Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine.

Chapter 24 Tense

Kat would never say so out loud, but she secretly always wanted Aunt Petunia to be her mum. The first time she remembered desperately wanting it was when she was about six. She had had a fever, and Aunt Petunia thought she was asleep. Thinking no one was around to witness her actions, her aunt tucked her into bed and put a cool towel on her forehead. Kat hadn't dared open her eyes at the time, but she convinced herself that Aunt Petunia was watching her worriedly, that putting the towel on her head was a simple gesture of love.

"You weren't her," Aunt Petunia said quietly with hardly any emotion in her voice. The words were barely above a whisper, but they broke Kat from her thoughts as if they were screamed in her ear, causing her to jump. "You smiled like her, laughed like her… But you weren't her."

Kat bit her lip and started playing with her food. She had expected… She had hoped that Aunt Petunia would finally admit to being jealous of Lily, that she had forced herself not to love her sister's only child. "So it's my fault."

Aunt Petunia didn't confirm her words, but she didn't deny them either, making Kat feel as small as a mouse. "And I knew. I knew you were going to leave, just like her. You were going to die, just like her." Aunt Petunia turned away from her. "Why would I waste my time?"

"But…" Kat would never be able to understand Aunt Petunia. Someone like Hermione or Remus would look deeper into her words. They would say that Aunt Petunia was afraid of getting hurt again, not wasting her time. Maybe Aunt Petunia made her too small to be able to see it that way. "But you're supposed to… I'm going to be a mum."

"Clearly," Aunt Petunia snapped coldly. Her eyes flickered to Kat's wedding ring, and she detected a hint of surprise. "I think it's time you left, Katherine."

The simple dismissal made Kat want to explode. "You were supposed to protect me!" she screamed as she subconsciously leaned away from Uncle Vernon's empty place at the table. "You were supposed to make me feel safe! You-you were supposed to be my mum!"

"No!" Aunt Petunia spat, becoming more defensive by the second. "She was supposed to be your mother! He was supposed to be your father! Vernon didn't know how to handle your kind! And frankly, I didn't either. It was a blessing when you went off to that freak school!"

"It wouldn't have been that hard," Kat said in defeat. Her voice was thick with unshed tears. "I just wanted you."

"You just wanted her," Aunt Petunia corrected sharply. "I don't know what you're looking for, Katherine, but I don't have it. And I don't know what Albus Dumbledore was thinking either. Because I never did."

Draco wasn't satisfied with Hermione's answer, so, stupidly, he went over to Black and Lupin's once he was sure Edward was asleep. Hopefully Lily Potter had some property that Katherine was hiding at. His mother-in-law was the only clue he had, and he knew next to nothing about her.

"Get the fuck out!" Black snapped the moment he flooed into the library. As Hermione said the other day, they were trying to find a tracking spell that didn't require months' worth of potion making along with it.

"Sirius!" Lupin chided, but he sounded so exhausted that he could barely raise his voice. "He's her husband."

"Not for long," Black growled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco shot back before he could stop himself. They didn't have time for this.

"It's not just you," Black said hatefully. "It's everything about you. Your traditions, your history, your family. She doesn't belong with you. You expect her to live in a house where Muggles were tortured and murdered, with people who would spit on her mudblood mother's grave if it wasn't for the fucking Veela bond! How are the portraits at the Manor taking the end of the Malfoy family's place with the Sacred Twenty Eight? How are you going to explain it to your daughter when she gets called a filthy halfblood by good old Abraxas's portrait? Are you going to say, Why don't you ask Mummy? I don't let her do anything besides stay in the house all day, so I'm sure she could use something to do."

"It's not like that!" Draco screamed. After the past few days, he couldn't stop himself from starting to shift. Black looked eager, like he was waiting for it.

"Sirius." The sound of her voice seemed to stop everything. Draco whipped around hopefully, but only saw her Patronus. The stag shifted its hooves nervously. "Can-can you come get me? At the place… The place where we first met after you got out of Azkaban."

