Harry Potter and the Black Secret

Chapter Five

Behind Closed Doors

Kristine had climbed down the staircase into the Gryffindor common room just as Harry, Ron and Hermione had entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady. She and Harry stared at each other for a moment, before Harry spoke up.

"How are you feeling?" he asked generally. Kristine guessed he hadn't told Ron or Hermione what had happened; he probably told them she was sick.

"I'm okay," she replied quietly.

The portrait behind the trio slid open once more, and Kristine said quickly,

"Can we go upstairs, please," she begged.

"Sure," Harry said understandingly as he moved towards Kristine, followed by Hermione and Ron, who both looked rather confused.

The four friends went into Kristine's bedroom; it was the only place that they wouldn't be disturbed. Technically Harry and Ron shouldn't be in here at all (nor should have Draco, but for more than one reason!) Harry had been up here hundreds of time though for midnight chats, and Ron for some lessons in telekinesis.

Kristine kept the room extremely tidy, the fewer things lying around, the fewer things she could break in her sleep. She had tidied up just minutes ago whilst gathering the courage to go downstairs. She had changed into a pair of black trousers and a black shirt, over which she wore her school cloak, also black. She had dressed this way without even realising what it symbolised. She was grieving.

The other three were still in school uniform, and Kristine now realised that they were all looking at her. Harry took her hand, and all of a sudden she was rushed with guilt, adding to her pain, anger and sadness that she was trying to keep under control.

How could she have poured her soul out to Draco Malfoy? What would Harry say if he found out? He would loathe her. Hate her. He held such sympathy in his eyes, not wanting to push her; he cared about her so much. How could she hurt him like this?

Kristine flung her arms around him, and he hugged her back, stroking her hair. Comforting her. The guilt she felt began to rise.

"I'm so sorry," she said as Harry held her.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," he answered.

Didn't she? Kristine thought to herself. She loved Draco. She knew that. Somehow, she knew it. But she loved Harry too? But not in the same way her mind answered. With Draco she felt passion and comfort all at once. Desire and joy. She loved him. There was no other way to say it, and no way to explain it.

But Harry...

She pulled back from the embrace and looked at Hermione and Ron standing just inside the room. They looked worried too now. She smiled at them, and began to explain.

She began with her Mother's death, then the prophecy, and finally about her father. This was the news that shocked them most. She turned her confused expression to her left. It was Harry's turn to explain.

"Sirius is my Godfather," he told Kristine.

"What?" Kristine exclaimed, not quite believing what she had just heard.

"Sirius Black was my Father's best friend, they came to Hogwarts together. Sirius was best man at my parents wedding, and he's my godfather."

The startled look on Kristine's face remained, and suddenly Harry had an idea.

"Hang on," he said as he got up off the bed where the four friends had been sitting, "I'll be back in a minute." Harry left the room.

"You didn't know? About Sirius I mean." Hermione asked Kristine.

Kristine shook her head. "I knew of him of course, Mum used to get The Daily Prophet sent over to wherever we were. She never spoke about it, even when that's all that everyone else had to speak about. It never really registered, she never judged anyone, and so I didn't see why Sirius was any different."

"What about Harry's Parents? Did you know that your Mother knew them?" Ron asked.

Kristine remained silent. How had Ron figured out that her Mother knew Lily and James Potter? She mentally kicked herself for being so stupid. If her Father was best friends with James Potter, of course her Mother would have known them. Looks like she had one more surprise to tell them. She didn't want to lie, but surely she should tell Harry first?

She didn't need to debate the topic further as Harry returned at that moment carrying something. A photo album?

Harry sat back down on the bed and opened the book. It was a photo album, full of pictures of waving witches and wizards. He turned to a photo of a wedding. Sure enough, standing next to the groom was Sirius Black, and next to him was Diana Hail, her mother.

Kristine could feel tears forming in her eyes as she looked at her Mother, but they weren't tears of grief this time, they were tears of joy. Her Mother looked so happy, and at that moment Kristine realised that her Mother wouldn't want her daughter grieving, she would want her to be strong, like she was.

"Wow. She looks just like you Kriss," Ron exclaimed, looking at Diana.

