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"Ron, please," a voice said on the other side of the wall. "It's two thirty, you need to get some rest."
"No."
"Ron, please —"
"I said no, Hermione!"
Ginny sighed and rolled over, using the covers to brush tears away from her eyes. It had almost been a week since the attack on Hogwarts. Almost week since…
More tears fell down her face. She took the framed photograph of her and Harry off of her bedside table and hugged it close to her. He wasn't gone, she knew it. Everyone knew it. That's why Ron never slept and was pulling his hair out over thousands of books. That's why Dumbledore had also disappeared. Everyone was doing what they could to find him.
Since the attack, Hogwarts had been immediately shut down indefinitely and all the students sent home. After much debate it was decided that the Weasley family as well as Hermione and Remus were all to move into Grimmauld Place. Order members were frequently coming in and out of the building, though Ginny rarely saw them as she spent much of her time in her makeshift room.
When they had arrived and everyone began filling up the guest rooms, it became evident that there were only just enough rooms for everyone meaning someone had to take what was intended to be Harry's. Without a word, Ron and walked into the room and he hadn't left since. Hermione brought food up, but Ginny was pretty sure he hadn't eaten much of it. She could hear their conversations pretty clearly through the walls and the two often argued about either Ron's lack of sleep or lack of nutrition.
"Ron… You've already read that book…" Hermione's voice echoed hesitantly.
"I'm checking it again," Ron snapped. Ginny frowned. Everyone was frustrated and desperate for Harry's return, but Ron had become completely unapproachable and unreasonable. She wished he wouldn't yell at the only person who could even handle communicating with him.
"Is there anything I can do?" Hermione's voice wavered a little, sobs building up in her throat. There was a sigh and a chair scraped against the hardwood.
"I'm sorry 'Mione." Ron mumbled, barely audible now. "I'm just so worried…"
Ron's voice trailed off. Ginny could hear Hermione saying something back, but they were both speaking so quietly that she couldn't make anything out. Ginny pulled the photo away from her and looked at Harry's smiling face. It was from last year, the two of them right after they had won the Quidditch Cup. They were still in their robes, both of them splattered with mud as it had been raining that day. It had been such a dramatic, thrilling game. And they had won. And they had kissed in the rain…
Ginny choked on another sob as she brought the picture back towards her chest. It hurt too much to look. There was a knock on her door.
"Come in," Ginny sniffed, wiping her tears away hastily. Hermione slowly pushed open the door and stepped in.
"Hello, Ginny." Hermione said softly as she walked over to Ginny and put her arm around her. Ginny shook as she held her tears in. "It's ok, you need to let it out." Ginny just shook her head.
"Is…Sirius…back?" Ginny choked out. Immediately after everyone had moved into Grimmauld Place, Sirius had taken off. He had been missing for two days before he came back for an hour in the evening and then left again. Since then, nothing.
"No," Hermione said quietly, rubbing circles on her back. "But I'm sure if he figures anything out he will send an owl, that is if he doesn't come back and tell us himself."
"Why did this happen…" Ginny whispered, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. Hermione gave a shaky sigh as sadness overwhelmed her too.
"I don't know, Ginny."
"It's always him thought." Ginny cried softly.
"It's because he's so kind. He puts everyone before himself so he always lands himself in situations like this. It's how he became known as the hero for the Wizarding World." Hermione sniffed.
"Hermione…" Ginny whispered. "Be honest with me. Do you think Harry's dead?"
"I… I don't know. I hope not." Hermione sighed. "Honestly, I don't think he is. Voldemort presented his wand but that was it. There's a reason he couldn't show us Harry's body."
Ginny smiled a little, realizing she was right. Voldemort wouldn't have kept Harry a secret unless things hadn't gone according to plan. Harry was out there. They just needed to find him. Ginny began to grow tired in Hermione's arms.
"Hermione," Ginny yawned. "You were the last one to see him, right?"
"We think so, yes." Hermione looked away as tears welled in her eyes.
"What was the last thing he said to you?" Hermione let out a small sob, causing Ginny to hold onto her a little tighter.
"He promised he would come back."
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Though Harry had stuck to his plan and had begun frequenting the library more than it seemed he really needed to ("I'm sorry guys, I've forgotten a lot of material from previous years, I really need to go review more"), he hadn't found anything of use. He even took a trip to the forbidden section one night, but found nothing. He wasn't entirely surprised, as the spell Voldemort had used was one he had never heard of before and it was unlikely that it existed during his parents time. Voldemort had probably invented it himself.
Though Harry continued to go to classes, he zoned out more and more each class, focusing instead on a way to get back. But how could he? He couldn't find any information in the library. Should he risk telling Dumbledore what he knew? Was he wasting precious time in the past attending these silly classes that he had already taken? Should he leave Hogwarts and go looking for the current Voldemort who seemed like the only resource for answers, and even he wouldn't be very helpful since he hadn't actually created the spell yet.
