Chapter Six: Gaining the Advantage.
After returning from St. Mungo's, Harry and Ron still had to spend a lot of time in their beds, trying to regain their strength. They were only allowed to eat little amounts of food, meals regularly spread out during the day to spare their stomachs from too much strain.
Mrs. Weasley was so happy to have her 'boys' back, that she willingly spent all her time in the kitchen making soup, boiling fresh vegetables and scooping nice, soft and gooey ice-cream. The list the Healers had given her had been enlarged, until it was four times its original size (If it had been any larger, you could have read the boy's diet description from across the street.) Mrs. Weasley had attached it to the mantle of the fireplace and it was adhered to very strictly, to Ron's growing regret.
The only upside to the whole thing for Harry and Ron, was that everyone else had to eat what the patients were eating or go hungry. Harry and Ron perked up considerably, when hearing Mr. Weasley complain about another serving dish containing nothing else but carrots or brussel sprouts, and seeing Remus' obvious hatred of everything that could possibly be considered soup, their reactions made the boy's diet go over a little easier.
Mrs. Weasley simply didn't have the time to make a different menu for the rest, three times a day. She was very thankful that Professor Dumbledore had sent Dobby to help her with the house keeping, because without him, the cleaning simply wouldn't get done. She shuddered at the thought of a dirty shower.
The only physical activities they were allowed to perform were eating, lying down, sitting, sleeping, walking around (in moderation) and writing. Mrs. Weasley, in 'mother hen mode', feared that any physical exertion might hinder or totally prevent their recovery. If it had been her decision to make, the boys would have remained in bed until it was time to get back onto the Hogwarts' Express. It was only because of Mr. Weasley and Remus' intervention that they were even allowed up.
In practice, this meant that they could only do the inventarisation of the library, even if they had wanted and had been able to do something else. After a few days of utter boredom, even Ron, 'Mister I'm Afraid of Dust Bunnies' as Hermione had so aptly put it, had joined the 'party', glad to have something to do besides counting the dots on the ceiling of his 'new' room.
When they came back from St. Mungo's, Harry would not sleep in their old room anymore, it no longer felt safe to him. Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were very understanding and had been very willing to arrange other rooms for the two of them before they returned. Harry had chosen to sleep in his Godfathers' room from then on, in his mind, no other bedroom would do.
From the moment he had walked in through the front door, the most important thing to him was to wake up Sirius; he had missed his little pet dearly. The last three nights at the Wizard hospital had been riddled with nightmares about his Godfathers' death, about himself sleeping forever, slowly dying and about the terror of Voldemort rising to power in his absence.
He had sworn to himself that he would never ever, go anywhere without his bond-mate again. For his own good as well as for Sirius'. When he had opened the stasis box for the second time, Sirius looked even tinier then before he got him, three weeks ago. It had looked as though he was physically withering away without his bond-mate.
Harry had taken Sirius up to his new room immediately, he thought taking a nap together might restore some of his pet's strength as well as his own. Sirius had climbed up to his shoulder and clung to him from the moment he had opened the stasis box and hadn't let go for two days, Harry couldn't even change his clothes.
From then on, Harry and Sirius were inseparable. Harry would bring him everywhere. He even took his pet into the shower with him. Mr. Weasley expected this protective and possessive behaviour to stop when they both felt more secure about their bond. He remembered a similar situation with Fred and George when they were little.
You couldn't keep them apart if you had them tied to elephants. When Fred got really sick (dragonpocks) and had to go to St. Mungo's. The disease was too contagious to have him treated at home, with the babies (Ron had recently turned one, and Ginny had just been born) and everything. George had been in tears for a whole week, until his twin returned. They had been attached at the hip for a month after that. Molly even had to transfigure one of their beds, because even at night, they would not leave each other's side. They were still very close, physically and mentally; but soon, they were able to do things alone again.
After all, he considered, there was no harm in bringing Sirius along everywhere. It had been going on for a week now and the two of them really didn't show any signs of letting go. On the contrary, in comparison to his twins, Mr. Weasley considered it a plus that Harry's pet was so small. Mrs. Weasley wouldn't have to transfigure his bed, like she had had to do for the twins.
