Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 13 Forgiveness

Draco heard the name Dudley mentioned once and a while, but he couldn't remember exactly who he was. He looked nothing like Katherine so it couldn't be her cousin… He just hoped it wasn't another Muggle boyfriend.

"I-I get off work in two hours," the Muggle stammered. "If you want to talk or something."

"My fiancé is coming," Katherine said stiffly. Something told Draco that she was forcing herself to agree. "You owe him an apology."

Dudley frowned like he was struggling to remember who he was. Draco got the feeling that he wasn't too bright. They had never seen each other before. "Okay. Do you want a different waiter?"

"No. I want free dessert." She gave the Muggle a ghost of a smile. "And the waiters and waitresses to sing Happy Birthday to Draco."

Draco was absolutely mortified. Throughout the meal, Katherine was quiet and pushed around her food, worrying him. She only cheered up when the waiters came out.

His plan was to make them stop once they started singing, but he didn't think they would make a huge spectacle out of it! They didn't even listen when he insisted it wasn't his birthday. Every waiter and waitress in the establishment came out, clapping and singing, and bringing out a small cake with sparklers on top. He didn't think they could even hear his protests over all the singing and laughing costumers.

Katherine didn't stop laughing until everyone left, and she spotted him glaring at her. She had to wipe tears from her eyes before bringing herself to speak. "That's what you get for refusing to look at wedding cakes with me last week."

"Excuse me for being upset about hurting you," Draco mumbled. He swatted her away when she tried to take a bite of the birthday cake. "Not until you finish that slop you call food."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Okay, Dad."

They sat on a black bench outside, waiting for the Muggle. Katherine's knee bounced up and down with nerves, but Draco didn't think she noticed. She didn't stop when he stared but did when he put a hand on her knee.

"He's my cousin. You know that, right?" Katherine smiled when his eyebrows shot up. "My aunt looks nothing like me or my mum. Although he looks more like my uncle, who I'm not related to, thankfully. Ron said your dad bribed him when you were kidnapped. Totally illegal by the way."

"Oh." Draco couldn't remember Katherine ever talking about her aunt or uncle. Come to think of it, he couldn't remember her ever telling a story about her childhood before first year. They weren't kind, that much he could gather. Severus said her uncle was a monster, but he didn't know anything about her aunt. "Why does he owe me an apology?"

Katherine frowned. "He told Lenny and Travis to rob my flat. Ring any bells?"

"Of course I remember that!" Draco subconsciously touched where the wound on his chest was. He felt loads better, thank Merlin, but he knew he wouldn't be flying any time soon. Hopefully he could by fall. "I just didn't know that he told them to do it."

"He owned them money that he knew I wouldn't give him." Katherine leaned forward to watch Dudley walk out of the restaurant and towards them. "If he wants to go to my aunt's house though, we're leaving."

"O-okay." Draco wanted to ask about a dozen questions, but the Muggle reached them before he could gather the courage to voice them. Dudley told them he was rooming with a friend, so Katherine said they'd follow him in her car.

Kat was beginning to wonder if Draco was going to meet every guy she ever slept with. She almost turned around and left when she realized that Dudley's flat mate was Piers. Hopefully Draco wouldn't remember. He didn't remember Dudley, so there was no way he would remember his name.

"Piers Polkiss." He put his beer on the counter and held out his hand for Draco to shake. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Draco's eyes widened. He put on a glare that he had to have learned from Snape and refused to take his hand. Piers laughed awkwardly and let it fall to his side.

"You gonna offer me a beer?" Kat asked to try to change the subject. Thankfully Piers took the hint, tossed her one from the fridge, and headed off to his room.

Dudley turned off the telly and gestured for them to sit down. "Sorry. I forgot about erhm…"

Kat sat down and laughed when Draco carefully sat down in an armchair. The look on his face would make one think it had shards of glass sticking out of it, not that it was merely owned by a Muggle. "Draco's just jealous."

"I'm not jealous of pigs," Draco muttered. Kat had to force herself to keep a straight face when Dudley put a hand over his bottom. I love you Hagrid, she thought to herself.

