23rd August cont'd…
Arthur woke us around 6am and he used magic to pack up the tents as quickly as possible. It took me a few minutes to properly wake up and realise what had happened the night before. Whenever we were walking to the Portkey, the muggle manager of the campsite had a strange confused look about him, and he waved to us saying a very vague 'Merry Christmas'.
"He'll be alright," Arthur assured us, "sometimes when a person has their memory modified, they become dazed for a while, it was a big thing we had to make him forget…"
After a fifteen-minute wait, we were able to take an old rubber tyre back to Stoatshead Hill before the sun had shown signs of rising. We hardly spoke as we walked through Ottery St Catchpole towards The Burrow.
"Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!" the relieved voice of Molly sounded. She had clearly been sitting waiting for us in the front yard. She was running towards us all, looking exhausted, wearing her fluffy slippers, a copy of the Daily Prophet in hand, "Arthur – I've been so worried – so worried-" She flung her arms around her husband's neck and kissed him. Their seven children all pulled faces.
"You're alright!" Molly hugged and kissed all of her children, starting with Fred and George, pulling the two of them into such a tight hug that their two heads banged together, "You're alive… oh, boys…"
"Ouch! Mum! You're strangling us-"
"I shouted at you before you left – and you, Kathryn, I'm sorry…" Molly wrapped her arms around me, gently kissing the top of my head as she pulled me down to her height, "It's all I've been thinking about…"
"Come on now Molly, all of us are okay!" Arthur said soothingly, prizing her away from Ginny, who was now being squeezed for the second time. He then led her into the kitchen where all of us squeezed in to read the Daily Prophet's version of what had happened.
"You cannot be serious." Arthur sighed deeply as he read the newspaper, "Who wrote this? Ah… of course… Rita Skeeter."
The article told of the shambles job the ministry did in apprehending the Death Eaters (as they caught no one) and complained of the lax-security. Rita Skeeter went on to write about a ministry official, Arthur told us it was him, who appeared after the presence of the Dark Mark, alleging that no one had been hurt but refusing to give any more information. 'Whether this statement was enough to quash the rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen' the article stated.
Arthur was exasperated, "Oh really." He handed the paper to Percy who was just itching to read it, "Nobody was hurt, what was I supposed to say? There's certainly going to be rumours now she's written that." Arthur sighed again, "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office, this is going to take some smoothing over."
Percy volunteered to go, too. Molly was really upset as Arthur was supposed to be on his holidays. Next thing, Arthur and Percy both disapparated. I could see Bill and Charlie awkwardly try and comfort their mother as she sat at the table drinking a cup of tea. I had Ginny, Fred and George looking at me strangely, then I figured it out- they wanted the newspaper that had been set in front of me.
"Mrs Weasley?" Harry had meanwhile asked, distracting me, "Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?"
"Hedwig, dear?" a very distracted Molly answered, "No… no there hasn't been any post at all." My eyes glanced back to Harry to see what was so important about Hedwig. Harry looked between Ron and Hermione as though there was something I had missed.
"All right if I go and dump my stuff in your room, Ron?"
"Yeah… I think I will, too," Ron answered at once, "Hermione?"
"Yes." She said before quickly leaving the room and scarpering up the stairs without a single look at me. I actually felt really hurt. They never left me out of this sort of stuff…
"Earth to Kathryn?" Fred waved his hands in front of my face.
I blinked a couple of times, "Sorry…" I said, passing him the paper.
"What's up, buttercup?" George asked.
It took me a second to respond, my head was with Harry, Ron and Hermione wondering what they were doing or talking about, I sounded dazed when I said, "Huh?"
"You just look-" George didn't quite know what to say.
Ginny filled in the rest of his sentence, "Like George has just broken up with you."
"What?" several voices sounded from around the table, including my own.
"JOKING!" Ginny chuckled awkwardly. No one else laughed.
Molly walked around the table and had a good look at me, "You are a little pale dear, are you alright?"
"Pale?" I questioned, and Molly nodded to me, "I've no makeup on." I then came to the sudden realisation that I had the eyes of Charlie, Bill, Fred, George, Molly and Ginny on me and I snapped out of my fixation on Harry, Ron and Hermione, "I always look worse without makeup, I've dark circles under my eyes no matter how much or how little sleep I get."
"So you're just tired?" Molly confirmed.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Something like that."
Half an hour later, the rest of the Weasleys were going about their normal daily life and I unpacked my stuff in Ginny's room.
"Honestly Kathryn, what has gotten into you?" Ginny started on me, "You've been acting strange from when Harry, Ron and Hermione… they left without you. Why don't you go up the stairs and see what's going on?"
"I wasn't invited; they mustn't want me there," I replied immediately.
"Don't be stupid, up you go." She pushed me out the door.
I felt stupid creeping up the stairs, feeling like I was trespassing.
"It's just so nice for the three of us to be back together again." I heard Ron say as I walked up to his door, ready to knock.
I didn't think my heart could sink any lower, but it managed. I pushed the door open, "Am I invisible to you guys or something?"
"Did you hear something?" Ron stood up from his bed and walked towards me but not looking at me until the last second, "Oh wait. Yep, you're still here." He forcefully poked me in the chest just above one of my sore ribs.
