Cat and Meg

The dusty floorboards creaked as a woman tiptoed across them. She headed for an old bookcase in the corner, pausing on the way to call down to someone. Picking up a faded album with Peter's Pictures scrawled on the front, she sat down on the dusty floor and opened it.

This woman was named Nymphadora by a loving, if slightly misguided mother, but she preferred the nickname Tonks. Today her hair was like spun honey, piled up on the top of her head. Below the dusty attic where she sat reading, Remus Lupin was writing a letter to the trio, who was halfway through their seventh year.

The pictures that Tonks stared at were mainly family pictures, a blonde, haughty mother and a smiling father with the dark haired boy she now loved, until she reached about halfway. Here Remus was a teenager, and there were shots of James and Sirius grinning and mugging at the camera. She flicked through a few pages idly, and then stopped.

Smiling up at her was a slim girl with muddy blonde hair, waving from the banks of the Hogwarts Lake. Remus was beside her, also waving, but his other arm was draped loosely around the girl's shoulder. There were other pictures of this girl on the next page too, mostly smiling and waving.

In one however, the camera had caught her unawares. She was sitting in an armchair, her legs curled up beneath her. Tonks imagined she was staring into the fire, as there was a dreamy expression on her face and she was just reaching to flick a lock of hair out of her dark eyes.

There was a letter written in small writing next to it, but Tonks did not stop to read it. There were doodles of flowers beside the words, and the script looked feminine.

Tonks began to turn the pages. The girl grew older as the pictures went on; often she was pictured smiling and laughing with Lupin and the others. In what must have been about her seventh year, there were several shots of her with Lily and they were obviously good friends.

Tonks realised that there was only one page left, and turned it. On this faded page there were only three pictures. The first was the girl blowing out the candles on a cake. Around her, familiar faces cheered, and above there was a banner proclaiming "Happy 21^st birthday!"

The second picture was at the Three Broomsticks. Remus, Sirius, James, Lily and the girl, wearing a long blue cloak, sat around a table, cheering and raising butterbeers as she watched. Lily and James wore wedding rings, and Lily was heavily pregnant. Next to this was written in the same minute script "June 17^th 1980"

Tonks begin to shake. She dropped the book and began to breathe deeply, staring down with wide eyes at the third picture. It was of Remus and the girl, standing in a forest clearing. Remus had his arm around the girl's shoulders and was looking down at what she held with a tender expression on his face. The girl was cradling a tiny bundle wrapped in a blanket, and as she shifted it gently, Tonks saw inside. It was a baby, only a few months old, fast asleep in its mother's arms.

Below was written, in Remus's distinctive florid handwriting, three words.

Cat and Meg

A moment later, Remus's head popped up through the small hole in the floor that they used as an entrance to the dusty attic. "Are you alright? You've been up here for hours, I was getting worried," he said, smiling at her. He noticed her look, and pulled himself up into the attic. "Tonks? What's up?"

She looked up at him with a white face and whispered something. "What? Tonks, what's wrong?" he repeated.

She spoke again, and this time he heard. "Remus, who is Cat?" she asked, and this time it was Remus's turn to go pale. He slowly sunk to her knees, and picked up the album Tonks had been looking at.

A teardrop fell onto the page and blurred the baby's face as Remus stared down, a haunted look on his face. "Oh dear Jesus, Tonks. Where did you get this?"

"Just there." Tonks whispered, nodding to the shelf. Remus's expression was unfathomable, and she watched him with terrified eyes.

He turned and got up, slowly walking towards the bookcase. It was nearly empty, apart from a few thick albums on the fifth shelf. Remus picked one of these up, and opened it. Tonks rose too and looked at Remus nervously.

He shook his head and turned away. He reached up to the top shelf and pulled out an old fishbowl. A long crack had been mended with spellotape, and inside, lazy grey mists swirled slowly. It was a makeshift Pensieve, Tonks realised.

Ten minutes later, Remus sat down heavily on the sofa, holding a steaming cup of tea in his shaking hands. He began to speak slowly, his voice under control now.

"Cat went to school with us, she was our friend. Lily's friend as well, I suppose." He was going to say more, but then he hesitated. "I can't tell you this, but the Pensieve can."

She was unsure where she wanted to hear this story, but she had to know what had happened. She couldn't go on knowing that her lover had a wife and a child somewhere. That baby would be about Harry's age now. Tonks couldn't just forget that.

Remus pulled the Pensieve towards him and dipped his wand in, swirling it around gently. Slowly, oh so slowly, a scene began to form. A classroom, Divination by the looks of it, filled with chattering students. As Tonks stared at it, the chattering grew louder, and the figures bigger until she looked around and she was in the classroom.