~*Harry Potter and the Second War*~
I bet that having so much dialogue is killing you. Well, it kills me, but I SWEAR IT'S GONNA GET MORE INTERESTING, REALLY! And probably longer. I don't know. And thank you for telling me that Outstanding is better than Exceeds Expectations, I had it all backwards, apparently. So sorry. (Why oh why did I include O.W.L.s in this story?? Grades are confusing and I hate them and you're only reading this cause I'm typing it...)
Hey would you look at that! Where does it say you can't Floo into Hogwarts?? *Sirius's head pops into the fireplace*
Sirius: Well I never knew that!! How else could my head appear in the Gryffindor Common roo- *head disappears because of childrentheemuisnotatoy thinks that 1) you can't Floo into Hogwarts 2) Sirius is dead*
You sure spoil all the fun. I have my, er, reasons for some of the stuff I write. Well next time you point out my mistakes then be a bit... NICER... about it. Ever heard of it? Nah, I didn't think so. Eh, I'm just in a bad mood... no hard feelings.
Well, after a plausibly long wait, may I introduce... CHAPTER 6!! *crickets chirping goes silent*
Funny Part of Book Five: "Give her hell from us, Peeves." –– Fred, Order of the Phoenix p 675
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Chapter 6- The Grim Truth
Harry stood in Snape's office, trying not to look up at the Potions teacher. He had a feeling in gut that this would not end well. Snape was examining the book that Harry had dropped. He had a look on his face that was partly disbelief, and partly annoyance.
"Needless to say, I am surprised you were studying before you came here." He dropped the book on his desk. "Now that you have finally come to your senses and decided you're going to work with me, I might put certain. . . . events behind us."
Oh, like your grudge against my dad? I wish, Harry thought sarcastically to himself. All the while he stared at his shoes, as though there were something very interesting about them.
"Now look up at me, and take out your wand. Remember, force me away with your mind, and you will not need magic. Clear your mind of emotion, and we will begin. . . . Legilimens!"
The office disappeared, was replaced by flashes of memory. He tried to stop it, thought hard against the reminiscence of Dudley's gang beating him up. All the kids had circled in to watch, laughing, and his nose was bleeding all over. However, he felt as though he were in control. No, get out of my mind. GET OUT –
Snape's office came into sharp focus. Snape looked startled, but quickly hid it. Harry barely knew what happened, because he still felt slightly disoriented. He hadn't managed to force Snape out of his mind before.
"Impressive, Potter. I was expecting you to go at me with a spell, like you did before," Snape said. "Now keep your mind emotionless. . . . See if you can block this. Legilimens!"
This time Snape was apparently trying hard. Instead of bringing the normal painful memories to mind, he was delving deeper. He saw Tom Riddle laughing over him, when he had almost died in the Chamber of Secrets. . . . A hundred dementors looked up at him from the Quidditch field and sparking the same horrible feeling of unhappiness he now felt. . . . Sirius falling through the veiled arch that was meant to seal his fate. . . . Sirius's letter on his birthday –
Before he knew it, he had again forced Snape from his memories. It wasn't as easy that time. When he raised his head, Snape was looking curiously at him.
"You don't have that letter by any chance, do you? I daresay that the Headmaster would like a look at it."
"What letter?" Harry replied nervously.
"Stop playing games! This is a very grave matter," Snape hissed.
"But I'm being serious, I don't know what you're talking about." He gritted his teeth nervously. Snape wasn't supposed to know about the letter, nobody was. If that was really Sirius, but the Order didn't have enough proof, then he might not ever hear from his godfather again.
Snape turned on his heels, brandishing his wand. "Legilimens!"
"Proteg – auggh!" Harry reeled back as Snape caught him unsuspecting with the spell. Instead of random memories, he began to see Sirius's first letter come into sharper focus, as though he were looking at it in a Pensieve. Struggling mentally, Harry tried to change the memory he saw, if not stop Snape altogether. The memory began to fade, replaced by one of Umbridge's detention. Then he began to fight Snape off.
He was looking up at the office's ceiling. He must have fallen down to prevent Snape from entering too far into his memories. While he lay there, eyes shut tight, he heard the Potions Master's feet step along the stone floor. Then there was a brilliant glow of silver through his eyelids. Snape had taken out his Pensieve.
