Chapter 44
The next morning, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily all left the common room early in hopes of being able to go and check on Harry before breakfast. When they reached the portrait guarding the room that Harry and his godfather were staying in, they knocked loudly on the frame, but no one answered them.
"We'll maybe they're already in the great hall" suggested Lily
"I don't think so, it's still early, breakfast doesn't start for another thirty minutes" said James as he looked at his watch
"Well, we know the password, why don't we just go in and see if he's here" suggested Sirius
"But what if his godfather catches us? I'm not sure that he would be to pleased to find four students in his quarters at 7:30 in the morning" said lily worriedly
"Lily, have you forgotten that Harry's godfather is just an older Padfoot, how much trouble do you really think we'd be in if he caught us?" asked James "Sirius is the king of causing trouble" he added with a smile
"I guess you're right, but if we get caught, it was all your idea" said Lily
"Fine, witchazel" said James and the portrait swung open soundlessly and the four Gryffindors crept into the living room. The fire was already lit and the entire room was bright and warm. The room on the right was standing with the door wide open, revealing an already made bed, and they couldn't see anyone moving around.
"I guess his godfather already left for the morning" said James quietly
They made their way cautiously to the room on the right and knocked lightly on the door. When no answer came, James pushed the door open and they walked in.
"He's still asleep, should we wake him up?" whispered Remus when they caught sight of the figure burrowed deep into the blankets and breathing deeply in a sound sleep.
"I don't know, maybe we should just let him sleep and talk to him at breakfast" suggested Lily
"Why don't we just wait here until he wakes up? It shouldn't be too long, he does have classes this morning" said James as he went to sit down in the chair next to the nightstand, but just as he sat, his arm bumped a letter sitting on the top of the stand, knocking it to the floor. "What's this?" he asked himself as he leaned over to pick the letter up off the floor and return it to the nightstand, but before he could do so, his eyes caught sight of the last line of the letter and he inhaled sharply.
"What's wrong, Prongs?" asked Sirius, but James didn't answer, instead, he read the entire letter, his eyes growing wider with each word. "James, what does it say?" asked Sirius again and James wordlessly handed him the letter. "I don't believe it" he said quietly once he had finished reading it for himself before he turned to the curious looking Lily and Remus "He's a death eater" he told them quietly
"What?" demanded Lily in a harsh whisper
"This letter, it's from another death eater to Harry, it talks about his dark mark and their master and calls a brother and fellow supporter of you- know-who" he said as Remus ripped the parchment from his hands
"So his godfather doesn't even know he's a death eater, does he? And neither does Dumbledore" he said as he too finished the letter
"I don't believe it, how could he be a death eater? It just doesn't make sense, he's not evil" said James quietly, finally pulling himself out of his previous shock "Not to mention that he's our son, Lily's and mine, how could he have become a supporter of you-know-who?" he asked no one in particular
"I agree with James, maybe we should just ask him when he wakes up" suggested Lily
"Me too, I mean, if he was raised by Sirius, then he can't be evil" said Remus
"All right then, lets ask him when he wakes up" said Sirius as they too found seats in the small room. They sat in silence for twenty minutes before Harry began to stir.
When Harry woke up again, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep, sleep was warm and free of worries, as long as he wasn't having any nightmares that is. His head was pounding and it took him a minute to remember the events of the day before, and as soon as he did, he wished he could forget. He kept his eyes closed and burrowed further down into the blankets, hoping that by doing so, he could return to his peaceful dreams, but then he got the feeling that he was being watched and he cautiously opened his eyes only to find that the entire room was blurry. Out of instinct, he reached over to his nightstand to grab his glasses only to find that they weren't there. Groaning and preferring not to have to search blindly through his room, he held out his hand and silently summoned his black framed glasses. He heard the distinctive click and thump of his trunk opening and several things shuffling around before his glasses landed in his outstretched hand. He tiredly placed them onto his face and the dim room came into sharp focus and looking to the trunk that was still standing opened beside his wardrobe, he summoned clean clothes before waving his hand to shut and lock the trunk again. It was then that he remembered the feeling of being watched when he woke up, and so he quickly directed his gaze to the doorway, expecting to see Sirius standing there, but instead, he was met with the astonished gazes of three of the marauders and Lily. Groaning again, he buried his throbbing head in his hands before falling back into the bed, hoping that he had imagined seeing them in his room.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asked as he sat back up to look at them accusingly
"We came to make sure you were ok" answered Lily quietly
"How much did you see?" asked Harry, speaking not only about the wandless magic, but about the letter that was in Remus' hand which he immediately recognized as the one he had found in his pocket last night
They all looked to each other uncomfortably and shuffled their feet before Remus got the courage to speak "What did they mean, Harry?" he finally asked and everyone present knew what he was talking about
"Which part?" asked Harry, resigned to the truth that he would have to explain a few things to them
Again they all looked at each other before Sirius spoke up "Are you a death eater?" he demanded harshly
Harry looked at him levelly before answering "No", short, simple and to the point, but none of them looked convinced
"Then what was that letter talking about!? It said that you must be one of the most loyal death eaters because your mark is always black! How do you explain that if you're not a death eater!?" said Sirius, yelling loudly now in an attempt to frighten Harry, but Harry was used to his outbursts from being with the older Sirius so long now and merely ignored the tone and answered in a calm voice.
