Karina Potter, Aunt Marauder

Chapter 16

Karina sat on the bench outside of the courtroom, listening to the trial going on inside, waiting for her impending punishment from Moody. She'd cooled down since she had been sent out of the courtroom, and while she wished her spell had hit Barty Jr, she knew that she had acted out of turn, and had endangered the entire courtroom with her spell. Who knew what Moody was going to say?

Too soon, everyone began exiting the courtroom, giving her looks as they passed by. Some were glares, some looked afraid, and some looked away again. Then, Moody came out, and he didn't even look at her.

"Alastor..." He didn't turn around, and Karina stood up, following. "Alastor, come on! You knew I was bound to say something! I told I didn't want to come, and you forced me along anyway, and look what happened! Technically, this is your fault!"

"Potter!" Moody turned around suddenly, scaring her. "Just, go and get your son from Molly, and go home. Think about what you did today, and think about why you regret it." Then he limped away, and Karina fell against the wall, sighing. She didn't want Harry to see her like this. She had messed up, and messed up bad. And she had set a horrible example for Harry to follow some day.

So, instead of heading to the Weasleys, she headed to Flourish and Blotts, where she looked around for Remus.

"Excuse me, miss? Can I help you?" She turned around and saw another store hand, and nodded.

"Yes, can you tell me where I can find Remus Lupin?" The store hand pointed to the back room, and she hurried back to see him. "Remus?" Remus jumped up from a pile of Transfiguration textbooks.

"Yes, hi!" He called, hurrying over to her. "How's it going? How was the trial?" She let out a long, whiny, groan, falling against a bookshelf, knocking a load of books onto her head.

"I blew it." She told him, ignoring her now pounding head. "You sleep through one trial, no big deal, you wake up for the crazy man running around. But, you lose your temper during another, and suddenly, you get kicked out of the courtroom." Remus's eyes went wide.

"You got kicked out of the courtroom!?" She nodded, burying her face in her hands.

"Remus, I completely blew it! He brought up Sirius and I lost my temper! I tried to petrify him and ended up hitting one of the court members! Aurors had to drag me out of the courtroom!" Remus sighed.

"Rina, what kind of example does that set for Harry? Do you really think that it was okay for you to act out like that in the middle of a trial?" She shook her head.

"No, I know that I shouldn't have acted like that! Trust me, no one knows this better than me. Its just... its Sirius! And Crouch said that he spoke of me! I know its selfish of me, but I had to know what he said!" Remus shook his head back.

"That's still no reason to act like that. Especially when you're supposed to be professional." Karina let out another sigh. "And plus, Crouch is a madman! He probably said that to get you riled up!" Karina let out a pitiful cry as she slid down the bookshelf and hit the floor, burying her face in her knees.

"Oh, I know!" She sobbed. "I know! I screwed up so bad! Alastor is never going to let me step foot into that Auror's office again!" Remus scratched the back of his neck. He wanted to saw that would never happen, but it very well could. Moody was not happy that one of his trainees had acted out in the middle of a serious court. He wouldn't want that to be the face of his office.

"Well, there's no denying that that is a possibilty. After all, you did completely and utterly embarrass yourself in front of a professional courtroom." She gave him a look.

"Really need to work on the sympathy there, Moony."

"Hold on, I'm not done." He told her, crouching down and putting his hand on her shoulder. "But you're still you. One outburst does not an Auror make. You cannot allow this one, rather large, mistake to determine the rest of your career. You need to go back in there, and while you don't have to make a big deal over it, you shouldn't hide the fact that this happened. Own up to your mistake, but don't get too worked up over it." Karina wiped her eyes, knowing that Remus was right.

"You're right. I shouldn't allow this to ruin my career. I have to up my game, and make sure that this entire incident is forgotten." Then she reached over and hugged Remus tightly. "Thank you, Remus. I'm so glad I have you as a friend." he rolled his eyes, but hugged her back.

"Where would you be without me?" He joked, and she giggled, a final tear slipping down her cheek as she pulled away and gave him a firm, but gentle punch on the shoulder. Then she gasped.

"Merlin's beard! I have to pick up Harry from Molly's!" Then she jumped to her feet and quickly apparated to the Weasleys house, where she knocked on the door, and the door was answered by Bill. "Hello, Bill. I'm here to pick up Harry."

"He's upstairs with Ron." Then he led her into the house, and the only people she could see were Molly, Charlie, and Percy. Molly was asleep, her hands resting on her swollen belly. Charlie was playing with a toy train, and Percy was reading a book.

Bill led Karina up a load of stairs to the next to the top level, and opened the door to see the two little boys lying on a twin bed, sharing a pillow in the centre of the bed, a blanket on each of them. Their hair was mixed up, making Harry look like he had inherited his shade from both James and Lily, and Ron looked like his hair was burning and charred. Karina was instantly reminded of the first time Sirius had slept over, and she awoke to him and James lying like that. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of the memory as she picked Harry up from the bed as carefully as she could without waking him up, thanked Bill for letting her in, then took Harry home, promising to be better for him and herself.