Part 12

To Severus, it was hard to remember when it had started, the tradition of spending the evenings with Remus, but in the meantime he looked forward to the evenings he spent together with Remus, even if he would never admit it out loud. At least not yet. But he did look forward to the evenings when the other one showed up at his doorstep with two cups of tea and they just talked for hours. And sometimes they would sit in silence together. However, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

Very slowly, Remus had crept into Severus' life, and in the process, into his heart. Somehow, anyway.

They had just made themselves comfortable again in Severus' room and talked about so many things, but again and again their conversations drifted to the past. Remus was the only person besides Minerva that Severus could confide in, that he could tell about Katie and Bellatrix.

"So, have you actually changed your mind?" asked Remus cautiously.

"What do you mean?" Severus had an inkling of what the other might mean.

"Whether you'd think about a meeting between Katie and-"

"No!"

"But perhaps it would be a good idea."

"Anything involving Bellatrix Lestrange is not a good idea," Severus objected.

Didn't Remus understand that he was only trying to protect his daughter? If not from himself, then at least from Bellatrix. And from everything Bellatrix believed in so fanatically. Voldemort.

"But don't you think that Katie will eventually try to contact her herself? That she'll do more than just write her a letter. I mean, that maybe she'll ask to meet her herself?" asked Remus cautiously.

"No she won't, she knows what kind of person Bellatrix is."

Remus thought for a moment on how he should best explain it to Severus.

"I taught Katie two years ago and I saw her on break. Severus, your daughter has inherited your stubbornness. She won't let it go just because you tell her to. In fact, she won't give up until she meets her mother and gets all the answers she so desperately seeks. Don't you think it would be so much better if you could at least control it?"

While the two men were talking, Katie had sneaked out of the castle. She knew that there was a great danger of being caught by Dolores Umbridge and being punished again, but she had to talk to Percy. And therefore she didn't care about the consequences. Katie just needed his advice very badly and she had written that to him. Her boyfriend had apparated to Hogsmeade tonight and was going to meet her there in front of the hogshead.

Since reading her mother's letter, four days had passed. And in those four days she had thought a lot about what the letter said and about what she should do. Many times she had thought about what she should do, but she wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do. Whether she should really do it.

"Katie," she heard her boyfriend's voice.

Relieved, she hurried toward him and allowed him to pull her into his arms. Now that she was in his arms, she could allow herself to relax and not have to be strong anymore. Percy was the only one she allowed to see her for who she was. Katie had no secrets from Percy. Not a single one.

"Let's go inside. I've rented a room, we can talk in private," Percy said.

Hand in hand, the two entered the hogshead.

Nodding only briefly to Aberforth Dumbledore, Percy joined Katie in walking up the stairs to the top floor. Here in one of the rooms they would be able to talk in private and most of all without being disturbed.

Once the door closed behind them, they just looked at each other for a moment and then he took her face in his hands and finally leaned in to kiss her. Oh, it was wonderful to feel his lips on hers. How much she had missed him!

Katie was already looking forward to graduating from Hogwarts. The two of them were going to find a small apartment, settle down together, and just be happy. Just be Katie and Percy. A family.

"What's wrong?" asked Percy cautiously, slowly stroking her back.

"I can't get answers from anyone. Not from my father, not from my mother," Katie said.

"What about her letter? I mean, the letter really didn't help you understand a bit better what they had done?"

Katie broke free of his embrace and pulled her mother's letter from her back pocket.

"Read it," she said, holding the letter out to Percy.

"Are you sure about this? She intended only you to read it when she wrote the words."

"I want to hear what you think. What you think of her words," Katie explained.

Percy nodded before taking the letter and skimming the lines.

"With not one word does she explain to me why she really did it. In fact, she doesn't write me if she ever thought of me, only that she has endured all these years in Azkaban and there was only one thought that made her get through it all. And we both know what she means by that. Who she means!"

"She doesn't write that."

"Yes, she does! You have her words in front of you. You can read it, each and every word - and only the thought that there is someone for whom all this is worthwhile made me survive the time in Azkaban - she means him. You know, the monster she's blindly following."

Percy did the only thing he could think of. He put the letter on the small nightstand and reached for Katie's hand. He pulled her with him onto the bed and into his arms. He had to think carefully about his next words. Percy knew his girlfriend's temper. Similar to the famous Weasley temperament.

"It sounds to me like she could be referring to you, too."

" Never. After all, she couldn't care less about me. They don't care. You know, her and my father."

" Look, just think about the blood for the spell. She could have refused him, but she didn't. After all, if she didn't care about you, she wouldn't have done it."

Katie hesitated before answering. Maybe he had a point.

" I mean, why did she leave me, though? Why did the two of them just give me away? Surely it wasn't because of the prophecy? You can''t think that's the only reason."

And Katie just couldn't understand it.

Yes, she was familiar with the prophecy. She knew that the fate of the wizarding world might even rest on her shoulders if the prophecy was telling the truth. And that she had to be protected from Dumbledore and Voldemort. But at the moment, she didn't care. There was something she longed for, had always longed for. She had wanted parents.

"What do you want to do now?"

