against her throat.
"Never told them, did you?" Bella was saying in a gleeful voice, choking as Katherine pressed her wand harder into her windpipe. "Been blaming me, haven't you, Junior."
Severus' dark brows drew together, wondering what on earth was going on, and then he caught sight of Robert, mask abandoned, standing nearby.
"You killed him," said Robert quietly, and Katherine's head whipped round, wide eyes alighting on her friend. "You killed him," repeated Robert louder, and Severus saw his hand trembling with barely suppressed rage.
"Rob-" began Katherine, a pleading note in her voice, but Robert had disappeared into the crowd of battling figures and before she could do anything more, Bella had shoved her away, taking advantage of her distraction to reverse their fortunes.
"It's over, Junior," she smirked, pointing her wand at Katherine, who made no move to protect herself, just remained where she'd fallen, half sitting, half lying on the muddy ground, head hanging down so that her dark hair hid her face. "I win."
Bella raised her wand with a flourish and crumpled under the impact of Severus' Crucio, falling to the floor in a writhing heap, but Severus didn't stop to watch, he simply grabbed Katherine's unresisting hand and dragged her forcibly towards the trees.
x - X - x
In amongst the dark branches and soft undergrowth, Severus stopped, letting Katherine sink gently to the floor, back resting against the base of a thick oak tree. Severus stared at her, the feeling of helplessness that had overcome him when he'd found her curled up on Nicola's bathroom floor flooding through his veins and paralysing him-
And then a tear glistened on Katherine's cheek in the dim light and he dropped to his knees, raising her chin with a gentle hand and gazing into the blue eyes he loved so much.
"Why was Robert shouting at you?" he asked quietly, as tears leaked unheeded from unseeing eyes. "Katherine, answer me. Who did you kill?"
Katherine's lips moved, but no sound came out, and when he tried again she just turned her head away, refusing to meet his gaze.
"Kat-"
"He hates me." The words were barely audible, but Severus had been listening hard.
"Robert?" A barely imperceptible nod confirmed his guess. "Why? What did you do?" Slowly, very slowly, Katherine's glistening eyes swivelled to find his and the torment he saw within them made his heart constrict with terror. "Katherine?" he asked again, the hand gripping her shoulder tightening unconsciously. "Talk to me, Kat."
"I killed him," she said in a hollow voice, wide eyes focused on him as if he was the only thing in the world. "He'll never forgive me. He asked, but he'll never understand. No one ever understands. He thinks I'm like Evan. I'm not like Evan – I didn't want to, but he asked, and I had to – I had to-" Katherine's eyes snapped closed, body giving an involuntary shudder as the tears flowed once more from under the tightly shut lids. "I'm not like Evan," she said again, swallowing hard and shaking her head sharply. "I'm not."
"You're nothing like Evan," said Severus softly, stroking her hair gently as his mind raced, desperately trying to ignore the only reasonable solution to the current mystery, searching for something, someone, else she could be talking about.
But he couldn't.
It was Regulus. Regulus Black, the only one of their group who'd remained friends with Katherine after they'd left school, the only one who'd seen through her attempt to keep them safe, the only one who'd died.
Severus leant forward, resting his forehead against hers and shutting his eyes tightly as Katherine trembled, her hidden grief pouring out after so many years, and wondered how he could have missed it.
It seemed so obvious in hindsight – the way she'd forgiven him so readily for Dumbledore's death could only have stemmed from knowing first hand what it was like to be in that position, and thinking back he realised that any mention of the youngest Black had always made her withdraw with that faintly empty look in her eyes. If he'd noticed at the time, he'd always put it down to grief for the loss of a friend, but now he knew that that grief had come coupled with guilt.
He wanted to say: 'You could have told me, I would have understood' but he knew it wouldn't help, and that she couldn't have. She'd been too scared to admit the truth, perhaps even to herself, and since she couldn't change what had happened, she'd just let it lie, let Bella take the blame. What was it she'd said to him the night he found out she knew about Dumbledore?
"In a perfect world it wouldn't have come to that, but it did, and there's nothing else you could have done."
He wondered how many times she'd lain awake in Azkaban telling herself that, trying to believe it, even though the words sounded more and more hollow every time, how many times she'd shut her eyes to block out memories that wouldn't let go, how many times she'd compared herself to Evan, murdering his girlfriend to save his own skin…
Well he could dispel that belief, at least.
