Chapter 57: Family Values (4)

Even if there were any snakes in proximity, Catherine was indeed not able to see any of them because she had spent most of her summer break inside the McMahon castle. She did hardly anything but read and occasionally play with Nyx. The Kneazle and Betty, the house-elf, were her preferred company. 

The Duchess was adamant that her daughter must eat with the family. The young witch, however, refused to obey. Consequently, she was present at the table, but her mind was somewhere else entirely, and she more often than not left her food intact. Louisa McMahon was not a woman who would give up easily, nonetheless, in this case, she admitted defeat and secretly instructed Betty to bring Catherine food into her room. This seemed to be the only way to ensure that her rebellious girl would consume something nutritious. 

One August afternoon, Catherine was eating a peach seated on the open window, enjoying the deep shade that provided a much-needed relief from the scorching heat. A half-written letter to Sirius lay on her desk. As usual, she struggled to write anything longer than two paragraphs. Between all the things about her life at home she was hiding from her friends and the mind-numbing routine of her days, there was very little to be shared, besides the fact that Catherine painfully missed them all.

The girl found, to her surprise, that a tear was rolling down her cheek. She hastily wiped it away, and her gaze wandered around the garden, wishing she were somewhere far away from there. This summer, the situation at home turned out to be worse than usual. Her mother was as critical as always, however, the young witch was less prone to put up with it. Her father and Greg left the castle for almost a month, shortly after they had come back from Hogwarts. Catherine knew that they went to the seaside, arguably the best place for a Water Mage to start their training. The girl was shocked to discover that she was missing her brother. At Hogwarts, they rarely exchanged more than a few words, but she somehow got used to him always being there, sitting somewhere in the Common room or having breakfast just a few seats away at the Gryffindor table. 

Fortunately, Greg and Edward had returned the week before, and life in the McMahon family home became a little bit more bearable. Catherine's eyes stopped at her brother, who was standing next to the fountain in the garden. Despite the heat, he was not moving a muscle, his hands extended forward above the water. Catherine knew he was practicing elemental magic and secretly hoped to catch a glance of what Greg was capable of. She knew her father wanted her to also become an Elementalist, and the young witch was looking forward to starting her own training. 

Catherine smiled bitterly. She was aware that her parents had arranged for Dumbledore to be the one teaching her elemental magic, and it was plainly obvious how her father took the time to train Greg but couldn't be bothered to do the same for her. 

'The Light forbid, he spends some time with me alone.' – the girl thought, watching how her brother sat on the ground, looking positively exhausted. 

The young witch had heard that, in the beginning of the training, it was extremely difficult to learn how to open oneself to one's element, and this was required before attempting to do anything else. With time, it was supposed to become as natural as breathing, but it involved years upon years of hard work. 

A knock on the door interrupted Catherine's train of thought. An old house-elf entered the room and bowed so low its ears touched the carpet, whining softly in pain on its way up.

"Betty, I told you not to do that!" – demanded Catherine, irritated – "You're way too old to bow to someone whose diapers you had been changing."

The fragile creature smiled softly, its ears twitching.

"Betty is fine, young Mistress. Betty could still work for her family, but young Mistress is so kind and noble." – said the house-elf, its big brown eyes were full of tears.

"Alright, just don't overdo it." – agreed Catherine, aware from past experiences that there was little point in arguing with Betty about chores or taking a rest. 

"The Master ordered Betty to take the young Mistress to his study!" – hastily announced the house-elf, suddenly recalling the reason for its presence in Catherine's room. 

'Can't be anything good if he wants to see me so abruptly.' – thought the girl, following Betty towards the Duke's study.

Edward McMahon was standing next to the open window, observing Greg's training in the garden. He turned around immediately when his daughter entered the room, suddenly feeling anxious about the task at hand. 

The young witch immediately noticed that her father seemed oddly nervous for some reason. Her gaze casually drifted across the room and came to rest on a roughly crafted crystal sphere, positioned at the centre of the desk. 

"Do you know what this is, Catherine?" – asked the Duke, seeing her interest in the object. 

"No." – answered the girl. 

"This is what we call an Elemental Orb. It's a magical object used to determine one's inclination to a certain element." – the wizard explained, opening a drawer, and taking out a thin silver knife – "It activates with a drop of blood. Your mother and I would like you to get tested and start learning how to use elemental magic. We believe this will allow you to better protect yourself in the case of… well, if someone attempts to hurt you. We won't force you, but I hope you see why this is necessary."

Catherine glanced at her father's face and couldn't quite figure out why he was such a nervous wreck. Studying elemental magic was dangerous, however, considering that Greg was already in training, it shouldn't have been such a big deal. The witch took the silver knife in her hand and asked:

"Would I be training together with Greg?"

"We shall see." – was the vague answer.

