Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter!
Chapter 5: Dark Rooms and Memories
The moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating everything in its path. It didn't really matter to Harry, who was walking through the dense Forbidden Forest. If the sunrays couldn't penetrate the shield created by the trees, then there was no chance for the moon. The sounds created by the unknown creatures made Harry uneasy and he almost wanted to turn around and go back—but he couldn't. He was out here for a reason; he was…looking for something? He wasn't really sure but he knew he had to continue on.
The farther he got, the foggier it became until it resembled the nothing more than a big crystal ball. That's when he saw them.
Two dementors stepped through the fog and came straight at him. He felt the effects immediately; the minute they came across his path the voices started to fill his head again. Only one of those voices was enough to render him helpless.
"Come on, you can do better than that…"Sirius's last words. They were enough to rob Harry of any happy thought he was going to use to summon his patronus. He could feel himself getting dizzy, almost to the point of passing out. The dementors' rattling breath was getting closer until Harry was staring straight at the dementors' hood.
Harry didn't register when exactly his wand came into his hand or when he shouted "Expecto Patronum."
The silvery animal burst out of his wand and charged at the dementers. To Harry's surprise it wasn't a stag—it was a grim! The demeters faded away, but the patronus continued to float through the bushes.
"Wait!" Harry shouted as he ran to follow it. The silvery grim never faded, it kept running through the darkness. Harry had to quicken his pace as he struggled to keep up, brushing back the lower branches of trees as he went. The grim led him to a small clearing; only it wasn't empty, in the very center stood the stone archway and veil. The grim leapt and went straight through it, vanishing into nothingness. He made to follow but before he could, a loud BANG ended the dream.
Harry sat up with a jolt and looked around to see the source of the noise. He didn't have to look far to find Ron's owl, Pig, banging its head against the metal bars of his cage in an attempt to escape. Amazingly, Ron continued to snore, undisturbed by the noise, only Harry had woken up. He subconsciously rubbed his scar, more out of habit than actual pain. Why did he keep having these dreams!?
Harry didn't feel like sleeping, he couldn't anymore, so he got up and left the room. He didn't expect anyone to be up so early in the morning, but when he opened the kitchen door, he gave a start of surprise when he saw Lupin there. He looked up at Harry as soon as he heard the door open and close.
"Harry, what are you doing up at this time in the morning!?" he exclaimed.
"I could ask you the same thing," Harry said, trying to deflect his question.
"The full moon is in a few days," Lupin answered dismissively, then smiled faintly, "besides that's not going to work on me. Lily used to always answer questions with questions when she didn't want to talk about something."
Harry hesitated and then sat down. He had to tell someone about the dreams. He didn't want to go to Dumbledore.
"I had another dream," he said carefully, "I've been dreaming about the veil all summer."
He explained the dream in some great length to Lupin. When Harry finished, he looked a little paler than usual but thoughtful nonetheless.
"I'm not the one to go to for dream interpretations, I was never very good at Divination," he said finally, "maybe you have these dreams because a part of you still feels responsible for Sirius's death."
"Maybe," he said slowly, only half convinced.
"It's not your fault he died, Harry!" Lupin said, "He would have wanted you to be safe."
"Why didn't he tell me that he had a daughter?" Harry said suddenly. He didn't know why, but he had to know the answer.
"I think it was because he really didn't know how to tell you," Lupin said after considering his words carefully, "I only found out about Lyra last summer, and that's because I refused to let Sirius go to France alone when he told me that he had something to take care of there. He told me finally, but he made me swear that I wouldn't tell anyone else. Part of me still thinks that I shouldn't have told Dumbledore."
"You had to though!" Harry exclaimed, "What if Wormtail knows that he has a daughter? I think Sirius would want Lyra to be safe."
"Yes he would," Lupin agreed, "that's the reason he didn't tell too many people in the first place. He didn't want the Black family to find out that he had a pure blooded daughter, they would have insisted on raising her."
Harry thought of Mrs. Black's portrait and understood. The next moment Mrs. Weasley came into the kitchen and started at the sight of Harry and Remus.
