Sirius Black's Secret Love

Chapter 12 - The Weasley Family Secret

Ron looked at his sister in disbelief.

"No," he said shaking his head. "No. Charlie is not dead."

Ginny stumbled into his arms. Ron's eyes filled with tears as he held his sobbing sister.

"What happened?" George asked Professor McGonagall.

Her face showed a pain that Harry had never seen before.

"There was an accident. One of the dragons he was working with became wounded. Charlie tried to help the poor beast and then..." Professor McGonagall blew her nose. "And then the dragon turned on him. He was burned to death."

"NOOOOOOO!" Ron yelled. His hands were balled into fists and Ginny backed away from him in fear.

"I'm so dreadfully sorry," Professor McGonagall said. "Your parents will be here in the morning to take you home. They asked that you stay here tonight as they are extremely busy overseeing the details."

Details for a funeral, Harry thought darkly.

Ginny sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands. Hermione moved to sit next to Ginny and put an arm around her. Fred and George looked lost. They didn't seem to know what to say or what to do.

Ron was sitting on the edge of a couch, muttering to himself. "Thirteen for dinner...we had thirteen for dinner!" Ron then looked at Hermione accusingly, his face twisted in anger.

"It's your fault!" he called out to her.

"What?" Hermione said shocked at his outburst.

"You were the one who caused us to have thirteen sit down for dinner at Christmas. Charlie rose first to give a toast. If you hadn't insisted on Winky - "

"You can't possibly believe that rubbish," said Hermione defensively. "Anyway, if you didn't want thirteen at your table, you never should have invited me. Besides, it wasn't thirteen humans sitting down to eat, because house-elves aren't human as you keep reminding me."

"Stop it!" Ginny yelled. "Stop it you two. Charlie's dead. How can you argue at a time like this?"

"Ginny's right," Harry said calmly. "Ron, it's nobody's fault. Remember the reading you gave him at Christmas?"

Ron nodded gravely. The others in the room turned and looked at Ron with great interest.

"What did you see Ron?" asked Fred.

"I saw a large ornate sword hanging over his head. Charlie just laughed at me and passed it off as him - " Ron's voice choked, "working with dragons."

"The Sword of Damocles!" Hermione said in a shocked whisper.

"What?" Ron asked.

"The Sword of Damocles. It's a story that dates back to antiquity. Oh Ron, that image signifies you are under the constant threat of Death," she whispered.

"What else did you see Ron?" George asked.

Ron closed his eyes. He didn't want to tell them.

"Tell them Ron," Harry urged.

"This morning, I had a vision," he said quietly. "I saw Charlie and I knew he was in trouble. I saw fire and then I heard him screaming and then it was silent."

Professor McGonagall grew pale. "Ronald, you...you may indeed have the Sight. I hope for your sake that you do not."

Ron looked at her puzzled, "Why?"

"For it is both a blessing and a curse," she said sadly. "And it is something that I cannot help you with. But right now I must go and speak with the Headmaster. You will of course be excused from all of your classes for the next week. I shall see you all in the morning."

A quiet pall settled over the room. For several minutes no one said or did anything. Hermione walked up cautiously to Ron and lightly touched him on the shoulder. He recoiled at her touch and stormed up the staircase. He returned a few minutes later with Harry's Invisibility Cloak clutched in his hands.

"I need to use this tonight Harry," Ron stated flatly as he strode over to the portrait hole.

Hermione started to follow him, but Harry held her back. "No. He needs to be alone right now."

She nodded and turned to Ginny who was still sitting on the couch and staring off into space.

*

Harry tossed and turned for hours thinking of Charlie, Ron's visions and wondering if Charlie's death was an accident or if it was something more. He worried that it might have something to do with Voldemort. Harry tried, but he couldn't shut his mind off. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 4 am and Ron's bed was still empty. He wrapped a blanket around himself, put on his glasses and slippers and crept quietly down the stairs. When he entered the common room, he saw Ron curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace. Harry carefully placed the blanket on his sleeping friend who was using the Invisibility Cloak for a pillow. At least one of us can get a little rest, he thought.

Harry considered taking a walk outside to clear his head, but instead decided to take a long, hot shower. He thought of Charlie and how young and vital he had been and how cruel Fate could be. As he stood with the water cascading down on him, he felt his own tears finally come.

*

The morning of the funeral was overcast and gloom hung oppressively in the air. Those who were planning on attending the funeral were to leave on the Knight Bus. They had to get up extra early in the morning to walk down to Hogsmeade to catch the bus. The house-elves had packed breakfasts for the students to take with them on the journey. It seemed that almost half of Gryffindor was coming to pay their respects as well as Hagrid, Professor Figg, Professor McGonagall, and Madam Hooch. Harry had heard that Professor Dumbledore would be there also, but he had decided to Apparate later.

