Responses:
David M. Potter: very good. The truth is that Dumbledore is avoiding the subject. And guess who you're meeting in this chap.
Harry Potter and the Warriors of Zelcara
Unpleasant Business for Master Potter
Harry marveled at the house. The last time he had been here it had been dark and possessing an air of evil. Now the walls were no longer gray, but a bright sparkling white. The brass was polished until it looked golden. The wood was shined to a high gloss. Harry took three steps forward to begin exploring this new place, when he hear Dumbledore's voice.
"Harry," he said. "I am afraid we have to attend to some business that is unpleasant. I need you to come with me to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry nodded, but then looked at his bags. "set your bags down here. They will be in your room when you return." Harry did as instructed and he and Dumbledore flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. Dumbledore led him to a table where Mrs. Weasly, and a strangely familiar woman were sitting.
"We are here," Dumbledore began, "For the presentation of the last will and testament of one, Sirius Canis Black. Present here today is Harry Potter, his godson, Molly Weasly, his friend, and Liza Furlong, his former fiancé. You three are the only ones to which he left belongings." All three nodded to show that they understood. Tom came by and put a butterbeer in front of Harry and Dumbledore. Harry could only stare across the table at the former fiancé of his godfather. Suddenly he realized where he could remember her face from; the remembrorb. She had been there the day his father proposed.
Dumbledore opened a piece of parchment and tapped it with his wand. Suddenly, Sirius's voice filled their ears. "If you are hearing all this, then it means that Molly was right and I did something monumentally stupid. I'm sorry Albus. I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry Molly. I'm REALLY sorry Liza. But on with the dissemination of my possessions. Remus would never want anything of mine, that is the sole reason that he is not at this table with you.
"Liza, to you I leave all the trinkets, momentos and symbols of my love for you that I held onto so long. Even when you stopped believing in me, I still loved you. I will always regret that I didn't get to make you as happy as James made Lily.
"Molly, you were always yelling at me for one thing or another in the last few months, and you were always right. You cared about me more than I would ever consciously admit. So to someone who showed me that much concern, I leave two thousand galleons. That is but a small drop in the bucket when it comes to the Black family fortune, to which I am the sole heir. Use it to keep that family of yours in line, especially those twins. Don't want them turning out like us now do you?
"Harry, I was never a good godfather to you. I was never there to protect you. But you saved me in more ways than I can ever explain. The first time you even met me, I was no longer a human, I was only a snarling beast. It was you, not Moony, that brought me back to humanity. It is to you that I leave everything else, including the place . . . you know . . . where I was staying. Also the aforementioned family fortune will be transferred to your Gringotts' vault.
"I hope in some way that these material things make-up for my absence. I'll look in on you from time to time, but craning my neck upward will start to hurt . . . ha, ha, that was joke folks. I am not presumptuous enough to think I know where I am headed. So until I see you all again, hopefully many, many years down the road, I leave you with all my love.
Yours eternally (especially yours Liza)
Sirius C. Black"
Harry wasn't sure how to respond. He had no idea what to feel. He saw Mrs. Weasly was crying in deep wet sobs. But when he looked at Liza, she was looking unphased, and emotionless. Even Dumbledore had a tear on his cheek, but she didn't even look sad.
"That it?" she asked coldly. Dumbledore nodded
"How can you be so cold Liza?" demanded Molly Weasly.
"Simple, he was a mass-murderer. He killed four . . . er . .. three of the people closest to me. I feel no compunction for his death."
"But he was innocent," Harry shot back. He was liking this woman less and less.
"There is no proof. I prayed and hoped for ten years that he was innocent. I investigated myself, but there was nothing. Sirius was guilty as sin, and I am not . . . I am not going to hurt myself over it anymore." She was actually beginning to cry. She wiped the tears out harshly, and put on a mask of calm. She turned once again to Harry and said, "I'm sorry neither of us could actually fulfill our responsibility to you Harry."
"What do you mean, are you . . . are you my . . . ?"
"Yes," she said, "I am your godmother. But I have certain . . . ah .. . legal issues which prevent me from having dependants. I was your mother's best friend."
Harry looked at her with both anger and confusion. "Why don't you hear us out. It wasn't Sirius who killed," but she didn't wait for Harry to finish. She grabbed her things and left. Harry hung his head and looked to Dumbledore.
