Dear readers,
First of all, I would like to apologize for taking so long to finally update. It has been ages – I know, but my life was quite crazy these past months. I will try and get back to a more regular updating schedule but "Muggle life" has to come first.
In this chapter, we will see the first memory scene. My beta has convinced me to always give you a paraphrasing of the scene but then move on quickly to my own parts of this story. If I change something in the memory it will obviously be in the chapter. Other than that, I will always give you the chapter and book for reference where you can read up the original, if you are interested in doing so.
The complete memory scene from Bob Ogden can be found in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince chapter 10.
Hope you enjoy this chapter, as we finally move forward plot-wise. From now on the story will move on more quickly as the basics are set, so prepare for the ride
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"The first memory I want you to see is one I got from Bob Ogden, a minister official back in his time."
Dumbledore got up and retrieved a small flask from a drawer behind his desk. Harry could see the silvery mist of the memory, that was concealed in the flask, swirling around slowly. He glanced back down at the pensieve a bit warily. He remembered his last trip inside where he had learnt far more than he had wished for. Sighing slightly, he looked back up at Dumbledore who looked at him intently.
"You seem a bit tense, Harry." The headmaster commented lightly whilst his gaze was still intently on Harry.
"Umm." Harry started eyeing the pensieve again.
"I see." Dumbledore nodded and smiled. "This is a whole new experience for you. It is, after all, the first time you are going to see a memory with permission." Dumbledore chuckled and his eyes showed the familiar twinkling. He then poured the memory into the pensieve and gestured to Harry to go first. "Be my guest." Was the last Harry heard.
Harry himself thought that the headmaster had had way too much fun with teasing him. But then again, that was Dumbledore. He remembered Percy telling him in his first year that Dumbledore was highly intelligent and definitely a bit crazy.
Harry leaned forward touching the liquid with his nose and took one last breath before letting himself get sucked into the memory. He felt his feet leaving the office floor and seconds after that touching new ground again. Before he could organize his thoughts Dumbledore appeared next to him. Dumbledore signalled Harry to follow the man in the strangest mix of muggle clothing Harry had ever seen. That man had to be Ogden since there wasn't anyone else around. In fact, there was nothing around. They were standing on a path that according to the road sign led to the town 'Big Hangleton' and in the other direction to 'Little Hangleton'. Ogden started walking in the direction of 'Little Hangleton' which was supposed to be one mile away. Harry and Dumbledore followed suit.
After they had been walking for a while Harry turned towards Dumbledore: "Sir? Why did Ogden not apparate closer to his destination?"
"Oh you see Harry, as it is considered rude to kick the front door in within muggle communities it is considered rather rude to just apparate on someone's doorstep."
"But I have seen people from the Order apparate directly in front of the house" Harry replied, deliberately not mentioning 12 Grimauld Place by name.
"Well that is a bit different, you see. People from the Order can only get into headquarters if they are let into the secret of the exact destination of their travels and therefore it would be much saver if they apparate as closely as possible. So no one can track them down to headquarters."
"Wouldn't it be saver then to just apparate directly into the house?"
"You might think that but then it would be possible for others to also just apparate into the house. And that is why most wizards have anti-apparition-wards around their properties."
Harry nodded. While they had had their talk Ogden had continued walking down the path which now had dropped into a steep hill. In the distance Harry could see what had to be 'Little Hangleton' with its church and graveyard and a big manor sitting on the other side of the city. Ogden continued downhill but then took a turn into a small walkway that led to a very well hidden hut.
Harry and Dumbledore watched on as Ogden had his first encounter with Morphin, who had spoken Parseltongue the whole time. They then followed Ogden into the house to meet Gaunt's daughter Merope. Gaunt had then proceeded by showing off to Ogden by presenting a ring and a locket, who he claimed had belonged to Salazar Slytherin. The fighting in the Gaunt family had then gotten out of hand when two muggles had passed the hut on horses. One of the muggles introduced as Tom Riddle, the wealthy son of the Riddle family, that lived in the mansion in Little Hangleton. Ogden then fled the scene to get backup as Harry and Dumbledore made their way back to the circular office.
Dumbledore put the memory back in its flask while Harry sat back down to process everything he had just seen.
"Now Harry, what do you think?" Dumbledore asked him while taking his seat behind his desk.
