** After many exams, a major hard drive crash, being introduced to the Lord of the Rings, and severe writer's block (no joke I wrote this chapter at least five times), Family Tree has returned. If there are any loyal readers out there, I apologize for the wait.**
Chapter Seven: The Reunion
As Harry and Selene traveled through the dark passageway, Harry was amazed at how well Selene could navigate through the dark. He then realized that this was not the first time that Selene had been down here. After all, she had probably been down here numerous times with the Marauders. After what seemed like an eternity to Harry they finally arrived in Hogsmeade. Harry pulled his cloak around him as they walked out into the cold night air. Concerned about his aunt, he turned to Selene to see how she was dealing with the cold. Besides the fact that she had wrapped her cloak tightly around herself and her teeth were chattering, Selene seemed unaffected by the cold. Harry noted that this seemed a little unusual, but shrugged it off as the cold wind lashed Harry's face and forced him to concentrate on getting to Sirius' cave as quickly as possible. When they finally arrived at the cave, Selene followed behind Harry as he went in and called for Sirius…
"Sirius?" Harry asked, feeling his away around in the darkness. Harry heard no response. "Sirius? It's Harry." he said squinting as a light hit his eyes.
"Harry?" Sirius said, lowering his lantern, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to tell you something." Harry said as he looked behind him for Selene, but she wasn't there.
"Tell me what?" Sirius asked. Harry was looking around for Selene and didn't answer.
"It's about Selene." Harry said turning his attention back to Sirius.
Sirius turned his back to Harry and motioned for him to follow, "I thought I told you to leave that alone." he said.
"I know, but…"
"She's dead Harry. And let that be the end of it." Sirius said decidedly.
At that point they reached where the cave opened up to Sirius' living quarters. Although it was rather small and the fact that it was in a cave, Harry found it to be quite comforting. The room was surprising warm, heated by a small smokeless fire in a corner. Sirius' bed faced the tunnel opening and piles of old newspapers were scattered about. Sirius walked over to his small desk and began working on something that Harry was unable to make out. Leaning over to see what it was that Sirius was working on Harry said, "That's what I wanted to tell you, she isn't dead. She's alive."
Sirius lifted his pencil for a brief moment, "Impossible." he said.
Harry sighed deeply. He didn't realize how hard it was going to be to convince Sirius that Selene was indeed alive without her actually being there to prove it.. Where did she go? Harry wondered and peered back into the darkness of the tunnel that he had just come from. Suddenly Sirius spoke., "Why do you think that she is alive?" he asked flatly.
"Because she came to see me." Harry said. Sirius turned around and looked at Harry with a questioning look. "When?" Sirius asked.
"Tonight at the costume ball. Dumbledore introduced us and then we came here."
Sirius sat back in his chair and looked as if he was contemplating something. "I can't believe this!" Sirius exclaimed in a manner that caused Harry to back up. "The lengths that he would go to….how did he find….Crouch….he must've, no not even Crouch would have."
"Would have what?" Harry asked wondering who and what his godfather was talking about. Sirius ignored him and continued talking to himself.
"Must be a good illusion. Good enough to fool Dumbledore.?"
Upon hearing the word "illusion" Harry began to realize what Sirius was thinking. Sirius thought that Selene was an illusion. Harry remembered something he had read about illusions in class. Although they were constructed of complex and tedious spells, good illusions could fool just about anyone. They were kind of like ghosts, only you could touch them and vice versa, but they weren't alive, they were more like robots, only more convincing.
"Harry, did you say that you brought her here?" Sirius asked.
Harry nodded. Sirius looked about the room as if something was going to pop out of the stone walls and grab them. He walked over to his bed and grabbed his wand and then crossed the room to a large pile old Daily Prophets and pulled out a small dagger from in between the sheets of the newspaper. Harry's eyes grew wide. "What are you going to do with that?" he asked.
"Where is she?" was Sirius' answer.
"I don't know. But even if I did I don't think that I would tell you." Harry said.
