Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I claim to. Duh!
A/N: This is a reeeeally short chapter, guys, especially in comparison to the last one...
Chapter Twenty One-St. Mungo's, Dreams, and Annoying Vows of Silence
A few days after Harry woke up in Sirius's hospital room in St. Mungo's, he was feeling well enough to get up and walk around the hopsital a little. His quick recovery was surprising the doctors, who had initially thought that his head injury was worse than it really was. The main reason that the doctors were keeping him in the hospital as long as they were was because he was under observation-he still wasn't all-clear yet.
Sirius, on the other hand, had lost a lot of blood when he had been injured in Liverpool, so as a result-and to Harry's distress--he was still pretty weak.
Hours after Dumbledore and Colette had left Harry and Sirius alone in their room that day; and after Harry had dozed off and eventually fallen into a deep sleep, something had occurred to him. He remembered something...something that seemed to have happened a long time ago, but in actuality had only happened about a week ago...
Harry's dream. The dream that he had had back in Privet Drive, back at the Dursleys. The dream that had told him that Sirius was hurt in that Voldemort attack in Southampton. In light of everything that had happened since he had the dream, it seemed like he had had it so long ago...
But now that he remembered it, he realized that he really, really needed to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Originally, he hadn't wanted to talk to Dumbledore about it, but now things had changed. He was having foreshadowing dreams about his godfather. How often did *that* happen?
He wanted to talk to Dumbledore desperately. Also as desperately, he wanted to reveal his feelings to Ron and Hermione during the times that they visited him in the hospital, but whenever they were in there they were either accompanied by the other Weasley children, or Sirius was awake...and he didn't want to tell Sirius about his dream just yet. He had enough to worry about.
By a stroke of luck, on one of the mornings that he was feeling fairly well, he heard two nurses talking amongst themselves that Dumbledore was "going to visit someone in the hospital today." So later that day, at around noon-when Sirius was asleep and the Weasleys and Hermione were eating lunch--Harry slipped out of bed to find Professor Dumbledore.
As soon as he left the room and found himself in the hallway, Harry realized that he had no idea where Dumbledore would be. This was a huge hospital-Harry had quickly learned that during his walks around the building, and before when he had visited Sirius--and he could be anywhere out of roughly three hundred million places to be.
Harry's heart sank, and he was about to go back into the room and had just resigned to let Dumbledore find him first when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, Harry," Harry heard the voice say. "Were you going to go for a walk?"
Harry didn't turn around, just sighed and shook his head (very slightly, because it sill hurt), smiling. The professor had always seemed to be able to guess Harry's thoughts and be at the right place at the right time.
"Hi, Professor," Harry said, glancing over his shoulder, then turning around to face Dumbledore who stood at the other end of the hallway. "I was actually just going to come looking for you..." He stopped suddenly, staring at the professor. "Wait a second...what are *you* doing here?"
"I was going to come and visit you and Sirius," Dumbledore said pleasantly, beginning to walk down the hallway in his long strides to reach Harry-who in the meantime, gave himself a mental slap on the head. The nurses had said that Dumbledore was going to come visit someone in the hospital...duh.
"Well, actually, Professor," Harry said quickly, walking closer to Dumbledore and away from his room. "Sirius is asleep now...can we go to the waiting room or something? I...need to talk to you."
Dumbledore nodded, smiling, and the two of them made their way through the hallway to one of the small waiting rooms on the other side, finding one which was thankfully empty. Harry lowered himself down onto one of the cushioned chairs, and Dumbledore sat across from him.
Harry looked up at his professor, opening his mouth and preparing to speak, before he paused. Maybe...maybe he shouldn't bother Dumbledore with his dream, after all. He certainly had a lot of his own things to worry about and deal with, what with everything that was going on...but then he changed his mind again. Harry had already brought him out here, and it would seem odd if he didn't say anything of somewhat importance... *And besides,* He convinced himself. *He would probably want to know about the dream anyway.* So Harry began to speak.