Dudley cleared his throat before sitting in the armchair across from Draco. "I've had a few slip ups," he announced. "But I haven't gambled or used since February."

"Cool." Kat picked at a loose thread on the dingy, creamy colored couch. "I've been better too."

"And I've been seeing someone." Dudley rubbed at the back of his head. "Look, Kat. I-I just wanted you to know that… Last we spoke… It really bugged me when you said you weren't the servant under the stairs anymore. I haven't seen you as that since I was fifteen and attacked by the dementoids."

Kat didn't bother to correct him, although she could tell Draco was just itching to. "It feels like that. When you want something, and I don't want to give it to you."

"I won't do that anymore," Dudley promised. Kat wanted so badly to believe him, but she couldn't. Not yet. Enough time needed to pass without something happening she supposed. "Mum still sends me money. I try to use it to take her out to dinner. She never does anything nice for herself…"

Probably because you've crippled her with debt, Kat thought but forced herself not to say it. Aunt Petunia never did anything for herself. She was too busy serving her husband and son. "She still watch Gilmore Girls? I'm a little behind, so I hope they put on a marathon soon."

Dudley nodded. "I'm sure the reruns are on somewhere… Look Kat, I'm sorry. For everything, not just the past few years. For Kat Catching and blaming things on you and laughing when Dad yelled at you or hit you." He turned to Draco. "And… Kat's fiancé, I'm sorry too."

Draco wrinkled his nose, reminding Kat of Narcissa at the World Cup before fourth year. "Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." His lips twitched when Kat covered her mouth to hide her smile. "And if I wasn't a half Veela, and Katherine wasn't capable of healing me, I would have died."

"Oh… Okay. I'm, er, sorry." Dudley glanced at Kat, who wanted to bang her head against the wall. Draco must assume that Muggles had folklore about Veela since they did about witches and wizards. At least it gave her the opportunity to change the subject and not think about the past.

"He turns in Big Bird and then fucks shit up," Kat said seriously while Draco eyed her suspiciously and Dudley leaned as far away from him as he could. At least Dudley still believed her no matter what. It never got old. "Forget it, Dudley. I forgive you. Draco just hates people without magic. It's racist if you ask me, but I love him, so what can I do?"

"Thank you, Katherine," Draco said dryly. "You always know how to paint me in the best light."

"When are you getting married?" Dudley asked politely, even though he was scared out of his mind. If he wasn't sitting, Kat knew he'd be covering his butt and backing into the wall.

"As soon as possible," Kat answered while Draco said at the same time, "In the spring."

"Spring?" Kat repeated, as if he said in ten years.

Draco held out his palms, face up, as if to say, What? That's perfectly reasonable. "Katherine, the guest list is at two hundred and climbing. And I'm sure it's going to take you a while to find a dress that won't make you the laughing stock of the wizarding world."

"I don't even know two hundred people!" Kat cried. "I don't even know fifty that I like!"

Draco smirked. "Okay. So the guest list is at two hundred and fifty and climbing." Kat's eyes popped out of her head. What the fuck? "It's my friends, their family, distant cousins, Father's business associates, the women and their families of Mother's book club, anyone we want to impress, Pansy offered to invite her cousins who have children so Edward doesn't get bored, and I'm sure you want to invite Krum and his Quidditch team. Father is estimating that once we complete the list, it'll be close to four hundred."

Kat wanted to throw up at the thought of saying her wedding vows in front of that many people. Numbly, she rose from her seat. "I guess I'll see you later, Dudders. You'll get an invitation if we can rent a hall big enough."

"A hall?" Draco knew she was freaking out and seemed to be enjoying this. "Mother was looking into renting a castle."

Kat hung her head as they walked out. She should have known this would happen. The Malfoys would probably have strokes if she suggested getting married at the courthouse…

"What did he mean by the servant under the stairs?" Draco asked later that night. They were lying in naked in bed together, so this was probably a bad time, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to ask for hours, but he was afraid of upsetting her.

