Chapter Nine

Fear

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming

Or the moment of truth in your lies

When everything feels like the movies

Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me

'Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am

- Goo Goo Dolls, Iris

Ron sat their gapping at his brother. The dragon sitting on the table shook herself and a piece of shell flew into Ron's open mouth. He spat it out in disgust. "Charlie!" he practically shouted. "You really know how to put your big foot in it!"

Harry, felt as though his stomach had dropped out. He sat gapping at the dragon, which turned her big opal eyes upon him and stared curiously. She cocked her head to the side as if to say, 'Are you okay?' and he knew the honest answer was no. But Charlie's words hadn't only had an effect on Harry; Hagrid took a long look at Danielle as if to provoke her into crying and Neville sniffed loudly, while Hermione fell oddly quiet as though she was forgetting to breathe.

"S-Sirius Black?" asked Danielle. "I-I'm like him?" a strange look was plastered over her face, yet it was hard to decipher what emotions she was masking. It was either fear or grief or maybe even pride.

"Don't take it the wrong way," said Charlie hastily. "He wasn't a bad guy, he was great in fact, good laugh but many people still believe it was him who sold the Potters to You-Know-Who."

Danielle's eye's flashed angry jet black, as though her pupil was covering her whole eye, but when she next spoke though, she was calm. "Look, I know Sirius Black," said his name with the greatest detachment, as though she was used to calling him something else, "never did any of that shit to the Potters! It was stupid Peter Pettigrew! Why would he want to hurt the Potters for god sakes! He was in –" Hagrid looked straight at her and she stopped herself. She took a deep breath and continued. "He was best friends with James, why would he do that? Look, I hate it when people talk to me like a kid, if I'm the goddaughter of Albus Dumbledore, do you really think I'd still believe that Sirius," again she said his name with the same separation, "was a mass murdering idiot who wanted to be a bum-chum of Voldemort?"

Her speech left an odd silence in its wake but once he'd had time to recover Charlie spoke, "I'm sorry to have said that stuff but I don't like the language you were using Danielle, ten points from Gryffindor."

She stare open mouthed at him, pearly tears of angry welling up in her eyes. "Danielle, could I have a quick word with ya?" asked Hagrid quietly. She nodded and he led her out of the cabin.

"So, Sirius knew about dragons?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, had a great knowledge, he was very interested in them. I guess he must have found stuff out about them through his Auror training but yeah…"

"Sirius was an Auror?" stated Hermione. "He never told us that!"

"Well, I guess you didn't know him for very long. Yes Sirius was an Auror along with Lily, James and Remus, but he couldn't stay long, the legislation against werewolves came into action a year after he completed his training and he resigned."

"My mum… and my dad?" he breathed. "Why did no one ever bother to tell me?"

"Maybe they didn't want you to… Harry where are you going?" asked Charlie, for Harry had just jumped to his feet and was wrenching open the door before any of them could stop him.

"… You shouldn' say stuff like that do yer really think he'd be too impressed with the way you talk about him? I thought you was proud to be his…" Hagrid said sounding panicky. "Harry? What ya doing?" called Hagrid as Harry began storming up to the castle. "Harry?"

The bell echoed around the castle signifying the start for break causing Harry to jump out of his reverie about Sirius and his parents. He clambered to his feet from the dusty floor of the empty classroom and headed towards the door. He let his mind travel as he trod the very familiar way towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and again began to think about those family members he had lost. They had all been Aurors, so that was where he had got such a driving passion; he was choosing the one job that they had also all chosen. But now that he thought about it, it wasn't actually as surprising as he had found it earlier. Sirius was a brave and powerful man, very intelligent and very against the Dark Arts, no matter what the majority of the Wizarding world thought. And hadn't Sirius and his father been the brightest in their year, yes he thought he remembered Professor McGonagall mentioning something like that. His mother was probably the more surprising one, hadn't she stuck up for Snape even though he was so submerged in the Dark Arts?

"Harry, are you okay? Hagrid was really worried about you," echoed a voice in his head.

"Hi Hermione," he mumbled as he reached the class door. He looked up into Hermione's anxious face and saw Danielle standing somewhere behind her, submerged in conversation with Ron while, he noticed, Lavender Brown through her rather jealous looks. "Lavender doesn't look to happy, does she?" he asked. Hermione looked over her shoulder and shrugged.

"Yes well, she deserves whatever she gets. And besides they're only talking about Ron's dear Chudley Cannons," she stated tartly. Harry noticed that her tone was rather scathing. He grinned in spite of himself.

He looked around the rest of the class as the other students milled into the line. He noticed Draco and gave him the tiniest of smiles and was sure he received one too. He watched him for a moment as he walked over to Danielle and they began to talk animatedly, Ron looked disgusted but did not even give any recognition that Draco was even there until, that was, Draco (obviously having to uphold his Slytherin-ness) turned to him and stated very loudly so that the whole corridor could hear, "So, Weasley is it true?"