"What are you two doing up so early!? " She exclaimed, but she didn't wait for them to answer, "I'll get breakfast started and hopefully the others will be up soon too. There are still a lot of rooms left to clean."
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Luckily, Mrs. Weasley could not find any more rooms in the Black House that needed to be cleaned. This gave Harry and the others the afternoon off, which Harry and Ron spent playing chess while Hermione and Ginny watched. They had been halfway through the game when Fred walked into the room, just in time to see Ron's knight slice the head off Harry's bishop. He looked up at Fred just in time to see something thrown at him.
"Hogwarts letters have arrived!" he said cheerfully as they caught their letters.
Harry scanned down the list of books and supplies he needed for his classes. The only new book on there was The Dark Arts Outsmarted.
"I guess Dumbledore found a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Hermione said scanning her own list.
"Yeah," Ron said, "let's just hope she's not worse than Umbridge!"
"I don't think anyone could be worse than Umbridge," Harry said absentmindedly, looking down at his hand where the words were still etched in his skin. They weren't as noticeable as they were a few months ago, maybe they would fade after all. Across the room, Ginny gave an audible gasp of surprise.
"What's wrong, Ginny!?" Fred asked looking concerned.
"I'm…I'm a prefect!" she stuttered.
"That's everyone in the family," Fred stated, looking rather disappointed by this, "Well, I'm off to find my fellow neighbor before mum finds out!"
"Good job, Ginny!" Hermione said as Fred disapparated out of the room.
Mrs. Weasley came into the room only moments later and threw her arms around Ginny.
"I was so worried you were going to turn out like your other brothers!" she sobbed as Ginny was gasping for breath, "So what will it be?"
"I think I'd like a new pet," Ginny said happily, "maybe an owl."
"Of course, dear!" she said, then turning to the rest of them, "give me the lists and I'll go get your things in Diagon Alley today."
They all handed over their lists, then Mrs. Weasley left the room to get Lyra's list. Harry returned to his chess game with Ron, while Ginny and Hermione were discussing possible owl names.
Once the game was over (Ron won predictably) they all headed back down the stairway. Once they got to the last step, Fred and George called their brother from the top of the stairs.
"Hey, Catch Ron!" George said as he threw the Quaffle down to his younger brother.
Unfortunately, he threw it with more force than necessary, and the result sent Ron crashing into the serpent candelabra, waking up the portrait of Mrs. Black.
The curtains flew back and the old woman began to yell in a screeching voice," FILTH! FREAKS! HOW DARE YOU BEFOUL THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS—"
Fred and George hurried down the stairs to help Harry and Ron close the curtain, but it was no use, it wouldn't close. As Harry was struggling, he heard hurried footsteps clamoring upstairs and looked just in time to see Lyra practically running down the stairs. At the sight of her, Mrs. Black's voice only seemed to screech higher, almost like a banshee's, as she pointed her claw like finger at Lyra.
"YOU! VILE WHELP OF THAT BLOOD TRAITOR! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE IN THE NOBLE HOUSE OF BLACK!"
In response, Lyra pulled out her wand and without any hesitation said, "Silencio!"
Surprisingly, the curtains flew back shut and Mrs. Black was silenced.
"That was bloody brilliant!" Fred complimented her, "but your not supposed to use magic if your underage!"
"The legal age to use magic in France is sixteen, and I turned sixteen in August," Lyra explained, but she wasn't looking at him. Her attention was instead focused on an empty space where another portrait was supposed to be beside Sirius's mum. Harry stared at the empty space. That hadn't been there before!
"Where did that come from?" Hermione asked breathlessly.
"I think it appeared when Ron knocked over the candelabra," Harry said.
Harry saw Lyra move to the doorway of the hidden room and took a step in.
"You're not actually going in there!?" Hermione said surprised, "There could be something dangerous in there!"
Lyra didn't answer her, though, she walked straight into the darkness and disappeared. Fred and George looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed her in, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione behind them.
