Speak, Memory

Harry at Andromeda's House

Harry and Sirius walked out of 4 Privet Drive with Harry's luggage and Sirius held out his wand. The Knight Bus appeared instantaneously and its door opened. As Sirius and Harry entered, the driver, Stan, exclaimed, "'Arry Potter agin? And Sirius Black--they thought you was a mass murderer, but now everyone knows you's innocent!"

"Yes, thank you," Sirius muttered and told Stan where to go. No other wizards must have needed transport early that afternoon, for before Sirius and Harry could even get settled down there was a "BANG!" and with a jolt they were at their stop. "Good seein' ya agin, mate," Stan said, and the bus disappeared.

Sirius and Harry were standing on a quiet road surrounded by beautiful green countryside. "Where--" Harry began, but Sirius held his hand and they both took several steps forward towards what seemed to be the ruins of an old well. Suddenly a lovely white Georgian house appeared, and Sirius rang the doorbell.

The door opened and a tall slender woman exclaimed delightedly, "Sirius! And this must be Harry--why you do look just like your father. Come in, come in."

Harry and Sirius entered an airy spacious house, and the woman continued, "I'm Sirius's cousin Andromeda. You've met my daughter, Nymphadora--" Tonks certainly hadn't gotten her fashion sense from her mother, Harry thought. Andromeda was wearing a casual but expensive sleeveless summer robe of ivory linen, and her golden-brown hair was in an elegant shoulder-length coiffure.

"Hi, I'm Ted, Andromeda's husband," a friendly-faced man said, shaking Harry's hand. "Good to meet you at last," he said in a "Sarf London" accent completely different from his wife's posh tones. Ted was quite a contrast with his Andromeda; the sun had made him freckly, not evenly tanned like her, and he was sloppily dressed in old clothes. He was tall and thin like his wife, but while her frame was willowy, his was lanky. Harry noticed another thing about Ted and Andromeda; although they were both a few years older than Sirius, their faces showed that they had led much happier lives.

"Good to meet you too," Harry said. "It's really nice of you to let me stay here."

"Oh, it's nothing," Andromeda said. "I'm sorry we couldn't have had you come earlier in the summer, but Ted and Sirius and I have been traveling all over for weeks trying to recruit foreign wizards to fight You-Know-Who."

"Is To--your daughter going to be around here?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid not," Andromeda said. "She and all the other Aurors are working day and night trying to hunt down You-Know-Who and secure Azkaban now that the Dementors are gone."

"And now that the Ministry has to fight the Dementors," Sirius added with a touch of bitterness to his voice.

"Wait a minute," Harry said. "Malfoy said that with the Dementors gone from Azkaban, his dad would escape in no time."

"Not yet," Ted said as Andromeda looked very uncomfortable. "Though no one's sleeping too well at night; who knows whether or not You-Know-You and the Death Eaters can make it past the Aurors and the new security spells."

"Malfoy's still in Azkaban," Sirius said. "He's being detained with the rest of the captured Death Eaters while they await trial. There's been loads going on ever since the Department of Mysteries. The Ministry is trying to interrogate the Death Eaters, make sure they find out the whole truth this time. Good to know they seem to have learned from their mistakes," he said with the same bitter tone he had spoken of the Dementors in.

"Fudge is under investigation, along with his deputy, Umbridge," Andromeda added. "Fudge probably won't do any time; his abuse of power and gross negligence were, disgracefully enough, perfectly legal. When the inquiry's over there will be an election for the new Minister of Magic--Amelia Bones will probably get the job."

"Fudge may not do any time," Sirius said, "but that hag Umbridge bloody well better. You know," he said, turning to Harry, "during the inquiry she admitted to making you use a special pen of hers during your detentions--"

"Oh," Harry said, upset that Sirius was upset. "Well it wore off--"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sirius asked. "Harry, I'm your godfather, it's my duty to protect you."

"I was afraid that if I told you you'd leave the house, do something rash and get caught and sent back to Azkaban," Harry replied truthfully.

"Harry, it's my job to worry about you, not the other way around," Sirius said. "Which reminds me--I'm going to send a very sharp letter to your uncle--"

"Sirius, no," Andromeda said. "Professor Dumbledore will speak with Harry's relatives."