Harry had ridden on the Knight Bus before and wasn't surprised at the jerks and bangs it gave as it started and stopped. Some of the other students had been taken unawares by this and as they were trying to eat their breakfast, they found their morning juice spilled all over their clothes. Harry tried to lay back and rest and not think about what was to come that day and found that surprisingly he was able to get a few hours sleep during the trip. He was shaken awake by Hermione and told that they had arrived and that it was time to get up. As they left the Knight Bus it was clear to everyone that the Burrow was overflowing with people.

The Weasleys had emptied their house of all the regular furniture, save for tables and chairs. All the chairs were occupied and the tables were pushed against the walls and were heaped with food. Harry looked around to see Ron and his family and had a hard time finding them through the sea of red headed people that were present. Harry then heard his name called and turned to see Mrs. Weasley. He gave her a hug, which lasted longer than he expected. She seemed to drawing strength from him and when the embrace ended he saw tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said softly.

"Thank you for being here, Harry," she replied. Mrs. Weasley then left him to greet other mourners who had entered through the door.

Harry then saw Ginny. She looked up at him and immediately tears formed in her eyes. He opened his arms to her and she hugged him fiercely. She clung to him and Harry felt her body become racked with sobs.

"I'm so sorry, Gin," Harry whispered.

She finally released him and wiped the tears from her face.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I have to say a few words at the funeral. Hermione helped me by finding a poem to read. This has just been really tough."

After Ginny left him, Harry found himself being drawn to the closed casket that was placed under the large picture window. It was covered in flowers and had a simple picture of Charlie placed on top. He was smiling and holding the Golden Snitch. Harry waited in line to kneel and pay his last respects to someone that he had come to admire and respect. As he walked away from the casket he found that he was now standing face to face with Minister Cornelius Fudge.

"Hello, Harry," Fudge said coolly.

Harry tried to speak, but his voice failed him. He swallowed and then replied, "Hello, Minister Fudge," with a touch of defiance in his voice.

"You remember Amos Diggory," Fudge said as he indicated Cedric's father standing next to him.

"Yes. Hello, Mr. Diggory," Harry said nervously.

Diggory gave him a look that sent shivers down Harry's spine. Gone was the congenial man that he had met before the Quidditch World Cup. This had been replaced by the icy cold stare of a man that thought he was looking at the person responsible for his son's death.

"Hello, Mr. Potter," Diggory said in a detached manner.

"This is the second funeral for a child of someone in the Ministry in the past year," Fudge said sadly shaking his head. "It's beginning to feel like Old Times."

Harry felt as if he were going to be sick. He turned around wanting to leave Fudge behind and bumped into Walden Macnair. Harry froze. A Death Eater was here. Harry had told Fudge that Macnair was a Death Eater and had been at the cemetery last year. And yet nothing had been done about it. Macnair was pretending to care about a fellow Ministry employee's death in the family. Had he attended Cedric's funeral? Harry wondered. He scanned the rest of the room and considered whether or not there were any other Death Eaters present and if anything sinister would happen today.

"Yes, yes, our own Walden Macnair was there when it happened," Minister Fudge said to a mourner. "It's too bad he wasn't able to stop the tragedy from occurring. He just happened to be there on a fact finding mission for his department."

"This is so dreadful. I never expected this to happen to Charlie. He was always so careful," the mourner said tearfully.

"Yes, well accidents do happen," said Fudge calmly, "especially around beasts like dragons."

Harry realized that the room was swarming with Ministry employees. Bode, Croaker, Cuthbert Mockridge, Gilbert Wimple, Arnold Peasegood. His heart started to pound. He then saw "Mad-Eye" Moody standing near the food table and grimacing in the general direction of Macnair. Harry wanted nothing more than to be near his classmates and not with adults who were suspicious of him or who might be followers of Voldemort. He squeezed his way through the crowd and saw Oliver Wood standing in the corner talking with the twins. Harry was glad to talk casually with Oliver about his experiences with being on the Puddlemere United team. Soon they were being ushered outside to begin the funeral.

Harry was unsure of what to expect. He knew that a wizard funeral must be different from the standard Muggle funeral, but he wasn't quite sure how. Harry had never attended any funerals before because the Dursleys hadn't wanted to admit to the greater world that they had such an "abnormal" nephew living with them. The few times that they attended such events, Harry had stayed with Old Mrs. Figg. He gave a half-smile to himself remembering that and how surprised he was when she revealed her true self to him last summer. No, the only knowledge Harry had of funerals was from what he had seen on television. He was sure that this would be different.

Harry joined the crowd of people outside that were gathered around and waiting. Soon the casket was wheeled outside the house. Bill, Percy, Fred, George, Ron and another tall red headed man were the pallbearers. They lifted the casket to the waiting bed of a wagon that was covered with flowers. Harry assumed that the sixth man must be a cousin. The horse-drawn wagon was followed by the cortege who walked slowly through a light blanket of snow. Harry began to recognize the path being taken as the same one they had taken the morning before the Quidditch World Cup. They were slowly making their way to Stoatshead Hill.

