FEBRUARY 14, 1976

HOGSMEADE WAS A MAELSTROM ON VALENTINE'S DAY. But she supposed it was better than having the holiday fall on a weekday, and make everyone have to celebrate it inside the castle. Hogwarts was quiet without all the couples, and that was why Kathleen was powering past pink shop after pink shop, making her way back to the school.

Her satchel felt lighter without the weight of all the letters and parcels she needed to send back home. The letters were simply responses to those of Fabian, Gideon, her parents, Molly, and Mr. and Mrs. Finch. The parcels were her parents' birthday presents, since their birthdays were next week, two days apart from each other.

Lively chatter filled the air as students, many of them her own age, cooed through window displays, chased floating lollipops out of Honeydukes, and held hands as they laughed. Kathleen hugged her pea coat over herself, but as her eyes stubbornly lingered on those around her, she felt the deep urge of want.

Swallowing her discomfort, she recalled her and Posey sitting on one of their beds, pigging out on the chocolate they'd pooled that day. Kathleen swerved back and stepped straight into Honeydukes.

The store was packed with students of all ages, with the largest crowd at the chocolates section. Kathleen couldn't even come close to the assorted boxes, she barely snatched two of the marshmallow bars she favored before charging to the desk to pay.

The poor witch working there looked very overwhelmed, so Kathleen dropped two Sickles in front of her, leaving without a word. She took the shortest path back to the castle, which was ruined by muddy shoe prints staining the pristine white snow. Her feet squelched in a mix of slush and water all the way up to the Hogwarts grounds.

Gryffindor Tower was a hike. Her ribs heaved as she finally made her way into the common room, chest heaving.

She didn't even bother to look at her roommates' corners when she walked in, throwing her satchel on the ground, tossing her papers on the bed and herself on it as well. A scratch on the door made her groan and swing back up, before opening it to see Thumper, squatting with his ears down and nibbling on air. 

"Oh, hello," Kathleen murmured as she scooped him up. "You've been wandering out of the room as of late."

She wondered if it was because of Flora or Miksa kicking him out, and protectiveness flared in her chest. "Would you like some?"

She bit off a piece of her new Honeydukes bar with her teeth, holding it out on a finger. Thumper paused the licking of his paws, sniffing at the little melting piece of chocolate before taking it into his little jaws to chew.

The rest of the chocolate bar was gone in twenty seconds, as Kathleen licked one finger before Vanishing the golden wrapper. Sighing, she got back onto her bed and leaned on her two pillows, taking Thumper onto her stomach to cuddle.

Thumper sniffed around her fingers, which still smelled like chocolate, before leaning forward and tweaking the skin of her index finger with his sharp skin.

"Ow!" Kathleen yelped, as Thumper leapt to her side. She held up her finger to the light. It wasn't horrible, just a small bead of blood, but the bright red liquid and the faint smell of iron made her wheeze.

On January 29, she'd gone looking for Posey since the latter had missed dinner. She wasn't in the dorm, nor the library, and when Kathleen asked, everyone had simply told her that they'd seen her best friend walking to dinner over two hours ago. Professor McGonagall had found her looking, and when she asked, the portrait of the Sphinx said Posey hadn't come out of the lavatory in hours.

The Professor entered first, and told her to wait outside. But Kathleen had never been patient, and when she saw a wispy silver cat bolt out of the door and fly upwards, she burst in to see McGonagall crouched over a body. She knew it was Posey immediately, but all she saw was the slash. There were several swords displayed in Prewett Keep; many hundreds of years old but sharpened to a point. The Prewetts were warriors, even before they were magic. Kathleen was no exception. And she knew from the moment she laid eyes on the body that her best friend had been killed by sword.

Kathleen stared into her palm as her mind whirled. There were no swords in Hogwarts. The suits of armor carried swords, but they never let go of them. And no one would be able to hide the evidence. Posey wasn't killed with a sword, it had to be a spell. But what kind of spell did such a thing?

She glanced at the rabbit, too concentrated in her thoughts to push him off her bed. Spells, curses, which curses? Ancient Prewett incantations, terrible and damning, echoed through her mind, ones that no others in the castle knew of. She knew about families; how each of the Sacred Twenty-Eight held secrets of magic they kept to themselves. It had to be a family curse; otherwise Dumbledore would've found it by now. And all magic was traceable; Thad said someone could trace every Prewett curse if they tried, just that people never did because they were scared of retribution. Kathleen wasn't scared.

Twenty-eight families. That wasn't too difficult. She remembered to add a few others: Gamp, Perrot, Peverell, Shacklebolt, Volant. As long as she kept her head down, she could find the spell that killed Posey. And if she knew the family it belonged to, then the killer would unmasked.

"You have until dinnertime, Miss Prewett," McGonagall said as Kathleen entered her red and gold office.

"Thank you, Professor," Kathleen murmured. Her bag clunked on the floor- it was filled to the brim with books about the Pureblood families, starting with the Abbotts.

"Remember, you can Floo call your family as many times as you like; simply reach out to me and ask," McGonagall said firmly, but resting a hand on Kathleen's shoulder. 

"I know, thank you," Kathleen said, a little smile blooming at her Head of House.

"Very good. I will see you the day after tomorrow at your detention," and she strolled out. Kathleen's stomach dropped. She'd forgotten about her detention, and she'd definitely forgotten about who her detention was with.

