The Memory
Harry rose early the next morning and threw on his glasses. He saw Lupin sleeping and drooling on his pillow with his mouth wide open. Harry laughed quietly at this and made his way down to the kitchen with Dumbledore's words flashing through his mind, 'Don't get out of Lupin's sight, take care now.' But Lupin was sleeping, and Harry didn't want to wake him.
When Harry emerged through the kitchen doors, he saw Mrs. Weasly scurrying around the kitchen trying to get breakfast made and Moody was in a deep conversation with Tonks. There were other people Harry didn't know around and when they saw Harry's presence everyone, once again, turned their eyes to him. Moody was the only one whose head wasn't facing Harry, but Harry could feel his magical eye scanning him over.
Harry tried to act natural as he tripped over a chair and almost knocked Mrs. Weasly into the stove.
"Hello Harry dear, breakfast is almost ready, go on and sit down." Mrs. Weasly looked on the verge of tears as she looked Harry in the eye.
Harry moved and sat across from Tonks and Moody feeling very uncomfortable.
"Where's Remus?" Moody grunted.
"Er… he's sleeping." Harry told them.
"Sleeping? He's supposed to be looking after ya." Moody said almost angrily.
"Well it seems as though he hasn't gotten sleep in a while so I—" Harry began.
"No excuse, well I better be off, my first class of the day starts in…" Moody's magical eye swerved to the clock hanging on the wall, "ten minutes." Moody got up from his seat and made a Portkey and disappeared.
"How'd you take it when you first found out?" Harry heard Tonks ask him. Even though this question came out of nowhere, Harry knew what she meant.
"I felt, I feel," Harry corrected himself, "like…" and then Harry lowered his voice so only Tonks could hear, Harry saw a few of the witches and wizards around lean in, "…like a different race… a marked man…"
Tonks knew this subject to be sensitive to Harry now, so she just nodded her head and looked out at Molly who was now putting everything onto trays.
"Need any help Molly?" Tonks offered.
"No, no, I've got it." Mrs. Weasly then handed Harry a huge plate of bacon, eggs, toast, pancakes, and hash browns along with some orange juice. "Need to build up your strength Harry." Molly said under her breath.
Harry thankfully took the plate and began to work his way around it. "This is really good, thanks." Harry added as he began on his pancakes.
Within the next five minutes Lupin burst through the door looking worried. When he caught a glance of Harry, he took in a deep breath of relief and sat down next to him.
"Harry you should've woken me." Lupin said helping himself to some eggs and bacon.
"No, you need your sleep, and I'm fine." Harry told Lupin.
"But Harry I wasn't doing my job…" Lupin said regrettingly shoving a fork full of eggs into his mouth.
"Do you know what time Dumbledore's picking me up today?" Harry asked.
"I don't know, he didn't really say did he?" Lupin said squinting his eyes as if scanning his brain.
"Yea…" Harry said agreeingly now starting on his hash browns. "Do you have any ketchup?" Harry asked Mrs. Weasly.
"Oh yes, sorry dear." Mrs. Weasly reached in a cabinet and handed Harry a ketchup bottle.
"Thanks." Harry said as he poured some on an empty space of his plate. "Is today Wednesday?"
"Er… I think it's Thursday." Lupin corrected him.
"Wow, this week went by fast. I have a Hogsmeade trip on Saturday, and then after Christmas break is my first Quidditch match, as captain of the Gryffindor team!" Harry added.
"Your father would be so proud." Lupin smiled as he put his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Yea… was he ever captain?" Harry asked.
"Well when he won the Quidditch cup, he was captain, yes, I think he was." Lupin told Harry.
"In one of my dreams I saw my dad playing chaser, but I thought he was a seeker." Harry confronted.
"Oh well, when James first started playing he was Chaser for a year, the seeker that year was a seventh year, so that next year he tried out for seeker and was it ever since. I guess seeker was where his heart truly lied."
"Yea, I guess so. And he passed his talent to me!" Harry added jokingly.
"Yea, you play just like him, from what I remember. I'm going to see if I can come to one of your games this year." Lupin told Harry. "When do you play Slytherin?"
"The weekend after Christmas break." Harry said with anxiety in his eyes.
"I'll try and be there, Sunday right?" Lupin asked.
"Oh, yea, Sunday." Harry said as he snapped out of thought of beating Malfoy, once again, at getting the snitch.
"How has your practices been going?" Mrs. Weasly now joined the conversation.
"Pretty good, Neville, Katie, and Ginny work well together, and Ron has been getting really good at keeping. And Shane and Niko are great replacements for Fred and George." Harry responded loving feeling in charge of a team like this. "I think we might even have a shot at winning the Quidditch Cup!" Harry added enthusiastically.
