Family

Family

Chapter Seven
The Wedding Rings

James, feeling his heart pound loudly on his chest, clutched Lily´s hand and attempted to drag her away from the scene. "Lily, come on! It isn´t safe!" he cried, pulling. "COME ON!"

"We can´t go!" Lily insisted as she wrenched herself free from James´s grasp. Her face was a mask of pure disbelief. "The McKinnons! They´re still in there!" She began to run deeper into the forest, where the fighting was transpiring.

"Lily!" James grabbed her arm. "Listen! We can´t do anything for them anymore!"

"How could you say that?" Lily shot back angrily, even as tears fell on her cheeks. "Mike! Wendy! We´ve got to get to them!"

James shook his head helplessly. "We can´t," he said, his voice shaking. "We´ll go back--I promise--but not until I know you´re--"

James´s words were cut short as he noticed a tall figure in a black cloak dart across the trees behind Lily. Before he could even raise his wand, or shield Lily, the figure had shouted, "Crucio!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Lily shrieked, falling to the ground, convulsing in pain, causing James to let go of her arm. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Lily! EXPELIARMUS! LILY!"

* * *

"Harry! Harry!"

Harry woke up with a jolt. He blinked and opened his eyes fully. Above him, George´s face came into focus. Or was it Fred?

"Fred?" he asked.

"Yeah. You okay?" Fred had kneeled beside Harry, looking at him anxiously.

Harry sat up, running his fingers through his hair. "I...just...dreamed about something."

Fred nodded. "I know. You were calling out your mum´s name."

Harry looked up at Fred. "I was?"

"Yeah."

Harry stood up with a grunt and looked about him. He was sitting on the cold marble floor, and he had his back on the wall. He had been sleeping there since way past midnight. A door loomed behind Fred, and he suddenly realized why he had been sitting there.

"How´s Ginny?"

Fred heaved a huge sigh. "Madam Pomfrey told me she´ll be okay. She´ll stay in here for a long while, though." He pointed his thumb on the door of the hospital wing.

At that moment, Harry realized that Fred wore an expression he had only seen on him once before. That was in his second year, when they were told that Ginny had been taken into the Chamber of Secrets by the so-called Heir of Slytherin. Fred was looking worn-down and grim, very in contrast to his personality.

"All the others are in the Great Hall," Fred was saying. "Dumbledore addressed us. Said Hogsmeade has been evacuated, but he´s not going to close Hogwarts down. All the secret passages have been sealed. After the attack in Hogsmeade, he made sure that Hogwarts is the safest place in the country."

"I´m sorry, Fred," said Harry, looking down on the floor, still thinking about Ginny. "I had been with her."

"Hey, come on." Fred gave Harry an enormous thump on the shoulder. "It wasn´t your fault. A Ravenclaw third year came to tell me that Ginny had saved her and three friends from a Death Eater." Despite everything, Fred smiled to himself. "That´s Ginny."

That´s Ginny. Harry remembered the conversation they had outside Honeydukes, just before the attack happened. She had told him about the first and second years she had been tutoring...it had occurred to him that Ginny was made up of much stronger stuff than he had taken for granted.

And she had...told him about her dream....

"Oh, no," Harry suddenly moaned. "Oh...God, no--"

"What is it?" Fred asked, but Harry had burst into the hospital wing.

He knew where Ginny was. He was the one who took here there after the attack. She was still there--but she was worse off, even if the curse Malfoy had put on her had already worn off. Madam Pomfrey was beside her, trying to get her to drink something out of a goblet. It was difficult. Ginny was sweating profusely, she was taking in deep breaths, and her eyes slid in and out of focus.

Harry knew that his suspicions were correct. Remembering what it had been like for the Cruciatus Curse to be put on him, he knew that Ginny, being his mother´s character in their recent dream, must have felt it too. And given her present condition....

Madam Pomfrey had finally given Ginny her potion. Ginny had fallen to sleep instantly. She didn´t even look twice at Harry as she hurried to tend another patient. Among those who were still awake, Madam Pomfrey looked the worst.

Harry went over to Ginny´s bed. Her hands lay on top of her, the emerald ring glinting as the first rays of the sun poured out of a nearby window.

Harry cursed himself mentally. If he had only known that Ginny were to have the same dreams--or at least the last one--he wouldn´t have given her the ring. He angrily slapped his forehead. That had been twice in less than twenty-four hours he had put her in pain--first, in Honeydukes, for failing to save her, and second, just now, for giving her the ring and the dream.

Harry took her hand. It suddenly took him a lot of resolution to take the ring from her finger, as if he was doing something wrong.

