Disclaimer: Many of the characters, thoughts and ideas that are in this fan fiction are not of my own design. Though this story is from my imagination, I realize that this is the property of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. This is not J. K. Rowling's work. I also read many FFs and if you see something similar to another work it is entirely unintentional. I have posted this on harrypotter.com as well….
Becky (rebcschult and PrincessOfCliffiesRCS)
P.S. Please read and review!
Athenakitty – WELCOME! I thank you for all the questions… I hope that future chapters will help to clarify anything that you are unsure about! I hope that you are enjoying my ficcy! Oh and if I could just make one little clarification for you…. Remus has a son… not a daughter! :-D
Jake – I'm glad you liked that chapter… and especially that it did not have cliffies lol! I will most certainly put it up on my profile when I am done…. I just hope you realize what you are going to get yourself into! *evil grin* :-D
Texasjeanette – Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and questions!! I have to say that some of these questions will be answered in this ficcy and some will be answered in the next two! I feel strongly that there will be some things not be answered until the very end! SO stay tuned! Some of what you have asked will be answered in the next few chapters! I honestly can say that some of your questions I had not even considered either!!! So they most definitely helped me to realize some ideas that I must address and soon! tee hee!! Enjoy! *evil grin* Thank you for the well wishes!! I do feel a bit better now! :-D
Romm – Yes indeed! But they handled it quite well don't you think? lol :-D
Darkpotter1212 – WELCOME! and the addy is on the way! I hope you like the end of the ficcy… though I must admit I have refined it here! But enjoy! :-D
Manateegirl524 – Well in a way we are neighbors! We live on the same coast! I'm a little further north though! I live in south-east Massachusetts! Thanks for your comments and compliments! I'm glad that you are still hooked! Here's the next bit! :-D
Oxi-Nu – Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!! And you're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome! lol! :-D
CHAPTER NINETEEN – CHRISTMAS REVELATIONS
In the days that followed, Harry was thankful that Dumbledore had waited until the Christmas break had started before telling him everything, for two reasons. One, he didn't have classes to contend with as his mind felt very full up. He thought he could really use a Pensieve of his own right about now. And two, because of the emptiness of the school. He knew that soon enough he would have to answer more questions about what happened than he cared to.
Neville had returned home, after he got out of the Hospital wing. He had not known how to express his gratitude to Harry for saving his life, so he basically avoided him until he was about to leave, when he squeaked out a little thank you.
Most days found Harry sitting in the common room in front of the fire staring at the flame. Hermione and Ron were very concerned about him, but left him alone, as Dumbledore had asked them to. But on Christmas Day they just couldn't take it any more. It had appeared to them that he had not moved, nor gone back to his bed at all. They sat around him and he looked up at them briefly.
"Happy Christmas."
"You have not spoken to us for days, and the first thing you say to us is 'Happy Christmas'?" asked Ron indignantly.
"Ron…." said Hermione in a dangerous whisper.
"I'm sorry…. I've just had a lot on my mind."
"Does this have to do with what happened to Neville?"
"Ron…" said Hermione a bit louder this time.
"No. Not really. Well, yes, but no."
"Which one is it, Harry? Yes or no…."
"Ron." Hermione was getting really ticked off that Ron kept ignoring her.
"Both."
Ron scoffed.
"Ron!" screamed Hermione finally being heard. Ron turned and looked at her. "Stop being to irritating. Maybe Harry doesn't feel like talking about what is going on."
"Not right now, but I will. Just give me time…."
"Well, then if your not going to tell us about what is bothering you right now, how about we open some presents!"
Hermione scoffed. "Ron, you're so incorrigible!"
"Why, thank you, sweetie."
Hermione stopped and looked at him. She blushed and then a soft smile spread across her face. Damn him for knowing me so well that he knows what will make me forget everything else…. That's why I love him so much though! thought Hermione
"I think I would like to open those present now," said Harry bringing the couple out of their momentary trance.
