Chapter Thirteen- James and Snape
The news of Colin's abduction was the subject of talk all over Hogwarts during the next two weeks. Many of the Gryffindor's seemed slightly depressed, which included Hermione. She had always like Colin. Colin's little Brother Dennis Creevy was not seen anywhere in the castle either. It was rumored that he was given Private lessons in Dumbledore's office, to help relieve the stress he was under due to his brother's disappearance. Ministry officials were called up to the school two days after Colin's disappearance, checking for any clues, or leads that might lead to the whereabouts of Colin. They interviewed the Slytherin's first, and then the Ravenclaws, next the Hufflepuffs, and finally the Gryffindors. When the official called Harry's name, she surveyed him with interest. She asked him a bunch of questions, that Harry really didn't know how to answer, and finally, after an exhausting hour, she let him go. Before he left, she said
"You remind me so much of James. I wish he were still here."
Harry had never felt so miserable in his life. He didn't like the fact that everyone was comparing him to his father. After what he saw in Snape's pensive last year, he wanted nothing to even do with his father. He had wanted people to stop calling him James everywhere he went.
As the week drew to a close, Harry, Ron and Hermione caught sight of a Daily Prophet paper, and were astonished at what they found inside.
"Oh my!" shrieked Hermione at Breakfast on Saturday. "I was right! Umbridge is missing!"
"What!" shouted Ron.
"Shh! Listen"
MINISTRY WORKER TURNED UP MISSING
HOGWARTS STUDENT REPORTED ABDUCTED
Last Week, the Daily Prophet unearthed startling news that Senior
Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic was reported missing since
September. Dolores Umbridge, once high-inquisitor and Headmistress at Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry had not reported to work since her departure from Hogwarts School. The Minister of Magic and assistant Minister of Magic has evidence to believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to be behind the sudden
disappearance. Though five months after Dolores Umbridge's sudden disappearance, Colin Creevy, 15 who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry was reported 'abducted' by Ministry Official's as well as Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School. It is said that someone
made their way onto the school's grounds during a Quidditch Match, and kidnapped the young student. A wide spread search is being held for both
Dolores Umbridge and Colin Creevy. The Minister of Magic has already
alerted the Prime Minister.
"Well, now we know who's behind the disappearances," said Harry, as he looked up from the paper.
"I figured Voldermort was behind it. But, its hard to believe that they'd kidnap Colin" Hermione said.
Ron nodded. "That's true. I hope he's annoying the socks off old Volder-You- Know-Who" he said, catching himself before he said Voldermorts name. Hermione snorted.
"For heavens sake Ron, get a hold of yourself! Why are you falling into the You-Know-Who or He-who-must-not-be-named nonsense"
Ron chose to ignore Hermione's question by asking Harry a question, which drowned out Hermione's voice. "So, what are your conclusions Harry? I mean, has your scar hurt since any of this happened?"
Harry shook his head. He thought it was quite unusual that his scar had not hurt as much as it did last year. Dumbledore had said it was bound to hurt more because Voldermort was back.
Harry and Ron continued to discuss possible motives of why Voldermort would kidnap someone as annoying as Colin. Their conversation came to a sudden stand still when Hermione gave a sudden gasp, nearly spilling her pumpkin juice.
"What?" asked Harry.
"Its-Oh no!" she said, still staring down at the Daily Prophet.
"What" hissed Ron.
She began to read a headline aloud. Neville and Ginny had now come over, after hearing Hermione's gasp, since they weren't sitting so far away.
FORMER HOGWARTS STUDENT FOUND DEAD
"Former?-They mean Kevin!" said Ginny.
"Kevin's dead?" asked Ron, with a sound of joy in his voice. Hermione shot him a cold look.
"It's not really a big article. It says that he was found last evening, near the Ministry of Magic entrance in London. There's really not much information about it," said Hermione, who had now started to regain color.
"This is just getting strange," said Neville. "First Umbridge and Colin disappear, and now Kevin turns up dead"
"And the question remains simple. Why" said Hermione.
Harry couldn't understand it either. Was Kevin's death also linked to Lord Voldermort? He wondered why Voldermort would kill a child for no reason. But suddenly, Harry thought of something. Something he knew he had to share with the others.
"Come on! I've got something to tell you all" he said hurriedly. He grabbed his things and dashed out of the hall, with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville at his heels. They made their way up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Chocolate Fairies" said Hermione, as the portrait swung open to reveal the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. All of them moved by the fire, where they sat down, as Harry stood up.
"Okay, lets try and put the pieces together" he said. "While Kevin was here, what did he do a lot?"
"He usual taunted with the all the houses, except Slytherin House" Ron said.
"That's right! And I even over heard him saying something about his parents being supporters of Voldermort"
"But, how could his parents be supporters, if they were simply furious when he was expelled?" asked Hermione. "It doesn't make any sense"
Ginny spoke. "Think about it Hermione! If your parents were supporters of Voldermort, and your son was expelled. They wouldn't march up to school, and say "Yeah, We support Voldermort!" now would they? They'd put on an act. I mean, look at who is Headmaster of the school. Dumbledore"
For the first time in five years, Harry had never felt so much gratitude for Ginny. She was clearly good at putting two and two together. Harry then thought it was time to bring forth news that he had been hiding from Neville, Ginny and Hermione since September.
