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A/N: Sorry if my updates seem to be less frequent lately, but I’ve been in one of those moods lately, and I have some college work to do, too.
CHAPTER 25: LOVE AND HATE
Aut amat aut odit mulier; nihil est tertium. A woman either loves or hates; there is no third (possibility). –Publilius, Sententiae (A6)
The party seemed rather dull to Harry
as he
cuddled up in a corner, dully watching the rest of the festivities.
Dobby may
have brought up enough food to feed the entire Gryffindor House for a
week, but
he doubted that every last scrap of food in Hogwarts could cheer him up
right
about now.
Once again, normal life had eluded him. And trouble was following his
every
move. Voldemort was surprisingly lax when it came to normal battles
like those
he heard about from the First War. He was building up for something
big, and
then he would move in when the time was right.
“Why can’t anything ever be normal in my life?” he brooded.
‘Because you’re the Boy Who Lived,’ said a nasty voice in his mind.
‘Youngest
Hogwarts Seeker in a century. Only known survivor
of Avada
Kedavra. The one who just made a new
Quidditch move.
Nothing can ever go right in your life.’
‘Is my life ever supposed to be normal?’
‘No. You keep living while others die or get tortured around you. Your
father,
your mother, Cedric, Sirius, Lupin, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville,
Luna,
Blaise, Cho... all because of you... the list can go on and on and
on...’
“Harry, mate!” Ron called to him from
another side of the
room. “Aren’t you gonna celebrate with us? Don’t we have lots of food
here? We
could also get some cat food or bird seed, if you want.” The others
chuckled
while Harry ignored them.
“Ron,” he said quietly, “If that man had offered you the chance to be
the
Keeper for his team, would you accept the chance?”
“Hell yeah, I would have!”
Harry smiled slightly. “Too bad it was me he was wasting his time on
then, eh?
I’m nowhere as devoted or fanatical as you are, O Incarnate of Oliver
Wood.”
“Hey!” Ron laughed. “Is that supposed to be praise?”
Harry shrugged, his smile now gone. He was brooding again...
‘Everyone dead or tortured... because of me... all because of me...’
“Harry!” Ron’s voice snapped him out of his trance again. “Don’t keep
sitting
there all dark and gloomy! You have to eat something! I’ll force-feed
you if I
have to! Or even better, I can get my Mum over here in a heartbeat and
tell her
you’re not eating right! You’ll be eating fourths at every meal!”
He grinned devilishly as everyone laughed, and retaliated, “You do
that, Ron,
and I’ll sic her on you for roughhousing me! Besides, I eat enough
these days.”
Everyone laughed even more as Ron said, “Oh that was cold, all-
but-adoptive
brother of mine.”
“I think she’s helped me enough for one week after I accidentally
crashed into
the garden at your house. Two good things came out of it: I wasn’t hurt
all
that bad, and no more garden gnomes to
worry about, so
she can’t threaten you anymore with ‘de-gnoming the garden for the rest
of your
natural life.’”
Ron collapsed in fits of laughter at that one. Harry’s smile faded
again as he
went back to brooding...
‘Why must Ron act like it’s all OK? It’s
not OK. He
keeps getting harmed and stuff because he’s Harry Potter’s best friend.
One
brother has already defected, and his entire family’s at risk,
especially with
his dad as the new Minister of Magic. I wish I could just disappear off
the
face of the planet. If I died, I would certainly deserve it for all the
death
I’ve caused. Unfortunately, I’m too much of a strong-willed survivor to
simply
off myself, and the prophecy rules out that possible scenario. I’m not
about
likely to just walk up to Voldemort and say “Please just kill me
already.” I
wouldn’t give him that satisfaction.’
“Harry!” Ron yelled again. “Will you quit sitting there? Look, if it’ s
over
what that Smith bloke said, I’ll call Fred and George right away and
have them
deal with him! Smith’ll be running out the front doors before you can
say ‘
“No, Ron, it’s not about Smith,” he sighed, looking tired. ‘Not
exactly, anyway.’
“That was still low of him, though, likening you to You-Know-
Who,” Ron growled, and everybody nodded in agreement. That’s something
you’d
expect from a slimy Slytherin...”
Quickly getting up, Harry said, “Evil wizards don’t belong in
Slytherin, Ron.
As far as I’m concerned, they don’t belong in Hogwarts to begin with.”
Everybody also agreed with this as well. He eventually got around to
some of
the food, and joined everybody else seemed satisfied, but a few dark
thoughts
kept pushing their way into his mind.
‘Ron considers me as his brother? I can’t replace Percy; it was sheer
luck that
I met Ron when I did. No, I can’t be near him so often; being near me
will just
increase the chance of losing him. He deserves to be lifelong friends
with
someone who might fulfill their actual life expectancy, and I’m not
exactly the
best candidate for that. He’ll understand,
one way or
another.’
Transforming into a lion, he trotted up to the fire and settled himself
down in
front of it. Entranced by its warmth, he settled down and let his
drowsiness
overcome him, while everyone watched as their hero was in front of them
in the
form of their house mascot, which made them feel safer in these dark
times.
One student among the Gryffindors, however, was having growing
suspicions of
Harry Potter; and when the time was right, that student would turn him
over to
the Dark Lord.
~*~*~*~
Minerva McGonagall had spent the rest of the entire week doing research
on
Harry Potter’s extraordinary advancements in Transfiguration. How had
he done
it? Both she and Dumbledore had certainly been impressed; now it was
time for
them to find out why this had happened to begin with.
~*~*~*~
Harry had yet another dream. Godric Gryffindor was
back, but
this time, he had company. Three other adults around the same age as
him were
with him. Two women were next to him: One with jet-black hair was
dressed in
ebony and yellow in an elaborate headpiece while holding a fan; the
other, a
brunette with a veil over her head, was robed in a rich blue,
delicately lined
with bronze, while clutching a few books under her arm. The fourth was
a man
dressed in emerald green, with black hair that was partially silver,
holding a
staff with the top shaped like the head of a serpent. Harry could
easily guess
who these other three people were: Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw,
and
Salazar Slytherin.
“Well, Harry,” Gryffindor said, smiling, “I see you’ve met my friends.
I’m sure
you’ve heard about the other Founders by now.”
“Of course I have.”
Helga sighed, “Ah, Harry, such the young gentleman! Also with your own
circle
of friends! The same way we’re all friends!”
Harry grinned a little and said, “I know. Is this the four of you
before or
after the whole Chamber of Secrets thing?”
The four of them suddenly looked uneasy. Rowena then said, “Harry,
there is a
saying that history is written by its victors. Likewise, what you may
or may
not know about the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets may be an
example of
that saying.”
Salazar spoke up for the first time. “Think of the name itself, Harry. ‘The Chamber of Secrets.’ There’s more than one
thing down
there, apart from my old pet basilisk.”
Harry carefully said, “Er, sorry about that, but your Heir was trying
to kill
me, and so was the basilisk.”
Salazar looked disappointed now. “Ah yes, ‘Voldemort.’ Believe me, I am
highly
disappointed him. I may have been leery of accepting Muggleborn
students, but
think of the times themselves. Muggles were persecuting us mercilessly
based on
blind fear. I only had the basilisk stored away as a defense, should
the castle
ever be attacked. Besides, Voldemort’s mother married a Muggle.
According to
ancient magic, if she broke a code set for her by my standards, she
would have
lost all rights to be inherited, and by losing her position as a heiress, Voldemort would have never become a
heir.”
Harry was shocked. This was nothing like the Salazar Slytherin he had
heard
stories about. Thinking quickly, he said, “How do I know this dream
isn’t my
imagination wandering around or some trick from Voldemort?”
Helga said, “No, Harry, your Occlumency and Legilimency are too
advanced for
that trick now, however more you have to do.”
“If you want proof of the validity of these dreams, Harry, make sure
you wear
that Dream Medallion tomorrow night; I believe Sirius Orion Black is
waiting
for you to talk to him,” Godric said smoothly.
Harry was shocked even more. “How would you know-?”
“We’ve been dead for more than a thousand years, Harry; that
leaves an
awful lot of spare time on our hands, wouldn’t you agree?” Salazar
chimed,
smiling deviously. “He’s had enough fun in our realm for a while, but
it’s
getting boring for him now. He’s played enough fetch in the park for
several
months, I think, chewed on enough balls, pissed behind enough trees-“
“Salazar!” Helga exclaimed. Godric was chuckling while Rowena tried not
to
guffaw.
“What?” Salazar said innocently.
Harry, who was watching the four with amusement, added, “Anyway, so
you’re
saying that there’s not so much evil as they’ve claimed throughout
history
about the Slytherin House?”
Salazar spoke up again, “Actually, no. The four of us got along, but
our
descendants didn’t.”
“Rumors?”
“Precisely,” Rowena said in a very McGonagall-ish way.
“Furthermore, Harry-” Godric was cut off as it suddenly seemed to glow
hot.
“Time to go, but last bit of advice; the sword is the key. That will
tell you
all you need to know.”
“Why do you need to go?”
“Next time, Harry, don’t sleep so close to the fireplace; your whiskers
can
catch on fire.”
They disappeared, and Harry suddenly found himself staring into the
fireplace,
and on the end of one of his lion whiskers-
“Rawr!” Harry quickly rolled around on the ground and used his
paw to
put out the fire, which singled his whiskers a little, and he hissed in
pain
until a redhead came up to him.
‘Ginny!’ he thought.
“Aw, you poor little kitty,” she cooed, using her wand to heal his
burns while
playing with his whiskers. Looking closer, she was still in her day
clothes. “I
fell asleep watching you,” she explained.
Harry got up and rubbed against her, purring in gratitude. After she
scratched
him behind the ears, he transformed back and walked over to his
unopened
chocolate frogs from the previous night.
“You know,” he said before stuffing one in his mouth, “Hagrid would
probably
just see me as a giant tabby cat.”
As Ginny giggled, Ron and Hermione came charging down the different
staircases.
“What was that!?” Ron yelled.
“I, er, accidentally slept too close to the fireplace,” Harry murmured.
Ron chuckled while Hermione gave the disapproving look. “Harry, really,
just
because you’re an Animagus that doesn’t mean you need to use your
powers all
the time.”
“I like them,” he complained. “Besides, I was
thinking that
for my next trick, I’d just become a phoenix again and carry off Ginny-”
“Don’t you dare!” Ron yelled while Ginny giggled.
Harry was a lion again and went up to Ron, purring in a friendly way.
“OK,
Harry, we know you’re a lion, stop acting like an oversized pussy cat.
If I
want another cat in
“Ron!” she said, looking scandalized.
“Aw, admit it, Herm, you were cute... much better than the incident in
our
second year, I’ll give you that.”
Hermione was definitely growing angry now. “Ronald Bilius Weasley,
you’d better
stop with the cat jokes...”
“Yeah, I should, because I don’t want to offend Crookshanks. Come to
think of
it, that’s another good reason not to turn you into a cat again; I
don’t want
to have to compete with my girlfriend’s pet cat.”
Hermione was now red in the face from all the anger. Ginny was laughing
while
Harry gave a small “rawr.” Hermione made to smack Ron, but the redhead
caught
it with one hand and said, “Hermione Jane Granger, you should know
better than
to assault a fellow prefect. Besides, I’d hate to think the smartest
girl in
Hogwarts hates my guts; imagine all the stuff she could do to me.”
She blinked and seemed to forget her attempts to smack Ron silly. “The
Smartest
Girl in Hogwarts?” she repeated disbelievingly.
Ron rolled his eyes. “Of course, Hermione.
Obviously,
you know what your own grades are, but do you compare them to other
people’s
work? I’m surprised Flitwick doesn’t owl McGonagall every other week,
demanding
that the smartest girl in our year be transferred to Ravenclaw House! I
wish I
had a tenth of your brains just to get through all my work! Besides, we
all
know how much McGonagall secretly admires your work; I wouldn’t be
surprised if
she tampered with your grades to prevent you from graduating so you
could be
her student longer!”
Hermione laughed outright. Harry transformed back and joined Ginny with
all the
laughing. Hermione said, “Come on, Ron, she’d never do any such thing!”
”Nah, she wouldn’t. Come here, “Mini-McGonagall.” Pulling her towards
him, he
planted his kiss right on the lips. Harry and Ginny exchanged looks,
glad to
see that the two of them weren’t fighting.
As Harry started to munch on another Chocolate Frog, his friends went
back up
to get changed into normal day clothes. Ginny leaned over and whispered
in his
ear, “Think we should tell them just yet?”
He shook his head. “Nah, not yet. Definitely
not yet.”
~*~*~*~
At breakfast that morning, Hedwig dropped off a
note for
Harry with the official Hogwarts crest on it. It was a note from
Dumbledore.
“Harry- Due to the advances in your training and your studies, I wish
to
discuss with you a new schedule from now on. Meet me after breakfast in
my
office. The password is Lightbeam Lemon Drops. Sincerely,
Professor Dumbledore.”
With mixed feelings, he quickly pocketed it as Ron nudged him.
“Hey, Harry! New thing in the newspaper in the
sports
section!” It was an article about the “Potter Lion Pounce,”
complete
with a diagram and a couple of pictures. According to the Department of
Magical
Games and Sports, it was labeled as “Extremely Dangerous.” (‘Not that
Quidditch
is anything other than dangerous,’ Harry snorted.)
“Ron?” he asked, “Um, sorry I got in the newspaper again.”
Ron looked at him as though those brains had attacked his friend.
“Harry, mate,
I’m past that now. I’ll find some way to do something on my own,
believe me.”
“I’ll help you think up a new move, if you want. ‘Weasley Fox Snatch?’”
Ron snorted. “Enough with foxes, Harry!”
“Sorry, Ron, I was just contemplating how you could have been
known as
‘The Fox,’ as a brilliant strategist or something.”
Ron blinked. “Sorry?”
Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. “Ron, you are one of the most
strategic people
I have ever met. When have you ever lost a game of chess to me? To anybody, for that matter?”
