Once more the Owl drops us off into Rowling's universe, where I let a very small, minisule even corner.
Chapter 21, Visions and Memories
*******************************Hogwarts*********************************
January 10, 2006
6am
Harry reentered the Head's common room having just returned from yet another early morning exercise session. It had been a desperate attempt to see if he could burn out the images of the soulless hulks lying on the ground in Diagon Alley the day before. It was truly a sign of the times that when Harry had related the attack to Hermione as soon as he returned, she had not said anything, and just hugged him hard enough to feel his ribs creak. In the past she would have uttered some placating platitude to him or something, or chewed him out, depending on just what he had been doing.
She still cared, more than she could say, he could after all read her thoughts more or less; it was just that events of this year had finally started to wear her down too. He had not told her of the items he had retrieved, or that the purpose of the trip had been to go to his vault. In a forlorn attempt to explain his actions, Harry had claimed that the four were on some mission for Dumbledore, which was sort of, kind of the case if you looked at it just right. An explanation that she had taken at face value without further inquiry, another sign of the stress they were all under.
As Harry came in, she was standing in a window of the tower that happened to overlook Hagrid's hut and a rather large paddock that was mysteriously empty, to most students anyway. The early morning sun caught red and gold highlights in her hair and for the billionth time, Harry experienced that flipping sensation in his stomach. Warily, he slowly walked toward her, concerned at the feelings he was reading from her. Hermione was leaning against the wall obviously watching something; her expression was melancholy at best. She sensed his arrival without looking back. "They are beautiful in an odd way aren't they, Harry?" Hermione asked with a curious note in her voice.
Arriving at her post, Harry placed his arms around her from behind, and pulled her to him. From this vantage point he confirmed what she had been looking at. The paddock to him was far from empty. A whole herd of ghostly horses cavorted around the paddock. "That they are, Mione." Harry replied in a whisper.
"You know," she continued, "I never saw them before, even after the Ministry of Magic raid, when we saw Sirius die, I refused to look at the front of the coaches that next year, remember?"
Harry flashed back to the start of last year, memories streaming before his eyes. "Yeah"
"And I never came back by the coaches after...my parents died. Even Hogsmeade trips last year I hid, I even hid my eyes in your shoulder, and we still were both too chicken, that last trip last year, I almost had up my courage, but we ended up going though the passage 'cause of the crowds, and..." Harry didn't say anything for fear of making her mad, but she went on, his thoughts as apparent to her as her own. "It's ok, love I know that you aren't saying anything, because you are afraid of upsetting me. I think that's been taken care of don't you?" The faintest of grins touched her lips, "You know of course that I don't believe you about yesterday?" She asked conversationally, still watching the vaguely reptilian, winged horses, "You never could lie to me, I was so glad to get you back that I didn't say anything, but I knew."
"How did you know?" Harry said with a slight frown, going back over the day to see where he would have slipped up.
She turned from the window to look at him. "Actually, when you got back and found me, I'll admit that I didn't even try to read your thoughts to get behind the words. I was so glad to get you back safe, but dear, you talk in your sleep."
"And how would you know, I seem to remember going to asleep alone last night, unfortunately" He murmured with a slight smirk.
"I came in after you fell asleep, you had been having nightmares again, and I heard you. I left before you got up." She explained with a shrug. "Now, dear, what were you doing at Diagon Alley in the middle of a school day? Especially when you ruffians had suborned Minerva McGonagall to keep me busy."
"Ok, I'll show you," Harry replied, and with his left hand pulled a wand from the left side waistband of his clothes. The wand was not his normal wand, a fact that Hermione recognized instantly, for like Lupin with James and Lily's wands she knew the wands of her friends as well as her own. "You got a new wand to get around the priori incatanta problem?"
"Sort of, I still have my own." Harry showed her his normal wand and put it back away. "This is...was dad's." He replied. "Also, wait...ACCIO WAND." A wand box flew from his room into his right hand.
"A THIRD WAND?" She asked incredulously, "Darling, are you getting as paranoid as Moody?" With a raised eyebrow, but she stopped at his expression, "I'm sorry, Harry I guess I've hung out around you and Ron too much, I'm becoming a smartarse too." She explained contritely.
