Tested In Fire

Tested In Fire, Chapter 12:

Sirius Black was in a dark mood. He slammed doors, pounded tables, and generally made a lot of noise.

The afternoon tea with his godson hadn't gone exactly as planned, and that was the understatement of the century.

It wasn't that Sirius didn't believe in Divination--it was hard to disbelieve when your sister was a Seer--he just didn't trust it, and he didn't trust the way everyone was treating this prophecy like it was the answer. The answer was good old-fashioned common sense, in his opinion. Besides, it was belief and trust in this prophecy that had got James and Lily killed.

Now Anna was back. Contact with her after his escape and been impossible, as Fudge and the Ministry had been monitoring her. Funny how life never worked out the way you wanted it to. Sirius had believed the Ministry to be on the side of right. He had thought, in all of his naiveté, that the Ministry would give him a fair trial, so that he could nail Peter. Barty Crouch hadn't given Sirius a fair trial--he hadn't given him a trial at all--and Peter was now one of Voldemort's most trusted servants.

Sirius tried to shake off such thoughts. Brooding on the unchangeable past wasn't a help to anyone, least of all himself. Damn, but it was good to see Anna every day. The two of them had long talks together, and everything in the past was forgiven, if not forgotten, which was a huge weight off his shoulders.

Plopping down into a chair, Sirius began to massage his temples. He felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, so he turned to the one man who had always been able to advise him, never mind the fact that he was now dead.

"I need you, James, old friend," he whispered to the ceiling. "He's falling in love, you know. Both of 'em. And there's nothing I can do about it, not that I would do anything about it." Sirius heaved a sigh. "Yeah, I know Remus never fell out of love. Anna never did either." The smile he forced was pain-filled. "I know I've got to make it through this, if only for Harry's sake. But, James, never did I need you like I do now. You and Lily. You'd both know what to say. To me, and to Harry." He let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I'm supposed to be his guardian. That's what I promised. I don't know what to do, though. He's found the girl. You know, the one that makes him light up like you did. You also know that that's going to complicate things to no end."

Sirius kicked off his shoes and laid his head against the back of the chair. "Anna's gone and opened up her mouth. Now they're going to fight what they're feeling because they don't want their lives controlled, or something absurd like that, if they're anything like you and Lily. Remus and Anna embraced it, and look where it got them. Maybe there isn't a solution to this problem that works."

He stopped talking, and his eyes moved about the room, as though he were trying to hear an answer from above.

There was a quiet knock. "Sirius?" Remus's voice cut through his silent contemplation. "What are you doing in there?"

"Talking with ghosts," Sirius answered as he got up and opened the door for his old friend.

"That's believable, especially on a night like this. I had a conversation with the Grey Lady on the way over."

That particular comment got him a half-hearted smile out of Sirius. "My ghosts weren't as responsive."

"Mmm. It's easy to remember them here, isn't it?"

"Almost too damn easy. What are we going to do, Remus?"

"I don't know. This never gets any easier, does it?"

"He looks too much like James. It throws me off. I almost called him 'James' the other day in class."

"It gets worse every day," Remus agreed. "I make that mistake too, you know."

"He even sounds like James, now that his voice has changed." Sirius ran an agitated hand through his hair.

"He's not James, though," Remus said, echoing Sirius's thoughts.

"I know. James never looked so--haunted. That night in his fourth year, only thing I wanted was to be able to take him home with me. You know those Muggles he lived with only made it worse. They couldn't care less about him watching the death of a classmate, or dealing with the murderer of his parents..."

"I understand, Sirius. We'll have him with us for the Christmas holidays, provided he wants to come down."

Sirius breathed out through his nose gently. "Ah, Remus, you've hit the target exactly. I'm finally getting a chance to be his godfather. Am I going to be good at it?"

"You're already more than Harry's ever had, Sirius."

"That's not saying much."

"It means a lot to him. You need each other. Harry's going to be asking your advice a lot, if we haven't totally gone daft."

Sirius chuckled. "He's not the only one in that situation, Remus, and you know exactly what I mean."

Remus sighed. "We both know that I don't deserve your sister's love. There's nothing to it. Just drop it, all right?"

Sirius's eyes brightened. Unlike his own insecurities, Remus's were something he could handle. "Why the hell not?"

"You're her brother. Do you honestly want a werewolf touching her, loving her?"