Along the outside of the procession there were people carrying torches every five metres or so. The torches didn't give off light, but instead a heady smell of incense. Their powers became clear as the cortege entered the village proper. Harry had worried about them being revealed to Muggles, because very few in attendance were wearing any clothes that might be considered Mugglewear. They walked down the centre of town on a narrow cobblestone road that was only used for foot traffic. As the villagers came near the procession, they seemed to sniff the air and turn around as if they had suddenly remembered something they had to do elsewhere. No one interrupted or even recognized that a long line of witches and wizards were walking through the town. The hoof beats of the horse and the wheels on the wagon gave a clop, clop, clop as they went over the uneven cobblestone. Otherwise, not a sound was heard as they made their way through Ottery St. Catchpole.

As they neared Stoatshead Hill, Harry saw that there were large stones standing in a circle. He had not noticed them before because the other times when he was there it was before dawn. The stones would have appeared as dark shadows in the distance. The wagon came to a stop near the side of the large hill in front of a stand where two large stones were supporting a third stone balanced precariously above them. Harry was aware that they had now come upon hallowed ground.

Many people came forward and spoke movingly of Charlie. His love of life, his love of adventure and his devotion towards animals. His old Quidditch teammates spoke of his exploits on the broom and his irrepressible charm. His co-workers from Romania spoke of how skilled Charlie had been with dragons and that he was someone that they had depended upon.

Dumbledore came forward and looked weary. "I have been to far too many funerals in my lifetime. I find that one of the most painful things is to outlive those who are cut down in the prime of their lives. Charlie Weasley had such promise and such potential. He truly had much more to give to this world. We will all suffer from the loss of such a man."

As Dumbledore walked back to the crowd, Ginny came forward. She had found a sense of inner calm and peace and spoke with a strong and clear voice.

"One of my earliest memories of Charlie was when I was a little girl. I had found a feral cat in our backyard that had a batch of newborn kittens. One had somehow gotten separated from its mother. I wanted to move the kitten back with its litter mates, but Charlie stopped me. He said that because the cat was feral, the mother wouldn't accept the kitten if it smelled of humans. Instead, he gently picked up the kitten and we brought it back to our house. Together we nursed the poor thing and became its surrogate mother. Ginger was a wonderful loving pet that graced our household for many years, but she would have died that day if Charlie hadn't been there and knew what to do.

"As long as we remember Charlie, as long as we keep him in our hearts and in our minds, as long as we speak of him with words or even with a touch - his spirit will always be with us. I'd like to now share with you a poem that my friend Hermione Granger found. It is by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"O Living Will that Shalt Endure
When all that seems shall suffer shock,
Rise in a spiritual rock,
Flow thro' our deeds and make them pure,
That we may lift from out of dust
A voice as unto him that hears,
A cry above the conquer'd years
To one that with us works, and trust,
With faith that comes of self-control,
The truths that never can be proved
Until we close with all we loved,
And all we flow from, soul in soul.

Ginny leaned down and kissed the casket. "Charlie, you will always be with me in my heart. I love you." Mrs. Weasley started sobbing and Bill put his arm around his mother. Ginny walked back to stand next to her family.

Suddenly, something made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand on end. He looked around and didn't see anything suspicious at first. It was more of a sensation than anything else. Somehow he knew that someone was hiding behind one of the large standing stones in the distance. As he stared at it intently, he saw a movement by a hooded and masked figure holding a wand. Harry instinctively reached inside his pocket for his wand, but as he withdrew it the figure had Disapparated. Screams started coming from the crowd and Harry turned back to see that the flowers, which had been draped over Charlie's casket had been transfigured into adders. The snakes were dropping off the casket and were moving quickly towards the Weasley family. One was dangerously close to Ginny.

"Stop it!" Harry hissed.

The snakes immediately responded to his voice and they curled up as if they were going to sleep. Harry without thinking waved his extended wand and transfigured them back to being flowers once again. All eyes had turned towards him and they were looking at him with great suspicion. Harry saw that Minister Fudge had a strange smile on his face. Mrs. Weasley was clutching Mr. Weasley's arm and looked very frightened.

"I-I saw a hooded figure behind that stone, but they're gone now," Harry said as he pointed in its direction. "When I saw them drawing their wand, I knew there would be trouble..."

Mr. Weasley nodded and sighed, "Yes, well that is all over now. Thank you, Harry. That concludes the public portion of the funeral. I want to thank everyone for coming and showing your love and support for our family during this difficult time. The family will now be taking Charlie to his final resting place."

Mr. Weasley then walked forward and tapped his wand into the centre portion of a labryrinth that was carved into the overhanging stone. The two stones swung out magically and a narrow passageway was now exposed. The pallbearers all picked up handles of the casket and brought it close to the entrance. Then Mr. Weasley used his wand to levitate the casket and he began to navigate it through the tight opening.

