The Heir
Both Katrina and Harry were well enough to leave the hospital wing two days after they had first arrived. They returned to their classes, and a sense of normalcy. Katrina seemed to be adjusting alright. She enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid because she was a great animal lover. Hagrid was very interested in her unusual bird, Dite. Ron sniggered when Hagrid said it was the ugliest thing he’s ever seen, but Katrina was very insulted and refused to hear anyone speak ill of her pet.
Drew Fordson was a very interesting teacher. The rest of their days in class were quite different that their first. Drew was very knowledgeable about his subject, even though Snape liked to throw out hints that his colleague was under-qualified.
Snape and Katrina still carried on their strange relationship. It was almost like a father/daughter sort of thing. Ron and Hermione noticed this too. When Ron teased Katrina asking her about “Daddy Snape”, she was very upset. Ron tried to apologize to her, and explain that he was only joking, but Katrina was very distant with Ron for the rest of that day. Katrina must had mentioned it to Percy, who yelled at his younger brother.
Katrina did not have much luck with Herbology. She had never taken a Herbology class at her old school, and therefore had to take it with first years. Neville Longbottom spent many hours tutoring Katrina, but she didn’t seem to understand it. However, the tutoring was in no way unsuccessful. Poor Neville had never had the chance to help anyone with their school work, and was thrilled at the chance. His self confidence seemed to shine, and a new, more self assured Neville Longbottom arrived.
After much talking with the Headmaster, Katrina decided to stay in Divination. She was not very happy about, but Professor Trelawney no longer made mean comments about Katrina or her family. The professor just seemed to ignore her, and pretend that she was not in the room. This seemed to suit Katrina, who never spoke to her teacher.
As the first few weeks went by, Katrina seemed to become very homesick. Not so much for America, just for her friends and family. She spent time with Drew Fordson after school, and on the weekends, Arizona Brown was allowed to come visit. Katrina was very happy to have her friend there, but other people were not so pleased about Arizona’s visits. Percy Weasley, who wanted to spend every waking moment with his girlfriend, was very jealous. Arizona and Percy could not be in the same room together without arguing, so Percy would storm off. Percy would go find Harry, Hermione, or his brothers, and complain about Arizona, throwing out dark hints about Arizona’s true character. Hermione and Ron had some doubts about him, but they basically thought he was an okay guy. Harry, on the other hand, liked Arizona and thought he was a good guy, and Percy was just jealous.
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“Ooooo! You’ve got Owl, Hermione” squealed Katrina one morning at breakfast.
Hermione looked up from her cereal. “I didn’t even see it, my mind was someone else, Opps, I mean somewhere else.”
Katrina giggled as Hermione blushed. She leaned forward to see who the letter was from. “It’s from Viktor Krum!” announced Katrina.
“Like it’s any of your business!” Hermione said, pretending to be mad. Of course she wasn’t. Katrina and Hermione scooted close together to read the note together. They got rather giggly.
Ron and Harry did their best to ignore them. as they discussed the Gryfindor Quiditch team tryout which were to take place the next afternoon. Ron had been practicing really hard, and Harry was sure he’s ge a spot on the team, especially with is brothers being the Co-Captains.
The bell soon rang and it was time for them to go to Potions.That day in class, they were going to learn a new and difficult potion. Katrina gossiped happily with Neville, as they got their ingredients together.
“This potion will call for 14 mashed spiders.” Snape announced.
Katrina immediately stopped talking. Her face got very white. “Spiders?” she asked in a weak little voice.
“Yeah, we use spiders all the time in here.” Hermione said.
“I can’t touch a spider.” Katrina said.
“There dead.” said Ron. “I’m afraid of spiders too, Katrina, but I can handle the dead ones. I’m sure you’ll be able too.”
But Katrina refused to have anything to do with the potion because of the spiders. When Snape walked by their table, he noticed Katrina was acting very strangely.
“Are you alright?” he asked her, leaning in very close.
“Spiders.” was all she said.
“Spiders?” asked Snape. Then a look of acknowledgement came upon his face. “Oh. Spiders.” he said. “Oh! Spiders! Oh, Katrina, I’m sorry! I forgot about the spiders!”
He looked at how pale Katrina’s face had gotten. He went over to the sink and poured her a cold glass of water. When he handed to her, he said, “Drink this, Katrina. It will make you feel better. You’re sweating.”
Katrina drank the water in one gulp.
“Severus.” she said, in a soft voice. “I can’t do this.”
“It’s okay, Katrina.” he said putting a hand on her shoulder. Snape did not notice that everyone in the room was now staring at them. “I forgot about you and the spiders. How irrespobible of me. I understand completely.”
He took his hand from her shoulder, and in a mock gesture of professionalism, he said, “Potter, take care of Miss Figg’s spiders for her, and do a good job of it. If you need anything, Miss Figg, let me know.”
He walked across the room, and began to watch other students work on their Potions.
When the bell rang, Katrina rushed out of the room. She was still pale and trembling. Professor Snape walked towards her, looking very concerned, but she rushed away before he could catch her. When Harry and Ron arrived in Divination, she was not there. After class, Harry walked around in the halls, as Ron and Neville went ahead to Defense Against the Dark Arts. He found her sitting by a suit of armor. She looked very sad.
