Crikey, it's been over a month. I'm here now though, and the next chapter will not take as long to come out.
Next Chapter: the Healing tests roll around, as well as the Quidditch Cup final
Harry was still thinking about the memory well into the next day.
At breakfast Hermione had kept on pestering him, asking about if his issue with Occlumency had been resolved. Though he nodded, he wished he looked more convincing, as he had a feeling Hermione knew something was up. She always knew; she was always able to read him.
"So you're going to order that book then - from Flourish & Blotts?" She said in between mouthfuls of toast.
"Erm, yes." Harry had replied, quickly shoving more food into his mouth to stall answering any more questions. "I'll fill out the order form tonight and send Hedwig off with it tomorrow."
Hermione eyed him. "So what's the name of the book called, then? The one that Snape said to get?"
He froze. He hated how he was literally a second away from finding that out last night when Draco had barged in. He quickly racked his head. "Erm… Oh yes, he said it was called Examining the Mind: Occlumency & Other Principles. He said something about how I have to get the second volume of it, though, in particular." He said, making up a whole non-existent book, trying to sound convincing.
Thankfully he was prevented from any further suspicious interrogation from Hermione, as Ernie MacMillan had just entered the Great Hall and had chosen to sit with them. Their Hufflepuff friend yawned as he filled his plate. "Didn't sleep all too well last night."
Harry looked at the blond, thankful to change the subject. "Oh, really? How come?"
Before Ernie could answer, Hermione jumped in. "Don't tell me you spent all of last night revising instead of sleeping, Ernie!"
The Hufflepuff looked sheepish. "Erm, well…"
Harry raised his eyebrows in alarm. "Is this a common occurrence?"
"Well, I only started doing it a few months ago-"
"-Months? Since the start of this academic year, more like!" Hermione said with concern.
"Jeez, Ern, you shouldn't put your studies before your sleep." Harry replied. "It doesn't sound healthy."
"It's fine, really. I've got a record going, y'see… I'll invest in proper sleep when I beat it. I'm only an hour off, after all." Ernie said, as if sacrificing a proper sleep schedule was something akin to doing a run every morning.
More of their DA friends filtered down to the hall, meaning that Hermione didn't pester him any further regarding his meeting with Snape last night. However, a feeling of dreaded realisation acame Harry when he realised they had Potions today. He could only hope that Snape was going to completely ignore him, and not scream at him in front of the whole class.
Thankfully, Potions was at the end of the day though. There were a good few hours separating their inevitable and unfortunate hour and a half period together. He had his private tutelage with Professor Vector first and second period, which went okay. At this point in the year, with OWLs only a month away, they focussed on just revising literally every aspect of the curriculum again. Vector was good in that she gave him a choice in what topic he wanted to go over that day, though. They spent that particular double period going over the first up on Harry's 'Really-Need-To-Revise' list - Number Significance. After all, in the exam paper, every year there was a section dedicated to the topic - which always was either one 20-mark essay question, or two ten-marker questions which both required a lot of describing, explaining, analysing and evaluating to get full marks for the section.
"This year, I think they will be going down the two ten-mark question route. The past two papers have only been essay questions. But that's not to say there won't be a twenty-marker for a third year in a row; you must be prepared for either scenario." Vector explained gently, handing him the OWL Arithmancy exam which was dated for three years ago. "We will go through the two ten markers here."
The two questions were as follows: "Explain fully the significance of the number 7 in Arithmancy (10 marks)." and "Explain the meaning behind an individual with a significant number of 5." It was fair to say that by the end of Arithmancy, Harry was beyond fried. Vector smiled knowingly. "Be glad we got through it together, Mr Potter."
Double Charms after that was significantly easier going, as it wasn't nearly as hard to grasp as Arithmancy. However, Hermione noticed how far-off he looked. "I just had Arithmancy." He said at her questioning look, hoping that was enough for her to stop her still persisting silent interrogation. Though she understood, he had a feeling she was still eying him. At lunch he was hoping she would maybe veer off towards Amelia and Dorea, who were at Ravenclaw table with a whole bunch of their other girl friends, but Hermione stayed at Gryffindor table with him, Ron, Anthony and Blaise.
"You've looked awfully pale and quiet since last night," she whispered to him, "what really happened during your meeting with Professor Snape, Harry?"
