Summary: Post-GOF story. Hermione discovers a hidden talent, Ron is bullied into doing housework, and it's time to open the chest in the attic...
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling. Quotes from her books are used without permission.
Author's Notes: See end. Cliffhanger warning, though.
* * * * *
No Easy Goodbyes - Part 5
When Harry, Hermione and Ron came back from their walk with Sirius, they were all rather silent. After hearing Sirius's story about the murder of his parents - and Lupin's - by the Death Eaters, none of them could think of anything to say. They went into the garden, and Harry remembered his crossbow.
"Look what I got from Hagrid - and Madame Maxime," he said, showing it to his friends.
"Cool!" Ron said enviously. "Can I have a go?"
They spent a happy half-hour practising. Harry didn't like to aim at the apples on the apple-tree after what Remus had said, so Hermione Transfigured some stones into apples, put them in a row on top of the shed roof, and they practiced trying to hit them. Harry took the precaution of moving the sleeping Hedwig to a safe distance, just in case an arrow went astray.
Ron's first attempts with the crossbow were no more accurate than Harry's had been, but both boys had a surprise when Hermione's turn came. With her first shot she buried the arrow cleanly in an apple, knocking it from the shed roof.
"Hey," Ron said, clearly impressed. "Talk about beginners' luck."
Hermione laughed. "Probably a fluke," she said, taking aim again. Her second shot missed an apple by a few millimetres, but she was dead accurate again with her third, fourth and fifth shots. Apples flew in all directions - one rolling off the shed and thudding on the grass five centimetres from Blackie, who jumped in alarm.
"Wow, Hermione!" Harry applauded. "You're a dead shot!"
Hermione blushed and laughed again. "It's so strange. I just took aim and - I don't know, it seems easy."
"Sure you haven't been reading it up - Shooting Skills for Successful Sorcerers, maybe?" Ron teased, pulling a face at her. "No - just kidding!" he added, dodging the crossbow. "How about giving me and Harry some tips, then?"
But Hermione found this hard to do. She helped Harry take aim and advised him on holding the bow, but despite her help he still missed an apple. "I can't explain what I did," she told them at last, sounding rather frustrated. "I suppose it's just something natural - like Harry knowing how to fly a broomstick without being taught."
"Hey, Hagrid'll be impressed when you show him," Ron said. "I wonder where he is now?"
"I suppose he and Madame Maxime went to see the giants, like Dumbledore asked them to," Harry said, as the trio flopped down on the long grass for a rest. "But I don't know where that would be, exactly."
He and Ron both looked at Hermione - the fount of all information - expectantly. No doubt she would have told them all about where giants might be found, but just as she was opening her mouth to reply, Remus came to the kitchen door.
"Anyone want a drink?" he asked.
After their long walk and their shooting practice they were all rather thirsty, so the subject of Hagrid and the giants was forgotten as they went inside for a drink.
"It must be so much nicer for you living here than at your aunt and uncle's house," Hermione said, looking around the kitchen.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, in heartfelt tones. "No Dudley crashing round the place. No Aunt Petunia giving me lists of jobs to do..."
"If you want a job to do," Remus remarked, looking up from the papers he was reading at the kitchen table, "you could get on with tidying the attic - make it a bit more comfortable for yourself. That is, if Ron and Hermione don't mind helping."
Ron and Hermione both seemed quite keen to investigate the attic, and Harry realised he had not shown his friends his new room yet. He took them upstairs, laden with dusters and cloths, and showed them how the wooden ladder pulled down to allow them to climb up into the attic.
"Great room!" Ron enthused, ducking his head to avoid hitting it on the sloping attic ceiling, and making his way to the window to look out at the view.
"I see what Professor Lupin means about it needing tidying," Hermione remarked, running her finger over the top of the chest and looking at the dust which now covered her fingertip. "It looks as though no one's been up here for years."
"I don't think they had," Harry said, watching Blackie making herself comfortable in the centre of his bed, one yellow eye half-open to keep a watch on their movements. "Remus told me he and Sirius and my dad used to hang out up here in their holidays." He paused. "Peter Pettigrew too, I expect."
Hermione looked at Harry sympathetically, but said nothing, before she turned away to survey the room again. "There's a lot of stuff piled up in those boxes."
"Yes." Harry went over to have a closer look. "Remus said some of it probably belonged to them - you know, him, Sirius, my dad - and there's more stuff in that chest, I think. I didn't like to look without asking if it was all right with them."
"Well, why don't you go and ask them now, and we'll get started with the cleaning?" Hermione suggested. "Ron, you can clean the window, and I'll get some of those cobwebs down from the ceiling."
