Harry Potter and the Light of the Istari
Chapter Six
Harry, Ron and Hermione went upstairs to Harry's room but they never got around to helping Harry revise. Ginny stomped up to her own room saying that she had to finish her history of magic essay as it had to be handed in on the first day of term; which was only five days away now. But Harry doubted she was really in any hurry to get upstairs and finish her homework. He wondered what had come over her lately as she had been acting really moody. It couldn't be anything to do with Dean Thomas because Hermione said they were getting on fine and were writing to each other quite a lot. Even Hermione had admitted that Ginny had been acting oddly lately but said that when she asked Ginny if she was okay Ginny just snapped at her saying she was fine.
Harry brought his attention back to the conversation that Ron and Hermione were having as they all sat around the fireplace in his room. Every now and then they would glance over their shoulders to check that Phineas was not back in his portrait, as they wanted to be sure that they were having a private conversation. They were all still nervous that Dumbledore may turn up and tell them that they are discussing things that they shouldn't be. Phineas was still absent however, and was presumably snoring away in his rocking chair in his other portrait in Dumbledores' office.
None of them believed that Narcissa Malfoy had been there inadvertently at the same time as Bellatrix; especially as her husband had just escaped from Azkaban. Though Hermione tried reasoning that surely if Mrs Malfoy was there to meet the death eaters then she would have been meeting up with her husband and not her sister. And why would they meet on Diagon Alley when it was being so carefully watched? Surely they would have better meeting in some dark corner of Knockturn Alley.
Harry was finding it all too confusing; there were so many questions and no answers. He had found it easy earlier to believe that Bellatrix had been meeting Narcissa and when she saw them walking towards her had just taken advantage of the situation to try and get revenge for what had happened in the Department of Mysteries a few months before. But Hermione had a way of seeing all angles of a situation and he had to admit that she could be right; it wasn't as straight forward as he had thought.
Ron also wasn't as resolute about Bellatrix being there to meet Narcissa but he was still convinced that the Malfoys were there for some reason after all if Bellatrix wasn't meeting Narcissa who was she there meeting, especially on Diagon Alley.
After a while they still couldn't decide on the most plausible explanation and were going round in circles, so Harry changed the subject to Snape. Ginnys' outburst had shocked them all but they all had to admit that whilst they had only discussed it among themselves; they had been asking the same question for the past five years.
"We're missing something" Ron said wearily "for mum to react like that there has got to be something we haven't been told".
"I wonder what he meant about everybody having a price." Harry thought out loud.
"Well it's obvious isn't it" Hermione stated "he means that somebody in the Order is leaking information to Voldemort. That's why your mother had a go at him Ron. And judging by her reaction I would say that it isn't the first time that the subject of a spy has been mentioned. That's what we've not been told".
"Moody" Harry added then paused.
"What about Moody?" Ron asked when Harry didn't continue.
"Well he never said anything when your mum was arguing with Snape" Harry answered.
"Well would you want to get involved in an argument with my mother?" Ron joked.
"I mean" continued Harry "well I think Hermione may have a good point. He is back working at the Ministry now and you would think that if it was the first time that somebody spying on us was mentioned, well … surely he would have said something but he didn't he just sat there".
"But Moody sees conspiracies everywhere anyway" replied Ron.
"But right at the top of the Order?" Hermione added doubtfully. "Very few people knew about getting Harry out, it happened so quick, we only found out a couple of minutes before he got here. And Moody said earlier activity in Little Whinging stopped the same day that you left Harry. The only people who knew were your parents Ron, Fred and George, Professor Lupin, Tonks, Moody and Professor Mcgonagall. Oh and Dumbledore because he must have sent them".
"And Mundungus" added Harry.
"Huh! How did he know" Hermione asked.
"Well I … Professor Mcgonagall said that Mundungus had seen Bellatrix on the High Street which was why they were taking me. I never actually saw him".
"I thought it was just dementors that were in Little Whinging" Ron was getting really confused. "What was she doing there?"
"I know … AND on the same street I was on half an hour earlier come to think of it" Harry realised.
"What" shrieked Hermione "But then maybe that's what has been discussed before; maybe that is the leak. Somebody told Voldemort exactly where you were and that you weren't at home. Maybe that's why they brought you straight here early with the port key".
