Harry Potter & the Dark Lord – Chapter 13
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all his friends, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, and everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling and her publishers, I guess.
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, but it's here at last. Thank you to all my faithful reviewers!!! I really appreciate it. So, here's the recap: Ron does splendidly in his debut as Gryffindor Keeper. Snape is called away once again, but not before he gives Harry, Ron and Hermione one last detention. Ron and Hermione became a little (ahem) closer. Harry and Ginny are still suffering from horrible timing (or is it more?). And finally, Harry and Ginny have arrived at the Shrieking Shack to find ::drum roll, please:: Sirius and Lupin!!! Gosh, do you think I'm packing too much into this fic?? Let me know, then! Read and REVIEW!!
"Harry, it's been a while!" Professor Lupin grinned at Harry as he reached down to help him up the stairs. Noticing Ginny, he added, "Oh, you've brought someone?"
Ginny entered the room, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light. She quickly took in her surroundings, noticing that the light was coming from a smokeless blue fire floating in a corner. The rest of the room was dusty and filled with cobwebs, broken pieces of furniture littering the floor. Ginny's uneasy gaze fell on Professor Lupin, who was looking as frail as ever, with dark circles under his eyes. Sirius stepped from the shadows, causing Ginny to jump slightly. The tall, thin man walked over to Harry, enveloping him in a big hug.
"Harry, it's good to see you again!" Sirius turned to Ginny, who unconsciously took a step back. Sirius smiled, noticing Ginny's red hair, "Let me guess – you must be Ron's sister."
"Er, Ginny, this is my godfather, Sirius Black. And you remember Professor Lupin?" Harry said anxiously, hoping that Lupin's familiar face might calm Ginny.
Ginny's eyes darted from one man to the other. "Professor Lupin…" Ginny repeated to herself. "You, you left Hogwarts because you're a werewolf, right?"
Lupin gave a sardonic smile, "I see my legend survives. But please, I'm not your teacher anymore. Call me Remus."
Noticing Ginny's hesitant expression, Sirius grinned, "Don't worry about Moony here, Ginny. He doesn't much like the taste of red heads. Too fiery." Seeing Sirius wink, Ginny gave a shaky laugh.
"So, Harry, Sirius said your scar hurt again," Lupin said questioningly. Harry nodded, repeating the story of what he had seen the night of the ball. Both men were a little shaken at hearing about James and Lily's last night, even though they had already heard the description in the letter Harry had owled. Lupin frowned, deep in thought.
Harry could tell that Sirius was recollecting that day fourteen years earlier. "By the time I arrived, James and Lily were both dead and Voldemort was gone. We never did know exactly what happened, except that Voldemort had obviously tried to kill you, and failed." Sirius paused frowning, "Harry, I hope you haven't been dwelling on what I told you last time…"
Harry grew white, remembering. He had been dwelling on it, at least until Mr. Weasley disappeared. He now looked back at Ginny, who was looking very curious at this point. Harry swallowed before speaking to her, "Er, Sirius seems to think that…"
"No Harry," Sirius broke in, "I don't think it, all his friends knew that James was a direct descendant of Gryffindor. His last, until you were born."
Harry looked down, not knowing what to say. His head shot up at Ginny's voice, "Of course, Harry, didn't you know?"
All three heads turned towards Ginny, who stared right back at them. "Well, wasn't it obvious? I mean, Voldemort was the last descendant of Slytherin. It would make sense that you're Gryffindor's descendant, since he couldn't kill you. It's noted in a lot of the books about you."
"Er, I try not to read about myself," Harry mumbled, embarrassed. So everyone knew about this and he hadn't?
Ginny's face softened. "Well, I can see how you may not have known. The books only mention it as a rumor…no one knew for sure. Other than you guys, I guess," she added, nodding towards Remus and Sirius. "That's why it was so easy for everyone to assume you were Slytherin's heir when, when the basilisk was loose, since no one had ever confirmed otherwise, they figured it explained why you didn't die." Ginny stammered a bit as she recalled how Voldemort had used her to set the basilisk upon the other students in her first year.
"Anyway Harry," Sirius cut in, "that's not important. It doesn't explain why you survived. Your father was also a descendant, and he didn't survive." Sirius said these last words through clenched teeth.
Ginny glanced nervously between Sirius and Harry. Her gaze finally fell on Remus, who gave her an encouraging smile. Pulling the library book out of her bag, she stepped towards her former teacher. "Professor, er, Remus, I was hoping you could help me get my dad back. I'm sure some of the others have more information than they're telling us." Seeing Remus' uncertain look, Ginny continued quickly before he could interrupt, "I know Dumbledore wouldn't want us to put ourselves in danger, and it's useless to even try to get anything out of Snape. But I have to do something. So Hermione and I have been trying to find out what they know on our own. We think we're close to figuring out what Snape is up to – I mean, we've found this book and I was reading it all night and, and will you help us?" Ginny finished, looking up pleadingly at Remus, who was deep in thought.
