Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.
A/N: Thanks to Eminnis who beta this story.
Chapter Four
The Seven Potters
"The Seven Potters," Dumbledore said. "Curious title."
"What do you think it means?" Remus raised an eyebrow; he was pretty sure there was only one Potter left in the magical world.
"I have a few theories," Dumbledore said, but didn't answer farther.
Mentions it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost:
"So, you do like your house?" Sirius said.
"The house itself isn't so bad," Harry admitted, he had an odd smile as he was remembering the times that the book had just mentioned.
Harry says last summer, Dumbledore walked through the front door:
"Really?" Harry said. "Why would you do that Sir?"
Dumbledore was frowning at this, not sure what to say, and it was then that Harry was reminded just how angry he was at his headmaster at the moment. The appearance of the book and the fact that Dumbledore was treating him normally again had wiped it from his memory for a little while, but it has returned now.
As if reading his mind Dumbledore said, with a deep sigh, "I don't know Harry, but it seems that my attempt to put some distance between us must not have worked out."
"And why have you been trying to put some distance between us?" Harry asked a little hotly.
Dumbledore looked Harry in the eyes then and noticed with relief that there weren't any of the signs he had seen the last time he had looked into the boy's eyes. "I was afraid of what Voldemort might do when he found out that your minds were connected. In fact, I was planning on having Severus teach you Oclumency so that you could stop Voldemort's thoughts from affecting you …."
"You mean so I wouldn't have any more visions?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow and then he couldn't help but look at Arthur. Most of the people in the room were looking at Arthur, too, now, though Charlie, Fleur and Draco were looking at Harry completely lost. Harry had to admit that would be good, he never wanted to be in Voldemort's mind again, and yet … "but wasn't it a good thing … I mean … Mr. Weasley …."
"Yes, it was a good thing that you were able to help Arthur," Dumbledore said, "but at last, you have gone so deeply into Voldemort's conscience that he is now aware of the connection between you two. I even thought I saw a bit of this coming through when I looked at you before sending you to Grimmauld Place."
Harry swallowed hard, he didn't like the sound of that one bit, and he knew exactly what Dumbledore was talking about. "So why are you answering all my questions now?" he said, not wanting to think of this connection anymore.
"I don't believe Voldemort can reach you in this place," Dumbledore said. "And it seems that you will know what is being kept from you now."
"And what is that, Sir?" Harry said, trying to keep the hostility out of his voice with difficulty.
Dumbledore looked at him gravely, like he didn't want to say what he was about to say but forced himself to, anyways. For he now knew there was no point of keeping this from the boy any longer, the book was going to tell a more dangerous story for them to know and there was nothing he could do about that now. Besides, Harry needed to know the truth, no matter how dark it was.
"There was a prophecy made before you were even born about someone having the power to defeat the Dark Lord," Dumbledore said, he was intending to give Harry the full prophecy whenever it was that he was going to tell the boy this, but it didn't seem right to say it in front of a group of people, so he settled for saying what he knew that Voldemort had already known. "That the child would be born as the seven month dies, from parents that had thrice escape from the Dark Lord."
"Me?" Harry said as several people gasped in the background.
"It didn't have to mean you, Harry, there was another boy that the prophecy could have been talking about," Dumbledore said gravely, "Neville Longbottom."
There was more gasping at this.
"Then maybe I'm not …." Harry started to say.
"Unfortunately, there is no doubt that you are the boy of the prophecy now," Dumbledore said. "Marked as an equal …" he added another line of the Prophecy softly and Harry's hand moved to his scar without thinking.
"So, he went after me as a baby … because of the Prophecy," Harry finally said after he took a moment to think, and this was why his family was killed.
"Yes," Dumbledore said simply.
"I think you should start reading again," Harry sat back in the couch he was sitting on, crossed his arms, he had to think about this.
Mentions Harry pulled open a door under the stairs:
"Oh no," Harry mumbled, though he was barely listening he couldn't help but know where this was heading, and he was distinctly aware that he never told anyone about this.