He turned his head slightly to look away from her, and the first thing his eyes landed on were Sirius looking straight at him from the staff table. His godfather inclined his head in acknowledgement, and gave him a quizzing look. When Harry blinked, his mind went straight back to what he saw last night - his dad and Sirius being bullies. Almost twenty years ago.
A part of him wished he hadn't seen it. But then again, he wouldn't have learned about what they were truly like otherwise. He obviously didn't feel vengeful or want to disown his dad and Sirius - after all, it was Snape they were bullying, - but it certainly put a dent in his perception of those two. It kind of extended to Remus as well - even though his uncle didn't participate or goad Snape in any way, he had just sat there and pretended to be deeply engrossed in his book while it happened. That wasn't very Prefectly of him.
"I need to talk to Amelia," he said suddenly, tearing his gaze away from Sirius and standing up. Hermione looked like she understood, and quickly said a "I'll be back in a minute," to Blaise, Ron and Anthony when he stood up.
He quickly located Amelia, who was thankfully already looking his way. He gestured to her to follow him to the Entrance Hall, so she did. Harry noticed Theo looking up at the sight of Amelia standing up.
"We've all noticed how you're a bit quieter than usual today, Harry," Amelia said as soon as they were in the Entrance Hall, "what's up?"
"Last night when I went to Snape to ask an Occlumency question, I ended up learning something about… our dad, and Sirius." He said.
Amelia blinked. "Okay?"
"Snape had to leave the room as they found Montague stuck in a toilet. I was about to leave, but then I noticed the Pensieve."
And it was from there that Harry told her about the memory. His twin listened attentively. She perked up at the mention of their mother, and her friends. Harry felt quite bad, as Amelia looked a bit down at the realisation that their father wasn't this wholly perfect man after all.
"Mum got really angry at him, you said?" She asked.
He nodded in confirmation. "She hated him, Amelia. The looks she shot him… How did they end up married? Sirius and Marlene too - they barely acknowledged each other's existence in the memory."
"You don't think…" Amelia started, but then drifted off, as if second guessing herself.
"What?" Harry gently probed.
"The way you said mum seemed to despise dad - you don't think… urgh, how to say this… What if she did hate him?"
Harry blinked. "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, 'melia."
She took a breath. "Well, she clearly didn't like him in the memory, but then barely two years later they ended up married… What if dad made mum love him?"
Harry, though he didn't like to ponder that thought, had skimmed over that thought a few times in the last twenty four hours. It wasn't a nice thought, but you did have to wonder… "I have thought that too - though I'm not sure he'd stoop as low as to use something as severe as a Love Potion."
She nodded. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. But I'm sure he must've done something to turn himself around and change for her to like him. Maybe we should ask Sirius or Remus."
He agreed. "They knew him best, after all. But I still have to ask him why they were bullies."
Amelia looked conflicted. "It does make you think - were they actually bullies, or was Snape just a special case?"
"That's what I'm worried about," he replied, "if they were the bullies of Hogwarts back in their day. I'm not sure if I would admire our dad as much if he was."
The twins shared a look of understanding. They both needed closure - and in order to get it they would have to ask questions. Starting with their godfather, who knew James best after all.
Before they went back into the Hall to resume lunch, they both agreed that they would ask Sirius tomorrow after Astronomy. After all, it was the perfect window of time - they had it fourth period, just before lunch.
They also decided it was best to also tell Dorea about the memory. After all, Sirius was involved as much as James was. They hoped that their godsister wouldn't react badly; after all, it would be a hard thing to accept; your dad being a bully, and also the fact that Dorea and Fred were going through a rough patch in their relationship. Dorea had been masking her feelings about that situation, and it was so obvious - how she was lowkey stressed about it all yet keeping her anxiety bubbling beneath the surface. You could tell whenever she shot a look in Fred's direction - her feelings of hurt mixed with yearning and a pinch of fury.
Harry rejoined his friends at Gryffindor table, with Amelia doing likewise. Amelia agreed to do the honours of relaying the story to Dorea, which Harry was grateful for. When the bell rang to signal lunch being over, they all rejoined each other. A big group of fifth year Gryffindor and Slytherin members of the DA were then all walking together up the stairs to go to Defence Against the Dark Arts. Harry felt himself lighten up when Neville rather comically tripped going up the stairs whilst talking to Daphne - causing the group (and Neville himself) to laugh lightheartedly. Blaise and Theo then both decided to also trip up the stairs, just in case their friend felt any embarrassment, which they all laughed at as well. Harry even overheard Seamus call over his shoulder, "It's a good thing Miss Abbott isn't in this class with us, Nev! She may well and truly have gotten the ick if she was here!"