They all looked at each other and ran up to their rooms. At the feet of their beds were all their presents were sitting wrapped, begging to be torn open. Harry and Ron sat at the ends of their beds and picked the present from off of the top of their piles. They tore them open only to find…
"Harry! You didn't! This is wicked, mate!" He untangled from the wrapping a Gryffindor colored Quidditch robe that had "Ronald Weasley: Hogwarts' Greatest Keeper" written on the back of it in embroidered gold lettering that glittered like gems when it moved.
Harry smiled as he looked down at the gift in his hands. He was speechless. He picked up the note attached to the present to see who had given it to him. It was from Sirius and Lupin. They had obviously spent a lot of time collecting as much public information on his parents and as they could.
There were stacks of old newspaper clippings and several books on his family history that had pages mentioning his parents earmarked. There were also two large framed pictures, one of his mother and the other of his father, both smiling up at him with pride on their faces. Harry couldn't help but smile back. He put the pictures up on his nightstand and put the other things that Sirius and Remus had given him on the bed for further inspection later.
Harry looked up and noticed that Ron had almost finished opening all of his presents. In order to catch up to him, Harry started opening his presents with a new ferocity. From Mrs. Weasley was the usual large care package with many mince pies, a pair of socks, and a new sweater, that she had knitted (green with a snitch on the upper left hand side with a QC over it). "QC?"
"Quidditch Co-Captain, mate," said Ron blandly. "Mine has a Quaffle and a QK."
"Oh. Okay." He turned back to the pile and opened most of the rest of the presents quickly. There was a package of several assorted things from Fred and George that came with a warning label on them "New Products developed for the Weasley Wizard Wheezes Company." Harry put the box as far away from him as possible, not knowing if anything in the contents could explode and cause some sort of commotion. He promised himself to take the box down to the common room later to talk to them about the contents.
The other present's were far less dangerous: the Dursleys reached an all time low with a two inch wide ball of pocket lint; he got a vast box of his favorite treats from Hagrid; a Snitch wrist watch (where there were three tiny Snitches that flew sporadically around the face of the watch and came to a rest on the time when the watch face was held horizontally for five seconds) from Ron that was both water and spell proof; Hermione gave Harry a subscription to Today's Quidditch International Magazine and both Harry and Ron the Tips for Success on the O.W.L. Tests book. They looked at each other and both rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the gift.
Harry and Ron both were down to their last two presents each. Ron sat staring at the small box shaped present in his hand. Harry noticed Ron's hesitance and asked, "You going to open your present there, Ron, or are you going to sit there staring at it?"
Ron seemed to come out of his reverie. "Uh no. It's just that I know Hermione got me this gift 'cause the card says 'From Hermione with All My Love.' But I didn't know she was going to go all out for me…"
"Well, what's wrong with that? She's your girlfriend and you got her a nice present too…"
"Yeah, but I didn't expect anything from her other than the book…"
"Why not? She loves you…"
Ron flushed pink and gave Harry a lopsided grin. "She does, doesn't she," he said breathlessly and sheepishly. He looked back at the present, ripped the paper off, and pulled the box open. "Wow."
He lifted out of the box a golden chain, at the end of which was a very intricately decorated gold pocket watch. Ron pushed the button to open it. Inside around the edge of the lid was engraved, "If ever in doubt, what we are all about, no need to ask, just do a little task. Open this up, and looking up, you will see, what is meant to be. 'Cause our love, fits like a glove." In the center of the lid was written, "Much love, Hermione."
Ron came over to Harry's bed and excitedly showed it to him. It had twelve hands that held planets on them, but there were no numbers. Harry was fascinated to watch the planets slowly shift around the face of the watch. "I told her once that I've always wanted one of these," said Ron. "I can't believe that she remembered it."
"Why wouldn't she, Ron? Think about who your talking about…"
"Yeah, right…. She certainly is something, isn't she?"
"You've got it bad," muttered Harry.
Ron blushed and said, "So what's in your present, mate?" taking the attention off of himself.
"Oh…." Harry picked up his present and looked at the tag. It had the same loopy writing that he had become accustomed to as Dumbledore's writing. It said, "Harry, your father left these in my possession to give you when I thought the need arose for them. And per our recent discussion, I feel now is definitely the time."
