Disclaimer: HP belongs to JKR/OCs belong to me
Chapter 29: A Gift of Justice
Harry made his way into the library, a smile letting those there know he had been successful. George nudged Hermione, who had her head in a book. "Someone looks happy."
Hermione glanced up at Harry. "So she liked the name?"
"She absolute loved it," Harry said as he sat down next to Luna and Justin. "She said it felt like a new skin to her."
Luna, who had helped Hermione and Harry find a name for the snake, gave a little shiver. "I like snakes but I don't like the idea of them shedding their skins." Then she smiled. "But I'm glad that Nagini is happy with her new name."
"She was." Harry decided not to tell Luna that he had helped to feed the snake, making Nagini even happier. "She thought that linking her name to the meaning of 'snake' was a great idea."
"I'm pleased to hear that Nagini liked the name we found for her but I really have to get on. I'm supposed to be going to Hogsmeade with Dean to help him choose some books in an hour, and I'd like to be finished before then." Hermione gave Harry an apologetic smile and settled back down to her reading.
Harry was rather dismayed, and he shot a worried glance at Hermione, who he knew would already be in a different world. "She works too hard."
"I've tried telling her that but she won't listen." Dean also glanced at the girl who had been helping him out in some of his classes. "Nor does she seem to take much notice of the world around her once she's studying. But at least I've managed to get her to come to Hogsmeade with me rather than staying in here."
As if to prove Harry's theory about being in a different world, Hermione did not appear to have heard the discussion about her, and she carried on reading. Luna, on the other hand, thought her friend was getting rather thin, but she was not about to say that, having the feeling that despite her air of ignorance, Hermione was very much aware of what was being said around her. Instead she changed the subject and started to talk about exploding crickets.
The Burrow
Harry lay in his bed and looked at the ceiling, trying to pretend that he had no idea that Ron was watching him. However, after his friend sighed for the tenth time, Harry reluctantly asked, "Do I really have to get up?"
Now that he had finally acknowledged him, Ron got out of bed and stood over Harry. "She'll come round, Harry."
Harry disagreed. "I don't think she will, Ron, and I hate how horrible this is making things for everyone."
Ron sat down on the edge of Harry's bed. "Mum's already said that Ginny is in the wrong."
Harry sat up. "I know she's doing everything she can to change Ginny's mind, but I think I'm going to ask if I can go and stay with Remus."
Ron's face fell. "You can't go. Mum would be upset."
A knock at the door disturbed the two boys, and Molly looked around the door. "Are you two going to stay in bed all day?"
"Harry wants to go and stay with Remus because of Ginny," Ron blurted out in response to Molly's question.
Molly moved fully into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. "Harry, Ginny is behaving like a child, and I've told her that. And I don't want you anywhere but here with your family on Christmas Day."
Harry felt tears come to his eyes at Molly's words but he still shook his head. "It's making things too difficult, Aunt Molly. I'd like to write and ask Remus if I can stay with him."
Molly wished she could knock some sense into her daughter but she understood what Harry was trying to do. "I'd rather you were here, but I'll support you no matter what you want to do."
Harry slid out of bed and hugged Molly. "Thank you."
Molly hugged him just as hard back, before releasing him. "Now get dressed and come down for some breakfast. Ginny has gone into work with Arthur."
Harry was relieved to hear it. "What about Percy?"
"He's studying in his room," Molly said. "Now both of you, up and at it, and I'll save Hedwig a trip and put in a fire-call to Remus."
The Next Day
Remus stepped through the fireplace and could feel the tension as soon as he did so. "Good morning."
Ginny stalked off as Remus straightened up and dusted off the ash from his floo journey.
"Arthur, good to see you."
Arthur held out his hand. "You too, Remus. Do you want to stay for lunch?"
Remus could feel anxiety coming from Harry, and he therefore declined. "I think it might be better if I took Harry straight back with me."
Arthur ruffled Harry's hair. "I wish you'd reconsider."
Harry heard Ginny snort in the kitchen, and he shook his head. "I think it's better this way."
"Then I'll come over and see you on Christmas Day," Molly promised as she hugged Harry and kissed his cheek. "Do you want me to bring anything?"
"Ron," Harry said, hoping to see his friend.
"He can stay for a few nights if he wants to," Remus offered.
A despondent Ron's face lit up at Remus' response. "I'll bring your present over."
"Aunt Molly has yours already," Harry said and he shook hands with Ron. "See you then."
"See you," Ron said, thinking unkind things about his sister as he did so.
