The War of Shades

Chapter 40 New Life

That evening after Patronus practice, Hermione and Neville joined Harry and Ron, who was assisting in training, at the lethifold pit. Harry held the basilisk wand in one hand opposite the lethifold's box. The others were in the gallery. They had examined the entire site and removed any reflective surfaces so there would not be any accidental petrifications. Harry released the lethifold. Once it was fully out of the box and moving toward Harry, he removed the cap from the basilisk wand and pointed it at the lethifold. The lethifold had been heading toward Harry's feet, but on feeling the warmth of his hand began to ooze in that direction. Almost as soon as it did, however, it stopped, petrified. They all cheered as Harry replaced the cap. Hermione came down with the atomizer of depetrification potion and sprayed it. Being spread out, rather than thick-bodied like Hagrid, it only took a minute for the potion to work. As agreed before hand, they all tried their patronus charm. Ron, Hermione and Harry's patronus all worked together to force the lethifold back into the box.

"Still nothing, Neville?" asked Harry.

"Silver mist," said Neville, sadly, "same as always."

"Well, don't quit," said Harry.

"Don't worry about that - I won't quit until the people who hurt my parents have paid and my parents are out of St. Mungo's."

Harry shook his head. "Aim high, Neville, but let's be realistic. We may be able to put away the guilty, but how do you expect your parents to recover?"

"I don't know, Harry, but they will. I've seen too many miracles these past few years to think otherwise."

"Attaboy, Neville," said Ron, clapping him on the back. "If I ever lose heart, all I need to do is talk to you for a good kick in the pants to get me going again."

That night Harry did not sleep well. He was thrilled at the potent new weapon they had. If it worked with the very rudimentary light sense of the lethifold, it almost certainly had to work on the related dementors, which had much better, though still rudimentary, vision. Yet Harry felt disturbed as well. Perhaps it was the shock of finding Hagrid petrified. Perhaps it was the notion of carrying in one's hand something as deadly as a basilisk. Both made the war more immediately real to Harry than it had been since the day of Hermione's kidnapping and rescue: the rest had just been warnings and training for Harry - others had seen the action.

Drifting off, Harry dreamed. He dreamed again of Voldemort's hordes spreading out to kill all who did not submit to him, and many who would have submitted but were 'unworthy,' in Voldemort's eyes. Harry again dreamed of him and his friends in their Hogwarts' robes riding basilisks the size of the one he had killed in the Chamber of Secrets, as if they were so many fremen riding sandworms in Dune. They led their basilisks against Voldemort's forces and petrified them all. Harry and his friends cheered at the destruction of Voldemort's forces. Then the tails of the basilisks whipped around and shattered the petrified bodies into tiny shards which scattered across the land. Something about this disquieted Harry, and he felt like he was about to have something revealed to him. He waited pensively for what was about to happen. Suddenly he was awake with a pounding on his chest.

Dobby was on him jumping up and down, yelling "Harry Potter, Harry Potter, wake up, Dobby has something to tell you!"

Harry shook his head. "Dobby, it must be after 2 a.m. - I get up in two hours - couldn't it have waited?" Harry asked civilly but a bit annoyed both at being awaken and at missing the end of the dream.

"Dobby begs Harry Potter's pardon," gasped Dobby, "but as Harry Potter is Dobby's dearest friend - after his lovely bride Melony, of course, ..."

"Of course," agreed Harry.

"... Dobby had to tell Harry Potter first. Melony is having a baby! Dobby will be a father and a true glamdring!"

Dobby threw his arms around Harry's neck and hugged like an over-excited toddler.

"Everything has turned around for Dobby. Harry Potter has made it all happen."

"Well, I guess I helped you two get together, but I'm afraid I had nothing to do with Melony's pregnancy, Dobby."

Dobby giggled uncontrollably. "Oh, no, Harry Potter. Dobby didn't mean that. But you helped Dobby meet and woo Melony, you saved the Gringotts' goblins and gave Dobby the chance to prove he is truly a goblin so that we might marry, you even kept Melony alive when she was mortally wounded - and you got Dobby his freedom."

"Well, I don't know as I really did anything to keep her alive but hold her, but that's what friends are for, Dobby," said Harry. "Aren't the two of you concerned about having a baby in the midst of the war?"

