The weight of Remus's silent, censorious regard settled over Harry like a particularly heavy, particularly wet cloak. The revelry of the wedding receded into the distance, making Harry more and more aware of the beat of his own heart shushing in his ears. Harry looked up into the spangled night, hoping an explanation that Remus would accept would come swooping down out of the darkness like an owl bringing a welcome bit of news. But the only thought that crowded Harry's mind — sliding down so far as to the tip of his tongue — was much too truthful.
We're time travelers! a part of Harry caroled. This bubbly, fizzing explanation tasted of the sparkling wine he had drunk.
"Um," he said instead.
"Um," Remus repeated flatly.
"We aren't brother and sister because we don't have the same parents," said Harry, relieved an explanation had finally come to him. He gestured toward Ginny. "We aren't doing anything wrong."
"Well, yes. Nonsiblings tend not to share the same parents."
Harry ignored the heavy sarcasm. "We just have the same godfather."
"He knew my mum and dad and Harry's mum and dad," said Ginny.
"But why did you let us believe for so long that you were?" Remus asked, folding his arms. There was a scarlet wound slashed across the top of his hand. "At any point, you could have said something."
"We weren't supposed to," said Ginny. "Our godfather — Sol — said it was best not to…"
"Attract attention to ourselves," said Harry.
"You've done little else since you got here," Remus muttered. "When James and Lily find out—"
"But you can't tell them!" Harry said, swaying a little. "You can't, Remus!"
Remus's eyebrows pinched inward. "And why not? You could claim it was all a misunderstanding or a joke or — or a prank. Whatever you wanted. Keeping that kind of secret is just silly." He frowned, adding: "Things make a lot more sense now."
But Harry was too busy gaping at him. "You of all people are telling me you think it's silly to keep secrets? You, Remus?"
"What are you — what d'you — what—"
"We know, Remus," snapped Harry. "We know your secret. And now you know ours."
"What is this?" Remus stepped back on his heels. "Blackmail?"
"No," said Harry, shoving his hand through his hair. "It isn't. We'd never tell your secret, Remus. It's just… sometimes people have secrets and it isn't—"
"Harmful," Ginny put in, when Harry faltered. "We swear it isn't. We're just… keeping things close to the chest. And we know you understand what that means."
"You two," said Remus, "don't turn into dangerous beasts. In fact, I don't know what your secret is. I just know that you have one, and it's made you lie to us for months. Over a year."
"How long did you keep your secret from your friends?" Harry asked. There was a particularly loud cheer from the party, and a firework soared into the air and lit up the sky. It cast strange shadows on Remus's face. "It's the same thing—"
"Again, you don't become a danger to yourself and to others," snapped Remus. "You aren't a werewolf."
"So that's the only legitimate secret?" Ginny asked, extremely sarcastic. "That's the only secret you know that's worth keeping? Because it's yours?" Her voice softened. "Our secret is every bit as dangerous."
"But to us," said Harry.
Remus wrinkled his entire face up, making his scars look even more prominent, even in the dark of the garden lit only by torches and fairy lights. "It's one of my best mate's wedding," he said, blowing out a breath. "And I want to get back to it. But I'd like to discuss this at another time." He hesitated. "I need to know if the danger just to you is spilling over onto my friends."
Harry looked at Ginny, who gave him a fleeting glance out of the corner of her eye.
"Weird things have been happening, you can't deny it — no one's been able to suss out why we were given the draught, for example. And — no." Remus cut his own self off, raising his hand, and taking a deep breath. "We'll talk later."
It verged on a threat.
"After," added Remus, "we get back to school."
"Fine," Harry snapped.
Remus stalked off without another word.
"We should go, too," murmured Ginny, tucking her hair behind her ear, and giving him a rueful little grin. "Even though…"
"Yeah," said Harry, casting the beautiful, pearly corner of the garden a reluctant look. It had been a pleasant — though clearly dangerous — interlude while it lasted.
Careful not to touch each other, they headed back to the noise and the celebration.
Harry grabbed two flutes of champagne, handed one to Ginny, and drank his in one swallow. The bubbles were muted somehow than they had been earlier in the evening, but the confrontation with Remus — who was slipping away with a chiding look — receded in importance. Peering at it, wondering why everything — even the scene in the garden — suddenly seemed so funny, Harry blinked at his suddenly empty glass. Beside him, Ginny suddenly started to giggle.
