Voldemort's Demise
By: CNJ
PG-13
2: Gryffindor Retreat
Harry:
"...And so, after I'd reminded
Neville to put the silencing charm before we said the password to go into
the common room, Neville and I went in and found Greg Harriman and Felicia
Moran trying to catch a cup of butterbeer from falling onto the floor,"
Ron told me as all of us Gryffindor students trekked through the wooded
area of Quarry Grounds that Thursday afternoon. We'd had our password changed
since last week and now use a silencing charm so others can't hear it.
I was soo glad that this retreat wasn't postponed. My friends and I had
all been in a bunch, but now Ginny, Cheria, and Hermione had moved toward
the back of the group and were talking with Lavender Brown and a few other
girls. Professors McGonagall and Hooch were chatting away somewhere in
the middle of the group. Since Quarry Grounds is about two hours away from
Hogwarts and almost in Wales, it was so far determined to be safe, since
Voldemort had not been detected anywhere around Wales. It was an overcast
afternoon with thick silvery-gray clouds and the leaves had all fallen
off the trees and now made a fine crisp racket under our feet as we hiked
along. They were still bright colors and covered the ground like a multi-colored
huge carpet. Being the magical world, there were even more colors than
the muggle world. On top of the usual brown, purple, orange, yellow, gold,
and red, I saw some glittering metallic leaves, and even a few deep pink
leaves. We passed a bush with its leaves still on, but in multi-colors
and several of us crowed, Woooohhh... when we saw that it was shifting
colors visibly right there. I gasped softly at the beauty of the bush.
Slowly we walked on by as the bush changed from deep magenta to a bright
red, then and orange, then a bright yellow. About a half hour later, it
began to drizzle lightly. Several students pulled the hoods of their robes
up, including Ron. I had my head down and was peering at a cluster of yellow
ferns near the ground. I saw a small sliver of light, then a little streak
and just as quickly, it disappeared and left a small round...rainbow. Oh...
I mouthed, my eyes going wide. I had never seen a rainbow like that, not
right on the ground. It made a small colorful circle and faded in an instant.
It was gone so fast that I thought maybe it was my imagination. But I knew
it wasn't when I heard Mintra McGonagall, Professor McGonagall's great-niece,
squeal, "Ooooh, look, a rainbow right here by tree root!" Several of us
peered over and sure enough, there was a nice round little rainbow right
by a bare tree surrounded by metallic red leaves. It was soo beautiful!
"Hey, look another rainbow!"
Hermione called and there were more wooo's by another clump of purple
bushes. I gasped and Ron whooped when we saw another rainbow circle on
the ground in front of us by a pile of gold leaves. They became more frequent
as we walked on and hiked down a hill. By then the drizzle came down steadily
and I was growing damp. It was delightful; rain has never bothered me.
More whoops and squeals arose from the group as we spotted more rainbows
among the bright leaves.
"Ohhh, this is so lovely,
Ron," I was feeling really happy now.
"There are..." Ron grinned.
"Heyy, look, there's one there..." Another rainbow circled a cluster of
multi-colored ferns, which also changed colors rapidly. By the time we
headed back to the lodge, the drizzle had slowed and it was growing dark.
The rainbows faded when we reached the end of the woods and headed toward
the lodge, a small stilted stone and wood building. We went in and got
ready to eat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After we ate, we sat in a
circle in the main room and pondered the question of where we'd see ourselves
ten years from now. There were a lot of interesting answers, including
auror, news reporter, pro Quidditch, etc. Ron saw himself either in pro-Quidditch
or working in the Ministry like his dad. I saw myself either in music or
teaching. I haven't really decided if the instruments I'll play will be
magical or muggle. Mum played the violin and the bariol, a wizard/witch
instrument in several groups before she turned to teaching music. I've
taught myself to play the bariol, the piano, and the violin these past
few years. My great-aunt Miranda tells me I've inherited Mum's musical
talent. Hermione is planning to either go into teaching or be a news reporter.
The next activity was everyone dividing into their years. All of us seventh
years were on one end while the first years were on the other. Each year
got a different thing to reflect on and the seventh years were to reflect
on what was the most life-altering experience of our almost seven years
at Hogwarts.
"Mine's kind of easy," Ron
spoke up. "I could say the floo-jacking last year, but I think it was more
when I became the Quidditch captain last year."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow
as I peered at my friend.
"Well...I think I've become
more responsible and honed in on my Quidditch skills more, not to mention
becoming better organized." We all chuckled at that. Bit by bit, all of
us went around. Mine somewhat easy, yet complicated.
