Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor

Consequences

At breakfast the next morning Luna joined the others at the Gryffindor House Table and when a fourth-year girl suggested she move back to the Ravenclaw Table Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione and Ginny scowled at the girl, as all of their tempers were fairly short, and Neville growled, "Luna may have been sorted into Ravenclaw, Joyce, but she is more Gryffindor that you will ever be so she stays."

"And if you don't like it," Ginny added with a snarl, "then you can take it up with Professor Potter here."

A hushed silence fell over the Great Hall as almost everyone turned to stare at the six ill-tempered students who had not been seen since dinner on Friday. Harry turned to look at the fourth-year girl and, curtly nodding his head, dangerously said, "She stays."

Several of the students looked towards the Head Table, where many of the professors had witnessed the exchange, and towards Professor Dumbledore in particular for some sign but the Headmaster simply nodded his head and smiled. From that moment on Luna Lovegood became an honorary Gryffindor and anyone who complained about it was soundly rebuffed.

A few minutes later, as the morning post arrived, Hedwig and Henry flew in with the rest of the owls. But instead of bringing any mail simply landed and perched on Harry and Ginny's shoulders. "I think they are glad to be back," Ron commented as Pig landed on his head.

"And I think Pig is glad to see you made it back in one piece," Harry chuckled softly.

Ron scowled but didn't move to swat the tiny owl from its perch. A minute later, when the three owls made no sign of leaving Ginny took out her wand and tapped Harry's plate. Dobby's reflection appeared beneath Harry's unfinished breakfast. "Yes, Ginny?" Dobby's voice could be heard coming through the food.

Ginny looked mildly surprised that Dobby knew it was her who had called but made her request anyway. "Er, Dobby? We have three owls up here who don't seem to want to leave. Is there any possibility you could send up a small bowl of owl treats?"

Dobby smiled and nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, Ginny! They will be up in a moment." And true to his word a small bowl of owl treats appeared in the middle of the table between Harry and Ron moments later. The three owls hopped down onto the table and began eating. Henry and Hedwig glanced warningly at Pig every time the tiny owl got too close and occasionally hooted disdainfully at the mess he was making but otherwise seemed to accept him as an equal.

A few minutes later Mark Evans walked up behind Harry and tapped him on the shoulder. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was sitting between Ginny and Neville Harry would have spun out of his seat and hexed the little first-year Gryffindor without even thinking about it. As it was, however, he scared the young boy half to death and earned himself several glances from the Head Table. When he realized what he had done Harry blushed and slowly got up and turned around to apologize to the dark haired little boy who was standing between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, shaking like a leaf. "I'm sorry, Mark," he said after sitting down with his back to the table. "I'm just a little jumpy today."

"Th-that's okay," Mark stammered hesitantly. "I . . . I just wanted to let you know what my father found out," the little boy said, tentatively holding out a sheet of paper that was shaking violently.

The others had stopped eating and were taking an interest in the interaction that was taking place between their friend and the little first-year who might be one of his relatives. Harry, realizing that he had probably frightened the young boy out of his mind, smiled and stood up. Guiding Mark to sit in his seat, Harry accepted the sheet of paper and scanned it for a few moments before looking up at Mark and smiling, tears of happiness threatening to spill down his cheeks. "We're second cousins," he said happily. "And from the looks of it, you and your little sister and I are the last three in that particular branch of the family. And since I don't have any other blood relatives I guess you could say we are family."

Hermione gasped. "But that's wonderful, Harry!" she said.

Harry glanced up and saw the tears of joy in his friend's eyes. "I know," he said. Standing up he returned the computer printout to Mark and walked him back to his seat. As they were walking he turned to Mark and said, "All I've ever wanted was a real family."

"What about the Dursley's?" Mark asked.

Harry snorted. "They weren't much of a family, Mark. It was more like I was the slave and they were the masters. But that's over now. I know its not much but if you don't mind I would like to spend some time getting to know you."

"What would you like to know?" Mark asked as he sat down with his friends.

"Everything," Harry said. "But if your father knew my mother at all I would like to talk to him sometime to find out what she was like when she was younger."

"I'll ask him," Mark said tentatively, "but he doesn't talk about his cousins much. All he will ever really say about them is that one was nice and the other was mean. He says the nice one died on Halloween night in 1981 and that the mean one died last summer."

Harry looked at his shoes for a moment, struggling to control his emotions. When he felt composed enough to continue he said, "That would be my mum and aunt Petunia. My mum was murdered on Halloween night in 1981 and my aunt was murdered this past summer. And since Dudley was murdered as well I guess I'm all you're going to get where second cousins are concerned on your father's side of the family."

Mark looked up at Harry in horror. "You mean I was related to that big oaf?"

Harry grinned sadly. "Yep. I'm afraid so, Mark. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately we can't really pick our relatives."

After Defense Against the Dark Arts that morning Remus called Harry over. "You okay?" he asked. "I saw you jump when that Little Evans boy tapped you on the shoulder and I was just wondering . . ."

