Harry Potter and the Trope of the Fiery Redhead

by cupee of Kaff

Ginny Weasley hasn't forgotten what Tom Riddle did to her. She hasn't forgotten what he taught her either. Voldemort won't even know what hit him.

56. The Veil

When Sirius saw the Death Eaters enter, he ordered, "Back the way we came!"

They turned back, but Crouch sent a blasting curse at the door they'd come through, collapsing the exit and blocking their escape.

Ginny threw a torrent of fire at the group of Death Eaters, trying to take them all out at once, but one of them cast a shield charm that glowed a light green. Her fire flowed along the shield's surface, thinning as it spread, until it reached the edges of the shield and dissipated into the air.

"You have an impressive command of fire," Crouch told her, "but you are far too predictable."

The Death Eaters started to fan out in both directions around the top of the amphitheater, moving to surround them.

Ron said, "Circle up! Protect each other's backs."

Sirius warned them, "That means relying on shields as much as possible. Every spell you duck, there's a chance it hits the back of one of your friends."

"I don't know how to–" Neville started to say.

Harry pointed. "Neville, take that direction and do what you can. Ron, Hermione, overlap with him."

It wasn't supposed to be like this, thought Neville. I was supposed to have time to learn how to do this.

As the Death Eaters spread out–two of them hobbling and wincing with each step–the students and Sirius huddled together at the bottom, wands facing outwards. The two groups watched each other warily.

Turning to Harry, Ron spoke urgently but quietly while the Death Eaters were still getting into position. "You have to protect that orb. If it breaks, it plays, and this will all be for nothing."

Harry said, "Good call. But there must be a way to destroy it without anyone hearing it. Sirius?"

His godfather shook his head. "I can think of other ways to destroy it, but there's no way to know if they'd work any better than smashing or melting it. I don't understand why anyone would design an object like that in the first place, where you activate it by destroying it. What if you wanted to listen to it more than once?"

Hermione said, "That's not our only problem. If we do manage to get the orb out of here unbroken, Riddle will assume we took it to listen to it. He'll try to come after us to get the information."

Ron added, "Also, if the Death Eaters didn't know how the orbs work before, they do now. They may try to break it."

Harry said, "We'll just have to hope Riddle ordered them to bring him the actual orb, rather than just the information. As for what we do with it once we get out of here… I don't know yet. Maybe return it to the Ministry still in one piece, and convince them to store it in a safer place?"

Hermione said, "That only works if there's no way to play it without breaking it. And if Riddle hears about and believes all of that. Once we take the orb out of here, he'll be expecting us to try to fool him."

"I don't know then. This isn't how any of this was supposed to go. But I'll think of something."

Ron told the rest of the group, "Whatever their orders are, the Death Eaters might run out of patience. We all need to watch for them concentrating their fire on Harry and the orb."

"I could hold it instead," offered Neville. "I won't be much use in the fight, and at least it wouldn't be distracting Harry."

"No," said Harry. "I won't let anyone else take risks for my sake."

Neville felt relief at Harry's refusal, quickly followed by guilt over the relief. He almost couldn't believe he'd made the offer. But since he was already in plenty of danger, a little more was better than being useless.

Sirius gave Harry a measuring look, like he was considering wrestling the orb away from him for his own good.

Before he could decide, everyone had to turn their attention to the Death Eaters, who cast several moderately severe curses down at them, probing their defenses.

Sirius cast a curse back at Crouch, following it with a taunt. "You're spread a little thin, Junior! Weren't there more of you before? Maybe you should call it a night and head home… those of you who still can. Cut your losses."

In fact, of the eight Death Eaters they'd counted earlier, only six remained.

Crouch replied, "I think you'll find there are more than enough of us to deal with one arrogant fool and a bunch of schoolchildren."

"Have it your way, then. I've been looking forward to paying you back for trying to take my godson."

"Spare me. You've shown you aren't above resorting to a bit of light kidnapping yourself."

Before Sirius could respond, Ginny called up to Lucius Malfoy, "Where is dear little Draco, anyway? I do hope nothing terrible happened to him."

"My son is quite well, and on his way back to Hogwarts. If the rest of you hope to be so fortunate, you'll turn over the prophecy now."

