A/N This chapter skips about a month and takes place halfway through December. Nothing much happened in the intermittent time.
Chapter 18—Christmas ConfessionsCourtney sighed in relief as she placed her report on the life of Harry Potter in Professor Granger's hands. It had been a lot of work and she was proud of it. She suspected her report was more than a little bit longer than Hermione (she had been calling her by her first name in her head for weeks now since she felt she knew her so well from Harry's letters) had been expecting, but she didn't think the teacher would complain, given her own love of history.
"Now remember, you should have already created your outline for your oral presentation," Hermione reminded the class as they prepared to leave the room. "I don't require you to turn them in to me; however if you want me to look them over I can and will make suggestions on how to improve them. Remember your presentations are to be a minimum of twenty minutes. You will be graded on this presentation, although it is not as big a percentage of your grade as your paper. I will return your papers to you as soon as school resumes so you know your grade. And now," Hermione relaxed slightly and smiled, "since this is our last class before the break, have a very Happy Christmas." All the children cheered at this statement and responded in kind.
Courtney, accompanied by Caleb and Angela, walked happily to the Great Hall for dinner. There seemed to be a silent agreement among all the first years not to talk about their reports or their upcoming oral presentations. Instead, they all chattered about what they would do on their holidays and how much they wanted to see their respective families. Since most students were going home for Christmas they had the holiday feast that night.
As the feast wound down, Professor McGonagall addressed them all, apologizing that the headmaster was not there, as he was feeling a little under the weather, and wished them a safe and happy holiday. Then she dismissed them to finish their packing and head off to bed.
Walking back up to the Gryffindor tower Courtney turned to her two companions, "Why do you think the Headmaster wasn't there?"
Caleb shrugged, "McGonagall said he wasn't feeling well."
Courtney furrowed her eyebrows, "He hasn't been feeling well for a while, has he? I mean, he didn't look all that good a month ago. He looked really sick three weeks ago," Courtney insisted.
Caleb shrugged again and opened his mouth to give another placating answer, when Angela spoke up, "I heard Mum, Sirius and Remus all talking last week. They are all worried. The Headmaster has always been in the best of health. Now though, its like he has a flu, but none of Pomfrey's stuff is working."
Caleb rolled his eyes, "Everybody gets sick once in a while. And you know there are magical-resistant sicknesses that just have to run their course. You're overreacting." On that note, they entered the common room and retired to their rooms to finish all the last minute packing.
The next morning, Courtney excitedly dragged her trunk to the front hall. Not only would she be seeing her family again, this would be her first ride on the Hogwarts Express. She and Angela had already exchanged gifts, as they wouldn't be seeing each other over the holiday. Angela had given her a book about everyday charms and she had given Angela a book about a Quidditch star named Thomas Abernathy, who happened to be related to Angela through her paternal grandmother. Caleb was riding the train and so they claimed a car on the train and were soon joined by a number of other Weasley cousins. The ride was a lot of fun and Courtney bought everyone sweets from the cart. As they ate the treats their conversation somehow naturally found its way to the topic of the first years' projects. Most of the older students agreed that if it got them out of class, it was a good thing. Courtney and Caleb, although they didn't quite agree with the others, were both excited to present their projects.
Caleb had ended up choosing Albus Dumbledore for his project and amused the other car occupants with stories about various incidences in the Headmaster's tenure.
As Courtney picked up a chocolate frog Monica turned and addressed her, "Who did you do your project on?"
"Harry Potter," Courtney answered in what she hoped was a casual manner.
"Oh," Justina piped up from where she was trying to keep Jared and Jonathan from stealing all her candy, "I did him on my project."*
"Really?" Courtney asked intrigued, "Did you have any trouble finding information?"
Justina shrugged, "Not really, I mean there are a lot of books about him. Why, did you have trouble?"
Courtney rolled her eyes, "You bet I had trouble. All those books about him in the library all say the same thing and none of them give any detail. None of them even says which house he was in."
Everyone was now paying attention to Courtney. Justina looked only mildly curious, and said with a shrug, "I guess that much isn't known about him."
