Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, places, items, or anything else her wonderful mind invented!
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Chapter 24 – Blinded, Part 1
"Harry," a voice called out.
"Geroff," he mumbled sleepily, rolling over.
Silver giggled. "Harry, it's Christmas. Come on."
He opened his eyes to see a blurry figure hovering over him. She slid his glasses on for him, and her face came into view. Her eyes were alight with happiness and anticipation, and she was pulling him up into a sitting position.
"Go wake up Remus, I'll take Snape," she said, pulling him out of bed and then darting out of the room.
Harry walked up to Lupin's door, yawning, and knocked hard on it.
"Wassamatter?" Lupin's called out groggily.
"Christmas," he replied.
Lupin groaned. "Be out in a sec."
Harry smiled as he wondered what Snape was like when someone woke him up out of a dead sleep. He began to walk down the hall to see, but Silver met him halfway. He grinned, feeling much more awake than he had a second ago. He pushed a hand through his hair as he walked downstairs with her, letting the realization that it was Christmas sink in. He was very excited and fully awake by the time he reached the bottom step. Silver began to walk into the living room, but he caught her by the wrist and pulled her back in the doorway.
"Uh-oh," he said, glancing upwards at the mistletoe.
She smiled and willingly stepped forward. He pressed his lips gently against hers, and she kissed him back with the same tenderness. When she drew back, he saw out of the corner of his eye that they had an audience. Snape, for once, wasn't saying anything, which was a miracle in itself.
Suddenly everybody jumped as a box flipped over. They all looked at it. It was a plain brown box with a rope tied in a bow around it. It shuddered and jumped up into the air, and began to roll away from the tree – well, roll the best it could, seeing as it was a box. The tree quickly pulled it back with its branches, but the box jumped and shook in protest. They heard a ripping noise come from inside.
"Who is that for?" Silver asked finally.
"You," Snape replied.
"M...me?" she repeated.
"Yes, you," Snape answered.
She hesitantly walked forward and knelt in front of the tree, which gladly pushed the box over to her. She tugged on the bow, which easily came undone, and opened the box. The next thing Harry heard was a squeal of delight, although he didn't know if it came from Silver or from the tiny silver hippogriff she pulled out of the box. The animal's whole body was shaking with excitement, and Silver went into transports of delight. She jumped up, clutching the animal, and ran up to Snape, enveloping him in a hug. At first, Harry thought Snape was going to hug her back, but suddenly he jumped away. Harry had to refrain from laughing as he saw the hippogriff's tiny beak clamped on to the front of his robes.
"She likes you," Silver informed him.
"Yes, she showed me how much she liked me last night when I tried to put her in that box," Snape replied, eyeing the animal with dislike.
Silver beamed and set the animal down, enfolding Snape in another hug.
"You are absolutely positively the best!" she exclaimed, "Thank you thank you thank you!"
Snape did his best not to look too pleased with himself.
"You bought it," Lupin suddenly accused, "While we were eating ice cream, you bought it!"
"Nothing gets past you," Snape answered sarcastically.
Lupin grinned. "Not much," he agreed.
The tiny hippogriff had been trying to snap at the tree, which was doing it's best to defend itself while not sending the tiny animal flying across the room.
"Come here, sweetie!" Silver called, and immediately the hippogriff bounded into her arms and began to snuggle with her.
"You next, Harry," Lupin said. Harry walked up to a tree and it nudged a present towards him.
"Very good, it gave you mine," Lupin said, sounding delighted.
It was a small, cube-shaped package, and Harry felt a slight vibration as he unwrapped it. He paused when he saw it, too surprised and pleased to even offer a thank-you. In his hand was a small glass box with gold hinges, and inside was a tiny, golden, fluttering Snitch.
"It's not just any Snitch," Lupin informed him, "I found it in the study last week – it was your father's, Harry."
Harry got a brief flashback of a boy with hazel eyes and messy black hair showing off by catching a Snitch in the hallways of Hogwarts. Although he didn't plan on using it to show off, it was one of the best presents he had ever received. It stood right there along with the other two things he would never give up that had previously belonged to his father: his invisibility cloak, and his father's former watch.
