Chapter 45 “ Lily’s Eyes
A sense of relief washed over Harry as he woke up on Friday “ he had managed to make it two nights without any more visions. He looked around the dormitory; Ron was the only person still there. He seemed to be trying to wrap something in flashing silver and pink wrapping paper with extreme difficulty.
“What are you doing?” Harry asked groggily.
“Wrapping Hermione’s Valentine’s present,” Ron muttered. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” Harry said, putting his glasses on.
“With Katie. I can’t tell if she wants to cry or hit you.”
“Oh, that “ ” Harry felt a guilty squirm in his stomach.
“Yeah “ that. So what’s going on?” Ron said, placing the finally wrapped gift on his bed. Harry looked at him apprehensively.
“Promise you won’t say anything?” he said.
“Of course.”
“Not even to Hermione?”
Ron looked slightly put out at this request, but he nodded reluctantly in agreement.
“Alright,” said Harry. “I told you about the ‘vision’ I had. But “ I don’t know, did Hermione tell you what she thought was the cause…”
“Katie?” Ron said.
“Yeah…” Harry said.
“But “ but I thought you told her she was wrong…”
“Well, Dumbledore said almost the same thing as Hermione. He didn’t mention Katie by name, but from what he said, I gathered that Hermione’s right. And “ well, I have to shut-down my emotions if I’m going to block Voldemort from my mind.”
“So what “ you’re just going to stay away from Katie without giving her an explanation?” Ron asked. “I’m not even that stupid…”
“I can’t tell her Ron. This way it’ll be easier for her to forget about me if…”
“If what?”
“If I have to make this permanent.”
“Harry, you can’t be serious?”
“If my feelings for Katie make me vulnerable to Voldemort, and he gets into my mind…” Harry said. “Let’s just say it won’t be good. I mean, he’ll know how I feel about her for one “ so she’ll be in danger. Not to mention other stuff he can use against me. Against all of us.”
“Harry “ ”
But the dormitory room door opened, and Hermione came in.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Nothing, Harry and I were just talking.”
“About what?”
“It doesn’t matter, alright?” Harry said moodily.
“Harry, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Katie. None of this has anything to do with what I said, does it? Because I didn’t mean “ ”
Ron gave her a warning look and she stopped. Harry grabbed his bag and pushed past Hermione, out into the spiral staircase and down into the common room. Katie was sitting in an armchair with a stack of books. She looked exhausted, and she was scribbling frantically across a piece of parchment. Harry felt a horrible pang of guilt, but he continued out of the room through the portrait hole and went towards the Great Hall.
It’s for her own good, Harry thought. It’s for everyone’s good.
Harry sat down for breakfast. Neville and Seamus were sitting to his left. Dean was sitting next to Lavender and Parvati. Harry was just wondering why anyone would voluntarily sit with the two of them when Ginny came storming into the Great Hall, red with rage.
“DEAN THOMAS!”
Dean, who had been impressing Lavender with some ridiculous story, turned to look at Ginny.
“I thought you were supposed to wait for me?” Ginny snapped.
“You were taking forever…” he said impatiently
“You couldn’t have waited ten minutes?” she said, her eyes falling to Lavender. “But I suppose you had other interests in mind…” she added coolly.
“Ginny, I already told you “ ” Dean started.
“That you’re not interested in Lavender. Yeah “ then how come you’re always with her and never with me? You know what? I don’t care anymore, Dean. You’re not worth my time.”
She turned furiously on her heel and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving everyone in ear-shot of the argument, which included everyone in the room and a couple strolling around the Entrance Hall, in stunned silence. After a few seconds there was muffled laughter from a couple of Slytherins, but everyone else remained thoroughly shocked. At that precise moment, Ron and Hermione came walking in hand in hand, smiling madly. They didn’t seem to notice the deafening silence surrounding them. They sat down next to Harry just as the Great Hall began to fill with chatter again.
“What’s the matter with the two of you?” Harry asked bad-humouredly.
“Ron gave me the most thoughtful gift…” Hermione started, but she drifted off upon seeing the painful look on Harry’s face. “Sorry “ you know you should just talk to Katie…”
“Looks like Ginny and Dean are through,” Harry interjected, not wanting to discuss Katie.
“What’d you mean?” Ron asked, taking a bite of an apple.
“Ginny was just in here “ her and Dean had a massive fight.”
“Well, it’s not surprising,” Hermione said, pouring herself some coffee. “She’s been huffy about Dean for the past few weeks now. Don’t blame her, the way he’s always around Lavender nowadays,” Hermione cast a scathing look in Dean and Lavender’s direction.
“He hasn’t been messing around on my sister, has he?” Ron demanded.