"Excuse me?" I contested him.
"You heard me."
"That hurt." I rubbed at my ribs.
"Good," Ron stared at me as though I were a criminal, "now off you go," he pushed me slightly, "go off crying to my mum or my brothers or my sister, they'll give you the pity you're looking for cause you're certainly not getting any from me."
I furrowed my eyebrows, "Have I done something to annoy you? Rest assured I genuinely didn't mean it…"
I could see Ron tense up, "Playing the innocent card again. You're pathetic. I see right through you."
"Ron, what's wrong?" I took a slightly panicked glimpse at Harry and Hermione who both stood behind Ron, they seemed confused but didn't say anything. I wondered if they had been talking about me this whole time. I started doubting myself, recounting all the things I had said and done, searching for a reason as to why he would be so annoyed at me.
"Harry and Hermione arrive and you suddenly seem all interested." Ron sighed, shaking his head, reiterating, "You hadn't shown me the slightest bit of interest until they showed up."
"You're one to talk." I spoke more sharply than I intended, so I toned it down and spoke calmly, "So, okay, you played a game of Gobstones with me whenever I got out of hospital and was dosed up to the eyeballs on painkillers. You had a face on you whenever I was attempting to play Quidditch with you. As far as I'm aware, you don't give a shit that I'm here, you've kept your distance, ignored me and you've spent half your time hiding up here in your room. And in case you've forgotten or didn't realise, a few weeks ago I wasn't able to climb stairs that easily…"
"Miraculous recovery you've made." Ron took a stab at me.
"Do you want to bet?" I was losing my patience with him, I just didn't understand why he was acting like such a prat. I took off my jumper, throwing it on the floor beside me and lifted up my top to show my stomach that was still covered in gashes, cuts and bruises, "Does this look like a fully recovered body to you? Do you think I sleep at night? That I'm not in any pain? I almost died, Ron, don't you realise that?"
Ron lost the rag with me and shouted, "IT'S ALL I'VE BLOODY HEARD, KATHRYN. THERE'S NO NEED TO COME INTO MY HOME AND TAKE OVER."
"Take over?" I spoke in almost a whisper. I had an abrupt revelation as he yelled at me.
Anger was still swelling in Ron's face which was now turning a shade of purple, "Fred, George, Ginny and mum seem much more concerned about you than they do about me, their own flesh and blood. You don't realise how angry this makes me. How much I wish you weren't here. That you didn't survive."
Ron wished that I was dead. That hit me hard, I could no longer hold back, "THE ONLY REASON I'M HERE, RON, IS BECAUSE MY OWN FAMILY TRIED TO F*CKING KILL ME. DO YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE? TO GO BACK TO THEM? WILL THAT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF? I'LL PACK UP MY STUFF, NO PROBLEM. NEXT TIME YOU'LL SEE ME, YOU WISH WILL COME TRUE. I'LL BE DEAD. GONE. OUT OF YOUR LIFE FOREVER." I turned to walk away, standing at the top of the stairs.
"GET BACK HERE, KATHRYN!" Ron bellowed after me with such aggression, he was clearly not finished.
"You know the reason why I've settled down here so well?" I could feel my heart banging as though it wanted to get out of my chest, "Because for the first time in my life I've not be scared I'm going to get slapped for accidently dropping crumbs on the floor. Or afraid of being pushed down the stairs for being sick. Or be beaten half to death for inviting my friends over for dinner."
"That was not my fault."
"No, it wasn't." I agreed, I could see a hint of surprise on his face, "But can you honestly stand there and say that I deserve to be treated like that?"
"Maybe you do."
"Okay, hit me." I held my hands out on the air, exposing myself to him completely, "HIT ME!"
"NO."
"Throw me down the stairs. GO ON. It's what you want, isn't it?" I took a step closer to him, "You want to see me suffer."
Ron's hands were fists again, "I want you to stop being the centre of attention. I want you to be invisible. I wanted to sit down in my bedroom with my two best friends and NOT HAVE YOU AROUND."
"Fine. You win." I said calmly as I shook my head and started to walk down the stairs before stopping, "I just want to say one last thing. You don't understand how jealous I am of you. I don't care about how much money you've got; you can't buy love or respect or happiness. Not really. And you don't realise how lucky you really are. I would do anything to be more like you, to have a proper family who cares for you. Not a family that hurts you. Your family would do anything for you, Ron, they don't ignore your greatest needs. They want to see you succeed, not suffer. They want the best for you because they love you."
I turned once again to walk away. I saw Molly, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill and Charlie all standing on the landing below. Molly had tears in her eyes. Ginny had gone very pale. I continued to walk down the stairs with my head held high, "Katy-" George grabbed my hand as I brushed him on the way past.
"Ron needs your attention, not me." I pushed his hand off my arm and continued walking until I went out the back door, past the garden and into the field behind the forest of apple trees. I found myself a dry section of grass to lie down on. I looked up at the clouds and took a deep breath. I shouldn't have shouted at him. That was my main thought but after a period of time in the complete silence I concluded that I was perfectly within my right. I felt guilty for 'taking over', for making Ron feel that way, to make him hate me so much. I genuinely didn't know. It's not as if I planned to make him feel left out or unloved or anything like that… I must have made his life a misery.