"Thanks, erm...um...Lupin," Harry said. He felt bad about calling Lupin by his last name, but he had gotten used to it when Lupin was a teacher.
"Sorry," he mumbled, feeling heat rise to his face, "I'm not quite sure what...to call you."
Remus was something he could never get used to, but Lupin sounded so...formal.
"Uh..." Lupin replied, apparently thinking along the same lines as Harry.
"What about Moony?" Silver suddenly suggested.
The two looked at her, and then at each other. A grin began to creep across their faces.
"Moony it is, then, right Harry?" Lupin asked.
Harry grinned. "Right you are, Moony," he agreed.
Silver shook her head, smiling. "Honestly, I would think you two would have come up with that a long time ago," she said.
Lupin chuckled. Harry met Silver's eye, and they locked together. It didn't last long, however, because the silver hippogriff suddenly squealed and began to jump up and down in protest. It nudged her affectionately and jealously. Harry glared at it, but Silver smiled and began to tell it what a "cutie" it was.
Lupin was the next to receive a present, and the tree handed him Harry's first.
"Excellent!" Lupin exclaimed as he uncovered a moon chart. Harry had seen that his current one looked as if it had indeed been used since the days of the Marauders, so he had taken it upon himself to buy him one.
"Your turn, Severus," Lupin announced.
Snape looked surprised as he walked forward. The tree pushed him a present wrapped immaculately with light blue wrapping paper – no doubt from Silver. He unwrapped it a bit clumsily, but when he opened it Harry saw gratitude in his eyes. He had uncovered a shiny black cauldron, and Harry saw that it had three heavy Potions books inside.
"Do you like it?" Silver ventured as Snape looked at it with shock.
"Yes," was all he said, and Silver looked very happy.
The rest of the morning was happily spent opening presents. Snape was so shocked that he had more presents under the tree that he accused Silver of giving him too many, until he learned that they were from Harry and Lupin. Harry had figured it was a good idea to give him a present so that he would let him and Silver alone more often. Finally, when they had all finished opening each other's presents, they turned the subject to Silver's new hippogriff, who was rolling delightedly around in wrapping paper whilst tearing it to shreds.
"It looks like quite a handful," Lupin commented.
"Isn't she sweet, though?" Silver replied, beaming at the silver ball of fluff as it attempted to fight the wrapping paper into oblivion.
"Uh, sure," Lupin said, exchanging a glance with Harry.
"What are you going to name her?" Harry asked.
"I'm not sure," Silver replied, "I need something that can have a nickname...I'm stuck calling Esperanza Esp, because he doesn't have a proper nickname!"
Lupin laughed, and she added smoothly, "Although I'm sure Esperanza isn't quite as bad as Remus Lupin. You can't shorten that to anything, now can you, Moony?"
Lupin grinned. "Whoever said I wanted to?" he replied, "Moony suits me fine. I won't comment on the fact that it would be easier to shorten Remus than Silver."
"You just did," she replied, but she was smiling, "Anyway, are you going to help me pick out a name or not?"
"How about Noel?" Lupin suggested, "It's a Christmas name."
"She's not gentle enough to be a Noel," Silver replied, looking at the silver ball of energy.
"Good point," Lupin agreed, "How about...Ornament?"
Silver looked at him oddly. "What?" Lupin asked, eyes twinkling, "It's exotic." He mimicked Silver so perfectly as he said it that neither Harry nor Silver could help but break into laughter.
"Enough teasing, a name!" she insisted.
"Uh, Tinsel?" Harry asked, "Mistletoe?"
He looked around the room. "Ribbon?"
She giggled. "It doesn't have to be a Christmas name," she said.
The tiny hippogriff began to get bored of the wrapping paper, and instead put it's efforts on trying to fly. It squeezed it's eyes shut and flapped it's tiny wings hard, but all that happened was that the wrapping paper on both sides drifted away.
While Harry and Lupin smothered laughter, Silver patted it on the head comfortingly.
"Maybe the others will be able to think up a name when they get here," she said.
Suddenly she jumped up. The hippogriff followed suit.
"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, "The others are all coming and I haven't even showered yet!"
"Well, you'd best go shower," Lupin told her, "Save some hot water for us."
