Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 17 Cut Off

"No, Sirius! You can't have bacon!" Katherine yelled up the stairs as she made Black breakfast in bed. It was late March, and Black had made a full recovery, but she was still worried about him, especially since the engagement party was coming up.

Draco tried to ignore the fact that she was making Black pancakes but said he couldn't have bacon. He snaked his arm around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "So I was thinking that tonight, we could sneak back to the Manor."

"We'll go back after the wedding." She flipped a pancake and ignored him when he kissed her neck. At Grimmauld, she didn't feel comfortable having sex, so he had been cut off for nearly a month.

"We should lock your door tonight," he whispered in her ear. "Or as soon as you're done cooking."

Katherine squirmed. "No. Sirius doesn't like it when I have sex in the house. It's why I moved out the first time."

Draco scowled. It was too hard not to get jealous of her past, especially since they weren't doing it now. For revenge, he let her go and picked up the plate of bacon she just fried up, "I'm giving the whole plate to Black."

"No!" Katherine turned off the stove, but it was too late. He was already halfway up the stairs. "He can't have fatty foods!" she yelled as she chased him. "I read it on the computer at the library!"

Draco stopped outside Black's door. "Then we'll go out tonight? All night?"

Katherine paused and almost gave in, but unfortunately for him, Black's bedroom door was open. Before she could agree, a giant black dog knocked him over and took the plate. "SIRIUS!" she screamed as the dog started wolfing down the bacon like he hadn't eaten in days. "SIRIUS! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER HEART ATTACK!"

Draco sighed as Lupin started yelling at Black and trying to tell Katherine that because of the potions Black didn't have any diet restrictions at the same time. It didn't matter. Katherine was going to blame him, so he would be lucky to have sex on the honeymoon.

Because they were dunderheads and still had a lot of planning to do, Lupin asked Severus to drop off the months' supply of both their potions. Severus decided to charge them double just because he could. At this rate, he'd be able to retire soon because of these idiots.

He flooed into their sitting room, fully prepared to start an argument with Black and say something about the dog's health to scare Katherine. What he didn't expect was to be confronted with the boy.

The child was playing with a toy car and stopped when he heard the floo. "Drake?"

"Unfortunately no," Severus said dryly. "Where is your Father? The stupid one."

The boy frowned and his hair turned bright red. "Dad said you eats kittens."

Severus rolled his eyes. "Yes. That one. The other doesn't have two sickles to rub together."

Edward wrinkled his nose, and his hair turned an odd green color, which Severus took for a sign of confusion. "Daddy says you fixed Dad up. How?"

"Medicine." Severus glared at the staircase. First Dumbledore was foolish enough to entrust him with children, and now Black and Lupin were. "Retrieve him for me. Or he won't get it."

"Was Dad gonna go to heben with Mummy?" Edward stared at him and seemed too worried to bother changing his hair. Severus assumed that he had overheard something he shouldn't have. "Because Daddy said he jus' didn't feel good."

Typical Lupin danced around the subject, Severus thought. He was tempted to be blunt, just to spite Lupin and Black. Unfortunately, Katherine's graduation picture caught his eye. Lily's eyes smiled at him. "He didn't feel well," Severus corrected. "And he'll get sick again if he doesn't buy his potion, Edward, so I think you should go fetch him."

Edward tensed and ran off. He didn't return, but Black did and was already suspicious. "What did you say to him?"

"That I do in fact eat kittens," Severus drawled. Black laughed awkwardly but as expected, wasn't ashamed in the slightest. "Tell Lupin to drink the blue potion an hour before the full moon. I believe it will ease the transition."

"I believe that Remus is turning into your Guinea pig," Black mumbled. He rubbed at the back of his head, not sure how to have a conversation with him that wasn't hostile. "… So you didn't tell him that I could've died?"

Severus shoved the bag of potions at Black, suddenly wanting to leave. "He's Lupin's spawn, not mine. I don't care how much you fuck him up."

"Thanks Snape. That really means a lot." Black almost smiled. To Severus's horror, he actually tried to be friendly. "Kat got mad at me this morning and told me she's naming a child after you. Especially if he looks like James. So can you do me a favor and tell her I can eat bacon?"

Severus stared until Black started to become uncomfortable. Then, he stared some more. "Send a thousand galleons to my account Black. I'm leaving before you become any more disgusting."

"Six more weeks, I'm so excited!" Katherine growled excitedly at their engagement party. They were dancing to very soft, classical music, so her childishly loud declaration turned a few heads.

"Are we still sleeping at Grimmauld tonight?" Draco asked grumpily, not even caring that Pansy was giving him a look of pity as she danced past him because of who he was marrying. Why did Katherine have to press herself so close to him? She couldn't still be upset about the bacon incident, could she?

"Yes," she said stubbornly. Her bright green eyes slid to the doors. "You have an hour until cake, Mr. Malfoy. Use it well."

They were out of the ballroom before he could say Quidditch.

Kat figured Draco must've wanted round two because he kissed her in places that made her legs turn to jelly, but she didn't want anyone to start looking for them, so she was evil and left his room to go to the bathroom to clean up. After opening the door, she came rushing back in half a minute.

