Chapter 23 - Revelations

When she saw his face, she had no doubt, that it was Sirius Black. She'd seen the wizarding photographs, and her father told her a lot about the man and the circumstances of his sentence in Azkaban.

She should have been terrified. She should have been, but she felt emotionally drained after her encounter with Marcus and battling with the curse.

"Should I shit my pants now, or should I wait to make it more dramatic?" she asked sarcastically.

In the worst case, if he decided to kill her now, Dementors would come here and finish him after.

"Don't mock me girl! You are in no position to do so; I could snap your neck in one motion. You wouldn't even make a squeak." He tightened his grip on her neck a little.

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I'm not the person you take me for. I'm not a murderer."

His confession must have been important to him. She didn't believe a word he was saying, but he did, and saying that seemed to make his mind wander, because his grip loosened. She used this for her advantage and elbowed him in the stomach, as hard as she could.

Black let her go, fell onto his knees, and pressed hands against his stomach. Katia spun around and punched him in the face, which made him fall to the side. She then kicked a few times to make sure, he won't fight back.

"I should have expected that," he breathed heavily. "I have seen you running every day, and I've seen you punching and kicking…"

So, this was the reason she looked behind her so often, wandering who might be watching her.

Katia laughed, but it was a mirthless laugh. "That was a good one. You, a convicted murderer, sneaks up to me from behind, you threaten to kill me, and you're surprised that I've used the only chance I've got to get rid of your stinking body pressed to mine?" She laughed again and kicked him in the knee. "Can you get more pathetic than this?"

Sirius Black moaned in pain and grabbed his knee, his other hand was still clutched against his stomach. The moon reflected the blood that trickled from his brow.

She sat on a stone, and wiped her shoes against wet grass. "I'll tell you what happens now. I'm going to take your pathetic excuse of a human being to the authorities. Then I'll wash myself thoroughly and go to sleep with a nice feeling of doing something right."

"That's where you're wrong," he rasped, but then he broke into a coughing fit.

"I don't think so, but I may give you five minutes to explain yourself. Tell me how innocent you are, because those Muggles you've killed were so below us. Tell me how they deserved to die along with your friend."

Sirius Black coughed again, and she wasn't sure if there wasn't a laugh in it. She grabbed his arm, which was thinner than hers; he was skin and bones. "Don't try to laugh, or you will regret it."

"Are all Adepts so cold and emotionless, or is it the curse?" he suddenly asked as he looked her straight in the eye.

Katia was taken aback, but she just shook her head and smirked. "There is absolutely no sense in what you're saying. I'm losing my patience Black. And here I thought that it would be fun to hear you." She was aware that she sounded less convincing than she should.

"You don't sound so sure." He smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile, with his dirty teeth and bleeding, chapped lips. "You despise Dumbledore for sacrificing people 'for the greater good', but you're no different. You still have the smell of the one who loves you all over you, and he's desperate about your whereabouts while you are getting a bit of fresh air. You're no better than the people you tend to criticize. Or maybe it's because you thought you will be special, you will change your fate. What a disappointment when you turn out to be just another figure on the chessboard. And you won't be the queen."

Katia's mouth dropped bit. She quickly regained her composure, but Sirius has seen her utter shock at his words. He positioned himself a bit to be more comfortable; well, as much as a starved, beaten man could get comfortable on the wet grass during the cold, Halloween night.

She forced herself to continue on in an amused tone, despite how forced it sounded and that it didn't fit the circumstances.

"Why did you mention the curse?"

"I've heard a lot of juicy stories about cursed ones. There is an interesting tale that says that they aren't natural creatures; that they have a special purpose, and it is to serve and fulfill every wicked sexual fantasy of those who are above them. Of those who were born with real magic."

Katia laughed and put hand over her chest. "That's a good one! And the cursed ones come from eggs to be some uber chickens which swallow your bird when you snap your fingers at them, because this is your wicked fantasy in that particular moment. Oh come on, give me a break."

She leaned towards him. "The fact that you have some rotten beliefs about cursed ones and assume that I'm one of them and an Adept is a bizarre thought for me."

Sirius smiled and stared into her eyes. "You have a tattoo at the base of your neck and I felt how you pressed into me when I held you a moment ago. We both know, and there is no sense in denying it."

