Chapter Three - Photo albums, Cameras and the Oak Tree
Harry woke when a red haired, seventeen-year-old boy tripped over his legs and ended up sprawled out on the floor with a yelp.
“Bloody hell, Harry. I didn’t know you where here already!”
“Long story,” Harry mumbled from under his pillow, which he had stuffed his head under. “Basically, Privet Drive got attacked by some Death Eaters, so Tonks, Remus, Kingsley and Moody came, stopped them and sent Lestrange, Crabbe and Goyle to Azkaban, and I came here.”
There was a silence, so Harry pulled his head out, and looked up. Ron was staring at him with his mouth hanging open in astonishment. His mouth was opening and closing so he looked strangely like a red headed, freckled fish out of water. After a few seconds of this, he finally managed to splutter out one word.
“Wow.”
Harry chuckled. “So…what have you been up to lately?”
“I have to admit, nothing as exciting as you, but we’ve had mum flapping all over the place with wedding plans, Fleur flapping all over the place with wedding plans, Bill…well Bill has been kind of forced into wedding plans. It’s on the seventh, the wedding. Mum's going mental, so it’s been pretty busy…oh! Happy birthday Harry! Your present is somewhere around here…” Ron went rummaging through the tip that was his bedroom and eventually found what he was looking for. “Happy birthday, mate. It’s really from Hermione and me, but she can’t be here until Wednesday so she said give it to you today and wish you a happy birthday from her as well. So, from Hermione: happy birthday.”
Harry took the roughly wrapped present and ripped open the bright orange Chudley Cannons paper. Inside was a photo album with a navy blue leather cover and on the front, in gold letters were Harry’s initials: HJP. Harry opened the cover and on the inside page in blue ink was Hermione’s neat writing;
Dear Harry,
Happy birthday! Seventeen at last! Ron and I where thinking about what we could get you for your birthday, so we came up with this idea. It’s a photo album, firstly (with much help from Remus) of your mum and dad when they where in Hogwarts. Secondly, it’s a photo album of our past years at Hogwarts plus there are lots more spaces for more photos of the future!
Your friends,
Hermione and Ron.
Harry smiled and turned the page. The first photo was a Muggle picture of a red haired, green eyed little girl, of around eleven-years-old, in her Hogwarts uniform. There was a caption underneath: Lily Evans, First-year. Harry looked up at Ron who was watching him.
Now Harry was lost for words.
“Thanks, Ron… This is an amazing present.”
Ron grinned. “So who’s up for breakfast? I’m starving.”
Ron belched loudly.
“Ronald! Not at the table, please.”
“Sorry, mum.”
Half an hour later Harry and Ron had finished with their breakfasts of bacon, eggs, toast, black pudding and sausages and where now officially stuffed.
”Thanks Mrs - Molly” Harry corrected himself. “That was the best meal I’ve had in a month.”
“You’re quite all right, Harry. Besides, you look like you haven’t eaten at all in a month! Please, have some more sausages.”
So Harry took his fifth sausage of the morning from the pan. When he was finished, Molly enchanted the dishes to wash their selves and then sat down with the two boys.
They made small talk for a while, mostly Ron asking questions about the attack on Harry and the Dursley’s. It wasn’t until then that Harry noticed how empty The Burrow was, as there only seemed to be the three of them.
When Harry asked, Molly replied, “Arthur is at work, Fleur and Bill are out shopping for table cloths, Charlie is still in Romania, Fred and George are at that shop of theirs and Ginny,” something in Harry stomach squirmed “- is still in bed! I should be waking her up around now, or she’ll be asleep all day.” She rose from the table and went upstairs. Harry could feel Ron’s eyes burning into him but Harry kept his eyes stubbornly on a knot on the old kitchen table. He had told Ron and Hermione that he had split up with Ginny on the train back to Kings Cross when she didn’t join him for the ride.
Ron opened his mouth to say something just as Molly came back down the stairs muttering: “Could sleep for England that girl…” So he clamped his mouth shut again.
A few minutes passed in silence as Molly started yet more bacon and eggs, though in slightly less volume, for Ginny. Harry soon heard footsteps coming down the rickety stairs. He looked up as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs, hair in a messy bun, wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of red checked pyjama bottoms that were so big for her, the only part of her feet you could see where her toes.
