Family Ties

Dean had picked a bad time to finally make a move on Ginny (though he had to admit, it had been her move rather than his) as his OWL exams were only two weeks away. He spent long evenings in the library, in the Common Room testing Seamus and vice versa and sometimes retiring to the Room to try to memorise incantations and definitions, though he avoided even looking at the Memory Glass.

By the time they had reached the Sunday before their first exam, everyone's nerves were stretched to breaking point, and seemingly no one more than Hermione. Dean was eating at the end of the Gryffindor table, near the doors with Seamus and Neville when the examiners arrived. Neville pointed out Madam Marchbanks, a friend of his grandmother's. She looked about two hundred years old, and appeared to be hard of hearing as she was almost yelling at Umbridge. Then again, maybe she just didn't control the impulse the way her students had to.

The crowded common room that night had an atmosphere the consistency of custard. The fifth and seventh years stared glassy eyed, at the fire, at books taking in nothing but the collected nervousness of their fellow students. Dean himself had the Standard Book of Spells, Grade One open in his lap, staring at the moving illustration demonstrating the wand movement for the Levitation Charm. He knew it already, but was afraid his mind would simply go blank.

Breakfast the next morning was even worse than the Common Room, Neville was shaking so much he dropped anything he picked up; Lavender was staring fixedly at a jug of pumpkin juice, freezing and unfreezing it alternatively and Hermione was reading a book so fast Dean was sure she couldn't really be reading it.

His Charms test went perfectly all right, he managed to get down all the Spells he could remember in the written test, though he forgot the official definition for Growth Charms and there were a few incantations that were very similar that he might have mixed up. The practical went great, the only mistake he made was making his egg go too far and fall off the table to smash on the floor, though he got an extra point for magically cleaning it up himself with no prompting.

Transfiguration was next, and about that he was really nervous, a combination of knowing how well his father had done and knowing that he needed a good grade to continue his ambition to be a Healer. He vanished his ferret well enough, and conjured a water goblet out of the air as instructed, even if he didn't catch it in time.

Herbology was a piece of cake. Thanks to his growing friendship with Neville, Dean had improved vastly in Herbology, and indeed now found it quite interesting. The next day was Defence Against the Dark Arts and Dean and the other members of the DA that he saw in the Hall took great pride in performing all the Counter Jinxes perfectly and Dean had just entered the Great Hall when Harry's stag Patronus cantered past him. He caught the look Umbridge gave him and feverently hoped Harry got an Outstanding, he deserved it more than anyone.

Potions was another subject Dean was dreading, however Snape was not in the room and even Neville made half decent Potions when not being criticised constantly. Dean's Draught of the Living Death looked a little too pale, but his Strengthening Solution was exactly as described. He was afraid he had been let down by the written part of the test, he hadn't studied the effects of Polyjuice Potion enough and he forgot the measurements for Ageing Potion.

Care of Magical Creatures was a walk in the park, they all knew well enough how to identify a knarl and a krup and everything else they were asked.

In Divination, he interpreted the dream dictated to him by the examiner, read her palm but saw nothing in the crystal ball as usual and took a leaf out of Ron's book by telling the examiner he predicted lots of fog that night.

The Astronomy exam, he was looking forward to. He had spent a few productive nights in the Room with the glass globe and his textbook, and now had a perfect image in his head of the alignment of planets and stars. He was almost finished his star chart when the action started. He'd been so engrossed in his paper that it wasn't until he heard a loud BANG from across the grounds that he realised anything was happening, he saw Hermione sitting in front of him, looking over to what he realised was Hagrid's cabin.

There were half a dozen people down there, as far as Dean could tell in such poor light, and they were all shooting spells at the tall form of Hagrid. He gasped and leaned closer for a better view. He heard the yelling, and saw a stunning spell hit the bouncing, barking form of Fang - Hagrid's dog. Hagrid let out a yell that chilled Dean's blood and threw the culprit ten feet with his bare hands. Dean hadn't realised how strong Hagrid really was, or how violent his temper could become.

At that point, the doors of the castle opened again and they watched Professor McGonagall stride towards the scuffle, despite Professor Tofty's protestations that they were supposed to be sitting an exam. Professor McGonagall was in a towering fury that they had ambushed Hagrid like this and was shouting at them at the top of her lungs. "Get away from him!"

Dean gasped with the rest of the class as they shot four stunning spells at her and she was lifted off her feet, landing hard on her back. She did not move again. At this, even Professor Tofty was shocked enough to exclaim at such behaviour by professionals. Hagrid lost his temper completely, knocking out several of his attackers with flailing fists before he picked up the limp form of his dog and sprinting into the night. At Professor Tofty's feeble prompting, Dean filled in the rest of his star chart.