"I understand that you don't want to spend time with me, father, but maybe try to hide it a little bit better." – commented the girl with a sulky smile.

"What are you talking about?" – snapped the Duke – "You do realise that I can only train another Water Mage, don't you?"

Catherine paused for a second. She did know that, nonetheless, for some reason, she assumed she was also a Water Mage, and she thought this was just a formality. 

'My father and brother are both Water Mages. Salazar Slytherin was a Water Mage. I speak Parseltongue, so it's probably very likely that I'm inclined to manipulate the Essence of Water.' – the witch thought – 'Although my mom is inclined to earth, despite not being trained as an Earth Mage.' 

Somewhere deep inside the girl's mind emerged a memory of an amber glow, but she quickly shook her head and with a cold determination made a little cut on her finger with the silver knife. A few droplets of blood fell on the Elemental Orb. Suddenly, it came to life, turning bright red and glowing ominously. Catherine stared at it in disbelief. She heard the Duke's heavy sigh and felt his magic healing her finger. 

"I'm… a Fire Mage?" – she almost whispered. 

"You will be, once you get the proper training." – answered Edward grimly. 

"But…how… aren't Fire Mages the rarest Elementalists?"

"Indeed." – nodded the wizard, avoiding his daughter's gaze – "The ability to handle True Fire is very rare because it's even more dangerous, compared to the rest of the elements. It's pure destruction. A lot of people who are inclined to fire decide not to get trained, precisely because of the risks involved. I'll completely understand if you…"

"You don't seem very surprised, Dad." – Catherine interrupted him.

The Duke purposefully avoided the girl's eyes. He cleared his throat and finally answered.

"We had our suspicions. Being inclined to an element manifests even if you never get tested or trained. The stronger your element is, the stronger the manifestation. For most people, it just means that they learn how to conjure water easily or know instinctively when the weather's going to change. However, if you're stronger than the weakest elemental type, there are other indications. That's why your mother has such incredible abilities with plants even though she has never been trained as an Earth Mage." – Edward explained. 

"So, back then…when I hurt Greg in the garden…" – mumbled the girl.

"We thought that you manifested your ability, yes." – confirmed the wizard – "Thankfully, Greg's inclination also helped, so he was not hurt as badly as he could have been."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you test me right there and then?" – asked the girl, holding her raging emotions.

"There was no point in doing it at that time." – sighed her father, pacing around the room – "It was way too early for you to start training, and we wanted to spare you any anxiety that information could have caused you."

"What are we going to do now?" – asked Catherine, feeling a little dizzy after all the information.

"The offer stays the same." – confirmed the Duke – "It's your choice if you want to study elemental magic or not. You know our opinion, but considering the results of the testing, nobody would force you in any way."

"If I decide to proceed with the training, who's going to teach me?" – inquired the young witch.

"Dumbledore, of course." – answered Edward.

"But isn't Dumbledore a Water Mage?" – gasped Catherine, surprised.

"No. Actually, we didn't really have much of a choice. As far as I'm aware, there is no other trained Fire Mage in Britain currently." – explained the Duke – "We asked him to potentially train you right after the incident with Greg. You're really lucky in this regard because he's a very powerful Elementalist, being a Phoenix type, but also, he can train you easily while you're at Hogwarts."

A silence fell into the room. Catherine was trying to figure out her emotions and feelings, ranging from anger for her parents keeping such important information away from her to tingling excitement about the possibility to handle power notoriously difficult to control and use.

"Alright, I'll accept Dumbledore's lessons on elemental magic. I suppose becoming a Fire Mage will prove to be handy when the other aristocrats find out about me eventually." – shrugged the young witch, trying to appear casual about the whole ordeal.

"Let's hope this never happens." – murmured the wizard.

"What do you mean by never?" – the black-haired girl asked tentatively – "They will find out sooner or later. I won't be staying at Hogwarts forever, and I most certainly don't plan on hiding here for the rest of my life."

"Of course not." – the Duke was quick to reassure his daughter – "Once you graduate from Hogwarts, you would be free to do whatever you want – travel, meet new people, explore the world in any way you see fit. With your grades, you won't have any issues finding a job, but it's not a problem even if you don't want to work. We'll provide you with sufficient funds."

"Somehow, I always knew this was the plan. Since the very beginning, I have suspected that Catherine Plantier was never meant to be just a temporary alias. She has always been intended to be my new identity and finally completely erase all kind of traces left from Catherine McMahon!" – Catherine started talking softly, but with every word, her voice got louder and louder, practically screaming the last part, her eyes full of angry tears.

Duke McMahon watched in horror how the books started flying from the shelves and the glass cases were shaking dangerously.

"What's going on in here?!" – the voice of Louisa McMahon startled both father and daughter. 

The lady of the house stood in the frame of the door for a few seconds, her green eyes quickly moving from her husband's distorted face to her daughter's angry one, and finally resting on the Elemental Orb on the desk, still red and gleaming. 