Ron glared at him, his features screeching 'I hate you', and spoke very clearly, "Is what true?"

"That the Mudblood dumped you?" Draco, it was safe to say, was not entirely comfortable saying this, but he still roared with laughter along with his Slytherin friends for the effect. But before Ron, Hermione, Harry himself or even Lavender had the chance to react, Danielle's wand was in her hand as though it had appeared there out of nowhere and pointing threateningly between Draco's eyes.

"Look, Draco, sweetie, as much as I love you, could you not shut your pie hole for once in your life?"

Draco burst out laughing in pure, fits of mirth this time, the same kind of laughter Harry had seen that summer. Danielle's wand shot black sparks out of its end. "I said shut it Draco!"

"It's not that Dannie, it's that you said… pie… hole!" and that was about as much sense anyone could make of Draco for a good minute. Not even his precious Pansy could coax him out of his hysteria.

Harry walked over to Danielle, to congratulate her on her very original defeat of Slytherin's greatest jerk, when he saw it. Her wand was like no other he had ever seen. "Dannie… your… wand… it's so… strange…"

"What about it?" she asked. Harry noticed she tightened her grip around the handle.

"It's so beautiful! Can I have a look?" Relaxing slightly, Danielle reached out her arm and gently placed the wand in Harry's hands.

In his hands lay a black wand of the like he'd never seen before, for it had been carved into the shape of what looked like an elongated bird. Where the tip of a normal wand should have been was the mouth of the bird, stretched wide, like it was shrieking, and a clear glass-like ball rested in its beak. Its eyes, that were gleaming silver, looked angry and piercing.

The handle of the wand was the rest of the body, two wings spread wide and the legs were folded under its body as though it were flying. It had long, carved tail feathers and the creature's neck, the main body of the wand, was carved with its feathers.

"It's incredible," he whispered. "Where did you find it?"

"Oliviander's. It's an experimental wand though, the only one of its kind!" she told him proudly.

As he turned the wand around, as to get a better look, it hit him what type of bird it was.

"It's a phoenix!" he proclaimed.

"Yeah, it is," she said with a satisfied look on her face. "It's ebony, 13 inches."

"What makes it experimental?" he asked.

"The core, phoenix tears and ashes," she told them, still grinning broadly. "It's very good at healing spells and curses."

"How comes it's good with curses?"

But this time it was Hermione who answered, breaking her untold vow of silence. "Harry, you should really know that by now! You're in your NEWT years!" She sighed dramatically and continued her rant. "If you place the tip of your wand into phoenix ashes before you curse someone, the power of the curse is multiplied tenfold!"

Harry blinked for a few seconds while his brain registered what had been said. "Oh," he mumbled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"And so you should Harry, because we will be using phoenix ashes later on in the year… Now, into class everybody," said Lupin, making ushering movements with his hands. Everybody turned to face the closed door to find it open wide in welcome.

Once everyone was seated, Lupin took out his wand, tapped the board and began his lesson. "It is so good to see you all again. I am glad to see so many of you in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, yet I am not surprised."

Dean raised his hand and Lupin nodded for him to answer. "Erm, Professor Lupin, what'll we be doing this year now, erm You Know Who is back?"

"A very good question Dean," Lupin said enthusiastically, Harry distinctly notice Draco roll his eyes. "For the start of the year I will recap, in only the first two lessons, those things that you should have been taught. For example, in today's lesson I shall recap the correct way to defend one's self from a Bogart and in next weeks lesson I shall be recapping what Professor Moody should have taught you and that, my friends will then lead us nicely into sixth year Defence. Does anyone have any questions?" Draco raised his hand. "Yes Draco."

"Will we all have to fight the Bogart?" he asked timidly.

"Yes Draco, we will all have to tackle the Bogart, the only person I may draw my concern to will be Harry. Are you still able to produce your Patronus?"

"Yes Professor."

"Well then, I can't see why there would be any problems." Draco raised his eyebrows and Danielle tossed her head to the side to look at him but no one else said a word. "Right, now class, jump to your feet, pull out your wand and let's begin today's lesson." Lupin pulled out his own wand and flicked it in the direction of the desks. They went sailing towards the walls and the classroom was clear. "Sort yourselves into a line and we shall get cracking."

The class shot each other with furtive glances and sorted themselves into a line. The last time they had taken on a Bogart had been in their third year and that had been fun, but many things had happened in the years that had passed and it seemed that the whole class believed it to be only a matter of minutes before a Bogart-Voldemort appeared in their classroom… the only problem being, no one knew who's it would be.

CRACK! A cloud of smoke arose from the classroom floor and there stood a tall figure, eyes like slits and glowing red. His skin was stretched over his face and he looked skeletal. His long, bony fingers made a movement for his wand and he grinned evilly around the room.