Bill came up behind Harry and Hermione and said softly, "Please follow. You two are like family and Ron will need you in there."

Harry and Hermione followed the family into the dolmen. As they entered the burial chamber, Harry saw that it was dimly lit by torches that had become magically lit in response to the presence of wizards. The walls had many nameplates of the dead. Harry thought that there must be at least thirty people already buried in the tomb. Mr. Weasley lowered the casket in front of an empty grave marker, he then stepped forward and used his wand to carve out an epitaph in the stone.

Charles Weasley
Beloved Son
1967 - 1996

Harry moved forward to stand next to Ron. He was startled when Ron gripped him by the arm. All the colour had drained from Ron's face. He was staring at the grave marker next to Charlie's.

David Weasley
Beloved Son
1970-1979

"How could you...," began Ron.

Mr. Weasley looked at his son and said firmly, "This is not the time."

Bill squeezed Ron's shoulder and whispered, "Later, Ron. Don't make a scene."

Ron nodded, but Harry saw that his friend was shaking violently. It was clear that Ron was ready to explode. He had another brother that he had never been told about.

Fred and George exchanged puzzled looks as they heard this exchange. Then Ginny saw what Ron was fixated on. Her jaw opened wide and she drew the twins' attention to the marker. The three of them cast hurt looks at their parents. Mrs. Weasley covered her face in her hands and then turned her back in shame. When Percy noticed what his siblings were focused on, his face got a strange expression on it. He looked as if he were remembering something long forgotten. Penny stood dazed and confused at the reactions of the Weasley children.

The marker was then removed revealing an empty chamber. The casket was levitated and placed inside. As the chamber was sealed and the new grave marker was set in place, Mr. Weasley waved his wand. He said a few words to forever seal the grave and to place a curse on anyone who would dare to disinter its contents. Harry shivered at the thought. He then began to wonder where it was that his own parents lay buried.

As they emerged from the darkened chamber, Harry saw that Professor Figg was waiting for them outside. "The rest of the students walked back to town to catch the Knight Bus. I stayed after so that I can accompany you and Hermione back to school. You two can use the Weasley's hearth to Floo back like we did at Christmas."

Harry nodded. He could tell that there was going to be a family meltdown as soon as they arrived back at the Burrow. Everyone trudged the distance back to the Weasley household in silence. As they approached the house, Percy said good-bye to Penny and promised to follow her shortly. Harry wondered if they would be able to leave before the fireworks happened. He wasn't sure if he wanted to witness it or not. It might be easier for Ron to not have to retell his friends, but then again he might not want them to see the family fight. Harry looked at Hermione, she looked as uncomfortable as he felt.

As soon as they entered the house, Ron could no longer hold in his anger. The question of whether or not Harry and Hermione would see the confrontation was settled quickly.

"When were you going to tell us? NEVER?" Ron demanded.

"Ron, you don't understand..." said his father.

"Damn right, I don't understand. I can see why you didn't tell me when I was three or five, but Dad I'm sixteen! Did you think I couldn't handle knowing that I have two dead brothers?"

"Ron, this is very painful - "

"So is finding out that your parents have been lying to you all your life!"

"What happened Dad? How did David die?" asked George quietly.

"He was murdered," Mr. Weasley said softly. "It happened after the Dark Lord tried to recruit me. After I refused, he killed David to punish me. David was staying over at his friend Mikey McKinnon's house. Everyone there was killed and there was the Dark Mark hanging over it."

Mrs. Weasley blew her nose and left the room.

"How come the McKinnons were killed and not us?" asked Fred.

Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and wiped his face with a handkerchief. "I think he still wanted me to join his forces. This was his way of warning me that if I didn't join him, that more of my children were endangered. His way of thinking is that it's far more painful to cut off one finger at a time than the whole hand at once."

Ginny grimaced at that and then asked, "Why were you so important to him, Dad? It doesn't seem that he'd be all that interested in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"That's because I wasn't working there at the time. I was a staff member of the Council of Magical Law. After David's murder, I put in for a transfer. That decision wound up ending any chance I had for any real career advancement, but my family's safety was worth it to me."

Percy had a faraway expression on his face. Then he turned to his father, "So that's what you meant at Christmas by saying you knew more about this than I realized. I can barely remember David. I haven't thought of him in years and now some of my early childhood memories make more sense. Dad, why didn't you remind me of him? Why didn't you tell me what happened?"

"Your mother and I have disagreed on this point," Mr. Weasley said sighing heavily. "She's always felt that it was better to not bring up the subject. It's very painful for her. Ron, this happened when she was pregnant with you. She almost miscarried because of it. You were the only one who was born premature and then you were born with a caul over your face. You weren't breathing when you were first born. Anyway, your mother can be very superstitious. She was afraid that the Dark Lord had cursed her pregnancy. When you finally began to thrive she insisted that we not talk about David ever again, lest we endanger it happening to another child."

