Not Fit For Man Nor Beast

"Very well," Katherine said gently, "Then lets go back." It had not taken long to pack the young girls' belongings. Katherine thought she was a beautiful young woman and easily looked past the scarring on her face. She also saw the deep pain that the girl felt. Not unlike some of Khaat's pain but for totally different reasons. When Dora had taken her arm, Katherine had seen Dora's view of what had happened to cause her such terrible scarring. She knew what those scars looked like and remembered nursing Robert from scars on his shoulder that Remus had accidently caused. She knew the pain they caused. But for such a beautiful young woman, this was totally different. Katherine apparated them back to the farm. "I'm very glad you're here, my dear," she said softly. "If you'd like to warm up, I have some cinnamon tea on the stove. You're welcome to some."

Dora nodded and watched Katherine disappear from the room. She put the things she’d gathered down on the floor and began to sort through the things. She’d forgotten her CD’s but she could Apparate back and retrieve them – she doubted she’d need the meaningless disks though. Dora had a lot of time on her hands during the summers while she wasn’t having memory relapses so she was able to make a spell that would play the song the caster was thinking of. This time she had chosen ‘You Be The Anchor That Keeps My Feet On The Ground, I'll Be The Wings That Keeps Your Heart In The Clouds’ by Mayday Parade. Dora flicked her wand and the music instantly began to play just as it always did.

Dora slipped her dolly shoes off and put them down by the patio doors before lightly walking across the floor. Her steps were light, like a ballerina’s and she seemed to walk with grace a pureblood could only dream of. She stopped by her things and brushed some off of the dust off of the top of the safe. She twisted the dial once more and opened up the door. She pushed some of the money piles away and groped around for the shrunken pieces that her father had given her to hide in the safe before his disappearance. Dora always felt that there was something wrong with the way he disappeared. He was rushing around the few days before, trying to hide things in the house and pile other things into the safe.

Dora felt the head of her father’s acoustic guitar and pulled the shrunken instrument out and resized it with a brush of her fingertips. She held the guitar close to her and bit her lip. She looked at the worn strings and well loved but chipped paintwork which showed just how much her father once played the instrument. She rested it on her knees and gently began to pluck at the strings with her fingers. The music flowed and it soon started to blend in with the melody of the song. Dora could feel the strings getting weaker and she sighed. Getting to her feet, she conjured a guitar stand and gently placed the guitar into the frame which would be its new home.

She managed to find a home for the safe, in the bottom cupboard of the sideboard. She warded the door and placed some blood offering charms on it as well as numerous others which would still deny access even after the blood was spilled. The money inside wasn’t something she was about to lose. She’d promised her father that and she was a person that stayed faithful to her promises. Dora put her photo album down on the sideboard and sat down on the soft bed. She was at a loss of what to do. She could have conjured some clothing but she preferred to go shopping herself as it was much more interesting.

So, Dora decided to go downstairs and pursue the offer of the tea that Katherine had let stand. She walked into the kitchen and spotted the kettle on the stove. Dora looked around the kitchen but couldn’t see the mugs. She frowned a little and opened one of the cupboards but quickly closed it, deeming it rude to go through other people’s things. Dora sighed and decided to wait for Katherine to come into the kitchen. She had to eventually and Dora couldn’t wait to drink some tea.

Katherine had gone out to the barn to feed a new batch of pygmy puffs that had just been born. They were teeny tiny, these ones. Each one being, for some odd genetic mutation, brightly multicolored in its own unique and individual way. She had found one, in particular that was an obvious runt of the bunch and was even tinier than the rest. It was about the size of a tny pompom, and Katherine could fit the whole lot of them into the palm of her hand. But this little one, Katherine had decided to take to the house to keep warm and to try to feed it and hand rear it to see if it might also survive.

She arrived back in the kitchen, cradling the itty bitty psychadelic puff in her hands. She saw Dora there, and it brought a smile to Katherine's face. "Oh, my dear, please just make yourself at home. I should have left you a teamug. There. In that cabinet right there. The upper cabinet to the right of the teapot. You'll find our favorite mugs. Khaat liked them so well I had to make an identical set for her or she'd have taken mine. Just help yourself. You are free to open doors and drawers as you would in your own home. And then you might like to see what I have here.

She opened her hands and showed Dora the miniature pygmy puff that had bright colors of red, orange, blue, green, yellow, pink and purple--all on one of the tiniest puffs Katherine had ever seen. "I have a whole batch of these little misfits. I don't know if anyone will want a multicolored puff. I like them, myself, but some people are so accustomed to the traditional. This poor little puff is so tiny that I will have to give it care around the clock if it is to survive. It needs to be fed every hour or two and needs to be kept warm. A lot like a newborn kitten or puppy. You're welcome to hold it if you like."