Chapter 35: Nightmares During Christmas (1)
Fortunately, Madame Pomfrey proved to be right, and Remus recovered completely in a few days without any visible scars. James and Sirius were furious that Catherine had gone to the Hospital Wing without them, but the young witch was adamant that it was for the best.
"Do you honestly believe that the three of us could have sneaked undetected after curfew and not woken up Madame Pomfrey?" – she asked angrily after enduring another one of James' rants.
"Absolutely!" – James insisted stubbornly.
"Catherine is right, James." – Remus said softly – "Madame Pomfrey is a light sleeper, and if Filch had caught you out in that hour, you wouldn't have escaped with just a detention."
"If we had discovered how to turn into animals, that wouldn't have been a problem." – chimed in Sirius.
"Yeah, because wild animals walking along the Hogwarts' corridors at night is a regular sight." – Catherine mocked him.
"This is beside the point!" – snapped James – "You should have told us. Not only did you go alone to see Moony, but you also endangered yourself. It's not safe to roam at night unaccompanied."
"First of all, it would have been rather interesting view if I had gone to the boys' dormitory in the middle of the night to let you know about my plans." – Catherine snapped back – "Second, as I've repeated countless times, we wouldn't have been able to reach the second floor unnoticed. Third, do you really think you're so much stronger that you can protect me better than I can protect myself?"
James didn't respond, but his face clearly reflected the answer, which truly enraged Catherine. She was seriously considering drawing her wand and teaching the jerk a lesson. Sirius, who quickly caught wind of what was brewing, jumped between his friends, patting James on the back a little too forcefully.
"There, there, James! It's already over anyway. The only thing I can't forgive Flame is that she brought all the brownies to Moony. I was looking forward to trying them."
"Would you all stop calling me Moony?!" – intervened Remus with a frown.
"No!" – Sirius, James, and Catherine answered in unison, bursting into laughter.
***
That year, Catherine did remember her birthday, but it didn't really make much of a difference – the weather was again gloomy and rainy; no message or gift arrived from her parents, although she assumed she would get something extra for Christmas, and Orion was her only company at the breakfast table. While she had never cared much about her birthdays, after last year, she was kind of hopeful that her friends would have remembered it.
"Not that they're obliged to." – she thought while walking towards her History of Magic class, but nevertheless felt disappointed.
The classes seemed awfully long that day. James and Sirius didn't even appear at lunch, and Catherine sat with Lily and the rest of the second-year Gryffindor girls, who were gossiping about a new Wizarding boy band, the Quill & Quaver. Since Catherine hadn't heard about them, she couldn't actively participate in the conversation and spent the time poking at the food on her plate without eating it.
In the afternoon, the young witch's already bad mood got even worse when she got distracted and turned the two bunny rabbits, which were supposed to become slippers, into a pair of gloves. Granted, they were not jumping around like Peter's attempt, the object was not the correct one. She also couldn't find a way to fix them without hurting the animals with double transfiguration. Receiving additional homework was just the cherry on top of her so-called birthday.
The young witch decided to skip dinner and go straight to the Library instead.
"Hey, where are you going?" – asked Lily, grabbing Catherine's hand.
"Library." – snapped the other girl, surprised to see her friend chuckle in response.
"I'll come with you, but I need to show you something in the Gryffindor Tower first." – smiled the red-headed witch.
"Okay, okay! No need to drag me, I can walk." – said Catherine, following Lily towards their Common Room.
"Confetti!" – Lily gave the password to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung forward to let them in.
"Happy birthday!" – a crowd of voices cheered from inside, and before Catherine's astonished gaze what appeared to be half of the Gryffindors emerged with sweets, sandwiches, butterbeer, and a big éclair cake with candles.
"Now that's new – Flame is rendered speechless!" – laughed James, carrying a woven reed basket together with Sirius.
"Happy birthday, Catherine!" – the other boy grinned – "I hope you're not too mad for everyone pretending we forgot your birthday. We didn't want to spoil the surprise."
Catherine was desperately trying to control herself. She wanted to cry, hug the boys, and thank them from the bottom of her heart. However, since she had spent most of her life learning how to suppress her emotions and feelings, she found it surprisingly hard to do any of those, especially in front of so many people. While she was completely stuck in her head, Lily came to her rescue.
"Come on, move on, there are other people who want to wish her a happy birthday too."
With this, the red-headed girl hugged Catherine tightly and whispered in her ear.
"Happy birthday, Daisy! Sorry about that, I told them it would make you feel uncomfortable, but they insisted and put a lot of effort into the organisation."
