Harry Potter and the Unfulfilled Prophecy

Chapter Three: New Discoveries

After Harry and Professor Lupin had eaten their fill of breakfast, Harry went back up to his room and got back into bed, hoping to doze until Ron woke up. Harry was awakened an hour later by Ron shaking him gruffly by the shoulder.

"C'mon Harry," Ron said, "we've got more cleaning to do today and you've got some talking to do, too."

"I'm up, I'm up." Harry said, rousing himself for the second time that morning. He followed Ron down to the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley looked surprised to see Harry back down there again so soon. Ron immediately began eating his heart out and amazingly took a break from shoving food in his face to ask Harry why he wasn't eating.

"I'm not that hungry right now, that's all." Harry said, but Ron wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, and my name isn't Ron Weasley. Really, Harry, why aren't you eating?"

"I already ate this morning," Harry said resignedly, "I woke up earlier and then went back to sleep... I'll talk to you later about it."

"Alright," Ron said and then began filling his mouth with food again. Minutes later, Hermione and Ginny came down. Hermione immediately looked concerned at the fact that Harry wasn't eating. She knew something was on his mind. She decided not to say anything to Harry, though. She was sure he wouldn't enjoy explaining whatever was wrong with him to Ginny, as well as herself and Ron. Once Ron and Hermione were done eating breakfast, they silently communicated that they needed to talk to Harry. The three of them got up, leaving Ginny to finish her morning meal. They could tell something had been wrong since the party yesterday. Unlike most of the people who had been at his party, Ron and Hermione had noticed him stealing up to his room among the hustle and bustle. They figured that Harry just wanted to have some time alone. However, on top of his peculiar behavior that morning, they knew something was bothering him.

Walking up the stairs, the trio went into Harry and Ron's shared room and bolted the door. The three of them sat down on Harry's bed and Hermione noticed the pensieve glowing faintly on the dresser. Harry followed her gaze and decided to explain a little bit about how he had come across it.

"I was cleaning Sirius's old room yesterday and I found that in the closet. Lupin says it was Sirius's pensieve. I have no clue how he would have come across one of these. I'm sure they're expensive. I was kind of wondering if you could decipher those symbols since you got an Outstanding O.W.L. in Ancient Runes, Hermione." Harry stated, rather than asked.

"Sure, no problem Harry. I'm not sure I'll be of much help, though," Hermione said modestly, "I'm really not that great at it. I'll take a look at it though. I promise I'll be careful with it. I won't even touch it. I'm sure it means the world to you. Have you had a chance to see much of what's in there.. you know, his thoughts?"

"No, not really. I only saw one yesterday, when I found it in the closet. It was last Christmas... when Sirius gave me something when we were leaving to go back to Hogwarts. He told me not to open it there... I forgot to tell you two about it," Harry added, "because I forgot about it, too. I didn't even remember I had it until I saw it when I was packing my things to go back to Privet." This seemed to satisfy Ron and Hermione although they still didn't know what it was that Sirius had given him.

"He gave me a mirror," Harry said, reading their thoughts, "he had another one. I was supposed to be able to talk with him just by saying his name..." Harry's voice trailed off, but Ron and Hermione swore they could have heard him say in a tormented voice something like, "sure would have helped last year if I knew I had it."

They had heard correctly. Harry had beaten himself up over it again and again. If only he had remembered Sirius had given him the package. He would have been able to talk to Sirius the night he was killed. He would have been able to tell Harry that he was safe at Grimmauld Place, not being tortured by Voldemort at the Department of Mysteries. Ron and Hermione could see Harry beginning to persecute himself over it again and Hermione quickly cut in.

"So Harry, why weren't you eating breakfast this morning?" she asked, having not heard his quick explanation to Ron earlier that morning.

"Wha - ," Harry said, bringing himself out of his mental argument, "Oh, I already ate this morning. I - ," he broke off, unsure of whether he should tell his friends about the dreams he had had. Professor Lupin had told him not to get worked up about it. This meant that he probably didn't want Harry telling everyone in sight about his dreams. He decided to change the subject quickly and hoped no one would notice. He stood up and knelt down at the foot of his bed, clearly looking for something. His eyes glinted as he saw what he was after. Hermione and Ron were looking curiously at him when he held up a knife for them to see.

