Harry Potter and the Legend of the Four Founders

Chapter 4

Faces from the Past

For as early as it was, the kitchen was surprisingly full of people. Mrs. Weasley was busy at the stove; frying sausages and flipping pancakes, while Mr. Weasley, Percy, Fred and George were all seated around the kitchen table. Fred and George were still acting very coolly towards Percy, as they talked, and Mr. Weasley was submerged in the Daily Prophet.

"Ahh, Harry dear," Mrs. Weasley greeted after noticing Harry and Ron enter the kitchen. "You got an owl this morning from Gringotts; I left it on the table."

Harry ripped open the envelope and pulled out several sheaths of parchment.

"What is it?" inquired Ron curiously.

"The deeds to Grimmauld Place," replied Harry, who had completely forgotten they were going to be sent.

"Cool," Fred commented, "so as the new owner, what are you going to do about that hideous portrait in the front hall?"

Harry shrugged, "What can I do? It's permanently attached."

"You could always just use a good Reducto curse," added George, "that would unstick it."

"Harry is not going to blow a hole in the wall," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, ending the conversation, by putting breakfast on the table.

Half an hour later, they kitchen was nearly empty, as Mr. Weasley and Percy had left for the Ministry of Magic, and Fred and George had gone off to open up their shop. This left Harry and Ron sitting in the kitchen, wondering what to do that day. Luckily for them, Mrs. Weasley had already devised a busy schedule for the day that all revolved around cleaning.

"But we cleaned last year," moaned Ron.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a disbelieving look, "With a house this large and no house elf, it will need to be cleaned much more than just once a year, Ronald."

The cleaning was much less stressful than the year before, as there was no de-doxying to do. Harry and Ron dusted and beat the carpets, while Mrs. Weasley used her wand to clean windows and furniture. Ginny was also recruited, as they started the second floor, and it was nearly mid-afternoon before they began on the third and final floor. They had completed three rooms, when, as Ron was opening the door to the next one, Mrs. Weasley stopped him.

"We'll just skip that room, dear," she said quickly, pulling the door shut.

Ron gave Harry his usual, 'what's up with her' look, which was usually reserved for Hermione.

"But Mum, doesn't Sirius' room need clean..." Ron shut up suddenly, realizing why his mother didn't want to clean that room just now. He braved a look at Harry, who had stopped dead at his words. Harry didn't say anything, just looked with intrigue at the door.

Harry remained silent for the rest of the day, lost in his own thoughts. When he and Ron finally went to bed, he lay awake, listening for Ron's breathing to signal that he had fallen asleep. Once he was sure that Ron wouldn't hear him leave, he got up silently, pulling out a candle from beside his bed. Trying not to make a sound, he climbed upstairs and walked softly to the room that Mrs. Weasley had not had them clean. Slowly he pushed the door open, his heart hoping to see Sirius sleeping, but his brain was telling him that the room would be empty. From the light of the candle, Harry could see the messy state of the room. He knew everything was in the exact place it had been the night Sirius had rushed out to go save Harry and his friends at the Ministry of Magic. Harry softly closed the door behind him and used his candle to light the ones in the room, illuminating it with a soft glow.

The first thing Harry noticed was Sirius' desk, which was cluttered with old copies of The Daily Prophet, letters from Harry, Dumbledore, Lupin, and others, as well as quills and ink bottles; one of which had been tipped over, drenching a good portion of the desk in a pool of sticky black ink. Harry then crossed over to the bed, which had been made, though not very well. On top was an open Daily Prophet from the day Sirius had died, the pictures still moving slowly. Beside that were rolls of bandages, and Harry remembered being told that Kreacher had injured Buckbeak to keep Sirius busy when Harry called. Next to the bed was a nightstand, with only two objects on it; the same picture Harry had of his parent's wedding and the counterpart to the mirror Sirius had given Harry. Harry sat down on the edge of the bed, emotions welling up inside him. The guilt had been nagging at him for a while; guilt over never opening the package Sirius had given him until it was too late. Harry felt immensely stupid; for he knew that he had in his possession the means to communicate with Sirius without using the floor network, and had failed to utilize it. If he had only opened the package a day earlier, half a day earlier even, Sirius would still be alive. He simply could have checked in with him that way, found that he was safe and sound at home, and avoided the Ministry of Magic completely.

"I miss you so much," said Harry to the empty room, hot tears welling up inside his eyes and spilling down his cheeks. "Why did you have to die?" he yelled, "why? Just when I was starting to feel like I could belong to a family again! Wasn't it bad enough that my parents had to die? Why do I have to lose everyone who is close to me?"

The last thing Harry expected was for the silence to answer him, so he was quite startled when a small voice said, "You haven't lost everyone who is close to you Harry."