"And there's one more thing" said Harry. "Back in September, I kind of had a-Vision" he said, ignoring the look Hermione gave him.
"Harry!" she hissed. "You're supposed to be closing your mind to that stuff- "
"Hear him out first" said Ron.
Hermione stopped speaking. "Alright"
"It was about Voldermort. He was meeting with some new death eaters he'd recruited, seeing as a whole lot of them are in Azkaban. Anyway, he was angry, because no one told him that a certain someone was stationed at Hogwarts-"
"Stationed?" Neville said. "You mean, spying?"
"I think so, but it wasn't clear. Before one of his death eaters could tell who it was, the Vision faded. I've come to believe that it was Kevin they were talking about"
"I second that" said Ron.
"But how?" Hermione asked.
"Come on Hermione! Do you need anymore proof? I mean, its obvious isn't it? Kevin stood out. He hated Gryffindor's, and he even attacked Brian, just so he could try and get Harry expelled"
"But, lets not forget something. Who else has been acting strange lately?" Ginny asked.
Everyone's faced went into thinking Mode. Suddenly, a little light bulb like moment inserted into Harry. "Malfoy"
"Yeah. It's a little odd that he suddenly wants to join sides with us. I mean, that's happened way too fast, now that you mention it" Ron said.
"But what about Dumbledore's warning, at the start of term feast. Maybe some of his words, sank in" Neville said.
"Malfoy was acting strange before Dumbledore's speech, so we kind of have to vote that one out. We'll come back to Malfoy in a bit. First, we've got to think about Voldermort"
At that moment, another thing sprang itself into Harry's mind. The orbs of the Phoenix.
"Hey, wait a minute. There's something else that I've got to tell you-well, Hermione and Ginny. Before we came back to Hogwarts, I had a dream about.about Sirius. He was at Hogwarts, with Professor Kevin, and they were talking about Orbs.orbs of the phoenix-"
Hermione gave Harry one of her I've-Read-about-those sort of looks. He continued to plow through his speech.
"They were guarded by my parents, during Voldermorts reign of terror. The orbs were said to have similar powers to the Sorcerer's Stone, except these had the power to bring people back to life.Voldermort had wanted these orbs while he was alive because they would have given him unlimited powers.but my parents kept them secret. The only other people who know about them are Sirius, Dumbledore.and Fawkes, because Fawkes is guardian of the orbs now that my parents are-"
He stopped. Hermione seemed like she was dying to speak. "What?"
"I think I've just made another conclusion," she said. "See if you can all figure it out. Take a closer examining of who Voldermorts captured, and killed"
"He's kidnapped an annoying git, a sorry piece of a witch and a -" said Ron, before Hermione cut him off.
"No Ron! I mean, take a really careful look"
"He's kidnapped-people who have knowledge of Hogwarts" said Harry.
"Exactly! That solves our why problem. If Fawkes guards the orbs, then it makes sense if Voldermort kidnaps people who have or do attend the school. He thinks they know where the orbs are" Hermione said, brightly.
Everything seemed to add up perfectly in Harry's mind. He could not help but feel sorry for Voldermort because he was getting more than he bargained for. However, Harry knew that it would be due time before Colin and Umbridge were safe again.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Ron. "Do we try and look for them ourselves?"
Hermione gave Ron a Are-You-Out-of-your-mind sort of look. Everyone seemed to grasp onto her look. It would be completely foolish of them to go and look for people, when the first thing that was stopping them was not knowing where they were.
Ginny stood up. "Is there a D.A meeting Monday evening Harry?"
Harry nodded. He had almost forgot he scheduled a meeting on Monday in the room of requirement. Dumbledore had given them permission to continue the meetings.
"Well, see you later then. I'm off to get a bit of Quidditch Practice" Ginny said, as he left the common room.
"You know, It's a shame today is Saturday" Ron said.
"Why?" asked Neville.
"Because next week is that Ministry event"
* * * * * *
The weekend passed by so quickly, that everyone dreaded returning to lessons on Monday. Harry and Ron had almost forgotten Snapes essay on a Reversing potion, but Hermione helped them during lunch in which they spent the entire time writing it, with Hermione breathing down their necks each time one of them wrote something wrong on the parchment. Harry had finished his essay before Ron, and Hermione allowed him to relax for the remaining ½ an hour they had left.
Harry rose from his seat, and went behind one of the bookshelves, looking for a book about Jinxes and methods in Transfiguration. He had not forgotten that he had to pull his grades up in his classes, if he wanted to become an Auror. While looking for the book, he bumped into the last person he wanted to. Professor Snape. Harry looked up, and was amazed to see how long Snape's nose was when directly under it.
"Watch where your going, Potter" he said gruffly. He shunted Harry to the side, and continued down the row of shelves, looking for a book.
Harry wanted to cast a curse on him, but held the urge inside. It was only then did he realize Snape was staring at him. Harry turned to leave.
"Potter"
Harry turned. "Yes Professor?"
"Come down to my office tonight, after Dinner"
Harry stared blankly. Was Snape going to give him another Occlumacy lesson? But he hadn't forgotten that Snape threw him out of his office last year. Snape had down right refused to give Harry anymore Occlumacy lessons. Snape turned on his heel, snatched a book from the shelf, and left the library, nodding at Madam Pince.
