A Gaunt Tale

Miss Gaunt,

I have received a letter from your father regarding the circumstances behind your leaving. He has stated that he has no issues with you returning to Hogwarts at this point. Because of law, you would need his or the ministry's permission to switch from homeschooling to Hogwarts, regardless any situation. Because your father has agreed, you will be allowed to attend Hogwarts for your last three years.

The elective courses you have chosen will be fine; the books you will need for them are included on your supplies list in the envelope that was sent with this letter. Your ticket for the Hogwarts Express is also included in the envelope, and the train will leave King's Cross Station at eleven o'clock in the morning on September 1.

Also, you may inform Lindy that she is perfectly welcome to work within Hogwarts. She may come here any time between now and September 1 to discuss what department she will be working in at Hogwarts, and as she is not a Hogwarts elf, she is free to leave whenever you wish for her to do so.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Katalina let out a cheer as she jumped off of her bed. Tom's owl hooted at her in apparent disapproval. She pursed her lips, glaring at it. "Go rain on someone else's parade, won't you? Go see Tom, maybe he needs something delivered! Shoo!"

The owl hooted again and flew out her window, leaving her to be happy without any strange birds clicking their beaks at her. She sat down on her bed in her inn room and read the letter again... and again... and again. She was going to Hogwarts! She was so happy that she wasn't even worried about what letter her father had sent to Dumbledore. Well, she was a little, but she wasn't going to bother herself with worrying about it too much. She had more important bussiness to attend to first.

"Lindy!"

She heard a small pop, but saw no elf. That was odd. She looked around for a moment. "L... Lindy?"

"Yes, Mistress?"

Katalina jumped at the voice directly behind her and turned to look at the house-elf sitting cross-legged on her bed. "I'm starting to think you like scaring me."

"Lindy apologizes for scaring Mistress..."

Katalina tilted her head to the side slightly at the depressed look upon the elf's face. "Are you alright?"

Lindy looked up. Her eyes were a bit wider than usual. "Lindy made a big mistake, Mistress. Mistress's mother told Lindy to keep Mistress safe but Lindy has put her in danger... Master Gaunt thinks Mistress and her brother may be in danger, Lindy saw a letter Master Gaunt wrote to Albus Dumbledore that said so. Albus Dumbledore thinks Mistress Gaunt and her brother will be safer in Hogwarts than outside, but Master Gaunt -"

"Why wouldn't we be safe at Hogwarts?" Katalina asked. "Don't you think that my father could just be trying to trick Dumbledore?"

"Master Gaunt is scared."

"Of what?"

"Lindy isn't allowed to say, Master Gaunt told Lindy not to. Lindy could get in trouble for telling Mistress about the letter. Lindy smashed her ears under rocks before coming here so Lindy could tell Mistress about the letter!"

"That would explain why they're looking a bit more purple than usual..." Katalina mumbled to herself, turning sideways to look at the distraught house-elf a little better. "Don't worry about it, okay, Lindy? I'll be fine. And if you're still worried, then you get to come to Hogwarts too, so you can keep your word to my mother and keep me safe from there, alright?"

Lindy perked up immediately, her eyes widening even more, but more in surprise this time than worry. "Headmaster Dumbledore said Lindy could work at Hogwarts?" Lindy asked.

"Yes," said Katalina, smiling. "The letter said to go there any time between now and September 1 to discuss what department you will be working in."

"May Lindy go now?" asked Lindy excitedly, her bat ears standing up again. "Lindy must thank Headmaster Dumbledore for his generosity!"

"Of course," Katalina said.

"Thank you, Mistress!"

With another pop, the elf disappeared on the spot. Katalina couldn't help but wonder how she planned to get into Hogwarts; she had read that apparating in and out of it was impossible. Maybe house-elves could and witches and wizards couldn't or something. Katalina shook her head, pushing the thought away from her mind; Lindy wouldn't have apparated if it weren't possible, so there was no need to worry.

Katalina tore open the envelope that had arrived with Dumbledore's letter and pulled out a train ticket and a few pieces of parchment folded into thirds. One was the regular "Welcome to Hogwarts" letter, signed by Minerva McGonagall. She pushed that one aside for the moment and unfolded her supplies list. That was her first priority. It was August 29, and she had already gotten her money from Gringotts to buy everything. She needed a lot of things, as she hadn't managed to get many of her old things before she left home. It didn't matter; she had more than enough money and three days to buy everything if she included today. If anything, it was going to be fun. Katalina shut the window in her room before leaving to head downstairs and out into Diagon Alley.

---

"Long day?"