Sirius hard features relaxed slightly and he walked over to Harry and knelt down. "Harry, the person that you think is Selene is not really her." he said. Harry opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by Sirius. "I know you want to believe that it is Selene, but it simply cannot be. She's dead, I watched her die." Harry noticed a sudden and brief spark of pain and anger flare up in Sirius eyes, and suddenly Sirius seemed much older than he was. Sirius continued, "I know that you don't want to hear this, but I am going to tell you anyway. This thing that calls itself Selene was probably sent by Voldemort in order to gain your trust. I have to admit it's a good plan, and apparently by the look on your face it has worked."
"But she showed me her magic. Besides Dumbledore would have seen through the illusion, but he left me alone with her and if she wanted to do something to me, she could have done it then." Harry said.
"Voldemort is growing stronger and Dumbledore isn't getting any younger. With all that Dumbledore has had to do in order to secure Hogwarts and all the extra time spent working with the Ministry of Magic has taken its toll on him. He's getting old, Harry, and tired. With Voldemort's increased strength he would have been able to create an illusion that would fool even Dumbledore himself."
"But her--"
"Magic?" Sirius asked. "Does it not make sense that a magical illusion could create magic itself? It was all an elaborate fabrication, nothing more."
Harry didn't want to believe that it wasn't real. He wanted to argue again, but his own doubts stopped him. What if Sirius was right? He wondered. Harry swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat and asked "Are you going to kill her?"
Sirius paused for a moment and then said, "I'm going to stop her." Harry turned away from his godfather's hard gaze and look over his shoulder and saw Selene standing behind them. Harry wondered how long she had been standing there, her face showed little and if she had heard what they said and Sirius' plans she was making little effort to get away.
Sirius noticed Harry's sudden look of surprise and turned around. As he turned around he found himself face to face with Selene's illusion. Although he had thought himself prepared to meet this apparition, he was not. The thing did look exactly as Sirius remembered. It was as if someone had reached into his mind and created the illusion from his memory. For an instance Sirius questioned himself, what if he wasn't right? What if this really was his Selene. Suddenly as if trying to push back all the emotion and doubt he yelled and pushed the illusion into the cave wall.
Harry jumped at Sirius quick movements and it was obvious that it caught Selene off guard also. Selene or the thing that was pretending to be Selene. His doubts began to crowd his mind again and his mind began to race, replaying the events of the night….
"Who are you?" Sirius questioned the woman.
….Harry thought about how Selene had just appeared from nowhere at the party, no one questioned how she had gotten through the doors, which would have seemed impossible to do with all the security precautions that had taken place…..
"I'm Selene." she said struggling under Sirius' firm grasp.
….And then there was the fact that Selene had not seemed to be all that concerned about the cold when they had traveled to Sirius' cave. After all, Harry thought, everything that he and Hermione had read said that magmani were almost crippled in cold weather…..
"What does he want?" Sirius asked ignoring her previous answer.
…Then there was the matter of her survival. The very fact that she could have survived that type of imprisonment for so long was slim….
"What does who want?" Selene asked in a confused voice.
"Voldemort! The one that sent you!" Sirius shouted.
….Harry continued to think about all the reasons that Selene was not who she said she was and he began to wonder about her magic. Is Sirius right? Could that have been an illusion also? Harry thought about how her magic felt. He remembered how the warmth traveled through his fingertips…..
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Selene shouted back desperately.
….how it had spread down from his hands and into his arms, up his shoulders and throughout his entire body. Harry remembered the peace that it had brought him. The magic had made him feel protected and it made him feel…..
"Yes you do!" Sirius yelled. "He sent you to kill Harry didn't he?" Sirius asked although he had already decided the answer.
"No. No one sent me. I'm Selene, Sirius." Selene said calmly.
Hearing the thing that called itself Selene say his name, infuriated Sirius. He wasn't sure why, but he knew this had to end. If she wasn't going to give him the information he wanted he would kill her, he had to protect Harry. He wrapped his left hand around her wrists tighter and pulled his knife out.
….at home. That's it, Harry said to himself, the magic made him feel at home. He knew then that Selene was who she said she was and no one would be able to convince him otherwise.
