Grief, Deceptions, and Hope for Freedom

Part 15: A Long Overdue Meeting.

Harry spent most of the day with Ron and Hermione. After lunch, he had been sent on a library run, and ran into Sir Nicholas and was startled that the ghost bounced off him. Before Harry could say anything, the ghost left with a wink and a wave. Hermione was now searching for the wards that Harry had been trying to figure out himself. Her mutterings were in the same vein as Harry's thoughts, protection that was portable. His packages from Dazzlers and McGoens had come, as well as a letter from Remus. None of the other four lawyers had gotten back to him. Even with the mail wards, Harry thought that was odd. Harry just added his mail to his bag, which he had done a bottomless charm on that morning.

Hermione had discovered that in the Personal Pitch section of Quality Quidditch Supplies' catalog there were many muggle repelling stakes that you could place around the edges of the area. She'd found enough warding related merchandise to end up outspending Harry and Ron. Of course, she'd tried to edit the list, but Harry snatched it away and finished the order. They didn't have the time to be thrifty.

Harry was still holding his cards close to his chest with his friends. Though the castle was to aid him, it was also to hide the aid – meaning everything he said to his friends was likely being monitored. And if Dumbledore dropped the mail wards, and started mass producing Patronus Pals (likely in the shape of lemon drops) maybe some good could come of it. But now Harry was keeping to portrait-free corridors, hoping to meet a professor he should have visited long ago.

oOo

The area of the castle near Ravenclaw Tower was more sparsely decorated than Gryffindor. There were no portraits, instead huge tapestries spaced along the corridors. Spotting a bust of Einstein in front of a tapestry of nebulas, Harry smiled. Perhaps it would have been better to be a Ravenclaw.

Approaching the Professor's office Harry stopped and took a deep breath, then knocked. The door opened, and Harry went inside. The office made Harry feel like a giant, for this room was obviously made with Professor Flitwick's stature in mind. Harry found himself wondering for the first time, why a professor teaching at this school for over twenty years had to stand on a stack of books in his own classroom. There were no portraits only tapestries on the exterior wall in between windows. On the right side was a seating area next to a floor to twelve foot ceiling wall of bookcases. The dark wood was same of that on Flitwick's desk, which was on a platform, making it so the smaller desk was still at an imposing height to the student who might sit in the facing chair. It was a simple yet elegant room that fit a master duelist and professor, unlike a shaky pile of books. The professor was bent over papers that he was marking with a red quill.

"Hello, sir."

Flitwick looked up and smiled. "Hello, young Harry." Flitwick blotted the quill he had been using, and put it in his desk drawer. "I've been hoping you would seek me out soon." He motioned to the chair, "Take a seat."

Harry sat, "Thank you, sir. May I ask, why you were hoping I would come here?"

"Why if nothing else to share stories of my favorite young Ravenclaw and apprentice to an appreciative audience," Flitwick beamed, and leaned back in his chair.

"Who, sir? My mother was a Gryffindor."

The professor shook his head, "Not for her first five years. Your mother was sorted into and loved all things Ravenclaw. It was only at the start of her sixth year that the resorting took place."

"You see, much like this year, the Hat made a dire warning for the outcome of the war if the Houses remained divided. While the most of the professors were discussing how to unite the houses – I thought circular tables for only 8 students would be ideal, allowing mingling at meals – the Headmaster announced, to the shock of all, that the best way to do this would be to resort."

Flitwick steepled his hands, "He then ordered all prefects of all houses to get into line, and before the first years were sorted the prefects were resorted. It was going spectacularly boring for no Gryffindors or Slytherins changed houses – though the hat did pause for quite some time on Remus Lupin and Severus Snape - until my Ravenclaws began to be sorted. Each and every one of my prefects were sorted into other houses. Hufflepuff lost only their female prefects.

He continued, "This of course caused chaos in the hall. Slytherins and Gryffindors threw hexes at each other. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were left without trained tour guides for their first years. And the poor girls who were resorted into Slytherin were in tears. Their reactions and the chaos had the first years, still to be sorted also in tears. If we hadn't blocking outgoing post for a week, most probably would have been home on the next train."

Flitwick nodded to himself, " And doubtlessly, Hogwarts would have been besieged by parents. As it was, when order was restored and the students were tucked away in their new houses; no one had noticed that mostly the muggle-raised students were the ones changed."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Odd, eh. The next day the Headmaster choose to strip students of their prefect status and replaced them with the new members of each house. Sometimes I think losing his prefect badge was really what drew Severus to the dark arts..."