"I am not a death eater, I have never been one, but yes, I do have the dark mark" he said as he met the gazes of all present
"WHAT!" yelled James and Lily together
"You heard me, I have the dark mark but I did not take it on willingly, Voldemort forced it onto me in an attempt to destroy me and the wizarding world, but he wasn't successful" he said with a smirk
"But that letter said that you must be loyal because your mark is black" said Remus
"Yes, my mark is always black, but it isn't because I am loyal to Voldemort, it's because we have a connection to each other" said Harry, using this excuse instead of the full truth "Remember when I told you that I got the ability to speak to snakes from a dark curse that backfired?" he asked and they all hesitantly nodded their heads "Well, Voldemort is the one who cast the curse, and because it wasn't successful, I got some of his abilities and became connected to him" he explained
"What do you mean you're connected to him?" asked James after he had regained his composure
"I see the things he does in my dreams and when he is near by, my scar starts to hurt" he said as he indicated to the thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead that they had all just over looked until now because of the more obvious ones on his face
"So, you're not a death eater?" asked Sirius again, apparently looking for conformation
"No" said Harry with a grim smile
"If you don't mind my asking, Harry, what curse was powerful enough to give you such a strong connection to you-know-who and some of his powers?" asked Remus, but it was not Harry who answered, instead, a voice from the door spoke up
"It was avadra kedavra" and they all turned shocked to see the older Sirius standing in the doorway, a grim expression on his face "I think you had all better get to breakfast, I need to speak to Harry" he said as he looked sternly at his godson
After several hurried goodbye's, the four students left the room in a hurry for the great hall.
"What is it, Sirius?" asked Harry in concern
"We have a problem, Harry" he began "I think they know the truth, I went out early this morning to check the wards around the castle and as I went through the clearing we were in yesterday, I stumbled across this" he said as he held up a very familiar invisibility cloak
Harry could only look to the cloak in shock as his throbbing head tried in vain to remember what they had talked about in the clearing. "How much do you think they know?" he finally asked
"I'm not sure, but I'm certain that they used the map to find us which means that they know who we really are, and that we're obviously from the future" said Sirius wearily, "And they probably have made the connection that James and Lily were your parents and you already told them that your parents died when you were a baby, but other than that, I don't think that we said anything else that they could figure out the meaning to, but they now have an idea about what kind of powers you have, and that I was sent to Azkaban and that you have faced Voldemort before" he said heavily
"Great, just what we need, something else to complicate this entire thing, we can't just fail a mission, we have to fail it big" said Harry
"I know what you mean, but we need to figure out what to do" said Sirius
"Well, should we tell them the entire truth, or should we just tell them not to mention any of this to anyone and cast a memory charm before we leave, or should we cast a memory charm now?" asked Harry, trying to think of all of their options
"I think a memory charm in defiantly going to be needed, but maybe we should wait until we leave, they may be able to help us" said Sirius
"How?" asked Harry doubtfully
"We don't need to tell them the entire truth, but maybe if we told them that we were looking for a certain girl with above average abilities, they could help keep an eye out for her" suggested Sirius
"Sounds good, but what will we tell them when they start to ask questions?" asked Harry in worry
"We'll just have to think of some believable lies" he answered with a shrug of his shoulders
"Kind of like the believable lie you just told them" accused Harry "How am I going to answer to that?"
"Don't, just say that it is too hard for you to talk about and hopefully they leave it alone, but we need to make sure they won't tell anyone else about what they know, especially Peter. I don't know when he turned to the death eaters, so we need to be careful, I'll cast a memory charm on him next time I see him, but until then, you need to be careful."
"I will" reassured Harry "Is the Hogesmede trip still on for next weekend?" he asked
"As far as I know, why?"
"Because I was planning on going with them, and I have a feeling something is going to happen" he said with a shrug
"Why do you have your glasses on?" asked Sirius suddenly
"Oh, well, I have to recast the spell every morning, but I don't trust myself to do complicated healing spells without my staff, so I'm stuck with these until I get it back from Voldemort" he said
"Oh" was all Sirius said in reply "Well, you had better get dressed for breakfast, bring Lily, James, Remus, and the younger me down here after classes today so we can talk to them" he said as he walked from the room and Harry crawled from the bed, wishing the entire time he had never woken up that morning. He dressed quickly and hurried to the great hall, taking a seat between James and Sirius like always.
"Is everything ok?" asked James in concern
"Yeah, but Joseph wants to speak to all of us tonight after classes" Harry said "Where's Peter, I haven't seen him all morning?" he asked as he looked up and down the table
"Who knows, probably with his new girlfriend from Hufflepuff, we haven't seem him either" said Remus before leaning across the table to whisper a question to Harry "How long have you been able to do wandless magic?" he asked quietly and James, Lily, and Sirius all looked to him to, awaiting his answer
"Oh, well, I can only do very basic and simple spells, but I've only been able to do those for about a year now" said Harry
"Oh, you can't do anything difficult then without a wand?" asked James
"Not really, all I can really do are summoning spells and a few others, like levitation, but doing them tires me out pretty quickly" he lied smoothly, wanting to keep the extent of his abilities to himself and not wanting them to know that he could do almost every spell without a wand and without becoming tired, except of course healing spells, but he figured he could even do those if he tried, but he was too uncertain of his abilities to find out.
