Harry Potter and the Last Goodnight

Chapter 28: The Next Step

As Harry sat in Defense Against the Dark Arts the next afternoon, he watched Tonks teach the class with an ease that she had only developed in the past few months. She was past her clumsiness - though she still had a few mishaps - and seemed to be enjoying herself.

There were a few things bothering him. How did she know where to find him after he'd had his vision? How did she know that he was in trouble? There was only one thing he knew for sure: he was under closer surveillance than he realized.

But the thing that made his skin crawl the most was the smugness he saw in Malfoy. He did not hide his cheerfulness at the escape of his father. He even had the nerve to come up to Harry before class and say, "At least it only took my father a few months to escape." Harry's blood had been boiling ever since. Not to mention that he was extra arrogant because of his capture of the Snitch.

The bell rang and most of the students quickly bolted out of the classroom. Harry, however, took his time in gathering his things. Perhaps he'd ask Tonks a few questions before he left.

"Harry, may I see you in my office, please?"

"Yes, Professor." Ron glanced at Harry, but he pretended not to notice. He quickly picked up his books and followed Tonks into her office.

As soon as he stepped inside the door, he was suddenly grabbed by the shoulders into a fierce hug. "Harry, what the hell are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" Remus let go of him. He smiled at Harry, but his eyes were stern and filled with worry. He looked very pale, and Harry couldn't help but realize how boney he felt when he'd hugged him.

"Remus? What are you doing here?"

"Remus is going to take you to a special, er, meeting," Tonks said. "In light of recent events, some things are going to change."

"And you have a lot of explaining to do," Remus interrupted. "Not just about the vision, but about what the hell you were doing in Hogsmeade in the dead of night. Don't you realize how dangerous it is?"

Harry's anger from the night before came back to him in full-strength. Didn't Remus understand his need for refuge? If he hadn't gotten away last night, there was no telling what would have happened. He couldn't keep everything bottled up anymore.

"Well?" Remus asked. "Haven't you got anything to say for yourself?"

Harry glanced sideways at Tonks. She looked uncomfortable. "Maybe I'll just leave you two alone to discuss this. Er... Good luck, Harry." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and quietly left the room.

Harry knew that he should have been angry with Remus. He clearly didn't understand Harry's predicament last night. But he was so concerned. He sounded just like a father. And, for once, Harry didn't mind. It was a typical family scene - the father lecturing his son for sneaking out and coming home late. He knew that on some level, he shouldn't like the idea. Remus was not his father. But right now, he was the closest thing Harry had to family.

"I... I'm sorry."

Remus shook his head. "Sorry doesn't cut it. I don't understand. Why the hell would you want to go to Hogsmeade? To the Hog's Head, no less! That place is crawling with people who would love to do you in."

"I had my cloak," Harry replied, wondering how Remus knew that he'd gone to the pub.

"Yes, and I've half a mind to take it away from you!" Remus paced the room. Harry was glad to see that his anger had brought some color back into his cheeks. "Harry, there are so many people trying to protect you. They can't protect you when you go and do something radical like this."

Clearly, Remus didn't understand his position. Harry wanted to make him understand. "I saw you. Last night. With her." He jerked his thumb toward the door leading into the classroom.

"What?" Remus stopped dead in his tracks. "You mean - you saw us?"

Harry got the impression he was talking about something that had happened after he stopped watching, so he tried to be more specific. "I saw you and Tonks talking about Sirius. About how it was his birthday. About how you could be next."

Remus ran his hands over his face. "Harry, I'm sorry. I never meant for you to see that. No wonder you were upset."

"And it wasn't just that." Harry looked down to the floor. "Ron and I were fighting. Not to mention that Malfoy caught the Snitch yesterday in the Quidditch Match."

"What?" Harry could feel Remus's eyes on him, but he didn't have the heart to look up. He didn't want to see his pity.

"I don't know how he did it, but he beat me to it. Fair and square. And then at D.A., Cho talked to me about... about things. Plus, I've got all of this homework and two weeks' worth of detentions for messing up the field trip. And I had Occlumency with Snape, which was a complete disaster."

"It was?"

Harry shrugged. "Sort of. But I just had to get away. Seeing you lecture Tonks about how you might be next... it was the last straw."