Remus held out his arm to Harry. "We'll apparate back."
A suffocating moment later, Harry was back in Remus' home. "Thanks for coming to get me. I just couldn't stay there."
"Molly explained," Remus told him, understanding.
Harry groaned as a tap sounded at the window. "I hope that's not for me. I've been getting hate mail ever since everyone found about the whole snake thing." When Remus opened his window, the owl flew to Harry, a bright red envelope affixed to its leg. "How the heck did it know I'd be here?"
Remus shrugged in response. "I've no idea but I'll deal with this."
Harry watched as Remus cast several spells, and the red envelope shot off the owl's leg and into a bubble where it exploded. Remus smiled at Harry. "I'll set up a sorting spell. I won't be able to stop all the hate mail getting through, but at least you won't have to deal with the Howlers."
Having had to deal with over thirty of them, Harry was rather relieved. "I thought they might have stopped by now."
"They'll stop eventually," Remus said as he took Harry's trunk and headed for the room that he now considered to be Harry's. "I'm taking us out to dinner tonight, so why don't you work on whatever homework you have to do before you return to school so that it doesn't get left until the last minute? I've got things I need to do in my study but Macclesby will fetch anything you need."
Harry suffered a pang of guilt. "I'm sorry if I'm messing things up for you."
Remus flicked his wand at Harry's trunk so that it would unpack itself. "Harry, you're not. Anything I had planned to do can wait. You come first."
At Remus' words, Harry felt even worse, correctly deducing from Remus' words that Remus must have had plans that he had messed up. "I can go back to Hogwarts."
Remus turned to face Harry. "Harry, you're staying with me. My girlfriend understood when I explained that I needed to take care of you."
"You were going out to dinner with her tonight, weren't you?" Harry guessed.
Not wanting to lie, Remus nodded. "I was but…"
Harry interrupted him. "Can't we all go out together?"
Remus smiled. "We can. I'll fire-call the restaurant and increase the booking, and then apparate to see Julianne. So stop feeling guilty."
"Only if you promise that you won't change what you had planned because of me," Harry said, not wanting to disrupt Remus' life.
"I promise," Remus said, but he would have done it for Harry if necessary. "But I've only been seeing her for two weeks, and I didn't have much planned with her except for dinner tonight."
Maxwell's Restaurant
Harry grinned as he spotted the girl with the Remus. "Hello, Auror Solace."
Julianne smiled back. "Hello, Trainee Potter."
Remus looked back and forth. "So I take it you two know each other?"
"Auror Solace taught my Charms class," Harry said, having half expected Remus to have known. "She and Auror Valeris were the ones who kept giving me merits."
"Because you earned them, Harry," Julianne said as she sat down. "And you can call me Julianne; Auror Solace is rather formal."
The meal went well until the subject of the reason behind Harry's stay with Remus came up. But even then, Julianne reached out to Harry, assuring him that she did not care what he could do; she knew only too well that he was good person, and she told him that he would always be welcome in her classroom. This cheered up Harry immensely, and he finally began to realize that despite the hate mail he had been receiving, not everyone thought too badly of him.
New Year's Eve
Once Ron had returned home after a few fun filled days together, Remus led Harry into a room in his house that Harry had never noticed before, and when Harry mentioned it, Remus explained, "This is my training room, and usually the entrance is hidden by a glamour."
Now Harry understood why he had never noticed it. "So we're going to do some training?"
"I thought you might like to do some fun stuff," Remus said in response. "Well, learning how to cast an Unforgivable isn't exactly fun but it'll be more interesting than our last session."
Having half-expected another boring day of repetitive spell casting, Harry suddenly felt excited, but also a little nervous. "An Unforgivable?"
"I was only going to start by teaching you the Imperius Curse, but if you're not comfortable that, then we'll do something else," Remus said, sticking to his promise not to try and force anything on Harry.
Despite his excitement, Harry still thought about it for a moment, before deciding that the curse was probably the most innocuous of the three Unforgivables, and he doubted Remus would do anything to him that would be horrible. "Okay then, I'll give it a go."
In response, Remus walked over to a wooden table that was set against the wall, and lifted up several sheets of parchment that he wanted Harry to review. "Before we start, you have to sign the waiver we mentioned, because, as you know, the Imperius Curse is a Dark Arts spell and an Unforgivable."
Harry spent the next twenty minutes going over the waiver with Remus before signing his name to him, his hand shaking as he did so.
Remus immediately set out to reassure him. "Harry, if at any time you want to stop, all you have to do is say so."