"Snape wants you to what?" Ron said during Transfiguration. They were learning about Human Transfiguration today. They had just watched Professor McGonagall transfigure Dean Thomas into a dictionary, and then turn him back to normal. She had put up two boards full of notes, and Harry hastily copied them down, trying not to answer Ron.
"Snape can't meet with you tonight. We've got a D.A meeting" Ron continued. "What does old grease head want to talk to you about? Out of the six years you've been here, he's never spoken to you before has he? Besides docking points from you, and making comments about your potions. That slimy-"
"Mr. Weasley!" Professor McGonagall's voice said, cracking like a whip. The entire class turned to face Ron.
"Y-Yes Professor?"
"My goodness, is your hearing quite alright?" asked Professor McGonagall. "The Headmaster would like to see you. Follow Ms. Beckon to his office" she said, gesturing to the seventh year Hufflepuff standing at the doorway. Ron looked confused. He stood up, gathered his things, glared at the class with a look of nervousness, and left the room. "Now, as I was saying class. Human Transfiguration is often used in different fields of work, one being an Auror" she said, shooting Harry a look. Harry flushed Red. She was making sure he was listening.
"What do Aurors transfigure themselves for, Professor?" asked Parvati.
"They usually do it, when they are on the haunt for a Dark Witch or Wizard. Its very common"
And for the rest of class, Professor McGonagall continued to pile through speeches about Aurors. At the end of lesson, Hermione hurried to catch up to Harry.
"I wonder why Dumbledore wanted to see Ron," she said.
"Me too" he answered, as they headed down to the potions classroom. The Slytherins were behind them, with the absence of Malfoy, who was standing near the Potions door, reading.
"Oh look, it the filthy Mudblood and The-Boy-who-Stinks" Pansy Parkinson said, gleefully. Crabbe, Goyle and several Slytherin Sixth years sniggered.
Hermione spun around. "Hi Pansy. I was wondering, if you'd already taken your Halloween mask of a troll back-oh, wait a second. I was wrong. You're obviously still wearing it"
Pansy flushed red. Hermione turned back towards Harry and they continued toward the potions door. Malfoy smiled at them.
"Nice one" he said, and turned to enter the room. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and entered the room.
Ron turned up towards the end of lesson, and it was quite hard to believe that he didn't even hassle Ron, or take points from Gryffindor. Snape asked Malfoy to hand Ron his notes from the lesson, so Ron could study from them, and not fall behind. Harry thought this was a complete turn around from the usual treatment they received from Snape. When the booming bell sounded, ending the lessons for the day, everyone began to pack their things away.
"So, shall I tell everyone in the D.A your going to be a little late?" Ron asked, as they headed up the dungeon stairs towards the Common Room, so they could drop off their things and head back downstairs.
"Yeah. I hope Snape make's this meeting quick," Harry said, as they emerged into the Gryffindor Common Room, and left their things by the fire, and headed back down to the Great Hall.
"Ron, you never told us what Professor Dumbledore wanted with you" Harry said, as they entered the enormous hall and trailed over to the head of the Gryffindor table.
"Oh" said Ron, as he sat down. "He called me in because of my career choice."
"And that would be?" Hermione said, sitting close to him. It was apparent they were holding hands under the table.
"An Auror"
Harry's eyes flashed. He didn't know that Ron wanted to become an Auror.
"Well, I want to become an Auror too. Dumbledore's never called me into his office"
"Well, you've got McGonagall, haven't you?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's true"
Dinner came and went, and Harry hoped it would have gone slower than what it went. He really did not want to meet with Professor Snape. He would rather meet with a troll.
"See you in a bit" Harry said, as he left the great hall and headed down to the dungeons. When he arrived in front of Snapes room, he hesitated to knock, but eventually he did.
"Enter"
Harry opened the classroom door, and found Snape sitting at his desk, with several rolls of Parchment in front of him, and a quill scribbling across one of the papers. He looked up.
"Ah, Potter" said Snape, in a voice that hardly sounded like his.
"You wanted to see me Professor?"
"Yes, Yes. It will only take a moment," he said. He stood up, and walked into his storage room, which housed many of the potion ingredients, they used in class. After a moment, Snape emerged from the closet, carrying something in his hand. It was a package, in the shape of a square wrapped in a long shabby brown cloth.
"This is something, that I was supposed to give you on your sixteenth birthday. Its from-Its from James" said Snape, as he handed the package to Harry. "Open it when you're alone"
Harry nodded. He turned on his heel and walked towards the door. When he reached it, Snape called out again.
"Potter"
"Yes Professor?"
"Good match last week"
"Thanks"
Harry turned and walked out of the room. He closed the door gently behind him and proceeded to head to the seventh floor, to the room of requirement. When he reached the end of Snape's hallway, he stopped and took the parcel out of his pocket. He took the cloth off of it, and stared down at a small box, with the letters "J.P, L.P, H.P"
He opened the box, and saw countless moving pictures of his mother and father, smiling, and beaming. There was one picture in which they held Harry, and James put a wizard's hat on top of Harry's head, which covered his face because the hat was too big. Other's showed James levitating Harry with his wand, and even one with Harry asleep next to James. Tears began to fill Harry's eyes.his father had loved him so much, and all he did was hate him for a whole year. Harry leaned against a wall, breathing rapidly.
