Harry Potter and the Final Curse

Chapter 2 - The Gifts

During breakfast, Harry was devouring a piece of bacon, when the sound of something drumming against glass interrupted the relative quietness of the kitchen. Turning his head to locate the source of the noise, Harry noticed it was a screech owl, tapping its beak against the kitchen window, who appeared to be carrying today's edition of the Daily Prophet.

Ginny, who was sitting the closest to the window, stood up from her chair and let the owl in. After being paid the usual bronze knut, the owl flew over to the kitchen table, where it deposited the paper. It then flew away wildly, as if it were in some kind of a rush, and left half-a-dozen feathers behind.

Removing a couple of feathers that had ended up on his plate, Harry picked up the rolled up paper and unravelled it, straightening it out with a couple of flicks of his wrists. The article on the front page immediately caught his attention: -

Duke gets engaged!

Anthony Duke, son of the famous 'Weird Sisters' lead guitarist Kirley Duke, and lead singer of his own band, 'Star Blast', has just announced he is engaged to fellow band member, and cello player, Melody Ridley.

Friends and family are said to be ecstatic about the union of two of the greatest musicians of the current age. No date has yet been set for the wedding but it is thought they will marry early next year.

Below the headline was a large picture that took up half the page: Anthony Duke and his new fiancee were standing outside a very official looking building, flaunting the engagement ring in front of numerous members of the press; the ring looked very impressive, with a large diamond that looked like it must have cost an absolute fortune. The engagement ring now being worn on Ginny's left hand looked a little pathetic in comparison to Melody's one, but, to Harry's mind, it was the sentiment behind it that really counted; Harry was sure that Ginny felt the same way too.

Harry glanced at the rest of the picture to see if there was anything else of interest. One of the photographers on the left of the picture he instantly recognised as Colin Creevey, who worked for the Daily Prophet. Colin was usually to be found bumping shoulders with the famous, which, unfortunately, meant that Harry had to endure his questioning at numerous points in his life. The last interview he and his family had been forced to take part in was a few months ago, shortly after Lily had received her letter of admittance from Hogwarts.

Harry put thoughts of Colin aside for the time being and focussed his attention on the news story itself; Star Blast were one of his favourite bands, their music firmly aimed at his generation. Although perhaps not as much as Harry, Ginny was also a fan of the group, but Lily, however, was not interested in the slightest, being more fond of bands consisting of teenage heartthrobs, whose songs were mostly about love.

The article continued for another two pages, although it wasn't that interesting as it just seemed to state the same piece of information over and over again, from a variety of view points. Although Harry enjoyed this particular one, this article was typical of many that had appeared in the Prophet over the last year or so, which did get a little boring and predictable; Harry longed for the day when there would be something truly interesting, and thought provoking, to read about.

It had happened slowly, but the Prophet had turned into a trashy tabloid paper, the likes of which his cousin Dudley used to read zealously (the only bits he actually scrutinized though, were the TV listings, sports pages, and the pictures of semi-naked ladies). This was much to the disapproval of his father, Harry's Uncle Vernon, who read broadsheet papers full of uninteresting business news and statistics.

The rest of today's Daily Prophet wasn't much more exciting, except for the news that 'Flourish & Blotts' were having a sale, ten percent off everything, for a limited time only.

"Terrific," said Harry, sarcastically. "You'll never catch them having a sale during the time when students are all buying books. We would have saved ourselves a small fortune."

Harry folded up the paper, put it on the side of the table, and resumed eating his breakfast. He considered for a brief moment whether it would better to stop ordering the Daily Prophet and get something like the Quibbler instead. The thought of it reminded him of Luna Lovegood. He didn't have a clue what Luna was up to these days; last time he heard, she was working somewhere in the United States but that was about ten years ago, and she could be anywhere by now.

Lily, whose mind was evidently still on the feathered visitor that came in a moment ago, asked, "Can I take an owl with me to school?"

Lily had asked this question countless times before, and the answer was always the same.

"No," said Ginny firmly. "We've been through this before."

