Harry Potter and the Rising War
***
Chapter 3: Best Friends? And the
Order
The day started out like all the
others for Harry. He got up early, had a wash, and got something to eat;
then continued the previous night's research, before he had found out his
animagus form. Harry was just getting deeper into the next chapter on
spell creation when there was a tapping at his window. Looking up, he
expected to see Hedwig, back from delivering his letter to the Order; but he
was surprised to see the Order's own owl instead. Furrowing his brow in
confusion, he opened the window for the owl and let it in, allowing it to get
some water and have a rest while he read over the letter that looked to be in
Remus' handwriting.
Dear Harry,
I am very sorry to inform you, but
when I woke up this morning I found Hedwig very badly injured on the floor in
the kitchen, and there was nothing that I could do for her in time. It
seems some Death Eaters tried to intercept her after recognising her as your
owl. She got away, but I'm afraid she died shortly after I found
her. I know how much she meant to you, and if there is anything that I
can do, please don't hesitate to ask.
As for our request that you keep up the letter updates: don't worry about it
until you get to headquarters next week. Hopefully something will be
sorted out. I'm very sorry, Harry.
Your friend,
Moony
Harry sat and stared at the letter in shock for a few moments. He didn't
know what to think. Hedwig wasn't just a pet or a messenger owl for him;
she was his friend - his only companion while he was at the Dursleys'.
He blinked back the tears that were threatening to overflow. He felt like
another death was on his hands; and yet she had stayed faithful to him until
the end. She delivered the letter she was meant to because she loved
Harry as much as he did her. Harry sat and mourned another friend - even
if she was just an owl.
In the week that followed, Harry had more reason and determination to learn and
train all he could. He got a book on lions, and began learning everything
he could about them. He was also reading so much about spell creation and
alteration that he was really learning and understanding the theory. He
often worked through the night, trying to avoid horrible dreams - plagued by
nightmares occasionally, but more often plagued by images that Voldemort was
projecting into them.
Finally, the day came when he was to return to the headquarters of the Order of
the Phoenix, and attend his first meeting.
He didn't know what to expect, as so much was to happen in such a short
time. One thing he had his mind set on was confronting Ron and Hermione
about the lack of informative letters.
At 3 pm sharp, there was a
knock on the front door. Harry had been sitting on the bottom step.
He jumped up when he heard the knock, and picked up his bag, which just
contained a few books and clothes for his short stay at Headquarters.
When he opened the door, he was glad to see that Remus was looking well.
(From the few letters they had exchanged, Harry could tell that Remus hadn't
taken Sirius' death well at all; but with each other's help, they had both
begun to accept it, and get on with life. They agreed that they would
best honour Sirius by celebrating his life.)
'Good afternoon, Harry! I'm glad to see you looking well,' Remus said as
Harry opened the door.
'Moony! It's so good to see you. You're looking well too,' Harry
replied. Remus smiled at Harry and thanked him before leading him to a
car he had parked in the driveway.
'Looking forward to your first Order meeting?' Remus asked, as they began
driving to Headquarters.
'Yeah! I can't believe that they have finally
let me in. I bet Mrs. Weasley tried her best to stop it happening,
though,' Harry said.
Remus laughed before he replied. 'Well, if there is one word to describe
Molly Weasley, it's determined! She argued with Dumbledore for
hours. It finally took him telling everyone the prophecy to convince her
to accept you into the order - and Snape too, for that matter,' he added with a
smile. The mention of the potions master's name brought a scowl to
Harry's face. Seeing this, Remus decided it would be best to change the
subject; so he picked the only other thing he could think of.
'Excited about tomorrow night?' he asked. This seemed to have the desired
effect as they spent the rest of the drive talking happily about what was to
come. He was looking forward to everything, except for the initial pain
of the transformation. They finally reached their destination at 5:25, which Harry was very glad of. Sitting down for
so long had begun to make him ache. (Quite often when he was reading a
book at the Dursleys', he would have to get up and
pace for a few minutes when he would begin to ache.)
Once he was out of the car, he stretched very thoroughly, and then headed
toward the lot where Headquarters should stand. As he approached, he
thought of the address, '12 Grimmauld Place'; and then a moment later it
appeared before him. He and Remus walked to the door, and Remus rang the
bell. A second later, yelling and screaming could be heard. 'So the
portrait of Sirius' mother is still there, then,' Harry thought. He was
now dreading being in the house that he had spent Christmas in with Sirius;
there would be so many difficult memories. And if the portrait was still
up, he thought, then not much else had probably changed. But Harry
couldn't have been more wrong.
