Title: Forgetting Innocence (6/6)
Author: Fabs G.
Summary: Sequel to Faking Innocence. Harry & friends happily return to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays, not knowing that Voldemort already has a plan between his hands.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: slight Sirius/Remus. And finally in this chapter, hints of Ron/Hermione.
Warnings: Contains very mild slash (just some kisses, people!)
Disclaimer: Lovely Joanne owns nearly everything here! All I own here is the plot, Professor Fengel and Methilda Shotclear
A/N: Sorry it took SO long but I've been quite busy. Hoped you enjoyed it!
Enjoy! Review!
------------------------------ CHAPTER 6: ReturningHarry felt himself fall to the ground heavily, facedown. He lingered a moment there, breathing, simply breathing. It felt good to breathe. He then got up, looking around. He kicked the portkey aside and went to Remus, helping him sit up.
"Remus? How are you?"
"Surprisingly happy" he answered. He was bleeding from his arm, wrists and stomach again but he was smiling. "What was that?"
"My parents? That was Priori Incantatem"
"The reverse spell effect?"
"Yeah. It happens when two brother wands duel against each other. Happened last year. Mum and dad helped me escape from Voldemort."
As Remus remembered James and Lily, tears threatened to made their way down their cheeks, but he swallowed them and instead hugged Harry. "Thanks Harry. I owe you a big one."
Harry only shook his head. "You would've done the same" he answered as he took his wand from Remus' hands and blasted the portkey to pieces.
"How did you find me?"
"Better later" Harry mumbled.
Remus squinted at him when a familiar voice yelled at them "REMUS!" They turned round and saw Hagrid running to them "I got out of me house to go to breakfast and saw you… Harry?"
"We're ok. Basically. Where's everyone, Hagrid? Where's Dumbledore and Sirius?"
"In the Great Hall, I s'pose. It's 8am" he looked at Remus, still sitting on the ground "Can you get up?" Hagrid put each of his arms under Remus' and easily raised him up.
Harry and Hagrid helped Remus walk. Now that he was safe in Hogwarts and no one was trying to kill them, the weight of the two weeks he had been kidnapped started dawning on him and his strengths were leaving him considerably fast. "Don't go through the front doors- there's a door to the right…" he clutched his side, breathing hard.
"Yeah, I know." Said Hagrid "Come on"
Hagrid pushed the giant oak doors opened and they walked past the Great hall's door, from which the sound of the thousand of students having breakfast could be heard. They turned round a corner and after walking what looked like the Great hall's length, Harry found himself standing in front of a door, which Hagrid pushed open. Harry found himself staring at the professor's table from the right side of it, Sirius at the furthest end.
"Look what I found" said Hagrid loudly and he moved so the teachers could see Harry and Remus behind them. The Great Hall gasped when they saw Remus, who was being held up only by Harry.
Dumbledore rose from his chair as soon as they saw Harry and Remus, eyes wide with surprise. Sirius simply leapt into a run. He hugged them both tightly and relieved Harry of Remus' weight. Not caring about anything, he kissed Remus hard on the mouth as though trying to choke him. Remus was evidently not so weak, because he kissed Sirius back, as though hanging on to a lifeline.
"Minerva" said Dumbledore "don't let any student out of this room. Morning classes are suspended"
Just as Dumbledore started ushering everyone out of the room, and of the prying eyes of the students, Ron and Hermione arrived at their side, panting and looking at Harry with extremely annoyed looks. Dumbledore let them come with them and closed the door behind them.
Dumbledore looked into Remus' tired eyes. "Don't let him fall asleep" he told Sirius and his eyes darted to Harry "I believe you owe us an explanation Harry- but let's leave that after we are sure Remus is alright"
Madam Pomfrey wasn't too happy about having so many people around a patient. She examined Remus, gave him a purple potion to cure any internal injuries and gave him a light green potion to numb his pain and cheer him up. She made him get in a bed, which he promptly refused. But Sirius was there and together with madam Pomfrey they made the most stubborn team ever. And truth be told, no one beat Sirius in getting Remus to bed…
Madam Pomfrey examined Harry too, found several bleeding cuts he had no idea had been there and also gave him a potion for internal injuries. Much to Harry's dismay, she made him get into a bed too (the one next to Remus) and although he complained, the Pomfrey-Black team was back and he had no choice but to obey. She said he had to stay there at least until the next morning.
