Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the poem "Invictus", nor do I own
the book "A Golden Treasury of Poetry" or the prologue for "Invictus-which
are both real--and all that jazz...but I do own Colette-whom I'm actually
quite proud of.
A/N: Well, this is it, guys! ::sob:: It's all over... I had a lot of trouble finishing this and took a lot of time, because this story is my last link to the Harry Potter world from before I read OotP, and how I perceived it then...and before Snuffles...well, you know. Sigh...
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
--William Ernest Henley, "Invictus"
Epilogue-Invictus
Harry Potter was having a good day.
He and Sirius had just been released from St. Mungo's that very morning; and their release from the hospital couldn't have happened on a better day.
For today, July 31st, 1995, was Harry's birthday: today was the day that he turned fifteen. Fourteen years of life at the Dursleys were finally over, and he was going to live with Sirius now and be happy, and not have to worry about the Dursleys ever again. What could be a better birthday present?
From the moment he was told that he and his godfather could leave the hospital, Harry thought that the day couldn't get any better than it already was.
But apparently, as Harry would soon find out, it could.
On the insistence of Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley picked up Harry and Sirius from St. Mungo's using a (much to Mr. Weasley's disappointment) non magical car, and drove them to the Burrow, where Harry and Sirius would be staying for the time being.
"We'll stay there until I can find us someplace to live," Sirius had told Harry earlier that day, and his words had caused something like an explosion to occur in the pit of Harry's stomach. *Someplace to live...* Him and Sirius... *Someplace to live...* It was about time!
During the car ride from St. Mungo's to the Burrow Harry sort of zonked out of Sirius and Mr. Weasley's conversation a bit. He simply sat alone in the backseat, staring out of the window as the scenery changed from urban London, to the suburbs, and gradually, to the rural countryside. Not thinking of anything in particular, he only half listened to the conversation that was going on in the front, and didn't really notice Mr. Weasley's apparent nervousness or contained excitement.
When they finally arrived at the Burrow a while later-it seemed like it had been a very long time to Harry-he noticed that Mr. Weasley was acting strangely quieter than he normally was, and appeared to be glancing back at the house anxiously over his shoulder as he got out of the car.
In fact, Harry noticed, glancing at the house himself, everything did seem to have an eerie quiet about it... Usually, he would have been able to hear Mrs. Weasley yelling at someone or other, or the ghoul throwing things around in the attic, or an explosion going off courtesy of Fred and George. But, instead, he heard nothing of the sort.
He glanced at Sirius, who-although he had never been to the Burrow before- seemed to notice that something was up, as well. He raised a questioning eyebrow slightly at Harry, who just shrugged slightly as they followed Mr. Weasley up to the house. He had plenty of other things to worry about besides getting himself worked up about some most likely nonexistent problem with the Weasleys.
Just outside the front door, Mr. Weasley paused. Harry stopped short as to not bump into him, and behind Harry, Sirius was caught by surprise and fell into his godson, who in turn stumbled forward into Mr. Weasley.
"Er...sorry," Sirius muttered, placing his hand firmly upon Harry's shoulder and pulling him back a little. However, Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice. He just looked around anxiously again, glancing up at the upper levels of the house as though he could sense something that the other two couldn't.
"I'm...home, Molly! Someone!" He raised his voice slightly. "I'm home!"
Sirius's hand still on his shoulder, Harry shifted backwards slightly so that he was leaning into Sirius's arm. From this position, he could glance up at Sirius questioningly without needing to turn around. Sirius, though, just gave Harry a frankly bewildered look, clearly saying that he, like Harry, had no idea why Mr. Weasley was acting so strangely.
"Well, um, I suppose we'll just go in, then," Mr. Weasley said after a moment, smiling sheepishly at Harry and Sirius over his shoulder before unlocking the door and stepping inside.
The house was dark. So dark, in fact, that Harry and Sirius were disoriented as soon as they entered, moving around blindly, unsure of what to do and promptly trodding on each other's feet.
They took a moment to get their bearings together, and then Harry asked, "Where is everyone?"
"Er," Came Mr. Weasley's voice from somewhere to Harry's left. "I'm sure that they're here somewhere..."
Sirius's hand had traveled down from Harry's shoulder to his arm, holding him tightly as if ready to shove him out of danger if someone jumped out of the shadows.
"It's okay, Padfoot," Harry said quietly, using the old nickname in an effort to relax Sirius and gently removing his godfather's hand from his arm. "This is just the Weasley's house, remember? It's okay."
Though Harry himself wondered about the truth of his words. Was it okay? Where *was* everyone? Not ever in his whole life-even during the time when Ginny had been taken captive in the Chamber of Secrets-had Harry ever been in the presence of Weasleys and have it be so quiet.
But...but maybe the rest of the Weasleys weren't here...it seemed that the house was empty, that was for sure. But now Mr. Weasley was speaking again, and when he spoke, his voice sounded odd and cracked, or as though he wasn't quite sure of what he was doing.
"I solemnly swear..." Harry and Sirius both froze. But before either of them could react, light burst in front of their eyes, people seemed to be falling out of the sky from all directions, and several loud, familiar voices finished the sentence for Mr. Weasley.
"...THAT I AM UP TO NO GOOD!"
Unsure of what to do and even more unsure of what was going on, Harry just stood there dumbly as two flashes of hair-one of bright red, one of brown- came flying towards him as Ginny and Hermione threw themselves at Harry. They paused for a moment when they reached him, one on either side of him, but then they simultaneously kissed the cheek of his of which they were closest. All Harry could do was stare blankly as Hermione bounded around from his side to stand in front of him.
"Surprise!" She squealed breathlessly. "Welcome back to both of you-" She nodded, grinning widely, at a shocked Sirius. "-and...happy birthday, Harry!"
She jumped forward, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug, causing Harry to stagger backwards for a moment-but then he gathered his thoughts, let out a laugh, and hugged his friend back.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
About forty minutes later, Harry sat at the Weasley's kitchen table, munching on birthday cake and smiling around at everyone who was sitting near him. His happiness was clearly infectious, and soon everyone was acting somewhat loud and giggly. If truth was to be told, then this was really the first birthday party that Harry had ever had-or at least one that he could remember-and that thought itself made him feel nearly ecstatic.
Another thought that pleased him to the very bone was the fact that, for the very first time, the majority of the people that he cared about most in the world were in one place together-with the exception of Hagrid, who was off doing business for Dumbledore. Also that many of these people had put in a lot of time planning the surprise party-which was part birthday party for Harry, part welcoming party for both him and Sirius. The Weasleys and Hermione had put a good deal of work into the surprise, for which Sirius was extremely flattered, and Harry downright shocked-nobody had done such things before for him, ever.
Remus was there as well. "I didn't know about it until last night!" He had said to an unconvinced Sirius desperately, laughing all the while. "I seriously didn't! They only just told me, I had nothing to do with it!"
"Of *course* you didn't," Sirius had told him, grinning, in a voice revealing that he obviously didn't believe his friend.
In fact, Remus had (supposedly) been just as surprised as Sirius and Harry had been at the idea of the party. They were both surprised to learn that Remus hadn't helped with any of the decorations of the Burrow--which had a bit of "the Maruader's touch", as Sirius had put it...for there were lights. There were lights stringing from every doorway and wrapped across the chairs, piled in every corner and decorating nearly every surface- flashing the colors of the rainbow, or the Gryffindor colors of red and gold. A few of them looked quite ordinary and were flashing red and green- Harry strongly suspected that they were Muggle Christmas lights. There was even something that looked like an enormous disco ball, but instead of just hanging from the ceiling in one room it was zooming throughout the house. Ron tried poking it once and it started to very loudly play Muggle music from the seventies.
But Sirius and Harry they were even more surprised that it hadn't been Remus'ss idea to use the sacred and legendary "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" line as a signal for everybody to jump out of their hiding places.
Harry, however, had a sneaking suspicion about who had come up with that clever little idea, and when he approached them about it after finishing with his cake, Fred and George both beamed and grinned.
"Yeah, that was my lovely little gem of an idea," George said proudly, puffing out his chest in an unmistakable imitation of a pompous Percy.
"Yeah, well, I was the one who thought of splitting it up like that, into a call-and-response type thing," Fred added. "Course, the only ones who really understood its significance were Remus, Ron, and Hermione, and we all just assured everyone else that you and Sirius would understand and appreciate it. Luckily, nobody else asked questions."
"Well, Sirius and I loved it," Harry told them, smiling. "I think it was a great idea, though old Padfoot nearly fainted when everyone started saying it."
Both of the twins grinned, and then Fred said, "So, Harry, how do you like our extremely bright decorations?"
Harry laughed. "I figured that it was you! I love them! And that disco ball is certainly...um...interesting-"
"Have you opened the closet near the second floor bathroom yet?" George interrupted Harry anxiously. Harry shook his head slowly, watching them warily.
"Good," George said, sound relieved. "One of our very newest products is in there-fireworks."
Harry stared. "*Fireworks?*"
"Yep," They proudly said together.
"We're hoping that we could lure Hermione there to open the door and set the fireworks off," Fred explained to Harry after he saw the look on his face. "You see, she was the one who gave us the idea. She was talking about a Muggle book called 'The Lord of the Rings'-"
"-that has a wizard in it named Gandalf-"
"-who makes fireworks-"
"-shaped like dragons-"
"-so, we just had to try, of course-"
Harry laughed again. "You should tell that to-well, you know. Padfoot and Moony. I'm sure that they'd love it."
