Harry Potter and the Violet Chain

Chapter Four

Harry was dumbfounded when he picked up the thing that dropped out from the envelope - a photograph. A photograph of him and his parents. He had never seen that photo before, and he was slightly older in the photo compared to all those that he had; still a baby, but he was about a year old, he presumed.

'There's a letter Harry!' whispered Ron, pushing a piece of parchment into Harry's hand.

Harry Potter,

This photo was taken a day before your parents were killed.

Harry turned the parchment around, but that was all that was written on it. So he was right, he was a year old then. That could be the last photo he had ever taken with his parents. That could be exactly how they looked like when they were killed.

'Is it... is it from Dumbledore?' asked Ron curiously.

'I don't think so,' replied Harry.

'Could it be Hagrid?' suggested Ron.

'No, he had given me all he got. Besides, I would recognize his handwriting,' said Harry. Everyone could recognize Hagrid's messy and cluttered handwriting.

A day before his parents were killed; who could have met them then? Harry thought to himself. They were hiding then, not even Sirius knew where they were, only one person... their secret keeper...

But, Peter Pettigrew would be the last person he knew to send the photograph to him. Well, besides Voldermort. Harry looked at the photograph again. His parents, they were smiling and laughing, so relaxed, never expecting that tragic was lying in front of them, the very next day. They must be posing to someone they knew, someone they were comfortable with. Please let it be Sirius, Harry thought. He tried to ignore the fact that Sirius could have given the photo to Harry so many times before, and other obvious reasons that Sirius was not the sender.

'Whoever sent it must have no hard feelings for you, Harry,' said Mrs. Weasley gently. 'Someone evil would never send such a beautiful photo to you.'

Harry smiled weakly at Mrs. Weasley. He knew that Mrs. Weasley was acting out of goodwill, and she was as clueless as he was in guessing whom the photo was from. Harry just realized that his cheek was wet and everyone at the table was very quiet. Ginny was nearly reduced to tears herself. Harry quickly excused himself from the table.

'Leave him alone, Ron.' Harry heard Mrs. Weasley's voice as he walked up the stairs to Ron's room, and clutching the photograph in his hand. He kept kicking himself for shedding tears in front of the Weasleys. He did not know why he had been so emotional, so easily moved to tears. He felt so embarrassed, so weak, and so childish. He was a fifth year now, and he had gone through enough to be tough, Harry kept telling himself. More than enough.

Harry dug into his trunk and fished out the photo album that Hagrid had given him in the first year. He looked through all the photos, still clutching the new one on his hand, looking for similarities in any of them, but found none. He finally turned to an empty page at the end of the book. Feeling resigned, Harry inserted the photo he got today into that empty page. He kept the album back into his trunk and determined to forget about the whole thing, until he could meet Sirius and ask him about the photo.

Harry lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, trying not to think of anything and collect himself together, until Ron finally came up, towards the evening.

'Mom asked us to pack up before dinner, you know, for tomorrow,' said Ron looking uncertainly at Harry.

Harry gave Ron a weak smile and started packing along with Ron, in silence. Harry did not feel like talking yet. He still had a lot of things in his head that he felt like taking out his pensive and putting some in it. But he thought better of it and just kept on packing. It was not until they were nearly done, when Ron took out his prefect's badge to pin it on his robe, that Harry felt like talking again.

'So, what do you think of that?' asked Harry, eyeing that badge.

'Huh?' Ron was startled with Harry's sudden question. 'Oh, that.' Ron stared at the badge and then turned to look at Harry.

'Oh Harry! What do I do?' said Ron, hysterically. 'I don't want to be a prefect, you know that! Fred and George will have a lot to pick on me now! I don't know why McGonagall picked me, out of all people! She must be blind not to pick you instead... sorry...' Ron's voice trailed and looked apologetically at Harry.

Harry grinned back at him. 'Maybe because you are really the type, you know, like Percy.' Ron groaned loudly.

'I wonder if Hermione got a letter as well,' Harry wondered out loud.

'She better, if not, she will be very jealous of me. She dreams of being a prefect since she first stepped into Hogwarts!' said Ron.

'Did she tell you that?' asked Harry.

'Err... yeah. Do you think I can give the badge back to McGonagall?' asked Ron quickly.

'I don't know, I'm not a prefect,' answered Harry, still eying Ron suspiciously. 'Why would you? I think you will make a great prefect!'

'Really?' asked Ron doubtfully.