"You sound like Mum," Ron complained. "Clean this, clean that - if I want to do housework I can do that at home - "
Hermione, who was now brandishing a duster, gave him a withering look. "Perhaps you'd rather start with the ceiling, then? There are probably some spiders up on those cobwebs, but if you'd rather - "
"OK, OK, I'll clean the window," Ron said hurriedly, grabbing a cloth and casting a nervous look upwards at the potentially spider-infested ceiling crannies.
Harry grinned as he descended the wooden ladder, listening to his friends still bickering above him. He found Remus still in the kitchen, immersed in the sheaf of papers he had been reading, and looking rather worried. "Er - Remus?"
Remus's expression lightened as he looked up at Harry. "Fed up with cleaning already?"
"Oh no - I wanted to ask you - well, would it be all right if we sorted out some of the things in those boxes - and in the chest, in my room? I know they're probably yours, so we won't touch them if you don't want us to."
The familiar flicker of regret for a time lost passed across Remus's face, before he shrugged. "No, you go ahead and sort it all out. I can't remember what's there, to be honest. You can show us if you find anything really interesting."
"All right. Thanks." Harry hurried back upstairs. He was greeted by clouds of dust and the sound of continued argument between Ron and Hermione.
"Well of course a dry cloth isn't going to clean the window as well as a wet one would, Ron, use your common sense - " Hermione broke off as Harry climbed back into the room. "What did they say?"
"Remus says he doesn't mind us clearing out the boxes, and the chest." Harry coughed. "Maybe we should clean the rest of the room first, though."
Hermione thought this might be sensible, too, so despite Ron's heavy sighs they worked steadily for thirty minutes. By the end of that time, although the room was hardly spotless, it looked much better. All of them were nursing aching arms from their scrubbing and dusting.
"NOW can we look at the interesting stuff?" Ron asked, sitting down heavily on the floor next to the piled-up boxes.
Harry knelt down beside him. "It might not be interesting - Remus said he didn't know what junk was up here."
Ron and Hermione watched curiously as Harry lifted the first box from the pile. It almost fell to pieces in his hands, and spilled a pile of papers over the floor.
"Old copies of the Daily Prophet," said Hermione, picking one up. "Look at the date on this one - that's nearly sixteen years ago. Before we were born."
Ron leaned over her shoulder to read the headline. " 'HAS YOU-KNOW-WHO STRUCK AGAIN? DARK MARK SEEN OVER HOGSMEADE.' "
"I suppose Voldemort was at the height of his powers then," Harry said. He wondered if the fear of Voldemort - now the Dark Lord had returned - would soon be at the same levels it was back then. He did not speak that thought aloud, but he knew both his friends were wondering the same thing.
Hermione was turning the crumbling pages. " 'Auror Moody Loses Eye In Struggle With Death-Eaters,' " she read, fascinated.
Harry lifted the pile of Daily Prophets and pushed them to one side. "I can go through them later," he said. "See if there's anything important." He reached for the next box. It proved to be full of old schoolbooks. Hermione pounced on these.
"Oh look, they were already using 'Intermediate Transfiguration' back then - an earlier edition, though."
"Hermione, you're not in school now," Ron told her.
Harry was looking inside the front covers of the books. "These all have Remus's name in them," he pointed out. "They must have been stashed here since he left Hogwarts." He grinned suddenly as he leafed through a yellowing History of Magic textbook, and nudged Ron. "Look."
Ron grinned too, looking at the page Harry indicated, which was elaborately decorated with doodles of Snitches and broomsticks. "Professor Binns's lessons must have been just as boring then," he said cheerfully.
The rest of the boxes did not prove very interesting, since they only contained more old books, some moth-eaten school robes which smelt unpleasantly damp and musty, and junk of a kind none of them could find fascinating, such as old kitchen pots and pans, and dusty, empty phials which might once have contained potions ingredients for school.
"Not much else here," said Harry, wiping dust from his hands. He scrambled to his feet and turned towards the big wooden chest. "Wonder what's in here, though?"
He took his Sneakoscope and schoolbooks off the top of the chest and laid them on the bed next to Blackie. He didn't say anything, but secretly he was rather disappointed not to have found more traces of his father in the things they had found so far. Perhaps the chest held more interesting memories of the times Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs had spent in this attic?
Ron and Hermione came closer to Harry, leaning in on either side of him to get a better view as he lifted the heavy wooden lid of the chest...
End of Part 5
Author's Notes: Sorry about the cliffhanger! I just wanted to get the story so far posted now. Plus, I'm not completely sure about all the things that are going to be in the chest - any ideas?
WeasleyTwinsFan asked if this story tied in with any of my others. The answer is no. It follows on directly from GoF and the rest of the canon. So R & H's relationship is only as JKR left it in GoF.
Sorry this story isn't being posted very quickly. I've been writing the script for a school Christmas play which has taken up a lot of time, plus my Significant Other keeps trying to kick me off the computer, on the flimsy grounds that it's half his! So please bear with me.
