A/N: firstly just so that you all know this chapter will be kind of short cause I wasn't actually even planning on updating today. However with school starting on Tuesday I don't really know what's happening so I thought I'll give you guys something to be reading in the man time. If you asked I will be finishing the story by the way.
Secondly and more importantly thanks to everyone who left me a review, especially those who very kindly took the time to leave me some suggestions for Gem's middle name. They were all so cool and I really, really appreciate it. I have picked a name and therefore this chapter dedication goes to…(drum roll)… scarlet dreamer.
Gem's full name for those who are interested is now Gemini Alexandra Laxcrosse. Thanks Scarlet dreamer the next bit's for you.
Disclaimer: If I owned HP I wouldn't exactly be writing a disclaimer would I? Take the hint.
Chapter 10Harry Potter yawned widely and staggered out of bed, his legs stiff and arms hanging limp in their sockets. 'I am so not a mornings person,' thought the young adult as he trudged down into the kitchen for breakfast. He was only mildly surprised when he found that Remus wasn't already seated at the table eating his usual toast and black coffee. As far as Harry knew both him and Sirius got back pretty late last night. Knowing his godfather, not to mention the empty bottles in the hallway, Sirius was probably drunk. But Remus? Bar the full moon the werewolf was always punctual. Harry didn't have the faintest clue where his surrogate uncle was half of last night, but he made a mental note to quiz him about it at the next opportunity.
Sighing Harry sunk down in a chair and summoned his breakfast to him. 'The lazy way out'- that's what Remus would say whenever Harry used magic to do simple everyday things such as bringing his breakfast to him. Sirius of course would do that all the time. However no sooner had the raven-haired boy stuck his spoon into the cereal bowl a sharp knock at the window caused him to drag himself back to his feet. It was the owl carrying the Daily Prophet.
'Stupid newspaper. Why the hell does Remus get it anyway?' Thought Harry, dropping two sickles into the barn owl's pocket and returning to the table. Sighing Harry opened up the newspaper and looked at the front page. A large photo of himself caused Harry to gape in shock.
BOY-WHO-LIVED SACKED FOR ATTEMPTING TO MURDER HIS TEACHER
Yesterday the famous boy-who-lived, a.k.a Harry James Potter, was sacked from auror training by the head auror and his own godfather, Sirius Black. Yes the chosen one's
Dream of becoming an auror was snatched away by his own godfather. But what posed Sirius Black to make such a decision?
It is believed that Mr Potter attempted to murder his professor Severus Snape, after he received a punishment for being late to class, using none other than an Avada kedavra spell. There has been many debates as to whether the chosen-one who we all look up to as our hero has in fact joined alliances with the he-who-must-not-be-named, and this incident may have proved the points of many.
Mr Potter's short temper has always been one of his weakest points, and his hate for his former potions master at Hogwarts is no secret. But should the boy-who-lived be sent to azkaban for using an illegal curse?
To read more about Harry Potter's years at Hogwarts see page 3.
- Rita Skeeter
Harry put the newspaper down seething with anger. He had been so caught up in the whole incident with Cringe, he forgot all about the stupid Rita Skeeter and her stupid Daily Prophet. Why couldn't the media leave him alone for once? And what was all that crap about him trying to kill Snape. Could he really get sent to Azkaban for something he didn't do? True he used an unforgivable, but that was a stupid decision, different from trying to kill someone on purpose, even if it was the slimy haired git.
" STUPID DAILY PROPHET. STUPID SKEETER WOMAN. WHY CAN'T THEY ALL SHOVE OFF AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" yelled the angry teenager out loud without thinking.
" Har, you couldn't keep it down could you. My head feels like it's about to split into half."
Harry glared at his hung over godfather standing in the doorway but didn't say anything. Sirius slowly walked to the kitchen opposite where Harry was sitting and folded his arms on the table before cradling his head in them. The pair sat in silence for what seemed like forever.
As unfair as it was, part of Harry could stop blaming Sirius for what was in the daily prophet, for it was him who sacked the boy in the first place. It felt good to pretend to blame someone else. In the back of his mind however, Harry knew everything was his own fault, him and his stupid temper.
The silence in the room grew along with the tension. Sirius was the first one to break it. " Harry, please. Please can you just listen to me…?"
" Yeah and why should I listen," fumed Harry releasing all his rage caused by the daily prophet. " It's not like you bothered to listen to me in your office yesterday!"