'Yeah, how many times do you want me to tell you?' said Harry, staring cheekily at Ron. 'Besides, Ginny and your mom are very excited over this.'

Ron gave Harry a sarcastic grin and without warning, threw a pillow at Harry. 'Now, you can't fight back, because I can take points off you!' said Ron.

They both laughed and went on to finish their packing. They went down afterwards and found dinner was ready. Everyone, including Percy and Mr. Weasley were already at the table, which was rare as they usually came back late from work and had dinner on their own. Harry heard hushes as he entered the kitchen and he realized that Mr. Weasley and Percy had just got back from work as they still had their hats on.

'Hi Harry,' said Mr. Weasley, smiling at him.

Harry smiled back. Harry noticed that he did not get the usual 'Harry, how was your day?' question he always got from Mr. Weasley every night he saw Harry. They ate in silence for a while, until Harry felt that they were keeping quiet because of him, and broke the silence politely.

'Mr. Weasley, have you heard that Ron is a prefect?' asked Harry, and he got a kick in return from somewhere under the table.

Mr. Weasley smiled broadly. 'Yes, the fifth one in the house now,' he said happily.

'Fifth?' asked Harry and he got another kick under the table. He kept counting in his head, but he kept getting four including Ron. Charlie, Bill, Percy, Ron...

'I was a prefect,' grinned Mrs. Weasley proudly. 'And I never felt disgraced for being chosen to be one,' she said, gawking at Ron. Ron ate his dinner without lifting his head from his plate, and Harry thought he had better stop talking.

'All of you better get to bed early tonight, need to wake up early for the train,' said Mrs. Weasley, Harry was glad that the subject was changed. 'Especially you Ron, you have to be really neat tomorrow, as it is your first day as a prefect!' Harry retrieved his legs near to his chair. 'Well, Harry can sleep in a bit,' said Mrs. Weasley.

Harry stared at her blankly. 'Why?' he asked and looked at Ron. Ron shrugged back at him.

'Oh dear, I was supposed to tell you this morning, guessed I had forgotten... with so many things happening...' panicked Mrs. Weasley. 'You are to travel to the train station using a portkey with Mr. Weasley. Don't worry, you will still be in Hogwarts Express with everyone else,' she added when she saw Harry's face turning white.

Harry just nodded to say that he understood what she said. He understood why he had special arrangements and different procedures. But he could not help feeling dreadful with the mention of the word 'portkey'.

They slept early that night, and the next morning, Harry and Mr. Weasley saw the rest of the Weasleys off at the front gate of the Burrow. They were to take two taxis to King's Cross Station and they took Harry's school stuff with them. It would be a bit difficult to travel with a big trunk and a cage using a portkey. Harry and Mr. Weasley went back into the house and decided to play chess to kill some waiting time.

'Mr. Weasley, who knows that I am staying here?' asked Harry while waiting for Mr. Weasley to make his move.

'Dumbledore, Sirius Black... and yes, Hermione, as far as I know,' answered Mr. Weasley, still trying to think of his best move. 'Why did you ask?' Mr. Weasley looked at Harry, suddenly realizing the oddness of the question.

'Who do you think sent me the photo?' asked Harry, pushing his luck.

Who Mr. Weasley thought, Harry did not know; as right at that moment, a head popped up at the fireplace. It was Professor Dumbledore's.

'Arthur, can I have a word with you?'

Mr. Weasley scrambled to his feet and went over the fireplace. Harry could not make out what was discussed between them. All he could made out was Mr. Weasley was receiving some orders from Professor Dumbledore, with some nods and yeses.

'Harry, can I have a word with you now?' asked Professor Dumbledore from the fireplace. Harry went over there quickly.

'Harry, the portkey is ready to bring you to the train station. Hope you understand that all these arrangements are necessary to ensure of your safety. Once you are there, you will be safe,' assured Professor Dumbledore. Harry nodded in agreement. 'I will see you tonight at the great hall, Harry. Keep away from anything out of the ordinary, and you will be fine.'

The fireplace crackled and Dumbledore's head was gone.

'Ready, Harry?' asked Mr. Weasley, holding out a black stone, cut out unevenly. Harry touched the stone He felt its coldness on the tips of his fingers and nothing happened. He was about to move nearer to the stone and Mr. Weasley, when suddenly he felt a jerk from his belly button.

Harry closed his eyes tightly; he hoped and kept telling himself that he would turn up at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.