Harry held up the orb. "Careful! Think how disappointed your master will be if you fail him. Who wants to be the one to tell him you destroyed the thing he sent you to retrieve?"

The Death Eaters looked around at each other. Masks hid the expressions of most of them, but none appeared eager to risk their master's displeasure.

Seeing this, Harry added, "Throwing spells at us was a mistake, but one you can still recover from. Let's call a ceasefire to discuss this."

"Enough!" said Crouch. "He's stalling. We can't stay here all night. Don't hit Potter or the orb, but start picking off his friends until he decides to cooperate." For his own part, he cast a purple spell at Sirius that sizzled viciously as it cut through the air, narrowly missing its target as Sirius deflected it away from the group.

"No!" protested Malfoy, but the other Death Eaters seemed to prefer Crouch's approach, and soon a flurry of curses was raining down.

As the battle resumed, Neville was amazed at how well his friends were managing. Working with Sirius–who seemed to be savoring the battle a little too much–they had so far managed to handle every curse the Death Eaters cast at them. Neville swore that if they made it out of this alive, he'd make the most of any extra training he could get.

"Give up, Potter!" called Malfoy. "Before you start losing your friends, one by one."

"Then what? You'll just let us go?"

"Once we have what we came for, yes. You have my word."

Ginny dismissed this with a derisive snort, but Harry hesitated. None of his friends had taken any curses yet, but the Death Eaters were keeping the pressure on, searching for weaknesses. It was one thing to risk himself, but the people he cared about…

The door the Death Eaters had come through opened again.

This time, Remus Lupin and Alastor Moody appeared in the doorway, Moody's magical eye spinning wildly as he took in the room. Remus ducked back for a moment to send a quick Patronus message, then returned his attention to the fight.

"Get down there!" Moody told him. "You can move a lot faster than I can. I'll cover you."

Moody stepped back into the shelter of the doorway, relying on his magical eye to track the Death Eaters. This let him extend no more than his wand into the room, and for no longer than it took to cast each spell and withdraw.

Remus sprinted down the stone benches, taking them two at a time, dodging spells with the speed and grace of a predator, his whole presence a sharp contrast from his usual air of reserved diffidence.

Moody provided cover as promised. In mere seconds, the formidable retired Auror put down one Death Eater hard enough so he wouldn't be getting up any time soon, and hit another with a spell which caused him to cry out in pain and grip his wand arm, the wand slipping from his fingers. This forced the remaining Death Eaters to focus a significant part of their attention on him.

"Moony!" Sirius greeted him, as the other wizard reached them. "Fancy meeting you here. I thought you had a meeting."

"I did," Remus replied as he took a position opposite Sirius in the tight defensive ring the group had formed. "I was upstairs with Moody, going through old records. Dumbledore sent a Patronus, asking us to check on the prophecy. We just have to hold out until he gets here."

"Dumbledore is coming? Brilliant!" Sirius laughed. He called up to the Death Eaters, "You guys are going to get it now! Just wait till dad gets home!"

"Sirius! Focus!" Remus snapped, just as Crouch cast two curses in quick succession.

Sirius blocked the first with casual disdain.

The second hit him in the shoulder, sending him stumbling straight into the Veil.

He vanished.

"Sirius!" Harry cried out.

"We warned you, Potter," Crouch called to him. "Give up before you lose anyone else!"

Remus looked back to find his last childhood friend–so recently returned to him–gone once more, and for good this time.

Harry moved towards the arch.

"Harry, no!" cried Remus, grabbing him and holding him tight with surprising strength.

"He's right there!" Harry protested. "I can still hear him! I can still save him!"

"No, Harry. He's gone. Whatever lies on the other side of the Veil, no one has ever returned from it alive."

"Potter! Lupin!" yelled Moody. "Get your heads back in the fight!"

Hermione risked a quick glance behind her, to see Sirius gone and Harry struggling to reach the arch.

"Accio Sirius Black!" she cast at the Veil, before turning back to face the Death Eaters, who laughed their contempt at her.

"Ignorant girl," Malfoy called down. "Don't you know what that is?"

Hermione ignored their taunts. "Ron, watch my back!"

"What are you going to do?" he asked. "Remus said no one ever–"

She turned towards the Veil without another word, trusting Ron to keep her safe.

