Harry Potter and the Black Obsidian Room

[Druscilla Grace]

Hey, I've started a fic about Harry's 7th year, and I'm going to post it here. I've got about 7 chapters written at the moment, and some of the longer ones I will break up and put into two or three posts, instead of posting the whole thing in one long post. I would love to hear some comments, good or bad, on this thread or you could PM them to me, I'd be gratefull for any feedback. Hope you enjoy it.

[Druscilla Grace]

Chapter One
One Last Dursley Visit

Harry woke up at number four Privit Drive a week after his sixth year at Hogwarts to a loud crash from downstairs. He sat straight up in his bed and looked around for his round glasses. He found them on his bedside dresser and shoved them on his face and padded out his room and down the stairs.
"Get off me!" whispered a girls voice.
"Wha- I'm not on you..."
"Then what are you sitting on?"
"Oh, sorry, well, shall we go get him?"

While they had been talking, Harry had been sneaking up on them. He grabbed the boy around the middle and yelled "GOTCHA!" the boy jumped into the air and screamed.
"What's going on down there?!" yelled a voice from upstairs and Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley came wobbling, stomping, and fumbling down the stairs. "Who are you and what are you doing in my house!? I do not tolerate your kind in this house!" he yelled, looking at their robes. "Get out NO-" he suddenly fell back, stiff as a board.

Harry looked around and grinned at a guilty looking Hermione. "I've been wanting to do that for years Hermione, you two want to come up to my room?" They both obliged and followed him up the stairs.

"So, you guys know anything the newspapers don't?" Harry asked once they made it up to his room.
"No, we've been too busy setting up the wedding." Hermione said from the bed.
Harry looked up at Ron, who was busy looking at his TV, "When's the wedding set for?"
"Hm? Oh, a week from today. Mum's frantic, but she's getting on better with Fleur. Charlie's coming in, so are Dad's parents, and some of Mum's family, Fleur's Mum, Dad, and sister are coming. We're having it in front of the garden."

Harry started packing. "How are we leaving? Are we going to Apparate? Since Hermione's got her license they won't catch on.
"yea." Hermione answered as she went to help him pack. Once they had checked every nook and cranny for anything Harry would ever possibly want, he was never coming back here, they went downstairs to the Dursleys. Dudley ran and Petunia looked up at Harry, she stood up.

"Harry, what is going on?" she asked in a dignified voice, hiding her indignification just barely. She ignored the other two magical folk and looked Harry in the eye.
"I'm leaving. Once and for all. I'm never coming back, and I can't say I'm sorry....I couldn't be more happy." Harry answered coldly, icily staring back into her eyes. She looked horrified and started mumbling. She started fiddling with her hands, "hold on a moment..." she muttered and ran up the stairs.

___________________________


An old man with a long silver beard was sitting in a small pub in London, he kept looking at the door, as if expecting someone. He sipped a bottle that looked like root beer and never seemed to go empty. The bell over the door tinkled and a figure came in from the pouring rain and blowing wind. It looked around and, spotting the old man, came over to his table.
"Ah, my dear, how are you on this not-so-fine evening?" Asked the man.
The figure pulled down its hood, revealing a woman's head, she had high cheek bones and a very long neck. "Just get on with what you want Albus." she whispered quickly.

Dumbledore steepled his fingers and stared at her over his half moon spectacles. He took a deep breath. "Very well, you were always impatient. Harry has been doing well at school." petunia sniffed. "you must be at least a little proud, he IS your nephew."
"Not by any choice of mine" she scowled.

"Anyway," he continued, as if not interrupted, "this summer, he will leave you, possibly never to come back. There are things I have no time to tell him, these things I have written in a letter. Things about his mother, and his father, and about Severus Snape." her ears perked up and her eyes narrowed. "I also have a few bottles for him. All of this is in here." he took out an ornately carved oak box and sat it on the table. "Don't even try to open it, only he can, and you must give it to him, it could mean the lives of many people if he doesn't receive this. On the day he leaves Privit Drive forever, give him this. Answer no questions, just give it to him and bid him goodbye."

Petunia took the box and left the pub, back to Privit drive and her sleeping husband.

