On Saturday morning Harry and he two closest friends found themselves walking down the path to go to Hogsmeade. "I can't believe it's almost Christmas!" Hermione said excitedly the knowledge she had gained yesterday weighing down on her true spirit. They had spoken for a long time last night, well past curfew. They had decided that if these were the possible last days of Harry's free life then it would be better to live it to it's full extent.
Harry thought sadly about this decision, to live life to the fullest, he would have to love and be loved. He knew deep in his heart that it would be unfair to put a girl throught this. 'Although it wouldn't be just any girl, it'd be Hermione' said one of the voices in his head 'that makes it even more unfair!'said the other. He promptly told both voices to shut up and continued walking with his friends laughing and throwing some of the freshly fallen snow at both of them.
Ron was just trying to pretend it hadn't happened and he was doing a good job by making everyone laugh all the time. The three friends went from shop to shop buying various Christmas gifts for various people. Around 3 hours of doing that had convinced them all to go to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer.
"So where to next?" asked Ron
"Oh i dunno...how about you 'Moine?"asked Harry
"Oh well we could go to the sweet shop again...or the book shop..." she hinted
"Sweet shop!" cheered both boys at once as Hermione smiled despite herself.
They walked towards Honeydukes and talked and chatted for the short walk in the village. Once at the Sweets shop they entered to find a big room with shelves for walls full of different sweets and students. They tried different samples and bought many different kinds.
At the end of the day they all went back up to the castle pockets full of sweets and many bags full of everything and anything they had gotten their hands on during the day. The many students from third year and up were all piling into the great hall to have diner. All the hundreds of students were talking merrily as they showed each other their purchases. Constant giggling was heard all around the Great Hall much to the displeasure of Harry and Ron.
"I just don't understand why they must always GIGGLE!" said Ron looking annoyed
"I dunno mate...all i know is that it's weird!" Harry answered
"Hello?I'm a girl i don't giggle. Well not as much as them anyways..."Hermione said slightly offended
"Sorry" mumbled both boys.
Diner was delicious, as is every meal at Hogwarts. Harry and his friends were enjoying the meal when Professor McGonagall came up to them. "Mr. Potter"she said "The Headmaster wishes for you to meet him in his office after diner. The password is 'ton tongue toffee' "she finished and walked out of the great hall. Harry, turning to his friends asked "why does he want to see me today?"
"I dunno, but you have to tell us everything!" said Hermione "Please?" Harry didn't know why but he could have melted when he saw her puppy dog eyes and pout. 'you know why' one voice said in his head 'it's because you LOVE her' he knew that voice was right. 'Just tell her already!' said the other voice. And that scary option stayed in his mind all throught the meal.
When Harry had finished his meal, he said goodbye to his friends and began the long walk to the Headmasters office. The whole way he wondered why Dumbledore wanted to speak to him alone. When he reached the Gargoyles he muttered the password and entered the office throught the spiral staircase. When he entered he saw the office just as it had been for the past few times he had been inside all the same with only one difference, Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.
"Professor? Professor Dumbledore?"
"Yes Harry, have a seat" answered the old man, looking gravely at the 16 year old boy infront him. Harry sat down and looked at the old man infront of him noticing that the twinkle that was usually present in his eyes seemed dimmer today.
"Why did you wish to see me Sir?" asked Harry politely
"Well Harry, i know that you have begun to deal with Remus' death and i thought that i should tell you that the funeral will be held next weekend." Dumbledore said as he sat back in his chair and placed his hands together.
"Um...OK...Sir will I be allowed to go?" He asked his headmaster
"Yes Harry you will be allowed to go to the funeral, the question I have for you is do you want to go?" the old man asked in return
"Well yes of course...but..er...um...Professor can I bring Hermione and Ron with me? I want them to be there. They would want to be there as well, they too liked professor Lupin and they would want to be there for me as well.
In the end he had gotten Dumbledore to agree and while he was there they had begun talking about training, unfortunatly the order and the professors were all busy and couldn't sacrifice any time until after Christmas. They decided that the
trio would meet with the many adults to set a schedule. In the meantime he had to tell his friends about the funaral and it seemed there was also the reading of the will. Harry walked up towards the Common Room trying to process the news he had recieved
he had to go to the funeral next week and tomorrow he had to go to a ' special office' with Dumbledore and his friends for Remus Lupin's last will and testament.
