CHAPTER TWELVE: A DISTANT MEMORY
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1996. Potter Manor.
"William?" Harry called.
An older Elf soon appeared. He was dressed in Potter robes and wore glasses. "How may I help you this morning, Milord?"
"Hermione? Remus? This is William. He's the head librarian here at the Manor and, as I understand, was named after William Shakespeare."
"Indeed I am," William said with a grin.
"William, this his Hermione, my Consort. She's a huge fan of books and libraries."
"It is indeed an honor, Milady. And Remus. It's been a while."
"Indeed it has William," Remus said. "I used to spend a lot of time here years ago," Remus explained to the others. "How are Tasha and your children?"
"Tasha is fine. She works keeping the various guest houses ready. My son Arna is working with me. He's currently working on the collection you sent over from the Black Estate. A lot of those books are in need of new bindings and preservation. My daughter Arla works in the town. She's married now and has two young ones of her own. Petra is also married and works in a dress shop. Our youngest Mika is with the fishing fleet. He's still not married and has a reputation of being a bit of a skirt chaser."
"It is good to see you, old friend."
"And you as well, Remus. Now, how may I help?"
"Do we have any pensieves?" Harry asked.
"Indeed we do, Milord. There are two here in the Library. One your grandparents left for you and there is another that is unoccupied."
"Unoccupied?" Hermione asked.
"It means it doesn't contain any memories," Harry explained. "Could you bring both of them, William?"
"No problem." Two pensieves appeared on the table. One had the misty and cloudy appearance in its fluid Harry recognized. The other was clear, obviously it was the empty one. Harry half listened as Remus explained to Hermione what he wanted to do. He was going to copy her memory of the bonding event so that he could see what happened. Harry did note he wanted to see the whole thing as the triggering event may not have occurred with their final bonding, rather it may actually have happened earlier. Hermione was blushing furiously the moment the long, silvery tendrils of thought had been extracted from her and were dropped into the unused pensieve. Remus winked at the two of them and soon disappeared into the pensieve.
Harry noticed Hermione was still blushing and chewing her lip. "Uh," he started, "what's wrong, Love?"
"Um," she began.
"How much did you give him?"
"All of it."
"All? From when?"
"From when we first began kissing until what happened to you."
"Oh. Why?"
"Because I don't know what happened and what caused it," Hermione said with tears in her voice. "It could have been anything. I need to know what happened to you, Harry."
"Then why are you upset?"
"He's going to see everything!" she whimpered as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. "It was our first time, and he'll see it all! It was supposed to be special."
"It was, dear," Harry said quietly. "And look on the bright side."
"What bright side?"
"Now we can go back and see it too!"
"Oh. I hadn't thought about that."
"Come with me," Harry said gently.
"Wh-where?"
"My grandfather left me this pensieve," he said indicating the one Remus was not in. "I want to see what he left. I want you to be with me."
"Okay," she sniffed.
They soon found themselves in what looked like the music room on the First Floor. It looked far too real to be a pensieve memory to Harry. He told Hermione so, saying the memories were never in such vivid color as he had experienced this twice before and she never had.
"They're here!" a voice called. Harry looked in the direction of the voice and saw an older man who looked remarkably like the portrait of Charles Potter from the Banquette Hall. "Charles" was soon joined by an older woman who looked like his grandmother Samantha and a younger couple. Harry's jaw dropped and he paled as if seeing a ghost for the first time.
"Harry?" Hermione asked.
"M-my p-parents," Harry whispered with tears in his voice. "Th-this isn't a memory."
"He's so big," the younger woman with red hair cried. She almost ran to Harry and took him in his arms. Harry was stunned. He could feel the woman and she felt real. He could feel the warmth of her body and smell her scent in the air. This was no memory.
"Mum?" he asked.
She broke the hug and looked at him. She then nodded. Harry knew this was not real but could not help it. He was in his mother's arms for the first time that he could remember. He could not stop the tears that came. For a long while, no one said anything. They all waited for Harry to calm down.
"You've definitely sprouted a bit," said the young man with dark hair and glasses. "Don't think I can throw you up in the air anymore."
"Dad?"
"Doesn't miss a thing," the young man said.
