Well, here we are again, another chapter in the books for you all. I hope you all enjoy this one as much as the last ones.
Death is only the beginning
Chapter 5
After a long day answering Hermione's questions, an endless amount of them to be sure, Harry could not help the contentment that welled up inside him. However, something was missing. With the knowledge from Athalia and the twins, Harry was confident that it was just because they had not found the third member of their bond. Hermione had told him she had a similar feeling when he had brought it up earlier.
Harry glanced at his reflection in the bathroom mirror once more before stepping back into the main room. He smiled; the sight of Hermione engrossed in a book was one he would never tire of. He made his way towards the bed, grinning as he though of the reaction Mrs. Weasley would have if she knew Hermione was not in her own room right now. He pushed the thoughts of the Weasley matriarch away, the conflict that had plagued him all day reasserted itself; its complexity immense despite its seemingly simple description.
How much should he tell Hermione?
This question had been in the back of his mind all day, during his time with her and even during a few other times when he had to leave her. Forcing his struggle aside, he was glad any memories he wished to share had to be chosen before being sent through the bond. Even then, they had found themselves unable to do so. Of course, Hermione had theories to explain why they could not share memories and thoughts yet.
Harry slipped under the covers with a sigh and smiled as he felt Hermione press herself into his left side. She rested her head on his shoulder after placing her book on the bedside table. The dark haired wizard began running his fingers through her hair slowly, smiling down at her, as he marveled at his luck. Feeling his gaze lingering on her, Hermione looked up at Harry.
"Is something wrong Harry? I didn't think you would be awake for long after getting into bed. Not after how long a day we just had."
"I'm fine Hermione. I just can't believe how lucky I am to have you in my life; let alone having you as a bond-mate."
Harry laughed as he watched the blush bloom on her face. He held her close as she pressed her face into his chest, hiding her blush. With a deep sigh, Harry stroked Hermione's back with his thumb as he relaxed in the bed. He knew he could only be happier when the final mate in their bond appeared. Until then, he would have to consider further on how much - and how - he would tell her.
Harry woke up with a groan before pulling himself up out of the bed and walking to the bathroom to get ready for the day. He stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. He had not realized how much he was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts. Realizing he was about to return had the excitement race through him; knowing he would be changing his life for the better was a bonus as well.
After walking back into his room, Harry pulled his trunk open to make sure he had everything packed. That was when he noticed the communication mirror for his parents tucked into a pocket in the lid. He ran his fingers over it, realizing he had not used it since his return. Harry quickly looked checked the clock and, seeing he had another hour before they had to leave, opened the mirror.
"Mom, Dad."
Harry smiled as he saw his parents faces appear a second later, his mom on the right and his dad on the left, looking exactly as they had when he spoken with them in the after-life.
"Well, look who decided to finally use the gift he was given. You'd think he didn't mean it when he said he missed us with how long it's been."
James did not get any further as Lily had elbowed him in the side, giving him an exasperated sigh and shake of the head before turning to look at Harry.
"It's good to see you again dear, never mind your father. Everything is a joke to him as I'm sure you've noticed."
"It's okay Mom, I meant to use these earlier but, well, things got busy. I don't even have a lot of time right now, but I need some advice."
Harry stopped at his parent's knowing smiles and simply favoured them with a look of confusion. They both laughed softly before Lily answered.
"It's about Hermione isn't it?"
Harry was shocked, he couldn't answer verbally, so he simply nodded. How had they known he was going to ask about Hermione?
"Harry, you're too much like your father sometimes. It's written all over your face when you think about her. Just like it was with him when he thought about me. What do you need to ask us, dear?"
Harry shook his head, decided to worry about that little tidbit of information later, and focus on asking his parents for the advice he intended. He filled his parents in on what he was thinking of telling his book-loving witch and how, hoping that he would not scare Hermione too badly. Harry had planned to tell Hermione everything he could on the Express, but he could tell by Lily's wince that she thought it was a very bad idea to dump it all on her at once.