Harry sat and listened as Ron and Hermione went over all the possibilities again but his head was spinning from trying to make sense of it all. The more they talked the more confusing it got and the more questions they came up with. Who knew that Harry had left the house for the afternoon?
Harry stared back over his shoulder again to check that Phineas still wasn't back but the portrait was still empty and then it hit him. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten to ask; he spun back round with a huge grin to face Ron and Hermione and was about to ask them both whether they were finally going out together yet, when he was interrupted by a knock at the bedroom door; they had all been so busy talking that they didn't hear the floor boards creak as somebody came up the stairs. Mrs Weasley bustled in and announced it was time for bed.
She put her hand on Hermione's shoulder and steered her towards the door; but just as she reached the door she turned and took her wand out of her apron pocket. She pointed it back towards the beds and as she gently flicked it in her right hand, said "Mobulus". At this command Harry and Ron's pyjamas jumped out from underneath their pillows and started dancing up and down in front of them, puffed out like they already had people wearing them.
"Bed now, I'll be back in a minute to check; you've got to be up early tomorrow for your test Harry dear" then the door closed and Harry got ready for bed.
Mrs Weasley woke Harry early the next morning. He was too nervous to eat but managed to force down some dry toast just to try and stop Mrs Weasley flapping around him. He couldn't believe the test had come around so quickly. It only seemed like he had had a few lessons; just thinking of it was making his stomach churn. Though he could understand why Dumbledore had arranged for them all to take the test early now, and they did have a habit of getting themselves in to tricky situations. It didn't help that he hadn't gotten round to doing much revision either. He had lain awake most of the night trying to go over everything he had been taught in his head and now he was exhausted.
It was 5.30am and Ron was still in bed; Mrs Weasley had told him to go back to sleep and after what sounded like 'good luck Harry' Ron rolled over and stuck a pillow over his head while Harry quickly got dressed.
"Any minute now" Mrs Weasley announced cheerfully as she brought Harry a glass of pumpkin juice. Harry was about to ask what was going to happen when Mr Weasley, Tonks, Moody and Professor Dumbledore piled in to the kitchen from behind the tapestry.
"Well it is quicker and not so much of a secret passage anymore now you know about it" Dumbledore smiled at Harry, his blue eyes gleaming over the top of his purple half moon spectacles.
The pantry door opened behind Dumbledore and Kreacher staggered out glaring at the crowd that had amassed in the kitchen. As he crossed the floor mumbling to himself Harry noticed how wrinkly he had gotten and was about to say 'Good Morning' to him when Kreacher slammed the kitchen door behind him. Never mind Harry thought to himself, he had more important things to worry about.
"Right are you ready Harry" Mr Weasley asked and they all left the kitchen, Mrs Weasley coming to wave them off at the front door.
Two hours later Harry was back in the kitchen of number 12 Grimmauld Place sitting at the table with a huge grin on his face as Hermione, Ron and Ginny came in for their breakfast.
"What are you grinning at?" Ginny yawned grumpily.
"Harry's just passed his apparition test" Mrs Weasley beamed proudly, placing two large plates of sausages, eggs and bacon in the middle of the large wooden table next to the toast.
Harry told them all about the test as they helped themselves to breakfast. Harry was so much hungrier now that the test was over.
Dumbledore had stayed with Harry the entire time, even when he had to apparate with the examiner. He had sent Tonks ahead with one examiner to the fourth floor where Harry had to apparate to first to make sure the area was safe and Mr Weasley had remained in the test centre on the sixth floor for when they came back.
The hardest part was when Harry had to apparate to the surface as that was more complicated, but he did it; and when he appeared next to the red telephone box Moody still jumped out of his skin even though he had been expecting him. Dumbledore had to act fast to deflect the stunning spell that Moody had sent flying towards Harry but he was not quite so lucky in stopping the second one, which hit the examiner. Harry had laughed till his sides ached when Dumbledore had looked up from the examiner and said to Moody with a completely straight face 'Nice to see age isn't slowing you down Alastor but I do not think knocking out Mr Fredricks is going to help Harry pass his exam!'.
