When they entered the Great Hall, they took their seats at the table, Mark still looking very uncomfortable in the wizarding setting. The owls swooped in. Harry watched, staying very detached in the hope of keeping his envy down, as all three swooped immediately to Dumbledore, dropping two parcels and some letters in front of him. He picked up the first package curiously, after a quick safety spell to identify any hexes or jinxes attached, then smiled.
"These two are for you, Harry, not for me at all. Birthday gifts, perhaps, though they are a bit late."
Harry accepted the two packages eagerly and opened the one letter that came with them.
Hi Harry,
Happy Birthday mate, sorry this won't arrive quite on time, but we. . . okay I kind of left it a bit late (don't you start, Mum and Hermione have already told me what an idiot I am), and then the owls couldn't find you. I hope you're okay, but we reckoned it was some Order plan that no one would tell us about. We sent everything to Dumbledore - he'll know how to find you even if no one else does. Why aren't you writing to us? Is it your uncle again? Mum's starting to freak, and I know that old Mad Eye's just looking for an excuse to go and hex someone, and he deserves it more than most.
We're having a pretty awful summer so far, I'm almost starting to miss that old toad Umbridge. We're at the Burrow, that's me, Hermione, Ginny, Dad and Charlie. Mum's still at HQ looking after Lupin. He's not good, can't remember what year it is sometimes, muttering stuff like "if James knew, he'd never trust me again" or "Lily would kill me for this". I reckon he's finally lost it, poor chap. Its scary, I never knew he and Snuffles were so close. Maybe he'd be better if you went to see him, that's what 'Mione reckons anyway, I dunno though.
Still, hope you're okay and having a good summer, and like the presents. Hermione says she's sent you heaps of books, so you won't get bored. Well at least you can have a bonfire and cook some stuff, hey 'mione, I didn't mean it. . . .
Sorry Harry, she was reading over my shoulder and got a little bit irritated at the last comment. Of course you shouldn't burn them, they're far too important for your education mate, so learn them off by heart and I'll test you on the train.
See you
Ron
Harry looked up, frowning slightly.
"Sir, maybe you should read this," Harry said, passing the letter to Dumbledore and turning his attention to his presents. He started with Ron's, which actually came from the entire Weasley family. Inside were some chocolates, a few of Fred and George's new products and a poster of the World Cup winning Bulgarian Quidditch team. Moving the tricks quickly to his pocket, hopefully before anyone noticed them, he moved to Hermione's. Tearing off the neatly wrapped paper, he found three books and a short note.
Harry
Won't write much - I was helping Ron, and it's a good thing I did considering some of the things he tried to say. I hope you like these and have a good birthday.
Write soon
Hermione Granger
Harry looked at the books.
Basic Occlumency
Seekers through the Ages
The Complete Defense Against the Dark Arts Handbook
They looked interesting, he imagined, and she did generally have good taste in finding useful ones. . .
"Professor Snape, do you think this will be any use?" he asked, holding out the Occlumency book.
"Read it and see. Its from Granger, I presume, I doubt Weasley would take the time to enter a bookshop, even for you. She seems to supply you with a complete reference library."
"For the good of my education," Harry replied lightly, refusing to be irritated.
"Harry," Dumbledore said gravely. Harry became serious at once. "You've read this carefully, haven't you?"
"Yes sir. Do you think it would help if I went? It won't just remind him about Sirius?"
"Unlikely. If Remus is worrying about James and Lily's feelings, it will be you that he's concerned about. Do you feel up to coming with me immediately? I wish I'd thought of this earlier, it might just save his sanity."
"Yes sir, of course."
"Mark, stay with Professor Snape. He'll tell you the basic background about Voldemort that you will need to know, but just what any Hogwarts student could tell you, of course. Severus?"
"I understand Albus. For what its worth, I hope the mutt does snap out of it and do his share of the work."
"I'll tell him you said so. Come along Harry, we'll go by Floo."
They threw the dust into the fire in the Great Hall and were sucked through to Grimwauld Place. It was an even worse passage than usual, because Dumbledore had insisted on going at the same time as Harry in case of any danger.
They emerged in the kitchen, where Mrs Weasley was sitting, crying quietly at the table.
"Molly?" Dumbledore asked gently. "Is he worse?"
"The same as before. Oh thank Merlin you've come. He hasn't been properly conscious since last full moon and I've been at my wits' end to know what to do with him."
"Its all right Molly, we're here now. You go and get some rest, while we go and see him. Is he in his room?"
Mrs Weasley nodded and Dumbledore led Harry upstairs. He pushed open the door gently.
"Professor?" Harry said quietly.