________________________________

Harry looked at his aunt as she came carefully down the stairs carrying in front of her a wooden box. He looked at his friends, who were giving him quizzical looks. Petunia Evans Dursley took a deep breath and faced her sisters flesh and blood.
"Earlier in the year, someone told me that, on the day you leave this house forever, I was to give you this. I cannot answer any questions, just say goodbye, one last time." she handed the box to Harry. "Don't open it now, do it later, away from here, when you are alone." she started to turn away but stopped, "Harry-you remind me so much of Lily, I-I" she swallowed. "I really am sorry she is gone, I just...never mind, it's in the past..." Then she did something she had never done before, she reached out, grabbed Harry, hugged him, and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodbye, Harry"

"Let's go Harry." Hermione said from behind him. He nodded and thought hard on the burrow, clenching the box and his belongings. When he opened his eyes, he was in the field facing the Burrow.

[Druscilla Grace]

Chapter Two
The Burrow

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in Ron's room eating a breakfast in bed. When Mrs. Weasley had seen them coming up the lawn through the kitchen window, she had ran out and engulfed Harry in a suffocating hug. She had then turned to the others with the same thing, though not as rough. She ushered them into the kitchen and hurriedly finished up the breakfast she had been preparing. Ron had told her they would eat in his room and she laid the food out on three plates and waved them upstairs.

Now, they were there, looking at the strange box, trying to figure out if they should open it.
"She didn't say who gave it to her. I don't know Harry, it could be bad...we should get a member to check it for dark magic." Hermione said skeptically.
"Aw, 'Mione," Ron choked out. He swallowed the large mouthful of bacon and eggs. "she wouldn't give 'im something unless she was sure it was ok."
"Yea, maybe before, but now, after that last thing she did...I don't think she would hurt me, she seemed to actually....care....." Harry took a bite of toast.

"Go on Harry, open it." urged Ron.
"I don't know, she said open it alone..." Hermione looked about to protest. "No, Hermione, I think that I'll be ok, when we get done with this, I want you two to go downstairs, lock this door, and don't bother me. OK?" he looked at his friends, they sat there, looking into each others eyes. Before they could argue, there was a scream from downstairs. They glanced around and bounded down to the kitchen, drawing their wands.

They saw Mrs. Weasley standing at the window, washing dishes.
"Mum, what happened?" Ron demanded.
"What?"
"You screamed."
"Oh, that, I cut myself, these knives, they're dangerous. Why don't you go and help the others, they're getting everything ready." She smiled at them.

They were forced out of the kitchen and went towards the garden, where they had seen Bill and Charlie.
"Hey Harry!" Shouted Bill. "How're things?" asked Charlie as they walked up.
"Fine, what are you doing?" answered Harry, distantly, still thinking about Mrs. Weasley.
"Degnoming the garden, picking up weeds, planting some fast-growing bleeding hearts. Were you sent to help?" when they nodded he put them to work throwing out the gnomes.

Since they were in a different part of the garden then Bill and Charlie, they could continue with the box openly.
Hermione was the first to break the silence. "Who do you think it's from?"
"I don't know." Harry picked up a gnome and began to swing it. "wait," he stopped and the potato like creature bit him. "ow, you stupid-" he threw it over the fence. "but I did see something on the lid. AD was carved into it...it was in old english looking script. Is that familiar to any of you?"
"AD? AD, AD, Albus Dumbledore?" guessed Ron.
"Of course," Hermione slapped her forehead. "Didn't you tell us that your aunt got a howler that sounded like it was from Dumbledore? She must have been in contact with him."

Harry remembered, that makes sense. But why didn't he just give it to him? It would have been so much easier to have done that, he could have explained everything and talked it over.
"Harry, are you ok?" Harry looked up, Ron and Hermione was looking at him in concern.
"What?" he felt something on his cheek, he reached up and found it was a tear. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine." he mumbled, looking down and wiping his eyes clean. "Lets hurry and get this done."