"This is what Lupin gave me for my birthday. It was Sirius's, too. It should have occurred to me before that Sirius would have another one." Harry said as Ron and Hermione could only gawk at the magnificent knife held before them.

"Wow, Harry," Hermione whispered in a truly awe-filled voice, "Sirius must have really treasured that... it's beautiful!"

"Ummm... Harry?" Ron asked hesitatingly, "Would you mind if I, uh, held it?"

"Sure," said Harry, "just be careful with it." He handed the brilliant knife over to Ron, who held it gingerly.

"It's awesome!" Ron exclaimed, always the one for words, "It has Gryffindor colors, Harry. It's perfect! It's even better than the one he gave you... So Lupin gave this to you for your birthday, huh? That's what I call a great birthday present. So, erm, how did you like our gifts?" Ron asked tentatively, referring to himself and Hermione.

"They're great. Honestly, I've never gotten so many presents for my birthday. We'll have to have a chess tournament, of course we both already know I'll beat you," Harry jested. They both knew that Ron would win, however... he had played it his whole life. "I'm sure I'll also enjoy that subscription you got me, Hermione. It'll be nice to play Quidditch again. You do suppose I'll be able to get back on the team, right?"

This question was greeted by an "Of course!" by Hermione and "No doubt about it" by Ron.

"Since Dumbledore's back instead of that nasty Umbridge woman, he's sure to let you play again. Isn't your Firebolt still at Hogwarts, though?" asked Ron.

"Yeah," said Harry dully, "I'd feel better just having it with me. I don't trust Filch to take care of it with all his fondness for making students miserable. He probably knows that broom's one of my weaknesses. Dumbledore'll protect it for me though, don't you think?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Certainly, Harry," Hermione said reassuringly, "he knows how much it means to you, being from Sirius and all." Right after she said those last words, she regretted them. The last thing she wanted to do was bring up Harry's godfather again. It was obvious that Sirius had been on his mind all summer already. He needed to get his mind concentrated on something else. Her mind jumped to the only thing she knew of.

"Did you finish your summer homework already, Harry?" The question was answered by a look of that's-not-an-appropriate-topic-for-the-moment look from Ron and a slight laugh from Harry who found it amusing that Hermione was still her old self.

"Yeah, I have actually. I had a lot of spare time at Privet since I wasn't in contact with any certain friends," Harry said, trying to poke fun at his friends, "so I decided to make the most of it. I read up on a lot of stuff that I should have known last year. If I were to re-take the O.W.L.'s I would probably do a lot better, but that's alright." Before they knew it, an hour was whittled away comparing their O.W.L.'s scores and catching up on various things in each other's lives.

"Where are Crookshanks and Pig?" Harry asked, "I haven't seen either of them yet."

"Pig's giving Errol a run for his money," said Ron, "Mum decided to keep them in the same cage. Don't really know why."

"And Crookshanks has been up in my room. He doesn't much like Kreacher and I get the feeling that he would pounce on him if he got the chance to." Hermione added.

"Well then, by all means, let him at the little bugger. We certainly have no use for that meddling creep," said Ron who utterly detested Kreacher, the house-elf. It had been Kreacher that purposely told Harry false information. He said that Sirius was at the Department of Mysteries on that night Harry went to go "save" him. So, naturally, Harry loathed the creature, too. Hermione had always had a soft spot for house-elves even though she had to admit that this one was more evil than most. In defense of any other elf, Hermione would have caused an uproar, but at Ron's remark, she only shot him a particularly nasty glare. Harry could tell they were about to get into a minor argument when, thankfully, he heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Harry asked.

"It's Tonks, can I come in?"

"Yeah, just a second, I need to get the bolt undone," said Harry as he stood to go to the door.

"Alohomora." Tonks said, and the bolt unlocked itself. Tonks came in with her black hair streaming lightly behind her.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Harry asked himself quietly, but was still overheard by the others.

"You still wouldn't have been able to do it anyway, remember? No magic outside school grounds." Tonks said, giving Harry a smile. "Anyways," she continued, "I just wanted to let you three in on a little secret... I'm going to be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore just told me. Of course, this means that I won't be able to experiment much with my hair any more. I'll get past that though. Plus, I think I've decided that this is the best look for me anyway."

