A Harry Situation
By Jill Weber/ Jelsemium
Characters copyrighted by J.K. Rowling and used without permission or intent to make a profit.
Chapter 18: The Survival Guide to…
Ginny Weasley
The long-eared owl flapped his wings and looked around in confusion. "Hoot!" said Ron.
Ginny moved as fast as a striking snake and knocked the Animagus Survival Guide away from owl-Ron and into Harry's lap. "Damn it, Harry! How could you be so stupid?"
Harry pulled back as best he could. "Erm, Ginny?" he said.
"Can't you tell this thing is filled with dark magic?" Ginny exclaimed. "It's just like Riddle's diary! It's taken over Ron!"
"I don't think it…" Harry said.
"Obviously, you don't think!" Ginny whipped out a short rod from up her sleeve. At first Harry thought she'd pulled her wand. Then she twisted it and a sharp point appeared. Harry remembered what Ginny had written about the Sleepy Spindle. The twins had turned it into a weapon of some sort.
"Look, book," Ginny snarled. "I've dealt with your kind before!"
Ron noticed she didn't mention she'd lost the last time. He'd have said so, except he'd been turned into an owl, not a parrot. "Hoot," Ron said, just to confirm that he couldn't speak in English. Pity that Harry couldn't speak owl.
"Turn my brother back into a human or I'll see if a Sleepy Spindle Spike affects nasty, magic books!" Ginny held the spike like a spear. It certainly looked sharp enough to go right through Nicely and into Harry.
Harry looked at Hermione, but she was staring at the long-eared owl with wide eyes. She didn't look to be offering any help any time soon.
"How did you do that, Ron?" Hermione blurted. "It takes months, sometimes years, of study to learn how to become an Animagus!"
"Hoot!" said Ron. He puffed up his chest at Hermione's look of amazement.
"He didn't do it!" Ginny exclaimed. "The bloody book did it. It turned Ron into an Animagus the way Riddle's diary turned me into a Parseltongue!" She flourished her spike again and Harry winced.
"Erm, Ginny, you mind not waving that thing so close to my lap?" he asked querulously.
The glare Ginny gave him made him cringe.
"Hoot!" Ron said.
"Didn't you learn anything from what happened to me in the Chamber of Secrets?" Ginny asked.
: Now, don't do anything rash! : Nicely wrote. : I didn't hurt Ron! I just showed him what his Animagus form will be! :
"You turned Ron into an owl?" Harry exclaimed.
"You're slow today," Ginny snarled.
"I'VE BEEN SICK!" Harry bawled at her. "And will you please point that thing somewhere else!"
"Hoot!" said Ron.
"Nicely, I don't think you're supposed to actually turn Ron into an owl," Harry said. "Didn't Sir… I mean, didn't you say that you'd get into trouble for turning me into a cat, that second time?"
: Oh. Right. My mistake. :
"Your Animagus form is a cat?" Hermione asked. She braced herself on Lily's trunk as she tried to get a better look at the Animagus Guide.
"You got turned into a cat twice and it didn't occur to you that this thing was dangerous!" Ginny howled. Her face was glowing red with anger and frustration.
Harry was grateful that there wasn't anybody else in the wing or there would be a big crowd in their room right now. "I was turned back both times!" he said defensively.
"Hoot," said Ron.
: I forgot I wasn't supposed to actually transfigure you. :
"Nicely, you're a book, how could you forget?" Harry yelped.
: The new instructions aren't in the pensieve yet: Nicely explained.
"Pensieve?" Ginny growled. "What pensieve? Where is this pensieve? Who owns it? Harry, why didn't you tell somebody? Why didn't you tell a responsible adult!?"
"Personally, I would have thought that you would have become something more exotic than a cat," Hermione said thoughtfully. She rested her chin on her hand and stared at Nicely with a pensive expression on her face.
"Why didn't you put those instructions into the pensieve?" Harry asked, not wanting to answer Ginny's questions. He couldn't without possibly getting Remus into trouble. "Can't you update your own mind?"
"Hoot," said Ron.
"It didn't put the information into the Pensieve because it was too busy putting bits of itself into your and Ron's brains!" Ginny laid the point of her spike against Nicely's spine. "It was easy, considering how much empty space there is in your skulls!"
"You put a bit of you in my head?" Harry asked.
: Yes. She is correct, that is how I turned you into a cat and Ron into an owl. I put the blueprint of the Animagus transformation directly into your mind. It's a form of thought transference. :
"Cool. Too bad I can't get all my lessons implanted that way," Harry said.
"Hoot!" said Ron.
"A lion or a gryphon would have been appropriate for a Gryffindor," Hermione said. "Though I have to admit that you do have that whole nine lives business down pat."
Ginny shot her an incredulous look. It wasn't like Hermione to take dark magic so casually.
"This is NOT funny! This is NOT cool!" she raged. She was about to explode from sheer nerves and the other three were acting like this was some sort of joke. She knelt on Harry's bed to give her more leverage for her big thrust. "You're enchanted Hermione, too!" she shrieked.
: I didn't touch her! : protested Nicely.
"It's not like her to be so… so distracted!" Ginny accused. "Change them back, NOW!"
: Okay! Okay! Watch where you wave that thing! You'll have to let your brother see the page so I can show him how to change back. :
Harry held the book up for Ron. After a few minutes to get his bearings, Ron was back. He fell off the bed and rolled over onto his side, laughing so hard that tears poured down his face.
"STOP LAUGHING, RON!" Ginny shrieked.
Hermione jumped back. Then she gathered her wits together. "That was weird," she said, shaking her head and fluffing her hair with her fingers. "How did that book affect me?"
"Do you have any idea who created this thing?" Ginny roared at Harry.
"My dad."
Ginny blinked. "Oh," she said, deflating. There didn't seem much else to say to this.
"Ginny," Ron hooted. "Do you have any idea where you are pointing that spike of yours?"
"Huh?"
"Well, take a look at where you're about to skewer Harry," Ron started laughing again. "Poor Mum would be heart-broken if you did that."
"HUH?" Ginny said again.
"She wants grandchildren, eventually!"
It took a few seconds for the girls to work out what Ron was implying about Harry and Ginny. Then the girls realized exactly what part of Harry's anatomy Ginny's spike would hit if she speared the book.
"Oh, my," Hermione said.
"Eep," Ginny said in a very small voice.
Harry leaped off the bed and an Abyssinian cat dove for cover.
It took them almost half an hour to talk the cat from under the bed. They were just lucky that nobody came in during that time.
Meetings:
Arthur Weasley was worried. They had put off getting Harry to St. Mungo's almost too long and now Molly was blaming herself for Harry being ill. Percy was determined to support the Ministry's view that Voldemort's resurrection was a hoax. The twins were determined to open a joke shop. Bill had left his job of breaking curses for a position that was reputed to be cursed. Charlie was off doing chores for Dumbledore.
And, just to make his day complete, there was a werewolf and a hideously large, black Grim sitting across the room from him. The Grim was drooling on Dumbledore's carpet as if it had decided that Arthur was an especially appetizing tidbit.