"That's ok Mione, anyway it's not for me." Harry looked into her eyes and slowly extended the wand box to her. "It's for you if you will have it. It was mum's."
"Harry...I can't. It's too precious to you." Hermione instantly objected, as her hand extended anyway, her heart running her body right now.
Harry gave her a great shake of his head, causing shaggy, black hair to fall in his eyes, "No love, you are and if it will help you then...besides she would want you to have it. They only reason they were recovered is that Sirius grabbed them out of the ruins of the Hollow before they were destroyed." He shook the box slightly as if enticing a kneazle to play, as he swept his hair back out of his eyes with the hand still holding his father's wand.
"Ok." With that settled, she took the wand from him reverently and opened the box. In it was Lily Potter's willow wand all right. Hermione pulled him into a hug and cried softly into his shoulder.
The rest of the day went by quickly as it was a light day. They breezed through Hagrid's class without any major injuries and trundled up to History of Magic. Hermione couldn't help it; she passed the time in the incredibly boring class, much to Harry's amusement, playing with her new wand/Lily's old wand. She spent the entire class doing things like transfiguring small things around the classroom and levitating objects, even swooping them through the air behind the Professor. Binns as usual, made no notice of the happenings in his class but merely droned on nonstop, the goblin wars never-ending.
After the usual epoch had passed, the bell finally rang and they left the class, now done with classes for the day. With a sigh most of the class turned and headed for the library. As was often the case, Ron was behind on assignments, and even Luna was on his case about it. He immediately started on a transfiguration essay on the subject of charming muggle artifacts, and the consequences of such, that was due in the morning and that he had yet to start. In fact it was his exceedingly good fortune that his fiancée was extremely bright, otherwise he would have probably failed by now as by this point Hermione flatly refused to do his work for him, as she knew he was more than capable of doing it himself, more a matter of a lack of desire rather than skill on Ron's part. Actually Hermione wouldn't even do Harry's, mostly, though he seldom asked. Luna contrary to appearances at times, was actually very bright, she had been initially in Ravenclaw after all.
Finally finishing their workload the trio staggered out of the library and headed for dinner, passing the main doors to the castle, Hermione leaned over to Harry's ear to say "Thanks" and kissed his cheek.
******************Headmasters Office*****************************
It was late, Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office doing paperwork, actually he was sitting with his eyes closed, to all external observation asleep, though a quill magically filled out various forms and signed documents on his desk. Such things passed under the quill as countersigning detention forms, a bill for last month's food and various owls to the Ministry. As he sat there, however, he was mostly musing on some half-forgotten memory. For several months now something had been bothering him, but he couldn't quite remember it. Lingering there with his thoughts, he flashed back to Diagon Alley, and the events of a few days before.
Not the fight, but the reason that they had been there in the first place. Something about that purpose was hiding in
the back of his memories. Why? Suddenly an image of Lily's engagement ring flashed across his memories,
and flashed forward several months to James and Lily exchanging their vows,
---- "Do you Lily Evans take this man into your heart to become one with him for now and eternity?"
---- She looked into James eyes and mouthed 'we already were one love' "I do for now and
eternity."
Dumbledore's eyes snapped open. Is that the key? Anne and I... He paused for a second as the image of his dead wife crossed his mind, our vows were a little different, there are various renditions, but Wizard marriage vows, especially the old forms, unlike muggle ones literally mean one person in two bodies. And if I go by the old ways......... Dumbledore opened a drawer looking for a book, but instead another random thought poked its way in as he found one of his Order of Merlin metals lying discarded in the drawer. Like his great-great-great-grandson he had never sought glory, it was thrust upon him reluctantly. He flashed back to a drunken conversion with Alastor, years ago; it was just after the two had witnessed the sentencing of Crouch Jr., the Lestranges and other Death Eaters to Azkaban for the first time.
*********************Muggle Pub, London*************************
15 years ago
Alastor Moody and Albus Dumbledore, two of the most powerful light wizards in all of England, and in Dumbledore's case the world were sitting in the back of a Muggle Pub. They have just left the Ministry and have chosen this watering hole instead of a wizard pub in hopes of being left alone.
