𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐃𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐑 ~ (𝐣.𝐩)

xxxix

AFTER James let Cat go, Marlene was there enveloping her in another hug. "Cat I'm so sorry."

Cat pulled away from Marlene to look at her. "What are you sorry for?"

"I just...If I was up here, or if I didn't forget my wand, Pettigrew wouldn't have been able to get up here."

"It isn't your fault Mckinnon," James told her. "The person at fault is Peter for joining their side."

"And besides, I'm not some precious little baby who needs protecting."

❏❏❏

OCTOBER 28th 1978

Cat was standing in a hallway off of the room where an order meeting was currently happening. Her mother almost squeezed her to death, making sure she was okay. Dumbledore had sent her on an assignment right after the Peter thing happened and this was the first time she's seen Cat. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked for what seemed like the hundreth time.

"Yes. I promise you I'm fine. It's been over a month," Cat pulled away from her mothers grip. "Nothing happened."

"But something could've. Where was your wand."

"I must've dropped it when I was about to fall to my death," she said, gaining a pointed look from Mcgonagall. Cat muttered a sorry to her before she turned around off into the meeting.

"Peter wont get away with it next time," Remus said, falling in step with Cat as they walked down the hallway after her mother.

"Not if we have any say in it," Sirius added from behind them.

"If he ever desides to show his face," James said. "The coward has been hiding since then. I talked to his mum and she said it's been months since he's talked to her."

"So the whole time he was 'visiting his family' he was cozying up with Voldemort. Great," Cat said.

The meeting went on as normal. "Welcome," Dumbledore greeted with a kind smile. "I do hope everyone is okay." A low murmur of acknoledgement went around the room. Dumbledore gave a simple nod and said, "Very well. On that note, we will start giving out assignments."

❏❏❏

Cat hasn't got any more stake out assignments since the Peter thing happened. She gave Dumbledore this long speech saying "I will be fine from here on out so don't try to always give me the easy assignments just because of one bad thing that happened. If anything, that made me more aware of how serious this war is." Now, she had mostly in-action one's or trailing one's. Today she was paired with Lily to trail the one and only, Severus Snape. "I feel like the boys," Lily quietly commented as they followed Snape into Fourtesque's ice cream parlour.

"Why's that?"

"They used to follow Snape everywhere when planning a prank. I miss that. Our school days, I mean."

"Me too, everything was simpler. We didn't have to worry about being killed everyday."

"Or any friends betraying you to the dark side."

Cat laughed at that. They've gotten to the point of using humor to cope with the loss of a friend. "Or any friends betraying you to the dark side," she repeated.

"Where is he going?" Lily asked as they followed Snape into a quaint cafe and back out through the back door.

"I don't know but we need to keep going." Snape took several turns at random moments, making it obvious he was trying to trick someone off his trail if they were tracking him. They passed Fourtesque's flower shop, Quidditch Quality Supplies, and Olivanders before they came upon his destination.