Christmas Day, Christmas Night
Christmas Day, Christmas Night
Author’s Note:
Sorry the spells names are spelled wrong. I’m too lazy to look them up.
-Amanda
Harry’s insides froze as he looked on the face of the girl he loved so insanely. Percy had just asked her to marry him! How could Percy do something like that? Harry looked on at the perfect diamond ring. Percy must have thought Katrina has extremely expensive taste. Harry wondered where Percy got the money. Did he spend all of his earning as a Ministry official and Dumbledore’s assistant?
Then Harry saw Katrina’s face and his fears were resolved. Her face was a shade of purple Harry had never seen before. She looked as if she had been petrified.
“PERCY!” she shouted, springing up, grabbing her startled boyfriend’s hand and dragging him toward the Portrait Hole. “You and I need to have a talk.”
When the two of them were gone, everyone around him exploded into chatter.
“Oh my Gosh!” cried Ginny. “She could be my sister-in-law! Oh, what will Mum say!”
“Your mother won’t have a chance to say anything.” said Neville.
Harry spun his head around and noticed for the first time that Neville was there.
“What do you mean?” he asked Neville.
“She’s going to say no of course.” he told them. “She likes Percy very much but
she doesn’t want to marry him! She’s not ready for something like that! Who would be at 16 year years old!”
Harry knew there was wisdom in Neville’s words, but the last place he wanted to hear wisdom from was the lips of Neville Longbottom.
Neither Katrina nor Percy returned to the Common Room before lunch. The meal was a happy affair for everyone but Harry. Wizard’s crackers were passed around, and the Hall was decorated with floating icicles. Everyone around him was chattering and laughing. They did not seem to recall the scene they had witnessed earlier. After lunch everyone went outside to have a snowball fight. Harry decided to go to the Owlery to write a letter to Sirus in private.
But Harry never got a chance to write that letter. When he entered the Owlery, sitting hunched over in a corner, crying, was Katrina.
Harry tried to leave thinking she would want the privacy that he had come there for, but when she saw him, she threw her arms around Harry before he could realize what she was doing. It was not an embrace of passion. No, it was an embrace of a miserable person seeking comfort and compassion. As she cried on his shoulders, Harry had no idea what to do.
“He broke up with me.” she told him in between sobs.
“He what?” asked Harry, totally awestruck. “Percy Weasley broke up with you!”
She nodded. Her eyes were puffy, and her nose was running. She looked like she had the stomach flu.
“He broke up with me because I told him no! Oh, Harry! What was he thinking! Asking me to marry him! Now he may be out of school and have a good job and that’s all fine and swell, but I’m only 16 years old! I have no desire to marry! And how the hell would he expect me to do that! I’m still going to Hogwarts! I’ve got two more years left!”
“I don’t think Percy really was thinking things through.” Harry said.
“Oh no! Of course he wasn’t! Percy does stuff like this all the time! He never thinks things through! He just jumps right into things! He’s so ambitious. Yeah, that can be a good quality, but a little goes a long way and Percy has got damn too much of it! He is always looking for the next big thing! He can never ever leave well enough alone. When I told him that I simple was not ready for this, he accused me of not loving him! He said that if I was not ready to start a new life, then he would go find somebody who would. Maybe he thinks if he has a wife, it will make him look like a family man, and that would help him out at the Ministry! I don’t know what he thinks, but this whole thing is stupid.”
Harry still didn’t know what to say but he was happy to see that she was no longer crying.
“Oh, Harry! Thank you! I always feel so much better after I talk to you!” she said, kissing him on the cheek. She got up to leave, but Harry grapped her hand and refused to let go.
“Tell me something, Katrina.” he demanded. “Be honest. Do you love him?”
“Well, no I never loved him. Oh, But I liked him very much. I won’t deny that I was attracted to him. There are many great things about Percy Weasley, but no, we were not in love.”
Harry nodded. He thought he understood. Maybe it was like him and Cho Chang. He never loved her, he was just attracted to her. A crush. That’s probably what it was for Katrina and Percy. Then he stopped thinking about Cho. It hurt too badly.
“I’ll see you later, Harry.” she said winking at him. Harry watched as she headed towards Drew Fordson’s office. “I’m going to go visit with Drew. That’s where my cousins are right now. I think Arizona is here too, although I haven’t seen him today. It’s too bad Lu is missing. Otherwise we could all be together for Christmas!”
Harry gave no thought to the fate of Lu Willow as he went outside to join his friends in the snow ball fight.
************************************************************************
Harry awoke that night with his scar feeling like it would tear apart, and the painful sounds of a woman’s voice screaming in his ears. Was he dreaming?
He looked over and saw Neville and Ron awake, starring at each horror struck.
“Where is that coming from?” he asked them.
“Dunno.” said Ron shaking his head. “We just woke up.”
“It’s coming from the Common Room!” Harry yelled. “Hurry! We’ve got to go help her!”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. There something very strange going on around here!” shouted Neville.
But Harry was already halfway there, and Neville and Ron dashed behind him.