Suddenly Flitwick clapped his hands. "But enough of that!" He rose and went to the tapestry of a smithy which was closest to the bookcase wall. With a motion of his hand, the tapestry pivoted out into the room, hinged at the left corner. Three portraits were revealed: one of Flitwick himself that didn't appear to move, the second one of two people who appeared to be Flitwick's parents, and the third... Lily and James Potter, holding a baby Harry between them.

In the portrait, unlike the one of Flitwick's parents, his parents' movements seemed constrained. For a moment, Harry didn't understand, until he noticed that Portrait Baby Harry like Flitwick was frozen, and thus the parts of his parents touching him were still too. Before Harry could ask the portrait a question, the professor made a "c" with his left hand, and the portraits moved from a line to a staggered sort of "C" shape. Flitwick then tapped the Potter portrait twice, his own once, his parents twice, and then finally the Potters' portrait once more. There was a popping noise, after which the professor removed the Potter portrait from the wall, revealing a small cubby hole in the wall.

Harry had risen and crossed the room, to stand only a few paces behind the professor, taking in the portrait with happy eyes. His mother and father were smiling at him. Flitwick went through the contents of the cubby, eventually removing two small cubes, and what could have been a muggle postage stamp. The professor set them on a table between two leather reading chairs, then with a quick flourish of his wand, the objects were resized. Flitwick then placed the resized portrait of Rowena Ravenclaw over the cubby hole.

The professor then motioned for Harry to take a seat, and sat in the other reading chair himself. "Your mother, Harry, was my last apprentice. She became my apprentice the year of the resort. As her father had just died that summer, with the added stress of adjusting to Gryffindor, I couldn't refuse her. And that is the start of why I was entrusted with some things for you."

Harry nodded, still staring at the portrait. "Hello."

His parents in the portrait beamed at Harry, "At last! Did Dumbledore finally give you your letter?"

Harry blinked at Lilly's words, "What letter?"

"Filius, I told you Sirius going to Azkaban was no mistake," James said.

"And I never disagreed with you."

Harry interrupted, "Professor, why did you think I came?"

Flitwick smiled, "I have no idea, Harry, but I wasn't going to squander the only chance I've had to speak with you without spies."

Harry looked around and confirmed that there were no gargoyles in the corners of the room.

"And I see you've learned the Headmaster's secret."

Harry didn't respond, inwardly kicking himself for being so obvious. "So why are you not in the Order, and why were my parents?"

Lily's portrait answered, "James was in the Order because his father had fought beside Dumbledore against Grindelwald."

Flitwick made a sound, that had the man been younger, Harry would have labeled a snort. "I still doubt that. It was far too convenient that the Headmaster waited until Henry was gone before he gave his recounting of the final battle."

"My father wouldn't have had access to the Founder's works. There is no dispute that the final spell was written by Ravenclaw and Gryffindor together."

Harry interrupted, "It wouldn't have happened to be in Heirs of Hogwarts would it?"

Lily was the first to respond, "How did you know?"

Harry shook his head. "No. This is a bit too wonderful. A portrait of my parents, something I've been longing for since first year. And the timing far too convenient." Harry pinched himself.

It hurt, and Harry had no headache. "Professor, may I see your arms?"

After the professor complied, Harry said "Revealo" and then again in parseltounge. The professor's arms stayed bare.

"Harry... You speak parsel?" James' voice held the hint of fear Harry knew all too well from his second year.

Lily hit her husband, well as much as she could manage with frozen baby Harry between them. "Idiot. Honey, I'm a parselmouth, too."

Harry looked to Flitwick, "Professor? Did you know?"

Flitwick shook his head.

Harry turned towards the professor, "Why didn't you try to contact me before?"

"I had an agreement with the Headmaster, after many disagreements, that I would wait for you to approach me about your mother before I told you about her. He was to give you the letter from your mother your first year. I thought he had. I thought it might be hard to hear about them, or you were afraid of living in their shadows..."

Harry shook his head, "It's easier to do nothing than to double check. This whole wizarding world is so backward!"

James chimed in, "Now you sound exactly like your mother."

Harry retorted, "I'm alternately lauded and reviled in the press. I am persecuted for pranks you performed on Snape as well as being more popular than the minister. The Durselys are neglectful and abusive, and Dumbledore has the world thinking they are excellent guardians. Sirius fell through the Veil. Voldemort sends me visions and crucios from afar; yet I'm not being taught how to fight, but how to turn turtles into teapots!"