"Hey," Fred said behind him, "I don´t think it´s right to get something you´ve given her without telling her about it."

"I have to," Harry replied thickly. "I can´t let her get hurt again."

But just as he began to pull the ring from her, he heard footsteps coming their way.

Albus Dumbledore, his ancient face grave and weary, looked from Ginny´s and Harry´s hands, then at Harry. Beside Dumbledore, a black dog the size of a bear was doing the same.

Dumbledore´s blue eyes finally settled on Harry. There was no twinkle in them, no laughter--but he didn´t look angry, either. He just looked...oddly curious.

"Harry," he finally said. The characteristic gaze was still there, making Harry feel as if Dumbledore was reading his mind. "I have to talk to you."

Harry could only nod. Dumbledore looked at Fred. "Your brothers have sent an owl to your parents. I´ll probably send another one to them. You may stay here."

Fred nodded as well. Dumbledore turned on his heel, with Sirius beside him. Harry followed, suddenly realizing how no student had seemed to notice Sirius Black while in Hogsmeade. Everyone, he thought, must have been aware of hooded dark-cloaked figures, and forgot about everything else.

They were in a deserted hallway when Dumbledore stopped and faced Harry. He glanced down on Harry´s hand, where his father´s ring was.

"So Miss Weasley unclasped the rings?" he asked right out.

"Er...yes," Harry replied awkwardly. Dumbledore´s gaze on him was grim, but there was something else in his eyes--something he couldn´t quite make out. It was as if Dumbledore was going to tell him something else.

Sirius had transformed into a human again, and he, too, glanced at the ring. "That was your father´s," he said. He turned to Dumbledore. "You gave it to him, Professor?"

"I certainly did, Sirius," Dumbledore answered quietly, nodding. "I´m glad it was she. Although--in a way, it is not...." Dumbledore´s voice trailed off, and Sirius looked away.

Harry squinted up at the two tall men. "Professor?" he asked, twisting the ring around his finger nervously as one question after another flitted around his thoughts, "Why was Ginny able to unclasp my parents´ rings, while I wasn´t able to?"

Again, Dumbledore fixed Harry in that unnatural gaze that Harry felt like shriveling. But after a while, Dumbledore´s gaze softened.

"Harry," he said softly as he laid a hand on Harry´s shoulder, "your parents´ pure, unselfish love for one another made those rings clasp together the day they died--a mark of the fact that their love remains even after death." He gripped Harry´s shoulder harder. "And in my opinion, only love between two persons as pure and unselfish as that can unclasp the rings again."

Harry stared back at Dumbledore´s eyes. Love? He felt something squeeze his heart. It suddenly sounded like a big, unfathomable word. Though, he thought, it probably is.

"That´s why there was no need to take the ring from her, Harry," said Dumbledore gravely. "It isn´t right, trying to take away something that connects the two of you."

"But since I gave Ginny my mother´s ring, we kept on dreaming about my parents...simultaneously," Harry protested quietly. He felt as if he needed to tell Dumbledore this. "They were all good at first. But then, we both had this nightmare. Just now. That´s why I needed to have the ring back."

Sirius, and even Dumbledore, certainly didn´t anticipate this. "Dreams?" Sirius asked. "What were they about?"

"Well," Harry replied cautiously, "at first I thought they were about me and Ginny. Then I saw you, Sirius." Harry raised his eyes at his godfather´s surprised ones. "You and Dad changed from your Animagi forms. Then I realized my dreams were about Mum and Dad. And then...Ginny told me something that made me suspect that she´s having the same dreams I´m having."

Dumbledore looked mildly impressed. Sirius, however, looked as if he was thinking fast, trying to grasp something between what Harry had just said. Then understanding dawned on his gaunt, tired face. Eyes wide, he muttered something to Dumbledore that Harry couldn´t hear.

When Sirius finished speaking, Dumbledore put his fingers on the part of his beard where his chin should have been. He, too, seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, he pulled something from deep within his pockets. It was his golden pocket watch, where instead of hands, little planets move around the edges.

"We have to meet Remus in my office," Dumbledore told Sirius. Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Dumbledore quickly cut him off. "Harry...I know I´m being unfair...but please understand," he said gently. "There are more pressing matters at hand...it involves everyone in this school. If you don´t mind...I´d like to talk to you some time again." Dumbledore put a hand on his shoulder again. "I´m proud of what you and Ginny did in Honeydukes. I´ve always been proud of your bravery, Harry." This time, Dumbledore looked extremely serious. "But meanwhile...do not take the ring from Ginny, you hear?"

