A/N: Yeah…Ummm….I know I said a couple of weeks…And I know that it has been a couple of months…Let's just say that I have been really busy, and honestly have not had time to work on this at all, until recently. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and thanks to all those who e-mailed me about when I would get this chapter out. It feels good to know that people really want more of this story. I apologize for the wait. Well, here it is…
CHAPTER 9 - Conversations
The reading had been over for several minutes, and the room was still silent. Harry had shifted his head into the shoulder of the person holding him some time before Sirius' voice faded away once and for all. He was still sobbing, though not quite as freely. For the moment, he wanted only to be held. He heard Dumbledore's distant voice, but was unaware of what was being said. Soon after, there was a light tap on his shoulder. Harry slowly raised his head from the comfortable nook in which it was resting, and his eyes met those of a somber looking Dumbledore. The man did not speak; he merely held out his hand, which contained an envelope. Harry stared blankly at it for a long moment, and finally resolved to accept the offering. As he held the envelope in his hand, he knew exactly what it contained and decided that he wasn't ready to see the contents. Right now, he just wanted to return to his previous position. He turned with intentions of doing so, and his eyes locked with a pair of bright brown eyes. They were deep, sincere, and as Harry quickly realized, the property of Ginny. He unflinchingly held her gaze for several seconds before he suddenly realized that their faces were only inches from one another. It was at that moment that he also realized the situation he was in: there he sat, crying in the middle of a room full of people, while being held by Ginny Weasley. Without thinking, he leapt from the couch, horrified at the thought of the awkward position in which he had just been found.
With tears still streaming the length of his cheeks, he took a quick blurred survey of the room in order to get his bearings, and then dashed out the door. He said absolutely nothing to anyone on his way out, and headed straight up the stairs to his room. Once inside, he shut the door and locked it with a flick of his wand. As he strode towards the bed, he dropped the letter and his wand in the middle of the room. He then dove onto the bed and shoved his face into the pillow, hoping that by the time he rose everyone would be gone. How much worse would this day possibly get for him? He was forced to endure the pain of hearing Sirius speak to him, without being able to respond or even see the man. He had cried in front of everyone, who no doubt thought him to be weak now, having witnessed such a spectacle. But, what was Ginny doing? He would have never guessed in a million years that she was the person holding him as he cried. What was really confusing was the fact that he felt so incredibly comfortable in her arms. He half-wished that he could return to the position he had been in not five minutes before, but before even completing the thought, he silently cursed himself for wishing such a thing. It was Ginny! He wasn't supposed to want to be near Ginny, let alone be held by her. She was just his friend who he occasionally spent time with…in the company of other people.
A few minutes passed and there was a light knock on the door, but rather than respond, he merely kept his face buried in the pillow. He was not ready, nor willing, to face anyone yet. He didn't care if it was Lupin, Ron, or even Dumbledore. It didn't matter. He wasn't ready to face anyone. Luckily, whoever had knocked was not persistent in the least, and didn't even bother to rap their fist against the door a second time.
After a few moments of lying with his face buried in the pillow, Harry's emotional pain began to subside, and he slowly pried his face away from its newest hiding spot. Gradually, he made his way to a sitting position on top of the bed, and stared around the room. He was unsure as to what his next course of action should be, but quickly found his answer. As his eyes surveyed the room, they fell upon the small beige envelope lying in the middle of the floor. Without giving it a second thought, he stood and retrieved the letter from his Godfather. He suddenly felt the need to connect his eyes with the words of Sirius. Once he had comfortably settled back onto the bed, he delicately unsealed the envelope, making sure not to tear it at all. The letter slid out easily into the palm of his hand. The familiar tightening sensation in his throat was gradually reappearing. He hesitated for a moment before unfolding the parchment. This was Sirius' final message to him. What little emotional strength he had left was exerted as he read through the letter.