"But this is not possible!" Harry protested. "This is no memory! Where are we?"
"Need to ask Dad that one, Son," the young man said. "This is his invention."
Harry turned to the older man. "You're my grandfather, Charles Potter, right?"
The old man nodded. "And this is your grandmother Sam," he added. "We looked for you for a long time and never found you. If I were still alive, I'd kill that bastard for stealing you from us."
"I don't understand? This is not a memory?"
"I figured that these pensieves can have other uses. What you are seeing is almost real. We are projections of ourselves from the past. We can interact with you, talk to you. We have all the memories we had when the projection was cast. In the case of James and Lily, they are as they were on October 1st, 1980. In the case of Sam an I, we are as we were on July 5th, 1987. Since we are here with you in this projected reality, I assume it is safe to say we're dead?"
Harry nodded. "Learned that only a couple of days ago. You and Grandmother died in 1988. There was an outbreak of dragon pox and it claimed you."
The old man actually laughed. "Oh it's a good thing we have no memory of that! That's one nasty illness!"
"Are we dead?" Lily asked.
Harry nodded. "The two of you were murdered by Voldemort on October 31st, 1981. He tried to kill me but failed for some reason. You were murdered because your Secret Keeper was or became a Death Eater and betrayed you."
"I told Sirius that Peter was a bad idea!" James said angrily.
"Peter?" Charles Potter asked. "But the whole world thought Sirius was the one! He's rotting in Azkaban for betraying you to Him!"
"Sirius is in Azkaban?" Lily cried. "That's horrible!"
"Hold on," Harry called out. "Let's all get a grip! Mum? Dad? Your projection is from 1980. Granddad and Grandmum's is from 1987. Today is June 25th, 1996. Obviously a lot has happened since your projections were created."
The projections of his relations looked at him in interest.
"Peter Pettigrew was your Secret Keeper," Harry continued looking at the projections of his parents. "He was a Death Eater and betrayed you to Voldemort and you were killed although I was the target of the attack. Only the two of you, Pettigrew, Sirius and Dumbledore knew who the Secret Keeper was. After you died, Sirius tracked the rat down and cornered him. Pettigrew escaped by transforming into his rat animagus form, but not before blowing up the place and killing a dozen or more muggles in the process. Sirius was accused of the offense and sent off to Azkaban without trial. Dumbledore knew of his innocence and did nothing!"
"Always said that man was a bigger menace than Voldemort," Charles Potter commented.
"Sirius escaped from Azkaban three years ago," Harry went on. "Everyone thought he was hunting me down. He was to an extent. He wanted to find me. But his real mission was to find Pettigrew who had been living as a rat - a family pet for all those years. It was my Third Year at Hogwarts. Remus Lupin was my Professor in Defense Against the Dark Arts and the best we ever had in that subject. Towards the end of the year, the truth came out. I met Sirius. We uncovered Pettigrew. But he escaped and we were not able to clear Sirius's name. Sirius had to go into hiding, but we remained close hoping for a day when he could fully be the guardian he had not been.
"Sirius Black was my friend. I do miss him so."
"Was?" James asked.
"There was a battle a little over a week ago in the Department of Mysteries. I and five of my friends fought against twelve Death Eaters. We held them at bay but could not beat them. Sirius was one of the members of the Order who turned the tide of battle. But he was killed. He was our only fatality. I took off after Bellatrix LeStrange, his murderer and caught her briefly. Had Voldemort not arrived, I would have killed her."
"You fought Voldemort?" James asked.
Harry shrugged. "He's not that tough really. Excluding the night you died, I've fought him four times. Just can't seem kill the bastard."
"You've fought him four times?" Lily asked in horror.
Harry nodded. "The first two times he was trying to return to a physical form. When he tried to kill me as a baby, something happened and he was destroyed, but not killed. I killed a professor of mine whom he had possessed when I was eleven. I destroyed another version of him when I was twelve. Last year he was able to regain a physical form, although I doubt you would call it truly human. I fought him moments later. It was a draw and I was able to escape him and the scores of Death Eaters who had rallied to him. Not without cost, though. A friend of mine died in that encounter."