When she spotted Harry, her eyes went wide and he could tell by her face that she was fighting a blush. She seemed to put up a good fight but couldn’t stop her cheeks from turning a shade pinker.
“Ha-Harry?” she stammered, “What are you doing here? I mean, when did you get here?”
So Harry managed to tell her the whole story of the night before and she was just as shocked as Ron had been. By now she was sat opposite Harry, looking at him with wide eyes.
“So Bellatrix is in Azkaban? That’s great!”
“Yeah, it is.”
“There you go, dear,” said Molly as she placed a plate full of breakfast in front of Ginny.
“Thanks, mum. Do you know when my robes are being fitted? I mean, she’s leaving it a bit late isn’t she?”
“The day after tomorrow at a ‘sweet little robe makers’ in Paris-”
“Paris! Why in Paris?”
Molly sighed. “Well, according to Fleur, Paris is the only place to get a wedding dress from, and apparently the designs here are ‘too English’”
“The designs are too English?” Ginny scoffed. “She’s off her rocker!”
“Ginny!” Molly scolded, “She’s not off her rocker, so don’t be so rude!”
Harry had to hold back a chuckle. The Weasley’s where such a great family: they could talk like this; they could have fun. It was just normal things like this that made Harry wonder what it would have been like to grow up with his mum and dad, maybe brothers or sisters. It didn’t really upset him or make him jealous; just curious. You can’t miss what you’ve never had.
Later that day, Remus and Tonks turned up as they said they would, with their present. As Harry ripped off the paper, he revealed a small mahogany box. He opened it, and a flash of gold flew out. With his reflexes from Quidditch, Harry plucked it out of the air. To his surprise, it was a Snitch. He held the small, walnut sized ball in his hand, its slender wings struggling against his hold. As he looked closer, he saw that two initials had been engraved into the gold surface: J.P. He grinned at Remus and Tonks.
“J.P…? Is that…James Potter?”
“Certainly is, I found it the other day when Tonks and I were cleaning out my-”
“-Pig sty,” cut in Tonks
“And we came across this. It was probably one of those James stole when he was at Hogwarts, and it somehow was left with me and I haven’t found it until now.”
At this point, the fire burst into emerald flames and Fleur Delacour appeared. When the flames died down she stepped neatly out of the grate, dusting herself off and flicking her silver blonde hair.
“‘Ello! Oh, ‘arry! 'Ow are you? We 'eared about the Death Eaters and the Dursleez! ‘Ow ‘orrible!” she said in her throaty French accent, “'Appy birthday! Bill 'as your present with 'im. 'E should be ‘ere any second.”
And perfectly on queue, the fire place was lit by green flames again.
“Hi, everyone,” greeted Bill as he stepped out of the fireplace. His face was still terribly scarred; there was a long slash from his left temple to the top of his right jaw and another slash from just below his right eye to his chin. Even though his face may have been disfigured, he still wore his long Weasley hair in a pony tail and his usual earring.
“Happy birthday, Harry. I’ve got your present with me somewhere…” He rummaged around in several pockets of his robes and shopping bags, much like his youngest brother. Eventually he pulled out a square package, and handed it to Harry.
As he took it, he was quite surprised at how light it was. He tore off the silver paper to find an oak box, with runes that Harry could not understand, engraved onto it. Then Bill spoke up.
“It’s a box that’s charmed to hold anything. Any object of any weight or size could fit in there and once you close the lid, you won’t feel the weight difference at all. And it can be shrunk so you could carry absolutely anything in your pocket.”
“Wow, that’s great! Thank you.”
“Eet is quite all right! Eet is your birthday after all!” said Fleur after this, she swooped down and kissed him on both cheeks.
“Seeing as your opening presents now, here you go, Harry.”
“Thanks, Molly,” Harry said as he took the rather large and oddly shaped present from her. He again, peeled off the wrapping paper to find a camera much like the once Colin Creevey owned, sitting in his hands. He looked up at her, now smiling face and thanked her again.
“It’s fine dear! Ron told Arthur and me about that photo album he and Hermione were compiling and we thought you don’t have a camera to continue to fill it so here we are.”