"Good idea," Fred said thoughtfully. "We've been meaning to talk to them for a while anyway..."
"Yeah, let's go, Fred," George agreed. "See ya, Harry!"
Shaking his head and grinning, Harry left the twins and wandered off through the house with the vague idea of finding Ron or Hermione, but instead nearly bumped headlong into Remus right outside the front door, who was looking uncharacteristically flustered.
"Um, Moony?" Harry asked hesitantly, watching as the older man glanced around quickly, as if looking for someone. "Are you...okay?"
He smiled warmly down at Harry, suddenly acting like himself again. "Yes, I'm fine, I just...talked to Colette in the fire, that's all. She wants me to deliver a message to Sirius from her..."
"Colette, eh?" Harry grinned. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk to Remus since Colette's memorable parting from him at the hospital. "So, are you two...um...how are you...how is she doing?"
"She's doing fine...I mean..." Remus looked at him carefully, his eyes sparkling. "Honestly, Harry, she's doing wonderful...we're, um..."
"Together?" Harry supplied helpfully, his grin widening.
"Yeah...and, well..." He lowered his voice slightly. "I told her about my...condition...and that if she didn't want to deal with that she could leave me right now, because I didn't want to burden her with it...but, well..."
"What did she say?" Harry prompted, though by the happy smile on Remus's face he thought that he could already guess the answer.
"She said she couldn't care less if I was a werewolf or if I was an agoraphobic house elf from Mars," Remus said happily. "Also that she was going to try to pass laws in the Ministry that make life easier for werewolves, because things have just gotten worse over the last few years...but Harry, you have no idea how much this means to me. She's the first girlfriend I've had who knows who I am and who really, truly, doesn't care."
"That...that...Remus, that's great!" Harry said enthusiastically, feeling genuinely happy for Remus that he had found someone.
"Thanks, Harry," Remus said, still obviously very pleased. "She said that she would have come to the party herself if she wasn't too busy, I mean, with Voldemort and all... Also, I have to apologize for my somewhat...ecstatic behavior the other day at the hospital...I guess I just sort of lost it."
"You had every right to," Harry assured him. "I would have been worried for you if you *didn't* seem very excited after all that news."
"Yeah, well..." Remus continued talking, but Harry was no longer comprehending what he was saying, for he had just spotted Ginny walking in the living room over Remus's shoulder.
Fortunately, Remus seemed to notifce that his attention was elsewhere, and smiled at Harry. "You go off and do...something. I need to find Sirius to pass on her message."
"He's with Fred and George," Harry said, trying to see into the living room. "I'm sure that they'll want to talk to you as well about...marauding stuff."
Remus nodded. "Yeah, I don't doubt it...see you later, Harry. Happy birthday."
"Thanks...bye." As soon as Remus was gone, Harry moved forward and, pushing aside some of the Christmas lights, slipped into the living room.
Sitting on one of the couches was not only Ginny but Hermione as well. Ron was also there, leaning over the back of the couch to peer over their shoulders, and they all seemed to be poring over a package of some sort... Harry cleared his throat slightly.
"Oh!" Hermione looked up in surprise, and then closed the package quickly once she saw who it was. "I was just showing Ron and Ginny your birthday present, Harry."
"Oh, well, I'll see it later," Harry shrugged, and sat down in a chair across from the couch. "What's up?"
"Nothing," The two girls replied in unison, and Harry raised an eyebrow, exchanging a confused glance with Ron.
"Oh, well, there is something," Ginny amended quickly, and then looked pointedly at Hermione, who seemed to understand immediately, for she jumped up and went around to the other side of the couch to stand next to Ron.
"Come on, Ron," Hermione said imploringly. "Let's go talk to Percy."
Ron stared at her, mouth hanging slightly open. "What do you want to talk to Percy for?"
"Oh, I don't know, cause he's an, um, interesting person. Very opinionated," Hermione said hastily.
Ron continued to stare. "Is there another Percy in this house that someone failed to tell me about?"
"It doesn't matter...oh, just come on, Ron!" Hermione pleaded. However, instead of moving, Ron turned to Harry with a thoughtful expression. "Harry, don't you think Hermione and Percy would make a good couple? I mean, on their dates, they could go to study in the library or something..." Harry snorted.
"Yes, that's exactly what we'd do, study in the library, now come *on*!" Hermione let out in a rush, then grabbed Ron's arm and tugged him out of the living room.
Harry and Ginny watched them leave. They were silent for a moment before Ginny turned, grinning, to Harry. "Ron can be a bit clueless sometimes, don't you think?"
"Yeah, um...yeah," Harry had begun fidgeting as he talked, suddenly feeling slightly nervous. It felt so strange to be nervous around Ginny- hadn't it always been the other way around? Hadn't Ginny always been nervous around him? He'd always just regarded her as his best friend's younger sister-someone he knew, not really a friend. She had been a bit annoying in her younger years, but she had been obviously growing up and was much more mature than she once had been.
"Harry, do you, um, remember what we talked about at St. Mungo's?" She asked abruptly.
Harry nodded, his face growing slightly red. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about all that," Ginny let out quickly. "I mean, I've liked you for years, and when I was younger I was a bit of a moron about it-giggling and stuff all over the place-I know that must have been pretty annoying."
"No, it wasn't too bad," Harry said. It was half-true: He had pretty much gotten into the habit of simply disregarding her behavior around him until his third or fourth year, when she had begun to grow up a bit.
"Well, you can't say that that ridiculous Valentine I sent you back in my first year 'wasn't too bad'!" Ginny said indigantly.
Harry laughed at the memory, which, at the time, had mortified him. The Valentine arriving in the middle of the crowded hallway...Harry could remember feeling disgusted with Gilderoy Lockhart's Valentines Day antics. "Yeah, that was pretty..."
"Stupid?" Ginny supplied dully, but there was a smile flickering around the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Harry laughed again. He was suddenly feeling less nervous now that they had found some common ground.
"I was such an idiot," Ginny muttered. "'Eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad...'" She scowled at the floor, then looked up at Harry, who was staring at her. Their eyes locked together for a moment, then, at the same time, the two of them burst into simultaneous laughter.
"What...what exactly were you thinking of when you wrote that line?" Harry gasped, when their laughter had subsided a bit.
"I...honestly don't know," Ginny admitted, taking a deep breath and leaning back in her seat. "I mean, your eyes are green, and pickled toads are green, so I guess I thought that a simile about it was kind of poetic...hey, don't give me that look, I was only eleven!" She added, grinning, upon seeing that Harry had started laughing again.
"Yeah, I know. Eleven is still pretty young," Harry said once he had stopped laughing again. "A lot of people are stupid at eleven...I know I did a few stupid things in my first year...although," He couldn't suppress a snort. "I didn't write Valentines about pickled toads..."
He had expected her to start laughing again at the memory, but instead, she was looking at the floor.
"I did more than one stupid thing that year," She said quietly, not looking up and meeting his eyes.
Harry's laughing mood ceased immediately. "You mean...with Riddle's diary?" He asked, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable again.
"Yeah," Ginny answered simply, still quiet and still staring at the floor.
Harry sat up quickly, looking hard at her. "That wasn't your fault. You were a little kid, and you were tricked. I was tricked, too, in the beginning, when I first saw the diary. No one blamed you then, and no one's blaming you now," Harry finished so fiercely that she looked up at him in surprise.
"Harry, I could have gotten you and Ron killed! It was because of me you that you were in the Chamber in the first place!"
"No, it wasn't! It wasn't because of you, it was because of Voldemort!" Ginny gave an involuntary shudder at the name, but Harry ignored it. "It wasn't your fault that you were trapped down there in the Chamber! It wasn't your fault that Ron and I went after you! You were young! I probably would have done the same thing if I had been in your position at that age! Come on, Ginny, have you really been blaming yourself for all this since your first year?"
She looked at finally. "And what if I have?" She said defensively. "You were the one who was fighting that basilisk thing because of me-"
Harry shook his head in disbelief, cutting her off. "You sound just like me! Someone-I don't remember who it was, Sirius or Hermione or someone- told me that I'm always blaming myself for stuff that I have no control over, and that's like what you're doing, Ginny! Ron doesn't blame you, Dumbledore doesn't blame you, Colin or Justin or Hermione or Nearly Headless Nick or any of the other Petrified people don't blame you, Dumbledore doesn't blame you, and..." He paused. "Me, who fought that 'basilisk thing'...I don't blame you, Ginny. So calm down." A flicker of a smile appeared on his face. "I sound like I'm lecturing, you, don't I?"
She didn't answer right away, just stared at Harry, as though she had never seen anything like him before. "I...I don't know, Harry. I mean, I suppose that you're probably right-"
"I *am* right," Harry interjected, but she just shook her head slightly.
"Yeah, probably-I just can't help feeling a bit responsible for everything, you know what I mean? Wait-of course you know! You probably feel a little responsible for...I mean...well...oh..."
Ginny's voice trailed off, but Harry nodded to show that he understood at the same time that something unpleasant squirmed in his stomach. "For Cedric? Yeah, I do, so..." He paused again. "I know what you mean, so...can we wallow in our self pitying arrogance together?"