"Well Harry, I can see why you're unsure. That's not a great idea son. She does need to know, but small bites okay Harry? She'll overload on information if you dump it all on her at once. Just tell her what you can about the contract that brought you back and what you're here to do. Telling her about Sirius being innocent would be a good idea as well."
Blushing softly at his mistake Harry nodded before checking the time again. Twenty minutes had passed already. With a reluctant sigh, Harry turned back to the mirror.
"Thanks Mom, I appreciate the advice. I'll probably be calling a lot more often when I get back to Hogwarts. I have to go now though; I don't have a lot of time until we have to leave."
"It's okay son, we understand. Go on. We love you Harry."
Harry watched the image of his parents disappear before he closed the mirror and softly slid it back into place in his trunk. Running a finger over the mirror in its pocket once more, Harry turned back to his original task, fighting to keep the tears from falling as he smiled. He would make them proud of him, he promised himself once more. Closing the trunk as he finished, Harry tapped his trunk and Hedwig's cage with his wand to shrink them before picking them up.
Harry grinned as he thought of his owl. He had sent her to Hogwarts the day before and she was not happy with it, although it would be better so he would not have to worry about her on the train. He would have to visit her tomorrow after he had settled in again. He grimaced softly as a flash of memory hit him of his ever-faithful friend falling from the skies as she died in several of his other attempts. That would change as well, but first he had other things to deal with.
Slipping his trunk and Hedwig's cage into his pocket, his grin returned as he walked down the stairs to the controlled chaos otherwise known as the Weasley Family. His eyes wandered over the family of redheads and favoured them with an affectionate smile. Fred and George were as they always were, planning pranks or playing them. Harry could not decide which stage they were at but with their frequent looks at their seemingly favourite target, their older brother Percy, they were still in the planning stages.
Arthur was sitting at the table next to Hermione, reading the morning copy of the Daily Prophet and talking to Percy. While he was not sure what the topic of conversation was, it was probably something about Percy getting into the Ministry; which Harry knew was only the first step of the rather pompous Weasley. Harry's smile faded as he saw Molly and Ginny talking a little further down the table. He was still unsure what their reactions would be to his relationship with Hermione, but thankfully not too worried about it with the partially completed bonding.
Ron was nowhere in sight, so he must be either still sleeping or hurriedly packing while getting dressed at the same time. Sure enough, a few seconds later Harry heard the thumping of the youngest Weasley male pulling his trunk down the stairs. Turning around to look at him, Harry smiled at the bloodshot eyes and messy hair of the one he would have normally called his Best Friend, even while knowing he would have to play the part for a while longer. Harry slapped Ron on the back and followed him down, making sure he could sit next to Hermione and gripped her hand under the table when Ron sat down on his other side.
"Harry dear, where's your trunk? Is it still upstairs?"
Grinning softly to Hermione, who rolled her eyes at his wink, he turned to Molly and answering.
"Actually , I just shrunk it while I was upstairs. It's in my pocket."
Harry's smile widened as he watched Molly's look of utter surprise to his response before he turned to Hermione to talk to her about their upcoming classes. Harry had surprisingly talked Hermione out of taking Divination and Muggle Studies. He had thought it would be harder but after a quick look through the required book for both subjects, Hermione was easily persuaded that Divination would do her no good and Muggle Studies looked like it had not been updated in at least 30 years and would be even less useful. The explosion Harry was waiting for happened as they discussed Arithmacy.
"Harry Potter! Are you trying to get yourself expelled! You know you're not supposed to do magic outside Hogwarts!"
It looked like Molly was going to continue, but the look Harry gave her made her freeze. Even the twins winced when they saw the look on his face.
"How dare you speak to me like that? I am not one of your sons, no matter how much you wish I was and you have no right to try to run my life!"
Harry knew he had opened a few eyes when Arthur stood up and faced his wife.
"Harry's right Molly. He's able to use magic here and you know it. He actually has the right idea. We should have thought of this before. It would've cut down some issues we've had."