Ron swore as he jumped between her and the Death Eaters aiming at her back. He frantically conjured one shield after another, as the barrage of incoming curses broke them nearly as fast as he could create them.

The arrival of Moody and Lupin had turned the tide of battle in their favor, but with Sirius gone, and Harry, Remus, and Hermione distracted, they were in real trouble again.

"Accio Sirius Black!" Hermione cast once more, with greater determination in her voice.

The Death Eaters laughed again, but their laughter cut off when a human figure looking a great deal like the recently-departed Sirius Black came stumbling out of the realm from which no living mortal returns.

The figure crashed into her, causing them both to tumble to the floor.

"No," moaned Remus. "Hermione, what have you done?"

"What are you on about?" demanded Harry. "He's alive. I told you!"

"No. Sirius is gone. That… is something else. Something which should not be."

Meanwhile, Ron, Ginny, and Moody continued their battle with the remaining Death Eaters at the top of the amphitheater.

This left only Neville free to notice the massive serpent he'd last seen in the graveyard–and had fervently hoped to never see again–slithering out from beneath the lowest level of benches. The snake was heading straight for Hermione, who was still struggling to free herself from beneath the weight of whatever she'd summoned from beyond the Veil.

Neville had spent the whole battle going through all the spells he'd ever learned, trying to come up with anything he could cast which might help. And so he had a particular first-year spell fresh in his mind when he heard Crouch begin the incantation for the dreaded curse no shield could block.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Crouch and the snake had both tried to take advantage of Hermione's vulnerable position to attack her, but Neville's spell threw the snake up in the air, where Crouch's bright green curse struck it. The snake collapsed limply to the ground.

Crouch stared in shock for a long moment. His face twisted in anger as he turned his gaze and his wand on Neville. "Alright, Longbottom. You chose your side. Avada Kedavra!"

Harry had dropped his wand while struggling with Remus, but still had the prophecy orb. He tossed it in the air to intercept Crouch's spell, and the orb exploded in a spray of glass.

A spectral image of Professor Trelawney appeared. "The one with the power to vanquish–"

"Silencio!" Ginny cast, but her spell passed through the figure with no effect, as did the burst of fire she sent right after it.

The recitation continued, "Born to those who have thrice–"

Ron pointed his wand at himself and cast, "Sonorus!" He began roaring the Chudley Cannons fight song in an amplified voice, drowning out the prophecy.

The Death Eaters concentrated their spells on him, but he didn't let his singing distract from his casting. With the help of his sister and Moody, he continued to block their curses. The recitation ended, and the spectral figure vanished.

Crouch looked at his master's treasured pet, lying dead by his wand. He looked at the scattered bits of glass which were all that remained of the prophecy his master had sent him to retrieve, destroyed by another of his curses. Lastly, he looked at whatever damned creature the foolish girl had summoned forth from beyond the Veil.

Crouch was no fool. When Moody and Lupin had first appeared, he'd begun inching his way towards the nearest exit, just in case. He now turned and used that exit to flee.

Lucius Malfoy saw this, and tried to follow, but Ginny took the opportunity to hit him in the back with a curse which slammed him into the wall with a satisfying crunch. He fell to the floor, and didn't get up.

The three Death Eaters left standing watched each other to see who else might try to flee, unnerved by the sudden shift in numbers. Before they could decide whether to continue the fight or not, Albus Dumbledore emerged through the door that was still glowing hot, with Fawkes the phoenix perched on his shoulder. Flames continued to rage in the room behind them, but neither seemed affected by having passed through the blaze.

Dumbledore took in the situation, but didn't wait to see if the Death Eaters wished to surrender. With a slight flick of his wand, he sent a dark blue spell circling around the upper perimeter of the room. The spell knocked down each Death Eater it encountered, smashing through their futile attempts to defend themselves. The spell continued on its path until it had swept through them all, then vanished. None of the fallen Death Eaters rose.

Harry and Remus had both gotten distracted by the prophecy starting to play, then by Dumbledore's dramatic entrance. Now though, Harry resumed struggling in earnest.

"Remus, let go! He's not gone. He's right there!"