Katia clenched her fists. He got the point. Somehow, this psychopath had figured her out. She did her best to sound sure, but fear crept deep into her bones and chilled her from inside.

" So now what are you going to do now that you've made your point? Will you try to kill me, because I can report you to authorities, or maybe you'll try to use me before you kill me?"

Sirius shook his head. "I'm not the person you think I am. I never killed those Muggles, and I came here to protect Harry Potter. I would give my life without a second thought to make sure that he's safe. I will not kill you either, Katia. I've dreamed of you and when I came here, I searched for you to figure out why."

He saw her slightly furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes and spoke gently. "Things are not always what they seem. We have never met before and yet I know things about you that I couldn't possibly know. I couldn't resist watching you."

"What kind of dreams?" she asked uncertainly, as she thought of him watching her and Marcus in Hogsmeade. It just felt wrong.

"It's like flashes, it didn't make any sense at the beginning, but the more I see-"

"That's how you knew I'm different?" she interrupted. "Are there more cursed ones you know about?"

"No. You have a tattoo and it's well covered by your collar, but when I held you, the moonlight helped me see it. I knew where to look. You smell and act differently. I knew then, that my dreams were true. I know that there are more like you, but the glimpses of them that I've seen are not clear enough, or they get mixed with my memories, because I can't imagine a caretaker to be one of you. Not to mention, ah, the hell with him."

She was curious about 'him' but decided to ask the questions that were more likely to be answered. "What did your dreams tell you about me?"

Sirius tilted his head and flashed her a nasty grin.

"That you have a really interesting fate and while I'm now at your mercy, the next time we meet, the tables will be turned." He smiled and there was a glint of madness in his features. "What a shame that you can't feel real emotions like love, hate, or everything in between. You feel only what your curse makes you feel." He rose to his feet slowly. "You can't even see when you break someone's heart like that person meant nothing." He advanced to her. "Because you are no more than complicated spell work, which somehow stayed dormant in your ancestors genes after the ones like you fled from their masters."

She was terrified with how quickly their roles had reversed. He was the accusing one, and she was defending herself. "They did nothing wrong! They were considered a failed experiment because they had their own will and were butchered like pigs for nothing! How can you say that I can't love anyone?" she shouted, her fists clenched.

She was on the verge of tears now, and fought to regain some self control. She refused to humiliate herself by turning into sobbing mess in front of this weird man who might have the answers she wanted very much.

"You may believe that you do, when it's actually the curse talking. You've chosen this path, because you see it as a way to fulfill your superiors' filthy desires." Sirius laughed again, and it was the same bark-like laugh she'd heard when he had held her. "You believe you're above the curse, that you may control it even, because you tend to act irrationally, but that's what the curse want you to. That's why the project was considered a failure."

She'd recalled the helpless people with no hope, and how they were shot in the back. Project was considered a failure. It means that he denied her very existence as it was worthless! How dare he say something like that?

"Shut the fuck up, or I will tear you apart with my bare hands," she said in a low voice; she was barely able to contain her fury.

Sirius looked amused. "You see, love, there is a catch! The cursed ones cannot kill," he said like it was a good joke. "And now, you will continue whatever you wanted to do and will do nothing to interfere with my plans for saving Harry."

Katia's face turned into an ugly sneer. "If you're innocent, as you claim, why won't you go to Dumbledore and tell him about it?"

"Because everything must happen it its own way, in its own time. You know that I'm telling the truth and that's why you will step aside and tell no one about our secret date."

Something in Katia wanted to obey and she did, even though it made her feel utterly brainwashed.

"Yes," she stated simply, and a tiny, rational part of her was torn between the want to beat him unconscious and to bang her head against the wall for acting so unlike her and so beyond stupid.

Sirius flashed her a smile, then moved very close to Katia, grabbed her shoulders and leaned towards her ear. "You will follow me to the end," he said and with that, he turned into a big, black dog, which quickly blended with the black shadows.

Katia took out her wand and concentrated all her magic on performing a cleansing spell. She couldn't make herself clean from top to toe, but her pathetic magic seemed enough to get rid of his stench. She walked back to the castle, careful to be not seen by anyone.

She failed miserably as she saw the tall figure of Marcus Flint in the Entrance Hall. He quickly closed the distance between them and Katia was taken aback by all emotions clearly written over his face: fury, desperation, and then heart-touching concern. She felt her chest and throat tighten.

