Harry Potter and the Sixth Year

And re-appeared in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. Remus was standing by the stove with his back to him. He turned and said: “Harry. That was a very quiet entrance. Been practicing that?”

“Not really,” said Harry. “But Hermione has.”

Remus laughed. “I can imagine. Well, how are you?”

“Well fed after a couple of weeks at the Weasleys.”

“I can imagine that too.” He reached for a cloth to wipe his hands. “I saw Arthur a few days ago – he seems to be on good form.”

“Yes, they all are … well, up to a point.” Remus raised an eyebrow and Harry found himself telling Remus all about the events on Christmas Day.

“Hmm,” said Remus, sitting down, “I’m not surprised Molly’s worried and upset. I would be too if I were her.”

“Why’s that?” asked Harry, joining him at the clean, scrubbed table.

Remus shrugged. “You and Ron – well, you’re targets, aren’t you? Particularly with the trial coming up. And Arthur. Percy cutting himself off. Bill in that prison. So what do you expect?”

“Yeah. I’d never thought of it like that.”

“Dementors on the loose.”

“Where do you think the Dementors are?”

“Haven’t a clue. But Voldemort must have promised them something worthwhile.”

“What are they doing in the meantime?”

“Knowing Voldemort, he’s probably given them some village deep in the Amazon basin to feed on.”

Harry was horrified. “You don’t mean that!”

“Probably not. But I would like to know where they really are.”

“In some ways, I don’t want to know.” Harry stood up. “I’m just going up to my room to drop my things.”

“Sure.”

As he went out into the hall and up the stairs, Harry noticed that Remus had been doing more work on the house. Its former gloom had gone, and now it seemed almost light and airy. He stood on the threshold of his room, looking around at a space he could now call his own. Better than a cupboard under the stairs. He went over the wardrobe and noticed how empty it seemed, even after putting his things away. He looked at his watch: it wasn’t midday yet. He had an idea and went back downstairs.

“Remus, I’ve just noticed how little stuff I’ve got. It’d be useful to have some more clothes and things. I’m going to pay a visit to Diagon Alley.” He hesitated for a moment. “Do you want to come?”

Remus smiled. “Why not?”

“Apparate there?”

“Of course.”

“See you in the Leaky Cauldron.”

And Harry disappeared, to reappear at the entrance to the inn. A moment later, Remus was standing there next to him, and they made their way through to the Alley, which was bustling with people.

“What is it you’re after?” asked Remus.

“Clothes, to begin with.”

“Madame Malkin’s. She does general wizard ware apart from robes and things.”

“I’d better go out into Muggle London, too, sometime, and get some Muggle clothes too.”

“We can do that another day.”

They found Madame Malkin’s to be bustling with people. Eventually a harassed looking shop assistant come over to them. “What can I do for you?” he asked in a tired voice.

“Err ..” began Harry, but before he could get any further, he saw the assistant’s eyes widen as he recognised who he had in the shop. “Mr Potter! Madame Malkin’s is honoured.”

Oh Lord, thought Harry. Not again. Although secretly, he knew that one small part of him was rather enjoying this: to get service of this quality as a consequence of sitting in a cot whilst being blasted by the world’s most evil wizard had its advantages. On the other hand, losing your parents at the same time rather took the shine off it.

But he was swept through to the Men’s Department, and an array of clothing laid out for him to chose. He wasn’t after anything particularly fancy: serviceable clothes were what he wanted. All the same, it was difficult not to be seduced by the array of clothing in front of him. Several fittings later, and watched by a smiling Remus, he had a large collection of parcels.

“Shall we deliver them, sir?” asked the assistant eagerly.

“Er ..” He wondered what address he should give, caught Remus’ eye, who gave a slight shake of his head. “No, thanks,” he said, “we’ll come back and collect them when we’re ready to go.”

“Certainly, sir.”