Mrs. Weasley opened the door, and gave Harry a bone-crushing hug; then she
checked to see if he had been eating properly, commenting how he still looked
so small and frail (which Harry thought was because Dumbledore hadn't told
everyone yet what was about to happen). Then he realised that the place
looked the complete opposite of his last stay. Instead of all the
horrible dark gloomy colours, the walls and carpets were now all in reds and golds. Wherever possible, the fixtures and other
decorations were shaped like a phoenix; and apart from the one picture of
Sirius' mother, all the others were very much like the ones at Hogwarts.
Harry guessed that these were enchanted in the same way as the portrait of
Phineas Nigellus (in which he could appear either in the frame at the headmaster's
office or the one in the room that Harry had shared with Ron last year).
'Harry dear, would take your things upstairs to the same room that you used
last year, please?' Mrs. Weasley asked. 'I think Ron, Hermione and
Ginny are there.' Harry nodded and went upstairs while the adults tried
to silence the portrait. The new phoenix theme continued all the way up
the staircase, and the entire second floor was redecorated too. When he
reached the door to the bedroom, he was assaulted with a flash of memories just
before his hand touched the doorknob. He recalled Sirius singing
Christmas carols loudly throughout the house, feeding Buckbeak, and sitting at
the table where they all awaited news about Mr. Weasley. Shaking his
head, Harry reached the rest of the way and opened the door. The room he
stepped into didn't have all of the phoenix patterns or fixtures, but rather
Gryffindor ones, which put a smile on his face.
'Harry! When did you get here?' asked an excited Ginny, who was clearly
happy to see him. But he noticed that Hermione's smile looked a little
forced, and Ron didn't bother to smile at all. Ron hadn't grown much;
maybe he had finally reached his adult height. But he had finally filled in and
looked less lanky. Hermione hadn't made any noticeable changes, but Ginny
had. She had grown an inch or two, and had let her hair grow
longer. Harry noticed with a blush that she had started to show some
grown-up curves too.
'I arrived just now, didn't you hear the portrait
screaming?' Harry replied, deciding to question the other two about their lack
of letters when he got the chance to be alone with them.
'Nah, Mum places a silencing charm in here in the daytime now, with so much
going on,' Ginny replied when no one else would. 'I swear, it's been such a madhouse here, people coming and
going. And there have been a lot of new members. Fred and George
included!' Harry began wondering if he had done something wrong to upset
Ron and Hermione.
'That's great; its good so many new people are joining,'
Harry said, then turned to Hermione.
'Hey Hermione, how has your summer been so far? You
too, Ron?' Harry asked, deciding to play dumb for now, and carry on as
if everything was normal between them.
'It's been okay; we just finished cleaning the house, so there's not a lot we
can do at the moment,' Hermione said.
'Listen, guys, I have something that I want to tell you that is important; but
please, don't freak out on me or anything, okay?' Harry asked,
when it was obvious Ron wasn't going to contribute to the conversation.
'What is...' Hermione began, but she was cut off by
Mrs. Weasley sticking her head in through the half open door.
'Kids, dinner is ready now,' she said, and then left back down the stairs.
'I'll tell you after dinner, I'm starving!' Harry said, giving in to the
protests of his empty stomach.
As soon as they left the room, they were blasted with another round of abuse
from the portrait. It seemed to be aimed at Remus, Harry thought, as she
mentioned 'Dirty Werewolf' in her tirade. At the bottom of the stairs,
Remus was trying to shut her up. Harry asked Remus why he didn't just
take her down. 'She has a permanent sticking charm on her, Harry, you
know that,' Remus replied, trying to be heard over the portrait's bellowing.
'So why not just remove the layer of plaster underneath her, then?' Harry
shouted over her screaming. But as soon as he said that, there was
absolute silence. Remus got an evil look on his face, and the portrait
started begging him not to do it. But it was no use; in no time Remus had
recited an incantation, and the picture was off the wall - leaving behind a
hole in the plaster, which Remus quickly fixed.