"We had thought at first about waiting, that's true, Harry Potter, but then we realized three good reasons to go ahead. We are living in Hogwarts castle and that's the safest wizarding place there is. Also, goblin mothers are so very powerful defending their home. And third, Melony said that she had seen how you had made so many very good things happen, that she was sure you would soon make short work of Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

"Oh. Okay. No pressure then," said Harry.

"We trust you, Harry Potter. We know you'll come through for your friends."

"I wish I could be as sure as so many other people seem to be."

"Have faith, Harry Potter. Everything will work out okay."

"I'll believe it when I see it. Congratulations, Dobby, but do you mind if I get a little more sleep? I have a quidditch match in a few hours."

"Good night, Harry Potter," said Dobby in a whisper and disapparated.

The next morning, Harry's mind was almost everywhere else but quidditch. He hoped he would be able to focus adequately: he was anxious to get permission from Professor Dumbledore to have access to the Restricted Section of the library and search for some curse that could make everyone at school fight each other. He barely noticed the distance he had run on the morning run and had to be stopped by Luna when he began his third circuit of the lake. Not focused on the game, he ate a bigger breakfast than usual before Ron interrupted, "Planning on decorating the pitch, Harry?"

"Hm. What?"

"The way you're stuffing yourself - it won't take many maneuvers to make you hurl if you eat all of that."

"I'm afraid he's right, Harry," said Hermione. "You've already eaten more than I usually see you eat. In fact, that's more than I usually see Ron eat. What's up?"

"I'm just anxious to do that research we talked about."

"That!?" she replied. "Oh, you know there's nothing to it."

"What do you know of it, Hermione?" snapped Ron. "Hagrid says we're fighting, too. We may not see it, but maybe it's so, so just shut your cakehole, why don'tcha?"

"Ron!" said Harry in shock. "I've never heard you speak so harshly to Hermione, even when you weren't a couple!"

"What are you talking about, Harry?" said Hermione. "Ron didn't do anything."

"Andrew," said Harry, "you heard it, didn't you, he just told her to 'shut her cakehole,' right?"

"Oh, I heard it alright," said Andrew.

"There, you see," said Harry.

"Mind you, it's about time!" continued Andrew. "That nagging know-it-all busybody gets up my nose like nobody's business. I mean, where do you get off, Granger, always telling everybody how to live. Why don't you just shut it for once?"

"Yeah!?" sneered Hermione, rising aggressively from her place, hand reaching toward her wand. "Coming from a knuckle-dragging troglodyte like you, I'm sure I'll just follow that advice!"

"Quiet!!" shouted Harry, causing the entire Hall to stare. "Aw, now see what you've made me do. I'm just going to go walk this off. I'll see you at the quidditch pitch, if you haven't hexed each other by then."

Harry stomped out of the Great Hall to the front doors and out to the steps. The weather had warmed a bit, though there was still a chill. He was looking vaguely across the lake when he heard a voice.

"I could do for a walk before the game, too. May I join you?"

It was Ginny.

"Hm! Oh, yeah, sure," replied Harry. Then he turned to her. "Are you seeing it, too, all the fighting?"

"No, not the way you seem to, but I see more than Ron and Hermione. I see enough to know you're not crazy. Well, at least about this. I'm concerned, too."

"Why is it that I'm seeing it so clearly and everyone else shrugs it off?"

"Well no one completely denies it, they just see a bit of tension and testiness. Hermione told me about your 'curse' theory and there may be something to it. You've always been more resistant than most to mind-altering spells - look how you've done against the Imperius. Maybe you're fighting it off. I'm feeling kind of proud that I'm seeing it better than others, but maybe it's the result of having been possessed by Riddle."

"Well, that works for you, but Hagrid sees it as clearly as I do, and he's never been possessed. Maybe the possession thing is a connection, but it's not the whole story. Come on, I want to speak with Reverend MacBoon before the match."

"All right, Harry, if you'd like."

"Sure you weren't sent out here to spy on me?"

"I swear no one told me to come check up on you."

"Ahh, 'no one told you' - but you were checking up on me."

"Yeah, let's call it that," she said, then tilted her head his way as they walked and gave him a small smile.

Harry recognized that look So he had a chance with her after all. He felt a good bit less isolated, but it occurred to him that he had messed things up before. He'd have to play things cautious so as not to drive her away again. Keep the friendship going, but work on being a bit more familiar. When they reached the chapel, he stopped her and took her hands.

