Chapter 7

Revelations and Memories

Harry looked at McGonagall, confused. "Ok…what about?"

"Well…we think it is time that you know the truth….you have other relatives alive, other than the Dursleys, that is…but these relatives aren't muggles," Dumbledore explained gently.

"I know," was his answer. But to their surprise, Harry didn't seem comforted; what more, he seemed depressed.

"You know? How do you know?" McGonagall asked him curiously.

"Aunt Petunia told me about them. But I don't want to go live with them."

"Why not? Do you even know who those relatives are?" McGonagall inquired.

"No, I don't know who they are, nor do I want to know who they are. It doesn't matter; they don't love me and I'm sick of living with people who don't care for me."

"And how do you know they don't love you?" Dumbledore asked him, wondering where Harry could have gotten such a crazy idea.

"Aunt Petunia told me. She said they had a chance to take me to live with them and they refused, saying that I'm not worth the trouble. She said they hated me and didn't want anything to do with me; and what's even worse is that these people are my grandparents. My own grandparents don't love me." Tears ran down his face.

He quickly dried the tears with the back of his hands and looked away from Dumbledore and McGonagall.

McGonagall and Dumbledore also had watery eyes, but they tried to hide it.

"Harry…your grandparents do love you. The only reason they didn't take you away was because of the blood protection you had there," McGonagall explained.

"How do you know that? How do you know that they won't treat me just as the Dursleys did?"

"Because your grandparents would never do that, Harry."

"You mean…you know my grandparents?" he asked, excitement in his voice.

Dumbledore nodded, and said, "Harry…we are your grandparents."

Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe it. His relatives, his grandparents, were with him all this time, and no one ever bothered to tell him?

"But…you can't be…how? I saw my grandparents in the Mirror of Erised, both are dead," he said sadly.

"Professor Dumbledore and I are married, and I am your father's step mom. We didn't tell you because we knew you would want to come live with us…but neither of us were related by blood to your parents and it would be even more disappointing…do you see why we couldn't tell you?" She hoped he would understand.

"Yeah, I guess…how is that possible though? How come no one else knows?"

"When James's parents died, Albus and I adopted him. No one knew about the adoption but Lily."

No one said anything for a long time. Finally, Dumbledore, who hadn't said anything for quite a while, said, "Harry, we really do love you. We want you to come live with us from now on."

Harry's expression softened, and soon a big grin spread on his face. "And you promise I won't have to go back there ever again?" he asked for assurance, still not sure if they were joking with him or not.

"We promise, Harry. You will never have to go back there," said Dumbledore. "And we wouldn't let you even if you wanted to," added McGonagall. 'The way they treated him, honestly!'

Thank you, professor Dumbledore, professor McGonagall…you have no idea how much this means to me."

"I think you can call us grandma and grandpa when were not around others," McGonagall smiled at him.

Harry got out of bed and put his arms around the two of them. He started sobbing, but not because he was sad, or in pain, which were his usual reasons for crying; these tears were of happiness…as embarrassing as it was to cry in front of teachers.

And so they stood there, hugging, embraced as a nice, not so big happy family. (A/N: a big fat AWWW fits right about here…haha I love these cheesy moments).

When Harry finally went to bed, he had a big grin on his face, despite the pain he was in. The family he longed for—one he never thought he would have—is now with him. And nothing in the world, not even Voldemort, could make him depressed ever again.

Before he fell asleep, he said, "Goodnight grandma, good night grandpa." Dumbledore and McGonagall simply smiled, and answered, "Goodnight Harry." They all went to bed happier than they've been in a long time.

Harry woke up in the next morning ready to go to his classes. He made to get out of bed, but as he set his feet on the floor, he collapsed. His legs were too weak to carry his weight, even though he didn't weigh that much.

Madame Pomfrey came swiftly out of her office and helped him back to his bed.

"You're not going anywhere, young man. You are to stay in your bed until you are completely healthy."

