Harry Potter and the Forgotten Secrets

Ch. 5 ~ Confessions Part 2

Harry’s POV

It had been a long week since our boat trip. I was kind of embarrassed about how the night ended. How could I have let it go that far? That was not my original intentions. I was so happy when she said she’d marry me I lost sight of what I was doing. I shook my head, remembering that night. “From now on, I won’t take her until after the wedding,” I promised myself quietly. Ron was still asleep. It was early on Saturday before Thanksgiving. The sun hadn’t even come up yet, and it wouldn’t for another two hours. I was also awake thinking about my scar. It had been burning all week. Something it hadn’t done since I nearly defeated Voldemort at the end of 7th year. Yes, I said 'nearly.' If only I hadn’t slipped on that rock!

I jumped out of my thoughts as an owl’s beak tapped on the window. I ran to the window and untied the letter from his leg. He immediately flew away. “Must not need a response,” I said, unfolding the letter.

Dear Harry,

    You must leave America immediately. You will finish your schooling long distance, at least for now. You must quickly get the girls and Ron. The Weasley’s are expecting you within the next ten minutes. Don’t waste time!

Albus Dumbledore

Panic ran through me as I finished the letter. “Voldemort must know where we are!” I said. I jumped as another owl tapped on the window. I quickly grabbed the letter and the owl flew away. I unfolded it quickly.

You’re wasting time, Harry.

“How does he do that?” I shrugged my shoulders and drew out my wand. I flicked it at Ron’s head and water splashed in his face. He jumped awake and almost fell off his bunk.

“Bloody hell, Harry! What was that for?!”

“Dumbledore’s orders. We have to leave now!” I was starting to get more panicked. “Quick!” I whipped my wand around the room and all of our belongings disappeared.

“Dumbledore! Was here?”

“No you idiot! He sent an owl!” I turned and opened the door. I flicked my wand at the both of us again and our pajamas turned into clothes. We both raced down the hall as quietly as we could. Ron knocked on the girls’ door and I got worried when they didn’t answer. I pointed my wand at the door knob and whispered, “Alohomora.”

The door popped open and Ron and I went inside. We found they were both sound asleep on their beds, but there was no time to admire Lara sleeping. “I’ll take care of their things,” Ron said, pulling out his wand. “You wake them up.” I nodded as Ron began sending along their belongings to the Burrow. I began gently shaking both of them awake.

“’Mione, Lara. Wake up. We have to leave.” It took doing this twice for them to finally jostle awake.

“Harry!” Hermione said, startled. “What are you doing here?”

I pulled Lara up out of her bed. “Dumbledore’s orders. We have to leave.”

“Get dressed, both of you,” Ron said as he finished sending along their things. He was starting to get panicked now.

Hermione nodded and drew out her wand, changing her pajamas to clothes. Lara did the same. “Ok,” I said, shutting their room door, “we apparate to the Burrow.” There was a worried look on Lara’s face. “What is it?”

“I don’t know where the Burrow is,” she answered. This thought hadn’t occurred to me. How were we going to guarantee she get there? We all jumped as an owl tapped on the window.

Hermione ran to the window and pulled a large key off of the owl’s leg. “How does Dumbledore do that?” He had sent us a portkey at the perfect time. We all had a quick laugh before gathering around the key.

It was somewhat small for the four of us, so we could only put a couple of fingers on it. Once we were all touching the key, I felt a tug at my stomach and within seconds we were standing at the end of the drive to the Burrow. A sea of heads, mostly red, stood at the house, ready to greet us. “Welcome to the Burrow,” I said to Lara, taking her hand.

“Thank you.”

The four of us began walking towards the sea of people. Mrs. Weasley was the first to contact us. “Oh my dears! I’m so glad you made it in time!” I noticed a tear on her cheek as she embraced Ron. Dumbledore cleared his throat as if to silence her. “Right, well let’s go inside. Lunch will be ready shortly.” Right. The time change. I smiled and led Lara inside. There were even more people inside, and it seemed as if the whole order had joined us.

Lara looked about the room, eyes widened. I smiled. “Lara, I’d like you to meet the gang.” I began pointing everyone out as I said their names. “Let’s see…Tonks, Moody, Remus, Neville, Seamus, Angelina, Oliver, Fred and George, Bill, Charlie, Mr. Weasley, Ginny, Minerva, Hagrid, Lavender, and Dumbledore. Yes, I think that’s everyone.” The group nodded at Lara and a breakout of whispers from the older half of the group confused me. I looked at Lara. Her face had turned a light shade of pink. “Ron,” I said, trying to break the uneasiness, “don’t you have something to tell everyone?”

Ron blushed as he looked about the room, and then to Hermione. She nodded at him with a smile. “Right. Mum, will you come back in here please?” he called into the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley came into the room, wiping her hands on her apron. “Yes dear? But make it quick, lunch is ready.”

Ron nodded, his face almost the same color as his hair. “Right. Well, my news is that I asked Hermione to marry me and she said yes.” The whole room exploded into bursts of excitement as they surrounded Ron and Hermione. I smiled at Lara. She looked worried that they were going to be suffocated.