His mother wrapped him in her arms. "No one should have had to experience that!" she cried. "I never wanted that for you, Harry."
"It's okay - er - Mum," Harry said. "Compared to the Dursleys, Voldemort is a welcome change of pace."
"The Dursleys!" Lily practically shrieked. "Please don't tell me you were living with them!"
"Okay, I won't." Harry snarked.
"You were, weren't you?"
Harry nodded.
"I should never have trusted that bastard," Lily screamed. "I don't know why I ever did!"
"You're a Consort, right Mum?" Harry asked, hoping to change the topic.
She nodded.
"Why?"
"Aside from the fact I could not help but fall in love with your father, I found out about the Concubine Auction. Professor McGonagall told me about it, what it meant and that I was scheduled to be sold. I went to James and asked him to accept me as Consort as that would prevent the sale, and he accepted. I learned that I had a magical guardian and he had the right to sell me. Never learned who he was."
"It was Dumbledore," Harry said. "He tried the same thing with my Hermione."
"Hermione?"
Hermione had been largely ignored up to this point. Harry walked over to her and pulled her close to him. "This is my Hermione," he said. "My Consort, the Lady Potter."
Hermione was suddenly overwhelmed by Harry's projected parents and grandparents. She was hugged and kissed by the women and hugged by the men, each of them welcoming her to the family. She expected some complaint from them. She was only sixteen and Harry fifteen. Yet they seemed to ignore the youth of her and Harry.
"Let me guess," Charles Potter said. "You're Muggle Born, right?"
Hermione nodded.
"And probably smart as a whip," Samantha added.
"She's the brightest witch of our age," Harry said proudly.
"Typical," Charles said. "Typical Potter! Harry here has found a fetching young lass who's smart to boot. Must be genetic."
"How so?" Harry asked.
"Aside from my father, who was forced into an arranged marriage, we Potters have always married bight and fetching Muggle Borns. And my father made up for it. While my Mum was a Pureblood, once I was born and she had done her duty as a wife of producing and heir, he took a concubine. She was named Nellie. She was a smart, very attractive Muggle Born witch. She was killed in the War in 1941. She was visiting her family and the Gerries bombed London that night. He loved her. His wife he was stuck with. He never loved my Mum. But Nellie? He did love her.
"For all practical purposes, Nellie was my Mum. My real mother, Dorea, took little interest in either me or my older sisters. Nellie did. She and Dad were together for almost twenty-five years. When she died, I was already bound to my Sammy and was a Squadron Leader in the RAF and had fought in the Battle of Britain.
"I had trained in Hurricanes and flew them in France before Dunkirk. I transitioned to Spitfires after that. Dad was a patriot and donated part of this Estate to the RAF for a training base. The base is still here, or at least it was when I made this projection. It reverted to my father not long after the War and we've kept it operational.
"Anyway, Nellie was killed in the Blitz and Dad was devastated. Took him years to get over her death, assuming he ever did. In '43, he bought another concubine named Minnie. Dad came to love her very much as well. His only regret about the two women was that he was not able to give them the one thing he wanted to: children. Dorea would not have it.
"Minnie almost got a chance. My wife and I were having a hell of a time trying to have a child. She suffered through four miscarriages. We tried everything to conceive and keep a child, but nothing seemed to work. In 1959, we tried one last time. If we failed again, Dad was going to give Minnie to me in the hopes that she would bear my children and, hopefully, my heir. Ah, but fate is unpredictable. Sam did get pregnant again and eventually bore me a son, James.
"For reasons best left unsaid, James never saw much of Minnie and certainly not after he turned five. He never knew much about her except that she was a 'friend of the family.' My wife and I lived in one of the large guest houses, Dad lived in the Manor so it was not like they would cross paths too often.
"When Dad passed away in '78, Minnie passed to me. Sam was okay with that as she liked Minnie a lot. True, my relationship with Minnie was not the same as Dad. I liked her, I certainly admired her, but I did not love her the way Dad had. Now that I find I've been dead a while, I do hope she's okay."
"She seems to be," Harry said.
"You've met her?"
"No. Not yet. But there is an 'MGM' on my Potter Ring. Obviously, that's not Hermione. Hers is 'HJP'."