"Oh, that's awesome," Hermione exclaimed, "I'd been wondering who was going to replace that old hag. You must be so excited Tonks! I didn't even know you applied for the job."

"Yeah, well, I didn't really want to tell anyone because if I didn't get the job then all the people I told would feel bad for me. I can't stand it when people pity me. Anyway," Tonks said, leaning out the doorway to leave, "thought you all should know!"

Upon Tonks's departure from the room, Harry, Hermione, and Ron immediately began talking about how great it was going to be to have Tonks as their teacher. As long as she didn't break too many things in her office every day, she would be a great professor.

"Don't you think it'll be a bit... uh... weird calling her 'Professor Tonks', though?" Hermione asked, "I mean, she's so young, she doesn't look old enough to be a professor. Why would she even be coming to Hogwarts? She's such a great Auror already, why would she want to teach? Maybe Dumbledore wants her closer? Oh well, it will just be great to have her there."

Tonks's interruption had caused Harry to remember the present he had gotten from her. He decided to go ahead and tell Ron and Hermione about it. They'd figure it out soon enough so he figured he would just tell them now.

"Hey, you guys. I got a present from Tonks yesterday... I want to show it to you." Harry said as he began uncovering the hidden box. Harry took it out and sat it on his bed. Ron and Hermione were starting to look quite confused, not knowing what was inside. Harry opened the box and pulled out his book. Upon seeing the title, Harry could see his friends' eyes grow wide.

"You don't mean..." started Hermione, but Ron finished her question.

"... that you can become an animagus? Don't you have to be a certain age, though?"

"Yes, you do... sixteen. Now I qualify for that. Anyways, here," said Harry, pulling out the note their new professor had written him, "this explains everything."

Ron and Hermione fought over who was to hold the letter and finally settled on each of them holding one side. Both of them came up from reading the note looking much more gloomy than they had when they first bent down to read it. Neither of them wanted to be the one to talk first, but Hermione seemed to find the courage.

"Ummm, Harry," Hermione said softly, "I'm really sorry. It must be a terrible reminder."

"Are you kidding? I'm as excited as can be! By being an animagus I'll be able to get around without people noticing me." Harry said excitedly.

"No, not that," said Ron, "that's great, but I mean, that Sirius was going to give it to you." He let it go at that, sensing that he had obviously put a stopper in the happy tone of their conversation.

"Oh, right," Harry mumbled. He couldn't blame his friends for bringing up the obvious. He had felt sad at first that Sirius hadn't been the one to give it to him, but the fact that his godfather had been thinking about him was enough to brighten his mood. There was another knock on the door.

"Come in!" All three of them yelled quite unnecessarily. With that, a slightly disheveled Lupin appeared in the doorway.

"Professor Lupin, are you okay?" Hermione asked, concerned at his non-professional appearance.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine..." said Lupin. Then, nodding at Ron and Hermione, he went on, "Mrs. Weasley is looking for the two of you and I was wondering if I could speak to Harry alone for a few minutes?"

"Of course, no problem," Hermione said, although Ron looked rather inclined to stay.

"We'll go find Ron's mum." She said, making Ron get up with her and walk out the door.

"What do you need, Professor Lupin?" Harry asked.

"First of all, I need you to stop calling me 'Professor'. I haven't been your teacher for two whole years now. Call me Remus, or Lupin if it suits you better."

"Alright, what do you need... er... Remus," Harry said, finding it awkward to call the professor by his first name.

"You might have wondered what I meant in my letter to you this summer when I wrote, 'there are a lot of things to attend to'?" Lupin asked.

"Yeah, actually, I did," replied Harry, his tone becoming inquisitive.

"Well, I need to explain it to you now," said Lupin, "I'll start with a disclaimer though, Harry, you aren't going to like what I'm going to tell you."

"Does it have anything to do with my dream I had last night? Have you talked to anyone about it yet, prof--" Harry, catching himself in mid-word, shook his head in attempt to clear up his mistake, "Remus?"

"Yes, Harry, I've been doing some poking around. I'm working on figuring out the meaning of it, but that's not why I came to talk to you." He paused, searching his brain for some word that would make what he was about to say less painful. He found none.

