A/N: Okay, now I am so gonna make sure I break the 100,000 word barrier with this fic! It'll be the first time I've ever done it, but I need to do it! To prove something to myself! So each of the chapters now are going to go into double figures on the number of pages I use on Word. Hopefully. It'll mean less frequent updates (something which, so far on this, I've prided myself on being able to do) but they will be longer than the usual 3 pages I try to get to.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated items, people and places all belong to JK Rowling, and any similarities to them, or if they are mentioned, whilst completely deliberate, does not mean to infringe on any laws.
Chapter 13
"Hey, you okay?"
Bella had just walked into one of the bedrooms at Grimmauld Place to find Harry sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. When he looked up at her she could see all of the pain and suffering he had gone through in his eyes for a moment, though it quickly vanished. So quickly, in fact, that she felt she could have imagined it.
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Harry replied, smiling slightly, the sort of smile that, whilst it showed sadness, also showed some, if not much, happiness.
Bella looked at him disbelievingly. After they had spent a couple of weeks in forced company in Azkaban, and another couple of weeks together when they had been travelling, she could quite easily tell that he was lying.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I was just thinking. I think it's just hit me that I can't go back to Hogwarts again."
"You will go back," Bella said firmly. "I'm sure of it."
"How?" Harry asked her. "I'm a convicted criminal, and the entire world knows it. There's no chance for me to go back there. I can't even go to another magical school. They'll know about it as well."
He could feel his eyes starting to water slightly. The thought of never going back to Hogwarts really got to him. It had been the only place he had ever been able to call home.
"Hey, cheer up," Bella said kindly, in a tone that seemed relatively like one Mrs Weasley would have used. "It'll be okay."
Harry nodded slightly, though he didn't feel like cheering up at all, or that it would be okay. At that particular moment it felt as if nothing would ever be okay again. Ever.
"I wanted to talk to you anyway."
Looking at her curiously, he raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"I just do," she said, sighing. "There are just some things I need to say."
The two sat in silence for a moment, whilst Bella figured out the best way for her to talk to him.
"Go on," Harry said, trying to urge her onto speaking. It wanted to get this over quickly. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy being around her now, in fact it was just the opposite. He enjoyed it. But he just needed to think a few things through.
"Right," she said, taking a deep breath. She might as well get this over with. "I… I… That's a nice shirt."
"Err… Is that al you wanted to say?" he asked bewildered.
"No! It's just I'm not really sure what to say. I guess I… I want to apologise for what happened in the Department of Mysteries before. What with Sirius and everything," she said, mentally berating herself. That wasn't what she wanted to say! But it was better than nothing, she supposed.
Harry nodded again blankly, obviously remembering back to it. The expression on his face appearing to be pained slightly, showing it immediately. It was a raw subject for him.
*****Flashback****
One pair was still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: he was laughing at her.
"Come one, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.
The second jet of light hit him squarely on his chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened with shock.
Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore, too, turned towards the dais.
It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch.
Harry saw with a look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, the fell back into place.
Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing - Sirius had only fallen through the archway, he would reappear on the other side any second…
But Sirius did not reappear.
*****End Flashback*****
After a few more moments, Bella could take the silence no longer.
"Harry, I mean it! I had no idea what I was doing back then! I still believed that all muggleborns were scum at the time."
"I know."
There was more silence that followed, until it was broken again, this time by Harry.
"What happened after when you woke up and I was still unconscious? I never did find out the details."
"Nothing much. After I woke up they gave me Veritaserum to find out what had happened. I can't remember much about when they were questioning me, only that they discovered that I had switched sides in the war," she said lightly. There was more, but she didn't need to explain it at the minutes.
Harry nodded again. He knew she wasn't telling the entire story, but decided not to push it.
Somewhere in southern Italy, just inside a small village, a black haired man was trying to talk to one of the locals.
"Chi sono voi?" asked the local, confused at this man's sudden appearance.
