Band of Gypsies

Chapter Sixteen

"Jolie!" The slim man walked into the light from the shadows. Harry was ecstatic. The little gypsy grasped him and hugged him about the chest. Snape stood by grimacing. "You? Is it you?" Harry cried.

"Yes, Tommy," Jolie said, laughing, "it's me."

"You're my teacher?" questioned Harry.

Jolie nodded. He turned slowly around the room. "But not here, this is a dead place." He pinched his nostrils with his thumb and index finger. "It stinks in this place. It is mullo (dead)." He leaned in conspiratorially, "You live with ghosts, Amal (friend)."

Harry was amused and delighted.

Jolie turned to Snape and spoke in English, "Your Uncle, he come to me and say you need teacher. The best teacher." Jolie grinned broadly, " I have come."

Harry laughed. "Yes, the best." He watched the small man as he studied the room. And then Harry realized, "Have others come with you?" They spoke in Romani.

"No, No," he said. "Too dangerous. Besides in a few short weeks it will be winter. They go to stay in one place for the winter."

"How are they?" Harry stumbled over the words, "Nadya?"

Jolie teeter-tottered his hand as if to say, 'Iffy'. "Some time needs to go by before others are told that you live. It is safer that way."

Harry nodded, saddened by the thought that Nadya would also think he was dead.

"Come, we talk," Jolie said, and took him by the arm. Snape followed. Harry stopped and looked at Snape and Jolie prodded him in the back. "He comes, too."

Snape led the way through a false opening in the wall. They walked down stairs almost completely obscured by the dusky darkness that surrounded them. Harry could feel spider webs brushing his hair. There was a smell of mold and earthiness. Where is this place? he wondered.

They emerged in another room that Harry had never seen. It was small and circular and empty of furniture. It was clear to Harry that it was in one of the towers. There was an exit, with another set of full stairs. This side of the building faced the forest as well, but on the opposite side of the castle from Hagrid's hut. Harry knew that Snape had chosen the route to keep them from being seen.

They entered the forest immediately and walked for some time in silence. Harry had never been in these woods before. He was mildly surprised that Snape was leading the way.

After climbing a gentle incline Harry was led to an area of rough terrain. There were large boulders spiking into the sky, vine-covered, obscured by an overgrowth of vegetation.

Snape stopped and waited. Jolie joined him. They both watched Harry.

Harry was puzzled. It was like they both wanted him to discover something or know something. He searched the boulder strewn area before him. And then he recognized what it was. These rocks had been set here on purpose! It actually began to take on the appearance of a an ancient stone village. There were windows, like large vacant eyes, carved in the stone, staring out at him.

Jolie motioned for him. "Here, come in here." Harry climbed to him and Jolie led him into a cave-like room. Snape ducked his head and followed.

Harry sat on a stone bench. He admired the way the area was hidden. If they had not led him directly to the little stone cave city he would not have seen it.

"So let us talk," Jolie said, in English. Snape stood silently.

Harry nodded patiently.

"Your teacher, this Kalo (crow)," Jolie spoke Romani pointing at Snape, "has something to say to you. "You will listen. Yes?" Harry frowned and Jolie poked him in the chest with the stem of his lit pipe. "He is a very wise man, and knows many things. It would be foolish to disregard his information because you do not like each other."

Harry nodded, again. He no longer felt intimidated by Snape and thought of him only as part of the plan. Harry felt, that if pressured, he would simply walk away from Hogwarts.

He considered the man standing behind them, glowering. He recognized that it was Snape that was helping him.

"Speak to this boy," Jolie said to Snape.

"There are some things that you need to consider, Potter." Snape said. "Although Draco Malfoy is a spoiled brat, he is also the son of one of the most powerful Death Eater's in the Dark Lord's service. I see that you have already managed... Mr. Malfoy, so to speak. However, you must be careful. Lucius has not seen Draco since before he was placed in Azkaban prison. They are destined to meet at some time. It would be wise to not have Lucius curious about this 'new' boy at school that Draco thinks so highly of."

"Point well taken, Professor," Harry agreed.

"Since you are in my House and Dumbledore is aware of the special circumstances concerning you, the two of us will arrange for you to have lessons with this man." Snape's eyes snapped to Jolie. "Hopefully you attended well to the exit from the castle and the path that led here?"

Harry nodded.

"Good. Then you will come here every evening after dinner. I will make excuses for your disappearance from the common rooms and Malfoy, as well as any teacher who questions your whereabouts," Snape spoke as if he had memorized a list.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said.

Snape's looked at him sharply to detect any sarcasm. "I will not repeat what I have said earlier about Miss. Granger and Mr. Weasley. Slip-ups cannot be tolerated on anybody's part," he said with a lecturing tone to his voice.

Harry desperately wanted to knock Snape over for a brief moment and then remembered the shampoo and haircut and the look on Snape's face. I've forgotten myself, he thought.

"Yes, Professor."

"You don't know, Potter, because you weren't born yet, but The Dark Lord is capable of many terrible things. You play a dangerous game with people's lives if you err in any way," Snape whispered.

There was a long silence. Harry felt his anger rise to the surface like molten lava. "Should we both accept responsibility for Sirius' death then, Snape? Because I recall very clearly what happened and what Dumbledore told me!" Harry was on his feet and they were face-to-face. Snape had done it. He had pushed the right button.

"You need to learn control, Potter," Snape hissed.

