Disclaimer - I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER ALRIGHT?! RUB IT IN MY FACE WHY DON'T YA?! (nor do I own the Simpsons - see if you can spot the reference!
Ok - this fic blatantly isn't gonna b finished b4 OOTP is released (1 day 2 go! yay!). ne way - the point is I do actually have a plan 4 this (*gasp* - I know, I was surprised at me 2!). Therefore, this is a fifth yr fic - however, it will not be changed to accommodate ne info from the fifth book. Any similarities r coincidental (ditto with other fics!). I also have plans 4 loadsa other fics, which I want 2 write, even if they r made inaccurate, so ne thing post OOTP may still b unOOTPy Oh, btw, there will b a large gap of no posting around the 21st.... can u guess why???
So, who do we think will die peeps? (Ooh! It could b Krum freeing up for a R/H fic, but doubt it [that he'll die - I reckon they'll get 2gether]). Apparently there's a big bombshell at end of Ch2... I reckon it's 2 do with HP's family - prob. Lily. What if he has other relatives tho? (Not living - we know that - 1 of the ghosts?) Or Lupin - the Wolfsbane potion hadn't been invented, so he couldn't live with him, so it was easier 2 say he didn't have ne other relatives than go into it all (we know D'dore will tell him 'everything'). He could b related 2 V'mort through Lily (we know he looks like Riddle, V'mort didn't want 2 kill Lily, explains why he couldn't kill HP) I won't say it'd b tacky if they were father/son in case they r, but u can imagine the rip offs; Enter Voldemort breathing asthmatically. Voldemort: (exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale) HARRY, (exhale, inhale, exhale) I AM YOUR FATHER (inhale, exhale, inhale)
I reckon I know who dies - we know they r a fan of Harry's, and it was v. hard 2 write:
This death would b hard cos u can't help but love the character,
They r a huge fan of Harry's,
They would probably lay down their life for him (and face it - he's highly likely 2 b in mortal danger, even when Vol-sorry-You-Know-Who was weak he still found it remarkably easy 2 get near Harry),
*sigh* - it could all b over, and life is just looking up for him, he has socks and wages and everything now, sir...
Hell, I dunno, could b Hagrid, 2 MANY OPTIONS!!!
Hoping there'll b more on Grey Lady - I think I've found the 1 ref 2 her in the 4 books (!) - ev1 knows it's in HP1, I think it's in Ch. 12 'The Mirror of Erised' 'cos it says;
'They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction.' (That's the only thing that could b it).
(Soz if this is 'old news' and ev1 knows that. In case u'r really dumb - the Grey Lady is the ghost of Ravenclaw, ev1 DID know that, right?)
OOH! Can't wait! Ok - pls rr my fic now, I'm done ranting...4 now....
Ch.7 Remus's Return
Hermione looked as though she might cry again at breakfast the next day when she began buttering her single triangle of toast. She'd sat crying for about half an hour the previous night, then hadn't wanted to talk about it.
"I'll help her," she was muttering to the toast, "I'll find a way to help her." Ron and Harry knew she who she was talking about, but still exchanged nervous glances. Ron squeezed her shoulder gently,
"Er...Hermione?" he began. She looked up at him, miserable for a moment, then a light began shining in her eyes, all be it dimly.
"Ron," she whispered, a hint of a smile breaking across her face, "Ron, of course." She was talking about him rather than to him. Even if she had been addressing him, he couldn't have replied because Hermione was already rushing out of the hall, snatching up a timetable on her way out. She passed Professor Lupin, who was just coming in.
"Was it something I said?" he muttered as he passed Harry and Ron.
They had a much more relaxed breakfast than Hermione. After a couple of rounds of toast, they reached out for their timetables. Harry was relieved to see they didn't have Potions or Divination first. They had Care of Magical Creatures.
"That shouldn't be too bad," he said cheerfully, buttering another slice of toast. Ron didn't comment.
"I wonder if we should wait for Hermione," Ron asked as they walked down the front steps. Harry paused a moment, then carried on.
"Nah, she didn't say to, she could already be down there. Or take ages," he added as an afterthought.
Hermione arrived a few minutes after they did, looking a lot happier than she had done before, although she wouldn't say why.
"Alrigh' class?" boomed Hagrid, emerging from the Pumpkin Patch, "Got a real treat for yeh today." Everyone in the class exchanged nervous glances. Hagrid's idea of 'a treat' was usually very different to anyone else's.
"Oh goody," drawled Malfoy, "Is it something else with the supremely fascinating magical power of maiming us all?" Hagrid went red and began to shift uncomfortably.