Lily had been given the responsibility for taking care of various pets in the past, but she had always neglected them. The first, when she was around five or six years old, was a puffskein, but she 'lost' it within a matter of weeks; the second, a couple of years later, was a rabbit, which ended up being given away to friends because she couldn't be bothered to feed it; others pets had included a goldfish, a hamster, and a guinea pig, but they had all met the same fate. Naturally, Harry and Ginny had their doubts when it came to getting Lily an owl.

"Oh, come on, please?" begged Lily. "Can't I just take Hedwig? I'd think she'd love to go back to Hogwarts."

"No," repeated Ginny, "she's the family owl, and besides - she'll probably see enough of Hogwarts, what with us sending you mail all the time." Ginny took a bite of a piece of toast before she continued. "Your father and I have discussed it, and we'll let you have an owl at Christmas, if you behave yourself."

"Really?" she asked in amazement.

"Yes, really," said Ginny, "but only if you behave yourself."

"Ok then," said Lily quietly. "I promise." She didn't say another word during breakfast.

After breakfast, the Potter family had a stupid argument about who was going to do the washing up. There had been much talk about getting a house-elf to help with such tasks, but, every time they did, the thought of Hermione lecturing to them about house-elf rights put them off. Harry also had unpleasant memories of one of the house's previous house-elves, Kreacher, and having another one round the place might resurface those memories. They eventually decided to leave the dishes till later.

Harry and Ginny went to get themselves ready for the day at hand, while Lily meanwhile spent more time practising magic. Upon arriving in the living room, Harry found Lily as she was turning needles into matches, and she was doing a good job of it. Transfiguration was probably, in Harry's opinion, the most difficult of all magic, and Hermione would be pleased to see her accomplishing it so easily.

Checking the time, Harry found it to be nearly nine o'clock, still far too early to leave to go to Kings Cross Station for the Hogwarts Express. Harry's mind wandered for a bit, debating whether he should try and do something constructive, before he remembered that he still hadn't given Lily her leaving presents. "Lily, would you come with me to my office please?" he asked politely.

Lily stopped halfway through a spell, and looked at her father in disbelief. "Your office?" she repeated. "But I'm not allowed in there!"

"I'll make an exception just this once," said Harry. "Now, are you coming or not?"

Lily nodded, placed a bookmark in the crease of the spell book she had been using, and followed Harry with great interest.

Lily was not normally allowed to into her father's office; it contained all sorts of delicate equipment Harry used for work, and Lily's curiosity was too great. Last time she went in there, she somehow managed to break a very expensive sneakascope, which was too complex to be repaired by a simple spell, so it had to be sent back to more skilled hands. She also spilt a pot of ink all over one of his important documents, which, combined with the breaking of the sneakascope, annoyed Harry no end. As a result, he banned her from entering, and to try and enforce the ban Harry put a magical age barrier on the door which meant you had to be at least seventeen to enter.

After Harry dispelled the barrier on the door, Lily entered her father's study with her hands tightly behind her back, probably in fear of breaking something else. She stood as still as she could just inside the door, taking in as much detail as she could of her surroundings.

Harry, while keeping one eye on Lily, opened the large cupboard at the side of the room and took out a cloak. He held it up to the early morning light as it shone through the window of his office, causing it to shimmer like a precious metal.

"Dad, is that what I think it is?" asked Lily, staring intently at the glimmering cloak.

"Yes, Lily, this is my invisibility cloak," said Harry. "Well, one of them anyway." In recent years he was lucky enough to acquire another invisibility cloak from a raid on a former Death Eater's home. "This is the cloak that originally belonged to my father, and his father before that, but it's yours now. If your school life even remotely resembles mine, it should serve you well."

Harry handed the cloak to Lily, and her eyes lit up like she'd just received a thousand Galleons in pocket money.

"Wow, for me?" asked Lily in astonishment. "Really? I can really have it?"

"Yes, really," smirked Harry. "Try it on."

Lily wrapped the cloak around her entire body and she vanished from sight. The invisibility the cloak provided wasn't totally perfect, but unless you knew what to look for, and you concentrated really hard, you couldn't tell that something was there. Harry, having had years of experience of using such cloaks, could just about see where she was; Lily crossed over to the mirror on the wall, where she was probably amazed that she didn't have a reflection.

"This is so cool, thanks, Dad!" beamed Lily. She removed the cloak and she became visible again. After carefully folding the cloak as if it were as fragile as glass, she began to make her way out of her father's study.