"Well, Professor, I had a dream..." He began slowly. Then he paused, trying to figure out how to word all of this without sounding like total idiot.
"Is that very unusual for you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked conversationally during the pause, a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes, well, I mean...no, wait. Yes, it's unusual...not having a dream, but the kind of dream it was was unusual. Having dreams are unusual...wait, no they aren't...but, but this dream was unusual..." Harry shook his head slightly, well aware of the fact that he was making absolutely no sense whatsoever. Trying to ignore the amused look on Dumbledore's face, he took a deep breath and then spoke again, this time very carefully.
"Professor, back when I was with the Dursleys I had a dream about Sirius...when he was in Southampton, in that Voldemort attack. It was so strange...everything was in so much detail, and it was all in the first person, like I was in Sirius's mind or something..." He shook his head yet again. "And then the next day I found out about the Southampton attack, and that Sirius was hurt..."
He stopped and looked up at Dumbledore, who's amused look had been replaced with curiousity.
"Is that so, Harry?" He asked quietly, his eyes carefully studying the boy's face as Harry glanced down at the floor, suddenly a little embarrassed.
"Yeah," He whispered. "It was so real...and then I found out that it had all been true..."
"That's a very interesting story," Dumbledore murmured, leaning back into his seat. "And...am I correct in assuming that nothing like this has ever happened to you before?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed, his voice sounding oddly small. All of a sudden, there was the wail of a baby crying somewhere not too far away in the building. Harry visibly jumped, startled, and, when Dumbledore looked at him in mild surprise, he mentally scolded himself. He had been on the edge a lot recently, ever since he had returned from 1981. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and slow his steadily quickening heartbeat.
After a few minutes of silence which involved Dumbledore obviously thinking very hard and looking at Harry thoughtfully-while Harry shifted uncomfortably and jumped at the slightest sound-the professor spoke.
"Harry, I'm not sure if we can clear up this little incident without consulting Sirius first, and even then I'm not entirely sure if it will all make sense, but all the same..."
Harry sighed, very softly. He had been afraid of that. He didn't want to put more stress on his godfather then there already was...
Dumbledore reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a very battered-but obviously very loved-watch. After studying it for a moment, Dumbledore stood up.
"Well, I must be going, Harry. I have a meeting with Colette. Why don't you try and tell Sirius about this?" He added gently, lowering his glasses slightly to watch his student.
"Cause right now Sirius is sleeping, and he's such a deep sleeper that World War Three could be going on at the foot of his bed and he wouldn't notice," Harry grinned, carefully avoiding the question. "Bye, Professor."
"Goodbye," Dumbledore said, watching Harry's retreating back as he made his way back to the room he shared with Sirius. Once he was out of sight, Dumbledore sighed. The boy certainly has had a lot to think about in the past few years...
Lost in various thoughts, Dumbledore went downstairs to the cafeteria at St. Mungo's, where Colette had said she would meet him for lunch. Meet Colette for lunch...had it only been about a week ago when they had done just that, before everything...
Shaking his head very slightly at everything and yet at nothing, Dumbledore straightened his robes, and began to search for Colette.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Colette was in a particularly sour mood, and with good reason.
It was Peter Pettigrew.
Colette and a few others in the Ministry knew that he was guilty of those horrible crimes, but did the people working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement know that? *Noooooo,* of course they didn't! No, they wouldn't take anybody else's word or anybody else's evidence, noooo, they had to hear him *confess*, had to hear him confess with their own *ears*, ears that Colette was sure were plugged up with a dangerously large amount of earwax.
But that was only partially why she was in a sour mood.
The thing that had really gotten to her, that was really putting her in a sour mood and annoying the living hell out of her, was that Pettigrew wouldn't confess.
Not only would he not confess, he wasn't *talking.* *At all.* It was like he was one of those damned monks who had taken those damned vows of silence in their damned monasteries.