He pulled back, hands cupping either side of her face and gazing at her with dark eyes.
"You're not Evan Rosier, Katherine. Look at me, Kat, you're not like him."
Katherine's red rimmed eyes stared into his, and he forced his face to remain neutral, not to let on how much she was scaring him, and then Katherine's expression shifted as the panic gave way to despair, and eyes that had been so overly bright moments ago were suddenly dead and void.
"Then why does he keep haunting me?" It wasn't the words that scared him so much as the completely empty tone of her voice, and something must have shown in his own face because Katherine's crumpled and she choked back a sob. "He won't leave me alone, Sev."
"I know," said Severus quietly, pulling her unresisting frame towards him and holding her tight against his chest. Katherine made a small noise as though to disagree but Severus only buried his face in her shoulder and asked quietly: "Do you think I never regret what happened with Albus?"
He felt the breath catch in her throat and pulled back slightly so that he could see her face. Her eyes were still brimming with tears but he could see a glimmer of her old stubbornness in their depths.
"There was nothing else you could have done."
"I know. Do you really think you had any other option, either?"
The gleam of life faded at his words, and it hit him suddenly just how young she looked, like a lost little child. Eyes that usually seemed old before their time were open wide and anxious, their hue an impossibly bright blue, heightened by her tears, and framed by lashes that glistened with moisture in the dim light.
"I should have tried…" she murmured, turning her face away as a lone tear spilled down cheeks that were already streaked with red tracts.
"If you'd had months, years, even, to think of another way for him, you'd still have reached the same conclusion, Katherine," said Severus, cupping her chin in long fingers and turning her to face him once more. "There was no other way."
"How do you know? You don't know anything about what happened," protested Katherine, but her voice was weak and Severus knew she was praying he had a good argument.
"I know you," said Severus, and though his voice was quiet, it was firm. "And if you haven't come up with an alternative after torturing yourself like this for all these years, then there can't have been another option."
Katherine was silent for a long time, staring vacantly at the ground, and though Severus knew it couldn't have been more than half a minute, it felt like hours. At last, however, he heard her murmur something and she looked up, meeting his gaze with a tremulous expression on her face.
"He was my friend."
"I know."
"A little brother, even."
"I know."
"And I killed him."
"Yes."
She was quiet for another moment, then shook her head despairingly. "How can you kill someone you love?"
Severus smiled sadly, catching her hand in his and locking fingers tightly. "By loving them enough to respect their wishes over your own."
Katherine closed her eyes and Severus saw her eyelids trembling as she fought back tears, and then she let out a slow breath and opened her eyes again.
"I miss him."
"Truth be told, so do I," admitted Severus, smiling wryly and giving her hand a small squeeze. "But you did what you had to, and he's at rest now. We got left behind, and we've got to keep fighting. I'm not letting you join him just yet, however determined you are to get killed."
"I don't want to die." Katherine's fingers tightened on his and she took a few shallow breaths. "I don't. Not now, not when I've just found you, but I will and it's not fair."
The tears were streaming down her face again, but Severus could see the fierce spirit burning once more in her eyes, and she held her head up, almost glaring at him.
"Do you believe in destiny?"
The question threw him so much he just stared blankly at her for a few seconds, wondering what she was trying to get at.
"Like soul mates?" he ventured, thinking of Nicola's declaration that he and Katherine were born to be together.
"Like destiny," said Katherine, shaking her head. "Fate, determinism, predestination. Destiny."
"Do I believe the future is set in stone, you mean?" asked Severus, frowning a little, worried by the look on her face. He remembered that expression of old; she'd worn it a lot back at school, invariably when she was just about to do something extremely unwise. To be fair, most of the time she'd managed to pull whatever it was off, but when she hadn't…
"I'll die anyway if I don't try." Katherine's soft voice interrupted his thoughts and he started, meeting her gentle gaze and wondering how she always knew exactly what he was thinking. She smiled faintly, placing one warm hand against his cheek, the other still locked securely in his own. "All or nothing, Sev. That's what we're fighting for."
"All or nothing," repeated Severus, leaning forward so that he could feel her breath against his lips.
"All for them, and nothing for us."
