The wind had a bite to it as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny made their way
down to Hogsmeade. "What's up with Cho?" Harry asked, shoving his hands in
his pockets. She had failed to attend the latest DA meeting.
"Honestly," Hermione muttered, rolling her eyes. "She was cut from the team less than a week before the game and replaced with a second year last- minute. That's not exactly something to cheer you up."
"That, and rumor has it Roger Davies was only keeping her on the team last year because he wanted her to go out with him," Ginny added. "Stupid git."
"At least she was better than what's-his-face," Ron argued, stumbling over his untied shoelace and dropping to one knee to fix it.
"Potter."
Harry turned around, trying not to make a face. "Malfoy."
Draco jerked his head, indicating he wanted to speak to Harry alone, but he didn't move.
"Problem with your neck?" Hermione asked icily. "Perhaps your aunt should take a look at it."
"A word, Potter," the pale boy said with a glare at her. "Just the two of us."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Anything you want to me can be said in front of them."
Draco's mouth twitched, but then he walked away, leaving Crabbe and Goyle to hurry to catch up.
"What was that about?" Ron asked, standing with a quizzical look at the three Slytherins. "Come to think of it, why hasn't he been bothering us like usual?"
"He wants to get Harry on his side, I wager, but he doesn't really know how to make friends," Hermione said wryly. "He's used to buying or bullying them."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, I could do with a Butterbeer."
"Good thing we don't need to buy your friendship," Ron muttered so the others didn't hear. "I'd imagine we wouldn't have enough."
Harry shoved him playfully into the doorway, running in first and getting the drinks himself.
"What do you think it means?" Ginny asked when they had taken a seat, thoughtfully swirling her drink.
The other three shared a look. "What do we think what means?" Hermione asked.
"The rat poison is by the snake or whatever," she answered as though it should have been obvious.
Harry shrugged. "Snake. Come on, Ginny, don't you get that part?"
"Rat poison, then."
Ron frowned. "Something to kill Wormtail?"
"Something to kill Wormtail? What is he, immortal?" Harry snorted. "Maybe they mean Wormtail himself."
"So then why are they go - have they gone?" Hermione asked skeptically. "What's to be gained by killing him?"
"Well, isn't he kind of You-Know-Who's right hand man?" Ron laughed at his own joke.
Hermione sighed wearily. She checked her watch. "Half an hour."
"What?"
"I was talking to Ginny," she said coolly. "Ginny, mum, and I are meeting Amy in Gladrags in half an hour to pick out her wedding dress. Tonks was supposed to come too, but . . ." Hermione shrugged. "All she said was to get something that looked good, not that looked like a stupid cake topper."
"Wizard weddings still have cake?" Harry asked, interested.
Hermione rolled her eyes, though she explained anyway. "Wizard weddings are much like Muggle weddings, except they are performed by any witch or wizard who is a member of the Order of Merlin, whatever class. They've chosen Dumbledore, of course. He wed your parents."
Harry shrugged non-committally, but Ginny piped up, "Amy was your mum's maid of honor. Don't you have pictures?"
He blinked. Well, sure, and he'd only studied the best man after he'd first heard about Sirius, in this same room, in fact, though he'd not given thought to the maid of honor.
Twenty minutes later they left the Three Broomsticks, Hermione and Ginny going one way, Harry and Ron the other, to look in at Zonko's - "Fred and George have much better stuff," Ron muttered, saving his gold to send to them; "besides, they give a family discount" - and then on to Honeydukes, where they came out with pockets stuffed full of candies of all variety, catching sight of Amy, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione. "Hey!" Ron yelled, waving, and they stopped and waited for the boys to catch up.
"Hello, Ron, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley said, smoothing her hair back into its bun.
"Hey, Harry." Amy grinned, cheeks pink and flushed. "You should see the pattern we found, it's absolutely perfect."
"And the material's just amazing," Hermione continued. "It looks like it's in candlelight, really it's amazing."
They spent the rest of the way up to the castle listening to dress descriptions, Harry and Ron with only half an ear, but they separate at the gate, Mrs. Weasley to Apparate home, Amy to go up to her rooms, Ron and Harry to deposit their packages in the Common Room, and Hermione and Ginny straight to dinner. Harry was so eager to get downstairs to eat that he didn't notice a package in the pile he dumped on his bed, one he himself had not bought, hurrying after Ron to get to dinner.
* * * * *
Harry noticed the package when he was clearing things off his bed to sleep that night, picking up those he knew he had bought and storing them in his trunk, stopping short when he realized there was one left. "Strange," he muttered, looking at it. "Ron, is that yours?"
"Is what mine?" Ron surfaced from his own trunk, a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in hand.
"That," Harry said, gesturing to where the brown paper wrapped object lay benign - or perhaps rather threateningly - on top of his sheets.
His friend frowned, giving him a strange look. "Umm, sure, Harry. It's mine."
"Oh, Well, then." Harry picked it up and held it out to him, but the red head backed up suddenly. "What is it?"
"That's what I was thinking," Ron managed, looking back and forth from Harry's hand to his face. "Harry, there's nothing there."
Harry laughed nervously. "Of course there's something there, I found it in with my things."
"Harry. I don't see anything.."
He frowned, slowly turning the package over to look at it. There was no writing on the brown paper, though the twine around it was neatly tied. "You don't see it."
"No."
