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Chapter 22 going, going, gone
Friday morning, Harry went down to breakfast with a smile on his face. He sat down and started to eat, ignoring the looks from everyone at the table, except Remus, gave him due to the change in his routine from the past two days. He felt much better after sharing things with Remus last night. After Remus left, Harry spent some time writing in his journal about his feelings towards his grandparents.
"Harry," Professor Dumbledore said.
"Yes, sir," Harry replied, looking down at his plate and thinking 'please don't ask, please don't ask'. Since he was looking downward, he missed the warning glance that Remus shot in Albus's direction, requesting that he leave the topic alone.
"I'm glad to see that you are feeling better."
"Thank you." Harry said as he let out a deep sigh of relief.
"We will have to stop your occlumency lessons until after school starts. The remainder of the staff will be returning this weekend and we will all be busy preparing for the upcoming school year."
"Yes, sir," Harry said, not paying too much attention to what Dumbledore was saying. After not eating for two days, Harry was starved and all his focus seemed to be on the plate in front of him.
"Snape tells me that you've significantly improved in occlumency," Albus said, eyes twinkling. He ignored the glare from Severus, he agreed not to mention the comments the professor made regarding Harry's talents in potions, Severus made no restrictions about repeating his comments on other subjects. Albus had had enough of the contention between these two. It was now obvious that the two could get along. And he was going to do what he could to improve the relationship between these two key elements in the war against Voldemort, Albus thought as he continued, "He has also agreed at my request and against his judgment, he tells me, to admit you into his NEWT class."
Harry ignored the potion master's glare and tried to hold in his laughter as he recalled the professor's 'conditions' that he overheard last night. "Thank you, professor," he said as he turned toward the potion master.
"Now, Harry, the question has come up about where to have you spend the last two weeks before term starts."
Harry paled as he remembered Dumbledore's words last night about sending him home. His eyes pleadingly turned towards Remus's. Seeing this, Albus continued, "Unfortunately, Remus will be away on a special assignment and will not be available. No one else will be available either, since as I mentioned, we will be occupied with pre-term items. We don't want you to be bored or lonely here, so I am afraid that we have no choice but to send you-"
Suspecting that the sentence would be ending with 'back to the Dursleys', Harry didn't give Dumbledore a chance to finish his sentence, but instead interrupted, "Honestly headmaster, I won't be any trouble. Maybe there are some things I could do to help? Maybe work with Hagrid, or, um, even Filch? I could help clean the classrooms or the common areas or something." Harry said, knowing that he didn't want the best summer of his life to end by him spending two weeks with the Dursleys, even if they did ignore him.
"Calm down, my boy." Albus said, eyes twinkling. "If you would really rather stay here than with the Weasley's, I am sure that we can work something out."
"Oh, yes. Thank you, professor. I would much rather stay here than with...Wait, did you say at the Weasley's?" Harry looked around and saw that Snape was looking at him with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. All the other adults at the table were trying to hold back their own laughter and expressions of amusement, and doing a poor job of it too, one might say.
"Why certainly Harry, where did you think I meant?"
Harry just crossed his arms and looked at the headmaster, hardly believing that he would do that to him.
"I thought you were going to say that I would be spending the remainder of the holidays back at the Dursley's. You know what I was thinking. You did that on purpose." Harry glared at Dumbledore, while the other professors, except Remus and Snape wondered a) why Harry didn't refer to it as home and b) why he would be so upset to spend time with his family.
Ignoring Harry's glare, the same way he ignored Severus's, Albus answered, "Since you have made such progress with occlumency, I am sure that you will have more than adequate protection against Voldemort's visions. Even without the extra wards that are on Hogwarts or your home."
Harry finally relented and smiled at Dumbledore. "Thank you, sir."
"Your welcome Harry, I dare say you deserve a holiday this year. You have worked hard this summer. You will be leaving tomorrow afternoon, Remus will escort you."
"Harry, are you ready? The Weasley's are expecting us."
"Yeah, just about," Harry said as he opened the door to let Remus into his room. "I'm just finishing packing everything." He said as he placed his books in his trunk.
"Remus, I need a way to disguise Cybelle's journal."