"But I don't want to miss classes! I'll fall behind!" Harry complained.

"You won't, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore have volunteered to come here every night to bring you your homework and teach you what you missed."

She mumbled something Harry could not understand, but he wasn't paying attention. He would get to see his grandparents tonight, and that is all that matters. And though he saw them almost every day the years before, seeing them now meant a lot more to him.

Harry sat impatiently in bed all day. He had nothing to do but try to recount as many spells as possible in transfiguration and charms. Defense Against the Dark Arts was, of course, not necessary to review. He wondered who their new teacher would be and hoped for the sake of the world that they had a good one this year.

He was, however, a little put down from the fact that he no longer could become an Auror. He knew Snape wouldn't accept him into his class no matter what. He remembered his career-counseling session with McGonagall and Umbridge last year and wondered whether McGonagall would still help him become an Auror…perhaps he could learn N.E.W.T potions by himself, its not like he has anything better to do in the hospital wing…

The infirmary door opened and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny ran towards him.

"Harry! Oh Harry, how are you? Where have you been, we were so worried!" Hermione jumped on him and gave him a rib-crushing hug. Harry winced in pain and tried with all his might not to let out a sob.

"Harry what's wrong?" Hermione backed away from him. Ginny and Ron stood next to her, looking worried.

And Harry told everything after making them swear not to tell anyone; he told them about Voldemort's attack on his mind after Azkaban, about the Dursleys and Fudge and about the private lessons he would be getting from Dumbledore and McGonagall. He hesitated to tell them about his newly-found grandparents and decided to first ask Dumbledore and McGonagall if he could tell anyone.

They all stood there, horrified, until Ginny mumbled, "I have to go Harry. I'll visit you later," and ran away almost in tears. She wasn't used to hearing shocking news such as these. Harry hadn't, after all, told her about the prophecy, so she didn't know why the Death Eaters are after Harry in particular.

Ron and Hermione were both speechless. Yes, Harry was always the target of Death Eaters and Voldemort had always wanted to kill him, but two attacks in a row and then Fudge allowing the Dursleys to take Harry away was quite a lot to be happening over one summer.

"But…Harry…if you're not going back to the Dursleys, where are you going to live?" Hermione asked him.

"Erm…well…I'll figure something out…but there's a whole year until the summer so I have plenty of time to come up with something. Right now I just want to get out of this bed."

"C'mon then, we'll take you!" Ron volunteered excitedly.

"Ron, no! If Madame Pomfrey finds out she'll never trust us to see Harry again!"

"Oh come on, how is she going to find out? Look, we'll bring him back before anyone notices, we'll just go for a walk and come back," Ron begged her.

"Oh all right, but be it on your heads," she gave in.

Thus, the three of them left the hospital wing, Harry leaning heavily on both Ron and Hermione's shoulders. They went up the staircase and walked around a bit. They didn't know that someone had noticed Harry's absence from the hospital wing.

Dumbledore and McGonagall were very much looking forward to teaching Harry that afternoon. They walked into the hospital wing only to find Harry's bed empty.

"Poppy, where is Harry?" Dumbledore implored.

"What do you mean, where is Harry, he's in his—" she came out of her office and froze when she saw the empty bed.

"He was there when Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger came in…"

Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at each other and said, "They better not have!" Harry was too weak to be out of bed, let alone walking around. They quickly left the room and went looking for Harry.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were about to go down the staircase back to the hospital wing, when suddenly Harry's legs gave out and he fell down the stairs.

Dumbledore and McGonagall heard a crash coming from the nearest staircase. When they reached the staircase they saw Harry on the floor and Ron and Hermione running down the stairs towards him.

Dumbledore and McGonagall rushed towards Harry and saw that Harry was bruised. McGonagall levitated him to the hospital wing, Ron and Hermione following silently.

"Professor, I'm fine, really! I just tripped, it's nothing serious…it doesn't even hurt that much," Harry lied.