"Damn!" She muttered suddenly, pounding her fist upon the table she was sitting at in the cafeteria at St. Mungo's and startling a passerby. Quite frankly, Colette neither noticed nor cared, she was too caught up in her tumbled and outraged thoughts about the trial and Pettigrew and monasteries and earwax.
So caught up, in fact, that she hardly noticed Albus Dumbledore until he had sat himself down across from her at the table.
"Colette...?" Dumbledore questioned quietly, making Colette jump, and in turn making Dumbledore raise an eyebrow at her, amused.
"Sorry, Albus," She muttered crisply. "I'm just not in a very good mood right now, and I wasn't paying attention."
"You mean, in a worse mood than usual?" Dumbledore asked her, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Colette glared at him, but at the same time couldn't help but smile inwardly. He was one of the few people in the world who would have dared to make that comment, Sirius Black being one of those other people...
Now that she had thought of Sirius, her mind was wandering back to the trial...and Pettigrew...who wasn't talking...*damn!*
"Albus, we have a problem," Colette said quickly, deciding that a change of subject was in order and, as usual, immediately jumped to the point. "It's Pettigrew. He's refusing to confess, or say anything at all, for that matter. The Ministry wants to hear him confess, Albus! Apparently, our word isn't enough," She added bitterly. "If we can't get him to say anything, then Sirius doesn't have a chance."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her again, but this time the amusement was gone from his eyes. "They're that adamant about it? They won't do anything unless he confesses?"
"Yes!" Colette scowled, frustrated. Not for the first time in the past few days she felt like banging her head on the table repeatedly, but she restrained herself and instead resigned to taking a sip of the coffee she had ordered earlier. She had been drinking an awful lot of coffee lately. "You would think that the simple fact that he had faked his own death would be enough evidence, but a lot of the people in Magical Law Enforcement seemed to be taking the same stand that Fudge most likely would have-they tell me that there's a possibility that Pettigrew was scared, and was in hiding from Sirius. That that's why he lived as a rat for twelve years."
"Have they been informed yet that Pettigrew has re-connected with Voldemort?" Dumbledore inquired, watching her carefully.
"Yes, they've been *informed,*" Colette muttered and waved a hand through the air, annoyed. "But do they believe it? Nope, not until he confesses. And if he won't confess...then we have a serious problem, Albus."
"Yes, we do," Dumbledore murmured in agreement, but his mind had wandered back. Back to a few years before, when he and Harry had spoken the day after Sirius escaped from Hogwarts. How he had told Harry that, after Harry had saved Pettigrew's life that night, Pettigrew now owed him a life debt. At the time, Harry hadn't been exactly happy about the idea, but now it might come in handy...
Still thinking very hard, Dumbledore turned to Colette. "Remember how I told you that Harry saved Pettigrew's life that night at Hogwarts, by not letting Sirius and Remus kill him?"
"Yes..." Colette said slowly, prompting him impatiently on. She had calmed down a bit, but was still on the edge, and impatient to the very end.
"Exactly. Harry saved Pettigrew's life, and now Pettigrew owes him a debt..."
Colette raised her eyes from where she had been staring inside her coffee cup to meet his. "What are you saying, Dumbledore?"
"That Harry could use this to his advantage. He could remind Pettigrew of the debt that he owes him, and make him confess."
They sat in silence for a moment, Colette frowning slightly. It sure seemed like a good plan on the outside, but something else was bugging her.
"But, Albus...Pettigrew was the Potters' Secret Keeper. They trusted him, they thought that he was loyal, and he betrayed him." Colette paused for a moment, shaking her head in disgust, before continuing. "In a very real sense, he killed his friends. What makes you think that now he'll fulfill the debt he owes to Harry?"
