The Remembrance

Harry walked into the house to greet everyone he had hoped to see since the minute he left Kings Cross station two weeks ago. No sooner than Harry had walked in, did he find himself being smothered by Mrs. Weasley. He pulled away from her to become tangled in Hermione.

"Harry", they both whispered, careful not to wake up the portrait of Sirius' angry mother. "Come on, its time for dinner. Ron can help you take your trunk up to your room. It's the same one as last year."

It wasn't long before questions started to pop into Harry's mind.

"Any news on Voldemort yet?" he asked Ron on the way up to their room.

"Sorry, mate. Hermione and me haven't been able to go to meetings, remember?" said Ron in a reminding kind of tone.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I would've thought Fred and George might have figured out a way to get past that."

"They did, they're in the order. They just wont tell us anything." Ron stated.

"Why's that?" asked Harry. He couldn't imagine Fred and George keeping a secret like this away from him and Ron.

"I dunno, something about responsibility and being mature." Ron said as he laughed.

Harry then wondered whether Fred or George would tell him anything. He thought that, of all people, Harry should know about the whereabouts of the order.

"Hurry up so we can go eat dinner, I'm starving!" Ron complained.

They placed Harry's trunk at the foot of his bed and race down stairs to bump into Fred and George.

"Meeting's over." Said George

"Time for dinner." Said Fred.

"Any news on Voldemort?" Harry asked curiously.

"Sorry, Harry, can't say. Official Order business." Said the twins together as though they had practiced this thoroughly.

Harry was slightly hurt at the fact that Fred and George wouldn't tell him anything. He deserves to know, doesn't he? Of all people, he, Harry, should know the whereabouts of his archenemy, right? He should at least know whether they have a trail on Voldemort.

"Come on, Harry, let's go downstairs. I'm hungry." Ron said before Harry could start arguing with Fred and George.

They walked into the kitchen to be greeted by Tonks, Mad-eye, Mr. Weasley, and Mundungus. Ginny was sitting at the table with Hermione, deep in conversation. She waved at him then turned back to Hermione without a word to him. Crookshanks strolled up to him and rubbed his torso against Harry's legs, purring.

They all sat down at the long table with many chairs to match and looked at all the wonderful food laid before them, mouths watering. Hungry as he was, Harry didn't really feel like eating. Soon after desert, it was time for a toast, according to Mr. Weasley.

"We are here at this moment to remember our...loss. We have lost one of our most loved ones during this... tragedy," Said Mr. Weasley, pausing here and there.

Mr. Weasley glanced around the room, stopped on Harry, and then quickly put his eyes back on his paper. He again started with his speech.

"Although we can't bring him back, we can still remember Sirius by what we know of him. We are going to go around and everyone will say something. Remus, would you like to go first?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Lupin nodded, stood up, and started with what he remembered about Sirius. "We are...or were good friends. Very close friends at that. He was a joker, Sirius," Lupin said with tears in his eyes, "Oh, the good times we had. I'll miss him."

It went on all around the table and far too soon, it was Harry's turn. "Harry, do you have anything to say?" asked Mr. Weasley. Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Good, you can stand up and speak like the others."

Harry stood up and looked around the room and said, "Sirius was more than my godfather, he was my friend. He was going to take me away from the Dursley's. He was my savior. But now he's gone. How can you all stand here and talk about Sirius's death like it's nothing?" he said, his voice rising, "HE'S DEAD AND INCASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICED HE'S NOT COMING BACK!"

Harry ran out of the room and up the stairs, knocking his chair over in the process. He ran into his bedroom. He stopped for breath to find himself crying silently. He dug in his trunk, brought out his photo album and sat on his bed. He sat there, staring at the picture of his parents wedding, letting every little detail sink into him. He suddenly realized that the three people that he loved most were dead. At this thought, he cried harder than ever and finally fell asleep.

He dreamt of Sirius again. He could see him laughing and having the time of his life at his best friend's wedding. Harry could see his eyes full of joy and happiness. Then, it went back to that night. He was still laughing, but this laugh was different. He was avoiding more red lights. The laughter died. And Sirius disappeared.

"NO! SIRIUS! SIRIUS!"

Somebody woke him up very suddenly. "Harry, wake up, you're dreaming. It's okay," said the gentle voice of Ginny.

"Thanks a lot," said Harry, "What?" He noticed Ginny was smiling at him.

"Nothing," she said, her smile increasing.

"What?" He asked while checking everywhere to see if something was wrong.