Harry opened the package slowly. Inside were two Pensieves and the small boxes that Dumbledore had had on his desk the night that Harry found out his history. He studied the small boxes closely, before setting them aside for further inspection later. He looked inside one of the Pensieves and noticed that it had some memories in it already. He decided that he would check out the memories there too at a later time. The last Pensieve was empty and Harry knew that he would definitely need to use it at another time.
"Wow, mate, why do you think Dumbledore felt you needed these?"
Harry looked up at his friend. Some things briefly popped out into the open part of his mind, things he wasn't ready to think about. Ron caught a tiny bit of what Harry had been trying to work through and suddenly realized that Harry had every reason in the world to need a Pensieve and to be as silent as he had been. Ron cleared his throat. "Well, I have one more present, I don't know about you… but I want to open my last present."
Harry nodded, knowing that Ron must have caught something that had been in his mind. Ron moved back to his bed.
Harry and Ron were both about to reach for their last presents when instantly in front of them appeared a small figure. Both Ron and Harry jumped out of their skin when they saw Dobby standing there dressed in complete mismatched Christmas regalia including a tea cozy with several small Christmas baubles tied to the loop on top. "Dobby, don't do that!"
"Dobby is sorry, sirs! Dobby just wants to give Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley their presents, sirs. Dobby must go soon, sirs, we is already making Christmas dinner in the kitchens." Dobby jumped at Harry and gave him a bone-crushing hug. "Dobby is happy to see Harry Potter, sir. Merry Christmas."
"Thank you, Dobby. Happy Christmas to you too." gasped Harry as the little elf released him.
Dobby proudly held out and presented Harry with a gift.
"Thank you, Dobby." Harry opened them and it was a pair of socks that he had obviously made, as one had Phoenixes on it and the other had what appeared to be Hedwig. Harry slipped them on and went to his trunk.
He had collected many mismatched pairs of socks over the summer, any that his aunt had told him to throw away because they did not have matches. But Harry had collected them, knowing that Dobby would appreciate them more when they didn't have matches. He handed the little elf about ten pairs of mismatched socks. "There you go, Dobby… Sorry that I didn't have time to wrap it."
Harry again felt that Dobby was trying to squeeze the life out of him. "Dobby thanks Harry Potter, sir. Socks is still Dobby's favorite clothes." He tucked them inside his shirt.
He then walked over to Ron and presented him with his package. Cautiously Ron opened it up and was almost horrified at the socks that he had made for him. One had Quaffles all over it and the other had Quidditch goal hoops. He tried very hard to appear thankful for the gift the he knew that Dobby had taken the time to make just for him. "Erm…. Thanks Dobby." He pulled them on his feet causing Dobby to jump at him and place him in the same bone-crushing embrace that Harry had just received moments before.
Ron looked around and picked up the socks and sweater that he had just gotten from his mother. He handed them to Dobby, who slipped on the sweater and tucked the socks into his shirt. Dobby's eyes began to leak with happy tears. "This is Dobby's best Christmas, sirs. Dobby thanks Harry Potter, sir, and Ronald Weasley, sir, for their generous spirits. Dobby must go now." He waved as he disappeared with a snap.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and shook their heads, but neither of them could help smiling at what the little elf had just done. They turned to their last presents. Both of them tore off the paper as quickly as they could. There was a shroud covering the gift that Harry got. He carefully opened it. Inside was a book with a raised emblem of a Phoenix on the cover that almost appeared to be alive. Beneath the Phoenix on the emblem was a sort of strange engraved notch, which, upon further inspection, Harry realized looked like a key of some sort should be inserted there.
Harry tried to open the book, but it would not open. He looked at the binding of the book and noticed the words that were written in shimmering gold, "The Order of the Phoenix". He knew that that moment was not the time to figure out how to open it. Harry looked up at Ron and saw that he was marveling at the watch that he had gotten from Hermione again. Harry quickly picked up his presents and put most of them in his trunk as he took out clothes for the day.
After dressing, Ron and Harry went down to the common room where Hermione was sitting quietly where Harry had been not more than an hour before, staring into the fire. Harry and Ron sat down on either side of her. Ron wrapped his arm around her when he realized that her face was tearstained.
'They really tried, you know…"
"Who?"
