A/N: YEAH! ANOTHER UPDATE! APRIL 1rst UPDATE!
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Haha!
Where you happy really when you received an Update Alert for this story?
It's April 1rst, did you really think that it was a real update! It's an April Fools Day!
Sorry! You caught a fish and you ate its tail! Happy April Fools Day!
See you next time for the real update!
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Nah! Sirius-ly, did you think I am the kind of person to play such a bad joke?
Blaise might, Gred and Forges might, but not me!
Go down and see.
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See! This is a real update. But you still got trick if you really thought it was a real April Fools Day joke!
(On a second thought, maybe with this joke, Georges might accepted to hire me to work in his store!)
Now that aside, it's time for the mysterious 7th year person with Blaise. Enjoy.
Unbeta'd.
Fallen & Risen 37. Crookshanks Is Out of the Bag
Previously...
"Well well, isn't that interesting," a voice said behind them.
"Ah!" Hermione and Heley jumped and turned around. From behind the shelves, someone stepped out of the shadow. It was a tall guy. And a Slytherin. Heley paled when she recognized the 7th year half-Italian Slytherin.
"B-B-Blaise…" Heley stuttered. Blaise flashed his super white teeth to the girl.
"Hello Hermione, hello Heley..." Blaise greeted them with his happy smile, too happy to be healthy for the Gryffindor black hair girl. Heley gulped, her face took a unhealthy color shade.
"Y-Y-You heard us...?" Hermione asked for Heley, who was incapable to speak word.
"Hum, I didn't..." Blaise started, making hope raising high for Heley and Hermione "...miss a single word of your conversation!" Blaise finished very happily, bringing the girls' hope crushed badly down to six feet underground, particularly for Heley.
"B-Blaise..." Heley stuttered pleadingly, but the mischievous glint in Blaise's eye kept dancing even more brightly.
"He is not the only here who heard you, Hermione, Heley," another said. Behind Blaise stepped out of the shadow another 7th year boy. "Or should I say Harry Potter?"
Seeing the 7th year boy standing next to Blaise, Heley just wish that she would faint, right now on the spot, so she wouldn't have to confront him. Hermione spoke at her place.
"Neville! What are you two doing here?"
"Research for our Potions, but we discovered something wayyyyyy more interesting than Potions, right Neville?" Blaise said, his eyes twinkling with mischief as he looked at Heley.
"Gulp…" Heley became whiter than a ghost.
"Blaise, stop scaring her," Neville reprimanded.
"But admit it. That's some awesome discovery!" Blaise insisted. Neville rolled his eyes, ignoring Blaise. Then, he addressed to Heley.
"So I was right for suspecting that you were Harry all the long, Heley," Neville said.
"HEEEEEH?" All the occupants of room gasped.
They were in the Room of Requirement, waiting for Neville to speak. They needed to talk, but they also needed to do it away from indiscret ears. That was how they came in that Room of Requirement, which was restored by the Hogwarts' magic after the war. They were now gathered in front of a roaring fire, sitting in individual comfortable arm chairs. Heley had claimed the chair the nearest of the fire. She needed the fire. Knowing that Hermione had found out her secret had frozen her heart. But knowing that even Neville knew it had her whole body completely frozen. She had always be careful to protect her old identity, how could it be possible for anyone to notice the true? That Hermione did it just prove to her that she always obviously fail. But that even Neville, that she had fail very miserably.
Hermione took out her wand and conjured a set of hot tea and biscuits for everyone. She gave to everyone a cup of tea. But for Heley, Hermione made her a cocoa drink with a lotsss of (healing) chocolate. She also added in a little bit of Calming Draught to help Heley's (very tense) nerves. The fire didn't look like it would make Heley feel good anytime soon, which way Hermione decided to take a faster way. Heley wasn't even aware of Hermione's presence when her friend gave her the cup of cocoa. Hermione brought the cup to the distressed girl's lips.