They said nothing the rest of the time. Three hours and many dizzy gnomes later, hot, sweaty, tired, and covered in dirt, they all stomped in for lunch.
The table was groaning from the weight of the food that Mrs. Weasley had prepared, with, from the looks of some otherworldly dishes, the help of Fleur. Eight chairs were gathered around, which was funny to Harry, and when he asked, Ron told him that Fred, George, and Mr. Weasley were still working and that they hadn't started their short vacation time yet.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Bill, and Charlie sat down as the others straggled in. Fleur sat beside Bill, witch was a good change from last time Harry had been here and she had sat in his lap at meals. Ginny came running in, Harry gave her an awkward smile, she froze when she saw him and returned the smile quickly before looking down and sitting on the other end of the table. Mrs. Weasley was the last one to come in, which was unusual, but Harry figured she had a lot on her mind, and they dug in.

[Druscilla Grace]

Chapter Three
This Wasn't in the Wedding Plans...

The next few days flew by in a rush of cleaning, new arrivals, nervous breakdowns, and fittings. Family members apparated in from all over, Mrs. Weasley made sure everyone who was part of the wedding had the appropriate robes. Dress robes had to be mended and added to, decorations had to be put up, Harry was amazed at the work that went into such a small wedding. Before they knew it it was the day before the wedding date.

Everyone had arrived except Fleur's family. They should be arriving any time though, they were apparating in for the night and leaving the day after next. Everyone had just finished eating and was sitting next to the fire talking and listening to the radio when there was a knock at the door. Mrs. Weasley got up to open it and 3 people walked in. Fleur jumped up and ran to them.

Fleur led them into the room. "Everyone, zis is my family, my fazzer, Amaury, my muzzer, Sylvie, and my sister, Gabrielle." everyone nodded to them and Fleur started them around the room and began the introductions. When she got to Harry, she looked up at her parents, "Zis is 'Arry Potter, the boy 'oo helped Gabrielle." They smiled down on him and Gabrielle ran to him and wrapped him in a hug.
" 'Ello 'Arry." she said, looking up at him.
"Hey Gabrielle," Harry laughed.

Everyone had finally retired to bed when Mrs. Weasley looked at the clock and noticed it was nearly midnight. She had ushered them all up to bed, but none of them slept. Harry was laying in his bed in Ron's room, looking at the ceiling, trying to clear his head when he heard a weak yell. "Molly.....Molly.....Mo-" there was a thump, like someone had collapsed. Harry looked over into the other bed to see Ron looking at him.

"Wanna go see what's going on?" whispered Ron, "I have a couple of extendables." Harry nodded and the two crept down the stairs, which was a feat as to they each creaked menacingly. The door to the kitchen was cracked open, it was easy for them to throw out the ears and settle down to listen.

"Molly....they know...about the....wedding..."
"It's Lupin!" Ron held up his finger for Harry to hush. They heard running water, Mrs. Weasley was pouring him a glass of water.
"Thank you," Lupin sounded a little stronger, but when he continued, it was haltingly, it sounded as if every word caused him pain. "They know, they think it a good way....to get rid of a portion...of the order. They're going to come," he was racked by a coughing fit. When it passed, he continued. "going to come and try to ruin it...and kill some of you...in the process."

Harry had moved to where he could see the two adults. Lupin looked up at Mrs. Weasley.
"Molly, you must postpone the wedding, you have to be ready...."
"No, this wedding will not be disrupted. It is going to be a happy, happy day, and nothing bad is going to happen, and if it does, we can deal with it." Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips defiantly.

"But Molly...." she glared.
"OK, but, I'm calling Moody and Tonks, the more the better." The effort finally proved to much for him as he slumped down onto the table. Mrs. Weasley threw a blanket over him and walked towards the kitchen door-the door Harry and Ron were hiding behind.
"Run!" whispered Harry.

Before they knew it they were being shook awake by Mrs. Weasley, the sun was still rising.
"Aw mum..." mumbled Ron.
"Aw Ron.." Mrs. Weasley mimicked, "Get up lazybones, both of you, get dressed, we have a wedding to get to!" She was practically hopping with either nervousness or excitement, Harry couldn't tell which. They hurriedly pulled on their dress robes and went to help with last minute preparations.

"I wonder if anything's gonna happen like Lupin said." Harry said in an undertone to Ron.
"I dunno mate, but I do know I'm taking my wand with me, along with one of Fred and George's shield belts." said Ron.
By 1 o'clock everyone was in the garden ready for the wedding to start. As Lupin had said the night before, both Moody and Tonks were there, Tonks supporting Lupin, he looked as if a hippogriff had been offended and he was the offender.