"My aunt and uncle…. They gave me a 100 Galleon gift certificate to spend in Flourish and Blotts on my next trip there, but it just wasn't the same as having my parents…." She broke down in tears for several minutes. Ron held her tight as Harry rubbed her back. Finally, when she had regained her composure she turned and smiled at the both of them. "Thanks… Harry, I absolutely loved the rare edition book of ancient spells that you gave me. It was wonderful. Thank you."
"Thank you for the book and Magazine subscription."
She turned and kissed Ron full on the mouth and, after separating from him, lifted a chain out of her shirt with a heart shaped locket on the end. On top was engraved, "You will always be close to my heart." She couldn't speak, but Ron understood.
He had put her parents' pictures into the locket and had written on the note for the present, "This locket is to remind you of two things. One, since it holds the pictures of your parents, and it hangs over your heart; it is meant to say that you can always keep them close to your heart. Two, the sentiment that is written upon the locket is how I too feel about you, so it will be an expression of my love to you."
"Thank you, too, for the watch, love."
Shortly thereafter they went down to breakfast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They spent the rest of the day lazing about, despite the huge load of homework that they been saddled with over the holidays. After about four hours Hermione couldn't take it any more and began in earnest trying to catch up and do most of her homework. Harry decided to go up to the dorm and take a closer look at some of his presents.
He grabbed the box of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and went back to the common room to find Fred and George with their heads together in the corner. Harry walked to them and said, "Okay, now, tell me how these work."
Fred and George looked at each other and gave him mirroring wicked grins. They pulled out the pinkish looking flaky pastry. "This is the Flaky Flamingo, inspired by Mr. Draco Malfoy's performance at the Halloween Masque. It turns the consumer into a dancing Flamingo for one minute," explained George.
"Let's give it to Ron," whispered Fred. "Oy, Ronnikins."
Ron looked over at the three of them slightly annoyed.
"Would you like to have one? They are really good."
Ron looked at Harry and knew right away that he should not accept, but came over and picked up one of the pastries like he was about to eat it anyway. He had it less than an inch away from his mouth when Fred and George started laughing with their mouths open. Quicker than they could realize what was going on, Ron broke the pastry in two and shoved a piece in each of their mouths.
Instantly Fred and George burst into flamingoes and started dancing. Harry and Ron laughed hysterically with their hands covering their mouths. When Fred and George were back to themselves, Ron said, "Serves you right for all of the tricks that you've pulled on me over the years!" Ron sat down and looked through the other things with Harry and his brothers.
There were modified dungbombs that spun in the air before exploding to spread around the most about of dung that they could; fluff space-filling bombs that filled entire rooms, no matter the size with fluff, for two hours, floor to ceiling. There were some more fake wands that made it seem like the spell was being cast but then the light that was emitted from the wand surrounds the user for five seconds before dispersing. And finally there were glasses the user thought was their own but to others it made their eyes seem like the were either many sizes too big for their face, if they were nearsighted or several sizes too small if they were farsighted.
They played with the wands for a bit and had Harry try on the glasses. They laughed and joked for a while, until finally Harry had had enough. He brought the box back up to the room and put it into his trunk with the other presents. While he was there he saw the boxes that Dumbledore had given him. He took one out and looked it over carefully.
It had the same pattern on all sides except for one. Each side looked very similar to the pin that he was wearing only smaller. The one side that was different had a much bigger place for the tail and it was notched instead of raised. Harry had an ides. He took the pin off of his collar and looked at the pin and the notch. The tail jewel of the pin looked to be just the right size to fit in the notch. He took hold of the jewel and it slid off of the pin. He placed it in the notch and the box suddenly began to grow.
When the box got big enough he noticed that there was actually a strange small shaped hole in the lid on the same side that he had put the pin jewel on. He looked at the hole and noticed that it was the same shape as the now empty tail of the pin. Harry slipped the tail of the pin into the hole and turned it. The lid popped open.
He carefully opened the lid and looked inside. There were several books. Harry picked up the top one and began flipping through it. He set it aside and looked through the next and the next. After looking through most of them, he realized that they were all his mother's journals. Some seemed to be personal, other's were about the work that she did developing the potions and charms that she had worked on. He wanted to stop and read everything but he was just driven to keep looking through all of the rest of the books in the box.
