Harry Potter and the Year of Unveiled Secrets
Chapter 4: The Truth Shall Set You Free!
The next morning was a quiet one until 8am when Harry was shaken from his sleep, screaming. Looking around he found Ron and Hermione hovering at the end of his bed, a worried Remus standing to his left and Poppy on his right with a knowing look in her eyes that were showing equal amounts of concern. Harry launched forward into Poppy's arms, making the other three look on with more concern and worry.
Poppy murmured soothing words into Harry's hair until he'd calmed down and composed himself enough to sit up and face the others. He gave them a shaky smile before Poppy asked; "Was it the same as last time?"
Harry shook his head, "It started out the same but then it seemed to turn into a memory of my parents. They were in the living room talking with a man that had long black hair; I think it was Sirius Black. Anyway, they were all discussing the… Fidelius (sp?) charm and who would be their Secret Keeper. Dad asked Sirius, but he said that was too obvious a choice, so he offered to be a decoy and have Peter be the Secret Keeper. They agreed. Then it moved to that Halloween night, we were in the lounge reading a story when we felt the wards from the charm fall. Mum grabbed me and went to the stairs while dad went to the front door, which blew into pieces to reveal Voldemort and a rat of a man, Peter my dad called him. Dad told mum to run and she ran up the stairs to my nursery while the three fought in the entryway. After a while silence rained downstairs. Mum placed me in my crib saying that she and dad loved me and that they would be back soon. Then Voldemort came, he killed mum then tried to kill me but a shield of gold, silver, bronze, black and white stopped the curse from me only leaving the scar on my forehead. That's when you woke me up." During his talk Remus and Poppy had been getting paler and paler as the implications of what was being said hit.
"I'll go get Dumbledore," and with that Remus was out the door in a flash of robes.
Ron and Hermione moved to Harry's side asking if everything was alright. Harry smiled softly and assured them he was fine and that he might even be better if Professor Dumbledore believed what he said. The two looked confused at this and were about to ask what he meant when the Infirmary doors burst open and in rushed Remus, Dumbledore and a bewildered Fudge.
"What is all this about Dumbledore, you pulled me away form some important papers that need to be signed," the Minister huffed.
"This is something that is more important than some papers on Hippogriff regulations. Mr. Potter here has proof that Sirius Black was in fact not the Potter's Secret Keeper," Dumbledore explained as he looked at Harry.
"How could Potter have any proof, he was just one that night and if he does how do we know its true?" Fudge queried, while his mind went a hundred miles a minute. 'This can't get out; if it does I'll be kicked out for sure.' He thought. 'But wait…what if it is true, maybe I can manipulate the public to see that it was me to find out that Black was innocent and Crouch was wrong this whole time. It might just work.'
"Well as his proof is a memory, we'll place it in my pensive. As I'm sure you remember pensive's only accept memories that have happened and have not been tampered with. So, Harry, do you feel up to showing the Minister and myself your memory?" Dumbledore asked his student, who was now sitting back against his pillows and quietly watching the Minister pace the room. When Harry nodded, Dumbledore pulled out a small bowl from one of his many pockets. When it was enlarged Harry could see ancient runes carved into the sides of the small sized basin. "Okay Harry, this is my pensive. Now I'll just show you how to place your memories in it. First you need to…"
After Dumbledore had taken him through the steps, Harry placed his memory into the pensive, leaving out what his mum said and his shield. When done, Harry turned to his friends to talk to them while the adults reviewed the scenes.
"Harry, what's going on? What happened on the train?" Hermione asked while coming to sit at Harry's side. He resisted the urge to flinch when she placed a hand on his arm. Ron took the other seat and looked at him questioningly.
Harry sighed. "When the Dementor's searched the train for Sirius Black, one came to the compartment Remus and I was sharing. Madame Pomfrey said that because it was so close and there was a few more out in the corridor, I passed out. Though I think that the memories of my past contributed to me passing out as the Dementor's feed off of that sort of thing."
"Oh Harry. We're sorry we weren't there but Ron and I couldn't find you anywhere, then the twins sidetracked us with something's they heard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about. Harry, Sirius Black is your godfather." Hermione and Ron readied themselves for the outburst that was sure to come, but come it did not. Looking over they saw Harry watching them.
"I know Remus told me on the train and if the memory the adults are looking at is anything to go by, I think he'll be here soon."
"What do you –" Ron never finished his question because at that moment the older wizards and witch came back out of the memory and Scabbers jumped from Ron's pocket, making a run for the doors. Harry leapt from his bed and stopped the rodent from escaping by closing the ward doors. Grabbing Scabbers by the tail, being careful to stay away from his teeth, Harry carried the rat back to the stunned and confused group of people around his bed. Going to Poppy, he quickly whispered something in her ear. She looked at him questionably but still drew her wand and pointed it at the squirming rat. She whispered "Stupefy" and a red light struck the rodent, freezing him in place.
"HEY!" Ron yelled as he snatched his pet from Harry's hand.
"Sorry Ron, but it had to be done." Harry turned to the others after getting back into his bed. "When I was about 6 years old, I found I could see someone's aura, though I didn't know that at the time. All I knew was that I could see colourful glows radiating off of the people around me. I managed to block the colours but whenever I'm hurt or healing, my concentration slips and my shield comes down. Not, Madame Pomfrey has known about this, though has been unable to say anything because of the Healer – Patient oath. Anyway, as my shield is down I can see all auras and what's really surprising is that I can see an aura around Scabbers. The main colour is pink but it's outlined in grey and a sickening blood red." Harry looked to the adults, "Remus what do the grey and red mean?" though it was obvious he already knew.
"The grey means animagi and the… the red means.. means the Dark Mark; a Death Eater." Remus' face dawned with realization. He along with Dumbledore quickly withdrew his wand and pointed it at the rodent. Ron jumped at the sudden show of wands and dropped his stunned pet rat to the floor. With a shouted incantation from both wizards, a light flashed around the rat and slowly he was transformed back into a short, fat and balding man that greatly resembled the rat he was moments before.
"Peter," Remus and Harry said.
"Pettigrew? But he was killed in the same blast that killed those 12 muggles, killed by Sirius Black," Fudge blabbered in shock.
"Well, it seems like we need to set up a trial for Mr. Pettigrew. Cornelius of you would follow me back to my office, we can use my fire to floo to the Auror Headquarters," Dumbledore said as he levitated Peter to follow behind. "Have a good day everyone." With that he and Fudge left.
Turning to his friends, he saw them looking at him with awe, shock and confusion. "Don't worry it'll be in the Prophet in a few days. But right now I'd like t-t-to get some more sleep," Harry said through a yawn. Laying back down, he was asleep in seconds. Poppy came over and tucked him in before turning to the teacher and students.
"He'll be tired for a few more days, though he should be able to leave by tomorrow morning. Now, why don't you go and get settled into your rooms and come collect him at 7am with his school uniform and books?" It was more an order than a suggestion. Seeing no way of arguing with the stern nurse, Remus, Ron and Hermione left for their rooms, with Ron and Hermione being ambushed as soon as they stepped through the portrait hole.
Next chapter will be up in a week or two. Term 3 just got started so I'll probably be updating at random. Please give some feed back on whether you like it so far or not. Flames welcome.
Oh and I've decided on the name: Talia Letisha Lily Potter.
What do you think?
See you all later,
The Love Dragon.