"Do you think Charlie's death is related to You-Know-Who?" asked Ron.

Mr. Weasley slowly nodded his head. "Yes, I was approached again. This time I'm a senior ministry official. It doesn't matter that I'm not in an important department, I'm powerful because I know everyone. That's why he wants me, he also wants all of you. I'll never join and I'll do everything I can to protect all my children."

Percy stood and crossed the room. His face looked very confused as if he were fighting within himself. He then put on his cloak and left the house, the back door clanged as it closed behind him.

"That's what my vision was for you," Ron began. "I saw one door where there was a hooded man you were afraid of, the Dark Lord. The other door held a Wheel of Fortune with our names on it. It meant that one of us had to die if you refused him."

Mr. Weasley held his face in his hands.

Hermione was standing in the background and then she turned to Mr. Weasley.

"Arthur, Bill, Charlie," she said slowly ticking the names off on her fingers. "David, Edward, Fred, George...is Ron's first name Ronald or is it something else?"

"It is Ronald, but before David's death we were planning on naming him Harold," he said giving a hollow laugh. "Molly thought that if we changed our naming scheme that it would break the bad luck." Then he gestured towards Harry, "And since we would have called him Harry for short, it's probably a good thing we named him Ron. It would have been pretty confusing telling you two apart if you had the same name."

Harry started counting on his fingers and looked up at Ron.

"Ron, you're a Seventh Son," Harry said in awe, "and you were born with a caul. Remember what Trelawney said about that in class? Both are omens that you will have the Sight."

Ron's eyes grew wide and swallowed hard.

"You should have told me," he said firmly to his father. Ron abruptly left the table and went to his room.

Professor Figg entered the house and spoke to Harry and Hermione. "It's time for us to go back, please say your good-byes."

They nodded and gave some uncomfortable hugs to all the Weasleys that were downstairs as well as their condolences. Harry went cautiously upstairs to knock on Ron's door.

"Ron, we have to leave now," Harry said.

"I'll see you back at school," was the muffled reply.

Harry walked downstairs with a heavy heart. As he stepped up to the fireplace and threw the Floo powder into the flames, he thought quietly about how much had changed in Ron's life in the span of a few days. Things would never be the same for him.

After they walked from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts in silence, Harry thanked Professor Figg for accompanying them back.

"Certainly. Providing security for Hogwarts students is part of my job description," she said kindly as she walked away.

Harry looked at his watch. "Hermione, we've got a little time before dinner. Why don't we take a little walk by the lake?"

"Sorry, Harry. I feel like I've been outside all day. My feet are like icicles. I'd just like to go inside and thaw out."

"I need to talk with you. Alone."

"Okay, then. What's a few more minutes of being cold?" she said shivering.

Harry rubbed the outside of her arms trying to warm her up, "Is that better?"

"A little. I saw you talking with Fudge earlier. What happened?"

"That's what I wanted to talk with you about. I heard Fudge say that Macnair was there at the time Charlie was killed. He was supposedly there on Ministry business, but I don't believe that. I think he did something to cause Charlie's death. When I saw him, I knew something bad was going to happen today. During the service, I just had a funny feeling and turned to look at the stone in the distance."

"If you hadn't been so quick to act, someone could have been bitten."

"There's something else that I need to tell you about. At Christmas, Ron also gave his mum a reading."

"What did he see?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"He saw a secret door and knew that she was hiding something behind it. Ron saw a long locked box and said that her secret would soon be revealed."

"Oh Harry," she said shaking her head. "You think that David's death was her secret?"

"Yeah," Harry said nodding. "She got really upset with Ron. That's part of what set her into such a foul mood that night. He reminded his mum of her most painful memory and her greatest fear."

"I don't even know what to think anymore," she said sadly.

"Neither do I," Harry said looking her in the eyes. "I only know that I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you or Ron. All I could think of on our walk back here were the essays that we wrote for Figg's class last fall. I'm afraid for both of you."

"Harry, I'd be a target for attack even if I wasn't your good friend. Just being Muggle-born is reason enough for the Dark Lord to want to kill me. Sometimes I wish that I never had heard of Hogwarts," Hermione said quietly. "If I had just stayed a plain Muggle, I wouldn't know about all of this..."

"Yeah, except that there are horrors in the Muggle world, too. Muggers, rapists, psycho killers, recognizing those dangers is just a part of growing up," Harry said.

"On that cheery thought, let's go to dinner. Maybe they'll have something nice and warm."

"I could go for a nice hot chocolate."

"Now you're talking," she said smiling. "If we can't get any for dinner, come with me to the kitchens later and we'll get some from the house-elves."

*

The next day Harry was afraid of what The Daily Prophet might hold. He knew that there would be some coverage of Charlie Weasley's funeral and probably a mention about the snake incident, but he had not in his wildest imagination expected to read the article that was on the front page.

