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The Ruins of House Potter

Chapter 11 – Remembrance

By Jamnaz79

Beta: BJH

Notice: I do not own Harry Potter. I do not claim to own it or wish to make any money off of it. I am merely using the characters to write some hopefully enjoyable stories. All rights belong to the sacred lady, may she grace us with future stories someday.

Professor Babbling spoke up while rolling her eyes at the contempt in the voice of the Head of the Slytherin House, "Mr. Potter seems almost too capable for my fourth year runes class. He seems to have inherited Lily's ability with runes. It is truly remarkable, I expect him to leave Hogwarts with a Mastery in the subject if this keeps up, perhaps even before his seventh year."

A flash of surprise came over the face of Albus Dumbledore before he quickly hid it. He offered a smile all around to his remarkable staff then slowly stood up, "It seems to be good news so far. Hopefully it will be a nice quiet year. Let us head to dinner."

~~~ RoHP ~~~

Detention… He had not expected to get it the first day in Potions but from what he had heard about Professor Severus Snape he should have. It wasn't like the reputation of the Potions Professor was not very kind in Hogwarts, but he had hoped perhaps he wouldn't be singled out. It wasn't as if Professor Snape was the only teacher that had a mistrusted of him. Old McGonagall didn't seem to care for him one bit and tried her best to ignore his very existence. But, this was different; it was almost personal with the man. Hell, he had note when he came to class for why he was late from another Professor but still the greasy git had given him a detention! The fact that Professor Black had been able to overturn the points lost but not change the unfair detention greatly disturbed Harry.

So here he was currently standing in the office of Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts. The man was gruff, distant and had a sheer dislike of any child. Why was he working then in a castle filled with children? Who knew the answer to that one? Still here Harry was under a fierce glare of the man as he watched Harry, silently waiting. It seemed there would be three of them in detention today, three that already had it to start the term. Since teachers were so busy with the start of the term Harry and the pair of Gryffindors that he would be stuck with would get the joy of helping Filch. At least he wasn't late like the other two were already.

"Your cat is very beautiful. I have one of my own," Harry offered with a kind smile as he turned to look at the Maine-coon.

A grunt was he only response from the man. So much for trying to be polite! So instead they stood there in silence. Harry took the opportunity to scan around the office. This was the room where confiscated things came to disappear. Remus had told him all about it, his father and his friends had spent hours getting stuck in here after mischief. Just from a glance, Harry could see everything from exploding balloons, frog puss, to boxes filled with stink bombs. If this man decided to ever sell what he had acquired over the years he could most certainly open a joke shop to rival Zonkos.

It was not the pranking supplies that drew his attention. Instead it was the stack of parchments that was spilling out a cabinet. Or at least one particular yellowed folded parchment. From a glance it looked like it would fold out into a map, and if his guess was correct that might be a particular map that Remus had spoken about wistfully.

While his adoptive Uncle wasn't as much of a prankster as his father supposedly had been. He had still regaled the boy with a lot of the misadventures of his youth. In a lot of those stories this particular object was at the center. In fact it had been a pseudo mission from him for Harry from him to find it if possible. Of course part of that mission would be able to find out how to activate it too. Still if this was the map…

A pair of red heads burst through the door, almost falling over into the office. Both had bright red hair which, if Harry remembered them right, named them as Weasley's. The pair of boys looked almost exact copies of one another. A pair of twins; from the sorting he believed their names were Fred and George.

"You're late!" Filch crowed in triumph with an evil gleam coming over his eyes.

"Our detention wasn't supposed to start till 7…."

"Which is right now exactly..."

"So we are not late…"

"A wizard is never late…"

"Nor is he early..."

"He arrives precisely when he means to…"

"Which was right now." The final Weasley brother finished as they looked back towards the squib with a bright smile. That smile was not returned by the grumpy old man as he glared at them.

Harry simply shook his head slowly back and forth with a smirk that he tried to hide. Sure it had been rather amusing but the chances were they had pissed off the man which would only make the detention far more terrible.

"Enough of the nonsense, let's go. You have work to do!" Filch spoke before he walked out of the room expecting the three first years to follow him. His cat, Ms. Norris, followed behind them almost keeping them in line with her master.

It would be a long grueling three hours of hard work scrubbing the floors of the third floor. The only benefit to Harry would be that since he had arrived at the proper time he was allowed to leave twenty minutes before the twins. This meant that the grumpy old squib would have to stay and watch over the terrible pair or else they would wander off.

Harry used this time to quickly make his way back to the office of the Squib. Once there he flicked his wand towards the handle of the door and whispered "Alamora…"

It was a quick in and out and none would ever be hopefully the wiser.