Harry had noticed Ginny disappeared upstairs a few hours ago to get dressed and hadn’t come back down again. Just as he finished this thought, Ginny appeared at the bottom of the stairs with a gift, wrapped in green paper. As she approached him, she had a strange look in her eyes and gave him his present silently. He saw Ron give her a quizzical look, but Ginny just ignored him.
Harry quietly opened the emerald wrapping to reveal small book titled Defence: How to Really Protect You. Harry smiled; it was just like her, as she knew his favourite subject, minus last year, was Defence Against the Dark Arts and that he thought any advice the Ministry was giving was a load of rubbish. Also, Harry really was in biggest need of protecting himself.
“Thanks, Ginny,” Harry said.
“Don’t mention it,” she replied, dropping his gaze.
“Remus, Tonks you can stay for dinner if you would like. We’re eating in an hour or two,” said Mrs Weasley.
“Sure, we’d love to. No one can beat your cooking, Molly,” complimented Remus.
“That will mean we’ll have to eat in the garden as Charlie’s due back soon from Romania, the twins are coming over and there will also be Harry, Ron, Ginny, Arthur and myself,” Molly said, more to herself than anyone else. “Kids, go find something to do for a while.”
The teenagers obliged and walked out into the garden. There was a rather awkward silence between Harry and Ginny. The three of them sat down under a large oak tree right next to the pond. Harry sat with his back against the solid bark, Ron laid down in the shade and Ginny removed her shoes and socks, rolled up her jeans to her knees and dipped her feet on the cool, clear water.
It was a hot day and there was a warm breeze playing across his face. It reminded Harry, for some reason, of Dumbledore’s funeral. He had been attempting to push all terrible and depressing thoughts out of his head during his stay with the Dursley’s. But this was rather hard when he had Dumbledore’s death, break up with Ginny, and his mission to find the Horcruxes and then kill Voldemort spinning round his mind. So now Harry yet again, pushed all these troubled thoughts from his mind and decided to go get his photo album and look through it.
He got up and walked towards the back door, which lead to the kitchen. As he approached, voices from the inside filtered through. When he got to it, he could hear the voice of Tonks.
“- he okay? I mean, with Albus' death, how is he coping? Last night he seemed to want to avoid the subject of him altogether.”
Harry knew straight away they where talking about him.
“Well, he’ll be holding it all in, but did you really expect anything less? He’ll probably tell Ron and Hermione about it in his own time,” Arthur explained.
Harry inwardly cheered for him. He would talk about it when he was ready, and when he had sorted out all his feelings and thoughts in his own head.
“What was he doing anyway, with Dumbledore that night?” asked Bill.
“No one knows, only Harry and Dumbledore,” said Remus, “He wouldn’t even tell Minerva.”
“’Eet could 'ave been to do with You-Know-'Ou,” added Fleur.
Harry decided not to let them ponder on that thought and opened the door. All eyes were on him; Harry gave them all a small smile that said ‘I didn’t hear a thing’ and walked past them and up the stairs to Ron’s room to collect his photo album.
Once he was back under the shade of the tree, Harry opened the leather cover and looked at the photo of his mother again. He then moved onto the next picture. It was a moving picture of a boy who looked shockingly like himself at eleven-years-old, laughing and looking very proud to be wearing his Hogwarts uniform. The only difference was their eyes. His being hazel, rather than green. Underneath, the caption read: James Potter, First-year.
The third picture was, unmistakeably, the Marauders, next to the lake at Hogwarts, generally goofing around for the picture. Flashing cheesy grins and slinging there arms around their best friends shoulders. Harry felt a stab of anger when looking at the young, chubby face of Peter Pettigrew. Did he know what he would do to his best friend’s lives? The caption read: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, Second-year.
The fourth photo was of three girls, one of which was Lily. The other two girls Harry had the feeling he’d seen them before, though he wasn’t sure. One had bright blonde hair and big, dark blue eyes. She was much taller than Lily and the other girl and very slim. The last witch being slightly shorter than Lily, had, short, spiky hair, which was black, but when it caught the light, it flashed the deepest purple. She had warm, friendly brown eyes and a cheeky smile. Underneath it read: Lily Evans, Leanna Williams and Asher Crellin: Second-year.