"That would be great." Lupin nodded.
"Where's Penelope?" Harry asked remembering he had a house elf.
"Oh, well she's working at the school till Christmas, and then she's coming back here. Dumbledore let her so she could be closer to you." Mrs. Weasly told Harry.
"Oh yea, I saw her, but, I thought she'd be back." Harry said.
Harry heard something collapse on the floor behind him and turned to see Dumbledore arrive.
"Get a good rest, Harry?" Dumbledore said as he approached the table.
"Yea, and a good breakfast." Harry added looking over to Mrs. Weasly. Harry saw Tonk's hair change from bright pink to royal blue.
"Thank you Remus, Molly, Nymphadora. Now I must take Harry back, before anyone gets suspicious of his disappearance, I may say, that Ron and Hermione caused quit a scene in the hospital wing when you weren't there." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled over to Harry.
"Ha, er…" Harry didn't really know what to say.
"Alright then." Dumbledore said as Harry got up from his chair, shoving one last piece of bacon in his mouth.
"I'll hopefully see you for Christmas." Lupin smiled. Mrs. Weasly took Harry into a constricted hug so Harry could hardly breathe. "Do take care of yourself." Molly then kissed Harry on the forehead, which made him flinch back because his scar was still in pain. "Sorry dear." Mrs. Weasly added seeing Harry lightly touch his scar.
"It's not that, just my forehead still hurts." Harry told her as he walked up to Dumbledore and grabbed hold of an instrument, which looked as though it could be used for some sort of Astronomy studying.
Within two minutes Harry felt the jerk from beneath his naval and found himself in the deserted hospital wing. Dumbledore ushered Harry to an empty bed as to make it look like he was there the whole time.
"Dumbledore, I'm fine, can't I just go back to the common room—" Harry asked him.
"No Harry, you must stay here tonight, and can attend your classes tomorrow if you wish. I will inform Ron and Hermione you are here." Dumbledore added as Madam Pompfrey burst through the door carrying a tray, which contained some sort of ointment.
"Professor Sprout just made me some," Madam Pompfrey answered at the look on Harry's face, "for your scar, help the pain and redness go down."
"I'll be back tonight for another lesson Harry." Dumbledore said as he walked out of the hospital wing.
"Oh no he won't, you need to get healed! How can you if you're doing some crazy thing with your mind!" Madam Pompfrey was saying more to herself than Harry as she took out a cue tip and covered it with the ointment. She then put it on Harry's scar and made Harry flinch with pain. Madam Pompfrey then used the cue tip a bit more lightly. When she was done she took out a jelly-like covering, which she placed over Harry's scar. "Now that," Madam Pompfrey added, "is to protect your scar from infection, and will sooth it."
Madam Pompfrey cleared up her utensils and headed into her supply room once again.
Not even a minute later Harry heard running feet down the hall and saw Ron and Hermione burst through the door. They both ran to his bed and began shouting out questions.
"Where were you Dumbledore wouldn't—"
"—What happened to your scar—"?
"—Cho was freaking out all day—"
"—Harry what was it that hurt—"
"—Harry I was worried sick—"
"Guys!" Harry shouted to make them silent. They both stared at him wondering what he was going to say next. "I was at the Order last night—"
"WHAT! How did you get there? What happened there?" Hermione burst in.
"You guys, if you give me a chance to explain… Anyways, I was coming back from Occlumency when I heard a screeching animal…." Harry told Ron and Hermione from start to finish of the past events of the last two days. When he finished Ron's mouth was wide open and Hermione looked very concerned.
"So now Voldemort, oh come on now Ron, Voldemort has broken the charm, knows the Prophecy, and so does the Order? And Lupin knows about Sirius, and what is this animal Harry? We heard it on the train didn't we? And your scar has been worse than it ever has… Oh Harry." Hermione analyzed as she gave Harry a sympathetic hug.
"Yea, I've also seen this beast in my dreams too…" Harry told them.
"Well, then… what should we do about it?" Ron asked.
"Ron, we can't do anything about it, it's all up to Dumbledore to take care of this." Hermione answered.
"Oh I'm going to kill Malfoy." Ron muttered under his breath.
"Why?" Harry asked him intently.
"Because he thought you were dead, and he was… well never mind, we'll get him back." Ron told Harry swinging his wand between his fingers.
"What did he say?" Harry asked curiously annoyed.
"Oh nothing, just that, the 'Dark Lord' vanquished you and left you to be eaten by wild beasts in the dark forest, but you know…" Ron said in a rather casual hurriedly voice.
"Malfoy's going to pay…" Harry said clenching his fists.