Courtney let out a great guffaw. "Not much known about him? You really think that? Justina, your own mother had a huge crush on Harry until she was twelve and then she dated him for a few months in her fourth year. He was best friends with Ron ever since they first got on the train together first year and Hermione a few months later. He was the initial investor in Weasley Wizard Wheezes, and up until a few months ago, he still owned one-third of the company. For a time he considered Molly Weasley his mother. 'Not much known about him' my foot!" Courtney laughed again. Everyone was staring at her. Caleb gave a little snicker.
Justina looked as though she could not decide to be offended at the vocal barrage or interested to know more, evidently thought she chose the latter, "He dated Mum? Are you sure you know what you are talking about? Mum has never mentioned that she even really knew Harry Potter. I mean, yes they went to school at the same time…" Justina trailed off as Courtney buried her head in her hands and moaned.
"Justina, Harry Potter saved your mother's life when she was a first year, he stayed at the Burrow twice during the summer, sharing a room with Ron. Yes, your mother knew Harry Potter." She stood and moved to her trunk and opened it a crack to fish for something. She pulled it out and handed it to Justina. It was one of the more recent pictures Harry had sent her, taken at Christmas in his fifth year. Justina's eyes went wide as she saw her mother kissing a man, that was not her father, under the mistletoe. The others demanded to see the picture and as it got passed around it got a number of different reactions.
Jennifer Weasley+ had a serious look on her face as she gazed at the picture. Passing it on to Monica she looked at Courtney, "How much do you know about Harry Potter?"
Courtney was startled at the serious tone of voice and everyone else seemed to notice it as well because they suddenly stopped their talking and turned to Jennifer.
"A lot, why?"
"No, how much do you know about Harry Potter?"
Courtney gave Jennifer a confused look while her mind raced. What was this all about?
Finally she decided to answer honestly, "Everything."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, I know everything. All the details from his time at Hogwarts, the details of the night he was framed for the murder of Rubeus Hagrid, the details of the trial. I know all about his years in prison and everything about the final battle, how he killed Voldemort and saved the headmaster's life. I know he was awarded the Order of Merlin First Class as well as Merlin's Staff."
Jennifer's face darkened considerably. "Who told you?"
Courtney raised an eyebrow, "Why do you care?"
"I was accepted into the Pre-Law Enforcement program. We are given certain…confidential information. I want to know how you got your information. Whoever told you is probably going to have some legal troubles."
Courtney shook her head, "No one you know."
"Courtney, who gave you that information?" Jennifer looked both angry and scared. She and two others had been attending the Law Enforcement program since Mid-July when they had been accepted. She was the youngest one—the only one not graduated yet. It had been a very big honor because she was only the second recruit ever chosen before graduation. Only a month ago they had finally been approved to learn some confidential information. She, Lindsey and Robert had sat in a warded room while her father (the Minister of Magic), the head of the Aurors, and the director of Ministry intelligence told them some of the highly guarded secrets of the Ministry's past. They were told that the information would be obliviated were they to drop out of the program or be rejected for further advancement. They were given the strictest orders not to reveal what they were told.
Now here she was, listening to an eleven year old speak those secrets. And the others in the compartment were watching the conversation as though it were a spectator sport, heads turning from one side to the other.
"There is nothing the Ministry can do to my source. My source is untouchable by the laws restricting the truth." Courtney said defiantly.
Jennifer truly looked angry now, "The Ministry is the government, and of course it can do something. Who is your source?" she yelled.
Courtney laughed, "Harry Potter is my source. He and I have been in correspondence since half-way through September. He simply told me about his life." Courtney looked at Jennifer's shocked face, no trace of her laugh now, "And I am going to present my oral presentation using the full truth, not the lies and cover-ups that the ministry forces Hogwarts to teach."
Everyone, save Patricia and Caleb, who already knew, were staring open mouthed. Jennifer spluttered, "He…he wrote to you?"
"I wrote to him and he answered my letter."
Caleb snorted, "He did more than that."
Jennifer looked at her cousin sharply, "What do you mean by that?"
Courtney rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Caleb then sighed and turned to answer Jennifer, "He means that Harry Potter gave me his entire share of Weasley Wizard Wheezes. Fred and George told me in Hogsmeade on Halloween. I own 1/3 of the company."
