Disclaimer: Not mine folks…

Chapter 6

The Pensieve

When Harry reappeared at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, he found the others waiting for him. This time, Neville saved him from landing face-first on the floor. As he straightened up, brushing soot off his robes, his eyes wandered over to where the clock was. They had been gone almost two hours.

"What happened back there, mate?" Ron called over, from where he was playing chess with Hermione. Ginny was on the floor, playing with a rather large cat. Luna was sitting on a couch near the fire, reading a magazine, where Neville joined her.

"Nothing much," Harry replied, sinking down on a comfortable armchair. The cat immediately jumped up onto his lap, he stroked it lazily.

"Is he yours?" he asked Ginny, while the cat purred in satisfaction.

"No, he's Hermione's. Name's Crookshanks," she looked curiously at him. "He's never taken to you much before…"

"Harry, what did Dumbledore say?" interrupted Hermione impatiently. She and Ron had walked over, abandoning the chess game, a couple of knights were waving their tiny lances in the air, cursing them.

"He told me that since I'd used Unforgivables, the wand was corrupted," he replied, leaning back in the chair, closing his eyes. It felt comfortable, sitting close to the fire, the warm weight of Crookshanks on his lap. It was quiet, and he felt that it would be nice to fall asleep in the armchair…

Harry jerked his eyes open, as he realized that he had caused the silence, by his statement. The others had moved closer, and Ginny was patting his arm.

"It's only the Imperius curse, Harry. I'm sure you had a good reason…" Harry stared at her. She apparently thought he felt guilty about that. With a flash of guilt, Harry realized that he hadn't given a second thought to it…

"Yeah, and it's only Malfoy after all…"

"Ron!"

"And it's not like you used the Cruciatus curse on him, Harry."

Hermione was chewing her lip nervously, she hadn't spoken so far. "What?" he asked her.

"It's… it's just that… they would have done the Prior Incantatem on your wand, Harry…"

Prior Incantatem… Prior Incantatem… This sounded familiar…Ah, of course, the reverse spell effect.

"Yeah, so?" Ron asked, knitting his eye-brows together, which gave him an uncharacteristically serious look.

"Ron, how can you be so stupid?" Hermione snapped at him, her voice returning to normal. Ron merely pointed at the others, all of whom were looking at Hermione quizzically. Harry felt a knot building in his stomach, he could see where this was going…

"They wouldn't have believed Malfoy unless… the spell showed that Harry had performed the… curses."

A silence followed. 'She's right,' thought Harry miserably. He glanced around at his friends, half expecting them to back away from him. As though she had divined his thoughts, Ginny took his hand in hers.

"Harry, we're still your friends. I… we don't care even if you… did all that. Nothing's going to change," she smiled at him.

The others quickly reaffirmed her words. Neville nodded "We've been through a lot of things together, Harry. We're not going to forget all that."

"Besides," Luna piped up, turning her large eyes upon Harry. "There's always the possibility that someone else used your wand…"

Harry did not think that was very likely, but he nodded along obediently with the rest. He felt a lump in his throat, and his heart was pounding, as he looked at his friends. They were absolutely serious, no doubt about that. He wondered what exactly they had 'been through'; as Neville put it, but thanked his stars that he had such great friends at his side.

Some of his feelings seemed to spread among the others. Hermione gave a great sniff, and turned away hastily. Ginny was holding him so hard that his hand was starting to become numb.

"So," Ron said, nervously eyeing Hermione, "How 'bout we teach you Exploding Snap, Harry?"

Harry nodded happily, as they headed upstairs.

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Exploding Snap was a nice game, Harry thought, if a trifle weird. He was sure, however that it wouldn't have been so weird if Ron hadn't insisted on using Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes All-Purpose Playing Cards. Harry learnt that the WWW was an enterprise owned by Fred and George Weasley. The cards frequently jumped from one player's hand to the other, and the explosions often shook the foundations of the house, but Ron insisted that these lent some unpredictability to the game, which would otherwise be boring. After they played for an hour or so, Mrs. Weasley appeared at the door to call them for lunch.

"How was your trip to Hogwarts, dear?" she asked Harry, hanging back to talk to him.

"Umm, I only saw Dumbledore's office, actually," Harry confessed. "But I did get my wand back though," he added brightly, drawing his wand.

"You mean he let you have your wand?" Hermione asked him, her brows furrowed. "But I thought you said…"

"Yes, yes," Harry said hurriedly, not wanting Mrs. Weasley to hear that he had performed the Unforgivable curses. "But it's my wand, isn't it? It's not like he has to let me use my wand."

Hermione was still looking at him worriedly. Harry was sure she felt that he should have used another wand, since Dumbledore had expressed his reservations, but he didn't feel like arguing with her. Breakfast seemed a long time ago, and Harry was eager to see what Mrs. Weasley had cooked up for lunch.

"Oh, and there are a few people here to see you…"

Harry paused at the foot of the stairs, and looked back at Mrs. Weasley. "They Flooed here a few minutes ago, they're waiting for you in the dining room." She was smiling as she said this. Were these people some more of his friends?