Harry says this is where I used to sleep:
"WHAT!?" everyone in the room, including Severus and Draco exclaimed. Draco just couldn't believe the famous Harry Potter could ever have been treated like that whereas Severus was angry. Angry that he really seemed to have something in common with Harry and even angrier that he couldn't recognize that.
"YOU … THEY … IN A BROOM CUPBOARD!" Molly's screams were the loudest to hear though by no means was she the only one screaming. Everyone was outraged about this, McGonagall seemed to be directing her scream at Dumbledore, who was looking grave.
Sirius was pacing in the room, growling, his anger seemed to have gone past words. His mind was going back and forth between wanting to curse the Dursleys for their treatment of his godson to being angry at himself (and the rat) for not being there for Harry himself.
Remus was shaking in his seat with the fury he was feeling. He knew what it was like to be in a small confine space, locked behind a door, and he knew the pain and fear that Harry must have lived with. But at least there was a reason why he had to be lock away, and that was only once a month … Harry didn't deserve this; he never did anything to the Muggles that he lived with. Remus felt someone put their hand on his shoulder and he knew without looking that it was Tonks. He could feel the relief the touch gave him, though he tried not to, he felt better when she was around.
Ginny was looking at Harry, unable to take her eyes off him. Though, of course, Harry wasn't looking at her. No, he was looking at the floor in front of him, embarrassed by what had just been said in the book. He didn't like it when the Dursleys were mentioned, having his past on display for them all to see. She could understand that she never liked it when her first year was mentioned. It was just a few hours ago that she had been talking to Harry (with Ron and Hermione in the room too) about that opening her wounds in hopes that she could get Harry to see that he wasn't being possess … that he didn't have to be afraid, and they weren't afraid of him. Yes, she knew exactly what Harry was feeling right now, the pain of remembering a difficult time in his life.
She wanted to go and comfort him, but words were meaningless right now, and she wasn't close enough to him to offer a hug. The other thing that kept her away though was her memories of her own childhood. How she had always imagined Harry Potter, the dashing hero that would always come to her rescue just in time and then fall madly in love with her. She could feel how stupid she had been as a kid, thinking that being a hero was simple and easy and getting rescue from danger wouldn't scar her for life. Yes, Harry really was a hero, and he had saved her (and she wouldn't mind if he fall in love with her and they would get the happily ever after), but reality was a hell of lot darker than the dream.
"Why didn't you tell us this?" Hermione whispered softly so only Harry and Ron could hear her.
Harry took a deep breath and then forced himself to look at her (Ron was sitting behind her, his eyes conveying how horrible he felt about this). "I didn't know how to bring it up," Harry said, his eyes trying to tell them that he really didn't want to talk about this.
"Harry… I… I know you said they were bad … I never thought …." Hermione said, biting her lip, trying not to cry and finding it difficult, as she thought of her friend as a little boy living in that dark place.
"Yeah, man, I can't believe I was ever jealous of you," Ron said, he hated having to try and make light of this situation, but he had to try. Harry didn't want them harping over this, he didn't want them talking about it at all. It was enough that they knew, and that they would make sure that nothing like this would ever happen to him again.
"Ronald!" Hermione turned to glare at him, her eyes clearly saying, 'how can you be so insensitive'. Then Harry actually chuckled.
"I'm sure I told you that a long time ago," Harry said.
"Yeah, well, how could I believe that, you're Harry effing Potter," Ron shrugged.
"Yeah …." Harry rolled his eyes. "And you know how much I love that."
"I don't get that either," Ron shook his head. "Think of all the birds you could get just by using your name!"
"Ronald!" Hermione repeated this time she looked offended. "Harry doesn't want to be with a girl just because he's famous. He wants to actually get to know the …."
"No, Ron has a point, maybe I should use my fame that way," Harry said thoughtfully. "Of course, I'm not sure how well that would work right now seeing as everyone thinks I'm a nutter and all."
"Well, we know that's going to change in the future," Ron said (Hermione crossed her arms and muttered something about all boys being gits).
