AN: First of all, I am sorry that I have been away for so long. At first it started off with me losing internet for over a month. It was followed by my flash drive where I store my writing breaking and me losing my work. It was followed by spending all of my free time with a new girlfriend, which was followed by getting a shoulder/back injury at work. Needless to say...life happened, and it still is to a large point. However, I am writing when I find the time and energy. I tried to re-familiarize myself with my current writing as much as I could before writing this chapter, but if you spot any inconsistencies, please let me know.
Disclaimer: As usual, JK Rowling still owns this, and I do not.
"He found out!" Daphne asked, her hand flying to cover her mouth. "How? What's going to happen now?"
"Unfortunately." I sighed. "I have my first 'meeting' with him in a few minutes and I want you to come with me."
"Of course I will Harry." she smiled. "Explain to me what happened on the way?"
I began telling her what all had happened during my visit to Dumbledore's office as we set off towards his office.
"And then he said that he was going to help me create a pensieve and even let me have the memories that I need once we have them converted to my memory frequency." I finished as we neared Dumbledore's office.
"So he is going to let you sacrifice Black?" she asked skeptically.
"Well, he definitely seemed as if he would try to find another way." I told her. "However, I have leverage over him with the prophecy so he is pretty much stuck helping me to make sure I come through with my end of it."
"Do you really think it is real?" Daphne asked. "The prophecy?"
"Well...I'm not 100% sure." I replied after a moment of thinking. "If it is or not may be irrelevant. At the end of first year, Voldemort mentioned the prophecy. It seems that perhaps he does believe it to be real so he will likely still be coming for me even if it isn't."
"And he didn't press for details of what you had been up too?" she asked curiously.
"It was a bit strange, but he wasn't willing to take a vow so perhaps he either knew I wouldn't have told him anyway or perhaps ignorance is bliss to him?" I had wondered the same thing myself over the last few days. "Of course, Dumbledore thinks the best from everyone and perhaps he really just believed that I hadn't done anything truly bad and felt that pressing for information would cause more harm than good?"
We had made it to the stone gargoyle that guarded the headmasters office, which ended our conversation as I gave the password and we made our way up the spiral staircase.
"Come in!" came a tired call from the other side of the door. "Ahh, Harry! Miss Greengrass! Yes, come in! Have a seat!"
Dumbledore seemed to perk up when we entered, but I could still see the tired lines below his eyes that spoke of him being extremely busy recently.
"You look tired, Albus." I stated, cheekily using his first name as he had done with me.
"You have left me with much work to do my boy." Dumbledore smiled, clearly not phased by my informal address.
"And how has that gone?" I asked curiously.
"Slow I'm afraid." he sighed. "But we do have time. Which is why we are here today. I believe we have a pensieve to build, yes?"
"Indeed." I mused. "The sooner we get started, the better."
"You are correct of course." Dumbledore stood from behind his desk and went off to the side to gather the supplies he had gathered for the task. "I am sure you are most anxious to help your companion as much as I would like to see the true end of Tom's terror."
Dumbledore set down a plain stone basin that was lined with what appeared to be pure silver.
"What do we need to do first?" I asked him as he pulled out his wand.
"First, we will start with a completely unblemished stone basin, which I have provided myself." he replied, pointing to said basin. "We shall need to set up a protected area around it that will keep unwanted outside magical interferences from ruining it. The only magic allowed around the pensieve during its creation is that of its future owner. This means you will be doing most of the heavy lifting I'm afraid."
Dumbledore went through the explanations of what I needed to do to set up the ward around the stone basin, which we had moved to a workbench that he had set off to the side where we would be doing our project. It took only fifteen minutes before I had the ward in place.
"Now that we have that taken care of," Dumbledore began. "We will need to start drawing out and tweaking several very difficult runic seals that will eventually need to be carved into the basin and charged with your magic. That will come later as we need to make sure the runic array's are tweaked to fit you and they must be done correctly."
He was correct. Although, while the runic array's were complicated, they weren't any more difficult than the runes I had been dealing with in my studies of the diary. Where the challenging part came in is that they had to be 'tuned' specifically to me, and as I had little experience in Arithmancy, Albus had to keep walking me through them. It took nearly four hours before he finally declared my job finished.
