Almost

Chapter 63: Shake

"Katherine?" Ezra called out, walking up the stairs. "Wow, real Weasley pile up here."

Lily had fallen asleep with her head in Katherine's lap, and Lucy wasn't far behind on Molly's shoulder. They were telling her an increasingly raucous set of stories she had missed over the years, from the time that Ron and Ginny had thrown potatoes across the Christmas dinner table because of an argument about the Chudley Cannons to a particularly nasty prank that Fred and James had pulled that ended up with everyone's hair tie-dyed. Teddy was just providing a visual on his own head, and Katherine was nearly in tears she was laughing so hard. But Ezra startling her on top of it sent her into a short.

"Sorry," Katherine said to Lily, who had woken from her shaking. She took Ezra's hand in a panic to help her out of the nest before she threw up the little bit of ice cream she'd eaten off the side of the roof. He got rid of the mess quickly, and she gave them a chagrined look.

"I'm okay," she promised, doing her best to smile. "Just can't keep up with you all."

"Come on," Victoire said, standing. "Let's leave the lovebirds to their jazz music or whatever it is they do with their free time."

Ezra helped Katherine down the staircase, and she sat on the edge of her bed as she said goodbye to the cousins in turn. Fred and Roxy came down last, and she hugged them both tightly. The word sister still sounded odd on her ears, but she liked it. Clung to it as the house suddenly felt very empty.

When Ezra came back up from seeing them all through the floo, he scratched his head. "You seemed to be having fun."

"It was fun," Katherine said wistfully. "I just wish I wouldn't have ruined it at the end."

Ezra sighed, and sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"What did you end up doing in your exile?" Katherine asked.

"I went to talk to Vander," he said. "He took me to see his grandfather."

"Really? Did he say anything?"

"Not much. He doesn't seem to remember a lot—Voldemort kidnapping him really took a toll. But he gave me a few things to take to Bill."

Katherine looked up at Ezra. "I need to ask Harry what he knows about Ariana. About what happened to her."

"I know that face," he said. "What are you overthinking?"

"If it's safe," she answered honestly, biting at her cheek and twisting her fingers over the tiny figures in her necklace. "If Dumbledore was right to do it. If we'd be setting a kid up to fail, too. If it was Kendra wearing the tempering when she was pregnant that gave that power to her children or just her having it herself. Dumbledore must have thought the latter, right?"

"I don't know about that," Ezra answered. "But I do know he wasn't right to do it."

"I suppose."

He put a hand to her chin, brushing a strand of hair that had fallen from her braid back behind her ear. "I know. He shouldn't have taken that from you."

"How much of a mess did we leave downstairs?" Katherine asked, sighing.

Ezra scoffed. "A big one. And I notice someone was in my room."

"Just Fred. He was trying on his tux."

"I'll have to do a sweep for decoy detonators before I pick up the empty ice cream containers."

"I'll help," Katherine offered, making to stand. But her legs wouldn't hold her up.

"I've got it. You rest."