"Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die." – The Sandlot
The WoLf At BaY, Leigh, and Freckles Proudly Present Chapter 21:
Remembrance, Tribute to a Fallen Hero
A week after Hogwarts was attacked the mood around the castle was still somber. Teachers and students alike were quite, and reserved, most were contemplating what could drive a man to give his life for someone else's. Harry especially was thinking about it, as it was his life that had been saved. He desperately wanted to be able to know more about his rescuer, find out the details that he left out of his tail, who he really was, and what he had meant. There was only person he knew he could ask and get a straight answer out of, which was why he staying late after DADA today.
Albus Dumbledore was pacing his office, extremely glad that he had taken a vacation. He had just finished repairing his castle, with help from Minerva and Fillius, but it had still exhausted him, especially after having dueled Voldemort only a few days ago. It was becoming far too much for an old man to handle. He was extremely lucky that Jake had been in the castle, though Albus had no idea why he had been, because all of the teachers had been far too busy keeping the ceiling from crushing the students to stop Voldemort. If not for Jake, Hogwarts might have fallen that day, and everyone in it would have been killed. Albus collapsed into his chair, mentally preparing his speech for the memorial service, once again very glad that he had taken a vacation, as it seemed the war had come to welcome him home.
Harry sat in Sirius office, thinking to himself that he'd spent more time in this office than anyone else's over the years, except his first year. This year, it was decorated with pictures, as it had been in Lockhart's time, though they were pictures of Harry's parents, Remus, Sirius, a couple of Frank and Alice Longbottom, and even some of Harry. It made for a very relaxing atmosphere, for Harry anyway, he imagined that a Slytherin doing detention would be a little disturbed at having to look at pictures of Harry Potter.
"So you want to know about Jake huh?" asked Sirius.
"Oh, is that his name?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, but you, me, and Albus are just about the only ones who know that, he liked his privacy, after his fiancé died, and I had to practically blackmail him to get him here, he owed your Dad big time, and I asked him to pay it off by keeping an eye on you, glad I did."
"Well I want to know more about him, I mean I know he helped take down Grindelwald, and that he was taught by Dumbledore, worked in the States, but I want to know more." said Harry.
"Well he had a long time girlfriend, Kathryn, who didn't make it. They were a lot like you and Ginny, young, headstrong, and sickeningly in love. Jake was one of the best, he was trained personally by Dumbledore, and put his training to good use. Grindelwald didn't really have too many followers, not like the Death Eaters anyway. There were only around a dozen of them, but they were much worse than the Death Eaters. The Order was hard pressed to even stand up to them, let alone stop them, the rule was, if you ran into them, hide, and call Jake, he was the only one who was a match for them. Then things calmed down, Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a big duel, and then he, Grindelwald, and his friends disappeared. Everyone thought it was over, except for Jake and Dumbledore, Albus knew because he knew that he was the only one who could stop Grindelwald, and Jake knew because he trusted Dumbledore. Then Jake let his guard down, he started to believe that it might be over, he relaxed, and proposed to Kathryn, she accepted, Dumbledore was to be the best man, and they were all set to marry in August. "
"Their wedding was a slaughter, Grindelwald showed up with all of his friends, and started killing. The Order members who were there did what they could, but it wasn't much, they were mostly all killed. Dumbledore and Jake were up at the alter, with Kathryn, fighting like mad men. Then one of Grindelwald's men grabbed Dumbledore from behind and Port-Keyed out. Jake was disarmed, and forced to watch his bride raped and murdered by Grindelwald. I can't even imagine how much it must have hurt, because he exploded, literally a magical explosion, which killed four very powerful wizards, and damn near killed Grindelwald. That was how Albus was able to defeat him, Grindelwald was already hurt and weakened by the explosion, so when Albus got there, he managed to win. "
"About ten years later, Jake started to move on, he never even so much as looked at another woman, but he lived, at least a little. He moved to America, did his thing, and became the best of the best, he trained most the American Aurors, and me and your dad, and Moody, then he came here last year, when I asked him to. "
Sirius paused and sighed, before continuing on.
"Then he died defending you, and that's about all I know about him, which means that you and I know more about him than anyone else alive, except Dumbledore. I don't need to tell you to keep all of this to yourself, he didn't want people to know, and neither do I."
"I know," said Harry "I won't tell anyone."
Harry had tears in his eyes, and Sirius knew that he was thinking about the possibility of history repeating itself. He felt bad about telling Harry all of this, but this way would make it a little easier when he found out the Prophecy. Sirius only hoped he wouldn't brood over this too much.