Harry,
I can only hope that you are reading this as an adult, and that the war is over. That scenario is most unlikely, though. If you are still at Hogwarts, and Voldemort is still at large, then hopefully my death at least aided our cause. Harry, I want you to know that the time we have spent together has meant the world to me. If I ever had a son of my own, I would want him to be exactly like you. I say this, because you are the son of the best friend that I have ever known. You share many of the traits that your father possessed, and I assure you, that is a good thing. James was a great man. He was brave, intelligent, funny, and one of the most loyal people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. You are like him in so many ways. Harry, it is imperative that you understand that your parents were good people. And just like them, you are a good person. If only I were half the man that your father was or that you will be, then maybe my life would have gone differently.
That being said, there is something that I need to tell you that may seem a bit strange, coming from me. Harry, it is your destiny to defeat Voldemort. You may or may not have discovered the prophecy about you and him. If you haven't, then now is the time for you to understand. Your mother and father told Remus and me when you were a baby that a prophecy had been made and Voldemort would be coming after you. The prophecy basically stated that he would mark you as an equal (your scar), and that one of you would have to kill the other in order to live. I realize this is a lot to grasp, but there is no time to waste. Harry, I believe with all of my heart that you will be the one to survive. You are going to defeat that evil bastard.
You are probably asking yourself how you are supposed to do such a thing. The specifics are uncertain, but there is one thing that I know for sure. Although you will ultimately be required to perform the task alone, you must not travel this path to salvation without help. You must enlist those who are dear to you, as difficult as that may be to do. Your friends, Ron and Hermione, remind me so much of James and Remus. The three of us would never leave one another's side in a time of need, and I am positive that your friends are exactly the same way. They both contain qualities that will be extremely useful along the way. Most importantly, though, they will be there to support you, emotionally. DO NOT SHUT THEM OUT! No matter how hard you try to shelter them from the horrors of this war, the three of you need one another in order to survive. I say three, but I actually mean four. Without completely overstepping my bounds here, I want to bring to your attention the fourth member of your inner circle. Let me just reiterate that you cannot try to shelter those you care about. You must embrace them and what they offer. The fourth in your group will likely prove to be the most crucial component for you. Open your mind to all possibilities, and remember that time is precious. I have said enough.
Remember, this is your destiny. You are meant to prevail over evil. Utilize your strengths and bring unity to those who oppose the dark side. And most importantly, be careful. Goodbye.
Sirius
A mixture of emotions was swirling inside Harry. The temptation to release the flood gates was on the horizon, but before the opportunity presented itself, there was another knock on the door. Once again, he ignored it, hoping that whoever stood on the other side of the threshold would just leave if he didn't respond. His wish was not granted, however. He soon heard the unlocking spell spoken aloud, followed by a soft click. As he raised his eyes to the opening door, Harry saw Hermione enter the room cautiously. Once she saw that he was looking right at her, rather than speak, she opted to first turn and shut the door. Once this was done, she walked to where he sat on the bed, and took the spot directly beside him. His eyes were now aimed at the floor again.
"Are you alright?" She whispered in a concerned voice. When he didn't respond, she motioned to the letter which he still clutched in his hand. "Is that…is it his letter to you?"
Harry nodded, and in order to bypass her attempt to have him tell her what the letter said and thus bother him, he handed it to her. Caught off guard by this course of action, she timidly accepted the letter, glancing back at him for a short moment before indulging herself with the content of the letter.
The silence permeated the room as Hermione read Sirius' letter to Harry, and he continued to stare at the floor. The couple of minutes that it took her to absorb the extremely intimate message from Godfather to Godson felt more like hours. Harry spent this time revisiting the message in his mind. Some of the things that Sirius had said were quite confusing, and he didn't remember ever hearing the man speak in such a way before.
Bringing him out of his trance-like state was a soft and feeble version of Hermione's usually strong and determined voice.
"H-Harry," she half-whispered. "The prophecy—"
"I already knew," he said, shame apparent in his tone for not having told her before.
"What?" she asked disbelievingly, her voice back to its normal level. "How? I thought it shattered at the ministry."
