Fireside Chat
A Fireside Chat
“Traitor! Dirty stinking $%^&* traitor!” Hermione spat as she sat down in the library next to Ron and Harry. Before, it would have shocked Harry to hear Hermione talk like that, but since Katrina had spent the last two weeks pretending to madly in love with Draco Malfoy, Hermione and Ron were both furious.
“I don’t understand what she thinks she’s doing with Malfoy!” Hermione continued. “She knows you hate him and he hates you and his father is a Death Eater, and just a terrible person all together, and really mean to his House Elves, but does she remember that? Nooo.....she walks around school with her arm in his and smiles this big dumb smile and just ignores us all like we’re complete toads are something!”
“Hermione, we know all this!” grumbled Harry. He was very tired of Ron and Hermione constantly about Katrina. He thought what she was doing was horrible, but at least he knew it was not for real, and she had unselfish motives. “Do you have a point, or are you just rambling?”
“Listen to this!” she cried. “I just saw Katrina hanging out Charms Corridor with a large group of Slytherins. Well, I hid behind the suit of armor trying to find out what they were talking about. Okay, I admit it, I was eavesdropping, but I was so curious and I just had to know! Anyway, one of the Slytherins asked Katrina why they didn’t see her hanging around with us anymore, and she told them that she had never been our friends, she was just pretending to be our friends because Harry is Dumbledore’s little pet, and ....oh, it was just so awful! She said she was only pretending to like us, she said we were disgusting boring revolting people she had ever met! She said the thought of having to share a Dormitory with me gave her the creeps! She called me a filthy mud-blood several times! And then she called Ron a blood traitor and Harry a half blood! Oh, how could she say those things! I thought she was my friend! I really did! She said she wanted to vomit when the Sorting Hat put her in Gryfindor. She said she’s going to beg Dumbledore to let her be moved into Slytherin!”
“Well, I hope they stick her in Slytherin! She doesn’t belong in Gryfindor anyway!” said Ron, puffing up. “So, then what happened, Hermione?”
“Oh, I couldn’t stay quiet after hearing her say such awful, awful things. I jumped out of my hiding place and told her off!” Hermione announced.
“You did what?” Harry cried. “Hermione, how could you?”
“Oh, don’t be such an idiot, Harry. I had to do something! Besides, how can you support her after she flat out ignores you, or is rude to you, or us?” Hermione lectured. “Anyway, I told her that I was sorry I had ever made friends with her, and I hoped she made it in Slytherin because after the way she had been acting none of her old friends would want anything to do with her anymore.”
“Good girl, Hermione.” said Ron. “you tell that dumb cow what’s what!”
Harry was about at his breaking point. Ever since Katrina had told Harry her plan, she had avoided Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and especially Harry in front of everyone. When there was nobody around, she didn’t have anything to do with anyone except Harry. Late at night, Harry waited up for her in the Common Room. She always returned around two in the morning, after a late night secret rendezvous with Malfoy, she was always sad and tired, but happy to see Harry. This was the only time of the day Harry got to speak with Katrina. The rest of the time she had to pretend to despise him. They’d usually set up by the fire talking for about an hour and they’d both head off for their dormitories. At first, Harry spent his time begging Katrina to stop her mission, but he had no luck. She was determined to get information from Malfoy. After a while, Harry gave up on that point, and tried to get Katrina to tell him about Malfoy’s secrets, but that did not work either. So, they spent their time together, Katrina’s head against his shoulder, talking about the fun they’d had over the summer. Harry knew that it hurt Katrina very deeply to have to pretend not to care about her friends, and even more to have Hermione or Ron be cruel to her because they did not know about her mission, and how desperately she needed Malfoy and the Slytherins to accept and trust her, and to get them to talk. But nobody else could know about this. Often, Katrina returned to the common room with tears in her eyes, and would try not to cry as she saw Harry waiting for her return.
Harry, knowing that nothing he could say to his friends would change their minds about Katrina, was silent while he listened to them degrade and verbally bash her. He pretended to agree with Ron and Hermione, put did not put much effort into the act. He wondered if they really believed he didn’t care about Katrina anymore. He figured they were too caught up in their own hatred to really care about Harry’s pain. After a few “uh-huh” and “that’s right” every time they paused for a breath, Harry excused himself and left. It was early, only six in the afternoon, but he headed up to his bed for a quick nap. He knew he was not getting enough sleep staying up for Katrina. So Harry began the habit of going to bed very early to make sure he got enough rest. Nobody seemed to notice this new habit except for Ron and Neville, and they ignored it after a while.