"Sorry, I don't understand. I need to get to England," the man said, speaking slowly and carefully.
"E non capite Intalian normale? Ho chiesto chi eravate!"
"Don't you understand plain English? I'm trying to get to England!"
"Se non state andando parlare una lingua normale allora vada in qualche luogo altrimenti! Nessuno intorno qui capiranno una parola che dite!"
"I give up! I'm going to find someone who understands plain English!" the stranger said, storming off.
"Infine! Capite! Ottenga perso! Sì lo avete sentito! camminare di conservazione! Quello è esso! E non ritornano!"
Back at Grimmauld Place Harry was thinking. Bella had left moments before, and he couldn't have helped but notice how nervous she was acting around him.
Before she had come he had been thinking about Ron and Hermione. He knew he wouldn't be able to make up with Ron again. Especially after last night. He knew Ron wanted to be friends again, but he knew he couldn't just make up. He couldn't be friends with him when he had doubted him so much.
But Hermione, on the other hand… she had believed in him. He knew that they would be able to get along again, though he hadn't seen her since the end of the school year. They just hadn't come across one another since he and Bella had gotten to Grimmauld Place.
Down in the Kitchen, Remus was leaning against a counter, staring off into space when Bella came in, but his eyes snapped to her quickly enough.
"What do you want?" he snarled. He really didn't like her.
"Nothing," she said sitting down and sighing. "Nothing at all."
Remus growled at her. Whenever Bella was around he always managed to get himself into a bad mood.
"What?" she asked him, surprised by his behaviour. Well, not really. She had been responsible for one of his best friend's death, after all.
"Nothing," Remus said harshly. "Other than the fact the person who murdered my best friend is sitting right in front of me, showing absolutely no remorse at all!"
"I can only guess how you feel," Bella sighed. "Having me in the same room as you. But I can assure you, I do regret what happened."
"How could you? You hated Sirius!"
"…I didn't hate him. Sure, the two of us had never seen eye-to-eye, but I never hated him."
"Then why did you kill him?"
Bella kept silent for a moment before answering. It was, in truth, a very good question.
"Do you know what it's like to feel as though you heart has been turned to stone? To never really feel anything? Not hate nor love? Not anything? Only physical pain?"
Remus slowly shook his head, unsure of where this would lead.
"Well that's what I was like until only a few weeks ago. It's true I didn't feel a thing when I killed him, but I basically had no heart to feel with. But now I regret every action I've done in my life."
"What changed?" asked Remus quietly. So quietly that she almost didn't catch it.
"What?"
"What changed? What changed so that you started to regret it?"
"Harry happened."
"What?!"
"I said Harry happened."
"I heard, but what do you mean?"
Bella looked at his bemused expression for a moment. Normally she wouldn't have been able to hold n her laughter at the sight of one of the know-it-alls that Hogwarts had turned out being confused, but this time she didn't feel like laughing.
"Can't you guess?"
Remus' eyes widened as he got the full meaning of what she said.
"You love him, don't you?"
Ron had been in a state disbelief ever since the previous night. He hadn't expected Harry to forgive him straight away, but judging from his behaviour towards him he wouldn't ever forgive him. There seemed to be no chance of them ever being friends again.
He knew the two of them had fought a couple of times in the past, forth year in the time between the time when Harry had been named as the forth champion and the first task immediately coming to mind, along with a couple of others, but it had never been as serious as this.
Thinking back he should have realised Harry was innocent, but he couldn't of at the time. Hermione had called him pig-headed and stubborn on more than one occasion, and now he realised how right she was. And it wasn't every day he would admit to that.
At the latest Death Eater meeting Voldemort was extremely bored. The only reason he had called it was because there were a couple of new Death Eater's joining the ranks. He would have much rather been torturing a few muggles or mudbloods, but he was always there for initiations, as were all of the other Death Eaters. It was a kind of a tradition.