Katherine tensed. "You have a funny memory… You don't remember Dudley's name, but you remember Piers effing Polkiss. And now you remember one little thing that Dudley said."

"It doesn't seem little." Draco kissed the top of her head, and she closed her eyes. She didn't say anything at first, making him think she was going to pretend to be asleep.

Finally, Katherine sat up with her chin on his chest. "I never told anyone about that. Not Sirius or Remus. Not even Hermione and Ron."

"What happened?" Uneasiness settled into Draco's chest. Knowing that she didn't have a good childhood and hearing about were two different things.

Katherine sat up completely and covered herself with the white sheet. "We'll never so much as spank our children, got it?"

"Yes…" Draco sat up too. She was starting to scare him. "I never intended to." If he ever did, he could tell by her tone that it wouldn't be pretty. "Severus told me he saw some things when he was trying to teach you Occlumency."

Katherine laughed bitterly. "I saw some of his memories too, and you don't see me telling his fucking sob stories."

"Hey, Katherine!" Draco put her hands on his shoulders to try to comfort her, but she looked away. "It's okay."

"Petunia and Vernon didn't think I was worthy of a room like Dudley." Katherine blushed and still wouldn't look at him. "So until I got my Hogwarts letter, they made me sleep in the cupboard under the stairs. And I did all the chores. Because I was lucky that they took me in."

Draco tried to picture the scrawny little girl he used to make fun of sleeping in a tiny cupboard. Servant under the stairs. She was treated like a house elf, almost as badly as Father used to treat theirs. "I'm sorry."

Katherine shrugged. "Uncle Vernon is dead. But I can't forgive either of them. Sometimes I like to pretend I just fell from the sky at eleven and landed at the train station with Hedwig on September 1st. I know it doesn't make sense. I just like to pretend it never happened."

"What about Dudley?" Draco asked. She said she couldn't forgive her aunt and uncle but teased her cousin like they were friends. They obviously had issues, but they didn't seem like unforgivable.

"Dudders?" Katherine smiled brightly. "He's just a bully like you."

With a sigh, Draco threw himself back on the bed. "Thanks."

Katherine laid next to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "I used to hate him. But when he almost died, I felt guilty about it. So I guess I didn't hate him as much as his parents. He's been spoiled rotten, and when kids know they can get away with it, they can be incredibly cruel."

"Like me?" He felt horrible when Katherine didn't say anything. "Who did you hate more growing up? Me or Dudley?"

"Gee, that's a tough one." Katherine snickered, trying to make a joke out of it to get out of truly answering.

"Katherine!"

She thinned her lips. "Is there a third option? Like Snape?"

"No." He supposed the answer was obvious since she didn't want to tell him. He was a royal prat as a child, but it still hurt. "I fancied you first year."

"First year I fancied Ron." Katherine giggled at the revolted look on his face. She fancied the Weasel! Absolutely disgusting… Cleary she had horrible taste before he came along. "And I hated you more because I loved Hogwarts so much, and I felt like sometimes you ruined it. But don't worry. I hated Snape more. And Umbridge and Flich. You slightly beat Pansy on the hatred scale though."

"I'm sure she'll be pleased." Draco snickered, remembering the last time Pansy was over. Last week, she just started wearing the engagement ring that Theo had hidden. Pansy said he was relieved and that he was secretly worried that she never got over Draco. "Oh and she said she wants the bridesmaids' dresses to be dark blue. She's sending you the ones she likes."

"Fuck her!" Katherine groaned. "Hermione is the maid of honor. Do you think she'll take care of it for me and tell Pansy she can be the barmaid or something?"

"No." Draco smiled when she whined. "Don't worry. Perhaps you'll get lucky and Pansy and Ginevra will fight to the death."

"Would you object to getting married at the Ministry tomorrow instead?" Katherine asked lightly, trying to act like it was no big deal.

"Sorry. I don't want to kill my mother." Draco shifted so he was on top of her. "We'll make a deal. Pansy is a bridesmaid, and you can pick where we go for the honeymoon."