Silver gave him a sly grin, "Yeah, you definitely need a shower," she teased as she headed up the stairs. Her hippogriff followed at her heals, squealing with the excitement of running through the house.
At a quarter til noon, the four were sitting in the living room, hoping that somebody would come early. Sure enough, at eleven fifty the doorbell rang. The hippogriff gave a squeal and bounded towards the door. They heard the door open, and a second later Mrs. Weasley screamed.
"Cool!" Fred and George exclaimed in unison.
Silver ran out to retrieve her pet.
"Sorry, she's just friendly," they heard Silver exclaim.
Lupin and Harry held back sniggers, both knowing that the hippogriff had probably tried to bite whoever it saw first. After Mrs. Weasley was sufficiently calmed that the "wild animal", as she called it, was Silver's pet, she said hello to everyone. Ron, Harry, Fred, George, Ginny, Silver, and the hippogriff all went up to Ron and Harry's room to think up a name for the small but vivacious animal.
"How about Rocket?" Fred suggested.
"That's too boyish," Silver answered.
"This coming from the girl who named her boy owl Esperanza?" George teased.
"It's exotic," Silver insisted.
Everyone laughed.
"Fireball?" Ron suggested.
"No, that sounds more like a dragon than a hippogriff," Silver replied.
"Guess so," Ron admitted.
"What about Charisma?" Ginny asked, "It means 'gift' in Latin, and in English it means appeal or personality."
Silver beamed. "It's perfect!" she exclaimed, "Charisma."
"Yeah, but didn't you want something with a nickname?" Harry asked.
"Well, Charisma isn't that long," she replied, "In fact, compared to Esperanza it's relatively short."
"Suppose so," Harry agreed.
"Lunch!" Mrs. Weasley called.
"Amazing how fast your mum cooks," Harry told Ron.
"Isn't it though?" Ron replied, with a hint of appreciation in his voice.
Mrs. Weasley gave Charisma a suspicious look when she arrived in the kitchen.
"The animal goes out!" she exclaimed.
"But she'll get lonely," Silver protested, looking shocked that Mrs. Weasley would even suggest such a thing.
"Well, she'll have to learn to get over it," Mrs. Weasley replied.
Silver took the hippogriff outside the door and told her firmly, "Stay!"
As soon as Silver went out of her sight, however, a racket to counter fireworks on the Fourth of July went off. Charisma squealed loudly, making everyone cover their ears. Silver gave Mrs. Weasley a pleading look.
"Oh, fine," Mrs. Weasley relented, "Just make it stop!"
"Come!" Silver called.
Immediately Charisma bounded through the door and bounded onto Silver's lap. Mrs. Weasley decided not to protest. Harry thought it was rather amusing to watch Silver pass the hippogriff bits of meat whenever Mrs. Weasley wasn't looking.
"Have you decided on a name?" Lupin asked from a few seats down.
"Charisma," Silver replied.
Lupin looked at the tiny hippogriff with a smile.
"Yes, I do believe it does," he replied.
Silver beamed. After lunch Silver forced Charisma to take a nap, and the hippogriff grudgingly obliged. Harry waited for her in the living room with the others.
Soon she came down, smiling.
"Got it to take a nap?" he asked, grinning.
"Yes – it was a bit of a chore," she admitted.
Suddenly Harry realized that she was smiling rather slyly.
"What?" he asked.
She looked upwards, and he followed her gaze, his grin intensifying as he did. Sure enough, a sprig of mistletoe hung up above them. Neither of them noticed that every gaze in the room was suddenly on them. She put her arms around him at the same time he did her and stood on her tiptoes to reach him. The moment their lips touched, everyone in the room went wild with whistles and applause. Harry flatly ignored them, as did Silver. She drew back slightly, but not enough so that he couldn't easily tilt his head forward and kiss her again, and smiled at him.
"Happy Christmas, Harry," she whispered.
"Happy Christmas, Silver," he answered.
He placed another kiss on her lips and loosened his hold on her, allowing her to sink back to her regular height. Suddenly Ron began waving something in their faces.
"Haha, look what I've got!" he said evilly.