Back in the test centre Harry went to do his theory test while a healer was reviving the examiner. The test had been easier than Harry thought it would be; nobody had mentioned before that it was multiple-choice.
"That was because we needed to make sure you worked hard at learning all the correct answers and didn't guess them" Mrs Weasley interrupted. "We did the same to Ron and Hermione too because it is very important that you know exactly what you are doing".
Harry, Ron and Hermione talked about the questions they'd all had on their test papers while Ginny listened, glancing moodily over at her mother who had not yet said a word to her. Mrs Weasley started clearing away all the breakfast things off the table while the scouring pad, sponge and tea cloth danced in the air above the sink, washing and drying the dishes as Mrs Weasley placed them in the there.
An hour later Harry, Ron and Hermione were all in the study. Harry and Ron were sat at the large oak desk trying to finish a new quidditch strategy that they had been working on so that the team could get practising as soon as the tryouts were over. Angelina Johnson given George a minititure quidditch pitch to pass on to Harry and they were leaning over it moving the players around with their wands. Harry had to find two more chasers to replace Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. Ginny had already agreed to take over Angelina's position so that Harry could return as Seeker.
Whilst they were debating a 'M' formation, Hermione was sat in the same plump red armchair that Harry had been sat in when Dumbledore had explained to him about Sirius and the adoption.
"Pity you don't put that much effort in to your homework" she called over the top of last weeks copy of The Quibbler.
"Ha Ha" said Ron sarcastically "At least this is more interesting than that rubbish".
Hermione had taken out a subscription to The Quibbler after they had printed an article for Harry months ago. It had helped Harry, and the Order, gain a lot of support by convincing people that Lord Voldemort had returned. Since then though, the content of the paper had gone back to strange articles on non-existent creatures, weird crop circles in Devon and bizarre interpretations of magical phenomena. There were occasionally interesting articles on Runes and it had a small column at the back of the paper advising on 'Death Eater Hotspots - Where NOT To Travel!', which is why Hermione still read it.
Ron got up from the desk and walked over to the fire. Snatching the copy of The Quibbler out of her hands he laughed as he read out the title of the article she was reading. "Ah the celebrity page … let's see … 'Love Spells and Muggles - How magic was misused … The great Taylor debate continues as Ministry officials investigate, yet again, whether legendary witch Elizabeth Taylor has been passing spells to her muggle friends to help them with their love lives. The elderly witch, famous for her acting skills has already been investigated twice; once for misuse of love spells and secondly for using magic to win acting roles … blah blah blah … Hermione you really need to get a life!"
"I'm not the one who needs to get a life!" she shouted huffily as she jumped up and down trying to get the newspaper back off Ron; but she wasn't very successful as there was at least a five inch difference in their heights.
"Insulting me is not going to make me give you the paper back" Ron laughed and held the paper up even higher.
"Right then, maybe this will!" Hermione declared with a sly smile on her face. Harry burst out laughing as Hermione launched herself at Ron in a rugby tackle and started tickling him around his waist. Ron was caught off guard and tripped over the wooden magazine rack that was beside the armchair and they both toppled over. He landed on the floor in a heap with Hermione on top of him. Hermione reached up and grabbed the newspaper out of his hand "I think that is mine".
Harry carried on laughing as Ron started tickling Hermione making her drop it. "Stop it" she laughed, struggling to get away. "Make me" laughed Ron and Hermione leant forward and kissed him just as the door to the study opened. Mrs Weasley took one look at Harry grinning then looked round the corner of the door and saw Hermione sitting on top of Ron. Ron and Hermione turned their faces towards, Hermione still pinning Ron's arms above his head, and they both went bright red.
"Oh … um" Mrs Weasley said before she backed out of the room and shut the door. Harry could not help himself, he burst out laughing again as they got up off the floor.
"Oh dear" said Hermione kneeling down on the floor again to pick up all the pieces of the paper that had scattered over the rug when she dropped it.
"Your faces!" Harry laughed as tears ran down his face and he had to put his head on his arms on the desk to try and stop laughing.
"Yeah it's real funny Harry" Ron said looking worried.