"Let me see," he said, peering at them.

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Ginny, with a little laugh. "You've seen my hands before."

"Oh, I was just concerned that last week's cave exploration might have chapped or marred them."

She turned her hands in his, never fully breaking contact. "Well, what do you think?"

He brought his hands together, enclosing hers. "Perfect. Just perfect." He smiled at her.

"I have a suspicion, Harry Potter, that you had no real concern that you'd find any problem."

Harry grinned even more broadly at her, then got a wistful look.

"Harry?" said Ginny, "What's the matter?"

"I look into your face and I see - my eyes, my face, reflected in those glasses. They're like a wall. I just don't feel like I'm connecting when I can't look you in the eye and see you looking back at me. Between this and the fighting, I feel like I'm the only one who sees anything here. It makes me feel so ... alone."

"Well, you're in luck. We're here to see Reverend MacBoon - he doesn't wear shades; you won't have to feel so isolated."

"That helps. But I don't look into his eyes the way I want to...," Harry hesitated, then continued, "...erm, ah, with you. Erm ... I'm sorry. I've said too much."

"Maybe, maybe not," said Ginny. "You sounded like you had something more to say. What was really on your mind?"

"I ... ah ... Oh, we'd better find Cameron. We don't have long before the game."

Ginny paused before following as Harry opened the door and called for Reverend MacBoon.

At the quidditch match, Harry was relieved when they were able to take to the air. Ginny had held her peace through the visit with Cameron, but on the way back, she had hinted that she expected him to complete what he had started to say. Harry was already afraid he had gone too far, too fast. Why had he chosen touching her hands - that was far too familiar: intimate almost. And then he got goofy over eyes again. Why couldn't he just keep such thoughts to himself? Still, he had tried pulling away emotionally before, and it hadn't worked. He'd just have to watch himself and take it easy, not go tumbling headlong into saying something stupid.

Harry's thoughts continued along this vein until he heard his name screamed. It was Ravenclaw's new seeker, Gwendolyn Lean, a second-year.

"Coach!" she yelled, and Harry barely dodged the bludger headed for him by dropping to hang under his broom.

As he pulled himself back up on top, he called to her, "What's that all about, Gwen, you're not supposed to help the other seeker. Don't you want to win?"

"Sure I do," she said with a smile, tossing her lank yellow hair out of her face, "but there's a bigger game on than this one. I want my coach healthy. Tell you what," she added with an impish grin, "you just watch the bludgers and I'll take care of the snitch."

"Oh, you think so, do you? Well, I'll just ..."

But he didn't finish. Gwendolyn cried "Oh," and shot off. Harry spun around and saw her heading to the snitch. It darted to the side as she tried to grab and she began to fall off her broom. Harry grabbed her robe and pulled her back on.

"There, now we're even," he said smiling.

"I won't go easy on you next time," she said.

"Don't," he replied.

Ravenclaw's team had improved considerably since the opening loss to Slytherin. Their chasers were no match for Gryffindor's more experienced chasers, but when they could get close to Gryffindor's goals, their new beater, Kendall Craig, a third year, proved adept at driving the bludgers toward the goals to disrupt Ron's defense. The snitch was proving elusive and Gryffindor had pulled to a 90-40 lead before Harry spied it near the ground at midfield and dove like a hawk after a sparrow to grab it and seal the victory. It seemed odd to him that his opponents were cheering as strongly as his teammates. Gwendolyn even gave him a hug.

"You're supposed to be disappointed," he said.

"I am," she said breathlessly, "but I also got to play quidditch with Coach Potter, and that makes the game special, win or lose."

Kendall, too, was smiling and jestingly shaking his fist. "Wait till next year - then we'll be the team with experience, and Gryffindor will have a new Seeker and Keeper."

Harry found himself praying that those would be the only positions needing new players, rather than some being lost to the war.

At the celebration in the Gryffindor common room, Harry found a chance to talk to Hermione.

"So have you, Ron, and Andrew patched up that tiff from breakfast," he asked.

"What tiff?" she asked, "Honestly, Harry, Ron, Andrew, and I could not be on better terms."

"I'm kind of afraid that that's as good as it can get."

"No, I mean it, Harry. I just don't know why you think there's a problem, but if you want to hang out in the library, who am I to say no? But first, you have to tell me what you were going to say to Ginny."

