Chapter Six
Explanations
The corridors were clear of students, teachers, ghosts and animals which made Harry feel like he had taken Felix Felicis again, just without the weird cocky, know it all attitude that it had given him. They walked in silence, still unsure whether they were allowed to be wandering the corridors at night and didn't speak until they were out in the grounds, breathing in the crisp night air which was quite welcomed after the stuffy common room.
"Have any of you noticed that we haven't had any classes with the Slytherins yet?" Ron asked them as they walked through the pumpkin patch and approached Hagrid's front door
"But we have" Hermione said in surprise "you only haven't noticed because there aren't enough of them to cause trouble"
"What?" Harry frowned
Hermione sighed and knocked on Hagrid's wooden door "only a few returned…Goyle died didn't he?"
"Yeah but that's just one" Ron told her
"I assume that they were all invited back" she continued, ignoring Ron "but I doubt that most of them accepted the offer. Only a few in our year returned, Draco, Blaise and Pansy…that's only three out of the possible ten that should have returned"
Hagrid's front door opened, casting them in a bright light which illuminated their faces and they saw him beam at them "Harry!" He pulled Harry into a spine crushing hug before turning to Hermione and Ron who backed away, scared of having their bones broken "well, come in then. Don't want yer three to stand out in the dark much longer do I?"
"Thanks Hagrid" Harry wheezed as he stepped over the thresh hold and into his hut, rubbing his ribs.
"Where's Buck…I mean Witherwings, Hagrid?" Hermione asked as she, Harry and Ron took a seat at the large table "Sirius gave him back didn't he?"
Hagrid nodded as he bustled about making tea "yeah, he's tied out back at the mo'"
"Is there any particular reason that he's tied up?" Ron frowned
"Keeps tryin ter fly back ter Sirius don't he?" Hagrid sighed as he served up the tea and then sat down and pointed to a large plate of rock cakes which sat in the middle of the table. Harry, Ron and Hermione, having more than enough experience of Hagrid's cooking, politely refused. "I don't think that London will accept a creature like Beaky…he isn't what they are used ter, is he?" He sighed and then turned his beetle black eyes on Harry "how are yer Harry?"
"Fine, thanks" Harry nodded "I see Dumbledore fixed up your house"
Hagrid smiled "yeah, great man Dumbledore, great man. An what about yer two?"
"Just fine thanks" Hermione answered "I had to find my parents over the summer"
Harry looked at her for a moment before something clicked and he knew what she was talking about "oh yeah! How did that go?"
"It went ok" she replied simply "finding them was the hard part but once I removed the memory charm I put on them it was easy getting them back to England. Obviously I had to explain what they were doing in Australia and they were both really grateful…upset that I couldn't explain before I altered their memories but grateful all the same"
"Well things are better now for everyone" Hagrid nodded "no more You-Know-Who" he sighed happily "Grawpy is doin much better now; I can understand most of what he is sayin' and I don' have ter worry about im' bein' attacked now cause of you Harry"
Harry smiled briefly but if he was being honest, he didn't actually kill Voldemort, Voldemort killed himself with the killing curse which was meant for Harry, it was just luck that he had cast the shield charm exactly at the right moment. It could have gone wrong, the killing curse could have broken through his shield and hit him but it didn't. Harry's risk had paid off.
They left the warm cabin an hour later with the promise that they would return soon. The castle was just as deserted as it had been when they left and Harry wasn't sure whether he should be nervous or thankful about it.
"I can't believe that Grawp is still living in the forest!" Ron exploded once they were back in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room "is Hagrid insane?"
"He isn't living in the forest" Hermione told him "he's living in that cave Hagrid was hiding in last year and anyway, from what Hagrid says, Grawp is much better behaved now"
"Yeah, coming from the man who tried to raise a baby dragon in his wooden hut, had an acromantula as a pet in the forest AND had a three headed dog…well, he isn't crazy at all" Ron stared at Hermione incredulously before sighing and turned to Harry "want a game of gobstones before we go to bed?"
Harry nodded and started to say "yeah ok then but I-" before he noticed Ginny walking in with that same blazing look on her face she had when they had first kissed, two years previously. Harry got up, ignoring Ron's "mate, where are you going?" and Hermione's smirk as he made his way over to Ginny and wrapped her in his arms.
"I've been thinking" he whispered to her as he pressed his lips just underneath her ear "maybe…now that Voldemort has gone that we can…I mean, if you want to and I totally understand if you don't"
She pulled away from him but stared into his emerald eyes "We can what, Harry? Play Gobstones, annoy peeves together, sneak out of the school…what?"
Harry sighed and blushed as he looked away from her "well maybe, I thought that you and I could…uhm…get back together?"