Harry made his way cautiously to the dining table and took a look at the newcomers. Sitting closest to him was a tall well-built black man, with a bald pate, and a single earring hanging from his left ear. He was seated comfortably, reading the newspaper. Somehow from his poise, Harry felt that very little disturbed the man, he would remain just as calm under any circumstances.

Seated across the table was a young woman with a pale, heart shaped face and short hair of a particularly virulent green colour. She was laughing at something a third man had said, they were facing each other. This man had sandy hair, which had a lot of grey in it, and looked tired, with bags under his eyes. Somehow, Harry had the impression that the man was much younger than he looked.

The fourth man was facing the fire. He had long grizzled grey hair, Harry couldn't make out his features, he was facing away from Harry. None of them had noticed his approach yet, he was about to clear his throat when the man said "Hello there, Potter."

Harry was surprised, how did he notice? There wasn't any mirror in front of him or anything. However, the man didn't turn around, so Harry looked around at the others.

The sandy haired man was smiling at him, a smile that made him look ten years younger. Harry smiled back at him, he felt strangely comforted by his presence. The woman had gotten up and had made her way to Harry, and had enveloped him in a tight hug.

Somehow, Harry didn't feel so embarrassed, perhaps he'd got plenty of practice at being hugged by strange women. He was released, and was scrutinized from head to toe.

"You've grown taller," she said finally, smiling at him (she was just about as tall as him). "And definitely thinner," she rolled her eyes, "But that's to be expected I suppose."

Harry smiled back at her relieved. At least she hadn't burst into tears like Mrs. Weasley. He noticed that the bald black man had put away his paper and was looking at him. "All right, Potter?" he asked in a deep voice. Harry nodded back at him and turned his attention to the man with the grizzled hair, and opened his mouth in shock. One of the man's eyes was dark and beady, and the other was much bigger and an electric blue in colour. It was also moving around inside the eye socket. Somehow, Harry got the idea that it was because of this eye that he was able to see behind him.

"Well, come on in Weasley," he growled suddenly. Ron opened the dining room door and walked in sheepishly, followed by the others. Apparently, the eye could see through solid objects as well…

"Well, I suppose we'd better introduce ourselves," the sandy haired man said, approaching Harry. "I'm Remus Lupin," he said, shaking his hand. So this was Remus Lupin, werewolf and another friend of his father, whose unexpected transformation resulted in Pettigrew's escape. He smiled at Lupin and said "Dumbledore told me about you."

Lupin nodded and indicated the green-haired woman next to him. "This is Nymphadora…" he broke off as the woman punched him rather hard on the arm. "Just Tonks will do, Harry," she told him, glaring at Lupin, who was rubbing his arm with a wry smile on his face.

The bald black man introduced himself as Kingsley Shacklebolt, and the grey-haired man turned out to be Alastor Moody.

"So it is true, isn't it?" Lupin asked him, as they sat down for lunch. "Any idea how it happened?" Harry shook his head. It was the truth, he didn't know how he had erased his own memory. "Shame," Lupin continued, shaking his head, "You were a pretty good dueller, Harry. Now you'll have to relearn all the spells."

"That's not exactly true," Hermione broke in, realization dawning on her face. "You performed a few spells in Dumbledore's office, how'd you know them?"

There was complete silence at the table, as they regarded Harry. Moody was observing Harry intently, both eyes fixed on his face. "Which spells did you do, Potter?" he asked him in his gravelly voice.

Harry thought for a moment. How had he known which spells to use? "I don't know," he replied finally, turning to Hermione. "It just… came to me at that time." He turned to Moody, and told him "Lumos, Nox and the Summoning Spell."

"Not to mention Reducto," said Ron, guffawing loudly. Harry mentally groaned, and the adults turned to him, all wondering the same thing, 'What had he blasted in Dumbledore's office?'

"I didn't actually use the spell," he said hurriedly. Again true, he was stopped before he could blast the painting…

They ate in silence for a while. Then Hermione and Lupin started discussing the seventh year N.E.W.T syllabus. Ron and Tonks were having an argument about Quidditch, apparently the Kenmare Kestrels had beaten the Chudley Cannons, Ron was insisting that the referee was biased, while Tonks was hotly denying it. Suddenly in the heat of the argument, Tonks' hair started growing longer, till it reached her waist, and changed in colour to a deep red.

"How'd you do that?" Harry asked, amazed. She laughed, "I'm a Metamorphmagus, Harry. I can change my appearance at will." She made her nose the size of Dumbledore's to prove her point.

"Wow…" Harry trailed off, as Tonks changed her hair to jet-black, her eyes to green, and shortened her nose, till Harry felt that he was looking at a reflection of himself. He shook his head, this was weird. Tonks grinned impishly at him, and changed her appearance to normal. She went back to her argument with Ron.

Harry looked around to see what the others were doing. Neville and Luna were talking quietly together, as were Shacklebolt and Moody. Ginny was eating quietly, occasionally exchanging a word with her mother. She caught Harry's eye and gave him a small smile. Thankfully, he didn't upset anything this time.

As they were nearing the end of the meal, (Mrs. Weasley had made treacle tart for dessert, and Harry was eating his third helping) the fire flowed emerald green for a moment, and a tall witch wearing an emerald green cloak stepped out.