"You tested her without me?" – she shouted angrily – "What is wrong with you?"

"I…I've just received the Elemental Orb this afternoon and decided to be done with it once and for all. I didn't think the test itself was so important for you, my nymph." – stuttered the Duke, being caught in the middle of his wife and daughter, with two pairs of identical jade green eyes staring at him.

"You don't need to think instead of me!" – snapped Louisa – "What's this ruckus about anyway? It's not that we didn't suspect she was inclined to fire."

"Well, Mother, forgive me for being a little loud. It's not every day I realise my family's planning to get rid of me once I graduate." – hissed Catherine sarcastically.

"But isn't that what you wanted, Catherine?" – asked the Duke helplessly – "To be free, without the burden of your family lineage, and surrounded by people you like, instead of us who you barely tolerate?"

"How is this going to change the fact I bear a demon inside of me?" – asked the young witch miserably – "I want to be with people who see me for who I am, and I am Lady Catherine Margaret McMahon, whether you like it or not!"

"Nobody has ever denied that!" – said Louisa, her voice trembling slightly. 

"Then don't try to erase my existence!" – shouted Catherine, her eyes darting from her father to her mother and back. 

"It's not what we're trying to do!" – the Duke protested – "We did attempt to find a way for you to get your rightful place; however, it is much more dangerous than you simply living your life away from all this."

"This is my life!" – shouted Catherine – "You can't decide for me! I don't give a damn about the Council or how the rest of the aristocrats are going to see me! I'm not a criminal!"

"But we are, Catherine!" – exclaimed Edward hopelessly – "Our family vowed to never allow the demon to be free again. We kept our promise for centuries, in order to maintain relative peace among the main Houses. This is who we are! It's bad enough I've already betrayed our values."

"Oh, please!" – Louisa McMahon sneered – "What values? Nobody but you care about the Pact or promises made hundreds of years ago. Borealis and Redmond have been conspiring against us for ages, not to mention their constant flirting with the Dark Arts. You know perfectly well who was responsible for your parents' death, despite the lack of evidence. The House of O'Dargan turned the Academy into a joke for their own benefit. Lovett is only interested in gold and how to accumulate as much of it as possible. Whiters would do anything if it would save them the trouble of taking a side in any kind of dispute, and Duke Prince…well, he couldn't care less if the aristocrats stop existing tomorrow. My daughter is not a demon that needs extermination! After all, she's doing perfectly fine keeping it at bay. Why shouldn't the rules be changed? Why shouldn't we do everything possible to protect our family instead of sacrificing it for bunch of rigid fools and greedy elitists?"

Catherine felt an impulse to hug her mother. She remembered very few instances in which such a thing actually happened, but currently, she somehow felt protected by the Duchess, despite their turbulent relationship with each other. The girl, however, didn't act upon her instincts but instead looked at her father who appeared torn between the burden of his beliefs and the reality of his feelings. 

"I know you're right, my nymph…" – Edward finally admitted, choosing his words with caution – "You are aware that my initial plan was that if Catherine could manage to keep the demon intact until she turns sixteen, I could attempt to persuade the Council to spare her life. No host, after Morgana le Fay, was able to survive past sixteen, when a witch's magic stabilises, and it becomes much less likely for the barrier to be broken. If they see Catherine as an asset for the Council…for the aristocrats in general, they may not pursue any charges. Accumulated value and benefits for all the Houses could go as far as allowing otherwise severe crimes to go unpunished. We would only need the support of three other Houses, two if Whiters remain neutral. But still, this plan is dangerous and risky, and it mostly relies on variables we have no control over, such as the disposition of the other Houses. Would you be willing to take such a risk?"

"Yes!" – answered Catherine, prompting both her parents to jump, being surprised by her firm and swift response.

"Catherine, think carefully about it!" – the Duke demanded – "This is a life-altering decision! Even if we succeed, you may end up being trapped in a very dangerous game where people would try to use you and take advantage of your powers."

"I'm not planning on allowing them, father." – the girl said softly – "If I indeed manage to survive until my sixteenth birthday, I believe I would have proven to everyone, including you, that I can be the mistress of my own life and I would be damned if I allow anyone to control me and take away my hard-earned freedom."

"Aren't you scared by how the aristocrats may react when they find out about you?" – asked Louisa, looking at her daughter with a bit of pride. 

"Me? I suppose they should be the scared ones if they happen to reject perfectly valid arguments and attempt to harm me or you and Greg." – answered Catherine, her eyes sparkling by the intense emotions inside her thin childish frame – "In any case, I'm not just going to sit there and allow them to hurt me. Isn't that why Dumbledore is going to teach me elemental magic? If the other six Houses refuse to be reasonable and insist on playing with fire, they will get burnt!"