"Where are you going?" Draco demanded as Black started running out of the library and heading for the stairs. Lupin exhaled in relief and sank into the nearest chair.

"If she wanted you to know, she would have said!" Black roared as Draco tried to run past him to block the front door. He elbowed Draco in the ribs when they were halfway down the stairs. "Go home! She obviously doesn't want to see you!"

Draco doubled over and started coughing. Black hit him so hard that he slammed into the wall. He swore loudly when he heard the pop of apparition.

Kat felt like an idiot. She only called Sirius when she could make herself stop crying and sat on the swings while waiting for him. He would know not to bring anyone.

Like she hadn't been missing for days, he casually sat next to her on the swings a few minutes after she sent the Patronus. Kat closed her eyes and waited for him to start yelling. Instead, he put his arm around her shoulders. "You okay, Kitty Kat? Remus was really worried."

Kat smiled sadly. It used to get on her nerves that he sometimes tried to pretend his own feelings were Remus's. "I'm sorry, Padfoot. I… I don't think I can be a good mum."

"Don't listen to Malfoy." Sirius sighed and got up to help her off the swing. They slowly started walking away from Number Four, Privet Drive. "And you're wrong too. If you can't be a good mum because you can't remember Lily, then I guess that makes me a crummy dad. My dad couldn't even remember my birthday half the time. He'd just sit there reading the paper when my mum would hex me."

"Yeah but…" Kat frowned when she felt one of the babies kick her ribs and coughed before continuing. "But you had my dad's dad. I didn't like spending time with Mrs. Weasley after I thought you died. Face it, Padfoot. I'm selfish. I'm irresponsible. I… I can't do this."

"You're going to be a great mum." Sirius stopped walking and put his hands on her shoulders. "And Petunia Dursley certainly does not get to be the deciding factor. You're the one who decides, and you aren't alone in this either, Kat… Teddy has been telling everyone that he's the baby's godfather. He's named her Dora. I can't tell if it's after Nymphy or that weird cartoon he likes…"

Kat tried to smile but immediately burst into tears. Sirius hugged and told her everything was going to be alright. She had to force herself to belief him.

Black wouldn't let him see her. Since Katherine was letting him, when Draco finally saw her the next morning, he got angry, and they fought. He didn't say how worried he was about her or how sorry he was. He called her selfish and cruel, and she responded by saying that she wished she never married him. They stopped speaking for another week, but Katherine eventually sent him a peace offering by allowing him to pick Edward up from his last day of summer camp.

"Drake?" Edward asked once the ice cream was gone, and he ran out of the day's stories. "How comed you don't come over anymore?"

It was rather tempting to offer him more ice cream. He could only imagine what Black told him. Draco couldn't stop himself from asking, "What does Katherine say about it?"

Edward frowned and his hair turned an odd grey color. "She doesn't say. Dad said she's grounded for running away and can't have boys in her room no mores. Daddy says she sad."

So Black didn't tell him. Draco didn't know why he was surprised. The man was beyond immature, but Edward was only just about to start school. "I made her sad."

Edward's eyes widened like he couldn't belief his ears. "You better say sorry!" he said loudly. When Draco didn't respond, he yelled, "You have to! Or-or you aren't my friend no more!"

Draco forced himself to smile. If only it were that easy. "I will."

Kat was tired of Sirius hinting that she should get a divorce but wasn't ready to see Draco yet. She felt guilty about it, especially when the babies were particularly active, but she needed a break. She also needed someone to goof around with, someone who wasn't pushing her to act. Lunch with Ron should do the trick.

"Hey!" The second she walked over to his desk, Kat had to say she was certainly distracted. She snatched up the picture off his desk and waved it in the air. "Why the hell did you frame the newspaper headline of me being called a pregnant blast ended shrewt?!"

Ron grabbed his lunch and looked over at the photograph before shrugging. "I had to replace the picture of us at graduation. Hermione kissed me in it. Astoria doesn't like her picture taken, so what else could I use?"

"Literally anything else!" Kat glared at the black and white picture of her taking Teddy out for ice cream. It had to be doctored. She didn't waddle like that.