"She was hurt very badly when Sirius went to prison," Dumbledore said. "She love him like no other, but her faith slowly wained, she began to doubt her hope. She gave up on the idea that Sirius was innocent. Now she has hardend her heart so that she might not be hurt again."
Molly Weasly left Dumbledore and went home to help her young ones prepare for the trip to Grimmauld place. Harry looked at his headmaster and asked, "About the dream I had, the one that was the day before I left. Do you know anything about it?"
"Harry," he sad not even looking him in the eye. "There are some things that I am bound by both magic and honor not to reveal. You should never have seen what you saw. I am merely glad that you have not decided to obsess over it."
After a speech like that, there was no way Harry could press the issue. So he let it drop. He would find the truth about these "Warriors of Zelcara" the best way he knew how: once he got to Hogwart's, he would ask Hermione to look it up. He couldn't bear to do it now. He was feeling very numb.
This made it final; Sirius was gone and never coming back. This wasn't right. Sirius was his godfather. He was supposed to be there until he himself was an adult. No who would be there if Harry got married? Who would be there if he had a child. There would be no "Grampa Sirius". All this, instead of making him sad, began to fuel a rage. It fanned flames that had been building inside of him. he could no long deny that he had lost the closest thing he had ever had to a father, and he was angry. He wasn't sure just who or what he was angry at and about, but Harry knew he wanted to hit something. He stood up and went to the floo. Dumbledore followed at a fairly safe distance.
Harry got back to Grimmauld Place, and began exploring it. It was cleaner than it had been before. Harry wondered what they did with Kreacher. Harry, now being master of the house, would love to be the one to put his head on the wall. As he made his way into the kitchen, he found not Kreacher or Mrs. Weasly cooking, but another familiar house-elf; Winky. She was dressed once more in the clothes of her people, a pillowcase.
"Winky, what are you doing here?" asked Harry.
"Winky is Grimmauld Place's new house-elf sir. Dumbledore used special magics and switched positions of Winky and bad old Kreacher. Kreacher was a bad house-elf. Winky will be a good house-elf. No more picking up wands for Winky. No sir Master Potter."
Harry couldn't believe his eyes. He hadn't seen Winky sober in over a year. Now she was back to work. At Hogwart's she had refused work, because she was not in anybody's charge. She was not like the others, and bound to Hogwart's, but she was not like Dobby, in that she enjoyed her freedom.
"Winky," said Dumbledore in a sad low voice, "I would like you to meet the master of this house." Winky stopped what she was doing and ran over with an enourmous smile on her face. Dumbledore put his hands on Harry's shoulders and said. "Winky, this is the new master of this house, Harry Potter."
Winky curtsied in her pillow case and asked, "Do you have any house rules Master Harry Potter sir?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Yes Winky," he said with a smile, "First, you are to call me Mr. Harry or just Harry. You will not call anybody 'master' while you work for me." Winky nodded, clearly not understanding his reasons.
"Second, thought you will remain in my service, I wish to allow you proper clothes," at he look of terror Harry added quickly, "I am not dismissing you, it is just that I think you would enjoy them. If you wish to remain clothed as you are, that is fine, but I will have Madame Malkin craft some clothes for you, and I will have Dobby come over and place them in a bureau for you." Winky looked like she was about to cry for joy.
"third, if at any time you feel sick or weak, let me know, and then take the day off." Winky was just not sure of how serious Harry was being.
"Fourth, and this is very important, anything said in this house, is to be held in the strictest confidence. I will expect the same discretion for me that you showed the Crouches." Winky nodded. For once, this was a rule that she understood.
"Fifth, if I do something that displeases you, or makes you think I am a bit off, you may feel free to call me names, in fact I will expect you to make a little fun of me from time to time." Her eyes went wide, and Harry smiled gently. This was really taking the edge off of his temper.
"Sixth, and second most important, right after number four, you are never to punish yourself. Ever. If you believe you have done something severly wrong, come to me and we will discuss it." Winky was very happy with this.
"Seventh and last, You are to put your own life above most menial work. If I ask you to stay somewhere, and that place becomes dangerous, leave immediately." She smiled at him "And this is my promise to you, I will never ask you to go up to a high place." At this, Winky just lost it. She jumped on Harry and started hugging him, and declaring him the "bestest" master in the world.
'So,' Harry thought, 'this is what it was to be in control. Maybe I can survive. One thing is for sure, I need to get the hell out of here. Just for a little while.'