Seeing packages no one else can see isn't a good thing, even in the wizarding world. Harry almost chuckled at that, but he had no idea what he held in his hand or whether or not it was dangerous. Hearing footsteps on the stairs he quickly tossed it - whatever it was - into his trunk, hopped into bed, and pulled the curtains around himself before Ron could ask anything else. It was a long time before he fell asleep.
* * * * *
The Halloween feast would have been much more fun had Harry not had the package hanging over his head. He didn't want to take it to Dumbledore - the headmaster was busy enough as it was - but he just couldn't figure it out on his own. Something only he could see . . . Harry felt incredibly stupid when he caught sight of Amy leaving the head table. "Don't wait for me," he told Hermione and Ron, who looked as though they had just stuffed themselves to the brim.
Amy was almost out of the Hall when he caught up with her. "Some feast, wasn't that?" she said, smiling. "Durmstrang could take a few tips . . . what's up?"
"I need your help." Quickly he explained about the package. Instead of looking alarmed, she only looked more intrigued.
"Bring that up to my office," she said slowly, running a finger over her lower lip in thought. "I'll fetch Henry, just in case."
Five minutes later the three of them were grouped around Amy's desk, Harry looking at the two of them. "Nothing," Professor Tobias proclaimed. "Absolutely nothing."
Amy squinted, tilting her head. "Harry, I want you to open it and describe to us what's inside it."
It did not help him at all that they both had their wands at the ready. Slowly he unknotted the twine, sliding the paper off. It was - "A globe," he said, slightly miffed. "One of those Muggle toys where the snowflakes swirl around inside over a scene. Except this looks like glitter. It's a forest." Indeed, the entire base of the glass ball was packed with what appeared to be evergreens.
Amy's wand lowered. "It's a secret. Harry, can you see anything in it?"
"What'm I supposed to be looking for, or is that a secret, too?" he asked, trying not to sound too rude.
Professor Tobias laughed. "No, Harry. What you hold in your hands is the physical representation of the location of a secret - or more than one - that you've kept in your lifetime. In the Department of Mysteries there is a forest of sorts: the trees and branches are lies people have told, while the roots are secrets people have kept. You know, lies rooted in secrets, it's all rather poetic."
"And that explains why only you can see it," Amy continued when Harry looked rather frustrated. "You see, were you to actually go down to Level Nine, you would see what appeared to be a normal forest, except made out of misty blue crystal. It's 'planted' in a glass floor, rather disconcerting to see the roots, too. Anyway, it'd just look like a normal forest to a man who had never told a lie or kept a secret in his entire life."
"And to a non-fictional character?"
Amy shrugged. "There's writing on the branches and such. Every lie you've told and every secret you've kept. People can only read things that are not their own when the secret-keeper has told them the secret, or the lie. I must've brushed up against one of yours during a lesson, that's why I can almost see it." She gestured to the snow globe in his hand.
Harry blinked. "Secret Keeper."
Professor Tobias nodded. "Yes, you recognize it as the name of one involved in a Fidelus Charm. It's one and the same. In fact, the idea for the charm came from the Forest of Secrets."
"That's what it's called?"
"Sometimes the Forest of Shadows, by those who like to keep it poetic."
Amy was looking at the brown paper wrapping Harry had taken off it. "You can't see what's covering it until the person with the secret - in this case you - takes it off," she explained at his puzzled look. "There are more rules than that, but basically anyone can see this now."
"What good's that do?" Harry asked, setting the Secret Finder on her desk.
Wordlessly, Amy held it out to him so that the paper that had been on this inside faced out.
Harry -
Keep this safe. Either that, or destroy it. Ask Amy, she'll know how.
RJL
Harry blinked. "You mean I can't just throw it into the fire or something?"
"Try dropping it," Amy said grimly.
He did one better: Harry threw the glass sphere down onto the stone floor, where it merely bounced heavily a couple times and rolled to a stop. Not a scratch.
"Nothing works," Professor Tobias said. "Unlike the prophecy spheres, Secrets and Lies are more carefully guarded."
"But Professor Lupin said you know how to destroy it," Harry said, turning to Amy. "So there has to be some way."
She winced, looking warily at the Dark Arts professor. "I'd rather you kept it safe for now. If it's information that would harm them, perhaps it would help us. At least," she continued, "until Remus and the others get back."
Harry stooped down to pick up the globe, just the right size to cup in two hands. "Where do I hide this, then?"
"Well," Professor Tobias said, "no one will see it. Someplace where it won't accidentally roll away. The bottom of your trunk might work. Wrap it in something nasty first, a pair of old socks or whatnot so no one in his right mind would try to disturb it."
Harry nodded, slipping the sphere into his pocket. "All right, then. When - when are they going to get back?"
"Who knows?" Amy asked grimly, picking up the paper and setting fire to it with her wand, watching the ashes crumble away.
Nodding his thanks to both of them, Harry left, the Secret safe in his pocket.
* * * * *
Ron sighed, flopping back on the grass to show just how exhausting Quidditch practice had been, though the November chill would prevent him from staying there for long. "I don't get it," he complained, throwing an arm across his eyes. "Harry has this Secret Finder but only he can see the Secret anyway?"
Hermione heaved a sigh, broomstick slung over her shoulder. "Okay, let's try this again: you can only read the Secrets if you know what the Secret says."
"Then it's not a secret anymore!"
