Haii there. *waves* I'm Jessie Tessie, and this is my first FF...ever. *looks around* So don't expect anything of perfection or anything like that, I'm just writing because it's fun and it's actually quite productive than sitting on Polyvore all day long. *whistles* Anyway...I hope you enjoy. (:

Also, I would like to note that during my break this went inactive, I'm now back and ready to continue onwards.

Oh and by the way, if you didn't already know but: all Harry Potter characters, locations, and plot points within this story belong to JK Rowling.

created by: Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop



Chapter One
A Strange Occurrence

It was nearing four in the morning and all was quiet in the small two bedroom house with the exception of the large dog snoring on the couch, on the outskirts of Los Angeles, California. In the smaller of the two bedrooms a woman in her early thirties lay still as if she might have been dead. She suddenly sat up straight in bed, both hands gripping the sides of her head through the mess of red hair as she let out a shriek.

There was the sound of a door slamming on the other side of the house, the dog being startled awake and barking and then running footsteps and paws following that across the house all leading up to the door of the bedroom being thrown open. “Are you okay Katherine?” The woman questioned tip toeing to the edge of Katherine’s bed, the dog, Wally right beside the woman, ready to attack if a stranger was in the house.

Katherine took in a deep sharp breath, still clutching her head. “He’s back!” Katherine yelled, causing the other woman to take several steps back away from her bed. Wally gave a bark at Katherine, as if to say calm down.

“Who’s back Katherine?” The woman asked softly, fearing that if she used the wrong tone that Katherine would continue to yell, making Wally bark even more and eventually wake the neighbors up.

“Voldemort.” She growled as rocked back and forth in her bed, attempting to get the searing pain in her head to stop or at the very least subside enough that she could think properly. Wally jumped up onto Katherine’s bed and lay on top of her legs and began to whine.

The woman looked at Katherine as if she were insane, she had obviously never heard of Voldemort before. She hadn’t the slightest idea of what was going on, or how to try to help Katherine. “Are you going to be alright Kath?” The woman questioned, sincerely concerned for her friend.

“I’ll be alright when he’s killed.” Katherine spat. Wally let out a few loud barks and jumped off the bed, running out of the room.

-------

“I’m fine. Promise.” Katherine told her friend and roommate of seven years. Katherine had absolutely no idea why she had awoken from deep sleep with such a horrific pain in her head. Or why she had clearly seen Voldemort, Peter Pettigrew, Harry Potter, numerous Death Eaters, and a young boy about the age of Harry at a grave yard. She knew for certain though, that she should worry about it, because even for being a witch, she was knew that things like that didn’t happen often.

Harriet let out a sigh. “Alright. But I’m serious; I think you need to go see a doctor.” She said as she poured them both coffees. “I mean, it was frightening, seeing you like that. It was almost as if you were a different person. Like a criminal running from a ring leader of some infamous group that the authorities are out to get.” Harriet rambled. “What?” She asked when Katherine’s face went hallow.

Wally started barking at Harriet, it seemed to be a bark of something important. Harriet watched Katherine with a questioning look as she went to the kitchen door and opened the door for Wally. Wally just stood there with his large head cocked to the side looking at Harriet like she was stupid. He eventually left the kitchen to chase a bird around the backyard.

“Nothing.” Katherine smiled as she took her cup of coffee and sat down to read the morning newspaper and watched Wally chase the birds around the yard as he often had a tendency to do. Harriet seemed to have her head elsewhere as she had abandoned Katherine in the kitchen and went to her room, shutting her door lightly as she went.

Scanning the newspaper, Katherine gave a sigh; there wasn’t anything of importance in there. Nothing that would help her decode what she saw two nights previous. She had tried not to think about it, but it seemed that since she had seen Harry, appearing to be just like she had imagined him before, all grown up, that Katherine just had to find out what was going on.

Draining the last of her coffee, Katherine put her empty mug into the sink and went to her bedroom where she shut the door and locked it. She paced in front of her door for ten minutes, contemplating if she really wanted to dive back into her past and see if she could link things together. Or if she should just carry on with her “normal” life her husband of nearly 15 years would want her to do.

