CHAPTER 2
Harry gaped at Remus for a minute, and then as his mind figured out what was going on, he turned and put his hardest glare on his headmaster.
He turned on his heel and left the office. With one last glare in the headmaster's direction, Remus followed. It was completely unbelievable how he expected Harry to take it calmly. It was even worse that he had to over hear part of their conversation. His first instinct was to look in the Room of Requirements, but then he thought of the time they spent at the tree and went there first.
As he had suspected, Harry sat there underneath that same tree thinking so many of the same thoughts. He took a seat next to Harry just as he did the day before. Harry didn't say anything. He had his hands on his head and his eyes shut as if trying to disconnect himself.
"Who the hell does Dumbledore think he is?" Harry asked. "Wasn't it enough that he wanted to send me into that past? Now he wants me to actually teach my parents whom I've never met before."
"You don't have to go," Remus said. If he had known this was going to happen, he wouldn't have made Harry go. "I wouldn't want to either."
"I have to," Harry said. It surprised Remus to no end. "I already told Dumbledore that I'd go. I'm committed to it now. There's no way I can back out now." He knew what he had to do now, and there was no way anyone would talk him out of it. Remus nodded.
Half an hour later, Harry sat in front of the fire in the Gryfindor Common Room. He had just finished his potions essay, and now had nothing to do. Hermione was sitting on the couch opposite him, doing Arithmacy extra credit. Ron and Ginny sat at a small table playing an intense game of chess.
Hermione put her quill down in triumph as she finished her project. He sat back and looked intently at Harry. "What's wrong?" 'Damn,' Harry thought. 'She's almost as good as Dumbledore.'
"I've got something to tell you guys," he whispered. "But not here. You and Ron go to the Room of Requirement. Use whatever excuse you have to. Then I'll go up and get my cloak, and Ginny and I will leave a little after you guys, as to not make it look suspicious." Hermione nodded and headed over to Ron. She whispered something into his ear. His face immediately lit up; she obviously used the excuse that he had expected...
He headed up to his dorm after telling Ginny that he would tap her shoulder and she should follow him. He did as he had said tapped her shoulder. She calmly got up and headed for the portrait hole. She smoothly lied as someone asked where she was going. Other than that, they made it out easily.
"Okay, Harry. Now what's this all about?" she asked. Whatever it was, she didn't have time for nonsense.
"I can't tell you here. Follow me to the Room of Requirements."
"Er... I don't think you want to go in there..." She stuttered a bit. Suddenly Harry realized why. She didn't know he knew about Ron and Hermione being together.
"And why not?" It was great to be on the other end of teasing.
"Er... well... RonandHermionearethereandthey'reprobablysnogging." She said this at top speed, so if Harry had not already known what she said, he would have been completely and utterly confused.
"What was that? I didn't catch it."
"I said, 'Ron and Hermione are there, and they're probably snogging." She repeated herself a lot more slowly this time. She ever want to tell someone that their two best friends were snogging each other ever again.
Harry started cracking up laughing. "The- the look on y- your face..."
"What are you on about. Did you not hear what I said?" Her face was getting a bit red now with frustration. Why the hell was he laughing?
Harry composed himself after a few more seconds. "Calm down, Ginny," he soothed. "I already knew about the two of them." She looked shocked for a minute and then glared at him playfully.
"Don't you ever do that again!" She hit him playfully on the shoulder and then followed him down the hall.
When everyone was settled together in, and Ginny had yelled at her brother and friend for not telling her that Harry knew about them being together, Harry took a deep breathe and readied himself. "What's this all about, Harry?" Ron asked. If he didn't start soon, he just might have to hit his best mate.
"Okay, you guys might have noticed I've kinda kept to myself a bit lately, and I want to tell you why." He took a deep breathe before starting his tale. His friends were all sitting on the edge of their seats. "You guys know that Dumbledore called me out of potions..."
A quarter of an hour later, Harry had told them all that had happened during the past two days. Hermione was the first one to snap out of her stupor. "Oh my gosh, Harry! You have to start studying for your NEWT's! What are you waiting for?"
"Chill out, Hermione," Ron hollered over her ranting. "I think there are more important things going on than him taking his NEWT's." Harry nodded.
"I'm sorry, Harry. Ron's right." Harry nodded that he accepted her apology. "So... when are you going?" she asked a bit more quietly and soothingly.