Harry was very taken aback in surprise that he wasn´t able to reply.

"And neither should you remove your father´s ring from your finger," Dumbledore went on, adding up to Harry´s already confused thoughts. "This is important. Your parents´ rings hold answers that are...very important to you."

With that--just that--Sirius ruffled Harry´s hair, turned back to the large dog, and followed Dumbledore towards the headmaster´s office.

The sun had fully risen now, but the weekend was eerily different from the others. No laughter echoed in the halls of Hogwarts. Barely anybody talked. Although there were almost one thousand students in Hogwarts, the loss of four of their members was indeed a great one. The Great Hall, which was still void of the tables for all the students were staying there until further notice, was quiet save for the occasional sobs that were heard from every corner.

Harry watched the Great Hall from its entrance. It was the most distressing sight he had ever seen--girls talking in hushed tones, girls sobbing, boys still lying on the sleeping bags and staring at the ceiling. The ceiling that day featured a beautiful blue sky, and after the conversation with Dumbledore and Sirius which left him with more questions than answers, it only made Harry´s mood worsen.

Especially when he saw who was approaching him.

"Pathetic, aren´t we, Potter?" drawled Draco Malfoy. It was the rarest of times when he saw him not flanked by his two bodyguards.

Harry felt blood pump into his head. He grated his teeth together and unconsciously reached for the wand inside his robes. Malfoy´s steely gray eyes and platinum blond hair reminded him so much of Lucius Malfoy. Harry had to grit his teeth even harder as he reminded himself of the Death Eater.

"Yeah," Harry said, keeping his voice to a minimum to stop it from shaking with anger. "Thanks to your pathetic father, who couldn´t even stop putting his wand out at a dung beetle who looks like you."

Malfoy sneered. Harry watched him reach for his own wand. "Can´t you do anything better than that?"

Harry swung his wand out and pointed it between Draco´s eyes. "This," Harry grated. "I can do this."

Malfoy looked alarmed for a while, but turned on his sneer again in a second. "Think you can actually make everything right by cursing me?" he asked coolly. "You think you can bring the Weasley brat back from the dead by doing that?"

"SHE´S NOT GOING TO DIE!" Harry roared, now pulling a fistful of Malfoy´s robes and jabbing his wand hard on his chest. It didn´t matter to him that he was inches smaller than Malfoy. His breath was now coming out in uneven gasps. The two young men glared back at each other with all their pent-up hatred showing in their eyes.

"´Course she´s not," called a voice from Malfoy´s back. Three redheads were approaching them--Fred, George and Ron. All of them were glaring at Malfoy.

"Ain´t it funny you don´t have Crabbe and Goyle beside you now, of all times?" George said grimly, cracking his knuckles. "One against four. This will be nice."

"Better not risk it," Fred told him. "The kid´s probably got a lesson or two from his father."

Malfoy wrenched himself free of Harry´s grasp and glared at the four of them. He even had the guts to sneer. "It´s not over yet," he said menacingly. "You´ll see." His glare fell on Harry again, then turned on his heel and walked away swiftly.

"Slimy git," George muttered. "Filthy coward. I wonder why Dumbledore hasn´t kicked him out yet, knowing Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater."

Ron sighed heavily. "Dumbledore´s probably wishing Malfoy´d do a Snape and go back to our side." He snorted. "Yeah right, and he´s a Gryffindor."

Harry´s jaw was set as he put his wand back into his robes. "I´d look forward to that day," he said grimly, as if there was really no hope for that happening. When he looked up, he saw Ron glaring at his just as he had glared at Malfoy a while ago.

Harry knew what was coming. "Ron, I--"

"Don´t even say it," Ron spat. "Nothing you can say will make me forgive you."

Although Harry knew it was difficult to take Ron seriously, at that moment he knew he could be wrong. Ron´s eyes burrowed into his; now it was Ron´s turn to quiver in anger. His face turned to a shade close to that of his hair.

"Hey, Ron, cool down, won´t you?" Fred said irritatingly. "You know it wasn´t Harry´s fault--"

"Not his fault?" Ron snarled. He turned to Harry, his blue eyes flashing. "I told you to take care of my sister!"

Harry threw his hands up helplessly. "I know--I´m sorry--"

Ron suddenly advanced on him. Luckily George was right behind him, for just as Ron swung his arm to punch Harry, George grabbed it. Harry knew he wouldn´t move away from Ron´s fist--he knew he deserved it.

"Cool it, Ron!" Fred admonished him. "Haven´t we all had enough violence for one weekend?"

