"To be capable of steady friendship or lastinglove are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind."
-- Paul Aubuchoun
(Harry's POV)
I didn't know where I was, all I knew is it was a cabin of sorts and that it was very well lit. I walked cautiously down a short corridor and groped through my robes for my wands, not finding one made me a tad bit nervous on to where I was.
I padded along slowly trying to keep as alert as possible, once I reached the end of the hallway it entered into a small but cozy sitting room. I was about to take a step in but thought better of it and took a quick look around for a threat. I found nothing so I ambled in.
"Hello Harry." A female voice said behind me, I jumped about a foot in the air and whirled around. I came face to face with a lady, it was destiny. I don't really understand why but I screamed like it was ogre about to attack me. She stood there calm and serene waiting for me to regain my composure or just plain get my senses. After my mind caught up with my screaming I abruptly stopped and flushed red.
"Hi." I mumbled, rubbing the back of my neck suddenly highly interested in my shoes. She gave a short, quiet laugh and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. She led me to a seat, and I sat down while she sat across from me with a small smile.
"Hello again." She said jokingly, I realized that I was talking to destiny. How in the world could I be talking to destiny, unless I was...no that can't be it, can it?
"Am I dead!" I said quickly, still wondering how I could be dead, and then I thought of Sirius and his wrath. I wonder if Remus helped, I thought wryly.
"No you're not, you're in a coma, you've been in a coma for almost a week now." She replied. A coma, Sirius must be worried out of his mind, I better wake up quick. I looked at her slightly confused.
"Then how are you here if I'm in a coma?" I asked.
"The same way Sirius came to your dreams, except I don't have to go through the council of the afterlife. Thank Merlin, they are extremely annoying." She said with a sigh, I agreed whole-heartedly.
Hearing Sirius' name I flinched and asked, "How's Sirius?"
"He's fine; He's part of what I'm here for." She said. I raised an eyebrow and looked around to see if Sirius was here, not finding anything I asked, "Why, exactly, are you here?"
"You don't know? I thought you would've figured out by now." She said calmly.
"No, Hermione usually does the thinking for me." I smirked at my inside joke.
"Yes, that's very true. Well I guess the answer to you question is that your parents, Godric, Merlin, and I, like your godfather, are not especially pleased with your reckless behavior." She said steadily. I looked at her for a minute, gritting my teeth, her eyes met mine fearlessly. Suddenly my anger boiled over, I hit the table beside me and stood up quickly.
"What the heck is the problem with you people? Everyone would've died; if I wasn't out there! Why don't I ever get a 'Good job Harry, for saving our arses!' or 'thanks for helping us out, the world would be doomed with out you!' All I ever get his yelled at and stupid lectures! It's not fair!" I yelled, pacing angrily back and forth.
"Sit down Harry, you need to calm down!" she said firmly. I glared at her,
"Yeah so you can be a messenger to tell me I screwed up even though I saved lives! Well I got news for you, I'm not taking this, and I get enough from Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, the whole freaking order. You don't need to give me a stupid message because I'm probably going to get ten more times when I wake up! Give me some peace, will you!" I yelled.
"Please, just sit down, I know it's been hard but you need to calm down!" She said raising her voice slightly.
"Fine but don't expect me to listen!" I said curtly, I crossed my arms and sat roughly on my seat, seething with anger. It was quiet for a few moments until she spoke.
"Yes you did save lives, and we're proud of you and always will be, but the thing we want you to understand is that you're not invincible. You just ran in and didn't plan anything." She stated, I looked at her incredulously.
"There wasn't any time to make a plan, what was I supposed to do, just wait!" I asked clearly frustrated.
"That's not what we're talking about. Unleashing all your powers is what we're talking about." She said, I shook my head in confusion.
"The dementors, I had to do this, it was the only way." I pointed out desperately. Her face remained calm but her eyes told a different story, I stared at her quietly.
"It wasn't the only way; it was only by a miracle that you lived. You didn't need to unleash all you powers in you condition. You needed a few more months of training to be able to handle it!" She said sternly.
"You mean there was another way?" I asked quietly, she nodded.
"If you didn't rush into things you would've seen that!" she pointed out. I hung me my head.
"I guess I could've let my power out a little bit each time, yeah it would've been slower but I guess it would be safer." I said slowly, exasperated with myself. She nodded,
"Yes it would've been much safer for you!" She replied pointing at me.