“You’re well set up there, Harry,” said Remus, as they stepped out into the busy street. Harry felt guilty. He knew Remus hadn’t much money, despite the legacy from Sirius, and certainly couldn’t afford the clothes that Harry had so casually paid for. He’d sent a new set of robes to Remus for Christmas, and got a reply saying thank you very much, but also hinting that wasn’t that a bit extravagant? Well, Harry knew that he could afford it, and knew he owed Remus a great deal in lots of different ways.

And standing there in the street, being jostled by the passers by, he suddenly had an idea.

“Come on, Remus, I want to take you somewhere.”

“A surprise?” asked Remus.

“Something like that.”

They fought their way through the crowds then turned down The Ginnel. Harry stopped outside Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes and pointed up at the sign. There was a new one now: fireworks were exploding all over the background. Remus looked up at Harry then back at the sign.

“Is this what I think it is?”

Harry nodded. Remus looked at all the people going into the shop, and all those coming out, all carrying packages wrapped in paper which had the message: ‘Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes’ running up and down and side to side, changing colour as the message scurried along the wrapping paper.

“My word,” Remus said, “they’re certainly doing good business.”

“New Year’s Eve,” said Harry.

“That would help.”

“Come on,” and Harry took him inside.

The shop was crowded. At their feet there was a small girl busy breathing Dragon’s Breath.

“I told you, Jennifer, to leave those until we get home.”

The little girl was having too much fun to take any notice of her mother. Harry and Remus carefully skirted the small fire breather. They saw Lee in charge of half a dozen assistants, busy giving a sales pitch to a family of wizards. Then they saw one of the twins came through from the back.

“Harry!” he cried. Then: “Remus!”

They waved at him, and he beckoned towards him.

“Come through the back – it’s chaos here.”

They followed him through to the storeroom.

“Look,” he said, waving his hands at the shelves, “almost all sold out. Fred’s just gone for some more supplies.”

So it was George they were talking to. Harry could never tell the difference, even after all this time.

“It’s amazing,” said Remus, looking around with awe.

“Not bad, is it? Come on upstairs, that’s where the workshops are.”

They went up a wooden ladder into a huge loft. Harry hadn’t realised how much space there was up there. Several wizards were sitting round tables, busy muttering over various bits and pieces. One seemed to be having some problem however: he was talking away quietly to himself, but all the words were coming out in the wrong order.

“Show Remus the Quidditch game,” said Harry.

“Over here,” said George.

They gave Remus a quick rundown of the game, showing him the miniature Quaffle, Bludger and Snitch; showing him how to control the little figures zooming round on their brooms.

“They’re just in grey robes at the moment,” said George. “In the final version, you’ll be able to pick robes of your favourite team.”

“Wonderful,” Remus breathed.

Harry and George stepped back for a moment as they saw Remus engrossed in the game.

“George?” said Harry quietly.

“Yeah?”

Harry nodded towards Remus. “He hasn’t got a job.”

“What?” Then comprehension dawned. “Yeah. Hey, that’s not a bad idea. We certainly don’t have the time to give it the attention it needs.”

They saw Remus straighten up and turn towards them. “This is going to be a big hit,” he said.

“We hope so. Mind you, there’s a lot to be done on it. We’re really looking at next Christmas for releasing it. I say, Remus?”

“Yes?”

“We need someone. To work on the game, that is. Have you the time? We pay well,” said George bluntly.

Remus blinked, looked at George, then back at the Quidditch set. “Work on that?” he said.

George nodded. “That’s right. There’s a lot still needs to be done. Some of it’s hack work, but a lot of it’s quite tricky. For someone like you, it shouldn’t be a problem, though.”

Remus nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, maybe.”

“You can work from home,” George went on.

“Are you sure?” Harry could see that made it a lot more attractive to Remus.

“Course I’m sure. Wouldn’t have offered it to you if I wasn’t.”

“OK then.”

“If you’re happy doing it, Fred and I’ll come round one evening and bring it along. We got some ideas from studying muggle computer games. The programs have these things called subroutines. Instead of a spell for each player, there’s just the one spell to control players. Then if you want to move the Beater, say, the spell for the Beater calls on the player moving spell.”

“I see,” said Remus. “That should make it simpler.”