"Excellent job, my boy!" Albus cheered as I set my quill down with a tired sigh. "We will leave this for now. Next week we will have you carve them into the basin and move onto the next phase."
Professor Lupin wasn't there when we arrived at his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. I had been looking forward to his class since he had drove off the dementor on the train, and was hoping to learn how exactly he did it.
The class all sat down and started talking while we waited for him to arrive. With nothing else to do I turned to talk to Wayne.
"I wonder if he will be any better than Quirrell and Lockhart?" Wayne was asking Susan Bones when I turned around.
"If he doesn't stutter and knows how to cast just a single spell he should be better." Susan giggled. "I can't believe how bad our past teachers have been."
"I just hope we don't have to take another test asking what his favorite food or the best color for socks are." Wayne laughed.
"Lockhart wasn't completely useless." I smiled, knowing that outside of him teaching me Obliviation, he really was. "Comic relief is so hard to find these days."
Wayne and Susan started laughing.
'I wonder if Lupin will meet the same end as those two?' Violet chimed in.
'True, it hasn't been the best run of luck for Defense Professors has it?' I chuckled.
'Too bad Snape doesn't get the position.' Violet smirked. 'Greasy git needs to go.'
'It isn't Snape's fault that we lowly students need to breath, Vi.' I smiled. 'I feel it only fair that we lose house points because of it!'
Violet started laughing, remembering how I had indeed lost Hufflepuff ten points for breathing too loudly in my first potions class of the new year. Of course, the other twenty I lost because I started breathing even louder may have been earned.
We were broken from our conversation when Lupin finally entered the room. He smiled vaguely and placed his tatty old briefcase on the teacher's desk. He was as shabby as ever but looked healthier than he had on the train, as though he had had a few square meals.
"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back into your bags. Today's lesson will be practical. You will need only your wands."
A few curious looks were exchanged as the class put away their books. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts class before, the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's had only had that experience when Lockhart had released a cage full of pixies loose to disastrous effect.
"Right then," said Professor Lupin, when everyone was ready. "If you'd follow me."
Puzzled but interested, the class got to its feet and followed Professor Lupin out of the classroom. He led them along the deserted corridor and around a corner, where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist. He was currently trying to pry a painting loose from the wall.
Peeves didn't look up until Professor Lupin was merely feet away.
"Care for a repeat of yesterday, Peeves?" Lupin asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Peeves to blow a raspberry and fly through the ceiling, abandoning the portrait.
'Wonder what he did to make Peeves fearful of him?' Violet asked curiously.
'No idea.' I told her as we set off again.
He led us down a second corridor and stopped, right outside of the staffroom door.
"Inside, please." said Lupin, opening the door and standing back.
The staffroom, a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs, and was empty.
"Now, then." said Lupin, beckoning the class toward the end of the room, shutting the door behind him. There was nothing but an old wardrobe where the teachers kept their spare robes. As Professor Lupin went to stand next to it, the wardrobe gave a sudden wobble, banging off the wall.
"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin calmly as a few people had jumped backward in alarm. "There's only a boggart in there."
Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Hannah Abbott gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, and Justin Finch-Fletchly eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively.
"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks...I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in two days ago, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice."
"So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a boggart?"
Susan put her hand up.
"It's a shape-shifter," she said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most."
"Absolutely correct, Miss Bones." said Professor Lupin. "So the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody, outside of perhaps Auror Moody, knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears."
"This means," Professor Lupin continued, "that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"
"Because there are so many of us, it will not know what shape it should be?"
"Precisely," he smiled. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused. What should he become? A headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a boggart make that very mistake. He tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into a half slug. Not remotely frightening.
The charm that repels a boggart is simple, yet requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please...Riddikulus!"
"Riddikulus!" said the class together.
"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part. You see, the words alone are not enough, you will have to visualize the transformation. Now, lets all line up shall we?"
The wardrobe shook again, as the class all lined up. I had Wayne directly in front of me.
"Before we begin, I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical..."
The room went quiet. I couldn't help but think about what exactly my own boggart would look like. The thought of Voldemort first popped into my head, but it was dismissed as the thought of the dementor returned to my mind. I wasn't convinced that the dementor would be it either. Granted, they were fearsome I had still survived it thanks to Violet. Violet! Thoughts of something happening to her started to creep into my mind and suddenly I wasn't quite looking forward to my turn any longer.