David M. Potter: very good. The truth is that Dumbledore is avoiding the subject. And guess who you're meeting in this chap.
Harry Potter and the Warriors of Zelcara
Unpleasant Business for Master Potter
Harry marveled at the house. The last time he had been here it had been dark and possessing an air of evil. Now the walls were no longer gray, but a bright sparkling white. The brass was polished until it looked golden. The wood was shined to a high gloss. Harry took three steps forward to begin exploring this new place, when he hear Dumbledore's voice.
"Harry," he said. "I am afraid we have to attend to some business that is unpleasant. I need you to come with me to the Leaky Cauldron." Harry nodded, but then looked at his bags. "set your bags down here. They will be in your room when you return." Harry did as instructed and he and Dumbledore flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. Dumbledore led him to a table where Mrs. Weasly, and a strangely familiar woman were sitting.
"We are here," Dumbledore began, "For the presentation of the last will and testament of one, Sirius Canis Black. Present here today is Harry Potter, his godson, Molly Weasly, his friend, and Liza Furlong, his former fiancé. You three are the only ones to which he left belongings." All three nodded to show that they understood. Tom came by and put a butterbeer in front of Harry and Dumbledore. Harry could only stare across the table at the former fiancé of his godfather. Suddenly he realized where he could remember her face from; the remembrorb. She had been there the day his father proposed.
Dumbledore opened a piece of parchment and tapped it with his wand. Suddenly, Sirius's voice filled their ears. "If you are hearing all this, then it means that Molly was right and I did something monumentally stupid. I'm sorry Albus. I'm sorry Harry. I'm sorry Molly. I'm REALLY sorry Liza. But on with the dissemination of my possessions. Remus would never want anything of mine, that is the sole reason that he is not at this table with you.
"Liza, to you I leave all the trinkets, momentos and symbols of my love for you that I held onto so long. Even when you stopped believing in me, I still loved you. I will always regret that I didn't get to make you as happy as James made Lily.
"Molly, you were always yelling at me for one thing or another in the last few months, and you were always right. You cared about me more than I would ever consciously admit. So to someone who showed me that much concern, I leave two thousand galleons. That is but a small drop in the bucket when it comes to the Black family fortune, to which I am the sole heir. Use it to keep that family of yours in line, especially those twins. Don't want them turning out like us now do you?
"Harry, I was never a good godfather to you. I was never there to protect you. But you saved me in more ways than I can ever explain. The first time you even met me, I was no longer a human, I was only a snarling beast. It was you, not Moony, that brought me back to humanity. It is to you that I leave everything else, including the place . . . you know . . . where I was staying. Also the aforementioned family fortune will be transferred to your Gringotts' vault.
"I hope in some way that these material things make-up for my absence. I'll look in on you from time to time, but craning my neck upward will start to hurt . . . ha, ha, that was joke folks. I am not presumptuous enough to think I know where I am headed. So until I see you all again, hopefully many, many years down the road, I leave you with all my love.
Yours eternally (especially yours Liza)
Sirius C. Black"
Harry wasn't sure how to respond. He had no idea what to feel. He saw Mrs. Weasly was crying in deep wet sobs. But when he looked at Liza, she was looking unphased, and emotionless. Even Dumbledore had a tear on his cheek, but she didn't even look sad.
"That it?" she asked coldly. Dumbledore nodded
"How can you be so cold Liza?" demanded Molly Weasly.
"Simple, he was a mass-murderer. He killed four . . . er . .. three of the people closest to me. I feel no compunction for his death."
"But he was innocent," Harry shot back. He was liking this woman less and less.
"There is no proof. I prayed and hoped for ten years that he was innocent. I investigated myself, but there was nothing. Sirius was guilty as sin, and I am not . . . I am not going to hurt myself over it anymore." She was actually beginning to cry. She wiped the tears out harshly, and put on a mask of calm. She turned once again to Harry and said, "I'm sorry neither of us could actually fulfill our responsibility to you Harry."
"What do you mean, are you . . . are you my . . . ?"
"Yes," she said, "I am your godmother. But I have certain . . . ah .. . legal issues which prevent me from having dependants. I was your mother's best friend."
Harry looked at her with both anger and confusion. "Why don't you hear us out. It wasn't Sirius who killed," but she didn't wait for Harry to finish. She grabbed her things and left. Harry hung his head and looked to Dumbledore.