"No one's been maimed in Hagrid's classes," said Hermione acidly, "There's only ever been one injury, and that was because the person was too stupid and incompetent to appreciate and handle the animal concerned."
"Alrigh' Hermione," said Hagrid nervously. Malfoy's fingers had been clenching near his wand. He was slightly pink. But, seeing as Hagrid was a teacher, all he could do was glare and give a little cough, which sounded like 'Mudblood'.
"Er...anyway, I've got summat that definitely ent gonna hurt yeh. He's gonna give yeh all a talk." A murmur of excitement ran round the class. From behind Hagrid's cabin stepped a familiar palomino body.
"Firenze!" cried Harry happily. Firenze smiled.
"Alrigh' everyone - this is Firenze, he's a centaur, in case yeh didn't know," Hagrid chuckled, "so sit yerselves down on the grass and take notes." Firenze settled in front of the class, laying on the grass, Harry was glad he was at the front, but he got the impression that the Slytherins didn't care if they could see or not.
Firenze's talk was fascinating. He explained about the ways of the centaurs, and all about their use of and fascination with astronomy. He also explained about their various uses, for example, their tail hairs, like unicorns, could be used in wands. He also gave them a brief history, explaining why they had declined 'being' status - and making it so much more interesting than Professor Binns ever had. At the end of his talk, he offered to take questions, but everyone seemed to have gone rather shy. Harry had lots of questions, but he'd have preferred to talk in private. The trouble was, so would everyone else. When the class was told they could get up and do what they liked for the last ten minutes, most people rushed over to Firenze. Parvati and Lavender got there first.
"Oh! What a coincidence, my favourite lesson is Divination!" Parvati was squealing, as Harry, Ron and Hermione walked into earshot, "Professor Trelawney says I could be a real seer."
"She said the same about me," said Lavender, elbowing Parvati out of the way ever so slightly. They were looking at Firenze all doughy eyed and giggling rather a lot.
"They are sick," muttered Hermione to the other two, "He's not even human."
"Parvati will flirt with anything that breathes, in fact I'm not sure she'd say no to a ghost," said Ron, a little louder than Hermione. Fortunately Parvati was too busy drooling over Firenze to notice. She was also too busy giggling over his compliments about their divination skills, to notice that his eyes kept sliding over to Harry. In the end he got rid of them with a cheery,
"Well, can't let you keep me all to yourselves girls!" which made them both absolutely melt. He sauntered over to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Hello again," he smiled, "Mr Potter, Miss Granger" he said, shaking Harry's hand and bowing slightly to Hermione, "And this must be Mr. Weasley," he shook Ron's hand. Ron didn't bother asking how he knew his name, "You two have certainly changed since I last saw you," he added to Harry and Hermione. Harry smiled weakly.
"Won't Bane be mad at you?" he asked, frowning slightly. Firenze shrugged nonchalantly.
"I've kind of started, what you might call... a new movement," he smiled, "Sort of for the younger ones, who think the old ways need changing."
"Really?" said Hermione, reaching instinctively for her quill.
"We've always accepted that our divination skills are a gift, that we've been blessed with something that shouldn't be shared with the 'being' world, we of course being 'beasts'. But that night, when I met you in the forest," he looked directly at Harry, "it made me think. Do you remember what Bane said - about it not being our place?" Harry nodded, Firenze continued, "What we'd read in the stars that night, was that you would meet again with Voldemort," Ron and Hermione flinched, "We also read there would be a death. We naturally assumed it would be yours, it could have been, had I not intervened. But Quirrell died, so the prophecy was fulfilled. That made me think. That made me think, what if the seers' power was given to us to help people, after all, if history had been different, we may have been beings. My new movement encourages closer links with humans and using The Sight for good. I'm fairly sure some of the girls just come for the social, but," he shrugged, "Of course, there are some things beyond our power - we knew what would happen at the end of last term, but that was too large to be over ruled, evil has a strong place in the universe." His eyes were clouded. New societies seemed a perfect platform for Hermione, who began explaining about S.P.E.W.; Firenze seemed very interested and even offered to join up.
"Are you going to tell us your brainwave now?" asked Ron, as they stood in the freezing playground at break time. Hermione's talk with Firenze had reminded him and Harry of Winky. Hermione looked at him thoughtfully for a moment.
"Percy!" she suddenly gasped. Ron rolled his eyes.
"RON!" he yelled, "R-O-N. Honestly - I look nothing like Perc-"
"No, no, no," Hermione interrupted him, "I know you name. Is Percy still at home?"
