Tested In Fire

Author´s Note: This chapter, without question, needs to be dedicated to a very wonderful person. She keeps me sane, bugs me about updating, listens to me moaning about writer´s block, and tolerates my mood swings. She keeps me under careful control in the Café, makes sure I don´t embarrass her too greatly IRL, and basically is a good friend. So, Meg, this one is for you. I´m happy to say that I know the person you´ve become, despite the adversity you´ve had to face, and I hope Harry comes out of the mortal peril I intend to place him in as well as you did.

Tested In Fire-Chapter 5

In Which... Harry receives an owl and Remus must make a decision.

The owl stopped in front of Harry and, extending a leg, blinked regally at him. The letter that was tied to it was sealed with the Hogwarts crest, and Harry inexplicably got a bad feeling. With his hands shaking badly, he loosened the parchment and the owl took off.

"What does it say, Harry?" Ron wanted to know, but was quieted immediately with a look from Hermione.

Ginny watched as the elated expression faded from Harry´s eyes and was replaced by a look of pain so deep it broke her heart into pieces.

"Hagrid´s dead." He said it calmly, seemingly without emotion, but Ginny knew that this was the final straw. If Harry didn´t snap tonight... Suddenly Harry shook his head and made his way quickly to the back door. Hermione and Ron reached for each other, for the moment forgetting about Harry. That one tenth of a second was all Ginny needed, and she made for the door at lightning speed.

Standing inside of the door jam and leaning a bit, she risked, "How, Harry?"

"He was on a mission for Dumbledore, with the other giants. They got him with an Avada Kedavra, Ginny... I didn´t think they could. I knew people would die, but..."

Going on impulse alone, Ginny stepped away from the door and slipped her arms up around Harry´s neck, which was quite a feat, considering how much taller Harry was, and laid her head against his chest. Still, she was surprised when Harry returned the embrace and laid his head on hers.

"He was my first real friend. He gave me my first real birthday present, I just..." Harry´s voice broke on a sob. Ginny, having six brothers, knew how hard it was for him to cry in front of her. She didn´t offer him assurances that everything would be okay, or whisper words of encouragement, she just held him.

"Come on, let´s sit down." She led him over to a bench in the Weasleys´ backyard.

The two of them just sat, neither of them making a sound as the tears streamed silently down their faces.

After a bit, Ron and Hermione came out and joined them. Harry and Ginny didn´t look up, but they sensed their presence. For once, the four of them were united. United in grief.

"Hogwarts won´t be the same," Hermione muttered.

"I wouldn´t have got to go to Hogwarts if it hadn´t been for Hagrid," Harry said.

"I wouldn´t have survived my first year," Ginny murmured.

"I would have never gone to Romania," Charlie said, coming out of the house.

"I wouldn´t have worked for Gringotts," Bill said, as the rest of the family followed the outside.

"I would have made it through my seventh year a lot less bruised," Percy said.

"Detention with Hagrid."

"That brings back some memories," Fred and George said.

"Come on inside, everyone," Molly said after a time. "I think we all need our rest."

Ginny dreamt again that night, and this time, everything was clearer. She walked through a house that was small, charming. In her arms she held a fussing child. Walking back and forth, back and forth, she sang to her son in a low voice. With a start, Ginny realized that she was Lily Potter, and the baby she holding had to be Harry. Her dream self kept pacing the floor and singing, until something broke her rhythm. Someone was standing in the doorway!

"James," she heard herself say, "you scared me half to death."

"I´m sorry, love. Work was terrible."

"Here, take Harry. I´ll pour you a drink."

"Lily, Dumbledore contacted me today. They´re after us."

"They´ve always been after us, James." She could feel herself wishing it not to be true. "What makes this so different from all the other times?"

"No, Lily. This time they know."

"But we were so careful..."

"The Fidelius Charm. It´s our only hope, our only option."

"I know we´ve talked about this before, but something just doesn´t feel right, James." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I don´t want to put anyone in the position where they would have to..."

"Sirius, Remus, and Peter would all be willing to do it."

"I know. Damn your Marauder loyalty! What if someone dies because of us, James?"

"No one is going to die. The charm is nearly infallible. We both know that if it were just us, I´d take the chance. But now that we have Harry, there´s just too much riding on this."

"I know. I just wish things would turn out differently."

"Come here, Lils." Lily/Ginny walked over to James, and the three of them stood together. "Let me put Harry to bed."

"You don´t have to..."

"You were up every night this week. Go to bed and relax. I´ll be up in a minute."

A slow smile spread over her face, and Ginny got the feeling Lily knew what was going to happen. "Promise?"