~~~ RoHP ~~~

The task was difficult. It was one that Harry had been working at repeatedly for two weeks now and despite his success so far there was so much more to do. His Mistress had given him the challenge to learn how to mediate and feel his magic. The idea behind it was once he was able to find his center then he could learn two important set of skills.

The first ability that learning to meditate and feel his magic would allow him to learn to control how much magic he put into a spell. Normally, according to Cassiopeia, most witches and wizards would simply point their wand and cast a spell not understanding how much magic they were truly using it. Sure they could, typically when very emotional, force put more power into the spell, but normally they would waste magic and if they overpowered the spell they would waste even more magic. According to his mentor, magic was about control. The more control you had of your magic the more you would be able to guide it to do what you wanted, the more power you would be able to influence in your magic, and, most important, the longer you would last with your magic. Sure you might be able to overpower a few spells but if you wasted your strength on one enemy with them, then you would be weaker for whatever else might be after you. Weakness equals death for those that are not prepared.

The second possibility that finding his core would give Harry is the potential to learn the mind arts. The traditional names are Occlumency and, if he became skilled enough, Legilimency. Occlumency was the ability to defend your mind from others trying to assault it or steal your thoughts. Legilimency was the ability to steal away memories, thoughts and insert your own thoughts on your enemy. Each offered numerous fringe benefits no matter what he did in life including a slightly better memory. Together they would be an extremely powerful combination that would help him someday in politics and rebuilding his family name.

The problem right now though was that over the past few weeks since he had started to try to learn to meditate properly, Harry had been agitated. It wasn't that he was not following the process properly. He was doing it perfectly actually, it also wasn't that he wasn't able to find his center. He could clear his mind and feel himself draw away from the world around him. It was the fact that when he lost track of his immediate surroundings everything around him seemed to become bright flares of light and power. It was a strange occurrence that he didn't understand. No matter what he did he could feel others around him when he did this. It was almost as if he could sense his fellow Hufflepuffs in their rooms and common rooms. He could feel their magic walking around and moving from room to room or entering and leaving the common rooms. He couldn't tell who was who yet, but he could feel when they would use their magic for a spell. It was almost as if he could sense the magical world around him. It was amazing but it was also distracting. It was something he had no idea what to do about it as he had never heard or read of something like this.

Harry could feel himself getting distracted again as he felt the shimmering flames of power moving around his room. So he once again tried to banish the thought of them and center himself again. It was desire that he could turn his gaze inwards and feel his own power. As he started to sink slowly deeper and deeper into himself, he could almost feel it. He felt the warmth, a flood of heat that cycled through his body from his chest over his heart downwards to his toes and fingers and back up to his head. He could feel the pulsing of the magic, the driving warmth that felt like sitting before a fireplace on a cold winter night. It was amazing, everything he had been told it would feel like and more. It was ….

A hand shook the shoulder of Harry drawing him back to the world of the living away from everything he had been working on. Slowly the dark haired boy opened his eyes and looked up having to resist the urge to snap at whoever it was. Standing before Harry was Cedric looking down with him with his goofy smile that was already driving girls crazy. "Harry, are you alright? You were shaking and glowing. It was strange…"

The dark haired boy shook his head slowly then smiled, "I am fine, Cedric. I just was trying something that I read about."

"I swear you read more than a Ravenclaw. If I don't see you with a book in your hand then you are working on an assignment. Are you sure you are in the right house?" Cedric teased with a grin at his roommate.

