"Gastrovascular" Susan read out slowly.

Peter and Susan had been playing the game all morning. Susan had grabbed a large dictionary from the Professor's library as it was open to the kids as long as they took care of the books.

It was an enormous book and Susan seemed keen on going through every word in it. She would read out the word and Peter would have to guess the meanings.

Susan had asked Katherine to play. However, Katherine had found her own book she was intent on looking at.

The Professor had books that recorded almost everything. The library was just encyclopedia after encyclopedia.

So Katherine wasn't very surprised when she found an encyclopedia of baby names. Katherine had settled down with the book near the window opposite Lucy as she tried to find the children's names in it.

She had found Lucy's name, which she told the girl meant "light" or "shiny".

Ed had also been interested in his name which she told him meant "riches" and "protector". He had been very happy with that and had told everyone it only confirmed he would be rich when he grew up.

Susan had asked for her name's meaning and Katherine searched for her name before telling her it meant "Lotus" or "Flower".

Peter had also asked for his and she found it and told him it meant "rock" or "stone". Everyone had laughed at that.

Peter told them it must mean he was just reliable and supportive.

Katherine also pointed out it could also refer to him being hardheaded.

Another round of laughter had gone around the room and Peter rolled his eyes and told her to tell them what her name meant to see if it was any better than his name was.

"Well it says here Katherine means pure or clear" she had told them. Peter snorted at the statement. Katherine ignored him and pressed on.

"My middle name, Ayla, means 'halo of light around the moon' or more simply 'moonlight'" Susan and Lucy had swooned at the end.

"Oh how romantic!" Susan had exclaimed, "Your name literally means pure moonlight" Lucy and Katherine giggled whilst the boys just scoffed. They would never understand girls.

Now they were all just bored to death listening to Susan's words and Peter's guessing.

"Come on Peter" Susan was visibly getting irritated, "Gastrovascular"

"Is it Latin?" Peter asked. Katherine really couldn't understand the point of his question as the book was full of Latin words but Susan seemed happy with his process as she replied, "Yes"

"Is it Latin for worst game ever invented?" Edmund chimed in and Peter let out a chuckle.

From behind his seat, Katherine let out a rather undignified snort. Susan let out a huff of despair before slamming the huge book shut.

"We could play hide and seek" Lucy suggested, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the morning.

She walked over to where her oldest brother sat and gazed over pleadingly to Peter.

"But we're already having so much fun" he replied sarcastically looking over to Susan. Who gave him a disbelieving look.

"I'm in Luce," Katherine told the little girl as she put down the encyclopedia of names she had been bored with for quite a while.

Lucy smiled widely and hugged the girl before turning back to her brother and grabbing his arm.

"Come on Peter, Please" she whined. Edmund rolled his eyes at the girl's antics. Sometimes Lucy would irritate him with her childish ways as it reminded him he wasn't too much older than her himself.

All Edmund wanted was to be a grown-up like Susan, Peter and Katherine pretended to be.

"Pretty Please" Lucy begged giving Peter the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster. Katherine knew that look all too well.

She could never say no to Lucy when she gave her that adorable face. She could see Peter was also struggling, eventually, he gave in looking up at her. He smirked and started to count.

Lucy smiled brighter than before as Peter continued his counting and began to get up. Edmund began to complain again and Susan rolled her eyes before getting up to find a good hiding place.

Peter moved to place his head on the wall as Lucy tugged Katherine away with her. They ran around trying to find a suitable hiding place. Katherine pointed out some drapes and her and Lucy ran quickly towards it.

Edmund ran around the other side and just as she pulled open the curtains he sneaked behind. Katherine was about to reprimand him when they heard Peter's counting reach eighty.

They ran up the corridor trying to open doors but they were all locked. Suddenly they reached a door that would open and they stumbled inside.

In the middle of the room was a huge structure covered in an old piece of linen. As if in a trance the girls walked towards it before Lucy pulled down the cloth to reveal a huge oak wardrobe that had been beautifully carved.

Something seemed to call them to the wardrobe and when Katherine opened the door mothballs fell out. She shook herself from the trance and ushered Lucy into the wardrobe before running out of the room to find her own hiding spot.

Just as she ran out she closed the door slightly and turned to see Lucy shutting the wardrobe leaving a slight gap.

Katherine turned to see if any other doors were open on the floor. Katherine found it a hopeless case and ran back down from where she and Lucy had come going past Edmund in the curtains.

She looked around for another hall to run down as she heard Peter approaching. Suddenly Lucy burst out the door.

"It's alright, I'm back. I'm alright" she shouted running down the stairs. Edmund stuck his head out the curtains and whisper-yelled at her.

"Shut up, he's coming!"

Katherine turned around to ask what Lucy was talking about when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She groaned as she turned around to a smirking Peter.

His smirked dropped however as he saw Edmund and Lucy standing in the open. Peter's eyebrows drew up in confusion and Edmund sighed at getting caught so early on in the game.

"You know, I'm not too sure if you three have quite gotten the idea of this game" Peter quipped. Katherine just sighed placing her forehead on a neighbouring wall.

Today was just not her day.