The sky turned grey and the heavens opened. I regretted dropping my jumper on Ron's bedroom floor. I didn't move from where I was lying, I guessed it was a sign from a higher power telling me that I had done wrong. I knew I deserved everything that was coming for me. I closed my eyes as the rain pounded on my skin. Clear drops of liquid ran down my face and after a while I was unable to tell the difference between my tears and the rain. I always loved the patter sounds that rain droplets made when they hit the ground. I found it so soothing, it was enough to drown out every other noise. No more shouting, anger, jealousy or hate.
"You're going to catch your death if you lie out here all day." Ron stood beside me as I lay on the soaking wet grass.
"Is that not the point?" I replied, staying exactly where I was, not even opening my eyes to look at him.
He sat down on the grass beside me and sighed deeply. "Look, Kathryn, I didn't mean what I said…" When I didn't respond to him, he sighed again, "Can we go inside? It's freezing out here."
"I'd like to stay out here if that's alright." My expression was slightly sullen.
Ron sighed a third time.
"If you've been sent out here to forcefully apologise, don't bother." I spoke again.
"I've come out here to talk…" he paused, "can we take shelter at least?"
I opened my eyes to look at him, he looked doleful, as though he genuinely wanted to talk, "Okay." I slowly sat up and stared at him. His eyes were red and his cheeks were pale as he offered me a hand up off the ground. I had to accept as my body was that cold half of it had gone to sleep on me! "Thanks," I acknowledged as he directed me to the broom shed and turned a bucket and a plant pot upside down for us to sit on.
"I just want you to listen to me for a minute, then you can say what you like, okay?" Ron said and I nodded for him to continue, "I know the two of us aren't as close as we are with Harry or Hermione. I don't really know how that happened… I guess it's just complicated. We're just so different. I'm the sixth son to parents who just wanted a girl… Everything I have is a hand-me-down. I have to fight to get attention. I just found it difficult to watch you fit in so well. I hated how when you were in hospital that you were the main topic of conversation in my house. Mum was going to bring me to Zonkos when she was with you that night. She still hasn't. Then every little thing seemed to be about you when you started staying here, 'We can't Ron, Kathryn's not well', 'I was going to cook this instead because I know Kathryn likes it' or 'Kathryn looked like she was in a lot of pain at dinner, did you notice?' It made me really jealous and I started to hate being around you, so I ignored you in the hope that you would choose to talk to me, but I guess I didn't give you a chance. Then when Harry and Hermione came on Sunday they were all concerned about you, too, because you had hurt yourself. So earlier I just really wanted to spend time with the two of them on my own. It was so selfish of me when I know that they're your friends too. I saw how hurt you were. I realise now that you didn't ask for any of this and it wasn't your fault. I'm sorry…"
"Thanks." I responded, my teeth were chattering.
"Will you come inside now?" Ron stood from sitting on the bucket.
"Well I'm gathering you no longer want me to die!" I jested.
Ron glanced at the wet ground, "I never did."
"Are we friends again?" I got to my feet and the two of us started wandering back towards the house again.
"I hope so…" he was slightly awkward about it, "Can I ask you something?"
"Fire away."
Ron took a while to say it, but drew up the courage to ask, "Bill said that you had cuts all the way up your arms, it made me wonder if they were self-inflicted?"
"No, they're from my mother's nails."
"Have you ever thought about… hurting yourself?"
"Sometimes, but I never have and I don't ever plan to."
"And Ginny said that you keep waking up in the middle of the night in a blind panic. Are you still having nightmares?"
I looked straight into his eyes, "I don't think I've ever stopped."
Ron looked like he was fighting with his conscience, "I wish I knew this before now, it just makes this situation even worse, cause you're struggling to cope…"
"Yeah, don't worry about it. It's all water under the bridge." I spoke just before opening the back door to The Burrow.
"Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" Molly Weasley fussed over me, running to fetch a blanket to warm me up.
I took the blanket off me and placed it over Ron, "Here," I said wrapping it around him, "I'll go take a shower, if that's okay?" I asked Molly who nodded, she in turn asked what I would like for dinner, "Ron has a great idea for dinner, I'll come down and help later, if you'd like."
I could see a smidge of a smile on Ron's face as I stood at the kitchen door before heading upstairs.
Ron chose a roast chicken dinner, which I helped Molly to prepare, giving Ron time to spend with Harry and Hermione. It was nice spending time with Molly, learning how she used magic to cook everything with relative ease whilst talking to her about anything and everything. It became clear early on that I was completely useless in all aspects of making dinner, so I was given the decision of what dessert I'd like to make. I chose to make a no-bake strawberry cheesecake as there was little space in the oven with everything else that was cooking.
Molly told me that she would be punishing Ron when she had discussed it with Arthur. I told her not to bother. I explained that all he wanted was to feel loved whilst I was getting all the attention. She seemed to understand, telling me that my health was her priority because she had promised Professor McGonagall that she would take good care of me.
"But you've got your own family to worry about…" I said.
"Like it or not, but you, Harry and Hermione will always be part of this family and will always have a place here to call home if you need it." Molly pulled me in to a tight hug as she saw me sniffling.
