Author's Note: I am really, really sorry for the delay in updating. There are a few reviewers I didn't reply to, so I apologize for that too. Your reviews and support mean more to me than you will ever know. There are mistakes in here. Please be gentle when you point them out. :/
Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me.
~ Forgotten Gift ~
Harry and Snape sat at the dining table. Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt entered the room. Harry wondered how they had all reacted once Sirius updated them on why they were having this impromptu meeting. Dumbledore had wanted his dreams to stop and it was clearer than ever that the Order had expected something like this to take place.
Kreacher began muttering impolitely as usual as he skulked around the dining table when he noticed the members of the Order.
"Out Kreacher!" snapped Sirius from the hallway. Kreacher sulked past the door with a strange expression on his face, half furious, half worried. "Go clean Buckbeak's tray and reapply his bandage. Keep yourself busy," ordered Sirius.
Kreacher looked more annoyed for a second but turned on his heel and left the room muttering unintelligibly under his breath. As he exited Tonks entered. Harry hadn't heard Tonks arrive either. Perhaps she had already been at Grimmauld Place.
"Alright I'm going to head over to the Ministry and see who is around. If Harry's seen this full vision with so much detail, then You-Know-Who probably has Death Eaters ready to ambush." Tonks looked over to Shacklebolt. "Send the message to Dumbledore and we'll go together."
"It seems Potter had fallen for the Dark Lord's trap just as the Headmaster predicted," gloated Snape. "Quite disappointing."
"Well you were meant to be giving him lessons in Occlumency!" snapped Sirius angrily.
Lupin coughed and glanced in Harry's direction "Yes Severus, you shouldn't have stopped the lessons. The only thing to do now is continue them before the term ends."
Snape glared from Lupin to Harry, obviously suspecting that Harry had told them the real reason why the Occlumency lessons had come to an abrupt finish. Harry avoided looking into Snape's eyes. (A guilty giveaway that he couldn't help right now.)
"Hold on," began Tonks. "Why did the lessons stop anyway?"
Harry opened his mouth to answer with a lie he hadn't come up with yet. He was saved by Sirius who changed the subject.
"Actually I've just remembered something." Sirius looked at Harry intently. "That day you contacted me to tell me… you weren't getting lessons." His gaze flicked between Lupin and Snape before returning to Harry. "I was so distracted by that news I forgot to ask you why you didn't talk to me with the mirror. You took a big risk using Umbridge's office."
Snape look surprised for a moment but fixed his expression with a sneer, muttering "Typical Potter. Why does it not surprise me that you've pulled a stunt like that? Always taking risks."
Harry ignored Snape and looked questioningly at Sirius. "What mirror? What do you mean?"
"Ah… so you didn't open the package I gave you at the start of the new year?" Sirius.
Harry shook his head. He had actually forgotten completely about the package Sirius had given him at the end of the Christmas holidays. He had been resolute that it would not be him who caused Sirius to step out of the Order's headquarters. Still his usual curiosity ought to have prompted him to open the package and see what Sirius had given him.
"James and I had an enchanted set of two-way mirrors. We used them to talk to each other when we would get separated for detention, and I'll say this before Remus can: yes we were in detention a lot." Sirius paused and looked around the room. "I wrote a note to go with it. You just need to call my name into it and my mirror will let me know you want to talk. Not just talk but see you as well. I thought you'd find use for it if you had any private moments in the boys dorm."
Harry felt immensely annoyed with himself. How stupid of him to not have even looked at the package! An enchanted mirror would have only been too useful when he had need to talk to Sirius after seeing Snape's worst memories, or when he had his Valentine's day date with Cho Chang.
"That's really handy actually. Harry it's such a big risk for you to leave the school grounds like this," admonished Lupin. "After the floo conversation."
Surprisingly Shacklebolt defended Harry. "He knows Sirius is in no danger, so at least we have all avoided anything dangerous happening."
"As tends to happen when Potter acts without thinking," said Snape as he rolled his eyes.
Harry was embarrassed and annoyed all the adults were ganging up on him, even though it was expected from Snape, and even though he did deserve it a bit. Hermione's words from a few hours ago came to mind. A saving people thing.
"Potter, it's time to return to the school. You will go straight to Gryffindor Tower from the kitchens is that clear? I will not be able to prevent the Headmistress from punishing you for being out of your common room after hours. Nor would I want to." Snape turned sneering still, and brushed off his cloak. He reached into his robes and took out some Floo powder.
Shacklebolt nodded in agreement. "Yes Professor, you two have been away for long enough. Best return before anyone realises. Tonks let's go."
As Harry stood up to leave he remembered something. "Do any of you know if Professor McGonagall is getting better at St Mungos? There are so many things changing with her not being at school, as well as Dumbledore." Dumbledore who was not here to support Harry in this crucial time, and didn't want to personally give Harry Occlumency lessons anyway. Dumbledore wouldn't even let him know where he was. Harry tried to push the thought of Dumebledore away. It was actually making his scar throb more painfully to think about Dumbledore's behaviour right now. The pain had been persistent ever since he woke from the dream during his exam.
"If we find anything out then Sirius can let you know through the mirror," said Tonks with a gentle smile. "At the moment unfortunately Professor McGonagall's condition hasn't improved."