He looked at the box once more and found that there as a note inside the box. He picked the note up, and put the pictures back inside the box. He unfolded the note. Harry's father neatly wrote it in ink.
Dear Harry,
If you're reading this, it must mean that you're sixteen years old now, and ready to handle whatever is said in this letter. This letter, that I am about to write to you concerns three people; Me, You, and Serverus, and I ask that you share this letter with no one.
When I attended Hogwarts, I was a kid who thought popularity meant everything. I was drafted for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and played seeker, and thought that I ruled the school. As you will probably hear from any teacher or others when you attend Hogwarts, my best friends were Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew. We used to do everything together, and it wasn't long before we discovered that Lupin was a werewolf. All of us then thought it was smart to become Animangi, so we could transform into animals and run around with Lupin once a month. No one knew of our secret.not even your mother.
However, there was one person I could not bare to even become friends with at Hogwarts, and that was of course, Serverus Snape. The both of us never got along well when we were at Hogwarts, and I often hexed him just for the fun of it. There was even a day when I embarrassed him in front of the whole school. It happened on the last day of our O.W.L exams. I was bored, and decided to pick on him. I levitated him into the air, and hexed him, and the only person who could make me stop was your mother, who hated me at the time. She yelled at me, and she asked me a question. A question about why I picked on Snape and my response was "Well, it's the fact that he exists if you know what I mean." That was the biggest mistake I could ever make in my entire life. I did not hate Snape and I didn't mean what I said about him.
After we had you, and Snape started teaching at Hogwarts, I began to wonder how he would treat you, seeing as you were my son. I couldn't let what happened to me and snape affect your education at Hogwarts. And the sad thing is, I've never brought myself to actually talk to him, so I am doing it through you.
You can't hate Snape Harry. Whatever you do, don't let what happens affect you. If he treats you unfair, don't say anything, or let it get to you. This will show him that you don't care, and that he's being a child.please Harry, I ask you to do this for me! We already have enough to worry about with Voldermort around, and the last things we need are more enemies.
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
Love your father
James
Harry stared down at the letter. James must have thought he would still be alive by the time Harry started Hogwarts. Harry now regretted even more for hating his father. Harry glanced at his watch. He wasted twenty-minutes so far. He wiped his eyes, and put the box inside his pocket. He folded the letter and put it inside the pocket where his wand was. He dashed up to the Seventh Floor. He saw the door to the room of requirement and opened it.
There was already commotion going on inside, as Harry heard countless "Impedimenta" and "Stupefy" spells being launched. Red and blue lights flashed all over the room. A Stunning hex nearly missed the Top of Harry's hair. Hermione was crawling on the floor, trying to look for something. Cho and Ron were going at it, trying to stun each other. Neville and Dean resembled nothing short of large bugs with antlers. Harry picked up the whistle off of the nearby table and blew as hard as he could. Everything came to a halt.
"Thank God!" shrieked Hermione, finally finding her wand. "Harry!"
"What the bloody hell happened?" Harry asked.
"Well, it was all Hermione's fault" Ron said. "She insisted we start dueling to refresh our memories of the Impedimenta Jinx and the Stunning Curse. As you can see, she was quite wrong to do that"
Harry nodded looking around. Zacharis Smith walked to Harry. "Never have your friends run these meetings. They're idiots!"
Hermione turned to him. "Excuse me?" she snapped.
"Enough!" said Harry. "How about we start this meeting by finding a counter Jinx for Dean and Neville, and fix whatever it is that was broken"
Everyone started. Some people walked to the bookshelf and began looking through books on a counter jinx for what Neville and Dean were, while others went around muttering "Reparo" on any glass object that was broken. "So, what did Snape want with you Harry?" asked Ron.
"He gave me something."
"Another D?"
"No!" said Harry. "He gave me.this" and he pulled out the box with the pictures in it. Both Hermione and Ron took it, and began to look at the pictures of Harry, and his parents.
"This is so cute" Hermione said. Cho trotted over.
"What is?"
"Look. Its Harry when he was a baby"
Cho looked at the pictures. Harry's face turned scarlet red. Of all people to show, Hermione had to show Cho. Harry looked around.
"Hey, where's Ginny?"
"She went to the bathroom," Ron said.
"She's been gone a long time," Hermione said. "I think we should send someone to look for her"
"Hermione! She went to the bathroom. Nothing's wrong with her. Maybe she's just walking really slow, or maybe she forgot where the Room of Requirement is" Ron said impatiently, looking back at the pictures. Hermione didn't know what to say, so she walked over to try and find a counter curse for Neville and Dean. Harry followed her, but as he did, the door opened and Dobby appeared in the doorway, looking nervous and scared.
Harry turned around. "Hey Dobby. Erm.what's wrong?"
"Its-the wheezy girl sir!" squeaked the house elf.
"What? Wheezy?" asked Harry confused.
"I think he means Weasley-" Hermione said, before Ron cut her off.
"What's wrong with Ginny?" he shouted.
"She's-she's been-SHE'S BEEN TAKEN AWAY SIR! THE WHEEZY GIRL IS GONE!"
