A/N: See? I told you the next one would come out quicker! Anyways, in this chapter we go more in depth with Dean's background and start to work a little harder on the Riddle, as well as other things.
Go Cubs!
*****
Chapter 42
"A-apparently not," Dean answered, another tear leaking down his face. "SO WHY DON'T YOU THE BLOODY HELL TELL ME!"
The rest of the Victors looked on in shock and sadness. Dean's father was not his biological one? Dean wasn't a muggleborn? What did it all mean?
"Son…you may want to sit down for this." Wedge replied, looking very emotional.
Obviously, this was the wrong thing to say. "YOU'RE NOT MY FATHER! DON'T CALL ME SON! APPARENTLY THE MAN I THOUGHT WAS MY DAD HAS BEEN LYING THE WHOLE TIME AS WELL! I'M NOBODY'S SON! I'M JUST A COMMON BASTARD!"
With that, Dean stormed off with a primal cry, everyone staring in his wake with mixtures of fear and sadness written across their faces. Harry looked around, not knowing what to do. He saw Seamus, Dean's best friend before Ginny, shake his head, then point at the girl in question. Ginny, tears flowing freely, nodded after sending a cold glare at Wedge, and tore after Dean. Hopefully she could reach him, because it looked like no one else had the ability.
Wedge, on the other hand, was stuttering non-coherently at the ruckus he had caused. Harry didn't blame him - the man hadn't known any better. But he wasn't about to bake cookies with him over Easter holidays either.
"I guess training is over then," Biggs replied half-heartedly. "We'll see you all again in a few days."
With solemn nods, the Victors left the quidditch pitch for their common room, no one knowing what to say, only hoping that Ginny did.
Harry wasn't about to go back to the common room and face the trials that awaited there, so instead he and Hermione left for the library, to work on something that they had been putting off for far to long - the riddle.
"It says here that it is common for abbreviations to be in these riddles, and one-letter abbreviations are used for many different words that may be important to a riddle," Hermione said as she flipped through a few pages of an Arithmancy book. "It is also common for these riddles to be divided apart - well we know that already - each section holding it's won significance, usually and area or an item of significance."
She closed the book with a sigh, rubbing her temples tiredly. "Well, let's check it out shall we?"
Harry nodded, and then pulled out the riddle, which had been scribbled all over with their constant discoveries on it.
0 0 G H 1 2
7 S 5 1 0 1
3 D D 2 0 9
1 G G S 3 3
1 V T M R 8
9 G H S 9 1
8 F B 1 A 0
0 P 1 R B 6
1 3 R M M 2
0 S V 1 2 1
D 1 V H P 1
M M 9 G H 9
T M R 9 P 9
S V B M 8 5
"So that's what we know." Harry said, frowning at the parchment. "I guess we can divide it into four sections, the dates split it into triangles. Now we just have to figure out what it all means on the inside."
Hermione frowned, her brows scrunched together in thought. "I think…maybe it is a double riddle?"
"Huh?"
Hermione licked her lips as she studied the parchment. "Well, I mean, it is most likely about both you and Voldemort, and because your date is at the top, and his at the bottom, I believe the top two triangles pertain to you, while the bottom two pertain to Voldemort. Each half probably tells what whoever it refers to needs to do to prepare for the battle."
Harry thought on it for a moment, and then nodded. "Okay, it's the best idea we've got, so I say we go for it."
He traced the symbols with his finger. "Well then, there are two groups. The first one is
G H 1 2
__ 1 0 1
___ 0 9
_____ 3
"So let's try and break that down."
Hermione cast a nervous glance at Harry, who nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure GH stands for 'Godric's Hollow', the twelve is probably a street address. I don't know what the others are though." He frowned in disappointment.
"Well," Hermione spoke up. "Perhaps the 101 isn't a number, but rather a symbolism, you know, 101 means fear and such."
Hermione sighed at the look on Harry's face and continued. "1984, it's a novel. From that novel came the idea that the number 101 was associated with fear."