A look of sheer relief washed over her face and Harry was hit by the ray of happiness which expelled its self from her, making him feel her glow too "I thought that you would never ask" she sent him a lopsided grin before kissing him softly and saying "goodnight Harry"
Harry watched her almost bounce up the stairs the girl's common room until she was out of sight and turned back to his friends who were staring at him. He couldn't make out the expression on Ron's face but Hermione looked pleased…almost exasperated. "What was that about Harry?" She asked with a smile as she stood up and collected her bag from the floor "did she agree?"
"Agree to what?" Ron asked looking between his two best friends in confusion
"Goodnight" She pecked Ron's cheek and then Harry's before following Ginny up the stairs
"Agree to what?" Ron repeated but Harry shook his head at him. He felt so elated he didn't think that he could speak. His cheeks ached from the smile which was fixed across his face and he was warm from the blush which lit his face like a beacon.
He didn't think he could do it. It had been a thought which had plagued his mind since the demise of Voldemort. Ginny knew that He was no good at talking to girls let alone asking them out but when it came down to it, he did it and she had agreed. She was his, not Deans, not Michaels but his and he wasn't planning on letting her go, not again. He had no reason to leave her, he loved her…that much he was so sure about and one day he hoped to marry her but for the time being, just knowing that she is his, is good enough for him.
After what seemed like a lifetime Ron cleared his throat, bringing Harry back to reality and then asked "Gobstones?" But like before got no reply and watched as Harry almost floated from the room and up the stairs to their dormitory.
The rest of the week passed quickly, Harry thought it was because he was meant to be doing Quidditch trials but nobody, as of yet, had signed up and it wasn't until he got up on the Saturday morning feeling rather touchy about the whole thing and going down to check the list again did he breathe a sigh of relief. The list had been filled over night.
That sigh of relief didn't last long though.
He, Ron, Ginny and Hermione went down to the Quidditch pitch straight after breakfast with the intention of trying to teach Hermione something about Quidditch. It took them a couple of hours but eventually Hermione hit a bludger with one of the bats and grinned "I see why you like it, it's so…exhilarating!"
Ginny and Harry caught each others eye and turned away quickly but Ron, who had a crush on Hermione, gave her his puppy eyes and said "that was brilliant, Hermione! I think you should definitely tryout for beater"
"Oh, no, I don't think so" she sighed as chatter could be heard behind them "I don't like flying"
Harry turned to see a large group of people coming toward them with broomsticks "well, if you don't want to tryout then you had better get out of the way, unless you want to be trampled" Harry told her and then pointed "tryouts have started"
The group of students this year was no better than the group he had to choose from in his sixth year. They were loud, rude and downright annoying. Some weren't even in Gryffindor!
"Ginny" he begged "help!"
Ginny had a fiery temper which matched her mother; this came in handy in situations like this. She grinned at him and then shouted so loud that everybody shut up and stared at her "SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO HARRY OR I WILL HEX YOU!" Ginny can do a mean bat bogey hex.
"Thanks" he muttered "ok" he glowered at them "now you have all shut up I want everyone who isn't in Gryffindor to leave" at least a third of the group left to go and sit in the stands to watch. "Now I want you to line up. Keepers over there" he nodded toward Ron "chasers over there" he nodded at a space about 5 feet away from where the keepers were gathering "and beaters over there" he nodded at a space about 5 feet away from the chasers.
He tried out the chasers first, then the beaters and then the keepers, thinking that if Ron was nervous again then having less people watching would be better but Ron outdid himself, obviously helping to defeat Voldemort last year gave him a new found confidence. He saved three out of three saves and Hermione didn't even need to confund his rivals!
After a very long morning and afternoon he ended up with, Ginny Weasley and two new people called Shelby Roberts and Adam Tompkins as Chasers. Shelby, a third year and Adam, a fifth year were really good, not as good as Ginny but Harry figured that he was a little biased toward her…he did give her a fair tryout though. Ron became keeper (fair and square) and third years, Max and Ellis Manning, became beaters. Max and Ellis amazed Harry beyond words, they were exactly like Fred and George, in personality and talent that is but not looks.
He had Ginny, Ron, Shelby, Adam, Max and Ellis lined up in the changing rooms as he spoke to them. "You all did way better than I expected" he admitted "so well done, you have secured a place on the team. Practices are Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays after dinner and then Saturdays we will have the slot in between breakfast and lunch…"
"Well that wasn't too bad" Ron said once they had been dismissed and they started walking up to the castle for dinner. He was still smiling from his success.
Harry grimaced "not too bad? You can judge properly when you become captain, Ron"
"But I won't be captain, Harry…last year innit?"