"It's about Sirius, Harry... we're having a memorial for him... at Hogwarts. It's a week from today." Lupin said slowly. It was as tough for him to say this as it was for Harry to hear.

"At Hogwarts? Don't you think students will get... suspicious if there's a ... a... headstone for a convicted mass murderer?" Harry said, trying to get past the fact he was talking about Sirius.

"It won't have Sirius's real name. It will be in a place that doesn't attract a lot of attention. If the occasional student spots it, they won't think anything of it. Don't worry. But anyway, I needed to let you know. I didn't really want to be the one to have to tell you, bu-... but Dumbledore decided I would be the best one." Lupin said, losing his composure. Harry could tell he was cracking at the seams.

It was getting harder and harder to keep on talking to Harry about Sirius's approaching memorial. Sirius had been his best friend. Yes, he had been close friends with James, but since Sirius had been on the run, they had become much closer. He was now the last of the Marauders left and he felt utterly and completely lost. True, there was Wormtail, but he was as good as dead to Remus. Sirius had been the only one he could really talk to, and now he was gone. That night when Sirius's body vanished behind the curtain, all he had wanted to do was to follow after him. He had wanted to follow more than Harry, but he found himself holding Harry back to keep him from going in. When you go beyond that veil, you don't come back. Everyone knew that.

"Anyone who, um, feels like it can say something for him. If you would like to and you feel up to it, you can start gathering your thoughts on what to say. But don't feel like you have to, Harry," added Lupin. He couldn't blame him if he didn't want to say anything. "Of course, only people who knew he was innocent will be there. There might be a few people you don't know, but most everyone will be a familiar face. Mrs. Weasley is telling everyone else right now. We figured it would be best if we told you while you were alone."

Harry sat in shock as he was hearing this. It all seemed surreal. He was only able to get out a few words, he could imagine that it was taking Lupin a great deal of courage to get all of this out. True, the professor had known Sirius better than he had, but Harry had cared about him just as much as Remus did. How were Ron and Hermione taking it? They cared for Sirius, too. It wouldn't be easy for them either, but Sirius hadn't been their godfather. Both Harry and Remus could feel their composure cracking. Harry wanted Lupin to leave before he lost it. Lupin wanted to leave, but oddly found that he wasn't budging. Neither of them wanted the other to see them give way to tears, but they had no choice. Any strength they had left was now gone. Harry did the only thing he could do, he reached across the bed and buried his face in Lupin's chest. His body heaved in sobs that racked his body with unimaginable anguish. Remus put a comforting hand on Harry's head and lowered his head down so it rested on Harry's as silent tears ran down his cheeks.

Just outside the door stood a tearful Ron and Hermione, listening silently to the sounds of their friend's grief. It was the first time either of them had really dealt with the fact that Sirius was no longer alive. With their friends sobs adding to their grief, they could not help it any longer, and began to cry as well. To prevent Harry from hearing them, they walked down the stairs, arms around each other. Hermione, with her free hand, covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her cries. Through their tears, they found a couch and sat down. There, they embraced until their tears dried up. They silently fell off to sleep with the occasional sniffle, still holding each other tightly.

Harry and Remus wept together for a long time, releasing months of grief that had been waiting to get out. After Lupin had left the room, Harry took his time and gathered himself together. Was he going to say something at Sirius's memorial? Sure, he wanted to, but could he actually bring himself to speak about the man who had been the closest he ever had to a father? He didn't think he could trust his voice when it came down to it. He had a week to decide about it, though. He took a deep breath and decided to go find Ron and Hermione.

When he went downstairs, he was greeted by a sight that struck him as extremely odd... both Ron and Hermione were sitting extremely close together on the couch. Their left sides rested on the back of the sofa. Ron's head was laid lightly on the back of Hermione's neck and his arm was around her waist. The more he thought about it though, the more fitting it looked. He walked over to his sleeping friends, intending to wake them up. He thought better of it and decided to let them sleep. They looked rather comfortable resting like that. By their tear-stained faces, he could tell they had taken the news about Sirius's memorial just as bad as he had. He went to go find Mrs. Weasley to see if there was any more work he could do to keep his mind occupied.