"Those were Voldemort's relatives, right?" Harry asked still trying to organize his thoughts. Dumbledore nodded and smiled. "So the old Gaunt was Voldemort's grandfather and the daughter was his mother. But she died. Voldemort said that is why he always thought she had been a muggle. But Merope was a squib…" Harry trailed off.
"So far you are correct in most points, although I think, and Harry bear in mind that these are just assumptions and wild guess work as we do not have facts to deal with, but I am fairly certain that Merope wasn't a squib at all. I merely think that she was not able to show her true skills with her father around."
"But how did she get together with Tom Riddle? That was the man on the horse, right? He didn't seem interested in her at all."
"Yes, Tom Riddle sr. was present and he didn't care for Merope in the slightest. But couldn't you think of something a wizard or witch could use to make someone fall in love with a person they didn't care for before?"
"She used a love potion." Harry said slowly while the conclusion hit him.
"Precisely what I think. You see, after we left the scene Ogden hurried to the ministry and came back with a team of Aurors for backup. They arrested both Marvolo and Morphin Gaunt and Merope was left with the hut and her dreams. She had a lot of free time now that her father and brother weren't there and I am rather positive that it wasn't difficult to convince Tom Riddle to take a drink from her on a warm and sunny day."
"But Tom Riddle left Merope before Voldemort was born. What happened?"
"Ah I assume that Merope didn't like the fact that she had to drug her husband and maybe hoped that he had changed his heart now that he lived with her. So she stopped giving him the potion and Tom Riddle woke up from the daze he had been under and fled. It was a rumour in Little Hangleton that Tom Riddle had reappeared after running off with that tramp girl saying that he had been under drugs and couldn't remember anything."
Harry thought this over for a while. Merope seemed way too civil to be the mother of a creature like Voldemort was, but then again Tom Riddle sr. didn't exactly seem like an evil character either. Though Harry admittedly hadn't seen much of him.
"Now, Harry, I want to bring your attention to some of the finer details. Firstly, you will have realized that all the Gaunts where Parselmouths. A talent that Voldemort has inherited."
"Sir? Is it true then that Voldemort is the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin or was Gaunt just boasting?"
"Yes, that is true. And I am very glad you bring that up. As you will have undoubtedly realized Voldemort is quite proud of the fact that he is Slytherins heir and has always had an unusual tight connection with Hogwarts. Much like you yourself I imagine." Dumbledore gave Harry a warm smile which Harry could only answer with a confused look.
"You see, with Voldemort being an orphan, he always saw Hogwarts as his real home. Something I am sure you can at least sympathize with. And since he is the last of the Slytherin line that bond was something quite special. I am quite sure Voldemort thought he knew more about Hogwarts than anyone else."
"He did find the chamber of secrets." Harry pointed out.
"Yes indeed, but we both know Hogwarts has far more secrets than Slytherin's secret chamber. But back to the memory. As you will have seen there were two objects shoved under Odgen's eyes. Two objects that are very important, I think. Can you remember them?"
"The first one was a ring," Harry said hesitantly, trying to recall the objects. "And that was important because it had the crest of the.." he fell quiet for a second, trying to remember the name. "Peverells? I think that was the name. It had this sign with a circle within a triangle. And the other one was Slytherins locket, with which he almost strangled his daughter." Harry had remarked that last part bitterly.
"Quite right. The ring is a relic of a very old magical family called Peverells. They were three brothers which were known for their magical abilities. And that indeed was the Peverells sign you correctly spotted on the stone of the ring. And the locket indeed had Slytherins crest on it and therefore we can safely assume it is a relic from Salazar himself. Now I want you to keep those two objects in mind as I think they will become more important within due time."
"It's funny. I feel like I have seen this locket before. I just can't place where."
Dumbledore looked up sharply. "Harry, if you remember, please come straight to me. This is very important information!"
"Yes, sir. I will. Though would you tell me why?" Harry asked slightly puzzled with all the attention he was getting from Dumbledore.
"I will Harry, but not yet. We will need a couple of more memories to get there. But I think this was quite enough for now."
Harry nodded, knowing there was no point in pressing Dumbledore for more information.
"Now I suggest you will get back to your studies. I want you to read the next chapter in the book on spell creation and give you some time to polish that essay for Professor Snape. I dare say it must be getting pretty good by how much time you have spent with it." Dumbledore gave him a twinkling smile.