Harry was happy to see her laugh now. "Yeah, sounds good to me..." She said, smiling.
He swallowed, as inspiration flitted through his mind. When he next spoke, it was slowly, so as to form coherent words. "Do you, um, I mean, when we get back to Hogwarts, do you, uh, want to wallow in our self pitying arrogance together...literally? I mean, we could just, er..." This was harder than he had thought that it would be. "Hang out together sometime or something?"
Ginny looked at him quickly. "Yeah, that sounds...that sounds great, Harry! You really want to?"
"Yeah, I mean..." Harry swallowed quickly. "Yeah."
They didn't have time to say anything more, however, as a loud group of people that consisted of Sirius, Remus, Fred, and George entered the living room.
"And then we have these Canary Creams," George was telling Remus as they seated themselves in various places around the room. "They're little candies, and when you eat them you turn into a huge canary for a bit..."
Remus laughed. "That's certainly...unusual."
"Thanks!" Fred said immediately, grinning. "We want our stuff to be unusual, you know, not like the other stuff on the market...we don't want to be continually associated with Zonkos products and things, we want to be different..."
As the twins went on about various products of the Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, Sirius looked over at Harry, smiled, and then his eyes swept across the room towards Ginny, who was sitting opposite Harry. His gaze caught Harry's. Harry blushed yet again as his godfather looked at him significantly, gave Ginny a questioning jerk of his head, and then began to grin broadly and wiggle his eyebrows.
Turning away from Sirius quickly so as to avoid laughing out loud and having a face the color of a ripe tomato, Harry jumped to his feet and started speaking to the room at large.
"I'm...uh...going to have some more cake...uh...yeah," He finished lamely, then began to move quickly out of the living room.
Since Fred, George, and Remus were immersed in conversation-now about the twins latest plans, something called "Skiving Snackboxes"-Sirius was the only who noticed as Ginny jumped up to follow Harry out of the room. Shaking his head slightly with amusement, he turned back to the conversation, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Two weeks later*
Harry was sitting on a small bed in a small room, looking through some of his birthday presents that he had received from his friends' two weeks prior.
Sirius was in the small room next door. They were in a small apartment, with a small kitchen, a small living room, etc. Basically, everything was pretty small.
"It's only temporary," Sirius had promised Harry when they had moved in a couple of days before. "I didn't want to burden the Weasleys any longer, they've already done so much, so this is just where we'll be until we find a real place."
But frankly, Harry didn't care. He was quickly having the best summer of his life-minus, of course, the Voldemort attacks, Sirius's previous injuries, and his little time traveling excursion-but spending so much time with the people that he cared about was making him extremely happy, to say the least.
And Sirius-he was finally getting time to spend prolonged time with his godfather. Time that wasn't spent worrying about one another's health constantly, or about who might find Sirius or see them talking together and alert the Ministry, or spent in desperate moments of running from authorities. They should have spent time together for the last fourteen years, but due to unfortunate circumstances, they didn't.
But both Harry and Sirius knew that they couldn't change the past, and that the time that they lost was time lost forever-but they had to concentrate on the now, on the present. To spend time together when they could, because with the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, nobody knew whom the next victims could be.
That was the one thing that was putting a damper on Harry's summer- and a thought that invaded his mind nearly every day and, without fail, every night: The fact that Voldemort was back at full power. That there had already been several attacks on major British cities, and that many more people were getting hurt and dying.
If there was one thing that Harry was worried about, it was the safety of his friends. Although Sirius had told Harry solemnly only the other day that he would never let anything happen to his godson, not "while I can help it," that didn't guarantee the safety of everyone. He was not only worried about the Weasleys and Remus and Colette and all of his Hogwarts teachers and friends who lived in the magical world, but for Hermione and her Muggle family as well. And that was a lot of people to worry about.
But Harry shoved these disturbing thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on the task in front of him: sifting through and organizing his birthday presents.
He had just begun to return to the job when he heard the rustle of clothes and movement outside of his room. Harry looked up towards his open door, and saw that Sirius was leaning against the doorframe, watching him and smiling slightly. Harry had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Sirius's entrance.
"Hey," Sirius said. "You okay there? You seemed really out of it."
Harry shook his head. "Nah, I was just thinking."
"'Bout what?" Sirius asked, coming over to sit on Harry's bed.
Harry sighed, gesturing around at his presents, which were scattered around him. "I don't know. Stuff. Voldemort. The attacks. Stuff."
Sirius smiled sadly at him as he leaned back onto Harry's pillows, his legs crossed. "If I could choose a different time for you to grow up in, kid, I would," He said grimly after a moment of silence. "The next few years aren't going to be very easy, that I can say with full confidence."
"I know, but there's not very much that we can do about it, can we?" Harry sighed, dropping Hermione's present-which he had just picked up, and it was, unsurprisingly, a book-back on to his lap. He stared at his knees, before looking up to find that Sirius was watching him carefully.
"You know, Harry," He said slowly. "You are one of the last people in the world who I thought would have said that. Go figure."
"Huh?" Harry stared at him.
Sirius sighed and sat up, resting his hands on his thighs, shaking his head and looking faintly amused. "Harry, my boy, is there really not very much we can do about it? Is there really not very much?"
Harry still stared at him.
Sirius smiled grimly. "Harry, Harry, Harry-we can *fight*, kiddo. Fight. What do you think the Order of the Phoenix is for?" He added gently.
Harry was still staring at him, but this time there was realization flickering through his eyes, although followed quickly by confusion. "The Order of the Phoenix? What...what's that?"
Sirius looked for a moment as if he was about to answer, but then seemed to change his mind at the last moment. "No, that...that's for another time."
Harry frowned at him. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Sirius."
Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "I know you're not, Harry. Believe me, I know that. You've been through more things at fifteen than few people ever have in their lifetime. It was because of what you've been through, in fact, that made me so surprised that you thought that there wasn't really anything that we could do...but back to the point. Some things are only valuable if they're kept somewhat secret. Now's not the time. You're time will come eventually, though. I promise you that."
They were silent for a few seconds, then Harry said, "So...this Order of the Phoenix is an order that fights Voldemort?"
"Yes."
"And you're in it?"
"Well, yes, but that's all you're gonna get out of me," Sirius grinned at him, but by the firm tone of his godfather's voice, Harry knew that he wasn't going to find out any more than that for the time being.
"I'm going to do all I can to fight back, though," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Because the only way that we can resist Voldemort's rule is by resisting the rule, right? Resistance. We're not going to beat around the bush at all, we're going to plunge straight through and fight. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, am I correct? We will fight this war. It may take five weeks or five decades for it to end, but it will end. We will fight it for as long as it takes, and honestly, Harry, I believe that after all the fighting-I believe that we will win."
There was an almost ringing silence as Sirius's powerful words seemed to echo throughout the small room, but then Harry said, smiling, "Well, if everyone has attitudes like that and stamina, drive, energy, and skills to match, we'll win the war tomorrow."
Sirius gave his laugh which amused Harry to no end (as it's sound oddly resembled that of a bark) and said, "Harry, my boy, you are truly a diamond among the coals." He stood up suddenly and reached inside his robes, pulling out an envelope. "Well, here's the real reason I came in here-Hedwig flew through my window with this, I think she thought it was your window-anyway, it's a letter."
He handed it to Harry, who pushed aside Hermione's present to take it from him. Sirius stood hovering above the bed, watching as his godson slit open the envelope and pulled several pieces of parchment from within, noting with pride how much he had grown since he had first seen Harry (after he had escaped from Azkaban) in Magnolia Crescent, nearly two years before...
"It's from the Weasleys," Harry muttered suddenly, jerking Sirius out of his thoughts. "A letter from Ron, a-" Here, he let out a snort. "- Weasleys Wizard Wheezes order form from Fred and George, and a..." He opened the piece of paper, staring at it. "A letter from Ginny!"
Sirius grinned. "A letter from Ginny, eh? Hah...I was watching you two at the Burrow, you know."
Harry looked up at him surprise, blushing slightly at the mere thought of it. "You...were?"
"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't following you around and hiding in corners listening to your conversation or anything, but I did watch you a bit, and you reminded me of..." Here he paused for a moment in order to give Harry a devilish smile. "You reminded me of your parents when they first started going out."
Harry's eyes widened. "We did?"
"Oh, yeah, most definitely. Nothing really specific, just general things-like how you acted with each other and stuff. But I did get a real case of déjà vu-and it wasn't only me, Remus noticed it, as well."
Harry grinned and started flipping through the papers, but then looked up as Sirius said, "Listen, kid, I have things to do in the morning, so I'm going to head off to bed."
"What?" Harry said quickly, looking quickly at his watch in surprise (Sirius had gotten him a new one, since his old one had been ruined in the second task) and saw that it was nearly half past twelve. "Oh...I didn't realize that it was so late."
"Yeah, well, I'll see you in the morning, kiddo, okay?" Sirius reached out to ruffle Harry's hair slightly, and slid his hand down from Harry's head to his shoulder. Giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze and looking into Harry's eyes, he said, "Good night."
"Night," Harry responded, meeting his eyes, and then smiling at Sirius as he left the room.
After his godfather had left, Harry just sat quietly on his bed, not moving, just sitting and thinking about their conversation. Why *had* he said that there was nothing to be done? Of course they could fight back. Fighting back was the only way to get through things like this; one couldn't just sit on the sidelines and watch as Voldemort took over the world.