"Thank you." – the black-haired witch whispered back, then turned to the rest of the Gryffindors – "Thank you, everyone! Please just enjoy yourselves, no need for ceremonies and official greetings. Let's have fun!"
The students quickly dispersed into small groups, and the Common Room was soon filled with chatter and laughter. Catherine approached the boys and smiled gently.
"You're really one of a kind. I frankly thought you had forgotten about my birthday."
"Apparently, you have a high opinion on us." – James said, a little insulted.
"No, I… doesn't matter. What's in the basket?" – asked the girl eyeing the item still in Sirius' hands.
"Your birthday present!" – announced Sirius proudly.
The girl picked up the basket, which appeared moderately heavy, and removed the lid. The first thing she saw was a pair of green eyes, and then an adorable black little Kneazle with pointy ears and a sleek glossy coat jumped into her hands.
"Oh, Light!" – exclaimed the young witch, gently caressing the soft furball.
"Do you like her?" – asked James impatiently – "The pet I told you about in the summer was a Kneazle; it turned out she was pregnant when we found her and gave birth in early October. We immediately thought you might like to have one of the Kneazlings for yourself. They are very smart and great companions."
"I would love to!" – answered the stunned Catherine, happily looking at her new pet – "It's a great improvement from Orion, whom I barely see, unless he brings me a dead mouse."
"Ah, it can happen with this one as well." – warned James – "She's still young, but Hagrid said she had great hunting instincts."
"Hagrid? Wait, was that why you went to see him that day?" – asked Catherine.
"Yeah, we needed someone with experience to take care of her when she was delivered until your birthday."
"Jeez you're all so cunning… You've been planning this for months and I never found out." – the young witch laughed.
"Oh, well, you were close when you came across us at Hagrid's, but it was good your attention was otherwise occupied back then." – grinned Sirius.
"How are you going to name the Kneazle, Flame?" – asked Remus, finally able to get closer to his friend.
"Since she is a female, I think I'm going to call her Nyx." – said Catherine, looking at the creature's cute face.
"She's so adorable!" – exclaimed Mary with admiration, approaching the group of her classmates – "I hope she would also allow the rest of us to pet her."
"I wouldn't count on that." – warned James – "Kneazles are known to be headstrong."
"It has green eyes like yours." – chimed in Peter, who was constantly moving around, trying to participate in every conversation in the room with varying success.
"Nonsense." – snapped Sirius – "The Kneazle's eyes are emerald green. Catherine's eyes are more like jade green. In fact, if you need to compare it, Nyx looks more like Evans."
"Thank you, Black! You always know how to melt a girl's heart." – said Lily with a sarcastic smile.
James took Nyx from Catherine's hands and hold her next to Lily's face, carefully observing them. At this moment, the Kneazling apparently had enough and relieved herself on top of James' robes.
"Eww!" – he screamed while everyone else laughed.
"I think this was a suitable end of the discussion." – concluded Catherine and picked up her pet – "Nyx is overexcited; I'll take her to the dormitory so she can have some rest."
"No good deed goes unpunished" – said Sirius, taking out his wand while still laughing – "Tergeo!"
Meanwhile, Catherine had left the sleepy Nyx at the feet of her bed and was just about to return downstairs when Greg walked in the dormitory, the door closing behind him.
"How did you get in here? It shouldn't be possible for boys to enter the girls' premises." – asked Catherine indignantly.
"Heir of Hogwarts, remember?" – answered Greg, carelessly waving his hand, and sitting on his sister's bed.
"Please, make yourself comfortable!" – hissed the young witch.
"Don't be snappy. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday. Not that you care." – said the wizard poutingly.
"And yet it didn't seem to stop you." – Catherine added mockingly.
"I know you can't wait to be back with your friends, but since I bothered to bring you a present." – growled Greg and tossed a little ring box on the bed – "Take it or throw it away, I don't care. But as you're usually so inclined to point out all the unfair things our family inflicted upon you, maybe this time you give me a pass as I did put some effort, unlike you for my birthday."
"What are you talking about? I haven't given you any presents for your birthday." – asked Catherine, irritated.
"Precisely!" – smiled her brother bitterly – "I wish you had put one tenth of the efforts you invested in Black's gift towards your own brother. Maybe then you would have actually remembered to wish me a happy birthday."
Catherine opened her mouth to respond, but Greg left the room and slammed the door, leaving the young witch speechless. After what appeared as an eternity but, in reality, was thirty seconds, she took the box from her bed and opened it. Inside, on a green velvet cushion, she found an elegant silver ring with an oval jade stone. A delicate engraving on the inner side formed the words: Sois qui tu veux!
'Be whoever you want! Easier said, than done, brother.' – she thought and slipped the ring on her ring finger.