"I'm sorry, Harry," Remus said in a broken voice. "It's not him, even if it wears his face. Hermione, you have to get away from it! Before it adapts to our world!"

"What is going on here?" demanded Dumbledore.

Moody called to him across the room, "Black got knocked through the Veil, and Granger tried to save him. She was too late, but she pulled something through."

Dumbledore lowered his head for a moment, then raised it and pointed his wand at the figure which was a dead ringer for Sirius Black.

"No!" cried Hermione. She'd made it back to her feet, and moved to stand in the way of whatever spell Dumbledore intended.

"Miss Granger," Dumbledore said firmly, "you must step aside and let me deal with this… abomination you have summoned from beyond the Veil. I expected better judgment from you, than resorting to necromancy."

Hermione blinked at the accusation. "I'm not a necromancer," she declared, affronted. She stood her ground, in defiance of his order.

Dumbledore said, "I will move you if I must, for your own safety. With each passing minute, that entity becomes more dangerous, as it learns the ways of the mortal realm."

She still didn't budge. "Wait! I caught him with an Undetectable Extension Charm!"

Dumbledore frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"I didn't summon anything from beyond," she explained in a rush. "When we passed through here the first time, several people seemed drawn towards the arch, so before we left, I cast a quick safety precaution. Sirius never actually fell all the way through. The extra space I created caught him."

Dumbledore stared at her. "You cast a spatial manipulation charm… on the Veil?"

"Well… yes? I mean whatever is beyond it, it's still just fabric, right?"

The figure behind her managed to rise to a kneeling position, drawing everyone's attention. A rough voice said, "Hermione… fooled Death Eaters… Dumbledore… same trick…"

"Padfoot?" called Remus in a shaky voice.

"Brilliant!" Sirius said, as he threw back his head and laughed.

Harry broke free from the astonished Remus, and ran to throw his arms around Sirius, who continued to laugh while returning his godson's embrace.

Dumbledore began making his way down to them. "Miss Granger, I would like to believe you, but you must allow me to verify your story."

Hermione hesitated, but moved aside.

When Dumbledore reached the dais, he waved his wand at Sirius in a complex series of patterns, which Hermione watched intently. When he finished, he sighed a breath of relief as he put away his wand.

"My apologies for doubting you, Miss Granger. With some forms of magic, one can never be too careful. And my congratulations on your unorthodox approach to problem-solving."

Hermione relaxed, and put away her own wand. "Thank you, though I doubt my spell would have allowed room more than one person. It's a good thing Remus managed to stop Harry from following Sirius in. To be frank, I find it rather careless that there weren't already better safeguards in place."

Dumbledore nodded as he considered this. "Yes, it appears the Ministry has been rather lax in taking precautions against a group of students–accompanied by an adult who should know better–breaking into the Department of Mysteries in the middle of the night to cause major damage while engaging in magical combat."

"Oh, we didn't mean for… I'm sorry for the damage of course, but we certainly didn't come here expecting to have to defend ourselves against Death Eaters."

"In that case, would you like to convey your concerns over safety issues to the Unspeakables in person? I could arrange a meeting."

"The Unspeakables?" she squeaked. "Um, I'd hate to bother them, sir. I'm sure they're awfully busy."

"Oh? Hmm, yes, now that you mention it, letting the matter drop might be for the best."

"How did you know we were here, sir?" asked Harry, as he helped Sirius to his feet. His godfather was still a bit unsteady from the curse Crouch had hit him with, but recovering quickly.

Dumbledore said, "I sometimes take a stroll around the castle when I'm having trouble sleeping. Tonight, I encountered a charming young Ravenclaw doing the same. She remarked on how dark it was for the middle of the day. When I informed her it was in fact the middle of the night, she expressed surprise at the number of people roaming about the castle at such an hour. I found this rather surprising myself, and inquired further. Quite fortuitous that I did."

"That's for sure. Thank you for coming, sir. And for sending Remus and Moody."

"You're welcome." He glanced up at the door he'd arrived through. "Speaking of which, if you wouldn't mind, Fawkes?"

The phoenix flew up and into the room Ginny had set on fire earlier, which continued to burn. Soon after he entered, the flames began to die down.