"Guess who's in our bathroom? Guess what they were doing?!" Kat yelled excitedly. She had to tell Draco before—

Ron rushed in and zipped up his pants before skidding in the doorway. "Kat! If you consider me your brother, you won't finish that sentence!"

Draco narrowed his eyes at Ron and sat up to a sitting position. "Weasley… What were you doing in my home?"

Kat could barely hold in her laughter when Astoria Greengrass came in. Ron's ears turned scarlet when she wiped her mouth before speaking. "Don't tell Daphne, Draco!"

Draco gaped like an idiot. He once told Katherine he saw the other girl as a little sister. "Storia!"

Astoria cupped her hands together and started begging. "Please don't tell her! I'll do anything!"

"I'm telling everyone!" Kat smiled widely when Ron glared at her. He had yet to date anyone since Hermione, so she knew she should be supportive, but it was George's birthday, so she had to make his day by humiliating Ron. "It'll be in the paper! Ron Weasley the War Hero gets a blowjob from Astoria Greengrass."

Kat almost felt bad when she realized Astoria thought she was being serious. Almost. "Please! Please don't! Daphne scares off all my boyfriends! And he's funny and kind and clever—"

"How much have you had to drink, Storia?" Draco asked the second she called Ron clever.

"I haven't had any!" Astoria swore. "We met at the Cannons game last week. C'mon Draco! I never thought I'd meet another Cannons fan!"

"This is the best day of my life," Kat announced, causing Ron to flip her off.

"Katherine!" Draco rubbed at his eyes as if he could rub away the memory of what he just saw. "Get cleaned up! The four of us are going downstairs and acting like this never happened!"

"Thank you, Draco!" Astoria cried while Kat couldn't help but sulk when she ran over to the bed and hugged him. No one would believe her if Draco, Ron, and Astoria said she was lying. He was her fiancé! The least he could do is back her up.

"You should have been there," Kat whined to George as they watched Draco dance with his mother.

Angelina raised an eyebrow before passing Fred Jr. to George so she could eat. "If he was with you and Malfoy in his bedroom, I'd have to reevaluate our relationship."

"Gelly." George smirked because he knew she hated being called that. "You know you're the only woman for me." He pretended to check Draco out. "However—"

Angelina slapped his shoulder. "Oh, stop it. Kat, leave Ron alone. I doubt he'll be able to find another woman who will willingly watch a Chudley Cannons game."

"Oh come on!" Kat whined. "She wiped her mouth! Because Ron exp—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll tell Sirius that you weren't really looking for a shawl because you were cold," Angelina warned. "There's a child present."

Kat snorted. "He can't understand."

"I'm sure Sirius would like to know what took you so long." Angelina rose from her seat, and George gave Kat a look that said, It's your funeral, mate.

Kat sighed dramatically. "Fine."

"I haven't seen Ginny since…" Katherine sighed, and Draco felt guilty for not telling her what he suspected. It had to be a touchy subject for Ginevra, so he felt that it definitely wasn't his right. "I haven't spoken to her, but I still want her at the wedding."

They were lying in her bed at Grimmauld, and Edward was asleep between them. Draco laughed quietly when his hair turned from bright red to bubblegum pink. "She's not a child, Katherine. You can't make her do something. Although I'm sure she'll regret it if she doesn't attend."

Katherine sighed and hugged Edward, hiding half her face in his spikey pink hair. "She's been in love with me since she was eleven."

Draco tensed. So Katherine knew. For years. "Are you sure?"

"I think that's why she wanted me with Charlie. She hated every guy I ever dated, but she couldn't hate one of her brothers." She eyed him cautiously. "Does it make you hate her more or less?"

"Neither," Draco muttered. "It's not my fault, so she shouldn't take it out on me. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I've never told anyone." Katherine tried to shrug it off. "Not even her. I don't want to actually reject her. She's my friend and talking to her about it will hurt her."

"You should tell her." Draco dropped his voice to a whisper when Edward stirred. "Because I don't think she's going to come to the wedding unless you do."

Katherine wouldn't meet his eye. He could tell she wanted to get out of it and was already dreading it. He also knew that she saw that he was right. "I will."

A week later, she and Draco agreed to have their picture taken for The Daily Prophet to officially announce they were getting married. Kat only did it because she was tired of Rita Skeeter publishing articles saying that Draco was having an affair with Hermione and was going to leave her at the altar.

But she was still excited to see the pictures! It wasn't everyday she was willingly in the newspaper. Draco wasn't too eager to see them though because she used that potion to flatten out her hair, and he was still sore about it, so she went to see the sample by herself. It was ready three weeks later, and Kat wanted to see what took so long. Maybe the reporter had trouble deciding what to write.

"What the hell is this?" Kat spat once she saw the sample edition of the paper. This looked nothing like her!

The publisher pretended to have no idea what she was talking about. "You don't like it? It's scheduled to be released tomorrow morning."

At first, Kat was speechless, and that caused the publisher to think she got over it. Once he started up on his typewriter, she snapped, "Print this and I'll sue you."