"Drink, Heley," Hermione softly ordered, placing the cup against Heley's (froze)n lips. Heley mechanically accepted to let the warm liquid slip pass her lips. Soon, she felt her tensions dropped. Heley was grateful of the calming effect of the chocolate on her nerves. Thanks to the chocolate drink, she was able to calm down a little bit and started to speak.
"H-How long did you knew that H-Harry and I are one person?" Heley asked, slightly stuttering.
"Actually, I only came with the suspicion recently," Neville said.
"What made you first suspicious about her?" Hermione asked, worriedly looking at Heley. The girl looked like she wanted to disappear under the cushion of her arm chair.
"There was one time that you weren't careful about what you were talking, Heley. You let split out a secret shared only between Harry and I. That was how I first became suspicious about you," Neville answered.
Flashback
They were studying in Gryffindor common room. Seamus was mumbling between his teeth about 'Stupid potions' or something like that. Seamus had blew up another cauldron and his potion partner had sentenced him five scrolls of what he should and shouldn't have done. Normally, Seamus would just ignored her, but he couldn't ignore the promise that she would turned him into potion ingredients the next time he destroy their potion again. That was why Seamus was begging his friends to save his arses from Victoria's threat.
"Help me! You have to save me! I don't want to become potion ingredients! Please save meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Seamus cried.
"Then stop watching my potion partner Milly and watch your own potion instead!" Dean retorted exasperatedly as he tried to peel off his friend from his being.
"Deeeeean, you are so meeeean! Woeeeeeeeeee!" Seamus wailed, making everybody covering their ears.
"Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggh!" Everyone in the room felt their brain on the verge of cracking.
"SOMEONE DO SOMETHING TO STOP HIM NOW PLEAAAAASE! I CANNOT STAND IT ANYMOOOORE!" someone yelled over Seamus' wail.
"WOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Seamus just wailed even louder. Hermione decided to interrupt Seamus.
"Okay! Okay! We'll help you! We'll help you! But stop wailing PLEAAAAAAASE!" Hermione urged. Seamus instantly stop wailing and grinned.
"Ah! Thank you! You are really wonderful friends!" he said.
"Ah..." Everyone in the room removed their hands from their ears, sighing heavily. Hermione rolled her eyes. If she didn't say that, all of them likely end up deaf because of him.
"Don't worry, Seamus. I'll help you for the essay. Since I have a lot of experiences with failed potions, I know what to do and not to have a good potion now," Neville said. Seamus jumped threw his arms around Neville's neck.
"THANK YOUUUUUUUUU! You're the best Neville! You are my saaaaaaavior!" Seamus cried in tears, chocking Neville. Meanwhile, Neville was turning into an unhealthy blue dead-like boy.
"Er, Seam, just a suggestion like that. It might be a good idea if you let your savior alive if you want him to save your arses," Ron said, very worried for Neville's health.
"Eh? What do you mean?" Seamus asked, not releasing Neville from his (overly enthusiastic) hug.
"Just look at Neville and you will understand," Dean said, sighing. Seamus did as he was told to see Neville with a very interesting face color. Neville was adopting alternatively every shade of sick-color face which could have exist in the world, including white, blue, purple, green and more. The poor herbology genius flunked his arms in the air to call for rescue.
"A-air... I-I n-need a-air..." Neville begged. Seamus immediately let go of Neville.
"Oh! Neville! I'm sorry!" Seamus apologized. Neville wasn't listen to his apologizes. He had something more important to do, as desperately refilling his lunges with that wonderful thing God had created called 'oxygen'.
"It's okay. It's okay," Neville said, too happy to be still alive. "Now, let's start."
And thanks to Neville's help, Victoria was satisfied with Seamus' scrolls and their potion didn't blow up in the next class.
The next day, in the Great Hall
"Neville really saves my live," Seamus over joyfully shouted for everyone in the Hall to heard as he plopped down next to Dean.
"Did you properly thank him?" Dean asked.
"Yeah. I did," Seamus responded. "But I wondered, how did he become so good in potion when he always fail them in the past?"
"When Neville makes a potion, he is thinking about making a tonic for his plants. Neville loves his plants and would always do the everything for them to be healthy. That way, he cannot fail his potions anymore," Heley automatically answered. She did it without paying too much attention of what she was saying because she was busy with cutting her sausage.