Harry sighed. He knew that he should really be getting to bed, it was getting very late, and chances were that he was going to be woken up by Sirius doing whatever he had to do in the morning, so he really should get some sleep.
*I just want to look at this a little,* Harry thought suddenly, glancing at Hermione's present. At first Harry had disregarded it somewhat, but in the past couple of days he had actually begun to find it quite interesting, and had spent a good amount of time browsing through it, no caring that it was a Muggle book.
It was a collection of poems. All different types of pomes, in all different genres. It was called "A Golden Treasury of Poetry."
Pushing aside the papers from the Weasleys to read in the morning, he opened the book and reread the note that Hermione had written to him in the inside front cover:
Harry-
My mum has a very old copy of this book from when she was a little
girl. I used to look through it all the time when I was younger, and I
was looking through it again in the beginning of the summer holidays-
before I met you in the street, of course. I thought that it would be
a lovely gift and found out that even all these years later, the book
is still in print! So, I got it for you. My favorite section is the
last one, called "Guiding Stars." It's a collection of guiding and
inspirational poems, and I find that I really love the last poem in
the book especially, it's quite beautiful. And also, with everything
that has been happening as of late, I think that it's quite
appropriate, besides just being a wonderful poem.
Happy birthday!--Hermione
The last poem in the book...Harry hadn't looked all the way back there yet, though he had looked through the "Guiding Stars" section and understood why Hermione liked it so much. Although he loved the book as a whole, many of the poems in that section were by far his favorite.
*Just one poem,* He promised himself. *Then I'll go to bed.*
If he was only going to read one poem, why not make it the one that Hermione loved so much? He was really curious to see what it was...
So Harry flipped to the very back of the book.
Before the majority of the poems of the book, there was a short prologue of sorts written about the poem itself. Harry leaned back onto his bed to read the prologue for Hermione's favorite poem, which was called "Invictus", by William Ernest Henley.
*That's an odd name,* Harry thought. *Sounds like it's Latin or something...* He began to read the prologue:
No matter how often it has been repeated-and it had been reprinted and
recited endlessly--*Invictus* remains a stirring statement of the
courageous and heroic spirit. The very title means invincible.
*Well, that explains the name,* Harry thought, smiling slightly. Then he began to read the poem itself, and on a whim began to whisper the words out loud to the night:
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
His voice seemed to reverberate throughout the night, leaving Harry sitting and staring at the book in awe as the powerful words echoed in his mind.
"Well," He muttered finally, laying the book slowly down onto his lap. "Hermione was right. That was certainly appropriate."
And it *was* appropriate. Although Harry had never been very good at interpreting symbolism in literature or whatnot, the meaning of the poem and how it related to him and his life seemed as plain and clear as was the feeling of his bed beneath him.
The poem was talking about bravery and courage when facing the dangerous and impossible. About keeping your chin up and living and having a thick skin, no matter what. About being in charge of yourself and your life. But most of all, the poem was about going through all obstacles, and emerging not only alive, but remaining human as well.
Now Harry fully understood why Hermione had said that it was appropriate, more than he had a moment before. Because now, he realized, *he* seemed to be the personification of the qualities expressed in the poem, and-now that he thought about it-Sirius was, as well.
They had both been through so much: Azkaban, losing people extremely close to them, both being rejected and alone in every sense of the words, facing Voldemort and his Death Eaters, overcome things that few people have ever done before...and in the end, they were alive. They were healthy. They were happy. But most importantly, they were humans who could love. They loved people. They loved each other. And they-despite everything-loved the world.
That was why everyone had to resist Voldemort. Although Harry felt sure that his and Sirius's and the magical world's trials and tribulations were far from over, that they would still go through more, he felt that the poem seemed to have given him a new motivation...a new *reason* to fight.
They had to fight. They had to fight in order to preserve the world as they knew it, in order to preserve love and friendship and trust and bravery and freedom. To preserve the ideals that the poem expressed, to make it so people could still carry through with what the poem was saying. To preserve humanity.
They had to fight. They would fight. And right then Harry felt sure that, like Sirius had said, not only would they fight-but they would win.
The End.
~*~
Wow. It's...it's all over. Wow. I can't believe it. I spent over a year working on this story...wow. Although I really did procrastinate when it came to this chapter! I felt so sad about getting it done that I avoided it a bit...ah, sorry guys! But I was sitting for so long while writing this my butt actually went numb...I'm not joking!
Okay, um-I think I'm just going to leave this nice little story on it's own, no sequel or anything-partly because I have no clue what I would write as a sequel, and partly because I like it very much the way it is. But you will definitely be seeing things from me on the site still. I have lots of little one chapter stories in mind, not to mention a bunch of long ones like this. There probably won't be anything until September though, because I'm going away for a couple of weeks very soon without access to a computer, so...
But keep your eyes open! I might be altering my pen name a little, but I'll still keep the word "rainbow" in it. So maybe mark my bio page or something, and check back every once in a while...chances are you'll be seeing a handful of one chapter posts from me. Now I'll have more opportunity to write them since I won't be responsible for getting a new chapter up for Out of the Night...heh...
Oh, yeah! The book "A Golden Treasury of Poetry" is actually a real one, and I-like Hermione-have an old copy of it from when my mom was kid. There is a section called "Guiding Stars" and "Invictus" is the last poem in the book, and the prologue was written by...er...Louis Untermeyer. Just so I don't get sued or anything.
Also, as this whole story (the beginning in particular) is in desperate need of redoing, so if any of you at some point decide to come and read my story again later on, it'll probably be...er...better, cause I'm gonna revise it.
How do you like Gandalf's fireworks, eh? I actually only added it in when I was rereading the chapter, and remembered how a reviewer of OotP noted that Gandalf's dragon fireworks made an appearance with Fred and George's fireworks. And the, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"? Ha, the Marauders live! Oh, um, I hope this chapter makes sense...because a lot of it is just literally following my train of thought, which I hope doesn't make it confusing...
Wow, rounded out to 140 reviews...oh, uh, do you want me to add to this chapter when I get back in September with responses to your last reviews? Say so, cause if no one mentions it, I won't...
The Elfin Child: You know what I should do? I should find a stuffed black dog and name it Padfoot!
Oooh, party! And yes, that will make people extremely dizzy, especially my mom, who sometimes gets nauseous just watching my brother play video games... Your review actually inspired me to put those lights- courtesy of Fred and George-in the surprise party. Seems like something they'd do, eh? Flashy and crazy and Marauder-y. Ought to make Moony and Padfoot proud.
Trust me, I can't believe it's over, either...
Yuffie-Girl: Lol yeah, I decided against no sequel, but like I said before, I will have stuff popping up every now and then...
A tone of Sirius...yeah, that's a really good way of putting it. The veil...I THINK (and I repeat, I THINK, this is all guesswork) that the veil is sort of the veil between life and death. I mean, just the words "beyond the veil" can be very symbolic, the...uh...separation line, so to speak, between life and death is often called a veil or a curtain or something. Also...my guess is that it's a very old, out of use version of the wizard death penalty (ironic, considering how Sirius was a wanted man)-remember how the room seemed like it was an amphitheater or something, with seats all around? Like there would be audience, like at the courtrooms. That, and what Luna says at the end of the book-the implications about an afterlife.
Also, I think Lupin knows more about the veil than he was letting on. I mean, once Sirius fell through, he seemed pretty darn sure that there was no way to get him back, that he was gone. I'm positive that we're going to learn more about the veil in later books, and as far the body...as far as I can tell, I THINK that Sirius's body never appeared on the other side, maybe...lol I dunno! Here's your epilogue, anyway!
cara: Lol you've been following this story ever since it started and only review at the last chapter? Shame on you! ::smiles:: I'm just kidding...
One of the things that I was rather worried about was whether the romance was well developed or not, and I'm glad that you pointed that out. As I said before, I'm going to be doing a revision at some point in my lifetime, and I'll definitely try to make the Remus/Colette-ness more developed (and maybe the Harry/Ginny, if I find it necessary) and not as unlikely. Although, on another note, I am extremely glad that I had completely worked out Colette before I read the fifth book-otherwise, I might have unconsciously made her too much like Tonks or something...
Thanks, though! I'm glad you liked my story so much! Trust me, I'll miss it, too...
Erynwen: Yeah, the beginning is sort of slow and-er-bad, isn't it? Like I said before, I'm planning on giving everything a big old makeover. I'm happy that you like it so much, though! And here's your epilogue! Oh, yeah- I might check out your Harry Potter poem tonight or tomorrow, so...
Goodbye everyone! You've all been fantastic reviewers, and I'm sure that there are some readers out there who have never reviewed, but you're all fantastic, too! Thanks sooooo much for encouragement for my first story that was not written for school and has been completed! (I'm not kidding; I never finished a story before this.) Love ya guys! Weasley is our king! Let's give Umbridge hell, just like Fred said! Long live the Marauders! (Everyone, solemnly swear that you are up to no good!) Remember Padfoot!
The message that I gave at the very end is a real one that I believe in. It may not be literal-we're not fighting dark lords or anything-but it's true, all the same. And remember to, seventy years from now when we are all old and in our rocking chairs, keep the spirit of Harry Potter alive forever.
Cheers!