During their sleeping spell, Hermione had started the work on the library to keep busy and to keep her distracted from the fact that her best friends might never wake up again. By the time Harry and Ron came home again, she had already catalogued a quarter of the library's content. She had found five extremely rare books in the Black Family collection and had set them aside; she thought they might be a nice read later.
Their O.W.L results and sixth year book lists had arrived while the boys were sleeping at St. Mungo's. Harry had received ten Owl's - with one extra credited one for Defense Against the Dark Arts - Hermione an astounding twelve and Ron had received nine.
The letters were promptly opened once all students were safely back at Grimmauld Place. Hermione practically throttled the boy's when she pushed their unopened letters in their faces, as they stepped into the kitchen. She had been dying to open her's for days now, but it hadn't felt right, with Harry and Ron at St. Mungo's. All three of them had been accepted into the N.E.W.T Potions class taught by Professor Snape. Harry had even wondered at one point, a few days later when he was re-reading his book list, if Snape had had a lobotomy before letting him in. He would have to remember to thank Professor McGonagall later; she really had come through for him.
Mrs. Weasley had copied their results onto a piece of parchment and put it up on the notice board in the kitchen, she was so proud of all of them. Harry considered the notice board the Wizard equivalent of a fridge, with drawing pins instead of magnets. He would grin as he walked past. For the first time in his life, someone was pleased with him, and interested in his school results.
Harry Hermione Ron
Astrology Acceptable Acceptable Acceptable
Ancient Runes / Outstanding /
Herbology Outstanding Outstanding E
Charms
Practical Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Theory Outstanding Outstanding E
Transfiguration
Practical Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Theory E Outstanding Acceptable
D.A.D.A.
Practical Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Theory Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Potions
Practical E Outstanding E
Theory Outstanding Outstanding E
History of Magic
Poor Outstanding Acceptable
Care of Magical Creatures
Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Divination
Acceptable / Poor
Arithmancy
/ Outstanding /
The next day, Mrs. Weasley went to Diagon Alley and bought their school supplies for all of them. Harry and Ron had been confined to the inside of the house and were strictly forbidden to do that themselves. She didn't want anything else to happen to them in the week they had left, before school started up again.
The only one allowed out of the house was Hermione and only under adult supervision, usually Remus got stuck with the job. She had discovered during the time she was alone at Grimmauld Place, that as fun as Diagon Alley might be, without your friends, it really wasn't all that enjoyable.
While he was sleeping at St. Mungo's Harry had also received a letter from the Notary setting up a few possible times for Harry to meet his estate manager. As soon as he had awakened he had sent Hedwig with an answer to make a definite appointment.
"Harry, wake up," Hermione said, while rocking Harry back and forth in his bed. " I really want to finish that library before we go back to Hogwarts and I cannot do it alone. And that estate manager of yours is due here in a few hours, you really should get dressed."
Harry grumbled something still half-asleep, "Go away, nutty Elf! I don't want eggs for breakfast."
"Harry, come on! Dobby isn't in here, you are still dreaming. Snap out of it!" she tried again before giving up.
"Fine, see if I care," she grumbled to herself as she walked down the flights of stairs to the bottom. "I'm getting breakfast. At this rate, he will be very lucky to find anything left on the breakfast table."
When she walked into the kitchen Ron, Ginny and their parents were already there. She had seen Remus, who was going to feed Buckbeak, while she was walking down the stairs. Everyone accounted for, except for an ever-sleeping Harry. To Hermione, it sometimes seemed like he was catching up on years and years of backlogged sleep.
"Good morning, Hermione," said Ginny, who was finishing her soft-boiled egg with great care.
"G'morning, 'mione," Ron said with his mouth stuffed with bacon.
He had been overjoyed when he walked into the kitchen this morning. No more need to eat soup every three hours. The diet the Healers had prescribed finally allowed meat to appear on his plate again.
"Good morning everyone," she said for everyone to hear and sat down next to Ginny.
When everyone else was done eating breakfast and only Ginny and Hermione were left at the table, Harry finally walked in, Sirius on his shoulder as always. A smile was plastered across his face as if the day could not possibly get any better then right now.
"Good morning everyone," he said in a singsong voice, clearly wanting to share his joy on such a terrific morning with everyone.