Harry grabbed it from him and held it down so Silver could see, one arm still around her waist. It was a photo taken with a wizarding camera of him and Silver kissing. He smiled, wondering if that was how they really looked. Silver looked so sweet, standing on her tiptoes with her arms around his neck.
"Can we keep it?" Silver asked Ron.
Ron smirked. "I guess," he relented.
Harry grinned and looked down at her. "Not gonna fight me for it, are you?" he challenged.
"Not right now," she replied, eyes twinkling.
They heard a crash upstairs. "Probably Charisma," she said, dislodging herself from Harry's arms.
Harry was a bit disappointed at losing her so soon after she had come downstairs.
"Hey, Harry," Ron whispered.
"Yeah?" Harry replied, looking down at the picture.
"Are we going to go see that passageway or what?"
"Right now?" Harry asked.
"Yes, right now, when else?" Ron replied.
"Don't you think it's a little...soon?" Harry asked.
"Well, yeah, but isn't Silver staying in that room?"
"Yeah..."
"So I think we should just go down, check it out, then come back up and have it sealed off so that she's safe."
"Guess so..."
"So what are we waiting for?"
"She's going to have to walk under the mistletoe to get back in here," Harry replied, grinning.
"Oh, come on," Ron said, grabbing his arm and yanking him towards the staircase.
"Not so fast," Ginny said suddenly.
They turned around to see Ginny, Fred, and George standing there with smiles on their faces. Harry heard Silver arrive downstairs behind them.
"We want to come, too," Ginny declared.
Ron groaned. "You listened in on our conversation!" he exclaimed.
"We sure did," Fred agreed.
"And we're not about to be left out," George added.
"About what?" Silver questioned, fixing her brown eyes on Harry.
Harry hesitantly explained about the secret passageway and the torch to her. By the end of it, her eyes were alight with something akin to anticipation.
"Let's go, then!" she exclaimed, "What are we waiting for?"
She let Charisma hop out of her arms and turned to go back upstairs.
Ron and Harry exchanged glances, Harry grinning.
"That's my girlfriend," he boasted as they headed up the stairs after her.
Ron rolled his eyes, and Fred and George chuckled.
"About time, Harry," George informed him.
"Kept her waiting a while, didn't you?" Fred added.
Harry remembered that she had been writing to them. "Oh, shut it," he said, hopping up the last two stairs and jogging to catch up to Silver.
She had already moved the trunk out of the way, but she stood back to let Harry open it up. He pulled on the hanger, and a dark stairway was revealed. Ginny 'oohed' softly behind them. Harry pulled the torch out of his pocket.
"Light," he commanded, and a ball of bright white light burst out of it, scaring everybody but Silver, who was watching intently. He made it dim so that it gave off a slightly spooky glow, and then looked at the others.
"I'll take the lead," he offered.
They all looked down at the stairway, wondering what secrets it could hold. Although Harry had been down before, a sense of foreboding passed over him. Silver slid her hand through his as he began the descent. He was grateful for not having to go down feeling completely alone. He heard the others slip down behind them, and then a faint thump told him that the door had closed.
Suddenly, they heard a bang, and everybody froze. Ginny gasped, only to receive glares from the others. Harry made the torch even dimmer, so that he could only see about a step in front of him, and he went to where he had hidden on the staircase on his previous visit. It only took a second for them to hear quiet voices coming from the opening below.
"I just don't know where to look!" came Lestrange's voice.
Before Harry could even draw out his wand, Ron and Fred dragged him backwards, Silver pressed her hand over his mouth, and George held his legs still. He glared at them.
"Harry," Silver whispered, "Promise us you won't do anything rash. Please?"
He began to struggle, and opened his mouth to yell. If he couldn't get to Lestrange, he would get her to come to him.
"Silencio," George hissed, pointing his wand at Harry.
Harry tried to yell, but no sound came out. He scowled at George, who was still sitting on his legs.
"Should we petrify him?" George whispered to the others.
"We need to go back," Silver replied, "But hang on."
They all paused and listened for snatches of the conversation. Suddenly Harry looked at the torch in his hand. If he made it light up, Lestrange would come. He just had to light it up...and he could kill her. Light, he thought, staring at it intently, Brighter! Brighter!