He flipped through the last book and as he was about to close it something caught his eye. There was a torn slip of paper there that said, "Your inquiry was referred to my office. The Ministry will not allow you to publish such findings, as this knowledge could be dangerous in the wrong hands, causing more work for my department. That just simply cannot be allowed. Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Catastrophes, Cornelius Fudge."
Harry was curious what could be so dangerous about his mother developed, so he ran his finger down the table of contents and then flipped through to the first spell he found and read it.
The Freezing Spell
Similar to the Petrificus Totalus in nature, but does not just petrify the body. It freezes every part of a person's mind, body, and soul. This is only a temporary spell. It lasts for no more than half a minute, but the person loses the time completely. Even watches on the person who was cast with this spell have been known to lose the time. Also if a person is in the process of casting a curse that has not completely left the wand, when the freezing spell is put upon the person, then the curse they cast will seemingly rebound on the spell caster, without any of its potency, when the freezing spell ends. It will simply be like the light and wind of the curse is coming at them. None of the usual results from the curse will occur. Note: this is true for all Charms, Curses, and Spells including the Unforgivables save one, the freezing spell itself. Warning: Do not cast on self, as this spell will not reverse if placed on self.
Harry didn't see what was so bad about that spell. He doubted that anyone would have put the spell on themselves, particularly with the warning right there. He was going to go on and read more when his stomach protested. He looked at his new watch and realized it was time for lunch. He closed the book and lay all of the books back in the box. He locked the box back up and removed the jewel. The box shrank instantly back to the small size it had been before. Harry reassembled his pin and placed the box back into his trunk. He walked down to the common room, putting his pin back on.
When he got there everyone was just getting up and heading down to lunch themselves. When they got there, they found that there was only one table in the middle of the room set for about 40. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Snape, Fletcher, Flitwick, Arabella Figg, and Clovis were sitting laughing away. Hagrid and Filch were just reaching the table and sitting down. There were several nervous looking first years and a flamboyant Hufflepuff sixth year.
"Happy Christmas to you all. Sit down, sit down. There were so few of us, that I felt that it would be better this way," said Dumbledore as the group that Harry was in approached the table.
They all sat down and Harry realized that he was left to sit next to Lina. They smiled at each other and then tried desperately not to betray their true feelings for each other. Dumbledore looked back and forth between Harry and Lina and smiled knowingly.
Shortly after they all sat down the food appeared and they all dug in. Harry was quiet and introspective. Lina could feel that Harry was troubled about something. She watched in silence, as he seemed to be struggling to figure something out. She was about to say something to him when Ron and Hermione's voices began to rise.
Harry eventually was brought out of his own thoughts when he heard them arguing. He looked up just in time to see Hermione getting up from the table and running from the room in tears.
"Great going, Ron. You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you," said George.
"I didn't do anything. She's just being unreasonable!"
"Ron, how would you feel if Mum and Dad were gone? Hmm? Wouldn't you be a bit unreasonable about this too?"
Ron stopped and thought for a moment, horrified. What had he done?
Ron got to his feet and ran after Hermione. Ginny and Harry were about to get up and go after them as well, but Fred and George held them down and told them that they needed to let them work it out on their own. Everyone sat silently looking after Ron. After a few moments Dumbledore broke the silence, "Ah, the trials and tribulations of young love. There is nothing like it in the world…." Everyone looked at Dumbledore. "Thank goodness," he finished. Most everyone laughed nervously.
Conversations began again around Harry. He decided to excuse himself when he had finished what was on his plate. As he left the Great Hall, he looked back at Lina, momentarily and then turned and left. He missed seeing her watch him leave.
When he got back to the common room he saw Ron sitting on the couch in front of the fire with a sour look on his face and Hermione sitting at the table reading the book that Harry had given her for Christmas. When Harry approached Ron, he got up and left the common room, running up the stairs to the dorm. Harry approached Hermione. She put the book down which she had apparently not really been reading, as it had been upside down and put her head down on the table. Her shoulders shook with grief.
