Under Lupin’s patient tutelage, Harry was finally able to disappear and re-appear six feet away. Falling on his back, Harry laughed in delight at his new ability. His was not yet a silent Apparation, but it was much quieter that the one Mundungus Fletcher had done last summer in front of the house on Privet Drive. Remus looked down at him indulgently, his eyes twinkling and he stretched out a hand to help Harry up. His fingers were warm and firm as they tugged Harry to his feet, a reassuring feeling to them.
“All right, Harry lets try that again, this time to that corner…” Lupin was interrupted by an owl that swooped down between them and dropped an envelope at Harry’s feet.
Harry looked at it apprehensively for a moment, and then back up at Lupin. “Are you sure it’s okay that we are doing this?” At Remus’ nod, he bent to pick up the envelope addressed to him cautiously, and turned it over the see the Hogwart’s crest on the seal. “Isn’t it too early for our school letters?” Harry ripped the envelope open and quickly pulled out the single piece of parchment inside. He scanned the bright green writing once, and then again, slowly, as his jaw visibly dropped.
“Remus!!! It’s my OWLs! But, I think someone made a mistake! This can’t be mine…Remus!” Harry looked up in disbelief. “This says I earned 10 OWLs! Five of them Outstanding OWLs! NO! Oh NO! Remus!” Harry was jumping up and down now, and thrust the paper into Lupin’s hands. “An Outstanding Owl in POTIONS!! Snape is going to have a fit!”
“Professor Snape, Harry.” Remus muttered automatically as he started reading the paper. Harry turned a cartwheel and then Disapparated and Apparated several times in rapid succession around the backyard. “Outstanding in Defense against the Dark Arts as well! Excellent, Harry, excellent!”
“Did I earn enough to get into Auror training??? I mean to get into want I need for my NEWT levels?”
Lupin nodded with a smile. “5 outstanding, 4 exceeds expectations and one average, yes, I think you will be okay.” He looked at Harry shrewdly. “I thought Potions was one of your worst subjects? Or is it the teacher?”
Another owl swooped down on them before Harry could answer, this time dropping the envelope at Lupin’s feet. As he bent to retrieve it, Harry noticed that his new
godfather did not appear to be quite as pinched or sickly looking as he had in the past. He wondered if Snape were still brewing Remus the Wolfsbane Potion that minimized his symptoms at the full moon. Lupin scanned the parchment rapidly and looked up at Harry as if to say something, but hesitated.
“Ha..harry?” Neither of them had heard Dudley Dursley come out the garden door into the backyard. Dudley appeared hesitate, and threw an anxious look over his shoulder at the house where his mother was having tea with Mrs. Figg. “Can I ask you a question, Harry?”
“Sure, I guess.”
“Those scabby black hooded things that attacked us in the alley last summer, they aren’t coming back are they?” He looked from Harry to Lupin. “That’s not why you’re learning to disappear is it?”
Harry was taken back by Dudley’s words and could only stare at his cousin. Dudley was a large, lumbering bully, who had spent most of their young lives using Harry as a punching bag, but he was a muggle. Muggles did not see dementors.
“Son, are you telling me that you saw the dementors last summer?” Remus Lupin exchanged glances with Harry; both of them knew what Dudley’s words could mean.
“Well, they were a little hard to miss, especially the one grabbing my face!”
“Harry, pop up to your room and get the mirror Sirius gave you.”
With a feeling of dread, Harry Apparated to his room fished the shattered mirror out of the bottom of his trunk, and Disapparated to the backyard. Lupin was speaking quietly to Dudley when Harry appeared and held out the badly wrapped mirror. Remus looked up at Harry, and pulled out his wand.
“Reparo”
Harry grinned ruefully and handed the now whole mirror to Remus, wondering how his old professor always seemed to know what Harry didn’t want to tell him. With a glance over his shoulder towards the house, Lupin walked into the shadows, muttering into the mirror. Dudley looked at Harry, for the first time perhaps ever, without animosity. He seemed to study his cousin intently for several minutes, before pulling a coin from his pocket.
“I can make this disappear, Harry, although I am not sure where it goes, but I’ve been practicing hard. Do you think I can learn to disappear like you’ve been doing?”
