Chapter 2

Mrs Weasley jumped at the sound of tapping on the window. She looked round at the window in shock, sat on the ledge was a large Tawny owl with a letter in it's beak. It was almost midnight, who sent an owl at is hour? Slightly reluctantly she opened the window and the owl swooped into the room, dropping the letter on the table and then perched on the back of a chair, staring at her intently, waiting for her to open the letter.

Cautiously, she picked up the letter and turned it over, all it said on the front was 'Molly Weasley, The Burrow' in vaguely familiar handwriting, but it looked as if it had been written in a hurry. Mrs Weasley unfolded the letter and blinked at the note, it was short.

Molly,

sorry to bother you at such an hour,
the Blackwood house has been broken into,
Will explain when I see you, but Catherine
is injured, I will be bringing her to yours
shortly.

Remus.

Her eyes wide in shock, Mrs Weasley re-read the letter several times. The Blackwood's? Broken into? She'd never known Matthew Liontari to leave his house unguarded, the last time she'd seen him, he'd been protecting his house with a series of complicated enchantments. And Catherine had been injured, neither was it like Matthew to let anyone anywhere near enough his daughter for her to be injured in a raid. Then again, she hadn't seen the family in almost ten years, things could of changed.

A loud knock at the door made her jump.

"Molly, it's Remus! Open the door!" he called in a hushed voice

The thought of Catherine out there with him brought her back to her senses and she flung the door open, greeted with the sight of Remus Lupin supporting and dark-haired girl in a checked shirt and dark jeans, she had blood dripping down her forehead.

"Quick, Quick, come in!" she rushed, ushering them inside "In the living room," she instructed pointing and shutting the door.

As Lupin set the girl down on the sofa, Mrs Weasley pulled her wand out the front of her apron and pointed it towards the girl's forehead, the congealed blood disappeared, leaving just an ugly gash. Carefully, Mrs Weasley examined the wound in shock, this didn't look like anything caused by magic, in fact it looked as if something had fallen on her head.

"What happened?" she demanded of Lupin, who looked sheepish

"She knocked into a tower of those books Matthew has all over the place, a couple fell on her head." he explained shortly

"But what about the break in?"

"Someone managed to break the enchantments around Blackwood House, whoever it was, I don't know, but Catherine was smart enough not to get involved. Although I haven't had a chance to ask her, she's been uncontentious since those books hit her on the head"

"And Matthew? Where was he?"

"Didn't you hear? He's not just Head of Magical Law Enforcement for Massachusetts anymore he's Head of Auror office for UCMG, according to Catherine's letters, he's often late home now, but I've left him a note, just so he doesn't assume she's been kidnapped when he gets home."

Mrs Weasley sighed, the entire family lived in Massachusetts, Sarah, Matthew and their seven children, Catherine being the youngest. But they had always visited in the holidays, however, Sarah had disappeared when Catherine was only four. Matthew had asked the Weasleys to look after Catherine, while he and his son's searched for her. Catherine had stayed with them almost two years.

With a quick prod of her wand, Mrs Weasley healed the wound on Catherine's forehead. Then sat down next to her and shook her shoulder gently "Catherine, Catherine, wake up." she urged.

Her eye lid flickered and her brow furrowed, trying to wake up. "Hmm...?" her eyes forced themselves open.

Cathy hadn't quite realized how hungry she was until Mrs Weasley put a bowl of soup in front of her. Sure her head was throbbing a bit, but she'd had worse from dueling with her brothers. She knew her Uncle Remus was watching her carefully out the corner of his eye and that Mrs Weasley was watching her too.

"How are you feeling Catherine dear?" Mrs Weasley asked her

Cathy smiled "Great Mrs Molly, and just call me Cathy" she said brightly, letting a habit slip, Mrs Weasley looked slightly taken aback "No, wait, sorry... Mrs Weasley!" she corrected

"Oh, it's all right dear." Mrs Weasley had gotten used to Cathy's way of calling adults she knew (like family friends, but never teachers or officials) by Miss, Mrs, or Mr and then their first name, in the year she'd stayed here, though she thought she would of grown out of it by now.

Cathy didn't speak for a moment, she just thought, staring straight ahead of her, but not exactly seeing what was there. "Where is everyone?" she asked

Briefly wondering how Cathy knew they weren't here Mrs Weasley took Cathy's empty bowl and filled it again "They're at the Quidditch World Cup." she explained "It's Bulgaria vs. Ireland. It should be over now."