"Poor Lupin." Hermione popped up behind them, making them jump. "What's up? Why are you so jumpy?" They quickly filled her in on what they had seen the previous night, they had not seen her since Fleur's family arrived.
"So we need to be on our guard." finished Harry.
"Yeah," murmured Hermione, she looked up and saw Bill standing at the alter. "Oh, it's about to start."
Harry looked at Bill, it was the first time he had a good look at him since the end of school. His face was completely different, covered in scars, but it was still Bill. Same ponytail, same posture, same dragon claw earring.

Music started playing and Gabrielle came out, holding a basket. She started walking down the aisle, strewing flowers along the walkway. When she got up to the front, the music changed and everyone stood up, Fleur came into view. Harry was speechless, she was beautiful, well, more so than usual, her dress was pure white with pearls sewed onto it, it shimmered magically, her train trailed a yard behind her. She had a blue chocker with a ruby dangling from it. Her hair was long and flowing.

She made it up to the alter and the Priest looked at them and at the audience. He started the ceremony and Harry, who was nervous after hearing Lupin the night before, couldn't pay attention, he kept looking around, looking for any sign of trouble. He saw Hermione, she was intent onto the ceremony, apparently dreaming of her own wedding. When the priest asked do you, she mouthed I do. Harry looked back at the alter in time to hear "You may now kiss the bride." Bill and Fleur obliged and everyone cheered. They went around to the back where the reception food was laid out.

"Toss the flowers Fleur! All you ladies get out there and try to catch it!" Mrs. Weasley urged. So far, everything was going great. Harry pushed Hermione forward.
"But, Harry, wha-" she stuttered.
"Go on Hermione, have fun!" Harry yelled and pushed her on.
Fleur laughed and turned around, she tossed the bouquet. Hermione jumped up and caught it with no trouble. She ran back to Harry and Ron. Her and Ron locked eyes for a moment and looked away, blushing furiously.

Harry grinned and looked away nervously. He saw Ginny, she was wearing dark blue dress robes that shimmered in the sun. She noticed him and made a point to avoid his gaze, she had taken it well at the end of the year when Harry broke up with her, but it still must have hurt. Harry felt bad for making her feel that way, but he felt that it was the right thing to do. Everyone sat down around the tables, Bill and Fleur at the head. Everyone passed them gifts which they opened enthusiastically. The meal was great and everyone propped back and shared stories.

"Well, nothing happened Harry, apparently Lupin was lead on a loo-" Hermione stopped suddenly, looking intently over Ron's shoulder. She reached for her wand, "or maybe not...look over there, in the trees, I could have sworn that I saw something move." Harry and Ron looked at where she indicated.
"Hermione, I don't see anything." said Ron, squinting at the spot.
Hermione looked dubious, "You sure you don't see anything."
"I'm sure, the sun's setting, shadows are moving around, it was probably just a trick of the eyes," soothed Harry, I hopehe thought to himself.

He was wrong. Suddenly, apparently out of nowhere, over a dozen black robed figures jumped out and started firing hexes and curses. Everyone jumped, having just been relaxed and without a care, into action. The ones who had their wands started firing counter jinxes and curses at the Death Eaters. "I guess Lupin was right after all!" shouted Harry. Ron, Hermione, and Harry ran out and started after three of the attackers.

Everyone was going crazy, shots of light were flying everywhere, remnants of food was slung around the yard. Harry was dueling a tall, fast, slender one, he assumed it was a witch. levicorpus he thought, and his opponent was jerked up into the air by their ankles, their hood fell back and the mask came off, it was a witch, with dark hair and eyes.

"So Bella, out for an evening walk?" asked Harry, he tried to stun her, but she blocked him and flipped herself upright. Apparently loving Snape had told his fellow death eaters his spells.
"You can't get me that easily Potter!" she laughed, "If the Dark Lord didn't want you for himself, I would get rid of you now, but oh well, I can still Crucio!" she yelled.

Harry prepared himself for the curse, he heard someone screaming, but it wasn't him. He looked up and saw someone writhing on the ground in front of him with Belatrix laughing maniacally in the background. He looked to see who was on the ground, and saw red hair and blue robes.