Katalina gave a mumbled "bugger off" under her breath at the sound of the familiar - and amused - voice rather than just look up from the comfortable pillow her head was laying upon (which happened to be her arms crossed on top of the bar in the Leaky Cauldron) and glare at the person who had decided to bother her. She thought she had seen the last of him until Hogwarts, but apparently God had decided she needed some sort of punishment for some wrong she wasn't even aware she had committed. It had definitely been a long day. That was exactly why he needed to bugger off any leave her alone.

"Don't worry, I'll leave you be as soon as I figure out where Remus or Sirius are."

Katalina managed to lift her head up, but she had to use one of her hands to keep it held up in order to glare. "I sometimes think God must hate me."

James glared back from behind his glasses. "That's just unsociable."

"Shouldn't you be at work learning responsibility and how not to show up drunk to classes or something like that?"

"I'm off for the last few days of summer," said James, looking down the bar for Tom. "My dad seems to reckon I've suffered enough, so we're staying here for the last few days of summer to get my school shopping done with. Ay, Reggie!" he added, waving someone over.

No more than a few seconds later, a rather annoyed voice replied, "I'm going to hex you if you call me that again, Potter!"

"I'll just knock you off your broom at the next Quidditch match, then, shall I?" After a moment with no reply, James turned all the way around on his barstool and continued. "Any ideas on where your brother might be?"

Katalina glanced back over her shoulder to see a boy probably a couple years younger than them glaring at James - she could tell just by a certain look about him that he was definitely a Slytherin, and he bore a slight resemblance to Bellatrix Black from the last time she had seen her. "I don't know," he drawled, "but Mum says we're leaving him here for the rest of the summer if he's not back here in ten minutes."

"Alright, thanks Reggie."

"Stop calling me that, you stupi-"

"Then why don't you be a good little second year and bugger off?"

"Third year," mumbled the boy before he turned and walked away, glaring back in something nearing utter hatred.

"Little runt..." said James, turning back around. "I think I'll knock him off his broom first game against Slytherin just on principle..."

"Oh, and I'm the unsociable one," said Katalina with a laugh. She pulled a silver Sickle out of her pocket and set it on the counter, then commenced strumming her fingers impatiently. "Wish Tom would hurry up..." she mumbled, looking down the counter for the bartender.

"Hey, I'm not being unsociable, that little bugger is a spoiled rotten brat," said James indignantly. "He's Slytherin's seeker, so all I have to do is tell the referee that I saw the snitch and didn't mean to knock him off, it's worked before. I figure he might get some sense knocked into him if he's knocked off his broom enough times. So technically, I'm doing him a favor."

"How kind of you."

"You're not paying any attention at all, are you?"

"You're doing him a favor by knocking him off his broom because it may knock some sense into the spoiled rotten brat that just left who is apparently the brother of a friend of yours," said Katalina, still glaring down the bar at Tom. "I can wait for a slow bartender and listen at the same time. Not everyone's as slow as you are, you know."

"Yeah, I kn- wait a moment, what-?"

"Tom, how's it going?" Katalina cut James off before he could retaliate as Tom rounded their end of the bar.

"Busy day. Lots of homeschoolers transferring into Hogwarts, so lots more people than usual this year," Tom said, pulling a bottle off of the wall. "All the parents think it'll be safer that way with all these rumors about You-Know-Who going around, what with all of the extra protection Dumbledore's had put up on the school." He set a bottle of butterbeer on the counter and picked up the silver coin Katalina had laid down earlier.

"What d'you reckon?" James asked. "Everyone says its rumors."

Tom shook his head and spoke quietly. "Not sure I trust the Minister these days," he said. "Hemwick says it's only rumors. I say if Dumbledore thinks there's something to worry about, then there is something to worry about. He's even been considering stationing dementors around the grounds to keep his followers out, as far as I've heard."

"It's all true," said a voice from next to them as a boy sat down next to James. "My mum thinks You-Know-Who's right on target with killing all the muggleborns. Speaking of which," he added to James, "seen her around here in the past hour?"

"Not her, no," said James as Tom hurried off to a crowd just sitting at the other end of the bar. "Your brother was here a few minutes ago, though. He said she told him they were leaving if you didn't find her in ten minutes."

"Oh, good, maybe they won't spot me." He looked behind him into the crowd of people. "Don't see either of them, they might've already taken off. That's luck-"

"Sirius? There you are - Mum says you're in trouble if you don't come back in two minutes, you know."

"Tell the old bat I said to sod off, then," said Sirius, glancing back at his brother.

"Okay."

"Wait, not reall-" But it was too late - his younger brother had already disappeared into the crowds, apparently eager to get Sirius into trouble by any means possible. "Damn.... That little bugger.... Now she ought to be out to kill." He stood up. "Looks like I'm off, then. Your mum and dad should mind if I stay at your place the rest of the summer, right?"