At a loss for words, Harry looked about franticly for Remus, only to discover that Dumbledore had joined them in the backyard. Relief washed over him as his Headmaster winked at him, and walked Dudley toward the house. Harry watched as Dumbledore waved a hand over Dudley’s head and sent him into the house.
“Harry, Petunia was right, you are looking a bit peaked.” Dumbledore put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and looked over his half moon glasses at him. “I think you have been here long enough for the summer, would you like to celebrate your birthday with the Order?”
“Yeah, I would. Professor? Is Dudley a wizard?” Harry looked up into the sharp blue eyes. “He saw the dementors last summer.”
“Well, Harry, your cousin could have been a wizard, but it was part of my deal with your aunt that he not know he was magical. Now, let’s get your things together and you can show me what you’ve learned today.”
“Professor, later, can we talk about my dream?”
Dumbledore smiled gently as they watched Lupin levitate Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage out the window. “Yes, my boy, we will and we will also be doing Occlumency lessons, as I hear you’ve been practicing hard.” He looked over at Remus, and nodded. “Oh, and Harry, excellent job on your OWLs.” And they disappeared.
The dim basement kitchen at 12 Grimmauld Place had undergone a remarkable transformation since Harry had been there last. The rough stone walls gleamed white and spotless in the enchanted light of magical skylights in the ceiling, and the table and cabinet shined warm with polish. The room was quiet and empty as they appeared.
“Harry, Hermione’s just arrived, too, and she is upstairs with Ron in the room you share.” Dumbledore looked intently at him over his half moon glasses. “They are quite worried about you.” He pulled 2 parchment envelopes from a pocket in his robes. “Why don’t you Apparrate up there and give them their OWL letters.”
Harry reached for the envelopes but Dumbledore did not release them immediately.
“The Order was told about the Prophecy, Harry, so they could better protect it, and you, as they have sworn to do with their lives. You have two friends upstairs who freely followed you into the unknown and laid their lives on the line just a month ago, because they love you. Don’t they deserve to know the Prophecy too?”
The blue eyes were solemn, as were Lupin’s gray ones as Harry glanced at him with silent appeal, apprehension filling him.
“Harry, Ron and Hermione have been your closest confidents since you first met. They have accepted you without judgment, stood by you through ridicule, and they, of all people, will understand.”
With a nod, Harry took the envelopes and a deep breath. He envisioned the bedroom and closed his eyes.
Neither Ron nor Hermione heard the soft pop as Harry Apparated just inside the bedroom door. He could see that they had a map spread out on Ron’s bed and were studying it intently.
“No, Ron, I really think we will have to change trains here, in order to get to Little Whinging. If we just got on the Knight Bus…”
“I am NOT getting on that blasted bus again! We will just have to leave while everyone is sleeping, and maybe we’ll be there by noon. I just know that he’s not going to send another birthday alone!”
Harry took a step toward them. “You don’t have to go to all that trouble, I’m here.”
Both his friendly started guiltily at being caught plotting, until it sunk in that it was Harry. Hermione threw herself at him with a squeal, and without hesitating, Ron wrapped his arms around them both. Everyone was trying to talk at once and then they all laughed, and started again. Harry had to laugh at the looks of mingle surprise, delight and concern he saw on their faces.
“Harry! Mate, how did you get here?”
“Oh, Harry, you look simply terrible!”
“Come here and sit down for a minute, both of you. Before anything else, I have something I need to tell you, something I should have told you a month ago.”
Hermione and Ron sat down on Harry’s bed, exchanging concerned glances. Harry took a deep breath as he looked at them, hoping the fear he felt didn’t show.
“A month ago, when I told you that Voldemort had Sirius, neither of you hesitated in coming with me to London. You knew what we could face, knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and you gave your all, getting hurt in the process. While you were being taken to the hospital wing, I was in Dumbledore’s office breaking things and raging at him.”
Both his friends chuckled at the image.
“He knew I was hurting over Sirius, worried about you guys, and didn’t understand what was going on. Dumbledore told me that he had been withholding information from me in the form of this Prophecy, which allowed Voldemort to lure me to the Department of Mysteries. While the one we found there broke in the Death Chamber, he showed me his memory of the original prophecy in his pensieve, just as Professor Trelawney gave it to him.” Harry screwed up his face in concentration, trying to remember the exact wording.