Harry entered thr room through the portrait hole and saw Hermione sitting near the fire with a book open in her lap. 'as always, she's reading' he thought lovingly "Hermione" he called out to her as he neared her chair. "Hi Harry!" she said cheerfully tearing
her eyes from the tomb on her legs.
"Hey Moine, um do you know where Ron is?" he asked, she frowned slightly and answered
"I dunno i think he said he was going to prac-" Before she could finish Harry had summoned his broom and flew out the window to the Quidditch pitch "tice" she finished once he was gone.
'PRACTICE!' he thought 'HOW COULD I FORGET PRACTICE?' he flew to his team and apologized for being late he went through various plays and moves for many different circumstances.
Once they had practiced until after dark he ended the practice and sent everyone off. "Except you Ron!" he yelled after his best mate
"What did I do?" asked the red headed boy out of reflex. "nothing. I just don't want to lose you from view yet, i have news for you and Hermione"
"Oh" was the only response he got from Ron until they had arrived at the Portrait Hole.
Harry sat by the fire with his friends and told them gently about the will and the funeral. They both wanted to go to both 'events' and pay their final respects. So they all stayed up late now off that topic and talking happily. Most of the time they talked about sweet nothings but sometimes they treaded of more serious ground; love. 'It was surprisingly easy' thought harry afterwards 'to change the subject every time'. The only went up to the dormitories at 3 o'clock in the morning at which point Ron fell asleep instantly. Harry lay awake in his bed thinking 'i wonder what Hermione is doing right now?Is she sleeping or is she thinking; like me?'. His eyelids started getting heavier, he drifted slowly into slumber but his smile remained on his face as he had a very nice dream.
DREAM
He was running, but not in fear. He was running quickly, he had to find something or someone. ' what am i looking for?' he thought to himself he entered the common room and found Hermione sitting in a chair. She was wearing a beautiful midnight blue dress, it was strapless and fom fitting with lace and beads on the stomach
but at the hips it was like a tutu, it was layers and layers of that material going all the way down to the floor.(A/N picture the dress from A Cinderella Story but blue) Her hair, normally slightly bushy, had been tamed and it fell upon her back and shoulders in soft ringlets that reached the small of her back, her bangs playing
on her forehead with the wind. Two small butterfly clips held the sides of her hair away from her face. "You're beautiful" he said walking towards her "whats the occasion?" the blush that had started to spread over her features hadn't yet vanished but the question in her eyes was evident "How could you forget the Prom"
she asked laughing.
"Oh right! "he said laughing but he knew that it wasn't yet prom time but he couldn't quite process it into thoughts. He caught a glimps of himself in the window and noticed he was wearing a black tux covered in a simple green and black robe, new dress robes other than that he looked the same, 'no wait!' he thought 'where are my glasses?'. Music filled the air and he slowly took a few steps to close the remaining space between himself and Hermione.
"Want to dance?" He asked holding a hand out to her. Her face he just noticed had many colors, her eyes were a smoky grey and her lips a slight pink as were her cheeks but he knew that wasn't makeup.
"Sure" she said accepting his hand. She held his hand in her right and put her left hand on his shoulder. His right hand finding the small of her back. Harry was in awe, 'wow!' he thought 'she fits so well in my arms'. They swayed to the music coming up from the great hall staring into each others eyes. Finally after a while Harry took his hand out of her grasp and placed it with the other hand residing on her back. Hermione in turn put the other hand behind his neck. They pulled each other close and to Harry it seemed that they had been dancing for ages green and brown pools of color were merging into each other. Harry felt his head move fowardbut he didn't make a move to stop it. Her lips drew nearer and nearer, her eyes now only partially open.
"Harry! Harry!" Someone was calling him, he looked to Hermione only to see she wasn't there anymore. The roombegan to swirl in circles and before he knew it he came face to face with Ron. Sitting up in his bed he rubbed his eyes as he couldn't see,someone handed him his glasses. He sighed put them on and asked " Why'd you wake me?"
"Harry mate, Hermione's downstairs waiting for us... it's the reading today" Ron said as gently as he could.
"Oh..ok just a minute" Harry answered remembering that what was about to happen was just a dream and that he was now awake. The kiss wasn't going to happen, it wasn't real. He dressed quickly in mostly black but with his red trainers.
When Harry went down the stairs he could have sworn he was still dreaming. Hermione was sitting on one of the sofas wearing a knee length black dress.