Ah, so that's who he fancies, Harry thought, grinning to himself devilishly. Oh am I going to make his life hellish with this tidbit of information.
Defence itself was pretty good, as always with Remus now back teaching. As a treat, he let that period be used as a 'quiet revision' time - which everyone liked. The silence was peaceful and welcoming. Harry found himself powering through an OWL paper from four years ago almost with ease, and was delighted when he checked the marking scheme and found his grade to be within an O. Hermione, Ron, Amelia and Dorea were the same. Their other friends were all safely within E's and O's as well, which made Remus the happiest Harry had seen him in the class.
"You're all well on track to be getting top grades. Keep up the studying though, don't let it slip at this stage." Remus said at the end of the class, just before the bell rang to signal the end of sixth period. It dawned on Harry then that they had Potions last - and his heart fell significantly.
Oh great, time to see Snape.
As they disembarked the class, Remus clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Harry?"
He tried to look innocent. "Yeah, why?"
"Your godfather noticed you looking a bit peaky at lunch, and saw you leave after you looked at him. He's been fretting a bit about it ever since. Did something happen that I'm not aware of?"
Harry really didn't want to be late to Snape's class - the man would only take even more offence at that, probably accuse him of skiving off, - so quickly spoke. "I really can't be late to Snape's class, but how about I tell you at dinner? Meet me in the Entrance Hall, maybe?"
Remus nodded, and with that Harry said a quick farewell before catching up with his friends to head to Potions.
Harry was thankful, for once, when Snape didn't even acknowledge his existence. It seemed both were perfectly happy with that arrangement - although it didn't stop the greaseball from staring burning holes into the back of Harry's head whenever the Professor had to inevitably wander over to their table. He couldn't help but tense up though nonetheless.
In fact, the only encounter they had was when the teacher shot a sharp glare at him on his way out, and let out what Harry was sure was a low snarl.
He walked to dinner together with his contagion of friends, and Harry remembered that he had to talk to Remus. He told his friends to save him a seat before he detached himself from the main throng of students and slipped into the Entrance Hall. He waited a few minutes, just standing and absentmindedly scuffing his feet, looking up whenever he saw figures emerge from the staircase. He was beginning to think that his uncle had forgotten about their meeting when he heard the familiar voice arrive at last. The man appeared to be walking alongside a tall Slytherin seventh year student that Harry recognised as Niles Hanley. He remembered back to when he was attacked in the Quidditch changing rooms - where Harper and Bletchley had named Hanley as being one of their next targets, to place the Imperius on and get him to do their dirty work for them on behalf of the Death Eater's. The boy had joined the DA in fear of his own safety after that, though he caught up quickly and had bonded with Adrian Pucey because of it.
Remus caught his eye as the man was speaking to Niles. "You're quite right about the Hex-Deflection in that regard, Mr Hanley, It's pretty sparse in terms of its multiple uses. We can go over it in more detail the next period I have you guys."
With that, Niles said a good-natured farewell to Remus as the seventh year left to enter the Great Hall. Harry straightened up and smiled at his uncle.
"Sorry I'm a bit late, Harry - the NEWT class went overtime a little bit and Mr Hanley had a question for me." Remus said, moving to stand opposite him. Harry caught a scent of parchment paper.
"It's fine, my friends are saving me a seat anyway." He smiled, brushing off that concern. Remus looked at him expectantly. "I want to tell you about something I witnessed last night."
Remus gestured for him to tell all.
Harry sighed silently. Here goes nothing.
He told him what he'd seen in Snape's memory. When he was finally done telling the story from when they had sat down on the grass onwards, he finally felt himself breathe. He hoped he hadn't spoken too fast. He had an inkling that Remus did actually remember that specific day.
"So, I need some closure desperately because it's been eating away at me ever since - why did he act like that - my dad?"
Remus didn't speak for a moment. "I wouldn't like you to judge your father on what you saw there, Harry. He was only fifteen - "
"-I'm fifteen! You don't see me or Amelia or Dorea going around cursing people for the fun of it!" Harry cut in heatedly.