The news of Colin's abduction was the subject of talk all over Hogwarts during the next two weeks. Many of the Gryffindor's seemed slightly depressed, which included Hermione. She had always like Colin. Colin's little Brother Dennis Creevy was not seen anywhere in the castle either. It was rumored that he was given Private lessons in Dumbledore's office, to help relieve the stress he was under due to his brother's disappearance. Ministry officials were called up to the school two days after Colin's disappearance, checking for any clues, or leads that might lead to the whereabouts of Colin. They interviewed the Slytherin's first, and then the Ravenclaws, next the Hufflepuffs, and finally the Gryffindors. When the official called Harry's name, she surveyed him with interest. She asked him a bunch of questions, that Harry really didn't know how to answer, and finally, after an exhausting hour, she let him go. Before he left, she said
"You remind me so much of James. I wish he were still here."
Harry had never felt so miserable in his life. He didn't like the fact that everyone was comparing him to his father. After what he saw in Snape's pensive last year, he wanted nothing to even do with his father. He had wanted people to stop calling him James everywhere he went.
As the week drew to a close, Harry, Ron and Hermione caught sight of a Daily Prophet paper, and were astonished at what they found inside.
"Oh my!" shrieked Hermione at Breakfast on Saturday. "I was right! Umbridge is missing!"
"What!" shouted Ron.
"Shh! Listen"
MINISTRY WORKER TURNED UP MISSING
HOGWARTS STUDENT REPORTED ABDUCTED
Last Week, the Daily Prophet unearthed startling news that Senior
Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic was reported missing since
September. Dolores Umbridge, once high-inquisitor and Headmistress at Hogwarts School
of Witchcraft and Wizardry had not reported to work since her departure from Hogwarts School. The Minister of Magic and assistant Minister of Magic has evidence to believe He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to be behind the sudden
disappearance. Though five months after Dolores Umbridge's sudden disappearance, Colin Creevy, 15 who attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry was reported 'abducted' by Ministry Official's as well as Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School. It is said that someone
made their way onto the school's grounds during a Quidditch Match, and kidnapped the young student. A wide spread search is being held for both
Dolores Umbridge and Colin Creevy. The Minister of Magic has already
alerted the Prime Minister.
"Well, now we know who's behind the disappearances," said Harry, as he looked up from the paper.
"I figured Voldermort was behind it. But, its hard to believe that they'd kidnap Colin" Hermione said.
Ron nodded. "That's true. I hope he's annoying the socks off old Volder-You- Know-Who" he said, catching himself before he said Voldermorts name. Hermione snorted.
"For heavens sake Ron, get a hold of yourself! Why are you falling into the You-Know-Who or He-who-must-not-be-named nonsense"
Ron chose to ignore Hermione's question by asking Harry a question, which drowned out Hermione's voice. "So, what are your conclusions Harry? I mean, has your scar hurt since any of this happened?"
Harry shook his head. He thought it was quite unusual that his scar had not hurt as much as it did last year. Dumbledore had said it was bound to hurt more because Voldermort was back.
Harry and Ron continued to discuss possible motives of why Voldermort would kidnap someone as annoying as Colin. Their conversation came to a sudden stand still when Hermione gave a sudden gasp, nearly spilling her pumpkin juice.
"What?" asked Harry.
"Its-Oh no!" she said, still staring down at the Daily Prophet.
"What" hissed Ron.
She began to read a headline aloud. Neville and Ginny had now come over, after hearing Hermione's gasp, since they weren't sitting so far away.
FORMER HOGWARTS STUDENT FOUND DEAD
"Former?-They mean Kevin!" said Ginny.
"Kevin's dead?" asked Ron, with a sound of joy in his voice. Hermione shot him a cold look.
"It's not really a big article. It says that he was found last evening, near the Ministry of Magic entrance in London. There's really not much information about it," said Hermione, who had now started to regain color.
"This is just getting strange," said Neville. "First Umbridge and Colin disappear, and now Kevin turns up dead"
"And the question remains simple. Why" said Hermione.
Harry couldn't understand it either. Was Kevin's death also linked to Lord Voldermort? He wondered why Voldermort would kill a child for no reason. But suddenly, Harry thought of something. Something he knew he had to share with the others.
"Come on! I've got something to tell you all" he said hurriedly. He grabbed his things and dashed out of the hall, with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville at his heels. They made their way up to Gryffindor Tower.
"Chocolate Fairies" said Hermione, as the portrait swung open to reveal the entrance to Gryffindor Tower. All of them moved by the fire, where they sat down, as Harry stood up.
"Okay, lets try and put the pieces together" he said. "While Kevin was here, what did he do a lot?"
"He usual taunted with the all the houses, except Slytherin House" Ron said.
"That's right! And I even over heard him saying something about his parents being supporters of Voldermort"
"But, how could his parents be supporters, if they were simply furious when he was expelled?" asked Hermione. "It doesn't make any sense"
Ginny spoke. "Think about it Hermione! If your parents were supporters of Voldermort, and your son was expelled. They wouldn't march up to school, and say "Yeah, We support Voldermort!" now would they? They'd put on an act. I mean, look at who is Headmaster of the school. Dumbledore"
For the first time in five years, Harry had never felt so much gratitude for Ginny. She was clearly good at putting two and two together. Harry then thought it was time to bring forth news that he had been hiding from Neville, Ginny and Hermione since September.