All those who had not previously known this, were staring in amazement. Jennifer shook herself. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the seat. "This will not be good. Courtney you can't share all this information! It is confidential."
"Its only confidential because everyone in the wizarding world is a coward. Tell me, Jennifer, just what is so wrong about keeping the truth in the memory of society?" Courtney snapped, tired of the attitude that was so pervasive.
Jennifer's mouth opened once…twice without a sound coming out. She had no answer to that. All the explanations that had sounded so reasonable coming from the Intelligence Minister's mouth flew out of her head. The others in the compartment were all pondering on this question as well, even though they did not know all the information Jennifer knew but only what Courtney had stated.
Caleb cleared his throat and Courtney turned to him, "Are you going to eat that chocolate frog?" he asked pointing to the one Courtney had set down when she had fished in her trunk for the picture.
It was a relief when the train finally pulled into Kings Cross Station that evening. After the conversation, Jennifer had withdrawn from the group and sat beside the window for a long time, thinking. The others had held quiet, tense conversations.
Courtney lugged her trunk out of the compartment and found a cart to put it and Rex's cage on. The owl glared at her as the cart jarred over the pavement, but as girl and cart crossed the barrier at Platform 9 and ¾, Rex hooted eagerly at the sight of familiar faces. Kathryn, David, and Michael were all there to greet her and she pushed the cart faster to reach them.
She hugged her mother and father, and received a kiss from both and then hugged her little brother who scowled at the indignity of being hugged by his sister.
The first thing Courtney noticed on the ride home, was the easy atmosphere that permeated the car. There was none of the awkwardness and border-line hostility that had been so apparent back in August and her father, though he only asked one question of her, seemed to enjoy the conversation she and Kathryn had about her term.
Michael would pipe up every so often in the conversation, but after a while he fell asleep in his seat and Kathryn and Courtney were allowed to continue their conversation uninterrupted. Kathryn asked a lot of questions about how her classes were going, about the teachers, about magic in general. She was particularly interested in Hogwarts itself and confessed her excitement at being able to go. Courtney opened her mouth to ask her father if he was coming, but Kathryn cut her off with a question about her project.
Courtney smiled, "You'll just have to see. I want it to be a surprise. It would be boring if you had to hear my presentation twice."
"Well, who did you do your project on?" Kathryn asked in an exasperated tone.
"Harry Potter, I thought you knew that much."
"Harry Potter? He's the one that gave you that company, right?"
Courtney nodded and the conversation turned to the snow that had just started falling again outside.
After putting her trunk in her room, Courtney joined her parents for a quick dinner and got to help finish decorating the living room. Then she went to bed.
To her own surprise, she woke up early the next morning. Walking downstairs, she found only her father awake. He was eating breakfast early, though he was not working that day. He ate a bowl of cereal as he read the newspaper.
He smiled at her as she came in, "You're up early,"
Courtney shrugged, "I guess I'm used to early breakfast before classes start. My inner alarm clock is all wrong for holiday break."
Her father stood up, turned to the refrigerator to refill his orange juice, and asked her, "Can I get you something for breakfast?"
"No thanks. After all my meals being served for three months, I feel like doing it myself."
Her father chuckled as she proceeded to fry herself some eggs. He returned to his newspaper. In a few minutes Courtney sat down with a plate of eggs, a slice of toast, and a glass of orange juice. She took a sip of her drink and smiled in a very satisfied manner.
"I have not had orange juice since August."
David glanced at her and raised an eyebrow.
"We have pumpkin juice at Hogwarts," she explained.
"Do you like pumpkin juice?"
"It is good, but I wish they had orange juice."
"Why don't you ask for it?"
Courtney stared at him for a moment and then laughed, "Did you know that that never crossed my mind?"
Silence reigned for a few moments before Courtney nervously proposed a question, "Dad? Can I ask you some questions?"
David seemed to hesitate for a moment before he set down his newspaper and looked at his daughter waiting.
Courtney sighed and poked her fork at her eggs. Still looking down she asked, "Why don't you like magic?"
David sighed, "Courtney…I," he hesitated and took a drink, "I…I am still having some trouble completely accepting magic," he said slowly, "It has a lot to do with some things I am not ready to talk about." He paused again and Courtney looked up at him. He met her eyes as he said, "Courtney, please believe me, I am trying. I just haven't finished sorting out a few issues."