"Weren't you wondering where I was?" Lucy asked them.

"That's the point, that was why he was seeking you" Edmund retorted.

Suddenly Susan appeared having heard the commotion, "Does this mean I win?"

"I don't think Lucy wants to play any more" Peter replied.

Lucy just looked around confused, "I've been gone for hours," she told them.

Katherine lifted her head before crouching to the girl's height, "Luce, I just left you in the room now"

Lucy shook her head in disbelief as Peter laughed, "So that's why you were standing in the hall like an idiot" Katherine stuck her tongue out in reply.

Lucy stubbornly replied, "No really I went to Narnia and spent at least seven hours at Mr Tumnus' house because I fell asleep whilst we had tea"

The children shared a look before Susan asked Lucy to tell them exactly what happened.

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Susan opened the wardrobe and pushed away the coats to reveal the wooden back of the wardrobe.

She knocked on it to see whether there was a room behind it and Edmund knocked the sides of the wardrobe. After confirming there were no signs of another world. The three siblings turned to Lucy.

"One game at a time Luce," Peter told Lucy before beginning to walk out of the room with Edmund and Susan following.

Katherine just rubbed Lucy shoulders affectionately as the little girl stood quietly. Just as her siblings reached the door Lucy cried out,

"But I wasn't imagining"

All three whipped around and Susan who liked to be practical about everything was the first to retort.

"That's enough Lucy"

Lucy still pushed and Katherine really wondered if there had been a hidden world after all because Lucy hated lying.

"I wouldn't lie about this"

Lucy's voice became higher and Katherine could see the girl fighting back tears.

Suddenly Edmund stepped forward and everything went downhill from there.

"Well I believe you" he exclaimed with false enthusiasm. Lucy stared at her brother in disbelief.

"You do?" she asked cautiously.

Katherine knew immediately Edmund was going to pull out one of his badly timed jokes and stepped forward to try and break the beginning of the fight.

It was in vain as Edmund pushed forward.

"Yeah of course" he looked around to his older siblings before turning back to the youngest.

"Didn't I tell you about the football fields in the bathrooms cupboards?" He asked mockingly.

Katherine ran her hands through her hair as Peter replied,

"Now will you just stop, you just have to make everything worse don't you?"

Edmund jumped to defence quickly, "It was just a joke"

Peter just sighed, "When are you going to learn to grow up?"

It was Edmund's tipping point and Katherine knew it.

The boy who so longed to be considered mature enough to be around the older kids grew bitter and snapped at Peter.

"Shut up!" Edmund yelled stalking towards his brother, "You think that you're dad but you're not"

He stormed out the room and Susan just sighed.

"Well that was nicely handled," she said sarcastically before walking out to comfort Edmund.

Peter looked down defeated.

"But it really was there" Lucy piped up.

Peter turned around and looked at her.

"Susan's right Lucy that's enough"

He turned around and walked out of the room and Lucy looked up at Katherine.

"Luce, I believe you but I need to go and check on someone alright?" Katherine stroked the little girl's hair "You can tell me about it properly later"

꧁꧂꧁꧂꧁꧂

Katherine left the little girl in the room and went to search for the oldest Pevensie.

She had made a promise to Helen and she would not break it. She found the boy at the back of the library sitting on a desk with his head between his hands.

He wasn't crying but she could tell he was upset.

She sat next to the boy and he looked up to see who it was, he sighed and placed his head between his hands again.

"Come here to gloat have you?" He asked accusingly.

She couldn't believe Peter thought she was that bad. Instead of making a remark she placed her hand on his back and rubbed it in soothing circles. He visibly tensed under her touch before melting into it.

They sat there for a while, silent, and Peter couldn't help but wonder how much easier life would be if he had someone to calm him like this all the time.

After a while, Katherine broke the silence.

"For the record, I think you are making the best of the hard situation you've been put in"

Peter turned to her trying to pinpoint which situation she was referring to.

"You're the oldest, you've been sent miles away from home with your siblings, I can only imagine how tough it is to still try and be their big brother and be in charge by yourself"

She looked down at the floor to avoid eye-contact as she gave the boy she had punched once a compliment.

"You're a great leader and a great older brother"

Peter stared at the girl in shock. He couldn't remember a time Katherine had ever said something nice about him, in fact, he was sure she avoided the topic of him altogether. Yet here she was in a library full of encyclopedia's giving him a compliment.

He gawked for a while before Katherine finally looked up and nudged his shoulder.

"Come on I'm not that bad, am I?" she teased.

Peter cheered up instantly as they fell back into their usual routine.

"I don't know" he mused, "You're pretty bad in my books"

Katherine laughed loudly at his statement before dragging him up onto his feet.

They walked out the library teasing and nudging each other as they went, Peter walked with her to the girls' room and composed himself in case he had to face Susan.

Katherine saw this and offered to say goodnight to both Susan and Lucy for him which he gladly accepted.

Just as Peter opened his door on the other side of the hall Katherine called out to him, he turned around as she spoke lowly,

"I meant what I said in the library"

She turned around after and went into her room. Peter smiled to himself as he walked into his room to get ready for bed, maybe Katherine could be a good friend after all.

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