"Why do you want to disguise it?"
"Because I want to read it before school starts, but I don't want Ron or Hermione to know what I am reading, since they don't know that I was adopted. I also don't want anyone else able to read it if they find it."
"Hmm, I suggest that you disguise it as another book, one that no one else would want to read."
"If it was just Ron, that would be easy. The only books he reads are about Quidditch. However, Hermione will be there as well, and I am pretty sure that she will read just about anything, except of course, Quidditch."
"Hmm," Remus said again. "Do you still have those advanced charm books you borrowed from the library?"
"A few, why?"
"So we can look up some charms, Harry." Remus said with a smile on his face.
"Oh, here." Harry said as he handed some books to Remus, who immediately started thumbing through them.
"There is a charm that your mother, er Lily, used to keep James and Sirius from reading her diary."
"What was it?"
"I don't remember the name, charms was never my strong subject. I do remember that it is fairly advanced. Each person who sees the book, who doesn't know what it really is would just see a book on a subject that would not interest them."
"But how will that work? Won't they see different books then and become suspicious?"
"I think James and Sirius saw it as the same book, of course, that could be because they had similar interests. Ah, here it is, 'Alienus Thema'. Apparently, when the charm is at work, it scans anyone who could possibly come into contact with the book and disguises itself as a subject that the majority, if not all, won't be interested in. It also charms the text so that anyone else reading it will read random facts about that topic. The only problem, is that the charm would need to be done at the Weasley's house so that the book would scan Ron and Hermione, as well as everyone else in the vicinity."
"How can I do that? Once I leave Hogwarts, I will have to adhere to the underage restriction on magic." Harry, said, as he sat down on the bed, a disappointed look on his face.
"I might not be the best at charms, but I can try to apply this once we reach the Weasley's."
"Thanks, Moony, hopefully that will work. Otherwise, I will have to tell them about the adoption before I find anything out about my parents."
"Okay, now finish packing; I'll bring this book with us and the rest I'll return to the library."
Harry and Remus arrived at the Weasley's via floo network. It took about ten minutes for Remus to convince them that the tall, long-haired, blue-eyed young man next to him was indeed Harry Potter. Ron knew that he had gotten taller, but none of them had seen or heard about the changes to his hair, eyes, or his facial features.
"Blimey Harry, what did you do to yourself?" Ron asked the minute he and Hermione were alone. Remus had walked Harry to his room, spelled Cybelle's journal, and left for his 'mission' for Dumbledore.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked innocently.
"Well, the hair, the eyes? You've even grown since the last time we saw you. Why all the changes, mate? Did you get those muggle contacty things?"
"Contact lenses, Ron." Hermione corrected, as she stared at Harry. "And if he got contacts, he wouldn't need his glasses anymore."
"Well, then, mate? Why the changes? Hoping to be noticed by some girl?"
"Ron, he's Harry Potter, girls can't help but notice him already." A voice said from the hallway.
Harry pretended not to hear Ginny's statement, as she walked into the room while he blushed and looked away embarrassed.
"Well, mate? I'm still waiting for an answer."
"Sorry, Ron, I really can't tell you right now."
"Why not?" Ron said, as he tried to understand why Harry was keeping things from him. "I'm your best mate! You shouldn't keep secrets from me. I mean, with the way girls gossip, I can understand not wanting to tell the Ginny and Hermione, but me?"
"RON!" Ron jumped as both girls screamed his name at his last statement. In typical Ron fashion, he apparently forgot that they were still in the room, when he indirectly insulted them.
"Ron, I can't talk about it right now. There is too much to figure out. Once I am ready, I promise that I will tell you," said Harry, as he finished the statement to himself, 'at least one of my secrets'.
"Fine." Ron said, as he stormed out of the room.
"Don't mind him," Ginny said, "he's just being his normal immature self." Ginny then chased after Ron, closing the door after she left the room.
Hermione came over and sat next to Harry on the bed. Quietly, she put her hand on his arm and said "You were adopted, weren't you?"
"I don't know what you mean," Harry said as he looked away.