A/N: Well, this is it, guys! ::sob:: It's all over... I had a lot of trouble finishing this and took a lot of time, because this story is my last link to the Harry Potter world from before I read OotP, and how I perceived it then...and before Snuffles...well, you know. Sigh...
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
--William Ernest Henley, "Invictus"
Epilogue-Invictus
Harry Potter was having a good day.
He and Sirius had just been released from St. Mungo's that very morning; and their release from the hospital couldn't have happened on a better day.
For today, July 31st, 1995, was Harry's birthday: today was the day that he turned fifteen. Fourteen years of life at the Dursleys were finally over, and he was going to live with Sirius now and be happy, and not have to worry about the Dursleys ever again. What could be a better birthday present?
From the moment he was told that he and his godfather could leave the hospital, Harry thought that the day couldn't get any better than it already was.
But apparently, as Harry would soon find out, it could.
On the insistence of Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley picked up Harry and Sirius from St. Mungo's using a (much to Mr. Weasley's disappointment) non magical car, and drove them to the Burrow, where Harry and Sirius would be staying for the time being.
"We'll stay there until I can find us someplace to live," Sirius had told Harry earlier that day, and his words had caused something like an explosion to occur in the pit of Harry's stomach. *Someplace to live...* Him and Sirius... *Someplace to live...* It was about time!
During the car ride from St. Mungo's to the Burrow Harry sort of zonked out of Sirius and Mr. Weasley's conversation a bit. He simply sat alone in the backseat, staring out of the window as the scenery changed from urban London, to the suburbs, and gradually, to the rural countryside. Not thinking of anything in particular, he only half listened to the conversation that was going on in the front, and didn't really notice Mr. Weasley's apparent nervousness or contained excitement.
When they finally arrived at the Burrow a while later-it seemed like it had been a very long time to Harry-he noticed that Mr. Weasley was acting strangely quieter than he normally was, and appeared to be glancing back at the house anxiously over his shoulder as he got out of the car.
In fact, Harry noticed, glancing at the house himself, everything did seem to have an eerie quiet about it... Usually, he would have been able to hear Mrs. Weasley yelling at someone or other, or the ghoul throwing things around in the attic, or an explosion going off courtesy of Fred and George. But, instead, he heard nothing of the sort.
He glanced at Sirius, who-although he had never been to the Burrow before- seemed to notice that something was up, as well. He raised a questioning eyebrow slightly at Harry, who just shrugged slightly as they followed Mr. Weasley up to the house. He had plenty of other things to worry about besides getting himself worked up about some most likely nonexistent problem with the Weasleys.
Just outside the front door, Mr. Weasley paused. Harry stopped short as to not bump into him, and behind Harry, Sirius was caught by surprise and fell into his godson, who in turn stumbled forward into Mr. Weasley.
"Er...sorry," Sirius muttered, placing his hand firmly upon Harry's shoulder and pulling him back a little. However, Mr. Weasley didn't seem to notice. He just looked around anxiously again, glancing up at the upper levels of the house as though he could sense something that the other two couldn't.
"I'm...home, Molly! Someone!" He raised his voice slightly. "I'm home!"
Sirius's hand still on his shoulder, Harry shifted backwards slightly so that he was leaning into Sirius's arm. From this position, he could glance up at Sirius questioningly without needing to turn around. Sirius, though, just gave Harry a frankly bewildered look, clearly saying that he, like Harry, had no idea why Mr. Weasley was acting so strangely.
"Well, um, I suppose we'll just go in, then," Mr. Weasley said after a moment, smiling sheepishly at Harry and Sirius over his shoulder before unlocking the door and stepping inside.
The house was dark. So dark, in fact, that Harry and Sirius were disoriented as soon as they entered, moving around blindly, unsure of what to do and promptly trodding on each other's feet.
They took a moment to get their bearings together, and then Harry asked, "Where is everyone?"
"Er," Came Mr. Weasley's voice from somewhere to Harry's left. "I'm sure that they're here somewhere..."
Sirius's hand had traveled down from Harry's shoulder to his arm, holding him tightly as if ready to shove him out of danger if someone jumped out of the shadows.
"It's okay, Padfoot," Harry said quietly, using the old nickname in an effort to relax Sirius and gently removing his godfather's hand from his arm. "This is just the Weasley's house, remember? It's okay."
Though Harry himself wondered about the truth of his words. Was it okay? Where *was* everyone? Not ever in his whole life-even during the time when Ginny had been taken captive in the Chamber of Secrets-had Harry ever been in the presence of Weasleys and have it be so quiet.
But...but maybe the rest of the Weasleys weren't here...it seemed that the house was empty, that was for sure. But now Mr. Weasley was speaking again, and when he spoke, his voice sounded odd and cracked, or as though he wasn't quite sure of what he was doing.
"I solemnly swear..." Harry and Sirius both froze. But before either of them could react, light burst in front of their eyes, people seemed to be falling out of the sky from all directions, and several loud, familiar voices finished the sentence for Mr. Weasley.
"...THAT I AM UP TO NO GOOD!"
Unsure of what to do and even more unsure of what was going on, Harry just stood there dumbly as two flashes of hair-one of bright red, one of brown- came flying towards him as Ginny and Hermione threw themselves at Harry. They paused for a moment when they reached him, one on either side of him, but then they simultaneously kissed the cheek of his of which they were closest. All Harry could do was stare blankly as Hermione bounded around from his side to stand in front of him.
"Surprise!" She squealed breathlessly. "Welcome back to both of you-" She nodded, grinning widely, at a shocked Sirius. "-and...happy birthday, Harry!"
She jumped forward, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug, causing Harry to stagger backwards for a moment-but then he gathered his thoughts, let out a laugh, and hugged his friend back.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
About forty minutes later, Harry sat at the Weasley's kitchen table, munching on birthday cake and smiling around at everyone who was sitting near him. His happiness was clearly infectious, and soon everyone was acting somewhat loud and giggly. If truth was to be told, then this was really the first birthday party that Harry had ever had-or at least one that he could remember-and that thought itself made him feel nearly ecstatic.
Another thought that pleased him to the very bone was the fact that, for the very first time, the majority of the people that he cared about most in the world were in one place together-with the exception of Hagrid, who was off doing business for Dumbledore. Also that many of these people had put in a lot of time planning the surprise party-which was part birthday party for Harry, part welcoming party for both him and Sirius. The Weasleys and Hermione had put a good deal of work into the surprise, for which Sirius was extremely flattered, and Harry downright shocked-nobody had done such things before for him, ever.
Remus was there as well. "I didn't know about it until last night!" He had said to an unconvinced Sirius desperately, laughing all the while. "I seriously didn't! They only just told me, I had nothing to do with it!"
"Of *course* you didn't," Sirius had told him, grinning, in a voice revealing that he obviously didn't believe his friend.
In fact, Remus had (supposedly) been just as surprised as Sirius and Harry had been at the idea of the party. They were both surprised to learn that Remus hadn't helped with any of the decorations of the Burrow--which had a bit of "the Maruader's touch", as Sirius had put it...for there were lights. There were lights stringing from every doorway and wrapped across the chairs, piled in every corner and decorating nearly every surface- flashing the colors of the rainbow, or the Gryffindor colors of red and gold. A few of them looked quite ordinary and were flashing red and green- Harry strongly suspected that they were Muggle Christmas lights. There was even something that looked like an enormous disco ball, but instead of just hanging from the ceiling in one room it was zooming throughout the house. Ron tried poking it once and it started to very loudly play Muggle music from the seventies.
But Sirius and Harry they were even more surprised that it hadn't been Remus'ss idea to use the sacred and legendary "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" line as a signal for everybody to jump out of their hiding places.
Harry, however, had a sneaking suspicion about who had come up with that clever little idea, and when he approached them about it after finishing with his cake, Fred and George both beamed and grinned.
"Yeah, that was my lovely little gem of an idea," George said proudly, puffing out his chest in an unmistakable imitation of a pompous Percy.
"Yeah, well, I was the one who thought of splitting it up like that, into a call-and-response type thing," Fred added. "Course, the only ones who really understood its significance were Remus, Ron, and Hermione, and we all just assured everyone else that you and Sirius would understand and appreciate it. Luckily, nobody else asked questions."
"Well, Sirius and I loved it," Harry told them, smiling. "I think it was a great idea, though old Padfoot nearly fainted when everyone started saying it."
Both of the twins grinned, and then Fred said, "So, Harry, how do you like our extremely bright decorations?"
Harry laughed. "I figured that it was you! I love them! And that disco ball is certainly...um...interesting-"
"Have you opened the closet near the second floor bathroom yet?" George interrupted Harry anxiously. Harry shook his head slowly, watching them warily.
"Good," George said, sound relieved. "One of our very newest products is in there-fireworks."
Harry stared. "*Fireworks?*"
"Yep," They proudly said together.
"We're hoping that we could lure Hermione there to open the door and set the fireworks off," Fred explained to Harry after he saw the look on his face. "You see, she was the one who gave us the idea. She was talking about a Muggle book called 'The Lord of the Rings'-"
"-that has a wizard in it named Gandalf-"
"-who makes fireworks-"
"-shaped like dragons-"
"-so, we just had to try, of course-"
Harry laughed again. "You should tell that to-well, you know. Padfoot and Moony. I'm sure that they'd love it."