Lupin was lying on the bed, his hair even shaggier than usual and a stubble dark on his cheeks. He was tossing around the bed as if he was having a nightmare, muttering to himself.
"Forgive me James, I should have known. I should have been there."
Harry looked back at the Headmaster, now starting to feel scared. Dumbledore motioned him into the chair by the bedside.
"Professor?"
"Call him 'Remus', Harry, he might hear you better."
"Remus? Its me, Harry," he said tentatively, feeling a bit foolish. "Please wake up, we need you. I need you."
Remus' eyes snapped open. Harry gasped at the change.
"Harry?" he whispered. "You're safe?"
"Of course, safe as ever. Oh Remus, Dad wouldn't blame you for what happened, you know that really. It was all my fault that Sirius died."
"Never yours," Remus said hoarsely. Dumbledore smiled and handed him a glass of water.
"Its good to have you back with us. You gave us quite a scare."
"Sorry."
"Don't be, you couldn't help it. Even Severus said he hoped you recovered."
"He didn't!" Lupin said, sounding horrified.
"He actually said that he hoped the mutt would snap out of it and do his share of the work," Harry told him. Lupin looked relieved.
"Oh good, I was worried he was worse off than I was."
"You know full well that that means he was very worried about you," Dumbledore said impatiently. "He just thinks he'll look weak if he shows you any compassion."
"I know. Can I get up now, there must be a lot I need to catch up on?"
"No Remus, go back to sleep. We'll visit again soon. Harry and I have to tell everyone that you're on the mend. Harry, go and tell Molly, will you? Despite my instructions, she's still in the kitchen."
"Do I have to?"
"Go on Harry," Remus said gently. "I'm not going anywhere. And. . . thank you for bringing me back to myself."
Harry smiled weakly and left, running down the stairs, feeling more energetic than he had in weeks.
"Mrs Weasley! He's going to be okay!"
"Harry, that's marvelous! Was it you coming?"
"Mm. He just woke up when I said we needed him. He wanted to get up, but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let him. They're talking now."
"Remus should have known better than to try that. And what's all this I hear about you not writing to Ron and Hermione? They've been worried sick about you."
"I'm okay. I'm sorry, its just I needed to be alone for a while, to think about it. Will you tell them? And say thanks for the presents? They were brilliant, especially the poster.
"I'm glad you liked it, dear. Will you be staying for lunch?"
"I dunno, we just came straight after I got Ron's letter. Probably not, because I'm meant to be having a lesson now."
"What on? It's the holidays!"
"I need to learn so that all this doesn't happen again. Its going to be Advanced Charms mostly, I think. I've just been told that I'm doing them. I'm not studying all the time, though, I've got some solid Quidditch training to do too."
Meanwhile Severus was not having an easy time of it. Why had Dumbledore saddled him with trying to explain this of all things, he didn't know but his hatred of Voldemort and his dislike of Potter weren't helping matters.
"The most important thing to remember about the wizarding world is that it isn't safe," Severus said, pleased at the look of apprehension on Mark's face.
"W-why?"
"There is a very powerful Dark wizard alive now. He killed Potter's parents among many other people, Muggles and children as well as direct opponents. He was the one that gave Potter his scar. Most wizards call him You-Know-Who because he's so terrible that they're afraid to call him by the name he's chosen for himself."
"What's his name then?"
Severus took a deep breath.
"Voldemort."
"Is that French?"
"How am I supposed to know? Ask Potter when he gets back."
"Is he why I had to come here after seeing Harry leave?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Is it safe here?"
"Hogwarts is probably the safest place in the world at the moment because Professor Dumbledore is here and he is reputedly the only one the Dark Lord is afraid of."
"Isn't he scared of Harry, if Harry survived him?"
"He considers Potter to be a minor inconvenience at most, although I personally would say that Potter is far worse than that."
"Is there only him who's bad?"
Severus groaned inwardly, did the boy have no end of questions?
"No. The Dark Lord has a number of followers called Death Eaters. They aren't as powerful as him but are still a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, we don't know who they are."
"Am I going to be attacked?"
"You can only hope not. I personally think it is unlikely that the Dark Lord would take the time to eliminate a single, untrained boy when he has much greater enemies to contend with. We'll stop here for today."
"But Harry's not back yet. What shall I do?"
"I don't care what you get up to, practice your flying or something."
"Harry said I shouldn't when he wasn't there."
At least Potter had some sense.
"Explore the castle, then. There has to have been something that Potter didn't show you. The kitchens?" he suggested desperately, knowing that unless he could come up with something, he'd be stuck with Evans until Dumbledore returned with Potter.
"I don't think we went there. . ."
