In Every Darkness
Chapter Twenty Five: Communication
7.8.1996
"Harry! We're going to Diagon Alley today!" Ron yelled at his friend.
Harry was standing at the top of the staircase, looking sleepy, the griffin perched on his shoulder, he smiled down at his friend. He had been speaking with Sirius the night before, and was in a better mood than he had been for a while.
"Good!" Harry called back, heading down stairs to feed himself and the griffin. The creature no longer had to be fed at irregular hours, and had already become very proctive of Harry, much to the delight of the Order.
Today they would take the griffin out into a public place for the first time ever. Harry had spoken to it about this already, warning it to do what he told it, or risk separation from Harry forever.
The creature was very intellengent, Harry had discovered in week since he'd received it as a gift, and so understood exactly what Harry was saying.
Harry had very little to go on when it came to understanding the griffins responses, however, but as the creature seemed to only need fairly basic things, it wasn't too difficult to understand what it was asking for.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Dobby was setting the large table in preparation for the Order of the Phoenix coming down to dine, while Winky was aiding Mrs. Weasley in making the food.
When Harry appeared in the doorway, Dobby hurried over to him. "Here Master Harry, your seat is being this way!" the elf squeaked at him, and Harry allowed himself to be towed along to sit down. Dobby placed a plate of minced meat on the table beside Harry, then bowed and went back to setting the table.
The griffin leapt from Harry's shoulder, and the boy winced slightly as its sharp claws for a moment clenched, just biting through his skin. He had more than a few scratches from the griffin, though he knew that the creature intended him no harm.
The griffin settled crouched on the table, gulping down its breakfast – no longer did it require to be hand fed, and Harry was quite grateful for that.
Not long after, people started arriving to eat. Ron and Hermione were, as usual, some of the first amung them, and Harry knew from the days he had spent here that most who came would be gone again, swiftly, departing on whatever errands the Order had for them.
Few would remain to eat at a leisurely pace.
Ron and Hermione sat down on either side of Harry, they'd been arguing the night before, and their tempers had yet to cool.
"I'll finally be able to see what new books Flourish and Blott's had," Hermione remarked with forced cheer, her comment aimed at Harry only.
"Won't it be fun to see what Quality Quidditch Suplies has to sell now?" Ron asked Harry a moment later.
"I don't know about you two, but I rather like the idea of having a look at the Magical Menagerie," Harry replied, catching them both off guard. "But I can go there, and Hermione can go to the book shop, and you can go and have a look at Quality Quidditch Suplies, Ron."
Harry was intent on not being forced to take sides in the argument between his two friends, knowing from experience that this was not a good idea. No matter who he thought had the right of things, the other would become annoyed if he said anything about it.
"You think I was right though, from last night, don't you Harry?" Ron asked him.
"Of course he doesn't," Hermione snapped back, "Harry's smart, it's obvious that I had the right of things, didn't I Harry?"
Harry looked between his two friends. Why did they have to constantly try to put him in the middle like this?
"Do you want to know what I really think?" he asked, aiming the question at both of them. They each nodded eagerly, awaiting confirmation that they had been right.
"I think you are both being very stupid and childish," Harry told them, lifted the griffin, who'd finished eating, with ease, and walked out of the kitchen, leaving his two friends staring after him.
"Having a bit of trouble with your friends, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him, appearing seemingly from nowhere.
"A little," Harry admitted with a sigh. "They argue over the stupidest of things sometimes."
Dumbledore laughed quietly. "I am not surprised, your parents acted the same for five years," the old wizard told Harry.
"I know they like each other," Harry agreed. "I just wish they didn't have to show it like that."
"Unfortunately that's how most people choose to deal with their feelings," Dumbledore remarked wearily. "I have just come back from an early morning talk with Tatsu, which prooved to be quite interesting."
Tatsu had returned to number six Privet Drive two days before, saying that he had a house to take care of, but that he would be back frequently to check up on things. Dumbledore had had Tatsu's house added to the Floo network, to make things easier for everyone.
"Really?" Harry asked. "What did he say?"
"The Police seem to have hit dead ends with an enquirey to your relatives deaths," Dumbledore replied. "Since no one in the neighbourhood seems to remember much of what happened, tracking down any evidence is proving difficult for them."
Harry only nodded. He knew that Ministry had used memory charms on everyone who had been present at the Death Eater attack and who did not know about magic.