"Sorry for yelling at you, I'll try to not let it happen again, I'll try to not let any of this happen again." I muttered.
"I would've been worried if you didn't get angry, you need to not hold in your emotions so much, let it out once in a while." She said, I nodded.
"Good fighting by the way; Good luck with your godfather!" She said slowly fading away. I waved half-heartedly and gave a curt nod. My surroundings slowly started to change so did my point of view. By just a quick look I knew I was in Voldemort's mind. It was dark and damp and the room was full of masked servants. You'd have to be extremely stupid not to know.
The death eaters were on their knees trembling, they were having a meeting a week after the fight. There were less death eaters than before, which made sense because most were probably in Azkaban or were dead.
"You all have failed me; I do not take failure well!" said Voldemort's voice, I heard a murmur of pleas and apologies.
"Pettigrew, come forward!" Voldemort roared. A short, stumpy figure stumbled forward, giving me the impression he was pushed forward. He was trembling like an aspen leaf.
"You told me the potter boy was sick!" He yelled
"He was master, I-I"
"What do you mean 'he was'? He took out 50 dementors alone. You call that sick!" He roared.
"I didn't know master; it won't happen again." Pettigrew squeaked.
"Oh, I'll make sure of that! Crucio!" Voldemort bellowed
Pettigrew began to writhe on the floor, I looked away, again my surroundings began to change and my eyes fluttered open to a brightly lit room. It was a room that I thought I wouldn't see till summer. It was my room! I sat up abruptly in my surprise, only to have the room do cartwheels as my vision swarmed. I felt a headache coming and I made the mistake of moaning, because right after that I felt strong arms hugging me tightly.
"Oh thanks Merlin you're awake! I was so worried!" Said Sirius, figures, I should've known. Sirius was obviously worried by the way he was hugging me.
"It's okay Sirius." I said weakly, hugging him awkwardly. He put me at arm's length and looked me straight in the eyes. His grey eyes were filled with different emotions of anger disappointment, happiness, desperation all at the same time. He looked tired and it seemed he had a few more grey hairs.
"What you did was dangerous, no, not even that, suicidal, psychotic, and- and-"I cut Sirius off mid-rant.
"Sirius I know what I did was really stupid, and I'm sorry. I should've stopped to think and not just rush into it, but I didn't and I'm sorry. I'll try to think next time." I said sincerely. Sirius stood there gaping slightly until he shook himself out of his shock.
"Who are you and what have you done with my godson!" he said in a mock-stern voice. I laughed.
"Destiny knocked some sense into me while I was in a coma." I replied.
"Ahhh." Was all Sirius said, and all Sirius needed to say, he had a knowing look in his eyes that suggested something similar happened.
"So what am I doing home? Why am I not at Hogwarts?" I ask.
"You're here so you can recover." Sirius answered simply.
"But Siriussss, I want to be at Hogwarts, I'll be so boooorrrrreeeeddd" I whined childishly, Sirius shook his head comically.
"There's the godson I've grown to know and love. Though I was beginning to enjoy your other personality." Sirius muttered, I scoffed at him.
"Well to answer your question, extra security measures have been put on the house and the next few order meetings are going to be held here temporarily. Plus I don't trust you to be safe at Hogwarts while you're sick. It seems you plus Hogwarts is the recipe for mischief and the grey hair factory for me." Sirius said. I gave him a lopsided smile.
"So, how was the battle? Was there any, you know……" I said gesturing with my hands.
"Deaths?" he asked, I nodded.
"Yes…" I sighed loudly at this, if only I had gotten there sooner! If I didn't stop behind the stands to be so sneaky I would've just finished them! I can't believe this; we're going to lose if I keep being so stupid!
"Harry!" I heard someone yell; I looked up quickly with an expression of bewilderment.
"I've been calling you for the past minute!" he said, answering the un-said question. I gave him a small, apologetic smile and looked at my hands.
I felt Sirius grab my chin as he forced me to look him in his eyes. I couldn't read his emotions.
"Stop blaming yourself for people's deaths." He said shortly, I closed my eyes for a second.
"I'm not blaming myself." I muttered quietly, I opened my eyes looking at him. His eyes narrowed.