Harry just wanted to get on with it, and his response was rather brusque. "I know."
"Then we'd better begin by you experiencing how it feels," Remus said, and he took out his wand. "I promise this won't hurt, and I won't do anything that you'd find uncomfortable or embarrassing."
"I'm ready then," Harry said.
Remus waited for Harry to move in front of him, before casting the spell. "Imperio."
In a fog, Harry could hear Remus telling him to sit down: Harry sat down. Then the feeling was over, and a somewhat disorientated Harry looked up, blinking rapidly as if he had just woken up. "That was weird."
"You'll get used it, and we're going to do it again," Remus said as he pulled Harry to his feet. "This time, however, I want you to try and fight the Curse. Tell yourself you don't want to do what I'm telling you."
Harry readied himself, and once again he found himself in the fog, and as before, Remus told him to sit down. Harry began to try and fight as his knees started to bend, but despite his efforts he still ended up sitting down again but this time it took longer.
Remus was surprised but pleased. "That was good, Harry."
Harry was just as surprised by the praise. "But I sat down."
"I know but you didn't do it straight away, and I really didn't expect you to be able to fight the Curse," Remus told him. "Now let's try it again."
After Harry succeeded on fighting off the Curse on his seventh attempt, Remus put him through his paces three more times, to try and determine if it was a fluke or not: In the final test, Harry failed once, but succeeded twice and Remus then called a halt.
"That's really good, Harry, but it's enough for today."
As Harry met Remus' gaze, he was surprised to spot a ring of black circling Remus' irises. "Your eyes look different."
"It's the side effect I told you about," Remus reminded him. "If I continued to keep casting the Curse, my eyes would eventually become totally black."
Harry shuddered, not entirely certain he was thrilled about his eyes changing color. "And that's going to happen to me?"
"I'm going to stop things before it does," Remus said, not wanting Harry to worry about it. "Now take out your secondary wand. It's your turn to try the spell on me, and I want you to do exactly as I did."
Harry's nerves returned full force as he aimed his wand at Remus. "Imperio."
Remus simply smiled at Harry and said gently, "Relax, Harry, and try again."
Harry tried four times and failed each time, his voice full of frustration as he snapped, "I can't do it, Remus."
"Let's try this from a different angle," Remus said, believing that Harry was throwing up a mental block. "Close your eyes."
Harry protested immediately. "Auror Valeris said to keep my eyes open when I'm casting a spell."
"Normally that would be excellent advice," Remus said, backing up Valeris' instruction. "But just for the moment, I want you to close your eyes." When Harry did as he said, Remus continued, "Now think about Snape; think about the last detention you served with him."
Harry scowled as he thought about how many cauldrons Snape had had him clean. "Okay."
Remus smiled to himself as he felt Harry's anger, and he knew that Harry was ready. "Now open your eyes and cast the spell."
Harry eyes snapped open and he took aim at Remus. "Imperio. Sit down."
This time it was obvious that the spell had worked. But just as he was bending to sit down, Remus shook it off. "That was very good, Harry. Let's try it again."
Remus had Harry repeat the spell five more times, before calling a halt as he spotted the telltale black circle around Harry's irises. "That's enough."
Harry yawned. "Sorry but that was tiring."
"It'll get easier," Remus promised. "Let's go get some lunch."
"Are we going to practice again afterwards?" Harry asked, this time having enjoyed himself.
Remus shook his head. "Not a Dark Arts spell, no. We can practice some dueling spells instead."
"But I did okay, didn't I?" Harry asked, as he was a little concerned about his performance.
"You had me sit down twice," Remus reminded him as they took their seats at the table where Macclesby had laid out lunch.
"But you didn't fight it as hard as you would normally, did you?" Harry asked, as he could never imagine an Unspeakable being so vulnerable.
Remus admitted that he had not. "I can easily throw off the Imperius Curse if I concentrate. If I don't, then as you've seen, I'll follow whatever order I'm told to carry out."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked before biting into a salad sandwich.
"Because you wouldn't have tried as hard, and you'd have ended up failing," Remus said. "Now let's talk about what we're going to do this afternoon…"
Hogwarts Express
On the way back to school, Harry was joined in the compartment he was sharing with Ron and Neville by Justin and Luna, and Hermione and Dean. The twins had already disappeared to sit with Angelina and Katie, Lee, and Heather, Lee's girlfriend.
Once the usual discussions about what the children had done during the holiday had been covered, the talk turned to Harry's ability to talk to snakes, something Harry was surprised about, particularly as Luna was smiling widely. "I found out some really important stuff about your ability, Harry."