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I had been watching the attacks every night for two weeks before we went so I could get a feel for what we were going into but seeing it and actually experiencing it are two different things."

"Aye. You've got that right, Harry," Alastor said, hobbling over. "From what these two have told me it sounds like you eight have seen some of the bloodiest fighting since the height of the war against Grindelwald."

Harry looked up into the retired auror's eyes, even though his magical eye was spinning crazily in its socket, and nodded. "I can imagine," he said sadly. "If the truth behind some of the stories Albus told me this summer is anything close to what happened this weekend then I can understand why he doesn't like to talk about it."

"Aye. And now you know why he cries sometimes when he does."

The other three Defense professors looked over at Moody in surprise but Harry just nodded his head. "Yeah. Now I know. But what are we going to do about the others? I mean, I've got a pensieve and I intend to use it tonight. But what about Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny?"

There was silence for several seconds, as no one knew what to say. Then Alastor said, "Albus has always been one for talking things through and I'll admit that it does have its merits but we can't force anyone to talk. What do the rest of you think?"

"I'll volunteer my trunk, if you think it will help," Harry said.

Remus nodded. ""I think that might be a good idea, Harry. We will need someplace private to meet. Someplace where we can let our hair down and talk openly about our feelings."

Tonks nodded. "I'm with you. I'll talk to the girls and Ron tomorrow morning if you two will work on Neville. I know there are some things I want to talk about; but I don't want to talk to anyone who wasn't there."

"Me too," Remus admitted. "Its not that I don't trust you Kingsley, Alastor. Its just that . . ."

"I understand," Alastor said.

"That's one of the reasons Aurors work in teams," Kingsley said. "So we will have someone to talk to. That is also why it is so hard when your partner dies."

Tonks nodded her head. "I'll talk to Severus about brewing some calming draughts."

"And I'll talk to Dobby and Winky about dinners for eight, if that is alright with you guys."

"Sounds good to me." Remus said. "Tonks?"

"Sounds good to me too."

"Alright. It's settled then," Harry said. "The eight of us will start taking dinner in my trunk starting tomorrow night, if we can get the others to agree. Well, I had better get to Charms so I'll see you guys in the morning."

At 4:30 the next morning Remus walked into the Gryffindor, sixth-year boys' dormitory and approached Harry's bed. "I'm awake," Harry said softly. "Ron and Neville have been having nightmares. I wanted to give them some Dreamless Sleep Potion from my own stock but I don't want them to get too used to it."

Remus looked at him in surprise. "Do you use the stuff?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I just keep a supply on hand in case of emergency."

"Brew it yourself?"

"Yeah."

Walking over to Ron's bed Remus pulled the curtains back. Ron was thrashing violently around, obviously screaming, reliving one of the most horrific moments from the battle the previous weekend. "Silencing Charms?" Remus asked.

"Had to," Harry said. "Otherwise none of us would have gotten any sleep last night."

Remus nodded. "Neville too?"

"Yeah."

Five minutes later, after waking both Ron and Neville up and removing the Silencing Charms the four wizards began stretching out and getting ready for their morning exercises. Fifteen minutes after that, after Ron, Neville and Harry had gotten dressed, they made their way down to the Gryffindor Common Room where Luna, Ginny, Hermione and Tonks were just finishing up with their stretches. Harry cast a questioning glance at Tonks who nodded her hear in response. All three girls were having nightmares about the battle as well.

After two laps around the perimeter of the castle grounds, three for Remus, Harry and Neville, They met up with Kingsley and Alastor in the quidditch pitch and started their ballet, tumbling and gymnastics drills. After an hour of that they broke into groups and while Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna learned about strategy in dueling from Kingsley and Alastor Harry and Neville went down to the other end of the pitch and dueled against Remus and Tonks. The only difference this time was that Remus was paired with Neville and Tonks was paired with Harry. The battle raged for half an hour, while the others watched with Alastor and Kingsley commenting about the different strategies being employed by the two teams, before Tonks was disarmed by a stray curse and Harry was left to duel his usual partner and one of his father's best friends. Fifteen minutes later Neville was disarmed with several spells that had been fired in rapid succession and then it was just Harry and Remus. At seven o'clock Kingsley shot a steam of sparks into the air and both Harry and Remus collapsed to the ground laughing. "You're good, Remus!" Harry laughed.

"You're not to shabby yourself, Harry!" Remus gasped out. "We're going to have to start you two on solos with multiple opponents sometime this week."

"Aye," Alastor growled. "You won't always have a partner and you will probably find yourselves outnumbered more often than not."

Harry and Neville nodded their acceptance of the next stage of their training but the other four just looked at each other with their mouths hanging slightly open. "No partner, multiples opponents?" Ron asked.

"Aye, lad," Moody growled. "As you learned this past weekend, they don't always play fair and they will do everything they can to separate a team."

Hermione suddenly paled and began to shake. Fortunately Tonks was looking at her at the time and ran over with a small bottle of potion. "Here!" she said urgently, shoving the bottle into Hermione's hand. "Drink this. It's a calming draught."