Harry was thinking that he had to stop Sirius, when he saw Sirius pull the dagger out from underneath his robes. He watched in an almost trance-like state as Sirius' grasp tightened around Selene and Harry watched as Selene's face drained of color and a look of defeat entered her eyes. For a moment Harry believed Sirius would be unable to kill her, but then he remembered the look of fury that he had witnessed when Sirius had faced Peter in the Shrieking Shack. Harry knew without a doubt he would've killed Peter and he had the same look in his eyes now. Harry was screaming before he even realized it. "STOP!" he yelled.
Sirius lowered the knife and he and Selene looked at Harry. "Harry. This isn't Selene." Sirius said.
"What if she is?" Harry asked. "Have you thought of the possibility that it might possibly be Selene?"
Sirius looked puzzled for a moment as if he was pondering Harry's question. His grip on Selene released slightly and he turned away from her gaze.
"Show him Selene." Harry said, "Show him your magic."
Selene shook her head, "It's not that easy Harry."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
Selene didn't get to answer. Upon recognizing that his grip had loosened, Sirius went to grab her with both hands and momentarily forgot what he held in his right one. The dagger blade cut into Selene's left arm and a small thin line of blood appeared. The three stood without saying anything, but Sirius was the most perplexed of all. Illusions don't bled. Sirius said to himself, illusions don't bleed….
Harry's mind was racing again. All he wanted was to get Selene out of there and the only way to do that was to go through Sirius. Harry didn't want to hurt his godfather, he was the only family that Harry had had up until now. After all, Sirius was only trying to protect him. On the other hand, Sirius was trying to kill the only living family member that Harry had left. Secretly Harry had always felt a little guilty about his parents' death, but he had come to terms with the fact that he couldn't have done anything to stop their murders. This time was different, this time he could stop Sirius. Harry pointed his wand at Sirius and yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry was lucky that it worked. Usually a spell like this from a wizard of Harry's level would not have affected a wizard like Sirius, but it did. Sirius immediately let go of Selene as he fell on the floor rigid and unmoving. An immediate wave of guilt came over Harry as he stepped over his godfather on the floor. "I'm sorry, Sirius." Harry said "You just don't understand." Harry then turned to Selene, "Let's get out of here." Selene nodded and followed Harry out of the cave.
The two said very little as they made the trip back to Hogwarts. Harry had a million questions to ask Selene but found himself suddenly too tired to ask them. After what seemed like hours they were back in the school and Harry found himself almost mechanically walking to the flight of stairs that led up to his room. As he started to ascend the stairs he felt Selene touch his shoulder and he turned around. "Harry, I want to thank you for tonight." Selene said softly.
Harry nodded as another wave of guilt passed through him.
Selene seemed to sense it and said, "You believed in me enough to save my life. That was brave Harry, very brave." she paused and then added, "and so very much like your mother."
Harry smiled briefly, and then saw the blood that was on Selene' s arm. "I can't believe he was going to kill you." he said nodding towards the blood.
"Don't blame Sirius for what happened tonight." Selene said, "He has been through a lot--more than you or I will ever understand. I was afraid he would act like that, which is why I didn't follow you immediately into the cave."
"Then why did you?" Harry asked.
She smiled softly, "One day you'll understand Harry. Now go to bed."
Harry nodded complacently and went up to his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and glanced at the clock which read 3:45. Harry then fell asleep without even bothering to take off his costume. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so tired that he didn't realize that Selene had left Harry and gone back the way they had came. Maybe if he hadn't been so tired Harry would also have heard the secret door open and close one more time.
********
A couple of notes:
* I hope that Harry's thoughts intermingled between Selene and Sirius' argument wasn't too confusing, but I wanted to relate the fact that it was all happening very fast for all three of them.
* I know that Sirius seems like an ass in this chapter, and that all of you Sirius fans out there might hate me. Not to worry, I'm a Sirius fan myself and he will redeem himself.