"And there's one more thing" said Harry. "Back in September, I kind of had a-Vision" he said, ignoring the look Hermione gave him.
"Harry!" she hissed. "You're supposed to be closing your mind to that stuff- "
"Hear him out first" said Ron.
Hermione stopped speaking. "Alright"
"It was about Voldermort. He was meeting with some new death eaters he'd recruited, seeing as a whole lot of them are in Azkaban. Anyway, he was angry, because no one told him that a certain someone was stationed at Hogwarts-"
"Stationed?" Neville said. "You mean, spying?"
"I think so, but it wasn't clear. Before one of his death eaters could tell who it was, the Vision faded. I've come to believe that it was Kevin they were talking about"
"I second that" said Ron.
"But how?" Hermione asked.
"Come on Hermione! Do you need anymore proof? I mean, its obvious isn't it? Kevin stood out. He hated Gryffindor's, and he even attacked Brian, just so he could try and get Harry expelled"
"But, lets not forget something. Who else has been acting strange lately?" Ginny asked.
Everyone's faced went into thinking Mode. Suddenly, a little light bulb like moment inserted into Harry. "Malfoy"
"Yeah. It's a little odd that he suddenly wants to join sides with us. I mean, that's happened way too fast, now that you mention it" Ron said.
"But what about Dumbledore's warning, at the start of term feast. Maybe some of his words, sank in" Neville said.
"Malfoy was acting strange before Dumbledore's speech, so we kind of have to vote that one out. We'll come back to Malfoy in a bit. First, we've got to think about Voldermort"
At that moment, another thing sprang itself into Harry's mind. The orbs of the Phoenix.
"Hey, wait a minute. There's something else that I've got to tell you-well, Hermione and Ginny. Before we came back to Hogwarts, I had a dream about.about Sirius. He was at Hogwarts, with Professor Kevin, and they were talking about Orbs.orbs of the phoenix-"
Hermione gave Harry one of her I've-Read-about-those sort of looks. He continued to plow through his speech.
"They were guarded by my parents, during Voldermorts reign of terror. The orbs were said to have similar powers to the Sorcerer's Stone, except these had the power to bring people back to life.Voldermort had wanted these orbs while he was alive because they would have given him unlimited powers.but my parents kept them secret. The only other people who know about them are Sirius, Dumbledore.and Fawkes, because Fawkes is guardian of the orbs now that my parents are-"
He stopped. Hermione seemed like she was dying to speak. "What?"
"I think I've just made another conclusion," she said. "See if you can all figure it out. Take a closer examining of who Voldermorts captured, and killed"
"He's kidnapped an annoying git, a sorry piece of a witch and a -" said Ron, before Hermione cut him off.
"No Ron! I mean, take a really careful look"
"He's kidnapped-people who have knowledge of Hogwarts" said Harry.
"Exactly! That solves our why problem. If Fawkes guards the orbs, then it makes sense if Voldermort kidnaps people who have or do attend the school. He thinks they know where the orbs are" Hermione said, brightly.
Everything seemed to add up perfectly in Harry's mind. He could not help but feel sorry for Voldermort because he was getting more than he bargained for. However, Harry knew that it would be due time before Colin and Umbridge were safe again.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Ron. "Do we try and look for them ourselves?"
Hermione gave Ron a Are-You-Out-of-your-mind sort of look. Everyone seemed to grasp onto her look. It would be completely foolish of them to go and look for people, when the first thing that was stopping them was not knowing where they were.
Ginny stood up. "Is there a D.A meeting Monday evening Harry?"
Harry nodded. He had almost forgot he scheduled a meeting on Monday in the room of requirement. Dumbledore had given them permission to continue the meetings.
"Well, see you later then. I'm off to get a bit of Quidditch Practice" Ginny said, as he left the common room.
"You know, It's a shame today is Saturday" Ron said.
"Why?" asked Neville.
"Because next week is that Ministry event"
* * * * * *
The weekend passed by so quickly, that everyone dreaded returning to lessons on Monday. Harry and Ron had almost forgotten Snapes essay on a Reversing potion, but Hermione helped them during lunch in which they spent the entire time writing it, with Hermione breathing down their necks each time one of them wrote something wrong on the parchment. Harry had finished his essay before Ron, and Hermione allowed him to relax for the remaining ½ an hour they had left.
Harry rose from his seat, and went behind one of the bookshelves, looking for a book about Jinxes and methods in Transfiguration. He had not forgotten that he had to pull his grades up in his classes, if he wanted to become an Auror. While looking for the book, he bumped into the last person he wanted to. Professor Snape. Harry looked up, and was amazed to see how long Snape's nose was when directly under it.
"Watch where your going, Potter" he said gruffly. He shunted Harry to the side, and continued down the row of shelves, looking for a book.
Harry wanted to cast a curse on him, but held the urge inside. It was only then did he realize Snape was staring at him. Harry turned to leave.
"Potter"
Harry turned. "Yes Professor?"
"Come down to my office tonight, after Dinner"
Harry stared blankly. Was Snape going to give him another Occlumacy lesson? But he hadn't forgotten that Snape threw him out of his office last year. Snape had down right refused to give Harry anymore Occlumacy lessons. Snape turned on his heel, snatched a book from the shelf, and left the library, nodding at Madam Pince.
