Harry Potter and the Tears of the Light
Chapter 3
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Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or anything in here you may be familiar with. New characters, plots etc. is all I am responsible of.
Little droplets of water slowly fell in London as people took cover under umbrellas. It was the first rainfall in two weeks and for many, the rain was most welcome. The heat had become unbearable except for those working in ice-cream shops. Even for witches and wizards, the heat only shortened the amount of time before tempers would flare left and right.
"This is totally stupid mum! Harry doesn't know what's going on," ranted a tall redheaded boy, "and we're not allowed to tell him! Do you remember what happened last year? Went ballistic he did. Honestly, does Dumbledore think it's going to be any different this time around?"
"Ron dear, I know," said Molly Weasley who was tired of arguing. "I don't like the fact that Harry's not here or that we're keeping him in the dark again, but those are Dumbledore's orders. There's nothing more we can do except be there for him when he gets here."
"Mum! There has to be another way! Have you read the paper today! When Harry finds out—" cried Ginny.
"Ginerva Molly Weasley! Ronald Bilius Weasley!" the matron of the house said raising her voice. "We have discussed this into the ground the past three days. Now I want the both of you to go upstairs and wash up. There should be a few Order members and the twins joining us for lunch."
"Yes mum," they both said climbing up the stairs.
Number twelve, Grimmauld Place continued to play host to the Order of the Phoenix. You could never be sure who would stop by for some of Molly's wonderful cooking. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape would come and go, which always made Ginny and Ron walk on eggshells. Yes, they were all together every now and then last summer, but this time it was different. After the stunt they pulled with Harry and the others, these two redheads preferred to avoid any contact with the headmaster, their head of house, and one slimy git if they could help it.
Before being sent on his mission, Remus Lupin had also spent most of the summer there. No one knew what to say to him. If anyone attempted to talk about Sirius, Remus would simple excuse himself to his room saying he was tired.
Since all but two of the Weasleys were in the Order, they all felt it would be safer and easier to have Ron and Ginny stay the summer. The twins were hardly there since they had to look after their shop, and Hermione wasn't there yet. This made the early parts of summer rather dull for their tastes. Upstairs, they couldn't wait for their friends to show up.
"When does Hermione get here?" asked the youngest Weasley.
"Well," began Ron, "the last letter she sent me said she wasn't sure... She asked her parents if they could see Salem... You know with the old witch trials... Burning at the stake sort of thing before they come back... If they go... Early next week... If not... Then this weeke—" But before he could finish, he found himself wet from head to toe. Ginny took it upon herself to finish the job that her brother couldn't.
"Ha, you... you need a towel?" Ginny asked fighting off bouts of giggles. Seeing the glint of annoyance in his eyes, she promptly defended herself. "I'm sorry Ron but you wouldn't move away from the sink. Do you realize how many times you soaped your hands?"
Ron smiled with embarrassment. He failed notice how long he was actually standing there looking into the mirror. Grabbing a towel, he began to dry himself while Ginny made quick work at the sink.
"Ugh... This isn't working. I need to go change since someone," Ron said implying his lone female sibling, "just had to douse me in water. Meet me downstairs and we can play a game of wizard's chess before lunch."
"Ok, I'll see you down there," said Ginny. On her way down the stairs, her mind floated to the letter Harry had sent her three days ago.
Dear Ginny,
I hope this post finds you well. Last night I had a talk with Dumbledore. I don't know what happened but I completely flew off the handle and gave him an earful. One thing led to another and I actually shouted at him. It felt really good.
Everything else around his is the same as always. Well, I just thought you'd like to know that bit of information. Tell Dean I said hello.
Love,
Harry
She was glad that he was able to open up to her, even if it was merely retelling an event. It was by far better than the usual 'I'm fine' that they would frequently get from Harry. Wanting to keep things until Hermione got there, Ginny didn't mention to anyone that Dean and her split up. Yes, it was fun while it lasted, but it never turned into very much of anything...
