We will meet again ~ Fred Weasley

- Different Paths -

"They did not need to walk the same path to remain part of the same story."

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The first few weeks after Katherine and Harry's nineteenth birthday passed in a strange sort of blur.

Not an unhappy blur.

If anything, they were some of the happiest weeks she could remember.

They were simply full.

Full of things that needed doing, decisions that needed making, people who wanted to see her, letters that arrived every morning, boxes that had to be moved, shelves that had to be measured and arguments that somehow always seemed to begin over breakfast and end with Fred laughing.

The little shop next door to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had become Katherine's favourite place in Diagon Alley.

It was still mostly empty.

There were no elaborate displays yet, no polished cabinets filled with enchanted jewellery, no shelves stacked with rare books or carefully restored objects.

There was only possibility.

Katherine had spent several mornings sitting cross-legged on the dusty floor with a notebook balanced on her knees, sketching ideas for the interior.

She had drawn shelves.

Then redrawn them.

She had considered glass cabinets before deciding they would make the room feel too much like a museum.

She had drawn a workbench.

Then realised it was too large.

She had drawn another.

She had made lists of suppliers, scribbled down names of restoration books she wanted to find, written questions beside things she didn't understand and circled the words protective enchantments three times.

But she had deliberately avoided rushing into buying anything.

Hermione had told her that if she was serious about the business, she needed to learn what she was doing before she spent money pretending she already knew.

Katherine had called that extremely Hermione-like.

Hermione had replied that it was also extremely sensible.

Katherine hated when Hermione was right.

Still, she was learning.

Slowly.

She visited Worthington & Sons whenever she could, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for most of an afternoon.

The elderly witch who owned the shop had begun allowing her to look through old catalogues and handwritten records.

Katherine had learned that some magical objects could hold enchantments for centuries if they were properly maintained.

She had learned that protective jewellery wasn't simply a matter of putting a spell on a necklace.

Different metals reacted differently to magic.

Certain stones amplified certain enchantments.

Some old protective charms could not be repaired without first understanding what the original maker had intended.

And some objects were better left alone.

That last lesson had come after Katherine had picked up a tarnished silver bracelet and been told, very firmly, not to put it on.