Deciding finally what she wanted to do, Katherine walked over to her closet. Seperating the clothes on the rod in middle and shoving them to either side she immersed herself into her closet where she rummaged around for quite a while before she finally found what she was looking for. Removing herself from the closet she had in hand a small box, just the size of her palm. Katherine looked at the box with misty covered eyes, she had promised him all those years ago, that she wouldn’t do what she was about to do, but she had to. Her heart and gut where telling her to.

Setting the box on her bedside table, Katherine got to her knees and crawled under bed. “I’ve got to clean.” She muttered to herself, though she knew she wouldn’t. People didn’t normally get under her bed, and it hid her most prized possession the best.

Near the headboard on the underneath side of her bed, was her magic wand, eight inches long made from oak with a mermaid hair, taped into place with some trusty spellotape. And as an extra precaution, there was an invisibility charm placed on it. Even the exact location of the wand Katherine couldn’t remember. Feeling in the dark on the bottom of the headboard, eventually Katherine’s fingers found something that felt quite familiar, and she knew without a doubt it was her wand.

Getting excited, like she was eleven years old again and she had just gotten her wand from Ollivanders, Katherine backed out from under her bed and looked at her wand with admiration. Standing up, she took the box and set it on the floor. Rolling up her sleeves, she said a simple incantation and the box suddenly grew. “There you are precious trunk of mine.” Katherine whispered as she knelt beside the Hogwarts trunk and dusted off the thick layer of dust that formed over the years.

Her fingers traced the letters that spelled her birth name, Katya Adria Weston, she couldn’t help but smile. Finally she took her wand and with a deep breath, she tapped her wand gently on the edge of the trunk. Hearing a series of locks unlocking itself, Katherine gingerly opened the trunk.

Thank you for sharing your talent with us! Please be sure to edit your first post with a chapter index when you next update and, as always, update often and have fun!

Can't wait to see more from you!

I'm interested so far to see where this goes!

Brilliantly written Jessie! -squashes- I'm excited to see where this story goes; I'm intrigued at the part where she sees the graveyard and everything. Can't wait to see more of this!

aahhh VERY INTERESTING! I loved it! can;t wait for more..PAMS!

Chapter Two
Attempting to Crack the Truth

It had been a week since strange night had occurred. Wally wouldn’t let Katherine out of his sight when she was at home; she had to literally slam the door in the dog’s face whenever she went to the bathroom. And it killed her to leave him at home when she had to leave to go open her book store up; he’d sit behind the front door and howl.

“I’m back.” She greeted the Great Dane as he spun circles around her as she walked into the house. They had gone through the routine every day for the last seven days. Dropping her keys into the bowl on the table beside the door she scratched the top of Wally’s head. “Let’s go.” She said as she started to make her way back to her room.

“You’re not even going to say hi or ask me how my day was?” Harriet asked. “Or tell me how pretty I look in this new sun dress?” She laughed as she pointed to the blue and white dress she was wearing; she then twirled in a circle so Katherine could see the entire dress.

“Hey Harriet, how was your day? You look lovely.” Katherine smiled as she turned and began to walk again. Her old witty and clever self was starting to show through just slightly

“You’ve changed a lot recently.” Harriet commented. “All you do is spend time in your room with Wally. Are you okay?” She asked following Katherine.

Katherine let out a sigh. She wanted to tell Harriet everything but she couldn’t. She just wouldn’t understand. It seemed the only one who understood what she was going through was Wally, and he couldn’t even talk back to her and tell her what she should do.

“I’m…fine.” Katherine struggled to say, truth be told, she wasn’t fine at all. The hours of locking herself in her room and going through her Hogwarts trunk that held every last piece of her former life wasn’t helping her piece together anything to help her figure out what she had seen. It seemed like it was a lost cause for Katherine.

-----

That night, Katherine agreed to have a movie night with Harriet out of guilt and left her bedroom for her normal place on the couch curled up beside Wally who always ended up taking up most of the couch by the end of the night. Katherine hadn’t really been paying attention to the movie or anything really, but tried not to act any different than how Harriet had known her for several years.

Things were going great, they were on their second movie of the night, Wally had stretched out laying across both Harriet and Katherine on the couch, and they had brought out the large bowl of chocolate they kept stashed away specifically for their movie nights.