With a grunt, Ron pushed George away from him. And with a glare eerily like that of Malfoy´s, he walked away, just as Malfoy did.

Fred ran a hand through his hair, smiling grimly. "You´ve got to forgive him for that, Harry," he said. "Among the six of us, he´s the most overprotective brother."

"I can see that," Harry muttered weakly. Somehow Ron´s anger towards him made him limp.

"Well, you know, he and Ginny are the youngest, and before school he was the closest one to her. Protected her when we bullied little Ginny. Right, George?"

George nodded. "Closest thing to Ginny next to Mum."

Mum. The word triggered another thought in Harry´s mind. "Have you told your Mum?"

Fred and George looked at each other uneasily, then back at Harry.

"I knew it," Harry groaned, raking his hair with his fingers. "I knew it." No matter how fond Molly Weasley was of Harry, he knew that her love for him can never be matched by her love for her own daughter.

"Look--Ron wrote that letter, okay?" George said exasperatedly. "And you know, being biased and all...Mum doesn´t know the whole story. I sent her another owl. I told her everything."

"She didn´t send me anything, did she?"

The twins glanced at each other again.

"Erm, yeah, to tell you the truth..." Fred cleared his throat. "She sent you a Howler."

"I opened it at the grounds." George had to smile. "I knew you wouldn´t wan to hear all that she had said."

Harry returned the smile reluctantly, as if to thank George. But at that moment, Harry felt like he was de-boned all throughout his body and his insides needed an urgent disembowelment.

Harry didn´t sleep that night, or at least until past two. He had been sleeping with his Invisibility Cloak hidden inside his sleeping bag. Finally, when he was sure that no one was looking, he covered himself with the Cloak and tiptoed out of the Great Hall and towards the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey must be tired already, for no one was tending on the victims now. It was just as well. He removed his Cloak, hurried to where Ginny lay and, taking a pillow from a nearby chair, sat on it on the floor beside the bed.

Moonlight shined on her pale, but otherwise pretty face. She had a heart-shaped jaw that reminded Harry of--Mum, it occurred to him. She sort of looks like Mum. No wonder I used to think she was the one in my dreams.

"Hey," he said softly. "Hope you´re sleeping without any unpleasant dreams now."

Ginny didn´t stir, of course. Harry knew he was being stupid, knowing that Ginny couldn´t hear him, but he couldn´t contain himself. He launched into the story of how Dumbledore didn´t want him to remove the ring from her, and how Sirius had seemed to talk him into doing just that. He told her how he didn´t understand what Dumbledore wanted at all--especially what he meant by "answers." Then he told her about Ron and how Ron had almost punched him. (He left out the story about Malfoy.) And finally, he told her about the Howler.

"I just can´t win, Ginny," Harry whispered desperately. "I know I did something wrong by failing to protect you...but although Fred and George keep on telling me it isn´t my fault, and you were brave because you sacrificed for those third years--I tell myself, you also sacrificed for me. And I feel so dratted guilty, Ginny. I should be the one lying on that bed."

Harry´s gaze fell on her hands. The emerald ring was glowing again.

Only love between two persons as pure and unselfish as that can unclasp the rings again.

Harry took Ginny´s hand in his, closed his eyes and pressed his lips against it. It was soft and cool to his touch. He gazed at her unconscious form, and somehow, her beautiful, peaceful face suddenly looked comforting.

Harry felt that he could drift off to sleep now. He profusely prayed that their dream would be a wonderful one tonight. But even as Harry closed his eyes, he took one last peek at Ginny´s face, and knew that they were on for a better dream.

"Don´t worry," he whispered, entwining his fingers with hers. "I´m here. No one´s going to harm you while I´m here."

* * *

James burst into Lily´s bedroom, breathing haggardly. "Lily, you have to come with me. Now."

Lily, who had been sitting in front of a mirror, brushing her hair, stood up, almost knocking a nearby perfume bottle in her haste. James looked more nervous than ever--she recalled the expression on his face as the one she had seen on him when she got hit by the Cruciatus Curse just over a week ago. And since he wore that very same expression--

"Is it serious?" Lily gasped, grabbing a windbreaker.

"Very," James answered.

As Lily put the windbreaker and a warm coat on, James pulled out his wand. "Hogwarts grounds," he told her.

Lily gaped at him. "What? Why?"

"I´ve got no time to explain," James said pleadingly. "Please, Lil, you´ve just got to trust me!"

Lily looked hesitant, but finally nodded. "All right. Hogsmeade first, right?" And both of them Disapparated from Lily´s flat, appearing in lovely Hogsmeade with its characteristic Christmas card look, and then making their way up to Hogwarts through the cold winter evening.