"Harry no, you have to stay safe, and going around dueling with Malfoy can get you expelled. Plus, the Daily Prophet has been reporting any little mischievous attack, and the culprit of the attack each day, and the attacks seem to be everywhere, so there is no safer place than Hogwarts for you. Well, maybe Grimmauld Place, but still." Hermione said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Whatever…" Harry sighed and turned toward the grounds outside when he remembered what Lupin had said about them staying at Grimmauld Place. "Lupin wants us to go to Grimmauld Place for Christmas but… I don't know…"
"Harry, we should go, I mean last year it was really fun." Hermione told Harry.
"Yea, but Sirius was also there last year, and he makes a big difference." Harry said snappily making Hermione feel very taken back.
"Harry, sorry, I-I didn't mean to—"
"Whatever." Harry said wishing they would stop talking about this.
"Well I know I miss me mum's cooking!" Ron smiled rubbing his stomach. This lightened the mood a bit.
"Yea, she made me a great breakfast." Harry chuckled as he started to list what he ate, "Bacon, and eggs, and toast, and hash browns with ketchup, and pancakes with—"
"Oh Harry you're killing me! Stop! Stop!" Ron laughed looking as though he could go for some food right now.
"Well our first afternoon class is about to start." Hermione cut in checking her watch. "I took notes in Potions for you this morning." Hermione added.
"Thanks." Harry said.
"Oh great, now I have to suffer through another lesson about those stupid plants..." Ron said regrettingly.
"Rest up Harry, and don't go looking for Malfoy and sink to his level." Hermione lectured as Ron made a hand gesture behind Hermione's back which made Harry chuckle. "Harry it's not a funny matter! I'm warning you stay away from him! Come on Ron." Hermione dragged Ron out of the hospital wing not realizing that he had been making fun of her to Harry seconds earlier.
When Harry was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing, he went straight to his dorm to get the two-way mirror. Harry had been dying to ask Sirius about the dream he showed him, what it meant.
Harry burst through the common room door to see many Gryffindors running up to him some saying,
"Oh thank god he's not dead!" Harry tried to quickly get them away from him, but there were so many people that Harry could not try to resist talking to any of them.
"What happened?"
"Where were you?"
"Are you okay, I mean you didn't encounter you-know-who did you?"
"Er… well, I just, my scar, yea, and er… well I'm okay now, but I'm er… tired, yea, so I'm just going to go upstairs now." Harry said as he got past everyone and up the spiral stairs.
To Harry's relief, no one followed him, and no one was in his dorm. Harry went straight for his trunk and got out his two-way mirror.
"Sirius, Black." Harry shouted into it. Sirius's face appeared in the mirror looking very soft and warming.
"Hello Harry." Sirius smiled at Harry.
"Hey Sirius—"
"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked intently.
"I'm alright, I guess, but I was wondering about the memory you showed me—"
"Which one?" Sirius wondered.
"Well the one where you saw my mom writing in a journal, and scarred her, and then you went to a Quidditch game." Harry explained, as he quickly wanted to get to the point.
"I showed you that? I don't remember…." Sirius mixed his face as if trying to think; when nothing came to him he just asked Harry, "What did you want to know about it?"
"Well, if my mom did keep a diary, and if the words vanished like I saw them do… well, Tom Riddle, I mean Voldemort, well he kept a diary, right, and all his pages were blank, and well, I was just thinking about it, and maybe there being a possibility that, oh I don't know…" Harry tried not getting his hopes up. Sirius took in deep thought at what Harry was trying to explain to him. Sirius frowned before speaking.
"Harry, I really don't remember showing you any such memory. It could've happened, James and I went to plenty of Quidditch matches with our favorite team the Mechenstage's. I must have been absent mindingly thinking of it and you saw it but… Lily could have kept a diary; I wasn't really paying attention to that part of her." Sirius said. "So anyway, Lupin knows now, I wish he would stop feeling pain over me, I mean, who could ever miss an idiot like myself?" Sirius laughed.
"Sirius…" Harry said as he stared longingly into his godfather's eyes his mind continuing to flash to the diary.
"Harry, I wish you and Lupin and everyone could just forget me, I feel bad making you all feel bad about my death. Especially Lupin, he has no friends left, unless you count that betraying son of a… Peter Pettigrew." Harry saw Sirius raise a fist in the mirror.
"Sirius, everything is happening too fast, ever since I found out about my Prophecy… And my scar! Did you feel any of the pain I did?" Harry asked touching the jelly-like substance covering his scar.
"No, I was blacked out completely from you. I couldn't do, or feel anything, that is until you woke up the next morning." Sirius explained.
"Should I spend Christmas at the Order?" Harry asked Sirius.
"Of course you should. Lupin wants you to, and he really needs someone now more than ever. Harry, if I was still there, you would go wouldn't you?" Sirius wondered.