Raising his head to look her in the eyes for the first time, he said, "Dumbledore. He was the sole witness when it was made. He told me that night in his office."
"But why didn't you tell us?" she asked.
"Well, it's a bit of a difficult thing to grasp; knowing that you are the only person standing in the way of the most evil wizard in history," he said coyly.
"But, Harry—"
"Listen, Hermione. I really don't want to talk about it right now, if you don't mind." Before she could protest, he added, "I promise we can discuss it another time."
"Well—"
"Please, Hermione!" he shouted, a bit louder than he had intended.
"If you'd let me finish, you know that I was going to ask you about something else," she said in her parental-like tone. "There's no need to snap at me."
Harry blushed slightly, and looked away from her. "Oh, right. Sorry."
"It's okay."
"So, umm, what were you going to ask?"
"Well, I was curious about the last part of the letter." She paused, waiting to see if he would comment. After a few seconds, she continued. "The fourth person in our…"inner circle," she said with an emphasis on the words directly from the letter.
This was the part of the letter which had really interested Harry. He was confused about it, yet he felt that somewhere inside his head lay the answer to the question of who the fourth person was.
"I wasn't really expecting anything like that," he admitted. "I'm not sure exactly what he meant by it."
"It's obvious, isn't it?" she replied.
"Umm, not really," he said, knowing it was a blatant lie.
"Oh, come on, Harry. I didn't think you were as daft as Ron. He meant that this...fourth person...means a lot, or will mean a lot to you, and that you are going to be protective of her."
"How do you know it's a 'her?'" he asked defensively. "For all we know, he could mean Seamus.
Hermione ignored his comment, however, and continued. "Sirius seemed to think that this person is going to be an important part of your life. He seemed so sure of it. I wonder what he knew that we don't?" she asked, now speaking more to herself than to Harry. "I mean, it's obvious that she cares, but—"
He had listened to enough of this, and asked his question again, his voice slightly more forceful. "How do you know it is a 'she' that Sirius is talking about? Do you know who?"
"Harry, seriously, open your eyes," she said, disapprovingly.
There was a knock at the door. Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Harry quickly cut her off. His voiced lowered, he said, "Hermione, could you do me a favor and not mention any of this to anyone else right now? I mean, I'll tell Ron eventually, but I just don't know that I am ready."
"Of course, Harry. If you'll promise me something, that is."
There was another, louder knock on the door, and Ron's voice could be heard from the other side. "Can we come in?"
Glancing at the door, and then back to Hermione, Harry said, "That depends. What is it that you want?"
"I want you to promise that you and I can talk again sometime in the next few days. Somehow, some way, we need to finish this discussion, and…well, we need to talk about something else, sort of related, too."
He considered this just for a second, because, the door opened at that moment. Before turning to look towards the door, Harry quietly said, "Okay, now give me the letter." He snatched it from her hands, and hastily put it back in the envelope and then into his pocket. When he glanced to see who had been waiting to come in, he saw a sight that lightened his mood quite a bit.
Fred and George stumbled into the room, arms stretched out in front of them, in search of anything solid. They had their eyes clinched shut for some odd reason. Ron, however, seemed to understand what was going on better than Harry, because his facial expression was one of utter dread.
"Harry, Hermione, where are you two?" asked Fred, as he turned and walked into the wall. "Ouch! You aren't there." He then turned and headed in the opposite direction. He and George then nearly knocked into one another as they continued ambling about.
Harry looked to Hermione, who was just as confused, yet amused by the situation as he was. Ron who still stood in the doorway, began to walk to where Harry and Hermione, when he saw that Fred and George had spread themselves to opposite sides of the room. Hearing the extra set of footsteps, George leapt in that direction and latched his hand around Ron's forehead, and his other one over his mouth. Fred had the same instinct, and quickly headed towards the commotion.
Tiptoeing closer, with his ear exposed to the struggling brothers, Fred too leapt at them, and grabbed George's arm. He then began to move his hand up George's arm to Ron's head, inspecting the situation.