"You'd remember if you had, I'm sure. If you can find them, I'm sure the house elves will provide you with something to eat."
"What are house elves?"
Severus gave up and resigned himself to hours of questioning.
"These two are for you, Harry, not for me at all. Birthday gifts, perhaps, though they are a bit late."
Harry accepted the two packages eagerly and opened the one letter that came with them.
Hi Harry,
Happy Birthday mate, sorry this won't arrive quite on time, but we. . . okay I kind of left it a bit late (don't you start, Mum and Hermione have already told me what an idiot I am), and then the owls couldn't find you. I hope you're okay, but we reckoned it was some Order plan that no one would tell us about. We sent everything to Dumbledore - he'll know how to find you even if no one else does. Why aren't you writing to us? Is it your uncle again? Mum's starting to freak, and I know that old Mad Eye's just looking for an excuse to go and hex someone, and he deserves it more than most.
We're having a pretty awful summer so far, I'm almost starting to miss that old toad Umbridge. We're at the Burrow, that's me, Hermione, Ginny, Dad and Charlie. Mum's still at HQ looking after Lupin. He's not good, can't remember what year it is sometimes, muttering stuff like "if James knew, he'd never trust me again" or "Lily would kill me for this". I reckon he's finally lost it, poor chap. Its scary, I never knew he and Snuffles were so close. Maybe he'd be better if you went to see him, that's what 'Mione reckons anyway, I dunno though.
Still, hope you're okay and having a good summer, and like the presents. Hermione says she's sent you heaps of books, so you won't get bored. Well at least you can have a bonfire and cook some stuff, hey 'mione, I didn't mean it. . . .
Sorry Harry, she was reading over my shoulder and got a little bit irritated at the last comment. Of course you shouldn't burn them, they're far too important for your education mate, so learn them off by heart and I'll test you on the train.
See you
Ron
Harry looked up, frowning slightly.
"Sir, maybe you should read this," Harry said, passing the letter to Dumbledore and turning his attention to his presents. He started with Ron's, which actually came from the entire Weasley family. Inside were some chocolates, a few of Fred and George's new products and a poster of the World Cup winning Bulgarian Quidditch team. Moving the tricks quickly to his pocket, hopefully before anyone noticed them, he moved to Hermione's. Tearing off the neatly wrapped paper, he found three books and a short note.
Harry
Won't write much - I was helping Ron, and it's a good thing I did considering some of the things he tried to say. I hope you like these and have a good birthday.
Write soon
Hermione Granger
Harry looked at the books.
Basic Occlumency
Seekers through the Ages
The Complete Defense Against the Dark Arts Handbook
They looked interesting, he imagined, and she did generally have good taste in finding useful ones. . .
"Professor Snape, do you think this will be any use?" he asked, holding out the Occlumency book.
"Read it and see. Its from Granger, I presume, I doubt Weasley would take the time to enter a bookshop, even for you. She seems to supply you with a complete reference library."
"For the good of my education," Harry replied lightly, refusing to be irritated.
"Harry," Dumbledore said gravely. Harry became serious at once. "You've read this carefully, haven't you?"
"Yes sir. Do you think it would help if I went? It won't just remind him about Sirius?"
"Unlikely. If Remus is worrying about James and Lily's feelings, it will be you that he's concerned about. Do you feel up to coming with me immediately? I wish I'd thought of this earlier, it might just save his sanity."
"Yes sir, of course."
"Mark, stay with Professor Snape. He'll tell you the basic background about Voldemort that you will need to know, but just what any Hogwarts student could tell you, of course. Severus?"
"I understand Albus. For what its worth, I hope the mutt does snap out of it and do his share of the work."
"I'll tell him you said so. Come along Harry, we'll go by Floo."
They threw the dust into the fire in the Great Hall and were sucked through to Grimwauld Place. It was an even worse passage than usual, because Dumbledore had insisted on going at the same time as Harry in case of any danger.
They emerged in the kitchen, where Mrs Weasley was sitting, crying quietly at the table.
"Molly?" Dumbledore asked gently. "Is he worse?"
"The same as before. Oh thank Merlin you've come. He hasn't been properly conscious since last full moon and I've been at my wits' end to know what to do with him."
"Its all right Molly, we're here now. You go and get some rest, while we go and see him. Is he in his room?"
Mrs Weasley nodded and Dumbledore led Harry upstairs. He pushed open the door gently.
"Professor?" Harry said quietly.
Lupin was lying on the bed, his hair even shaggier than usual and a stubble dark on his cheeks. He was tossing around the bed as if he was having a nightmare, muttering to himself.
"Forgive me James, I should have known. I should have been there."