"So it seems she's still around. Good. She might be a bit old for you, Harry, but she is a wonderful woman. Treat her nice."
"I will."
"So Son," James said, "What have you been doing with yourself?"
Harry told them. He told them a little about life at the Dursleys, but left out the really bad parts. He was not ready to reveal those, although he knew he would soon. He would tell Hermione soon, but no others until she had been told.
Most of Harry's tale centered on Hogwarts. He told his parents how he knew nothing about magic until Hagrid came to deliver his Hogwarts letters. He described the letter chase and Hagrids grand entrance, getting laughs from all. He told them of his first trip to Diagon Alley and his first ride on the Hogwarts express where he met Hermione. He told them of what he thought of the young girl at the time. He thought she was a little bossy and loved to show off all she knew, but she was also kind and caring, at least to him, so whatever flaws she had paled in comparison to her. He wanted to be her friend, but he was eleven and she was a girl and his other friend didn't like her at all.
He told them of his sorting and how the hat wanted to place him in Slytherin but that he wanted nothing to do with any house that claimed one Draco Malfoy as a member. He told them he managed to convince the hat not to send him into that house and how he was then sorted into Gryffindor.
He told them of the Troll and how that incident convinced him to be her friend no matter what anyone else thought. He told them about the rest of his First Year culminating with his fight with Professor Quirrell who was then possessed by Voldemort.
He told them of his first summer as a wizard. He started with an incident at Privet Drive and the House Elf Dobby, and followed with his imprisonment and his ultimate escape in the back of a flying car. He told them about his time at the Burrow. He told them how Dobby had tried to keep him from returning to school and how he and Ron stole Ron's Dad's flying car and chased after the Hogwarts Express and how they crashed into the Whomping Willow.
He told them of Second Year and the mysterious petrifactions. He told them he discovered he was a parsletongue, which it was believed was a result of Voldemort's failed attempt to murder him as a baby. He told them about how Hermione, Ron and he tried to figure out what was going on and how Hermione found out, but got petrified by whatever was roaming the school. He told them of the hours he sat beside her in the hospital wing and how Madam Pomphrey ignored the rules to allow him to stay with her. He admitted that had he had a clue, he would have known then that he loved her.
He told them about the Chamber of Secrets and his confrontation with a reforming Voldemort and the huge Basilisk. Some of the things he said he hadn't even told Hermione. He then told them about how he tricked Lucius Malfoy into freeing his Elf Dobby.
His tale of Third Year centered on Quidditch, Dementors and meeting James' old friend Remus and Sirius. He told them that Remus was one of the best professors he ever had, McGonagall being the other. He told them how Remus had taught him the Patronus Charm and how he ultimately used it against hundreds of Dementors to save Sirius's life. He told them also how he and Hermione helped Sirius escape after he had been captured and sentenced to death.
Fourth Year was all about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He began with the Quidditch World Cup, as it fit into the story at some point. He told them about the tournament, the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang and how his named appeared from the Goblet of Fire as a Fourth Champion. He told them he had nothing to do with that and told everyone, but the only one who would listen was Hermione. She helped him prepare for all of the challenges he faced that year and Harry could not stop praising her despite her blushing and attempts at modesty.
He told them about the First Challenge and how that went. He also told them of his first of several brushes with the Press that year and the scandalous articles they wrote about him and Hermione. Of course, he conceded, it should have been obvious to him that there was more truth in those articles than he and Hermione were willing to admit at the time.
He told them about the Yule Ball and how stupid he now feels about not having asked Hermione to go with him then. He told them in great detail how beautiful she looked that night and how that night was the first time he saw her as more than just a friend. He now saw her as a beautiful young woman. He told them about the Second Task that soon followed and how he tried to rescue all the captives and did rescue two of them.
He did not tell them much about the Third Task. He merely stated that he and Cedric Diggory got to the center of the maze at the same time and agreed to take the Cup together. He told them it was a portkey and it brought them to Voldemort. He told them how Cedric died and then about the terrifying ritual that brought Voldemort back to life. He then told them about the duel he had with Voldemort and how it ended with him escaping back to Hogwarts with Cedric's body. He then told them how everything happened. The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was supposed to be Alastor Moody. It was really an escaped Death Eater named Barty Crouch, Jr. under polyjuice potion for the entire year. He then told them about how Crouch was executed before he could be properly questioned and the Ministries attempts from that point on to cover up the truth, including the Demetor attack on him and Dudley and the trial before the whole Wizengamot.