Ron actually blushed a little. Going on,
Harry said,
“Look, you know what Dumbledore said about me making my own circle of
people I
can rely on the same way he relies on the bird-watching club? I think I
should
make you one of my top generals or strategists or something. What do
you
think?”
Ron grinned. “Yeah, you’re right, Harry. I could really help you out.”
Harry’s grin faded a little. “Believe me, Ron,
I could
use all the help I can get.”
Ron looked worried now. “By the way, Harry, exactly what would I be in
charge
of?”
It was then that it occurred to Harry. “You know, I have no idea. I’ll
ask
Dumbledore after breakfast. I know you’d do well, though.”
Ron was grinning again. “Thanks, mate.
Thanks so very
much.”
“Glad to help.”
“By the way, now that Dad is Minister-” he lowered his voice so
no one
else could hear him “-he found out that there was a secret law, one the
public
wasn’t supposed to know about, with the Minister of Magic having the
final say
on the Daily Prophet. Apparently, Fudge passed it, which was why he had
them
print all that stuff last year. Of course, Dad got rid of it, although
he asked
the people in charge to be responsible with their information, and they
should
feel free to ask Dad if they have any questions.”
Harry smiled. “Excellent. Next time you contact your dad, tell him I
say
thanks.”
“No problem.”
~*~*~*~
After breakfast, Harry went straight up to
Dumbledore’s
office. “Hello, Harry,” the Headmaster said cheerfully as he entered,
“Nice to
talk to you again.”
“Only because it’s related to my academics,” he said in a curt yet
neutral
tone.
Dumbledore’s smile faded a little. “Yes, of course. Anyway, I was
thinking
about hiring a professor who is knowledgeable in both Arithmancy and
Ancient
Runes. You meet every day with her in the library. As for the rest of
your
schedule, you have the afternoons to study, either in
“Would you happen to know what transpired?”
“I have placed charms and wards on the house to even track the
occupants
when they are away from it. Interesting speech, by
the way.”
“Thank you. Anyway, who is this tutor?”
“Miss Fleur Delacour.”
He blinked. “Her? I thought she was trying to get a job somewhere and
Bill
Weasley was helping her out.”
“Yes, well, she also seemed delighted by the opportunity.”
“Then again, are you sure the library would be best? Any male students
might
get distracted, cause an accident and incite Madam Pince’s wrath.”
Dumbledore chuckled a little. “The same thought occurred to me.”
“By the way, speaking of professors... sorry this slipped my mind, but
a couple
of weeks ago...” and he related the entire incident with Professor la
Fontaine.
“Thank you for telling me, Harry.”
“So what do you mean? She’s on our side or she’s not?”
“Technically, she could be against Voldemort but not be on our side...
she
could be working for the Ministry, which has better jurisdiction these
days, I
might add.”
“And if she’s against us?”
“I think I can persuade her.”
“With or without the wand?”
“Definitely with the wand.”
“By the way, as for my nine friends, I was hoping that they
could take
active parts in this too. I think Ron would be a brilliant strategist;
Neville
could be a great Healer with plants and stuff; Draco and Blaise could
spy on
any pro-Voldemort students for us, etc.”
“Excellent ideas, Harry. I shall discuss
this with
them. This was something I hoped you would catch onto soon; you are the
one to
kill Voldemort, but that doesn’t mean you have to do the rest alone.”
Harry nodded. “Right. Anyway, there’s just
some
practice I want to do.”
“That reminds me, Harry, whatever shall we do about the Order of the
Stag?”
“I don’t know. They all want to learn how to conjure Patroni... maybe
I’ll just
stop after that or let someone else do it.”
“We’ll see what happens with time, Harry. Have a nice day.”
“Good-bye, Professor.”
~*~*~*~
That night, Harry clutched the Dream Medallion
close to him,
hoping to see Sirius again. Soon, he was asleep and dreaming. He
appeared to be
in a deserted
“SIRIUS!”
He grinned with his usual mischievous grin. “Hey Harry,” he said.
Harry ran straight up to him, hugging him and sobbing into his chest.
“Sirius,
Sirius, I’m so sorry, if only I had thought about it, if only I had
used the
mirror-”
Sirius hugged Harry back. “Shhh, it’s OK, I’m fine.”
“Fine? How could you be- You’re dead, how
could you
not be upset about it!?” he spluttered.
“Well, I dunno if there’s an adequate term for it, but I guess you
could say
I’m fine.”
“But aren’t you angry that all this happened?”
Sirius looked very somber, and after they both sat down, Sirius explained, “I know how much I was something of a father figure to you. You might not understand this until you have kids of your own someday, but no parent wants to see their child die. I never would have been able to live with myself if anything happened to you. I can understand how you might feel about what happened to me, and believe me, it’s nothing to be ashamed over.”
Harry nodded, feeling something tight in his chest loosen. Having
heard that
honestly from Sirius himself seemed to give
him the
comfort he needed.
“What’s behind the veil, anyway?” he asked, wanting to change the
subject.
Sirius frowned. “Unfortunately, it’s one of the laws of the dead: Never
ever
attempt to explain any of this stuff about the realm of the dead to the
people
of the living.”
“Oh. Wait, realm of the dead? What do you mean?”
Sirius started, “Several centuries ago, a Dark wizard had lost his wife
to
disease or something. He wanted to go into the realm of the dead and
try to
bring her back. However, he had several other people go ahead of him to
try it
out, and none of them returned. Depressed, he basically committed
suicide, and
he went beyond the veil himself, thinking that if he couldn’t bring her
back to
life, he’d join her among the dead. Eventually, the Ministry took the
archway
and used it for executions. Later on, after they stopped using it, they
placed
it in the Department of Mysteries, in a room now known as the Death
Room, where
people study the mystery of death itself.”
“But why does the Ministry use the Dementor’s Kiss, which is supposed
to be
worse than death?”
“During Grindelwald’s reign of terror, he sought out and tried to
destroy
dementors. Unlike Voldemort, he hated them. Dementors fled here, and
they
sought refuge with the Ministry, who used them, and promised them souls
to feed
upon if they sided with them. Even after Grindelwald’s downfall, the
dementors
stayed to serve the Ministry.”
“How about my parents? Have you seen them at all?”
“Yes, sometimes. Once again, Harry, can’t
explain this
stuff. I can assure you they still love you and they’re proud of you
for the
most part, except for some of the stupider things you’ve done.”
Harry blushed a little and said, “Thanks.”
“No problem, kid. Anyway, I know someone else to bring into this happy
reunion.
You see, while it’s hard to contact other dead people with this Dream
Medallion
that Ravneclaw girl gave you, I can easily invite other people still
alive.”
With a snap of his fingers, a hospital bed with a figure in it
appeared. It was
Lupin.
“Poor Moony, he needs a wake up call,” Sirius said with that wicked
smile on
his face. A shower of water suddenly fell on the sleeping werewolf, and
he woke
up, spluttering.
“Who- what-? ...Sirius?” Lupin asked,
his mouth agape.
“Yes, it’s me, Moony.”
“PADFOOT!” Lupin cried, jumping out of bed,
hugging
his friend like a long-lost brother (the water had vanished by now).
“Hello, Professor,” Harry chimed.
Lupin separated and turned to see Harry. He smiled, saying, “Hello,
Harry.
What’s going on here? How-?” he stopped himself and said, “Mr. Moony
begs Mr.
Padfoot to explain how all this came to happen.”
“Mr. Padfoot asks Mr. Moony to not get all weepy, and just to enjoy
this happy
reunion. Anyway, let me explain what’s going on here. That Ravenclaw
girl- Cho
Chang?- anyway, she gave Harry that Dream
Medallion.
Temperamental magical object, if I remember correctly... anyway, he was
wearing
it, he dreamed about me, and he was able to make contact with me from
the realm
of the dead.”
Lupin turned to Harry. “How’s things with
you and
Cho?”
He frowned. “She broke it off with me. I was thinking about Ginny,
though...”
Sirius smiled. “Aw, my little Pronglet, all grown
up and
chasing after girls. Or rather, girls
coming after
him.” With another snap of his fingers, a giant screen appeared, which replayed the seen where Harry
woke up to
find Cho in his bed. Sirius was laughing insanely, saying, “Nice touch
with the
‘uncle’ comment, Lupin.”
Lupin smiled. “Thanks. Any other scenes I missed?”
Harry felt dread as Sirius smiled even wider. Harry looked away with
his
fingers stuffed in his ears as it replayed the scene in the locker
rooms. By
the end of it, Lupin was chuckling, “He stumbled into a harem,” while
Sirius
was rolling on the floor, laughing like a madman.
“Come on, you two, that’s enough,” Harry said as the screen disappeared.
“Aw, please, Harry, we’re only concerned for your benefit,” Sirius
reassured
him. “And since Lupin is still with us, or should I say you, that task
falls
largely on him.”
Lupin’s smile faded a little and said, “Believe me, Harry, it wasn’t
easy. I
was afraid to take over the role for Sirius in your life. When you’re a
werewolf, you’re used to being alone, and you isolate yourself for the
safety
of others. I wanted to catch you before you fell too far into
depression. I
wasn’t very good when it came to exercising control over others,
either. Dumbledore
asking me to be a prefect was like asking a dove to rule over hawks.
Then
again, I was able to do something I should have in the end...”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the incident with Snape by the lake in our fifth year... James
was about
to magically remove his underpants when I decided to break it off
before things
got really out of control. I was often the Marauder Snape could
tolerate the
most because I annoyed him the least. In other words, I knew deep down,
that if
I tried, I could help others in the right direction.”
“Yeah, that and the fact if James had taken off Snape’s underpants, a
lot of
people would have been mentally scarred for life because of what they
could
have seen,” Sirius added.
“EW!” Harry exclaimed, disgusted. “Bad
mental image!”
Sirius pulled Harry into a hug, saying, “It’s alright, Harry, I
shouldn’t have
said that.” With his voice filled with emotion, Sirius said, “You have
no idea
how important you are to us, Harry. You’re what’s
left
of Lily and James, and the heir to the Marauders... I remember when you
came
home from the hospital... you were so small and fragile... I was like
James’
surrogate brother, which basically made you my surrogate nephew... I
took one
look at you and knew I would enjoy being your godfather... I had lots
of fun
with you too, well, except for the one time where I had to baby-sit
you and change your diapers...”
“HEY!” Harry protested as Lupin chuckled. “The point is, Harry,” the
professor
continued, “You’re also the last of our pack... there were never any
Wormtail
rats-”
“Thank God, and hopefully there still aren’t any,” Sirius growled.
“-but then again, no Padfoot puppies or Moony cubs either,” Lupin
finished.
“Well, there was close to being a Moony cub one time, if I recall,”
Sirius
said.
“What do you mean?” Lupin asked, looking puzzled.
“Well, there was the one time in seventh year where I bribed your
girlfriend to
pretend she was pregnant...”
“That doesn’t count!” Lupin protested while Harry laughed.
“Anyway, Harry,” Sirius went on, “Like the rest of us, you’re a true
Marauder;
a furry friend with four legs. Oh wait; you’re a phoenix Animagus now
too. Come
on, Harry, show us!”
First, Harry became a lion, and he went up to Sirius, rubbing against
him and
purring. Sirius scratched him behind the ears, saying, “Aw, my precious
little
kitty. And the phoenix form?”
Harry then became a phoenix, and he soared around the room, singing
happily.
Sirius then said, “By the way, I liked Remus’ idea for the name,
‘Griffinclaw,’
but I think it’s time for a new one; not too original, anyway. How about, ‘Fireclaw?’”
Harry returned, transformed back, and said, “I like it. Mr. Fireclaw
thanks Mr.
Padfoot for the innovation, and asks Mr. Moony not to be too upset over
the
change.”
Lupin smiled. “Mr. Moony assures Mr. Fireclaw and Mr. Padfoot it is no
problem
whatsoever, and would like to have some fun before waking up.”
“MARAUDER MISCHIEF!” Sirius yelled at the
top of his
lungs. In a flash, dog, wolf, and lion appeared, and they all ran
around,
tackling each other and tearing apart the upholstery. Both of the
canines
ganged up on the feline, who hissed and clawed at both of them, and
after
bringing down Lupin, he pounced at Sirius, but narrowly missed, and
flew
headlong into an armchair, while the shaggy black dog ran across the
common
room, barking happily.
Sirius transformed back and said, “Ah, a true Marauder. The next
generation for
our pack certainly looks bright. Anyway, Harry, time to wake up. I’ll
try to
visit you again some other time, OK?”
Harry returned to his normal form and hugged Sirius, “Thank you,
Sirius,” he
whispered.
The dream dissolved, and after a moment, Harry could tell he was in
bed. He lay
there for a while, staring up at the ceiling. Slowly, a smile came to
his face.
Sirius’ generosity, love, and wicked sense of humor had spanned from
this world
to the next. In other words, he was dead, but not entirely gone forever.
“Thank you, Sirius,” he whispered again before getting up to face the
new week
of school.
~*~*~*~
As the month of February had commenced, Harry’s
mood was
fairly normal, or at least by the standards of his own life.
As Fleur walked into the Great Hall on Monday, heads turned as she
walked up
Professor Dumbledore and shook hands with him. “Bonjour,
Professor
Dumbledore,” she said.
“Greetings, Fleur. Please sit with us.”
Harry was eating in the kitchens (he had decided it would be a
convenient time
to stock up his trunk, just in case), so he didn’t see Fleur in the
halls until
she strode over to him. “Hello again, Harry. I will see you second
period in
the library.”
“Nice to see you again, Fleur. How’s
Gabrielle doing these days?”
“Oh, she’s actually started at Beauxbatons this year. She’s very
talented and good at Defense Against the
Dark Arts.
She claims you have something to do with it.” Fleur winked, and with
that, she
left, ignoring the looks the boys were giving her.
~*~*~*~
As Harry met with the nine other students in his
Potions
class outside of their dungeon, he saw an unlikely sight: Theodore Nott
and Pansy
Parkinson... shoving Draco around? Hermione, Blaise, Ernie, Padma and
Nora
immediately broke up the fight, while Harry only caught parts of what
they
said.
