Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-two

The Secret Keeper

The end of term came rather quickly and the O.W.L.s were fast upon them. Harry had spent endless hours studying in the library with Ron and Hermione, finding it difficult to keep his mind on his work and not let it wander to a certain red headed girl. Ginny would study with them every now and then, but she had her own exams to worry about. Besides, Ron was still a bit uncomfortable with the situation and often smirked at Harry and Ginny when they would hold hands.

The O.W.L.s, however, hadn't been as terrible as Harry had anticipated. He was certain that he would pass most of them just fine; the Potions exam had been the only on that really bothered him. It was as though Snape had purposefully written an impossible exam just to fail them all. Even Hermione had to admit that she didn't quite know several of the potions.

And then they were over. The fifth years charged out of their last exam, Defense Against the Dark Arts, with an air of enthusiasm. Professor Figg's exam, though difficult, had been loads of fun in Harry's opinion. After batteling it out with several odd creatures, she had allowed them change their own hair and eye color. Harry had gotten a good laugh at Ron who had changed his hair green, Hermione's favorite color

As they proceeded through the door, Professor Figg called to Harry to stay after. Harry was puzzled, but did as requested, letting a still green haired Ron leave with Hermione. Harry put his things back down and waited for everyone else to leave. Professor Figg smiled at him and asked him to take a seat in her office.

Harry had never been in her office, but he wasn't surprised to find it decorated in the same fashion her house had been. He sat down on the over stuffed sofa and Professor Figg sat next to him. "Harry, I have something for you. A gift, you might say. But there is a story behind it that will take some explanation. So please, be patient with me."

Harry frowned. She seemed to be very nervous and upset about something. It wasn't like her to be nervous around Harry. "Is it something bad?" Harry asked.

"No," she said softly, "it's actually something very good. But it's a secret I've kept for so long that it's difficult for me to finally let go of it."

Harry waited. He could tell that she was working out words in her mind. It must be very important. "Harry, have you ever wondered why Voldemort wanted to kill you?"

This wasn't what Harry was expecting and he was rather startled by the question. "Yes. I asked Dumbledore once about it and he said it was something I would learn about when I was older."

"Well, you're older, Harry." She looked hard into his eyes and Harry braced himself to hear the truth. "Why do you think he wanted you dead?"

"I have no idea." Harry said truthfully. "I know he wanted my dad dead. And I know that he wanted me dead. My mum only died to save me. She needn't have died."

"Yes, that's true…but you see, Voldemort was mistaken. It was your father that didn't need to die." Harry was confused by this statement, and he asked her to explain further.

"Your mother possessed a very special gift. A gift that was detrimental to Voldemort's plans. But he thought it was your father that possessed the gift and set out to kill him. He also knew that the gift was hereditary, but wasn't certain if you possessed it or not. Rather than wait and find out if you did indeed possess the gift, he thought it would be best to kill you, too."

Harry's mind was racing. "What gift?" He held his breath and watched her closely.

"Your eyes, Harry."

"My eyes?" Harry thought for a minute. How could his eyes be a gift? He couldn't see worth a darn without his glasses. He'd always been rather annoyed by the fact that he had to wear glasses. He raised his hand and fumbled with the nose-piece.

"It was the glasses that made Voldemort think it was your father who had the gift. When learning how to use the gift, some people have to wear special glasses until their eyes adjust. Your mother did, but only in secret. She worked very hard to make sure no one knew about the glasses."

"My mum didn't wear glasses?" Harry countered.

"Yes she did, but not for the same reason you wear glasses. Her eyesight was perfect, and she caught on rather quickly. So she didn't need to wear the glasses very often. I suspect that you'll catch on rather quickly as well."

Harry was decidedly confused. "I'll catch on to what? I don't understand."

Mrs. Figg rose and went to her desk. She opened the top drawer and took out a familiar looking box. Harry recognized it as the box he had seen Daphne and her talking over last term. She brought it over to Harry and placed it in his hands.

Harry could now see that the markings were indeed in another language. It looked Greek, but Harry wasn't quite sure. He looked to Mrs. Figg who signaled for him to open the box. Harry very slowly opened it, afraid that something might jump out at him. But Daphne had told him what was inside, so he knew very well what he was going to find.

Glasses. Square rimed glasses with strange lenses. They were orange in color. When Harry picked them up, he noticed that the lenses were red. He moved the glasses back and forth in the light and couldn't decide if the lenses were orange or red. Daphne was right…who would want to wear funny looking glasses like these?