He walked over to the table and gave Hermione, Ginny and lastly Mrs. Weasley a big wet kiss on their cheek. Poor Ginny, she immediately turned a very nice shade of red right across her face, from the tip of her nose right back to her earlobes. Mrs. Weasley smiled lovingly and turned back to the dishes she had been washing.
"Harry, what the hell is going on? Did Voldemort die or something, that you are so obnoxiously happy today?" Hermione blurted out, a little bit shocked by his behaviour.
"Nope, just a beautiful day and I felt like celebrating. You didn't mind, did you?" Harry quipped.
"Well, euhm ...no, but don't do it again ok," she retorted, still puzzled because of his out of character behaviour.
Harry had had a beautiful dream, just before waking up that morning. He had seen and talked with his parents, telling them everything about his life and his friends. Even Sirius had been in the dream, still sitting on his shoulder. Harry had finally been able to let go of the blame he had felt for the death of his parents, his Godfather's and Cedric. It had been an extremely vivid dream and when he awoke, he felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, at least for today.
He sat down to have some breakfast and grabbed some of the leftover pieces of toast, practically the only edible things left on the table.
"Serves you right, silly goose, coming down to breakfast this late," Hermione lectured, suppressing a chuckle, "'Specially now that you are recovering, you really should eat properly."
"No worries, wasn't really that hungry anyway, the toast and a bit of jam will do. Besides, I would gladly give up breakfast any day for a dream like the one I had last night," he replied.
"Well if you're done with breakfast come to the library. We still have three shelves to finish and we leave for Hogwarts in four days; we need to hurry."
"Calm down Hermione, you could easily finish cataloguing those shelves by yourself, and you know it. There is no need to rush at all."
Harry returned to eating his toast. When he finished his fifth and last slice, he set his plate aside. Next, he summoned the crickets and little pieces of fruit he had prepared for Sirius. Sirius walked down his arm to receive the little morsels of food, happily nibbling at them to his little hearts content. Harry had also summoned Sirius' drinking bowl and was currently filling it with sugar water. For a little animal, Sirius needed a lot of sugar in his diet because he burned quite a lot of energy during the day.
When everyone had been fed and watered, Mrs. Weasley chased the last two occupants of the kitchen table out of the room and started cleaning. Harry walked down the hall to the library and found Hermione, reading a huge book, totally engrossedin its contents. She was sitting in one of the plushy armchairs that had been scattered across the library, and Ron was contentedly reading the new edition of Quidditch Weekly, sprawled across the window seat.
"Hi, you guys, where do we start?" he said loudly, waking his friends out of their trance.
Hermione, who looked slightly annoyed that he had interrupted her reading, stood up from her chair, walked to the right side of the room and pointed at a large book with a black spine and silver embossed lettering on it. "Yesterday, we finished just before this one."
"All righty then." Harry put on the Dragon hide gloves and joined Hermione at the shelves. He reached for the book with both hands.
He laid it down on the table in the middle of the library. Hermione got something that looked like a magnifying glass out of her pocket and scanned the book for any latent or active spells. In reality, it was called a 'Clariffion glass'; it was a magical clarifying lens. She had bought it at Flourish and Blotts, on a recommendation from one of the clerks, when she had told him why she needed "How to Deal With Smart Books and Their Defenses". It highlighted any possible defence mechanisms or spells that were present and named them. Once that was done, you would look that up in the book and perform the necessary counter spells.
Without it, they would have been totally helpless, all three of them had admitted as much. They had encountered biting books, much like Hagrid's third year handbook for Care of Magical Creatures. Screaming books, that only shut up if you sat on them with three people at once. Books with needles coming out of the spine with poison on it (exactly like the ones Hermione had read about, they were really glad they had thought of those Dragon hide gloves) and even the odd one that would start to burn or smoke, when you opened it.
The Clariffion glass also identified masking spells. Books that really weren't books or books that were trying to pretend they were other, more important books and books that were trying to hide their real value and identity. Last but not least, the Clariffion glass also identified the less important repairing spells, if they hadn't been cast too long ago. On the bottom shelf, Hermione had even discovered a copy of 'The Invisible Invisibility' book, because of it. Leave it up to her to check every shelf thoroughly with a magical lens to see if they hadn't forgotten even the tiniest of pamphlets.