It was the middle of the night when Harry awoke. He looked at the watch by his bed side and it said it was one in the morning. Making sure that Ron was asleep, Harry crept away into the common room.
It was dark, but Harry knew Katrina preferred it dark. Spending all that time with people she hated, and being shunned by her friends that she loved so much, she was depressed. The darkness seemed to suit her anymore, and he noticed that her eyes that had always been so bright were now a different shade, a dark shadowy forest green. She didn’t seem like the same girl sometimes.
When Katrina walked through the Portrait Hole, she offered Harry a sad little fake smile as a greeting. But she could only pretend to smile for a moment before she burst into desperate tears.
“What’s wrong, Katrina?” he asked her, sliding his arm around her shoulders, knowing fully what the matter was.
She only sobbed harder.
“Katrina, let’s talk about it, okay? It’ll do you some good to talk about it. You know that I always understand.”
One word escaped from her lips. “Hermione.” she breathlessly sobbed.
“I know what she said to you. She told me all about.” Harry said.
“She hates me.” Katrina wailed. “She hates me! Everyone hates me! I don’t have any of my old friends anymore because of this stupid mission! I miss everyone so much. I miss Hermione! I miss Ron! I miss Neville! I miss Ginny! Draco said he doesn’t like my cousins, so he doesn’t want me hanging around them! Now if I want to talk to them, I have to go sneak off! Oh, he’s horrible!”
Anger erupted in Harry. “He won’t let you talk to your cousins? That’s really mean of him. I always thought Malfoy was a total jerk, but I didn’t think even he could be that big of a bastard. Why doesn’t he like them, anyway?”
“He hates them because I accidentally mentioned that their half-bloods! Oh, that was a stupid stupid thing to do, and I can’t believe I said it! But now he says he doesn’t want me to have anything to do with him. He says that if I want to be with a member of the fine Malfoy family, I have to conduct myself in a certain manner! He’s so arrogant and controlling! And he threatened Arizona!”
“He did what?” asked a shocked Harry.
“Well, you know how Arizona Brown has to stay here since Dumbledore thinks it’s dangerous for him to go home, like my cousins, well, he came to talk to me today during dinner, and Malfoy threw a fit! He said that he didn’t want me hanging around with him, he said Arizona was only after one thing for me, and he wasn’t going to let any guy steal his girl, and he said if he saw Arizona talking to me again, he’d have his father curse him!”
She threw her arms completely around Harry, and flung herself at him, tears drenching his robes. “What am I going to do, Harry? He’s dangerous, he’s really evil, he’s so dangerous, what if he gets jealous and really goes after someone? Oh, I don’t fear for myself, but I fear for everyone else, and for you!”
Harry cringed. “Don’t be afraid for me. I can handle Malfoy.”
She shook her head. “Hermione hates me, she really hates me, doesn’t she?”
Harry sighed. “She hates the person that you are pretending to be. But that’s not who you really are, so, no, she does not hate you.”
With that, Katrina stopped crying, and she kissed Harry softly, her face still moist from her tears. There was nothing Harry had loved better than sharing a few kisses with Katrina, but they always left him feeling sad. Often the taste of salty tears clung to her lips, and sometime he caught a breath of a spicy cologne that Harry guessed belonged to Draco Malfoy. Harry often worried for Katrina. She may be the daughter of Lord Voldemort, and the most powerful witch in the world, but if Malfoy somehow discovered she was kissing Harry by the fireplace almost every night after leaving his company, Malfoy would be very very mad. He might try to hit her or something. In fact, Harry suspected that Malfoy would be so angry, that Katrina’s power would not do her much good. If Malfoy struck or cursed Katrina, Harry would probably murder him. He had begged her so many time to give this spy act up, before she could go so far deep into it that she couldn’t get herself out of trouble, but when he said this, she just cried even more, so Harry couldn’t bring himself to beg her to stop spying tonight. Not after she had been crying so much already.