"Minerva," Mrs. Weasley got up hurriedly, "We just finished lunch…"

"That's all right," the witch said, cleaning her robes with a wave of her wand, "I just have a message from Dumbledore." She caught his eye, and gave him a small smile, beckoned to Hermione, who got up hurriedly and followed her to the hallway.

"Who's that?" he muttered to Lupin. "That's Minerva McGonagall, Professor McGonagall to you. She teaches Transfiguration at Hogwarts."

"Oh." She seemed strict, Harry thought to himself. He finished his lunch, bade Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley and Moody goodbye, and went upstairs followed by Ron. "What do you think she wanted with Hermione?" he asked him. Ron shrugged, "Something to do with you, obviously. We'll find out soon enough."

Sure enough, a few minutes later Hermione entered the room, followed by Neville, Luna and Ginny. She was carrying a package which appeared quite heavy, judging by her heavy breathing. Ron hurried forward to help, but she dropped it on the couch, and sat down next to it to catch her breath.

Ron opened the package. It was a stone vessel, with strange runes carved on its side. It was empty.

"What's this?" asked Ron, turning to Hermione, after examining the bowl. Harry was still looking at the bowl, which looked strangely familiar…

He was standing at the feet of a great statue. He held a stone bowl in his hand, it looked the same as the one Hermione had brought upstairs, but this one was full of a strange silvery liquid. He covered it with a matching stone lid, and muttered a Sealing Charm. There was a small squelching sound, as the lid sealed itself.

He turned to the side, where a snake was coiled. It was the same snake, the spitting cobra that had taught him Mind Magic.

"I may not be back for a while," he hissed to the snake. "Guard the Pensieve."

The snake nodded, and he walked away, through a long passageway with tall pillars at the side. He stepped out of the chamber and turned around. The stone doors were open, with one carved serpent on each door, which had glowing green eyes.

"Close," he hissed, and the doors closed, the two serpents becoming entwined. He walked further down the dark tunnel. Halfway down, there was a cave-in, so he squeezed himself through a tiny opening at the side. After a while, he reached a point where he could see an opening above him. He levitated himself through, he looked upwards and he could see the light at the end of the slide growing larger and larger. He made it through, and gazed back at the opening, which was in between a row of sinks. He was in a bathroom.

"Close," he hissed again, and a sink which was out of sight, came up and covered the opening.

"Harry… Harry," Ron tapped him smartly on the head. He looked up, he was back…

"You faded off there for a moment, mate," he told him, "You were saying," he asked Hermione. "This is a Pensieve," she told them. "Professor McGonagall says it can be used for storing memories. Dumbledore wants us to use it to show Harry our memories…"

"Cool," Ron said, turning the bowl, looking at it from different angles. "How do we use it?"

Hermione ignored him, and continued, turning to Harry. "Dumbledore also wants us to see how much you can remember of all the magic you learnt. He thinks you will need some extra coaching before we go back for our seventh year."

"I don't remember anything," said Harry honestly. "I don't even know what Transfiguration means, when Lupin told me." He looked at the others moodily, "I don't see why I should go to Hogwarts, anyway. I don't want to be near the old coot if I can help it."

"Harry!" shrieked Hermione, looking scandalized. Ron sniggered, while Ginny had a smile on her face. Luna however, told him matter-of-factly "Dumbledore isn't a coot, Harry, he's a Light Elf."

"What?"

Hermione snorted, "There are no such things as Light Elves. The only elves around are house-elves." Luna didn't argue with Hermione, she merely looked at her interestedly as though she were a different species herself.

"Anyway," Hermione continued, turning to Harry. "I know you and Dumbledore have had differences in the past…" she broke off, biting her lip.

Harry perked up, this was interesting. "We have?"

"That's not the point," she continued hurriedly. "You have to learn magic, you'll be involved in the war, we all will be, so you must learn to fight. Besides, Hogwarts is the safest place around, except perhaps this house…"

"All right," Harry sighed, she was right as usual. "Bet I'll have to join the first years…"

A thought stuck him. The Pensieve! His memories were there in the Pensieve! He turned to the others.

"D'you… know of any place that's… guarded by… snakes?"

Their reaction was unexpected. Ginny turned white as sheet, the rest of them had their mouths open. Neville recovered first, "How did… how did you know?"

"I don't know anything," Harry said quickly, thinking fast. "I… I had a dream last night…"

Ginny shuddered, he turned to her, concerned. What had he said?

"The Chamber of Secrets," she whispered.

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A/N: Hey all… this should have been uploaded a while ago, but what with power cuts, and the Revenge of the Sith…sighs… its a must watch, by the way… and did anyone else have a problem with logging in the past couple of days?

Thanks to lonlyheart and stephanie for reviewing. Special thanks to Rachel Sedai, nerdysunny and logi. Your opinions count!

Logi: Glad you feel that way! Hang on for a while, you might like the story turns out…

Rachel Sedai: Thanks! Tries to smile modestly, but fails…

Hope y'all liked the chapter! Sorry if it was a bit boring, but reunions are always like that… leave long reviews!

shadylion