Draco's grey eyes widened in shock and he beads of sweat began to pour down his forehead. He stumbled backwards as Voldemort neared him; his wand had fallen to the floor. He crashed into someone who stood behind him and looked up into her blazing fiery eyes hopefully. "Riddiklus!" she screamed and Voldemort tripped over the hem of his billowing cloak and went crashing to the floor. "Move," she whispered to Draco and he obediently walked towards the window for some fresh air.

CRACK! Some more smoke filled the room and this time, as it began to dissipate, a tall, stone archway had appeared. Harry's eyes grew wide with shock as he watched the archway became solid. He'd seen that before! He was crying before he realised the tears and a tight painful feeling had clamed around his heart and stomach for the second time that day. The black curtain that hung limply between the stone was fluttering innocently in some unseen breeze.

But Harry was not the only one crying. Danielle was to and then all too suddenly, the curtain lifted in a high breeze and that was when it appeared. The dead rotting hand, clamped tightly around a long piece of knobbly wood, a shining, curved blade strapped to the end, and the long lack flowing cloak. It was hovering off of the floor, so that the cloak dragged and, once it had fully moved out from the veil, its hooded head moved about the room until it fixed upon Danielle. It took a deep rattling breath and she began to scream. She was screaming like she'd neaver screamed before. It was an unearthly sound. She was terrified, in pain and relieving her sordid past.

Professor Lupin made a strange, strangled sound and leaped in front of Danielle. A clouded moon appeared in front of him and he sent the Boggart back to the box by his desk. Danielle had collapsed to the floor, and Lupin dropped to his knees beside her. He whispered something to her and hugged her tightly. "Class, you're dismissed." A groan filled the room. "Draco, Danielle, stay with me please. I need to talk to you both."

"What the hell was that all about?" Ron asked bluntly, as he picked up his bag and left the class with Harry and Hermione.

"I haven't actually got a clue," said Harry. "But, that was the veil in the Department of Mysteries wasn't it? The one that…" his voice trailed off as he looked at Hermione.

"No, it wasn't. Did you not see the top most stone?"

"Hermione, I was sort of concentrating on that thing that was coming out of it, if you catch my drift. Did you see it? It was like some sort of giant Dementor!"

"Why?" asked Hermione suddenly and shrilly, "Why on earth did I even waste my time on such an insensitive, unbelievably stupid, dick head like you!" And with that she turned on her heals and stormed from the conversation.

"What's got her goat?" asked Ron.

"You know Ron, sometimes, and now please don't take this the wrong way; I actually think Hermione has a point."

"But… I'm not insensitive, am I?"

"Ron, do you not remember that veil?" Harry asked. He felt a nasty sensation in his stomach. Ron shook his head. "Ron, it's that thing that killed Sirius… or what we thought killed him."

Harry wandered the hallways alone after Defence Against the Dart Arts. He didn't have any more lessons and so he left Ron. It took him fifteen minutes to find Hermione.

"How are you?" she asked as he walked into the classroom.

"Alright, considering," he told her.

"That's good. Ron wised up to why he was being insensitive?"

"Only once I'd told him."

"Oh Harry," she said, gripping him in a sisterly embrace. "Look, I have something to show you about that veil, but maybe it's better left for another day after what's just happened?"

"No, go on, hit me with it, I can't possibly feel more depressed than I do already," he told her, leaning back against the wall.

Hermione put a hand into her school bag and withdrew a very old, very thick, very dusty book. She flicked through the pages and came to a halt at page six hundred and sixty six. "Here," she told him unnecessarily. "Many years ago, before the Ministry of Magic was located in London, the Department of Mysteries was a separate building. This was because of the famous Room of Death. The Room of Death was built up around a well-known 'Veil of Death' - Harry, don't you dare start to pretend to snore… do you want to hear this or not? – The Veil of Death was renowned for the birth of the Wizarding Execution System. Many people believed that this was a full proof way of disposing of those who had committed high treason to the Wizarding World. But a flaw occurred a year after the hundredth person had been executed. The veil began to release hundreds of – it then goes smudged and I haven't been able to reconstruct whatever it says – into the grounds of – there's another smudge. – Theorists believed it was possible that if they were able to return from the veil, would it possible for those who had been executed in this way to return as well. Many tests were carried out and it was then discovered that…"

"That what?" asked Harry impatiently, "How do they return? Hermione! I get that it's sick and wrong and that Bellatrix must have known what she was sending Sirius too but please… Hermione he was my Godfather… I want to know what sort of demented place she sent him to and I want to know how to get him back!"

But Hermione just stared at the page because there was nothing else for her to read. A large smudge of something that looked suspiciously like blood was spread over the rest of the page and she could no longer read on.

"I –" Hermione began but a familiar voice sounded from the door to their left.

"It was then discovered that only those with a direct blood connection to the person, say a sibling, parent or offspring, could reach that person. It was also discovered that if those family member's were unable to locate and bring back their child, sibling or parent before a year was over, then a torturous ritual would be performed and those that had been forced there would become the Creatures of Depression and expelled back upon the world through the other means… the Veil of Life."