"I told you she looked familiar!" Harry said to Ron. "I remembered yesterday when I saw you standing next to Sirius" Harry explained to Kristine.

Kristine slid off the bed and started rummaging around underneath it. The other three exchanged a puzzled glance, and jumped when she let out an exclamation of joy.

"Found it!"

Kristine sat back down on the bed and opened up a large, brown leather book. It too, like Harry's was full of Wizarding photos. She continued to thumb through the book until she found an old picture of two women.

One had long, straight, red hair and dazzling emerald eyes. The other had similarly long, but slightly curly, golden hair and blue eyes. The second woman could easily have been Kristine was it not for the fact that the two women were in their early twenties. They were laughing together, like they had been close friends for years.

Harry was staring at the picture.

No one needed to say anything. The redhead was Lily Potter, and the other was Diana Black. Hail was Diana's maiden name, and the name she and her daughter had used whilst away from Britain. Kristine had never known what her real surname was, until now. Was that Diana Black in the photo, or Diana Hail?

"They were best friends at school, she was your Mother's Maid of Honour. Lily was my Godmother."

Kristine's words were like an echo of what Harry had just told her about Sirius.

"Of course!" Hermione suddenly exclaimed, as if an un-spoken problem had just been explained. Hermione's mind worked differently to most peoples, and she nearly always had brainwaves when everyone else's thoughts were on the here and now, not some question they had been puzzling over.

"Honestly!" she continued seeing the bewildered looks on the three faces. "The prophecy." She said as if this explained everything.

Ron, Harry and Kristine continued to look lost. Hermione carried on impatiently (as always).

"If Lily was Kriss's godmother, and Harry's Mother, and Sirius is Harry's Godfather and Kriss's Father, then the two of you are like, God-brother and God-Sister!"

"I guess?" Harry said, still confused about what this had to do with anything, so Hermione continued.

"If you're born a witch or a wizard, then you get christened in a different way. Instead of water, like they do with Muggles, they use fire to unite the Godparents to the child. I read about it."

"Muggles use water to christen their kids! Weird," Ron muttered.

Hermione ignored her boyfriend and carried on.

"The prophecy you were talking about, it says that 'the link of the flame shall arise out of the ashes'. Don't you see! The prophecy was foretelling that the two of you would bring down You Know Who, together."

"I didn't think you went in for all that nonsense about telling the future Hermione?" Kristine said, teasing her friend slightly.

"I don't," Hermione said indignantly, "but it makes sense doesn't it. I mean, I'm not saying that it's right, but that's what it means, doesn't it."

"Maybe," Harry said not entirely convinced. "Prophecies are tricky, they don't tell you everything."

"If they tell you anything at all," Kristine added.

"Okay, enough of this serious stuff, my head hurts" Ron said getting up, lightening the mood of the room. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry!" Hermione told him, laughing, "But it is dinner time" she admitted. "Ready to face the world?" Hermione asked Kristine, also rising from the bed.

"No. But I can definitely face some food!" Kristine replied.

They all laughed.

The four friends, now all much more comfortable and happier after the discussion made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

Kristine couldn't help but smile as she watched them walk in front of her. She was lucky to have them, it made everything easier. A part of her though was feeling the guilt of keeping her new found relationship with Draco Malfoy from them. She knew that she couldn't tell them, it would complicate things too much, and not to mention the danger it would put both her and Draco in if the wrong person found them out. No one must know, not now. Not ever.

She linked arms with Harry, exchanging a loving grin, as they walked down the corridor where a magnificent feast was waiting.

Everything would be okay as long as she had friends like these, nothing could harm her.

*

The meal looked fantastic as always, roast chicken with bacon and onion, stuffing, peas, roast potatoes and gravy to name a few of the dishes laid out on the Gryffindor dining table. As it turned out, Kristine couldn't manage as much food as she'd previously thought. Harry tentatively pushed more potatoes onto her plate, trying to encourage her to eat, but of course he didn't know about the platter of cream filled treats that had been presented to her that afternoon. It wasn't until Ron pointed how much Harry was behaving like his mother did he stop.

Kristine smiled gratefully at him. Ron being Ron though, took the gesture one step further and levitated the extra potatoes onto his own plate, extracting a genuine laugh from Kristine. It was Harry's turn to look gratefully at the red head.