"Good idea," Fred said thoughtfully. "We've been meaning to talk to them for a while anyway..."
"Yeah, let's go, Fred," George agreed. "See ya, Harry!"
Shaking his head and grinning, Harry left the twins and wandered off through the house with the vague idea of finding Ron or Hermione, but instead nearly bumped headlong into Remus right outside the front door, who was looking uncharacteristically flustered.
"Um, Moony?" Harry asked hesitantly, watching as the older man glanced around quickly, as if looking for someone. "Are you...okay?"
He smiled warmly down at Harry, suddenly acting like himself again. "Yes, I'm fine, I just...talked to Colette in the fire, that's all. She wants me to deliver a message to Sirius from her..."
"Colette, eh?" Harry grinned. He hadn't gotten much of a chance to talk to Remus since Colette's memorable parting from him at the hospital. "So, are you two...um...how are you...how is she doing?"
"She's doing fine...I mean..." Remus looked at him carefully, his eyes sparkling. "Honestly, Harry, she's doing wonderful...we're, um..."
"Together?" Harry supplied helpfully, his grin widening.
"Yeah...and, well..." He lowered his voice slightly. "I told her about my...condition...and that if she didn't want to deal with that she could leave me right now, because I didn't want to burden her with it...but, well..."
"What did she say?" Harry prompted, though by the happy smile on Remus's face he thought that he could already guess the answer.
"She said she couldn't care less if I was a werewolf or if I was an agoraphobic house elf from Mars," Remus said happily. "Also that she was going to try to pass laws in the Ministry that make life easier for werewolves, because things have just gotten worse over the last few years...but Harry, you have no idea how much this means to me. She's the first girlfriend I've had who knows who I am and who really, truly, doesn't care."
"That...that...Remus, that's great!" Harry said enthusiastically, feeling genuinely happy for Remus that he had found someone.
"Thanks, Harry," Remus said, still obviously very pleased. "She said that she would have come to the party herself if she wasn't too busy, I mean, with Voldemort and all... Also, I have to apologize for my somewhat...ecstatic behavior the other day at the hospital...I guess I just sort of lost it."
"You had every right to," Harry assured him. "I would have been worried for you if you *didn't* seem very excited after all that news."
"Yeah, well..." Remus continued talking, but Harry was no longer comprehending what he was saying, for he had just spotted Ginny walking in the living room over Remus's shoulder.
Fortunately, Remus seemed to notifce that his attention was elsewhere, and smiled at Harry. "You go off and do...something. I need to find Sirius to pass on her message."
"He's with Fred and George," Harry said, trying to see into the living room. "I'm sure that they'll want to talk to you as well about...marauding stuff."
Remus nodded. "Yeah, I don't doubt it...see you later, Harry. Happy birthday."
"Thanks...bye." As soon as Remus was gone, Harry moved forward and, pushing aside some of the Christmas lights, slipped into the living room.
Sitting on one of the couches was not only Ginny but Hermione as well. Ron was also there, leaning over the back of the couch to peer over their shoulders, and they all seemed to be poring over a package of some sort... Harry cleared his throat slightly.
"Oh!" Hermione looked up in surprise, and then closed the package quickly once she saw who it was. "I was just showing Ron and Ginny your birthday present, Harry."
"Oh, well, I'll see it later," Harry shrugged, and sat down in a chair across from the couch. "What's up?"
"Nothing," The two girls replied in unison, and Harry raised an eyebrow, exchanging a confused glance with Ron.
"Oh, well, there is something," Ginny amended quickly, and then looked pointedly at Hermione, who seemed to understand immediately, for she jumped up and went around to the other side of the couch to stand next to Ron.
"Come on, Ron," Hermione said imploringly. "Let's go talk to Percy."
Ron stared at her, mouth hanging slightly open. "What do you want to talk to Percy for?"
"Oh, I don't know, cause he's an, um, interesting person. Very opinionated," Hermione said hastily.
Ron continued to stare. "Is there another Percy in this house that someone failed to tell me about?"
"It doesn't matter...oh, just come on, Ron!" Hermione pleaded. However, instead of moving, Ron turned to Harry with a thoughtful expression. "Harry, don't you think Hermione and Percy would make a good couple? I mean, on their dates, they could go to study in the library or something..." Harry snorted.
"Yes, that's exactly what we'd do, study in the library, now come *on*!" Hermione let out in a rush, then grabbed Ron's arm and tugged him out of the living room.
Harry and Ginny watched them leave. They were silent for a moment before Ginny turned, grinning, to Harry. "Ron can be a bit clueless sometimes, don't you think?"
"Yeah, um...yeah," Harry had begun fidgeting as he talked, suddenly feeling slightly nervous. It felt so strange to be nervous around Ginny- hadn't it always been the other way around? Hadn't Ginny always been nervous around him? He'd always just regarded her as his best friend's younger sister-someone he knew, not really a friend. She had been a bit annoying in her younger years, but she had been obviously growing up and was much more mature than she once had been.
"Harry, do you, um, remember what we talked about at St. Mungo's?" She asked abruptly.
Harry nodded, his face growing slightly red. "Yeah, why?"
"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about all that," Ginny let out quickly. "I mean, I've liked you for years, and when I was younger I was a bit of a moron about it-giggling and stuff all over the place-I know that must have been pretty annoying."
"No, it wasn't too bad," Harry said. It was half-true: He had pretty much gotten into the habit of simply disregarding her behavior around him until his third or fourth year, when she had begun to grow up a bit.
"Well, you can't say that that ridiculous Valentine I sent you back in my first year 'wasn't too bad'!" Ginny said indigantly.
Harry laughed at the memory, which, at the time, had mortified him. The Valentine arriving in the middle of the crowded hallway...Harry could remember feeling disgusted with Gilderoy Lockhart's Valentines Day antics. "Yeah, that was pretty..."
"Stupid?" Ginny supplied dully, but there was a smile flickering around the corners of her mouth.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Harry laughed again. He was suddenly feeling less nervous now that they had found some common ground.
"I was such an idiot," Ginny muttered. "'Eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad...'" She scowled at the floor, then looked up at Harry, who was staring at her. Their eyes locked together for a moment, then, at the same time, the two of them burst into simultaneous laughter.
"What...what exactly were you thinking of when you wrote that line?" Harry gasped, when their laughter had subsided a bit.
"I...honestly don't know," Ginny admitted, taking a deep breath and leaning back in her seat. "I mean, your eyes are green, and pickled toads are green, so I guess I thought that a simile about it was kind of poetic...hey, don't give me that look, I was only eleven!" She added, grinning, upon seeing that Harry had started laughing again.
"Yeah, I know. Eleven is still pretty young," Harry said once he had stopped laughing again. "A lot of people are stupid at eleven...I know I did a few stupid things in my first year...although," He couldn't suppress a snort. "I didn't write Valentines about pickled toads..."
He had expected her to start laughing again at the memory, but instead, she was looking at the floor.
"I did more than one stupid thing that year," She said quietly, not looking up and meeting his eyes.
Harry's laughing mood ceased immediately. "You mean...with Riddle's diary?" He asked, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable again.
"Yeah," Ginny answered simply, still quiet and still staring at the floor.
Harry sat up quickly, looking hard at her. "That wasn't your fault. You were a little kid, and you were tricked. I was tricked, too, in the beginning, when I first saw the diary. No one blamed you then, and no one's blaming you now," Harry finished so fiercely that she looked up at him in surprise.
"Harry, I could have gotten you and Ron killed! It was because of me you that you were in the Chamber in the first place!"
"No, it wasn't! It wasn't because of you, it was because of Voldemort!" Ginny gave an involuntary shudder at the name, but Harry ignored it. "It wasn't your fault that you were trapped down there in the Chamber! It wasn't your fault that Ron and I went after you! You were young! I probably would have done the same thing if I had been in your position at that age! Come on, Ginny, have you really been blaming yourself for all this since your first year?"
She looked at finally. "And what if I have?" She said defensively. "You were the one who was fighting that basilisk thing because of me-"
Harry shook his head in disbelief, cutting her off. "You sound just like me! Someone-I don't remember who it was, Sirius or Hermione or someone- told me that I'm always blaming myself for stuff that I have no control over, and that's like what you're doing, Ginny! Ron doesn't blame you, Dumbledore doesn't blame you, Colin or Justin or Hermione or Nearly Headless Nick or any of the other Petrified people don't blame you, Dumbledore doesn't blame you, and..." He paused. "Me, who fought that 'basilisk thing'...I don't blame you, Ginny. So calm down." A flicker of a smile appeared on his face. "I sound like I'm lecturing, you, don't I?"
She didn't answer right away, just stared at Harry, as though she had never seen anything like him before. "I...I don't know, Harry. I mean, I suppose that you're probably right-"
"I *am* right," Harry interjected, but she just shook her head slightly.
"Yeah, probably-I just can't help feeling a bit responsible for everything, you know what I mean? Wait-of course you know! You probably feel a little responsible for...I mean...well...oh..."
Ginny's voice trailed off, but Harry nodded to show that he understood at the same time that something unpleasant squirmed in his stomach. "For Cedric? Yeah, I do, so..." He paused again. "I know what you mean, so...can we wallow in our self pitying arrogance together?"
Harry was happy to see her laugh now. "Yeah, sounds good to me..." She said, smiling.