"I know you've got a lot going on at the minute…" Harry said as he found me sitting alone in the front room that evening after dinner.
"It just so happens that I have nothing planned for this evening, please, carry on."
Harry chuckled lightly, "I want to tell you something." He held out his hand as though he wanted me to take it. He looked around us and glimpsed up at me, "Coast is clear."
I took his hand in mine and made us invisible, "What's up?"
I could just see Harry's entire body relax as though this had been building up on him, "I woke up with my scar hurting on Saturday morning…"
I searched his face, deciphering the emotion.
"You're already taking this a lot better than Ron and Hermione did."
I used a little sarcasm to make him relax a bit more, "Well, I wake up most mornings with sore scars. You're not going to get any sympathy from me… Perhaps you need to see a doctor- healer, you might need your head chopped off,sorry."
Harry shook his head at me and sighed, "I'm certain Voldemort wasn't in Privet Drive but then his Mark shows up in the sky a few days later, I can't help but think this is not a coincidence."
"Was there any reason for your scar to hurt?" I asked.
"I was dreaming about him and Peter. I can't remember all of it now… but they were plotting to kill… me."
"That explains the look on your face."
"And remember Trelawney's prediction? You were the only person who believed me… She said that the Dark Lord would rise again."
"Greater and more terrible than ever before?" I finished his sentence from what I remembered.
"And that night Wormtail escaped and I just have this awful feeling, Kathryn…" Harry's eyes started to wonder and I could feel his hands go slightly clammy.
I stroked his hand gently, "We will deal with whatever comes at us."
"Thanks, Kathryn." Harry smiled at me, "I mean it. I wrote-"
Ron's voice sounded from outside the living room door, "HARRY? KATHRYN? Where are you two?" Harry nearly jumped out of his skin as the door swung open and Ron, Fred and George all stared directly at us without seeing us.
"Reveal us!" Harry told me.
I bit my lip slightly, "I can't… Fred and George don't know about me yet…"
Harry raised his eyebrows at me in shock as Ron half shut the door behind himself again, "That's a surprise! I'm sure they'd love to make use of you!" he gave me a suggestive look.
Ron looked puzzled, "Hmmm… Strange, I saw Harry about ten minutes ago, he said he was going to talk to Kathryn. I was almost sure she was sitting down here…" he had been carrying Harry's Firebolt.
"That is exactly why they don't know." I responded to Harry.
"Fair enough. What I was going to say is that I sent a letter to Sirius. But I have no idea where Hedwig has to fly to, so I guess I'll just have to wait."
"Yeah!" I smiled at him, "Do you want to catch up with them? Looks like they're going to play a game now the rain has stopped."
"They can wait," Harry turned slightly to look at me, "Are you okay? Ron gave you a good grilling earlier…"
"I'm fine. It's honestly not one of the worst arguments I've been part of." I smirked at him, "It's not the first time I've heard those words either, I knew he just needed to hear something to make him think and put things into perfective and then I gave him some space. I hope nobody gave him a hard time for it…"
Harry screwed up his face, which said it all, "Mrs Weasley started on him as soon as you were far enough away. It was worse than the Howler in second year! Then George threatened to hit him. Fred had to hold him back. Ginny told him about what you've been dealing with. Bill whispered something to him which made him go even paler than he already was. Erm… oh yeah, Hermione went mental, too. Yelling about him being an insensitive wart." I laughed at this point, thinking it was something so totally Hermione to say, "I felt sorry for him by the end of it all, but I knew what he said to you wasn't right…"
"It's all forgotten about now!"
Harry cocked his head to the side, "What did he say to you?"
"Now, that, Harry James Potter would be telling."
"Fine, Quidditch?" he let go of my hand and the two of us headed out the back where Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all playing. Hermione was so unsteady and looked highly uncomfortable in the air. The teams were split as equally as possible- Bill and Charlie were captains. Bill chose Harry, George and me. Charlie took Ron, Fred, Ginny and Hermione.
"This cannot be fair." I said as we had a team huddle, "I only learnt how to fly last week. George will be our beater, which is fair enough, Harry is a seeker-"
"You ain't seen nothing yet." Bill joked with me, "Between Harry, you and me, we can annihilate those guys. Just catch the Quaffle and throw it so one of us two can catch it, or score if you're feeling particularly outrageous, and avoid the Bludger."
"It's like you think I don't know the rules."
"This one was crazy at the World Cup, she will scream." George warned his brother flippantly, "And I'm sure deep down she's actually really competitive."
"Okay then." I flung my hair behind my shoulders and tied it up with such sass and raised my eyebrows, "Alright boys, bring it." I giggled honestly not knowing what I was about to let myself in for.
Our little team of four seemed to be doing well. There was a lot of laughing as Hermione and I got a hold of flying and trying to score. I was an absolute disaster at the beginning, my hand-eye coordination is in need of improvement. I also accidently threw the Quaffle to Harry with a little too much force, making him drop it. Hermione was worse than me, as she could hardly catch the Quaffle at times, it just slipped through her fingers, so about half way through she told us she would referee. Ron was really good to the point it was annoying, I knew better than to try and tackle him. The scores were 80-60 to us after an hour of quite relaxed playing strategies. This was until Bill took a Bludger to the nose from Fred. I took George's baton and gave a fair whack to the Bludger which knocked Fred's broom. I winked over to him and continued playing as though nothing had happened. Ginny then scored twice, bashing Harry completely off his broom in the process. Then it became apparent that we had to suspend the game until such a time when Bill's nose stopped bleeding. We were challenged by Charlie to a rematch at the closest possible opportunity. Before any of us got a chance to respond, Bill agreed.