Dumbledore turned back to Harry. "I must tell you, I'm somewhat baffled by your presence here. I thought we'd agreed none of you would seek to learn the rest of the prophecy." He moved his gaze to Neville for a moment, then Sirius, before returning his attention to Harry.

Harry said, "Yes, and we kept our promise. We came here to destroy the Ministry's copy, and we succeeded, and without anyone hearing it. Well, no more than a few words near the beginning, thanks to Ron. Now no one can learn the rest."

"I see. So you kept to the letter of our agreement, but not the spirit. Otherwise, why do it in secret?"

"With all due respect, sir, you've kept secrets from me too."

"True. Though you must realize I have a much fuller understanding of the situation, and of the possible consequences of sharing too much."

"Then help me to have a fuller understanding too."

Dumbledore sighed. "I will consider what else I can safely tell you… if only to avoid a repeat of tonight's fiasco."

"I'd appreciate that."

Ron chose that moment to clap Neville on the shoulder. "The Levitation Charm? Nice! Nothing like the classics."

Just then, the giant snake began to stir. Everyone swung their wands towards it, but it didn't attack. Instead, the snake transformed into an older woman, perhaps of Southeast Asian descent. She sat up and looked around.

"Bloody hell, I just had to mention the classics," muttered Ron. "Another Animagus who's not so dead after all. Er, no offense, Sirius. Didn't mean you."

The woman cleared her throat. In a slow, uncertain voice, she said, "I am not an Animagus. I… have not been myself. Not for quite some time." She noticed the wands pointed at her. "I don't intend any harm, now that I find myself once again free to choose."

Dumbledore said, "Then let me be the first to welcome you back, Nagini."

She stared at him. "Albus? Has it been so long? You look…"

"Old?" he asked with a faint smile. "I imagine so. And yet you are as lovely as ever, if I may say."

She brought a hand to her face. "I doubt that, but I see you haven't lost your charm. What year is it?"

"Nineteen ninety-five," he informed her gently. After a pause, he added, "As pleased as I am to see you alive and restored to human form, I can't help but wonder how this came to be."

"I was… somewhere else. A place between this world and whatever comes next. I met an old friend there, who explained things. When Tom Riddle used my venom to create his new body, he tied my life to his. That connection allowed me to return."

Most of them were focusing on the woman as she answered, but Neville noticed the headmaster shoot a brief, sorrowful glance at Harry. Why did he keep giving him those looks?

Nagini went on, "Albus, there's something else I must tell you, about the method Riddle used to cheat death."

"This is not the appropriate place for such a discussion," Dumbledore said hastily before she could continue.

"It can't wait," she insisted. "This is too important. Something could happen to me, and someone with the power to stand against Riddle needs to know."

"Let us at least move over here," he urged with a gesture.

She nodded her assent, and the two moved away from the others, most of whom were too shaken up by the fight to pay them any further attention.

Ginny was paying attention though, and discreetly cast the Supersensory Charm on herself.

Moody gave her a sharp look from where he stood at the top of the amphitheater. She still wasn't sure how much magic he could detect with that eye of his. The one time she'd asked whether he was using it to gain an advantage while dueling with her and Harry, he'd gruffly demanded to know whether she expected Death Eaters to give her a fair fight if she ever had to face them. To reinforce the point, he'd cast several curses at her and Harry which they hadn't even covered yet.

Then again, a suspicious look from Moody didn't always mean much, as simply being in the same room as him was likely to earn you one of those. Either way, if he suspected her of spying he didn't call her on it, so she focused her attention on the headmaster and the woman who claimed to have important information about Riddle.

When Nagini spoke, her voice was soft but urgent. "Tom Riddle divided his soul into seven parts to bind himself to this world. I was his sixth and final Horcrux, though I believe I am free of that now."

Ginny shuddered. Horcrux. The word was familiar from her time with the diary, but she'd never learned what it meant, other than something awful. She'd certainly never known it involved tampering with souls. You never mess with magic like that; everyone knew it. You didn't even talk about it if you could help it.

The charm she'd cast on herself made her hyper-aware of everything happening in the room, including her friends sinking to the benches in exhaustion and relief. They had no idea of the horrors being discussed a few paces away.