[Druscilla Grace]

Chapter Four
One for Him, None for Us

"Ginny! NO!" he yelled. "Incendio!" Belatrix's arm caught fire and Ginny fell limp. Belatrix screamed and another death eater looked over.

"Lestrange! Go back!" there was a pop and the only trace left of the dark witch was a cloud of smoke from her arm. "Fall back! Fall back! We've done what we came to do!" There were a few more pops and the rest of them left. Harry dropped down beside of Ginny, she was still.

"no, no no no, please, let her be ok....." Harry moaned. He looked around and saw Ron and Hermione close by, clinging to each other. Ron looked at him and his eyes slid down to the heap that was Ginny laying on the ground. He looked back up at Harry with a look of dread, he jumped up, dragging Hermione along, and ran to Harry. He was checking her neck for a pulse, it was there, going very fast.

Harry heaved a sigh of relief, "She's alive. We need to get her inside." Him and Ron picked her up and started towards the house.
"What happened, Harry?" asked Hermione.
"I was dueling with Belatrix, she lifted her wand and said 'Crucio', I shut my eyes and apparently she ran out in front of me. It hit her. I set Belatrix on fire and the lead Death Eater called everyone back." Hermione had a look of disbelief on her face.
"she should have known better..." she whispered.

When they got inside they lay Ginny on one of the couches, Harry ran to wet a cloth to wipe off her face. Others straggled in, some being supported, but most looked ok. Until Bill and Lupin came in, carrying someone between them. They laid them on one of the other couches, and backed away slowly. Mrs. Weasley ran in and looked around.

"Oh, no..." mumbled Ron. He was looking over at the person, Harry followed his gaze and saw red hair.
"No, no no no no no" moaned Mrs. Weasley, "Charlie, no no no, this can't happen, it's supposed to be a happy day." she was sobbing. Mr. Weasley walked over and felt his son's neck, his face fell, he shook his head and knelt down beside his wife, in a state of what had to be shock.

Harry heard a disbelieving 'no' and a sob and turned to see Ron being comforted by Hermione.
"They all got away, we didn't get anyone," Moody said from behind Harry, making him jump. "One for him, none for us. I saw you with Lestrange, you fired her arm. A little extreme, but it works Potter. Still thinking of being an Auror?"
Harry shook himself, "Yea, I'm definitely thinking that. I can't believe this, a wedding today, a funeral tomorrow."
"This is war kid, that's how it goes." said Moody, and limped away.

The next day everyone gathered at the edge of the woods from where the attackers had come from the night before. They were all dressed in their best black robes and were restrained, the ones with red hair, the Weasley’s, were crying. They were there to say goodbye to a family member, where only the day before, they had welcomed one in. They buried Charlie in front of a large tree at the edge of the woods. The priest did the rights, and everyone said a little something. Mr. Weasley took out his wand to carve a simple inscription in the bark of the tree.

Charlie Weasley
Loving Son and Brother
We Will Miss You
Born: 12-12-1972
Died: 6-26-1997

Fleur’s family said their condolences and their goodbyes and left the family to their grieving. Harry nudged Hermione and pulled her away.
“Oh, this is absolutely horrible Harry.” Hermione’s cheeks were tearstained. “Ron’s crushed.” Harry lifted his eyebrows, “Well, so is the rest of the family.” Hermione covered, looking away.
“Hermione, why don’t you two just get on with it?” Harry asked.
“What? What do you mean?” Hermione laughed.

Harry gave her a look, “You know what I mean.”
“Harry, I don’t know what in the world you are talking about.” she said pointedly.
Harry shook his head. “Ok, whatever. But this, this is bad. How did they find out about the wedding? The only people who knew were the Order and close family.”
“I don’t know, there can’t be another spy,” Hermione paused, “Can there?”
“Well, since everyone so trusted Snape, I don’t know. For all we know, there could be.”

The Weasley children started breaking up. Harry and Hermione saw Ron break out and walk into the house. The two exchanged looks and Hermione went after him. Harry saw Ginny pull out and walk towards the house. He fought with himself for a moment then decided she would come to him if she wanted. He walked into the house and saw her hair whip around up the stairs. He looked into the refrigerator and pulled out some ham biscuits.