27th August
"GOOOD MORNING BIRTHDAY GIRL!" Ginny celebrated as I stirred in bed.
I groaned, keeping my eyes closed, "You did not just wake me up."
"You'll find that I just did." Ginny shook me by my shoulders, "Wake up! I want to give you your present before Hermione gets back from the shower!"
I opened one eye, and sighed, "You're so mean, Gin…" but she kept fussing until I had opened both eyes, looked alive and sat up in bed. I let out a huge yawn, "Happy now?"
"Happy birthday, grumpy." She handed me a small box with a bow around it, "Go on! I've been waiting for ages to see your reaction!"
I was still half asleep when I took off the bow and opened the box to reveal a necklace that had two rings/hoops joined together that represented the infinity symbol, "Ginny- it's beautiful."
"I got it engraved for you. Can you read it? There's one word on each hoop." She turned her lamp on beside me, I rubbed my eyes and yawned again. The bigger of the two hoops had the word 'unbiological' engraved and the other had 'sister' engraved.
I was speechless. "I- It's- wow- Gin…" I beamed at her, "Come here!" I wrapped my arms around her and held on tight. I don't know how to explain it other than a warm fuzzy feeling in my chest that made me feel really emotional.
"Was that worth waking you up for?" she smiled.
I rubbed my eyes, "Definitely."
"I just wanted to get you something that shows you that even though we're not related yet that I consider you as my sister and I really appreciate our little talks. And I really love to annoy you and I think that's only something you get with siblings."
"Gee, thanks sis."
"No problem." She grinned at me, "Now come on, I'm hungry, let's get some breakfast."
I yawned again and tried to sink back into bed, knowing that there was no chance on this earth that she would let me get away with it.
"You are so lazy." Ginny pulled the bedcovers off me, "GET UPPPP!"
I gave her a dirty look as I wrapped my dressing gown around me, she pushed me out of her bedroom door as I said, "We are no longer going to be friends if you're going to be so mean to me."
"You're stuck with me now. Deal with."
"Good morning birthday girl." Fred and George spoke in unison.
I shook my head.
When I reached the kitchen Fred said, "Turn that frown upside down."
Hermione walked into the kitchen in her dressing down, "Give the girl an hour to wake up. Honestly don't any of you know her? Coffee, Kathryn?"
"If I'm not allowed to go back to bed, then yes." I yawned once more. Hermione handed me a mug and I took a seat, resting my forehead on the table, "What time is it anyway?"
"It's just gone 7am." Molly answered.
I groaned, "No wonder I feel like this."
I heard footsteps trudging down the stairs, "Why am I up so early?" the sound of Ron's voice was just as weary as mine.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Fred and George announced as though they were presenting on a TV show, "the award for grouchiest male and female in the morning goes to…" They banged the table like a drum in anticipation, "Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Kathryn Pink."
I saw Ron give the two fingers to the twins. I would have done the same if Molly wasn't watching me. "Happy birthday, dear."
"You need to feed her and Ron if you're wanting to get more than a grunt out of them." Harry started ganging up on us, too, "You'd think that Monday mornings would be bad, but Tuesdays are worse. Madam Sprout had an ongoing struggle with the two of them last year."
"Shut up Harry." Ron and I said in unison.
Sometime between being mocked, eating breakfast, getting washed and dressed I finally felt ready to take on the day. All of us, minus Arthur and Percy, were all sitting around the kitchen table when Molly told us the plans for the day, "As it is Kathryn's birthday, and the Saturday before returning back to school, I thought we could all go out for a lovely walk and have a picnic?"
"Uhm… Mum?" Charlie spoke.
Molly's eyes lifted and focused on her second son, "Yes, dear?"
"I don't wish to burst your bubble or anything, but… it's just started raining outside…"
The expression on her face dropped, "I'm sorry, Kathryn dear…"
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can mimic an indoor picnic?" I gave an encouraging smile.
"Bill dear, would you mind grabbing the birthday girl's present from the basket?" Molly asked and then redirected her attention to me again, "We may as well give it to you now."
Bill handed me a wrapped present in brown paper and string and gave me a small hug, "Happy birthday!"
"You really shouldn't have!" I couldn't help but smile, as I opened it to reveal a bright green box that said 'Kathryn's First Aid Box' and the caption said, 'for everyone's mishaps and oopsies'! "This is so thoughtful, thank you so much!" I said whilst opening the box to reveal a selection of potions, plasters, bandages and ointments.
"I thought you could do with some proper bandaging…" Bill looked delighted with himself, "Goodness knows who you'll be patching up next, hopefully it won't be me!"
"I put in some burn ointment for you." Charlie winked, "just in case."
"I lifted a few potions whilst out and about- there's some for pain, dreamless sleeping, bites, cuts, bruises, cold and flus, I'm sure they'll come in handy!" Molly recited.