Harry heaved in a breath, "Tell me how any of that makes sense!"

"But in our will, all those clauses..." Lily stammered.

"Are being totally ignored by Dumbledore. And the way the contract he signed is written, he could escape all the consequences." Harry ran his hands through his hair. "Didn't Professor Flitwick tell you I was with the Durselys, that every year I've come here I've nearly been killed?"

"Harry, I'm sorry. This portrait... there are reasons why most paintings in the castle only have a single person. When parts of the painting are active without others, it strains the magic. The only reason this portrait still functions is that I've had it under a stasis spell. I only activated it a couple times a year, to make sure you were still alive, and more recently to tell your parents some of your accomplishments."

"Why did you have a portrait, sir?"

"Your mother didn't trust that help would come fast enough, if they were under attack. She commissioned the portrait as a stopgap. When your father's portrait awoke, I notified the aurors and headed to the Hollow, but I was too late. Sirius was leaving as I arrived, and Hagrid was about to take off on a motorcycle to take you to Dumbledore. The house was still in flames... You were crying, your forehead was bleeding. I told Hagrid to take to directly to Poppy, and went into the house..."

Flitwick shook himself. "I put the house to rights, grabbed the rosewood trunk put your parents' wands in it, sealed the house, and brought their bodies to Hogwarts for burial."

"They are buried here?"

"In the founder's crypt. In the chaos that ensued, no one asked for weeks."

"So what letter was Dumbledore supposed to give me?"

"It was a letter of advice, and pointed you to people who knew us, if you had questions."

"Oh."

"I can ask the Headmaster again, Harry, if you want it." Professor Flitwick murmured.

Harry shook his head, "He'd probably destroy it. If he hasn't already. He told me that he had told me everything, the other day, but it was just another lie."

James spoke, "Your mother wanted to make sure our personal things were saved and given to you, if anything happened. She had a vision of people stealing things and claiming them as souvenirs."

Lilly laughed, "Of course, at the time your father thought I'd just fallen asleep during the wrong spot of a Christmas Carol. But I believed it to be a true Vision, so I asked Filius to take care of things if something happened to us."

Harry asked, "So Godric's Hollow is just waiting for me?"

Flitwick nodded, "The house has sat empty for over fourteen years now. It will need some cleaning and updating to be comfortable."

Harry turned to his parents' portraits, "I don't want to risk you by keeping you out too long... Is there another portrait of you? Is there anything you need to tell me?"

Lily spoke up, "We have four more portraits. Two with us as a couple, they had been our parents', one is in the Hollow, the other in the family vault. The other two, individual portraits are in my Evans vault. The one in the Hollow, we updated daily, so it could tell you anything you need. I hope what is in the boxes can help you as you turn sixteen. Go home, Harry. Let Filius be your secret-keeper. We love you."

"The Veil isn't death, Harry. On Samhain, you might be able to retrieve him, but you'll need to get to my books. Check my diary, and you can find out how to get to the Department of Mysteries."

Harry stared in shock at his father, "He was hit by a red beam. Would he be hurt, will he be hungry?"

James answered, "I can't know. Check his vault, check mine, he was having a portrait made... Ask our portrait in the Hollow, if you can't find it, I think he used the same painter we did. We love you. Keep safe."

Harry nodded, "I'll do my best."

Flitwick restored the stasis spell. "When you are sixteen, you can take control of your finances. It's an old law, rarely used, but never revoked, it was thought a heir would need the guidance of their guardian as they assumed control of his monies."

Then Flitwick's wall clock began to chime, and its hand was pointing to "Suspiciously Late to Dinner!" Flitwick jumped at the sound and in a hurry: reopened the cubby, shrunk the portrait of Ravenclaw, replaced the Potters on the wall, and put the tapestry back in place. The professor then reshrunk the boxes and handed them to Harry. He then started walking to the door, and Harry followed, "Come back tomorrow afternoon; we'll talk more then. Wait before you go to dinner." Flitwick pulled a card out of his pocket, "This pass should get you in the Restricted Section. Get some books on the Fidelius Charm."

It wasn't until Harry was nearly to the library, that he froze. Did Flitwick know Harry had gone to his office just for the Fidelius Charm?

Thank youfor your reviews. Slowly beginning to increase the length of thechapters, :D