Harry was so wrapped up in his own thoughts and worries, along with the kiss he was sharing with Katrina, that he didn’t realize they were alone until he heard someone clear their throat behind him.
Harry could almost feel his heart (and Katrina’s!) stop beating. Practically frozen, they turned their heads around to see Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville standing there looking furious. Things were not looking good for Harry as his fingers were still tangled up in Katrina’s long hair, and her arm was wrapped tightly around his waist. Harry also suspected that some of Katrina’s Bubblegum Blast Off lip gloss was stuck to his lips.
“Oh, hello, everyone. Nice of you to come by and visit.” said Katrina sarcastically.
“Oh, Harry|! How could you do this?!” yelled Hermione. She tried to grab his arm and pull him up off the couch but Harry shoved her off. Katrina moved so she was sitting straight up against the back of the couch, legs crossed trying to spare the last of her dignity. Harry put his hand on her knee.
“I’m not going anywhere, Hermione.” he said stubbornly.
“Harry, you know that....that....that.....she’s.....dating Malfoy....and how she has been saying all those awful things about us.” Hermione bellowed on. “How could you possibly stand behind someone who’s been smooching your worst enemy?”
While Hermione lectured on, Harry snuck a look at his other friend’s faces. Ron wore a look of total bewilderment that he should walk in on Katrina and Harry in such a way; Harry was surprised to see Ginny looking extremely grave and he wondered what she could be so sad about; but Neville didn’t look surprised at all to catch Harry and Katrina in the middle of a snog session.
Katrina sighed. “This has gone on for long enough. I think I’d better tell you guys what I’m really up to, and who I really am. Maybe, Hermione, if you know the truth, you won’t hate me so much.”
She took a deep breathe and then told all of them, in a solemn barely audible whisper, the story about her parents and her mother’s tragic end, about her heritage, and her mission to protect Harry from Lord Voldemort and to get inside information from students who might have been told (or overheard) valuable info from their Death Eater parents. When she finished, she seemed to almost tremble with nervousness about their reactions.
They all spoke at once.
“But it can’t be true, can it? You’ve got to be making this up! I don’t reckon it be possible for You-Know-Who to have a kid and actually care a damn about it.......” Ron said looking as if he was about to have a heart attack from the shock.
“Well, this does make sense, you know. A lot of these pieces are starting to come together. Yes, this does make perfect sense. Of course, you wouldn’t want anything to do with Malfoy, oh, he’d be the perfect one to get information from, I bet he’s just itching to show off, especially to impress a girl who he thinks would be in support of the Death Eaters!” Hermione said calmly. Hermione always took a more logical approach to things, and Harry was surprised to discover Hermione would think Katrina’s story had any logic behind it at all, but to Hermione, everything seemed to make sense.
Ginny looked as if she could burst into tears and any moment, and wanted to hug Katrina desperately. “And I thought you were just mean! I thought you just didn’t like me anymore! Oh, you poor thing! Having to grow up like that, knowing the parents that gave you life were horrible monsters! You must be so afraid of You-Know-Who kidnapping you! How could you ever sleep at night! Oh, I’m so glad you and Harry are together, though. Oh, you look so wonderful together. Harry likes you a lot and you’ll make him happy!”
Neville just made a sound like the squeak of a very tiny and very frightened mouse, and looked as if he would vomit.
After Katrina and Hermione exchanged apologizes, Neville regained the use of his voice. He began to beg Katrina to give her undercover work.
“It sounds like a bad idea to me, I know you could find some stuff out, but it don’t sound like it is worth it. What if Malfoy somehow finds out that You-Know-Who is your father? With his dad being one of You-Know Who’s supporters, he could tell him where you are, and then he would come and take you away!” Neville pleaded.
“Neville, don’t be stupid. Voldemort already knows that I’m here! Of course he knows I’m at Hogwarts! Uncle Dumbledore knows he’s back, so naturally Uncle would want me close by because I’m in danger of abduction, and since Harry is in danger too, it’d be natural that Uncle Dumbledore would want me to protect him from Voldemort, since I’d be able to understand Voldemort better than anyone else.”
“Don’t say the name!” Ron yelled, nervously looking all around him as if Voldemort would likely jump out of the fireplace at him.