Harry looked back at the Headmaster, now starting to feel scared. Dumbledore motioned him into the chair by the bedside.
"Professor?"
"Call him 'Remus', Harry, he might hear you better."
"Remus? Its me, Harry," he said tentatively, feeling a bit foolish. "Please wake up, we need you. I need you."
Remus' eyes snapped open. Harry gasped at the change.
"Harry?" he whispered. "You're safe?"
"Of course, safe as ever. Oh Remus, Dad wouldn't blame you for what happened, you know that really. It was all my fault that Sirius died."
"Never yours," Remus said hoarsely. Dumbledore smiled and handed him a glass of water.
"Its good to have you back with us. You gave us quite a scare."
"Sorry."
"Don't be, you couldn't help it. Even Severus said he hoped you recovered."
"He didn't!" Lupin said, sounding horrified.
"He actually said that he hoped the mutt would snap out of it and do his share of the work," Harry told him. Lupin looked relieved.
"Oh good, I was worried he was worse off than I was."
"You know full well that that means he was very worried about you," Dumbledore said impatiently. "He just thinks he'll look weak if he shows you any compassion."
"I know. Can I get up now, there must be a lot I need to catch up on?"
"No Remus, go back to sleep. We'll visit again soon. Harry and I have to tell everyone that you're on the mend. Harry, go and tell Molly, will you? Despite my instructions, she's still in the kitchen."
"Do I have to?"
"Go on Harry," Remus said gently. "I'm not going anywhere. And. . . thank you for bringing me back to myself."
Harry smiled weakly and left, running down the stairs, feeling more energetic than he had in weeks.
"Mrs Weasley! He's going to be okay!"
"Harry, that's marvelous! Was it you coming?"
"Mm. He just woke up when I said we needed him. He wanted to get up, but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't let him. They're talking now."
"Remus should have known better than to try that. And what's all this I hear about you not writing to Ron and Hermione? They've been worried sick about you."
"I'm okay. I'm sorry, its just I needed to be alone for a while, to think about it. Will you tell them? And say thanks for the presents? They were brilliant, especially the poster.
"I'm glad you liked it, dear. Will you be staying for lunch?"
"I dunno, we just came straight after I got Ron's letter. Probably not, because I'm meant to be having a lesson now."
"What on? It's the holidays!"
"I need to learn so that all this doesn't happen again. Its going to be Advanced Charms mostly, I think. I've just been told that I'm doing them. I'm not studying all the time, though, I've got some solid Quidditch training to do too."
Meanwhile Severus was not having an easy time of it. Why had Dumbledore saddled him with trying to explain this of all things, he didn't know but his hatred of Voldemort and his dislike of Potter weren't helping matters.
"The most important thing to remember about the wizarding world is that it isn't safe," Severus said, pleased at the look of apprehension on Mark's face.
"W-why?"
"There is a very powerful Dark wizard alive now. He killed Potter's parents among many other people, Muggles and children as well as direct opponents. He was the one that gave Potter his scar. Most wizards call him You-Know-Who because he's so terrible that they're afraid to call him by the name he's chosen for himself."
"What's his name then?"
Severus took a deep breath.
"Voldemort."
"Is that French?"
"How am I supposed to know? Ask Potter when he gets back."
"Is he why I had to come here after seeing Harry leave?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Is it safe here?"
"Hogwarts is probably the safest place in the world at the moment because Professor Dumbledore is here and he is reputedly the only one the Dark Lord is afraid of."
"Isn't he scared of Harry, if Harry survived him?"
"He considers Potter to be a minor inconvenience at most, although I personally would say that Potter is far worse than that."
"Is there only him who's bad?"
Severus groaned inwardly, did the boy have no end of questions?
"No. The Dark Lord has a number of followers called Death Eaters. They aren't as powerful as him but are still a force to be reckoned with. Unfortunately, we don't know who they are."
"Am I going to be attacked?"
"You can only hope not. I personally think it is unlikely that the Dark Lord would take the time to eliminate a single, untrained boy when he has much greater enemies to contend with. We'll stop here for today."
"But Harry's not back yet. What shall I do?"
"I don't care what you get up to, practice your flying or something."
"Harry said I shouldn't when he wasn't there."
At least Potter had some sense.
"Explore the castle, then. There has to have been something that Potter didn't show you. The kitchens?" he suggested desperately, knowing that unless he could come up with something, he'd be stuck with Evans until Dumbledore returned with Potter.
"I don't think we went there. . ."
"You'd remember if you had, I'm sure. If you can find them, I'm sure the house elves will provide you with something to eat."
"What are house elves?"
Severus gave up and resigned himself to hours of questioning.