"Hey, I haven't finished yet," said Harry, getting Lily's attention. She stopped dead in her tracks, and turned back around to face her father once more. "I've got something else you might like," he added.

"What is it?" asked Lily curiously. "More cool stuff?".

"You could say that," said Harry. He fumbled around in the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a well-kept leather document folder. He opened the folder carefully to reveal, inside, an old piece of parchment. He handed it to Lily, who had a confused look on her face.

"What's this?" she asked, examining the parchment from every angle.

"That is the Marauder's Map," answered Harry, with a hint of pride in his voice. "It's one of the most useful things you could ever need at Hogwarts. I suppose you can call it a family heirloom."

"It's a map?" she said, still confused. "But it's blank. There's nothing on it."

"That's because you haven't said the magic words," said Harry.

"The magic words?" asked Lily, highly interested.

"Yes. All you have to do is tap the parchment with your wand, and say 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good'," said Harry

Lily looked a little baffled for a moment, before trying out what her father had suggested. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she said, tapping the map with her wand.

Lines of ink issued from the point where the wand touched, to reveal the words:

Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, thank you for using the Marauder's Map, but regret to inform you that you are outside the area of its influence.

Please try again at another place.

"What does that mean?" asked Lily, showing Harry what was written.

"It means that the map only works properly inside the grounds of Hogwarts," explained Harry. "When used properly, it shows a detailed map of the castle, and also shows the location of everyone in it at the time."

"Oh, wow! That sounds really cool!" said Lily, very excitedly. "But I'll have to wait till I'm at school then?"

"Yes," confirmed Harry.

"But who are these Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs people?" she asked curiously.

"Well, do you remember the stories I told you about your grandfather and his animal friends?" asked Harry.

"Vaguely," she said.

This was understandable as Harry didn't think he had mentioned it to her since she was about five or six years old. He used to make up all sorts of stories about them, which usually involved them looking for some sort of treasure or fighting a really powerful monster (and sometimes both).

"Well, they all had nicknames relating to what they could turn into," said Harry. "Your grandfather, my father, was called Prongs, as he could turn himself into a stag."

"Like that Patronus thing you can do?" asked Lily. She had seen her father produce it many times and it never seemed to fail to impress her.

"Yes, exactly like that," said Harry. "My godfather, Sirius, was Padfoot as he could turn himself into a big black dog. And Uncle Remus was called Moony; well he still is, I suppose."

"Is that because he's a werewolf?" she asked. "To do with the full moon, I suppose?"

"Yes," confirmed Harry, happily. "I see you're going to have no trouble in Defence against the Dark Arts."

Although Remus Lupin was technically not a relative of the Potter family, he was as good as, and was affectionately called Uncle. Remus was a frequent visitor to Twelve Grimmauld Place when he was in the country (he liked to travel around the world a lot), and to Lily he was her second favourite member of the family. Remus would tell Lily tales of far away lands, something she always enjoyed listening to, even if he would embellish the truth a little.

Lily's favourite relatives, by far, were still her uncles, Fred and George, who always brought tonnes of sweets and jokes whenever they came to visit. Since neither of them had any kids of their own, they tended to put all their paternal attentions on their nephews and nieces, of which they had several, although they would always tell Lily that she was their favourite.

Lily looked at the parchment again. "What about Wormtail? Who was he?" she asked.

Wormtail, the man who betrayed Harry's parents, resulting in their deaths, was something that he didn't like to think about, even though Wormtail had turned against his master eventually.

"Wormtail is a bit of a sore subject for me, and I prefer not to talk about him," said Harry uneasily. "Let's just say that he was a man who could turn himself into a rat."

"So all these people, apart from Uncle Remus, were animagi then?" she assumed.

"Yes, they were," nodded Harry. "They all did it for Uncle Remus' sake, to keep him company."

"Hermione is an animagus too, isn't she?" she asked.

"Yes, she is," confirmed Harry.

Harry could tell that Lily was imagining herself as an animagus. Since she, like her mother, was a lover of felines, it was likely she was picturing herself being able to turn into a large cat, like a lion or tiger.

"Could I be an animagus too, one day?" she asked hopefully, confirming Harry's thoughts.