'That was a brilliant idea, Harry! I'm surprised that Hermione hadn't
thought of it yet,' Remus said as he picked the portrait up. Hermione
blushed at this comment and looked at the floor, obviously ashamed that she
hadn't. As Harry grinned at Remus, he could have sworn that he heard Ron
mutter, 'Perfect Potter saves the day again' under his breath, as he budged
past Harry into the kitchen. He gave Hermione a questioning look at Ron's
behaviour, but she just walked into the kitchen too.
'Have I done something wrong?' Harry asked Ginny as they headed to the kitchen.
'I'll explain later' was her only reply, not because she was annoyed with him
too but because they had arrived at the table. Dinner that night was
excellent; Harry helped himself to two extra helpings before he was
satisfied. There wasn't much conversation; it was mainly Mrs. Weasley and
Remus who tried to keep it going, ranging from inquiries about O.W.L.s to chatting about Quidditch.
When every one had finished and begun excusing themselves, Remus asked Harry if
he could have a quick word with him alone. So once they had cleared the
table, they went into the lounge room and sat. Before he spoke, Remus
conjured up some tea for them both, including mint tea for Harry, which was his
favourite.
'So, what is it that you wanted to speak to me about, Remus?' Harry asked after
they both took a sip of their tea.
'It's about your transformation. I forgot to mention it earlier, but no
one is to know - except your close friends, of course. The fewer people
that know, the less danger you are in,' Remus said.
'But won't they all notice the morning after, when I come down looking totally
different from the night before?' Harry asked.
'No one will be around to notice when you come down; you will have to leave
early. We'll use the excuse that Moody insisted that you depart at the
crack of dawn, as it's safer,' Remus replied.
'Sounds good to me. I guess, when we get back to
Hogwarts, we will explain the change in me then as a normal growth spurt?'
questioned Harry, making sure he got all of the details so he didn't screw
things up.
'Yeah, that's it. Now, have you told your friends yet? How did they
take it?' Remus asked, eager to find out if things
were okay with Harry; he had noticed the odd way Ron and Hermione were acting
with him earlier.
'No, I haven't; and the way they are acting now, I don't think I will at all!'
Harry answered with a frown. 'Do you know what's wrong with them?'
Remus thought for a moment; but the only thing that came to mind was a news
report that had been in the Prophet at the beginning of summer. But he
assumed Harry knew about that anyway, and didn't think that Ron or Hermione
would be so petty as to get upset over an article.
'Can't say that I do; sorry, Harry. But I'm sure
you'll work things out,' Remus said.
'Thanks, Remus. Hey, what time is the meeting?' Harry asked.
Remus looked at his watch. 'Half an hour, so you had better go get
yourself cleaned up.'
'Yes, Dad!' Harry replied sarcastically, gaining a
little laugh from Remus. He got up and then left the room, heading to his
and Ron's to get changed, and break the news of the Order to them.
'This is it,' he thought as he opened the door. 'It won't be easy... my
gods, they're going to hate me!'
'So, Harry - what is it you wanted to tell us?' Hermione asked as soon as he
entered.
'Well - erm - you see, it was Dumbledore's idea, and you know how much I wanted
it, and besides, I couldn't very well turn him down now, could I?' Harry
rambled.
'Harry, what the hell are you talking about?' Ron asked - the first thing he
had said since Harry had got there.
'DumbledoresaidIcouldjointheorderofthephoenix' Harry
said quickly, hoping to get the next part over with quickly and painlessly.
'HE WHAT!' Hermione shouted, which made Harry cringe;
but Ron continued on as if he hadn't heard her. He looked like he had
been smacked in the face when Harry had first said it, but now he just looked
angry, and it looked to him like Hermione was starting to as well.
'That's not fair! Why should you get special treatment just because
you're the bloody Boy-Who-Lived?' Ron shouted. Harry, in hopes of
defusing the situation, was about to say that if he was to kill Tom Riddle, it
only made sense to have him join.
'You're always getting what you want! Always the hero.
I bet all you had to do was just ask Dumbledore, and he said yes straight
away! He's probably just scared that you will lead someone to their death
if you don't get the information that you want!' he said in a cold hissing sort
of tone.