"Well it seems like whenever I turn around my godson's being physically threatened," Sirius said angrily. "I wasn't able to protect him for all those years, and then I let Hellatrix run after him and almost kill him--if anything ever happened to Harry, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"Sirius, none of what happened to me is your fault," Harry said, feeling terrible now.

"Fine," Sirius sighed. "I'm sorry if I'm overreacting--I just can't bear the idea of you being hurt."

"I know what you mean," Andromeda said. "When I think of all the dangers my little Nymphadora must be facing as an Auror--"

It was nice for Harry to know that there was someone who loved him enough to worry so much, but the last thing he wanted was for Sirius to worry. Besides, Harry thought to himself with a bit of irritation, I'm sixteen, I'm not a little baby.

* * *

The next morning in the kitchen, Andromeda informed Harry that Professor Dumbledore would be arriving that evening at 7:00 to teach Harry Occlumency. "He says he's very sorry he couldn't do anything earlier this summer," Andromeda said, "but he's been so busy, working out the Hogwarts curriculum, and with politics and all the investigations underway." Seeing Harry's disappointment that Dumbledore did not have him as a higher priority, Andromeda added, "And I have some excellent news. Professor Dumbledore has helped successfully lobby the Ministry to repeal Dolores Umbridge's anti-werewolf law. And he's reinstated Remus Lupin as the Defense Against Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts."

"That's terrific!" Harry exclaimed. Besides being best friends with James and Sirius, Lupin had also been a wonderful teacher. And he really needs the job, too, Harry thought to himself.

"Remus has been very busy this summer as well," Sirius added. "He's been doing all sorts of Defense training out in the Far East. Professor Dumbledore thought it best if Hogwarts students were taught many types of self-defense, not just the classical Western variety. Remus is currently studying at the Amaterasu Institute in Japan; he was in China before, and his next stops are Korea and Thailand. He hopes he'll have time to get to Brazil, too--they have some very interesting methods they use there."

"You mean wizards from different countries use different kinds of magic?" Harry asked. He had never heard of anything like this before; he had always assumed that whatever magic was taught at Hogwarts was the only type of magic that existed.

"Well, sort of," Andromeda said. "All witches and wizards have the same raw magical energy within them; the magical arts--charms, potions, all of that--consist of channeling that energy to obtain the desired outcome. Witches and wizards from other cultures have developed some different methods of channeling their energy than the ones we are used to using here in Britain."

"Yeah, Andromeda's very interested in the roots of magic," Ted said as he walked into the kitchen, "she was the first student in the history of Hogwarts who paid attention in Professor Binns's classes."

"So I guess that makes my friend Hermione only the second student in history to actually listen to Binns's lectures," Harry said with a laugh. But Andromeda was not paying attention to Harry. She was staring disapprovingly at her husband's dirty boots and the mud they had tracked all over the house.

"Ted, how many times do I have to ask you to do a Scourgify on your boots when you come in the house?"

"Sorry," Ted grinned sheepishly.

"It's alright," Andromeda sighed, "just please remember next time?"

As Andromeda went about cleaning the floors with her wand, Ted told Harry and Sirius, "After twenty-two years of living with Nymphadora and me, Andromeda can do the best Scourgify and Reparo Charms in all of Britain. By the way," he added, "how'd you to like to come outside and see Buckbeak? He's really missed you, Sirius, and I'm sure he'd love to see you, too, Harry."

"That sounds great," Harry grinned.

* * *

Outside, Sirius and Harry each bowed before Buckbeak and waited for him to reciprocate their gesture of respect. Once the hippogriff had done so, Harry and Sirius went up to him and stroked his feathery neck.

"Good to see you again, Buckbeak," Harry patted the hippogriff. Buckbeak nuzzled him affectionately in return.

"Sorry I've been away for so long. I've missed you quite a lot," Sirius said to Buckbeak as he petted him. "Speaking of which," Sirius turned to Harry, "have you really been alright at your uncle's this summer?"

"Yeah," Harry said, "nothing was happening really--and then I saw into Dudley's mind all of a sudden, out of nowhere."

"And then your uncle hit you?" Sirius asked.

"No," Harry said, "he started giving me crap and then I told him how stupid and pathetic he was, and then he slapped me."