She gave Harry a look that said, "Is this really worth explaining again?" "Let's try an example, shall we? And I'll speak slowly and use small words and concepts easy for you to understand."
Ron glared at her. She took that to mean "Go for it."
"Somewhere in the Department of Mysteries there is a tree branch or something that says, 'In her forth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hermione Granger attended the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum.'"
"That's not a secret, everyone knows," Ron said testily.
"If you or Harry had tried looking at that Secret anytime before the Yule Ball" - she was ignoring him pointedly - "then you would not have been able to read about it. Ginny and I, however, would have seen it clearly. Then, once you finally realized who my date was, the writing would have become clear."
"Is that still there somewhere?" Harry wanted to know.
Hermione nodded. "It's an endless forest, really. That, and - once a secret no longer has to b kept secret - it's shoved to the sides and back. All the really important ones are somewhere in the middle, so they say. Those are the ones we'd really want to read, especially if they're Voldemort's secrets." Ron shuddered. "Oh, grow [i]up[/i]!"
"Not that, I'm cold!" he replied angrily.
Harry sighed, turning back to Hermione. "So this Secret I'm keeping - there's a way for me to see where it is?"
"Using the globe, yes. That's why they need Secret Finders, because they keep moving."
"But then it's probably somewhere in the middle of the Forest, isn't it? If it's something I really need to keep hidden. Because Voldemort won't be able to read it, would he?"
Hermione shrugged. "Harry, he's been inside your head more than we like to admit. And if Amy could almost see your Secret Finder just from Occlumency lessons . . ." She trailed off, spreading her hands as if to say, "He might be able to."
He sighed again, crossing his arms as well as he could with the Firebolt in his hands and hunkering down inside his robes as the wind really did have a bite to it. "The only problem is, I have no idea what sort of Secret I'm keeping."
Hermione could only shrug again. A moment later Ron popped up. "C'mon, let's get inside, I'm freezing."
* * * * *
Harry held up his hand as soon as he opened the door to Amy's office. "Don't hit me with Occlumency yet, okay?" he requested, as she had taken to lessening the structure of their lessons and simply probing his mind whenever it pleased her. "I need to discuss something with you."
"Fire away." She gestured him into the opposite armchair, warming her hands on the cheery flames dancing in the fireplace.
"Look, I was thinking."
"Good."
"And, well . . ." In all reality, it sounded too dramatic, too contrived. "What if . . . well . . . what if it's not really a Secret Finder for one of my Secrets?"
Amy blinked, turning to look at him closely. "Go on."
"What if . . . what if it's one of Voldemort's, one he needs to do . . . whatever . . . and I can see it because of . . . you know." Harry gestured to his scar. And what if I was wrong last year and the weapon he was searching for isn't me?
She frowned, running a finger across her bottom lip in concentration. "If that turns out to be true, then the best thing to do would be to get rid of it. But that in itself presents a problem."
"Because Professor Tobias said a Secret Finder can't be destroyed?"
"Oh, no, that bit's easy. I've destroyed a couple myself, actually, my own. Though" - her frown deepened - "I wonder if they might have moved again . . . still, once the Secret Finder's been destroyed, the only way to find them is to go through and read every bloody branch in the forest."
Harry sighed. "Then what do I do?"
Amy shrugged. "Wait for Remus to come back. He apparently knows what's up with that thing. And, until then . . . look, I don't think either of us is in Occlumency moods today - just wait, you've an awful potion to brew next hour - so . . ." Rising, she went to her desk and took something out of her bottom desk drawer. It was the Pensieve, and, as she set it on top of her desk, she removed a memory from her head and swirled it into the already shining liquid within. "Come on, I've wanted to look at this one again for ages. It's right after your parents graduated - Lily and I met at James' house during winter holidays their seventh year, you know how Sirius was over there all the time. Well, I took to visiting on Sundays during the summer, as well. The Potters - your grandparents - loved having us, and I explained to Mum that it was neutral ground and maybe I could convince Siri to join the Dark wizards." She shrugged again. "Apparently I'm a failure. Come on." Taking his hand, she practically dove into the bowl.
The house that materialized in front of them was two stories, stone, and surrounded by hedges and trees. "Godric's Hollow," Amy informed him, looking up and down the street. It was a bright, sunshiny summer morning. "James inherited."
Harry swallowed. "This is the house . . ."
"That was destroyed on Halloween fifteen years ago," Amy completed grimly. "Yes . . . oh, here I come. I'm fourteen," she informed him, gesturing to the girl riding up on a bike. Her hair was long, her bangs thick, and her nose had not yet been broken. Harry could see why she had hated it. The young Amy leapt off her bike, walking it up the path, but - instead of ringing the front doorbell - she went around the side of the house.
"Come on," the elder Amy said, looking bemused at her younger self.
The backyard had tables set up. The four Marauders were already there, along with Lily, all of them dressed in jeans and T-shirts like Amy was. Stowing her bike by the house, Amy went to join them. "Hey, how've you been?" Lily asked, giving her a hug as she joined her best friend on the bench.
"Fine, and you?"
"Just great," Lily assured her, green eyes darting to James on her other side, busy describing a Quidditch play to Sirius and Remus. Sirius, however, held up a hand to stop him.
"Introduction. Point." Amy was looking at him expectantly.
"Counter point," Sirius returned almost lazily.
"Point."
"Counter point."
Harry looked at the other Amy, confused, but she shushed him as her other self again said, "Point."
