Note: Please look to prologue for disclaimer and additional notes about the story.

A Dance With Fate

Canopus Carina

Chapter 18 of 20

They had set the date to be in mid 1977 as it seemed to be the time Healer Remedius Partromi was actually known even during his cloak of mystery. However, they had to be quick about their mission as one glaring issue came into the picture: Remedius Partromi had died 21 December 1977during a Death Eater attack on his home. It had irony unique to this situation as he was killed by those who put them in that position in the first place. As the spell did not indicate what month the person would land, they were dancing with fate. Any earlier than January and he may end up staying there without a clue as inklings of Partromi had not started appearing until late March. Any later than November and he had the chance of not having enough time of learning the identity before he died.

It was a dance with fate, a dance they planned on leading.

Saturday: 19 November 1977

He didn't know how long he was standing there before the door for the seventh years. It must have been a while as the occamy that had just finished walked, or in its case flew, the last few steps to the door turned to look at him with a confused expression. He had never seen a confused expression on a snake before, but he definitely knew it when he saw it.

Laughing at his unheard of fear of the door, he quickly entered and closed the door behind him. The room was a soft neutral color with many seats for anyone who needed to wait on each side of the room. In front of him was a white sign hovering in the air with the instructions.

Seventh Years

Congratulations on making it to this point. Please take a number and stay in this room. Once your number appears in the mirror, go through the white door which will take you down a flight of stairs and through a corridor underground. On the other side you will find another door for you to go through. Please close the door once you go through. Further instructions shall be on in the next room.

Wish you the best of luck on the next task. For your time remaining in this room, I shall give you something to dwell on:

To live with fear and not be afraid is the final test of maturity

- Edward Weeks

How has this course helped you conquer your fears? What do you think would help you if you haven't already?

He quickly grabbed a number from a bright orange contraption he remembered seeing in meat markets or ice-cream shops in the muggle world. It was a small, white piece of paper that had 101 clearly printed across it's surface.

Being the first of the seventh years to enter this room, he didn't have to wait long before he was allowed through the white door and through the underground cave. It was a very short walk to the other side, but during his time in the corridor, he started to dwell not on the inspirational quote Harry had provided in the instructions in the previous room, but of what resided in the room he was walking towards. When a room appeared around a bend, he had forgotten that this room was underground and ignored the other smaller passages that led into the corridor which could be from other year's rooms. All he could think was what could be behind that door.

He opened the door slowly to reveal a darkened room. With the limited light that seeped through while the door was opened, he was able to see only an outline of a door on the other side and a strange shaped box in the corner. Closing the door behind him, he waited in the dark. But he didn't have to wait long.

Before he knew it, the room lit up with a dazzling light coming from a silvery orb floating in the sky. If he didn't know better, this room being below ground and it not being possible to be passed 4pm by then, he would have thought that a window opened up and showed him the full moon. It felt anticlimactic for him to easily think of a funny thing to change it too, call out "Riddikulus", and wait for the Boggart to retreat in his misshapen box. The door on the other side opened to reveal an enthusiastic Harry.

"That was lame," he said jokingly to the instructor.

Harry only rolled his eyes. "Well some boggarts won't work in certain conditions, but for most people, it's worked perfectly. You could either stay here and wait for the others, or you could go to the Great Hall. But I would suggest you go to the Great Hall, Dobby got you some butterbeer to celebrate. I figure unless he set aside some for you seventh years, it could be disappearing quickly."

He joined the younger years who were already laughing about their experiences in the maze each with a bottle of butterbeer in their hand or in front of them. It seemed as if he was truly one of the few that had a boggart that was easily recognizable as being a fake. Everyone had seemed happy enough with their try at the maze that it was easy to tell what they saw there. Even those who had an embarrassing experience with the boggart were telling the event blow by blow to the amusement of their audience.

It truly was a happy time for each of them.

He didn't have to wait until he was joined by James, and then Sirius, and finally Peter. They quickly divulged what happened to each of them in the maze. Apparently Sirius had to go through the occamy as well but had the gall to try to pull the snake's meal from its mouth. He had figured that if he threw the rat down the opposite side of the hall, it would follow it and he would be able to go passed it. The occamy did as he had predicted, but was fast enough to grab its meal and then chase after Sirius for five minutes while James and other seventh years were able to get passed him and through their door.

When he told them of his encounter with the occamy, they didn't believe him at first. But considering that Remus had no reason to lie to them, they laughed as the imagined the look on Remus' face when it slid off the perch. His telling of the boggart got an even better reaction as James hit him in the arm crying out, "no fair! I kept trying to figure out how to get the Bowtruckle to leave me alone! It kept pulling off my shoes and trying to peal off my toenails!"

This created another bout of laughter by not only the Marauders but the surrounding peers who easily overheard what James was complaining about. Remus couldn't even imagine James running around the small room as the small tree-dweller chased him with a shoe in his hands. Thinking of the twin blades of sharp fingers on each hand the Bowtruckle would have had made him wince. He certainly wouldn't want his toenails to be pealed off in such a way.

"Congratulations one and all," Harry cried out as soon as the last seventh year scurried into the Great Hall. "Not only did no one fail the maze, but the creatures inside are accounted for and safely on their way back to their respective homes. I believe the only one that will need a lot of time to recover would be the boggart each of you battled. Let's just say that it was easy to force it back into its box by the time the last person got through with it.

"Now I'm sorry if I caused anyone to have any problems due to this experience, though as I look over you now, you don't seem to have any problem with it. I couldn't help but try this out as so many teachers had used the trick on me and my peers. At the end of my first year my friends and I had to go through a seven chamber course. My third year Defense the Dark Arts final was very similar to this course, it's where I got the boggart idea from. But it was my fourth year that I got the maze idea from. I didn't have half the amount of fun as you apparently did in my attempt of the giant maze, though.

"For being so good during this lesson, I'm happy to announce that there will not be a lesson next week. I will be gone until Wednesday and I figured having one so close to the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match would not be very much appreciated."

He only laughed softly as some Gryffindors and the few Slytherins who came to class argued that it was too close before their game. James and Sirius were heard over these complaints the loudest. "Hey, it's not my fault that your game was right after my most important day! Enjoy your butterbeer, and expect another lesson at the end of the month. Probably on the 29th or 30th."

With that, he turned and walked from the Great Hall, Dobby following close behind. As he watched the instructor walk out of the hall, Remus could only wonder what he was going to do next week. And if he was following the same traditions as the other lessons, Harry would be out of the castle before Remus would have the chance to find out. He would just have to wait and see when Harry came back.

He then thought back to the maze. Harry had said that when each year walked into the maze, it would add more challenges for that year to compete against that should be their level. Either Harry had couldn't come up with anymore challenges for the seventh years, he had run into all of the easy lower level challenges, or he had truly learned during these lessons as well as his other classes. Listening in on the last patches of conversation in the Great Hall before students started wandering off to enjoy the rest of their Saturday, he figured it would have to be the last thought. Those who had attended all of Harry's lessons had finished the maze and boggart much quicker than those who hadn't attended.

After only three months of lessons, Harry was already making a noticeable difference.

End of Chapter 18 - 1,503 of words

Posted: 29 June 2007