"Well look at the bright side" Harry said more calmly as he sat back up straight, having calmed down a bit but still holding his side "you don't have to tell her now do you!" and he started laughing again.
Ron picked up a red cushion from the armchair and threw it at him.
Half an hour later things had just calmed down and Harry and Ron were back working on the quidditch strategy again when Mr Weasley came in to the study looking slightly flustered, wanting Ron to come in to the kitchen with him. Ron left and then re-emerged twenty minutes later, his face even redder than his hair.
"Oh that was so embarrassing, and it's all your fault" he said pointing a finger at Hermione accusingly.
"You've just had 'the birds and the bees' talk haven't you" she guessed trying to look sympathetic while struggling not to laugh.
"Well I guess that's one bonus to not having parents" Harry grinned "I get to skip that one!"
"And mine aren't here to do it either so I miss it too!" laughed Hermione unable to contain herself anymore.
But Ron turned towards them both with an evil grin on his face and folded his arms. "Oh you think so, do you?" he smiled. The smiles on Harry's and Hermione's faces wavered a bit as they looked at Ron.
"Hermione, mum is waiting for you upstairs in her office and Dad is waiting for you Harry in the kitchen!"
The next couple of days flew by; Mrs Weasley gave them all lots of jobs to do and Harry decided it was because she wanted to keep Ron and Hermione busy. The chat with Mr Weasley had been really embarrassing and Harry was glad when it was over; but at the same time it had made him really happy to think that the Weasleys did think of him as a son and felt responsible for him enough to have taken him aside and talked to him in the first place. It was just mice to feel wanted, even if Harry himself still wanted Sirius.
The day before they were to travel back to Hogwarts Mrs Weasley asked Harry to stay behind in the kitchen after breakfast. She sent Ron, Ginny and Hermione upstairs to pack their trunks. Harry tried thinking back over the last couple of days to try and think if he had done something wrong but he could not think of anything.
Mrs Weasley closed the kitchen door behind Ron and came back and sat at the table, directly across from Harry. They sat in silence as she refilled his glass of pumpkin juice from the jug that was in the middle of the table. Knotting her fingers together nervously she looked in to Harry's green eyes before she spoke and Harry wondered what could be upsetting her so much, but he didn't have long to wait to find out.
"Well Harry dear … the thing is … oh this is hard" she looked quickly round the room for inspiration. "I guess I shouldn't have let this wait so long, but you seemed quite happy … and after everything that's happened to you … I just wanted you to be happy".
"What's wrong Mrs Weasley?" Harry asked worriedly.
"It is Dumbledore's instructions Harry, he wants you to sort through Sirius' things before you back to school. He thinks it is important that you deal with it before term starts. I shouldn't have left it so long… he knew somehow that you hadn't done it yet and he sent me a letter. He put another letter for you Harry, in with mine; for you to read before you go upstairs".
Mrs Weasley looked down and reached in to the pocket on the front of her orange flowery apron, then pulled out a small piece of parchment that had a Hogwarts seal on it.
"I'll leave you to read this Harry" she said as she passed it over the table. Harry took it reluctantly, he had deliberately been avoiding the upper floors of the house since he had got there so that he would not have to deal with Sirius' belongings. It was only the last week or so that he had stopped dreaming of Sirius falling through the darkness.
As Harry stared at the parchment Mrs Weasley rose from her chair and came round to Harry's side of the table. "If you want to come with you Harry, or if you need me at all, I'll be in the study cleaning". As Harry continued staring at the envelope in his hands, she gently kissed Harry on the top of his head and patted his left shoulder before she left the kitchen.
Harry stared at the parchment for a couple more minutes, thoughts of Sirius now racing through his mind. A dirty but happy Sirius asking Harry to come and live with him after they had captured Peter Pettigrew at Hogwarts; a brooding Sirius stood in the study describing the Black family tree to Harry as they looked at the tapestry on the wall; an excited Sirius singing while he was putting up Christmas decorations when they had come for Christmas eight months before; then a shocked, open-mouthed Sirius as he fell backwards in to the veil.
Harry couldn't bear to think of him like that any longer and quickly opened the parchment. There was just one simple sentence written inside, in emerald green ink.