"Dumbledore hasn't told me yet. I kinda walked out before he could tell me any of the details," he replied a bit sheepishly. He was ashamed of what he had done, but there was no changing it now.
"Harry!" Hermione screeched. The others flinched, and she apologized.
"I know," Harry started. "I didn't mean to, but Dumbledore had 'accidentally' forgot to tell me that I'd be teaching my parents," he replied angrily.
About an hour after they entered, the four friends left together. Harry felt a lot better now that he had told them all that had been going on. A huge weight had been lifted off of him, but he still had yet to tell him about the prophecy. He only had a small amount of time to get it out though, before he left.
The four walked together to the Common Room, said goodnight at the bottom of the stairs, and went separate ways respectively.
Very little time had passed before Harry fell asleep in the comfort of his bed. he warm blankets surrounded him and he fell into a world of peace. His peacefulness was interrupted though, by an unexpected guest.
Everything went completely black, and nothing could been seen or sensed. All of his senses seemed to be turned off. Suddenly his hearing returned, and he heard the voice of a familiar person.
"Never give up, Harry."
"Don't ever forget us... just believe..."
"I'm still here. Don't even think you can get rid of me that easily."
"Thank you, Harry. I owe you one."
All of these voices were familiar, but Harry's brain wasn't working properly, and the voices weren't connecting to a face in his memories. This didn't trouble him long, though. His sense of sight was gradually growing and blurry people were coming into his vision. Soon they were recognizable, and he almost collapsed from shock.
Standing there in front of him were his dead parents, his dead godfather, and a dead classmate. He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Then he tried to embrace them, but he went right through them, not feeling anything.
What was this torture? Was this one of Voldemort's schemes to break him down emotionally? If it were, he was doing a damn good job.
The visions in front of him began to fade into nothingness, and once again he found himself in a world of blackness, with none of his senses working.
Harry woke up breathing heavily, but all of the boys were still sleeping soundly. He decided that he wouldn't be able to sleep any longer with that vision floating around in his head. It was Sunday morning, and there was no need to get dressed, so he made his way down to the common room. There were small embers still burning in the fireplace, and with a swish of his wand, it was roaring again. Before he could sit down, a squeal startled him. Sitting right in front of the fire he had just made were Hermione and Ginny.
Both girls were covered in layers of blankets and had hot chocolate in their hands. "You know," Harry started. "You could have made your own fire."
"Good morning to you too," Ginny said grumpily.
"What are you guys doing down here anyway? Shouldn't you be in bed still. It's only a little past five."
"And what about you? Shouldn't you be sleeping still too?" 'Here comes the famous Hermione wit,' Harry thought.
"I have my reasons, but I want to hear your story first." The only way to respond to a witty comment from Hermione was another witty comment.
"The other girls kicked us out of both dorms because we talked too much. Now what's your story?"
"I still don't believe you, but I'll tell you what happened anyway," He said dramatically. The girls giggled at his tone, and he continued. "I had another dream, but it wasn't like the ones last year. It wasn't a vision- er- well, it was. It's kinda hard to explain. But I saw my parents, Sirius, and Cedric. They talked to me, but it was like I wasn't really there."
"Well, what did they say?"
"Just a few words of encouragement, not too much. It didn't last long. It was weird though. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't touch them; it felt like all my senses were dulled, or turned off completely."
"I think I've read something about that once." Hermione had a faraway look on her face, as if trying to remember what it meant. "I'll have to look it up sometime."
Harry got a playful shocked look on his face. "Hermione! I'm so shocked! You don't memorize everything you read?" She hit him on the arm and glared at him. "Okay, why are you guys really down here?" He changed the topic quickly to be sure he wasn't hit.
"We told you already," Ginny said. "The other girls kicked us out so we came here."
"Okay, then what were the two of you talking about, that you were too loud?" he inquired.
The two girls looked at each other and broke into a fit of giggles. "It's just girl stuff," they replied in unison, which only made them giggle more. Harry rolled his eyes, but by this time, he was interested in what was so funny.
"Oh, yeah? What kind off girl stuff?"
"We couldn't tell you; then it wouldn't be girl stuff." Ginny looked at him as if he were completely incompetent.
"Fine." His idea was to make them feel guilty and give into his wishes. It always worked for Dudley on his parents at least. It had been a few seconds now, and it didn't seem like they were going to say anything. "Fine," he said again. "I'm leaving." The look they were giving him was disturbing, and he no longer wanted to be at the receiving end of it.