"What's funny?" Harry demanded, half-laughing.
She made a wide, expansive gesture. "Just… you!"
There was high color in her cheeks. Even though they were less fizzy than they'd been at the start of the evening, the bubbles were telling him it was a good idea to find another, more private area. Checking over both shoulders, making sure Remus wasn't watching them, that he'd rejoined the wedding party—
"Ginny!"
"What—"
"Look who's here!"
There, sitting at the very table they'd vacated earlier, wearing a hairy suit and oil-slicked hair, was Rubeus Hagrid. Without another thought, Harry charged toward him, Ginny on his heels. It was not very well done of him, Harry realized later, to positively land on Hagrid like that, not when Hagrid had no idea who he and Ginny were.
"We've just heard so much about you," said Ginny, beaming, and sweeping her arm to point at the wedding party, who were cutting it up on the dance floor.
"From James an' Lily?" Hagrid asked, bewilderment slipping from his face. "Ar, I've missed 'em, bein' with this 'uns brother." He jerked his head toward Theseus Scamander, who appeared twenty years younger when he grinned. "They're al'righ', invitin' me to their weddin' an' all." His big hands engulfed one of the forks and speared at a rock cake he must have ordered while Harry and Ginny had been exploring his grandparents' garden. When the dessert fork bent in two, Hagrid reached into the pocket of his dress robes and brought out another one.
Hiding a smile, he said, "You're late… what happened? Did you have another New Year's party to go to?"
To his surprise, Hagrid and Theseus exchanged a dark look.
"Nah," said Hagrid. "The other party's too much for my blood. Old Newt had a bit o' an emergency… coupla erumpents were matin', an' a third tried to join–"
"Hagrid!" said Theseus, shocked.
Hagrid shrugged his big shoulders while Harry and Ginny laughed. Old Bones had not responded to the brief hint of ribaldry, he was sitting very still – even his dandelion-like hair had stopped swaying – and his eyes looked over Harry's shoulder, to a spot that must have been very far away.
"What other party were you talking about, Hagrid?" Ginny asked, smiling at him, and toying with the stem of her wine glass.
Hagrid settled back in his chair, and stroked his beard. "Ar, I 'eard there's another party out at the Halls of Heritage." This he said in a very precise manner: The sounds he generally dropped while speaking in his rough way were perfectly placed. "It's too rich for my blood: All the purebloods will be there."
"Not all of them," Theseus said quietly.
Once again, Harry peered from one to the other. There was a sinister undercurrent flowing between them, one that only Old Bones seemed oblivious to. The purebloods were having a party to ring in the New Year? Of course, Voldemort would be there…
"Hagrid," said Ginny, cutting into the silence with a decisively bright tone, "what's it like working with Newt Scamander?"
"My famous brother," Theseus said with a groan reminiscent of a much younger man. "Do tell, Hagrid. You've been with him, what? A year and a half? No one's ever lasted that long before."
"I love it," Hagrid said, eating the last of his rock cake with one giant swallow. "Secon' fav'rite job after bein' a professor at Hogwarts–"
"Have you been a professor yet, Hagrid?" Harry asked, grinning.
"No, but I can imagine," said Hagrid, tapping his temple, beetle-black eyes twinkling. His eyes wandered to Old Bones. "Ye've been quiet, Old Bones," he said. "All right' over there?"
The professor pulled himself together, straightening up in his chair, and taking a determined sip of water. "I'm fine, thanks for asking, Hagrid," he said, though Harry detected a hint of annoyance in his tone. "I've just been thinking…"
"We've had bad news, Hagrid," said Theseus, suddenly very serious. "It was just a bit before you got here, but Dumbledore received word that Simon Burke was taken directly from his home–"
"Simon Burke?" Hagrid's mouth went wide with astonishment. The table jiggled, the contents of water goblets sloshing about, as he gripped the table. "But – but he was asleep, warn't he?"