Dumbledore surveyed Harry and knew at once that Harry was only saying that so that his friends won't get in trouble. He smiled and said, "Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, you may go now; Harry needs to rest."

The two glanced at Harry appreciatively and left the hospital wing without another word.

"Harry, are you sure you're all right?" McGonagall asked once more.

"Yes, prof-grandma, I'm fine," he lied and tried to smile at her. He didn't want nor need to be stuck in bed for an even longer time, nor did he want to worry his grandparents. All he wanted was to spend time with them.

Dumbledore looked Harry in the eyes and immediately sensed he was lying again, without even using Legilimency. Harry looked at Dumbledore and saw that Dumbledore was amused, and instantly knew that he was caught. He prayed for Dumbledore not to say anything, and when Dumbledore nodded and mouthed "later" Harry knew he would not confront him…at least, not right now.

"So…do I have a lot of homework?"

"You have quite a lot, which fits perfectly with the abundance of time you are going to spend here. Let's see…Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions…" McGonagall listed.

"Potions? I'm not taking Potions this year, I only got an E on my O.W.Ls," he said sadly.

"You do not wish to be an Auror anymore?" McGonagall asked, more than mildly surprised.

"Of course I do, but I thought Sna—I mean, Professor Snape doesn't accept students with anything but an Outstanding O.W.L."

"He normally doesn't but he agreed to give you private lessons in Potions until you get better," Dumbledore explained.

"Private less—no, I won't do it! Last year was a complete disaster!"

"It won't be as bad as last year because either Minerva or I will be present during the lesson. And he won't throw you out of his office this time," Dumbledore winked at him.

Harry laughed and hoped Dumbledore was right.

"Ready to start?" McGonagall smiled at him.

"Erm…I don't have any books, or anything for that matter," he said awkwardly.

"Hagrid took care of that for you, he will be bringing your books tomorrow morning; I have the list of your homework assignments right here…but right now it's important to work on Occlumency," explained Dumbledore.

"All right, I'm ready," said Harry, and slowly got out of his bed.

"Grandma and I will both enter your mind, but if you empty yourself of all emotion and leave your mind blank you should be able to block both of us out."

"Legillimens!" both Dumbledore and McGonagall said.

Flashes of images went through Harry's mind…He was 4 and Vernon Dursley threw him into the cupboard, not giving him any meals for three days…He was 9, Dudley got 34 presents for his birthday while all Harry got was toilet paper…he was fighting Quirrel…fighting the basilisk…

Harry tried to empty his mind, but he couldn't…he fell down to his knees, and suddenly Dumbledore and McGonagall started to become clearer, but he could still see his thoughts.

"Kill the spare…he saw Cedric Digory being murdered…and then, when the thought he was finally overcoming the Legilimency…

An image of Sirius falling through the veil flashed through his mind over and over again. And then a high pitched, cruel laugh was heard…and a loud, deep voice said, "that will be your end too, Potter, you will die the same way your pathetic godfather did…mark my word, Potter, I will kill you by the end of this year…"

Dumbledore and McGonagall immediately broke eye contact and ended the Legilimency.

Harry was leaning against the wall, staring fixedly at the floor and trying to hold back his tears; he did not know why this was affecting him so much—it is not the first time that Voldemort has accessed his mind or threatened him—but something about his grandparents viewing this made him feel sick, as if everything was suddenly his fault.

McGonagall knelt down beside Harry and pulled him up to a hug. Dumbledore looked at them sadly and said, "Harry, when Voldemort gets access to your mind, he controls your thoughts…this can be used as means of possessing you, so it is exceptionally important that you learn Occlumency."

"I know…but for some reason, no matter what I do I can't empty my mind," he said, somewhat ashamed.

And so they taught Harry ways to relax while still having control over his thoughts. After teaching him techniques of Occlumency, McGonagall hugged him goodnight while Dumbledore just looked at him lovingly. Harry went to bed content, dreading his private lesson with Snape he would have the following day.