The Death Eaters, he had decided a few days back, were all incompetent. They hadn't even managed to recapture Bella and Potter. Surely any buffoon could have managed it. Especially when it was about fifteen on two. But no, the imbecile's had managed to mess even that up!
"Do you swear loyalty to you Lord and Master, the Dark Lord? To never betray him? To obey his every command?"
Voldemort heard the new Death eater give his ascent. It was a standard vow all of the Death Eaters had taken before they received their marks.
The last new Death Eater took the vow and was given a mark. Once dismissed all of the Death Eaters left quickly, not wanting to stay any longer than they had to, except for one.
"You wished to see me, My Lord?" asked the one remaining Death Eater.
"Yes, Snape. I need to know what information you have learnt from the Old Fool."
"My Lord, Dumbledore tells me very little nowadays, he-"
"I do not want to hear your excuses Snape! Just tell me what you know!"
Snape felt the mark on his arm burn slightly as the Dark Lord was angered. It worked in much the same way as Harry Potter's scar, only it did not allow Voldemort access to his follower's minds. He could get in without any trouble when it came to that, unless they had their minds occluded.
"I apologise, My Lord," Snape said, bowing his head as if he was truly sorry. "The only information I have managed to gather is that Potter and Bellatrix have shown up at the fool's headquarters."
"Cruccio," said Voldemort almost carelessly, pointing his wand to Snape.
Snape fell to the ground, writhing in pain as a scream escaped his mouth. He was powerless to stop the convulsions in his body from the worst pain anyone could wish not to feel. After several torturous minutes under the curse, it was lifted.
"That isss not good enough Ssseverusss," The Dark Lord, stressing his S's, showing how angry he was. "The next time I summon you I expect better."
"Yes, My Lord," Snape half mumbled, before bowing and leaving. He was fortunate enough to just get away with a single cruccio. Normally he would have gotten more.
A/N: Damn! This isn't as long as I was hoping I would get up to! It's the longest chapter yet, so I suppose that's okay.
The translations for what was said by the Italian man said are as follows:
Chi sono voi? - Who are you?
E non capite Intalian normale? Ho chiesto chi eravate! - Don't you understand plain Intalian? I asked who you were!
Se non state andando parlare una lingua normale allora vada in qualche luogo altrimenti! Nessuno intorno qui capiranno una parola che dite! - If you are not going to speak a normal language then go somewhere else! No one around here will understand a word you say!
Infine! Capite! Ottenga perso! Sì lo avete sentito! camminare di conservazione! Quello è esso! E non ritornano! - Finally! You understand! Get lost! Yes you heard me! keep walking! That is it! And don't come back!
No, I don't speak Spanish. I just know a place where I can get it all translated for me. So if it's wrong I can blame that!
gaul1: Okay, thanks!
Madfoot Moony: I'll try.
Vegita43: Ah, so that's what you wanted more detail for! I'll have to put that in later on.
Sword of Darkness: Yeah, it's always fun to yell at Ickle Ronniekins!
Hi Im Crazy: It's okay. And that makes two of us. I thought it was weird when I started to write it! But now it seems as normal as a lot of other pairings that would never happen in the canon that there are out there.
Launigsiae: Do you mean Harry and Hermione, or Harry and Ron? Because the second one is unlikely to happen. The first one should though.
jeangab057: Yup! He did! Hopefully the Order should talk with them next chapter.
Hvughehewuiqquuiuiuieivebfheghfeireavivmutruifdguyuirenfufdjvhtruirhjhyrejighuduijgroibvjbnfjbnuifibgnuiboglkljuigrhuiwuipquyifdfjdgfjr: Could you're name get any longer? And no, that is not a challenge! But the update is here. And long too.
Paladin3030: You do realise that I'm probably going to get lots of inspiration from you now? You gave me the idea for the whole interlude in Italy (hey, they used to speak Latin there!). And Auntie Bellatrix. And soon Uncle Harry! Here's the next chapter anyways.
Okay, that's about it from me this chapter. Next update probably will be next Saturday. Look out for it some time at the week-end though.