"So you went to the pub?" Remus asked incredulously.

Harry gave a small smile. "Not exactly. I went to a room above the pub." Harry looked up at Remus. He could see that he was still confused. "I needed someone to talk to."

"Who?"

"Well..." Harry ran his fingers through his unruly hair and straightened his glasses, stalling. "There's... there's this girl."

Remus looked as though he had been expecting the worst. He raised an eyebrow, a mischievous grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. "A girl?"

Harry sighed. "She's not just any girl. She's my friend, Eva Finnigan."

"Finnigan?" Remus questioned. "You mean that Muggle Arthur's got working for him at the Ministry?"

He nodded. "She's got a room above the Hog's Head. I'm sorry, Remus. I didn't want to make everyone worry. I didn't know that I was going to have another vision. I just had to get away. I had to find someone to talk to before I exploded. Someone who was removed from it all."

"I understand, Harry. But you've got to be more careful. If Tonks hadn't found you when she did..."

"How did she find me?" Harry interrupted. "How does she know about the passage into Hogsmeade?"

Remus shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Well, Harry, as long as we're being honest with each other..." He cleared his throat. "There's something I didn't tell you about the Moon Guide."

"Which is?"

"It works both ways. You can see me when you look into your half. When I look into mine, I can see you." Looking older than usual, he sat down on the edge of Tonks's desk. He winced, as though his back hurt. "My main assignment from the Order has been to keep an eye on you. I'm afraid I haven't been doing a very good job."

Harry took a step towards him. "What you're really saying is that it was your job to spy on me."

Remus nodded. "It was for your own good, Harry." Harry was fuming, but before he could say anything, Remus held up his hands to silence him. "Look, it really did feel like spying. That's why I didn't do it as often as I should have. It's one thing for me to give you permission to check up on me, however when the tables are turned it's a different story."

"Did Dumbledore put you up to this?" Harry questioned.

"Quite the contrary. It was Molly."

"Mrs. Weasley?" Now Harry was really confused. "But why would she care?" And as soon as he had asked the question, Harry realized how silly it was. His name was on the clock, wasn't it? He was an honorary member of the Weasley family. Mrs. Weasley would do anything to protect her family.

"Well, I happened to be with Tonks when I checked up on you yesterday morning. I saw you in the passageway. I recognized it. I would have gone to you myself if the full moon weren't last night..."

"Where were you?" Harry asked. How could Remus have gone to him if he was hundreds of miles away in his cabin? Or perhaps the familiar room he'd seen the two of them in was not so far away.

"That's not important," Remus said quickly. "I sent Tonks after you, and she managed to get you out of there unnoticed while I alerted Dumbledore." He glanced at the clock on the mantle of the fireplace in the office. "We'd better get going, Harry. They are expecting us."

"Where are we going? The Burrow?" By they, Harry thought he was referring to the Order.

Remus shook his head. "The Ministry, by Floo Powder. Oh, and Harry, I think it would best if we kept your location a secret."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that when you are questioned tonight, it would be best to say that you were in the hallway, not in the passageway." Remus had a glimmer in his eye. "Some things are best kept secret."

"Does Dumbledore know?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes I think he knows everything. His eyes and ears are everywhere - just as Voldemort's are. There's no keeping a secret from Dumbledore. But not everyone present at the meeting this afternoon can be trusted." He stood up from the desk and gave Harry another hug, much less fierce than the one he greeted him with. "I'm just glad you're safe."

* * *

Harry felt butterflies in his stomach as he followed Remus down the corridor on the ninth floor of the Ministry of Magic. He knew where they were going. He just didn't know why.

He had been in Courtroom Ten only once before. It was through a Pensieve, a memory. It was not a pleasant experience. But what was even more eerie was walking through the Department of Mysteries, knowing that Sirius had died only a few meters away.

His first conclusion was that he must have done something wrong. Perhaps he broke a law that he was unaware of. Or was he being called as a witness?

When they reached the stairway that led to the tenth floor, Remus gave Harry an encouraging pat on the back. "Go on. They're waiting for you."

Harry hesitated. "You aren't coming?"

"I'd rather not deal with Fudge right now, if it's all the same to you." He frowned. "Besides, it has already been decided."