"Yeah, right….Stop blaming yourself. There was nothing that you could've done. They aren't even people you know." He said firmly letting go of my chin.
"That doesn't make it any different; they still died." I said.
"They'll be honored like they should. You do your job and they'll do theirs. They know the risks, and it's not your fault by any means!" he said.
"Err…right." I replied cryptically, Sirius shook his head.
"When are you going to believe me?" Sirius set irritatingly, I just shrugged.
"Sometimes you're impossible!" I rolled my eyes; He can be so over-dramatic sometimes.
"So when is the next order meeting?" I asked. I saw a flicker of annoyance on Sirius' face; probably because I changed the subject. He looked ready to answer but thought better of it.
"Why the sudden interest?" he asked, with a suspicious gleam in his eyes.
"I just wanted to know." Sirius had a blatant look of disbelief on his face.
"What, it's true! It's not like I can get off this bed and listen on the meeting." I exclaimed.
"I don't know you get pretty creative sometimes." Sirius answered skeptically. I gave Sirius a "You're joking right?" look.
"Fine, we're having the next order meeting in two days, happy!" he said.
"You don't really expect me to be happy lying in a bed, at a house that I should be in only in the summer." I pointed out.
"And the holidays." He stated; I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, I wonder if I'll live till' then." I said, half-joking.
"You can get so negative sometimes."
"Well, it's not like I'm going to have any fun. I mean you get to gallivant around the house all you want and I'm chained to this bed." I said gloomily. Sirius snorted.
"Oh yeah, I'm having the time of my life with Remus kicking me out of every room for some stupid reason or another." I was shocked out of my glum by hearing Remus was here, and was about to ask a question but a voice answered it.
"I haven't kicked you out of every room; just my study, my bedroom and the kitchen. I have very good reasons at that. The last time I left you alone, you painted all my walls orange in my study, which was supposed to be permanent for three days and disappear; I couldn't think properly all those days. The last time I left you in my room you pranked the floor to sing "It's a hard knock life for us" every time I stepped on it, and do I really need to talk about why I don't let you in the kitchen." Remus said as I started laughing.
"What I only blew up the kitchen once…………….in a while." He added as Remus gave him a look.
"What are you doing here Remus?" I asked, mentally cringing at how rude that sounded.
"Oh the usual, making sure Sirius behaves." Remus answered simply. Sirius narrowed his eyes at Remus and spit out his tongue.
"How very mature of you Mr. Padfoot." Remus said wryly.
"You're not any better, Mr. Moony." Sirius replied.
"I wish I could get up. Are you sure I'm too sick to play quidditch?" Both Remus and Sirius gave me a look simultaneously that shut me up quickly.
"You're like Ron, it's hard to keep him in bed." Sirius said.
"What! Ron is here?" I exclaimed.
"Yeah so is Hermione. I forgot to tell you. They're recovering from battle also. They insisted to be with you when we were discussing your arrangements at the hospital wing." Remus said.
"Remus is being modest, actually they threatened. Kids these days." I smirked at this.
"Are they okay; they're not as bad as me are they?" I asked with a hint of worry.
"No, they're much better, much more behaved and I think Ron is better looking." Sirius answered mischievously.
"Siriusss"
"Sirius, grow up. Stop worrying Harry, they're fine. They got a bit worn out leashing and unleashing your powers and a bit knocked up in the battle, but that's all. They're already able to walk around a little but that's pretty much it." Remus said.
"Ron won't be fine after his mum comes for the order meeting this week. She blew off her top when she heard about Ron. If Dumbledore hadn't intervened he would've been dead the first day he came here." Sirius said with a look of reminisce.
"Oh stop being so dramatic Padfoot!" Remus reproved, hitting him lightly on the back of the head.
"Well whatever. You should get some sleep. We can talk later." Sirius said softly. I blinked at the sudden change in Sirius' demeanor. I did feel a bit exhausted, but my mind was buzzing with questions.
"Get some sleep Harry, we'll answer the rest of your questions later." Remus said as if he was reading my mind. I sighed and nodded grudgingly.
"You always wake him up when he's sleeping, so be quiet!" a female voice ringed through the air.
"Do not, it's your voice that could wake even Hagrid out of a sleeping draught!" a male voice retorted.
"Ron, sometimes you can be so rude! If I remember correctly you were the one who woke him up last time!"