"Wow! Hermioen you look great" he said smiling at her
"Well thank you Harry"she said smiling and giving him a kiss on the cheek "I borrowed it from Ginny"
"WHAT?" asked Ron "GINNY! She wears short things like that?"
"Yes Ron, and you didn't seem to think it was too short when I asked how I looked" Hermione said coldly then began to laugh. Harry stood aside and watched her laughing. She looked beautiful!
The train ride to the 'special building' which was in fact 12 Grimrauld Place was not a long one but it seemed to last forever for Harry who was anxiously waiting for this whole ordeal to be over.
The reading was quite sad many people from the order were there and they were crying...the marauders had been very well-known and now all the ones worth mentionning were dead...their friends were dead
Harry had received all his defense books and most of his galleons along with a personnalized letter.
Hermione had received the rest of his books and a personnalized letter.
Ron had gotten some quidditch posters and old chocolate frogs cards, he too had a personnalized letter.
The other Weasleys got the rest of his money and a few valuables.
Every order member got a letter and some pictures from 'the good old days'
Tonks got a journal which as she read the first page she laughed it was a journal of his transformations
Fred and George got all the written plans for various pranks.
They stayed for 4 hours and then returned to Hogwarts.
When they returned Dumbledore brought them up to his office, "I want to give this to you now children" he said pulling out some books and parchment "What is it?" asked Ron
"It's something that you cannot tell anyone about. It's a secret...These here contain the tricks to become an animagus. I want them to go to you Harry they have been passed down from James to Sirius and then to Remus. They wanted to eventually give them to you when you were ready. I beleive you are." Dumbledore explained and gave them nothing short from a pile of books and parchment. "I trust you will use it well.It wouldn't hurt to have a secret from Voldemort" He finished a twinkle in his eyes. "Goodnight."
The three friends walked up to the common room and put the books in their dorms. They knew what to do to occupy all their free time.
The next week passed in a flash, a flash of boring classes and no news from Voldemort. Harry kept having dreams that were very similar to the ones he had the night before the reading. He was so angry because he never got to kiss her, Ron was always waking him up. It was now the night before the funeral and Harry picked out some black robes and some black clothing to wear underneath. His leather shoes freshly polished. He set his clothes out for the next day.
Harry went to bed late that night, finishing up some homework ut mostly thinking about Hermione. He had been doing that alot nowadays. He knew he couldn't do anything, it would be horrible to get too close to a girl now, he didn't even know if he was going to see saturday after next. It wasn't a good feeling.
When he got to bed that night he silently prayed to his parents and Sirius and Remus, his family, to give him support and to not cry too much.
The next morning's weather showed to be like what Harry was feeling, grey, dull and cold. He was glad it wasn't a beautiful day, he wanted to world to mourn the loss of another good man to the hands of Voldemort and his bloody Death Eaters. Again they took the train but it really wasn't long until they had reached the cemetary, Dumbledore took him to visit his parents' graves first.
Beautifully shaped grave stones were ornaments of his parents lives.
his Mothers read: His fathers read: Lily Rose Evans PotterJames Henry Potter beloved wife, mother and Beloved husband, father and friend to the worldloyal marauder 1965-1987 1964-1987 Lost but never forgotten May your warrior soul rest in peace
Dumbledore explained to Harry who was kneeling infront of the graves, tears running quietly down his cheeks that Sirius had had them done before being put in jail. They moved on a few rows away where his grand parents tombs were. Harry wished he could have a memory of Sirius like these ones, a grave where he could come to talk and he knew that Sirius's soul would listen.
Seemingly reading his mind Dumbledore said " Harry, you don't need a body to have a grave" and they moved a few rows towards the back, where the recently put in stones were. The it was,
Sirius Phineas Black Loyal, Innocent marauder 1964-2001 May your death be more just than your life
Harry let out a sob, he knew this person, he missed him, "Si-Si-Si-rius" he cried out softly whipping a few tears away with his hand as Hermionr patted his back and wispered words of confort in his ear. After Harry had recomposed himself, they went to the service which included the prayers, the talk about Remus's life and then the barial of a closed casket, they hadn't opened it. The view was most likely distorted. Hermione cried during the ceremony and tried to comfort Harry who was brushing tears away occasionnally. At the end they lowered the casket into the frozen ground at the fot of a brand new tombstone.
Remus Jacob Lupin