A/N: Okay, what some of you don't know is that I have had some of these later chapters already typed and saved on my computer. One of you (I won't say who because I don't want to ruin the end) has managed to figure out something about one of the chapters that would ruin the end of my story if I told you what it was...you'll just have to wait and see what I mean.
Padfoot's Sidekick: Thanks for your comments! You, like a couple others, have been a regular reviewer. I'm glad you're enjoying my story! Thanks for sticking with it!
Phox: I love that you try to guess what is going to happen. As a writer, having someone review your story and do what you have tried to do is really neat. Please continue.... you've been right in the past. I think I kind of like your English teacher's idea. (Smiles)
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More Than Yellowed PagesChapter Thirteen
"You couldn't find him?" Lupin nearly choked as James explained about the group's fruitless search for the missing Malfoy. "You think he has some sort of hiding place set up?"
James nodded. "That's probably it. Dumbledore is going to set some of us to looking for it..." He frowned at the thought. "Harry graduates in a week, and I may not even be here for it..."
"I'll go. I'm sure Dumbledore will understand..." Lupin volunteered.
"You'll all be staying. I've sent Tonks and Kingsley to be doing the searching," whispered Dumbledore, coming out of nowhere.
"Huh?" James glanced at the old man.
"You and Lily need to be here when Harry graduates. You haven't been able to be here before. As for Sirius and Remus...well, I couldn't go breaking up the Marauders, now, could I?" He smiled at them, his cheeks going slightly pink.
"Thanks, Dumbledore!" smiled Lupin. He pat James on the back. "Let's head for the Gryffindor Tower. Lily and Sirius are probably there, catching up on Harry's life..." he laughed.
James nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."
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"And in third year, I met Professor Lupin. That was when Sirius broke out of Azkaban. You know they thought he killed twelve people with one curse? Well, anyway, that turned out to be Peter..." Harry was rambling as Lupin and his father walked through the portrait hole.
James's eyebrow rose. "Did I miss much?"
"Not really," Harry blushed.
Lily looked up at him. She sat Indian style on the floor. "I think we should go have a chat with my sister, James..." she said honestly. "Oh, sorry sweetie! Where were you?" she smiled at Harry.
Harry quickly explained about his fourth year and the discovery of Voldemort. He didn't leave out anything, and seemed to linger a bit on the part about going to see the Quiddich World Cup.
Ron cleared his throat. "Uh, mate, you're getting a little bit off the topic there," he whispered.
"Anyways..." sighed Harry, "fifth year, my scar started to hurt really bad, and I started having these weird dreams with corridors in them, and then I learned about the Order after Dudley and I were attacked by dementors..." he paused here.
"What is it, Harry?" asked Sirius.
Harry blinked, shrugged the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach off, and smiled. "Nothing."
"Well, go on then!" smiled his father, thoroughly interested.
"So Dumbledore tried to get Snape to teach me Occlumancy...that didn't go well. I ended up going to the Department of Mysteries because my dreams led me there, and that was when Sirius died. I had figured out by then that my scar kind of connects me to Voldemort..." he told his parents. "It hasn't hurt in a while," he added, seeing the shocked looks on their faces.
"And how did you and Luna start...you know...your relationship?" asked Lily, beaming proudly at her son. If Luna was here, thought Harry, she'd be so red that her cheeks would match Ron's hair color.
"This should be an interesting one!" smirked Ron from the chair he sat in.
"Luna came with us when we went to go save Sirius." Harry explained first. "Then, the summer after fifth year, Dumbledore had Lupin come pick me up from the Dursley's house about a week into the holidays. We went to...err...the headquarters, and Luna was there with her dad. We spent practically the entire summer hanging out, and by sixth year..." Harry sighed here, and Ron fought hard to control his laughter.
"You couldn't hear Harry's name without Luna's name being attached to it!" Ron finally burst. "It was bloody annoying at first, but they were so cute together!" he teased.
"We'll be spending some time at the headquarters this summer," his mother nodded. "We have a lot to get done...and I didn't even include the fact that we need to clean that house up. It's awful..." she groaned.
Harry blinked. "You guys have been?"
His dad nodded. "Before we died, yes...but I doubt it has changed too much since we've been...err...away..."
They all looked up. Hermione had just bounded through the portrait hole. Luna was in close pursuit. They both looked exhausted, and plopped down onto the nearest couch as soon as they got far enough into the room.
