Kathryn Winchester and the Goblet of Fire

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Five: Diagon Alley

When they got back to the tent, Kat was hardly surprised when she found her mother and stepfather already there, waiting for them. The yelling and shouting was expected, even presumed, but it was much shorter than she expected. Kat suspected that either one or both of them were out there in those cloaks, because they insisted on packing up and leaving as soon as they could.

Not for the first time, Kat wondered why her father had fallen in love with her mother—and even more importantly, why had her mother loved her father? If she hated Muggles and Muggle-borns, as she had suggested on more than one occasion, then it stood to reason that she wouldn't bother having a child—let alone two—with a Muggle-born. Kat longed to ask Rose that question, but decided it wasn't worth the risk.

Almost the second that they got home, Kat went up to her room to find a letter waiting for her, the owl waiting expectantly. Moving over to him, she removed the letter and the owl took flight once again, leaving Kat alone in her bedroom as she sat down to read the letter.

Dear Miss Winchester,

We are pleased to inform you that your transition from Lerion Academy of Magic to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been approved for the following semester. Enclosed within this is all of the necessary books and equipment required.

Term begins on September 1st. We are pleased to have you joining us this term.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Kat smiled bittersweetly. On the one hand, it would be nice to be at her father's old school, but on the other hand, she was going to be sad to be starting a completely different school, having to make completely different friends, which was not something that she did very well.

Sure, she'd had a few close friends at Lerion, but they had been friends since they were eleven. Kat knew kids well enough to know that letting the new girl in wasn't something that they did easily. Most of them, more often that not, were going to treat her like an outsider, an outcast.

Even with Faith there, Kat doubted that any of them were going to be happy to include her in their groups. She closed her eyes, leaning her head back and staring at the ceiling as the other twin came tearing into her bedroom.

"Did you get your letter too?" she asked excitedly, the same exact letter that Kat had in her hand clutched in her twin's. "This is so great! Mom's gonna have to take us to Diagon Alley and get our school stuff! I mean, we can't very well just show up without any of our stuff. The great thing about it is that Mom is just gonna let us go on our own and not worry about us. She'll be too busy fussing over Matt; he's going to be starting this year."

"It's his first-year?" Kat asked.

"Yeah, Gil's in his second," Faith answered. "He's in Slytherin, with the rest of the slimy toads. Thankfully, I'm in Gryffindor, so I don't have to deal with him much except for during the holidays." She was practically beaming and Kat couldn't help but smile at her sister's infectious excitement. "But never mind that; I can't wait to go shopping. I'm not exactly sure what the dress robes are for, though."

"Dress robes?" Kat echoed, bewildered. "Sounds like they're for some kind of a dance."

"A dance? At Hogwarts?" Faith frowned at this. "We haven't had a dance in the three years I've been there; why would we suddenly start now?" Kat shrugged as she turned to the second page, which was a list of all of the necessary books and equipment. "Whoa, how come you've got a longer list than mine?"

"Because I'm a new student, Faith," Kat reminded her. "I've probably got to get most of the stuff you've already got."

"Oh . . ." Faith nodded as she considered this. "Well, I'm gonna go ask Mom when we're going to be able to go. Term's going to be starting soon and we're going to need to get all of it." She tore out of the room again, pounding down the stairs, yelling for Rose.

Smiling faintly at her twin, Kat looked over the second list, but her thoughts were on the events of last night, which had triggered horrors of which her generation had never seen before.

Kat closed her eyes as she thought about her father and the millions of times when she had asked him why Voldemort would go after Muggles or attack people just for the sport of it. She never had gotten a straight answer out of him.

"He was a man once, Kitty," he said, using his pet name for her as she sat in his lap, a mere child. "A corruptible and power-hungry man, but he was a man. Then he became a monster. And that's all that is left on the surface now. Always remember, Kitty-Kat, that power can corrupt. If you taste just one lick of dark power, it can turn you down a path that you may not want to go down. With great power—"

"Comes great responsibility," Kat finished up for him. "I know, Daddy."