I was very chuffed, "Thanks so much!" I gave Molly, Bill and Charlie massive hugs.
"Ours next!" Hermione announced after running back down the stairs again, "This one is from Harry, Ron and me."
"Oh my goodness. You guys are the best!" I hugged each of them after opening a radio that was charmed into connecting to both wizarding and muggle radio waves, "This must have cost you a fortune!"
"Worth every penny," Ron searched his brain, "is that the muggle expression?"
"Sure is!"
"You'll have to come up to our room if you want your gift from us…" George smirked in the way he always did when he was up to no good.
I took a deep breath, "If I'm not back down in ten minutes please rescue me." Both Fred and George ushered me up the stairs, one of them covering my eyes, the other turning me in the right direction, "Do I need to be worried? Is this gift going to attack me? Or make me have multi-coloured vomit or make me completely paralysed?"
"Just be quiet and hold out your hands."
"BZZZZZ!" Fred and George both made the noise and George tickled me gently, I couldn't help but squeal like a little girl.
"You just want an excuse to touch me, George Weasley! There are other ways and means you know." I joked with him.
"How do you know who it is? You are BLINDFOLDED." Fred spoke. Truth is that George, possibly unknowingly is gentle with me whereas Fred treats me as though I'm one of the lads.
"Here's a better question to answer, why am I blindfolded?"
"Oh, sorry, here." George placed a box into my hands and Fred took his hands away from my eyes.
"It's a prototype of a product we were thinking of introducing. We've been working on it all summer!"
I turned to take a seat on the edge of George's bed and admired the design on the lid.
"What is it?" I asked before opening the lid, half expecting something to jump out on me.
"It's a game called 'You choose'. There are 4 categories- tell me, challenge me, would you and who, me?" Fred explained.
"Sounds ominous."
George suggested, "You play this game in a group and take turns to select a card from one of the categories- go on, choose one."
I picked a 'tell me' card and read it aloud, "Tell me: What is your favourite part of your body?" I paused for a second, "So my answer to that question would be my eyes."
"Fair enough," Fred said, "take another card."
I lifted a 'who me?' card which said, "Who me? Which member of the group do you think has the nicest bum?" I looked up at Fred and George, "What sort of question is that? You're identical and I can't say my own!"
"Oh, George definitely has a nicer arse than me." Fred joked, "I'm sure he'd let you feel-"
I ignore him, lifting a would you card which said, "Would you rather live completely alone or constantly be surrounded by people?" I laughed, "You want my honest answer? I'd rather live alone than having you two breathe down my neck constantly! I'd never get any peace!"
"Cheers." George sat down beside me, "Last category, I'll read it… Challenge me: Lick something in the room that is not yours."
I stuck out my tongue and gagged, "That's disgusting."
"It's a challenge. You have to do it or you lift a forfeit card, and they're always worse." Fred informed.
"Fine." I lifted the pillow from the top of George's bed and touched it with the tip of my tongue.
Fred looked delighted with himself, "Shall I get the rest of the group to join in?"
I pulled a face at him, "Sure." I stood to follow him, but George grabbed my hand and pulled me back and I lost my footing, landing on his knee.
"Well, this is cosy." The two of us shared a giggle, and he wrapped his arms around me, giving me a warm feeling in my tummy, "I have a present for you that's just from me." he bent the two of us forward as he grabbed something under his bed, "I'm sorry it's not wrapped…" he handed me a decorated jar and opened the lid, "Lift out a piece of paper."
I lifted out a piece of purple coloured paper which was handwritten. It said, 'You are so loved'. It brought a smile to my face and I continued to lift out another. But George closed the lid before I got there, "There's one note for each day." He squeezed me, "Something positive to start off each morning from me to you." He tapped my nose lightly.
"That means a lot," I put an arm around his shoulders, "thanks Georgie!"
"ARE YOU TWO COMING OR WHAT?" Fred shouted up the stairs. I heard laughter from downstairs. George's cheeked reddened. "I REALISE HOW THAT SOUNDED." Fred shouted back, "ARE YOU TWO GOING TO GIVE US THE PLEASURE- DAMMIT!" George and I couldn't help but chuckle, "GET DOWN!" Fred yelled in frustration at himself, "LUNCH!"
I put my hands through George's hair and ruffled it up a bit and took a few buttons out of his shirt. He took great pleasure in making me look dishevelled as he played with my hair and gently took part my blouse out of my skirt. The two of us ran down the stairs and pushed the living room door open out of breath, I was pretending to pull up my tights and he was buttoning up his shirt. Molly's face dropped. Everyone else was howling.
There were blankets on the floor with sandwiches, fruit, scones (with jam and cream), biscuits, drinks and other picnic-y things. George and I carefully stepped over everything to take a seat on the floor with the radiator behind us. We were all given a plate and a cup each and were told to dig in. It was such a lovely idea.
When we had all finished eating and had gotten cleared up Fred and George enforced everyone to play my new game. Molly promptly excused herself from the room, claiming that she would rather do the dishes. I attempted to join her, but George held me back, I wasn't going to get out of this one. Fred went first, reading out the card, "Who me? Who in the group do you think would make a great couple?" Fred snorted, "Well, that one's obvious. You two." He shot a look at George and me. George had his arm rested on the windowsill behind me and raised his eyebrows at me.