Fudge presses for expulsion of Potter

By Hearst Seldes, Managing Editor

Minister Cornelius Fudge filed an emergency petition yesterday with the Hogwarts Board of Governors regarding Harry Potter. The fifteen-year old wizard was attending the funeral of Charles Weasley when he was witnessed by over two hundred witches and wizards performing magic outside of school grounds. Fudge felt that this was a clear and flagrant violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C.

Charles Weasley was the son of Arthur Weasley, the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Charles Weasley had worked in Romania as a dragon handler. He was killed last week after a fatal occupational accident that occurred with a wounded Hungarian Horntail.

The incident regarding Potter occurred when the flowers that were on the casket were magically transfigured into adders, a poisonous snake common to England. The snakes were reportedly coming close to attacking the Weasley family members. As the snakes came close to the family, Potter revealed for the whole funeral party his ability to speak with snakes. He hissed some command and they curled up to go to sleep. He then waved his wand and in the blink of an eye, transfigured them back to flowers.

Potter claimed that he had witnessed a hooded and masked intruder invade the sanctity of the funeral site and perform that heinous act of transfiguration. So far, no one has come forward to corroborate Potter's story. He was witnessed by many of the mourners as having brandished his wand prior to the initial transformation. Many of those in attendance have told this reporter that it appeared that Potter performed two transfiguration spells. The reason he would do such a thing is not clear, especially to the Weasleys, a family that supposedly has treated him as if he were another son.

Fudge also mentioned that Potter had been given an official warning from the Ministry after his first year about performing spellwork outside of school.

This was followed by the embarrassing incident of both Harry Potter and his good friend Ronald Weasley, (another son by Arthur) having once again flouted the Underage Restrictions by flying a bewitched Ford Anglia to Hogwarts rather than simply taking the Hogwarts Express to school like every other student. That incident led to the punishment of Arthur Weasley being fined fifty galleons for ironically violating the very laws regarding misuse of Muggle artefacts that he had championed.

Then the following summer, two members of the Accidental Magical Reversal Department were dispatched to the house of Harry Potter's Muggle relatives where a woman had to be punctured because he had "accidentally" blown her up with his rage.

The Daily Prophet has also covered extensively the hexing incident that Potter and others had done last year on the way home on the Hogwarts Express. Potter was the only one disciplined for that incident, but it was once again a flouting of the law.

The timeline for the hearing of this complaint has not been set, but Minister Fudge is pressing for the Board of Governors to set an emergency meeting to take up this issue. Fudge feels that such an act at the funeral of a Ministry family member is unforgivable. He wants to see swift and severe punishment for Harry Potter.

Harry put the paper down and was stunned. He now knew what the strange smile on Fudge's lips was about. He had been set up to fail. Voldemort wanted to get Harry away from the protection of Dumbledore and thought that expulsion would leave him wandless, weak and vulnerable.

"Oh Harry," Hermione said with great concern in her voice. "I never thought of this happening."

"Neither did I. I need to speak with Dumbledore," he said as he excused himself from the table.

Harry walked immediately up to the head table and Dumbledore nodded at him. They walked together to the room off the side of the Great Hall.

"Have a seat Harry," Dumbledore said.

"I swear that there was a Death Eater there yesterday. I didn't transfigure the flowers into snakes, only the reverse," Harry said pleading.

"I know, I know. I believe you, Harry. Unfortunately, it seems that the Minister of Magic wants to point all blame on you, myself and Sirius."

"What can I do?"

"Well, even though Fudge asked for an emergency meeting, I doubt that this will occur. Very little happens quickly with bureaucracies. The only time that they moved quickly was during your second year after several attacks on students. You remember that one of the governors, Lucius Malfoy pressured them into signing a letter calling for my removal?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, after that incident they have taken a decidedly different pace with things. I would recommend that the first thing you do is to write down everything you can remember from yesterday. Everyone you spoke with at the funeral from the time you entered the Burrow until the time the snakes were returned to flower form. Document everything. You should ask the same of everyone else that you know that was in attendance. The sooner, the better. As time goes on the memories fade. There is one thing that may be a problem for you though," Dumbledore said seriously.

"What is that?" Harry asked.

"Over half of the Board of Governors were there in attendance. They are all eyewitnesses. Except of course none of them were close to the front, so none of them actually saw the snakes. They've only heard about them. They will however, have heard you speak in Parseltongue and will have seen you wave your wand."

"What'll I do if I get expelled?" Harry asked.

"We'll worry about that if it happens, but I really don't see that happening. The Minister of Magic does not have the political support that he once did and contrary to what you might think by reading The Daily Prophet, I actually get along quite well with the Governors. I have a lot of influence with them. I see no reason for you to be expelled. You simply reacted quickly to a dangerous situation. Although if you had stopped when the snakes were curled up and harmless and left it for someone else to transfigure them back, you wouldn't be in this mess right now."

Harry nodded, "I just wanted to help."