“What’s the matter, Drackey?” Pansy simpered. “Mummy
not
selling herself for enough on Knockturn Alley?” She and Nott
laughed as
Draco became angrier.
“No, but you might want to consider that job career to buy yourself
better
looks, Pug-face!” he shot back as Blaise and Ernie dragged him back.
Pansy
growled as the other prefects dragged her and Nott off to the side.
“What’s going on here?”
Snape strode forward, taking in the entire sight. “There is no excuse
for this
fighting. Detention to Nott and Parkinson.”
The two
students sulked, but they all went inside.
“Today,” Snape drawled, “We will be working on Polyjuice Potion.”
(Harry and
Hermione briefly shared a smile; this was going to be easy.) “It takes
a month
to brew, and for one hour, it will allow you to assume the form of
another
human. It is meant only for human transformations, and should not be
used with
animals. It can also be highly dangerous if prepared wrongly. Since
yesterday
was the full moon, the lacewings are ready to be used. Instructions are
on the
board. Begin.”
The ten students got to work with their partners, while Snape strode up
and
down the aisles, making sure nothing went wrong. Neville cheerfully
continued
to work on his Potions with the plants, taking notes at what happened
when
different things happened.
“Professor Snape?” he asked timidly. “Do we have any Runespoor egg
shells
left?”
“There is some left is my private stores, Longbottom, and I am afraid I
need
them for more important reasons,” Snape said coldly, causing Neville to
flinch
slightly.
“Actually, sir, I think I have some Runespoor egg shells in my own
store,”
Harry said, “And I have no problem with contributing to the cause.”
Snape looked slightly surprised. “Your own store,
Potter?”
“I have lots of ingredients and lots of spare potions.”
Snape looked at Harry almost curiously, but made no further inquiries.
At the
end of the lesson, the Professor said, “Potter, a word, if you please.”
Harry made is way to the front desk as the other students left. After
Snape put
Silencing Charms all over the room, he said, “What’s this about your
own store,
Potter?”
“I got a new trunk that happened to belong to my father’s parents. It’s
like
Moody’s, and it has seven different ‘rooms,’ and one of them is like a
laboratory or study. I already have shelves full of potions. After my
Runespoor
hatched, Draco told me to save the eggshells, just in case. I would
like to use
them to help Neville’s parents gain their sanity back.”
Snape raised an eyebrow. “You actually spent your time brewing potions.”
Harry shrugged. “It gave me something to do. Besides, I followed your
example
of always having some on hand- just in case.”
Snape gave a very delicate yet evil smile. “I see your opinion of me
seems to
have been raised a lot during these past months.”
Maybe it was the way he stated it, but Harry felt taken aback. “Um, yes
it has,
sir.”
The smile vanished. “Potter,” he said curtly, “As much as we have in
common, as
much as it pains me to admit that, you do not need to consider me to be
the
standard for everything in your life.”
This left Harry confused. Where was Snape going with this...?
“Just because your saw one of your father’s worse moments in the
Pensieve last
year, Potter, that does not mean you should vilify him. Your father did
have
several finer points, even if he did waste a lot of his time on
mischief and
bullying.”
This confused him even more. The thought of Snape actually speaking
civilly
like this was about as unlikely as Sprout using weed killer on her
plants, or
at least in Harry’s opinion, anyway.
“Furthermore, Potter, I think you should know now that while I may have
been
more lax this year, you should also take into account political
considerations.
During your first five years here, my system of points was to appease
the
fathers of some Slytherins, such as Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott,
Bulstrode and
others. Obviously, these days, with their fathers in prison or in
hiding, it is
considered ‘politically correct’ to be supportive of you, although I do
admit
it was worth it just to get the basilisk venom, the Room of
Requirement, and
the directions for the Command of Osiris.”
“Glad to help.”
“You should also stop being angry at the Headmaster. You don’t
even
realize how much he is concerned for you, do you?”
Harry scowled. “‘Concerned’ isn’t the word I would choose.”
Snape sneered. “Either way, Potter, you should realize how much he has
risked
and sacrificed in the past. Do you remember the Leaving Feast in your
first
year?”
“Of course.”
“Dumbledore may have applauded you and your friends for handling
Quirrel
and the Dark Lord, but he caused much disaster in my opinion. With
Slytherin in
the lead, I practically had the entire House eating out of the palm of
my hand.
I had discussed with Dumbledore how by making the Slytherin the winning
House
that year, with Draco Malfoy and his friends in their first year, I
could be
able to infiltrate their Death Eater parents, who had mistrusted me for
years
after the Dark Lord’s downfall. When Dumbledore wreaked havoc by
enthroning
Gryffindor in first place, he practically set back all the plans I had
discussed with him. To him, your smile was more important than the
plans he had
for vanquishing the Dark Lord forever. I reasoned that in the long run,
the
future of our world is more important that House points.”
Harry felt as though he had been punched in the gut. “Uh, I’m sorry?”
Snape shook his head. “No need, Potter. While we’re still on the
subject of the
Headmaster, I overheard about the developments in your schedule. I have
something in mind for after classes today. It would be an ideal time to
show
you how to conceal poisons.”
“Conceal poisons?”
Just like I said, Potter. If you want to
know more
I’ll explain later after today’s classes; my next class comes in half a
minute.” Harry nodded and got his stuff together. “Oh, and Potter,
needless to
say, it’s not something taught at Hogwarts, so it’s not something to
repeat in
front of the Headmaster or anyone else for that matter.”
“First the ring, and now this. Of course I
won’t
tell.”
“Excellent. By the way...” Snape had
something like
understanding in his eyes. “If you need to discuss anything with me,
you know
where my office is.”
Harry felt shocked again, but said. “Thank you, Professor. Good-
bye.”
~*~*~*~
Harry met with Fleur in the library. A few boys
were gaping
at her, but she ignored them. “Hello, Harry,” she said cheerfully.
“Hello, Fleur.”
“Which do you want to study today: Arithmancy or Ancient Runes?”
“I was wondering what they both do.”
“Arithmancy is like magical math; different postulates and formulas are
involved in different spells, and sometimes, changing the different
parts of
the spells can change the entire effect of the spell altogether. Runes
are used
on objects in order to enchant them and give them certain abilities, or
maybe
take them away instead.”
“I’d like to try Arithmancy, then.” (1)
The rest of the period went rather well. After covering the finer
points and
solving a few basic problems at the end of the period, Fleur commented
how well
he was taking to it. Harry thanked Fleur, bade her farewell, and asked
her to
say hi to Bill for him.
~*~*~*~
Harry was on the way down to get something for
lunch from
the kitchens when he saw Draco already at the still life that lead to
the
kitchens. “Draco!” he called out. “What are you doing down here?”
“Getting Kreacher,” he said. “Dumbledore, my mother and I want to use
the
little stinker. Besides, he’s not too helpful here anyway.”
Kreacher... the thought of the little elf made his blood boil!
“Erm, listen, Draco, are you absolutely sure you need him? I’d like to
use him
as target practice, if you don’t mind,” Harry said slyly.
Draco laughed. “How Slytherin of you, Harry.”
Opening
up the painting, he called, “DOBBY! Do you have him?”
“Yes, mister Draco, sir?” Dobby was
dragging Kreacher,
who was bound in ropes.
Taking a cloth out of Kreacher’s mouth, Draco asked, “So, Kreacher,
care to
serve my mother again?”
Kreacher looked up and said, “Kreacher lives to serve the Noble and
Most
Ancient House of Black!”
Harry was resisting the urge not to try any Unforgiveables on the elf.
“Some job
you did, Kreacher!” he yelled. “Sirius was the last of the Blacks, and
you got
him killed, you lying little hypocrite! He was my godfather, dammit! I
ought to
kill you right here and now.”
Draco looked taken aback at Harry’s fury while Kreacher smiled smugly.
“Blood
traitor told Kreacher to get out...”
That was the final straw. Roughly grabbing Kreacher, Harry held him at
eye
level. “You little bastard... If it weren’t for Dumbledore, I’d kill
you right
here and now! Sirius is dead, and it’s your entire fault!”
Dobby, who had been watching this display for sometime, looked enraged.
“Kreacher kill Harry Potter’s godfather? BAD
KREACHER!”
Just as Dobby raised his hands to perform some elf magic, Kreacher
slipped
loose through the binds and tried to run back into the safety of the
kitchen,
but Dobby was not about to let that happen.
“Can Dobby please deal with nasty Kreacher, Harry Potter sir?” the elf
asked
Harry in the pleading tone of an impatient child.
“Please thrash him, Dobby.”
Dobby looked delighted, much in the same way as Peeves was when
encouraged to
do mischief. Dobby ran right after Kreacher, and after exchanging looks
with
each other, Harry and Draco decided to watch the fun.
Dobby was screaming threats as Kreacher tried to scuttle away. Dobby
even sent
what looked like green lightning at the older elf. No matter which kind
of
magic he used, Kreacher still managed to get away, but eventually,
Dobby was
able to nail Kreacher with bowls and pots full of hot, scalding soup.
The other
house elves simply watched, unable to believe the mess that was being
caused.
“My house elf can beat up yours,” Harry muttered to Draco, who was
laughing at
the mayhem.
“Having fun, boys?”
Both students whipped their heads around. Dumbledore was watching the
scene
with amusement. “You know, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, we still need
Kreacher
for some information-”
“DOBBY THRASH DIRTY KREACHER!”
CLANG!
“AAAAAARGH!”
“-Which we cannot do if Kreacher is hit repeatedly in the head
with a
frying pan,” the Headmaster finished calmly, unfazed by the struggle,
but with
the twinkle in his eye.
“Can we at least do something about him after we get the information?”
Harry
asked.
“Well, Harry, these days, Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy could really use someone
to help
her at home,” Dumbledore said patiently, with a meaningful look at
Draco.
“It’s OK, I understand perfectly. Although I think Kreacher might not
be
cleaned off yet before going to Malfoy Manor-” Harry started.
“No, please, Kreacher is soaked, no more boiling water...”
SPLOOSH!
“AAIIEE!”
“DOBBY DROWN NAUGHTY KREACHER!”
“-Then again, I stand corrected,” Harry finished, smiling. Turning
towards the
kitchens, he called, “That’s enough, Dobby. Kreacher has to leave now.”
Dobby, who was advancing with a giant butcher’s axe over a ragged
Kreacher,
looked disappointed but complied anyway. “And don’t you dare harm Harry
Potter
or Harry Potter’s friends ever again!” he shouted as a farewell as
Kreacher
wandered away with Draco.
“Thank you, Dobby. Anyway, what’s for lunch?” (2)
~*~*~*~
Harry spent the rest of the afternoon looking at
Healing
Arts. He was just finishing his studies in the common room when Ron and
Hermione walked in, bickering with each other.
“Ron, one of these days, you will have to stop being so over
protective.”
“I swear, it’s not me, it’s every boy that looks at her!”
“If it bothers you that much, then just carry around a troll club with
you!”
“I wonder if the troll we beat in our first year left his club down there?”
Hermione sighed while Harry laughed. “So, how’s married life for you
two?” he
joked.
Both of them looked about ready to rip his head off when Ginny came in.
“Hi
Harry!” she said.
“Hi Ginny,” he replied. She plopped down on the seat next to him, and
Harry
said, “Ron is being over protective again, in case you’re wondering.”
Ginny laughed. “When isn’t he?”
Ron and Hermione continued bickering, even as they went up their own
staircases. “I wonder if my own parents ever fought like that?”
Harry mused.
“Good, now that they’re both gone...” Ginny pried the book from Harry’s
hands
and continued to lavish him with kisses, which he eagerly returned.
“You know,” she smiled with her impish grin, “you can certainly be the romantic when you want to be...”
“Aw, thanks,” he said. “And I’m glad to be with a witch who’s so beautiful-” kiss “-smart-” kiss “-loyal-” kiss “-sexy...”
‘SEXY!?’ Ginny thought to herself. ‘Did he just call me-’ but her thoughts were cut off as Harry took things a little further.
Running his hands through her hair, Harry tilted Ginny back on the
couch and
continued to kiss the redheaded beauty underneath him.
All the romance was cut short as Ron quietly came back down, completely
unaware
of the snogging in progress. He passed by their couch, briefly glanced
at them
(they were so absorbed they didn’t even notice him), and did a double
take.
Upon seeing his best friend on top of his younger sister, he felt the
blood
drain from his face. He felt his hands clench into fists. He could feel
his
heart pounding with fury. He felt like he wanted to kill someone,
namely Harry.
“Ahem,” he said rather loudly. Both Harry and Ginny looked up
with a
surprised gasp, with the former’s glasses askew. “May I please ask
what’s going
on?”
“Well, Ron, well, you see, we, er-” Harry stammered. “Please forgive me
for
this, Ron.” With that, he went back to kissing Ginny.
With a loud yell, Ron strode over to Harry and dragged him right off.
“WHAT DO
YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” Ron yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Kissing your sister, who’s now my girlfriend,” Harry said simply.
Ron choked and spluttered, “G-g-girlfriend?”
“Yes, Ron, the same way Hermione is your girlfriend.”
Ron looked between them, a very ruffled Harry and a very disgruntled
Ginny.
“Really, Ron, you’d better stop ruining all my romantic moments with
Harry,”
she said, looking ready to punch her brother in the face.
Ron gulped. Turning back to Harry, he said, “Harry, if you do anything
to harm
her, I will make sure you die a very slow and painful death. If she
does
anything to you, well, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Warning heeded, Ron. Next time, please don’t
drag me
like that, and remember what I said about Hermione; you do anything to
harm
her, and I will deal with you if she hasn’t killed you first.”
Ron breathed an enormous sigh of relief. “Good. Besides, O.S. meeting
tonight;
will we be doing Patroni?”
“Yeah, sure. Can you please leave now, Ron?
It’s
uncomfortable trying to kiss with you watching us.”