You must deal with the past before you can face the future
It was just that, it was not even signed. Harry stared at it for a few more minutes realising that Dumbledore was just trying to help him deal with all the thoughts in his head; about Sirius and the prophecy and what he was expected to do. But at the same time he felt resentful at being pushed in to doing things he did not want to do. But then did he really have a choice?
Harry took a deep breath and decided he had to do it now, but by himself. He disapparated up to the corridor on the top floor outside Sirius' bedroom. He did not want to bump in to Ron and Hermione on the way and have to tell them what he was doing. He put his hand on the bronze door handle, turned it and walked in.
Harry closed the door quietly behind him then leaned his head against it, closing his eyes for a few seconds not really wanting to turn around. But he did. After opening his eyes and turning round slowly Harry took in the contents of Sirius' bedroom. It looked exactly the same as when Harry had last been in here with Sirius; except for the corner by the window that used to be full of straw for Buckbeak's bed. That was now piled with boxes. The pictures on the walls were still the same though the portrait next to the bed caught Harry's attention. A wizard in dark brown robes on a wooden bench looked familiar but Harry could not place him. Maybe he just remembered him from the last time he was in here. Looking round again the bed covers were the same and there was still a bare wooden floor. As Harry breathed in his stomach lurched as he realised the room still smelt of Sirius.
Not knowing where to start, he went and sat on the end of the bed and stared out of the window at the bright blue sky. After a while of trying to think of nothing and not succeeding Harry got up off the bed and walked over to the wardrobe and opened the large wooden doors.
At the bottom of the wardrobe there were three boxes lined up one by one. They were labelled in Mrs Weasleys handwriting 'Charity-clothes', 'Charity-other' and 'Storage - Kreacher DO NOT TOUCH'. They were empty at the moment so Harry figured Mrs Weasley wanted him to fill them with all the stuff that Sirius had in the wardrobe, which wasn't really a lot. Harry pulled the boxes out one at a time and decided that the wardrobe must have been magically expanded for them all to have fitted in like that. He started going through the coat-hangers first putting shirts, trousers and robes in to the charity box. He stopped when he came to a light blue Hawaiian shirt and smiled. Thinking back to when Sirius had sent an exotic bird to deliver Harry a letter when he was on the run from the Ministry of magic, Harry decided he must have bought this then, and he put it to one side for the storage box. A lot of clothing was old fashioned but still in quite good condition but Harry could not bear to keep too much. He kept two sets of plain smart robes as well as the Hawaiian shirt but put the rest of the clothes from the wardrobe in to the charity box. Taking one last look inside the empty wardrobe, Harry closed the doors and then went to the chest of drawers that were next to it. He figured he might as well carry on and get it over and done with.
He reached out and ran his right hand across the dark bronze coiled snakes that were the handles on the drawers. He looked back at the wardrobe and saw that it too had coiled snakes on it. Turning his attention back to the chest he pulled open the top drawer; it was empty though. He closed it and opened the next one down and carried on sorting through the t-shirts and shirts that were in it. He kept a couple of plain black t-shirts for himself and put the rest in the charity box then did the same with the clothes in the third drawer.
The fourth drawer contained jumpers and Harry put quite a few of these in the storage box so that he could keep them for himself. But as he lifted up the last dark blue jumper that had been at the bottom of the drawer it was heavy and Harry realised there was something wrapped inside of it. Unfolding the jumper he found a brown mahogany box with a small silver catch keeping the lid down. As he looked closer he could see sets of initials etched in to the four corners of the lid. 'SB' was on the top left, 'JP' was top right, 'RL' was on the bottom left and 'PP' was on the bottom right. Harry sat on the bare floor and lifted the catch so that he could open the box.
On the top was a plain white envelope with Harry's name on. He opened it and pulled out the contents; coming face to face with the official adoption papers that Sirius had been waiting to give him. Harry put them back quickly in to the envelope not wanting to look too closely at them yet, and carried on looking through the contents of the box. There were more photographs of Sirius at school with James and Lupin (Peter Pettigrew was hiding shamefully in the corner with what looked suspiciously like a cigarette burn where his face should have been). There were also pictures of Harry, Sirius, Hermione and the Weasleys celebrating Christmas. Right at the bottom of the box were Sirius' letters from the Ministry of magic informing him of his OWL and NEWTs results; he had gotten top marks in all of them. Harry piled everything back in to the box and put it to one side with the Hawaiian shirt.