"Maybe I should meet with her. Maybe I'll find out more if I talk to her directly," Katie replied.

"Do you think it's a good idea?"

"I probably don't have a choice if I want to know the truth."

Indeed, it was probably the only option Katie had left to learn the truth. Even if she wasn't sure if meeting Bellatrix Lestrange was really a good idea. However, she wanted answers at last. And somehow she felt that she couldn't properly move on to the future and life with Percy until she knew her past. Her whole past and the story surrounding her birth.

"I'm staying here tonight, by the way," Percy said after a moment of silence, changing the subject.

Katie nodded before making a decision. She would stay with him tonight, here at the hogshead.

Muttering softly, she canceled the spell that literally trapped her hair in to its tight knot. The dark curls of her hair spilled over her shoulders like a waterfall. Here and now, she could drop all masks and just be herself. Katie. Catelyn.

Early the next morning, Katie woke up in Percy's arms. She felt that it had been wonderful just to be near him and touch him. For far too long she had had to do without having him near her. And after last night, she would have to sleep alone again for quite a while, at least until the break.

"Good morning," Katie murmured, her voice still heavy with sleep.

"Good morning," he replied, reaching for her hand.

He had already noticed last night that she had something on the back of her hand. It looked like a word, carved into her skin.

"Respect," he murmured as he looked closer at the word.

"Umbridge never wanted me to forget it."

Thoughtfully, he contemplated the word while gently stroking the back of her hand with his thumb. He had feared that Umbridge would resort to such punishment. And the minister also gave Umbridge such a free reign in everything she did. There would be no one to stop Umbridge, unfortunately.

"I don't like her. And her methods are barbaric," Katie whispered.

"I've already had the terrible pleasure of working with her at the Ministry. She's full of herself and her methods. And she doesn't let anything come to her beloved minister."

" You can tell. Every hour of her is filled with propaganda. Chatter about how great the minister is. And that we should blindly trust the ministry."

"She just makes me angry. And her whole class is a joke. We're just reading books all the time, not getting any practical experience."

"Does she-"

"She doesn't think we need to know how to defend ourselves. We should just have faith in the ministry. And there would be nothing that could be dangerous for us. Nothing and nobody. According to her, it's just lies that Dumbledore and Harry are spreading," she echoed Umbridge's words.

It annoyed her immensely how Umbridge organized her lessons. None of the students really learned anything in her classes. And that's exactly why they were doing it secretly now. Dumbledore's Army had been born out of this need.

But Katie knew it was no real substitute for teaching. Harry couldn't teach them everything they would have actually learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. More than once, she had secretly and anonymously slipped him notes. Little hints of what they should and had to learn to do next. Knowledge that she had from her father's books and from the library in Grimmauld Place, that she had secretly acquired and that was now benefiting them all, somehow anyway.

"Promise me you'll try to control yourself. I don't want to imagine what she'll do next," he declared, and breathed a kiss on the back of her hand.

Percy knew his girlfriend's temper. One that was on par with the infamous Weasley temper. And that was exactly why he wanted her to be careful. He didn't want her to put herself in danger. In even greater danger.

"I'll try," Katie replied, for that was all she could promise him.

For a moment longer, she enjoyed his touch before she broke away from him. It was time to get dressed and head back to Hogwarts.

Percy turned on his side and looked at his girlfriend. Katie tamed the long dark curls he loved so much back into a tight knot with a spell.

"I have to go," she said then, leaning down to kiss him goodbye.

"I'll see you again soon," he promised.

Katie nodded.

In a few weeks, she would return to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters with her grandmother and a few other students for break.

And while Katie had spent the night with her boyfriend, not thinking for a moment about her fate, about what she was destined to do, life at Hogwarts had gone on. And her absence had been noticed as well. If only by some of her classmates.

When she was one of the last students to enter the classroom and sat down next to Fred Weasley in the last empty seat, he slid over a napkin to her.

"I guess you had something other than breakfast this morning," he commented.

"Thanks. Percy was in Hogsmeade," she replied.

"You're lucky Umbridge doesn't do bed checks yet."

"Don't give her any ideas."

"Hem,hem," they heard Professor Umbridge clear her throat moments later.

And another lesson began, in which they had to listen to words of praise for the ministry and the minister.

Fortunately, there was another meeting of Dumbledore's Army that evening. Once again, Katie handed out Murtlap essence at the beginning of the meeting to her classmates who had the misfortune of having detention with Umbridge today. To make the essence, she had asked Neville for some murtlap.

At times when she looked at Neville, Katie felt guilty and ashamed of her mother's actions. Had it not been for Bellatrix Lestrange, Neville might have grown up knowing what wonderful people his parents were.

A shadow of sadness settled on Katie's face and for a moment she wondered whether it wouldn't be wise to let bygones be bygones. Wondered if she shouldn't burn the letter that was in her pocket.

During a free period, Katie had written a letter to her mother. Within the few lines she asked Bellatrix to meet her, secretly and during the next break. Only by really talking to Bellatrix, however, she might get the answers she so desperately needed, and then maybe she would finally be able to look forward to the future.