"Oh" said Sirius in disappointment "So, how are you going to do lessons, do you have a wand?" he asked
"No, my wand disappeared when I received my staff from Terres, so I guess I'll just tell the teachers what happened and that I can't do practical lessons until I get my staff back" he answered
"They didn't find it last night then?" asked Remus
"No, Voldemort has it now" said Harry and that caused them all to look to one another in shock
"How do you know?" asked Sirius in a harsh whisper
"I told you I see what he does in my dreams, and last night one of his death eaters presented it to him" answered Harry in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard
"So you mean that there were death eaters in the castle last night and that was who attacked you?" asked James, not really believing it
"Yes, there are always death eaters here, Voldemort starts recruiting his followers while there still in school" said Harry
"Oh" muttered Remus, not wanting to know that he was probably taking classes with followers of you-know-who "Do you know who it was?" he finally asked
"No, his voice sounded familiar, but I didn't see his face in my dream" answered Harry, deciding to leave Snape out of the discussion
"How are you going to get your staff back from you-know-who?" asked James
"Well, he's planning on attacking the village, so when he does, I'll take it back" said Harry and the others all shared looks that they thought he was insane before dropping the subject and instead talking about their lessons for the day. Their first lesson of the day was transfiguration, which for Harry, passed far too slowly since they spent an entire hour talking about animagus transformations. For the last hour of the class, though, the professor made her way through the students, one at a time calling them to the front of the classroom and casting a spell upon them that would transform them into their animagus form to the rest of the students for about two minutes. Harry watched eagerly as the spell was cast upon his parents and he saw that his mother transformed into a bright red fox, and for the first time, he saw the closest thing possible to a living patronus, the living and breathing Prongs stood in front of the classroom. When his name was called, he calmly walked to the front of the class and Professor McGonagall muttered the spell and he felt himself transforming, but he was surprised when he realized that he didn't transform into his raven form, which he assumed he would since that was the first animal he had ever transformed into. Instead, he felt himself growing into a four legged animal, and instead of talons, he grew paws and after a few minutes, he realized that he had turned into a large cat of some sort. Curious, he looked into the mirror to his side and saw that he was a solid black jaguar. But this animagus transformation was unlike any he had ever experienced before. Until now, all of his forms had had two things in common, they all had his emerald green eyes, and they all had a lightning bolt somewhere on their fur or feathers, and the lack of both of these things worried him tremendously. The animal he was looking at was solid black without a single discolored hair marring its beautiful pelt, and its eyes were not green, but black as well, so dark that you couldn't even tell the pupil from the iris. He stood looking at the creature for several minutes, thinking to himself.
'Where did this come from' he mused
'You should know by now, Potter' said the amused voice of Voldemort, and its sudden appearance caused the jaguar to start, he hadn't heard the voice in his head for a couple of days now
'What are you talking about?' asked Harry warily
'Come now, think about it, you should be able to figure this out with no difficulties boy' said the voice in a thoughtful and mocking tone
'Stop toying with me, Voldemort, if you have something to say, say it or just leave before you weaken yourself further' growled Harry in his mind
'Consider this my gift to you, Potter, to show you just how alike and bound together we are' said Voldemort as the voice faded away
Still not understanding what the evil wizard had been talking about, Harry looked back into the mirror, and as he did so, his eyes flashed from their deep black to bloody scarlet for a moment before he felt himself changing back.
When he was himself again, he glanced back into the mirror and noticed that his face was void of all color and his hands had started shaking and his legs felt as though they would collapse from underneath him if he continued to stand on them, but he was relieved that his eyes were their normal green color again.
"Are you ok, Mr. Pearson?" asked the professor in concern
"Yes, I'm fine, but I'm not feeling well, could I please go to the hospital wing?" he said in a shaky voice
"Certainly, can you make it on your own or do you need someone to escort you?" she asked
"I'll be fine" said Harry as he left the room, grabbing his bag on the way and ignoring the concerned looks he received from his friends
He hurried through the halls on his way to his room, praying Sirius would be there when he arrived, and as he entered the living room, he was pleased to see the ex-convict sitting at the desk writing on a parchment.
"Harry, what are you doing out of class?" asked the man as he got to his feet in concern
Harry didn't respond immediately, instead he walked over to a chair and collapsed, sitting silently for a moment before he summoned a cup of tea.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Sirius again and Harry hastily told him about the form he had assumed in transfiguration.
"He said it was a gift from him to show me how similar we are and how much the connection between us has strengthened" he finished heavily "He's starting to get stronger Sirius. He's nowhere near where he was, but it's only a matter of time before he is strong enough to start cursing me again, and he's already got enough control over me to influence what animal I transform into if I'm not thinking about it"
"Well, all I can say is to be sure you think hard while you transform, because if I'm understanding what you told me, this particular form is one he can assume, and he can probably control its actions as well, even if he doesn't have control of you before you change into it" said Sirius "Don't worry, it took him nearly a year before he was strong enough to start cursing you last time, we still have time to find his daughter and finish this once and for all. How are you feeling?" he asked
"Fine, I was just a little shaken up. I had better get to lunch, I have divination this afternoon and would really like to catch a nap if I can, and what better way to do so than on a full stomach" Harry said with a smirk as he finished his tea, and Sirius started laughing.
"I couldn't agree more. I'll see you after dinner, are you bringing the others?"
"Yes, they said they'd come" answered Harry "I'll see you later" he called over his shoulder as he left the room and headed to the great hall again.
"What happened to you earlier, Harry?" asked Remus as he sat at the table for lunch
"Nothing, I just got a little light headed after the transformation" said Harry as he shot them a reassuring smile
"About that, I thought you said your animagus form was a raven, but you changed into a jaguar, why did you lie to us?" asked Sirius, trying to bait Harry into telling them the truth, that he had more than one animagus form.