There, he saw Ginny, Hermione, Fred and George (the only occupants of Gryfindor Tower besides himself, Neville, Ron and Katrina) stuck to the back wall. They were several inches from the ground. They looked like they were glued there. There faces were stuck in a look of pure terror as they watched a man in a long black robe wearing a dark veil fighting Katrina in a Wizard’s Duel.
Katrina noticed Ron and Neville and then she screamed at them to run. But it was no use, with a wave of the cloaked wizard’s wands they were bound to the wall like the rest. Only Harry and Katrina were free to fight.
Katrina’s opponent seemed to be the same one that she had been attacked by before, but this opponent was no fighting very clumsily and Harry knew he was not the same one. Harry rushed to help Katrina, but the wizard yelled “Exdeperduilus” and his wand flew from his hands.
“Katrina! Run! Get Dumbledore! I’ll fight him!” Harry shouted. He knew Katrina was not very strong and could not take very good care of herself. And besides, what chance would a girl stand who wearing pink fuzzy bunny slippers!
Katrina had a strange look on her face when she realized Harry was there. She pointed her wand at Ron and Hermione “For God’s sake! Get Harry out of here!”
Hermione and Ron were released from their invisible bind, but they stood their frozen to the spot.
The wizard in the robes pointed his wand at Harry and yelled “Crucius!”
The devasting wave of pain hit Harry hard. His scar never burned so bad. He felt sure that he was going to die. But then after only a moment, he felt the soft touch of a hand on his shoulders and the pain was gone. But he was still weak.
“Katrina?” he whispered.
But the Katrina Figg he looked up at (when did he fall to the floor?) was not the one he knew. She had a look of pure hatred on her face as she starred fearlessly at her attacker. A burning heat radiated off of her. And Harry looked at her and was reminded of the way Albus Dumbledore looked at Barty Crouch Jr. that day in his office. Harry remembered the way that the heat emitted from Dumbledore. Harry knew it must be genetic because it was very likely Katrina would burst into flames out of pure rage and hatred. Harry watched, half scared, half fascinated, as she performed a flawless Impructuis curse upon the attacker and forced him to remove his mask.
Harry scar began to ache violently. Wherever Lord Voldemort was, he was furious. And Katrina’s furry grew as the attacked revealed himself to be none other than Wormtail.
“Tell me the truth, you disgusting parasite!” she hissed at him. “What are you doing here?”
“I was sent by my Lord to bring you to him!” said Wormtail, cowering. “He wants you with him! He needs you! He has been searching for you, trying to get near to you!”
“Yes, I have felt his presence, but I don’t desire to have anything to do with that, that, that, creature!” she spat. “And as for you, I know who you are, Peter Petigrew! I know you were the Secret Keeper for the Potters! I know you betrayed them to Voldemort! And then framed the innocent Sirus Black, killing the innocent Muggles, pretending to be dead, leaving Sirus to a fate worse that death! I know if it were not for you, this boy would not be an orphan!” she yelled at the top of her lungs pointing at Harry.
Suddenly, Harry’s scar erupted in pain. Voldemort had somehow heard Katrina. That stupid girl. Couldn’t she see that he was in terrible pain??!?!? Why was she trying to anger him? No! It was not Voldemort who was dangerously angry! It was Katrina! It was Katrina’s anger that was making his scar hurt so badly! No, it couldn’t be! Not the pretty girl in the pink bunny slippers!
But the pain multiplied into the thousands as Harry watched in absolute horror as Katrina performed the Avada Kedarva curse. Harry thought he might pass out as he watched the lifeless body of Peter Petigrew fall to the ground.
Ron and Hermione were trembling. With a wave of her wand, the others were released from their bonds.
“Wormtail was afraid you would keep him from his mission. He wanted to abduct me. Why he choose that fool to do the job, I will never be able to guess. That’s why he put you up there, to keep you out of the way. He didn’t want to hurt you, or me for that matter. He only wanted to kidnap me. And he knew it would do no good for me to have to witness my friends getting hurt. That was the only safe place for you to be.” she told them.
“But I’m afraid, I can’t allow you to remember this. Well, nobody but Harry, anyway. Harry needs to understand.”
Then she performed a Memory Curse on everyone but Harry. They all headed back to bed, incredibly drowsy in such a deep haze that they were unable to see the dead body on the ground.
It was only Harry and Katrina. He was still on the floor feeling too weak to get up.
“Katrina.” he whispered. “When you were angry, it made my scar hurt. Just like when Voldemort is angry. Katrina, were you being possessed by Voldemort?”
“No, I have never been possessed by Voldemort.” she told him sternly. Harry felt a wave of relief flood his body. If she had been possessed by Voldemort, maybe Voldemort was forcing Katrina to get close to him, so he could attack Harry.
“The reason why your scar was hurting is because I am Voldermort’s only daughter and heir.”
Author’s Note:
Well, how many of you saw that coming! can’t wait to hear your comments, let me know if you saw that coming. The next chapter Katrina and Dumbledore will explain everything to Harry.