Turning back to the chest of drawers he pulled the last one open; it was full of Gryffindor school robes and scarves. They were well worn and faded and the badge was different. They had the Hogwarts crest on them but the Gryffindor colours around the edges with a maroon lining. As Harry looked through the different sized robes he could see more burn marks on some of the badges where the lion should have been and Harry laughed to himself as he realised Mrs Black must have had a go at these too as well as the tapestry.
One by one Harry lifted them all out in to the storage box; he couldn't give these away they were too personal; they were a part of what had made Sirius the good person that he had been. When the drawer was empty Harry went to push it back in but it jammed. Looking down he banged the left corner of the drawer to make it move but as it did Harry saw the wooden bottom of the drawer slide backwards revealing something red then it moved forwards again to the front. There was no carpet or a rug underneath and the floor was wooden so Harry put his hand in to the drawer and touched the panel on the bottom. He moved it gently backwards and forwards and saw what looked like the corner of a red leather book underneath. Carefully he lifted the entire drawer out and laid it on the floor. He saw straight away that it should have been deeper than it looked. In the back right-hand corner there was a slight gap in the wood. Harry squeezed his little finger in to it and was able to lift out the drawer bottom. Underneath were numerous diaries and letters scattered about. Harry lifted them all out then put the false drawer bottom back in then placed the whole thing back in the chest. After checking that the other drawer bottoms were real, he lifted up the pile of books and letters and took them over to the bed to read.
Starting with the earliest diaries, Harry began to read them. They started from Sirius' fourth year in Hogwarts and described all the trouble he had been in, the arguments he had had with his family and how close he had been to James. Harry cried a little when he read two whole pages about his grandparents and what they were like. They sounded a lot like Mr and Mrs Weasley; but he had never known what they were really like himself and never would. It was the same with his parents, he had to learn about them from other people and it really hurt.
He flicked through the pages quicker now not wanting to dwell so much on things that he couldn't change. Professor Snape was mentioned quite a few times too but not in a very nice way. Half way through the fourth year Sirius started to write about James' crush on Lily and his attempts to try and get her to go out with him.
Harry carried on skimming through them, skipping the parts where Sirius' family were occasionally mentioned.
After he had left school Sirius didn't write every day, only when something happened and even then it wasn't really detailed. Looking at the dates it was the year before Voldemort attacked his parents. It dawned on Harry that he never knew what Sirius did for a living before he had been arrested. Harry went back to the beginning of the diary but it didn't really say very much. Dumbledore and the Ministry were mentioned quite a lot so Harry figured he must have worked for them both the same as his father. The diary entries stopped the day that Harry's parents died and he realised it was because he had been taken in to Azkaban.
There was one diary left and the navy blue cover was battered and a bit muddy. It started from the day before Harry had run away from Privet Drive three years ago. Sirius wrote about revenge for James and lily but also about every time he had seen Harry. He wrote about times that Harry hadn't even noticed or felt that he was being watched. Walking through Hogsmede when he wasn't supposed to be there, quidditch practises, Hagrid's Care of magical Creatures lessons and lunch times out by the lake. He had risked so much to get that close to watch Harry and as he read what Sirius had written Harry knew that Sirius was there to protect and look after him more than just wanting revenge on Peter; Sirius knew that all they really had had been each other.
The diary continues with sporadic entries and Harry carried on skimming through them. It wasn't as bright outside now and Harry knew that it was late afternoon and he would have to go downstairs soon; time had flown by. He read entries from when Sirius was on the run with Buckbeak and notes on the Triwizard Tournament. Sirius had even cut out the newspaper clipping from the Daily Prophet with Harry's photograph on it, announcing Harry had been picked to represent Hogwarts. The entries then moved on to when Sirius was back here in Grimmauld Place and Harry realised just how miserable and depressed Sirius had been; imprisoned in this house on his own.