Up till that remark, Harry could have forgiven them for their outburst. It
still hurt that they would be angry at him, but he would have got over it in
time. But what Ron said had hurt far beyond apologies, and it angered him
beyond belief. He had to try hard not to do accidental magic; and the
only way he could think of to do that was to let off some steam - so with that
thought, he balled his hand into a fist and hit Ron in the face. Ron was
so much bigger and more muscular than Harry, that the punch had little effect
on Ron. But Harry was really only trying to affect himself, and prevent a
much bigger explosion. Ron looked at Harry for a second, dumbfounded; and
then when he realized that that was the best Harry could do, he laughed at him
and said, 'What's the matter, Potter? Am I too big and strong for your
infant body to hurt?' When Ron had finished his little jibe at Harry,
Hermione stepped in too.
'What do you think you're doing, Harry!' she bellowed. 'There was no need
to hit him. After all, most everything he said was the truth! You
DO get what you want because you're the Boy-Who-Lived!' she said. These
words, along with Ron's, were like a massive and nasty blow to Harry. And
it was the last straw, before, he felt, he would explode. But Ginny, who
had been silent through the exchange, hadn't had her say yet, and it appeared
she was just about to now.
'I can't believe the way you're acting!' she shouted. At first Harry
thought it was at him, but then he noticed she was glaring at Ron and
Hermione. 'I am disgusted with both of you!' she said,
very much in the same tone that Mrs. Weasley used when she was shouting at the
twins for a prank they had pulled.
'We should have known you would have taken his side of things!' Ron said,
glaring right back at his little sister. 'I suppose once you have fallen
under the spell of the great Harry Potter, then you're always under it,' he
said venomously.
'You still like him, don't you? I wonder what Dean would have to say about
this? Isn't Dean enough for you?' Hermione said, trying to defend Ron and
give Ginny something to be angry at. And angry she was; so angry, in fact, that
what she did next amazed Harry. She walked up to Hermione and punched
her, breaking her nose. 'Wow! I heard Ginny had a temper, but I
didn't know it was that bad!' Harry thought to himself. Hermione looked
in shock at what had just happened, clearly not registering it yet. A few
moments later, the shock of it all left her and she began to cry as she got up
and ran from the room, with Ron running right after her. Despite all that
had just gone on, Harry couldn't help but feel sorry for her; after all, she
had been his best friend for 5 years, and one of his first friends at that.
'You okay, Gin?' Harry asked her, a little hesitantly, as she still looked like
she was ready to kill; but hearing his voice, she visibly calmed down and sat
on Ron's bed.
'I'm fine; but what about you? What they said was way out of line.
No one thinks that you led Sirius to his death,' she said, looking at him with
sadness in her eyes. He was grateful for that look, because a look of
pity would only anger him again.
'I do, though,' Harry replied.
'Harry - ' Ginny began, but Harry interrupted her.
'Don't waste your breath, Gin; even Sirius himself couldn't convince me
otherwise.' He looked away then, so he didn't see the confused look on
her face.
'What do you mean, Harry?' Ginny asked.
'He wrote me a letter along with his will. It helped me a lot to accept
that he's gone, and start the healing process; but I will never stop blaming
myself,' Harry said, running his hand through his hair.
'But that's no way to live, blaming yourself for something that was totally
outside your control,' she said in a soothing voice.
'Oh, don't worry; I'm not selfish enough to take all of the blame. There
is plenty to go around - especially to Snape,'
Harry said, and growled angrily when he mentioned Snape. She got up then
when she saw the look on his face, and sat next to him and hugged him, rubbing
his back.
'Thanks, Gin, for being here for me when my two best friends abandoned me,'
Harry said.
'Any time; and if you ever need to talk then I'll always be here for you,' she
replied.
Harry, feeling better now, couldn't resist the little joke; he assumed he got
this from the marauder in him. 'Well, I certainly hope not!' he said in a
stern voice; and then when he saw her disappointed look, he added, 'Where will
I go to get changed or sleep if you're always here?'
'You're such an idiot!' she said in mock anger, whilst playfully slapping him
on the arm. 'What time is your meeting, by the way?' she asked.
Harry looked at his watch and then cursed, 'Gin, would you mind leaving so I
can get changed?' Harry asked her. He only had five minutes before the
meeting was due to start.
'Sure; but remember, I'm there for you,' she said, making sure not to fall into
the same trap twice. Harry chuckled and bade her a good night.
'Just in the nick of time there, Harry,' Remus commented, as Harry came
bounding into the meeting room. Harry smiled at him as he took his place
in between Remus and a wizard Harry didn't know. Just then Dumbledore
entered the room, and immediately all conversations were stopped and Dumbledore
had the attention of everyone in the room.