Courtney looked away, slightly hurt by his still prevailing attitude. She played with her food for a moment then asked, "Will you be coming to Hogwarts in January?"
David sighed and answered, "I can't I have a busy schedule that week."
Courtney scowled and proceeded to quickly finished her breakfast and retreat to her room.
As the days progressed, Courtney and David were walking on eggshells around each other. Kathryn wasn't quite sure as to the specifics of the conversation her husband and daughter had had, but she knew that it had triggered the tense atmosphere. Not wanting to cause even more strife, she simply ignored it and did her best to prepare for a happy Christmas.
Christmas eve though, her attempt almost failed. David got a phone call early that morning saying that his patient from India was going to have to postpone his visit for two weeks due to some travel problems. That meant that he was only occupied with work on the third and fourth—meaning he could easily come to Courtney's presentation as they were going to be presented over a span of four days and Courtney was the last because they were going in reverse alphabetical order.
When Kathryn found out she immediately confronted David, "Well, you don't have an excuse. I am sure they can easily arrange later travel for you. Are you coming or not?"
David's face looked set in stone and, for the first time in many years, Kathryn saw the man he had been when they first met.
"Let's discuss this after tomorrow." He said sharply.
Though Kathryn knew that this response most likely indicated a "no" from him, she backed down because it honestly scared her when he became that emotionless shell again.
Christmas morning dawned bright with the sun glinting off the snow and the snowmen and women that had been made previously. Michael obligingly woke everybody else up as soon as he was awake and they all stumbled downstairs to the living room.
The Barnes' had a tradition that Kathryn's family had had when she was young. They first opened all their stockings and at whatever candy they liked and played with their little toys. Then they ate a full breakfast consisting of fruit, bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, applesauce, and sausage. Afterwards they returned to the living room to open their presents, an experience which they savored by opening each present individually.~
Courtney was surprised to find a number of wizarding presents from her parents. She was not sure if her father had had anything to do with the purchasing of the items though. Michael also had received some wizarding presents, including some WWW merchandise from his sister.
One of Courtney's presents was a bag that could hold all her books, but that had a feather-light charm on it. The strange thing was, she hadn't remembered ever seeing something of that sort sold in stores. What got her most excited though, was the model galaxy her parents gave her. With that, she wouldn't have to get up for midnight Astronomy classes, but instead use the model to do her observations. Inwardly she wondered how much it had cost; she had heard that they were very expensive.
All in all, the whole family had a wonderful Christmas day. That evening they went to Kathryn's parents' house for dinner and a party with family and friends. To Courtney's surprise Benjamin Jones, a Ravenclaw in her year, was there. He was a half-blood and, evidently, his father was a close business associate of Kathryn's brother, Jacob.
Upon finding out that their children were both gifted Benjamin's parents, Norman and Luna struck up a conversation with the Barneses in a secluded corner of the living room. Kathryn found out that Luna^ was a witch, but that Benjamin, their youngest and only one still at home, was the only one of their eight children to be magical.
The party dwindled but both the Barnes family and the Jones family could be found talking adamantly on a couch in the living room. At least, Kathryn, Luna and Norman were talking. David seemed to be brooding on one cushion of the couch. As the group realized that they would need to cut their conversation short, they stood and exchanged pleasantries.
Luna, who seemed completely oblivious to David's entire demeanor, stuck out a hand to shake his. David looked at her in disbelief and then, reluctantly extended his own hand.
Luna Jones peered at his hand interestedly for a moment and then looked directly into David's eyes and said, "You don't know where you belong." Then she withdrew her hand and followed her husband and son out the door.
David stood there blinking in astonishment.
The next morning Kathryn got up early in order to catch her husband before the children woke up. She found him in his usual spot in the kitchen, reading his newspaper. This morning he was sipping a mug of hot chocolate.
"David, we are going to talk now about Hogwarts. Are you going or not?"
David shut the newspaper in a very decisive manner and said, in a short tone, "No."
Kathryn narrowed her eyes and said through clenched teeth, "Why not?"
"I don't want to." He said in an equally angry tone.