He swallowed, as inspiration flitted through his mind. When he next spoke, it was slowly, so as to form coherent words. "Do you, um, I mean, when we get back to Hogwarts, do you, uh, want to wallow in our self pitying arrogance together...literally? I mean, we could just, er..." This was harder than he had thought that it would be. "Hang out together sometime or something?"
Ginny looked at him quickly. "Yeah, that sounds...that sounds great, Harry! You really want to?"
"Yeah, I mean..." Harry swallowed quickly. "Yeah."
They didn't have time to say anything more, however, as a loud group of people that consisted of Sirius, Remus, Fred, and George entered the living room.
"And then we have these Canary Creams," George was telling Remus as they seated themselves in various places around the room. "They're little candies, and when you eat them you turn into a huge canary for a bit..."
Remus laughed. "That's certainly...unusual."
"Thanks!" Fred said immediately, grinning. "We want our stuff to be unusual, you know, not like the other stuff on the market...we don't want to be continually associated with Zonkos products and things, we want to be different..."
As the twins went on about various products of the Weasleys Wizard Wheezes, Sirius looked over at Harry, smiled, and then his eyes swept across the room towards Ginny, who was sitting opposite Harry. His gaze caught Harry's. Harry blushed yet again as his godfather looked at him significantly, gave Ginny a questioning jerk of his head, and then began to grin broadly and wiggle his eyebrows.
Turning away from Sirius quickly so as to avoid laughing out loud and having a face the color of a ripe tomato, Harry jumped to his feet and started speaking to the room at large.
"I'm...uh...going to have some more cake...uh...yeah," He finished lamely, then began to move quickly out of the living room.
Since Fred, George, and Remus were immersed in conversation-now about the twins latest plans, something called "Skiving Snackboxes"-Sirius was the only who noticed as Ginny jumped up to follow Harry out of the room. Shaking his head slightly with amusement, he turned back to the conversation, a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Two weeks later*
Harry was sitting on a small bed in a small room, looking through some of his birthday presents that he had received from his friends' two weeks prior.
Sirius was in the small room next door. They were in a small apartment, with a small kitchen, a small living room, etc. Basically, everything was pretty small.
"It's only temporary," Sirius had promised Harry when they had moved in a couple of days before. "I didn't want to burden the Weasleys any longer, they've already done so much, so this is just where we'll be until we find a real place."
But frankly, Harry didn't care. He was quickly having the best summer of his life-minus, of course, the Voldemort attacks, Sirius's previous injuries, and his little time traveling excursion-but spending so much time with the people that he cared about was making him extremely happy, to say the least.
And Sirius-he was finally getting time to spend prolonged time with his godfather. Time that wasn't spent worrying about one another's health constantly, or about who might find Sirius or see them talking together and alert the Ministry, or spent in desperate moments of running from authorities. They should have spent time together for the last fourteen years, but due to unfortunate circumstances, they didn't.
But both Harry and Sirius knew that they couldn't change the past, and that the time that they lost was time lost forever-but they had to concentrate on the now, on the present. To spend time together when they could, because with the war against Voldemort and his Death Eaters, nobody knew whom the next victims could be.
That was the one thing that was putting a damper on Harry's summer- and a thought that invaded his mind nearly every day and, without fail, every night: The fact that Voldemort was back at full power. That there had already been several attacks on major British cities, and that many more people were getting hurt and dying.
If there was one thing that Harry was worried about, it was the safety of his friends. Although Sirius had told Harry solemnly only the other day that he would never let anything happen to his godson, not "while I can help it," that didn't guarantee the safety of everyone. He was not only worried about the Weasleys and Remus and Colette and all of his Hogwarts teachers and friends who lived in the magical world, but for Hermione and her Muggle family as well. And that was a lot of people to worry about.
But Harry shoved these disturbing thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on the task in front of him: sifting through and organizing his birthday presents.
He had just begun to return to the job when he heard the rustle of clothes and movement outside of his room. Harry looked up towards his open door, and saw that Sirius was leaning against the doorframe, watching him and smiling slightly. Harry had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed Sirius's entrance.
"Hey," Sirius said. "You okay there? You seemed really out of it."
Harry shook his head. "Nah, I was just thinking."
"'Bout what?" Sirius asked, coming over to sit on Harry's bed.
Harry sighed, gesturing around at his presents, which were scattered around him. "I don't know. Stuff. Voldemort. The attacks. Stuff."
Sirius smiled sadly at him as he leaned back onto Harry's pillows, his legs crossed. "If I could choose a different time for you to grow up in, kid, I would," He said grimly after a moment of silence. "The next few years aren't going to be very easy, that I can say with full confidence."
"I know, but there's not very much that we can do about it, can we?" Harry sighed, dropping Hermione's present-which he had just picked up, and it was, unsurprisingly, a book-back on to his lap. He stared at his knees, before looking up to find that Sirius was watching him carefully.
"You know, Harry," He said slowly. "You are one of the last people in the world who I thought would have said that. Go figure."
"Huh?" Harry stared at him.
Sirius sighed and sat up, resting his hands on his thighs, shaking his head and looking faintly amused. "Harry, my boy, is there really not very much we can do about it? Is there really not very much?"
Harry still stared at him.
Sirius smiled grimly. "Harry, Harry, Harry-we can *fight*, kiddo. Fight. What do you think the Order of the Phoenix is for?" He added gently.
Harry was still staring at him, but this time there was realization flickering through his eyes, although followed quickly by confusion. "The Order of the Phoenix? What...what's that?"
Sirius looked for a moment as if he was about to answer, but then seemed to change his mind at the last moment. "No, that...that's for another time."
Harry frowned at him. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Sirius."
Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "I know you're not, Harry. Believe me, I know that. You've been through more things at fifteen than few people ever have in their lifetime. It was because of what you've been through, in fact, that made me so surprised that you thought that there wasn't really anything that we could do...but back to the point. Some things are only valuable if they're kept somewhat secret. Now's not the time. You're time will come eventually, though. I promise you that."
They were silent for a few seconds, then Harry said, "So...this Order of the Phoenix is an order that fights Voldemort?"
"Yes."
"And you're in it?"
"Well, yes, but that's all you're gonna get out of me," Sirius grinned at him, but by the firm tone of his godfather's voice, Harry knew that he wasn't going to find out any more than that for the time being.
"I'm going to do all I can to fight back, though," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Because the only way that we can resist Voldemort's rule is by resisting the rule, right? Resistance. We're not going to beat around the bush at all, we're going to plunge straight through and fight. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, am I correct? We will fight this war. It may take five weeks or five decades for it to end, but it will end. We will fight it for as long as it takes, and honestly, Harry, I believe that after all the fighting-I believe that we will win."
There was an almost ringing silence as Sirius's powerful words seemed to echo throughout the small room, but then Harry said, smiling, "Well, if everyone has attitudes like that and stamina, drive, energy, and skills to match, we'll win the war tomorrow."
Sirius gave his laugh which amused Harry to no end (as it's sound oddly resembled that of a bark) and said, "Harry, my boy, you are truly a diamond among the coals." He stood up suddenly and reached inside his robes, pulling out an envelope. "Well, here's the real reason I came in here-Hedwig flew through my window with this, I think she thought it was your window-anyway, it's a letter."
He handed it to Harry, who pushed aside Hermione's present to take it from him. Sirius stood hovering above the bed, watching as his godson slit open the envelope and pulled several pieces of parchment from within, noting with pride how much he had grown since he had first seen Harry (after he had escaped from Azkaban) in Magnolia Crescent, nearly two years before...
"It's from the Weasleys," Harry muttered suddenly, jerking Sirius out of his thoughts. "A letter from Ron, a-" Here, he let out a snort. "- Weasleys Wizard Wheezes order form from Fred and George, and a..." He opened the piece of paper, staring at it. "A letter from Ginny!"
Sirius grinned. "A letter from Ginny, eh? Hah...I was watching you two at the Burrow, you know."
Harry looked up at him surprise, blushing slightly at the mere thought of it. "You...were?"
"Yeah. I mean, I wasn't following you around and hiding in corners listening to your conversation or anything, but I did watch you a bit, and you reminded me of..." Here he paused for a moment in order to give Harry a devilish smile. "You reminded me of your parents when they first started going out."
Harry's eyes widened. "We did?"
"Oh, yeah, most definitely. Nothing really specific, just general things-like how you acted with each other and stuff. But I did get a real case of déjà vu-and it wasn't only me, Remus noticed it, as well."
Harry grinned and started flipping through the papers, but then looked up as Sirius said, "Listen, kid, I have things to do in the morning, so I'm going to head off to bed."
"What?" Harry said quickly, looking quickly at his watch in surprise (Sirius had gotten him a new one, since his old one had been ruined in the second task) and saw that it was nearly half past twelve. "Oh...I didn't realize that it was so late."
"Yeah, well, I'll see you in the morning, kiddo, okay?" Sirius reached out to ruffle Harry's hair slightly, and slid his hand down from Harry's head to his shoulder. Giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze and looking into Harry's eyes, he said, "Good night."
"Night," Harry responded, meeting his eyes, and then smiling at Sirius as he left the room.
After his godfather had left, Harry just sat quietly on his bed, not moving, just sitting and thinking about their conversation. Why *had* he said that there was nothing to be done? Of course they could fight back. Fighting back was the only way to get through things like this; one couldn't just sit on the sidelines and watch as Voldemort took over the world.
