One Last Time

One Last Time

Ten days had passed since the events in the depths of the Ministry of Magic, where after a year of denial, Cornelius Fudge finally saw for himself that Voldemort was indeed back. Ten days since Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood faced a horde of Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy himself in the depths of the Department of Mystery. Ten days since Albus Dumbledore, leading members from the Order of the Phoenix, had come and rescued them. Ten days since Bellatrix Lestrange dueled her cousin Sirius Black, who had just saved Harry from her. Ten days since Sirius had received a stupefying curse straight in the chest after having been distracted. Ten days since Sirius Black was blasted through the Veil because of that same curse. Ten days since Harry Potter lost his godfather, his last living relative that had really cared about him. And for those ten days, Harry Potter acted only out of necessity, having nearly stopped sleeping because of the nightmares that plagued him and having tried to stop feeling because it hurt just too much.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few days ago, there had been a number of people reunited in Dumbledore’s office, to discuss something of importance; more precisely, to plead with Dumbledore. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Remus Lupin, Professor McGonagall and last but not least, Harry Potter were in that office. All were "arguing" with Dumbledore about letting Harry spend his summer anywhere BUT at the Dursleys'. The Boy Who Lived wasn’t exactly using words. He just sat in a chair in front of the Headmaster’s desk, his emerald green eyes fixed on Dumbledore, with a look that clearly said "I am not going back". br>
After fifteen minutes, the argument was finally stopped when a small voice rose, effectively stopping the eight yelling ones.

"It was what he wanted from the beginning, for me to live with him and I was refused that. He’s gone now. It will never happen because someone took him from me, but even if it’s too late, I’m going to honour what he wanted, and at the same time what I want. There is no other place that I’m going to live except 12, Grimmauld Place. " br>
With that said, Harry bolted out of the office to prevent them from seeing the tears that spilled from his eyes, leaving the other occupants to stare open mouthed at where he once sat.

"You can’t deny him that, Albus," McGonagall said, having recovered first.

"Besides, there can’t be a safer place than the Order’s headquarters," Remus added.

Dumbledore looked at each of the witches and wizards present, not missing the pleading look they all wore, and finally gave in. br>
"Fine. I give in. I’m going to send a letter to his muggle relatives to inform them that Harry won’t be going back." A round of cheers went out and despite the noise, no one missed Remus’ comment.

"Oh I’m sure they are going to be heartbroken," he hissed sarcastically.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was all of those events that led to a skinny looking fifteen year old to brooding in what was once his godfather's room.

Upon his arrival at 12, Grimmauld Place, Harry ran into Sirius’ room and locked himself in, refusing to leave, or to let anyone enter. It took him two days to notice the envelope on the night table. An envelope with his name written on it; written by none other than his godfather.

The boy extended a shaky hand towards it, and carefully took it, as if he was afraid that it would vanish. But it didn’t, and so Harry quietly opened it and unfolded the two pages of parchment that were tucked inside.

Dear Harry,

If you are reading this letter, then it means that what I feared has finally come to pass. I shouldn’t even be here writing this. I should be at the Ministry going after you. But no, I have to wait for Dumbledore to come; to alert him, or so says the bloody git Snape.

First thing I need to tell you is that for some time now, I’ve felt like my days were numbered, and even now, that feeling is so strong I just know that something bad is bound to happen. And I didn’t want that bad thing to happen without me having a last chance to tell you things that you need to know, things that you need to hear.

First, whatever happens, I am officially forbidding you to blame yourself for it. You did the right thing by going out there on your own, and even took the time to tell someone of the Order, even if it was that greasy git. But, it literally breaks my heart to know that right now you are probably in more danger then anything you’ve faced before simply because you thought that Voldemort had me, something that I would have done myself without giving it a second thought, mind you. It should be me running into danger to save you, not the other way around! That shows me how much you really are your father’s son, and a true Gryffindor, and also one of the bravest wizards I know... and don’t go and try to deny that fact. I’m sure everyone told you that already, but hear it from your father’s best friend. James and Lily would have been so proud of you Harry, well, err, not Lily, Lily would have probably slapped you silly if she knew where you ran off to, but James would have been proud, although he would have hid it from Lily or suffer her wrath.

Harry couldn’t help but smile through his tears at that part, but he didn’t stop reading for long.

Second, I want to apologize Harry, for I am afraid that I failed you. There will be no denying that either, and nothing or no one could ever make me feel otherwise, except maybe James, and even then I would probably not change my mind.

Now, you might be asking yourself how I failed you. Well, there are a multitude of answers for that. I shouldn’t have convinced James to switch secret keepers. I shouldn’t have gone after the rat that fateful night and left you alone with those infernal muggles. Also, if I had been your father’s secret keeper, I would never have betrayed him, so your father and mother wouldn’t have died. I feel like I robbed you of your childhood and prevented you from ever meeting your wonderful parents.

I also failed your father, because when your parents chose me as your guardian, I swore that I would take care of you should anything happened to them, and I guess I didn’t help much now did I? Twelve years in that awful place and two on the run was probably not the best way to take care of you. I failed everyone I ever cared about, and I just hope that when the time comes, when we will be together again, you will forgive me. In the meantime, I hope James forgives me.

Harry actually broke down crying at that part of the letter, and it took him quite some time before he was able to pick the letter up and resume reading.

Let’s move on to a lighter topic. After that fire call about your father, I realized that I never told you stories about the marauders when we were at Hogwarts or things like your parents' wedding or your birth. So I decided to write those moments story like, so the history of James, Remus, the rat and I would never be forgotten. I had a lot of help with this from Remus though, so do thank him, it’ll make him feel better.

Also, I beg of you Harry, don’t blame or think less of your father because of the first story, because it wasn’t really his fault, and because even being on the good "side" sometimes has its bad points. What I do hope is that you’ll come to see us like we were really, not through the git’s perspective, because trust me, we had a *lot* of good reasons to hate that git, and you’ll come to see why throughout the stories.

I also wrote this so you could keep a good memory of your mom, dad, Remus and myself, before the dark times took everything away.

Well, with that said, I’m going to go. I don’t care what the git said, I’m not staying here one minute longer. Dumbledore will know what’s happening, he always does. Just remember Harry, whatever happens today, I do not want you to blame yourself, you have enough to worry about right now. And always remember that for the little time that we knew each other, I loved you like a son, and that I will watch over you forever. Now, be strong Harry, and always stay with your friends, because in dark times like this, that’s all that we really have that matters, and also what we truly need.

Yours truly,

Sirius Black, aka Padfoot

Harry felt strangely better, extremely sad yes, but not the same kind of sadness. Regrets were stronger than sadness right now as he thought about all the things he could have told his godfather. There were certain parts of the letter he would love to argue with him about. But he quickly stopped thinking about that, wallowing in the what-ifs would do him no good. So instead he picked up a big journal like book and inspected it. The book itself was red, and on the cover in gold was written: "A Tribute to the Marauders", then a little below that big title was written, in a smaller size:

"How they met,

How they pranked,

How they lived,

How they fell apart."

That got the better of Harry’s curiosity so he stopped inspecting the book, finally opened it and began reading.

The End, or rather, the beginning ^_~