A mock glare was given back to the other boy. Despite Harry's disappearing for many hours during the day after classes Cedric was always there for him and happy to give a smile or laugh. Sure he might tease him a bit about his disappearances but he was a good guy overall. Many of Harry's other roommates hadn't warmed up to him as much as the blonde haired boy had. Still, they were likeable overall, "I am sure I am in the right house. I just want to learn things. Think about it, we are learning magic not math or science but actual magic. This isn't work to me, Cedric; it is just giving me the chance to actually become something special."

"You and your goals, you need to have more fun and get into some trouble. Live a little." The blonde haired boy again teased his smaller friend. "I know just the thing to do. A few others in the house are going to the quidditch pitch to practice a bit. Sure we may not be able to be on the team this year but it would be good to practice for next year."

Harry let out a sigh because he knew that no matter what he wouldn't be able go back to his work. One glance towards his friend stopped any grimace from forming on his face. Hell even if he didn't go back to working on his meditation there was always later tonight or tomorrow. You only were young once and only had this time to make friends. A bit of fun wouldn't hurt.

Harry smiled and got off of his bed quickly running out of the room following his friend. On his pillow the midnight black cat with startling green eyes watching him go before curling up tightly and lowering her head back down onto her paws for a catnap.

~~~ RoHP ~~~

Cassiopeia stepped into her classroom and closed her door. She turned around to go towards her private chambers but stopped in surprised. Before her sitting on the edge of her desk holding a piece of open paper was her apprentice for the year Harry Potter. The boy frowned as he looked at the parchment whispering words repeatedly one phrase after another in frustration.

An elegant left eyebrow arched watching the boy at work, "Don't you think you should be getting ready for the feast?"

The boy blinked and glanced up from the parchment folding it up quickly. He frowned and shook his head not speaking.

A second sign that something was wrong with Harry was how his shoulders seemed slumped. She had spent days over the past few weeks beating into him the need for proper etiquette and more importantly to show strength always. He had taken to the lesson like a griffon to flight, most likely due to his military bearing when he had been brought up by the muggles. But at the moment he slouched worse than she had ever seen him before.

She slowly walked forward, the heels of her boots echoed through the classroom filling the silence between them. A glance was given to the parchment but she dismissed it knowing that if it was important the boy would tell her. Instead she walked to behind her desk and settled down into the chair sitting up straight and proper to stare at Harry. After the silence continued to lengthen her patience cracked, "What is bothering you Harry? I cannot help you if you do not tell me what is troubling you."

"The date" The words came out of his mouth just above a whisper but carried. As soon as they were spoken it clicked into her mind; today was October 31st, All Hollows Eve, the day that the veils parted and one could feel the spirits form the beyond. For a boy like Harry who had spent so much time sensing the magic around him he would feel the difference of the magic far more than anyone else would. To make matters worse this was the day, all those years ago, when he lost his mother and father. The day that Lily Potter nee' Evans was tortured to death after her husband had died.

A rare occurrence took place where she felt like she had stepped in a pile of hippogriff dung. Slowly she stood up from her seat and walked around it to stand before the boy. She stared down at him just as he stared back up at her, blinking, not sure what was going to happen. It was far more awkward then she remembered when she was a young girl. It had been ages since she had done this, slowly her hands reached out and pulled the surprised boy into her arms wrapping him up into an embrace. She could feel Harry stiffen in shock and perhaps not sure what to do. Hell, for all she knew he had rarely ever been hugged by a female family member considering a werewolf was raising him. Then slowly he felt him lower his head against her chest and relax into the embrace.

A strange thought crossed over the mind of Cassiopeia, 'So this is what motherhood would have felt like if I had decided to find someone worthy.' It was not that horrible of a thing comforting another being, especially a family member. It was so unlike the Blacks or most of them at least. They were normally raised to be formal, strong and survive any dangers in the world. It was expected not to show weakness ever to anyone. This had been true for her but not for her sister and brother before he was banished. Perhaps Dorea had it right after all. She let out a small sigh and stepped back from the embrace, knowing now for a fact that it was affecting her too much. Her pale grey eyes narrowed down at the boy strictly, "Never speak of that. I don't do that for anyone."

It was amusing to see the Harry's eyes widen and nod swiftly. Perhaps the hours of dodging practice had been good to beat into the boy a proper discipline. She gave him a small smile, "What do you do this day normally Harry?"

"Remus and I go to their graves and make it a day of silence. I am sure he is there now." Harry answered gently.

Cassiopeia turned her gaze to glance at the grandfather clock in the corner then back towards her nephew, "You have everything you need to go there now."

It was not a question but a statement of fact. It was another lesson she had drilled into the boy, if something was truly important and necessary then you should keep it with you always. Again the young teen gave her a nod and she graced him with a smile, "Then come, let us be off from here. I believe you have two people to visit and I will introduce you to your grandmother. If you are lucky maybe a story will be told. I know a few she would never have wanted to see the light of day."