"Oh! I see. That's a good trick," Seamus said.
Neville, who was at the Hall door step, froze on the spot when he heard Heley.
'H-How did she know about that?' Neville wondered.
That trick was taught to him by only one person, the Boy-Who-Wasn't-There-Anymore, Harry Potter. Neville never told anyone about that because it was his memento of Harry. And it was not like Harry to brawl about what he did around him. Then how come Heley Potter knew about it?
'Unless Heley is...'
End flashback
"Unless Heley is Harry, that's it," Neville said, looking straight to Heley, who was sitting in front of him. Heley chewed her lips. Neville continued.
"After that day, I often observed you. Your behavior, gestures, your ways to do things, everything were exactly like Harry. I recalled when I told you how your flying style look a lot like Harry's during the party after Gryffindor-Slytherin match. For a second, your face froze in panic. I was curious, but I didn't pay too much attention about it because I thought I was imagining thing. Maybe I should have trust my instincts more back then. But then again, I recalled clearly that you never never specifically say you were Harry's cousin. You only said that you share the same family blood with Harry. For anyone who heard that, we would think that you are relatives, which is true because both of you are Potters. It was Dean who assumed that Harry and you were cousin. Everyone just accepted Dean's hypothesis about why Harry and you are physically so alike and you never correct us. However, no one would actually think that Harry and you share the Potter blood means sharing exactly the same blood in the same body, as two people in one person. In a way, you never lie to us, but you also never correct our misunderstanding since it was so convenient to you. In a certain way, that's lying, Heley."
Heley lowed her head, her cheeks burning in shame.
"I'm sorry..." Heley mumbled, chewing her lips. Seeing her repenting face, Neville softened.
"But I can understand why you had to do it," Neville continued. "I would do the same thing if I was you, so I forgive you for lying."
Heley looked up, but with a smile this time.
"Thank you," she said. Neville nodded to her.
"On the other hand, Hermione, I'm surprised that you discover her secret before. You are usually smarter than that," Blaise said cheekily. Hermione glared furiously at him, offended by the little insult underneath.
"Humph!" Hermione retorted, offended. Heley meekly smiled.
"Actually, that's because I got help to keep the secret save from Hermione, from an unlike ally," Heley said. Next, she extended her hand in the direction of the ginger cat in Hermione's lap. Crookshanks licked Heley's fingers, then moved from his mistress' lap to Heley's one, settling down on the girl's lap. Heley stroke his back, making the cat purr contently.
"Prrr..."
"Crookshanks protected my secret from Hermione," Heley said, keeping petting the cat. "If it wasn't him, Hermione would have discover my secret long ago."
Flashback
Crooshanks strolled to Heley with a roll in its mouth. Heley recognized it. It was her essay, which she left for Hermione to proof read it. Hermione must have already did it, which was why Crookshanks was bringing it back to her. Crookshanks sat on his back legs with the scroll in its mouth, waiting for Heley to take it.
"Thank you, Crookshanks" Heley said, taking the essay from the half-Kneazel mouth. She scanned over her essay, surprised to see that no correction was done yet. "Heh?" Why would Hermione have the scroll returning back to Heley without checking it? Then, reaching the last lines, Heley jumped in horror and her face drained off color. "Oh Merlin!" It was a good thing that Hermione didn't see her scroll yet. If she did, Heley's secret would no longer be a secret. The bottom lines of the scroll weren't written with Heley's right handwriting, but with Harry Potter's left handwriting.
Then, she remembered. That night, she was tired from working too long over her essay and she must have inadvertently switched to her right hand with the left without realizing what she was doing. Crookshanks saw the left-handed lines and stole Heley's essay before Hermione could read it to bring it back to Heley. Her hands trembling, menacing to drop the scroll, Heley knelled in front of the orange cat.
"Cr-Crookshanks, y-you… you know…" Heley stuttered, her orbs trembling.
"Meow," Crookshanks answered.