“ ‘The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have 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…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…’”
Hermione gasped and looked up at Harry, while Ron appeared to be trying to work out the puzzle. “This is why you put up a wall between us, wasn’t it, Harry?”
Harry nodded, not surprised by her perception. “Ultimately, I will have to be a killer or a victim, which made me truly feel like a ‘marked’ man.”
“No, you can’t interpret it that way! Voldemort, oh hush Ron, is evil, he didn’t care who he had to hurt or kill just to hear to this prophecy. He has to be stopped, Harry, before he kills many innocent people. If you are the only one able to do that, then so be it!”
“And he has only heard the first part of this, the part about a boy being born who could defeat him, Hermione, because there was a spy who was heard the first part of the prophecy when it was made. Dumbledore says that when Voldemort tried to kill me, was when he marked me as an equal with this scar, and unknowingly transferred some of his powers to me, like being a Parselmouth. “
“Harry!” Ron burst out. “That says you are Vold…Voldemort’s equal! Blimey, Harry!”
“I certainly don’t feel like his equal, Ron! In fact, the whole thing pretty much scares the wits out of me!”
“I understand why Professor Dumbledore didn’t want you or Voldemort to hear the prophecy.” Both Ron and Harry stared at Hermione. “He didn’t want Harry burdened with this knowledge on top of everything else he had going on, and he certainly doesn’t want Voldemort to find out that Harry has at least equal his wizarding power, until Harry has learned how to use it. Don’t you see, Harry, everything Dumbledore has done since you came to Hogwarts has been to try and give you time to learn your skills like everyone else. Unfortunately, Voldemort isn’t that patient.”
Harry nodded in agreement. “I know that there are some things that seem to come easy for me, like resisting the Imperius Curse, but there is so much I don’t understand.” He looked at his friends. “I tried to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix LeStrange when we were fighting, but it only stopped her for a minute. She laughed at me, saying the curse doesn’t work unless you really want to hurt someone. I am not sure I can ever learn to do that.” Harry looked at his best friends. “Dumbledore says only the Order and we can know what the Prophecy says, so…”
There was a knock at the door. “Ron! Hermione! Remus is back! Maybe he has news of Harry!”
Harry grinned and crossed to the door, flinging it open as Mrs. Weasley made to knock again. “Hi, Mrs. Weasley!”
Molly Weasley gapped at him for a moment before sweeping Harry into a stranglehold embrace. “Oh, Harry! You look terrible, dear! I swear those people need to be whipped!”
Trying to pat her on the back reassuringly, Harry found that he still had the envelopes Professor Dumbledore gave him in his hand. He thrust his arm behind him, while Mrs. Weasley kept hugging him.
“RON! OWL Letters!”
“OWL letters?” Mrs. Weasley released him finally, swiping at her eyes, as Ron and Hermione ripped open their envelopes.
“I earned 10 OWLS, Mrs. Weasley, 5 Outstandings!” Harry beamed, “An O in Potions!!”
“Me, too, Mum! I earned 10 too, 5 Outstandings, and 4 Exceptionals, including Outstanding in Potions! Harry, Snape is going to kill us!”
Hermione dropped heavily to the bed, reading her letter through a 3rd time.
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked.
“I got 1 Exceptional.” Hermione looked up at them. “What did I do wrong?”
“Hermione,” Harry said patiently, “how many outstanding OWLs did you get?
“Well, 11” Hermione had the grace to blush.
Ron rolled his eyes at Harry and they all laughed as they made their way down to the kitchen. Ginny launched herself at Harry as they entered, and everyone was talking at once about OWLs and Harry.
“Ah, Harry.” Albus Dumbledore extended his hand and placed it on Harry’s shoulder as he walked over to join them. Remus smiled at him.
“All right Harry?”
“Yeah, actually, just like you said. You were both right, it does feel better now that I told them. Maybe it won’t seem quite so overwhelming now. Thank you.” Harry smiled at his new godfather, and felt content with the warm, reassuring hand of his headmaster and protector resting on his shoulder. He knew that nothing would ever completely fill the void left by Sirius’ death, but the love he felt here helped ease the ache.