Hermione on the other hand was staring gob smacked at her boyfriend.

"Ron!" she exclaimed, "I had no idea you could do that!"

Ron grinned cheekily at Hermione.

"Well, I couldn't have you knowing there was something I could do better than you now could I?!"

"You idiot!" she laughed affectionately, "Seriously, I'm so proud of you. My boyfriend. A telekinetic genius!"

"Well, I wouldn't say genius just yet. I can't lift things higher than three inches before they smash to the ground. Isn't that right Kriss?"

"For now," Kristine said. "No student of mine is going to stay at the beginner level. I'll have you raising Hagrid with a flick of the wrist in no time."

They all chuckled at this image before continuing with their meals.

Kristine looked around the Great Hall. So far no one had asked her where she had been all day, and she suspected this was due to Harry, who had indeed told anyone who asked that she was ill.

She felt her gaze shifting over to the Slytherin table on the other side of the hall. Draco Malfoy was looking directly at her, and gave a small encouraging smile as he caught her eye. She gave a small smile back, just a small one. Kristine could feel her mind beginning to wander, and she wasn't going to stop it.

Small calculations were going off in her brain. How long had it been since she'd found out she was an orphan? How long had it been since she'd realised this wasn't true? How long had it been since she'd last though of her Mother?

Guilt rushed through her. The memory of every happy thought she'd had in the last, what was it? 26 hours? She should be mourning. No, she caught herself. Her Mother wouldn't want that. Her Mother would want her to be strong, resilient, and happy. Just like her. Then another thought occurred to her. Her Mother would want her to know her Father.

Sirius Black. Kristine had heard the name before of course; he was the most talked about fugitive in the Wizarding world. Sirius Black.

She ran the name through her mind. Imagining his face, the sound of his voice, and the look in his eyes. Then she felt her heart skip a beat. The look in his eyes. The pain was so clear, how could she have not seen it before? How could she have just run out on him like that? The first time she meets her Father, and she shouted at him. She ran away.

"Kriss?" a distant voice said.

Kristine snapped back into reality. Harry was looking at her with a concerned expression. She realised she had been staring off into space for a good few minutes now. She turned to face him, forcing a small smile.

"Sorry, I was just thinking. What were you saying?"

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Harry asked. Kristine was pretty sure that he had been saying something else, but she let it slide.

"Sure," she replied, rising from her seat.

Harry got up too and turned to Ron and Hermione and quickly said, as Kristine had already begun to walk away,

"We won't be long, see you later," and with that, hurried out of the great hall after Kristine.

"Hey, wait up!" Harry called.

Kristine's step faltered and she turned on the spot to face Harry as he came up to her. She just stood for a moment, contemplating his appearance.

His jet-black hair was a complete mess, but in a stylish sort of way. The day the rough cut became fashionable was the same day Harry Potter screamed for joy. His eyes were dazzling, such a bright green shining behind his black-rimmed glasses. He stood a couple of inches above her. Just like Draco she thought. They were so similar in some ways, and so different in others.

"Kristine, are you alright?" Harry asked, and then added, "Sorry. That's a stupid question, of course your not, it's just...you know you can talk to me, right? You're not all alone; you don't have to pretend to be brave just because you think that's how you should be..."

Kristine put a hand on his arm and looked him in the eyes.

"I know," she said honestly, "I know."

Harry took her hand that lay on his arm in his.

"I love you," he said.

"I know that too," she replied as he pulled her into a hug. He held her there for a long moment, her chin resting on his shoulder. "I love you," she said, and then she pulled away.

"How about that walk then?" Harry asked.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I think I want to be by myself for a while. I need to think. Is that okay?"

"Of course it is. Just, don't be too late back. Promise?"

She nodded. "I promise."

Harry looked at her for a minute, as if that by looking into her eyes, he'd be able to see that she'd be all right. He smiled.

"Night Kriss."

"Night Harry," and he walked towards the Gryffindor common room.

Kristine watched him leave, and then she sensed more than saw someone behind her. She turned around and was presented with a pair of cool blue eyes.

"Care to make our appointment a little earlier?" he said.

She smiled as he took her hand, and they walked up to the Astronomy tower to watch the sunset over the forest.