There was a clunking noise behind Arthur, but he didn't turn around to look. He knew who it was without looking.
"Arthur, I apologize for keeping you waiting," Dumbledore's reassuring voice came.
"I understand that you've been busy, Albus," Arthur said, not taking his eyes off the Grim.
"That isn't a Grim," Dumbledore said, as if reading Arthur's mind.
Arthur would have been impressed if he wasn't certain that his thoughts were spelled out across his face in three inch high letters.
"Lupin," growled Alastor Moody's voice. "Nice dog you got there. What do you feed it? Dragons?"
Arthur was vaguely pleased to know that the dog made even Alastor Moody nervous.
"Actually, he prefers fried chicken," Remus Lupin said calmly. "Hello, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Moody."
"Don't get cute," Moody growled.
The black dog growled back, showing impressively large teeth. Arthur was impressed, anyway.
"Gentlemen, please," Dumbledore said. "We are all on the same team. As a great American statesman said, 'We must all hang together, or must assuredly, we shall all hang separate."
"Lovely thought," growled Moody.
"With You-Know-Who back, what other kind of thoughts can we have," Arthur sighed.
"We need to work together," Dumbledore said. "It's the only way to defeat him."
"You just said that," Moody growled. "It's not like you to repeat yourself, Albus. What's up?"
"I guess I'm a little nervous," Dumbledore confessed.
Arthur got an icy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Anything that would make ALBUS DUMBLEDORE nervous would terrify most sane wizards.
"Several of our allies aren't exactly approved of by the Ministry," Dumbledore said.
"You mean like werewolves and giants?" Moody said. ""Or did you have somebody worse in mind? No offense, Lupin."
"None taken," Lupin sounded cool, collected and faintly amused.
"I actually do have somebody with a worse reputation in mind," Dumbledore said blandly.
Arthur took his eyes off the Grim long enough to exchange a worried look with Moody.
"What? Worse?" Arthur blurted. "Molly said that you had some dangerous allies, but what could have a worse reputation than giants and werewolves?"
"Sirius Black."
Arthur's exclamation of "Sirius Black!" blended in so well with Moody's that it sounded like they'd been rehearsing for months.
"He is not the deranged killer that the Ministry believes him to be," Dumbledore said.
"He was the Potter's secret keeper," Moody growled. "You said so yourself!"
"I was wrong." Dumbledore looked very old when he said that. "I allowed my anger at the Potters' murder to cloud my judgment. I have spent twelve years wondering how Sirius could have betrayed his friends like that, only to discover that he had not. I have been asking myself for the past year what the outcome would have been if I had only listened before I had denounced him." He stared down at his gnarled hands.
"I should have insisted that Sirius be given a trial. Now I am haunted by the thought that there might be other innocents imprisoned in Azkaban. Innocents whom we may be too late to save, because they don't have the sanity-saving advantage that Sirius had."
"And what was that?" Moody demanded.
Arthur couldn't blame Moody for wanting to know how Black had escaped from Azkaban. There were a lot of prisoners there who wanted revenge against the former Auror.
"Sirius is an Animagus," Lupin said. "His animal form wasn't as affected by the Dementors."
Arthur and Moody looked at the big, black dog with dire suspicion.
Sure enough, the dog transformed into Sirius Black, the most wanted wizard in Britain.
"I was better off with the Grim," Arthur thought.
"Black," Moody said.
"Hello, Moody," Sirius said. "Mr. Weasley."
"I'm sorry you went to Azkaban," Moody said. "I am glad you didn't do it. There was a time that I actually thought I could trust you."
Sirius gave a lopsided smile. "Thank you, Moody."
"So, Molly knows about you, then?" Arthur said. It was a statement, not really a question.
"Yes, we met a few months ago," Sirius said.
"And who else knows?"
"Harry, Hermione and your son, Ron."
Arthur gave Sirius a stern look. "If you allow anything to happen to those three, Mr. Black, Molly will make you homesick for the Dementors." Arthur was surprised at how matter-of-fact his voice was.
Sirius actually grinned at him. "I believe you." He turned serious. "Believe me, I will protect them to the best of my ability," he said. "Harry is my godson; I'll do anything to make sure he is safe and happy." Sirius paused for a few minutes then added, "I'd be glad if you would call me Sirius. I owe you a lot for how you've been taking care of Harry."
"You might as well call me Arthur. You don't owe me anything for taking care of Harry. Helping him was the only thing an honorable man could have done under the circumstances. And I'd be lying if I didn't say it's a joy to have him around. He's a great kid."
Sirius acknowledged that with a slight bow.
"Speaking of safe and happy," Moody broke in. "I have some potentially good news for you, Arthur."
"I could use some right now," Arthur said.
"It looks like the twins' mysterious backer might be on the level," Moody said.
Arthur couldn't remember seeing Dumbledore look so flabbergasted. "Do you really think so?" Dumbledore asked. This was apparently not the sort of news that Dumbledore was used to hearing from Moody.
"Yeah," Moody said. "I have a lead. It's only a rumor, mind you, but it makes sense given what I know about the situation." He looked at Black. "Black might be the best one to follow up on it, though."
"Me?" Sirius asked. He hadn't expected that Moody would actually turn to him for help. Not this soon after finding out the truth about him, anyway.
"Yes, you. Next time you see your godson, ask Potter what he did with the thousand Galleon purse from the Tri-Wizard Tournament."
Arthur was glad he was sitting. The feeling of relief that washed through him left his knees feeling like rubber and he doubted that he'd have been able to keep on his feet. As Moody said, it fit. Arthur wondered why he hadn't even thought of Harry before. He'd been too fixed on worst case scenarios, he supposed.
"Wouldn't Harry have said something?" Remus asked.
Arthur shook his head. "Not necessarily," he said. "He might have been worried about how Molly and I would react. He knows Ron is touchy on the subject of money. He would expect us to object to him giving that much money to the twins."
"I knew that he would not have a chance to deposit the money into Gringott's," Dumbledore said. "I thought about offering to handle the money for him, but I thought he would prefer to have the Weasleys to take care of it. I should have followed through on that thought. I could have saved us a lot of worry." He sighed. "I think I'm getting to old for this sort of thing."
"We're all too old for this sort of thing," Arthur said quietly.
"I think it's inappropriate to get upset over good news," Remus said. "Fred and George have the money to start their shop and they haven't gone in hock to a dark wizard to do so. And I expect the information that we've turned up in our attempts to trace the money back will come in useful."
Dumbledore smiled. "Thank you, Remus. You are correct; we can come out ahead on this matter, especially if Harry is the mystery backer." His smile made him look younger. "He has a generous heart," he said. "I think his parents would be pleased at the thought of his backing the twin's venture."
"James with his own joke shop," Sirius murmured with a gleam in his eye. "He'd have loved it."
Lily's Trunk:
"I still can't believe how stupid you're being," Ginny said, once Harry was settled back in his bed.
"Mrow, I mean, how do you mean?" Harry asked. He was back in his bed, with Nicely in his lap again.