This was how Riddle had survived? She'd never repeated the word 'Horcrux' to anyone. Could she have stopped all this two years ago by saying this one single word to Dumbledore? She wanted to scream, but she forced herself not to show any reaction. Right now, she needed to hear the rest of the conversation. She'd figure out later how much she needed to hate herself for keeping silent.

Dumbledore face was grim as he pondered Nagini's revelation. "So many," he said, shaking his head. Gesturing with his wand, he asked, "May I reassure myself you are truly no longer one of them?"

"I would greatly appreciate it if you could reassure us both."

He waved his wand at her in a series of motions rather like those he'd used earlier to check Sirius for Dark influences. When he finished, he lowered his wand and smiled. "I sense no Dark magic of any kind–neither Horcrux nor Maledictus."

She smiled. "A departed friend told me it would be so, but it's good to hear you confirm it."

"I'd very much like to hear more about this conversation you had–ah, somewhere else, I believe you said–but we have more pressing concerns at the moment. Can you tell me anything about Riddle's other vessels? Where they are? Or what they are?"

"Nothing specific. I believe he hid some himself, and entrusted others to his followers."

Ginny stepped towards them. "Headmaster–" she began, but was interrupted by Aurors charging into the room, wands drawn.

Dumbledore turned to address them. "Ah, thank you all for coming, but as you can see, the situation is well in hand."

Moody had been going around to the fallen Death Eaters, binding, petrifying, and (redundantly) stunning each of them. He was less polite than the headmaster in addressing the new arrivals. "Stand down! The attackers are all down! Stop waving those wands like you're conducting a damn concert!"

"You don't give orders here anymore, Moody," the lead Auror said, as he took a careful survey of the room, assessing possible threats. "Wands down, everyone," he ordered at last, then strode down to meet Dumbledore, who was waiting with a patient smile.

"Are these your students, headmaster? What in Merlin's name are they doing here? And who are all these other people? Is that Sirius Black?"

"Yes, these are Hogwarts students, and you are quite right that they shouldn't be out at this hour. I will rectify the situation with haste. Excellent suggestion."

Dumbledore held out his hand, and a piece of rubble flew into it. He waved his wand over the chunk of stone. "Portus." The chunk glowed briefly blue.

The Auror's eyebrows went up. "Now see here–"

"Students, if you would gather round," Dumbledore called, acting like he hadn't heard.

The five students did as he asked, and after a brief experience of the unpleasant sensation of Portkey travel, found themselves in the Hogwarts hospital wing. They looked around at each other, not knowing how to even begin to talk about the night's events.

Sirius and Remus appeared soon after, holding another chunk of stone.

"Are you in trouble?" Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Nothing a generous donation to St Mungo's or some other worthy cause won't fix." He turned to grin at Remus, but the other wizard avoided meeting his eyes.

Stiffly, Remus announced, "I'll go find Madam Pomfrey."

"Moony? What's up with you?"

"Dumbledore sent us here for Madam Pomfrey to check everyone over. I believe he was wise to do so, with all the curses flying around tonight."

"That's not what I meant."

"You really want to do this now?" Remus asked, tilting his head to remind Sirius of the presence of Harry and the others.

"If you're mad I didn't tell you–"

"Of course I am! I would have stopped you!"

"Which is exactly why I couldn't tell you."

"You never should have taken them there. They're children, for Merlin's sake."

"I wasn't expecting trouble, but they did fine. None of us were much older when we joined the Order."

"We were out of school, but that's not the point. Harry is not James."

"I know that."

"For that matter, Neville is not Frank or Alice, and Ron and Ginny are not Fabian and Gideon."

"Remus, I know–" began Sirius, growing annoyed in return.

"You don't! You act like it's the old days! But you only think about the good times, when we all ran around believing we were so clever, making our own rules, always a step ahead of everyone else… You don't think about how it all ended. I can't go back to being the last one. Don't make me do that again."

"The last one of what?"

Remus took a deep breath and let it out. "I'm not going to pretend I can ever truly understand what your time in Azkaban was like. But being out here in the world hasn't been all sunshine either… not since losing James and Lily, and believing you sold them out and murdered Peter. Then Frank and Alice were just a few days later. And that was after everyone we'd already lost. Fabian and Gideon. Dorcas. Whole families, like with Edgar and Marlene. People we never even found enough of to bury, like Benjy and Caradoc… Everyone."