"I know. You're a fine young man and your heart is in the right place," Dumbledore said kindly. "I'll be speaking with the Weasleys and we will get statements from all of them. I'm sure that none of them will be placing any blame on you. And since they were in the best position of seeing how the snakes were acting and not the hundreds of mourners in the background...I think you'll do fine. This was an extraordinary circumstance."

*

Harry and Hermione couldn't wait to see Ron and Ginny return back to school. After a week spent mourning at the Burrow, they too were anxious to return to a sense of normalcy. When they all sat down for dinner, Hermione couldn't help but ask about how things were going at home.

"How is Percy doing? When he left that day, I began to really worry about him."

"He's going through a lot right now," Ginny replied. "I even wonder whether he and Penny will even make it to the altar."

"Why is that?" Hermione asked.

"They can't seem to agree on anything. Penny told me how he keeps trying to nix things she wants in the wedding. He seems to think everything is too expensive and too ornate," Ginny said shaking her head. "He doesn't realize that Penny has probably been planning her wedding for years before she even met him."

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at that.

"Well it's true," Ginny said. "I can't tell you the number of girls I know that can describe in detail their dream wedding. Percy doesn't understand that. If he keeps knocking all her plans down, I don't know if there will be any future for them."

"What about the other thing that was talked about after the funeral," Harry asked quietly.

"Dad and Percy are still not really talking to each other," Ron said. "Percy still clings to the idea that it's not the Dark Lord who threatened Dad. He would give anything if Dad would recant and say that it was Sirius Black who was trying to recruit him. Until then, they are talking past each other and not to each other. At least Percy moved out in January, so we didn't have to hear them argue. We only had to hear them have parallel discussions the few times that Percy showed up."

*

The next day brought an extraordinary number of owls delivering mail. Almost half of the Gryffindors received similar parchments. Harry was not surprised to then have a thick letter dropped in front of his place at the dining table.

Dear Mr. Potter:

As you are probably aware by now, there has been a formal complaint filed regarding your performing magic outside of school in violation of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C. Accordingly, the Board of Governors shall endeavor to ascertain all the circumstances regarding this event to determine whether expulsion is warranted. Given your unique stature in the Wizarding World as well as the severity of the alleged crime, it is imperative that there is no doubt in the public's eye of our decision.

The Board of Governors has convened and settled upon the following schedule for this case. We are requesting a statement from all those in attendance as to their perceptions of what happened that day. We will require that you submit your own statement as to what transpired that day and the reasons for your actions. These statements are due in our office by April 25^th. If you have any supplemental testimony from others who were not in attendance at the funeral, it should also be submitted by that date.

You will subsequently receive copies of all the statements (lacking personal identifiers, of course) by May 2^nd. You will be allowed to provide written rebuttals to these statements up until June 3^rd. Then you will be given time to prepare your oral testimony which will be made before the full Board of Governors on June 24^th. You will be permitted to speak for ten minutes. Others who wish to speak at this hearing will be allotted three minutes to state their position. Should you find any need to respond to any of the verbal statements of the witnesses, five minutes at the end will be reserved for you. Our final decision on this matter will be made before you return home on the Hogwarts Express.

Sincerely,

Albert Albini, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Harry looked up to see that Hermione had been watching him.

"It looks like everyone that went to the funeral is going to have to provide testimony," she said. "How would they know who all attended?"

"We had a quill that was bewitched to keep track of our guest registry," Ron said. "I'm sure they just used that list to write these letters."

"Let me see your letter Harry," Hermione said as she and Ron started pouring over its contents.

"I thought Fudge considered this to be an 'emergency.' It doesn't seem like the Governors are treating it that way," Ron said.

"It looks like they're trying to be fair. Or at least appear to be fair. That settles it, I'm going home over the Easter holidays," Hermione announced.

"Why is that?" Harry asked.

"I'll need to scour the Muggle libraries and bookstores for law books for laymen. We'll need that in order to work on developing a legal strategy as well as the rebuttals and your verbal testimony. I plan on helping you mount the most vigorous defense possible," she said with her eyes flashing. "I tried with Buckbeak, but failed. I'm not going to fail this time."

"Why are you going to use Muggle law books?" Ron asked. "This is the Wizarding World."

"Because the principles of logic and justice should be universal," she said matter-of-factly. "I know exactly what books are in this library and when it comes to books about justice...this library and probably the Wizarding World are sorely lacking. When I think back to the 'trials' that Harry told us about from Dumbledore's Pensieve, I really wonder what the Wizarding justice system is predicated on, because it doesn't seem to be based on truth or logic. Instead I'm going to depend on the world of my birth and hope that I can find something that will help us devise a winning strategy for Harry."

Harry looked at her and saw the determination in her face. He was grateful that he had someone like her on his side. He knew that his educational future and possibly his very life depended on winning this case. He wasn't even sure where to begin, but he knew that with Hermione on the case he had a chance. This was going to be a difficult struggle especially when he considered that people such as Minister Fudge were against him.