Thirty minutes into the second movie, Katherine was starting to doze off, her breathing had gotten a little heavier and eventually her eyes never fought themselves open again as she fell asleep. It wasn’t long after that, or so it seemed to Katherine, that there was something knocking on one of the back windows of the house. Wally had jumped up barking and Katherine woke up, confused and slightly disoriented but followed after Wally regardless.

Katherine turned on the lights as soon as she hit the kitchen and rushed to the window where the knocking was coming from. “Oh no, no.” Katherine mumbled to herself as she opened the window and let the small tawny owl fly in. “Can’t be good, can’t be good at all.” She whispered as she left the window opened and followed the owl over to the counter where it perched itself.

“What in the world is that owl doing in our kitchen?” Harriet asked, her eyes were wide as tea saucer. Wally gave a little whine and sat down on Katherine’s feet. She stared at the owl carefully, wondering if she should get the broom and try to shoo it out of the house.

“Would the two of you knock it off already?” Katherine asked clearing annoyed at Harriet and Wally for their behavior as she moved her feet from under Wally. She got a bowl down from the cupboard, filled it with water and placed in front of the owl; she didn’t know from where the owl was, but she knew it had traveled a distance and any animal needed water after traveling a long while. “You won’t believe it even if I could tell you Harriet.” Katherine sighed as she reached for the thick envelope attached to the owl’s leg and begun to untie it without really thinking too much about it.

Harriet moved closer to Katherine. “Well you might as well tell me.” She declared putting her hands on her hips. Her voice was strong and confident when she spoke. Harriet was worried about Katherine, and things got to a whole new level of weird when you had an owl in your kitchen. “You’ve been acting strange all week. And Wally has too. You’re up to something Katherine North.” Harriet concluded eying the three animals as if they might jump and make a run for it.

“Oh don’t be so daft. Wally’s just a dog; he doesn’t know what’s going on.” Katherine told her rolling her eyes. It wasn’t like it was unusual for people to have time to themselves. Katherine was a busy woman with her book shop, she deserved some time alone. And Wally wouldn’t leave her alone, that wasn’t Katherine’s fault.

“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, Katherine!” Harriet exclaimed slamming her fist on the counter causing the owl to flutter its wings. “Come on! Tell me what’s going on!” She demanded, slamming her fist once more. The owl, either scared of Harriet or was ready to get out of their house, began to flap it’s wings and take flight, leaving through the window.

Katherine wasn’t sure what to think. She was excited yet nervous at the same time. Someone had finally tracked her down from the wizarding world, but she didn’t know who it was or what they wanted. She wondered if the envelope in her hands was from Harry, or better yet, from her husband. Now all she needed was Harriet to leave her alone so she could read the contents of the envelope.

“Are you there? Katherine?” Harriet asked as she snapped her fingers in front of Katherine’s face.

Katherine turned on Harriet, “Yes, I bloody am here. Would you mind? That racket you’re making is really starting to get on my nerves.” Katherine huffed as Wally started pacing around the kitchen. The dog was just that a dog. Sure he was a bit weird sometimes, but every creature had it’s weird moments. Sometimes Katherine thought the dog was idiotic considering the things he does, like getting himself stuck in the cat door two houses down.

“Woah, woah. Who do you think you are doll face?” Harriet questioned, she was outraged that Katherine would talk to her like that, like she was nothing. “And what’s with the accent? Watching too many British films have we?” Harriet’s hand were back on hips, in her defensive mode.

Wally gave a loud bark. “Actually, I am British.” She said raising her eyebrows, though that was partially a lie, she was more Russian than British, but it didn’t show. “And as for this,” Katherine said wiggling the envelope in the air, “Is none of your business.” Katherine finished as she turned and headed for her room where she hoped she could find peace and quiet to read the contents of the envelope she was basically dying to open.

“And where do you think you’re going Miss British?” Harriet asked as she stormed after the other woman. She caught up to Katherine and tried to turn her around, she was determined to get down to the truth, and she was [i]not[i/i] going to let Katherine just turn back to her bedroom where she was going to lock herself away. The mystery of the last week was going to end right there, and Harriet was sure of it.