Katherine was in a foul mood. Even Edward steered clear of her. Draco wasn't sure what to do. He tried to cheer her up with Chinese food, and she flipped out on him and refused to talk to him until the next morning. All Draco knew what that he didn't want to be called a "racist ferret faced snob" again.

This went on for nearly a week before he found out what was the matter. It was almost two in the morning, and Draco woke up to an empty bed. When there was no sign of her in the bathroom, he found her in the kitchen eating peanut butter straight out of the jar. "Katherine?"

"I haf eberone." Katherine scowled and washed the peanut butter down with milk that she was drinking straight out of the carton. "I hate everyone."

"Even me?" Draco asked while he made a mental note not to drink milk until a new carton was bought.

Katherine mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Especially you." She took a rumpled piece of newspaper out of her robe pocket and handed it to him. "They hardly changed you."

Draco squinted at the picture. This must be the picture for The Daily Prophet. It took him a minute to realize the image was magically altered. Katherine's waist was smaller, her arms were a little bit thinner while her breasts were larger, and her hair was longer. He was a little more muscular and less pale. "Oh."

"Your nose is less ferret-like." He had a feeling that Katherine said that to make herself feel better. He had an aristocratic nose. "I told them if they printed it, I'd sue them. Then I threw a vase and stormed out."

"So what's the problem?" Draco dared to ask. No one was going to see it, and she got to damage their property. After nearly a week, he would've thought she would've gotten over it by now.

Katherine pointed at the photograph. "I want to look like this. So I've tried to go on a diet, but every night, I fail miserably." She glared at the empty peanut butter jar as if it were its fault that she devoured its contents. "Last night, it was strawberries… And I poured chocolate whipped cream in my mouth straight from the can."

Draco felt his lips twitch with the effort not to laugh. "I don't think you need to go on a diet… Unless you keep this one up."

"Ha, ha, ha. You're so funny, Mr. Malfoy," she said in a whiny voice. She took another swig of the milk before being serious. "Are you sure?"

Draco wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. "Yes. By some miracle, you aren't fat... You're beautiful. Much more than that freaky looking picture."

"You have to say that because you're going to marry me in two weeks." But she smiled anyway. "No wonder I was getting on Sirius's nerves. Diets are no fun."

"No wonder you were so angry with me." Draco pulled her up from her seat to try to lead her back to bed. "You were having sugar withdrawal."

"Hey!" Katherine stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Just because I gave up cookies, ice cream, and chocolate for five days and was a little testy doesn't mean I'm addicted to sugar."

It was rather difficult not to comment on the "little" part. Draco pretended to think about her statement. "What do I get if I agree?"

Katherine smiled brightly. "Chocolate chip waffles for breakfast."

"Sorry, darling, I'm going to have to pass."

"Jerk."

Before her honeymoon, Kat had to make sure the community center stayed on its feet. Therefore, she rounded up a few senior Business majors from Hermione's college to be interns for her. She had Teddy to help her out, although Hermione insisted he was there to make sure she didn't scare anyone off. Kat didn't know what Hermione was talking about. She was supposed to help them be prepared for adulthood. Everyone had to have a mean boss at least once.

"I won't hesitate to fire you," Kat said as Teddy handed out lollipops to soften the blow. "I don't care about you. I care about this place. And I won't feel guilty about firing you and delaying your graduation. You do your job or you won't get the damn credits." She put a sickle in the swear jar when Teddy held it up to her. "Any questions?"

One of the interns raised her hand. "The college's policy is that you're supposed to give us two warnings before you fire us."

Kat raised her eyebrows. "Are you going to need two warnings, Simmons?" The girl shook her head frantically. "Because if you make it through the summer semester, I'll also give you a letter of recommendation, and you can list me as a reference. But you have to survive the summer with me. And I'm as crazy as Rita Skeeter says. So, anymore questions?"

No one said anything. Kat didn't know what Hermione was talking about. She was a great boss. Not even the slightest bit obnoxious like she said. She couldn't wait to tease her with the horror stories. "Okay, Teddy Bear. Let's give them the tour."

"Dis way!" Teddy started leading them to the indoor field. "We keep the bludgers in the back! They don't get along with the snitches!"

Now that that was settled, all she had to do was talk to Ginny and then she could get married. Kat sighed as she glanced at the picture of her, Ginny, and Hermione after they graduated from Hogwarts. Ginny was hugging her so tightly that Kat remembered that it was hard to breathe. If only it was as easy as it sounded.

The next chapter is the wedding! I was thinking of ending this after the wedding and doing a sequel, but so far, I'm leaning towards keeping this one big fic. :)

A bit of a timeline in case it isn't clear- 1998-1999 Kat, Ginny, and Hermione graduate, 1999- 2000 The Death Eater trials start, Kat is rejected for the second time from the auror academy, and Ginny and Kat stopped speaking because of Kat letting the Malfoys and Snape get off without sentences

Thanks for the review gr8rockstarrox! No, Ginny and Kat were never together. I could see Kat being curious, but if she did experiment, I think it would be too cruel for her to do it with Ginny, knowing how Ginny feels. Being a lesbian is something Ginny struggles with, which I will address in the next chapter. She never felt comfortable telling anyone.