"Well, it'll be the last time he lays a finger on you," Sirius said forcefully. "I'll talk to Dumbledore about this. I've always hated how you've been unable to live with me, and instead had to have a childhood like mine."

"Was your childhood really bad?" Harry asked, curious in spite of himself.

Sirius gave his short, bark-like laugh. "Yeah, it was. My parents ignored me most of the time--busy with money and society and hiding their Dark Arts stuff--but when I was in trouble, which was often--well, you were in that house, my parents didn't seem like the type to use time-outs and I-messages, did they?" Sirius grimaced slightly and continued, "And of course Kreacher was always around to grass me to my parents. Who knows how many whippings I got because of him--"

"They whipped you?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, my dad did, all the time," Sirius said. "My mother just egged him on by screaming about what a worthless son I was. He'd also send me to bed without supper, or lock me in a closet--I don't really like to talk about it."

"Sorry," Harry said, now furious at himself for making Sirius think about his bad memories.

"No, don't you be sorry," said Sirius, "what am I doing, burdening you with all this stuff about my dysfunctional family?"

* * *

That afternoon Harry wrote to both Ron and Hermione, telling them the whole story about the Legilimency and leaving with Sirius to stay with Andromeda. He left out the part about Uncle Vernon hitting him though; he didn't want to seem like a crybaby. Harry also told his friends that Lupin would be the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher this year, and that Lupin had also been studying Asian forms of Defense Against Dark Arts.

* * *

That evening after dinner, at exactly 6:50, a knock came on the front door of Andromeda's house.

"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry heard Andromeda greet the headmaster. "Harry's in the kitchen--I'll fetch him and you two can go work in my study."

"Thank you very much, Andromeda," Dumbledore said, and he walked into the kitchen where Harry was sitting. "Harry, Andromeda will show us up to her study where we can conduct our lesson." The three of them went up to Andromeda's study, and Andromeda left and closed the door, leaving Harry alone with Dumbledore.

"Why don't you tell me what happened, Harry," Dumbledore began, "when you had your accident?"

"Well," Harry said, "I woke up late one morning, and I left my room and went down the hallway. Then I ran into my cousin--he was really hung-over--and we looked at each other, and--"

"Go on," Dumbledore said in a reassuring tone.

"Well, I don't know how this happened, but our eyes locked--we couldn't stop staring into each other's eyes. My scar burned white-hot--and then I felt this--this--power surge inside of me, totally uncontrolled by me, I had no idea where it came from. And then all these memories--his memories--starting going through my head. They were all bad memories, embarrassing or scary or whatever."

"Very interesting," said Dumbledore, more to himself than Harry. Harry was annoyed--couldn't Dumbledore explain what the hell was going on with him, not just sit there and stroke his beard?

"So why--why did that happen?" Harry asked.

"Remember how I told you," Dumbledore said, "that when Voldemort attacked you, not only did the curse backfire, but he accidentally transferred some of his powers to you as well?"

"Yeah," Harry said, unhappy to be reminded of anything to do with Voldemort, especially that one dreadful night when Voldemort had--

"As you also know, the scar forged a permanent link between you and Voldemort, a link that has become more active now that Voldemort has been restored to corporeal form. My belief--and it is only a theory, unfortunately no one has concrete evidence of anything--is that Voldemort may have transferred some of his powers of Legilimency to you, and that you accidentally used these powers you did not even have because Voldemort was feeling particularly strongly at the time. And the fact that your cousin was suffering the aftereffects of intoxication made his mind particularly vulnerable to penetration, even accidental penetration."

"So what am I supposed to do about all this?" Harry asked.

"I will be giving you Occlumency lessons once a week," Dumbledore, "but I must stress that it is essential that you practice on your own. As you become more skilled at Occlumency, Voldemort's emotions and magic will affect you less and less, and your magic will come under your control. Shall we begin?"

* * *

The next morning two owls swooped into the guest bedroom where Harry was staying. Ron and Hermione had each sent him letters. Harry read Ron's first:

Dear Harry,

Sorry to hear that your scar's giving you trouble again. And that your uncle's being a git. But I hope you're having fun with Sirius--he must be like the coolest dad ever. Things have been a bit difficult in my family, what with the inquiry into Fudge's conduct, my mum and dad keep arguing about who should try to talk to Percy, and when. I say let the prat rot in hell, but of course my parents wouldn't go for that.

