Kitten; Fred Weasley

33

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Christmas was something Catina never truly got to experience growing up. From the age of eleven, she usually stayed in school and kept to herself for the day making and practising her own spells. This year she was in the company of the Weasley's, Hermione, Harry, Remus and Sirius along with Remus' father, Lyall. She felt out of place. Everyone was enjoying the festivities, laughing and joking, drinking eggnog and butterbeer, even swapping gifts. She didn't expect any gifts so it didn' surprise her when she was missed out.

She and her friends never gave each other presents. They were going to in the first year but the other three secretly decided against it because they realised Catina had very little money. She only had her clothing allowance from the care system and that wasn't much at all and they'd rather her keep her money for a more important time. Of course, they didn't tell her the true reasoning, instead, they kept that to themselves and simply voted to not give gifts.

After the biggest dinner she had ever had, Catina hid in the drawing-room away from everyone. The drawing-room was certainly one of her favourite places in the house as she liked the tapestry on the wall. It intrigued her. The many faces and generations of the Black family were all set out in front of her (even if some were erased) and the idea of people stemming from lots of other people was amazing in her eyes! Seeing other families and hearing the stories they have about their family didn't dishearten her, in actual fact, they entertained her, if she couldn't experience family life first-hand, the least she could do was experience it through people's stories.

The Black family certainly had some stories to tell.

As Catina read the names and birth dates over and over again, the door slid open as quiet as a mouse and shut softly after. The person who entered wandered over to where she was sat in the centre of the room on the floor with her legs crossed and perched themselves down beside her. Harry didn't say a word as he also read over the names and birthdates. It was strange liking a Slytherin, in his eyes they all were bad but Catina was different. He could not really put it into words but she was certainly different and he didn't mind that because different didn't always mean bad but rather interesting.

"Oh, hello, Harry," said Catina only just noticing the boy beside her."

He gave her a toothless smile, you know, the type where you don't open your mouth but you still curl your lips, one of those kinds of smiles. "I hope you don't mind but, I got you this," he told her handing her a small badly-wrapped parcel, "I know what it's like to not get presents when everyone else does and I know what it's like without a family or a proper Christmas."

Catina took the parcel dubiously, "thank you but really didn't need to."

"I know but everyone deserves a present at Christmas."

She tore open the wrapping and put that to the side bunched up in a ball and held the gift in her hand. It was a snowglobe with Hogwarts inside. "I thought since it's your last year in Hogwarts and it's probably the only place that has truly felt like home to you that you should be able to keep it with you for the rest of your life. And I know this will probably sound creepy but I saw you in November and you looked as if you really liked snow so I figured a snowglobe of Hogwarts would be a decent gift. If you don't like it it's fine you can bin it but-"

"Harry, it's lovely. Thank you very much, I truly do like it."

Catina placed it down into her lap and awkwardly put her arms around Harry, he did the same back to her and squeezed her ever so slightly. "I'm glad you do. Do you mind if I talk to you about something? I feel as though you might be the only one to understand where I am coming from."

"Go for it."

"I feel like I'm going crazy as if something is building up inside of me and is just waiting to burst! Even little things are starting to get on my nerves like watching the Weasleys laugh together, Hermione constantly being right, so much more and I don't know why it is like this. I don't know whether it is because of what I saw with Mr Weasley or Umbridge being at the school, the dementor attack in the summer, I really don't know and I am so frustrated by it all, nobody understands and I-"

"Harry," Catina cut him off mid-sentence, "cut yourself some slack. You are a grieving, fifteen-year-old boy who watched another student die last year at the hands of people who killed your parents. There is no way people should expect you to be anything other than the way you are. Let's face it, you've had a shitty upbringing, your life got turned upside-down when you were eleven by introducing a whole new world to you, you've not had one year at school where it's been semi-normal for you and the tournament last year is specifically for students who are of age and above but you were forced into it and at what cost? So Voldemort could get his hands on you. Harry, it's okay to feel as if you're going out of your mind, it's okay to be frustrated, you have had no break ever! Jesus, darling, you practically have no control over your life and that is not your fault, okay? And nobody will ever be able to understand because they are not you and will never live through what you have been through. Ron and Hermione will never know what it is like to not have a loving family, they will never know what it's like growing up with the fact they'll never meet their parents because they died, they have not seen someone die, they have not faced Voldemort. So don't beat yourself up over this and let your emotions free, cry if you want to, scream if you want to, punch something if you want to. Don't let it build up in here," she tapped his head gently, "because it will make you go crazy and it will hurt you more."

Harry latched onto Catina and held her closely. Finally, someone took into consideration everything that he has been through and actually realised how that would have affected him.

Finally, someone understood.