"Counter poi - Hey, isn't that one more than last week?"
Amy laughed, shoving her glasses up on her nose. "Maybe I've been thinking."
Her brother frowned. "Give me a week. Let Mum think you're making headway."
Remus blinked. He looked a bit paler than usual - Harry assumed the full moon was not too far away - but that did not stop him from helping himself to the basket of crisps on the table. "Umm . . . what and who, though not necessarily in that order?"
James laughed, sliding an arm around Lily. Harry watched closely as she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, and he noticed his dad's hair was not as messed up as it had been in Snape's memory. Then again, this was two years later. "That's Adele Mavis -"
"Amy." Both Amys corrected him at the same time, and the younger one laughed. "Sorry, knee-jerk reaction."
"Still is," the older one murmured.
"She's my sister," Sirius explained. "And, well, you all know about my mum . . . that's our weekly argument about whether or not I'm disgracing the family name. Over and done with. Pass the dip."
Harry laughed. "That's an argument? Point and counter-pointing?"
"It kept us amused." Amy looked wistful as the conversation faded out, though the picture stayed clear. "You'd never guess it was Peter just by looking at them, would you?" The boy, round-cheeked and flushed, was currently trying to wrestle some carrot sticks away form Sirius, though the darker young man eventually won. "No one even thought it was him. Sirius suspected Remus, and Remus suspected Sirius, and neither of them wanted to let me alone with the other if he could help it. Then, after Sirius was taken away . . ." She shrugged. "Remus felt justified, but betrayed just the same. And it didn't help that the master plan put me in a flat with Severus, which just made Remus worse."
Harry nodded, though his eyes were glued to his parents. Lily and Amy were chatting away, leaving the boys to whatever conversation they were having, though James' arm was around Lily's waist and she was using hi as a back rest. "So she really stopped hating him?"
"I believe it's more along the lines of, 'So his ego really deflated?'" Amy corrected. "He calmed down a lot after fifth year, really. It was a great improvement. Seriously, all throughout their seventh year Lil and I were pen pals - well, not just then, we still wrote . . . but anyway, her letters were entire rolls of parchment, and darned if I couldn't get more than three paragraphs about her life other than how cute James Potter was, or how he had certainly changed over the summer, or how she thought she was developing a crush on him . . ."
They only lingered a while longer, until Amy checked her watch and realized they should return to the present, whisking them back to her office and sending him to get his things before they had Potions.
* * * * *
Ron was scribbling hurriedly on his Potions essay at breakfast. "Two more weeks," he muttered faintly, grabbing his goblet of pumpkin juice and taking a swig. "Two weeks and it's winter holidays, two more weeks . . ."
Hermione sniffed superiorly. "Well, Ron, if you had done your work instead of playing chess with Harry all weekend, this wouldn't be happening, would it?"
"Go to Arithmancy and let me have an hour and a half to finish," he grunted, paging though a book from the library.
Harry sighed, concentrating on the toast in his hands. Quidditch had slacked off slightly, there being no more games before Holidays, and he was getting sick of the continual arguing. He stirred the scrambled eggs on his plate with entirely no intention of taking a bite. Sighing again, his gaze wandered to the Head Table.
Snape's empty seat was there, next to Amy, and she had been looking a bit more worried than usual as it remained empty. Snape, Tonks, and Professor Lupin had been gone a long time, longer than she had been hoping they would take. At the moment Amy and Professor McGonnagal were deep in a discussion about something. Dumbledore had the tips of his long fingers together as he was listening to Mad-Eye Moody, though his own blue eyes were semi-focused on the enchanted ceiling, a dull gray. Moody broke off mid-sentence, electric blue eye swiveling toward the door. Muttering something to the headmaster, he heaved himself to his mismatched feet and politely interrupted Amy. Harry was wondering what Moody was saying when Hermione grabbed his arm. "Look!"
Snape was in the doorway. Well, he was leaning on the doorframe; looking exhausted, paler than usual, and completely beat, the Potions Professor barely had the energy to raise his eyes to meet Amy's much less smile.
Amy froze a moment before shoving back her chair, dodging a few second year Ravenclaws, and practically sprinting up the aisle, slowing before she met him and gathering him into a gentle - yet obviously relived - hug.
Ron frowned slightly. "But much, isn't it?" he said in an undertone, missing the inkwell as he tried to dip his quill.
Lavender and Parvati giggled. "It's sweet," Lavender said. "You know, I hadn't noticed before."
"Noticed what?" Harry asked, watching Amy assist Snape away, probably toward the hospital wing.
"How much they look alike," Parvati said, and then she giggled again.
Hermione frowned. "Look alike?"
Lavender nodded, giggling, as she gathered her things and the two of them set off for Divination.
"Look alike my foot," Ron muttered, finally getting into the ink pot. "He's a slimy old vulture and she's -"
"Just as pale," Hermione said, frowning slightly and looking thoughtful. "And they have the same haircut, you have to admit . . ."
"Yeah, except it looks good on her," Ron countered.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, shouldn't you -"
"Be letting you go off to class?" he finished for her. "Yes, I think I should." Then, as if to fend off all thought of further conversation, he pulled another book toward him and literally buried his nose in it.
After narrowing her eyes at Ron a moment, she turned to Harry. "Well, I suppose that means your lesson's been canceled," Hermione said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder as she stood.
