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A Thought or Two | ||||||
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Category: Pre-OotP, Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Drama Warnings: Mental Abuse Story is Complete Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 87 Summary: Auror Spook Kitty Fawley thought the difficult part of her return to the UK would be getting Sirius out of prison and recovering Harry from his Muggle relatives. Turns out that was the easiest thing she would do. To help them, Kitty will delve into a mystery deeper than any she faced in the field. Hitcount: Story Total: 134239; Chapter Total: 3600 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: hi all, this is going tp be the last chapter for a few weeks as i have broken two bones in my arm and I'm in a sling. As soon as i can type with 2 hands I will continue writing. I'm not sorry about the cliffhanger. |
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Chapter 7: In Your Room The first week of Harry's new family living together was wonderful, scary, comfortable, confusing, warm, loving, and at times, the most challenging thing any of them had ever done. The strain between Kitty and Sirius was palpable, and meals sometimes forced affairs. One night it was so bad Remus had suggested Sirius move into the guest house with him; there were two spare bedrooms. Sirius refused on the grounds that he needed to be near his godson, regardless of the issues he had with Kitty. Harry continued to vacillate between the darling, good-natured child he had been as a baby, and the near-catatonic little boy they met the first day. Dr Binoche had come twice since the initial visit, first to see how Harry's injuries were healing and second to work with Kitty on the documentation of what injuries could be corroborated. They'd agreed — although it was difficult to come to a consensus with Sirius' temper rearing its ugly head — that the legal system should be used. There would be a proper investigation through the Muggle Children's Services, but the Wizarding Children's Services department would be observing. Kitty had enough solicitors on retainer that she would make sure the Dursleys were punished for their crimes. Secretly she also hoped to save Harry’s cousin from the damage his parents were inflicting on him. Overindulging a child could be as dangerous as ignoring one. Tonight, Harry was having his magical bath in Kitty's bathroom. He liked to switch between Kitty's and Sirius' bathrooms — in hers, it was rainbow bubbles, in his, it was a shower of dancing water droplets and a self-scrubbing, pre-soaped sponge that occasionally burped blueberry smelling bubbles. "Okay there, Luv, the bubbles are almost gone. Stand up, and I've got your warm towel right here," Kitty said brightly as she held up the hooded towel that looked like a dragon. She always put a warming charm on it before she wrapped him up. "You ready to be dried off?" "Yup!" Harry chirped before Kitty set the spell, and the towel began wiggling all over his body and head. Harry giggled as Kitty sang a little "drying up” ditty she’d made up earlier in the week. When the towel stopped, Harry ran to his room to put on his clean jammies before running back into Kitty’s room and leaping into her big bed. They’d recently begun reading one of James’ favourite books from childhood, Treasure Island. The adults were surprised by the depth of Harry’s reading knowledge, and his ability to sound out words at only four. Granted, his parents were more than bright, and they'd read to him from the moment he was born; but they were sure his three years with his aunt and uncle would have stunted him. He explained that he was able to have Dudley's books, as his cousin never opened them. Harry snuggled under the duvet and waited while Kitty gathered the book from her dresser and joined him in bed. She opened the book to where they'd left off the night before, and Harry read the words he could, sounded out many of those that were left, and let Kitty read the tough ones. The sound of uneven footsteps across the carpeted floor alerted the pair they soon wouldn’t be alone. “You started without me?” Sirius said as he entered the room. His gait was uneven as he still had a stasis bubble around his left foot. In an effort to repair his poorly healed broken ankle, a tendon had been put under stress and had ruptured. Dr Binoche fixed it quickly, but to fully recover, it needed to be immobile. Sirius had been given the choice of staying in bed for a week or two weeks with the stasis charm on him. After three days, he was regretting his decision. Kitty helped by levitating him into the bed