"Yea… But that's the thing Sirius, I can't stand being there if you're not!" Harry complained.
"Harry, please, stop killing yourself over me, I'm not worth that." Sirius looked down.
"Sirius, you were everything to me…" Harry said looking away not wanting to see Sirius's reaction to these words in which Harry had been feeling for a long time. Harry and Sirius sat in silence for a while when Sirius finally spoke,
"Harry you spend too much time for me, live. I want you to live, and have fun with life for you only live once. Take chances, and don't look back."
"Sirius, it's not the same without you here."
"Don't think about it like that, I'm here Harry, I'm with you, in you, when you live, I live." Sirius explained.
"I just can't help to think what could've been, if my parents never died, and if you were never sent to Azkaban, and if I had a sibling…" Harry went into thought.
"Harry, it was never meant to be, this is your fate now, and you couldn't change it even if you went back. Now you're going to be late for Occlumency." Sirius said to Harry.
"Right… bye Sirius."
"Bye Harry."
Harry took a breath as he put his mirror back into his trunk and headed back out the dormitory, ignoring any questions asked to him in the common room, and out the portrait hole. Harry went to Dumbledore's office his mind not too focused on Occlumency.
"Peppermint." Harry muttered as he approached the gargoyles. They both lept aside admitting Harry to the spiral stairs, which led to Dumbledore's office.
When Harry passed through the door into Dumbledore's office, Harry could see all of the portraits of witches and wizards sleeping.
"Hello Harry." Dumbledore said warmingly
"Hello Professor." Harry replied.
"Feeling better?" Dumbledore indicated toward Harry's scar.
"Yea."
"Well then, lets begin." Dumbledore raised his wand, as Harry left his dangling at his side. Harry felt a spell hit him, but his mind wasn't on trying to keep Dumbledore from searching through his memories, instead, it was on Sirius, and Lily's diary.
Harry was peering though the crack in the door seeing Lily scribbling away in something, Sirius jumped and yelled,
"AHH THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!" Making the journal fall to the ground.
Harry went over to it to see the writing fade from its pages…
"Harry?" Dumbledore's soft voice whispered as Harry opened his eyes to find that he was lying on the ground.
"Dumbledore, sorry, I—" Harry started, but Dumbledore was looking very curiously at Harry.
"Was that a dream you had Harry?" Dumbledore asked.
"Ye-Yes, well Sirius showed it to me. Professor, I was wondering, if, if that diary that my mom was writing in, if it was sort of like Tom Riddle's diary?" Harry wanted to know.
"Harry, there's something I should have told you a while ago." Dumbledore helped Harry rise to his feet. "Haven't you ever wondered what happened to your parents house after the night you received your scar?"
Harry didn't know where Dumbledore was going with this, or how it had to do with his mum's diary, but he just nodded his head for Dumbledore to continue his story.
"I bought it. I bought it, and have had house elfs regularly clean it to keep it in mint condition. I've kept it so one day you would be able to call it your own."
Harry's heart sank with this information, how come I never thought about what happened to my parents' house?
"So, so it's still, it's still there?" Harry asked not believing his own ears.
"Yes, Harry, it's still there, with all of your parent's possessions, just like the way that you see it in the memories Sirius continues to show you." Dumbledore explained.
Harry stood there trying to analyze everything that Dumbledore was telling him. Parents house, all possessions, mint condition, ready for Harry to live in…
"Dumbledore, can you take me there?" Harry breathed out.
"I knew you would ask me that, but I do not know if it is safe to go there, not with Voldemort and his servants at power, especially since that is the house in which Voldemort's downfall was met." Dumbledore told Harry.
"But Dumbledore, please, you're powerful enough, and if that was the place where Voldemort met his downfall, you'd think he'd never want to go there again." Harry pleaded.
"Unless he thought that you would be there." Dumbledore pointed out.
"Dumbledore please, how am I going to be able to take my mind off of it and do Occlumency if I can't even experience going there?" Harry groveled.
"Harry, use Occlumency and clear your mind, right now." Dumbledore said seriously. Harry followed his orders and cleared his mind. "I will take you there, but we have to be very quiet. And you cannot tell anyone about this." Dumbledore warned.
"Alright." Harry said his heart skipping beats. Dumbledore took a strange looking compass off the nearest table and muttered, Portus, to it. Harry put a finger on it and within a couple of seconds felt the same sensation as he normally did and felt himself land in, what felt like, another dream.
Author's note: Ooo what a cliffhanger, Mwhahaha! Well yea, if you didn't like this chapter then I have a right to ask, "What the hell are you smoking?" So yea, I'll update when I get reviews, Hehe, and tell me what you think, dislike, like, whatever. But yea, here we go, can't wait for more! REVIEW and ENJOY!