Disclaimer: Nothing new in this matter... pity:(
Author note: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY... Been gone for whole weekend, so I had no time to write... sorry, sorry, sorry. I promise to write the next chapter much sooner, maybe even by Friday.
This chapter is shorter, than my chapters usually are, but I just wanted desperately to post something, so I had it little shorter than planned. Sorry for that as well.
I have a question. Would you like me to write the personal responses for the reviews you are posting? I sometimes feel tempted to write them, to answer the questions or to thank the oldest reviewers. But when I'm reading other stories, then the long list of answers usually annoys me to no end. So, what should I do?
And as usually: THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!
Ah yes, one question I feel obliged to answer. I wrote in third chapter, that Harry was one year younger then Ron and Hermione, according to their cover story. I didn't really explain that, although I should have. The ministry workers, who made up the whole story, wanted it to be as believable as possible, so that other students didn't get suspicious. So they decided, that it would be strange, if in one year, there were two unrelated families, who decided not to let their children go to Hogwarts. It would be even stranger though, if they were triplets, so ministry wizards decided, to make Harry one year younger and just started his education in exactly the same time his brother and sister did. So, he is in the sixth year, even though, according to the cover story, he is one year younger. I hope it makes more sense now.
Author note 2: Once again, large thanks to Aln-Mai:)
Chapter 10
Lily was sitting in her bed and gazing outside the window. The other girls in the dormitory were already asleep. It was so quiet that Lily could clearly hear their calm breathing. Well—maybe calm wasn't exactly the best word, as Hermione and Heather were snoring quite loudly, each of them in her own different rhythm. On top of that, Lea was muttering something in her sleep.
Lily didn't listen to her, though. In fact, she was very deep in thought, trying to make some sense of the events of last few days. Events which mostly were mostly connected to one particular person—Harry Bradley.
First, he lost so pathetically his duel with James. Lily was still unsure how exactly it made her feel—disappointed to some extent, but also truly worried, worried that he was hurt.
Back then, she hadn't noticed that Harry hadn't screamed even once, nor showed any other sign of pain. But now, after the second duel, it suddenly appeared to be quite an important clue, if one wanted to solve the mystery of Harry Bradley.
Yes, the second duel—it was simply unbelievable. Not just because Harry had actually managed to win it—when it came to a confrontation like that, skills were just as important as luck. What truly left her speechless (or rather blabbing incoherently for the next half an hour) were the spells Harry had used. She didn't even recognize half of them! How did Harry, who was home-tutored only by his mother, know such advanced magic? For Lily, it just lacked logic.
But even with that puzzling matter aside, there were some other questions. If the whole story so far was true, then why had Hermione insisted so strongly on keeping the duel a secret?
Harry was considered a coward by quite a lot of the Gryffindors at the moment, and unless he had some other hidden reason, it would be perfectly natural for him to be proud of himself—and to want to change the opinion that others had about him.
So what was really going on? What was the reason behind Hermione's bizarre request? Lily had no idea, but she was pretty sure that there was much more to the three new students than met the eye. And she was going to find out what exactly they were hiding.
Albus Dumbledore was also up late that night, to his own dismay. However, he had just finished his work. He locked the door to his office and activated all the wards, which protected this place when he was out.
Instead of heading to his apartment, though, he suddenly decided to go for a walk and have some time alone—to think. There was a lot going on in Hogwarts, as usual. Teachers and students alike were coming to him with different requests and questions. The board of governors was, just like every year, annoying to no end. Not that he would ever admit it openly, but he simply hated the necessity of explaining his every decision to people who didn't really know what was needed for the school.
There were a lot of things that had yet to be done—if there ever was a person truly fond of his job, it was Albus Dumbledore. And even now, after an exhausting day of dealing with plenty of important issues, he still walked about with his thoughts circling around his job instead of going to bed, as anybody else would do.
Actually, his focus was mostly on the particular three students who had joined Hogwarts' population just that year. Yes...interesting, they certainly were very interesting.
First the girl—he barely knew her, and already he was struck by her impressive intelligence. She had managed to discover without any help that they had traveled back in time. She had gotten absolutely brilliant results in her O.W.L.s—much more than he would ever expect from a student who had probably hadn't touched the textbook for at least two months.
Then came the redheaded one—that is, originally redheaded, as they were all charmed to blond right now. Dumbledore didn't know much about him, but he certainly took a lot after his mother. He had her temper and inability to accept reality if it was not to his liking. That was enough to convince the old headmaster that this boy was a fine wizard. Not to mention how easily, according to Olaf Lindberg, he had won his duel with one of the top Ravenclaw students in his year.
And then finally, the most interesting one of them. This boy, son of James Potter and, if Dumbledore's assumptions were correct, Lily Evans—yes, he was a riddle, and a difficult one to solve, too. The strange scar on his forehead, obviously originating from some strong, dark curse—the unexpected ability to protect his mind from Legilimency—and his huge, huge talent for magic, made obvious after the duel with Olaf. Yes, interesting—he had a few theories about young Harry, and even though he couldn't really check to see whether they were correct or not, he suspected that he had to be close.
He certainly had to be of some sort of importance; there were just too many strange things about Harry. And then his frightening resemblance to Tom—it was nothing about his looks, but more about the lack of trust he had for most of the adults and his special powers—but then, he didn't have Tom's coldness and sense of superiority. He wanted to be close with other people just as badly as the young man who later became known by the name of Lord Voldemort, had tried to avoid them.