and then levitated a throw to him. Sirius tipped his head in thanks. "You were late," Harry replied, very plainly. "I needed to know what happened next." "Your reading is excellent, Harry. Prongs would be proud," his godfather said, leaning to kiss his crown. “Both your Mummy and Daddy would be proud. When we’re done with this book, maybe we can read something Lily enjoyed while growing up,” Kitty suggested. "Okay," Harry answered. "Will I still get stories about Mummy and Daddy?" "Yes, sweetheart, you always will. Your uncles and I have lots of them." Harry nodded, and they returned to reading. Kitty and Sirius took turns helping Harry with difficult words or explaining what they meant until the end of the chapter. “Tonight, I want a daddy story,” Harry said, “and I want Auntie Kitty to tell it.” The previous day Remus had stayed for reading time, and they had each told Harry about their first encounter with Lily. Kitty smiled at Harry’s request. “How about the first memory I have of your Daddy and Uncle Sirius?" Kitty asked, and Harry clapped his hands in excitement. "Let's see. We were all about five and at some summer party for someone. I had on a beautiful, very fluffy pink dress. I was outside playing dollies with Cissy and Dromy Black, your uncle's cousins when James came out with Sirius. They were pushing and shoving each other —" “They were fighting?” Harry interjected, quite concerned. "No, Harry, we never fought; it was play. We wanted to see who could stay upright the longest." “Oh, okay. I don’t like fighting.” Sirius wrapped his arm around the boy. "None of us do, Harry, but you're safe here, and we don't fight at our home." “Uncle Sirius is absolutely right; we don’t fight with people we love. So, your daddy was ruff housing with Uncle Sirius when he fell in the mud. It was all over his trousers, his waistcoat, his shirt, his shoes, his robes — he was a mess! Jamie then proceeded to knock Uncle Sirius into the mud too. It was so gross. Then do you know what your dad did?” “Get it in his hair?” Harry suggested. “Trust me, Harry, it was already in there,” Sirius responded. "No, he took his muddy hands and with his fingers stuck out wide," Kitty said and acted out this part. "He put them on my pink dress, right on the flowery skirt. I was so upset I started to cry, but I didn't want my Mummy to know because I thought my dress was ruined. Then, your grandmum, who Dromy went to get, came out of the house and cleaned me up. I always liked Mummy Fee.” “Because she never scolded you, not like the scolding Jamie and I had that day. Plus, she didn’t let us have any pudding,” Sirius added. They were both quiet for a moment. Sirius looked down and saw the drowsy look to Harry's face, and he went on. “It’s hard to believe he’s gone, you know. He was always there, just like you were. The three of us, just children who had no idea what the world was going through, living this idyllic life.” “I miss them too,” Kitty said. “Sometimes I just stop, stand still remembering, and I'm overwhelmed by it. I ache from missing them. All of them, really. Even Peter, the boy Peter we knew at school. He was always funny and cracking bad puns.” “How much money does a pirate pay for corn?” Sirius asked with a wide grin already on his face. "I don't know how much does a pirate pay for corn?” Kitty replied with a chuckle, already knowing the answer. "A buccaneer!" Sirius said happily, and they both laughed. "Pete might be a rat now, but he was a good mate back then." “He was. He always knew how to get a smile out of me. He’d tell me puns or worse, dirty jokes until I smiled,” Kitty said. “I can’t believe Betty is gone too. Wasn’t the war that killed her, but a stupid Muggle bus hitting her car. She was so easy to get along with.” “Yeah, and the only girl that Remus ever went with for more than a month. His furry little problem never bothered her,” Sirius added. “Then there was Marlene. She was a firecracker. I don’t know that I’ll ever meet someone so fearless again.” The mere mention of Marlene McKinnon made Kitty pause. She was a good friend, and like all her roommates, they became her family. Marlene’s dating Sirius, however, changed their relationship. Kitty knew it was hard to understand what their shared childhood meant to Kitty, Sirius, and Jamie. Marlene always thought they were whispering secrets about her or others who weren’t pureblood when in reality, they were usually talking about something mundane like other families gossip or what one of Sirius’ dumb relatives had done now. The three of them were peas in a pod. In childhood, whenever Kitty’s family returned to the UK, they were together. Marlene, it seemed, was ashamed of her