"Colette, I knew Peter," Dumbledore said grimly. "And I know that he's scared. He's scared of Voldemort, scared of dying, but most of all, I think he's scared of Harry." Dumbledore stood up, straightening his robes and preparing to leave. "If Peter has any shred of humanity left inside of him, he'll fulfill the debt." He turned and, without another word, walked away.
Colette stared after his retreating back. Very rarely had she heard him use such hard words before, and it had unnerved her somewhat...but at the same time, she truly hoped that he was right about Pettigrew. For everyone's sake.
As she considered all the implications of everything that was happening, she grimaced as she noticed that her pounding and now consistent headache that had disappeared a few days before was now returning.
Damn.
A/N: Yeah, I know that it was short, but now that we're past the point where I need to write a chapter that includes three million things happening simultaneously for it all to make sense... I figure it'll be easier (for me, anyway) if I get out the remaining chapters in a bunch of small blocks, rather than a couple of large ones, if I want to finish before the 5th book comes out.
WeasleyTwinsLover1112: Last July? My goodness! Haha...
Silver Angel: I'm glad that you like my story so much! Trust me, I'm updating, I'm working to get them all out!
Child-of-the-Dawn: Is it just me, am I going crazy, or did you give the same review twice? Lol I dunno I think I need more sleep...Star Wars ROCKS!
The Elfin Child: Fudge named after chocolate...haha...don't worry, we're all a little loopy these days!
celestial princess: Hehe, I had fun with Colette. Really, you picked up on that a bit? Haha, someone did! Trust me, I'll be sad when it's over, too!
Group One with flamingo skirts! AWWW!
Yuffie-Girl: Yeah, it was an extremely long chapter, wasn't it? Thanks, lol, knowing where to end a chapter just seems to come to me naturally, or something...hehe.
I'd say about two chapters are left, but it could be more or less, not sure, and the epilogue-you read my mind, that's basically the epilogue I was planning. Ha!
Yay! How long have you been reading this story for? Too lazy to go back and check the reviews...
Jordan: Your wish has been granted!
A/N: This is a reeeeally short chapter, guys, especially in comparison to the last one...
Chapter Twenty One-St. Mungo's, Dreams, and Annoying Vows of Silence
A few days after Harry woke up in Sirius's hospital room in St. Mungo's, he was feeling well enough to get up and walk around the hopsital a little. His quick recovery was surprising the doctors, who had initially thought that his head injury was worse than it really was. The main reason that the doctors were keeping him in the hospital as long as they were was because he was under observation-he still wasn't all-clear yet.
Sirius, on the other hand, had lost a lot of blood when he had been injured in Liverpool, so as a result-and to Harry's distress--he was still pretty weak.
Hours after Dumbledore and Colette had left Harry and Sirius alone in their room that day; and after Harry had dozed off and eventually fallen into a deep sleep, something had occurred to him. He remembered something...something that seemed to have happened a long time ago, but in actuality had only happened about a week ago...
Harry's dream. The dream that he had had back in Privet Drive, back at the Dursleys. The dream that had told him that Sirius was hurt in that Voldemort attack in Southampton. In light of everything that had happened since he had the dream, it seemed like he had had it so long ago...
But now that he remembered it, he realized that he really, really needed to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Originally, he hadn't wanted to talk to Dumbledore about it, but now things had changed. He was having foreshadowing dreams about his godfather. How often did *that* happen?
He wanted to talk to Dumbledore desperately. Also as desperately, he wanted to reveal his feelings to Ron and Hermione during the times that they visited him in the hospital, but whenever they were in there they were either accompanied by the other Weasley children, or Sirius was awake...and he didn't want to tell Sirius about his dream just yet. He had enough to worry about.
By a stroke of luck, on one of the mornings that he was feeling fairly well, he heard two nurses talking amongst themselves that Dumbledore was "going to visit someone in the hospital today." So later that day, at around noon-when Sirius was asleep and the Weasleys and Hermione were eating lunch--Harry slipped out of bed to find Professor Dumbledore.