Harry looked at Hermione in awe, making her blush. "It's common knowledge Harry, honestly." She blushed again before continuing. "Moving on, we know it has something to do with fear in Godric's Hollow…" Her voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
Harry caught on as well. "Obviously I have to visit the place where my parents died. But what about the nine and the three? Can't be a date, there's no year. So what is it?"
Shaking her head, Hermione sighed. "No idea, so let's move on to the next part, maybe that will help?" Harry nodded, and Hermione read out the next symbols in order.
"Okay, here goes, this one's a bit longer…
S
DD
GGS
VTMR
GHS
FB
P
"Well, a few of these seem to be rather obvious, now that we see them in this perspective…" Hermione said, glancing at Harry, who nodded agreement.
"Yeah, I'm sure that VTMR stands for Vanquish Tom Marvolo Riddle, and I thin that GGS stands for Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Perhaps the only thing I can kill Voldemort with is the sword?" Harry looked at Hermione hopefully, but her shrug didn't encourage him.
"Perhaps," She responded, peering once again at the letters. "The letter 'S' almost always is used to represent the word 'sacrifice', in Arithmancy, so it would seem that You have to sacrifice whatever DD is to receive the Gryffindor Sword - which I do not understand as you already have it - then use that swords power to Vanquish Riddle - ah! Perhaps the sacrifice will give the sword the power to vanquish Voldemort, and it won't work before…GHS is then most likely the location where this will take place…Godric's Hollow…something. FB is most likely standing for 'Final Battle', but I don't know what the 'P' is for. Perhaps Potter? I dunno." Hermione looked very apprehensive as she finished, a look that did not go unnoticed by Harry.
"What's wrong Hermione? It looks like you don't understand or like something."
She shook her head. "It's nothing…forget it. Anyways, the crux of this entire Riddle is, you have to brave your fears in Godric's Hollow, then through a sacrifice you'll obtain the power to vanquish Voldemort in the final battle. I know we are missing some stuff, but that seems to be the point of it. But what could the sacrifice be?"
Trying to change the train of thought, Harry suggested, "Why don't we do Riddle's side now, maybe it will help?"
Hermione waved a hand at him dismissively. "No, it won't matter, there is nothing we could do about it anyways, and it would be a waste of time. But the sacrifice…DD…what could it be…" Suddenly she gasped, throwing a hand over her mouth, eyes widening in fear.
Harry caught on almost immediately. "Dumbledore…"
*****
Still shaken over the riddle, Harry and Hermione made their way back to the common room just before curfew, to find Dean sitting by himself in a corner, his eyes bloodshot and cheeks stained. Harry shared a quick glance with Hermione and she nodded, pecking him on the lips before retreating for her dormitory. Harry would talk with Dean alone.
"Hey there Dean," Harry said uncomfortably, sitting across from his distressed friend. "Talk to me."
Dean looked up at Harry, unsure of what to do, he didn't seem to want to talk, so Harry spoke again. "Look Dean, I know what it's like to keep things bottled up inside, I'm a seasoned pro at it. Believe me, it'll help to get it all out in the open."
Sighing, Dean looked up and spoke. "It…it's like I don't even know who I am anymore. Who am I?" Dean's voice cracked as he said this. "I'm not a wizard, I'm not a football player…I'm…I'm just a scared kid who doesn't know what to believe."
Harry's heart broke for Dean, it really did. He was in so much pain. "Dean…I know that was tough, finding out like that. Merlin knows I don't know what it's like to go through that, I don't know how you feel, but I can relate. I never knew my father either Dean, and I was never told the truth about my parents until I was eleven. But then I found people that loved me, like Ron and Hermione. Your stepfather loves you Dean, even if you aren't his blood. Your mum loves you too. I'm sure they thought they were acting in your best interests. Nobody's perfect, Dumbledore made the same mistake with me, and because of that, combined with my own recklessness, my godfather died. They were wrong, yes, but they didn't tell you because they care about you. Hopefully you'll be able to understand that sooner rather than later. It's not wise to be angry with the ones we love Dean, it crumbles the heart, and without out hearts, we have nothing."