He passed the rest of the day by cleaning various places throughout the house. His friends eventually woke up to find that Hermione was still firmly in Ron's arms. They both attempted to look somewhat horrified at the thought of having embraced, but they were secretly glad that they had each other for comfort. They met up with Harry and helped him with chores. Not much dialogue passed between them the rest of the day. None of them could think of anything worth saying any more. A few hours after dinner, Harry decided to go to bed and get some much-needed dreamless sleep. He made an extra effort to clear his mind that evening, hoping that the backs of his eyelids would be all that he saw for the next eight hours or so.

* * * * * * * * * *

Harry's mind was transported to a darkened room lit only by the green fire in the brick hearth. Once again, he witnessed the scene from third person. This time, it was as if he were a portrait on the wall. There was a hooded figure seated in a chair directly in front of Harry. It was sitting as if it was waiting for something... it didn't have to wait long. Soon, another cloaked form came walking in. After bowing deeply to the figure seated in the chair, she removed her hood revealing long, straight black hair. Harry was frustrated that he couldn't see was the woman's face. Just then, Voldemort's cold voice resonated throughout the room.

"It was wise of you to be on time tonight. I do not tolerate stragglers. This, you know already, though. You have already proven yourself a better follower than your father. He did not even get this far before his attempt to back out."

"Please, my lord, do not remind me. He was a fool who did not know where his true loyalties were. He deserved to die. I came here in response to your summons. I am under the impression that you will tell me my mission, my lord?" said the woman.

"Yes, you are quite astute. The task I give you is to find Harry Potter... get close to him. Earn his trust and then... kill him. One of us must die and I would much rather it be him." Harry could hear the sneer in his voice without needing to see the hideous face lurking just behind the shadows.

"I put my trust in you," Voldemort said, "Make sure he does the same. I do not need to warn you more than once that if you fail... you will most certainly be of no use to me. It is not necessary that you come to any other meetings. Remain focused on this task, because it is very important to me."

"Of course, my lord. I will not let you down. I will gain his trust. It will be easy for me. I will be at Hogwarts this year. He won't suspect a thing. Thank you for trusting me with such a great honor. Thank you, my lord."

"You may go now. I will need occasional updates. I will notify you when I need you." The figure bowed deeply again and put up her hood. With her face hidden, she turned and walked out.

Harry woke up breathing as if he had just run a marathon. His heart was pounding and the pain in his scar was excruciating. What had just happened? He was so confused. He had cleared his mind before he went to bed. Why didn't it work? Maybe it did work, though. Maybe he had just had an actual dream for once. But why would his scar hurt so much? It didn't hurt when he just had random dreams. The contents of his dream scared him, but if he were to tell Remus, he would probably just tell Harry not to worry about it and that it was just a dream. Something kept nagging his brain as he was trying to get back to sleep. Who was it that had been talking to Voldemort? He could only see the back of her head, but the long black hair looked familiar...

* * * * * * * * * * *

Harry had no more dreams the rest of the night. He woke up with a pounding headache, which was undoubtedly from the pain in his scar a few hours prior. Ron had already gone down for breakfast and Harry looked at the clock. It read "10:47". How could Harry have slept in this much? Why did they let him? They had some more cleaning to do that day. When Harry went downstairs he was greeted by Mrs. Weasley.

"Harry, dear. We were wondering when you were going to get up. We heard you had some trouble sleeping so we figured we'd let you rest up for a bit," Mrs. Weasley told him, "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Oh, I'll just have some toast and marmalade, thanks." Harry said.

"Are you sure I can't get you something more filling, dear? You need to keep your strength up so you can help with the house." Mrs. Weasley said, smiling.

Harry knew that wasn't why she wanted him to eat more. She was worried about him, he could tell. How did she hear he had had trouble sleeping? He didn't wake anyone else up when his dream ended. How else would she have known? His question didn't go unanswered for long. Ron walked into the room with Hermione and Ginny at his side.

"Hey, mate. Glad to see you're finally up. Have a bit of a lie in?" Ron asked.

"Err... yeah. Where are you guys off to?" Harry asked, wondering why the three of them were grouped together so tightly. He could see the gears shifting in Ron's head trying to make up an excuse that was plausible for his mother.

