Chapter 40 - First Years End and Summer

People in this Chapter.

Harry James Potter, Ronald Weasley, Neville Longbottom,

He blinked. It was not the Snitch at all. It was a pair of glasses. How strange. He blinked again.
The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam
into view above him.

"Good afternoon, Lewis," said Dumbledore.

Harry was sitting on the other side steering mad at Lewis.

Lewis stared at him. Then he said,
"Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick."

"Calm yourself, dear boy, you are a little behind the times,"
said Dumbledore. "Quirrell does not have the Stone.
Remember you teleported to my pocket."

"I forgot." Said Lewis.

Lewis realized he must be in the hospital wing.
He was lying in a bed with white linen sheets,
and next to him was a table piled high with what looked like half the candy shop. "Tokens from your friends and admirers,"
said Dumbledore, beaming. "What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows.
I believe your friends Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send you a toilet seat."

"No doubt they thought it would amuse you.
Doctor Robert, however, felt it might not be very hygienic,
and confiscated it."

"How long have I been in here?"

"Three days. The Brotherhood have spent time here by your bed and will be most relieved you have come round,
they have been extremely worried." Said Albus.

"But sur, the Stone." Said Lewis.

"I see you are not to be distracted.
Very well, the Stone was delivered to my pocket.
I arrived in time to prevent your death." Said Albus.

"You got there? You got Harry's owl?" Asked Lewis.

"We must have crossed in midair. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in
time to pull Quirrell off you." Said Albus.

"It was you." Said Lewis.

"I feared I might be too late." Said Albus.

"You nearly were, I couldn't have kept him there
munch longer …" Said Lewis.

"Boy, you - the effort involved nearly killed you.
For one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had.
As for the Stone, it has been destroyed." Said Albus.

"Destroyed?" said Harry blankly. "But your friend - Nicolas Flamel -"

"Oh, you know about Nicolas?" said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. "You did do the thing properly, didn't you?
Well, Nicolas and I have had a little chat,
and agreed it's all for the best."

"But that means Uncle Nick, won't he?" Said Ron.

"They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die." Said Albus.

Ron started crying. "NO, NO, NO." Said Ron.

"Ron are you ok?" Asked Lewis. "Last I remember you got hit,
and you laid crumpled on the ground."

"I am fine now." Said Ron, Laying down next to Lewis.

"To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible,
but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know,
the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing.
As much money and life as you could want!
The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." They just stayed there,
lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and
smiled at the ceiling.

"Sir?" said Harry. "I've been thinking... sir - even if the Stone's gone, Vol-, I mean, You-Know- Who -"

"Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself."

"Yes, sir. Well, Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?"

"No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere,
perhaps looking for another body to share...
not being truly alive, he cannot be killed." Said Lewis.

"He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as his enemies. Lewis, while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time and if he is delayed again, and again, why,
he may never return to power."

Harry nodded, but stopped quickly, because it made his head hurt. Then he said, "Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to
know the truth about..."

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I shall answer your questions unless I have a very good reason not to, in which case I beg you'll forgive me.
I shall not, of course, lie."

"You two have not answered this yet,
Voldemort only killed my mother because she tried to stop him from killing us. But why would he want to kill
us in the first place?"

Dumbledore sighed very deeply this time.
"Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you.
Not today. Not now. You will know, one day... put it from your mind for now, Harry. When you are older... I know you hate to hear this... when you are ready, you will know." Said Albus.

"I know why he tried to kill me, why he killed them, he did not try and kill you, but not telling you yet." Said Lewis.

And Harry knew it would be no good to argue.

"But why couldn't Quirrell touch me?" Asked Lewis.

"Your mother died to save you. If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mothers for you leaves its own mark.
Not a scar, no visible sign... to have been loved so deeply,
even though the person who loved us is gone,
will give us some protection forever.
It is in your very skin. Quirrell,
full of hatred, greed, and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason.
He was agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Dumbledore now became very interested in a bird out on the windowsill, which gave Lewis's time to dry his eyes on the sheet. When he had found his voice again.

