Part 19

Her footsteps, echoing through the hall of Malfoy Manor as Bellatrix walked toward the grand ballroom, were the only sound to break the silence. The Dark Lord had called her to him. A call she had answered. Well, physically she might be here, but her mind was far away.

It had never been so difficult for Bellatrix to clear her mind of all thoughts. Again and again her thoughts wandered to Katie. To her daughter. To their meeting today. The first meeting ever. Bellatrix wondered if there would be another meeting. If she could meet with Katie again - undisturbed. And if they had more time. There was still so much Bellatrix wanted to say to her.

But she shouldn't think about her daughter now. Not when she was face to face with HIM. Voldemort. The Dark Lord.

Bellatrix took a deep breath and forced the thought of Katie out of her mind. Of the moments in the shack when she had held her baby for the first time - for the only time in her life. Oh, of the stolen moments when she had sought comfort and love in the arms of Severus Snape. All of that was in the past. And she would betray all that she believed in if she let the thoughts take over.

She was a Deatheater. Not a mother. Never again.

She couldn't guess that Katie was also totally confused after their meeting. That she, too, had to keep thinking about her mother - the woman who had given birth to her.

After Bellatrix left, Katie did not return to Minerva McGonagall's house, but to one of her childhood places, the cliffs on the Scottish coast.

She loved this place because it was a place where she could think. Katie really needed to think and organize her thoughts. And she needed to think about how to move forward, with the whole situation. With her mother. The prophecy. Her life.

Now that she had finally met her mother, instead of the answers she had been looking for, she was only more confused. So why was life so complicated? I mean, why wasn't there even one thing in her life that was simple? And why couldn't she have a normal life? Why was she the child of two Death Eaters? It only made her life more complicated, much more complicated than it already was.

If the truth came out, she would be in danger. She and the people who kept her secret - Professor McGonagall, Remus Lupin, her father, and Percy.

Katie was so lost in thought that she didn't notice someone apparating to the cliff at first. That someone watched Katie silently for a moment.

He watched her just standing there, staring off into the distance.

"Katie," he said then softly said her name as he came closer.

Surprised, Katie spun around as she heard a familiar voice say her name. Percy.

"What are you doing here? And how did-"

"How did I know you'd be here?" completed Percy her sentence.

Katie nodded.

"This is a very special place for you, you told me once. I thought you would come here after talking to her," he explained, "Did she give you the answers you wanted?"

Katie, however, shook her head. She hadn't gotten a single answer.

"I just have a lot more questions - for my parents."

Percy put his arms around Katie and pulled her close, holding her for a moment before continuing, "When you had written to your mother, you had believed that she could provide you with answers. But you know, maybe no one has those answers. At times we do things we can't explain, without a deeper meaning behind them."

"I do believe that those answers exist. It's just that no one wants to admit them," Katie replied sadly.

There were those answers. It's just that no one was voicing them. Not Severus, not Bellatrix. Only maybe she should just give up and stop looking for the answers. Then again, she wouldn't find peace until she had her answers, to all her questions.

Not knowing everything, Katie couldn't really decide how to proceed. But like this, this was not the way to go on. She didn't want to deny who she was forever. She did not want to deny who her parents were forever. But maybe she had no choice.

"Percy, I don't know how to go on," Katie confessed to him therefore.

"We'll find a solution," Percy promised her, even if he himself didn't know what that solution would really be. They both didn't have many options.

Katie chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully.

There was something, a thought, that had been bothering her for a while.

"Percy?"

"Mmm."

"What if we went away, to America or to Ireland or maybe to Romania, where your brother lives," Katie began, but didn't finish the sentence.

Actually, she didn't want to. To hide. But it wouldn't really be hiding. Just a move. For a time.

So far, Katie had refused to leave with Percy, to hide in another country, so to speak. But maybe she had no other option. Maybe she had to leave England. Hogwarts. Her family. Maybe she had to leave it all behind.

Her father wanted to hide her and she wasn't getting any real answers from her mother either, so what was left for her to do? And maybe, without the constant pressure from the outside, she could finally find the answers she was so desperately seeking - in peace. Maybe with some distance she finally had the possibility to make the decisions that were the right ones. Yes, maybe it was better to leave the country. Just for a while.

"You want to hide, don't you?" inquired Percy cautiously.

"No, actually, no. Well, it would only be as a last resort. I don't want to get locked up, using the Fidelius Charm. If I have to hide, I want to decide for myself how. And maybe if I wasn't here, I wouldn't have to constantly worry about someone finding out that I'm the child of the prophecy, maybe then it would be easier for us - so maybe then we'll finally find what we're looking for."

Percy nodded. Yes, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"We could, should it come to that, go to Romania first, to Charlie, and then we'll decide what to do next. Together. I won't leave you alone, ever," Percy promised her.

He would not leave her alone, never. They were in this together.

Silently, they stared at the water.

They enjoyed the one moment of being together and having peace and quiet. Katie closed her eyes and let the last weeks and months pass before her inner eye. It was still so surreal for her.

Before the school year had started, she had learned the truth. Knew who she really was. Knew who her parents were.

And this truth had thrown her life into chaos.