"What? It's funny." Ron chuckled to himself as if to prove the point. Gently, he pried the picture from her fingers and put it back on his desk. "Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just have to look at it, and I feel ten times better."

"Your girlfriend is pregnant too!" Kat hissed, but again, Ron merely shrugged. "You're such a jerk."

"That's special agent jerk to you." Ron's ears turned pink when Kat perked up. He got the promotion! "So I only have half an hour for lunch. There are riots in Azkaban that I have to check out."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kat squeaked.

"Actually…" Ron laughed awkwardly. "My first case without supervision was trying to find you. I found you by the way, after interviewing your cousin. But Neville and I decided you needed to be there, so we only told our boss, who agreed."

He didn't even tell Remus or Sirius? Kat didn't think he, or anyone for that matter, was that loyal. She wasn't entirely sure if it was good that he was. The only thing she learned was that she couldn't count on Aunt Petunia to help her, which she honestly already knew. "Thanks?"

Ron shrugged like it was nothing. "The riots are also about you. Sort of. The Malfoy spawn leeching off you. The Death Eaters aren't too happy about the Sacred Twenty Eight becoming the Sacred Twenty Seven. There's a hit out on Lucius for "allowing" it."

"What a shame," Kat said dryly. "Do you know who's behind it yet?"

"Confidential." Ron cracked a smile. "Neville's going undercover with Polyjuice." If she wasn't mistaken, he looked a little disappointed. "I would go, but we don't know how long this is going to take. So I'm taking turns with the other guys following him around under a cloak."

"Poor Won-Won." Kat pinched his cheek when he scowled. "Are you jealous that Neville gets to take shits with the Lestrange brothers and not you?"

"You know me, always dreaming big." They started walking to the lunch room in silence until Ron asked what Kat knew he was itching to since she arrived. "So… Do you want me to beat him up?"

Kat smiled sadly. "No. I got this."

"Damn." But Ron left it at that and spent the rest of lunch telling her about his new responsibilities as a special agent. He was the greatest friend anyone could ask for.

Things were tense. August was coming to an end, and they still were living separately. Hermione reluctantly told him that Black wanted them to divorce. Katherine refused, thankfully, but they still barely spoke when he took her out to dinner every night this week. He mostly got baby updates and the occasional story about Edward. It took nearly a week for him to get a laugh out of her. He was going to pretend that it was intentional…

"Pansy and Theo are going to name their son Herb." Draco frowned when she froze with her fork to her open mouth. "What? They can hardly name him Rose."

"Herb?" she repeated. Her face broke into the first smile he had seen in ages. "What is up with Slytherins and old people names?" He raised his eyebrows when she laughed so hard she snorted. "Herb and Aster. Sounds like the perfect eighty year old couple."

Draco tried not to smile as she continued to laugh so loudly that people around them were starting to stare. As she calmed down, he couldn't help asking, "Do you still love me?"

She immediately sobered up and seemed to scrutinize his every feature. Relief flooded through him when she said, "Of course I do. Do you think I'm here for the weird French food?"

"No." He looked down at her belly but quickly looked away. He felt like he was missing so much because he only saw her for an hour or two a day. "You're here for them."

Katherine shook her head and drummed her nails against the table. "If I didn't love you, we would be trying to work out a visitation schedule."

"But we aren't ready to live together again?" Draco's heart sunk when she shook her head again. At least she was honest with him.

Lupin, Black, and Edward rented a beach house for two weeks, so Draco could go to Grimmauld without Black staring at him like he was the Dark Lord's son. He was a little annoyed that Katherine didn't tell him until halfway through the first week but tried not to say anything. She might be afraid of spending more than a few hours with him.

She put on what she informed him was her favorite movie as soon as he arrived. Mulan, she said it was called. Draco was tempted to ask her to turn it off, but she leaned into him as soon as he sat on the couch and let him wrap his arms around her, so he was glad he didn't.

"I love the cricket," she whispered. Draco wondered if she was actually watching it, because the stupid cricket was nowhere in this scene. "… Do you want to sleep over tonight? We'll have to buy you a new toothbrush. Sirius stuck yours in Kreacher's ear."