In addition to his encounter with the dementors, Harry told them about the summer before his Fifth Year. He told them about how he had been deliberately kept in the dark and how his friends and been told to avoid answering his questions. He told them about his stay at Grimmauld Place and how Sirius was for all practical purposes imprisoned in that terrible place. He told them about how angry he was at just about everyone for just about everything and how hard it was for him to realize that not everyone was conspiring against him.
His tale of Fifth Year was the most complex yet. It was, in essence, three stories in one. The first was the story about the Ministry and its attempt to discredit both Harry and Dumbledore and hide the fact that Voldemort had returned and the Death Eaters were active again. This tale included the insertion of Dolores Umbridge into the staff at Hogwarts, her schemes and machinations and her torture of Harry and other students who did not spout the Ministry's line.
The second tale was about Voldemort himself and the link that had developed between Harry and Voldemort. Harry recounted all of his dreams and visions, and in particular the vision of the attack on Arthur Weasley and how that led to the nightmare that was occlumency lessons with Professor Snape. He recounted how those lessons didn't seem to work and how they ended when Snape caught Harry sneaking a peak into his personal pensieve. Harry left out what he saw for the time being.
The third tale was about the formation of Dumbledore's Army. Harry gave Hermione a lot of credit for both the formation and the success of the club and praised its members for the progress they all made over the year. It was during the tale of the D.A. that Harry also told of his first foray into the world of romance and the utter disaster that his relationship with Cho Chang had been. As he had told Hermione earlier, he suspected the reason that relationship never worked out was that deep down he felt disloyal to Hermione. Yet another missed clue as to how he really felt about her.
The tale of Dumbledore's Army allowed Harry to weave all three stories together as they moved inexorably towards the climax at the Department of Mysteries. From the moment he experienced the vision of Sirius being tortured, he told the story in excruciating detail. He told of his near panic and how Hermione had convinced him to try and contact Sirius first to make sure it was not a trick. He told of his later guilt at forgetting about the two-way communication mirror Sirius had given him that past Christmas and how he was tricked by the House Elf Kreature. He told of his capture by Umbridge and the clever trick Hermione had played on the paranoid and gullible witch that left her at the mercy of the Centaurs and facilitated Harry and Hermione's escape. He told them of the four others who insisted upon helping him even though he really did not any one of them at risk.
He told them of the flight on the Thestrals and their search of the Department of Mysteries that led them to the Hall of Prophesies where Sirius was supposed to be and how he was not there at all - but a prophesy about Harry was there. He told them of the arrival of the Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix LaStrange and how he and his five comrades, the oldest of which were only sixteen, fought twice their number in a running battle for ages. He then reached the hardest parts of the fight and fought not to lose control. He told them of the curse that had taken Hermione down and how he was sure for a moment that she was dead and how he had given up all hope until Neville told him she was still alive. He told them of the two Death Eaters who paid for that with their lives. He then told him about the climax of the fight, Neville and he were cornered in the Death Chamber when the Order finally showed up. He told them how Sirius died.
He told them how he chased Bellatrix, Sirius's murderer and hit her with the Crutiatus Curse. He knew it had worked as he saw her eyes roll back in excruciating pain. He just was unable to sustain the curse long enough to totally incapacitate her. He told them of Voldemort's arrival and the subsequent fight with him and then Dumbledore leading to Voldemort's attempt at possessing him and how he was able to drive the person out. Hermione! It was thoughts of her that had driven Voldemort out and, he knew, caused the evil git far more pain that he had caused to Bellatrix.
He told them of the fight with Dumbledore in the Headmaster's Office following their return to Hogwarts and of the Prophesy that had cost him so much over the course of his life. He told them that while Dumbledore answered many questions that night, each answer generated even more questions and how he began to question everything that had happened to him since that horrible Halloween night so many years ago.