The hurt visible on Sirius' face caused Harry's insides to squirm with guilt. The kid had inherited James' pride though, so he wasn't just going to back down and say sorry- not now anyway.
"Fine," said Sirius stiffly, " Have it your way." However as soon as the words had left his mouth he immediately regretted it. The last person he'd said the same thing to was James Potter, not to long before he died. It was when the two marauders had argued about Remus being the spy.
"FOR HEAVENS SAKE. WILL YOU TWO JUST CUT IT OUT!" The third voice of Remus Lupin joint the other two in the kitchen. Lines of exhaustion were visible on the werewolf's face as he took a seat beside Harry. "Or do I have to bash your heads together for you to see sense." Sirius winced at both the pitch of the voice as well as the visual.
"Look what's done is done. Can't you two just kiss and make up."
Remus sighed at the adamant look on both parties. The pair of them were hopeless.
"Moony…" began Sirius weakly.
" No Padfoot I will NOT keep my voice down. Neither will I brew you a hangover potion. We've been through this before, it was your fault for drinking now deal with it!"
Sirius groaned loudly.
"Hey Remus where were you last night?" asked Harry casually.
" I was with Tonks if you much know." Remus shook his head at his family, whilst the other two sniggered.
'I live in a madhouse,' thought the werewolf to himself whilst gently prying the Daily Prophet out of Harry's closed fist, where it now lay.
As he finally managed to free the newspaper out of his surrogate nephew's grip, Remus smoothened it out and began reading the front page. His expression was blank as read, his eyes the only thing moving. Once he'd finished the article however the threw a small I-need-to-talk-to-you-later to an oblivious Sirius.
Harry took that as the perfect opportunity to ask another question.
"Hey Remus. Can I go out flying now?"
The werewolf turned round and regarded his surrogate nephew for a few minutes before answering. " Okay. But promise me you won't go any further than the clearing."
"Promise," replied Harry, crossing his fingers firmly behind his back.
"It's fine by me then. You can go but make sure you take a jacket."
The boy-who-lived rolled his eyes at his guardian. "Yes Remus." He called whilst running up the stairs toward his room.
Harry quickly snatched his firebolt form under his belt, then began rummaging deep into his trunk for something else. "Gotcha," he whispered to himself pulling the fine silvery material out of the bottom of the trunk. His dad's old invisibility cloak.
Harry quickly stuffed the cloak up the side of his jacket where he held his broom, then headed downstairs so that his guardians wouldn't start to wonder where he'd got to.
"Well I'm going," the teenager announced to the room at large when he got back to the kitchen, before rushing to get out of the door as soon as possible.
But even as Harry stepped through the front door and let out a sigh of relief a familiar voice behind him called "Accio invisibility cloak."
The teenager winced and shut his eyes briefly before spinning round on the spot to face Remus. The werewolf's eyebrows were raised and he had the sort of look on his face which plainly said 'I don't care whether you are off age or not, if you dare fly out of that clearing we'll ground you for the ret of the year.'
"Explain," said Remus warily, "The truth please," he added knowing that the boy's mind was probably working furiously to come up with a cock and bull story.
" Well," replied Harry albeit nervously, " I took it just in case something happens."
"Just in case something happens, eh. Well why don't you take Sirius or me instead, just in case something happens."
The boy's face showed clearly that he was beaten and he knew it. Satisfied Remus continued, " Well now that I've got the cloak I suppose you might as well go flying in the clearing. But listen to me loud and clear; if I find out that you've gone any further than that there will be trouble okay. I mean it Harry, do you understand me?"
Harry James Potter shrugged as he walked done the street. Remus'll probably castrate him if he found out he was here. 'Oh well' thought Harry to himself, 'something's have to be done without anyone else around.'
The raven-haired teenager cringed inwardly as yet another witch walking down Diagon Alley winced and backed away slightly at the sight of him. Harry guessed it was probably due to the daily prophet article, they all thought he was going to turn around and murder them on the spot or something. But what hurt most was when a woman who looked rather like Mrs. Weasley tried to usher her children away from him. If only Remus hadn't took the invisibility cloak it would all have been so much easier.
'As long as I don't run into any order members,' thought the teenager wryly.
Finally Harry found the shop he was looking for. He'd past it many times as a child with Sirius and Remus, that's how he knew where it was, but up until now he'd never really been that interested in it.