'Good evening, everyone; it's good to see you all looking so well,' Dumbledore
began. 'Now, before we get started, I would like for us to welcome Mr.
Harry Potter into the Order of the Phoenix,' he said, whilst
beaming at Harry. He got applauded by most people in the Order - all, in
fact, except for Snape, who just glared at Harry.
'Now, Harry, if you would please step up to the front, we will perform the
necessary checks to make sure that you are not under the Polyjuice potion,
Imperius curse, or any other form of control. Then we will need to have
you recite the oath that all who join must read under Veritaserum,'
Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes. Harry got back up from his
seat, and then walked to the front of the room. He felt very nervous,
having all eyes in the room on him, and also being the youngest member in the
Order.
'What do you need me to do, professor?' Harry asked as he reached the front and
stood before the old headmaster.
'Drink this potion, if you will,' he replied.
'What does it do?' Harry asked, eyeing the potion suspiciously.
'It will reveal to us if you are under the influence of any outside force, or
in disguise,' Dumbledore said as he handed Harry a golden goblet, with
phoenixes carved all around it. Harry took one last look around the room,
and then downed the vile-tasting potion, and waited for any indication that he
should do something else. A few moments passed and nothing happened, and
it seemed the whole Order as one breathed a sigh of relief.
'Excellent, Harry; now that we have the unpleasantries
over and done with, we can move on to the oath,' Dumbledore said with a
reassuring smile. He placed the goblet down and then picked up a small
vial of clear liquid that Harry knew to be the truth serum. 'Stick out
your tongue for me, please, and I will administer three drops,' Dumbledore said
in an official tone. Harry did as he was asked. Once the
administration of the Veritaserum was over (which
left Harry feeling like he had cotton wool in his head, though also very
relaxed), and they were all sure it had taken effect, Dumbledore began talking
again.
'Harry James Potter, do you swear to do everything within your power to protect
the innocent?' Dumbledore asked.
'I do,' Harry said.
'And do you swear to do anything within your power to help bring down those who
threaten the side of light and goodness?' Dumbledore asked.
'I do,' Harry said again.
'And will you swear to keep all of what you may learn about the Order to
yourself, unless otherwise instructed to do so?' said Dumbledore.
'I will,' Harry answered.
'And finally, do you swear your allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix, to uphold the laws
of the Order, and to do anything within your power to keep its members and any
of their allies safe from any harm?' Dumbledore asked him.
'Yes, I swear my allegiance to you and the Order; I will uphold and abide by
the laws of the Order, and do anything within my power to keep its members safe
from any harm,' Harry replied. Just then there was a blast of light, and Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, appeared and landed on
Harry's shoulder.
'Harry James Potter, you have been accepted into the Order of the Phoenix; and may I be the
first to congratulate you?' Dumbledore said, with a grandfatherly smile.
Harry smiled back, and was about to answer when another voice spoke:
'Potter, do you know of anybody who has broken into my private potions storage,
in all your time at Hogwarts?' Snape asked with a malicious smile on his
face. Harry swore inwardly; 'That slimy git has been just waiting for a
chance like this, and there is nothing that I can do to stop myself from
answering,' he thought grimly to himself.
'Yes, Hermione Granger did, to make a Polyjuice potion in my second year, while
Ron and I distracted the class,' Harry answered, unfortunately for him,
honestly.
'Well, well, well. It seems I was right after all. Though I cannot
do anything about it now, you will pay when we get back to school,' he replied,
sneering at him.
'Severus, that is quite enough!' Dumbledore said with a slight bit of amusement
in his voice. Snape just glared once more at Harry and then turned
away.
'Take this, Harry; it will nullify the potion. We can't have you walking
around telling all of your secrets, now, can we?' he asked with a smile.
Harry gladly took the potion and then asked if he could sit down. After receiving
a nod from the headmaster, he returned to his seat and received a pat on the
back from Remus. Harry sat there and glared at Snape for the rest of the
meeting, which from there on was mainly about issues concerning the ministry.
Now that they had admitted that Riddle was back, they were overwhelmed with
things to do; and the minister was only making things worse for the
Order. To the public, he tried to look like he was doing everything in
his power to fight the war; but to the Order, he was doing everything in his
power to keep the Order from gaining any sort of power, and from looking good
in front of the public. He had invoked several silly ministry decrees, that only worked to hinder the Order as well as the
Death Eaters. When it came time for Snape to make his weekly update, he
didn't really have much to tell.