"What has?"

Remus gave him a shove. "You'll see. And remember what we talked about. Some secrets are better left untold." He winked at Harry, then turned around and swaggered down the long hallway through the Department of Mysteries.

Harry turned away, took a deep breath, and began his ascent to the tenth floor. When he reached the doorway to Courtroom Ten, there was a guard. He was relived to see that it was not a Dementor as it had been in the Pensieve. It was merely a tough-looking wizard. He took one look at Harry and unlatched the door. It was covered with iron bolts that the guard threw open with some force.

Harry sucked in his breath as he entered the dimly lit dungeon. The walls were made of dark stone, and he felt as though he was stumbling to his very first Potions lesson that he'd had as a first year in the depths of Hogwarts. Torches were mounted on the walls, the flames dancing across the uneven floor.

Harry realized that he had stopped moving and he was slightly trembling in the wake of the courtroom. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

"Mr. Harry James Potter," a voice roared from the darkness. "Sit down."

Suddenly, the chair in the center of the dungeon was illuminated in bright light. It was covered with chains. The very same chains that had once held many Death Eaters captive. Harry gulped and slowly made his way to the chair, sitting down on the cold seat.

Were they going to chain him to the chair as they did with every criminal?

"For Merlin's sake, Fudge, you're scaring the poor boy!"

Harry somehow found the courage to look up at the Wizengamot. They were all dressed in plum-colored robes with elaborate silver W's stitched on one side. Harry recognized the woman who spoke. It was Amelia Bones, Susan Bones's aunt. She sat in the benches above him, peering down at him through her monocle. Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, was sitting on her left side, looking indifferent. When Harry met his eyes, however, he could feel a spark of excitement.

Cornelius Fudge stepped out from the darkness in front of Harry. He cleared his throat. "My apologies, Harry." But he could tell that Fudge wasn't really sorry. "You have been called here, in front of the Wizengamot, to recount the events of the past few days. Severus Snape has already testified on your behalf, as well as Albus Dumbledore."

Testify? Was he on trial? And the more pressing question on his mind - why would Snape ever testify on his behalf? He didn't dare ask these questions out loud. Perhaps Fudge would only hold it against him.

"Before we come to a verdict, the Wizengamot wishes to question you about the recent events surrounding your visions." He glanced up at the Wizengamot. "It's your floor, Amelia."

The square-jawed, gray-haired witch stared at him with such intense eyes that Harry found it hard to look away from them. "Harry, would you please recall the vision you had on the night of the Azkaban Fortress breakout?"

Harry nodded. He was so utterly confused that the vision seemed to be the only thing that made sense to him. It was still vivid. He glanced at Dumbledore, who nodded encouragingly. Harry launched into explanation of what he had seen in the Wizarding prison. "Then I reached for my scar because it was tingling. It was the eeriest sensation. It didn't hurt; it was just... extremely sensitive. Then next thing I knew, Professor Leurre was shaking me. I was on the floor - in the hallway," he added quickly.

"And the Dark Lord didn't see you?" a voice from above questioned. It came from an elderly man who Harry didn't recognize. "He didn't know you were there?"

"No," Harry replied confidently. "He didn't. If he would have known that I was there, my scar would have hurt." He wondered why there was such a sudden interest in the fact that his scar was no longer hurting. Before, it had been such a big deal if he felt any pain. Now, he rarely felt any.

"And what of the Occlumency lesson you spent with Professor Snape?"

Shocked, Harry did a double-take of the member of the Wizengamot who asked the question. "Excuse me?" He must have not heard her right. What did his Occlumency have to do with anything?

The tall, leathery-skinned witch who had asked the question stood up. "Mr. Potter," she repeated loudly, "when you performed Legilimency on Severus Snape, what did you see?"

Harry felt his cheeks grow red. He didn't see how that was at all relevant to whatever the hell was going on inside the courtroom. Why should he have to recall such an embarrassing memory - not only for him, but for Snape as well?

And then he realized what it was all about. Practicing Legilimency must have been against Wizarding law. He knew he should have never tried the spell on Snape. Now he was going to get his wand snapped in half for trying to see a memory that he never wanted to remember.

"Please answer the question, Harry," Fudge urged.