Without waiting for her answer, Arthur turned and drew his wand. He began shrinking his children's' trunks so they could pick them up and put them in their pockets. With a nod, Arthur then turned to Harry with a smile on his face.
"Thank you for that idea Harry, and I'm sorry for how Molly spoke to you. It wasn't right."
Harry simply waved the apology away and smiled at Arthur.
"It's no problem Mr Weasley. I'm glad I could help."
Harry smiled and turned back to Hermione to continue their discussion, completely ignoring Molly in the process.
A few moments later Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were gathered at the door, Arthur at his left and Hermione at his right as they waited for the ministry cars to pull up. Grinning to himself, Harry slipped into the car with Hermione next to him and took her hand, squeezing it softly when he saw that neither Ron, Ginny nor Molly was in the car with them.
The drive was short for them in the ministry cars but for Harry it seemed almost instantaneous as he passed the time talking to Hermione. When they pulled up to King's Cross, Harry reluctantly let go of Hermione's hand as they got out and waited for the rest of the family to join them. Harry had to fight back a sigh as Arthur was almost glued to his side as they walked into the station and through the barrier. When they were through the barrier Harry sighed happily, the sight of the scarlet train more relaxing and causing more happiness than he thought it would. He was going back to the one place he considered a real home, and he could not wait.
As he made to walk away, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Arthur gesturing to a secluded area of the station. Realization hit him and Harry nodded as he followed Arthur, leaning up against the wall and looking at Arthur as he waited for the older wizard to collect his thoughts.
"Harry, there's something you need to know. You've heard of course of Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban."
Harry nodded softly, remembering the conversation he had with Arthur the night before.
"Well, there's something you need to know about him, something that others feel you shouldn't know. I think you can handle this. After you rescued Ginny last year, you proved that you're mature enough to hear this, in my opinion. Harry, Black escaped to kill you."
Harry held up his hand, Arthur stopping in confusion and staring at Harry.
"Mr Weasley, you've got it wrong. Sirius is actually physically incapable of causing me harm. He's my godfather, you know what that means in the magical world. The ritual that is required makes him incapable of harming me. I appreciate your concern, it means a lot to me, but Sirius isn't going to hurt me."
Harry watched Arthur closely as realization hit him and he nodded but he could tell something else was bothering him and it was not long before he found out.
"That's all well and good Harry but, him going to Azkaban would render that ritual null and void, magic would see him as incapable of being your godfather."
Harry stopped Arthur once again, smiling at how much Arthur cared about his safety.
"You're right, for the most part anyway. That would only happen if he was convicted of a serious crime. The Headmaster and I looked into a few things this summer and found some interesting information. Sirius never had a trial, he wasn't even taken to the Ministry holding cells, he was taken straight to Azkaban."
Harry watched as Arthur's eyes widened with the implications of what he was saying. The conversation ended when they both jumped from the Express' whistle blowing, signalling it was time for him to go. Harry nodded to Arthur, leaving him there thinking furiously about the new information, as he hurried to the train and jumping on it.
Harry groaned as he turned to his left and spotted the one person he really did not want to see, Draco Malfoy. Gritting his teeth, Harry tried to walk passed him but found his way blocked by Crabbe, making him step back and watch as Malfoy grinned at him.
"Well, well, look what we have here boys; little Potty all on his own. I think it's time for a little payback, don't you agree Crabbe, Goyle?"
Unable to help himself, Harry broke out laughing as the three Slytherins stood there watching him, their anger growing.
"What's so funny Potter?"
With a great sigh, Harry forced himself to stop laughing and looked at Malfoy.
"Oh, nothing Malfoy, it just strikes me how similar you and your father are, he would never fight someone unless he outnumbered them either, and more often than not, his targets were non-magicals. But what really made me laugh is that you think you three squibs stand a chance against me."
With a cry of anger, all three Slytherins drew their wands and aimed them at Harry. Unfortunately for them, Harry's confidence was well founded as he had his own wand drawn and up before any of them had theirs drawn. His wand was a blur as he sent all three boys flying against the wall. Hearing the crunching of bones breaking, having added in a few bone breaking curses in addition to the banishing hexes, Harry grinned when he saw that at least two wands were broken.