Comfort food. Maybe Ron will take this and feel a little better. He thought. He started up the stairs. When he went by Ginny’s room, the door was cracked and he heard sobs. He went against his former resolve and knocked on the doorframe and stuck his head in.

“Ginny?” called Harry. “Could I come in? I bring food.”
She didn’t answer. He took this as a ‘do whatever you want’ and walked in.
“Are you ok?” She looked up from her bed, her face tear streaked and her hair in knots.
“Wha-what do you-you think?” she sobbed. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her.
“Ok, bad question.” Ginny swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pulled herself into a sitting position.

“Wha-what did you br-bring?” she sniffed. “Ham?”
Harry grinned and nodded. “Yea.” she took one and took a couple of bites.
“Harry, I miss him already. Why did they have to come and ruin the wedding, and our family?” she dropped the biscuit and looked at Harry, silent tears falling.
Harry put his arm around her. “I don’t know Ginny, I don’t know.” She put her head on his shoulder and started sobbing again. He wrapped her in his arms and comforted her.

[Druscilla Grace]

Chapter Five
The Letter

Harry stayed with her until she cried herself to sleep, then he left quietly to talk to Ron and Hermione. He barged into the room, not thinking to knock. They were napping on the bed, no one had had a good night’s sleep the last few days. When he came in, the door slammed into the wall and Ron and Hermione jerked awake.

“I’m going to Godric’s Hollow.” declared Harry.
Hermione looked at him, uncomprehendingly, “What? Where did you get this idea?”
“This, Charlie, Ginny being hurt, the rest of them being hurt, attacks happening every day. It’s Voldemort. I have to stop him.”
“Harry,” Hermione stood up and walked over to him. “Calm down.” Harry realized he was breathing hard, gasping for air, he tried to calm himself. “You can’t rush into something like this.”

He took a deep breath. “Ok, in order to kill him, we have to get rid of the horcruxes. We need to find out where the others are. Godric’s Hollow is where his first defeat took place, it is a place of importance to him, and to me. It makes since that there would be one there.”

“What about the box?” Ron spoke for the first time, “What if Dumbledore figured something out, or was close to figuring something our and put it in the letter?”
“Yea, I should look at it, but you guys have to leave me alone, I’ll show it to you when I get done.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No.” Repeated Hermione defiantly. “We are with you, no matter what. Dumbledore trusts us almost as much as he trusted you. He let you tell us about the lessons, why not this?”

Harry looked skeptical. “I don’t know.”
“Listen we could have turned back years ago, but we didn’t.”
“Yea, you can read it first, but we’re staying with you, we’re not leaving.” tipped Ron.
Harry stared at them, arguing with himself. His friends looked at him, pleading with their eyes.
“Ok.” He sighed. He went over to his bed and pulled out the oak box engraved with the late Headmasters initials. He sat on his bed and Ron and Hermione came over and they sat in a circle around the box. They looked around at each other one last time, and Harry, taking a deep breath, opened the box.

Inside there was a letter covering no less than 3 sheets of parchment, and 4 bottles of silvery liquid, memories. The inside was lined with purple velvet etched with silver runes. He reached inside and pulled out the letter.
“You read it first Harry.” urged Ron.
Harry nodded and read the letter, his face ranging from tentativeness, to sadness, to anger, to a sad joy. When he finished he looked up and handed the parchment to Hermione.

“Read it out loud Hermione.” he said quietly, holding back tears of happiness, sadness, and many other emotions not quite definable.
Hermione looked into their eyes, first Ron’s then Harry’s, took a deep breath and started to read....


Dear Harry, and possibly Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger,

If you are reading this, then I, as Severus and I have thought, have passed on, and Petunia has kept her word. This is to tell you the things I have not the time to pass on to you. I must tell you this, remember the things I taught you in my lessons, remember Voldemort’s weaknesses.

But I don’t want to talk about Voldemort, yet, you need to know about your parents. They were, as you have very often heard, two of the most powerful magic folk of their age. They, no matter if it may seem otherwise in memories, loved each other more than any two people could possibly do. This that I am going to tell you needs to go no further than you and Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger.