"Oh, well, um, my animagus form is a raven, at least that's all I have ever managed to change into before, maybe the spell messed up or something" he lied smoothly
"Oh, if you say so" said James, unconvinced
"So, do you guys mind if I join you tomorrow night?" asked Harry with a smirk on his face
The others all looked to each other in shock for a minute, but then Remus found his voice, though he was quite pale while he spoke "What are you talking about?" he asked hesitantly
"Your monthly adventures in the forbidden forest, would you mind if I came along?" asked Harry calmly
"How much do you know about that?" demanded Sirius sharply
"More than you think, but we'll talk about that later. So, can I come along?" he asked again
"You know about Moony?" asked James, ignoring Harry yet again
"Yes, but don't worry, it doesn't bother me at all" he said as he smiled at Remus "So, are you going to answer my question of not?" he asked the others
"Well, I guess if you already know, then I don't mind" said Remus
"Sure, why not?" asked Sirius with a shrug of his shoulders
"Same goes for me. So, what does Joseph want to talk to us about tonight?" James asked, trying to change the subject
"Well, it has come to our attention that you five saw and heard some things yesterday that were better left unknown, and we need to discuss them with you" answered Harry and the marauders all shot worried looks to each other again
"What do you mean, we didn't do anything yesterday, after class we went to the tower and then to the library" said Sirius while he shifted uncomfortably in his chair
"Sure, but let me tell you this, Griffins may not be able to see through invisibility cloaks, which you left in the forest by the way, but they are able to sense the presence of others. I knew we were being watched, but I didn't know by who until Joseph, as you know my godfather, found your cloak in the forest this morning. I knew it was yours because I now have it" Harry answered with a smile and the marauders all looked like five year olds who had just been caught with their hands in a cookie jar.
"Oh" was all James said
"Don't worry about it, we're not mad, but there are a few things we need to discuss and some rules we need to set up, but for now, don't tell anyone else what you saw or heard" said Harry "And that includes Peter, he had a memory charm placed on him this morning, so he doesn't remember anything you saw yesterday" he added
"Why did you erase Peter's memories?" asked James
"We didn't think it was wise to allow him to know what he knew" said Harry "Don't ask why, we had our reasons" he finished
"Ok, but do you promise to answer some questions for us tonight?" asked James
"Some things, yes, but you need to know that we can't tell you everything" said Harry sternly
"Fine, but we'll still ask" said Sirius with a smirk
"I would expect nothing less from the legendary marauders" said Harry with a smile "Come on, we need to get to divination" he said as he got to his feet and grabbed his bag. The others all followed him out of the great hall and up to the tower that their class was held in. The first time Harry had come to this class with the marauders, he had been annoyed to find that Trelawney was already the professor, but thankfully, she ignored him for the most part, in fact, he had yet to receive a single death sentence from her, for which he was grateful. They spent the entire lesson looking into crystal balls, and like every other lesson he had taken with her, Harry saw absolutely nothing, so he folded his arms on his desk and laid his head down to try and alleviate the headache that he had had since he woke up that morning.
He had just put his head down though, when he felt a sharp elbow poke him in the ribs and he glared at James who was sitting next to him "What is it?" he demanded
"Hey, you better wake up, she's coming this way" said James and Harry obediently pretended to be looking at the ball and into the fog inside the glass, and for the first time ever, he actually saw something inside the sphere. What he saw though, caused his insides to turn to ice. It was a stone room with a large fire in the middle of it, and beside the fire he could make out several blurry shapes. One was standing over another and the rest were hidden in the shadows just beyond the flames, but it was the two figures in the front that caught his attention. The one standing was wearing a scarlet cloak and had his hand outstretched over the one on the floor who was dressed in Hogwarts robes and had long red hair, and she was curled on the floor in agony, obviously under the influence of the cruciatus curse, and her mouth was silently screaming. As he watched the picture, the figure casting the curse turned and looked directly at him, and Harry saw his own face, but the eyes were not his own, instead, they were blood red and he was laughing.
"Ginny!" he said loudly as he tore his gaze away from the ball and looked around the room, but his cry had been ignored by all but James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily. Peter was sitting at the other side of the room with a brown haired Hufflepuff girl.
"Who's Ginny?" asked James as he looked to Harry in concern
"What?" asked Harry, his mind still on the image of himself torturing the girl he loved
"You said the name Ginny, did you see something in the ball?" asked Sirius
"Oh, um, yeah, I saw my girlfriend, Ginny" answered Harry as he tried to calm his racing heart
"What did you see, you looked terrified" asked Lily
"Nothing" answered Harry, a cold edge to his voice, indicating that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Thankfully though, the bell rang just then and the subject was dropped. "Come on, we need to get to our rooms" said Harry and the others silently followed him to the fourth floor and into the rooms he shared with Sirius, who was sitting expectantly at the desk.
"Hello, I'm glad you came, there are a few things we need to discuss" he said as he stood and led the guilty students over to the couch and armchairs. The four students sat close together on the couch and Harry and the older Sirius sat facing them in the armchairs. They looked to each other for a moment before Sirius broke the silence "So, what exactly did you see and hear yesterday, and how much have you been able to figure out because of it?" he asked
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A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry for this being late, but I just moved back home for a couple of weeks and then I had to start back to work and do Christmas shopping and everything else you could possibly imagine for the past several days, so please forgive me. Thank you so much for all of the very nice reviews, especially queen of hearts who has read the entire story almost in the past couple days and reviewed every chapter along the way. Thanks to all of the rest of you too, I really appreciate the positive feedback and when I started writing this, I had no idea so many people would ever read it, let alone review it, 623 of you now, I am so happy! Well, I would go through and thank you all individually, but that would make me even later posting this, so I'll wait and try to do it next time. Next chapter should be up Monday or Tuesday since I'm off tomorrow and Monday. Please let me know what you think about this chapter, I had a lot of trouble making it all fit and if some of it is confusing or ooc, I'm sorry. Thanks again! Please let me know what you think!