She also said Remus and Harry needed sleep and rest, but Dumbledore insisted on listening to the events before making them fall asleep. Harry started at the very beginning- his eyes darted to Hermione and she told them of their little quarrel in the library. Harry's eyes then darted to Sirius, and he told Dumbledore of their fight, and how he had found the spell he needed that very same day. Sirius grimaced.
Then, together with Ron, they told them of their fight.
"When Harry left" said Ron "I went to sleep. I only told Hermione when I didn't see him at breakfast"
"We were going to wait until after breakfast. If he didn't show up, we were going to tell you but then they showed up"
Harry told Dumbledore the details of his spell, and Remus found it aberrant that he had run that risk only for him. The truth was he was also flattered and was barely able to conceal it.
Harry told everyone how he got transported, he told of Pettigrew, of Voldemort- and then Remus had to go on.
"Peter- Peter helped you?" said Sirius in disbelief.
Remus nodded "Not only that, he completely ignored Voldemort's order to kill me." Sirius leaned back in the chair he was sitting, letting this information sink in "He seemed to react when I called him Wormtail. He tossed me Harry's wand and the wands connected"
"Priori incantatem again?" asked Dumbledore, bewildered.
"Yes. Mum and dad seemed a little…" Harry looked at Remus.
"Relaxed. Not worried at all." Sirius chuckled "Very much like James, I know. Lily even asked me to take care of Harry. Like I needed her warning"
They went on with the story, and Dumbledore seemed delighted that his victims had taken their revenge on Voldemort. True, they hadn't been able to hurt him at all, but it wasn't many times that you got Voldemort truly scared.
As Sirius and Remus talked, Dumbledore moved to sit on Harry's bed.
"Do you remember the talk we had when Remus resigned two years ago?"
"When Pettigrew escaped? Yes"
"Remember what I told you? 'The time may come when you will be very glad-"
"-very glad you saved Pettigrew's life'" finished Harry "I remember. Only now I understood what you meant"
As madam Pomfrey heard them drift from what had happened, he ushered everyone out of the room. Or rather, threw them out of the room, allowing only Sirius to stay, just in case if they woke up with nightmares (which Remus probably would) or with pain (which both probably would, too).
Everyone was so happy to have Remus back and relatively sound that they didn't want to leave, but the light green potion's effect was wearing now and he was beginning to feel tired, drained and depressed again. He had a long time to recover until the hurt from the two weeks' worth of daily Cruciatus curses wore off, and like Sirius said he better start with a nice long day of dreamless sleep.
Before they left, Harry called Ron and Hermione and gave them instructions so they could retrieve the invisibility cloak, the marauder's map and his bag from the secret room the dark arts potion had been brewed
"Take this" said Sirius, to both of his protégées, after everyone had left "You need the sleep, even if it's 10am"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Harry" said Remus "but he needs the sleep too, doesn't he?"
"Very much" Harry knew perfectly well Sirius hadn't had a proper night's sleep since Remus had been taken.
"Then you take one too, Sirius"
"No. I'll sleep normally so I can be here if any of you wake up." He gave Harry his dreamless potion and moved to sit on Remus' bed.
Harry was watching the scene faking sleep, with his eyes barely opened.
Sirius checked Harry was as asleep and looked back at Remus "I'm so glad you're ok." said Sirius to Remus "It was hell without you"
"I know." Said Remus, and placed one of his hands in the back of Sirius' neck "I was in it" Sirius leaned in and kissed Remus, and for a few minutes, Remus' world was completely void of Voldemort.
Harry's lips widened into a huge smile.
They parted and Sirius grabbed the small bottle that had been forgotten over the bedside table "Take the potion. Both of you"
Harry gave up and sat up, taking his own potion from the place between his sheets where he had hid it "Can't I get anything past you?"
"Your father had a hard time with it, you're going to have an even harder time"
"Sirius?" called Remus' sleepy voice.
"Yes, love?"
"I've got a message from a certain someone. James said you should stop blaming yourself or he'll start haunting you. And of course we wouldn't want that…" and he finally fell asleep.
As he took his potion, Harry saw Sirius smile and kiss Remus' forehead and move on to him and sit on his bedside.
"Did James really say that or is Remus just too tired?"
Harry smiled "He did, I heard him. And he looked like he meant it"
"Of course he did, it'd be so much fun to him… Harry, promise me you'll never perform another Dark Arts spell"
"Sirius…"
"I owe you my life and my peace of mind because of it, but promise me you won't perform another Dark Arts spell"
Harry smiled at him, the potion already making effect "I promise"
"Good. Now sleep or I'll be the one haunting you" as Sirius finished saying those words, Harry fell into the most peaceful sleep, resting a tiredness he did not know he had.