Harry got up and left Dumbledore's office. He went to his own room, where the sun shone at his desk from both the sun outside as well as the sun from the magic ceiling. He sat down and finalised his essay for Snape, leaving the easier part of reading for later. But before he started working again he thought about the odd lesson he had just had. That memory certainly had been interesting but he still failed to see how he would need that information. Obviously, the objects would play a bigger part or Dumbledore wouldn't have pointed them out as much as he had.
/-/
Harry finally deemed his essay finished and got up from his desk and stretched his sore muscles. He yawned and then gazed out of the window. The sun was still high up in the sky and a look on his watch confirmed that it was still early. He picked up the book on spell creation and made his way towards the living room. Dumbledore still seemed to be in his office for he was nowhere to be seen. Harry stood in the living room a bit uncertainly and the decided to go down to the office.
Making his way down he could suddenly hear voices coming from the office. A little curious he stopped to hear who Dumbledore was talking with. He could hear the headmaster's calming voice.
"Severus. Have you got any news?"
Harry way about to leave then because he really didn't want to find things out by eavesdropping on Dumbledore. He had to trust the old wizard that he would tell him everything that was important. But Snape's reply startled him and instead of going back up the stairs he inched closer to the door.
"Yes, there was a most peculiar meeting today with Mrs Malfoy. But before we go into this business I wanted to talk about the boy."
Harry was sure that with 'the boy' Snape was referring to him and so his curiosity won the best over him and he stayed to listen to the conversation that unfolded.
"What about Harry? Surely you remember our agreement, Severus?"
"Indeed, headmaster. But I can't do this. I tried but I just can't coddle the boy like you want me to do."
"Coddle, Severus? I don't remember telling you to coddle Harry. I clearly remember asking you to give him a real chance and to treat him like a human being. And as what I have heard from Harry is true, you have done that. So I will thank you once more for your services."
"I tried to be nice to him on his first day but I snapped today and I am sure Potter will complain to you shortly if he hasn't done so yet. And really headmaster why can't you get someone else to train him?"
"Severus." The headmaster sounded quite tired but his voice was firm and it was clear that he would not change his mind. "As I have told you before I don't have anyone else to teach Harry. Especially not anyone else with such a profound knowledge about death eater tactics or the dark arts. And I may be old but I am not deluded into thinking that you and Harry will become friends over this. I just asked you to see him for what he is. And yes, the boy is the son of James Potter, something that is far from his control may I add, but he is also the son of Lily Potter - your best friend. So, look beside Harry's physical appearance and try to see his heart. Because you will then see that he may look like James but he acts and thinks like Lily."
A deep growl was heard and a whispered "Don't you dare!" that Harry barely made out.
"And you of all people should be able to see Lily's determination, friendliness, courage and love in him. And as I said before, Harry has not complained about your treatment. In fact, I think he enjoyed these past two days immensely and the work he has put into the essay you set him might just rival Ms Grangers determination to get a perfect grade. So, Severus, all I ask of you is to give the boy a real chance at winning this war. A war that you want to be over as much as anyone, I am sure of. So don't try to be too harsh to him, but I never expected you to be overly nice either. I would certainly love the two of you getting along but even I am not foolish enough to hope for this. So just treat him like you would one of your Slytherins."
"He is not one of my Slytherins!"
"The sorting hat may just disagree with you there." Commented Dumbledore lightly.
"Are you saying…" Snape's voice trailed off.
"Now Severus, will you be able to continue Harry's training as planned?"
Harry couldn't make out the next part but Snape seemed to have agreed as Dumbledore continued.
"So back to the more interesting topic at hand. You said you had a most curios meeting with Mrs Malfoy?" The rest of the conversation was silenced as either Dumbledore or Snape had put up further wards to avoid the sensible information to get out in any way.
Harry quietly stole back up the stairs and made his way back to his room where he flopped back on his bed. He couldn't believe what he just heard. Snape and his mother had been friends?! Snape a bitter death eater and his mum, who according to Dumbledore had been a loving person. There could not have been two people who were more contrary in their characters. He could not imagine anyone, less his mother, being friends with the greasy bat. He had known that his father had been horrible to Snape in their youth. Harry grimaced at the thought of the unfortunate memory he had witnessed in Snape's pensieve. He also remembered his mother defending Snape in front of the Marauders. Snape had called her a mudblood. Maybe that had ended their friendship, after all, his mother had not seemed too fond of Snape after that incident. And who could blame her? Harry would not want to be friends with anyone who called Hermione that.