Ginny Weasley was silhouetted by candlelight in the doorway. "I saw the way you looked when you found out this was Sirius's room," she explained, "so I thought you might come up here tonight. I stayed awake, listening for you to walk past, and then I followed you. Please don't be mad, Harry."

"But why did you follow me?" asked Harry, trying to inconspicuously wipe the tears from his face.

"Because no one should be alone to deal with what you are dealing with," she replied, "and I knew Ron was too thick to know that you would come here."

There was a moment of awkward silence between them, before Ginny continued bravely on, "and never think that you lose everyone who is close to you, because you still have Ron, and Hermione, and Dumbledore," she paused, "and me." She paused again, "Harry, no one can replace Sirius, but you are never alone either."

Harry wasn't sure why, but he didn't mind Ginny being there, as he would if it were Ron. He didn't care that she had followed him, or that she saw him crying and heard what he had said. Harry looked at Ginny a way he never had before, and she seemed to understand because she crossed the room and sat down next to him, pulling him into an embrace. Harry noticed that her eyes were also shining with unshed tears.

After a few minutes Harry pulled away,

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"If you want, I know a spell that would permanently seal up this room," suggested Ginny. "You could just leave it like this, as a sort of memorial."

"No," replied Harry, "I think I will stay here for a little while and clean it up some."

He began to mop up the ink on the desk, but Ginny didn't leave; she started to help him. She gently folded up the paper on the bed, and re-rolled the bandages, then neatly made the bed. By that time Harry was organizing the many letters that had cluttered Sirius's desk. He couldn't bring himself to throw them away, so instead he piled them neatly together, placed them on a corner of the desk, and promising himself he would go through them eventually. Meanwhile Ginny had moved to the cluttered floor, which was strewn with even more old copies of The Daily Prophet. She neatly piled them, and pushed them against a far wall. Together they moved to the large bureau dresser, which was the only other piece of large furniture besides the desk. Inside hung robes, and folded in the bottom were Sirius's clothes and a pair of shoes that were coated in dust. Ginny picked up the shoes to move them onto the floor, when suddenly a large moth fluttered out from amid the robes, startling here. She gasped slightly and dropped the shoes, which gave a hollow thud as they hit the wooden bottom of the bureau.

"Did you hear that?" asked Harry, "drop the shoes again."

Ginny again picked up the shoes and dropped them. The heavy soles hit the wood and again created a hollow sound.

"Do you think it has a false bottom?" asked Ginny, who was now inspecting the wood.

"There's only one way to find out," replied Harry, who dropped to his knees and started running his fingers along the seam between the wooden floor and the sides of the bureau. In the very back left corner he found a small knot hole, barely big enough for a finger. Wedging his finger into the hole, he pulled upward and felt the wooden bottom come with him. Messily pushing the clothes off, Ginny helped him lift the false bottom out. Taking a candle, they peered into the crevice and discovered a hidden compartment, only about four inches deep, but filled with dusty pieces of parchment and photographs.

"I think Sirius was a pack rat," breathed Harry, reaching in to pull out a handful of paper.

"That's obvious," replied Ginny, who also pulled out a bunch of paper. "What's in your pile?" she asked.

"I think it's an old picture," replied Harry, blowing gently on the photograph to remove many years worth of dust and dirt. Two faces shown up at him, and though the magic was practically worn off, they were immediately identifiable. "It's my dad and Sirius," exclaimed Harry, showing the photo to Ginny.

"It must have been at Hogwarts," she said, "your dad's in his Quidditch robes, and look Harry," she pointed excitedly to the picture, "look what he is holding!" In one hand was the snitch and the other, the Quidditch Cup."

Becoming increasingly more intrigued, Harry pulled out the next item on his pile. This time it was an old letter, written in faded blue ink, in a scratchy handwriting which oddly resembled his own. Harry's hand trembled as he silently read the contents of the letter.

Dear Sirius,

Lily and I have some exciting news and we thought you should be the first to know; we're going to have a son. Lily insists that he should be named after me, but I like the name Harry better than James. We would also like you to consider being his godfather, just in case anything would ever happen to us. Lily says I am getting ahead of myself, but I just couldn't wait to tell you.

Love,

James and Lily

"Wow," breathed Ginny, as she read the letter Harry handed her, "but look at this," she handed him another photograph. It showed two couples dancing at a wedding.

"This must have been at my parent's wedding," commented Harry. "There's Sirius, as best man, he's dancing with my Mum. And there's my Dad, but I don't know the woman he's dancing with. I have the feeling I've seen her before." He fell silent for a moment, thinking, and then he got up and crossed the room. He took the picture off Sirius's nightstand and studied it closely. "There, there she is, she was my Mum's maid of honor," he said pointing to the picture, "I wonder who she is."