“No, I don’t think so. But he hasn’t been paying any attention to Ginny either. But don’t worry,” she added, casting an alarming look at the way Ron was holding his wand and eyeing Dean. “Ginny’s not upset really, just mad at him…”
“Yeah “ she said that Dean wasn’t ‘worth her time’ before she left. Announced it to the whole school…” Harry said.
This calmed Ron down a bit, and the conversation drifted to what they were doing in Hogsmeade that day. Harry felt guilty about Katie again, and decided to leave early for Transfiguration, thinking about how unusual a start Hogwarts had for Valentine’s Day.
“Good afternoon “ have you had any more visions?” Dumbledore said when Harry entered his office later that day.
“No,” Harry said.
“Good. Well let’s not waste anytime, take out your wand, stand over there, and we’ll see how you’re doing.”
Harry did as he was told. Dumbledore stood in front of him.
“Ready?” he asked. Harry nodded.
“Alright. One “ two “ three “ Legilemensia!”
The spell hit Harry with incredible force, but he stood his ground, looking directly at Dumbledore, not allowing the spell to enter his mind; Dumbledore held his wand for another few seconds, and then relinquished.
“Good, good. You’re no worse off than you were last summer. Sit down in front of my desk, Harry,” Dumbledore said as he, too, walked to his desk. “We’ll do it without wands now. I’m going to ask you some questions…”
Harry nodded to show he understood “ Dumbledore was going to question him, and Harry was supposed to lie. It was the same as what they had done over the summer.
Dumbledore took a seat across from Harry and fixed him with his piercing blue gaze.
“What is your name?”
“Ronald Weasley.”
“Did you go into Hogsmeade today?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I went to the Three Broomsticks and had a butterbeer with Hermione.”
Dumbledore watched him; Harry knew he was searching his mind, trying to find traces of information that contradicted his lies. After a few moments he sat back in his chair.
“Well, you’re all clear. You don’t seem to be having any trouble at all,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t think this is the source of the problem.”
“But I’ve been practicing for two days “ ”
“Still, Harry. If your Occlumency abilities slipped enough to let Voldemort back into your mind, two days of practice wouldn’t be enough. I should have been able to pick up on something.”
Dumbledore sat looking pensive for a minute. Harry nervously fiddled with the clasp of his robes, wondering what the problem could possibly be and thinking regretfully about how he had shut out Katie for no reason. Then Dumbledore looked as though realization had dawned upon him.
“Harry “ it is possible that Voldemort is not in your mind, but that you are in his mind….”
“What do you mean, Professor?”
“If you have any powers of Legilemency then you would be able to see into his mind without him seeing into yours, especially if his defenses are down.”
“But Professor, I don’t “ I can’t…”
“Can you, Harry? I want you to look into my eyes. Focus. I’m going to say something to you, and I want you to attempt to see into my thoughts ““
“How do I “ ”
“Just concentrate. I want you to look into my mind and see if you can find something, anything “ a thought, a memory… something that contradicts what I am going to say to you.”
Harry gulped apprehensively, but nodded.
“I am an only child,” Dumbledore said, calmly.
“But Professor, I know you have a “ ”
“Not what you know Harry, you need to look into my mind…” Dumbledore said softly.
This is ridiculous, Harry thought. But he gathered all his concentration and looked into Dumbledore’s eyes, trying to summon his thoughts. Suddenly he heard a voice, Dumbledore’s voice
“Aberforth, you really shouldn’t be using magic…”
Harry pushed this aside as his own imagination, trying to give him what he wanted, but then a scene entered his mind.
He saw two young boys, both with sleek auburn hair, running around a large garden with; the sky was a stunning cloudless blue. One of the boys had his wand out and was zapping the goats with red jets of light, causing them to bleat with fright and trot away quickly. The other boy, hiding his slight amusement at the reaction of the goats, stood up and took the wand from his hand. “Aberforth, you really shouldn’t be using magic out of school. And you’re bothering the goats; they’ll be giving us spoiled milk if you don’t stop…” The boy called Aberforth laughed, but heeded his brother’s advice. “Whatever you say, Albus…”
The memory faded away. Harry looked at Dumbledore, shocked at what had just happened. Had he really just witnessed a scene from Dumbledore’s childhood?
“Did you see anything, Harry?” Dumbledore asked.
“Yes. You were with Aberforth, in a garden. He was bothering the goats….”
Dumbledore chuckled.
“Ah, yes. I am quite fond of that memory. Though it was just the beginning of a long fascination with goats for my dear brother…” he said nostalgically. Then he looked at Harry. “Well, it seems that you do indeed possess the skills of Legilemency, Harry. With a bit of practice, it could be quite useful.”
Harry was still looking, dumbstruck, at Dumbledore. He was able to use Legilemency; it was not what he had expected at all.
“It’s not surprising, though,” Dumbledore continued, smiling. “After all “ your mother was a gifted Legilemens “ and you do have her eyes…”