When the weekend came, James and Sirius insisted that Harry had been spending entirely too much time in the library and needed to get out to the Quidditch Pitch and tryout for the team.
"C'mon, Har," Sirius said throwing his arm around his future Godson. "Don't you want to become famous, like me and James?"
"Oh yes," Remus snorted. "By joining the Quidditch team for a year, yes, you will gain all fame and fortune." Remus thought Harry's frequent trips to the library were almost inspiring and he did not approve of the other two boys trying to talk him into quitting the new habit.
"Don't be such a kill joy, Remus." Sirius said, nudging his friend. "Even you like playing Quidditch."
"Yes, sometimes, when I have much more spare time. I do not play it instead of studying."
"Well, Sirius and I, and maybe soon Harry, are all members of the team, we can't just not show up for practices and games because we could use that time to study. There's a balance." James said. Remus sighed.
When they reached the Quidditch Pitch, there were already some students there waiting. Some of them had their own brooms and some didn't, so Remus and Sirius stayed to talk to the other students while James and Harry went to get the brooms.
"Ya know," James said handing Harry a few more brooms. "You look weird as a blonde, did you dye your hair?"
"Er, no." Harry said, subconsciously smoothing his bangs down over where his scar would be. He had in fact been using a concealing charm ever since he had gotten a wand so no one would ask him more questions.
"We look pretty similar though, right?" James said as he picked up the large trunk containing the Quidditch balls. "Sirius said something to me about it a few days ago and it kind of hit me that we do."
"Yeah, I guess." Harry laughed nervously.
"What if we're related somehow?" James suggested, getting excited. "Maybe you're a distant cousin! You should come to my house during Christmas break and talk to my parents, maybe they can help you remember something. They know a lot more of the extended family than I do."
"Er, yeah, maybe." Harry said smiling. His grandparents.
After walking back to the group, Harry and James passed out all of the brooms, Harry keeping one for himself as he also didn't have one.
"Now, who here is trying out for the Chaser position?" The majority of the students raised their hands.
"Good, and the rest of you are Seeker then." There were only three other students apart from Harry who hadn't raised their hand the first time. James flashed a smile at Harry.
"Alright, let's get started then!"
First, James had them all kick off and zoom around the pitch a few times. He then had them do a few formations he described. Two second years who had been going after the Chaser position almost immediately began struggling. After they both almost collided and knocked each other off their brooms, James told them that it wasn't safe for them to continue flying ("Have you two even ridden a broom before?" Neither of them answered).
Eventually James asked the Seekers to land and began testing the Chasers. He had his current Keeper, Bartleton Baxby, play against the new recruits. They were all decent at passing, but one particular girl, Paige Elliot, was excellent at scoring, getting quite a few goals past Baxby.
Next, James took out the snitch. He had the Seekers go up in pairs against each other. He let two of the other students Harry didn't know go up first and then he released the snitch. Immediately, the two students began zooming after it, twisting around each other at full speeds. After ten minutes, neither of them had caught the snitch. James stopped them anyways, he hadn't actually expected anyone to catch it yet, he just wanted to see a sample of their flying abilities.
"Alright Williams," James said addressing Harry. "Let's see what you've got. Mathias, you're up too!" Harry kicked off and hovered a few meters about the field. Mathias nervously flew up to be on the same level as him. They glanced at each other quickly before looking back at James.
"Go!" James shouted, tossing the snitch up into the air.
Harry and Mathias immediately shot after it. Unlike the other students who had tried out, Matthias seemed to have actually been on a broom more than once. He matched Harry as they spun after it, higher and higher up into the clouds. Matthias reached out about to snatch the golden ball when it suddenly plunged towards the ground.
Harry immediately dove down after it, leaving Matthias behind still trying to regain his balance. Harry pressed himself as close to the broom handle as he could, speeding faster and faster towards the ground. James, Remus, and the other students who had been trying out began shouting, concern on all their faces. Sirius just stood in awe.
James watched as Harry was seconds from the ground hurtling at full speed towards the grass when suddenly, at literally the very last second, Harry pulled hard on the broom handle and leveled out, barely an inch off the ground, he tumbled off his broom, summersaulting through the grass.
Everyone ran towards him shouting his name as Matthias flew down and joined the group.
"Harry!" James called rushing to his side. Harry looked up from the grass with a grin and opened his hand, revealing the snitch. Everyone's mouths dropped open.
"You… you caught it?" James said in disbelief. "Mate, I thought you were about to kill yourself!"
"And over a silly Quidditch tryout!" Remus cried.
"I'm fine," Harry said, standing and brushing off his robes. "Probably some bruises, but I didn't break anything this time."
"This time?" Sirius said in wonder. "You've done that move before?"
"Well, yeah, it's how I won the game in…" Harry trailed off realizing he had said too much. "Er, I can't remember when it was."
"No, this is great Harry!" James said smiling. "You're getting your memory back! And not only that but you just pulled off the most amazing dive I've ever seen AND caught the snitch in eight minutes. You, mate, are on the team."