George shrugged. “In some ways. But if you’re not careful you get lost in a maze of subspells. It’ll needed documenting carefully.”

“I can do that,” said Remus.

“Good. Then you’re on,” and George held out his hand. Remus looked at him, then shook.

“We haven’t discussed pay yet,” said Remus, with a slight smile.

“Don’t worry. If this works, it’ll be a best seller. We’ll pay you something to be going on with, then a percentage of the sales. How’s that?”

“Sounds good,” admitted Remus.

“Fine. That’s settled then.” George looked at him with an air of finality.

Remus blinked again. “Okay.”

At that moment, Fred came bounding up the stairs.

“Got the things, George,” he called out. “They’ll be here in ten minutes.” Then he caught sight of the visitors. “Harry! Remus!”

“Hi, Fred,” said Harry. “Just showing Remus the Quidditch game.”

“We’ve just employed him to finish it off,” said George.

“Really? That’s a good idea.”

“We’ll drop round to his place one evening and take him through it.” George paused. “We miss Quidditch, you know.”

“Don’t have the time these days.”

“It’d be nice to see it working properly.”

“If that stuff is arriving in ten minutes, we’re going to have to leave you to it.”

“Can’t come round tonight. We’re off to a party.”

“How about tomorrow afternoon?”

“Fine,” said Remus, slightly taken aback by the twins’ quick fire dialogue.

“Righto. Thanks for calling round though.”

“Have a good New Year’s Eve.”

“And take a wander round before you go.”

The twins waved and disappeared. Remus looked at Harry and grinned. “No change there, then.”

“They seem to be having the time of their lives.” Harry looked at his watch. It was late afternoon by now. “Let’s wander back then.”

They fought their way out through the crowd of people in the shop, taking care to avoid a small boy with alarmingly large ears, and made their way back to Diagon Alley. Harry stopped outside Flourish and Blotts.

“Can we go in here?”

“Of course,” said Remus.

Kingsley’s lessons had made Harry realise that although he knew the basics of a great number of charms and spells, he had missed a lot of the subtleties. And as Kingsley had made plain to them, you could do a lot more if you knew how the charm really worked. He made his way over to the Dark Arts section.

“I want some books that’ll tell me how to use some of the charms properly. You should know which books are best.”

“Books about spells and charms and how to use them?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, the best of all is Luke Tenebris. This one here.” And he picked a copy off the shelves and gave it to Harry. “Then there’s Artur Caligin.”

Harry selected a half dozen books and took them up to the counter to pay for them. Reading books – now that would give Hermione a surprise. Leaving the bookshop, they went over to from Madame Malkin’s to collect Harry’s parcels then made their way down to the Leaky Cauldron.

“Fancy a bite to eat?” asked Harry. He was starving.

“Why not?”

Tom the innkeeper was delighted to see them back. He finished wiping the bar over, put down his cloth down, and held out his hand. “Why, Mr Potter,” he cried. “Hardly seems a moment since you were staying here last.”

It seemed a good deal longer than that to Harry, but he smiled and nodded. He and Remus ordered Butterbeers and a tureen of stew. Harry looked round the crowded inn. Because it was holiday time, the place was fuller than ever. Quite a few had heard Tom, and he could see people whispering together and looking over in his direction. He was thankful he was facing the wall rather than into the room.

“Useful day out then, Harry?” Remus broke into his thoughts.

“Umm? Oh, yes. Those books look good. And I can leave some clothes and things at – well, you know where.” Harry was wary of saying the name of the house even at their secluded table. “And, Remus?”

“Yes?”

“If I give you some money, can me get me some towels and soap and things? That I can leave there?”

“You don’t have to give me any money,” said Remus stiffly.

“No, I don’t, but since it’s for stuff for me, I’d like to.”

A thought had obviously just struck Remus, and he looked Harry straight in the eye. “Did you get me that job at the Weasleys?”

Harry hesitated, which was a dead give away. He decided to tell the truth. “I mentioned the idea to George when you were looking at the game.”

“I don’t need charity.”

“No, Remus, you don’t. Why, don’t you think you’re up to the job?”