"What's in that book that you think will help you?" Sirius broke in, frowning. He took the book from Ginny's hand, opening to the page where she had put a spare piece of parchment to hold her place. "Hmm, Craniasheldus – I've never known anyone to use that one. It takes a long time to make, and I'm not even sure if all the ingredients are available."
Lupin looked over Sirius' shoulder and began perusing the potion ingredients, "Eye of a dragon, unicorn horn, tiger lily fur…"
"Wait," Harry interrupted, "We were collecting tiger lily fur for Professor Fletcher in Herbology class at the start of term! Why didn't I make the connection?"
Ginny smiled, "Hermione did…that's how we were able to narrow it down. Tiger lilies are only mentioned three times in this book. After reading them over and over, only this one makes sense."
Lupin broke in, "Sorry to disappoint you, but Sirius was right, they couldn't have all these ingredients. For instance, the potion calls for bone of Tencanlark. No one's seen a Tencanlark for centuries!"
Seeing Ginny's and Harry's disappointed stares, Sirius responded, "Hold on a minute Moony, I just said I wasn't sure if the ingredients were available. There are rumors that a handful of Tencanlarks still roam in the forests of Albania."
Harry's eyes widened, "Wasn't Voldemort hiding in Albania? What exactly is a Tencanlark? How is this potion going to help us find Mr. Weasley?"
His brow furrowed, Remus began, "A Tencanlark is a very powerful, and very dangerous magical creature. They used to roam freely across Europe, thousands of years ago, killing nearly everyone they encountered. Their secret was that they could read minds, so they always knew what someone was about to do and were prepared for it."
Ginny continued, "I heard about them in History of Magic. It took people a while to figure out why the Tencanlarks always knew what they were going to do. Once they figured it out, you could fight them off for a little while by focusing on one random thought. They were finally defeated when the wizards realized they could confuse them if there were too many people around…the thoughts became muddled."
Sirius turned to Ginny, impressed, "I see Hermione isn't the only one with brains at Hogwarts. You're exactly right. And you're right too, Harry – Voldemort was hiding in the forests of Albania."
Remus' face turned even paler than normal, "You don't think, Sirius…"
"What?" asked Harry impatiently.
"Well, the legend goes that whoever was able to kill a Tencanlark would get its mind-reading ability. When Voldemort was hiding in Albania, he took over the bodies of many small creatures. The Tencanlark is not very large, but a bite or a scratch from its poisonous claws will kill you instantly." Sirius shuddered.
Harry caught on, "But since Voldemort wasn't really alive, it couldn't kill him. He found a Tencanlark and took over its body, and it eventually died." Harry paused, thinking, "So that's how he did it."
"Did what?" Lupin said in surprise.
"He knew I was lying when I had the Philosopher's Stone. That was all I was thinking of, I must have made it easy for him," Harry said bitterly.
Ginny broke in, "All right, so now we know that Voldemort can probably read our minds when he's near us. But we also know how to try and block it."
"I don't see what this has to do with Snape. Did he kill a Tencanlark too?" Harry asked.
Ginny's face glowed as she seemed to finally figure everything out, "That explains the potion! Craniasheldus gives a person the ability to control their thoughts, and block someone else from reading them. Snape must've figured this out and been in Albania looking for the body of the Tencanlark that Voldemort killed." Turning to Harry, she shuddered, "No wonder he looked horrible when he returned. Albania is very isolated, so most of the darkest and most dangerous creatures go to the forests and mountains there to hide out once they're banished from the rest of civilization."
Harry still didn't understand completely, "But if you can block your thoughts by thinking of something random, why would he have to risk himself to get the bone to make this potion?"
Remus looked grim as he answered, "This potion won't just let Snape block his thoughts from Voldemort. He'll be able to control exactly what Voldemort sees and doesn't see. And Voldemort won't know the thoughts he's reading are controlled by Snape."
"That's very clever, I wouldn't have thought it of him," Sirius responded. "It must be Dumbledore's idea. Now Snape will be able to get back in Voldemort's circle. He acted as a spy for us before, and with Voldemort's mind-reading ability, he'd never have been able to convince him that he had truly returned to his side. If Voldemort knew the truth, he would have Snape killed instantly."
Ginny swallowed, "So Snape has found a way to become a Death Eater again?"
Harry's eyes narrowed "How much of this potion does Snape need? If I could get a hold of some of it…"
Sirius looked over sharply. "Harry…" he said warningly.
"All right, all right, I won't do anything," Harry lied. Brightening, he added, "Sirius, you still haven't told us if you saw anything in Hogsmeade."