“Ron!” Harry shouted over to his best mate, who had started snoring then quickly jerked awake and looked around at his surroundings saying, “What?”
“I was wondering, who are these girls in this photo?”
Ron got up and looked at the photo.
“They were your mum’s friends at Hogwarts, that’s all Lupin said when he gave us it.”
“What happened to them? I’ve never met them.”
“I don’t know. You should ask Lupin.”
“Okay.”
As Harry turned the next page, Molly shouted from the kitchen to come and help set up the table. Ron got up and started towards The Burrow. Harry closed the book and looked over at Ginny. She had taken her feet out on the water and lay down. She had fallen asleep in the warm sun and looked absolutely beautiful in Harry's opinion, her pale skin glowing in the light and fiery locks in absolute contrast.
He walked over and kneeled beside her. He gently shook her shoulder, her eyes fluttered, and she groaned.
Harry laughed. “Ginny, wake up!” At the sound of his voice her eyes snapped open, and she looked directly into his eyes. The moment seemed to last forever, and Harry got a strange fluttering feeling in his stomach. She sat up so her head was level to his, without breaking eye contact or even saying anything. Harry wanted to kiss her so badly, to tell her ‘I give up! You can have me!’ As their heads slowly leaned closer, something snapped in Harry’s brain and he realised what he was doing. He quickly broke eye contact and stood.
“Err…your mum needs our help,” he said quickly and offered is hand to help her up.
“Can I just take this moment to wish Harry a very happy seventeenth birthday, and may you enjoy your new found manhood!” announced Arthur after everyone had finished eating.
“Here-here!” chorused Fred and George who had arrived seconds before dinner had started and presented Harry with their present of a large basket of their own merchandise and a large bottle of Firewhisky.
Molly soon reappeared from the kitchen with the largest birthday cake Harry had ever seen in his life, and everyone found this their queue to start singing “happy birthday” to him. As she placed it in front of him, Harry saw it was covered in little bronze snitches that flew around the light blue background. In writing that flashed different colours was: Happy Birthday, Harry! It had seventeen candles lit on top of it.
“…happy birthday to you!” Everyone had just finished singing and it was time to make a wish…Please let everyone I care about get out of this war without harm…Harry blew out the candles, and his wish was sealed.
“What did you wish for?” asked Fred immediately.
“He can’t tell you, idiot or else it won’t come true,” laughed Charlie. He had arrived as Harry came through the kitchen doors from the garden with Ginny. He opened his present to find a pair of jet black, dragon hide boots. According to Charlie, dragon hide was the strongest and warmest material you can make into boots and very good for winter. Harry found they can also be worn on summer evenings like this one without too much discomfort.
Soon everyone was chatting away to each other. Ginny, who somehow got sat next to Harry, hadn’t said a word to him since their incident by the pond and currently was turned away from him, talking to Bill. Harry turned away from her and started conversation with Remus.
“How are you getting along then, Harry? And don’t say ‘I’m fine’ because you’re a no better liar than James,” Remus said frankly.
“I’m…okay. No, I really am. I just…oh I don’t know…” Harry trailed off. He really didn’t know how he was feeling. He couldn’t tell Remus half of what he was really feeling…could he?
Remus gave him a sympathetic look that Harry hated.
“Please don’t feel sorry for me, Remus. I’m not the only one who misses him. I saw how you reacted when you found out about…well maybe you’re just better at sorting your head out than I am.”
“I’m no better at sorting out my thoughts than you are. I just share them with someone.” He glanced at Tonks. “You can’t hold everything in, Harry. It's not healthy! I should know.”
Harry stared at the tablecloth in front of him, deep in thought. He couldn’t tell Remus could he? Well, why not? Now that the idea was in his head, he felt the urge to act upon it. He was his father’s best friend; Sirius’ best friend…Harry just knew he would understand. But Harry already had people who understood; Ron and Hermione. He almost felt that Remus had a right to know somehow…He was excellent at defending himself, so he could help him. Stop right there! You can’t get anyone else involved in this! A voice shouted in the back of his head.
“Harry?”
His head shot up. Apparently Remus could see some inner conflict in Harry’s face.