It was good that the next day was the final exam, as not many of the Gryffindors slept much that night, there was too much chatter about the action outside. Dean and Seamus had relayed the story the minute they had staggered through the portrait hole. They were all baffled that Umbridge would choose to sack Hagrid now, right as the year was ending. The Common Room still wasn't empty when Dean finally staggered up the stairs to bed.

Until a few weeks previously, Dean had been dreading his History of Magic exam. But he had spent a few days holed up in the Room with the last three years textbooks and actually found them quite enjoyable. The Goblin Rebellions were fascinating, it was just Binns' sleep inducing voice that made the entire subject seem dull. Dean had also studied Wand Legislation hard, afraid to end up like Gary had; and the revision paid off as it was one of the questions on the paper.

He had just finished writing about the formation of the International Confederation of Wizards when Harry collapsed, yelling in agony to be escorted out of the hall. Distracted, wondering what was wrong; Dean finished his answer and had a stab at the last question about the International Warlock Convention of 1289.

Immediately after the exam, he and Seamus headed up to the dormitory, with the intention of planning an end of exams celebration. They walked into Hufflepuff's Harold Dingle, who promised to get hold of some Firewhiskey for them. They were heading out towards the grounds to enjoy the rest of the sunny day when Harry came past, a focused look on his face and didn't answer when they spoke to him about the party. "What's up with him?" asked Seamus. "You wouldn't know the OWLs were over would you?"

"Ah who cares, let's get out and get our feet in that lake."

Dean looked around for Ginny as he headed out, looking forward to having a walk around the grounds with her now that he was free from the stress of exams, but he didn't see her anywhere. He kept looking for her while he and Seamus chatted with Anna and Jenny beside the lake, Jenny occasionally throwing him dark looks he cheerfully ignored. Ginny didn't show at the party either. He felt dejected, and headed up to lie down for a while, wondering if he'd done something to upset her.

A gentle tapping noise disturbed his musings and he looked to the window beside Harry's bed to see Helios tapping at the glass with his talon, clutching a letter in his beak. Dean flew across the room, wondering why Helios was bringing him post at this hour; it was starting to get dark outside. He didn't recognise the narrow, curly handwriting on the envelope.

Come to the Gargoyle on the seventh floor in the east wing, bring the case file.

Dean's heart leapt. But Dumbledore couldn't POSSIBLY be in the castle! Then he remembered how the office had locked Umbridge out of it... What a perfect hiding place!

Dean scrambled down the stairs and once inside the Room, he went straight to the cabinet, unlocked it and grabbed Webster's trial file. He sprinted to the east wing and looked up at the monstrosity of a statue in front of him. "Choco balls," he said to it, using the password Dumbledore had used to get passed it before, but it must have been changed since the gargoyle didn't move an inch.

He looked down at the note, still clutched in his left hand, and noticed something stuck to the bottom corner. It was a piece of a sweet, half of it was blood red, the other white. Dean smiled as he caught on, and said to the gargoyle, "Nosebleed Nougat." He wondered as the moving staircase took him up how on Earth Dumbledore had gotten hold of one of the Weasleys' Skiving Snackboxes.

He knocked on the door and heard a single sweet note sing out before a soft voice called, "Come in." Dean opened the door, and there was Dumbledore, sitting behind his desk like nothing had changed. He smiled at Dean and gestured to the seat on the other side of the table. "I expect you are wondering why I am here?"

Dean nodded. "My students need me, and despite what the Ministry says, this school knows who its Headmaster is. I changed the password and stayed here. It never occurred to the Ministry that I might have stayed in my own office."

Dumbledore looked at him over the top of his half-moon glasses. "Now, as to why you are here... do you wish to see the trial?"

"Yes sir."

"You are sure, Mr Thomas? This will be distressing, and what is seen cannot be unseen."

Dean thought about his last experience with the mirror; remembering the feeling of being tortured, living his father's last moments. "Nothing can be worse than what I have already seen and felt."

Dumbledore regarded him quietly for several seconds, then rose and went to the cabinet that housed the Pensieve. He set it on the table and held out his hand to Dean for the vial in the case file. Dean studied it briefly before handing it over, this little vial, and its pearly white liquid smoke would show him justice for his father.

Dumbledore uncorked it, and emptied it into the Pensive, where it swirled lazily. Dumbledore prodded it with his wand so it swirled more rapidly. He stood back and looked at Dean again, looking tired and somewhat sad. "Go ahead, Dean. I hope you find what you need."

Dean stared at Dumbledore for several long seconds, wondering what exactly he meant by that. Then he rose and plunged his face into the Pensive without any hesitation.