Cored

Chapter 10: Knocking

Katherine didn't think she liked Quidditch very much. Up in the air, Angelina and Ginny were flying around, throwing a big red ball at Charlie. He was floating in front of three rings, trying to keep the ball from going through them. Katherine understood what Harry had said; Ginny appeared effortlessly good, but Charlie seemed well enough able to keep up. The whole thing seemed a great way to break every bone in your body.

Angelina drifted back to the ground when she saw the group emerge. She took her husband's hand, smiling at Katherine. "All okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," George said, smiling down at her. "How's the game going?"

"Not as easy as when I was sixteen," the woman laughed, shaking the broom.

"Angelina used to be the Gryffindor team captain," Harry said to Katherine. "She's just being modest."

"Yeah, well, you were captain more recently than me." Angelina raised an eyebrow and held the broom out to Harry. "Why don't you go try against your wife?"

"I know better than to try," Harry said, "she can fly laps around me. Charlie, on the other hand," and with a glimmer, Harry straddled the broom and kicked off the ground. In the air, he flew next to his wife, giving her a big kiss before grabbing the ball from her and weaving ahead to try and outwit Charlie.

He was unsuccessful.

"Better stick to seeker, Potter," George called up, Angelina and he laughing loudly.

"Katherine, come with me for a minute?" Arthur said, bowing his head slightly to Katherine. She nodded and followed him back past the tall rings. He walked towards a structure that was just larger than garage with peeling paid and lead framed windows.

As they came upon the opposite side the structure, Arthur waved Katherine in. There was a car on the right side, a large tarp covering it. On the other side was a long bench. Everywhere Katherine looked, there was the most random assortment of things—outlet covers, light bulbs, dial telephones, an old armchair, a rubber duck, and even a blender. Katherine smiled, picking up a container of thumb tacks.

"Pokey buggars, those," Arthur said, sitting on a stool and gesturing to another. Katherine sat down, still toying with the box.

"Thumb tacks," she said. "Wouldn't be much use if they weren't sharp, I guess."

"Well, I'll definitely need you to tell me all about them," Arthur said, looking more genuinely curious that Katherine had ever seem someone be about office supplies. "But I thought you'd appreciate a bit of muggle-ness. Hermione tells me the house can be a bit overwhelming if you aren't used to magic."

"Thank you," Katherine said. He was right, it did make her a bit calmer, like this world couldn't be so foreign to her if thumb tacks still existed.

"I know this afternoon had a lot of excitement," he said, resting his arm on the counter next to him. "But I want you to know that Molly and I are both so happy to have you here. When we lost Fred, we didn't realize how much we were letting go of—having you here feels like we got a little bit of him back." He took a deep breath. "Obviously, we trust that he and George and their reasons, but I really wish we could have met before now."

Katherine stared at the man for a moment. His forehead was wrinkled, but his whole face had an unmistakably constant joy to it.

"I love my grandchildren very much," he continued. "All of you."

"I've never had a grandfather before," Katherine said simply.

"You've always had me," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "we just didn't know it."