Ron’s ears went pink, but he grinned and said, “I’m just glad you’re
her
boyfriend, mate.” With that, he strolled back up to his dormitory,
half-dancing.
Ginny was leaning on the couch, anticipating Harry’s return. ‘She
actually
looks quite beautiful in that posture...’ he shook that thought from
his head,
got back up, brushed the dust from his robes, kissed Ginny on the lips
one last
time and said, “The other Gryffindors will be coming back soon. Maybe
more later.”
She giggled and said, “Of course, Harry.”
~*~*~*~
Harry put his stuff away and went down to Snape’s
office fifteen
minutes later. After he knocked on the door, Snape’s voice said,
“Enter.”
As Harry entered the room, Snape was putting something away. Snape then
strode
over to sit down behind his desk as Harry took a seat in front of it.
“So
Professor,” he said, “What’s this about concealing poisons?”
Snape gave an evil smile. “This, Potter, is an art form I’m
particularly proud
of.”
Harry shook his head. “There’s the old saying that life imitates art,
whereas
your art form causes death.”
“Indeed. This is a useful skill you might find handy. Slip it into
someone’s
food, into someone’s toiletry kit...”
“Toiletry kit?”
“Not all poisons have to be swallowed and ingested, Potter. Some
just
get absorbed into the skin.”
“Great. Now I’m about to go paranoid.”
“Don’t be so sure, Potter. Those that only have to be absorbed are very
difficult to make, and since the art of poison making isn’t
taught at
Hogwarts to begin with, you don’t have to worry about other students
trying
that on you.”
“Thank you so very much. Now I don’t have to go asking Moody for advice
on what
to do.”
“Glad to help. Wait here.” Snape got up and left. A few moments later,
he
returned with a crate. Inside were what looked like ordinary objects
but
weren’t in reality. Chocolates, candies, shampoos, soap, bottled
water...
“Please tell me this isn’t one of your hobbies.”
“No, but should I ever need to kill someone before they kill me, this
is a
viable option to have.”
“So, why not just sneak into a Death Eater’s bathroom and kitchen and
replace
the normal food with the poisoned food?”
“I’m a spy, not an assassin; besides, there’s the old saying that dead
men
don’t tell any secrets.”
“Oh, right.”
“That’s enough for one day; I’ll see you last period on Wednesday if
you’re
interested in continuing this.”
“Yes sir.”
“And Potter, I hope you will use this training responsibly, given the
dire
circumstances your life is in.”
“Yes, and thank you for your trust in me, Professor Snape. Good-
bye.”
After he left, Snape brooded for a few minutes about the boy. He had
shown
outstanding maturity ever since the end of the previous year. He was
hardly
anything like his rambunctious and arrogant father. Snape was just
thinking
about how Potter could have been like the son he had never had when he
remembered: he already had a son. (3)
~*~*~*~
That night at the O.S. meeting, Harry arrived with
Professor
Flitwick. “Tonight, everybody, we will get working on Patroni.” After
everyone
cheered a little, he continued, “Since the Patronus is summoned by a
charm,
Professor Flitwick is with us tonight. Professor, please enlighten us.”
Flitwick conjured a table and staircase going up to the table, got on
top so he
was above the heads of the other students, and began in his squeaky
voice.
“Since dementors are beings of darkness and despair, Patroni are beings
that
represent hope and happiness. However, they are immune to dementors,
since they
cannot be forced to feel those negative emotions. While focusing very
hard on a
happy memory or any happy thought for that matter, one must say the
incantation, ‘Expecto Patronum.’” A little wisp of smoke
actually came
out of the professor’s wand when he said this. He jumped and said, “Oh
my, I
must have accidentally tried to conjure one. EXPECTO PATRONUM!”
A pigeon came out of his wand and soared around the room. The students
applauded as Flitwick continued, “The Patronus is beyond N.E.W.T.
level, so
don’t be too discouraged if you don’t get it right on the first several
tries.”
“Thank you, Professor. Also, not to advertise for Weasleys’ Wizard
Wheezes or
anything, but I helped them develop ‘Cheering Chocolates.’ Chocolate
helps
relieve the after effects of a dementor’s influence, so by using
Cheering
Charms on the chocolates, the candies should be able to help withstand
a
dementor’s influence for as long as possible. Come to think of it, I
haven’t
tried one myself.”
He took one out, unwrapped it, and felt a surge of happiness, and
yelled, “EXPECTO
PATRONUM!” The stag, this time the size of an elephant, shot out
and
galloped around the room as students hastily got out of the way. After
it
dissolved into mist, Harry added, “By the way, you shouldn’t have to
fall back
on the candies to help you conjure a good Patronus. OK, since Ron,
Hermione,
Neville, Cho, Draco, Blaise and Susan can also conjure Patroni, they
can help
anyone who’s having trouble. We don’t want a whole lot of Patroni
running
around wild, so let’s just do it in groups at a time.”
Harry took in all the different Patroni he was seeing. Colin conjured a
squirrel Patronus, Ginny conjured a jaguar, Luna conjured an owl,
Seamus
conjured a stallion, and several other people were able to get them
right on
their first several tries. Most other people just got silver mist.
“Don’t
worry, people! It is highly advanced.”
Zacharias Smith seemed to be putting in the most effort. “EXPECTO
PATRONUM!”
he roared. Finally, a toad Patronus fell out of the end of his wand,
and jumped
around. A few other people laughed, while Smith looked infuriated.
After he
yelled with anger, he said shouted, “Potter! Why is it a toad?”
Harry frowned; Smith made it sound as though it was his entire fault.
“I don’t
know, Zacharias; Patroni are based on personal symbolism. My Patronus
looks
like a stag because my father was a stag Animagus. Cho’s Patronus looks
like a
swan, because that’s been a motif her artistic ancestors have used for
several
generations. Where do toads fit in with your life?”
“There are a lot of them in the backyard of my house; my point
is, will
this Patronus even do anything?”
“Regardless of its form or size, the Patronus still does its job; Ron’s
Patronus is a rat and Hermione’s is an otter, and even they were able
to stop
the dementors.”
“But shouldn’t Patroni kill the dementors?”
“No; their purpose is to protect their caster, and as long as it can do
that,
your Patronus works.”
“But Dumbledore’s Patronus was able to drive out all those in that
stronghold!”
“As we all know, Smith, Dumbledore is an extremely powerful wizard; my
Patronus
can’t even fry dementors, and yet it works fine.”
Smith snorted; everyone else, who had been watching the back-and- forth
display, looked very disapproving at Smith’s behavior. Whatever
popularity he may have had after the Quidditch match was rapidly
disappearing.
“This Order, Smith, is merely an extension of defense Against
the Dark
Arts. This is to show people how they can defend themselves,
should
Death Eaters, dementors, or any other foul things attack them.”
There was an odd glint in Smith’s eyes now, one that was actually
starting to
worry Harry. What was with this kid?
“Potter,” he spat, “Wizard’s duel, right now. Do you accept?”
Everyone gasped, but Harry merely responded, “Are you sure, Smith? Of
course,
not out of concern of what you might do to me, but out of what I could
do to
you.”
Dead silence now. Harry shrugged. “It’s your funeral. I accept.”
Harry swept onto the dais with Smith behind him, and an apprehensive
Flitwick
behind them. The tiny Charms professor conjured up distance markings
and the
sort for their duel. He added, “Harry Potter versus Zacharias Smith.
Standard
dueling procedures, which also means no Dark magic, especially no
Unforgivable
curses.” After the two students bowed, neither taking their eyes off
each
other, Flitwick said, “Begin.”
Harry shot a couple of Stunners just after Flitwick gave the word to
start. He
certainly didn’t wait to give Smith the chance to cause any damage.
Smith
bounced them back using a Shield Charm, but Harry negated them with
Finite
Incantatem. Deciding to raise the level, Harry used more advanced
skills. "Arieto! Venti
Turbulenti!"
Smith was thrown backwards, and the Bat-Bogey Hex he had just conjured
was
blown right back at him, leaving him covered with the foul creatures.
He then
roared, “ARDEUM!”
A whole wave of fire fried the Bat Bogies, and setting his sights on
Harry, he
roared, “INRETIO!”
A giant net big enough to trap a horse flew at Harry; not knowing which
spells
could stop it, he transformed into a phoenix, sliced through it,
resumed his
human form, and continued the duel. As he raised his wand, Smith was
muttering
a spell so low Harry couldn’t hear it, but it the purple sparks
appearing at the
end of his wand looked familiar to Harry...
“VEXATIO FLUCTUO!” Like what Rabastan Lestrange used in the
Ravenclaw
common room, gigantic blasts of force in waves knocked Smith to his
feet, and
used a Stunner, Full Body Bind, and Net Jinx just to make sure the
angsty
Hufflepuff didn’t try anything else.
Almost everyone in the audience applauded as Flitwick announced, “Duel
over;
Potter wins!”
Harry revived Smith, who looked enraged. Flitwick bounced over, not
looking
very happy with Smith at all. “Mr. Smith, that last spell you were
trying to
use; would that have been the Pulverization Flame Curse by any chance?”
Half the people in the audience gasped when Harry remembered; it was
the one
Dolohov used on Hermione in the Department of Mysteries. Harry looked
truly
furious now. Trying to keep as polite as possible, he said, “Professor
Flitwick
said no Dark magic, remember, Smith?”
Smith glowered. “You stupid, self-righteous, glory-seeking-”
That was the final straw for Harry. He grabbed Smith by the collar and
lifted
the boy off his feet (Smith wasn’t as big as him). The audience gasped
even
more as Harry looked about ready to tear the boy apart. “How dare
you!?” he
yelled in Smith’s face. “Of all the idiotic things you’ve ever said or
done, Smith, that was by far the worst-”
“Potter! Smith!” a voice rang out from the entrance. Dumbledore was
standing at
the entrance, a frown on his face and his eyes cold. Snape was also
next to
him; what was he doing there? Walking up to the boys, both of them
staring at
him, the Headmaster asked, “What is the meaning of this?”
Harry told Dumbledore what had transpired, and Flitwick backed him up.
Dumbledore looked at Smith very angrily, heat almost burning off of
him. Harry
had already let go of Smith, and resisted the urge to run from the room
before
something exploded. Flitwick had already squeaked, and was actually
hiding
behind Harry. Snape looked apprehensive, as though he wanted to run.
The rest
of the students held their breath.
As Dumbledore reached for his wand, Harry felt a sudden impulse to stop
the
Headmaster before he did something he might regret. Thinking quickly,
the boy
transformed into a phoenix, fluttered onto the Professor’s shoulder,
and
whistled a soothing melody to calm him down. Dumbledore looked as if
he’d
snapped out of a trance, and stroked Harry’s feathers and smiled
slightly.
“Very nice, Mr. Potter.” Turning back to
Smith, he
said, “Detention for a week for attempting Dark magic. Oh, and since it
seems
that you’ve been attending last year’s D.A. meetings and this year’s
O.S.
meetings merely to learn combat for the sake of fighting...” he
Summoned the
Hufflepuff’s O.S. medallion, and wish a flick of his wand, made it
crumble into
dust. He also took out the list and magically deleted Smith’s name from
it.
“NO!” Smith yelled, not wanting this to happen, but the next moment, he
had a
blank expression on his face and his head tilted a little, giving the
impression he was hit over the head with something heavy. As the crowd
muttered, and Harry left Dumbledore’s shoulder and returned to his
normal form,
Dumbledore said, “Mr. Smith, please wait in my office, so we can
discuss your
detention for attempting Dark magic.”
“Yes, Professor Dumbledore,” he mumbled dazedly as though he had been
Obliviated (and Harry suspected that this was something like a Memory
Charm),
picked up his wand, and wandered out the door. After he left, Harry
asked, “So
this is the last we’ll have to put up with him?”
“I hope so, Harry.” Turning to the rest of the crowd, he said, “A
safeguard was
already put in place when this contract was made, so if anyone
discusses Mr.
Smith’s actions, they will also fall to the contract’s binding magic.
Also, for
all those who are wondering, he will remember using Dark Magic, but he
will have
lost all knowledge of the Order of the Stag.”
“Also,” Harry spoke up, “It’s almost nine o’ clock anyway, so keep
practicing
your Patronus Charms for next week.” With that, he strode out, with a
very
angry look on his face.
~*~*~*~
Later, as he was reading a book on Healing Arts in
the
common room, a barn owl he didn’t recognize flew in. Harry thanked the
owl and
read the message it delivered. It was from Susan Bones, on behalf of
all the
Hufflepuffs, apologizing for Smith’s behavior; Harry wrote a simple
reply,
telling them it was Smith’s fault, not theirs, and not to worry about
it. As he
sent the reply back with the owl, he went back to reading when Ginny
plopped
down on the seat next to him.
“Oh, Harry,” she said in a singsong voice, “the Saturday after this one
is a
Hogsmeade weekend in time for Valentine’s Day.”
Cottoning on, Harry took her by the hand and said, “May I please escort
you on
a date that weekend?”
Ginny giggled. “Of course!”
Harry smiled. “Great. See you then.”
~*~*~*~
The next morning in Transfiguration, McGonagall
said to the
class, “During last week’s class on Animagi, due to unforeseen
results-” and
here everyone glanced at Harry, much to his disdain “-I have decided to
take
our lesson a step further.” She walked over to her desk and took out a
box. She
opened it to reveal a portrait-sized mirror with a crystallized frame.
“While
the Animagus Testing potion is to let the user experience their
possible forms
for a limited amount of time, this is a special mirror that shows the
viewer
what they would be like as the animal they would turn into. It shows
the
reflection until they look away, it can only be operated by an
Animagus, and no
one else will be able to see its reflection. I will hold and operate it
while
you view your forms, one at a time. Mr. Potter, would you please come
up so we
can see what other forms you can take on?”
Harry nodded, got up, and went to the front of class, before the
mirror. After
McGonagall tapped the back of it twice with her wand, he saw his
reflection.
