“I’d of thought better of you two! Sending your brother and Harry out there! They even told you where they were going, but you still let them go alone!” someone shrieked. Harry tried to open his eyes, but they were too heavy. Whoever was talking wasn’t in the room.
“Well how were we supposed to know there were dementors out there?” came a voice that Harry recognized to be Fred or George’s.
“How were you supposed to know?” repeated the first voice that Harry now found was that of Mrs. Weasley. “Your-father-works-at-the-Ministry-of-MAGIC!” came her booming voice. “Why wouldn’t you know if dementors were about?”
Harry opened his eyes. Mrs. Weasley’s voice was coming from all the way down stairs. From the large flash of orange light Harry could tell that he must be back in Ron’s room. Someone had pulled the covers over him and shut the door.
“As for you,” came Mrs. Weasley’s voice again, “why did you go out there in the first place? You should have known better!”
“Well Harry went to, so it can’t have been that stupid of a decision.” Ron moaned from downstairs. “Why don’t you go yell at him for a change?”
“Harry is in no condition to listen to me, and I think he learned his lesson.” Mrs. Weasley said curtly. Ron must have given in, for he said nothing more.
Harry could hear someone walking up the stairs. Harry was slightly surprised to see Lupin walking through the door; he had expected one of the Weasleys. He was holding a large chunk of chocolate which he snapped a small peace and gave to Harry, who smiled and thanked him. He sat up in his bed, just now recalling everything that happened.
“What happened… after I passed out?” he asked quickly. Lupin smiled.
“Well you very close to the Burrow, so it wasn’t hard to get you there.” he said simply. Harry still had many questions.
“But… But what happened? I mean, my patronus… it should have died away long before it got to you.” Harry said weakly. Lupin looked up thoughtfully.
“I’m sure many people have told you before; love is your greatest strength. So many people cared for your parents, so much love, that it was all pen pointed directly to you the day you were born. Your parents loved you more than anything, as well as many others. I do believe it was all that pen pointed love that brought out the part of your father that still remains.” said Lupin.
Harry stared at the bed for a moment, trying to soak all of this in. “So all that love brought him back?” he asked slowly. Lupin gave a heavy sigh
“Even if all the love in the world was placed into one body, Harry, it could not bring back thoughs who have passed on.” he said. Harry stared out the window and to the marsh. Lupin continued to talk. “You must understand that love is only a word for something we cannot understand. It was the part of your father that remained in you that saved you. You were so much like him, it was not hard to do.” he said.
Lupin looked up thoughtfully. “I must say, both your parents were wonderful people, but the traits they passed on to you were a dangerous combination. You have your mother’s kindness and caring ness, but your father’s bravery and loyalty. For anyone else it would have been a wonderful thing, but for you… for you it can cause a lot of trouble.”
Harry thought about his conversation with Dumbledore the night Sirius fell behind the veil. Dumbledore had told him of a power kept locked in the Department of Mysterious, and that it was that power that drove Harry to try and save Sirius. That it had saved him from being possessed by Voldemort. He now understood what he meant; nobody loved Voldemort, there for nobody who was loved as much as Harry could ever be a host for his body.
“Why did the patronus die out as it got close to you?” asked Harry. Lupin grinned.
“That is a simpler than you might think. I suppose that part of your father had a slight memory of me. It would have died away anyway at that same time. I think that the stag somehow remembered me. And I must say it startled me at first.” he added. Harry nodded.
Lupin must have been more concerned about explaining this to Harry than to see if he was okay, because he kept the large chunk of chocolate in his pocket the whole time, never once actually giving him more than the small bite when he came in. Harry, however, thought quite highly of this. Most people were more concerned about his health than what he should know. The only other person Harry ever knew to do this was Dumbledore.
Harry slept most of that day. Mrs. Weasley insisted that he should not be aloud to get out of bed for the rest of the day. Fred and George came upstairs and apologized to him, though Harry got the idea that this was Mrs. Weasley’s idea. Ron came upstairs too to visit. He had a really odd expression on his face, as though trying to talk him self into saying something.