'The Dark Lord seems to be at a loss at the moment. He lost a lot of his
most trusted and loyal men at the ministry, including Malfoy; which means that
he has lost the use of some residences that they owned, and also all of the
dark objects and books that were in them, as the ministry are watching the rest
of the families closely. Other than that, he has not revealed any of his
plans. However, there is a rumour going around that he has begun learning
necromancy, the darkest of arts; and that soon he will have the knowledge and
power to raise whole armies of the dead,' Snape said. The rest of the
meeting after that was brief, and nothing more important was said.
'Well, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming here, and I bid you all a
safe trip home,' Dumbledore said to call the meeting to an end. When the
room was nearly empty, Harry approached Dumbledore, who was just finishing up a
short conversation with Arthur Weasley.
'Harry! Good to see you; congratulations on entering the Order,' Arthur
Weasley said, as he gave Harry an unexpected hug. Harry wasn't sure what
to do, so he just patted Arthur on the back before breaking the hug.
'Thank you, sir, it's a great honour to finally be accepted into it,' Harry
replied. Dumbledore smiled at that comment.
'Well, I shall see you next meeting, Albus; please take care. Goodbye,
Harry,' Arthur said. Harry bid him goodbye, and Arthur tossed a bit of
floo powder in the fireplace, stepped in, and yelled 'THE BURROW' and in a
flash of green flames was gone; though Mrs. Weasley was remaining at Grimmauld Place to supervise the
kids.
'Now, Harry: is there something that you wanted to ask me?' Dumbledore said.
'Yes sir, but first I want to tell you how my research and learning is going.'
Harry replied.
'Indeed?' Dumbledore said, prompting Harry to go on.
'Well, sir, I went to a bookstore in Knockturn Alley that didn't have a name on
the outside, and found several useful books - as well as dark arts ones, to
help me have a better understanding of what I'm fighting against,' Harry said,
eyeing the headmaster for any signs of disapproval. Seeing none,
Harry continued. 'For the past month, I have been learning spell creation
and adaptation, which I think I'm finally getting the hang of. The theory
seemed complicated at first, but I looked at it from a functional viewpoint,
separating the bits and pieces that are used for different functions within the
spell itself, and it became easier to understand. I also got a book on
Obscure Transfigurations, and have been practicing turning myself invisible
without a wand,' Harry said, happy that he was finally able to discuss all that
he had been learning with someone.
'Can you show me what you can do so far?' Dumbledore asked him.
'Yes sir, but it takes a few minutes for me to build up enough magic to do it,'
Harry replied, and then began to concentrate. He cleared his mind after a
few minutes, and then began trying to push his magic to the outside and form it
around himself so he could look invisible. This alone took 5 minutes to
do, and when he was done he was sweating a lot and out of breath.
'Very well done, Harry, very well done indeed; a few more weeks of training and
you will be able to vanish your clothes as well, and
do it almost without thinking,' Dumbledore told him, beaming at him. 'The
boy really is eager to learn; very impressive indeed!' Dumbledore thought to
himself as he watched Harry become visible again.
'Thank you, professor; do you really think I'll be able to finish it in a few
weeks? That's better than I thought!' Harry said all in one breath,
getting excited now.
'Calm down, Harry!' Dumbledore chuckled. 'I think that if you put enough
time and practice into it, you should have it done a week or so before you
leave for Hogwarts. Now, what about the animagus
transformation?' Dumbledore said.
Harry was grinning the whole way through his explanation of how it was going,
and Dumbledore seemed impressed too.
'Now that is an excellent form, Harry; there hasn't been a lion animagus since
the great Gryffindor himself!' Dumbledore said, which
only made Harry the more ecstatic with his form.
'Are there any other surprises you have for me, Harry?' Dumbledore asked after
Harry had finished describing his animagus progress.
'Well, sir, I would like to ask you a favour - but please know that, whatever
your answer, I will go ahead with what I intend to do,' Harry told him
sternly. Dumbledore seemed to become more serious at the way Harry said
that. He knew that whatever Harry was planning was probably very painful
and dangerous; but there was no stopping the boy once he had his mind set on
something, so he nodded his head for Harry to continue.