*One more thing: You can get to Sirius' cave through Hogsmeade, right? I could've sworn I read that, but it has been a while and I can't find it in my book. If anyone knows if I am wrong about this, please let me know and I'll fix it. -R
Chapter Seven: The Reunion
As Harry and Selene traveled through the dark passageway, Harry was amazed at how well Selene could navigate through the dark. He then realized that this was not the first time that Selene had been down here. After all, she had probably been down here numerous times with the Marauders. After what seemed like an eternity to Harry they finally arrived in Hogsmeade. Harry pulled his cloak around him as they walked out into the cold night air. Concerned about his aunt, he turned to Selene to see how she was dealing with the cold. Besides the fact that she had wrapped her cloak tightly around herself and her teeth were chattering, Selene seemed unaffected by the cold. Harry noted that this seemed a little unusual, but shrugged it off as the cold wind lashed Harry's face and forced him to concentrate on getting to Sirius' cave as quickly as possible. When they finally arrived at the cave, Selene followed behind Harry as he went in and called for Sirius…
"Sirius?" Harry asked, feeling his away around in the darkness. Harry heard no response. "Sirius? It's Harry." he said squinting as a light hit his eyes.
"Harry?" Sirius said, lowering his lantern, "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to tell you something." Harry said as he looked behind him for Selene, but she wasn't there.
"Tell me what?" Sirius asked. Harry was looking around for Selene and didn't answer.
"It's about Selene." Harry said turning his attention back to Sirius.
Sirius turned his back to Harry and motioned for him to follow, "I thought I told you to leave that alone." he said.
"I know, but…"
"She's dead Harry. And let that be the end of it." Sirius said decidedly.
At that point they reached where the cave opened up to Sirius' living quarters. Although it was rather small and the fact that it was in a cave, Harry found it to be quite comforting. The room was surprising warm, heated by a small smokeless fire in a corner. Sirius' bed faced the tunnel opening and piles of old newspapers were scattered about. Sirius walked over to his small desk and began working on something that Harry was unable to make out. Leaning over to see what it was that Sirius was working on Harry said, "That's what I wanted to tell you, she isn't dead. She's alive."
Sirius lifted his pencil for a brief moment, "Impossible." he said.
Harry sighed deeply. He didn't realize how hard it was going to be to convince Sirius that Selene was indeed alive without her actually being there to prove it.. Where did she go? Harry wondered and peered back into the darkness of the tunnel that he had just come from. Suddenly Sirius spoke., "Why do you think that she is alive?" he asked flatly.
"Because she came to see me." Harry said. Sirius turned around and looked at Harry with a questioning look. "When?" Sirius asked.
"Tonight at the costume ball. Dumbledore introduced us and then we came here."
Sirius sat back in his chair and looked as if he was contemplating something. "I can't believe this!" Sirius exclaimed in a manner that caused Harry to back up. "The lengths that he would go to….how did he find….Crouch….he must've, no not even Crouch would have."
"Would have what?" Harry asked wondering who and what his godfather was talking about. Sirius ignored him and continued talking to himself.
"Must be a good illusion. Good enough to fool Dumbledore.?"
Upon hearing the word "illusion" Harry began to realize what Sirius was thinking. Sirius thought that Selene was an illusion. Harry remembered something he had read about illusions in class. Although they were constructed of complex and tedious spells, good illusions could fool just about anyone. They were kind of like ghosts, only you could touch them and vice versa, but they weren't alive, they were more like robots, only more convincing.
"Harry, did you say that you brought her here?" Sirius asked.
Harry nodded. Sirius looked about the room as if something was going to pop out of the stone walls and grab them. He walked over to his bed and grabbed his wand and then crossed the room to a large pile old Daily Prophets and pulled out a small dagger from in between the sheets of the newspaper. Harry's eyes grew wide. "What are you going to do with that?" he asked.
"Where is she?" was Sirius' answer.
"I don't know. But even if I did I don't think that I would tell you." Harry said.
