I had run all the way to the gargoyles on the seventh floor that marked the entrance to the headmaster's office. I was still clutching the vial securely and carefully. When I came to a halt it took me a second to realize how I had gotten there so quickly. I had forgotten the time of day in my excitement and I noticed that the rest of Hogwarts was just rising from sleep for it was early morning on a Saturday, meaning that the hallways had been completely empty.
I looked at the gargoyles and softly said, "Animagus."
They sprang apart and now I slowly and deliberately made my way up the spiral staircase. Reaching a heavy oak door I opened it and stepped into a cluttered circular room. I passed through it and came into and almost identical room except that this one was much more organized and had a desk in it.
On the desk was a note in Headmistress McGonagall's handwriting.
Pensieve in closet next to Phineas Nigellus, Place on desk to use, Return to closet when finished.
She must have guessed that I would come here before the day had even begun, which is sort of obvious but no matter, I just wanted to start.
I recognized the picture of Phineas Nigellus that was hanging on the wall for I had seen his other portrait at 12 Grimmauld Place. I nodded to him and proceeded to the tall, dark wooden closet that stood on his left.
Opening it I revealed a shallow metallic bowl containing what looked like an endless amount of murky water, it was the pensieve. I placed it on the headmistress's desk and poured my father's memories slowly into it. Then I took a deep breath and lowered my face into the shimmering contents.
"But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life." said a motherly voice.
I turned to see a woman reading a book to a young boy. With a start I realized that they must be my grandmother and my father.
"Now Remus it's time for bed," said my grandmother.
"Goodnight mama," the young version of my father replied.
She tucked him into bed, gave him a kiss, and turned off the lights as she left his room.
The scene then changed.
My father lay on a white hospital bed and as I looked around I saw that we were in St. Mungo's. He was covered in blood that gushed from his throat; there were five nurses and three Healers around him, cleaning him up. My grandmother and a man, who I assumed to be my grandfather, were sitting against the opposite wall.
Everything sped up for a moment and the scene came back, but my father was clean with a bandage on his neck and there was only one Healer in the room.
The Healer spoke with no emotion, "you have been attacked by a werewolf by the name of Fenrir Greyback. Unfortunately you will now be a werewolf and will have to transform every full moon. I am going to speak to your parents outside."
They left the room and again, the scene changed.
My father was alone in a shack built just a little way away from his house. There was a full moon and all of a sudden he transformed into a werewolf. He howled in pain and tried to claw at anything he could. He ended up clawing at himself.
Then he was in his house, his mother was cleaning him up for he had scratches and bruises all over. He looked miserable and I felt sorry for him.
Once again a mist descended onto the scene and then rose to show a new one.
A man with a long gray beard and wearing green wizarding robes was knocking on the door of my father's house. The door was opened by my grandmother who asked the man to please come in and they sat in the living room.
"Dumbledore," said my grandmother, "surely your not-,"
"Yes," he said cutting her off, "I am here for Remus, your son. We will accept him and make arrangements to deal with his wolfish behavior."
My father had been eavesdropping outside the living room door and entered saying, "really, I'm allowed to go to Hogwarts!?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore, "you can."
The next few scenes were of my father going to Hogwarts. He met James, Sirius, and Peter on the train, got sorted into Gryffindor, and became best friends with the other three. There were a lot of scenes of him studying, transforming, and playing pranks with his friends. Eventually there was a scene of his friends learning of his lycanthropy, becoming animangi, and roaming the grounds with him. There was also the scene where they officially became the marauders, and scenes with various girls who I assumed to be my father's girlfriends, none of them lasted long though.
Scenes of my father at home gradually disappeared until it seemed that he no longer had any connection with my grandparents. He eventually graduated and started working odd jobs for Dumbledore. Sometimes staying with werewolves but mostly living in a flat and doing research on Voldemort and defense against the dark arts. He also joined the Order of the Phoenix and did undercover work for them.
One of the saddest scenes was of him learning of Lily and James's death, him visiting Godric's Hollow to see the ruins, and hearing of Sirius being carted off to Azkaban. The only enjoyable part of that time in his life had been seeing little Harry, who looked a lot like James but had Lily's green eyes.
After the tragedy he went back to working undercover and doing research until Dumbledore asked him to work at the school. There he reunited with Harry and was part of Sirius's escape and the failed attempt to capture Peter, who had betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort … I had been told that story many times and I knew it by heart, almost word for word.
After that there was his meeting my mother and reforming the Order. I saw how much he tried to avoid his feelings for my mum because of his lycanthropy and I saw him eventually give in, show his love, and I saw their marriage. I then saw my birth and his announcing to Harry that he should be Godfather… I am very glad he made that decision.
The final scene was that of him talking to me, explaining about who I was, who I was related to, and how brilliant my mother was.
I pulled my head out of the pensieve and stared at it for a good few minutes, absorbing as much as I could of what I had just witnessed. Then I put the memories back into the vial and looked out the window, it was already midday.
Slowly I made my way back to my room, secured the vial and took out the diary of my father's that Harry had given me. I went down to the now crowded common room and sat down to read my dad's words.
I did not get much reading done though. Half the time I just stared at the page and thought about my father and his memories and the other half my friends, cousins, and a few girls who I didn't know but who gave me flirtatious winks all came up to me to wish me a happy birthday.
I did not feel like eating at all that day so instead of dinner I ate a few pieces of candy and then got ready for bed, still thinking about all that had happened. There was so much going through my head that I didn't think I would be able to concentrate on anything for a while.
I probably wouldn't be able to pay attention in classes on Monday but hey, who paid attention in Binn's class anyway?
I finally shut off the lights and got into bed. It took quite a while to get to sleep and the last thing I thought before I drifted off to dreamland was: I can't wait to see how they try to top this birthday present with next years.