“Lion,” he said.
The professor repeated the process. “
After several more times, the mirror just kept alternating back and
forth
between those two separate forms. “Thank you, Mr. Potter,
you may sit down, now.”
One by one, the others also tried out the mirror. His attention perked
at Smith
seeing himself as a rat (which was the right thing, in Harry’s
opinion). After
McGonagall finished with Blaise (who said he made for a cool Great
White
Shark), she put the mirror away and said, “Evidently, Mr. Potter is the
only
one in this entire class with the potential to be a Polyanimagus. They
are very
rare, about one in fifty thousand. Furthermore, there hasn’t been a
Polyanimagus in two hundred years, and there hasn’t been a phoenix
Animagus in
nearly eight hundred years.”
Harry raised his hand. “Yes, Mr. Potter?”
“Has there ever been anyone who could transform into almost any
creature at
will, magical or non-magical?”
“Yes. More than three hundred years ago, there was a witch who called
herself
an Omnianimagus, with the root ‘omni’ meaning ‘all;’ she was able to
transform
into almost any conceivable creature. I believe she was also an
ancestor of
Newt Scamander, the author of the book, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them.’”
For the rest of the period, they took notes on all these different
facts and
figures about Animagi. As they all left, Harry saw Draco walk out the
hall and
into a corner, looking wary and nervous. Walking up to the Slytherin,
Harry said,
“Draco! What’s wrong?”
Draco looked up at him, worried. “You know how I said I only saw myself
as a
viper?” Harry nodded. “Well, it wasn’t the only kind I saw. I also saw
myself
as- as-”
“A Blast-Ended Skrewt?”
Draco sneered. “No, much worse. A
basilisk.”
Harry almost jumped a foot in the air. Draco nodded, saying, “Scary, isn’t it? Thankfully, I couldn’t petrify
myself or
anything, and unlike most other serpents, basilisks have eyelids, and
they’re
immune to the stares of other basilisks. I had a silver tongue, a blond
plume,
and bulbous cold gray eyes.” He shuddered.
“Why didn’t you tell McGonagall?”
“And what would she say? How would everyone else
have
reacted?”
“Okay, I see your point.”
“If the Dark Lord finds out-” the blond boy gave an involuntary
shudder. “He’s
a manipulative monster, you know. Using his connections, he’ll find a
way to
get me and use me, I know it.” Harry looked at this boy, his complexion
now a
deathly white. This was not the Draco Malfoy he had known for
years as a
haughty, spoiled, fearless brat; he was a scared teenager who had no
idea what
to do.
“Do you want to see Professor Snape? He might be able to help you.”
Draco
ignored Harry, still looking straight in front of him, almost petrified
with
fear. Deciding to help, Harry became a phoenix and sang happily, which
seemed
to calm the other boy down.
Draco relaxed and stroked Harry’s feathers. “Good bird,” he whispered.
“You’re
right, let’s go see my godfather.”
Harry nodded, gave an affirmative whistle, and clutched Draco’s
shoulders while
concentrating on where Snape would be most likely to be at the moment.
He
thought firmly, ‘Snape’s office, Snape’s office...’
~*~*~*~
A few moments later, two sounds came from the
Potions
Master’s office that normally didn’t: Snape yelling in shock and
phoenix song.
“POTTER! What are you doing with Mr. Malfoy?”
Harry flew over to a chair, grabbed it, placed it in front of Draco,
and
transformed back. “There’s something he should tell you, sir,” the
Gryffindor
said respectively.
Taking a deep breath, Draco said, “Earlier in Transfiguration, I used
that
special Animagus Mirror that Professor McGonagall has, and apart from a
viper,
I saw myself as a- a-”
“Just say it, Draco,” Snape said in a neutral tone.
“A basilisk, sir.”
As Snape wore a genuine expression of shock, Harry added, “If Riddle
finds out,
well...”
Snape regained control of himself and said,
“Thank you
for bringing this to my attention, Draco.” He turned to Harry and said,
“Potter, next time, please don’t burst into my office like that.”
“Sorry,” he said sincerely, and transformed into a phoenix again, and
started
singing again in order to stop Draco’s renewed shaking. Snape sneered,
saying,
“I never envisioned you as a songbird, Potter.”
Harry sang a defensive note and vanished in a burst of flames. Snape
shook his
head, laughing softly, while Draco got up to leave. He couldn’t believe
his
godfather would laugh like that over Harry Potter, of all people.
~*~*~*~
Harry decided not to travel straight to the
library, as to
annoy Madam Pince, but to reappear down the hall from the library
entrance. No
sooner had he reappeared than he had spotted Peeves, who was attempting
to
knock over a line of suits of armor like a row of dominoes. He turned
around,
spotted Harry, and broke out singing, “Oh its Harry Potter, the big red
birdie,
but even if he’s hotter, he’s still a giant turkey...”
The phoenix immediately sprang at the poltergeist, nailing him in a
series of
pecks and scratches. Peeves tried to shoo him away, but quickly gave up
and
swooped away cursing, much to the amusement of everyone else. He
promptly
transformed back, bowed to everyone for the performance, and walked to
the
library.
Harry spent the rest of the morning doing Ancient Runes with Fleur, who
was
delighted by his progress. As the bell rang, he parted with Fleur, who
walked
out of the castle to Apparate to wherever she was going.
~*~*~*~
Later that night before dinner, an eagle owl Harry
didn’t
recognize flew into the Gryffindor common room with a message for him.
It was
from Snape.
Potter,
Meet me at the door to my office after dinner; there are some things I
would
like to discuss with you.
Send your reply back with Aurigo, confirming that you got this message.
Professor Snape
Baffled, Harry scribbled a reply onto the back: “Message received; see
you
then, sir. –H.P.” Aurigo took it back,
hooted, and
flew back into the early night. (4)
After dinner, Harry had just walked up to Snape’s office door when it
suddenly
flung open. “Come inside, Mr. Potter,” he said, and Harry followed him
inside.
As they took their seats, Harry asked, “What’s all this about?”
“I was getting to that,” Snape said as patiently as he could. “Tell me,
Potter,
what made you write to me over the summer?”
Harry was taken aback by how Snape could bring up something nearly a
year
later, and said, “I dunno, sir, I guess it was bothering me, I didn’t
want it
to, and because if I had to endure another year or two of you judging
me based
on my father instead of me, I probably would have done something I
would have
regretted.”
“Any other reasons?”
The boy thought carefully, and finally said,
“Because it was
the right thing to do?”
“Precisely. Your father would have never done that of his own
free
will.”
“Sir, why are you bringing this up?”
“Because I want to put this behind me once and for all.”
‘Don’t push yourself too far,
Snape,’ Harry
thought to himself.
Snape continued, “There is no need to glorify me and vilify your
father
based on a single incident where he was the guilty party. During the
years both
of us were students, both of us had our share of things we shouldn’t
have done.
In the end, all of us were wrong in what we did. Believe me when I say
it,
Potter, I’ve done terrible acts, both as a student and afterwards,
which cannot
be seen in a positive light, no matter how you cut it.
“I’ve also come to accept that as flawed as your father had been one
way or
another, he was still respectable, when he was mature enough. He was
highly
skilled at most subjects, including Transfiguration and flying. He was
also
brave and defended his family, mainly you, to the very end.”
Harry was shocked by what he considered the most praise the Potions
Master had ever
given to his father. “May I ask something, sir?”
“Go on.”
“Were you, well, jealous of him at all?”
Snape paused, then went on, “I suppose in some form or another, I had
wanted
what had come easily to him. He didn’t seem to realize how good he had
it. He
was popular, brilliant, admired... I was on the other end of the social
spectrum. A lot of this was during the Dark Lord’s First War, so a lot
of
Slytherins were downtrodden and shunned, while Gryffindors were
glorified.
Believe it or not, most of your family for centuries has served the
side of
Light. Your father let most of that go to his head. Even today, from
the years
in between the wars to the Second War itself, I have tried to protect
my
Slytherins from this sort of insane prejudice that haunts them.
Hogwarts is so
renowned, that even as adults, English witches and wizards are labeled
by which
House they were in. They way you have renounced Slytherin over the past
five
years... it bought back unpleasant memories.”
“No offense, sir, but you basically let your experiences affect your
judgment?”
Snape lowered his head. “You could say that. Other instances, such as
how you
constantly fought with Mr. Malfoy, a young Slytherin from a
dysfunctional
family... much like your father arguing with me... it was like watching
history
repeat itself more and more.”
“I can sort of see where you’re coming from. Some of the first people I
met,
like Hagrid and Ron, were both opposed to Slytherin, and they seemed so
honest,
that, well... I took their opinion for fact.”
“We’re all prejudiced, one way or another, Potter, in varying degrees,
whether
we realize it or not. We should both accept the fact that we assumed
the worst
of each other, and move on.”
“The point of this whole conversation was to convince me to idolize my
dad
again so I would stop looking up to you?”
“Not exactly. While I am impressed with your
decision
to come to me for help, you should realize that overall,
your father was in several ways, a lot better than mine. You saw that
memory of
mine back in the Room of Requirement, and it certainly wasn’t an
isolated incident,
either.”
“In a way, sir, history hasn’t repeated itself... at least not that
much. The
rivalry between me and Draco never really reached the tension of you
and the
Marauders. And from what I heard, I thought the whole basis of your
rivalry was
the werewolf incident.”
“At least the rivalry between you and Draco never reached that point,
you are
right about that. And even if the incident with Lupin was in isolated
one, it
still counts as one of the worst days of my life. Your godfather tries
to get me
killed, Lupin nearly tears me apart, and your father saves me, thus
creating
that bond. It was salt in the wound when Professor Dumbledore gave two
weeks
detention and 50 points from Gryffindor.”
“There’s something else I was wondering about: This year, you were more
lax and
more likely to give points to Gryffindor because you found out I was
nearly a
Slytherin?”
“Something like that. I’ll admit the
basilisk teeth,
the knowledge of the Room of Requirement, and the directions for the
Command of
Osiris were definitely worth it. The reason I set the bar so high for
people to
enter my N.E.W.T. classes are to weed out the capable students from the
disasters waiting to happen, so I’m more likely to give out points to
people in
those classes, regardless of their House.”
“Ah, I see. Anything else you want to talk to me about?”
“No, that’s about it. Good night, Potter.”
“See you next Monday, Professor.”
~*~*~*~
That Friday, at the end of DADA, Professor la
Fontaine was
just packing up when Professor Lupin came in. Everyone cheered and
congratulated him on his recovery. He saw the substitute teacher and
said,
“Professor Felicity Rose Umbridge, I presume?”
“That would be me, althugh I'm known better and more often as Professor
la
Fontaine. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Professor Lupin; the
students
talk very highly about you.”
The bell rang and everybody left, while Harry decided to listen from
outside.
Outside in the hallway, he accidentally on purpose dumped out all of
the
contents back, and he slowly put them back in while listening to their
conversation.
“So, Felicity, what do you do at this magic school in
“Defense Against the Dark Arts. Also,
my husband and I run a non- profit organization to help find a cure for
lycanthropy. Here, take this card.”
“This is your married name? ‘Felicity la
Fontaine’?”
“Yes, it is. I won’t leave until later tonight, because I heard
rumors
of a special dinner for tonight before I go; I want to see whether
they’re true
or not.”
Lupin suddenly lowered his voice, and Harry had to lean a little closer
in
order to listen.
“So, you found out which students may be Voldemort-sympathizers?”
“Yes; I purposely didn’t write it down, so I’ll tell you right now.”
Before anything else could be said, however, a sudden explosion came
from
inside the room, which made the whole floor shake. The door was blown
off its
hinges, propelled outwards by a stream of dust, smoke, and some rubble.
Looking
closer, Harry could see that among the debris was-
“LUPIN!” Harry quickly dashed over and cleared the rubble off of him,
also
healing some of the smaller wounds with what he already knew of the
Healing
Arts. Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, and some other teachers came rushing
up to
him.
“There was an explosion inside the room. Lupin was in there, and so was
Umbridge- oh shoot, hang on-” while the
school nurse
quickly bundled up Lupin and had carted him off to the Hospital Wing by
a few
house elves, Harry dashed back inside to find a horrific sight.
Professor la Fontaine was lying face down,
blood all
over her face, a couple of tears in her robes, and one of her legs
twisted at a
funny angle. Madam Pomfrey rushed in and gasped, and quickly conjured a
stretcher for her. Ignoring the commotion outside, Harry turned to see
something on the back wall which sent shivers down his spine.
It was what looked like graffiti in sparkling neon green. The Dark Mark
was
alongside this message: “This will not be the last time. My servants
are
prepared to strike again. –V.”
Dumbledore saw it too, and put his hand on Harry’s shoulder in a
reassuring way
as Professor Flitwick took a picture of it with his enchanted camera
for
evidence. “The Aurors should be on their way, Harry,” the Headmaster
said. “So,
what was going on? What did you hear?”
“Well, I was outside cleaning up my things after my book bag opened up
on me,
she was about to tell Professor Lupin about any Voldemort- sympathizers
among
the student body, and the explosion happened. You do believe me, don’t
you?” he
added urgently.
“Of course I do; I’m glad you’re a witness, so you can help us with
this.” Just
then, a few Aurors, including Tonks and Kingsley, rushed in and did
scanning
spells all over the room while Harry told them what happened from his
perspective.
Thinking fast, Harry went over the window and used a couple himself.
The magical trail led into the air several feet away from the window,
but
stopped there. “Whoever did this must have done this from the air and
have
taken off fast,” he said.
“Nice work, Harry, but that’s our job,” Tonks commented.
“Sorry, just trying to help. Besides, do they feed you less if someone
else
helps out with the work?”
“Very funny,” Tonks said.
“Anyway, I’m going to get my stuff and maybe see how they’re doing in
the
Hospital Wing.” As he went outside and picked up his stuff (all the
students
had gone to their next classes by now), another Auror came up to him,
one he
recognized as a man named Dawlish. “Please come with me, Mr. Potter, I
found
something I was hoping you could help me identify.”