Severus pulled away, dark eyes narrowing in confusion at her words, but Katherine only gave him a crooked smile, hand dropping from his face and lying idle in her lap.
"I don't follow you," he said hesitantly and she tilted her head to one side, surveying him with what might have been faint amusement.
"Oh I think you do, you just don't want to admit it. 'Cause it's been like a dream, these past few months, hasn't it? A bit like the old days: fighting and joking, escaping death by a hair's breadth, and we've all gone along with it, even Rob, but really we all know how this is going to end. We're Slytherins, Sev, we don't get sunsets and kisses, we get what we deserve, and can you honestly say you think that's anything other than Azkaban?"
Severus stared at her, sitting back on the damp carpet of dry leaves and trying to ignore the ring of truth that resounded from her words. Katherine saw his expression and grinned again, resting her head against the tree trunk behind her and gazing up into the dark canopy that blotted out the night sky.
"I can't go back there, Sev. I can't escape again." She looked back, blue eyes desolate and fearful. "If I go back I'll die in there, and to be honest I'm running out of lives. Down to my last three."
"Your last what?" Severus gave her a peculiar look, wondering for the hundredth time how crazy she really was.
"Lives." Katherine chuckled dryly, then heaved a sigh and shrugged. "Bad joke. Sorry. It's all Sirius' fault."
"What's Black got to do with it?" asked Severus, scowling deeply now; Sirius Black may have been dead and gone, but he still didn't like the idea of Katherine sharing private jokes with him. Katherine waved a hand vaguely, as though dismissing the matter as trivial and said:
"He said all cat's have nine lives. Ever since then, Remus has been keeping track of all the times I practically get myself killed. I'm on life number six at present, though I'm sure Bella's eager to advance that."
"And you're just going to sit back and let her?" asked Severus, raising his eyebrows and keeping his expression carefully impassive. Katherine looked up at him sharply, blue eyes highly offended, then she caught the amusement lurking in his dark eyes and laughed, lips curling into a vicious grin.
"Let Bella do me in? Please, Sev, I said she wanted to, I never said I'd let her."
Severus returned her grin, pushing back the small voice at the back of his mind that was trying to tell him something. It could wait – Katherine was all that was important now.
"Ready to go back out there?" he asked, offering a hand to help her up. Katherine nodded, then seemed to hesitate. "What is it?"
"Robert – I've got to find him – explain-"
"I'll do it," cut in Severus quickly.
"You think he'll listen?"
"I don't know, but I do think he won't attack me on sight," said Severus softly, pulling Katherine to her feet. "Come on. I believe you've an arch nemesis to bring down."
Katherine laughed softly, rubbing away the last of the salty tears that still clung to her eyelashes, then stood still for a moment, anxious gaze meeting his in the diminishing light, her hand clasping his arm.
"You will find him, won't you, Severus? You'll make him understand? I can't leave it like this between us – I can't have him hate me."
"I said I'd find him, didn't I?" said Severus, gently pulling her hand off his arm and weaving his fingers with hers reassuringly. "Leave it to me." He attempted a smile, though there was no concealing the concern in his eyes and then, with a final brief kiss, he turned away and headed back to the battle.
Katherine stood alone in the darkness for a long minute, fingers hovering just over her lips, where Severus' last kiss still lingered and then she dropped her hand to her side and turned her head to the right, a grim expression on her face.
"All right, you can come out now."
A shadow stirred behind a slender beech tree and the figure of a man in black robes stepped cautiously forward, dry twigs crackling beneath his feet. A light brown wand twitched nervously in the man's right hand, which was held uncertainly before him like a charm to ward off evil.
Katherine's lips curled into a half smile as she watched him, her body gradually relaxing and settling back into it's usual, self assured stance.
"I must admit this is a bit of a surprise," she said quietly, a slight frown marring the smile. "Does Daddy know you're here?"
The man scowled, his wand hand steadying as he drew closer.
"You seem to be the one with all the answers, Katherine," he said darkly, stopping a few metres away from her. "Maybe you can tell me."
x - X - x
Ah yes, the cliffie. Chocolate milk and cookies for the first person to review.
Ice cream and sprinkles for anyone who can guess who the mysterious man is…
Hope you liked it. :) New chapter will be up as soon as I can write it…