"Maybe," Harry shrugged, he was laughing now along with Ron.
"Honestly if you ever do something like that Harry, I will curse you until your head deflates," Hermione hissed at him.
Harry laughed harder than ever. "Hermione, does that really sound like something I would do?"
"No," Hermione sighed. "But I just wanted to warn you if it ever does cross your mind."
"Right, consider me warned," Harry smiled at her and she reached over to give him a quick but firm hug. She didn't want him to think about what they were talking about again after Ron had so nicely distracted him, but she needed to hug him … show him that she was there for him.
Then she turned to Ron and hugged him, too. She knew that Ron had just been trying to cheer Harry up, trying to make him forget that he was in a room full of people that were yelling and screaming about something that Harry would rather not hear about. Ron always seemed to know just what to do to make Harry feel better, whereas she was always trying to confront him about his feelings. The hug she gave Ron was shorter than the one she had given Harry. Even so, she felt her face burn when she wrapped her arms around him, and her heart started to hammer when she notice Ron had hugged her back before she pulled away.
"You two are both gits you know that," Hermione told them, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Yeah sure, but that's why you love us right," Harry chuckled.
"Honestly Hermione, would you want us any other way?" Ron added with her favorite lop sided grin.
"No, I wouldn't," Hermione smiled at her boys.
"Well, if you're done with your touching golden trio moment," Fred said.
"Golden trio?" Ron said questioningly.
"It's what everyone calls you lot at school," Ginny informed them.
"Really?" Ron said, shocked that he was included in something like that. He always figured that everyone was just talking about Harry, not the three of them.
"Moving on," Fred said.
"We probably should get back to reading the book," George said. It had seemed that sometime during Harry, Ron, and Hermione's conversation everyone calmed down. Or at least they calmed down enough to see that Harry didn't want them to shout like this about this subject.
Mentions Harry remembering a dream he had about a flying motorbike:
"You dreamed about my motorbike," Sirius said, forcing his voice to sound normal, it wasn't so hard to do because he loved his bike a lot.
"Yeah," Harry smiled. "It was a nice dream, too."
"I bet, what ever happened to my bike anyways," Sirius said turning to Remus.
"I'm not sure," Remus said.
"I believe Hagrid has it," Dumbledore said.
"Still, hm … I'm going to have to talk to him about that," Sirius mumbled.
There was a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere nearby.
"Hm … it seems like I'm going to hear about my bike sooner than I thought," Sirius chuckled.
Mentions that Ron, Hermione, Fred and George are there:
"Oh Merlin, why are you all there," Molly said, looking at her youngest son and his two best friends, and then shifted to the twins. "I don't like this."
"I'm sure everything is going to be fine," Arthur said encouragingly, though his eyes looked almost as worried as Molly's did.
"I never get to do anything," Charlie frowned, though he was smart enough not to say it loud enough for his mum to hear.
"Wishing you didn't go off to chase those dragons now, eh Charlie," Bill chuckled back at him.
Mentions Bill, badly scarred and long-haired;
"Scarred?" Molly gasped and looked at her eldest son's face as if she could see what the book was talking about. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Bill said, frowning. "It must have happened in the future."
Mentions Fleur:
"I'm there?" Fleur said, just as shocked as everyone else in the room. Then she seemed to have gather herself and said, in her airy, confident way, "oh course I would want to help 'Arry any way I can. Though I am not sure how I would even have heard about something like this."
"Maybe that means things are still going well between us," Bill said smiling at her and Fleur blushed.
"I think I like the sound of that," she smiled back at him.
Molly, on the other hand, didn't like the sounds of that one bit. Who did this girl think she was to be staring at her son like that.
"Why do I get the feeling that we're going to have to deal with a lot more Fleur in the future?" Ginny grumbled as she leaned around Ron to whisper to Hermione.
"She obviously was there to help Harry," Hermione whispered back, though clearly not liking the situation either, she was trying to keep an open mind about the other girl.
Mentions Tonks wiggled her left hand at him, a ring glistened there:
Tonks beamed at the mention of the marriage and when she noticed that Remus was almost smiling, too, she felt practically giddy.