"This book has taken over your brains," Ginny said, waving the spike.
Harry winced.
Ginny sighed and twisted the spike's handle so the sharp point was safely hidden. "I mean, I was really stupid to let Riddle's diary take me over. However, I was only eleven at the time. You three are fifteen," she glared at Harry. "Or close enough AND you SAW what happened to me!" She pulled out her wand. "Maybe I ought to see if I can cram some common sense into your brain."
"This is different!" Harry said. There was a taut expression on his face that told Hermione that he was hurt and angry. Oh, dear, it looked like her matchmaking efforts were going to be harder than she thought. And here she'd been thinking that Ron was going to be the big obstacle. She'd forgotten the Weasley temper.
"HOW?"
"Well, for one thing, my dad is one of the designers of this book!" Harry said.
"How can you be sure of that?" Ginny challenged.
"It's very similar to another artifact that we have of his," Harry said. "The Marauder's Map."
"The what?" Ginny asked.
"Where is it? I'll get it," Ron said.
"It's in my school trunk," Harry said.
Ron pulled Harry's school trunk around so the girls couldn't see inside. Hermione made a wry face. There weren't any real secrets in there, unless Harry had her birthday present in there. No, it was more likely he was hiding his dirty underwear. When would he have had time to shop?
"Here," Ron closed Harry's trunk and spread the Marauder's Map out on the lid. He touched his wand to it. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"
"Ron!" Ginny exclaimed.
"I can use my wand while I'm here!" Ron said defensively.
"I meant how can you say that you are up to no good?" Ginny demanded.
"That's the password! See?"
Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers
Are proud to present
The Marauder's Map!
There was a detailed map of Hogwarts, but they were clearly out of range, because no names appeared on the map.
"And something that bills itself as an Aid to Magical Mischief-Makers didn't strike you as being a bad thing?" Ginny said icily.
"Erm, no," Harry said. "I mean, I remembered what your father said, of course."
Ginny snorted.
"But this seemed harmless enough. All it does is show where people and secret passages are," Harry continued hurriedly.
Ginny looked at Hermione severely. "I expect this sort of thing from them," she said, indicating the boys with a jerk of her head. "You, however, should show some common sense!"
"Well, Fred and George used it for years with nothing bad happening to them!" Ron said. He tapped the map again. "Mischief managed!"
The map went blank.
"Fred and George? Wait, I thought you said this was from Harry's father?" Ginny said.
"Well, it is, indirectly," Harry said. "My dad was Mr. Prongs. Filch confiscated the map from him, and the twins stole it from Filch a few years ago."
"How did you know Mr. Prongs was your dad?" Ginny said. "How do you know he had anything to do with this cursed book?"
: Now, Ginny, I know you're upset… :
"DON'T CALL ME GINNY! I HAVEN'T GIVEN YOU PERMISSION!"
: Oops. :
"Will you stop yelling?" Ron asked. "You are giving me a headache!"
"You probably got that from the miserable book!" Ginny snapped.
: That's MISS Miserable Book to you! : Nicely wrote.
"This is getting us nowhere," Hermione said. "Nicely, you can't go around injecting information into people's brains."
"Why not?" Harry asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Harry, there's a reason wizards teach their children the same way Muggles do. The brain needs to process information at its own rate. Just injecting information in there could do some damage… like if you opened a book at random and started writing. You will likely destroy information that's already in there!" Hermione had almost mentioned computers, but thought that the Weasleys probably wouldn't understand the reference.
Harry looked at her wide-eyed. Then he transferred his worried gaze to The Survival Guide. "Nicely, did you destroy some of my memories?" he asked.
: I don't think so. :
"But you're not sure," Harry said unhappily.
: No. :
Ron was crouched next to the bed, staring intently at the Animagus guide. After the last exchange, he closed his eyes and frowned. Then he opened them again and smiled. "I still have the memory of Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret. Anything else can go!"
"Like your name?" Ginny asked.
"How about your toilet training?" Hermione added.
"Eurgh," Harry said.
"Erm, yes, I can see your point," Ron said, rather taken aback.
"You have to report this thing!" Ginny insisted.
"What?" Ron yelped.
"Suppose we tell Professor Lupin?" Harry suggested.
Ginny started to look mollified. Then a sudden thought struck her and she scowled. "Professor Lupin was one of the Marauders, wasn't he? Is that how you found out about your father?"
"Yes," Harry admitted.
Ginny frowned.
"Don't worry," Hermione said firmly. "We'll be telling Professor Dumbledore about this as soon as we see him, won't we?" Her fierce look didn't encourage argument.
"She hasn't even got the official notification and already she's acting like a prefect," Ron muttered.
The glare Hermione gave the boys would have done credit to a basilisk.
Ron decided this was a good time to change the subject. Besides, he had another problem that was beginning to nag at him. "That still doesn't tell me how Nicely managed to affect Hermione. She wasn't touching the book."
"Nicely's pretty powerful," Harry said. "She transfigured me when I was across the room from her."
Hermione frowned. "I find that hard to believe," she said.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her.
"Not that I think you're lying," Hermione added hastily. "I think you're misinterpreting. Are you sure she wasn't in reach? What exactly were you doing when she transfigured you?"
"She was on my camp bed and I was sitting a few feet away looking through my mum's trunk."
Ron frowned at the trunk. "Hermione was touching the trunk when Nicely affected her," he pointed out.
"You think there's something about the trunk that made it possible for Nicely to transfigure me from a distance?" Harry asked.
"When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left, however improbable, must be the truth," Hermione said.
The other three looked at her.
"Surely one of you has read Sherlock Holmes!" Hermione said.
"Of course," Ron said. "He's big in the wizarding world."
"Let me guess, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a Squib," Hermione said.
"No, but the man he based Holmes on was," Ginny said. "Doyle was actually a failed wizard. Never passed his O.W.L.s."
"Well, that's a comfort," Harry said. "If I fail, I can always write my life story."
"Sounds boring to me," Ron teased. Before Harry could throw a retort or something more solid, Ron turned his attention back to the trunk. "Okay, what's in this trunk?"
The tablecloth, the napkins and the sheets were still in Hermione's shopping bag. The pillows were on Harry's bed.
Ron began pulling stacks of cards from Lily's trunk. "You know, this thing is a lot lighter than it should be," he muttered as he stacked the cards in messy piles.
"Aunt Petunia thought it was empty at first, because of its lightness," Harry said.
"Your mum probably put a Feather Weight enchantment on it," Ginny said. "Mum does that when she wants to move furniture around." Ginny frowned. "But this one has lasted an awful long time, if it had."
"These aren't Christmas cards," Ron interrupted. He held out a card with a birthday cake on it. Being a wizarding card, the candle flames were actually flickering.
"Happy Birthday," Harry read. He tried to open the card, but failed.
"You have to blow out the candles, first," Ginny said.
"Oh." Harry blew out the card candles and flicked open the card. "Many happy returns, Remus."