Harry tilted his head to look at her. "She was telling you things? It really was, erm, nothing."

"Right, Harry, that was really convincing," said Hermione. "Listen here, Potter, I can see your interest in her."

"She's a friend, a dear friend, really!"

"Yes, Harry, and to me Ron's 'a friend, a dear friend, really!' but he also means something more to me. And Ginny means something more to you."

"Maybe," said Harry, "but I'm not going to go rushing into anything."

"That didn't hold you up with Tonks."

"That was different."

"Why - you just wanted to get your jollies for awhile."

"Hermione!" scolded Harry. "You know I'm not like that - I don't just 'use' people."

"No, you don't. So what's the difference?"

"How do I describe it? With Tonks and me, it was two lonely, frightened people who needed some comfort for a while. I was disappointed when it ended, but I knew going in that was the plan. She was just better at sticking to the plan than I wanted her to be."

"But with Ginny...?" prompted Hermione.

"But with Ginny, temporary is not part of any agreement or plan. And I don't want it to be."

"Well, Harry, there are no guarantees one way or another."

"Well, unless like with Tonks, if I knew it was going to end pretty soon. But with Ginny, I don't know that, and I don't want it to be like that."

"You're not going to set things up to fall apart so that you've got an easy out, are you?"

"No, no, I sure hope not. I just feel wrong going into something as if it's going to be long-term, when I might be dead any day."

"And how many people are aware of that more than Ginny? Hasn't she been right there exposed to many of the dangers around you?"

"Yeah, she's brave all right. Or is it foolish?"

"We all are a bit of both around you, Harry. Give her a chance to show another kind of foolishness."

"Well, there's only a week before Christmas break, and we'll all be too busy until then, so we'll see how things are after break."

"No, you don't, Harry Potter! You'll give it a go over Christmas break. We'll all be here and even with training, there will be plenty of opportunities to spend time with her."

"You may be here, but I won't be. Before the match I agreed to go to Aberdeen with Cameron. He says he spends every Christmas break there with Mrs. Figg working at a Rescue Mission. That's a place where ..."

"Harry! I was raised with muggles, too. I know what a Rescue Mission is. Are you sure it'll be safe?"

"We ran it by Dumbledore. I should've known - Cameron had already cleared it with him."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for charity work. But why now, and why you when we've got so much training to do."

"Dumbledore said there are plenty of capable team leaders who will be around He agreed that it would be good for me to do this kind of service, especially where no one knows who Harry Potter is, or even cares. Besides, it'll be good to take a vacation from all the fighting here."

"But with the bums - Eeeww!"

"We're supposed to call them 'clients' but from what Cameron tells me, 'bum' is pretty much accurate. But what happened to Miss Compassionate SPEW-founder?"

"The elves are forced and brainwashed into slavery. They need help. Bums just bring themselves down to that condition."

"That's just what the Dursleys used to say, well, except talking about elves. There's an awful lot they've been wrong about. I guess I'll find out what the 'clients' are really like. I'm going to make sure I go with an open mind."

"That's best, Harry. I'll bet your relatives have spent no more time at Rescue Missions than I have, and all I really know is what other people say. And we know about relying on the news reports, don't we?" said Hermione. "Well, okay, you're going to spend Christmas break away. Does Ginny know?"

"Yeah, she was with me when Cameron invited me. She agreed to take care of Hedwig for me."

"Still you have this weekend to spend some time with her."

"Okay, but just spending some time. I'm not going to try to get close just to go away for a week and a half."

"I wasn't pushing you to do anything more, Harry. You don't have to force yourself to be her friend. Just don't be too contrived - sometimes you have to let yourself have your feelings, good or bad."

"It's good to know you're still capable of some good advice, Hermione."

She smiled. "Just don't ask me about the so-called fighting."

"I won't! Oh, by the way," said Harry, "Dobby woke me up this morning to tell me he and Melony are expecting a baby."

"Actually a 'goblet' - they don't call their children 'babies' - ," corrected Hermione, "but that's wonderful and so exciting. I'll have to find out from Melony what kind of a blanket I can knit for her. Or maybe there's something else they can use. Oh, I wonder what the goblin customs are for this."

"Try Professor Flitwick - he should know."

"Great idea. Oh, this is wonderful. It's so nice to think of something else besides war."

"Yeah," said Harry wistfully, "something else besides war - that sounds really good."