He shrugged although, a moment later, Harry, too, left the Great Hall, making tracks toward the hospital wing.
"Honestly," Hermione muttered, rolling her eyes. "She was cut from the team less than a week before the game and replaced with a second year last- minute. That's not exactly something to cheer you up."
"That, and rumor has it Roger Davies was only keeping her on the team last year because he wanted her to go out with him," Ginny added. "Stupid git."
"At least she was better than what's-his-face," Ron argued, stumbling over his untied shoelace and dropping to one knee to fix it.
"Potter."
Harry turned around, trying not to make a face. "Malfoy."
Draco jerked his head, indicating he wanted to speak to Harry alone, but he didn't move.
"Problem with your neck?" Hermione asked icily. "Perhaps your aunt should take a look at it."
"A word, Potter," the pale boy said with a glare at her. "Just the two of us."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Anything you want to me can be said in front of them."
Draco's mouth twitched, but then he walked away, leaving Crabbe and Goyle to hurry to catch up.
"What was that about?" Ron asked, standing with a quizzical look at the three Slytherins. "Come to think of it, why hasn't he been bothering us like usual?"
"He wants to get Harry on his side, I wager, but he doesn't really know how to make friends," Hermione said wryly. "He's used to buying or bullying them."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Come on, I could do with a Butterbeer."
"Good thing we don't need to buy your friendship," Ron muttered so the others didn't hear. "I'd imagine we wouldn't have enough."
Harry shoved him playfully into the doorway, running in first and getting the drinks himself.
"What do you think it means?" Ginny asked when they had taken a seat, thoughtfully swirling her drink.
The other three shared a look. "What do we think what means?" Hermione asked.
"The rat poison is by the snake or whatever," she answered as though it should have been obvious.
Harry shrugged. "Snake. Come on, Ginny, don't you get that part?"
"Rat poison, then."
Ron frowned. "Something to kill Wormtail?"
"Something to kill Wormtail? What is he, immortal?" Harry snorted. "Maybe they mean Wormtail himself."
"So then why are they go - have they gone?" Hermione asked skeptically. "What's to be gained by killing him?"
"Well, isn't he kind of You-Know-Who's right hand man?" Ron laughed at his own joke.
Hermione sighed wearily. She checked her watch. "Half an hour."
"What?"
"I was talking to Ginny," she said coolly. "Ginny, mum, and I are meeting Amy in Gladrags in half an hour to pick out her wedding dress. Tonks was supposed to come too, but . . ." Hermione shrugged. "All she said was to get something that looked good, not that looked like a stupid cake topper."
"Wizard weddings still have cake?" Harry asked, interested.
Hermione rolled her eyes, though she explained anyway. "Wizard weddings are much like Muggle weddings, except they are performed by any witch or wizard who is a member of the Order of Merlin, whatever class. They've chosen Dumbledore, of course. He wed your parents."
Harry shrugged non-committally, but Ginny piped up, "Amy was your mum's maid of honor. Don't you have pictures?"
He blinked. Well, sure, and he'd only studied the best man after he'd first heard about Sirius, in this same room, in fact, though he'd not given thought to the maid of honor.
Twenty minutes later they left the Three Broomsticks, Hermione and Ginny going one way, Harry and Ron the other, to look in at Zonko's - "Fred and George have much better stuff," Ron muttered, saving his gold to send to them; "besides, they give a family discount" - and then on to Honeydukes, where they came out with pockets stuffed full of candies of all variety, catching sight of Amy, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione. "Hey!" Ron yelled, waving, and they stopped and waited for the boys to catch up.
"Hello, Ron, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley said, smoothing her hair back into its bun.
"Hey, Harry." Amy grinned, cheeks pink and flushed. "You should see the pattern we found, it's absolutely perfect."
"And the material's just amazing," Hermione continued. "It looks like it's in candlelight, really it's amazing."
They spent the rest of the way up to the castle listening to dress descriptions, Harry and Ron with only half an ear, but they separate at the gate, Mrs. Weasley to Apparate home, Amy to go up to her rooms, Ron and Harry to deposit their packages in the Common Room, and Hermione and Ginny straight to dinner. Harry was so eager to get downstairs to eat that he didn't notice a package in the pile he dumped on his bed, one he himself had not bought, hurrying after Ron to get to dinner.
* * * * *
Harry noticed the package when he was clearing things off his bed to sleep that night, picking up those he knew he had bought and storing them in his trunk, stopping short when he realized there was one left. "Strange," he muttered, looking at it. "Ron, is that yours?"
"Is what mine?" Ron surfaced from his own trunk, a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans in hand.
"That," Harry said, gesturing to where the brown paper wrapped object lay benign - or perhaps rather threateningly - on top of his sheets.
His friend frowned, giving him a strange look. "Umm, sure, Harry. It's mine."
"Oh, Well, then." Harry picked it up and held it out to him, but the red head backed up suddenly. "What is it?"
"That's what I was thinking," Ron managed, looking back and forth from Harry's hand to his face. "Harry, there's nothing there."
Harry laughed nervously. "Of course there's something there, I found it in with my things."
"Harry. I don't see anything.."
He frowned, slowly turning the package over to look at it. There was no writing on the brown paper, though the twine around it was neatly tied. "You don't see it."
"No."