You certainly know of the Department of Mysteries, as you were there in your fifth year, and have heard of the Unspeakables that work there. Your mother and father were unspeakables. Lily worked on a most secret experiment on an ancient power, the power of love, which is in a locked room. Unless I am much mistaken, you tried and failed to get into this room during your adventure. She had found a way to harness this power to use it against people, to protect mostly, and that protection reflects most spells. The most powerful of which was the Avada Kadavra that she blocked from you, with her love, sadly dieing in the process.

Your father worked in a duo of rooms that dealt with time and space, the possibility of loopholes in the fabric of time and space. James wanted to find ways to get around Voldemort’s plots by jumping through time and space. He had used some of the basic knowledge to save himself and Lily from untimely fates with Voldemort, in one life or death encounter, he had taken hold of Lily and went through the fragile fabric back in time to the order headquarters to warn the members of an attack on the building. He saved many lives that day. He had very nearly completed his work, taught it to some of the Order members, myself being included. Some of the things we can do with this knowledge is to become invisible without any outside help, to travel through space, much like apparation, except that it is quiet and much less uncomfortable, and to travel through time without any materials.

Hermione laid the finished page facedown beside of her and looked up at Harry, she looked as if she had been holding back a question. “Harry, what did he mean when he said ‘They, no matter if it may seem otherwise in memories, loved each other more than any two people could possibly do.’ What is he talking about?”

Harry knew exactly what he was talking about, but he had never told Ron and Hermione about the memory, though at the time he had hated his father for what he did to Snape, he now wished James had known Sectumsempra maybe then Dumbledore would still be there, talking to him, without the medium of a letter.

“Harry?”
Harry jerked, “Oh,” he fought with himself over whether to tell them, he had not in honor of Snape’s privacy, but he didn’t deserve any of that now, not with what he had done. “Do you remember when I was taking Occlumency lessons with Snape? And suddenly we stopped? I told you that he said I had learned enough and could continue on my own.” He asked them. They nodded and he continued.

“Well-that wasn’t the case.” he stopped, wondering how to put the experience into words. “Snape left me in the classroom alone, he had to tend to one of his students, and left the pensive with his memories in it on his desk. I couldn’t resist, I had to look. I went into the pensive and-” he told them the story, “My mother hated my father...and I don’t blame her, he was an idiot. I wondered how they ended up together...if my mum had possibly used a love potion.” he finished, looking down, not meeting his friends’ eyes.

“Aww Harry, I don’t think your mum would have done that.”
“Your dad nearly took of Sniv-I mean Snape’s underpants! In front of the whole 5th year!” Ron laughed. “Aw man, If we could only do that to Mal-”
“Ron!” Hermione snapped. “How could you even think of doi-”
“At least I’m not talking about slapping him.” Ron countered, Hermione blushed.
“Yes, but that wasn’t in front of everyone....”

She turned to Harry, who was sitting, half-smiling from the exchange between his friends. “Anyway,” she continued as if the encounter had not happened. “your father must have grown, I know that you and Ron are much more mature than you were in our 5th year.” She glanced at Ron, who was determinedly looking at Pig, turning pink on his ears.

“Well, you got to think, in our 5th year, Harry was all googley eyed at Cho.” Ron sblack personed.
“At least it wasn’t Lavender.” remarked Hermione. Ron looked shamedly at her.
“Or McClaggen.” finished Harry, ‘can we get on reading? If I remember right, this page has stuff about Snape.”

Ron and Hermione broke eye contact and Hermione picked up the next page to continue reading.

Now, enough about your parents, though there is a tiny bit more information in the bottles, but that is best saved for another time. I know that you do not trust Severus, and after this year, you will have no reason to. You see, what he did, he had to do, I knew about it, he had made the unbreakable vow. It was him or me, his life is much more important than mine.

Ron interrupted, “He knew? He knew that Snape was going to kill him? And he agreed to it?” he looked at Harry disbelievingly.
“Go on Hermione, it’s explained, a bit.” Harry said, without looking at them.
Hermione paused, looking as though she wanted to say something, but she decided against it and started reading again.

I can see your face now, and yes, I let it happen for a reason. I have told you and everyone in the Order that I have a good reason to trust Severus. I will now tell you this reason, or as much as I can, I cannot keep it from you any longer, if you do not know, you may wrongly accuse him of something.