He told them how none of it mattered when he saw Hermione in the Hospital Wing and was told that no one knew if she would survive. He told them how he never left her side, except for certain functions that required a momentary absence and how that by seeing her there and realizing she might not come back to him, he realized what he should have known for ages. He knew that he loved her and he knew that he had to tell her regardless of what she felt for him. If she came back, he would tell her immediately.
He told them of when she finally woke up and that he told her all he had been keeping inside of him for so long. He told them of her response and both how relieved and stupid he felt. He was relieved she felt the same way about him and stupid that he had waited so long and that it took nearly losing her for him to finally open up to the only person he ever truly trusted with his heart. He also made sure they knew of the reaction of his other "best friend."
He then told them of the last couple of days. He told them of his "talk" with Hermione's father and his statement that he would not marry her "tomorrow" and then how that's exactly what happened as they bonded less than twenty-four hours later. He told them of his "final escape" from the Dursleys and his feelings when he saw Hermione had been brought to the Manor as well. He told them of all that Tonks had told Hermione and him about Dumbledore and the real plans the Old Man had for him. He told them of the plot to see him killed and see Dumbledore acquire control over the Potter Estate and the part the Weasleys were to play in that plot. He told them of the suspected complicity of the two he considered friends and wondered openly if they would have gone forward knowing the fate that awaited them both at Dumbledore's and their Mother's hands. He told them of how Sirius and the others had uncovered the plot and planned to thwart it and how he now had come into his inheritance and the Black Estate as well.
By the time Harry had finished, Hermione was sitting in his lap and silently crying into his shoulder. Harry's mother was crying more opening into his other shoulder telling him how she never wanted any of this for her son nor that any person should have had to endure what he had to. His grandmother was also with him, also silently weeping. His father and grandfather, however, looked like they were ready to kill. For Harry, however, the fact that he had let it all out actually had been a cathartic experience and he actually felt better than he had in ages, if ever.
"If only I were real!" James Potter growled. "They would all pay!"
"What do you intend to do, Harry?" Charles Potter asked.
"The specific tactics? I don't know yet," Harry admitted. "I've got a lot to learn before I can set forth on details. Generally, I know one thing: neither Dumbledore and his Order nor Voldemort and his Death Eaters can be allowed to win in the end. They both must be defeated utterly. In the latter case, they need to be wiped from the face of the earth. When the time comes, the Death Eaters and their lines will be extinguished. For those who took the Mark, there will be no mercy, no quarter and no exceptions.
"However, more important is the total defeat of this Pureblood nonsense. Unless that way of thinking is even deader than you are, we merely postpone the fight until the next Dark Lord arises. The Pureblood agenda must be extinguished before there can be any hope for us at all. That means it has to be exposed for what it is and the rest of our society must rise up in righteous indignation and wipe it from the face of the Earth.
"Consequently, the initial primary target will be Dumbledore and the Order. I do not plan open combat, but subtlety. I want them disorganized and divided such that they cannot operated effectively. How? I don't know yet. Why? To stoke the flames of revolution, the Wizarding World needs to see what Pureblood control really means, if only for a moment. Dumbledore is too sly to show his hand until all is within his control. Voldemort, on the other hand, is not. By undermining the Order, I will ensure Voldemort's success for a time. His depredations and those of his loyal minions should open eyes and provide me with a recruiting base. I will try and damage his side as well so that he lacks the ability to entrench, but he must be allowed a modicum of success as I see it. Once his side gains control, all hell will break loose and from that hell I can recruit a very pissed off army with which to strike back.
"That will take some time," Charles noted.
"I have been brought to the Estate because it is as safe a place as there is for me. I cannot be attacked here and even if all Britain falls to Voldemort, I remain safe and secure here. Time is something I now have. I intend to move as quickly as possible, but that will still be slowly and carefully.
"But that's for later. In the interim, I learn and train so that when I decide to enter the fray, I am ready. Of most immediate concern is my sister…"
"S-sister?" Lily asked.
"What sister?" Charles added.
"Clarice Anne Potter," Harry said. "She was born in September 1981. She was sent up for adoption less than a month after Voldemort tried to kill me. Dumbledore somehow retained his guardianship over her and now is trying to sell her as a concubine. If I have to, I will buy her. I prefer finding her first and bringing her under the protection of my House."