"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.
I felt a small lurch of worry, not feeling entirely ready for what I feared I would see.
"Padma, we're going to back away," the professor spoke again to the nervous looking Ravenclaw who looked as if she didn't like being first in line. "Let you have the clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward...Everyone back, now, so Padma can get a clear shot."
The class retreated, backed against the walls, leaving Padma alone beside the wardrobe. She looked pale and frightened, but she was still holding her wand ready.
"On the count of three." said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One, two...three!"
A jet of sparks shot from the end of his wand and hit the doorknob and the door burst open. I barely even noticed the extremely large snake that slithered out of the cupboard. I was furiously trying to think of what I was going to do when it was my turn. I was almost positive that it would involve something happening to Violet, but nobody knew who she was and would undoubtedly raise an eyebrow or two.
Finally it was my turn to go next. Lupin looked like was hesitant when he turned towards me, as if he might not let me have a turn, but said nothing in the end. With an outward calm, that I was in no way feeling on the inside, I took a step forward and towards the boggart. Time almost seemed to slow down as the dragon-boggart stopped hopping around like a bunny and made eye contact with me, instantly starting to shift its features to match my fears.
The boggart started to morph and swirl, growing small and lower towards the ground, before transforming into two shapes laying on the ground. It took me a second to overcome the shock of there being two shapes instead of one. I could have almost expected to see Violet sprawled out on the ground, her lifeless amethyst eyes staring blankly back at me. What I honestly didn't expect was to see was Daphne's blond hair and lifeless icy-blue eyes laying beside her. I was so caught off guard that I forgot I was in a class surrounded by other students as I pondered this.
I had already known that Daphne was an important person in my life, it being even more reinforced after I talk after the incident in the chamber. I hadn't counted on the fact that she had become almost just as important in my life as Violet. It was a confusing situation that I knew was going to cause me quite a few headaches in the future. I decided that the future was the best place for this new information and I pushed it to the back of my mind as Lupin came and took care of the boggart locking it back into the cupboard.
I just snapped back to reality as Lupin addressed me to stay behind, having already dismissed the rest of the class seconds before.
"You wished to see me, professor?" I asked the moment the last student had left the teachers lounge.
"Yes, yes. Not to worry Harry, your not in any trouble." the graying man smiled. "I merely wanted to see how you were holding up after the incident on the train."
"Thank you for your concern, professor." I nodded to him, remembering that I had wanted to talk to him about the train incident to begin with. "I was hoping, actually, that you might be able to teach me the spell you used on the train to drive the dementor off?"
"The Patronus Charm." the defense professor answered. "Sadly, witches and wizards twice your age are unable to use such a spell. It is very likely the hardest charm there is to learn."
I couldn't help the frown that sneaked its way on my face. I wasn't going to give up without at least a fight though. "Is there not anything you can do, professor?" I asked with a fake pleading in my voice. "You never know when another run in with a dementor could happen, and I would hate to be caught unaware."
Professor Lupin sighed before smiling wistfully. "I am sure you hear often how much like your father you appear. In that moment, however, you sounded so very much like Lily. Right down to the fake desperation and worse case excuse." Lupin smiled harder before shaking his head in disbelief before walking to an open desk and pulling out a quill and piece of parchment.
"Your mother also had a thirst for knowledge, and was quite talented in charms and potions as well." he said as he finished writing. "Take this note to the library and Madam Pince will be able to to retrieve the mentioned book from the restricted section for you. I ask you just to be careful practicing that spell. It can be quite draining at first."
"I will, thank you professor." I answered him with a large smile on my face. "Did you know my mother well?"
"Some." he smiled sadly. "It was your father I knew better. He was one of my best friends during school. It took me quite a while to get over their deaths."
I hadn't had a chance to talk much about my parents with anyone who knew them. Seeing the chance to ask a few of the questions that had been bugging me over the last couple years, I spoke. "Professor? If my parents were hiding from Voldemort, why didn't they just use themselves as the secret keeper?"