Confused, Harry followed him to an empty classroom down the hall. As
soon as
they were inside, Dawlish slammed the door shut and aimed his wand at
the boy.
“Hand over your wand, slowly, and maybe I will spare you.”
Harry pretended to play the hostage, but using his knowledge from his
Auror
books, he could see symptoms that this man was under the Imperius
Curse. As
Harry handed over his normal wand, he suddenly flicked his left wrist,
and his
second wand came out from the arm holster. “Expelliarmus!”
Harry’s normal wand flew back into his right hand, and enraged, Dawlish
started
to yell, “CRU-”
“STUPEFY!” Pointing both wands straight at the possessed Auror,
side by
side, twin red Stunners caught Dawlish in the chest, sending him flying
back
against the door, tumbling out of the room. After putting the second
wand away,
Harry said, “Mobilicorpus,” and levitated the body back to the
room
where Dumbledore was talking with Tonks and Kinglsey.
“He was under the Imperius Curse, and he tried to use the Cruciatus
Curse on
me,” he calmly explained, dumping the body in front of them. “Anyway,
I’ve done
all I can to help, and I have work to catch up on.”
~*~*~*~
Later at lunch, people pointed at Harry and
whispered as he
entered the hall with his friends (whom he already explained the
situation to).
As he sat down, Dumbledore rose from his own seat and said, “By now,
all of you
have heard of today’s attack on Professors Lupin and la Fontaine. Both
of them
are alive, and both of them will recover in a couple of days. It seems
someone
threw a bomb into the room from outside the castle.
“I will let you know right now that none of us will stand for this
cowardly act
of terror. If anyone has any information that can help us catch the
culprits, I
beg them to come forward or to send me messages by owl. I can assure
you that
all information will be kept confidential, and privacy will be
protected. The
culprits, when apprehended, will be expelled from Hogwarts.
“As long as we are united, we will be able to stand strong. Voldemort
is a
master at dividing people and setting them against each other. He
twists human
emotions, like greed, hate, and above all, fear.
We
are at war with him, and one of the basic principles of war is to try
to
deprive your enemy of as many resources and tools as possible. To let yourselves succumb to fear would be like helping
him.
Therefore, I ask you to stand strong, and not let yourselves be divided
by old
prejudices and assumptions.”
Just as Dumbledore finished his speech, Filch stormed into the hall
with Mrs.
Norris right at his heels. “Is something wrong, Argus?” the Headmaster
asked
his caretaker sympathetically.
Filch looked furious. “Wrong? Wrong!? Only the fact that the
classroom
looks like a bomb hit it!”
“A bomb did go off, Argus, that’s the whole point,” Dumbledore
said
matter-of-factly, causing some students to snicker. “Anyway, the Aurors
are
done investigating, so now it can be cleaned up; is something else
wrong?”
“Because,” Filch growled, “It’s a whole-BIG-MESS!” Taking a deep
breath, he said,
“Who’s the student who was outside the class room when it happened?”
Harry got up and walked over to Filch saying, “I’m only a witness, Mr.
Filch, I
didn’t cause it.”
Filch’s eyes popped. “YOU!” he screamed, causing some muttering. “You
always
cause trouble! Just like with the writing on the wall and my cat being
petrified-”
“Argus-” Dumbledore started.
“Or with the damn golden egg causing all that screaming in the middle
of the
night-”
“Argus-”
“Or tearing apart that Death Eater in the Ravenclaw common room-” the
caretaker
went on, lunging for Harry.
“ARGUS!” Dumbledore shouted at what seemed
like the
top of his lungs, causing everyone to jump. “Mr. Potter was not
responsible for
today’s events, or any of those, for that matter. The Heir of Slytherin
wrote
those messages on the wall during the year with the Chamber of Secrets, Peeves stole the egg that night during
the
Tournament, and Mr. Potter only did that to Rabastan Lestrange because
the
Death Eater was about to assault, even kill, a fellow student. Please,
calm
down and stop trying to scapegoat innocent students.” That was not a
suggestion.
Filch looked at Dumbledore as though the latter was crazy, and finally
said,
“Fine! I QUIT!” There was utter silence following this as Mrs. Norris
hissed at
Harry; he transformed into a lion and gave a deafening roar right in
the cat’s
face, causing it to run out of the hall, much to the amusement of
everyone
else. Filch stormed back out, gave one last angry look at Harry, and
slammed
the door as everyone cheered.
“Silence, please,” the Headmaster said, and everyone fell silent. “I
know of
another person who can replace Mr. Filch, and he or she may be here by
tomorrow
afternoon. In the meantime, I ask all of you not to defile the castle,
because
I’ll be making you clean it if you do.” Everyone else nodded in
agreement with
the Headmaster’s decree. Harry, beside himself with rage at being
accused like
that, simply left to get something from the kitchens.
~*~*~*~
Harry got some mixed feedback the rest of the day;
most of
the school praised him for inadvertently getting rid of Filch, while a
few
suspected him of being responsible for the disaster. His friends
quickly came
to his defense as people muttered darkly at him, and Ron and Ginny in
particular even went as far as threatening people with detention if
they didn’t
stop. Since the school had witnessed Ginny’s wrath a month before, no
one dared
argue with her. Seeing their prefects duties used in such a way, Luna
suggested
making such students write lines in detention, “I must not be as stupid
as a
dumslushtard.” No one bothered to ask her what it was.
Harry visited both professors later that night; both of them were
recuperating
quickly, and both of them would be ready to get back to work on Monday.
Neither
of them blamed him in the slightest.
By the end of the day, a few people had withdrawn from the O.S.,
including
Michael Corner, saying that, “It’s dangerous to be around Harry, and
we’ll
study defense on our own, thank you very much.” Harry was sad to see
them go,
but there was really nothing he could do about it.
That night, Harry was reading in the common room, disgusted by what
some
people, even other Gryffindors, were saying about him. Ginny sat down
next to
him, and said, “Ignore them, Harry, they’re being morons.”
“That doesn’t make it right!” he snapped. He sighed and said, “I’m
sorry, Gin.
You’re trying to help, which I appreciate very much.” He reached out to
hug
her, which she gladly returned, and he even
rested his
head against hers.
“So, Valentine’s DAY-te still on?” he whispered.
“You bet,” she whispered back.
~*~*~*~
The new caretaker came in on Saturday afternoon, just in time for lunch: Mrs. Figg. Harry, who was outside the hall, walked up and greeted her. Looking down, he saw all ten of her current cats, crowded around him and looking up expectantly, as though greeting an old friend. As she walked into the hall, the cats trailed behind her, and he heard almost every student moaning; apparently, one cat had been bad enough, so having ten cats was considered unthinkable.
~*~*~*~
The rest of the week passed with Harry working his
hardest,
studying every subject and practicing all his different skills, even
when he
wasn’t in his normal classes. He tried all different sorts of
combinations in
Transfiguration, with what objects became, like from fruit to
furniture, from
books to animals, that sort of thing. He tried at least five new charms
a day.
He also progressed at stopping Dark Arts, although he still hadn’t
touched the
Dark Arts encyclopedia yet. He was even up to doing Potions that most
Healers
couldn’t even do.
Professor la Fontaine had left on Monday, and most of the students gave
happy
good-byes, and she had even received nearly a mountain of candy as
combined get
well soon and farewell gifts. Harry shook her hand, and she said, “It
was a
pleasure teaching you.”
“It was a pleasure learning from you,” he
responded,
and she laughed. Just then, Peeves swooped overhead with a normal
broom, intent
on running her out the same way her sister had; thinking fast, Harry
became a
phoenix again and pecked mercilessly at Peeves, who quickly fled.
~*~*~*~
Soon enough, it was Saturday, and there was a
Hogsmeade trip
for Valentine’s Day. During breakfast that morning, Harry sought refuge
in his
trunk, where the dozens of owls carrying cards and letters from girls
couldn’t
reach him, so he ate breakfast in there. As the students went down the
drive,
they passed by Fluffy, who was tethered by Hagrid. Upon seeing Harry,
Ron, and
Hermione, it gave three appreciative whimpers, letting them pass.
As Hermione dragged Ron over to Madam Puddifoots (Harry laughed at the
irony,
given Cho had done that to him last year), he and Ginny went into
Honeydukes to
buy something for each other. Harry was browsing the shelves when he
heard two
voices from a corner.
“But Michael, I don’t see what’s wrong-”
“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Cho: Potter attracts trouble, and you get
hurt
just for being near him. What about in the common room last November?”
(Ever
since it was revealed that Harry was a lion Animagus, it was explained
that he
had used his abilities to kill Lestrange.)
“He wasn’t in the common room when it happened, and even if I
didn’t
know Harry, the Death Eater still would have come after me anyway-”
“Why did you keep dating him for so long anyway?”
“Because, well, his godfather died, I was trying to help him through,
since I
had to deal with Cedric’s death... I guess both of us had let our
fantasies
take control of us, because we both wanted to be with each other
romantically,
even when we shouldn’t have been.” Harry gritted his teeth; Cho had
never said
that to him either!
“In other words, one thing led to another.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“Over him now?”
“Definitely.”
“So you won’t go wherever you go once a week anymore?” (Since
Michael
had withdrawn, he didn’t know about the O.S. anymore.)
“No!”
“And thus, we’re back to where we started again.”
“Because he’s showing us how to defend ourselves! I’ll be with Harry,
Professor
Lupin, who’s one of the best DADA teachers we’ve ever had, and several
other
students who know what to do; nothing will go wrong.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
As Harry walked from one aisle to another, he saw the two of them
embrace and
kiss, with Michael’s back to him. Cho happened to open her eyes, which
opened
ever wide when she saw him, and jumped back. “Harry! What are you doing
here?”
she squeaked.
He shrugged innocently as Michael spun around, angry. “Shopping.
Er, no offense, Cho, but I happened to hear a couple of things, which
sound as
though you should have told me.”
Michael looked ready to hex him. “None of your business, Potter!” he
angrily
spat.
“Calm down, Corner,” he lazily replied, “I’m allowed to shop here.”
Cho stepped in between the two of them. “Harry,” she said, “I guess I
forgot to
tell you those things, I’m sorry. It’s not as though I ran for Michael
the
moment I left you.”
Using his Legilimency, he could see that she was telling the truth.
“It’s OK,
Cho; it happens, I suppose, and don’t worry, I believe you. I’m sorry I
scared
you like that. Er, anything else I should know now?”
Cho sighed. “No, at least not now, anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Because if I told you everything now, there would be nothing
left for
you to find out,” she said with a flare of wisdom.
“Uh, right. Anyway, have a nice day, you
two.” With
that, he spun around and left the pair of Ravenclaws where they were
standing.
~*~*~*~
In the end, Harry decided to get a box of assorted
chocolates for Ginny. The redhead was already waiting at the counter,
with a
box of Chocolate Frogs for him. “Great minds think alike,” she said as
she
grinned.
“Yes, I guess they do.”
“So, where to now?” she asked as they paid for their candy and left.
“Three Broomsticks?”
“Perfect.”
As they entered the bar, everyone saw him with Ginny and immediately
started
muttering. One student even got up and yelled at his friend, “Ha! You
bet me
fifty Galleons he would pair up with Luna Lovegood. C’mon, fork it
over!”
Harry walked up to him and asked, “You were betting on me?” The student
gulped,
since Harry asked in a tone that said, “I
dare you to say no.”
“Well, so were a whole lot of other people,” he squeaked defensively.
Harry shook his head. “The things people will do these days,” he
sighed. He
walked over to table after giving Ginny some money to buy two
butterbeers.
Neville then walked up to his table. “Hey Neville; what’s wrong?”
The other Gryffindor sighed. “Things didn’t work out between Susan and
me. She
was mainly asking me for advice on gardening.”
“It was nothing I said or did, was it?”
“No, no, of course not.” Neville sighed.
“It’s
Valentine’s Day, and-”
“I’m right behind you,” a dreamy voice said from behind. It was Luna,
smiling
cheerfully (which actually looked a little eerie). Neville gulped and
blushed.
She smiled; “So, care to get something to drink, Neville?”
“Um, sure, of course.” Laughing, she grabbed
his hand
and dragged him to the bar, walking right past Ginny, who was returning
with
the butterbeers.
“Neville and Luna together?” she asked, grinning.
“Looks like it,” he said, accepting a butterbeer from her. “So,
how will your mother react to the good news of our ‘relationship’?”
“She’ll be ecstatic, I’m sure,” Ginny laughed. “She has this
habit, she
tends to play matchmaker, where she has some grand plan about getting
all of us
Weasley kids married off. So far, she’s planned for Bill to marry
Fleur, Ron to
marry Hermione, me to marry you,” Ginny broke off giggling here before
continuing, “and a whole bunch of other ideas, like when the first
grandchildren from the couples will arrive.”
“How thoughtful of her,” Harry said, nearly choking on his drink.
“Of course, that’s a little too imaginative. She also seemed to get the
notion
of us when I was a little girl, constantly begging for bedtime stories
about
you.”
Harry frowned. “Er, how out of character did such stories get?”
“Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
“You’re probably right, I don’t.”
“I was very imaginative, though. I had actually taken into account how
both of
your parents had died, no offense, so I often dreamt up stories about
you
coming to the Burrow and us doing stuff.”
Harry felt shocked. “Well, you were right there,” he said at last.
Her smile faded a little. “I also thought up one thing about you
getting rid of
a giant snake...”
“Sounds like the basilisk.” Noticing the look on her face, Harry asked,
“Er,
Gin, what happened with the diary that year... does it still bother you
from
time to time?”
“Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, I still have dreams, sorry, I meant
nightmares
about it. Nightmares where I see people dead
because of me,
including my own family.” She shuddered a little. “I could feel
the
hatred and lack of love Riddle felt, and how he almost cultivated fear
so he
could feed off of it. It’s like the cold a dementor makes a person
feel. It was
only the love I felt for my friends and family that stopped him from
getting
any farther.”