Katherine scowled, but the Slytherin in her must not be willing to miss out on the opportunity. "But I get to pick what we eat for dinner at the reception."

I'd rather hear Severus giggle like a school girl, Draco thought. "You can pick an option for dinner. We'll have a menu because there will be so many people."

Katherine thought about it for a moment. Finally, she nodded. "Deal. Dino nuggets it is! Wait until I tell Teddy!"

Perhaps he had spoken too soon.

Kat wasn't lying to Draco when she said she went out to breakfast with Dudley a few weeks later. She did. What she didn't tell him was that she may have bought a wedding dress on the way home... He insisted that he had to help her pick it out, but Mrs. Weasley said that it was bad luck for him to see the dress before the wedding. Kat thought that they both already had enough bad luck to last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, she didn't expect Draco to be playing with Teddy when she got home that Sunday. The dress was zipped up in a bag, but he eyed it suspiciously as soon as she stepped through the floo.

"Hey!" Kat tried to act like she wasn't holding anything. It was hard, considering that when Teddy ran over to her and hugged her, she could only return it with one arm. "I didn't know you were coming over today."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Whenever you don't sleep over the Manor, I sleep over here…"

"I know…" Damn it! She had no time to hide the dress! "But, I didn't think you'd be here so soon."

"Edward agrees that we should celebrate your birthday early." Draco was looking at the bag instead of at her. "He wanted to go swimming."

"Oh cool." Kat started heading for her room as fast as her legs could carry her. "Let me just grab my bathing suit."

"What's in the bag?" Draco asked right before she reached the stairs.

Kat stopped at the foot of the stairs. He'd accio it if she tried to make a run for it! "Well… I may have bought an outfit. For a later date."

"How much later?" Fuck! He knew.

Reluctantly, Kat told him the date they decided on for the wedding. "May 10th."

There was a pause. The slight hesitation some have before they try to kill someone. "KATHERINE!"

Slowly, Kat turned around. "It's very pretty."

"I'll be the judge of that." Draco tried to snatch the dress out of her hand, but Kat back up several steps up so she was taller than him and held the dress up as high as she could. Since he knew she could out run him, he tried to be sweet. Or at least, that's what she thought. "Katherine, you know I love you dearly, but you have the fashion sense of a colorblind Weasley. And I added Weasley to the description because I knew it would be an insult to colorblind people."

Kat took another step back. "The saleswoman agreed that it was pretty."

"What are the odds that someone who gets commission would agree with you?" Draco drawled. "Let me see the dress."

Hopefully a compromise will solve things. "I'll let your mum see me in it."

"She's excited for the wedding. She'd approve of you wearing a paper bag." Draco made to grab the dress again, but Kat leaned away so he couldn't reach. Narcissa wouldn't do that. He just wanted to get his way. "Are you really going to be difficult about this?"

"I'll let your mum see it." Before he could try to take it again, Kat spun around and darted up the stairs to put it in her closet. She put up every ward she knew so not even Sirius, the magical owner of the house, could take it. That's what Draco gets for wanting the wedding to be so far away.

Wanna see Kat's dress before Draco? It's called Simple White And Green Bow Sweetheart A-line Wedding Dress WQ572. Try goggling it, and it should come up since that's what the dress was called on the website. (I didn't want to send you guys to a site that I'm not familiar with.) The model has her hands behind her back and white dangly earrings, so if it doesn't come up, please tell me so I can delete the author's note! :)

I think someone wanted Kat to flip out on Dudley. I didn't write it like that because I feel like Kat enabled him a little bit. Not by trying to get him help, but she did hang around with a lot of people who were triggers for him, and she wasn't always sober herself. Personally, I think her getting an apology is better.

Thanks for the review gr8rockstarrox! I did fix all the mistakes I could find in the last chapter. My problem is that sometimes I read sentences in my head like they're supposed to be, so I don't always see typos!

Next chapter, Mr. Zabini will finally make his grand appearance! ;)