The Aftermath
Chapter Twelve
Trying to Help
Harry lay on his bed. It was four in the afternoon, and he was still trying to sort things out in his head. The more he tried, the more confused he became. Five hours later, he was still on his bed and nearly pulling out his hair in frustration. Why did Liz have to be so bloody complicated? Harry found himself wishing he knew Legimens, because at least then he would know what was going through her mind.
Hermione and Ron entered the room.
"Why weren't you at dinner, mate?" Ron said.
Harry shrugged, not sitting up. "Just lying here . . . thinking."
"Well, we all have a lot on our minds, and I hate to add another one to your burden, Harry, but" Hermione paused.
"Out with it then," Harry said vaguely.
"Liz didn't show up for dinner either, and since no one saw her all day we went to go look for her," Ron said.
"And . . . ?" Harry was beginning to see where this was going.
"We found her," Hermione said. "She was a real wreck though! She was sobbing in the gardens and it was really dark. We asked her what was wrong and she didn't answer us."
There was a silence. "What does that have to do with me?"
Hermione stared at him. "Well, you seem to know her better than the rest of us, so did she say anything to you?"
Harry shrugged.
Ron sat up to look at him as well. "Did you talk to her at all today?"
Harry grunted.
"It would be nice if you communicated with us using words, Harry!" Hermione scolded.
"Yeah, I saw her this afternoon."
The two of them looked at him expectantly.
"What happened?" Hermione asked him.
Harry sat up slowly, propping himself up on his shoulders barely lifting his back off the mattress. "She wasn't a real mess when I saw her. She was just sitting there in the garden by the menagerie reading. We talked a bit and the conversation ended when she walked away all huffy and stuff."
"So you made her – "
"No, it's something else."
"How do you know?"
Harry paused. He had promised not to tell anyone about Liz's parents being dead. "I said she wasn't a mess when I saw her, I didn't say she was normal."
Hermione paused. "How was she acting then?"
"Kind of cold, she was rather short with me now that I think about it," Harry answered truthfully. "Didn't smile much . . . in fact, I don't think she smiled at all."
"Why do you think she got mad at you?" Ron asked.
Harry paused again. He was a little confused there as well. He knew he shouldn't have brought up her father, but he couldn't say that to Ron and Hermione. Instead, he lied. "I guess because I wouldn't drop the fact that she wasn't acting normally."
Hermione looked at him. "Do you think you could talk to her?"
"Probably not. She's probably still angry with me."
"Then apologize and then talk to her."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the one who seems to know her more than we do," Ron said to him.
"Really?"
"Yeah!" Hermione said, and Harry got the feeling that she had made an effort not to roll her eyes.
"Okay, say I do apologize, and she doesn't accept the apology," Harry said.
"Then leave the door open for her to talk to you," Hermione said.
"What if she asks what I'm apologizing for?" Harry said. "I don't know a definite answer."
"Apologize for upsetting her then."
"What if I don't want to apologize?" Harry asked.
"Do you like the fact that she's angry with you?" Hermione answered.
Harry thought of giving her a defiant "yes" but knew he couldn't. Letting himself fall back onto the mattress, he sighed and said, "No, I don't." He didn't know why but it was true.
"Then go say sorry!" Hermione said.
"Now?" Harry asked. It was about 9:30. "I'm kind of tired."
Hermione looked at her watch. "Fine, tomorrow morning then. It'd probably be best to let her sleep it off."
"Okay."
"You will go talk to her, right?"
"Uh huh."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, promise."
"Okay then."
Ron and Hermione got up. "See you later, mate," Ron said.
The bright light from the hall momentarily lit up Harry's dark room. He had only lit one of the lamps. Harry got up and turned the rest of the lights on. Looking out of the window, Harry wondered whether or not the view was real or not. Knolls lit by moonlight rolled on in every direction. Quarter moon.
Looking at the window frame, Harry saw a square security pad and a menu. A view menu. His was currently set on "Outside" but the featured views included Sunset Over the Caribbean Sea, From the Top of the Eiffel Tower, The Bell Tower of Notre Dame, Niagra Falls, (A/N: I think that's how you spell it, it's an island in Hawaii covered in tropical flowers and waterfalls), Stonehenge, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, The Coliseum, and others.
