Kitten; Fred Weasley

70

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"I can't just go downstairs and be like 'hey man, you're my dad!'"

Charlie shook his head, his unruly wavy hair fanning over his forehead which he brushed back onto for it to flip back down again. He blew out of the corner of his mouth to attempt to move the hair once more which failed.

"You won't get what you want if you don't jump right into something," he told Catina, giving up on his hair. "How many different variations do I have to tell you before you actually listen?"

She shoved him away as he went to poke her. "You and Bill really are the first drafts of Fred and George, huh?"

"You cannot compare us to the twins. Nobody is like them except themselves... and perhaps our uncles Fabian and Gideon, but that's a whole other story. Come on, Cat, I'll be right beside you the whole time."

"You will?"

"Of course I will. You really don't realise just how many people you have caring about you, huh?" He smiled, rising to his feet then extending his arm out to help her up. She took his hand and felt the small tug that was needed to get her to stand up. "Everyone in this house cares for you so much."

"Not George."

"Let's not mention him, eh. Now, come on."

Charlie led Catina down to the living room where only Remus sat. "They're outside," he told the pair. Immediately, Catina sensed something was wrong. She let go of Charlie and sat beside her former professor.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

He didn't say a word. From the doorway, someone coughed. Catina's and Charlie's eyes darted to where the cough came from and one of them stayed none-the-wiser, the other was a mix of shock and confusion. Like wading through thick, gloopy mud, Catina trudged to the door with her eyes wide and watery, her mouth was open and her eyebrows were higher than usual.

"You grew up beautifully." Said the man, a grim etched on his soft-featured face.

She stumbled over her words as her heart thumped rapidly against her rib cage. Before her eyes stood the one person she never thought she would see again. Not because she didn't want to (despite her telling Zedan Zabini that she didn't) but because she was adamant he had forgottten about her existence and that Zabini was just pulling a prank, no matter how believable it seemed. Yet, here he stood, freshly shaved, in a short and brown jacket. His mouse-brown hair slightly waved but still neatly styled. He always did have a baby face.

"Is it really you?"

"Live in the flesh," he chuckled pushing out his arms. "I'm sorry it took so long."

She pinched her arm. It wasn't a dream. "Can-Can U hug you?"

He opened his arms up, "you never need to ask." She pounced into them like her life depended on it. Squeezing him tight she shut her eyes and inhaled deeply- her werewolf's ability to pick of scents easily meant it overflowed her senses and intoxicated her. "I really am sorry for taking so long. You're not that easy to track down. Zedan told me about you not wanting me to try to see you and then mentioned that you disappeared. Please tell me you don't still run away?"

"Not anymore," Catina mumbled not wanting to let go. She didn't realise how much she still needed Oakley in her life. After twelve years it seemed so silly for her to but seeing him again and being in his embrace it brought back all of the good memories she made with him. He was her first big brother and protected her. Even from his twin Hardin.

"Good."

She pulled away but straight away yearned to hold him again. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how you are. To show you that I don't break a promise either." He said running a hand through his brown locks with a slight rose tint on his cheeks. "And also, I have finally come to terms with it and I think you deserve to know about it."

"About what?"

"Hardin's dead."

She choked on air. What a big blow! Her mind was flooded with the different teasing and bullying the boy did to her when she was just a child. How he would purposefully try to scare her knowing that she was easily scared. How he tied her to the tree in the woods on Halloween. To think he was gone, well and truly gone, didn't seem possible.

"I'm sorry," Catina told Oakley quietly, she was sincere but flabbergasted. What do you say in that sort of situation? When someone you never really had a good experience with dies?

He shook his head, "I know he treated you horribly so you don't have to feel sorry, Cat. Truth is, he went off the rails anyway. He didn't have much to do with the family shortly after you left. He mixed with the wrong crowd, it sounds harsh but we all prepared ourselves for it a long time ago but when you actually experience it, you can never predict how it will affect you. I'm at peace with it now. I loved him. I love him now even though he is gone. But, I can't change what kind of a person he was, what life he led, he knew what could happen to him, that didn't hinder him."

"How is your mum and dad?"

"Coping."

She nodded her head. He smiled softly. "Anyway, let's get off this topic, eh? How did you get those scars?"

Charlie and Remus' eyes widened at his briskness. They were ready to say something to him but Catina snorted. "Ever so blunt, darling."

"Darling? Why on earth do you bloody say 'darling'? You're a child not an old woman." He looked her up and down with a small scowl.

"I say what I want. And I want to say 'darling'. To answer your question, I fought a werewolf." Her face was deadpan serious.

Oakley snickered. "Always cracking jokes you are darling."

"Yeah and I cracked the werewolf's back too."

A/n-

Who do you think is Catina's Dad?

Also...

Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Oakley Emryz