"Look, Harry," another voice entered the fold, and it was none other than Sirius. Has he been standing out there the whole time? He wondered, but at least it saved him relaying the story for a third time that day. "Your dad and Snape hated each other from the instance they had met. James was everything Snape wanted to be; he was popular, good at Quidditch, good at pretty much everything you set in front of him. And Snape was just this weirdo who was up to his head in the Dark Arts. James was also everything Snape stood against in that regard."
"Yeah," Harry reasoned, "but in the memory he just attacked Snape for no reason, just because he was bored."
"I'm not proud of that." Sirius added quickly.
Remus glanced sideways at his best friend, and then turned to him and said, "Look, we were all idiots back then - even me. I'm pretty sure I was Prefect during that time you witnessed - well, I was doing nothing to stop your dad or Sirius."
"Mum was there as well," Harry said, "how on earth did she end up marrying dad? She hated him!"
"Nah, she didn't." Sirius mused.
"She started dating him in seventh year," Remus explained, "when his head had deflated back down to normal size. They were Head Boy and Head Girl. By then he'd stopped hexing people for a laugh."
"What, even Snape?" said Harry.
"Well," Sirius said slowly, "Snape was a special case. I mean, Snape himself never stopped cursing James, so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"
"And mum was totally fine with that?" Harry said with uncertainty.
"Well, they kept their scuffles reserved to the corridors and outside at most. But Harry, you have to remember that by and large, your father was the best friend I ever had and he was a great person. A lot of people are idiots at the age of fifteen. He soon grew out of that phase."
"Yeah, OK," said Harry, breathing out at last, "I just never thought I'd ever feel sorry for Snape of all people. It also bugged me a bit as so many people, - you, Dumbledore, Hagrid, - have all said previously how amazing dad was, but then I go and see that memory and it made me feel a bit conflicted."
The two adults nodded in understanding. "Valid reason to feel that way, Harry, especially out of context." Remus said.
With that, Harry breathed a sigh of relief, glad that was over and cleared up. He let the corner of his lips upturn into a small smile to let them know that he was all good. Harry then remembered to mention that he'd also seen Marlene, Lily and their other girl friends in the memory. "Marlene looked like she barely knew you - she didn't even look at you once." Harry said to Sirius.
"She was also someone who was miffed off at me for ganging up on people, although she despised Snape." Sirius admitted.
"There were two other girls with them - a girl called Mary, and a black girl called... Dorcas, I think?"
Remus nodded. "Dorcas was with us during the first Order of the Phoenix. She was a bit quieter, but by god could she prank. Really good at Arithmancy and Runes. And Mary…"
Harry noticed a look pass between both his uncle and godfather, and they both inclined their heads. "Mary hasn't been seen since the 80s. We have no clue if she's dead or alive. Vanished without a trace." Sirius said, quietly.
Harry felt sad at that. Well, I hope she's either resting in peace, or living a very quiet life. With that, he decided then that they should get to dinner, else Harry's friends in particular get worried and start a search party. Again, it was quite daunting walking into the Great Hall when literally the whole school was in there, but most people were either engrossed in eating or chatting with friends to notice.
After dinner was Quidditch practise. Harry walked down with the Weasley's, his twin, godsister, and the rest of the team for what could only be another vigorous session with Angelina at the helm. Ginny fell in beside him as they walked down. "Fred and Dorea have still not patched things up."
"Really?" That worried Harry a bit; they were clearly an excellent couple, but he wondered if their first rough patch might not be their last. Dorea was loyal, but she was someone that if you broke her love and trust, she would utterly despise you for life. Fred was someone protective, yet there had been times where Harry would look at them as a couple and wondered if Fred's feelings in particular were as strong as Dorea's feelings for him. Dorea clearly doted on him, but Fred… Of course, different people showed their love in various ways, but Harry had thought once or twice if there were even strong feelings there.
"Yeah, although they have spoken since their little scuffle. Fred only seems to be getting more stressed, and put off their discussion to talk things over earlier today. I think that pissed Dorea off a bit, but she's going to approach him again." Ginny explained.
Harry looked at the Weasley twin in question, and noticed him speaking to Kirke, the Reserve Beater. Fred was tall anyway, but his stride seemed longer as he walked, as if he was truly feeling some sort of rage. "I hope they don't rush things, and take their time, else they'll just fall apart."
Ginny agreed. "Good thing we can count on Amelia and Theo then, as the power couple."