Professor Lupin was quiet for a few seconds, and I could have sworn I saw a small tear leak out from the corner of his eye before he answered softly. "Your father trusted Black with his life. In the end it wasn't just his that was taken. If you will excuse me Harry, I must go and prepare my next class."
I followed him from the teachers lounge with my thoughts on the new information I had received. From all I had read on the charm, it was common practice for those in hiding to not be the secret keeper of their own hiding place. After all, it makes it hard to contact them in case of an emergency if nobody is able to get into contact with them. But most people in history haven't had Voldemort after them. One of my parents could have been the secret keeper and given the location to someone like Dumbledore so that they could be found in an emergency.
I sighed, guess that those were answers that I wouldn't receive answers for until I met up with my parents again one day in the future. Besides I had bigger things to worry about short term anyhow. Like my upcoming date with Daphne that I had been forced to schedule on Halloween, lest she have my head.
'At least you know the most important thing in life, Harry.' Violet chuckled. 'Keeping a woman happy!'
'More like most impossible thing in life.' I muttered with a small smirk as Violet laughed.
It hadn't taken long for Halloween I manage its way along. It was almost hard to believe that two months had almost passed by so far. My lessons with Dumbledore continued on weekly, progress on my pensive having made significant leaps and bounds.
It had taken over a month to carve each of the runic seals on the inside of the basin, each one having to be perfectly drawn into the surface. I shuddered to think how long it would take to do the outer seals as they were supposedly harder than the inner ones to do. Thankfully, we still had almost three months until the inside was finished being attuned. The basin had to be charged with my magic and then the inside coated with a mixture of one of my memories combined with pixie dust to make a thin, almost slimy paste that coated the inside.
It would be near the end of January before that process was complete. Albus, as he had insisted I call him while alone, had insisted we use the wait time to learn more about the diary. He was teaching and showing me all of the different runes and enchantments placed on the diary and the many different ways they could be used. I figured I would easily be able to understand and break apart the whole thing by the time January came around and it was time to extract the memories.
My progress with the Patronus Charm hadn't been going quite so well, until recently. The book stated that I had to think of happy memories while doing the spell, but even when throwing twice the needed power into the spell, I could only ever get a white mist to come out of my wand, and that was without the effects of a dementor in front of me.
It had been a frustrating month and a half of this until Violet had a breakthrough. It was one that was so simple that I had almost face-palmed myself when she mentioned it. I was a trained Occlumens, if I couldn't think of a happy enough memory then I could just fake it. I had long since gained control over my emotions, and I could easily make myself feel an emotion as I could block them out. Creating a very happy emotion was rather simple and soon I was able to create a strong shield out of the mist.
The book had said that the final product of the Patronus Charm would take shape of an animal and act as a guardian. I knew there was some connection to the spell I was missing and I knew that my pronunciation, wand movements, and power were all perfect for it. The missing link had to be in the emotion. I had only came to this conclusion a few days ago and have yet to find time to try it out.
However, today was to be all about Daphne. She had left enough subtle hints that even I could tell that she was looking forward to some time away from the castle with just the two of us, and wanted it to be special. Romance has never been the pinnacle of my life but from what I was told, Hogsmeade didn't have what I was looking for. The closest they had was Madam Puddifoot's, and I knew Daphne would kill me before she entered such a place.
I knew there were tons of abandoned rooms around the castle that I could prepare a nice dinner for just the two of us, but I needed some help coordinating and cleaning. So that's why I was headed down to the kitchens to see if I could get some help from the elves. The entrance to the kitchens weren't very far from the Hufflepuff common room and a quick tickle to the pear in the bowl of fruit and I was in.
There were dozens of the tiny elves running around, perhaps even over a hundred. They appeared to be cleaning up from breakfast still..until they spotted me that is. No sooner than when the first elf spotted me did I have a dozen of the little buggers surrounding me begging to help me.
'It's almost like a hoard of rabid fan girls!' Violet cackled.
I snorted. 'At least these ones cook and clean. The fan girls just giggle and squeal all of the time.'
'I don't know how Longbottom puts up with it all of the time.' Violet asked, disgust filling her voice at the thought of fangirls.
'I'd rather it be him than me.' I smirked. 'I have enough fangirls of my own. There is this one that loved me so much, she got herself stuck in my head.'