Harry sat down at the table across from her and put his hand on Hermione's. Hermione pulled her hand away and continued to cry silently. Harry continued to sit with her, waiting for her to be ready to talk, if she wanted to. He slumped over the table and began looking at the page that the book was open to. After a while he began to read it.
The Magic of a Sacrifice of Love
This is a spell that was discovered in the late third century BC by a Roman witch when her mother sacrificed herself to save her from a soldier of Hannibal's Wizarding Army during the second Punic War. This Army was ruthlessly seeking out young Roman witches and wizards and eliminating the new generation, to end the reign of the Romans in the magical world.
The wizard attempted to get past the girl's mother to get to her, but her mother would not allow the man to pass. He performed the killing curse on the woman and moved onto the girl. The man was obviously attracted to the girl and told her that he would spare her if she would agree to become his consort.
Seeing her advantage, she decided that she would play to his affections until she saw her opportunity to escape. She stood up and put her hand on his face, as if to accept his offer.
Slowly, she watched horrified as his soul ripped out of his body and both the body and the soul disintegrated before her eyes. It had obviously been very painfully for him, looking at the expression on his face….
Hermione looked up and was surprised to see Harry still sitting there. Harry looked to be reading the page that the book was open to. When she sat back, he looked up. He looked at her tear stained face and wished that there were something he could do to take away her pain. Little did Harry know, he had been what she and Ron had argued about most.
Ron had started telling her what he had overheard from Harry's mind, to explain why he had been so quiet. She told him that she did not want to know, and that Harry would tell them everything when he was ready. Ron rebutted and tried to explain that he was just trying to explain why Harry had been so quiet, so that she too could understand why. They had argued back and forth about the issue for quite some time. She had finally stated that she would not like it if he did that to her, especially if it had to do with her parents death. Ron who had been completely worked up from the argument became thoroughly irrational and kept trying to argue his point to her. She had found that eventually she just couldn't take it any more and left.
When she had got back to her dorm room she threw herself onto her bed. She had cried for what seemed like hours, but knew it was only minutes. She had looked up and had seen the book that Harry had given her. Though she didn't really want to face Ron, she didn't want to be alone either. She had grabbed the book and headed down to the common room.
When she had gotten there, Ron was sitting on the couch. She was not about to say anything to him, so she went over to the table and sat down. She had opened the book to a random page and had kept peering over the top of the book at her irate boyfriend. Shortly there after Harry had entered the common room and Ron had gotten up and had left.
She had just lost it. She had known that Harry had sat down at the table with her and put his hand on hers. But she didn't want to have anything to do with him at that moment since he had been the topic that had caused the argument between her and Ron in the first place. He had let her cry but had stayed with her as if to support her.
Now looking at him, she knew, somehow, he must suspect that he was the cause of the argument. She put what had happened out in the open part of her mind, but she felt that Harry was respecting her privacy and not reading her thoughts. She projected a thought at him that it was okay for him to read her thoughts about what happened.
Harry cautiously came into her mind and saw what had happened through her eyes. He was not happy, when he finished.
"You mean to tell me that he did not even come and apologize after all of that?"
Hermione shook her head miserably.
Harry got up and was about to go and give Ron a piece of his mind when she stopped him. "Harry, please don't. I know he meant well, but I just can't abide by what he was saying. I don't want to cause problems between you and him though. Just leave it alone… please Harry?"
Harry didn't like it, but he agreed. He couldn't help but feel a slight bit responsible for all of it. They talked for quite some time. Harry wished he could help ease her pain, protect her somehow like an older brother would. He held her hand across the table and when they got up to bed for the evening, Harry gave her a hug. They separated and went up to their respective dorms.
When Harry got up to the room, Ron was lying on his bed and looking particularly miserable. Harry decided not to disturb him. He put on his pajamas and got into bed. Feeling very drained from the day and the lack of sleep he had been getting lately, he was almost instantly asleep.
He dreamed all night about what happened the night his parents died. The dream was much more complete than it ever had been, but it still was not complete from his point of view. Whenever there were gaps in his memory, his point of view would instantly shift to that of Snape's instead of his own. Strangely though things began to fall into place and make more sense.