"When is he going to let Mother take that poor elf?" Draco muttered. He kissed the top of her head and smelled the sweet scent of her shampoo. "I will if you want me to."

Katherine sighed, looked down, and then craned her neck forward to get a better view of her feet, which she had rested on the coffee table. "You might not fit."

"I think I'll manage." Draco never thought he'd be looking forward to her rolling on top of him and snoring in his ear.

He thought he heard a small laugh, so he should have known what was coming when Katherine turned around and looked him dead in the eye. "You have to leave by morning though because I have a date with Neville."

She sounded so serious that Draco's heart stopped and dropped to his feet. It took him a second to see the laughter in her eyes. "I hate you."

"I…" Katherine started laughing so hard that she could barely speak. Apparently his terrified, heartbroken face was just that funny. "I-I haven't felt like I could mess with you in such a long time!"

"Pity," he muttered.

She stopped laughing and did her best to look serious. "He turned me down. Said something about only dating pregnant chicks if the baby is his. I think his standards are too high."

"Yes, he'll never get himself a girlfriend at this rate." Draco held his breath when she leaned in to kiss him. When was the last time they kissed? Her lips barely brushed against his when she tensed.

Katherine backed away and grabbed his hand before he could ask what was wrong. "Can you feel this?!" She placed his hand on her left side, where he believed his son was. "Teddy claimed he could the other day, but I thought he might just be saying it because he knew it was what I wanted."

Draco almost said that he couldn't, but nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt something, someone, press against his palm. "Oh my God…"

"Really?" Katherine looked happier than he had seen her in a long time, and it only made Draco feel terrible. "Soon we'll be able to see their little feet pushing through! Can you believe they'll be here in less than four months?"

No. Draco swallowed at a lump in his throat. "Katherine, I'm so sorry." She blinked like didn't know what he was talking about. "For saying those things to you. I love you."

She didn't say it back. The other day she said she did, but she didn't actually say the words. "It's okay…" It clearly wasn't because she turned away from him. "It's more that I miss my parents than what you said."

"Don't…" Draco took a deep breath. For some reason, he was having a hard time getting through the apology even though he knew he was completely in the wrong. "I was scared, and I overreacted."

"It's okay," Katherine repeated. "Fine. It's not okay. But I feel like I really need you right now."

Draco kissed her temple, and she turned to him and leaned into the crook of his neck. The other week, Hermione told him that her healers gave her a mild anti-depressant potion, but she only took one dose because it made her nervous about its effect on the babies. He had wanted to go see her, but Hermione said she was a nervous wreck over the one dose, and it was best not to freak her out more. He should have been able to tell her that everything was going to be alright. "I love you."

There was a pause that felt like an hour instead of a few seconds. "I love you too."

Kat somehow managed to sleep through all the pushes against her ribs and bladder and turns until six in the morning. She wondered how Draco was able to since she woke up half sprawled on top of him. When she realized what woke her up, she broke out in a cold sweat.

"Draco!" she hissed, shaking him roughly before he had a chance to respond. "Wake up!"

He snapped his eyes open and started looking around. "What? Is it Black?"

"No!" She sat up and put her hand on the bottom of her belly. "It feels really tight here, and then it relaxes."

"What does that mean?" he asked so slowly that Kat wanted to smack him.

"It means take me to the hospital, you git!"

It was too soon! They wouldn't be able to breathe! Kat was so scared that she felt like she was going to throw up. When they got to the front desk, and the receptionist gave them forms to fill out, she immediately became a sniveling, sobbing mess.

Draco, who was as white as a ghost, glanced at her before starting a verbal assault on the poor receptionist who barely looked at him. "This is a fucking emergency room!" he barked. "My wife is losing—It doesn't matter! Someone see her before I sue this place for all its worth!"

"Ho-hospital policy states—" She squeaked and hopped out of her seat when his talons scraped against and actually cracked the wood of her desk. "Right this way, sir."