"We had a daughter, James," Lily hitched.
"S-so it would seem," he replied. "You will find her, won't you son?"
"Hopefully within a week or so," Harry said.
"If y-you do," Lily asked, "could you bring her to m-meet us?"
"I will, Mum."
"Thank you, Harry!" she said hugging her son tightly.
The conversation moved to less heavy subjects. Lily and Samantha gathered Hermione off in one corner to grill her about children, practically begging her for a child in the near future and embarrassing poor Hermione to no end. Hermione knew it was not out of spite but just good natured teasing. Still, as they were asking very intimate questions and revealing more than she wanted to know about their own husbands' abilities in regards to sex, she was more than a little put off.
The elder Potters dragged their heir off and after a brief grilling about Hermione, the conversation drifted first to Quidditch and then to the Estate. Harry had to put up with his own Dad accusing him of moving from first kiss to married in under a week that was until his own father reminded him that he went from first kiss to married in under two hours.
"At least Harry here made some effort to court the young lady," Charles scolded.
"Oi!," James protested. "I made an effort! Lily just shot me down over and over again!"
"Had Hermione shot me down," Harry admitted, "I would have taken it as final."
"Why?" James asked.
"One, because that's the way she is. Two, because she says I'm too bloody noble for my own good. She loves and hates that about me as that term also includes what she calls my 'saving people thing' which always leads me into trouble and life and death stuff. She loves that about me as well, but it also bothers the hell out of her. I can't help it and she knows it. She puts up with it and tries to reign it in which is one of the many things I love about her."
"Damn you're whipped," James quipped.
"Bloody hell!" a new voice called out. "This is not bloody pensieve memory!"
Harry and the other turned and saw Remus.
"Moony!" James exclaimed.
"Prongs?" Remus said misty eyed. "Is that really you?"
"It's a projection of all I was when this was made, Mate," James said. "You'll need to ask Dad about it. Apparently the real me is toes up, pushing up daisies, food for maggots and weevils, six feet under and all of that. My last memory was fall 1980 and for me I last saw you about a week or two ago. 'Though Harry here tells me it's been almost fifteen years."
"Remus," Charles said, "it's good to see you. Harry here tells us you're helping him?"
Remus nodded.
"Moony!" Lily shrieked and ran up to hug her friend. "It's so good of you to drop by!"
"Th-this is unreal," Remus said as he looked at his old and long dead friends.
"Not that I'm complaining," Harry said, "but what brought you here, Professor?"
"Harry, I'm not your professor anymore," Remus complained.
"From what you told us earlier, that's about to change."
Remus nodded. "Still, I would prefer you call me Moony."
"Fine."
"And I'll call you either the Hermione Pleaser or Sex Machine."
"What?" Harry and others called out.
"Something happened when Hermione and Harry bonded," Remus explained. "They did not know what so I reviewed Hermione's memories of the whole event. Damn Cub! Eight times in under six hours? And it was both of your first times? That's not normal."
"Tonks believes it has something to do with the fact that he is a metamorphagus," Hermione explained.
"Really?" James asked. "Any other hidden talents?"
"I'm an excellent cook and can play piano," Harry said.
"I've heard him play," Hermione said. "As for cooking?"
"Breakfast tomorrow," Harry said. "I'd do dinner tonight, but Elda might be upset by that."
"You're on!"
"Okay," James said, "why were you watching memories of my son and his Consort getting it on?"
"As I said, something strange happened when they finally bonded," Remus said. "I needed to find out what and why. Hermione? Do you recognize this symbol?" Remus held up a piece of parchment with an odd symbol on it.
Hermione nodded. "It's a rune. Druidic in origin. It's called 'Alara' and is the symbol for love and purity."
"Just before your last time in the memory, the time where you recited the oath and bound to him, you traced this on his chest three times. Why?"
"I was thinking about what he meant to me," she replied. "This rune defined all he means to me and more. So I did that as a sign of what I was thinking, even if he didn't know. It meant something to me."