"She was hurt very badly when Sirius went to prison," Dumbledore said. "She love him like no other, but her faith slowly wained, she began to doubt her hope. She gave up on the idea that Sirius was innocent. Now she has hardend her heart so that she might not be hurt again."
Molly Weasly left Dumbledore and went home to help her young ones prepare for the trip to Grimmauld place. Harry looked at his headmaster and asked, "About the dream I had, the one that was the day before I left. Do you know anything about it?"
"Harry," he sad not even looking him in the eye. "There are some things that I am bound by both magic and honor not to reveal. You should never have seen what you saw. I am merely glad that you have not decided to obsess over it."
After a speech like that, there was no way Harry could press the issue. So he let it drop. He would find the truth about these "Warriors of Zelcara" the best way he knew how: once he got to Hogwart's, he would ask Hermione to look it up. He couldn't bear to do it now. He was feeling very numb.
This made it final; Sirius was gone and never coming back. This wasn't right. Sirius was his godfather. He was supposed to be there until he himself was an adult. No who would be there if Harry got married? Who would be there if he had a child. There would be no "Grampa Sirius". All this, instead of making him sad, began to fuel a rage. It fanned flames that had been building inside of him. he could no long deny that he had lost the closest thing he had ever had to a father, and he was angry. He wasn't sure just who or what he was angry at and about, but Harry knew he wanted to hit something. He stood up and went to the floo. Dumbledore followed at a fairly safe distance.
Harry got back to Grimmauld Place, and began exploring it. It was cleaner than it had been before. Harry wondered what they did with Kreacher. Harry, now being master of the house, would love to be the one to put his head on the wall. As he made his way into the kitchen, he found not Kreacher or Mrs. Weasly cooking, but another familiar house-elf; Winky. She was dressed once more in the clothes of her people, a pillowcase.
"Winky, what are you doing here?" asked Harry.
"Winky is Grimmauld Place's new house-elf sir. Dumbledore used special magics and switched positions of Winky and bad old Kreacher. Kreacher was a bad house-elf. Winky will be a good house-elf. No more picking up wands for Winky. No sir Master Potter."
Harry couldn't believe his eyes. He hadn't seen Winky sober in over a year. Now she was back to work. At Hogwart's she had refused work, because she was not in anybody's charge. She was not like the others, and bound to Hogwart's, but she was not like Dobby, in that she enjoyed her freedom.
"Winky," said Dumbledore in a sad low voice, "I would like you to meet the master of this house." Winky stopped what she was doing and ran over with an enourmous smile on her face. Dumbledore put his hands on Harry's shoulders and said. "Winky, this is the new master of this house, Harry Potter."
Winky curtsied in her pillow case and asked, "Do you have any house rules Master Harry Potter sir?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Yes Winky," he said with a smile, "First, you are to call me Mr. Harry or just Harry. You will not call anybody 'master' while you work for me." Winky nodded, clearly not understanding his reasons.
"Second, thought you will remain in my service, I wish to allow you proper clothes," at he look of terror Harry added quickly, "I am not dismissing you, it is just that I think you would enjoy them. If you wish to remain clothed as you are, that is fine, but I will have Madame Malkin craft some clothes for you, and I will have Dobby come over and place them in a bureau for you." Winky looked like she was about to cry for joy.
"third, if at any time you feel sick or weak, let me know, and then take the day off." Winky was just not sure of how serious Harry was being.
"Fourth, and this is very important, anything said in this house, is to be held in the strictest confidence. I will expect the same discretion for me that you showed the Crouches." Winky nodded. For once, this was a rule that she understood.
"Fifth, if I do something that displeases you, or makes you think I am a bit off, you may feel free to call me names, in fact I will expect you to make a little fun of me from time to time." Her eyes went wide, and Harry smiled gently. This was really taking the edge off of his temper.
"Sixth, and second most important, right after number four, you are never to punish yourself. Ever. If you believe you have done something severly wrong, come to me and we will discuss it." Winky was very happy with this.
"Seventh and last, You are to put your own life above most menial work. If I ask you to stay somewhere, and that place becomes dangerous, leave immediately." She smiled at him "And this is my promise to you, I will never ask you to go up to a high place." At this, Winky just lost it. She jumped on Harry and started hugging him, and declaring him the "bestest" master in the world.
'So,' Harry thought, 'this is what it was to be in control. Maybe I can survive. One thing is for sure, I need to get the hell out of here. Just for a little while.'