P-L-EEE-A-S-E review! I really like reading them, especially constructive criticism or bright ideas about what should happen next.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling. Quotes from her books are used without permission.
Author's Notes: See end. Cliffhanger warning, though.
* * * * *
No Easy Goodbyes - Part 5
When Harry, Hermione and Ron came back from their walk with Sirius, they were all rather silent. After hearing Sirius's story about the murder of his parents - and Lupin's - by the Death Eaters, none of them could think of anything to say. They went into the garden, and Harry remembered his crossbow.
"Look what I got from Hagrid - and Madame Maxime," he said, showing it to his friends.
"Cool!" Ron said enviously. "Can I have a go?"
They spent a happy half-hour practising. Harry didn't like to aim at the apples on the apple-tree after what Remus had said, so Hermione Transfigured some stones into apples, put them in a row on top of the shed roof, and they practiced trying to hit them. Harry took the precaution of moving the sleeping Hedwig to a safe distance, just in case an arrow went astray.
Ron's first attempts with the crossbow were no more accurate than Harry's had been, but both boys had a surprise when Hermione's turn came. With her first shot she buried the arrow cleanly in an apple, knocking it from the shed roof.
"Hey," Ron said, clearly impressed. "Talk about beginners' luck."
Hermione laughed. "Probably a fluke," she said, taking aim again. Her second shot missed an apple by a few millimetres, but she was dead accurate again with her third, fourth and fifth shots. Apples flew in all directions - one rolling off the shed and thudding on the grass five centimetres from Blackie, who jumped in alarm.
"Wow, Hermione!" Harry applauded. "You're a dead shot!"
Hermione blushed and laughed again. "It's so strange. I just took aim and - I don't know, it seems easy."
"Sure you haven't been reading it up - Shooting Skills for Successful Sorcerers, maybe?" Ron teased, pulling a face at her. "No - just kidding!" he added, dodging the crossbow. "How about giving me and Harry some tips, then?"
But Hermione found this hard to do. She helped Harry take aim and advised him on holding the bow, but despite her help he still missed an apple. "I can't explain what I did," she told them at last, sounding rather frustrated. "I suppose it's just something natural - like Harry knowing how to fly a broomstick without being taught."
"Hey, Hagrid'll be impressed when you show him," Ron said. "I wonder where he is now?"
"I suppose he and Madame Maxime went to see the giants, like Dumbledore asked them to," Harry said, as the trio flopped down on the long grass for a rest. "But I don't know where that would be, exactly."
He and Ron both looked at Hermione - the fount of all information - expectantly. No doubt she would have told them all about where giants might be found, but just as she was opening her mouth to reply, Remus came to the kitchen door.
"Anyone want a drink?" he asked.
After their long walk and their shooting practice they were all rather thirsty, so the subject of Hagrid and the giants was forgotten as they went inside for a drink.
"It must be so much nicer for you living here than at your aunt and uncle's house," Hermione said, looking around the kitchen.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, in heartfelt tones. "No Dudley crashing round the place. No Aunt Petunia giving me lists of jobs to do..."
"If you want a job to do," Remus remarked, looking up from the papers he was reading at the kitchen table, "you could get on with tidying the attic - make it a bit more comfortable for yourself. That is, if Ron and Hermione don't mind helping."
Ron and Hermione both seemed quite keen to investigate the attic, and Harry realised he had not shown his friends his new room yet. He took them upstairs, laden with dusters and cloths, and showed them how the wooden ladder pulled down to allow them to climb up into the attic.
"Great room!" Ron enthused, ducking his head to avoid hitting it on the sloping attic ceiling, and making his way to the window to look out at the view.
"I see what Professor Lupin means about it needing tidying," Hermione remarked, running her finger over the top of the chest and looking at the dust which now covered her fingertip. "It looks as though no one's been up here for years."
"I don't think they had," Harry said, watching Blackie making herself comfortable in the centre of his bed, one yellow eye half-open to keep a watch on their movements. "Remus told me he and Sirius and my dad used to hang out up here in their holidays." He paused. "Peter Pettigrew too, I expect."
Hermione looked at Harry sympathetically, but said nothing, before she turned away to survey the room again. "There's a lot of stuff piled up in those boxes."
"Yes." Harry went over to have a closer look. "Remus said some of it probably belonged to them - you know, him, Sirius, my dad - and there's more stuff in that chest, I think. I didn't like to look without asking if it was all right with them."
"Well, why don't you go and ask them now, and we'll get started with the cleaning?" Hermione suggested. "Ron, you can clean the window, and I'll get some of those cobwebs down from the ceiling."
"You sound like Mum," Ron complained. "Clean this, clean that - if I want to do housework I can do that at home - "
Hermione, who was now brandishing a duster, gave him a withering look. "Perhaps you'd rather start with the ceiling, then? There are probably some spiders up on those cobwebs, but if you'd rather - "
"OK, OK, I'll clean the window," Ron said hurriedly, grabbing a cloth and casting a nervous look upwards at the potentially spider-infested ceiling crannies.