Once again, Harry looked to Dumbledore's eyes for approval. He gave a slight nod.

Harry took a deep breath and looked down to the floor. He was ashamed. "When I tried to read Professor Snape's mind, I saw him - I was him. I was talking to my father." He paused. "My mother was crying, and my father said that Snape was in debt to him for saving his life. He said that if he failed, then..." Harry's voice trailed off.

"Then what?" Fudge encouraged.

Harry felt his face flush even more. "Then my mother was all his," Harry spat. "Then they shook hands, and my father went off to comfort my mother." He spoke quickly, wanting it to end.

"And what was Professor Snape thinking?"

All heads, all but Harry's, snapped in Dumbledore's direction. Harry felt anger well up inside of him. Why did he have to admit to everything? Why was Dumbledore making him recall this extremely awkward memory?

Harry sighed. "He was thinking, 'Lily, I've lost you...' And then it was over."

The courtroom was silent. Harry suddenly realized that he was gripping the arms of his chair so tightly that his knuckles were white. It felt like hours before anyone spoke again.

Amelia Bones stood up from her seat. "Clearly, he is ready for the next step." Most of the other wizards and witches on the Wizengamot nodded in agreement. The next step? His punishment?

But Fudge spoke up from the floor. He shook his head. "Snape used the Pensieve in front of him. The results are inconclusive. The test was faulty. Harry saw him extract the memory."

Utterly bewildered, Harry couldn't take sitting in silence any longer. He was still embarrassed from his recollection of the memory in the first place. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Fudge, but what's going on? Am I trial?" he demanded.

"See," Amelia Bones said. "He doesn't even know why he's here. He didn't even know he was being tested. Clearly, the license should be granted. He has insight into the Dark Lord's plan. He will aide the war. He will be a great asset to our fight."

"He is more than an asset," Dumbledore stated. "He is a sixteen-year-old young man. He has the heart of a child, pure and of good intentions. He has a curious mind and a knowledge of magic that puts him at the head of his class." Harry felt himself blushing at the compliments. "He will use his gift wisely."

"Good intentions or not," Fudge interrupted. "The Wizengamot must be unanimous in order for a license to be granted."

"And who, on the Wizengamot, objects?" Amelia Bones said, glaring at Fudge. "You seem to be the only untrusting one of us, Minister. You are in no position to withhold a license."

"License for what?" Harry asked. But no one seemed to hear him.

"Then without further ado, as I'm sure we all have other places to be," Dumbledore said, standing up. "I am calling this matter to a vote. All those in favor of granting Harry James Potter a license to practice Legilimency, please raise your wands."

Harry watched, open-mouthed, as every member of the Wizengamot raise their wands in unison, including Dumbledore.

"As there are none opposed, please bring forward the contract for Harry to sign."

Grumbling, Fudge produced a piece of golden parchment with the Ministry's seal on it. He brought it over to Harry and gave him a large, peacock feather pen for him to sign with. "Please sign on the line below."

Harry hastily read the parchment before putting his signature on it.

I, the undersigned, swear to practice the art of Legilimency in the most moral, ethical, secretive, and just ways. As a skilled Legilimens, I will not take advantage of weaker minds and will adhere to the policies set forth by the Ministry, or will face the consequences set up by the administration thereof.

It took Harry a moment for it all to sink in. He was on trial, but not for committing a crime. They were testing him. This was what Dumbledore was talking about when he called Harry a weapon. He had already learned the best defense against Voldemort through Occlumency. Now he would go on the offense, using Legilimency.

Harry signed the slip of parchment. Fudge took the pen back from him and rolled the contract back up. "Congratulations, Harry. You are now the youngest Legilimens since the Dark Lord himself."

Harry felt a shiver down his spine. He didn't know whether to thank him or not. Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Harry, you can leave now. Mr. Lupin will be waiting outside the corridor. He will escort you back to Hogwarts. In the meantime, prepare yourself. Legilimency instruction will begin in the days ahead. And Harry, please do not tell anyone at Hogwarts of tonight's events."

Harry nodded. He quickly got up from the chair and walked back to the door he had come through. He was very thankful to be one of the few who stood on trial in Courtroom Ten and walked out a free man.