~~~ RoHP ~~~

The village was busy since to muggles it was Halloween. The pair walked through the crowds of children running around trick-or-treating for candy. It was the one time that a witch or wizard didn't have to change their dress to walk in muggle areas. It was amusing to Harry that he got a few compliments on his robes as a great costume. He gave a warm smile to each of the compliments and waved as they continued swiftly through the small town.

The graveyard was the one place that seemed to be silent this evening. The autumn night was cool but not wet in the least. There was a strong cutting breeze that cut through the air drawing a shiver. Trees that had lost their leaves withered for the coming winter barely shadowed the full moon that hung overhead. It was that moon that made Harry remember and realize why he had not heard from Remus. His poor friend and parental figure would be holed up tonight due to his curse. Someday he hoped to be able to help support him like his father did as an animagus but to be honest that was a far time away.

It was surprising to Harry how many different names he recognized from Hogwarts appeared on headstones. He saw a few Dumbledore, Prewitt, Rowle, Yaxley, and McMillian just to name a few. As he walked down the headstones he never saw any Potters. If his family was so old why were there none around?

Finally their walk ended they came to a stop before a simple headstone. Cassiopeia stared down at the Headstone silently, she flicked her wand a bouquet of roses were conjured and placed before the headstone. Then she stepped back to behind Harry. Harry stiffened slightly in surprise when he found her hand gently rest on his shoulder and squeeze once in a gesture of kindness from the elderly woman.

He didn't speak, there was so much he wanted to say but nothing could come out. There was so much he felt he needed to tell of his life and future plans at Hogwarts. But, he didn't feel like airing out the words was what was needed. Instead he simply stared at the Headstone of his parents. The final resting place that seemed so small and so hollow for the people that brought him into this world, they were the people that gave up everything to keep him alive. He owed them something more and he would prove that their sacrifice was not in vain.

It was an hour of dead silence from the pair. Whether Cassiopeia was bothered by the silence Harry would never find out as she endured it quietly and happily for him. It was a gesture that meant so much more than he could ever put into words. The only sound was the whistle of the wind as it whipped through the barren trees. In the end it was Harry that broke the silence. His voice was whispered to his Great Aunt, "Why are there no other Potters here?"

"They are all buried in the Potter family cemetery on the estate. But, since the estate was ruined, your parent's former allies did not wish to take the time and cost to arrange for a formal burial there. Instead they were placed here." Her voice held a tone of disapproval as she clarified. "Little Jamie should be home." There was a hint of sadness in her voice at the end.

"I want them home. They deserve to be brought home." Harry spoke with a firm determination.

The hand that rested on his shoulder squeezed tighter then he would expect from the elder woman. Her voice whispered again despite the noise on the wind, "They will be Harry. We will see it done if that is your will. But for tonight we have one more stop to make. If you are willing…"

Harry's emerald gaze finally left his parent's headstone for the first time to meet the light greys of Cassiopeia. "I will follow wherever my Mistress wishes for her apprentice."

The edges of the elder Black's lips twisted into a smile before she gripped tightly to his shoulder and turned causing them both to apparate away from the cold dark cemetery.

Author note: First I want to say thank you a hundred times for BJH for the help in editing and suggestions for this story. Their insight is wonderful and extremely helpful. I really appreciate it. I hope folks like the dynamic for Cassiopeia and Harry here. I am also removing the current pairing and decided to let the story play out without whoever Harry ends up with. It won't be Hermione or Ginny. If folks have any suggestions please feel free to provide them. Also I wouldn't make it a larger pairing then three. Anyways please let me know your opinions on the chapter.