Harry grinned as he descended the wooden ladder, listening to his friends still bickering above him. He found Remus still in the kitchen, immersed in the sheaf of papers he had been reading, and looking rather worried. "Er - Remus?"
Remus's expression lightened as he looked up at Harry. "Fed up with cleaning already?"
"Oh no - I wanted to ask you - well, would it be all right if we sorted out some of the things in those boxes - and in the chest, in my room? I know they're probably yours, so we won't touch them if you don't want us to."
The familiar flicker of regret for a time lost passed across Remus's face, before he shrugged. "No, you go ahead and sort it all out. I can't remember what's there, to be honest. You can show us if you find anything really interesting."
"All right. Thanks." Harry hurried back upstairs. He was greeted by clouds of dust and the sound of continued argument between Ron and Hermione.
"Well of course a dry cloth isn't going to clean the window as well as a wet one would, Ron, use your common sense - " Hermione broke off as Harry climbed back into the room. "What did they say?"
"Remus says he doesn't mind us clearing out the boxes, and the chest." Harry coughed. "Maybe we should clean the rest of the room first, though."
Hermione thought this might be sensible, too, so despite Ron's heavy sighs they worked steadily for thirty minutes. By the end of that time, although the room was hardly spotless, it looked much better. All of them were nursing aching arms from their scrubbing and dusting.
"NOW can we look at the interesting stuff?" Ron asked, sitting down heavily on the floor next to the piled-up boxes.
Harry knelt down beside him. "It might not be interesting - Remus said he didn't know what junk was up here."
Ron and Hermione watched curiously as Harry lifted the first box from the pile. It almost fell to pieces in his hands, and spilled a pile of papers over the floor.
"Old copies of the Daily Prophet," said Hermione, picking one up. "Look at the date on this one - that's nearly sixteen years ago. Before we were born."
Ron leaned over her shoulder to read the headline. " 'HAS YOU-KNOW-WHO STRUCK AGAIN? DARK MARK SEEN OVER HOGSMEADE.' "
"I suppose Voldemort was at the height of his powers then," Harry said. He wondered if the fear of Voldemort - now the Dark Lord had returned - would soon be at the same levels it was back then. He did not speak that thought aloud, but he knew both his friends were wondering the same thing.
Hermione was turning the crumbling pages. " 'Auror Moody Loses Eye In Struggle With Death-Eaters,' " she read, fascinated.
Harry lifted the pile of Daily Prophets and pushed them to one side. "I can go through them later," he said. "See if there's anything important." He reached for the next box. It proved to be full of old schoolbooks. Hermione pounced on these.
"Oh look, they were already using 'Intermediate Transfiguration' back then - an earlier edition, though."
"Hermione, you're not in school now," Ron told her.
Harry was looking inside the front covers of the books. "These all have Remus's name in them," he pointed out. "They must have been stashed here since he left Hogwarts." He grinned suddenly as he leafed through a yellowing History of Magic textbook, and nudged Ron. "Look."
Ron grinned too, looking at the page Harry indicated, which was elaborately decorated with doodles of Snitches and broomsticks. "Professor Binns's lessons must have been just as boring then," he said cheerfully.
The rest of the boxes did not prove very interesting, since they only contained more old books, some moth-eaten school robes which smelt unpleasantly damp and musty, and junk of a kind none of them could find fascinating, such as old kitchen pots and pans, and dusty, empty phials which might once have contained potions ingredients for school.
"Not much else here," said Harry, wiping dust from his hands. He scrambled to his feet and turned towards the big wooden chest. "Wonder what's in here, though?"
He took his Sneakoscope and schoolbooks off the top of the chest and laid them on the bed next to Blackie. He didn't say anything, but secretly he was rather disappointed not to have found more traces of his father in the things they had found so far. Perhaps the chest held more interesting memories of the times Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs had spent in this attic?
Ron and Hermione came closer to Harry, leaning in on either side of him to get a better view as he lifted the heavy wooden lid of the chest...
End of Part 5
Author's Notes: Sorry about the cliffhanger! I just wanted to get the story so far posted now. Plus, I'm not completely sure about all the things that are going to be in the chest - any ideas?
WeasleyTwinsFan asked if this story tied in with any of my others. The answer is no. It follows on directly from GoF and the rest of the canon. So R & H's relationship is only as JKR left it in GoF.
Sorry this story isn't being posted very quickly. I've been writing the script for a school Christmas play which has taken up a lot of time, plus my Significant Other keeps trying to kick me off the computer, on the flimsy grounds that it's half his! So please bear with me.
P-L-EEE-A-S-E review! I really like reading them, especially constructive criticism or bright ideas about what should happen next.