Chapter 46: Consolation and Curiosity
“Harry, are you alright?”
Harry snapped out his daze and turned to Ginny, who was looking at him with concern.
“What? Oh, yeah “ I’m fine… just thinking…”
Harry was sitting in the half-empty Great Hall; most of the students were still at Hogsmeade. How he had gotten there, he had no idea. His mind was so flooded with thoughts after leaving Dumbledore’s office; he hadn’t paid much attention to anything outside his own head.
“Does what you’re thinking about have anything to do with Katie?” Ginny inquired.
“Katie?” Harry replied. “Well, yeah “ a bit… you wouldn’t happen to know where she is?”
“She went to Hogsmeade with some of her friends,” Ginny said.
“Oh…”
Harry thought momentarily of going to find her; of apologizing for shutting her out for a reason which was now void. He decided against it, though. He wanted some time to let the new knowledge of his inherited powers and new advantage over Voldemort to sink in; and he thought Katie might need some time also. He could understand if she didn’t feel much like hearing him out at the particular moment, considering what an idiot he’d been.
Harry chewed distractedly on a piece of lamb chop. He saw Ginny glance disdainfully at the Patil twins who were seated at the Ravenclaw table.
“What about you, Ginny? You alright?”
She sighed and returned her gaze back to her dinner plate where she twirled her fork in her mashed potatoes.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wondering “ I mean… Lavender’s not with them, is she? Probably with Dean. Not that I’m upset about it or anything, I don’t need him…”
Harry was silent. He wasn’t sure what to think of this. He wasn’t an expert on feelings, especially girls’ feelings, but he sensed that Ginny was more upset then she was letting on.
“Ginny, it’s alright you know, to be a bit upset…” he said quietly after a moment.
She turned to face him and was slightly startled to see her eyes were filled with tears. A single drop escaped and splashed down onto her robes.
“It’s not Dean, really. We’ve been distant for a while now “ it’s just that, well… there’s a West Ham game this Sunday “ and Dad had gotten us tickets, he was going to pick the two of us up this weekend to go. I’ve just been upset this week, and I thought Dean would understand. But he’s been further away than ever. It’s just too much for me to deal with right now…”
As she finished, more tears spilled down her face. Harry put his arm around her and she leant her head on his shoulder.
“Ginny, you don’t have to deal with it alone. You have people who care about you who want to help you through it,” he said quietly.
Ginny made a muffled sound of gratitude. It was at this moment that Dean, Lavender, Seamus, Neville, and Susan Bones all walked in to the Great Hall. Dean looked at Ginny’s head on Harry’s shoulder, but then turned quickly back to Seamus and Lavender with whom he had been chatting animatedly.
Harry scowled slightly at Dean. He didn’t know Dean as well as he could have, but he never expected him to do something like this “ to abandon Ginny when she most needed someone.
“C’mon, Ginny “ I’ll take you back to the common room…” Harry said, standing up and lifting Ginny with him. She nodded tiredly. He walked her out into the Entrance Hall with his arm around her. As they turned to walk up the marble staircase, they met a group of seventh-year girls and Harry found himself face to face with Katie. He stood stunned for a moment, not sure of how to greet her. He thought he saw her eyes show a sign of hurt for a moment, before she fixed him with a cold gaze. Her gaze flickered to Ginny for a moment, and then she turned without a word back to her friends and followed them into the Great Hall.
Harry felt like he was going to be sick; Ginny was still very upset and hadn’t noticed Katie’s presence. He slowly walked her back upstairs and into the common room. Once inside, she sat down in an armchair in front of the fire.
“You alright?” he asked.
“I’m okay, thanks…” she said, gazing into the fire.
“Do you want me to stay with you?” Harry asked.
“No, I’m alright. I’d actually like to be alone for awhile,” she responded softly, still staring at the bright flames. “Besides “ It seems like you have some things to think about yourself…”
Harry nodded and turned to go up the staircase to his bedroom. Just as he was leaving he saw Ginny pull a folded piece of parchment out of the inside of her robes and begin to read it. Harry felt a stab of sadness on Ginny’s part as he went up to the stairs and through the door to his dormitory. Ginny’s strife had only distracted him from his own thoughts momentarily. He sat down on his bed and pulled out the photo album of his parents Hagrid had given him in his first year. He opened to his favorite picture of his mother and father. It was a black and white picture, but he could still tell from it how much his mother’s eyes were like his own. He traced her face sadly as she smiled and blinked back up at him. Harry thought it might be his imagination, but she seemed to be looking at him proudly.
Somewhere inside him, Harry felt his own sense of pride stir. He had always felt a small connection to his father through Quidditch, but now he felt a connection with is mother too. He had inherited more than her eyes; it felt as though something he had been longing for sixteen years had finally fallen into place, and the thought comforted him. He watched his parents happily for a few more minutes, then slowly put the photo album away.