Great to hear our only non-evil Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is back. It'll be really cool to see that Asian magic he's been studying.

Hermione and I have decided that you should sit with us in our prefects' carriage. You're our best friend; we can't let something that stupid separate the three of us.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and see you soon.

Ron

Harry felt good that Ron and Hermione had decided that the trio should be together, no matter what, that the fact that they were prefects wouldn't cause them to grow apart from him. If he ever lost one of them--

Harry now opened Hermione's letter.

Dear Harry,

That must have been very upsetting for you, that thing with your scar. Hopefully Professor Dumbledore can help you out. How far have you read into that book I sent you? It's brilliant, a coruscating analysis of the corruption and injustice of Wizarding Britain--the Ministry's lack of accountability, the excessive influence wielded by the rich pureblood families, and the disrespect for other magical beings that pervades our whole society.

That's wonderful to hear that Professor Lupin's back. We'll have an excellent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher now that we need one most, and it's great to hear that the Wizarding community has rejected at least some of the vile bigotries of that horrible woman. And Oriental defensive magic is fascinating, and studied far too little in the West.

We're getting our O.W.L. results tomorrow--we were supposed to get them earlier but there was a delay--however, Ron has made me swear not to discuss anything related to that subject.

Say hello to Sirius and Buckbeak for me,

Hermione

Harry gulped. He'd completely forgotten about the O.W.L. results. More than anything he wanted to become an Auror, but to become an Auror, one had to achieve at least an "Exceeds Expectations" on the Potions N.E.W.T. And to even take the Potions N.E.W.T. one had to continue Potions through seventh year. And to be allowed that privilege, one had to earn an "Outstanding" on the Potions O.W.L. Bloody Snape.

* * *

As he opened the letter from Hogwarts telling him his O.W.L. results, Harry's stomach turned with anticipation.

Astronomy: A

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Charms: E

Defense Against Dark Arts: O

Divination: P

Herbology: A

History of Magic: A

Potions: O

Transfiguration: E

Harry reread the letter to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. "Sirius," he said in disbelief, "I got an 'Outstanding' in Potions."

"Well, the absence of Snape seems to have a salutary effect in most situations," Sirius said with a grin, "particularly during exams. I knew you could do it, you're as clever as your father," he said, ruffling Harry's hair affectionately (not that it needed any ruffling).

* * *

After some talk with Sirius and Andromeda, Harry decided to drop Herbology, Astronomy, and, of course, Divination, so that he could focus on Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions and Transfiguration, which he needed to become an Auror, and Care of Magical Creatures, which would be his fifth N.E.W.T. "I can't believe we can't drop History of Magic," Harry groaned. "It's the most useless class ever--I've learned more magical history from being attacked by Voldemort that from five years with Binns."

"Harry, really, don't make jokes like that," Andromeda said.

"Sorry," Harry said, "but Binns is so boring we never learn anything. Plus he gives tons of homework, and I'll be working like a dog as it is, especially with Potions."

"Well don't let Snape get to you, no matter what," Sirius said. "He just wants to piss you off so that you can't focus, but you mustn't let him. Send me an owl if you need help with your homework--troublemaker that I was, I actually managed to get ten N.E.W.T.'s."

"Sirius always liked to act the bad boy," Andromeda smiled, "but underneath it all he was a regular swot."

"Yeah, I was just misunderstood," Sirius grinned. "Those Dragon-Fart Daisy-Cutters James and I dropped on Filch from Gryffindor Tower--we weren't playing a prank, we were performing Experimental Charms."

* * *

Harry continued to see Dumbledore every week for Occlumency lessons. He made some progress, but he always allowed Dumbledore to penetrate much too far into his mind. Allowed him to see the memory Harry had of hearing the prophecy. And Harry always had to resort to hexes to block Dumbledore's Legilimency, instead of being able to perform Occlumency wandless, with his mind alone, the way a truly accomplished Occlumens could.

A week before Harry left for school, Harry came down to the kitchen to find Ted, Andromeda and Sirius all beaming at him. "Here's your belated birthday present, Harry," Sirius said, handing Harry a beautifully wrapped package (Andromeda must've wrapped it, Harry thought to himself.) "I think it'll come in handy." Harry opened the wrapping to find a large book, titled

"The Complete Guide to Managing a Quidditch Team!" Harry exclaimed.