The door swung shut, and Kathleen gaped for a moment, before the watch on her wrist buzzed, and a face appreared in McGonagall's fireplace.

"Kitty!" someone yelled excitedly from the fireplace.

"Fab," Kathleen beamed, curling her legs under her knees as she sat in front of the fireplace, with its high arched beams of wood surrounding the hearth.

"Kitty, how've you b-" Fabian's face was promptly shoved out of the fireplace, and another freckled face took its place. "Kitty, what a sight for sore eyes!"

"You know you can both fit, right?" Kathleen raised an eyebrow at Gideon, who drew a sigh before both of her older brothers' faces squeezed into frame.

"So? Any special news from Hogwarts?" Gideon asked eagerly, as Kathleen hugged her legs to herself.

"Does something have to be special for me to share it with you?"

"No-" the twins started at the same time. "Of course not, little Kat. Anything."

"Well," Kathleen scrunched her nose. "Er- I went to my first party yesterday night."

"Really?" Fabian asked, grinning, while Gideon looked equally giddy at the thought that things were returning to normal for Kathleen. "Which House?"

"Slytherin. And before you say anything; it was fine. I was only at the party for a second," Kathleen paused, and decided to leave out the part about slapping Flora Blishwick. "But-"

Oh, whatever, there was no point in skirting around things when it was her brothers questioning her.

"-IsleptwithRegulusBlackandnowI'msupposedtohavedetentionwithhimintwodays."

"...Oh," Fabian blinked, not following. "Er-"

"WHAT?" Gideon screamed, and both Fabian and Kathleen flinched. 

"You slep- Why? I, I mean, were you, I suppose, y'know?"

"Huh?" Kathleen made a face.

"Wait- yeah, did he- well, were you-" Fabian caught on.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Did he take your virginity?" Gideon asked.

Kathleen went pink. She realized that this was also the first time she'd ever told her brothers about her love life. "...No. And I'm not telling you who took it."

Fabian's floating face frowned, as his cheeks began to turn an ugly shade of puce. Meanwhile, Gideon burst out into giggles, repeatedly shoving Fabian's shoulders so he could fit in more of the fireplace.

"Well, Kitty! Was he any good?"

Kathleen let out a small laugh, looking at her leather shoes in embarrassment. "Um. Yeah, it was pretty good."

"-Regulus Black, though?" Fabian interrupted. His eyebrows were drawn in concern, and he had a pissy frown on him. "Are you sure about him?"

"What'd you mean?" Kathleen asked innocently.

"Well- we just don't want you to face any repercussions. Look, we know you're going through a rough time, and you can shag anyone! But, well, we just want you to be careful of who...Gid, back me up here," Fabian said.

"-He's right, Kit," Gideon sobered. "We liked Sirius at Hogwarts, even if he was just a first year. But we don't know the other Blacks. We see them at balls, sure, but otherwise the Blacks haven't been in the same presence as our family since Aunt Lucy's wedding."

"We dunno if Regulus is as distanced as Sirius is from all their bigotry," Fabian added. "He's dangerous, if he's like the rest of them."

Kathleen swallowed uncomfortably. It was true: she really had no idea what Black was like, other than how good he was in bed. Damn, why did her brothers have to be right all the time?

"Well, I never said I was getting married to him," Kathleen snapped, sticking out her chin stubbornly to defend her pride.

"Of course not," Gideon rolled his eyes, pale green just like hers. "But just...keep it casual, 'right? Too many rumors isn't great. And if it gets to the adults, Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ig can only do so much."

"Don't worry, Gid, it probably won't even happen again," Kathleen smiled reassuringly, shrugging a shoulder. "We were drunk and it just followed from there."

Her brothers looked pleased with her declaration. "You're in for an awkward detention, then. Dunno how to help you there."

"Yeah..." Kathleen blew a raspberry. "So what's going on with you? How's the...y'know?"

She made some vague gestures with her hands. Fabian and Gideon shared a somber look. "It's rough, Kitty. We've had four drop out; they decided to hide over fight. They took Unbreakable Vows, of course, but that cut our numbers."

"Any missions?"

"One," Fabian shook his haid, the lengths of his curly red hair skimming his shoulders. "Things are tense, and we keep getting Imperius calls. Innocents, sometimes even Muggles, killing each other. Benjy's been tasked to trace some of them in Liverpool, and Dumbledore's had us join him if he doesn't find a lead by Easter."

"Yeah," Kathleen began picking one of the wool strands of McGonagall's carpet. "Things here are odd, too."

"Be careful, Kitty. Not just of Black, of anyone you think could be linked to You-Know-Who. Persephone might have just been the beginning," Gideon murmured gently. 

"I know," Kathleen said quietly. 

"Call us again soon, hmm? Soon it'll be Easter, and we can give you a cwtch," Gideon continued.

"Okay," Kathleen agreed, before grinning slightly. Easter did sound glorious, even if it was two months away. She longed for the smell of sea salt and the sound of waves crashing against the black shores of Culfor Cymyran. 

"Alright. We've got to go. Be safe, Kitty," Fabian said.

"We love you," Gideon added.

"I love you too," Kathleen murmured, her chin sitting above her tucked knees, as the faces of her two brothers vanished from view. She sighed, as a piece of her ached for Posey, and all of the lives swept into the war. Until she left Hogwarts in two years, she couldn't fight. But she could make a difference, she remembered, as she slowly gathered herself off the ground, and prepared to head back to the library to continue researching.