"Harry, don't worry over this much, Grindelwald was a lot worse than Voldemort, imagine if every Death Eater that you know of was as strong as Voldemort is, and now imagine that the Order doesn't exist, and Hogwarts isn't a safe place to stay. It's not as bad as it was, but I won't lie to you, you are walking almost the same path that Jake did, but I promise you Harry, it won't end the way his did."
Harry just nodded solemnly, got up, and left the office. Sirius didn't try to stop his godson, he knew that Harry was going straight to Ginny, and was glad, because that was exactly the right thing for him to do. He only hoped that he was wrong about how close the two path's were, and that Harry didn't make the connection, regarding Ginny and Kathryn, that he had, all it would take would be a physical description of Kathryn, and the cat would be out of the bag with a vengeance.
Under different circumstances, Harry might have spent hours wandering the castle, thinking about what he had just learned, but instead, he went right to Ginny. She was in the Common Room, and almost seemed to be waiting for him. One look into Harry's eyes told her that something was wrong, and she got up and followed him back out outside, to their favorite spot out by the lake.
"Harry what's wrong?" asked Ginny.
Harry waited a few minutes before answering, considering his words. He had the same suspicions that Sirius did, although for different reasons, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to tell Ginny. In the end, he decided to tell her the truth.
"I talked with Sirius, and he told me a lot of things I didn't know, mostly about that guy who saved me, his name was Jake, by the way."
He told Ginny, everything that Sirius had just told him. He didn't leave out anything, he told her every detail he knew, including how Kathryn had died.
"And that's why your upset?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah, but more because of what happened to him, and the fact that I think, and Sirius agrees that almost the same thing is going to happen to me."
"What do you mean 'the same thing'?"
"Well he fell in love young, like I did, and he proposed to his fiancé, Grindelwald killed her on their wedding day." Harry choked, and couldn't go on, even thinking about what he was going to have to say next was difficult for him.
"And what does that have to do with you?" asked Ginny.
"It's… it's my worst fear. That that could happen to us, that I could lose you, that you would be hurt, I can't stand the thought of it."
"But Harry it isn't the same, we're still in school we're not out fighting Voldemort, the Order is, and one of these days Dumbledore is going to beat him, and you'll never have to worry about it."
"I don't think so. If Dumbledore could beat Voldemort he would have by now, I've watched them fight, and Dumbledore was only holding his own. Have you noticed how he sometimes misses meals? It's always after he fights Voldemort. I don't think that is their fight for long, there's a reason Voldemort keeps coming after me, and I think it's going to fall to me to fight him."
"And you're afraid he's going to kill me?" asked Ginny.
"I'm scared to death that he will." answered Harry.
His answer brought tears to her eyes, and she hugged him tightly wrapping her arms around him like she would never let go. He hugged her back, burying his face in her hair and crying like she had never seen him before. By the time he was done, it was nearly dark out.
"Harry, I can't promise that nothing bad will ever happen to us, but I will promise that I will always love you, and that I'll never leave you, and I will always be here for you, if you can promise me the same thing."
"Of course Ginny, its funny, up until last year I barely knew you, it seems like it only took me one night to fall in love with you."
"And I'm glad you finally got around to it, I was about to get desperate."
"I'm sorry I took so long Ginny, I wish we could have had three more years together, and I'm sorry that we have to be mixed up in this damn war."
"It's not your fault Harry, and don't worry too much about the war, we'll pull through, besides, we wouldn't be the people we are, and the people we are meant to become, without it."
"Have I told you lately how much I love you?" asked Harry.
"Yes, about five minutes ago actually, but I wouldn't mind hearing it again."
"I love you Ginny."
He kissed her, just as the last rays of sunshine faded. Ginny kissed him back, rather more passionately than she meant to, but she couldn't help herself.
"C'mon Ginny, we should go back inside." said Harry, several breathless minutes later.
They re-entered the castle together, clothes rumpled and hair tangled, and went straight to the Common Room. It was empty, because everyone was at dinner, and Ginny couldn't help herself, she jumped back on her boyfriend, kissing him vigorously. Harry kissed her back just as hard, and their tongues met in the middle. Harry's hands were on her back, her shirt pushed up to her ribs, and her hands were all the way under his, dragging her nails over his chest. Harry's lips moved moved down along her cheek and onto her neck, he was sucking the soft spot just under her ear, which he knew drove her wild.
Ginny's hips bucked against him as he nibbled gently, causing her to jump and shudder. She decided to pay him back for that, and pressed her hips and rear downward, wiggling in his lap. He shuddered in response, and kissed down her neck to her collar bone. Ginny let out a low moan, just in time for Ron and Hermione to hear, and see, as they walked through the portrait hole.
Hermione was smirking like a Cheshire cat, while Ron looked like he was about to be sick. Ginny was waiting for him to flip out, and was sufficiently shocked when he simply turned to look away, that she forgot to tell Harry that they had company. Hermione cleared her throat loudly, attracting both of her friend's attention.
