Chapter Text
With jet black hair, steel grey eyes, and a place on the Howard family tree, it was deadly silent as a single word rang out through the hall.
Hufflepuff!
Katherine was shaking as she slid off of the stool, the quiet pad of her steps on the cold stone sounded disturbingly loud as Professor McGonagall urged her towards the table at the opposite side of the room from where her cousin had made a place for her.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked over her shoulder towards Anne, only to see her cousin staring determinedly down at the table. Hanging her head, she shuffled forward as she wiped at her face, hurt and shame filling the space where excitement and giddiness had once been.
Anne had promised they'd be together in Slytherin, that she'd teach her to fly and show her all the secret places in the castle. That they'd go on adventures and fill their days with fun and laughter, instead of the cold, dreariness that they'd only ever known before.
They'd spent the summer writing back and forth in secret, words whispered on charmed paper as they made a list of everything they'd do when Kat got to Hogwarts. She'd held those letters close on nights when her father's shouts rumbled the room and the ache of her body seemed to seep into her bones, dreaming of her sorting- of joining Anne.
But now, with just one word, she felt the color drain from the world, a pain settling in her chest that hurt far more than she'd experienced by her father’s hand.
Kat wasn't sure how long she'd stood beside the Hufflepuff table, staring unseeingly at the space that had been made for her on the bench. The sorting ceremony had begun again, but she couldn't hear anything but the sound of her blood rushing in her ears.
The sensation of a hand taking her own pulled a surprised yelp out of her, but it caught in her throat as she realized whose hand had grasped her own.
“Come on, Kit Kat. The feast’s about to start and I promised you the first pumpkin pasty of the year.” Anne's voice was soft, but no less affectionate as she squished into the spot on the bench that was meant to be for Kat.
But they could squeeze.
Throwing herself at her cousin, she felt the tears she'd tried to hold back stain her cheeks and Anne's robes as the older girl held her tightly, sobs wracking her body as she felt a wave of relief wash over her like a ray of sun after a storm.
When she finally let Anne pull away, she made sure to keep one hand curled in her robes, reassuring herself that she was still there. Not that she really needed to, as it quickly became clear that the other girl wasn't going anywhere as she took a seat at the Hufflepuff table, grinning and joking with Kat's new housemates as she began piling food onto a shining gold plate.
And, as promised, Kat took a bite of her pumpkin pasty- the very first of the year.