As soon as he left the room and found himself in the hallway, Harry realized that he had no idea where Dumbledore would be. This was a huge hospital-Harry had quickly learned that during his walks around the building, and before when he had visited Sirius--and he could be anywhere out of roughly three hundred million places to be.
Harry's heart sank, and he was about to go back into the room and had just resigned to let Dumbledore find him first when he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, Harry," Harry heard the voice say. "Were you going to go for a walk?"
Harry didn't turn around, just sighed and shook his head (very slightly, because it sill hurt), smiling. The professor had always seemed to be able to guess Harry's thoughts and be at the right place at the right time.
"Hi, Professor," Harry said, glancing over his shoulder, then turning around to face Dumbledore who stood at the other end of the hallway. "I was actually just going to come looking for you..." He stopped suddenly, staring at the professor. "Wait a second...what are *you* doing here?"
"I was going to come and visit you and Sirius," Dumbledore said pleasantly, beginning to walk down the hallway in his long strides to reach Harry-who in the meantime, gave himself a mental slap on the head. The nurses had said that Dumbledore was going to come visit someone in the hospital...duh.
"Well, actually, Professor," Harry said quickly, walking closer to Dumbledore and away from his room. "Sirius is asleep now...can we go to the waiting room or something? I...need to talk to you."
Dumbledore nodded, smiling, and the two of them made their way through the hallway to one of the small waiting rooms on the other side, finding one which was thankfully empty. Harry lowered himself down onto one of the cushioned chairs, and Dumbledore sat across from him.
Harry looked up at his professor, opening his mouth and preparing to speak, before he paused. Maybe...maybe he shouldn't bother Dumbledore with his dream, after all. He certainly had a lot of his own things to worry about and deal with, what with everything that was going on...but then he changed his mind again. Harry had already brought him out here, and it would seem odd if he didn't say anything of somewhat importance... *And besides,* He convinced himself. *He would probably want to know about the dream anyway.* So Harry began to speak.
"Well, Professor, I had a dream..." He began slowly. Then he paused, trying to figure out how to word all of this without sounding like total idiot.
"Is that very unusual for you, Harry?" Dumbledore asked conversationally during the pause, a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes, well, I mean...no, wait. Yes, it's unusual...not having a dream, but the kind of dream it was was unusual. Having dreams are unusual...wait, no they aren't...but, but this dream was unusual..." Harry shook his head slightly, well aware of the fact that he was making absolutely no sense whatsoever. Trying to ignore the amused look on Dumbledore's face, he took a deep breath and then spoke again, this time very carefully.
"Professor, back when I was with the Dursleys I had a dream about Sirius...when he was in Southampton, in that Voldemort attack. It was so strange...everything was in so much detail, and it was all in the first person, like I was in Sirius's mind or something..." He shook his head yet again. "And then the next day I found out about the Southampton attack, and that Sirius was hurt..."
He stopped and looked up at Dumbledore, who's amused look had been replaced with curiousity.
"Is that so, Harry?" He asked quietly, his eyes carefully studying the boy's face as Harry glanced down at the floor, suddenly a little embarrassed.
"Yeah," He whispered. "It was so real...and then I found out that it had all been true..."
"That's a very interesting story," Dumbledore murmured, leaning back into his seat. "And...am I correct in assuming that nothing like this has ever happened to you before?"
"Yes," Harry confirmed, his voice sounding oddly small. All of a sudden, there was the wail of a baby crying somewhere not too far away in the building. Harry visibly jumped, startled, and, when Dumbledore looked at him in mild surprise, he mentally scolded himself. He had been on the edge a lot recently, ever since he had returned from 1981. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and slow his steadily quickening heartbeat.
After a few minutes of silence which involved Dumbledore obviously thinking very hard and looking at Harry thoughtfully-while Harry shifted uncomfortably and jumped at the slightest sound-the professor spoke.