The next morning, James, Sirius, Remus and Lily all left the common room early in hopes of being able to go and check on Harry before breakfast. When they reached the portrait guarding the room that Harry and his godfather were staying in, they knocked loudly on the frame, but no one answered them.
"We'll maybe they're already in the great hall" suggested Lily
"I don't think so, it's still early, breakfast doesn't start for another thirty minutes" said James as he looked at his watch
"Well, we know the password, why don't we just go in and see if he's here" suggested Sirius
"But what if his godfather catches us? I'm not sure that he would be to pleased to find four students in his quarters at 7:30 in the morning" said lily worriedly
"Lily, have you forgotten that Harry's godfather is just an older Padfoot, how much trouble do you really think we'd be in if he caught us?" asked James "Sirius is the king of causing trouble" he added with a smile
"I guess you're right, but if we get caught, it was all your idea" said Lily
"Fine, witchazel" said James and the portrait swung open soundlessly and the four Gryffindors crept into the living room. The fire was already lit and the entire room was bright and warm. The room on the right was standing with the door wide open, revealing an already made bed, and they couldn't see anyone moving around.
"I guess his godfather already left for the morning" said James quietly
They made their way cautiously to the room on the right and knocked lightly on the door. When no answer came, James pushed the door open and they walked in.
"He's still asleep, should we wake him up?" whispered Remus when they caught sight of the figure burrowed deep into the blankets and breathing deeply in a sound sleep.
"I don't know, maybe we should just let him sleep and talk to him at breakfast" suggested Lily
"Why don't we just wait here until he wakes up? It shouldn't be too long, he does have classes this morning" said James as he went to sit down in the chair next to the nightstand, but just as he sat, his arm bumped a letter sitting on the top of the stand, knocking it to the floor. "What's this?" he asked himself as he leaned over to pick the letter up off the floor and return it to the nightstand, but before he could do so, his eyes caught sight of the last line of the letter and he inhaled sharply.
"What's wrong, Prongs?" asked Sirius, but James didn't answer, instead, he read the entire letter, his eyes growing wider with each word. "James, what does it say?" asked Sirius again and James wordlessly handed him the letter. "I don't believe it" he said quietly once he had finished reading it for himself before he turned to the curious looking Lily and Remus "He's a death eater" he told them quietly
"What?" demanded Lily in a harsh whisper
"This letter, it's from another death eater to Harry, it talks about his dark mark and their master and calls a brother and fellow supporter of you- know-who" he said as Remus ripped the parchment from his hands
"So his godfather doesn't even know he's a death eater, does he? And neither does Dumbledore" he said as he too finished the letter
"I don't believe it, how could he be a death eater? It just doesn't make sense, he's not evil" said James quietly, finally pulling himself out of his previous shock "Not to mention that he's our son, Lily's and mine, how could he have become a supporter of you-know-who?" he asked no one in particular
"I agree with James, maybe we should just ask him when he wakes up" suggested Lily
"Me too, I mean, if he was raised by Sirius, then he can't be evil" said Remus
"All right then, lets ask him when he wakes up" said Sirius as they too found seats in the small room. They sat in silence for twenty minutes before Harry began to stir.
When Harry woke up again, all he wanted to do was go back to sleep, sleep was warm and free of worries, as long as he wasn't having any nightmares that is. His head was pounding and it took him a minute to remember the events of the day before, and as soon as he did, he wished he could forget. He kept his eyes closed and burrowed further down into the blankets, hoping that by doing so, he could return to his peaceful dreams, but then he got the feeling that he was being watched and he cautiously opened his eyes only to find that the entire room was blurry. Out of instinct, he reached over to his nightstand to grab his glasses only to find that they weren't there. Groaning and preferring not to have to search blindly through his room, he held out his hand and silently summoned his black framed glasses. He heard the distinctive click and thump of his trunk opening and several things shuffling around before his glasses landed in his outstretched hand. He tiredly placed them onto his face and the dim room came into sharp focus and looking to the trunk that was still standing opened beside his wardrobe, he summoned clean clothes before waving his hand to shut and lock the trunk again. It was then that he remembered the feeling of being watched when he woke up, and so he quickly directed his gaze to the doorway, expecting to see Sirius standing there, but instead, he was met with the astonished gazes of three of the marauders and Lily. Groaning again, he buried his throbbing head in his hands before falling back into the bed, hoping that he had imagined seeing them in his room.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asked as he sat back up to look at them accusingly
"We came to make sure you were ok" answered Lily quietly
"How much did you see?" asked Harry, speaking not only about the wandless magic, but about the letter that was in Remus' hand which he immediately recognized as the one he had found in his pocket last night
They all looked to each other uncomfortably and shuffled their feet before Remus got the courage to speak "What did they mean, Harry?" he finally asked and everyone present knew what he was talking about
"Which part?" asked Harry, resigned to the truth that he would have to explain a few things to them
Again they all looked at each other before Sirius spoke up "Are you a death eater?" he demanded harshly
Harry looked at him levelly before answering "No", short, simple and to the point, but none of them looked convinced
"Then what was that letter talking about!? It said that you must be one of the most loyal death eaters because your mark is always black! How do you explain that if you're not a death eater!?" said Sirius, yelling loudly now in an attempt to frighten Harry, but Harry was used to his outbursts from being with the older Sirius so long now and merely ignored the tone and answered in a calm voice.