Sirius got up and walked to the door with them. "Remus, before you leave could you go upstairs and have a look at Buckbeak's wing? It looks a bit bent. I don't know how he could have done it. He's never hurt himself this badly before."
"Yes, I'll go and do it now. Might as well occupy ourselves while we wait to hear from Dumbledore," said Lupin stood up and hugged Harry. "Go back to school now. You did the right thing going to Professor Snape. He's the closest Order member to you while you're at Hogwarts right now."
"Yes. Dealing with Potter's fictitious dreams is just what I need during the exam per—" Snape cut himself off with a hiss and grabbed his left forearm. His Dark Mark must have burned.
Everyone's eyes were on Snape. Shacklebolt was the first to speak.
"He must be wondering if you know anything. Are you going to go to him now?"
Snape hissed. "The Dark Lord knows I can't leave at his call during the school term. He must be beckoning others. I'll be informed later."
"Alright then we should all get a move on," said Lupin looking concerned. "Kingsley, Tonks. I'll be here with Sirius and I'll inform you if there are any updates. Harry go back with Professor Snape, and go to your dormitory. Do not get lured away from the school. Be safe and vigilant."
"You sound like Mad-Eye," said Harry following Snape over to the fireplace.
Sirius walked over to Harry and hugged him. "He does. With good reason to. Voldemort was ready for something tonight."
Harry slipped into the Gryffindor common room, and as he suspected Ron and Hermione were sitting in the armchairs by the fire waiting for him. Ginny was there too, stroking Crookshanks and gazing at the fire. None of them were speaking. Ron noticed Harry enter first from his chair's position.
"Harry, you've been gone ages!" Ron exclaimed, alerting Hermione and Ginny of Harry's return. Both their expressions matched Ron's relief at seeing Harry.
"Are we alone?" Harry asked looking around.
"Yeah, everyone's gone to bed. Neville sat with us for a while when more people were awake but he went to bed." Ginny put Crookshanks down and got up. "Sit down, Harry. Did you see Sirius?"
Harry took Ginny's armchair as she moved one over to let Harry sit in the middle with Ron. He went on to explain everything about how Snape had contacted other Order members with his Patronus and how they'd travelled by Floo Powder from the fireplace in the kitchens ("It's not monitored! How can it not be monitored?" shrieked Hermione.). When Harry was finished detailing how the few Order members who he'd seen that night did not seem entirely surprised that Voldemort had created a fake vision, he was expecting Hermione to scold him and say she had been right.
Hermione didn't say anything though. She took a deep shaky breath and slowly exhaled. "I'm glad he is okay, Harry," she said looking around at the others. "Such a shame about McGonagall not feeling better too. Oh my God this is so much to take in."
Ron swore. His expression was still worried. "Mate, what if You-Know-Who just keeps giving you visions til you crack with fear?"
The thought had crossed Harry's mind, as well as another. He voiced it. "What if he shows me something real and I don't trust it?"
Nobody seemed to want to answer that, although Hermione looked like she was thinking something. She seemed to be deciding whether or not to share it.
"Well you can't let that make you believe all the dreams," said Ginny staring at Harry. "If you had gone to the Ministry tonight you would have been attacked. God I hope Tonks and Kingsley are okay…" She trailed off, looking at the fire again.
The four of them sat in silence for a while until Hermione suggested going to bed. Harry, Ron and Ginny murmured in agreement. Not that any of them thought they would fall asleep easily. The words Harry had recounted from Sirius weighed on all their minds.
Voldemort had been ready to carry out his plan that night.
Theodore observed Luna Lovegood approach the Gryffindor table at breakfast the next morning. He didn't usually pay any attention to Potter's dirty collective like Malfoy did, but as his gaze slipped over all the tables in the Great Hall, he remembered Weasley and Granger's interaction from the night before.
Granger was whispering something to Longbottom. Were they close? Theodore had seen Longbottom and Granger in the library together in the past studying. But then Granger was inseparable from Weasley and Potter most of the time, and they were rarely in the library with her. This morning it looked as though Potter's collective had expanded to the Weasley girl and the blonde Ravenclaw oddball, as well as Longbottom. Lovegood perched herself down at the Gryffindor table, and a few Gryffindors around Potter turned to stare. Interestingly this caused Granger to stop speaking and Potter and the Weasleys also halted in what they were saying noticing their neighbours' attention. Curious.
Theodore finished his bacon and left the Great Hall. He couldn't hear what was being said at the Gryffindor table anyway. Blaise caught up with him in the Entrance Hall and began talking about his plans for the summer holidays. Blaise invited Theodore to make plans to stay at his place during the summer.
"Look I don't know if my father will be up for that. He usually makes his own plans before I can have any say and I just go along with whatever. Your mother is young and into the trendy scene. My father is traditional more than trendy." Theodore, despite acting like such a loner, would not have minded being in the Zabini's company for a few days during the school holidays but knew his father would be stuck with certain dark tasks and expect his son to stay at the family home.
"Sure, sure. Well if your old man wants a break from you," teased Blaise, a smirk tugging at his brown lips.
Theodore mumbled something in vague agreement. If.
Theodore's only plan for the summer was to read as much as he could that had nothing to do with school subjects. He would worry about school when he got his exam results. This summer Theodore was going to finally relax. Or so he thought.