"What the bloody hell are you two doing?" he asked. Then turning his head the other way, as if to speak in the direction he thought George to be, he said, "George, I knew it! I knew we shouldn't open our eyes in here. I've just caught them fooling around!"
Harry whipped his head around to look at Hermione, who was now blushing furiously, but grinning just as much. This allowed him to relax, and realize the humor of the accusation. He looked back to see George's reaction.
"You don't need to yell, I'm right here," he said, still holding his hand over a struggling Ron's mouth.
"Wait a minute," said Fred. He started running his hands over the head belonging to the arm he first found. As he did this, George also, began to suspect something. He let go of Ron, and began to inspect the head of the person touching him. Then at the same time, they each suddenly halted their action, and their eyes flashed open,
"Hey!" They both yelled. Then they turned to see a disheveled looking Ron, whose face was the color of a fully ripe tomato. Harry and Hermione simultaneously erupted into fits of laughter at the looks on the three Weasley's faces, which was a mixture of embarrassment, disgust, and surprise.
Fred and George quickly recovered from their shock, and joined in the laughing. Ron had yet to find more humor in the situation than embarrassment, and his face still lacked its normal coloring. He did manage to find his way to the bed where Harry and Hermione sat, and joined them. After a minute or so of chuckling by everyone else, Fred moved to the door, and shut it. The twins then made their way toward the middle of the room, with their eyes locked on to their prey.
"Hey, Harry," said Fred, as he and George took seats on the floor, "We've got to tell you about our letter from Sirius."
"Yeah, we have some questions for you," added George.
Harry watched them with a cautious eye. Tentatively, he said, "What do you mean?"
"Well, actually," said Fred hesitantly, "We need to speak to you privately."
Then George quickly added, "This will technically be our first ever Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes Stockholders meeting, because it has to do with the store."
"You've got to be kidding me," said Ron outraged. "I'm your brother."
"Yes, well, business is business," said Fred, amused at his younger sibling's outrage.
"So, do you two mind leaving for a few minutes, so we can begin?" asked George.
"Yes, I mind!" yelled Ron.
"Honestly, we won't interfere," said Hermione, calmly.
"Sorry, we prefer to keep all meetings closed to the general public," said George.
As Ron was about to protest yet again, Harry finally spoke up. "Why don't you guys go on downstairs? We'll be down in a little while."
"But Harry—"
"Come on Ronald. Let's just go. Lunch should be ready shortly, anyway," said Hermione, rising from her seat. She reached down, grabbed his hand, and dragged him towards the door. Just before exiting, she turned and said, "Don't take too long. Like I said, I imagine lunch is almost ready." With that, she pulled Ron out of the room, and shut the door.
Harry returned his eyes to the twins, who now had broad smiles plastered on their faces.
George stood, clasped his hands together, and said, "Okay, let's get started."
"First off, let's talk about the store. As you may have heard earlier, Sirius left us his journal from when he was in school. It contains multitudes of great ideas for future products for the company," said Fred, from his seat on the floor.
"Umm, okay. So you guys are going to use his ideas? Great," said Harry, unenthusiastically.
"Well, there's more. The real reason we wanted to speak to you privately is because of something that Sirius mentioned in his letter to us. It doesn't exactly have to do with the store," said George.
"Yeah, we just said that in order to get rid of Ronnikins," said Fred.
"Oh, okay. What did the letter say?" asked Harry.
"He said that he wanted something in return for having left us his journal," said Fred.
"And we thought about it - he was right. We do owe it to you. I mean, you are the reason that we even have a business," added George.
"Owe what to me? You don't owe me anything. I'm confused. I thought it was Sirius who you owed," said Harry.
"We owe you our allegiance," said Fred flatly.
"Your allegiance?" Harry asked confused. "But, I already know you two are in the Order."
"That isn't what we mean," said George.
"Of course, we'll always do what we can to help the Order," began Fred.