"What is it?" gasped Lupin sharply, jumping from his chair as if something was wrong.
"Dumbledore's already got our test results back!" Hermione announced.
"You just had to go and ruin my day. They won't let me near the Ministry once they've seen my test results..." Ron grumbled.
Hermione glared at him, and handed him a thick envelope. "Why don't you look at them before you start thinking less of yourself?" she smirked.
"Have you got mine?" asked Harry.
Hermione handed him one of the two thick envelopes that she still had in her hands. Luna slid down onto the floor next to Harry's mom and stared at her envelope. "I haven't opened it yet. Why don't we all open it together?" she suggested.
The three of them nodded, and slowly ripped open the top of their envelopes. Ron had taken five N.E.W.T classes. Hermione had taken seven, the most that would fit onto any schedule. Harry had taken seven as well ("I can't believe all of these classes are required!"). Luna, like Ron, had taken only five.
"So? How do they look?" asked Harry's dad impatiently.
"I...passed N.E.W.T potions!" Harry gasped. "In your face, Snape! Ha!" He paused. "I've passed everything..." he sighed with relief. He paused a moment. "No matter how much I try to understand, I don't think I'll ever understand what makes Muggle Studies so important..." he blinked at his papers.
"They will let me in..." Ron was muttering to himself. "I can't believe it..."
Luna blinked several times. "I passed...I even passed potions. My dad would have been so proud..." she whispered. "I always did horribly in potions, but I passed..."
Luna smiled at Hermione, who seemed to be the only one not at all surprised about her marks. Hermione and Harry wrapped Luna in a hug.
"It's all right, Luna. You're dad is proud of you." Harry whispered to her.
Harry looked up. His snowy white owl, Hedwig was pecking at the window. She looked rather flustered. Harry frowned and got up to open the window for her. She was carrying four rather large letters. She dropped the letters into the red velvet chair near the window, and then flew away towards the owlery.
"What are those?" asked Ron.
"There's one for each of us." Harry scratched his head in confusion as he looked at each of the letters. "Luna...this one is from Hogwarts. Look...the green ink and everything..."
Ron blinked several times at his letter before finally opening it. He read through it quickly. "Oy, it's not much," he sighed with relief. "Just telling me to report for on-the-job training on August 1st," he read.
"Same here," Hermione smiled, "different department, of course...but..."
Luna had read and reread her letter several times by this point. She looked up at the rest of the group. "Dumbledore is offering me a job here..." she whispered, completely shocked. "He wants me to be the Care of Magical Creatures teacher..."
Hermione and Ron nodded with understanding. Hagrid had been the Care of Magical Creatures teacher, however short his appointment was. Everyone then turned to Harry, who was still reading his letter, which seemed to go on for several pages.
Harry looked up. "I have to report to the training program on the first of August," he told everyone. "If I pass, I get to start working on October first..."
"That program's a tough one," frowned his father. "I'm sure you can handle it, though. Sirius and I will teach you a thing or two before you have to go..." He glanced at Sirius, who nodded quickly.
"So, Luna, you going to take Dumbledore's offer?" asked Lupin with interest. "We'd be working together!" he smiled at her.
"Maybe, but what about Harry?" whispered Luna.
James couldn't help but laugh. "Luna, Godric's Hollow is within apparating distance. You'd still see each other practically all the time. Only time you wouldn't, it would be more Harry's fault than yours...they may still put him on call occasionally," James explained, "even if old Tom is gone for good..."
Luna nodded. "I think I'll do it then," she decided.
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Graduation came quickly. Ginny, the only one to be left behind, cried throughout Dumbledore's entire speech, and then, when that was over, cried throughout the entire Graduation banquet. Harry was surprised to see that several representatives from the Ministry of Magic were sitting among the teachers at their table. One of them, a short plump old witch with magenta hair, took great interest in Hermione. Luna spent a great deal of her time at the banquet talking with Dumbledore and McGonnagal. Neville, as Harry was shocked to learn, had been offered a position in the Ministry's Accidental Magic Reversal Unit. Even Ron's dad was there, sitting proudly among the Hogwarts teachers. He was talking to Harry's parents, and the three of them were sharing a hearty laugh.
Luna ran up to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, and kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I am in such a good mood!" she smiled, beaming at Dumbledore and McGonnagal.
"Bet you I'm in a better mood," he challenged.