Bill went after, "Would you rather lose all your hair or have an uncontrollable growth of hair? What sort of question is that?" Bill raised his hands in the air, "I love my hair, but I'm afraid in that situation, I'd have to be bald."
Ron picked, "Would you rather give up food or give up clothes for a day?" he laughed, "That's easy, I'm not giving up food."
Hermione pulled a face at Ron, trying her best not to imagine him naked and chose a tell me card, "Tell me your guilty pleasure." She looked taken aback and thought for a moment, "I like really loud rock music."
"No, Hermione, you like dancing to really loud rock music whilst singing into your hairbrush when you think no one is watching you." I shouted across the circle to her. Instead of blushing, like I thought she would, she agreed with me and chortled to herself.
Harry took the next card, "Challenge me- take a spoonful of a food/drink of another players' choice. Oh no… Please, Kathryn, no…" It was too late, I was already on my feet running into the kitchen to Molly, grabbing a teaspoon and a bottle of tabasco sauce. "Don't make me, please."
"Sorry, rules are rules, buddy." Charlie who was on his other side clapped him on the back. I handed him the spoon and he swallowed it, and immediately ran to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Charlie was next in line, "Challenge me- do press-ups until your next go. Alright then, go fast please."
Ginny lifted the next card, "Who me? Name two people in the group you'd prefer to be stranded on a dessert island with. Oh my. Erm…" Even I had difficulty in figuring out who I'd choose, "Hermione…" she said, "You've probably read a book on survival… and…" she stared at a point on the floor for a second, "Kathryn because we'll need some comic relief."
"Thanks." I knew exactly what she meant, I would be an absolute disaster.
"Are we not funny enough for you?" both Fred and George questioned her but she ignored them. I had to convince George to take a card. "Challenge me-" he laughed to himself in a really creepy way, "Well, Fred, your wish has come true and Kathryn is about to have the best birthday present, ever."
I froze on the spot. Fred snorted, "You didn't?!"
"I did." George shook his head, "Kiss the prettiest person in the group." He leaned in quickly and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"Oh come on mate, do it right, kiss her on the lips!" Bill egged us on.
"Not with you weirdos watching." He said and I let out a huge sigh of relief.
"MY TURN." I redirected the topic of conversation, "Who, me? Get the group to choose three people at random."
"George, Bill and Hermione." Ginny winked.
"Snog, marry, avoid. Oh this is easy. I'd totally snog the face off Bill, marry George and avoid Hermione, no offence."
"None taken." Hermione held her hands up.
Bill crawled across the carpet towards me, "Pucker up, then, birthday girl, I'll give you a proper birthday kiss."
Ginny let out a massive "HAH!"
Bill looked up out the window behind me and retracted himself to where he was previously sitting, "Merlin's beard!"
"What?" I quickly turned to see an owl land on the outside windowsill carrying a huge bunch of flowers with a card that clearly said 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' on it.
I saw George look at me and he whispered to himself, "Who is buying her flowers?"
I panicked, getting up off the floor and quickly headed out the front door of The Burrow to fetch the flowers. The owl was massive; I guess it had to be to carry the bouquet. I untied the flowers and the owl flew off. I got out of the view of the window and opened the card,
'Kathryn,
Please accept these as a token of how sorry I am. I'm sure our kids would be beautiful, though.
Love, Oliver.'
I stormed back into the front room, "Please tell me this is a sick joke."
I handed the card to George who was at the living room door waiting for me, "You've got to be f*cking kidding me."
"What's wrong?" both Ginny and Hermione took the card from George and gasped.
I froze on the spot, "I thought it was all over."
"There's another owl." Charlie, who had now stopped doing his press-ups took the letter attached to this smaller owl, "It's for you." He handed it to me. I passed the flowers to Hermione. I opened the envelope and stood in the corner so no one could read over my shoulder,
'Dear Kathryn,
I'm writing to wish you a very Happy Birthday. I hope you're having a great day and that you like the flowers. When I saw them I thought of you (they're beautiful).
I've been thinking about you every day from when I saw you at the World Cup. How did you manage to get such good seats?! I saw you through my omnioculars! I'm sorry about what my parents said, they can be so embarrassing sometimes… I've told them all the best things about you and they've seen the picture from the day we won the Cup. I've still got your autograph on the back! I will cherish it forever. Don't worry though, I know you and George are dating- it's about time! I know he'll treat you better than I ever did. He always talked about you, even before the two of us dated. Promise me that you'll stay sassy, flirty and feisty! I regret my actions when we were together and I'm still oblivious to what happened that night. I've kept my promises to you. I hope you remember the good times we shared. It haunts me of what I could have done to you and what I did do, please know and trust that I have not touched a drop of alcohol since.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to finish school- I got my results the other day – OOE – and you know that I got accepted to Puddlemere United reserve team.
I know we said that we'd move on, but I wondered if you'd like to be friends?
I'd love to hear from you soon.
Love, Oliver.
P. s I have enclosed two tickets to my next match (on the 30th)- Puddlemere United A team against Chudley Cannons A team, if you need more tickets, I'll leave a few at the entrance for you, I hope to see you there.'