Seeing packages no one else can see isn't a good thing, even in the wizarding world. Harry almost chuckled at that, but he had no idea what he held in his hand or whether or not it was dangerous. Hearing footsteps on the stairs he quickly tossed it - whatever it was - into his trunk, hopped into bed, and pulled the curtains around himself before Ron could ask anything else. It was a long time before he fell asleep.
* * * * *
The Halloween feast would have been much more fun had Harry not had the package hanging over his head. He didn't want to take it to Dumbledore - the headmaster was busy enough as it was - but he just couldn't figure it out on his own. Something only he could see . . . Harry felt incredibly stupid when he caught sight of Amy leaving the head table. "Don't wait for me," he told Hermione and Ron, who looked as though they had just stuffed themselves to the brim.
Amy was almost out of the Hall when he caught up with her. "Some feast, wasn't that?" she said, smiling. "Durmstrang could take a few tips . . . what's up?"
"I need your help." Quickly he explained about the package. Instead of looking alarmed, she only looked more intrigued.
"Bring that up to my office," she said slowly, running a finger over her lower lip in thought. "I'll fetch Henry, just in case."
Five minutes later the three of them were grouped around Amy's desk, Harry looking at the two of them. "Nothing," Professor Tobias proclaimed. "Absolutely nothing."
Amy squinted, tilting her head. "Harry, I want you to open it and describe to us what's inside it."
It did not help him at all that they both had their wands at the ready. Slowly he unknotted the twine, sliding the paper off. It was - "A globe," he said, slightly miffed. "One of those Muggle toys where the snowflakes swirl around inside over a scene. Except this looks like glitter. It's a forest." Indeed, the entire base of the glass ball was packed with what appeared to be evergreens.
Amy's wand lowered. "It's a secret. Harry, can you see anything in it?"
"What'm I supposed to be looking for, or is that a secret, too?" he asked, trying not to sound too rude.
Professor Tobias laughed. "No, Harry. What you hold in your hands is the physical representation of the location of a secret - or more than one - that you've kept in your lifetime. In the Department of Mysteries there is a forest of sorts: the trees and branches are lies people have told, while the roots are secrets people have kept. You know, lies rooted in secrets, it's all rather poetic."
"And that explains why only you can see it," Amy continued when Harry looked rather frustrated. "You see, were you to actually go down to Level Nine, you would see what appeared to be a normal forest, except made out of misty blue crystal. It's 'planted' in a glass floor, rather disconcerting to see the roots, too. Anyway, it'd just look like a normal forest to a man who had never told a lie or kept a secret in his entire life."
"And to a non-fictional character?"
Amy shrugged. "There's writing on the branches and such. Every lie you've told and every secret you've kept. People can only read things that are not their own when the secret-keeper has told them the secret, or the lie. I must've brushed up against one of yours during a lesson, that's why I can almost see it." She gestured to the snow globe in his hand.
Harry blinked. "Secret Keeper."
Professor Tobias nodded. "Yes, you recognize it as the name of one involved in a Fidelus Charm. It's one and the same. In fact, the idea for the charm came from the Forest of Secrets."
"That's what it's called?"
"Sometimes the Forest of Shadows, by those who like to keep it poetic."
Amy was looking at the brown paper wrapping Harry had taken off it. "You can't see what's covering it until the person with the secret - in this case you - takes it off," she explained at his puzzled look. "There are more rules than that, but basically anyone can see this now."
"What good's that do?" Harry asked, setting the Secret Finder on her desk.
Wordlessly, Amy held it out to him so that the paper that had been on this inside faced out.
Harry -
Keep this safe. Either that, or destroy it. Ask Amy, she'll know how.
RJL
Harry blinked. "You mean I can't just throw it into the fire or something?"
"Try dropping it," Amy said grimly.
He did one better: Harry threw the glass sphere down onto the stone floor, where it merely bounced heavily a couple times and rolled to a stop. Not a scratch.
"Nothing works," Professor Tobias said. "Unlike the prophecy spheres, Secrets and Lies are more carefully guarded."
"But Professor Lupin said you know how to destroy it," Harry said, turning to Amy. "So there has to be some way."
She winced, looking warily at the Dark Arts professor. "I'd rather you kept it safe for now. If it's information that would harm them, perhaps it would help us. At least," she continued, "until Remus and the others get back."
Harry stooped down to pick up the globe, just the right size to cup in two hands. "Where do I hide this, then?"
"Well," Professor Tobias said, "no one will see it. Someplace where it won't accidentally roll away. The bottom of your trunk might work. Wrap it in something nasty first, a pair of old socks or whatnot so no one in his right mind would try to disturb it."
Harry nodded, slipping the sphere into his pocket. "All right, then. When - when are they going to get back?"
"Who knows?" Amy asked grimly, picking up the paper and setting fire to it with her wand, watching the ashes crumble away.
Nodding his thanks to both of them, Harry left, the Secret safe in his pocket.
* * * * *
Ron sighed, flopping back on the grass to show just how exhausting Quidditch practice had been, though the November chill would prevent him from staying there for long. "I don't get it," he complained, throwing an arm across his eyes. "Harry has this Secret Finder but only he can see the Secret anyway?"
Hermione heaved a sigh, broomstick slung over her shoulder. "Okay, let's try this again: you can only read the Secrets if you know what the Secret says."
"Then it's not a secret anymore!"
She gave Harry a look that said, "Is this really worth explaining again?" "Let's try an example, shall we? And I'll speak slowly and use small words and concepts easy for you to understand."