Crookshanks had always knew her secret. Heley realized that she shouldn't have been surprised. During her third year, Crookshanks knew Ron's old rat Scabbers wasn't a normal rat. And the cat had also recognized Sirius Black under his Animagus form then first time they met. Thus, it shouldn't be surprising that the Kneazel-cat's insight recognize Harry Potter under Heley's face. Like how he did it for Sirius, Croockshanks also protected her secret. Heley looked into Crookshanks' yellow eyes, stretching her hand to its head.
"T-Thank you…" Heley muttered. Croockshanks had saved her secret.
"Prrrrr," Crookshanks purred, butting his head against her hand to beg for more pets.
Heley stood up and sat on at her desk. She rewrote her essay. Crookshanks jumped on the desk and sat on the corner, waiting patiently for her to finish. This time, Heley was careful not to make the same mistake again. Once done, she gave it back to Crookshanks. The cat took the scroll and brought it back to Hermione before his mistress noticed the absence of Heley's essay on her desk.
End flashback
"Thanks to Crookshanks, you never discover my secret before. He is really a smart cat," Heley said, petting the purring half-Kneazel in her lap.
Next, Heley told them how come she was a boy when they met her and about the magical marks which was under Harry's arm. It was an ancient Chinese magic Dumbledore had learn when he was young and traveling around the world. It was a spell of wardenship, usually performed on children who weren't your blood relatives. A red mark appeared somewhere on the body of the ward, indicating the existence of a living guardian other than the biological parents.
"I know about the red mark under Harry's arm. I saw it once or twice. But because I didn't see it under your arm, that was one of the reasons why I first discarded my suspicion about you being Harry," Neville explained.
"The red mark under my arm is the lock of my true identity. When Professor Dumbledore di-...When Professor Dumblundore left, it had started to fade. The charm casted upon me was lift up and I turn back into a girl," Heley said.
"I remember reading something about that Chinese magic," Blaise said. "The Chinese magic is considered as a dark art by the Britain magic standards because it is a double-edge magic. In the law of Asian magic, the balance between Yin and Yang must always be kept. Thus, the balance between Life and Death is very sacred. You cannot create a new life without taking away another life. Like when a someone is born, another life died at another place in order to keep the balance. Dumbledore most probably caste on you a guardianship magic. For that kind of magic, a sacrifice is needed. In exchange of protecting a life, the spell caster must give up his own one. After putting the charm you Heley, Dumbledore would likely lost one year of his life circle every time you struck a birthday."
"What?" Heley exclaimed, her face white. "How come?"
"Like I said, it's the Law between the Yin and the Yang, between Life and Dead," Blaise said. Heley bit her lips.
"Basically, does it mean that Professor Dumbledore had gave up fifteen year of his live in exchange of fifteen year of protecting Harry?" Hermione again.
"Exactly," Blaise nodded.
"I... I didn't know about that... If I did, I would have stop him," Heley said, her lips trembling.
"Heley, I think that's the reason why Professor Dumbledore hide the truth from you," Neville said.
"Professor Dumbledore did not only gave up his remaining living years, but also his power. The price to pay for protecting another life in Chinese magic is very high, higher than it is worth to pay. I had always thought that his magic became weaker over the years because he was taking age, but not once did I suspect that he was willingly giving up his magic to protect someone else. The wardenship charm would wear off the moment its caster de-... passed away," Blaise finished.
They shared an instant of silence, in memory of their first Headmaster. They felt like respecting him more than they never did before. Hermione was the first to speak.
"I'm wondering about something. Blaise said that the charm wear off the moment its caster passed away. But even after that Professor Dumbledore passed away, you were still 'Harry'. How could it be possible, Heley?"
"Well, theoretically, in that kind of magic, the moment the spell caster died, the charm would take off immediately. But this is Professor Dumbledore we are talking about. Probably he had find a way to store his magic inside the spell so it could continue to sustain a certain amount of time after his death. Though I'm also curious how he did it." Blaise said.