"Did not! Your memory must have deteriorated over the pressure from the OWLs!"
"It did not! Anyways where did you learn the word deteriorate from."
"I'm not stupid you know, but maybe you don't; seeing as you think I'm the one who always wakes him up!"
"You did!"
"Did not!"
"Did to"
"Did not!"
"Did to"
"Did not!"
"Did to"
"Did not!"
"Did to"
"Not!"
"Did!"
"Not!"
"Did!"
"Not!"
"Did!"
"Not!"
"Did!"
"Actually I think it's both of you." I said groggily, getting tired of their banter.
"Harry!" they said together.
"The one and only." I said through a yawn as I tired to rub the tiredness out of my eyes.
"Harry, I was so worried about you! We shouldn't have let you do it. You could've died!" She shrieked.
"Yeah, yeah, that has been established." I muttered.
"Oh give him a break Hermione; He's already got every adult and their brother and their sister, and their best friends and their second cousins, on his back." Ron said, trying to emphasize his point. Hermione just rolled her eyes.
"How are you feeling Harry?"
"I'm fine."
"You always say that." She stated, a little frustrated.
"Because it's true! Anyways, how long have I been sleeping?" I asked.
"Oh, a few hours. Took a lot of coaxing to get Sirius to let us come in here. He's really stubborn when he wants to be." Hermione said.
"Or he's just plain stubborn all the time." Ron said a little disgruntled.
"I heard that!" said a muffled voice outside the door.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. He's guarding the door. He thinks we'll sneak you out!" Ron whispered, looking a little annoyed.
"He knows me too well!" I whined slightly. I could imagine Sirius smirking outside the door.
"What happened after I went in a coma?" I asked. Ron looked at me and started explaining nonchalantly.
"Oh the usual, people worrying, cleaning up, Sirius going psycho-,"
"Heard that too!" Sirius said; Ron cringed in annoyance; and made a rude gesture at the door causing us to laugh.
"Well you know what I'm talking about. They decided to take you here a few days while you were in a coma. Dumbledore let them, and we asked if we could go also, seeing as we weren't going anywhere for a little while. After a long discussion they agreed, and wah-lah, here we are!" Ron said.
"You forgot about the dragons, Ron." Hermione said; Ron beamed.
"Oh yeah, I now have two pet dragons. Hagrid is taking care of them. Charlie is going to flip this coming order meeting." Ron said excited. I smiled proudly at my friend.
"What about the death eaters; anyone of significance?"
"No, just a bunch of new ones, all proclaiming that they were under the imperious curse!" Hermione answered indignantly.
"Well, I guess the fewer the better." I said a little put out, Ron and Hermione gave a slight nod. Sirius came in looking at us suspiciously; he was being extremely careful with all of us.
"Sirius, we didn't jump out the window and fly away on Ron's dragon, stop acting like we did." I said obviously irritated. Sirius snorted in disbelief.
"Well dinners ready, I'll help you downstairs. You must be exhausted." Sirius said checking my head for a fever.
"If you would let me walk, I probably could get around just fine!"
"Uh-huh." He said distractedly, looking through a drawer; he pulled out a potion. "Here drink this, it'll help with exhaustion." I hesitantly took the drink and drank it. As usual it tasted like dragon dung but it helped.
I pushed my covers away and got off the bed tentatively, Sirius held my around the shoulders just in case I swayed. We headed downstairs; Remus was sitting down looking at a paper. He was frowning slightly as if he was in deep thought. He looked up from his paper giving a momentary smile before glancing down once again.
I sat between Ron and Hermione, Sirius across from me. After we ate Ron suggested we go outside just for some fresh air. Sirius looked at us, his suspicions growing but agreed. It was early evening and the sun was setting. I sat on a chair breathing the fresh air that I felt like I hadn't had for forever.
Sirius sat inside, but we were plainly in view. Remus and Sirius were discussing something that had to with the paper Remus was reading. Ron and Hermione were sitting with me.
"So what's next?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Hermione said looking confused.
"I mean with the war and everything. What do you think will happen next? I can't pretend I'm not afraid, I'm sure you guys can't either." I said.
"I can't tell the future, as Trelawney proved, but one thing is for sure I won't leave your side." Ron said solemnly.
"Yeah Harry, we'll be there. You can't fight it without us." Hermione said. I smiled appreciatively.