"They might, considering we're staying here for the last few days. Closer to King's Cross."

"Oh. Looks like I'll be staying here, then. Let me know when they're gone, I've been avoiding them all day."

He took off quickly when he spotted his brother coming back. The younger of the two approached the bar and looked around. He scowled. "He's gone again? Tell him Mum said that 'if he's going to have an attitude like that, he can just stay here for the rest of the summer. We're leaving.'"

"Alright, I'll be sure to," said James in a mock-kind voice. "Now why don't you be a good little dark wizard and go back to your mummy, Reggie?"

"I swear, Potter, one more time and -"

"And what? You'll run crying to your mum?" Still scowling, he turned and walked back into the crowd. "That's Regulus Black, by the way," said James. "Sirius is his brother. His mum and dad put together are probably almost as bad as your dad. I should probably let him know they're leaving," he added, standing up. "See you later, I suppose."

"If my luck doesn't improve at all," said Katalina, which caused another complaint on his part about how aggravating antisocial people were.

--

It was about midnight when Katalina finally headed upstairs into her own hotel room. At that time of night, the crowds of the day subsided and she could make it across to the stairs leading to the inn rooms without bumping into anyone who might want to talk to her for whatever reason. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was something about James Potter that made her want to drop lit fireworks down the back of his shirt. There couldn't have been any logical reason for it except that he seemed rather pompous and definitely seemed to lack common sense on first impression.

Katalina fell onto her bed with a relieved sigh; carrying around a cauldron full of school books all day warranted a comfortable bed to lie down on at the end of the day, which she luckily had now. She flinched, however, when she felt something stabbing into her side. She reached down into her pocket and pulled out a quill, as well as a few pieces of parchment. She unfolded one that she recognized to be her letter of acceptance into Hogwarts and read it yet again.

Now that her mind was calm, it didn't have the same exact effect as earlier. Her eyes couldn't help but linger on a few words: I have received a letter from your father.... What bussiness did he have writing to Dumbledore? She had never been more grateful to the man who had "raised" her than she was now, for him giving her official permission to get as far away from him as was possible, but she was sure the thought of it was going to haunt her for at least a little while if she didn't find out more.

Maybe the fear in his eyes had been real.... He might have been going to Dumbledore for help for something. It seemed an unrealistic theory to her, but as far as she was concerned, her father was a rather unrealistic character himself. There was no telling what was going on in that deranged head of his or what sort of mess he was planning this time. He obviously wasn't trying to take her out of Hogwarts now, if he had sent Dumbledore a letter telling him that he had no issues with her attending. The man made absolutely no sense to her sometimes. In fact, he didn't ever really make any sense to her.

Rather than read over the letter again and find something else to question, Katalina merely lay the letter upon her nightstand and roll over onto her side. There was no point bothering changing into pajamas this time of night. She was perfectly comfortable as she was, and getting up would only lessen the time she had to get in a much needed night of sleep. So as she closed her eyes and again saw a pair of turquoise orbs projected for her on the back of her eyelids, she did her best to look past them.

She was quite surprised when this pair of eyes blinked after quite a long period of time, and even more surprised at the flash of green light she saw, and more yet when she heard a single word spoken in her ear: riddle.

Katalina opened her eyes and sat straight up at the sound of this voice, only to find herself blinking in the sunlight. She shook her head as she looked at the open window in her room. She groaned and lay back down, pulling up covers she hadn't used the night before to shield her eyes from the sunlight. It was too early for her to be waking up. She had no idea what time it was, but her sleep didn't seem to her to have lasted any more than a half an hour. That was utterly nerve-racking.

Then, as something triggered in her memory, she sat back up. She pulled the covers off of her head and stared at the window in her room - the open window... that she had closed yesterday. True, she hadn't checked it the previous night - she had been much too tired to do so - but she had never opened it back up herself, unless she was sleepwalking, which she had never done in the past as far as she knew.

Had someone been there while she was asleep? The voice she heard seemed to have come from her right side, as she had been sleeping on her side and that was the only ear anyone could have spoken in that clearly. The voice didn't seem as though it had come from within the dream itself - if you could even call it a dream - because the voice was what had awoken her, wasn't it? She certainly thought that was it. She was quite sure she had heard someone speak right in her ear.

She stood up from her bed and managed to force her tired legs to shuffle her over to the window. Katalina found herself examining the windowsill for no particular reason before she closed the window and latched it, then pulled the curtains back. She hadn't locked the window shut yesterday, maybe that was it. No one would be getting in through it now, she thought to herself with a laugh, before meandering back over to her bed and falling down on it.