"Whether you intended to or not, by doing that and then - er - shagging him senseless, you performed an ancient druidic purification rite. It had many uses, but it was considered particularly effective at driving out evil spirits. That, in essence, is what happened. You confirmed some suspicions Dumbledore had regarding Voldemort and the main reason the Old Man believes Harry must die."
"I d-did?"
Remus nodded. "Do any of you know what a horcrux is?"
"A right nasty piece of work that," Charles Potter began. "Simply put, it is an enchanted object created by the darkest of magic. It is a physical container designed to hold a piece of its creator's soul. So long as it holds that piece and remains intact, the soul fragment anchors the rest of the person's soul to this earth. His body can be destroyed, but the soul cannot escape so he can come back from the dead under the right circumstances.
"The spell that prepares the Horcrux itself is fairly benign. But to rent one's soul requires a brutal, self-inflicted spell after the creator has committed a most evil act of cruelty, one which would break the heart of most. Cold blooded murder, killing a family member, rape of one who trusted you, any of these can rent a soul and allow for the creation of one of those abominations. Supposedly, it made the evil bastard immortal.
"The problem was coming back. The easiest way was to allow another to take possession of the horcrux. If they placed too much desire into its use or possession, the soul fragment could take possession of the person. It could then use that person's life force to draw the rest of its soul into it and recreate it's lost body from the magic. The downside to this method would be the destruction of the horcux itself as the soul would be fully reunited.
"The preferred way was to create a wholly new body without using the horcrux itself. This would not reunite the soul, but it would preserve the horcrux. There was a downside to this method as well as the evil one had to have outside help to perform the necessary ritual."
"That's what happened in the Chamber," Harry exclaimed! "And in the graveyard!"
Remus nodded. "Dumbledore suspects as much. He figures Voldemort made more than one Horcrux. More than one would allow the bastard to use either method to come back. He could afford to lose one without losing the protections."
"Tom Riddle's Diary was one, wasn't it?"
"Fair bet."
"How many did the bastard make?" Charles Potter asked.
"The Old Man suspects six," Remus said. "Including what remains, that gives him seven soul bits. Powerful magic in that number."
"And Harry was one of those bits?" Hermione asked.
"I suspect and I believe the Old Man suspects he is the eighth bit. Big reason why he wants Harry dead. No one has ever made more than one of those vile things that we know of. Moreover, no one has ever used a living thing as one as the death of the thing would break the charm. The Old Man suspects that Harry was an accident. Therein lies the key.
"The purification ritual resulted in the destruction of a soul fragment. The sources I read confirmed the effect. There is a theory in the main source that should some idiot make more than one of those vile things, they are connected to each other somehow. Should one be destroyed by love magic such as the purification ritual, it would set off a chain reaction that would destroy all horcruxes and prevent the creation of a new one. The purification ritual is just such a form of magic. Mind you, this is only a theory as no one is known to have made more than one of those things. Still, it is possible that you two accidentally made Voldie mortal again and there's now not a damn thing he can do to change that."
"So Voldemort's mortal now?" Harry asked.
"It's just a theory, Harry. What happened to you suggests a basis, but there is no known precedent for multiple Horcrux's. Still, there is hope that it's more than a theory. As we speak, the Old Man is out hunting for at least one of them and trying to gather information about the others. If the one he seeks proves to have been destroyed, then it is possible that Voldie is exposed."
Harry grunted. "Mortal does not equal exposed. Not yet. His soul may no longer be anchored, but he still has Death Eaters. He will not be truly vulnerable until they are whittled down to a manageable size."
"Good point," Remus agreed.
A/N: RELATIONSHIP SCORECARD:
If you didn't read the Intro, you missed that. This is so you can keep up with who's with who and how.
Lord Harry James Potter, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, age 15 (born 7/31/80)
Lady Hermione Jane (Granger) Potter, age 16 (9/19/79). Girlfriend/fiancé as of 6/18/96; CONSORT, HOUSE OF POTTER 6/23/96.
Nymphadora (Dora) Tonks, age 21 (7/12/74); Title of Interest to Sirius Black 3/18/74; Concubine By Proxy (Remus Lupon) to Sirius Black 6/20/87; Bound to Sirius Black, 7/22/93; CONCUBINE, HOUSE OF BLACK 6/24/96.