Marcus put her into firm hug that knocked the air out of her lungs.

"Where the bloody hell have you been?" he said angrily as he lessened his hold on her.

She wasn't supposed to meet Marcus here. She wanted to go straight into her bedroom and lock herself in, rather than to meet him when it was unavoidable and to tell that it was over if he pushed. Instead she stood in the Entrance Hall in his arms, and felt his warm, comforting body, and inhaled his scent. What the fuck she should do? Blurt it out and run away when it was obvious that he was sick with worry? Kiss him with all the passion she felt bubbling in her again and end up fucking him against the wall?

Marcus frowned and shook her by arms. "I asked you a bloody question, could you at least speak to me?"

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and a million more followed it.

"I can't," she choked. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach as she thought of everything that could be and will never be between them, and of all the shit Sirius had said to her, because there was a great chance that he was right. That Marcus really loved her and she was unable to return his feelings because she was just failed spell work, unworthy of him, and that she would break his heart with no more reason than to fulfill someone's dark and wicked desires because that was what she was made for.

Marcus didn't know what to do, what to say. He was completely confused when Katia's eyes filled with tears, which then rolled down her cheeks. He gently put hands on the either side of her face, and tried to wipe away her tears with his thumb.

"I'm sorry if I've been too harsh on you. I didn't mean to," he said as he looked her in the eyes.

Katia grabbed his wrists, pressed his hands to her face, and broke more into tears. "You didn't."

"If anyone hurt you, I'll make sure they suffer," he said with frustration.

Why was she crying even more after he tried to comfort her? Why was her hair in a tight ponytail without the insufferable fringe he liked so much? Why had she changed her clothes and buttoned her shirt up to her chin? He looked at her hands, and noticed, that her knuckles were bruised.

Katia let his hands go, and wiped her tears and nose with her sleeve. She then put her hands on his chest, stood on her tip toes, and kissed him quickly on the lips.

"I can't tell you. I wish I could, but I can't." She took a step back and, despite her puffy, red eyes, she had a really serious expression.

"I'm sad," she whispered as she took another step back. "It is over." She turned and left towards dungeons.

"What?" asked Marcus out loud. "What?" he shouted, so she could hear him, but the only thing he could hear was echo of his own voice.

Bloody Sirius Black.

Bloody stone floor.

This is what most of the student body thought as they lay on the cold, hard floor of the Great Hall. The Headmaster gathered Prefects to help the teachers search the castle for Sirius Black.

To Marcus' surprise, he'd seen him talking with Katia.

She nodded at whatever he said to her and then she left the Great Hall along with the Prefects. Even in this dim light, he could see the distaste on Morrigan's face while she watched Katia. Then Morrigan looked at him, and she smiled reassuringly.

Albus Dumbledore was at peace with his conscience when he sent Katia to search for Sirius Black. He had calculated her age; she was almost an adult, and she needed some toughening up if she wanted grow up. She was an unlikely target for Black, being a pureblood and a Slytherin; if there was any chance that Black was innocent, he was no threat to her at all. He gave her the best way to try her abilities in practice.

He sighed when he saw Severus Snape approaching him. He would have to quickly redirect the upcoming conversation from Ivanov to something else, to distract his spy from asking unwanted questions.

Argus Filch had noticed Ivanov's evening escapades a few days after the beginning of the school year. He tried to follow her a few times, but always failed miserably. This time, she seemed distracted and didn't pick a complicated route.

Maybe she really was searching Black, as Albus had said? So where was she before, when Flint was going crazy with worry?

The boy even came to him for help in finding Ivanov, so he must have been really desperate. Mrs. Norris helped to say for sure that Ivanov was definitely out of the castle.

Now she was out again, and Argus quickened his pace so that he wouldn't lose her in the shadows. He quickly reached the borders of the school, and before he could follow Katia any further, Dementors surrounded him.

Argus Filch had never seen them up close like this, but from what he had heard, they were vicious creatures that fed on good memories and sucked out all happiness. He braced himself, as if waiting for blow, but none came.

One Dementor descended to Argus and reached out his hand. In that moment it felt natural to do the same and he even wondered, how they would feel when he touched it.