Some things were clicking in Harry’s mind now.
‘Power the Dark Lord knows not...’
‘It was love that saved you...’
Cho had mentioned being able to sympathize with him on some things, but
Ginny
more than her; was this what Cho meant?
Harry took her hands in his, and ignoring the impulse to kiss her, he
said
quietly, “Ginny, I know what you’re talking about; I’ve experienced
those, one
way or another. We need to stick together, Ginny; please don’t leave
me. You
can help me, and vice versa. You were only a first year, and you were
able to
resist him, at least somewhat. You trust me, right?”
She blushed at the physical contact, but nodded. “Good.” He finished
the last
of his butterbeer and said, “Care to go for a walk?”
After Ginny finished her own, she said, “Of course.” Taking him by the
arm,
they left.
Taking her by the hand, Harry quickly went around the back of the
building and
said, “There was no way I was going to kiss you in front of all those
other
people.” Trapping her in a hug, he kissed her on the lips; surprised,
she
struggled for a moment, but quickly gave in, pressing her hands against
his
chest. She giggled as he ran his hands through her hair, and sighed as
he
kissed her neck. As he separated to take in some more air, she smiled
deviously
and practically pounced on him, sending him back against the building
as she
caressed him. After a couple of moments, she put her head on his
shoulder,
smiling.
“I love you, Ginny,” he said, smelling the apple shampoo she used in
her hair.
“Likewise, Harry. You know, you taste like butterbeer, right?”
They both laughed. As he made to walk back around to the front of the
building,
he tripped over a root of a nearby tree and went straight to the
ground, and
everything went black.
~*~*~*~
A moment later, he was
riding on the back of an owl, which was flying to a manor, which seemed
to be
built of green and silver. There was a name in wrought iron on the
gates:
MALFOY.
The owl entered a room, and Harry left the back of it. Now in a corner,
he was
watching two people sitting at a table while drinking tea: Draco and
his
mother.
“Kreacher serves tea,” said a voice from behind the table.
“Good. Now leave us, Kreacher,” Mrs. Malfoy commanded imperiously. The
old elf
scuttled out of the room.
“So, what is it, Mother?” Draco asked.
“It is becoming unsafe for you to keep going to Hogwarts. The other
Slytherins
are becoming suspicious. Excuse me one moment.” She took a tissue and
sneezed.
“Allergies,” she muttered.
“So, what should I do?” he asked as his mother took a sip.
“Transfer to another school, perhaps. I have connections from distant
relatives
in
“That sounds OK, I suppose.” He lifted the cup to his mouth, but took a
sniff,
cast a spell on the tea; it turned green. His mother paid no attention,
and as
she drank more, Draco cried, “Mother, NO!”
She suddenly spluttered, dropped the teacup, and fell to the ground,
writhing,
screaming and convulsing. A man entered the room as Draco watched in
fear. It
was Lucius Malfoy.
“So you and your mother are both against me? I should have known this
all time.
If you care for her so much, then you should be able to save her.” He
tossed a
packet of what looked like Floo powder at his horrified son. “There’s
enough in
there for one firecall. Use it wisely.” As he strode out, the vision
faded, and
Harry felt himself being shaken.
~*~*~*~
“Harry? Harry! HARRY!”
Ginny was shaking him. Harry got up, muttering, “Draco... saw with his
mother... she got poisoned...”
“Harry, what are you saying?”
Before he could say anything else, a sudden explosion rocked the
ground, and
looking up, Harry saw a few dozen airborne black figures; some
dementors, other
threstrals with Death Eaters riding on them.
“Oh damn,” he said. “Ginny, use the Sonorus Charm to call for help; see
if
anybody can help us. I’ll try to stop them.”
Harry got out his wand and shot several spells at them while running in
order
to distract them while Ginny’s voice boomed: “ATTENTION, RESIDENTS
OF
HOGSMEADE AND STUDENTS FROM HOGWARTS: DEMENTORS AND DEATH EATERS ARE
ATTACKING!
PLEASE RUN TO HOGWARTS OR HIDE FOR SAFETY!”
‘She’s good,’ Harry thought as people burst from buildings and ran
towards
the castle as fast as they could while he shot Patroni and restraining
spells
at the attackers. He even tried using the Reductor Curse on the
thestrals and
their riders, which actually blew away bits of them, leaving for an
awful mess.
Suddenly, Aurors and people Harry recognized as Order members appeared
all over
the place. “Didn’t think we’d allow this to happen, did you, Potter?”
Moody
asked him, his eye rolling. “We’re using the element of surprise.”
“ARDEAVIS!” Harry called. His phoenix friend
appeared.
“Let’s try to take down as many of them as we can. Try to stop the
dementors
while I go after the riders.”
“Understood,” he said as Harry transformed and flew off
with him.
Their combined phoenix song actually stopped and scared the attackers.
Ardeavis
fire-traveled from enemy to enemy so quickly, stabbing and slicing at
them,
that he gave the illusion of multiple phoenixes. Harry, in the
meantime,
unseated the riders; sometimes he clawed and tore up a Death Eater, and
other
times, he simply picked them up and tossed them over, leaving them to
fall to
their doom.
Suddenly, a dementor blocked his vision, anxious to give him the
dreaded Kiss.
The menace froze as a swan Patronus flew at it, scaring it off. “Hiya,
Harry!”
It was Cho, smiling.
Harry whistled a thank-you when a dementor latched onto him from
behind,
gripping him mercilessly. He just got himself loose when he turned
around and
saw a sharp gold object protruding from the front of its head; Ardeavis
had
stabbed it in the back of the head. Using his claws, the phoenix was
able to
force it off and let it fall to the ground, dead. Harry swooped down
and
transformed back, yelling to the Aurors and other Light wizards, “New
tactic!
Aim any destructive forces you can think of at the dementor’s heads!”
There was a scream behind him; Cho was cornered by a dementor as she
whimpered,
“Cedric... no...”
“Hey, over here, you ugly beast!” Harry
yelled at the
dementor. He aimed a Reductor Curse at the ground, which got its
attention. As
the creature advanced on him, Harry aimed for its face and yelled,
“SPICULAE
ARGENTAE!” The familiar barrage of silver darts nailed it in the
face, and
it fell over, dead.
Both of Moody’s eyes were wide open. “No one’s ever been able to kill a dementor before!”
Harry looked a little askance. “Well, there’s a first time for
everything, I
suppose...”
A burst of green light narrowly missed him, and spinning around, Harry
saw a
Death Eater charging at him. ‘Oh well,’ he thought, ‘Time to get my
hands
dirty, I suppose.’ Aiming straight at the man’s heart, he yelled, “REDUCTO!”
The man’s heart and a few of his bones blew outwards from behind him,
leaving a
hole in his chest at least a foot wide in diameter. Not taking time to
watch
the man’s death throes, he went after other enemies. One by one, other
Death
Eaters and dementors died gruesome deaths as Harry focused on them,
thinking
about nothing but their defeat, while others watched at how furiously
the
famous Harry Potter could fight.
Taking flight as a phoenix, he picked up a boulder the size of a car,
and flew
around while carrying it, like a small airplane with a wrecking ball.
He
smashed up other airborne foes, and was just watching a thestral fall
dizzily
to the ground when he saw ten Death Eaters advancing on a terrified
family,
trapped near a creek. Taking aim, he tossed the boulder, and it rolled
along
the ground, crushing to death the Dark wizards unlucky enough to get in
its
path while rolling right past the trapped innocents.
‘I never thought I’d be so good at bowling,’ he silently mused. ‘Strike!’
Just then, he found himself unable to move. He was frozen in midair as
a
half-dozen Death Eaters had their wands pointed at him, keeping him in
place
with the magic they were using. “You’re not flying anywhere, Potter,”
laughed a
male Death Eater that Harry recognized as Walden Macnair. “The Dark
Lord wants
you alive so he can kill you himself. I suppose you’ll have enough time
to
think up your own dirge for when you die...”
“EXPELLIARMUS!” Macnair was thrown
right off
his thestral as a redheaded boy flew up to him on a broomstick. It was
Ron.
“I took a leaf out of your book and Summoned
my
broomstick,” Ron called while dodging the spells of Harry’s captors. He
flew around, using insane tricks to dodge
attacks while shooting
spells at his enemies. Harry took advantage and lashed at the now
distracted
Death Eaters, pecking and clawing at them. There was one Death Eater
left when
he used a powerful spell to send him flying backwards like a bullet,
like a
supercharged Disarming Spell; the last thing Harry saw before crashing
into a
tree was Ron charging at his attacker while holding a metal rod like a
lance,
knocking the rider straight off.
As Harry tumbled to the forest ground, he returned to his normal form
and was
about to use some healing spells on himself when a voice commanded,
“You move,
and I’ll take your head off. Now turn around, slowly.”
Harry did as he was told, and saw Macnair standing there, a very big
axe in his
hands. “You might have been able to rescue that damned hippogriff from
me, but
it you don’t realize just how important it was to me, Potter. I’m a
predator; I
desire to keep the balance of nature intact. When certain prey eludes
me, I
need to find other prey. Oh, I won’t kill you, my Master wants to do
that;
maybe I’ll just prevent you from being able to escape again...”
Macnair slowly raised his axe as he said this, but before he could
bring it
down, a flash of silver went through the Death Eater’s neck. His eyes
rolled,
and his head fell off his shoulders to the ground as the rest of the
body
slumped to the forest floor. (5)
Standing behind him was a short, balding man with a silver hand.
“You!” Harry yelled.
“Hello, Harry,” Wormtail whimpered. “A wizard’s debt repaid, you know.
There’s
no way I can go back to the Dark Lord now, not just because of what I
did to
Macnair now, but because I also killed all those other Death Eaters you
unseated from their thestrals. At least your parents could now
appreciate from
the great beyond how I’ve helped you. They would also have appreciated
how well
you’ve fought all these months in all these battles.”
“How dare you think that fixes everything!”
Harry
yelled. “Sirius is dead because of you! How dare you speak so highly of
my
parents after you betrayed them!”
Wormtail was about to say something else when a Killing Curse hit the
ground
next to him, missing him by a couple of feet. “You
traitor!”
Rookwood yelled from his thestral.
“Good-bye, Harry,” Wormtail sputtered quickly, before transforming to a
rat and
fleeing.
Looking up, Harry could the remaining Death Eaters and dementors
circling
overhead like vultures, with him as their target. The next moment,
however, a
burst of fire engulfed them, followed by a dragon’s roar. Hagrid and
Norbert
had struck again.
Becaming a phoenix, he took off and dodged the falling, charred remains
of his
enemies, trilled a thank-you to the amazing flying and frying pair, and
went
back to Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~
The Great Hall was filled with people as
Dumbledore worked
with Ministry officials to help heal the wounded and understand what
happened when
Harry appeared in a burst of flames. They all applauded him as a
returning
hero, and Dumbledore used several bangs from his wand to silence them.
“Well,
Harry, it seems you have decimated Voldemort’s forces. Of course, I
would never
allow my students to go into Hogsmeade without guards and such lying in
wait
for any possible attackers, would I?”
“Wormtail- Pettigrew- he was there; for some reason, he kept killing
any Death
Eaters who tried to get away.” There was much muttering about the man
who had faked
his death to escape justice. “But I thought he was a Death Eater; he
even has
the Dark Mark on his arm, and he was an accomplice to the murders of
Bertha
Jorkins, Cedric Diggory and others.”
Just then, there were several meows and hisses from Mrs. Figg’s several
cats,
which were scattered throughout the hall. They were all looking in the
same
direction, to a door that led to the side chamber were first years
waited
before the Sorting at the beginning of each year. Using the telescopic
function
on his glasses (he had to concentrate on how far he wanted to see), he could see a very skinny rat with a silver
paw.
“Well, well, speak of the devil,” he said, returning his glasses
function to
normal setting. “It’s the rat himself.” Taking out his wand, he
shouted, “Accio
Wormtail!”
The rat narrowly escaped it, and was about to get away when a
“Ginny!?” he spluttered. “You’re a tiger Animagus!?”
“Yup,” she grinned. “Anyway, you know that spell to make disguised
Animagi show
themselves?”
Harry wanted to ask when and how she accomplished being a tiger Animagus, except he wanted to deal with Wormtail even more. “Yeah, I know the spell.”
“On three, ready? One, two-”
“THREE!” they shouted together, and using the same spell Sirius and
Lupin had
used in the Shrieking Shack, Wormtail was forced to resume his human
form. The
crowd gasped and muttered even more, and even hissed at the traitor,
whose eyes
were darting from place to place, looking for a weak point from which
he could
escape. Catching onto this, Harry conjured chains and tight ropes,
pinning
Wormtail to the floor, almost unable to move whatsoever.
“So,” Harry said, starting to pace around him a very lion-like way,
“Having
fun, Wormtail? I bet you’ve been laughing your head off with your Dark
friends.
I’m sure you were delighted when you heard of Sirius dying.”
“Harry, please,” Wormtail sobbed, “Do you think I wanted that? Do you
think I
wanted to serve Voldemort and be a Dark wizard?”
Harry snorted. “You could have fooled me.”
“Did it look as though I enjoyed what I was doing that night in the
graveyard
when the Dark Lord returned? I couldn’t even look you in the face
because I
couldn’t stand myself. Even in that weaker form, he still had
unimaginable
powers. I think it’s very unfair to compare me to a cold- blooded
murderer. Do
you think I like what’s happened to me? Every day, I’ve regretted what
I’ve
done, and every day, I’ve tried to think of some way to atone for it.” (6)
Harry stopped and looked him straight in the eye; the crowd went deadly
silent.
Wormtail shuddered; he remembered different times when James and Lily
had lost
their patience and went on terrifying rants. Those vibrant green eyes
made the
traitor think of the Killing Curse, which he vaguely wondered if the
boy would
use on him; he sincerely doubted anyone would try to prevent Harry from
using
it. If the boy even had one half the temper
either of
his parents had...
