Sirius watched Hermione explain the basics of magic school and spells and wizard prejudices before she regaled all the tales of their heroics to the muggle girl. The other listened intently, wide eyed and mouth agape, only stopping her to offer hilarious commentary. Kat was rather endearing in her own way. When he first saw her, he thought she'd make for a great shag but now he found himself a bit more interested in what came out of her mouth rather than what she could do with it. She had impressed him when she'd made her escape. Perhaps after she was Obliviated, he could convince her to go on a date or two with him.
The story telling stretched on for hours until Hermione ended with the dramatic climax of how Harry killed Voldemort. She received an eager applause. The American was grinning now, seemingly in awe at Hermione and her friends.
"It's so unfair you get to be a witch and I don't. I missed out on everything. Magic school and spells and all that cool stuff. What house do you think I would have been?"
Her cousin cruelly teased, "Not Gryffindor, certainly. I would have pegged you for Hufflepuff. After your behavior tonight you might be more serpent than I thought."
She leaned in closer to the girl and hissed like a snake before breaking into a laugh. Those warm hazel eyes, still red around the edges from her earlier sobbing, swung to him with a quality of shy questioning in them. Pink lips parted to ask her question since clearly the girl lacked any self-restraint. Again, endearing.
"Wait, if Sirius is Harry's godfather, why didn't Harry know about magic before Hogwarts? I mean, I know his parents were killed but, um, like—"she stumbled to find the right words, getting more flustered by the second.
Hermione met his eyes with his. She'd obviously omitted certain things out of respect to him. He offered a sad smile. "I was in Azkaban for twelve years. It's a wizard prison on an isolated island in the middle of the ocean. I was framed by the rat who had betrayed Harry's parents to the Dark Lord."
Quickly paling, Kat was stricken by that knowledge before turning beat red with impassioned rage. Her hands slammed onto the table. "I would never betray my friends like that." After a moment where she seemed to reconsider, she withdrew her hands and meekly added, "Not my real friends." She seemed to reconsider once again as she peered at him. "Or anyone else."
His smile warmed. "No, I don't believe you would." He was rewarded with a bright, genuine smile from Kat.
Hermione snorted, drawing their attention. "You were rather convincing when you tried to use my own wand against me."
A guilty smile spread on her face. "I wouldn't have actually hurt you."
Suddenly the fireplace roared to life and out climbed Harry. Judging by the sweat that lined his forehead, he knew something was terribly wrong. Sirius immediately stood to question him but Harry's focus was on Kat. His godson finally spoke up. "Transfigure a telly and turn on the muggle news. Any channel."
The brightest witch of their age was quick to do as instructed, turning a tea cup into a television. An attractive woman reported on a 'bizarre incident' that had been filmed from afar by a newscast while they had been doing a story on local robberies. When questioned, witnesses couldn't remember anything. She questioned the validity of it, implying it could be a hoax or elaborate magic trick but 'experts are currently baffled' since the video had not been tampered with. She then showed footage of Sirius magically saving Kat and Hermione casting a spell on the crowd before all three vanished into thin air. Hermione changed the channel to show a man talking about the same incident, only he seemed convinced something unnatural was happening. She tried two more stations in vain hope but turned it off altogether when she found none.
There was silence for a long time. Hermione softly poached, "What is the Ministry going to do?"
"For now? Push that it had been a hoax. The video is on the internet and it's been shared by thousands around the world. It's impossible to take it off now."
After another long silence fell over them, Kat asked, "Are Hermione and Sirius going to get in trouble? They saved my life…"
Instead of answering the question, Harry asked his best friend, "Is this your cousin? Why haven't you Obliviated her yet?"
"We were waiting for the Death Eaters to get caught, Harry. We can't let her wander about on her own when they can use her for leverage."
The argument between them continued until the anchor suddenly stopped midsentence. Her voice resounded in the room, "This just in: the identity of the two young women in the video have been identified by a neighbor as Hermione Granger and her cousin, American visitor, Katherine Daring. The man remains a mystery. No one from the Granger residence will answer our calls but a call to America told us that Michael Daring, father to the woman wounded in the video, was thoroughly distressed with what we informed him of. Here we have Michael and Penny live in Florida. Mr. Daring, do you have any idea what your daughter has been involved in? What are we seeing here?"
The screen split to show an older couple, the woman in her 40s and the man in his mid-60s. The woman spoke hesitantly, "We have no idea. We tried calling her but she wouldn't pick up her cell phone and my brother isn't answering either. We're worried."
"Can you identify the man in the video?"
Her father answered in gruff tones with a deep scowl, "Don't know who that guy is. But I want to publically announce I own a gun and I hunt every season."
Clearly not a man for veiled threats. Kat groaned as if in pain and buried her face in her hands, only peeking out to see a smirking Sirius. The news anchor ended the video call and the camera panned to a shot of Hermione's house. The witch leapt into action. "We have to get my parents. They're vulnerable now that their location's been broadcast across England. If Death Eaters get to them—"
Harry put a hand up to stop her. "You can't Apparate there with reporters hounding the place."
"They're my parents, Harry!"
"Do you really believe Death Eaters would watch Muggle news?"
The news anchor's shrilled voice caught their attention, "Breaking news! A man has stepped forward claiming knowledge of the footage. Please welcome Mr. Augustus Rookwood."
The room went shock still with the exception of the muggle girl who had no idea who the man was. The camera panned to the cool-faced grey haired Death Eater sitting in front of another reporter. He spoke in professional tones, "Before we conduct this interview, I would like to invite Harry Potter to join us."