"Matthias was really close though," Harry interjected. "He almost caught the snitch before me, it just took a weird turn right before he grabbed it."
"Don't worry," Matthias said smiling. "You definitely deserve the position, there's no way I could have done that time."
"How do you feel about second string?" James said to Matthias.
Twenty minutes later, the Gryffindors were all trudging back to their dormitory. James had promised the potential Chasers that he would post the full list of the Quidditch team in the common room within the next few days, though Harry was pretty sure Paige Elliot had gotten the position.
When they made it back, they all showered and changed for dinner. James kept going on about how he had a meeting to go to ("You asked Lily to have it Saturday nights instead of Thursday mornings, you brought this upon yourself"), but Harry couldn't help but smile. James wasn't annoyed, he was excited.
"I hope you and Lily get along," Harry said. "The only times I've seen you interact she's ended up glaring at you."
"Yeah but this time I've got ideas," James said grinning.
"Ideas?" Remus said raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, she told me to bring ideas to our next meeting, for special events at Hogwarts." James said.
"What did you think of?" Remus asked.
"Well, I was thinking about maybe having a celebration after the Quidditch Cup was presented. Or maybe some kind of party for the beginning of the Quidditch season." James looked very proud of his ideas.
"Maybe you should try and think of things that don't have to do with Quidditch." Remus suggested. "You always end up having a party in the common room for those things anyways."
"What kinds of things does Lily like?" Harry asked.
"I don't know…" James said sadly. "If you haven't realized yet, we don't really have many friendly conversations."
"Well, maybe you should bring your idea of having a party or celebration and ask her if she has anything to add to it," Harry said. "That way she'll get her input and you'll also learn more about her."
"Mate," James said seriously. "You are a genius."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Voldemort narrowed his eyes in annoyance as the door to his chamber was thrown open. Three masked men entered and knelt before him.
"Where is he." Voldemort said coldly. One man rose slowly, visibly shaking.
"We… We can't find him anywhere, sir." The short man squeaked.
"Have you heard from Severus? Does the Order know anything?"
"Severus has gone missing, my Lord." the man said again, his body twitching in nervousness. "We…We…W-w-w-w—"
"OUT WITH IT, WORMTAIL." Voldemort shouted. Peter immediately fell to his knees in fright. A second man rose gracefully, removing his mask in a swift motion.
"My Lord," Lucius said quietly. "We believe Dumbledore has asked members of the Order he believes are closest to him and Potter, such as Snape and Sirius Black, to go looking for him. No one has seen any of them since we attacked."
"If Severus knows what is good for him, he will get back here as soon as possible…" Voldemort growled drumming his fingers on the arm rest of his throne made of bones.
"My Lord," Lucius began again. "If I may be so bold to ask, was Severus involved in the creation of the curse?"
"Yes…" Voldemort muttered thoughtfully. "He knew I wanted to make something more permanent than death. He was the one that brought all those books and made those potions…"
"I don't think Snape is to be trusted…" Lucius said quietly.
"No," Voldemort said firmly before looking up again. "Severus knew of my plans, but he was not a part of the final act. Only I know the incantation, the wand motion, the potions behind it."
"But, what does the curse even do?" The third Death Eater said. Voldemort glared, fury building up visibly causing his body to shake. The Death Eater immediately fell to his knees again groveling but —
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort roared. The Death Eater was knocked backwards, his lifeless body crumpling a few meters away. Voldemort sat back down, the remaining two Death Eaters looking very tense.
"We'll just have to run some experiments, won't we." Voldemort said calmly. "I thought I knew what the spell did, but maybe I was wrong… Or perhaps Potter was just another loop hole as he usually is…"
"Malfoy!" Voldemort barked.
"Yes, my Lord?"
"Go get me some muggles," Voldemort said. "We have research to do and I need some rats."
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That evening while James was at his meeting and Sirius had gone to chat up Maria once again, Remus and Harry had decided to go to the Owlery. Remus wanted to mail a package of cookies and other treats he had gotten from the kitchens to Peter, and though Harry felt his blood boil every time he heard that name he still wanted to spend more time with his new friend.
Remus called down an old barn owl and gave it instructions as he attached the package to it's leg. Together, Harry and Remus walked out on the balcony and Remus released the owl. They watched as it soared away through the cloudless sky and over the forest.
"It's almost a full moon," Harry commented quietly.
"Yeah." Remus mumbled. Harry sensed him tense next to him.
"You know," Harry said, looking at Remus who was trying to avoid eye contact. "I had a friend awhile ago who was a werewolf." Remus's eyes darted up to meet his.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I've actually met two men who were werewolves, one was really evil but the other one was very kind. Probably the kindest, most caring man I ever met." Harry looked back at Remus. "I don't understand how people could have judged him so harshly over something he couldn't control. He was a great man and I'm glad I met him. I don't know what I would have done without him."
With that, Harry gave a small smile before turning away and walking back down the stone steps. Remus stared blankly at him until he disappeared and then slowly turned back and faced the moon.