Neither Remus nor Harry realized Sirius did not sleep at all.
Harry woke up about twelve hours later, rested as though he had slept for a week. He saw Remus was still sleeping but Sirius was nowhere to be seen. He got up and walked to the nearest window. The grounds outside were dark, barely illuminated by the crescent moon high in the sky. He leaned on the window frame, unable to think of anything else but how close Remus had been to being used by Voldemort.
"I leave you one second to go to the bathroom and you already disappear?" whispered a voice behind him. Harry turned and found Sirius walking to him in dim silver light the moon poured in on the Hospital Wing. Harry did not miss his sideway glance at Remus, checking if he still was asleep.
"I slept for twelve hours. I'm tired of being in bed"
Sirius reached the window where Harry was and looked outside. Hagrid's hut was visible from where they were looking. They saw Hagrid go outside to fetch something, and return back inside. A few seconds later, a column of smoke emerged from the chimney. He was probably cooking.
Harry's thoughts drifted to the spell he performed. While brewing it, he had had the feeling of everyone fighting with him, everyone being mad at him for no reason… Hermione, Ron, Sirius, everyone seemed to want to pick a fight with him… What power was in that spell he did not know, but it had twisted his view of the world too much.
Sirius' voice interrupted his reverie. "Knut for you thoughts"
"I'm sorry" said Harry.
"What for?"
"For what I said to you back in my dormitory, about you being idle hands and doing nothing. I don't know what made me say it. I know you love him, I know you were working, I just…"
"It was the spell, Harry. It begins affecting you even when you still haven't started brewing it. I can't say it didn't hurt then but when I knew what you had your hands into… Don't blame yourself. You did bring Remus safe after all"
Harry and Sirius felt a tap on their shoulders. They grimaced, thinking Madam Pomfrey had been awoken by their whispers, but when they turned round, they found absolutely no one.
"Hermione? Ron?"
"Yes, it's us" whispered Hermione's voice under the invisibility cloak
"Where's Madam Pomfrey?" asked Ron.
"Asleep. Take the cloak off this feels weird" It did indeed feel weird talking to the air and having the air answering you back.
Hermione and Ron materialized in front of them.
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" asked Hermione.
"Look who's talking, Ms. Prefect" answered Harry, making Ron chuckle.
"We just came to see how you were doing" said Ron, looking at Remus, who was still fast asleep.
"I'm fine" he answered "Did you- did you happen to hear what Sirius and I were talking about?"
"Yeah, and if you're going to apologize, save it. We understand." Said Hermione, smiling
"Really?" he looked at Ron, whose fight had been a little more eloquent.
"Totally"
"See why professor Lupin told us to never ever try a dark arts spell?"
"Can't miss a chance to brag on what she knows, can she?" said Ron, winking at Sirius and Harry.
"Ahem" said someone. They all turned to face Madam Pomfrey. "What is this, a social gathering?" she whispered. "You, back to bed. You, put him in bed. You two, back to your tower" she ordered and no one dared contradict her.
This time she did make Sirius took a dreamless potion and as much as he fought not to have it, she finally stepped on his foot and threw it down his throat.
Because of his prolonged exposure to the Cruciatus curse, Madam Pomfrey made Harry stay in the hospital wing another day. The day he went back to classes though, was not an uneventful one. Dumbledore informed him and Sirius that Peter had been found unconscious in his Azkaban cell. Sirius refused to make any commentaries about it, most probably because they were in the hospital wing and he was taking care of Remus like if he was a very fragile baby.
No matter how much he fought, Madam Pomfrey made Remus stay in the hospital wing another four days. The day he let him go, at breakfast, she checked him one last time, making sure no wounds were bleeding and that he felt no pain whatsoever. She finally let him go when he reminded her that he would only be going to a room a few meters away.
It came as a surprise to everyone. Remus had made Sirius and Harry go to their classes and to lunch, claiming that he could walk perfectly well. When he entered the Great hall, through the same door Harry and Hagrid had carried him two three days earlier, everyone gasped surprised. When they got over the shock, the Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables erupted into cheers. (The Slytherin table completely silent, of course)
Remus sat down in his place besides Sirius while Snape concentrated hard on his scrambled eggs, grabbing the fork so tight he was about to break it.
What nearly no one had noticed was that today was February 14th. Less than ten minutes after Remus arrived, what looked like the entire Owlery swept over the heads of students and professors, dropping a shower of letters.