'Well, another book I found was one on elemental powers; and I performed the
compatibility test using a potion on myself - and it turns out I'm a fire
mage! The favour I ask is that, when I take the second potion, you be
there to supervise, and make sure everything goes as it should,' Harry said in
a determined voice. He wasn't going to let Dumbledore talk him out of
this; this was something that could decide whether he lived or died.
'Now, out of everything I was expecting to hear, this certainly was not
it. I must say I am very pleased that you have the gift, and I will do as
you ask; but I must ask that you allow the potions master to make up the
potion. It is very advanced, and if something were to go wrong, it does
not bear thinking about,' Dumbledore said in his normal tone. From the
headmaster's face and voice, Harry wouldn't have guessed that Dumbledore was
shocked by what he told him. It sounded and looked like they were
discussing the weather over tea to Harry.
'Thank you, Professor. I'm afraid that's all of the shocking revelations
I have for you at the moment,' Harry said with a smile.
'That's a good thing; any more and I'm afraid I might have had heart failure,'
Dumbledore replied, returning the smile.
'Well, Harry, I must leave now; no rest for the wicked, as they say. I
shall see you tomorrow before it begins. Keep up
the good work, and good night,' Dumbledore said as he headed to the fireplace
as Harry bade him a good night.
Once Dumbledore was gone, Harry began to look for Remus, so he could find out
what room they had planned for him to use tomorrow night. He found Moony
sitting in front of the fire in the lounge, just staring at the fire in
thought.
'You miss him a lot, don't you?' Harry asked Moony, as he sat down on the chair
next to his.
'Yeah, he was like a brother to me. It was hard losing him all over
again,' Remus said.
'I miss him too. I miss them all, and I hope one day I will get to see
them again,' Harry said, gazing into the fire.
'Just make sure you don't rush to get there,' Remus said with a chuckle.
Harry smiled at him and then asked, 'Remus, I was wondering ... if ... er ...
if you would be my ... sort of ... replacement godfather?' The question
seemed to have caught Remus off guard. He sat there with his jaw hanging
open and just stared at Harry; then, without warning, he engulfed him into a
tight hug. Harry just barely choked out, 'I'll take that as a yes, then!'
They spent a few hours after that just talking about the marauders and Harry's
mother, and having a laugh about some of the antics they got up to. Harry
still wasn't sure about his father; but Remus assured Harry that Snape had only
got what he deserved - which Harry didn't doubt for a second; and that his
father had changed a lot in their seventh year.
Before heading off to bed, Harry asked Remus the question he had originally
sought him out to ask.
'Why do you want to know?' Remus asked, already knowing the answer.
'Well, Ron and I had a slight disagreement,' Harry said; and then added in his
head, 'with my fist'. Thinking about what Ron had said still angered Harry, but
he didn't want to show it.
'I thought as much; well, if you go and grab your things, then I'll show you
where it is.'
Harry thanked Remus, headed upstairs to grab his stuff, and then followed Remus
to his room, which turned out to be the one opposite Sirius' old room.
'Thank you, Moony,' Harry said as he opened the door.
'Good night, Harry,' He replied.
'Good night.'
***********************************************
A/N: Thanks to all you guys who have reviewed, and for being my first
reviewers. As you can probably tell, I'm new to all of this; so if you
spot a mistake, let me know and I'll do my best to fix the problem. As always thank
you to david305 for expertidly beta-ing my fic!
MaidenMasherV: Thank you for your review, and thank
you for being my first reviewer. Your review pushed me to get this chappie out so fast; but I don't know when the next will be
posted; I haven't even started it yet. Hope the rest of the story will be
up to scratch for you.
Kyntor: Sorry if I didn't make that clear, but the
opening para is Harry after his transformation, and
the rest is when he gets back from the station. I suck at writing
beginnings of stories, and that's what I came up with after a few days thought
and many re-writes. If you can think of a way to change it to make it
more clear, please let me know. Thanks for the review and I hope you keep
reviewing.
BferBear: Well, did it turn out how you
thought? There is a reason why Ron and Hermione are acting so OOC towards
Harry, and you will find out in later chapters.
Don't want to say too much and give it away, but what I will say is that it
won't be an 'I now hate my best friends forever and am chums with my best enemy
(Malfoy) cause he's not such a bad guy after all' type fic.
:D Thank you for your review. It was very motivating in writing
this chappie.
Next chapter: O.W.L.s and Transformations.
Until next time.
GG