"Harry, I'm not sure if we can clear up this little incident without consulting Sirius first, and even then I'm not entirely sure if it will all make sense, but all the same..."
Harry sighed, very softly. He had been afraid of that. He didn't want to put more stress on his godfather then there already was...
Dumbledore reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a very battered-but obviously very loved-watch. After studying it for a moment, Dumbledore stood up.
"Well, I must be going, Harry. I have a meeting with Colette. Why don't you try and tell Sirius about this?" He added gently, lowering his glasses slightly to watch his student.
"Cause right now Sirius is sleeping, and he's such a deep sleeper that World War Three could be going on at the foot of his bed and he wouldn't notice," Harry grinned, carefully avoiding the question. "Bye, Professor."
"Goodbye," Dumbledore said, watching Harry's retreating back as he made his way back to the room he shared with Sirius. Once he was out of sight, Dumbledore sighed. The boy certainly has had a lot to think about in the past few years...
Lost in various thoughts, Dumbledore went downstairs to the cafeteria at St. Mungo's, where Colette had said she would meet him for lunch. Meet Colette for lunch...had it only been about a week ago when they had done just that, before everything...
Shaking his head very slightly at everything and yet at nothing, Dumbledore straightened his robes, and began to search for Colette.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Colette was in a particularly sour mood, and with good reason.
It was Peter Pettigrew.
Colette and a few others in the Ministry knew that he was guilty of those horrible crimes, but did the people working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement know that? *Noooooo,* of course they didn't! No, they wouldn't take anybody else's word or anybody else's evidence, noooo, they had to hear him *confess*, had to hear him confess with their own *ears*, ears that Colette was sure were plugged up with a dangerously large amount of earwax.
But that was only partially why she was in a sour mood.
The thing that had really gotten to her, that was really putting her in a sour mood and annoying the living hell out of her, was that Pettigrew wouldn't confess.
Not only would he not confess, he wasn't *talking.* *At all.* It was like he was one of those damned monks who had taken those damned vows of silence in their damned monasteries.
"Damn!" She muttered suddenly, pounding her fist upon the table she was sitting at in the cafeteria at St. Mungo's and startling a passerby. Quite frankly, Colette neither noticed nor cared, she was too caught up in her tumbled and outraged thoughts about the trial and Pettigrew and monasteries and earwax.
So caught up, in fact, that she hardly noticed Albus Dumbledore until he had sat himself down across from her at the table.
"Colette...?" Dumbledore questioned quietly, making Colette jump, and in turn making Dumbledore raise an eyebrow at her, amused.
"Sorry, Albus," She muttered crisply. "I'm just not in a very good mood right now, and I wasn't paying attention."
"You mean, in a worse mood than usual?" Dumbledore asked her, amusement twinkling in his eyes. Colette glared at him, but at the same time couldn't help but smile inwardly. He was one of the few people in the world who would have dared to make that comment, Sirius Black being one of those other people...
Now that she had thought of Sirius, her mind was wandering back to the trial...and Pettigrew...who wasn't talking...*damn!*
"Albus, we have a problem," Colette said quickly, deciding that a change of subject was in order and, as usual, immediately jumped to the point. "It's Pettigrew. He's refusing to confess, or say anything at all, for that matter. The Ministry wants to hear him confess, Albus! Apparently, our word isn't enough," She added bitterly. "If we can't get him to say anything, then Sirius doesn't have a chance."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at her again, but this time the amusement was gone from his eyes. "They're that adamant about it? They won't do anything unless he confesses?"
"Yes!" Colette scowled, frustrated. Not for the first time in the past few days she felt like banging her head on the table repeatedly, but she restrained herself and instead resigned to taking a sip of the coffee she had ordered earlier. She had been drinking an awful lot of coffee lately. "You would think that the simple fact that he had faked his own death would be enough evidence, but a lot of the people in Magical Law Enforcement seemed to be taking the same stand that Fudge most likely would have-they tell me that there's a possibility that Pettigrew was scared, and was in hiding from Sirius. That that's why he lived as a rat for twelve years."