Sirius hard features relaxed slightly and he walked over to Harry and knelt down. "Harry, the person that you think is Selene is not really her." he said. Harry opened his mouth to protest but was silenced by Sirius. "I know you want to believe that it is Selene, but it simply cannot be. She's dead, I watched her die." Harry noticed a sudden and brief spark of pain and anger flare up in Sirius eyes, and suddenly Sirius seemed much older than he was. Sirius continued, "I know that you don't want to hear this, but I am going to tell you anyway. This thing that calls itself Selene was probably sent by Voldemort in order to gain your trust. I have to admit it's a good plan, and apparently by the look on your face it has worked."
"But she showed me her magic. Besides Dumbledore would have seen through the illusion, but he left me alone with her and if she wanted to do something to me, she could have done it then." Harry said.
"Voldemort is growing stronger and Dumbledore isn't getting any younger. With all that Dumbledore has had to do in order to secure Hogwarts and all the extra time spent working with the Ministry of Magic has taken its toll on him. He's getting old, Harry, and tired. With Voldemort's increased strength he would have been able to create an illusion that would fool even Dumbledore himself."
"But her--"
"Magic?" Sirius asked. "Does it not make sense that a magical illusion could create magic itself? It was all an elaborate fabrication, nothing more."
Harry didn't want to believe that it wasn't real. He wanted to argue again, but his own doubts stopped him. What if Sirius was right? He wondered. Harry swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat and asked "Are you going to kill her?"
Sirius paused for a moment and then said, "I'm going to stop her." Harry turned away from his godfather's hard gaze and look over his shoulder and saw Selene standing behind them. Harry wondered how long she had been standing there, her face showed little and if she had heard what they said and Sirius' plans she was making little effort to get away.
Sirius noticed Harry's sudden look of surprise and turned around. As he turned around he found himself face to face with Selene's illusion. Although he had thought himself prepared to meet this apparition, he was not. The thing did look exactly as Sirius remembered. It was as if someone had reached into his mind and created the illusion from his memory. For an instance Sirius questioned himself, what if he wasn't right? What if this really was his Selene. Suddenly as if trying to push back all the emotion and doubt he yelled and pushed the illusion into the cave wall.
Harry jumped at Sirius quick movements and it was obvious that it caught Selene off guard also. Selene or the thing that was pretending to be Selene. His doubts began to crowd his mind again and his mind began to race, replaying the events of the night….
"Who are you?" Sirius questioned the woman.
….Harry thought about how Selene had just appeared from nowhere at the party, no one questioned how she had gotten through the doors, which would have seemed impossible to do with all the security precautions that had taken place…..
"I'm Selene." she said struggling under Sirius' firm grasp.
….And then there was the fact that Selene had not seemed to be all that concerned about the cold when they had traveled to Sirius' cave. After all, Harry thought, everything that he and Hermione had read said that magmani were almost crippled in cold weather…..
"What does he want?" Sirius asked ignoring her previous answer.
…Then there was the matter of her survival. The very fact that she could have survived that type of imprisonment for so long was slim….
"What does who want?" Selene asked in a confused voice.
"Voldemort! The one that sent you!" Sirius shouted.
….Harry continued to think about all the reasons that Selene was not who she said she was and he began to wonder about her magic. Is Sirius right? Could that have been an illusion also? Harry thought about how her magic felt. He remembered how the warmth traveled through his fingertips…..
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Selene shouted back desperately.
….how it had spread down from his hands and into his arms, up his shoulders and throughout his entire body. Harry remembered the peace that it had brought him. The magic had made him feel protected and it made him feel…..
"Yes you do!" Sirius yelled. "He sent you to kill Harry didn't he?" Sirius asked although he had already decided the answer.
"No. No one sent me. I'm Selene, Sirius." Selene said calmly.
Hearing the thing that called itself Selene say his name, infuriated Sirius. He wasn't sure why, but he knew this had to end. If she wasn't going to give him the information he wanted he would kill her, he had to protect Harry. He wrapped his left hand around her wrists tighter and pulled his knife out.
….at home. That's it, Harry said to himself, the magic made him feel at home. He knew then that Selene was who she said she was and no one would be able to convince him otherwise.