half-blood status. She wanted to be like the trio, and they, in turn, couldn't have cared less about their pureblood. To make things easier on Marlene, Kitty drew back from her relationship with Sirius. Sure, they still all sat together at lunch. Still, there was less of Sirius and Kitty sitting in windowsills and talking between classes or his holding her hand as she read letters from Mum indicating her parents' indifference to Voldemort's rise. Marlene went so far as to blame Kitty for her breakup with Sirius when it was his fear of commitment. After James proposed to Lily in their seventh year, Marlene began dropping hints that they’d been together for nearly two years, unlike the mere six months James and Lily had been together. Marlene believed she and Sirius should do the same. There was more than a year between their breakup and Kitty agreeing to snog him. That was indeed the only difference since she was always with the group when not at work. At the time of her death, Kitty and Sirius were estranged from their friend, although to differing degrees. Marlene tolerated Sirius' presence; she talked to Kitty. Sirius noticed Kitty's change in mood the minute he mentioned Marlene. He'd been looking for a moment when her name could be dropped into a conversation and was glad to have finally found one. He desperately needed to know what it was about Marlene's death that had driven her away. “Katia,” he whispered, “tell me what’s going through your head. I saw you tense at her name.” “It’s not Marlene…not really. It was what happened the day she died,” Kitty said softly. “Me and you and…” she just sighed. “Please, tell me. I don’t understand,” Sirius gently begged. Kitty looked down to make sure Harry was as soundly sleeping as she suspected. Since he was, she resigned herself to having this painful conversation. “Are you sure you want to talk about this?” she asked. Sirius nodded in the affirmative. “Fine then.” Kitty scooted her hands under her thighs to keep from reaching out to touch him. It was going to be excruciating to have this conversation. Since seeing him again, she felt as raw as she did that morning when she ran from England. “You came home to tell me she was killed. I was still in bed, remember this bed. You'd been out on night patrol with Remus. It was like a noose tightening on us in those days. Lily and I had just talked about how lucky we'd been, avoiding death. James had been cocky enough to suggest it was because we were so talented. Lily and I knew better. There was no way we'd all make it out of the war alive. “I knew it was awful news when you came in. Sirius, you never look shaken, and you were just," she sighed, hoping to find the words she needed. "It was the first time I'd seen you broken. You told me about Marlene and her family. We held each other and cried, and then you became just inconsolable." “I was —” “Please, let me get it out. I’ve been dreading telling you this for years,” she pleaded, and he allowed her to continue. “You sobbed and sobbed. I could do nothing for you. You didn’t even want me to touch you. You recoiled from me. It hurt. When you’d fallen asleep, I went to Lily and told her what happened. She tried to tell me it was just because she'd once been vital to you, and you'd never been able to help her heal and be friends again. I wasn't sure. "While I was there, I resigned myself to going to my parents' home for a few days. I needed to figure out what I was feeling; there was this tiny part of me that was happy the tension that was always created when we were together was gone; that made me feel guilty too. Jamie came back with me because he knew you'd need a mate. I explained to you I was going to see Mum and Dad and think, but you became enraged. Jamie had to hold you back so I could Floo to their house." Kitty was quiet, and the tears she'd been fighting began to cascade down her cheeks. “I never had any intention to break up with you,” she said, turning to face him for the first time. “I just needed to grieve and sort out what I was feeling. It was while I was there that I was told of my next mission, and I was off to Russia again. When James and Lily showed up there…" She searched his face, attempting to find where he was emotionally. Sirius only looked stunned. Kitty turned away, pulled her hands from beneath her legs, and covered her face with them, and began to sob. “When they showed up in Russia,” she said between ragged breaths, “my world imploded.” “Oh, my Lady Katie, I wish you’d told me what you were thinking,” Sirius said as he too was crying. “There’s so much I never told you about Marlene and the day after.” |
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