"Promise." As they walked off, Lily/Ginny heard him talking to Harry. "And then Moony and Padfoot turned the pumpkin juice green, with a simple spell I´ll have to show you sometime when your mum´s not around and..."

"James, are you sure?" Lily asked when he walked through the doorway of their bedroom.

"As sure as I can be without being a Death Eater."

"Oh, sweetheart, I´m sorry. I didn´t mean it like that."

"Come here, Lily." She crawled into his arms and sat on the bed. "I love you, so much," he whispered.

"James, what happened today?"

"The Longbottoms... They´re gone, Lily."

"Dead?" She saw in his eyes that it was something even more terrible.

"Worse. They´re not even in their own minds anymore. They just... sit there."

"They have a boy Harry´s age, don´t they?"

"Neville. He´s gone to live with his grandmother."

"Oh, it´s horrid. All of it! When will it stop?"

Ginny woke up in her room exhausted. Sleep these days was more tiring than being awake, so she made her way to the kitchen for a glass of hot coca.

She tried to make as little noise as possible as she walked across the kitchen floor, but despite her best efforts, the boards still creaked.

"Gin? What are you doing here?"

Not surprisingly, she found herself staring into the deep green eyes of Harry Potter. It seemed that whenever she was in a potentially embarrassing situation, there he was. "I live here."

This time it was his turn to blush, and Ginny found herself liking the turnabout. "Yes, of course. What I meant was, what are you doing down here in the middle of the night?"

"Avoiding sleeping," Ginny said frankly.

"Ah. Perfectly understandable," Harry agreed. "In fact, I believe that may be what I'm doing."

"It´s hard to imagine him being gone." Harry made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. It was obvious he didn´t want to talk about it, so Ginny moved on to something else. "I never did get you your birthday present, you know."

"It´s all right, Gin. It was enough with you giving me the party and all, and being able to see Remus and Sirius."

"No, it´s okay. I wanted to get you this."

"Gin, you really didn´t have to..."

"Harry, do you ever shut up? Be quiet. I´m giving you a gift, not confessing my undying love for you. Besides, it will take both of our minds off of what´s going on, all right?"

"You are crabby when you wake up."

"I´m not crabby. I´m... irritated. And you´re just..."

"Irritating?" Harry guessed.

Unbidden, a grin washed over Ginny´s face and lit up her eyes, which, he noted, were more tired than usual. "Exactly. I´ll be right back."

As she ran up the stairs to get her present, Harry leaned on the counter and stared at his hot chocolate. Ginny Weasley was growing up, he noted, and she was a lot different than the blushing shy girl that had followed him around his second year. Not that he would share this latest revelation with Ron. It was almost embarrassing how the older Weasley boys were bonding together to protect their youngest and only sister from members of the opposite sex. Harry allowed himself a few moments to imagine what it would be like if he and Ginny got together, but then tossed the image out the window. It brought out too many uncomfortable feelings, and, besides which, Harry wasn´t in any position to want to date any girl, much less Ginny Weasley.

Harry shook his head, trying to dislodge the path that his thoughts were taking. Hagrid was dead, and all he could think about was Ginny Weasley.

"Here," Ginny said, as she skidded to a stop.

"What´s this?" Harry shook the box a little, and grinned when he saw Ginny´s pained expression.

"Most of us open the presents before we ask what it is."

"Not me."

"Would you open it already?" Ginny made a half-hearted show of stomping her foot, but her heart was sore.

"Hmm," Harry murmured as he ripped into the paper. "Wow, Gin. This is... amazing."

In front of Harry sat a portrait of James and Lily Potter in the Gryffindor robes, smiling and waving happily. James drooped his arms around Lily´s waist and occasionally Lily would turn around and they would kiss affectionately, but only when no one was looking. In the background lay a stag in a field of lilies. The moon and the stars were out, and a snowy mist was falling. The frame, too, was extraordinary. Ivy twisted itself around and around tiny wolves and dogs. Harry appreciated the symbolism, and ran a hand over it, wonderingly.

"Well, Remus and Sirius were more than helpful. They sent me some pictures, and..."

"Did you paint this yourself?"

A slow blush crept over Ginny´s face. "Yes, I did. It was a sudden inspiration, you know. Just one of those things you have to do. Charlie made me the frame after he saw the portrait. He gave me my first set of paints. This one is oil on canvas, by the way. Bill found some absolutely marvelous canvas for me while he was traveling, and he sent a whole bunch so I could paint to my heart´s content." Realizing she was beginning to babble, Ginny forced herself to stop.