Suddenly his mind was flooded with tons of images that changed quickly. The longer he'd the projections poured straight into his brain, the more it made sense. He'd saw Adele few times – not only as a memory but also as a glimpse of what could be.

He saw a younger Katia Ivanov staring at two dead bodies on the floor, and he saw Severus Snape hanging upside down with his graying underpants visible. There were people in white tunics running and flashes of green light followed them. There was Salazar Slytherin– he recognized from paintings and statues in Chamber of Secrets,– with a young girl kneeling before him with her head bowed.

Suddenly a strong pull yanked him out of those images and he felt like he'd been hit in the head. He met the shocked face of Katia Ivanov, which was inches from his own.

"What did you see?" she asked in demanding tone of voice.

If his mind wasn't so overloaded, he would have ask how she had assumed that he did see anything instead of having his good memories sucked out.

"I saw you, myself, Adele, and a lot of things I cannot put in place for now. What happened?"

"I've had my assumptions, and they've turned out to be true. Dementors were streaming information straight to your head, because you have a unique connection to them." She took both of his hands in hers and looked at him seriously. "Mr. Filch, you are one of the cursed ones, like me."

"What!?" he spluttered. "What kind of horse dung are you trying to- to… I'm not a sex driven, wanting to serve-"

"Could you tell that I fit into description, Mr. Filch?" she asked, unmoved. "Before you protest, I was raised knowing exactly what I am and how to cope with that."

Filch shook his head. "Let's say you are. How the bloody hell do I fit into this? Huh?"

"You were following me many times, because you were curious, why I would leave the castle every evening. I've met my first Dementor on the Hogwarts Express and I was fascinated with things it showed me. It became my obsession to learn as much as I could while they're still here. That's why I was coming here; to meet them."

Katia looked at her shoes. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I had to know that connecting with them won't do you any harm; I tested it on myself first."

Filch just cleared his throat and glanced at the black mass of Dementors that swarmed above them.

She continued. "We are the second or third generation of beings created by Salazar Slytherin, while Dementors are the first. Our ancestors were considered a failed experiment and were sentenced to die. Salazar quickly discovered that Dementors won't give us a Kiss because we share an affinity with them."

Filch shook his head. "No, no, no! I strongly disagree on this part. I'm Argus Filch, a school caretaker and I'm not related to those monsters from the seventh hell!" It was the craziest idea, and the girl must have lost her senses after she saw too much from those things. Strangely, she seemed to not be distracted, as she smiled politely and continued.

"Salazar Slytherin used Avada Kedavra on the cursed ones, but some of them survived and blended with society. Our unique genetics survived in the blood of our ancestors. From what I know, it is impossible for cursed ones to be born in a straight line. It means that they are born in every third generation or so. I've seen a strange mirror which determines whose blood contains the cursed gene, but unfortunately the mirror was dangerous somehow and I abandoned researching this."

"You know all of that from them?" He gestured at the sky.

"No. Do you remember when I was dreaming of patterns in the darkness?"

He nodded. "Too well. It was right after those dunderheads almost killed you."

"The tiny string of memories coming from the broken flask found me while I was recovering and it led me to a room that containing a mirror, tons of notes and books, and bottles. There was also a pensieve where I saw the first cursed ones being killed."

"It is fascinating," said Filch genuinely. "It's just stupid that you went there all alone. You should have told me earlier. You know that your secrets are safe with me."

Katia shook her head. "I know, but back then, I wasn't sure if it was a dream or something more. I found a way to the room, then panicked at all I saw, then I freaked out and thought, 'there is no way out' and I never went back there again."

Filch seemed lost in thought for a while and Katia did nothing to disturb his musings. This was a lot to absorb for him.

"We should go back to the castle and you should tell me what those images come from."

"I don't want to go back," said Katia with clenched fists. "I'm not ready, please,"

"You left that Flint boy for some crazy purpose and now you're afraid to face him, aren't you?"

She was silent, and looked over to her right.

"Of all the stupid ways to break up with the boy, leaving him sick with worry over you this was the most foolish I've ever seen."

She turned from him, and Argus saw that her shoulders were shaking a bit.

"Of all the dunderheads, he came to my office and asked me to help him find you. So… So you must have met up with him, because I suggested to him that you'll come back through the Entrance Hall eventually."