Hermione looked panicked but nodded her head and raised the bottle to her lips. Moments later, as the potion began to take effect, Hermione stopped shaking and her color returned. "Thanks," she said. "I don't know what happened . . ."

"That's alright," Tonks said, putting her arm around the younger woman's shoulders. "Its not uncommon after you first combat experience. That's why we are all going to start doing dinner in Harry's trunk tonight." The five who had not been a part of the discussion the previous morning all nodded their heads in acceptance of their fates. "And Severus has a supply of calming draughts in his office if you need any more."

Dinner that evening started out very quietly. The eight friends were sitting around the table in Harry's conference room just picking at their food. Even Ron, who normally had a voracious appetite, was doing little more than picking at his food. All heads were bowed in silence, as if in prayer, but the fact of the matter was that no one wanted to be the first to say anything. It was almost as if they feared that saying something would cause them to be magically transported back through space and time to the dragon preserve and the battle of the previous Friday night.

Dobby and Winky watched their friends with concern and did everything they could to lighten the mood but nothing worked. They gradually fell silent and just watched as the eight humans silently worked up the courage to face their fears and discuss what they had been through. Several times, people cleared their throats and glanced up as if preparing to break the silence only to drop their gazes back down to their plates and fall silent. Finally, after almost half an hour of a depressingly solemn silence, Remus cleared his throat and said, "We need to talk about this. If we don't it is going to destroy us."

The others looked up and murmured their agreement but no one really wanted to begin. Then, after several more minutes of silence, Hermione began talking about how she was feeling. "I . . . I . . . I never knew it could be so bloody. I mean, my parents are dentists and I am used to the sight of blood but I had never seen anything like that before. . ." As she continued to describe her feelings she began to shiver and then cry. Ron, after the initial shock of hearing his girlfriend confessing her feelings of fear and dread, moved his chair over to sit next to Hermione and put his arm around her shoulders. When she was finished she turned into Ron's shoulder and cried.

The others let her cry in silence for a few minutes before Tonks, who was sitting on Hermione's other side, spoke up and started talking about her feelings. And so it went slowly around the table with each person confessing their feelings and letting themselves experience the grief they felt. No one was immune to tears that evening.

After dinner the group moved to the sitting room. As Harry sat down next to Ginny on one of the couches he glanced at his watch and, seeing the time, asked Dobby and Winky to let the D.A. know that class was being canceled for the night. Remus and Tonks silently agreed that this evening was far too important to be put off so they asked the two house elves to cancel their classes as well.

They talked through the evening and far into the night, reliving the horrors of what they had seen and finding comfort in each other's company. It was a very painful experience, and emotionally trying on many levels, but they gradually began to come to terms with what they had experienced and find a sense of peace that they could live with.

When Ginny drifted off to sleep at around 1:00 AM Harry carried her into the bedroom and laid her on the bed. Hermione soon followed and since it was so late Harry asked Winky and Dobby to conjure another queen size bed, for Tonks and Luna, in the bedroom and one for Remus in the library. Harry, Ron and Neville then climbed out of the trunk and went to bed. As they were getting ready for bed Harry looked over at his friends and asked, "Do you guys want silencing charms tonight?"

"Only if we need them," Ron said tiredly.

Neville nodded his agreement with Ron. "Yeah."

At seven o'clock that Friday evening, as the Hogwarts Branch of the Order of the Phoenix assembled in the Headmaster's Library, the eight were feeling much better about themselves and were getting back to their lives as students and teachers. There was still a long way to go but at least they had begun the process. Albus looked around at the group and sighed sadly then said, "I'm sorry. I had hoped to be able to spare most of you the horrors of war; but, sadly, our adversaries will not allow that to happen. I am, however, very proud of all of you. You are, indeed, a very strong, powerful and courageous fighting unit. My only hope is that others will be able to follow the examples you have set.

"But tell me, how are your meetings going?"

The eight looked around at each other for a few second then Tonks spoke up. "They are going well, Albus. We still have a long way to go but we are getting there."

Albus nodded his head. "Good. I have a request for the eight of you.

"The response to Harry's initial presentation was overwhelmingly positive. We have had numerous requests for additional training sessions. Since I have no wish to break up such an excellent team I was wondering if we could impose upon the eight of you to teach the Potter-Lupin-Granger-Padfoot Defensive Charm to approximately one thousand witches and wizards on the last Saturday of every month and approximately five hundred on the second Saturday of every month?"

After a brief discussion, during which it was agreed that Albus, Minerva, Alastor and Kingsley would help with the practice portion of the programs (Severus was excused as he would be attending Death Eater meetings on the weekends), it was agreed that they would teach these classes and that the two main lecturers would be Remus and Harry.

The next topic of discussion was the training of a select group of students, in addition to the six, in advanced dueling. It was decided that the training would be completely voluntary but that only certain students would be approached for membership in this elite group of fighters. It was also decided that the Room of Requirement would be used by Harry, Neville and Alastor's group while Tonks, Remus and Kingsley would be using the Hogwarts grounds and the quidditch pitch. The training of these additional fighters would not officially begin for another week but the selected students would be contacted that weekend.