"Remus? As in Remus Lupin?" Ginny asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Harry replied. "I guess he was probably friends with my mother, he and my father were pretty tight." He couldn't remember Remus actually mentioning his mother, though.
"Cool," Ginny said. "You want to look at some more?"
"Is that all it says?" Hermione asked.
"No," Harry said.
The girls exchanged looks.
"Sorry," Harry caught himself. "I mean, there's more written here, but I'd rather not read the cards just yet. I'd rather…"
"Have some privacy," Ginny said immediately. "I understand." She glared at Nicely. "Just promise me that you won't let the cards transfigure you into a candle or something."
: Give it a rest. :
"Ladies, please," Ron said. "We have an investigation to complete." Really, it didn't take a Hermione to figure out that the card probably said something about Sirius Black. Ron bet himself that at least one of the other cards was actually from Sirius. Not something they wanted to bring up in front of Ginny, not until she had been filled in on Sirius' situation.
Under the cards was some wrapping paper, some stationery supplies and half-a-dozen ancient copies of Which Broomstick. Ron frowned as he stacked these to one side. "That's it," he said.
"Just some stuff she needed to get out of the way while they moved," Harry sighed.
"What all did you find?" Hermione asked.
"Well, the linen tablecloth and napkins, plus the silk bedding," Harry said. "Then there were the spyglass, the greeting cards, and the… um…" he stopped. He'd been about to say the cloaks, but remembered just in time that he had never said anything about the two cloaks that he'd found because he'd wanted to keep them a secret. He didn't want Ginny to know that he'd sent her the cloak that she was currently wearing. He sighed mentally. Keeping secrets from Ginny was becoming quite a chore.
"The what?" Ginny prompted. She pulled the cloak a little tighter around herself.
Harry thought that she looked really good in that cloak.
"There were some newspapers," Harry said, changing the subject and hoping Ginny would think he had been talking about the newspapers all along. "I don't remember seeing them…" He looked around.
"Here they are," Ron said. He held the top one up. "Here, I guess your mum wanted to save up the import events of the day for you."
"Oh," Harry said. "And the cards. I didn't see the magazines before that. I wonder why she kept them."
Hermione shrugged. "I think we'd have a better guess if we actually read them," she suggested.
"This is weird," Ron said. There was a look of intense concentration on his face as he ran his hand around the inside of Lily's trunk.
"What?" Harry asked.
"The inside of this trunk it too shallow," Ron said. "There's got to be a hidden compartment in here."
"What!?" Harry exclaimed.
"How can you tell?" Ginny asked.
"The inside walls are shorter than the outside," Ron said. "Look."
The other three obediently looked as Ron measured the inside and the outside of the trunk with his fingers.
"There's at least two inches unaccounted for," Ron said.
Harry knelt on the bed and ran one hand inside the trunk. Then he felt the outside. "You're right. There's got to be another compartment in here, but I don't feel any latch or anything," he said. "How do you open it?" He looked at Hermione as he said that, as if expecting her to pull an answer out of thin air.
Hermione's forehead wrinkled and she examined the trunk, also. "I don't see anything offhand," Hermione confessed.
Ginny's search was no more successful.
"Going back to the Sherlock Holmes business," Ron said. "'When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever's left, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
"Okay, so we've eliminated physical latches inside the trunk," Ginny said. "What about magic latches? Or at least physical latches hidden by magic?"
Ron and Hermione pulled their wands. Ron raised his eyebrow.
"I have a permit, too," huffed Hermione.
"To use your wand in case of emergency," Ron pointed out. "I don't think finding hidden compartments in an old trunk qualifies as an 'emergency'." He smirked. "Come now, you won't get that coveted Head Girl badge if you're always breaking the rules!"
Harry yawned. "Look, mates, this is old. If you want to flirt, go find an empty room."
"HARRY!" bellowed Ron and shrieked Hermione.
"I was not… I mean, even I can come up with a better line than that if I want to flirt!" Ron blustered.
"Like what?" Hermione wanted to know.
"Like, like, you should be made Head Girl," Ron said. "You're smarter than anybody at Hogwarts! You're also one of the most honorable and trustworthy person I've ever met! You'd do great as a Prefect and as Head Girl!"
Hermione blushed. "Erm, thank you," she managed after a few minutes.
Harry didn't dare look at Ginny for fear of catching her eye. He was having a hard time containing his laughter as it was.
Ginny was looking at her brother with pride. He'd made the first move and Hermione had not laughed or started throwing hexes! She didn't dare look at Harry right then. She suspected that if she and Harry were to look at each other, they'd both burst out laughing and ruin the moment.
"Erm, what was that spell to find hidden objects?" Ron said.
"You mean, aparecium?" Hermione asked. "Tap three times, first."
"Right," Ron said. He tapped the interior of Lily's trunk three times and said, 'Aparecium!'
Nothing happened.
"Try, 'revealo,'" Hermione suggested.
"Revealo!"
That didn't work, either.
"Ollie, ollie, oxen free!" Ron said, tapping the trunk again.
Nothing happened except for Hermione's eyebrows disappearing into her fringe.
"That's not a real incantation!" she accused.
"Yes it is!"
"It didn't do anything!"
"It worked as well as the incantations you suggested!"
Harry made kissy noises at them. Ron levitated a pillow over Harry's head in a threatening manner.
"This is no time to argue!" Ginny said. She scrambled up the bed and placed her hand over Harry's mouth. It was a gesture she made often with her brothers. However, she realized that this was HARRY POTTER that she was stifling. Not only that, his lips were puckered up, so the effect was much the same as if he had deliberately kissed the palm of her hand. Crimson really did not go well with her orange hair.
Harry gently removed Ginny's hand from his face and said. "Shall we get on with the problem at hand?" He resisted the urge to kiss her hand just to see what colour her face would take on. He finally understood why Ron enjoyed teasing Hermione so much.
"Okay, but no more kissy noises or I'll tell Mum that you and Ginny were in bed together," Ron said.
Ginny was already red-faced and Harry quickly joined her in that condition. Ginny scrambled off the bed and circled around to look at the trunk from a safe distance.
: Finally : Nicely subscripted to herself.
"Well, there's nothing in the trunk to open the secret compartment," Hermione said calmly. "So what's left? A secret password?"
Harry sighed. "If it's a password, then we're sunk," he said. "I have no idea what my mum would have used. I don't think even…" he almost said Sirius, but remembered Ginny just in time. He really wished she were in on the secret, it was getting hard to talk about his parents and Animagi without bringing in Sirius. "… even Dumbledore could guess what she'd use."
"Don't despair quite yet," Ron said. "We still haven't eliminated physical latches." He squinted at the trunk. "Here, let's close it up," he said.
When the trunk was closed up, they all examined it. It was rather small, as trunks went. It was only half the size of their school trunks.
Hermione ran her fingers over the embossed leather. "Roses and eagles," she said. "I wonder why she'd want eagles. I'd think a Gryffindor would want lions."
"It belonged to my grandmother… I mean, my great-grandmother," Harry said.
"Oh, was she in Ravenclaw?" Hermione asked.