Harry was thinking that he had to stop Sirius, when he saw Sirius pull the dagger out from underneath his robes. He watched in an almost trance-like state as Sirius' grasp tightened around Selene and Harry watched as Selene's face drained of color and a look of defeat entered her eyes. For a moment Harry believed Sirius would be unable to kill her, but then he remembered the look of fury that he had witnessed when Sirius had faced Peter in the Shrieking Shack. Harry knew without a doubt he would've killed Peter and he had the same look in his eyes now. Harry was screaming before he even realized it. "STOP!" he yelled.
Sirius lowered the knife and he and Selene looked at Harry. "Harry. This isn't Selene." Sirius said.
"What if she is?" Harry asked. "Have you thought of the possibility that it might possibly be Selene?"
Sirius looked puzzled for a moment as if he was pondering Harry's question. His grip on Selene released slightly and he turned away from her gaze.
"Show him Selene." Harry said, "Show him your magic."
Selene shook her head, "It's not that easy Harry."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
Selene didn't get to answer. Upon recognizing that his grip had loosened, Sirius went to grab her with both hands and momentarily forgot what he held in his right one. The dagger blade cut into Selene's left arm and a small thin line of blood appeared. The three stood without saying anything, but Sirius was the most perplexed of all. Illusions don't bled. Sirius said to himself, illusions don't bleed….
Harry's mind was racing again. All he wanted was to get Selene out of there and the only way to do that was to go through Sirius. Harry didn't want to hurt his godfather, he was the only family that Harry had had up until now. After all, Sirius was only trying to protect him. On the other hand, Sirius was trying to kill the only living family member that Harry had left. Secretly Harry had always felt a little guilty about his parents' death, but he had come to terms with the fact that he couldn't have done anything to stop their murders. This time was different, this time he could stop Sirius. Harry pointed his wand at Sirius and yelled "Petrificus Totalus!"
Harry was lucky that it worked. Usually a spell like this from a wizard of Harry's level would not have affected a wizard like Sirius, but it did. Sirius immediately let go of Selene as he fell on the floor rigid and unmoving. An immediate wave of guilt came over Harry as he stepped over his godfather on the floor. "I'm sorry, Sirius." Harry said "You just don't understand." Harry then turned to Selene, "Let's get out of here." Selene nodded and followed Harry out of the cave.
The two said very little as they made the trip back to Hogwarts. Harry had a million questions to ask Selene but found himself suddenly too tired to ask them. After what seemed like hours they were back in the school and Harry found himself almost mechanically walking to the flight of stairs that led up to his room. As he started to ascend the stairs he felt Selene touch his shoulder and he turned around. "Harry, I want to thank you for tonight." Selene said softly.
Harry nodded as another wave of guilt passed through him.
Selene seemed to sense it and said, "You believed in me enough to save my life. That was brave Harry, very brave." she paused and then added, "and so very much like your mother."
Harry smiled briefly, and then saw the blood that was on Selene' s arm. "I can't believe he was going to kill you." he said nodding towards the blood.
"Don't blame Sirius for what happened tonight." Selene said, "He has been through a lot--more than you or I will ever understand. I was afraid he would act like that, which is why I didn't follow you immediately into the cave."
"Then why did you?" Harry asked.
She smiled softly, "One day you'll understand Harry. Now go to bed."
Harry nodded complacently and went up to his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and glanced at the clock which read 3:45. Harry then fell asleep without even bothering to take off his costume. Perhaps it was the fact that he was so tired that he didn't realize that Selene had left Harry and gone back the way they had came. Maybe if he hadn't been so tired Harry would also have heard the secret door open and close one more time.
********
A couple of notes:
* I hope that Harry's thoughts intermingled between Selene and Sirius' argument wasn't too confusing, but I wanted to relate the fact that it was all happening very fast for all three of them.
* I know that Sirius seems like an ass in this chapter, and that all of you Sirius fans out there might hate me. Not to worry, I'm a Sirius fan myself and he will redeem himself.
*One more thing: You can get to Sirius' cave through Hogsmeade, right? I could've sworn I read that, but it has been a while and I can't find it in my book. If anyone knows if I am wrong about this, please let me know and I'll fix it. -R