In the morning, well, it was closer to twelve, Alice had already left without me, I got up and quickly had a shower, changed into clean clothes and ran to the Hospital Wing. When I arrived I found Alice and Hermione sitting next to Ron as he lay in his bed. Harry was sitting next to Black, and John was sort of, hovering around (metaphorically, he could not, as far as I knew, hover), looking rather uncomfortable, like a sad spectre. "I hate hospitals," John said sadly when I asked him why we looked so sad, "they always remind me of when my Gran died, but I couldn't not visit whilst a friend was in one." He walked away, going to Ron's side, I went to Sirius' he was awake, but barely, the Dementors had taken their toll on him.
"Good to see you," Black said quietly, "I heard I have you to thank for saving my life, you and Severus," he sneered slightly at Severus' name, more from reflex than conscious thought. "I should bury the hatchet with him, I was a total arse." He sighed, "he came to visit me earlier, he apologised, Severus apologised, for not listening in the Shrieking Shack, I was dumbfounded." He said smiling weakly, "Severus actually apologising for something," his eyelids fluttered and he fell asleep again.
"Janet," Harry said happily, "thanks for helping save us."
"Don't just thank me, you should thank Snape, and that mysterious glowing man," Harry looked like he was going to say something when Hagrid burst into the room.
"I came as soon as I could," he said, he looked strangely happy, "you'll never believe wha' happened, Buckbeak escaped, last nigh', while we was inside, the mins'er, Dumbledore, that execuc'ioner an' I, Bucky escaped, he's alive" everyone cheered (except the unconscious Sirius).
Later that day, an Auror arrived to tell Black that in light of new evidence arising, his sentence had been revoked. Instead, he was to serve twelve years in Azkaban for being an unregistered animagus and for escaping Azkaban. However, seeing as he had already served twelve years in Azkaban, those twelve years would count instead of sending him back, in other words, he was free to go. Pettigrew however was to stand trial in September, just after the end of the school term, and we were to present ourselves as witnesses.
I went to tell Lupin the good news, when I arrived in his room, I found him leaning over a suitcase, trying to get his things to fit, without turning he spoke, "hello Janet."
"How did you...?" I asked.
"Saw you coming," he said sadly as he pointed at the map he had confiscated from Harry, "I helped make that map, James, Lily, Sirius, myself and… Peter, we were the Marauders. We drove everyone insane with our pranks, the greatest pranksters Hogwarts ever had, although, I hear the Weasley twins are making a play for the title. I know you're wondering where I'm going, I have to leave, someone followed me into the woods and saw me transform, they told everyone else, who told their parents, who are now calling for my head. I have to go, I heard rumour of a Werewolf sanctuary up in Snowdonia, I'm going to check it out, see if I can finally find somewhere to call home." He sighed and stared out the window whimsically, "nowhere in the world, no matter how accepting likes my kind. We're shunned, driven off, discriminated against, attacked, even murdered out of nothing but fear and superstition. But we can't do anything about it, I will see Harry and Sirius, then I will leave," the way he accepted it, how he was not even sad, like he had expected it to happen all along, it broke my heart.
"Please don't go," I said as I fought back tears, "I've never had a good Defence teacher before, especially one so caring."
Lupin smiled sadly, "that is probably the first time in twelve years that someone has been sad to see me go. I have to go though, we will see each other again, I'm sure of it. I have one thing to talk to you about before I go. What was your patronus? I never got a good look at it."
"Nor did I until last night, it was a phoenix," I said proud at my memory of my fully formed patronus.
Lupin's eyebrows both shot up, "the phoenix is a very rare patronus, I remember its meaning, it means you are bound for either greatness or tragedy. Either way, it marks you as a powerful witch, it also expresses undying loyalty and courage. It does have negative connotations as well, it marks you as resistant to change and even potentially dangerous, just like the phoenix. I would expect nothing less from a daughter of the patron of magic, I hope we are always on the same side Miss Harker. Now, if you excuse me, I have packing to do." I left Lupin alone in his study, as my mind whirled with what Lupin had told me about my patronus.
I meandered distractedly through the halls as I thought over the meaning of the patronus, I passed groups of students walking about quietly. The whole school had been quiet since the news about Black got out, and about Harry being attacked by the Dementors.
"Janet!" A voice shouted, I turned, John was at the end of the corridor behind me, I smiled at my friend, he walked down the corridor, "Ron wanted to talk to you, said it had to do with the Shrieking Shack, he's in the library, he looked really nervous, really scared," he leaned close and whispered, "you don't think he worked something out do you?"