"Cedric's death at the end
of the fourth year and that summer afterward," I said. For the first time,
I told the rest of the seventh-year Gryffindors the harrowing experience
I'd had coping with the loss of Cedric, a bit of what I'd endured with
my aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, told them I'd run away after one fight
too many with my Uncle Vernon, then found out about my great-aunt Miranda,
who I hadn't known about. Thank the Merlin's stars she could take me in
and I never had to return to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia again. Aunt
Petunia is Mum's sister and is a muggle. She was jealous of Mum and bad-mouthed
her almost constantly and she and Uncle Vernon were often cruel to me.
They had a son, Dudley, whom they spoiled rotten. It turned out that
Uncle Vernon had actually gotten guardianship of me illegally. I
found this out back in my fifth year. Aunt Miranda had been cursed
with a memory-loss charm, which took her several months to recover and
by the time she did, Uncle Vernon had falsely claimed his family to be
my only living relatives and even had a false death certificate made out
in Miranda's name, so Dumbledore and McGonagall thought she was dead.
Of course, the Dursleys never let on where they were living, so for a long
time, Miranda had no idea where I was in London, which is a huge city.
For that fraud, Vernon got six months in jail. I've also heard that
Petunia and Dudley stayed with some neighbor of theirs since Petunia doesn't
have a career. Who knows where they are now, except not on Privet Drive
anymore? I've not seen them since I ran away from them the summer
after my fourth year and I have no desire to see them again. I'm
so glad I have Great-Aunt Miranda back, who's much kinder and more understanding.
The two of us have formed a close bond and now I go home to her for holidays
and summers. I'm really going to miss her next year when I go away to college.
Hermione then added something about her younger sister, Aileen, who is
nine. It turned out that Aileen is also a witch. Their parents are muggles.
"...so, Aileen has two more
years to go before she gets her letter," Hermione finished. It's something
of a Hogwarts tradition for many witches and wizards in the London area
to get their letters around their eleventh birthdays accepting them into
Hogwarts and giving them a list of supplies they need to get for their
years at Hogwarts. I sure remember getting mine. I was living with the
Dursleys then and of course they didn't want to let me go and hid my letter.
More letters came and finally, Hagrid, Hogwarts' groundskeeper, came to
pick me up. That had been another life-altering experience for me.
The night wound down as
we got back into our large group. We then said the Gryffindor chant. It's
about courage and dignity and staying united in the face of all obstacles
and using good to overcome evil. The part I like best is, may all of
us stand courageous in the face of turmoil and when we fall, get back up
and continue moving. We then trickled to bed. It was growing windy
and several of us whispered little things back and forth before drifting
off to sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It must have been a few hours
later when I found myself awake. I felt a tenderness in my forehead and
my hand automatically went up to my scar. It felt sore. Sitting slowly
up, I looked at the clock. 2:19, it read. It hadn't hurt
since last spring with the floo-jacking incident. Could Voldemort...? I
worried, my throat dry. I sat for a few minutes, but only heard the wind.
The pain didn't get worse to my relief, but it stayed steady for a while,
a dull ache. I clutched at the scar, feeling worried little lines wrinkle
the middle of my forehead and slowly got out of bed and peered out the
window discreetly. Nothing unusual out there. Grabbing my wand, I held
it out, murmuring the spell to have it detect any other presence besides
us. None.
"Harry...?" Someone whispered.
I jumped nervously, then let out my breath to see that it was Madame Hooch.
"Are you all right, darling?" She just come out of the women's bathroom
and was on her way back to bed when she'd seen me.
"I..." I touched my scar
again. "I'm..." I swallowed, my throat still dry. "...not sure...my scar's
sore..."
"Oh...dear," Madame Hooch
put an arm around me and she and I headed back to the end room where she
shook McGonagall awake.
"What...?" McGonagall sat
up and put her glasses on. "Is everything...? No, I think not." She got
up and I followed them as they slowly walked down the hall.
"Maybe we should contact
the aurors..." Madame Hooch told her. McGonagall nodded, then using a nearby
fireplace, contacted several of them. Several of them apparated and Madame
Hooch whispered, "Why don't you go on back to bed and we'll see that everything's
all right outside." I nodded and did. I didn't sleep, however, until Madame
Hooch came in and whispered that they'd detected no one outside. Two of
the aurors, however, would remain on the grounds to insure that everything
would be all right, at least for the rest of this retreat. I hoped it wasn't
Voldemort back again. By then the pain in my scar had faded. I just felt
slightly dizzy and drifted off to sleep.