"Earth to Ginny!" Ron exclaimed as he waved his hand in her face. "I do the same thing, and I get soaked. It's not fair I tell ya." His keeper skills must not have been in top form because a pillow flew through the air and caught him dead on in the face. "Right then, wizard's chess it is."
No more than 5 minutes passed and Ron's stomach was acting up. Unwilling to forgo a nice meal, Ron suggested they take a break until after he had gotten something to eat.
"What's the matter?" asked Ginny. "Afraid any longer I'll finally beat you?"
"No," replied Ron, "that's not it. The reason I want to take a break is because I will pass out onto the table if I don't get something in me."
"You ate 3 hours ago!" Ginny pointed out.
"Yeah can you believe it?"
"You're hopeless. Come on, let's ask mum what's taking so long."
Getting up from their game, they crossed the hall and made it into the kitchen. They saw that all the places were set along with Mrs. Weasley still making food.
"Hey mum, we thought lunch was going to be a while ago," pouted Ron. "What's going on?"
Molly glanced over to a clock and began to wonder.
"Oh my, it is past lunch time," she began rather anxiously. "None of them are here yet either. It's not like them to be late."
Just then, the kitchen door flew open and in walked the twins, followed by the missing Order members, Mad-Eye Moody, and Tonk. George's robes were torn as they all filed in. Both Aurors sat down while the twins stood in front of their mother.
"What happened to you!" Mrs. Weasley called out as she enveloped her two troublemakers into a giant hug. "How did you rip your robes?"
"Well mum we had a bit of a run in with a Death Eater," began Fred.
Seeing the worry on his mother's face, George elaborated. "Don't worry I'm fine. We're guessing he doesn't like tricks—"
"—pranks—"
"—or jokes—"
"—anymore." They finished together.
"See mum," Fred started with a mischievous smile, "here's what happened..."
Three hours earlier that afternoon, Diagon Alley was business as usual. Despite the official return of You-Know-Who, as deemed by the Ministry of Magic, it did not discourage many patrons from coming to the public center of magical London. The addition of Aurors stationed throughout the area helped to diffuse some of the apprehension. Peddlers continued to show their wares as potential customers walked by, regardless of the steady rain. The only sound apparent was the swishing of robes going by, and the murmuring between witches and wizards. Just because Albus Dumbledore could keep this news from Harry, did not mean he could hope to keep it from the rest of the wizarding world.
On their way back from Gringotts to their joke shop at number 93, Fred and George Weasley overheard two witches talking on the side of the street. Hearing Harry's name being mentioned, they felt inclined to stick around and see what they said. It was evident that the attack in Dolau kept a constant stream of stories in the Daily Prophet.
"So do you think it's true?" asked one middle-aged witch dressed in dark blue robes. "Harry Potter knew what was going to happen?"
"Are you off your rocker? He said all along You-Know-Who came back just over a year ago. I admit," a little witch stated, "I didn't believe him then, but he was right... If Harry Potter knew, he would have warned everyone, right?"
"Well why don't you read the article again? All of it makes sense together!"
Boy Who Lived Knew of Attack?
Three days ago, a family was killed in the little village of Dolau, Wales with the Dark Mark looming in the sky. Anfri and Glynnis Hughes were found murdered in their home, along with their fourteen-month-old baby Stephen. Burned into the side of the front door was the name "Potter". Aurors were quickly dispatched to the scene. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in capturing the Death Eaters responsible. A group of Obliviators soon followed, as this was all the information that was given since the attack. However, this reporter has received startling new evidence from a ministry official who wishes to remain anonymous.
Close to the Hughes case, he states that inside the house was a message etched in the nursery. Written in bold, black letters, it was specifically meant for the Boy Who Lived from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This official claims the wall said "You knew Potter! You fail to see my vision and greatness so I leave you with something to think about. We will talk again soon enough." Although there were no Death Eaters apprehended, the Ministry of Magic believes that Sirius Black, the first of many escapees from Azkaban, led the raid.