“Don’t worry,” I whispered, “I won’t tell them about us until you’re more comfortable here.” Lara smiled in relief.

The rest of the day was enjoyable. We all spent the afternoon playing a game of Quidditch. Well, not everyone. Mrs. Weasley kept cleaning house. Mr. Weasley, Dumbledore, Prof. McGonagall, and Hagrid were in deep conversation. And Ginny didn’t play because, we found out later, that she was expecting and Neville refused to leave her side.

Finally, after a grueling three hours, I caught sight of the snitch and stole it away from Remus, who was playing the other seeker. We all were thankful to see Mrs. Weasley coming outside with a tray full of lemonade. I smiled at Lara as she handed Ginny her broom. “Thanks for letting me use your broom, Ginny,” Lara said. She was starting to feel a bit more comfortable.

“Oh, you’re welcome. At least someone gets to use it,” Ginny said with a smile, laying her hand on her stomach. I grinned as Neville leaned over and kissed Ginny on the forehead.

“Well, good game, but now it’s time to eat dinner and get wound down for bed,” Remus said, putting his arm around my shoulders. “How’s it going, Harry?”

“All right,” I said to him as I threw my Firebolt with the other brooms. I’ll polish it later. We went inside to find the smell of beef stew consuming the house. “Gawd I missed this food,” I said. Remus laughed. “Can I ask you something?” I had pulled Remus to a part of the house that was empty. Remus nodded. He looked tired, and then I realized the full moon had just passed. “When I was introducing you all to Lara, I noticed that you and the others were whispering.” Remus nodded.

“That’s something that Albus is going to have to choose when to tell you.” Remus looked past me and saw Mrs. Weasley putting the food on the table. “Listen, Harry. You just need to concern yourself with being safe. If molly knew I was telling you this, she’d probably kick me out. There’s going to be a second attack. We don’t know when, but we’ve heard it from some of our spies. That’s why Albus had you come back. At this point we don’t know where Voldemort is. We seemed to have lost his trail.” I nodded, a knot forming in my throat. It was my 7th year all over again. Anticipation of the upcoming battle was overflowing in me. “We’ll talk later, Harry. Molly’s got dinner on.”

I nodded as Remus walked away. I smiled as Lara came up to me. I pulled her into a tight embrace. “Have I told you recently how much I love you?” I kissed her gently before she could answer.

“Why, yes, Harry. Every time you smile you tell me.” She smiled and kissed me again. We let go of one another and I took her hand. We walked into the kitchen and found a seat across from Ron and Hermione and next to Remus. “I think I’m comfortable enough for you to tell them now,” Lara whispered in my ear. She found my hand under the table and gave it a small squeeze. I smiled and kissed her cheek.

“Um…Mrs. Weasley, before you serve up this wonderful food, I have something I’d like to say.” The table went suddenly quiet. Dumbledore looked at me with a grin. He knew what I was about to say.

“Oh?” Mrs. Weasley said, setting down the dish of fresh baked bread. “Well, go on dear.”

I blushed and cleared my throat awkwardly. “Well, it actually has to do with Ron’s news this morning.” I cleared my throat again as the table stared at me. “I’ve asked Lara to marry me and she said yes.” The whole table of people exploded, just like they had with Ron and Hermione. I couldn’t breathe.

After everyone quieted down, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then everyone made their way to their rooms. I took Lara’s hand and we went for a walk outside. There was a bench down by the edge of the garden and we decided to sit for a while and talk. The stars were bright tonight, and they sparkled off of Lara’s perfect green eyes. “You are so beautiful,” I said into her ear.

She blushed and leaned against me. “Can I ask you something, Harry?” I stroked her head and nodded. “Can I ask you about you and Hermione?”

My eyes widened. I was not expecting this, but she needed to know. “Of course.” I adjusted myself and wrapped my arms around her. My heart ached a little, and I swallowed. It was time Lara knew. “Hermione and I got very close after my battle with Voldemort. I hadn’t defeated him, but I weakened him considerably. I was hurt in the process and Hermione stayed with me while I was at St. Mungos. When I got better, I asked Hermione to marry me. She accepted, and we shared an…intimate night. She got pregnant and she was five months along when one of Voldemort’s followers attacked our flat. Hermione was hurt and she lost our baby. After that, we just…fell apart.” There was a slight pause before I spoke up again. “I mean, we still love each other, just not in the same way.”

I heard Lara sniff and she drew a hand to her cheek. Had she been crying? “Wow, that’s a really hard situation.” She pulled herself out of my grasp and turned to face me. I had never seen her look so beautiful. She looked…different. Her hair was a familiar shade of red and her eyes…I had never seen her eyes so green. Suddenly I realized who she reminded me of. “What’s the matter?”

I shook my head in astonishment. “You look so much like…” I paused; I couldn’t finish my sentence. This discovery had suddenly left me without a single word or thought in my head...except...

“Your mother?”

I nodded. “Yes, you look like my mother.”