"Snape wants you to what?" Ron said during Transfiguration. They were learning about Human Transfiguration today. They had just watched Professor McGonagall transfigure Dean Thomas into a dictionary, and then turn him back to normal. She had put up two boards full of notes, and Harry hastily copied them down, trying not to answer Ron.
"Snape can't meet with you tonight. We've got a D.A meeting" Ron continued. "What does old grease head want to talk to you about? Out of the six years you've been here, he's never spoken to you before has he? Besides docking points from you, and making comments about your potions. That slimy-"
"Mr. Weasley!" Professor McGonagall's voice said, cracking like a whip. The entire class turned to face Ron.
"Y-Yes Professor?"
"My goodness, is your hearing quite alright?" asked Professor McGonagall. "The Headmaster would like to see you. Follow Ms. Beckon to his office" she said, gesturing to the seventh year Hufflepuff standing at the doorway. Ron looked confused. He stood up, gathered his things, glared at the class with a look of nervousness, and left the room. "Now, as I was saying class. Human Transfiguration is often used in different fields of work, one being an Auror" she said, shooting Harry a look. Harry flushed Red. She was making sure he was listening.
"What do Aurors transfigure themselves for, Professor?" asked Parvati.
"They usually do it, when they are on the haunt for a Dark Witch or Wizard. Its very common"
And for the rest of class, Professor McGonagall continued to pile through speeches about Aurors. At the end of lesson, Hermione hurried to catch up to Harry.
"I wonder why Dumbledore wanted to see Ron," she said.
"Me too" he answered, as they headed down to the potions classroom. The Slytherins were behind them, with the absence of Malfoy, who was standing near the Potions door, reading.
"Oh look, it the filthy Mudblood and The-Boy-who-Stinks" Pansy Parkinson said, gleefully. Crabbe, Goyle and several Slytherin Sixth years sniggered.
Hermione spun around. "Hi Pansy. I was wondering, if you'd already taken your Halloween mask of a troll back-oh, wait a second. I was wrong. You're obviously still wearing it"
Pansy flushed red. Hermione turned back towards Harry and they continued toward the potions door. Malfoy smiled at them.
"Nice one" he said, and turned to enter the room. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and entered the room.
Ron turned up towards the end of lesson, and it was quite hard to believe that he didn't even hassle Ron, or take points from Gryffindor. Snape asked Malfoy to hand Ron his notes from the lesson, so Ron could study from them, and not fall behind. Harry thought this was a complete turn around from the usual treatment they received from Snape. When the booming bell sounded, ending the lessons for the day, everyone began to pack their things away.
"So, shall I tell everyone in the D.A your going to be a little late?" Ron asked, as they headed up the dungeon stairs towards the Common Room, so they could drop off their things and head back downstairs.
"Yeah. I hope Snape make's this meeting quick," Harry said, as they emerged into the Gryffindor Common Room, and left their things by the fire, and headed back down to the Great Hall.
"Ron, you never told us what Professor Dumbledore wanted with you" Harry said, as they entered the enormous hall and trailed over to the head of the Gryffindor table.
"Oh" said Ron, as he sat down. "He called me in because of my career choice."
"And that would be?" Hermione said, sitting close to him. It was apparent they were holding hands under the table.
"An Auror"
Harry's eyes flashed. He didn't know that Ron wanted to become an Auror.
"Well, I want to become an Auror too. Dumbledore's never called me into his office"
"Well, you've got McGonagall, haven't you?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, that's true"
Dinner came and went, and Harry hoped it would have gone slower than what it went. He really did not want to meet with Professor Snape. He would rather meet with a troll.
"See you in a bit" Harry said, as he left the great hall and headed down to the dungeons. When he arrived in front of Snapes room, he hesitated to knock, but eventually he did.
"Enter"
Harry opened the classroom door, and found Snape sitting at his desk, with several rolls of Parchment in front of him, and a quill scribbling across one of the papers. He looked up.
"Ah, Potter" said Snape, in a voice that hardly sounded like his.
"You wanted to see me Professor?"
"Yes, Yes. It will only take a moment," he said. He stood up, and walked into his storage room, which housed many of the potion ingredients, they used in class. After a moment, Snape emerged from the closet, carrying something in his hand. It was a package, in the shape of a square wrapped in a long shabby brown cloth.
"This is something, that I was supposed to give you on your sixteenth birthday. Its from-Its from James" said Snape, as he handed the package to Harry. "Open it when you're alone"
Harry nodded. He turned on his heel and walked towards the door. When he reached it, Snape called out again.
"Potter"
"Yes Professor?"
"Good match last week"
"Thanks"
Harry turned and walked out of the room. He closed the door gently behind him and proceeded to head to the seventh floor, to the room of requirement. When he reached the end of Snape's hallway, he stopped and took the parcel out of his pocket. He took the cloth off of it, and stared down at a small box, with the letters "J.P, L.P, H.P"
He opened the box, and saw countless moving pictures of his mother and father, smiling, and beaming. There was one picture in which they held Harry, and James put a wizard's hat on top of Harry's head, which covered his face because the hat was too big. Other's showed James levitating Harry with his wand, and even one with Harry asleep next to James. Tears began to fill Harry's eyes.his father had loved him so much, and all he did was hate him for a whole year. Harry leaned against a wall, breathing rapidly.