"Well I think we actually have a good team this year" Ginny said as she squeezed Harry's hand and sat down next to him at the Gryffindor table and started to help herself to pizza "last years team was ok…not that that mattered" she scowled and then helped herself to a few chips
Harry stared at her "why didn't it matter?" He asked, totally disregarding his plate of food
She sighed and chewed quietly for a moment before answering "we never got to play. That rule Umbridge enforced came back and Gryffindor team wasn't aloud to reform"
"Then how come you had tryouts?" Ron asked
"It came in after tryouts…we figured it's because we were better than Slytherin which meant that they would lose so the Carrow's and Snape figured that if they eliminated the better teams then Slytherin would win every match. It didn't matter in the end anyway" she shrugged "no one won anything because of the battle, even though Slytherin would have won"
"How many points above everyone else were they?" Hermione asked, her fork which was still in her hand was forgotten about.
"Put it this way" Ginny answered darkly "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were in minus figures even before the feast"
"They can't do that!" Ron roared making a little first year who was passing them squeak in fright and rush back the way she came "how can we be in minus figures?"
"It was last year Ronald" Hermione told him, rescuing a chip which was drooping from her silverware and put it in her mouth
Ron scowled "but even so, before we just stayed at zero…no minus figures"
"Well the Carrow's fixed it somehow" said Neville who had sat opposite them, joined by Dean and Seamus "I think we were minus 250 after the first week and Slytherin were way up in the thousands"
Dean nodded "everything we did in lesson, even if we just coughed they would dock like 50 points"
"But that isn't fair at all" Hermione frowned "how did they get away with it?"
"It was just the points system" Seamus told her "the Carrow's got away with teaching the unforgivable curses didn't they? What were a few house points compared to the cruciatus curse?"
Harry studied him for a moment and noticed that his face, which had been puffy and bruised the last time he had seen him, had healed up remarkably well. There was neither a scratch nor a bruise on him and then Harry spotted a light green cast "Seamus, what happened to your arm?"
Ron peered at Seamus' cast and frowned "what in the name of Merlin's baggy Y fronts is that?"
"This?" Seamus held up his arm "it's a cast. I broke my arm over the summer and well…" he blushed a little "I've always wanted to have one…"
"Why?" Hermione asked "I've heard that they are really uncomfortable and itchy. Why don't you go on up to the Hospital Wing and get it fixed?"
Seamus shrugged but Harry butted in "so you get off with a couple of black eyes and a fat lip after the battle and you come back from the holidays with a broken arm?" He laughed "how on earth did you manage that?"
"Fell off my broom whilst trying to rescue the neighbour's cat"
"Again" Harry blinked "how the heck…"
"I'm not a great flyer" he shrugged "and that cat was evil"
Ron was still staring at the cast "what is it, like a glove or something?"
"No" Dean laughed "it a muggle thing that keeps a broken bone in the right place whilst it heals"
"Weird" he shook his head and then started to shovel food into his mouth as though he hadn't eaten for weeks.
Hermione stared at Ron in disgust before she turned to Neville and asked "so, are you glad that you got invited back to retake?"
"Oh yeah" Neville nodded "more than I thought I would actually. It's basically like last year was like a nightmare gap year." he sighed and smiled "Dumbledore's great giving us a second chance like that."
"Yeah" Harry muttered, feeling a little bitter toward his Headmaster who had been absent when Harry needed him the most. The whole wizarding world thought that Dumbledore was dead, killed by the man that he had trusted the most but it was just a diversion…in the end. Harry had to admit that when Dumbledore had reappeared, after Voldemort was gone and the battle was over, he hadn't been happy to see the man who had been almost like a father figure to him. In fact, the temptation to actually hit Dumbledore was pretty strong and Harry almost gave in to it.
Hermione and Ginny had noticed Harry's change of mood and nudged him back to reality "what's wrong?" Hermione asked
"Is it your scar?" Ron said in a hushed undertone
Harry shook his head "no, my scar hasn't bothered me for a while" he sighed and then looked up at the staff table where Dumbledore was staring at him. Harry held eye contact for a moment or two but when Dumbledore didn't look away he stood and turned his back on him "I had better get going…"
"What?" Hermione frowned and then remembered that Harry had his occlumency lesson with Snape "oh, ok, we'll wait up for you"
He nodded and bent down to kiss Ginny before walking away from them, out of the Great Hall.
"Clear your mind, Potter" Snape snarled at him two hours later. Harry was holding himself up by leaning against the wall, he was panting and sweating. "Tell me, did you read that book?" Harry shook his head "I thought as much" he hissed "read it!"
"I haven't had time!" Harry protested; this was only partly true. The rest of the week hadn't been as relaxing as the first day; they had received a lot of homework which had kept them up until after midnight just so they could keep up with the popular, growing demand of essays and particularly hard charms they were being given daily.
"Rubbish!"
"It's true!"
Snape hissed at him "you read that book by this time next week, Potter or I will be giving you detention to ensure that it gets read! Now go!" He spat.