"We view the message to be created by Sirius Black himself," said the unidentified official.
In light of this new evidence, one has to wonder if Harry Potter did in fact know. If he did, why did he do nothing to prevent this tragedy from happening? According to the quote, it said that they "will talk again soon enough." This only reinforces the idea that Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named have indeed spoken to each other. Is the Hero of the Wizarding World taking the summer off? Is he—
"Is the Hero of the Wizar... Oh dash it all!" exclaimed the little witch rather hurriedly. "This is the third time you've made me read it and I still don't know." Throwing the paper to the ground, she continued, "Come on! I need to finish my shopping."
After hearing the whole conversation, Fred and George picked up the discarded Daily Prophet and walked to their joke shop.
"This is not good Fred," George said rather seriously for once.
"No brother of mine, it is not," replied Fred in much the same manner.
Opening the door to Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, they found the store rather empty of customers at the moment. They saw Lee Jordan restocking some Nosebleed Nougats. After the twins sudden flight from Hogwarts earlier in the year, Lee realized how boring life was without the twins around. He offered his services to help with the store and naturally, the twins gladly accepted.
"Hey guys. Back from Gringotts I see," said Lee while reaching for the top of the display.
"Yes, the account's all set up," said George. "Say Lee, why don't you go ahead and get some lunch. It's not too busy and we're having lunch with our mum, Ron and Ginny. I think we can afford to close the shop for an hour or so."
"That sounds good. I am getting rather hungry," Lee said realizing how long it had been since breakfast. He set the box he was working on down and made way for the door. "I'll be back in a few."
After locking the register, Fred found out that the pot of floo powder was empty.
"There's more powder in the back room. Lock the door," Fred said while walking behind the counter, "and we'll go eat before Ron clears the table.
"Yes Sir!" shouted George in a military tone while snapping to a mock salute. Before he could reach the door, a customer walked in. "Sorry, but we'll be closing for the next half—"
"Silencio."
Before he could blink, George found himself in a headlock with the end of a wand shoved into his neck. Death Eater...
"This is the last of the floo powder," stated Fred without looking up towards his brother. "We need to stop by the Apothecary later. Right, time for lunch!" As the last word left his mouth, he saw a Death Eater's wand embedded in the side of George's neck. The happy excitement of lunch changed into dread and fear.
"Ah," began a deep voice. "I was wondering when the other Weasley would show up. I've come with a message... Tell Potter that the Dark Lord knows no bounds. One by one, all of his friends will die until the boy realizes that his only choice is to join us!"
"Harry will never join you, what the hell makes you think he will?" asked Fred nervously.
"This... Crucio!" George quickly fell on the hard floor withering in pain. His mouth sprung wide open in an attempt to scream from the torture, but the silence charm placed on him caused no sound to leave. The spell was only cast for a few seconds before Fred noticed the Death Eater's mind was distracted.
"Cremorwassi!" yelled Fred suddenly thinking on the fly. A Canary Cream quickly flew from a nearby display into the Death Eater's mouth. With one blink, feathers flew through the air as a giant canary stood above George. "Finite Incantatem. Can you stand?"
"Ugh... I... I think so..." George said regaining his voice. Being helped up by his brother, George felt he needed to get some fun out of the whole situation. "Let's see how he enjoys this." Out from his pocket came a small round object that was bright pink. He threw it onto the squawking bird and promptly exploded covering it in a sticky substance.
Fred walked out the front door and sent green sparks into the air.
"You'll pay for this Weasleys!" cried the lone Death Eater as he struggled to move his wand hand. The Canary Cream wore off, but because of the goo that covered him, the feathers remained all over his body.
"Accio Wand. Ah yes, now you were saying good sir?" laughed George. "I don't think he's in any position to demand any payment for our service, do you dear brother?"
"Oh, perish the thought! It," Fred began completely cured of the anxiety from moments ago, "is on the house. Any time you feel like stopping in we'll cover the bill!"