Sirius' face darkened. "I got there too late. Some of Voldemort's Death Eaters were at the Three Broomsticks. Some of my old classmates were also there, discussing the Muggle killings that had happened earlier. Apparently, they started talking about James, and the night he died. From what Rosmerta's told us, the Death Eaters heard and they became embroiled in a, er, heated discussion. Daniel McDougherty stood up to them, taunting that Voldemort couldn't even kill a baby and that now, Harry Potter was going to make sure he was gone for good."
Harry's face felt hot as Sirius glanced at him apprehensively. He continued. "Anyway, it was essentially a barroom brawl, a few minor curses…until Voldemort appeared. Soon Daniel and his friends were dead and Voldemort and the Death Eaters had disappeared, leaving the Three Broomsticks a shambles. That's when I arrived, as a dog of course. I had to hang around outside. Arthur showed up shortly after. He went out behind the Three Broomsticks by himself to see if he could find anything. I followed him back there just in time to see Voldemort stupefying him and disapparating with him. I started barking, and the rest of the Ministry officials came out and found his wand."
Harry looked at Ginny, who had grown very pale. "So he was alive the last time you saw him?" she asked quietly. Harry walked over to put a comforting arm on Ginny's shoulders, but she backed away.
"Yes, Ginny, I believe Voldemort knew who he was and took him as a way to get to Harry." Sirius turned to Harry, "That's all the more reason for you to let us handle this."
Not wanting to get into an argument with his godfather, Harry simply nodded.
Much later, Harry and Ginny were finally heading back to the Whomping Willow, having spent quite a while chatting with the two older men. Remus and Sirius, seeing how worried Ginny was about her father, had been distracting her by telling stories about their days at Hogwarts, making both Harry and Ginny laugh uncontrollably. Harry noticed with amusement how red Sirius turned when Lupin mentioned Arabella Figg. Harry made a mental note to find out from Remus just what had happened between the two. Just before he left, Harry had another pleasant surprise; Sirius returned the Marauders Map to him. Dumbledore had sent it to Sirius once it was retrieved from Moody's office. Ginny had a very reproachful look on her face when Harry told her how Fred and George had been using the map for years in their shenanigans.
"So Ginny," Harry tried cautiously, as they walked back to the Whomping Willow, "Do you think we can have that talk now?"
Ginny stiffened once again and kept walking, 'Harry, I told you there's nothing to discuss. I'm not going to bother you about this. I'd appreciate it if we could just drop it." Before Harry could respond, Ginny saw the exit back onto Hogwarts' grounds. "Well, we're here now."
Harry and Ginny climbed out and walked over to Ron and Hermione, who were still waiting for them. The sky was very dark now, and an unusually large number of stars were sparkling down. Ron and Hermione were lying on their backs on Ron's cloak, looking up at the stars. They were holding hands, lying close together, and their faces were very near as they whispered to each other.
"I was going to apologize for taking so long, but you don't seem to have missed us," Harry grinned. To his surprise, Ron didn't argue with him. He simply stood up, helping Hermione up beside him, and stretched his long arms.
"You did take a while," Ron agreed, yawning. "If you weren't back soon, Hermione and I were going to go in after you. Did you find out anything?"
Ginny eagerly explained all they had learned, and a flood of relief washed over Ron's face when she said that Sirius had seen their father alive. He eagerly made plans with Harry to get a hold of the potion Fletcher was helping Snape with, going as far as to apologize to Harry about his comments about the detention.
Since it was late, they all went straight to bed, although there were still a few Gryffindors in the common room, extending the celebration of the Quidditch victory into the early morning hours. Harry didn't want to try to get Ginny to talk to him while Ron was around, so he let the matter drop for the time being. Finally in bed, Harry tossed and turned for a while, thinking about his plans for the detention. The wireless radio played softly in the background – Harry had gotten into the habit of listening to it every night to keep track of Voldemort's whereabouts. As sleep started to overtake him, Harry's thoughts turned to Ginny and Cho. It was rather ironic how it had turned out, he mused. In the meanderings of his mind as consciousness began to slip away, Harry made a decision. He knew now what he had to do to make Ginny listen. Peaceful for the moment, Harry slipped into sleep, with random images of Voldemort, Cedric, and Mr. Weasley driving his serenity away.
Harry woke up the next day feeling unusually refreshed, despite the fact that he had only gotten a few hours of sleep and had not had particularly nice dreams during the night. He walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, whistling happily. Ron and Hermione were already there, as was Ginny. Harry's smile widened as he noticed she had decided to stop avoiding him.
"Good morning, everyone," Harry said loudly. Ginny looked up briefly and smiled before returning to her large stack of pancakes. Well, it was a start, Harry thought, sitting down beside her cheerfully and starting on his own plate, piling it high with pancakes and bacon.