"Well it seems the world is on my side when you two are here." They beamed at this.
"Ah that's sweet." Said a very familiar and very unwelcome voice; I turned my head to the direction of the voice to see a large figure walking into the light, not enough for Sirius to see out the clear sliding door.
"What are you doing here!" I demanded.
"Or the better question is how did you get here!" Hermione added angrily.
"Oh a house elf let me in the back. They're easy to trick you know." The voice boasted heartily.
"You're not welcome here, Fudge." Ron said menacingly.
"Well, I'm sure I am. I came to apologize for my second cousin's actions." He said.
"Like you had no part in it at all!" Hermione said, glaring a hole into him.
"Of course I had no part in it. Do you think I'm crazy? I had no idea!" he said flustered.
"Right, I'm sure you didn't. Leave! Amstone is in Azkaban and that's all that matters to me." I growled.
"Now see here! He was a good man; just a little zealous. I'm sure if you testified that you forgave him. You could get him out of Azkaban."
"So that's why you're here. Not to apologize but to get your precious cousin out of prison! No, I would never do that! He deserves it, he was evil!" I said with a slightly raised voice.
"Now you listen to me, a little brat like you should respect your elders! I was once the minister and should deserve respect!" he said proudly.
"Riiiiiight, that's not going to work. You sucked as a minister and it's not going to get me to get that maniac out of prison!" I said angrily.
He too a step forward, "See here-,"
"Take one step closer to my godson and I'll make sure your worse off than Amstone." A low voice growled. Fudge looked up startled.
"I was only apologizing for Amstone's behavior."
"It didn't look like that." Sirius said, stepping out of the door way briskly, and walking in front of me.
"Well of course he was being disrespectful and I was kindly telling him to respect people. He'll get far in life that way."
"I'm guessing that's why you didn't get very far in life." Remus voice said from the doorway. Fudge's eyes burned with anger but abruptly softened. I didn't like the sight of that at all.
"You were friends with Amstone. Perhaps you could encourage them to shorten his sentence. I'm sure he's very sorry. I deeply grieved of your loss of a good friend." He said. Sirius whipped out his wand and brought it to Fudge's forehead.
"He's not my friend, he hurt Harry and I don't take that lightly. If you hurt him I'll make Voldemort seem like a day in the park!" he growled.
"That brat is the reason people like me even less! Do you know how many people glare at me because Amstone is in jail?" He snarled.
"Oh so you don't really care about him, it was all about yourself!"
"It's that brat's fault!" Fudge yelled pointing an accusing finger at me. Sirius stepped extremely close to Fudge. He brought himself to full height, towering over Fudge. He had that crazed Azkaban look to him.
"Leave my property now! You and you're cousin have done enough damage. I'll call the aurors if persist!" he said in a deadly whisper. Fudge gave him a glare but abruptly stopped when he saw Remus right next to Sirius. Remus' eyes glowing yellow with a protective look on his face.
He ran off as quickly as he could, which wasn't very fast. He looked back tripped on a rock and fell flat on his face; causing all of us to laugh. He passed the apparating point and disappeared.
Sirius turned around quickly and gave me a look over.
"He didn't hurt any of you right?" Sirius asked. We shook our heads.
"Well you guys should get inside. You've had enough action for one day." He said, tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose.
We all started to complain but Sirius didn't budge. Ron and Hermione dragged their feet inside while Sirius helped me up and helped me inside.
"You know compared to my life that really isn't action, because all he said was a few words, compared to Voldemort; I mean. So I'm not really all that tired and-,"
"Harry." Sirius said warningly.
"But I'm telling the truth!" I said he just settled with glaring at me.
"What, it doesn't hurt to try." I said defensively. Sirius shook his head and started mumbling about godsons who cause too much worry and give handsome men wrinkles and grey hair. I snorted at this, and Sirius hit me back in the head.
A/N: Sorry about the delay. My computer has been down for the past few weeks, and I finally got it fixed. I was surprised to see how many reviews I got. Those who have read book six and are crying like me I will not kill the person who died. I might do that one pairing with a certain werewolf, because I just thought it was too cute. But the way they're trying to kill Voldie and the double agent I am definitely not doing. This will be a big AU! But whatever, my fic my rules: P Well I hope you guys were able to get the book, those who haven't good luck, I'll bring the tissues:)