Harry sighed. He knew that he should really be getting to bed, it was getting very late, and chances were that he was going to be woken up by Sirius doing whatever he had to do in the morning, so he really should get some sleep.
*I just want to look at this a little,* Harry thought suddenly, glancing at Hermione's present. At first Harry had disregarded it somewhat, but in the past couple of days he had actually begun to find it quite interesting, and had spent a good amount of time browsing through it, no caring that it was a Muggle book.
It was a collection of poems. All different types of pomes, in all different genres. It was called "A Golden Treasury of Poetry."
Pushing aside the papers from the Weasleys to read in the morning, he opened the book and reread the note that Hermione had written to him in the inside front cover:
Harry-
My mum has a very old copy of this book from when she was a little
girl. I used to look through it all the time when I was younger, and I
was looking through it again in the beginning of the summer holidays-
before I met you in the street, of course. I thought that it would be
a lovely gift and found out that even all these years later, the book
is still in print! So, I got it for you. My favorite section is the
last one, called "Guiding Stars." It's a collection of guiding and
inspirational poems, and I find that I really love the last poem in
the book especially, it's quite beautiful. And also, with everything
that has been happening as of late, I think that it's quite
appropriate, besides just being a wonderful poem.
Happy birthday!--Hermione
The last poem in the book...Harry hadn't looked all the way back there yet, though he had looked through the "Guiding Stars" section and understood why Hermione liked it so much. Although he loved the book as a whole, many of the poems in that section were by far his favorite.
*Just one poem,* He promised himself. *Then I'll go to bed.*
If he was only going to read one poem, why not make it the one that Hermione loved so much? He was really curious to see what it was...
So Harry flipped to the very back of the book.
Before the majority of the poems of the book, there was a short prologue of sorts written about the poem itself. Harry leaned back onto his bed to read the prologue for Hermione's favorite poem, which was called "Invictus", by William Ernest Henley.
*That's an odd name,* Harry thought. *Sounds like it's Latin or something...* He began to read the prologue:
No matter how often it has been repeated-and it had been reprinted and
recited endlessly--*Invictus* remains a stirring statement of the
courageous and heroic spirit. The very title means invincible.
*Well, that explains the name,* Harry thought, smiling slightly. Then he began to read the poem itself, and on a whim began to whisper the words out loud to the night:
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
His voice seemed to reverberate throughout the night, leaving Harry sitting and staring at the book in awe as the powerful words echoed in his mind.
"Well," He muttered finally, laying the book slowly down onto his lap. "Hermione was right. That was certainly appropriate."
And it *was* appropriate. Although Harry had never been very good at interpreting symbolism in literature or whatnot, the meaning of the poem and how it related to him and his life seemed as plain and clear as was the feeling of his bed beneath him.
The poem was talking about bravery and courage when facing the dangerous and impossible. About keeping your chin up and living and having a thick skin, no matter what. About being in charge of yourself and your life. But most of all, the poem was about going through all obstacles, and emerging not only alive, but remaining human as well.
Now Harry fully understood why Hermione had said that it was appropriate, more than he had a moment before. Because now, he realized, *he* seemed to be the personification of the qualities expressed in the poem, and-now that he thought about it-Sirius was, as well.
They had both been through so much: Azkaban, losing people extremely close to them, both being rejected and alone in every sense of the words, facing Voldemort and his Death Eaters, overcome things that few people have ever done before...and in the end, they were alive. They were healthy. They were happy. But most importantly, they were humans who could love. They loved people. They loved each other. And they-despite everything-loved the world.
That was why everyone had to resist Voldemort. Although Harry felt sure that his and Sirius's and the magical world's trials and tribulations were far from over, that they would still go through more, he felt that the poem seemed to have given him a new motivation...a new *reason* to fight.
They had to fight. They had to fight in order to preserve the world as they knew it, in order to preserve love and friendship and trust and bravery and freedom. To preserve the ideals that the poem expressed, to make it so people could still carry through with what the poem was saying. To preserve humanity.
They had to fight. They would fight. And right then Harry felt sure that, like Sirius had said, not only would they fight-but they would win.
The End.
~*~
Wow. It's...it's all over. Wow. I can't believe it. I spent over a year working on this story...wow. Although I really did procrastinate when it came to this chapter! I felt so sad about getting it done that I avoided it a bit...ah, sorry guys! But I was sitting for so long while writing this my butt actually went numb...I'm not joking!
Okay, um-I think I'm just going to leave this nice little story on it's own, no sequel or anything-partly because I have no clue what I would write as a sequel, and partly because I like it very much the way it is. But you will definitely be seeing things from me on the site still. I have lots of little one chapter stories in mind, not to mention a bunch of long ones like this. There probably won't be anything until September though, because I'm going away for a couple of weeks very soon without access to a computer, so...
But keep your eyes open! I might be altering my pen name a little, but I'll still keep the word "rainbow" in it. So maybe mark my bio page or something, and check back every once in a while...chances are you'll be seeing a handful of one chapter posts from me. Now I'll have more opportunity to write them since I won't be responsible for getting a new chapter up for Out of the Night...heh...
Oh, yeah! The book "A Golden Treasury of Poetry" is actually a real one, and I-like Hermione-have an old copy of it from when my mom was kid. There is a section called "Guiding Stars" and "Invictus" is the last poem in the book, and the prologue was written by...er...Louis Untermeyer. Just so I don't get sued or anything.
Also, as this whole story (the beginning in particular) is in desperate need of redoing, so if any of you at some point decide to come and read my story again later on, it'll probably be...er...better, cause I'm gonna revise it.
How do you like Gandalf's fireworks, eh? I actually only added it in when I was rereading the chapter, and remembered how a reviewer of OotP noted that Gandalf's dragon fireworks made an appearance with Fred and George's fireworks. And the, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"? Ha, the Marauders live! Oh, um, I hope this chapter makes sense...because a lot of it is just literally following my train of thought, which I hope doesn't make it confusing...
Wow, rounded out to 140 reviews...oh, uh, do you want me to add to this chapter when I get back in September with responses to your last reviews? Say so, cause if no one mentions it, I won't...
The Elfin Child: You know what I should do? I should find a stuffed black dog and name it Padfoot!
Oooh, party! And yes, that will make people extremely dizzy, especially my mom, who sometimes gets nauseous just watching my brother play video games... Your review actually inspired me to put those lights- courtesy of Fred and George-in the surprise party. Seems like something they'd do, eh? Flashy and crazy and Marauder-y. Ought to make Moony and Padfoot proud.
Trust me, I can't believe it's over, either...
Yuffie-Girl: Lol yeah, I decided against no sequel, but like I said before, I will have stuff popping up every now and then...
A tone of Sirius...yeah, that's a really good way of putting it. The veil...I THINK (and I repeat, I THINK, this is all guesswork) that the veil is sort of the veil between life and death. I mean, just the words "beyond the veil" can be very symbolic, the...uh...separation line, so to speak, between life and death is often called a veil or a curtain or something. Also...my guess is that it's a very old, out of use version of the wizard death penalty (ironic, considering how Sirius was a wanted man)-remember how the room seemed like it was an amphitheater or something, with seats all around? Like there would be audience, like at the courtrooms. That, and what Luna says at the end of the book-the implications about an afterlife.
Also, I think Lupin knows more about the veil than he was letting on. I mean, once Sirius fell through, he seemed pretty darn sure that there was no way to get him back, that he was gone. I'm positive that we're going to learn more about the veil in later books, and as far the body...as far as I can tell, I THINK that Sirius's body never appeared on the other side, maybe...lol I dunno! Here's your epilogue, anyway!
cara: Lol you've been following this story ever since it started and only review at the last chapter? Shame on you! ::smiles:: I'm just kidding...
One of the things that I was rather worried about was whether the romance was well developed or not, and I'm glad that you pointed that out. As I said before, I'm going to be doing a revision at some point in my lifetime, and I'll definitely try to make the Remus/Colette-ness more developed (and maybe the Harry/Ginny, if I find it necessary) and not as unlikely. Although, on another note, I am extremely glad that I had completely worked out Colette before I read the fifth book-otherwise, I might have unconsciously made her too much like Tonks or something...
Thanks, though! I'm glad you liked my story so much! Trust me, I'll miss it, too...
Erynwen: Yeah, the beginning is sort of slow and-er-bad, isn't it? Like I said before, I'm planning on giving everything a big old makeover. I'm happy that you like it so much, though! And here's your epilogue! Oh, yeah- I might check out your Harry Potter poem tonight or tomorrow, so...
Goodbye everyone! You've all been fantastic reviewers, and I'm sure that there are some readers out there who have never reviewed, but you're all fantastic, too! Thanks sooooo much for encouragement for my first story that was not written for school and has been completed! (I'm not kidding; I never finished a story before this.) Love ya guys! Weasley is our king! Let's give Umbridge hell, just like Fred said! Long live the Marauders! (Everyone, solemnly swear that you are up to no good!) Remember Padfoot!
The message that I gave at the very end is a real one that I believe in. It may not be literal-we're not fighting dark lords or anything-but it's true, all the same. And remember to, seventy years from now when we are all old and in our rocking chairs, keep the spirit of Harry Potter alive forever.
Cheers!