Harry immediately ceased kissing her, and Ginny glared at her friend, ready to unleash the famous Weasley temper.
"Damn you both! What did you do, eat at the speed of light just so you could get back here in time to interrupt us? Dinner started five minutes ago!"
"Actually no, Ginny, we've been looking for you two for a bout three hours, and we were just sitting down to dinner when Ron remembered that we could check The Map, so we were coming up to get it, and well, that's where you come in."
Ron was still facing the wall, steadfastly not looking at any of the other three.
"Alright over there Ron?" called Harry.
"Oh yes, just Obliviating myself, is it safe to turn around so I can get Hermione to help?" he asked.
"Define safe." replied Harry.
"My sister's shirt is back on properly, and your un-liplocked."
"Give us a minute. O.K. safe."
Ron turned around, glad to see his best friend and his sister fully clothed, and their faces several inches apart, even if Ginny was still sitting on Harry.
"Do me a favor," he said "the next time you two decide to do that, make sure I either know to stay away, am unconscious, or dead."
"Not a problem dear brother, personally I prefer the latter." answered Ginny.
"Very funny Gin-gin, or should I just owl mum and let her know that your publicly sporting a Potter-hicky?"
"I do not have a h-" started Ginny, until she saw Harry's face.
"Reflecto." said Harry, using the mirror spell so that Ginny could look at her own neck.
Sure enough there was a bruise already forming where Harry had been sucking her neck, and it was going to be a good one. Ginny turned her glare on her boyfriend, who was smiling broadly.
"What are you smiling at Harry?" she asked, annoyed.
"Well it's just that now there's gonna be now doubt in anyone's mind." said Harry.
"No doubt about what?" asked Ginny warily.
"That I spent about half an hour kissing you tonight." answered Harry.
"I don't think anyone, anywhere, has any doubt about that." said Ron with a snort.
"Really?" asked Harry.
"Yeah," said Ron "whenever someone asks where you are the best answer is always: 'snogging Ginny'. It's almost never wrong."
"Do I really spend that much time with Ginny?" asked Harry.
"Yeah, you spend nearly all your free time with her." said Ron.
"Hmm, guess I'll have to stop complaining about not spending enough time with you."
Ron and Hermione both had shocked looks on their faces as Harry and Ginny left the Common Room together.
"What does he mean? He spends ever bloody bit of free time he has with her anyway." said Ron.
"Language Ron. Think of it this way, it's that much more time you get to spend with me."
A smile lit up Ron's face as he worked himself into much the same position Harry and Ginny had been in moments ago.
The next morning Harry was up bright and early, too early in his opinion. It was Monday, and he had been excused from classes to attend first, Jake's funeral, and then the Memorial Service at the Ministry. While he didn't really feel like going to the Ministry and dealing with Fudge, again, he had little choice. Jake had died to save him after all, and it was fitting that he be there to help make sure he was never forgotten. The surviving family members of Grindelwald's victims would be there as well.
Dumbledore met him in the Entrance Hall, and together, in reflective silence, they walked down to the village of Hogsmeade.
"Take a tight grip on my arm Harry, we shall be Apperating to the funeral. Do not worry, I will do the work, you must only hold on tightly."
Harry took a good grip on his headmaster's arm, vaguely wondering what Apparition would feel like. He got his answer moments later, as a sensation rather like being squeezed through a small hose overtook him. By the time he realized it, however, it was gone, and they were in a completely different place. It looked like a small town or village, and up the road Harry could see a small cemetery, which was a little crowded for a regular day, but still didn't look a funeral was going on.
As they made their way into the cemetery, the crowd began to part, letting Dumbledore, who they seemed to recognize, and Harry, who they didn't, get through. When they reached the front, Dumbledore nodded to the Priest, and the funeral began. Harry was only half-listening, he was more interested in looking around at the people that had gather to see off a man supposedly no one knew.
When his eyes reached the lone figure standing in the back, trying to hide in the shadows, he didn't immediately register that someone was even there. He looked back again quickly, thinking that he recognized the person, but it was hard to tell in the shadows. He, or she, was wearing a long dark cloak, obviously a witch or wizard, and a strange round hat, decidedly muggle looking, which covered his face.
When the figure felt Harry's eyes on them, they looked up at him. Their eyes met for a moment, and Harry gasped as recognition dawned on his face.
A/N—I just love cliffies, don't you? Don't worry, next chapter coming soon. My offer still stands, anyone who can guess who Jake is based off of gets written into the story, maybe I'll even let you go on a blind date with Ginny… but we'll see.
The WoLf At BaY.