Harry laughed, but agreed. He had no qualms or worried about those two; they both utterly adored each other so much it was almost sickening. Who knows, Harry thought, maybe there will soon be another couple on the go. He glanced at Ginny, yet almost flushed.
That practise session was indeed tiring, as Angelina had them working on strength and stamina, yet it was fulfilling. Everyone's muscles were aching afterwards; the sign of hard work. He and Ron exited their changing cubicles at the same time, and shared a knowing look. "Crikey, we'll be as thick as Crabbe by the time we face Slytherin." Ron said, rubbing his shoulder and his upper bicep.
Harry agreed. The fact that the changing rooms were silent, yet you could still hear people mumbling as they got changed, spoke volumes as to how tired they all were. Katie Bell was rubbing the back of her neck as she shuffled out of her cubicle, and half-waved at them in farewell as her and Alicia exited to head back up to school.
Amelia and Ginny both came out, and so did Dorea, yet the latter was going to stay behind to talk to Fred. With that, they left the changing rooms and walked back up to Hogwarts, desperate for their beds.
Dorea was exhausted after that session they had just had, yet she watched with yearning as her godsibilings and friends left the Quidditch changing rooms to head off and likely collapse into their soft beds. She would be joining them, had she not to discuss terms so to speak with Fred, who was taking his damn time getting changed.
George came out first, and gave her a supportive smile as he and Angelina left. Dorea leaned up against a locker to pass the time while she waited, and massaged her temple as she did; for she could feel a dull pain.
"Oh, hurry up Fred," Dorea gritted quietly as time ticked on. As if on cue, he came out, his bag slung over his shoulder.
"Sorry I took so long," he said, "hard to get changed with a sore arm."
She brushed that off, platonically saying she hadn't been waiting long. "Right, let's get down to business. Have you had time to brew over your thoughts?"
Fred looked surprised that they were talking about their relationship right away, and even had an unprepared look on his face. He soon spoke though. "I was an idiot to snap at you. I'm sure you try your utmost to balance our relationship and spending time with your friends."
She liked what she heard, but she couldn't help but feel like there was more to say to that. "And?"
He raised a brow. "Yet it feels like there isn't an equal balance. It's like I've taken a backseat in favour of the sheer amount of friends that you have." He continued, in something of a somewhat accusing tone.
She tensed a bit, and cocked her head with a look that said, "try me". "Now you're acting like I've abandoned you completely."
"I'm just saying," Fred put his hands up defensively. "It's an observation, not an accusation."
"I do understand what you're saying. I apologise for that." Dorea said, a bit tersely. This wasn't going as well as she wanted, but at least they were addressing and acknowledging problems - just not as civilly as they should be.
"There's something else I've been thinking about," Fred said, "We won't be seeing each other nearly as much when I graduate. How are we managing that?"
Dorea had thought of that - both before their fight and after. Whether they liked it or not, they would have to do long-distance to a degree - depending on where he and George actually got their premises. If they secured a place in Diagon Alley, he'd be in London whilst she would be in sixth year at Hogwarts. That got her thinking; the only time she could see him would be at Hogsmeade weekends. That didn't sound very ideal.
"We'll just have to send some owls and see each other at Hogsmeade weekends," she offered, a bit weakly.
"But what if the shop gets extremely busy and I can't do Hogsmeade weekends, eh?" Fred said.
"Well…" She truly had nothing to offer. "Look, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Fred sighed, and her temper flared. "Okay." Was all he said.
"Now let's address the elephant in the room - you seem to think that I don't spend enough time with you, so I've come up with a solution. I've elected to relax a little in terms of revision - it's all I've been doing the last few months, after all. I'm planning on resting my mind and using that time not revising or spending time with my friends to spend with you. That sound good?"
She was pleased when Fred nodded. "Sounds good. But again, it sounds like I'm the last resort here."
She sighed, frustrated. "Is that all you've got to say to that? Be grateful that I'll want to spend time with you at all, you twat."
"Oi! I was just saying."
"What else do we have to address? We've both apologised, we've both addressed the spending time thing…"
"Well, we need to go back to loving each other and not snapping each other's heads off, don't you think?" Fred said, his cheekiness well and truly back as he smiled.
Dorea's heart warmed at that, and she couldn't help but grin. "There's the Fred that I know and love."
Delighted, the two of them walked back up to the school together, glad that things were amended. Although there was still work to do, Dorea was confident that Fred wouldn't let her down. She vowed to try her hardest, for him.