"We're going to start cleaning up the attic. You want to come, Harry?" Ron asked with an emphatic nod of his head while his mother's back was turned.

"Uh... sure. I'll be up in a few minutes," Harry said, holding up his toast, "I've got to eat my breakfast first. See you in a bit."

With that, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walked out of the kitchen and began climbing the stairs. Harry finished off his breakfast in a matter of minutes and climbed the stairs. He only got to the door of the room he shared with Ron before he was pulled inside by three pairs of hands.

"What the --? Oh, it's you guys. I thought you said you were going to be in the attic." Harry said, his heart still beating rapidly at the shock of having been pulled into the room.

"Yeah, I just had to think of an excuse that would satisfy mum. If we're not cleaning, she's not really happy," Ron said, "Anyways, Harry... what was up with last night? You must have woken everyone up. What were you dreaming about?"

"Oh," said Harry, feeling extremely self-conscious that he yelled in his sleep, "it was just another dream about Sirius. I get them all the time, nothing to worry about."

"That sure didn't sound like 'nothing to worry about' to me, Harry." Hermione said sternly, "You're having dreams about Voldemort again, aren't you?"

"No, I... look, I don't really want to talk about it right now," Harry said. "I'll tell you guys, just not now. I have to find out some things first. It could have just been a simple dream that's not connected to him at all."

"You don't sound too convinced yourself, Harry," Ginny said in her gentle voice, "We're not going to push you about it, though. Just know you can come talk to us if you need to, alright?"

"Yeah, alright," said Harry, almost impatiently. "You want to go up to the attic now? I'm sure it needs lots of help."

Later that day Lupin found the four of them working in the musty attic. He asked Harry to come and talk to him after lunch, which would be soon because it was 12:30. All throughout the meal, Harry kept trying to catch Lupin's eye in between bites of his sandwich, but to no avail. When everyone was done and got up from the table, Harry told the trio that he would be back up to the attic in a few minutes. He then followed Lupin into the deserted living room and pulled the French doors shut.

"Harry, what happened last night?" Lupin asked seriously, "you were screaming your head off. Did you have another dream, because you really need to be working on clearing your mind. You will have to take Occlumency with Professor Snape again this year, Harry. Love has saved you many times before now, but it may not protect you much longer. You need to learn how to defend your mind."

"Professor... Remus, I tried. Really, last night I cleared my mind of everything. Believe me, I didn't want to have another dream. It wasn't my fault this time. I had no control over it."

"Well, then do you think it could have just been a plain old dream?" Lupin asked, almost hopefully.

"Yeah... well, no. That's what I thought at first, but when I woke up my scar hurt like he-... well, it hurt a lot," Harry said, catching himself, "My scar isn't just randomly sore. I mean, it always hurts a little, but never like that unless there's a reason."

"Oh, I see," said Lupin, looking slightly crestfallen, "well, what was your dream about?"

"Well, I was in a dark room. I saw it from third person again. I was looking at Voldemort. He was sitting in a chair and a woman walked in. I could only see the back of her head when she took off her hood. She had really long black hair. He told her that her mission was... um, to get to know me and then... er... kill me. He must know about the prophecy now somehow. He said 'one of must to die and I would rather it be him'. Now he's pretty certain one of us has to die. Before it was just that he wanted to kill me because I always got in his way. Now he feels like he needs to... Anyway, the woman said that she was going to be at Hogwarts."

"I see," said Lupin, looking rather puzzled by that last piece of information, "well that's very interesting, Harry. I'll most certainly tell the Order about it."

"Um, professor... can I tell you something? I know it's really stupid, but I just need to tell someone," Harry said.

"Sure, Harry. What is it?" Lupin asked, looking rather inquisitive.

"I could only see the back of the woman's head, but she... umm... she looked a lot like... Tonks." Harry said, finally able to get out what he wanted to say.

"Harry," Lupin said, looking at him with a you-know-better expression on his face, "you know Tonks just as well as I do. She doesn't have an evil bone in her body. Clumsy ones, yes, but she's not in league with You-Know-Who."

"I know," Harry said, "I just needed someone to tell me how stupid that idea was. Thanks Remus." With that, Harry stood up and left the room, leaving the French doors open for Lupin to follow behind him. Lupin, however, stayed put on the couch, immersed in thought.