'Yeah, but you love that fangirl.' Violet narrowed her eyes playfully. 'Or else..'
'Of course, of course.' I placated her. 'Why else would I have let you stick around so long?'
'Because you don't know how to get rid of me.' she said triumphantly.
'Like I would ever even try.' I rolled my eyes. 'I should probably get back to the elves, I think one might have started to hump my leg.'
I ignored Violets snort as I turned my attention back to the little creatures that had me surrounded. I had to peel one of the off of my leg who had definitely been humping my leg...or just jumping up and down excitedly. Honestly, it was too close of a call for me to take any chances.
"I have a special date tonight, and I need some help preparing a private dinner for the two of us." I told the little critters, getting them to finally settle down as they listened in. "I need a quiet place where we won't be disturbed, and it also has to be clean and romantic looking. I will also need food. Can you guys help me set this up?"
"What is this place?" Daphne asked in awe, as I opened the door. Inside was a dimly lit room with soft music playing. There was a small table meant for two in the middle with candles lining the room. There was a soft fire burning in a fireplace and the large window that somehow existed, was showing the nighttime skyline of Paris.
"The elves call it the Come and Go Room." I told her, still slightly upset about the weird stain I found on my trouser leg once I had left the kitchens. "Apparently it can take the shape or form of anything you want it to be...within reason of course. The elves have used it to store all of the lost items they find around the school over the years."
"It's amazing!" she replied in awe. "I wonder what kind of things could have been stored in there over the last thousand years."
"There could be books rare enough to get even Weasley to read." I mused, causing Daphne to raise an eyebrow at me.
"Let's not get too carried away." she smirked. "I'm not sure he even know how to read yet."
"I have us a nice dinner planned with some cuddling time afterward. Perhaps we could spend that time talking about anyone other than Weasley?" I laughed.
She grimaced before smirking. "Since you went through all the trouble to set this up, I won't even mention how it was you who brought him up."
I grinned at her before steering her towards the table, glad to be away from the rest of the school. They were all downstairs celebrating the death of Voldemort. I was upstairs keeping myself from mourning the loss of my parents by spending the evening with the two people I cared more about than any others.
Of course, even the best things in life must come to an end. Our snogging time on the comfortable black leather sofa was no different. It ended when a frightened little house elf popped in with a message.
"Headmaster Dumbiedore and rest of teachers be looking for you's" the frightened little thing squeaked out. "They be saying that bad man Black be breaking into the castle and all students be spending the night in the great hall, sir."
I frowned. 'So Sirius Black has broken in.'
'You think that perhaps he really is looking for you or Longbottom?' Violet asked.
'It seems to be more likely than it did yesterday.' I admitted before turning to the nervous little elf.
"What is your name?" I asked.
"I is Twink, sir!" the she replied.
I cast a quick glance at a nervous looking Daphne. It was highly doubtful that Black was still in the castle, but even on the small chance he was I wouldn't take a chance of getting Daphne hurt.
"Twink, could you please inform Albus where we are, and that we are safe and will remain here for the rest of the night?" I asked the elf. I knew that Snape would have an aneurism when he heard, but I knew Dumbledore would just let it slide without any serious punishment.
"Yes, sir!" the little elf squeaked. "You's be staying inside and have room lock the door!" she demanded.
"Of course." I chuckled as the little elf popped away.
"Was this all part of your elaborate plan to get me to spend the night with you?" Daphne smirked, arching an eyebrow at me.
"Would it work if I were to try it in the future?" I joked with a grin.
"That depends on how much I enjoy it." Daphne smiled as she grabbed my hand, a large comfortable bed appeared in the corner. "Now come on, I wasn't finished snogging you!"
AN: I don't plan on more than 3-4 chapter or so until 3rd year at Hogwarts is over, 5 at the most. I already have the general idea of the encounter between Harry and Sirius and I must say, I am very much looking forward too it. I know I have been out of writing for a few months now, so I apologize if it shows in this chapter. If you see any mistakes or errors, please let me know and I will do my best to go back and change it. I seriously doubt my next chapter will take as long as this one did, but I still expect it to be a couple weeks. As always, please review as I do enjoy reading each and every one of them. Until next time, thanks for reading!