"No," said Ron slowly, watching Hermione, "He moved in with Penelope, why?" Hermione smiled.
"I have to send an owl, I'll be back soon." She sprinted off to the castle, leaving Harry and Ron staring at each other.
"She's gone insane, hasn't she?" asked Ron slowly.
"I think she might have...." replied Harry.
***
Hermione only just made it to Defence Against the Dark Arts on time.
"Now are you going to tell us?" asked Ron irritably.
"Shh!" whispered Hermione, frowning. Professor Lupin had walked in and was about to start the class. As he sat down at his desk, something strange happened. No-one knew where it started from, but soon the whole class was applauding, a few were stamping or banging on desks, and Seamus and Dean were whooping loudly. The noise eventually died away. Lupin was slightly red.
"Er.. thank you," he said, "Now, would you all please turn to page one-hundred-and-eighty-two of your textbooks. Today we will be studying....THESE!" He pulled the cover off the box on his desk (which in all the excitement of seeing him, no-one had noticed) to reveal a hideous thing with large jaws and a lot of spines (in other words, something Hagrid would have dearly loved as a pet). Never had a class scrambled so eagerly for their books, thought Harry, as Lupin began explaining that the Kwidjibo was an excellent curse caster.
"This one is only a baby," Lupin explained, "so you should be able to deal with the curses it can throw at you. I can block anything you can't. A fully grown one would be able to cast the Unforgivable Curses - Imperius, Cruciatus, Avada Kadavra. You'll know all about those." Harry was sure that Lupin's eyes had flicked first to Neville, then to him on the last two curses. "We'll start you off with the Impediment Jinx," said Lupin, he cast around the room, "Harry," he said, "You first."
Harry was surprised how easily he stopped it - Lupin seemed impressed, as did most of his classmates, Seamus using language that would have earned him detention if it had been any other teacher.
"What I meant was," said Seamus, hastily, "Sir, was... er... I don't think the rest of us could do that. Well except Hermione, obviously." Lupin cast a quizzical eye over Harry.
"I learnt it for... the end of last term," he muttered. He couldn't bear to say the words 'Triwizard' and 'Tournament' out loud - he'd think of Cedric, of Voldemort, all the awful things..... he snapped himself back to reality and went to sit down.
They spent the lesson working on the Impediment Jinx - Lupin bewitched the Kwidjibo so it could only cast this. He kept an eye on students working with it, whilst Harry and Hermione helped coach the others. Harry felt a bit awkward - he didn't like bossing them about, especially the snotty 'popular' ones like Lavender and Parvati. He worked with Neville, Dean and Seamus, leaving Hermione to sort out the girls - she was more than a match for them, thought Harry, ducking out of Neville's wand range.
When the bell rang, quite a few people stayed to talk to Lupin, Harry among them. He wanted to talk about something they hadn't been able to in the public of the Great Hall. Lupin closed the door behind Seamus, and beckoned Harry out of the back corner, where he'd been waiting. Harry sat by Lupin's desk, not knowing what to say.
"Have you heard from him?" he eventually croaked. Lupin nodded slowly - neither needed to ask who he was talking about.
"I've been sending him food all summer - I guessed you wouldn't be able to."
It was Harry's turn to nod. Lupin continued.
"I've also been kept informed about you," he smiled softly, "And Sirius seemed very pleased that I was coming back. I asked him not to tell you - I wanted it to be a surprise." Harry nodded again. His eyes landed on something - it looked like a bit of string, sticking up from Lupin's robes.
"Professor," asked Harry, it seemed strange calling someone who seemed so close, something so formal, "What's that around your neck?" Lupin reached for the string, Harry thought he was going to tuck it away but - although Harry already knew what it was - he drew it out. Three sides of a square hung in front of Harry. By way of a reply, he reached into his own robes and pulled out Sirius's - his - necklace. Lupin smiled.
"Padfoot's," he said softly. Harry nodded, even though he wasn't sure it had been a question, "He didn't tell me about that," said Lupin. He tucked his own necklace away, and came round to Harry's side of the desk. Harry was preparing to go off to join Ron and Hermione. He too, tucked the necklace away, and then, he wasn't sure why, he reached out and hugged Lupin. Lupin ruffled Harry's hair and put his other arm round him. To his surprise, Harry found that he didn't feel embarrassed. Lupin reached out and opened the door for Harry.
"Call me Remus.... well, when your classmates aren't around," he said softly.
"Okay...... Remus" said Harry. That sounded strange too.