He paused to take another breath, but no one interrupted. "As far as I knew, I was the last one who wasn't dead, permanently incapacitated, or a traitor locked in a cell–the last of our friends from our generation anyway. And I know it's horribly self-centered, but there have been times over the years when I've… struggled to see myself as the lucky one."

"I get it," Sirius said quietly. "I really do. We both lost everyone. But you know I would never let anything happen to Harry. Or his friends."

Remus shook his head. "We keep them safe by keeping them far away from situations like the one you led them into tonight. As terrible as it would be to lose you again, so soon after getting you back after all those years–as terrible as it was tonight, when I looked over my shoulder and you were just gone–there's one thing which would actually be worse. And that's if history started to repeat itself with these kids."

He shook his head again, and walked away.

Sirius watched him go, then turned back to Harry and his friends. "Uh, sorry about that. Remus used to be more easy-going, back when…" He trailed off.

Harry said, "It's okay. The idea was partly mine too. I probably would have wound up going without you. Besides, you can't keep me away from everything. Riddle would see to that, one way or another."

"Maybe, but I can keep you away from some things." He sighed. "I'm afraid I'm better at acting like mates than like a proper guardian. When your parents asked me to be your godfather, I never expected I'd have to be the one to tell you no about anything. I thought it'd be more like, if your parents decided a broom was too fast or too expensive for a kid, I'd be the one to go ahead and buy it for you anyway."

"No such thing as a broom that's too fast."

Sirius gave a faint smile. "Fair point, but listen. I don't know if a fight between you and Voldemort is inevitable. I want to believe it's not. In the meantime, we can at least avoid charging into danger when we don't have to." He grimaced. "I should know better. Me of all people. But I drew the wrong lesson when we kept you away from Crouch. I thought striking first is the way we win. And to be honest, it felt good to be doing something to fight back. But Remus was right to call me out. Being bold won't be enough. We've got to be smart, too, and careful."

He met the eyes of each of them. "And it certainly wasn't my place to drag the rest of you into it, without even checking with your parents, or your grandmother, Neville. If I had, I'm betting the adults responsible for keeping you safe would all have made better decisions than I did tonight. I'm sorry for putting you in danger."

Most of the students tried to object like Harry that it had been their choice, but Sirius wouldn't hear it, so they lapsed back into uncomfortable silence.

Sirius said, "Ginny, I've owed you another apology for a long time. That night out on the grounds, I actually encouraged you to kill Pettigrew. I must have been out of my damn mind. I mean I sort of was, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said. "I had my own reasons which had nothing to do with you."

"Be careful of the path those reasons can lead you down. And yeah, I know coming from me that sounds like I want you to do as I say, not as I do. It's still good advice."

He turned to Hermione. "And I owe you my gratitude. You saved my life tonight, and all I did was laugh. To be fair, that was a spectacular trick you played, but it was also a lot more than that. Thank you."

"Thanks, Hermione," added Harry.

"My pleasure," she replied. "I try to plan ahead and take precautions whenever I can."

Sirius said, "Maybe if Harry and I can learn to listen to you and Remus a little more, we'll all be better off."

Before Hermione could give more of a response than a firm nod, Harry gasped and jerked his hand to his forehead. He swayed on his feet, and Ron put out a hand to steady him.

"Harry?" Sirius asked in alarm. "What is it?"

Through gritted teeth, Harry answered, "I guess Riddle heard about the prophecy orb. He's not happy."

Hermione said, "You have to block him!"

"I know. Let me focus."

Ginny put her arms around him and squeezed. "You can do this. We're all here for you."

With one hand pressed to his forehead, and his other arm around Ginny, he took several slow, deep breaths. At last, he lowered his hand and opened his eyes. "Okay. I'm okay now. He's gone. Thanks, Ginny. I think having you near helped."

He turned to Hermione. "I already know what you're going to say, and you're right. I'll practice over the summer. It hasn't been this bad in a long time. He's furious right now, so he was coming through a lot stronger. At least we know we ruined his day, which I guess is something for all our trouble."

At that moment Madam Pomfrey came rushing towards them, demanding to know what they'd been up to this time, with Remus trailing behind her.