"I am not a death eater, I have never been one, but yes, I do have the dark mark" he said as he met the gazes of all present
"WHAT!" yelled James and Lily together
"You heard me, I have the dark mark but I did not take it on willingly, Voldemort forced it onto me in an attempt to destroy me and the wizarding world, but he wasn't successful" he said with a smirk
"But that letter said that you must be loyal because your mark is black" said Remus
"Yes, my mark is always black, but it isn't because I am loyal to Voldemort, it's because we have a connection to each other" said Harry, using this excuse instead of the full truth "Remember when I told you that I got the ability to speak to snakes from a dark curse that backfired?" he asked and they all hesitantly nodded their heads "Well, Voldemort is the one who cast the curse, and because it wasn't successful, I got some of his abilities and became connected to him" he explained
"What do you mean you're connected to him?" asked James after he had regained his composure
"I see the things he does in my dreams and when he is near by, my scar starts to hurt" he said as he indicated to the thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead that they had all just over looked until now because of the more obvious ones on his face
"So, you're not a death eater?" asked Sirius again, apparently looking for conformation
"No" said Harry with a grim smile
"If you don't mind my asking, Harry, what curse was powerful enough to give you such a strong connection to you-know-who and some of his powers?" asked Remus, but it was not Harry who answered, instead, a voice from the door spoke up
"It was avadra kedavra" and they all turned shocked to see the older Sirius standing in the doorway, a grim expression on his face "I think you had all better get to breakfast, I need to speak to Harry" he said as he looked sternly at his godson
After several hurried goodbye's, the four students left the room in a hurry for the great hall.
"What is it, Sirius?" asked Harry in concern
"We have a problem, Harry" he began "I think they know the truth, I went out early this morning to check the wards around the castle and as I went through the clearing we were in yesterday, I stumbled across this" he said as he held up a very familiar invisibility cloak
Harry could only look to the cloak in shock as his throbbing head tried in vain to remember what they had talked about in the clearing. "How much do you think they know?" he finally asked
"I'm not sure, but I'm certain that they used the map to find us which means that they know who we really are, and that we're obviously from the future" said Sirius wearily, "And they probably have made the connection that James and Lily were your parents and you already told them that your parents died when you were a baby, but other than that, I don't think that we said anything else that they could figure out the meaning to, but they now have an idea about what kind of powers you have, and that I was sent to Azkaban and that you have faced Voldemort before" he said heavily
"Great, just what we need, something else to complicate this entire thing, we can't just fail a mission, we have to fail it big" said Harry
"I know what you mean, but we need to figure out what to do" said Sirius
"Well, should we tell them the entire truth, or should we just tell them not to mention any of this to anyone and cast a memory charm before we leave, or should we cast a memory charm now?" asked Harry, trying to think of all of their options
"I think a memory charm in defiantly going to be needed, but maybe we should wait until we leave, they may be able to help us" said Sirius
"How?" asked Harry doubtfully
"We don't need to tell them the entire truth, but maybe if we told them that we were looking for a certain girl with above average abilities, they could help keep an eye out for her" suggested Sirius
"Sounds good, but what will we tell them when they start to ask questions?" asked Harry in worry
"We'll just have to think of some believable lies" he answered with a shrug of his shoulders
"Kind of like the believable lie you just told them" accused Harry "How am I going to answer to that?"
"Don't, just say that it is too hard for you to talk about and hopefully they leave it alone, but we need to make sure they won't tell anyone else about what they know, especially Peter. I don't know when he turned to the death eaters, so we need to be careful, I'll cast a memory charm on him next time I see him, but until then, you need to be careful."
"I will" reassured Harry "Is the Hogesmede trip still on for next weekend?" he asked
"As far as I know, why?"
"Because I was planning on going with them, and I have a feeling something is going to happen" he said with a shrug
"Why do you have your glasses on?" asked Sirius suddenly
"Oh, well, I have to recast the spell every morning, but I don't trust myself to do complicated healing spells without my staff, so I'm stuck with these until I get it back from Voldemort" he said
"Oh" was all Sirius said in reply "Well, you had better get dressed for breakfast, bring Lily, James, Remus, and the younger me down here after classes today so we can talk to them" he said as he walked from the room and Harry crawled from the bed, wishing the entire time he had never woken up that morning. He dressed quickly and hurried to the great hall, taking a seat between James and Sirius like always.
"Is everything ok?" asked James in concern
"Yeah, but Joseph wants to speak to all of us tonight after classes" Harry said "Where's Peter, I haven't seen him all morning?" he asked as he looked up and down the table
"Who knows, probably with his new girlfriend from Hufflepuff, we haven't seem him either" said Remus before leaning across the table to whisper a question to Harry "How long have you been able to do wandless magic?" he asked quietly and James, Lily, and Sirius all looked to him to, awaiting his answer
"Oh, well, I can only do very basic and simple spells, but I've only been able to do those for about a year now" said Harry
"Oh, you can't do anything difficult then without a wand?" asked James
"Not really, all I can really do are summoning spells and a few others, like levitation, but doing them tires me out pretty quickly" he lied smoothly, wanting to keep the extent of his abilities to himself and not wanting them to know that he could do almost every spell without a wand and without becoming tired, except of course healing spells, but he figured he could even do those if he tried, but he was too uncertain of his abilities to find out.