Kat had never been so embarrassed in her life. The whole time she was in the emergency room, she thought her water was going to break any minute like in the movies. Healer Embers swooped in with her usual chirpiness after an agonizing fifteen minutes.

"It's false labor!" she announced cheerfully after a few swishes of her wand. "Nothing to worry about! As long as it's painless, it's just your body getting ready for the big day! Did you know it's possible to feel false labor as early as eight weeks into the pregnancy?"

"No…" Maybe it was time to start reading the books Hermione gave her instead of watching the telly all day… Kat looked guilty at Draco, who seemed to be just catching his breath. She had to give him credit for getting her checked into the emergency room so fast. He even dared to pick her up to put her in the wheelchair in the waiting room. All for nothing…

"So she's alright? And the babies?" Draco pressed while Kat wanted to crawl under a rock. While they were waiting for the healer, she was crying hysterically and saying that her babies weren't going to be able to breathe, if they were going to be born alive at all. She probably scared the crap out of him.

"Perfect." Embers smiled brightly. "Any ideas for names yet?"

"No." Kat heaved herself off the examination table and only felt more embarrassed when Draco rushed over to help her. "I-I think we should go."

"Are you okay?" Draco asked once they returned to Grimmauld. He wanted Katherine to stay at the hospital until the false contractions ceased, but it was clear that she was too embarrassed, and he didn't want to risk an argument right now. He tried to ignore his nerves when she took a deep breath and rubbed circles over her belly and stiffly sat next to her on the couch. "I can get the healer to come over here."

Katherine shook her head and fidgeted in her seat. "Make sure your parents don't come over. I'm sure it's in the papers that the blast ended shrewt's ready to blow."

"What?" Draco asked before realizing what she was talking about. The next time he saw a beetle, he was going to smash it. He bit his lip when he saw her stomach muscles tense again. "We should go back."

She shook her head, and her face turned a shade pinker. "It doesn't hurt. It just feels really weird. Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize." Draco sat next to her on the couch and pulled her into a hug. "It's been a stressful… month. We'll just relax for a while, okay? You don't have to see my parents yet."

"I don't think I can forgive your dad," Katherine admitted. Draco wanted to protest but knew he couldn't. The two of them never liked each other, and he knew Father couldn't care less about her absence in the Manor. Mother on the other hand…

"Draco!" she cried out from the floo. Katherine groaned at the sound of her voice. "People are saying Katherine had a stillborn—"

"Everything's fine, Mother!" Draco called out so she could hear him. Katherine absolutely was rigid next to him. "I'll see you next week."

"Next week!" she yelled, but Draco pointed his wand at the fireplace and doused the flames with a water charm. Katherine was too vulnerable right now. His parents could wait.

Whenever she and Daphne snuck into the gym after it closed, Ginny was always worried about getting caught, but after having her girlfriend wallow in self-pity for weeks, she was happy to do something besides drink and listen to slurred speeches about how horrible Ron is. Daphne had left that day at the shower mostly without a fight because she thought Astoria would beg for forgiveness a few days later. So far, Ginny had yet to notice Astoria do more than look sad at the mention of her sister.

"All our friends are breeding," Daphne said with distaste as she slowly swam around Ginny. "We need new ones. They're going to be awfully boring soon. More than they've already become."

You mean Kat and Pansy remind you too much of Astoria right now, Ginny thought dryly. She was leaning against the corner of the gym's pool. The rest of the Harpies were long gone, and the only lights that were on were the ones at the edges of the pool. Daphne shifted so that she was floating on her back.

"Well Blaise and Hermione don't want kids." Ginny smiled as Daphne pretended not to hear her. "Hermione isn't as boring as she seems. Just don't ask her anything related to academics."

"I don't mind her." Daphne kept her eyes on the ceiling. "Blaise thinks he's better than me."

"You mean more frightening," Ginny said as she swam over to Daphne. "Don't worry. I don't think he is."

Daphne shivered and closed her eyes as Ginny ghosted her finger tips over her back. She took a deep breath and flipped around to dive into the water before coming up to face her. "I'd prefer an older child. If we were to have one. Older than Lupin's."