His thoughts now turned to Voldemort. Harry had experienced a vision of Voldemort thoughts; he had done it safely, no worries that the window worked two ways. Harry had thought this unusual at first: surely Voldemort was powerful enough to close his mind to the infiltration of a sixteen-year old wizard with basic Legilemency powers?
But Dumbledore’s response to this had stirred Harry’s thoughts more than anything else he had learned that afternoon…
“It seems that something happened to weaken his defenses. Perhaps his emotions made him vulnerable…”
Harry had never considered Voldemort to have any emotion not connected with evil, whether it was angry or happiness. But what he had felt right before Voldemort had killed Ophelia Cunningham had been a kind of feeling that Harry never would have imagined him experiencing. Sadness. A sadness that seemed to be connected to the woman. Harry wondered what could have triggered the emotion as Dumbledore’s words from two days before echoed in his head:
“Perhaps there’s still a small piece of Tom left inside Voldemort, after all.”
---
Harry had returned to the common room that evening at seven o’clock to find that everyone had finally returned from Hogsmeade. Ron and Hermione were cooing over one another on the floor in front of the fireplace, while Ginny sat across from them scribbling on a piece of parchment with a book open on her lap. She looked in a much better state than she had earlier. Harry strode over and took a seat on the floor between Ginny and the happy couple.
“Hey Ron, Hermione “ how was Hogsmeade?” he asked.
“Oh, it was…lovely,” Hermione giggled.
Harry decided he didn’t want to know.
“Been meaning to ask, what did Ron get you?” he asked.
“Oh, let me show you…” she said brightly, as she took a locket of from around her neck, opened it and handed it to Harry. Harry, expecting to see a picture of each of them was slightly taken aback to find engraved images of a feather and a troll facing on each side. Before he had a chance to ask what on earth was so thoughtful about it, he noticed words glowing like fire around the edges. On the side with the feather it read: “You’ll always be there to show me the way…”, and on the side with the troll it said “…and I’ll always be there to protect you.”. Harry smiled nostalgically and closed the locket. On the outside it read “Wingardium Leviosa” and there was a dazzling fiery golden stone embedded in the center.
“Nice,” Harry said grinning.
“Isn’t it lovely?” Hermione said, as she glowingly received the locket back from Harry.
“So, what happened with Dumbledore?” Ron asked with a loud yawn.
Hermione immediately snapped out of her romantic state and turned attentively to Harry. Ginny gazed warily over to the group, clearly wondering whether or not she should listen. Harry gestured encouragingly to her she moved closer to where they sat on the floor.
“Well “ it wasn’t my problem after all…” he said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Hermione asked breathlessly. “How…?”
“I’m seeing into Voldemort’s thoughts again, but he can’t see into mine…”
Ginny looked confused.
“Have you had another vision, then?”
Harry nodded and explained what had happened. When he finished, Ron looked at him questioningly.
“But “ how is that possible mate? How can you be in his mind, and he not be in yours?”
Harry hesitated. The revelation of the powers he had inherited from his mother was still fresh, and he wasn’t sure if he felt entirely comfortable sharing it so soon. He watched the three of them lean forward ever so expectantly.
“Well… our mental connection is still there, and it seems that his defenses are low “ not mine. So I’ve had an insight to his mind…” he said quickly. It wasn’t the whole truth, but he hoped it would satisfy them for the time being.
Hermione looked cautiously at him for a moment, but then seemed to except his explanation.
“Well that makes sense,” she said logically. “And, it’s good too. That you’re safe, at least. But it does seem like there should be more to it,” she added.
“Well, maybe there is,” Harry said nervously. “But that’s all we know about it for now.”
“So… what about this Ophelia woman?” Ron asked. “What happened with her and Voldemort?”
Ginny looked at her brother in shock; clearly she had not yet heard him use the name.
“I don’t know,” Harry said. “But I’d definitely like to find out…”
“Yeah, but how?”
“Almost wish I hadn’t destroyed Riddle’s diary, now…” Harry said darkly.
Ginny’s expression suddenly changed; she looked as though she was trying to remember something.
“Now that you mention it…”
“What?” Ron asked excitedly. “Did the diary tell you something about Ophelia?”
“No,” she responded dismissively. “He never gave much information about himself… but he did seem “ bitter “ bitter about someone. He told me feelings of love were a waste of time, nothing more. That you’ll only get hurt in the end…”
Ginny drifted off momentarily, while the others processed what she’d said.
“I’d never thought much of it. Well, when I had the diary I asked him about it, but he never told me anything. Then I found out who it really belonged to“ I mean, it seemed like something You-Know-Who would say… so I just stopped wondering - but now…”
They were all quiet. Then Ron cleared his throat and shook them out of what seemed like a group reverie.
“So, how are we supposed to find out more,” he asked, his voice slightly eager.
“Simple,” Hermione said. “We ask someone who knew Tom Riddle while he was at Hogwarts…”
Ron and Ginny mouthed cluelessly at her, as though she were mad to think this was a ‘simple’ solution. But Harry knew exactly what she meant.
“Hagrid.”