"Oh" said Sirius in disappointment "So, how are you going to do lessons, do you have a wand?" he asked
"No, my wand disappeared when I received my staff from Terres, so I guess I'll just tell the teachers what happened and that I can't do practical lessons until I get my staff back" he answered
"They didn't find it last night then?" asked Remus
"No, Voldemort has it now" said Harry and that caused them all to look to one another in shock
"How do you know?" asked Sirius in a harsh whisper
"I told you I see what he does in my dreams, and last night one of his death eaters presented it to him" answered Harry in a quiet voice so as not to be overheard
"So you mean that there were death eaters in the castle last night and that was who attacked you?" asked James, not really believing it
"Yes, there are always death eaters here, Voldemort starts recruiting his followers while there still in school" said Harry
"Oh" muttered Remus, not wanting to know that he was probably taking classes with followers of you-know-who "Do you know who it was?" he finally asked
"No, his voice sounded familiar, but I didn't see his face in my dream" answered Harry, deciding to leave Snape out of the discussion
"How are you going to get your staff back from you-know-who?" asked James
"Well, he's planning on attacking the village, so when he does, I'll take it back" said Harry and the others all shared looks that they thought he was insane before dropping the subject and instead talking about their lessons for the day. Their first lesson of the day was transfiguration, which for Harry, passed far too slowly since they spent an entire hour talking about animagus transformations. For the last hour of the class, though, the professor made her way through the students, one at a time calling them to the front of the classroom and casting a spell upon them that would transform them into their animagus form to the rest of the students for about two minutes. Harry watched eagerly as the spell was cast upon his parents and he saw that his mother transformed into a bright red fox, and for the first time, he saw the closest thing possible to a living patronus, the living and breathing Prongs stood in front of the classroom. When his name was called, he calmly walked to the front of the class and Professor McGonagall muttered the spell and he felt himself transforming, but he was surprised when he realized that he didn't transform into his raven form, which he assumed he would since that was the first animal he had ever transformed into. Instead, he felt himself growing into a four legged animal, and instead of talons, he grew paws and after a few minutes, he realized that he had turned into a large cat of some sort. Curious, he looked into the mirror to his side and saw that he was a solid black jaguar. But this animagus transformation was unlike any he had ever experienced before. Until now, all of his forms had had two things in common, they all had his emerald green eyes, and they all had a lightning bolt somewhere on their fur or feathers, and the lack of both of these things worried him tremendously. The animal he was looking at was solid black without a single discolored hair marring its beautiful pelt, and its eyes were not green, but black as well, so dark that you couldn't even tell the pupil from the iris. He stood looking at the creature for several minutes, thinking to himself.
'Where did this come from' he mused
'You should know by now, Potter' said the amused voice of Voldemort, and its sudden appearance caused the jaguar to start, he hadn't heard the voice in his head for a couple of days now
'What are you talking about?' asked Harry warily
'Come now, think about it, you should be able to figure this out with no difficulties boy' said the voice in a thoughtful and mocking tone
'Stop toying with me, Voldemort, if you have something to say, say it or just leave before you weaken yourself further' growled Harry in his mind
'Consider this my gift to you, Potter, to show you just how alike and bound together we are' said Voldemort as the voice faded away
Still not understanding what the evil wizard had been talking about, Harry looked back into the mirror, and as he did so, his eyes flashed from their deep black to bloody scarlet for a moment before he felt himself changing back.
When he was himself again, he glanced back into the mirror and noticed that his face was void of all color and his hands had started shaking and his legs felt as though they would collapse from underneath him if he continued to stand on them, but he was relieved that his eyes were their normal green color again.
"Are you ok, Mr. Pearson?" asked the professor in concern
"Yes, I'm fine, but I'm not feeling well, could I please go to the hospital wing?" he said in a shaky voice
"Certainly, can you make it on your own or do you need someone to escort you?" she asked
"I'll be fine" said Harry as he left the room, grabbing his bag on the way and ignoring the concerned looks he received from his friends
He hurried through the halls on his way to his room, praying Sirius would be there when he arrived, and as he entered the living room, he was pleased to see the ex-convict sitting at the desk writing on a parchment.
"Harry, what are you doing out of class?" asked the man as he got to his feet in concern
Harry didn't respond immediately, instead he walked over to a chair and collapsed, sitting silently for a moment before he summoned a cup of tea.
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Sirius again and Harry hastily told him about the form he had assumed in transfiguration.
"He said it was a gift from him to show me how similar we are and how much the connection between us has strengthened" he finished heavily "He's starting to get stronger Sirius. He's nowhere near where he was, but it's only a matter of time before he is strong enough to start cursing me again, and he's already got enough control over me to influence what animal I transform into if I'm not thinking about it"
"Well, all I can say is to be sure you think hard while you transform, because if I'm understanding what you told me, this particular form is one he can assume, and he can probably control its actions as well, even if he doesn't have control of you before you change into it" said Sirius "Don't worry, it took him nearly a year before he was strong enough to start cursing you last time, we still have time to find his daughter and finish this once and for all. How are you feeling?" he asked
"Fine, I was just a little shaken up. I had better get to lunch, I have divination this afternoon and would really like to catch a nap if I can, and what better way to do so than on a full stomach" Harry said with a smirk as he finished his tea, and Sirius started laughing.
"I couldn't agree more. I'll see you after dinner, are you bringing the others?"
"Yes, they said they'd come" answered Harry "I'll see you later" he called over his shoulder as he left the room and headed to the great hall again.
"What happened to you earlier, Harry?" asked Remus as he sat at the table for lunch
"Nothing, I just got a little light headed after the transformation" said Harry as he shot them a reassuring smile
"About that, I thought you said your animagus form was a raven, but you changed into a jaguar, why did you lie to us?" asked Sirius, trying to bait Harry into telling them the truth, that he had more than one animagus form.