He looked at the box once more and found that there as a note inside the box. He picked the note up, and put the pictures back inside the box. He unfolded the note. Harry's father neatly wrote it in ink.
Dear Harry,
If you're reading this, it must mean that you're sixteen years old now, and ready to handle whatever is said in this letter. This letter, that I am about to write to you concerns three people; Me, You, and Serverus, and I ask that you share this letter with no one.
When I attended Hogwarts, I was a kid who thought popularity meant everything. I was drafted for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and played seeker, and thought that I ruled the school. As you will probably hear from any teacher or others when you attend Hogwarts, my best friends were Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew. We used to do everything together, and it wasn't long before we discovered that Lupin was a werewolf. All of us then thought it was smart to become Animangi, so we could transform into animals and run around with Lupin once a month. No one knew of our secret.not even your mother.
However, there was one person I could not bare to even become friends with at Hogwarts, and that was of course, Serverus Snape. The both of us never got along well when we were at Hogwarts, and I often hexed him just for the fun of it. There was even a day when I embarrassed him in front of the whole school. It happened on the last day of our O.W.L exams. I was bored, and decided to pick on him. I levitated him into the air, and hexed him, and the only person who could make me stop was your mother, who hated me at the time. She yelled at me, and she asked me a question. A question about why I picked on Snape and my response was "Well, it's the fact that he exists if you know what I mean." That was the biggest mistake I could ever make in my entire life. I did not hate Snape and I didn't mean what I said about him.
After we had you, and Snape started teaching at Hogwarts, I began to wonder how he would treat you, seeing as you were my son. I couldn't let what happened to me and snape affect your education at Hogwarts. And the sad thing is, I've never brought myself to actually talk to him, so I am doing it through you.
You can't hate Snape Harry. Whatever you do, don't let what happens affect you. If he treats you unfair, don't say anything, or let it get to you. This will show him that you don't care, and that he's being a child.please Harry, I ask you to do this for me! We already have enough to worry about with Voldermort around, and the last things we need are more enemies.
"We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
Love your father
James
Harry stared down at the letter. James must have thought he would still be alive by the time Harry started Hogwarts. Harry now regretted even more for hating his father. Harry glanced at his watch. He wasted twenty-minutes so far. He wiped his eyes, and put the box inside his pocket. He folded the letter and put it inside the pocket where his wand was. He dashed up to the Seventh Floor. He saw the door to the room of requirement and opened it.
There was already commotion going on inside, as Harry heard countless "Impedimenta" and "Stupefy" spells being launched. Red and blue lights flashed all over the room. A Stunning hex nearly missed the Top of Harry's hair. Hermione was crawling on the floor, trying to look for something. Cho and Ron were going at it, trying to stun each other. Neville and Dean resembled nothing short of large bugs with antlers. Harry picked up the whistle off of the nearby table and blew as hard as he could. Everything came to a halt.
"Thank God!" shrieked Hermione, finally finding her wand. "Harry!"
"What the bloody hell happened?" Harry asked.
"Well, it was all Hermione's fault" Ron said. "She insisted we start dueling to refresh our memories of the Impedimenta Jinx and the Stunning Curse. As you can see, she was quite wrong to do that"
Harry nodded looking around. Zacharis Smith walked to Harry. "Never have your friends run these meetings. They're idiots!"
Hermione turned to him. "Excuse me?" she snapped.
"Enough!" said Harry. "How about we start this meeting by finding a counter Jinx for Dean and Neville, and fix whatever it is that was broken"
Everyone started. Some people walked to the bookshelf and began looking through books on a counter jinx for what Neville and Dean were, while others went around muttering "Reparo" on any glass object that was broken. "So, what did Snape want with you Harry?" asked Ron.
"He gave me something."
"Another D?"
"No!" said Harry. "He gave me.this" and he pulled out the box with the pictures in it. Both Hermione and Ron took it, and began to look at the pictures of Harry, and his parents.
"This is so cute" Hermione said. Cho trotted over.
"What is?"
"Look. Its Harry when he was a baby"
Cho looked at the pictures. Harry's face turned scarlet red. Of all people to show, Hermione had to show Cho. Harry looked around.
"Hey, where's Ginny?"
"She went to the bathroom," Ron said.
"She's been gone a long time," Hermione said. "I think we should send someone to look for her"
"Hermione! She went to the bathroom. Nothing's wrong with her. Maybe she's just walking really slow, or maybe she forgot where the Room of Requirement is" Ron said impatiently, looking back at the pictures. Hermione didn't know what to say, so she walked over to try and find a counter curse for Neville and Dean. Harry followed her, but as he did, the door opened and Dobby appeared in the doorway, looking nervous and scared.
Harry turned around. "Hey Dobby. Erm.what's wrong?"
"Its-the wheezy girl sir!" squeaked the house elf.
"What? Wheezy?" asked Harry confused.
"I think he means Weasley-" Hermione said, before Ron cut her off.
"What's wrong with Ginny?" he shouted.
"She's-she's been-SHE'S BEEN TAKEN AWAY SIR! THE WHEEZY GIRL IS GONE!"