"He's written a f*cking essay." George tried grabbing the letter from me, but I tucked it down my shirt and dared him with my eyes to think about harassing me.
"Ron?" I said sweetly.
He jumped, "Yeah?"
"I need to borrow Pig."
"Okay, sure, do you want him now, or…?"
"I'll let you know." I spoke, trying to come to terms with what Oliver meant in his letter. I don't actually know what I'd write in reply to him. My head started spinning at the thought of it. I covered my face with my hands and took a deep breath. I started having flashbacks. Everyone seemed to be crowding around me, I felt trapped, I couldn't breathe, I desperately tugged at the bottom of my skirt. I relived the feeling of my father's hands around my neck as he tried to suffocate me. My back hit the wall behind me and I slid to the ground.
"Kathryn!" Hermione's voice sounded, "Kathryn, he's not hurting you, you're safe! We're here! Come on, take deep breaths for me. Look at me."
"I'm sorry…" I slowed my breathing down, looking into her light brown eyes, "Everything just seemed to come back all at once." I held out my trembling hand and Bill got me up to my feet.
"Are you okay?" Bill placed an arm around my shoulders to steady me, he was looking around the room but then focused back on me.
I realised I had tears streaming from my eyes, "I'm okay." I nodded, and the two of us sat down, "Oliver was drugged and he attacked me, I know it wasn't really his fault, but it's difficult. Too much happened too close together, my brain won't let me process everything fast enough and I panic."
"You are one of the strongest people I know." Bill smiled, as Ginny handed me a tissue.
"I'm such a mess!"
Hermione handed me a cup of sweet tea, fixing my fringe, "A beautiful mess who has all the love and support she needs."
Ron sat with Harry few metres away tuning my new radio, finding a station that played some decent music. They knew that it would help to relax me. He and Harry also started to dance like eejits in order to cheer me up. We all listened to a few songs and Charlie tidied the game away.
"I've ruined everything!" I admitted.
"Don't be silly!" Ginny took a hold of my hand.
"Do you have any idea where George is?" I asked openly to anyone listening.
Both and Fred and George were nowhere to be seen. The remainder looked between themselves hopelessly. I got up and headed for the door, "Kathryn, just leave him, he was really angry."
"I need to talk to him…" I knew deep down it was the right thing to do, I had to get everything out in the open with him. I climbed the stairs to his and Fred's room and let myself in without knocking. No one was there. I grabbed my coat and headed out the back door and walked until I found him with Fred sitting under an apple tree, I don't think they heard me as Fred was shouting at him, "MERLIN'S BEARD, GEORGE! CAN'T YOU TELL THAT SHE'S IN LOVE WITH YOU? JUST TELL HER!" I walked closer, Fred had stopped shouting at this point and was trying to comfort him, "Told you." He said as I arrived. Fred put a gentle hand on my shoulder before walking off.
"Georgie…" I knelt down beside him, his eyes were red and puffy.
"You shouldn't be here…" George's eyes wandered anywhere but mine, "I don't deserve you. I've really messed up… I just can't forgive myself. It's all my fault. It was me. That night, I did it."
"It's okay, Georgie."
He blew his nose when I handed him my tissue, "No, it's not, you don't understand."
"I do understand," I took a hold of his hand, "I know it was you."
"What?" George looked into my teary eyes.
"I know it was you who put the potion into Oliver's drink that night. I also know that you intended for him to make a fool out of himself and for him to move on to another girl. But instead he started chasing after me, and gullible Kathryn here fell for it, but you realised what you did you came running after me."
"How did you work it out?"
I knew it was best not to tell him about Draco, "I saw Ange with the pink paper, I know that Alicia is really good at calligraphy and she was drunk so wouldn't remember writing the note the next morning… you were frightened to leave me alone when McGonagall told you to go to bed when they were doing the investigations, you've been overprotective of me and I get this feeling that you've either been trying to make it up to me… or you've felt sorry for me or something ever since… and I put two and two together."
"Who else knows?"
"Me and two others–" I couldn't bring myself to lie to him, "one of the people has been sworn to secrecy, and I have a lot against them, so they won't be saying a thing. Before you ask, yes, the other is in that house, and no, I won't tell you who it is. I trust them." I said, "Will you please look at me properly, Georgie, I forgive you, you made a mistake, but you mean a lot to me and I don't want to lose you over this."
George looked up at me with tears in his eyes, "I never meant to hurt you."
"I know." I shuffled closer to him.
"I've hated myself ever since, there's nothing I regret more… I was just so jealous of him being with you… I watched him treat you like dirt… I saw you cry, I saw your heart break and I wanted to hurt him for hurting you… and I will never forget that night in the Great Hall… I had to do something… He said vile things to me about what he wanted to do to you… It sickened me… I wanted him to move on, so that I could have you all to myself… I knew I could treat you better than he ever would… I only put the potion in his drink because I love you, I didn't want to see you hurting any more, you didn't deserve to be in another toxic relationship-"
"Shut up a second." I put my finger to his lips as he looked up at me, "What did you just say?"
"I love you, Katy, always have, always will, but –"
"I love you, too."