It was the start of the Christmas holidays. Few students were apparently in the school, so it wasn´t strange that everything was so dark and quiet, with the exception of the yellow lamplights streaming through the castle windows.

But then again, it was the Christmas holidays. Everything should be bright and colorful in Hogwarts at Christmas. Then it occurred to her....

She took his hand, trembling. "Is this where the trouble is, James?"

To her surprise, when James turned his head to her, he was grinning from ear to ear. "Not really," he said.

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but a gasp escaped from her throat instead. For all of a sudden, the whole place was lit up by thousands of dancing yellow light, and marble fountains appeared around them, gushing out silvery water.

Lily stared around at the fountains, at the dancing fairies, and at the sound that had seemed to erupt in the place. It was the strings of a violin, playing a love song she vaguely remembered. When she turned around to face James and demand an explanation, she found him kneeling down on the snow and looking for something inside his coat.

"I know I´m not really the romantic type or anything--if anything at all, I´m the corny kid," James was saying. As Lily looked closer, she noticed that his cheeks were unnaturally pink. Then he came up with a maroon velvet box and gazed into her surprised green eyes. "But...before anything else happens, Lily, I just have to do this.... It would be the greatest honor for this guy kneeling in front of you if..." He held the box up. "...You would consent to marrying him."

With trembling hands, Lily took the box from him and opened it. The sight of the most beautiful emerald ring she had ever seen blurred, for tears filled her eyes and began flowing down her face.

"Oh, James," she whispered, kneeling in front of him. Then she embraced him, and James hugged her back tightly.

Absolutely no words were necessary. They remained that way for a long, long time, each one of them wearing a big grin, joyful tears flowing from their eyes.

* * *

Harry felt something tighten around his hands.

He lifted his head and looked in front of him. Ginny´s eyes were fluttering open. Her brown eyes seemed to register the ceiling for a while, before she looked beside her and saw Harry.

Harry smiled at her. "Good morning, Gin."

Ginny was peering questioningly into his eyes. She tightened the hold on his hand again and asked innocently, "Are we getting married?"

For the first time since Saturday afternoon, Harry broke into a wide grin. He chuckled softly and reached out to brush a lock of Ginny´s hair from her forehead. "No. Not yet."

Oi, where did not yet come from, mate?

Harry slightly blushed at the voice from the back of his head. Ginny, meanwhile, was studying him.

"I just had a dream about you," she said hoarsely. "It was nice."

Harry smiled as he tried to prevent himself from blushing further. "I had the same dream," he said, and now that he got that out, he found his smile getting wider. Yeah, it had been a nice dream....

Harry truly felt it had been he and Ginny in the dream that he had to remember Dumbledore´s strange words the day before to remind himself that the characters in the dream weren´t they.

"Gin," Harry began, "the thing is...the dreams we are both having--they´re not about you and me. Though I know it feels like it. It´s about my parents."

Ginny´s mouth opened in surprise and disbelief. "Your parents?"

"Yeah," Harry said. Harry didn´t want to tell her about any more details before she was strong enough to take them all in. "I haven´t really worked it out yet, Dumbledore´s got all these really weird riddles--"

"Harry," Ginny suddenly said, "have you seen Bridget around? I told her I´ll help her with her Transfiguration homework."

Harry stopped. He looked into Ginny´s anticipating eyes. No, he couldn´t tell her. Not now. He looked away.

"Harry," Ginny said, her voice rising. "Harry."

Harry forced himself to look at her again. He shook his head. "I´m sorry," he finally managed to croak out.

"Why?" Ginny insisted.

Harry shook his head again, seeing Ginny´s eyes fill with tears. He couldn´t speak. He just did what he thought was right and important--he reached over and pulled her into his arms.

Ginny began to sob bitterly into his shirt. He patted her back, trying to comfort her the way she did that night in the common room. But he seemed not to be able to do so.

"Potter, what are you doing here?" came Madam Pomfrey´s irritated voice.

Ginny and Harry broke apart. Madam Pomfrey gasped when she saw Ginny´s tear-stricken face. She immediately fussed about her. "What´s the big idea, Potter?" she reprimanded him. "She´s recovering! Why did you have to make her cry?"

Harry began to explain, but Madam Pomfrey shooed him out of the hospital wing without letting him say goodbye to Ginny. He last saw her, as Madam Pomfrey closed the door, burying her face into her pillow, still crying.

Harry felt an emptiness settling in his chest. He closed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, angry with himself for not being able to make her feel better.