Queen of Gorgeousness

Eighteen Years Ago - Katherine's Memoirs

As always: all rights go to J.K. Rowling

Chapter Nineteen - Eighteen Years Ago - Katherine's Memoirs 

Katherine looked around her new home with a sense of awe and happiness. As was the way with Pureblood families they'd gotten married straight after Hogwarts graduation. They were one of the luckier couples because they had actually fallen in love with each other. Others weren't so lucky, especially when it came to arranged marriages. Andre and Katherine were so perfectly matched, each bringing out the best in each other. Their relationship melded together with ease, their friendship was an art from that only got better with time.

Katherine had been a Princess girl, she'd always wanted to meet her Prince Charming and live happily together beyond the glistering sunset. It seemed an age ago to Katherine when she'd been stalked and pursed by Marcus Boyle. At first she'd felt sorry for him but she was already enamoured with Andre when Marcus made his intentions towards her known. Yet with each increased seduction he sent her way she got more and more concerned by his actions and behaviours.

His perusal of her had gotten her so frightened and unnerved that she feared travelling around Hogwarts alone. She wasn't completely convinced she'd gain help from the teachers should she ask for it so always made sure she was part of a group. The teachers all saw a different side to Marcus, a Hufflepuff innocence if you will. Well it didn't really matter now, since graduation, their wedding and then honeymoon, Marcus Boyle seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet. Katherine wasted no further time thinking of Marcus when she had her new life to start.

Katherine hadn't talked to Andre about having children. They were more content with seeing where life took them. Being married took a lot of pressure off their backs from their parents. Children were a natural progression from marriage, so neither part was afraid of the pitter patter of tiny feet happening. As it was, the news that Katherine was pregnant (and with twins no less) came sooner rather than later. It was a troubling time, Voldemort was gaining power for the first time, families were disappearing and others were being recruited. It was a time of uncertainty, Katherine and Andre did well in staying under Voldemort's radar. Surely if he had known the type of power they both held or the mere fact that Katherine was pregnant with twins then he would have made an effort to recruit them to his cause.

As it was they were lucky and watched on from the safety of their home as Voldemort rose in power and fell at the hands of the Potter's little son. Time passed and Katherine gave birth to two beautiful babies, a boy named Blaise and a girl named Hermione. Nothing could have prepared her for the joys of Motherhood. In the first few months of life those babies were spoilt rotten! The power of their magic visible from three months onwards, little Hermione especially showed great potential from an early start.

As the twins grew older things began to get less comfortable and more suspicious. As the twins reached the eighteen-month mark, Katherine started to notice the odd behaviour of her husband Andre. At first a million theories entered her head each more farfetched than the last from thinking he was having an affair to thinking they had money troubles. She quickly resolved to push all theories from her mind till she knew the complete truth. It was a truth she was never to truly learn.

Andre had heard talk, whispers really that had travelled on the wind about a new threat of danger. At first glance Andre hadn't paid much attention. If this were to be the start of another tyrant, then he and his family would simply stay well away. Yet when he heard the mention of Marcus Boyle's name, something in the way the shiver ran up his spine told him it wasn't good.

There were a group of them from Hogwarts that had always had suspicions about Marcus. Something just wasn't right when it came to him. This wasn't a petty jealous thing on Andre's behalf in response to Marcus's continuing obsession on his wife Katherine. It ran deeper than that to the whispers of corridors and untold stories from house elves. There was something dark and sinister festering within Marcus, something that had the power to rip things apart if only Marcus's mind was focused.

Andre had other reasons to be suspicious. The sudden disappearance of Marcus didn't sit well with Andre. Especially since Andre was aware that Marcus vowed never to give up on Katherine. You wouldn't just disappear after announcing something of that degree unless you were using your disappearance to plan something bigger.

An old seer once told Andre than any daughter born to him would have the power to keep the world in peace for 1,000 years, through a deep powerful magic, an intelligence that could hold a cap to no other and a heart that was pure and open. Whatever Marcus's plan was Andre couldn't risk him getting his filthy hands on his beloved daughter. Andre formed a group of fellow graduates from Hogwarts, those who feared what Marcus might do or feared for the safety of their family against the one they once wronged. They came together to seek out once and for all the information that would tell them whether he was dead or better yet the information that would lead them to him so they could kill him themselves.

Herein started the beginning of the raids, they started small and escalated to a number of places that took several days to search. Every time Andre returned for a failed raid he could see the concern and confusion reflected in his wife's eyes. Yet he couldn't bring himself to tell her. He loathed to hear her forbid him from continuing even if it was just to keep him safe. So he let her suffer in silence feeling sadness and betrayal and argued with himself that this would all be better in the long run. As the raids continued in force so did the anger of those left out of the loop. Finding Marcus was becoming a new obsession, Andre was neglecting his family in perusal of someone who may or may not be dead. Katherine loved her husband dearly but was getting fed up of having to reassure her children that their Daddy's absence didn't mean that he didn't love them.

They were foolish to believe they could single out Marcus and destroy him. They didn't know of Marcus's ties to the dark arts nor those he commanded under his power. Marcus was ready for them before they'd even realised it. Each home of those involved was attacked, the families scared silly while people were killed before them. Marcus let some of his best men, Werewolves and Giants handle Andre and his family. The fact that Andre and Katherine's daughter went missing during the attack was purely coincidental but was a glorious turn of events that sent Andre raging after Marcus in a fit of absolute madness.

The fact remains that whatever happened to Andre as he set off after Marcus in retaliation for their missing daughter is a mystery and a grief that Katherine has never forgotten.

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