Chapter 6

The Headmaster's Office

The school looked as he remembered it, Harry noticed as he and Lily entered the castle. They went straight to the Headmaster's office, the one Dumbledore had been using, and stopped in front of the huge stone Gargoyle. Harry wondered how they were going to get in; they hadn't met any teachers on their way there, nor any students for that matter. How he wished that he had still had Hedwig; then he'd have been able to write to Hagrid, thus avoiding a situation like this. But then, he was glad that Hedwig was with Luna; he could think of no better place for her to be. He decided to try a few possible passwords, and he guessed the right one on his third try: 'Norbert'. The Gargoyle swung aside and Harry and Lily went upstairs.
They stopped outside the door to the office. As Harry was about to knock, he heard voices in there, a woman's voice, sounding rather misty, and two different men's voices, one of which was undoubtedly Hagrid's.
'When are yeh goin' then?' He heard Hagrid asking.
'Well, we'd prefer to leave no later than in three weeks,' the woman said, 'the Orb has told me that we will be in America soon ... perhaps sooner than necessary ...' The mention of the Orb left Harry in no doubt whatsoever as to who the woman was.
'It's important for publicity, you see,' the unknown man said. And we're combining it with our honeymoon ...'
Harry realised that he couldn't stand out here, listening to the whole conversation. He knocked.
'Come in,' came Hagrid's familiar voice from inside. Harry opened the door, feeling nervous; he was about to meet one of his best friends, one of the first people he had met when he'd found out that the Wizarding World existed, and one of the few persons left who had known him really well. What would it be like? ... But he had no time to think about that now; he was here because he had terrible news for John.
Harry went inside, Lily coming closely behind him. He could barely hold back a gasp. Behind the desk, as could be expected, was Hagrid, and sitting opposite him was Sybill Trelawney, but there, next to her, was none other than – Gilderoy Lockhart! What was he doing here? It was no great surprise to find that Trelawney was still at Hogwarts, but Lockhart!
'Hello there,' Hagrid said, sounding quite professional and headmaster-like, Harry thought. At least for being Hagrid. 'How can I help yeh?' he asked.
Harry introduced himself as Mr Evans – he found it too risky to mention his first name – and explained that he needed to see his son about a matter of some urgency. He noticed that Professor Trelawney, who had remained in the office with her husband-to-be, did not give any sign of recognition – not that he had expected any, but still, it confirmed that she was no more a seer than he was. He thought about when he'd first done Divination, Trelawney telling them how rare true seers were ... But were there any true seers at all, Harry wondered?
Trelawney and Lockhart left, and Hagrid asked Harry about the reason for his visit. He became very concerned when he heard about John's mother; apparently he had already got to know John and come to like him rather well.
'Ah, the poor lad,' he said, 'It's hard, losin' a parent ... My own father died when I was in second year, so I know ...' He patted Lily on the head and gave her a reassuring look. 'It's terrible now, but yeh'll get over it,' he said to her.
Harry nodded gravely. He looked at Lily, whose eyes filled with tears at hearing Hagrid's words. Hagrid left them there to go and fetch John, who had History of Magic. 'Yeh'd better tell him yerself,' Hagrid had said to Harry, 'and yeh'd better do it here where we're alone.'
John was looking apprehensive as he came in, obviously wondering why his father and sister were there. There was no easy way around this, Harry realised. Somehow it seemed to be more difficult to tell John than Lily, although he was older and should be more mature. As Harry told John, seeing, in the corner of his eye, the tears streaming down Lily's face once more, the reaction he'd expected never came. John simply stood there, stony- faced and quiet. He didn't say a word about what he'd just heard.
'John?' Harry said gently. 'I ... do you want to come home with us for a week or so? Take it easy for a little while, before you come back?'
'No,' John said curtly, 'I'd rather stay here.' He looked down.
Harry remained silent, not knowing what to say. Why didn't John cry like Lily had – or at least look sad? 'It's OK to cry, you know ...' he said quietly.
John looked at him, and Harry was shocked to see the look of pure venom on his face. 'Cry?' John said incredulously. 'Cry? For HER?' He was staring at Harry, his eyes protruding and a muscle twitching at his eyebrow. He looked mad.
'John, what ... what is it?' Harry went closer to him, reaching out for his arm, trying to calm him. Lily was crying even more, looking terrified.
'I'm glad she's dead ... She deserved it!' John hissed, baring his teeth. 'That ... that slut!'
'John!' Harry exclaimed, shocked at his choice of words. How was it possible that he hadn't noticed John's feelings towards his mother? He felt his own guilt settle like a heavy stone in his stomach. 'John, don't talk about your mother like that!' he said tremulously.
'Mother? She doesn't deserve to be called my mother!'
At this point, Lily started sobbing loudly and Hagrid went over to her, putting his arms around her shoulders, saying: 'Come here ... I'll show yeh somethin' interestin' ... It's outside, I'm sure yeh'll like it ...' They went off, leaving Harry alone with John.
As soon as they were alone, Harry went over to his son, but as he touched his shoulder, John flinched. 'Don't touch me!' he spat. 'I hated her, it serves her right that she died.'
'John ... can we at least talk a little about this? Couldn't you come home for a day or so?'
'I don't want to.' John was stubborn and didn't give in, and when Hagrid came back with Lily a few minutes later, John took his chance to leave without a word, Harry looking after him worriedly as he went. Hagrid suggested that they stay on for a night or two at The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, in order to come and see John again the next day; by then, he would hopefully have calmed down a bit.
As they left the castle, Lily was quite happy again, excited about going to an all-magic settlement. Harry, however, realised that he was more worried about John than he had first thought, going over the scene in Hagrid's office over and over again. They had a look around Hogsmeade, Lily's eyes open wide in admiration, especially at Honeyduke's, and then took a room at the inn.
That night, Lily went to sleep quickly, exhausted by all the new impressions. But Harry was wide awake, unable to sleep. He sat by the window, looking out at the street, which had been so busy during the day but now lay deserted. Did he imagine it, or did the stars shine brighter here than in the Muggle World? He didn't know.
He was thinking about the Astronomy classes they had used to have at Hogwarts, the nightly excursions to the Astronomy Tower, when suddenly a snowy owl swooped down towards the window, beckoning him to let it in. Harry was stunned. Who would send him an owl here? But then he realised that it had to be Hagrid, of course; maybe there was something wrong with John ...
He let the owl in quickly, hurriedly tearing the letter from its foot. He didn't notice the owl's slightly disgruntled expression while he was opening the letter, but then he stopped, staring at the envelope, unbelievingly. The letter wasn't addressed to Harry Evans – it was addressed to Harry Potter. Who could have sent this? Had Hagrid recognised him? But if so, why hadn't he said anything? Slowly, he took the letter out. It said:

"Now that you've returned to the Magical World, I thought you might need your owl back. Luna."

Author's note: Once more, thank you all so much for the reviews!!! I'm really glad you like the story. You'll get to see some more of the characters from the books soon, so keep on reading!