"And why would that be?" she asked.
"Because, I don't have to work with Snape." Harry smiled. Luna glared at him as if she hadn't thought about this yet. "I told you so," he laughed at her expression. She looked up at him as if she was going slap him, but quickly relaxed. He sighed deeply. "We're done..." he realized. "We've managed to survive all seven years at Hogwarts, and Voldemort is gone..." He looked again at his parents, who had now started talking to Dumbledore and McGonnagal.
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Despite what Harry had promised his aunt and uncle at the beginning of his seventh year, Harry did go back to Pivet drive one last time. When he got out of the car with Luna, the Dursleys were shocked. When Lily, James, and the 'convicted murderer' Sirius Black got out of the back seat, Ms. Petunia Dursley fainted, and Harry's uncle Vernon was the palest he had ever seen him.
When Harry's aunt finally woke up, her supposedly dead sister and brother-in-law were sitting on her living room couch. She nearly screamed, but managed to contain herself.
"What're...how did you..." she managed to squeak before she went pale again.
"It's a long story, Petunia. I thought I'd come pay you a visit..." Lily smirked.
Petunia nodded. "I see." She whispered. "Well then, maybe you'll know something about this..." Petunia thrust the newspaper at her sister as if she were some type of germ. "I saw it this morning, and I knew it had to have something to do with...your kind of people." She snarled.
Lily took the newspaper, and James, curious, craned his neck to see. Harry frowned at the headline.
Six People Killed in Freak Explosion
Police Baffled at Unexplainable Accident
Harry didn't bother trying to read the actual article. This wasn't the magical world, and 'unexplainable freak explosions' were just the kinds of things that Muggles such as Vernon and Petunia Dursley would attribute to it. He took a deep breath. "Well?" he whispered. "What's it say?"
"I don't know. I mean, I guess some odd accidents happen outside..." his mother paused, "outside our world sometimes, but..."
"Lils...I don't see how a candy store could just explode," smirked James. "Maybe, just maybe that could happen if we were home, but not here. It makes no sense. Are there any names? Who was killed?" he asked her.
Lily scanned the list. She shook her head. "I don't see any names I recognize..." she told James.
James, looking rather frustrated, withdrew his wand from somewhere in his back pocket. Petunia gasped, and Luna took a step back.
"What are you going to do?" Luna asked.
"I'm going to find out if any of those people are..." James waved his wand before he finished his sentence. Two of the names lit up in bright yellow. "Ha. Look..."
Harry strained his eyes until he could read the two names that had lit up on the paper. One of them he didn't recognize, but the other. Harry gasped. "Ms. Figg!" he yelped.
"That woman who used to watch you?" Petunia snapped.
"She's a squib," Harry explained quickly.
"A what?"
"A witch with almost no magical powers." Luna told her. Petunia jumped at the words 'witch' and 'magical', but was otherwise unaffected.
James nodded. "A member of the Order?" He turned to Harry, who quickly nodded to his father. James rubbed his chin. "I see..." he whispered to himself.
"Let me see that," Harry requested, reaching for the newspaper.
She nodded. Harry reached for it. Almost the minute he touched it, he felt a searing pain in his forehead. The paper dropped to the floor, and Harry gripped his head and fell to his knees. "Ah!" he groaned.
Lily and James jumped. "What's wrong?"
Luna, who was a bit more used to Harry experiencing the searing pains through his forehead, calmly explained. "His scar connects him to Voldemort." She said quietly. "Whenever he's near, or planning something, Harry's scar hurts him..." She finished.
Harry got to his feet after the blinding pain had passed, and stared, confused, at the newspaper lying on the ground. "That hasn't happened since before Voldemort...." He gasped as if he had just realized something very important. He fell onto the couch, and put his head in his hands.
"Oh, no..." he grimaced.
"What?" His Uncle Vernon was becoming rather purple faced. His aunt had jumped behind the love seat when Harry had fallen to the ground. She poked her head out from behind it.
"I can't believe that I didn't think of this earlier..." Harry whispered to himself, apparently ignoring everyone else's concerns.
Luna gasped. "Harry! You don't think..."
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A/N: Bwa ha ha! Cliffie! I'm sure everyone loves me for that, but as I said, if you haven't already guessed what's supposed to happen, you'll have to wait. This particular story will soon be coming to a close...there will probably be a sequel...and you will see why...please review and let me know what you think!