“How come you call him Lord, well you know, and not dad?” asked Ginny.
“We may share the same DNA, but I don’t consider him family. He murdered my mother, he murdered Harry’s family. When you think of a dad, you think of somebody reading you bedtime stories and building you a tree house, not somebody who tried to kill a baby boy. Besides, he didn’t raise me. My Aunt Isabella and Uncle Joey did! Uncle Dumbledore and Grandma Figg did! And Severus Snape, he taught me most of what I know about, well, everything I need to know to survive battle with a certain evil relative of mine.”
“At least Snape got to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts to somebody.” Ron joked.
Neville seemed desperate to make Katrina promise to stay away from Draco Malfoy, but he was not successful. Ginny kept looking from Harry to Katrina like she was watching a funeral. After a lot of talking, Neville, Ginny and Katrina went off to bed while Harry, Ron and Hermione stayed behind to talk.
“Wow.” was the only words Ron could come up with to describe the situation once they were finally alone.
“This is so weird.” said Hermione. “It’s like something out of The Twighlight Zone.”
“What’s The Twightlight Zone?” asked Ron. “Let me guess, you read it in Hogwarts: A History?”
“No,” said Hermione, barely suppressing a laugh. “It’s a muggle television show.”
“What do you reckon is wrong with Ginny?” asked Harry. “She looked so sad.”
“Humph.” said Hermione. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Er, no, it’s not. That’s why I’m asking you.” replied Harry.
Hermione sighed. “Harry, she still likes you.” she said.
“But she’s going out with Neville.” Ron remained Hermione.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Oh, she likes Neville just fine, and she cares about him, but she loves Harry, She’s always loved you, Harry, she has this sort of hero worship thing for you. And she completely idolizes Katrina. She thinks she’s the greatest thing ever. And she wants both of you to be happy, because she cares about you so much, but she likes Harry and wants to be with him, so she’s jealous and hurt that Harry doesn’t like her back, and loves another girl, but she doesn’t want Katrina to get her heartbroken. Do you understand?”
Ron and Harry starred back at Hermione with blank expressions.
“There is no way that my little sister could possibly have that much on her mind She’s just a little kid who has a crush on Harry because he’s famous, and he saved her life, and is always around, and is nice to her. That’s it. She’ll grow out if it. She’s just a little kid. She’s so young.”
Hermione rolled her eyes. “You don’t understand emotions, do you Ron?”
“Nah, most problems in life can be solved or else forgotten over a good game of Quiditch, aint I right, Harry?” replied Ron light heartily, elbowing Harry in the ribs. “But seriously, Hermione, don’t tell me about Ginny, okay? She’s my baby sister, and I understand plenty about her.”
“Whatever you say.” sighed Hermione before turning to go to bed. “But your baby sister has done a lot of growing up in the last six months.”
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Author’s Note:
“At least Snape got to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts to somebody.” Ron joked.
Anybody else really like that line and think that this remark is sooooooo totally Ron Weasley? Let me know what you think about this chapter, and what you’d like to see happen. I know not much has happened in the last two chapters, mostly talking and explaining, but I think it’s important to show the reactions of Harry and co. to this news about Katrina, and I really wanted to express the pain Katrina feels about having to hurt a lot of people she cares about in order for her mission to be successful.
I have written a song fic from the point of view of Katrina, a song fic describing Katrina’s thoughts on her mission, and her late night “chats” with Harry in the Gryfindor Common Room, and her loneliness after being isolated from her friends, and how she’s tormented knowing she has to keep Lord Voldemort being her father a secret. The title of the song fic is called “Love Be Still”, after the Trick Pony song that is based on. It’s a very beautiful song, and I really hope everyone will read it, enjoy it, and most importantly, tell me what you liked or did not like about it. This will be my very first song fic, so keep that in mind.
To get to the song fic.....
if you are reading this one fanfiction.net, scroll to the very top of the screen and click on my screen name (houdinishideaway) when that page loads, click on the link to the story.
if you are reading this on oocities.com/ilikeneville (hint: it’s a black background w/yellow text....lol!) go back to the main page and click on the link to read my other fan fics. It’s in read text. Then when that page loads, click on the link for “Love Be Still”.
Pretty easy, huh.
Hope you like it.
-Amanda
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