"Have they been informed yet that Pettigrew has re-connected with Voldemort?" Dumbledore inquired, watching her carefully.
"Yes, they've been *informed,*" Colette muttered and waved a hand through the air, annoyed. "But do they believe it? Nope, not until he confesses. And if he won't confess...then we have a serious problem, Albus."
"Yes, we do," Dumbledore murmured in agreement, but his mind had wandered back. Back to a few years before, when he and Harry had spoken the day after Sirius escaped from Hogwarts. How he had told Harry that, after Harry had saved Pettigrew's life that night, Pettigrew now owed him a life debt. At the time, Harry hadn't been exactly happy about the idea, but now it might come in handy...
Still thinking very hard, Dumbledore turned to Colette. "Remember how I told you that Harry saved Pettigrew's life that night at Hogwarts, by not letting Sirius and Remus kill him?"
"Yes..." Colette said slowly, prompting him impatiently on. She had calmed down a bit, but was still on the edge, and impatient to the very end.
"Exactly. Harry saved Pettigrew's life, and now Pettigrew owes him a debt..."
Colette raised her eyes from where she had been staring inside her coffee cup to meet his. "What are you saying, Dumbledore?"
"That Harry could use this to his advantage. He could remind Pettigrew of the debt that he owes him, and make him confess."
They sat in silence for a moment, Colette frowning slightly. It sure seemed like a good plan on the outside, but something else was bugging her.
"But, Albus...Pettigrew was the Potters' Secret Keeper. They trusted him, they thought that he was loyal, and he betrayed him." Colette paused for a moment, shaking her head in disgust, before continuing. "In a very real sense, he killed his friends. What makes you think that now he'll fulfill the debt he owes to Harry?"
"Colette, I knew Peter," Dumbledore said grimly. "And I know that he's scared. He's scared of Voldemort, scared of dying, but most of all, I think he's scared of Harry." Dumbledore stood up, straightening his robes and preparing to leave. "If Peter has any shred of humanity left inside of him, he'll fulfill the debt." He turned and, without another word, walked away.
Colette stared after his retreating back. Very rarely had she heard him use such hard words before, and it had unnerved her somewhat...but at the same time, she truly hoped that he was right about Pettigrew. For everyone's sake.
As she considered all the implications of everything that was happening, she grimaced as she noticed that her pounding and now consistent headache that had disappeared a few days before was now returning.
Damn.
A/N: Yeah, I know that it was short, but now that we're past the point where I need to write a chapter that includes three million things happening simultaneously for it all to make sense... I figure it'll be easier (for me, anyway) if I get out the remaining chapters in a bunch of small blocks, rather than a couple of large ones, if I want to finish before the 5th book comes out.
WeasleyTwinsLover1112: Last July? My goodness! Haha...
Silver Angel: I'm glad that you like my story so much! Trust me, I'm updating, I'm working to get them all out!
Child-of-the-Dawn: Is it just me, am I going crazy, or did you give the same review twice? Lol I dunno I think I need more sleep...Star Wars ROCKS!
The Elfin Child: Fudge named after chocolate...haha...don't worry, we're all a little loopy these days!
celestial princess: Hehe, I had fun with Colette. Really, you picked up on that a bit? Haha, someone did! Trust me, I'll be sad when it's over, too!
Group One with flamingo skirts! AWWW!
Yuffie-Girl: Yeah, it was an extremely long chapter, wasn't it? Thanks, lol, knowing where to end a chapter just seems to come to me naturally, or something...hehe.
I'd say about two chapters are left, but it could be more or less, not sure, and the epilogue-you read my mind, that's basically the epilogue I was planning. Ha!
Yay! How long have you been reading this story for? Too lazy to go back and check the reviews...
Jordan: Your wish has been granted!