"I never saw you as just a werewolf, Moony. I never had much control over my sister's hurt, and besides, if it has to be someone, I would rather it be you."

"Why? What if I hurt her? What if I...?"

"Snap her in half like a twig? Come on, Remus. You're smarter than this. Anna's a lot stronger than you think she is, anyway. Besides," Sirius shrugged, "you need each other."

Remus felt his jaw physically drop. "How did you arrive at that conclusion?"

Sirius grinned. "You're the only one that can force her to take care of herself. She's the only one that can make those transformations of yours less painful. Before, during, and after. You know that. Don't even try to deny it."

Remus threw up his hands. "What if she doesn't want me?"

"The issue has never been whether or not she wants you and it was never your disease, either. She stills wears her engagement ring on a chain, for heaven's sake! The issue is whether or not you, Remus Lupin, are ready to admit that someone as amazing as my sister is in love with you, despite all the baggage you think you bring to a relationship."

Remus turned away. "We've got to move on with our lives," he said flatly. "We both gave up on the idea of there ever being an 'us' a long time ago."

"Horse shit. Denial isn't just the name of a river in Egypt, you know. Moony," his voice fell to a whisper, "we're all getting a second chance at living again."

"The rest of us have been living, Sirius, and if it's so easy, how come you haven't owled Elizabeth?" The moment he said it, Remus regretted it. "Sirius-I'm..."

"No, it's okay. She didn't wait for me." Sirius shrugged. "Some reporter from the Daily Prophet."

There was a catch in Sirius's voice that told Remus it wasn't okay. "Anna waited for you, Remus. That's something."

**

Harry couldn't sleep. Too much had happened that day. If Anna was correct, he was going to have a relationship with...Ginny Weasley. All predicted years before either one of them was born. Was it all set in stone? Was he a pawn in someone's chess game?

Irritated with himself, he pushed back the covers. He pondered taking his Invisibility Cloak, but decided against it. He was, after all, only going to the Common Room, to stare at the flames of the fire.

He padded down the stairs. Looking out at the Common Room, he could just make out the shape of a redheaded teenage girl rocking back and forth on the rug in front of the fire.

"Ginny," he called, hoping not to startle her. Unfortunately, it didn't work. She jumped, blushed, and tried to stammer out a greeting.

Finally she managed, "Hello, Harry."

For his part, Harry didn't feel much like talking. He sat down in an armchair, determined not to say anything. After a long moment of silence, he couldn't bear it anymore and asked, "What are you doing down here?"

"Last time I checked, I belong in Gryffindor," Ginny said fiercely, "which gives me as much right as anyone to be down here."

Harry blinked. In his admittedly short experience, Ginny wasn't at all snappish. There was an awkward silence, and then they both said, "I'm sorry," at the same time.

"You first," Ginny insisted.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for my question to sound like that."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut into you like that." Ginny smiled.

Harry felt himself go red, which he supposed wasn't going to be unusual. From what Anna had let slip, it seemed like Ginny was supposed to be his future wife, or something. "Not that that's ever going to happen unless I can have a conversation with her," Harry thought ruefully.

"This prophecy business makes everything different, doesn't it?" Harry asked, tentatively.

"There's that," Ginny conceded, and pulled her legs up close to her body. "It'd be much easier on me if I didn't have these dreams."

Harry leaned forward quite suddenly, and there was a glint in his eyes that Ginny didn't understand. "Maybe the dreams can help, Gin."

Ginny bit her lip. "What do you mean?"

"Maybe there's more to them than what you think."

"They never show me anything important..." Ginny's voice trailed off.

"At this stage, we don't know what's important or not. Come on, Gin. There has to be something to this. Anything would be a help, especially since we don't know if Voldemort has his hands on that second prophecy or not."

The heat of the fire on the back of her nightdress making her extremely hot, and Ginny sifted uncomfortably. There was something in his eyes that compelled her to tell him everything and anything he wanted to know.

"All right," Ginny said. "Let's do this." Searching her memory, she began to tell Harry everything she knew.

"Normally, they don't start off scary. They're usually from your Mum's point of view, and they don't go in any particular order..." Ginny talked for what seemed like forever, while Harry sat motionless, taking it all in.

"Okay," Harry said minutes later, "lately they've been in chronological order?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "Yes, but only just recently. How does that help us any?"