Geniuses! Harry thought. It was no wonder they were rich. Liz probably embodied the innovation that resided in her parents' genes. The Wallaces really should have had another kid to maybe siphon off that concentrated hereditary intelligence. To try and take his mind off of Liz's drama, and the lady herself, Harry sat back down on the bed to peruse his Hogwarts letter, checking off what he did and did not need.
After a few minutes of this tedious task, Harry couldn't concentrate anymore. Looking at Hedwig, he said, "What do you think Voldemort's planning? What role do you think the Wallaces play in his scheme? No, explain this: they're smart people right? How could they let themselves get caught leaving Liz here to deal with him? What happened that night? What . . . " Harry got blank stares from his snowy owl. "Happened . . . " he trailed off.
All right, Harry thought, getting out of bed. "So Liz doesn't want to talk about her parents' death, how she really feels about it, how it doesn't concern me . . . fine. But this does concern me. I need to know . . . something . . . anything. I hate being left in the dark." And consequently at the moment he picked up a flashlight. Maybe there was something he could do before he talked to Liz in the morning. He could investigate.
Harry put on a jacket (his room was provided with a wardrobe that, on the first day there, had made measurements and scanned colors and provided him with clothes that were stylish and suited him well) and a pair of Nike trainers and headed out.
What Harry hadn't anticipated was the fact that he could very well get lost and he hadn't brought his map. He realized this when he ran into a random staircase and didn't know where it led. "Oh well," he said, talking out loud to keep himself company. "Someone will find me in the morning."
He climbed the staircase and to his surprise, it led to the gardens. It was cold, so Harry immediately zipped up his jacket. It was a summer night but his breath still fogged up in front of him.
Looking around him, Harry found himself getting goose bumps. It was dark and cold and he was very alone. Actually quite funny how he could do things like enter the Forbidden Forest following a trail of spiders and feel uncomfortable when he was doing this. Then again, Ron had been with him then.
Harry jumped at the sound of barking. Knowing he was in the wrong place didn't stop him; Harry was curious so he followed the sound. It sounded like way more than the one dog that Harry knew that Liz owned. Wondering where the sound would lead him, a sign on the path answered his question: it was the word "kennel" with an arrow.
Harry followed the path, walking briskly now. He didn't like to think of all that space behind him. With the building in sight, Harry broke into a jog.
"Ahoy! What's the hurry?"
The beam of the flashlight abruptly rested on a dog that was seated in the middle of the path and for a moment its eyes gleamed in the torch's (A/N: I forgot they call flashlights "torches" over there . . . right?) light. In Harry's jumpy state, the dog looked like a wolf and as far as Harry was concerned, the source of the voice could be a very sinister source indeed. Harry shouted (screamed would probably be a closer description), backed away, and seeing as how he had been going so fast in the first placehe lost his balance and fell over.
A barking laughter filled his head and he came to his senses. "You must be new," the same voice spoke in Harry's head.
"Excuse me?"
"Well, most of the time, when people visit, they already know the story. Forgive me for staring, but you just look so comical!"
"Well stop staring!" Harry said to the dog, scrambling to get up. "You scared the hell out of me!"
The dog was still laughing. "You would have had time to deal with the shock if you had been watching where you were going. You were almost full out running!" More laughter.
"It's nice to know the animals here are so happy," Harry said, starting to walk down the path once more. "You take entirely too much enjoyment in the fact that I just fell over." The batteries in the light had been jostled and the thing wouldn't turn on. While struggling with the device, Harry asked, "What story? Am I dreaming? No, I'm too cold to be dreaming. How can there be a talking dog?"
"I'm not talking," the dog responded.
"Oh good," Harry said.
"No, I meant the literal definition of talking. I'm communicating with you, yes, and don't worry you aren't crazy, and I'm sorry, you aren't asleep either. Lizzy never told you? Well I suppose she wouldn't – she could get in a lot of trouble, you see, with all those Experimental Charms bans and such. You have to get a license to do stuff like that because quite frankly, stuff like that is really dangerous – especially when you come to a witch as gifted as our Liz. Anyhow, Lizzy is a bookworm you know that? Well she is . . . "
So this animal is going to keep on talking? Harry thought.
"And when she was little," the dog continued, "She loved this series of picture books . . . some stupid books about a dog named Martha. This dog ate a can of alphabet soup and could suddenly talk. Well, Liz got it into her little head that if you did this with all dogs, it would work, and of course it didn't. Kima, who was just a pup at the time, was there when it happened.