"As far as I know, the Evans were all Muggles," Harry said. "Although Aunt Petunia thought my great-grandmother was a freak, so maybe she was a witch."
Hermione frowned at him. "Haven't you ever asked about your family?"
"You're joking," Harry grumped. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon hated questions, especially from me. I only found out the date of my birth from my school records."
"Enough!" Ginny growled. "Hermione, stop badgering the boy. You're a Gryffindor, not a Hufflepuff!"
Hermione turned magenta. "I'm sorry," she said.
Ron thought that magenta was a very good color on her.
Harry sighed with relief. "Not your fault that the Dursleys are creeps," he said.
Ron muttered his opinion of the Dursleys under his breath. "Wait!" he blurted before Hermione could chastise him. "I think I've got it!" He pointed. "Here, the front of the trunk is really the back and lifting the latch doesn't open it."
"We already know that," Harry said. "You have to open it by the hinges."
"Right," Ron said. He opened the hinges and lifted the lid of the trunk. "Now, suppose the latch isn't a fake?" he asked. "What if it just doesn't open what you expect it to open?" He reached around the trunk and lifted the latch.
There was a soft click and the bottom of the trunk jumped. No opening appeared, but the bottom was no longer flat.
"Brilliant," breathed Harry.
"Ron, you are a genius," Hermione said in honest admiration.
Ron's face turned the familiar Weasley red.
Harry reached in to open the false bottom, but only managed to shut it firmly again. He muttered something under his breath that Hermione and Ginny chose not to hear.
"Let's try again," Ron said. He triggered the latch. "There's no finger hold in here," he complained.
Hermione dug into her purse and produced a nail file.
"That's my Hermione," Ron said. "Always prepared."
Hermione turned scarlet.
Ron thought that scarlet was a very good color on her.
Harry thought that other people's romantic problems were highly entertaining. He didn't say anything, though. These three were likely to be around when he started having romantic problems of his own. He snuck a look at Ginny out of the corner of his eye and decided to change the subject.
"Okay, so let's see what's in here," he said. He turned his attention back to the
He used Hermione's nail file to pry open the false bottom. Inside was a shallow compartment packed with crumpled newspapers. The people in the pictures, what little could be seen of them, appeared to be disgruntled with their crumpled state.
Harry picked out the newspapers and handed them to Hermione. Absently, Hermione started to flattened out them out, much to the relief of the occupants of the pictures.
Under the newspapers, a long, thin package was wedged diagonally into the top of the trunk.
"It's a broom!" Ron said. "It has to be!"
Harry shook his head. "It's awfully small," he said doubtfully.
"It's a child's broom," Ginny said patiently.
Harry tried to pull the package out. It was firmly wedged in and he had to give several hard tugs to inch it out of the trunk. There was a note attached to it: "James and Sirius: If you think you're going to my son get on a broom before he's five years old… that's five YEARS, not five MONTHS… you are sadly mistaken. If you try to open this package without my permission, then I'll be the one to MAKE you sad! Love and hexes, Lily."
Harry ran his finger across the spellotape that held the package shut and his fingers tingled, much as they had the first time that he'd held his wand. "Whoa!" he said, pulling his hand back.
"What?" Ron asked.
"I think this thing is still alive!" Harry replied.
"You think your mum hexed it?" Ginny asked.
"I can't think of any other way to interpret that," Harry said, handing her the note. "Can you?"
"You should have Bill break the hex on it," Ron said. "He's an expert and I'll bet your mum didn't use anything as nasty as those pharaohs did."
"That will be hard, as Bill's in Egypt," Ginny said.
Ron raised an eyebrow. "Didn't Mum and Dad tell you? He's taken a leave of absence from Gringott's. He's thinking of moving to Britain."
Ginny grinned. "Really? Maybe we can get together for Christmas, then."
Hermione leaned forward to take a closer look. The still crumpled newspapers on her lap rustled and fell to the ground. One of them landed with a distinct 'thump.'
"What was that?" Ron asked.
The Weasleys and Harry, distracted from the thought of Bill, craned their necks to see what Hermione had dropped.
Hermione picked up the twist of paper and said, unnecessarily, "There's something in here."
She handed the newspaper to Harry. Gingerly, he set the supposed broom to one side and unwrapped the second find. Inside the wad of newspapers was a small, velvety box, such as jewelers use. Harry took a deep breath and opened the lid. A small corner of his brain was surprised to note that his hands weren't shaking.
Inside the box was a man's ring. Harry pulled it out and hefted it on the palm of his hand. He wasn't an expert, but he had been handling Galleons for a few years now. This felt like actual gold to him. He didn't recognize the red stone that was set in it. It wasn't transparent like a ruby, but a translucent orange-red. Part of Harry's mind registered that it was about the same colour as his Animagus form.
"What's that etched on there?" Ginny asked.
"A stag," Harry replied. He held the ring so that the others could see the gold stag inlaid in the stone.
"What kind of stone is that?" Ron asked.
"I think it's a carnelian," Hermione replied.
"Read about gems have you?" Harry asked with a slight smile.
"Yes," Hermione said. "And if you weren't busy sleeping in over your Charms homework, you probably would have read about them, too."
"I do not sleep over Charms essays," Harry said loftily. "Charms are actually useful. Now, History of Magic essays make excellent pillows." He was trying to keep his tone light, but his voice wasn't entirely steady.
"Is that your father's ring?" Ron asked.
Harry frowned. "I don't think so," He stared at the ring and his good mood began to fade.
"I think there's writing inside," Ginny noted.
Harry squinted and shoved his glasses to a firmer seat on his nose. "Never doubt I love," he read. He took a deep breath. He knew the message wasn't for him, but he couldn't doubt his mother's love. She had protected him from Voldemort twice.
"More Shakespeare," said Hermione. "How appropriate."
"See? I said it was your dad's!" Ron exclaimed. "It's too big to have been for you!"
Harry shook his head.
"What?" Ron demanded.
"It was hidden with the Christmas stuff," Harry explained. "Mum had her cards ready to be mailed out, so I think this was going to be my dad's Christmas present that year."
"Oh," Hermione said. The melancholy expression on Harry's face made her wish she hadn't bothered with the newspapers. Afraid she was about to burst into tears, she stood up to excuse herself for a few minutes. As she did so, she accidentally created a diversion. The remaining papers fell off her lap and something fell with them with a small thump and a burst of red sparks.
"What was that?" Harry asked, leaping to his feet on the bed.
Ron flinched from the sparks. He straightened up when they stopped. "Some sort of Christmas cracker?" Ron wondered. He pulled his wand again.
"It doesn't look like a cracker," Ginny said. She approached the hidden sparkler, wand in hand. This looked very much like a situation covered by her temporary wand license. Warily, she used the wand to lift up the newspapers. "Looks like a bag or a scarf of some sort."
Harry slid off his bed and gingerly picked up the red and gold piece of cloth. It was definitely a bag, he decided. He could see the drawstring at the top.
"Harry, mate, did anybody ever tell you that picking up things that give off sparks is stupid?" Ron asked.