"The brave do not live forever, Kitty, but the cautious do not live at all," he told her. "Be brave, my girl, and live . . . live for me."

"Dad . . ." Kat whispered as she looked at the picture of him on her desk. "What's going to happen? Is this the beginning of a war that is too great and terrible to stop?"

And even though Jack Winchester was gone, Kat could've sworn she heard his voice whisper, "Yes."

--

A few days later, Kat found herself in Diagon Alley, where Rose was taking her brothers shopping for their new school stuff. She gave the sisters a bag full of money each. "I expect that will take care of all of your supplies," she said unkindly. "And I don't want to see any of those foul trickster items in the house, Faith," she added warningly.

"Trickster items?" Kat asked the moment their mother had moved away from them, herding the brothers towards the bookstore.

"Joke shop stuff," Faith explained. "I know, but Fred and George got me hooked on them and well . . . Mom wasn't too thrilled." She rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, come on, let's go to Madam Malkins' first, we can get your robes and both of our dress robes."

"Okay." Kat followed her sister towards the robes shop.

"Good afternoon, girls," a pleasant witch said the moment that they entered. She was beaming at them as they entered. "How can I help you two today?" she asked as she gestured them further into the shop, where Kat saw an assortment of dress robes.

"Well, my sister needs Hogwarts robes, she just transferred there this year," Faith answered. "And then we both need dress robes."

"Of course," Madam Malkin said, gesturing Kat towards her. "Let's get you fitted for your school robes first and then you can take a look at the dress robes to see which ones you like."

Kat waited patiently as they fitted her for the black robes that were the uniform. She took a look in the mirror, liking the way that she looked in her uniform. Her sandy-blonde hair stood out a lot more and her blue-green eyes were positively gleaming.

"You know, you look kind of hot," Faith teased, causing Kat to scowl at her sister.

"Shut up," Kat said, giving her a dirty look as Madam Malkin finished adjusting it to the right length and wrapped them in a package for her as the sisters moved over to the dress robes section to see what they had.

The twins tried on a series of dresses, some just for the fun of it, until Kat finally settled on a light purple gown with sheer sleeves and gold lace around the stomach and wrists. Faith decided on an orange gown with a low neck and short sleeves.

"I can't wait to see the boys' faces when they see you in that," Faith said excitedly as they walked out of the dress shop, carrying their packages. "And I think Ced's going to fall at your feet when he takes one look at you."

Kat actually blushed, wishing her sister wouldn't prattle on about Cedric. "Faith, stop it," she said pleadingly.

"Oh, come on! It's obvious that you like him."

"He's a nice boy," Kat agreed. She had never known anyone like him, someone nice and sweet and a real gentleman. They just didn't make them like that anymore.

"A boy?" Faith echoed, giving a laugh. "Did you see the way that he was looking at you? I've never seen him look the way to anybody and there are some lookers at Hogwarts." She shook her head. "I mean, come on, Kat, Cedric has a thing for you."

"He does not have a thing for me," Kat said stubbornly. "We were just talking, that's it."

Faith heaved a sigh, shaking her head as they headed down the street to get the rest of their supplies, stopping at the supply shop to get parchment and quills and ink and stuff. "Kat, if you saw the way that he was looking at you, then you wouldn't say that. He's never looked at one girl the way that he was looking at you. And he was looking at you with me right next to you. That should give him points."

Kat stared at her sister, then turned away from her, picking up some more items before she headed towards the front, handing her stuff over to the cashier and handing her the correct change. "Why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?"

"Because I'm a Taurus," Kat answered simply. "What's your excuse?"

"Hey, I'm a Taurus, too," Faith pointed out.

With a reluctant smile, Kat shook her head as they headed into the bookshop to get all of their books that they needed. As they wandered through the shelves, Kat picked up all of her books, picking up a few more, including Hogwarts, A History, Brewing for Flavour: Potions for Fun and More, and Charming Your Friends, Enemies, and Galore.