Remus looked at him for several moments, not sure what to make of that. Then finally he burst out laughing. “You’re growing up, Harry. And becoming manipulative.”

Harry shrugged. “Well, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. They need it doing. You can work from home, and you’d make a good job of it. I knew you wouldn’t ask, so I suggested it.”

“Fair enough.”

Tom came clumping over to their table with their lunch. “Here are your casseroles, sirs, and some bread.”

“Two more Butterbeers, Tom?” Harry asked.

“Coming right up, sir.”

“Careful, Harry,” warned Remus.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re exploiting your fame. Anyone else would have to go up to the bar to order.”

Harry grinned. “You’re probably right. But what point is there in having a scar on your forehead if you can’t use it to get good service in the pub?”

“OK. I’ll let you have that one.”

The food was good, and Harry was really hungry. He demolished his first portion, then, with a glance at Remus, took his plate back to the bar for a second helping. It took him ten minutes to get back, though, as various people kept on coming up to him, shaking his hand, and talking to him. Doris Crockford took up five of the ten minutes.

When he finally got back to his seat, he said to Remus: “Now you know why I prefer to stay here.”

“I can see that now. I’ll withdraw the remark.”

Harry shrugged. “Well, you were right in one way. It is quite useful to get things that you want, just like that.”

They finished their meal and gathered up the parcels, ready to return to Grimmauld Place. Harry was glad to see the familiar surroundings once more.

“I’ll just take these things upstairs,” he told Remus.

He spent a little time packing away the new clothes, and taking a wash. Then he went back downstairs. Remus was reading through the books he’d got at Flourish and Blotts.

“What’s Kingsley doing with you now?”

“Blocking and Shield charms, mainly.”

Remus nodded. “Always useful to know. Caligin’s got quite a useful section on that.” He turned to the relevant chapter, ands they began going through the pages. Several times they broke off to practice one or other of the techniques described. At the end, Remus shook his head again.

“You’re a natural, Harry. Most people would take days to master this stuff.”

Harry shrugged. “I just do what’s written there.”

“There’s a world of difference to seeing it in a book, though, and actually doing it properly.”

“Don’t tell Hermione that!”

Remus grinned. “Perhaps not. Although she’s good too. You do it by instinct; she thinks her way through it.”

“And Ron?”

“Ron? Well, he’s good. Not good like you or Hermione, but all the same, he’ll get by.” Remus seemed to get lost in thought.

“What is it?”

Remus sighed. “I was just thinking. You, Ron, Hermione. And all those years ago: James, Sirius, Peter and myself. Two dead and one that may as well might be. All because of Voldemort. I don’t want you three going the same way.”

Harry shivered. He remembered the prophecy. “Remus, he said quietly.

“Yes.”

“Do you know why Voldemort attacked the Ministry?”

“He wanted to lay his hands on a prophecy?”

Harry nodded. “That’s right. Do you know what it was about?”

“Not really.”

“Dumbledore heard it. It was Sybil Trelawny.”

Remus smiled. “That doesn’t sound as if it’d amount to much.”

Then Harry told him of the evening in Trelawney’s room – the time when he’d heard her prophesying the return of Voldemort’s servant. Remus was suddenly looking a good deal more interested.

“So what did this other one say?”

Harry related the details of how a boy born at the end of June would pose a threat to Voldemort, and how this could have been him or Neville.

“But Dumbledore’s convinced it’s me. And there’s more to it. Either I kill Voldemort, or he kills me.”

“What?” Remus was aghast.

“That’s why he tried to kill me first.”

Remus was silent for several minutes. Then: “Is Dumbledore sure of this?”

Harry nodded. “So he tells me. But we haven’t talked about it since the summer. And …” he hesitated “… I wasn’t being too rational then.”

Remus leaned back in his chair and twirled his bottle of Butterbeer. “I’d really need to talk to Dumbledore about this. I’m not sure if I can be of any help at the moment. And prophecies are odd things. Often, they’re true enough, but in a way you were never expecting. All you can do, I think, is to sit tight and await events. Voldemort’s being very quiet at the moment, and no one knows why. But if he’s going to get anywhere, he’s got to surface sooner or later. Meanwhile, be on your guard.”