Standing, Harry walked over and put a comforting hand on Dean's shoulder before turning and heading back for the boys dormitories. Just before he reached them, Dean spoke up again.
"Harry?"
Turning his head slowly, Harry looked back at his friend. "Yes?"
"Thanks."
*****
By the next broomstick dueling lesson, which Wedge and Biggs referred to as 'dog fighting', Dean was feeling much better. After the conversation he had with Ginny, and then Harry, he realized that his parentage didn't matter as long as people still loved him. That didn't stop him from trying to find out as much about his father as humanly possible though.
He and Ginny had also once again become an item. Whether or not Dean had truly loved Ginny before their first break up, there was no doubt that he loved her now, and vice-versa. Neville had no qualms with this either, and it seemed that the trio of them was stronger than ever. But today was an exciting one for the Victors, as they all had their brooms ready to go.
"Hey Hermione!" Dean called out to her before they took off. "If you need more practice, I'm sure your Green Eyed Monster won't mind if you put him back between your legs tonight!"
Hermione scowled, but Harry laughed, he was just happy to see Dean back to his usual self. Dean, Harry had to say, had a very impressive looking broomstick. The Spaceball was black with holographic white spots on it to represent the stars. He had also charmed it to randomly spew out quotes from the movie, such as, 'I see that your Schwartz is as big as mine.' And 'She's changed from suck, to blow!' Harry personally thought this was hilarious, and most of the others agreed with him.
Hermione's broom was solid, emerald green, The Green Eyed Monster displayed in gold across the sky. Parvati's Cosmo was bright pink, with red lip spots scattered all over it, and Lavender's Unicorn looked as beautifully mythical as the creature itself. Seamus had a gold and green mixture color scheme for his Leprechaun, and Ginny's Feline was well…interesting. But not nearly as interesting as Luna's Full Moon, which was dark blue and covered with miniture pictures of mythical beasts that were mythical even to wizards. Neville seemed to be riding on a piece of nature, which went well with the name of his broom, Mother Nature.
Everyone cast the special shielding charm on their brooms as they rose into the air, today they would be dueling for the first time, with weak color beams of light that would paint a rider, signaling that they had been shot. Harry found it very difficult to maneuver and use his wand at the same time, but managed well nevertheless. He shot down Parvati only a few seconds after the duel started, then pulled up a corkscrew flip that put him on the tail of Neville, who went down quietly.
Harry chanced a glance around the pitch, where Ron had gotten Lavender with a good maneuver, and Hermione had knocked out Dean - which put her in position for an easy shot from Ginny. Harry saw Luna streaking straight at him, and he smiled, feeling a thrill for a head-to-head duel. Luna fired a quick shot that Harry dodged with a Sloth Grip Roll, and while in the middle of his flip, Harry fired upwards and nailed the Quibbler heir tight between the eyes.
He spun around to see that Ginny had made easy work of Seamus, and it was now down to only Harry, Ginny, and Ron. Ginny and Ron streaked at Harry at once, Ginny firing a quick shot to Harry's abdomen. Harry twisted on his broom and swung the stick in a defensive position, deflecting the beam away from him and catching an unsuspecting Ron in the chest.
But Ginny, sneaky little devil that she was, had planned that all along, and swooped under Harry before he could right himself, and ended the duel.
"That was good, very nice for a first outing, I was particularly impressed with Ginny, you combined tactics with power and defense, using Harry to get rid of your brother for you, and then using Harry's defense against him to take him out, very good indeed." Ginny blushed while the others applauded, but Harry was doing so only half-heartedly, thinking about the awkwardness of fighting with wand in hand.
It was as if a light bulb suddenly went on in Harry's mind, as he decided that he knew exactly what he was going to do. He grinned, not really listening to the rest of Wedge and Biggs speech. He would definitely have the advantage next time.
*****
A/N:
Okay, there's your first real taste of 'dog fighting', I hope you liked it. I also wrote in my first little bit of angst with the Dean convo, which I am particularly proud of. Please leave me a review, let me know how you liked it!
Go Cubs!