Harry Potter and the Secrets from the Past

Chapter 15. THE VEIL OF DEATH

...

In my heart,

In my soul

There is a ground which nobody

Has never crossed, nobody,

If you'd like

To know it

Walk slowly because,

In my silence,

Even a smile can be noisy....

...

"In my heart, in my soul" by Lucio Battisti

Another month had passed by, and in about two weeks Christmas holidays would start. Harry had been really busy between homework, Quidditch trainings twice a week, and his weekly Occlumancy lessons with Snape; almost every night he came back to his bedroom dragging himself like a zombie.

Ron was also very busy; he was always behind with his homework and was also taking advantage of any free time to go out and practice Quidditch. On top of this, he still had his prefect duties and meetings, along with Hermione, which were taking place at least twice a week.

Hermione, who was always caught up with her homework, was spending her free time by making other funny House-elf hats, which she left in every corner around the common room, hoping to let free as many House- elves as possible. Harry didn't have had the heart yet to tell her that little Dobby was taking all of them instead.

They didn't even have time to start the extra practice for Defence Against the Dark Arts, as Hermione had wanted to, in order to help Harry overcome the prophecy.

Lupin hadn't come back to school yet, but Professor McGonagall had told the class that he was already out of the hospital, even if he still had to spend a period of time resting at home. In the mean time, Professor Evans was still teaching, and most of the students were really happy about his lessons.

Harry really wanted to spend a bit of time with him, talking about his parents, but so far he hadn't managed to find the right occasion: after every lesson, Professor Evans was literally assaulted by groups of girls, with the excuse of asking a few questions about the latest lesson. Harry had to admit that Professor Evans had become really popular at school!

"For once, it isn't you that is the center of everybody's attention, Harry! That isn't so bad, is it?" asked Ron one morning, while looking at poor Professor Evans completely surrounded by a huge group of 4^th year girls, who had stopped him in the corridor to give their Christmas presents in advance.

***O***

It was a Friday morning, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall for breakfast. The following day, Christmas holidays were going to start, and all the students were all very excited.

"Are we going to help Filch patrol the corridors this year too?" asked Ron, very worried.

"Of course, Ron! It's one of our prefect duties, and we'll also have to inspect the Christmas decorations to make sure they're in the right place, and check out all the students going back home for the holidays," answered Hermione in a professional tone, but Ron didn't seem very happy about that.

"Good morning to you all! Nice day, isn't it?"

The three friends turned to face who had just spoken: Luna "Loony" Lovegood was staring at them with her large blue eyes, round like two ping-pong balls, and her usual dreamy look.

That day she was odder than ever; besides her usual necklace made with butterbeer caps, she was wearing a curious pair of earrings, in the shape of little broom sticks flying around all by themselves, and a huge red hat, with the tip folded up on a side.

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione, but they were still staring at her with mouth open, and not able to recover from the shock yet. So he decided to answer to her first.

"Hi Luna, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks. Are you going back home for your Christmas holidays? I'm going to join my father in an expedition to Bulgary: he's going to search for the 'Tercaput'!"

"For God's sake, Luna! How could you believe that such a thing exists for real!" said Hermione, horrified. Luna angrily answered her back.

"It exists! And that's why my father's organizing this expedition. When you see thousands of pictures of it, then you'll come to me apologizing!"

Then she turned to Ron and stared at him for a moment, but seeing that he wasn't at all interested about the subject, she stormed away from them, without even say good bye.

Harry was still looking in Luna's direction, a puzzled look on his face.

"What is it a Tercaput?"

"It's just a mytological beast with three heads and... oh, well, it doesn't matter! Simply, I don't understand how that girl accepts such silly things!"

"Maybe because they make sense for her!"

Harry and Hermione turned abruptly toward Ron, showing their deep surprise about his comment: Ron used to ignore Luna, or he making fun of her like most of the other boys.

"What are you looking at? I'm not allowed to have an opinion of my own?" added Ron, turning stubbornly to his porridge cup.