He heard a muffled sob, and decided that she was taking the Flint boy far more seriously, than he expected. Why had she left him, then? They had looked happy together. Filch took her hand in his and pulled her towards himself a little. "Come with me," he said, and she silently obeyed.

It felt oddly comforting to hold Filch's hand. It finally occurred to her that there wouldn't be any more cuddling or holding hands with Marcus anymore. But, she didn't want to think about that right now, and focused on putting one foot after another.

Filch's room was warm and cozy, but it didn't help the chill that she felt inside.

Argus sat opposite to Katia and took a swig from his Firewhiskey bottle. In the candle light, he saw that the girl's face was swollen from crying. She wasn't crying now, though; her eyes were dull and locked on some point in the distance.

"Tell me about those images," he asked.

Katia took a bottle from the floor, uncorked it, and took a generous swig. "The images are memories that were sucked out from people. I mean not exactly," she took another swig and Filch made a move to take the bottle from her.

"I won't be having children drinking with me," he spat, but he lacked his usual ire.

"I'm not a child if you haven't noticed yet," she said, resigned, took a drink again, and then she shuddered. "If you have a problem drinking with me, I'll take the bottle and leave. Your choice."

The hell with that. He allowed her to break a major rule to stay in the walls of the castle just because he was curious where she would go every evening.

"No. Continue what you were saying earlier," he said as he took a sip from the bottle.

"Dementors feed on happy memories, but once they got into someone's mind, they make a copy. It's like rewriting the whole book, but you're interested in only one chapter. I saw the Marauders and I saw Professor Snape, because they had twelve years to rummage through Sirius Black's mind. You probably saw my memories, too."

"I did; it wasn't a pleasant one that they showed me, either. I won't pry into that, as I'm not ready to talk about Adele either. I assume that you will see her now, because they've got into my head as well. But why they are showing this to us?"

"It's because we share an affinity, as I said before. They treat us like their own kin and, because they cannot talk, they communicate through images. They also cannot create memories of their own, and the communication is like when you learn a language as a baby, and the more words you know, the better you communicate. They copy memories and use it as a form of their language. They can also copy emotions I believe, because they've shown me different things when I was upset."

"Their existence is sad for me," said Filch. "If I am a cursed one, then why do you have a little bit of magic and I don't?"

Katia patted his hand. "We'll figure it out."

Marcus was surrounded by mindless babbling about Sirius Black and Harry Potter. He didn't give a shit about them feeling confused, angry, and sad.

Katia returned not long before breakfast and pretended like she slept there all night. She talked to Greengrass, pretended to be cheerful, and promptly ignored him, but he knew her well enough to know that it was just a game. Why was she playing games and ignoring him?

Graham Montague watched Flint closely today. His friend wasn't sitting with Katia and instead, was mutilating sausages on his plate.

"What's wrong, Flint?"

Marcus glared at him and said nothing. He looked like he didn't get much sleep, but on the other hand – most of the Great Hall didn't sleep well, either.

"Flint, our next game is soon, so we could practice today," said Graham in an attempt to cheer the captain up. Quidditch was Flint's undying love, and surely with his natural talent, he should pursue a career in this field.

"Okay," spat Marcus, and cut off further conversation. He seemed interested in the chatter on the other side of the table.

Graham finished his breakfast quickly, and left the Great Hall. He would wait for her because she probably would be walking alone. It turned out he was right.

"Ivanov," he said as he grabbed her sleeve.

"I guess this isn't a cheerful morning greeting," she said in an amused tone.

He wanted to wipe the annoying smirk off her face. "You really have some nerve, Ivanov, to dump him just before the important match. Did you ever care for him, or did you just want to show off?"

Her brow creased and she smirked again, but this time he could notice that she looked hurt. He liked Ivanov, but Marcus Flint had been his friend for years.

"It's none of your fucking business, Montague. Let me go."

But Graham didn't do that, and instead, he moved a little closer to her and spoke quietly, so only she could hear him.

"I liked you Katia, and I liked the two of you together. If you weren't comfortable, you should explain the situation. Instead, you just left him just like that, and I can see that he's not himself without you. I want you tell me why, so-" Montague was interrupted and had no chance to react in time.

A/N: Thanks for correcting everything Artemis J. Halk! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, which is only a beginning of many things that will take place along with the plot. There will be Severus as well, just be patient my readers. Thank you everyone who stayed with me up to this point!