"Okay, that's pretty much everything on the list," Faith said as she looked down at her list. "So we just need to stock up on potion stuff and then we'll be done. And best of all, we can go get some ice cream before we have to meet Mom."

"Not quite, I still have to get a replacement wand," Kat pointed out. Faith's mouth opened in remembrance.

"Oh, yeah, right . . . okay, why don't you do that and I'll get our potion stuff?"

"You sure?"

Faith nodded. "Yeah, I'll see you in a minute, all right?" she said. Kat frowned, but then noticed that there was an extremely cute Hogwarts student heading towards the potions' supply shop.

Shaking her head as her sister disappeared into the shop, Kat headed towards Ollivander's, pushing the door open and making her way inside. Setting her packages down on a chair, she looked around for the wandmaker, who was coming out from the back as she saw him.

His moon eyes focused on her as he spotted her and his eyes widened in surprise before he smiled.

"I wondered if I was every going to be seeing you, Kathryn Winchester," he said pleasantly. Kat stared, shocked that he knew who she was before she had even said anything. Mr. Ollivander gave another smile as he headed towards the wands, picking a few up. "Why, it seems like just yesterday that your parents were in here, buying their wands. But you're too old for this to be your first wand," he added sharply.

"No," Kat agreed. "My . . . my wand broke in a car accident," she explained uncomfortably.

"How unfortunate," he murmured. "Your father was a brilliant spellcaster, did things with his wand that I had rarely seen before. Quite the Charms student, you know. He is very much missed," he added to Kat, who smiled gratefully at him. "But perhaps his talent lives on, through his daughters. From what I hear, you've become quite the Charms student yourself. Well . . . here we go, try this one. Holly and phoenix feather."

Kat raised the wand, only to have it snatched away and replaced by another . . . and another . . . and another . . . it felt like she was trying every wand in the shop until at last, he went to the very back and produced a very beautiful crafted wand.

"Try this one," he instructed, handing it to her. "Rowan and phoenix feather, 7 ½ inches."

Gently, Kat took it into her hands, feeling warmth burst into her hand as she took it. Her old wand had felt nothing like this, she thought as she raised it into the sky and fireworks exploded from them.

Unable to keep the grin off of her face as Mr. Ollivander smiled with approval. "How wonderful . . . how very curious," he murmured thoughtfully.

"What's that?" Kat asked.

Those moon eyes turned to her. "I've had that wand so long I've nearly forgotten about it," he said softly. "And it just so happens that the brother of this wand—for the phoenix that gave it gave two feathers, one for each other the wands—happened to be Helga Hufflepuff, one of the founders of Hogwarts School."

Kat couldn't stop her mouth from falling open at that revelation. "My wand is the brother of Helga Hufflepuff's?" she whispered in utter amazement, staring down at the wand that he handed her.

"Oh, yes," he agreed. "I've had that wand so long, Miss Winchester, that I'd nearly forgotten that I had it. Over a thousand years old, that wand, and very powerful. I expect that we will see great things from you, my dear."

Taking a deep breath, Kat forced a smile onto her face. "Thanks," she murmured as she paid for her wand and hastily made her escape, heading towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"There you are!" Faith said, almost irritably when she saw Kat. "You took forever, what was the hold up? Never mind, I know what it's like at Mr. Ollivander's. So, let's see the wand!"

Pulling her wand out, Kat showed her and Faith beamed with envy upon seeing the beautifully crafted wand. "Rowan and phoenix feather, 7 ½ inches," Kat said.

"Cool," Faith said, but Kat could tell that she had lost interest. "Listen, could you take my stuff back to the manor for me? I just met this guy Derek and I kind of want to get to know him better." The mischievous smile made Kat think that her sister had a little bit more on her mind than talking. "Don't worry about me; I'll take the Knight Bus back. Thanks!"

She took off, leaving Kat standing in the pub. "And people think that I'm the strange one," Kat murmured as she gathered up their belongings and went to go meet their mother.