"It's the novo Visius adoptio spell wearing off, isn't it?" Hermione continued as she stared at Harry. "I read about it in the 'Magic of Adoption' on your birthday. You pretty much admitted that you had read the book as well. I wondered why it was on the table, you were reading it too. I figured you had to be doing research on adoptions. That's the 'research project' you mentioned in your letter, wasn't it?"
Harry quickly looked at the door to see if he could detect any extendable ears before replying, "I really can't talk about it." At least, he didn't want to talk about it, not until he finishes Cybelle's journal, he thought.
"That's okay, I understand if you're not ready. If you need to talk, come see me. Until then, I won't mention it to anyone."
"Thanks Hermione."
"So, how was the rest of your summer? Obviously you did well in occlumency?" Hermione asked as she opened the door and the two began to walk towards the kitchen.
"Yeah, I am able to block my mind from Professor Snape's attacks. A couple of times he can make it through, but I can push him out rather quickly. He also showed me how to manipulate it so that I will only show people what I want them to see, whether the memory is true or not."
Neither saw Ron following them, nor did they hear him mutter, "He's turning you into a Slytherin and you don't even know it."
"Wow, that is impressive, Harry. What happened with your potion OWL scores? Is Professor Snape going to let you into his class?"
Harry started laughing as he remembered Snape's 'conditions'. "He has agreed to let me into his class, at Dumbledore's request and against his better judgment, he will say."
"Just like that?"
"Oh no, I spent two weeks with him brewing potions, some appearance altering potions and some healing potions for Madam Pomphrey."
"Wow! Appearance altering potions. What did you do?" Hermione asked, eager to learn.
"Um, hair and eye color change potions, hair texture and length and the revealo potion. Both the timed reversals and the antidote reversals."
"You are so lucky." Hermione cried. "We probably won't get to those potions till next year, if he even decides to teach them. They are not required for our NEWT exams."
"They are actually easy and kind of fun. Professor Snape made a potion that turned my hair Slytherin green. He said he wouldn't make the antidote, and that if I couldn't do it, then I would have to keep my hair green until I succeeded. That made me realize that these potions would be great for jokes."
"Joke."
"Did we just hear"
"Someone say"
"Our favorite"
"Word?" Fred and George finished together, after alternating every few words.
Harry and Hermione looked up, finally realizing that they had reached the bottom of the staircase where they had halted to finish their conversation.
"What would make a great joke?" Fred asked.
"And why weren't we told earlier?" George scolded.
"Oh," Harry said, "I worked on some appearance altering potions while I was at Hogwart's this summer."
"Really?" The twins said as they looked at Harry.
"Does that explain the new look?" Fred asked.
"Kind of," Harry said, it was connected to the new look. His new look, however, wasn't the result of the potions as most would conclude, though.
"Timed potions or antidote required?" George asked.
"Both."
"Harry," Fred said as he put an arm around Harry's shoulder.
"Our new best friend," George continued as he looped his arm through Harry's.
"Come join us in our lab." Fred said as they pulled him up the stairs.
"Have we got a proposition for you." They said as the three disappeared from Hermione's view.
An hour later, Hermione went to see what the 'boys' were up to. She found Ron on the couch, sitting in the corner, with a scowl on his face.
"Ron, what's the matter?"
"It's Harry! He changes his appearance and doesn't tell me how or why. He talks about Snape, like the two of them are best friends, playing pranks on each other. He even refers to him as professor Snape! Then Fred and George shanghai him, proclaim him as their new best friend and take him into their lab. They never let anyone into their lab. Not even me! And I'm their brother."
"It's like Harry all of a sudden thinks he's too good to be my friend anymore. Oh, sure, I was there to help him win against McGonagle's chess set; I was the one that ultimately led him to reunite with Sirius; We took him with us to the World Cup; My family encouraged and supported him during the tri-wizard tournament. I was even there to risk my life to save his godfather, who didn't need saving after all, but now. Now he's changing. He does better than me on his owls, somehow gets into NEWT potions, probably by sucking up to Snape; He's going to be able to achieve his dream of becoming an auror, most likely just because he is 'the Harry Potter'. He changes his appearance to get more attention than he normally does. Oh no, he's not content with half the world noticing the boy who lived, he wants everyone's attention on him. Huh, he probably took some growth potion as well, that would explain why he's taller than me all of a sudden. Since he could use magic this summer, he probably even-"
Hermione was willing to let Ron get a couple of things off his chest, but this was ridiculous. There didn't seem to be an end in sight. She knew that Ron often felt jealous when it came to Harry, but this was ridiculous. "Ronald!" She whispered harshly, as she slapped his cheek.