“Katrina?” asked Harry. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I hate spiders.”
“I don’t think it’s the spiders that’s bothering you.” Harry said, touching her shoulder lightly.
“You wouldn’t understand.” was her reply.
“Try me.” said Harry.
“It’s about the spiders.”
Harry looked at her strangely. “The spiders?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Harry, because your mother loved you. She died trying to save you.”
“Huh?” Harry asked.
“My mother.” she began. “Tried to kill me when I was a baby. She put a large poisonous spider in my crib.”
“How do you know this?” Harry asked, his voice catching in his throat.
“When my uncle got me, he used a Pensive on me to find out a lot of stuff about my life. He never told me most of what he discovered, but this was one of the things that he did told me. He kept seeing me scream whenever I got near a spider, and he wanted to know why.” she explained.
“Katrina, I don’t know what to say.” said Harry. “Well, your fear of spiders makes a lot more sense now. How did you survive?”
“My father found me before the spider got me. My father loved me very much.” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Katrina. I don’t know why life has to be so hard. I don’t know why bad things happen to good people but they do.” He put his arm around her and held her close. She rest her head on his shoulder. She began to weep, and Harry wiped her tears away.
“This isn’t supposed to be this way.” she whispered.
“What’s not supposed to be this way?” Harry asked.
“All you’ve done since I got here is take care of me. I should be able to take care of myself. I’m just a big baby. I guess I’m not as strong as I thought I was. As everyone thought I was.”
Harry shook his head. “Oh no, Katrina. Your strong. You’ve got a lot of crazy things going on in your life, you’ve had a lot of bad things happen in your past, and that makes it hard. Believe me, I know that better than anyone. Your going to be okay.”
“You shouldn’t be so protective of me. I should be protect....”
“Shhh.” Harry whispered. He put his finger on her lips.
“The sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin.” she confessed.
“It did?” Harry asked.
“Yes, it did.” she said, shaking.
“It’s okay. The Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin too. But we’re both in Gryfindor. That’s what matters.”
“Why did it want to put you in there?” she asked.
“I don’t really know. I do know that when Voldermort tried to kill me and he failed, some of his power was transferred into me. Maybe the Sorting Hat could sense that.”
“You mean,” she said, placing her hand on Harry’s heart, “There’s powers of Slytherin in you?”
Suddenly, Percy burst around the corner carrying a large stack of papers. When he saw Katrina sitting in Harry’s arms, he dropped the stack.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?” he yelled, looking from Katrina to Harry and back again. Although they were innocent, they looked very guilty. Percy grapped Katrina’s hand and pulled her away from Harry.
“What’s going on here?” he asked once again. He stared into Katrina’s eyes.
“I was upset.” Katrina said. “Harry was comforting me.”
“Is that what that’s called?” asked Percy. He darted his cold stare to Harry, and Harry suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
“I think you too have a class your supposed to go to.” he said.
“Oh c’mon! Percy!” she cried. She placed her hand on his shoulder. Percy pushed her hand away.
“Katrina, go to class, or I’ll tell your uncle.” he said.
“You wouldn’t threaten me with my own uncle?” she said, staring him down.
“Get to class.” he said. Percy gathered up his papers and then headed on his way. Katrina and Harry headed the other direction towards the stairs.
“Percy seems really upset.” Harry said, trying to break the silence.
“It’s okay.” she said, trying to comfort Harry. “He will get over it. He’s just a bit jealous, that’s all.”
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Another week passed by. Katrina and Percy made up. He showed up the night of their fight with a bouquet of roses, apologizing, and saying that he over reacted. Katrina just smiled, and hugged him, and let Percy kiss her.
The Quiditch tryouts were very successful. Ron got the spot he wanted on the team. Surprisingly to everyone, Colin Creevy got the other empty spot. Nobody ever guessed it, but Colin was an amazing player, and had real talent.
For the middle of October, their Divination class room was very hot. Harry snuck over to the window and cracked it so he could let some cool air come in. Professor Trelawney was talking about famous Seerers (making sure not to mention Esmerellda Figg) when she became quiet. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she collapsed on the floor. All of the students rushed towards her. Everyone rushed away from her, when she began to speak.
“The Dark Lord has arose, but greater and more terrible is the Heir. The Heir of Dark Lord awakens, with all his powers, greater and more deadly that the father. If the heir is victorious, the wizards of Britain will fall. With the awakening of the heir comes death and destruction.”
“Professor? What are you saying? asked Lavender Brown. She moved away from her beloved teacher, looking very frightened.
Professor Trelawney stood up and brushed herself off.
“Oh my gosh!” she cried. “What has happened to me?”
“You fainted, and then you began to say all sorts of crazy stuff.” said Pavarotti Patil.
“What did I say?” she asked.
“Something about the Dark Lord and a heir.” said Neville. His face was colorless.
“I never said anything like that.” said the teacher, shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Author's Note:
Well, that's all for this chapter. What would you like to see happen next?