"Did you do it on purpose? Did you go to Sirius and goad him like you always do?" Harry was raising his voice, " Pushing, pushing, pushing. Always in everyone's face! What did you say to him, Snape? 'Harry's gone to the Department of Mysteries to rescue you. He thinks Voldemort's got you. Are you going to go save him Sirius or let him die like you did James and Lilly?'." Harry was replaying every thought he'd every had in his head about the circumstances of that meeting.

"Your godfather wouldn't listen to me!" Snape said, a heated but steady look in his eyes. "He was a glory seeker. I tried to stop him, but he wanted the Dark Lord all to himself."

Harry pulled his wand out and pointed it into Snape's chest.

"Want to kill me, Potter?" Snape put his arms out unexpectedly, "Then do it!"

Harry stood looking at Snape for a long time. Jolie sat puffing on his pipe, relighting it and continuing to watch. Harry slowly lowered his wand, keeping it tightly clenched in his hand.

"It is time you decide who you are at war with, Potter," Snape said and lowered his arms. "I went into the woods looking for you when you didn't return with Delores Umbridge. I thought that you were the one in more immediate danger. I couldn't stay and try and talk sense into Sirius, but I knew Dumbledore was on his way. I could only hope that Sirius would be sensible and stay until he arrived. I had to make a choice, Potter; you or Black." Snape's face remained calm. "There was no love lost between your godfather and me, that's true. Why should there be? You saw what happened in the Pensieve. You saw my memories."

Harry flashed back on the day he had stuck his face in the swirling milky substance in the Pensieve and watched as Sirius and his father had humiliated Snape in front of a crowd of Hogwarts students, his mother being among them. Harry couldn't help but feel the burden fall back on his shoulders. He couldn't blame anyone else, not even Snape. He slumped back on the stone, staring at the man dressed in black.

Jolie waved his pipe at Snape who left the room quietly.

They sat in silence until the light began to go and it grew chilly. Autumn was coming.

In the next few days, the rumor had spread that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was about to arrive. Harry had been impressed by Snape's skill in the subject, but found it hard to be around him. Harry even wished for the days when Snape had treated him badly.

Harry wished for a lot of things. He wished someone would beat him up; hurt him. He now relished the pain he felt when he saw his old Gryffindor friends or when he caught sight of Hermione and Ron. He deserved every moment of sadness and despair that came his way. He was drowning in grief and self-hatred. He could not stand the thought that Sirius had brought about his own death out of self-arrogance or stupidity or rebelliousness.

Jolie did not try and dissuade him from his ranting. They got no work done while Harry paced the dirt floor of the little cave room every evening.

One afternoon, sitting in the library studying, Harry overheard a conversation. It was very faint. His trained ear knew who was speaking. It was Hermione.

"Remember Ron? I didn't even think of it until I saw him disarm you." She was whispering. "It was the first day back at Hogwarts. The carriages."

"What about them?" Ron asked.

"I know I didn't see them. You know, the thestrals that pull the carriages. You're supposed to see them when someone you know has died." She went on, "Did you see them?"

Harry couldn't see him but knew from the silence Ron was shaking his head.

"Shouldn't we have?" Hermione asked.

"Maybe it's only if a family member dies. And Harry wasn't related to us.." Ron answered slowly. "That's probably it, Hermione."

There was silence.

"Oh, you're probably right." There was a sound of crying.

"Don't Hermione, please?" Ron's voice was weak. "I miss him too. We can't bring him back."

"I KNOW, RON WEASLEY!" Hermione said much too loudly. More sobbing. "I JUST HATE SIRIUS BLACK!"

"Hermione! He's dead," Ron said.

"Well, so what!" Hermione's tear-filled voice grew louder. "He was a fully grown man! He didn't stop to think about what he was doing!"

"Hermione, we've been over this a dozen times," Ron's voice pleaded.

"And Snape!" she cried.

"Not again Hermione," Ron whined, he was losing the battle.

"He should have insisted on teaching Harry occlumency." Hermione's voice was muffled. It sounded to Harry like Ron had grabbed her and was holding her face to him.

"We can't bring him back, Hermione," Ron said. "And we can't keep trying to undo it all. If Harry were here today, he'd be all over himself again, just like he was... he was before," his voice shaking. "And what good would that have done? Remember when he saved dad?"

"Mmmhm," Hermione mumbled.

"I know he thought he was responsible for that, too." Ron went on, "Harry was my best friend Hermione. My best friend! And I know that he had it bad, being The Boy Who Lived and all. I wouldn't have traded places with him for anything."

Hermione mumbled something again.

"Well, okay, I got jealous once," Ron said. "But he just got it in his head that it was always up to him to save the world, Hermione. And that was big headed, cuz he wouldn't ever ask anyone for help. He didn't stop to think that we're all facing the same thing."

"He did it to protect us," Hermione argued.

"Yeah, well he could've put more trust in our ability to take care of ourselves! That's all I'm sayin'. He could have come to Gimmauld Place instead of running away. He could have believed in us!"

There was a long silence.

"You know don't you, " the voice was a long drawn out drawl and came from Luna Lovegood, "it wasn't Sirius' fault or Professor Snape's or even Harry's. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for Voldemort."

There was a sharp intake of breath.

"I just think we ought to start blaming the right person that's all," she said. "Sometimes people just die because they make a mistake."

Harry heard no more as they walked away from his hidden area. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Luna before leaving Hogwarts the previous year. She had told him her mother had died because of an experiment she was doing that went wrong.

Yeah, he thought, sometimes people just make mistakes.