Harry says you got married and looked from her to Lupin.
"Hm … I'm the one that told you the news, look at me Harry," Tonks pouted, or at least she tried to, but she couldn't quite get the smile off her face.
"Sorry Tonks," Harry chuckled at her expression.
"Wait a second … you two got married?" Charlie exclaimed.
"Er … yeah, they said that in the first chapter," Tonks said.
"Well, I wasn't here then, now, was I?" Charlie huffed, his ears turning red.
"You are okay with this, aren't you?" Tonks said she was a little surprised by this reaction.
Charlie rolled his eyes at that, "of course I am. I just need to do something."
"Er … what?" Tonks said narrowing her eyes at him.
"Well, seeing as your closest male relative here is either best friends with this guy or a huge git, it's my job to say something as your best friend," Charlie said glaring at Remus.
"If you want to stay my friend at all you will shut the hell up," Tonks glared at him.
Charlie didn't say anything, but the glare that he was giving Remus spoke more clearly than his words could.
"You're a git Charlie Weasley, that's what you are!" Tonks huffed at him.
"It's okay Tonks," Remus smiled. "I don't mind."
Moody says there will be seven Harry Potters:
"No!" Harry said shaking his head. "No way!"
"Actually, it seems like a good plan to me," Hermione said, biting her lip nervously, "it should be able to confuse the Death Eaters … it might be our only chance to get by them."
"But do you get how much more dangerous it would be, being me," Harry said to her, pleading her to understand that he couldn't lose anyone else because they were trying to protect him.
"Yes, I do know," Hermione said and he could see that she did, "but that's not going to stop us from helping you."
Harry sighed and bowed his head, there was nothing else for him to do.
Mentions that Harry caught Hermione's eye and looked away at once:
Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly as he read this, so Harry would know of the Horcruxes, he was sure of it. He was also sure that the fact that Harry and Hermione looked at each other there told him what he had been trying to figure out for years now. Ever since Harry had given him the diary and he had proof of what Voldemort had done and even more convincing proof that he had to have made more than one Horcruxes. So, he had made seven of them!
Mentions Harry putting his hair in the Polyjuice Potion and it turns gold:
"Huh?" Severus snorted in disbelief.
"What is it?" McGonagall asked him.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken that the color of the potion varies with every person," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling at Harry. "It is common belief though that the closer the color is to gold, golden gold that is, the more pure-of-heart they are."
"That would make sense," Fred said.
"Little Harrykins has always been an innocent little thing," George added.
"Shut up," Harry hissed at them.
Hermione says you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry:
"That's an interesting thing to say, Hermione," Fred said waggling his eyebrows.
"I won't mean it like that," Hermione said blushing.
"What do you mean by that?" Molly asked sharply. "It sounds as if you have actually seen what Crabbe and Goyle's Polyjuice Potion would look like, but you couldn't know that, right?"
"Er …." Hermione gulped.
"Well, you see, we kind of do know that," Harry said looking uncomfortable and worried. "In our second year."
"That really was you," Draco said. "I knew something was wrong, but Cabbe and Goyle keep insisting that it was them … that nothing was wrong."
"They probably didn't want you to know that we stuffed them in a closet," Harry said reasonably.
"You got that right," Draco grimaced, "I'm going to have to have a word with them about this."
"How did you even get Polyjuice Potion," Sirius asked. "We tried to order it in our sixth year, but no one would sell it to us … and seeing as none of us were very good at potions" – Sirius glared at Remus there and the werewolf just rolled his eyes – "we had to give up the idea of pranking all the Slytherins in their own common room."
"We didn't get it anywhere, Hermione made it!" Ron said, smiling proudly at her.
"What?" several people said.
"DO YOU REALIAZE HOW DANGEROUS THAT WAS YOU SILLY GIRL!" Severus shouted.
"We think it was bloody brilliant!" the twins yelled at the same time glaring at Severus.
"It is rather impressive," Bill said looking astounded. "I can't believe a second year could do that!"