Harry allowed his feet to turn into the small alleyway leading off the road and into 'J. BOUTER'S FINEST JEWELLARY' It was a small, rather tatty shop, but the teenager didn't mind as long as it had what he wanted.
"Excuse me," said Harry, walking up to the counter where a rather short bald man stood, "I'd like to buy a ring…"
Harry walked out of the shop ten minutes later with the small black bow tucked safely in his pocket.
But as he stepped back out into the alleyway an arm thrust out across his waist forcing him to stop.
Harry looked up to see who was there.
"Malfoy," he said coldly almost subconsciously drawing his wand out of his back pocket.
"Nice to see you Potter." The blond spat the last word," Long time no see. Out on your own are we? Have the werewolf and the blood traitor finally decided that you're old enough?"
" Shut up Malfoy," snarled Harry, replaying all of Hermione's advice over the years. He would not give Malfoy the satisfaction of making him angry. " I bet you're here with your mummy, since daddy's to scared to come out in the open where all the big bad aurors are."
" Don't you dare talk about my family with your filthy mouth Potter," replied Malfoy through gritted teeth, before firing a stunner, which the raven-haired boy just managed to dodge.
As Harry returned to standing position he fired another 'stupefy' back at the blond who blocked it with simple shield charm. " Loosing your touch aren't we Potter?" sneered Draco.
"Shut up Malfoy; before I make you. Pity your master's not here to help you this time."
The Slytherin whistled softly. " I'm sooo scared Potter. Can't you see me trembling in my boots," said Malfoy his voice dripping with sarcasm as he cast a cutting hex in the other boy's direction.
Harry had no time to dodge. In that split second he was already occupied casting his own 'petrificus totalus' spell. Malfoy's spell hit the boy's side, and the blood quickly spread across the boy's T-shirt.
The only consolation was that Harry's spell had hit its target too. The blond Slytherin lay paralysed on the ground.
" See you soon," said Harry to the limp body, "Or perhaps not. Your master's not going to be very pleased with you when you just let me walk away."
Smiling slightly to himself Harry walked slowly away, one arm clutching his side, all the while thinking of what to tell Remus.
A the raven-haired teenager closed the front door behind him and walked into his house he found himself furiously hoping that Remus had left the kitchen and was in his room (Sirius would probably be at work already annoying Kingsley with his hangover). That would give him time to sneak up to his room, change T-shirts, then do something about the blood.
However no sooner had Harry put his foot on the first step a familiar voice called out, " Harry is that you? I need to talk to you for a minute. I'm in the kitchen."
The boy-who-lived cringed- Remus wasn't in his room. Slowly and unwillingly Harry crept into the kitchen, waiting for the axe to fall.
"How was fl…?" For a moment Remus just stared at Harry as he entered the kitchen with a half red half blue T-shirt. A T-shirt that Remus knew was fully blue at one point. It took a few seconds for the werewolf's brain to connect with the visual.
" What the hell happened to you?" asked Remus, concern evident in every syllable as he walked closer to his surrogate nephew.
"It's nothing. I just fell," replied Harry lamely.
" It's not possible to do that by just falling. I don't think even your father managed that. Let me have a look."
"No," said Harry, taking a step back "It's fine. It doesn't even hurt that much anymore," he lied blatantly.
"Then let me have a look," the werewolf pressed firmly, kneeling down so that he was in front of the wound. As Remus lifted his shirt, Harry just about managed to stifle a gasp of pain as the material made contact with the raw skin. He was not quick enough however for the werewolf's sharp hearing.
" I don't hurt eh. Go lie down on the sofa and let me sort that out."
Thinking that it would be pointless to disobey Harry went over to the couch whilst Remus went to the freezer to get out an ice pack.
"Harry," exclaimed Remus as he cleaned the various deep cuts on his surrogate nephew's side, "How the hell did you manage to fall and do this to yourself."
"Well I was flying and thinking at the same time so I didn't see that there was one extra tall tree in front of me and I kind of bashed into it and slid down the tree. The branches were pretty sharp."
Remus raised his eyebrows but much to Harry's relief didn't press the matter. "Whatever you say, as long as you didn't leave the clearing. Anyway now stop fidgeting so I can heal this mess."
He pointed his wand at Harry and muttered a quick spell. The teenager looked over his shoulder to find that the wound had completely disappeared leaving his skin back to normal with only a few light scars.
