Not mine, blah blah blah, I didn’t come up with it, blah blah blah, I don’t claim to own it, blah blah blah…broken record much?
After the Order meeting, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to their routine. Their work felt easier, somehow, with the partial answering of their questions.
Hermione, in particular, seemed more cheerful. She began to worry about the Hogwarts house-elves again (“Ronald! It won’t kill you to put the books back yourself, you know!”)
A week after Harry’s birthday, Professor McGonagall stopped him n the corridor. “The next Apparation test date is in three days,” she told him. “Do you think you can be ready?”
An image of cold sea flashed into Harry’s mind. “I am not worried…I am with you…” “Sure, Professor,” he replied tonelessly.
She looked concerned. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he replied more firmly, “I am.”
“Good. You and Mr. Weasley may meet the other testees in Hogsmeade at three o clock on Tuesday.” She walked away.
Harry, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to be excited at all, wandered back to the library.
Tuesday was another cold, dreary, and foggy day. Harry and Ron left the castle after lunch and wandered down to Hogsmeade. The first person they saw when they got to Main Street was Neville Longbottom. He was deep in conversation with Ernie Macmillan.
“And then,” he was telling Ernie, “Gran told me I had to join some Order just like my parents and I told her that I wouldn’t be taking any more orders based on what my parents did. So I packed up and moved into Mum and Dad’s old house, since I’m seventeen now anyway.”
“You mean you won’t be fighting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?” asked Ernie, sounding scandalized.
“Of course I will,” said Neville. “I’m just sick of Gran wanting be to be my dad all the time.”
Ernie looked slightly mollified.
“Speaking of fighting You-Know-Who,” said Ron, “the D.A. is starting up again.”
Harry glanced at Ron. They hadn’t planned to tell anyone it was a training ground for the Order yet. Ron shrugged.
“Excellent!” said Ernie. “I knew it would be worth it to return to school this year!” Neville nodded in agreement.
Just then, the small, pale Professor Tofty approached their group. “All here?” he asked. “Longbottom, Macmillan, Potter, and Weasley?” The boys all nodded to him. “Good.”
They followed Professor Tofty over to a group of their fellow seventh years outside the Three Broomsticks. “When I call your name,” said the professor, “please Apparate to the place I name and back again. Parvati Patil!”
Parvati stepped forward. “Scrivenshafts, please!” called the diminutive professor. Parvati vanished and reappeared down the street, then returned. Tofty looked her over carefully, then tapped his paper with his wand. “Pass!”
The test continued. One by one, the students took a turn. Most passed. Ron’s test went very well, although Tofty seemed overly concerned with the state of his eyebrows. Neville passed, although he took longer to complete his Apparation then normal.
When it was time for Seamus Finnegan’s test, Professor Tofty looked nervous – however, Seamus passed easily.
One by one, the list of students to be tested grew shorter until: “Harry Potter!”
Harry stepped up to the professor. “Please pop up to the front of Madam Puddifoot’s and back again,” said Tofty.
Destination, thought Harry, determination, deliberation.
The last time he had apparated popped into his mind. “I am not worried, Harry, I am with you.”
For a second, the memory threatened to destroy his concentration, but he pushed it away. He would do Dumbledore proud.
Pop! An uncomfortable squeeze and he was in front of Madam Puddifoot’s. Pop! Another squeeze and he was back in front of the professor.
“Well done!” cried Professor Tofty. “Pass!”
In the end, only four of Harry’s classmates failed their tests (Ernie Macmillan, Padma Patil, Crabbe, and Goyle). The whole group stopped in at the Three Broomsticks for a drink – Harry took the opportunity to have a chat with the D.A. members.
Dean Thomas was still angry with Harry for the previous year’s events and unwilling to talk to him. Seamus, on the other hand, was enthusiastic, as was Neville. All three were eager to return to school in September.
Parvati and Padma Patil were both cautious about the idea. Parvati, in particular, seemed repressed; Harry eventually got her to admit that Lavender Brown, her best friend, would not be returning to school. Ron was unable to repress a look of relief when he heard that news.
When they approached Susan Bones, who was in the middle of a fervent conversation about Terry Boot (unsure about continuing) she was enthusiastic. She also informed them that Hannah Abbott, who had left school the year before, was seriously considering coming back.
Feeling good about the responses he had received, Harry returned to school in time for he end of a very uneventful Order meeting. After dinner, the twins bullied him and Ron in to a game of Exploding Snap. Hermione returned to the library.
As the days went on, Harry was more and more anxious to hear from Remus Lupin, but he did not seem to be available. Professor McGonagall had told him that Lupin was undercover, watching magical creatures (although his cover with the werewolves was blown) and not always available he turned up when he could.
More than two weeks passed after Harry’s birthday before Lupin appeared at an Order meeting. Afterwards, he took Harry out onto the grounds and handed him a slip of paper.
“I found this at Peter’s house after he vanished,” he told Harry. Harry looked down at the paper. It read:
The Potters can be found at
#7 Godric’s Way, Godric’s Hollow
“The charm is still in place,” Lupin told him. “You, of course are still under that charm – you will be able to find it. But Ron and Hermione will need to read that if they’re coming along – which I assume they are?”
“If I’m still under the charm,” asked Harry, “how is it that anyone can see me?”
“The charm is only effective in the city of Godric’s Hollow,” Lupin told him, “The spell was set up so everyone in town could see your family, but not talk about you.”
“How?”
“I don’t pretend to be an expert on these things, Harry. It’s very complex. Magic exists to do almost everything – It’s almost always somewhere in the wording. As Professor Flitwick says, ‘never forget Wizard Barruffio, who said ‘s’ instead of ‘f’ and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.’”
The house was a wreck.
A huge field of charred wood was really about all that remained of what had been Harry’s first home. Walking through, it was obvious in some places that this might have been a dining room or that might have been a kitchen, but anything that was worth anything had rotted away long ago.
“The nursery was upstairs,” Lupin told them, “about here. They found your father here,” he pointed to a spot near what had once been the front door, “and your mother in the nursery – of course, you knew that. When Voldemort was defeated, somehow, the house must have been destroyed.”
“How could Harry have even survived the explosion?” Hermione asked.
Lupin frowned. “The wall fell over his cot intact. He wasn’t hit by any debris.”
Looking around, Harry had to agree. He had been very lucky.
The Cemetery wasn’t much better.
A light rain was now falling, and the wind was cold. Harry, Ron, and Hermione pulled their cloaks tighter around themselves. They walked up the hill toward the highest part of the cemetery. At the top of the hill, under the shade of a tree, was a large gravestone, bearing the words:
James and Lily
POTTER
1969 - October 31, 1981
“The More Difficult the Task,
the Sweeter the Victory.”
Harry hadn’t known what to expect, but it hadn’t been this.
Deep down, he knew, he had hoped that by coming here he would be able to unlock the answers to questions he hadn’t even thought to ask yet. He wanted to solve all the mysteries of the universe, or at least have his parents solve them all for him.
But instead all there was was a big rock with some words carved on it. It was almost funny.
Once again, instead of finding solace, he found nothing. It was really quite depressing.
“We’ll give you some time,” said Remus. Harry could hear the others walk away. Not even Ron protested.
Harry sat down in front of the grave. Just then, he noticed, for the first time, what was carved at the top of the massive headstone: a pair of antlers cradling a lily.
When he walked back down the hill, Harry felt better. “Thanks for coming with me,” he told his friends. “I couldn’t have done it without you.” Together they turned in place and Apparated away.