Harry half-expected Luna to bring up some strange animal and was a little taken aback when she instead held out a sheaf of parchment.
"Daddy and I spent time looking it up."
Harry immediately took the sheaf and began to look through it. A few moments later he looked up in astonishment. "Maximus Green was a Parselmouth?"
Hermione, like Harry, had covered him in history but his ability to speak to snakes had not been covered, and even Hermione had not unearthed it. "I knew he was an exceptional Healer for his time, but not that he could speak to snakes."
Harry glanced back at the parchment. "It says here that he used snake venom he asked the snakes to provide in his potions to help people." He then glanced at the next name on the list and was about to make a comment, when the compartment door opened and a nervous looking Susan appeared. "Um, hello."
Luna gave Susan a somewhat reserved smile but she was the only one who did so. Unnerved by the cold looks she was receiving, Susan hopped from one foot to the other. "Can I speak to Harry?"
Harry put down the parchment, and rather bluntly asked, "What do you want?"
"Can I talk with you alone?" Susan asked. "Please, it's important."
"I suppose." Harry got up and followed Susan out.
They were both surprised to find an empty compartment at the end of the carriage and Harry stood aside to let Susan go in, before closing the door behind him. The door had barely clicked to when Susan blurted out, "Harry, I want to apologize for my behavior."
Harry turned around. "Why?"
Susan had not expected this to be easy but she persevered. "Because I was horribly wrong to do what I did. You were my friend and I let you down."
Harry did not deny it. "Yes, you did."
Susan held out a box. "This is for you."
"I don't want it, Susan."
"I'm not trying to buy you or anything," Susan said hurriedly, not wanting Harry to get the wrong idea. "It's what's known as a gift of justice. Please accept it."
"I don't understand," Harry said, never having heard of a gift of justice.
"It's a gift of apology," Susan explained. "When one family has insulted another, to apologize they often give a gift to do so." She held out the box. "Please, Harry, even if you don't ever speak to me again, I want you to accept these."
Harry somewhat reluctantly took the box and opened it. "Cufflinks?"
"They'll protect you against most poisons," Susan said, looking hopefully at Harry. "Please take them."
"You want me to have them even if I refuse to accept your apology?" Harry asked.
Susan nodded. "Yes."
Harry debated things, before asking, "Why did you change your mind about me?"
"I had a long talk with Aunt Amy. She told me that I couldn't transfer the blame to you about what happened to my family, and that just because you spoke Parseltongue it didn't make you a different person or a bad one."
Harry found himself wondering something. "Have you ever heard of Charity Weaver?"
Susan had no idea why Harry would want to know but she answered, shaking her head. "No."
"How about Maximus Green?"
"Wasn't he a Healer or something?" Susan said, recalling the name from history.
"So you don't know anything about them?"
Susan still had no idea what Harry was getting at and answered him negatively yet again. "No, why is it important?"
"I thought that maybe your aunt had told you about them and that's why you'd changed your mind."
"I changed my mind because it was the right thing to do," Susan responded. "But it was mostly because of what Aunt Amy talked to me about." She threw Harry a confused look. "Why?"
Harry passed on what Luna and Phil Lovegood had discovered. "Because they're the names of people who could speak Parseltongue; people who were considered good witches and wizards."
Now Susan understood. "You thought I'd changed my mind because of something I'd been told."
"Yeah," Harry said, and he looked down at the cufflinks. "Thank you for these."
Susan tried to hold back her tears as she presumed that Harry was about to refuse her apology. "You're welcome, and thank you for at least letting me try. And again, I'm sorry."
Harry decided that Susan was genuinely remorseful. "Susan, I accept your apology but it's going to take time before we can be friends again."
Susan was not surprised to hear this but glad that she had least had a chance with Harry. "I understand, and I'll see you in school."
When Harry returned to the compartment, all eyes looked up. "She apologized, and we're going to try and be friends again."
"What have you got in your hand?" Justin asked, spotting the box.
Harry showed them. "Susan called it a gift of justice."
"She must feel really, really bad then," Luna remarked.
Harry knew in that moment there was obviously more to the gift than he knew. "What do you mean?"
"If you give someone a gift of justice, then your entire family are obliged to the person you give the gift to," Luna explained. Being a pure-blood she understood what the gift meant and continued to explain to Harry about it. "If you were to go to Susan's aunt and ask her to die for you, then she would have to."
