CHAPTER 4
CHAOS
The screen changed and showed that Cathy, Harry, Ryan and Neville were at home at night. They were seated around a table having dinner with Cassie and Halley. After they had finished, the children all put their plates in the sink and moved to change into their pajamas. Harry was the last one in the kitchen and he was washing his plate when Cathy came to the sink.
“He’s so polite.” Dorcas said as James looked proud.
“You know he didn’t get it from James.” Cathy smiled at her brother who replied with the middle finger.
“You don’t have to do that.” She told him as she took his plate. She rolled up her sleeves and showed several small tattoos on her arm.
“Catherine Potter!” Euphemia said aghast at the sight of her daughters’ arm. “What have you done to your arm?”
“I decorated it clearly.” Cathy told her mother impressed at the multiple tattoos. “And very well too I might add.”
Euphemia looked at her daughter and then her arm and then her daughter and then her arm once again. She noted that over the holidays her daughter seemed to wear tops that were long sleeved.
“Catherine.” She said in a soft voice.
“Yes mum.” Her daughter looked at Euphemia.
“Roll up your sleeve.”
“Uh oh.” James said smiling since he knew what his mother was getting at.
Cathy froze as the rest of the hall looked at her. “Why?”
“Just roll it up.”
“No thank you.” Cathy said.
“Roll it.” Euphemia said in a stricter tone.
“I don’t want to it’s cold.”
Euphemia grabbed her daughter’s arm as Cathy tried to get it back. “Abuse!”
Euphemia forcefully rolled Cathy’s sleeve back and saw her daughters’ bare arm. There laid two of what was clearly the beginning of the many tattoos her daughter would brand on herself.
“When did you get this done?” Euphemia demanded. “Oh look at what you’ve done!”
“Oh dear.” Walburga said as she caught sight of the black ink.
“It’s my body.” Cathy exclaimed getting her arm back. “I should be able to do whatever I want to it.”
“Not while you’re living under my roof, you’re not.” Euphemia snapped. “Fleamont look at your daughters’ arm. See what she’s done.”
“Let me see.” Fleamont looked over to see the black ink on Cathy and raised his eyebrow. “Is that a heart?”
“Yes.” Cathy nodded.
“What’s the other one? A butterfly?” Cathy nodded and Fleamont looked back to his wife. “I don’t see what the big commotion is for. You did want her to be more girly. I’m afraid you can’t get any more girly than that.”
Cathy smiled at her father taking her side while Euphemia sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Why do I even bother?”
“Sorry.” Harry said quietly as he retreated from the sink.
Everyone looked from the commotion with the Potters back to the screen.
“Harry.” Cathy stopped him from walking any further. “Are you alright? You’ve been very quiet. I hope you weren’t overwhelmed by everything.”
Harry turned around. “He killed my parents, didn't he?” he lifted his hair and showed his scar to his aunt. “The one who gave me this. You know, Aunt Cathy. I know you do.”
“I think we’re finally going to find out about what happened to the Potters.” Marlene said eagerly.
Cathy sighed and gestured for him to sit down. Cathy pulled up and chair and joined him. “I suppose I can’t send you to Hogwarts without even knowing your story. Especially since most children in our world grew up hearing about it.”
"First, and understand this because it's very important: Just like muggles, not all wizards are good. Some of us go bad. A few years ago there was a war in the wizarding world.”
“So a war does erupt.” The Minister of Magic, Harold Minchum, murmured to himself and the Aurors around him.
“A war about what?” Harry asked.
“Superiority. Prejudice. Racism. You know stupid things.” Cathy answered. “There are some wizards who felt superior to others whom they believed were beneath them. Do you know why your mum was a witch and her sister wasn’t?”
“No.”
“It’s because she’s what is commonly referred to as a muggle born. A witch or wizard born to non-magic parents. There are families that are called purebloods. They are those who are descended from long lines of wizards. The war was fought because the purebloods felt threatened by muggle born wizards and anyone who wasn’t a pureblood. Halfbloods and the like.”
“Halfbloods?”
“People who have one pureblood parent and one who’s muggle or muggle born.” Cathy explained. “About ten years ago the war had gotten pretty bad. The purebloods were led by a very dark wizard. One that people feared so much they wouldn’t even say his name. they’d call him He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who. Rubbish if you ask me. Fearing a name.”