"Given time, and a lot of hard work, yes you could," said Harry. "But not everyone can do it."

"Well, I want to try when I'm older," she decided.

"You'll learn more about it when you start doing your NEWTs, then you'll get proper tuition if it's deemed that you are capable," said Harry. "Hermione, for instance, was deemed more than capable, and she was never one to shy away from hard work. Now, I better tell you how to turn that map off. Just tap your wand as before, and say 'Mischief Managed'."

Lily tapped the parchment with her wand. "Mischief Managed."

All the writing disappeared in an instant leaving the parchment blank again.

"Cool!" exclaimed Lily. "With this cloak, and this map, I can get up to all sorts of stuff without anyone finding out!"

"Hermione already knows about both the cloak and map, so it won't be a total secret," said Harry. "Just try and use them responsibly, and only when necessary. Remember, there's an owl at stake."

"I will," smiled Lily, with a look of mischief in her eyes which Harry could plainly see.

"And don't go and lose them either," Harry added, firmly.

"Don't worry, I won't," assured Lily.

"Now run along," said Harry, "You better make sure that you've got all your things packed."

"Ok, Dad," she said joyfully.

Lily walked very carefully out of her father's study (taking the cloak and map with her) trying not to break anything. As she left, Harry looked at her for a moment thinking whether it was really a good idea to have given her the invisibility cloak and map. Would she use them just for sneaking down to the kitchens in the middle of the night? Or would she use them for something a little more dangerous, like helping Hagrid get rid of a dragon in the middle of the night? Harry privately wished that when he was Lily age, he had someone who was this concerned for his welfare. The closest thing he had to a mother was Molly Weasley, and although she didn't exactly approve of his little adventures, there was precious little she could actually do to stop him.

Maybe he was worrying too much. He eventually decided to give her a chance to prove herself. Harry still had his contacts at Hogwarts (primarily Hermione, who had a position of high importance in the school) and if he found out that she was really misusing them then he would take them back, and then maybe even forget about the owl that they more or less promised her.

After shooing one of Ginny's cats (a fluffy grey one called Merlin, that must have snuck in when he wasn't looking), from his chair, Harry sat back down at his desk and decided to try and do a bit of paperwork. He thought that once he had finished school he would be free of writing reports, but, eighteen years on, he was still doing them.

He had to write a report on his last assignment, which involved investigating the presence of Dark Magic in a field in Dorset. When he got there, however, he just found a big empty field, aside from a couple of cows, and he could find no trace of any Dark Magic whatsoever. Since nothing really happened, he was finding it extraordinarily difficult to write a substantial enough report. Looking at the parchment, he only had about six inches worth of text, and that was even with him deliberately using larger than normal lettering and slightly longer spacing. He even considered getting out the thesaurus to look up words that would make the report more interesting.

Harry was chewing the end of his quill while staring at the ceiling, desperately trying to think of something else to write, when :

BANG!

There was a large bang which shook the entire house, knocking over anything that wasn't firmly stuck down; in Harry's office, his cup of tea fell over, spilling the contents over his desk, and onto the floor, and the picture of him at the Auror training academy fell of the wall, its frame shattering. Although Harry's house got the worst of it, the shockwave from the bang was not restricted to Twelve Grimmauld Place - the unmistakable sound of next-door's car alarm blared, and it set off a couple of dogs barking.

The source of the bang, sounded like it came from above, which was the general location of Lily's bedroom. Panic struck into Harry as he quickly dropped the quill he was writing with, and ran towards the stairs, almost stepping on one of the cats. He met Ginny at the base of the stairs in the hallway, who looked just as worried as he was.

"What was that bang?!" she panicked.

"I don't know," said Harry, trying to stay calm but not succeeding, "but it sounded like it came from Lily's room."

Harry and Ginny ran up the stairs together, towards the second floor, and in the haste they almost tripped up a couple of times. They reached Lily's room and saw that the door was lying against the opposite wall of the landing, having been blown off its hinges. Scorch marks covered the door and the surrounding area. They looked into the room through the empty door frame, and what they saw was truly terrible.

"What the ....?" gasped Harry, as he stared into the room, totally dumbfounded.

Words escaped Ginny, as she stood there stunned in silence.