"It is an impressive feat," Remus smiled at her. "But I believe Severus has a point too. A Potion like that can have serious consequences if made incorrectly."
"I know Professor Lupin," Hermione sighed. "I just needed to do something … I wasn't really thinking clearly at the time."
"Well, it all ended well," Remus smiled. "And it's Remus remember."
"Right, sorry," Hermione smiled at him.
"You really are rather brilliant," Sirius smiled at her too. "You remind me a lot of Lily sometimes."
"Oh … really?" Hermione and Harry said at the same time.
Severus scowled even more than ever at that; that wasn't true, Lily never would have done something that reckless, even if she would have been capable of making the potion quite easily. And it wasn't right to make the girl think that she did nothing wrong when she could have caused so much damage with her potion.
"Of course! Bloody brilliant … and bit of a know-it-all," Sirius said and laughed when Hermione made a face at that comment though Harry and Ron both chuckled at it. "Kind, and always standing up for what was right no matter what … yeah I see a lot of her in you."
"Thanks," Hermione said softly as Harry smiled, liking to hear things like this.
before catching sight of Ron's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean – Goyle's potion tasted like bogies."
"How would you know; you didn't taste that potion?" Harry said.
"Yeah, didn't you um … turn into a cat or something?" Ron said with a mock thoughtful look, before laughing.
"Shut up!" Hermione said turning bright red as everyone in the room laughed.
"Did you really?" George asked.
"Is that why you missed classes after Christmas?" Fred asked, both twin laughing hysterically.
"Shut up!" Hermione repeated.
Fleur says Bill don't look at me, I'm 'ideous:
"You think I'm hideous," Harry pouted.
"Of course, not 'Arry," Fleur said, "I just don't want Bill to like the look."
"Fair enough," Harry chuckled along with others in the room, however, Ginny was glaring at Fleur.
Mentions the real harry thought this was the most bizarre thing he had ever seen:
"Really, I would have thought you'd seen plenty of odd things before," Charlie said. "I mean every year it seems you guys are up to something crazy."
"Yeah … but this really does sound peculiar," Harry said.
Ron says I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo:
"What?" the Weasley boys all said looking suspiciously at Harry.
"Why would Ginny know what was on your chest?" Charlie asked glaring at Harry.
"How should I know?" Harry said, raising his hand in a defensive posture.
"Yeah right," Charlie said, still glaring at Harry as were all his brothers except for Ron, Harry was happy to note. Ron, however, was looking very uncomfortable about this.
Ginny, on the other hand, was looking at the floor, trying hard not to smile as she hoped that this meant what she thought it meant.
Hermione put her hand over her mouth so no one would see the knowing smile she had. Molly was looking between her daughter and Harry, hopeful and yet wary about what was meant there.
"Ah, I always knew that Potters had a thing for redheads," Sirius said to Remus, smirking as Harry turned red and the Weasley's glares only intensified.
Bill says I'm taking Fleur on a thestral, she's not fond of brooms:
"No, I'm not, though I don't know how I'm going to like flying on the thestral, I can't see it," Fleur said and added in her head, at least not yet.
"Don't worry, I'll be there," Bill smiled reassuringly at her, and she couldn't help but feel better at that.
Mentions Fleur as giving Bill a soppy, slavish look and Harry never appeared on his face again:
"Oh, I'm sure it looked good on you Harry," Fred teased.
"Yeah …." Sirius started to say, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, but Remus clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't mind us," Remus said to everyone in the room and several people chuckled. Harry looked gratefully at his old professor; he had a feeling that his godfather was about to say something he wouldn't like.
Mentions Hermione will be with Kingsley on a thestral:
Hermione looked relieved that she wouldn't be flying on a broom but didn't know how she felt about flying on an invisible horse.
Mentions Harry knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broomstick.
Hermione huffed at that comment.
"Was I wrong?" Harry asked, and smirked when she didn't say anything but instead glared at him. "Didn't think so."