Harry, being The Boy Who Lived, was never exempt of several pink and perfumed envelopes and while he was opening a particularly smelly one, he noticed two owls dropping anonymous letters for both Ron and Hermione.
Harry had walked in on Ron writing a card for Hermione the previous night. He struggled to see what he had written, but he kicked him out of the dormitory. He went down to the common room, where he noticed Hermione writing hers to none other than Ron. It sent him into such a fit of giggles he had to leave the Gryffindor tower to recover.
Harry, knowing they'd be too stubborn to admit anything else, had kept their secret. Still, he had no idea how they had actually gathered up the courage to send each other Valentine cards.
Hermione read hers (light blue with red hearts), blushed a fierce crimson and stuffed it in her bag. Ron read his (light pink with red hearts) blushed as red as Hermione and also stuffed his in his bag.
"Any signatures?" asked Harry innocently.
Both Ron and Hermione whipped around to glare at Harry, but when they noticed the other one was also looking at Harry they hastily returned to their breakfast.
"Oh my God" said Ron "look who got a card" Harry and Hermione looked where Ron was looking at noticed Snape was opening a red envelope. His face looked no different as if he was squeezing pus out of a bubotuber.
"Think Malfoy plucked up the courage?" said Harry.
Ron and Hermione snorted on his pumpkin juice, and the Gryffindor table howled with laughter.
"Well, he can't say he's the only teacher that's gotten something" said Hermione, looking at Sirius and fighting back at huge grin.
Sirius had received a good amount of cards, which the owls had dropped all over the place around him. There were cards in McGonagall's juice, Dumbledore's scrambled eggs and Remus' juice (the latter dissolving in laughter). Dumbledore looked merely amused as he passed Sirius some damped letters but McGonagall was looking at Sirius as though he was a student that had thrown several dungbombs in one of her classes.
Sirius finally gathered all the letters into a considerable pile and, among all the pink ones, he noticed a silver one. He took it from the pile, looked at it and then looked at Remus, who seemed extremely concentrated in refilling his goblet while smirking widely. Smiling widely, Sirius pocketed the silver card and returned to his breakfast.
An owl swept past several Gryffindor's heads and landed on Hermione's shoulder, dropping the Daily Prophet in her open hands. She took five knuts out of her pocket, placed them in the owl's bag and hastily opened the rolled up newspaper.
Harry, Ron and Hermione had been waiting for the Daily Prophet to publish something about Remus' kidnapping and his rescue for two weeks now. They had kept an eye on morning and evening editions, but no word had been written about him yet.
"Today's the day, Harry" she said, reading the headline and stretching her hand past Ron so Harry could get a hold of the paper.
"Tell me it's not Rita Skeeter" Skeeter would have probably exploded with joy while writing the article if she knew Harry had rescued Remus.
"No, it's Sirius' friend, Methilda Shotclear"
Harry breathed relieved.
February 14th, 1996
HOGWARTS TEACHER KIDNAPPED BY PETER PETTIGREW
HE WAS RESCUED TWO DAYS AGO BY HARRY POTTER
By Methilda ShotclearHogwarts teacher Remus Lupin, known for being a werewolf and for being Sirius Black's best friend, was kidnapped two weeks ago by Peter Pettigrew, DeathEater and former friend of the two men. Pettigrew escaped from Azkaban three weeks ago and was found unconscious on his cell several days ago.
The horrible suspicion of You-Know-Who being back to power seems to be getting stronger with every passing day. Two weeks ago, DeathEater Peter Pettigrew kidnapped Remus Lupin in his sleep. Pettigrew is said to be You-Know-Who's most loyal servant.
As everyone knows, Remus Lupin is Sirius Black's best friend. After Black's trial and freedom last summer, Lupin has been living with Black and Harry Potter himself. Lupin, Black, Pettigrew and Harry's late father, James Potter, were close friends at Hogwarts.
If this reporter's sources are correct, Lupin was at the mercy of You-Know-Who for two full weeks. Through means that still remain unknown, Harry Potter himself rescued Lupin and brought him back to Hogwarts, barely surviving unscathed.
Both Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge have been flooded with letters over the past days, though the contents are very different.
Albus Dumbledore received letters from former schoolmates of Remus Lupin, including several worried parents, asking about his well-being. Cornelius Fudge's owls, meanwhile, included several howlers written by scared wizards and witches, demanding to know what he was doing to stop You-Know-Who from raising again. Fudge first answered there was no fear in him rising again but as Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody pointed out, if after 14 years there's still a minimal threat of it, it should be considered truly serious.