"Nothing. Maybe we should go downstairs, Harry," said Ginny pointing toward a sleeping Ron.

"Yeah", he said as they started walking towards the door slowly, "listen, about what happened earlier, I'm really sorry about that. I just couldn't take it. I had to get out."

Ginny stopped walking. "It's okay, Harry. No one's asking you to handle everything. Well, at least I don't. No ones perfect. Don't be so hard on yourself," said Ginny, looking him straight in the eye, her smile gone, "There's no reason you should be ashamed of your feelings. You can't hide from your feelings because, in the end, it's going to hit you hard. Okay?"

Harry was impressed at what Ginny just said. "Ginny- never mind. Thanks...I guess." He said.

"I know from...experience. By the way, you've been sleeping for two hours. Do you really feel like going to bed right now?" she asked, the smile reappearing.

"Not really, why?" he asked curiously.

"Well, while you were sleeping, your O.W.L's came in. Maybe we can count them," she said, walking towards the door again.

"Really? That'd be great. Is everyone asleep?" he asked.

"Yeah. My mum asked me to check on you before I went to sleep. When you started screaming I woke you up. But... yeah...we're the only one's up," Ginny replied.

They walked downstairs quietly as possible and sat down to open a letter addressed to Harry hiding the dreaded results.

Harry scanned over the piece of parchment that bared his O.W.L. results. He had scored an "exceeds expectations" in charms and transfiguration. In Harry's opinion, those were his mediocre classes. He knew he did well in them but knew he did better in Defense against the Dark Arts. He had already guessed his Defense Against the Dark Arts grade before he even looked at it and he guessed right; he had gotten an "Outstanding".

Harry wasn't surprised that he didn't get an "outstanding" in potions; he knew it wasn't his best subject. Harry and Professor Snape had always really hated each other. Harry was surprised however at the grade he did get. He never thought that with his poor performance during his exam that he would have managed to scrape an "acceptable". Harry was expecting to get a "troll" in potions.

Harry didn't really care when he found that he had only achieved a "poor" in both History of Magic and divination. He had planned on dropping those classes anyway. History of Magic was extremely boring, especially because his teacher (who happened to be a ghost) had a voice that could have made a rock concert sound boring. Whereas Divination was a very (like Hermione said) woolly class and he only took it in the first place because Ron had taken it as well. In Astronomy Harry had managed to get an "acceptable" and in care of magical creatures he had gotten an "outstanding".

Harry was very proud of his grades and was happy that he didn't receive a "troll". But he was only worried about one thing; he got an "acceptable" in potions and Harry distinctly remembered Snape telling them that he doesn't accept anyone who had gotten anything lower than an "outstanding". Not that he really wanted to be in Snape's class again, but Professor McGonagall had said (while giving Harry career advice) that he would need to take potions to become and auror, which McGonagall had sworn that she would strive to help Harry become, if it was the last thing she did. He felt like he had let her down because he knew that Snape wouldn't make an exception on his policy about O.W.L's to anyone, let alone to Harry.

"Are they hard, O.W.L's I mean?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Er- I dunno, kinda. I guess it all depends on which examiner you have. " Harry replied still thinking about how much he let down Professor McGonagall.

"Oh. Well the way Fred and George talk it about it, they make O.W.L's sound horrible." She stated distractedly and slightly relieved, looking at Harry's results. "Didn't you want to be an auror?" she asked. "Then wouldn't you need potions?" Harry nodded twice.

"How did you know?" he asked bewildered at the feeling that she somehow read his mind.

"Ron told me. Well actually he told Fred and George to stop them from making fun of him for wanting to be one too." She said casually. "But Snape's all about the whole 'have to have an Outstanding to get into my class' deal"

"Yeah, I know. I don't know what I'm gonna do." Harry said guiltily.

"Well I'm tired, so, good night." Ginny said, standing up and slowly making her way to the door.

"Yeah, I think I'll go to bed too." He said, though he really wasn't very tired.

They walked up the stairs until they reached Harry and Ron's room and said good night to each other. Harry tiptoed quietly to his bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling, thinking about the whole day and how it was the exact opposite of what he thought his first day back with the Weasley's would be like after the horrible summer with the Dursley's. He lay there for a few hours until he finally drifted to sleep and woke all too soon to the sound of Mrs. Weasley calling everybody down for breakfast.

AN:

Sorry it took so so so long but we had school and vacations and as much as we wanted to work on it there have been distractions such as our little foux-chapter that we took down a few weeks ago. We really couldn't resist a little cruel (though very funny) practical joke. FOOLED YOU!!