"Liz was so upset when it didn't work, but suddenly a big flash of light, Kima ate the soup, and suddenly BOOM, she was blasted with human intelligence, reason, humor . . . actually, I'd say more that average human intelligence, reason, and humor because some humans aren't as clever as us dogs. Well, left on her own, Ms. Liz can get into a lot of trouble. She fed the alphabet soup to all us animals – she just kept making more and more and more and more and more . . . "
"Let me finish this story for you," Harry said, jerking the light back into action and shining it in the dog's face, "Now you can communicate your exact thoughts and wishes to any hapless human that comes along, and now you live happily ever after?"
The dog, which looked like a rather charming mix of a golden retriever and a German shepherd, trotted along side him, golden brown ears flopping merrily. Now it looked nothing like a wolf. "And why wouldn't we be happy? Good food, plenty of animal company, nice places to play, comfortable places to sleep, tons of toys, no fleas or ticks, and the best owners dogs could ever ask for. However we can't communicate to any human. Only people who know Liz. Ooh, and you know what? We're even eavesdrop proof! Isn't that splendid? We can talk to one person at a time telepathically without any of the others being none the wiser! We could never betray our owners: and we don't. We're loyal; which is another quality that some humans have yet to grasp, you know."
"Aren't your owners, you know, never around here?" Harry asked. Talking was something that could keep his face warm . . . and from having a panic attack.
"We don't live here normally. Used to live at the main house, but when they move house, we come too. It kind of works like those circle sofa thingies in the house, except it works with a whole building. It's always a bit disoriented at the beginning, but things always sort themselves out."
Harry decided not to inquire further. Insead, he asked, "They're really that nice to you, huh?"
"Yep."
"It's too bad . . . " Harry didn't know whether or not to mention Thomas Cain.
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Oh, you mean about Tom?" the dog said sadly. "You know?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah, I do."
The dog's tail now hung limp. "He was a good man - always had time to play Frisbee.The guywas almost a dog himself really. He romped and rolled with the best of us, even if he was wearing one of hisexpensive suits. Really strong type really, but always gentle and kind when it came to his family and us. Always had a sense of humor though and he was a good sport when we were able to tackle him, which, I tell you, wasn't easy. He was really fast! Probably had something to do with the fact that his Animagus form was a horse."
"Wow, he sounds like he was some character!"
"You should have known him, he was among the best of them. And he was the best barbecue griller in the world! I swear, he knew his way around meat!"
"You're such a dog."
"Thank you!"
Harry laughed, and the dog's tail started moving again.
"So, Sir Dog, do you have a name?" Harry asked.
"Ranger, and you're Harry Potter I assume?"
"Liz told you about me?"
"No, I saw you in that edition of the Quibbler a few months back. I think that's the only edition of the Quibbler that Kate, Liz's mom, ever bought. I don't even think she bought it, I think Liz sent it to her. I remember hearing Kate say that it was the only one that was actually worth something. The truth is a valuable thing. It isn't always what you want it to be, but at least it's always constant. Lies, stories, can change in an instant. But when you know the truth . . . well, I'm sure you know the feeling."
"Let me guess, it was that article that turned around the household's opinion that I was just some attention starved psycho?"
"No, unlike the rest of the idiots out there, we trusted Dumbledore. Dumbledore doesn't make many mistakes, and if we can't believe anything that he says, the world, as they say, and this is a saying I don't get, would've gone to the dogs. As if we could trust solely in Fudge!"
Harry was glad to hear this. He also heard something else, something that sounded like music.
"Oh tornado turds, they've started!" Ranger hurried forward.
"Started what?" Harry asked, running after the dog. Tornado turds? That's one nasty thing I hope I never hear again . . .
Ranger zoomed through the dog flap and Harry opened the door. He was immediately met by blasts of music. The bass in the song was shaking the ground and Harry felt it vibrate his body and could swear that the sound was shaking his bones.
Who let the dogs out?
Woof! Woof, woof, woof!
"Holy poo on toast!" (A/N: stole that from What a Girl Wants)
"Isn't it great?" Ranger said.
Harry couldn't find anything to say for a moment. All words seemed to have vacated the premises of his brain. Then, "You changed the lyrics."
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Ranger had super sharp dog hearing, but he couldn't hear Harry over the music.
"I said that you changed the lyrics!"
"We can bark 'who, who, who, who' much better than we can sing it," Ranger said, his tail wagging to the beat.