"Oh, of course..." Cathy looked thoughtful again, but Remus was staring at the clock, not the actual clock, but the clever one that had all but one of the hands pointing to 'Mortal Peril'. Mrs Weasley gasped.

Remus jumped up "I'll go and see what's happening." he said, leaving the room by the back door, before he did he turned to Cathy, about to say something, but he didn't.

There was no colour left in Mrs Weasley's cheeks, Cathy lent over the table and held her hand, "They're fine" she said reassuringly.

Cathy watched Mrs Weasley totter out the door as the sounds of her son's and husband's voice's reached her ears. Artemis crawled out her pocket (now a small field mouse), he'd stayed in her pocket due to a large ginger cat running round earlier, it seemed to have disappeared now. She didn't know why Artemis hadn't just turned into a cat like he usually would, maybe it was a territorial cat. Several minuets later, everyone was still outside. Hesitantly, Cathy pushed herself out her chair and left the kitchen.

Two boys, who she guessed were Fred and George, were being hugged half-to-death by Mrs Weasley. Edging round the 'family affection' Cathy spotted Mr Weasley.

"Hey there, Mr Arthur." she said casually, standing by him

He looked at her "There's only one person I know who calls me that... is it?" he examined her face carefully "It is! Cathy Blackwood!" he held out his arms and hugged her tightly "How have you been?"

"I've been great Mr Arthur, and you?"

"Fine, I've been fine" he seemed to realise something "Where's your father?"

Cathy froze, wondering how to explain the events of the past few hours in a short conversation. When she was saved by a girl with red hair, Ginny Weasley she guessed.

"Who are you?" she asked

Mr Weasley, who seemed to sense Cathy's discomfort at his last question, turned to his daughter. "Of course, you're were too young to remember. Ginny, this is Cathy Blackwood, she stayed with us for... a while when you were about three. Cathy, you remember my daughter Ginny?"

"Yeah, I do" she smiled at Ginny "You used to call me Caffie" she joked, before bringing her eyes to the two strangers staring at her. Mr Weasley noticed and put his arm round Cathy, guiding her towards them. "Cathy, this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter, Harry, Hermione, this is Catherine Blackwood, Remus Lupin's niece." Politely, Cathy shook their hands. As she shook Harry's hand, she glanced as discretely as she could at his forehead. 'Good god,' she thought 'It's the Harry Potter, who'd of thought?' In an instant, she was bombarded by the older Weasley brothers, well by Bill and Charlie, who yelled 'Cathy Blackwood!' and hugged her tightly. Ron nodded at her, keeping his distance, there was a confused look on his face, she guessed he didn't quite remember her. Percy just shook her hand formally, introducing himself as if they'd never met, deciding it would be fun to wind him up, Cathy pulled him into a tight hug. When she let go, he was flushed, and looked slightly disorientated. The others laughed

Without warning someone grabbed her from behind, well two someone's rather, and pulled her into a hug. Fred and George.

~The Next Day~

Barrel-rolling away from Ron's attempt to grab the ball from under her arm, Cathy tossed it through one of the make-shift hoops, scoring another goal for their team. It was her, Fred, Ginny and Bill on one team, Harry, George, Ron and Charlie on the other. Hermione was sat on the side-line, scoring the game. "Five goals to three, to Bill's team." she announced, when Ron asked. Cathy wondered if they'd ever played Wizarding-Baseball, she might try to find the time to teach them later in the holidays if she got the chance, she was sure Dad wouldn't mind lettering her stay, if it was okay with the Weasleys. Out of nowhere, a house elf appeared, screeching.

"Miss, Miss!" she jumped from foot to foot in agitation, until Cathy touched down on the ground, when she flung herself at Cathy's legs, clinging to her jeans. "Oh miss, oh miss, it's terrible. Terrible!" she squealed, tears brimming in her big brown eyes.

Cathy crouched down "What is it Hettie?" she asked the elf soothingly "What's terrible?"

The elf sniffed and reached under her clean white pillow-case, it had a pink flower pattern on it, she pulled out a letter, handing it to Cathy. She read it , it was addressed to 'The Blackwoods'

Slowly, Cathy nodded and picked up the old broom, standing up. She bit her lip in thought, wondering what the hell she should do. "Right" she said, tucking the letter in her back pocket "Okay then, Hettie, I want you to come back to the house with me then tell me exactly what happened."