Bad Blood

Prologue

1966

Kathryn found herself alone in a sloping field on the edge of some woods. This place wasn't like anywhere she had ever been before. The grass felt wet and springy under her bare feet. A cool breeze blew her hair out of her eyes. As Kathryn looked up at the sky, a cloud was blown away to reveal an infinite number of stars and a blue tinged full moon. Before Kathryn had had sufficient time to marvel at the sight of more stars than had ever been in the sky above Grimmauld Place, she was unfairly brought to her senses. A small boy was running down the field. At first he seemed to be running towards her, but he veered right and ran down to a small river at the bottom of the hill. A thrill of foreboding sent goose pimples up her arms and legs. Suddenly Kathryn felt extremely out of place in her white nightdress, watching this boy. Cautiously she followed him, wary of any sound that might give her away. When she was only a few feet away from him the boy stiffened. She held her breath. All of a sudden, a humungous ball of fur and teeth threw itself at the boy. Kathryn backed away, trying not to scream...

Kathryn Black woke up whimpering. She would not scream. God knows what her mother would do to her. Though she was only five years old, Kathryn had learnt long ago that nightmares were preferable to her own mother. Keeping her eyes tightly shut, Kathryn sat up under her blankets. Blinking sweat out of her eyes, she tried to convince herself that it had been a dream. Somehow it was hard to convince herself of that, even when she was huddled under five blankets and a duvet her hair plastered to her face with sweat. It was extremely difficult to breathe under all these layers of bedding, but the idea of kicking one off was absurd. She knew what waited for her in the darkness. They were the things that invaded her dreams, turning into nightmares.

Kathryn had dreamed about far worse things than what she had just seen, but this dream was more disturbing than any of the others. That boy had looked around her age. What was going to happen to him? Would that beast, whatever it was, kill him or would he just be hurt? Would his parents find him on time? Was what she saw even real? Kathryn was starting to feel drowsy. She tried to hold on to her last bit of consciousness, but in vain. Before she let herself fall back into sleep, she was vaguely aware of something moving her blankets away.

*

Kathryn found herself in a hospital room full of dazzling sunlight. There were many beds in the room but only two of them were actually occupied. One of the patients was a small girl with black hair and an unusually thin face. The girl had a bandage on her right hand and a faint, scratch like birthmark on her left cheek. Kathryn now recognised this girl as herself. Not entirely sure how this was possible she reached out to hold her sleeping self's hand.

Two nurses, one young, one old, came through but neither of them seemed to be able to see her.

Several painful sounding coughs made her remember the other patient. She spun round, knocking a goblet of water off the bedside table. Kathryn walked over to him. Behind her she could hear the nurses coming over as well. He was a small boy with brown hair that fell onto his face. Only now did she realise he was the boy from her other dream. He was covered in scratches and bite marks that looked as though they had only just been magically healed.

'Who are you?' Kathryn asked him softly.

'Who is he?' one of the nurses asked curtly from behind Kathryn.

'Remus Lupin,' the other nurse answered. 'He was bitten by a werewolf. He was brought in an hour ago.'

A werewolf. Last night she had seen a werewolf attack this boy, Remus Lupin. Without realising it, she was reaching out her hand and stroking Remus on the forehead.

'Hi Remus,' Kathryn whispered. 'I'm Kathryn Black. I don't suppose you have many friends, what with living out in the country. I don't have friends either. Except my brother, but he doesn't count. Will you be my friend Remus? Will you protect me from the dark?'

Remus' eyes opened. They were mesmerising shade of blue. He looked straight at Kathryn, staring at her face. His gaze locked on her eyes. Remus opened his mouth to say something...