Harry could hear the Baha Men singing over the dogs' yelps, which he assumed where cheers and whoops.
When the party was nice, the party was bumpin' Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo
And everybody havin' a ball Hah, ho, Yippie Yi Yo
I tell the fellas "…start the name callin'…" Yippie Yi Yo
And the girls report to the call the poor dog show up! ha ha ha ha
Harry was dumbfounded. Then, he just started laughing, and found he couldn't stop.
"Now you're getting it!" Ranger commented. "Sing along, it's fun!"
Still laughing, Harry shook his head. "I'll sit this one out, thank you very much!"
The chorus started and Ranger barked in time with the lyrics. Harry was almost rolling on the floor laughing. He watched the dogs, tails wagging to the beat and barking with the chorus. He was barely able to hold in his laughter when the song ended and the dogs did their "Arf, arf, aroo!"s.
Then Ranger got up on his hind legs gave a "ruff!" and a jerk of his head in Harry's direction. Probably announcing my arrival, Harry thought to himself.
A chocolate brown Labrador came up to Harry as J-Kwon's Tipsy started to play. "Welcome Harry! We don't get many visitors around here, so I must say this is a pleasant surprise."
Harry grinned and reached up to scratch the Labrador between the ears (he had to reach up because he was sitting down cross legged on the grass). "It's nice to be here."
"I hope you feel comfy and don't worry about pooper scoopers or anything like that because we are probably the only animals in the world who have bathrooms to use."
Harry laughed and nodded. "That's nice to know!"
The group of dogs left and Ranger ran up to Harry. "I'll be your guide through the animal house tonight, because you do need one. This place is huge, and you could get lost. We couldn't be responsible for that, now could we?"
"Thanks," Harry said, getting up and brushing himself off. "Are you guys having some sort of party?" He asked, referring to the music.
"No, we just do this every night."
"Whoa! All of the dogs?"
"Nope, just the guys," Ranger said. "The girls would rather sleep."
"Oh, are all the animals asleep?" Harry asked. If they were, then he didn't want to wake them.
"No! It's only ten!" Ranger said, surprised. "But why though?"
"Why what?"
"What brings you here this time of night?"
Harry paused. "I kind of . . . couldn't sleep," he said.
"I smell a rat," Ranger cocked his head to the side. "And if you're tired, which you look like you are, you should be able to sleep. So why can't you? Do you have some ulterior motive to roaming around while the rest of your buddies are sleeping?"
Harry blinked. A growl began to rise from Ranger's throat.
"All you need to know," Harry said reluctantly, "is that I just want to help."
"I see . . . yeah, I guess it would help Liz if she talked to someone like you or those other kids," Ranger said thoughtfully. "It'd be better if we could contact those kids who used to come around all the time, but I have a feeling Dumbledore wouldn't allow it . . . " Ranger said this last part more to himself than Harry. "Well, it'd be best to talk to Kima, Carli, and Lightning. They belong to Liz, and Liz alone, so they're closest to her."
Harry nodded. "I've met Kima, she's that Siberian husky right?"
"Yuh huh, and Carli's the white cat that has a patch of black fur on her right paw that kind of looks like a star, and Lightning is that golden horse. Lightning is half unicorn so he sort of glows, you'll know him straight away. Oh, and my own personal advice? Quidditch is a good conversation starter with Liz. Her broom of choice is a Thunderflash, which is second only to the Firebolt."
"Ok, Thunderflash, got it." Harry said nodding.
"Kima's kind of cute, I wouldn't mind talking to her myself . . . "
"Whoa! I do not want to know this!"
"Okay, okay, I'll just lead you to them!"
"Good!"
Ranger led Harry futher into the kennel, but they couldn't find Kima. Then he went to the place where the cats were kept (which had balls and balls of rerolling yarn, climbing poles, scratching posts, and other such things) and they couldn't find Carli, and then they went to the stables, and no Lightning.
"Really, this is getting ridiculous!" Ranger barked, looking agitated. He went up to a nearby white mare. "Excuse me Misty, but did you happen to see where Lightning went?"
"Yeah, he's out by the waterfall," Misty said obligingly.
"Thanks!" Ranger said, trotting out of the menagerie into the night air once more. "You coming?" he called after Harry, and Harry followed.
They followed a cobblestone path for a while and Harry heard the sound of rushing water. Harry blinked. They had a waterfall in their backyard. There were dark shapes moving at the pool at the bottom of the waterfall and the sight gave Harry the creeps.