"No," Harry replied. The cloth made his hand tingle as he pulled the drawstring.
"Don't!" the other three shouted.
Harry was too lost in his own thoughts to actually hear them, much less heed them, and he opened the bag. Inside was a wand. It was about ten inches long and made of some pale wood. There was a crack in it that occasionally sparked like a shorted out wire.
"You-are-barking!" snarled Ron.
"What?" Harry asked, coming out of his haze with a start.
"That's what did it, not Nicely," Hermione said.
"Huh?" was Harry's less than witty rejoinder.
"Harry, you are a NUTTER!" Ron added. "Don't EVER open ANYTHING that gives off sparks! I mean, how dim can you get?"
"That's what caused me to get distracted when Ron got turned into an owl," Hermione said. "I wondered how I could have been more interested in talking about your Animagus form than in Ron being turned into an animal against his will."
Harry looked at the wand in the bag, and a memory stirred. "You think my mum's wand had something to do with it?" he asked.
"I think the trunk had a Distraction Spell on it," Hermione said. "When you touched it, then your mind would drift off somewhere. That's why your Aunt never noticed the trunk before. That's why you didn't hear us warn you not to open the bag."
"Oh," Harry said. "What does the charm on the trunk have to do with my getting distracted when I picked up this bag?"
Ron narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.
"What makes you say that's your mother's wand?" Ginny threw out a distraction of her own to prevent an argument between Ron and Harry.
"Erm, well, Ollivander…" Harry started.
"Talk about mental cases," Ron muttered.
"… Told me that he remembered my mum buying her first wand," Harry finished doggedly. "I didn't really think about it at the time, but if she bought a first wand, then she must have needed to replace it at some point."
The wand spat out some purple bubbles.
"I can see why," Ron said. "She probably used the wand as well-spring of the Distraction Spell. It's not really safe to use a cracked wand for a long period of time, but I guess she didn't expect it to have to sit around for…" He did some rapid math in his head. "…Thirteen years, nine months."
"I've read about using broken wand like batteries before," Hermione said thoughtfully.
"Wizards don't use batteries," Ginny said. "Except in Muggle Studies class."
Hermione turned pink.
Ron thought that pink was a very good color on her.
"Ahem, anyway," Hermione said, recovering her composure and her normal coloring. (Ron thought that her regular complexion looked very good on her, too.) "The danger in using a cracked wand is that eventually, the magic leaks out of them enough to started affecting whatever is holding them."
"I'm lost," Harry confessed. "Start at the beginning. What does the spell on my mum's trunk have to do with me getting distracted when I picked up this bag?"
Hermione took a deep breath. "Right, sorry. From the top, and mind you, I'm coming up with this theory as I go, so don't expect it to be particularly well crafted. Lily needed to leave the trunk at the Dursleys. I'm guessing because she had James' Christmas present in it."
"Huh?" Harry said.
"I'm not following," Ginny admitted.
"You lost me, too," Ron said.
"Sorry, my parents moved once, in the days before I got my Hogwarts letter, so I have an idea of what it was like for the Potters. It's hard to pack up an entire household and harder to unpack. You have to do it in stages. So, when you move to a new house, the first couple of weeks, even months, are spent trying to find things that haven't been unpacked. I'm guessing that Lily was afraid that James might come across his Christmas present while he was poking around looking for something."
The other three nodded to show they were now following her.
"So, Lily left the trunk with her sister and put a low level Distraction Spell on it for some reason," Hermione said.
Harry spoke up. "Likely to keep her notoriously nosy sister from messing with it."
Hermione raised an eyebrow, but Harry was the expert on the Dursleys.
"She used the wand to keep the charm working. That way she didn't have to put a lot of power behind it. That would have let her save her strength for other things. Like moving and taking care of her baby."
The Weasleys looked at Harry and made kissy faces. Harry rolled his eyes.
As soon as everybody was looking away from her, Ginny blushed. She couldn't believe she could tease Harry the same way she could tease her brothers!
"So the broken wand was keeping up the Distraction Spell. I expect it also maintained the Feather Weight spell. After all, the trunk is less noticeable if it's easy to move out of the way. But I digress, over the years, the Distraction spell soaked into everything that the wand touched."
"Like the bag," Harry said. "And the trunk."
"Right," Hermione said. "This might also explain how Nicely was able to transfigure you into a cat when you weren't touching her."
"So, how does the Distraction Spell turn me into a cat?" Harry asked.
"That must have distracted you from the trunk," Ginny pointed out. "The bloody book wanted to transfigure you and the trunk wanted to distract you… so the two magics teamed up."
: Bloody book! : Nicely superscipted. : I'll give you bloody! Come over here and I'll give you such a paper cut! :
"Maybe," Hermione said. "This is just a theory."
"It makes sense," Harry said slowly. He looked at the ring he was holding. "Do you think that this ring was affected?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I wouldn't wear it if I were you."
"Hm?" Harry said, distractedly. He pulled the ring on, but it was far too loose.
Ron smacked his forehead. Then he reached over and smacked Harry's forehead.
"Stop that!" Harry yelped. He slapped Ron's hand away and looked ready to take the battle up to the next level.
"You are making me sympathize with Snape!" Ron growled. "Didn't Hermione just tell you NOT to put that on?"
"Oh," Harry said, blushing. He pulled the ring off.
Ginny thought Harry looked good in red. She also thought that it was fortunate that both Harry and Hermione's coloring went well with all shades of red. "Well, I guess it's obvious that the ring is affected," she said. "You get distracted so easily when you touch it."
That was as good a reason as any, Harry thought. He carefully placed the ring back in its box. He didn't want to think about his parents missing Christmas. He didn't want to cry. They've been dead for years, Potter, he told himself. Get over it.
He wondered if his father would have liked the ring.
"What are you going to do about the wand?" Hermione asked. "It's too dangerous to leave lying around."
Harry frowned. "I wonder if Ollivander can fix it?" he said, almost to himself.
"I can send Hedwig with a message if you like," Ginny offered.
"Sure, thanks, Ginny," Harry said. He paused. "I'm sorry that Nicely upset you. I really do think she's mostly harmless," he added.
"It's the part that's not harmless that I'm worried about," Ginny said darkly.
"I wonder what yours and Hermione's Animagus forms would be," Ron said.
"Ron! This isn't the time or the place!" Hermione said.
"Why not?" Ron asked. "We know what Nicely can do. She knows she'd better not do it. All she's going to do is show you a picture of what your Animagus form will be, right?"
: Absolutely! : Nicely agreed enthusiastically.
"You are kidding!" Ginny gasped. "Wait, what am I saying? Of course, you're not kidding. You were changed into an owl, you want to see Hermione turned into something, too."
"I won't be turned into anything," Hermione said firmly. "I can handle this, Ginny. Here, give me that book." She snatched the Animagus Guide off of Harry's bed and glared at it, practically challenging Nicely to try to transfigure her.
After a few seconds, smoke starting seeping out of Nicely's pages.
Hermione blinked and jerked back just as Nicely burst into flames.
"Hey!" Harry cried. He slammed the Survival Guide shut. After he was sure the fire was out, he opened it again. "Nicely? Are you all right?"
All of chapter one was gone. The first few pages of chapter two were charred. As Hermione apologized profusely, Harry flipped through the pages to see how extensive the damage was.
Harry finally found some writing in the middle of chapter two. His eyes widened as he read because he'd never seen that particular phrase written out before. It was not spelled the way he would had thought.
"I'm so sorry!" Hermione said again. "Really, I never meant to hurt your book!"
"It's all right, Hermione," Harry said. "Really, it is. Just one thing," he added.
"What?" Hermione demanded.
Harry looked at her soberly. "Remind me never to get into a staring contest with you."
To Be Continued!
Author's Notes:
This is a 'good news, bad news' scenario. This story is FINISHED! (It's not all posted yet, there are two, maybe three chapters depending on how I divide the last chunk up.) "A Sirius Situation" is under construction. Cheers!
Chapter sixteen and seventeen's titles come from Shakespeare: "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agly."
The quote in the ring is also from Shakespeare:
Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
Responses:
Nengski: Thanks for the review, and thanks for telling me the parts that you particularly liked.
Squintz: Thanks for the review! I'm not a huge Lucille Ball fan, but I did like some of her stuff. Having worked in a factory, the episode where Lucy and Ethel were working in a candy factory has become one of my favorite comedy scenes.
Female Fred: Thanks for the review! ** I would love to have those pillows, myself. Save a lot of storage space.
NengSki: Thanks for the compliments! Sorry about the cliffhanger. Fear not, the end is coming… (Somehow that didn't come out right.)
Chelleybeans: Thanks for the review and for the email! (I hope I answered your email! My computer hiccoughed and I lost the entire month of April from my mailbox.) ** I'm glad you're enjoying the story! ** Enjoy the reviewing thing!
Lourdes: Thanks for reviewing! ** Harry's white hairs are a symptom of his stress, poor baby.
Ozma: Thanks for the review, partner! ** Thanks for telling me the parts that you liked! ** I wanted to get Ron into a field where he wasn't competing with his brothers. Besides, he's a lot like Molly and being a doctor is his way of 'mothering' people. ** I figure that Dumbledore's old enough to have descendents, why not give him a daughter? ** Of course Harry was worried about Hagrid. I'm worried about what Rowling has in mind for the big lug myself. ** One way of dealing with FF.net's habit of eating reviews is to do the review in your word processor, then paste it into the review box. That way, even if ff.net eats it, you have a copy so you don't have to rewrite the darn thing. See ya!
Ozma: Thanks for the long review! ** Seems to me that Hagrid has a lot of faith in people. ** Can you blame Rupert for forgetting? It was two o'clock in the morning! ** I hope Rowling does more with Firenze, I liked him! ** Thanks, more Shakespeare references coming up! ** Glad you liked the greeting between Ron and Ginny! I've said things like that to my sister. ** Moody was pleased that Arthur's children were so on the ball. ** Poor Viktor, I suppose I should do something nice for him. ** More is on the way!
Chocolate Muse: Thanks for the review! Sorry it's taken me so long to finish this, I wanted to finish weeks ago! Having my computer eat a day's work didn't help! ** Thanks for the compliment on my naming system!
whoever I am at the moment: Hello! Thanks for reviewing! ** I wanted to give Dumbledore a family. ** Sorry that I kept you up past your bedtime! Sweet Dreams!
Bob: Thanks for the review! ** Oh, my, I know which commercials you mean? "Are you gellin'?" *snicker* ** Ron should be able to figure some things out before Hermione does. He's been in the wizarding world longer. (The only thing I disliked about the second movie was them giving Ron's explanations to Hermione.) ** Unspeakables? Oops. ** Firenze seemed like the outspoken type who always manages to get himself into trouble. I liked him. Got to figure out a way to use him in a story. ** Sorry, I didn't finish this when I wanted to. I'm going to have to really hustle to get "A Sirius Situation" out.
Andrea13: Thanks for the review! ** I hate it when FF.net gets stubborn like that! ** Where do I come up with these things? I suspect I may have too much time on my hands, or maybe it's sucking in all that carbon monoxide on the freeways... actually, the sham pillows are from real world pillow shams and knitten kitten was from a typo that I liked. ** Thanks for quoting your favorite lines!
MaegnasEssenya: Thanks for the review! I'm sorry that my choice of animal for Harry disappointed you. I'm glad you decided to keep reading anyway! ** I won't take offense about you praising another story. ** Thanks for the URL of the animal characteristics. Personally, I think the Cat fits Harry quite well. ** I gave Ron the owl because I wanted to give him an ability Harry didn't have -- flying under his own power.
MaegnasEssenya: Thanks for the translation! ** Interesting that Frodo's sword is the spider's bane.
Angel of the North: Thanks for the review! ** Tiberius Potter was murdered. More on that later. ** I don't have a whole family tree, just his father's parents (Tiberius and Tatiana), Tiberius' father (Samson) and Lily's maternal grandmother (Benedictine Arne, who may or may not have been a witch. Haven't decided yet.)
ManWOlf83: Thanks for the review! ** I looked it up, it's Vegameatavitamine.
Lan: Thanks for the review! Sorry about the cliff-hanger. Sorry to say, there are more of them ahead because I couldn't run the rest of the story in one lump.
amulder: Thanks for the review, and thanks for finding canonical evidence that wizarding photos are indeed in black and white! ** I take it you like the idea of Ginny hitting Viktor? ** It flows quite nicely becuase I wrestled that *deleted* into submission. ** Yep, Ron and Ginny both know Harry well enough to guess where the money had come from. ** Yes, Ron as an owl and Harry as a cat will be a very good combination. grin
Draco664: Thanks for the review! ** Terry Pratchett? Oh, it shows, does it? Oops.
taself: Thanks for the review! ** As for Ron being a Mediwizard, no one said a doctor has to be stable. (Mind, a surgeon needs steady hands, but the average doctor can be as emotional as he wants.) He is also good at chess, which means that he's good a spotting patterns and thinking ahead of the game. That will be helpful in diagnosing illnesses and in figuring out how the disease is likely to progress. ** Ron's ears did go red the first time he was called a honey badger. ** Yep, Ginny is way cool in my book, too.
amulder: Thanks for the compliments! ** Re: the satin sheets: James and Lily were *married* and they had a son. It's pretty obvious what the satin sheets were for. (And Harry doesn't want to think about it.) ** Maybe I should leave the Unmentionables in, just for a joke. (Easier than changing it, anyway. ;-)
Eris, Queen of Shadows: Thanks for the review! (And thanks for reviewing at GT, too!) ** Hermione might still wind up as a Mediwitch. ** Glad you like the Verbose Vending machines! I love making up things like that. ** If you want a Harry and Ginny smoochies story, next time you're over at GryffindorTower, check out my 2003 Valentine's story: "Taste Test".
Shyanne: Hi! Welcome back! Thanks for the review. I understand how hectic real life can get. (So, should I have a character named Timothy get hit with a Bludger or something?) ** Glad you like Ron's Animagus form! ** Poor Viktor, he gets hit and people cheer. I'll have to make it up to him. ** Thanks for the compliments on my pacing!
Lilia: Thanks for the review! ** I hope Ginny knocked some sense into Viktor. He's a good kid, really. He just needs to pace himself a bit.
Three Sickles Short: Thanks for the review! ** Yes, Hermione really needs to take into account Harry's talent for getting into trouble! ** I think Harry's sense of humor is one of his most endearing traits. It enabled him to survive the Dursleys. ** I like Firenze, too. If he doesn't show up in "A Sirius Situation", he'll be in another story. I love centaurs! (That was one of the selling points of the Harry Potter series, as far as I was concerned.) ** I based the name "Honey Badgers" on Candy Stripers. I was trying to think of something comparable to 'candy' and 'honey' came to mind, so I just combined them with Helga Hufflepuff's favorite animal. Very convenient that there is such an animal as a honey badger, isn't it? ** Another person who thought that smacking Viktor was a good idea. Poor Viktor. J
I actually debated about making Ron a fox, for the reasons you mentioned, but I decided an owl would work better in my stories.
A. Lee: Thanks for reviewing! ** The adults thought that Fred and George might get tricked into accepting money from a death eater. Lots of people have found themselves in debt to the wrong people. ** Yes, Ginny decked Viktor for not taking Ron as a serious threat. ** Unspeakables? Erm, yes. I believe you are right. *blushes*
Iniysa: Thanks for the review! ** The end is coming!
Chary: Thanks for reviewing! (Now if I could only get you to UPDATE! Grrrrrrr…) ** Glad you enjoyed the story! ** Thanks for telling me what your favorite parts were! ** No, Honey Badger isn't very manly, is it? Neither is "Candy Striper", which is what hospital volunteers in the US are called. ** York Parkinson is a kind man, even if he is ambitious. Besides, it helps him to have intelligent assistants, and if he can get one of Ron's intelligence for the price of a uniform, he'll do it. (Even if he didn't expect to like Arthur's son.) ** The ESA amplified Harry's stress. Anybody could have figured out that Harry would be severely stressed after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. ** Thanks for the compliments on my Verbose Vending machines! They just felt like something the wizarding world would have. ** I guess I'll have to make it up to Viktor somehow. ** I have plans for Ron's talent. Don't think it will be in the next story, though. Probably in the centaur story that I promised Three-Sickles Short.
Von: Thanks for the review! Well, Harry and Ron have more training than the Marauders did when they started. (The Marauders were second years, Harry and Ron have finished four years.) But yes, there were Other Forces at work this time. ** Yes, the poor twins will be quite put out that people were suspecting them of associating with a group with NO sense of humor! ** No, an ESA isn't designed to kill, which is why it wasn't detected. Unfortunately, a lot of things that are designed to kill can prove to be fatal, if used incorrectly. ** Yep, Harry still has some white hairs.
Punkin: Hi! Thanks for the review! ** Yes, everything HAS to happen to Harry. Everything. It's in his contract. (That'll teach him to sign without reading!) ** That was one of my favorite episodes of "I Love Lucy," also. ** Thanks for the compliment on my miniaturized Chocolate Frogs and Sugar Quills! ** Tell Aimee that I said 'Hi!' ** Thanks for all the compliments!
Jake: Thanks for the review! ** Glad you like my version of Hermione's father! ** Gummer? Your dad ROX!
Jake: Thanks for the review and the big grin I had on my face after I read it!
Rhiain: Thanks for the review!
Helen: Thanks for reviewing! ** Harry won't be an Animagus? Awwww… well, my stories are definitely AU then! Thanks for telling me!
X13: Hi! Thanks for reviewing, I hope you are in good health when you read this! Tell your mom I'm sorry I kept you up!
lemon drop: Thanks for the review! And thanks for telling me what parts you particularly liked! ** I must not be a normal girl. Every time I see a baby picture of me I wince.
Little House Girl: Thanks for reviewing! ** This story will end soon and "A Sirius Situation" will be set in fifth year. (It won't cover all of fifth year, I don't have enough time.) ** Pairings will start getting serious in that story.
Reyna: Thanks for the review! ** Sorry, Harry's going to get really sick after chapter nine. ** Glad I'm managing to keep a balance of emotions!
Hi, Alla! I'm writing as fast as I can! Thank you for reviewing! ** I'm glad that Ron's reactions feel right to you! ** Thanks for the compliments on my Verbose Vending machines! ** More is coming!
AngelOnFire: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you like the story! ** I work very hard at hanging those cliffs! I'm rather notorious in my circle. ** Thank you for all the compliments! You really made my day with them!
Alina: Thanks for reviewing! ** The title for chapter seventeen is the conclusion of the quote that I used for the title of chapter sixteen. "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agly." It is frequently updated to " The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry." I figured if my characters could quote Shakespeare, so can I. ** Sorry, Helga Dumbledore Handwerker isn't going to have a very big role in this story. ** Harry got his messy hair from his grandmother. What else could they call her? ** Thanks for the compliment on my wizarding jigsaw puzzle! Half the reason I wrote the story was to use them! ** Oh, yes, becoming an Animagus is quite tricky. You'll see it wasn't as easy as it seemed here.
Lady Cinnibar: Thanks for reviewing here as well as at Sugarquill. ** I have a bad memory, too. That's why I got into computers! ** See you at Sugarquill!
pegoheart144: Thanks for the review! ** And yes, that's exactly why I had Ron decide to go into medicine. It's not something his brothers have done!
Serz Musashi: Thanks for reviewing! I'll check your story out as soon as I can!
maggie : Thanks for reviewing! I hope those are happy faces now! *
NengSki: Thanks for all the compliments! I'm glad the story works for you! I've been thinking about this since I saw the first movie! ** I figured the Grangers couldn't be boring, not with a daughter like Hermione!
Allison: Thanks for reviewing! ** Glad you like Ron's Animagus form!
Galadriel7: Thanks for reviewing! The "Gang Aft Agly" is from Shakespeare: "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agly." ** I like your name, is it from Visionaries?
Bucky: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I hope this revives you! ** Thanks for reviewing! Reviews save lives, too!
Reyna: Thanks for the compliments! Glad you found the story funny. ** Yes, the resemblance between Ron and Rupert was intentional!
Pseudonym Sylphmuse: Thanks for the review! ** Glad you like my Spitfire!Ginny! ** Good point! I'd forgotten that Ron's wand had a unicorn hair in it! ** Glad you like the ghost of Harry's grandfather and my take on Neville, Pansy and Millicent!
LileeAlina: Hello, again! What a pretty new name you have!
Skuert : Thank you! Hope you like the grand finale!
Alla: I'm back!
Gunsmoke: Thanks for reviewing! ** Hermione and Ginny won't get their animal forms for a while. ** Amen! The New Marauders are in the house!