When Harry gathered up the courage to open his eyes again, he saw Snape leaning over the bowl of silvery thoughts. The light obscured his face, and his eyes looked glassy. Harry suspected that was what he had looked like when he had tumbled into a Pensieve memory. He could do nothing but look on, his insides writhing, as the Professor finished examining a memory.
"Potter, you are coming with me, right now," Snape snapped at him. Harry obligingly followed him out of the dungeons and around the castle. He never looked away from the floor.
When they ended up at the two stone gargoyles, Snape recited the password acidly. "Ice Mice."
The gargoyles leapt aside, while the wall behind them cracked open. Snape grabbed Harry by the shoulder and pushed him onto the moving spiral staircase before he stepped on. Harry felt very nervous and stressed by all of this. It was just a letter, after all. What harm was there in it?
They reached the door. Snape slammed the griffin knocker three times into the wooden door before it opened of its own accord. Snape strolled into the Headmaster's office, while Harry shuffled weakly behind him, afraid of whatever was going to happen next.
"Severus?" Dumbledore said from across the room. "I thought you were giving Harry Occlumency lessons."
"True, I was, until I hit upon a certain memory of Potter's. It appears that he has been receiving letters from Sirius Black. The late Sirius Black." Snape seemed to find it particularly entertaining to emphasize on Sirius's death.
"He's not dead!" shouted Harry. He looked up, glaring and affronted. "How do you know what's behind that veil? How do you know he isn't just behind it?"
"That veil flutters over an ancient archway that is the only known portal into death." Dumbledore's words rang through the unbearable silence in the office.
"So. . . . he's dead forever? I can't even talk to him?"
"And good riddance," Snape muttered.
"There is a way you could speak to him," Dumbledore began, "but I'm afraid it's just too dangerous. You are needed here, in the living world, not in death."
The weight of it all finally came down on Harry. Sirius would never be alive again. Just like his parents. They could not come back. He felt his eyes water, but blinked it back.
"This isn't fair," Harry snarled. "Why do I have to go through all of these deaths? Why do they always have to be someone that I've just started to know well, and then they're gone? I suppose Ron and Hermione are next to die!"
"It is a risk that comes with your future, your destiny."
"What if I told you that I'd rather have my parents back and never get this stupid scar, and that it could be Neville who faces off the Dark Lord instead of me?"
"Then I would tell you that what you were saying was very foolish," Dumbledore replied calmly. "You have abilities that Neville could never have. You have been very brave for living without your parents for fifteen years, I admit. Harry, you are the only person who can defeat Lord Voldemort. . . ."
"That doesn't comfort me much," said Harry.
"Well, while we are back on the subject of the Dark Lord, will you please go down to your dormitory and fetch those letters?"
"Fine," Harry resolved. The second that Dumbledore's office door shut behind him, tears began to streak down his cheeks. He tried to keep his emotions from rising to the top of himself, but sometimes, crying made it feel better. He just drifted down the corridors, silently, while his eyes got puffy and red and wet, stopping at the Fat Lady to give the password.
A black owl was tapping a window with its sharp beak, another letter from "Sirius" on its leg. Harry reached out to open the window, grabbed the letter, and unraveled it.
Instantly, his scar began to burn. He dropped the letter. There was a jet black Dark Mark printed on it, and underneath it the words "The Dark Lord will get you soon", written in blood.
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Can I just say here and now two things I think will happen in the real books? Of course I can! Muahaha... ahem. So first one is that Peter and Lupin (as a werewolf) are so obviously going to die in a death struggle. Lupins gonna open bleeding holes in Peter, and Peter's gonna be burning away the skin on Lupin's neck while he strangles him. What a way to end the Marauders... Second, PERCY IS EVIL. How can that little rodent not go over to the dark side?? Just a few thoughts, no need to bash them though, cause Rowling's not that predictable (no, wait, she IS! HA HA wow do I feel tired.)
This chapter is awesome. I think it's the best one yet. Booyah! Except that I have established the yeah-he's-pretty-dang-dead-to-me thing. BUT I KNOW HOW TO TALK TO HIM/ANYONE EVEN IF THEYRE DEAD!! IT'S A SECRET FOR THE FIC!
If you're such a big fan of my writing that you're dying to speak to me (hopefully not in the literal sense about the dying) then I have unmasked my secret email address on my lookup! I might not be on IM a lot, but I do respond to email so there you go.