“What was his real name?” Harry enquired.
“Voldemort.”
Several people gasped at how nonchalant Cathy was with the Dark Lords name. The present Cathy also seemed unafraid as several people seemed stiff with fright. The purebloods and their families seemed angry at the girl.
“Voldemort?” Harry repeated.
“Yes I know. Ridiculous.” Cathy nodded. “It’s French meaning flight of death. And technically you’re supposed to pronounce it with a silent T. Voldemore. Not quite the same ring to it huh?”
“Voldermore?” James repeated. “That can’t be right.”
“No it is.” Sirius said. “I can speak French. Voldemort means flight of death.”
“You speak French?” Remus looked at his friend in surprise. “How is this the first time I’m hearing about this?”
“Our family are French descent.” Orion Black told him. “We all speak French.”
Cathy turned to Regulus and smiled. “Bonjour.”
Regulus laughed as Walburga and now Sirius watched how the pair of fifth years interacted. Sirius felt a flare of anger inside him along with envy.
Harry didn’t really know what to say and just stared at his aunt.
“Sorry. Back to story.” Cathy said. “Voldemort got a lot of people to follow him. Whether it was out of fear or loyalty, he got thousands of people to do some of the most horrific things to those who stood against him. A lot of us stood up to him, fought back.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. I worked in a task force called the Wizard Protection Program. It was created and headed by a witch named Amelia Bones.”
Amelia Bones who was present as one of Minister Minchum’s Aurors sat straighter at the sound of her name. The minister looked at the young Auror and back to the screen.
“My job in the war was to help track down snatchers. The people who hunted down muggle-borns and their families. Was good at it too. Got a few awards. And because I’m a Legilimens, I was mostly in charge of helping to relocate families and finding traitors in our own ranks.”
“Whoa.” James looked at his sister in admiration. “Way to go, Cathy.”
“Indeed.” Minchum nodded before looking to his own subordinate. “As well as you Ms. Bones. I’m glad to see your dedication to Justice and to our ministry hasn’t weakened in the future.”
“Thank you, sir.” Amelia blushed.
“You’re a Legili-what?” Harry looked confused at his aunt.
“A Legilimens.” Cathy repeated. “A person who has a strong affinity for Legilimency. I could enter and wade through the minds of others. I could even alter them. Make people see, think and feel whatever I wanted them to. I could also create memories and emotions. Came in handy when I made false identities for people and when I was hunting snatchers.”
The Aurors and most of the adults nodded at the words that Cathy was saying. It was common knowledge at this point that Voldemort was seeking certain individuals and Cathy’s skills as a Legilimens would definitely come in handy. The minister made a note to remember the young girl.
“Anyway, I wasn’t the only one who fought against Voldemort. Your parents fought against him. But for some reason or another, he decided to kill your parents. Very few lived once he decided to kill them. Nobody, not one. Except you.”
“Me?” Harry gulped. “Voldemort tried to kill me?”
“Why would he try to kill him?”
“He would have been a babe when that happen.” Hagrid said. “Despicable!”
“Yes.” Cathy nodded. “That isn’t an ordinary cut on your forehead, Harry. A mark like that only comes from being touched by a curse, an evil curse.”
“The killing curse.” Regulus realized.
“No way!”
“No one can survive that spell!”
“Settle down.” Dumbledore said as he listened intently to the future Cathy.
“What happened to Voldemort?” Harry asked.
“Well, some say he died.” Cathy rolled her eyes. “I don’t believe it for a second.”
Several of the purebloods in the hall felt somewhat relieved at the sound of that.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve fought him before.” Cathy revealed. Harry’s eyes widened. “Managed to win but…let’s just say that evil like Voldemort doesn’t just die so simply.”
“She fought him?” Bellatrix sputtered. She had been training under the Dark Lord and had witnessed his power herself. She could believe that someone like Catherine Potter, a disgrace to Purebloods families like her own, would be able to survive let alone win against her master.
“You fought him.” Harry spoke. “But I thought you said that no one lived if he decided to kill them.”
“Well I’m a special case.” Cathy said. “You see I’m a type of witch called a Chaos Castor.”
Silence. The entire hall was silent at the revelation that Cathy had just publicized. Chaos. Castor. Chaos Castor. She was a Chaos Castor.
“What!” Several people shouted.
“She’s a Chaos Castor!”