“So, erm… what exactly, I mean, after I went to get help. You looked like you were…” he trailed away. Harry gave a small grin.
“I can’t really explain it,” he said slowly. Ron nodded quickly.
“That’s okay. I was just curious.” he said quickly.
Harry held up his hand. “Look in my trunk,” he said pointing to it, “You’ll find the cloak rapped around the Pensieve.” Ron grinned and walked over to the trunk and pulled out the Pensieve. Harry stuck his hand in liquid and thought about the dementor attack, followed by the talk with Lupin. “Okay” Harry said dizzily, “just prod the Pensieve and, hopefully, you will know everything.” Ron stared for a moment.
“You really didn’t have to do this.” he said shortly
Harry shook his head. “I would have out it in there anyway.” he said pointing to the Pensieve. Ron nodded and prodded the Pensieve with his wand.
Harry leaned over his bed to watch Ron in his memory. He seemed to be trying to keep up with the stag, but falling slowly more and more behind. Harry gave a feeble laugh. Ron looked quite relived to see the patronus die away. The memory switched over to with Harry and Lupin. Ron looked rather confused at first, but seemed to catch on eventually. The memory faded into whiteness and Ron appeared back next to the Pensieve. Ron didn’t know rather to look happy or sympathetic.
“It’s odd I know.” Harry said before Ron could say anything. Ron nodded.
Someone knocked on the door. “Hello? Harry, Ron, are you in there?” an oddly familiar voice called.
Harry and Ron looked at each other. “Yeah…” Ron said slowly. The door opened and to their surprise, Hermione came through. “Hermione? What are you doing here?” Ron asked
“Someone told me there was a Dementor attack.” she said simply, “I took the Knight Bus.”
“I thought your parents said that you should stay with them for Christmas.” Harry said, making Hermione jump. She must have thought he was asleep.
“Well yes,” she said slowly, “but I told them also that I might need to go back if something happened, and I figured this qualified.” Hermione looked rather relieved that she was back with Harry and Ron.
“Anyway, did you see the Daily Prophet? They through Fudge out of office!” she said happily, tossing them a copy of the Daily Prophet.
Last night Minister Cornelius Fudge was thrown out of
Office by an election of all workers of the Ministry of Magic. A similar election will be held on February 2nd of next year. In the mean time, former judge Amelia Bones will take the position of Mistress of Magic.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. “About time!” Ron said happily. Harry nodded and leaned back onto the bed. Hermione gave him a concerned look.
“Harry, are you okay? You look tired, maybe we should leave.” she said quickly, but Harry shook his head.
“You don’t have to go! I’ve been here all day. Besides, you went through a lot of trouble to get here.” Said Harry. Hermione wanted to argue with this but kept her mouth shut.
“So where are you going to sleep?” asked Ron.
“Ginny’s room,” she turned around and faced Harry. “So, what exactly happened?”
Harry pointed to the Pensieve. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Is it really that much trouble just to talk?” she said just before prodding it with her wand. Ron watched her try to keep up with the patronus just as he had done.
“How does she run so fast?” he groaned, Harry laughed at Ron’s expression. Hermione soon appeared at the side of the Pensieve and looked up thoughtfully.
“You know, it’s not really that surprising. It was a type of ancient magic that protects you. That explains why your patronus is a stag, but your Animagi is a puma.” Ron gave a feeble laugh.
“A puma?” he said trying not to laugh to hard. Hermione looked at him irritably.
“It’s a mountain lion Ron.” she hissed. Ron’s face went blank.
“Oh, right.” said Ron in an embarrassed voice. “So… How long are you staying here?”
Hermione frowned. “I don’t know, how long would you like me to stay?” she spat. Ron had just realized how rude this must have sounded.
“I was just wondering if your parents wanted you back on Christmas day or something.” he said softly. Hermione seemed to accept this.
“They said to stay as long as I need.” Ron nodded.
Harry was extraordinarily tired. He watched Hermione and Ron talk, but found it hard to keep his eyes open. He closed his eyes and listened to them talk, until Hermione noticed Harry. “Shh!” she hissed and they walked out of the room.