Ranger stopped. "I smell fear, and I think it's coming from you."
"You say it as though I just passed gas."
"Hey, fear, like gas, is a part of nature. Out with it, what's bugging you?"
"Nothing, let's just keep going."
"No, what?"
"Nothing!"
"Really, what?"
"Nothing!"
"Oh, that."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"No, what?"
"Nothing."
"What?"
"You're afraid of the dark."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"I so am not!"
"You so are!"
"You know what, never mind."
"If it bothers you that much, just turn on the lights!"
"There are lights out here?" Harry hadn't thought of that.
"Have you seen the rest of the house? There are lights everywhere! None of the Cains were too happy about all that empty space, so they filled the emptiness with light and sound. To turn on all the lights, which I don't suggest because it becomes so bright it's almost day, you say 'Lights on!' but if you just want it sufficiently illuminated so that you can see and it's not quite so 'creepy' I suggest you turn on the pathway lights."
"Er . . . okay . . . pathway lights on!" And the place brightened.
Harry could now see that the three dark shapes he had seen before were just the animals that he had desperately wanted to find. They approached the dog, cat, and horse.
Ranger went forward, speaking with them, but Harry apparently was excluded from the conversation because they didn't project their words into his mind. (A/N: but seeing as how I know what they're saying, I can tell you!)
"Hey guys! A visitor!" Ranger called out, rushing up to them.
"Hey Range!" Kima called. "How did the bacon treat you this morning?"
"Oh, it was great, I swear, Molly Weasley is among the best cooks in the world! But I'dgive upthe bacon for a shishkebab any day!"
Carli rubbed against his leg in a gesture of hello. "Hi Ranger! Who's he?"
"Really Carli, must you be so rude!" Lightning said playfully.
"Me? Rude? Never!" Carli said, purring.
"Well, I'm going to say hello," Lightning said.
"All right . . . watch the tail!" Cali hissed slightly. Lightning had walked forward and his hoof had pressed down on her tail.
"Sorry!"
"Fishsticks, that hurt!" she said, yowling loudly.
By this time, Harry had reached them.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Oh, hello," Lightning said, still distracted by Carli.
"Hey Harry," Kima said. "I suppose Range's caught you up on the . . . peticulars?" She said, referring to the communication issues.
"Hey Kima, and yeah," Harry replied. He looked down at the white cat. "What's wrong?"
"He stepped on my tail!" she said to Harry, her mournful "meerow" reaching his ears.
"I can help with that," he said. He lifted Carli up and she lay on the grass in front of him. Petting under the chin, he soon got the cat to purr.
"That's better!" Carli said, getting up and stretching.
"Sorry Carli, but I can't always see everything from my height!" Lighting was saying, neighing apologetically.
"It's ok. So, Harry is it? What brings you here? It's almost midnight!" Carli said.
"Yes Harry," Kima said, agreeing. "You should be in bed."
"I just wanted . . . well, what it is is that . . . " Harry looked helplessly back at Ranger. "I kind of wanted to ask you whether Liz is all right or not." Of course she's not okay! Harry thought to himself. Well, I still need to know whether she's okay enough to talk. I still need to know things . . .
"Um, no," Carli said.
"Harry, her father just died!" Lightning said. "That's going to be hard on a person."
"I know that, but I wanted to know how I could help her."
"Well, the talk you had before with her kind of helped," Kima said.
"I can't understand why she broke down this afternoon though," Carli said.
Harry looked away, pulling at a solitary piece of crab grass in the lawn. "I think that was my fault."
"No, it wasn't you," Lightning said. "She doesn't cry when she's mad."
"So she's still mad at me?"
"Eh, don't worry about it," Carli said. "She never stays angry for long."
"Maybe something happened when none of us was around. Maybe she sawsomeone's bike or something," Kima suggested.
Lightning nodded. "Because she's not one to spontaneously burst out in tears. She's stronger than that."
"And she's too smart to let the grief get to her," Carli commented. "She knows better."
"I agree," Kima said. "Liz is the type who always finds something good to hold on to. She's always got hope."
They spoke of her with such admiration that Harry was touched. "She must be really special, huh?"
Kima looked at him and with the utmost seriousness she said, "Honey, you don't know the half of it."
Author's Note: Now what did the dog mean by that? lol