Hermione sighed deeply and got her school bag full of books.

"Come on now, or we're going to be late to Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Harry and Ron got up and followed her in silence.

***O***

"In today's lesson, we won't need wands."

Professor Evans was slowly walking around the class, staring at every student in turn. This time, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting right in front of the teacher's desk.

"We are going to have a theoretical lesson."

The teacher had just reached his desk, and had started to stare right into Harry's eyes.

"The subject is: The Veil of Death..."

Harry felt his blood freezing in the veins, and looked at the teacher with his mouth open; finally, he was going to know what exactly had happened to Sirius after his fall into the Veil, in the Department of Mysteries. He had always asked himself, but he had never had the courage to talk to Lupin or Moody about that, even if both of them were present when it happened.

Harry realized that Hermione was craning her neck in order to better hear the explanation.

"In the ancient Celtic tradition, it was believed that the world of men was separated by a thin veil, from the world of the dead... that veil was called the Veil of Death."

Mark Evans was still staring at Harry, as if he was talking just to him.

"It's said that when a wizard goes beyond the Veil, he will never be able come back again to the world of men, but he will remain trapped in the world of the dead. Only the most powerful Seers would be able to communicate between the two worlds through an ancient cerimony. Seers also have the power to free those trapped souls, and enable them to find peace in the next world."

Hermione raised her hand in the air.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"That ceremony... what is it all about?"

"I was just about to say, Miss Granger. It's ancient, really difficult to accomplish, and only a true powerful Seer would be able to do it. You'll find more information in your text book on page 234... Yes, Mr. Potter?"

This time Harry had raised his hand.

"I don't understand, Sir. When a wizard goes through the Veil, there is no way he'd be able to come back?"

Professor Evans became extremely serious before he spoke.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but as I said before, nobody may come back from the world of the dead..."

Harry felt this last glimmer of hope fading away which had been lit at the beginning of the lesson; in his heart, he had always thought that Sirius would come back to him one day. His godfather had left in such an illogical and unexpected way.

When Mark Evans had finished with his explanation and had assigned a long essay to prepare during their Christmas holidays, all the student slowly left the class. Harry remained back, making a sign to Ron and Hermione to wait for him outside. Then, he came closer to Professor Evans, who was still sitting at his desk, writing some papers.

"I knew that you'd find this subject really interesting, Harry," said the teacher lifting his gaze with a thin smile on his face. Harry remained serious; he absolutely wanted to have more information.

"Sir, I wanted to ask... ehm, do you know what happened that night? I mean, in the Department of Mysteries?"

"Yes, the Headmaster told me about that. That's why I chose such a subject. I am sure that you have some questions to ask me!"

Harry didn't lose time, and reached the point.

"I can't believe that nobody has been able to come out from the World of the Dead... there should be a way! Has someone ever tried to..."

"Harry, listen to me: I fully understand your resentment and your anger, but unfortunately nobody has never succeded in such a thing. You have to realize that it isn't possible to call back someone who is gone forever, but I'm sure that you may find this comforting: it's still possible to communicate with someone who has gone through the veil. Well, I just told you that a really complex ceremony is needed, and that only a true Seer may accomplish it, but it's still a consolation. It's rare that a wizard may be able to have such a chance in his life."

Mark Evans was talking as if it was the easiest thing in the world: getting inside the Ministry of Magic without being noticed, reaching the Department of Mysteries and completing the ceremony in front of the Veil of Death! Without talking about finding a true Seer! The image of Professor Trelawney immediately floated into his mind, and he felt really hopeless.

"You were saing that, you met my parents..."

"Yes, I hade the great pleasure and honor to meet them: they were two wonderful people, always ready to help their friends, and they loved you so much. You were everything to them. I still remember the last time I paid them a visit, and you were newly born; your father was so proud of you and infinitely happy, he used to always hold you tight in his arms and he was also really protective of you. He didn't want anyone to come closer to you than himself!"

Harry smiled, trying to imagine the scene.