Harry said, "And the invisibility cloak - do you know
who sent it to me?"

"Ah - your father happened to leave it in my possession,
and I thought you might like it." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.
"Useful things... your father used it mainly for sneaking off to the kitchens to steal food when he was here."

"Harry, I told you who left us our family's part of
The Deathly Hollows." Said Lewis.

"You know of the Deathly Hollows?" Asked Albus.

"We lived with the Weasleys, as Wizzards for the past five years." Said Lewis. "Also know about our family connection to Tom Riddle."

"You and Tom Riddle are not the same he always had hate,
You don't have any in you, you risk ever thang for you family,
friends, and school mates." Said Albus.

"Sweety, I told you that as will." Said Ron.

"And there's something else..." Asked Lewis.

"Fire away." Said Albus.

"Quirrell said Snape, said he hates me because he hated my father. Is that true?" Asked Lewis.

"Well, they did rather detest each other.
Not unlike yourself and Mr. Malfoy. And then, your father did something Snape could never forgive." Said Albus.

"What?" Asked the Twins.

"He saved his life." Said Albus.

"You are talking about where Serius tricked him into going to see Lupin in his cabin hideout." Said Lewis.

"Yes..." said Dumbledore dreamily. "Funny, the way people's minds work, isn't it? Professor Snape couldn't bear being in your father's debt... I do believe he worked so hard to protect you this year because he felt that would make him and your father even. Then he could go back to hating your father's memory in peace..." Said Albus.

Lewis tried to understand this, but it made his head pound,
so he stopped.

"And sir, there's one more thing..." Asked Lewis.

"Just the one?" Said Albus.

"How did I get the Stone out of the mirror?" Asked Lewis.

"Ah, now, I'm glad you asked me that.
It was one of my more brilliant ideas, and between you and me, that's saying something. You see, only one who wanted to find the Stone - find it, but not use it - would be able to get it, otherwise they'd just see themselves making gold or drinking Elixir of Life. My brain surprises even me sometimes..."

"Now, enough questions. I suggest you make a start on these sweets. Ah! Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans!
I was unfortunate enough in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I'm afraid I've rather lost my liking for them - but I think I'll be safe with a nice toffee, don't you?" He smiled and popped the golden-brown bean into his mouth. Then he choked and said, "Alas! Ear wax!"

Robert was a good man strict.

"Just five minutes," Harry pleaded.

"Absolutely not." Said the Doctor.

"You let Professor Dumbledore in..." Said Lewis.

"Well, of course, that was the headmaster, quite different.
You need rest." Said the Doctor.

"I am resting, look, lying down and everything." Said Lewis.

"Oh, go on, The Doctor..." Said Albus.

"Oh, very well," Said The Doctor said. "But five minutes only."

"Professor can I talk to you privately for a second?"
Lewis asked.

"Yes." Said Albus.

"Can you get Serius to come and visit us?" Asked Lewis.

"Already set it up, Harry needs to go back to his Uncle house?" Asked Lewis.

"Really why?" Asked Lewis.

"Yes, so do you. I already arranged it." Said Albus.

"Can you also arrange it, so we can do some minor spells and mental abilities?" Asked Lewis, "If I have to go there,
I want some minor abilities to make our stay a bit more comfortable, also in case they lock our stuff and our owl companion up. Please."

"What if I don't?" Asked Albus.

"You know I respect you, but you also know I know how to make myself safe to." Said Lewis.

Albus through for a few minutes, then removed the magic detection field. "I removed the spell field,
but nothing major." Said Albus.

And he let The Brotherhood in.

"Lewis." they said.

"Lewis, we were sure you were going to - Dumbledore was so worried -" Said Neville.

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron.
"What really happened?" It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. Lewis told them everything: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. The Brotherhood was very good audience; they gasped in all the right places,
and when Lewis told them what was under Quirrell's turban.

"So, what happened to you two?" said Harry.

"Well, I got back all right," said Harry. "I brought Ron round that took a while and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall he already knew – he just said, 'Lewis's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron.
"Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"Well, " Harry exploded, "if he did - I mean to say that's terrible - you could have been killed."