"Hagrid gave me my first ever pictures of my parents," Harry said suddenly, then regretted the hasty way the words came out. He had never confided in Ginny before, and wasn´t sure he was willing to start now.

"He was always thoughtful like that."

Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "Sure. You´re pretty thoughtful, Ginny Weasley." Once again, Ginny found herself tongue tied and blushing.

"MOONY!" Sirius Black was yelling at an ungodly hour, again, Remus thought, and had only just managed to pull a pillow over his head when Sirius broke the door in. Remus sat up slowly and winced at the door. It would probably have to be fixed. Honestly, he was surprised it had survived this long. Doors were in serious danger whenever Padfoot was in town.

Sirius smiled brightly when he saw that Remus was awake. "What is it this time, Padfoot?"

"You´ve got yourself a letter from Hogwarts."

"From Hogwarts?"

"Yes, you old git. That´s what I said."

"What does Hogwarts want from me?"

Sirius shrugged. "I dunno. Why don´t you open it and see?" He perched on the desk opposite of the bed and waited.

"You´re going to sit there while I read this, aren´t you?"

"Yep. That was the plan."

Remus gave a tolerant sigh and slit the letter open.

Mr. Lupin,

Perhaps you would consider a teaching job?

Albus Dumbledore

P.S. Perhaps Mr. Potter would enjoy a stay at your place for a while.

Remus shook his head violently and was prepared to throw the letter in the fire when Sirius stopped him. "What does it say?"

"Dumbledore thinks it´d be all right if Harry came to stay with us for a while."

"Just like that? That´s sort of odd. What else was in the letter?"

"Nothing, Sirius."

Sirius´s eyes narrowed to slits. "No more lies, Moony. You know the deal."

"They want me to take over Hagrid´s position."

"Well, why in bloody hell not? I can´t think of anywhere else I´d want to be, especially when Harry´s in the kind of trouble he´s in."

"Because I´m dangerous, Padfoot."

"Like hell you´re dangerous. That man-eating tree you keep in the backyard is more dangerous than you are."

"It´s a stump, Padfoot, and you only trip on it because you don´t pay enough attention to where you´re going."

"I always know exactly where I´m going."

"That´s not what I was saying, what I was saying was..."

"That´d you take the job?"

"I almost killed someone the last time I was there."

"Damn it, Moony! I´m sick of all this. Grow up. We both know you can handle it, and besides, with me around, on the nights of the full moon, I can run around and save Harry´s arse." Then Sirius made his eyes grow large. "Besides, you know you´ll miss come time for you to be locked up in the Shack again."

"I have a feeling I´ll spend more timing saving your arse than Harry´s."

"I´m going to take that as a challenge."

"I´ll owl Dumbledore and tell him that we´d be more than happy to have Harry, although I think something´s not quite right."

"And?"

"And that I´ll take the job."

"All right!"

With a sigh, Remus dipped his quill in the ink and began to draft a letter.

The Weasleys, as a general rule, were beginning to get worried about their houseguest. He refused to talk about his grief to anyone, except Ron and Hermione, and then only in bits and pieces. He seemed angry and withdrawn, which was a typical reaction for him.

"I´ll tell you, Arthur, it does a great deal to remind you that the boy is human," Molly said to her husband one very late night as she warmed up the meal he had missed.

"I got a letter from Dumbledore. He thinks it might help Harry to spend some time with his godfather."

"Oh?" Molly stopped stirring the pot for a moment and rested the spoon against her generous stomach.

"Harry does think of him as a father figure," Arthur said. "Besides, we've always had a high opinion of Remus Lupin."

"I know. It´s just... Will he be safe?"

"Safer than he would be here. The only place for him that´s totally safe is Hogwarts, and they don´t allow students to board over the summer. Staying in one place might not be a good idea."

"Safer than he would be with those horrible Muggle relations of his. I can hardly believe that Harry is related to them."

"Our family can be just as charming. Remember your second cousin..."

"Don´t remind me."

"What´s going on?" Harry wanted to know as he came down the stairs.

"Dumbledore thinks it´d be all right for you to stay with your father´s friends for a while," Molly said from the kitchen. Harry leaned across the counter, and for the first time in a week, a smile crossed his face.

"I´d love to go, if Ron wouldn´t mind."

Coming down the stairs, Ron bumped his head on the ceiling and swore silently. "Go where?"

"To Sirius and Remus´s."

"Nah. I´ll see you the first of September, mate."

Harry grinned as Ron returned to his room. "I had a feeling." He paused a moment and then added under his breath, "That´d be more time with Hermione."

Molly and Arthur glanced at each other, with a smile on their faces. The old Harry was coming back.