Owing to this, Fudge requested Dumbledore for a private conversation. Several hours later he emerged from his office and declared that work was indeed going to be done. He was going to send people to talk with the giants, preventing them from going to the dark side. He is also seriously considering either removing the dementors from Azkaban or at least hiring trained wizards to keep an eye on them.
Hoping that the suspicions of You-Know-Who's raise are completely unfounded, let's at least hope that the necessary measures are being taken to prevent that the darkest 11 years that still haunt many wizards and witches' minds will not happen again.
Several hours later, after the bell rang announcing the end of DADA and lunch, Remus called Harry back.
"Could I have a private word?" Ron and Hermione got the cue and left the classroom, closing the door behind them.
Behind Remus' desk, Sirius materialized out of nowhere, and Harry saw an invisibility cloak in his arm.
"You were watching?" asked Harry
"Yeah." He got to Remus desk and sat over the papers the class had just given him.
"Comfortable, are you?" said Remus looking at Sirius, who was dangling his legs happily.
"Very. Oh!" he leaned in a kissed him deeply "That's for the card"
They parted only to have Remus kiss Sirius again. "And this is for yours"
Harry cleared his throat "How about leaving the Valentine celebration for when you two are alone?"
"Good idea." Said Remus, smiling at Sirius "We wanted to ask you something"
"Sure" Harry settled himself in the desk right in front of Remus. Both grown ups had their eyes set on Harry.
"We have eyes. We watched Ron and Hermione during the Christmas holidays… and during the lovely spell you put on us…" Harry fought back a laugh "How was valentine?"
"ARGH" was Harry's response, burying his face in his hands. "They send cards to each other and stare at each other in class, but no matter how much I talk to them, I can't persuade to ask each other out! It's infuriating!"
Remus and Sirius high-fived each other "We were ready to bet our wands about it!" said Sirius.
"Want us to help?"
"YES! I can't stand them anymore"
They told Harry the instructions to a very interesting charm to place on them while walking to the Great Hall. When they were finished, Harry was delighted.
"Well, if that doesn't get them to date at least I'll have some fun" said Harry, smiling as perversely as he could. "Guys?" asked Harry "You read the Daily Prophet today?"
"Yes. Doesn't mention you as often as it used to, does it?"
"Luckily… Do you think that will be enough? I mean, I know Voldemort's already back, but do you think the ministry will manage to stop him?"
Sirius spoke while Remus kept silent. "Well, you know the meeting Dumbledore had with Fudge?" Harry nodded "Fudge was reluctant to do anything. Scared out of his mind of being the minister of magic while Voldemort's back. Complete denial, I guess. Anyway, Dumbledore has been a little mad at the situation getting out of his hands and having one of his teachers –his best and most adorable teacher-" he added, flashing a crooked grin to Remus "kidnapped off Hogwarts itself, so he didn't suggest- he made Fudge do it. And you know how Dumbledore can get when he's mad… Dumbledore will manage to do everything he can to stop Voldemort. There's little to worry about when he's nearby"
Remus, though, looked quite gloomy.
"Oh cheer up, love" said Sirius, passing an arm behind his shoulders and hugging him tightly "You're back with us. Everything will be better from now on"
"Oh I don't know Sirius…" he said glumly.
Sirius opened his mouth to answer and had managed to say 'I' when a cold voice interrupted him "Oh, look at the happy family"
All three whirled around to find Snape walking a little while behind them.
"Hello Sevvy" said Sirius, not taking his arm of Remus' shoulders "How's it going?" Since he had shaken hands with him, he had changed the scowling for his classic taunting
"Wonderful until I saw you three" he said, without the merest trace of emotion.
"Oh I see" said Sirius, taking a step forward towards Snape, dragging a smirking Remus with him. "Of course. I mean, how wouldn't you be jealous? I have the best man, the best godson, Remus' got your beloved job of DADA teacher. Of course it's not wonderful to see us…"
Snape, also keeping himself in check after Dumbledore's request for a truce, sneered and scoffed and walked past them, pushing the Great Hall doors opened. When he was out of earshot all three burst into laughter.
"Oh I wish I could tell him stuff like that" said Harry, clutching his side.
Sirius frowned his brow "Why can't you?"
"Hello? I'm his student?"
"Oh right!" he slapped his forehead and Harry snorted at him.
"You know Sirius? After this" said Remus, jerking his head towards the opened Great Hall doors Snape had just crossed. His expression and his voice had changed completely. "I reckon things will get better"
And they entered the Great Hall, leaving behind all kind of worry and sadness.