Ron glared at her. She took that to mean "Go for it."
"Somewhere in the Department of Mysteries there is a tree branch or something that says, 'In her forth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hermione Granger attended the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum.'"
"That's not a secret, everyone knows," Ron said testily.
"If you or Harry had tried looking at that Secret anytime before the Yule Ball" - she was ignoring him pointedly - "then you would not have been able to read about it. Ginny and I, however, would have seen it clearly. Then, once you finally realized who my date was, the writing would have become clear."
"Is that still there somewhere?" Harry wanted to know.
Hermione nodded. "It's an endless forest, really. That, and - once a secret no longer has to b kept secret - it's shoved to the sides and back. All the really important ones are somewhere in the middle, so they say. Those are the ones we'd really want to read, especially if they're Voldemort's secrets." Ron shuddered. "Oh, grow [i]up[/i]!"
"Not that, I'm cold!" he replied angrily.
Harry sighed, turning back to Hermione. "So this Secret I'm keeping - there's a way for me to see where it is?"
"Using the globe, yes. That's why they need Secret Finders, because they keep moving."
"But then it's probably somewhere in the middle of the Forest, isn't it? If it's something I really need to keep hidden. Because Voldemort won't be able to read it, would he?"
Hermione shrugged. "Harry, he's been inside your head more than we like to admit. And if Amy could almost see your Secret Finder just from Occlumency lessons . . ." She trailed off, spreading her hands as if to say, "He might be able to."
He sighed again, crossing his arms as well as he could with the Firebolt in his hands and hunkering down inside his robes as the wind really did have a bite to it. "The only problem is, I have no idea what sort of Secret I'm keeping."
Hermione could only shrug again. A moment later Ron popped up. "C'mon, let's get inside, I'm freezing."
* * * * *
Harry held up his hand as soon as he opened the door to Amy's office. "Don't hit me with Occlumency yet, okay?" he requested, as she had taken to lessening the structure of their lessons and simply probing his mind whenever it pleased her. "I need to discuss something with you."
"Fire away." She gestured him into the opposite armchair, warming her hands on the cheery flames dancing in the fireplace.
"Look, I was thinking."
"Good."
"And, well . . ." In all reality, it sounded too dramatic, too contrived. "What if . . . well . . . what if it's not really a Secret Finder for one of my Secrets?"
Amy blinked, turning to look at him closely. "Go on."
"What if . . . what if it's one of Voldemort's, one he needs to do . . . whatever . . . and I can see it because of . . . you know." Harry gestured to his scar. And what if I was wrong last year and the weapon he was searching for isn't me?
She frowned, running a finger across her bottom lip in concentration. "If that turns out to be true, then the best thing to do would be to get rid of it. But that in itself presents a problem."
"Because Professor Tobias said a Secret Finder can't be destroyed?"
"Oh, no, that bit's easy. I've destroyed a couple myself, actually, my own. Though" - her frown deepened - "I wonder if they might have moved again . . . still, once the Secret Finder's been destroyed, the only way to find them is to go through and read every bloody branch in the forest."
Harry sighed. "Then what do I do?"
Amy shrugged. "Wait for Remus to come back. He apparently knows what's up with that thing. And, until then . . . look, I don't think either of us is in Occlumency moods today - just wait, you've an awful potion to brew next hour - so . . ." Rising, she went to her desk and took something out of her bottom desk drawer. It was the Pensieve, and, as she set it on top of her desk, she removed a memory from her head and swirled it into the already shining liquid within. "Come on, I've wanted to look at this one again for ages. It's right after your parents graduated - Lily and I met at James' house during winter holidays their seventh year, you know how Sirius was over there all the time. Well, I took to visiting on Sundays during the summer, as well. The Potters - your grandparents - loved having us, and I explained to Mum that it was neutral ground and maybe I could convince Siri to join the Dark wizards." She shrugged again. "Apparently I'm a failure. Come on." Taking his hand, she practically dove into the bowl.
The house that materialized in front of them was two stories, stone, and surrounded by hedges and trees. "Godric's Hollow," Amy informed him, looking up and down the street. It was a bright, sunshiny summer morning. "James inherited."
Harry swallowed. "This is the house . . ."
"That was destroyed on Halloween fifteen years ago," Amy completed grimly. "Yes . . . oh, here I come. I'm fourteen," she informed him, gesturing to the girl riding up on a bike. Her hair was long, her bangs thick, and her nose had not yet been broken. Harry could see why she had hated it. The young Amy leapt off her bike, walking it up the path, but - instead of ringing the front doorbell - she went around the side of the house.
"Come on," the elder Amy said, looking bemused at her younger self.
The backyard had tables set up. The four Marauders were already there, along with Lily, all of them dressed in jeans and T-shirts like Amy was. Stowing her bike by the house, Amy went to join them. "Hey, how've you been?" Lily asked, giving her a hug as she joined her best friend on the bench.
"Fine, and you?"
"Just great," Lily assured her, green eyes darting to James on her other side, busy describing a Quidditch play to Sirius and Remus. Sirius, however, held up a hand to stop him.
"Introduction. Point." Amy was looking at him expectantly.
"Counter point," Sirius returned almost lazily.
"Point."
"Counter point."
Harry looked at the other Amy, confused, but she shushed him as her other self again said, "Point."
"Counter poi - Hey, isn't that one more than last week?"