Harry didn't need telling twice, he grabbed his bag and hurried from the room, not out of fear but out of anger. He hated being shouted at, especially by Snape. Seething, he roamed the corridors absently until he bumped, headlong, into none other than Albus Dumbledore.
"Harry" Dumbledore smiled at him but received none in return. He frowned a little "what's on your mind Harry?"
"Nothing sir" Harry replied a little more fierce than he had meant. He looked away from his headmaster's piercing blue eyes and muttered "occlumency…"
Dumbledore sighed "would you like to accompany me to my office, Harry, so that we can discuss the real reason for your slight distaste toward me in private?"
Harry didn't want to but he sighed and nodded before following Dumbledore's slippered feet towards the stone gargoyles which had been expertly restored.
"Talk to me Harry" Dumbledore almost begged him once they were sitting comfortably in Dumbledore's large, circular study "tell me what is ailing you so that I can rectify my mistake"
He surveyed Dumbledore wearily for a moment before saying "and what makes you think that it is something to do with you, professor?"
"You body language and your attitude"
"Fine…" Harry almost shouted. He felt frustrated, pushed…cornered "it is you! You died professor; I believed that Snape had killed you. I went to your funeral and then you turn up here and act as though you haven't been gone a day!" Once he had started he couldn't stop "I did your bidding with no clues on how to find those horcruxes, we went for weeks without news, we were caught and almost killed. I spoke to your portrait!" He gestured up at where Dumbledore's portrait had been several months previously "I saw your body when you fell, Professor! Was that fake too?"
Dumbledore frowned and then sighed as he clasped his hands together "Harry…I am truly sorry but that is how it had to be. Voldemort had to believe that I was dead and in order for that to happen, so did everyone else" he stared at Harry's furious expression and then sighed again "I don't expect you to understand but I need you to. In order for you to accept it you need to understand"
"But, when I died…I saw you! I spoke to you and you said that you were dead!"
"That, that is something that I can not explain…not yet. It is something that I, myself haven't totally deciphered yet and I can't explain it until I understand"
"What about your guesses?" pressed Harry "they are usually pretty good!"
"I have a few ideas, yes, but I need to understand it fully before I can even imagine trying to enlighten you. Harry" he leant forward "my disappearance had to be realistic in order for-"
"Voldemort to understand, yes" Harry sighed impatiently "you said but I'm sorry, I don't understand why you couldn't tell me!"
"Lord Voldemort had access to your mind Harry. I couldn't tell you…"
"You lied to everyone! Where the hell did you even go?" His anger was rising again "were you in hiding because that is total bull-"
Dumbledore held up a hand "Harry, you will listen to me. I understand that you are angry and I understand that you are feeling pretty hostile toward me but it was necessary! I did what I did in order to protect you and everyone else here at Hogwarts. Do you really believe that I would just run away and leave my staff and students at such a crucial time? No! I am not a coward; I had that painting hung to instruct Severus Snape, to help and assist you and to keep track of you. Yes Severus did believe that I was dead"
"How?" Harry spluttered "how on earth did you do it? You fooled everyone!"
"It wasn't easy" He admitted "it took a lot of magic I have never used before. I did fall from the tower but the curse that should have killed me, didn't because I, like you, chose to die and that, Harry, made all the difference"
"But your body…at the bottom of the tower…I saw you, I cried over you!"
Dumbledore looked down, in shame apparently "yes, that was me. It wasn't difficult to make it look like I was broken but it was painful. After Hagrid moved me, I swapped my body with a doppelganger. A look alike dummy I had created to ensure a realistic death. It mirrored me in height, weight and appearance"
Harry blinked at him "but that…couldn't you just transfigure something to look like you, I mean…a double…" Harry snorted and glared at the portraits of the 'sleeping' old professors at Hogwarts. "And then there's that wand! You left it there for him to get it. You knew that he was after it and you left it there for Voldemort to steal!"
"I was hoping" Dumbledore said slowly "that Miss Granger would figure out the clue that I left for her, so that you could get to the wand before Voldemort"
"And you really think that I would have broken into your tomb and stare into your cold, dead face?"
Albus shook his head "no, I don't think so but Harry, we all do things to ensure others safety, I just hope…in time that you forgive me."
He looked weary and it was because of that, that Harry relented. "Ok…I'm sorry professor…it's just, I spent so much time with you before you died…why couldn't you have clued me in about the hallows?"
"What's done is done and I can't change my decisions, as much as I would like to. I am sure that we all have done something in the past that we wish we could change. I'm not asking for acceptance Harry, I just need you to understand"
Harry nodded "I understand, sir."
"Good" Dumbledore smiled at him "and now, I will bid you goodnight. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, Harry before you are forced to give up your leisure time."
Harry stood "goodnight sir" and sent him a little smile before he left the office feeling a little more happier than he had done twenty minutes ago.