"I don't know, Gin. I feel like I'm grasping at straws here."

"They always have something to do with your parents. That's a pattern we can't ignore. Whatever's happening now, to us, is the same thing that happened to your Mum and Dad, or it's closely related."

Harry rubbed his eyes. "Right. Sounds reasonable to me. So then, the only question is, what exactly happened?"

"That's the tough question," Ginny remarked. "I don't know that Sirius, Remus, or Anna even knows what really happened."

"Why would Mum and Dad keep something like that from them?"

"Perhaps they thought they'd be around to tell you about it personally. Besides, it was just a thought. Still, for people trying desperately to keep us alive, they seem to be in the dark a bit more than I would like."

"You and me both," Harry agreed. "Unless, of course, they're just keeping information from us."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "I'm infinitely familiar with that tactic. It doesn't generally work for me."

"Me neither," Harry said. There was silence in the room while the two of them thought.

Ginny let out a frustrated sigh. "There has to be something-someone that can help us sort this mess out!"

"What about Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"Good idea. We might get something out of him we didn't know before, but you have to admit that he hasn't told us a lot that we didn't already work out for ourselves," Ginny added.

Harry nodded, then his eyes lit. "There's always that book that Percy gave me about the former Head Boys. I haven't had time to look it over."

"Maybe there's a clue in there, but I'd really hate to get my hopes up," Ginny said.

Harry nodded again, but deep in his heart he knew that he had to get his hopes up. He had to have something to cling to.

"I just want him gone, once and for all," he muttered.

"I agree wholeheartedly," Ginny announced, and then tried to stifle a yawn.

"Do you think you can sleep now?" Harry asked.

"I haven't truly slept in ages," Ginny said wistfully. "Sleep would be nice."

Harry couldn't help himself. He reached out and brushed back a piece of her hair. He found himself wondering if what he was feeling was real. Was this some prophecy-wrought crush? He didn't like the idea of something dictating what he did.

"What are we going to do about this?" Ginny asked softly, rubbing Harry's hand, a tender expression in her eyes.

"I don't know. This has my whole system off," Harry replied, just as softly.

"It sort of hurts that all the noticing you did over the summer was all because of a prophecy," Ginny said bitterly.

"I doubt that it was all because of the prophecy," Harry said, and chuckled and Ginny's expression. "If you didn't have six very large, very strong brothers, all the blokes at Hogwarts would be after you. As it is, only the Gryffindors would be brave enough to risk it."

He was treated to another eye roll. "That's so inconvenient. I really wish they wouldn't be so protective."

"It's probably more of a good thing than you realize," Harry whispered softly.

Quickly, almost nervously, Ginny stood up. "Good night, Harry Potter," she whispered and brushed her lips across his cheek.

Dazed, Harry watched her walk up to the fifth-year girls' dormitory. Only after she had entered her room did he allow himself to caress the spot her lips had touched. "Goodnight, Ginny Weasley."

**

Far off, away from Hogwarts, Voldemort chuckled. Everything was going according to plan. Nagini wrapped herself at his feet and Voldemort caressed her.

"Yes, indeed," he said. "Potter is falling for the youngest Weasley. How convenient is that? It's very convenient. Do you know why?"

The circle of Death Eaters behind him shook their heads in confusion. "Because love, my friends, is a weakness. The only thing love is good for is reproduction, and we certainly don't want any other Potters around. Love is an illusion, and don't believe anyone who tells you differently. There is one good thing about love, though. A Potter in love is as good as dead." A few of the circle allowed themselves smug grins. "Of course, they also become fiercely protective. Hmph. It will only increase my pleasure in the kill." Now there was a generous helping of shudders.

Just then there was a scuffle about. "What is this?" Voldemort asked crossly. "What is this disturbance?"

"It's Wormtail, my Lord," a voice whispered from the back.

"Is everything ready, rat?"

"Yes, Master. Everything is in place to capture the Weasley." A few of the Death Eaters looked shocked.

"You didn't think I planned to just kill him, did you? No, I plan on destroying him. From the inside out." Voldemort grinned.

It was a nasty sight, but those in the room with him hid their revulsion. There was one particular Death Eater in the circle who felt like throwing up. However, he was good at schooling his expressions and kept himself calm.

"By the end of this year, I will be rid of the Potter family once and for all!"