"It's not over yet, Albus, Malfoy got off." Alastor Moody commented into his beer. To one from the future, Moody was almost unrecognizable. He had all of his limbs and both his eyes were natural and dark. There weren't any real scars on his face yet either. That ever-present air of paranoia, that was common to both this version of Alastor Moody and the one fifteen years hence, though.
"We will get him eventually, Alastor, patience." A younger Dumbledore responded, as he took a drink. He sat the pint down on the scarred table, and glanced around the room at the few Muggles in here at his hour.
"Pity we didn't get them before Alice and..." Moody trailed off. "Anyway the one I really want is...Black damn it. You'd think Bellatrix would have turned on him to get a lesser sentence, but she wouldn't say where he was. Bastard betrayed James and Lily, and killed Pettigrew himself. How could we have been so wrong Albus?" Moody pleaded. "Though at least James and Lily's sacrifice saved us."
"No, it didn't, at least not yet." Dumbledore replied looking down at his pint. "Lily was able to postpone his ascension and she may have forced Tom to produce his own downfall, or she may have just perpetuated the suffering to a new generation."
"What do you mean?" The one would who become Mad-Eye replied, slightly confused. He took a drink to offset his puzzlement.
"Harry is the key, that's why I couldn't keep him Alastor. I'm not Merlin damn it, I can't raise Arthur from a boy, and I'm afraid in the end that is what we will need." Dumbledore replied bitterly as he took another draught of his drink.
"No Albus you're not," Moody replied with a slight smile. "He had a better press agent." Both of them chuckled at the pitiful joke and clinked their mugs together.
*****************Hogwarts, present day************************
Yes, Harry is a key, but... Dumbledore did not find the book he was wanting in the drawer, so he glanced over at a half-full bookshelf across the room. As he looked at it, a new book appeared on the shelf. With a raised hand, an old book flew over to him and dropped open on a particular page. The selected page curiously showed an illustration quite similar to the ring that his great, great, great, grandson even now had in his possession. He read: 'Wizards are different from non-magic using peoples in many ways. Of particular interest is that old-style Wizard marriages are normally unbreakable except by death or the direct treason of one of the betrothed against the other. In fact is should be noted that depending on the strength of the bond of the wizard and witch involved, the veil of death may not be enough to severe this bond. The actual marriage of the wizard and witch has varied over the centuries, currently most marriages are considered as are muggle ones to begin at the confirmation of vows in the wedding. However at times in the past, the acceptance of the proposal by the witch has been in and of itself suitable for the permanent bond to be established, and in very rare cases, the actual formal proposal is too superfluous. In these cases the marriage ceremony is actually just a forum for the betrothed to celebrate with their loved ones, in effect and in truth they became bound to each other with the proposal. This bond is usually assumed as the bride becoming one with the groom, Wizarding law assumes that a married couple, whether or not the bond began at the engagement or at the wedding itself, becomes technically one entity that happens to reside in two bodies.' Finishing the passage, Dumbledore slammed the book down, and closed his eyes again. Of course, damn getting old, I know what my memory was trying to tell me.
******************************Flashback*********************************
Sometime after the deaths of James and Lily Potter
16yrs ago
Dumbledore sat quietly in the back of the Divination classroom. Back then it was often his habit to sit in new a Professor's classes to see their effectiveness. He didn't really believe in this class, for the most part he found Divination, useless. And even if a prophecy was correct, there were always multiple ways of fulfilling them, and prophecies, were by their nature basically the most probable outcome of events. It was possible for a strong individual to bend the results from that prophesized to ones more favorable to the person. He was willing to give this Professor a chance, however, she did make a prophecy that could save us all, and if everything worked out, giving her a job was a small price to pay. Dumbledore was paying little attention when for some reason he happened to look up at Trelwany as she started to speak.
Trelwany was looking at a third year and suddenly expounded in a slightly raspy tone, "You know dear that some day the Dark One will come to the end of a path began some 16 years prior, The two who stand at the head of the pride will become one. A great fortress on a hill will be torn asunder, ancient truths will become apparent. The Dark One will issue a challenge, which will be answered. You really need to fill out that dream diary dear." She finished, airily.
In confusion, Dumbledore sat there thinking, what the hell was that?
A/N there ya go, another chapter...Hermione has looked on the thestrals. And Dumbledore has realized something.