“Silence!” Dumbledore shouted but this time people wouldn’t listen to him.
“You’re a Chaos Castor?” James questioned his sister. “Why didn’t’ you say anything?”
“What’s a Chaos Castor?” a first year student asked.
“Catherine?” Regulus looked at the girl as she covered her ears. The noise, both vocal and telepathic was getting louder and louder to her.
“How could she be a Chaos Castor?” Rodolphus Lestrange questioned.
“And how could know no one know about a Chaos Castor being born?” his brother Rabastan nodded.
“Silence!” Dumbledore tried again. Even the teachers weren’t being quiet, all questioning each other about her.
“How could we have not have realized?” Flitwick said. “Her affinity for magic alone should have clued--”
“The girl hid it too well.” McGonagall said as she looked over to Cathy who was covering her ears.
“A Chaos Castor.” Professor Slughorn said in excitement. “If I had known I would have--”
“Shut it!” Cathy shouted her eyes glowing red as her flared red magic spread across the hall. The air whooshed about violently, the walls cracked and the ground beneath them shook.
The entire hall was quiet and shocked at her display of power.
“Chaos Castor?”
Everyone turned back to the screen without anyone saying a thing. Cathy looked around as people felt afraid of her and her power. She sat back down quietly.
Sirius felt awful for not being seated closer to her. That feeling however vanished the second he saw Regulus place his hand on hers.
“Yes.” Cathy nodded. “Chaos Castors are wizards that are able to wield Chaos Magic. It is the oldest, most powerful and dangerous form of magic that exists. People like me have powers and abilities that not even we totally understand. We are incredibly rare. One is born every few thousand years. And it’s one of the reasons that Voldemort came after me.”
Fleamont gripped his daughters other hand and when she looked up and he saw that there were tears threatening to fall. He smiled and moved closer to her as she placed her head on his shoulder.
“Alright, love?”
“Yes daddy.” She smiled not letting go of her father’s hand or Regulus, for that matter/
“He came after you?”
“Yes.” Cathy looked a bit sullen. “You see, Chaos Castors are born with power, but also with an ability. An ability that can be passed down through several generations. These abilities cannot be mimicked or learned. It is something that is specific only to that wizard and their descendants.”
“What is it?” Harry asked. “Your ability.”
“That’s a very personal question, Harry.” Cathy said. “But while we are on the topic, you should know that Ryan, Cassie and Halley are like me. They are also wielders of Chaos magic.”
“What?” Bellatrix and the other pureblood families looked white with horror and shock.
“So they have the same power as you? And their own ability?”
“No. Evidently, Chaos Castors cannot inherit the powers on those who came before them.”
“But if Chaos Castors are born every few thousand years, why are Ryan, Cassie and Halley--”
“A good question.” Cathy nodded. “I’ll tell you one day. But for now, it’s time for bed.”
Walburga turned her eyes at the Potter girl once again. A Chaos Castor. The girl was a Chaos Castor. The most honorable and highest title a wizard could possible hope for. The undeniable proof of how pure ones’ blood is and she had been born into the Potter family. The family that was deemed unfit to even be a part of the sacred twenty-eight.
The Potters were constantly looked down on because of their views on equality and pro-muggle beliefs. The fact that Cathy was a Chaos Castor was living proof that the Potter family blood was purer than any other family present. It was such a slap in the face for all the pureblood supremacists.
Although…based on what the future Cathy just said, her children were also all Chaos Castors. That meant that the Black family would be seen as the family of Chaos Castors. Since her brother Cygnus only had daughters and they couldn’t carry on with the Black family name and older brother Marius was a disowned squib, then that meant that her future grandchildren that Cathy would give birth would be the ones who carry on the Black name.
Ryan, Cassie and Halley were all descendants of House Black. They would be a brand new generation of Blacks and they would be seen as the purest family of the sacred twenty-eight.
Even if they were Sirius’ children…perhaps disowning her eldest son was too rash a decision. Walburga thought.
Harry got up and walked out of the kitchen. He stopped before he was out of view and turned to his aunt for one finally question. “Aunt Cathy, why didn’t I die with my mum and dad that night?”
Cathy walked up to Harry and rubbed his head gently. “I have a theory. But for now that’s all it is. A theory.” Cathy bent down and kissed Harry on the head. “Now off to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow.”