"Oh, well, um, my animagus form is a raven, at least that's all I have ever managed to change into before, maybe the spell messed up or something" he lied smoothly
"Oh, if you say so" said James, unconvinced
"So, do you guys mind if I join you tomorrow night?" asked Harry with a smirk on his face
The others all looked to each other in shock for a minute, but then Remus found his voice, though he was quite pale while he spoke "What are you talking about?" he asked hesitantly
"Your monthly adventures in the forbidden forest, would you mind if I came along?" asked Harry calmly
"How much do you know about that?" demanded Sirius sharply
"More than you think, but we'll talk about that later. So, can I come along?" he asked again
"You know about Moony?" asked James, ignoring Harry yet again
"Yes, but don't worry, it doesn't bother me at all" he said as he smiled at Remus "So, are you going to answer my question of not?" he asked the others
"Well, I guess if you already know, then I don't mind" said Remus
"Sure, why not?" asked Sirius with a shrug of his shoulders
"Same goes for me. So, what does Joseph want to talk to us about tonight?" James asked, trying to change the subject
"Well, it has come to our attention that you five saw and heard some things yesterday that were better left unknown, and we need to discuss them with you" answered Harry and the marauders all shot worried looks to each other again
"What do you mean, we didn't do anything yesterday, after class we went to the tower and then to the library" said Sirius while he shifted uncomfortably in his chair
"Sure, but let me tell you this, Griffins may not be able to see through invisibility cloaks, which you left in the forest by the way, but they are able to sense the presence of others. I knew we were being watched, but I didn't know by who until Joseph, as you know my godfather, found your cloak in the forest this morning. I knew it was yours because I now have it" Harry answered with a smile and the marauders all looked like five year olds who had just been caught with their hands in a cookie jar.
"Oh" was all James said
"Don't worry about it, we're not mad, but there are a few things we need to discuss and some rules we need to set up, but for now, don't tell anyone else what you saw or heard" said Harry "And that includes Peter, he had a memory charm placed on him this morning, so he doesn't remember anything you saw yesterday" he added
"Why did you erase Peter's memories?" asked James
"We didn't think it was wise to allow him to know what he knew" said Harry "Don't ask why, we had our reasons" he finished
"Ok, but do you promise to answer some questions for us tonight?" asked James
"Some things, yes, but you need to know that we can't tell you everything" said Harry sternly
"Fine, but we'll still ask" said Sirius with a smirk
"I would expect nothing less from the legendary marauders" said Harry with a smile "Come on, we need to get to divination" he said as he got to his feet and grabbed his bag. The others all followed him out of the great hall and up to the tower that their class was held in. The first time Harry had come to this class with the marauders, he had been annoyed to find that Trelawney was already the professor, but thankfully, she ignored him for the most part, in fact, he had yet to receive a single death sentence from her, for which he was grateful. They spent the entire lesson looking into crystal balls, and like every other lesson he had taken with her, Harry saw absolutely nothing, so he folded his arms on his desk and laid his head down to try and alleviate the headache that he had had since he woke up that morning.
He had just put his head down though, when he felt a sharp elbow poke him in the ribs and he glared at James who was sitting next to him "What is it?" he demanded
"Hey, you better wake up, she's coming this way" said James and Harry obediently pretended to be looking at the ball and into the fog inside the glass, and for the first time ever, he actually saw something inside the sphere. What he saw though, caused his insides to turn to ice. It was a stone room with a large fire in the middle of it, and beside the fire he could make out several blurry shapes. One was standing over another and the rest were hidden in the shadows just beyond the flames, but it was the two figures in the front that caught his attention. The one standing was wearing a scarlet cloak and had his hand outstretched over the one on the floor who was dressed in Hogwarts robes and had long red hair, and she was curled on the floor in agony, obviously under the influence of the cruciatus curse, and her mouth was silently screaming. As he watched the picture, the figure casting the curse turned and looked directly at him, and Harry saw his own face, but the eyes were not his own, instead, they were blood red and he was laughing.
"Ginny!" he said loudly as he tore his gaze away from the ball and looked around the room, but his cry had been ignored by all but James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily. Peter was sitting at the other side of the room with a brown haired Hufflepuff girl.
"Who's Ginny?" asked James as he looked to Harry in concern
"What?" asked Harry, his mind still on the image of himself torturing the girl he loved
"You said the name Ginny, did you see something in the ball?" asked Sirius
"Oh, um, yeah, I saw my girlfriend, Ginny" answered Harry as he tried to calm his racing heart
"What did you see, you looked terrified" asked Lily
"Nothing" answered Harry, a cold edge to his voice, indicating that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Thankfully though, the bell rang just then and the subject was dropped. "Come on, we need to get to our rooms" said Harry and the others silently followed him to the fourth floor and into the rooms he shared with Sirius, who was sitting expectantly at the desk.
"Hello, I'm glad you came, there are a few things we need to discuss" he said as he stood and led the guilty students over to the couch and armchairs. The four students sat close together on the couch and Harry and the older Sirius sat facing them in the armchairs. They looked to each other for a moment before Sirius broke the silence "So, what exactly did you see and hear yesterday, and how much have you been able to figure out because of it?" he asked
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A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry for this being late, but I just moved back home for a couple of weeks and then I had to start back to work and do Christmas shopping and everything else you could possibly imagine for the past several days, so please forgive me. Thank you so much for all of the very nice reviews, especially queen of hearts who has read the entire story almost in the past couple days and reviewed every chapter along the way. Thanks to all of the rest of you too, I really appreciate the positive feedback and when I started writing this, I had no idea so many people would ever read it, let alone review it, 623 of you now, I am so happy! Well, I would go through and thank you all individually, but that would make me even later posting this, so I'll wait and try to do it next time. Next chapter should be up Monday or Tuesday since I'm off tomorrow and Monday. Please let me know what you think about this chapter, I had a lot of trouble making it all fit and if some of it is confusing or ooc, I'm sorry. Thanks again! Please let me know what you think!