Using his Legilimency, Harry could see Wormtail was telling the truth;
this man
was quite the opposite from being a heartless monster like Voldemort
and his
cronies. However, that didn’t stop him from berating Wormtail.
Unfortunately
for the traitor, Harry had inherited not only most of his father’s
destructive
temper, but some of his mother’s venomous anger as well.
Grabbing Wormtail by the scruff of his robes, Harry pulled him face to
face.
“DO YOU THINK YOUR SNIVELLING AND WHIMPERING WILL STOP ME FROM GIVING
YOU WHAT
YOU DESERVE!?” he roared, causing Wormtail to flinch; if Harry kept
this up,
Wormtail would undoubtedly lose control of one or more bodily functions
by the
end of it. “YOU PATHETIC, UNGRATEFUL, GROVELLING,
SELFISH,
STUPID, FEEBLE EXCUSE FOR A WIZARD! ALL YOU EVER DO IS GET OTHER
PEOPLE
KILLED! YOU BETRAYED MY PARENTS, FRAMED SIRIUS AND PLAYED A ROLE IN HIS
DEATH,
HELPED MURDER CEDRIC DIGGORY, HELPED VOLDEMORT RETURN TO POWER, AND WAS
AN
ACCOMPLICE TO THE MURDERS OF OTHERS AS WELL, INCLUDING BERTHA JORKINS!
YOU’RE A
GODDAMN MENACE! EVEN WHEN I GAVE YOU THE CHANCE YEARS AGO TO COME
QUIETLY, YOU
HAD TO GET AWAY AGAIN! I OUGHT TO BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF RIGHT NOW, YOU
LITTLE RAT
BASTARD!”
“Please leave my parents out of this,” Wormtail whimpered.
Switching to a more subtle but dangerous voice, Harry said, “I want to
know if
it was worth it. I want to know if it was worth destroying the
friendship
between your friends who helped you out. I want to know if it was worth
playing
a role in all these people’s deaths and misery. I want to know if it
was worth
helping Voldemort return. I want to know if it was worth plunging the
entire
country, as well as what looks like the rest of the world, into this
darkness.
Well, was it worth it?”
Wormtail looked down, evidently ashamed of himself. “No, it wasn’t.”
Some people fought their way through the crowd. Dumbledore was in the
lead,
followed by McGonagall, Snape, Lupin, and other professors, each of
them
wearing various degrees of disgust on their faces. Cho was also with
them, and
she glared at the man responsible, at least in part, for Cedric’s
murder.
Wormtail had the gall to ask, “Erm, a little help, please? Harry kind
of
chained me to the floor...”
“Gee, and why would I do that?” Harry said
sarcastically.
“Professor Dumbledore? McGonagall? Flitwick?”
“I have no sympathy for you, Peter,” Dumbledore said sternly.
“You set yourself up for this,” McGonagall said curtly.
“You expect us to simply help you after what you’ve done? Shame
on you, Peter!” Flitwick squeaked.
“You know,” Snape said, an evil grin forming on his face, “I could just
leave
him in a cage in my dungeons. There’s no way he’d get out.”
Wormtail actually looked incensed. “You want to talk about rats, Snape?
You
can’t be trusted either, Sniv-”
Snape’s eyes started to widen at being called that loathed name when
Harry
punched Wormtail right in the face. A little blood started to come from
his
mouth, but Harry ignored it. Wormtail saw Lupin and said, “Moony...?”
Lupin looked quite feral, much like the night after Umbridge’s trial.
“Don’t ever
call me by that again. You tarnish everything the Marauders once stood
for. I’m
basically the only one left. Wormtail the Marauder died when he joined
Voldemort; the vile creature standing before me is Wormtail the Death
Eater.”
“Please, Remus, I helped earlier today, I killed the Death Eaters that
Harry
didn’t kill at first... James and Sirius wouldn’t overlook that... they
would
understand...”
That was the wrong thing to say. With a scream of anger, Lupin grabbed
Wormtail
around the neck and started choking him. “YOU
STINKING
TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT THEM LIKE
THAT!”
“Remus,” Dumbledore said, putting a hand on Lupin’s shoulder.
Lupin
reluctantly withdrew his hands.
“Thank you,” Wormtail choked. “I can’t give you any helpful information
while
I’m being strangled, can I?”
“Then come with us, Peter,” Dumbledore said, undoing all the restraints
and
pointing his wand at Wormtail. McGonagall, Snape, Lupin, Harry and
Ginny all had
their wands pointed at Wormtail, who was shaking with fear. The crowd
parted,
booing and hissing at Wormtail as the entourage passed.
“My- sorry- our office is closest,” Harry said, looking at Lupin, who
nodded.
“It will suffice,” Dumbledore said.
As they entered the office, Lupin put all the charms in place while
Harry
locked the door. “Don’t bother trying to escape out of this place,
Wormtail,”
he added.
Suddenly, Nemorphus noticed them. “Ah, hello, Harry, you want
others to
witness your valentine for Ginny?” Morpheus asked.
“No, just some business to take care of; you can do it later, I
promise.”
Ardeavis trilled in agreement; he played a part in this too.
Wormtail was visibly shaking now. “Cats, birds, snakes... eugh, I hate
them.”
“That’s because they tend to keep the rat population down,” Snape
smirked.
“Anyway, Peter,” Dumbledore started, “What is this you need to tell us?”
“The attacks, all over the world... as much as they like causing
terror,
they’re looking for something special. HE is planning something
special.”
“We know of these plans,” Dumbledore said. “Although we’re still not
sure about
everything he needs. Anything else?”
Wormtail was looking at Harry now. “The Dark Lord says, somehow, he
found out
about ways in and out of Hogwarts, and what happened to the Lestrange
brothers... from you.”
An awkward silence hung over the room as everyone turned to look at
Harry; he
snorted, “Me!? What kind of nonsense is that?”
“I don’t know, it’s just what he said!”
Wormtail
protested. “I’m not exactly one of his most trusted men, you know!”
“You could have easily told him the secret passages, Wormtail; you were
one of
the four people who created the Map, remember?”
“He never asked, and somehow he found out, I don’t know!” Wormtail said
in a
terrified voice, obviously scared that Harry would curse him if he
didn’t give
sufficient answers.
“Well, how soon did he find out?”
“Somehow, he knew of the passages in and out of Hogwarts the day you
were able
to clear Sirius’ name, and he somehow knew of what happened to the
Lestranges
the morning after.”
“Well, both those days I used the Memory Orb-” Harry stopped abruptly
when he
realized what was wrong; the others realized too.
“It was a trick,” McGonagall said in an angry tone.
“My guess is when the memories are projected, Voldemort somehow manages
to see
them from wherever he is,” Dumbledore hypthoesized.
“As for the passages,” Lupin said, “We ought to put security measures
in as
soon as possible. One of them is under the Whomping Willow,
that leads to the Shack...”
“Four of them Filch knew about, the one behind the mirror on the fourth
floor
caved in years ago, and the seventh leads into the cellar of
Honeydukes,” Harry
supplied. “The Weasley twins told me,” he added, in response to the
looks on
everyone’s faces.
“And the entrance?” McGonagall asked.
“The statue of the one-eyed crone. Tap on
it, say
‘Dissendium,’ and the hump opens up.”
Snape sneered. “I knew it. Thank you so very much for confirming my
suspicions,
Potter.”
Harry realized what he had just done. ‘Oh damn,’ he thought to himself.
(7)
Thankfully, Lupin spared him any possible trouble. “Anyway, now all we
need to
do is figure out what to do with him,” he growled, glaring at Wormtail,
who
squeaked with fear.
“Wait!” he shouted. “Please, I can help, just please don’t send
me back
to Voldemort or to Azkaban or whatever! I can spy, I can help, PLEASE
DON’T
HURT ME!” he begged.
“Azkaban is no longer a viable option, since a new secret location is
being
used as a prison instead,” Dumbledore said. “However-”
Suddenly, a bomb trailing smoke broke through one of the windows and
let out a
whole cloud of smoke that made everyone start to cough. Wormtail gave a
shrill
scream and ran to the window, fairly jumping out of it. Thinking fast,
Harry
used a Banishing Charm on it; it zoomed back out the window and into
the air,
where it exploded several yards away.
As the others used spells to clean up, Harry looked out the window but
Wormtail
had vanished from sight, and possibly from Hogwarts. “He got away
again,” he
muttered.
“On the other hand, can’t blame him for not wanting to get blown up,”
Ginny
pointed out.
“I guess not,” Harry said.
“Anyway, we have to see to injured students and such,” Dumbledore said.
“Have a
nice day with what remains of it.” With that, the other professors
followed him
out, shutting the door behind them.
Harry sighed, and looked at Ginny. “Happy Valentine’s Day, I guess,” he
said,
and they both laughed. “Oh, by the way... Nemorphus, Ardeavis, you guys
ready?”
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
The heads then faced down to show the writing on the other side:
HP (HEART SYMBOL) GW
Ginny broke out laughing and said, “Thank you so very much, Harry!”
“Glad you like it,” he smiled back. “Besides, a singing phoenix beats a
singing
dwarf any day!”
Ginny blushed and laughed at him, “I didn’t exactly have much of a choice!”
“Yeah, whatever you say,” Harry teased her,
“She-Who-Had-Her-Elbow-In-The-Butter-Dish.”
Ginny playfully punched him in the arm. The next moment, she leapt at
him and,
while hugging him tight, kissed him right on the lips. Harry hugged her
back
and returned the favor. Even as they tripped and fell on top of the
desk, that
didn’t stop them.
“So, am I interrupting anything?”
Both teenagers looked up to see Mrs. Weasley standing in the doorway,
with an
enormous grin plastered onto her face. As both of them scrambled to get
back
up, she teased. “I only came by to make sure you were alright, what
with
today’s events. Are you okay, Harry, dear?
You look
ever so peaky. You also look rather pale, Ginny love.”
Both teenagers were blushing furiously. Harry tried to say something,
but no
sound came out. Ginny was making a strange giggling sound. Mrs. Weasley
winked
and said, “Well, I’d better go see how Ron is doing. I guess I’ll leave
you two
to your own devices. Have a nice day.” As she walked off, they could
hear her
saying, “Well, four down, three to go...”
“She must mean Charlie, Fred, and George,” Ginny explained. Harry
laughed,
trying to relieve the embarrassment he was just suffering.
Suddenly, he remembered. Draco! His mother had been poisoned; what was
going on
right now?
“Ginny,” he said as calmly as possible, “Dinner tonight on top of the
~*~*~*~
Harry was armed with the Marauders’ Map, looking
desperately
for Draco. He spied the dot representing Draco heading for the
Slytherin
dormitories. With a “Mischief Managed!” he put the map away and ran
fast.
Just before Draco could give the password to open the bare stretch of
wall,
Harry said, “Draco! I heard about what happened earlier today. Is she
alright?”
Draco turned to him, his face carved into an expression that would
haunt Harry.
Suddenly, looking furious, Draco lunged for him. “It’s your bloody
fault!” he
screamed. “Trying to help me? Ha! She’s poisoned, Potter, they don’t
know if
she’ll live! She’s in a coma, for crying out loud! Just being
associated with
you brought this down upon me! I can’t even show my face around here
anymore! I
hate you, disgusting, vile piece of-”
“Impedimenta!” Harry yelled, slowing Draco down. Big
mistake.
“POTTER!”
It was Snape, and from the looks of things, he thought Harry was
picking on
Draco. Harry could just see the gears working in Snape’s mind, judging
based on
his own experiences...
“Please forgive me for doing this, Professor. Silencio!”
Harry quickly cast a Silencing Charm on Snape, who looked furious.
Talking a
little too quickly, Harry explained, “I found about what happened
earlier with
Draco’s mother, and how she got poisoned. I was trying to comfort
Draco, and he
lashed out at me, so I jinxed him to defend myself. There.” After
undoing the
magic, Harry made to leave, but Snape stopped him.
“Potter,” he said slowly, “Thank you for trying to help out.”
“Of course.”
“Draco-” but before Snape could say anything else, Draco ran
into the
common room after spitting out the password (“Serpentard”), actually
weeping a
little. (8) Not knowing what else to
say, Harry simply turned around and left, ready to plow his way through
whatever crowds of reporters and journalists might still be left over.
~*~*~*~
That night, Dobby and a few other house elves
worked
together to set up three tables for two each on top of the
“I’m glad I was able to dodge the reporters for once,” Harry made the
mistake
of saying.
“There’s one left,” Luna piped up. “Me.”
Harry groaned. “I should have remembered.” He was able to push his
dread aside
as Dobby appeared with soup for him and Ginny, and enjoying the night,
the
food, the music, the company, and the finer things in life.
On the way out of the tower, Luna said to him without preamble, “The
distance between love and hate is measured only by opinion.” (9)
Harry had a very good idea what she meant, especially when given the events of that day.
(End of Chapter 25.)
A/N: Personally, for some strange reasons, I think this was one of my favorite chapters. I don’t know about the title, but it sure beat the alternate option I had in mind at the time: “HAPPY BLOODY VALENTINE’S DAY.”
(1) I have a vague idea of how it works, which is basically using numbers to create or alter spells. Am I right?
(2) LMAO, that was fun to write!
(3) You’ll find out who it is later. ;)
(4) “Auriga” is the Latin word for “owl,” and I thought that “Aurigo” sounded somewhat more masculine.
(5) Personally, I like this, with how the executioner got beheaded! What do you think?
(6) While it’s fun to read stories where Wormtail is a greedy, evil little thug, I personally feel that those might not be the best interpretations of him. Given how remorseful and such we’ve seen him in PoA and GoF, I think it’s more likely that he got bullied into becoming a Death Eater.
(7) Think back to chapter 14 of PoA. Besides, Harry probably wouldn’t need the secret passages anymore, since he can also now become a phoenix.
(8) “Serpentard,” is what they call “Slytherin” in the French version(s) of the books.
(9) I originally meant to put
this in to the original version, but I somehow forgot. I came up with
this
“proverb” myself. What do you guys think of it?