"You're in a good mood this morning. What's gotten into you?" Ron asked, stuffing a sausage into his mouth. Harry just grinned at him.
"Oh, it's just such a nice day out. I thought we could enjoy it, being Sunday and all. Maybe we can all go by the lake today," Harry continued.
Ron grinned mischievously, "Are you including Cho in that 'we'?" Ginny looked down at her lap briefly, before forcing herself to lift her head up.
"That reminds me," Harry said, his smile replaced by a look of determination, "I need to go talk to Cho. Will you excuse me?"
Harry got up to leave as Ron began chortling. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Hermione patting Ginny's hand, although Ginny ignored this, focusing on her pancakes. He continued towards the Ravenclaw table, walking quickly before he could change his mind. He saw Cho eating with one other girl he recognized only by sight. Taking a deep breath, Harry approached the two.
"Hi Cho, do you, er, think I could talk to you for a minute?" Harry rushed out, not wasting time with formalities. Cho, looking slightly confused, nodded. Her friend shrugged and grabbed her things to leave the Harry and Cho alone.
"Is everything all right, Harry?" Cho asked, her mouth drawn into a slight frown.
"Er, yes, I mean no. I mean we have to talk. About us." Harry gulped. He'd never had to do this before, at least not to someone he knew.
Cho's face turned bright red. "Us? Harry…"
Harry interrupted, "Please let me finish while I still can."
"No, Harry, don't," Cho said, her cheeks glowing brighter. "I was afraid this would happen. Look, Harry, I think you're a really nice guy, and I like you. You're smart, brave, cute…" Harry blushed at this, but Cho continued on. "And very sweet. That's why I wanted to go to the ball with you. But…what I'm trying to say, Harry, is I'm not ready to date anyone seriously. Not after Cedric…"
Cho looked up at the enchanted ceiling, and Harry could tell she was trying to keep herself from crying. He didn't know what to say. "Er, that wasn't what…" he began, but changed his mind mid-sentence. "Well, Cho, if that's how you feel, I understand. I'll respect your wishes."
Cho threw her arms around Harry, causing him to nearly jump back in shock. "Oh, Harry, thank you for being so, so mature about this." Cho let go of him and stepped back, putting out her hand, "Friends?"
Not believing his luck, Harry smiled. "Friends," he responded, shaking Cho's hand. Harry turned to return to the Gryffindor table, feeling incredibly light, as if a burden had just been lifted from him. He practically bounced back to his friends.
Seeing Harry's peculiar smile, Ron grinned, "So is Cho coming along?"
"No," Harry responded, sitting back down and returning to his breakfast. "Actually, we just broke up," he said cheerfully stuffing a whole pancake into his mouth.
Hermione and Ginny gave each other very surprised looks, but Ron appeared panicked.
"You what?!?!?" Ron practically shouted. "Are you insane? What happened? What did you do?"
Harry practically choked on his pancake at Ron's reaction, forcing Hermione to hit him on the back a few times. Hermione and Ginny stared at Ron as if he had lost his mind. Ron was obviously more upset at this news than Harry was, and continued ranting. "You have to get back together with her! Maybe I'll go talk to her."
"Ron, what is wrong with you?" Harry asked, his eyes fearful at his friend's strange behavior. Maybe all the stress with his father had made him crack, Harry wondered. "Why are you so upset about this? Since when did you like Cho that much?"
Ron looked at the others nervously, "I, er, don't like Cho that much. But you do, and I, er, just want you to be happy."
"I'm fine Ron," Harry assured him. "Actually, I went over there to break it off myself, and she felt the same way, so it worked out perfectly." Harry again smiled recalling how remarkably easy it had been.
Ron was quiet, not knowing what else to say. Hermione tried to lighten the mood, "Well, we can still go to the lake. We don't need Cho. It'll just be the four of us!"
Ron's face turned white, "No!"
"And why not?" Hermione said crossly, daring Ron to come up with a valid reason why they shouldn't go to the lake.
"Er, it's too cold. Ginny is very susceptible to this kind of weather. She'd better stay behind where it's warm."
Ginny looked up at this, and Harry and Hermione could see the anger flashing in her eyes. "I'm not a baby!" she shouted.
"Fine," Ron responded, "Go ahead and catch your death of cold!! Break Mum's heart, why don't you? I don't care!"
Ron stood up and stormed out of the Great Hall, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny staring after him, mouths hanging open at this little outburst.
"Er," Harry started, "Do you guys have a feeling there's more to this than Ron's letting on?"
A/N: Another installment done. So, what's up with Ron?? Well, next time is detention, etc. Hope you liked this. Review and let me know!!! It would be most kind of you. Thanks to all of you!!!