"But this is more important than the Order of the Phoenix," finished George.
"What's more important?" asked Harry.
"That you succeed," both Fred and George said simultaneously.
"That I…wait a second. You know?" Harry asked, rising. Then, before either could say anything, Harry answered his own question. "Sirius' letter. He told you, didn't he?"
"He did. And we know that you are going to need help along the way, so we want you to know that we are at your disposal," said George.
"Erm…thanks, I think," he said.
"Fred, he still hasn't figured it out, has he?" asked George, shaking his head.
"It appears that way. He's much denser than we thought," replied Fred. Then turning his attention back to Harry, he said, "Listen, we aren't saying to floo us every time you want to prank Malfoy."
"Although, we would be more than willing to help with that particular task," said George.
"Listen, Harry. We are inventors. That's what we do. If you need anything created, or any ideas, let us know," finished Fred.
"But, until then, we can still help you make a fool of the ferret," said George.
Harry stood rooted to his spot, speechless. He wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this. He still wasn't used to discussing the fact that he was the wizarding world's solution to its biggest problem.
Turning to his twin, George asked, "Fred, did you stun him with out me noticing?"
"No, I figured you did," said Fred.
Realizing he was being chided, Harry spoke, "Sorry…this is all just a bit overwhelming."
"We understand. But that's the point, really. We want to help make life easier for you," said George.
"I suppose that makes sense," said Harry.
"Well, now that you've regained control of that lump resting on you shoulders…," began Fred.
Harry managed a smile. "Yeah, thanks guys. I appreciate this."
"No problem. Now, before you go and get all sentimental on us, let's go down and eat. I'm starving, and if we don't hurry Ron will have eaten all the grub," said George.
"Good idea," said Fred, as he made his way to the door. "You coming?" he asked, turning back towards Harry.
Stepping towards them, he replied, "Sure, I'm right behind you." With that they all left the room, and made their way towards the kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen, Harry was held back near the door by Hermione, whose eyes flashed seriously at him.
"What is it?" he asked, tensing.
"I'm just curious; what was that all about?" she asked, lowering her voice.
Relaxing, he let out a sigh. "Oh, upstairs? That was…." While searching for the right words, his eyes scanned the room. Something was amiss.
"Well?" asked Hermione impatiently.
Having refocused his mind on discovering the missing piece to the puzzle of the kitchen setting that lay before his eyes, Harry forgot what he was trying to tell her about his meeting with Fred and George. His reply wasn't exactly what she was hoping to hear. "Huh?" he asked, still searching the room with his eyes.
"Harry, snap out of it," she said, as she traced his line of sight to the table, where Ron, Fred, George, Lupin, Tonks, Andromeda, and Mrs. Weasley all sat chatting away while indulging themselves with a hearty meal. Always quick on the uptake, Hermione said, "She left a couple of minutes ago."
This caught his attention. He turned back towards Hermione, with a questioning expression on his face. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh come off it, Harry. You know exactly what I mean; or rather, who I mean," she said bluntly.
"Did…did she leave because…," he began.
"I don't know. She wouldn't talk to me. As soon as she heard Mr. Weasley say he was going back to the Burrow before returning to work, she asked to go with him."
Harry lowered his head. How did he always manage to mess things up? Ginny was upset now because of him. How could he have allowed his emotions to get the better of him? He began to shake his head in disappointment.
Hermione instantly realized what he was thinking. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, she leaned in close to his ear and said, "Don't worry about it, Harry. She isn't upset with you."
"Obviously, she was upset," he whispered. "Otherwise, she would still be here."
"Just let it go. Trust me; she is not upset with you. I promise you, everything will be alright. Now, come on; let's get you something to eat," she said, grabbing his forearm and pulling him towards the table.
A/N: I am not going to speculate on how long it will take me for the next chapter, because I truly have no idea. I would like to think that I will be able to finish it and post it before classes begin (which is on the 20th), but I just don't know. Don't forget to review!!! Thanks!