The three of them really enjoyed themselves in the library, something Harry and Ron wouldn't admit to a single soul, but it was true. The rush when they discovered a new dangerous book, a rare one or even a real funny one, was starting to grow on the boys. They even realised why Hermione liked books so much.
By the time lunch came around, they had finished two whole shelves, and with only one shelf left to finish, they each chose a book to read and decided to leave the rest of the cataloguing for the next morning. After which they followed Ginny, who had been sent to call them into the kitchen, to lunch.
After lunch, Harry's estate manager kept him busy, talking about shares and stock, real estate and property values. Harry found the man, Edward Dawlish to be a very nice man who obviously knew his job well. Even though the numbers and amounts were still swimming through his head for hours after the man had already left.
At four o'clock in the afternoon, Harry, who had taken his book 'The Best Way to Become an Animagus' up to his room, to read in peace and clear his head a little, got up to go the bathroom. As he walked down the flight of stairs to the floor below, he stopped. Harry thought he had seen a rat, scurrying across the landing into one of the vacant bedrooms on that floor. He silently crept down the remaining steps and peeked through the open door. There it was again, that last inch of tail, disappearing underneath the freestanding wardrobe.
Harry got down on hands and knees and looked underneath it and sure enough, there it was, back turned towards the door, and luckily to Harry. Harry reached into his robes for his wand he didn't go anywhere without it anymore. At Grimmauld Place, he could use it without any heat from the Ministry, because of all of the blocks Professor Dumbledore had installed, after he had become owner of the property.
He sent a 'Petrificus Totalus' spell at the rat, it hit it square in the back, and the animal froze and next slowly toppled over on its right side. Harry walked over to the wardrobe and crouched down to reach underneath. He pulled out a rat, with barely any fur left and a silver paw.
"Peter!" Harry shouted, he was so surprised, "I need to tell someone! Now!" Harry's thoughts were running all over the place. 'Now Sirius' name can be cleared. Maybe he knows what Voldemort is planning for me next. What was he doing here? How did he get into this house, isn't it supposed to be under the Fidelius spell still?'
Soon however, Harry's pragmatic side kicked in. He first needed to make sure that that thing, that rat didn't disappear down a rat hole again.
Harry forgot all about his intended trip to the bathroom and walked back up the stairs. The first thought that had come into his mind, when he had considered things to restrain the Animagus, had been the stasis box, which he kept up in his room. It would be perfect to hold Peter and his Godfather would have applauded the idea, Harry was sure.
Once Harry had stuffed Peter safely inside the stasis box he ran downstairs, almost fell down once, because in his hurry, he missed a step. Stormed into the kitchen and looked around for the Floo Powder. Professor Dumbledore needed to know right away. If only he could find that Floo Powder. Harry was becoming desperate, he couldn't find it anywhere. Luckily, Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen.
"Mrs. Weasley, where is the Floo powder stored?" he asked with a strained voice, in his determination to tell Professor Dumbledore what had happened right away. Harry totally overlooked that he had an adult five feet away; someone he could tell everything to.
"In the pantry dear, in the terracotta pot," she replied surprised, as she watched Harry practically fly into the pantry and return with the pot seconds later, all the while wondering to herself what could be so important, that Harry had to Floo someone outside Grimmauld Place.
Harry threw some into the fireplace and called out, "Professor Dumbledore, Hogwarts," and stuck his head into the flames as they turned green.
"Mr. Potter, what are you doing here?" asked Professor Dumbledore, when out of the blue, Harry's face appeared in the fireplace, in his office.
"Professor, I caught Peter, snooping about the house, at Grimmauld Place! I froze him and put him into my stasis box. I really think you should come here at once," Harry rattled off before finally taking a deep breath.
"Peter? As in 'Peter Pettigrew'? Are you sure Harry?"
Harry nodded, "Please come quick Professor Dumbledore. I think Remus will be home for dinner soon, he should know too. Please, I don't want to be responsible for this rat any longer. It might be able to escape the box, I don't know."
"Very well, step away from the fireplace my boy, I will join you at Grimmauld Place immediately."