“Constant vigilance!”

Remus laughed. “Exactly. A lot of people write off Mad Eye, but he’s been through more things than they ever will.”

A clock began striking distantly in the hall. Remus glanced at his watch and help up his bottle. “Happy New Year, Harry!”

“And Happy New Year to you too.”

The twins arrived the next afternoon as they had promised, together with Lee Jordan.

“Good party?” asked Harry.

“The best,” said one of the twins.

“Lee certainly knows how to lay on a party.”

“You never think it to look at him …”

“… but he’s a real raver!”

“Yeah, guys,” said Lee. “Take no notice of them. They think a quiet New Year’s Eve get together is a party!”

“That’s not what you saying at midnight!”

“I think he’s still hung over now.”

“Butterbeer or coffee?” said Remus with a slight smile.

“I think it’d better be coffee all round. As black as me.”

They spread out the Quidditch game on the scrubbed kitchen table. Remus and Harry took one team, and the twins the other, whilst Lee sat and watched, sipping his coffee.

They played for a half hour or so before taking a break.

“There,” said Fred (Harry had worked out which twin was which by now). “That should give you a good feel for the game.” He reached into a pocket for some scruffy scraps of parchment. “I can’t say we’ve documented it thoroughly, but here’re our notes.”

Remus took them and glanced through them. “Well, yes. Not a lot to go on, is there?”

“It’d probably be best if we leave it with you to have a play around, and then we’ll pay a visit again, and we can go over what we’ve done so far and what else needs doing.”

“It’s impressive,” admitted Remus, “but you’re right: there’s still quite a lot to be done.”

The twins began a rapid explanation of how the game was set up. Remus followed all this, nodding from time to time, After a while, though, Harry found himself understanding less and less. He glanced over to Lee, who was sitting slumped in his chair, eyes closed. It must have been a good party.

Remus suddenly noticed Lee, and looked over to Harry, who was probably looking equally out of it.

“Sorry,” he said, “we’re being antisocial here.”

Lee stretched and gave a great yawn. “’S okay. Don’t worry. Hey, is this place yours now, Remus?”

There was a slightly awkward pause. “No,” said Remus quietly. “It’s Harry’s.”

“Oh.” Lee realised he’d said something he shouldn’t have.

“Sirius left it me in his will,” explained Harry, “but he also asked that Remus could live here for as long as he likes. And that’s fine by me.”

Lee looked around the bright clean kitchen. He’d never been to Grimmauld Place before. “Looks nice.”

George laughed. “You should have seen it when we first came here. It was a complete tip. There was a mad house elf, and almost everything had some dark spell or other on it.”

“Remus’s really done a good job on it,” said Harry.

“Now we’re here, can we have a look round?” asked Fred.

“Sure,” said Remus. “Come along.”

Fred and George were impressed with the way the house was now looking – not surprising, really, given the state it had been in when they had staying there before. They got up to Harry’s room.

“Nice,” said Lee, appreciatively.

“A handy hide away,” said Harry.

“Yeah, I can imagine.” He yawned hugely. “Come on, guys, I need to get back. Particularly if we’re opening again tomorrow.”

“Can we leave the set with you, Remus?” asked Fred.

Remus nodded. “I’ll start working on it in the morning.”

“No hurry. But let us know how you’re getting on.”

Once back in the kitchen, Lee and the twins said their goodbyes and disappeared. Harry looked across to Remus.

“I’d better be getting back to the Weasleys,” Harry said, slightly awkwardly.

“Sure.”

“Thanks for everything. I’ve enjoyed the last two days.”

Remus looked at the Quidditch pitch laid out on the kitchen table, the miniature players still zooming round the pitch. “And thanks for finding that for me.”

“No problem,” said Harry, awkward again. “Give you something useful to do.”

“Yeah.”

They shook hands. Harry picked up his bag, and with a faint pop re-appeared in the Burrow.