You may or may not know that Severus was the one who heard the prophecy and transferred the partial message to Lord Voldemort. He did not realize that the Dark Lord would go after Lily and James. He felt extreme remorse when he found that they had died, Lily more so than James, I believe that they had formed a sort of, friendship, during their school years, possibly more, all I know is that they were fond of each other, though they wished that others would not know.

This, however, was not the reason for him coming to me. He had grown to where he despised the acts of his fellow Death Eaters, to hate the treatment of victims, of the way they themselves were treated. He came to me, telling me of plans, of who where Death Eaters, as many as he knew, for their identities were concealed even from their comrades. He told me that when he joined the ranks, he was in a bitter mood, his only love had disregarded him in favor of another.

They promised him gold, power, and revenge on his father. He naturally accepted, not knowing what he was truly getting into. You will ask how do you know he is telling the truth, the answer is I used Ligilimency. He went and killed his own father, it was his, say, initiation. He was also forced to help in the punishment of fellow Death Eaters, it was not a pretty job.

Then came the day that his master wished for him to do something he could not bring himself to do, kill his mother, for she had married a muggle. When he did not do this, the Dark Lord punished him, or rather, made one of his ‘trusted’ friends punish him, Lucius Malfoy. Severus then came to me, hurt, bleeding, he had nearly died that day. He admitted his wrongs, told me his story, and gave the names of many Death Eaters, many of whom are now in Azkaban, Voldemort did not see fit to get them out in the large breakout in your 5th year.

There is more to this story, things I will not tell you, in respect of Severus’ privacy, just know that I trust him.

“That’s not a very good reason to trust someone.” Hermione stopped reading. “He kills a few people, chickens out, and says he’s sorry.” she shook her head, “What else could there be? He said that wasn’t all of it, why not tell us the whole story?”
“Because he trusts Snape, he thinks that everyone should.” said Harry bitterly.
“He doesn’t deserve it, ‘you may wrongly accuse him of something’ wrongly nothing, whether or not Dumbledore agreed to it, if he’s so loyal, he shouldn’t’ve turned on his mentor like that.” Ron said.

They were quiet for a moment, Harry and Ron fuming, Hermione had a confused look, she couldn’t rationalize this particular problem, and she couldn’t just go to the library for this one. She rifled through the pages as if they would tell her something. She stopped where she had quit reading. Looking around to see if Ron and Harry were ready, she continued:

Now, on to Lord Voldemort
They were interrupted by a knock on the door, “Hold on a moment!” shouted Ron, glancing at Harry. They pushed everything into the box, carefully folding the letter and being careful not to break the bottles of memory. The door opened just as Harry was putting the box under the bed.

Ginny walked in, “Mum says,” she stopped and looked around at them, “What are you doing?” she asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed.
“Nothing.” said Harry, not meeting her eyes.
“I don’t believe you.”
“We were just talking, nothing really.” assured Hermione. “About Godric’s Hollow.”
She looked at Ron “What about it? Are you going?”

“Uh,” Ron looked helplessly at Harry, who shrugged. “Well, we don’t know.”
“You do know that if you three go, then I’m coming along, like it or not.” she folded her arms in a very Mrs. Weasleyish way.
Harry’s eyes widened, “No, you are not going. It will be too dangerous, this is the type of thing I wanted you protected from.”
She walked closer to where he was standing. “Whether I’m here or there, I’m in the same amount of danger.”

“But-”
“I’ll go whatever.” she looked him in the eyes, he looked back helplessly. He knew she would come, as well as Ron and Hermione. He could not control them. As much as he wanted to keep them safe, he knew he couldn’t protect them forever.
“Ok,” he agreed, defeated. “We actually started off talking about Godric’s Hollow. Now I guess it’s final, we’re going.”

They decided they would leave their school things at the Burrow and come back before school, that is, if Harry decided he was going back. They got a bag apiece, after they had convinced Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to let them go (which was hard, considering they had just lost a son), to put clothes and food in, and, in Harry’s case, the invisibility cloak and the oak box. They were ready in less then two hours, they were leaving the next morning.

When they woke up they forced Mrs. Weasley to break her death-grip hug. They took their bags and turned down the lawn, towards the future.