Suddenly the ball of light seemed to burst. A blinding white light filled the entire structure. He heard Silver's scream, mixed with others, and knew he had made a mistake. He stopped telling the torch to light, but the light stayed. It was so bright that he could not see anything past it. It was like being wrapped in a glowing white sheet – suffocated with it. It was utterly terrifying. Although he was gasping in air, it felt as if he couldn't breathe, as if the brightness was closing in on him. It was like being blinded and suffocated at the same time. He felt himself being dragged upwards, and struggled to his feet.
"The handle, the handle!" Silver cried, "Where is it?"
Then he heard a creak, and felt himself being tugged upwards once more. At first, everything was so dark that he couldn't see. But then he began to see shadows all around him, panting and...crying? A small figure with short hair was crying – it must be Ginny. Somebody was dragging the trunk back over the hole – either Fred or George. And Silver was crying, too, but he couldn't see where she was.
Slowly, things came back into focus. Fred was sitting on top of the trunk, his face ashen white, panting. George was looking identical, laying down on the floor. Ron was a brilliant shade of red as he gasped for breath. Ginny was shaking, her face in her hands. Silver was holding Charisma tightly, her face hidden by the small animal's feathers, and she was shaking as well. What did I do? Harry thought. He looked around at his friends, terror written all over them – because of something he had done.
"I'm sorry," he croaked.
Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny looked up at him in disbelief. Silver began to cry louder. Harry cringed under his friend's gazes and he crawled over to Silver, feeling too weak to walk.
"I'm sorry," he repeated, not daring to touch her.
"I...c...can't believe...y...you...d...did that," she sobbed, "H...H...Harry...w...what...were...y...you...thinking?"
"I wanted to kill her," he said, his voice shaky, "She killed Sirius, and Snape said she hurt you..."
He trailed off.
"T...that...was...s...so...scary," she wailed, "I...t...thought...y...y...you...were...g...going...to get...h...h...hurt!"
With that, she set Charisma down and plunged into his arms. Shock coursed through Harry. He had just purposely put everyone's lives in danger, especially hers, and she was crying because he might have gotten hurt. He looked up at the others, and they were looking at Silver with similar astonishment.
"Silver, he just nearly killed us all!" George pointed out.
"Um, yeah, I hardly think he heeds comforting at the moment," Fred added, giving Harry a rather nasty look.
"Seriously," Ron agreed.
"They're right," Harry said, "Why are you worried about...me? I just put you all in danger because I can't think straight."
Silver sniffled as she pulled away from him and glared at the others.
"Well, it's our fault too! Maybe we should have thought beforehand before just plunging down there to who-knows-where when we knew that there was a possibility that Lestrange would be there, and we knew how Harry would react!"
For a moment the others just looked shocked, but then they surveyed Harry quizzically, as if trying to decide if she was right.
"I think you're right," Ginny suddenly sniffled, "We shouldn't be blaming it all on Harry...and he didn't know it was going to...suffocate...us all like that...did you, Harry?"
"No," Harry said, "I just wanted to get Lestrange's attention."
"It wasn't all your fault, mate," Ron said suddenly, "I'm sorry."
"We agree," Fred and George added.
"Thanks," Harry said, "I'm sorry, too."
For a moment they all sat in silence, staring at the torch in Harry's hand. Although they felt better, they were all still shaken from what had happened.
"We should go tell the adults," Silver said, "That needs to be sealed off right away."
Harry nodded and struggled to his feet. At first, a wave of nausea and dizziness swept over him, but he breathed deeply and closed his eyes, and it passed. The others experienced similar emotions as they stood up, and once they were all up, they stood and headed for the stairs. Halfway down Silver stopped and swayed dangerously, but George caught her, and handed her to Harry.
They arrived in the doorway, and immediately the adults stopped talking and looked at them as if they had all dropped off another planet. Harry looked at his friends and realized why. Fred and George were deathly pale, Ron looked as if another wave of nausea had swept over him, and Silver and Ginny's eyes were red and puffy. Even Charisma stood docilely down at their feet. Harry could only imagine how he looked.
"What happened?" Lupin finally asked.