As soon as they stepped into the room, the torches from above magically turned on. There was a bitter rush of wind that met them the moment they stepped further into the room. The room was rather huge and, in the dim lighting, he could make out the enormous, dusty shelves of books. He suspected that most of the books here, maybe even all of them, were about Dark Arts when he walked past a copy of the book Most Potente Potions, which was in much better condition than the one at Hogwarts.
"A library!" Hermione said, while she was inspecting the shelf of books closest to her, "It's full of Dark Arts!"
"You sound surprised by that," Lyra said sulkily, inspecting another shelf looking intensely at one of the books, "what else would be in this house? We should probably get an Order member though, I don't think they would be too happy to find this room here."
"I'll go," Ron volunteered, "I think Lupin and my dad are still here."
Harry watched Ron walk out of the room, but peripherally, he thought he saw Lyra grab a book from the shelf. He must have imagined it, though, because when he turned to look at her she was leaning against the shelf with her arms folded. Remus appeared a few minutes later, with Mr. Weasley following close behind him. One look at the room and they ordered everyone else out.
"We'll talk to Dumbledore tonight and ask him what we should do with the room," Mr. Weasley said shaking his head, "All of those books in that room are dangerously illegal."
While Mr. Weasley and Remus were in the process of moving the candelabra so the portrait would cover the secret room again, Mrs. Weasley returned carrying a dusty colored barn owl, which she handed to a delighted Ginny who came down the stairs. Mrs. Weasley wasn't very happy to learn that such a room existed in the Black house. She muttered darkly and left the room after making sure that Harry and the others did the same.
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They had a party to celebrate Ginny being made a prefect, just as they had done for Ron and Hermione last summer. There were a lot of Order members who decided to come. Today Tonk's hair was black and curly; Harry could see a slight resemblance to her and Lyra. He could also spot Bill and Fleur talking, and a little farther away, Mundungus, Shacklebolt, and Dumbledore, who came to inspect the mysterious dark library, were all in a conversation. Everyone began to grab food and make their way over to the long kitchen table. Harry was sitting on either side of Ron and Hermione, and across from Ginny.
"Congratulations, Ginny!" Lyra said, smiling as she set her plate on the table and sat next to Fleur.
"Did you have prefects at Beaxubatons?" Hermione asked curiously.
"We had something like it," Lyra answered before she put a meatball in her mouth.
"Were you one?" Ginny asked, causing Fleur beside her to choke with laughter.
"I zink zat she lost 'er chance when she used an ice charm to freeze all ze classrooms shut so no one could get in for zeir classes ze day before Chreestmas break."
"Allegedly! They never proved it was me," Lyra said, pretending to be hurt. Though, Harry could tell that she was grinning.
Harry and Ron laughed, but Hermione looked rather aghast. Fred and George, however, were looking at her, clearly impressed.
"I am sure that you had nothing to do with it," Dumbledore assured her, with a twinkle in his eyes, as he turned away from his conversation with Remus, "You do seem to take after your father, after all— "
Whatever else he was going to say was halted as Snape swept into the room. Harry felt the dread creep through him. He wouldn't have come here so he could congratulate Ginny…
"Ah, Severus," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "what brings you here?"
Snape's eyes darted over to his niece for a few seconds, then when it became obvious that Dumbledore was not going to dismiss her, he said, "He knows that Black has a daughter."
"I was afraid of that," Dumbledore sighed, suddenly looking very tired.
"Headmaster, perhaps it would be best if she stayed in this house instead of coming to Hogwarts," Snape suggested.
"I think she will be safe at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, watching Snape carefully.
"I'm not staying at Grimmauld Place," Lyra stated firmly, glaring at Snape.
"Do you want to want to die just like your worthless father?" Snape spat at her.
The silence that followed this comment lasted for an excruciatingly long time. A lot of the people in the room were now glaring at Snape. Harry felt the anger engulf him. If Hermione and Ron weren't restraining him, nothing would have stopped him from pulling out his wand and hexing Snape right then and there, underage magic or not. Lyra, however, didn't shout or even reach for her wand, though he could see her fingers twitch. Harry could see the storm brewing in her angry eyes and, for a moment, he was even sure he saw a flash of lightening in their depts.