“Is there something wrong?”
Harry looked into the older man's face for a long minute and made a decision.
“Remus…can I talk to you…in private?”
Harry noticed Ron stopped talking mid sentence and looked at him. Harry gave him a significant look.
“Yes, okay.”
Harry got up, as did Remus and the walked across the garden and to the pond. Harry sat down on the bank and Remus sat next to him. There was a long silence where Harry collected his thoughts. Remus didn’t interrupt him but waited patiently, looking at the now brightly shining half moon. Harry soon decided where to start.
“Did you ever know why my parents went into hiding?”
Remus slowly shook his head, his face deadly serious. “All we ever knew is that you where in danger and could be attacked by Voldemort at any time. We didn’t know why.”
“Well, the reason is…is that, just before I was born, a prophecy was made. That’s what the Death Eaters were after at the Hall of Prophecies last year, because Voldemort didn’t hear the whole thing.” Harry paused, trying to think of a way to word this. He decided just to say the whole thing. The words were imprinted on his mind forever.
“What did the Prophecy say?” Remus asked even though he sounded like he was preparing for the worst.
Harry took a deep breath. “'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…'” Harry didn’t want to look at the older man's face. He stared out over the glassy water. “'And either must die at the hands of the other for neither can live while the other survives…the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord, will be born as the seventh month dies…'”
There was silence for a long time. Harry felt Remus’ eyes on him. He met them, and he was surprised at what he saw there. Pride and absolute confidence was what he could see.
“You can beat him, Harry. I know you can. You may not believe it yourself, but you’re on the right side. You’re on the good side.”
Harry remained silent and cast his eyes down.
“Harry, look at me, you have been forced to grow up so much in only seventeen years. You’ve defied Voldemort, what, five times now? I have all my confidence in you.” He paused and looked thoughtful for a while.
“Love.” It seemed more of a statement that any sort of question.
“What?”
“Love, that’s your ‘power the Dark Lord knows not’.”
Harry couldn’t help but grin. “Well, you sure got it quicker than me!”
“I suppose that’s because you don’t know you from an outsider’s perspective. Many people, if they were put in your position, would find it impossible to love. But you still can.”
There was yet another pause. Harry felt better. He was glad that he had told Remus. Something was telling him he would be a big help.
“There’s something else as well,” Harry said.
Remus gave him a quizzical look.
“It’s about why Voldemort didn’t die the night my parents did…” So Harry explained everything he knew about the Horcruxes and his mother's protection that sent the killing curse back at Voldemort. After Harry finished, Remus looked slightly stunned with all this new information. More shocked than he was at the prophecy, but Harry had a feeling Remus worked out it would come down to himself and Voldemort some time ago.
“So, Voldemort made six Horcruxes?” He looked slightly repulsed at the thought of it.
Harry nodded.
“And either two or three are destroyed?”
Harry nodded again.
“And we know what they all are, except one.”
“Yes.”
Remus took a deep breath. “Wow.”
“That’s what I thought.”
After a moment of just listening to the breeze sweep around the leaves of the tree above him, Harry stood. “You coming?”
“Yes…Harry?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for telling me. It really means a lot.”
“It’s fine. I feel better for telling you for some reason,” Harry said voicing his thoughts. “Plus, you're really good at defence charms and everything so there’s always that,” Harry joked.
“So you’re using me for my skills are you?” said Remus playing along as the walked back to the house
“Of course I am,” chuckled Harry, glad the mood between them had clearly brightened.
They had reached the door now and walked through it to find Tonks, Arthur and Molly at the Kitchen table.
“Night, everyone,” Harry said as he turned for the stairs to try and get some sleep. It had been a great birthday. He was finding it quite hard to believe just less than twenty four hours ago, the Dursleys were being attacked by Death Eaters.
Author's Notes:Its up! Its finally up! Id like to say a big thanks to AstroFire and hpnut for Reading and Reviewing, not Reading and Running. Also, Stacey(_HermioneGranger_) for proof reading again! Whats your fave line so far? Do you have one? Who just loved the h/g moment? ;-) lol well i love a h/g moment of any sorts, even ones as rubbish as mine! Please Review!!
Lisa xxx :D