He stepped over the unconscious lump that was Crabbe and approached a whimpering Draco. He shoved his wand into the boy's neck - hard.
"Consider yourself warned Malfoy. Next time, I won't be so nice."
Harry watched as Malfoy whimpered but looked up at him, his eyes burning with hatred. Looking back at the boy with nothing but contempt, Harry made sure to step on Draco's broken arm as he walked past them, intent on finding his friends. Harry sighed as he spotted Hermione sitting in the compartment next to the sleeping form of Remus Lupin. Harry had to tighten his grip on his emotions as he saw Remus again, tears of relief threatening to fall from his eyes as he remembered seeing the old wolf dead.
Clearing his throat, Harry pulled the door to the compartment open and stepped inside, smiling at Hermione.
"Hey, Hermione. Where's Ron?"
Hermione smiled and stood, pulling him into a hug and quickly kissing his lips soft before answering.
"The twins pulled him off somewhere, and made sure Ginny was with them as well. Why, is something wrong?"
Harry sighed, looked over at Remus and nodded before turning around and locking the door.
"No, but I have some things to tell you, some of it isn't going to be easy to hear though. So I want you to promise you'll at least try to let me finish without you… well, being you and asking a billion questions."
Hermione huffed and playfully slapped him on the arm at his comment but still nodded and moved so she had her back resting against the window. Harry smiled and sat down opposite her, his back resting against the compartment wall as he put up a basic silencing charm around them and began his story. It turned out he had not needed to ask her to contain herself, Hermione was too shocked with his story to interrupt him until he was finished, and when she did, her response was almost exactly what he expected.
"Harry, that's not funny, you shouldn't joke about things like this. It's not possible for anything you've just told me to be true."
Having expected this, Harry pulled his trunk from his pocket and enlarged it on the floor of the compartment so he could pull out the communication mirror before he reshrunk the trunk and put it back in his pocket.
"I can prove that what I just told you is true, Hermione."
Harry smiled softly at her sceptical look and held out his arms to her, she smiled and slid over so her back pressed against his front and Harry's arms wrapped around her, the mirror open in front of them as he spoke.
"This is the mirror I told you about, ready to meet my parents?"
He laughed as Hermione scoffed at his statement but when his parents faces lit up the mirror's surface a few seconds later, she froze and Harry felt her jaw drop as Lily spoke to them.
"Well don't you two look just so cute! You must be Hermione, I'm Lily, this is James. We've been wanting to meet you for quite some time now."
When Hermione did not answer, Harry laughed softly and smiled at his parents.
"I'm sure you'll be surprised when I say she didn't believe me mom. Give her a second to absorb this and she'll be alright."
Harry laughed with his parents as Hermione turned in his arms to glare at him and slap his shoulder before turning back to the mirror.
"I'm sorry it's just, I didn't really believe him when he told me about him dying and the contract and everything. It's nice to meet you both."
Harry grinned as he watched his mother poked his father in the chest.
"Don't you dare James Potter, and don't bother with the innocent routine I saw that look. You will not be teasing our son or his girlfriend right now, understood?"
"Yes, dear, I promise I won't tease them."
James' response had Harry and Hermione laughing, the look of attempted innocence on James' face was comical when you considered his reputation. Their laughter stopped as Remus shifted in his sleep and when they looked back to the mirror, Lily and James were looking at them curiously.
"Something wrong you two?"
Harry smiled and shook his head.
"No, Mooney is in the compartment with us sleeping and we thought he might have been waking up, but it looks like my silencing charm is still up. I didn't think it would hold for this long."
At the mention of Remus, Lily and James smiles turned to frowns as Hermione turned and looked at Harry.
"Who's Mooney, Harry?"
It was James who answered instead of Harry and made Hermione jump.
"It's the nickname for the man sleeping in the compartment Hermione, his real name is Remus Lupin. He was a friend of ours when we were alive."