Mentions Ron did not look as pleased as Hermione:
"That hurts Ron, that really hurts," Tonks pouted.
"You really don't have to worry mate, Tonks is brilliant," Charlie smiled, remembering all the trouble they used to get up to when they were at Hogwarts.
Mentions that Harry will be with Hagrid:
"I'm not sure if that's such a good idea," Molly said.
"I would trust Hagrid with my life," Harry said.
"Er … Harry, you are trusting Hagrid with your life in the book," Bill pointed out.
"Um … yeah," Harry said lamely.
"And Molly, I think it's a good idea that Harry is with Hagrid, the Death Eaters would be less likely to believe that the real Harry would be with him," Remus said thoughtfully.
"Yeah, I would think that Moody would be who they would think Harry would be with," Tonks said, "then likely Kingsley …."
Ron shifted at this and looked at Hermione nervously.
This look didn't go unnoticed by Molly, who was smiling at them. She had been expecting something to happen between those two for years now, but they were both so stubborn when it came to admitting their feelings … maybe this book will help with that.
Moody counts to three:
The tension in the room seemed to double in that one sentence, everyone had been trying not to worry about what they thought would come, but they found that that was difficult to do now.
Mentions a blaze of green light on every side:
"NO!" everyone screamed.
Harry pitching the bridge of his nose, praying that everyone else would be safe. He didn't want anyone else to die for him.
Mentions the owl screeched and fell to the floor of the cage:
"No … Hedwig!" Harry moaned. He almost felt ashamed for the wetness building in his eyes, he had so many other things … people to worry about … but he couldn't stand losing her. She was his only friend when he was stuck at the Dursleys, and she always did her best to cheer him up when he was down. Hermione had grabbed his hand and when he looked in her eyes, she had an understanding and supportive look.
Harry says we've got to go back:
"No!" Another round of yelling this time they were all looking at Harry, who, with tear stain eyes, looked back at them defiantly.
Harry says Wingardium Leviosa:
Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn't help but look at each other and smile at that; thinking about their first adventure together.
Mentions the strangely blank face of Stanley Shunpike:
"What?" Harry said. "Why would he be there?"
"I don't know," Dumbledore frowned. "But it sounds like he might be Imperius."
Harry says Expelliarmus:
"Harry, that wasn't a smart move," Remus said and several other people were frowning.
"Why not …? If he's being Imperius, how could I curse him?" Harry said.
"You could stun …." Remus started to say.
"The fall could kill him … and I doubt any of the Death Eaters would bother trying to save someone they're controlling," Harry huffed.
"Perhaps not, but I still wish you had used a different spell," Remus groaned. "After what had happened last June …."
Harry flinched at the remainder of that.
A Death Eater says it's him, it's the real one:
"That's what I was afraid of," Remus sighed as other people in the room groaned.
Mentions Hagrid launched himself off the bike at the Death Eater:
"NO!" Harry shouted. "Hagrid!"
Several other people were shouting, and some were now crying.
"Don't worry," Sirius said to his godson, "if anyone can survive a fall like that it would be Hagrid … he's tough."
"But …." Harry started.
"He'll be okay," Sirius assured him and tried to keep his face from showing any of the fear and concern he was feeling.
Mentions not knowing where Voldemort was but hearing Avada:
"NO!" another round of painful screaming, and Hermione was squeezing Harry's hand she was holding tightly. In fact, she was also squeezing Ron's hand, which she had grabbed at some point during this flight.
Mentions that Harry's wand acted on its own:
"What?" several people whispered, and Dumbledore looked thoughtful, but he kept reading.
Harry says Accio Hagrid:
"Hagrid is too big … that will only make you go to him faster," McGonagall said worried.
"Getting away from that creep faster sounds like a good idea to me," Fred pointed out.
Mentions then Voldemort vanished:
"What … how did he vanished?" Molly said.
"I believe they are inside the protection now," Dumbledore said.
Mentions Harry smashed into a muddy pond.
"That is the end of the chapter," Dumbledore said and Charlie, the closest person to Dumbledore, took the book and started reading immediately.