The door flew completely open and in walked Moody and Tonks. Seeing the Weasley twins with someone covered in gunk slowed the heartbeats of the two Aurors.
"I hope you didn't flare us for some of your experiments boys," said Tonks who was rather amused.
"Shut up! The Dark Lord will win in the end! It doesn't matter what you do to me!"
"Robert? Robert Thompson?" asked Tonks quite shaken.
"Ah, so you do recognize me Nympha—"
"Stupefy! That certainly takes care of him," she countered while shifting the sight of her wand from the limp body to the open door sending a red spark.
"Do you know him?" Mad-Eye inquired swiveling his magical eye suspiciously towards the young Auror.
"We graduated from Hogwarts together. Quiet, never socialized with many people. Odd thing is that he wasn't in Slytherin, he was in Ravenclaw."
Just like the flick of a switch, a light went on in the twins head as they remembered seeing the old Ravenclaw during their first few years at Hogwarts.
"I remember him now! Fred, didn't we turn his robes purple one time?"
"Yes I believe we did. Our first year if I recall correctly... Never did like us after that," Fred replied pensively.
Remembering the knocked out Death Eater covered in pink, Moody continued.
"Well boys, you both seem to be alright. Although you're looking a bit pale George," observed the old Auror narrowing his eyes.
"Well I would too if I was hit with the Cruciatus," said Fred with a light bit of humor.
"WHAT!" cried both Aurors.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner? We need to take you to see Poppy," Tonks said.
"No really, I'm fine. It didn't last but a few seconds," pleaded George.
"I think we better continue this when we get to headquarters," said the old Auror. "Ah, Conner... Thanks for coming. Could you see this Death Eater is sent to the new detention facility," he said turning to the young man who just entered from Diagon Alley.
"Come on you lot, Molly will have a fit if we don't leave right now. We're late as it is, and you know how she gets," said Tonks with finality.
The whole room remained quiet as the twins retold most of their day thus far.
Mad-Eye found himself concerned with the fact that Order members could be reached so easily. Tonks worried as well, but did manage to enjoy the work the twins did on Thompson. After all, she did love pink on Death Eaters.
Ron had enough anger for the whole room. Voldemort had begun to single out his best mate and send a lackey against two of his older brothers. To top it all off, Harry didn't even know about any of it. He saw first hand the eruption of Mt. Potter and didn't like the prospect of another.
The youngest in the room on the other hand was distraught. Ginny was mad at Dumbledore for keeping so much from Harry. Now, there was only more that would be kept from him. He was still hurting after loosing his godfather, and secrets were the last thing he needed. All she could do was correspond every now and then. She knew it was the most she could do for him right now, but it still wasn't enough. Not for him... and not for her...
Molly cling to her set of twins and cried. She cried for them being the latest target for Voldemort. She cried for the rest of her family. The four youngest have now faced Death Eaters when the rest of her children haven't... Arthur had been attacked shortly before Christmas... Finally, she cried for Harry. Here was a boy, whom she considered her own, constantly at the center of the Dark Lord's struggle for power. She sees what a kind and powerful wizard he is turning into... But why can't Harry simply be? Why can't everyone remember that although he's the Boy Who Lived, he's still just a boy?
"George, I want you to go upstairs and take some of the Relaxation Draught," Molly instructed while wiping a few tears from her face. "The rest of you, sit down and eat."
Everyone sat down in front of a massive display of food and began to have their fill. Soon, George came back down to partake in the servings. Remembering the stunt they pulled, Tonks asked Fred and George about their new invention.
"So what exactly is that pink ball of yours you threw on him? All you mentioned earlier was that it's still experimental."
"We call it the Sticky Shell," said Fred.
"Firstly, it's much like muggle bubble gun," continued George, "so when you put it in your mouth, you can chew it and blow bubbles."
"That part is fantastic! It's the second part that needs a bit of fine tuning."