It took me a moment to realise what John was talking about, but when I did I almost laughed in his face, "Ron solve a puzzle?" I whispered, "Ron may be a good chess player, but that's his only intellectual gift, he's as thick as two short planks, don't get me wrong, I like him as a friend, but he's not the brightest. If he does work it out I will treat him like I did Snape, Harry and Hermione, I doubt he'd tell anyway, he's too loyal for that. Sometimes I think he should be a Hufflepuff, but I think his courage outweighs his loyalty."
John relaxed slightly, "I hate keeping secrets, especially from our friends."
"Oh don't worry John, we all have our secrets, some secrets are merely more dangerous than others, we'll have to tell them one day, hopefully the law will be different by then and we will be considered beings rather than things." I set off for the library.
In the library I found Ron sitting in an overstuffed armchair, he had been discharged by Madame Pomfrey but was still hobbling around on crutches, which were now leaning against one arm of his chair. On his lap was a book that looked weirdly familiar, then I realised, it was the book from first year that Hermione and Harry had read. "Hi Ron, how are you feeling?" I asked, he looked up at me sadly.
"You lied to me," he said quietly, "for two years, you lied to all of us, I told Hermione, but she laughed and buggered off, I told Harry, he laughed, but it was nervous, he knew didn't he? I bet you told everyone except me."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, hoping to do Child of Apollo levels of acting to convince my friend nothing was going on.
"Don't give me that garbage Janet, I always thought you were strange, too powerful by half, the way you always boss people around, like it's a reflex. You always know how to fight every monster, you killed the Manticore, you scared off Lupin, you caught Peter. Two years I've known you, and I just went along, not questioning why you and Alice randomly start talking in Greek, why all your books are in Greek, the bracelet swords. Who brings swords to school? I thought it through, I know people think I'm stupid, but I sat down and thought, then I remembered a book in the library about near humans. So, I came here and read it, then things made sense, the Greek, the powerful magic, the dyslexia, the weird religion." I had to bite back a response to that, Ron paused, he looked up at me, betrayal in his eyes, "you're a Demigod."
I froze, I had never expected Ron to work it out, I had to think of a response, so I decided to tell the truth, "have you told anyone?" I asked quietly, Ron shook his head, I released a breath I had not realised I was holding, "good, yes, I'm a Demigod."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ron asked angrily.
"Because, I couldn't, I'm not allowed to, what do you remember about Demigods?"
"Let's see," Ron said as he stared off in to space, "never pick a fight with one, considered extremely dangerous by the Ministry. Oh," he looked back at me with a look of realisation on his face, the look of betrayal in his eyes replaced with a small measure of anger, "Demigod blood is used in black magic potions."
"Exactly," I said, "now, imagine if it got out that there were Demigods here in Hogwarts, every budding dark wizard would descend on the castle to try to get to us."
"Yeah," Ron said angrily, "but I'm no blabber mouth, I can keep a secret, especially after everything we've been through, why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Ron the less people who know the better, now that you know you have two options, because I have to keep my secret safe. Either you swear an unbreakable oath to never tell anyone," Ron paled, "or, I make you forget all about this."
"Well, er, I don't want holes in my memory, not after what happened to Lockhart, but Fred and George once tried to make me swear an unbreakable oath, but… I'll swear the oath," Ron said quietly, I held out my hand and Ron took it.
"Good, now repeat after me, I, Ronald Bilius Weasley, being of sound mind, and under no duress
do solemnly swear
I will never reveal any secrets about the gods and demigods revealed to me by Janet Harker,
unless allowed to by her expressed permission
I swear this on my magic, and on my life."
There was a small flash and the oath was sealed, Ron sat there in the chair for a while without saying anything, "so, who else knows?"
"Harry, Hermione, Lupin and Snape," Ron looked at me in surprise.
"You told Snape," he whispered harshly.
"He worked it out for himself, as did the others," I said nonchalantly.
"Why haven't you told Alice, I mean, you two are so close there are rumours going around…" he quickly shut his mouth.
"Alice is also a Demigod, as is John," I said quietly as I checked for minds near enough to hear what was going on. Ron opened his mouth, but I cut him off, "before you ask, my mother is Hecate the Goddess of magic and crossroads, Alice's is Iris the Goddess of rainbows and John's is Athena the Goddess of wisdom."
"Actually I was going to ask if you wanted to get some lunch, I think it's almost supper time," Ron smiled.
I smiled as well, "sure, let's go."