"Thank you," he said. "I think I'll need all the help I can get. With you in my corner, I may just win."

"We will. We have to," Hermione said firmly.

*

Harry had written his first draft of his statement after Dumbledore had instructed him to do so. Since then, he was hesitant to revisit it until Hermione had done some of her promised legal research. In the meantime, they still had their regular classes and schoolwork. Harry had been wondering how the first day back in Divinations would be for Ron. He considered that maybe it would just be another ordinary day of hearing Trelawney speak with a misty voice about the Fates and that nothing much new would be covered. He was wrong. Trelawney was lying in wait for Ronald Weasley.

As Ron and Harry entered the classroom, Trelawney glided over to Ron and ushered him over to sit on a pouf next to her beside the fire.

"You know now, don't you?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Have you accepted your Destiny? It is a lonely life, that of the clairvoyant. But you my child are no simple Seer. You are destined to be a great Prophet," Trelawney said breathlessly. "I can teach you many things, but you must be willing to accept your powers."

"How come I only recently started showing any talent?" Ron asked.

"Oh, you have shown sparks of it in the past. But you have been holding yourself back with your own scepticism. It is also not uncommon for clairvoyant ability to manifest itself upon puberty and also great stresses in life." Trelawney looked him closely in the eyes. "Tell me Mr. Weasley, have you accepted your Destiny?"

"Yes," he said hesitantly.

"You have formidable powers and the potential to be great, but only if you leave your doubts behind. And you Mr. Potter," she said looking at Harry, "must also abandon your doubts. For you too have the Sight. It pales in comparison to Mr. Weasley, but both of you have been reluctant to accept your abilities. Instead you think that you are skating by in this class by making things up. Your intuitions are far greater than you realize."

Harry gulped at that. All these years he and Ron had laughed as they did their Divination homework thinking that they were writing outlandish predictions, which they thought could never come true. Now he started remembering some of those they had come up with. Burns, threats of drowning, stabbed in the back by a friend, and an unexpected windfall of money. All those had come to pass during the Triwizard tournament.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, your futures, your destinies are inextricably linked. You must help each other accept this fact and work together, for your own sake and that of the Wizarding World."

Harry got a strange unsettled feeling in his stomach. He looked at Ron and saw that he actually appeared calm. It seemed that he had finally come to the realization that his fate was to read the Signs and to predict the future. Harry then thought of the Mirror of Erised and how Dumbledore said that Ron desperately wanted to step out from the shadows of his older brothers. Being a Prophet would certainly distinguish himself from all of his brothers, it just wasn't exactly the way that Ron had envisioned it coming to pass.

*

A week later Harry once again found himself worrying about his possible expulsion. After hours of tossing, turning and listening to snores and the incessant croaking of Trevor, he found himself sitting on the window seat gazing at the night sky. There was a full moon and everything was bathed in its shimmery glow. As he stared outside, movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Two figures were entering the greenhouses. What were they doing there at this time of night? He wondered. One figure appeared to be picking herbs and was placing them into a basket. When the figures left the greenhouses, Harry saw that there was a skinny cat with them. They had hoods obscuring their faces, but as they walked towards the castle, Harry finally recognized them due to their gaits. One had a confident prowl while the other had a hunched back and planted his feet heavily on the ground. It was Snape, Filch and Mrs. Norris.

*

Endnotes. I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing my work: Alexis Drazen, Cousin Yogurt 99 aka ~Sparky~, Draco Malfoy 68 (87), hattrickkid, Lanski, Lisse Granger formally known as Liselotte Gwynydd Eerana Ciel Granger (whew!), Luna, Maria 1314, Mione Anne Potter, Sonya Rose Jaime Potter, and starshimmer.

I wanted to upload both chapters together so that if the tears started to flow at the end of Chapter 11 that you could just continue on and find out why I had to kill off a beloved character. Chapter 12 was difficult for me to write, but I wanted to introduce David in the most dramatic way possible. Having Ron see a tombstone of an unknown dead brother was the Biggest Bang I could come up with. Because I really do think Ron will be a Seventh Son and that there's a slightly obscured alphabetic naming scheme with the Weasleys. That's my careful scrutinizing of canon. It's also probably my only truly original theory of what JK Rowling might have up her sleeve. Some of the other ideas that I've woven into this story were inspired by discussions on the HP for Grown Ups list serv, too many to mention or even remember.

So I'm wondering...how many of you picked up on all the Death Omens that were in chapter 9? The thirteen sitting at dinner, Ron's vision for Charlie, plus the added aspect of Sirius being outside. I like Padfoot1979's signature line: "Sometimes a big black dog, is just a dog. Other times, it's a death omen. Feeling lucky?"

Stay tuned, coming soon my second Dark Secret will be revealed: Chapter 13 - Mrs. Norris, where you'll learn all about this mysterious feline. I promise that there are some plot twists that will be unexpected.