As he reached the back of the diary he found a pile of parchments held together with a piece of green string; and on the very last page there was a note to Harry from Sirius.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this then I am either a very happy old man who, in a fit of nostalgia, has passed on all his important things to you from when we first became a proper family, or something unexpected has happened and you are going through my things. Either way I hope you are happy and you're safe and I want you to read all my thought and feelings because I'm not very good at expressing them.
There is a lot you can learn in these diaries about me and your parents; ignore the bits about my parents they aren't important anymore. You are my family now Harry, and not wanting to sound like Molly, but I hope you realise that I do love you just as much if not more than if you were my own son. Your parents would be so proud of you as am I and no matter what decisions you have to make in the future just make sure that you remember that; and that we ALL love you.
The letters that are tied in string are letters that I wrote to you but couldn't really send.
Don't fear the future Harry or you'll forget to live.
Love Sirius
Tears were rolling down Harry's face fast as he ran his fingers across the paw print under Sirius' name and he knew he could not read the letters yet. As he was putting the tied letters back in to the diary he noticed that all his own letters that he had sent to Sirius were tucked in the flap at the back of it.
He closed the diary and put it back with the others. He sat staring at them for a while then looked round the room, grief flooding through him in waves. He looked out the window again and saw that it was getting darker still. He got up and went over to the wardrobe, picking up the Hawaiian shirt and the mahogany box. He put them on the bed with the diaries and went and got a black jumper and two t-shirts out of the storage box. They would still be a bit big for him but he didn't care he wanted to take them back to Hogwarts. He folded the flaps down on the boxes and moved them to the side of the room; he wanted the rest of the room to stay just as it was, Sirius' room.
His arms full, Harry walked back down to his own bedroom, hoping that Ron and Hermione wouldn't be there waiting for him wanting to know what he had been doing. As he opened the door however, he saw the room was empty and he went inside. He put all of Sirius' things in to his trunk and put his new school robes on top. He had to sit on the lid to squeeze it all in but he managed. Hedwig hooted at him from her cage in the corner and Harry went over and fed her.
Realising that he had to go downstairs as it was nearly teatime, Harry washed his face and was just checking it wasn't too red in the mirror when the door swung open and Kreacher stomped in. Seeing Harry he turned back around to shuffle back out again but Harry shouted for him to come back.
"Kreacher thought the traitor master was downstairs, plotting with the other filth, not skulking round mistresses' house!"
"I am not the one who is skulking Kreacher. And besides I've been here for weeks and I've hardly seen you. What have you been doing?" Harry asked.
"Cleaning and tidying" he replied whilst looking shiftily round the room.
Yeah right Harry thought to himself. "Anyway you do know Kreacher I'm master of this house now don't you?".
"Mistress will be turning in her grave, filth running round her house, moving things" spat the bedraggled house elf.
"I don't care what you or the mistress think" Harry replied irritably, "I just want to make sure you know you have to do what I tell you. And I'm telling you this; you DON'T leave this house, you don't tell anyone what is said in this house, you do not change or take anything that Mrs Weasley does to this house, you do exactly what she tells you, you DO NOT touch anything that belonged to Sirius and you don't even go in Sirius' bedroom. Do you understand me?".
"Yes sir. Can Kreacher leave now? He has things to be doing" Kreacher replied, already backing himself out of the door.
"Yes go" Harry answered and the bedroom door swung shut again. Feeling a bit better now that he knew Kreacher would not be going through Sirius' things Harry took a deep breath and headed downstairs to the kitchen.
As Harry was approaching the kitchen he could hear voices behind the door and Ron laughing; it sounded like Tonks was re-enacting Moody's attack on Harry's apparition examiner. When he went in he was shocked to find a room full of people. Professor Dumbledore and Mrs Weasley were sat at the ends of the long wooden table. Fred, George and Lupin were sat alongside Ron, Hermione and Ginny on the right-hand side of the table. And opposite them Tonks, Moody and Professor Mcgonagall were sat alongside Mr Weasley. There were two place settings empty on their side of the table and Harry took the one furthest from Dumbledore.
"Ah there you are Harry, we were just about to come looking for you" Dumbledore smiled.
"Yeah but don't worry your not the only one that's late" Ron added "Percy hasn't turned up yet either".
"He's probably having a parchment crisis again" laughed George "It's either too thick or too thin and he'll be sat there with a ruler measuring it!".