Ginny raised an eyebrow, wondering if this was a distraction to make sure the conversation didn't head back to Astoria. At least Mum wasn't around to witness it. She was already not so subtly asking if Daphne and her were going to get a flat together. "I'm twenty two."

"Relax, Ginevra. It's a fantasy. Ever heard of one?" Like a hungry shark, Daphne started swimming closer to Ginny with a predatory look in her eyes until she had backed back into the corner of the pool. Ginny's breath hitched when Daphne stood up and pressed her body against hers. "We would go to his Quidditch games. Be pulled into McGonagall's office when he gets caught sleeping in Binns's class. Spy on him during his first date and get caught on purpose just to embarrass him."

"Something's wrong with you," Ginny said breathlessly as Daphne's lips brushed against her jaw. "You're even mean to our fake son."

"Don't act like you wouldn't go with me." Daphne laughed softly in her ear. "You would just pretend that it was all my idea."

"Because it is!" So much for getting her to apologize to Ron… That was another thing Mum was hinting at. She also wanted Ron to accept the gifts from the other shower. Ginny was having a hard time focusing on that though and was tempted to tell Mum that it wasn't her problem.

"He won't look anything like us," Daphne went on. "Some parents want their adopted brats to look like them. I think that's rubbish. If I wanted a kid that looked like us, I'd get Draco to get you up the duff. I'm not dealing with shit and vomit on my clothes just for a blonde child."

Ginny tried to pretend to shudder in disgust but only wound up shaking with laughter. "I don't want anything of Malfoy's inside me. Plus Kat would claw our eyes out… And possibly try to steal him. She loves babies."

"I told you the War addled her brain." Daphne frowned and grew serious. Or perhaps she was being serious before. Ginny wasn't completely sure. "Do you still love her?"

Ginny paused, but mostly because Daphne's eyes seemed to be trying to drill into her soul. "Not like that. She's my first love, but…"

"But now she's fat, married, and miserable." Again, she wasn't sure if Daphne was being serious. "Her tits have filled out nicely though."

"You're disgusting." Ginny rolled her eyes as Daphne backed away and hid half her face in the water. "I don't think I'm selfless enough to love someone who doesn't love me back. And all that time, I thought she didn't know or told myself she didn't. The fact that she knew and never said anything… I know that's how she is. She's not good with emotions, especially difficult ones. But I think that's when I started to stop loving her like that. She should have told me she knew."

Slowly, Daphne stood up and narrowed her eyes. "Would that have changed anything?"

"No." Except for the fact that she would've avoided Kat like the plague, deathly afraid that she would tell someone else. Then they wouldn't be friends. Maybe she would have just hated herself even more. "I don't know. It's better that you were around when we talked about it. If I didn't have you…"

Daphne was quiet for a long time. Her eyes shifted everyone once and a while as if she were somewhere else. "You'll be there if Astoria never talks to me again, right?"

"Of course." Ginny knew she should have repeated back what Mum said, that Daphne wouldn't like it if Ron tried to force help onto her or that Astoria needs to be able to take care of herself if she's going to take care of a baby. Yet again, she decided to ignore her mother's voice in her head. "Always."

Kat knew she shouldn't have put honey in Draco's shampoo but she wanted to tease him after he said over breakfast that he hopes the babies have manageable hair. It was the day before Teddy and Sirius and Remus were coming back, and he took her good spirits as a sign that she was feeling better. She was feeling loads better actually, but that didn't mean she wanted to see his parents! They almost fought over it, and she felt a little bad when Draco quickly compromised to tea with only his mother. Sure, he had been ignoring his parents for ten days, but that wasn't her problem. Kat was trying to figure out how to get out of it when Draco ran up the stairs.

"Okay, fine. I'll get ready," she grumbled. At least Narcissa would force herself to be nice.

Draco shook his head quickly, and Kat frowned at the fear in his eyes. "We have to go. Pansy's water broke."

Thanks for the review gr8rockstarrox! I added the scene you requested!

Next time Kat and Draco will fully make up!