Harry was horrified. "Susan never told me. She just said that it was to make up for what she'd done." He glanced at Luna. "Can I give them back?"
"Once you accept the gift, then the whole family are bound magically."
Harry slumped into his chair. "I don't know what Amelia is going to say."
"As head of the Bones family, she would have to have given permission for Susan to do this, so she already knows, Harry."
Stunned, Harry could not stop staring at the cufflinks. "There must be something I can do."
Luna told him otherwise. "Not unless, say, Susan was to save your life. Then you can offer to cancel the bond, but you can never give back the cufflinks."
During the remaining trip back to Hogwarts, Harry found himself thinking over what Susan had done, but even so, he was still unable to just forgive her outright, and decided that he would have to simply see how things went between the two of them.
Two weeks later
Less than two weeks after returning, Harry found himself in yet another argument with Ginny. Since returning, she had either spent her time ignoring him, arguing with him, or making digs at him. Fed up with her, Harry marched into his dorm room, opened up his drawer, took out the research that Luna had done, and then returned to thrust it at Ginny. "See, I'm not evil, Ginny."
"I didn't say you were." Ginny, however, was unable to meet Harry's eyes, and although she took the list from Harry, she would not look at it.
"You said I might be Slytherin's Heir, which is enough in itself," Harry reminded her. "And you won't even look at this."
"I don't see why I should." Ginny finally looked up at Harry. "It gives me the creeps to know that you can talk to snakes. He can talk to snakes."
Harry gave up. "Just forget it. If you think I'm evil, then I must be evil."
"I didn't say that." Ginny's voice rose.
"But you think I'm the Heir, don't you?" Harry bit out, feeling as though he was going round in circles.
"Yes," Ginny answered honestly.
"And so do you think I killed Filch's cat?" Harry challenged.
"Yes," Ginny admitted. "You didn't like it."
"Nobody did," Harry snapped, starting to become more than a little frustrated.
"So you're not sorry it's dead, are you?" Ginny's voice rose again.
"No, I'm not." Harry had hated the mangy looking thing. "But I didn't kill it."
Meredith, who had caught some of the conversation walked over. "Ginny, I think you should back off. I believe Harry."
Ginny shoved the lists back at Harry, and then walked away to sit by the fire.
About to return to his room, Harry experienced a small twinge of guilt at Meredith's surprising defense of him, and he grabbed Meredith's arm before she too could walk away. "Meredith, I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" Meredith asked curiously, wondering if Harry was going to show her what he had tried to show Ginny.
He did not. Instead he owned up to the horrible thoughts that had gone through his mind when he had found out about Meredith making the team. "I hated you when I heard that you'd won my spot as seeker. I kept imagining how many different ways you could be hurt so that I could maybe have a chance of getting back on the team. I'm sorry."
"Harry, you were upset." Meredith did not take Harry's words to heart, but she did wonder, "Do you still feel that way?"
"Well, if I could kill you and take over your position I would," Harry teased, a big smile on his face, not realizing that Ginny was listening carefully to the conversation.
Meredith, whose back was turned so that she was unable to see Ginny's face, joined in with the joke. "So if they find my body one day, they'll know who to blame."
"Yeah, me, the big bad Heir." Harry grinned even wider, glad to have gotten something off his chest that had been bothering him. "It's getting late. I'd better get to bed."
"Night, Harry." Meredith gave Harry a brief smile to show that there were no hard feelings before he walked off. She then went to join Ginny, who pointedly turned her back on her friend. "Ginny, you can't honestly still think he's evil."
"But he is, and why are you sticking up for him?" Ginny asked, more than a little confused at her friend's actions. "You're supposed to be my friend."
"I am but that doesn't mean I have to hate Harry," Meredith responded.
"Just be careful," Ginny warned her friend. "I just know he's not safe."
As the two girls headed for bed, neither knew that Ginny would recall her words to Meredith just a short time later.
Harry had been having a fun time running interference for Justin, who had been practicing catching the snitch. He had not felt this good for a long time, and smiling, he, Justin, and Luna, who had not wanted to be parted from her boyfriend, all headed back to the school after they had finished.
Things deteriorated though from the moment he and Justin stepped inside the Hufflepuff common room to find Ginny, Susan, and quite a few other girls in tears. "What's going on?"
Ginny, who had tears running down her cheeks, got to her feet. "As if you didn't know, Potter."
Harry was totally at a loss to why he was being attacked. "Know what?"
"Meredith is dead," Ginny ground out. "She's dead, and I know you did it."