He felt a shiver running down his spine. Tom was his biggest failure—biggest and with the most significant consequences. All the deaths and this overwhelming fear that seemed to be hanging over the wizarding world—somehow he knew whose doings stood behind it all, even without any proof.
Once again he felt a shiver. He had the same sort of feeling now, about Harry Potter. There was some reason why this boy had a crucial meaning for their whole society. He was not sure whether it was for good or for worse, but he knew that he had to protect him, protect him from some inexplicable danger lurking in the dark. What kind of danger, he didn't know...
Being as straightforward as she was, Lily wasn't the sort of person who would try to sneak around people she liked. On the first occasion, which came on Sunday just after breakfast, she asked Harry, Ron and Hermione for a minute of private conversation.
They went outside and sat by the lake, since the day was warm and sunny. For a while, they did nothing but enjoyed the fine weather. After some time, Hermione finally asked what Lily wanted to talk about.
Lily, who was lying relaxed on the grass, with her eyes closed and a small smiled plastered to her face, sobered immediately and got to her point without any special introduction. She briefly related to them everything she had been pondering for so long last night and openly asked whether everything they said about themselves was true.
Harry, Ron and Hermione were abashed and just stared at redheaded girl speechlessly for a while. Harry's thoughts were running strange paths at that moment. He didn't know what to say, but part of him was almost relieved at this turn of events. If Lily knew the truth, than there would be one more person who he wouldn't have to lie to about his past and his real feelings. On the other hand, he couldn't predict Lily's reaction. What if she didn't believe him or—even worse—she did and didn't want to have anything to do with Harry afterwards? He was very grateful that she had decided to come and talk openly with them about her doubts instead of investigating the answers or discussing the matter with some of her other friends.
If Lily was at first not fully convinced whether her suspicions were justified, she had no more doubts. The expressions on their faces clearly indicated that they were guilty as charged. Seeing that, she folded her arms on her chest and waited with her eyebrows raised for an answer.
As usually, it was Hermione who spoke in the end.
"Look, Lily—you are right, there are things about us, which you don't know—I guess it wasn't very hard to come to this conclusion after yesterday..." She paused for a moment, and both Harry and Ron could almost see the wheels turning inside of her head. She was obviously not sure what to say yet and how much she should reveal, and tried to gain some time before she came up with suitable explanation.
"The problem is—I don't really know what to say..." she confessed at last. Lily looked slightly annoyed with this as she replied, "How about the truth?"
Hermione winced. "We can't..." she began in a small voice, but before she could continue, Lily interrupted her, shouting with visible anger as her temper got better of her.
"Fine! Just fine with me! I thought you trusted me! I trusted you! I thought we were friends!" She took a deep breath. "But very well! If you don't give a damn about me, then I'm not going to give a damn about you!" The longer she shouted, more furious she got. Harry, Ron and Hermione were surprised by her outburst. They all felt very comfortable around Lily, but calling their relationship a "friendship" just after one week seemed a little bit quick to them.
Before she could do or say anything more, Harry grabbed her hand, looking her straight into eyes.
"You are right, Lily. We shouldn't keep it all from you, but the problem is that for some reason, we have to. We are not the only people that the truth concerns." He tried to speak reasonably, but it clearly didn't appeal to Lily. She stopped shouting, but took her hand out of Harry's grasp.
"And what is so important about you that you can't share it with others? You're just normal teenagers, after all!" she said sarcastically.
Harry was tempted to reply, "No, we're not!" but instead, he spoke calmly.
"Please, don't be angry, Lily. I really can't tell you much—but if you want, I can tell you some parts of it..." he looked at her pleadingly. He just couldn't afford losing her sympathy, now that his father already hated him with all his heart.
"Just promise, you want tell anyone."
"Of course I won't!" Lily said indignantly.
"Good!" he smiled at her warmly. "I guess the first thing I can tell you is that we aren't really siblings..."
"Harry!" Hermione's sudden scream made him break eye contact with his mother. He suddenly realized that Hermione and Ron were assuming that he was about to come up with another story. How wrong they were!
"In fact, we aren't related at all, apart from the fact that we're friends from school. Due to some circumstances, which I really can't reveal, we had to leave our previous school and move here—I can't give you any details, Lily, but trust me, I would like to, if it didn't put my family in danger."
Lily was astonished. It was obvious that she found it hard to believe what Harry had just said.
"Look, you have to believe me!" Harry was not going to give up. "Dumbledore knows about it—he was the one who made most of arrangements..." Lily turned her head few times as she looked at each of them for some time. Then one thought struck her—Harry had to be telling her the truth—or at least some part of it—why else would Hermione try to stop him?
"I believe you," she almost whispered.
"Good!" Harry grinned widely. Hermione also smiled slightly and it looked odd, because her forehead was still frowning. Ron also seemed relieved, but he had to make sure once again that Lily was not going to tell anyone about anything she had just heard. She assured him that no, she had no intention of revealing their secrets to anyone.
They spent rest of the morning together by the lake, explaining some of the details of their situation, but avoiding mentioning anything concerning time-traveling and, of course, hiding their true surnames.
Harry was sure that this morning was going to be one of his happiest memories.