"And your mother... she was the true image of happiness!"

Then Mark Evans stared deeply into Harry's eyes and smiled.

"You must be proud of your parents, Harry. They loved you more that anyone else in the world, and they showed you this when they sacrificed themselves to save your life. I'm sure that you are going to follow in their footsteps and become a loyal and brave man - even if, as I know, you have already proven this!"

"Why have you never come to me? Where have you been during all those years?"

The smile on Mark Evens face suddenly vanished, and he turned to stare at the floor.

"You see, Harry... during the past years, I've been really busy and for this reason, I've been forced to stay far away from you, even if I didn't want to. But now I'm back, and ready to help you, if you'll ever need my help."

Then the bell rang, and Harry realized that he was going to be late to his next class.

"It's better if you go now; your friends are waiting for you," said the teacher, pointing his finger to Ron and Hermione, who were peeping out from the door.

"Thank you, Professor Evans."

Harry turned on his heel and quickly reached his friends.

***O***

"At the end of this trimester, you are now all able to apparate and disapparate objects... well, more or less!"

Adding these last words, Professor McGonagall glanced at Neville from above her spectacles, and he lowered his gaze.

"As I already told you at the beginning of our school year, in the next trimester we will start learning how to apparate and disapparate animals, and then, we will pass to humans. At the end of the school year, all of you are going to be able to apparate and disapparate yourselves at will, and this way you will pass the examination in June. As you will be turning seventeen, you will get the official licence from the Minister of Magic.... Oh, there is no need to worry Mr. Longbottom, I am sure that you will pass the examination with no problems at all. You just need constant practice!"

Neville wasn't very convinced about her reassuring words.

"Since it's your last day before Christmas holidays, we are going to go over a few last things we already know. Please, split up into groups, and start the exercise."

At McGonagall's orders, all the students stood up and got ready. Before the start of the lesson, the teacher had surrounded the room with a special magnetical net in order to allow the training. It was necessary to bypass Hogwart's security measures which did not permit disapparation.

Harry, Ron and Hermione reached a corner of the room far away from the teacher's desk. First, they had to disapparate a few objects in turn, and then, they had to apparate them in a specific place, several meters from where they were.

Before the beginning of the lesson, Harry had briskly told his friends about his conversation with Mark Evans, causing the rising anger of Hermione.

"I can't believe that! Professor Evans was provoking you!" Then she angrily pointed her wand to a large hat on the floor in front of her, and said the magic words.

"IMMANIFESTUS!"

Her hat disapparated with a resounding "CRACK".

"He told you everything, even the smallest details... maybe, if you'd have asked more information, he'd have agreed to show you to the Department of Mysteries himself, or he would have recommended you a good Seer to contact, or maybe...."

"Hermione, calm down! Aren't you exaggerating a bit?"

Harry tried to reassure her, while in the mean time, with a little swish of his wand, he made his little pin-cushion apparate about three meters from where it was before, but unfortunately not in the right place assigned by McGonagall.

"Yes, just a bit!" commented Ron sarcastically, while trying for the thousandth time to disapparate his feather, without succeeding. But Hermione couldn't calm down.

"Not at all! You are talking like two irresponsible children! Harry, I really hope that Professor Evans's words didn't give you any bad ideas!"

"NO! Please don't worry! Besides, I wouldn't even have the slightest idea of how to do it!"

"Anyway, Professor Evans told you something about your parents, right? MANIFESTUS! Ha! I did it!" said Ron happily, after having successfully apparated his feather at a short distance from the assigned place.

Harry stared at his pin-cushion, which had just apparated on his left hand.

"Well, yes... it was strange hearing those things. I really imagined how life with my parents would have been."

Harry got lost in his thoughts, recalling what Mark Evans had told him before: he as a baby, held tight in his father's arms, and his mother staring at him, smiling.

"Mr. Potter! Do you really find your pin-cushion so interesting?"

Professor McGonagall's comment brought Harry down to earth again.

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