"Exactly how he did it, I don't know. I just know that after Professor Dumbledore's dead, I was supposed to be able to keep my disguise for twelve more months. His portrait in Professor McGonagall's office told me so. But because of the Horcrux items I carried on me, the magic store in the spell worn off faster, as well as my disguise," Heley said.
After being turning back into a girl, Heley had to learn the way of living of a girl (and all the complications that comes with it). Thankfully, Mme Margaret, Prime Minister Shaklebolt's wife, had been a wonderful mentor for her. She was a thoughtful and patient mentor, not hesitating to take time to explain to Heley all the troublesome that comes with being a member of the feminine sex. She also tutored Heley how to be a lady by the wizard world standards, including the pure blood etiquette standards. Heley first said that she would probably not needed to learn about upper social etiquette, considering her being a half-blood, but Mme Margaret had convinced her otherwise. Knowing etiquette rules is always useful because one never what he/she might encounter in the future. After the episode at the Malfoy New Year, Heley was happy to have listened to Mme Margaret (otherwise she would not survive that night). With Mme Margaret's tutoring, Heley's transition from being a boy into girl went quite smoothly. White Mme Margaret's tutoring, Heley Potter was ready to return back to Hogwarts as a girl without any hint of being a boy in her past.
"And here I thought that behaving as a girl following the feminine standards would help me hide all the hints about being a boy," Heley finished.
"It is true not once did I suspected you to be a boy in your past life, Heley." Hermione said. "There was nothing about your behaviors, social behaviors, as a girl that had betrayed you. But you couldn't hide tics behaviors which were unique to Harry. Harry was rarely talk about what trouble him - actually, he would never if Ron or me don't corned him to (Heley grimaced, knowing exactly what Hermione meant) -, that whats why we learn to read his emotions from his tics behaviors. It was your tics that betrayed you Heley, your tics and Prongs, your stag Patronus."
Heley sighed, playing with the handle of her cocoa cup.
"And to think that I worked out another Patronus so people wouldn't make the connection between Harry and me," Heley said.
"You have a new Patronus? Is that even possible?" Blaise asked, impressed. "I thought that people can have only one form of Patronus, if they ever manage to convert one, that's it, not to mention such a big one."
"It is possible with a lot of will," Neville said. "Tonk's Patronus was originally a hare. But when she realized her feelings for Remus, her Patronus turned into a wolf," Neville said. "Harry had more will than anyone. And I guess, the desire to hide Harry's old Patronus and identity was a strong one too, right Heley?"
"..." Heley bite her lips, but nodded nonetheless.
"I'm sorry I have to trick you like that," Hermione said apologetically. Heley shook her head.
"No no, I'm the one at fault," Heley said. "I should have tell you all the true long ago. I'm sorry Hermione."
Hermione tight her arms around Heley's shoulders, accepting the apologize. Hermione wasn't that forgivable for being trick by her best friend, but she was too happy that The-Friend-Who-Was-Thought-Dead was now back to back to held grudge against Heley. Next, they asked Heley to relate them everything she had lived from the moment she left them after the war. As a form of apologize for lying to them, Heley complied. But while they listened to her, Blaise had his own thinking. Watching the black hair Gryffindor girl talking, her green eyes shining again with joy because her friends had forgave her, Blaise was struck at the sudden transformation in Heley. Heley rarely smiled. But when she does, she is very pretty, even mesmerizing to watch.
'How Draco would react if he saw her smiling like this. How would he react... if he knew that she was Harry Potter... considering his feelings for her?'
A/N: You remember the inquiry in the last chapter, about who was the mysterious 7th year with Blaise? Well, Draco turned out to be the most popular. But why Draco? That is just too dreadful for Heley! For those who wanted it be Draco, you guys are too masochist! Inflicting such a traumatizing thing to my heroine, that's not nice at all toward the poor girl! But considering that he is so popular, I will dedicate a whole chapter just for him for the next chapter. Next time it's Draco confronting his feeling for Heley.
Updated on Sunday, April 1, 2012 (se-... er, sirius-ly, not a fool fish trick!). But still Happy April Fools Day. And you still got caught if you really did believe that this was an update joke!
Unbeta'd.