"I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance.
He knows everything that goes on here, you know.
I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try,
and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help.
I don't think it was an accident he let us find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could..." Said Lewis.

"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly.

"Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you – but the food'll be good."

At that moment, The Doctor bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT" he said firmly.

"Let Harry, Ron, and Neville Stay. You know I
sneak out otherwise." Said Lewis.

"Fine as long as you stay." Said the Doctor.

After a good night's sleep, Lewis felt nearly back to normal.

"I want to go to the feast," he told Doctor as he straightened his many candy boxes. "I can, can't I?"

"You need some food in you, and you have another visitor."

"Oh, good," said Lewis. "Who is it?"

Hagrid sidled through the door as he spoke.
As usual when he was indoors, Hagrid looked too big to be allowed. He sat down next to Lewis, took one look at him,
and burst into tears.

"It's - all - my - ruddy - fault!" he sobbed,
his face in his hands. I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know,
an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg!
I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out
an' made ter live as a Muggle!"

"Hagrid!" said Lewis, shocked to see Hagrid shaking with grief and remorse, great tears leaking down into his beard.
"Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is Voldemort we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him."

"Yeh could've died!" sobbed Hagrid. "An' don' say the name!"

"VOLDEMORT! VOLDEMORT! VOLDEMORT!" Lewis bellowed, and Hagrid was so shocked,
he stopped crying. "See he did not show up.
I've met him and I'm calling him by his name. Please cheer up, Hagrid, we saved the Stone, it's gone, he can't use it.
Have a Chocolate Frog, I've got loads..."

Hagrid wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said,
"That reminds me. I've got yeh two a present."

"It's not a chicken leg, is it?" said Lewis anxiously and at last Hagrid gave a weak chuckle.

"Nah. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday ter fix it. 'Course, he shoulda sacked me instead - anyway, got yeh this..."

It seemed to be a handsome, leather-covered book.
Harry opened it curiously and looked at it with Lewis.
It was full of wizard photographs. Smiling and waving at him from every page were his mother and father.

"Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer
photos... knew yeh didn' have any... d'yeh like it?"
Said Hagrid, the Twins couldn't speak, but Hagrid understood.

Lewis connected to Hagrid thoughts,
'Do you want something important to do this summer,
taking care of someone who is very important? Think and I can hear it, you are to tell no one other than Dumbledore,
Merlin, or Charley. You will get to meet someone important to Me and Harry survive.' Asked Lewis.

'Yes, yes I do." Said Hagrid.

'You are now part of the Brotherhood.
The members love you like an uncle anyway.' Through Lewis.
'Do you know where my dorm is?'

'I do.' Said Hagrid.

'There a Gryffindor Shield by the door,
put you hand flat on it, it will bring you to the HQ of the Brotherhood of the owl. Saphera is in there to.' Through Lewis.

'He is still here why. Through he had to go." Through Hagrid.

'Do you know what a dragon rider is?' Asked Lewis.

'Yes.' Through Hagrid.

'Me and Harry are now bonded with Saphira,
we are now dragon ridders. We are both bonded with Saphira,
this is a first.' Through Lewis. 'So do you want to spend time with Saphera this summer, but you still have to keep up with your grounds work.'

'YES, YES, YES!' Through Hagrid.

Lewis trained Hagrid how to secure his mind completely,
'Hagrid I trained you how to secure your mind completely.
I needed to make sure you could, the security of the brotherhood safety important." Said Lewis.

They made his way down to the end-of-year feast alone that night. He had been held up by The Doctors fussing about, insisting on giving him one last checkup,
so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's
winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row.
A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table. When Harry walked in there was a sudden hush, and then everybody started talking loudly at once. They slipped into empty seats at the Gryffindor table and tried to ignore the fact that people were standing up to look at him.
Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later.
The babble died away.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast.
What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were... you have the whole summer ahead to get
them nice and empty before next year starts..."

"Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding, and the points stand thus: In fourth place, Gryffindor,
with three hundred and twelve points;
in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw has four hundred and twenty-six,
and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy- two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Harry could see Draco Malfoy banging his goblet on the table. It was a sickening sight.

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore.
"However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes... "First - to Mr. Ronald Weasley..."
Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn. "...for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling;
the stars overhead seemed to quiver.
Percy could be heard telling the other prefects,
"My brother, you know! My brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" At last, there was silence again.

"Second – Mr. Harry Potter ... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves - they were a hundred points up.

"Third - to Mr. Lewis Potter..." said Dumbledore.
The room went deadly quiet, "for pure nerve and outstanding courage; I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points - exactly the same as Slytherin.

They had tied for the house cup – if only Dumbledore had given just one more point.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling.
"For getting friend out of danger and keeping his cool in the face of danger I therefore award fifty to Mr. Neville Longbottom." Said Albus.

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place,
so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. The Brotherhood stood up to yell and cheer as Neville,
white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before.

Harry, still cheering, nudged Ron in the ribs and pointed at Malfoy, who couldn't have looked more stunned and horrified if he'd just had the Body-Bind Curse put on him.

"Which means, Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet, and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished, and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place.
Black was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand smiling.

It was the best evening of the twin's life,
better than winning at Quidditch, or Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls... he would never, ever forget tonight.

The twins had almost forgotten that the exam results were still to come but come they did. To their great surprise,
both Harry and Ron passed with good marks.
Lewis, of course, had the best grades of the first years.
Even Neville scraped through, his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.

They had hoped that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Ron said, you could not have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, notes were handed out to all students,
warning them not to use magic over the holidays.

"I always hope they'll forget to give us these,"
said Fred Weasley sadly.

Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns.

Pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station. It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.

"You must come and stay this summer," said Ron, "both of you - I'll send you an owl."

"Thanks," said Harry, "I'll need something to look forward to." People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called.

"Bye, Lewis and Harry!"

"See you, Potters!"

"Still famous," said Ron, grinning at him.

"Not where I'm going, I promise you," said Harry.

He, Ron, and Lewis passed through the gateway together. "There he is, Mom, there he is, look!" Said Rob.
It was Robert Weasley, Ron's younger brother,
but he was not pointing at Lewis or Harry but Ron.

He squealed. "Look, Mom!" He ran up and hugged Ron.

Mrs. Weasley smiled down at them.

"Busy year?" she said.

"Very," said Harry. "Thanks for the fudge and the sweater, Mrs. Weasley."

"Ms. Weasley." Said Lewis, "Thank you again for the sweater,
they are my favorite thangs of all time."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear." Said Molly.

"Ready, are you?" It was Uncle Vernon, still purple-faced,
still mustached, still looking furious at the nerve of Harry, carrying an owl in a cage in a station full of ordinary people. Behind him stood Aunt Petunia and Dudley,
looking terrified at the very sight of Harry and his twin.

"You must be Harry's family!" said Mrs. Weasley,
"Why are you here, you abandoned them."

"In a manner of speaking," said Uncle Vernon. "Hurry up, boy, we haven't got all day." He walked away.

The twins hung back for a last word with Ron and Lewis.

"See you over the summer, then." Said Ron.

"Dad three weeks is all I will stay there,
or I make a run for it?" Said Lewis.

"See you soon Sweety." Said Lewis and hugged and kissed Ron.

"See you soon Harry and Lewis." Said Neville.

"Dad can Nev here come over to the house this summer to please." Asked Harry. "Assuming Ron and Rob are ok with one more in their room."

"It ok with me." Said Rob.

"Also ok with me to." Said Ron.

"We were predicting this, so we made the Twins room bigger."
Said Mr. Weasley.

"Oh, I will," said Harry, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading over his face. "They don't know we're not allowed to use magic at home. I'm going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer..." Said Harry.

"I made arrangements with Dumbledore." Said Lewis.
"We can do limited magic."

"Remember three weeks or I run for it and you know I can,
why did Dumbledore have to do this." Said Lewis.

"I promise my car will be in your drive in three weeks no matter what." Promised Molly.

pg. 18