Amy laughed, shoving her glasses up on her nose. "Maybe I've been thinking."
Her brother frowned. "Give me a week. Let Mum think you're making headway."
Remus blinked. He looked a bit paler than usual - Harry assumed the full moon was not too far away - but that did not stop him from helping himself to the basket of crisps on the table. "Umm . . . what and who, though not necessarily in that order?"
James laughed, sliding an arm around Lily. Harry watched closely as she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder, and he noticed his dad's hair was not as messed up as it had been in Snape's memory. Then again, this was two years later. "That's Adele Mavis -"
"Amy." Both Amys corrected him at the same time, and the younger one laughed. "Sorry, knee-jerk reaction."
"Still is," the older one murmured.
"She's my sister," Sirius explained. "And, well, you all know about my mum . . . that's our weekly argument about whether or not I'm disgracing the family name. Over and done with. Pass the dip."
Harry laughed. "That's an argument? Point and counter-pointing?"
"It kept us amused." Amy looked wistful as the conversation faded out, though the picture stayed clear. "You'd never guess it was Peter just by looking at them, would you?" The boy, round-cheeked and flushed, was currently trying to wrestle some carrot sticks away form Sirius, though the darker young man eventually won. "No one even thought it was him. Sirius suspected Remus, and Remus suspected Sirius, and neither of them wanted to let me alone with the other if he could help it. Then, after Sirius was taken away . . ." She shrugged. "Remus felt justified, but betrayed just the same. And it didn't help that the master plan put me in a flat with Severus, which just made Remus worse."
Harry nodded, though his eyes were glued to his parents. Lily and Amy were chatting away, leaving the boys to whatever conversation they were having, though James' arm was around Lily's waist and she was using hi as a back rest. "So she really stopped hating him?"
"I believe it's more along the lines of, 'So his ego really deflated?'" Amy corrected. "He calmed down a lot after fifth year, really. It was a great improvement. Seriously, all throughout their seventh year Lil and I were pen pals - well, not just then, we still wrote . . . but anyway, her letters were entire rolls of parchment, and darned if I couldn't get more than three paragraphs about her life other than how cute James Potter was, or how he had certainly changed over the summer, or how she thought she was developing a crush on him . . ."
They only lingered a while longer, until Amy checked her watch and realized they should return to the present, whisking them back to her office and sending him to get his things before they had Potions.
* * * * *
Ron was scribbling hurriedly on his Potions essay at breakfast. "Two more weeks," he muttered faintly, grabbing his goblet of pumpkin juice and taking a swig. "Two weeks and it's winter holidays, two more weeks . . ."
Hermione sniffed superiorly. "Well, Ron, if you had done your work instead of playing chess with Harry all weekend, this wouldn't be happening, would it?"
"Go to Arithmancy and let me have an hour and a half to finish," he grunted, paging though a book from the library.
Harry sighed, concentrating on the toast in his hands. Quidditch had slacked off slightly, there being no more games before Holidays, and he was getting sick of the continual arguing. He stirred the scrambled eggs on his plate with entirely no intention of taking a bite. Sighing again, his gaze wandered to the Head Table.
Snape's empty seat was there, next to Amy, and she had been looking a bit more worried than usual as it remained empty. Snape, Tonks, and Professor Lupin had been gone a long time, longer than she had been hoping they would take. At the moment Amy and Professor McGonnagal were deep in a discussion about something. Dumbledore had the tips of his long fingers together as he was listening to Mad-Eye Moody, though his own blue eyes were semi-focused on the enchanted ceiling, a dull gray. Moody broke off mid-sentence, electric blue eye swiveling toward the door. Muttering something to the headmaster, he heaved himself to his mismatched feet and politely interrupted Amy. Harry was wondering what Moody was saying when Hermione grabbed his arm. "Look!"
Snape was in the doorway. Well, he was leaning on the doorframe; looking exhausted, paler than usual, and completely beat, the Potions Professor barely had the energy to raise his eyes to meet Amy's much less smile.
Amy froze a moment before shoving back her chair, dodging a few second year Ravenclaws, and practically sprinting up the aisle, slowing before she met him and gathering him into a gentle - yet obviously relived - hug.
Ron frowned slightly. "But much, isn't it?" he said in an undertone, missing the inkwell as he tried to dip his quill.
Lavender and Parvati giggled. "It's sweet," Lavender said. "You know, I hadn't noticed before."
"Noticed what?" Harry asked, watching Amy assist Snape away, probably toward the hospital wing.
"How much they look alike," Parvati said, and then she giggled again.
Hermione frowned. "Look alike?"
Lavender nodded, giggling, as she gathered her things and the two of them set off for Divination.
"Look alike my foot," Ron muttered, finally getting into the ink pot. "He's a slimy old vulture and she's -"
"Just as pale," Hermione said, frowning slightly and looking thoughtful. "And they have the same haircut, you have to admit . . ."
"Yeah, except it looks good on her," Ron countered.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, shouldn't you -"
"Be letting you go off to class?" he finished for her. "Yes, I think I should." Then, as if to fend off all thought of further conversation, he pulled another book toward him and literally buried his nose in it.
After narrowing her eyes at Ron a moment, she turned to Harry. "Well, I suppose that means your lesson's been canceled," Hermione said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder as she stood.
He shrugged although, a moment later, Harry, too, left the Great Hall, making tracks toward the hospital wing.