Harry walked to the room where Remus was staying, in order to study for his NEWT's. He walked down the mirrored hallway, trying not to lose sense on direction and run into anything. He made it to the end where a completely black door was standing. He opened the door and said the password to the portrait behind it. It was a dangerous thing to make sure it wasn't ever found out that the former professor werewolf was staying in the castle. When an opening appeared, he walked through and hollered for his mentor.
Remus made his way down from his sleeping quarters only half dressed and a drowsy look on his face. "What the hell do you think your doing down here? Why aren't you asleep?"
"I had a dream." He thought this was enough of an excuse, but it obviously wasn't enough for Remus.
"Well, then why are you here? Shouldn't you have gone to Dumbledore? That would have been sensible." He looked at him like he had no sense at all. "And that way you wouldn't have to had waken me up." He gave the kid in front of him a playful glare.
"Well, it wasn't that kind of dream. It was weird." He told Remus all about the dream he had had early this morning, and by the end of his tale, Remus was sitting next to him with a thoughtful look. Then suddenly his look changed.
"Well, that's not fair. Why don't they visit me?"
"You mean this is normal?" Harry asked surprised. If this were normal then how did Hermione not know about it?
"Yeah, but it's usually different. Usually you can have a conversation and touch them. It seems they only wanted to send you a message." He had a thoughtful look on his face again.
"Then why didn't they just come down to see me? And why have my parents never done this before now?" Harry was so overwhelmed, he wasn't thinking clearly.
"Did you ever think that maybe they are thinking things through more clearly? If they actually came to talk to you wouldn't you become attached? Wouldn't you want to stay with them? Wouldn't you do anything, including kill yourself, to have that one thing you've always wanted?" Harry finally realized what he was getting at, and looked down at the floor sheepishly. 'Well, am I right?"
"Yes." It was a short reply, but it did its job. Remus nodded and sat back down now that his rant was over. Harry took this time of silence to think a few things through. Is there any way I can send a message back at least?"
Remus looked bewildered. "I- er- I'm not sure. I don't think anyone has ever tried."
"Well it looks like I've got another thing to try to do. But that's not really why I came down here. Hermione and Ginny kinda kicked me out of the Common Room when I went down, and I wanted to study for NEWT's. Maybe you could quiz me on something?" Remus nodded and asked what subject he had in mind. "The only subject I even have a chance to pass." With that, he transfigured a sixth year defense book.
"Well, it seems you might have a chance of passing Transfiguration too. The practical part at least," he said with a chuckle. He started quizzing him, and after nearly a half an hour, he was thoroughly satisfied. "Well, I think you have more than a chance to pass this exam, let's move onto something else."
Harry nodded and transfigured a sixth year transfiguration text. "The next best subject I have a chance to pass," he said with a wry smile. They studied this subject a bit longer, but Remus was still satisfied.
By this time, it was nearly eight o'clock and time for breakfast. "Let's go," Harry said. "I'm famished." Remus laughed at Harry and his choice of words, but followed him out the door anyway. This time Harry wasn't paying as much attention to where he was going, because he was talking to Remus at the same time. He walked straight into the wall and Remus doubled over in laughter while Harry sat on the floor rubbing his forehead in pain. "Damn it, Remus, it's not that funny." This just made Remus laugh even harder. Harry got up and walked the rest of the way through without further harm.
He walked into the Great Hall, and sat down with his friends. "What's wrong with your forehead, Harry?" Ginny asked. Harry just continued to pout, and didn't say a word. The three in front of him exchanged looks, and looked back at their friend. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he could barely keep them open. "No, really. What's wrong?" Ginny tried again.
"Well," he started sarcastically, "I woke up early and then these two annoyingly giggling girls kicked me out of the common room. I don't think they realized that I only wanted a quiet place to study for these Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests I'm about to take." He was glaring at the girls in front of him weakly. They glanced between each other sheepishly, but Ron seemed to take no notice.
"Who were they? I'll beat the pulp out of them." Harry started to laugh out loud. Ron looked at him like he was crazy, and then the girls started in too.
"Ron, calm down. The girls I was talking about were these two," he said, still laughing.
Just then, McGonagal walked up behind them, and informed Harry that the Headmaster expected him in his office directly after lunch. Harry agreed, and continued his lunch with his friends.