"As soon as the Ministry reversed that ghastly woman's lifetime ban on you playing Quidditch," Sirius said, "McGonagall informed the headmaster of her decision to make you this year's Gryffindor Quidditch captain. They've been keeping your broom safe for you at Hogwarts. Here, you can read the letter."

Dear Mr. Potter,

Congratulations on being chosen to captain this year's Gryffindor Quidditch team. As you know, this position entails a great deal of responsibility. It will be your duty to schedule and conduct team tryouts, to choose new team members, to schedule and run team practices, and, of course, to provide general coaching to the rest of team. Good luck.

Sincerely,

Professor Minerva McGonagall

Head of Gryffindor House

Assistant Headmistress

"It'll be a lot of work," Harry said. "All three of our Chasers graduated--though Ginny Weasley should be a pretty good Chaser--and our Beaters aren't too great, and Ron--well he's just starting to get used to being the Keeper."

"But they have you back as Seeker," Sirius grinned. "And you fly every bit as well as your father."

"You could ask Andromeda for captaining tips," Ted suggested, "she was Gryffindor captain her seventh year."

"My main achievement," Andromeda smiled wryly at Harry, "was getting your father to behave himself once in a while so that he wouldn't be in detention every time we had practice."

"Yeah, that was James's first year on the team," Sirius said. "He was a Chaser, like Andromeda--one of the best, your dad had practically superhuman reflexes."

"Did you play Quidditch too, Ted?" Harry asked.

"No," Ted said with a laugh. "I was much too clumsy to be any good at Quidditch. But I contributed to the team by showing up to all the games and practices and embarrassing Andromeda by cheering for her like a spastic male veela."

* * *

Harry and Sirius took the Floo Network to Diagon Alley to get Harry's school supplies. Harry had continued to grow upwards from slight to lanky, and needed new clothes that were long enough to fit him, including a new set of dress robes for formal occasions. He and Sirius went to the "formal wear" section of Madame Malkin's and looked around. After looking around, they decided on an iridescent indigo robe of silk that shone in different shades of deep blue and violet as it moved.

As he was now entering his sixth year, the books he needed for school were thick, imposing volumes with titles like Base and Superstructure of Transfiguration and Para-organic Elements in Potions: Theory and Practice. What surprised Harry however, were the books required for History of Magic. The list read:

African Wizarding Policies Towards Muggles: From Imperialism to Isolationism

China: 3500 Years of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Dark Wizards: A Study of Their Origins, Followers, and Actions

A History of Wizarding Relations with Non-Human Magical Beings

Rise and Fall of the Ancient Near-Eastern Wizards

Tradition and Progress Among the Wizards of Eastern Europe

The War Between the Aryan and Dravidian Wizards of Ancient India

Western Hemisphere Magic Before and After the European Wizards

The Witches and Wizards of Ancient Times: Use and Abuse of Power

The Wizard-Muggle Schism of Medieval Europe

"These don't sound like the sort of books Binns would have us read," Harry said.

"Dumbledore probably made him upgrade the curriculum," Sirius shrugged. "These books do look very interesting."

"If Binns is using them," Harry said, "he'll find a way to make them boring no matter what."

* * *

When it finally came time for Harry to leave for Hogwarts, Ted drove him to the train station in a Muggle car with an Enlargement Charm on the interior. Sirius came, of course, as did Andromeda. As the four of them stood waiting for the coast to be clear for Platform 9 ¾, Andromeda kissed Harry on the cheek and said, "Good bye, Harry dear, and good luck at Hogwarts this year. It was lovely getting to know you--feel welcome to stay with us any time."

"Best of luck to you, mate," Ted clapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Have fun, Harry, I know you'll do brilliantly in everything," Sirius said. "Write me anytime you want, if something happens or if you just want to talk. And don't do anything I wouldn't do." Grinning, he added, "Actually, maybe you shouldn't do anything I would do." Harry and Sirius embraced; it was the longest, and hardest, that Harry had ever been hugged.

"This is the first year at Hogwarts I'll actually miss home," Harry said. And with that he ran through the barrier onto Platform 9 ¾.