"Let's keep looking," suggested Ginny, "maybe we will find something more about her."

Harry dusted off the next picture in his stack. "Hey, this one has me in it," he exclaimed.

"Where?" asked Ginny.

"It's my christening," replied Harry, "see, there's my parents, and there's Sirius holding me, and- I don't believe it- there's that woman again. She's standing next to Sirius; does that mean she's my Godmother?"

Ginny shrugged, "It would certainly seem like it."

"Why hasn't anyone told me I had a Godmother?" asked Harry.

"Well you didn't know you had a Godfather until a few years ago," Ginny pointed out, "so it's possible that you wouldn't know about a Godmother as well."

"But you think Sirius would have mentioned her," insisted Harry. "Unless, of course, he didn't want me to know about her."

"Oh, Harry, I'm sure that isn't why."

Harry remained silent, looking longingly at the pictures.

"It's late," said Ginny, "let's go to bed now. We'll go through the rest of this tomorrow."

Harry nodded in agreement, and laid the pictures and letter back into the hidden stash then replaced the false bottom. Before leaving the room he picked up the mirror from Sirius's bedside table and carried it back to his room, where he placed it in his trunk before crawling back into bed. Ron didn't look like he had moved at all, and was now snoring lightly. Harry was tired and fell asleep easily. Again, he dreamed of Sirius stepping out from the veil in the Ministry of Magic, though this time he was accompanied by the mysterious woman from the pictures. Once again he held the pieces of the broken mirror, but this time the woman next to him removed a wand from her robes and repaired the mirror with a silent spell. Sirius gently placed the intact mirror on the floor, and he and the woman stepped back through the veiled archway. The dream ended, and Harry moved into undisturbed sleep, and when he woke up the dream was nothing but a quickly fading memory.

That afternoon, Harry and Ginny, this time along with Ron, went back to Sirius's room to further explore their findings from the night before.

"Blimey, Harry," exclaimed Ron, when Harry showed him the pictures of who he thought was his Godmother.

Together they sorted through the rest of the pictures and letters, but none of the others helped solve the mystery of Harry's Godmother. They did find more interesting pictures of Sirius with James, and sometimes Lily, and most of the letters delt with the first war against Voldemort; some even concerned the choosing of the Potter's secret keeper. In the end, Harry decided to keep everything he had found, so he bundled it together and placed it in his school trunk.

"You should ask Lupin about her," suggested Ron. "He might know who your Mum was close to."

"Or Dumbledore," added Ginny, "he was close to your parents as well."

So Harry waited patiently for the next meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, where he would see Lupin. This would also be the meeting where he would begin a new round of Occlumency lessons with Snape.

Harry passed time until the meeting by pacing around the landing, waiting for Lupin to arrive. When he finally did make his appearance, Harry had to fight not to immediately bombard him with questions. Instead, Harry waited patiently, while Lupin talked with Mrs. Weasley for a few minutes before he noticed Harry looking on.

"Ready for your Occlumency lesson, Harry?" he asked.

"Trying not to think about it," Harry replied honestly, "I did want to ask you something though," he pulled the photos out of his pocket. "I was cleaning out Sirius' room the other day," started Harry, causing Lupin's eyebrows to rise, "and I found a hidden compartment in the bottom of his bureau, in which there were a lot of old pictures and letters. I was wondering if you knew the woman in these photographs. Is she my Godmother? Was she one of my Mum's friends?"

Lupin looked thoughtfully at the pictures Harry handed him. "I'll admit that this is something someone probably should have told you sooner, Harry. Yes, she was your Godmother, but she died soon after your birth. Her name was Rose Clayard, and she was your mother's best friend at school, much like Sirius was to James. I remember how we used to laugh about it, Lily and Rose, the only two girls named after flowers turned out to be inseparable," Lupin smiled for a second at the memory, but then it faded. "She was in the Order as well, and that's how she died. She was one of the few people killed by Voldemort himself, and it was her death that alerted your parents to how much danger they were in."

"Why didn't Sirius ever mention her when he talked about my parents?"

"I don't know why for certain," replied Lupin, "but I think I can hazard a guess. Rose and Sirius fought like cats and dogs; they despised each other. I don't know where the animosity started, but I can not remember a time when they ever got along. It would not surprise me to know that Sirius didn't mention her out of spite. Now, if you'll excuse me I should be getting to the meeting."

Harry watched as Lupin joined the other members, who had already arrived. He had several hours to contemplate what Lupin had just told him, before the meeting was adjourned and he found himself facing a menacing looking Professor Snape and a looming Occlumency lesson.