“I wouldn’t dare touch me again.” Katherine told her. “Tell you what. Let me mull things over in my room, and I’ll give a run down in the morning. Good? Good.” Katherine smiled as she closed her door tightly. She felt bad for having a bad attitude with Harriet, but it seemed like she was slowly returning to her normal self, the woman who didn’t take a word from anyone and could outwit most people. She wasn’t the quiet and mysterious woman everyone had seen around for the last several years.

This right here, is absolutely brilliant writing. From the beginning of chapter one to the end of chapter two; I've been rather entranced with this story so far. I cannot wait to see what the next chapter brings.

my, my that was QUICK! teehee XD but that was VERY gooood! I can't wait! I have TWO comments!;

^I am SO glad you know grammar well, not ending that statement with FROM(prepoposition)...it is one of my biggest pet peeves, and when I read this I was like YES! haha!...I know...weird!

secondly: I just realized this is in the romance section...and now I can't wait for the romance part!

AAHHH it's so good so far PAMS!

Awesome chapter!

This is brilliant! So glad I came across this, it's really great! Thank you so much for posting it!

ooh I really like this! I think Katherine seems so real, its great! I am DYING to find out what happens next!

brilliant and awesome

Caught up
Woahh brilliant! I LOVE the story! *nods*
I wanna read more!!!
PAMS!

Eviee <33

Really good chapter!

Great story! I love your writing style!

Reactivated per user's request.

Chapter Three
Of Coded Letters and Keys

Once she was safely inside her room she tore into the envelope wondering what it could be, though she had a suspicion of who it was from. Standing there with her back against the door as if there was a monster on the other side trying to get in, Katherine read the letter she had nearly torn to pieces in her hurry to open the envelope. After a moment or two of reading Katherine darted over to her closet and pulled out her trunk. She began to rummage around inside of it as soon as it was opened, in search of the one thing that she knew she needed. At the very bottom of the trunk was a small worn key that had seen its fair share of doors in its life time.
Turning back to the letter, Katherine sat down on the floor where her feet had been and read over the letter once more. After reading it for the second time she sat there, staring at the key and the letter, trying to decipher exactly what it said.

The letter itself wasn’t a letter in which a friend would write to another friend, or someone to their family. It was written in such a way that the recipient needed to know a code of some sort so the mix of words, that seemed to be confusing to the normal eye, would pick up on it quickly. All of this was a safety measure to protect both sides in the event that it was placed into the wrong hands.

Of course, Katherine knew that this letter was from someone she knew from her former life. Between the nightmare in which Voldemort had made an appearance and this note, there was a link between the two that she was missing, the link of which was hidden in this letter. “Think Katherine.” She told herself as she turned the key over thrice in her hand, letting her index finger feel over the small engraved ‘B’ on the largest part of the key. “Go back and think.” She told herself again as she turned back to the letter.

Meanwhile, Harriet was fuming outside in the hallway. “I don’t know what’s gotten into her, Wally.” She confided in the dog. “She’s not the same.” She ended as she began to pace the length of the hallway carefully staying out of Wally’s way as he too was pacing.

“Something is wrong.” She declared finally. Wally agreed, as he sat down in front of Harriet and lifted his paw up for her to take, whimpering as he did so. Both of them were worried about their friend.

Tessie, I'm so excited that you've got back into writing this. It's just absolutely amazing. I'm still hooked on this plot like I was from chapter one. I can't wait to see what's to come.

Welcome back
Awesome chapter, please post more soon?

So happy you're back up and writing!
This was great! It's a really good story and it's making me very interested and curious. I can only imagine what's runnng through Harriet's mind.
Great job!
-Rachel

new reader and loving it cant wait for more!!

Your story is so refreshing! I haven't read fanfiction in a very long time and after looking at a couple other FFs, I was getting a little discouraged at the lack of effort/appeal. No worries though because I fortunately came across yours!

First off, I agree with the others about how interesting/real Katherine's character (Harriet and Wally too!) seems. I love that you took the time to give the character some depth before working into the plotline. I also couldn't help but notice that this is in the romance section and you have Sirius plastered all over the banner.... I am a huge Sirius fangirl (in case the tag wasn't obvious enough!) so I will be a little jealous critical if the story goes where I think it's going.. but nevertheless, you have a dedicated reader in me! (:

Can't wait for the next installment! ^.^

Last Update 26 MAY 2012