Harry pulled his head out of the fire and stepped away from the fireplace, waiting for his Headmaster to come through. No more than a minute later, the flames became green again, and a large tornado appeared, ushering Albus Dumbledore into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place.
Professor Dumbledore greeted Mrs. Weasley and said, "One more for dinner tonight, if it is all right with you Molly?
Mrs. Weasley looked positively baffled by the Headmasters sudden appearance but started on dinner anyway.
"Show me the box you put Peter in, Harry. I'll put an Unbreakable charm on it, making it impossible to break out of there. However, I don't believe he will be able to anyway. You petrified him before putting him in there. Besides, a stasis box does just what the name implies, it keeps the objects placed inside in the same state until they are taken out again.
"I believe, when we retrieve Peter from your box later tonight, he will still be frozen stiff."
Harry retrieved the box from where he had put it on the kitchen table during his fire call, and set it down in front of the Professor. Dumbledore muttered a few words and waved his wand over the box in a circular motion. The box glowed white for a second or two and then returned to its normal appearance.
"There, all done. All that is missing now is a big red bow," Professor Dumbledore said smiling. He turned around and asked Mrs. Weasley, "What is for dinner today my dearest Molly?"
Later that night, Professor Dumbledore, Remus, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, Harry and Arthur Weasley were all sitting in the living room. Professor Dumbledore had called them there for the opening of Harry's box. He hadn't called a complete meeting of the Order because he wanted to interrogate Wormtail in a smaller circle first. Moody and Tonks had placed a few spells on the living room to prevent Apparition and make the Animagus transformation impossible.
"Harry, we are ready for him, open the box," asked Professor Dumbledore. "Remember, I can only let you stay, and observe if you stay back and thus out of harms way."
"Ok Professor." Harry replied solemnly, he turned to face the box and said in a clear voice, "Harry James Potter."
The stasis box opened and inside, everyone in the room, could see a petrified white rat with a silver paw. Moody stepped forward, removed the Animagus from the box, and placed him in the centre of the circle created by the adults. Next, Tonks and Remus exchanged a look and started muttering a spell together. After saying the last word of the spell, there was no longer a rat lying on the carpet, but a little bolding man, holding on to a huge old book.
Mad-Eye Moody immediately summoned to book to him, and put it away on a table behind him, out of Pettigrew's reach.
"Harry, if you would be so kind as to wake him now, son," Mr. Weasley said, and added in a whisper, "because I don't think we can. That 'Petrificus Totalus' spell you cast on him this afternoon, appears to be an exceptionally strong spell."
Harry lifted the 'Petrificus Totalus' by casting 'Finite Incantatem' over the body and stepped back behind the adults.
Moody and Tonks kept their wands trained on the body, which now started to move.
"Good evening, Peter. How are you this evening?" said Professor Dumbledore, who had summoned his favourite wingback armchair out of thin air and sat down.
"Pro-pro-fessor? Professor D-d-d-umbledore? I-is that really you?" the little man stuttered. Then Harry stepped into his line of vision, out from behind Professor Dumbledore's back. "Harry? Oh no," he cried, before totally breaking down and crying into the carpet.
"Yes, Peter! Harry, your captor. Now if you would be so kind as to explain how you got into this house and don't seem at all surprised to be captured," Professor Dumbledore asked.
"Lily, I'm sorry, I never meant to do any of it. Lily! Lily, my love, forgive me, pleaaaase," sobbed the cringing man.
"Shut up, you rodent," Remus shouted, enraged by the words spoken by that wretched being on the floor. "You don't deserve to even speak her name. Not to mention that you claim that you loved her, when it was in fact your words, your betrayal that got her killed."
Remus ran out of the room, furious, before he went beyond shouting and would actually physically attack that pest. He didn't want anything more to do with that little rodent. If he had eaten him two years ago in The Forbidden Forest, none of this would be happening. He ran up the stairs and sat down in Buckbeak's room, trying to regain his peace of mind.
"Never mind Remus, Peter. Get on with it and stop crying immediately." Dumbledore ordered. "Don't make me repeat myself, do you hear!" was added in a clearly threatening tone.
Chapter Seven, Cauldron Bubble, Double Double, Toil and Trouble.