"They're ugly." Mrs. Figg said, much to Harry's surprise. "Let me see if I can do anything about that." She tapped her wand on them and the transformed into a replica of Harry's own glasses. "Now you can wear them and no one will ever know the difference."

Harry looked up at her in puzzlement. "Why would I want to wear these?"

"So that you can learn better how to read someone's aura." She said matter-of-factly, as if it was a common thing to do.

"What?" Harry said stunned. He had read about auras around people and that it was very difficult to see them. In fact, he remembered reading somewhere that it was believed all wizards capable of seeing auras had been killed by Voldemort. "You mean I…I can…"

"Well, you'll never know until you try them on, will you?" She reached over and took off Harry's glasses from his face. Harry looked down at the special glasses in his hands. Slowly, unsure of what was going to happen, he placed them in front of his eyes.

The room didn't look any different, but Mrs. Figg did. She had a pale blue glow around her. Harry went to the window and glanced out side at some students enjoying a picnic on the lawn. A Huffelpuff girl had the same blue glow that Mrs. Figg had. The boy she was with had a more pronounced glow around him. Harry turned and went to look at himself in the mirror. His own aura was very white.

He looked back at Mrs. Fig who was smiling brightly and said, "You see it, don't you?"

Harry jumped. "You see it, don't you?" That was what his mother had said to him about Wormtail. This was what she saw! "Yes, I see it. But what does it mean?"

"That, I'm sorry to say, is something I cannot tell you."

"Why not? I need to know why everyone looks different." There was urgency to his voice.

Mrs. Figg sighed. "I can't tell you Harry because I don't know."

"But you knew about the glasses and the auras…"

"Yes, your mother entrusted me with them." She walked over to Harry and continued. "Your mother was very good at what she did. She was able to spot a Death Eater at a glance. But she couldn't very well explain how she knew they were a Death Eater. That was were your father came in. He would set about proving that the person Lily pegged was indeed a Death Eater. They were a wonderful team. But very few people knew of your mother's abilities. I knew because I had been suspected of being a Death Eater once and it was Lily that put an end to my sentencing. When I questioned her about how she managed to convince those in charge that I wasn't a Death Eater, she told me."

"But how did you get these glasses?" Harry asked.

"Your mother gave them to me just before they went into hiding. She was worried about Pettigrew being their secret keeper." Harry's jaw dropped in astonishment. "Yes, I knew about that. Your mother could see that his loyalties were changing, but she didn't know how to tell your father. So she came to me with the glasses and had me promise that if anything happened to her, I would be sure to explain this all to you when you were old enough. She made me your Secret Keeper."

Harry shook his head, "but I don't know what any of it means!"

"I know…" Mrs. Figg sat down in one of the desks. "There was a book your mother kept in her study that explained what different auras meant. I was instructed to take the book, if something happened to your parents, and give it to you with the glasses. But Voldemort destroyed your home along with the book." Harry frowned and Mrs. Figg added, "I'm terribly sorry."

"So, what am I supposed to do now?"

"I'm not sure, but if I were you, I would wear the glasses around for a while and take notes on what I see. You certainly know several people who you can trust and who not to trust. Keep a record of what you see from each person. But I wouldn't tell anyone about it just yet. You have a very powerful gift. A gift for which many people were killed."

Harry picked up the box and took his old glasses back from Mrs. Figg. He walked slowly out of the classroom and headed for Gryffindor Tower.

"Ron told me you were down here." Harry looked up as Ginny came skipping towards him. "What's the matter? Trying to convince Professor Figg to give you full marks?" She laughed.

Harry stared at her. Her aura was just as white as his, but it was thicker. It dimmed slightly as she frowned at Harry. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. I'm just really glad to see you." She smiled and blushed slightly. "Come on," Harry said, "I'm starving!" He took her hand and pulled her gently.

"Wait!" she said, and Harry stopped. "We mustn't go and stuff ourselves."

"Why ever not! We deserve it for all the studying we've done."

"Well…the banquet. I don't want to be stuffed before the banquet."

She had a point. "Ok, but I have to eat something."

"You go on ahead, then. I've got to go start getting ready." She kissed him on the cheek and ran off down the hall. Harry smiled as she slowly disappeared out of sight. He was certainly going to enjoy this night!

****Sorry I've taken so long to get this up! I've been very busy with work and company. And I lied…I do have another chapter in me for this story. Any suggestions for who's aura should be described would not fall upon deaf ears. So, if there is a character you'd like to have described, let me know. (I'm already planning on Ron, Hermione, and Draco…so don't bother with them!) And again…thanks to Lin-z for beta reading!

****Daphne Affigo is an Alphie creation. Harry Potter and all other characters are property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers.