A Harry Situation
By Jill Weber/ Jelsemium
Characters copyrighted by J.K. Rowling and used without permission or intent to make a profit.
Bad news/ Good news.
"A Sirius Situation" is NOT working out. I just have too many things I want to happen and not enough time. So "A Harry Situation" shall be extended. "A Sirius Situation" will be start during the summer between fifth and sixth years. I should have enough time between Book Five and Book Six to do all the stuff that I want to do.
Dedicated to all you wonderful people who reviewed and/or put me on your favorites list! Thank you!
My apologies to ManW0lf83 for doubting him. You're right, it is VITAmeataVEGamin. My source was wrong! (And thanks to eedoe for spotting the error, too!)
Sorry for the long delay, there was a problem uploading to ff.net. Reviews weren't being posted, either, although I did get them forwarded to me. Thanks!
Chapter 20: Out With a Bang
The Burrow:
Ron was technically the first to notice something was wrong. He woke up in the wee hours of the morning bathed in cold sweat and convinced, though he couldn't say why, that Harry was in terrible danger. He heard somebody in the kitchen and padded downstairs to see who it was.
His father was getting ready to leave.
"So early?" Ron asked in dismay. "But I…"
"Sorry, Ron," Arthur said. "But this is the best time to catch people unawares." He gave Molly a kiss and was gone before Ron could say anything further.
"Mum, Harry is in danger," Ron blurted.
One look at Ron's face convinced Molly not to argue. "Get Ginny and get dressed," she said. "I don't want to leave you two here alone."
Ron was up the stairs before he remembered that the twins had gone to Lee Jordan's for a few days. He roused Ginny and they were dressed and downstairs in record time.
Their mother was frowning. "I couldn't reach Dumbledore," she said. "I sent Hedwig with a note, though. Come along then." She held out the pot of Floo powder and they were off.
War Games and Slytherins:
Pansy and Millicent were the ones who ran into the actual danger first. They had arrived early for their shift, mainly to get a start on their chess game. However, the chess pieces had gone missing.
"If this was a regular set, I'd say the pieces had probably wandered off on their own," Pansy said with a frown.
"Dr. Opal did say that the pieces did something interesting, didn't she?" Millicent said.
Pansy's eyebrow went up. "So she did," she said. "Maybe they're going to play a prank on Potter. Let's go see."
They headed off to the Haunted Wing. It wasn't hard to find the chessmen, since they were now six feet tall and very nasty looking. Millicent and Pansy arrived for the last of the battle. The remains of several chess pieces and one red knight's horse were scattered on the ground, and there were only a few Green pieces in the corridor. However, the Golems who had been guarding the entrance to the Haunted wing were destroyed and there were far too many Red pieces left.
The girls stopped, aghast, at the devastation. The Red Queen turned her empty eyes to them and ordered, "Destroy them!"
The Green Queen narrowed her eyes. "My men do not take orders from Red," she hissed.
The Red Queen snorted impatiently. "This is no time for colour rivalries!" she exclaimed. "We must work together!"
Pansy and Millicent, not being idiots, turned and fled. They did not scream because that would have drawn attention back to themselves.
"Really? Then you won't mind taking orders from me!" snarled the Green Queen.
The Red Queen growled. "I don't take orders from fools!" she bellowed. "You, Rooks! Go after those girls!"
The Red Rooks took off in pursuit and the Green Rooks followed. The Red Queen smirked at the Green Queen.
"We'll settle this later," the Green Queen snarled. "After we get Potter."
Hermione and the Knight's Mare:
Hermione woke up at three o'clock. She'd been having nightmares about failing her O.W.L.s and being turned into a house elf. She sighed and tried to go back to sleep, but the strange surroundings made that hard. The hostel behind St. Mungo's catered to the wizarding families of patients and some of the amenities were supposed to be activated by wand. Which meant that the Grangers couldn't change the thermostat setting. The air conditioning was on high and it felt like Hermione was camping on the arctic tundra. She sighed. Her temporary wand license was for emergencies and turning off the air conditioning just didn't qualify.
She tried to take her mind off her discomfort by trying to remember if she ever read anything about wizarding climate controls. She knew they didn't really call it 'air conditioning,' but she couldn't recall what they did call it. She wondered if wizards had central heating. Neither Hogwarts nor The Burrow had it, but they weren't exactly typical wizarding homes, either.
After about an hour of shivering and trying to get back to sleep, Hermione began to wish that she'd borrowed some of Harry's books. Then she remembered that the book cart had been pushed into the corridor to make room for the party-goers. She could easily get to them without disturbing Harry. If she was going to be awake, then she was going to get some work done!
She made her way in the back door of the hospital without meeting anybody. That seemed rather strange to her, she expected the hospital to have some activity, even at this time of night. The nurse station was deserted. There was nothing in sight but Harry's new chess board and the fountain puzzle. The puzzle had been put together. It wasn't spouting anymore, but there was no water anywhere. Whatever it had been spraying had vanished without a trace.
Hermione looked around and frowned. She went behind the nurses station and found both nurses on the floor. "Are you all right?" she asked, even though she knew it was a stupid question. The nurses didn't wake. Hermione, deciding this fell within the definition of 'emergency,' tried ennervate, to no avail.
"I think this is very bad," she said. She left the nurses' station and looked around at the sound of footsteps. It sounded like somebody leading a horse.
It was a giant, green glass knight, and he was, indeed, leading a horse.
Hermione said what was probably the biggest understatement of her life. "Oh, dear."
"Female, you will come with me."
"No."
"Then I will take you."
"I don't think so. Petrificus Totalus."
It didn't work. Neither did Stupefy, Impedimenta or Locomotor Mortis. Hermione found herself backed into a corner.
"Our creator was prepared for such puny defenses," the Green Knight intoned. It reached out and yanked Hermione's wand from her hand and threw it away. "Come, now!" He reached to grab her arm.
Hermione yanked her Sleepy Spike from her pocket and slashed at his hand. She didn't expect much. The was a slight screech when the sharp point raked across the palm of the Knight's hand. The Knight looked at the scratch in bewilderment. Then he keeled over and hit the floor with a crash.
Only then did Hermione remember that the Sleepy Spindle had worked on the Hunting Cloak. "I knew that," she said.
The knight's horse snorted and came forward. Somehow Hermione doubted it would let her close enough to scratch it. The long ago dueling club came to mind, and with it a possibly useful hex.
Now all she had to do was get to her wand. She grabbed up the jigsaw puzzle and hurled it at the horse. While it was distracted, Hermione made a frantic dash and came up with her wand.
"Tarantallegra!"
Suddenly the horse found itself unable to do anything but caper around the room. It managed to let out a neigh, almost a scream, of pure frustration as Hermione made good her escape.
The nurses were safe enough behind the counter, she thought. The horse couldn't accidentally trample them and if the attacker hadn't killed them before, there seemed no point in killing them now. But what about her parents? What about Harry? This attack had to be focused on him. Panic clawed its way up her stomach as she couldn't decide to go back to get her parents out of danger or go forward to help Harry.
The decision was taken out of her hands when Pansy and Millicent appeared.
"Giant chessmen, after Potter!" gasped Millicent.
"They're after us!" shrieked Pansy.
"I rather thought that might be the case," Hermione said, surprised at how cool her voice sounded. She looked down the way the Slytherin girls had come. "You might want to get some help," she said. "Everybody on this floor seems to be asleep."
Pansy stared. Granger was taking up a position as calmly as if she were giving a demonstration for a class. This, then, must be Gryffindor.
It wasn't Slytherin though.
"Come on," she said to Millicent. To her horror, she saw that Millicent was emulating Granger's stance. "Are you crazy?"
"No, just Slytherin," Millicent said. The tall, square-jawed girl glared down the corridor at the approaching chessmen.
"Slytherins aren't into fights!" Pansy hissed.
"No, but I think four to two odds are rather ambitious, don't you?" Millicent said. She jerked her head. "You'd better get going."
Pansy didn't need a third invitation. She couldn't believe she'd hesitated that much. Getting help was the thing to do, so she headed for the front. The main reception room had a fire that was always burning. She could Floo to safety and get help at the same time.
Unfortunately, two Green Pawns had anticipated that somebody would try that. One was stationed in the corridor next to the door that lead to the reception room. The other moved into the corridor behind her, cutting off her escape route. "Oh, help!" Pansy cried.
The door to the reception room burst open. Pansy never expected to be glad to see a Gryffindor. Much less those particular red-headed Gryffindors.
"Stupefy!" cried Mrs. Weasley.
"Petrificus Totalus!" yelled Ron.
"Locomotor Mortis!" shouted Ginny.
None of the Weasleys' spells affected the Pawns.
Ron recovered first. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He floated one Pawn over to its flabbergasted partner and dropped it before either could react. The two Pawns smashed together as Ginny called "Expelliarmus!" and Mrs. Weasley called "Reducto!"
The combined force of the two spells plus gravity reduced the Pawns to fragments.
"Good work, Ron, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said.
"Thanks," Ron looked down at the mess and shook his head. "Why glass?" he said. "Wouldn't stone or metal have been sturdier?"
"They must be made of QuickGlass," Pansy said, surprised at how clinical she sounded. "Easy to work with and it already has animation spells built in."
"Oh," Ron said. "Never heard of it."
"Must be why you failed your Potions PROWL," Pansy said.
"We've got to get to Harry," Ginny said.
"You mean, go back?" Pansy asked in dismay, just before she fainted.
"Ginny, you take care of her, and call your brother!" Mrs. Weasley said. "Ron, come with me."
Ginny sighed, but floated Pansy back into the reception room. Pity this probably counted as an emergency. It would have been nice if Mafalda would notice that something was going on. She wondered which brother her mum had meant, then decided it really didn't matter.
Watch Out!:
There were strange noises in this wizarding hospice. Rupert woke up and couldn't get back to sleep.
"Are you awake?" Emma asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," Rupert replied. "What is that noise? It sounds like somebody is riding a horse in here."
"Maybe it's a centaur?" speculated Emma.
That got them out of bed and dressed in minutes. They both dearly wanted to see a centaur! When they left the bedroom, they noticed that Hermione's sofa was empty.
"Gone off to study so soon?" Rupert sighed. "Really, my dear, couldn't you have kept back a few of those workaholic genes?"
Emma shook her head. "Honestly, Rupert!" she went to open the door, but Rupert forestalled her.
"Emma, you need to watch more horror movies," Rupert said. "Don't you know that when you hear strange noises, the first person out the door is going to be grabbed by a monster?"
He opened the door and was grabbed by the other Green Knight.
"Damn!" Rupert said, squirming helplessly.
Emma didn't bother swearing. She pulled the Sleepy Spike that those nice Weasley twins had given her and lunged. The spike scraped along the knights exposed hands and Emma had to jump back to avoid spearing her husband.
The knight dropped Rupert before it fell, which gave the dentist enough time to get out of the way.
"I'm surprised that worked," Rupert confessed. "I didn't think you could stab glass!"
"You can't," Emma said. "But you can scratch it!"
"So, why would a glass knight fall asleep?" Rupert wanted to know.
Emma gaped at him.
"You mean, you didn't read that somewhere?" Rupert asked.
Emma didn't answer his question. Instead, she let out a strangled shriek and pointed.
Rupert spun around and his eyes went wide. There was a green glass horse and two giant green Pawns were just outside the door. "They look rather annoyed," he said.
The horse moved forward, snorting.
Emma tightened her grip on her spike.
Hagrid appeared behind the Pawns. He grabbed them and smashed them together a few times. "Nex' time, pick on someone yer own size," he growled. The second blow cracked the pawns and the fourth collision caused them to shatter.
The glass horse wheeled around and charged. Hagrid picked it up and tucked it under his arm absently-mindedly. "We need ter get Madame Handwerker," he said. "She c'n handle this."
"Are there more?" Rupert cried. "What about Hermione?"
"In't she here?" Hagrid asked worried.
"No, we think she must have gone into the hospital," Rupert said. "Do you think there are more of them?"
"I expect the whole chess set's in on this," Hagrid said. "We c'n help Hermione an' Harry the fastes' by gettin' Madame Handwerker involved. She controls the hospital's defenses an' stuff." He strode off, ignoring the kicking, shrilling horse under his arm.
It turned out that Madame Handwerker had living quarters in the hospice. However, when they got there, all they found were the remains of two Green Bishops, an unconscious Helga Handwerker and a hysterical Olivia Guppy.
"Emma, this is the time to use your Watch Out," Rupert said firmly. "Get these two to Dumbledore, quickly. I'll look after Hermione."
Emma fumed, but didn't argue. "Don't you dare get yourself killed, Rupert!" she said. She gathered the two witches in her embrace, making sure that both of them were touching the Watch Out before she activated it. As she had surmised, there was enough magic flying around to set it off.
She landed with a thump and hoped to god she hadn't just killed Madam Handwerker. She looked around. The office was dark, lit only by some low flames in a fireplace. The light reflected from a multitude of moving gadgets, some of which looked vaguely familiar.
"Hello? Help! Professor Dumbledore? Are you here?" she cried.
There was a burst of flame behind her and she whirled around to see what had to be Headmaster Dumbledore's phoenix. The bird trilled out a note.
"Fawkes! I need help!" Emma said, trying to remain calm.
Fawkes flew over to the women and landed near Helga Handwerker. Fawkes cried quietly on Helga's head and Olivia's hysterics faded as she looked at the marvelous bird.
After several minutes, Helga stirred and moaned. Emma got up, leaving Olivia to take care of Helga. There were some stairs leading upwards. Emma hurried up them to the door at the top. Knocking produced no results and she could not open it. She came downstairs and hunted around. There were a few doors, but nothing that would open to her touch.
"Fawkes, can you get some help?"
The phoenix looked at her sadly.
"My husband and daughter are in danger!" Emma cried.
Fawkes bowed his head and wept even harder. Emma was struck with fear. Helga was probably seriously injured. It might have been best to have left her where she was.
Olivia must have come to the same conclusion, because she began to cry again. "Oh, don't die, please don't die! Don't leave me! Madam Helga, I'm scared!"
Emma put her arm around her and murmured soothing words. She tried to rein in her own fears for her husband and daughter. She thought about how big and strong Hagrid was. Surely he wouldn't let anything happen to his friends! She had to keep pushing away the thought that Hagrid hadn't been able to help his friends, the Potters. She didn't know how long she sat there, holding Olivia and watching Fawkes heal Helga when light spilled into the room as a door opened.
"Hello? Headmaster?" Emma called.
"Yes, Emma, I am right here," Dumbledore said. "Lumos."
The lights came on to show Dumbledore and a dark-haired, stern-faced woman.
"Helga!" Dumbledore was at his daughter's side in a heartbeat. He laid a trembling hand on his daughter's sternum. "Helga?"
"Ow," moaned Helga. "Stop them!"
"Trouble in St. Mungo's?" the woman asked.
"There's a giant chess set on the loose," Emma reported.
"They tried… they tried to kill…" Olivia burst into tears again.
"Sounds like somebody's stealing my ideas," the woman said. Her eyes narrowed.
"Go! Go!" Helga managed.
Dumbledore stepped over to the fireplace. He took a pinch of dust and tossed it into the fireplace. "Poppy? You have some patients in my office. We are needed at St. Mungo's." He turned to the woman. "Minerva, call the Aurors, I'll meet them outside the hospital."
He tossed a handful of dust into the fireplace, shouted his destination and was gone. A minute later, Minerva had also vanished into the fireplace.
Meanwhile, Back in the Hospice:
"I have to get to Hermione!" Rupert insisted.
"This is the fastes' way," Hagrid said, indicating the horse under his arm. "C'n you ride?"
"Did Marie Antoinette have great legs?" Rupert replied.
Hagrid put the horse down and plopped Rupert on top of it. "Gee-up!" Hagrid cried, giving the horse a healthy swat on its posterior.
The swat probably saved Rupert's life, because the Glass Horse was severely hampered by having its haunches cracked.
Hermione and Millicent Take a Stand:
Hermione had a few minutes to explain what didn't work to Millicent before the Rooks arrived. "The Tarantallegra spell worked on the horse, but I don't think that's going to help us against four of them," she added.
The four Rooks were almost on them, when Millicent raised her wand and spoke. "Ferula!" A stream of bandages flew out from her wand and soon one of the Green Rooks fell to the ground, looking like a displaced Egyptian mummy.
"Full marks," Hermione murmured. "Flipendo!" One of the Red Rooks was knocked backwards. A sudden thought struck Hermione and she pointed her wand at the other Red Rook. "Reducio!" The Rook shrank to its original size, but it still came at them.
Just then, the dancing Green Horse came in, clearly still after Hermione. It blundered into Red Rook that Hermione had knocked down and threw it against the wall.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione cried when the chess pieces collided. The combined impact of the collision and the spell splintered the Rook.
The shrunken Rook reached Hermione's foot and she kicked it into the Green Horse's path, where it was trampled. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw a white-robed figure slip past the fight and head for the Haunted Wing. Encouraged that somebody was going to help Harry, Hermione turned her attention to the last Rook.
"Sonorus."
Hermione and Millicent turned at the unexpected voice.
"Cover your ears," Ron said.
They had just enough time to obey when Molly let out a screech worthy of an alley full of angry cats. The sound shattered the remaining Rook.
"Quietus," Molly gasped, rubbing her throat.
"Good one, Mum," Ron said with admiration. "I would have never thought of that!"
"If you had twins like…" Molly coughed and couldn't finish.
Meanwhile, the spell on the Green Horse had worn off. It directed an outraged glare at Hermione.
"Oh, dear," Hermione said.
Just then, Rupert barreled in on the other Green horse. There was a massive collision and when the dust cleared, Rupert Granger was the only one of the three still intact… more or less.
"Ow, that hurt!" Rupert groaned, trying to clutch several places at the same time.
"Dad! Are you all right? Where's Mum?" Hermione rushed to her father's side.
Hagrid came rushing in. "Are yeh all righ'," he called anxiously. "Yeh said yeh could ride! Why'd yeh lie?"
"I didn't lie, I never lie," Rupert said with as much dignity as he could muster. "Marie Antoinette had terrible legs!"
"There's no time for kidding around!" Millicent reminded them. "There's half a chess set after Potter!"
Besieged:
The Green Queen headed towards the door to their target's room. She could see it was open. Potter had obviously been awakened by the battle.
"Surrender, boy," the Green Queen said grandly.
Harry soon found out which spells didn't work against the chess pieces.
"You haven't got a prayer," The Green Queen said, marching forward.
Potter responded with a wave of his wand. "Flipendo!" he cried.
The Green Queen was unaffected. "Fool! A little spell like that can't hurt me!" she boasted, just before the Tower of Textbooks fell on top of her and broke her in half.
"Help me!" the Green Queen demanded.
The Red Queen looked down at her and laughed. "I said you were a fool!" she said, kicking the Green Queen in the face until her head came off. "You won't defeat me that easily, Potter!"
A few seconds later the corridor was filled with flying boxes. The Red Queen ducked and brushed them aside.
"Diffindo!" Harry cried.
The boxes burst open and army of chocolate frogs went bouncing in the corridor.
"Engorgio!" Harry bellowed several times.
Then there was an army of giant chocolate frogs bouncing in the corridor. The Red Queen managed to avoid them, but some of her followers were not so lucky. When the chocolate frogs stopped leaping, both of the remaining Green Pawns had been flattened. One of the Red Bishops was too badly damaged to move under its own steam.
"Forgive me, my lady," the Red Queen's Bishop cried.
"Oh, shut up," the Red Queen said. She tried to push the door to Harry's room open, but Harry had sealed it. "We'll need a battering ram," she said. She looked at the damaged Bishop speculatively.
"Oh, bugger," the Bishop said.
Inside Harry's room, Harry was looking for anything else he could use as a weapon. He looked out at the corridor using his mother's spyglass. Seven to one were very ugly odds.
The door shivered under their first assault.
Harry dug into his chest and pulled out the laid out the snake rope that Hagrid had given him. He laid the rope near the door. Then he walked back to the bed and looked up the proper whistle to make it attack.
He shivered. In spite of the cold, it felt like his muscles were on fire. The failed curses had used up energy that he couldn't spare. He picked up Nicely. "If you have ANYWAY to contact ANYBODY, now would be a very good time to SCREAM FOR HELP!" he said. He put the guide down and shifted the bed so he would have a second barricade when the chess pieces got through the door.
The next blow shattered the Bishop, but cracked the door. The Red Queen sent the remaining horse to kick the door down.
Harry hoped that he could hold out long enough for help to arrive. If help could arrive. He had a sick feeling that the rest of the hospital was under attack as well. He wished he could help them, but he was going to have his hands full helping himself.
He went through the list of hexes and spells that he'd learned before the Third Task, none of the battle spells had worked. It was time to try something unexpected.
The door shattered.
Two Red Pawns burst in, followed by two Red Knights.
"Rictusempra!" Harry cried.
The four chessmen doubled over, laughing.
"Idiots," the remaining Red Bishop snarled. He managed to push past them. He grinned at Harry. "I assure you, I have no sense of humor."
"Serpensortia!" A large snake sprang out of Harry's wand and wriggled toward the chessmen. "Get the Bishop!" Harry hissed.
The Bishop laughed and smashed the faux-snake with his miter. The snake rope, however, slithered up from behind and bound the Bishop tightly before the chess piece had a chance to react. Harry blinked. The snake rope understood Parseltongue! The discovery couldn't have come at a better time.
The Knights and the Pawns were shaking off the Rictusempra spell. None of the remaining hexes in his repertoire seemed strong enough, especially not with the smirking Red Queen coming in. That left him with one choice. He closed his eyes, thought about how wonderful yesterday's party had been, and roared, "Expecto Patronum!"
The silvery stag erupted from the end of Harry's wand with a vengeance. The first knight shattered as Prongs rammed him head on. The second knight tried to stab Prongs from behind, only to encounter the stag's rear hooves as it lashed out. The second knight sailed across the room to shatter, and be shattered by, one of the Pawns.
The last Pawn charged Harry's Patronus. Just then, Harry ran out of strength. Prongs faded and the Pawn smashed itself against the wall.
The Red Queen laughed. "Well done, boy," she said. "Too bad this is checkmate for you."
"Accio broom!" Harry cried.
The Red Queen laughed and easily intercepted the still wrapped broomstick. "You think you can escape me with this toy?" she cried. She squeezed; the broom snapped and the wrapping paper ripped.
Lily had promised that whoever opened the package without her permission would be sorry. There was a huge explosion that staggered the Queen, then a multicolored bubble shimmered burst over the Queen's head and solidified, trapping her like a fly in amber.
Harry slumped to the floor, back against his bed. "Thanks, Mum," he wheezed. He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath when he heard slow, grinding steps that were obviously not made by a human. Harry opened his eyes and saw the Red King enter.
"Oh, bugger," Harry sighed. He tried to get to his feet, but his muscles refused to cooperate.
"Your time is up, Harry Potter," the King intoned.
"NO!" Tiberius Potter appeared between his grandson and the Red King. "You can't have him!"
The Red King paused. "You have no substance," it said. "You cannot stop me." It walked forward, ignoring Tiberius and focusing its attention on Harry.
Being an ephemeral, the chess piece did not know about ghosts. Nor did it know that extreme cold and glass are not a good combination. When it stepped through the murdered man's ghost, the rapid temperature change shattered the glass chess piece before it realized it had made a mistake.
Harry heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Grandfather," he said.
"It was the least…" Tiberius didn't get a chance to finish.
Dr. Opal ran into the room. "Potter! What are you doing here? Expulso!" she cried, waving her wand at Tiberius.
The ghost of Harry's grandfather disappeared abruptly.
"Hey! He just saved my life!" Harry protested. He struggled to push himself to his feet.
"How very unfortunate," Dr. Opal said, surveying the room. "This reminds me of something… oh, yes, it reminds me of the day your idiot grandfather died. However, you aren't going to die today. There's somebody waiting to see you."
She pointed her wand at Harry. "Stupefy."
Opal conjured a stretcher and magicked Harry onto it. She headed for the main reception room. It would be less suspicious if she used the regular fireplace. They'd be after her soon enough, once it became clear that she had not only bought the chess set, but had made sure that it would be in a central location.
She also didn't think it would take Dumbledore and his pet Aurors very long to realize that she had filled the puzzle fountain with Poppy Perfume. However, it would take them just long enough.
She didn't notice the denim bound Survivor's Guide lying on the table next to Potter's bed.
Dr. Opal and her captive arrived at the reception room just as Bulstrode said, "There's no time for kidding around! There's half a chess set after Potter!"
"I've got him," Dr. Opal said.
"Thank goodness!" Mrs. Weasley said.
"Is he all right?" Ron blurted, moving closer. He actually had good Mediwizard instincts, Dr. Opal thought. Pity she wasn't going to be around to see him develop them.
"He just took out half a giant chess set," Dr. Opal said. "Somebody enchanted the set I gave him. I shouldn't have left it out, but I never thought…" She looked at Potter. "I need to get him out of here. Can you handle waking up those Aurors? And somebody needs to inform Madame Handwerker about the attack."
"Where are you taking him?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Hogwarts," Dr. Opal said. "It's the only place safe enough for him now." With that she flicked her wand and continued kidnapping The-Boy-Who-Lived out from under the noses of his devoted fans.
It's Always Darkest Before…
Pansy woke up panicky and disoriented. Ginny couldn't blame her. "We've got to get help!" Pansy insisted.
"I've called my brother Percy," Ginny said. "He works at the Ministry. There are Aurors on the way."
"Fine, now let's get out of here!" Pansy got off the couch where she'd been lying and staggered.
"You need to lie down," Ginny said.
"Not in a combat zone!" Pansy looked around wild-eyed. "Are all Gryffindors too stupid to know when to run?"
Just then, a swoosh and cloud of ash announced somebody's arrival.
Pansy dragged Ginny behind the couch.
Ginny broke free when she saw who was there. "Neville!" Ginny said. "You'd better move aside, Aurors will be here any minute!"
"What's going on?"
"Giant chessmen are attacking people!" Pansy wailed.
"Harry!" Neville cried. "We've got to go help him!" He headed for the door, wand in hand.
Pansy grabbed him by the arm. "We need to get out of here," Pansy argued. "Get somebody who knows how to handle the situation."
"I've already called for help," Ginny said.
"Good," Neville said calmly. "Let's see what's going on."
Pansy let go of his arm with a huff. "You go be good little heroes if you want, but I'm not in Gryffindor!" She headed for the fireplace again, when there was another whoosh and cloud of ash.
All three teens dived for cover. When the dust cleared, Pansy stuffed her fist in her mouth to keep from screaming, Ginny felt her blood run cold and Neville thought his pounding heart would give away their location. They knew that silence was their only hope, now that Sirius Black had come to St. Mungo's.
"So, you're the courier," a familiar voice said. Dr. Opal walked into view, floating a limp and unmoving Harry Potter on a stretcher.
"Doctor Cressida Opal, what a surprise," Black said gruffly. "I actually thought that you were on Dumbledore's side. I remember how you fussed over Lily when Harry was born. Had you planned to kill the Potters even back then? Or is this a recent development?"
Dr. Opal snorted. "Recent? I was planning to finish off Tiberius' line since the cad threw me over! Me, the one who helped him win his coveted Head Boy badge! I had so many academic honors when I graduated that the Ministry begged me to take a position with them! And yet he threw me over for a Hufflepuff who only managed to get one O.W.L. and one N.E.W.T.!"
"How shocking," murmured Black, with a strange gleam in his eye.
Opal snorted at his tone of voice. "Like you didn't betray Potter over his wife." She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Here, you'll need to have him traveled-sized, I expect," Opal said. She flicked her wand at Harry and he shrank. Soon there was nothing on the stretcher but a black pawn.
"So, being denied the chance to murder Tiberius and James, you decided to go after Harry?" Black asked. He strolled over to the stretcher, but Opal kept it out of reach.
"Not until I get my payment, Black," she said. "What makes you think I was robbed of my chance to murder Tiberius?"
Black's eyebrows rose. "You killed him?" he asked skeptically.
"Yes, it was easy in all the chaos following the attack. Tiberius still doesn't know what hit him. The brilliant part is, I wound up treating his little Hufflepuff for Kirttimukha hemorrhaging." She chortled to herself and she picked the Black Pawn off the stretcher.
"Poisoned her, did you?" Black said softly. He walked up to the stretcher and rested his hand on it.
"Oh, no, nothing that obvious. The potions that I gave her would have cured her, if she hadn't been so depressed over the constant reminders of how poor, poor Tiberius died." Opal flicked a crocodile tear from her eye. "I'm afraid that every time I saw her, I was overcome with emotion. I had her in tears after every session." Opal laughed again. "Nobody was surprised when she died. She shouldn't have overstrained herself for James' wedding… or did I forget to tell her that?"
Her eyes hardened. "Where is my payment? You don't want to be here when the Aurors arrive."
"True, trouble is, I have no idea what you wanted for payment," Black said. He gave the stretcher a sudden shove and rammed it into Opal's stomach. He snatched the Black Pawn out of her hand as she fell.
Seconds later, he was rammed from behind and Harry flew out of his hand.
"No!" he cried.
A girl with Weasley red hair appeared from somewhere to make a spectacular diving catch.
"Run!" she shrieked. She rolled to her feet and scampered out the door. A familiar, stocky blond boy and a pug-faced blonde girl raced after Ginny. The three were gone before Sirius could get his wits around him. Not wanting to meet any Aurors, Black Apparated away. When he could catch his breath, Sirius grinned to himself. If that was the Weasley girl, Harry had some explaining to do. He grinned wider. "Sirius explaining to do," he said aloud.
Aftermath:
Dumbledore wasn't used to being an anti-climax, but he wasn't at all displeased that the younger generations had handled the fight without him. They were going to have to learn to get along without him. Even without the looming war, he wasn't getting any younger.
The Aurors came and took charge of the remaining chess men. The animation charge had worn off shortly after Sirius and Dr. Opal had escaped.
"Don't think we're going to get much out of these," one of the Aurors told Dumbledore and Mr. Parkinson. "It doesn't take a Ravenclaw Prefect to see these are a homemade job."
"I see," Dumbledore said. "Thank you, Ellery."
The silvery eyed Auror shook his head. "Can you believe those kids? Tackling Sirius Black the way they did? If my boss doesn't put them in for some sort of medal, I'm going to snap my wand… over his head!"
"I have to agree with you that they deserve some sort of award," Dumbledore murmured.
Mr. Parkinson had taken charge of sorting out the hospital staff.
"York, how did she manage to put the staff to sleep?" Dumbledore asked.
"She used Poppy Perfume and a fountain jigsaw puzzle," Mr. Parkinson said. "She filled the fountain with the Poppy Perfume and when the nurses finished assembling it, it just sprayed the main reception area. The other floors were gassed, too. My guess is she gassed those floors directly, then used the puzzle to get the main floor."
Ellery was taking notes. "Any idea who owned the puzzle?" he asked.
"I believe it was Mr. Potter's birthday present from Miss Granger," Mr. Parkinson answered.
Ellery sighed. "Just my luck," he said.
Dumbledore left them to their work and went to see Harry. There were a lot of Aurors in the Haunted Wing now. All of whom had once been his students. None of whom challenged his right to be there. Sometimes, it was good to be Merlin.
The drawback to being Merlin is that everybody expected you to be the one to pull off the impossible on a daily basis. You were expected to fight off the forces of evil, ensure the triumph of justice and to never, ever make a mistake.
Dumbledore had made another mistake. He had trusted Cressida Opal. He had never suspected that she had harbored a grudge, even though he had known she was upset over Tiberius marrying Tatiana.
Dumbledore remembered all the times when Dr. Opal had petitioned the Council to have Harry brought in for a proper check up. He had thought that noble of her, when in fact she'd been planning…?
Dumbledore didn't know what she had been planning. All he knew was that Petunia Evans Dursley had been proven right in not trusting the wizarding community, while he had trusted the wrong person.
He shook his head sadly. He couldn't afford to make such mistakes with Harry's life. The boy had been through hell. Dumbledore didn't know if Harry could take much more before he turned into the very thing the Order was so desperately trying to protect him from.
His train of thought was derailed when he slipped, and he just managed to prevent himself from falling. He'd better pay attention. It wouldn't do for the 'Great' Albus Dumbledore to die by slipping on… He looked around. The corridor was liberally splashed with something that looked like chocolate. He dabbled his fingers in a blot on the wall and sniffed it. Definitely chocolate.
This was intriguing.
When he arrived at Harry's room, he found a nice sized crowd there, several of whom had bright red hair. Thank God for the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny and Percy were there. As were Hagrid, the Grangers, Neville Longbottom and his own daughter, although Mr. Parkinson had definitely told Helga to get some sleep.
Dumbledore was grieved to see Harry looking so pale and there were a few more white streaks in his hair than there had been the last time Dumbledore had seen him. The distress in the boy's green eyes faded when he spied Dumbledore. Yes, there were times when it was good to be Merlin.
"How are you feeling, my boy?" he asked, knowing how stupid the question was.
"Tired, and confused," Harry said as if confessing to some sin. He clasped his hands and pulled his knees up.
"I don't blame you, my boy," Dumbledore said. "Unfortunately, 'One may smile, and smile, and be a villain,' as Shakespeare said."
Ginny Weasley gave up her chair and settled on Harry's bed. Harry smiled faintly at her as Dumbledore accepted her unspoken invitation to have a seat.
He wondered if there was romance developing between Harry and Ginny. If so, it would be good for both of them.
"Why did she do that?" Ron asked resentfully. "She seemed so nice!" He leaned against the wall next to Harry's bed with his arms crossed.
"Was it really Dr. Opal?" Hermione asked from her perch on a trunk next to Harry's bed. "I mean, you're sure it wasn't somebody using Polyjuice Potion again?" she sounded like she wanted someone to contradict her.
"Yes, Miss Granger," Helga said sadly. "I spent a lot of time and effort to create special protections against imposters during the first war with Voldemort."
Everyone except Harry and Dumbledore winced at the name. Even the Grangers were picking up on the 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' phobia.
"I'm afraid that Cressida Opal has joined Voldemort of her own free will," Helga added sadly. "Such a waste. She was brilliant, and talented, and she had no lack of suitors after she started working here. I don't know why…" Helga held her hand to her head.
Ron muttered something under his breath that everybody else chose not to hear. "She seemed so nice," he said aloud. "She never said I was stupid when I didn't understand her instructions the first time. She didn't seem to mind that the Grangers were Muggles. She… she was…" He trailed off, shaking his head in frustration. "I just don't get it. She even fussed over Hagrid."
"More'n likely she jus' wanted me out of the way," Hagrid said sadly. "She kep' after me to take me medicine. If I had, I wouldna' bin awake fer the fight."
"Oh," Ron said. "Bug…" he caught Hermione's eye. "Bother," he said instead.
"Unfortunately, a murderer can be the nicest person in the word, until he decides you're the one he wants to murder," Hermione said darkly.
"That's quite profound, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said.
"She read it somewhere," Ron guessed fondly.
Hermione grinned at him.
Harry sighed. "You know what gets me, is that she managed to be nasty while seeming to be nice," he said. "She made sure that the chess set was in a central location. She put the puzzle where the nurses could play with it and knock themselves out. She kept doing things that she had to know would upset me, like letting me know that that Kirtty thing could be fatal, or by making me worry that I'm going to disgrace the Potter name by not becoming Head Boy." He looked at Dumbledore.
Without thinking, Ginny clasped his hand. "Who cares if you make Head Boy?" Ginny said. "You were wonderful!" she said gazing soulfully (she hoped) into his eyes. "You took on more of those chess pieces than anybody else!"
Harry gave her a lop-sided smile and squeezed her hand. "Well, it's not like I had a choice," he said. Absently, he noticed that she had calluses on her hands. Probably from working around The Burrow, Harry thought.
Ginny blushed.
"But I doubt that I'll be Head Boy like my father and my grandfather," he added glumly. "I don't even want to be Head Boy." He looked down at his hands, but decided not to let go of Ginny's. The back of her hand was very smooth, and had a scattering of freckles on it.
"Your academic record isn't anything to be ashamed of," Dumbledore said firmly. "Plus, you have pressures on you that James and Tiberius lacked. The fact that you've survived everything the dark side has thrown at you is something to be proud of." He looked around the room. "You can all be very proud of yourselves. You've passed this test by fire with honors."
"Does that mean we'll get bonus points on our Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. for this?" Ron asked hopefully.
This was greeted with sniggers from around the room.
"I'll look into that," Dumbledore said. He felt a smile creep onto his face. "Mr. Longbottom, I will definitely tell your grandmother about the heroic part that you played."
Neville shrugged. "I didn't do much," he said quietly.
"You knocked over one of the most wanted criminals in the wizarding world," Ginny said. "That's something!"
"Maybe," Neville didn't sound convinced.
Harry looked at him worriedly and wondered if Neville knew about Sirius. He could hardly ask him there, so he decided on a quick change of subject.
Giving Dumbledore a faint smile, he said, "Maybe you could get Hagrid another Honorary O.W.L., this one in Defense Against the Dark Arts." He let go of Ginny's hand and picked up his snake rope. "This sure came in handy."
"It was nuthin'" Hagrid said. "Yer the one what worked out how ter use it."
"There's a way besides the whistles?" Dumbledore asked, intrigued.
"It understands Parseltongue," Harry said happily. "Watch." He ordered the rope to climb back into his trunk.
Ginny winced.
The snake rope slithered over to Harry's trunk and paused until Hermione jumped off and opened it. Then the snake rope slithered inside.
"Cool, huh?" Harry said. "It's easier for me to use Parseltongue than to remember all those whistles."
"It certainly wouldn't do any harm to practice that skill, either," Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"Right now, what he needs to practice is his sleep," Madam Handwerker said firmly. "Visiting hours are officially over."
"C'n I sleep in this wing?" Hagrid ask.
"Yes, I think that might be wise," Madam Handwerker agreed.
They stood to leave when Emma thought to ask about Olivia Guppy.
Helga sighed. "She hasn't been dealing with the shock of the attack very well, poor girl. She has handed in her resignation." She frowned. "I really don't know what to do for her. She doesn't have any family to turn to. The staff has been acting as her family since she finished at Hogwarts."
Harry winced in sympathy.
"I've been thinking," Dumbledore said. "That perhaps Madam Pomfrey would care for some assistance this year." He made a wry face. "I will take it up with her at the first opportunity."
Helga smiled up at him and Dumbledore felt twenty years younger.
"Thanks, Dad," Helga said.
Make that forty years younger.
"While you're feeling so grateful, I guess this is time for me to ask a favor," Dumbledore said. "I have an idea for how to protect Mr. Potter. He shot Harry a sideways look. "I know of a very well trained dog named Snuffles. I think it would be a good idea to station him inside Mr. Potter's room."
"I'll think on it," Madam Handwerker said sternly. "Now, everybody, out!" She looked around sternly.
"I think somebody should stay with Harry," Hermione said. "You know, to keep an eye on him?"
"I suppose that would be a good idea," Madam Handwerker said. She turned to Harry. "I take it you wouldn't have any objection if Miss Weasley were to stay with you for a while?" she asked with a twinkle in her pale blue eyes.
Harry looked at Ginny and grinned. "I wouldn't object at all, Madam Handwerker," Harry said.
"Good," Helga said with a slight smile. "The rest of you, out! Now!"
There was silence for a few minutes after the room emptied. "Erm, shall we work on my other jigsaw puzzle?" Harry asked. "Or will finishing the Quidditch puzzle get me hit in the face with a Bludger?"
Ginny giggled. "No, nothing like that. You just get to watch the last part of the match." She slid off Harry's bed. "Here, let me get it."
Harry settled back. Things were looking up. His homework was done. He was leaving the hospital soon. He had all of August to laze around in. Best of all, he was far away from the Dursleys.
He watched Ginny set the puzzle out and felt a quiver of anticipation. On second thought, maybe the best part of the summer won't have anything to do with the Dursleys at all.
Later that Evening:
"Ron, can we talk to you for a moment in the front room?" Arthur Weasley asked his youngest son.
Ron's stomach gave a lurch. "Yeah, what is it?" he tried to keep his voice casual as if he didn't have any guilty secrets to worry about. After all, he didn't have any recent guilty secrets… unless you count becoming an illegal Animagus as a guilty secret.
Both his parents were in the front room. This could be bad.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Your mother and I have been talking," Arthur said. "And we thought it might be better for Harry if he didn't have to traipse up and down the stairs until he was feeling a bit stronger. Tomorrow, we'd like you to help us fix up the front room so he'll have a little privacy here."
Ron sighed. That was it? "Um, I'm going to be at the hospital most of the day," he said. "I'm going to be on duty and Hermione will want to have an O.W.L. study session. No, wait, even Hermione won't want to have a study session right after all that. Harry needs to rest."
"Ah, perhaps we could move the O.W.L. sessions to the Burrow," Molly said. "Or was there a reason you need to be at the hospital?"
"Well, we were using the hospital library," Ron said. "But I guess we can just Floo to the regular library."
"We could buy you some study guides, if you want," Arthur said. "Did you need any in particular?"
"Well," Ron thought. "Potions is probably my worse subject, and it's the one I particularly want to get an O.W.L. in."
His parents exchanged dismayed looks. What did I say?
"Why do you need a Potions O.W.L.?" Arthur asked almost too casually. "Not many Ministry jobs require it."
Okay, Ron thought. Here goes. "Well, I'm not planning on going for a Ministry job," Ron said.
"Really?" Molly tried to force herself be calm. "What did you have in mind, dear?" Oh, please tell me you don't want to work for the twins!
Ron took a deep breath. "I've decided that I want to become a Mediwizard."
One minute of silence.
Two minutes of silence.
Three minutes of silence.
Then… "Oh, Ron!" Molly cried.
Oh, Merlin, I've made my mother cry. Now what?
Molly threw her arms around him. "I am so proud of you!" She squeezed him tightly and soaked the front of his shirt.
Ron shot a panicky look at his father.
Arthur patted him on the back and said, "We're both very proud of you, son." His smile said very clearly, I'm glad she's crying on you and not me.
"I haven't done anything yet!" Ron protested, squirming a little. He didn't know which was more unsettling. The fact that his mother was crying or the fact that he was looking down at the top of her head.
"But you've made a decision!" Molly said, sniffing a little. "You've decided to take on a noble profession."
"Yeah, but deciding to do it isn't doing it," Ron pointed out. "I have to get really good marks and I'm not sure I can pull it off."
"I think you can do just about anything you put your mind to," Arthur said quietly.
"Thanks, Dad," Ron said. He could feel the tips of his ears burning.
"Excuse me," Molly said. She pulled away from Ron and pulled out a handkerchief. "I think I'll make a spot of tea, Arthur? Ron?"
"No thanks, Mum," Ron said. He escaped up the stairs.
He stopped at his door. There was nothing to do in there, or so he told himself. He'd been feeling restless since the battle at the hospital. The idea that he might fail to get an apprenticeship bothered him. The idea that he'd become so fond of somebody like Cressida Opal bothered him. He wondered how much worse Remus and Sirius had felt when they found out that one of their best friends had betrayed them. He didn't want to think about serious subjects anymore, so he decided to do what any red-blooded wizard would do. He tromped back downstairs to pester his sister.
Ron knocked on Ginny's door. "Hey, Punkin-head!" he called cheerfully, sticking his head in without waiting for an invitation.
Ginny looked up. "Don't call me that!" she hissed.
"Sorr-ee!" Ron said, taken aback.
Ginny cleared her throat. "Sorry, just a little touchy today."
"What for? Didn't your date with Harry go well?" Ron asked.
"It was not a date," Ginny said. "We just put together a Quidditch puzzle and talked about Quidditch and… erm, actually, that was it. Quidditch Afternoon with Harry. Not very romantic."
"Hey, give him some time to work up to that," Ron said. "At least you can talk to him without turning purple and squeaking like some sort of mutant mouse."
"Thank you so kindly for the reminder," Ginny said dryly. "What did you and Hermione do?"
Ron grinned. "We looked at flowers," he said. "The hospital has a garden." His grin became wider. "And it also has a gift shop. I bought Hermione a flower poem book behind her back."
"A what?" Ginny asked.
"A flower poem book," Ron repeated. "When you recite one of the poems, the page you're on bursts into flowers."
"Now that's romantic, did she like it?"
"She hasn't seen it yet. It's for her birthday!" Ron said happily.
"You'll make a good boyfriend," Ginny said.
"You think?" Ron asked.
"Definitely. Now, be a good brother and go away, I'm reading."
"What are you reading? Astronomy?" It was a safe guess. Eighty percent of Ginny's books were either Astronomy books or Sickle Romance Novels.
"Words, words, words," quoted Ginny. She closed her book and casually laid it on the bedside table.
"More Shakespeare?" Ron asked, vaguely remembering that Shakespeare had put that response to the 'what are you reading' question into somebody's mouth. His attention was more on the fact that Ginny had "casually" laid the book face down.
"Don't tell me that you're reading one of those Sickle Romances that Mum's always complaining about!" Ron exclaimed. He strode over to her bed.
Ginny made a frantic snatch at the book, but Ron grabbed her wrist and snagged his prize. "Ha! Really, Ginny, aren't you too young to be reading…" He looked at the title of the book and his coppery eyebrows disappeared into his fringe. "Curses Foiled Again: A Guide to Passing the Defense Against Dark Arts O.W.L." He looked at her and saw she was turning pink.
He leafed through the book, but it was actually what it said on the cover. There were no wild, embarrassing scenes inside. "So, why the blush? Say, is this how you were able to pass that PROWL?" he asked ironically. He waved the book under Ginny's nose.
Ginny nodded.
"That's a relief. I thought I was losing my mind when you could pass and I couldn't." Ron shook his head. "Honestly, you're worse than Hermione! At least she didn't start studying for her O.W.L.s until last year, and you've been studying for them since when?"
"Not all of them, just Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ginny said quietly. "Ever since the summer after my first year."
Ron went white. He didn't need it spelled out for him. Ginny had been doing extra work in Defense Against the Dark Arts ever since she'd been rescued from Riddle's diary.
"Bill gave me some Defense Against the Dark Arts PROWL books when we went to see him in Egypt," she said.
Ron looked at her, and then looked at the book. "Ginny, I…" he had to swallow a few times. " I'm sorry. I never realized that it, that you…" He handed the book to her. "I am such an idiot. You got possessed by the damn diary and kidnapped and I never… I just kept acting like everything was business as usual… I should have…"
Ginny leaped to her feet and grabbed Ron's arm with her free hand. "Ron, it's okay, really it is."
"But I treated you like nothing had happened!"
Ginny gave his arm a shake. "That's exactly what I needed from you. I needed you to act like I was just your bratty little sister, not some fragile, spun-glass figurine that would shatter in a high wind. I got enough of that from Mum and Dad and Percy, believe me." The corner of her mouth quirked. "You and the twins kept me sane by proving that I really was still just Ginny Weasley."
"I could have been nicer," Ron said. "Especially the next school year."
"Yeah, well, you were kind of distracted by that madman Sirius Black running around trying to do in poor Harry."
"Oh, right," Ron sighed. "That was very brave of you to tackle him like that, by the way."
The tone of his voice caused Ginny studied him curiously. He sounded almost amused, but before she could say anything, their Mum called up the stairs for them to come down.
"We have a visitor," she announced.
"Professor Dumbledore," Ginny said when she entered the front room.
"Good evening, Miss Weasley, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said with a pleasant smile. "How are you feeling?"
"I'll feel a lot better when Harry is out of that hospital," Ron said bluntly.
"I hope you realize that one traitor doesn't mean that none of the Mediwizards are to be trusted," Dumbledore said soberly.
"Yeah, I know," Ron said. He scraped his foot on the floor. "It's just that I don't like the idea of Harry being there all alone. You know?"
"Yes," Dumbledore said. "I believe that I know what you mean." He looked at Ginny. "Miss Weasley, tell me, how do you feel about dogs?"
Ginny blinked in surprise. "I like them, I guess," she said. "Why? Oh, you mean the guard dog you are going to give Harry?"
"Yeah, wait until you see it!" Ron interjected. "It looks like a Grim! I take it you mean Snuffles," he added to Dumbledore.
"Yes, that's the dog I had in mind," Dumbledore said with a smile
"He'll be bringing the dog here, then?" Ginny said. The idea of a huge, scary dog made her nervous, but if it meant that Harry could stay here, she wouldn't mind… much.
"That's the current plan," Dumbledore said. "Mr. Parkinson has said that Harry's condition is still under control and that he can recuperate here just as easily as at the hospital."
"Erm, it doesn't chase cats, does it?"
"Pixie can take care of herself," Ron said. "Besides, Snuffles is a good dog. He won't pester the owls, either."
"Good," Ginny said. "It'll be great to have Harry here where I… erm.. We can take care of him!" She waited for some teasing for that, but nobody did more than smile approvingly.
It was going to be a good August.
Ghost Story
In a darkened hospital room, Harry was huddled up in a heavily charmed bed listening to a different kind of a ghost story. Sprawled on the floor beside his bed was a huge, black dog, who also listened avidly to stories of James' childhood.
"James would have liked you, Snuffles," Tiberius told the dog. "He loved animals. Why, he was always rescuing injured cats and birds and gnomes and anything else that crossed his path. I always knew he'd be a hero."
Harry reached down and scratched Snuffles' ears. "I expect he thought you were a hero, too. Right, Snuffles?"
"Woof," Snuffles agreed.
"I'm glad that Dr. Opal didn't hurt you," Harry said.
Tiberius smiled sadly. "My boy, I'm already dead, she can't hurt me any more. She couldn't even exorcise me. All she could do was to expel me from the room for a while." He sighed. "I won't be able to stay much longer, let me know if Helga's heating charm starts to fail before that, all right?"
"Okay," Harry said.
"What story do you want to hear next?" Tiberius asked.
"How did you and Grandmother Tatiana meet?"
"We actually met during our first flying lesson," Tiberius said. "I was in Gryffindor and she was in Hufflepuff. The first thing I noticed about her was her hair. It was wild even before we tried flying and it had a very distinctive colour."
"I thought she had black hair?" Harry said. He frowned, but he couldn't remember if anybody had ever said anything about the colour of her hair. He'd only heard that it had been wild and had started turning white when she was relatively young.
Tiberius grinned. "Oh, no, you got the black hair from me," his grin broadened. "Your grandmother was a red-head."
Snuffles coughed… loudly.
Harry brought his blankets up to cover his face. "So, I guess I should stick with red-heads, then?" he asked.
"It worked for me, I hear it worked for your father, and if I remember my own mother's hair…"
Harry held his hand up. "We'll see if it works for me," he said. "It's a little early to be deciding that." And he had all of August to explore the idea, he thought happily.
*** ***
Author's Notes:
Thanks to my sharp eyed beta reader, Anne, who spots my plot holes as well as my grammatical errors.
Thanks to my sharp eyed readers who spotted my mistakes!
Correction 1: "The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agly." Is actually by Robert Burns. (Thanks Sociofemme!)
Correction 2: The tonic that Lucy was selling is Vitameatavegamin not Vegameatavitamin. My thanks and five house points to everybody who spotted that. I looked it up online, but my source was wrong! (I knew I shouldn't have sampled the stuff!)
"A murderer can be the nicest person in the world, until he decides you're the one he's going to murder." is by Scott Corbett.
'One may smile, and smile, and be a villain.' -- is actually Shakespeare this time. (Hamlet, in fact.)
"Words, words, words" – is also Hamlet
The "Did Marie Antoinette have great legs?" joke came from a long ago television series called "Voyagers." In that, a pair of time travelers went around fixing history. The only connection with Harry Potter is that Jeffrey Jones had adorably messy black hair.
Review Responses:
You are the absolute best readers an obsessed fan-girl like me could hope for!
Bob: Thanks! Glad my story was worth staying up for! ** Re: the PROWLS: I was basing them on my experience with certification tests. The questions not only ask for obscure details, they are frequently worded in a very convoluted manner. Understanding how to do the test is half the battle. ** grin Watch out for them Snapdragons! ** Oh, Harry could act like a spoiled celebrity if he wanted to. He just wouldn't like himself much then. ** Good idea for how to allow Harry to write to Tiberius. I'll keep that in mind, thanks! ** I won't worry too much about this story being AU. (Aren't Ozma's stories the coolest?)
Rhiain: Thanks for reviewing! More is on the way!
Angel of the North: Thanks! Glad you like long chapters! (I noticed that my chapters kept getting longer the longer the story got. I think I went from six page chapters to twenty page chapters.) ** Sorry the business with the colours didn't work for you. ** Good idea to ask Nicely for help with the PROWLS. She'd probably be very helpful with the Transfiguration PROWL.
GunSmoke: Thanks! Here's the rest1 (However, that's 'old girl,' not 'old boy' ;-)
Amulder: Thanks for writing up any kind of review! ** You're welcome for the story! ** Good point, how will Pansy and Millicent act once they're among the Slytherins again? ** Thanks, glad you liked Ginny passing the DADA PROWL! ** That's exactly what I had planned for those hideous robes! ** The robe is going to get used somehow. ** Thanks for reading!
Eris, Queen of the Shadows: Sorry I posted too fast! I just wanted to get the story out in time! Thanks for reviewing both 18 and 19! (And thanks for reviewing over at GT.net!) ** You are correct, it really isn't Hermione's fault that Nicely caught on fire. ** Thanks for telling me your favorite parts! ** Yes, Harry is definitely moving towards Ginny.
AerinBrown: Thanks for the review! ** Glad that you like my humor!
Alla: Hello, I'm so pleased that you like this story enough to keep coming back and reviewing! ** Yes, I am an evil person. "When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better!" ** I was that obvious, was I? grin ** Ginny doesn't know the Marauders yet. ** Thanks for telling me your favorite bits!
Alla : Hi, again! Glad you found the PROWLs to be THAT funny! :-) ** Poor Harry, I think it will take a while for him to realize the people genuinely care about him!
LileeAlina: Thanks for reviewing! ** Yep, Ginny overreacted a bit. ** Cat!Harry hid under the bed because he was embarrassed about the whole 'almost getting skewered there' business. ** Moody didn't forgive Sirius. There's nothing to forgive Sirius for, he's innocent. Moody was relieved because he'd trusted Sirius at one point. He's glad to know that he wasn't taken in by one of Voldie's minions. ** Lily broke the wand somehow, possibly in the line of duty. It didn't do magic on its own, it was just feeding magic into Lily's distraction charm. A carnelian is a reddish, semi-precious gemstone. I hope the rest of your questions will be answered in future chapters. ** Thanks for catching my grammar error.
Rachnmi: Thanks for the review! ** All Slytherins can't be bad! There's nothing wrong with ambition.
Chelleybeans: Thanks for reviewing! ** Glad you like my take on Slytherins and the Potters! ** There's more to come!
Lan: Thanks! ** You can look for it under my name. But you don't have to worry just yet, this story is going into overtime.
Ozma: Hi, partner! Thanks for reviewing! ** Thanks for telling me what parts you liked! ** Oh, yes, it wasn't that long ago I was taking finals, too. I remember it well. ** I figure Parvati has to be more than a bubblehead. In the first book, she came to the defense of both Neville and Harry (during the flying lesson scene.) ** Loved the comment about not being able to hear Harry because his robe is too loud. I'll have to steal that line. ;-) ** Actually, Hermione won't hate her form. She'll hate BEING her form. It plays on one of the few things that she's bad at.
Von: Thanks for reviewing ** Actually, the big finale has been postponed because I'm taking on what I'd written for "A Sirius Situation." This is now a year fic.
Chary: Thanks for the lovely long review! I do hope that you finish your story soon! ** Thanks for telling me your favorite parts! ** Actually, I posted those two chapters one right after the other. I was planning to post this chapter last week, but something about it bothered me. I finally found all the problems with it and so, here it is! ** I don't know if I said anything about her gender before, that's why I put it in there. ** There's no way that Dumbledore would have let Sirius go to Azkaban if he had known the truth. At the time, he was in a good position to stop it, too. ** I hope your questions will all be answered in the next five chapters. ;-) This story has decided to go into overtime!
Pseudonym Sylphmuse: Thanks!
Little House Girl: Thanks! I will keep writing!
Lady Knight of Kennan: Thanks for reviewing! ** I was planning on two stories, but "A Sirius Situation" isn't going to work, so now this is going to go through to the O.W.L.s
Female Fred: Thanks! Harry will get out of the hospital. Question is, can he stay out? ** Unfortunately, the question of visiting his grandfather will have to wait.
Hpforever: Thanks for the review! ** What part of my characterization of Moody struck you as being wrong? ** "A Sirius Situation" will be a sixth year fic now.
Ems: Thanks! Glad you like the story!
ruffled owl: Thanks for reviewing! Sugarquill is now caught up to ff.net! ** This isn't the last chapter anymore!
Allison: Thanks! If anybody deserves a party, it's Mr. Potter!
Jake: Thanks for reviewing! ** I'm flattered that you think this is one of the best!
Sociofemme: Thanks for reviewing and catching my errors! Glad the mis-attribution was the only thing you didn't like!
Nerwen: Thanks for the review!
Psychochick: Thanks for the review! GT.net and FF.net are now on the same chapter! ** I figure it will take a while for Harry to fall. ** Thanks, glad you like my take on Hermione's parents. I wanted them to be likeable and somebody who would be likely to let their daughter go off to wizard school. ** Poor Viktor. The wrong guy and the wrong time. I hope Rowling shows him finding happiness.
Lemon Drop: Thanks!
Surfing Sirius: Thanks for the review! ** Nope, Hermione's form is not spider. (I wouldn't do that to poor Ron!) ** Sorry, my wording was convoluted. Hermione's form is NOT something you wouldn't want in your home. (I'll adopt one any old day, myself. I think they're adorable!)
lemon drop: More is on the way, I have five more chapters written!
Andrea13: Thanks for the review! ** Bar exams sound scary, I hope you did well! ** Glad my story is worth your limited free time! ** Thanks for telling me your favorite parts!
Bucky: Thanks! Yes, I intend to keep up this story line. It's taken over my brain!
eedoe: Thanks for reviewing and for pointing out the error with the VITAmeataVEGamin
Rjk2005: Thanks for the review! ** Love your "Rules for Constant Vigiliance" by the way. ** I figure Ron and Harry have started rubbing off on each other by now. Bet Harry's a Chudley Cannons fan, too! ** I'm glad you decided to read my story, too!
Punkin: You are not a terrible person! You are a wonderful person for reviewing when you can! ** Hope Aimee can still read it, too! Sorry she's not going back to your school next year. (So, what will she be doing?) ** Thanks for telling me your favorite parts! ** It's not over yet, there are at least five more chapters after this 'final' one. :-)
Rjk2005: Thanks for telling me the parts that you liked! ** There's a quote to the effect that at some point, every man does something that can get him hanged. (I'll have to look it up sometime.) ** Thanks for putting me on your favorites list!
Lucky: Thanks for the compliments! ** I doubt it's much like the fifth book, though. But we'll find out soon! Gah! I'm almost out of time!
Cerberis Thanks for all the compliments! ** I try to use proper grammar and correct spelling!
Reyna: Thanks for reviewing! Wow, you look forward to my stuff almost as much as Rowlings? I'm so flattered! Thank you! ** Yeah, I wasn't sure about Pansy, but I've known girls who acted one way when their boyfriends were around and a different way when they were alone. ** Thanks for telling me your favorite parts!
InfiniteMoment: Thanks for telling me the parts you liked. I really sweated over chapter thirteen, I'm tellin' ya! ;-)
FemmeDraconis: Thanks for the review! ** Hope it's worth the wait!
SillyGillie: Thanks for reading! I was sort of planning a whole fifth year story, but it didn't pan out. This one will continue into the fifth year.
Corrie: Thank you!
LilyFlower: I intend to keep going! Thanks!