"I studied healing for a year after Hogwarts," replied the werewolf to Harry's surprised look with a slight smile.
"What? Really?" Remus was the sort of person who never failed to surprise you, even if you had known him for years. " Why didn't you become a healer then?" asked Harry as an after thought.
Remus' smile slid off his face. "People wouldn't want a werewolf healing their family and friends, would they?" he replied wryly.
"Why not?" the teenager burst out angrily, unable to control himself. " It's not like your going to transform in the middle of a ward."
"I know that and you know that," replied Remus sadly, " But not everybody thinks like us kiddo."
The werewolf reached out and ruffled the raven-haired boy's hair, much to its owner's annoyance.
"Now why don't you go up and change that shirt of yours."
As Harry raced up the stairs toward his room, he felt a small object pressing against his thigh.
"REMUS," yelled Harry leaning across the barrier, "Can I call Ginny round this evening?"
" Har, seriously what's up? You've been really quiet ever since I arrived. Are you sure you're okay?" Ginny Weasley arrived at the house about half an hour ago and Harry's nerves suddenly caught up with him.
" Gin I'm fine honestly," replied Harry hoarsely, desperately trying to wet his dry mouth. He probably wouldn't have been so nervous if it wasn't for all the stories he'd been told about his dad and Ron's proposals. At least he wasn't planning to charm singing ducks, or make breakfast in bed. 'And mum and Mione both said yes didn't they.' The teenager tried to reassure himself.
"No you are not fine!" snapped Ginny slightly impatiently. " Look if you're ill why don't we go get Remus." The redhead got up of Harry's bed and began pulling the door open.
"Gin wait," said Harry after her. He didn't think he could stand another first aid session from Remus, especially when he wasn't even ill. "I have something to tell you."
"Yeah?"
Harry waited until she sat back down on the sofa next to him. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest he was so sure she could hear it.
"Willyoumarryme?" blurted out the boy-who-lived suddenly.
"Pardon me Harry? I didn't catch that. Please could repeat that more slowly." Said Gin as softly and innocently as possible. However if Harry hadn't been so preoccupied in what he had to say he would have spotted the mischievous glint in her eyes, which blatantly said 'I heard exactly what you said but why don't I make you suffer.'
The raven-haired boy sighed then began again sounding more confident than the previous time. "Gin, you know I love you and I always will. I know that even though I don' t have the inner eye, as Trelawney often used to remind me in divination. That was before I gave it up of course." Harry stopped abruptly as a small voice in his head told him he was rambling. He looked to his right to see Ginny smiling steadily at him.
"Er yeah…erm" All of a sudden the boy-who-lived felt lost for words. As the colour rose to his cheeks Harry began wishing he'd planned out this whole malarkey better. Reluctantly Harry stopped fingering the velvet box in his pocket, the sweat from his hand was starting to wear away the material. 'Come on Harry, this can't be any worse than Voldemort' he tried to urge himself.
"Yeah…I know there'll be loads more hurdles still to come in our lives, particularly with the war going on and Voldemort and stuff. But I believe that we'll tackle these hurdles far better together than apart. So Gin…"
Harry slid of the bed and got down on to one knee, taking the black bow out of his jeans pocket and opening it.
"Will you marry me?" he said out loud whilst the inside of his brains whispered 'please don't say no. Please don't say no.'
" Of course!" replied Ginny grinning widely.
"Is that a yes?" whispered Harry half confused, half excited.
"Yes you nutter. It's a yes. Now give me the ring and kiss me."
Harry smiled lovingly at his fiancé and calmly slid the small silver band on to her finger. His insides however seemed to be dancing the conga. They were engaged. They were finally engendered. He did it!
The boy-who-lived leaned closer to Ginny and at that moment they kissed for the first time as fiancées.
" Crap," yelled Harry suddenly, breaking away from his new fiancée. " How the hell are we going to tell everybody? In mean your parents, Sirius, Remus, not to mention your brothers are going to flip!"
Ginny smiled slightly. "You know how you said we're going to have to overcome many hurdles," she said softly, "I think we've just come across the first one."
A/N: Now that you've read plz can you review! Please. Also if someone could please help me by telling me how to get page dividers up I will be really, really grateful. Whenever I put them in word, they disappear on FanFiction. I'd really appreciate some help. Thanks,
LilacBookstar