Kathryn was about to answer back when they heard a sob from the doorway. They both turned and saw Courtney's back retreating down the hall and back up the stairs to her room.
Kathryn was now angrier than David had ever seen her; she suddenly lashed out and slapped him across the face. "I don't care anymore if you don't tell me. But you had better go up there right now and talk to Courtney. She deserves to know why you are acting like such a complete git. I don't want to see your face until you have worked out your problems and made this up to Courtney." Kathryn's voice had risen progressively and by the end she was shouting at her stunned husband, who had one hand to the cheek she had slapped. Then she stormed out of the room and shut herself up in the library.
David sat there at the table for a good half an hour. Then he slowly stood and walked to the closet to retrieve his coat. Then he left the house. For three hours, he aimlessly walked the park. The ground was covered in snow and the lake was frozen over. Only a few skaters were out today. He cleared a spot on the bench and sat down. He held his head in his hands and desperately tried to figure out what he should do.
Around five o'clock that afternoon, the door slowly opened and David Barnes slowly entered the house. He hung up his coat and then squared his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. Kathryn, her eyes red from crying, watched him from her seat in the living room.
There was a knock on Courtney's bedroom door. "Come in, " she said, putting down one of the books she got for Christmas. The door opened to reveal her father.
"Can we talk?"
She nodded with a guarded look in her eyes.
"I'm sorry Courtney...I..."
"You said you were trying!. So try now to come to Hogwarts."
"I can't go to Hogwarts honey. I can't," David Barnes looked desperate and...scared. It was the first time that Courtney had ever seen her father look scared.
"Why can't you?" Courtney could feel the tears start again.
David stiffened and looked away from his daughter.
"I...I'm not ready."
"What do you mean? Please Daddy, I want you to come, please come."
David sat down in Courtney's desk chair and put his head in his hands. His thoughts were racing.
"I..."
He stopped. He was silent for a few minutes. Then he looked at Courtney and she could see he was also crying.
"This is so hard for me to say. Courtney, I…. You are not the first witch I have known." He said suddenly in a rush. He wasn't looking at her anymore, "My mother was a witch, my father a wizard."
"What?" Courtney asked in disbelief.
"I love you Courtney. I was afraid that they might do to you what they did to me," her father said in a choked voice.
"What do you mean by that? Who is they and what did they do?"
"You know what I am talking about; you know what they did to me. I've been telling you since you first wrote to me in September," her father said in a voice barely above a whisper.
Courtney froze as she finally understood what her father was trying to say. She stared at him as all the pieces fell into place and she finally understood her father's actions.
She started sobbing again. A few moments later she felt his arms surround her and she moved to hold onto him. For a long time the just held each other. Finally Courtney sniffed and drew back a little to look at her father. He had tears streaming down his face. He gently kissed her on the forehead and wiped her tears.
"I love you Courtney, but I have been trying to forget my past for so long…it isn't easy. It hurts a lot to remember. I thought it would be enough to tell you my story, but it isn't. I know it isn't enough. But I can't move anymore; I can't move any closer. I'm sorry Courtney, I can't go back, I can't accept them."
Courtney hugged her father closer in response and said, "I love you Daddy. I love you Harry."
Her father started crying again as he heard her frank forgiveness that she offered and the name he had not gone by in sixteen years.
*Remember, the first-years have been doing these projects for a number of years, this though, is the first time that they have ever done oral presentations to a mass group. (Previously, they would simply do a short presentation before their classmates.)
+Ok, I figured out I had to change Jennifer's age slightly. She is 17 and in her seventh year, I will go back to my "Logistics" page later and change it. Hmm, may as well make her Head Girl.
~Just thought that would be fun to put in there, it has been my family's traditional Christmas morning schedule for as long as I can remember. Of course the breakfast isn't usually that big…although it all sounds really good at the moment (Sorry I'm a bit hungry and I didn't bring lunch to work….)
^Don't even ask me how Luna got into this story. She just walked in looking a little lost and wouldn't leave. Do you ever have characters who suddenly jump in to the story without an invitation?
A/N Hope you liked the chapter! The next one is the one that everything has been building up to—or rather the one in which something will happen to force Harry to make his final choice. I hope to finish with it quickly.