"Go to hell!" she said in a voice icy enough to freeze Harry's blood.
Without saying anything else, she turned and headed out of the room. Snape watched her go and for the briefest second Harry thought he saw a look of…regret…cross the potion master's face. It was gone as quickly as it came, replaced with his usual look of loathing as he swept out of the house. Harry watched him go in fury. Suddenly, he wasn't enjoying the party anymore and he snuck out while things were going back to normal.
He walked down through the hallway, intending to go upstairs, but a sudden crash coming from Sirius's old room drove him over there. When he opened the door, he saw Lyra there going through the drawers. He was about to leave, but she looked up and saw him standing there.
"Shouldn't you be at the party?' she asked as she closed one drawer and opened a new one, her eyes avoiding his face.
"I didn't feel like staying anymore," Harry said, then asked, "What are you looking for?"
"Breena gave dad an album last year," She said as she shifted aside the contents of the second drawer before she pulled out a small, square mirror.
Harry felt numb. That was the other mirror that Sirius had given him last Christmas to keep in touch; if he had just tried the mirror first maybe Sirius wouldn't have died. Lyra must have seen the gloomy look on his face because she handed the mirror to him.
"Is this something important?" she asked softly.
Harry tried to speak but his throat constricted so he contented himself to nodding instead. She still held the mirror out for him to take, which he did.
"It's a mirror that you can use to talk to others through," Harry explained as Lyra looked at it curiously, "I have the other one."
Lyra nodded, but she didn't comment further. Harry watched her as she continued looking through the drawer. After several minutes of silence, Harry saw her pull out what she was looking for. It was a black, leather album that looked like it was still in good condition. After flipping through the pages briefly, she got up and sat on the bed right next to Harry. She set the book in her lap and opened the album to the first page. He looked at the pictures in amazement. He saw a younger looking Sirius smiling and waving at them while he held a little girl in his arms. He looked so happy; his eyes didn't yet have the deadened look that Azkaban had given him.
"That was my mother," Lyra said, pointing to the picture right across the one he was looking at.
Harry looked where Lyra had pointed and saw a young woman with curly, black hair holding the same little girl. She didn't look at all like he thought Snape's sister would look. She didn't have his nose for one thing. He could tell that Lyra looked a lot like her mum, but she looked a lot like Sirius too.
"What happened to her?" Harry asked before he could remember that she was dead.
"Voldemort killed her a few months after I was born," Lyra said desolately as she stared at her mother's picture.
As Lyra flipped to the end, he saw an older looking Sirius, the one that Harry remembered, hugging his daughter.
"Breena took that shortly after my third year when we were in New Zealand," she said with a tremor in her voice as she fell silent, but then continued, "I don't blame you."
Harry stared at her. He had not expected nor was he prepared for the abrupt change in conversation. He looked right in her eyes and he could see the tears building up within.
"How can you not?" He said finally as he felt the guilt overcome him, "If I hadn't gone to the Department-"
"You were tricked into going there!" she said, cutting him off, "Bellatrix sent him into the veil and Vodemort is the one that brought you there in the first place!"
"He didn't need to be rescued!" Harry said as he felt his temper rising.
"And what would have happened if he did!?" Lyra said fiercely, "I would have done the exact same thing you did, had I saw dad being tortured…and I know he would have too…I assume that's why you were avoiding me?" she finished softly, to which he nodded.
She smiled sadly then sat up and checked her watch and said, "Well, I think in going to try and get some sleep. I'm not in much of a mood for a party."
Harry watched her leave the room with the book tucked under the crook of her arm. He had never thought of it that way before. He felt slightly more relieved after talking to her—she didn't blame him! He had possibly felt better in that moment than he had all summer.
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A/N: If anyone is reading this story, please feel free to post any questions, comments, suggestions, or criticisms you have about this story. I'm going to start trying to update at least once a week as long as I don't suddenly develop a case of writer's block (it's possible).