"Now, now George, Percy takes his job very seriously, it is just a pity you two don't" Mrs Weasley said looking intently at the twins.
"We thought we would have a sort of farewell meal as your all returning to school tomorrow" Dumbledore explained to Harry before Fred and George could answer their mother.
"Percy will be on his way and should be here any minute or he would have sent an owl so we may as well get started before it all gets cold" added Mr Weasley watching the twins glower at Mrs Weasley.
Everybody started helping themselves to the vegetables that were piled in the bowls in the middle of the table while Mrs Weasley served the meat. Harry wasn't really hungry but he didn't want Mrs Weasley fussing over him so he filled his plate too.
As he was pushing his peas around with his fork he felt someone watching him and looked up to see Dumbledore watching him intently looking quite concerned. Harry gave him a little smile and then went back to his peas though he did try following Fred and Tonk's conversation about exploding cheeseburgers; but he could not concentrate.
He could hear everyone chatting and laughing but it was like he was in a tunnel and they were all getting quieter and it was going dark. He knew he had to snap out of it but he couldn't; they were getting quieter and quieter still. He tried to turn his head to face them and bring them in to focus but it was just black. That's when he realised he had no control over himself and started to panic; it wasn't him that was blocking them out. The image of everyone in the room was getting further and further away from him; like a square television screen getting smaller and smaller.
All of a sudden Harry felt an enormous bolt of pain shoot through his body from his head and as he reached up to grab his scar he fell sideways off his chair on to the floor. It happened so quickly it scared the living daylights out of everyone at the table. As he lay shaking on the floor, clutching his scar and crying in pain Professor Dumbledore was the first to reach him. As they all gathered round trying to help, however, Harry's crying stopped and turned in to an eerie laughter. Suddenly letting go of his head, Harry sat bolt up straight and they could all see a red tint to Harry's eyes. Tilting his head to one side to look straight at Dumbledore Harry's eyes went completely red and he started laughing harder.
Moody's wand was out in an instant but Dumbledore raised a hand to stop him. Mrs Weasley shrieked and grabbed Ginny. Ron and Hermione trying to pull them to the back of the kitchen.
"Leave him!" Dumbledore boomed as he gently touched Harry's scar with his wand hand. Then as suddenly as it began the laughter stopped and Harry slumped back to the floor again unconscious.
Lupin ran to the sink, grabbed a tea towel and ran it under the cold water tap. He came back over and gave it to Dumbledore to put on Harry's head. Slowly Harry's hand went up to his head as well and he groaned.
"Harry … Harry can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked him softly "I need you to sit up Harry".
With Lupin on one side and Dumbledore on the other they managed to sit Harry up. As he leant forward, Harry fought really hard not to be sick and he almost managed it. Luckily Mr Weasley was quick to grab an empty bowl.
Harry managed to look around himself and saw everyone staring at him absolutely terrified but he didn't care. Tears cascaded down his face as he thought of what he had just seen and did not care what they thought of him. He pressed the cold towel harder against his scar as it was still burning.
"Harry, listen to me please, this is important. What did you see?" Dumbledore asked and Harry tried to look at him but when he did he could feel hatred surging threw him. Besides, how could he convey the utter horror he had just witnessed? It was pure evil. Harry vomited again.
"Harry it is important" Dumbledore persisted.
"Maybe now is not such a good idea, let him calm down first" Lupin suggested.
"No he needs to tell us now while it is still clear" Dumbledore was not going to stop asking Harry thought to himself. Harry turned to look at him again but still crying all he could whisper was 'killed'. Harry could see everyone moving in closer to try and hear what he was saying but Dumbledore gestured for them to stop.
"Who Harry … who did you see him kill".
Harry tried to speak again but it was like his throat was closing up and he was choking.
"Take your time Harry, but we need to know" Dumbledore added.
Harry looked in to Professor Dumbledores deep blue eyes for a few seconds to try and calm himself before trying again. Taking deep gagging breathes, this time he managed it. In a hoarse whisper he managed to say "Fudge … Kingsley".
The last thing he heard before he passed out again was Mrs Weasley screaming "Oh my god, where's Percy!".