Harry rolled over on his side. He still couldn't understand why his mother would be friends with a death eater in the first place. Unless… Snape probably hadn't been a death eater before he had finished school. After all, even Voldemort would not be desperate enough for followers to let school kids join him. Then again, Voldemort was not exactly someone who could be claimed a rational mind.
Harry's mind drifted back to the memory he had seen with Dumbledore this afternoon. Voldemort had had a quite insane grandfather and uncle. But his mother on the other side seemed almost unreasonably sane. He still wasn't completely sure what to make of this memory but it definitely had been interesting to say the least.
He remained lying on his bed for a while longer until he finally forced himself to get up and starting to read the next chapter in his book on spell creation. Just by reading into the first couple of chapters he had gotten a better impression on how magic worked. He had always known that the ability to perform magic was within the person and therefore the wand was just a tool to make spell casting easier. But technically you could perform any magic without a wand, wand movements or spell incantations. But that needed a lot more concentration and determination than using a wand. Or as could be seen with young children a life-threatening situation or something similar that would create an immense outburst of anger or fear.
/-/
Harry was pulled out of his reading by a knock on his door. Dumbledore entered and smiled at him.
"Harry, you have finished your essay, I assume."
Harry nodded.
"Well done! Unfortunately, I am here to inform you that you will be alone for dinner as there has been an important order meeting scheduled and I have to get some things prepared before I leave. I hope you don't mind too much. That will also mean I can drop off your letters to the Weasleys. I have told Dobby to bring you some dinner in about half an hour and I expect you to eat as much as you can. Also, and I am sure I don't have to impress on you why: Please stay within these quarters during my absence. I don't want you to wander around Hogwarts."
After Dumbledore had left, Harry had some dinner and then went back to his room. He felt slightly annoyed to be once more left alone in the quarters. But then again, Dumbledore was the leader of the order and an overall busy man, so it was not that surprising that he would have to leave him every once and a while. He was also quite nervous what his friends would say. He missed them a lot and he was sure Hermione would berate him to no end of how stupid running away had been.
Not being in the mood to read any more, he just sat down in front of the window and looked over the grounds. Funny how now he really wanted to be outside that it had been denied to him. He didn't want to end on Dumbledore's bad side the first time the man left him alone so he just remained gazing outside.
As he watched the sun go down he was so lost in thought about everything and nothing. For the first time in years he just contemplated about his life and choices he had made. He wondered if he would survive the upcoming war and if he would have to see friends die. He considered the possibility of what he would really do if he indeed won the war. Would he still want to become an Auror after that? After all, he could just go into professional Quidditch. Or a curse breaker. He then thought about Ron and Hermione, his two best friends that were most certainly going to be a couple soon. Although if Ron continued to be this ignorant it could also take ages. And who would he have to share the rest of his life with? He couldn't picture anyone, nor did he know of anyone who had any interest in him besides his fame. There was always Ron's sister but even she seemed to have lost interest.
His thoughts then wandered to his earlier childhood, the time before he knew about Hogwarts, Dark Lords and magic in general. His time with his relatives. What would happen to them? Would Dudley really become the boxing champ he was training for?
He pushed that thought aside and then focused back on the upcoming war. He didn't want anyone to die for something that he could end. But then again wars were not called wars because the two sides just met and talked about their differences. Harry grimaced. Losing Sirius had already been enough for him. He couldn't even imaging losing anybody else to this stupid war. He really had to do his best and end it before worse happened. But he knew that also meant trusting Dumbledore, Snape, the order and his friends more than he had in the past. He swore to himself that he would make a real effort to be a better friend. He really cared a great deal for Ron and Hermione. Come to think of it, he cared a great deal for everyone who had joined the DA. Maybe he should really try and listen to the Sorting Hat and get the houses united. Actually, that would be his best shot for having strong supporters against Voldemort. He put another item on his to do list for the upcoming school year: reach out to as many students to get the houses reunited. Even Slytherins. Though that would be a hard one.
Harry took a deep breath and watched as the sky turned a brilliant shade of red. Feeling exhausted from all these heavy thoughts, he got up and ready for bed.