"He woke up a couple months ago," Old Bones said quite heavily. "How that happened, no one knows. Just as no one knows how he came to sleep the sleep of the dead in the first place." There was a way in which he said it that made Harry sit up straight in his chair. Old Bones, Harry realized, does not like Hagrid. Harry's realization came no more than two seconds before the Divination professor, usually so funny and kind, stood up quite stiffly, made his apologies to the table without looking anyone in the eye, grabbed the flying carpet that was rolled up at his feet, and strode away.
"That was sudden," remarked Ginny.
A shroud of silence settled over the table. It was broken only when James and Lily, flushed and laughing and twined around each other so closely they must be held together with a sticking charm, came a minute later to thank them for coming to their wedding.
"Thanks for inviting us!" Harry said, with great enthusiasm.
"And Hagrid!" James roared, giving Hagrid a hug and slapping his back. "You finally made it."
"I wouldn' miss it," Hagrid said. "Well, I did miss it, but I didn' wan' to miss all of it."
"And we're glad you managed it," Lily said, with great affection.
It was not long before the bride and groom moved on again, each of them making Hagrid swear again and again that he would stay in touch. Harry beamed, watching them, their open affection for the half-giant warming him from the inside. It made him wonder, though, why Old Bones – who seemed to like everyone and was very popular – did not like Hagrid. And once James and Lily were fully out of earshot, greeting a table full of Gryffindor Quidditch players dressed in Hufflepuff robes, who cheered loudly at their arrival, Harry asked:
"What's his deal with you?" Harry jabbed his thumb in the direction in which Old Bones had vanished.
"Got in a spot of trouble at school," Hagrid said gruffly, smoothing his beard. "Old Bones was there in the thick of it…"
Harry exchanged a glance with Ginny. "Er… what kind of trouble?"
"The sort my brother got into as well," said Theseus, lips twisted up in a half-smile.
"It were 'is testimony tha' really put an end to — tha' got me–"
Hagrid's eyes were welling up with tears. Harry could imagine what this was about: When Hagrid had been in his third year of school, he'd been framed by Tom Riddle to take the blame for opening the Chamber of Secrets. It had not been him; rather, it had been Tom Riddle who had unleashed the basilisk on the school. Hagrid had only been guilty of hatching an enormous spider in an unused cupboard.
"What happened?" Ginny asked, with great sympathy.
"At firs' it were my word against another studen'," said Hagrid. "Ol' Dippet, he were inclined to listen… t'other studen' was mighty popular with the teachers, but Dumbledore kep' stickin' in his oar for me, fightin' a battle, but it were Old Bones who said he Saw what had happened." Hagrid shook his massive head. "I got blamed for – er – what I was gettin' blamed for. Snapped me wand in half."
"But–"
Harry nudged Ginny's leg with his own. They could not appear to be too sympathetic to Hagrid. No one knew that Hagrid was innocent of having opened the Chamber of Secrets.
"I don' hold it against 'im," said Hagrid.
Theseus made a sympathetic sound.
Harry and Ginny exchanged another silent look.
"Did you know Simon Burke?" Harry asked, for something to say.
Hagrid blinked twice. "Ar, I did. Nice kid, no' like a lot o' Slytherin. Even 'ad a couple Muggleborn friends… mos' times, tha' just didn' happen, no' with Grindelwald drippin' 'is poison. This was years before 'is defeat, see? But Simon weren't like the rest. Oh, 'e was still good with the pureblood lot, 'e had cousins upon cousins upon cousins, but he were all right. Terrible shame what happened to him." He chuckled darkly. "I was long gone by then, or they'da tried to pin it on me."
Harry sat back, troubled. Ginny was drumming her fingers on the table. The pleasant, fizzy feeling of having drunk several glasses of wine was long gone, buried now under thoughts of Tom Riddle's school years. It was a relief, when Hagrid abruptly changed the subject to some of the adventures he'd gone on in the last year and a half as he helped Newt Scamander study magical creatures from around the world. The discussion swirled around him, but Harry was quiet.
Seeking a return to how he had felt before sitting down beside Hagrid, before he and Ginny had been caught by Remus, Harry poured himself another glass of wine.
HPHPHPHPHPHPHP
Author's Note: So I WAS going to have an interlude in between this chapter and the last, but decided this belonged here. Hope you enjoy!