Hermione put a hand over her mouth and nodded as she looked at the sad faces of Harry's parents. Harry had a hard time looking as well and when it started to rain. Harry remembered that the Dementors had yet to make an appearance.
"I hate to cut this short Mom, Dad, but the Dementors should be showing up soon."
Lily and James nodded and said their farewells before Harry closed the mirror and sat up. Hermione slid back over to the other side of the bench and looked over at Harry.
"You have more to tell me don't you?"
"Yes I do, but it'll have to wait. When the Dementors come we'll be getting company, so I'll tell you tomorrow."
Just as Hermione nodded, the train shook and Harry groaned as the lights went out. Harry quickly unlocked the door and sat back, trying to prepare himself for the meeting with the Dementors when the door slid open and he heard Neville's voice.
"Hello? Who's there?"
"It's us Nev, Harry and Hermione, come on in and join us. Any idea what's going on?"
Before Neville had the chance to answer, there was a crackling sound as a small fire lit up the corner of the compartment. Harry turned and stared at Remus, swallowing hard as he looked into the face of his parent's friend, looking just as tired and worn as he had the last time he had seen Remus.
"Quiet, stay here, I'll go and see what is happening."
Harry nodded and watched, gripping the cushion of the bench tightly as he watched Remus stand. Before Remus could take a single step however, the door opened and revealed one of Harry's worst nightmares as he could already hear his mother screaming in his mind. Harry looked up into the Dementors face and then felt himself collapse into his nightmares, reliving the night of his parents murder, the screams of his mother even more disturbing for him now than they ever were, the brief encounter between his mother and Voldemort lighting a fire of rage in his chest and stomach when he heard them again. With a groan, Harry felt himself return to consciousness and immediately noticed Hermione holding him tightly, making him smile as he pulled her closer. Hermione giggled against his neck but sat up after a few seconds, stroking his cheek with her thumb, still looking frightened but happy as well. Harry sat up and slipped back onto the seat as a loud snap made them all jump and turn to the corner of the compartment where Remus sat smiling sheepishly.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Here, this will help."
Harry smiled and took the chocolate Remus had been breaking and took a bite.
"Thank you Professor. What was that thing?"
Harry watched as Remus sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, looking even more tired than he had before the Dementor walked in.
"That was a Dementor, Harry, one of the guards of Azkaban. It was searching for Sirius Black."
Harry nodded and looked around, noticing with a frown, Neville had left. Turning to Hermione, Harry did not even get to ask before she answered him.
"Don't worry Harry, Neville just went to the bathroom, his face was drenched from the sweat."
Nodding, Harry turned to Remus and grinned, he should have some time for a quick prank on his teacher before Neville got back.
"How have you been Mooney?"
When Remus' head shot up and looked over Harry, his eyes wide and a look of utter shock on his face, Harry almost fell out of his seat from laughter as Hermione sat glaring at Harry in disapproval.
"Where did you hear that name Harry?"
Grinning at Remus, Harry got his laughter under control.
"My parents of course, they left me a few letters and things for me in case they died. You were mentioned in quite a few of them."
Harry almost broke down at the look of inexplicable loss on Remus' face at hearing about his parents. Unable to help himself, Harry stood and pulled his honorary uncle into a hug, surprising not only Hermione, but Remus as well. It took a few seconds before Remus could return the hug and Harry smiled, he would be helping Remus as much as he could, he promised not just himself, but his parents as well. Pulling away Harry sat down and smiled at Remus.
"Remus, there's something else you should know. It's about Sirius."
Harry heard Hermione's intake of breath and a quick look passed between her and Remus.
"What is it Harry?"
"He's not guilty Mooney, he didn't betray my parents."
The response was just about what Harry had been expecting, Hermione gasped but remained silent, likely due to shock and Remus was even more taken aback, a look of stunned disbelief mixed with disgust on his face. Harry quickly launched into the evidence he had and at the end of his story, Remus and Hermione were sitting quietly contemplating what was said. What happened next was something not even Harry could have predicted.
Ron walked into the compartment, holding Scabbers in his hands.