Once she was sure she had his attention, she continued, "I would think that you would have learned your lesson about jumping to conclusions, by now. Especially conclusions about Harry. There is a lot that Harry is dealing with right now. We still don't know if he has properly dealt with Sirius's death. I, for one, am glad to see him in one piece, happy, healthy and alive. I could care less about his eye color, or the changes to his hair, or even how tall he is. I'm more concerned about his heart. Neither one of us have lost someone close to us. Harry, however, Harry seems to lose everyone he has ever had. He needs his friends right now, to care for him and support him. He does not need a jealous prat that will make him feel worse. Do you understand me?"
"You know, don't you?" Ron said in disbelief. "He bloody well told you. No wonder why you don't care. You already know! I can't believe he told you and won't tell me."
"Ronald!" At her tone, Ronald looked up. Seeing the anger in her eyes, he leaned away from her, just in case she tried to slap him again.
"Ron, did you listen to a word I just said? For your information, he has not told me anything. I have my suspicions, but he isn't ready to talk about it yet and as his friend, I respect that. He will tell us when he is ready and I will not pressure him into talking to us, just because I want to know. I suggest you do the same."
Hermione stopped to take a deep breath before she continued, "I also don't want to hear you say another word about how Harry thinks he is too good for you or any other nonsense. Harry loves you and your family. You have the one thing he has always wanted in life and instead of being glad that you can share your family with him, you get jealous of the attention he gets from them. You're really going to have to work on that jealous streak you have regarding Harry. His life is difficult enough with a dark lord trying to kill him; he doesn't need to constantly wonder if you are going to turn on him in a moment of jealousy, like you have numerous times in the past. If your attitude towards Harry continues this way, I hate to think what it will do to your friendship. Harry is a very forgiving person, but I don't know how much more he can forgive you before you ruin your friendship with him."
End Chapter 22 going, going, gone
So, how far should I go in this story, once HP & SS find out the truth? Should it stop a bit after & anything else is done as a sequel?
Upcoming: Chapter 23 reading at the burrow
Chapter 24 nothing stays the same
(Tentative chapter titles)
Please forgive minor errors/typos. Have to work w/ not having total access to a computer.
Alienus - belonging to another (alias-also known as)
Thema – topic
Still haven't replaced my computer yet, so I don't spend much time commenting on reviews. Here are the replies to reviews from the last week. If you really want to know, something, e-mail me. My address is in my bio.
risi: I am curious about your idea, please let me know (and I was thinking about HG as well); Gorman99: Many stumbling blocks might develop-few people know SS had kids, those that did have seen the kids graves; Talons: I liked hysterical Harry as well, I actually had a similar episode, totally freaked my sister out! LOL; juliedecarson: Thanks! I love being called sneaky (would that be a slytherin trait?); merlinhalliwell: hmm, you're right...what's going on? (heehee); japanese-jew: prophecy still applies (marked as equal & all), this will be discussed later, but I figured if SS was a spy, had to defy V & of course, his wife would as well.
ShadowedHand; GoddessMoonLady; Miss Teinge; Lady Lily 3; Helle's Seraph: The truth is out there and will come into the story soon (by end of next week, hopefully); I, personally, like how it comes out, although you all might want to kill me for it, since it probably doesn't happen the way any suspects, of course, now you might suspect that it is not how you suspect, but anyways...
Wytil; Makalani Astral; Lunatic Pandora1; rhia; volleypickle16; Pure Black; Henio41; Silver Butterfly 04; Luna Rose and Phoenix Child; Lydia Blue; It'sHardtoBelieve; HecateDeMort; Hakkai – Gojyo – Goku – Sanzo; HarryPFan001; Thanks for your reviews. I love reading them.
11/19/2004