"Why," wondered the spiky haired Auror, "it seemed to work perfectly. You throw it on someone and it traps them in the gum."
"Yes well, that's as far as we got with them," Fred began to explain. "It's just the part of—"
"—getting rid of the gum once it's exploded!" George happily interrupted. "We have several ideas, but—"
"—we haven't had the chance to try them out."
"So that means our dear Robert Thompson—"
"—is at the detention facility—"
"—extremely stiff—"
"—and PINK!" the twins finished.
Laughter broke out at the table as images of a pink Death Eater floated amongst each other. It was a welcome change in mood from twenty minutes ago. Even Moody contoured his face into what was his best attempt at a smile. Molly, who until recently had been most adamantly against the twin's idea of a joke shop, appreciated her boys' intellect for mischief.
"Boys, you know I've never used to overly support your joke shop, preferring you to get your N.E.W.T.S, but both of you seem to love it... I'm mighty proud of you two," Molly declared.
Half an hour latter, Mad-Eye and Tonks went back to the Ministry, while Fred and George returned to WWW. In their time at number twelve, they completely forgot about Lee. Thinking it was best to get back before he got worried, they took off. Molly cleaned the kitchen while Ron read the latest Quidditch magazine. This left Ginny alone in her room.
The raindrops continued their pitter-patter against the windowpane. As the heat attempted to force itself in, Ginny's eyes fell onto her diary. No, this one did not contain a dark lord hidden within its pages. After her first year, she feared writing her thoughts down. It was the first time she stopped since she began as a little girl, but it was the only way she had been able to get her feelings and emotions out. Without this outlet, she fell further into her own despair. Finally, in her third year, she realized that she just had to face her fear. Timid at first, she gradually grew comfortable again to write.
Refocusing her eyes towards the window, she stared out across London. Through the blurry glass, she fixated her eyes on one point in the horizon.
"When will this end?" she asked herself quietly. Where the sky met the earth, she knew that there was a green-eyed wizard asking the very same thing.
Several hours later, the green-eyed wizard asked himself the question his red-haired friend asked. When will it all end? After practicing Occlumency, Harry laid in his bed. Staring up at his ceiling, he wondered if there would come time he can enjoy life. His eyelids fell sending him off to sleep.
After several minutes asleep, a bright light flashed then began to glow all around Harry.
"Hello Harry Potter."
"Who's there?" Harry asked, while dozens of questions flew through his head. He couldn't see anything, not even his own body, except for the glow.
"Yes, you are still asleep. No, I am not the one you call Voldemort. No, this is not a trick nor is it as simple as a dream. Physically, you are still in your bedroom. However, your soul is not." The being sensed the young one's alarm and continued. "Do not worry, I will not harm you. Now, to answer your first question would be difficult. You see Harry; I have been called many things over the last two epochs... It all depends on your point of view... I have gone by Odin, Zeus, Jupiter and even Yü Huang Shang Ti... There is an imbalance that cannot continue which is the reason for my being here..."
A/N: Sorry I'm over a week late in updating guys. Work hasn't been nice to me to say the least. At any rate, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have the next few days off being the Easter weekend, so maybe it won't take so long for the fourth chapter.
As always thanks to my reviewers: CokeFreak, Tanydwr, Luvguurl, snuffles and REDMONSTER 85.
Sirius009: I will promise you it will not be Harry/Hermione. She will be paired up with Ron. Now as far as Harry and Ginny, it might. I would like to say, 'OK, this is how it's going to be' but I can't. In my mind, I have three possible girls for Harry, but that won't be put into motion until they get to Hogwarts. Further still for Harry to actually get the girl. I'm thinking 2/3s of the way through. Regardless on whether Ginny ends up with Harry, she will pull her weight in the story, which is why she is listed as a main character on the search.
Once again, thanks for the reviews and input!
Next update: Well, seeing how well the last one panned out... 29-3-05 or 3-29-05