"It has also become clear that your mother's family left Petunia, as their last surviving child, many things. These things fall to you, as Petunia's only remaining blood relative. Vernon's things will go to on Marjory Dursley, though if she died, those things would go to you," Dumbledore continued.
"What sort of things did my mothers family leave?" Harry asked curiously. He'd never heard much of the Evans family, not even from Petunia. He knew that they were dead no, but he knew little else.
"Quite a sum of money, and several family heirlooms, all of which are stored in a Muggle back account," Dumbledore replied immediately. Harry looked at him questioningly. "I checked while I was there. I am a powerful figure in our world, Harry, and many of the benefits of that power extend even into the Muggle world."
"Ok. So what happens now?" Harry asked.
"Well, it seems that Miss Dursley has requested that those things the Evans family left be given to her as well, which means that you must come to court and a judge will decide who gets what," Dumbledore said with a heavy sigh.
"More courts? I don't think I like courts much," Harry remarked darkly.
"They aren't supposed to be likable. You should get yourself ready for Diagon Alley soon," the headmaster informed Harry calmly. "Molly will be wanting to leave here fairly soon."
"But what about the court …" Harry trailed off as Dumbledore raised a wizended hand.
"Do not fret about that just yet," the old man told Harry. "I will do as much as I can to take care of it, and prepare you for it when the time is right. Go now."
As Harry turned, the griffin squirmed in his arms. "What is it?" Harry asked the creature, and it squirmed again. "Do you want to get down?"
The small eagles head nodded vigerously, and Harry knelt to set it on the ground. He rose and walked to his room, with the little creature trailing beside him. It had become quite able on its feet, though it was still apt to stumble occasionally.
Once back in his room, Harry watched the griffin settle itself, curled up neatly on his pillows. Sparing a gentle smile for the creature, Harry turned away from the bed and thought of what to wear for the day.
In the end he decided on comfortable black pants, a green t-shirt and a light black jumper with a dragon curled on the back, as well as the doc martins that Tonks had insisted he buy.
When he stepped out of the ensuite bathroom, he found the griffin stalking around the room almost agetatedly. The reason for this was swiftly discovered: Severus Snape was standing in the doorway, looking sour.
Harry thought immediately of the wand that was bound to his arm – he had swiftly grown accustomed to having his wand there, and could draw it in an instant at need.
"Good morning, Snape," he greeted, tone cool. He did not allow the potions master to know just how much Harry hated him, but at the same time made it clear that they were not friends.
"As
I am forced into your company, even if it is for only a short period, I see
little good about this particular morning," Snape snapped in reply.
"Then why don't you tell me why you are
here and get your errand over and done with as soon as possible. That way
neither of us need to keep each others company any longer than necessary,"
Harry growled in reply.
"The headmaster requested that I make a potion that would allow you and your … pet … to converse easily. A griffin could do that on its own, but not until it reached an age when its magical abilities were more advanced than yours is," came the reply. "I have made the potion, but you need to add one of your own hairs to it, and your pet needs to add a feather."
"The griffin is not my pet, Snape, but rather my friend," Harry growled warningly.
"Same difference, when its you we speak of," Snape sneered at him, before striding into the room and setting a goblet down on Harry's bedside table. "You each much drink from this," he added, before leaving, robes billowing behind him.
The griffin scrambled from where it had hid itself under the bed. It had tried to attack Snape once more when the Potions Master was less than polite to Harry, but Harry had forbidden it to do so again.
Now it seemed to harbour a hatred of Snape equal to that which Harry and his friends did. "Did you hear that?" Harry asked it, and the creature nodded. "Do we trust him?" again, though more reluctantly, the creature nodded.
Harry knew that the griffin could spot lies very easily, and therefore if it thought that Snape was being dishonourable Harry would believe it immidately and without question.
Harry tugged a strand of hair from his head, and dropped into what looked like clear water that was Snape's potion. For a moment, the water blazed emerald green, then returned to clear.
The griffin used its beak to rip out a single feather from its forleg, which it offered to Harry to place in the potion. Harry did so, and the potion turned, for a moment, gold.
When it had cleared again, Harry drank some of it, then offered it to the griffin, which downed its portion of the potion in a single gulp.
Quickly, Harry sat down, as the world spun crazily around him. He did not notice the griffin doing the same.
So, Snape didn't give up his Death Eater loyalties, was the one thought to go through Harry's head, as he fell back onto his bed, senseless.
***
Do you guys hate me? If yes, you are supposed to, if no, you are disturbing me *grins* just joking! Please review!
~WolfMoon~